Archive
Full Post List
Dec 15, 2024: Weekly Digest 16 Only one more week of teaching left Mostly ready for Christmas Making plans to see friends over the break My eldest’s first nativity, very …
Dec 8, 2024: Weekly digest 15 Links The Privacy Dad. A great blog about navigating the world of digital privacy and autonomy, for parents and their children. Axiomatic Set Theory …
Dec 7, 2024: 10 Years Of Linux It’s another 10 year retrospective. Ten years ago was a time of transition for me, so there may be one-or-two more of these to come in the next …
Dec 2, 2024: My new /now I haven’t updated my /now page for a while, and I’ve decided to update the format a little. Inspired by Ted Gioia’s Six Spheres and …
Dec 1, 2024: Weekly Digest 14 and the beginning of Advent More like a monthly digest this time. It’s been a damn busy month. I do want to get back to more regular posting, so, inspired by the popular …
Nov 23, 2024: My micro.blog plugin for Neovim now supports editing pages (e.g. /about, /now, etc)
Nov 9, 2024: If you enjoy solving crosswords on MyCrossword, you might benefit from a site I made that generates and hosts RSS feeds for the site and each …
Oct 28, 2024: Weekly Digest 13 At some point I will accept that these “digest” posts are not weekly, at least not right now — we’re still in the so-called fourth …
Oct 28, 2024: Yelling at clouds In Volume 1, Chapter 1 of Capital, Marx describes how commodities appear on the shelves as if by magic, obscuring the underlying material realities of …
Oct 13, 2024: Weekly digest 12 Links An Agony Of Effort: The True Story of Bloodborne A little-known multi-part video essay arguing that the 2015 gothic/cosmic horror video game …
Oct 13, 2024: Going part-time to work full-time In the UK, teachers work the most unpaid overtime of any profession. 40% of teachers do an extra 26 hours a week. More than half of teachers are …
Sep 29, 2024: Weekly digest 11 Work is more manageable now I am part time. Just as well as I’m still getting no sleep thanks to a certain small human, who gave his first smile …
Sep 15, 2024: Weekly digest 10 Tomorrow I go back to work after probably the longest break I will have from now until I retire (summer break + parental leave). It’s going to …
Sep 10, 2024: Never click through to anything that might improve your life Much as I avoid most of traditional social media, there’s one platform I still spend a significant amount of time on: YouTube. Video essays …
Aug 31, 2024: Blaugust farewell Blaugust2024 is coming to its close. This was my second blogging challenge — the first being micro.blog’s April photo challenge (see all entries …
Aug 26, 2024: Weekly digest 9 Unsurprisingly, posting has completely fallen off this week. Even this update I’m writing with an 11-day-old child asleep on my chest, while my …
Aug 18, 2024: Weekly digest 8 It’s a brief round-up owing to the fact I have a new baby as of Thursday. He is great, but we are struggling to name him. Links Amazing Still …
Aug 15, 2024: My beautiful second son is born on this day at half past midnight. We’re all happy and well
Aug 13, 2024: Three critical tech podcasts It’s creator appreciation week here in Blaugust-land. Yesterday I suppose I was appreciating Brian Walker. Today, some podcasts. Capitalism has …
Aug 12, 2024:
Have you played Brogue?
