Blowin' The Blues by Alonzo Adams is a(n) Limited Edition. The Edition is Limited to Limited Edition 500 pcs

The post-election uptick in users isn’t the first time that Bluesky has benefitted from people leaving X.

Bluesky is having a very good week as some users abandon Elon Musk's X after the U.S. presidential election.

Bluesky has now crossed 14.7 million users and added 1 million members since the US presidential elections.

The post Bluesky Inches Closer to 15 Million Users appeared first on Thurrott.com.

Singing River is back with an exciting new album, 'Talkin' Destination Blues,' released on November 8, 2024. The duo, Mikey James and Anthony Kuhn describe their music as a blend…

RT @marshallk: Just signed up to get beta access to the @bluesky decentralized social network

Starter pack by @eryk.bsky.social An expanded edition of the Critical AI Starter Pack, for people engaging in thoughtful criticism of AI, and/or technology, technopolitics or the tech industry more generally. The original is here: go.bsky.app/UPULf1S

Bluesky has reached 15 million users, driven by a recent surge in U.S. signups following the presidential election. It's currently the top free app on iOS. The Verge reports: The platform, which rests on the decentralized AT Protocol, added about a million new users in the last week. Bluesky COO Rose Wang recently told The Verge that the "majority" of new users flocking to the platform have been from the US. Meta's Threads is still outpacing Bluesky, having recently hit 275 million monthly users and growing at a rate of over a million signups per day. But Bluesky offers a very different experience. Both are ad-free (for now), but whereas Threads uses a single Meta-made algorithmic feed, Bluesky offers user-created algorithmic feeds in addition to its "Discover" and "Popular With Friends" ones.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The decentralized social media network Bluesky announces one million people have joined the platform within just one week, with it… Continue reading Bluesky adds one million new users in a week

The post Bluesky adds one million new users in a week appeared first on ReadWrite.

Team's No. 1 center practiced in a non-contact jersey on Wednesday; injured blocking shot Oct. 22 against Winnipeg

Bluesky may still be the underdog in the race for alternatives to X, but the once Twitter-affiliated service is gaining momentum. The app just passed the 15 million user mark after adding more than a million new users over the last week, the company said in an update.

While Bluesky is still considerably smaller than Threads, which with 275 million users is its biggest rival, there are signs that Threads users have been increasingly curious about the upstart. “Bluesky” has been a trending topic on Threads in recent days and an in-app search suggestion shows there are more than 19,000 posts about “Bluesky.” Bluesky itself has also made a push to win over Threads users in recent weeks by posting regularly on the Meta-owned service.

That effort seems to be working. A month ago, Engadget noted, the service had just under 9 million users. Its mobile app also has the top spot in Apple’s App Store, followed by Threads and ChatGPT. Its recent success also seems to be driven, at least in part, by frustration with Elon Musk and X following the US presidential election.

A recent report from web analytics company SimilarWeb found that “more than 115,000 US web visitors deactivated their accounts,” on November 7, “more than on any previous day of Elon Musk’s tenure.” The report also noted that “web traffic and daily active users for Bluesky increased dramatically in the week before the election, and then again after election day,” with Bluesky at points seeing more web traffic than Threads. (Threads’ mobile usage, however, is still “far ahead” of Bluesky.)

“In the US, Bluesky got more web visits than Threads in the immediate aftermath of the election,” the report notes. “For context, it’s important to note that both services are app centric, even though they support a web user interface.”

On its part, Bluesky seems intent on distinguishing itself from its larger, billionaire-controlled rivals. The company, which began as an internal project at Twitter before it spun off into an independent entity, has experimented with novel features like custom feeds, user-created moderation services and “starter packs” for new users.

“You're probably used to being trapped in a single algorithm controlled by a small group of people, that's no longer the case,” Bluesky’s COO Rose Wang shared in a video aimed at new users Tuesday. “On Bluesky, there are about 50,000 different feeds … these feeds provide a cozy corner for you to meet people with similar interests. And you can actually make friends again, because you're no longer tied to a dominant algorithm that promotes either the most polarizing posts and or the biggest brands, and that's the mandate of Bluesky.”

