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2023

July 2023

  1. Weeknotes 24 July
    30

    Living exhausted in the shadow of the Castle Howard triathlon.

  2. Chance at Durham Fringe
    30
  3. The Passenger

    28
  4. Weeknotes 17 July
    23

    Joining a running club, attending Middlesbrough Front End, getting my bike tuned up, competing in a triathlon

  5. The Book of Goose

    15
  6. Weeknotes 2 July
    9

    A busier week than usual: a spa day, a cold, a trip to Scotland, a dip in a reservoir, a walk up Worm Hill.

  7. Why Nations Fail

    9
  8. Fiat Topolino
    6
  9. Weeknotes 26 June 2023
    2

    Doing way more running, cycling, and swimming than I ever thought I would. Also: getting back on the motorbike!

2022

December 2022

  1. 2022
    31

    2022 was a year of real highs and lows. We got a dog, climbed a bunch of mountains, learned to ride a motorcycle, re-learned how to ride a bicycle, travelled to Europe, travelled to the United States, read a whole bunch, and wasted a buttload of time.

  2. Arc browser vs. Safari
    17
  3. Training AI
    13
  4. Waiting for AI
    12
  5. Andor
    11
  6. Italics in Fira
    6
  7. Short-form blogging
    5
  8. Nausea

    5
  9. Farewell, Twitter
    3
  10. View transitions with video
    1

November 2022

  1. November 2022
    30

    A show in Manchester, a couple of walks, a motorbike accident, a new bicycle, and a whole lotta stumbling around in the dark.

  2. Personal website design archetypes
    21
  3. Launch
    19
  4. The Mountain Goats
    19
  5. On Mastodon
    15
  6. Server-sent events
    12
  7. Sustainable web development
    11
  8. CSS nesting
    9

September 2022

  1. September 2022
    30

    The weather's finally turned, so I've got to choose my days out strategically or spend the next 5 months soaked through.

  2. Looking back
    29
  3. Old solutions, new tricks
    28
  4. Effective design
    22
  5. Global variables
    14
  6. Page weight matters
    12
  7. JS1024
    11
  8. New speakers
    10
  9. LiebeHeide
    10
  10. August 2022
    3

    A month of slow meandering back towards a sense of normalcy, with plenty of two-wheeled conveyance and first steps out in the wide world.

July 2022

  1. The Call of the Wild

    30
  2. Red Rising

    27
  3. Writing about writing
    27
  4. Between the World and Me

    21
  5. No Fixed Abode: A Long Walk to the Dome

    7
  6. June 2022
    1

    A full month: catching COVID, going to Riga, getting back out on my bike, & thinking long & hard about what I want to do next.

2021

November 2021

  1. In the Miso Soup

    18
  2. Make Ubuntu more like macOS
    6

    There are plenty of Linux distributions that look like macOS, but most offer skin-deep changes and don't adhere to the ethos of macOS. These settings do, while allowing you to continue using the Gnome environment.

August 2021

  1. PGP encryption
    21

    I can never remember quite how PGP encrpytion works (mostly because I never use it), so I'm writing it down here to refer back to when someone starts talking wonky crypto stuff at me.

  2. Expressing/identifying
    9

    A cohesive unified theory on the purpose of art rendered incoherent by being like really tired of a lot of things.

July 2021

  1. Innovation in tech
    10

    I'm extremely tired of the powerful in tech holding the rest of us hostage in the name of innovation.

June 2021

  1. Thoughts on margins
    5

    Some thoughts on how to use margins in CSS. Needlessly opinionated.

May 2021

  1. On effectiveness
    15

    Some meandering thoughts on what it means to be an effective person in a tech career.

  2. TailwindCSS
    8

    A bit of meta-commentary on Tailwind CSS' description: "Tailwind, like most CSS frameworks, solves a problem really well. Its supporters, on the other hand, are a pain.

April 2021

  1. March 2021
    4

    What I got up to in March 2021.

