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Feed title: Terence Eden’s Blog
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Feed has 20 items.
First item published on 2025-10-17T11:34:51.000Z
Last item published on 2025-09-09T11:34:19.000Z
Home page URL: https://shkspr.mobi/blog
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<?xml-stylesheet href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/themes/edent-wordpress-theme/atom-style.xsl" type="text/xsl"?>
<feed xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:thr="http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0" xml:lang="en-GB">
<title type="text">Terence Eden’s Blog</title>
<subtitle type="text">Regular nonsense about tech and its effects 🙃</subtitle>
<updated>2025-10-13T13:21:47Z</updated>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog"/>
<id>https://shkspr.mobi/blog/feed/atom/</id>
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<generator uri="https://wordpress.org/" version="6.8.3">WordPress</generator>
<icon>https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/cropped-avatar-32x32.jpeg</icon>
<entry>
<author>
<name>@edent</name>
<uri>https://edent.tel/</uri>
</author>
<title type="html"><![CDATA[Was my website mentioned in a GitHub issue?]]></title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/was-my-website-mentioned-in-a-github-issue/"/>
<id>https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=63352</id>
<updated>2025-09-14T20:37:17Z</updated>
<published>2025-10-17T11:34:51Z</published>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="/etc/"/>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="blog"/>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="github"/>
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[This is a quick GitHub action to get alerted every time your website is mentioned in a GitHub issue. Doing it manually You can search GitHub for a URl, and sort the results with the newest first, like this: https://github.com/search?q=%22shkspr.mobi%22&type=issues&s=created&o=desc Using the API GitHub has a fairly straightforward API - although it uses slightly different parameters. …]]></summary>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/was-my-website-mentioned-in-a-github-issue/"><![CDATA[<p>This is a quick GitHub action to get alerted every time your website is mentioned in a GitHub issue.</p>
<h2 id="doing-it-manually"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/was-my-website-mentioned-in-a-github-issue/#doing-it-manually">Doing it manually</a></h2>
<p>You can search GitHub for a URl, and sort the results with the newest first, like this:</p>
<p><a href="https://github.com/search?q=%22shkspr.mobi%22&type=issues&s=created&o=desc">https://github.com/search?q=%22shkspr.mobi%22&type=issues&s=created&o=desc</a></p>
<h2 id="using-the-api"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/was-my-website-mentioned-in-a-github-issue/#using-the-api">Using the API</a></h2>
<p>GitHub has a <a href="https://api.github.com/">fairly straightforward API</a> - although it uses slightly different parameters.</p>
<p><a href="https://api.github.com/search/issues?q=shkspr.mobi&sort=created&order=desc">https://api.github.com/search/issues?q=shkspr.mobi&sort=created&order=desc</a></p>
<p>That will return a bunch of <code>items</code>. Here's the 29th. I've truncated it down to only what is necessary for our purposes:</p>
<pre><code class="language-json">{
"html_url": "https://github.com/swicg/activitypub-webfinger/issues/29",
"id": 3286159033,
"number": 29,
"title": "Tracking support for non-ascii characters",
"user": {
"login": "evanp",
},
"created_at": "2025-08-02T17:52:46Z",
"updated_at": "2025-08-02T18:50:27Z",
"body": "One of the benefits of using Webfinger is that it's […]"
}
</code></pre>
<h2 id="action"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/was-my-website-mentioned-in-a-github-issue/#action">Action</a></h2>
<p>I'm not very good at creating actions. But this should:</p>
<ol>
<li>Search GitHub for mentions of your URl.</li>
<li>Store the results.</li>
<li>If there is a new entry - open a new issue describing it.</li>
</ol>
<p>You will need to set your repository to private in order to not spam other repos. You will also need to go to your repo settings and give the action write permissions. You'll also need a Personal Access Token with sufficient permissions to write to your repo. I bloody hate actions. YAML? Eugh!</p>
<pre><code class="language-yaml">name: API Issue Watcher
on:
schedule:
- cron: '*/59 * * * *'
permissions:
issues: write
contents: write
jobs:
watch-and-create:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- name: Checkout repository
uses: actions/checkout@v4
- name: Restore latest seen ID
id: cache-latest
uses: actions/cache@v4
with:
path: .github/latest_seen.txt
key: latest-seen-1
restore-keys: |
latest-seen-
- name: Fetch latest item from API
id: fetch
run: |
curl -s 'https://api.github.com/search/issues?q=EXAMPLE.COM&s=created&order=desc' > result.json
jq -r '.items[0].id' result.json > latest_id.txt
jq -r '.items[0].title' result.json > latest_title.txt
jq -r '.items[0].html_url' result.json > latest_url.txt
jq -r '.items[0].body // ""' result.json > latest_body.txt
- name: Compare with previous run
id: check
run: |
NEW_ID=$(cat latest_id.txt)
OLD_ID=$(cat .github/latest_seen.txt 2>/dev/null || echo "")
echo "NEW_ID=$NEW_ID" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
echo "OLD_ID=$OLD_ID" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
if [ "$NEW_ID" != "$OLD_ID" ]; then
echo "NEW_ITEM=true" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
else
echo "NEW_ITEM=false" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
fi
- name: Open new issue if new item found
if: steps.check.outputs.NEW_ITEM == 'true'
uses: actions/github-script@v7
with:
github-token: ${{ secrets.MY_PAT }}
script: |
const fs = require('fs');
const title = fs.readFileSync('latest_title.txt', 'utf8').trim();
const url = fs.readFileSync('latest_url.txt', 'utf8').trim();
const body = fs.readFileSync('latest_body.txt', 'utf8').trim();
await github.rest.issues.create({
owner: context.repo.owner,
repo: context.repo.repo,
title: `[API] ${title}`,
body: `Found new item: [${title}](${url})\n\n${body}`
});
- name: Update latest seen ID
if: steps.check.outputs.NEW_ITEM == 'true'
run: |
mkdir -p .github
cp latest_id.txt .github/latest_seen.txt
- name: Save cache
uses: actions/cache@v4
with:
path: .github/latest_seen.txt
key: latest-seen-1
restore-keys: |
latest-seen-
</code></pre>
<p>This is probably all kinds of wrong. If you know how to improve it, please let me know!</p>
]]></content>
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</entry>
<entry>
<author>
<name>@edent</name>
<uri>https://edent.tel/</uri>
</author>
<title type="html"><![CDATA[Book Review: The Anarchy - The Relentless Rise of the East India Company by William Dalrymple ★★★★☆]]></title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/book-review-the-anarchy-the-relentless-rise-of-the-east-india-company-by-william-dalrymple/"/>
<id>https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=63916</id>
<updated>2025-10-12T13:53:39Z</updated>
<published>2025-10-15T11:34:11Z</published>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="/etc/"/>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="Book Review"/>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="history"/>
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[This is a marvellous and depressing book. Marvellous because it finely details the history, atrocities, and geopolitical strife of unfettered capitalism. Depressing for much the same reason. Dalrymple takes the thousand different strands of the story and weaves them into a (mostly) comprehensible narrative. With this many moving parts, it is easy to get confused between the various people,…]]></summary>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/book-review-the-anarchy-the-relentless-rise-of-the-east-india-company-by-william-dalrymple/"><![CDATA[<img src="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/9781408864401.webp" alt="Book cover for The Anarchy. An illustration of four Indian soldiers in European dress." width="200" height="307" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-63918">
<p>This is a marvellous and depressing book. Marvellous because it finely details the history, atrocities, and geopolitical strife of unfettered capitalism. Depressing for much the same reason.</p>
<p>Dalrymple takes the thousand different strands of the story and weaves them into a (mostly) comprehensible narrative. With this many moving parts, it is easy to get confused between the various people, places, companies, and loyalties. Your eReader's dictionary will have a good workout as you try to decipher the various calques and loanwords.</p>
<p>It is more nuanced than I expected. Rather than just an unending parade of awfulness, it does dive in to the various attempts to reign in the terror and promote peaceful trade. These nearly always failed. Similarly, there were individual acts of kindness and honour which, nevertheless, cannot begin to make up for the exploitation.</p>
<p>The one question it doesn't (and possibly can't) answer is "what would India have been like without the EIC?" Obviously the company was hugely disruptive and extracted vast amounts of wealth - but the history of <em>every</em> continent shows internecine warfare whenever a ruler dies. A constant theme of the book is "Almost immediately, the court disintegrated into rival factions" The bloody battles between the various states, despots, kings, and tyrants would have eventually occurred. The French - and other colonisers - would have also rampaged through the nation. This isn't to excuse the EIC, and almost everything they did was inexcusable, but rather to say they probably weren't <em>uniquely</em> awful in the atrocities they committed.</p>
<p>We see the rapacious nature of megacorporations today. While few have a standing army, they are all dedicated to usurping authority and plundering resources. The Anarchy describes how the Company whispered in the ears of leaders, promised them the world, and then cruelly turned on them. Again, a depressing reflection of our own times.</p>
<p>Notable by their absence are women. There are an endless assortment of unnamed dancing girls and courtesans, but the only named women are the (mostly British) wives in the background and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Begum_Samru">Begum Samru</a>. There's also only a brief mention of the other geopolitical impacts the EIC had. For example, I had no idea that the tea from the eponymous Boston Tea Party was supplied by the EIC.</p>
<p>I don't understand why publishers pretend eBooks have the same limitations as their paper counterparts. The paper book puts all the illustrations at the end - presumably to save money. But this book would have benefited from interspersing the portraits with the text. Similarly, a map or two wouldn't have gone amiss to help the reader visualise the tangled path the various armies took.</p>
<p>The books is disturbing and upsetting, but a vital read for anyone who wants to understand a key point in the world's history. If only we could learn from it, eh?</p>
]]></content>
<link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/book-review-the-anarchy-the-relentless-rise-of-the-east-india-company-by-william-dalrymple/#comments" thr:count="1"/>
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<thr:total>1</thr:total>
</entry>
<entry>
<author>
<name>@edent</name>
<uri>https://edent.tel/</uri>
</author>
<title type="html"><![CDATA[Every Theatre Show is "Immersive"]]></title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/every-theatre-show-is-immersive/"/>
<id>https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=62544</id>
<updated>2025-10-13T13:21:47Z</updated>
<published>2025-10-13T11:34:49Z</published>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="/etc/"/>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="theatre"/>
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[I go to see a lot of theatrical productions. While most shows are good, the audience experience is usually dreadful. I'm not just talking about cramped seats and disgusting toilets (although they play a part) but that theatres haven't cottoned on to the idea that theatre is an immersive experience which can't be replicated by watching Netflix. There's an excellent article in The Stage about the…]]></summary>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/every-theatre-show-is-immersive/"><![CDATA[<p>I go to see <a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/tag/theatre-review/">a lot of theatrical productions</a>. While most shows are good, the audience experience is usually dreadful. I'm not just talking about cramped seats and disgusting toilets (although they play a part) but that theatres haven't cottoned on to the idea that theatre is an immersive experience which can't be replicated by watching Netflix.</p>
<p>There's an excellent article in The Stage about <a href="https://www.thestage.co.uk/long-reads/is-the-immersive-sector-experiencing-growing-pains-punchdrunk-secret-cinema">the growth and pain-points of immersive shows</a> (free registration required to read).</p>
<blockquote><p>One thing that most creators agree on is that while the word immersive remains the most accurate umbrella term, it is largely functionally meaningless. The sense is that it will have to do as there is not currently a better one. “The word ‘immersive’is one that we have to continue to own,” says Matt Costain of Secret Cinema. “Because I think the fad of calling everything immersive will pass, but it’s a broad church. I went to an immersive art exhibition and what are they supposed to call it? They have as much right to it as I have.”</p></blockquote>
<p>The idea of an "immersive" performance is somewhat nebulous. Sitting passively in a theatre is not immersive - but what about a self-guided tour of an art gallery? You can make the case for pantomime being immersive (oh no you can't!) - but it isn't in the same league as <a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/02/review-phantom-peak-jonacon-london-2025/">Phantom Peak</a>.</p>
<p>In an article about the immersive Elvis show, Amanda Parker succinctly describes what audience expects:</p>
<blockquote><p><a href="https://www.thestage.co.uk/opinion/is-the-immersive-sector-all-shook-up-amanda-parker-elvis-evolution">The whole point of immersive theatre is the blurring of boundaries.</a></p></blockquote>
<p>Live performance is expensive. A single ticket to a 90 minute show can cost more than an entire year of Netflix. A drink before the show and an ice-cream in the interval is the same cost as a month of Disney+! Audiences want blurred boundaries, but they also want value for money. I don't think it takes much money or effort for <em>any</em> show to become more immersive.</p>
<p>Here's my 6-point guide to making <em>any</em> theatrical experience more immersive and more entertaining for the audience.</p>
<h2 id="pre-pre-show"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/every-theatre-show-is-immersive/#pre-pre-show">Pre-Pre-Show</a></h2>
<p>Even <em>before</em> booking, there's a chance for a show to be immersive. Most shows have trailers on YouTube - but are the characters on social media? Where are the opportunities to learn about the costume designer's vision (outside a one-paragraph entry in an expensive programme)?</p>
<p>Once booked, there are some brilliant opportunities for pre-pre show immersion. Emails shouldn't be the usual hectoring affair of reminding people to be on time; they should build a sense of excitement. What makes the paying customer feel like they're going on an adventure?</p>
<p>If I remember correctly, when schools booked group tickets for the 1990s run of "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat", they were sent colouring-in packs or some activity worksheets (it was a <em>long</em> time ago and my memory is hazy). What can a theatre do to make its paying customers <em>excited</em> about making the trip outside to sit in an unfamiliar building?</p>
<h2 id="pre-show"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/every-theatre-show-is-immersive/#pre-show">Pre-Show</a></h2>
<p>This is probably the easiest one to get right, and the one which most shows fail at. Decorate the venue. That's it. It is that simple. It costs next to nothing to put up posters on the walls, or fun little Easter-Eggs on the back of toilet doors, or to have a themed cocktail menu. The Stranger Things show does this brilliantly - there are lots of little clues dotted around the show in the form of newspaper clippings and yearbook pages.</p>
<p>Shows like <a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/06/theatre-review-just-for-one-day/">Just For One Day</a> had "selfie pods". Big posters which let audience members take cool looking selfies with the stars of the show. The guest gets a fun memento, the show gets free advertising.</p>
<p>You can go further and have the cast play with the audience. When I saw "Cats" in New York, some of the actors were roaming the stalls - fighting, stealing licks of ice-creams, miaowing at each other. It was brilliant to watch and got the audience in the mood.</p>
<p>More recently, The Play That Goes Wrong has the on-stage crew setting up the stage while the audience enters. It's pre-show which rewards early attendance - it gets people rushing back to the bar to drag their friends in. It <em>feels</em> improvised and rewards returning guests.</p>
<p>You can spend time in the <a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2022/04/theatre-review-cabaret-at-the-kitkat-club/">KitKat Club before the start of Cabaret</a>. A seedy underbelly with bored dancers and sweaty patrons. A brilliant way immerse the audience before the show. (<a href="https://technokitten.blogspot.com/2024/12/on-art-of-pre-show-and-post-show.html">Although not everyone agrees</a>.)</p>
<p><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/06/theatre-review-operation-mincemeat/">Operation Mincemeat</a> has an online pub-quiz for audience members. Sit and chat about what you think the answers are, try to get on the leaderboard, see if it motivates you to learn more about the real history of the operation.</p>
<p>A bunch of theatres offer "<a href="https://officiallondontheatre.com/access/touch-tours/">Touch Tours</a>" for visually impaired visitors. They get to come on stage and feel the set, have it described to them, so that they can get more immersed in the performance without constantly trying to guess the layout of the set. The stage magicians Penn and Teller invite members of the audience onto the stage before the performance so they can check for hidden wires and other trickery. That's probably not possible for <em>every</em> show - but can be sympathetically integrated into some.</p>
<h2 id="show"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/every-theatre-show-is-immersive/#show">Show</a></h2>
<p>I'll defer this to the director! It's up to them whether they want to make use of the audience! I've been to operas where the lead performer appeared at the back of the stalls singing to his love on stage. Confetti falls into the auditorium with regular abundance.</p>
<p>It doesn't suit every show, of course, but there are a dozen little tweaks which can remind the audience that this is a high-quality experience worth paying for. That this is something they simply can't get by watching TV.</p>
<h2 id="the-interval"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/every-theatre-show-is-immersive/#the-interval">The Interval</a></h2>
<p>The interval isn't just a chance to go for a piss and an over-priced drink. It's an opportunity to reflect on what you've seen, discuss what you think will happen, <em>and</em> stretch your legs.</p>
<p>All of the pre-show decoration is available to browse again - but is there anything else to do?</p>
<p>At a performance of Misalliance, a character hides himself in a portable Turkish bath at the end of Act 1. Throughout the interval, the audience were encouraged to follow the character on social media. He sent messages about his predicament and replied to people who interacted with him.</p>
<p>During the interval of a schools' performance of <i lang="it">La bohème</i>, the curtain was raised so that we could see the hard work which went into changing all the sets around. Is that suitable for every show? Probably not. Does it interfere with the fire curtain? Maybe. Was it a fascinating look literally behind the scenes? Absolutely!</p>
<p>Although I hated <a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2024/03/theatre-review-murder-trial-tonight-ii-aldwych-theatre/">Murder Trial Tonight</a>, it used the interval to encourage audience members to discuss the case laid before them. It's high-risk to get a reserved British audience to talk to strangers, but it can pay dividends.</p>
<h2 id="post-show"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/every-theatre-show-is-immersive/#post-show">Post-Show</a></h2>
<p>The audience have risen to their feet in applause. Perhaps the lead actor (the one from that TV show you like) gives a short, heartfelt speech thanking everyone for coming out and encouraging them to tell their friends about the show.</p>
<p>What next?</p>
<p>Musicals often go with an encore where they specifically encourage the audience to take photos and sing along. Hey! You're part of the show! You'll probably never watch that video again, but you'll get the joy of communal singing and will feel like you're contributing.</p>
<p>As we left Just For One Day, we were handed commemorative leaflets which turned out to be discount vouchers. A little memento <em>and</em> a way to get repeat custom!</p>
<p>At the end of <a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2023/07/theatre-review-accidental-death-of-an-anarchist/">Accidental Death of an Anarchist</a>, the audience were encourage to learn more about various historical and modern cases of police corruption by scanning QR codes projected onto the set.</p>
<p>Walking out of The Storeroom, we found ourselves in a lovely cocktail bar with an amazing view. Of <em>course</em> we paid for a fancy drink while discussing the evening's entertainment. Most West End theatres shove you out into the cold night air as though you're a guest who has overstayed their welcome.</p>
<p>Stage door autographs have been a thing since time immemorial. Probably a bit annoying for the actors, but a huge part of building a post-show buzz for some people. There are shows which have a paid meet-and-greet option (which feels a little icky to me).</p>
<p>I've been to plenty of shows which have a Q&A with the cast and director afterwards. Again, not something which can be done every night, but a brilliant opportunity to reward people for coming.</p>
<p>Even Shakespeare used to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1B70P6pjT8">end his plays with a jig</a>.</p>
<p>The point is, a show can do <em>some</em> aftercare. A little something to keep the audience happy and engaged.</p>
<h2 id="post-post-show"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/every-theatre-show-is-immersive/#post-post-show">Post-Post-Show</a></h2>
<p>The audience has gone home. Is that the end of the experience? Sending out a survey email or asking them to share their memories on social media is a pretty cheap (and lazy) option for a show. It doesn't do much for the audience though.</p>
<p>What about competitions? Can a show encourage the audience to enter a prize draw. Why not offer an upgraded seat at a discount for your next visit - as a little thank you for being a customer?</p>
<p>It beggars belief that most shows don't offer a "come back and bring a friend" offer.</p>
<p>After every roller-coaster ride, the theme park attempts to sell you a photo of you and your friends screaming. What's the equivalent for a theatrical show?</p>
<p>This doesn't have to be a full-on marketing assault. Just a little nudge to make the audience feel special and like they'd want to repeat the experience.</p>
<h2 id="is-all-this-really-necessary"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/every-theatre-show-is-immersive/#is-all-this-really-necessary">Is all this really necessary?</a></h2>
<p>No.</p>
<p>If you think people are happy to spend £150 to sit in conditions worse than the nastiest budget airline, and that they're delighted to be screamed at by over-officious security guards, then you don't need to do any of this. Leave the theatre decorated in its faded glory with faded photos of faded stars. Over-charge for the drinks, pad the programme with adverts, and hope the audience don't reflect on whether they enjoyed the experience.</p>
<p>I'm not saying every show needs to be <a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/08/secret-cinema-grease/">Secret Cinema's Grease</a>, but a little effort goes a long way.</p>
<p>Premium Netflix costs £19 per month. Find me a <em>single</em> ticket at the back of the gods which costs less than that! Even the last-minute seat filler shows I go to have trouble getting down to that level. Live performance <em>cannot compete on cost-per minute</em>. Instead, theatre has to play to its strengths.</p>
<ul>
<li>Live actors are there!</li>
<li>It's a communal experience!</li>
<li>Something unique happens every performance!</li>
<li>The building is interesting!</li>
<li>You can't distract yourself with your phone!</li>
<li>You can show your appreciation directly!</li>
<li>It's part of a night out!</li>
<li>The audience is an integral part of the experience!</li>
</ul>
<p>All theatre is immersive because you are <em>there</em> - with actual people in front of you. Theatre needs to capitalise on the fact that it is different to being sat at home watching the telly. And that means putting a little effort into treating the audience like valued guests rather than treating them like cattle.</p>
]]></content>
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</entry>
<entry>
<author>
<name>@edent</name>
<uri>https://edent.tel/</uri>
</author>
<title type="html"><![CDATA[Quick and dirty bar-charts using HTML's meter element]]></title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/quick-and-dirty-bar-charts-using-htmls-meter-element/"/>
<id>https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=63220</id>
<updated>2025-10-11T09:26:16Z</updated>
<published>2025-10-11T11:34:57Z</published>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="/etc/"/>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="css"/>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="HTML"/>
<summary type="html"><![CDATA["If it's stupid but it works, it's not stupid." I want to draw some vertical bar charts. I don't want to use a 3rd party library, or bundle someone else's CSS, or learn how to build SVGs. HTML contains a <meter> element. It is used like this: <meter min="0" max="4000" value="1234">1234</meter> Which looks like this: 1234 There isn't much you can do to style it. Browser manufacturers seem to …]]></summary>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/quick-and-dirty-bar-charts-using-htmls-meter-element/"><![CDATA[<p>"If it's stupid but it works, it's not stupid."</p>
<p>I want to draw some vertical bar charts. I don't want to use a 3rd party library, or bundle someone else's CSS, or learn how to build SVGs.</p>
<p>HTML contains a <code><meter></code> element. It is used like this:</p>
<pre><code class="language-html"><meter min="0" max="4000" value="1234">1234</meter>
</code></pre>
<p>Which looks like this: <meter min="0" max="4000" value="1234" style="border-radius:0 !important;">1234</meter></p>
<p>There isn't <em>much</em> you can do to style it. Browser manufacturers seem to have forgotten it exists and the CSS standard kind of ignores it.</p>
<p>It <em>is</em> possible to use CSS to rotate it using:</p>
<pre><code class="language-css">meter {
transform: rotate(-90deg);
}
</code></pre>
<p>But then you have to mess about with origins and the box model gets a bit confused.</p>
<p>See what <meter min="0" max="4000" value="1234" style="transform: rotate(-90deg);">1234</meter> I mean?</p>
<p>You can hack your way around that with <code><div></code>s and bludgeoning your layout into submission.</p>
<p>But that is a bit tedious.</p>
<p>Luckily, there's another way. As suggested by <a href="https://mastodon.social/@gundersen/115168958609140525">Marius Gundersen</a>, it's possible to set the <a href="https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/writing-mode">writing direction</a> of the element to be vertical.</p>
<p>That means you can have them "written" vertically, while having them laid out horizontally. Giving a nice(ish) bar-chart effect.</p>
<p><meter min="0" max="4000" value="1000" style="writing-mode:vertical-lr;border-radius:0 !important;">1000</meter><meter min="0" max="4000" value="2000" style="writing-mode: vertical-lr;border-radius:0 !important;">2000</meter><meter min="0" max="4000" value="3000" style="writing-mode: vertical-lr;border-radius:0 !important;">3000</meter><meter min="0" max="4000" value="4000" style="writing-mode: vertical-lr;border-radius:0 !important;">4000</meter></p>
<p>As well as the normal sort of CSS spacing, there is basic colour support for values which are inside a specific range:</p>
<p><meter min="0" max="4000" value="1000" low="1000" high="400" style="writing-mode:vertical-lr;border-radius:0 !important;">1000</meter>
<meter min="0" max="4000" value="2000" low="2000" high="400" style="writing-mode:vertical-lr;border-radius:0 !important;">2000</meter>
<meter min="0" max="4000" value="3000" style="writing-mode:vertical-lr;border-radius:0 !important;">3000</meter>
<meter min="0" max="4000" value="4000" high="4000" style="writing-mode:vertical-lr;border-radius:0 !important;">4000</meter></p>
<p>The background colour can also be set.</p>
<p><meter min="0" max="4000" value="1000" style="writing-mode:vertical-lr;border-radius:0 !important;background:red;">1000</meter></p>
<p>I dare say they're slightly more accessible than a raster image - even with good alt text. They can be targetted with JS, if you want to do fancy things with them.</p>
<p>Or, if you just want a quick and dirty bar-chart, they're basically fine.</p>
]]></content>
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<thr:total>5</thr:total>
</entry>
<entry>
<author>
<name>@edent</name>
<uri>https://edent.tel/</uri>
</author>
<title type="html"><![CDATA[Book Review: The Breaking of Liam Glass by Charles Harris ★★★⯪☆]]></title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/book-review-the-breaking-of-liam-glass-by-charles-harris/"/>
<id>https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=63095</id>
<updated>2025-09-25T17:30:42Z</updated>
<published>2025-10-09T11:34:00Z</published>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="/etc/"/>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="Book Review"/>
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[This is a curious and mostly satisfying novel. It bills itself as a satire, but it is rather more cynical than that. A kid has been stabbed and the worst instincts of humanity descend. Race-baiting police, vote-grubbing politicians, and exploitative journalists. I can't comment on the accuracy of the satire of the press - but it feels real. It's full of the hungriest, nastiest people who will…]]></summary>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/book-review-the-breaking-of-liam-glass-by-charles-harris/"><![CDATA[<img src="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/liamglass.webp" alt="Book cover with a deflated football." width="256" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-63097">
<p>This is a curious and mostly satisfying novel. It bills itself as a satire, but it is rather more cynical than that. A kid has been stabbed and the worst instincts of humanity descend. Race-baiting police, vote-grubbing politicians, and exploitative journalists.</p>
<p>I can't comment on the accuracy of the satire of the press - but it <em>feels</em> real. It's full of the hungriest, nastiest people who will step over anyone and cross any moral line in pursuit of a headline.</p>
<p>Similarly, the political commentary isn't exactly subtle - but it will raise your blood pressure.</p>
<p>Perhaps that's the aim of the book? The author is an equal opportunity cynic. Every paragraph is so wry that it can only have been written with a permanently raised eyebrow. You'll leave it frustrated and bitter.</p>
<p>There are no heroes in the story - just a series of increasingly desperate villains all trying to profit from a senseless tragedy - which makes for a difficult read at times.</p>
]]></content>
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<thr:total>0</thr:total>
</entry>
<entry>
<author>
<name>@edent</name>
<uri>https://edent.tel/</uri>
</author>
<title type="html"><![CDATA[How to *actually* test your readme]]></title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/how-to-actually-test-your-readme/"/>
<id>https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=62224</id>
<updated>2025-10-07T10:28:12Z</updated>
<published>2025-10-07T11:34:08Z</published>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="/etc/"/>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="developers"/>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="Free Software"/>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="linux"/>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="Open Source"/>
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[If you've spent any time using Linux, you'll be used to installing software like this: The README says to download from this link. Huh, I'm not sure how to unarchive .tar.xz files - guess I'll search for that. Right, it says run setup.sh hmm, that doesn't work. Oh, I need to set the permissions. What was the chmod command again? OK, that's working. Wait, it needs sudo. Let me run that again.…]]></summary>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/how-to-actually-test-your-readme/"><![CDATA[<p>If you've spent any time using Linux, you'll be used to installing software like this:</p>
<blockquote><p>The README says to download from this link. Huh, I'm not sure how to unarchive .tar.xz files - guess I'll search for that. Right, it says run <code>setup.sh</code> hmm, that doesn't work. Oh, I need to set the permissions. What was the <code>chmod</code> command again? OK, that's working. Wait, it needs <code>sudo</code>. Let me run that again. Hang on, am I in the right directory? Here it goes. What, it crapped out. I don't have some random library - how the hell am I meant to install that? My distro has v21 but this requires <=19. Ah, I also need to upgrade something which isn't supplied by repo. Nearly there, just need to compile this obscure project from SourceForge which was inexplicably installed on the original dev's machine and then I'll be good to go. Nope. Better raise an issue on GitHub. Oh, look, it is tomorrow.</p></blockquote>
<p>As a developer, you probably don't want to answer dozens of tickets complaining that users are frustrated with your work. You thought you made the README really clear and - hey! - it works on your machine.</p>
<p>There are various solutions to this problem - developers can release AppImages, or Snaps, or FlatPaks, or Docker or whatever. But that's a bit of stretch for a solo dev who is slinging out a little tool that they coded in their spare time. And, even those don't always work as seamlessly as you'd hope.</p>
<p>There's an easier solution:</p>
<ol>
<li>Follow the steps in your README</li>
<li>See if they work.</li>
<li>…</li>
<li>That's it.</li>
</ol>
<p>OK, that's a bit reductive! There are a million variables which go into a test - so I'm going to introduce you to a secret <em>zeroth</em> step.</p>
<ol start="0">
<li>Spin up a fresh Virtual Machine with a recent-ish distro.</li>
</ol>
<p>If you are a developer, your machine probably has a billion weird configurations and obscure libraries installed on it - things which <em>definitely</em> aren't on your users' machines. Having a box-fresh VM means than you are starting with a blank-slate. If, when following your README, you discover that the app doesn't install because of a missing dependency, you can adjust your README to include <code>apt install whatever</code>.</p>
<h2 id="ok-but-how"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/how-to-actually-test-your-readme/#ok-but-how">OK, but how?</a></h2>
<p>Personally, I like <a href="https://flathub.org/apps/org.gnome.Boxes">Boxes</a> as it gives you a simple choice of VMs - but there are plenty of other Virtual Machine managers out there.</p>
<img src="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/OS-Selection.webp" alt="List of Linux OSes." width="801" height="728" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-62227">
<p>Pick a standard OS that you like. I think the latest Ubuntu Server is pretty lightweight and is a good baseline for what people are likely to have. But feel free to pick something with a GUI or whatever suits your audience.</p>
<p>Once your VM is installed and set up for basic use, take a snapshot.</p>
<img src="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/revert.webp" alt="Pop up showing a snapshot of a virtual machine." width="692" height="628" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-62228">
<p>Every time you want to test or re-test a README, revert back to the <em>original</em> state of your box. That way you won't have odd half-installed packages laying about.</p>
<p>Your next step is to think about how much hand-holding do you want to do?</p>
<p>For example, the default Debian doesn't ship with git. Does your README need to tell people to <code>sudo apt install git</code> and then walk them through configuring it so that they can <code>git clone</code> your repo?</p>
<p>Possibly! Who is your audience? If you've created a tool which is likely to be used by newbies who are just getting started with their first Raspberry Pi then, yeah, you probably will need to include that. Why? Because it will save you from receiving a lot of repeated questions and frustrated emails.</p>
<p>OK, but most developers will have <code>gcc</code> installed, right? Maybe! But it doesn't do any harm to include it in a long list of <code>apt get …</code> anyway, does it? Similarly, does everyone know how to upgrade to the very latest npm?</p>
<p>If your software is designed for people who are experienced computer touchers, don't fall into the trap of thinking that they know everything you do. I find it best to assume people are intelligent but not experienced; it doesn't hurt to give <em>slightly</em> too much detail.</p>
<p>The best way to do this is to record <em>everything</em> you do after logging into the blank VM.</p>
<ol start="0">
<li>Restore the snapshot.</li>
<li>Log in.</li>
<li>Run all the commands you need to get your software working.</li>
<li>Once done, run <code>history -w history.txt</code>
<ul>
<li>That will print out <em>every</em> command you ran.</li>
</ul></li>
<li>Copy that text into your README.</li>
</ol>
<p>Hey presto! You now have README instructions which have been tested to work. Even on the most bare-bones machine, you can say that your README will allow the user to get started with your software with the minimum amount of head-scratching.</p>
<p>Now, this isn't foolproof. Maybe the user has an ancient operating system running on obsolete hardware which is constantly bombarded by cosmic rays. But at least this way your issues won't be clogged up by people saying their install failed because <code>lib-foobar</code> wasn't available or that <code>./configure</code> had fatal errors.</p>
<p>A great example is <a href="https://github.com/xiph/opus/blob/main/README">the Opus Codec README</a>. I went into a fresh Ubuntu machine, followed the readme, ran the above history command, and got this:</p>
<pre><code class="language-_">sudo apt-get install git autoconf automake libtool gcc make
git clone https://gitlab.xiph.org/xiph/opus.git
cd opus
./autogen.sh
./configure
make
sudo make install
</code></pre>
<p>Everything worked! There was no missing step or having to dive into another README to figure out how to bind flarg 6.9 with schnorp-unstable.</p>
<p>So that's my plea to you, dear developer friend. Make sure your README contains both the necessary <em>and</em> sufficient information required to install your software. For your sake, as much as mine!</p>
<h2 id="wait-you-didnt-follow-your-own-advice"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/how-to-actually-test-your-readme/#wait-you-didnt-follow-your-own-advice">Wait! You didn't follow your own advice!</a></h2>
<p>You're quite right. Feel free to send a pull request to correct this post - as I shall be doing with any unhelpful READMEs I find along the way.</p>
]]></content>
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</entry>
<entry>
<author>
<name>@edent</name>
<uri>https://edent.tel/</uri>
</author>
<title type="html"><![CDATA[You did no fact checking, and I must scream]]></title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/i-have-no-facts-and-i-must-scream/"/>
<id>https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=63643</id>
<updated>2025-10-06T09:56:50Z</updated>
<published>2025-10-05T11:34:23Z</published>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="/etc/"/>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="fact check"/>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="fake news"/>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="newspapers"/>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="quote"/>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="Social Media"/>
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[I'm neither a journalist nor a professional fact checker but, the thing is, it's has never been easier to check basic facts. Yeah, sure, there's a world of misinformation out there, but it doesn't take much effort to determine if something is likely to be true. There are brilliant tools like reverse Image Search which give you a good indicator of when an image first appeared on the web, and…]]></summary>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/i-have-no-facts-and-i-must-scream/"><![CDATA[<p>I'm neither a journalist nor a professional fact checker but, the thing is, it's has never been easier to check basic facts. Yeah, sure, there's a world of misinformation out there, but it doesn't take much effort to determine if something is likely to be true.</p>
<p>There are brilliant tools like <a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2018/04/tools-to-defeat-fake-news-reverse-image-search/">reverse Image Search</a> which give you a good indicator of when an image first appeared on the web, and whether it was published by a reputable source.</p>
<p>You can <a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2021/06/whats-the-origin-of-the-phrase-we-shouldnt-just-be-pulling-people-out-of-the-river-we-should-be-going-upstream-to-find-out-whos-pushing-them-in/">use Google Books to check whether a quote is true</a>.</p>
<p>You can use social-media searches to <a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2024/01/no-oscar-wilde-did-not-say-imitation-is-the-sincerest-form-of-flattery-that-mediocrity-can-pay-to-greatness/">easily check the origin of memes</a>.</p>
<p>There are <a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2021/07/did-dvorak-die-a-bitter-man/">vast archives of printed material</a> to help you.</p>
<p>The World Wide Web has a million sites which allow you to <a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2021/07/did-nikola-tesla-receive-nothing-but-insults-and-humiliation/">cross-reference any citations</a> to see if they're spurious.</p>
<p>Now, perhaps all that is a bit too much effort for someone casually doomscrolling and hitting "repost" for an instant dopamine hit. But it shouldn't be. And it <em>certainly</em> shouldn't be for people who write for trusted sources like newspapers.</p>
<p>Recently, the beloved actor Patricia Routledge died. Several newspapers reposted a piece of viral slop which <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/edent.tel/post/3lwvalev4r22b">I had debunked a month previously</a>. Let's go through the piece and see just how easy it is to prove false.</p>
<p>Here's that "viral" story. I've kept to the parts which contain easily verifiable / falsifiable claims.</p>
<img src="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/turning-95.webp" alt="**“I’ll be turning 95 this coming Monday. In my younger years, I was often filled with worry — worry that I wasn’t quite good enough, that no one would cast me again, that I wouldn’t live up to my mother’s hopes. But these days begin in peace, and end in gratitude.”**" width="350" height="120" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-63645">
<p>Wikpedia says that <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patricia_Routledge">her birthday was 17 February 1929</a>. She would have turned 95 in 2024.</p>
<p>Open up your calendar app. Scroll back to February 2024. What date was 17 February 2024? Saturday. Not Monday.</p>
<p>Now, OK, maybe at 95 she's forgotten her birthday. What else does the rest of the piece say?</p>
<img src="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/life.webp" alt="My life didn’t quite take shape until my forties. I had worked steadily — on provincial stages, in radio plays, in West End productions — but I often felt adrift, as though I was searching for a home within myself that I hadn’t quite found." width="350" height="100" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-63646">
<p>In 1968, <a href="https://youtu.be/_e6_6pHKsQU?t=5382">Patricia Routledge won Best Actress (Musical) at the Tony Awards</a> - she was 39. I don't know if I'd consider appearing on Broadway as provincial stages.</p>