Social media platform Bluesky, a major competitor to Elon Musk’s X, has gained more than 1.25 million users since last week's U.S. presidential election. Bluesky posted Wednesday morning it had reached more than 15 million users, up from nine million in September.

Bluesky has been seeing noticeable growth since the election, though its user numbers are nowhere close to Meta's X competitor, Threads.

Bluesky said hello to the one million people that joined the platform in the past week, while Threads crossed 275 million monthly active users earlier in November

Pete the Cat Bedtime Blues Game is a simple-to-learn game where kids act out bedtime activities and put their Pete the Cats to bed. Be careful though... your cats just might jump off an interactive pop-up plastic bed at any time!

Happy New Year everyone! I've worked hard and really customized Wordpress to look and work exactly as I'd like. It's ready to go as soon as I get the rest of the site up.

One of the next tasks was to replace the mailing software that I was using to send out my Behold News to people who had purchased or downloaded Behold. You might have noticed that you didn't receive a mailing for my last version in November. I didn't send one out because I had problems back in August with my mailings. My software kept shutting down every few hundred people and I'd have to restart it quite a few times. I wasn't sure if everyone had received it, and I'm sure some people received it twice. I didn't want that to happen again, so I didn't send one out in November.

I was thinking of switching to phpList to be my mailing program. But in the last couple of days, I found out the real problem and phpList wouldn't be any better than Spd E-Letter would.

There are three ways of sending Mass Mailings:

1. From a program running on your website. This is what Spd E-Letter and phpList do. What I discovered the trouble here is that webhosts limit the number of mailings you are allowed to make in an hour. This is to prevent spamming. My number of mailings is now getting large enough that it would take quite a number of hours to send them all out at the limits they allow. If I had 10 times the list size, it would take days. So this is no longer a solution for me for the future.
    
2. From a program running on your computer. Unfortunately this has the same problem. The limit instead is imposed by the ISP who you get Internet service from.
    
3. From a company on the web that provides e-mailing services. This appears to be my only option. My research indicates the way to go is to stick to one of the top two: AWeber or GetResponse.

But next it's off to Vanilla and finishing up the rest of my "new" site.

Mathew Lowry, Medium, Nov 13, 2024

This post deserves a look if only for its cracking good diagram illustrating the difference between the ActivityPub protocol (used by Mastodon and others) and the ATmosphere protocol (used by Bluesky). View it here. Essentially the difference is that the AT protocol disaggregates posting and applications, which (in theory) means that a viral post won't cause your 'instance' to crash (presumably because the post is being cached by the applications?). However "Bluesky's openness means there will not be separate villages, nor private groups for collaboration." 

ST. LOUIS (AP) — David Pastrnak scored with 1:47 to play as the Boston Bruins scored three third-period goals to come back for a 3-2 win over the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday night. Pastrnak’s shot from the left circle trickled through Jordan Binnington’s pads and slid just over the goal line. Morgan Geekie and […]

The post Pastrnak’s goal completes rally as Bruins come back to stun Blues 3-2 appeared first on Boston.com.

For local churches around the globe, the countdown to one of the most widely attended weekends has begun! Set lists are being finalized, service flows are being negotiated, sermon outlines are being pored over, and eggs are being filled by the dozen. While families all over are making their Sunday afternoon plans and working out lunch menus, you are neck-deep in planning, rehearsing, and decision-making. Holiday weekends like Easter have and always will look a lot different for Church leadership than it does for those they serve. So how do you approach these seasons without giving the enemy a foothold to rob you of every ounce of joy and motivation?