I don’t post about games very often (though I do play them a lot), but since Blaugust originated in the gaming community I will talk about a …
Aug 12, 2024: Weekly digest 7 Blaugust is getting challenging. I’m not fully committed to posting every single day, but if I don’t try to do that, I’ll skip too …
Aug 11, 2024:
Reflecting on 10 years of veganism
This month I will have been vegan for 10 years. Probably around about 2012 I began to feel bad about eating meat. I tried …How it started
Aug 10, 2024: Stoicism vs existential commitment The Stoics, especially Epictetus, teach about not allowing anything that is not under your direct control to have the power to cause you pain. This …
Aug 8, 2024: The horror of teeth CW: teeth, death I have always had a mild anxiety about teeth, which I imagine is commonly felt. Unlike other body parts, teeth do not regenerate or …
Aug 7, 2024: Rucking along While I’m lucky that my job as a teacher means I’m not usually simply sitting down all day, I’ve always struggled to find the right …
Aug 6, 2024: Let's just have less Many AI critics have pointed out the environmental cost of LLMs. The rapid expansion of data centres, running energy-intensive operations such as …
Aug 5, 2024:
My life through 6 possessions
The theme for this Blaugust week is “introduce yourself”, but I didn’t really want to just do a standard “About me” …
Aug 5, 2024: New library in Liverpool before and after being torched by far-right thugs I lived in Liverpool for 8 years, absolutely heartbreaking and infuriating …
Aug 4, 2024: Weekly digest 6 Blaugust is turning out to be great fun, the Discord community is super friendly. This week I finished reflooring my room and …
Aug 3, 2024: Ted Chiang's Exhalation 📚 I heard about Ted Chiang from the Very Bad Wizards podcast. They read and discussed a few of his stories (episodes I didn’t listen to at first, …
Aug 2, 2024: Why blog? Why this blog? When I tell a friend about this young site, they’re usually surprised. Who has a blog these days? But they can also see the appeal. Mainstream …
Aug 1, 2024: Welcome to Blaugust So here we are, ready to kick off the Blaugust festival of blogging. If you’re visiting my site for the first time via Blaugust, then welcome! …
Jul 22, 2024: Join me for Blaugust In an effort to improve my posting frequency and get out of a rut, I’ve signed up for the community blogging challenge Blaugust, a blend …
Jul 21, 2024: Weekly Digest 5 Last week I had Covid and it was pretty rough. My wife also had it and is suffering some long-term (likely permanent) harms. Is this how we’re …
Jul 10, 2024: Media lens describing the electoral and media conditions under which Starmer won, as compared with Corbyn Corbyn lost by a landslide in 2019. Starmer …
Jul 5, 2024: I ended up voting Lib Dem despite not being a supporter. Mainly a protest against Labour on Gaza, but Lib Dems were the right tactical vote as well. …
Jul 3, 2024: Adam Ramsay on how First-Past-The-Post distorts our political discourse […] it means we don’t spend that time, effort and headspace thinking …
Jun 9, 2024: Weekly digest 4 Not posted a weekly digest in a while. It’s going to be a short one anyway Links Humanise campaign creates “boring alter-egos” of …
Jun 8, 2024: I hardly care about this election I was too young to vote in the 2010 election by only a few months. Politically unaware and uncommitted, I’d probably have voted Lib Dem like …
May 25, 2024: The olive oil shortage may be just the beginning Olive oil’s return to being a luxury item heralds a new era of bland cooking Everyone I know has been shocked by the price increase of olive oil, …
May 19, 2024: Weekly Digest 3 Here’s what I’ve been giving my attention to this week Links AI “art” and uncanniness. Doctorow forcefully argues that large …
May 16, 2024: I made a micro.blog plugin for Neovim What’s stopping you from publishing to your blog more? Is your boring life giving you nothing to write about? Demotivated by the chronic lack of …
May 14, 2024: I’m a maths teacher to young girls from age 11 to 16, and this is the longest I’ve ever gone without teaching. Previously, my students’ burning …
May 13, 2024: Farming animals is a threat to us all Rise of drug-resistant superbugs could make Covid pandemic look ‘minor’, expert warns Antibiotic misuse and overuse threatens to leave us in a …
May 10, 2024: Finally finished constructing another crossword. Annotated solutions available. Comments, quibbles, and feedback always welcome
May 10, 2024: How do the kids I teach know about Salad Fingers?
