Jonathan LaCour cleverdevil.io

{
    "type": "entry",
    "published": "2026-02-27T07:04:01.854766+00:00",
    "url": "https://cleverdevil.io/2026/had-a-fun-evening-in-nashville-for-a-wor",
    "syndication": [
        "https://cleverdevil.club/@jonathan/116141316003991405",
        "https://bsky.app/profile/cleverdevil.io/post/3mft5ftps2o25"
    ],
    "content": {
        "text": "Had a fun evening in Nashville for a work event. Our creative events team rented a jewelry store, brought in a bar and food, and gave 10 clients some gift cards. Smart cookies, those folks. Back to LA tomorrow.",
        "html": "<p>Had a fun evening in Nashville for a work event. Our creative events team rented a jewelry store, brought in a bar and food, and gave 10 clients some gift cards. Smart cookies, those folks. Back to LA tomorrow.</p>"
    },
    "author": {
        "type": "card",
        "name": "Jonathan LaCour",
        "url": "https://cleverdevil.io",
        "photo": "https://cleverdevil.io/profile/photo"
    },
    "post-type": "note",
    "_id": "47479866",
    "_source": "10"
}

Marty McGuire martymcgui.re

Machine Knitting: the empire strikes hat

{
    "type": "entry",
    "published": "2026-02-26T16:17:22-0500",
    "url": "https://martymcgui.re/2026/02/26/161722/",
    "category": [
        "machine-knitting",
        "hats"
    ],
    "name": "Machine Knitting: the empire strikes hat",
    "content": {
        "text": "Play bad title pun games, win bad title pun prizes.\nThe Chattie hat continues to tempt and taunt me. After my first test Chattie\ncame out OK despite some major issues during construction, and my second\nChattie didn\u2019t work out.\nProducer Amy has ultimately adopted the \u201ctest\u201d Chattie as her own, wearing it\nthrough this strange NYC winter, and even held onto it when a friend and\ncolleague politely but firmly attempted to transfer ownership. Consequently,\nI received a commission request for a new Chattie.\nPlanning-wise, the commission called for something in dark colors, slightly\nsmaller than the one Amy wore, but similarly fuzzy and warm. I had a spool\nof fuzzy cotton from the \u201cSkinny Latte\u201d series that I picked up at Fab Scrap\nin black, that should work exactly as well as the white yarn I used for the\n\u201ctest\u201d hat.\nConstruction began with the top body, which is knit sideways with 10 sections of\nshort rows. It went astonishingly smoothly! This yarn is quite thick, knitting\nat a T9 tension when doing single-bed, and T4 on both carriages for ribbing. My\ntension mast also didn\u2019t want to feed this yarn nicely, but I settled into a\nrhythm of moving the carriage slowly and pausing as needed to pull more yarn\nthrough.\n\n\nI was in such a good mood about my progress that Amy snapped this photo of me asking \"This could become a hat, right?\"Not Pictured: Struggles\nI\u2019ve been watching eBay for accessories for my standard gauge Brother knitting\nmachine setup, which has included a Brother KA-8300 Transfer Carriage and a\nBrother KA-8310 Linker Carriage.\n\n\n\nKA-8300: An elephant is about to charge through your live stitches.\n\nKA-8310: \ud83c\udfbcJust turn the crank, snap the plank, boot the marble right down the chute- \ud83c\udfb6\n\nI knit about 3.5\" inches worth of 1x1 rib, across enough stitches to form a\nreasonable circumference for the brim of the hat. After the Dishcloth Chattie\nfiasco, I knew to use make the rib at least 2/3 the number of needles wide as\nthere were rows in the top of the cap.\nWhen done with the ribbing, I used the Transfer Carriage to move the stitches\nfrom the front ribber bed onto the empty stitches on the main bed. This mostly\nworked, actually, leaving me with just a couple to transfer by hand.\nI then took the whole brim off on waste yarn. This got a bit weird, with not\nevery stitch actually knitting cleanly onto the first row of waste yarn. I\nmanaged it, but it was weird, and probably caused problems to come. I believe I\nshould have knit a final row of regular knitting before taking things off onto\nwaste yarn.\nFor the next step, I could have grafted / seamed the brim and hat body\ntogether by hand, but I really wanted to use my new Linker Carriage. So, after\nthoroughly reading the manual several times, I:\nhung the bottom edge of the hat body (which, being knit sideways, means I was\nhanging on stitches of a finished side edge).\nhung the live stitches from the brim in front\npulled the body stitches over the live brim stitches, so the live stitches\nare the only stitches remaining on the working needles, having been pulled\nthrough the side stitches. This was a cool-sounding maneuver that in\npractice I found very fiddly.\nknit one row of a thinner (but same-colored) yarn at the loosest possible\ntension, to form a final row of live loops.\nused the Linker Carriage to crank my way across the bed, letting the carriage\npull one loop through the next all the way to the end.\nOr, well, that\u2019s how it was supposed to go.\nI had two false starts with the Linker Carriage, followed by one absolute\nfailure which locked the whole thing up, requiring several minutes of struggle\nto even free the carriage from the machine. In that chaos, I dropped several\nstitches and several f-bombs.\nAfter leaving it to rest overnight, I came back the next day and finished the\nloop-through-loop bind-off by hand, then went back and \u201crescued\u201d the dropped\nstitches.\nChecking my work afterwards, I found that somehow a couple of dozen live\nstitches from the brim, likely all from the front ribber bed side, had simply\nnot been picked up in my attempt to seam things together. So, I grabbed a\nsewing needle and a long line of waste yarn, ran it through as a \u201clifeline\u201d for\nall the dropped ribbing stitches I could find, and once again the project\ngot to rest for a day or two while I stewed about it.\nI have very little in the way of hand-sewing, hand-knitting, or hand-crochet\nskills, but I finally decided that I could \u201crescue\u201d these dropped live stitches\nas if they had been correctly handled on the machine, by running a sewing needle\ndown through the bottom edge of the hat, through a dropped live stitch, pull the\nstitch up through the edge, then secure it with a knot or a backstitch,\ndepending on how far away the next dropped stitch was. This took at least a\ncouple of hours over a couple of sessions.