Shellsharks Blogroll - BlogFlock

Finished reading The Palace Job - Molly White's activity feed

2026-08-16T15:13:56.000Z

Finished reading:

Rogues of the Republic series, book 1.

The Palace Job

by Patrick Weekes.

Published 2012. 438 pages.

Started July 17, 2026; completed August 16, 2026.

2026-08-16 14:35: Working great 👍🏻 - Kev Quirk

2026-08-16T13:35:00.000Z

Working great 👍🏻

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2026-08-16 14:22: Last November I replaced my oldest son's PC with an £88 iMac that was so... - Kev Quirk

2026-08-16T13:22:00.000Z

Last November I replaced my oldest son's PC with an £88 iMac that was so successful that I'm now doing the same thing again for my youngest son!

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Thoughts on visiting the Edinburgh Fringe as a newbie - Terence Eden’s Blog

2026-08-16T11:34:21.000Z

This was my first ever time at The Fringe™. Here are some scattered thoughts looking at the good, the bad, and the annoying aspects of this madly extravagant exhibition of talent. We saw 23 shows together, and one separate show each. There were more hits than misses, but the frustration of wasting your time on a bad show is rather heavy when there are literally hundreds of other shows on offer.

Price

Everything is too expensive. We found student accommodation which was a "mere" £220 per night. I guess that wasn't too exorbitant considering the gouging going on elsewhere - and it did come with a decent breakfast. It was about a 20 minute walk from the Royal Mile, with several performance venues on the way.

The 46 tickets we bought cost us £550 in total - which included a few donations at Free Fringe shows. So an average ticket of £12, which isn't too bad, I guess. You can certainly do things cheaper by only going to free shows and running away when they ask you to pay - but that's a dick move.

£20 for a single hour of stand-up feels like kind of a rip off at times - especially with the mandatory £1.50 booking fee for every ticket. Some shows are a bit cheaper, and Monday/Tuesday has 2-for-1 offers. But it's easy for a couple to spend well over a hundred quid per day seeing 3 or 4 shows.

Festival food and drink prices are inflated - but there's no shortage of supermarkets if you want a meal deal. Restaurants were usual city centre prices. The bars at festival venues were fully taking advantage of their captive audience, but the pubs aren't much cheaper.

The App

In theory, the app / website is good. In reality they're both a bit frustrating to use. Every time I ticked the box saying "remember my credit card details" and every time it forgot them. Both app and website frequently timed out, failed to add tickets to baskets, and were a bit shonky. The one thing this needs to do is reliably take my money and give it to performers - but it felt like a battle every time.

We missed one show because we couldn't buy a ticket in the app despite being in the queue. The door staff didn't have the ability to sell us a ticket (although some venues can) and directed us to a box office which was dealing with a bunch of people who were bemused that they couldn't pay in dollars.

Inexplicably, the app doesn't have the ability to see show reviews, even though they're present on the website.

There's a good "Nearby Now" feature which is handy when you're exhausted and don't want to trek far. By contrast, there's no easy way to see what's on near the next venue you're going to.

Searching for shows often returns events which are cancelled or sold out.

I wish it were possible to see which shows had undersold and were starting soon. I loved taking a punt on an unknown act who only had half-a-dozen people in the room. Sadly there's no way to grab last-minute deals.

This isn't helped by the total collapse of mobile signal in Edinburgh centre. I tried with a variety of SIMs but frequently only got a trickle of data.

What To See

The FOMO is real! Every show's poster makes it look amazing. The earnest performers desperately handing out leaflets for their own shows are so enthusiastic. Everyone you speak to in a queue has a "must see" which is probably sold out.

We mostly avoided seeing big names. They'll be on telly soon enough or tour down in London. I don't think that act who was big in the 1990s needs my coin as much as some up-and-comer.

You could easily fill a week seeing nothing but Shakespeare in a variety of styles. Or just watch middle-aged white guys have mental breakdowns on stage because they're on their 3rd divorce. Or, as it turns out, fill your boots with Heated Rivalry shows.

We did the tasting menu and had a little bit of everything. It was mostly pretty good with only a few duds.

Reviews

Even the worst show we saw had a couple of people who declared it the funniest thing ever five stars lol. You can't account for someone else's taste.

I enjoyed writing my reviews - and I hope they were useful to others - but you're mostly on your own when it comes to what's good. I suppose if you wait until later in the festival there will be more of a consensus about what to see.

My philosophy is to take a punt on basically anything that doesn't look too abhorrent. Even if it is shit, there's be something else along in a minute which will be better.

Distance

You'll get your 10k steps in before lunchtime - Edinburgh is a delightfully walkable city. With a bit of planning you can walk a straight line from show-to-show. We didn't plan and traipsed back and forth like the little lost tourists we were.

Venues are mostly well sign-posted. Again, the app is a bit crap at pointing them out, but it'll open your mapping app to navigate you there.

Many of the venues are in historic buildings, so don't expect lifts or escalators. Stairs all the way, baby!

Harry Potter

Edinburgh seems like an inclusive and trans-friendly city. Half the acts on the Fringe proudly stated their LGBT+ credentials and most venues we went to had gender neutral loos.

