~hedy's blogroll - BlogFlock

A moment with a decidedly less gloomy church - Manuel Moreale RSS Feed

2025-11-04T16:05:00.000Z

If you’re subscribed to my From the Summit newsletter, you might recognise this church. It’s the same one I wrote about in the most recent missive, only this time there was a lovely sunny day and the whole place was not engulfed in the fog.

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No work is ever wasted - James' Coffee Blog

2025-10-31T13:01:12.000Z

This morning, I ended up on chsmc.org’s “Applying Pixar’s rules of storytelling to writing” post. At the bottom, he quotes:

No work is ever wasted. If it’s not working, let go and move on – it’ll come back around to be useful later.

I knew I had to come back to this point. No work is ever wasted.

These words have multiple meanings to me, but among them is the pressure I sometimes feel for my writing to be destined for this blog. This is in contrast to writing something like a journal entry which is only for me. I would never say that any of my writing is “wasted”. But I do know how difficult it feels to think that what I write should be here on this blog.

With the ease of publishing on the web, I have felt and feel pressure to write something that could be a blog post. I haven’t written many journal entries, in part because I know they are not something I want to publish. I could be using that writing time to do something for my blog, I reason. Except inspiration doesn’t work that way, I am learning.

I haven’t felt much inspiration to write blog posts recently, for I am in the midst of the excitement and trepidation and anticipation and potential of a change. As such, I have had lots of inspiration to write in my journal, where I can think and process and imagine by myself. Journaling occupies a different space in my life. Journaling is just for me; blog posts, meanwhile, are for everyone.

In using my typewriter, I have once again been journaling. I love the writing I am doing. I am not trying to stick to the blog post form, with a title in mind and a topic to cover. Sometimes I meander between topics such that every paragraph is something new. Sometimes I stare out the window and have an idea that I don’t have much to say about but that I know I want to write down anyway, and so I do. I have found that when I write one sentence, another seems to follow – what seemed like part of an idea is starting to take shape.

I have read and, likely, in the past myself have talked about, the idea of “writing as thinking.” I honestly have never been able to internalise these words. Writing, as thinking? Maybe the best summary is what I touched on at the end of the last paragraph: when you put one sentence on the page, you may realise you have another one to write.

The typewriter feels conducive to writing reflective notes because it occupies a different space in my life. To write on the typewriter, I go to the other room, sit on the floor – for I do not yet have a desk for my typewriter – and start typing. My computers are a room away. When I’m writing, it’s just me and the typewriter.

Alone by my typewriter, I feel that I can be more vulnerable. I can explore topics where I do not yet have a cohesive enough narrative to be able to write something ready for someone else to read.

Some of my paragraphs in my journal have mistakes; the flow is off; the punctuation isn’t quite right. Whereas I actively edit my words when I write on my computer – something one of my friends first observed when we wrote a blog post together – this is not possible on my typewriter. So I do what feels right: I embrace the direction I’m going in. Sometimes I reach a dead end, in which case I start a new paragraph and begin again; other times, I realise there is more to a direction than I first realised.

As I experiment, I get that same feeling when I try to add my own twist to a song I’m playing on the piano: I’m learning. Sometimes I press a note that doesn’t fit and realise that I am further away from the spirit of the song than I want. Other times, I press a note that fits with the chord progression and I end up taking the song in a whole new direction.

I suppose this is the blog post I could imagine myself wishing I had, the one where I say to myself, with the greatest care: writing for yourself is never wasted. Not everything needs to be a blog post.

Frank Chimero - Manuel Moreale RSS Feed

2025-10-31T11:05:00.000Z

This week on the People and Blogs series we have an interview with Frank Chimero, whose blog can be found at frankchimero.com.

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The People and Blogs series is supported by Noahie Valk and the other 123 members of my "One a Month" club.

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

I’m Frank Chimero, I design and write from my little apartment in New York City. I’ve been doing this for a long time, mostly for technology and media companies. Other than work, I’m interested in the same things many other people are: my partner, my dog, visiting museums, movies, paintings, reading, cooking, stimulating conversation, and long walks. A lot of those have a tendency to go together, especially here in New York, which is nice.

What's the story behind your blog?

