This is an automated account just chock-full of cross-posted content written by Jack Baty (@jbaty)
Backseat Software – Mike Swanson's Blog (https://blog.mikeswanson.com/backseat-software/)
> But something else was true too. When you were using the software, you were alone with it.
This is Linux's biggest draw for me. I feel like it's just me and my operating system.
https://daily.baty.net/journal/2026/30jan26/backseat-software
I'm not fond of complaining about software that I love, but NetNewsWire, which I've used for many years, just released version 7.0. Here's the lead from the release post (https://netnewswire.blog/2026/01/27/netnewswire-for-mac.html):
> The big change from 6.2.1 is that it adopts the Liquid Glass UI and it requires macOS 26.
Here's the first thing I saw...
I hate what Apple has made good developers do.
https://daily.baty.net/journal/2026/28jan26/netnewswire-and-liquid-glass
If your book review starts with something like...
> ...this cutesy and simplistic tale reaches Bertolt Brecht levels of pedagogical impetus paired with Bewilderment heights of righteous undercomplexity.
...then your opinion doesn't matter to me.
https://daily.baty.net/journal/2026/27jan26/book-reviews-by-verbositizers
I predict that we're going to be embarrassed some day about liking Geese so much, but right now, I really like Geese.
"THERE'S A BOMB IN MY CAR!"
Well, since I'm on-again-off-again with macOS, I can't really go all in with Tinderbox for this blog? It's sad, but I've swapped in the older Kirby version. I have not migrated the content since december, and don't know if I will bother, sorry.
https://daily.baty.net/journal/2026/17jan26/kirby-because-linux
Someone wrote, "AI will not be the next big thing." as if AI isn't already the next big thing.
https://daily.baty.net/posts/2026/01/02/AI-isn-t-the-next-big-th.html
I knew Tinderbox (https://eastgate.com/Tinderbox) and I went way back, but I didn't know how far, so I asked. I licensed Tinderbox for the first time December 10, 2004. Tinderbox 2.3. It's been a spell, eh?
https://daily.baty.net/posts/2026/01/01/Speaking-of-Tinderbox.html
The older I get, the more I feel like not having things is even better than having them.
https://daily.baty.net/posts/2026/01/01/Not-having-things.html
I seem to be all-in with macOS-only apps so far this year. Tinderbox, BBEdit, DEVONthink, OmniFocus. It feels good in a way that discovering new stuff for Linux didn't.
I think I want a new theme: https://baty.net/posts/2025/12/i-think-i-want-a-new-theme/
I think I want a new theme: https://baty.net/posts/2025/12/i-think-i-want-a-new-theme/
I think I want a new theme: https://baty.net/posts/2025/12/i-think-i-want-a-new-theme/
I think I want a new theme: https://baty.net/posts/2025/12/i-think-i-want-a-new-theme/
> This is how NFTs make me feel: like the future is useless but expensive, and world-altering technology is now in the hands of a culture so aesthetically and spiritually impoverished that it should maybe go back to telling stories around the cooking fire for a while, just to remember how to mean something.
Substitute "AI" for "NFT" and, yeah.
https://daily.baty.net/posts/2025/12/23/Dan-Brooks-on-tech-s-imp.html
I want one (https://www.commodore.net/) so bad. Some of my earliest computer memories are around playing Zork on a Commodore. Trouble is, I no longer play video games, so it's almost certain this would end up languishing on a shelf after the initial thrill wore off.
Aaah, Tinderbox and daily.baty.net ()
One of the macOS-only apps I don't want to live without is Tinderbox (https://eastgate.com/Tinderbox).
I've been using Tinderbox for so long it's become second nature. It's phenomenally powerful and fun to use. I stop using for periods during which I'm feeling like everything should be plain text. When I come to my senses and just want my stuff to be useful, I bring Tinderbox back into rotation. One of my favorite things to do with https://daily.baty.net/posts/2025/11/23/Aaah-Tinderbox-and-daily.html
This isn't my usual style, but it's smooth and comforting today.
https://daily.baty.net/posts/2025/08/08/Folk-Bitch-Trio.html
> One time about a year ago used ChatGPT for something and it was wrong, so now I know everything there is to know about LLMs and am totally qualified to tell you what they can/will can't/won't do forever...
https://daily.baty.net/posts/2025/10/27/Opinions-about-LLMs-are-.html
> Perhaps (perhaps) we don't fear action so much as we fear feedback. As long as our model stays in our head, it can be perfect. The moment we test it against reality, we have to confront our wrongness. And for highly analytical people, being wrong feels like a moral failing rather than a normal part of learning.
>
> ...
>
> Third, and this is harder, you have to learn to metabolize feedback differently. When reality contradicts your model, it’s not a failure signal; it https://daily.baty.net/posts/2025/10/27/Westenberg-The-Map-Is-No.html