And then every other shop proudly boasts it is 100% definitely where JKR got the inspiration for Harry Potter. Tourists are schelpped between "Diagon Alley" and probably-the-cafe-where-she-wrote while slurping down dayglo butterbeers.

Truly the duality of life!

Comfort

There's an ancient Edinburgh byelaw which prohibits cushions on seats. No chair may be wide enough to accommodate anything other than the skinniest arse. It also places a moratorium on legroom.

Ok, some of the venues were more comfortable than others, but prepare for a bit of backache.

Toilets are plentiful in most venues, and theres no shortage of pubs to pop in to if you need refreshment or relief.

Scotland isn't known for its heat, but some of the venues desperately need air-conditioning in their foyers and auditoriums. A few were handing out free water to the swealtering punters - but probably best to bring your own

Would I Come Here Again?

Yeah! I reckon so! Probably not next year, and probably with more of a plan about which "must sees" I wanted to see.

Staying closer to the centre is more expensive, but might have made it easier to see some if the shows later in the night.

There is so much talent, so much variety, and so much joy in the city that it becomes rather infectious.

If you can afford the train fare, hotel costs, tickets, booking fees, pints, chips and all the other people desperate to stick their hands into your wallet - then it is a great adventure.

Some things I’ve been enjoying: August 2026 - localghost

2026-08-16T00:00:00.000Z

When was the last time I did one of these? Last year? Here's a collection of things I've enjoyed from the last 8 months, I suppose.

Video games

Satisfactory

I knew I shouldn’t buy this game after playing the demo, but I bought it anyway, and I’ve racked up over 100 hours on it so far. Please send help.

I bounced off Factorio as I found it quite overwhelming, but Satisfactory has a bit more exploration and silliness - the in-game AI (in the actual, sci-fi sense of the word) narrator is very GLaDOS. It’s got a variety of accessibility settings, so you can turn off combat and even replace spiders with something else.

The goal of the game is to save humanity (ostensibly, I haven’t actually finished it yet) by colonising a planet, destroying its landscape and mining it for all sorts of resources, in order to ship important components for “Project Assembly”. I can’t really articulate what it is about building numerous factories, miles of pipeline and train tracks that’s occupied me for so many hours. I showed my husband the spaghetti panic attack that is the mess of conveyors I’ve built going all over the place, and he was visibly uncomfortable. But maybe you’ll be one of those players who builds everything extremely neatly. That was never going to be me.

Pokopia

Over the years I’ve dipped in and out of the Pokémon games franchise; from borrowing my friend’s Gameboy Mini to play Pokémon Blue (and keeping myself awake at night because I was scared of Missingno) through to playing Diamond on a Nintendo DS when I definitely should have been revising for my Writing Systems exam at university, I always enjoyed them, but never cared much about buying them as soon as they came out. However, the prospect of Animal Crossing x Minecraft (not that I’ve ever actually played Minecraft!) and the great reviews it was getting were too good to pass up, and I preordered Pokopia. Let me tell you: it was unbridled joy from start to finish. I certainly can’t be bothered to catch them all (never been that kind of person) but I’m looking forward to the DLC in November to give me an excuse to play it again.

If you liked Animal Crossing, you’ll love this; even if you didn’t love Animal Crossing, you’ll probably find something in this game. Maybe the endless terraforming, or hunting for new Pokémon, or the metroidvania-style skill unlocks that allow you to reach new areas (my video-game kryptonite).

Books

The Tainted Cup/A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett

This was sold to me on the premise of “botanical technology”, and I was not disappointed. A fascinating fantasy world where mycelia and plants form the basis of science, technology and magic. A murder mystery, an eccentric investigator, and our protagonist - her assistant with a magically altered mind who can remember everything he’s ever seen.

There's a third book out, which I haven't read yet.

The Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir

Set in a universe of nine Houses ruled over by the Emperor Undying, and our protagonists from the Ninth House, two queer women - one an unwilling but hilarious cavalier, the other a powerful necromancer. The first book, Gideon the Ninth, sees them gather with other cavaliers and necromancers from the other Houses to take part in deadly trials to try and become powerful Lyctors, in the fight to save the universe. As the story unfolds further through the second book, Harrow the Ninth, we learn that all is not what it seems. (NB. I’ve seen these books described with “lesbian necromancers” as a selling point, but I feel like that might just be SEO because it’s really not the main point of the book and it’s not a romance. But it’s also not wrong?)

Though it took me a little time to get into the first book, by the end I was completely hooked. I’ve just finished the second, and I’ve got book 3 (Nona the Ninth) queued up to read next. If you like sci-fi with a lot of lore and worldbuilding, you’ll love it. Spaceships! Ghosts! Bone magic! A mysterious locked tomb! Endless twists!

I love the unhinged combination of flowery prose - and archaic words I had to look up - alongside, well, references to memes and occasionally coarse language. It manages to both take itself very seriously and also not seriously at all.

