Amerpie by Lou Plummer

"Wonder Woman" by John Legend Listen on Apple Music Your browser does not support the audio element. What song would you use to describe your current relationship? - Wonder Woman by John Legend As if there was another possibility, LOL. View Lou Plummer's Crucial Tracks profile

SupaSidebar in Action Most technically oriented people who value privacy do so because privacy is, and should be, a human right, not because they have something to hide. Maintaining privacy in the current technical environment requires a real strategy and almost constant attention to an evolving landscape. It is no longer enough to block trackers, ads, and cookies. Browser fingerprinting has become one of the primary privacy-violating mechanisms used by companies that want to identify, profile,…

"Little Boxes" by Malvina Reynolds Listen on Apple Music Your browser does not support the audio element. What song makes you think of your childhood home?-Little Boxes by Malvina Reynolds Once again, I owe my Mom a debt of gratitude for being the most influential person in my musical life. It's not just the artists she introduced to me, buy the values they represent. I don't remember not knowing this song. Mt brother and sister and I sang it on many car trips. View Lou Plummer's Crucial Tracks…

"Nation of Heat" by Joe Pug Listen on Apple Music Your browser does not support the audio element. What’s a hidden gem you wish more people knew about? - Nation of Heat by Joe Pug Have you heard this song? Give it a listen. Great songwriting - both the lyrics and the melody. Great performance too. View Lou Plummer's Crucial Tracks profile

"Eye in the Sky" by The Alan Parsons Project Listen on Apple Music Your browser does not support the audio element. What song reminds you of your first heartbreak? - Eye in the Sky by the Alan Parsons Project My high-school girlfriend, first wife, mother of my children loved this album. It came out the year we started dating (1982) and I think of her whenever I hear it. View Lou Plummer's Crucial Tracks profile

"That's the Way (I Like It) [Single Version]" by KC and the Sunshine Band Listen on Apple Music Your browser does not support the audio element. Describe your favorite summer as a kid using a single song. - That's the Way I like It by KC and the Sunshine Band I was 12 years old in 1977, living in New Bern, North Carolina, spending days beside the pool at our apartment complex, Friday night at the skating rink. I delivered newspapers, so I had some extra money for comic books and baseball cards.…

"Forever Young" by Bob Dylan Listen on Apple Music Your browser does not support the audio element. What song best captures your current phase of life? - Forever Young by Bob Dylan I am still enthusiastic, still curious. I still don't like following rules or being told to be quiet. Maybe I've learned a few life lessons, maybe. View Lou Plummer's Crucial Tracks profile

"In My Hour of Darkness" by Gram Parsons A song from your most listened to artist of the last 20 years. - In My Hour of Darkness by Gram Parsons I was just a kid when Gram Parsons died, but I feel like I grew up with him. Unlike most of my life's soundtrack, I discovered him on my own, not from my Mom's records. I'm so glad he recorded with Emmylou Harris because she feels like the cool aunt who has always been around. Their voices together...sublime. View Lou Plummer's Crucial Tracks profile

"It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" by R.E.M. Listen on Apple Music Your browser does not support the audio element. A song from college or early adulthood. - It's the End of the World As We Know It by R.E.M. The main reason R.E.M. was so insanely popular can be attributed to the fact that they were really, really good - the song writing, the performance - everything. View Lou Plummer's Crucial Tracks profile

"Magic Carpet Ride" by Steppenwolf Listen on Apple Music Your browser does not support the audio element. What's a song that you like but most of your friends don't. - Magic Carpet Ride by Steppenwolf I think it's a real classic. My friends think it's old AF. View Lou Plummer's Crucial Tracks profile

"One Love / People Get Ready" by Bob Marley & The Wailers Listen on Apple Music Your browser does not support the audio element. What's a song that instantly makes you smile? - One Love by Bob Marley and the Wailers You know, I've never met a cool person who didn't like Bob Marley. Just sayin' View Lou Plummer's Crucial Tracks profile

