{ "version": "https://jsonfeed.org/version/1", "title": "Nic Babarskis", "icon": "https://avatars.micro.blog/avatars/2024/47/1685639.jpg", "home_page_url": "https://nic.babarskis.blog/", "feed_url": "https://nic.babarskis.blog/feed.json", "items": [ { "id": "http://thebigbabooski.micro.blog/2026/09/16/guide-to-wildflowers-from-the.html", "content_html": "

Guide to wildflowers from the Historical Book Images site:

\n

\"Image

\n", "date_published": "2026-09-16T07:07:54-04:00", "url": "https://nic.babarskis.blog/2026/09/16/guide-to-wildflowers-from-the.html" }, { "id": "http://thebigbabooski.micro.blog/2026/09/13/i-made-an-extremely-niche.html", "content_html": "

I made an extremely niche meme about The Christian Post publishing an opinion piece condemning Christian Nationalism. Worth noting this was the default position of the politics editor they cancelled half a decade ago.

\n\"\"\n", "date_published": "2026-09-13T22:38:05-04:00", "url": "https://nic.babarskis.blog/2026/09/13/i-made-an-extremely-niche.html", "tags": ["Web Clippings","Faith","Web Whimsy"] }, { "id": "http://thebigbabooski.micro.blog/2026/09/12/a-grainsocial-find-i-like.html", "content_html": "

A Grain.Social find I like

\n", "date_published": "2026-09-12T12:41:35-04:00", "url": "https://nic.babarskis.blog/2026/09/12/a-grainsocial-find-i-like.html", "tags": ["Web Clippings"] }, { "id": "http://thebigbabooski.micro.blog/2026/09/11/perusing-the-library-of-congresss.html", "content_html": "

Perusing the Library of Congress’s September 11 research guide this morning.

\n", "date_published": "2026-09-11T07:32:50-04:00", "url": "https://nic.babarskis.blog/2026/09/11/perusing-the-library-of-congresss.html", "tags": ["Web Clippings","Public Domain"] }, { "id": "http://thebigbabooski.micro.blog/2026/09/09/no-mans-sky-releasing-yet.html", "content_html": "

No Man’s Sky releasing yet another feature rich FREE update. Good god, will it ever end?

\n\n\n\n

\n YouTube Video\n

\n", "date_published": "2026-09-09T14:57:20-04:00", "url": "https://nic.babarskis.blog/2026/09/09/no-mans-sky-releasing-yet.html", "tags": ["YouTube ","Web Whimsy"] }, { "id": "http://thebigbabooski.micro.blog/2026/09/08/the-digital-corner-of-evangelical.html", "content_html": "

The digital corner of evangelical Protestantism I occupy has been contending with a prominent apologists Trinitarian theological errors and how best to describe the Doctrine’s essence, so far this has been my favorite primer on the topic.

\n", "date_published": "2026-09-08T07:24:52-04:00", "url": "https://nic.babarskis.blog/2026/09/08/the-digital-corner-of-evangelical.html", "tags": ["Faith"] }, { "id": "http://thebigbabooski.micro.blog/2026/09/07/enjoying-the-late-summer-bloom.html", "content_html": "

đź“· Enjoying the late summer bloom at the MSU Botanical Gardens.

\n
\"A\"A\"A\"Bright
\n", "date_published": "2026-09-07T18:07:44-04:00", "url": "https://nic.babarskis.blog/2026/09/07/enjoying-the-late-summer-bloom.html", "tags": ["family"] }, { "id": "http://thebigbabooski.micro.blog/2026/09/05/maybe-there-are-technical-requirements.html", "content_html": "

Maybe there are technical requirements of which I am ignorant, but I find it so annoying that Treasury went this route of paying a private sector vendor for identity and login management when login.gov exists.

\n\"Screenshot\n", "date_published": "2026-09-05T18:32:03-04:00", "url": "https://nic.babarskis.blog/2026/09/05/maybe-there-are-technical-requirements.html" }, { "id": "http://thebigbabooski.micro.blog/2026/09/05/im-starting-to-see-more.html", "content_html": "

I’m starting to see more think pieces on my feeds about 9/11, public figures are posting outright islamaphobia, I just walked past the Phi Kappa Psi house and they’re hosting some sort of rush activity while blasting Drops of Jupiter by Train. I feel like I time tunneled into 2003.

\n", "date_published": "2026-09-05T12:51:58-04:00", "url": "https://nic.babarskis.blog/2026/09/05/im-starting-to-see-more.html" }, { "id": "http://thebigbabooski.micro.blog/2026/09/05/daniel-kolitz-i-think-of.html", "content_html": "

Daniel Kolitz:

\n
\n

I think of a sentence I wrote dozens of variants of in the waning days of my content-writing career, which went something like: “These AI tools aren’t meant to supplant the work of humans—instead, by automating routine busywork, they will free your employees up for the kind of creative thinking that actually drives innovation.” Even then I must have known the truth: that your average call center, say, has no use for a customer service staff that sits around “innovating” for half the business day (what would they be innovating, precisely?); that any time saved for the business would translate directly into fewer working hours for its employees (and fewer assignments for me).