<img src="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/accepted.webp" alt="At 50, I accepted a television role that many would later associate me with — Hyacinth Bucket, of Keeping Up Appearances. I thought it would be a small part in a little series. I never imagined that it would take me into people’s living rooms and hearts around the world. And truthfully, that role taught me to accept my own quirks. It healed something in me." width="350" height="140" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-63647">
<p><a href="http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/579878/">Keeping Up Appearances was first broadcast in 1990</a>. Patricia was around 60, not 50, when she was cast.</p>
<p>While she may have thought it would only be a small series - even though it was by the creator of Open All Hours and Last of the Summer Wine - there's no way that being the lead character could be described as a "small part". She wasn't a breakout character - she was the star.</p>
<img src="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/shake.webp" alt="At 70, I returned to the Shakespearean stage — something I once believed I had aged out of. But this time, I had nothing to prove. I stood on those boards with stillness, and audiences felt that. I was no longer performing. I was simply being." width="350" height="100" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-63648">
<p>Wikipedia isn't always accurate, but it <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patricia_Routledge#Stage">does list lots of her stage work</a>. She was working steadily on stage from 1999 - when she hit 70 - but none of it Shakespeare.</p>
<p>I was able to do that fact checking in 10 minutes while laying in bed waiting for the bathroom to become free. It wasn't onerous. It didn't require subscriptions to professional journals. I didn't need a team of fact-checkers. It took a bit of web-sleuthing and, dare I say it, a smidgen of common sense.</p>
<p>And yet, a couple of newspapers ran with this utter drivel as though it were the truth. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20251003145620/https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/tv/news/patricia-routledge-death-last-message-b2838736.html">The Independent</a> published it as part of their tribute - although they <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/edent.tel/post/3m2cmhw7nmc2a">took the piece down after I emailed them</a>. Similarly <a href="https://www.express.co.uk/showbiz/tv-radio/2100863/keeping-appearances-patricia-routledge-confession">The Express</a> ran it without any basic fact-checking (and <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/edent.tel/post/3m2jdtg6xys22">didn't take it down</a> after being contacted).</p>
<p>Both of them say their primary source is the <a href="https://jayspeak.blog/2025/08/02/growing-oldoops-up/">"Jay Speak" blog</a>. There's nothing on that blog post to say that the author interviewed Patricia Routledge. A quick check of the other posts on the site don't make it obvious that it is a reputable source of exclusive interviews with notable actors.</p>
<p>The date on that blog post is August 2nd, 2025. Is there anything earlier? Typing a few of the phrases into a search engine found a bunch of posts which pre-date it. The earliest I can find was <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DMeyLa6oU8q/">this Instagram post</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/henk.benson/posts/pfbid02dWng6y7dpubTFSZuYavFYVdEfLuzcnvmqNnJuiAN693LfJLSNwHec8p7cSQasgdxl">this Facebook post</a> both from the <strong>24th of July</strong> - a week early than the Jay Speaks post.</p>
<p>To be clear, I don't think Jay Speaks was deliberately trying to fool journalists or hoax anyone. They simply saw an interesting looking post and re-shared it. I also suspect the Facebook and Instagram posts were copied from other sources - but I've been unable to find anything definitive.</p>
<p>I would expect that professional journalists at well-established newspapers to be able to call an actor's agent to fact-check a piece before running it. If they can't, I would have thought they'd do a cursory fact check.</p>
<p>But, no. I presume the rush to publish is so great that it over-rides any sense of whether a piece should be accurate.</p>
<p>This is irresponsible. Last week saw <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/jamesomalley.co.uk/post/3m2edtpdysc2u">the BBC air an outright lie on Have I Got News For You</a>. A professional TV company, with a budget for lawyers, fact checkers, and researchers - and they just broadcast easily disproven lies. Why? Maybe hubris, maybe laziness, maybe deliberate rabble-rousing.</p>
<p>The media have comprehensively failed us. They will repeat any tawdry nonsense as long as it keeps people clicking. It's up to us to defend ourselves and our friends against this unending tsunami of low-grade slurry.</p>
<p>I hope I've demonstrated that it takes almost no effort to perform a basic fact check. It isn't a professional skill. It doesn't require anything more than an Internet connection and a curious mind. If you see something online, take a moment to check it before sharing it.</p>
<p>Stopping misinformation starts with you.</p>
]]></content>
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<thr:total>10</thr:total>
</entry>
<entry>
<author>
<name>@edent</name>
<uri>https://edent.tel/</uri>
</author>
<title type="html"><![CDATA[Getting started with Mastodon's Quote Posts - technical implementation details for servers]]></title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/getting-started-with-mastodons-quote-posts-technical-implementation-details-for-servers/"/>
<id>https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=63527</id>
<updated>2025-10-03T15:06:55Z</updated>
<published>2025-10-03T11:34:27Z</published>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="/etc/"/>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="ActivityPub"/>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="fediverse"/>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="mastodon"/>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="MastodonAPI"/>
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[Quoting posts on Mastodon is slightly complex. Because of the privacy conscious nature of the platform and its users, reposting isn't merely a case of sharing a URl. A user writes a status. The user can choose to make their statuses quotable or not. What happens when a quoter quotes that post? I've read through the specification and tried to simplify it. Quoting is a multi-step process: The…]]></summary>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/getting-started-with-mastodons-quote-posts-technical-implementation-details-for-servers/"><![CDATA[<p>Quoting posts on Mastodon is <em>slightly</em> complex. Because of the privacy conscious nature of the platform and its users, reposting isn't merely a case of sharing a URl.</p>
<p>A user writes a status. The user can choose to make their statuses quotable or not. What happens when a quoter quotes that post?</p>
<p>I've <a href="https://codeberg.org/fediverse/fep/src/branch/main/fep/044f/fep-044f.md">read through the specification</a> and tried to simplify it. Quoting is a multi-step process:</p>
<ol>
<li>The status <em>must</em> opt-in to being shared.</li>
<li>The quoter quotes the status.</li>
<li>The quoter's server sends a request to the status's server.</li>
<li>The status's server sends an accept message back to the quoter's server.</li>
<li>When other servers see the quote, they check with the status's server to see if it is allowed.</li>
</ol>
<p>I'm going to walk you through each stage as best as I understand them.</p>
<h2 id="opting-in"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/getting-started-with-mastodons-quote-posts-technical-implementation-details-for-servers/#opting-in">Opting In</a></h2>
<p>An ActivityPub status message is JSON. In order to opt-in, it needs this additional field.</p>
<pre><code class="language-JSON">"interactionPolicy": {
"canQuote": {
"automaticApproval": "https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams#Public"
}
}
</code></pre>
<p>That tells ActivityPub clients that anyone is allowed to quote this post. It is also possible to say that only specific users, or only followers, or no-one is allowed.</p>
<h2 id="the-quoterequest"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/getting-started-with-mastodons-quote-posts-technical-implementation-details-for-servers/#the-quoterequest">The QuoteRequest</a></h2>
<p>Someone has hit the quote post button, typed their own message, and shared their wisdom. Their server sends the following message to the server which hosts the quoted status. This has been edited for brevity.</p>
<pre><code class="language-JSON">{
"@context": [
"https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams",
{
"QuoteRequest": "https://w3id.org/fep/044f#QuoteRequest"
}
],
"type": "QuoteRequest",
"id": "https://mastodon.test/users/Edent/quote_requests/1234-5678-9101",
"actor": "https://mastodon.test/users/Edent",
"object": "https://example.com/posts/987654321.json",
"instrument": {
"id": "https://mastodon.test/users/Edent/statuses/123456789",
"url": "https://mastodon.test/@Edent/123456789",
"attributedTo": "https://mastodon.test/users/Edent",
"quote": "https://example.com/posts/987654321.json",
"_misskey_quote": "https://example.com/posts/987654321.json",
"quoteUri": "https://example.com/posts/987654321.json"
}
}
</code></pre>
<p>All this says is "I would like permission to quote you."</p>
<h2 id="the-stamp"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/getting-started-with-mastodons-quote-posts-technical-implementation-details-for-servers/#the-stamp">The Stamp</a></h2>
<p>The quoted server needs to approve this quote. First, it generates a "stamp".</p>
<p>This is a file which lives on the quoted server. It is proof that the quote is allowed. If it is deleted, the quote permission is revoked. When the <a href="https://socialhub.activitypub.rocks/t/quote-post-implementation-issues/8032/2?u=eden_t">stamp's ID is requested the stamp <em>must</em> be returned</a>.</p>
<pre><code class="language-JSON">{
"@context": [
"https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams",
{
"gts": "https://gotosocial.org/ns#",
"QuoteAuthorization": {
"@id": "https://w3id.org/fep/044f#QuoteAuthorization",
"@type": "@id"
},
"interactingObject": {
"@id": "gts:interactingObject"
},
"interactionTarget": {
"@id": "gts:interactionTarget"
}
}
],
"type": "QuoteAuthorization",
"id": "https://example.com/quote-987654321.json",
"attributedTo": "https://example.com/users/username",
"interactionTarget": "https://example.com/posts/987654321.json",
"interactingObject": "https://mastodon.test/users/Edent/statuses/123456789"
}
</code></pre>
<p>If the quoted status is viewed from a different server, that server will query the stamp to make sure the share is allowed.</p>
<h2 id="the-accept"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/getting-started-with-mastodons-quote-posts-technical-implementation-details-for-servers/#the-accept">The Accept</a></h2>
<p>This is the message that the quoted server sends to the quoting server. It references the request and the stamp.</p>
<pre><code class="language-JSON">{
"@context": [
"https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams",
{
"QuoteRequest": "https://w3id.org/fep/044f#QuoteRequest"
}
],
"type": "Accept",
"to": "https://mastodon.test/users/Edent",
"id": "https://example.com/posts/987654321.json",
"actor": "https://example.com/account",
"object": {
"type": "QuoteRequest",
"id": "https://mastodon.test/users/Edent/quote_requests/1234-5678-9101",
"actor": "https://mastodon.test/users/Edent",
"instrument": "https://mastodon.test/users/Edent/statuses/123456789",
"object": "https://example.com/posts/987654321.json"
},
"result": "https://example.com/quote-987654321.json"
}
</code></pre>
<p>The "result" <em>must</em> be the same as the stamp's URl.</p>
<h2 id="and-then"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/getting-started-with-mastodons-quote-posts-technical-implementation-details-for-servers/#and-then">And then?</a></h2>
<p>You can follow and quote <a href="https://colours.bots.edent.tel/">@[email protected]</a> on your favourite Fediverse platform.</p>
<p>I've written an ActivityPub server in a single file which is designed to teach you have the protocol works. Have a play with <a href="https://gitlab.com/edent/activity-bot">ActivityBot</a>.</p>
]]></content>
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<link rel="replies" type="application/atom+xml" href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/getting-started-with-mastodons-quote-posts-technical-implementation-details-for-servers/feed/atom/" thr:count="5"/>
<thr:total>5</thr:total>
</entry>
<entry>
<author>
<name>@edent</name>
<uri>https://edent.tel/</uri>
</author>
<title type="html"><![CDATA[Book Review: Streaming Wars - How Getting Everything We Wanted Changed Entertainment Forever by Charlotte Henry ★★☆☆☆]]></title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/book-review-streaming-wars-how-getting-everything-we-wanted-changed-entertainment-forever-by-charlotte-henry/"/>
<id>https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=63503</id>
<updated>2025-10-01T16:51:02Z</updated>
<published>2025-10-01T11:34:54Z</published>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="/etc/"/>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="Book Review"/>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="iplayer"/>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="Netflix"/>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="NetGalley"/>
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[This should be a fascinating look at how streaming services evolved and the outsized impact they've had on our culture. Instead it is mostly a series of re-written press-releases and recycled analysis from other people. Sadly, the book never dives in to the pre-history of streaming. There's a brief mention of RealPlayer - but nothing about the early experiments of livestreaming gigs and TV…]]></summary>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/book-review-streaming-wars-how-getting-everything-we-wanted-changed-entertainment-forever-by-charlotte-henry/"><![CDATA[<img src="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/cover719123-medium.png" alt="Book cover." width="255" height="391" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-63514">
<p>This <em>should</em> be a fascinating look at how streaming services evolved and the outsized impact they've had on our culture. Instead it is mostly a series of re-written press-releases and recycled analysis from other people.</p>
<p>Sadly, the book never dives in to the pre-history of streaming. There's a brief mention of RealPlayer - but nothing about the early experiments of livestreaming gigs and TV over the Internet. Similarly, it ignores how Big Brother created a generation of people who wanted to stream on their phones. Early pioneers like JenniCam are written out of history. The book is relentlessly focussed on American streamers, with only a brief foray into the UK, Africa, and other markets. There's nothing about Project Kangaroo and how it squandered an early opportunity for streaming dominance.</p>
<p>Steaming only started with Netflix, according to this book. Despite iPlayer launching at roughly the same time, it doesn't make an appearance until halfway though the book. It's also missing some of the interesting aspects of how Netflix built its algorithm, and the privacy impacts of it.</p>
<p>The analysis itself mostly quotes from reports from Enders and other firms like that. It doesn't seem like there was any original research done, and there aren't any new interviews done for the book. Instead it is just a surface-level analysis mixed in with clichéd prose about boiling frogs. It's also fairly uncritical - several sections are just press-releases from big streaming services with little discussion about whether they're accurate. It almost turns into a corporate biography / hagiography rather than a serious look at streaming.</p>
<p>There's very little about the production side. For example, how <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/why-does-everything-on-netflix-look-like-that/">Netflix squashes cinematograph</a> and how its <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/cinematography/comments/16precd/whats_the_real_reason_netflix_shows_all_look_the/k1v88gd/">lack of permanent props storage</a> restricts accurate set-dressing to <a href="https://www.wired.com/2016/07/stories-behind-stranger-things-retro-80s-props/">tent-pole shows</a>.</p>
<p>Although this is a preview copy, the prose feels half-baked.</p>
<blockquote><p>Overall, the iPlayer is a very high-quality product, providing access to both linear TV and a whole range of content in its extensive catalogue.</p></blockquote>
<p>That's the sort of thing I'd expect from a student essay rather than a serious book.</p>
<p>Unlike <a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2022/03/book-review-warez-the-infrastructure-and-aesthetics-of-piracy-by-martin-paul-eve/">Warez - The Infrastructure and Aesthetics of Piracy by Martin Paul Eve</a>, there's almost nothing about piracy and how that drives the behaviour of consumers, producers, and distributors. There's a bit of discussion of Napster, but hardly anything about the more modern cultural impact.</p>
<p>It is maddeningly contradictory. In a couple of pages it goes from:</p>
<blockquote><p>Consequently, we are closer than we have ever been to having something like global TV. Close, but not actually there.</p></blockquote>
<p>To:</p>
<blockquote><p>because of the amount of work available to view, there is no mono-culture anymore.</p></blockquote>
<p>Which is it?</p>
<p>The book concludes by saying:</p>
<blockquote><p>With that in mind, the ultimate winner of the streaming wars is the consumer. It is us.</p></blockquote>
<p>Is it though? There's almost nothing about shows cancelled before they got going. Nothing about whether American cultural hegemony suffocates local media development. It briefly touches on the constant price rises, but never investigates whether it changes behaviours or if they drive customers away. There's not a single interview with viewers - and no attempt to understand whether they feel positive about the way streaming has changed the world.</p>
<p>There's a fascinating story to be told, but this isn't it.</p>
<p>Thanks to Netgalley for the review copy, the book is available to pre-order now.</p>
]]></content>
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<link rel="replies" type="application/atom+xml" href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/book-review-streaming-wars-how-getting-everything-we-wanted-changed-entertainment-forever-by-charlotte-henry/feed/atom/" thr:count="3"/>
<thr:total>3</thr:total>
</entry>
<entry>
<author>
<name>@edent</name>
<uri>https://edent.tel/</uri>
</author>
<title type="html"><![CDATA[Can you use GDPR to Circumvent BlueSky's Adult Content Blocks?]]></title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/can-you-use-gdpr-to-circumvent-blueskys-adult-content-blocks/"/>
<id>https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=62143</id>
<updated>2025-09-30T12:01:46Z</updated>
<published>2025-09-29T11:34:27Z</published>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="/etc/"/>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="BlueSky"/>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="gdpr"/>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="OnlineSafety"/>
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[In the battle between the Online Safety Act and GDPR, who will win? FIGHT! I'll start by saying that I'm moderately positive on Online Safety. If services don't want to provide moderation then they shouldn't let their younger users be exposed to harm. The social network BlueSky has taken a pragmatic approach to this. If you don't want to verify your age, you can still use its services - but it…]]></summary>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/can-you-use-gdpr-to-circumvent-blueskys-adult-content-blocks/"><![CDATA[<p>In the battle between the Online Safety Act and GDPR, who will win? FIGHT!</p>
<p>I'll start by saying that I'm <a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2024/12/food-safety-vs-online-safety/">moderately positive on Online Safety</a>. If services don't want to provide moderation then they shouldn't let their younger users be exposed to harm.</p>
<p>The social network BlueSky has taken a pragmatic approach to this. If you don't want to verify your age, you can still use its services - but <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/edent.tel/post/3ltmzgl5h4c2k">it won't serve you porn or let people send you non-public messages</a>.</p>
<p>I think that's pretty reasonable. I don't use BSky to look at naked <del>mole rats</del> people, and I already have plenty of other messaging accounts. So I haven't verified my age.</p>
<p>There are two slight wrinkles with BSky's implementation. Firstly, there's no way to retrieve DMs which were sent before this restriction came into force. Oh, you can one-click export your data - but <a href="https://docs.bsky.app/blog/repo-export">it only includes <em>public</em> data</a>. So no DMs.</p>
<p>Secondly, you can't turn off DM from people who have previously messaged you. <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/edent.tel/post/3luoqklgdhk27">I asked people to message me</a> to see if they got an error - but it looks like the messages just get silently accepted. I probably look a bit rude if I don't answer them.</p>
<p>Worse still, the DM notification keeps incrementing!</p>
<img src="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Bluesky-DM-notification.webp" alt="A notification counter showing the number 3. The message next to it says I need to complete age assurance." width="932" height="401" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-62145">
<p>It <em>is</em> possible to turn off DMs - but <a href="https://bsky.social/about/blog/05-22-2024-direct-messages">only if you can access your DM settings</a>. Which you can't if you haven't passed age assurance.</p>
<p>Well, what about GDPR?</p>
<p><a href="https://bsky.social/about/support/privacy-policy#personal-information-collect">BlueSky's privacy policy</a> has this to say about DMs:</p>
<blockquote><p>Your Direct Messages. We store and process your direct messages in order to enable you to communicate directly and privately with other users on the Bluesky App. These are unencrypted and can be accessed for Trust and Safety purposes.</p></blockquote>
<p>They go on to say that I may have the right to:</p>
<blockquote><p>Request Access to and Portability of Your Personal Information, including: (i) obtaining access to or a copy of your personal information; and (ii) receiving an electronic copy of personal information that you have provided to us, or asking us to send that information to another company in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format (also known as the “right of data portability”);</p></blockquote>
<p>So I sent off a Subject Access Request asking specifically for the Direct Messages sent to/from my account.</p>
<p>I was 100% sure that the messages I had sent were my personal data and should be returned to me. I wasn't sure if messages other people had sent to me could be considered personal data. But I figured that the OSA hadn't invalidated GDPR.</p>
<p>Here's what happened:</p>
<h2 id="timeline"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/can-you-use-gdpr-to-circumvent-blueskys-adult-content-blocks/#timeline">Timeline</a></h2>
<ul>
<li>2025-07-24 - Sent request to their support desk and received an acknowledgement.
<ul>
<li>Response: "I've gone ahead and shared your request with our team and will follow up with you if any additional information or verification is needed."</li>
</ul></li>
<li>2025-07-31 - Sent a reminder to them.
<ul>
<li>Response: "We've escalated your concern to our developers and are still waiting for their response and confirmation. We'll get back as soon as we get this information."</li>
</ul></li>
<li>2025-08-25 - One month later sent an escalation to their legal team reminding them of their obligations.
<ul>
<li>Response: Asked to provide my country of residence and to prove my account ownership by send an email from the address associated with my BSky account.</li>
</ul></li>
<li>2025-09-05 - Sent yet another chaser.</li>
<li>2025-09-13 - Over seven weeks since the initial request. Told them that I wanted to know which data protection authority they were registered with so I could make a formal complaint.
<ul>
<li>Response: "Please be aware that we are currently in the process of making your data available for download. We will notify you as soon as it is ready."</li>
</ul></li>
<li>2025-09-22 - 8 weeks since the complaint was raised. Sent another chaser asking how long until my data would be ready to download.</li>
<li>2025-09-25 - After 64 days they sent me a CSV with my data!</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="result"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/can-you-use-gdpr-to-circumvent-blueskys-adult-content-blocks/#result">Result</a></h2>
<p>Here's an extract of the CSV. I've lightly redacted the data, but you can see how JSON embedding works.</p>
<pre><code class="language-csv">convoId,sentAt,sender,contents
3kt6f7a2,2025-07-24 05:50:09.339+00,did:plc:pxy4cjqfu5aa6eadtx5,"{""text"": ""Testing testing""}"
3ku4lvbh,2024-06-04 18:17:52.414+00,did:plc:i6misxex577k4q6o7gl,"{""text"": ""Thought this might be up your alley. I've been to a few of them - pretty good crowd. thegeomob.com/post/july-3r..."", ""facets"": [{""index"": {""byteEnd"": 114, ""byteStart"": 85}, ""features"": [{""uri"": ""https://thegeomob.com/post/july-3rd-2024-geomoblon-details"", ""$type"": ""app.bsky.richtext.facet#link""}]}]}"
</code></pre>
<h2 id="thoughts"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/can-you-use-gdpr-to-circumvent-blueskys-adult-content-blocks/#thoughts">Thoughts</a></h2>
<p>I didn't have to prove my age. I just proved account ownership and then politely but insistently asked for my data. Frankly, it is baffling that such a well-funded company takes this long to answer a simple request.</p>
<p>Does this expose a gaping whole in the idea of online safety?</p>
<p>No. Not really. I suppose that a theoretical abuser could send messages to a minor and then that minor could go through a Subject Access Request process to try and access them. But that all feels a bit far-fetched and is likely to draw attention to both parties.</p>
<h2 id="but-why-didnt-you-just"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/can-you-use-gdpr-to-circumvent-blueskys-adult-content-blocks/#but-why-didnt-you-just">But why didn't you just…</a></h2>
<p>This was definitely "playing on hard mode". There were other ways to get my DMs. Here are some alternatives which I didn't try and <em>why</em> I didn't try them.</p>
<ul>
<li>Use a VPN to circumvent the geoblock.
<ul>
<li>Why should I have to pay for a VPN, or trust my browsing data to a dodgy 3rd party? I shouldn't have to install and configure software just to work around a crappy design decision.</li>
</ul></li>
<li>Go through age verification.
<ul>
<li>I don't browse BlueSky for the "gentlemen's special interest" section. I already have lots of ways people can contact me. I'm not against a KYC process - but I simply don't need it.</li>
</ul></li>
<li>Use a 3rd party client to download the data.
<ul>
<li>I don't trust my data with 3rd party apps, and neither should you!</li>
</ul></li>
<li>Use <a href="https://docs.bsky.app/docs/api/chat-bsky-convo-get-messages">the API</a> to read DMs.
<ul>
<li>I wasn't sure if the API required age verification. And, frankly, I couldn't be faffed learning a brand new API.</li>
</ul></li>
<li>Escalate straight to the CEO or via a friend who works there.
<ul>
<li>I like doing things the official way. Not everyone has a friend who works at BSky (thanks <REDACTED>!) and I feel it is better if legal teams get direct feedback from users; not management.</li>
</ul></li>
<li>Ignore this and use a better social network.
<ul>
<li>I go where my friends are. I have lots of friends on Mastodon and other services. BSky is OK, but I'm only there for my friends. But, while they are there, I didn't want an obnoxious DM notification taunting me.</li>
</ul></li>
</ul>
<h2 id="next-steps"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/can-you-use-gdpr-to-circumvent-blueskys-adult-content-blocks/#next-steps">Next Steps</a></h2>
<p>I've emailed BlueSky to ask them to completely disable my inbox and clear my notifications. We'll see how long that takes them!</p>
]]></content>
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<thr:total>4</thr:total>
</entry>
<entry>
<author>
<name>@edent</name>
<uri>https://edent.tel/</uri>
</author>
<title type="html"><![CDATA[Drunk CSS]]></title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/drunk-css/"/>
<id>https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=62987</id>
<updated>2025-09-25T07:40:59Z</updated>
<published>2025-09-27T11:34:51Z</published>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="/etc/"/>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="css"/>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="drunk"/>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="HTML"/>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="ui"/>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="ux"/>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="webdev"/>
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[A decade ago, I was writing about how you should test your user interface on drunk people. It was a semi-serious idea. Some of your users will be drunk when using your app or website. If it is easy for them to use, then it should be easy for sober people to use. Of course, necking a few shots every time you update your website isn't great for your health - so is there another way? Click the "🥴 …]]></summary>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/drunk-css/"><![CDATA[<p>A decade ago, I was writing about how you should <a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2014/01/ui-for-drunks/">test your user interface on drunk people</a>. It was a semi-serious idea. Some of your users <em>will</em> be drunk when using your app or website. If it is easy for them to use, then it should be easy for sober people to use.</p>
<p>Of course, necking a few shots every time you update your website isn't <em>great</em> for your health - so is there another way?</p>
<p>Click the "🥴 Drunk" button at <a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/drunk-css/#theme">the top of the page</a> and see what happens!</p>
<p>These are a relatively simple set of CSS rules which you can apply to any site in order to <em>simulate</em> inebriation.</p>
<p>(I may have changed these since writing the post. Check the source for the latest version.)</p>
<p>First, monkey around with the fonts. This sets all the lower-case vowels to be rendered in a different font - as discussed in "<a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/targetting-specific-characters-with-css-rules/">targetting specific characters with CSS rules</a>":</p>
<pre><code class="language-css">/* Drunk */
@font-face {
font-family: "Drunk";
src: url("/blog/wp-content/themes/edent-wordpress-theme/assets/fonts/CommitMonoV143-Edent.woff2") format("woff2");
/* Lower-Case Vowels */
unicode-range: U+61, U+65, U+69, U+6F, U+75 ;
size-adjust: 105%;
}
</code></pre>
<p>The rest of the characters will be rendered in the system's default Cursive font. Characters will also be slanted. The first character of every paragraph will be shrunk:</p>
<pre><code class="language-css">:root:has(input#drunk:checked) * {
font-family: "Drunk", cursive;
font-style: oblique -12deg;
text-align: end;
}
:root:has(input#drunk:checked) p::first-letter {
font-size: .5em;
}
</code></pre>
<p>Next, use the child selectors to rotate and skew various elements. While we wait for <a href="https://webkit.org/blog/17285/rolling-the-dice-with-css-random/">CSS randomness to come to all browsers</a> this is a simple way to select various elements:</p>
<pre><code class="language-css">:root:has(input#drunk:checked) *:nth-child(3n) {
transform: rotate(2deg);
}
:root:has(input#drunk:checked) *:nth-child(5n) {
transform: skew(5deg, 5deg);
}
:root:has(input#drunk:checked) *:nth-child(7n) {
transform: rotate(-3deg);
}
</code></pre>
<p>Make the entire page blurred and saturate the colours:</p>
<pre><code class="language-css">:root:has(input#drunk:checked) body {
filter: blur(1px) saturate(2.5);
}
</code></pre>
<p>Make any hyperlink harder to click by having it gently bounce up and down:</p>
<pre><code class="language-css">:root:has(input#drunk:checked) a {
animation-name: bounce;
animation-duration: 4s;
animation-direction: alternate;
animation-timing-function: ease-in-out;
animation-iteration-count: infinite;
}
@keyframes bounce {
0% { margin-top: 0px; }
25% { margin-top:-10px; }
50% { margin-top: 0px; }
75% { margin-top: 10px; }
100% { margin-top: 0px; }
}
</code></pre>
<p>Does this <em>really</em> simulate drunkenness? No. It is a pale simulacrum. What it is, however, is deliberately inaccessible to the majority of people.</p>
<p>How does it make you feel using the site in Drunk-Mode? Does it frustrate you? Do your eyes hurt due to the garish colour scheme? Do you keep missing the thing that you try and click on? Are the words so hard to read that it takes you extra time to do anything useful? Will you recommend this experience to your friends and family?</p>
<p>I've written before about <a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2019/07/i-feel-hopeless-rejected-and-a-burden-on-society-one-week-of-empathy-training/">cosplaying as being disabled</a>. Strapping on a pair of <a href="https://www.lowvisionsimulators.com/products/glaucoma-rp-simulators">Glaucoma Goggles</a> will give you an idea of what a visual impairment is like. But it won't give you the experience of living that way for months or years.</p>
<p>You should test your stuff with people who have cognitive impairments or physical disabilities. Find out how usable your site is for someone lacking fine motor control or for those with learning disabilities. Pay disable people to take part in usability studies. Integrate their feedback.</p>
<p>Faffing around with CSS will only get you so far.</p>
]]></content>
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</entry>
<entry>
<author>
<name>@edent</name>
<uri>https://edent.tel/</uri>
</author>
<title type="html"><![CDATA[Book Review: This Might Surprise You - A Breast Cancer Story by Hayley Gullen ★★★★★]]></title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/book-review-this-might-surprise-you-a-breast-cancer-story-by-hayley-gullen/"/>
<id>https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=63496</id>
<updated>2025-09-25T08:56:03Z</updated>
<published>2025-09-25T11:34:17Z</published>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="/etc/"/>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="Book Review"/>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="nhs"/>
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[My pal Hayley has written a book - a graphic memoir about dealing with breast cancer. Graphic as in graphic-novel - although there are a large variety of sketched boobs dotted throughout the pages and some frank discussions of sex. I'm not very good with "medical stuff" - so I was quite proud of myself for only twice needing to take a break from reading it because I felt faint. It is the most…]]></summary>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/book-review-this-might-surprise-you-a-breast-cancer-story-by-hayley-gullen/"><![CDATA[<img src="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Hayley-Gullen.webp" alt="Comic book cover." width="200" height="300" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-63498">
<p>My pal Hayley has written a book - a graphic memoir about dealing with breast cancer. Graphic as in graphic-novel - although there <em>are</em> a large variety of sketched boobs dotted throughout the pages and some frank discussions of sex. I'm not very good with "medical stuff" - so I was quite proud of myself for only twice needing to take a break from reading it because I felt faint.</p>
<p>It is the most perfectly human book I've read in a while. The inner monologue will be intimately familiar to anyone who has sat nervously in a hospital waiting room. It is in turns funny, heartbreaking, devastating, and hopeful. The illustrations are lush. Soaring between the mundane nature of being stuck in a machine, to the surreal nature of your body conspiring against you. It expertly mixes the factual (what to take, when to take it, where to go) with the fanciful (how to visualise your oncologist catching you with a butterfly net).</p>
<p>This book is vital reading for anyone involved in the NHS. It presents a <del>patient-</del> person-centred view of everything that can go wrong on a <del>patient's</del> person's journey through the health system. From technobabbling doctors to outdated IT systems. It's a clear and punchy call for improved holistics. Every part of the system matters - especially when <del>patients</del> people are at their most vulnerable.</p>
<p>In a delightful meta-narrative, the book passes the eponymous Gullen-test which asks whether a character with cancer is cured by normal science or a miracle. In this case, it is lot (and lots) of drugs, machines, doctors, nurses, and chemicals.</p>
<p>People with cancer get bought a lot of books. This is a tight 180 pages exploring the melancholy and the joy which can accompany the journey.</p>
<p>Highly recommended.</p>
<h2 id="technical-details"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/book-review-this-might-surprise-you-a-breast-cancer-story-by-hayley-gullen/#technical-details">Technical Details</a></h2>
<p>This part is more of a technical review of the eBook. Firstly, it's all in black and white - which makes it suitable for reading on an eInk device.</p>
<p>It's also available as an ePub - rather than just a flattened PDF. That means the text is selectable, available for screen readers, and searchable.</p>
<p>The book weighs in at 156MB, which is a bit chunky and will be slow to open on some eReaders. The images are all 1134x1700 resolution which makes them gorgeous to look at. But they're saved in the rather inefficient JPEG format, at extremely high quality. Shifting the images to PNG would have reduced the filesize by at least a third, with no loss of quality.</p>
<p>Bafflingly, the publisher has fixed the height and width of every page using:</p>
<pre><code class="language-html"><meta content="width=444, height=665" name="viewport"/>
</code></pre>
<p>That's approximately the right aspect ratio, but far too small. Some eReaders will display the pages in a small box on the page, others might be prevented from zooming in. The CSS is also weirdly bloated and could do with being optimised.</p>
<p>None of this will spoil your enjoyment of a very fine book. It's just evidence that some publishers need to get better at the technical aspects of graphic novels!</p>
]]></content>
<link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/book-review-this-might-surprise-you-a-breast-cancer-story-by-hayley-gullen/#comments" thr:count="0"/>
<link rel="replies" type="application/atom+xml" href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/book-review-this-might-surprise-you-a-breast-cancer-story-by-hayley-gullen/feed/atom/" thr:count="0"/>
<thr:total>0</thr:total>
</entry>
<entry>
<author>
<name>@edent</name>
<uri>https://edent.tel/</uri>
</author>
<title type="html"><![CDATA[Targetting specific characters with CSS rules]]></title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/targetting-specific-characters-with-css-rules/"/>
<id>https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=62760</id>
<updated>2025-09-23T11:48:05Z</updated>
<published>2025-09-23T11:34:09Z</published>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="/etc/"/>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="css"/>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="HTML"/>
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[You can't. There is no way to use CSS to apply a style to every letter "E". It simply can't be done. At least, that's what they want you to think… What if I told you there was a secret and forbidden way to target specific characters in text and apply some styles to them? As part of my experiments in creating a "drunk" CSS theme, I thought it would be useful to change the presentation of s…]]></summary>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/targetting-specific-characters-with-css-rules/"><![CDATA[<p>You can't. There is no way to use CSS to apply a style to every letter "E". It simply can't be done.</p>
<p>At least, that's what <em>they</em> want you to think…</p>
<p>What if I told you there was a secret and forbidden way to target specific characters in text and apply <em>some</em> styles to them?</p>
<p>As part of my experiments in creating a "drunk" CSS theme, I thought it would be useful to change the presentation of specific characters. Wouldn't it be <em>fun</em> to have every letter "a" look slightly different to the rest of the text?!</p>
<p>So here's how you can apply <em>limited</em> CSS styles to certain characters while leaving the rest of the text unchanged, and without having to wrap characters in extra markup.</p>
<pre><code class="language-css">@font-face {
font-family: "Different";
src: url("whatever.woff2") format("woff2");
/* Lower-Case Vowels */
unicode-range: U+61, U+65, U+69, U+6F, U+75 ;
}
body {
font-family: "Different", sans;
}
</code></pre>
<p>This creates a new font-family called "Different". It loads a unique font. It is applied to <em>specific</em> Unicode characters - in this case: a, e, i , o, and u.</p>
<p>The body places this font-family <em>first</em> and then defaults to a different family. This means all the lower-case vowels will use one font, and every other character will use something else.</p>
<p>That's… OK. I guess? Having certain characters as Garamond and the others as Times New Roman isn't exactly exciting, is it?</p>
<p>Sadly, there only other thing we can do in CSS to spice things up is to monkey around with <code>size-adjust</code> which lets the text be scaled up or down.</p>
<p>But modern fonts are pretty magic, you know!</p>
<p>The WOFF2 format has a new(ish) <a href="https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/typography/opentype/spec/colr">COLR table</a> which allows you to create multi-coloured fonts. That means it is possible to target specific characters and have them display in living colour.</p>
<p>For example, using this <a href="https://fontstruct.com/fontstructions/show/2469233/street-fighter-ii-large-1">colourful pixel font</a> by <a href="https://www.splintered.co.uk/">Patrick H. Lauke</a> (<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/">CC BY</a>), I can target the Unicode Range of upper-case characters.</p>
<style style="display:block;white-space: break-spaces;font-family: mono;">
@font-face {
font-family: "colrWOFF2";
src: url("/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/street-fighter-ii-large-colour.colr.ttf.woff2") format("woff2");
unicode-range: U+0041-005A ;
}
.colrW{
font-family:"colrWOFF2", monospace;
}</style>
<p><span class="colrW">The above CSS only changes the appearance of UPPER Case characters!</span></p>
<p>To wrap things up - yes, you can target specific characters with CSS rules. Sadly, you're pretty much limited to fiddling around with their fonts.</p>
]]></content>
<link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/targetting-specific-characters-with-css-rules/#comments" thr:count="9"/>
<link rel="replies" type="application/atom+xml" href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/targetting-specific-characters-with-css-rules/feed/atom/" thr:count="9"/>
<thr:total>9</thr:total>
</entry>
<entry>
<author>
<name>@edent</name>
<uri>https://edent.tel/</uri>
</author>
<title type="html"><![CDATA[LLMs are still surprisingly bad at some simple tasks]]></title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/llms-are-still-surprisingly-bad-at-simple-tasks/"/>
<id>https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=63410</id>
<updated>2025-09-21T11:35:13Z</updated>
<published>2025-09-21T11:34:38Z</published>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="/etc/"/>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="AI"/>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="LLM"/>
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[I asked three different commercially available LLMs the same question: Which TLDs have the same name as valid HTML5 elements? This is a pretty simple question to answer. Take two lists and compare them. I know this question is possible to answer because I went through the lists two years ago. Answering the question was a little tedious and subject to my tired human eyes making no mistakes. So…]]></summary>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/llms-are-still-surprisingly-bad-at-simple-tasks/"><![CDATA[<p>I asked three different commercially available LLMs the same question:</p>
<blockquote><p>Which TLDs have the same name as valid HTML5 elements?</p></blockquote>
<p>This is a pretty simple question to answer. Take two lists and compare them. I know this question is possible to answer <a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2023/09/false-friends-html-elements-which-are-also-top-level-domains/">because I went through the lists two years ago</a>. Answering the question was a <em>little</em> tedious and subject to my tired human eyes making no mistakes. So surely this is the sort of thing which an LLM excels at, right?</p>
<p>Wrong!</p>
<p>Here's how the three big beasts fared.</p>
<h2 id="chatgpt"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/llms-are-still-surprisingly-bad-at-simple-tasks/#chatgpt">ChatGPT</a></h2>
<p><a href="https://chatgpt.com/s/t_68cba42f89cc8191856689675b86e165">OpenAI's LLM does a poor job</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p>Good question! Let’s carefully check this.