I started teaching design shortly after finishing undergrad and had a great time with it. My students and I had so many stimulating conversations in the classroom, and their questions really forced me to think about my presumptions and beliefs about design in a way I wouldn't have without the prompting. So, after class, I'd type them up and was eager to share, and thus my blog was born.

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

Writing is generally a way to scratch an itch in my brain. Sometimes it is an annoyance or disagreement with something else I read, or responding to an idea I came across in my reading that captivated me in some way, and trying to figure out why it grabbed me. Most first drafts are brain dumps in front of the keyboard or going for a walk and using speech to text on my phone. These things are incredibly rough, and take a bit of polishing until they end up on the site, but I enjoy that process too. It’s nice to nudge, tweak, and expand on parts and feel things get stronger or more clear. I try to have some interesting reference or idea at the heart of each post I make, because it’s what I want to read. The web I am interested in is the insights and ideas of individuals.

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

Some people will think I’m a barbarian, but I don’t think tools matter that much. I write in TextEdit. If it’s by hand, it is typically on loose copier paper and a pen I stole from a hotel. I’m sensitive to spaces and love a beautiful room and good lighting, but I think it is more worthwhile to learn how to write well in spite of the environment rather than because of it. At least, that’s what I tell myself. The trick, for me, is to seek out those beautiful places and experiences and try to hold on to the internal environment they create in me, then find ways to get it down onto the page later. Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn’t.

A few years ago I wrote a book called The Shape of Design. I’d book trains from New York City up to Albany to enjoy the views of the Hudson Valley from the train window. The trip was about 8 hours there and back home. I got so many words down, something about the momentum of the view creating a velocity in the writing. But you know what? Once I stacked that writing up next to all the other writing I did in libraries, at the kitchen table, or coffee shops, I never could pinpoint where what was written.

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

This is going to be underwhelming. I have an off-the-rack Macbook Pro M4. There is pretty much nothing installed on it except Figma, my fonts, and just enough of a local dev environment to make my rickety Jekyll deployments. If you were to close your eyes and imagine the first five sites you’d need for work, I have those, too. I have last year’s iPhone with YouTube and NTS Radio on it. I’ve stripped most everything out. It makes no difference. I just type and typeset.

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

I’m not certain. I have no clue how one would grow an audience in 2025 without betraying some of my values about respecting people’s attention. My current mindset is to enjoy my audience, respect them, and make no presumptions about it growing.

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?

The site either costs $60 or $0, depending on how you look at it. It’s served via Github Pages, which requires a subscription, but it also pays for other things like private repos, etc. I’ve never tried to make money with the writing on my site. Even the book I wrote is available in full online for free. This isn’t necessarily a moral stance, it is simply that the economics of it wouldn’t pay enough to justify the headspace it’d occupy. If others want to do something different, I say go for it.

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

I focus most of my reading time on books, and most of my digital reading is happening through newsletters these days. On the blog side of things, I mostly check up on friends’ writing by manually going to their site. “I wonder what Naz is up to?” and that kind of thing. I know there is RSS, but seeing the site is half the point. You’ve already interviewed a lot of them, but I think you would get a kick going through Rob Weychert’s obsessively maximalist life-documentation-as-blog. It is exactly the opposite of my own tendencies (“anything you don’t remember must not be that important”), and I have a lot of admiration, confusion, and respect for what he’s done.

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

I want to take a moment to give a shout out to libraries. Librarians are god’s people. I think there is a strong ideological kinship between digital personal publishing (blogs) and libraries (self-expression, availability of information, capitalistic counterpoint, community and connection, and the overall “this is for everyone” vibe the web was born from). So, go check out your local library. Get a card, check out a book, enjoy the space, and maybe ask about what other services they have to offer besides media. Good communities come from good people and good spaces. Supporting your local library may be a way to nudge the world toward your vision of how it should be. Or it could just be a nice way to spend an afternoon.

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 113 interviews.

Make sure to also say thank you to Chuck Grimmett and the other 123 supporters for making this series possible.

Creating posts for Zola in Emacs - Baty.net

2025-10-29T15:32:20.000Z

Creating blog posts from Emacs is my prefered method. I had a whole setup built around doing this for Hugo, but since I just switched to Zola I needed to move things around.

