~hedy's blogroll - BlogFlock

Digital resistance - Manuel Moreale RSS Feed

2026-01-28T13:00:00.000Z

One of the blogs I’ve been paying closer attention to over the past few weeks is patrickrhone.net since he’s doing a great job in commenting and sharing both the awful things that are happening in Minnesota, where he’s based, but also some of the positives that are coming out from a moment this tragic.

Reading through his posts made me appreciate how important it is, in moments like these, that we still have the ability to share snippets of reality directly with each other.

Most people will likely remember when mainstream social media could be used as a force for change at a societal level. The Arab Spring is an obvious example. But that was more than a decade ago, and the social media landscape is very different right now, different to the point where I suspect something like that would not be allowed to happen again.

But the existence of personal sites, run by people who are willing to live and share their experience of what’s happening around them, remains an incredibly valuable tool in the context of digital resistance.

Judging by the reports I saw, there are attempts to crack down on Signal groups and the other ways people use to communicate and organize, so I think the more spread out, the more distributed, the more decentralized these movements are, the harder it becomes to keep them under control.

And maybe this is probably the best use case for something like Mastodon, where a multitude of instances can go online easily and make it very hard to censor them all. It might not have the same reach as the mainstream platforms, but I think it’s a lot more resilient and harder to silence.

Countries always have the option to go nuclear and block the entire Internet; we’ve all seen that happening before, but I suspect that’s harder to do in places where most of society needs the Internet to function properly.

And related to this, the other day Seth shared on his blog a link to macrowave and the first thought I had was that this—or similar ones—could become another incredibly useful tools in the context of organized resistance.

All this to say that if you have enough knowledge to set up a personal site, a forum, a Mastodon instance, or any other way to help people share what's happening and connect with each other, that’s probably something worth doing at this point in time.

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Sharing is caring - Manuel Moreale RSS Feed

2026-01-27T16:40:00.000Z

Even though he again misrepresented the point I made in a previous post and he also attributed me things I never said, I'm still going to share this post by Baldur Bjarnason, because he touches on many important topics worth thinking and talking about, especially at this specific moment in time, considering all the shit that's happening in the world.

I'm not gonna attempt to correct him, because I don't think it matters at this point. He's free to think I'm a nazi apologist, or sympathizer, or whatever else he thinks I am (and since I'm Italian, you should also assume I'm a Fascist while you're there). I’m not gonna lose sleep over that, but I will point out something that is important to me:

Not assuming ≠ tolerating. Not assuming ≠ excusing. Not assuming ≠ allowing something.

And one more note:

Because you absolutely should judge people based on the books they like. That’s what talking about books is for.

Why they like a book is as important, if not more important, than what book they like. That was the whole point of my post. And by knowing what book one likes you don’t also know why they like it, unless you engage in a conversation. As you said, that’s why we talk about books and why we talk about things in general. Because if we don’t talk, then we just assume.

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A Leica Q2 again - Baty.net

2026-01-25T14:25:00.000Z

Well the entire Leica SL2 kit has been sold, which left me with the GRIII as my only digital camera. I love the little Ricoh, but it doesn’t scratch my “Go out and take photos” itch.

I’ve gone back to a Leica Q2. I have previously owned a Q, Q2, and Q2 Monochrom, but eventually sold them due to other urges (mostly for digital M cameras).

Lately I’ve been wanting something smaller for carrying everywhere. The SL2 is ginormous and heavy. The Q2 isn’t exactly tiny, but it’s much easier to have with me than the SL2. I could have gone smaller with something like a Fuji, or even the GRIII, but I decided to stick with the Leica. I’ll still have the GRIII for when I don’t feel like carrying a camera, but the Leica goes everywhere else.

28mm is challenging for me, but I’m unashamed to crop when needed, and the 47MP sensor gives me plenty of leeway. The 1.7 Summilux is a great lens. The clever macro switch is a joy to use. It’s easy and intuitive to switch to manual focusing, which I do a lot. I can live with 28mm.

Add weather sealing, IBS, and super simple button/menu layouts, and it really is a great combination.

I admit being tempated by the newer Q3, but new ones cost $7,000, and even used copies are still twice what I paid for the Q2. I got a very good deal on my camera, so I’m happy with that.

I like not having to decide which digital camera or which lenses to bring every time I leave the house.

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A follow-up on a follow-up - Manuel Moreale RSS Feed

2026-01-25T09:50:00.000Z

I already wrote a follow up to my previous post but while that was happening Bix wrote something on their site and in there there’s a perfect passage which illustrates way better the point I was attempting to make (not hard to do, considering I am not a great writer) and I’ll quote it down below:

The real example to use here more naturally would be people still liking the Harry Potter franchise despite J.K. Rowling being a fetid, rancid TERF. In that actual situation, there are nuances. For example, if the books (or movies) meant a lot to you and you still own them and you still revisit them, you aren’t actually giving Rowling any more money or visible support as a human being. If you’re continuing to buy, rent, or attend any of her work, you actively are supporting a fetid, rancid TERF. It’s valid for people to judge you on that.

For the sake of this discussion, (and this is a hypothetical, Baldur), let’s pretend I tell you that my favorite book is Harry Potter. Now, you tell me, based on that information you have just received, how do you determine in which one of the two camps proposed by Bix do I fit in?