\n
\n", "date_published": "2026-09-05T10:51:28-04:00", "url": "https://nic.babarskis.blog/2026/09/05/daniel-kolitz-i-think-of.html", "tags": ["Web Clippings"] }, { "id": "http://thebigbabooski.micro.blog/2026/09/04/its-a-damp-and-gloomy.html", "content_html": "

It’s a damp and gloomy September Friday, and sometimes that calls for suburban/Warped Tour style emo music that’s so saccharine it could melt your teeth:

\n\n\n\n

\n YouTube Video\n

\n", "date_published": "2026-09-04T11:28:46-04:00", "url": "https://nic.babarskis.blog/2026/09/04/its-a-damp-and-gloomy.html", "tags": ["YouTube ","Web Clippings"] }, { "id": "http://thebigbabooski.micro.blog/2026/09/01/rip-wendell-berry-for-the.html", "content_html": "

RIP Wendell Berry:

\n
\n

For the sake of goodness, how much\nevil are you willing to do?\nFill in the following blanks\nwith the names of your favorite\nevils and acts of hatred.

\n
\n

Berry had a way of cutting through to the core.

\n\"\"\n
\n", "date_published": "2026-09-01T09:54:26-04:00", "url": "https://nic.babarskis.blog/2026/09/01/rip-wendell-berry-for-the.html", "tags": ["Web Clippings","Public Domain"] }, { "id": "http://thebigbabooski.micro.blog/2026/09/01/this-site-is-the-digital.html", "content_html": "

This site is the digital equivalent of the junk drawer in your kitchen. An assortment of random items, many of which happen to be incredibly useful in very specific circumstances:

\n

đź”– Bookmarked https://www.normaltools.com/

Open a tool, do the thing, leave. No account, no download, and nothing between you and the answer.

I somehow managed to stumble on to this site this morning. The dev related tools are pretty handy, but I especially liked the band name generator tool. I think I might give it a go when I form my punk band.

\n", "date_published": "2026-09-01T09:49:04-04:00", "url": "https://nic.babarskis.blog/2026/09/01/this-site-is-the-digital.html", "tags": ["Open Web","Web Clippings"] }, { "id": "http://thebigbabooski.micro.blog/2026/08/31/engrossing-shortform-video-documentary-on.html", "content_html": "

Engrossing short-form video documentary on the Phoenix fire department’s efforts to implement new heat related life-saving interventions:

\n\n\n\n

\n YouTube Video\n

\n", "date_published": "2026-08-31T14:21:04-04:00", "url": "https://nic.babarskis.blog/2026/08/31/engrossing-shortform-video-documentary-on.html", "tags": ["YouTube ","Web Clippings"] }, { "id": "http://thebigbabooski.micro.blog/2026/08/28/strong-towns-cities-routinely-respond.html", "content_html": "

Strong Towns:

\n
\n

Cities routinely respond to financial stress by pursuing growth even more aggressively. The logic is simple. More homes mean more taxpayers, while more commercial development expands the tax base. If the city is short of money, the obvious response is to grow faster.

\n

Westlund recognizes the flaw in that logic. When each new increment of development creates more long-term expense than it produces in revenue, more growth doesn’t solve the financial problem. It makes the problem larger.

\n
\n", "date_published": "2026-08-28T06:22:27-04:00", "url": "https://nic.babarskis.blog/2026/08/28/strong-towns-cities-routinely-respond.html", "tags": ["Web Clippings"] }, { "id": "http://thebigbabooski.micro.blog/2026/08/27/mcsweeneys-updating-their-first-draft.html", "content_html": "

McSweeney’s updating their first draft of history:

\n

We were stuck in line waiting for gas at a Freedom Fuel Station, so this installment is a little late. Apologies! Anyway, you add another 90 atrocities to the list. #LestWeForgetTheHorrors\nbuff.ly/V207e2L

[image or embed]

— McSweeney's ([@mcsweeneys.net](http://mcsweeneys.net)) August 27, 2026 at 11:21 AM
\n", "date_published": "2026-08-27T16:03:31-04:00", "url": "https://nic.babarskis.blog/2026/08/27/mcsweeneys-updating-their-first-draft.html", "tags": ["Web Clippings"] }, { "id": "http://thebigbabooski.micro.blog/2026/08/27/how-some-people-feel-about.html", "content_html": "

🍎🍏How some people feel about sports teams is how I feel about apple varieties in harvest season: Michigan apple growers expect strong harvest as crop arrives early.

\n", "date_published": "2026-08-27T15:59:31-04:00", "url": "https://nic.babarskis.blog/2026/08/27/how-some-people-feel-about.html", "tags": ["Web Clippings"] }, { "id": "http://thebigbabooski.micro.blog/2026/08/25/from-nyts-parton-obituary-empathy.html", "content_html": "

From NYT’s Parton obituary:

\n
\n

Empathy was a hallmark of Ms. Parton’s songwriting, perhaps nowhere so much as in “Down From Dover” and “Daddy Come Get Me,” harrowing Southern gothic ballads about teen pregnancy and how patriarchy blames and victimizes young women.

