2026-04-09 01:11:00
Have you ever felt like killing your blog?
You're not alone. There are so many corpses out there that bare-bones blogging might as well refer to skeletons.
Do you want to avoid ending up at the blog cemetery?
Great! Blogging is such a beautiful and rewarding thing. It can be a lifesaver, really, so please don't kill it.
What can you do to prolong its life?
It's very simple. Don't go niche.
Blog about whatever you feel like. Some posts get more attention than others. It's not important.
The only thing that matters is that you feel free in your blogging. As soon as you start limiting yourself, trying to trend, you've got one foot in the grave.
Don't go there. Stay alive!
2026-04-08 12:04:00
I was on my analytics page the other day, one of my quiet routines. Not for numbers, not really. More for the referrals. It's one of the last honest ways to discover corners of the internet that aren't trying to sell you something.
Plus, it's intriguing to see where and who all sees our small smoke signals we all send out into the ether. That's when I saw a domain I didn't recognize:
I clicked through. What I found felt precious, ambitious and new to the world. Alive in that fragile, just-launched way. At the time, the header mentioned it had only been live for 16 days. A brand-new project, still warm.
The idea is simple:
"Good stuff bubbles up.🫧"
And that's exactly what it aims to do.
Bubbles is a community-ranked front page for independent blogs.
Instead:
Every post starts equal.
Votes push it up. Time drags it under.
What floats today disappears tomorrow.
It's ephemeral by design.
I reached out to the creator, Ben from Mülheim, Germany, and asked what sparked this whole thing.
His answer was straightforward:
He wanted a human-curated front page for blogs without needing to subscribe to thousands of RSS feeds.
That's the itch.
Anyone who's ever tried to "do RSS right" knows the trap: You either miss everything or you drown in it.
Bubbles sidesteps that completely.
There's a subtle but important choice here:
Bubbles doesn't reinvent accounts, comments, or identity.
It plugs into the Fediverse.
That means:
It borrows the lightweight feel of Hacker News (votes, comments, ranking) but strips out the usual baggage.
No karma chasing. No "submit your link." No gaming the system.
Just writing… surfacing.
The feed is built from curated sources like:
There's intention behind what gets pulled in, even before the crowd touches it.
(and strengthen the Fediverse as a result)
This kind of thing lives or dies on participation.
Ben knows it. If you have ever built something for the web, deep down you know it, too.
Without enough people voting, nothing really "bubbles." It just… sits there. Stagnant.
But that's also what makes it interesting.
This isn't an algorithm waiting to be tuned. It's a place waiting to be used.
A front page that only exists if people care enough to surface what matters.
There's been a quiet shift happening for a while now. Things are shifting, people are making moves. One by one and slowly but surely people are:
But discovery hasn't caught up.
We've rebuilt the blogs. We haven't rebuilt the "front page" of the Small Web.
Bubbles feels like an attempt at exactly that.
Not bigger or louder. Exactly as it needs to be.
Every blog is its own little bubble.
Most of them drift unseen.
Once in a while, something rises.
If enough people notice, it floats for a moment, then it's gone again.
That's not a flaw.
That's the point.
Please take a few moments to check this out. This kind of stuff gets me so fired up because this is the kind of spirit that was commonplace on the web back in the day.
With hindsight it's easy to see how that innovation was taken for granted by all of us. The major silos came in and murdered competition.
I am delighted to see that when these silos got big enough, they started to be deemed evil enough that people have finally decided to leave. ■
🎧 Mimi Page - Ophelia via Lush on SomaFM
2026-04-08 06:32:31
I cried at a clown workshop is the kind of sentence that should only exist as a joke. I wish that's all it was, a weird anecdote, something humiliating but harmless or a silly twist on the meaning of "Clown Workshop"
Instead, I went to a workshop teaching the art of clowning, broke down in tears and learned some uncomfortable things about myself
I went because a friend encouraged me and it sounded unusual enough to be memorable but still safe enough that I could imagine looking back on it fondly
There was also a social hope attached to it that I probably did not say out loud at the time. I liked the idea that this might lead to some kind of new friend group or at least some temporary feeling of belonging in a different social group
The room felt wrong almost immediately
It was connected to other rooms that had also been hired out so people kept moving through or past it. That made the whole thing feel too public and even before anything had actually gone badly I already felt exposed
The people there seemed polite and there was a variety of folks there but some also felt a bit like they fit the cliché of drama people. Not in a nasty way, more that they seemed comfortable in a kind of room that I had no real instinct for. Everyone else seemed to understand the social rules of the room without having to think about them. I didn’t
At one point people reacted enthusiastically when I said I had no drama background and had not done classes before. I was the only one there like that and I think they meant it kindly but it only made me stand out more
The instructor mattered to me more than he probably realised
He was from the same cultural background as me which made him feel a bit more familiar from the start. I had seen him the day before doing a clown performance and thought he was cool
He had also done a lot to make me feel safe signing up as someone with no experience. That made me respect him more and it also made the whole thing worse later
A lot of embarrassment is survivable when you do not care who sees it. This did not feel like that
The hardest part is that I was actually trying
