One Man's Notes

Riders on the shore.

My major lesson this year so far is that the right new coat can do wonders for your self-image.

Good night.

Watching the boats on the Adur rise as high tide approaches.

Marie Boran asks if everyone has forgotten about Yahoo’s digital time capsule?:

This was to be opened on the company’s 25th anniversary on March 2nd, 2020, but the webpage looks abandoned; according to the webpage countdown there is still a decade left until the capsule opens.

So much of 90s/00s digital culture is gone. Future historian will lament that we were so careless with the archive of the formative days of our digital culture.

This video might challenge your ideas of what you can do with an iPad: Editing Podcasts with Ferrite and Apple Pencil

Nick Cohen on why Boris Johnson is so suspicious of the media:

I suspect there is a strong element of projection at play. It is because Johnson was a partisan columnist that he is an enemy of press freedom. He assumes all journalists are like him, and that they will twist, distort and censor accordingly.

Good insight that makes a lot of sense.

This is absolutely one of the things that makes me uncomfortable about most newsletter software. It not just tells you how many people opened your email - but exactly who. And that’s creepy: Mailing list software should stop spying on subscribers - Signal v. Noise

Plain old driftwood.

The information ecosystem is badly polluted — and journalism is playing its part. We need to clean up our act, and depollute the information ecosystem.

Great newsletter from David Mattin on the creation of the technocratic elite. This is shaping up to be an essential weekly read.

Beach sign

The (brief) time we decided to share the beach with Storm Ciara yesterday…

Rob Beschizza: Study: Facebook quitters report more life satisfaction, less depression and anxiety

Not a surprise. I nearly joked that it could prove to be the mental health equivalent of smoking - and then realised that was no joke.

Actually getting out of the house to work – it’s far too rare at the moment.

This was the garden at 8am this morning, after the worst of Storm Ciara had passed:

Not too bad, although things aren’t looking great for the potted Christmas tree.

I was planning to sort this out around lunchtime, as a work break. But I ended up legging it to my daughter’s school in a hurry, to take her her water bottle before she went into class. And, as I had my coat and boots on anyway,…

Tidying in the storm's wake

20 minutes of quick tidying (and refilling the bird feeders) later:

We got off lightly, despite being in a coastal AND river location. We’re pretty luck about how sheltered we are from weather coming off the sea. (Gales blowing down off the Downs and along the Audr are a different matter entirely). In fact, much of the Quay is looking surprisingly tidy, and many of out neighhbours have been out sweeping and tidying. All very minor.

Others have not been so lucky.

Typical Medium post: “I’ve never been married, but I’ve spend 20 minutes with a search engine, and now I’m going to pretend I know the seven behaviours that will destroy your marriage”.

Gotta say, it’s a bit breezy out today…

A letter of recommendation. Great as ever.

Mac photo editor Luminar 4 Sends Data to Facebook in the Background by Default.

I’m glad I stopped using their products about a year ago now.

Laterns above the Adur

Well, this reads like the opening of a horror novel: Inaccessible first-floor Wisbech property for sale for £100

Beach plant.

One of the nice things about Shoreham Beach is that, as a protected and rare habitat, we get a good range of plant life, even in winter.

Gnome Hide

Welcome to the 21st Century. Now patch your lightbulbs to stop them being hacked…

The head of Apple News steps down after less than a year. It’s looking like the most troubled of Apple’s services offerings.