</p><p>[…Skip preamble…]
</p><p>✅ Confirmed Matches
</p><p>The following <strong>TLDs</strong> exactly match <strong>valid HTML5 element names</strong>:
</p><ul>
<li>.audio → <audio>
</li><li>.code → <code>
</li><li>.link → <link>
</li><li>.menu → <menu>
</li><li>.nav → <nav>
</li><li>.video → <video>
</li></ul>
</blockquote>
<p>This is wrong on two counts. First, it misses off several matches. Secondly, <em>there is no <code>.code</code> TLD!</em> There is a <code>.codes</code>, but that's not a match.</p>
<h2 id="google-gemini"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/llms-are-still-surprisingly-bad-at-simple-tasks/#google-gemini">Google Gemini</a></h2>
<p><a href="https://g.co/gemini/share/06380dbba3e8">Gemini shits the bed completely</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
Here are the top-level domains (TLDs) that have the same name as valid HTML5 elements:
<ul>
<li>.address: The HTML <address> element is used to define the contact information for the author/owner of a document or an article.
</li><li>.article: The HTML <article> element specifies independent, self-contained content.
</li><li>.aside: The HTML <aside> element is used to define some content aside from the content it is placed in.
</li><li>.audio: The HTML <audio> element is used to embed sound content in a document.
</li><li>.body: The HTML <body> element defines the document's main content.
</li><li>[…Skip a dozen more items…]
</li></ul>
</blockquote>
<p>It just lists a bunch of HTML elements with no crossover to TLDs. Thanks Google. Thoogle.</p>
<h2 id="claude"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/llms-are-still-surprisingly-bad-at-simple-tasks/#claude">Claude</a></h2>
<p><a href="https://claude.ai/share/39177222-3eb0-4310-942b-1e352c1f2b8e">Anthropic's AI does a half-arsed job</a>.</p>
<blockquote>
Here are the TLDs that match HTML5 element names:
<ul>
<li>.audio - matches the <audio> element
</li><li>.video - matches the <video> element
</li><li>.data - matches the <data> element
</li><li>.link - matches the <link> element
</li><li>.menu - matches the <menu> element
</li><li>.style - matches the <style> element
</li><li>.select - matches the <select> element
</li></ul>
Some other potential matches depend on how broadly you interpret "HTML5 elements":
<ul>
<li>.app - while there's no <app> element in HTML5, there was discussion of it during HTML5 development
</li><li>.art - not a standard HTML element, though some frameworks use custom elements like this
</li></ul>
</blockquote>
<p>The first seven <em>are</em> correct - although it ignores a dozen more correct answers. But then it does the LLM thing of trying to over-fit the data in a simulacrum of usefulness.</p>
<h2 id="dont-believe-the-hype"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/llms-are-still-surprisingly-bad-at-simple-tasks/#dont-believe-the-hype">Don't believe the hype</a></h2>
<p>To be clear, I would expect a moderately intelligent teenager to be able to find two lists and compare them. If an intern gave me the same attention to detail as above, we'd be having a cosy little chat about their attitude to work.</p>
<p>I've discussed before why <a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/06/why-do-people-have-such-dramatically-different-experiences-using-ai/">people have such dramatically different experiences using AI</a>. For some it is an all-knowing and ineffable source of wisdom. For others, like me, it is mostly garbage.</p>
<p>I think it comes down to how familiar you are with the domain and its constraints. When I watch a medical drama, I have no idea if they're using <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_AmdvxbPT8">realistic language</a>. It <em>sounds</em> good, but real doctors probably cringe at the inaccuracies.</p>
<p>AI seems <em>plausible</em> because it relies on the <a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2023/02/how-much-of-ais-recent-success-is-due-to-the-forer-effect/">Barnum Effect</a> - it tells people what they <em>want</em> to hear. It produces words which <em>sound</em> correct.</p>
<p>We need a new term for <a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2024/05/gell-mann-amnesia-and-purdah/">Gell-Mann Amnesia</a>. Something that describes how an AI is convincing if you don't understand its reasoning, and close to useless if you understand its limitations.</p>
]]></content>
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<link rel="replies" type="application/atom+xml" href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/llms-are-still-surprisingly-bad-at-simple-tasks/feed/atom/" thr:count="20"/>
<thr:total>20</thr:total>
</entry>
<entry>
<author>
<name>@edent</name>
<uri>https://edent.tel/</uri>
</author>
<title type="html"><![CDATA[Class Warfare! Can I eliminate CSS classes from my HTML?]]></title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/class-warfare-can-i-eliminate-css-classes-from-my-html/"/>
<id>https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=63392</id>
<updated>2025-09-19T08:50:55Z</updated>
<published>2025-09-19T11:34:55Z</published>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="/etc/"/>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="blog"/>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="css"/>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="HTML"/>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="schema.org"/>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="semantic web"/>
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[I recently read a brilliantly provocative blog post called "This website has no class". In it, Adam Stoddard makes the case that you might not need CSS classes on a modern website: I think constraints lead to interesting, creative solutions […]. Instead of relying on built in elements a bit more, I decided to banish classes from my website completely. Long time readers will know that I'm a big f…]]></summary>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/class-warfare-can-i-eliminate-css-classes-from-my-html/"><![CDATA[<p>I recently read a brilliantly provocative blog post called "<a href="https://aaadaaam.com/notes/no-class/">This website has no class</a>". In it, Adam Stoddard makes the case that you might not need CSS classes on a modern website:</p>
<blockquote><p>I think constraints lead to interesting, creative solutions […]. Instead of relying on built in elements a bit more, I decided to banish classes from my website completely.</p></blockquote>
<p>Long time readers will know that I'm a big fan of using semantic HTML where possible. If you peek beneath the curtain of this website you'll only see a handful of <code><div></code> elements (mostly because WordPress hardcodes them) - all the other blocks are fully semantic. Regrettably, there are rather too many <code><span></code> elements for my liking - normally for accessibility or for supplementing the metadata.</p>
<p>Overall, my CSS contained about 134 rules which selected based on class. Is that a lot? It <em>feels</em> like a lot.</p>
<p>On the one hand, classes are an easy way of splitting and grouping elements. Some <code><img></code>s should be displayed one way, the rest another. There's no semantic way to say "This is a hero image and should take up the full width, but this is an icon and should float discretely to the right."</p>
<p>But, on the other hand, <em>why</em> do we need classes? Keith Cirkel's excellent post "<a href="https://www.keithcirkel.co.uk/css-classes-considered-harmful/">CSS Classes considered harmful</a>" goes through their history and brings together some proposed solutions for replacing them. I think his idea of using <code>data-</code> attributes is a neat hack - but ultimately isn't much different from using classes. It's still a scrap of metadata to be tied into a style-sheet.</p>
<p>Classes are great for when you <em>reuse</em> something. I have multiple <code><section></code> elements but most don't share anything in common with the others. So they probably oughtn't have classes.</p>
<p>Removing classes has some advantages. It makes the HTML fractionally smaller, sure, but it also forces the author to think about the logical structure of their page and the semantics behind it.</p>
<p>Looking through my HTML, lots of classes exist because of laziness. If I want to position all the <code><time></code> elements which are within a comment, I don't <em>need</em> to write <code><time class="whatever"></code> and to pair it with <code>.whatever { … }</code>. Instead, I can use modern CSS selectors and say <code>#comments time { … }</code>.</p>
<p>But this leads me on to another existential question.</p>
<h2 id="are-ids-necessary-in-modern-html"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/class-warfare-can-i-eliminate-css-classes-from-my-html/#are-ids-necessary-in-modern-html">Are IDs necessary in modern HTML?</a></h2>
<p>Mayyyyybe? I only have one <code><main></code> element, so an ID on there is unnecessary. <code><input></code> elements need IDs in order to be properly targetted by <code><label></code>s - but the label can wrap around the input. I have multiple <code><aside></code> elements because there's no semantic <code><widget></code> element, so they need unique IDs.</p>
<p>In theory, as suggested by Adam above, I could use an <a href="https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Web_components/Using_custom_elements">autonomous custom element</a> like <code><my-widget></code> - but that has none of the semantics and, frankly, feels like a bit of a cheat.</p>
<h2 id="trimming-the-fat"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/class-warfare-can-i-eliminate-css-classes-from-my-html/#trimming-the-fat">Trimming the fat</a></h2>
<p>Any day where I can delete some code is a good day. This was an excellent exercise in going through (years) of HTML and CSS to see what cruft had built up.</p>
<p>The first CSS rule I changed was, as mentioned above:</p>
<pre><code class="language-css">time.commentmetadata {
float: right;
}
</code></pre>
<p>Which became:</p>
<pre><code class="language-CSS">#comments time {
float: right;
}
</code></pre>
<p>Classless and slightly more brief. Is it more readable? Having the fact it was about the metadata in a class could have been slightly useful - but if I thought it would be confusing, I could stick a <code>/* comment */</code> in there.</p>
<p>Next, I found <code><nav class="navigation posts-navigation"></code> - what a tautology! I have multiple <code><nav></code> elements, it is true. But none of them have the same style. So this swiftly became <code><nav id="posts-navigation"></code> with an accompanying CSS rewrite.</p>
<p>My theme switcher had a bunch of <code><label class=button></code>s. They were all within a container with a unique ID, so could they be changed? Yes. But seeing the class name in the HTML is a good reminder to the author of <em>how</em> they are meant to display. Does that co-mingle content and presentation too much?</p>
<p>Some of the WordPress default classes are ridiculous. The <code>body_class()</code> function injected this into every <code><body></code></p>
<p><code>"wp-singular post-template-default single single-post postid-62959 single-format-standard wp-theme-edent-wordpress-theme"</code></p>
<p>Most of that is redundant - what's the difference between single and single-post? For my purposes, nothing! So they were all yeeted into the sun.</p>
<p>Rather than targetting IDs or classes, I targetted the presence or absence of Schema.org microdata.</p>
<p>For example:</p>
<pre><code class="language-css">main[itemprop="blogPost"] { … }
main:not([itemprop="blogPost"]) { … }
</code></pre>
<p>This can go to the extreme. I have lots of comments, each one has an author, the author's details are wrapped in <code><div class="authordetails">…</div></code></p>
<p>That can be replaced with:</p>
<pre><code class="language-css">/* Comment Author */
li[itemtype="https://schema.org/Comment"] > article > div[itemprop="https://schema.org/author"] {
margin-bottom: 0;
}
</code></pre>
<p>Is that <em>sensible</em>? It is more semantic, but feels a bit brittle.</p>
<p>Parent selector are also now a thing. If I want a paragraph to have centred text but <em>only</em> when there's a submit button inside it:</p>
<pre><code class="language-css">p:has(input#submit) {
text-align: center;
}
</code></pre>
<p>Again, am I sure that my button will always be inside a paragraph?</p>
<p>Similarly, <a href="https://css-tricks.com/child-and-sibling-selectors/">sibling selectors</a> are sometimes superior - but they do suppose that your layout never changes.</p>
<h2 id="what-remains"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/class-warfare-can-i-eliminate-css-classes-from-my-html/#what-remains">What remains?</a></h2>
<p>There are some bits of this site which are reusable and do need classes. The code-highlighting you see above requires text to be wrapped in spans with specific classes.</p>
<p>Image alignment was also heavily class based.</p>
<p>There are some accessibility things which are either hidden or exposed using classes.</p>
<p>A bunch of WordPress defaults use classes and, even if they are redundant, it's hard to exorcise them.</p>
<p>As much as I would have liked to get rid of all my IDs, many needed to stay for linking as well as CSS targetting.</p>
<p>All told, the changes I made were:</p>
<ul>
<li>134 class selectors down to about 65.</li>
<li>35 ID selectors up to about 50.</li>
<li>5 attribute selectors up to to about 20.</li>
<li>Deleted or combined a lot of redundant CSS and tidied up my markup considerably.</li>
</ul>
<p>I have around 250 CSS rules, so now the majority target semantics rather than classes or IDs.</p>
<h2 id="is-this-really-necessary"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/class-warfare-can-i-eliminate-css-classes-from-my-html/#is-this-really-necessary">Is this really necessary?</a></h2>
<p>No, of course not. This is an exercise in minimalism, creativity, and constraint. Feel free to litter your HTML with whatever attributes you want!</p>
<p>As I went through, it increasingly became apparent that I was fitting my CSS to my HTML's logical structure rather than to its <em>conceptual</em> structure.</p>
<p>Previously, my comments were targetted with a class. Now they have the slightly more tangled targetting of "divs with this schema attribute whose parent is an article and whose grandparent has this ID".</p>
<p>It is a delightful meditative exercise to go through your code and deeply consider whether something is unique, reusable, or obsolete.</p>
]]></content>
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<thr:total>1</thr:total>
</entry>
<entry>
<author>
<name>@edent</name>
<uri>https://edent.tel/</uri>
</author>
<title type="html"><![CDATA[Theatre Review: Interview (Understudy Performance) ★★★☆☆]]></title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/theatre-review-interview-understudy-performance/"/>
<id>https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=63383</id>
<updated>2025-09-16T18:49:52Z</updated>
<published>2025-09-17T11:34:30Z</published>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="/etc/"/>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="Theatre Review"/>
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[One of the best things about London theatre is that once in a while a show will give its understudies a chance to break out of the dressing room and soar on the stage. It's a chance to see talented performers at a discount price. What's not to like? Lucy Donnelly and Mark Sean-Byrne are both flawless. His slouched frustration plays against her manic dream pixie self-loathing. The stage is…]]></summary>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/theatre-review-interview-understudy-performance/"><![CDATA[<img src="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/interview-poster.webp" alt="Poster. A man sits in a bathtub while a woman pours wine over him." width="256" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-63385">
<p>One of the best things about London theatre is that once in a while a show will give its understudies a chance to break out of the dressing room and soar on the stage. It's a chance to see talented performers at a discount price. What's not to like? Lucy Donnelly and Mark Sean-Byrne are both flawless. His slouched frustration plays against her manic dream pixie self-loathing. The stage is gorgeously laid out - allowing the performers to dance around each other.</p>
<p>The Mayor of London passed a law a few years ago which said that every theatre performance needs to incorporate a live video backdrop. That's the only explanation for that particular cliché's ubiquity. But here it actually makes sense! We see social-media star Kat<em>ya</em> going live to her legion of followers, and her face is blown up a million pixels wide, dominating the stage. At times, the waveforms of the characters' voices undulate along the back wall. It is hypnotic.</p>
<p>It's such a shame that the dialogue is so inept and the plot so ridiculous. The characters' emotions change because the plot needs them to - not because of anything that has actually happened. I get that the play is called "Interview", but that doesn't mean every line of dialogue needs to be a question, does it? Finally, there's no reason for <em>any</em> of the plot to happen.</p>
<p>At its core is a good question about the tension between new-media and old. Whether selling parasocial relationships is whoreish behaviour (and if that matters)? Are pale-stale-male journalists the enemy? Or does their tragic backstory absolve them of responsibility?</p>
<p>Unlike, say, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oleanna_(play)">Mamet's Oleanna</a> there's no he-said/she-said. There isn't a lot of ambiguity about what is and isn't happening. The final "twist" is works well but, again, there's no reason for it to happen. The whole play lacks a sense of <em>why</em>.</p>
<p>The play is on until the 27th of September. The performances are stunning, the staging innovative, the sound design is excellent. It's just a pity the play itself is a bit underwhelming.</p>
]]></content>
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<thr:total>0</thr:total>
</entry>
<entry>
<author>
<name>@edent</name>
<uri>https://edent.tel/</uri>
</author>
<title type="html"><![CDATA[How big a solar battery do I need to store *all* my home's electricity?]]></title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/how-big-a-solar-battery-do-i-need-to-store-all-my-homes-electricity/"/>
<id>https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=62959</id>
<updated>2025-09-15T21:07:11Z</updated>
<published>2025-09-15T11:34:42Z</published>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="/etc/"/>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="solar"/>
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[I have a modest set of solar panels on an entirely ordinary house in suburban London. On average they generate about 3,800kWh per year. We also use about 3,800kWh of electricity each year. Obviously, we can't use all the power produced over summer and we need to buy power in winter. So here's my question: How big a battery would we need in order to be completely self-sufficient? Background …]]></summary>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/how-big-a-solar-battery-do-i-need-to-store-all-my-homes-electricity/"><![CDATA[<p>I have a <a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/solar-faq/">modest set of solar panels</a> on an entirely ordinary house in suburban London.</p>
<p>On average they generate about 3,800kWh per year. We also use about 3,800kWh of electricity each year. Obviously, we can't use all the power produced over summer and we need to buy power in winter. So here's my question:</p>
<p>How big a battery would we need in order to be <em>completely</em> self-sufficient?</p>
<h2 id="background"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/how-big-a-solar-battery-do-i-need-to-store-all-my-homes-electricity/#background">Background</a></h2>
<p>Let's take a look at a typical summer's day. The graph is a little complex, so I'll explain it.</p>
<img src="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Power-Flow.webp" alt="Graph of power flow." width="1788" height="988" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-62974">
<p>The yellow line shows solar production. It starts shortly after sunrise, peaks at midday, and gradually drops until sunset.</p>
<p>The red line shows how much electricity our home is using. As you can see, there's a large peak about 19:00 when we cook dinner.</p>
<p>The blue line shows how much electricity we draw or export from the grid. From midnight until sunrise we import because the sun isn't shining. Once the sun has risen we're able to power our house <em>and</em> export to our neighbours. When we cook, we draw from the grid <em>and</em> our battery - which is why the evening grid peak is lower than the household use dip.</p>
<p>The CSV of the data looks something like this:</p>
<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th align="right">Local_time</th>
<th align="right">Household_(W)</th>
<th align="right">Solar_(W)</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td align="right">2025-08-25T08:25:00.000+01:00</td>
<td align="right">-187.76</td>
<td align="right">1166.77</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="right">2025-08-25T08:30:00.000+01:00</td>
<td align="right">-227.04</td>
<td align="right">1193.25</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="right">2025-08-25T08:35:00.000+01:00</td>
<td align="right">-253.06</td>
<td align="right">1222.84</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="right">2025-08-25T08:40:00.000+01:00</td>
<td align="right">-266.87</td>
<td align="right">1245.18</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="right">2025-08-25T08:45:00.000+01:00</td>
<td align="right">-450.8</td>
<td align="right">1268.66</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="right">2025-08-25T08:50:00.000+01:00</td>
<td align="right">-251.84</td>
<td align="right">1281.79</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="right">2025-08-25T08:55:00.000+01:00</td>
<td align="right">-1426.26</td>
<td align="right">1306.93</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="right">2025-08-25T09:00:00.000+01:00</td>
<td align="right">-206.78</td>
<td align="right">1341.37</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="right">2025-08-25T09:05:00.000+01:00</td>
<td align="right">-215.52</td>
<td align="right">1390.9</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="right">2025-08-25T09:10:00.000+01:00</td>
<td align="right">-242.6</td>
<td align="right">1426.19</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="right">2025-08-25T09:15:00.000+01:00</td>
<td align="right">-246.84</td>
<td align="right">1473</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>It's fairly trivial to sum both columns and subtract one from the other. That shows either the excess or deficit in solar power for the household.</p>
<p>On that day, the house used 9.7kWh and generated 19.6kWh. I'd need a 9.9kWh battery to store the excess right? Wrong!</p>
<p>Because my usage doesn't track the sun, I'd actually need a 13kWh battery. That's the peak amount of excess electricity I've generated in that one day.</p>
<p>What I want to do is find out what the <em>maximum</em> size battery I would need in order to store all of summer's electricity for use in winter.</p>
<p>Luckily, I have several years of real data to go off! Let's get started!</p>
<h2 id="disclaimer"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/how-big-a-solar-battery-do-i-need-to-store-all-my-homes-electricity/#disclaimer">Disclaimer</a></h2>
<p>This is based on data generated by my home battery. It has probes to measure solar output and grid flow. It is not 100% clock-accurate compared to my solar-panels' internal reporting nor what my smart-meter reports. I estimate a 1-2% deviation, which is good enough for these purposes.</p>
<p>My energy usage isn't representative of anything other than my usage. Your household is probably different. I already have a 4.8kWh battery which changes how and when I use energy.</p>
<p>This doesn't account for gas heating or hot water. We have some electric heaters and taps which increases our electricity usage.</p>
<p>My maths is <em>probably</em> right - but the code is open source, so feel free to check for yourself.</p>
<p>Remember, this is just a bit of fun. There's no practical way to build domestic batteries with this capacity using the technology of 2025.</p>
<h2 id="code"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/how-big-a-solar-battery-do-i-need-to-store-all-my-homes-electricity/#code">Code</a></h2>
<p>We tend to start generating more electricity than we use starting in Spring. So I've picked the end of March 2024 to the end of March 2025.</p>
<p>Let's see how big a battery we'd need to store our summer excess for winter. This finds the cumulative difference between each day's energy production and usage:</p>
<pre><code class="language-python">import os
import pandas as pd
# Load all the CSVs
filepaths = [f for f in os.listdir(".") if f.endswith('.csv')]
df = pd.concat(map(pd.read_csv, filepaths))
# Make sure they're in order
df = df.sort_values("Timestamp")
df = df.reset_index(drop=True)
# Resolution is every 5 minutes, so divide by 12 to get hourly
df["Cumulative_Difference"] = ( (df["Household_(W)"] + df["Solar_(W)"] ).cumsum() ) / 12
# kWh of battery needed
int(df["Cumulative_Difference"].max() / 1000)
## Draw a pretty graph
df.plot(kind="line", x="Local_time", y="Cumulative_Difference", xlabel="Date", ylabel="MWh", xticks=["2024-04-01", "2024-05-01", "2024-05-01", "2024-06-01", "2024-07-01", "2024-08-01", "2024-09-01", "2024-10-01", "2024-11-01", "2024-12-01", "2025-01-01", "2025-02-01", "2025-03-01", "2025-04-01"], legend=False, grid=True, fontsize=15)
plt.show()
</code></pre>
<p>The total is <strong>1,068KWh</strong> - basically, a MegaWatt-hour of storage.</p>
<p>Here's a quick graph to show how the storage would be used over the year.</p>
<img src="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Cumulative-Graph.webp" alt="Graph showing a steady climb to 1 MegaWatt-hour and then down again." width="1300" height="700" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-62980">
<p>As you can see, even in this scenario there are a few days where we'd need to import energy from the grid.</p>
<h2 id="is-this-sensible"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/how-big-a-solar-battery-do-i-need-to-store-all-my-homes-electricity/#is-this-sensible">Is this sensible?</a></h2>
<p>Probably not, no. It doesn't account for increased energy use from having an electric car or moving away from gas heating / cooking. As <a href="https://www.nrel.gov/pv/interactive-cell-efficiency">solar panels increase in efficiency</a>, it might be more sensible to replace the panels on my roof, or add some onto a shed.</p>
<p>The environmental impact of creating and storing such huge batteries could also be factored in.</p>
<p>A battery which is only 100% full for a few days probably isn't an efficient design. Using wind, hydro, and other green sources from the grid might be preferable.</p>
<p>But, remember, this is an exercise in wishful thinking.</p>
<h2 id="is-this-possible"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/how-big-a-solar-battery-do-i-need-to-store-all-my-homes-electricity/#is-this-possible">Is this possible?</a></h2>
<p><a href="https://mathstodon.xyz/@johncarlosbaez/115190527741497635">Grid-scale batteries exist</a> and they work brilliantly.</p>
<p>But if I wanted my own MegaWatt-hour of battery storage, it would probably cost me between <a href="https://www.fogstar.co.uk/collections/solar-battery-storage/products/fogstar-energy-32kwh-battery?variant=55157091205497">£100k</a> and <a href="https://modoenergy.com/research/battery-energy-storage-capex-containerised-bess-development-costs-oem-balance-plant-bop-grid-connections-survey-2024">half-a-million quid</a>.</p>
<p>That doesn't include maintenance, the land, planning permission, and a hundred other things.</p>
<p>But battery prices are falling fast. In the last decade <a href="https://www.energy.gov/eere/vehicles/articles/fotw-1354-august-5-2024-electric-vehicle-battery-pack-costs-light-duty">lithium ion battery prices have fallen 90%</a>. With new <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11913365/">sodium ion batteries</a> promising an even bigger drop - down to <a href="https://www.geeky-gadgets.com/catl-sodium-ion-battery-packs/">US$10/kWh</a>.</p>
<p>If - and it is a <strong>big</strong> if - those numbers came to pass, it would probably cost around £8,000 for a domestic battery. Basically the same cost as adding solar panels in the first place.</p>
<p>Domestic solar <em>works</em> - yes, even in the rainy UK! It is relatively cheap, moves energy production as close as possible to energy consumption, reduces bill-shock, and means we don't have endless planning arguments about whether fields should be turned into solar farms.</p>
<p>It is possible that, not too long in the future, every home could also have a 1 MegaWatt-hour battery. They would be able to capture all the excess solar power generated in a year.</p>
<p>There's a bright and sunny future where every home can be solar-self-sufficient.</p>
<hr>
<p>If you've enjoyed this blog post, please consider <a href="https://share.octopus.energy/metal-dove-988">switching to Octopus Energy</a> - we both get £50 when you join.</p>
]]></content>
<link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/how-big-a-solar-battery-do-i-need-to-store-all-my-homes-electricity/#comments" thr:count="23"/>
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</entry>
<entry>
<author>
<name>@edent</name>
<uri>https://edent.tel/</uri>
</author>
<title type="html"><![CDATA[Book Review: All That We See or Seem by Ken Liu ★★★★★]]></title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/book-review-all-that-we-see-or-seem-by-ken-liu/"/>
<id>https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=63299</id>
<updated>2025-09-13T15:00:47Z</updated>
<published>2025-09-13T11:34:34Z</published>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="/etc/"/>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="Book Review"/>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="NetGalley"/>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="Sci Fi"/>
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[This book is ridiculously zeitgeisty. It's all brain-rotting AI, social-media meltdowns, mixed with some cracking technobabble. She thinks about erasing more: all the practice session recordings; her own encrypted cephaloscripts; the dream-guide neuromesh of her personal AI; the interviews, fan messages, reviews—food for her vanity, training data for her egolets. Fab! But, for all that, it's p…]]></summary>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/book-review-all-that-we-see-or-seem-by-ken-liu/"><![CDATA[<img src="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/9781035915934_l.webp" alt="Book cover with a fractured city in the background." width="200" height="310" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-63301">
<p>This book is <em>ridiculously</em> zeitgeisty. It's all brain-rotting AI, social-media meltdowns, mixed with some cracking technobabble.</p>
<blockquote><p>She thinks about erasing more: all the practice session recordings; her own encrypted cephaloscripts; the dream-guide neuromesh of her personal AI; the interviews, fan messages, reviews—food for her vanity, training data for her egolets.</p></blockquote>
<p>Fab! But, for all that, it's pretty realistic. Sure, it's set five-minutes into the future, but all the tech is plausible and all the hacks somewhere in the ballpark of reality. It is <em>much</em> better than <a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2021/09/book-review-the-ministry-for-the-future-by-kim-stanley-robinson/">The Ministry for the Future</a> simply because all the technowizardry passes the smell test.</p>
<p>The plot is, charitably, basic. A woman has been kidnapped and her husband (who is a suspect) enlists a <del>Private Eye</del> hacker to solve the mystery. But you're not reading to discover whodunnit; you're there to revel in the pitch-perfect future-gazing and cower before the (hopefully not too accurate) predictions around how technology will be subverted to protect the powerful while leaving everyone else helpless.</p>
<p>The neologisms are off the chart - "Darcybots" to help you date, a "Fiscjinn" to interrogate your finances, and an "Oneirofex" to… well, I'll let you discover that! You'll need to have a good grasp of what's going on with modern technology in order to get more than half the references. I've no idea if the book will be intelligible half-a-decade from now. Perhaps we'll have our self-hosted AIs translate it for us?</p>
<p>At times, it feels less like a book and more like a series of parables woven into one story. The ending feels a little rushed - but it fits in with the fast-paced nature of the plot. A great slab of sci-fi to chew on.</p>
<p>Thanks to Netgalley for the review copy. The book is released in October 2025 - and will probably remain relevant for at least half-a-dozen weeks.</p>
]]></content>
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</entry>
<entry>
<author>
<name>@edent</name>
<uri>https://edent.tel/</uri>
</author>
<title type="html"><![CDATA[Reasonably accurate, privacy conscious, cookieless, visitor tracking for WordPress]]></title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/reasonably-accurate-privacy-conscious-cookieless-visitor-tracking-for-wordpress/"/>
<id>https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=63158</id>
<updated>2025-09-11T14:05:19Z</updated>
<published>2025-09-11T11:34:39Z</published>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="/etc/"/>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="HTML"/>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="javascript"/>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="seo"/>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="WordPress"/>
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[I am vain. I like to know which of my blog posts have "done numbers". I get a little thrill knowing that an old post I wrote has been read by someone in a land I've never visited. I'm curious and want to know if a newsletter has linked to me. At the same time, I don't want to know too much about people. I don't want to stalk them around the web. I refuse to care how long they spend with me. I…]]></summary>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/reasonably-accurate-privacy-conscious-cookieless-visitor-tracking-for-wordpress/"><![CDATA[<p>I am vain. I like to know which of my blog posts have "done numbers". I get a little thrill knowing that an old post I wrote has been read by someone in a land I've never visited. I'm curious and want to know if a newsletter has linked to me.</p>
<p>At the same time, I don't want to know <em>too</em> much about people. I don't want to stalk them around the web. I refuse to care how long they spend with me. I can't be bothered setting up a foolproof system that captures 100% accurate information.</p>
<p>After trying several analytics plugins for WordPress, I've decided to have a go at writing my own<sup id="fnref:learn"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/reasonably-accurate-privacy-conscious-cookieless-visitor-tracking-for-wordpress/#fn:learn" class="footnote-ref" title="I enjoy learning. If you're about to say "Why not just install…" then you've missed the point. I like understanding how things work, I get joy from discovering some new function, my brain feels happy…" role="doc-noteref">0</a></sup>.</p>
<p>Before embarking on this, please do read "<a href="https://blog.yossarian.net/2023/12/24/You-dont-need-analytics-on-your-blog">You Don't Need Analytics on Your Blog</a>" and the slightly more provocative "<a href="https://www.thisdaysportion.com/posts/contra-analytics/">You do not need “analytics” for your blog because you are neither a military surveillance unit nor a commodity trading company</a>". Both give excellent examples of why this is at best foolish and at worse injurious. Proceed with caution in your heart.</p>
<h2 id="background"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/reasonably-accurate-privacy-conscious-cookieless-visitor-tracking-for-wordpress/#background">Background</a></h2>
<p>As a consequence of the way the web works, every time you click on a link the website's owner gets the following pieces of information.</p>
<ul>
<li>The time you clicked,</li>
<li>The page you visited,</li>
<li>The name of the web browser you use,</li>
<li>The URl of the page which you clicked to get here,</li>
<li>The IP address your computer has.</li>
</ul>
<p>There are a few other things sent along but they're not interesting to me.</p>
<p>Using that information, I can construct a reasonably accurate view of how many times a post has been viewed and how many people viewed it.</p>
<h2 id="defining-a-page-view"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/reasonably-accurate-privacy-conscious-cookieless-visitor-tracking-for-wordpress/#defining-a-page-view">Defining a page view</a></h2>
<p>If a web page is loaded, that counts as a view. I'm not going to track whether the user stayed for more than 30 seconds or closed their browser in disgust after reading the headline. If the page is loaded, that's a view.</p>
<p>But what if one person repeatedly hits refresh on the same post? To deal with that, I'll need a concept of a visitor.</p>
<h2 id="defining-a-visitor"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/reasonably-accurate-privacy-conscious-cookieless-visitor-tracking-for-wordpress/#defining-a-visitor">Defining a visitor</a></h2>
<p>The "normal" way of doing things is to stick a cookie in the user's browser and track them that way. I can't be bothered with that. And, besides, it doesn't account for a person reading on their laptop and then moving to their phone.</p>
<p>So I'm going to use a proxy by creating a cryptographic hash of the visitor's IP address and the browser's User Agent string.</p>
<p>Of course, a household might have one IP address and multiple people with the same phone. But, equally, one person might rove over several WiFi networks in the course of one browsing session, getting a different IP each time.</p>
<p>The aim is to be <em>reasonably</em> accurate.</p>
<p>Hashing the contents means I don't need to store the user's IP address. Once hashed, the information becomes a string like <code>db050e7b853e5856</code> which is functionally impossible to <a href="https://www.techsolvency.com/passwords/dehashing-reversing-decrypting/">crack</a> back to an IP address & UA string<sup id="fnref:orisit"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/reasonably-accurate-privacy-conscious-cookieless-visitor-tracking-for-wordpress/#fn:orisit" class="footnote-ref" title="Or is it? There are 4 billion IPv4 addresses - although slightly fewer in actual use. Creating a rainbow table with 4 billion rows is possible if I was just using IP addresses. But there are an…" role="doc-noteref">1</a></sup>.</p>
<p>This also means that I can redefine the concept of a page view. If the same visitor refreshed the page multiple times, it will only count as a single visit.</p>
<p>I'll reset the counter at midnight in my local timezone. If someone visits just before midnight and then just after, it'll count as two visits. Oh well.</p>
<h2 id="where-did-they-come-from"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/reasonably-accurate-privacy-conscious-cookieless-visitor-tracking-for-wordpress/#where-did-they-come-from">Where did they come from?</a></h2>
<p>Generally speaking, there are two ways that visitors share their referrer. One is the "referer" header (yes, it is misspelled). It contains a URl of the referring site or application. For example, if someone clicked from a search result it might say <code>https://yahoo.com</code>.</p>
<p>The other way is using "Urchin Tracking Module" query strings. At the end of the URl they visit, they might append something like <code>?utm_source=alices-newsletter</code>.</p>
<p>Some sites, like Reddit, might use multiple subdomains - <code>old.reddit.com</code> or <code>out.reddit.com</code> - so some deduplication may be necessary.</p>
<h2 id="where-in-the-world-are-they"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/reasonably-accurate-privacy-conscious-cookieless-visitor-tracking-for-wordpress/#where-in-the-world-are-they">Where in the world are they?</a></h2>
<p>A user's IP address is <em>somewhat</em> accurate method of detecting their location. Yes, users could be proxying through a VPN or using a SIM card from a foreign country. But this isn't an exercise in precise tracking. Rough and ready is fine.</p>
<p>There are a variety of <a href="https://mailfud.org/geoip-legacy/">GeoIP Databases</a> which are updated semi-regularly. I'm only interested in the country of origin, I don't care about finer resolution than that.</p>
<p>Again, the aim isn't precise targetting. I'd just like to know that people in Sudan ever read my blog posts.</p>
<h2 id="what-else-could-we-use"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/reasonably-accurate-privacy-conscious-cookieless-visitor-tracking-for-wordpress/#what-else-could-we-use">What else could we use?</a></h2>
<p>It <em>might</em> be nice to know if someone is using a small-screen or large device. But my CSS is responsive, so I don't care.</p>
<p>Similarly, their Internet connection speed might be available. But, again, I try to optimise things so that isn't necessary to know.</p>
<p>Do I need to know if someone speaks Hungarian? No. There's nothing useful I can do with that information.</p>
<p>Could I extract their operating system, device, and browser from their User-Agent? I guess. Would I use the information that X% of my readers use Firefox on Linux? Doubtful!</p>
<h2 id="collect-the-information"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/reasonably-accurate-privacy-conscious-cookieless-visitor-tracking-for-wordpress/#collect-the-information">Collect the information</a></h2>
<p>There are two main methods of collecting these data.</p>
<p>First is a "no JavaScript" solution. This tells the browser to request an image which has a query string to send along the details of the page requested.</p>
<pre><code class="language-php"><noscript>
<img src="/tracking.php?ID=<?php echo $postID ?>" alt="" width=1 height=1 class=hidden>
</noscript>
</code></pre>
<p>The downside is that there's no way to capture referer information. If each page were dynamically generated, I could grab it from PHP's <code>$_SERVER</code> superglobal. But my website is heavily cached, so that isn't possible.</p>
<p>It <em>is</em> possible to use JavaScript to dynamically send the information for collection:</p>
<pre><code class="language-js">let formData = new FormData();
formData.append("HTTP_REFERER", document.referrer);
formData.append("ID", <?php echo $postID ?>);
fetch("/tracking.php", {
method: "POST",
body: formData,
});
</code></pre>
<p>This approach has three distinct advantages.</p>
<ol>
<li>It works whether the user has JS enabled or not.</li>
<li>Repeated requests for the same page will usually reload the image from cache, so won't double-count.</li>
<li>It doesn't count hits from bots. They typically don't execute JavaScript or don't request images.</li>
</ol>
<h2 id="bot-detection"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/reasonably-accurate-privacy-conscious-cookieless-visitor-tracking-for-wordpress/#bot-detection">Bot Detection</a></h2>
<p>Not all traffic originates from humans. There are lots of bots which crawl the web. Some are useful - like search engines building up a map. Others are harmful - like AI agents aggressively scraping content to plagiarise.</p>
<p>There are <a href="https://www.humansecurity.com/learn/blog/crawlers-list-known-bots-guide/">lots of identifiable bots</a> out there - and more which obfuscate themselves. There are some, like <a href="https://github.com/GoogleChrome/lighthouse/pull/14384">Lighthouse</a> which cloak themselves.</p>
<p>I'm not trying to eliminate everything which <em>could</em> be a bot. I am trying for <em>reasonably</em> accurate. So I eliminate any User-Agent which contains:</p>
<p><code>"/bot|crawl|spider|seo|lighthouse|facebookexternalhit|preview|HeadlessChrome/i"</code></p>
<p>There are some <a href="https://github.com/fabiomb/is_bot">big lists of bots</a> you can use - but they don't seem to trigger my analytics because they aren't requesting the images or executing the JS.</p>
<h2 id="what-bits-of-the-site-to-measure"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/reasonably-accurate-privacy-conscious-cookieless-visitor-tracking-for-wordpress/#what-bits-of-the-site-to-measure">What bits of the site to measure?</a></h2>
<p>I only care about how many visitors my posts and pages get. I don't need to know if someone visited a tag page, or scrolled back to page 100 of posts from 2019. Those sorts of deep pages are usually only accessed by bots anyway.</p>
<p>I also don't want to count visits from me, myself, and I.</p>
<p>So the tracking is only inserted on single pages which are viewed by non-admins:</p>
<pre><code class="language-php">if ( is_singular() && !current_user_can( "edit_posts" ) ) {
…
}
</code></pre>
<h2 id="oddities"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/reasonably-accurate-privacy-conscious-cookieless-visitor-tracking-for-wordpress/#oddities">Oddities</a></h2>
<p>Sometimes, the URl requested will look something like: <code>https://shkspr-mobi.translate.goog</code> - that just means Google has translated it.</p>
<p>Sometimes, the referer will look something like: <code>android-app://com.google.android.gm/</code> - that just means they clicked from an Android app.</p>
<p>Sometimes, the URl requested will include a fragment or a query string - they can be ignored.</p>
<p>Sometimes, the <code>utm_</code> will contain all sorts of weird stuff. It isn't always possible to pull out exactly where it has come from.</p>
<p>Sometimes, the referer and <code>utm_</code> will disagree. Ah well, never mind.</p>
<p>Sometimes, RSS views are counted and sometimes not. Perhaps I should fix that?</p>
<p>Sometimes, users block trackers or use a text-only browser. That's fine, they can keep their secrets.</p>
<h2 id="saving-the-data"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/reasonably-accurate-privacy-conscious-cookieless-visitor-tracking-for-wordpress/#saving-the-data">Saving the data</a></h2>
<p>I started this by just shoving what I collected into a CSV.</p>
<pre><code class="language-php">// Write the CSV.