One of the exercises involved asking and answering questions while doing this hand-slaps game and not looking at your hands. I thought I was doing okay with at least the talking part but I kept getting feedback that I was doing it wrong and I never really understood why. That was what made it painful in a deeper way. It was not just that I was bad at it, it was that I could not properly work out what I was doing wrong
That feeling kept repeating, the other people seemed to understand how far they could push an exercise, what they could try and how to engage with it without becoming awkward. I felt like I was trying to follow the rules of something everyone else already understood instinctively
Even when I was technically doing better I still felt off. If I kept losing I felt clumsy. If I kept winning I worried the other person would get upset or frustrated and that I was somehow doing it wrong in a different way. It was hard to find any version of participation that didn't feel wrong
The final exercise was to stand in front of the class and make funny noises
That was the task. Go up, try things and make people laugh
I tried everything I could think of. I got advice from the instructor and tried to use it. I was not being ironic about it and I was not holding back to protect myself. I was actually trying to do the thing
I still could not make it work
I could not make people laugh even after seeing them laugh at the previous people's attempts and after a while I started crying
Part of what made that moment so strange was that the people around me were for all practical purposes strangers and yet they treated me with real kindness. They were not mocking me, they were not acting irritated. If anything they seemed concerned. That should have made it easier but it mostly made me feel more exposed
There is something hard about being treated gently by people who barely know you when you already feel like you have become the problem in the room
I think what upset me most was the feeling of doing all I could and still failing
That is a very specific kind of pain, it leaves you with nowhere to go. If you do not try, you can tell yourself it did not count. If you stay detached, you can preserve some distance from the result. I did not do either of those things. I tried and I still could not do the one thing that seemed to come much more easily to everyone else.
I also felt like I had made the room uncomfortable. At one point after probably the third apology the instructor said something to the effect of “Don’t apologise, it was a privilege to be able to see so much raw emotion.” It was a kind thing to say and I appreciated it but it also made me want to disappear
That was part of what made the whole thing so overwhelming. People who were effectively strangers were being genuinely warm with me and I could feel that their kindness was real but it was also humiliating because I had become someone they needed to handle carefully
The part I still feel worse about is the instructor seeing me like that. Someone I respected, someone I thought was cool and someone who had helped me feel safe enough to sign up in the first place now had to keep running his class around the fact that I was crying in the middle of it. That is still the worst part to remember
At the end of the workshop there were two people I especially wanted to keep spending time with, they seemed cooler and more confident than me and I wanted some kind of connection with them partly because they represented a version of social ease that I do not feel I have
I left the venue with them, we spoke a bit about maybe grabbing a drink but it fell through. I awkwardly suggested it at the wrong moment and came away feeling clingy and embarrassing
It felt like I had not only failed during the workshop itself but had then immediately managed the social aftermath badly too
After that I took the bus home trying to hold it together
I was either crying quietly or trying not to cry at all. By the time I got home I still felt awful
Once I was home I posted in the group chat asking if someone could call
Someone did and what mattered was that it was someone I respected but was not especially close to. They did not laugh at me for how silly the whole thing sounded and they didn't treat it like I was being ridiculous for caring so much
Months later they mentioned around mutual friends something along the lines of respecting that I had gone to the clown workshop at all, which also stayed with me
The call mattered because it felt like proof that someone cared. In a way it gave me the same thing that the kindness in the room had given me just with less humiliation attached to it
The workshop made me think about how I ask for help and also about how I usually respond when other people I don't know very well are having a hard time
I often leave people alone unless they ask directly because I worry that stepping in might embarrass them or make them uncomfortable but when I was the one quietly falling apart what mattered most was that people were kind without making me feel stupid for it
That kindness was still hard to receive. It was comforting but it also made me feel more vulnerable. I wanted that kind of care but I hated needing it
The other thing that stayed with me is that, for all the shame attached to it, I did actually try. I went and put myself in a room I did not understand. I tried to do the exercises properly. I tried to make the final one work. I tried to connect with people afterwards. None of that turned into the experience I wanted, but it was still an attempt
With some distance, I can admit that crying at a clown workshop is funny
It has the shape of a story people should laugh at. There is something darkly ridiculous about trying to do something that was meant to be fun and silly only to end up crying because you could not make the funny noises correctly
Maybe I could've avoided most of the pain if I just said "Hey I don't know what kinda funny noises I could even do at this point. Can I finish my turn" but even without that I don't know if I regret trying
2026-04-08 05:16:00
As I write this, an American president is threatening to end a civilisation and chatting to toddlers about Autopens.
America has throughout my life been a constant: the world’s superpower. An unabashed place that leads the world in science, art, creativity and raw military power. Today it feels like a superpower that has become a shadow of its former self.
