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Apr 22, 2025: Business turret, in action #art
Apr 22, 2025: Smart folks keep recommending Adobe Fresco to me. Thinking I might try it out for the next page of Niceferatu—see how it goes!
Apr 21, 2025: Hi. I drew slime thing.
Apr 21, 2025: 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 …
Apr 21, 2025: 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 …
Apr 21, 2025: 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 …
Apr 21, 2025: It shut down back in 2014, but honestly, I still find myself thinking about Free Realms sometimes.
Apr 20, 2025: You know when you have and have to make draw it… #art #StarTrek
Apr 20, 2025: 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 …
Apr 20, 2025: Happy Easter.
Apr 19, 2025: Cute dragon #art
Apr 19, 2025: 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. …
Apr 19, 2025: 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 …
Apr 18, 2025: 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 …
Apr 16, 2025: 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 …
Apr 16, 2025: I tried a version with Daft Punk lyrics, but it didn’t quite work. So here’s this one instead. #art
Apr 15, 2025: 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 …
Apr 15, 2025: 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 …
Apr 14, 2025: Friend Wing linked this to me this morning. A very interesting list of websites, dare we say blogs. blogroll.org
Apr 13, 2025: I experienced some strange micro.blog problems today. Older posts weren’t showing up, which might have been a theme-related issue. Thankfully, …
Apr 12, 2025: Sir snail gave them all the time they needed… #art
Apr 12, 2025:
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 …
Apr 11, 2025: 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.
Apr 11, 2025: West Midland Safari Park. 📍 Safari adventure begins ☺️
Apr 11, 2025: Going West Midlands safari park today with daughter. Much excite.
Apr 10, 2025: 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.
Apr 10, 2025: 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 …
Apr 9, 2025: 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 …
Apr 9, 2025: 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 …
Apr 9, 2025: 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 …
Apr 8, 2025: a Row man… trying to open a coconut.
Apr 8, 2025: Given all the images I’m posting recently, I may turn back on bluesky crossposting to see how they are received
Apr 7, 2025: Crocs with sunglasses.
Apr 7, 2025: You know a Bible verse study has been great when you are three bookmarks into Strong’s!
Apr 7, 2025: Yesterday I wrote loads and drew loads, I filed to study chess. 2/3 ain’t bad (or so Meatloaf tells me)
Apr 6, 2025: Power pole of power. Powering… things
Apr 6, 2025: Drew this octopus. There was no reason. I woke up too early this morning and was killing time. You can have it.
Apr 5, 2025: Happy first contact day!
Apr 5, 2025: Dear Mac developers of the internet. We have enough clipboard managers. There is literally one clipboard manager for every possible scenario. You can …
Apr 5, 2025: Instead of writing, I spent most of yesterday messing with Ollama. I had a good time but today I’m fired up for writing.
Apr 4, 2025: DEVONthink 4 is in beta with solid foundation. I’m impressed by external AI tooling integration. Took steps to set up Ollama locally for …
Apr 4, 2025:
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 …
Apr 3, 2025: I’ve spent far too much time procrastinating today, but I must admit, I’ve enjoyed it.
Apr 2, 2025: 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 …
Apr 1, 2025: Art: Sleeping in the garden
Mar 29, 2025: Finished reading: Goodbye, Things by Fumio Sasaki 📚 This book was really enjoyable—it shows how an extreme minimalist lifestyle actually works, and …
Mar 29, 2025: DevonTHINK is fantastic. If you own a Mac and are not using it, then you are actually missing out on something magical.
Mar 29, 2025: 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 …
Mar 29, 2025: I watched ‘Ghosted’ on Apple TV+. It was a mediocre movie. It looked nice, but it didn’t really resonate with me.
Mar 25, 2025: 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 …
Mar 23, 2025: 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 …
Mar 23, 2025: 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 …
Mar 22, 2025: 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 …
Mar 22, 2025:
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 …
Mar 22, 2025: Thanks to @MoonPope, I discovered today that Tyromancy is fortune-telling using cheese. This fact has now consumed my creative urges, I must introduce …
Mar 20, 2025: 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 …
Mar 17, 2025: 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 …
Mar 16, 2025: I finally got around to watching Bodies on Netflix (2023), and it was excellent — brilliantly done and perfectly entertaining sci-fi nonsense.
