Matt Edwards

Jason Diamond writing “Good Coffee Is Now Bad”: But it’s all part of a larger problem, about how everybody thinks they’re a coffee snob now because supposedly “good” coffee is easily attainable. It’s the same with beer or wine and especially with cocktails. 15 years ago, most bars’ versions of “cocktails” were two-ingredient drinks, but then owners caught onto the “mixology” trend and saw a new way to charge more for drinks even if the quality or care wasn’t there. All of a sudden every other bar had “cocktails,” but the bartenders maybe didn’t know how to make them or they just didn’t have the same amount of time or space afforded at places that were owned and operated by disciples of Dale DeGroff or vets from Death and Co. But the price didn’t reflect that. It was still 13 or 14 bucks for a not-so-great Old Fashioned. ...

Lots of early morning rides this month, out in search of a bagel or a croissant. Nice to get out before the sun makes the pavement too hot and the air takes on that feel of being “too humid”. The year is starting to wind down. And that’s sad. ...

From 512 Pixels: In my head, I know that the 14-inch MacBook Pro is the right notebook for me and the work that I do when away from my desk…. There’s something about the design of this machine [the Air] that I can’t escape. The footprint is pretty similar between the two notebooks, but in my backpack, there’s a huge difference. Don’t get me wrong: I am thrilled that the MacBook Pro has beefed up to be a better computer, but I’m drawn to the clean, simple look of the Air. I know the Pro is a better match for my workflows, but the Air can do everything I need — if just a little bit slower. And I don’t care about that speed difference any time I pick up the Air to take it with me. Something about it just clicks with me in a way I didn’t anticipate. ...

Jim Vorel writing at Paste: If you’re a drinker whose induction into the world of craft beer came fairly recently—say, in the last few years, or in what we’ll surely still be calling the “pandemic era” decades from now—then it’s entirely possible you’ll have no conception at all of the concept of the “beer growler.” Great read. Good to revisit that history. I never owned one of the fancy CO2 pressurized growlers, but I did own some double-wall insulated ones and plenty of glass ones. Someday I’m going to gaze back in time and wonder when I first came to craft beer. As best I can recall today, which is probably as best I’ll ever be able to recall it, this happened at some point during my college career at Rutgers University. Campus life had plenty of beer pong and while we weren’t filling cups with 8% IPA’s the not-crap you drank between games was closer to craft beer than to the commercial swill you see advertised during American football games today. ...

About doubled the mileage from June. Not much traveling in July, and the trip to Asheville involved a lot of bike riding. All good news to help bump up these stats. Quite a bit of variety, too, with rides and hikes across many parts of NJ and PA. I’m already a week into August and I do not think I’m on track to beat the month of July. Oh well. Bike riding is about enjoying the time you spend doing it, and not worrying about spending more and more time out on the bike! ...

To upstate New York, that is! Kristin had a bachelorette party to attend over the weekend, leaving me free to my own devices. I had been noodling on a motorcycle camping trip since getting the bikes last fall, and following a handful of misfires earlier this summer the independence I would have it seemed like a fine time to load up the saddlebags with a tent and sleeping bag. This would not be the first trip camping off the back of my bike, but it would be the first one where I would be entirely detached from the world and making my own way as I saw fit. ...

Today I took delivery of a new MacBook Pro, with M1 Pro processor1. In order to move all of my data over to the new machine, I decided to give Apple’s Migration Assistant tool a try based on the recommendation of John Gruber. Migration Assistant does what it says on the tin; it migrates data from one machine to another. Similar to restoring an iPhone or iPad from an iCloud backup, but there are certain advantages which really blew me away! ...

Posting a few days late, considering we were traveling in Asheville for the 4th of July. The month of June came in like a lion, and went out like a lamb. I think this should have been the wheel for March? Lots of big rides up front and then a bunch of smaller ones towards the end. I suppose getting sick in the last two weeks of June contributed to that poor performance, plus a wedding, plus a motorcycle trip, plus Hamilton passing away. Amazing I got as much done as I did! ...

A short story told in four parts. Crypto Exchange Finds a New Source of Revenue: ‘Inactivity Fee’, says Bloomberg just yesterday. Crypto Exchange Bitstamp Cancels Plans for ‘Inactivity Fee’, Bloomberg corrects us today. Bank of America plans $5 debit card fee, CBS News reveals back in 2011. Bank of America axes $5 debit card fee, CNN Money trumpets only months later. Heck, even the reasoning for the reversal is similar! Then: “We have listened to our customers very closely over the last few weeks and recognize their concern with our proposed debit usage fee,” said David Darnell, Bank of America’s co-chief operating officer. “Our customers’ voices are most important to us. As a result, we are not currently charging the fee and will not be moving forward with any additional plans to do so.” ...

Adam Engst over at TidBITS has covered a topic I found myself struggling with earlier this year. Complaints about website loading have been trickling in of late, and while the details vary, the commonality has been that the problems started with macOS 12.4 Monterey. Sometimes the problem was just with Safari; other times, it affected Chrome and other browsers too. In some cases, the entire page would refuse to load; in others, only portions of the page would fail. ...