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Unsocial Sundays - Baty.net

2026-05-17T09:57:50.000Z

Thinking of starting a routine of "Unsocial Sundays" during which I avoid all social media. Today is Sunday, it's 05:52 AM, and I'm already twitchy about it. Worth a try, though.

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Stick with it - Baty.net

2026-05-16T13:49:26.000Z

A link from an earlier note lead me to:

you can stick with it | ava's blog

Trying out new tools and things is generally cool and I love reading the hands-on experiences, but in this case, I just see people running through things anxiously with no direction seeming stressed and sad.

The behavior Ava describes fits me, but only to a point. I'll tell you why.

Sure, I try new tools and things all the time, but my motivation is different. I don't try them because I'm unhappy and looking for the perfect tool. OK, sometimes that's part of it, but mostly I do it because I'm curious and I enjoy the process of learning about new software, processes, etc. I go in knowing it may only last a few weeks. So what? I learned something and had fun doing it.

There's also the boredom factor. Since "retiring", I have a lot of time on my hands, much of which is spent staring at a computer screen and wondering, "Hmmm, what should I play with, today?" Then it begins.

A side effect of all this causes me to say, "Where did I write/post/record/put that?" many times a day. It does get frustrating. Fumbling around with keyboard shortcuts because every app is different can be crazy-making. Things break because I changed them again. It's everything but productive.

I must think that switching things up regularly is worth the trouble, since I keep doing it.

Honestly, I often wish I wasn't like this. My ideal self is someone who started using Emacs in 1995 and has never tried anything else. I wish I was still posting on a Wordpress blog from 2005 that never changes. I wish I kept my original Leica M camera, used it for everything all the time, and never considered others. I wish I'd have used the same form of journaling since high school.

But, I am like this, and haven't done any of the things my ideal self wants. Who knows what's next!?

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Dave Gauer on Ascetic Computing - Baty.net

2026-05-16T13:39:40.000Z

Ascetic Computing - ratfactor by Dave Gauer resonated with me. I have been unable to "Reduce & Simplify" or "Use What I Have", even after years of trying. My definition of what "simple" means changes daily. Still working on it.

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Saturday, May 16, 2026 - Baty.net

2026-05-16T11:30:30.000Z

Snout (2007)

I changed the body font here to Instrument Sans. For some reason, I find that serif fonts in blog posts feel pretentious. It's not me.

I asked Claude Code to convert my entire denote directory to use Org-roam style links. I wanted to try Org-roam again, but without losing work. Took Claude 20 minutes.

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Comment on a Marxist critique of Free Software - Protesilaos Stavrou: Master feed with all updates

2026-05-16T00:00:00.000Z

I just read an article by Abhijit A.M. in The Anvil journal. Its title is The Decline of the Copyleft Free Software Movement and Its Ideological Limitations. It is subtitled A Marxist Critique of the Free Software Movement. It makes several interesting points about the state of free software and the role of the open source movement.

The thrust of the critique is that (i) free software ideology is rooted in anarchism which itself is beholden to capitalist categories and (ii) free software is not fighting commodification of software in an effective way because it is ideologically incapable of opposing commodification as such.

In the ~15.000-word essay, the author makes references to colonialism, Australian Aboriginals, Tsarist Russia, Proudhon’s and Marx’s comments on property, the bourgeoisie, and many other familiar talking points that will amuse the Marxist faithful. What the author fails to do is give us a concrete idea of what their alternative is. By that, I do not mean that we should convert to Marxism. Rather, to give us a proof of what they have right now and a step-by-step proposal on how to proceed. To put it in software development terms, share the code and send us the patch.

But there is no such thing. The catch-22 with Marxism is that the world it promises does not truly exist unless everything is Marxist. So we have to contend with lengthy and dense diatribes instead. To this end, the article concludes with the following pompous yet ultimately uninspiring remarks:

For the FSM [Free Software Movement] to grow its strength and existence, it is imperative to reinvigorate its fight against the OSM [Open Source Movement], and the spirit to defeat monopolistic corporate control of software; the resistance to commercialization of software needs to be pursued politically more explicitly and not implicitly in an ‘economist’ fashion by focussing on the production and distribution process. Moreover, without a general opposition to the capitalist system and capitalist mode of production, and with mere opposition to the symptoms of monopoly capitalism and big capital in general, the movement is bound to be circumscribed by the basic logic of capitalism, as we have already seen. It must depart from the incorrect political and philosophical positions that it has assumed, in order to be able to develop a really revolutionary and subversive character.

After this ebb, the true fillip to the FSM is possible now only with the rise of the larger working-class movement, that aims to destroy private property not only in software (impossible anyway!), but in general.

What exactly should we be doing to carve this “revolutionary and subversive character” out of what we have? Nothing! These are just words.

What I make of the article is that the author has either not done anything practical in their life or has yet to develop such a habit. I find it ironic that countless hours are spent on criticising the bourgeoisie as if those critics lead some pagan-style life in the countryside where they toil all day under the beating sun with nothing but a pickax.

In my experience, the average Marxist intellectual is not agrarian (starting with Marx and Engels, of course), lives in a city, typically has an office job like in the academia, yet will pontificate about the frailties of the bourgeois world and the virtues of working peoples.

Everyone can share their opinion on what Richard Stallman and friends got right or wrong. What matters is that Richard et al. actually did—and still do—something that had/has material implications for lots of people over the course of decades.

The best kind of criticism is an alternative implementation and/or a lifestyle that embodies the virtues one purports to uphold. To put it in software terms once again, fork it and share your findings. Abhijit A.M. has not demonstrated anything of the sort.

The free software movement does not fall into the aforementioned catch-22 trap because it understands that one cannot change everything in order to change something. Richard Stallman is a person who knows how to turn an idea into an application. This is a quality that contributors to free software have and are thus empowered to make changes to their individual and collective experience.