Here’s where I ended up:

(defun jab/zola-new-post (title &optional)
  "Create and visit a new post for the prompted TITLE."
  (interactive "sTitle: ")

  (let* ((slug (s-dashed-words title))
	 (default-directory (concat (jab/zola-content-dir)
                                    "posts/"
				    (format-time-string "%Y/%m/")))
	 (fpath (if (y-or-n-p "Make Bundle?")
		    ;; If y create directory using slug and add index.md to path
		    (progn
		      (make-directory (concat default-directory (format-time-string "%Y-%m-%d-") slug "/") 'parents)
		      (concat default-directory (format-time-string "%Y-%m-%d-") slug "/index.md"))
		  ;; Otherwise just use the slug for the filename
		  (progn
		    (concat default-directory (format-time-string "%Y-%m-%d-") slug ".md")))))
    
    (write-region (concat
                   "+++"
                   "\ntitle = '" title "'"
                   "\ndate = " (format-time-string "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S%:z")
                   "\nslug = \"" slug "\""
                   "\n[taxonomies]"
                   "\n  tags = [\"misc\"]"
                   "\n+++\n\n")
                  nil (expand-file-name fpath) nil nil nil t)
    (find-file (expand-file-name fpath))))

This prompts for a title then asks me if I want to create a standalone file or something like blog-post-title/index.md. It creates the file with all the appropriate front matter (using TOML, yuck) and then I’m off and running.

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Tridactyl for Firefox - Baty.net

2025-10-27T20:40:03.000Z

I use Zen Browser on Linux. While playing around with LazyVim (I know, I know) I learned about Tridactyl which is a plugin that let’s you manipulate Firefox (or Zen) using Vim-like key bindings.

It feels weird and I keep tripping over myself, but I feel like once I’m used to it, this is a great way to browse.

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Tabs - James' Coffee Blog

2025-10-27T17:02:39.000Z

A recording of Alors on danse, news of a new exhibition of Michelangelo’s work, an event on creative writing, and information about art history courses all exist side-by-side in the ever-changing landscape that is my browser tabs. Every one is a train of thought: the tabs on music often recommendations by friends, there are bookmarks for events to which I could go, there are blog posts through which I connect with friends and develop empathy with people I have never met, there are tabs that are the precipice of new futures.

In one tab, an amateur musician covers a song I want to learn on piano. I love hearing others’ interpretations of a song; sometimes, a cover is so compelling that I go straight to my piano and play along. I revel in appreciating the difference in key and ask – but never seek to answer – why the song is played in a different key, for, until this very moment, as I write, I had never thought to ask “why?”

Music is so captivating that I often suspend questions until later, instead seeking comfort in the voice of the artist and finding excitement in figuring out in what key a song is played while I aim to play it. There is a thrill to hearing a new song – or a cover of an old one – and asking can I play it? and then at once going to try, by ear, to play the song – in the process of which I make my own version, incomplete and imperfect, for it takes time for me to learn all the intricacies.

Thus begins a journey, from playing one note correctly to figuring out the scales used in the song – a journey that may take anywhere from a moment to an hour. Some parts of a song are deceptively difficult to learn, leading to those satisfying moments down the line when I realise that I am finally getting closer to figuring out the key and the order in which the notes should be played. Within every song is potential to play, to learn, to think, to help me relax, to rest, to study, to empathise, to connect.

The opportunity to learn a song I love in a new key is in one tab, next to which rests the outline of a potential future, projects from the past in which I have renewed interest, messages from – and the opportunity to message – friends, and more. Each tab, a story.

Design, in pink - James' Coffee Blog

2025-10-27T12:53:42.000Z

Every so often, I open up a blank HTML document and work on a concept design for my website. Sometimes I have a theme, like my blueprint-inspired design, whereas other times I play around and see what I can make.

Today I thought: what would my blog look like if it were pink? I came up with this concept design:

I use the "Transitional" font stack from Modern Font Stacks, and a combination of pink and purple colours that I made through trial-and-error with an RGB colour wheel. The background is light pink. The text colours are a darker pink that is somewhat close to red.

I am unsure whether I will use this design on my blog, but I had fun playing around and exploring this direction for a bit.