\nFinishing\nFinally, it was time to seam up the side of the hat. Though it had been my\noriginal plan, I opted not to try the Linker Carriage again for this. Instead,\nI made my first attempt at a Kitchener stitch, which is meant to seam together\ntwo edges of live stitches in an invisible way that looks like just another\nrow of knitting. Mine \u2026 doesn\u2019t look that nice. But it is still pretty hard\nto see unless you\u2019re looking for it, so I\u2019ll call that a win (and try harder\nnext time)!\nI also mattress stitched the ribbed hem together, making sure to put that seam\non the outside of the hat, because the brim is meant to be folded up.\n\n\nWith the waste yarn, this reminds me of Audrey II.Then it was a matter of running a line through the top 10 stitches at the top of\nthe hat to pull them together and close it up.\n\n\nBefore washing and drying, it's definitely hat-like!Then a trip through the laundry to see its final form!\n\n\nIt is a hat!I really should go ahead and make one of these for myself, and stop wearing\nbeanies that came from a store. For my version I think I would make a few\nextra changes:\nadd a row of plain knitting on top of the brim before casting off onto waste yarn.\njoin the brim to the hat with the seam on the \u201coutside\u201d, since the brim is meant\nto fold up to cover it anyway.\nprobably try the linker carriage again even though I got so burned by it. \ud83d\ude02\nThanks for reading! As bonus content, here are some photos of the finished\nChattie on the head form that Producer Amy bought for her own hat-making\npurposes!\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nUntil next time!",
        "html": "<p>Play bad title pun games, win bad title pun prizes.</p>\n<p>The Chattie hat continues to tempt and taunt me. After my <a href=\"https://martymcgui.re/2026/01/11/machine-knitting-a-chattie/\">first test Chattie</a>\ncame out OK despite some major issues during construction, and my <a href=\"https://martymcgui.re/2026/01/24/machine-knitting-the-life-and-death-of-dishcloth-chattie/\">second\nChattie didn\u2019t work out</a>.</p>\n<p>Producer Amy has ultimately adopted the \u201ctest\u201d Chattie as her own, wearing it\nthrough this strange NYC winter, and even held onto it when a friend and\ncolleague politely but firmly attempted to transfer ownership. Consequently,\nI received a commission request for a new Chattie.</p>\n<p>Planning-wise, the commission called for something in dark colors, slightly\nsmaller than the one Amy wore, but similarly fuzzy and warm. I had a spool\nof fuzzy cotton from the \u201cSkinny Latte\u201d series that I picked up at Fab Scrap\nin black, that should work exactly as well as the white yarn I used for the\n\u201ctest\u201d hat.</p>\n<p>Construction began with the top body, which is knit sideways with 10 sections of\nshort rows. It went astonishingly smoothly! This yarn is quite thick, knitting\nat a T9 tension when doing single-bed, and T4 on both carriages for ribbing. My\ntension mast also didn\u2019t want to feed this yarn nicely, but I settled into a\nrhythm of moving the carriage slowly and pausing as needed to pull more yarn\nthrough.</p>\n<a href=\"https://media.martymcgui.re/5f/91/a2/32/89ea541ce7734d34fc8824afa330839d61c427fc84b6b097e5ddeb1c.jpg\"><img src=\"https://res.cloudinary.com/schmarty/image/fetch/w_960,c_fill/https://media.martymcgui.re/5f/91/a2/32/89ea541ce7734d34fc8824afa330839d61c427fc84b6b097e5ddeb1c.jpg\" alt=\"me posing awkwardly while holding the partially finished Chattie around my head. Sideways stitches are visible in the black yarn that the hat is made of, as well as sections of pink stitches in waste yarn at the edges.\" /></a>\n\nI was in such a good mood about my progress that Amy snapped this photo of me asking \"This could become a hat, right?\"<h2>Not Pictured: Struggles</h2>\n<p>I\u2019ve been watching eBay for accessories for my standard gauge Brother knitting\nmachine setup, which has included a Brother KA-8300 Transfer Carriage and a\nBrother KA-8310 Linker Carriage.</p>\n\n<a href=\"https://media.martymcgui.re/d5/61/0b/66/943cc4937399cb43e7d0b469ec259968a2288b1a7070794fc89b0956.jpg\"><img src=\"https://res.cloudinary.com/schmarty/image/fetch/w_480,c_fill/https://media.martymcgui.re/d5/61/0b/66/943cc4937399cb43e7d0b469ec259968a2288b1a7070794fc89b0956.jpg\" alt=\"Transfer carriage resting on knitting machine bed. Includes two knobs at 90 degree angles, a visible gear mechanism, and large vinyl decal with instructions featuring an elephant about to charge in the direction the tool is meant to move.\" /></a>\n\nKA-8300: An elephant is about to charge through your live stitches.<a href=\"https://media.martymcgui.re/f9/8a/8d/d2/8451b17da2d31d6ada2f8f88a585159a3d85bc6158b3539e71849ca9.jpg\"><img src=\"https://res.cloudinary.com/schmarty/image/fetch/w_480,c_fill/https://media.martymcgui.re/f9/8a/8d/d2/8451b17da2d31d6ada2f8f88a585159a3d85bc6158b3539e71849ca9.jpg\" alt=\"Linker carriage resting on knitting machine bed. Includes bright pink button and knob, as well as an area for stitches to enter.\" /></a>\n\nKA-8310: \ud83c\udfbcJust turn the crank, snap the plank, boot the marble right down the chute- \ud83c\udfb6\n\n<p>I knit about 3.5\" inches worth of 1x1 rib, across enough stitches to form a\nreasonable circumference for the brim of the hat. After the Dishcloth Chattie\nfiasco, I knew to use make the rib at least 2/3 the number of needles wide as\nthere were rows in the top of the cap.</p>\n<p>When done with the ribbing, I used the Transfer Carriage to move the stitches\nfrom the front ribber bed onto the empty stitches on the main bed. This <em>mostly</em>\nworked, actually, leaving me with just a couple to transfer by hand.</p>\n<p>I then took the whole brim off on waste yarn. This got a bit weird, with not\nevery stitch actually knitting cleanly onto the first row of waste yarn. I\nmanaged it, but it was weird, and probably caused problems to come. I believe I\n<em>should</em> have knit a final row of regular knitting before taking things off onto\nwaste yarn.</p>\n<p>For the next step, I <em>could</em> have grafted / seamed the brim and hat body\ntogether by hand, but I really wanted to use my new Linker Carriage. So, after\nthoroughly reading the manual several times, I:</p>\n<ul><li>hung the bottom edge of the hat body (which, being knit sideways, means I was\nhanging on stitches of a finished side edge).</li>\n<li>hung the live stitches from the brim in front</li>\n<li>pulled the body stitches <em>over</em> the live brim stitches, so the live stitches\nare the only stitches remaining on the working needles, having been pulled\n<em>through</em> the side stitches. This was a cool-sounding maneuver that in\npractice I found <em>very</em> fiddly.