If I need to abolish capitalism to write an extension for GNU Emacs (of which I have tens), then I am simply not writing an extension for Emacs. If that same constraint applies, then Emacs does not exist to begin with. But because Richard and friends share their work in the form of code and documentation, anyone can in principle learn and then give something back as well.

I got into free software without any technical background and put in the effort to learn. Me and everyone involved are sharing knowledge and programs, which improve parts of our life.

Yes, this is freedom in principle because it assumes that someone has access to the computer, the Internet, et cetera. Can the world be a better place? Sure, though we have to start somewhere. Something is better than nothing—and we get “something” by acting accordingly, often at the individual level.

If I have to put my faith in some wider working-class movement to make things happen, I am effectively hoping that actually heterogeneous and heteroclite people, most of whom have no relevant technical acumen and insights into the particularities of my computing needs will somehow contribute to what I need. Do we have any results of this kind that would give us hope? Has the wider working class as such done something that we can point to in order to switch away from free software? I think not. So what I do instead is proceed by initiative and benefit from the initiatives of others like me (in the free software community and more broadly).

The working class is a useful descriptor for some shared qualities. Though it is necessarily a simplistic construct. It does not account for the peculiarities of locality and culture nor is it sensitive to the relevance of its constituent individuals to any given area of interest or field of endeavour.

If I want to discuss poetry, for example, I can only do so in the presence of artists or artistically inclined folk. Those without such disposition will not be keen interlocutors or, worse, will have some bigoted comment to make about men who enjoy poetry (on several occasions I have been told by such working class people how classical music, painting, and poetry, among others, are “gay”—so fragile is their vaunted alpha masculinity that it cannot tolerate a violin).

My suggestion to Abhijit A.M. and anyone who has ideas about the world is to show us results instead of merely telling us what is wrong with the status quo. If you are not showing, but are merely telling, then you are doing it wrong.

My favourite typewriter - James' Coffee Blog

2026-05-16T00:00:00.000Z

This is my entry to this month's Bear Blog Carnival, on the topic of our favourite thing in a niche hobby. Thank you for hosting, Kami! This was a fascinating topic to think about.

Alternative Text

My favourite typewriter is the one I have: a Royal typewriter, likely decades old, that I found in a charity shop in Edinburgh.

I remember seeing the typewriter in the shop window. It was the sixth shop I had been to that day with the obsqure [sic] inquiry "do you have any typewriters?" in the back of my mind. I had hope that I would fine one; if I didn't, I would have kept searching. My experience the day prior writing on a public typewriter in a bookshop was too magical. The typewriter was full of intrigue in my mind.

I had felt this way since I was a child. I remember our family had a computer but I was still intrigued by typewriters at the age of ten or twelve or so. Typewriters were different to the computer keyboards with which I was accustomed. I was unsure what the differences were, though; for, I would later realise, I needed to try one out to know what was so special. Over a decade later, I have a typewriter on my coffee table. My childhood awe stuck with me.

My favourite typewriter is the one I have; the one I carried for a mile in a case with a broken latch. I was the only person ,most likely, carrying a typewriter on the street that day. I was ill-prepared for the weight. Words have weight; so, too, do typewriters. I remember how tired my arms were when I got home, a tiredness that would soon recede as I sat down to start writing.

I remember being puzzled at why there was no zero key. The O, the uppercase "o", was to serve as a placeholder. And yet there was room to have keys for fractions, like 1/8, 5/8, %, 1/2. I smile as I type this sentence. Surely there are reasons why the keyboard is set as it is, but they are as yet unknown to me. There is something delightful about getting to know a machine with time, to not try and figure everything out all at once. I love journeying.

The ink ribbon still worked, so I could type as soon as I wanted. I wrote a blog post, journals, letters, and more. I see my typewriter every day. Even if I may use it less often than a digital text editor, my typewriter serves a lateral function: it is for a different kind of writing, just as watercolours and acrylic are both paints but are worlds unto themselves. I love the tactile nature of the typewriter. The mind can be surprisingly peaceful despite the sound of the metal keys making an impression on the roll that holds the paper.

I love this typewriter because it has a story: of my carrying it through the city, of my learning how to type zeros, of inviting me to a new experience of writing. There are probably many other typewriters out there, but I have found the one I need.

Post Script

After writing this blog post on my typewriter, I realised that my typewriter doesn't do italics. It is amazing that this is the first time I have noticed.

On a computer, I tend to edit as I type; changing words, moving sentences and paragraphs as needed. I can't do that on a typewriter, which means that my words on the typewriter may not flow as well as a blog post. But that's part of the medium: typewriters ask you to keep going, to finish a sentence even if you wish you could move a few things around.

RMF - Manuel Moreale RSS Feed

2026-05-15T11:00:00.000Z

This week on the People and Blogs series we have an interview with RMF, whose blog can be found at baccyflap.com/prs/blog.

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Let's start from the basics: can you introduce yourself?

My name's rmf. My legal name's not terribly hard to find, but I like to keep it lightly buried just so my 2006 blog isn't the first thing you find when you search for my name. I'm a native of the Netherlands, where I reside. I live in a small city with my partner; she's an archaeologist and I'm a botanist, though I currently teach museum anthropology classes. I went from doing science, to teaching science, to teaching culture. I've never believed in restricting a whole human life to one field of study, so I'm having a blast.

