Werd I/O

I really hope San Francisco stays an idealistic, progressive city and doesn't succumb to centrism. There are plenty of other places for people who want a city run by those values to live. San Francisco is, and has always been, special.

I think it would be fun to (co-)organize an East Coast IndieWebCamp this year, mostly because I would like to go to an East Coast IndieWebCamp this year. Perhaps there's scope for an IndieWebCamp NYC in September / October?

Over time I'm becoming more and more enamored with the Derek Sivers mindset to posting on the internet.

One of the disappointments of my adult life has been realizing that I’m way to the left of a lot of people - that things I think are sensible improvements that we need in order to help people have better lives are often seen as out of touch and overly-ideological.

While I respect that some people find comfort in tradition and institutions, I can’t agree. Those things are how we maintain the status quo - and there’s so much work to do.

It’s snowing again. That’s it, I’m moving to Spain.

So everyone in tech understands that when the AI readjustment happens your stocks are going through the floor, right?

I don't want to live in a nationalist country.

I don't want my son to grow up in a world where nationalism is rising.

I don't want the future to be dictated by nationalism.

It's kind of impressive to see Ghost become a real open source alternative to WordPress. Many people have said it couldn't be done - but by focusing on a certain kind of independent creator (adjacent to both Medium and Substack), they've done it. It's a pretty amazing feat.

A reminder that the whole point of open source, federated technologies is that there doesn't have to be one winner. It's not a market where every vendor is trying to be a monopoly. It's about building a bigger, collaborative pie.

I’m genuinely thinking about starting a new blog about my experiences of fatherhood. It would be good on a new domain rather than be a part of my usual tech journaling. Too much?

I think Tim Burton is exactly the wrong person to remake Attack of the 50 Foot Woman. I'd watch Greta Gerwig's take on it in a heartbeat, though.

The rebranding of DEI as an "elite" concern is incredible to me. It's literally about including people from oppressed communities.

Every day I walk back from daycare with an empty stroller, its toddler cocoon open like a burst egg sac, and everyone looks at me like I’m either processing some intense grief or I’ve let something terrible out into the world.

Starting Whole30 today in the midst of a fairly chaotic family time. If you have tips or recipes that helped you get through it, I'd love to hear them!

I feel like I need someone to hold my hand and really explain how to use Obsidian effectively.

It's infuriating when I find a blog I want to subscribe to and it doesn't have any kind of feed. Please please please: if you're writing lots of posts on your website, make sure it has RSS or Atom. Thank you.

Ma used to say that she liked to think of everyone we'd lost sitting on the beach at Sagelots, having a picnic and looking down at us. I like that image too, but I'd like to think of it as more of a party: there are guitars, and people racing boats out on the water, and everybody else chatting and laughing on the shore. It's cocktail hour, and there are drinks for those who want them.

Aunt Peggy was an amazing person. Her presence was a gift. I'll always think of her as being an integral part of our shared favorite place in the world. And I'll miss her a lot.

OMG Erin got me a Little Free Library for my birthday. I'm genuinely so excited. I can't wait to put it together and fill it with radical literature!

On the same day we hear about Boeing wanting a safety process waiver for the Boeing 737 Max, a window blows out on one en route to California. I’ve already been booking flights to make sure I fly on an Airbus instead, and I think I’ll keep it up. I will not fly on a 737 Max.

I let my One Medical subscription lapse. What seemed like an almost magically good healthcare service in the beginning became rushed and dehumanizing. I still miss the NHS very much indeed - Americans deserve well-designed universal healthcare.

I deleted all my social media apps from my phone in an effort to be more mindful about how I use them. I'll still post, but I plan for most of everything to originate on my website, and I want to focus on writing there over anywhere else. I'm hoping that the result will be a little more calm in my life, and to reduce the number of times I instinctively pick up my phone.

G'mar chatima tova to all who observe.

Shana tova to everyone who celebrates!

As social networks begin to fill with AI-generated crap, it occurs to me that the small, independent web will be the last place where you know you'll find content and conversations from real people.