</li>\n<li>knit one row of a thinner (but same-colored) yarn at the loosest possible\ntension, to form a final row of live loops.</li>\n<li>used the Linker Carriage to crank my way across the bed, letting the carriage\npull one loop through the next all the way to the end.</li>\n</ul><p>Or, well, that\u2019s how it was <em>supposed</em> to go.</p>\n<p>I had two false starts with the Linker Carriage, followed by one absolute\nfailure which locked the whole thing up, requiring several minutes of struggle\nto even free the carriage from the machine. In that chaos, I dropped several\nstitches and several f-bombs.</p>\n<p>After leaving it to rest overnight, I came back the next day and finished the\nloop-through-loop bind-off by hand, then went back and \u201crescued\u201d the dropped\nstitches.</p>\n<p>Checking my work afterwards, I found that somehow a couple of dozen live\nstitches from the brim, likely all from the front ribber bed side, had simply\nnot been picked up in my attempt to seam things together. So, I grabbed a\nsewing needle and a long line of waste yarn, ran it through as a \u201clifeline\u201d for\nall the dropped ribbing stitches I could find, and once again the project\ngot to rest for a day or two while I stewed about it.</p>\n<p>I have very little in the way of hand-sewing, hand-knitting, or hand-crochet\nskills, but I finally decided that I could \u201crescue\u201d these dropped live stitches\nas if they had been correctly handled on the machine, by running a sewing needle\ndown through the bottom edge of the hat, through a dropped live stitch, pull the\nstitch <em>up</em> through the edge, then secure it with a knot or a backstitch,\ndepending on how far away the next dropped stitch was. This took at least a\ncouple of hours over a couple of sessions.</p>\n<h3>Finishing</h3>\n<p>Finally, it was time to seam up the side of the hat. Though it had been my\noriginal plan, I opted <em>not</em> to try the Linker Carriage again for this. Instead,\nI made my first attempt at a Kitchener stitch, which is meant to seam together\ntwo edges of live stitches in an invisible way that looks like just another\nrow of knitting. Mine \u2026 doesn\u2019t look that nice. But it is still pretty hard\nto see unless you\u2019re looking for it, so I\u2019ll call that a win (and try harder\nnext time)!</p>\n<p>I also mattress stitched the ribbed hem together, making sure to put that seam\non the <em>outside</em> of the hat, because the brim is meant to be folded up.</p>\n<a href=\"https://media.martymcgui.re/ef/b7/a4/7f/0431fe361328dad521e52147622ac077d8bb7addd7bd01436a6c360f.jpg\"><img src=\"https://res.cloudinary.com/schmarty/image/fetch/w_960,c_fill/https://media.martymcgui.re/ef/b7/a4/7f/0431fe361328dad521e52147622ac077d8bb7addd7bd01436a6c360f.jpg\" alt=\"Showing off the grafted side seam, with pink waste yarn still visible. A hand is lifting up the ribbed brim to get better light on the visible seam there.\" /></a>\n\nWith the waste yarn, this reminds me of Audrey II.<p>Then it was a matter of running a line through the top 10 stitches at the top of\nthe hat to pull them together and close it up.</p>\n<a href=\"https://media.martymcgui.re/d7/74/b9/3a/c03ee5b367ad49642b960279e816402f930abe3eb1041eb1919658aa.jpg\"><img src=\"https://res.cloudinary.com/schmarty/image/fetch/w_960,c_fill/https://media.martymcgui.re/d7/74/b9/3a/c03ee5b367ad49642b960279e816402f930abe3eb1041eb1919658aa.jpg\" alt=\"Posing with the hat in a mirror, so the front and back are visible. It sits loose on my head.\" /></a>\n\nBefore washing and drying, it's definitely hat-like!<p>Then a trip through the laundry to see its final form!</p>\n<a href=\"https://media.martymcgui.re/d7/de/3e/4e/19012aeca3e1c1d0ffd0d195ad4549e6940018418cea7927727b5e10.jpg\"><img src=\"https://res.cloudinary.com/schmarty/image/fetch/w_960,c_fill/https://media.martymcgui.re/d7/de/3e/4e/19012aeca3e1c1d0ffd0d195ad4549e6940018418cea7927727b5e10.jpg\" alt=\"Posing with the hat in a mirror again, to make the front and back of it visible. It sits snugly on my head.\" /></a>\n\nIt <em>is</em> a hat!<p>I really should go ahead and make one of these for <em>myself</em>, and stop wearing\nbeanies that came from a store. For my version I think I would make a few\nextra changes:</p>\n<ul><li>add a row of plain knitting on top of the brim before casting off onto waste yarn.</li>\n<li>join the brim to the hat with the seam on the \u201coutside\u201d, since the brim is meant\nto fold up to cover it anyway.</li>\n<li>probably try the linker carriage again even though I got so burned by it. \ud83d\ude02</li>\n</ul><p>Thanks for reading! As bonus content, here are some photos of the finished\nChattie on the head form that Producer Amy bought for her own hat-making\npurposes!</p>\n\n<a href=\"https://media.martymcgui.re/68/7e/f3/a0/00ae76a29c20a0e7342344f466a0f013ef5c3bd81d72a0a62d0b1024.jpg\"><img src=\"https://res.cloudinary.com/schmarty/image/fetch/w_480,c_fill/https://media.martymcgui.re/68/7e/f3/a0/00ae76a29c20a0e7342344f466a0f013ef5c3bd81d72a0a62d0b1024.jpg\" alt=\"Black Chattie on pale green mannequin head, facing left.\" /></a>\n\n<a href=\"https://media.martymcgui.re/29/f3/03/26/b848f075c175720f11225c8b586fdf6f154344112073ceae73c7a8bc.jpg\"><img src=\"https://res.cloudinary.com/schmarty/image/fetch/w_480,c_fill/https://media.martymcgui.re/29/f3/03/26/b848f075c175720f11225c8b586fdf6f154344112073ceae73c7a8bc.jpg\" alt=\"Back side of the hat.\" /></a>\n\n<a href=\"https://media.martymcgui.re/69/85/22/61/83d414eb998912cd2c319c5c0a320ac00707ce443e313c1162267fe7.jpg\"><img src=\"https://res.cloudinary.com/schmarty/image/fetch/w_480,c_fill/https://media.martymcgui.re/69/85/22/61/83d414eb998912cd2c319c5c0a320ac00707ce443e313c1162267fe7.jpg\" alt=\"Right-facing view of the mannequin wearing the Black Chattie.\" /></a>\n\n<a href=\"https://media.martymcgui.re/5a/9b/af/6e/7e127bf53921741a776a725e232a228ee3a5d728a25faa602230b54b.jpg\"><img src=\"https://res.cloudinary.com/schmarty/image/fetch/w_480,c_fill/https://media.martymcgui.re/5a/9b/af/6e/7e127bf53921741a776a725e232a228ee3a5d728a25faa602230b54b.jpg\" alt=\"Front view of the Black Chattie on the pale green mannequin. From this angle you can see small stickers give the mannequin eyes.\" /></a>\n\n\n\n<p>Until next time!</p>"
    },
    "author": {
        "type": "card",
        "name": "Marty McGuire",
        "url": "https://martymcgui.re/",
        "photo": "https://martymcgui.re/images/logo.jpg"
    },
    "post-type": "article",
    "_id": "47476548",
    "_source": "175"
}