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IndieWeb Carnival: Host Interview - James' Coffee Blog

2026-01-25T09:44:02.000Z

Zachary kindly invited me to answer a few questions about hosting the IndieWeb Carnival. Running for three years now, the IndieWeb Carnival has been the source of endless inspiration for me, sparking both long periods of thinking as well as writing blog posts. Even when I have not written an entry for a given month, the topic has always been interesting.

I have hosted the indieWeb Carnival twice, first on the topic “Moments of Joy” and then on the topic of “Tools.” I am going to tailor my answers to the latter topic since it is the most recent one. I will also be hosting in March 2026 – stay tuned!

What drew you to this theme?

When I was first learning to code, I thought about coding as a pursuit in itself. With that said, as the years have passed, I find myself more interested in how software is designed. What tools do we most rely on? How do tools enable or interfere with creativity? What affordances do our favourite tools have that make them so compatible with how we want to work? What makes a tool delightful? What principles should we consider when we design new tools?

When I hosted the carnival in July 2024 on “Tools,” I was thinking a lot about tools but knew that others’ perspectives were invaluable. Part of me was interested in what attributes I like in software, but a bigger part of me was interested in what others thought and liked about the tools they use. As part of that intention, looking back I didn’t limit the carnival to software, or even mention the word “software” in the announcement blog post. Indeed, while I am fascinated by software, I think we have much to learn from all tools when it comes to making interfaces.

Did you consider any other prompts before settling?

I can’t remember whether I thought about any other prompts, but if I recall correctly the topic of tools was one I was thinking a lot about so it felt like a good choice. I wanted to choose a topic that would be appealing to others, that was as open-ended as possible, and that didn’t require any special knowledge to respond to. One thing I really love about the IndieWeb Carnival is that the prompts are open-ended, which encourages more voices and perspectives.

How did you decide on your prompt's wording?

For reference, my prompt was:

Over the next month, I invite you to write a blog post about tools and how they do, or have, influenced your creative process. You can write about tools in the context of any creative practice you have: writing, acting, drawing, painting, woodworking, cooking, coding, singing, VTubing, or whatever is applicable to you.

I also included a list of questions to help direct readers.

I wanted to encourage people to talk not only about tools, but how they affect creativity. I wanted to hear about tools in many different contexts and creative pursuits. I am fascinated by how people make things.

Did hosting change how you think about the theme?

Looking back, the topic of tools is just as present in my thinking as it was back when I chose the theme – even though the carnival was over a year and a half ago! Like all reading, I think I soaked in the responses when I read them, each one moving my thinking forward.

But, really, the most exciting part of the carnival is not how my thinking changes but how, at the end, there are a dozen or more thoughtfully-written perspectives on an idea that anyone can read. Who knows how many people are inspired in a given month by the responses people write on their blogs.

Since the carnival, there has been a specific subtle and growing thought in my mind that I have not yet written down but should share somewhere: that if we think out of the box in terms of software design, we might come up with something brilliant.

I keep thinking about software tools because I can contribute to those – software is a place where I can make a difference. But also because software touches so many parts of our lives that I think continuous discourse on how we make software the best it can be for everyone is essential.

Did the submissions surprise you in any way?

One of the things I look back on with joy is that, to the extent I can see, I had never interacted with several of the participants. They found the challenge and wrote something as part of the challenge. I love the grassroots nature of the carnival. All it takes to participate is a place to write on the web.

Kind software - James' Coffee Blog

2026-01-25T08:26:20.000Z

At EdinburghJS this week, Colin mentioned the idea of “kind software.” This got me thinking. What would make software kind? As I write, I notice the word “kind” reminds me of the term “user friendly,” which has associations with software being simple to use in the context of completing a given task or set of tasks.

I think kind software extends the notion of “user friendly” to discuss more explicitly all of the affordances that a piece of software makes to a user.

When I think of user-friendly, I think of interface design. For instance, confirmation pop ups before taking irreversible actions, offering an undo button for as many actions as possible, having a strong navigation structure, offering large click areas where possible, being accessible, and more all both make a piece of software user-friendly and, by extension, “kind” in some sense. I think “kind” software would encompass more, like:

Offering different data formats so people can use the data in the software in the way they want.
Being explicit and transparent on how information is being used, without the use of dark patterns or ambiguous language to instruct people on how information is used.
Minimising distractions so a user can focus on a task.
Helping users pick up where they left off as they shift contexts to different tools, or if and when they have not been using the tool for a while.
Collects and uses only the data it absolutely needs.

The more I think about it, the closer the ideas of user-friendliness and kind software look. With that said, there is something about the term “kind software” that appeals. I don’t know who would ever say a piece of software is “kind”, but that feels like the kind of goal it is worth striving toward when it comes to software design.

Shortly after the meetup, I took out my pencil and paper and started taking notes. I wrote down a few words and phrases that embody the kind of ideas I like to see in software. Here are a few of them:

Forgiving
Personal as in really for you (aka: no opaque algorithms), in the case of social software
Calm
Does one thing really well
Gives people time to think
Friendly
Artistic
For all
Customisable and extensible
Collaborative
Private
Freedom to go at your own pace

What attributes would you like to see in software? Are there any pieces of software that you think are particularly good in an aspect of design that you wish was more discussed? Feel free to send me an email at readers [at] jamesg [dot] blog. I’d love to hear from more people on this topic!

