Archive

Drawing and watching Seinfeld. what a glorious evening. ☺️

Software I use & Desk setup - An update.: A detailed overview of my desk setup and software tools reveals a preference for Apple products and a system optimised for productivity and creativity.

Star Trek 4 #art

Watched: Star Trek V: The Final Frontier 🍿 Probably my least favourite Star Trek movie, but has some of the best sets of all the movies (excluding TMP)

Th Matrix is dumb. The more the think about it, the more I see that the machines just needed to trap us pre-computer. Then we wouldn’t have the understanding to escape.

KitKats made me Christian. - My testimony: A former non-christian details their unexpected transformation into Christianity through community service, Bible study, and personal reflection, leading to a profound change in their perspective and purpose.

Minimum Viable Prayer - When does a thought become a prayer?: The concept of the ‘Minimum Viable Prayer’ emphasizes that even brief, spontaneous expressions of gratitude or need can be meaningful prayers in one’s relationship with God.

I’m working on an article for my website, which I believe will be awesome. Been a while since I was excited to post something.

Trying the Drafts app as a pre-notes inbox. So far it seems good but it feels like the internet stopped talking about it 3 years ago 🤓

Just saw a video where a guy talks about how he likes his iPad mini because it’s portable. and then puts a keyboard and mouse in his bag too…. I don’t get people.

Dead writers and socially acceptable crime. A Christian struggling with copyright.: The text explores the ethical dilemma Christians face regarding piracy and copyright laws, emphasizing the importance of obeying secular laws as a reflection of one’s faith.

Charging my MagicMouse, mean using my MagicTrackpad. So much Magic, so little imagination

Happy mean girls day

Couch to 5k week five completed. Very proud of myself for sticking with it so far. Just four more weeks to go 🫠

Animation animation animation animation ☺️

I have tomorrow off redraw a backdrop for my current animation project. And then figure out how to fake reflections on a starship hull.

Having problems finding time to write at the moment. But, I have tomorrow off work. I should be able to get it done at least a chapter done. 😌

I just picked up the Maltese Falcon on Apple TV. It was £3 and has loads of extras. Great purchase. ☺️

Time pressure has been incredibly real recently.i think i need to start sleeping less 😂

Noodling with something. Something, space narrative, but with Procreate instead of Word. #art

Apple TV needs a wishlist.

Oh my gosh. How is it morning already?

MSI Claw 8 ai+ Upgrading: A user shares their positive experience with the MSI Claw 8 gaming PC, highlighting its performance, upgrade process, and personal satisfaction despite some storage limitations.

A lot of people still not happy with iPadOS 26. Whereas I have found it entirely a pleasure to use. I think Liquid Glass, overall is ugly, but, doesn’t negatively impact my workflow.

Curse words, bad words, swear words - I was wrong.: A Christian reflects on their previous views regarding swearing and ultimately concludes, after studying Scripture, that using offensive language is inconsistent with their faith.

In defence of Reckless love. A case study.: “Reckless Love,” a popular Christian worship song by Cory Asbury, evokes debate over its portrayal of God’s love, which some interpret as reckless, despite its positive reception in the Christian community.

Why is apple notes still so yellow? I feel like at this point it could be less yellow.

The Apple os26 updates on my various devices have been pretty excellent so far. The minor but impactful Watch updates have actually impressed me the most, so far.

Today was a good day. :)

As much as I am tempted by an iPhone Air, I plan of keeping my 14PM until support stops. But when support stops, I hope these Airs are still about.

Looks like all my Apples are going to update on Monday. Something to look forward to… I guess.

Feel like I’m in a pickle. Not sure what went wrong but deep in my soul, I feel the pickle 🥒 I wonder what will happen to make my pickling make sense

1 Corinthians 3:16-17 (and 6:19): Insights on 1 Corinthians emphasize that believers are collectively and individually temples of the Holy Spirit, underscoring the importance of spiritual stewardship and the implications of sin.

I just watched K-pop Demon hunters. I had no idea what it was about, besides the title. I have to say I enjoyed it a great deal. It was fun and silly and well-made, even the music was good.

Moses, SpongeBob #art

Ephesians 1:3-6 — A casual Bible study.: Time for another deep read, this time Ephesians 1:3-6. (if you are curious about my methodology, please check the bottom of this post.) Ephesians was written by Paul, around 62AD (though this has been challenged in recent years. It still seems likely that Paul did, in fact, author this.) The …

There was a time when I had lots of DVDs. I’m not at all nostalgic for that time, but I am nostalgic for knowing my movies won’t vanish.