My computer skills have always been self-taught. While I was in middle school I fiddled with Microsoft Paint and from there on I got to grips with ever more advanced graphic software (currently GIMP and Inkscape). In high school I liked to make videos with my friends which I edited in Windows Movie Maker, which lead to an ongoing on-and-off hobby of video editing (in Kdenlive). In 2002, I set up a WYSIWYG website which lead to me learning HTML and later CSS and, later still, PHP. Right now I do some graphics stuff for my job in education, such as making instruction sheets, posters and some other small-time stuff, but really, pretty much all my computing is done in my free time, for fun. I think that's a blessing - I don't have to work with anything I don't want to work with and do everything I do for the love of the game.

Beside that I make soap which is part hobby, part side job. I enjoy tinkering with technology, so I have lots of esoteric hifi equipment, some old games consoles, old calculators... if it can be tinkered with, I like it. I enjoy writing prose and poetry and have recently been getting into fermenting and pickling, though I am subordinate to my partner in that. She's the head of pickling and fermenting, I take care of the old electronics; she draws and paints, I write; and then at the end of the day, we cook together.

What's the story behind your blog?

I started my website in 2002 and by 2003 I had a little update box to briefly communicate whatever I was doing with the site. That update box turned into a shoutbox of my random thoughts and as those got a bit longer and rantier every time, in October 2005 I turned it into a blog. Blogging was the thing to do at the time and so, at age sixteen, I figured I had enough to say to warrant a stab at the practice.

It was all coded by hand: no CMS or JavaScript, just handwritten HTML with the appearance of a blog. It was all over the shop, subjectwise. A fair amount of it had to do with palaeontology and/or me being an epic atheist - ups and downs. It was simply named 'blog' and it changed over the years with the design of the site but all in all, it was very simple. No RSS, no comments, just static HTML pages updated manually. The surprising thing to me is that I had an audience - I got somewhat regular emails about my posts.

I blogged until 2009. I did that classic thing of writing fewer and fewer posts and finally announcing a newer, better blog hosted at Blogger. I wrote a grand total of 4 posts for it, stopped for a year, and finally took it down. I lost interest and so, it petered out.

Cut to 2026, I'm reading a few more blogs than I had been for the past several years and I start to get the blogging bug again. Or perhaps the bug was dormant and now reawakening. I'd been considering it for a while but specifically, funnily enough, after reading your article about stopping the People & Blogs series, I got inspired to pick up the pen again.

Over the last decade I've written on and off for a couple of magazines and I had a regular column in a local newspaper for a while. I think my intrusive blogging thoughts started when that column went away - I like to write, it's something of a compulsive thing, and while the newspaper let me write practically whatever I wanted, it still had some constraints such as length, a certain form, and at the end of the day, some amount of harmlessness. It had to be a column - it could make the readers think, but not too much or about controversial things.

So the blog suddenly popped into my head as a perfect fit. Whatever topic I want, whatever length, whatever form. And so in 2026, I picked up blogging again. I did write a CMS and some code for an RSS feed - other than that, I tried to keep the form of the blog as close to the original as possible.

And again, to my surprise, there are people reading this blog. I'm clueless as to how they're finding it, buried in a subsection of my site as it is, but I'm getting emails again. A grand total of two people suggested I give the blog a name, which I did. It's now called 'bakelite & roses', a name I explain at baccyflap.com/prs/blog/2026/?m=03#1773065697.

What does your creative process look like when it comes to blogging?

My inspiration comes from whatever happens to me. So far I've written about umbrellas, tamagotchi, deadly accidents, CD collections and some other stuff - that's the most liberating thing to me, getting to write whatever the hell I want. I like it to be interesting, to have some novel (to me) observations in it, but other than that, it's just whatever occurs to me. It's comparable to the columns I used to write in that sense - I write them quick, maybe give them a quick read later on, and then just post. I'll often read them to my partner who will usually describe them as 'cute', which is good enough for me.

Do you have an ideal creative environment? Also do you believe the physical space influences your creativity?

I write wherever. Back when I had deadlines I'd slack off right until the final hour and then just use whatever's to hand. I've written a few on my phone but I suppose I mostly write on my laptop, just because it's faster. I'll do it at home, on the go, at work, wherever inspiration strikes.

A question for the techie readers: can you run us through your tech stack?

My site's hosted on a buddy's server. He runs a small IT company so he takes care of the domain too - it's an old arrangement and we're sticking with it. I pay him, he pays the bills.

The blog itself is written in PHP - when I restarted in 2026 I finally wrote a backend, still pretty primitive but it makes my life a bit easier and crucially, it enabled me to provide an RSS feed. I type a post into a dirt simple little CMS and hit 'post' to add the post to a JSON file, which the RSS feed also pulls from. I may provide the source code at some point, when it's not as hokey as it is now.

Given your experience, if you were to start a blog today, would you do anything differently?

Well, I started it in January, which is pretty close to today, so I think I'm all good. I guess, looking back at my old posts, I do sometimes cringe at them. I added a disclaimer to those posts, just to distance myself from the bad ones. But I didn't remove them - they still reflect who I was at the time and in some weird way, who I am now. I wouldn't be honouring teen me by removing any of it and looking back I guess I could say I'd wish I'd written better stuff... but you know what, that's what I wanted to write at the time and as confident as I was of my own intellect at the time, so I am now about the public's capacity to contextualise these posts. There are wonderful, thoughtful posts in there, but also some dubious stuff, and some garbage. So short answer: I think it's perfect, wouldn't change a thing.

Financial question since the Web is obsessed with money: how much does it cost to run your blog? Is it just a cost, or does it generate some revenue? And what's your position on people monetising personal blogs?

I pay my buddy €100 a year to cover his costs and so he can write me a bill which is good for his company. It generates precisely nothing, which is how I like it. People can do whatever they want with their blogs but for me, it's just a bit of fun in my free time. No Patreons and Ko-fis for me - I know everyone wants to turn every aspect of their lives into a revenue stream these days, but for me, it's just a way to reach out.