TV

Heated Rivalry

If you’d told me last year that one of my favourite shows of the year would be a) about ice hockey, something I know absolutely nothing about/have never watched and b) a gay sports romance, I would have many questions for you. But I’m no different from anyone else, and I’m not immune to whatever drugs this show magically transmits into your brain. I sat on the edge of my seat feeling all sorts of emotions in the club scene. All The Things She Said made it back into my frequent rotation (though, granted, it has been in my rotation for years, because it’s a banger, and did you know Trevor Horn wrote the English version??). My heart leapt into my mouth when Scott did that thing in Episode 5 and that Wolf Parade song blasted out at the emotional peak of the episode. And then the cottage. I swear I haven’t been so invested in fictional relationships since I was 15 and ran fanlistings for Green Wing characters.

But it’s not a trashy romantic series like you might expect: it’s actually a very good show, with great performances, and great showrunning. Don’t watch it on public transport.

ER

Appreciate I’m about 30 years late on this one, but we can’t always have our fingers on the pulse. I started watching this as Prime took Elementary off (temporarily, the latter seasons are back on now) which had been the show I’d watch while cooking, so I needed something to fill the void. It was a worldwide hit for a reason: it’s VERY good. Great actors, great storylines, and some great haircuts in the early seasons.

Like most shows of its time, there are some things that haven’t aged well, such as a lot of “women, am I right??" kind of comments, and unfortunately some transphobic jokes in the odd episode. I’m hoping that will stop in later series. But largely, it’s a good show.

I’ve been watching it alongside The Pitt - created by one of the ER creators - so I’m seeing some of the same episodic storylines play out in both, but I appreciate I’m supposed to have watched it 20-30 years ago and not remember it like it was yesterday because it was.

Which brings me to...

The Pitt

Listen. Your friend’s told you to watch it; your colleagues have told you to watch it; now I am telling you to watch it. It’s very good. There have been some moments that are a little heavy-handed with the PSAs, but otherwise, thoroughly recommend.

Interview with the Vampire

I only started watching this yesterday, actually, a recommendation a while ago from my husband - but with a sprained ankle and the desperate need to do literally anything other than play more Satisfactory, I got through quite a few episodes.

I've never actually read the book, and I watched the 1994 film a while back and can remember basically nothing, so I was going in without many expectations. Unlike the film, the romantic relationship between Louis and Lestat is a focal point instead of just an allusion, and Louis's experiences as a wealthy Black man in New Orleans in the early 20th century provide a very different setting to the story.

Gardening

It’s been well over a year since I redesigned my garden, and last autumn I started to make the design a reality. I’ve largely stuck to the shape and the layout of shrubs, though I’ve been a little more free with the placement of some of the perennials.
It was looking pretty nice up until the last two months where it hasn’t rained once. We’re now in a hosepipe ban, which means I have to lug watering cans back and forth, and choose which annuals to sacrifice. I planted a load of things at the end of May and sadly some of the newer plants haven’t made it.

The drought, and seeing what’s survived versus what hasn’t, has made me reconsider some of my plant choices. I chose plants that were suited to clay soil, in both full sun and part-sun/shade, but over the year I’ve identified that a) some beds get more sun than I’d thought, and b) clay soil doesn’t really make much difference if it’s dry as a bone. I’ll probably have to replace some of the plants I’d chosen with some more drought-tolerant ones. Salvias have been thriving, as has achillea and stipa tenuissima which I didn’t think would do particularly well on the clay. I've given up trying to grow hydrangeas in the front, and instead I'm going to try planting russian sage by the front wall instead.

For all I know, we could end up with a mild and rainy summer next year, in which case I could be regretting choosing drought-tolerant plants by next August. So much of gardening is just figuring out what works and what doesn’t.

My tomatoes didn’t like the extensive heat at all, and many of them got blossom end rot until I started watering them more aggressively. I used to be able to get away without watering them every single day, but in this weather I’ve had to. I’ve had a lovely crop of cucumbers and yellow courgettes, though.

Dog

I continue to greatly enjoy dog. Here's a picture of her passed out from ripping up cardboard.

Book Review: Slags by Emma Jane Unsworth ★★★⯪☆ - Terence Eden’s Blog

2026-08-15T11:34:42.000Z

I'm really not sure what to make of this book. It was recommended by my book club as something between tragedy and comedy. The characters are excruciatingly well written - if you (or your friends) shoplifted Impulse body-spray back in the 1990s, you'll be hit by a terrifying wave of nostalgia.

It reminds me of this excellent essay by Marie Le Conte about consent. What can a teenage girl consent to? What will fuck her up for years to come? What if she doesn't mind being a little fucked up?

The prose is amazing, the plotting perfectly paced, and the denouement satisfying - with lots of retrospectives "Oh! I get it now"s.

Despite the hectic and hilarious story, I still felt a little sordid reading it. There's a streak of sadness running through it, intertwined with some unbearably heartbreaking poetry.

It’s always raining and there’s nothing to do except dream and they don’t even give you much time to do that with all the coursework.

It is entertaining and fun - but you need a strong stomach and a casual disregard for the overall happiness of your protagonists.

One note - there are a few odd / broken styles in the ePub. Nothing too disruptive, but some passages have a slightly smaller font size for no discernable reason.

