Customize Vocabulary with Terminology

Can you summarize this content for a Google SERP meta description? As I wrote in [my app store review of Terminology](https://tilde.town/~extratone/appreviews/terminology) (which is not shown publicly, I’ve since learned,) I prefer it over popular dictionary apps like [LookUp](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/lookup-english-dictionary/id872564448) (which I also have and use regularly) because it allows me to *add new terms* that don’t show up in search results. Somehow, the idea that one might store words that don’t necessarily appear in any dictionary seems a foreign one to the creators of LookUp, which I’ve since found out to be the cause of [its Siri Shortcuts actions failing on me](https://twitter.com/NeoYokel/status/1477323450549219328). https://twitter.com/NeoYokel/status/1477323450549219328 [Terminology](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/terminology-dictionary/id687798859) *does* support adding “custom” terms, if unintentionally, through its “notes” function. Because it’s related to Drafts (they’re from the same creator,) it was quite easy to “integrate” the two in order to form the workflow you see demonstrated in [the video below](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/43663476/165031796-5df78c01-faee-4fd4-84d0-f0bf95fd383f.MOV). https://imgur.com/gallery/Q04Kxrg First, I use the [Lookup in Terminology action](https://directory.getdrafts.com/a/1CS) paired with a keyboard shortcut (`^⇧D`) in Drafts to search a selected word in Terminology. There, I “like” the word and - if needed - add a definition via the notes button (immediately to the left of the heart in the upper right corner.) I’ve configured a custom button - “[Drafts-definition](terminology://x-callback-url/importAction?name=Drafts-definition&shortName=Drafts&description=Send%20term%20and%20full%20Markdown%20definitions%20to%20Drafts&urlTemplate=drafts://create?text%3D%5B%5Bdefinitions%5D%5D%250A%5B%5Bnote%5D%5D&dispatchType=0 terminology://x-callback-url/importAction?name=Drafts-definition&shortName=Drafts&description=Send%20term%20and%20full%20Markdown%20definitions%20to%20Drafts&urlTemplate=drafts://create?text%3D%5B%5Bdefinitions%5D%5D%250A%5B%5Bnote%5D%5D&dispatchType=0)” - (which you should be able to import with that hyperlink) that sends the term *including its notes* back to Drafts with the following configuration: ``` drafts://create?text=[[definitions]]%0A[[note]] ``` That button results in a new Draft in a specific format, demonstrated by this example:  I then manually add the “Vocabulary” tag to the Draft, completing the process and placing it within the parameters defined by [my Vocabulary workspace](https://directory.getdrafts.com/w/1zN), which shows only drafts with that tag, sorted alphabetically. ## Publication For the past few weeks, I’ve been wreaking havoc on NeoCities’ global activity feed using [the action group I created](https://bilge.world/using-drafts-with-neocities) on [the /drafts directory](https://davidblue.wtf/drafts) of davidblue dot wtf. Specifically, the action that uploads HTML files to that directory named by the UUID of the draft. (Here’s [the corresponding link for this post](https://davidblue.wtf/drafts/F20BB579-E235-4F04-8BCE-22AAF15A97C2.html), for example.) With consequent [draft_open_urls](https://docs.getdrafts.com/docs/actions/templates#identifier-tags) left in the footer of each as per my current, more or less universal [HTML template](https://tilde.town/~extratone/template/1.4.txt), I’m able to immediately open the appropriate draft locally.  In order to maintain [an updated index](https://davidblue.wtf/vocabulary) of the whole list, I’ve created [a Siri Shortcut](https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/113f8e45729c4466860c3c7c668e939d) which transforms the UUIDs of the drafts in the vocabulary workspace into markdown-formatted hyperlinks of their web-dwelling counterparts.  Even if you’ve no intention of publishing your personal vocabulary - or integrating it with Drafts - Terminology is still the dictionary app I’d recommend over any others.

This article discusses the author's preference for the Terminology dictionary app over LookUp, as it allows them to add custom terms that don't show up in search results. They demonstrate a workflow that integrates Terminology with Drafts to add custom terms and definitions to their personal vocabulary workspace. They also share a Siri Shortcut to create a markdown-formatted index of their vocabulary drafts. The author recommends Terminology as the best dictionary app.