This week - James' Coffee Blog

2026-01-24T17:36:42.000Z

This has been a busy week!

Earlier in the week, I attended my first EdinburghJS Meetup, at which I met many wonderful people. As always, I am a bit nervous before going to events. What if I can’t find the location? What will I say? Those fears usually leave my system after arriving and getting settled into an event, after which point I love talking with people. I especially love meeting new people.

EdinburghJS made me aware of how large the Scottish technology community is. I am especially appreciative of the Scottish Technology Club project which is aggregating events and resources. It feels great to know not only that there is a technology community, but that there is so much going on.

On another note, in two days I start my degree in art history. This week has been full of events prior to studying. I was thinking earlier today about how I am already getting out of my comfort zone – talking with new people, learning about student societies I might join, and generally finding my way around all the materials I will be using for study.

I attended a session this week at university about reading sheet music. I technically joined mid-way through the event series so I was a bit out of my depth, but I still had fun and gained more of an appreciation for how many patterns there are that make up music. I think I’ll take the course from the beginning when it starts up again. I wonder if this will be the year when I can read a little bit of sheet music.

Today I went to a lecture on art and the working class, with a particular focus on art in the north of England. The lecture started by illuminating how much what you might call “fine art” represents a tiny group of people, and then showing how artists like Lowry and Turner, the art critic John Ruskin all paved the way for an art that represented the working class. Norman Cornish, for example, was a member of the "Pitman Academy" who depicted life in the mines.

The lecture concluded by looking at Banksy, whose works resonate around the world and, in the process, show that art is and should be for everyone.

Reflecting further on the topic of representation, I can’t help but think of how some of my favourite parts of the National Museum of Scotland is the art painted in the region where I grew up. I know those hills! I know that place. People throughout the centuries have seen beauty here, enough so to paint it. In the case of modern portraiture, seeing paintings of people from my local area have mattered so much to me. Art connects us to place, people, and times, but to live up to that potential – and to be truly for all – it has to include and represent as many places, people, and moments as possible.

I have so much energy right now, and am excited to begin my degree on Monday. The first topic is some induction material and then I'll be learning about the reputation of Cleopatra.

In the background, dinner is cooking in the oven, and I am excitedly waiting for an evening of listening in to poetry from the university poetry society.

Saturday, January 24, 2026 - Baty.net

2026-01-24T17:14:00.000Z

STATUS: Freezing. It’s -15°F out there.
PLANS: Solidifying my Linux setup. Emacs, mostly. Some Darktable.
READING: Half through “Anima Rising” by Christopher Moore
LISTENING: Tom Waits, probably.

It was -15°F while walking Alice this morning. I tried the doggy boots, but she wasn’t having it, so we barefooted it. She must be tough, because I didn’t see any signs of her feet bother her.

I don’t know why I worry about what kinds of posts belong where or whether they belong at all. No one else cares, why should I? So yeah, these daily posts are going to stay here for the moment, until I decide I was wrong.

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Linux and/or macOS - Baty.net

2026-01-24T14:10:00.000Z

I’ve been alternating between Linux (Fedora/KDE) and macOS since the beginning of the year.

I’d describe Linux and the software running on Linux like this:

Less polish, more power.

What I find challenging is that sometimes I want the power, other times I want the polish.

Surprisingly, I am starting to prefer being in Linux than being in macOS. Linux feels like it’s mine and I like that feeling. Everything in the OS makes me believe it was done with me mind. “Me” being “the user”. Even when things are frustrating, I usually understand why. macOS used to feel this way, but has drifted from it. It’s not all Tahoe’s fault, but it certainly hasn’t helped.

What I miss most about running macOS is not macOS. It’s the software. The polish.

Most of the stuff I use on Linux also works on my Mac. That doesn’t apply the other way around. Whenever I discover some cool new app and find that it’s macOS only, it stings a little.

I want BBEdit and Tinderbox and Keyboard Maestro and Things and iA Writer and Preview. There are usually “equivalent” apps on Linux, but they’re not really. They do mostly the same things, but they’re not the same. Not even close. It’s been hard to adjust.

The other glaring omission on Linux is an easy way to share things with family and friends. How am I supposed to send funny memes to my wife when I have to jump through so many hoops first?

KDE Connect would be a great solution, but every other time I want to use it, the computer can’t see my phone, or vice versa. By the time I cycle wifi on both devices, the moment has passed. Maybe I’ll try talking everyone into switching to Signal. Ha! There’s no chance of that, so I’m on my own here.

If we’re keeping track, I’m writing this in Emacs on the Linux desktop. It’s where I’ll probably end up full time eventually, but it’s not happened yet.

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Ryan - Manuel Moreale RSS Feed

2026-01-23T12:00:00.000Z

This week on the People and Blogs series we have an interview with Ryan, whose blog can be found at laze.net.

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The People and Blogs series is supported by Henrik Wist and the other 122 members of my "One a Month" club.

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

Hey there, I'm Ryan. I'm originally from South Jersey (as in southern New Jersey) but live now in Northern Virginia with my wife, two kids, dog, and rabbit. I'm well out of school by this point, but I was a computer science major over half a lifetime ago. I've been a web developer for many years, though my current professional role is less well-defined for various reasons.

