September 2026

AI slop had made it to magazine covers.#

I saw this Sherlock Holmes magazine in WHSmiths at Victoria Station.#

I’m sure it saved them £200-500 in paying a designer and the moneyfolk rubbed their hands together with glee.#

But I didn’t buy it because of its awful AI cover (I love Sherlock Holmes and would enjoy this magazine, I’m sure. And the contents looked decent enough). How many others have skipped it because of the AI art? You wonder if that money they saved was cancelled out by lost sales.#

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Talking of Sherlock Holmes, Bookish is a very underrated TV show with Holmes vibes. In fact, it’s written by Mark Gatiss who wrote the Benedict Cumberbatch Sherlock show.#

It’s a cosy detective show set in London after World War Two.#

There’s murder sometimes, but it’s gentlee.#

It’s a great show to fall asleep to (on rewatch – don’t miss any of it on first watch).#

The tie is dead, long live the tie.#

It's gone the way of the hat.#

Now-a-days even bankers aren't wearing them. A tie is associated with insurance salesfolk, and people in recruitment and sales.#

Log – 09:26: The cycle into work was especially bracing today — mainly due to wind I think. Glad I brought my Barbour waterproof. I used a feature of it for the first time: where the collar pops up and wraps/tightens around your neck. I felt a bit like Ryan Gosling in "Blade Runner 2049" in it.#

I'm suitably feeling rough this morning after not getting much sleep last night and also eating sugar — I really need to stop that.#

And talking of things I need to stop, I need to stop having double caffeine during the day (he says, with a bottle of cherry Coke Zero to his right). It's for sure the reason why I've struggled to sleep these past few days. I just can't resist. When I'm tired, and my Ritalin isn't kicking in, it's tough to resist. But I must.#

In fact I think I should start gradually lowering my caffeine in general. Just to see if it makes a difference. Maybe I won't get an afternoon energy crash and maybe I'll sleep better. I don't have anxiety, but once in a blue moon I'll have a little panic attack or feel the start of one. In fact, maybe I'm more anxious than I think. I do after feel like I might have a heart attack. I chalk it up to my hypochondria, but maybe it is anxiety. Either way, it's a worthwhile experiment cutting out caffeine.#

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@ns123abc on Xwitter:#

The [Anthropic] prospectus warns that nearly 25% of revenue came from just TWO customers, and that many top enterprise clients aren't locked into long-term contracts and could cut spending or walk away anytime.#

How are two companies contributing 25% of their revenue. That’s insane.#

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The blog is actually looking decent in night mode on mobile.#

Awoke with quite a bit of muscle pain this morning after all that carpet lifting yesterday. Mainly in by lower back and legs. It’s to be expected.#

Me and Abigail are due to watch LOTR today potentially. I’m currently waiting for a haircut in the barbers and on the drive here it started to look a bit autumnal – leaves falling in roaring orange.#

Log – 12:56: Just back from the Turkish barber after my haircut. Well, I say cut, it's more of a shave — I haven't had scissors near my head for many a year.#

It was done by a kid of no more than fourteen. Because of his youth I got to bump the queue as the guy in front didn't want his hair cut by the young man. But he did an okay job. He required quite a bit of reassuring and me confirming that I was liking his work, but that's fine. He was a very affable kid and cracked a few jokes. It felt almost charitable letting him do my hair (and beard, I must add). It was good seeing a kid working, oddly, I think because you see it so rarely these days. It's largely a good thing as it means they're in school or playing and doing hobbies. But this fella obviously wanted to make a few quid on the weekend. I gave him a six pound tip, handing over forty quid for the cut, which is a crazy amount of money. Makes me glad to be bald as I can usually shave my own head at home.#

Now I'm going to have some alone time and read in bed.#

Tonight we're due to watch the first Lord of the Rings film, which means it's going to be a good day.#

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Log — 13.17: I got a lovely little twenty twenty-seven weekly planner from Hatchards the booksellers the other [day]. A delicate, vintage looking thing, it has gilded edges, rip-away corners, and plenty of different sections. Made of vegan leather, it's a delightful little thing. Aside from one issue: the "dates of note" are all US dates of note! Hatchards is an English institution and its stores and brand reek of Englishness. So for its branded planner to have US dates of note is an outrage. Offer it as an option, sure, but to make it the default is tantamount to treason. Boo!#

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Log – 17:58: Had my fairly common weekend naps. And I continue to be worried by it. As if it's indicative of a more serious underlying health problem.#

I've only lived in this house for a year, so maybe this happens every year, but Canadian geese fly overhead most evenings as the sun starts to set. It's a pleasant addition to the day. They wail a little loudly, but they fly low and it's a somewhat magical sight. They remind me of that film "Fly Away Home" each time I see them. Hopefully I get to see them every start of autumn.#

