Black and white film self-portrait with Leica MP in mirror

Saturday, July 26, 2025

Can you imagine much easier things would be if I… Used (only one) digital camera Put my photos in one big Lightroom Classic catalog Or maybe just used my iPhone with Apple Photos I saw a post where someone complained that the timeline for some community was ā€œā€¦a sanitized version of reality.ā€ My question is, must every ā€œcommunityā€ always, no matter what, include content from every possible awful corner of the universe? If I wanted ā€œrealityā€, I’d go read about it, or visit just about every other timeline on the internet. I know shit is terrible, that’s why I’m hanging out in this nice space for a spell…as a respite. Is it not OK to want to be mildly entertained and amused for a little while? I mean, we don’t bitch about, say, The Disney Channel existing, do we? I don’t believe people have the right to demand that every space conform to every situation. ...

July 26, 2025 Ā· 166 words Ā· Jack Baty
Black and white film photo of slim tower and sky

Thursday, July 24, 2025

Too hot for chores, today, so I’m in my air-conditioned office, futzing with AI tools, server options, and my Emacs capture templates. For some reason, I can’t get a markdown-mode-hook to fire and call olivetti-mode when I open a Markdown file in an Emacs buffer. I’m using the exact method that works with org-mode files. It’s a small annoyance, but this is why I sometimes want to quit.

July 24, 2025 Ā· 68 words Ā· Jack Baty
Black and white film photo of boy and dog watching out screen door

Tuesday, July 22, 2025

Posted: Roll 037 Ozzy died today. For a long time, I expected this to happen any minute. He didn’t exactly live a healthy lifestyle. After a certain point, though, it seemed like he might live forever. His ā€œBlizzard of Ozzā€ tour in 1981 was one of the of the first concerts I saw. I remember leaning my head into a speaker cone, because LOUDER!

July 22, 2025 Ā· 64 words Ā· Jack Baty
Odd picture frames on wall

Sunday, July 20, 2025

With any luck, I’ll spend time today far away from the computer and very close to the lake.

July 20, 2025 Ā· 18 words Ā· Jack Baty
Light pole and sky with clouds

Friday, July 18, 2025

Don’t you wish I had only one blog? I do.

July 18, 2025 Ā· 10 words Ā· Jack Baty
People in chairs, eating, at a reception. 1960s.

Thursday, July 17, 2025

I’m editing this in (Neo)Vim because I feel like living in normal Vim bindings for a minute, without the grief I cause myself trying to use evil-mode in Emacs.

July 17, 2025 Ā· 29 words Ā· Jack Baty
Street sign reading Road Ends in front of trees

Monday, July 14, 2025

Firing up a new daily note every morning used to be a regular thing for me. Lately, it just gives me blank page anxiety. It’s possible that an ā€œI don’t feel much like bloggingā€ phase is starting. I know this because I don’t feel much like blogging. I have a doctor’s appointment today. Just a scheduled follow-up, but there’s a lot of pre-appointment guilt happening. My blood pressure is a little higher than we’d like, so in our last meeting I suggested that instead of upping my meds, that I eat healthier and exercise more. I’ve done neither of those, so my BP will still be too high and he’ll have to tsk-tsk me and prescribe something stronger. I hate having to take medications, but it’s my own damn fault. ...

July 14, 2025 Ā· 193 words Ā· Jack Baty
Children's blocks on carpet

Saturday, July 12, 2025

Reverting my blogging changes

July 12, 2025 Ā· 100 words Ā· Jack Baty

Sunday, June 29, 2025

Just seeing if this thing still works.

June 29, 2025 Ā· 7 words Ā· Jack Baty
Black and white photo of sleeping dog

Wednesday, June 11, 2025

Daily notes. What are they for? I guess it’s like having a legal pad open on my desk, where I can write whatever I’m thinking about at any time. The problem for you, dear reader, is that you’re subjected to all of it. I feel a little guilty about that. Not guilty enough to stop doing it, of course. I am a different person every day. Too different.