$line = [date("c"), $ID, $UA, $referer, $domain, $country, $user];
// Date-based filename.
$filename = "log-" . date("Y-m-d") . ".csv";
// Append mode.
$handle = fopen( $filename, "a" );
fputcsv( $handle, $line );
fclose( $handle );
</code></pre>
<p>Nothing fancy. Something easily grepable with the ability to query it in more detail if I need. At the number of hits that my site gets, it is less than 1MB per day.</p>
<p>I've since moved it into a single MySQL table. That might not be sustainable with hundreds of thousands of rows. But that's tomorrow's problem.</p>
<h2 id="accuracy"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/reasonably-accurate-privacy-conscious-cookieless-visitor-tracking-for-wordpress/#accuracy">Accuracy</a></h2>
<p>I've been running this for a couple of days - simultaneously with my other, more professional, stats plugin. It is within 5% accuracy. It appears to <em>slightly</em> exaggerate the number of visitors and undercount my page-views. That's good enough for my purposes and probably good for my ego!</p>
<h2 id="putting-it-all-together"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/reasonably-accurate-privacy-conscious-cookieless-visitor-tracking-for-wordpress/#putting-it-all-together">Putting it all together</a></h2>
<p>You can take a look at all the code <a href="https://gitlab.com/edent/blog-theme/">on my GitLab repo</a>.</p>
<h2 id="what-does-it-look-like"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/reasonably-accurate-privacy-conscious-cookieless-visitor-tracking-for-wordpress/#what-does-it-look-like">What does it look like?</a></h2>
<p>If you've made it this far, you can have a little pictorial treat! Aren't you lucky?</p>
<img src="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/stats-view.webp" alt="Three tables. One showing referers with colourful favicons. Another countries with colourful emoji flags. One a list of pages and views." width="2450" height="1400" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-63260">
<h2 id="whats-next"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/reasonably-accurate-privacy-conscious-cookieless-visitor-tracking-for-wordpress/#whats-next">What's next?</a></h2>
<p>For now, a simple table structure is fine. I've shoved it in a basic database. Sure, I don't have any indexes or fancy stuff like that. But modern computers are pretty fast.</p>
<p>Eventually I'll need to create some new tables which will consolidate the data. Perhaps a table for individual posts, using date and country? Or maybe referer? I'll have to see.</p>
<p>I also need a way to get historic data into it. I've blog stats going back to 2009 which I am anxious not to lose.</p>
<p>And, yeah, I'll need a better front-end than manually running SQL queries.</p>
<p>Above all, I want to keep it simple enough that my puny mortal brain can understand it after several years of not touching anything. I want to build something which can run without constant maintenance.</p>
<p>Remember, this is only an exercise in self-learning, self-hosting, and self-respect.</p>
<div id="footnotes" role="doc-endnotes">
<hr>
<ol start="0">
<li id="fn:learn">
<p>I enjoy learning. If you're about to say "Why not just install…" then you've missed the point. I like understanding how things work, I get joy from discovering some new function, my brain feels happy when it is working on a problem. I don't want to just click install, hit next a few times, and fiddle with a few options. <a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2020/12/build-dont-buy/">I've written more about my philosophy here</a>. <a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/reasonably-accurate-privacy-conscious-cookieless-visitor-tracking-for-wordpress/#fnref:learn" class="footnote-backref" role="doc-backlink">↩︎</a></p>
</li>
<li id="fn:orisit">
<p>Or is it? There are 4 billion IPv4 addresses - although slightly fewer in actual use. Creating a rainbow table with 4 billion rows is possible if I was <em>just</em> using IP addresses. But there are an almost infinite variety of User Agent strings. It is probably possible to create a rainbow table of, for example, the 10 most popular UAs, concatenate them with every possible IP address, and then see which hashes to <code>65fef01fef257963</code>. But even then, what would that get an attacker? Knowing that the most popular model of iPhone is on a mobile network's IP range isn't exactly private information. <a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/reasonably-accurate-privacy-conscious-cookieless-visitor-tracking-for-wordpress/#fnref:orisit" class="footnote-backref" role="doc-backlink">↩︎</a></p>
</li>
</ol>
</div>
]]></content>
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</entry>
<entry>
<author>
<name>@edent</name>
<uri>https://edent.tel/</uri>
</author>
<title type="html"><![CDATA[Event Review: Doin' the Lambeth Walk (Oi!) ★★★⯪☆]]></title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/event-review-doin-the-lambeth-walk-oi/"/>
<id>https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=63196</id>
<updated>2025-09-14T10:18:40Z</updated>
<published>2025-09-09T11:34:19Z</published>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="/etc/"/>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="london"/>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="review"/>
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[Historical entities have been sighted in the old village of Lambeth. Are they ghosts? Visions? Or intruders through a crack in time? Join your guides and explore the backwaters and byways that slowly spread over the mysterious marshes of Lambeth. Most walking tours have a guide drag you around the well-known tourist hot-spots while they read out a bit from Wikipedia. Minimum Labyrinth’s tour i…]]></summary>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/event-review-doin-the-lambeth-walk-oi/"><![CDATA[<img src="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/lambeth-walk.webp" alt="Poster" width="250" height="250" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-63199">
<blockquote><p>Historical entities have been sighted in the old village of Lambeth. Are they ghosts? Visions? Or intruders through a crack in time? Join your guides and explore the backwaters and byways that slowly spread over the mysterious marshes of Lambeth.</p></blockquote>
<p>Most walking tours have a guide drag you around the well-known tourist hot-spots while they read out a bit from Wikipedia. Minimum Labyrinth’s tour is <em>different</em>. We were told to find the meeting spot by looking for a mysterious message chalked somewhere on Westminster Bridge.</p>
<img src="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/chalk.webp" alt="Chalked onto the bridge, the message "Why did you come here?"" width="1020" height="768" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-63203">
<p>As the bells from Big Ben faded - ghosts appeared!</p>
<p>We were whisked away onto a tour which was part history lesson, part ghost story, and part science-fiction extravaganza. As we wandered through the streets, various "baddies" appeared out of nowhere. Ghosts came to chat with us and then promptly vanished. Music played causing onlookers to pause their hurried strolling. It was somewhere between immersive theatre and <em>immersed</em> theatre.</p>
<p>The walk was well paced. The three acts each consisted of 50 minutes of strolling then 30 minutes in a pub. Perfect for a loo-break and refreshments. The cast didn't stay in character during the pub - which was a relief for them, and meant we could chat about what we thought of the event.</p>
<p>It took us through some parts of London I was vaguely familiar with - and some which were completely new. It is brilliant having someone explain exactly <em>why</em> that piece of art is where it is, or <em>who</em> commissioned that church, and point out that <em>exquisite</em> detail you might have missed.</p>
<img src="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/art.webp" alt="Stencil art on a wall. A photorealistic figure holds some pixelated video game items." width="512" height="683" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-63204">
<p>Without wishing to spoil anyone's fun, the sci-fi element was the weakest part of the adventure. It paid "loving homage" to an abandoned and somewhat forgotten TV series. I felt that the story would have been much stronger without tying it in to a larger universe. No one under 50 recognised the characters so I think that aspect fell a little flat.</p>
<p>I also felt that there wasn't <em>quite</em> enough to do during the walk. There were some neat snippets of information but there were long stretches of walking down streets without much going on. Given the slightly spooky and sci-fi nature of the story, I would have expected the audience to have been given little tasks or asked to keep a lookout for ghosts.</p>
<p>That said, the tour took us round some stunning and unexpected spots. The ghostly goings-on were suitably mysterious and the cast kept us all safe and entertained. We had fun exploring little alleyways and art displays which were completely unknown to us.</p>
<img src="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/doing.webp" alt="Terry and Liz smiling in front of a mural depicting the Lambeth Walk." width="1024" height="729" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-63202">
<p>The team at <a href="http://minimumlabyrinth.org/">Minimum Labyrinth</a> do a variety of weird tours and events. Worth checking out if you want something entertaining and unusual.</p>
]]></content>
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<title type="text">Terence Eden’s Blog</title>
<subtitle type="text">Regular nonsense about tech and its effects 🙃</subtitle>
<updated>2025-10-13T13:21:47Z</updated>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" />
<id>https://shkspr.mobi/blog/feed/atom/</id>
<link rel="self" type="application/atom+xml" href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/feed/atom/" />
<generator uri="https://wordpress.org/" version="6.8.3">WordPress</generator>
<icon>https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/cropped-avatar-32x32.jpeg</icon>
<entry>
<author>
<name>@edent</name>
<uri>https://edent.tel/</uri>
</author>
<title type="html"><![CDATA[Was my website mentioned in a GitHub issue?]]></title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/was-my-website-mentioned-in-a-github-issue/" />
<id>https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=63352</id>
<updated>2025-09-14T20:37:17Z</updated>
<published>2025-10-17T11:34:51Z</published>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="/etc/" /><category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="blog" /><category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="github" />
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[This is a quick GitHub action to get alerted every time your website is mentioned in a GitHub issue. Doing it manually You can search GitHub for a URl, and sort the results with the newest first, like this: https://github.com/search?q=%22shkspr.mobi%22&type=issues&s=created&o=desc Using the API GitHub has a fairly straightforward API - although it uses slightly different parameters. …]]></summary>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/was-my-website-mentioned-in-a-github-issue/"><![CDATA[<p>This is a quick GitHub action to get alerted every time your website is mentioned in a GitHub issue.</p>
<h2 id="doing-it-manually"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/was-my-website-mentioned-in-a-github-issue/#doing-it-manually">Doing it manually</a></h2>
<p>You can search GitHub for a URl, and sort the results with the newest first, like this:</p>
<p><a href="https://github.com/search?q=%22shkspr.mobi%22&type=issues&s=created&o=desc">https://github.com/search?q=%22shkspr.mobi%22&type=issues&s=created&o=desc</a></p>
<h2 id="using-the-api"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/was-my-website-mentioned-in-a-github-issue/#using-the-api">Using the API</a></h2>
<p>GitHub has a <a href="https://api.github.com/">fairly straightforward API</a> - although it uses slightly different parameters.</p>
<p><a href="https://api.github.com/search/issues?q=shkspr.mobi&sort=created&order=desc">https://api.github.com/search/issues?q=shkspr.mobi&sort=created&order=desc</a></p>
<p>That will return a bunch of <code>items</code>. Here's the 29th. I've truncated it down to only what is necessary for our purposes:</p>
<pre><code class="language-json">{
"html_url": "https://github.com/swicg/activitypub-webfinger/issues/29",
"id": 3286159033,
"number": 29,
"title": "Tracking support for non-ascii characters",
"user": {
"login": "evanp",
},
"created_at": "2025-08-02T17:52:46Z",
"updated_at": "2025-08-02T18:50:27Z",
"body": "One of the benefits of using Webfinger is that it's […]"
}
</code></pre>
<h2 id="action"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/was-my-website-mentioned-in-a-github-issue/#action">Action</a></h2>
<p>I'm not very good at creating actions. But this should:</p>
<ol>
<li>Search GitHub for mentions of your URl.</li>
<li>Store the results.</li>
<li>If there is a new entry - open a new issue describing it.</li>
</ol>
<p>You will need to set your repository to private in order to not spam other repos. You will also need to go to your repo settings and give the action write permissions. You'll also need a Personal Access Token with sufficient permissions to write to your repo. I bloody hate actions. YAML? Eugh!</p>
<pre><code class="language-yaml">name: API Issue Watcher
on:
schedule:
- cron: '*/59 * * * *'
permissions:
issues: write
contents: write
jobs:
watch-and-create:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- name: Checkout repository
uses: actions/checkout@v4
- name: Restore latest seen ID
id: cache-latest
uses: actions/cache@v4
with:
path: .github/latest_seen.txt
key: latest-seen-1
restore-keys: |
latest-seen-
- name: Fetch latest item from API
id: fetch
run: |
curl -s 'https://api.github.com/search/issues?q=EXAMPLE.COM&s=created&order=desc' > result.json
jq -r '.items[0].id' result.json > latest_id.txt
jq -r '.items[0].title' result.json > latest_title.txt
jq -r '.items[0].html_url' result.json > latest_url.txt
jq -r '.items[0].body // ""' result.json > latest_body.txt
- name: Compare with previous run
id: check
run: |
NEW_ID=$(cat latest_id.txt)
OLD_ID=$(cat .github/latest_seen.txt 2>/dev/null || echo "")
echo "NEW_ID=$NEW_ID" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
echo "OLD_ID=$OLD_ID" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
if [ "$NEW_ID" != "$OLD_ID" ]; then
echo "NEW_ITEM=true" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
else
echo "NEW_ITEM=false" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
fi
- name: Open new issue if new item found
if: steps.check.outputs.NEW_ITEM == 'true'
uses: actions/github-script@v7
with:
github-token: ${{ secrets.MY_PAT }}
script: |
const fs = require('fs');
const title = fs.readFileSync('latest_title.txt', 'utf8').trim();
const url = fs.readFileSync('latest_url.txt', 'utf8').trim();
const body = fs.readFileSync('latest_body.txt', 'utf8').trim();
await github.rest.issues.create({
owner: context.repo.owner,
repo: context.repo.repo,
title: `[API] ${title}`,
body: `Found new item: [${title}](${url})\n\n${body}`
});
- name: Update latest seen ID
if: steps.check.outputs.NEW_ITEM == 'true'
run: |
mkdir -p .github
cp latest_id.txt .github/latest_seen.txt
- name: Save cache
uses: actions/cache@v4
with:
path: .github/latest_seen.txt
key: latest-seen-1
restore-keys: |
latest-seen-
</code></pre>
<p>This is probably all kinds of wrong. If you know how to improve it, please let me know!</p>
]]></content>
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</entry>
<entry>
<author>
<name>@edent</name>
<uri>https://edent.tel/</uri>
</author>
<title type="html"><![CDATA[Book Review: The Anarchy - The Relentless Rise of the East India Company by William Dalrymple ★★★★☆]]></title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/book-review-the-anarchy-the-relentless-rise-of-the-east-india-company-by-william-dalrymple/" />
<id>https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=63916</id>
<updated>2025-10-12T13:53:39Z</updated>
<published>2025-10-15T11:34:11Z</published>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="/etc/" /><category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="Book Review" /><category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="history" />
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[This is a marvellous and depressing book. Marvellous because it finely details the history, atrocities, and geopolitical strife of unfettered capitalism. Depressing for much the same reason. Dalrymple takes the thousand different strands of the story and weaves them into a (mostly) comprehensible narrative. With this many moving parts, it is easy to get confused between the various people,…]]></summary>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/book-review-the-anarchy-the-relentless-rise-of-the-east-india-company-by-william-dalrymple/"><![CDATA[<img src="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/9781408864401.webp" alt="Book cover for The Anarchy. An illustration of four Indian soldiers in European dress." width="200" height="307" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-63918">
<p>This is a marvellous and depressing book. Marvellous because it finely details the history, atrocities, and geopolitical strife of unfettered capitalism. Depressing for much the same reason.</p>
<p>Dalrymple takes the thousand different strands of the story and weaves them into a (mostly) comprehensible narrative. With this many moving parts, it is easy to get confused between the various people, places, companies, and loyalties. Your eReader's dictionary will have a good workout as you try to decipher the various calques and loanwords.</p>
<p>It is more nuanced than I expected. Rather than just an unending parade of awfulness, it does dive in to the various attempts to reign in the terror and promote peaceful trade. These nearly always failed. Similarly, there were individual acts of kindness and honour which, nevertheless, cannot begin to make up for the exploitation.</p>
<p>The one question it doesn't (and possibly can't) answer is "what would India have been like without the EIC?" Obviously the company was hugely disruptive and extracted vast amounts of wealth - but the history of <em>every</em> continent shows internecine warfare whenever a ruler dies. A constant theme of the book is "Almost immediately, the court disintegrated into rival factions" The bloody battles between the various states, despots, kings, and tyrants would have eventually occurred. The French - and other colonisers - would have also rampaged through the nation. This isn't to excuse the EIC, and almost everything they did was inexcusable, but rather to say they probably weren't <em>uniquely</em> awful in the atrocities they committed.</p>
<p>We see the rapacious nature of megacorporations today. While few have a standing army, they are all dedicated to usurping authority and plundering resources. The Anarchy describes how the Company whispered in the ears of leaders, promised them the world, and then cruelly turned on them. Again, a depressing reflection of our own times.</p>
<p>Notable by their absence are women. There are an endless assortment of unnamed dancing girls and courtesans, but the only named women are the (mostly British) wives in the background and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Begum_Samru">Begum Samru</a>. There's also only a brief mention of the other geopolitical impacts the EIC had. For example, I had no idea that the tea from the eponymous Boston Tea Party was supplied by the EIC.</p>
<p>I don't understand why publishers pretend eBooks have the same limitations as their paper counterparts. The paper book puts all the illustrations at the end - presumably to save money. But this book would have benefited from interspersing the portraits with the text. Similarly, a map or two wouldn't have gone amiss to help the reader visualise the tangled path the various armies took.</p>
<p>The books is disturbing and upsetting, but a vital read for anyone who wants to understand a key point in the world's history. If only we could learn from it, eh?</p>
]]></content>
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</entry>
<entry>
<author>
<name>@edent</name>
<uri>https://edent.tel/</uri>
</author>
<title type="html"><![CDATA[Every Theatre Show is "Immersive"]]></title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/every-theatre-show-is-immersive/" />
<id>https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=62544</id>
<updated>2025-10-13T13:21:47Z</updated>
<published>2025-10-13T11:34:49Z</published>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="/etc/" /><category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="theatre" />
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[I go to see a lot of theatrical productions. While most shows are good, the audience experience is usually dreadful. I'm not just talking about cramped seats and disgusting toilets (although they play a part) but that theatres haven't cottoned on to the idea that theatre is an immersive experience which can't be replicated by watching Netflix. There's an excellent article in The Stage about the…]]></summary>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/every-theatre-show-is-immersive/"><![CDATA[<p>I go to see <a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/tag/theatre-review/">a lot of theatrical productions</a>. While most shows are good, the audience experience is usually dreadful. I'm not just talking about cramped seats and disgusting toilets (although they play a part) but that theatres haven't cottoned on to the idea that theatre is an immersive experience which can't be replicated by watching Netflix.</p>
<p>There's an excellent article in The Stage about <a href="https://www.thestage.co.uk/long-reads/is-the-immersive-sector-experiencing-growing-pains-punchdrunk-secret-cinema">the growth and pain-points of immersive shows</a> (free registration required to read).</p>
<blockquote><p>One thing that most creators agree on is that while the word immersive remains the most accurate umbrella term, it is largely functionally meaningless. The sense is that it will have to do as there is not currently a better one. “The word ‘immersive’is one that we have to continue to own,” says Matt Costain of Secret Cinema. “Because I think the fad of calling everything immersive will pass, but it’s a broad church. I went to an immersive art exhibition and what are they supposed to call it? They have as much right to it as I have.”</p></blockquote>
<p>The idea of an "immersive" performance is somewhat nebulous. Sitting passively in a theatre is not immersive - but what about a self-guided tour of an art gallery? You can make the case for pantomime being immersive (oh no you can't!) - but it isn't in the same league as <a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/02/review-phantom-peak-jonacon-london-2025/">Phantom Peak</a>.</p>
<p>In an article about the immersive Elvis show, Amanda Parker succinctly describes what audience expects:</p>
<blockquote><p><a href="https://www.thestage.co.uk/opinion/is-the-immersive-sector-all-shook-up-amanda-parker-elvis-evolution">The whole point of immersive theatre is the blurring of boundaries.</a></p></blockquote>
<p>Live performance is expensive. A single ticket to a 90 minute show can cost more than an entire year of Netflix. A drink before the show and an ice-cream in the interval is the same cost as a month of Disney+! Audiences want blurred boundaries, but they also want value for money. I don't think it takes much money or effort for <em>any</em> show to become more immersive.</p>
<p>Here's my 6-point guide to making <em>any</em> theatrical experience more immersive and more entertaining for the audience.</p>
<h2 id="pre-pre-show"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/every-theatre-show-is-immersive/#pre-pre-show">Pre-Pre-Show</a></h2>
<p>Even <em>before</em> booking, there's a chance for a show to be immersive. Most shows have trailers on YouTube - but are the characters on social media? Where are the opportunities to learn about the costume designer's vision (outside a one-paragraph entry in an expensive programme)?</p>
<p>Once booked, there are some brilliant opportunities for pre-pre show immersion. Emails shouldn't be the usual hectoring affair of reminding people to be on time; they should build a sense of excitement. What makes the paying customer feel like they're going on an adventure?</p>
<p>If I remember correctly, when schools booked group tickets for the 1990s run of "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat", they were sent colouring-in packs or some activity worksheets (it was a <em>long</em> time ago and my memory is hazy). What can a theatre do to make its paying customers <em>excited</em> about making the trip outside to sit in an unfamiliar building?</p>
<h2 id="pre-show"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/every-theatre-show-is-immersive/#pre-show">Pre-Show</a></h2>
<p>This is probably the easiest one to get right, and the one which most shows fail at. Decorate the venue. That's it. It is that simple. It costs next to nothing to put up posters on the walls, or fun little Easter-Eggs on the back of toilet doors, or to have a themed cocktail menu. The Stranger Things show does this brilliantly - there are lots of little clues dotted around the show in the form of newspaper clippings and yearbook pages.</p>
<p>Shows like <a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/06/theatre-review-just-for-one-day/">Just For One Day</a> had "selfie pods". Big posters which let audience members take cool looking selfies with the stars of the show. The guest gets a fun memento, the show gets free advertising.</p>
<p>You can go further and have the cast play with the audience. When I saw "Cats" in New York, some of the actors were roaming the stalls - fighting, stealing licks of ice-creams, miaowing at each other. It was brilliant to watch and got the audience in the mood.</p>
<p>More recently, The Play That Goes Wrong has the on-stage crew setting up the stage while the audience enters. It's pre-show which rewards early attendance - it gets people rushing back to the bar to drag their friends in. It <em>feels</em> improvised and rewards returning guests.</p>
<p>You can spend time in the <a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2022/04/theatre-review-cabaret-at-the-kitkat-club/">KitKat Club before the start of Cabaret</a>. A seedy underbelly with bored dancers and sweaty patrons. A brilliant way immerse the audience before the show. (<a href="https://technokitten.blogspot.com/2024/12/on-art-of-pre-show-and-post-show.html">Although not everyone agrees</a>.)</p>
<p><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/06/theatre-review-operation-mincemeat/">Operation Mincemeat</a> has an online pub-quiz for audience members. Sit and chat about what you think the answers are, try to get on the leaderboard, see if it motivates you to learn more about the real history of the operation.</p>
<p>A bunch of theatres offer "<a href="https://officiallondontheatre.com/access/touch-tours/">Touch Tours</a>" for visually impaired visitors. They get to come on stage and feel the set, have it described to them, so that they can get more immersed in the performance without constantly trying to guess the layout of the set. The stage magicians Penn and Teller invite members of the audience onto the stage before the performance so they can check for hidden wires and other trickery. That's probably not possible for <em>every</em> show - but can be sympathetically integrated into some.</p>
<h2 id="show"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/every-theatre-show-is-immersive/#show">Show</a></h2>
<p>I'll defer this to the director! It's up to them whether they want to make use of the audience! I've been to operas where the lead performer appeared at the back of the stalls singing to his love on stage. Confetti falls into the auditorium with regular abundance.</p>
<p>It doesn't suit every show, of course, but there are a dozen little tweaks which can remind the audience that this is a high-quality experience worth paying for. That this is something they simply can't get by watching TV.</p>
<h2 id="the-interval"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/every-theatre-show-is-immersive/#the-interval">The Interval</a></h2>
<p>The interval isn't just a chance to go for a piss and an over-priced drink. It's an opportunity to reflect on what you've seen, discuss what you think will happen, <em>and</em> stretch your legs.</p>
<p>All of the pre-show decoration is available to browse again - but is there anything else to do?</p>
<p>At a performance of Misalliance, a character hides himself in a portable Turkish bath at the end of Act 1. Throughout the interval, the audience were encouraged to follow the character on social media. He sent messages about his predicament and replied to people who interacted with him.</p>
<p>During the interval of a schools' performance of <i lang="it">La bohème</i>, the curtain was raised so that we could see the hard work which went into changing all the sets around. Is that suitable for every show? Probably not. Does it interfere with the fire curtain? Maybe. Was it a fascinating look literally behind the scenes? Absolutely!</p>
<p>Although I hated <a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2024/03/theatre-review-murder-trial-tonight-ii-aldwych-theatre/">Murder Trial Tonight</a>, it used the interval to encourage audience members to discuss the case laid before them. It's high-risk to get a reserved British audience to talk to strangers, but it can pay dividends.</p>
<h2 id="post-show"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/every-theatre-show-is-immersive/#post-show">Post-Show</a></h2>
<p>The audience have risen to their feet in applause. Perhaps the lead actor (the one from that TV show you like) gives a short, heartfelt speech thanking everyone for coming out and encouraging them to tell their friends about the show.</p>
<p>What next?</p>
<p>Musicals often go with an encore where they specifically encourage the audience to take photos and sing along. Hey! You're part of the show! You'll probably never watch that video again, but you'll get the joy of communal singing and will feel like you're contributing.</p>
<p>As we left Just For One Day, we were handed commemorative leaflets which turned out to be discount vouchers. A little memento <em>and</em> a way to get repeat custom!</p>
<p>At the end of <a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2023/07/theatre-review-accidental-death-of-an-anarchist/">Accidental Death of an Anarchist</a>, the audience were encourage to learn more about various historical and modern cases of police corruption by scanning QR codes projected onto the set.</p>
<p>Walking out of The Storeroom, we found ourselves in a lovely cocktail bar with an amazing view. Of <em>course</em> we paid for a fancy drink while discussing the evening's entertainment. Most West End theatres shove you out into the cold night air as though you're a guest who has overstayed their welcome.</p>
<p>Stage door autographs have been a thing since time immemorial. Probably a bit annoying for the actors, but a huge part of building a post-show buzz for some people. There are shows which have a paid meet-and-greet option (which feels a little icky to me).</p>
<p>I've been to plenty of shows which have a Q&A with the cast and director afterwards. Again, not something which can be done every night, but a brilliant opportunity to reward people for coming.</p>
<p>Even Shakespeare used to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1B70P6pjT8">end his plays with a jig</a>.</p>
<p>The point is, a show can do <em>some</em> aftercare. A little something to keep the audience happy and engaged.</p>
<h2 id="post-post-show"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/every-theatre-show-is-immersive/#post-post-show">Post-Post-Show</a></h2>
<p>The audience has gone home. Is that the end of the experience? Sending out a survey email or asking them to share their memories on social media is a pretty cheap (and lazy) option for a show. It doesn't do much for the audience though.</p>
<p>What about competitions? Can a show encourage the audience to enter a prize draw. Why not offer an upgraded seat at a discount for your next visit - as a little thank you for being a customer?</p>
<p>It beggars belief that most shows don't offer a "come back and bring a friend" offer.</p>
<p>After every roller-coaster ride, the theme park attempts to sell you a photo of you and your friends screaming. What's the equivalent for a theatrical show?</p>
<p>This doesn't have to be a full-on marketing assault. Just a little nudge to make the audience feel special and like they'd want to repeat the experience.</p>
<h2 id="is-all-this-really-necessary"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/every-theatre-show-is-immersive/#is-all-this-really-necessary">Is all this really necessary?</a></h2>
<p>No.</p>
<p>If you think people are happy to spend £150 to sit in conditions worse than the nastiest budget airline, and that they're delighted to be screamed at by over-officious security guards, then you don't need to do any of this. Leave the theatre decorated in its faded glory with faded photos of faded stars. Over-charge for the drinks, pad the programme with adverts, and hope the audience don't reflect on whether they enjoyed the experience.</p>
<p>I'm not saying every show needs to be <a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/08/secret-cinema-grease/">Secret Cinema's Grease</a>, but a little effort goes a long way.</p>
<p>Premium Netflix costs £19 per month. Find me a <em>single</em> ticket at the back of the gods which costs less than that! Even the last-minute seat filler shows I go to have trouble getting down to that level. Live performance <em>cannot compete on cost-per minute</em>. Instead, theatre has to play to its strengths.</p>
<ul>
<li>Live actors are there!</li>
<li>It's a communal experience!</li>
<li>Something unique happens every performance!</li>
<li>The building is interesting!</li>
<li>You can't distract yourself with your phone!</li>
<li>You can show your appreciation directly!</li>
<li>It's part of a night out!</li>
<li>The audience is an integral part of the experience!</li>
</ul>
<p>All theatre is immersive because you are <em>there</em> - with actual people in front of you. Theatre needs to capitalise on the fact that it is different to being sat at home watching the telly. And that means putting a little effort into treating the audience like valued guests rather than treating them like cattle.</p>
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</entry>
<entry>
<author>
<name>@edent</name>
<uri>https://edent.tel/</uri>
</author>
<title type="html"><![CDATA[Quick and dirty bar-charts using HTML's meter element]]></title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/quick-and-dirty-bar-charts-using-htmls-meter-element/" />
<id>https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=63220</id>
<updated>2025-10-11T09:26:16Z</updated>
<published>2025-10-11T11:34:57Z</published>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="/etc/" /><category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="css" /><category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="HTML" />
<summary type="html"><![CDATA["If it's stupid but it works, it's not stupid." I want to draw some vertical bar charts. I don't want to use a 3rd party library, or bundle someone else's CSS, or learn how to build SVGs. HTML contains a <meter> element. It is used like this: <meter min="0" max="4000" value="1234">1234</meter> Which looks like this: 1234 There isn't much you can do to style it. Browser manufacturers seem to …]]></summary>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/quick-and-dirty-bar-charts-using-htmls-meter-element/"><![CDATA[<p>"If it's stupid but it works, it's not stupid."</p>
<p>I want to draw some vertical bar charts. I don't want to use a 3rd party library, or bundle someone else's CSS, or learn how to build SVGs.</p>
<p>HTML contains a <code><meter></code> element. It is used like this:</p>
<pre><code class="language-html"><meter min="0" max="4000" value="1234">1234</meter>
</code></pre>
<p>Which looks like this: <meter min="0" max="4000" value="1234" style="border-radius:0 !important;">1234</meter></p>
<p>There isn't <em>much</em> you can do to style it. Browser manufacturers seem to have forgotten it exists and the CSS standard kind of ignores it.</p>
<p>It <em>is</em> possible to use CSS to rotate it using:</p>
<pre><code class="language-css">meter {
transform: rotate(-90deg);
}
</code></pre>
<p>But then you have to mess about with origins and the box model gets a bit confused.</p>
<p>See what <meter min="0" max="4000" value="1234" style="transform: rotate(-90deg);">1234</meter> I mean?</p>
<p>You can hack your way around that with <code><div></code>s and bludgeoning your layout into submission.</p>
<p>But that is a bit tedious.</p>
<p>Luckily, there's another way. As suggested by <a href="https://mastodon.social/@gundersen/115168958609140525">Marius Gundersen</a>, it's possible to set the <a href="https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/writing-mode">writing direction</a> of the element to be vertical.</p>
<p>That means you can have them "written" vertically, while having them laid out horizontally. Giving a nice(ish) bar-chart effect.</p>
<p><meter min="0" max="4000" value="1000" style="writing-mode:vertical-lr;border-radius:0 !important;">1000</meter><meter min="0" max="4000" value="2000" style="writing-mode: vertical-lr;border-radius:0 !important;">2000</meter><meter min="0" max="4000" value="3000" style="writing-mode: vertical-lr;border-radius:0 !important;">3000</meter><meter min="0" max="4000" value="4000" style="writing-mode: vertical-lr;border-radius:0 !important;">4000</meter></p>
<p>As well as the normal sort of CSS spacing, there is basic colour support for values which are inside a specific range:</p>
<p><meter min="0" max="4000" value="1000" low="1000" high="400" style="writing-mode:vertical-lr;border-radius:0 !important;">1000</meter>
<meter min="0" max="4000" value="2000" low="2000" high="400" style="writing-mode:vertical-lr;border-radius:0 !important;">2000</meter>
<meter min="0" max="4000" value="3000" style="writing-mode:vertical-lr;border-radius:0 !important;">3000</meter>
<meter min="0" max="4000" value="4000" high="4000" style="writing-mode:vertical-lr;border-radius:0 !important;">4000</meter></p>
<p>The background colour can also be set.</p>
<p><meter min="0" max="4000" value="1000" style="writing-mode:vertical-lr;border-radius:0 !important;background:red;">1000</meter></p>
<p>I dare say they're slightly more accessible than a raster image - even with good alt text. They can be targetted with JS, if you want to do fancy things with them.</p>
<p>Or, if you just want a quick and dirty bar-chart, they're basically fine.</p>
]]></content>
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</entry>
<entry>
<author>
<name>@edent</name>
<uri>https://edent.tel/</uri>
</author>
<title type="html"><![CDATA[Book Review: The Breaking of Liam Glass by Charles Harris ★★★⯪☆]]></title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/book-review-the-breaking-of-liam-glass-by-charles-harris/" />
<id>https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=63095</id>
<updated>2025-09-25T17:30:42Z</updated>
<published>2025-10-09T11:34:00Z</published>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="/etc/" /><category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="Book Review" />
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[This is a curious and mostly satisfying novel. It bills itself as a satire, but it is rather more cynical than that. A kid has been stabbed and the worst instincts of humanity descend. Race-baiting police, vote-grubbing politicians, and exploitative journalists. I can't comment on the accuracy of the satire of the press - but it feels real. It's full of the hungriest, nastiest people who will…]]></summary>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/book-review-the-breaking-of-liam-glass-by-charles-harris/"><![CDATA[<img src="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/liamglass.webp" alt="Book cover with a deflated football." width="256" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-63097">
<p>This is a curious and mostly satisfying novel. It bills itself as a satire, but it is rather more cynical than that. A kid has been stabbed and the worst instincts of humanity descend. Race-baiting police, vote-grubbing politicians, and exploitative journalists.</p>
<p>I can't comment on the accuracy of the satire of the press - but it <em>feels</em> real. It's full of the hungriest, nastiest people who will step over anyone and cross any moral line in pursuit of a headline.</p>
<p>Similarly, the political commentary isn't exactly subtle - but it will raise your blood pressure.</p>
<p>Perhaps that's the aim of the book? The author is an equal opportunity cynic. Every paragraph is so wry that it can only have been written with a permanently raised eyebrow. You'll leave it frustrated and bitter.</p>