Time for some recommendations: any blog you think is worth checking out? And also, who do you think I should be interviewing next?

Of all blogs, the one I've been reading for the longest (22 years!) is Pharyngula. Out of all the 'new atheist' types, PZ Myers is one of the few who did not turn out to be a dirtbag. He stuck to his progressive guns and has as sharp a pen as ever. For the sheer dedication of the author it's worth a read, whether the range of topics is up your street or not.

Final question: is there anything you want to share with us?

I'm currently working on a podcast, a bit of a personal project that has been taking more of my time than I thought it would. Currently in the outline stage, it'll take some time before I can finally start recording. It is driving home to me that making a podcast is, at the best of times, an effortless thing that very few people know how to do well. I honestly don't like most podcasts but one I've been enjoying, one of those podcasts that springs up on you and just keeps on giving, is Bread & Bananas, a podcast about Kampung Gelam, an old neighbourhood of Singapore, made and presented by three inhabitants of said neighbourhood. And if you're wondering why on Earth this would be a topic of interest to anyone outside that neighbourhood... well, just give it a listen. It's chill, it's thoughtful, it'll surprise you. Six episodes so far, a new one every couple of months.

Keep exploring

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If you're looking for more content, go read one of the previous 141 interviews.

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Emacs coaching with Amin Bandali about ffs, display-buffer-alist, Org, and more - Protesilaos Stavrou: Master feed with all updates

2026-05-15T00:00:00.000Z

Yesterday I met with Amin Bandali to talk about Emacs. Amin asked me if he could record the session, which I agreed to. The video is available on Amin’s website: https://kelar.org/~bandali/gnu/emacs/ffs-emacs-ext-prot.html.

We started with a review of the latest changes to the ffs package that Amin has been developing. We had looked into it before and wanted to check on its current state.

Amin then asked me about the display-buffer-alist, which I had mentioned before. To me, this is the single most important variable for making Emacs feel more like your own. The reason is that it allows you to control the placement of buffers to match your expectations. I demonstrated some of the main ideas.

Another nice little feature is the built-in isearch. I explained how it is especially helpful while recording keyboard macros. Though it is nice to use in general. One tweak for it is to display a counter with its matches. Another is to change how it treats spaces, so that it can match any character in-between. This is not as flexible as, say, consult-line (from the consult package) when combined with vertico and orderless. Though it still has its uses.

[ I have lots of little extras for isearch, but those should be good for most users. ]

Amin told me about rediscovering the value of Org in the context of statically generating his website. He showed me the custom Org HTML export backend he has been working on. Org has so many nice features which can be used independent of each other. In this light, we also discussed the diary compared to the Org agenda.

Find all of Amin’s publications on his website: https://kelar.org/~bandali/.

Accepting tradeoffs - Manuel Moreale RSS Feed

2026-05-14T18:05:00.000Z

I live in a very quiet place. There are 30 or so people here, only one road that sees very little traffic, and woods all around us. I wake up with birds chirping, and most of the day, that’s all I can hear around me. At the same time, public transport is pretty much non-existent, there are no shops nearby, and I have to move my car to do pretty much everything. Food delivery is not an option, and regular couriers often deliver late. And forget same-day delivery. Rent is low, but there’s also no fibre, and up until recently, the only connection available was a crappy 30-down-3-up that was often offline.

Life’s all about tradeoffs, and I’m learning more and more that the path to happiness requires some ability to recognise and accept those tradeoffs. I’ve been self-employed my whole life. That means carrying all the responsibilities for my job. It means having no PTO and no ability to let someone else take care of my mistakes. But it also means being able to decide how to spend my time. It means being able to go for walks when it’s sunny outside or when I don’t feel like working. It means I don’t have to follow rules or guidelines set by my boss. Those are trade-offs I decided to accept.

I don’t have money invested. I don’t own stocks, and I don’t have a retirement fund. I also don’t have debts weighing on me. I made peace with the fact that I’ll likely never become rich or own a nice house. But at the same time, I know I’m not actively participating in that aberration that is the financial economy, and that fact alone makes the tradeoff worth it for me.

Tradeoffs are inevitable, and no one can tell you which one you should accept in order to live a happy life. And part of the fun is learning which ones are the ones that make your life better.

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Logging life in Tinderbox - Baty.net

2026-05-13T15:37:20.000Z

Dave wrote about his Captain's Log, into which he logs information "too trivial to remember, but too important to forget." It's a Tinderbox document.

A later post from Jacob Evans described his own "LifeBox" kept in Tinderbox.

These two posts resonated with me, as I've used Tinderbox for the same thing since 2008. See my post, Tinderbox as a Daybook, from that year.

Last year I revamped the Daybook and went all in.

I now call it my "LifeBook" and it's awesome.

My Tinderbox "LifeBook"

Unfortunately, I have been inconsistent in its use. I blame Emacs, and more recently, Linux. Tinderbox is macOS only, so my foray into using Linux has made me second guess using any tools that are Mac only. Even great ones like Tinderbox. Maybe it's time for a third guess.

Last week I started logging there again because I missed it. The posts from Dave and Jacob have inspired me to continue.

One thing that has always held me back is difficulty with managing files (images and PDFs) related to my notes. Tinderbox doesn't excel at file management, so I took what I learned from using org mode and tried Forging org-attach features into Tinderbox. It's a messy work in process, but it works. I'm only using it for PDFs, now, because Tinderbox's performance has improved and WebP images are quite small. It should be fine embedding those. If only tinderbox better handled paths relative to the current document, I wouldn't need all this. Oooh, or even if .tbx files could become bundles that automatically managed attachments. Maybe one day.

If I were to decide to stop using Tinderbox and use, say Org Mode instead, it's not a problem because Tinderbox's export features can get me anything I want out of it.