I've built fun little projects on the web since 1994, most of which were pretty low-key or niche. A couple got some nice acknowledgement in large media outlets or went mildly viral for a bit, but my favorites have always flown under the radar and garner just the rare "thank you!" email.

I'm passionate about genealogy/family history, the personal web (duh!), music/movies/books, radio archiving, personal preservation, running, animal rights, and trying to be less of a jerk each day.

What's the story behind your blog?

I launched my first personal web site on my college's server in December of 1994 (only the second student to have done so), but my first blog post, of sorts, was on April 20, 1998 shortly after I'd moved to a proper web host and my own domain. I had a changelog for a while with updates about the site, but then I started a page with a changelog for my life--a blog, though the word wasn't widely used at that point.

The blog grew more important and eventually got its own name, "twist of fait accomplis." It ran through 2020, though slowed down quite a bit in the mid-2010s. Over that time, I did a lot of personal blogging (the type of stuff that would later be appropriate for social media), linkblogging, commentary, and longer essays. I had a few posts gain traction over the years, somewhat unexpectedly. Like the one where I wrote about seeing The Maury Povich Show in person and watching Maury embarrassingly misgender an audience member. It blew up when people got to the post through Google and thought that I was Maury and started telling me their life stories in the comments (often with PII). That post got over 700 comments before I had to turn them off. Sadly, Maury himself never reached out to do a collab. laze x Povich could have been great.

In 2020, I was using a Wordpress security plugin that was (ironically) compromised and ended up injecting sites I ran with malware. I got fed up with Wordpress and had already been growing weary of the state of the personal web, so I pulled my site down and replaced it with a single, unindexed web page that I would quietly update every few months.

By 2024, I started re-engaging with the IndieWeb (or whatever you want to call it) and felt a hankering to bring my site back in some way, so I did. Since then, I've fallen back in love with blogging and tinkering with my site. The current incarnation features selected posts going back to 1998 from assorted sites I've run over the years as well as a nice dose of new posts.

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

I've decided that in the current iteration of my site, I'm simply letting my interests guide me. Sometimes, that means I'm writing a post about an album I've been listening to, other times responding to someone else's post or writing about a project I've been working on or a topic that's been interesting me. Sometimes I just write about my experience getting older.

Some of the posts (like one I wrote about heart disease and lipoprotein(a)) I put some time into researching, which can make the process a bit slow. I've got one post about a pretty esoteric piece of train history that I've been working on-and-off for months on because I feel like there's more good info out there I need to find before I can hit publish (even though only ten people will end up reading it).

I have a Writing folder in Joplin where I keep all my drafts. It's a nice way to write, as I can switch between a rich text editor and straight markdown, and then copy the markdown directly into a micro.blog post when I'm done. I do any proofing and corrections myself before posting and inevitably even more after posting. I try not to be too precious about it, though. It's my site and though I don't want it to feel sloppy, I'm human and make mistakes. I'm at peace with the occasional typo or awkward sentence.

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

Like most people, I like to have a quiet space to think and write, perhaps accompanied by some non-vocal music. I do most of my writing in my home office/guest bedroom looking out the window on my small backyard. It's quite pleasant during the summer to see all the greenery, but even during the winter months, I appreciate the light that comes through. Writing on the front porch in nice weather or by the fireplace in the winter are nice alternatives when I need to mix things up.

I don't have as many "I'm going to sit down and write for 30 minutes"-type moments as I'd like. More often, it's "I can probably snag ten minutes now for a paragraph or two." I take what I can get, which can result in fragmented prose that requires a good deal of massaging before it's ready for public consumption.

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

I've gone through so many blogging platforms and web hosts over the years, but laze.net is currently hosted at micro.blog, which I use more as a traditional CMS than as a microblogging or POSSE service as it was intended. It's Hugo on the backend and deploys as a static site, which I like.

I'm at the point where I don't want to worry about managing deployments, updating software, configuring servers... none of that interests me at this stage. I find more joy in thinking and writing than I do in tinkering with what's running the site.

(I run other sites where I'm more involved technically, but we're talking about laze.net here.)

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

I've started and restarted too many blogs and where I've settled is this: I aim to keep things as simple as possible (while also appreciating a degree of flexibility) with a well-designed CMS on the back end that pushes out a static site on the other. I'm happy with the way things are now.

I love that there are so many options out there now, whether it's micro.blog, Bear, Pika, or any of the other services Manuel outlines on his blog platforms page. There's a service out there for whatever level of involvement one might want to have with their site's appearance or functionality.

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'm on the micro.blog premium plan, which is $10/month. My email is hosted at mxroute, which I subscribed to a while ago for some deal, so let's call that a buck or two a month since I host other domains' email there as well. The domain registration costs about $13/year. So, I'm able to run the site for around $15/month.

I don't monetize the site. Nothing against anyone who does with theirs, though.

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

Some of these folks may have been featured here before (and indeed this may be where I found them).