Severe Alert Issued By Me: This Blog Post - Robb Knight • Posts • Atom Feed

2026-08-15T10:24:25.000Z

To start with, both my wife and I have alerts turned off because when they did a test in 2023 we had a one month old baby and didn't want her to be disturbed. Leaving it off because I assumed this would be abused, as I believe it has in this case, was just a bonus.

Yesterday the government used the emergency alert system to send an alert to warn people not to start fires because it's hot and dry everywhere. The full text of the alert was:

There is a very high risk of wildfires nationally. Residents, landowners and visitors should not undertake any activity that could start a fire, including disposable barbecues, firepits, garden incinerators or fireworks. Even a small flame can rapidly develop into a major wildfire placing lives, homes, businesses and emergency responders at risk.

Follow official updates and report signs of fire immediately by calling 999. Search gov.uk/alerts for more information.

I posted about it then did some follow up posts but I don’t think I was able to capture what annoyed me so much about this properly so I’m trying again.

If you go to the alerts website linked it says "You may get alerts about any type of life threatening emergency". "Don't light fires please" is not a life threatening emergency.

Further down "When you get an alert, stop what you’re doing and follow the instructions in the alert." and if you're driving "find somewhere safe and legal to stop before reading the message". That is, these alerts are so important you should stop as soon as possible to read the information and "follow the instructions" which in this case are barely instructions.

If this was an alert for a tornado or earthquake the instructions of "find shelter" or similar would apply to basically everyone who got the alert. There is nothing actionable in the alert that was sent.

There are a lot of replies on Mastodon along the lines of "people are stupid they need reminding to not set fires during a drought and heatwave" and I totally agree that people, collectively, are stupid but this absolutely not what the emergency system is for and I'll be keeping mine turned off.

As an aside, I don't even need to have mine on because everyone posted about it immediately so even if it was a real emergency, I'd still find out pretty quickly so I guess the system works. Thanks gang.

Zines Resources - Robb Knight • Posts • Atom Feed

2026-08-15T06:43:00.000Z

When I posted about my zine I mentioned being surprised that there wasn't any tools for showing zines online like a web component or similar. Turns out there is, web search is just shit now.

Andy pointed me to Zine Machine which is a web-based viewer that uses print styles to switch between web and print layouts. Benji is doing something similar with their zine here.

Then there's Dirty Little Zine which is a web based zine maker.

I added some notes to my list about zine-related projects I wanted to try and one of them was a zine splitter. The idea was to take an image and split it into eight separate images for viewing online, or downloading.

Ragman beat me to it. He built Zine Cutter which works perfectly and has saved me a job.

Morning; walking; music - James' Coffee Blog

2026-08-15T00:00:00.000Z

My first feelings outside this morning were of the chilly, refreshing autumn air; one for which I have been yearning for many days. I feel at home in cooler climates. In the grass, a rabbit hops slowly; other rabbits gather, too. A bird flies in front of me as I walk; many kinds of birds sing, heard by each other and the trees and me. In the song, I wonder. Do birds have their own community? Their own rhythm? A robin – or maybe a chaffinch – perches on a low branch at the bottom of the hedge. I stand still to admire its colours for a moment.

As I walk I take in deep breaths to embrace the morning air. In, out. I take in the comfort of the cold after an unseasonably warm summer. The breeze feels like home. I look around and see a faint love heart shape made by the leaves on a tree nearby; another tree is starting to turn auburn; a mint green tree catches my eye. The sun peeks through the grey clouds and starts to shine through the fields; the light is welcoming. The day is beginning.

Later, I arrive at a coffee shop, taking a seat by the window that lets me watch the world go by // the flow of people and cars and suitcases and stories is fascinating. I lift my coffee cup of the first time today and see the ways of sun shine through the window onto the drink. Sun-kissed coffee. Passing by, people are dressed up for shows and wearing festival t-shirts – the Edinburgh Fringe is in full swing. Some people walk fast, with a spring in their steps, others saunter.

With breakfast and coffee, I was ready to start my day.

⁂ ⁂ ⁂

There is a long walk through the city that I have wanted to do for the longest while, up Blackford Hill. I used to walk there every weekend, revelling in the panoramic views of the city – views extending from the countryside to the sea, overlooking houses and church spires and more. It is a far walk – a few miles – and I have always convinced myself to do something else; to go to a bookshop, to go to the art gallery. But this morning, something made me think I should do the walk today.

I did the walk today, trying my best to remember the path I used to take – one that weaved throughout quiet neighbourhoods; one on which there was always a particular album to which I would listen. I wanted to follow the familiar, but also the new: to do a walk I have done, but to walk today; my memories of the walk are at least a year old.

Passing purple flowers and moments of humanity and bakeries and trees, and taking a few wrong turns here and there – there is one part of the walk where, even when I was well practiced, I was occasionally prone to reaching a dead end – I made my way up to the hill, the hill on which the last stretch is all grass, malleable grass, malleable in a way that makes me think how hard stone is; how much more grass there should be. What if our pavements were grass?

