2026-03-09 19:31:15
I’ll be having one of those birthdays this year I feel like should be a big deal, but I suspect will feel like any other. That’s the hope, at least. More than anything, I feel lucky (and frankly privileged) to be around.
Around…
And then it hit me. Reel to reel tape machines. Around, and around, and around. On a 7-inch reel, to another 7-inch reel. Or maybe 10-inch. Or something more portable. Mesmerising. High fidelity. A complex piece of kit blending engineering and art.
Uh oh.
My long-running interest in reel to reel tape machines was piqued again in the last few years thanks to people like Mat from Techmoan. Cassettes were my preferred medium for listing to music when I was a kid, even though CDs were infinitely better in every respect, and I even had a damned Panasonic SD-card music player, an iPod, and a CD burner. Tape made absolutely no sense! But it all came down to being able to watch the tiny tape spools spin and gather their ribbons of music in a player. I obsessed over spec sheets, tape formulations, and noise reduction tech. It’s like I have a predilection towards old stuff.
Whoa, I think I just psychoanalysed myself. And I didn’t like it.
Anyway, while music was highly entertaining, the genesis (the Phil Collins, you could say… AAAAAAH!) came much earlier and from a different domain. I’m talking of course of those massive reel to reel tape storage mechanisms you’d see in old mainframe computer systems; the ones pictured alongside hard drives the size of washing machines, operated by smart people with Mary Tyler Moore and James Bond haircuts.
I often lament the fact I was born too late for the 16-bit graphical computer era (let alone 8-bit home computers), but I would have been just as enthralled and interested being around these reel to reel machines too. I know, I’m sure in operation they were far less glamorous and interesting, and almost certainly required frustrating amounts of maintenance. But the aesthetic alone of operating in a room with these reels would have been incredible. Well, until the novelty wore off I suppose.
It’s unlikely I’ll have a DEC reel to reel data tape machine spinning in our apartment any time soon (cough), but I’m fascinated with residential reel to reel audio machines. I wouldn’t even need a 10-inch unit; a smart 7-inch one with dual capstans, beautiful VU meters, and a cabinet with a mix of silver and black would look very smart in our loungeroom. It’d also be older than me, which would help with this crushing feeling of being an old man now.
Right?
…
Wait, where are you going?
As I say, it’s a big year for me. Or it’s supposed to be. Is this the silly midlife crisis device I save up for and buy? It’s safer than a motorbike, though I suppose it’d be capable of making just as much noise. Also tracks. Spin spin! I’d say I’m a lost cause, but I’d know exactly where the tape leader is.
By Ruben Schade in Sydney, 2026-03-09.
2026-03-09 14:03:42
I’m a couple of days late, but I thought it was worth sharing a story where this man (mild gender dysphoria notwithstanding!) learned something.
For a while I’ve had a set of rules and filters on my social media accounts, email, and so on that match on certain key phrases. These include, not exhaustively:
You would not be surprised to hear this catches a bunch of comment spam from people replying in bad faith, or in a way that indicates they didn’t read what I wrote. The email folder these redirected to had 143 messages since I implemented this back in June last year, and a quick skim confirmed they were all exactly the kind of people you’d expect.
But it could have backfired. Last year I posted this list to Mastodon, and had private replies from two women asking me to reconsider my position. They both, independently, talked about the fragile line they have to walk talking with men online. Too reserved, and they’re walked all over by men eager to explain in patronising detail the comments they made. Too assertive, and they’re immediately branded difficult, “a bitch”, or worse. In their words, qualifying statements like these (besides perhaps “actually”) are a frustrating necessity in online discourse, and that I’d have to be prepared to filter them out if I maintained such a list. For all I know on social media, I may already have.
I got this wrong, apologise, and thought it was worth sharing!
By Ruben Schade in Sydney, 2026-03-09.
2026-03-09 07:52:12
I’ve had this little orb here since 2006. This most recent version has the original gradient again, and a teal colour to match the current theme. This should now be in the favicon, header, and other places if you clear your cache.
By Ruben Schade in Sydney, 2026-03-09.
2026-03-09 06:48:12
I’ve started using the Thunderbird email client for reading RSS feeds again, and it’s honestly quite great. As opposed to it not honestly being great, which if true, would kind of defeat the point of writing this post.
I’ve gone through a bunch of self-hosted web RSS clients. They had the advantage of being accessible across multiple devices, including my various smartphones. But I try to avoid using phones thesedays if I can avoid it, and that includes scrolling RSS feeds.
Thunderbird runs locally on my personal machines, but it works. I already have my email, newsgroups, mailing lists, calendars, and notes in it, so having RSS feels like a natural extension. That said, it did require a bit of scaffolding.
First, I like Dave Winer’s river of news idea, as opposed to treating RSS feeds like unread email. Even former “completionists” like me don’t bother reading every single social media post anymore, so why should it be the same for all RSS feeds? Fortunately, Thunderbird delivers RSS feed items the same way as email, so you can apply filters to mark them as “read”. Done!
It’s not immediately obvious from the UI, but you can also assign feeds to folders. If you create a “Feeds” account, then create the folders you want under this, you can then assign feeds to those folders.
I’d still say NetNewsWire is the best RSS client available today, especially if you’re on the Mac. If you need something cross platform though, Thunderbird fits the bill great for me right now.
By Ruben Schade in Sydney, 2026-03-09.
2026-03-08 05:25:08
Update: I’ve decided to redact much of this post.
I maintain my reservations on security and ethical grounds with the inclusion of slop in software, but I also drew comparisons about the use of these tools that I think were in poor taste. To be transparent, the feedback I received overnight was positive; the decision to redact this post was a decision I made myself.
I’ve decided to retain my comments about burnout and open source software development though, which I still strongly believe is the root cause of so much of this. Thanks.
☕︎ ☕︎ ☕︎
I take the point about maintainer burnout in that thread; I’ve definitely been feeling that from the sheer volume of slop I’ve had to deal with in my jobs of late. Insofar as someone has to feel like they need a stochastic parrot to keep on top of work is a grim indictment of industry, and how we treat open source projects. One can feel compassion for someone’s circumstances, while acknowledging [the severe externalities, costs, and risks using these tools]. We have utterly failed in our duty of care to the people who make the software upon which our industry relies, while big businesses continue to rake in billions for sitting on top.
#hugops.
By Ruben Schade in Sydney, 2026-03-08.
2026-03-07 07:57:39
We have a new friend! His name is Super Peter, for family folklore reasons. He’s also on the wiki now.
He was found alongside some discarded computer components and furniture for a council cleanup. Clara cleaned up some marks and put him through the wash, and he came out looking fresh and brand new.
Super Peter is what they call a “weighted plushie”, a category with which I was unfamilar. He’s quite substantial for his size, perhaps owing to a higher than average amount of awesomeness.
By Ruben Schade in Sydney, 2026-03-07.
