baty.net

Boathouse door (2026) STATUS: Considering a withdrawal from Mastodon TODO: Hang out with my grandson READING: "Thinking In Systems" by Donella Meadows LISTENING: Various artists on cassette tape I sat down here today thinking I wanted a bunch of separate blogs, again. Then I came to my senses, but I still don't know how to handle the small posts. Are they still Notes? Does it make sense to separate them? Does it matter? ✍️ Reply by email

I have always had a thing for Olivia Wilde. I now have even more of a thing for Olivia Wilde. ✍️ Reply by email

I thought this was very funny. ✍️ Reply by email

My Exif Manager app (Linux)After scanning a roll of film, I like to add camera make/model/lens exif data to the files. For years, I've done this via exiftool using the command line. It's not hard, but I thought I'd see if Claude Code could whip up something a little nicer to use. Turns out it could. Launch the app, open a folder, choose from a pre-defined list of my cameras and lenses, and write the exif info to the files. It took Claude maybe 30 minutes from my prompt to a working app. That's…

Shot a roll in the Olympus OM-1n with the Zuiko 85mm f/2.0. I find long lenses nearly as challenging as wide ones. Adirondack chair on West Twin Lake Lock on boat house door Bryan's boat on the lift Weeds on the shore at Bryan's cottage Stairs on Bryan's dock Alice's food and water dishes Model wooden boat Flowers on our deck wrapping around nearby lamp post Kayaks

Drinks with EgglestonA couple days at a cottage was good for me. Never opened the laptop once. But then, I come home home, fire up the computer, and immediately regret it. I may just stop talking about the software and services I use, lest I'm suddenly labeled a supporter of fascism because one of them turns out to be built by an asshole or is friends with an asshole or once shared a quote by said asshole. Or maybe I'll quit the whole fucking show. ✍️ Reply by email

Tailgating at Notre Dame (2015)I used to be entertained when I visited Mastodon. I sometimes still am, but more often lately I'm angry, disappointed, frustrated, and depressed. Not sure what to do about that, but I'm sure it's not more Mastodon. I'm addicted to my computer(s). It's unhealthy and I don't know how I'm going to fix it. For now, I'm going to a friend's cottage for a couple of days. Maybe that'll start something. ✍️ Reply by email

This is only 3 out of the five (soon to be 6[1]) notebooks I use regularly. I don't use all of them because I need them. I use them because I can't decide which notebook to use for which purpose. In the photo are: Traveler's Notebook. This is nice for having options. I can throw all sorts of inserts in there, and do. The cover feels great and has worn nicely. Field Notes. I've carried a little Field Notes notebook for a long time. I'm not always sure why, as I seldom actually write anything in…

4x5 self portrait (2019). Blew the exposure so overdid the processing to compensate.I keep posting on baty.blog like it's my actual blog. It's got something to do with not feeling like being in Emacs for a minute. Emacs isn't required to post here, but I have a bunch of little helpful lisp functions that make it easy, so Emacs is the only place I do it. Baty.blog uses Pure Blog, which makes it even easier to post there. Also, baty.blog has comments and is now Webmention-capable, thanks to Kev's…

Lincoln with beach ball (2026). Leica MPI just learned about FerrumPix: Photo Management and RAW Editing for Linux, Windows, and macOS. It's very new and changing rapidly. It's an ambitious project. ✍️ Reply by email

I'm typing this in Emacs using a completely new config and it's so weird. I've been running Emacs v31 everywhere and thought I'd try leaning on more of the built-in completion behavior, and it spiraled out of control. I ended up looking at emacs-solo because it's a fancy configuration that only uses built-in packages. It was easy to try out, so I did. And I liked it. I added the necessary-for-me missing components of my old config. My favorite part is that I went from 143 installed packages to…

Good catch. The blast radius is genuinely load-bearing, but let me confirm before guessing. ...or... Let me verify the fix empirically rather than just assert it. Reading Claude Code's output is exhausting. If you think that unsubscribing from a few software services is "fighting fascism" then we're going to lose. ✍️ Reply by email

After a couple of lazy months, I finally got back into the darkroom this morning. I bought the UGREEN NAS as a way to store files and host Plex. That has evolved somewhat. I'm still putting files there, but the number of hosted apps has grown. Miniflux (RSS reader) Navidrome (Music server) Forgejo (Git repos) Vaultwarden (Passwords) Immich (Photo library) JellyFin (Media streaming) Readdeck (Read-later service) All accessible only via my Tailscale network. Sure hope nothing breaks :) ✍️ Reply…

Charlevoix in the morning (2026). Leica MP.Sorry, I can't right now. I'm too busy vetting every goddamned company even remotely attached to every single piece of software and hardware I use or am thinking of using. Why does everything have to suck, now? I'm sure everyone will be selling their MacBooks and iPhones and canceling all Apple services now that Ternus is on X. I wanted to post this on Mastodon but I really don't feel like starting a fight I don't have the energy to finish :) ✍️ Reply…

I spent several hours yesterday trying to get Wifi to remain up on the Framework after installing CachyOS. It was not easy. I had to drag Claude Code in to help. I'd have never been able to find and fix it, otherwise. Flaky Wifi is a commonly-reported problem with the Framework 13. In my case it was related to the Orbi mesh, so I don't know if this helps anyone else, but I'll leave it here, just in case. It's working for me. TL;DR is pin wifi to a 5 GHz BSSID so the 6 GHz band doesn't get in…