A whimsical artwork featuring Spock on a dock, dressed in a frock and holding a wok.

1 Peter 1:1-2 — A casual Bible study.: Recently, a friend and I ended up having an impromptu ‘deep read’ of 1 Peter 1:1-2. We went away and did a little research and met back the following week top discuss it. While I’m sure (certain) that there are deeper dives into these verses by people far more qualified than me to do so (I’m just an …

Creepy lil farty spock #art #startrek

Aliens need love too #art #alien

Tapping away at my writing with a lazy van-life video on the TV, nice lighting and a desk I love. Happy times. #apple #desksetup

I just watched a video where a YouTuber said “this is where I work, and consume media.” I don’t like the term ‘consume media’ its oddly dystopian in ways I have never thought about before.

I’ve had about ten days in a row now where I’ve felt unproductive. I’ve still been at work every day, been the gym every day and worked on my qualification studies. But I’ve not found time to write, draw or read. It’s a productive kind of unproductive.

Fishing trip. A Final Fantasy XIV player update.: The first night, two friends and I decided it was time we learned to fish. We found a delightful spot, in an old port, and cast our nets blindly. We expected the entire event to last all but a few minutes before we were going to get bored. I think it was three hours later than we finally decided it …

Moo, as heck. #art #cow

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds… only #art #startrek #snw

I’m really not enjoying this season of SNW, it just feels like a soap opera more than a sci-fi. And what was with those stupid phones last episode?

Been getting a lot of emails from random mailing lists without unsubscribe options lately. Maybe the golden age of the GDPR mail clean up is over.

Hummm… having some issues uploading an animated GIF, looks like Mario.Social doesn’t like them 🧐 also SPACE! #art

I started watching Wednesday season two yesterday. Did not enjoy. I felt like it was a collection on TikTok videos put in chronological order. Guess I’m not the audience for it.

Did some messing with task managers today. I think I’m staying on Reminders still, the Apple calendar integration is too good to leave. Also, smart lists.

This week I’m not sure if I’m more excited for new Star Trek episode or new South Park episode. I’m pretty sure I said this same sentence in the 90s 🤣 still true though.

Had a bit of stressful morning. Became the duck. Solved problems. Got through it.

MMOs and their place in my accidental return to gaming.: After losing interest in gaming, rekindling the passion through playing with my daughter and revisiting Final Fantasy XIV has brought joy and engagement back into my life.

This weeks episode of strange new worlds has been the first one that I genuinely didn’t enjoy

Had a great evening at my Bible study group. I enjoy that it happens on a Wednesday evening, it’s like a mid week reset of sorts. Really like it.

Today is a day of academic study. How refined of me 😊

Currently reading Atomic Habits (James Clear) hope it’s as good as its legend.

I had a good time playing FFXIV last night. This evening I have to resist the urge to level, in favour of writing. ✍️

Final Fantasy XIV, on Mac.: I have a lot to say, and write about how fantastic FFXIV is, still. I’m currently drafting one of my signature rambling explorations, on the topic of MMOs. But, today, I’m here to drop information and little more. I own a MacBook Air and wanted to go back to playing FFXIV. I expected this to be …

I’m at the start of a glorious day. Breakfast, dog Walk and writing is ahead of me. I look forward to seeing how it unfolds. Hopefully calmly.

Bluesky just told me that I need to verify my age, in order to access “adult content” and direct messages. I don’t want either of those things, so, win! I guess.

I have a new back plate for my ROG Ally. While it promises to reduce heat and increase FPS, I’m most excited because it has a built in kick stand. Fitting it this evening.

If buildings were way taller, do you think lifts (elevators) would be more like trains?

Bow before mighty fly hunter! #art #dog

I have had an awesome writing session this evening. ‘The Eternal Blonde’ is now barrelling towards the end of draft one. I’m quite excited about where it’s heading too.

Strange New Worlds was great. I realise that this is likely not a revolutionary point of view but dang it, I really liked it

Headache finally fading after two days. Feels good to be alive now.

I keep thinking about the Superman movie and grinning to myself. Sign of a good movie that is.

The superman movie with absolutely excellent thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish. Can’t help but notice though, there’s a lot of superman movies that are basically about real estate fraud.

At cinema, gone to see Superman. Decided that with heat and, you know, it’s a cinema, I would just wear shorts and a T-shirt. Everyone here is dressed like it’s a fashion show. I am scrub.

Tool Snobbery Is Not a Writing Skill: Scrivener is spectacular. It’s outstanding. It is, probably, the best all-in-one writing environment out there. I have written at length about it over the years. I respect the application, the business model and the legendary developer who works on it. I love scrivener. Though, I don’t use …

I had an exceptionally good time last night levelling in final fantasy 14. It was a good time. Familiar but still exciting. Going to write something about it this evening.

