If you haven't read it already, here's the first edition of mine and Jarrod's conversation. Our relationship continues to blossom and we're having an interesting conversation about all kinds of topics. Here's this week's email: From: Kev Quirk To: Jarrod Blundy Subject … | Continue reading
When was the last time you saw a piece of tech that left you utterly astonished? Tech is great; it's one of the great loves of my life. It's constantly improving and there's always something new to learn, but when was the last time tech blew your mind? The first time I sent an em … | Continue reading
I just realised that I forgot to give the update for this month's Fat Boy at 40. I'll keep this brief as I don't have much time... Things are still going well. I'm continuing to lose weight and feel good. What's more, friends and family are starting to notice now too. Here's the … | Continue reading
I needed a new headshot for work, as I was pissed in my old one. But instead of getting a photographer, I asked AI to do it for me instead. A while back I decided I needed a new headshot, as the one I currently use everywhere is from a night out with friends where I'm actually li … | Continue reading
This is the first of my Pen Pals, and as I said in my last post, I'll be getting to know Jarrod Blundy for this month. Below is the first exchange we had in this process. Hope you enjoy... From: Kev Quirk To: Jarrod Blundy Subject: Letters - November Hey Jarrod, Really glad you … | Continue reading
I want to get to know you better. So I've decided to start a new mini-project where one of you become my Pen Pal for the month. I've made a number of friends from blogging, but I'd like to take it one step further. Inspired by Jarrod Blundy, I'd like to start a Pen Pal project wh … | Continue reading
All the cool kids are doing these lists of their default app for the end of 2023. I'm not a cool kid, but thought I'd jump on the bandwagon regardless. This seems to be a bit of fun that's doing the rounds of bloggers everywhere. Rob Knight is even maintaining a list of people wh … | Continue reading
On Subscriptions by Manu Moreale Manu talks about some of the subscriptions he has to online services, and in particular streaming services. It's an interesting read, and I thought I'd respond. Read Post → Manu ends his post with the … | Continue reading
Other People's Enthusiasm by Jack Baty Jack talks about how the enthusiasm of others can influence his decisions about trying new things. Read Post → I hear you, Jack. I really do. Here's how it tends to go with me: I hear about a new … | Continue reading
I've been thinking about a return to wet shaving for a while now, so recently took the plunge and had my first wet shave for 15 years. I haven't had a wet shave since I was in the Army, and I left the Army in 2009. Since then, I've always used a beard trimmer and simply trimmed m … | Continue reading
I wanted to make a small change to the CSS on this site, but wasn't sure how to do it, so I asked ChatGPT to write some code for me. What I wanted to do was remove the more-links page from this site and replace it with a simple drop-down on the nav menu. I had a fair idea of how … | Continue reading
Matt Birchler recently posted some of his favourite fonts to Mastodon, so I thought I'd share some of my own favourites here. Beautiful typography is something that's very important to me, I've even gone as so far as having my website torn apart by a professional typographer. It' … | Continue reading
I recently found this minisite about using plaintext for your email. While I agree that plaintext should be the default, this site takes things way too far and frankly, misses the mark. I can't remember where I came across useplaintext.email - I think someone linked to it on Mast … | Continue reading
According to my iPhone Screen Time, I'm way under the average in terms of usage, but I still think I use my phone too much. There's been a number of times lately where I've realised I'm spending too much time on my phone. Well, actually I don't realise; it's usually my wife shout … | Continue reading
✍️ Written by: Dennis E. Taylor Genre: Sci-fi / Fantasy Published: 2023-01-26 Pages: 350 🧐 My rating: ★★★☆☆ (3 stars) The Yellowstone super-eruption has put an end to modern civilization. As cities and countries … | Continue reading
Blogs, Gardens, and Thinking Aloud in Public by Bix Frankonis In this post, Bix ruminates on blogging vs digital gardens, vs the polish a “blog” is expected to have. Read Post → Bix talks about digital gardens vs the traditional blog. … | Continue reading
