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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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 experienced than I am.

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 great read with some genuinely insightful ideas, and it offers a fascinating perspective. I’d recommend it to anyone interested in the topic, even if only as an example of how far too far can be

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.

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.

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.

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 after taking a break.

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 going.

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

This is me, testing filters. Plz ignore

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 to it.

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. 😄

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.

Even Batman needs lunch

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.

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 anything else I have used. I just wish we didn’t have all the other baggage that went with them.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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. Maybe I shouldn’t cross post to other places

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.

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.