A friend sent me a new hard drive for my ROG Ally. I’ve gone a bit mad installing games. Feels good though 🤩

After a day of feeling quite unwell and not being at all productive, its time to listen to Sting and write some words!

Some mornings just have a nice vibe, this is one of them. And, I have an unexpected free evening coming up for words and drawing. Today is a good day.

Happy Sunday.

…Thinks I’m cool. #art #punk

I really enjoy the Ulysses writing app. I didn’t think anything would take me away from Scrivner but now here I am wondering why I didn’t make the switch earlier.

Orange is the new Pepsi: The single scariest moment in my life thus far was last Friday, when I went to the little fridge in my home office to find that there was, in fact, no Pepsi Max (Cherry) in there. The sadness and disappointment, combined with the shock and fear, resulted in an emotional cacophony the likes of which …

Frozen the musical, it’s got new songs. It’s also on Disney+ it’s fantastic.

I just had to fill in a multiple page for to confirm that I do not need a TV license. What a scam imagine having to fill in a form to not eat McDonalds. It’s so annoying! - I don’t watch live TV why do I have to fill in a damned form?

I am with the Co-Op Bank. They have an unexpected outage again. I expected it because it seems to happen about three times a month. If it wasn’t SO boring to change bank, I would have done it years ago!

Hung out with dog, hung out with daughter, preordered some pizza for this evening and now I’m listening to Jonathan Coulton while I draw cats. Today has been an excellent day! :)

Apple has some odd App Store ads. Surely, the only possible “occasion” will be when someone wants to play a phone game. It’s not like I go “hey this is a nice funeral, wonder what Apple Arcade has to compliment this.”

Tried a new gym today, it had a vibe like it had popped out of the eighties. It was somehow nicer to work out in a setting like that.

Cat story is going well. This is page four. #art #cat #procreate

I know there are free alternatives and they are fine, but I just love chess.com. The site, the app the interface… all of it. Just love it.

Most the time I pretend it’s fine, but some days you really can’t ignore the dystopian hellscape we live in, can you.

I have began working on a cat themed story… for children. It’s oddly wholesome for my writing/art ☺️

Drew a lot of sleeping cat pictures today. It’s for a work in progress project I am poking with a stick (the stick is an Apple Pencil)

I would like to take a moment to remind you all that word hippo is amazing www.wordhippo.com

I had an idea for a children’s book, years ago. Started work on it yesterday. Will write article about it on website

Last month I began a more serious attempt to journal. It’s been going well. I have been using Diarium, because Apple Journal wasnt on iPad. Now, it’s launching in September and I’ll have to manually move it all over 🙁

There are a few writing forums I frequent. I realised today that most of them have been discussing the same topics for literally years at this point. AI bad - Scrivener ugly - subscriptions bad. While I don’t disagree, there is only so much which can be said. Time to stop reading them, I think.

Meanwhile, the fish… #art #fish

The strange automatically generated 3d that google maps has, is oddly, enjoyable to look at.

Sometimes I Think about MC Skat Kat for no reason. He just pops in my head from time to time. I think we would get along. We’re nothing alike, but I hear opposites attract.

Book Club - All systems Red (Murderbot): Last week, looking for something to watch while I ate a massive bowl of rice and vegetables (a new staple for me. I put a lot of soy sauce in it), I pressed play on the new Apple TV show, Murderbot. I watched the first three episodes and loved it. It’s a science fiction show with a premise that is, …

Started watching the Muderbot show on Apple TV… then started reading book… Murderbot is dope!

Had a good weekend.

I’m feeling a bit judged by carbon website checker, thingy, www.websitecarbon.com/website/d…

We need to start a movement to make it socially unacceptable to recount a dream you had to coworkers. It’s a literal waste of everyone’s time.

I wasn’t happy with my dandelion-utilitarian.com theme, so I decided to streamline it. I went with the most basic theme I could find, and I’m much happier now… for now.

Edgar Allan Poe in 2025.

Product idea. Breathable soup… oxsoupgen

I saw a comment earlier which said only AI uses em dashes, and this is a great way to spot AI generated text. Not true. Writers also use them. Don’t assume well written text is AI. That’s insulting.

Sometimes I think about iCarley for no reason.

Been working hard to eat properly for the last few weeks. I have nailed it according to my nutrition app. Though I have been craving pizza. It’s my birthday in the middle of June. Going to so so much that day. ☺️

My Casio had a big scratch right down the middle, and it was really bothering me. So, I “““accidentally”””" ended up buying an Apple Watch — the 46mm Series 10. It’s the nicest watch I’ve ever owned, and I’m genuinely pleased with it.