<p>There are no heroes in the story - just a series of increasingly desperate villains all trying to profit from a senseless tragedy - which makes for a difficult read at times.</p>
]]></content>
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</entry>
<entry>
<author>
<name>@edent</name>
<uri>https://edent.tel/</uri>
</author>
<title type="html"><![CDATA[How to *actually* test your readme]]></title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/how-to-actually-test-your-readme/" />
<id>https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=62224</id>
<updated>2025-10-07T10:28:12Z</updated>
<published>2025-10-07T11:34:08Z</published>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="/etc/" /><category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="developers" /><category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="Free Software" /><category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="linux" /><category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="Open Source" />
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[If you've spent any time using Linux, you'll be used to installing software like this: The README says to download from this link. Huh, I'm not sure how to unarchive .tar.xz files - guess I'll search for that. Right, it says run setup.sh hmm, that doesn't work. Oh, I need to set the permissions. What was the chmod command again? OK, that's working. Wait, it needs sudo. Let me run that again.…]]></summary>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/how-to-actually-test-your-readme/"><![CDATA[<p>If you've spent any time using Linux, you'll be used to installing software like this:</p>
<blockquote><p>The README says to download from this link. Huh, I'm not sure how to unarchive .tar.xz files - guess I'll search for that. Right, it says run <code>setup.sh</code> hmm, that doesn't work. Oh, I need to set the permissions. What was the <code>chmod</code> command again? OK, that's working. Wait, it needs <code>sudo</code>. Let me run that again. Hang on, am I in the right directory? Here it goes. What, it crapped out. I don't have some random library - how the hell am I meant to install that? My distro has v21 but this requires <=19. Ah, I also need to upgrade something which isn't supplied by repo. Nearly there, just need to compile this obscure project from SourceForge which was inexplicably installed on the original dev's machine and then I'll be good to go. Nope. Better raise an issue on GitHub. Oh, look, it is tomorrow.</p></blockquote>
<p>As a developer, you probably don't want to answer dozens of tickets complaining that users are frustrated with your work. You thought you made the README really clear and - hey! - it works on your machine.</p>
<p>There are various solutions to this problem - developers can release AppImages, or Snaps, or FlatPaks, or Docker or whatever. But that's a bit of stretch for a solo dev who is slinging out a little tool that they coded in their spare time. And, even those don't always work as seamlessly as you'd hope.</p>
<p>There's an easier solution:</p>
<ol>
<li>Follow the steps in your README</li>
<li>See if they work.</li>
<li>…</li>
<li>That's it.</li>
</ol>
<p>OK, that's a bit reductive! There are a million variables which go into a test - so I'm going to introduce you to a secret <em>zeroth</em> step.</p>
<ol start="0">
<li>Spin up a fresh Virtual Machine with a recent-ish distro.</li>
</ol>
<p>If you are a developer, your machine probably has a billion weird configurations and obscure libraries installed on it - things which <em>definitely</em> aren't on your users' machines. Having a box-fresh VM means than you are starting with a blank-slate. If, when following your README, you discover that the app doesn't install because of a missing dependency, you can adjust your README to include <code>apt install whatever</code>.</p>
<h2 id="ok-but-how"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/how-to-actually-test-your-readme/#ok-but-how">OK, but how?</a></h2>
<p>Personally, I like <a href="https://flathub.org/apps/org.gnome.Boxes">Boxes</a> as it gives you a simple choice of VMs - but there are plenty of other Virtual Machine managers out there.</p>
<img src="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/OS-Selection.webp" alt="List of Linux OSes." width="801" height="728" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-62227">
<p>Pick a standard OS that you like. I think the latest Ubuntu Server is pretty lightweight and is a good baseline for what people are likely to have. But feel free to pick something with a GUI or whatever suits your audience.</p>
<p>Once your VM is installed and set up for basic use, take a snapshot.</p>
<img src="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/revert.webp" alt="Pop up showing a snapshot of a virtual machine." width="692" height="628" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-62228">
<p>Every time you want to test or re-test a README, revert back to the <em>original</em> state of your box. That way you won't have odd half-installed packages laying about.</p>
<p>Your next step is to think about how much hand-holding do you want to do?</p>
<p>For example, the default Debian doesn't ship with git. Does your README need to tell people to <code>sudo apt install git</code> and then walk them through configuring it so that they can <code>git clone</code> your repo?</p>
<p>Possibly! Who is your audience? If you've created a tool which is likely to be used by newbies who are just getting started with their first Raspberry Pi then, yeah, you probably will need to include that. Why? Because it will save you from receiving a lot of repeated questions and frustrated emails.</p>
<p>OK, but most developers will have <code>gcc</code> installed, right? Maybe! But it doesn't do any harm to include it in a long list of <code>apt get …</code> anyway, does it? Similarly, does everyone know how to upgrade to the very latest npm?</p>
<p>If your software is designed for people who are experienced computer touchers, don't fall into the trap of thinking that they know everything you do. I find it best to assume people are intelligent but not experienced; it doesn't hurt to give <em>slightly</em> too much detail.</p>
<p>The best way to do this is to record <em>everything</em> you do after logging into the blank VM.</p>
<ol start="0">
<li>Restore the snapshot.</li>
<li>Log in.</li>
<li>Run all the commands you need to get your software working.</li>
<li>Once done, run <code>history -w history.txt</code>
<ul>
<li>That will print out <em>every</em> command you ran.</li>
</ul></li>
<li>Copy that text into your README.</li>
</ol>
<p>Hey presto! You now have README instructions which have been tested to work. Even on the most bare-bones machine, you can say that your README will allow the user to get started with your software with the minimum amount of head-scratching.</p>
<p>Now, this isn't foolproof. Maybe the user has an ancient operating system running on obsolete hardware which is constantly bombarded by cosmic rays. But at least this way your issues won't be clogged up by people saying their install failed because <code>lib-foobar</code> wasn't available or that <code>./configure</code> had fatal errors.</p>
<p>A great example is <a href="https://github.com/xiph/opus/blob/main/README">the Opus Codec README</a>. I went into a fresh Ubuntu machine, followed the readme, ran the above history command, and got this:</p>
<pre><code class="language-_">sudo apt-get install git autoconf automake libtool gcc make
git clone https://gitlab.xiph.org/xiph/opus.git
cd opus
./autogen.sh
./configure
make
sudo make install
</code></pre>
<p>Everything worked! There was no missing step or having to dive into another README to figure out how to bind flarg 6.9 with schnorp-unstable.</p>
<p>So that's my plea to you, dear developer friend. Make sure your README contains both the necessary <em>and</em> sufficient information required to install your software. For your sake, as much as mine!</p>
<h2 id="wait-you-didnt-follow-your-own-advice"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/how-to-actually-test-your-readme/#wait-you-didnt-follow-your-own-advice">Wait! You didn't follow your own advice!</a></h2>
<p>You're quite right. Feel free to send a pull request to correct this post - as I shall be doing with any unhelpful READMEs I find along the way.</p>
]]></content>
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</entry>
<entry>
<author>
<name>@edent</name>
<uri>https://edent.tel/</uri>
</author>
<title type="html"><![CDATA[You did no fact checking, and I must scream]]></title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/i-have-no-facts-and-i-must-scream/" />
<id>https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=63643</id>
<updated>2025-10-06T09:56:50Z</updated>
<published>2025-10-05T11:34:23Z</published>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="/etc/" /><category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="fact check" /><category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="fake news" /><category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="newspapers" /><category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="quote" /><category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="Social Media" />
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[I'm neither a journalist nor a professional fact checker but, the thing is, it's has never been easier to check basic facts. Yeah, sure, there's a world of misinformation out there, but it doesn't take much effort to determine if something is likely to be true. There are brilliant tools like reverse Image Search which give you a good indicator of when an image first appeared on the web, and…]]></summary>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/i-have-no-facts-and-i-must-scream/"><![CDATA[<p>I'm neither a journalist nor a professional fact checker but, the thing is, it's has never been easier to check basic facts. Yeah, sure, there's a world of misinformation out there, but it doesn't take much effort to determine if something is likely to be true.</p>
<p>There are brilliant tools like <a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2018/04/tools-to-defeat-fake-news-reverse-image-search/">reverse Image Search</a> which give you a good indicator of when an image first appeared on the web, and whether it was published by a reputable source.</p>
<p>You can <a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2021/06/whats-the-origin-of-the-phrase-we-shouldnt-just-be-pulling-people-out-of-the-river-we-should-be-going-upstream-to-find-out-whos-pushing-them-in/">use Google Books to check whether a quote is true</a>.</p>
<p>You can use social-media searches to <a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2024/01/no-oscar-wilde-did-not-say-imitation-is-the-sincerest-form-of-flattery-that-mediocrity-can-pay-to-greatness/">easily check the origin of memes</a>.</p>
<p>There are <a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2021/07/did-dvorak-die-a-bitter-man/">vast archives of printed material</a> to help you.</p>
<p>The World Wide Web has a million sites which allow you to <a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2021/07/did-nikola-tesla-receive-nothing-but-insults-and-humiliation/">cross-reference any citations</a> to see if they're spurious.</p>
<p>Now, perhaps all that is a bit too much effort for someone casually doomscrolling and hitting "repost" for an instant dopamine hit. But it shouldn't be. And it <em>certainly</em> shouldn't be for people who write for trusted sources like newspapers.</p>
<p>Recently, the beloved actor Patricia Routledge died. Several newspapers reposted a piece of viral slop which <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/edent.tel/post/3lwvalev4r22b">I had debunked a month previously</a>. Let's go through the piece and see just how easy it is to prove false.</p>
<p>Here's that "viral" story. I've kept to the parts which contain easily verifiable / falsifiable claims.</p>
<img src="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/turning-95.webp" alt="**“I’ll be turning 95 this coming Monday. In my younger years, I was often filled with worry — worry that I wasn’t quite good enough, that no one would cast me again, that I wouldn’t live up to my mother’s hopes. But these days begin in peace, and end in gratitude.”**" width="350" height="120" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-63645">
<p>Wikpedia says that <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patricia_Routledge">her birthday was 17 February 1929</a>. She would have turned 95 in 2024.</p>
<p>Open up your calendar app. Scroll back to February 2024. What date was 17 February 2024? Saturday. Not Monday.</p>
<p>Now, OK, maybe at 95 she's forgotten her birthday. What else does the rest of the piece say?</p>
<img src="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/life.webp" alt="My life didn’t quite take shape until my forties. I had worked steadily — on provincial stages, in radio plays, in West End productions — but I often felt adrift, as though I was searching for a home within myself that I hadn’t quite found." width="350" height="100" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-63646">
<p>In 1968, <a href="https://youtu.be/_e6_6pHKsQU?t=5382">Patricia Routledge won Best Actress (Musical) at the Tony Awards</a> - she was 39. I don't know if I'd consider appearing on Broadway as provincial stages.</p>
<img src="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/accepted.webp" alt="At 50, I accepted a television role that many would later associate me with — Hyacinth Bucket, of Keeping Up Appearances. I thought it would be a small part in a little series. I never imagined that it would take me into people’s living rooms and hearts around the world. And truthfully, that role taught me to accept my own quirks. It healed something in me." width="350" height="140" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-63647">
<p><a href="http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/579878/">Keeping Up Appearances was first broadcast in 1990</a>. Patricia was around 60, not 50, when she was cast.</p>
<p>While she may have thought it would only be a small series - even though it was by the creator of Open All Hours and Last of the Summer Wine - there's no way that being the lead character could be described as a "small part". She wasn't a breakout character - she was the star.</p>
<img src="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/shake.webp" alt="At 70, I returned to the Shakespearean stage — something I once believed I had aged out of. But this time, I had nothing to prove. I stood on those boards with stillness, and audiences felt that. I was no longer performing. I was simply being." width="350" height="100" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-63648">
<p>Wikipedia isn't always accurate, but it <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patricia_Routledge#Stage">does list lots of her stage work</a>. She was working steadily on stage from 1999 - when she hit 70 - but none of it Shakespeare.</p>
<p>I was able to do that fact checking in 10 minutes while laying in bed waiting for the bathroom to become free. It wasn't onerous. It didn't require subscriptions to professional journals. I didn't need a team of fact-checkers. It took a bit of web-sleuthing and, dare I say it, a smidgen of common sense.</p>
<p>And yet, a couple of newspapers ran with this utter drivel as though it were the truth. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20251003145620/https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/tv/news/patricia-routledge-death-last-message-b2838736.html">The Independent</a> published it as part of their tribute - although they <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/edent.tel/post/3m2cmhw7nmc2a">took the piece down after I emailed them</a>. Similarly <a href="https://www.express.co.uk/showbiz/tv-radio/2100863/keeping-appearances-patricia-routledge-confession">The Express</a> ran it without any basic fact-checking (and <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/edent.tel/post/3m2jdtg6xys22">didn't take it down</a> after being contacted).</p>
<p>Both of them say their primary source is the <a href="https://jayspeak.blog/2025/08/02/growing-oldoops-up/">"Jay Speak" blog</a>. There's nothing on that blog post to say that the author interviewed Patricia Routledge. A quick check of the other posts on the site don't make it obvious that it is a reputable source of exclusive interviews with notable actors.</p>
<p>The date on that blog post is August 2nd, 2025. Is there anything earlier? Typing a few of the phrases into a search engine found a bunch of posts which pre-date it. The earliest I can find was <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DMeyLa6oU8q/">this Instagram post</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/henk.benson/posts/pfbid02dWng6y7dpubTFSZuYavFYVdEfLuzcnvmqNnJuiAN693LfJLSNwHec8p7cSQasgdxl">this Facebook post</a> both from the <strong>24th of July</strong> - a week early than the Jay Speaks post.</p>
<p>To be clear, I don't think Jay Speaks was deliberately trying to fool journalists or hoax anyone. They simply saw an interesting looking post and re-shared it. I also suspect the Facebook and Instagram posts were copied from other sources - but I've been unable to find anything definitive.</p>
<p>I would expect that professional journalists at well-established newspapers to be able to call an actor's agent to fact-check a piece before running it. If they can't, I would have thought they'd do a cursory fact check.</p>
<p>But, no. I presume the rush to publish is so great that it over-rides any sense of whether a piece should be accurate.</p>
<p>This is irresponsible. Last week saw <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/jamesomalley.co.uk/post/3m2edtpdysc2u">the BBC air an outright lie on Have I Got News For You</a>. A professional TV company, with a budget for lawyers, fact checkers, and researchers - and they just broadcast easily disproven lies. Why? Maybe hubris, maybe laziness, maybe deliberate rabble-rousing.</p>
<p>The media have comprehensively failed us. They will repeat any tawdry nonsense as long as it keeps people clicking. It's up to us to defend ourselves and our friends against this unending tsunami of low-grade slurry.</p>
<p>I hope I've demonstrated that it takes almost no effort to perform a basic fact check. It isn't a professional skill. It doesn't require anything more than an Internet connection and a curious mind. If you see something online, take a moment to check it before sharing it.</p>
<p>Stopping misinformation starts with you.</p>
]]></content>
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</entry>
<entry>
<author>
<name>@edent</name>
<uri>https://edent.tel/</uri>
</author>
<title type="html"><![CDATA[Getting started with Mastodon's Quote Posts - technical implementation details for servers]]></title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/getting-started-with-mastodons-quote-posts-technical-implementation-details-for-servers/" />
<id>https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=63527</id>
<updated>2025-10-03T15:06:55Z</updated>
<published>2025-10-03T11:34:27Z</published>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="/etc/" /><category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="ActivityPub" /><category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="fediverse" /><category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="mastodon" /><category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="MastodonAPI" />
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[Quoting posts on Mastodon is slightly complex. Because of the privacy conscious nature of the platform and its users, reposting isn't merely a case of sharing a URl. A user writes a status. The user can choose to make their statuses quotable or not. What happens when a quoter quotes that post? I've read through the specification and tried to simplify it. Quoting is a multi-step process: The…]]></summary>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/getting-started-with-mastodons-quote-posts-technical-implementation-details-for-servers/"><![CDATA[<p>Quoting posts on Mastodon is <em>slightly</em> complex. Because of the privacy conscious nature of the platform and its users, reposting isn't merely a case of sharing a URl.</p>
<p>A user writes a status. The user can choose to make their statuses quotable or not. What happens when a quoter quotes that post?</p>
<p>I've <a href="https://codeberg.org/fediverse/fep/src/branch/main/fep/044f/fep-044f.md">read through the specification</a> and tried to simplify it. Quoting is a multi-step process:</p>
<ol>
<li>The status <em>must</em> opt-in to being shared.</li>
<li>The quoter quotes the status.</li>
<li>The quoter's server sends a request to the status's server.</li>
<li>The status's server sends an accept message back to the quoter's server.</li>
<li>When other servers see the quote, they check with the status's server to see if it is allowed.</li>
</ol>
<p>I'm going to walk you through each stage as best as I understand them.</p>
<h2 id="opting-in"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/getting-started-with-mastodons-quote-posts-technical-implementation-details-for-servers/#opting-in">Opting In</a></h2>
<p>An ActivityPub status message is JSON. In order to opt-in, it needs this additional field.</p>
<pre><code class="language-JSON">"interactionPolicy": {
"canQuote": {
"automaticApproval": "https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams#Public"
}
}
</code></pre>
<p>That tells ActivityPub clients that anyone is allowed to quote this post. It is also possible to say that only specific users, or only followers, or no-one is allowed.</p>
<h2 id="the-quoterequest"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/getting-started-with-mastodons-quote-posts-technical-implementation-details-for-servers/#the-quoterequest">The QuoteRequest</a></h2>
<p>Someone has hit the quote post button, typed their own message, and shared their wisdom. Their server sends the following message to the server which hosts the quoted status. This has been edited for brevity.</p>
<pre><code class="language-JSON">{
"@context": [
"https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams",
{
"QuoteRequest": "https://w3id.org/fep/044f#QuoteRequest"
}
],
"type": "QuoteRequest",
"id": "https://mastodon.test/users/Edent/quote_requests/1234-5678-9101",
"actor": "https://mastodon.test/users/Edent",
"object": "https://example.com/posts/987654321.json",
"instrument": {
"id": "https://mastodon.test/users/Edent/statuses/123456789",
"url": "https://mastodon.test/@Edent/123456789",
"attributedTo": "https://mastodon.test/users/Edent",
"quote": "https://example.com/posts/987654321.json",
"_misskey_quote": "https://example.com/posts/987654321.json",
"quoteUri": "https://example.com/posts/987654321.json"
}
}
</code></pre>
<p>All this says is "I would like permission to quote you."</p>
<h2 id="the-stamp"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/getting-started-with-mastodons-quote-posts-technical-implementation-details-for-servers/#the-stamp">The Stamp</a></h2>
<p>The quoted server needs to approve this quote. First, it generates a "stamp".</p>
<p>This is a file which lives on the quoted server. It is proof that the quote is allowed. If it is deleted, the quote permission is revoked. When the <a href="https://socialhub.activitypub.rocks/t/quote-post-implementation-issues/8032/2?u=eden_t">stamp's ID is requested the stamp <em>must</em> be returned</a>.</p>
<pre><code class="language-JSON">{
"@context": [
"https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams",
{
"gts": "https://gotosocial.org/ns#",
"QuoteAuthorization": {
"@id": "https://w3id.org/fep/044f#QuoteAuthorization",
"@type": "@id"
},
"interactingObject": {
"@id": "gts:interactingObject"
},
"interactionTarget": {
"@id": "gts:interactionTarget"
}
}
],
"type": "QuoteAuthorization",
"id": "https://example.com/quote-987654321.json",
"attributedTo": "https://example.com/users/username",
"interactionTarget": "https://example.com/posts/987654321.json",
"interactingObject": "https://mastodon.test/users/Edent/statuses/123456789"
}
</code></pre>
<p>If the quoted status is viewed from a different server, that server will query the stamp to make sure the share is allowed.</p>
<h2 id="the-accept"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/getting-started-with-mastodons-quote-posts-technical-implementation-details-for-servers/#the-accept">The Accept</a></h2>
<p>This is the message that the quoted server sends to the quoting server. It references the request and the stamp.</p>
<pre><code class="language-JSON">{
"@context": [
"https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams",
{
"QuoteRequest": "https://w3id.org/fep/044f#QuoteRequest"
}
],
"type": "Accept",
"to": "https://mastodon.test/users/Edent",
"id": "https://example.com/posts/987654321.json",
"actor": "https://example.com/account",
"object": {
"type": "QuoteRequest",
"id": "https://mastodon.test/users/Edent/quote_requests/1234-5678-9101",
"actor": "https://mastodon.test/users/Edent",
"instrument": "https://mastodon.test/users/Edent/statuses/123456789",
"object": "https://example.com/posts/987654321.json"
},
"result": "https://example.com/quote-987654321.json"
}
</code></pre>
<p>The "result" <em>must</em> be the same as the stamp's URl.</p>
<h2 id="and-then"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/getting-started-with-mastodons-quote-posts-technical-implementation-details-for-servers/#and-then">And then?</a></h2>
<p>You can follow and quote <a href="https://colours.bots.edent.tel/">@[email protected]</a> on your favourite Fediverse platform.</p>
<p>I've written an ActivityPub server in a single file which is designed to teach you have the protocol works. Have a play with <a href="https://gitlab.com/edent/activity-bot">ActivityBot</a>.</p>
]]></content>
<link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/getting-started-with-mastodons-quote-posts-technical-implementation-details-for-servers/#comments" thr:count="5" />
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<thr:total>5</thr:total>
</entry>
<entry>
<author>
<name>@edent</name>
<uri>https://edent.tel/</uri>
</author>
<title type="html"><![CDATA[Book Review: Streaming Wars - How Getting Everything We Wanted Changed Entertainment Forever by Charlotte Henry ★★☆☆☆]]></title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/book-review-streaming-wars-how-getting-everything-we-wanted-changed-entertainment-forever-by-charlotte-henry/" />
<id>https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=63503</id>
<updated>2025-10-01T16:51:02Z</updated>
<published>2025-10-01T11:34:54Z</published>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="/etc/" /><category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="Book Review" /><category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="iplayer" /><category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="Netflix" /><category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="NetGalley" />
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[This should be a fascinating look at how streaming services evolved and the outsized impact they've had on our culture. Instead it is mostly a series of re-written press-releases and recycled analysis from other people. Sadly, the book never dives in to the pre-history of streaming. There's a brief mention of RealPlayer - but nothing about the early experiments of livestreaming gigs and TV…]]></summary>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/book-review-streaming-wars-how-getting-everything-we-wanted-changed-entertainment-forever-by-charlotte-henry/"><![CDATA[<img src="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/cover719123-medium.png" alt="Book cover." width="255" height="391" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-63514">
<p>This <em>should</em> be a fascinating look at how streaming services evolved and the outsized impact they've had on our culture. Instead it is mostly a series of re-written press-releases and recycled analysis from other people.</p>
<p>Sadly, the book never dives in to the pre-history of streaming. There's a brief mention of RealPlayer - but nothing about the early experiments of livestreaming gigs and TV over the Internet. Similarly, it ignores how Big Brother created a generation of people who wanted to stream on their phones. Early pioneers like JenniCam are written out of history. The book is relentlessly focussed on American streamers, with only a brief foray into the UK, Africa, and other markets. There's nothing about Project Kangaroo and how it squandered an early opportunity for streaming dominance.</p>
<p>Steaming only started with Netflix, according to this book. Despite iPlayer launching at roughly the same time, it doesn't make an appearance until halfway though the book. It's also missing some of the interesting aspects of how Netflix built its algorithm, and the privacy impacts of it.</p>
<p>The analysis itself mostly quotes from reports from Enders and other firms like that. It doesn't seem like there was any original research done, and there aren't any new interviews done for the book. Instead it is just a surface-level analysis mixed in with clichéd prose about boiling frogs. It's also fairly uncritical - several sections are just press-releases from big streaming services with little discussion about whether they're accurate. It almost turns into a corporate biography / hagiography rather than a serious look at streaming.</p>
<p>There's very little about the production side. For example, how <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/why-does-everything-on-netflix-look-like-that/">Netflix squashes cinematograph</a> and how its <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/cinematography/comments/16precd/whats_the_real_reason_netflix_shows_all_look_the/k1v88gd/">lack of permanent props storage</a> restricts accurate set-dressing to <a href="https://www.wired.com/2016/07/stories-behind-stranger-things-retro-80s-props/">tent-pole shows</a>.</p>
<p>Although this is a preview copy, the prose feels half-baked.</p>
<blockquote><p>Overall, the iPlayer is a very high-quality product, providing access to both linear TV and a whole range of content in its extensive catalogue.</p></blockquote>
<p>That's the sort of thing I'd expect from a student essay rather than a serious book.</p>
<p>Unlike <a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2022/03/book-review-warez-the-infrastructure-and-aesthetics-of-piracy-by-martin-paul-eve/">Warez - The Infrastructure and Aesthetics of Piracy by Martin Paul Eve</a>, there's almost nothing about piracy and how that drives the behaviour of consumers, producers, and distributors. There's a bit of discussion of Napster, but hardly anything about the more modern cultural impact.</p>
<p>It is maddeningly contradictory. In a couple of pages it goes from:</p>
<blockquote><p>Consequently, we are closer than we have ever been to having something like global TV. Close, but not actually there.</p></blockquote>
<p>To:</p>
<blockquote><p>because of the amount of work available to view, there is no mono-culture anymore.</p></blockquote>
<p>Which is it?</p>
<p>The book concludes by saying:</p>
<blockquote><p>With that in mind, the ultimate winner of the streaming wars is the consumer. It is us.</p></blockquote>
<p>Is it though? There's almost nothing about shows cancelled before they got going. Nothing about whether American cultural hegemony suffocates local media development. It briefly touches on the constant price rises, but never investigates whether it changes behaviours or if they drive customers away. There's not a single interview with viewers - and no attempt to understand whether they feel positive about the way streaming has changed the world.</p>
<p>There's a fascinating story to be told, but this isn't it.</p>
<p>Thanks to Netgalley for the review copy, the book is available to pre-order now.</p>
]]></content>
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<thr:total>3</thr:total>
</entry>
<entry>
<author>
<name>@edent</name>
<uri>https://edent.tel/</uri>
</author>
<title type="html"><![CDATA[Can you use GDPR to Circumvent BlueSky's Adult Content Blocks?]]></title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/can-you-use-gdpr-to-circumvent-blueskys-adult-content-blocks/" />
<id>https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=62143</id>
<updated>2025-09-30T12:01:46Z</updated>
<published>2025-09-29T11:34:27Z</published>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="/etc/" /><category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="BlueSky" /><category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="gdpr" /><category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="OnlineSafety" />
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[In the battle between the Online Safety Act and GDPR, who will win? FIGHT! I'll start by saying that I'm moderately positive on Online Safety. If services don't want to provide moderation then they shouldn't let their younger users be exposed to harm. The social network BlueSky has taken a pragmatic approach to this. If you don't want to verify your age, you can still use its services - but it…]]></summary>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/can-you-use-gdpr-to-circumvent-blueskys-adult-content-blocks/"><![CDATA[<p>In the battle between the Online Safety Act and GDPR, who will win? FIGHT!</p>
<p>I'll start by saying that I'm <a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2024/12/food-safety-vs-online-safety/">moderately positive on Online Safety</a>. If services don't want to provide moderation then they shouldn't let their younger users be exposed to harm.</p>
<p>The social network BlueSky has taken a pragmatic approach to this. If you don't want to verify your age, you can still use its services - but <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/edent.tel/post/3ltmzgl5h4c2k">it won't serve you porn or let people send you non-public messages</a>.</p>
<p>I think that's pretty reasonable. I don't use BSky to look at naked <del>mole rats</del> people, and I already have plenty of other messaging accounts. So I haven't verified my age.</p>
<p>There are two slight wrinkles with BSky's implementation. Firstly, there's no way to retrieve DMs which were sent before this restriction came into force. Oh, you can one-click export your data - but <a href="https://docs.bsky.app/blog/repo-export">it only includes <em>public</em> data</a>. So no DMs.</p>
<p>Secondly, you can't turn off DM from people who have previously messaged you. <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/edent.tel/post/3luoqklgdhk27">I asked people to message me</a> to see if they got an error - but it looks like the messages just get silently accepted. I probably look a bit rude if I don't answer them.</p>
<p>Worse still, the DM notification keeps incrementing!</p>
<img src="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Bluesky-DM-notification.webp" alt="A notification counter showing the number 3. The message next to it says I need to complete age assurance." width="932" height="401" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-62145">
<p>It <em>is</em> possible to turn off DMs - but <a href="https://bsky.social/about/blog/05-22-2024-direct-messages">only if you can access your DM settings</a>. Which you can't if you haven't passed age assurance.</p>
<p>Well, what about GDPR?</p>
<p><a href="https://bsky.social/about/support/privacy-policy#personal-information-collect">BlueSky's privacy policy</a> has this to say about DMs:</p>
<blockquote><p>Your Direct Messages. We store and process your direct messages in order to enable you to communicate directly and privately with other users on the Bluesky App. These are unencrypted and can be accessed for Trust and Safety purposes.</p></blockquote>
<p>They go on to say that I may have the right to:</p>
<blockquote><p>Request Access to and Portability of Your Personal Information, including: (i) obtaining access to or a copy of your personal information; and (ii) receiving an electronic copy of personal information that you have provided to us, or asking us to send that information to another company in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format (also known as the “right of data portability”);</p></blockquote>
<p>So I sent off a Subject Access Request asking specifically for the Direct Messages sent to/from my account.</p>
<p>I was 100% sure that the messages I had sent were my personal data and should be returned to me. I wasn't sure if messages other people had sent to me could be considered personal data. But I figured that the OSA hadn't invalidated GDPR.</p>
<p>Here's what happened:</p>
<h2 id="timeline"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/can-you-use-gdpr-to-circumvent-blueskys-adult-content-blocks/#timeline">Timeline</a></h2>
<ul>
<li>2025-07-24 - Sent request to their support desk and received an acknowledgement.
<ul>
<li>Response: "I've gone ahead and shared your request with our team and will follow up with you if any additional information or verification is needed."</li>
</ul></li>
<li>2025-07-31 - Sent a reminder to them.
<ul>
<li>Response: "We've escalated your concern to our developers and are still waiting for their response and confirmation. We'll get back as soon as we get this information."</li>
</ul></li>
<li>2025-08-25 - One month later sent an escalation to their legal team reminding them of their obligations.
<ul>
<li>Response: Asked to provide my country of residence and to prove my account ownership by send an email from the address associated with my BSky account.</li>
</ul></li>
<li>2025-09-05 - Sent yet another chaser.</li>
<li>2025-09-13 - Over seven weeks since the initial request. Told them that I wanted to know which data protection authority they were registered with so I could make a formal complaint.
<ul>
<li>Response: "Please be aware that we are currently in the process of making your data available for download. We will notify you as soon as it is ready."</li>
</ul></li>
<li>2025-09-22 - 8 weeks since the complaint was raised. Sent another chaser asking how long until my data would be ready to download.</li>
<li>2025-09-25 - After 64 days they sent me a CSV with my data!</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="result"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/can-you-use-gdpr-to-circumvent-blueskys-adult-content-blocks/#result">Result</a></h2>
<p>Here's an extract of the CSV. I've lightly redacted the data, but you can see how JSON embedding works.</p>
<pre><code class="language-csv">convoId,sentAt,sender,contents
3kt6f7a2,2025-07-24 05:50:09.339+00,did:plc:pxy4cjqfu5aa6eadtx5,"{""text"": ""Testing testing""}"
3ku4lvbh,2024-06-04 18:17:52.414+00,did:plc:i6misxex577k4q6o7gl,"{""text"": ""Thought this might be up your alley. I've been to a few of them - pretty good crowd. thegeomob.com/post/july-3r..."", ""facets"": [{""index"": {""byteEnd"": 114, ""byteStart"": 85}, ""features"": [{""uri"": ""https://thegeomob.com/post/july-3rd-2024-geomoblon-details"", ""$type"": ""app.bsky.richtext.facet#link""}]}]}"
</code></pre>
<h2 id="thoughts"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/can-you-use-gdpr-to-circumvent-blueskys-adult-content-blocks/#thoughts">Thoughts</a></h2>
<p>I didn't have to prove my age. I just proved account ownership and then politely but insistently asked for my data. Frankly, it is baffling that such a well-funded company takes this long to answer a simple request.</p>
<p>Does this expose a gaping whole in the idea of online safety?</p>
<p>No. Not really. I suppose that a theoretical abuser could send messages to a minor and then that minor could go through a Subject Access Request process to try and access them. But that all feels a bit far-fetched and is likely to draw attention to both parties.</p>
<h2 id="but-why-didnt-you-just"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/can-you-use-gdpr-to-circumvent-blueskys-adult-content-blocks/#but-why-didnt-you-just">But why didn't you just…</a></h2>
<p>This was definitely "playing on hard mode". There were other ways to get my DMs. Here are some alternatives which I didn't try and <em>why</em> I didn't try them.</p>
<ul>
<li>Use a VPN to circumvent the geoblock.
<ul>
<li>Why should I have to pay for a VPN, or trust my browsing data to a dodgy 3rd party? I shouldn't have to install and configure software just to work around a crappy design decision.</li>
</ul></li>
<li>Go through age verification.
<ul>
<li>I don't browse BlueSky for the "gentlemen's special interest" section. I already have lots of ways people can contact me. I'm not against a KYC process - but I simply don't need it.</li>
</ul></li>
<li>Use a 3rd party client to download the data.
<ul>
<li>I don't trust my data with 3rd party apps, and neither should you!</li>
</ul></li>
<li>Use <a href="https://docs.bsky.app/docs/api/chat-bsky-convo-get-messages">the API</a> to read DMs.
<ul>
<li>I wasn't sure if the API required age verification. And, frankly, I couldn't be faffed learning a brand new API.</li>
</ul></li>
<li>Escalate straight to the CEO or via a friend who works there.
<ul>
<li>I like doing things the official way. Not everyone has a friend who works at BSky (thanks <REDACTED>!) and I feel it is better if legal teams get direct feedback from users; not management.</li>
</ul></li>
<li>Ignore this and use a better social network.
