November Retrospective and December Plans

Here in the western US on Pacific Standard Time (UTC-8:00), 4:00 PM on November 30th is sunset, but according to HIVE (and international) time, it's December. Don't forget to join Power Up Day before midnight! Enter your user name at HiveBuzz.me to see your badges and the countdown clock for #HivePUD!

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In November, I managed to achieve another Power Up Month for the first time in ages. I also posted every single day, but for one of those posts on InLeo, I didn't remember to switch that one to 100% Hive Power, so I had to make an emergency 1HP stake. Success! I also averaged about 20HP per day in growth between posting and curation rewards, and I'll be staking 100 HP shortly after this post goes live, so it looks like a rousing success for activity. On the downside, there's a lot of off-the-cuff politics and election nonsense.

Since I posted a lot, I have a lot of links to share, too. I prefer a slower pace of every 2-3 days, and I honestly think some of this was filler based on my own standards and preferences, but the upvote patterns don't always match my own opinions.

• October Retrospective and November Plans, last month's archive and musings.
• I Hate Being Put In This Position, defending Donald Trump not because he's great, but because his loudest critics miss the mark and openly lie.
• A Major Trump Failing, complaining about the Trump tariff proposals and lack of fiscal understanding in his campaign.
• Quiz Night: Political Quotations, a challenge to see if you can guess some excerpts from one or more political manifestos and tell me if they are current or old.
• Three Tune Tuesday: Election Edition!
• Trump May Have Won? Election night reaction.
• Lessons for Democrats? No, I don't really expect them to move in a more libertarian direction after authoritarianism failed them.
• Trump: A Best-Case Scenario, trying to be optimistic.
• The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear, a premature book review. I'm still not done, but several more chapter sin, it still has my wholehearted recommendation.
• Making a Sunday Crock Pot Roast, a recipe of sorts.
• Jim Green Double Boot Innovation! Sharing a video from Rose Anvil on a new work boot and a Jim Green video about developing their soon-to-be-released moccasin-toe (and true moccasin construction) hiking boots.
• Trump: A Worst-Case Scenario, wherein I go beyond realistic pessimism to warn of what I see as the worst-likely outcomes his policies could bring.
• GIMP: Monochrome Photo Editing, a tutorial for one of the most popular open-source image editing programs.
• The Puzzled Patron: A Review, in which I review a uniquely clever jigsaw puzzle.
• November LEO PUD Done! I did that PUD, too.
• pFriem IPA: An Amateurish Beer Review, a tasty Oregonian brew that differs considerably from most of its regional competitors.
• Morality & Monsters 5E, a Dungeons & Dragons session that went off the rails with slavery and shitty flutes.
• Opening A Jumpstart Booster: Modified, the first in a series of three pack reviews from the new set designed to mix two packs and learn to play!
• Today is Play Monopoly Day! Yes, you should pass GO! and collect $200.
• Escalating Tensions in Eastern Europe and the World, more foreign affairs fuckery from the Geriatric-in-Chief.
• Opening A Jumpstart Booster: Copied, the second in a series of three pack reviews from the new set designed to mix two packs and learn to play!
• GIMP: Basic Cropping & Resizing, a second tutorial for one of the most popular open-source image editing programs.
• Fallout 76 Gleaming Depths Announcements! Game news from Bethesda's postapocalyptic multiplayer online game that has managed to claw its way up from a botched release to something resembling a complete game.
• Vampires, Curses, and Theft: A Deck Experiment, looking at the rough draft of a deck I am already planning to improve incrementally.
• Dozens of Deviled Eggs! Maybe they aren't the most photogenic, but this shows how I made something tasty!
• Shrinkflation and the Illusion of Value, examining economics through the lens of craft supplies.
• Thanksgiving Arguments: Is Trump a Nazi? No, but that doesn't mean there isn't room for concern.
• Opening A Jumpstart Booster: Of The Coast, the third in a series of three pack reviews from the new set designed to mix two packs and learn to play! Will there be more in December? Who knows!
• Happy Thanksgiving, HIVE!
• Thanksgiving Survived! Or, how the last week and more has been less than smooth sailing.
• An Overlooked Masterpiece or a Rightful Flop? Reviewing the Disney animated film, The Black Cauldron. Spoiler: it has issues.

I plan to post a lot less in December, and I may not join the Power Up Day challenges in 2025. I'll be making some big changes, and I can't really be sure what my schedule will allow. For now, vagueposting is all I have to offer. Deal with it. I'm not giving up on HIVE, though, and I plan to compensate for less posting by making more Snaps. I may ramp up my delegations to curation projects, too, so share your favorites for me to review in the comments.

HIVE | PeakD | Ecency | LEO

If you're not on Hive yet, I invite you to join through InLeo or PeakD. If you use either of my referral links, I'll even try to delegate some Hive Power to help you get started.