CustomD: Beginner Tutorial

Create Your First Setup — a simple journaling dashboard In this tutorial we will create a simple setup with a dashboard so you can keep a journal. We will save it to the cloud so you can sync it to your multiple devices. Then we will add to it with geolocation and mood trackers. * “Menu” refers to the hamburger menu in the upper left. Virtually everything in the app is available from this menu. * Note that wherever in the app you see a question mark in a circle,…

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Deep Questions

This is one simple example of how you can use Custom Data Organizer to track and display any sort of information. Here is a list of questions that I keep on hand in case I run out of things to talk about. I can update this list from any device and it gets immediately updated here and everywhere else I’ve shared it. If you would like to test out the full version of the app, go here: https://track-anything-test.firebaseapp.com If you would like to download and play with my questions list…

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Movies I Want to Watch

This is one example of how you can use Custom Data Organizer to track and display any sort of information. Here is a list of movies that I’m interested in. I can enter them from whichever device happens to be closest. I can easily choose the service and genre from my own pre-defined list and it gets immediately updated here and everywhere else it might be shared. I left some of the functional links in this report so you can play temporarily, edit or add movies, or toggle the “WATCHED”…

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Billy Doesn’t Want to Hit Himself in the Head with a Hammer

There is a person named Billy who lives in a world where the most common cure for a headache is hitting yourself in the head with a hammer. But Billy doesn’t want to do that. Billy thinks that hitting himself in the head with a hammer will actually make his headaches worse, but when he says this, everyone laughs at him and calls him names. So Billy keeps quiet about his beliefs. He even sometimes lies and tells people that he does hit himself in the head with a hammer,…

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How I Became A Capitalist

For nearly 20 years I identified as an anti-capitalist anarcho-communist, but ironically in the last four years, as those ideals have exploded into the mainstream in response to Trump, I have gone the opposite direction. It was just a few months before Trump was elected that I started a job at BNY Mellon, one of the biggest banks in the world. I felt like a sellout, like I was taking part in some great evil. But I started the job and it was really easy, but they also kept me…

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Building a Meaningful Life – Kalin’s Religious Sermon

In the interest of full disclosure, I am an atheist, but this is not intended to mock religion. It’s more an exploration of how I would approach these ideas if I were to believe in God. Are you feeling lost and alone, like your life has no purpose? Welcome everyone to Kalin’s imaginary church where we want you to know that God loves you regardless of who you are or what you believe. But I’m sure you’ve heard that line so many times it’s lost all meaning. And that’s what…

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Air Fryer Spicy Broccoli And Optional Tofu

sriracha sesame oil avocado oil soy sauce or salt cumin pepper garlic turmeric (lots and lots) Chop up the broccoli and mix in all the oils and seasonings. Mix well. Go pretty liberal with the turmeric. It’s good for you. It will stain everything in your kitchen yellow but it’s worth it. Actually, go pretty liberal with all the spices except the salt. Needs lots of oil. The broccoli soaks it up and turns it crispy. Everyone warns me about cooking at high temperature with sesame oil but I’ve never…

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Knockoff Vietnamese Lime Sauce for Vermicelli

Lime juice garlic sriracha mint ginger onion powder sugar soy sauce or salt water optional: avocado or sesame oil I have no idea what the watery sauce is called when you order the vermicelli noodle and vegetable dish at Vietnamese restaurants but I’m pretty sure it’s lime juice based so I tried to recreate it. I created something that’s actually not too bad and can be used in the same situations but doesn’t quite taste the same. If anyone has a link to a recipe for the real stuff I…

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Cucumber garlic dill with optional shrimp and mustard

cucumber salt lemon juice avocado oil garlic pepper fresh dill Followed this recipe loosely using my new spiralizer without the lemon zest of course and using avocado oil instead of olive. It was weird but I liked it. Then I added shrimp and some dill mustard the next day, left it overnight and took it to work for lunch. I was surprised by how well that worked out. The shrimp soaked up a lot of the flavors to make the whole thing milder. It was a little overpowering when it was just…

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Chicken, sausage, peppers and potatoes

Skin-on chicken. I used drumsticks. Peppers or other roastable vegetables. I used bell and poblano peppers and mushrooms. I should have also used a bag of radishes I had. Next time I will use just whole mushrooms and whole radishes since they are larger. Sausage. I used jimmy dean breakfast only because the store didn’t have Italian sausage. Potatoes Whole garlic cloves Oil Salt Pepper Italian seasoning Garlic powder? (I will leave this out next time) I sort of followed the recipe on this video and it turned out quite well. I…

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Curry with cheesesteak meat — Meh :(

Frozen cheesesteak meat Onions Bell peppers Fresh turmeric Fresh ginger Fresh garlic Powdered cumin Salt Avocado oil Canned coconut milk Tomato paste Fried up the fresh seasonings and onion. Added bell pepper a little later just before the frozen meat. Added cumin to taste. Added coconut milk after meat finished cooking. Then I added tomato paste to thicken it but I wish I hadn’t and just let it be a thin curry. I cut the ginger and turmeric too large. I should use a food processor or chop the hell…

