2026-06-16 16:44:16
Thanks to David Meissner for proposing this! His contribution has some lovely entries and you should go read it!
My old harddrive had years of collected samples and photography on it. It died was killed by an incompetent computer repair worker. I remember being stood at the bus stop holding my computer with my eyes welling up with tears.
I used to have a battered white Fender Squire bass that I'd painted nonsense on. I gave it away during a house move to reduce the stuff being transported. I really regret that.
Now what about you? Do you have any items you wish you still had? Get in touch by email, hit me up on the Socials™, or elsewhere online. Better yet, write an article on your own blog and send me the link — I would love to read it!
2026-06-16 06:03:13
Inspired, as so many are, by Robert, I'm going to attempt #Junited2026 — sharing one link to another blogger every day to celebrate some of the excellent writing out there.
I may not make it but we can but try.
What most teams call collaboration is actually coordination. You divide the work up, each person goes off and does their piece, and then you review each other’s output. That’s not collaboration. Collaboration is working on the same problem together, at the same time, building on each other’s thinking in real time.
The case for real collaboration by Mike Bowler
Mac’s a children’s writer and in Make Believe he argues that these books aren’t a silly genre, they’re a form we should treat seriously and respect. Meaning, books for children aren’t a lesser kind of literature simply because they’re for children.
Make Believe by Robin Rendle
I've spent a lot of time lately digging through my own digital photographs - I was on the lookout for photos with interesting glitches or degredations - and I ended up getting sucked in to the sheer amount of photos I have of things that aren't actually worth keeping[…]They're not good and they're not useful, and they're not pictures of things I care about. And yet, I didn't want to delete them, which I thought was a curious feeling to have about pictures of nothing.
Album of Nothing by Frances Berriman
Things that would have been tweets back in the olden times.
• Spotify have reverted back to their original app icon. I know the reason for the disco ball one, but it was just awful.
Shorts by Kevin Spencer
The council and the press release suggest that Blackpool’s crime statistics are “slightly skewed” due to the high volume of visitors compared to the residential population Blackpool has approximately 145,000 residents but is visited by an estimated 23 million people annually. However, no analysis or formal breakdown has been provided, and none could be given on request either, showing how many recorded offences involve visitors versus residents. The claim that crime rates are distorted by tourism therefore remains an assertion without verifiable evidence in the publicly available documents.
Blackpool crime “falling”, but key figures are unverified by Adam Green at North West Bylines
We are, after all, authors on a quest, world building our own habitat in the ether between the ones and zeros, looking to connect with other like minded people.
Be Authentic by Alexandra Woolfe at Wry Writer
After mentioning this idea of somehow being able to authenticate the source of a photo, I’ve implemented and tested the idea. Here is an update on the project.
Photography Chain of Custody Experiment #2 by Cedric at Photoni.st
The characters were three dimensional – all with hopes met or dashed, and their flaws brutally exposed.
Funny, sad, tense, depressing, exciting, and satisfying. Also v long.
Middlemarch by George Eliot by felix.gripe
I started to notice how there’s an awful lot of near-future brand names and corporations and such like. Snacks like AnooYoo bars. Walk-in cosmetic surgery SnipNFix and NooSkins. Ersatz beverages like Happicuppa. Big pharma corporations like HelthWyzer. Takeaway treats like SoyOBoy Burgers. GMO fast foods like ChickiNobs Bucket O’Nubbins.
A Wombat’s Anus by futuromaniac
I watched a video review of Dirty Dancing yesterday that talked about how well it’s held up. They pointed out how the film values abortion as healthcare, that it doesn’t vilify Penny’s decision and also doesn’t vilify sex (it’s a pretty sex-positive movie), and that the class commentary is insightful and sensitive.
Dirty Dancing is still a great movie by Hollie
The physical act of framing and taking images with a phone just does not feel right. I know I am in a dwindling minority here. Humanity loves taking photos like this. But I don’t.
On Using a Proper Camera by Florian Ziegler
Sighted people have a casual, almost dismissive, relationship with the weather; they glance out the window or check an app. The weather is a visual fact; a piece of data. For me the weather isn't data — it's a symphony…
The Acoustic Signature of Weather by Robert Kingett
There was a couple of buskers, one guy with a guitar doing pop covers and my favourite busker, the Pan Pipe player from Ecuador. It's always a pleasure to hear music from the Andes Mountains of South America in Wigan. Wigan might be an old mining town, but the place is quite cosmopolitan at times.
Frugal Film Project 2026 - Compact - May by Jim Graves
Then there's AI. Sigh. I'm currently on a job hunt and I considered this time to be perfect to get a better grip on vibe-coding, vibe-designing, vibe-everything—the things that my future job will expect me to be good at. But at the mere thought of the "new way of doing things", I recoil. I've been having my objections with big tech for years—that's just who I am: looking for software alternatives, swimming against the stream, thinking maybe a little too much about how we use software in general. I haven't found a way to fit AI into my way of being a user.
Drowning in the City by niqwithq
The idea that a great photograph is created in a single, perfectly-timed instant is both deeply appealing and fundamentally wrong. Stepping into the world and courting serendipity may yield a beautiful accident, but pressing the shutter is only the beginning. The real work begins later, when those frames return from the field to the sorting table, where photography becomes art.