Paul - I've known Paul online since the early-90s (GEnie!!) and we still keep in almost daily contact. His blog is always a good read. He's the writer I wish I was. Interview him!
Chris - Chris is a blogger I met back in the early 2000s only to find out he lived a block away (I knew he was local but not that local). He's been in the game forever and has always been a great example of what the indie/personal web is about. Interview him, too! (Already did!)
Alex - Alex's series on Tiny Archives and recent three-parter on personal social media archiving are some of my favorite things of the last couple of years.
Katherine - I feel like every probably knows about Katherine's site at this point, but I tell you... what a delightful web presence.
Grizzly Gazette - This group blog on Bear has been a good read since it launched this year.

I have a proper blogroll, too, that I'm always adding to.

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

I've always got a few side projects going on. I've got one dedicated to a pet cemetery in the Nevada desert. I do a good bit of radio archiving (and wholeheartedly support unimportant archiving). I've also got a digital garden dedicated to genealogy, but it needs some tending. And a pal and I have a very slow joint blog where we post once a year, alternating years between us. Anything new (or old) that I may be up to, I try to add to my "projects" page.

Keep exploring

Now that you're done reading the interview, go check the blog and subscribe to the RSS feed.

If you're looking for more content, go read one of the previous 125 interviews.

Make sure to also say thank you to Jan and the other 122 supporters for making this series possible.

I’m bad at coming up with examples - Manuel Moreale RSS Feed

2026-01-22T11:20:00.000Z

Yesterday I wrote something. It was, as it often is, the result of reading something I didn’t agree with. If you have read anything on this blog before, you probably know I like to make stupid and extreme examples to illustrate the point I’m trying to make in a specific post. And I already wrote about how sometimes my examples can cause confusion.

Since it happened again, I think it’s worth reiterating a few things here. The point of an example is to be, well, an example. It’s not the core of the post. It’s there to help illustrate a point.

In case you need this spelled, no, I never in my life read the Mein Kampf the same way I never read many other books. And in case you also need this spelled, to clear the eventual confusion, I do think Hitler was bad in ways that are beyond comprehension. I visited the Risiera when I was in elementary school, and the signs of those wars are very much still visible here. But that’s beside the point.

The thing I find the most interesting, looking at that whole thread, is that it appears that almost none of the people are discussing what the post was about. Instead, I see a lot of arguments for what “favorite” means in this context. And look, I’m not a native speaker, I don’t claim to possess the most articulate vocabulary: should I have used another term to make that example? Maybe? I don’t know. It was an example.

Should I have used Harry Potter and being a transphobe rather than Mein Kampf and being a nazi? Maybe, but again, it was a goddamn example. And I even explicitly stated that, literally, the line below:

This is obviously Godwin's law in action, and I’m using an extreme example to make the point clear, but it applies to all sorts of more nuanced scenarios.

The problem I see is that there’s no winning here: if I use an extreme example, someone will get stuck on the extremeness of it, and if I use a nuanced one, someone will get stuck in the small details. But that’s precisely the point I was making in my post: rather than assume straight away, you can engage in conversation and ask questions. I repeated, ad nauseam, that my inbox is open. There’s a link to it at the bottom of every single post. If you read that post and were perplexed by it, why didn’t you engage in conversation then?

Heck, suggest me a better example if you have one. Or, I don’t know, write an answer and share your own thoughts, and add to the conversation. Isn’t the point of all this public posting to have conversations?

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Winter silence - Protesilaos Stavrou: Master feed with all updates

2026-01-22T00:00:00.000Z

This is an excerpt from my journal. I comment on how exposure to nature helps me understand my place in the world.

Winter is the most quiet time of the year here in my mountains. The ever-busy swallows left us a few months ago. I enjoy their presence during the spring and summer months. Every evening they fly all around the area, trying to feast on the various insects. They seem to be happy and I like being close to them whenever I sit outside in contemplation.

The frogs and the crickets are gone as well. I do not know what happens to them. Are they migratory? Do they hibernate? Are their eggs stored someplace safe and will crack open once it gets warmer again? There are so many ways that life forms keep their identity through change; an ever-present commitment to selfhood via incessant course correction, such that what was continues to exist as process yet cannot be as instance.

All vegetation recedes. Most leaves fall and there is no obvious movement above the ground. Yet the juices are still flowing. Pay close attention and you can find the greener spots, the softer parts that still need to expand. Roots grow more dense. They must be ready for the months ahead, to support another cycle of growth. From recession comes progression and then back again. In essence, it is no different to how human history oscillates between the extremes of progressive openness and regressive intolerance.

There is no point in arguing with the world about good and bad outcomes. These are human constructs, which apply to a tiny sliver of our shared experiences. In the systems of systems of which we are but a part, as yet more systems of systems—both as individuals and as collectives—what ultimately applies are forces that bring things together and pull them apart. From equilibrium comes disequilibrium, from imbalance comes balance.

When we try to cling on to any given order, anything we would like to preserve as a constant, be it an individual quality like youth or pretty looks, an event such as a party with friends or a romantic affair, a certain interplay of factors more broadly, we learn quickly that it slips away. The world is in flux. What comes goes. We are no different than the dreams of a puppy, at once a thriving world and a fleeting thought.

Local time is about 10 minutes to midnight. I was outside to do a final check on the new battery for my off-grid solar panel setup before going to bed. That part is working nicely. I have electricity around the clock. As I was about to enter my room, I heard a fox screeching in the distance. It is normal for them to make such noises. I was inspired to stand still for a little while. Even in these quiet days there is motion.