Today marks the 1st anniversary of us moving into our 2.5 acre smallholding in Wales, but how has the first year gone? Here's a retrospective... I can't believe it's been a year already - it's gone so quick, but I do feed like we've achieved a lot. Pretty much all of our savings … | Continue reading
Blogging for the Hell of it by Whiona We don't need blogging niches, or "thought leaders"; we need more people just to blog for the hell of it. Read Post → I think Whiona hits the nail squarely on the head with this one. Writing a blo … | Continue reading
I've been lucky enough to make a number of friends off the back of this blog (and also their blogs). This is a bit of a feel good post about how social media isn't the only way to meet new people. I've talked at length about my challenges with social media/microblogging vs tradit … | Continue reading
I was recently talking to Jatan Mehta about microblogging vs traditional blogging, and what should go where. I thought it was an interesting conversation, so decided to share my opinions here too. I've written about my love/hate relationship with social media in the past, and how … | Continue reading
CMS Filesize Comparison by Eddie Dale People probably disagree with the usefulness of a blunt size-comparison between CMS'es. But I find it a great indication of complexity vs simplicity, tendencies of bloat, load times. Read Post → … | Continue reading
A couple of days ago, I was reading Manu's latest edition of People and Blog, in which he interviewed Andrea Contino. During the interview, Andrea linked to this post by Matt (who owns another blog that I regularly read and recommend you do too). Anyway, Matt's post is about not … | Continue reading
It's been a little over a month since I mentioned the Fat Boy at 40 thing (me wanting to lose some weight), so I thought it was hide time provided an update... So I've been tracking my weight, BMI and blood pressure over the last 6 weeks. The good news is that my weight has gone … | Continue reading
Yes, that's right dear reader, this site has gone through yet another change - it's now based on Kirby and I think I've finally found my blogging utopia. Most regular readers will know that I struggle to stick with a single blogging platform. This is because I'm always on the hun … | Continue reading
This evening, while my wife was putting the kids to bed, she asked me if I'd go and check on the chickens as it was getting dark. Being the dutiful husband that I am, I trotted off up the field to make sure they were all settled down for the evening and that they were safe. While … | Continue reading
I absolutely hate the word "thing". Like, serious, what value does that work have? It adds nothing to a conversation and should be erased from the dictionary. Picture the scene, dear reader; I'm in one room, and my kids are in another. Then, out of nowhere, one of them shouts: Da … | Continue reading
✍️ Written by: Dennis E Taylor Genre: Sci-fi / fantasy Published: 01 January 2015 Pages: 360 🧐 My rating: ★★★★★ / 5 stars When an experiment to study quantum uncertainty goes spectacularly wrong, physics student Richard and his friends find that they have acciden … | Continue reading
✍️ Written by: Dmitry Glukhovsky Genre: Sci-fi / fantasy Published: 16 March 2009 Pages: 526 🧐 My rating: ★☆☆☆☆ / 1 star The basis of two bestselling computer games Metro 2033 and Metro Last Light, the Metro books have put Dmitry Glukhovsky in the vanguard of Rus … | Continue reading
✍️ Written by: Dmitry Glukhovsky Genre: Sci-fi/fantasy Published: 09 June 2011 Pages: 464 🧐 My rating: ★★★☆☆ / 3 stars The year is 2033. The world has been reduced to rubble. Humanity is nearly extinct. The half-destroyed cities have become uninhabitable through … | Continue reading
✍️ Written by: Dmitry Glukhovsky 🏷 Genre: Sci-fi/fantasy 🗓 Published: 09 June 2011 📄 Pages: 464 🧐 My rating: ★★★☆☆ / 3 stars The year is 2033. The world has been reduced to rubble. Humanity is nearly extinct. The half-destroyed cities have become … | Continue reading
The next step in developing our smallholding is to get some chickens. The coop is built and we picked up our 6 little feathered friends recently. My wife has wanted chickens for as long as I can remember, but we’ve never had the space to do it; when we moved here, we said that ch … | Continue reading
Since the last post, I’ve had a lot of interest in the mailing list idea, so I’ve set one up. Just a quick post to let you all know that I’ve setup a mailing list for the weight loss thing. Since my last post, there’s been a lot of interest from people to join in. If you’re inter … | Continue reading
