Weeknotes (1743/4175) blot.blog/2025/03/0…

These cleaning gloves at IKEA look like they want to check my prostate.

I’ve written about how we all think we’d take a bullet for our loved ones, but can’t handle putting away clean socks. The mundane is where real battles are won. blot.blog/2025/02/2…

I’ve written about that peculiar melancholy that settles in during your 30s - when time accelerates, nostalgia becomes both comfort and pain, and adulthood looks different than imagined. blot.blog/2025/02/2…

Tom Hardy hasn’t been in a good film for years.

When I saw him pop up in a trailer I used to be like “can’t wait to check this out”.

Now when I see him I think “this is going to be terrible”.

I’ve written about how consuming excellent content isn’t a search problem. It’s a focus problem. blot.blog/2025/02/2…

I wish I had the strength to get up and walk away when presented with a QR menu in a restaurant.

Amazon MGM now has creative control over Bond 😬 blot.blog/2025/02/2…

Raising a glass of Wild Turkey to Hunter S. Thompson, who died 20 years ago today. The father of Gonzo journalism, he was a rebel, trailblazer, and master of chaos. (1937-2005) 🦇 blot.blog/2025/02/2…

I hate tiny mug handles. elliot.my/262

I’ve written a deep dive into the tech that powers my life. imlefthanded.com/2025/the-…

I’ve had some form of dedicated server on and off for many years.

I get cheap ones (from Hetzner, OVH or OneProvider). They’re really useful. They have fast connections, powerful CPU’s and plenty of storage. And they’re no more difficult to maintain than a VPS.

What do I use mine for?

• Sharing big files. Especially big ones. I have a ‘cold storage’ folder on my S3-powered website for files that I’ve shared via email, Twitter, etc. down the years. I never delete those files. But I don’t want to pay the AWS storage/bandwidth fees for a 4GB .zip of football player images I once shared on a video game forum. My dedicated server can have those.
• Backups. I can’t backup my entire media library. But the essential files on my Mac are backed up to the server.
• Website hosting. VPS’s are very popular and capable these days. But you can’t beat a dedicated server. And once you start spending £30 on a VPS, you can get a lot more bang for your pound by getting dedicated hardware.
• Video transcoding. The main reason I have my server is to transcode full quality HD and 4K BluRays to more manageable sizes.
• VPN. I wouldn’t say I can ‘hide’ very well using the server as a VPN, as the IP address never changes and only I use it. But still, it gives me some protection.

Whenever I’m unwell all I can think about is how horribly uncomfortable and boring it must of been to be ill for most of history.

I’m in a nicely warmed home with constant access to drink, food, painkillers, and the excellent TV documentary “The Vietnam War”.

And it’s still awful.

But at least I’m not lying on a sagging, bug-filled straw mattress in a drafty London house in 1643, while rats and smoke steadily seep through the warped wooden walls.

At least I have a bathroom a few yards away, instead of a reeking chamber pot that’s overflowing.

At least I have my phone, instead of my only entertainment being church bells and my wife reading me the Bible.

At least I have ibuprofen and codeine, instead of a delightful mixture of dried toad and mercury.

At least I’m taking in plenty of fluids, instead of having bloodletting to ‘balance my humors’.

It’s not so bad really.

I remember being so excited about the rise of tech. I was sure nerds would create a utopia – a fair, enlightened future built on logic and code. How naive I was.

My advice: never assume the new rulers will be better than the old ones – even if they’re ’your people’. Power always corrupts.

30-year-olds buy a cottage in the country and make it their whole personality.

And do you know what? I’d do the exact same thing.

Welcome to the Markdown feature showcase! Below, you’ll find examples of all major Markdown elements. Use this to ensure your blog theme supports everything.

Headings

H2 Example

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Vivamus nisl sem, ultrices ac diam non, ultrices varius diam. Praesent id volutpat erat, a semper urna. Cras varius, velit a dignissim fringilla, ipsum orci imperdiet tortor, eu eleifend est ligula vel nisi. Suspendisse convallis metus nunc, quis hendrerit justo malesuada non. Proin vulputate tempor justo. Mauris dictum luctus ex, sit amet porttitor sapien commodo non. Donec fringilla lacus eget ipsum fermentum porttitor. Duis iaculis eros sit amet nibh tristique, eget bibendum quam ultricies.

Ut augue nisi, hendrerit non rhoncus sit amet, sodales eu lorem. Nulla dignissim interdum tortor in venenatis. In ultrices enim lectus, egestas tempus erat suscipit sed. Sed consequat molestie faucibus. Vestibulum et egestas purus. Ut blandit quam id rhoncus elementum. Praesent eu facilisis lectus. Morbi quis arcu eget massa vehicula condimentum in a arcu. Suspendisse potenti. Praesent quis rhoncus diam, sed bibendum mauris.

H3 Example

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H4 Example

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H5 Example

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Text Styles

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Lists

Unordered List

• Item 1
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1. First item
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Images

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Code

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Tufte-specific

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Quisque vel nisl pharetra, vulputate libero vitae, luctus ipsum. Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos himenaeos. Quisque venenatis felis id hendrerit dictum. Nulla facilisi. Praesent vitae libero convallis erat interdum faucibus. Nunc volutpat velit sed lorem mattis fringilla. Ut id vehicula magna. Nunc consectetur dui ac ante eleifend, nec pulvinar sem iaculis. Donec efficitur congue volutpat.