Tantek Çelik tantek.com

{
    "type": "entry",
    "published": "2026-02-24 23:45-0800",
    "url": "https://tantek.com/2026/055/t2/solution-choice-firefox-ai-controls",
    "category": [
        "Firefox",
        "Firefox148",
        "AIcontrol",
        "AIkillswitch",
        "JSDR",
        "UserChoice"
    ],
    "content": {
        "text": "\u201cChoice. The solution is choice.\u201d*\n\nYou should download Firefox 148 (released today!) and explicitly set the new \"AI Controls\" to your preferred choice.\n* https://www.firefox.com/\n\nDisclosure: I work for Mozilla, but this post, like all on this site, represents my personal thoughts and opinions.\n\nMore and more software includes various \u201cAI\u201d features. The \u201cquotes\u201d are deliberate because there is an increasingly fuzzy popular understanding of what is or is not \u201cAI\u201d that continues to diverge from any specific technical meaning.\n\nMany folks have expressed strong opinions against \u201cAI\u201d features (for lots of reasons which are worth a separate blog post), in particular in web browsers, and a desire for a simple way to disable such features.\n\nTentatively called an \u201cAI kill switch\u201d, the Firefox team developed both an overall switch to turn off or block various \"AI\" features by default (including any future features), and the ability to selectively enable specific features. Or vice versa (turn on by default, and selectively disable specific features).\n\nSee the official blog post for screenshots and lots more details:\n* https://blog.mozilla.org/en/firefox/how-to-use-ai-controls/\n\nI have set my own \"Block AI enhancements\" setting to \"blocked\", with the exception of enabling \"Translations\". Translations are a feature I use often, a feature that requires per-page activation (another degree of user-control), and runs completely locally on my browser. Nothing automatic, nothing that requires submitting what I\u2019m reading to a random server.\n\nFor me this was an easy choice because it fits within my prior larger personal preference of using a restricted browser by default, with leaner settings, for greater security, privacy, and performance reasons. I do keep various other browser variants (and profiles) for testing purposes, experiments, or seeing what a new user may be experiencing.\n\nThe rest of this post is not about AI.\n\nMy Top Two Browser Extensions\n\nAs part a more restricted personal browser approach, for a long time I have run with two add-ons that block A LOT more by default:\n* NOSCRIPT: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/noscript/\n* EFF Privacy Badger: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/privacy-badger17/\n\nI do not use a separate ad blocker. With NOSCRIPT, in general I don\u2019t have to.\n\nI prefer to explicitly grant permission to a site (domain) for its scripts to load. Some sites I use often enough that I've granted persistent permissions for their scripts. Others, third parties in particular, that I know function purely for analytics or tracking I explicitly persistently block, because they seem totally disconnected from any user benefit.\n\nYes it\u2019s extra work, however, I find it worth seeing just how much each site depends on scripts, third party scripts, and how many.\n\nIt\u2019s especially worth it when I'm on slow or intermittent wifi, where every script blocked makes a big difference in how fast a site loads. Yes this is still a problem.\n\nThe network is not the computer. The network is the weakest link.\n\nEven now, in 2026, contrary to popular (especially developer) beliefs that fast internet access is ubiquitous, frequently it is not.\n\nIf you\u2019re on a train, plane, or at an event with thousands of people like a concert or many conferences, your wifi or even mobile connection will be intermittent or slow at best. \n\nJust this past Saturday at the F1 Exhibition in the San Francisco Marina, the cell networks were overwhelmed due to the crowds, with even \u201csimple\u201d text or chat messages failing to send. Last year at the Portola Festival their wifi was so bad that even if you managed to connect to it, simple HTML pages barely loaded, while native applications dependent on network access failed completely.\n\nJS;DR\n\nMany times if a site fails to display content without JavaScript, I simply close the tab.\n\nI already have so many open tabs to read (process) that I no longer feel any need to read any particular new website that fails to show content without JavaScript. If their web developers can\u2019t be bothered to take the time to implement progressive enhancement, why should I bother to take the time to read their content? More on this:\n* https://tantek.com/2025/069/t1/ten-years-jsdr-javascript-required-didnt-read\n* https://indieweb.org/js;dr\n\nA subtler form of JavaScript failure is when a site\u2019s content is displayed, however its buttons or even simple hyperlinks fail to function due to scripts not loading:\n* https://tantek.com/2012/073/t4/js-ajax-only-tired-waiting-bloated-scripts-sxsw-wifi\n\nProgressive Permissions\n\nOn sites that I do allow scripts, I still limit their access to cookies using the Privacy Badger add-on, and only selectively enable them if I\u2019m logging in or otherwise customizing my experience on that site.\n\nWhen websites immediately request use of a cookie disconnected from any user action that would justify a need for a cookie, it seems both presumptuous, and frankly, a bit pushy or rude. It also seems like rushed or lazy coding.\n\nUser requests are what computers are for.\n\nA user-centric approach to any kind of permission or capability, whether cookies or personal information like location, would only request such as part of directly handling an explicit user action that requires the capability.\n\nThe simple act of viewing a website should never require cookies, location information, or any other capabilities that require special permissions. E.g.\n* If I successfully log into a website, a cookie helps me stayed logged in.\n* If I click a \"show me my present location\" button on a map site, it makes sense to request my location to fullfil that user request.\n\nThis probably could have been several blog posts.\n\nYet the common theme across all of these is user choice.\n\nWhether new features, use of scripts, or privacy impacting features such as cookies or personal location, users should always have the choice and agency to say no, and customize their web browsing experience accordingly.\n\n#Firefox #Firefox148 #AIcontrol #AIkillswitch #JSDR #UserChoice\n\n*Top of post quote paraphrased from Neo in The Matrix Reloaded who said: \u201cChoice. The problem is choice.\u201d",
        "html": "\u201cChoice. The solution is choice.\u201d*<br /><br />You should download Firefox 148 (released today!) and explicitly set the new \"AI Controls\" to your preferred choice.<br />* <a href=\"https://www.firefox.com/\">https://www.firefox.com/</a><br /><br />Disclosure: I work for Mozilla, but this post, like all on this site, represents my personal thoughts and opinions.<br /><br />More and more software includes various \u201cAI\u201d features. The \u201cquotes\u201d are deliberate because there is an increasingly fuzzy popular understanding of what is or is not \u201cAI\u201d that continues to diverge from any specific technical meaning.<br /><br />Many folks have expressed strong opinions against \u201cAI\u201d features (for lots of reasons which are worth a separate blog post), in particular in web browsers, and a desire for a simple way to disable such features.<br /><br />Tentatively called an \u201cAI kill switch\u201d, the Firefox team developed both an overall switch to turn off or block various \"AI\" features by default (including any future features), and the ability to selectively enable specific features. Or vice versa (turn on by default, and selectively disable specific features).<br /><br />See the official blog post for screenshots and lots more details:<br />* <a href=\"https://blog.mozilla.org/en/firefox/how-to-use-ai-controls/\">https://blog.mozilla.org/en/firefox/how-to-use-ai-controls/</a><br /><br />I have set my own \"Block AI enhancements\" setting to \"blocked\", with the exception of enabling \"Translations\". Translations are a feature I use often, a feature that requires per-page activation (another degree of user-control), and runs completely locally on my browser. Nothing automatic, nothing that requires submitting what I\u2019m reading to a random server.<br /><br />For me this was an easy choice because it fits within my prior larger personal preference of using a restricted browser by default, with leaner settings, for greater security, privacy, and performance reasons. I do keep various other browser variants (and profiles) for testing purposes, experiments, or seeing what a new user may be experiencing.<br /><br />The rest of this post is not about AI.<br /><br />My Top Two Browser Extensions<br /><br />As part a more restricted personal browser approach, for a long time I have run with two add-ons that block A LOT more by default:<br />* NOSCRIPT: <a href=\"https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/noscript/\">https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/noscript/</a><br />* EFF Privacy Badger: <a href=\"https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/privacy-badger17/\">https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/privacy-badger17/</a><br /><br />I do not use a separate ad blocker. With NOSCRIPT, in general I don\u2019t have to.<br /><br />I prefer to explicitly grant permission to a site (domain) for its scripts to load. Some sites I use often enough that I've granted persistent permissions for their scripts. Others, third parties in particular, that I know function purely for analytics or tracking I explicitly persistently block, because they seem totally disconnected from any user benefit.<br /><br />Yes it\u2019s extra work, however, I find it worth seeing just how much each site depends on scripts, third party scripts, and how many.<br /><br />It\u2019s especially worth it when I'm on slow or intermittent wifi, where every script blocked makes a big difference in how fast a site loads. Yes this is still a problem.<br /><br />The network is not the computer. The network is the weakest link.<br /><br />Even now, in 2026, contrary to popular (especially developer) beliefs that fast internet access is ubiquitous, frequently it is not.<br /><br />If you\u2019re on a train, plane, or at an event with thousands of people like a concert or many conferences, your wifi or even mobile connection will be intermittent or slow at best. <br /><br />Just this past Saturday at the F1 Exhibition in the San Francisco Marina, the cell networks were overwhelmed due to the crowds, with even \u201csimple\u201d text or chat messages failing to send. Last year at the Portola Festival their wifi was so bad that even if you managed to connect to it, simple HTML pages barely loaded, while native applications dependent on network access failed completely.<br /><br />JS;DR<br /><br />Many times if a site fails to display content without JavaScript, I simply close the tab.<br /><br />I already have so many open tabs to read (process) that I no longer feel any need to read any particular new website that fails to show content without JavaScript. If their web developers can\u2019t be bothered to take the time to implement progressive enhancement, why should I bother to take the time to read their content? More on this:<br />* <a href=\"https://tantek.com/2025/069/t1/ten-years-jsdr-javascript-required-didnt-read\">https://tantek.com/2025/069/t1/ten-years-jsdr-javascript-required-didnt-read</a><br />* <a href=\"https://indieweb.org/js;dr\">https://indieweb.org/js;dr</a><br /><br />A subtler form of JavaScript failure is when a site\u2019s content is displayed, however its buttons or even simple hyperlinks fail to function due to scripts not loading:<br />* <a href=\"https://tantek.com/2012/073/t4/js-ajax-only-tired-waiting-bloated-scripts-sxsw-wifi\">https://tantek.com/2012/073/t4/js-ajax-only-tired-waiting-bloated-scripts-sxsw-wifi</a><br /><br />Progressive Permissions<br /><br />On sites that I do allow scripts, I still limit their access to cookies using the Privacy Badger add-on, and only selectively enable them if I\u2019m logging in or otherwise customizing my experience on that site.<br /><br />When websites immediately request use of a cookie disconnected from any user action that would justify a need for a cookie, it seems both presumptuous, and frankly, a bit pushy or rude. It also seems like rushed or lazy coding.<br /><br />User requests are what computers are for.<br /><br />A user-centric approach to any kind of permission or capability, whether cookies or personal information like location, would only request such as part of directly handling an explicit user action that requires the capability.<br /><br />The simple act of viewing a website should never require cookies, location information, or any other capabilities that require special permissions. E.g.<br />* If I successfully log into a website, a cookie helps me stayed logged in.<br />* If I click a \"show me my present location\" button on a map site, it makes sense to request my location to fullfil that user request.<br /><br />This probably could have been several blog posts.<br /><br />Yet the common theme across all of these is user choice.<br /><br />Whether new features, use of scripts, or privacy impacting features such as cookies or personal location, users should always have the choice and agency to say no, and customize their web browsing experience accordingly.<br /><br />#<span class=\"p-category\">Firefox</span> #<span class=\"p-category\">Firefox148</span> #<span class=\"p-category\">AIcontrol</span> #<span class=\"p-category\">AIkillswitch</span> #<span class=\"p-category\">JSDR</span> #<span class=\"p-category\">UserChoice</span><br /><br />*Top of post quote paraphrased from Neo in The Matrix Reloaded who said: \u201cChoice. The problem is choice.\u201d"
    },
    "author": {
        "type": "card",
        "name": "Tantek \u00c7elik",
        "url": "https://tantek.com/",
        "photo": "https://tantek.com/photo.jpg"
    },
    "post-type": "note",
    "_id": "47459464",
    "_source": "2460"
}

