How should I define “Simplify”?
My goal for 2024 has been “Reduce & Simplify”, but I’m learning that the definition of “Simplify” can be ellusive. I do things in the name of simplification that actually end up making things worse.
A recent example is my computer setup. I was struggling with the fact that my MacBook Pro is not always docked, so all the files I keep on an external drive become unavailable. My NAS (Synology) transfer times were so slow that I decided to “simplify” things by buying a Mac Mini that would be always on. But of course now I have two computers. This neither reduces nor simplifies things.
What’s worse is that in order to clean up and simplify my storage, I bought yet another device and now I have even more places to keep stuff, along with the accompanying decision-making requirements. It’s definitely cleaner and nicer, but it’s not simpler.
And what about blogging? I have baty.net and that should be it, right? It’s running Kirby, which is flexible and pleasant to work with. But I have to “work” with it. I simplified the publishing steps by doing everything right on the server. But that introduces workflow problems when I want to edit templates or CSS or whatever. And also I need to deal with backups and plugins and versions and so on.
Running a blog with Kirby is a lot to think about, which doesn’t feel simple, so I decide to use simple Markdown files for use on this Blot blog. Except I hadn’t installed Dropbox on the new Mini, so there’s no sync, so no blog. I install Maestral (a Dropbox client) and there, my posts just show up on baty.blog. What could be simpler? Except I don’t like needing Dropbox (and the Git sync doesn’t suit my workflow) and I don’t love the idea of depending on someone else for hosting with an app I have no control over. See? It’s pretty simple but there are strings attached that I don’t want to become tangled in.
Then I dip into the Tinderbox blog at daily.baty.net for a few days because it’s a nice, static site that’s fun to use because I love Tinderbox. Except that maintaining things in Tinderbox can get wonky real quick. And I’m totally on my own with dealing with export templates and deployments and here we go again.
The blogging option that requires the least actual thought, and is (for me) simplest is Blot, which is why I’m writing this (using Emacs) here. But the fact is that I’m still running three blogs and that’s the least simple thing I can think of.
Is it weird that I consider Emacs to be the simple option? Its actually the least simple option, but I’ve been using it for so long that it feels simple. That is, until some package update breaks something.
So after the first quarter of 2024 I haven’t lived up to the “Reduce & Simplify” goals nearly as much as I’d like, even though it feels like I’ve tried pretty hard.
Still working on it. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Saturday, March 23, 2024
I love nerds, but this thread is why I also hate nerds.
I still have 3 blogs and a wiki. I can’t seem to stop.
Friday, March 22, 2024
I’ve seen the folks at Arc refer to building a “browser that browses for you” and I don’t approve. I love Arc and have no complaints. I know some people are concerned that they’ve raised funding, but I don’t care about that until it’s actually a problem. Currently, though, the company would need to literally start stomping bunnies for me to switch. I don’t worry about the time I have “invested” in using Arc. If Arc starts becoming a browser I don’t want (one that “browses for me”, for example), then I’ll switch. It would take me 20 minutes to switch to Safari.
Dropbox API must’ve been down for a bit because my changes weren’t syncing to the blog for about an hour yesterday. It’s this kind of dependency that puts me off things like Blot, but Blot happens to be so good at everything else that I can look past it.
He points out, correctly, that if you don’t like the Emacs defaults, you’re free to change them—indeed, that’s the whole point of Emacs configurability—just don’t insist that everybody else should change them too to suit your preferences.
I am firmly in Camp Emacs’ Defaults Are Horrible, and believe we should waste no time defending them. And saying, “Well, you’re free to change them!” is the least helpful answer I can imagine. If you’re such an expert, you’re free to change them back.
Thursday, March 21, 2024
▓▓▓▓▓▓▓░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ 22%
My dog gets up early. Today, that meant 3:10am. I don’t mind getting up early, but this is getting out of hand. It’s now 5:20am. I’ve been up for 2 hours and have taken a walk, farted around on the computer, processed some photos, and wrote in my journal. Now what?
I forgot to mention that had a bit featured in a recent weekend edition of Humdrum’s playful and informative newsletter, foofaraw. It was called Where in the World is Jack?.
Something that has been putting me off Tinderbox is that Spotlight hasn’t been indexing the .tbx documents on either my MBP or the brand new Mini. I’ve done everything I know of to fix this, but nothing works. This is kind of a deal breaker for something I want to use for long-term notes.
I like the baty.blog domain partly because of the nice visual symmetry: xxxx.xxxx
After playing with Hyperbole for a bit, I am not convinced it’s something I need. On the other hand, it’s made me think about how Prot uses plain .txt files by default in Denote. I thought that was weird, but with Hyperbole running in the background, it makes more sense. Noodlin’ on that.
Wednesday, March 20, 2024
This is just easier for me right now, since I’m already in Emacs.
I’ve used Photo Mechanic for years. It’s kind of expensive, but the last major (paid) update was in 2020 so the annual cost has been reasonable. I went to install it on the new Mini and learned that they’ve introduced a subscription option. The version I use is now $24.99/month. Nope. They do still offer a Perpetual license but it’s $399 (with updates for one year). I love PM but I don’t need it, so I’ll have to pass. I can still use my older version for now, but it’s hard to feel vested knowing that it’s a dead end.
All I want is to buy some software and pay $30 or whatever every year or so for upgrades.
For the past year or two, I’ve found myself noticing some cars looking…weird.
I for one hate these new, trendy, non-paint paint colors. So many cars look like someone covered the primer in varnish and called it a day.
Tuesday, March 19, 2024
I wonder what I would do with my time if I didn’t have the internet.
Had an extended dream last night that I couldn’t find my car. I was sure I had parked it near where Donald Trump had driven away in a beat up old Acura Integra with a loose wheel, but neither my car nor Trump were anywhere to be found.
This is how I like my blog’s content to look. I always come back to Markdown files in folders.
Monday, March 18, 2024
Yesterday, on daily.baty.net, I wrote:
Today I woke up and my first thought was, “Oh right, I’m back in Tinderbox again.” What will I wake up to tomorrow?
I suppose then the answer is “Emacs and Markdown and Blot.im”.
You’ll have to excuse me for rambling here today. I need to talk about why, after a week on everything but Emacs, I’m now back in Emacs and posting to the Blot blog. Tinderbox, Logseq, and Obsidian can be a fun change of pace, but I can’t figure out why anyone who has become proficient using Emacs and Org-mode would ever stop using Emacs and Org-mode. Other than the mobile factor, there’s no reason to leave the comfortable, free, future-proof, and powerful environment of Emacs. Also, Markdown-mode in Emacs is very good.
Wow, my Blot folders were a disaster. There were nearly 100 “conflicted copy” files from Nov. 2023. I had over 500MB of images in an old wp-content folder, but only 6 images were being used. I sure make a mess. It took an hour, but I think I have things cleaned up pretty well, now. Let’s keep it that way, eh Jack?
Test of Git sync in Blot
I’ve changed the sync method in Blot from Dropbox to Git, since I want to avoid having to install Dropbox on the new Mini. If you see this, it worked.
However…
I’ve decided to use Dropbox for sync. One of Blot’s compelling features is that when syncing via Dropbox, all I need to do is create or edit a file and hit “Save” and it’s out there. No git add . or committing necessary. I like that lack of friction, even if sometimes it means I’m publishing half-formed things.
So I installed Maestral and hooked Blot back up with my Dropbox account. Maestral is fast and lightweight so I don’t feel too gross having it installed.