\n

Assertive women populated Ms. Parton’s songs, whether through her proto-feminist rewrite of Jimmie Rodgers’s “Mule Skinner Blues (Blue Yodel No. 8)” or by advocating parity in the bedroom (“Touch Your Woman”) and in the workplace (“9 to 5”)…

\n

“Writing’s just as natural to me as getting up and cooking breakfast,” she told The Times in 2002. “I ain’t never far away from a pencil and paper or a tape recorder. I write every day, even when I’m on a plane, in the tub or on the bus. It burns in me.”

\n
\n", "date_published": "2026-08-25T15:40:16-04:00", "url": "https://nic.babarskis.blog/2026/08/25/from-nyts-parton-obituary-empathy.html", "tags": ["Web Clippings"] }, { "id": "http://thebigbabooski.micro.blog/2026/08/24/seeing-msu-students-return-always.html", "content_html": "

Seeing MSU students return always gets me to think back on those early college days when you’re anxiously trying to find some shared activity you can do with others to find friends and a pretense to join lunch or dinner tables.

\n\"\"\n", "date_published": "2026-08-24T18:13:05-04:00", "url": "https://nic.babarskis.blog/2026/08/24/seeing-msu-students-return-always.html" }, { "id": "http://thebigbabooski.micro.blog/2026/08/24/corwin-smidt-on-what-mindset.html", "content_html": "

Corwin Smidt on what mindset you should take into an election booth:

\n
\n

If people are sitting there trying to be strategic with their vote, they’re only going to be unhappy. The vote that makes you happy is the vote that you should make. Trying to be the smart voter is not the way to do things….It benefits you more to know whether you’re going to like the candidate.

\n
\n", "date_published": "2026-08-24T11:04:15-04:00", "url": "https://nic.babarskis.blog/2026/08/24/corwin-smidt-on-what-mindset.html", "tags": ["Web Clippings"] }, { "id": "http://thebigbabooski.micro.blog/2026/08/24/boosting-because-id-like-to.html", "content_html": "

Boosting because I’d like to see this plugin become a reality!

\n

Micro.bloggers: I’m interested in turning the link log into a micro.blog app, but I don’t have the skill or the will to make it happen. Where should I begin?

\n
\n", "date_published": "2026-08-24T10:50:57-04:00", "url": "https://nic.babarskis.blog/2026/08/24/boosting-because-id-like-to.html", "tags": ["Open Web"] }, { "id": "http://thebigbabooski.micro.blog/2026/08/23/today-marks-the-th-anniversary.html", "content_html": "

Today marks the 37th anniversary of The Baltic Way (or Baltic Chain) where 2 million people joined hands across 419 miles to appeal for their right to self-governance and to resist authoritarianism. Their movement ultimately succeeded. Resist authoritarianism.

\n

\"A

\n", "date_published": "2026-08-23T09:44:55-04:00", "url": "https://nic.babarskis.blog/2026/08/23/today-marks-the-th-anniversary.html", "tags": ["Web Clippings","Public Domain"] }, { "id": "http://thebigbabooski.micro.blog/2026/08/20/featured-recently-on-the-library.html", "content_html": "

Featured recently on the Library of Congress’s Headlines & Heros blog: The Journalist. @onthemedia.bsky.social before podcasting or public radio.

\n\"The\n", "date_published": "2026-08-20T10:15:25-04:00", "url": "https://nic.babarskis.blog/2026/08/20/featured-recently-on-the-library.html", "tags": ["Web Clippings","Public Domain"] }, { "id": "http://thebigbabooski.micro.blog/2026/08/19/i-consider-zettlrfosstodonorg-the-zotero.html", "content_html": "

I consider @zettlr@fosstodon.org the ‘Zotero’ of word processors. They use a Markdown approach in combination with Pandoc/LaTeX for document exporting. Comparable to Obsidian but optimized for academic writing. Integrates with @zotero@fosstodon.org. Check em out!

\n

+++ ANNOUNCEMENT +++

We have just launched a complete overhaul over Zettlr’s aging documentation. It is now based on Vue, much faster, more efficient, and just in general a better experience.

Do you like the new design?

Learn more and share your thoughts on our blog: https://zettlr.com/post/a-new-documentation-for-zettlr

\n", "date_published": "2026-08-19T16:57:45-04:00", "url": "https://nic.babarskis.blog/2026/08/19/i-consider-zettlrfosstodonorg-the-zotero.html", "tags": ["Open Web","Research Clippings"] }, { "id": "http://thebigbabooski.micro.blog/2026/08/18/the-michigan-secretary-of-states.html", "content_html": "

The Michigan Secretary of State’s Office has released the ‘I voted’ sticker contest winners for the November 2026 election. Delightful.

\n", "date_published": "2026-08-18T13:12:05-04:00", "url": "https://nic.babarskis.blog/2026/08/18/the-michigan-secretary-of-states.html", "tags": ["Web Clippings","Web Whimsy"] } ] }