IndieWeb Carnival: On Ego - Manuel Moreale RSS Feed

2025-10-26T17:00:00.000Z

Ego is one of those words that’s difficult to parse. I find language to be an imperfect tool in the quest to describe the inner workings of the mind, because in there, things tend to be fuzzy, while words are often sharp, pointing to distinct concepts that are seldom found in someone’s brain.

«I don’t have an ego», some claim. How that is even possible remains a mystery. I suspect it all comes down to how one defines the word ego, and what concepts are associated to it. Personally, I find the whole concept of trying to “give up” one’s ego to be quite futile. Take this definition as a starting point:

In philosophy, the self, or the ego, is an individual's own being, knowledge, and values, and the relationship between these attributes.

If we use this definition of ego, I don’t see how you can ever get to giving it up. Unless by giving it up one means killing themselves, which personally I don’t find to be a compelling answer to this question. Because to give up something, someone has to be there to be the subject of the giving up. But if nobody’s there anymore, nothing is given up, because there’s nothing that can be given up. Do I make any sense?

Ego gives us many other words: from egoism, to egotism, to egocentrism. Those are all words that carry a bad reputation; nobody likes to be called an egoist. As social creatures, as part of the larger group of billions of human beings currently living on this earth, we find these constant inward-looking traits to be undesirable.

That said, though, I find the idea of always living experiences in the service of others, in an attempt to suppress one’s ego, to be an unhealthy way to go about spending the time we have available on this planet. Attempting to completely annihilate the things that make you you, in order to better fit with the rest of society, is not worth it.

It’s not healthy to spend time on this planet thinking you’re the absolute best at everything and nobody can teach you anything ever. That’s obvious. But the opposite is also not healthy: living your life thinking you’re worth nothing, that you know nothing, that everyone knows more and is worth than you and that they should be the ones to talk, to teach, to do, to earn.

If there’s one lesson I try to carry with me, it's that extremes are bad. And the goal should be to keep the pendulum swings to a minimum, and spend as much time as possible at the centre, where things are balanced. And you might think I’m saying this to you, but I’m actually talking to myself. Because the ego is still there, the inner dialogue continues, and the personal struggles will persist.

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Saturday, October 25, 2025 - Baty.net

2025-10-25T13:55:46.000Z

It’s weird how I spend a few days relaxing in WordPress, then I wake up one day and think, “Maybe I’ll generate my whole website with Org-mode and Emacs!” I probably won’t do that, but I sometimes consider it.

I don’t want photography be just another kind of file to play with on the computer.

STATUS: An entire day to myself with no other obligations. ::rubs hands together and laughs maniacally::
TODO: I’ll probably fart around more in Darktable. Maybe even hit the darkroom to make a few prints.
LISTENING: Talking Heads greatest hits (on CD)

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Show a new tab when selecting New Tab in Zen Browser - Baty.net

2025-10-25T13:53:39.000Z

At some point, for some reason, Zen changed the New Tab behavior when opening new tabs:

NEW TABS HAVE BEEN REMOVED, instead we are opting for opening the URL bar and then pressing enter to open a new tab (‘zen.urlbar.replace-newtab’ to false in about:config to revert)

https://zen-browser.app/release-notes/#1.7.5b Features section.

I don’t approve, so I found the setting to revert it using about:config…

zen.urlbar.replace-newtab = false

Much better.

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Maybe what I want is a new theme, not a new blog - Baty.net

2025-10-25T12:57:11.000Z

Thing is, I prefer using an SSG for my blog, but I’ve been posting using WordPress over at baty.blog for a few reasons:

I sometimes like a change of venue
I like the Twenty Twenty Five theme
It’s nice having built-in comments and analytics
If I wanted to change themes, it’s just a few clicks
Dragging images into the editor is so easy
Anything I might want to do is probably available as a plugin

But still, I would rather use an SSG like Hugo.

Instead of switching to WordPress, I think I would be OK if I had a new theme. Something with the following attributes:

Full posts on home page, with the option to use  or whatever for extra-long posts.
No dependency on featured images in order for it to look good. I’ll add an image to the post if I want one.

Need to pin the daily post each day.

Honestly, if I could find a theme that worked and looked like the Twenty Twenty Five theme but it was for, say, Jekyll, I’d consider switching to Jekyll. I just want to look at my blog and think, “Aah, that’s nice”. Currently, I don’t.