In our hyperconnected affairs, where “me, me, me” is the midpoint, tutelary figure, and secular god of our societies, a simple pause on such a cold night reminds us that we are not important. Not me, not you, none of us. All that is happening out there is not for people alone. The universe is not conspiring to deliver to any of us the state of affairs we feel entitled to.

“What will others think” is a thought that persists for as long as we do not shift our attention to the greater magnitudes. We allow the average Joe to wield immense power over us through something as fickle as an opinion. How can you notice that you are not the centre of the world when your city is denying you the sky? No, this is not a metaphor. It is what is actually happening: you do not observe the stars and will generally not have a good sense of direction. How can you submit to the authority of the greater forces of the cosmos when you do not even witness them firsthand? For as long as you think you are the supreme authority within the nominal domain of your control, you will remain trapped in a web of hearsay.

There are sensible reasons for wanting to fit in. This is a pattern we observe throughout nature. Though we also have the capacity to persevere in uncharted lands as a wolf among wolves. There is no clarity on what to do. Ours is an ongoing attempt at balancing between the worlds of thought and action. Our deeds must be efficacious, while our thoughts need to be clear. Yet we cannot withdraw into a world of pure theory until we figure out all the scenaria and clarify our thoughts to perfection. The body subsists through a series of events. Action is unavoidable. But we also understand that we should not act without thinking things through or, at least, having a sense of the bigger picture we are working towards. Such is our predicament.

With some experience, which is usually painful, and, perhaps a bit of luck, all we can tell is that in the grand scheme of things, the matters we once attached great value to end up being trivial. It is all star dust in yet another one of its transfigurations.

I go to bed now. Admitting to my insignificance brings me peace.

Share your website at events - James' Coffee Blog

2026-01-21T15:42:12.000Z

Yesterday I attended a Code Jam event organised by the EdinburghJS community. During the event, I met many wonderful people. At one point, someone asked me to share my LinkedIn, to which I responded that I’ll share my website instead. I stopped for a moment to consider that this was a conscious decision. I want to share my website.

I love sharing my website because I made it. It’s a reflection of my personality. I maintain it. And the more I think about it, the more advantages I see to sharing my website at events rather than a social media link.

First and foremost, sharing a website means anyone with access to the web can see my website. This is so much better than social platforms, where someone has to be a user of the platform to connect. Second, putting my website first lets me assert that my primary web identity is my website. I may use various platforms over time, but this website is designed to be my canonical identity. This is where I write. This is me.

Furthermore, because I don’t use analytics on my website, and limit the number of third-party resources used on a web page – this page, for example, at the time of writing, should have no embedded elements from other websites – going to my website is a more private option.

If you are at an event, I encourage you to share your website if you have one, sharing it is relevant, and you’re comfortable sharing it. (All three of these things should apply; if you’d prefer not to share your website for any or no reason, that’s absolutely okay too!)

I have only ever attended events related to technology and creativity where people are more likely to have websites, but I think my advice could extend to other communities too. If you have a website and want to share it, share it with others! I certainly love seeing others’ websites.

Also posted on IndieNews

Moral false dichotomies - Manuel Moreale RSS Feed

2026-01-21T12:50:00.000Z

One of the things that irks me the most when it comes to human interactions, is seeing people judging other people based on moral false dichotomies: you said you enjoy some piece of creative work, that creative work is related to a creator who might have said or done something awful/despicable/debatable/whatever, therefore you either don’t care about the broader issue the creators is involved with (and that’s bad) or you support their awful/despicable/debatable world views (which is worse).

I have no doubt you have seen this happen plenty of times if you have frequented any type of space online and paid attention to discussions and debates happening in those spaces. Here’s the thing, though, the only information I really have when you say you enjoy something is that, well, you enjoy that thing. That’s it. If I decide to assume things about you and the person you are, based on that information, that’s on me.

Now, some preferences can raise eyebrows: if I tell you my favorite book is the Mein Kampf, you have every reason to be perplexed and ask follow-up questions. But if you just assumed, based on that, that I’m a Nazi sympathizer, that would be wrong. Because you don’t actually know what. This is obviously Godwin's law in action, and I’m using an extreme example to make the point clear, but it applies to all sorts of more nuanced scenarios.

Assuming something about someone else, based on your own worldview and without asking questions, is intellectually lazy. And it also prevents people who might have different views from engaging in conversation and exploring differences.

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Wednesday, January 21, 2026 - Baty.net

2026-01-21T10:56:00.000Z

STATUS: Futzing with things I said I wouldn’t futz with
PLANS: Not leave the house
READING: “Anima Rising” by Christopher Moore
LISTENING: Mozart piano concertos

The plan was to only generate /notes with ox-hugo, but I just spent like an hour getting the snippet and properties configured so I can generate these journal posts also. WHY!?

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Blogging with org-mode and ox-hugo again - Baty.net

2026-01-21T09:55:00.000Z

For a few years, a few years ago, I wrote all my blog posts using one big Org mode outline and let ox-hugo generate the Markdown files for Hugo. I eventually decided it was a layer of abstraction that I didn’t need, so I fell back to writing in Markdown directly.

I’m really into using Emacs again (still?), so I dusted off and updated my old ox-hugo config and here I am, typing this with Emacs in a big Org mode outline.