I looked up to what was the periphery of the sky when observed from the distance and was now beautiful grass, underfoot. There is one particular part of the walk, however, reaching the top, where there is a dip, and it looks like you might walk into the sky. But when you reach that point, the stone marker of the hill becomes visible. Down a bit, then up a steeper stretch, and you have made it. Reaching the top of the hill, I had to lean forward to stay balanced against the wind; a wind more intense now there was no protection from the buildings that surrounded me for most of my walk.

Atop the hill, a family speaking German take photos of themselves and the city. I think about how quiet it is up here, only the faint hum of cars and construction equipment and the occasional conversation audible. I look around at the landscape that first brought me here and made me want to keep coming back every weekend, and realise that it is just as awe-inspiring as ever: the views of Arthur’s Seat and all the rows of stone houses and the Castle and all the other buildings that make up the place we call Edinburgh are breathtaking.

I sit down on a bench and look out for miles: at the stadium and the sea and the hills and the churches and the castle, and imagine all the hopes and dreams there are around me.

⁂ ⁂ ⁂

Walking slowly, except for the steep points where I feel like I need to speed up such was the gradient of the decline, I admired the landscape from many angles before descending the hill, and making my way back into the city. Two miles or so later, I was back on the concrete streets, now filled with music. The Fringe was in full swing.

A pianist played on the Royal Mile, one of the many hearts of the city – cities are too big to have only one heart. His piano did not have a front cover, so we – the large crowd assembled – could see every hammer pressed. I could feel the emotion in every note as the hammers touched the strings. The music the piano made was bright, and beautiful.

“If you enjoyed this music, it’s all my own.”

⁂ ⁂ ⁂

Shortly thereafter, in the park, a guitarist plays faintly in the distance. The sound is mostly inaudible, but a few notes carry across the multi-tiered park that is Princes Street Gardens. I had to get closer, to hear what songs were being played – to hear the lyrics and to feel the rhythm of the music. Approaching, I heard the tail end of Year 3000, sung in the artist’s own, melodious voice.

“One outfit, one guitar – that’s all you need, right.” “You can’t [inaudible] your mistakes, you’ve just got to write songs about them.” The artist’s interstitial messages between songs were full of wisdom, whether or not she realised it.

I was entranced, as I was with the pianist earlier, and another guitarist earlier in the week. The transition to the chorus was joyful – at first, a moment of anticipation, then I close my eyes and start trying to identify the strumming pattern, and then, here comes the chorus. I listen and keep listening, tapping along to the rhythm. Here comes the bridge. People around me are smiling. I am too. One person lightly sways to and fro to the music.

Her voice reminds me a little bit of Maisie Peters.

The backdrop of the guitarist was Princes Street Gardens, the National Gallery of Scotland, and Edinburgh Castle and yet, in the moments when I listened to her music, staying for several songs, all the architecture fell into the background as I held on to lyrics, watched how she played, and enjoyed the moment. The music made me lose track of the world, and yet also, as music does, made me feel more connected than ever. We grow with words, with melody.

Edinburgh Fringe: Target Audience ★★★★★ - Terence Eden’s Blog

2026-08-14T18:45:41.000Z

Easily the best show I've seen at the Fringe.

For plot-related reasons, a television company asks a literary genius to create a "pro-weapons sitcom".

It is a fast paced mix of the sitcoms 2012 and Episodes. The jokes come at a steady pace - some attack with the furiousity of bullets, others the the subtlety of a knife in the night.

All four of the cast are spectacular. Turning the sometimes-stock characters into powerful avatars. The amoral Zuckerbergian horror of data driven decision making is the perfect manure in which to grow comedy roses.

It stands well against any classic farce and I hope it tours until the end of the world.

A special shout out to the Pleasance Above for being the most comfortable venue in Edinburgh! Raked auditorium, cushioned seats, and air conditioning all make for a delightful theatrical experience.

Edinburgh Fringe: Stand-up Philosophy ★★★⯪☆ - Terence Eden’s Blog

2026-08-14T15:16:26.000Z

For a pay-what-you-want show this was decent. Three comedians doing sets on the theme of philosophy - followed by a Q&A where the audience poses philosophical conundrums to them.

It more-or-less works as a gimmick. Although an early afternoon crowd may have been more likely to ask questions anonymously.

I've never seen a Sikh doing an unnervingly accurate impression of Trump before. Daman Bamrah did a perfect routine which blended his philosophy with the perils of the bum-gun. An unexpected but hilarious combination.

Sid Singh's set trod a fairly standard path through reactions to racism, but his discussion at the end about the inherent problems involved in writing controversial material was excellent.

Tying it all together was Alex Farrow who perfectly brought together the various philosophical strands and proved why Albert Camus was a fan of Stewart Lee.

A great set of acts at a decent price.

Edinburgh Fringe: Waiting for Wonka ★★★⯪☆ - Terence Eden’s Blog

2026-08-14T12:31:07.000Z

This play is fucked up! Such a brilliant concept - what happened to the kids from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory after they were rejected by Wonka? Stuck together in a Big-Brotheresque household, they trauma-dump on each other.