Life in Sips: A Memoir in Beverages: 

The delineating factor in the chapters of my life has often been tangentially linked to my beverages of choice.

On my first day of college—many, many years ago (1996, if you want to get personal)—I was a nerdy kid with very few skills, deeply self-conscious, and in deep denial about basically my …

Post by @lnx01.bsky.social @DandelionUtilitarian I know it has a taste, but it depends what’s burning. If you’ve ever been followed by the smoke when sitting around a barbeque (braai) you know what fire tastes like… Distinctly of carbon and aromatic esters.

Be honest—have you ever wondered if fire has a taste? Not just heat, but an actual flavour? (Not saying eat fire, just a thought, not advice!)

Sherlock holmes. But creepy like. #art

My good friend Ozone interviewed an interesting person, for a Fediverse exclusive. You should watch it. video.firesidefedi.live/w/huevh4L…

Companies making staff change passwords every six weeks seems like encouraging them to write them down. Don’t understand the practice at all tbh. Seems like their practices discourage the purpose

Procreate keyboard shortcuts are rubbish! - Makes my Key dial (k20) pretty useless

Sometimes 80s kids TV just pops right back into your head doesn’t it… #art

I’ve been in a quiet, detached season of late—not sad, just distant from some aspects of my life. I feel like I’m finally coming out of it, but leaving this desert demands action.

Sometimes, I randomly think about how much I loved the 80s He-man cartoon and get warm and fuzzy inside.

Dragon surf. #art ?

Castle… bit silly, enjoyed making it. I was seeing how I got along with Fresco for reals. Mixed feelings. #art

Today another fine warrior has been lost in the name of #art (I’m burning through tips fast enough that it’s getting expensive, knockoff tips are cheaper, at least)

Art app blending. #art #ipad

Watch the world burn man, on the job. #art #comic

When I was a kid, something like an iPad would’ve felt like science fiction. I used to daydream about futuristic gadgets, drawn in by all the tech in sci-fi stories—but I never really imagined what I’d do with it. I definitely didn’t picture myself playing Chess.com in bed. Funny how times change.

May spend today’s writing time on iPad. Just for a change, you know.

Oh, and… some spiders #art

Hairy art #art Dont ask

Ordered a new water bottle. I like water bottles but I don’t get new ones often.

I put together this layout just in case I ever decide to stream. I don’t think I will—but I really enjoyed making it!

This was what I drew while messing with Fresco. I go back to CSP now, where it’s safe #art

Fresco has an impressive perspective tool. Much more understandable than the one in CSP. I still prefer procreate brushes. Forever, I am cursed to hop apps.

Not to sound like a fanboy, but after thinking about my setup, I’ve never been happier with my technology since switching to Apple. Not sure if it’s great hardware or just me getting lazy.

Watched Minecraft movie. Despite knowing very little about Minecraft, I loved it.

StarCity. 📍 Going to cinema in first time since Halloween. Much excite.

Unlearning the Confidence Trick: Confidence carries people a long way in life, often before their skill is ever truly tested. It offers a unique kind of freedom from doubt and has a way of putting others at ease. Confidence is the tool of choice for many of the heroes we admire. When used appropriately, it’s a genuine virtue. I’ve …

Space. The final frontier… for a flower. #art

Business turret, in action #art

Smart folks keep recommending Adobe Fresco to me. Thinking I might try it out for the next page of Niceferatu—see how it goes!

Hi. I drew slime thing.

I just watched the animated Super Mario movie, it was on Netflix and I figured it would kill a few hours. Oh my gosh. What an absolute delight to watch. Loved it.

Standing in a takeaway, waiting for a feast for my daughter and me. Being able to work on my novel right from my phone is brilliant—no compromises, no hassle. Ulysses might just be the perfect tool after all.

AI Panic: A Writer’s Eye-Roll: I write, and honestly, I think I write pretty well. I’ve written five novels (all available, for free, via the ‘My Writing’ button at the top of my website.) I am specifically commenting here on AI as a writing support tool. AI has been a hot topic for a while now among creatives, hobbyists, …

It shut down back in 2014, but honestly, I still find myself thinking about Free Realms sometimes.

You know when you have and have to make draw it… #art #StarTrek

I’m currently trying the week-long trial of the Ulysses writing app because I need a writing environment which works on all my devices. It has everything I want, but I detest subscriptions. Still, it works on iPad, iPhone and Mac and Without synching issues and the grammar tooling is nice.