I have a (ya)snippet for generating the posts, like so:

# -*- mode: snippet -*-
# name: Hugo blog post
# key: blog
# uuid: blog
# --
**** TODO ${1:title}
:PROPERTIES:
:EXPORT_FILE_NAME: index.md
:EXPORT_HUGO_BUNDLE: `(format-time-string "%Y-%m-%d")`-${1:$(replace-regexp-in-string " " "-" (downcase yas-text))}
:EXPORT_HUGO_SLUG: ${1:$(replace-regexp-in-string " " "-" (downcase yas-text))}
:EXPORT_HUGO_CUSTOM_FRONT_MATTER: :coverCaption ""
:END:

#+begin_description

#+end_description

$0

The snippet prompts for a title, then creates the appropriate properties for the post.

One nice thing about this is that once the Markdown is generated, I no longer need the .org file. Writing this way is a bonus, but not a requirement.

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Designing a service with IndieAuth and email-based login - James' Coffee Blog

2026-01-20T20:40:35.000Z

Artemis, the calm web reader I maintain, offers three methods of authentication: IndieAuth, email and password, and passkeys. IndieAuth is offered as a sign-in method because I want Artemis to allow people to use their domain names as their identities. Email and password authentication is offered because it is familiar. Passkeys are offered as a convenient way to sign in (in theory, at least; passkey authentication is not always intuitive).

Here is how the Artemis sign in page looks:

In this blog post, I am going to talk about considerations for designing a service that offers both IndieAuth and email / password authentication.

I will specifically focus on the actions a user should be able to take to update their sign in information if they are signed in with only an email / password, only a domain name, or signed in with an account that has both a verified email / password and a domain name. The information in this post should help prevent a user from getting into a state where they cannot sign into their account because they do not have at least one verified authentication method set.

I will briefly touch on passkeys at the end of the post, but they are not the main topic I am going to address.

Domain names = User Profile URLs

Before I continue, please note that “domain name” in this post refers to a User Profile URL per the IndieAuth specification. I say “domain name” because many people use their own domain names (i.e. example.com) to sign into a service via IndieAuth, but, for the purposes of authentication, a User Profile URL is used, not a domain name This is an important definition and distinction to know. Per this definition https://example.com/ and https://example.com/username should be considered two separate accounts. There is nothing that says that the same domain name can’t be used for multiple accounts, provided different URL paths are used.

Furthermore, and importantly, profile URLs must be canonicalised per 3.4 URL Canonicalization in the specification. One thing that tripped me up at first was that I didn’t realise that if a specified profile URL did not have a path, / should be set as the path. This caused a problem where people who created accounts before I implemented the / default path for a profile URL without a path ended up with domain names that were technically invalid and have to be resolved manually.

My use of “domain name” in this post thus refers to a User Profile URL that has been canonicalized per the specification.

Account data structure

Artemis assumes the following premises as the foundation for its combined IndieAuth and email-based login system:

An account MAY have an email address and a password that they can use to sign in.
An account MAY have a domain name that they can use to sign in.
An account MUST have either a verified email address or a domain name they can use to sign in.
An account MUST only have one email address and domain name at a time.
An email MUST only be used for one account.
A domain name (again, User Profile URL) MUST only be used for one account (i.e. https://example.com cannot be registered with two accounts).

The third premise is essential to ensure users cannot get their account into a state where there is no means by which they can log in. I have emboldened “verified” because I don’t want users to detach a domain name from their account without having an email that they have verified they can access.

Given these premises, a user with only email / password login set up should be able to, at any time:

Know that they are signed in with an email address.
Change their email address.
Add a domain name.

A user with only IndieAuth-based login set up should be able to, at any time:

Know that they are signed in with a domain name.
Add an email address.
Change their domain name (I need to work on implementing this).

A user with both email / password and IndieAuth-based login should be able to, at any time:

Know that they are signed in with an account that has both an email / password and a domain name.
Change their email address.
Remove their email address (this means that your form field to change a user’s registered email should not have a required input if a user has a domain name set up with their account).
Remove their domain name, but only if they have a verified email address.
Change their domain name (I need to work on implementing this).

The “know that..” statements above were relevant when designing the Artemis account settings page. If a user is signed in with an email, I show a message that says they are signed in with email; if a user is signed in with a domain name, I show a message that says they are signed in with a domain name; if a user account has both a domain name and an email, I show that both are set.

While Artemis only shows a user’s identity name – email or domain name – in the account settings, a web service may want to display an identity in a navigation bar. In this case the service could choose what to display (i.e. domain name, name) – whatever is relevant to the service.

Improving the UX of domain name entry

Artemis uses the code in Aaron Parecki's "Improving the HTML type="url" Field" blog post to automatically add a URL scheme when a user types a domain name in a URL field. The code automatically changes example.com to http://example.com. This is a client side UX enhancement; sever-side validation is still necessary.

Passkeys

Artemis allows an account to have zero, one, or multiple associated passkeys. At the moment, a user can only register to Artemis with a domain name or an email / password. Passkey registration is not supported (although this could technically be implemented). Because of these implementation details, a user can never get in a state where removing a passkey means that they do not have another method of authentication. I don’t plan to support passkey registration at the moment.

