About 2.0

[extratone]

Version 2 of The Psalms' About page.

The original: #82

I'm choosing Casey Newton's "About" page for his newsletter, Platformer as a starting template. Specifically borrowing these headers:

• What does Platformer cover?
• How do you see the world?
• How do you get your information?
• How can I get in contact with Platformer?

[extratone]

The Current About Page, Copied Directly

Huh‽

Bilge is the monobyline World Wide Web blog which I’ve been trying not to create for nearly 10 years.

I began to notice myself tiring out variations of that specific phrase — nearly ten years, for the past 10 years, 10 years ago — in both recent casual conversation and formal written arguments, which have since coincided with another observation: the contemporary stigma surrounding the term blog into which I’d often tossed my hat had blinded me to some very valuable just-discovered creations in the medium. This blog is unlikely to replicate the sort of value found in academic and industry voices, but it’s operated with a guarantee the reader will discover something unlike anything they’ve seen anywhere else, backed by a 100% time refund, no questions asked.

If you must depart having only absorbed a single piece of content, let it be this revisitation of Drycast Episode 16 from 2016 featuring a full house of incredible young musicians. For a good laugh, the freshest pick is my review of Nicolas Cage’s Mom & Dad, and this bizarre introductory column for Extratone about Disney race and class wars is probably my peak.

<iframe sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-top-navigation allow-popups allow-forms" scrolling=no width="100%" height="185" frameborder="0" src="https://embed.radiopublic.com/e?if=extratone-radio-WYDa1L&ge=s1!f76e4396345722808b3064eb45ca7053ea92f219"></iframe>

---

Who‽

I’m David Blue, and my two most consistent associations are 1) identity defined by ‘my work,’ which has meant many things over time, and 2) infinitely curious attraction to people who make things. I have aspired to be a heavy machinery engineer, watchmaker, commercial pilot, automotive journalist, and editorial platform for the young voices who matter. The latter two are the adult labels that stuck, though — and the first of those is the only one I’ve yet to be much good at.

I’ve already born witness to innovation bridging divisions between people throughout the greatest informational renaissance my species has ever seen.

Originally, I wrote about our relationship with cars (2019 Volkswagen Atlas Review) and now technology (Bandcamp: Streaming's Secret Savior) from a perspective that feels tedious or abstract to some, but is generally entertaining, through-and-through. I’m proud of the work I’ve done so far, which has been wild, absurd, reflective, and hilarious — occasionally all in the same work as I develop my voice.

After publishing a collection of poetry from my adolescence and early adulthood in the Spring of 2016, I launched an online magazine called Extratone in the interest of pursuing and defining new culture and ideas. The project and I have been indistinguishable in the four years since, and I’m extremely proud of what I’ve done with it, but I’ve recently refocused my effort back onto my own voice so that we may both benefit in the future.

Currently, I'm working on a nonfiction project entitled For God's Sake, Just Sit Down to Piss - a self-help/advice-ish book for young American men which I’ve tinkered with since 2015 commenting on behavior I have personally witnessed from white, straight, CIS American males ages 15-35. Given the sensitivity of its topic along with my own curiosity regarding the idea, I am writing the book in public via Git.

Follow me on Mastodon, Twitter, Discord, and/or send me an Email. A bunch more options can be found in my “Social Directory” (which is a Notion database.)

Technical details about this blog can be found on the Colophon and in this GitHub repository.

[extratone]

Tweeted about considering converting this issue into a GitHub Discussion.

[extratone]

First Draft of my Consumer Tech Assumptions

• The delivery of technology media to the mainstream has lessened its ability to truly write critically about the big tech companies it now shares office buildings with.
• The Open Source/Open Web community continues to struggle with their brand image (if you will) in both old and new ways that needlessly alienate (and sometimes obfuscate) some of their most important contributions from the average user. Technology media has failed in their responsibility to address this issue.
• Women have had a more than equal share in building the digital age and have yet to be recognized for it.
• Black people have important contributions of all sorts to technology that have yet to be recognized.
• The software development community is a source of insights in many aspects of life other than technology. It is also often hopelessly blind to others.
• Technology media has failed to discuss consumer technology’s presence in the lives of working class people, to their own detriment.
• The narrative surrounding consumer technology has been allowed by technology media to shift from products toward organizations and figureheads, perhaps inevitably.
• The power dynamics found in the stories of Software History have thus far been underutilized in technology media’s critical eye on the same elements in today’s narratives.