Can you summarize this content for a Google SERP meta description? As I touched on in [my 2021 overview of *The Psalms*](https://bilge.world/2021), this blog has undergone some very significant - and mostly involuntary - changes of late. This summer has abruptly brought some life happens which will inevitably contribute further changes to a degree that warrants a very bloggy sort of Update Post. Most importantly, perhaps, is that I've found myself with a real, tangible, full-time Big Boy job as a nighttime custodian of *my actual elementary school*. Though I suppose it's never been revealed before, here, I actually love cleaning and love this school, particularly, so I'm more excited than I've ever been for any sort of documentable employment, but this means I will imminently be transitioning from a lifestyle with virtually zero time-bound obligations to working 3-11:15PM, Monday through Friday. Undoubtedly, this will have a profound effect on my [recently-announced](https://twitter.com/NeoYokel/status/1542999255497023489) [consultancy business](https://davidblue.wtf/services), but I'll be making an effort to formally update the adjacent Fantastical Openings links with revised availability.  Adjacent to this news are the experiences I've had in the past few weeks helping a friend ready her third-grade, public school classroom, which have been particularly enlightening with regard to the extent that iPads have been integrated into the education of young children in this country. Some highlights from this discovery (in this particular, Title I Midwestern elementary school): - Every child will receive a 5th-generation, WiFi-only iPad ([iPad6,11](https://everymac.com/systems/apple/ipad/specs/apple-ipad-9-7-inch-early-2017-wi-fi-only-specs.html)) which they will be able to take home over the course of the school year. - The district paid $299 per unit for said iPads, a mere $30 off their full retail price for the rest of us, $329. - The random device I picked up from the pile shown in the images embedded above had not been updated beyond iPadOS 15 (since March of this year.) - Responsibility for the maintenance, setup, and deployment of said iPads rests entirely on a single individual, who is also responsible for the "media center" (what many of us know as the *Library*.) - Responsibility for ongoing hardware considerations (charging and storage) is left entirely to individual teachers. - Net contributions from Apple, Inc. to this new aspect of childhood education reside some six or seven figures *in the negative*. In the two weeks preceding our district's start date, I had the painful opportunity to tour some of my friend's colleagues' storage solutions for their student iPads. The image below is the one I chose to append to my appeal to the *MacStories* Discord, attempting to *leverage* workspace-obsessed yuppies' knowledge for the benefit of public education.  There were a few helpful replies, which made it clear that organizations with actual budgets for device storage have gravitated toward rolling carts. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I&#39;ve been made intimately aware just how integral YouTube has become in public education, these past few weeks. believe it or not, there is not a program - to the educators I&#39;ve spoken to&#39;s knowledge, anyway - that removes advertising from YouTube playback in this case.</p>&mdash; ⓓⓐⓥⓘⓓ ⓑⓛⓤⓔ (@NeoYokel) <a href="https://twitter.com/NeoYokel/status/1565127670345744388?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 1, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> ## Going Forward The time I haven't spent in this medium has been redirected toward a few key sources. [My Raindrop collections](https://raindrop.io/davidblue) have continued to grow, including a particular one I'd like to highlight here, called [Blessed Web Utilities](https://raindrop.io/davidblue/blessed-web-utilities-13380122). <iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 500px;" allowfullscreen frameborder="0" src="https://raindrop.io/davidblue/blessed-web-utilities-13380122/embed/sort=-created&hide=excerpt%2C+info%2C+add"></iframe> With its new ownership, I've continued to pour more and more energy into Siri Shortcuts published [on RoutineHub](https://routinehub.co/user/blue). I'm proud to have been asked to participate directly in the platform's upcoming aggregatory efforts. I've also established a reliable habit of sharing Shortcuts documentation/source files on [the extratone Telegram channel](https://t.me/s/extratone), among many other aspects of my ongoing Online Life. I've also restarted an [*Extratone*-era habit](https://davidblue.wtf/drafts/1C547BA9-D29F-4F2E-8B24-3F5872D329B6.html) of using redirects to simultaneously simplify and index topical URLs to both my own projects and external resources. My [new, NeoCities-bound Redirection Index](https://davidblue.wtf/redirection) should be a robust way to keep up with David Blue, Online, therefore. As always, I hope you'll freely [contact me](https://gist.github.com/extratone/7118e115b200f19d577dfe6a330d898f/raw/790cd2ec3cdd160a462abb1caf443315ca8b91f3/davidblue.vcf) with comments/suggestions/feedback/rants/etc. As for this particular feed, I doubt there will be much noticeable change from its status quo in the past ~two years.

A personal blog post that discusses some significant changes in the author's life, including their transition from having zero time-bound obligations to working a full-time job as a nighttime custodian at their old elementary school. The post also details the experiences the author had in helping a friend prepare a classroom that integrates iPads into education, including some of the challenges and shortcomings of this approach. The post concludes with updates on the author's various ongoing projects and interests.