I thought about firing up Claude Code and having it help me, but I really don’t want to build and support my own theme.

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Romina Malta - Manuel Moreale RSS Feed

2025-10-24T11:00:00.000Z

This week on the People and Blogs series we have an interview with Romina Malta, whose blog can be found at romi.link.

Tired of RSS? Read this in your browser or sign up for the newsletter.

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

If you enjoy P&B, consider becoming one for as little as 1 dollar a month.

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

I’m Romina Malta, a graphic artist and designer from Buenos Aires. Design found me out of necessity: I started with small commissions and learned everything by doing. What began as a practical skill became a way of thinking and a way to connect the things I enjoy: image, sound, and structure.

Over time, I developed a practice with a very specific and recognizable imprint, working across music, art, and technology. I take on creative direction and design projects for artists, record labels, and cultural spaces, often focusing on visual identity, books, and printed matter.

I also run door.link, a personal platform where I publish mixtapes. It grew naturally from my habit of spending time digging for music… searching, buying, and finding sounds that stay with me. The site became a way to archive that process and to share what I discover.

Outside of my profession, I like traveling, writing, and spending long stretches of time alone at home. That’s usually when I can think clearly and start new ideas.

What's the story behind your blog?

The journal began as a way to write freely, to give shape to thoughts that didn’t belong to my design work or to social media. I wanted a slower space where things could stay in progress, where I could think through writing.

I learned to read and write unusually early, with a strange speed, in a family that was almost illiterate, which still makes it more striking to me. I didn’t like going to school, but I loved going to the library. I used to borrow poetry books, the Bible, short novels, anything I could find. Every reading was a reason to write, because reading meant getting to know the world through words. That was me then, always somewhere between reading and writing.

Over the years that habit never left. A long time ago I wrote on Blogger, then on Tumblr, and later through my previous websites. Each version reflected a different moment in my life, different interests, tones, and ways of sharing. The format kept changing, but the reason stayed the same: I’ve always needed to write things down, to keep a trace of what’s happening inside and around me.

For me, every design process involves a writing process. Designing leads me to write, and writing often leads me back to design. The journal became the space where those two practices overlap, where I can translate visual ideas into words and words into form.

Sometimes the texts carry emotion; other times they lean toward a kind of necessary dramatism. I like words, alone, together, read backwards. I like letters too; I think of them as visual units. The world inside my mind is a constant conversation, and the journal is where a part of that dialogue finds form.

There’s no plan behind it. It grows slowly, almost unnoticed, changing with whatever I’m living or thinking about. Some months I write often, other times I don’t open it for weeks. But it’s always there, a reminder that part of my work happens quietly, and that sometimes the most meaningful things appear when nothing seems to be happening.

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

Writing usually begins with something small, a sentence I hear, a word that stays, or an image I can’t stop thinking about. I write when something insists on being written. There is no plan or schedule; it happens when I have enough silence to listen.

I don’t do research, but I read constantly. Reading moves the language inside me. It changes how I think, how I describe, how I look at things. Sometimes reading becomes a direct path to writing, as if one text opened the door to another.

I love writing on the computer. The rhythm of typing helps me find the right tempo for my thoughts. I like watching the words appear on the screen, one after another, almost mechanically. It makes me feel that something is taking shape outside of me.

When I travel, I often write at night in hotels. The neutral space, the different air, the sound of another city outside the window, all create a certain kind of attention that I can’t find at home. The distance, in some way, sharpens how I think.

Sometimes I stop in the middle of a sentence and return to it days later. Other times I finish in one sitting and never touch it again. It depends on how it feels. Writing is less about the result and more about the moment when the thought becomes clear.

You know, writing and design are part of the same process. Both are ways of organizing what’s invisible, of trying to give form to something I can barely define. Designing teaches me how to see, and writing teaches me how to listen.

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

Yes, space definitely influences how I work. I notice it every time I travel. Writing in hotels, for example, changes how I think. There’s something about being in a neutral room, surrounded by objects that aren’t mine, that makes me more observant. I pay attention differently.

At home I’m more methodical. I like having a desk, a comfortable chair, and a bit of quiet. I usually work at night or very early in the morning, when everything feels suspended. I don’t need much: my laptop, a notebook, paper, pencils around. Light is important to me. I prefer dim light, sometimes just a lamp, enough to see but not enough to distract. Music helps too, especially repetitive sounds that make time stretch.