I took the chance to pick the brain of someone who has been on the front lines of the worship war for several decades now. David Parker is the Worship & Creative Arts Pastor at 121 Community Church located in Grapevine, TX. Not only is David a dear friend of mine, but I also had the privilege of serving on his worship staff team for 12 years until our family moved to Tennessee at the end of last year. So I had a front row seat to watch this man in action on a weekly basis and, trust me, he is a wealth of wisdom when it comes to donning multiple hats while managing to keep his head above water. Here’s what he had to say about managing all the moving parts with grace and clarity.    

AAW: For the sake of context, tell us a little about your experience as a worship leader up 'til now. How long have you been leading and in what capacities?

DP: I’ve been leading worship since I was in sixth grade. I would lead worship for my Sunday School class every week before we went to Bible study. From there I continued to lead throughout high school for various events that churches would invite me to. Some friends and I started a band and played anywhere we could. We definitely weren’t very good! But through that experience I ended up being invited to lead a VBS at a great church in Houston. As a result, I interned at that church for two summers where I received incredible mentorship from some amazing people. When I left for college at Texas A&M I led worship at what used to be called the B.S.U. Area churches began inviting me to lead at student events. I traveled more and more throughout college doing more and more events. In 1993 I joined up with Al Denson and Celebration Ministries to travel throughout the country leading worship for student events. During that time God gave me the privilege to be a part of some amazing movements in Buffalo, NY, the early Student Life Camps, Hot Hearts Texas, Georgia Super WOW, Youth Evangelism Conferences and churches all over.  Around 2000 I began leading in a rotation of worship leaders at my home church, 121 Community Church. Over the next year or two God called me away from the road and I have been the Worship & Creative Arts Pastor at 121 ever since. All in all, I’ve been leading worship for about 34 years.

AAW: What would you say is the biggest difference between leading in the local Church versus traveling to lead at various events?

DP: I truly loved traveling while God had me in that role, but as I look back, He was preparing me to be a worship leader for the local church. When I was traveling, I loved the great relationships I was privileged to develop with wonderful people, but for me, I felt too much like I was on an island. It was difficult to stay connected to my local church. I found myself leading songs that I knew people would know while I was on the road. Conversely, in the local church, there have been more opportunities to grow in different directions musically and creatively. Additionally, I have an amazing team that works together to help lead people to truly encounter God in worship. To be a part of a team like ours is a constant source of refreshment and encouragement.

AAW: With Easter right around the corner, I’m sure your workload has amped up quite a bit. What are a few ways that you hang on to your own personal joy during seasons like this?

DP: This is a truly unique season for me. As we approach this Easter, we are also moving our entire church into a new building. Needless to say, this has been an exciting and exhausting time. I absolutely love Easter and the opportunity to share the Gospel with people who have never heard it. This is where I derive my personal joy even when the work is exhausting. The reward far outweighs the sacrifice!

AAW: We all know that the spouses and children of church staff members sacrifice a lot during these seasons as well. How do you maintain peace and cling to the message of Easter as a family during one of the busiest time of the year for you?

DP: One of the big things we do as a family is try to include everyone in the preparations for Easter and other special times that require a ton of my time. That way we get to celebrate together by serving together. Another practice I try to maintain is to make sure to make deposits back into my family when my time working at the church has taken more from me than normal in a given season.

AAW: Are there any specific habits or fail-safes you’ve set in place over the years that help you avoid falling prey to the traps the enemy undoubtedly places in front of you during the weeks leading up to Easter?

DP: I always approach Easter as prayerfully as I can, trust in my team and enjoy the journey. We always try to stay focused on what Easter is all about, not on what we can do. 

AAW: What are some do’s and don’ts you’ve learned over your years in ministry when it comes to preparing for Easter, guiding your family through it, and leading your church body into it?

DP: One of the biggest things I’ve learned is to not do too much “new” for an Easter service.  For us, Easters where we do what we do week in and week out, maybe with a few creative twists, have reaped great results and hearts focused on the right things. This helps balance out family time and the church body is able to truly dive into the worship service.