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Growing with my website - James' Coffee Blog

2026-05-13T00:00:00.000Z

At this evening’s Homebrew Website Club, I asked: What was the biggest change in our websites since we started them? This question was inspired in part by Paul saying something to the effect of how we build our websites and, in the process, figure out what we want our websites to be.

There are many lenses through which to think about the question – the technology behind a website, the design of a website ¹, the philosophies and goals behind our website, and more. My answer was that a few years ago I started worrying less about posting on lots of different topics, and accepted the joy of putting all my writing in one place.

The back story is that when I started blogging more about coffee a few years ago, I worried that posts about technology would detract from the coffee posts, and vice versa. I knew people who liked specialty coffee looked at my website and I didn’t want the site to look confusing for someone not interested in technology. I started wondering if I should have a home page that was split with two lists: one for technology posts and another for coffee posts. ² Should I have two different websites?

I can’t remember the exact moment when things changed, but at some point I realised it was okay to put my writing on many subjects in one place ³. I also started to feel more confident in writing about more topics, too. This was a process that unraveled with time and experimentation and play. Part of the fun of having a website is in the growing – of trying new things and realising that there’s even more you can do and continuing to play and experiment. And a lot of that was possible because I saw many other lovely websites and spoke with people who had websites – every website expands my understanding of what a website can be.

I want my blog to be a slice of my life, and my life is multi-faceted. I love writing and playing guitar and Nature and poetry and listening to Taylor Swift music and writing about technology and thinking about the future of the web and writing down ideas I have and so much more. That is me. And so, a mix of things is what I want my website to be.

At the time of writing this post, my home page lists posts on walking, museums, Nature, writing a blog post without a screen, ideas for web readers, how I use my phone, and more – many of my interests and thoughts and observations and dreams, sitting side by side.

I do wish I could remember when I realised it was okay to put everything together, but all I can say is that I’m glad I arrived at where I am. I don’t want my blog to be any other way.

I am curious: What has been the biggest change to your website since you started it? Or, alternatively: how have you changed since you started your website?

This encouraged me to look up when I last redesigned my website. The current design is based on the theme I made in my 2024 redesign. It seems like just yesterday that I redesigned my website. Maybe we need a concept of “website time” to refer to how time feels in relation to our websites.

[↩]

Back then my blog was mostly about technology and the web and coffee.

[↩]

My blog is called James’ Coffee Blog because I loved coffee when I gave it that name (and still do, but I drink a lot more tea at the present moment; my website and I both change) and wrote a lot about coffee, but the site grew into so much more. I still like the name because I have been using it for so long, and it represents a slight separation between me and my blog: my blog is part of me, but not all of me.

[↩]

Homebrew Website Club museums how I use my phone ideas for web readers writing a blog post without a screen Nature walking 1 2 3 [↩] [↩] [↩] Paul

Philosophy: reading my ‘The mask of Phantes’ story - Protesilaos Stavrou: Master feed with all updates

2026-05-13T00:00:00.000Z

I read a story I wrote and published last evening: https://protesilaos.com/books/2026-05-12-mask-of-phantes/. It is about a magic mask. Whoever wears the mask gets all the attention. The themes I explore in that publication are about desire, personhood, and learning.

The mask of Phantes - Protesilaos Stavrou: Master feed with all updates

2026-05-12T00:00:00.000Z

In a distant land lives a peaceful man called Phantes. His house is nice and cosy. It was built by a gifted fellow before Phantes was around. Nobody knows for sure who that person is. Whispers echo in the night. Birds sing of a peerless hunter. Mist permanently covers a part of the forest. Not even the wind blows in that direction, as if it is trying to avoid someone. Traces still exist. A lingering presence is always felt. Wolves act strangely whenever they get close to it. The land never forgets. Ask the oak trees: they are aware of everything, though they only speak to those who are prepared to listen.

Phantes did not meet this mysterious figure. All the information he has comes from a letter he found once he woke up from his slumber. He keeps the letter in his pocket at all times. He still reads it from time to time, hoping to discover some hidden meaning.

I found you unconscious in the woods and brought you here. You have been sleeping this whole time. Three months have passed already. Somehow you are still breathing.

Where did you come from, lad? I cannot tell.

I named you Phantes: he who reveals. I hope you like it.

I am writing this message because I must serve a higher cause. The hour of my summoning draws near.

My house is yours. The garden outside will supply you with all the vegetables you need. There is more food in the forest. Use my tools to survive. I shall be watching from afar.

Whatever you do, remember that sometimes your only option is to destroy who you are.

Phantes does not remember anything about his past. He has been a gardener since his awakening. Every day he follows the same routine: tend to the plants in the morning, walk around the woods in the afternoon, and sleep early at night. Phantes has not seen another part of the world. He has not met anybody else either.

Walks are his only form of adventure. In a nearby cave, Phantes discovers intricate drawings of human figures. He compares his looks to them. His self-image comes from the mirror he has back home. The figures are forming a circle around a person whose face emits light. Phantes does not know what it feels like to be with others nor can he comprehend the event on display.

There are many such paintings. Each depicts a social activity of some kind. Among them are a few that trigger in him a sense of dread. Others bring inner peace. “IN MUTUAL RECOGNITION”, reads an inscription, “SHALL YOU SHARE SOMETHING IN EARNEST”. Below those words are six people and four dogs having a meal together. Phantes does not understand the full extent of those words. His has been a solitary existence.

“Where can I find others?” he asks in desperation. The entire forest stops moving all of a sudden. All eyes are set on Phantes. “Why can I not be seen by some other person?” he wonders as he bursts into tears.

The night is upon him. Phantes is still crying. “Please, help me!” he begs on his knees while facing down. A voice from the sky breaks the silence.