I think physical space shapes how attention flows. Sometimes I need stillness, sometimes I need movement. A familiar room can hold me steady, while an unfamiliar one can open something unexpected. Both are necessary.

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

The site is built on Cargo, which I’ve been using for a few years. I like how direct it feels… It allows me to design by instinct, adjusting elements visually instead of through code. For the first time, I’m writing directly on a page, one text over another, almost like layering words in a notebook. It’s a quiet process.

Eventually I might return to using a service that helps readers follow and archive new posts more easily, but for now I enjoy this way.

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

I don’t think I would change much. The formats have changed, the platforms too, but the impulse behind it is the same. Writing online has always been a way to think in public.

Maybe I’d make it even simpler. I like when a website feels close to a personal notebook… imperfect, direct, and a bit confusing at times. The older I get, the more I value that kind of simplicity.

If anything, I’d try to document more consistently. Over the years I’ve lost entire archives of texts and images because of platform changes or broken links. Now I pay more attention to preserving what I make, both online and offline.

Other than that, I’d still keep it small and independent.

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?

It costs very little. Just the domain, hosting, and the time it takes to keep it alive. I don’t see it as a cost but as part of the work, like having a studio, or paper, or ink. It’s where things begin before they become something else.

I’ve never tried to monetise the blog. It doesn’t feel like the right space for that. romi.link/journal exists outside of that logic; it’s not meant to sell or promote anything. It’s more like an open notebook, a record of thought.

That said, I understand why people monetise their blogs. Writing takes time and energy, and it’s fair to want to sustain it. I’ve supported other writers through subscriptions or by buying their publications, and I think that’s the best way to do it, directly, without the noise of algorithms or ads.

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

I’ve been reading Fair Companies for a while now. Not necessarily because I agree with everything, of course, but because it’s refreshing to find other points of view. I like when a site feels personal, when you can sense that someone is genuinely curious.

Probably Nicolas Boullosa

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

Hm… No mucho. Lately I’ve been thinking about how fragile the internet feels. Everything moves too quickly, and yet most of what we publish disappears almost instantly. Keeping a personal site today feels like keeping a diary in public: it’s small, quiet, and mostly unseen, but it resists the speed of everything else. I find comfort in that slowness.

Keep exploring

Now that you're done reading the interview, go check the blog.

If you're looking for more content, go read one of the previous 112 interviews.

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

Ten facts about me - James' Coffee Blog

2025-10-22T21:19:21.000Z

As I write, it is the late evening. I am getting ready to go to bed. The room is illuminated by fairy lights. I have been trying to go to bed at more reasonable hours of late, but I just saw the ten pointless facts about me blogging challenge and felt inspired to write something down before I go to sleep. I have been doing a lot of introspective writing on my typewriter for the last few days. This blogging challenge is a good chance for me to put a few words on my blog.

Without further ado, below are my answers to the questions in the challenge!

Tea, coffee, or water?

All three. I usually drink two cups of coffee a day; occasionally three. I drink coffee before 2pm, then stick to water after that. If I am visiting someone and am offered a cup of tea, I will accept a cup at any hour. I drink water at all times. Water is life. Liquid coffee is almost all water, too.

Footwear preference?

I like wearing trainers, but I am yet to find a shoe that is right for me. I am wearing New Balance trainers right now which are most comfortable. The sales representative was really helpful when I went in relatively clueless about what shoe was right (thanks anxiety!).

When I am visiting a new place, I like to walk as far as I can to explore. Especially in cities. My ideal shoe is one that I can walk ten miles in while feeling comfortable. I love long city walks but I don’t want to wear a heavy-duty shoe all around.

I don’t have many pairs of shoes because I find it so hard to find a pair that fits well.

Favourite dessert?

Tiramisu.

The first thing you do when you wake up?

I first turn my phone alarm off. I sometimes then take a drink of water before getting up. I like to say “good morning world” when I wake up. I don’t do this every day, but I feel better when I do.

Age you'd like to stick to?

I’m happy to age as I age.

How many hats do you own?

