Qobuz is finally available in the US. I’m almost certain to like it more than Tidal, and it works with Roon, too.
After a week using Gus Mueller’s Retrobatch I’ve purchased a license. I’ve been using it several times a day.
Post icons
Given my weird new blog layout, I thought1 it would be helpful to include a small emoji next to the title for those posts having titles.
What I didn’t want was to include the emoji as part of a post’s Title field. That feels like embedding metadata where it doesn’t belong and it also messes with permalinks.
This site uses Blot, so all I had to do was include a new field in the template.
Template code
Now I can add an “Icon” attribute to any post’s metadata for which I want an icon to show in the title.
Post metadata
And voilà!
List of posts
Notice I didn’t use “Type” or “Category” as the icon trigger. This way, I can choose any arbitrary icon regardless of the post type. This adds a little maintenance overhead but I like the flexibility.
Team Human by Douglas Rushkoff
Team HumanTeam Human by Douglas Rushkoff
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I like Douglas Rushkoff’s ideas around civilization and human-ness. I agree with him in general about the isolating effects of the way we “connect” today. What I didn’t love about the book is that so many of his 100 “statements” just say things as if they’re obviously true. I wasn’t always so sure. I also think I could have gotten as much out of watching a few more of his videos on YouTube.
I have to admit that I mostly skimmed the last half of the book.
The Machine Stops - Oliver Sacks, The New Yorker
Everything is public now, potentially: one’s thoughts, one’s photos, one’s movements, one’s purchases. There is no privacy and apparently little desire for it in a world devoted to non-stop use of social media. Every minute, every second, has to be spent with one’s device clutched in one’s hand. Those trapped in this virtual world are never alone, never able to concentrate and appreciate in their own way, silently. They have given up, to a great extent, the amenities and achievements of civilization: solitude and leisure, the sanction to be oneself, truly absorbed, whether in contemplating a work of art, a scientific theory, a sunset, or the face of one’s beloved.
Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport
Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy WorldDigital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World by Cal Newport
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I enjoyed it. Cal has never had a social media account. Counter-intuitively, this gives him a clear perspective of the cost/benefit balance offered by social networks. He suggests a number of actionable ways to reduce and clarify how we interact with devices and other people.
Introducing MAYA: the incredible modern digital darkroom timer
MAYA is a brand new, modular, from scratch digital darkroom timer that can be used (right now) for both making prints and timing film/paper development.
I’ll be getting one of these the minute it’s available (and also when I’ve finished my darkroom).
Possible revival for the failing TETENAL company
An employee initiative in the form of a management buy out has offered to purchase all photochemical formulas, the Tetenal brand and the production facilities of its former employer starting April 1st 2019.
It was reported today by German-based publication, PhotoKlassik International that NEW TETENAL will take over operations and production from the insolvent Tetenal Europe GmbH and expects to take orders and engage with industry partners as early as the beginning of March 2019.
This is a good sign for those of us who use Tetenal products for color film processing.