GregFalken.com

Thoughts on humanizing technology

Save Strawberry Music Festival

Save Strawberry Music Festival

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The devastating Rim Fire caused the cancellation of both the Fall 2013 and Spring 2014 Strawberry Music Festivals. Now, according to the Strawberry website, the issuance of a permit for the Fall 2014 festival is in doubt. Concerns have been raised over the supply of potable water and the forest closure conditions along Evergreen Road, leading to Camp Mather. Withholding this permit threatens the very existence of the festival:

As you know, the permit for the Fall 2014 Festival is required for us to receive previously approved disaster relief funding from the Small Business Administration. Our loan with the SBA was approved, in part, because Strawberry Music Festival is an essential part of the economic recovery of the Groveland area and Hwy 120 corridor businesses. The residents and business owners of this community have suffered enough as a result of the Rim Fire and again during the month long closure of Yosemite National Park. Tuolumne County Board of Supervisors and the County Administrator’s office have lent us their full support, because of the positive impact Strawberry has had on the economy and the integrity with which we have conducted our business for over three decades.

At the suggestion of the festival organizers, I sent the following letter to Mayor Edwin Lee of San Francisco and I urge all friends of Strawberry to do the same.

Mayor Edwin Lee
City Hall, Room 200
1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place
San Francisco, CA 94102
[email protected]

Dear Mayor Lee,

I am writing to urge you to direct the Recreation and Parks Department to issue a permit for the Fall 2014 Strawberry Music Festival. The survival of the festival, now in its 33rd year, depends on it. I understand the department’s concerns about the fragile health of the forest following the Rim Fire, however I am certain that these concerns can be effectively addressed. The Strawberry community (for that’s what it is, after so many years) will be most willing to comply with all necessary restrictions, including supplying our own potable water and making a safe entry and exit to the festival on Evergreen Road.

Our family has been attending the Strawberry Music Festival since 2005. Last year, when we should have been enjoying the show or relaxing in camp, we were evacuating our home in Tuolumne, as the fire approached to within three miles. Thankfully, Tuolumne was successfully defended. We were thrilled to learn that Camp Mather was as well. Without a permit to produce a festival this fall, it is likely that Strawberry will be a permanent victim of this devastating fire.

Again, I ask for your support in preserving a cultural treasure of California.

Sincerely,

Greg Falken

Escape From the Walled Garden

Escape From the Walled Garden

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I’ve started a little experiment here on gregfalken.com, in an attempt to gain some independence from the Facebook and Twitter data silos. This work is inspired by the folks at IndieWebCamp.com, who are building tools that allow website owners to host their own data, while also sharing it on other social media networks. The goal, as stated on their website:

Your content is yours
When you post something on the web, it should belong to you, not a corporation. Too many companies have gone out of business and lost all of their users’ data. By joining the IndieWeb, your content stays yours and in your control.

You are better connected
Your articles and status messages can go to all services, not just one, allowing you to engage with everyone. Even replies and likes on other services can come back to your site so they’re all in one place.

You are in control
You can post anything you want, in any format you want, with no one monitoring you. In addition, you share simple readable links such as mywebsite.com/ideas. These links are permanent and will always work.

You’ll see that the top menu now has a “Notes” item. Posts in this category contain items that I would normally put on Facebook or Twitter. By posting them here, I can both maintain ownership of my content and better control what it looks like. I’m using the Social plugin by MailChimp, to publish these posts on Facebook and/or Twitter too.

Other IndieWeb enhancements to the site that aren’t visible include IndieAuth, Microformats, and Webmention (thanks to Andy Sylvester for the helpful Webmentions video). I’ll report more on these as I gain more experience with them.

I have kept the Notes posts separate from more fully formed posts like this one, by excluding them from the “Blog” page and the main RSS feed of the site. They also will not trigger an automatic email to people who have subscribed to my mailing list. They are meant to be an online collection of tidbits that I find of interest.

How my Notes posts appear on Twitter and Facebook is still something of a work in progress. If you see anything there that looks odd, please leave me a comment here. Speaking of comments, you can still leave them anonymously or you can sign in using your Twitter or Facebook account, thanks to the aforementioned Social plugin. Let me know how if you find this feature useful too.

Primal Ice Cream – Healthy frozen dessert goodness

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Primal Ice CreamAs I mentioned in my last post, I’ve been eating primal lately. While my intake of sugar is probably lower than it’s ever been in my life, I still sometimes enjoy something sweet. This recipe was adapted from one I found on Born Fitness but I have to say that I’ve improved on it. It’s now close enough to deserve the name Primal Ice Cream.

Servings: 2

Ingredients:

2 Tbs. almond butter
1 Tbs. coconut butter
1 Tbs. cocoa powder
1 scoop protein powder
1 Tbs. maple syrup (if using unsweetened protein powder)
1/4 tsp. cinnamon (optional)
1/2 cap vanilla extract (optional)
6 Tbs. almond or coconut milk

Directions:

1. Add butters and dry ingredients to the small bowl of a food processor. Pulse 3 or 4 times until ingredients are combined.

2. Add vanilla and maple syrup (if used), then turn processor on and add almond milk through the feed tube one tablespoon at a time. Let blend for about 30 seconds.

3. Freeze for 30-45 minutes for ice cream like consistency.

Nutrition (per serving):

Calories – 204
Carbs – 11g
Fat – 13g
Protein – 17g
Sodium – 138g
Sugar 3g