My “workbench”

I put together a workbench in the basement after moving into my wife’s house. It has all the things I might need for minor repairs or electronics projects. You know, in case I ever feel the urge to fix or build something.

I often imagine myself as someone handy with tools. Someone who is not just creative, but can actually implement his ideas. Or someone who can repair things. It’s fun to imagine myself as that person, but I am not that person.

Since the “maker” urge hasn’t arrived, instead of using my workbench as a workbench, I’ve been using it as a standup writing desk. I have my notebooks and paper-related doodads within reach on a shelf to my left. My pens and stamps and pencil sharpener are on another shelf in front of me. It’s working out well, so I don’t mind that it isn’t used for what I intended.

December 22, 2022 Workflow Analog Writing Reply by email

Apparently, the answer is…fiddle with my blog. (Or maybe write about fiddling with my blog.)

I spent (aka wasted) many hours yesterday futzing with WordPress and Hugo. The day began with thinking about moving baty.net back to Hugo. I love writing in Emacs and using Org-mode files for publishing.

I feel like I’m a static website person. I want my site to be nothing more than a simple folder full of HTML files on a web server somewhere. Mmmm, fast, lightweight, future-proof, secure.

I also want to post by clicking a button, typing, and clicking another button. I want images to be managed for me. I want analytics, comments, and easy upgrades.

So, basically I want HugoPress. There is no such thing. None of the web front ends to Hugo are any good, so that’s out. I just want both sets of features and to pick and choose on the fly. I can’t have that, so historically I have kept two blogs, one static, one (usually) WordPress. Then I can use each set of features as needed. Except that splits my content and I don’t want that either.

Instead of writing, then, I continue to waffle about platforms. I recently made the “and that’s that!” decision to go all-in with WordPress. Once running, WordPress is the easiest way to get words published, and that’s why we’re here, right? So there!

And yet…

December 20, 2022 Blogging Reply by email

Eastgate has released a nice update to Tinderbox. Version 9.5 has some nifty features:

Automatically add a Prototype or Place when adding notes. Naming a note something like “John Smith#Person” will create the note titled John Smith and automatically apply the “Person” prototype. I use a lot of prototypes so this is handy

Geographic Adornments. “If any adornment has an Address, Tinderbox will figure out the corresponding latitude and longitude and display a map of the region.”

Preview and Export: Sensible default templates and prototypes have been added and are configured automatically. Tinderbox’s export features are deep and powerful, but can be tricky to grasp. This helps get things rolling.

View and edit multiple notes. This is great! Select a bunch of notes and then read and edit them together as one document, but they remain separate notes also.

Another useful update to one of my all-time favorite apps.

December 15, 2022 Software Tinderbox Reply by email

2022 has been another year of wildly rearranging my approach to photography. I’ve gone all-in Leica and back. I’ve been all-in with film, and back. And so on. I do this because I’m more of a camera nerd than an artist.

Let’s start with the film cameras. First, I sold the big Linhof Master Technika. It was a beautiful kit, but I almost never used it. I still have an old Crown Graphic for when I get the urge to shoot 4×5.

I still have three Leica M film cameras: M3, M6, and MP. I tried and failed at selling the M6. Here they are on my workbench:

Leicas: M3, MP, and M6

The M6 is for sale again. I will hate myself for selling it, but it’s dumb to have something so nice (and valuable) just sitting on a shelf most of the time.

I was also able to revive the Ricoh GR1, which I’m very happy about.

Ricoh GR

So, what about digital, then? That’s still being tweaked, but right now I’m going with the new X-T5 and a few favorite lenses.

Testing the Fuji X-T5

I ordered the X-T5 with the 16-80 “kit” lens. I don’t like zooms, and I don’t love f4 lenses, but it’s a nice all-arounder in a pinch and a cheap way to get it. I have the 23 f2, 35 f1.4, and 56 1.2 on the way.

I’ve stopped scanning film with a digital camera, so I shouldn’t miss the Lumix S5 and Macro, which I’ve traded for the Fuji lenses. I can change my mind pretty inexpensively with the Fuji 60mm macro any time.

I have come very close to buying another Leica M10-R, but I’m going to see how it feels to use the Fuji for digital.

Where does that leave us? To sum up:

Every Day(ish) Carry:

• Leica MP
• Ricoh GR1
• Fujifilm X-T5

Change-of-Pace Carry:

• Leica M3
• Hasselblad 500C/M
• Crown Graphic 4×5
• Assorted 35mm (OM-1n, Leica IIIf, etc)

December 10, 2022 Photography Reply by email

I’m sick of looking at my own stupid face everywhere, so I’m bringing back my old avatar, “Pipe Guy”.

Here he is:

“Pipe Guy”

I wrote about where this came from a few years ago in The origin of my avatar, but the short version is that it came from this old found photo from the early 1900s:

That photography makes me happy, and I’m reminded of it whenever I see the avatar.

December 9, 2022 Meta Reply by email

December 9, 2022 Reply by email

December 9, 2022 Reply by email

AI continues to enthrall everyone. Here’s DHH on AI creativity vs humans:

Why shouldn’t the same be true of AI generated novels, plays, or movies? What realm of creative production does not benefit from the out-of-the-norm inferences that computers have already proven they can make within the bounds of chess and go to great effect? Is what we call human creativity all that different from a large language model anyway? A distillation of observations, inputs, mimetic tendencies, and a wetware random generator? 

DHH, More creative than mere humans

Fair questions. I just wish he wouldn’t keep calling us “mere humans”.

I was playing with the amazing ChatGPT and it felt like something new. Using it felt like the first time I dragged to resize a filled shape in MacPaint on my Macintosh Plus.

I imagine that before too long, just like filled shapes in a drawing program, AI will become just another boring, everyday tool. But not today. Today, to this mere human, it’s magic.

December 5, 2022 AI Reply by email

“Command — Shift — C”

This is so silly. It’s a keyboard command to copy the URL. Why do I need that? I can tell you that I’ve used it one billion times now, so apparently, I do need this. If you’re worried about the URL bar being tucked away, I have a hunch that what you actually miss is an easy place to copy and paste the URL, and once you know if you have a keyboard command for it (plus clickable icon), you don’t miss it anymore. If you really do miss the full-width URL bar, you can activate “Developer Mode” and it comes back.

But there is a bonus!

It automatically removes cruft from URLs!

Chris Coyier, What’s Good About the Arc Browser

I’ve been a hardcore Safari die-hard since the beginning. Over the past several months, I’ve become a die-hard Arc lover.

December 5, 2022 Software Reply by email

I collect a lot of “stuff” on my computer. I’m one of those lazy people who just drop most of it onto my Desktop and assume I’ll figure out what to do with it later. The problem is, I rarely actually figure out what to do with most of it.

Late last year I created a folder on my Mac’s desktop named “Beyond the Infinite”¹ . Anything that ends up on my desktop that isn’t important enough to file away but is something that I’d still like to keep, “just in case,” gets tossed into Beyond the Infinite.

It’s become a minor treasure. It’s like a journal of things that barely matter at the time, but become valuable later. Screenshots, text snippets, URLs, etc. I love it.

December 5, 2022 Workflow Reply by email