I’m back from vacation in Ocean City, New Jersey. We’ve been going since 2009 for a week or more each summer. It’s a great Disney-esque shore town. I checked email lightly and did some more yesterday and today so that I don’t walk into Monday without a plan. Here are some things to check out.
Fiery Feeds
Andy Baio linked to this post by Molly White a while back, where she extolled the benefits of RSS:
Perhaps you’ve heard of RSS. It stands for “Really Simple Syndication” and it allows websites like blogs, newsletters, and news sites to make their content available in “feeds” for outside services called “RSS readers” or “feed readers”. Far from being the new hotness attracting glitzy feature stories in tech media or billions in venture funding, RSS has been around for 25 years.
I was swimming this week in Ocean City and thought for a sec about how I’ve been using RSS to curate my news for nearly 20 years, and I’m glad the spec has stuck around all that time. I know a lot of people who would never bother with RSS, and that’s disappointing to think about. It’s one of those things I could bother a normal person about with great enthusiasm.
I was doing some reading on vacation last week and I remembered farting around with Fiery Feeds not long ago; I loved the high level of customization available in the app, but didn’t see why I might need to add another to my stable of RSS readers. As it stands, I use, frequently, and appreciate each of these for different reasons:
- Unread
- Reeder (Classic)
- NetNewsWire
- ReadKit
I’ve been working on an RSS reader article for Uncorrected, kind of rounding up the ones I use and cataloging their features and why I like/prefer different apps. Trying Fiery again after hearing Matt or Chris talk about it on The Comfort Zone, I realized how much I like it. And the yearly sub is cheap. It runs great on the Mac, too. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to just stick with one of these apps, and I’m glad to have the variety (even if it’s a bit of cognitive overhead to think about which one I’ll use at any given time). I like the Hot Like and Low Frequency filters in addition to the wild array of UI customizations.
Somers Point Brewing Company
Rhonda and I found this brewery on vacation last year and stopped in for one pint each this summer, we managed to get there twice: once after our date in Atlantic City, and once again while picking up dinner for everyone.
One intriguing sensation that I’ve started to notice is the flavor profile that tends to tied the varied offerings of each winery or brewery we try. I don’t know how to describe or quantify it, but for example, having tried many pints over the years at the excellent Tonewood brewery, I detect a flavor that unifies the brews. I notice this with Bellview Winery’s offerings, too; there’s something that unites their Astraea and rosé on my palette.
Somers Point’s brews certainly share this property, too. I would not say that their beers have roundly been my favorites compared to Tonewood or Bonesaw. I think I’ve settled on their NEIPA as my favorite of their styles, but I can’t wait for a chance to stop in again.
Somers Point
Speaking of Somers Point, I would recommend it to shoregoers looking for a break from the food in Ocean City. If you don’t mind heading off of the island for takeout, I can recommend that you try these spots:
- Cazadores (Mexican)
- Shen’s (Sushi)
- Gyros and Greens
Shen’s was Jing’s, and it was better when it was Jing’s, but this is still good if you need a sushi fix. The sashimi portions are huge. Cazadores seems new but the staff were super-sweet and the food was really good.
