One Man's Notes

Psst. The first one of these in months is going out this evening…

🤫🤫


Sad times: Canon formally discontinues the last EOS-M cameras, saying goodbye to EF-M

I used EOS M cameras for much of the last decade, and will miss them. But I switched to EOS R earlier this year. The direction of travel was clear. The M series is becoming my daughter’s starter camera.


Wind really starting to pick up now, as Storm Ciarán hits the south coast. Glad I don’t need to travel in the morning.


Me: I don’t know why everyone thinks I’m a geek; I’m a journalist!

Also Me: Just finished updating nodejs on two VPSes so I can update my self-hosted Ghost installs. Very satisfying.


Great to see Ghost building its new recommendations feature on open standards: it’s basically Webmentions under the hood.

I was one of the test group - and it’s great to see it out there.

The Ghost recommendations feature at work.

Huh. Movable Type 8 is out. Once upon a time I’d have been really excited by that - but at $499 a licence, not much chance I’d ever go back…

They seem to have obseleted xml-rpc too, which mighty be of concern to @danielpunkass.


Happy Halloween 🎃!

Screamer on duty outside our house this evening.

A carved Halloween pumpkin.

I posted to my Substack for the first time in, um, two years, 10 months and 28 days.

Hell of a posting frequency there, huh?

Some thoughts on mortality and over-sharing former students.


Having a gourd day. 🎃

Pumpkins a’plenty at Roundstone FarmGreen gourds at Roundstone Farm.


Nighttime in Farringdon, Autumn 2023.

An autumnal tree in Farringdon, illuminated by streetlights.

I’ve just bought my youngest the dry robe reviewed in this article. It’s great for our 7.30 am Sunday swim lessons run. In the spring, it’ll be sea swimming time again, and she’s all prepared.


So… blogs are dead are they?


The first would-be competitor to X/Twitter to fail? Stand up, Pebble (formerly t2). Maxed out at about 3000 daily activity users, so funders weren’t interested.


Currently reading: SOLO by Jenny Tough 📚


I treated the girls to pancakes to celebrate the first day of half term.

A stack of freshly-cooked pancakesFresh pancakes seen from above.


I know Ahsoka has not gone down well with a lot of adult Star Wars fans, but watching it with two pre-teen girls who are absolutely rapt — and seeing a version of Star Wars where the major protagonists are largely female — makes me give it a lot of leeway.


Jack Baty:

The only way I’d pay Musk $1 to join Twitter (X) is if I could mail him a check.

I miss having @jack around these parts.


Om Malik:

Yes, teenagers are spending a lot more time on social media — just not as much on what we old-timers call social media. The big takeaway from this survey is that both Facebook and Twitter have aged out. They are as relevant to this generation as Fox and CBS are to the youth.


The nice thing about X (formerly known as Twitter) being in a death spiral is I feel so much freer to mute, block and unfollow people there who have decided that the horror in the Middle East is an excuse to play internet virtue team sports.


Amazing how many people who have been happily driving around with a large container of highly flammable fluid in their vehicles suddenly think that EV batteries are the big risk.

I’m sure they’ll be giving up phones, laptops and tablets, which have the same batteries inside…


The next stage in human evolution?


Picadilly Circus, London, Autumn 1991

Picadilly Circus, London in 1991Picadilly Circus 1991, looking northPicadilly Circus in 1991, looking toards Leicester Square


“Those who had a close relationship with nature used their phones half as much each day, took 90% fewer selfies and took 300% more pictures of nature than those with a weaker relationship with nature.”

Reconnection by Miles Richardson 📚


“Since the early 1990s, no country has met the basic needs of its population without overconsuming natural resources.”

Reconnection by Miles Richardson 📚


“When 16,000 people across 18 nations were surveyed, it was found that the British people visit nature much less frequently than people in other countries, and their connection with nature was rated much lower too. Despite humans being one of the great apes, only 10% of the population feel that they are part of nature.”

Reconnection by Miles Richardson 📚