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Black bean fritters

Can black beans Finely chopped green onions Cilantro? Garlic? Salt Other seasonings Flour Mix everything in food processor, form into balls or patties and fry. I didn’t cook these when I thought I would so the dough sat in the fridge for a few days before I fried them up. They look burnt when cooking because they are so black. I think I flipped them too soon because of that. My candy thermometer didn’t work so well in the oil probably because it wasn’t deep enough. They kind of fell…

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Chipotle chicken crock pot burrito dinner

Cubed chicken Lots of avocado oil Chipotle powder Salt Paprika Garlic? Onion powder Jar of Salsa Corn Bell peppers Can of black beans Cubed chicken in bottom of crock pot mixed with lots of seasonings and oil. Needs lots of oil if using skinless chicken. Layer on corn, peppers and beans. Pour salsa over top. More seasoning and oil. Will turn into a soup as it cooks. An hour or so before serving use two forks to shred chicken. Push each piece against the side of crock pot to keep…

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Glowing Scallops over broccoli

I took the flavor combination from this glowing lentil soup recipe: https://ohsheglows.com/2016/04/03/glowing-spiced-lentil-soup/ seasonings:turmericcuminoniongarliccinnamoncardamompepperlime juicecayenne or chili flakessalt (not much if you’re using seafood with this) Other:can of coconut milkcan of diced tomatoesBroccolired cabbagescallops or other protein like chicken, beef or beansAny roasted vegetable should do but I liked the idea of broccoli because it gets pretty dry and seems like it would soak up the soup.side of naan bread Combine seasonings with the coconut milk and diced tomatoes in a pot on the stove. Once it got simmering I added…

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Why I Love Elon Musk

Update: So I wrote this a number of years ago, and since that time, Elon has gotten more and more nasty on Twitter and has said some hurtful things. But I won’t change the title of this piece because I still have a deep love for this man. He has expressed deep hatred for me and people like me as well as many people I care about. But I’ve always believed actions speak louder than words and at the end of the day, his words are just words. They are…

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Why We Need to Invest More in the Space Industry Even Though We have Problems Here on Earth

This is a deeply problematic question. The subtext behind this question of course is, “space travel holds little to no value to humanity.” Also, “space travel somehow takes away resources from things that actually help humanity.” Both of these subtexts are so false that it feels like gaslighting to informed people. The child-like over-simplification of such a complex issue feels to space enthusiasts as though it is deliberately designed to make us feel stupid. That may not be the case, but that is how it feels. This question is rarely…

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Automobile Trauma is Just as Valid as Other Forms of Trauma

Years ago I had a girlfriend who was terrified of automobiles. Whenever we would drive anywhere, she would grip the handles in terror. A few times she would even break down in tears if someone cut us off or I had to hit the brakes too hard. She would sometimes chant to herself “it’s perfectly fine. We’re safe. It’s all safe. This is all perfectly safe.” It recurred a few times where we would need to drive somewhere and she would have a panic attack, then she would call herself…

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Millie’s Pipe Dream

Once upon a time there lived a young girl named Millie. Millie lived in a little village, where everybody loved each other and everyone seemed happy except for one problem: they were a long way from the river. Every day, most of the villagers had to walk a long trail down a cliff to fill up their buckets so they could have water to cook, bathe and wash dishes. Every day for years Millie walked this trail several times, carrying a bucket of water for her mother, then her sister,…

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Toxic Anti-Capitalism

In my early thirties I dated for a couple months a woman whose best friend was dating a millionaire CEO of a software company. I hung out with him a couple times. He may be the only millionaire I’ve ever had drinks with outside of a work event. He bought me a cheese plate once and talked about the history and significance of each cheese. He seemed like a pretty normal guy. You never would have known he was loaded. He would write these long, deeply emotional emails to his…

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The Secret, Oddball Thing that Offends Me

I have a weird story/confession. Before today I’ve only ever spoken about this to the few people I mention in this story. I’m hearing so much talk lately about the words people use surrounding gender and thinking about how easily the wrong words can offend. I personally don’t understand a lot of the emotion surrounding gender, but I do have one thing in my life I use as reference to try to help me understand. I didn’t attach my identity to my gender. Instead, for whatever reason, the main things…

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Why I Try to Communicate Even When it Seems Hopeless

Almost 20 years ago one of my closest friends was a Nazi sympathizer. He would lay out in order which races were better than which and go on about how Hitler was just in a hard situation and did what he had to against the Jewish invasion. Some pretty gross stuff. We would argue nearly every time we hung out. He believed the world was all a competition, race vs race and we all needed to stand up for our race. I argued that no, we are all humans and…

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Why do People Hate Technology? (Jixuan and Sebastion)

A couple weeks ago I posted about some threats I got from an old friend who hated me due to my support of technology. I sent the video to my favorite tech YouTubers, Jixuan and Sebastion which inspired them to prioritize a video they’d been planning. They didn’t mention my situation, but I found the video to be a really fascinating look at how technology affects our mental health and why emerging technologies can lead to such vicious hate. It also discusses the old argument of whether you inherently have…

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I got Death Threats for Being a Technology Enthusiast

Last weekend I received a series of death threats from a very old friend. Some of you may remember a post I made a few months ago about Elon Musk’s Neuralink. Well, that post scared him pretty bad, because of Skynet and stuff, and I did not realize how it had affected him. Then last week I made a joke in favor of certain artificial intelligence technologies and he sent me the death threats in audio form that you can watch in this YouTube video. There’s three things I want…

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