Distraction

{
    "type": "entry",
    "author": {
        "name": null,
        "url": "https://herestomwiththeweather.com/",
        "photo": null
    },
    "url": "https://herestomwiththeweather.com/2026/02/24/distraction/",
    "published": "2026-02-24T22:08:38+00:00",
    "content": {
        "html": "<blockquote>\n  <p>We could take in a hockey game.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p><a href=\"https://bookwyrm.social/book/27279/s/distraction\">Distraction</a> (1998)</p>",
        "text": "We could take in a hockey game.\n\n\nDistraction (1998)"
    },
    "name": "Distraction",
    "post-type": "article",
    "_id": "47457416",
    "_source": "246"
}

Tantek Çelik tantek.com

{
    "type": "entry",
    "published": "2026-02-24 19:14-0800",
    "url": "https://tantek.com/2026/055/t1/happy-twin-peaks-day",
    "category": [
        "100PostsOfIndieWeb",
        "100Posts",
        "IndieWeb",
        "TwinPeaksDay"
    ],
    "content": {
        "text": "Happy Twin Peaks day to those who celebrate!\n\nIn Agent Cooper\u2019s first appearance in the show, he\u2019s driving a car, right hand on the steering wheel, left hand holding a small black box (a microcassette recorder), that, if you don\u2019t look too closely, could easily be mistaken for a regular sized black iPhone with a flush battery pack attached to its back.\n\nYou may search the web for a screen capture or video if you like, or continue with this plain text description.\n\nHe's keeping his eyes on the road, and dictating audio.\n\n\u201cDiane, 11:30 a.m., February 24th. Entering the town of Twin Peaks.\u201d\n\nIn 1989 he\u2019s dictating a log entry to his presumably human assistant, Diane, for her to transcribe after the fact.\n\nIn 2026 (notwithstanding safety and legal concerns while driving) it\u2019s not a stretch to say he could (would likely) be dictating to his (perhaps renamed) digital assistant, Diane, or at least a speech-to-text feature in a note-taking application that would automatically transcribe his words in real time.\n\nThose transcribed words could even be saved as a private post or draft, either locally on his device, or to his personal website, for him to review and clean-up if necessary before publishing to and notifying perhaps a limited audience.\n\nImagine capturing your thoughts without having to look at a screen. No scrolling to first see what others have said. No attention-distracting alerts or admintax prompts to update an application. Capture your thoughts as they occur, and continue onward, focused on your current task or project, uninterrupted.\n\nToday\u2019s technologies and standards should enable such an interaction, all the way through to storing your dictations in a location of your choice. I wonder if anyone has built this.\n\nThis is post 8 of #100PostsOfIndieWeb. #100Posts #IndieWeb #TwinPeaksDay\n\n\u2190 https://tantek.com/2026/007/t3/wikipedia-edited-year-in-review\n\u2192 \ud83d\udd2e",
        "html": "Happy Twin Peaks day to those who celebrate!<br /><br />In Agent Cooper\u2019s first appearance in the show, he\u2019s driving a car, right hand on the steering wheel, left hand holding a small black box (a microcassette recorder), that, if you don\u2019t look too closely, could easily be mistaken for a regular sized black iPhone with a flush battery pack attached to its back.<br /><br />You may search the web for a screen capture or video if you like, or continue with this plain text description.<br /><br />He's keeping his eyes on the road, and dictating audio.<br /><br />\u201cDiane, 11:30 a.m., February 24th. Entering the town of Twin Peaks.\u201d<br /><br />In 1989 he\u2019s dictating a log entry to his presumably human assistant, Diane, for her to transcribe after the fact.<br /><br />In 2026 (notwithstanding safety and legal concerns while driving) it\u2019s not a stretch to say he could (would likely) be dictating to his (perhaps renamed) digital assistant, Diane, or at least a speech-to-text feature in a note-taking application that would automatically transcribe his words in real time.<br /><br />Those transcribed words could even be saved as a private post or draft, either locally on his device, or to his personal website, for him to review and clean-up if necessary before publishing to and notifying perhaps a limited audience.<br /><br />Imagine capturing your thoughts without having to look at a screen. No scrolling to first see what others have said. No attention-distracting alerts or admintax prompts to update an application. Capture your thoughts as they occur, and continue onward, focused on your current task or project, uninterrupted.<br /><br />Today\u2019s technologies and standards should enable such an interaction, all the way through to storing your dictations in a location of your choice. I wonder if anyone has built this.<br /><br />This is post 8 of #<span class=\"p-category\">100PostsOfIndieWeb</span>. #<span class=\"p-category\">100Posts</span> #<span class=\"p-category\">IndieWeb</span> #<span class=\"p-category\">TwinPeaksDay</span><br /><br />\u2190 <a href=\"https://tantek.com/2026/007/t3/wikipedia-edited-year-in-review\">https://tantek.com/2026/007/t3/wikipedia-edited-year-in-review</a><br />\u2192 \ud83d\udd2e"
    },
    "author": {
        "type": "card",
        "name": "Tantek \u00c7elik",
        "url": "https://tantek.com/",
        "photo": "https://tantek.com/photo.jpg"
    },
    "post-type": "note",
    "_id": "47457051",
    "_source": "2460"
}

Jonathan LaCour cleverdevil.io

{
    "type": "entry",
    "published": "2026-02-24T20:05:28.705509+00:00",
    "url": "https://cleverdevil.io/2026/this-weekend-i-started-watching-the-new",
    "syndication": [
        "https://cleverdevil.club/@jonathan/116127401846414277",
        "https://bsky.app/profile/cleverdevil.io/post/3mfmxogdumg2z"
    ],
    "content": {
        "text": "This weekend I started watching the new Netflix series \u201cHow to Get to Heaven from Belfast.\u201d It\u2019s from the creator of the absolutely perfect \u201cDerry Girls,\u201d and while it\u2019s often funny, it\u2019s as much a mystery and thriller as it is a comedy.\nIt reminds me a bit of \u201cHot Fuzz,\u201d one of my all time favorite movies from the brilliant Edgar Wright. As the show pulls you deeper and deeper into its world, it becomes clear that there is something amiss.\nI highly recommend it! Such a fun watch.",
        "html": "<p>This weekend I started watching the new Netflix series \u201cHow to Get to Heaven from Belfast.\u201d It\u2019s from the creator of the absolutely perfect \u201cDerry Girls,\u201d and while it\u2019s often funny, it\u2019s as much a mystery and thriller as it is a comedy.</p>\n<p>It reminds me a bit of \u201cHot Fuzz,\u201d one of my all time favorite movies from the brilliant Edgar Wright. As the show pulls you deeper and deeper into its world, it becomes clear that there is something amiss.</p>\n<p>I highly recommend it! Such a fun watch.</p>"
    },
    "author": {
        "type": "card",
        "name": "Jonathan LaCour",
        "url": "https://cleverdevil.io",
        "photo": "https://cleverdevil.io/profile/photo"
    },
    "post-type": "note",
    "_id": "47453803",
    "_source": "10"
}

