Daily notes from Jack about everything

Hi! I'm Jack 👋

I'm glad you're here!

03 March 2026 (Tuesday)

My Analog Desk (2015)

Seeing Jacob Evans publish his blog using Tinderbox made me think about starting a fresh Tinderbox document for this blog. A clean slate. This sounds like a great idea, but I know I'll hate myself if I try it. There's a lot going on here. Years of little tweaks that I've surely forgotten about. I can't just copy and paste everything over, because that doesn't really fix anything. Still noodlin' on it.

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Gruber writes about a small macOS utility that I'd forgotten about called HazeOver, the "Distraction Dimmerâ„¢ for Mac". I'm happy to have been reminded of it, because it really does help distinguish active windows, which has become increasingly difficult in recent years.

Of course on Linux, KDE has this built in.


02 March 2026 (Monday)

Where's the exit?

Do you know what I like? Tinderbox, that's what. This blog, though, is due for some care. Guess I'm on macOS today, then.

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Dailies

I can't imagine having a blog without daily notes. (Like this one). I've tried all sorts of ways of doing them. My favorites were Fargo (when it existed), TiddlyWiki (before I took it down), and now, Tinderbox. I like the one daily note container, with multiple individual notes within it..each with its own URL. It doesn't hurt that the blog generated using Tinderbox is fully static. Anyway, you may have noticed this site is back to being generated using Tinderbox.


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My views have never totally aligned with Ben Thompson's, and his latest Stratechery piece reinforced that. Gruber asks:

Who sets our defense policies? Our democratically elected leaders, or the CEOs of corporate defense contractors?

Normally, I'd acknowledge that it should of course be the former, but lately, not so much. Is there a third option? I hate that I think like this, now. Thompson's hypothetical is dumb, anyway.


01 March 2026 (Sunday)

I still like the way this blog works. I wish I could use Tinderbox for it instead of Kirby (they work similarly) but with Linux slowly taking over, that's not an option.

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Private Speech Transcription for Macs. Transcribe any speech on your Mac completely privately. Free - no cloud, accounts, or internet required.

Moonshine Note Taker

01 February 2026 (Sunday)

Barnacles. Buckle Island, Maine (2009). Leica M7.

STATUS: Brrrrr.

PLANS: I dunno, probably (re)organizing stuff that doesn't need organizing.

WATCHING: "Dust Bunny" (2025) ★★★★

It seems I fixed the Kirby blueprint for new posts. I used to have to manually create each month's folder on the server. Sure, it was only necessary once a month, but it bugged me, so that's nice. And yet, I am typing this in the Tinderbox version for some reason.

30 January 2026 (Friday)

It's how Zim liked to ride in the car (2013).

- STATUS: A quiet morning at home. Good coffee.

- TODO: Do something with all the crap I have lying around here.

- READING: "Dungeon Crawler Carl" by Matt Dinniman"

Some days I just can't be bothered with any of it.

Do you feel like every social media post and most blog posts are all about the same things lately? Has it always been this way?

15 January 2026 (Thursday)

View from the lazy man's cockpit

- STATUS: Grumpy

- TODO: Therapy and grocery shopping. Anything but computers.

- READING: Michael Palin, "The Python Years"

I'm in a foul mood this morning. Yeesh. It might be because I had a pneumonia vaccine yesterday and today my whole body hurts. Yeah, that's probably it. It's probably got nothing to do with the ongoing Mac vs Linux, Film vs Digital, this vs that debates raging in my head to no end lately.

14 January 2026 (Wednesday)

Actual newspaper headline from the 80s. Cracks me up because I’m 12.

Well I figured since I'm on macOS today, I'd use Tinderbox for some stuff. This post, for example.

02 January 2026 (Friday)

Jess and Katie on New55 Instant 4x5 (2015). Crown Graphic
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Someone wrote, "AI will not be the next big thing." as if AI isn't already the next big thing.


01 January 2026 (Thursday)

My old Thorens (Jan 2016). Crown Graphic

Well, here we go. I hope your 2026 is better than your 2025.

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The older I get, the more I feel like not having things is even better than having them.


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I seem to be all-in with macOS-only apps so far this year. Tinderbox, BBEdit, DEVONthink, OmniFocus. It feels good in a way that discovering new stuff for Linux didn't.


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I knew Tinderbox and I went way back, but I didn't know how far, so I asked. I licensed Tinderbox for the first time December 10, 2004. Tinderbox 2.3. It's been a spell, eh?


31 December 2025 (Wednesday)

Frames on wall at AirBnB (2014)

Yeah, I'm probably going to just stick with macOS for now.

30 December 2025 (Tuesday)

Had to deal with this fella today. He wasn't happy about it. Hope he's OK.

Can you tell I'm on a Mac today? Yesterday I was planning to shut the Mac down and put it in a closet. Today, I'm thinking I'll just keep living here. I am beyond hope.

29 December 2025 (Monday)

If I move to Linux full-time, using Tinderbox for this blog won't be an option. That would make me sad.

22 December 2025 (Monday)

Testing the Rolleiflex (2025)

There's something nice about publishing things that don't get cross-posted anywhere and are not included in RSS. They're like private public thoughts, if you know what I mean.

21 December 2025 (Sunday)

Wind chill was 3° this morning, so here's something warmer

Tinderbox isn't necessarily meant for blogging, but with a little cajoling, it can be quite good at it.

For more, see the archives