May 5, 2024: Weekly Digest 2 Links Reviving rural railways with Monocab. This transport technology looks really cool. I can’t see it coming the Britain any time soon (our …
May 5, 2024: Just done my first bit of gardening that’s not mowing or weeding
May 2, 2024: In Praise Of A Little Camera I had a blast trying the micro.blog 30-day photo challenge (link is to all entries — mine are here. I decided to play with a self-constraint: despite …
May 1, 2024: The games in my backlog these days are ones that are supposed to have profound themes that I just don’t have time to give the attention they …
Apr 30, 2024: Day 30: hometown Though there are many downsides as well, I’m lucky enough to have been brought up in one of the prettiest towns in this country
Apr 29, 2024: Day 29: drift
Apr 28, 2024: Weekly Digest Trialing a new format. Links This week we have a bunch of lefty links. The Forest and The Factory by Phil A. Neel and Nick Chavez. Long, occasionally …
Apr 27, 2024: Day 27: surprise
Apr 26, 2024: Day 26: critter
Apr 25, 2024: Day 25: spine
Apr 24, 2024: Day 24: light
Apr 23, 2024: Day 23: dreamy
Apr 22, 2024: Day 22: blue
Apr 22, 2024: I’ve been experimenting with this approach to lesson planning recently. Impact on students remains to be seen. Impact on me so far: very …
Apr 21, 2024: Day 21: mountain Himalayan
Apr 21, 2024: The Guardian’s new quick cryptic series is aimed at those who “can’t do cryptics”. Each puzzle uses only 5 clue types which …
Apr 20, 2024: Day 20: ice
Apr 19, 2024: Day 19: birthday
Apr 18, 2024: Day 18: mood
Apr 17, 2024: Day 17: transcendence
Apr 16, 2024: Day 16: flâneur Tough prompt
Apr 15, 2024: Day 15: small See more 30-day photo challenge entries
Apr 15, 2024: The papers are gaslighting us. Only one front page (the Times, 6th parag.) mentions that Israel bombed an Iranian consulate, killing two generals and …
Apr 14, 2024: A little knowledge can enrich so much Today my wife and I took our little one on a walk through the fields and woods near our house. Having only recently moved to this area and having …
Apr 14, 2024: Day 14: cactus They make great houseplants that require very little watering
Apr 13, 2024: Day 13: page
Apr 12, 2024: Day 12: magic This cat could be familiar?
Apr 11, 2024: Day 11: sky Hoping for some blue skies around here soon
Apr 10, 2024: Day 10: Train Woman on train
Apr 10, 2024: Finished reading: Men at Arms by Terry Pratchett 📚
Apr 9, 2024: Day 9: crispy Battered tofu and chips by the seaside in Mumbles
Apr 8, 2024: Day 8: Prevention Outside the offices of the Daily Mail in Manchester
Apr 7, 2024: Day 7: Wellbeing A few days of healthy meals ahead
Apr 6, 2024: Day 6: windy Lucky it was quite a windy day today, eh?
Apr 6, 2024: I now have an articles category for longer posts. If you’re not interested in short posts and photos, use this feed
Apr 5, 2024: Day 5: Serene New Brighton, Merseyside See more 30-day challenge entries
Apr 4, 2024: Day 4: Foliage Harsh sunlight on this day in Ness Gardens inspired me to photograph the plants up close in the shade Other entries to April’s …
Apr 3, 2024: Day 3: Card My wife drew this little boat a few years ago. I called him Douglas, and he has lived on my desk ever since
Apr 2, 2024: Day 2: Flowers This arrangement was snapped at the Malvern Autumn Show last year Click here to see other entries to the April 30-day photo challenge
Apr 1, 2024: Let’s try the micro.blog April photo challenge. Day 1: Toy For some this toy would be a collector’s item, for me he is a well-loved old …
Apr 1, 2024: I was too busy trying to survive to appreciate Dancing Mad, the final battle music of FF VI. It goes from a choral hymn, into a fugue-like solo organ, …
Mar 28, 2024: Finally finished Final Fantasy VI after months of playing in short bursts on Switch. Now I’ve finished Final Fantasies VI-X, the “golden …
Mar 26, 2024: Time for Dune Part 2 Round 2, this time in IMAX
Mar 25, 2024: A genuinely breezy Quiptic for me this week, which doesn’t always happen 10a has proved a bit controversial in the comments (and did trip me up …