Busy day ahead, all self-inflicted: Replace Fedora with CachyOS on the Framework using the Runbook I made yesterday Update Emacs to 31 everywhere (it's default on Cachy, but macOS and Fedora need work Process/Scan a roll of 35mm (test on both SilverFast/macOS and Vuescan/Linux) UPDATE: That took WAY longer than expected. The Framework's Wifi would drop every few minutes. Had to send Claude Code in to help. Even that took hours. I think we got it, finally. The trick was to pin the Wifi…

Hey. It's been a spell since I've posted here. I'm currently infatuated with Pure Blog running at baty.blog, but I wanted to test my Emacs->11ty->VPS deployment on the newly-restored 2015 Thinkpad. If you're reading this, it worked. ✍️ Reply by email

I accidentally logged into baty.blog's admin and said, "SQUIRREL!", and spent time taking another look at the site. Who knows, I might start using it again. Baty.blog runs on Pure Blog, by Kev Quirk. When Kev first announced Pure Blog, I (of course) tried it immediately. We got along well, right off the bat. Pure Blog is written in PHP, so it's simple to install nearly anywhere. It uses plain-text Markdown files instead of a database. It did all the basics that a blogging CMS should do. It…

Self-portrait / Rolleiflex 2.8D STATUS: Getting rid of something every day feels really good TODO: Decide about moving the external drives back to Linux READING: "Platform Decay" by Martha Wells (Murderbot!) LISTENING: Everything by Zeal and Ardor I had a todo on my list for canceling my MagicPages subscription, so I went to do that. Seeing the Ghost version of this site running my custom theme gave me second thoughts. Remember how easy posting was with Ghost? Remember the comments,…

Lawns Are an Ecological Disaster Americans devote 70 hours, annually, to pushing petrol-powered spinning death blades over aggressively pointless green carpets to meet an embarrassingly destructive beauty standard based on specious homogeneity. We marvel at how verdant we manage to make our overwatered, chemical-soaked, ecologically-sterile backyards. I hate having a lawn. I hate the waste. And I hate that I live where an HOA demands that I fall in line. See also: ✍️ Reply by email

Alice Cooper (2004): “If you’re listening to a rock star in order to get your information on who to vote for, you’re a bigger moron than they are. Why are we rock stars? Because we’re morons. We sleep all day, we play music at night and very rarely do we sit around reading the Washington Journal.” ✍️ Reply by email

I've been chatty on Mastodon the past few days. What gives? It's probably so I don't have to start any of the important projects on my plate. "Linux is better for doing things to a computer than it is for doing things with a computer." -- Me (2019) ✍️ Reply by email

STATUS: Reconfiguring my backups TODO: Finish reconfiguring my backups WATCHING: Finished "Gone". It was meh. LISTENING: Rush "Hemispheres" I love Emacs. Even when I hate it. Just saying. A week ago I started a new habit: Every day I give away, sell, recycle, or trash at least one thing. It doesn't matter how big, how small, or how many, as long as it's /something/. Focusing on the "every day" part rather than the "how much" part has made all the difference. It's been great. ✍️ Reply by email

I've been sort of half-assing my Linux backups for a while now. I finally decided to fix them. My backups were a combination of rsync to a Hetzner Storage Box and Pika backups to an external drive. Each setup did different things, and there was no documentation. Testing the backups was a random and incomplete process that was too much work so I never did it. Rsync is easy and fast, but using the --delete option means that if I accidentally delete something and the backup runs, it's gone.…

Photographers deal in things which are continually vanishing and when they have vanished there is no contrivance on earch which can make them come back again -- Henri Cartier-Bresson ✍️ Reply by email

"I'll be curled up under my bed all day because I got an unexpected and (IMHO) unnecessary Emergency Alert on my phone that one time. But not before I complain about it on social media for a few hours, first." 🙄 510 Pyro: The Best First Developer - by Derrick Buckner One dilution, one bottle. No drama. I’m going to explain why this belongs in a beginner’s arsenal as much as it belongs in mine. I've always been leery of Pyro developers, but based on this article, I've ordered a bottle from…

My ~/org/notes folder had nearly 4,000 files in it this morning. It now has 170. I deleted the rest. Having lost my religion around "zettelkasten" and "second brains", my notes started to look a little silly. Hundreds of nearly empty files with carefully-curated front matter are not helpful, no matter how many links between them have been created. I mean, what use is a note for, say, "Docker", which contains a link to the Docker website and Github page with a one-sentence summary like "an…

STATUS: Trying to simplify everything TODO: Review both Mac and Linux backups (Re)READING: "Devoted" by Dean Koontz WATCHING: Reacher Season 4 I'm about a third through "Devoted", by Dean Koontz and I've been enjoying it. I finally decided to add it to my Hardcover list. When I did, I saw that I'd already read the book in 2020 and gave it 3 stars. It's not uncommon for people to re-read books, but I honestly have no recollection of any of "Devoted". None of it sounds remotely familiar. That's…

I had to buy a new watch so that I would stop wanting more watches. I know it's counter-intuitive, but hear me out. I like watches. It started after I bought a nice Tag Heuer automatic to reward myself for some achievement (which I've forgotten). It's a nice watch. Expensive. It's fifteen years old and I've never wound it or replaced a battery. This was my window into automatic watches. Then came the Apple Watch, which I wore for years, dutifully upgrading every couple of years. I grew to…

You’re Pointing Your Camera the Wrong Way (NYTimes): “There is no simple way to banish the ennui of our age, but maybe it would help if we stopped looking at our own faces and turned instead to documenting the vanishing natural world in all its manifestations.” – Margaret Renkl ✍️ Reply by email