Baty.blog

Welcome to Jack Baty‘s blog about everything

  • Saturday, October 25, 2025

    About to make Checkers fries in toaster oven / Nikon F100, HP5.

    It’s weird how I spend a few days relaxing in WordPress, then I wake up one day and think, “Maybe I’ll generate my whole website with Org-mode and Emacs!” I probably won’t do that, but I sometimes consider it.

    I don’t want photography be just another kind of file to play with on the computer.

    • STATUS: An entire day to myself with no other obligations. ::rubs hands together and laughs maniacally::
    • TODO: I’ll probably fart around more in Darktable. Maybe even hit the darkroom to make a few prints.
    • LISTENING: Talking Heads greatest hits (on CD)

  • Show a new tab when selecting New Tab in Zen Browser

    At some point, for some reason, Zen changed the New Tab behavior when opening new tabs:

    NEW TABS HAVE BEEN REMOVED, instead we are opting for opening the URL bar and then pressing enter to open a new tab (‘zen.urlbar.replace-newtab’ to false in about:config to revert)

    https://zen-browser.app/release-notes/#1.7.5b Features section.

    I don’t approve, so I found the setting to revert it using about:config…

    zen.urlbar.replace-newtab = false

    Much better.

  • Nikon F100 and SB-20

    Nikon F100 with SB-20 flash.

    I’m becoming a fan of this awkward kit. The F100 is such a sleeper and can be had relatively cheaply. I ended up with that weird-looking SB-20 flash as part of a local Facebook purchase. There might be something to this TTL flash, auto-focus, auto-exposure photography thing.

  • Roll 61 (2025) / Nikon F100

    I’m enamored with the Nikon F100 with that goofy SB-20 flash indoors. It certainly helps with toddler photos!

  • Friday, October 24, 2025

    Morning coffee

    My therapist asked me why I thought it was a problem to have so many blogs/cameras/notebooks/etc. and I couldn’t give her a good answer. It often feels like a problem, but is it? Maybe not. Maybe I’m just having fun and that’s fine.

    I’m using WordPress lately because it’s easy and I don’t have to think about anything but the typing. Images are easy to add and it can do fancy things when it needs to. Sure, it’s a bit bloated and janky, but if what I do most of the time is hit “New post” and write, who cares?

    I swear to god if I see one more person accuse someone else of being “complicit” with one evil group or another because they happen to use a product that is somehow remotely tangental to that group I’m going to become complicit. Fuck off.

    • STATUS: Sleep: Up at 4:00 am, as usual. I’m trying to settle in to using WordPress for the daily posts. I don’t know if it will stick.
    • TODO: Visit daughter and grandson. Babysit for a couple hours.
    • READING: Continued “The Tools”
    • LISTENING: to my wife’s workout channel coming from the next room.

  • Thursday, October 23, 2025

    I have so many great cameras, and I have the free time to use them. Yet I’ve barely been taking any photographs. Why is that? I’d love to figure it out.

    I wake up every morning wondering who I’m going to be that day.

    • STATUS: Weight: down. Sleep: Dunno, the Pebble said 1.5 hours which is a bit off
    • TODO: Therapy, groceries, maybe clean the closet
    • WATCHING: Bingeing the 3rd season of “The Diplomat”
    • LISTENING:

  • マリウス . A Word on Omarchy

    マリウス . A Word on Omarchy:

    An in-depth look at the currently trending Arch Linux configuration that is Omarchy.

    They make some fair points, but to me they are mostly, uh, beside the point. I’ve tried switching to Linux with a dozen or so different distributions. I didn’t enjoy any of them. I enjoyed just about everything about Omarchy right out of the box, which is the point. If it weren’t for this cobbled together configuration with its questionable security and fragile bash scripts, I wouldn’t be using Linux.

  • Pebble Core 2 Duo smartwatch

    I impulse ordered the new Pebble smartwatch as soon as it was announced. At the time, I was looking for excuses to stop wearing my Apple Watch, and this seemed as good as any.

    The watch arrived yesterday. It’s very white :). There was no setup to speak of other than downloading the app so I can pick from thousands of faces. That should keep me busy for a while. I love e-paper screens.

    I haven’t spent much time playing with everything, but I feel like we’ll get along fine. My only complaint is that there’s no way to rotate the display so that (as a lefty) I can comfortably use the watch on my right wrist.

    The only thing I’ve done is to add a Timer app and assigned it to a long press of the middle button. Time, weather, notifications, and timers are my primary uses for a smartwatch, so I’m covered.

  • Wednesday, October 22, 2025

    Out of focus, dusty black and white photo of book, camera, pop can, etc on my coffee table.

    I’ve started a new document for today in at least 4 places this morning: Here in WordPress, on Baty.net, in my Org-journal, and in my Denote daily note. I’ll probably add one to the wiki at some point, too. Funny thing is that the only ones I feel are redundant are this and baty.net’s version. This morning I’m feeling like writing here, so, good morning!

    I’m trying to spend as little time as possible on any social media. I’m finding it difficult. My brain wants new things to chew on, and I’m too lazy to work on anything for more than a few minutes at a time.

    Whenever I used to see someone with an Android phone or some “knock-off” Apple Watch, I would think, “That poor sap probably doesn’t know any better”. These days, I think, “Good for you!”

    • DOING: Reviewing my subscriptions and canceling as many as I can. Mostly macOS software so far.
    • (re)WATCHING: Fleabag
    • LISTENING: Helix, “Walkin’ the Razor’s Edge” on cassette

  • When design drives behavior

    Jason Fried:

    But the most interesting designs to me are when design changes your behavior. Even the smallest details can change how someone interacts with something.

    Jason Fried, When design drives behavior

    Clever, but I might prefer when the UI doesn’t lie to me.