<ul>
<li>I go where my friends are. I have lots of friends on Mastodon and other services. BSky is OK, but I'm only there for my friends. But, while they are there, I didn't want an obnoxious DM notification taunting me.</li>
</ul></li>
</ul>
<h2 id="next-steps"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/can-you-use-gdpr-to-circumvent-blueskys-adult-content-blocks/#next-steps">Next Steps</a></h2>
<p>I've emailed BlueSky to ask them to completely disable my inbox and clear my notifications. We'll see how long that takes them!</p>
]]></content>
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</entry>
<entry>
<author>
<name>@edent</name>
<uri>https://edent.tel/</uri>
</author>
<title type="html"><![CDATA[Drunk CSS]]></title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/drunk-css/" />
<id>https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=62987</id>
<updated>2025-09-25T07:40:59Z</updated>
<published>2025-09-27T11:34:51Z</published>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="/etc/" /><category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="css" /><category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="drunk" /><category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="HTML" /><category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="ui" /><category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="ux" /><category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="webdev" />
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[A decade ago, I was writing about how you should test your user interface on drunk people. It was a semi-serious idea. Some of your users will be drunk when using your app or website. If it is easy for them to use, then it should be easy for sober people to use. Of course, necking a few shots every time you update your website isn't great for your health - so is there another way? Click the "🥴 …]]></summary>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/drunk-css/"><![CDATA[<p>A decade ago, I was writing about how you should <a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2014/01/ui-for-drunks/">test your user interface on drunk people</a>. It was a semi-serious idea. Some of your users <em>will</em> be drunk when using your app or website. If it is easy for them to use, then it should be easy for sober people to use.</p>
<p>Of course, necking a few shots every time you update your website isn't <em>great</em> for your health - so is there another way?</p>
<p>Click the "🥴 Drunk" button at <a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/drunk-css/#theme">the top of the page</a> and see what happens!</p>
<p>These are a relatively simple set of CSS rules which you can apply to any site in order to <em>simulate</em> inebriation.</p>
<p>(I may have changed these since writing the post. Check the source for the latest version.)</p>
<p>First, monkey around with the fonts. This sets all the lower-case vowels to be rendered in a different font - as discussed in "<a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/targetting-specific-characters-with-css-rules/">targetting specific characters with CSS rules</a>":</p>
<pre><code class="language-css">/* Drunk */
@font-face {
font-family: "Drunk";
src: url("/blog/wp-content/themes/edent-wordpress-theme/assets/fonts/CommitMonoV143-Edent.woff2") format("woff2");
/* Lower-Case Vowels */
unicode-range: U+61, U+65, U+69, U+6F, U+75 ;
size-adjust: 105%;
}
</code></pre>
<p>The rest of the characters will be rendered in the system's default Cursive font. Characters will also be slanted. The first character of every paragraph will be shrunk:</p>
<pre><code class="language-css">:root:has(input#drunk:checked) * {
font-family: "Drunk", cursive;
font-style: oblique -12deg;
text-align: end;
}
:root:has(input#drunk:checked) p::first-letter {
font-size: .5em;
}
</code></pre>
<p>Next, use the child selectors to rotate and skew various elements. While we wait for <a href="https://webkit.org/blog/17285/rolling-the-dice-with-css-random/">CSS randomness to come to all browsers</a> this is a simple way to select various elements:</p>
<pre><code class="language-css">:root:has(input#drunk:checked) *:nth-child(3n) {
transform: rotate(2deg);
}
:root:has(input#drunk:checked) *:nth-child(5n) {
transform: skew(5deg, 5deg);
}
:root:has(input#drunk:checked) *:nth-child(7n) {
transform: rotate(-3deg);
}
</code></pre>
<p>Make the entire page blurred and saturate the colours:</p>
<pre><code class="language-css">:root:has(input#drunk:checked) body {
filter: blur(1px) saturate(2.5);
}
</code></pre>
<p>Make any hyperlink harder to click by having it gently bounce up and down:</p>
<pre><code class="language-css">:root:has(input#drunk:checked) a {
animation-name: bounce;
animation-duration: 4s;
animation-direction: alternate;
animation-timing-function: ease-in-out;
animation-iteration-count: infinite;
}
@keyframes bounce {
0% { margin-top: 0px; }
25% { margin-top:-10px; }
50% { margin-top: 0px; }
75% { margin-top: 10px; }
100% { margin-top: 0px; }
}
</code></pre>
<p>Does this <em>really</em> simulate drunkenness? No. It is a pale simulacrum. What it is, however, is deliberately inaccessible to the majority of people.</p>
<p>How does it make you feel using the site in Drunk-Mode? Does it frustrate you? Do your eyes hurt due to the garish colour scheme? Do you keep missing the thing that you try and click on? Are the words so hard to read that it takes you extra time to do anything useful? Will you recommend this experience to your friends and family?</p>
<p>I've written before about <a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2019/07/i-feel-hopeless-rejected-and-a-burden-on-society-one-week-of-empathy-training/">cosplaying as being disabled</a>. Strapping on a pair of <a href="https://www.lowvisionsimulators.com/products/glaucoma-rp-simulators">Glaucoma Goggles</a> will give you an idea of what a visual impairment is like. But it won't give you the experience of living that way for months or years.</p>
<p>You should test your stuff with people who have cognitive impairments or physical disabilities. Find out how usable your site is for someone lacking fine motor control or for those with learning disabilities. Pay disable people to take part in usability studies. Integrate their feedback.</p>
<p>Faffing around with CSS will only get you so far.</p>
]]></content>
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</entry>
<entry>
<author>
<name>@edent</name>
<uri>https://edent.tel/</uri>
</author>
<title type="html"><![CDATA[Book Review: This Might Surprise You - A Breast Cancer Story by Hayley Gullen ★★★★★]]></title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/book-review-this-might-surprise-you-a-breast-cancer-story-by-hayley-gullen/" />
<id>https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=63496</id>
<updated>2025-09-25T08:56:03Z</updated>
<published>2025-09-25T11:34:17Z</published>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="/etc/" /><category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="Book Review" /><category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="nhs" />
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[My pal Hayley has written a book - a graphic memoir about dealing with breast cancer. Graphic as in graphic-novel - although there are a large variety of sketched boobs dotted throughout the pages and some frank discussions of sex. I'm not very good with "medical stuff" - so I was quite proud of myself for only twice needing to take a break from reading it because I felt faint. It is the most…]]></summary>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/book-review-this-might-surprise-you-a-breast-cancer-story-by-hayley-gullen/"><![CDATA[<img src="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Hayley-Gullen.webp" alt="Comic book cover." width="200" height="300" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-63498">
<p>My pal Hayley has written a book - a graphic memoir about dealing with breast cancer. Graphic as in graphic-novel - although there <em>are</em> a large variety of sketched boobs dotted throughout the pages and some frank discussions of sex. I'm not very good with "medical stuff" - so I was quite proud of myself for only twice needing to take a break from reading it because I felt faint.</p>
<p>It is the most perfectly human book I've read in a while. The inner monologue will be intimately familiar to anyone who has sat nervously in a hospital waiting room. It is in turns funny, heartbreaking, devastating, and hopeful. The illustrations are lush. Soaring between the mundane nature of being stuck in a machine, to the surreal nature of your body conspiring against you. It expertly mixes the factual (what to take, when to take it, where to go) with the fanciful (how to visualise your oncologist catching you with a butterfly net).</p>
<p>This book is vital reading for anyone involved in the NHS. It presents a <del>patient-</del> person-centred view of everything that can go wrong on a <del>patient's</del> person's journey through the health system. From technobabbling doctors to outdated IT systems. It's a clear and punchy call for improved holistics. Every part of the system matters - especially when <del>patients</del> people are at their most vulnerable.</p>
<p>In a delightful meta-narrative, the book passes the eponymous Gullen-test which asks whether a character with cancer is cured by normal science or a miracle. In this case, it is lot (and lots) of drugs, machines, doctors, nurses, and chemicals.</p>
<p>People with cancer get bought a lot of books. This is a tight 180 pages exploring the melancholy and the joy which can accompany the journey.</p>
<p>Highly recommended.</p>
<h2 id="technical-details"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/book-review-this-might-surprise-you-a-breast-cancer-story-by-hayley-gullen/#technical-details">Technical Details</a></h2>
<p>This part is more of a technical review of the eBook. Firstly, it's all in black and white - which makes it suitable for reading on an eInk device.</p>
<p>It's also available as an ePub - rather than just a flattened PDF. That means the text is selectable, available for screen readers, and searchable.</p>
<p>The book weighs in at 156MB, which is a bit chunky and will be slow to open on some eReaders. The images are all 1134x1700 resolution which makes them gorgeous to look at. But they're saved in the rather inefficient JPEG format, at extremely high quality. Shifting the images to PNG would have reduced the filesize by at least a third, with no loss of quality.</p>
<p>Bafflingly, the publisher has fixed the height and width of every page using:</p>
<pre><code class="language-html"><meta content="width=444, height=665" name="viewport"/>
</code></pre>
<p>That's approximately the right aspect ratio, but far too small. Some eReaders will display the pages in a small box on the page, others might be prevented from zooming in. The CSS is also weirdly bloated and could do with being optimised.</p>
<p>None of this will spoil your enjoyment of a very fine book. It's just evidence that some publishers need to get better at the technical aspects of graphic novels!</p>
]]></content>
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<thr:total>0</thr:total>
</entry>
<entry>
<author>
<name>@edent</name>
<uri>https://edent.tel/</uri>
</author>
<title type="html"><![CDATA[Targetting specific characters with CSS rules]]></title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/targetting-specific-characters-with-css-rules/" />
<id>https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=62760</id>
<updated>2025-09-23T11:48:05Z</updated>
<published>2025-09-23T11:34:09Z</published>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="/etc/" /><category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="css" /><category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="HTML" />
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[You can't. There is no way to use CSS to apply a style to every letter "E". It simply can't be done. At least, that's what they want you to think… What if I told you there was a secret and forbidden way to target specific characters in text and apply some styles to them? As part of my experiments in creating a "drunk" CSS theme, I thought it would be useful to change the presentation of s…]]></summary>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/targetting-specific-characters-with-css-rules/"><![CDATA[<p>You can't. There is no way to use CSS to apply a style to every letter "E". It simply can't be done.</p>
<p>At least, that's what <em>they</em> want you to think…</p>
<p>What if I told you there was a secret and forbidden way to target specific characters in text and apply <em>some</em> styles to them?</p>
<p>As part of my experiments in creating a "drunk" CSS theme, I thought it would be useful to change the presentation of specific characters. Wouldn't it be <em>fun</em> to have every letter "a" look slightly different to the rest of the text?!</p>
<p>So here's how you can apply <em>limited</em> CSS styles to certain characters while leaving the rest of the text unchanged, and without having to wrap characters in extra markup.</p>
<pre><code class="language-css">@font-face {
font-family: "Different";
src: url("whatever.woff2") format("woff2");
/* Lower-Case Vowels */
unicode-range: U+61, U+65, U+69, U+6F, U+75 ;
}
body {
font-family: "Different", sans;
}
</code></pre>
<p>This creates a new font-family called "Different". It loads a unique font. It is applied to <em>specific</em> Unicode characters - in this case: a, e, i , o, and u.</p>
<p>The body places this font-family <em>first</em> and then defaults to a different family. This means all the lower-case vowels will use one font, and every other character will use something else.</p>
<p>That's… OK. I guess? Having certain characters as Garamond and the others as Times New Roman isn't exactly exciting, is it?</p>
<p>Sadly, there only other thing we can do in CSS to spice things up is to monkey around with <code>size-adjust</code> which lets the text be scaled up or down.</p>
<p>But modern fonts are pretty magic, you know!</p>
<p>The WOFF2 format has a new(ish) <a href="https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/typography/opentype/spec/colr">COLR table</a> which allows you to create multi-coloured fonts. That means it is possible to target specific characters and have them display in living colour.</p>
<p>For example, using this <a href="https://fontstruct.com/fontstructions/show/2469233/street-fighter-ii-large-1">colourful pixel font</a> by <a href="https://www.splintered.co.uk/">Patrick H. Lauke</a> (<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/">CC BY</a>), I can target the Unicode Range of upper-case characters.</p>
<style style="display:block;white-space: break-spaces;font-family: mono;">
@font-face {
font-family: "colrWOFF2";
src: url("/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/street-fighter-ii-large-colour.colr.ttf.woff2") format("woff2");
unicode-range: U+0041-005A ;
}
.colrW{
font-family:"colrWOFF2", monospace;
}</style>
<p><span class="colrW">The above CSS only changes the appearance of UPPER Case characters!</span></p>
<p>To wrap things up - yes, you can target specific characters with CSS rules. Sadly, you're pretty much limited to fiddling around with their fonts.</p>
]]></content>
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</entry>
<entry>
<author>
<name>@edent</name>
<uri>https://edent.tel/</uri>
</author>
<title type="html"><![CDATA[LLMs are still surprisingly bad at some simple tasks]]></title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/llms-are-still-surprisingly-bad-at-simple-tasks/" />
<id>https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=63410</id>
<updated>2025-09-21T11:35:13Z</updated>
<published>2025-09-21T11:34:38Z</published>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="/etc/" /><category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="AI" /><category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="LLM" />
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[I asked three different commercially available LLMs the same question: Which TLDs have the same name as valid HTML5 elements? This is a pretty simple question to answer. Take two lists and compare them. I know this question is possible to answer because I went through the lists two years ago. Answering the question was a little tedious and subject to my tired human eyes making no mistakes. So…]]></summary>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/llms-are-still-surprisingly-bad-at-simple-tasks/"><![CDATA[<p>I asked three different commercially available LLMs the same question:</p>
<blockquote><p>Which TLDs have the same name as valid HTML5 elements?</p></blockquote>
<p>This is a pretty simple question to answer. Take two lists and compare them. I know this question is possible to answer <a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2023/09/false-friends-html-elements-which-are-also-top-level-domains/">because I went through the lists two years ago</a>. Answering the question was a <em>little</em> tedious and subject to my tired human eyes making no mistakes. So surely this is the sort of thing which an LLM excels at, right?</p>
<p>Wrong!</p>
<p>Here's how the three big beasts fared.</p>
<h2 id="chatgpt"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/llms-are-still-surprisingly-bad-at-simple-tasks/#chatgpt">ChatGPT</a></h2>
<p><a href="https://chatgpt.com/s/t_68cba42f89cc8191856689675b86e165">OpenAI's LLM does a poor job</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p>Good question! Let’s carefully check this.
</p><p>[…Skip preamble…]
</p><p>✅ Confirmed Matches
</p><p>The following <strong>TLDs</strong> exactly match <strong>valid HTML5 element names</strong>:
</p><ul>
<li>.audio → <audio>
</li><li>.code → <code>
</li><li>.link → <link>
</li><li>.menu → <menu>
</li><li>.nav → <nav>
</li><li>.video → <video>
</li></ul>
</blockquote>
<p>This is wrong on two counts. First, it misses off several matches. Secondly, <em>there is no <code>.code</code> TLD!</em> There is a <code>.codes</code>, but that's not a match.</p>
<h2 id="google-gemini"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/llms-are-still-surprisingly-bad-at-simple-tasks/#google-gemini">Google Gemini</a></h2>
<p><a href="https://g.co/gemini/share/06380dbba3e8">Gemini shits the bed completely</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
Here are the top-level domains (TLDs) that have the same name as valid HTML5 elements:
<ul>
<li>.address: The HTML <address> element is used to define the contact information for the author/owner of a document or an article.
</li><li>.article: The HTML <article> element specifies independent, self-contained content.
</li><li>.aside: The HTML <aside> element is used to define some content aside from the content it is placed in.
</li><li>.audio: The HTML <audio> element is used to embed sound content in a document.
</li><li>.body: The HTML <body> element defines the document's main content.
</li><li>[…Skip a dozen more items…]
</li></ul>
</blockquote>
<p>It just lists a bunch of HTML elements with no crossover to TLDs. Thanks Google. Thoogle.</p>
<h2 id="claude"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/llms-are-still-surprisingly-bad-at-simple-tasks/#claude">Claude</a></h2>
<p><a href="https://claude.ai/share/39177222-3eb0-4310-942b-1e352c1f2b8e">Anthropic's AI does a half-arsed job</a>.</p>
<blockquote>
Here are the TLDs that match HTML5 element names:
<ul>
<li>.audio - matches the <audio> element
</li><li>.video - matches the <video> element
</li><li>.data - matches the <data> element
</li><li>.link - matches the <link> element
</li><li>.menu - matches the <menu> element
</li><li>.style - matches the <style> element
</li><li>.select - matches the <select> element
</li></ul>
Some other potential matches depend on how broadly you interpret "HTML5 elements":
<ul>
<li>.app - while there's no <app> element in HTML5, there was discussion of it during HTML5 development
</li><li>.art - not a standard HTML element, though some frameworks use custom elements like this
</li></ul>
</blockquote>
<p>The first seven <em>are</em> correct - although it ignores a dozen more correct answers. But then it does the LLM thing of trying to over-fit the data in a simulacrum of usefulness.</p>
<h2 id="dont-believe-the-hype"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/llms-are-still-surprisingly-bad-at-simple-tasks/#dont-believe-the-hype">Don't believe the hype</a></h2>
<p>To be clear, I would expect a moderately intelligent teenager to be able to find two lists and compare them. If an intern gave me the same attention to detail as above, we'd be having a cosy little chat about their attitude to work.</p>
<p>I've discussed before why <a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/06/why-do-people-have-such-dramatically-different-experiences-using-ai/">people have such dramatically different experiences using AI</a>. For some it is an all-knowing and ineffable source of wisdom. For others, like me, it is mostly garbage.</p>
<p>I think it comes down to how familiar you are with the domain and its constraints. When I watch a medical drama, I have no idea if they're using <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_AmdvxbPT8">realistic language</a>. It <em>sounds</em> good, but real doctors probably cringe at the inaccuracies.</p>
<p>AI seems <em>plausible</em> because it relies on the <a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2023/02/how-much-of-ais-recent-success-is-due-to-the-forer-effect/">Barnum Effect</a> - it tells people what they <em>want</em> to hear. It produces words which <em>sound</em> correct.</p>
<p>We need a new term for <a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2024/05/gell-mann-amnesia-and-purdah/">Gell-Mann Amnesia</a>. Something that describes how an AI is convincing if you don't understand its reasoning, and close to useless if you understand its limitations.</p>
]]></content>
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<thr:total>20</thr:total>
</entry>
<entry>
<author>
<name>@edent</name>
<uri>https://edent.tel/</uri>
</author>
<title type="html"><![CDATA[Class Warfare! Can I eliminate CSS classes from my HTML?]]></title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/class-warfare-can-i-eliminate-css-classes-from-my-html/" />
<id>https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=63392</id>
<updated>2025-09-19T08:50:55Z</updated>
<published>2025-09-19T11:34:55Z</published>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="/etc/" /><category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="blog" /><category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="css" /><category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="HTML" /><category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="schema.org" /><category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="semantic web" />
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[I recently read a brilliantly provocative blog post called "This website has no class". In it, Adam Stoddard makes the case that you might not need CSS classes on a modern website: I think constraints lead to interesting, creative solutions […]. Instead of relying on built in elements a bit more, I decided to banish classes from my website completely. Long time readers will know that I'm a big f…]]></summary>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/class-warfare-can-i-eliminate-css-classes-from-my-html/"><![CDATA[<p>I recently read a brilliantly provocative blog post called "<a href="https://aaadaaam.com/notes/no-class/">This website has no class</a>". In it, Adam Stoddard makes the case that you might not need CSS classes on a modern website:</p>
<blockquote><p>I think constraints lead to interesting, creative solutions […]. Instead of relying on built in elements a bit more, I decided to banish classes from my website completely.</p></blockquote>
<p>Long time readers will know that I'm a big fan of using semantic HTML where possible. If you peek beneath the curtain of this website you'll only see a handful of <code><div></code> elements (mostly because WordPress hardcodes them) - all the other blocks are fully semantic. Regrettably, there are rather too many <code><span></code> elements for my liking - normally for accessibility or for supplementing the metadata.</p>
<p>Overall, my CSS contained about 134 rules which selected based on class. Is that a lot? It <em>feels</em> like a lot.</p>
<p>On the one hand, classes are an easy way of splitting and grouping elements. Some <code><img></code>s should be displayed one way, the rest another. There's no semantic way to say "This is a hero image and should take up the full width, but this is an icon and should float discretely to the right."</p>
<p>But, on the other hand, <em>why</em> do we need classes? Keith Cirkel's excellent post "<a href="https://www.keithcirkel.co.uk/css-classes-considered-harmful/">CSS Classes considered harmful</a>" goes through their history and brings together some proposed solutions for replacing them. I think his idea of using <code>data-</code> attributes is a neat hack - but ultimately isn't much different from using classes. It's still a scrap of metadata to be tied into a style-sheet.</p>
<p>Classes are great for when you <em>reuse</em> something. I have multiple <code><section></code> elements but most don't share anything in common with the others. So they probably oughtn't have classes.</p>
<p>Removing classes has some advantages. It makes the HTML fractionally smaller, sure, but it also forces the author to think about the logical structure of their page and the semantics behind it.</p>
<p>Looking through my HTML, lots of classes exist because of laziness. If I want to position all the <code><time></code> elements which are within a comment, I don't <em>need</em> to write <code><time class="whatever"></code> and to pair it with <code>.whatever { … }</code>. Instead, I can use modern CSS selectors and say <code>#comments time { … }</code>.</p>
<p>But this leads me on to another existential question.</p>
<h2 id="are-ids-necessary-in-modern-html"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/class-warfare-can-i-eliminate-css-classes-from-my-html/#are-ids-necessary-in-modern-html">Are IDs necessary in modern HTML?</a></h2>
<p>Mayyyyybe? I only have one <code><main></code> element, so an ID on there is unnecessary. <code><input></code> elements need IDs in order to be properly targetted by <code><label></code>s - but the label can wrap around the input. I have multiple <code><aside></code> elements because there's no semantic <code><widget></code> element, so they need unique IDs.</p>
<p>In theory, as suggested by Adam above, I could use an <a href="https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Web_components/Using_custom_elements">autonomous custom element</a> like <code><my-widget></code> - but that has none of the semantics and, frankly, feels like a bit of a cheat.</p>
<h2 id="trimming-the-fat"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/class-warfare-can-i-eliminate-css-classes-from-my-html/#trimming-the-fat">Trimming the fat</a></h2>
<p>Any day where I can delete some code is a good day. This was an excellent exercise in going through (years) of HTML and CSS to see what cruft had built up.</p>
<p>The first CSS rule I changed was, as mentioned above:</p>
<pre><code class="language-css">time.commentmetadata {
float: right;
}
</code></pre>
<p>Which became:</p>
<pre><code class="language-CSS">#comments time {
float: right;
}
</code></pre>
<p>Classless and slightly more brief. Is it more readable? Having the fact it was about the metadata in a class could have been slightly useful - but if I thought it would be confusing, I could stick a <code>/* comment */</code> in there.</p>
<p>Next, I found <code><nav class="navigation posts-navigation"></code> - what a tautology! I have multiple <code><nav></code> elements, it is true. But none of them have the same style. So this swiftly became <code><nav id="posts-navigation"></code> with an accompanying CSS rewrite.</p>
<p>My theme switcher had a bunch of <code><label class=button></code>s. They were all within a container with a unique ID, so could they be changed? Yes. But seeing the class name in the HTML is a good reminder to the author of <em>how</em> they are meant to display. Does that co-mingle content and presentation too much?</p>
<p>Some of the WordPress default classes are ridiculous. The <code>body_class()</code> function injected this into every <code><body></code></p>
<p><code>"wp-singular post-template-default single single-post postid-62959 single-format-standard wp-theme-edent-wordpress-theme"</code></p>
<p>Most of that is redundant - what's the difference between single and single-post? For my purposes, nothing! So they were all yeeted into the sun.</p>
<p>Rather than targetting IDs or classes, I targetted the presence or absence of Schema.org microdata.</p>
<p>For example:</p>
<pre><code class="language-css">main[itemprop="blogPost"] { … }
main:not([itemprop="blogPost"]) { … }
</code></pre>
<p>This can go to the extreme. I have lots of comments, each one has an author, the author's details are wrapped in <code><div class="authordetails">…</div></code></p>
<p>That can be replaced with:</p>
<pre><code class="language-css">/* Comment Author */
li[itemtype="https://schema.org/Comment"] > article > div[itemprop="https://schema.org/author"] {
margin-bottom: 0;
}
</code></pre>
<p>Is that <em>sensible</em>? It is more semantic, but feels a bit brittle.</p>
<p>Parent selector are also now a thing. If I want a paragraph to have centred text but <em>only</em> when there's a submit button inside it:</p>
<pre><code class="language-css">p:has(input#submit) {
text-align: center;
}
</code></pre>
<p>Again, am I sure that my button will always be inside a paragraph?</p>
<p>Similarly, <a href="https://css-tricks.com/child-and-sibling-selectors/">sibling selectors</a> are sometimes superior - but they do suppose that your layout never changes.</p>
<h2 id="what-remains"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/class-warfare-can-i-eliminate-css-classes-from-my-html/#what-remains">What remains?</a></h2>
<p>There are some bits of this site which are reusable and do need classes. The code-highlighting you see above requires text to be wrapped in spans with specific classes.</p>
<p>Image alignment was also heavily class based.</p>
<p>There are some accessibility things which are either hidden or exposed using classes.</p>
<p>A bunch of WordPress defaults use classes and, even if they are redundant, it's hard to exorcise them.</p>
<p>As much as I would have liked to get rid of all my IDs, many needed to stay for linking as well as CSS targetting.</p>
<p>All told, the changes I made were:</p>
<ul>
<li>134 class selectors down to about 65.</li>
<li>35 ID selectors up to about 50.</li>
<li>5 attribute selectors up to to about 20.</li>
<li>Deleted or combined a lot of redundant CSS and tidied up my markup considerably.</li>
</ul>
<p>I have around 250 CSS rules, so now the majority target semantics rather than classes or IDs.</p>
<h2 id="is-this-really-necessary"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/class-warfare-can-i-eliminate-css-classes-from-my-html/#is-this-really-necessary">Is this really necessary?</a></h2>
<p>No, of course not. This is an exercise in minimalism, creativity, and constraint. Feel free to litter your HTML with whatever attributes you want!</p>
<p>As I went through, it increasingly became apparent that I was fitting my CSS to my HTML's logical structure rather than to its <em>conceptual</em> structure.</p>
<p>Previously, my comments were targetted with a class. Now they have the slightly more tangled targetting of "divs with this schema attribute whose parent is an article and whose grandparent has this ID".</p>
<p>It is a delightful meditative exercise to go through your code and deeply consider whether something is unique, reusable, or obsolete.</p>
]]></content>
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</entry>
<entry>
<author>
<name>@edent</name>
<uri>https://edent.tel/</uri>
</author>
<title type="html"><![CDATA[Theatre Review: Interview (Understudy Performance) ★★★☆☆]]></title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/theatre-review-interview-understudy-performance/" />
<id>https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=63383</id>
<updated>2025-09-16T18:49:52Z</updated>
<published>2025-09-17T11:34:30Z</published>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="/etc/" /><category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="Theatre Review" />
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[One of the best things about London theatre is that once in a while a show will give its understudies a chance to break out of the dressing room and soar on the stage. It's a chance to see talented performers at a discount price. What's not to like? Lucy Donnelly and Mark Sean-Byrne are both flawless. His slouched frustration plays against her manic dream pixie self-loathing. The stage is…]]></summary>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/theatre-review-interview-understudy-performance/"><![CDATA[<img src="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/interview-poster.webp" alt="Poster. A man sits in a bathtub while a woman pours wine over him." width="256" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-63385">
<p>One of the best things about London theatre is that once in a while a show will give its understudies a chance to break out of the dressing room and soar on the stage. It's a chance to see talented performers at a discount price. What's not to like? Lucy Donnelly and Mark Sean-Byrne are both flawless. His slouched frustration plays against her manic dream pixie self-loathing. The stage is gorgeously laid out - allowing the performers to dance around each other.</p>
<p>The Mayor of London passed a law a few years ago which said that every theatre performance needs to incorporate a live video backdrop. That's the only explanation for that particular cliché's ubiquity. But here it actually makes sense! We see social-media star Kat<em>ya</em> going live to her legion of followers, and her face is blown up a million pixels wide, dominating the stage. At times, the waveforms of the characters' voices undulate along the back wall. It is hypnotic.</p>
<p>It's such a shame that the dialogue is so inept and the plot so ridiculous. The characters' emotions change because the plot needs them to - not because of anything that has actually happened. I get that the play is called "Interview", but that doesn't mean every line of dialogue needs to be a question, does it? Finally, there's no reason for <em>any</em> of the plot to happen.</p>
<p>At its core is a good question about the tension between new-media and old. Whether selling parasocial relationships is whoreish behaviour (and if that matters)? Are pale-stale-male journalists the enemy? Or does their tragic backstory absolve them of responsibility?</p>
<p>Unlike, say, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oleanna_(play)">Mamet's Oleanna</a> there's no he-said/she-said. There isn't a lot of ambiguity about what is and isn't happening. The final "twist" is works well but, again, there's no reason for it to happen. The whole play lacks a sense of <em>why</em>.</p>
<p>The play is on until the 27th of September. The performances are stunning, the staging innovative, the sound design is excellent. It's just a pity the play itself is a bit underwhelming.</p>
]]></content>
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</entry>
<entry>
<author>
<name>@edent</name>
<uri>https://edent.tel/</uri>
</author>
<title type="html"><![CDATA[How big a solar battery do I need to store *all* my home's electricity?]]></title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/how-big-a-solar-battery-do-i-need-to-store-all-my-homes-electricity/" />
<id>https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=62959</id>
<updated>2025-09-15T21:07:11Z</updated>
<published>2025-09-15T11:34:42Z</published>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="/etc/" /><category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="solar" />
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[I have a modest set of solar panels on an entirely ordinary house in suburban London. On average they generate about 3,800kWh per year. We also use about 3,800kWh of electricity each year. Obviously, we can't use all the power produced over summer and we need to buy power in winter. So here's my question: How big a battery would we need in order to be completely self-sufficient? Background …]]></summary>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/how-big-a-solar-battery-do-i-need-to-store-all-my-homes-electricity/"><![CDATA[<p>I have a <a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/solar-faq/">modest set of solar panels</a> on an entirely ordinary house in suburban London.</p>
<p>On average they generate about 3,800kWh per year. We also use about 3,800kWh of electricity each year. Obviously, we can't use all the power produced over summer and we need to buy power in winter. So here's my question:</p>
<p>How big a battery would we need in order to be <em>completely</em> self-sufficient?</p>
<h2 id="background"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/how-big-a-solar-battery-do-i-need-to-store-all-my-homes-electricity/#background">Background</a></h2>
<p>Let's take a look at a typical summer's day. The graph is a little complex, so I'll explain it.</p>
<img src="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Power-Flow.webp" alt="Graph of power flow." width="1788" height="988" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-62974">
<p>The yellow line shows solar production. It starts shortly after sunrise, peaks at midday, and gradually drops until sunset.</p>
<p>The red line shows how much electricity our home is using. As you can see, there's a large peak about 19:00 when we cook dinner.</p>
<p>The blue line shows how much electricity we draw or export from the grid. From midnight until sunrise we import because the sun isn't shining. Once the sun has risen we're able to power our house <em>and</em> export to our neighbours. When we cook, we draw from the grid <em>and</em> our battery - which is why the evening grid peak is lower than the household use dip.</p>
<p>The CSV of the data looks something like this:</p>
<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th align="right">Local_time</th>
<th align="right">Household_(W)</th>
<th align="right">Solar_(W)</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td align="right">2025-08-25T08:25:00.000+01:00</td>
<td align="right">-187.76</td>
<td align="right">1166.77</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="right">2025-08-25T08:30:00.000+01:00</td>
<td align="right">-227.04</td>
<td align="right">1193.25</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="right">2025-08-25T08:35:00.000+01:00</td>
<td align="right">-253.06</td>
<td align="right">1222.84</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="right">2025-08-25T08:40:00.000+01:00</td>
<td align="right">-266.87</td>
<td align="right">1245.18</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="right">2025-08-25T08:45:00.000+01:00</td>
<td align="right">-450.8</td>
<td align="right">1268.66</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="right">2025-08-25T08:50:00.000+01:00</td>
<td align="right">-251.84</td>
<td align="right">1281.79</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="right">2025-08-25T08:55:00.000+01:00</td>
<td align="right">-1426.26</td>
<td align="right">1306.93</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="right">2025-08-25T09:00:00.000+01:00</td>
<td align="right">-206.78</td>
<td align="right">1341.37</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="right">2025-08-25T09:05:00.000+01:00</td>
<td align="right">-215.52</td>
<td align="right">1390.9</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="right">2025-08-25T09:10:00.000+01:00</td>
<td align="right">-242.6</td>
<td align="right">1426.19</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="right">2025-08-25T09:15:00.000+01:00</td>
<td align="right">-246.84</td>
<td align="right">1473</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>It's fairly trivial to sum both columns and subtract one from the other. That shows either the excess or deficit in solar power for the household.</p>
<p>On that day, the house used 9.7kWh and generated 19.6kWh. I'd need a 9.9kWh battery to store the excess right? Wrong!</p>
<p>Because my usage doesn't track the sun, I'd actually need a 13kWh battery. That's the peak amount of excess electricity I've generated in that one day.</p>
<p>What I want to do is find out what the <em>maximum</em> size battery I would need in order to store all of summer's electricity for use in winter.</p>
<p>Luckily, I have several years of real data to go off! Let's get started!</p>
<h2 id="disclaimer"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/how-big-a-solar-battery-do-i-need-to-store-all-my-homes-electricity/#disclaimer">Disclaimer</a></h2>
<p>This is based on data generated by my home battery. It has probes to measure solar output and grid flow. It is not 100% clock-accurate compared to my solar-panels' internal reporting nor what my smart-meter reports. I estimate a 1-2% deviation, which is good enough for these purposes.</p>
<p>My energy usage isn't representative of anything other than my usage. Your household is probably different. I already have a 4.8kWh battery which changes how and when I use energy.</p>
<p>This doesn't account for gas heating or hot water. We have some electric heaters and taps which increases our electricity usage.</p>
<p>My maths is <em>probably</em> right - but the code is open source, so feel free to check for yourself.</p>
<p>Remember, this is just a bit of fun. There's no practical way to build domestic batteries with this capacity using the technology of 2025.</p>
<h2 id="code"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/how-big-a-solar-battery-do-i-need-to-store-all-my-homes-electricity/#code">Code</a></h2>
<p>We tend to start generating more electricity than we use starting in Spring. So I've picked the end of March 2024 to the end of March 2025.</p>
<p>Let's see how big a battery we'd need to store our summer excess for winter. This finds the cumulative difference between each day's energy production and usage:</p>
<pre><code class="language-python">import os
import pandas as pd
# Load all the CSVs
filepaths = [f for f in os.listdir(".") if f.endswith('.csv')]
df = pd.concat(map(pd.read_csv, filepaths))
# Make sure they're in order
df = df.sort_values("Timestamp")
df = df.reset_index(drop=True)
# Resolution is every 5 minutes, so divide by 12 to get hourly
df["Cumulative_Difference"] = ( (df["Household_(W)"] + df["Solar_(W)"] ).cumsum() ) / 12
# kWh of battery needed
int(df["Cumulative_Difference"].max() / 1000)
## Draw a pretty graph
df.plot(kind="line", x="Local_time", y="Cumulative_Difference", xlabel="Date", ylabel="MWh", xticks=["2024-04-01", "2024-05-01", "2024-05-01", "2024-06-01", "2024-07-01", "2024-08-01", "2024-09-01", "2024-10-01", "2024-11-01", "2024-12-01", "2025-01-01", "2025-02-01", "2025-03-01", "2025-04-01"], legend=False, grid=True, fontsize=15)
plt.show()
</code></pre>
<p>The total is <strong>1,068KWh</strong> - basically, a MegaWatt-hour of storage.</p>
<p>Here's a quick graph to show how the storage would be used over the year.</p>
<img src="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Cumulative-Graph.webp" alt="Graph showing a steady climb to 1 MegaWatt-hour and then down again." width="1300" height="700" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-62980">
<p>As you can see, even in this scenario there are a few days where we'd need to import energy from the grid.</p>
<h2 id="is-this-sensible"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/how-big-a-solar-battery-do-i-need-to-store-all-my-homes-electricity/#is-this-sensible">Is this sensible?</a></h2>
<p>Probably not, no. It doesn't account for increased energy use from having an electric car or moving away from gas heating / cooking. As <a href="https://www.nrel.gov/pv/interactive-cell-efficiency">solar panels increase in efficiency</a>, it might be more sensible to replace the panels on my roof, or add some onto a shed.</p>
<p>The environmental impact of creating and storing such huge batteries could also be factored in.</p>
<p>A battery which is only 100% full for a few days probably isn't an efficient design. Using wind, hydro, and other green sources from the grid might be preferable.</p>
<p>But, remember, this is an exercise in wishful thinking.</p>
<h2 id="is-this-possible"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/how-big-a-solar-battery-do-i-need-to-store-all-my-homes-electricity/#is-this-possible">Is this possible?</a></h2>
<p><a href="https://mathstodon.xyz/@johncarlosbaez/115190527741497635">Grid-scale batteries exist</a> and they work brilliantly.</p>
<p>But if I wanted my own MegaWatt-hour of battery storage, it would probably cost me between <a href="https://www.fogstar.co.uk/collections/solar-battery-storage/products/fogstar-energy-32kwh-battery?variant=55157091205497">£100k</a> and <a href="https://modoenergy.com/research/battery-energy-storage-capex-containerised-bess-development-costs-oem-balance-plant-bop-grid-connections-survey-2024">half-a-million quid</a>.</p>
<p>That doesn't include maintenance, the land, planning permission, and a hundred other things.</p>
<p>But battery prices are falling fast. In the last decade <a href="https://www.energy.gov/eere/vehicles/articles/fotw-1354-august-5-2024-electric-vehicle-battery-pack-costs-light-duty">lithium ion battery prices have fallen 90%</a>. With new <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11913365/">sodium ion batteries</a> promising an even bigger drop - down to <a href="https://www.geeky-gadgets.com/catl-sodium-ion-battery-packs/">US$10/kWh</a>.</p>
<p>If - and it is a <strong>big</strong> if - those numbers came to pass, it would probably cost around £8,000 for a domestic battery. Basically the same cost as adding solar panels in the first place.</p>
<p>Domestic solar <em>works</em> - yes, even in the rainy UK! It is relatively cheap, moves energy production as close as possible to energy consumption, reduces bill-shock, and means we don't have endless planning arguments about whether fields should be turned into solar farms.</p>
<p>It is possible that, not too long in the future, every home could also have a 1 MegaWatt-hour battery. They would be able to capture all the excess solar power generated in a year.</p>
<p>There's a bright and sunny future where every home can be solar-self-sufficient.</p>
<hr>
<p>If you've enjoyed this blog post, please consider <a href="https://share.octopus.energy/metal-dove-988">switching to Octopus Energy</a> - we both get £50 when you join.</p>
]]></content>
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</entry>
<entry>
<author>
<name>@edent</name>
<uri>https://edent.tel/</uri>
</author>
<title type="html"><![CDATA[Book Review: All That We See or Seem by Ken Liu ★★★★★]]></title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/book-review-all-that-we-see-or-seem-by-ken-liu/" />
<id>https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=63299</id>
<updated>2025-09-13T15:00:47Z</updated>
<published>2025-09-13T11:34:34Z</published>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="/etc/" /><category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="Book Review" /><category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="NetGalley" /><category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="Sci Fi" />
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[This book is ridiculously zeitgeisty. It's all brain-rotting AI, social-media meltdowns, mixed with some cracking technobabble. She thinks about erasing more: all the practice session recordings; her own encrypted cephaloscripts; the dream-guide neuromesh of her personal AI; the interviews, fan messages, reviews—food for her vanity, training data for her egolets. Fab! But, for all that, it's p…]]></summary>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/book-review-all-that-we-see-or-seem-by-ken-liu/"><![CDATA[<img src="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/9781035915934_l.webp" alt="Book cover with a fractured city in the background." width="200" height="310" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-63301">
<p>This book is <em>ridiculously</em> zeitgeisty. It's all brain-rotting AI, social-media meltdowns, mixed with some cracking technobabble.</p>
<blockquote><p>She thinks about erasing more: all the practice session recordings; her own encrypted cephaloscripts; the dream-guide neuromesh of her personal AI; the interviews, fan messages, reviews—food for her vanity, training data for her egolets.</p></blockquote>
<p>Fab! But, for all that, it's pretty realistic. Sure, it's set five-minutes into the future, but all the tech is plausible and all the hacks somewhere in the ballpark of reality. It is <em>much</em> better than <a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2021/09/book-review-the-ministry-for-the-future-by-kim-stanley-robinson/">The Ministry for the Future</a> simply because all the technowizardry passes the smell test.</p>
<p>The plot is, charitably, basic. A woman has been kidnapped and her husband (who is a suspect) enlists a <del>Private Eye</del> hacker to solve the mystery. But you're not reading to discover whodunnit; you're there to revel in the pitch-perfect future-gazing and cower before the (hopefully not too accurate) predictions around how technology will be subverted to protect the powerful while leaving everyone else helpless.</p>
<p>The neologisms are off the chart - "Darcybots" to help you date, a "Fiscjinn" to interrogate your finances, and an "Oneirofex" to… well, I'll let you discover that! You'll need to have a good grasp of what's going on with modern technology in order to get more than half the references. I've no idea if the book will be intelligible half-a-decade from now. Perhaps we'll have our self-hosted AIs translate it for us?</p>
<p>At times, it feels less like a book and more like a series of parables woven into one story. The ending feels a little rushed - but it fits in with the fast-paced nature of the plot. A great slab of sci-fi to chew on.</p>
<p>Thanks to Netgalley for the review copy. The book is released in October 2025 - and will probably remain relevant for at least half-a-dozen weeks.</p>
]]></content>
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</entry>
<entry>
<author>
<name>@edent</name>
<uri>https://edent.tel/</uri>
</author>
<title type="html"><![CDATA[Reasonably accurate, privacy conscious, cookieless, visitor tracking for WordPress]]></title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/reasonably-accurate-privacy-conscious-cookieless-visitor-tracking-for-wordpress/" />
<id>https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=63158</id>
<updated>2025-09-11T14:05:19Z</updated>
<published>2025-09-11T11:34:39Z</published>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="/etc/" /><category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="HTML" /><category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="javascript" /><category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="seo" /><category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="WordPress" />
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[I am vain. I like to know which of my blog posts have "done numbers". I get a little thrill knowing that an old post I wrote has been read by someone in a land I've never visited. I'm curious and want to know if a newsletter has linked to me. At the same time, I don't want to know too much about people. I don't want to stalk them around the web. I refuse to care how long they spend with me. I…]]></summary>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/reasonably-accurate-privacy-conscious-cookieless-visitor-tracking-for-wordpress/"><![CDATA[<p>I am vain. I like to know which of my blog posts have "done numbers". I get a little thrill knowing that an old post I wrote has been read by someone in a land I've never visited. I'm curious and want to know if a newsletter has linked to me.</p>
<p>At the same time, I don't want to know <em>too</em> much about people. I don't want to stalk them around the web. I refuse to care how long they spend with me. I can't be bothered setting up a foolproof system that captures 100% accurate information.</p>
<p>After trying several analytics plugins for WordPress, I've decided to have a go at writing my own<sup id="fnref:learn"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/reasonably-accurate-privacy-conscious-cookieless-visitor-tracking-for-wordpress/#fn:learn" class="footnote-ref" title="I enjoy learning. If you're about to say "Why not just install…" then you've missed the point. I like understanding how things work, I get joy from discovering some new function, my brain feels happy…" role="doc-noteref">0</a></sup>.</p>
<p>Before embarking on this, please do read "<a href="https://blog.yossarian.net/2023/12/24/You-dont-need-analytics-on-your-blog">You Don't Need Analytics on Your Blog</a>" and the slightly more provocative "<a href="https://www.thisdaysportion.com/posts/contra-analytics/">You do not need “analytics” for your blog because you are neither a military surveillance unit nor a commodity trading company</a>". Both give excellent examples of why this is at best foolish and at worse injurious. Proceed with caution in your heart.</p>
<h2 id="background"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/reasonably-accurate-privacy-conscious-cookieless-visitor-tracking-for-wordpress/#background">Background</a></h2>
<p>As a consequence of the way the web works, every time you click on a link the website's owner gets the following pieces of information.</p>
<ul>
<li>The time you clicked,</li>
<li>The page you visited,</li>
<li>The name of the web browser you use,</li>
<li>The URl of the page which you clicked to get here,</li>
<li>The IP address your computer has.</li>
</ul>
<p>There are a few other things sent along but they're not interesting to me.</p>
<p>Using that information, I can construct a reasonably accurate view of how many times a post has been viewed and how many people viewed it.</p>
<h2 id="defining-a-page-view"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/reasonably-accurate-privacy-conscious-cookieless-visitor-tracking-for-wordpress/#defining-a-page-view">Defining a page view</a></h2>
<p>If a web page is loaded, that counts as a view. I'm not going to track whether the user stayed for more than 30 seconds or closed their browser in disgust after reading the headline. If the page is loaded, that's a view.</p>
<p>But what if one person repeatedly hits refresh on the same post? To deal with that, I'll need a concept of a visitor.</p>
<h2 id="defining-a-visitor"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/reasonably-accurate-privacy-conscious-cookieless-visitor-tracking-for-wordpress/#defining-a-visitor">Defining a visitor</a></h2>
<p>The "normal" way of doing things is to stick a cookie in the user's browser and track them that way. I can't be bothered with that. And, besides, it doesn't account for a person reading on their laptop and then moving to their phone.</p>
<p>So I'm going to use a proxy by creating a cryptographic hash of the visitor's IP address and the browser's User Agent string.</p>
<p>Of course, a household might have one IP address and multiple people with the same phone. But, equally, one person might rove over several WiFi networks in the course of one browsing session, getting a different IP each time.</p>
<p>The aim is to be <em>reasonably</em> accurate.</p>
<p>Hashing the contents means I don't need to store the user's IP address. Once hashed, the information becomes a string like <code>db050e7b853e5856</code> which is functionally impossible to <a href="https://www.techsolvency.com/passwords/dehashing-reversing-decrypting/">crack</a> back to an IP address & UA string<sup id="fnref:orisit"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/reasonably-accurate-privacy-conscious-cookieless-visitor-tracking-for-wordpress/#fn:orisit" class="footnote-ref" title="Or is it? There are 4 billion IPv4 addresses - although slightly fewer in actual use. Creating a rainbow table with 4 billion rows is possible if I was just using IP addresses. But there are an…" role="doc-noteref">1</a></sup>.</p>
<p>This also means that I can redefine the concept of a page view. If the same visitor refreshed the page multiple times, it will only count as a single visit.</p>
<p>I'll reset the counter at midnight in my local timezone. If someone visits just before midnight and then just after, it'll count as two visits. Oh well.</p>
<h2 id="where-did-they-come-from"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/reasonably-accurate-privacy-conscious-cookieless-visitor-tracking-for-wordpress/#where-did-they-come-from">Where did they come from?</a></h2>
<p>Generally speaking, there are two ways that visitors share their referrer. One is the "referer" header (yes, it is misspelled). It contains a URl of the referring site or application. For example, if someone clicked from a search result it might say <code>https://yahoo.com</code>.</p>
<p>The other way is using "Urchin Tracking Module" query strings. At the end of the URl they visit, they might append something like <code>?utm_source=alices-newsletter</code>.</p>
<p>Some sites, like Reddit, might use multiple subdomains - <code>old.reddit.com</code> or <code>out.reddit.com</code> - so some deduplication may be necessary.</p>
<h2 id="where-in-the-world-are-they"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/reasonably-accurate-privacy-conscious-cookieless-visitor-tracking-for-wordpress/#where-in-the-world-are-they">Where in the world are they?</a></h2>
<p>A user's IP address is <em>somewhat</em> accurate method of detecting their location. Yes, users could be proxying through a VPN or using a SIM card from a foreign country. But this isn't an exercise in precise tracking. Rough and ready is fine.</p>
<p>There are a variety of <a href="https://mailfud.org/geoip-legacy/">GeoIP Databases</a> which are updated semi-regularly. I'm only interested in the country of origin, I don't care about finer resolution than that.</p>
<p>Again, the aim isn't precise targetting. I'd just like to know that people in Sudan ever read my blog posts.</p>
<h2 id="what-else-could-we-use"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/reasonably-accurate-privacy-conscious-cookieless-visitor-tracking-for-wordpress/#what-else-could-we-use">What else could we use?</a></h2>
<p>It <em>might</em> be nice to know if someone is using a small-screen or large device. But my CSS is responsive, so I don't care.</p>
<p>Similarly, their Internet connection speed might be available. But, again, I try to optimise things so that isn't necessary to know.</p>
<p>Do I need to know if someone speaks Hungarian? No. There's nothing useful I can do with that information.</p>
<p>Could I extract their operating system, device, and browser from their User-Agent? I guess. Would I use the information that X% of my readers use Firefox on Linux? Doubtful!</p>
<h2 id="collect-the-information"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/reasonably-accurate-privacy-conscious-cookieless-visitor-tracking-for-wordpress/#collect-the-information">Collect the information</a></h2>
<p>There are two main methods of collecting these data.</p>
<p>First is a "no JavaScript" solution. This tells the browser to request an image which has a query string to send along the details of the page requested.</p>
<pre><code class="language-php"><noscript>
<img src="/tracking.php?ID=<?php echo $postID ?>" alt="" width=1 height=1 class=hidden>
</noscript>
</code></pre>
<p>The downside is that there's no way to capture referer information. If each page were dynamically generated, I could grab it from PHP's <code>$_SERVER</code> superglobal. But my website is heavily cached, so that isn't possible.</p>
<p>It <em>is</em> possible to use JavaScript to dynamically send the information for collection:</p>
<pre><code class="language-js">let formData = new FormData();
formData.append("HTTP_REFERER", document.referrer);
formData.append("ID", <?php echo $postID ?>);
fetch("/tracking.php", {
method: "POST",
body: formData,
});
</code></pre>
<p>This approach has three distinct advantages.</p>
<ol>
<li>It works whether the user has JS enabled or not.</li>
<li>Repeated requests for the same page will usually reload the image from cache, so won't double-count.</li>
<li>It doesn't count hits from bots. They typically don't execute JavaScript or don't request images.</li>
</ol>
<h2 id="bot-detection"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/reasonably-accurate-privacy-conscious-cookieless-visitor-tracking-for-wordpress/#bot-detection">Bot Detection</a></h2>
<p>Not all traffic originates from humans. There are lots of bots which crawl the web. Some are useful - like search engines building up a map. Others are harmful - like AI agents aggressively scraping content to plagiarise.</p>
<p>There are <a href="https://www.humansecurity.com/learn/blog/crawlers-list-known-bots-guide/">lots of identifiable bots</a> out there - and more which obfuscate themselves. There are some, like <a href="https://github.com/GoogleChrome/lighthouse/pull/14384">Lighthouse</a> which cloak themselves.</p>
<p>I'm not trying to eliminate everything which <em>could</em> be a bot. I am trying for <em>reasonably</em> accurate. So I eliminate any User-Agent which contains:</p>
<p><code>"/bot|crawl|spider|seo|lighthouse|facebookexternalhit|preview|HeadlessChrome/i"</code></p>
<p>There are some <a href="https://github.com/fabiomb/is_bot">big lists of bots</a> you can use - but they don't seem to trigger my analytics because they aren't requesting the images or executing the JS.</p>
<h2 id="what-bits-of-the-site-to-measure"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/reasonably-accurate-privacy-conscious-cookieless-visitor-tracking-for-wordpress/#what-bits-of-the-site-to-measure">What bits of the site to measure?</a></h2>
<p>I only care about how many visitors my posts and pages get. I don't need to know if someone visited a tag page, or scrolled back to page 100 of posts from 2019. Those sorts of deep pages are usually only accessed by bots anyway.</p>
<p>I also don't want to count visits from me, myself, and I.</p>
<p>So the tracking is only inserted on single pages which are viewed by non-admins:</p>
<pre><code class="language-php">if ( is_singular() && !current_user_can( "edit_posts" ) ) {
…
}
</code></pre>
<h2 id="oddities"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/reasonably-accurate-privacy-conscious-cookieless-visitor-tracking-for-wordpress/#oddities">Oddities</a></h2>
<p>Sometimes, the URl requested will look something like: <code>https://shkspr-mobi.translate.goog</code> - that just means Google has translated it.</p>
<p>Sometimes, the referer will look something like: <code>android-app://com.google.android.gm/</code> - that just means they clicked from an Android app.</p>
<p>Sometimes, the URl requested will include a fragment or a query string - they can be ignored.</p>
<p>Sometimes, the <code>utm_</code> will contain all sorts of weird stuff. It isn't always possible to pull out exactly where it has come from.</p>
<p>Sometimes, the referer and <code>utm_</code> will disagree. Ah well, never mind.</p>
<p>Sometimes, RSS views are counted and sometimes not. Perhaps I should fix that?</p>
<p>Sometimes, users block trackers or use a text-only browser. That's fine, they can keep their secrets.</p>
<h2 id="saving-the-data"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/reasonably-accurate-privacy-conscious-cookieless-visitor-tracking-for-wordpress/#saving-the-data">Saving the data</a></h2>
<p>I started this by just shoving what I collected into a CSV.</p>
<pre><code class="language-php">// Write the CSV.