Mar 15, 2025: Peanut M&Ms maybe the greatest thing ever created.
Mar 15, 2025:
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 …
Mar 14, 2025: I watched WarGames again today with some friends. It’s aged surprisingly well, and John Wood’s performance is absolutely spot-on.
Mar 14, 2025: I just watched Electric State on Netflix and really enjoyed it. It was delightfully silly, visually striking, and fully embraced its simple story.
Mar 14, 2025: 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 …
Mar 13, 2025: 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 …
Mar 12, 2025: 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 …
Mar 11, 2025: 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 …
Mar 10, 2025: I’m now pretty deep in the weeds of micro.blog customisation. Having a good time. ☺️
Mar 10, 2025: This is me, testing filters. Plz ignore
Mar 10, 2025: 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 …
Mar 9, 2025: 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 …
Mar 7, 2025: 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 …
Feb 27, 2025: 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. 😄
Feb 27, 2025: 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 …
Feb 23, 2025: Dog Nappies, now with a pocket for smokes! #art (?)
Feb 22, 2025: Apparently I have done 1000 chess puzzles… you would think I would be better at them by now. www.chess.com/awards/da…
Feb 22, 2025: 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.
Feb 22, 2025:
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 …
Feb 19, 2025: Even Batman needs lunch
Feb 13, 2025:
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 …
Feb 13, 2025: Feel like it maybe time to change some things.
Feb 2, 2025: made a video… oddly youtu.be/Vn3KXGy3p…
Feb 1, 2025: The Valsalva manoeuvre is far less exotic than the Picard manoeuvre, but likely more applicable to situations which most people encounter.
Jan 29, 2025: 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 …
Jan 28, 2025:
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 …
Jan 26, 2025: People need to stop saying ‘game changer’ its got to the point of meaningless
Jan 18, 2025: 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 …
Jan 12, 2025:
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 …
Jan 11, 2025: NewsExplorer seems pretty good so far. RSS win. I guess.
Jan 9, 2025: 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 …
Jan 7, 2025: 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 …
Jan 7, 2025: 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.
Jan 2, 2025: Do you ever make a purchase and then think “that was dumb, I should not have done that” ?
Dec 31, 2024: My wisdom tooth is uncomfortable this morning.
Dec 30, 2024:
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 …
Dec 29, 2024: 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 …
Dec 29, 2024: Why doesn’t apple mail have a share sheet? It’s infuriating
Dec 27, 2024: It’s foggy today. I assume this is because 2025 has started loading.
Dec 26, 2024: 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 …
Dec 25, 2024: 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 …
Dec 25, 2024: Merry Christmas.
Dec 22, 2024: 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 …
Dec 21, 2024: 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 …
Dec 19, 2024: I’m considering replacing GoodLinks with DEVONthink. Since I already use DT, my initial reason for using GoodLinks to save articles was to avoid …
Dec 19, 2024: I think I have become someone who enjoys classical music. You know, like meatloaf and rush.
Dec 14, 2024: I’ve thought about it and Hot Frosty was the movie I have enjoyed the most this Christmas season.
Dec 12, 2024:
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 …
Dec 12, 2024: I used the word ‘blithesome’ in a sentence today. Felt like a rockstar!
Dec 10, 2024: The current, sad state of my broken toaster has never been more relevant and disappointing than, right now.
Dec 10, 2024: 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, …
Dec 9, 2024: 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 …
Dec 8, 2024: Come Visit.
Dec 8, 2024: 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 😊
Dec 7, 2024: I really like DevonTHINK. Just saying.
Dec 6, 2024: 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.
Dec 4, 2024: I had good food this evening. Which is mostly mad becausee I assembled it myself.
Dec 1, 2024: 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 …
Dec 1, 2024: I drew the man who served me the excellent coffee the other day.
Nov 30, 2024: i had an amazing coffee this afternoon.
Nov 30, 2024: I need to write a blog post explaining my usage differences between my dot com and dot net urls.
Nov 29, 2024: 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 …
Nov 28, 2024: 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 …
Nov 23, 2024: 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 …
Nov 7, 2024: 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 …
Nov 5, 2024: 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 …
Nov 3, 2024:
Ejecting 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 …The things.