Tridactyl for Firefox

I use Zen Browser on Linux. While playing around with LazyVim (I know, I know) I learned about Tridactyl which is a plugin that let’s you manipulate Firefox (or Zen) using Vim-like key bindings. It feels weird and I keep tripping over myself, but I feel like once I’m used to it, this is a great way to browse.

October 27, 2025 · 59 words · Jack Baty

Show a new tab when selecting New Tab in Zen Browser

I prefer seeing a new tab, not the URL search dialog

October 25, 2025 · 67 words · Jack Baty

Maybe what I want is a new theme, not a new blog

I’m fishing for a new theme. I’m willing to change SSGs to get one I like.

October 25, 2025 · 224 words · Jack Baty
Nikon F100 on desk

Nikon F100 and SB-20

I’m becoming a fan of this awkward kit. The F100 is such a sleeper and can be had relatively cheaply. I ended up with that weird-looking SB-20 flash as part of a local Facebook purchase. There might be something to this TTL flash, auto-focus, auto-exposure photography thing.

October 24, 2025 · 47 words · Jack Baty
Pebble watch on my wrist

Pebble Core 2 Duo smartwatch

I impulse ordered the new Pebble smartwatch as soon as it was announced. At the time, I was looking for excuses to stop wearing my Apple Watch, and this seemed as good as any. The watch arrived yesterday. It’s very white :). There was no setup to speak of other than downloading the app so I can pick from thousands of faces. That should keep me busy for a while. I love e-paper screens. ...

October 22, 2025 · 154 words · Jack Baty
Canon AF-7

Canon Sure Shot AF-7

It’s nice having a pocketable point-and-shoot film camera with me. Normally for me, this either means an Olympus Stylus Epic or Ricoh GR1. Both of these are having issues, so I impulse ordered a Canon Sure Shot AF-7 from eBay. It was $30 shipped, so there wasn’t much risk. Here’s a self-portrait using the self-timer from the first roll (Kentmere 400) through the new camera: Self-portrait at my desk ...

October 19, 2025 · 163 words · Jack Baty
Index card demonstrating some recent behavior

Drawing a line

Sometimes one really needs to go out of their way to borrow trouble.

October 9, 2025 · 13 words · Jack Baty

Depression

My family and friends have always told me, “Oh, you definitely have ADHD.” I’m not inclined to diagnosis shopping, so I’ve just assumed that’s what it was and ignored it. Recently, though, my disinterest in mostly everything and lack of focus has been worse, and it’s affected my mood and my overall well-being. I decided to see if there was anything to be done about it. I spent four hours at an intake screening for ADHD. Two hours of interview and two hours of testing. The person running the tests said that the doctor wanted to “include a few additional tests, so it might take a little longer.” Fine with me. ...

October 8, 2025 · 387 words · Jack Baty

Westenberg: Why Cynicism is Just Moral Cowardice

The appeal of cynicism is that it makes you sound smart without asking for a whole lot of independent thought. It’s easier to tear down than build up, to assume the worst than to evaluate evidence, to sneer than to engage, to smirk rather than smile. Source: Joan Westenberg, Why Cynicism is Just Moral Cowardice We could use less of it.

October 8, 2025 · 61 words · Jack Baty

Is my photo workflow feasible on Linux?

I’m trying. I really am. I’ve spent a while getting my head around Darktable and digiKam. That’s no small feat, honestly. What weird software. It’s capable, but getting to where I was with Lightroom Classic, Photoshop, and sometimes Capture One has been elusive. There are manuals, blog posts, and Youtube videos to consume, but, given the nature of Darktable, everyone tells me to do things differently. There are a dozen ways to accomplish every task. Which one’s best? Who knows!? ...

October 6, 2025 · 231 words · Jack Baty

Where to start in reading David Foster Wallace - Ted Gioia

That’s not entirely fair. Wallace’s most famous book, Infinite Jest—1,079 pages and weighing 3.15 pounds (in the hardcover first edition)—is challenging. But Wallace wrote many other things, and some of them are quite accessible. Source: Ted Gioia, Where to Start in Reading David Foster Wallace I hope that reading and talking about DFW makes a comeback. For a while there, Book Social Media was (rightfully) aligned against sound-smart lit-bros who wouldn’t shut up about Infinite Jest. I may have been one of them, because I loved (and still love) that book, so shut up. ...

October 5, 2025 · 138 words · Jack Baty

A couple of weeks full-time in Linux. How's it going?

TL;DR It’s a love/hate thing, with love in the lead. Here are a few thoughts on how things are going so far. I’m still using Omarchy. I really like the tiling window setup with Hyprland. I sometimes paint myself into a corner, but mostly it makes window management fast and efficient. Workspaces on Linux are so nice. Everything on Omarchy can be done via keyboard. Once I got used to the bindings, this has made getting around, launching apps, moving windows, etc. convenient. I’m not against using a mouse, but It’s nice not to have to. ...

October 3, 2025 · 462 words · Jack Baty

Capture my thoughts? What thoughts?

I’ve carried one kind of paper notebook or another on my person for years. Moleskine, Field Notes, Travelers, you name it. The idea is to “capture my ideas and thoughts” while on the go. I’ll be honest with you, I don’t really have many thoughts or ideas, on the go or otherwise. I can’t remember the last time I was walking or at the store or whatever and thought, “Oooh! That’s a brilliant idea, Jack! Thank goodness I have this notebook with me!” ...

October 2, 2025 · 137 words · Jack Baty

Org-social

tanrax/org-social: Org Social is a decentralized social network that runs on an Org Mode file over HTTP. You can create posts, interact with groups, make replies, mention other users, create polls, or personalize your profile. All this without registration, without databases… Just you and your Org Mode file. It’s a ton of fun for us emacs nerds. Follow mine here: https://jackbaty.com/social.org

October 1, 2025 · 61 words · Jack Baty
Please stand by

I'll be over at baty.blog for a bit

I’m feeling like a break from all this SSG-ness. I’ll see you at my WordPress blog at baty.blog for now.

October 1, 2025 · 153 words · Jack Baty

CalDAV to my Emacs Diary

How I’m pulling my Fastmail calendar entries into Emacs diary entries.

September 29, 2025 · 389 words · Jack Baty

Ah, blogging

So many options. So little patience.

September 29, 2025 · 188 words · Jack Baty

Including Emacs diary entries in Howm menu

⚠️ Note that this doesn’t work properly. There’s a “nil” at the end. Howm has a handy menu for viewing tasks and notes. One thing I wanted to add was my Emacs diary entries for the current date. This took 3 things: First, I created a function for inserting the day’s entries from Emacs diary in the current buffer. (defun my/insert-diary-entries-for-today () "Insert diary entries for today at point." (interactive) (let ((diary-list-entries-hook nil) (diary-display-function 'ignore)) (let ((diary-entries (diary-list-entries (calendar-current-date) 1))) (if diary-entries (dolist (entry diary-entries) (insert (cadr entry) "\n")) (message "No diary entries for today"))))) (and by “I” I mean Claude, mostly) ...

September 26, 2025 · 145 words · Jack Baty

Why does it matter if I use Emacs or not?

It makes no difference what software I use.

September 25, 2025 · 74 words · Jack Baty

I wanted to try Linux so I bought 2 computers

I had better be right about this.

September 21, 2025 · 150 words · Jack Baty