Happy Easter.

Cute dragon #art

Living with Stage Manager: Accidental Clarity: Since the advent of the modern desktop paradigm in the mid-90s, not a great deal has changed in how we interact with desktop computing interfaces. Sure, the tiling desktop interface has gained popularity in the Linux world over the past decade — DWM, for instance, has been around for about 18 years …

I’ve got a few tasks to get through this morning, then I’m planning to finish a dragon drawing I’ve been working on—after that, it’s down to the serious business of writing.

I keep getting tempted to try Ulysses (the writing app,) more seriously, but the subscription puts me off. I also need to test if the offline mode is truly offline. It has so many nice features which Scrivener mobile is missing. #writing

I know I go on about this a lot, but it’s ridiculous that the Apple Journal app isn’t on macOS or iPad. I want to use it—it’s just too limited as it is.

I tried a version with Daft Punk lyrics, but it didn’t quite work. So here’s this one instead. #art

Even after a year without gaming, The Forgotten City still pops into my head—it was brilliant. I’d love a show or film based on it… might even play it again, one day.

As someone who used to create YouTube videos, I feel compelled to say that when you watch reviews from content creators, they’re almost always just telling you what they want from a product. The iPad doesn’t need macOS; a phone or laptop is fine if it works, regardless of CPU or RAM.

Friend Wing linked this to me this morning. A very interesting list of websites, dare we say blogs. blogroll.org

I experienced some strange micro.blog problems today. Older posts weren’t showing up, which might have been a theme-related issue. Thankfully, everything seems to be working fine now.

Sir snail gave them all the time they needed… #art

The Subscription Trap: Why I’m Abandoning My Favourite Productivity Apps: 

Recent changes to products I use have left me suspicious of application pricing. This, coupled with the capitalistic obsession of locking users into services, has led me to overhaul almost all of the software I rely on for productivity. I’m mad as all heck about it, and I hope the following …

Had a fantastic day at the safari park today. Was great fun. Drove many miles but now I’m home and ready to spend my evening writing.

West Midland Safari Park. 📍 Safari adventure begins ☺️

Going West Midlands safari park today with daughter. Much excite.

I must say, I don’t quite understand the relationship between Reminders and Calendar. I feel like they should be and almost are one unified app.

I’m taking a deep dive into Apple Notes and Reminders today. Must say, both apps have come a long way since last time I tried them, or my needs have changed and made them more suitable.

I just want to say this. While I see the need for streaming apps and services to have a subscription, offline software should not. Subscriptions only ever get more expensive in the future.

I really love DevonThink, it’s superb software, but their new Licensing Model really worries me. I may need to do a deep dive into the options available to me, including seeing what the current state of Apple Notes is.

Friday, I’m heading to West Midlands Safari Park. While most people visit a safari park to see exotic animals, I’m really excited to see a goat. I know it might seem odd, but I think goats are fantastic! Plus, you usually get to pet them. Honestly, I just love goats. 🐐

a Row man… trying to open a coconut.

Given all the images I’m posting recently, I may turn back on bluesky crossposting to see how they are received

Crocs with sunglasses.

You know a Bible verse study has been great when you are three bookmarks into Strong’s!

Yesterday I wrote loads and drew loads, I filed to study chess. 2/3 ain’t bad (or so Meatloaf tells me)

Power pole of power. Powering… things

Drew this octopus. There was no reason. I woke up too early this morning and was killing time. You can have it.

Happy first contact day!

Dear Mac developers of the internet. We have enough clipboard managers. There is literally one clipboard manager for every possible scenario. You can stop developing them now. I use PastePal… but any will do fine. Do not develop more!

Instead of writing, I spent most of yesterday messing with Ollama. I had a good time but today I’m fired up for writing.

DEVONthink 4 is in beta with solid foundation. I’m impressed by external AI tooling integration. Took steps to set up Ollama locally for security. Today’s shaping up well.

Full Keyboard Access? More Like Full Keyboard Chaos!: 

While Apple Intelligence turned out to be less intelligent than we all hoped, my Magic Keyboard turned out to be more magical than I expected, once I changed a single annoying setting.

If you don’t care about the narrative and just want to know how I made my Magic Keyboard better, I respect that.

Go …

I’ve spent far too much time procrastinating today, but I must admit, I’ve enjoyed it.