Cache Out, a free new single-purpose utility from veteran Mac developer Jim Mitchell, fits right into an app category that is severely underrepresented - utilities that work across multiple browsers from a single interface. What It Does Cache Out's superpower is selective data removal from a variety of popular macOS browsers with the click of a single button. It removes five categories of information - cache, history, downloads, favicons, and cookies. You select the browsers you want cleared…

"Georgia on My Mind (Original Master Recording)" by Ray Charles Listen on Apple Music Your browser does not support the audio element. A song that reminds you of somewhere you lived. - Georgia on my Mind by Ray Charles It was four degrees above zero the night I started my infantry training at Ft. Benning, GA, a fact I remember because I was assigned to stand outside by a gate, to "guard" it, for two hours on the typical kind of bullshit duty that makes the Army what it is. View Lou Plummer's…

"Children of Children" by Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit A song off the last album you paid money for - Children of Children by Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit This 135 song compilation of rarities and collectables by various artists benefits victims of Hurricane Helene in Western North Carolina. My wife and I were in the Appalachian Mountains, just north of Boone, NC when the storm caused a 1,000-year flood in the region. We made it back home on the only road open out of the area, but many mountain…

"Trouble In the Fields" by Nanci Griffith Listen on Apple Music Your browser does not support the audio element. What is a song that makes you think of your first job? - Trouble In the Fields by Nanci Griffith I was a farm kid, but my last few years at home were marked by the drought that finally led my family to give up that life after more than 100 years and take what are called "public jobs" - ones where you have a boss, but also a paycheck. This song, by the unforgettable Nanci Griffith…

"Four Seasons" by Vivaldi What is the oldest song you like? - Four Seasons by Vivaldi I don't know much about classical music, but I know what I like. The opening movements of Vivaldi's Four Seasons instantly transports me back to the early 90s when my kids were in elementary and middle school. All of them loved this CD and we played it all the time when cleaning house on Saturdays. It made the weekly chores something they looked forward to. Magic. View Lou Plummer's Crucial Tracks profile

"Hold On" by Alabama Shakes Listen on Apple Music Your browser does not support the audio element. A song from the 2010s that you like or means something to you. - Hold on by Alabama Shakes After an eight-year hiatus, Alabama Shakes reunited last year, started touring and they are working on an album - and every album they've ever made has won at least one Grammy. Like most people, this is the song that introduced them to me. It's a classic already. View Lou Plummer's Crucial Tracks profile

The mark of a good Internet citizen is whether they star the GitHub repositories they like and whether they upvote helpful posts on Reddit. As someone who devotes a lot of time to online communities, racking up a few Internet points always feels good. I used to be slightly intimidated by GitHub. For the most part, it's full of indie apps by individual devs, so there isn't a marketing department designing websites and writing copy. It's just the same dude who coded the app you want to try. If…

"S.O.B." by Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats Listen on Apple Music Your browser does not support the audio element. A song from the 2000s that you like or means something to you. - S.O.B. by Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats I am absolutely the cliche who almost never listens to anything new and I have been that way for the entirety of the 21st century, just about. Every once in a while, someone will break through because of a video I see on social media or an earnest recommendation…

In trying to be open-minded, I recently agreed to try Ejectify, an app that performs a task for which I already had a solution: to automatically eject external disks from my Mac before it goes to sleep and to remount them when it wakes. I worked off a MacBook for a long, long time, and I needed a way to just shut it, unplug, and move on without getting nagged to death about thumb drives and external volumes. I've been using Jettison to do that since I saw it in Macworld in 2011. The developer,…

"The Ghost of Tom Joad" by Bruce Springsteen Listen on Apple Music Your browser does not support the audio element. A song from the 1990s that you like or means something to you. - The Ghost of Tom Joad by Bruce Springsteen The Boss won the 1995 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album for the eponymous album that included this track. It was hist first acoustic album since Nebraska and it is a worthy successor. The song and album really cemented his legacy as a successor the tradition of…