I don't know why, but I just had a sudden jolt of excitement about the work week starting and taking Ritalin again. I haven't taken it many days this week. Firstly because I never take it on the weekends. And secondly because I skipped it on the day I saw Van Morrison and then didn't take it on the day after due to being fairly hungover.#

I've been fretting about how I'm going to include this notebook (an A5 Bullet Journal one) into my "productivity system," worried it might replace my beloved Field Notes. As BuJo is largely for getting tasks done I of course tried to use this notebook for my to-do's, whilst demoting the Field Notes to my log entries. But it was tough to do. An important part of any to-do system is easy capturing into the "inbox." That's tough with a notebook this big and thick. So I've suddenly realised that despite the grid system and handy stickers that this notebook provides I don't have to use it for to-do's at all. At the end of the day it's just a notebook. And it makes sense to use this for just my logs — with its high quality paper and comfortable writing space and hard back — and the Field Notes more for to-dos — with its carryability, general smallness, and ability to bend. I mean hell, I could probably cut down a lot of the BuJo stickers to fit inside it (BuJo also offers its own "pocket" version I could look into). So who knows, maybe I'll try it. The big issue I have with logs + to-dos combined is as someone with ADHD I need my to-do's not only visible, but front and centre — that list needs to almost be sacred. So when I intermix it between my long log entries the to-do's get lost, and forgotten.#

I would love to not have to deal with two notebooks and have just the one. But if I want to go the paper route (and not just use the all digital Todoist) then I think two makes the most sense.#

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In bed, reading.#

Started a new book: "Everyday Life in Medieval London - From the Anglo-Saxons to the Tudors" by Toni Mount.#

One of my least favourite feelings is waking up on a Saturday knowing you’ve got some DIY to do this weekend.#

The NEXT strategy, announced in June at the company's biennial franchisee convention, is built around upgrading food quality, value, hospitality, and menu innovation. Wednesday's event filled in the operational details: McDonald's intends to streamline how its kitchens run, roll out a new restaurant design format, deepen staff training programs, and broaden adoption of ArchIQ, its AI-driven platform that handles functions like drive-thru order-taking.#

The design of the new "restaurants" looks decent too – better than the current ones. The playground for kids might even return (which I have mixed feelings about).#

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I don't know why the headline mentions Burger King. I mean they're both fast food burger chains. But Burger King isn't even in the same league. Though apparently in the last quarter McDonald's global sales grew +1.3%, whereas Burger King's grew +8.6%. So maybe they are catching.#

I ate a McDonald's yesterday, and briefly considered Burger King instead. But the only thing BK has going for it over the Golden Arches is the nice smoky (and I'm sure entirely artificial) flavour of its burgers. The chips aren't as good. And the nuggets are abysmal.#

To be fair though, I'm a big fan of the rebrand they did a while back:#

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I've got so many domain names (mostly clowes.something). But sometimes I wonder if I should of just used subdomains instead – and had all my various online presences under "one roof". clowes.me, blog.clowes.me, notes.clowes.me, photos.clowes.me, thoughts.clowes.me, etc.#

However, I didn't get the clowes.me domain until... 11 years ago (geez, I didn't realise it was that long ago). But my original personal domain – elliotclowes.com – I got over 19 years ago! That one always felt a bit too long to use for subdomains (blog.elliotclowes.com seems too long).#

Just stumbled on an old Tumblr post with a photo of my EDC (every day carry) from the 7th of December 2013:#

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• Then: iPhone 5. Now: iPhone 15.#
• Then: Longines Legend Diver. Now: various watches, but I still have the Longines (though considering selling it)#
• Then: Tom Ford FT5178 glasses. Now: Still have these glasses, but I don't wear them. My prescription changed and I fancied a thinner pair. Currently wearing some Gucci frames.#
• Then: Hard Graft iPhone case. Now: I used this for years. But modern iPhones got too big for it. I now have a rubber case on my phone and a separate wallet. #
• Then: Fisher Space pen. Now: Still owned, but it's a bit small and uncomfortable to write with. My default now is the uni-ball Jetstream 101.#
• Then: Remove Before Flight keyring. Now: Still used! I purchased a pack of five of them and I'm currently on my third one I believe.#
• Then: Field Notes Expedition edition. Now: I still love Field Notes and have used them on and off down the years. In fact, I currently have two on my desk as I write this (see photo below).#
• Then: Dog tag. Now: still owned, but no longer in use. It was a bit cringey.#

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I feel like people do their best not to sneeze (or hide it) in an office to avoid the awkwardness of the "bless you's".#

Because it can be weirdly awkward (at least in my opinion).#

No one's sure if they should be the one to say "bless you", so sometimes no one does.#

