Tuesday, May 16, 2023
It’s mostly the sound of crickets in the Wavelength groups I’m in. Wavelength solves the problems it sets out to solve around groups, threads, etc. but I’m beginning to think that not many people consider those problems big enough to merit using a whole new app. And I’ve yet to see any group interact with AI in a chat.
I like the always-moving-forwardness of paper. Everything new goes in the next available blank space. It’s nice not having to think about it.
Blog post: Restarting my Micro.blog subscription
Restarting my Micro.blog subscription
I restarted my Micro.blog this morning. I was feeling lonely all by myself here at baty.net, so I thought I’d revisit some old friends. I expect this will affect the types of things I post here in my daily notes, but I don’t know in what way, yet.
Micro.blog is a great blogging service, and I’ve been using it almost continually since the original Kickstarter campaign. I sometimes put the account on pause when I’m feeling Subscription Fatigue or when I’m suddenly all into some new platform or if I just don’t feel like sharing quite so much on social networks. It’s usually some combination of those three.
I haven’t decided about cross-posting yet. Micro.blog does a great job of cross-posting and I could easily use it to send posts to Bluesky or Mastodon, but I’m not sure I want to. UPDATE: I see that now I can configure cross-posting on a per-post basis, which I’d wanted forever, so I think I’ll configure both accounts and decide as I go.
I’ll be keeping the default jack.micro.blog domain name rather than my own. First, because I have no qualms about not “owning” what I post there (I own it enough). Second, the domain is perfect for what it’s for. Oh, and I don’t mind a bit of “advertising” for Micro.blog.
If you’re looking for a calm, friendly, simple way to publish short or long posts, Micro.blog fits the bill.
Monday, May 15, 2023
Mike Hall is me, if I were a better, more thoughtful writer.
Blog post: Why am I not taking photos?
Blog post: Friends (ruby CLI)
There’s this thing I’m seeing in Bluesky where if someone is invited and then does Something Bad™, other people demand to see the “invite chain” or whatever so they can, I presume, persecute the person who sent the original invitation. I admit to liking Bluesky’s vibe right now. It’s refreshing. But… first, all of you wannabe culture vigilantes can fuck right off. Second, what do you plan to do once Bluesky is out of beta and any old asshole can join and just ruin your little club? I don’t know what’s worse, a Twitter full of fascists or a Bluesky full of people who consider anyone with a different set of values to be fascists. OK, I do know what’s worse, but you get my point.
I was testing my 1-click settings on Amazon and accidentally bought “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow” so I guess I’m reading that now.
Friends (ruby CLI)
Mike Hall wrote about friends, a personal CRM for the command line. It’s a ruby gem that does most of the things I was trying to do using Emacs.
It seems worth a try, so I installed the gem and created a few shell aliases to make things faster:
alias faa 'friends add activity '
alias faf 'friends add friend '
alias fla 'friends list activities'Why am I not taking photos?
I go through periods during which I don’t feel much like making “art” with my cameras. This is normal, but lately I haven’t felt like taking photographs at all.
For example, I met my parents yesterday to celebrate Mother’s Day. This, being an Event™, prompted me to bring my two good cameras, one film and one digital. I wanted to be sure to make a nice record of the day in both formats. In the end, I took a single photo as we left. I took it with my iPhone.
Sunday, May 14, 2023
Why is it that Obsidian always seems to be getting in its own way? I want so badly to like using it, but I don’t.
I’m often reminded that most people have no idea what they’re talking about.
I love being able to configure software using a plaintext dotfile somewhere. But also, I hate having to configure software using a plaintext dotfile somewhere.
Some old cameras I found in storage
While doing some spring cleaning this week, I ran into a box of old cameras that I had marked “To Sell” but forgot about. The box had an old Olympus digital and a bunch of beat-up OM-2n film cameras and accessories. This was neat, but what I was most exited about were two cameras in particular: An original Fujifilm X100 and an Olympus Stylus Epic.
Here’s the Epic:
Olympus Stylus Epic
I bought this little camera for $75 in 2004. I bought another in 2012 because there were problems with the original. Still, I put a roll in it and so far, so good. I just love them. I hope the two that I have last for a while, because I refuse to pay the $200-$300 they fetch these days.
The second camera is even cooler: an original Fujifilm X100 from 2010. This was such a nice discovery because I couldn’t remember selling it, but also couldn’t seem to find it.
Fujifilm X100
The Internet says that the CMOS sensor on the OG X100 has some kind of magical qualities, but I’ve never really seen it. It’s a wonderful little camera that still takes nice enough 12MP photos. It’s pretty slow to focus compared to current models, but it’s fine in most conditions.
I charged the battery but the camera wouldn’t power on. I paid $12 for a replacement battery and the camera seems to work fine now. Can you tell I’m excited?
Self-portrait with newly-found Fuji X100
Friday, May 12, 2023
For the past two days it’s been painful to put pressure on my left heel. This makes walking very uncomfortable. It’s taking the fun out of my house cleanout project.
It’s amazing how Arc can deploy useful, meaningful updates nearly every week. It’s almost as if they’re honestly trying to make a better browser.
Snoop Dogg on AI risks
“I’m like, are we in a fucking movie right now, or what? The fuck, man?… Shit, what the fuck? I’m lost. I don’t know.”
Snoop Dogg, Ars Technica
Me too, Snoop. Me too. This might be the first honest take I’ve read.
Thursday, May 11, 2023
I updated my /uses page, finally.
I rewatched Brazil. I hadn’t seen it in years and it’s still a favorite. I love the art deco steampunk vibe. It’s bleak and fun at the same time.
Sometimes I will stop doing something because I feel like I’m wasting my time, and I should instead be keeping myself productive by searching for new things to waste my time on.