Easy now, young one. Everybody wants to be seen. You are no different. Even when others are not around, I am still there for you. I see your every move and feel your every emotion.

Phantes hears speech for the first time. He is confused. No-one is there. “Show yourself!” he demands.

You have no power to issue orders, boy. Now listen carefully to what I will tell you. Appreciate all you have. It is not yours to keep. What you wish for may not be the blessing you imagine. Go now. Get some rest. Continue what you have been doing. Everything is going to be alright.

Phantes is not satisfied. “Wait, I have so many questions!”… The voice is not responding. Phantes is left to his usual solitude. Though something has changed inside of him. He no longer desires to go home and relive the same moments. A newly felt sense of indignation is moving him now.

He remembers an underground passage behind the waterfall. It leads to an ancient tomb. At the entrance are three phrases, engraved in red, forming an arc from left to right. “ALL NOTICE THE MASK”, informs the one, “IT IS WHAT THEY LOVE” states the other, “NONE ESCAPES” writes the third.

Phantes is hopeful that this mask can help him find the others. Whatever ominous warnings must be exaggerations. His thinking is that he can use the mask to lure people into noticing him. Then he can take it off and seek to become friends with them.

As he walks into the tomb, he sees the mask hovering over a skeleton. It glows in a bright green light. Phantes cannot contain his excitement. He cannot get his eyes off the mask. “It is so beautiful!” he exclaims. He knows this is his chance to change his life forever.

The mask laughs for a few seconds. It then starts moving erratically around the room, only to stop in front of his nose. It then quickly attaches to his face. Phantes shouts at the top of his lungs. He experiences an overwhelming force coursing through his body that knocks him off balance. He gets up and ventures back to the surface.

Upon exiting he runs into people for the first time. A jubilant crowd cheers at him from a few steps away. He cannot discern any faces just yet. This is too much for Phantes. Amid the noise he catches phrases of admiration. All are about his radiant beauty.

“I will have so many friends now”, he thinks to himself, “they love me already”. Something is amiss. He notices that no-one is getting close to him. The crowd keeps a safe distance. “Hey, why do you not come here?” he asks as he waves his hands at them. A voice is heard from the back “oh, no, your looks are so captivating that I will lose my control”.

Phantes makes a step in their direction. Panic grips them. They scatter as fast as they can. He does not give chase. They will probably keep fleeing, after all. He wonders whether people are always acting strange like this.

A few minutes later, another large group shows up. They too are elated to encounter Phantes. “What a heavenly face!” says someone as others celebrate what they are witnessing. “Blessed are we, to meet such a beauty!” remarks another person, with others making affirmative sounds. Phantes tries to establish contact with those people. They also run away in fear as soon as he approaches them.

Everywhere he now goes, there are folks waiting for him, eager to comment on his appearance. He finds it strange how he had not met a single person before and suddenly there are hundreds of them at every turn. Phantes is concerned that he is doing something wrong. He does not understand why would such enthusiastic admirers not try to befriend him.

He reaches his house. Another gathering of fans is already there. They have been tearing the building apart. “Hey, what is wrong with you?” he asks in shock. “We want a piece of your belongings, beautiful, to bring us good fortune” says one of the pillagers. Phantes is too late to prevent the damage. The house has been reduced to an outline on the ground. The walls are gone, as is all of the furniture. Each individual took something and fled to safety.

Phantes needs a place to rest, but everywhere he goes there are exuberant people observing his every motion, while constantly making disturbing noises. He tries to remove the mask, in the hope of not attracting any more attention. The mask will not move, however. It is firmly planted on his face. It has a will of its own and he has no power over it. After struggling for a while, he surrenders to his new fate.

“They do not care about me”, he realises, “all they want is to be close to what I project through this mask”. Phantes understands how he is not treated as a person anymore. “I have been reduced to a singular dimension, to looks alone, as if I have no interests or wants, no sensitivities or passions”.

The mask is an ancient artefact. It picks those who desire more attention than necessary. Some of them are innocent and naive. Others have nefarious goals. It does not matter though. Whoever wears the mask becomes the centre of all social activity at the expense of their original individuality.

The mask needs time to take over completely. In the meantime, Phantes can still make decisions. He understands that he got more than what he needed. The burden is too heavy and will only get heavier. He thinks back to all the warnings and peculiar hints he had discerned.

He then remembers the final words of the letter he found when he woke up for the first time in this distant land. There may still be something for him, after all. The curse can be lifted. Such is his renewed faith. It is all he has left. Without fear in his heart, he runs to the closest clearing and jumps off a cliff, never to be seen again.

The crowds disperse. The natural rhythms are restored. Phantes wanted to be seen. What he did not anticipate is that very few souls only ever take their attention off the mask that once captured their imagination.

I helped him learn. For certain topics, there is no other way to teach people. They have to live in the world they wish for. Only then may they realise that they are not in control.

Announcing Wonders of Web Weaving - James' Coffee Blog

2026-05-12T00:00:00.000Z

If you have ever spoken to me, you may have heard me express a meandering interest in doing something with audio. I think the heart of this interest is that I love conversations and storytelling. I love hearing people talk about the things that make them light up. I love asking questions. I enjoy the feeling where you feel like you see the world in a new light after having spoken with someone.

With all that in mind, a few weeks ago I had an idea: I could interview people who love the web and chat about all things indie web. This coalesced into an outline for a podcast, which then became Wonders of Web Weaving.

Every Tuesday for the next fifteen or so weeks, I am going to be releasing an episode of the show. The first episode is with Adam, the creator of omg.lol and maintainer of many wonderful web projects.

I named the podcast the way I did because web weaving – making websites and the community around doing making websites – really is wonderful. After the first interview, I felt I had made the right choice in the name – the magic of the web permeates through so much of the indie web.