AAW: One of your strongest passions is creating unique atmospheres of worship, using every sense we’ve been given. You’re actually going to be facilitating a teaching time during our Dallas conference stop in May about this very subject. How did this passion develop and how have you fostered it over the years?

DP: I absolutely love the art of communicating things of God creatively. When I interned in Houston we designed some wonderful services for the student ministry that at the time were cutting edge. This just fueled my desire to create environments for people to encounter the Lord. When at Texas A&M I minored in Theatre Set Design. This helped give me the tools to see more advanced ideas actually come into fruition. At 121 we are blessed to have a pastor that gives us freedom to dream, try and even fail sometimes. It’s never about trying to do something bigger and better. It’s about doing the best thing to communicate whatever it is we are trying to communicate. I am always researching technologies and resources both from the church world and secular world to help communicate creatively.

AAW: Without giving away too much of what you’ll be covering at the conference, what’s one tip you’d give our readers when it comes to building these experiences regardless of size or budget?

DP: Never let money or a lack of ability stop you from dreaming big. Learn to make the impossible possible.  After all, if God is for you, who can be against you?

In case you missed it, David will be with us at our Dallas conference May 17-19. In fact, 121 Community Church is the host church. So if you join us, you’ll get to see some of David’s expertise firsthand. He’ll be passing on some of that wisdom during our time together, so if you haven’t registered for our Dallas stop yet, it’s not too late.

Thank you David for taking the time to share some of the lessons you’ve learned over the years. Our prayer here at AAW for all of you out there is that these next couple of weeks will be filled with moments to savor God’s faithfulness and relish in the good news we strive so hard to make known.

Ah, yes. An exciting time in Chicago 2022. I had two terrible experiences this past summer which I would like my faithful readers to know about, and take heed.

In last year’s February issue, I wrote about how I was trying to overcome the depressing sight of snow and ice on the ground by thinking ahead to April and our annual Food Automation & Manufacturing Conference in Miami. The more things change …

The Arkansas-born blues singer looks back on her career and discusses "Travelin' Woman," her first album in more than 20 years.

Plus, Art Hounds recommend an ice-skating performance inspired by black social dances and an Earth Day singalong with Dan Chouinard.

Cotton Blues Cheesecakes recently released its Sweet Potato flavor nationwide for everyone to enjoy via Goldbelly for $65.

Latest Book in The Daniel Byrd Thriller Series Is Released To Celebrate National Book Month

Latest Book in The Daniel Byrd Thriller Series

Bluesky, maybe best pitched as a place for those who liked Twitter and…

The Philadelphia-born singer found a thriving community of jazz and blues musicians after moving to Japan.

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Introduction for a Blues Artist Signed by Romare Bearden is a(n) Limited Edition. The Edition is Limited to Limited Edition of 175 pcs

Cory Doctorow: "I will never again devote my energies to building up an audience on a platform whose management can sever my relationship to that audience at will." It's a good practice, and while I completely support it, I am part of several communities that could remove me without recourse. I do it because I value the people in the community, and feel that life is too short to wait for everyone to get it right.

Doctorow was writing about Bluesky, and once again, on Bluesky a discussion starts on what it would take for Bluesky to attract developers, and each time I am told that they have done enough, and I go away thinking that their pitch is a scam, and they're building value in a user base that they will sell. They certainly could do it, and for all we know the founders may have already sold some of their stock in the latest investment round which valued the company at $x billion. (I did a search to find the evaluation but it appears to have not been announced.)

I gave them a roadmap, again, of how to demonstrate that they're open, and finally concluded that the only way to really do it is to "provide a download that you can install on any popular operating system to get an instant blue sky network, running on its own without any help from anyone else. Then you can claim to be really open and until then there will be a lot of confusion." (And I was generous at that. More accurately, people with experience in tech will be certain this is yet another deal where the founders get rich, where the users are the product and have read too much into their promise of being open.)