March 2021

  1. Practical Go
    26
  2. 札幌コンテンポラリー
    22

    My favourite Vektroid album, only intermittently available on Bandcamp.

  3. February 2021
    6

    What I got up to in February 2021.

  4. As Much JavaScript as Possible
    1

    Some thoughts on JavaScript outside of the browser and its unpopularity in Big Tech.

January 2021

  1. Recently: January
    31

    What I want for the blog; thoughts on template builders; Cassie Evans on SVG animations; Supabase.

  2. Ad Astra
    21

    A tonally weird movie, with 1-dimensional characters, no plot development, and a truly awful script: 2/5.

  3. Soul
    20

    Everything they've said is true: Pixar is back in form. Beautiful and meaningful.

  4. Metropolis (2001)
    17

    As a romp through a visually-spectacular world, it's a fine film, but don't expect any poignant messages at the end.

  5. Eugene Onegin

    2
  6. 1998 space disaster movies
    2

    No one made any good space movies in 1998, I'm pretty sure. Armageddon: 3/5 and Deep Impact: 2/5.

2020

December 2020

  1. 2020
    31

    A quick overview of everything significant that happened in 2020.

  2. WordPress in 2020
    15

    In 2020, WordPress remains relevant and dynamic as ever. But it's still got a few pain points.

  3. Recently: early December
    8

    Bandcamp, RSS, and the Cleveland Way

October 2020

  1. Foundation

    31
  2. Cleveland Way: Kildale Forest
    25

    A short day trip along the Cleveland Way in Kildale in the North York Moors.

  3. Midnight's Children

    12
  4. The Devil Wears Prada
    10

    The very best totally messed up no-good flawed film I've watched in a while.

September 2020

  1. Cleveland Way: Square Corner to Sneck Yate and back
    20

    An account of a day trip along the Cleveland Way between Square Corner and Sneck Yate.

  2. Recently: Early September
    16

    The web isn't about me, Umami.is, application holotypes, and utility programs

  3. Per-user data encryption
    13

    How I built a user-password-based encryption system that even the database owner can't break.

August 2020

  1. Recently: mid-August
    27

    What I got up to mid-August 2020.

  2. Recently: early August
    14

    What I got up to in early August 2020

  3. Cross Fell
    6

    Walking up to the source of the Tees and Cross Fell.

July 2020

  1. The good, the bad, & the confusing JavaScript
    28

    My entry in the canon of explanation for why JS developers always seem so tired

  2. BEM + utilities: a hybrid methodology
    16

    Yet another CSS methodology: one that works pretty well for me.

May 2020

  1. How to Read a Book

    12
  2. On good code
    6

    Some thoughts on how to determine whether code is good.

April 2020

  1. On life optimisation
    18

    More navel-gazing about being an effective person.

February 2020

  1. Shaving and the past
    5

    I shaved my beard off and it made me all sorts of introspective for some reason.

January 2020

  1. Pointy Serif Fonts
    25

    Pointy fonts with really high stroke contrast are everywhere nowadays.

2019

August 2019

  1. Week of 22 July
    8

    Algebraic effects, memoisation, and running a mile because GQ told me to.

July 2019

  1. Week of 15 July
    25

    A bunch of musing on the screen and the job as defining us as people.

  2. Week of 8 July
    18

    Canadian brand guidelines, error-resistant React apps, and a model of the Roman world.

April 2019

  1. On things going well
    1

    Things are going well.

2018

December 2018

  1. Build a realtime database
    22

    How to build a proof of concept for a realtime database, a la Firebase.

June 2018

  1. Use SQLite with PHP
    23

    They say you learn best when you try to teach someone else. So here I am, trying to teach... myself.

  2. Deep Work

    2

May 2018

  1. Rails routing with slugs
    26

    Use slugs for your Rails routes, rather than database primary keys.

  2. Rails redirects with regex
    17

    How to redirect routes with Rails, but only if they match a given regex.