New Zealand's Half Trick have shrunk their full-length play into a Fringe-standard 60 minutes. That does make it a little brusque and, simultaneously, a bit repetitive. The characters don't get quite enough room to breathe. Mike Teavee has, of course, become an incel online troll - perfect! - but the rest haven't changed much.

The horrors of industrial accidents mixed with corporate malfeasance makes for an excellent comedy. The cast inhabit their characters perfectly, each totally believable as a childhood favourite who has become a deeply troubled adult.

I'd be delighted to read a full length novelisation of the script. It is a witty and terrifying update to a book I devoured as a child. Only now do I realise that it was also devouring me. Truly when you gaze into the lake of chocolate…

On Publishing Your Salary - Kev Quirk

2026-08-14T09:16:00.000Z

One of my favourite things to do online is perusing the IndieWeb. It's fun, and I've been able to discover a tonne of interesting people along the way. But every now and then, I come across someone who has published their salary history on their site.

At first, I thought this was a great idea. It feels transparent, and it theoretically gives people an idea of what they could or should be earning in a particular field. But as I've discovered more people doing this (for the record, I've only seen it a handful of times), a pattern seems to have emerged that makes me think it might actually have the opposite effect.

Before we go any further, I want to state for the record that I have nothing against people publishing their salary. If you want to do it, that's entirely your call. Personally, I've decided not to post it here, but I am open about it - if you want to know what I earn, email me and I'll gladly tell you.

Discussing pay here in the UK isn't as taboo as in other parts of the world, either. We actually have legislation in place that allows us to talk about our salaries with co-workers.

So what's my concern?

A double-edged sword

Of the handful of times I've seen people sharing their salary history, they are always very high. For context, a six-figure (£100,000) salary in the UK puts you in the top 4% of earners in the country.

This is where my concern starts - we only ever see these high outliers, so the sample size is incredibly skewed. Nobody is rushing to publish their £25,000 salary history, which means the curmudgeon in me can't help but feel that these pages can sometimes read more like a humble brag than genuine advocacy, even if the author's intent was entirely pure.

For the reader, this can be deflating, rather than empowering. A developer earning a perfectly respectable £50k (which already puts them in the top 15% of UK earners) might look at Jane Smith earning £105k and think, "Jesus, I'm doing terribly."

But salary is highly subjective. It depends on where you live, the company you work for, the unique responsibilities of your role, what your peers earn, how hard you negotiate, and how supportive your manager is.

When you strip all that context away and just publish a high number, what is the reader supposed to do with it? If our developer goes to their manager and asks for a 100% pay rise because they saw Jane Smith online earning £105k, they're going to be laughed out of the room. Because, without context, the raw numbers are useless.

I'm all for paying people the maximum amount possible for good work, but unfortunately, we live in a world where many organisations want to pay their staff the minimum they can get away with.

So what's the alternative?

I don't know what the perfect answer is, but I don't think it's telling people to stop sharing. Transparency is important, and it's severely lacking in the corporate world.

Perhaps the solution is context? If you feel comfortable publishing your salary, maybe add a disclaimer explaining the unique circumstances behind it, stressing that it's a record of your personal journey, not an industry target or a standard benchmark.

Or, maybe just ignore everything I've said in this post, as who am I to tell you what to do with your site. 🙃

I've thought about adding a salary page to this site many times, but I've always held off. Honestly, I think I'm grossly overpaid for what I do, especially compared to roles like nurses, police officers, or members of the armed forces. I'm incredibly grateful for it, and I've worked hard to get here, but I don't want to add to the noise.

If you publish your salary on your site, more power to you. But it's worth considering how that number might be perceived by the people reading it, and whether it's truly helping them or just making them feel left behind.

Thanks for reading this post via RSS. RSS is ace, and so are you. ❤️

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Notable links: August 14, 2026 - Werd I/O

2026-08-14T09:00:15.000Z

Most Fridays, I share a handful of pieces that caught my eye at the intersection of technology, media, and society.

I've been taking a hiatus during August while I prepare to join the Stanford JSK fellowship, but I couldn't wait to send you today's link.

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I’ve been more excited about this announcement than any other development in either social media or news technology this year. Chicago Public Media — which runs both WBEZ and the Chicago Sun-Times — will run a network of online social communities for Chicago neighborhoods at chicago.com. These communities run on New_ Public’s Roundabout, a social networking platform designed to be a positive space for local communities to organize, meet, and share.

As Nieman Lab reports:

“Roundabout’s team sees these communities as places local reporters can be invited into to listen and build trust — places where they can answer people’s questions and learn what they should be reporting on. Reporters, and reporting, are not central to what Roundabout is; they are components that can strengthen the local community conversation that is central.”

I strongly believe that this sort of community engagement is how news turns around its precipitous decline in trust from the public. People trust human relationships, not brands; hosting a space to support those relationships, and forming them authentically and organically with a wider community, will lead to more representative journalism, stronger trust from the public, and better information overall. More than that, these sorts of communities have the potential to meet what most people need from local journalism in a format that feels more equitable (everyone participates rather than it being a voice from above) and modern.