Sed sollicitudin auctor cursus. Sidenote text goes here. Pellentesque dignissim volutpat arcu, This is sidenote text that’s very near to another sidenote. quis suscipit quam congue tempus. Maecenas id cursus tellus, a consequat dui. Nunc vehicula gravida massa sit amet facilisis. Phasellus a magna et nisl bibendum rutrum ut sit amet ligula. Aenean id nunc vulputate, blandit est ut, sodales augue. Nam sed pharetra urna, eget pretium justo.

Here is the start of a section that is using the newthought shortcode. Suspendisse potenti. Mauris posuere, ante quis dignissim Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Quisque vel nisl pharetra, vulputate libero vitae, luctus ipsum. Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos himenaeos. Quisque venenatis felis id hendrerit dictum. Nulla facilisi. Praesent vitae libero convallis erat interdum faucibus. Nunc volutpat velit sed lorem mattis fringilla. Ut id vehicula magna. Nunc consectetur dui ac ante eleifend, nec pulvinar sem iaculis. Donec efficitur congue volutpat. dictum, quam nibh placerat orci, nec dictum orci velit ac turpis. Aliquam fermentum porttitor dictum. Fusce quis tellus urna.

⊕ Title text caption text goes here

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Quisque ut finibus elit, ac accumsan lectus. Integer eget vehicula nunc, eget sollicitudin lacus. Quisque sodales vehicula eros. Vestibulum neque nunc, auctor vel enim a, volutpat blandit eros. Suspendisse potenti. Cras vel sodales leo. Fusce in condimentum tellus. Aliquam ultrices felis id est condimentum, quis sollicitudin mauris lobortis. Praesent vehicula quis eros id molestie. Vestibulum condimentum, orci in malesuada scelerisque, lectus nulla molestie nisi, non auctor augue felis mollis lorem. Integer eu arcu dapibus, hendrerit ligula sed, aliquet massa. Sed gravida ac nunc ut molestie. Praesent eu orci nec nisi dictum consectetur. Quisque urna est, commodo at lectus non, semper posuere sapien. Duis in cursus lacus.

Praesent posuere mauris nec nibh ullamcorper placerat. Maecenas quis finibus magna, vitae tristique sem. Nulla nibh odio, dignissim sit amet fringilla vel, tincidunt eget erat. Sed id porta tellus. Nam sollicitudin porttitor volutpat. Cras elementum ullamcorper magna viverra varius. Praesent sed tempus nisl. Sed tristique dolor ut placerat malesuada.

Donec maximus nunc vitae tellus congue hendrerit. Integer vel faucibus erat. Sed eget malesuada urna. Suspendisse accumsan massa vel lacus tincidunt, in consequat risus pretium. Pellentesque id vulputate ex, eu pharetra purus. Pellentesque sed placerat urna. Quisque eu consectetur libero, in tristique odio. Nam molestie lorem vel lacus tincidunt efficitur. Proin lorem elit, pulvinar vehicula interdum a, varius quis lorem. Mauris et turpis et odio rhoncus posuere eget ut diam. Duis vestibulum sit amet ante nec facilisis.

Nulla est nisi, dictum volutpat suscipit sed, scelerisque vitae ipsum. Maecenas ultricies finibus nunc at ultricies. Nullam vitae turpis congue nunc convallis sodales. Interdum et malesuada fames ac ante ipsum primis in faucibus. Nullam dignissim pretium lacus, tempus lacinia neque finibus sed. Donec at leo libero. Vestibulum fringilla eleifend tortor cursus venenatis. Phasellus facilisis, est eget efficitur dictum, tortor odio interdum ipsum, sed hendrerit tortor orci in eros. Morbi id mi et quam porta condimentum eget in enim. Pellentesque quis tempor neque. Pellentesque commodo urna in consectetur efficitur. Pellentesque facilisis dapibus neque.

Poetry H1

Now is the time
for all good men
to come to the aid of the party

My favourite recorded concert of all time is The Last Waltz (video / album) by The Band. Recorded in 1976, it was their farewell concert.

It may have been their farewell concert, but the Band were still looking young. Well, aside from Garth Hudson. He looked a decade or two older than the rest.

So if you would have told me when I was younger that the elderly-looking Hudson would outlive the rest of the band I never would have believed you. But he did. He died last week, aged 87.

A multi-talented musician, he worked with Bob Dylan, Elton John, Van Morrison, Eric Clapton, Leonard Cohen, Norah Jones, Ringo Starrr, John Hiatt, Neil Diamond, Emmylou Harris, Dr. John, Roger Water, Ronnie Hawkins, Tom Petty, Jackson Browne, Elvis Costello, James Taylor, Traffic, Paul Butterfield and others.

As a fan of the Band it’s a sad day, for they are all now gone.

With his death I checked out an old Band Tumblr blog I followed. I was happy to see they’re still posting. They’ve posted about Hudson’s death.

In 1700’s London, if you received charity from your local parish you were supposed to wear a badge on your right sleeve with the initial of the parish. This was bitterly resented, as you might expect. #DrJohnsonsLondon #BookNotes

In one of his sermons from the 900s, Ælfric of Eynsham warns against over-eating and excess drinking at Christmas. Nothing changes, does it? #BookNotes #WintersInTheWorld

50 years ago today Nick Drake died.

All three of his albums are melancholic. masterpieces. If this is the first you’re hearing of him, check him out immediately.