$line = [date("c"), $ID, $UA, $referer, $domain, $country, $user];
// Date-based filename.
$filename = "log-" . date("Y-m-d") . ".csv";
// Append mode.
$handle = fopen( $filename, "a" );
fputcsv( $handle, $line );
fclose( $handle );
</code></pre>
<p>Nothing fancy. Something easily grepable with the ability to query it in more detail if I need. At the number of hits that my site gets, it is less than 1MB per day.</p>
<p>I've since moved it into a single MySQL table. That might not be sustainable with hundreds of thousands of rows. But that's tomorrow's problem.</p>
<h2 id="accuracy"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/reasonably-accurate-privacy-conscious-cookieless-visitor-tracking-for-wordpress/#accuracy">Accuracy</a></h2>
<p>I've been running this for a couple of days - simultaneously with my other, more professional, stats plugin. It is within 5% accuracy. It appears to <em>slightly</em> exaggerate the number of visitors and undercount my page-views. That's good enough for my purposes and probably good for my ego!</p>
<h2 id="putting-it-all-together"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/reasonably-accurate-privacy-conscious-cookieless-visitor-tracking-for-wordpress/#putting-it-all-together">Putting it all together</a></h2>
<p>You can take a look at all the code <a href="https://gitlab.com/edent/blog-theme/">on my GitLab repo</a>.</p>
<h2 id="what-does-it-look-like"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/reasonably-accurate-privacy-conscious-cookieless-visitor-tracking-for-wordpress/#what-does-it-look-like">What does it look like?</a></h2>
<p>If you've made it this far, you can have a little pictorial treat! Aren't you lucky?</p>
<img src="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/stats-view.webp" alt="Three tables. One showing referers with colourful favicons. Another countries with colourful emoji flags. One a list of pages and views." width="2450" height="1400" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-63260">
<h2 id="whats-next"><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/reasonably-accurate-privacy-conscious-cookieless-visitor-tracking-for-wordpress/#whats-next">What's next?</a></h2>
<p>For now, a simple table structure is fine. I've shoved it in a basic database. Sure, I don't have any indexes or fancy stuff like that. But modern computers are pretty fast.</p>
<p>Eventually I'll need to create some new tables which will consolidate the data. Perhaps a table for individual posts, using date and country? Or maybe referer? I'll have to see.</p>
<p>I also need a way to get historic data into it. I've blog stats going back to 2009 which I am anxious not to lose.</p>
<p>And, yeah, I'll need a better front-end than manually running SQL queries.</p>
<p>Above all, I want to keep it simple enough that my puny mortal brain can understand it after several years of not touching anything. I want to build something which can run without constant maintenance.</p>
<p>Remember, this is only an exercise in self-learning, self-hosting, and self-respect.</p>
<div id="footnotes" role="doc-endnotes">
<hr>
<ol start="0">
<li id="fn:learn">
<p>I enjoy learning. If you're about to say "Why not just install…" then you've missed the point. I like understanding how things work, I get joy from discovering some new function, my brain feels happy when it is working on a problem. I don't want to just click install, hit next a few times, and fiddle with a few options. <a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2020/12/build-dont-buy/">I've written more about my philosophy here</a>. <a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/reasonably-accurate-privacy-conscious-cookieless-visitor-tracking-for-wordpress/#fnref:learn" class="footnote-backref" role="doc-backlink">↩︎</a></p>
</li>
<li id="fn:orisit">
<p>Or is it? There are 4 billion IPv4 addresses - although slightly fewer in actual use. Creating a rainbow table with 4 billion rows is possible if I was <em>just</em> using IP addresses. But there are an almost infinite variety of User Agent strings. It is probably possible to create a rainbow table of, for example, the 10 most popular UAs, concatenate them with every possible IP address, and then see which hashes to <code>65fef01fef257963</code>. But even then, what would that get an attacker? Knowing that the most popular model of iPhone is on a mobile network's IP range isn't exactly private information. <a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/reasonably-accurate-privacy-conscious-cookieless-visitor-tracking-for-wordpress/#fnref:orisit" class="footnote-backref" role="doc-backlink">↩︎</a></p>
</li>
</ol>
</div>
]]></content>
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</entry>
<entry>
<author>
<name>@edent</name>
<uri>https://edent.tel/</uri>
</author>
<title type="html"><![CDATA[Event Review: Doin' the Lambeth Walk (Oi!) ★★★⯪☆]]></title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/event-review-doin-the-lambeth-walk-oi/" />
<id>https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=63196</id>
<updated>2025-09-14T10:18:40Z</updated>
<published>2025-09-09T11:34:19Z</published>
<category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="/etc/" /><category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="london" /><category scheme="https://shkspr.mobi/blog" term="review" />
<summary type="html"><![CDATA[Historical entities have been sighted in the old village of Lambeth. Are they ghosts? Visions? Or intruders through a crack in time? Join your guides and explore the backwaters and byways that slowly spread over the mysterious marshes of Lambeth. Most walking tours have a guide drag you around the well-known tourist hot-spots while they read out a bit from Wikipedia. Minimum Labyrinth’s tour i…]]></summary>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/event-review-doin-the-lambeth-walk-oi/"><![CDATA[<img src="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/lambeth-walk.webp" alt="Poster" width="250" height="250" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-63199">
<blockquote><p>Historical entities have been sighted in the old village of Lambeth. Are they ghosts? Visions? Or intruders through a crack in time? Join your guides and explore the backwaters and byways that slowly spread over the mysterious marshes of Lambeth.</p></blockquote>
<p>Most walking tours have a guide drag you around the well-known tourist hot-spots while they read out a bit from Wikipedia. Minimum Labyrinth’s tour is <em>different</em>. We were told to find the meeting spot by looking for a mysterious message chalked somewhere on Westminster Bridge.</p>
<img src="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/chalk.webp" alt="Chalked onto the bridge, the message "Why did you come here?"" width="1020" height="768" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-63203">
<p>As the bells from Big Ben faded - ghosts appeared!</p>
<p>We were whisked away onto a tour which was part history lesson, part ghost story, and part science-fiction extravaganza. As we wandered through the streets, various "baddies" appeared out of nowhere. Ghosts came to chat with us and then promptly vanished. Music played causing onlookers to pause their hurried strolling. It was somewhere between immersive theatre and <em>immersed</em> theatre.</p>
<p>The walk was well paced. The three acts each consisted of 50 minutes of strolling then 30 minutes in a pub. Perfect for a loo-break and refreshments. The cast didn't stay in character during the pub - which was a relief for them, and meant we could chat about what we thought of the event.</p>
<p>It took us through some parts of London I was vaguely familiar with - and some which were completely new. It is brilliant having someone explain exactly <em>why</em> that piece of art is where it is, or <em>who</em> commissioned that church, and point out that <em>exquisite</em> detail you might have missed.</p>
<img src="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/art.webp" alt="Stencil art on a wall. A photorealistic figure holds some pixelated video game items." width="512" height="683" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-63204">
<p>Without wishing to spoil anyone's fun, the sci-fi element was the weakest part of the adventure. It paid "loving homage" to an abandoned and somewhat forgotten TV series. I felt that the story would have been much stronger without tying it in to a larger universe. No one under 50 recognised the characters so I think that aspect fell a little flat.</p>
<p>I also felt that there wasn't <em>quite</em> enough to do during the walk. There were some neat snippets of information but there were long stretches of walking down streets without much going on. Given the slightly spooky and sci-fi nature of the story, I would have expected the audience to have been given little tasks or asked to keep a lookout for ghosts.</p>
<p>That said, the tour took us round some stunning and unexpected spots. The ghostly goings-on were suitably mysterious and the cast kept us all safe and entertained. We had fun exploring little alleyways and art displays which were completely unknown to us.</p>
<img src="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/doing.webp" alt="Terry and Liz smiling in front of a mural depicting the Lambeth Walk." width="1024" height="729" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-63202">
<p>The team at <a href="http://minimumlabyrinth.org/">Minimum Labyrinth</a> do a variety of weird tours and events. Worth checking out if you want something entertaining and unusual.</p>
]]></content>
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"id": "https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=63352",
"title": "Was my website mentioned in a GitHub issue?",
"description": "This is a quick GitHub action to get alerted every time your website is mentioned in a GitHub issue. Doing it manually You can search GitHub for a URl, and sort the results with the newest first, like this: https://github.com/search?q=%22shkspr.mobi%22&type=issues&s=created&o=desc Using the API GitHub has a fairly straightforward API - although it uses slightly different parameters. …",
"url": "https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/was-my-website-mentioned-in-a-github-issue/",
"published": "2025-10-17T11:34:51.000Z",
"updated": "2025-09-14T20:37:17.000Z",
"content": "<p>This is a quick GitHub action to get alerted every time your website is mentioned in a GitHub issue.</p>\n\n<h2 id=\"doing-it-manually\"><a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/was-my-website-mentioned-in-a-github-issue/#doing-it-manually\">Doing it manually</a></h2>\n\n<p>You can search GitHub for a URl, and sort the results with the newest first, like this:</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https://github.com/search?q=%22shkspr.mobi%22&type=issues&s=created&o=desc\">https://github.com/search?q=%22shkspr.mobi%22&type=issues&s=created&o=desc</a></p>\n\n<h2 id=\"using-the-api\"><a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/was-my-website-mentioned-in-a-github-issue/#using-the-api\">Using the API</a></h2>\n\n<p>GitHub has a <a href=\"https://api.github.com/\">fairly straightforward API</a> - although it uses slightly different parameters.</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https://api.github.com/search/issues?q=shkspr.mobi&sort=created&order=desc\">https://api.github.com/search/issues?q=shkspr.mobi&sort=created&order=desc</a></p>\n\n<p>That will return a bunch of <code>items</code>. Here's the 29th. I've truncated it down to only what is necessary for our purposes:</p>\n\n<pre><code class=\"language-json\">{\n \"html_url\": \"https://github.com/swicg/activitypub-webfinger/issues/29\",\n \"id\": 3286159033,\n \"number\": 29,\n \"title\": \"Tracking support for non-ascii characters\",\n \"user\": {\n \"login\": \"evanp\",\n },\n \"created_at\": \"2025-08-02T17:52:46Z\",\n \"updated_at\": \"2025-08-02T18:50:27Z\",\n \"body\": \"One of the benefits of using Webfinger is that it's […]\"\n}\n</code></pre>\n\n<h2 id=\"action\"><a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/was-my-website-mentioned-in-a-github-issue/#action\">Action</a></h2>\n\n<p>I'm not very good at creating actions. But this should:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>Search GitHub for mentions of your URl.</li>\n<li>Store the results.</li>\n<li>If there is a new entry - open a new issue describing it.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>You will need to set your repository to private in order to not spam other repos. You will also need to go to your repo settings and give the action write permissions. You'll also need a Personal Access Token with sufficient permissions to write to your repo. I bloody hate actions. YAML? Eugh!</p>\n\n<pre><code class=\"language-yaml\">name: API Issue Watcher\n\non:\n schedule:\n - cron: '*/59 * * * *'\n\npermissions:\n issues: write\n contents: write\n\njobs:\n watch-and-create:\n runs-on: ubuntu-latest\n\n steps:\n - name: Checkout repository\n uses: actions/checkout@v4\n\n - name: Restore latest seen ID\n id: cache-latest\n uses: actions/cache@v4\n with:\n path: .github/latest_seen.txt\n key: latest-seen-1\n restore-keys: |\n latest-seen-\n\n - name: Fetch latest item from API\n id: fetch\n run: |\n curl -s 'https://api.github.com/search/issues?q=EXAMPLE.COM&s=created&order=desc' > result.json\n jq -r '.items[0].id' result.json > latest_id.txt\n jq -r '.items[0].title' result.json > latest_title.txt\n jq -r '.items[0].html_url' result.json > latest_url.txt\n jq -r '.items[0].body // \"\"' result.json > latest_body.txt\n\n - name: Compare with previous run\n id: check\n run: |\n NEW_ID=$(cat latest_id.txt)\n OLD_ID=$(cat .github/latest_seen.txt 2>/dev/null || echo \"\")\n echo \"NEW_ID=$NEW_ID\" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT\n echo \"OLD_ID=$OLD_ID\" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT\n if [ \"$NEW_ID\" != \"$OLD_ID\" ]; then\n echo \"NEW_ITEM=true\" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT\n else\n echo \"NEW_ITEM=false\" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT\n fi\n\n - name: Open new issue if new item found\n if: steps.check.outputs.NEW_ITEM == 'true'\n uses: actions/github-script@v7\n with:\n github-token: ${{ secrets.MY_PAT }}\n script: |\n const fs = require('fs');\n const title = fs.readFileSync('latest_title.txt', 'utf8').trim();\n const url = fs.readFileSync('latest_url.txt', 'utf8').trim();\n const body = fs.readFileSync('latest_body.txt', 'utf8').trim();\n await github.rest.issues.create({\n owner: context.repo.owner,\n repo: context.repo.repo,\n title: `[API] ${title}`,\n body: `Found new item: [${title}](${url})\\n\\n${body}`\n });\n\n - name: Update latest seen ID\n if: steps.check.outputs.NEW_ITEM == 'true'\n run: |\n mkdir -p .github\n cp latest_id.txt .github/latest_seen.txt\n\n - name: Save cache\n uses: actions/cache@v4\n with:\n path: .github/latest_seen.txt\n key: latest-seen-1\n restore-keys: |\n latest-seen-\n</code></pre>\n\n<p>This is probably all kinds of wrong. If you know how to improve it, please let me know!</p>",
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"id": "https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=63916",
"title": "Book Review: The Anarchy - The Relentless Rise of the East India Company by William Dalrymple ★★★★☆",
"description": "This is a marvellous and depressing book. Marvellous because it finely details the history, atrocities, and geopolitical strife of unfettered capitalism. Depressing for much the same reason. Dalrymple takes the thousand different strands of the story and weaves them into a (mostly) comprehensible narrative. With this many moving parts, it is easy to get confused between the various people,…",
"url": "https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/book-review-the-anarchy-the-relentless-rise-of-the-east-india-company-by-william-dalrymple/",
"published": "2025-10-15T11:34:11.000Z",
"updated": "2025-10-12T13:53:39.000Z",
"content": "<img src=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/9781408864401.webp\" alt=\"Book cover for The Anarchy. An illustration of four Indian soldiers in European dress.\" width=\"200\" height=\"307\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-63918\">\n\n<p>This is a marvellous and depressing book. Marvellous because it finely details the history, atrocities, and geopolitical strife of unfettered capitalism. Depressing for much the same reason.</p>\n\n<p>Dalrymple takes the thousand different strands of the story and weaves them into a (mostly) comprehensible narrative. With this many moving parts, it is easy to get confused between the various people, places, companies, and loyalties. Your eReader's dictionary will have a good workout as you try to decipher the various calques and loanwords.</p>\n\n<p>It is more nuanced than I expected. Rather than just an unending parade of awfulness, it does dive in to the various attempts to reign in the terror and promote peaceful trade. These nearly always failed. Similarly, there were individual acts of kindness and honour which, nevertheless, cannot begin to make up for the exploitation.</p>\n\n<p>The one question it doesn't (and possibly can't) answer is \"what would India have been like without the EIC?\" Obviously the company was hugely disruptive and extracted vast amounts of wealth - but the history of <em>every</em> continent shows internecine warfare whenever a ruler dies. A constant theme of the book is \"Almost immediately, the court disintegrated into rival factions\" The bloody battles between the various states, despots, kings, and tyrants would have eventually occurred. The French - and other colonisers - would have also rampaged through the nation. This isn't to excuse the EIC, and almost everything they did was inexcusable, but rather to say they probably weren't <em>uniquely</em> awful in the atrocities they committed.</p>\n\n<p>We see the rapacious nature of megacorporations today. While few have a standing army, they are all dedicated to usurping authority and plundering resources. The Anarchy describes how the Company whispered in the ears of leaders, promised them the world, and then cruelly turned on them. Again, a depressing reflection of our own times.</p>\n\n<p>Notable by their absence are women. There are an endless assortment of unnamed dancing girls and courtesans, but the only named women are the (mostly British) wives in the background and <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Begum_Samru\">Begum Samru</a>. There's also only a brief mention of the other geopolitical impacts the EIC had. For example, I had no idea that the tea from the eponymous Boston Tea Party was supplied by the EIC.</p>\n\n<p>I don't understand why publishers pretend eBooks have the same limitations as their paper counterparts. The paper book puts all the illustrations at the end - presumably to save money. But this book would have benefited from interspersing the portraits with the text. Similarly, a map or two wouldn't have gone amiss to help the reader visualise the tangled path the various armies took.</p>\n\n<p>The books is disturbing and upsetting, but a vital read for anyone who wants to understand a key point in the world's history. If only we could learn from it, eh?</p>",
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"id": "https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=62544",
"title": "Every Theatre Show is \"Immersive\"",
"description": "I go to see a lot of theatrical productions. While most shows are good, the audience experience is usually dreadful. I'm not just talking about cramped seats and disgusting toilets (although they play a part) but that theatres haven't cottoned on to the idea that theatre is an immersive experience which can't be replicated by watching Netflix. There's an excellent article in The Stage about the…",
"url": "https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/every-theatre-show-is-immersive/",
"published": "2025-10-13T11:34:49.000Z",
"updated": "2025-10-13T13:21:47.000Z",
"content": "<p>I go to see <a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/tag/theatre-review/\">a lot of theatrical productions</a>. While most shows are good, the audience experience is usually dreadful. I'm not just talking about cramped seats and disgusting toilets (although they play a part) but that theatres haven't cottoned on to the idea that theatre is an immersive experience which can't be replicated by watching Netflix.</p>\n\n<p>There's an excellent article in The Stage about <a href=\"https://www.thestage.co.uk/long-reads/is-the-immersive-sector-experiencing-growing-pains-punchdrunk-secret-cinema\">the growth and pain-points of immersive shows</a> (free registration required to read).</p>\n\n<blockquote><p>One thing that most creators agree on is that while the word immersive remains the most accurate umbrella term, it is largely functionally meaningless. The sense is that it will have to do as there is not currently a better one. “The word ‘immersive’is one that we have to continue to own,” says Matt Costain of Secret Cinema. “Because I think the fad of calling everything immersive will pass, but it’s a broad church. I went to an immersive art exhibition and what are they supposed to call it? They have as much right to it as I have.”</p></blockquote>\n\n<p>The idea of an \"immersive\" performance is somewhat nebulous. Sitting passively in a theatre is not immersive - but what about a self-guided tour of an art gallery? You can make the case for pantomime being immersive (oh no you can't!) - but it isn't in the same league as <a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/02/review-phantom-peak-jonacon-london-2025/\">Phantom Peak</a>.</p>\n\n<p>In an article about the immersive Elvis show, Amanda Parker succinctly describes what audience expects:</p>\n\n<blockquote><p><a href=\"https://www.thestage.co.uk/opinion/is-the-immersive-sector-all-shook-up-amanda-parker-elvis-evolution\">The whole point of immersive theatre is the blurring of boundaries.</a></p></blockquote>\n\n<p>Live performance is expensive. A single ticket to a 90 minute show can cost more than an entire year of Netflix. A drink before the show and an ice-cream in the interval is the same cost as a month of Disney+! Audiences want blurred boundaries, but they also want value for money. I don't think it takes much money or effort for <em>any</em> show to become more immersive.</p>\n\n<p>Here's my 6-point guide to making <em>any</em> theatrical experience more immersive and more entertaining for the audience.</p>\n\n<h2 id=\"pre-pre-show\"><a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/every-theatre-show-is-immersive/#pre-pre-show\">Pre-Pre-Show</a></h2>\n\n<p>Even <em>before</em> booking, there's a chance for a show to be immersive. Most shows have trailers on YouTube - but are the characters on social media? Where are the opportunities to learn about the costume designer's vision (outside a one-paragraph entry in an expensive programme)?</p>\n\n<p>Once booked, there are some brilliant opportunities for pre-pre show immersion. Emails shouldn't be the usual hectoring affair of reminding people to be on time; they should build a sense of excitement. What makes the paying customer feel like they're going on an adventure?</p>\n\n<p>If I remember correctly, when schools booked group tickets for the 1990s run of \"Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat\", they were sent colouring-in packs or some activity worksheets (it was a <em>long</em> time ago and my memory is hazy). What can a theatre do to make its paying customers <em>excited</em> about making the trip outside to sit in an unfamiliar building?</p>\n\n<h2 id=\"pre-show\"><a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/every-theatre-show-is-immersive/#pre-show\">Pre-Show</a></h2>\n\n<p>This is probably the easiest one to get right, and the one which most shows fail at. Decorate the venue. That's it. It is that simple. It costs next to nothing to put up posters on the walls, or fun little Easter-Eggs on the back of toilet doors, or to have a themed cocktail menu. The Stranger Things show does this brilliantly - there are lots of little clues dotted around the show in the form of newspaper clippings and yearbook pages.</p>\n\n<p>Shows like <a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/06/theatre-review-just-for-one-day/\">Just For One Day</a> had \"selfie pods\". Big posters which let audience members take cool looking selfies with the stars of the show. The guest gets a fun memento, the show gets free advertising.</p>\n\n<p>You can go further and have the cast play with the audience. When I saw \"Cats\" in New York, some of the actors were roaming the stalls - fighting, stealing licks of ice-creams, miaowing at each other. It was brilliant to watch and got the audience in the mood.</p>\n\n<p>More recently, The Play That Goes Wrong has the on-stage crew setting up the stage while the audience enters. It's pre-show which rewards early attendance - it gets people rushing back to the bar to drag their friends in. It <em>feels</em> improvised and rewards returning guests.</p>\n\n<p>You can spend time in the <a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2022/04/theatre-review-cabaret-at-the-kitkat-club/\">KitKat Club before the start of Cabaret</a>. A seedy underbelly with bored dancers and sweaty patrons. A brilliant way immerse the audience before the show. (<a href=\"https://technokitten.blogspot.com/2024/12/on-art-of-pre-show-and-post-show.html\">Although not everyone agrees</a>.)</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/06/theatre-review-operation-mincemeat/\">Operation Mincemeat</a> has an online pub-quiz for audience members. Sit and chat about what you think the answers are, try to get on the leaderboard, see if it motivates you to learn more about the real history of the operation.</p>\n\n<p>A bunch of theatres offer \"<a href=\"https://officiallondontheatre.com/access/touch-tours/\">Touch Tours</a>\" for visually impaired visitors. They get to come on stage and feel the set, have it described to them, so that they can get more immersed in the performance without constantly trying to guess the layout of the set. The stage magicians Penn and Teller invite members of the audience onto the stage before the performance so they can check for hidden wires and other trickery. That's probably not possible for <em>every</em> show - but can be sympathetically integrated into some.</p>\n\n<h2 id=\"show\"><a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/every-theatre-show-is-immersive/#show\">Show</a></h2>\n\n<p>I'll defer this to the director! It's up to them whether they want to make use of the audience! I've been to operas where the lead performer appeared at the back of the stalls singing to his love on stage. Confetti falls into the auditorium with regular abundance.</p>\n\n<p>It doesn't suit every show, of course, but there are a dozen little tweaks which can remind the audience that this is a high-quality experience worth paying for. That this is something they simply can't get by watching TV.</p>\n\n<h2 id=\"the-interval\"><a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/every-theatre-show-is-immersive/#the-interval\">The Interval</a></h2>\n\n<p>The interval isn't just a chance to go for a piss and an over-priced drink. It's an opportunity to reflect on what you've seen, discuss what you think will happen, <em>and</em> stretch your legs.</p>\n\n<p>All of the pre-show decoration is available to browse again - but is there anything else to do?</p>\n\n<p>At a performance of Misalliance, a character hides himself in a portable Turkish bath at the end of Act 1. Throughout the interval, the audience were encouraged to follow the character on social media. He sent messages about his predicament and replied to people who interacted with him.</p>\n\n<p>During the interval of a schools' performance of <i lang=\"it\">La bohème</i>, the curtain was raised so that we could see the hard work which went into changing all the sets around. Is that suitable for every show? Probably not. Does it interfere with the fire curtain? Maybe. Was it a fascinating look literally behind the scenes? Absolutely!</p>\n\n<p>Although I hated <a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2024/03/theatre-review-murder-trial-tonight-ii-aldwych-theatre/\">Murder Trial Tonight</a>, it used the interval to encourage audience members to discuss the case laid before them. It's high-risk to get a reserved British audience to talk to strangers, but it can pay dividends.</p>\n\n<h2 id=\"post-show\"><a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/every-theatre-show-is-immersive/#post-show\">Post-Show</a></h2>\n\n<p>The audience have risen to their feet in applause. Perhaps the lead actor (the one from that TV show you like) gives a short, heartfelt speech thanking everyone for coming out and encouraging them to tell their friends about the show.</p>\n\n<p>What next?</p>\n\n<p>Musicals often go with an encore where they specifically encourage the audience to take photos and sing along. Hey! You're part of the show! You'll probably never watch that video again, but you'll get the joy of communal singing and will feel like you're contributing.</p>\n\n<p>As we left Just For One Day, we were handed commemorative leaflets which turned out to be discount vouchers. A little memento <em>and</em> a way to get repeat custom!</p>\n\n<p>At the end of <a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2023/07/theatre-review-accidental-death-of-an-anarchist/\">Accidental Death of an Anarchist</a>, the audience were encourage to learn more about various historical and modern cases of police corruption by scanning QR codes projected onto the set.</p>\n\n<p>Walking out of The Storeroom, we found ourselves in a lovely cocktail bar with an amazing view. Of <em>course</em> we paid for a fancy drink while discussing the evening's entertainment. Most West End theatres shove you out into the cold night air as though you're a guest who has overstayed their welcome.</p>\n\n<p>Stage door autographs have been a thing since time immemorial. Probably a bit annoying for the actors, but a huge part of building a post-show buzz for some people. There are shows which have a paid meet-and-greet option (which feels a little icky to me).</p>\n\n<p>I've been to plenty of shows which have a Q&A with the cast and director afterwards. Again, not something which can be done every night, but a brilliant opportunity to reward people for coming.</p>\n\n<p>Even Shakespeare used to <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1B70P6pjT8\">end his plays with a jig</a>.</p>\n\n<p>The point is, a show can do <em>some</em> aftercare. A little something to keep the audience happy and engaged.</p>\n\n<h2 id=\"post-post-show\"><a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/every-theatre-show-is-immersive/#post-post-show\">Post-Post-Show</a></h2>\n\n<p>The audience has gone home. Is that the end of the experience? Sending out a survey email or asking them to share their memories on social media is a pretty cheap (and lazy) option for a show. It doesn't do much for the audience though.</p>\n\n<p>What about competitions? Can a show encourage the audience to enter a prize draw. Why not offer an upgraded seat at a discount for your next visit - as a little thank you for being a customer?</p>\n\n<p>It beggars belief that most shows don't offer a \"come back and bring a friend\" offer.</p>\n\n<p>After every roller-coaster ride, the theme park attempts to sell you a photo of you and your friends screaming. What's the equivalent for a theatrical show?</p>\n\n<p>This doesn't have to be a full-on marketing assault. Just a little nudge to make the audience feel special and like they'd want to repeat the experience.</p>\n\n<h2 id=\"is-all-this-really-necessary\"><a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/every-theatre-show-is-immersive/#is-all-this-really-necessary\">Is all this really necessary?</a></h2>\n\n<p>No.</p>\n\n<p>If you think people are happy to spend £150 to sit in conditions worse than the nastiest budget airline, and that they're delighted to be screamed at by over-officious security guards, then you don't need to do any of this. Leave the theatre decorated in its faded glory with faded photos of faded stars. Over-charge for the drinks, pad the programme with adverts, and hope the audience don't reflect on whether they enjoyed the experience.</p>\n\n<p>I'm not saying every show needs to be <a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/08/secret-cinema-grease/\">Secret Cinema's Grease</a>, but a little effort goes a long way.</p>\n\n<p>Premium Netflix costs £19 per month. Find me a <em>single</em> ticket at the back of the gods which costs less than that! Even the last-minute seat filler shows I go to have trouble getting down to that level. Live performance <em>cannot compete on cost-per minute</em>. Instead, theatre has to play to its strengths.</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Live actors are there!</li>\n<li>It's a communal experience!</li>\n<li>Something unique happens every performance!</li>\n<li>The building is interesting!</li>\n<li>You can't distract yourself with your phone!</li>\n<li>You can show your appreciation directly!</li>\n<li>It's part of a night out!</li>\n<li>The audience is an integral part of the experience!</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>All theatre is immersive because you are <em>there</em> - with actual people in front of you. Theatre needs to capitalise on the fact that it is different to being sat at home watching the telly. And that means putting a little effort into treating the audience like valued guests rather than treating them like cattle.</p>",
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"title": "Quick and dirty bar-charts using HTML's meter element",
"description": "\"If it's stupid but it works, it's not stupid.\" I want to draw some vertical bar charts. I don't want to use a 3rd party library, or bundle someone else's CSS, or learn how to build SVGs. HTML contains a <meter> element. It is used like this: <meter min=\"0\" max=\"4000\" value=\"1234\">1234</meter> Which looks like this: 1234 There isn't much you can do to style it. Browser manufacturers seem to …",
"url": "https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/quick-and-dirty-bar-charts-using-htmls-meter-element/",
"published": "2025-10-11T11:34:57.000Z",
"updated": "2025-10-11T09:26:16.000Z",
"content": "<p>\"If it's stupid but it works, it's not stupid.\"</p>\n\n<p>I want to draw some vertical bar charts. I don't want to use a 3rd party library, or bundle someone else's CSS, or learn how to build SVGs.</p>\n\n<p>HTML contains a <code><meter></code> element. It is used like this:</p>\n\n<pre><code class=\"language-html\"><meter min=\"0\" max=\"4000\" value=\"1234\">1234</meter>\n</code></pre>\n\n<p>Which looks like this: <meter min=\"0\" max=\"4000\" value=\"1234\" style=\"border-radius:0 !important;\">1234</meter></p>\n\n<p>There isn't <em>much</em> you can do to style it. Browser manufacturers seem to have forgotten it exists and the CSS standard kind of ignores it.</p>\n\n<p>It <em>is</em> possible to use CSS to rotate it using:</p>\n\n<pre><code class=\"language-css\">meter {\n transform: rotate(-90deg);\n}\n</code></pre>\n\n<p>But then you have to mess about with origins and the box model gets a bit confused.</p>\n\n<p>See what <meter min=\"0\" max=\"4000\" value=\"1234\" style=\"transform: rotate(-90deg);\">1234</meter> I mean?</p>\n\n<p>You can hack your way around that with <code><div></code>s and bludgeoning your layout into submission.</p>\n\n<p>But that is a bit tedious.</p>\n\n<p>Luckily, there's another way. As suggested by <a href=\"https://mastodon.social/@gundersen/115168958609140525\">Marius Gundersen</a>, it's possible to set the <a href=\"https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/writing-mode\">writing direction</a> of the element to be vertical.</p>\n\n<p>That means you can have them \"written\" vertically, while having them laid out horizontally. Giving a nice(ish) bar-chart effect.</p>\n\n<p><meter min=\"0\" max=\"4000\" value=\"1000\" style=\"writing-mode:vertical-lr;border-radius:0 !important;\">1000</meter><meter min=\"0\" max=\"4000\" value=\"2000\" style=\"writing-mode: vertical-lr;border-radius:0 !important;\">2000</meter><meter min=\"0\" max=\"4000\" value=\"3000\" style=\"writing-mode: vertical-lr;border-radius:0 !important;\">3000</meter><meter min=\"0\" max=\"4000\" value=\"4000\" style=\"writing-mode: vertical-lr;border-radius:0 !important;\">4000</meter></p>\n\n<p>As well as the normal sort of CSS spacing, there is basic colour support for values which are inside a specific range:</p>\n\n<p><meter min=\"0\" max=\"4000\" value=\"1000\" low=\"1000\" high=\"400\" style=\"writing-mode:vertical-lr;border-radius:0 !important;\">1000</meter>\n<meter min=\"0\" max=\"4000\" value=\"2000\" low=\"2000\" high=\"400\" style=\"writing-mode:vertical-lr;border-radius:0 !important;\">2000</meter>\n<meter min=\"0\" max=\"4000\" value=\"3000\" style=\"writing-mode:vertical-lr;border-radius:0 !important;\">3000</meter>\n<meter min=\"0\" max=\"4000\" value=\"4000\" high=\"4000\" style=\"writing-mode:vertical-lr;border-radius:0 !important;\">4000</meter></p>\n\n<p>The background colour can also be set.</p>\n\n<p><meter min=\"0\" max=\"4000\" value=\"1000\" style=\"writing-mode:vertical-lr;border-radius:0 !important;background:red;\">1000</meter></p>\n\n<p>I dare say they're slightly more accessible than a raster image - even with good alt text. They can be targetted with JS, if you want to do fancy things with them.</p>\n\n<p>Or, if you just want a quick and dirty bar-chart, they're basically fine.</p>",
"image": null,
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{
"name": "@edent",
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"url": "https://edent.tel/"
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"categories": [
{
"label": "/etc/",
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"url": "https://shkspr.mobi/blog"
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"label": "css",
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{
"id": "https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=63095",
"title": "Book Review: The Breaking of Liam Glass by Charles Harris ★★★⯪☆",