I’m not a skilled artist, but I practice with my own art to improve. When I see Reddit’s /r/ClipStudio/ posts asking, “What brush is this?” I know it’s not the brush that matters. People often thinks the right brush can substitute hours of practice and is likely less …

Art: Sleeping in the garden: 

Finished reading: Goodbye, Things by Fumio Sasaki 📚 This book was really enjoyable—it shows how an extreme minimalist lifestyle actually works, and the writer maintains a pretty hard-line stance throughout. While I don’t want to go that minimal, I did enjoy it and half-envy the lifestyle. It’s a …

DevonTHINK is fantastic. If you own a Mac and are not using it, then you are actually missing out on something magical.

Scrivener is incredible, but I genuinely wish it had built-in language tooling, like Ulysses does. I don’t think I’d actually leave Scrivener; I’m too invested in it now. And, lets be real here, Ulysses lacks a real offline mode.

I watched ‘Ghosted’ on Apple TV+. It was a mediocre movie. It looked nice, but it didn’t really resonate with me.

Art: The before the last supper. : While i usually post my art on Niceferatu.net (see comic link in title bar) I had a random idea which I decided to draw last night. Please note, this is meant to be taken as a cute (hopefully) lovingly drawn little cartoon, not theology!

I watched Boo, Bitch on Netflix. It was fun! The second half was a bit more predictable than it probably should have been, but overall, I really enjoyed it.

I’ve watched reviews, read reviews, and talked to people I know — and I still don’t care. Electric State was excellent, and I’m ready to die on this hill!

Caroline Forbes is the best character in The Vampire Diaries. I’m prepared to fight anyone who disagrees because this is important—perhaps the most important opinion of all.

Updates from the Creative Trenches.: 

I think I’ve said before that if asked, I wouldn’t describe myself as a creative person. Which is quite contrary to the truth when I look at the novels I’ve written, the badly drawn comic I work on almost weekly, and the years I spent making YouTube videos. I’ve never understood why I don’t feel …

Thanks to @MoonPope, I discovered today that Tyromancy is fortune-telling using cheese. This fact has now consumed my creative urges, I must introduce the ‘Cheese Witch’ to Niceferatu (Niceferatru.net)

Not to be dramatic or anything, but with Discord being a bit trash lately (and looking like it’s about to get worse,) I figured it’s time to have an exit plan. So, here’s a link to my Revolt server — everyone’s welcome! rvlt.gg/qdv6X7k5

Today, I’ve been writing. Though the words I wrote will likely go through many iterations before you ever read them. When I look back at this post, I probably won’t even remember which words I wrote. How interesting.

I finally got around to watching Bodies on Netflix (2023), and it was excellent — brilliantly done and perfectly entertaining sci-fi nonsense.

Peanut M&Ms maybe the greatest thing ever created.

Lost in the Dark Forest of the Modern Internet: 

I recently stumbled across an interview with David Mitchell which opens with him declaring that the internet is as harmful to humans as nuclear weapons. Two things to note: first, this is a five-year-old video; second, he’s a comedian who often uses hyperbole to sharpen his point. But in this case, …

I watched WarGames again today with some friends. It’s aged surprisingly well, and John Wood’s performance is absolutely spot-on.

I just watched Electric State on Netflix and really enjoyed it. It was delightfully silly, visually striking, and fully embraced its simple story.

I haven’t been able to have a fulfilling writing session in a few weeks now, and I feel like my characters might be frustrated with me. When I’m finally ready to dive back into the depths of my writing, I know I’ll probably spend the first day editing. That’s just how it goes …

As I get deeper into chess, I can’t shake the annoyance at my current skill level. There’s always the hope, that everything will click into place soon. Though In hindsight, learning chess seriously at 44 might not have been the most practical decision, but I’m determined to keep …

From War Games to Web Gains: For many years, particularly during my teenage years, I secretly aspired to be like David Lightman. However, considering the pickle he found himself in, I can’t help but feel relieved that my efforts fell short. Besides, Cheyenne Mountain is quite far away. I suspect that WOPR has been …

Niceferatu.net: After some consideration, tinkering, and general messing about, I’m pleased to confirm that Niceferatu.net is real! It’s just a place for my comic posts. It’s not a very good comic—but hey, at least I’m trying. This project is mainly to help me improve my drawing skills, with the hope of one day …

I’m now pretty deep in the weeds of micro.blog customisation. Having a good time. ☺️

This is me, testing filters. Plz ignore

It's all on Micro.Blog now. : I’ve transitioned both Dandelion-utilitarian.com and hexdsl.com to the Dandelion-utilitarian.net platform, powered by Micro.blog. This may sound a bit complex, but simply put, I’m a huge fan of Micro.blog and believe it’s the ideal platform for consolidating my content. While those …