Many, although I don’t wear hats too often. Last time I wore a baseball cap here in Scotland it blew off my head and I almost lost it. I love hats though. I recently purchased a cowboy hat. I am looking for a fez.

Describe the last photo you took.

The last photo I took was of a blog post I wrote with my typewriter. The page is fully in focus with no background. My previous non-typewriter blog post was a photo of an iced latte I bought in Starbucks.

Worst TV show.

I am trying to watch less television. I can’t really think of a worst television show. My favourites are Frasier, Seinfeld, The West Wing, and Leverage.

Do you floss your teeth?

I don’t floss my teeth, but I know I should. On the topic of dental health: Given it is presently the late evening at the time I write this blog post, the next thing I plan to do after publishing this post is to brush my teeth!

As a child, what was your aspiration for adulthood?

I had many! Before the age of 10, I wanted to be an inventor. I had an idea for a light switch made of paper that, when pressed, would work. I loved the idea of being able to draw something with paper and bring it to life. This invention could now exist with a camera and computer vision or with some degree of circuitry, but I prefer to leave it to the child-like part of my mind to dream more about.

Also before the age of 10, I wanted to be a scientist – a chemist, ideally. (In high school I learned I am not particularly adept at chemistry and struggled quite a bit. I passed my exam in the subject, but only barely.) Later, I started to enjoy programming more and more, and wanted to do something with computers. I also loved subjects in school that involved a lot of writing – history, politics, English, among others.

Professionally, I ended up pursuit a career as a technical writer, although that is but one facet of my life. I make websites and love art and play music and try to make people smile and enjoy traveling and so much more. I even invent things too, mainly related to this website. My blueprint-inspired website design is a homage to my childhood ambitions to become an inventor.

As I grew up, I started to think about things more as a career. In my later teenage years, I put a lot of pressure on myself, a time from which I am still healing. Looking back and forward, I know there is so much more to life than work alone. As an adult, I think I would now say that my aspiration for adulthood is, to the extent I can, be happy, keep learning, use my skills to do work I am proud of, and bring joy to others as much as I can.

You may have noticed I didn't include "pointless" in the title of my post even though the original challenge was called "ten pointless facts about me." I didn't include this from the start because I knew that there was probably something fascinating to say about one of the questions even before reading them all. Far from being pointless, I found these questions most delightful to answer!

Look, another AI browser - Manuel Moreale RSS Feed

2025-10-22T07:05:00.000Z

Yesterday, OpenAI announced Atlas, its AI browser. To the surprise of literally nobody, it’s Chromium with AI slapped on top. Perplexity also has a browser: it’s called Comet, and it also is Chromium with AI slapped on top. Then we have DIA, which is, you guessed it, Chromium with AI slapped on top. I think Opera also has one of those Chromium browsers with AI slapped on top.

I code sites for a living (allegedly), and I honestly cannot overstate how uninterested I am in all these new browsers. Because these are not new browsers: these are Chromium frames with AI slapped on top.

The thing I found more interesting about the whole OpenAI announcement was Sam Altman tweeting: «10 am livestream today to launch a new product I'm quite excited about!». This is coming from someone who’s allegedly running a company that’s building a tool that should usher in a new era where computers will replace most of human work, where we’ll all have a super intelligence always available in our pockets, ready to dispense infinite wisdom.

And yet he’s quite excited about a fucking Chromium installation with AI slapped on top of it. I guess building an actual browser, from scratch, is still a task so monumentally difficult that even a company that is aiming for super-intelligence can’t tackle it.

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10 pointless facts about me - Manuel Moreale RSS Feed

2025-10-21T11:40:00.000Z

Found on Kev’s blog and originally started by Dave, here are my answers to this fun blog challenge:

Do you floss your teeth?

Sometimes. I’d say maybe a few times a week? I’m terrible at being consistent, and that includes flossing regularly.

Tea, coffee, or water?

Coffee in the morning, tea (sometimes) later in the day, not enough water the rest of the time. Did I mention I’m terrible at being consistent? That includes drinking enough water.

Footwear preference?

Right now, I’d say flip flops, even though they are a terrible choice when you have to walk around the woods.

Favourite dessert?

Probably Crema catalana. It’s the one dessert I’m resisting the temptation to buy what’s needed to make it myself at home because I know I’d end up eating it every day, three times a day.