  3. 16 May
    16
  4. 1 May
    1

2017

December 2017

  1. Sharp Edge
    4

    Climbing Sharp Edge on Blencathra in the northern Lake District.

November 2017

  1. Publish a package for the Atom editor
    25

    How to publish a package to the Atom text editor repository.

  2. On wind
    22

September 2017

  1. Create a basic Express server
    17

    How to create a basic Express server, with templates.

August 2017

  1. System fonts
    25

    A short bit about using the fonts that your users' computers come with.

June 2017

  1. How password resets work
    7

    A short post explaining how password resets work, mostly just to help me remember.

2016

February 2016

  1. Naei-zan (那英山)
    12

    Climbing Naei-zan in Kami-Furano by snowshoe with Sam and a couple of buddies.

  2. Run a marathon
    8

    What it's like to run the Abashiri Marathon in on 27 September 2015.

January 2016

  1. Okirika-yama (冲里河山)
    28

    Climbing Okirika-yama, just outside of Fukagawa, by ski in the wintertime.

  2. Kitoushi-yama (鬼斗牛山)
    20

    How to climb Kitoushi-yama, a small hill just north of Asahikawa, in the wintertime.

  3. Abandoned bus in a field
    19

2015

December 2015

  1. Abandoned home
    16

    Coming across an abandoned home. Nanowrimo 2015.

  2. Send me a PDF
    9

    Frustrated by Word documents that get mangled in email transit, a plea is issued for a simple PDF.

November 2015

  1. Beach to town
    18

    Walking from the beach into town. Nanowrimo 2015.

  2. A rural Japanese elementary graduation
    5

    A grade 6 graduation at Kaisei Elementary School.

2014

August 2014

  1. Week 104
    14

    A visit to Tsuru-no-yu at Nyuto Onsen in Akita Prefecture. I sit in a very hot bath far longer than is considered normal.

July 2014

  1. Week 101
    24

    Climbing Tomuraushi with Tony over two days and running out of water on what was maybe the best walk I've ever done.

April 2014

  1. Attend the launch of a rocket
    14

    I attended the launch of the Space Shuttle for STS-127 back in 2009.

2013

December 2013

  1. Week 66
    20

    My first real trip out to Shiretoko, touring of the Five Lakes district in the late fall.

November 2013

  1. Week 65
    20

    Climbing Yotei for the first time, alone in the early winter, and being absolutely floored by the beauty.

  2. Week 64
    6

    Twenty-fourth tour round the sun and I'm still enamoured of the autumn.

October 2013

  1. Week 62
    30

    Climbing Kogane-yama out west with Jordan, padding out the post with a bunch of rubbish about steep dropoffs

  2. Week 61
    7

    Running 10 kilometres in Okoppe.

  3. Week 60
    7

    Random stuff I overheard on The Bus in Honolulu.

  4. Week 59
    7

    Driving over Ukishima-toge on the way back from Asahikawa to Takinoue

September 2013

  1. Week 57
    9

    My first long distance ride, to the Northern Welcome Party in Nakagawa

  2. Week 56
    4

    Running in the 10km Biei Healthy Marathon, riding my bicycle to Monbetsu and back, remembering Canada Days with the Boutins.

August 2013

  1. Week 55
    26

    Camping down south, at one of the welcome parties I think, coinciding with the Jigoku-matsuri in Noboribetsu.

  2. Week 54
    19

    Driving home from Tony's house in the rain.

  3. Week 53
    15

    Driving down south, visiting the Jozankei sex museum, sleeping in the Matsumae Michi-no-Eki parking lot

July 2013

  1. Week 50
    29

    Climbing Tokachi-dake with Emma and Oliver.

  2. Week 49
    16

    Climbing Teshio-dake with Tony and Oliver, visiting an abandoned school on the outskirts of Monbetsu.

  3. Week 48
    9

    Driving north from Asahikawa with the windows down.