So many people have reached out with messages of support following my “Fat Boy” post. I’m thinking maybe we should start a little mailing list? Since I wrote the Fat Boy at 40 post a few days ago, so many people have reached out to offer their stories, advice and support. It’s be … | Continue reading
I recently turned 39 and I’m vowing to NOT be a fat boy by the time I turn 40. As of this morning (29 Aug 2023) I weigh 110.9kg (244lbs) and I’m 190cm (6’ 3”) tall. According to the NHS’ BMI calculator, this gives me a BMI of 30.7. In other words, I’m obese, people. The NHS recom … | Continue reading
I decided to mow the larger of our 2 fields yesterday, but our plucky little mower couldn’t handle it. Our 2.5 acre homestead is split into 3 main sections; the “home” section, which contains our house, the gardens and outbuildings. Then we have fields 1 and 2. Here’s an arial sh … | Continue reading
✍️ Written by: Brandon Sanderson 🏷 Genre: Sci-fi / fantasy 🗓 Published: 17 Nov 2020 📄 Pages: 1,232 🧐 My rating: ★★★★☆ / 4 stars After forming a coalition of human resistance against the enemy invasion, Dalinar Kholin and his Knights Radiant have … | Continue reading
As co-admin of one of the largest tech instances on the Fediverse, it’s ironic that I struggle with social platforms so much. After posting my yearning to bring back forums, Basil asked a very astute question over on Mastodon: Screenshot curtesy of Mastopoet Basil is right; I do … | Continue reading
Social media is fucking us all up. I’d love to go back to the days of forums, where there was no popularity contests, or “influencers”. I’ve been ruminating about my use of social media a lot recently and to be honest, I’m still not that happy with it. I’ve taken a step back and … | Continue reading
I love my Crocs. I have 3 pairs, and in this post I’m going to convince you that they’re the best shoes on earth. Yes yes yes, I’ve heard it all before “the holes in Crocs are where your dignity leaks out.” But the fact is, they’re really bloody comfortable, and good for your fee … | Continue reading
There’s some automation on this site that posts to various places, all via RSS. Here’s how it works… There are a number of ways to subscribe to this blog you can do it via RSS, email or on social media (Mastodon, Micro.blog or Bluesky). I’ve always been of the thinking that a rea … | Continue reading
I’d love to replace my iPhone with a dumb phone, but I don’t think it would ever work in reality. I was recently perusing Youtube (as I sometimes do) and I came across a video about the Punkt MP02, which is effectively a dumb phone that supports Signal. As a Signal user myself, t … | Continue reading
Even though it’s currently summer, we’re already preparing ourselves for the long Welsh winter ahead. Even though it’s the middle of summer, we had 2 tonnes of fire wood delivered yesterday. We’re obviously not using our fire at the moment, but when it comes to the long, harsh We … | Continue reading
We now have 4 cows grazing in one of our fields, and it’s brilliant. We have a couple of fields on our 2.5 acre smallholding, but one of the fields is too steep for me to mow on my Husqvarna 4x4 mower, so it’s grown pretty long with all the sun and rain we’ve had recently. I got … | Continue reading
I’ve been staring at a blank box for a little bit now, trying to work out what to write. This has never happened to me before. I think I know why… I do enjoy the process of writing. I fire up my text editor of choice, Typora and away I go. Most of the time I have a topic in my gr … | Continue reading
Yesterday was the Apple 2023 WWDC conference. There were some big announcements, here’s my thoughts… I caught up on the Apple event last night, and for the most part, I thought it was all a bit meh. If you want to see the whole event, you can check it out here, but if you already … | Continue reading
I was nearly scammed while selling a car on AutoTrader. Here’s how the whole thing went… Owning cars is a pain in the arse; they’re money pits and I hate dealing with them. My wife and I need a car each, so the problem is compounded by running 2 cars in the household. Anyway, a f … | Continue reading
✍️ Written by: Brandon Sanderson 🏷 Genre: Sci-fi / fantasy 🗓 Published: 04 March 2014 📄 Pages: 1088 🧐 My rating: ★★★★★ / 5 stars Expected by his enemies to die the miserable death of a military slave, Kaladin survived to be given command of the r … | Continue reading
Colored vs. underlined links by Jatan Mehta Jatan talks about why you should have underlined links to make things discoverable and accessible for your readers. Read Post → I’ve talked about this myself in the past and I wholeheartedly agree with Jatan on this. While perusing th … | Continue reading