Sometimes multiple people say it.#

Sometimes everyone pretends to ignore it.#

Sometimes people seem slightly disgusted (especially in certain sunlit lighting when you can see a salivary spray of mist).#

Then when the person sneezes more than once there's a whole new world.#

If it was just five seconds prior, are they still protected by the first "bless you".#

If it's two basically back-to-back, does one "bless you" cover it.#

A god forbid you sneeze more than three times.#

People start spinning in their chairs to look.#

People start making jokes.#

Luckily I'm yet to really encounter a loud sneezer. Everyone seems to try and muffle it as best they can.#

I’ve taken a risk and purchased another book about walking. I’ve tried to read a few down the years. And failed.#

I love walking. But prose about it really does little for me. Walking somehow transcends language. And the written word can’t capture what it is to walk.#

Books about it tend to say a whole lot of nothing.#

I’m only 5 pages in on this new one and I know I won’t last. It’s too poncy (though it is written by a philosopher, so what did I expect).#

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Late dinner tonight as Abigail wasn’t hungry when I got home from a day in the office.#

She’s cooking. Tacos.#

I’m in the bath. I’ve just started reading Samuel Pepys for the first time properly.#

It’s very handily got lots of footnotes giving context and explaining people, events and things. However, there’s so many that it kind of ruins the flow of the reading. And his now out of date language can making it slightly tough anyway. So it’s swings and roundabouts.#

I’m reading each entry once pretty much all the way through. Then re-reading it, consulting the footnotes on second go.#

I’ll say this for Samuel, he wrote with brevity. I’m sure he was using a quill in poor lighting on expensive parchment, so it makes sense.#

Must go. 5 minutes until dinner.#

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I saw Van Morrison at the British Airways ARC last night with my Dad.#

Will write a longer overview of my day at some point. But right now I’m too hungover.#

It’s annoying that I need to drink alcohol to enjoy a concert, but I really do. I’m too in my own head otherwise. But as a result I often forget parts of the concert because I’ve drunk.#

Anyway, I had a nice time and it’s always lovely spending time with Dad.#

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I always try and smile if I meet the eye of someone I'm passing. But I'm shocked by the number of people who don't smile back. Maybe their brain just doesn't process the encounter fast enough for them to smile 🤷#

One my least favourite parts about buying coffee from a coffee shop is the to-go containers – they keep the drink hot for ages. Useful for some people I'm sure, but not for me. I haven't had caffeine all morning and I need it.#

But I bought this drink 30 minutes ago and it’s still way too hot to drink. ☕️#

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Google Maps on the web is painfully slow these days. It's close to unusable at times.#

There must be 250+ desks at my companies office. Each with two monitors attached to a very versitle arm where you can put the monitors into portait mode. But not a single person has a monitor in portrait mode.#

Maybe they just don't realise it's possible (though after I did it and my boss noticed he let employees know via his technology newsletter that it's possible). But still no one has done it.#

To be fair, I've put mine back in landscape mode. A regular 21" monitor turned sideways isn't wide enough for certain content.#

I didn't realise that GitHub has its own version of Patreon: GitHub Sponsors (example of one here)#

I've got quite a fancy – though simple – homepage these days: clowes.me. But I have to admit, I do love those old school simple HTML homepages of old.#

They're often hosted on the domain of the University they work for, haven't been updated since 2007, and have an outdated photo of themself on there.#

Some examples:#

• Kreps#
• Eric S. Raymond#
• Stefano Zacchiroli#

When I create a website I very quickly start adding things which increase the load time. Custom fonts, JavaScript to do various things, complex CSS.#

So I'm rather enjoying how lightweight the site currently is (when there's no images involved anyway. I need so sort something out there, as currently there's no resizing or CDN, just the raw images delivered from a server in the Netherlands). Your average post page is about 6 KB:#

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And there's just two files to load the page – the page itself and the CSS:#

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Will I be tempted to add things? Probably. But there's something magical about how fast it loads right now. Someone could visit my blog on dialup and I'm sure it would load fast still.#

It's almost spooky how quickly things loads. It feels like I'm loading local files.#

Actually, I was lying about this blog not doing anything to make images more efficient in my last post.#

It is! It's reducing the width/height and also doing some sort of compression, I presume. Clever Claude.#

I thought the mosquitos were done with me, but they’re not. I’ve woken up to three bites on my foot. One of which is on the underside, which means walking is annoying.#

Mosquitos tend to do this with me. They bite me on unusual places. Feet, face, ear and elbow.#

Just seen a man walking down the street wearing a T-shirt with “WOMEN DESERVE LESS” in huge lettering on it.#

Then there was a stall trying to promote paintball. The man shouted out “anyone need shooting, lad?”#

Ahh, London.#