"Lunatic Fringe" by Red Rider Listen on Apple Music Your browser does not support the audio element. A song from the 1980s that you like or means something to you. - Lunatic Fringe by Red Rider The 80s encompassed ages 15-25 for me. It was the decade when I listened to the radio more than any other. it was the last thing I did at night and the first thing I did in the morning. Lunatic Fringe got a lot of airplay during my high school days. It's a good tune and one I still add to playlists to…

"Whipping Post (Live at the Fillmore East: Second Show, 1971)" by The Allman Brothers Band Listen on Apple Music Your browser does not support the audio element. A song from the 1970s that you like or means something to you. - Whipping Post by The Allman Brothers Band I could go the rest of my life and only listen to songs from a single year, 1971. Led Zeppelin IV - Led Zeppelin Who's Next - The Who Sticky Fingers - The Rolling Stones L.A. Woman - The Doors At Fillmore East - The Allman…

I like using Apple Shortcuts when it fits my workflow, but advanced features can be confusing. I manage simple loops and variables, but it’s slow and tricky. That’s why I was happy to see MacStories release Shortcuts Playground, a free plugin for Codex and Claude Code. It lets you describe what you want in natural language and creates a real Apple Shortcut you can use or share. You can read about it and get installation instructions for free if you have those platforms. It’s been years since I…

"Fields of Gold" by Eva Cassidy Listen on Apple Music Your browser does not support the audio element. Pick a song that reminds you of a color. What color? - Fields of Gold by Eva Cassidy I'll keep going back to the Eva Cassidy well as long as I can. This photo captures what I see in my mind's eye when I hear this song. View Lou Plummer's Crucial Tracks profile

"Thunder Road" by Bruce Springsteen Listen on Apple Music Your browser does not support the audio element. Post a song that mentions another recording artist or artists. - Thunder Road by Bruce Springsteen "Roy Orbison singing for the lonely, that's me and I want you only,. Don't turn me home again. I just can't face myself alone again." “In 1975, when I went into the studio to record ‘Born to Run,’ ” Bruce Springsteen once said, “I wanted to make a record with words like Bob Dylan, that…

Brett Terpstra has released Marked 3, and this is not just a routine update. It’s one of those releases that makes you stop and think about where a tool actually fits in your workflow. If you write in Markdown on a Mac, there’s a very good chance Marked has been the missing piece all along. For years, I lived in Microsoft Word for anything that wasn’t email. That was the EdTech world: Word was the standard, `.doc` and `.docx` were the expected formats, and no one wanted to hear about…

"Down In the Valley to Pray" by Doc Watson Listen on Apple Music Your browser does not support the audio element. Post a song that's a different speed than you're used to - Down In The Valley to Pray by Doc Watson This solo dirge by Doc Watson is a definite break from his usual lively bluegrass and folk flat picking style, but it's my favorite version of the sone, even more than the one from O Brother Where Art Thou. Seeing Doc Watson twice was one of the highlights of my concert going career.…

"White & Nerdy (Parody of "Ridin'" by Chamillionaire feat. Krayzie Bone)" by "Weird Al" Yankovic Listen on Apple Music Your browser does not support the audio element. Pick a song that matches what you are really thinking about just now - White and Nerdy by Weird Al Yankovic I'm a big weird Al fan. My wife stood ina Taco Bell line with him, so there's only one degree of separation between us. The lyrics are a but dated but the ethos remains strong. I still find it hilarious that Chamillionaire…

"Sweet Caroline" by Neil Diamond Listen on Apple Music Your browser does not support the audio element. The last song you heard on the radio - Sweet Caroline b y Neil Diamond In my dad's car on my Dad's SIrius oldies station. View Lou Plummer's Crucial Tracks profile