Aaron Parecki aaronparecki.com

Milwaukie Bowl

at Milwaukie Bowl

{
    "type": "entry",
    "published": "2026-02-22T14:19:53-08:00",
    "url": "https://aaronparecki.com/2026/02/22/8/",
    "category": [
        "https://anomalily.world/"
    ],
    "photo": [
        "https://aperture-media.p3k.io/aaronparecki.com/9ea971a46cd9b79107877edd87e3db939b1f7201c5d0e85d684bf88d47b74535.jpg"
    ],
    "syndication": [
        "https://www.swarmapp.com/user/59164/checkin/699b810965fc634d4b072bd1"
    ],
    "name": "at Milwaukie Bowl",
    "author": {
        "type": "card",
        "name": "Aaron Parecki",
        "url": "https://aaronparecki.com/",
        "photo": "https://aperture-media.p3k.io/aaronparecki.com/41061f9de825966faa22e9c42830e1d4a614a321213b4575b9488aa93f89817a.jpg"
    },
    "checkin": {
        "type": "card",
        "name": "Milwaukie Bowl",
        "latitude": "45.445858",
        "longitude": "-122.631147",
        "url": "https://foursquare.com/v/4b5b7b33f964a520760129e3"
    },
    "post-type": "checkin",
    "_id": "47452116",
    "_source": "16"
}

Jonathan LaCour cleverdevil.io

🤓 ⌨️ My daily driver

Drop ALT V1 with

Read More

{
    "type": "entry",
    "published": "2026-02-24T05:32:16.092642+00:00",
    "url": "https://cleverdevil.io/2026/my-daily-driver",
    "syndication": [
        "https://cleverdevil.club/@jonathan/116123968346341135",
        "https://bsky.app/profile/cleverdevil.io/post/3mflgv3ulmw2v"
    ],
    "content": {
        "text": "\ud83e\udd13 \u2328\ufe0f My daily driver\n            \n            \n            \n            \n            \n            \n                \n                \n                \n                \n            \n            \n                \n                \n                \n                \n                \n                \n  Drop ALT V1 with",
        "html": "<h3 class=\"p-name\">\n                <a href=\"https://cleverdevil.io/2026/my-daily-driver\">\ud83e\udd13 \u2328\ufe0f My daily driver</a>\n            </h3>\n            \n            \n            \n            \n            \n                \n                \n                \n                \n            \n            \n                \n                \n                \n                \n                \n                \n  <img src=\"https://cleverdevil.io/media/8d/48/bd/8d48bdbc4d6a08a05dd7d41eeba97c904357bf56aaa51c17fa2cdc76f53def56?w=1200\" alt=\"\" />\n                \n                \n                \n            \n            \n            \n            \n            \n                <a href=\"https://cleverdevil.io/2026/my-daily-driver\"></a><p><a href=\"https://cleverdevil.io/2026/my-daily-driver\">Drop ALT V1 with </a></p><a href=\"https://cleverdevil.io/2026/my-daily-driver\"></a>"
    },
    "author": {
        "type": "card",
        "name": "Jonathan LaCour",
        "url": "https://cleverdevil.io",
        "photo": "https://cleverdevil.io/profile/photo"
    },
    "post-type": "note",
    "_id": "47446733",
    "_source": "10"
}

Marty McGuire martymcgui.re

{
    "type": "entry",
    "published": "2026-02-23T13:05:54-0500",
    "summary": "\ud83d\udcd7 Want to read The Hidden Curriculum of Video Games by David I Waddington ISBN: 9780228027881",
    "url": "https://martymcgui.re/2026/02/23/130554/",
    "category": [
        "books"
    ],
    "author": {
        "type": "card",
        "name": "Marty McGuire",
        "url": "https://martymcgui.re/",
        "photo": "https://martymcgui.re/images/logo.jpg"
    },
    "post-type": "note",
    "_id": "47444639",
    "_source": "175"
}

As rubber replacement is one of the necessary and sometimes more finnicky parts of typewriter restoration, I thought it would be useful to write up the details of a small recent repair for others as well as my future self. Late last May, I did a full clean, oil, and adjust (COA) on my 1951 Remington Super-Riter. One of the few restorations steps I didn't carry out at the time was the replacement of the rubber grommets on the two side panels and the rear panel. The rubber was so hard and brittle on most of them that they crumbled off leaving only the brass inserts. Some of them also left a sludgy black residue on the metal. [caption id="attachment_55834713" align="aligncenter" width="660"] The top left is an original brass eyelet/new rubber grommet assembly next to three new rubber grommets. The bottom row features a desiccated rubber grommet next to three original brass eyelets.[/caption] This weekend, I went foraging at the local Ace Hardware store to find some replacements for the originals. I took a reasonable guess and for 27 cents each I picked up six grommets which were the perfect size. If you're in the market for your own replacement rubber grommets, they were Hillman part number 55051-A with the following specifications: ID: 1/8"; OD: 11/32"; Thickness: 3/16"; Grove Diameter: 1/4"; Groove width: 1/16" . When I went to install them, I discovered that I was able to wiggle them into the holes in the side panels. I could also get the brass grommets back in with a bit of work. However, I couldn't discern for the life of me why they included the brass grommets from an engineering perspective. Leaving them off seems to allow a nice friction fit of the panels on the appropriate metal pins against the rubber. Further, without the brass grommets one seems to get not only a better fit, but the vibration dampening of the panels seems to work better. I also suspect the grommet life of the rubber will be better this way in the long run. I notice that my later 1956 Remington Standard has a similar design for the side and rear panels, but in that case they'd switched to a single center pin and put two bare rubber grommets on each side of it, choosing to leave off the brass internal eyelets by this time—apparently they came to the same conclusion I had. This means that this same rubber grommet repair can be done on a variety of Remington standard typewriters made after World War II. Editor's Note: If you're cleaning or repairing your own Remington Standard from this era, be sure to check and see if it's got the Fold-A-Matic feature for making your job much easier.  If for historical or consistency reasons, you insist on the brass gromets as part of the repair of your personal machine, you can certainly manage to use the originals with some care, however, if you've got your own eyelet tool (which many typewriter repair people may have for inserting eyelets into ribbon for the auto-reverse functionality of Smith-Corona typewriters) you can use it in combination with new 3/16" (or slightly smaller) metal eyelets to more permanently seat your rubber grommets into your metal panels. Have you tried this restoration trick before? What did you use for replacements?