Roundabout is not the only game in town here: this is a genuine, growing trend across media. The Newsmast Foundation has been building community spaces for newsrooms that are backed by the Fediverse; its first major launch was British newspaper the Bristol Cable last year. Meanwhile, Bonfire Networks has been building its community platform to operate with similar intentions to Roundabout, including by working with media companies like Jacobin Germany.

Still, this is a significant, brave development, particularly for US media, and is notable for its scope and ambition. It’s incredibly rare for a news organization to put their neck on the line and truly build new technology that up-ends existing paradigms. A new kind of social space for one of America’s largest cities fits that bill. Conversely, working with local media orgs — people who already understand their local communities deeply and are active in them — is a great way for New_ Public to build a platform that is safer and less toxic than something like Nextdoor. Roundabout has a bunch of its own features that help provide this safety; the focus on conversation over profiles or clout, and Nextdoor’s notoriously racist “suspicious person” posts are banned.

There’s something else here too: Blaine Cook, currently the platform’s principal engineer, confirmed that it runs on AT Protocol, the open social web protocol that powers Bluesky. It’s its own archipelago for now, but once private spaces land in AT Protocol properly, it’ll be connected to the wider network (known as the Atmosphere). This protocol compatibility allows anyone to build their own apps. Once Chicago’s network is connected to the wider Atmosphere, anyone will be able to build other communities that connect up to it, and build platform software that interoperates with Chicago’s. Given the size of this project, it’s likely the biggest foray for any media company onto the open social web.

If this experiment in Chicago is successful, I think we’ll see New_ Public expand to work with other media orgs — and we’ll see some of the orgs that might not have considered this kind of platform come around to the idea.

And more:

Here are some of the stories I didn't get a chance to go into in depth this week.

How can news media wean themselves off the Big Tech drip?

The University of Amsterdam is teaming up with European newsrooms De Correspondent and Follow the Money for a two-year project that will see researchers co-design news technology prototypes with the public. The goal is to help newsrooms build greater autonomy through building things their readers actually want to use.

The offline messaging apps challenging internet shutdowns

Authoritarian governments sometimes combat protest by conducting internet shutdowns. A new set of offline-first, truly decentralized social apps allow protestors to communicate regardless by using Bluetooth mesh networks. Modi's government tried to block access to Bitchat's GitHub repo: a sure indication that they're worried about it. In turn, these apps are a sign that the genie cannot be put back into the bottle.

Mea Culpa - Dark Hours

A developer used Claude to build a tool to give you an idea what you could see in the sky that night. The LLM created something that was so markedly similar to an existing open source project that it duplicated a bug that project's author had since fixed. The plagiarism was unintentional and didn't come to light until the open source author reached out. Everyone using AI to develop software (or anything releasable) should consider this a warning.

America’s largest newspaper chain, USA Today Co., partners with Palantir to analyze audience data as search traffic falls

Apparently Axel Springer and Fox News are doing the same. I'm not sure it makes me feel good to know that the firm that powers ICE also has access to data about which news stories people are reading.

Chicago's social network is a huge bet for news. I think it's the future. - Werd I/O

2026-08-14T02:04:23.000Z

Link: Can public media build its own social network? Chicago Public Media teams up with New_ Public to try, by Sophie Culpepper in Nieman Lab

As Nieman Lab reports:

“Roundabout’s team sees these communities as places local reporters can be invited into to listen and build trust — places where they can answer people’s questions and learn what they should be reporting on. Reporters, and reporting, are not central to what Roundabout is; they are components that can strengthen the local community conversation that is central.”

paper - James' Coffee Blog

2026-08-14T00:00:00.000Z

to feel the boundaries of the paper loneliness hopes blankness fullness peripheries texture colour;

within its edges:
frames of beginnings.

Edgar - James' Coffee Blog

2026-08-14T00:00:00.000Z

Wearing a distinguished red scarf, the fluffy librarian sits atop a shelf of books.

Of the stacks and stacks of stories and tales resting beneath, he knows all.

Edgar is a quiet, soft fellow — content contemplating closer to the clouds.

He could recite any poem from Dickinson —
or paint a portrait of the quietest, fullest Japanese coffee shop.

Instead, he sits patiently, waiting for the moment when you reach out, asking “what should I read today?”

With a smile always on his face, and without a spoken word, you realise he has a book all ready for you, under his two big, small paws.

Edinburgh Fringe: Doris, Dolly and the Dressing Room Divas ★★★★⯪ - Terence Eden’s Blog

2026-08-13T22:23:25.000Z

Quite simply marvellous! Three Scottish divas giving us their interpretations of the greats while backed by an excellent pianist.

So many shows at the Fringe skimp on sets and props - not this! A luscious array of costumes, hats, wigs, and ruby slippers bring the characters to life.

The framing is thin but serviceable - the backstage helpers are reminiscing about their favourite stars and bring them back to stage. It is a fun and campy evening, without ever straying into parody or obsequiousness.

Sadly a few technical gremlins crept in, but the cast are absolute troopers and dispensed with them.

Oh, and there's an incredible Sweary Poppins who steals the show.

In amongst the Fringe's high concept art, fiendish new writing, and blokey-standup, it was a real treat to see a good old fashioned revue.

Highly recommend.