A Tumble, A Timeout, and a Lesson in Less: I remember watching a Batman movie and hearing Alfred say something that stuck with me. It wasn’t even a good Batman movie—if I recall correctly, it was the 1997 offering, Batman & Robin. The film itself doesn’t matter, but the words did. I remember them as: “A gentleman never discusses his …

hmmmm link between dandelion-utilitarian dot come and dot net seems to have broken. Can’t actually remember how that works. i think friend Wing did something to fix it but honestly, don’t recall. Though, I’m getting on so well with micro blog, I may just switch the whole site over …

I think I’m warming to StageManager on MacOS, I’m going to give it another spin in iPadOS, see if I can embrace that life. 😄

I think I'm back 😁 : I Had an excellent evening of writing. It’s been about a week since I have managed to gather the focus required but I am starting to feel more like myself and generally returning to my usual Zen-like state. I will likely feel more equipped to return to usual activities in a few days. Also, …

Dog Nappies, now with a pocket for smokes! #art (?)

Apparently I have done 1000 chess puzzles… you would think I would be better at them by now. www.chess.com/awards/da…

Just watched “The Gorge”. Really liked it. Best Diablo movie ever. It knew what it was and embraced it. Only have nice things to say.

Fiction post: The Ghost.: 

The ghost sat alone in his chair as it slowly spun in the ambient draft of the cold office. He was contemplating the wasted hours spent playing video games, making videos, and trying to build a community. The ghost was alone because the body he had once been attached to was currently out in the …

Even Batman needs lunch

Chess. I forgot about it.: 

When I was a kid, chess appeared to be a game of magic. The mere concept of it captivated me. However, I must admit that this fascination was partly because of my limited exposure to the game, as I had primarily learned about chess through cartoon magicians, old fantasy movies, and this one artefact …

Feel like it maybe time to change some things.

made a video… oddly youtu.be/Vn3KXGy3p…

The Valsalva manoeuvre is far less exotic than the Picard manoeuvre, but likely more applicable to situations which most people encounter.

LumaFusion and the Power of the Cross-Platform App: LumaFusion is a video editing application, and in my experience, it’s pretty good. But what really blows me away is that it’s an example of a truly platform-agnostic app—at least within the Apple ecosystem. I purchased it on my iPad (a 13 inch M2 iPad Air) for around £30. My main use case is editing …

The Creative Gym (Learning art with no natural aptitude): 

Humans make things. Whether this creative urge is unique to us or a common trait among all species that reach our level of social and technological development remains a mystery. It is also worth noting that the creative urge does not exist in all members of our species. Many people are perfectly …

People need to stop saying ‘game changer’ its got to the point of meaningless

The rise of ai tools is going to seriously effect profit’s for services like grammar and language tool soon. As of yet though, there is no good language tool alternative for my phone. It’s going to be interesting to see how it unfolds, because, LLMs are far more effective spell checkers than …

Is my future offline?: 

As I’m sure many of you have noticed, I have recently been on something of a cleanse. Ejecting things from my life which I feel are no longer relevant. Trying my best to live intentionally and considering what adds value to my life, and what are things which I use as crouches for someone I used to …

NewsExplorer seems pretty good so far. RSS win. I guess.

Today have learned that my RSS reader (Reeder+) doesn’t have an export. Oddly this made me want to leave, so i installed NewsExplorer. Seems pretty good so far.

Digital Minimalism?: I have spent some time reading the Cal newport book ‘Digital Minimalism.’ I’m not that far in, but I picked it up because I was feeling a ‘thing,’ the book, so far, has made me double feel that ‘thing.’ I need to write a full post about the …

Few days into DAP life now. I love having a music player which doesn’t expect more from me than to hit the play button.

Do you ever make a purchase and then think “that was dumb, I should not have done that” ?

My wisdom tooth is uncomfortable this morning.

Christianity: Bible translation comparisons and thoughts, from an interested reader.: 

Recently I was reading the translation notes in my NLT bible and there were a few lines which made me raise an eyebrow. This led me to go on a bit of a deep dive into all the translations which I read. 

I am not an expert and all information provided can be found online with ease. All I did was read …

Imagine a world where Things got worn out when you looked at them. Like erosion of viewing. I think it happens in some ways, on a personal level, the more I look at a thing the less I appreciate it. Maybe it’s me being depleted, not the things I look at.

Why doesn’t apple mail have a share sheet? It’s infuriating

It’s foggy today. I assume this is because 2025 has started loading.