Conclusion

Supporting both IndieAuth-based login and email / password login means that people who have domain names (again, “User Profile URLs” per the IndieAuth specification) can log in with their domains, while people who do not have a domain name or whose sites do not support IndieAuth can sign in with an email / password.

There are complexities that come up specifically when you support IndieAuth and another authentication method, like email. I hope the lists above are useful if you are designing a service that supports IndieAuth and email / password authentication. The lists above should guide you toward building a service where users can update their accounts without getting them into a state where an account has no login method, or no verified login method.

If I have missed anything, please let me know so I can update this post!

Addendum: Retrieving an email address after IndieAuth authentication

If a user creates an account with a domain name, or updates their account to only allow domain-based sign in, Artemis will not have an email address to which it can send essential service-related communications. For instance, one day Artemis may send emails to users who have been inactive for several months to see if they still want to use their accounts or deactivate them.

With that said, IndieAuth client can request the profile scope in the initial authorization request per 5.3.4 Profile Information. This may include an email address for a user.

After a user has authenticated with their domain, Artemis could ask if they want to add the email sent in the profile payload to their account. The email would be displayed to the user so they can review it before deciding whether to add or not add the email to their Artemis account.

If the user adds the email to their account, a verification email would be sent so the user can verify their email address with Artemis.

With that said, if a user doesn't want to add an email to their account, service-based communications could be provided within the application.

The idea to request profile information in the IndieAuth authentication flow came to mind after I drafted this blog post. I thought I'd note it here in case it is of interest to anyone, and as a bookmark for myself to come back to in the future.

Also posted on IndieNews

Navidrome and Supersonic - Baty.net

2026-01-20T12:18:08.000Z

I’ve been running Navidrome on the NAS for a few weeks as a way to avoid figuring out how to use Roon on Linux. Navidrome is no Roon, but it’s fast and simple and works well enough for my purposes.

Navidrome’s web UI is fine, but I thought I’d look for a “real” (Linux) client for it. Navidrome’s API is compatible with the OpenSubsonic API, which apparently is quite popular, so there are many options. I’ve started with Supersonic.

Supersonic running in KDE

I don’t tinker with my music clients much. I listen to complete albums only and almost never use playlists.

Supersonic as a front end to Navidrome is working great so far.

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Subscribing to local news with a web reader - James' Coffee Blog

2026-01-19T12:17:40.000Z

Most of the websites I follow in my web reader are personal sites like blogs. With that said, recently I subscribed to my local council’s news web page. On that page, they publish various updates – events coming to the region, draft council reports, weather warnings, and more. They advertise that there is an RSS feed available for their news page, which is what lets me follow their news in my web reader.

I am delighted the local council’s news page is available on the open web, with a web feed to which I can subscribe. This means that I can stay up to date without having to follow on a platform like Facebook. Indeed, if this news were not on their website, there is a significant chance I'd miss it. Since subscribing a few days ago, two pieces of news came through which were interesting to me. Hooray for the open web!

This is a good time for me to document a local journalism effort that I have enjoyed following with a web reader. The Edinburgh Minute, a daily newsletter that curates news and links related to Edinburgh, recently moved from Substack to Ghost. I followed them for a while in my web reader via Substack, then Ghost. It was delightful to have a daily bulletin and to see a link to it in my web reader rather than having to subscribe via email and, as I am wont to do, feel overwhelmed by all the emails I need to review. My web reader feels calmer; my inbox doesn’t usually feel this way.

I like that I can go to my web reader to see, together, blogs I like and local news. And because posts from websites I follow in a web reader, I can apply whatever filters I want such that I don’t get overwhelmed by too many posts or posts that I know are not relevant to me. In other words: I love the open web, and it’s nice to be able to curate the local and the global in one place. I wonder if there are any more local web feeds that would be interesting for me to follow!

(One locally-orientated feed I'd love is a Northern Lights forecast feed that tells me if and when the Northern Lights are likely in my area on a given day!)

Announcing Artemis Roll-up - James' Coffee Blog

2026-01-19T11:35:08.000Z

Some web feeds, especially those published on news websites, are updated several times a day with new entries. Websites that publish so regularly can be distracting in your web reader when you want to skim your feed for new posts from all the websites you follow.

With this in mind, I have been building a feature for Artemis, the calm web reader I maintain, to reduce the overwhelm associated with high-volume feeds: roll-up.

When enabled for an author, the roll-up feature creates a page that lists all posts published by a given author over the last seven days. Every seven days – on whatever weekday you choose – a single entry will be added to your feed that shows a roll-up is available for you to view. Posts from the author will not show in your main feed.

When a roll-up is available, a dedicated entry will appear in your feed with a title like this:

Roll-up for The Guardian Culture on 2026-01-19

This post will appear at the bottom of your feed for the day on which your roll-up is available (i.e. every Monday, Tuesday, etc.).

When clicked, the post will show all the posts published by the author in the last seven days:

To enable roll-up on a feed, click “Authors” in your Artemis reader, select an author, then check the “Enable Roll Up” checkbox. Next, choose a “Roll Up Cadence”, which is the day of the week on which you want the roll-up for the feed to be available. Finally, click the “Save” button at the bottom of the page to save your settings for the author.

Your next roll-up for the author will be available on the chosen day of the week.

If you have any questions about this feature, please feel free to email me at readers [at] jamesg [dot] blog.