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Stuff I write

There are hundreds and hundreds of blog posts on this site. In the early days of the web I wrote with more variety and much more regularly. Nowadays many of my posts are about client projects and current “professional” endeavors. My newsletter is a good place for the rest of my writing.

  • [FBT] on Wear and Waffle
    A festival. A wedding. A moment. A sudden death. Collective grieving. 3,632km driving on the left. Hiking and empty beaches, a fairy forest, a missing lake monster. Spontaneous car rental. A funeral. 40 degrees. 40 degrees again. Laying on the floor. Too hot to sleep. I need to buy toothpaste.… Read More »[FBT] on Wear and Waffle
  • [FBT] on Grief and Gardening
    One of you once wrote me that “Grief is strange, oddly supple, and rises up in very peculiar waves.” Supple. Merriam Webster provides several definitions to this word that, when applied to grief, are so, so interesting. Supple is “compliant often to the point of obsequiousness”. Merriam Webster then uses… Read More »[FBT] on Grief and Gardening
  • [FBT] on Sellouts and Savants
    “Writing — writing of any sort, not just an email — is a thousands-year-old technological hack to get around not being in person; but that doesn’t mean that it is impersonal.” Audrey Watters Maybe I’m a sell out I gave Anthropic twenty dollars and I feel gross about it. Sorry… Read More »[FBT] on Sellouts and Savants
  • [FBT] on Sovereignty and Stacks
    If I weren’t going on sabbatical soon, and if I were so inclined to update my resume, I too would be highlighting the “tech sovereignty” work I’ve done. It’s not resume embellishment, just logical semantic evolution. Those of us who have been banging the drums of open source, decentralised, privacy,… Read More »[FBT] on Sovereignty and Stacks
  • Rising Scholars: Sprinting with INASP
    cross posted on the WAO blog WAO is working with INASP, an international development organization with over 30 years’ experience of working with a global network of partners in Africa, Latin America and Asia. our roadmap Although we’re closing on May 1st, WAO has just got time to squeeze one… Read More »Rising Scholars: Sprinting with INASP
  • [FBT] on Pull and Perception
    As much as mainstream culture is enveloping the force-fed overtone window of suck that is maxxing and efficiency and objectification and dehumanization, there are others. People who are not thoughtlessly embracing the destruction of our collective fabrics. People who want to think deeply, decide to turn off, go outside. People… Read More »[FBT] on Pull and Perception
  • [FBT] on Timing and Transitions
    No news is good news, or so people say when they are trying to convince themselves that not knowing and everything being ok is congruent. For the last few years, though, with the “flood the zone” tactics of the American right and the European populist political yahoos, it’s almost like… Read More »[FBT] on Timing and Transitions
  • Time for Change
    It’s been a decade since I co-founded We Are Open Co-op with Doug Belshaw and John Bevan, a couple of former Mozilla colleagues, and Bryan Mathers, an illustrator and storyteller. An entire decade. And now things are changing: After ten years of creative cooperation, we’re announcing that We Are Open… Read More »Time for Change
  • [FBT] on Witches and Wankers
    Susu must have been a nickname for Susanna or Susanne or Suzanne. Susu ist a Chinese name. Or Japanese. Or Hawaiian. Or it’s from the Susu people of West Africa. It means simplicity. Or joyful. Or lily. It was only used five times in the United States so far starting… Read More »[FBT] on Witches and Wankers
  • [FBT] on Glistening and Gobsmacking
    Questions and curiosities serve as the basis of scientific study and are a habitual pattern for lifelong learners. When a human brain suddenly cannot let go of a particular input, when attentiveness stemming from a sudden frequency illusion becomes obsessive, when you just have to know if the thing you’ve… Read More »[FBT] on Glistening and Gobsmacking
  • [FBT] on Parlance and Pilots
    I found a note to self and wondered if I had ever mentioned the Crypt Keeper to you. Turns out, yes. This is a good old 2021 episode of Freshly Brewed Thoughts about crypto and NFTs and blockchain. Apparently, I had opinions. It was reading about AGI (it’s like AI… Read More »[FBT] on Parlance and Pilots
  • [FBT] on Cosplaying and Change
    Hihi, it’s time for your periodic disclaimer: This newsletter mailing list is running on a piece of software that seems to bork when certain conditions are in place. I don’t know what exactly those conditions are. When it borks, it affects those of you trying to unsubscribe or those of… Read More »[FBT] on Cosplaying and Change
  • [FBT] on Envy and Entropy
    Maybe I’m envious Right, well. After last week’s admission that I’ve been banging my head on the proverbial wall and waiting for the demons to subside, I should use this second FBT of the year to proclaim positivity and lust for life. It’s utter bullshit, but who cares, fake it… Read More »[FBT] on Envy and Entropy
  • [FBT] on Crawling and Chainsaws
    Content warning: death, mental health Happy new year. Or whatever. My bones hurt. My eyelids are too heavy for my face and even the sunshine of my (no longer) recent trip to Barcelona or regular walks in the winter light haven’t scrubbed away the sharp black hum I’ve been feeling.… Read More »[FBT] on Crawling and Chainsaws
  • Obligatory Mozfest post
    I’m just flying back from Barcelona and I’ve got another 20 minutes to practice my thumb gymnastics, so here’s a brief post about the 15th Mozilla Festival. Actually, it’s not about Mozfest at all. Because this years Mozfest didn’t really feel like a Mozfest to me. Maybe in other parts… Read More »Obligatory Mozfest post

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