As a child brought up in the late 1980s and 1990s, America was many things. It was a beacon of liberty and justice in the world. America sent people to space, made amazing movies and TV, fought injustice across the globe, smiting bad guys left, right and centre.
This was of course based on views of America shaped through the media. But that is another story for another day.
When I was 10 or 11, my Grandad went on a long holiday to America, and he brought back stories, and mementos and photos. It looked a magical, exciting place. His second wife had a sister who lived in America and had worked there herself for a short while. America felt like the place to be. "Everything is bigger in America" my Grandad would say.
America felt like the standard all nations should aspire to. It felt like America kept us safe and was the world’s good guys.
During sixth form college I was of course into saying that Americanisation was bad, whilst listening to Nu-metal, watching films like Fight Club, Platoon and Saving Private Ryan.
Whilst at university, the veneer began to wear off. 9/11 happened, then Iraq, and Gitmo happened. Plus delving into the history of the Cold War in detail really takes the shine.
However, just after graduation, I visited America and honestly, the people were lovely, and at times it felt like visiting a movie set.
Some things felt very odd about America, different, but still a cool place to visit.
America felt a different place, less aspirational to me, more a cool place to visit and as the leaders of the free world, probably just going through a tough time and would resume its rightful place.
When I graduated, Bush won a new term, and then Obama won one election, then two. The credit crunch happened, social media, and tech. On the whole America became less important, but still was the world’s favourite soap opera.
This era felt the waning of American soft power. Stories about healthcare costs, racism, workers’ rights, lifestyle and guns chipped away at America's shiny image.
Then Trump happened.
The Trumpian era feels like two generations of decline in one short decade: economic, social, cultural and soft power. America feels a hostile place currently. Trump seems to personify everything wrong with America and its decline.
And yet during this time I got to work and interact with Americans whilst working from home. I got to speak with people in over 40 states, and throughout my life working in recruitment have spoken with many Americans.
This dichotomy is at the heart of American decline. Americans are loud people, but they are also genuine and decent people, hard working and inventive. Let down by their political leadership and system that creates conflict over compromise and slagging matches over solutions.
The American people as I have witnessed myself both when visiting and working with are warm-hearted people. They live normal decent lives and genuinely believe in their nation. They have been let down by their political class in Washington far too often who put gallivanting across the world stage ahead of their people.
America is becoming the leading great power in the world, and not the lone superpower.
Although this is a fall from grace, maybe, just maybe it will prove to be the moment that America puts its house in order at home, and resumes being the nation that inspires the world with its science, creativity and ingenuity.
The world needs more Artemis rockets and less cruise missiles from America, and so do its people.
2026-04-08 03:42:00
I understand that AI tools like Claude / OpenGPT can improve productivity when used correctly, but I am not a fan of fully vibe coding / fully copy pasting words pasta generated / taking Ghibli style generated AI image and slapping it on a product (can be articles / apps / designs etc) and happily sharing the slop.
Few days ago, I saw a graphic designer vacancy posted in my local job market website, the job description mentioned "AI native" skill requirement which include using AI tools with "skillful prompt" to generate images / media , with minor touch up using Canva, what even is this bullshit.
I run and operate a software business, and I will never add AI features to my apps, I will never vibe code a feature on my apps, and I will never use AI chatbot for my support. No one likes talking to a bot and having to keep prompting with different text, in an attempt to summon an actual human support that actually understands the issue.
Call me inefficient, naive or unproductive, but I will remain my human touch on my software craft, as long as I can. And I hope you can too, and I wish your endeavours goes as best as it can. I sincerely hope there's still human who appreciates human made products and willingly to pay for them.
2026-04-08 00:28:00
I went to great lengths to alienate myself from anything generated by AI. First of all, I must say that it's way easier to avoid AI generated pictures than AI generated texts - especially in marketing copywriting, it's almost impossible to avoid it, but now I turned it into a hobby of mine, finding evidences of AI in anything I read.
Anyways, I've been quite successful on this journey, to the point where I keep forgetting that chat gpt still exists. But every now and then, someone in my circle bursts my bubble saying something like "chat gpt said that..." - breaking my heart into a million pieces (yes, I'm dramatic) and reminding me that not only it still exists, but people keep using it, in the most stupid and useless ways.
Also, recently, some friends were complaining about this ai generated talking fruit (at least they were complaining about it and not praising it) and I had no idea what they were talking about. I have never seen that before. A few days later I came across this youtube video about these talking fruits and realized I have really, really, alienated myself. And I'm not sure if that's a good thing. I mean, it is a good thing to be critical of AI, sure, but I've been living almost like it doesn't exist and I'm starting to think that's not really healthy. Comfortable? Yes. Healthy? I'm not sure. Should I keep doing it? Probably not. Will I? Well... it's 2026, I'm in my 40s and I still smoke cigarettes.