Asides

Ridiculously Early Thoughts on Day 2 of the 2025 Ashes

it is quarter to 7 on day 2 of the Ashes test and England are already 7 down in their second innings, with a lead just shy of 200.

It is 6:47 in the morning, and I have been awake for about half an hour and in that time Carse and Atkinson have put up a dogged resistance.

I have therefore determined in my brilliant, Aggers-like analysis of the game that England only play well when I am awake.

This isn’t good, as I like my sleep and I am not a night owl, but if it means beating the Aussies on their home turf, I may pull a few all nighters. This is important for me and the country, so I am willing to do my duty.

….nevermind, Carse was just caught behind. Back to bed I go.

On the “This Week in WordPress” (Episode 355)

Yesterday I was on the WP Builds “This Week in WordPress” podcast episode 355. It was my second time on This Week in WordPress and I showed off a couple of projects I found (the Kagi smallweb browser and the Kagi bloopers page), as well as talk extensively about the FFmpeg to Google article I covered on this blog previously.

Away from things I discussed I also discussed the upcoming WordPress 6.9 release, building WordPress blocks with AI (and the security implications that provides) and changes to the Plugin ecosystem.

Thanks to Nathan and Michelle Frechette for having me on!

Listen to the Episode

Watch the Episode

The day I became a runner

So I’ve figured out today is the day I’ve become a runner. I’ve seen an article on our local news site where there’s a festive fun run taking place in a pub near me. Reading the article I saw that the distance would be “less than one mile”.

My first thought was “Aww, is that all?”.

If only Rhys from 2 years ago could see me now.

If time allows, I’m probably going to try and do it. It’s £2, and it is for a good cause, and the folks at The Griffin are good people. But yeah, that’s a sprint! May run there for a warm up!1

(Header photo is from 2 weeks ago at St Helens’ Parkrun when I set my best 5k time of 33:02. St Helens is a really hilly parkrun so happy with my time. Also I’m wearing my Stonewall FC “Trans Pride” football shirt as I think it’s funny that it exists when EA is going to be sold to a far right regime. Also trans rights.)

  1. You watch when I do it I do something like twist my ankle and fail miserably. Curse my overconfidence! ↩︎

Whimsical Website, Grumpy Webmaster

If you visited the site on the last post, you’ll notice that the site has had a bit of a makeover. Or a makedown.

I’ve talked about Ana Rodrigues’ talk at Loopconf before, on how personal websites should make a comeback. It was inspiring. So inspiring that I spent a good 20 hours wrestling with Twenty Fifteeen to make it a bit more modern behind the scenes. I think I’ve succeeded, and it plays well with the block editor. Were nearly there. Gaps still don’t work, for example. And there’s a bug list.

The joy of web crafting

Could I have done it faster? Sure. but here’s the thing, I had fun. Every evening for a few hours I listened to BBC Radio 3 Unwind with a Bird and Blend tea and crafted. Crafting is fun. Doing pixel art with Aseprite is fun. Building and creating is fun, and this was a fun project that I dedicated my evenings to for a couple of weeks. My blood pressure dropped. I relaxed. I zoned out. And I created this.

Sure it’s a bit creaky, the same way the bathroom lock I installed wiggles a bit. It is dated, but so are my curtains. This site is my home on the internet. I want to make it homely. Sure it’s not the nicest, or the one that sells my skills the best. But the displays in Ikea are designed to sell the product, not live in. This is my home. It is mine. It is unique1. I also wasn’t wrestling with AI prompts2 and getting angry at creating something soulless.

Go Explore!

I also recently ticked off another 50 of my 50 list – I went to The Cave. One of the things that does so well is that you’re encouraged to explore, pick up, interact, read, play, and just discover things. I want a similar experience to that here. I am fighting with attention with everything else on the internet. I want to make this website a joyful experience that makes you smile. To encourage discovery of the whimsical web. My Trello board is bursting with idea. When will they get implemented? I dunno, but there’s a few here already. Go and explore! Things may appear in the upcoming weeks! Come back!

I want this website to do that as a love letter to internet culture. I also will try and blog more. I have enjoyed it. Though I’ve found myself becoming more grumpy at the state of the internet, with AI, and enshittification. I am reminded how things were. Were things perfect? No. But they were better. I want a place where I can be grumpy online. After all, I am a white middle aged man on the internet. Of course I have opinions. I want to share them with the world. So whilst the site may be whimsical, the posts may be a bit grumpy.

So this the new layout of my site, hopefully for the next wee while. Where I’m probably going to post a lot of grumpy posts. Hope you like it!

  1. As much as a Twenty Fifteen child theme can be, obviously. ↩︎
  2. For full disclosure I used one piece of AI on the site – I wireframed the structure of me stealing a traffic cone, because I struggle with drawing humans that look somewhat realistic. The colouring and shading was done by me – this video is a great guide to get into pixel art, by the way. ↩︎

Wake Me Up When September Ends

I see that AOL has ended it’s dial-up service after 30 years with barely a whimper. I think the first times I explored the internet was on AOL sometimes in the early 2000s, usually playing Slingo or downloading Quake Maps off a friends internet connection.

It was also the first time I experienced some form of gatekeeping. With AOL being ubiquitous with early internet with it’s easy setup, and the fact it was incompatible with Netscape Navigator, meant that it was always for those who weren’t the most technically literate. Something I – sadly – participated in.

This gatekeeping was reinforced when, during University in 2002, the “Social and Technical Internet” module I studied in my degree included a fascinating few lessons on early internet culture, and things like Eternal September. Further studies meant I really wanted to go back to that time.

Anyway, it’s kind of ironic that the cause of Eternal September died on 1st October.

God speed, AOL Dial-up Internet.