I'm still on Bluesky but I expect them to be another Twitter, which btw had an open API too, and it's pretty good, but they never offered the option of people running their own twitters. That would have been good protection against a Musk buying them out and turning us into pawns in his plan for world domination. Do we really want to help someone else build one of those?

In early 2017 I observed that Twitter had just been used to route around journalism and elect a president. This value wasn't on their balance sheet as an asset. I felt its stock was vastly underpriced. Exactly as it turned out when Musk bought it. Everyone still thinks he paid too much, at this moment it could possibly gain him control of part of the US government's $6 trillion per year budget early next year, and if they start selling the assets of the government he could be in the best position to buy them at pennies on the dollar, or take a percentage of each saleAt this point it doesn’t matter what the NYT says. Either way they jumped the shark for the last time in this election.. He could probably start borrowing against it the day after the election is called for Trump.

In the title I ask if a Musk could buy Bluesky, it's possible they have a way to prevent that in the design of their corporation, that's why it's a question. But if the price were right maybe the founders would sell out even if they didn't have to.

It's not easy choosing a chaotic, uncertain gig over a lucrative, secure career…

Andy Munro watches Blues beat Bolton Wanderers.

Acting legend to perform at local venue.

Blues beat Sutton United in the FA Cup, as seen by Andy Munro.

West Midlands Railway to trial new service pattern at Bordesley for Birmingham City fixtures.

St. Andrew’s @ Knighthead Park naming rights partnership to launch with World Premiere concert.

Half-season ticket launch will see help given to city charities.

The blues is more than just a genre—it’s the heartbeat of modern music, steeped in raw emotion and history. From its humble origins in the Mississippi Delta to electrifying stages worldwide, the blues has shaped rock, soul, and countless other genres, leaving a legacy that resonates across generations. In this article, we dive into the […]

The post 15 Best Blues Songs of All Time first appeared on Singersroom.com.

Pioneering jazz bassoonist Karen Borca has had to wait a long time for her leadership debut. It arrives courtesy of the adventurous Lithuanian NoBusiness imprint, compiled from archival recordings of two appearances at New York City's fabled Vision Festival... [ read more ]

Always listen to your mother — that's advice the = legendary Finnish figure Lemminkainen might have wanted to take. But he = thought he knew better and got into trouble for his antics. We hear = Lemminkainen and the Maidens of Saari, set to music by Jean Sibelius and = performed by the Iceland Symphony Orchestra and conductor Arvo Volmer in = Reykjavik.=20

We’re digging into the Piedmont blues, a rich style that mixes ragtime, old-time country music, jazz, gospel, hollers, and historic popular songs. A conversation and music with two younger players […]

The post American Routes – Piedmont Blues with Jontavious Willis & Andrew Alli and The Stooges Brass Band Live from New Orleans appeared first on KKFI.

The British-Indian novelist and journalist spoke with Eleanor Wachtel in 2017.

Greenacre resident William Fine Paiaaua Kei, 16, scored the winning try for the Under-16s NSW side in the curtain-raiser for the first grade match.

Starter packs Bluesky

Tracy Nelson, Samantha Fish, Ana Popovic and Joanna Connor all have new music out. Add in Larry Taylor, Tony Holiday, and Alabama Mike and you get a terrific cross-section of new Blues on Mick’s show this weekend

Mick covers a broad swath of the Blues this week including new music from Tracy Nelson and J.W. Jones, plus appearances by Duke Robillard, John Mayall with Eric Clapton and some new bonus tracks just released from the expanded “24 Nights” album Clapt

Albert Lee is playing at the Sofia Saturday (tonight) and Mick has brought a sample of his amazing guitar work, plus more from Tracy Nelson, The Nick Moss Band and Monster Mike Welch. Then, hear more never- released tracks from Eric Clapton’s Albert

There’s plenty of new music to hear this weekend on the Blues Party from Monster Mike Welch, Samantha Fish, Nick Moss, Duke Robillard and Joanna Connor. Plus, you’ll wanna hear a great set by Eddie Taylor and his family and a cool string of English