Skip to content

Robert Rackley

Mere Christian, aspiring minimalist, budget audiophile, inveterate notetaker, and paper airplane mechanic.

Members Public

Choosin' Texas

I have seen a few references to a song called “Choosin’ Texas” by an artist named Ella Langley beating out Mariah Carey for the longest-running No. 1 song of all time on the Billboard Hot 100. The surprise in all this is I’ve never heard of Ella Langley

Members Public

’Til All Are One

Transformers: The Movie is showing in theaters in 4K starting in September to celebrate its 40th anniversary. I’m going to be like a kid when this comes out. I was so excited when the movie first dropped and fulfilled expectations with drama, action, and an exemplary cast of voice

Members Public

Will You Dance?

The latest casualty of the streaming wars is The Bird and the Bee’s 2015 album Recreational Love, which unceremoniously disappeared from Qobuz sometime recently. The album still shows up, but lists all the tracks as “unavailable.” Usually this is a sign that the service has loaded a newer version

Members Public

Down With Podcasts

At this point, I tend to average 1–2 podcasts a week. I’m in hybrid work mode, which means I drive to an office on a local college campus two days out of the week and work remotely from my home office the other three days. That gives me

Down With Podcasts
Members Public

The X Return

It seems more people and organizations that were principally opposed to the X (ex-Twitter) network a few short years ago are now returning. Sometimes, they are doing so with apologies, as if they know it’s a bad look. The latest is the Apple-centric publication Macstories. The move

Members Public

These Dreams

Nostaligia is a heck of a drug. Eighties nostalgia may be the most addictive.

Members Public

The Wagon

A Saturday Night Video from the beginning of the alternative music surge.

Members Public

The Inner Cry of A.I.

Benjamin Wallace writes for the NYT (gift link) about A.I. companies such as Anthropic hiring philosophers. Beyond all the jokes about philosophy grads actually getting jobs, it's a worthwhile examination of the place of the discipline within the tech space. What struck me was the concern that

Members Public

Jokes From Truth

Bluesky CEO, Tony Schneider, was interviewed by Nilay Patel on a recent episode of The Decoder podcast. I like Patel's interview style and thought he brought a good selection of questions to the conversation. After much business strategy and technical discussion, Patel asked Schneider about the common perception

Members Public

Memories In Orbit

I've been playing a new video game called MIO: Memories in Orbit. I have a bit of a soft spot for what they called Metroidvania's (a portmanteau of Metroid and Castlevania), having grown up loving games in the genre. In this game, you "Play MIO,

Memories In Orbit