My 2024, in review.: The end of the year is looming, and we approach the dark, melancholic week which sets its home between Christmas and the new year. Like a troll on a bridge, the week of limbo must be defeated to pass into the glorious bastion of twenty twenty-five. Which, is an overly dramatic way of saying that …

My desk now contains a MacBook air, two iPads (don’t ask,) a bluetooth speaker and a usb chargeable reading lamp. There is something awesome about an all battery-powered desk. I don’t know why, but it gives me great joy.

Merry Christmas.

Towards the light.: Recently I tried the dark mode on my Kindle for the first time since I have had it. It’s strange that I ever tried it at all, give that in the decade or more I have been using Kindles, it has never before occurred to me that dark mode maybe a viable option. My verdict after an hour was this: Dark …

I have decided that now my headaches are ‘under control’ I no longer need to think of dark mode as an accessibility issue. So, I’m going to try ‘light by default’ for a few weeks

I’m considering replacing GoodLinks with DEVONthink. Since I already use DT, my initial reason for using GoodLinks to save articles was to avoid cluttering my notes. Now that I understand DT better, I realise I can separate the databases and adopt a more holistic approach to managing my PKMS

I think I have become someone who enjoys classical music. You know, like meatloaf and rush.

I’ve thought about it and Hot Frosty was the movie I have enjoyed the most this Christmas season.

Writing a novella – ‘Of Gods and Vampires’ (coming soon): 

I wrote a thing. For Christmas. It is not ‘Christmasy.’

When I say that I write it for Christmas, that’s not entirely true, it just happens that it’s basically finished, and it also happens to be mid-December.

‘Of Gods and Vampires’ is a short novel following the adventures of two characters from …

I used the word ‘blithesome’ in a sentence today. Felt like a rockstar!

The current, sad state of my broken toaster has never been more relevant and disappointing than, right now.

If people were to ask, I would say that I didn’t use social media, despite all the things I post to dandelion-utilitarian.com ending up on micro.blog, bluesky and the wider fedi. I think, that I dont parse it as social media because from my point of view it’s just me pushing things to my website. …

I’m editing my ‘current writing project‘. I don’t know if it’s because it’s winter, or because I have country music on, but I can’t get ‘into’ it right now. I have this cozy vibe which makes me want to read a book, not write one.

Come Visit.

Animal crossing pocket edition complete is like an amazing dopamine drip and I can’t not play it right now. Totally getting me though December 😊

I really like DevonTHINK. Just saying.

In conversations, I repeat myself too much. It comes from a desire to refine ideas. I image people notice, and find it annoying it. Sorry.

I had good food this evening. Which is mostly mad becausee I assembled it myself.

I drew the man who served me the excellent coffee the other day.

Dandelion-Utilitarian has a NET & a COM: I wanted to take a moment to than explain something which I have only recently realised maybe confusing. Both Dandelion-Utilitarian.com and Dandelion-Utilitarian.net exist. The dot com, is my main public facing WordPress site. It is where you will find my curated articles and my Niceferatu comic …

i had an amazing coffee this afternoon.

I need to write a blog post explaining my usage differences between my dot com and dot net urls.

The Hex has been lifted.: We all move on from things, and it often feels like a good move, it feels liberating and enchiching. I have had a lot of that feeling of liberty recently has I have been doing a very utilitarian decluttering of my home. Moving on from an online persona, however, feels like a death, more than a …

Static, in motion – The formation of a man with terrible taste.: The Outer Limits opening contains the now legendary words, “we will control the horizontal, we will control the vertical.” Like many kids, watching the scary black and white episodes through a half broken television, on a raining evening, the words were seared into my mind, along with pregnant tonal …

Kindling, Copyright, Catastrophe: I’ve used a Kindle as my main book-window since the Kindle Voyage was launched in 2014 and since that time I’ve read many a controversy about the way Amazon manage the platform. Most of the reports are actually about copyright law, not Amazon, not directly. I thing which most anti-eBook/anti-Kindle …

Time can’t split. Projects eat time.: No matter how productive I can become, and no matter how skilled I become, I still have twenty-four hours in a day. Much like nothing exceeds the speed of light, no productivity pipeline will break the time barrier. This has never been more evident to me than when I started drawing. I have been in …

Time, the secret eBay offset: As I said in my last post, I have been using eBay recently for the first time in many years. I have even made a pretty reasonable amount of money in exchange for the things which were on my shelf gathering dust. On paper, it’s gone quite well. Let’s have a look at a sample here: I purchased a comic …

Ejecting things: The things. It has recently come to my attention that a lot of the stuff in my office has dust on it. This isn’t because I fail to clean my house (I mean, in part it is. Who ‘dusts’?) but it is more that the things in my office are so infrequently used that dust builds up. The last time I sat down …