June 11, 2025 Ā· 68 words Ā· Jack Baty
Black and white film photo of Rolleiflex and Hasselblad on desk

Tuesday, June 10, 2025

If there are ā€œNotesā€ listed under this post, it means the thing I’ve been working on here is…working, I guess. (Update, they’re missing from the RSS feed. I’ll work on that later.) Trusting your own judgement on ā€˜AI’ is a huge risk: Something seemingly working is not evidence of it working. (Long, but worth reading). I dunno, seems to me that if it’s working, it’s working, but I suppose that’s his point. One can argue that AI is bad for the environment, or bad for artists, or stealing, and you’d have a point. But when you argue that ā€œWell, it doesn’t actually work. It can’t think!ā€ then that’s where we part company. Even though I agree with a lot of the article, it’s the kind of thing someone writes when they really really don’t wan’t something to be true. I swear I’m going to stop commenting on all this nonsense and go back to the super-cool homeopathic software I co-wrote (aka ā€œvibe-codedā€) today. You know, the one that’s working. I don’t need to prove anything to you. ...

June 10, 2025 Ā· 192 words Ā· Jack Baty
Rear of Nikon film camera

Thursday, June 05, 2025

Maybe I’d blog better if I was a more gooder writer.

June 5, 2025 Ā· 11 words Ā· Jack Baty
Close-up black and white film photo of an old brush in the snow

Monday, June 02, 2025

While visiting my grandson this morning, I finished a roll of expired Portra 400 in the Rolleiflex. When I got home, I didn’t feel like developing the roll. C-41 processing is a whole thing. It’s not hard, but I don’t love it. Still, I’m usually excited to at least see what’s on the roll. Today, I wasn’t. Not a great sign.

June 2, 2025 Ā· 61 words Ā· Jack Baty
Black and white photo of old car

Sunday, June 01, 2025

I try to avoid writing about LLMs but sometimes fail.

June 1, 2025 Ā· 155 words Ā· Jack Baty
Train yard (2010). Leica M4.

Friday, May 30, 2025

I’ve been going through my Lightroom library and noticed a couple things. First, I used to just walk around with a camera and take pictures of things. Some of them are pretty good. Second, my Lightroom catalog has everything and I’m wondering if abandoning it was a good idea. My mates at lunch today are all in with AI. One works at a startup, the other for a large manufacturer. Both manage development and product teams. Both claim to be ā€œ10 times more productive since using AI.ā€ One said, ā€œI get things done now that I’d never even attempted before AI.ā€ ...

May 30, 2025 Ā· 116 words Ā· Jack Baty
Alice in color. (Rolleiflex 2.8D. Kodak Gold.)

Thursday, May 29, 2025

Now that I’ve added a /notes section to the blog, where does that leave these daily notes? I think I’ll keep them. It gives me a place to record some notes throughout the day, but without spewing everything out to social media seventeen times. Just the once :). Then again, isn’t that what the wiki is for? Greg Storey: We’ve turned each consumer interaction into a moral audit. An app download requires community consensus. Every platform choice needs ethical clearance. ...

May 29, 2025 Ā· 117 words Ā· Jack Baty
Black and white photo of boy standing by trees

Saturday, May 10, 2025

Today will involve more yard work. Mulch delivery Most of the day was spent outdoors, working on stuff. I rarely choose that option, but am always glad when I have.

May 10, 2025 Ā· 30 words Ā· Jack Baty
Black and white photo of child playing piano

Friday, May 09, 2025

I wrote recently that I’m tempted to ā€œmove the entire enterprise onto paperā€ and I’m more than half serious. Playing with text on the computer has become a way to never actually do anything useful. It’s fun and easy and gets me nowhere. I fired up my Micro.blog subscription again yesterday. This was probably not the right move, but I’m experimenting with my social media ā€œidentityā€ and Micro.blog is one option. ...

May 9, 2025 Ā· 71 words Ā· Jack Baty
Black and white photo of my Corona typewriter

Wednesday, May 07, 2025

Hello again. Daily notes are back here now, after a brief foray over in Kirby and Tinderbox.

May 7, 2025 Ā· 65 words Ā· Jack Baty

Tuesday, April 29, 2025

So I have a couple of static blogs and two kind-of-static blogs. This is fine, I suppose, because I consider both blogging and software to be hobbies. But man, what a mess I’m making. I’m sensing the urge to recoil from all of it. I’m feeling like the whole Linux thing is a rabbit hole leading nowhere. Also, trying to shoehorn everything into Emacs is not yielding the benefits I read about in the brochure. ...

April 29, 2025 Ā· 75 words Ā· Jack Baty