  4. Week 47
    1

    A brief interlude at the top of the Nissho Pass, driving with Tony down to some event in the southwest.

June 2013

  1. Week 45
    20

    Returning to Shari after the abortive attempt the previous fall, a trio of Kiwis and I summit in glory.

  2. Week 43
    3

    The first day of summer, coming surprisingly late to northeastern Hokkaido.

May 2013

  1. Week 40
    13

    Oliver let me tag along on an excursion to see what was left of the rail line that used to run through Yubetsu.

  2. Week 39
    4

    I drove Penelope the AZ-Wagon around the whole perimeter of Hokkaido to see what else was out there.

April 2013

  1. Week 36
    17

    Tooling around Maruseppu in Penelope the AZ-Wagon.

  2. Week 35
    11

    Much ado about melting snow; the gang comes across a pair of abandoned cars.

  3. Week 34
    2

    The first days of spring are coming to Hokkaido.

March 2013

  1. Week 31
    12

    Coming back from Pippu, I am struck by the first blue sky I've seen in what feels like months.

  2. Week 30
    8

    A blizzard strikes Yubetsu.

February 2013

  1. Week 29
    26

    Skiing at Kurodake and my first visit to the Sounkyo Ice Festival.

  2. Week 28
    18

    A trip on the icebreaking ship Aurora to see the sea ice on the Sea of Okhotsk.

  3. Week 27
    13

    Back to Yamabiko-no-taki in wintertime to see the frozen waterfall.

  4. Week 26
    5

    In Iwamizawa, I experience my first (and thus far only) earthquake, and we drive home through thick snow.

January 2013

  1. Week 25
    28

    A bit about Hokkaido in the dark on a quiet evening.

  2. Week 24
    22

    Going out skiing at Piyashiri, trying to leave anxiety behind me.

  3. Week 23
    16

    A brief layover in Osaka on the way back from the States leads to some real soul-searching on trains.

2012

December 2012

  1. Week 19
    18

    Much ado about a bunch of snow. I guess I'm not used to quite this much snow.

  2. Week 18
    13

    The night of the rented Higashikawa cabin, and the emotional aftermath.

  3. Week 17
    3

    The days are approaching their shortest; winter is well & truly here & boy is it dark.

November 2012

  1. Week 16
    26

    The winter is starting to settle in. I celebrate American Thanksgiving with friends in Monbetsu.

  2. Week 15
    19

    In which the author rambles a little bit.

  3. Week 14
    12

    A belated Halloween party, home from which we took the low roads over the mountain passes.

  4. Week 13
    5

    More urbex at the Kampo-no-yado Sounkyo, a semi-destroyed hotel by the side of the road just outside of Kamikawa.

October 2012

  1. Week 12
    29

    Konomai, the first time I explored some abandoned infrastructure that marks so much of the face of Hokkaido.

  2. Week 11
    23

    The first abortive trip up Shari-dake, accompanied by a quartet of Kiwis, ending in a mad rush down the mountainside after hours of beating through the wilderness.

  3. Week 10
    15

    Yamabiko-no-taki, my first encounter with a higuma, a drive on a forest road, and karaoke with the Monbetsu folks.

  4. Week 9
    10

    A trip to Nitori, a night in Asahikawa, and a trip to Tenninkyo

  5. Week 8
    1

    Hauling Renyu on a mikoshi through Kamiyubetsu.

September 2012

  1. Week 7
    24

    The Sapporo Welcome Party: the Bier Garten, Susukino, A-Life.

  2. Week 6
    18

    On the relationship between Japaneseness and my foreignness, and remotely about a house party.

  3. Week 5
    10

    A dairy farm, climbing Meakan-dake, the Eastern Welcome Party.

  4. Week 4
    3

    The Northern Welcome Party in Kembuchi.

August 2012

  1. Week 3
    29

    Arriving in Japan, Tokyo Orientation, the train up to Yubetsu, and my first days at work.