Last weekend the inlaws and I finally explored Fagan Park in northern Sydney together. It’s a 55 hectare former estate that was donated to the Hornsby Shire in 1988. It’s gorgeous. There was so much to see and explore, but I was especially taken by the landscape. We couldn’t have picked nicer weather for it. By Ruben Schade in Sydney, 2026-10-18.

I buy a not insignificant amount of stuff from eBay, surprising nobody here. I owe much of my retrocomputer hobby to Japanese second-hand good stores, my father in law, and online auction sites. Much of this comes from Europe, but I do buy the odd item from the United States as well. Sellers in certain countries like the US and UK can opt into eBay’s Global Shipping Programme. This allows sellers to list their items as available for purchase from overseas. These sellers send their items to a…

It’s universal in basically everything, but I would say especially in music and with bands. Do not listen to what people say. Only watch their actions. I have found these things to be so polar opposite sometimes that it’s ridiculous. If you frame things this way, it’s really hard to be on the fence about people. And I’ve found generally that the only ones that make me mad are the ones who are saying something totally different. I think, especially in a band situation, which is a live-action…

We went for a wee wander around Seaton Park today, starting at the Wallace Tower, then following the river path along the River Don, crossing the Brig o’ Balgownie then returning back to the park and up past St Machar’s Cathedral. I’ve been wanting to visit the Wallace Tower (also known as Blenholm’s Lodging) for some time as it has a fascinating story. Originally built around 1610 as a Z-plan tower house, it stood proudly for more than 300 years in the city centre on the corner of…

Derby: Historic Pubs, Real Ale & a Heritage Beer Festival On Saturday I headed to Derby for a day exploring the pubs with Niall, who runs From Sheffield with Pubs. Starting near the railway station, we worked our way around the city, calling into traditional pubs, Derby’s first micropub and some wonderful historic buildings. We also visited Derby CAMRA’s Heritage Beer Festival at the beautifully restored Market Hall, which was a great addition to the day. Along the way there were plenty of real…

my thoughts are on a loop an image, an idea then remember I wrote about that before you must know already so I stay quiet and wait

I have photographed this stunning Sydney building before in monochrome, but here is my effort to capture its architectural luminosity in colour. Walking off a tummy bloated with sushi and Japanese donuts (yes plural), I followed the dockside route. Couples and families and tourists swirled about their weekend quests. Down over there, where the walkway juts out a bit over the water and the view cuts through these tall sculptures to get to the casino, clumps of people were taking selfies and…

I am writing this on my phone. I have been avoiding selling. Following up to people for the ai assistant my friend made for [redacted] and me. I set it up for [redacted]. [redacted] wants one. [redacted] asked me to send them what they needed a month ago. I sent them the list of hardware they needed yesterday. I feel like I might have lost the sale. The hard part for me is the asking for money. My friend built something really helpful. Something a 50-70 year old can text or email or interact…

Rush on tour in 2026? Yes! At almost three and a half hours, this was a tremendous and spectacular show, and pretty special to see a longtime favorite band in a new incarnation.

"If it doesn't snow soon this summer will be all smoke", we say and say again, this small talk serving as some mass recitation, the human organism calibrating itself through every mouth until the words ring true from each body. "Yes, this summer..." I'll say it too. I don't care to know any different. What good would it be? Acting the prophet. I have better things to do. I have secrets.

Thanks weather. Tricked me into going for a ride with gorgeous sunny weather. And then the dangerous wind storm and sudden temperature drop halfway through. That’s what I get for going outside .. 🚴‍♀️

Y'all, I'm not gonna sugarcoat it. I've been going through the wringer lately, and it doesn't appear that my ass-beating will be over anytime soon. Maybe 2027 will be my year, but 2026 has not been pulling any punches. But I'm not here to talk about all the hardship again. I'm not here to say how my worldview has shifted or how I've made progress on my creative projects (because there definitely hasn't been enough to update about). I'm just here to say hey. Hope y'all have been having a better…

Had a proper fire brigade call-out on our street today. The smoke alarm went off two houses down and one of the neighbors made the call. No fire after all and we are not sure what exactly happened, but the fact that they arrived with four vehicles only three minutes after the call went out is somewhat reassuring. In other news, starting today, this here blog has a proper about page. I wanted to make it a little more self-contained instead of linking out to the other website, which is rarely…

Delayed but not (entirely) forgotten. I kind of forgot to write the digest post a couple days in a row, hence the delay. I went to new employee orientation on Wednesday night and then had therapy and some errands to run on Friday. On Monday I have my first work training shift and then Thurs/Fri day. I'm not scheduled to work next week, but have put in my availability for November so hopefully will find out which of those shifts I'm working this week. There's lots to be anxious about starting a…

The weather here in Texas is finally cool and crisp. Fall is truly here, yeah! This morning I took advantage of it and rode my bike, getting some exercise, closing rings on my Apple Watch, and feeling good. I rode six miles one-way to a friend’s house to enjoy his Koi pond. It’s like a little garden sanctuary amidst the otherwise dry west central Texas climate, a real oasis. It was tranquil, serene, quiet. Cool temps, crisp air, light breeze, warm sun, blue sky…it doesn’t get much better. As I…