The show has its own website, which has an RSS feed you can use to follow along with episodes. Each episode will be accompanied by a hand-written transcription, available on the web page for each episode.

I am thinking of the next fifteen weeks as either season one, or the entirety of the show. Whether there will be another season, I’m not sure. For now, I’m challenging myself to commit to fifteen conversations. Having a clear goal towards which I can strive makes the project more sustainable than committing to a recurring show.

I hope that you all enjoy the show as much as I enjoy recording it. The first episode is ready for you.

Wonders of Web Weaving The first episode is ready for you. The first episode is with Adam, the creator of omg.lol and maintainer of many wonderful web projects RSS feed you can use to follow along with episodes

Western strategic constraints in the war on Iran - Protesilaos Stavrou: Master feed with all updates

2026-05-11T00:00:00.000Z

Writing for UnHerd, in an article titled Boots-on-the-ground is Trump’s best option, Wolfgang Munchau elaborates on a logical argument in favour of committing to the war in Iran:

[…] Unlike Russia, Iran is not a nuclear power, and on conventional forces alone the US surely has the military capability to theoretically defeat the regime. Whatever we might think about what is good or bad, right or wrong, it would therefore make sense for Trump to resume the war, and even to put boots on the ground if that is what’s required. It is what the logic of war dictates.

Wolfgang’s position is coherent yet lacks lateral thinking of the sort necessary in matters of strategy. In absolute terms the USA has more resources than Iran and will thus prevail in an all-out war. Though this is a simplistic representation of the case. What is pertinent is the spacetime of war, the trade-offs inherent to each decision, and the status quo ex post for the winning side.

Even a superpower has to think in terms of the economy of choices within fixed time frames and even a superpower can be a loser long-term after winning a war in the short run. Every war is costly in tangible and intangible ways. It is not enough to calculate how one can win on a single front. They must rather consider whether they can retain their position in international affairs altogether. 20th century history is enough to teach us that mighty empires, like the British and the French, can still be swept into the dustbin of history shortly after prevailing in a major war.

For America to muster the forces necessary for a ground invasion in Iran, it not only needs months of preparation, but also to shift its attention away from other parts of the planet. For example, military assets in East Asia will have to be moved to the Middle East. A power vacuum is created in the process. Other actors, such as China, may then find an opening to create a fait accompli that strengthens their position thenceforth.

US forces moving away from places like South Korea then raises questions about the credibility of American security guarantees as well as the political commitment behind them. Given the isolationist mood in the States and the fact that President Trump was elected on an unequivocal anti-war platform (well, at least rhetorically), affected countries will conclude that Americans are jaded and unwilling to fight on all fronts.

It does not stop there. A full-scale war in Iran creates new realities on the demand for military hardware. The war effort will absorb as much as necessary, while there will still be a need to maintain inventories at satisfactory levels for the ongoing promotion of American/Western interests. One immediate knock-on effect is that it will no longer be viable to send arms to Ukraine, Israel, or elsewhere, with whatever implications that has for those countries.

Governments that are supportive of Iran will be prudent to maximise the costs for the Americans. Russia and China can provide arms and intelligence, much in the same way that the entirety of NATO is involved in the Ukraine war.

The Europeans lack the capacity to bolster arms production over the short-term. Plus, they are focused on their proxy war with Russia. Public opinion in Europe would not support sending troops to the Middle East and would likely not even have the appetite to continue the war effort vis-à-vis the Russians in the face of mounting economic pressures.

As the debacle of the UK’s Labour party in the recent local elections has demonstrated, Western governing parties can quickly lose their grip on power if they do not perform well on domestic affairs. Political elites think they can play chess on the world stage, when in reality they have to pay attention to what is happening at home.

Economic hardship has been the reality for a long time and will only worsen over the medium-term. There is little chance that people will support open-ended military campaigns under the vague promise of better things to come in some indeterminate future. That can, in principle, lead to radical changes domestically (e.g. a far-right president in France) which would be the death knell of the liberal world order.

And I have not even considered the practicalities of a ground war in Iran. What kind of forces does that unleash? The Iranians will be fighting for the honour of their homeland, while the invaders will be operating under the eternal shame of imperialistic arrogance. With Iran cornered, who is to say that they will not retaliate by destroying desalination plants in their neighbouring countries? An ill-considered war will then quickly turn into a humanitarian catastrophe for the wider region.

Are Europeans prepared to deal with the indubitably massive refugee crisis that will be hitting them? If the waves of refugees from Syria provided the impetus for the recrudescence of the far-right across the continent, I prefer not to think what an even bigger influx of refugees would bring about. It will not be pretty. Rising xenophobia, which would be indistinguishable from Islamophobia, could then trigger fanaticism on the side of radical Islamist groups across Europe. An all-out war in Iran then entails the non-trivial risk of asymmetric threats throughout the Western world.

In short, it is easy to argue which contestant wins in a hypothetical cage fight. However, politics are not reducible to a melee encounter. The world is a complex place. It is incredibly hard to be a responsible statesman. President Trump continues with his questionable antics on social media, though one can only hope that he understands the disastrous consequences of recklessness.

The multipolar international order is the new normal. What remains to be determined is whether the Westerners have gotten the memo or continue to throw good money after bad.

Sunday, May 10, 2026 - Baty.net

2026-05-10T10:21:18.000Z

Workin'?

This morning started off as another "Emacs tripped me up again so I should use something else." mood. It passed, because everything else is worse in more ways.

I don't mind tinkering with Emacs, but I can't stand fixing Emacs when something goes pear-shaped. It seems like something is always going pear-shaped.

My corner of the internet this morning is nothing but navel gazing and hand wringing. I may need to go do something else for a while.

