I first heard about Micro.blog back in early 2017. Many of the people that I followed on Twitter were talking about this new blogging service. I was interested, but I didn’t back the project.

When it went into beta later in the year, I sheepishly emailed Manton and was given an invite. Over the past three years, the service has grown and improved, dramatically. I have since left all major social media platforms and publish only on my blog, hosted by Micro.blog. All of my favorite links, thoughts, photos, books, and microcasts are hosted in a single place, in a single feed.

In the spring of 2018, Manton introduced audio support for Micro.blog hosted accounts. For an extra $5/month, users could create, upload, host, and distribute their own podcasts. The idea was that they’d be short form, relatively straightforward shows. It’s a concept that has come to be known in the community as a “microcast.”

Inspired by Manton’s Timetable, a microcast in which he gives brief updates about what he’s working on and thinking about, I launched ChetCast in April of 2018.

Parents naturally want to capture moments in the lives of their young children. The innocent, cuteness, and hilarity of a child cannot be understated. We know that it won’t last, but we want to hold on to it for as long as we can. For my dad, that meant home videos. In those little clips, most of which are on a medium that are hard to watch today all these decades later, I could see streaks of my future self.

When my first child, Benedict, was born, I kept a journal for him in Day One. It was unsustainable, but at least I have that for him.

Microcasting offers me something even more special than my recollections written down for each child. Audio recordings, in an open format, are about as future-proof as you can get. Even more than that, these recordings deliver the actual sound of my children’s voices, their laughter, and their unfiltered thoughts. They are the perfect time capsule of my children, recorded and preserved for the future.

Creating and publishing ChetCast is about as easy as it gets. Using the Wavelength app, I record the raw audio, drop in my pre-recorded opening sequence, and hit publish. The ease of recording and publishing enables me to publish more frequently, even when the stories seem insignificant.

I started ChetCast as a way to capture the stories, experiences, thoughts, and sounds of my children as we go through these very special years together. The fact that I can easily distribute the podcast so that friends and family can enjoy is even better.

Three decades from now, when my children are grown and gone, perhaps starting to form families of their own, I’ll have these recordings. I’ll have these memories and be able to share them with their children, too. And all it took to capture and preserve these moments was a few minutes of my day, a single iOS app, and $5 a month.

ChetCast, the microcast I record with my kids, just turned 2.

Happy Birthday!

🎂🎙

The Church doors may be locked, but a Church has been opened in every home. 🇻🇦

I love rainy mornings. ⛈

Kind of a weird time to be rude to your customers. 🍩

Why Walking Matters—Now More Than Ever - WSJ

Walking is the movement that we all profit from and have evolved for. Walk we must, and walk we should, to keep our mental and physical worlds open and to stop the walls from closing in.

Beautiful view into the backyard with the sound of birds chirping while working on school. 🍎

When the Stimulus Check in Your Bank Account Isn’t What You Expected - WSJ

Some are finding less than they expected. Others think they are getting too much. Some say money is going into bank accounts they don’t recognize. And still others are struggling to decipher error messages from an Internal Revenue Service website.

I cannot believe that yet another program dreamt up during a 48 hour $2.2T bender didn’t work out flawlessly!

Uh-Oh: Wuhan Lab Changes Sign To ‘0 Days Since Accidentally Releasing A Virus’ - The Babylon Bee

Xi was wearing a hazmat suit, but he claimed that was because it was laundry day and that was the only thing he had left that was clean.

Stimulus Delayed As Trump Insists On Personally Delivering Giant Check To Every American - The Babylon Bee

Hi, I’m President Trump, and you’ve just won $1,200 of your own money!

China Impressed By Michigan Governor’s Totalitarian Policies - The Babylon Bee

We’re always looking for more ways to oppress people, and we were really inspired by Whitmer’s approach.

Mission Impossible: Fallout 🍿

Targeting Tony Fauci - WSJ

Dr. Fauci said later that week that he wished efforts to pit him against the President would stop

Yes. An absolutely reckless and unconscionable campaign.

Dr. Fauci is a valuable communicator and has improved public confidence in the Administration’s coronavirus response. Many in the press can’t stomach that.

Vicious Tyrant Trump Wants To Let People Leave Their Homes - The Babylon Bee

By all accounts, President Donald Trump has now gone completely mad with power. In a press briefing, he laid out his insidious plan.