Read More

{
    "type": "entry",
    "published": "2026-02-23T12:10:38-08:00",
    "summary": "As rubber replacement is one of the necessary and sometimes more finnicky parts of typewriter restoration, I thought it would be useful to write up the details of a small recent repair for others as well as my future self. Late last May, I did a full clean, oil, and adjust (COA) on my 1951 &hellip; <a href=\"https://boffosocko.com/2026/02/23/rubber-grommet-repair-on-remington-super-riters-and-standards/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Rubber Grommet Repair on Remington Super-Riters and Standards</span></a>",
    "url": "https://boffosocko.com/2026/02/23/rubber-grommet-repair-on-remington-super-riters-and-standards/",
    "featured": "https://boffosocko.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/wp-17331115353548219760265495086751.jpg",
    "category": [
        "Typewriters",
        "Remington Standard",
        "Remington Super-Riter",
        "Remington typewriters",
        "rubber grommets",
        "typewriter restoration"
    ],
    "content": {
        "text": "As rubber replacement is one of the necessary and sometimes more finnicky parts of typewriter restoration, I thought it would be useful to write up the details of a small recent repair for others as well as my future self.\n\nLate last May, I did a full clean, oil, and adjust (COA) on my 1951 Remington Super-Riter. One of the few restorations steps I didn't carry out at the time was the replacement of the rubber grommets on the two side panels and the rear panel. The rubber was so hard and brittle on most of them that they crumbled off leaving only the brass inserts. Some of them also left a sludgy black residue on the metal.\n\n\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_55834713\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"660\"] The top left is an original brass eyelet/new rubber grommet assembly next to three new rubber grommets. The bottom row features a desiccated rubber grommet next to three original brass eyelets.[/caption]\n\nThis weekend, I went foraging at the local Ace Hardware store to find some replacements for the originals.\n\n\n\nI took a reasonable guess and for 27 cents each I picked up six grommets which were the perfect size. If you're in the market for your own replacement rubber grommets, they were Hillman part number 55051-A with the following specifications: ID: 1/8\"; OD: 11/32\"; Thickness: 3/16\"; Grove Diameter: 1/4\"; Groove width: 1/16\" .\n\n\n\nWhen I went to install them, I discovered that I was able to wiggle them into the holes in the side panels. I could also get the brass grommets back in with a bit of work. However, I couldn't discern for the life of me why they included the brass grommets from an engineering perspective. Leaving them off seems to allow a nice friction fit of the panels on the appropriate metal pins against the rubber. Further, without the brass grommets one seems to get not only a better fit, but the vibration dampening of the panels seems to work better. I also suspect the grommet life of the rubber will be better this way in the long run.\n\n\n\nI notice that my later 1956 Remington Standard has a similar design for the side and rear panels, but in that case they'd switched to a single center pin and put two bare rubber grommets on each side of it, choosing to leave off the brass internal eyelets by this time\u2014apparently they came to the same conclusion I had. This means that this same rubber grommet repair can be done on a variety of Remington standard typewriters made after World War II.\n\nEditor's Note: If you're cleaning or repairing your own Remington Standard from this era, be sure to check and see if it's got the Fold-A-Matic feature for making your job much easier.\u00a0\n\nIf for historical or consistency reasons, you insist on the brass gromets as part of the repair of your personal machine, you can certainly manage to use the originals with some care, however, if you've got your own eyelet tool (which many typewriter repair people may have for inserting eyelets into ribbon for the auto-reverse functionality of Smith-Corona typewriters) you can use it in combination with new 3/16\" (or slightly smaller) metal eyelets to more permanently seat your rubber grommets into your metal panels.\n\nHave you tried this restoration trick before? What did you use for replacements?",
        "html": "As rubber replacement is one of the necessary and sometimes more finnicky parts of typewriter restoration, I thought it would be useful to write up the details of a small recent repair for others as well as my future self.\n\nLate last May, I did a full clean, oil, and adjust (COA) on my <a href=\"https://boffosocko.com/2025/06/01/restored-1951-remington-super-riter-standard-typewriter/\">1951 Remington Super-Riter</a><a href=\"https://boffosocko.com/2025/03/27/1951-remington-super-riter-standard-typewriter/\">.</a> One of the few restorations steps I didn't carry out at the time was the replacement of the rubber grommets on the two side panels and the rear panel. The rubber was so hard and brittle on most of them that they crumbled off leaving only the brass inserts. Some of them also left a sludgy black residue on the metal.\n\n<img src=\"https://boffosocko.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/wp-1771874975112857246219941804990-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Angle on a brown crinkle painted Remington standard typewriter side panel with a rubber grommet and brass eyelet insert embedded in the bottom of the panel. The rubber is obviously dried, shrunk, and brittle.\" width=\"660\" height=\"880\" />\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_55834713\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"660\"]<img src=\"https://boffosocko.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/wp-17718749179595411797296662344289-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"Two rows of rubber grommets and brass eyelets.\" width=\"660\" height=\"495\" /> The top left is an original brass eyelet/new rubber grommet assembly next to three new rubber grommets. The bottom row features a desiccated rubber grommet next to three original brass eyelets.[/caption]\n\nThis weekend, I went foraging at the local Ace Hardware store to find some replacements for the originals.\n\n<img src=\"https://boffosocko.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/wp-17718748637467011851609626622742-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"A tray of 10 different assorted sizes of rubber grommets. On the bottom cover of the tray are all the sizing specs and model numbers while several hundred grommets are sorted into small compartments on the bottom of the tray.\" width=\"660\" height=\"495\" />\n\nI took a reasonable guess and for 27 cents each I picked up six grommets which were the perfect size. If you're in the market for your own replacement rubber grommets, they were Hillman part number 55051-A with the following specifications: ID: 1/8\"; OD: 11/32\"; Thickness: 3/16\"; Grove Diameter: 1/4\"; Groove width: 1/16\" .\n\n<img src=\"https://boffosocko.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/wp-17718748883942897328519958629672-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"Printed label with the specs of the Hillman 55051-A rubber grommet printed on it above a bar code.\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" />\n\nWhen I went to install them, I discovered that I was able to wiggle them into the holes in the side panels. I could also get the brass grommets back in with a bit of work. However, I couldn't discern for the life of me why they included the brass grommets from an engineering perspective. Leaving them off seems to allow a nice friction fit of the panels on the appropriate metal pins against the rubber. Further, without the brass grommets one seems to get not only a better fit, but the vibration dampening of the panels seems to work better. I also suspect the grommet life of the rubber will be better this way in the long run.\n\n<img src=\"https://boffosocko.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/wp-17718750162323563351306136913104-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Interior of brown crinkle painted Remington standard typewriter side panel with a new black rubber grommet inserted perfectly into the hole on its bottom.\" width=\"660\" height=\"880\" />\n\nI notice that my later <a href=\"https://boffosocko.com/2024/12/01/starting-restoration-of-a-1956-remington-standard-typewriter/\">1956 Remington Standard</a> has a similar design for the side and rear panels, but in that case they'd switched to a single center pin and put two bare rubber grommets on each side of it, choosing to leave off the brass internal eyelets by this time\u2014apparently they came to the same conclusion I had. This means that this same rubber grommet repair can be done on a variety of Remington standard typewriters made after World War II.\n\nEditor's Note: If you're cleaning or repairing your own Remington Standard from this era, be sure to check and see if it's got the <a href=\"https://boffosocko.com/2024/12/06/using-the-fold-a-matic-feature-of-the-remington-standard-to-clean-oil-and-adjust/\">Fold-A-Matic feature</a> for making your job much easier.\u00a0\n\nIf for historical or consistency reasons, you insist on the brass gromets as part of the repair of your personal machine, you can certainly manage to use the originals with some care, however, if you've got your own eyelet tool (which many typewriter repair people may have for inserting eyelets into ribbon for the auto-reverse functionality of Smith-Corona typewriters) you can use it in combination with new 3/16\" (or slightly smaller) metal eyelets to more permanently seat your rubber grommets into your metal panels.\n\nHave you tried this restoration trick before? What did you use for replacements?"
    },
    "author": {
        "type": "card",
        "name": null,
        "url": null,
        "photo": null
    },
    "post-type": "note",
    "_id": "47443811",
    "_source": "2785"
}

Jonathan LaCour cleverdevil.io

Wagyu Tri-Tip, Roasted Veg, and Provolone Mash

Read More

{
    "type": "entry",
    "published": "2026-02-22T19:36:00-08:00",
    "url": "https://cleverdevil.io/2026/wagyu-tri-tip-roasted-veg-and-provolone",
    "syndication": [
        "https://cleverdevil.club/@jonathan/116117873209883298",
        "https://bsky.app/profile/cleverdevil.io/post/3mfiqbc4qkj2h"
    ],
    "content": {
        "text": "Wagyu Tri-Tip, Roasted Veg, and Provolone Mash",
        "html": "<img src=\"https://cleverdevil.io/media/8bfd319a53335172/600w.webp\" alt=\"\" />\n                \n                \n                \n            \n            \n            \n            \n            \n            \n            \n                <a href=\"https://cleverdevil.io/2026/wagyu-tri-tip-roasted-veg-and-provolone\">Wagyu Tri-Tip, Roasted Veg, and Provolone Mash</a>"
    },
    "author": {
        "type": "card",
        "name": "Jonathan LaCour",
        "url": "https://cleverdevil.io",
        "photo": "https://cleverdevil.io/profile/photo"
    },
    "post-type": "note",
    "_id": "47436035",
    "_source": "10"
}