Mar 25, 2024: The Joy of Reading to a Child At one time in the past I was browsing Reddit and stumbled on some thread where Redditors were doing what they do best, which is complaining about the …
Mar 25, 2024: The Socialism Of William Morris It is not this or that tangible steel and brass machine which we want to get rid of, but the great intangible machine …
Mar 18, 2024: First day of the year where we get home from work/nursery and the little one can play in the garden while we get dinner on the table. Nice weather has …
Mar 16, 2024: “Once men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to …
Mar 16, 2024: Dune Part Two 🍿 stunning. It and it’s predecessor have been the best cinema experiences I can remember in terms of raw audio/visual spectacle, …
Mar 9, 2024: Searching for permission to blog This post was inpired by Simone Silvestroni on “personal brands”. I am new to the small web/IndieWeb/personal blogging scene. I tried …
Mar 9, 2024: The bit they don’t tell you about growing a moustache is how risky peanut butter on toast becomes
Mar 7, 2024: My school did a fun thing for World Book Day where staff share a photo of their bookcases (possibly arranged deliberately for the event) and the kids …
Mar 4, 2024: Instead of focusing resources on supporting old people, we need to help the young to become the healthiest-ever old people Article on ageing …
Mar 3, 2024: The Practicing Stoic 📚 Finished reading: The Practicing Stoic by Ward Farnsworth 📚 If I were in the business of judging books by their covers, this one would be a solid …
Feb 17, 2024: theintercept.com/2024/02/1… IDF uses prisoner to deliver message to Nasser hospital threatening to blow it up, then murders him. Evidence of …
Feb 16, 2024: All but 3 on the Guardian’s puzzle, not bad for a Friday.
Feb 15, 2024: tribunemag.co.uk/2024/02/t… Despite these words, nobody should be under any illusions. The atrocities committed in Rafah already and those to …
Feb 14, 2024: Finished reading: The Shortest History of Israel and Palestine 📚 Finished reading: The Shortest History of Israel and Palestine by Michael Scott-Baumann 📚 After the events of October 7th, I decided it was time to …
Feb 13, 2024: It’s pancake day here in Britain. Certainly seems to be a hit with the little man
Feb 7, 2024: And yes, that was an implicit announcement. Baby #2 on the way!
Feb 7, 2024: The best outcome for the first baby scan is proof of existence and uniqueness
Feb 3, 2024: The gap between your kid being born and your kid being able to watch Star Wars with you is too long
Jan 19, 2024: Had a good lesson with my most behaviourally challenging class today after spending yesterday evening strategizing
Jan 18, 2024: ChatGPT might be bad for workers, the environment, and the writers who unwittingly provided the training data… But my god is it good at making …
Jan 16, 2024: Thoroughly enjoyed Andor (finally got around to watching it). Next I’ll start DS9
Jan 7, 2024: Time to be a teacher again tomorrow… feel like Marcus Aurelius could have been talking 💬 about working with teenagers when he reminded …
Jan 3, 2024: I’m very grateful to have a good friend willing to mentor me, give feedback, and even pair with me as I learn to build sites and apps. Makes a …
Jan 1, 2024: Started the classic todo app using vanilla JS. Seems like a rite of passage more than anything else
Dec 31, 2023: 2023 in review A brief overview of my year Main events My little boy turned 1 year old, so I had my first experience of doing a child’s birthday party. Had …
Dec 31, 2023: Rainy NYE walk with the little one. We chose “Footpath and pool”… very cloudy pool
Dec 30, 2023: Apps at the start of 2024 Some apps I use. 💻 OS: Pop!_OS 📩Mail Client: Thunderbird 📮 Mail Server: mailfence 📝 Notes: neovim, Obsidian, physical notebooks ✅ To-Do: Todo.txt 🌅 …
Dec 29, 2023: Started my portfolio project. At the moment I can only get in front of my computer in short bursts of less than half an hour - I’ll need to plan …
Dec 29, 2023: Applying for a job that requires a CV, a cover letter, and application form with at least 3 “long form” sections when you actually …
Dec 28, 2023: Currently reading: Technofeudalism by Yanis Varoufakis 📚