My dad is an inventor. It’s the coolest thing for a dad to be. You say you have a problem and your dad invents a contraption to fix your problem. My dad has created shoes that don’t require bending over to lace, he’s created retractable ski poles and bike saddles. At work, my dad has participated in a countless number of patents. I think my dad is pretty great. And he’s also my constant reminder that being an inventor with dozens of patents that bear your name doesn’t necessarily come with a…

Early Levitation (demo) My darling strandberg I've been a bit in the pits lately,[1] and have been playing a lot of guitar to self-soothe. Much of the time when I'm in this kind of mood I don't come up with anything that gets me excited, but it's important to do this thing that I do to keep myself focused on sound, and on my hands. It's grounding. Noé suggested to me that I record more of my noodlings in case something pops out at me when I'm feeling more creative, so I've been making…

Samsung's Z Flip3 has been my phone of choice for the past 5 years. Good battery life, sturdy construction, great camera, and compact when its folded and not in use. After a couple days of failing to find a replacement in the Z series (they just don't have them out here, anywhere), I settled for the S26. Still a flat slab, which I loathe, it's the lightest and smallest 2026 phone I could find. Battery life is good, as is the camera. I actually considered digging out my old battered S8 to use as…

I’m enjoying a fall outing with the kids. Selfie a day for a year, day 50: Oct 17, 2026 edition.

Was on a call with Pa and he informed me that I received a $500ish hospital bill mailed to his house for my ER visit TWO years ago. Classic move, American health care system.

Good morning from Charlottesville, Virginia! ☕️ It’s been an eon since I posted! Moving as an older couple — no, I’m not that old — is a bit more difficult than when we were 20, 30, or even 40. I’m in such bad physical condition it doesn’t help. Shame on me for allowing myself to become this way. BREAKING NEWS: As I composing this, Gracie, one of our puppers, needed to go outside. Off to the left I notice a light I’d never noticed before. That’s because it wasn’t a light, it was a transformer…

Check out As in guillotine... for more. The “open to work” banner came down on LinkedIn, my consulting work is back on ice, and my new role is officially official. I’ve joined Simmons-Boardman Publishing as the new publisher for the Railway Educational Bureau, which has provided books, educational materials, and training services for the railroad industry for more than one hundred years. It’s no secret that I’m a systems guy, and one of the most fascinating systems ever devised is the railroad,…

Having children is immoral. It is better never to have been. But what of the joys of life, however fleeting? Only at the cost of immense suffering. Even before your first breath, sickly wet and ragged, your mother suffered for your pitiful existence. As you were manhandled by strangers, you were both a victim and a cause of suffering. Conscious existence is inflicted upon others. Ripples of pain and degradation echo through reality, each of us a selfish epicenter. If you resist the biological…

Shot this with the new OM PEN which arrived the other day. SOOC jpeg. Pretty sweet little rig. It's basically an E-M1 MK3 in a rangefinder format, which is often leveled as a criticism. It does have some new features, mainly a subset of subject detection autofocus that had previously only been available on the E-M1X and the OM-1 and OM-3 cameras. It's lighter and more discreet than the OM-3, which often sports large lenses like the 12-100mm/f4. I put the little Lumix 14mm/f2.5 pancake on the…

Most of my week went into work as you’ll read below. It has also rained for most of the week which is making me a bit cranky even if I do welcome the slightly cooler weather. I had a rather surprising interaction over email when the author of MacMD Viewer reached out to offer a free licence after reading about my Obsidian to week notes setup. I accepted, but admittedly have not had much opportunity to test the tool yet. With Obsidian also gaining support for standalone Markdown files and macOS…

Just walked past Gruga Halle. Hundreds of people are waiting to go inside where apparently some TikTok and YouTube stars will fight each other in a boxing ring? I am happy to report that I don’t know a single one of these “stars”.

So a nine hundred gram bag of Argyll Blend, which is my go-to coffee when I’m not getting fancy with single origin stuff, is about sixty bucks (plus tax, but we’ll ignore that for this exercise). I use a twenty gram dose with my 9barista Mk 1., which comes out to forty-five cups of coffee at about a buck forty a cup, rounding up.1 At the shop an equivalent Americano would run about four bucks and change plus tip, so we’ll round up to five.2 So using my machine at home saves me about three fifty…

As I’m about to get ready to head to Essen, I thought it might be nice to bring Behold Rome along for the train ride. But I never liked the pre-existing scoring app, so I thought I’d vibe code my own and include the fan-made campaign as well. Enjoy! Click here to open app The post Behold Rome Scoring App appeared first on Talking Shelf Space.

It’s here! Just in time for me to shape up a super secret project during my week off.

We’re down to the final four segments, but we only have three walks left to do. The plan for today is to walk segment number 7 and also attach to it the beginning part of number 8. 23km, 870m of ascent, 1250m of descent. Next time, we’ll finish 8th and attach 9th to it, but that’s a problem for future me. I’ll be honest with you, I’m kinda tired of these walks. Especially because this second half stretches across trails I walked countless times before. But I also want to walk the whole loop and…