The Myth of Intent in Photography by David M. M. Taffet
2026-06-15 22:28:29
As with basically everyone else with "Technologist" in their job title, I have Opinions™ on the proposed legislation from the UK government to ban under-16s from social media.
While the Labour Party have, at time of writing, yet to explain what they mean by "social media", I will concede that a government acknowledging there is a need to protect users from predatory technology is a Good Thing™ however much the proposed "solution" is a Bad Thing™.
But, as smarter people than me have pointed out, what harms children also harms the adult users.
The "protect children" part should be extended to "protect users" and the burden of responsibility should fall on the companies shipping knowingly harmful products.
And, of course, the pithy tag line of giving children their childhoods back
doesn't come with investment in youth centres, community spaces, parks, playgrounds, libraries; places children can gather safely for free.
I, personally, am in an extremely privileged position where I don't use the big corporate Social Media Platforms and I'm happy to be mostly offline rather than give Peter Thiel my passport.
Many other are not; people reliant on distributed support networks, those whose income depends on Social Media, marginalised groups seeking relief from "real world" bullying, persecution, and violence.
That said, just about everyone I know will just scan their passport and not think twice about it 🤷
Finally, this ignores the massive contribution that children made to the creation of the World Wide Web; teenagers building homepages and fan sites, forums run by high schoolers. Children helped build the internet and only need "protecting" now the adults have fucked it up.
There's a long documented pattern of kids boosting a platform, adults and corporations moving in cause it's cool and ruining it so the kids move on — MySpace, Tumblr, Vine, Snapchat, TikTok.
Kids will find a way to gather in community.
2026-06-15 04:14:05
Started using my 9x14 grid paper Moleskine this week and it's pretty awesome. It really needs a pen loop (on order) but otherwise near perfect for what I need!
There are two maple saplings and two ash saplings spontaneously growing along the end fence line. We have a wood of maples nearby that means a constant battle against the spinning jennies taking root in the lawn. Looks like some have evaded my wrath! I'd rather hack them down and leave the ash trees but my wife says to let nature take its course.
I forgot I'd booked Friday off so had an unexpected three-day-week which mostly meant a frantic Thursday afternoon boxing stuff off. As timesheets are usually done on Friday afternoon, I didn't do mine. Sorry Finance 😅
2026-06-14 02:10:14
I heard via ava and Manu that Rishabh had created a blogging challenge about AI usage so here I go, hopping on that bandwagon.
My earliest memory is messing around with image generators and trying to break them by asking for made up words instead of clear descriptions. Coupled with the poor ability, I got a heck of a lot of surreal nightmare fuel.
It depends. Yes, I use AI in certain contexts for certain tasks.
LLMs are good at making text shorter or changing its shape. These are the two things I mostly use it for; making my verbose explanations fit on a single slide and converting a bash script into python.
I use a wide variety of LLM models; largely controlled by what has been allow-listed at work for specific tasks and specific clients.
On the plus side, being able to convert stream of consciousness notes into structured content with a rigid syntax is, honestly, brilliant. Explaining how my new feature works in plain language and having that turned into Cucumber/Gherkin tickets in minutes is a productivity win (YMMV).
As a photographer, I find it a little sad that more people don't use and credit human artists from the myriad sites like Pexels and Unsplash.
As a designer, I am saddened that so much of the internet is boring generic filler images because something something user engagement.
I have a very restricted intake of content via my RSS feed. Because I read so much "human" content, I feel like LLM generated content sticks out like a sore thumb.
Part of my role at work involves analysing LLM output so I think I've got quite good at clocking it in the wild.
My prediction is typically measured; LLMs aren't going to solve world hunger not will they destroy humanity. The bubble will burst and the great majority of these tools will disappear. Some will not — the ones with genuine utility, insulated from fluctuations in stock and insane hype cycles. In the future, people will still use LLMs and their descendants, just not as much.
Do you have Opinions™ too? Get in touch by email, hit me up on the Socials™,elsewhere online, or –better yet– write your own blog article and send me the link — I'd love to read it!
2026-06-12 16:06:11
Brand new Evanescence album! Exciting times! This Arkansas symphonic metal band pioneered the noughties alt-metal boom by blending American stadium rock sensibilities with cherry-picked classical elements to create something that failed to satisfy fans of either genre. However, following their Grammy winning diamond certified debut, a steady release schedule over two decades signals a consistent audience. Lee's vocals are strong and are well layered with the more classical elements of the music. The piano rides roughshod over the rest of the instruments. It feels, at times, like there's a "metal layer" and a "classical layer" that line up but don't quite align. Title track "Sanctuary" is good, but avoid "Forever Without You". Ex-BMTH Jordan Fish on production does his best to infuse it with a cool modern edge but these feel like rock songs with a string section tacked on rather than symphonic metal.
Leeds concept band, Static Dress are really interesting. Mixing Deftones, The Devil Wears Prada, and Idlewild into something that works in the bedroom as well as on stage as well as in the club. It's complex, layered, and technically adept if a little "Americanized" compared to other Leodensians. That said, new album "Injury Episode" is well worth a listen.