Can you summarize this content for a Google SERP meta description? Though I don't believe I've ever discussed it, here, the continuance of the fandom for Houston music legend, DJ Screw, on into the 21st century is an issue I remain very invested in. I doubt you want to hear much about it, but the issue of actually *obtaining audio files* from the Screw collection is a worthwhile one to engage for context's sake. I was first introduced to the ~343-chapter collection by my high school best friend, who'd acquired it via an ancient Pirate Bay torrent some hero set up in the early 2000s[^1]. It was complete - probably - and more or less correctly organized *by chapter*, but that's about it as far as reliable metadata was concerned. The results one would find elsewhere on the web, from [sites like DatPiff](https://www.datpiff.com/mixtapes-search.php?criteria=keyword:dj+screw), were hardly any better - many, in fact, were obviously sourced from that same torrent.  <a href="https://music.apple.com/us/artist/dj-screw/80923709?itsct=music_box_badge&amp;itscg=30200&amp;app=music&amp;ls=1" style="display: inline-block; overflow: hidden; border-radius: 13px; width: 250px; height: 83px;"><img src="https://tools.applemediaservices.com/api/badges/listen-on-apple-music/badge/en-us?size=250x83&h=cdbcefe9e23b0310ab61b31e72e2dcdb" alt="Listen on Apple Music" style="border-radius: 13px; width: 250px; height: 83px;"></a> In the interim, a lot has changed about music consumption. You know this, but - as you might've already imagined - none of the mainstream services you fuckers partake in have managed to do Robert Earl Davis III justice in the modern era. [Apple Music](https://music.apple.com/us/artist/dj-screw/80923709) and [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/artist/6TC6ZeVdvCuBSn32h5Msul), both, will send you in neatly identical spirals pretty much regardless which of their pet vectors you choose to populate with His Name. As much as I've vouched for the former, it's perhaps the worst of them all in this context - departing the marque entirely into the (respectable but... incorrect) world of non-Davis *SLOWED 'n" THOWED*[^2] almost immediately. Perhaps one day, I'll find it within myself to tackle this issue - DJ Screw in the Щ́̇͋ͯ̋̅Σ̾̒͋ͯͭ ̊ᄂ̋̈͐İͬV̏̆̊͛̍̌Σ̆ͣͣͭ͐ͫ̆̊ ͪͬ̿̈́̑ͤ̚IͫП̎̿͑ͦ͆̚ ͣͫ͌ͨ̈Λ̃͛̓ͦͪ͒̑̽ ͛̑ͤ͊ͭƬ̒I̅͌̊̑ͧͪM̈́̓Σ̋̏͂͐͊͆ͣ, generally - but I actually have extremely wonderful, urgent news. You see, dearest archive.org was actually provided [**the entire, impeccably tagged Discography**](https://archive.org/details/dj-screw-discography) by actual Culture Heroes some years ago. All of it, accessible in multiple file formats, embeddable, superbly shareable! This is the most important truth I have to impart to you today, really, but - for iPhone, iPad, and Mac users, there's even more... <iframe src="https://archive.org/details/dj-screw-discography&playlist=1&list_height=150" width="500" height="300" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="true" mozallowfullscreen="true" allowfullscreen></iframe> ## Automation  As of right now, just two Siri Shortcuts - [**Download Random Screw Tape**](https://routinehub.co/shortcut/12610) and [**DJ Screw Discography**](https://routinehub.co/shortcut/12618)[^3]. The first is perhaps the most delightful - if all goes well, running it right out of the box should result in a random tape from the library downloaded in a folder of your specification (at install,) as well *actual playback*, in correct order, within the shortcut, itself. https://youtu.be/9v_oc7GmvvM This is magic, yes, but the second is *true power*. After picking folders at installation for 1) downloaded archive.org-sourced .zip files to live in temporarily before they are extracted and deleted and 2) your complete, correctly metatagged DJ Screw Tape library could - in theory, anyway - magically appear in a single, undoubtedly several hours-long run. I have yet to actually test the full bit myself, technically, but I can advise you to set Auto-Lock (`Settings ⇨ Display & Brightness ⇨ Auto-Lock`) to `Never`, make sure you leave the Shortcut open within the Shortcuts App, itself, and give it a shot, if possible.

The article discusses the challenges of obtaining audio files from the DJ Screw collection, a Houston music legend whose fans continue to grow into the 21st century. The author describes the difficulty in obtaining reliable metadata and how mainstream music services like Apple Music and Spotify have not done DJ Screw justice in the modern era. However, archive.org has the entire, impeccably tagged discography available in multiple file formats. The article concludes by introducing two Siri Shortcuts, "Download Random Screw Tape" and "DJ Screw Discography," which allow users to download and play DJ Screw tapes.