The first thing you do when you wake up?

I say hi to the dog that’s for sure sleeping somewhere near.

Age you’d like to stick at?

From a purely physical perspective, I’d say 22. If I have to consider all factors, I’d say 36. And I’m 36.

How many hats do you own?

Do beanies and toques count as hats? Because if they do, then I own 7 hats. If they don’t, then I’m down to 3.

Describe the last photo you took?

It’s from a walk with the dog the other day: clear sky and some tree branches and leaves illuminated by a lovely light. Most of my gallery looks like that.

Worst TV show?

I don’t watch TV, and the last time I watched a TV series, I think it was in the dark days of the COVID shutdown, which happened what, 32 years ago? I don’t even know what’s on TV these days.

As a child, what was your aspiration for adulthood?

The oldest memory I have of a job I wanted to do was car designer. I remember loving seeing yellow FIAT Coupé around. Funny because now I couldn’t care less about cars.

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A newsletter-related PSA - Manuel Moreale RSS Feed

2025-10-20T07:20:00.000Z

Quick PSA for those of you out there who are interested in subscribing to either my From the Summit 2.0, the newsletter version of People and Blogs, or simply prefer to get these blog posts delivered via email: all those newsletters require double opt-in.

What that means is that once you have signed up, you should get a second email asking you to click a link to confirm your email address. Sometimes those emails land in the spam folder for reasons unknown to me. Maybe I don’t pray the SMTP gods with enough conviction, who knows.

What I do know is that I see a lot of people signing up and then not confirming their addresses. So, if you did sign up but did not receive the confirmation email, ping me either via email or Apple Messages, using hello@manuelmoreale.com, and I’ll look into that.

Thank you for keeping RSS alive. You're awesome.

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Waiting - James' Coffee Blog

2025-10-19T16:57:24.000Z

I am standing on Princes Street while waiting for the bookshop to open. There is a drizzle or rain falling from the grey sky. Earlier, I noticed the red of the morning autumn horizon peek through the clouds. I have. As I always do, conviction that the sun will come out.

Edinburgh is beautiful in the rain — the water brings more life to the grey streets. In autumn, the leaves bring more colour to the city — oranges and ambers and browns and greens paint the skyline. The ephermality of Nature and the robustness of stone buildings stand side by side. A church bell chimes two minutes early. I love the heavenly sound of bells; a sound that reverberates far through the open streets in this part of town.

In one minute, the bookstore will open. I am one of many waiting for opening time, although I stand at a distance from everyone so as to have space and to ease the perpetual anxieties that accompany me (am I standing in the right place? what do people think?).

The bell chimes sounds to which I could listen forever — like Nature, their sounds are beautiful, fleeting, and grounded in time. The store is open. More people walk past as the city continues to wake up. There are raindrops on my phone, each one appears to me right now as a metaphorical word in the story that I write with every step, observation, and realisation.

Growth - James' Coffee Blog

2025-10-19T16:56:07.000Z

This blog post was written using my Royal typewriter.

Beginnings (type-written) - James' Coffee Blog

2025-10-19T13:00:41.000Z

I purchased a Royal typewriter from a charity shop today. When I got home, I was delighted to find that there was ink ready to use. Shortly thereafter, I started writing.

Canon Sure Shot AF-7 - Baty.net

2025-10-19T12:30:31.000Z

It’s nice having a pocketable point-and-shoot film camera with me. Normally for me, this either means an Olympus Stylus Epic or Ricoh GR1. Both of these are having issues, so I impulse ordered a Canon Sure Shot AF-7 from eBay. It was $30 shipped, so there wasn’t much risk.

Here’s a self-portrait using the self-timer from the first roll (Kentmere 400) through the new camera:

Self-portrait at my desk

As you can see, it’s not terribly sharp and some frames (like this one) show a light leak. Still the camera is so simple to use that it almost makes up for those shortcomings. I still like having a built-in flash and miss it on other cameras. I like the snapshot aesthetic.

I’m not sure how often I’ll end up using the AF-7, but it’s fun to have around and cost very little.

Oh, and here’s a fun review: Canon Sure Shot AF-7 review: The ‘Owl’ that’s a hoot to shoot | Kosmo Foto

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