Iconic moments in gaming - Joel's Log Files

2026-08-13T21:10:00.000Z

I saw this post by Gabz a while back titled Iconic moments in gaming and I wanted to share my own! Of course, these will spoil game mechanics or plot twists and you should thread carefully!

I will not be using <details> to spoil, though I’ll add skip buttons between each videogame I bring up. I will also list each game in release order, some games may feature multiple epic moments, I won’t mention all of them, but I’ll mention some, so if you are playing a title without fully completing it, it may be best to skip it altogether.

If you have played any of these games and you agree with my choices, or prefer different moments, please tell me about it!

Final Fantasy VI - 1994

skip to the next game

Do I really have to talk about how many iconic scenes this game has? It is stuffed with some of the most memorable scenes in the whole series!

The Opera scene continues to be filled with emotion to this day, and it was such a flex on the Super Nintendo days.

However, the most iconic moment has to go to the way the story of this game evolves after reaching the halfway point. I can’t think of many games that have been able to pull this off, have the world go to ruin, allow the villain to win, and end up with our characters separated all over the map, losing their will to fight. A bold choice for 1994.

Chrono Trigger - 1995

skip to the next game

With the time travel mechanic in Chrono Trigger, we are able to see many landscapes across time and space. There are way too many moments to count there.

The inciting event of the whole thing, where our characters discover the fate of the world and the evil that lies within the planet itself

The eerie atmosphere of the End of Time is also incredible, a place in the middle of the void with a strange man who knows way too much, standing under a lamp post.

But the cake has to go for that amazing reveal, the floating islands of the Kingdom of Zeal, with the sound of the Corridors of Time, one of gaming’s most iconics soundtracks.

Terranigma - 1996

skip to the next game

The story of terranigma is truly something to behold. I played about eleven hours of it and it was quite a mindblowing experience. Thankfully, one the most iconic moment of the game happens early, and it’s the moment you step out of the starting town, and realize what the world around you truly looks like.

The Super Nintendo’s graphics are at its best with the effect going on in the overworld, the color palette, the music, and the crystal blue, a simply stunning view.

Final Fantasy VII - 1997

skip to the next game

The jump to 3D has come to the Final Fantasy VII, and one of the most intriguing intro cinematics ensues. That starting sequence is unforgettable, Aerith, the city, everything on it is great.

There’s a few more cool moments in this game, such as the awesome escape from Shinra and out into the overworld, an unexplored landscape for our characters to journey through.

In any case, I am yet to play more of this game, so I will leave it there for now.

Resident Evil - 1997

skip to the next game

Come on guys, it’s the zombie! I already described that moment in my review for the game.

However, after that one, an iconic moment of the game has to bee the puzzle involving the paintings, that one is not only an incredibly well design moment, but the oucome when you do it wrong truly takes you by surprise.

There’s some more cool moments in this game, the jump scares are plentiful. I’d say the apparition of the Hunters has its place too, I really had to run away as soon as that thing showed up…

Resident Evil 2 - 1998

skip to the next game

How the Licker is introduced is awesome, it is the Zombie all over again, but with some more teases before the reveal. These scenes alone make an excellent case for the fixed camera angles of classic survival horror.

I actually really liked the way Mr. X shows up in-game too, but my favorite moment has to go to look at Mr. X through the security cameras, as he slowly approaches, destroys it and continues walking at his snail-like pace, what a menace!

Parasite Eve - 1998

skip to the end

This game has plenty of great sequences, the very intro is simply cinema, and the cutscene that kickstarts the story! With people burning in flames out of nowhere while the opera singer sings, as if everything is fine.

In fact, every single cutscene in this game is kind of epic, the very first rat mutating into a hideous creature, the piano scene with Eve revealing herself, the giant blob made of a whole audience of people, the horses on fire running about, so many moments horrific cutscenes and events.

But again, that crying statue of liberty takes it all.

Final thoughts

Like Gabz, I have so many more memories of many more amazing games, we are still in 1998 after all!

A continuation shall come at some point in the future. I actually quite liked the chronological order, but if I play some old game in between the ones mentioned here, and it also has some epic moments in it that I haven’t talked about, I’ll have to break the chain, sorry not sorry!

In any case. I would love to see more posts like this, what are some of your favourite moments in videogames you’ve played? Please share!

This is day 18 of #100DaysToOffload and day 13 of #Blaugust2026

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Edinburgh Fringe: The Musical Mystery Caller ★★★★★ - Terence Eden’s Blog

2026-08-13T20:21:53.000Z

Walking down the street, I noticed a ringing phone box so, naturally, I answered it.

What happened next was a few minutes of pure fringe magic!

I had a little chat with the caller, he welcomed me to the smallest venue in the fringe, and then he improvised a banger of a song based on my peculiar proclivities.

What a treat to have a front row experience at a one man (and one audience member) show. The song was heartfelt and beautiful, played and sung with panache - albeit down a twisted copper pair of limited bandwidth.

He didn't reverse the charges, so it didn't cost me a penny! Which, given the high prices of most shows, was an absolute bargain 😃

If you hear a phone ringing, you should always answer it and say hello.