Baty.blog

Author: Jack Baty

  • No rules here

    I have a rule book for blogging, honest, even though I seldom refer to it. I’ve decided to throw it away when it comes to this blog. All bets are off, people!

  • Future-proof, schmuture-proof

    I just don’t get why we suffer through using lesser software every day because “what if…?!”.

    If, for example, Day One goes away, I’ll still have all my text/json/html/pdf exports, books, backups, etc. I can go all text then. I’d lose all the fancy bits, but at least I had them, until I didn’t.

    Meanwhile, I have this:

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  • Another one of those weeks

  • WordPress and ActivityPub

    I’ve installed the ActivityPub plugin on my baty.blog WordPress blog. Let’s see how it works.

    This should show my profile with a follow button:

    Jack Baty
    Jack Baty
    @jack@baty.blog

    I used to help build web and mobile apps as co-founder of Fusionary Media (1995-2020).

    Now I mostly just take photographs and write on my blogs

    72 posts
    4 followers

    Any reactions to my post should show up at the bottom of each post. (probably only from my other account, since I’m the “1 follower” :).

    Installation and setup was very quick and easy. This seems like a fine solution.

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  • Relinquishing (some) control

    My obsession with being “in control” of as much as possible is waning.

    I don’t want to manage everything. I don’t feel like worrying about it. So far this is more a feeling than anything, but it’s a pretty strong feeling.

    A couple of examples:

    • I’m typing this in WordPress. Letting WordPress deal with images, content, stats, etc. is something I am in the mood for. SSGs are great, and probably the right answer, but hooboy I get tired of thinking about all of it
    • I’m typing this on my Mac Mini, not Linux. Apple may have gotten wildly off-course lately, but even off-course, most things are nicer, and easier than with Linux. And, if I just let go of my desire for complete control, I can just use my computer and not deal with the underlying idea that “it’s all mine, but I’m also responsible for everything.”

    So that’s my mood today. Stay tuned to find out where else this feeling leads me.

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  • Monday, November 17, 2025

    • STATUS: Wondering if I’m going to spend the entire day in front of the computer. Again.
    • TODO: More leaves
    • READING: “The Persuaders” by Anand Giridharadas
    • LISTENING: “Wild God” by Nick Cave

    Instead of deciding where to post things, I’ll just wing it on a per-post basis, how ’bout.

    Also, I typed that last sentence from the Linux box, then typed this one from macOS. I like things about both of them, so I guess I’ll just never pick anything and stick with it.

  • I’m not sure I want to maintain a complex Emacs config

    I love my (sort of) home grown Emacs config, but maintaining it can be exhausting.

    Yesterday, I complained about it a little in A blog post written with NeoVim. There’s so much going on. I’ve spent years making tweaks both small and large. This should be a good thing, but I’m not feeling great about it. It feels fragile. It is fragile.

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  • Sunday, November 16, 2025

    Shot at 75MPH on the highway.

    Yeah, Yeah, I know. I’m not blogging here any more, right? I’m especially not writing daily posts here. I already have three other places I can do that. Well so what? Today I feel like writing it here, so ::raspberry sound here::

    Today I’m blogging with WordPress, taking notes using jrnl, and keeping my task list in “Super Productivity“…on Linux. Things sure are weird. 🙂

  • Creative: The Entire Extent – Shifter

    All of this nonsense attacks the foundation of photography. Photographers spending four hours adjusting color are making images that don’t look real. Light simply does not do what they are making it do.

    Dan Milnor, Creative: The Entire Extent – Shifter

    I’ve been guilty of this, but no more. These days I hardly touch the originals. I’ve learned that excessive post-processing adds very little and certainly doesn’t turn a bad photo into a good one.

  • 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.