Marty McGuire martymcgui.re

{
    "type": "entry",
    "published": "2026-02-22T15:07:31-0500",
    "url": "https://martymcgui.re/2026/02/22/150730/",
    "video": [
        "https://media.martymcgui.re/97/f9/bf/ea/09cf0a5265c7bfc62089ac571a9e2e64654aa7afa1859d0650f7d578.mp4"
    ],
    "content": {
        "text": "Hi! Candle expert here, this is not funny. Candles only do this when they\u2019re in extreme distress.",
        "html": "<p>Hi! Candle expert here, this is not funny. Candles only do this when they\u2019re in extreme distress.</p>"
    },
    "author": {
        "type": "card",
        "name": "Marty McGuire",
        "url": "https://martymcgui.re/",
        "photo": "https://martymcgui.re/images/logo.jpg"
    },
    "post-type": "video",
    "_id": "47434637",
    "_source": "175"
}

fluffy beesbuzz.biz

Post-Cloudflare update

{
    "type": "entry",
    "published": "2026-02-22T11:50:20-08:00",
    "url": "https://beesbuzz.biz/blog/14103-Post-Cloudflare-update",
    "category": [
        "cloudflare",
        "bot mitigation",
        "dead Internet",
        "Internet",
        "AI"
    ],
    "name": "Post-Cloudflare update",
    "author": {
        "type": "card",
        "name": "fluffy",
        "url": "https://beesbuzz.biz/",
        "photo": "https://beesbuzz.biz/static/headshot.jpg"
    },
    "post-type": "article",
    "_id": "47433743",
    "_source": "2778"
}

Aaron Parecki aaronparecki.com

{
    "type": "entry",
    "published": "2026-02-22T11:43:25-08:00",
    "url": "https://aaronparecki.com/2026/02/22/5/",
    "category": [
        "lego",
        "365",
        "enterprise",
        "startrek"
    ],
    "photo": [
        "https://aperture-media.p3k.io/aaronparecki.com/0b02c3161bb6539fa4f598e198b604c2c17d2c398df761dfb5777d6926c12794.jpg"
    ],
    "content": {
        "text": "This week's LEGO build progress, got the deflector dish installed!"
    },
    "author": {
        "type": "card",
        "name": "Aaron Parecki",
        "url": "https://aaronparecki.com/",
        "photo": "https://aperture-media.p3k.io/aaronparecki.com/41061f9de825966faa22e9c42830e1d4a614a321213b4575b9488aa93f89817a.jpg"
    },
    "post-type": "photo",
    "_id": "47433582",
    "_source": "16"
}

Jonathan LaCour cleverdevil.io

{
    "type": "entry",
    "published": "2026-02-05T04:04:06+00:00",
    "url": "https://cleverdevil.io/2026/nostalgia-is-a-twinge-in-your-heart",
    "syndication": [
        "https://cleverdevil.club/@jonathan/116016037671754340",
        "https://bsky.app/profile/cleverdevil.io/post/3me3jcuad7o24"
    ],
    "content": {
        "text": "\u201c[Nostalgia] is a twinge in your heart more powerful than memory alone. This device\u2026 is a time machine. It goes backwards, forwards, takes us to a place where we ache to go again. It lets us travel the way a child travels. Round and around and back home again. To a place where we know we are loved.\u201d"
    },
    "author": {
        "type": "card",
        "name": "Jonathan LaCour",
        "url": "https://cleverdevil.io",
        "photo": "https://cleverdevil.io/profile/photo"
    },
    "post-type": "note",
    "_id": "47430171",
    "_source": "10"
}

Jonathan LaCour cleverdevil.io

{
    "type": "entry",
    "published": "2026-02-05T03:58:36+00:00",
    "url": "https://cleverdevil.io/2026/dwells-inspiration-comes-from-a-surprising-place",
    "syndication": [
        "https://cleverdevil.club/@jonathan/116016016072636157",
        "https://bsky.app/profile/cleverdevil.io/post/3me3is3l7it26"
    ],
    "content": {
        "text": "Dwell\u2019s inspiration comes from a surprising place: the hit show \u201cMad Men.\u201d In a legendary scene, Don Draper delivers the pitch of his life to Kodak, describing their new slide projector as a time machine that satisfies the ache of nostalgia."
    },
    "author": {
        "type": "card",
        "name": "Jonathan LaCour",
        "url": "https://cleverdevil.io",
        "photo": "https://cleverdevil.io/profile/photo"
    },
    "post-type": "note",
    "_id": "47430172",
    "_source": "10"
}

Jonathan LaCour cleverdevil.io

{
    "type": "entry",
    "published": "2026-02-05T03:24:27+00:00",
    "url": "https://cleverdevil.io/2026/the-last-few-weeks-have-been-pretty",
    "syndication": [
        "https://cleverdevil.club/@jonathan/116015881786129723",
        "https://bsky.app/profile/cleverdevil.io/post/3me3gux36et2o"
    ],
    "content": {
        "text": "The last few weeks have been pretty squarely focused on Dwell, and I\u2019m officially excited about it. I can see the finish line, and I\u2019m proud of how it\u2019s shaping up. Can\u2019t wait to share it!"
    },
    "author": {
        "type": "card",
        "name": "Jonathan LaCour",
        "url": "https://cleverdevil.io",
        "photo": "https://cleverdevil.io/profile/photo"
    },
    "post-type": "note",
    "_id": "47430173",
    "_source": "10"
}

Jonathan LaCour cleverdevil.io

{
    "type": "entry",
    "published": "2026-02-05T03:23:23+00:00",
    "url": "https://cleverdevil.io/2026/im-committing-myself-to-work-on-two",
    "syndication": [
        "https://cleverdevil.club/@jonathan/116015877584900049",
        "https://bsky.app/profile/cleverdevil.io/post/3me3gt2krxb23"
    ],
    "content": {
        "text": "I\u2019m committing myself to work on two specific projects to get them over the line. The first is called Horizon, and is an interactive family dashboard. The second is Dwell, my new personal website that I\u2019ve been working on for several years."
    },
    "author": {
        "type": "card",
        "name": "Jonathan LaCour",
        "url": "https://cleverdevil.io",
        "photo": "https://cleverdevil.io/profile/photo"
    },
    "post-type": "note",
    "_id": "47430174",
    "_source": "10"
}

Jonathan LaCour cleverdevil.io

{
    "type": "entry",
    "published": "2026-02-05T03:21:06+00:00",
    "url": "https://cleverdevil.io/2026/ive-been-doing-a-lot-of-personal",
    "syndication": [
        "https://cleverdevil.club/@jonathan/116015868642992749",
        "https://bsky.app/profile/cleverdevil.io/post/3me3goyrji52i"
    ],
    "content": {
        "text": "I\u2019ve been doing a lot of personal projects over the past few months. I find myself leaning in hard on one project, then getting a bit worn out and switching to another. I need a bit more discipline, as my time outside of work is very limited."
    },
    "author": {
        "type": "card",
        "name": "Jonathan LaCour",
        "url": "https://cleverdevil.io",
        "photo": "https://cleverdevil.io/profile/photo"
    },
    "post-type": "note",
    "_id": "47430175",
    "_source": "10"
}

Jonathan LaCour cleverdevil.io

{
    "type": "entry",
    "published": "2026-02-01T03:44:53+00:00",
    "url": "https://cleverdevil.io/2026/less-than-two-minutes-later-i-fired",
    "syndication": [
        "https://cleverdevil.club/@jonathan/115993312874975160",
        "https://bsky.app/profile/cleverdevil.io/post/3mdrg5s6cdv25"
    ],
    "content": {
        "text": "Less than two minutes later, I fired up the ShelfPlayer app and was greeted by precisely what I asked for. So rad."
    },
    "author": {
        "type": "card",
        "name": "Jonathan LaCour",
        "url": "https://cleverdevil.io",
        "photo": "https://cleverdevil.io/profile/photo"
    },
    "post-type": "note",
    "_id": "47430176",
    "_source": "10"
}