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Philosophy: Hades, introspection, wealth, misery, and resurrection - Protesilaos Stavrou: Master feed with all updates

2026-05-10T00:00:00.000Z

In this 30-minute video I expound on the close connection between deep thought and misery. I do so by explaining the symbolism of Hades, the Greek god of the underworld, the world of disembodied souls. Hades is also known as “Plouton”, from the Greek word for “wealth”, which points to a connection between the soul/spirit and wealth. Knowing oneself through introspection is, in a sense, a way to have a more rich experience. Though I caution how when deep thought goes too far it creates a tunnelling effect that makes us feel disconnected from our immediate surroundings and thus overwhelmed by a sense of uneasiness. I discuss how we can become back, as it were, into this world through a process of becoming a somewhat new person. This is our metaphorical resurrection or, better, transanimation that is again symbolised in the myth of Zagreus who dies as Zagreus and resurrects as Dionysus. In this context I even bring up a popular video game, titled “Hades”, whose protagonist is called “Zagreus”, while I also share my personal experience with depressive thinking and my effective reconstitution as a largely different person.

How Chris Aldrich uses his typewriters - Baty.net

2026-05-09T11:16:00.000Z

FAQ: How do you use your typewriters? | Chris Aldrich

Below are some various recent uses I’ve made of my typewriter collection

I have a handful of nice typewriters that sit unused. I would really like to change that. Chris' list gives me a few ideas.

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Taken - Baty.net

2026-05-09T10:39:24.000Z

taken. — Since You Arrived Vol. IV

You opened this page. It already knows the following.

I already knew most of this, but it's still alarming to see it all at once.

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Serendipity - James' Coffee Blog

2026-05-09T00:00:00.000Z

The steam of the espresso machine — of focusing in the milk to make sure it is just right, of tapping to remove the bubbles, of preparing. Soft instrumental music plays in the background, more upbeat than the music to which I was listening earlier — easing me more into the day. How the smile of a barista lights up my day. Of noticing the care and attention put into the latte art.

I have not been to a coffee shop in days, and so this morning – a morning where a drizzle of rain hung over the air, a refreshing air – I felt like I was seeing all of the rituals associated with making a cup of coffee from a new perspective. The care the barista puts into preparing a drink, the sound of the steam wand as it froths milk, the rapport between the staff members.

A hand-crafted (decaf) flat white was the best possible start to the morning on a day where the only thing I had planned was to have a coffee, read a bit of a book, and wonder “should I go see that movie I want to see?” The movie was The Devil Wears Prada 2. I had not seen the first one, but lots of actors I like appeared in the second one so I thought I would go see it.

Less than an hour before the morning screening, I booked a ticket. I usually like to prepare more, but perhaps my mind was already made up that I wanted to see the film and I was yet to realise it. It has been a year since I was last at the cinema, so I revelled in the chance to go again to see a movie that looked good. In summary, after watching the movie, I was impressed, and left excited to watch the first one too.

As I left the movie theatre, on the fourth floor of a shopping centre in the heart of the city, I heard the sound of bagpipes. The fourth floor has an open roof and so the bagpipes could have been coming from anywhere. I felt so much at home in hearing them. Where else in the world could I leave a movie screening and hear bagpipes? That sound was a portend for what was to come.

While I didn’t necessarily have a plan for the day, the more hours that passed the more I started to piece together things I was thinking about this week. I have started to get back into Magic: the Gathering, watching a few videos online of people playing games. I decided I wanted to go to a trading card shop to at least inquire about what has changed in the format since I last played seriously, nine years ago. It turns out, a lot has changed, but the worlds I could learn about are exciting.

On my way to the trading card shop, I noticed a crowd of people lining the streets on Waverley Bridge, the scene of a painting I really love. I stopped for a moment and overheard people talking about the event of the day – the tartan parade, dedicated to celebrating all things tartan. Last year, I had encountered the parade under similar circumstances: I was walking around and happened to be in the place where the parade was about to start, not knowing the event was scheduled. A lot has changed since last year, too.

Having fifteen minutes or so before the parade was scheduled to begin, I got some lunch and waited. Then, with great excitement, I watched the event from beginning to end – an hour of pipe bands, dancers, people from clans across Scotland, people who work for charities in Scotland, and people who have come from all over the world to celebrate tartan. There was a pipe band from Switzerland and contingent of people from Peru, Italy, and more. I love seeing so many people coming together — in so many outfits and from so many places., I wrote as I was surrounded by music and colour and stories and life.

Early on in the parade, a larger-than-life (paper?) unicorn was carried by several people. “A unicorn!” remarked a child nearby with great excitement. I was surprised for a split second until I remembered the unicorn is our national animal, my favourite fact to share with people I meet from other places in the world. I can think of no better animal to represent the Scottish attitude than the unicorn – welcoming, playful, and always able to bring colour to a room.

There were also people dressed as dinosaurs at the parade for a reason I can’t remember. Nonetheless the dinosaurs made me laugh the kind of laugh where you feel nothing but pure joy. The emcee for the parade had some playful banter with the dinosaurs who roared, saying something to the effect of “I’m glad I’m up here” (on the double-decker, open-top bus with tartan livery from where the emcee announced all the groups in the parade) to the dinosaurs below. I’m having a good time, I thought.

I walked for miles today, from the coffee shop to the theatre, stopping for an hour afterwords to watch the tartan parade, to the card game store and back. Serendipity was my best friend. Then, just as I was getting ready to go home, I saw someone I haven’t seen in months. Seeing them smile and wave as I did the same, my world was brightened, to an extent where despite my best efforts to describe what I was feeling it was impossible to do so. I felt so much less alone than I had the moment before.

The small things – the warm morning coffee, the smile and wave from a friend, the unicorns; the serendipity of walking without a plan and being open to what you see – really do make life special.