"description": "This is a curious and mostly satisfying novel. It bills itself as a satire, but it is rather more cynical than that. A kid has been stabbed and the worst instincts of humanity descend. Race-baiting police, vote-grubbing politicians, and exploitative journalists. I can't comment on the accuracy of the satire of the press - but it feels real. It's full of the hungriest, nastiest people who will…",
"url": "https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/book-review-the-breaking-of-liam-glass-by-charles-harris/",
"published": "2025-10-09T11:34:00.000Z",
"updated": "2025-09-25T17:30:42.000Z",
"content": "<img src=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/liamglass.webp\" alt=\"Book cover with a deflated football.\" width=\"256\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-63097\">\n\n<p>This is a curious and mostly satisfying novel. It bills itself as a satire, but it is rather more cynical than that. A kid has been stabbed and the worst instincts of humanity descend. Race-baiting police, vote-grubbing politicians, and exploitative journalists.</p>\n\n<p>I can't comment on the accuracy of the satire of the press - but it <em>feels</em> real. It's full of the hungriest, nastiest people who will step over anyone and cross any moral line in pursuit of a headline.</p>\n\n<p>Similarly, the political commentary isn't exactly subtle - but it will raise your blood pressure.</p>\n\n<p>Perhaps that's the aim of the book? The author is an equal opportunity cynic. Every paragraph is so wry that it can only have been written with a permanently raised eyebrow. You'll leave it frustrated and bitter.</p>\n\n<p>There are no heroes in the story - just a series of increasingly desperate villains all trying to profit from a senseless tragedy - which makes for a difficult read at times.</p>",
"image": null,
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{
"name": "@edent",
"email": null,
"url": "https://edent.tel/"
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"label": "/etc/",
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"url": "https://shkspr.mobi/blog"
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"label": "Book Review",
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{
"id": "https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=62224",
"title": "How to *actually* test your readme",
"description": "If you've spent any time using Linux, you'll be used to installing software like this: The README says to download from this link. Huh, I'm not sure how to unarchive .tar.xz files - guess I'll search for that. Right, it says run setup.sh hmm, that doesn't work. Oh, I need to set the permissions. What was the chmod command again? OK, that's working. Wait, it needs sudo. Let me run that again.…",
"url": "https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/how-to-actually-test-your-readme/",
"published": "2025-10-07T11:34:08.000Z",
"updated": "2025-10-07T10:28:12.000Z",
"content": "<p>If you've spent any time using Linux, you'll be used to installing software like this:</p>\n\n<blockquote><p>The README says to download from this link. Huh, I'm not sure how to unarchive .tar.xz files - guess I'll search for that. Right, it says run <code>setup.sh</code> hmm, that doesn't work. Oh, I need to set the permissions. What was the <code>chmod</code> command again? OK, that's working. Wait, it needs <code>sudo</code>. Let me run that again. Hang on, am I in the right directory? Here it goes. What, it crapped out. I don't have some random library - how the hell am I meant to install that? My distro has v21 but this requires <=19. Ah, I also need to upgrade something which isn't supplied by repo. Nearly there, just need to compile this obscure project from SourceForge which was inexplicably installed on the original dev's machine and then I'll be good to go. Nope. Better raise an issue on GitHub. Oh, look, it is tomorrow.</p></blockquote>\n\n<p>As a developer, you probably don't want to answer dozens of tickets complaining that users are frustrated with your work. You thought you made the README really clear and - hey! - it works on your machine.</p>\n\n<p>There are various solutions to this problem - developers can release AppImages, or Snaps, or FlatPaks, or Docker or whatever. But that's a bit of stretch for a solo dev who is slinging out a little tool that they coded in their spare time. And, even those don't always work as seamlessly as you'd hope.</p>\n\n<p>There's an easier solution:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>Follow the steps in your README</li>\n<li>See if they work.</li>\n<li>…</li>\n<li>That's it.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>OK, that's a bit reductive! There are a million variables which go into a test - so I'm going to introduce you to a secret <em>zeroth</em> step.</p>\n\n<ol start=\"0\">\n<li>Spin up a fresh Virtual Machine with a recent-ish distro.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>If you are a developer, your machine probably has a billion weird configurations and obscure libraries installed on it - things which <em>definitely</em> aren't on your users' machines. Having a box-fresh VM means than you are starting with a blank-slate. If, when following your README, you discover that the app doesn't install because of a missing dependency, you can adjust your README to include <code>apt install whatever</code>.</p>\n\n<h2 id=\"ok-but-how\"><a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/how-to-actually-test-your-readme/#ok-but-how\">OK, but how?</a></h2>\n\n<p>Personally, I like <a href=\"https://flathub.org/apps/org.gnome.Boxes\">Boxes</a> as it gives you a simple choice of VMs - but there are plenty of other Virtual Machine managers out there.</p>\n\n<img src=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/OS-Selection.webp\" alt=\"List of Linux OSes.\" width=\"801\" height=\"728\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-62227\">\n\n<p>Pick a standard OS that you like. I think the latest Ubuntu Server is pretty lightweight and is a good baseline for what people are likely to have. But feel free to pick something with a GUI or whatever suits your audience.</p>\n\n<p>Once your VM is installed and set up for basic use, take a snapshot.</p>\n\n<img src=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/revert.webp\" alt=\"Pop up showing a snapshot of a virtual machine.\" width=\"692\" height=\"628\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-62228\">\n\n<p>Every time you want to test or re-test a README, revert back to the <em>original</em> state of your box. That way you won't have odd half-installed packages laying about.</p>\n\n<p>Your next step is to think about how much hand-holding do you want to do?</p>\n\n<p>For example, the default Debian doesn't ship with git. Does your README need to tell people to <code>sudo apt install git</code> and then walk them through configuring it so that they can <code>git clone</code> your repo?</p>\n\n<p>Possibly! Who is your audience? If you've created a tool which is likely to be used by newbies who are just getting started with their first Raspberry Pi then, yeah, you probably will need to include that. Why? Because it will save you from receiving a lot of repeated questions and frustrated emails.</p>\n\n<p>OK, but most developers will have <code>gcc</code> installed, right? Maybe! But it doesn't do any harm to include it in a long list of <code>apt get …</code> anyway, does it? Similarly, does everyone know how to upgrade to the very latest npm?</p>\n\n<p>If your software is designed for people who are experienced computer touchers, don't fall into the trap of thinking that they know everything you do. I find it best to assume people are intelligent but not experienced; it doesn't hurt to give <em>slightly</em> too much detail.</p>\n\n<p>The best way to do this is to record <em>everything</em> you do after logging into the blank VM.</p>\n\n<ol start=\"0\">\n<li>Restore the snapshot.</li>\n<li>Log in.</li>\n<li>Run all the commands you need to get your software working.</li>\n<li>Once done, run <code>history -w history.txt</code>\n\n<ul>\n<li>That will print out <em>every</em> command you ran.</li>\n</ul></li>\n<li>Copy that text into your README.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>Hey presto! You now have README instructions which have been tested to work. Even on the most bare-bones machine, you can say that your README will allow the user to get started with your software with the minimum amount of head-scratching.</p>\n\n<p>Now, this isn't foolproof. Maybe the user has an ancient operating system running on obsolete hardware which is constantly bombarded by cosmic rays. But at least this way your issues won't be clogged up by people saying their install failed because <code>lib-foobar</code> wasn't available or that <code>./configure</code> had fatal errors.</p>\n\n<p>A great example is <a href=\"https://github.com/xiph/opus/blob/main/README\">the Opus Codec README</a>. I went into a fresh Ubuntu machine, followed the readme, ran the above history command, and got this:</p>\n\n<pre><code class=\"language-_\">sudo apt-get install git autoconf automake libtool gcc make\ngit clone https://gitlab.xiph.org/xiph/opus.git\ncd opus\n./autogen.sh\n./configure\nmake\nsudo make install\n</code></pre>\n\n<p>Everything worked! There was no missing step or having to dive into another README to figure out how to bind flarg 6.9 with schnorp-unstable.</p>\n\n<p>So that's my plea to you, dear developer friend. Make sure your README contains both the necessary <em>and</em> sufficient information required to install your software. For your sake, as much as mine!</p>\n\n<h2 id=\"wait-you-didnt-follow-your-own-advice\"><a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/how-to-actually-test-your-readme/#wait-you-didnt-follow-your-own-advice\">Wait! You didn't follow your own advice!</a></h2>\n\n<p>You're quite right. Feel free to send a pull request to correct this post - as I shall be doing with any unhelpful READMEs I find along the way.</p>",
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [
{
"name": "@edent",
"email": null,
"url": "https://edent.tel/"
}
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{
"label": "/etc/",
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"label": "Free Software",
"term": "Free Software",
"url": "https://shkspr.mobi/blog"
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"term": "linux",
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"term": "Open Source",
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{
"id": "https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=63643",
"title": "You did no fact checking, and I must scream",
"description": "I'm neither a journalist nor a professional fact checker but, the thing is, it's has never been easier to check basic facts. Yeah, sure, there's a world of misinformation out there, but it doesn't take much effort to determine if something is likely to be true. There are brilliant tools like reverse Image Search which give you a good indicator of when an image first appeared on the web, and…",
"url": "https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/i-have-no-facts-and-i-must-scream/",
"published": "2025-10-05T11:34:23.000Z",
"updated": "2025-10-06T09:56:50.000Z",
"content": "<p>I'm neither a journalist nor a professional fact checker but, the thing is, it's has never been easier to check basic facts. Yeah, sure, there's a world of misinformation out there, but it doesn't take much effort to determine if something is likely to be true.</p>\n\n<p>There are brilliant tools like <a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2018/04/tools-to-defeat-fake-news-reverse-image-search/\">reverse Image Search</a> which give you a good indicator of when an image first appeared on the web, and whether it was published by a reputable source.</p>\n\n<p>You can <a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2021/06/whats-the-origin-of-the-phrase-we-shouldnt-just-be-pulling-people-out-of-the-river-we-should-be-going-upstream-to-find-out-whos-pushing-them-in/\">use Google Books to check whether a quote is true</a>.</p>\n\n<p>You can use social-media searches to <a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2024/01/no-oscar-wilde-did-not-say-imitation-is-the-sincerest-form-of-flattery-that-mediocrity-can-pay-to-greatness/\">easily check the origin of memes</a>.</p>\n\n<p>There are <a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2021/07/did-dvorak-die-a-bitter-man/\">vast archives of printed material</a> to help you.</p>\n\n<p>The World Wide Web has a million sites which allow you to <a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2021/07/did-nikola-tesla-receive-nothing-but-insults-and-humiliation/\">cross-reference any citations</a> to see if they're spurious.</p>\n\n<p>Now, perhaps all that is a bit too much effort for someone casually doomscrolling and hitting \"repost\" for an instant dopamine hit. But it shouldn't be. And it <em>certainly</em> shouldn't be for people who write for trusted sources like newspapers.</p>\n\n<p>Recently, the beloved actor Patricia Routledge died. Several newspapers reposted a piece of viral slop which <a href=\"https://bsky.app/profile/edent.tel/post/3lwvalev4r22b\">I had debunked a month previously</a>. Let's go through the piece and see just how easy it is to prove false.</p>\n\n<p>Here's that \"viral\" story. I've kept to the parts which contain easily verifiable / falsifiable claims.</p>\n\n<img src=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/turning-95.webp\" alt=\"**“I’ll be turning 95 this coming Monday. In my younger years, I was often filled with worry — worry that I wasn’t quite good enough, that no one would cast me again, that I wouldn’t live up to my mother’s hopes. But these days begin in peace, and end in gratitude.”**\" width=\"350\" height=\"120\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-63645\">\n\n<p>Wikpedia says that <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patricia_Routledge\">her birthday was 17 February 1929</a>. She would have turned 95 in 2024.</p>\n\n<p>Open up your calendar app. Scroll back to February 2024. What date was 17 February 2024? Saturday. Not Monday.</p>\n\n<p>Now, OK, maybe at 95 she's forgotten her birthday. What else does the rest of the piece say?</p>\n\n<img src=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/life.webp\" alt=\"My life didn’t quite take shape until my forties. I had worked steadily — on provincial stages, in radio plays, in West End productions — but I often felt adrift, as though I was searching for a home within myself that I hadn’t quite found.\" width=\"350\" height=\"100\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-63646\">\n\n<p>In 1968, <a href=\"https://youtu.be/_e6_6pHKsQU?t=5382\">Patricia Routledge won Best Actress (Musical) at the Tony Awards</a> - she was 39. I don't know if I'd consider appearing on Broadway as provincial stages.</p>\n\n<img src=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/accepted.webp\" alt=\"At 50, I accepted a television role that many would later associate me with — Hyacinth Bucket, of Keeping Up Appearances. I thought it would be a small part in a little series. I never imagined that it would take me into people’s living rooms and hearts around the world. And truthfully, that role taught me to accept my own quirks. It healed something in me.\" width=\"350\" height=\"140\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-63647\">\n\n<p><a href=\"http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/579878/\">Keeping Up Appearances was first broadcast in 1990</a>. Patricia was around 60, not 50, when she was cast.</p>\n\n<p>While she may have thought it would only be a small series - even though it was by the creator of Open All Hours and Last of the Summer Wine - there's no way that being the lead character could be described as a \"small part\". She wasn't a breakout character - she was the star.</p>\n\n<img src=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/shake.webp\" alt=\"At 70, I returned to the Shakespearean stage — something I once believed I had aged out of. But this time, I had nothing to prove. I stood on those boards with stillness, and audiences felt that. I was no longer performing. I was simply being.\" width=\"350\" height=\"100\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-63648\">\n\n<p>Wikipedia isn't always accurate, but it <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patricia_Routledge#Stage\">does list lots of her stage work</a>. She was working steadily on stage from 1999 - when she hit 70 - but none of it Shakespeare.</p>\n\n<p>I was able to do that fact checking in 10 minutes while laying in bed waiting for the bathroom to become free. It wasn't onerous. It didn't require subscriptions to professional journals. I didn't need a team of fact-checkers. It took a bit of web-sleuthing and, dare I say it, a smidgen of common sense.</p>\n\n<p>And yet, a couple of newspapers ran with this utter drivel as though it were the truth. <a href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20251003145620/https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/tv/news/patricia-routledge-death-last-message-b2838736.html\">The Independent</a> published it as part of their tribute - although they <a href=\"https://bsky.app/profile/edent.tel/post/3m2cmhw7nmc2a\">took the piece down after I emailed them</a>. Similarly <a href=\"https://www.express.co.uk/showbiz/tv-radio/2100863/keeping-appearances-patricia-routledge-confession\">The Express</a> ran it without any basic fact-checking (and <a href=\"https://bsky.app/profile/edent.tel/post/3m2jdtg6xys22\">didn't take it down</a> after being contacted).</p>\n\n<p>Both of them say their primary source is the <a href=\"https://jayspeak.blog/2025/08/02/growing-oldoops-up/\">\"Jay Speak\" blog</a>. There's nothing on that blog post to say that the author interviewed Patricia Routledge. A quick check of the other posts on the site don't make it obvious that it is a reputable source of exclusive interviews with notable actors.</p>\n\n<p>The date on that blog post is August 2nd, 2025. Is there anything earlier? Typing a few of the phrases into a search engine found a bunch of posts which pre-date it. The earliest I can find was <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DMeyLa6oU8q/\">this Instagram post</a> and <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/henk.benson/posts/pfbid02dWng6y7dpubTFSZuYavFYVdEfLuzcnvmqNnJuiAN693LfJLSNwHec8p7cSQasgdxl\">this Facebook post</a> both from the <strong>24th of July</strong> - a week early than the Jay Speaks post.</p>\n\n<p>To be clear, I don't think Jay Speaks was deliberately trying to fool journalists or hoax anyone. They simply saw an interesting looking post and re-shared it. I also suspect the Facebook and Instagram posts were copied from other sources - but I've been unable to find anything definitive.</p>\n\n<p>I would expect that professional journalists at well-established newspapers to be able to call an actor's agent to fact-check a piece before running it. If they can't, I would have thought they'd do a cursory fact check.</p>\n\n<p>But, no. I presume the rush to publish is so great that it over-rides any sense of whether a piece should be accurate.</p>\n\n<p>This is irresponsible. Last week saw <a href=\"https://bsky.app/profile/jamesomalley.co.uk/post/3m2edtpdysc2u\">the BBC air an outright lie on Have I Got News For You</a>. A professional TV company, with a budget for lawyers, fact checkers, and researchers - and they just broadcast easily disproven lies. Why? Maybe hubris, maybe laziness, maybe deliberate rabble-rousing.</p>\n\n<p>The media have comprehensively failed us. They will repeat any tawdry nonsense as long as it keeps people clicking. It's up to us to defend ourselves and our friends against this unending tsunami of low-grade slurry.</p>\n\n<p>I hope I've demonstrated that it takes almost no effort to perform a basic fact check. It isn't a professional skill. It doesn't require anything more than an Internet connection and a curious mind. If you see something online, take a moment to check it before sharing it.</p>\n\n<p>Stopping misinformation starts with you.</p>",
"image": null,
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{
"name": "@edent",
"email": null,
"url": "https://edent.tel/"
}
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{
"label": "/etc/",
"term": "/etc/",
"url": "https://shkspr.mobi/blog"
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{
"label": "fact check",
"term": "fact check",
"url": "https://shkspr.mobi/blog"
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{
"label": "fake news",
"term": "fake news",
"url": "https://shkspr.mobi/blog"
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{
"label": "newspapers",
"term": "newspapers",
"url": "https://shkspr.mobi/blog"
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"label": "quote",
"term": "quote",
"url": "https://shkspr.mobi/blog"
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{
"label": "Social Media",
"term": "Social Media",
"url": "https://shkspr.mobi/blog"
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]
},
{
"id": "https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=63527",
"title": "Getting started with Mastodon's Quote Posts - technical implementation details for servers",
"description": "Quoting posts on Mastodon is slightly complex. Because of the privacy conscious nature of the platform and its users, reposting isn't merely a case of sharing a URl. A user writes a status. The user can choose to make their statuses quotable or not. What happens when a quoter quotes that post? I've read through the specification and tried to simplify it. Quoting is a multi-step process: The…",
"url": "https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/getting-started-with-mastodons-quote-posts-technical-implementation-details-for-servers/",
"published": "2025-10-03T11:34:27.000Z",
"updated": "2025-10-03T15:06:55.000Z",
"content": "<p>Quoting posts on Mastodon is <em>slightly</em> complex. Because of the privacy conscious nature of the platform and its users, reposting isn't merely a case of sharing a URl.</p>\n\n<p>A user writes a status. The user can choose to make their statuses quotable or not. What happens when a quoter quotes that post?</p>\n\n<p>I've <a href=\"https://codeberg.org/fediverse/fep/src/branch/main/fep/044f/fep-044f.md\">read through the specification</a> and tried to simplify it. Quoting is a multi-step process:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>The status <em>must</em> opt-in to being shared.</li>\n<li>The quoter quotes the status.</li>\n<li>The quoter's server sends a request to the status's server.</li>\n<li>The status's server sends an accept message back to the quoter's server.</li>\n<li>When other servers see the quote, they check with the status's server to see if it is allowed.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>I'm going to walk you through each stage as best as I understand them.</p>\n\n<h2 id=\"opting-in\"><a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/getting-started-with-mastodons-quote-posts-technical-implementation-details-for-servers/#opting-in\">Opting In</a></h2>\n\n<p>An ActivityPub status message is JSON. In order to opt-in, it needs this additional field.</p>\n\n<pre><code class=\"language-JSON\">\"interactionPolicy\": {\n \"canQuote\": {\n \"automaticApproval\": \"https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams#Public\"\n }\n}\n</code></pre>\n\n<p>That tells ActivityPub clients that anyone is allowed to quote this post. It is also possible to say that only specific users, or only followers, or no-one is allowed.</p>\n\n<h2 id=\"the-quoterequest\"><a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/getting-started-with-mastodons-quote-posts-technical-implementation-details-for-servers/#the-quoterequest\">The QuoteRequest</a></h2>\n\n<p>Someone has hit the quote post button, typed their own message, and shared their wisdom. Their server sends the following message to the server which hosts the quoted status. This has been edited for brevity.</p>\n\n<pre><code class=\"language-JSON\">{\n \"@context\": [\n \"https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams\",\n {\n \"QuoteRequest\": \"https://w3id.org/fep/044f#QuoteRequest\"\n }\n ],\n \"type\": \"QuoteRequest\",\n \"id\": \"https://mastodon.test/users/Edent/quote_requests/1234-5678-9101\",\n \"actor\": \"https://mastodon.test/users/Edent\",\n \"object\": \"https://example.com/posts/987654321.json\",\n \"instrument\": {\n \"id\": \"https://mastodon.test/users/Edent/statuses/123456789\",\n \"url\": \"https://mastodon.test/@Edent/123456789\",\n \"attributedTo\": \"https://mastodon.test/users/Edent\",\n \"quote\": \"https://example.com/posts/987654321.json\",\n \"_misskey_quote\": \"https://example.com/posts/987654321.json\",\n \"quoteUri\": \"https://example.com/posts/987654321.json\"\n }\n}\n</code></pre>\n\n<p>All this says is \"I would like permission to quote you.\"</p>\n\n<h2 id=\"the-stamp\"><a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/getting-started-with-mastodons-quote-posts-technical-implementation-details-for-servers/#the-stamp\">The Stamp</a></h2>\n\n<p>The quoted server needs to approve this quote. First, it generates a \"stamp\".</p>\n\n<p>This is a file which lives on the quoted server. It is proof that the quote is allowed. If it is deleted, the quote permission is revoked. When the <a href=\"https://socialhub.activitypub.rocks/t/quote-post-implementation-issues/8032/2?u=eden_t\">stamp's ID is requested the stamp <em>must</em> be returned</a>.</p>\n\n<pre><code class=\"language-JSON\">{\n \"@context\": [\n \"https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams\",\n {\n \"gts\": \"https://gotosocial.org/ns#\",\n \"QuoteAuthorization\": {\n \"@id\": \"https://w3id.org/fep/044f#QuoteAuthorization\",\n \"@type\": \"@id\"\n },\n \"interactingObject\": {\n \"@id\": \"gts:interactingObject\"\n },\n \"interactionTarget\": {\n \"@id\": \"gts:interactionTarget\"\n }\n }\n ],\n \"type\": \"QuoteAuthorization\",\n \"id\": \"https://example.com/quote-987654321.json\",\n \"attributedTo\": \"https://example.com/users/username\",\n \"interactionTarget\": \"https://example.com/posts/987654321.json\",\n \"interactingObject\": \"https://mastodon.test/users/Edent/statuses/123456789\"\n}\n</code></pre>\n\n<p>If the quoted status is viewed from a different server, that server will query the stamp to make sure the share is allowed.</p>\n\n<h2 id=\"the-accept\"><a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/getting-started-with-mastodons-quote-posts-technical-implementation-details-for-servers/#the-accept\">The Accept</a></h2>\n\n<p>This is the message that the quoted server sends to the quoting server. It references the request and the stamp.</p>\n\n<pre><code class=\"language-JSON\">{\n \"@context\": [\n \"https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams\",\n {\n \"QuoteRequest\": \"https://w3id.org/fep/044f#QuoteRequest\"\n }\n ],\n \"type\": \"Accept\",\n \"to\": \"https://mastodon.test/users/Edent\",\n \"id\": \"https://example.com/posts/987654321.json\",\n \"actor\": \"https://example.com/account\",\n \"object\": {\n \"type\": \"QuoteRequest\",\n \"id\": \"https://mastodon.test/users/Edent/quote_requests/1234-5678-9101\",\n \"actor\": \"https://mastodon.test/users/Edent\",\n \"instrument\": \"https://mastodon.test/users/Edent/statuses/123456789\",\n \"object\": \"https://example.com/posts/987654321.json\"\n },\n \"result\": \"https://example.com/quote-987654321.json\"\n}\n</code></pre>\n\n<p>The \"result\" <em>must</em> be the same as the stamp's URl.</p>\n\n<h2 id=\"and-then\"><a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/getting-started-with-mastodons-quote-posts-technical-implementation-details-for-servers/#and-then\">And then?</a></h2>\n\n<p>You can follow and quote <a href=\"https://colours.bots.edent.tel/\">@[email protected]</a> on your favourite Fediverse platform.</p>\n\n<p>I've written an ActivityPub server in a single file which is designed to teach you have the protocol works. Have a play with <a href=\"https://gitlab.com/edent/activity-bot\">ActivityBot</a>.</p>",
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"label": "/etc/",
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"label": "fediverse",
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{
"id": "https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=63503",
"title": "Book Review: Streaming Wars - How Getting Everything We Wanted Changed Entertainment Forever by Charlotte Henry ★★☆☆☆",
"description": "This should be a fascinating look at how streaming services evolved and the outsized impact they've had on our culture. Instead it is mostly a series of re-written press-releases and recycled analysis from other people. Sadly, the book never dives in to the pre-history of streaming. There's a brief mention of RealPlayer - but nothing about the early experiments of livestreaming gigs and TV…",
"url": "https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/book-review-streaming-wars-how-getting-everything-we-wanted-changed-entertainment-forever-by-charlotte-henry/",
"published": "2025-10-01T11:34:54.000Z",
"updated": "2025-10-01T16:51:02.000Z",
"content": "<img src=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/cover719123-medium.png\" alt=\"Book cover.\" width=\"255\" height=\"391\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-63514\">\n\n<p>This <em>should</em> be a fascinating look at how streaming services evolved and the outsized impact they've had on our culture. Instead it is mostly a series of re-written press-releases and recycled analysis from other people.</p>\n\n<p>Sadly, the book never dives in to the pre-history of streaming. There's a brief mention of RealPlayer - but nothing about the early experiments of livestreaming gigs and TV over the Internet. Similarly, it ignores how Big Brother created a generation of people who wanted to stream on their phones. Early pioneers like JenniCam are written out of history. The book is relentlessly focussed on American streamers, with only a brief foray into the UK, Africa, and other markets. There's nothing about Project Kangaroo and how it squandered an early opportunity for streaming dominance.</p>\n\n<p>Steaming only started with Netflix, according to this book. Despite iPlayer launching at roughly the same time, it doesn't make an appearance until halfway though the book. It's also missing some of the interesting aspects of how Netflix built its algorithm, and the privacy impacts of it.</p>\n\n<p>The analysis itself mostly quotes from reports from Enders and other firms like that. It doesn't seem like there was any original research done, and there aren't any new interviews done for the book. Instead it is just a surface-level analysis mixed in with clichéd prose about boiling frogs. It's also fairly uncritical - several sections are just press-releases from big streaming services with little discussion about whether they're accurate. It almost turns into a corporate biography / hagiography rather than a serious look at streaming.</p>\n\n<p>There's very little about the production side. For example, how <a href=\"https://www.vice.com/en/article/why-does-everything-on-netflix-look-like-that/\">Netflix squashes cinematograph</a> and how its <a href=\"https://www.reddit.com/r/cinematography/comments/16precd/whats_the_real_reason_netflix_shows_all_look_the/k1v88gd/\">lack of permanent props storage</a> restricts accurate set-dressing to <a href=\"https://www.wired.com/2016/07/stories-behind-stranger-things-retro-80s-props/\">tent-pole shows</a>.</p>\n\n<p>Although this is a preview copy, the prose feels half-baked.</p>\n\n<blockquote><p>Overall, the iPlayer is a very high-quality product, providing access to both linear TV and a whole range of content in its extensive catalogue.</p></blockquote>\n\n<p>That's the sort of thing I'd expect from a student essay rather than a serious book.</p>\n\n<p>Unlike <a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2022/03/book-review-warez-the-infrastructure-and-aesthetics-of-piracy-by-martin-paul-eve/\">Warez - The Infrastructure and Aesthetics of Piracy by Martin Paul Eve</a>, there's almost nothing about piracy and how that drives the behaviour of consumers, producers, and distributors. There's a bit of discussion of Napster, but hardly anything about the more modern cultural impact.</p>\n\n<p>It is maddeningly contradictory. In a couple of pages it goes from:</p>\n\n<blockquote><p>Consequently, we are closer than we have ever been to having something like global TV. Close, but not actually there.</p></blockquote>\n\n<p>To:</p>\n\n<blockquote><p>because of the amount of work available to view, there is no mono-culture anymore.</p></blockquote>\n\n<p>Which is it?</p>\n\n<p>The book concludes by saying:</p>\n\n<blockquote><p>With that in mind, the ultimate winner of the streaming wars is the consumer. It is us.</p></blockquote>\n\n<p>Is it though? There's almost nothing about shows cancelled before they got going. Nothing about whether American cultural hegemony suffocates local media development. It briefly touches on the constant price rises, but never investigates whether it changes behaviours or if they drive customers away. There's not a single interview with viewers - and no attempt to understand whether they feel positive about the way streaming has changed the world.</p>\n\n<p>There's a fascinating story to be told, but this isn't it.</p>\n\n<p>Thanks to Netgalley for the review copy, the book is available to pre-order now.</p>",
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"label": "Book Review",
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"url": "https://shkspr.mobi/blog"
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"term": "iplayer",
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"label": "Netflix",
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{
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{
"id": "https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=62143",
"title": "Can you use GDPR to Circumvent BlueSky's Adult Content Blocks?",
"description": "In the battle between the Online Safety Act and GDPR, who will win? FIGHT! I'll start by saying that I'm moderately positive on Online Safety. If services don't want to provide moderation then they shouldn't let their younger users be exposed to harm. The social network BlueSky has taken a pragmatic approach to this. If you don't want to verify your age, you can still use its services - but it…",
"url": "https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/can-you-use-gdpr-to-circumvent-blueskys-adult-content-blocks/",
"published": "2025-09-29T11:34:27.000Z",
"updated": "2025-09-30T12:01:46.000Z",
"content": "<p>In the battle between the Online Safety Act and GDPR, who will win? FIGHT!</p>\n\n<p>I'll start by saying that I'm <a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2024/12/food-safety-vs-online-safety/\">moderately positive on Online Safety</a>. If services don't want to provide moderation then they shouldn't let their younger users be exposed to harm.</p>\n\n<p>The social network BlueSky has taken a pragmatic approach to this. If you don't want to verify your age, you can still use its services - but <a href=\"https://bsky.app/profile/edent.tel/post/3ltmzgl5h4c2k\">it won't serve you porn or let people send you non-public messages</a>.</p>\n\n<p>I think that's pretty reasonable. I don't use BSky to look at naked <del>mole rats</del> people, and I already have plenty of other messaging accounts. So I haven't verified my age.</p>\n\n<p>There are two slight wrinkles with BSky's implementation. Firstly, there's no way to retrieve DMs which were sent before this restriction came into force. Oh, you can one-click export your data - but <a href=\"https://docs.bsky.app/blog/repo-export\">it only includes <em>public</em> data</a>. So no DMs.</p>\n\n<p>Secondly, you can't turn off DM from people who have previously messaged you. <a href=\"https://bsky.app/profile/edent.tel/post/3luoqklgdhk27\">I asked people to message me</a> to see if they got an error - but it looks like the messages just get silently accepted. I probably look a bit rude if I don't answer them.</p>\n\n<p>Worse still, the DM notification keeps incrementing!</p>\n\n<img src=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Bluesky-DM-notification.webp\" alt=\"A notification counter showing the number 3. The message next to it says I need to complete age assurance.\" width=\"932\" height=\"401\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-62145\">\n\n<p>It <em>is</em> possible to turn off DMs - but <a href=\"https://bsky.social/about/blog/05-22-2024-direct-messages\">only if you can access your DM settings</a>. Which you can't if you haven't passed age assurance.</p>\n\n<p>Well, what about GDPR?</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https://bsky.social/about/support/privacy-policy#personal-information-collect\">BlueSky's privacy policy</a> has this to say about DMs:</p>\n\n<blockquote><p>Your Direct Messages. We store and process your direct messages in order to enable you to communicate directly and privately with other users on the Bluesky App. These are unencrypted and can be accessed for Trust and Safety purposes.</p></blockquote>\n\n<p>They go on to say that I may have the right to:</p>\n\n<blockquote><p>Request Access to and Portability of Your Personal Information, including: (i) obtaining access to or a copy of your personal information; and (ii) receiving an electronic copy of personal information that you have provided to us, or asking us to send that information to another company in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format (also known as the “right of data portability”);</p></blockquote>\n\n<p>So I sent off a Subject Access Request asking specifically for the Direct Messages sent to/from my account.</p>\n\n<p>I was 100% sure that the messages I had sent were my personal data and should be returned to me. I wasn't sure if messages other people had sent to me could be considered personal data. But I figured that the OSA hadn't invalidated GDPR.</p>\n\n<p>Here's what happened:</p>\n\n<h2 id=\"timeline\"><a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/can-you-use-gdpr-to-circumvent-blueskys-adult-content-blocks/#timeline\">Timeline</a></h2>\n\n<ul>\n<li>2025-07-24 - Sent request to their support desk and received an acknowledgement.\n\n<ul>\n<li>Response: \"I've gone ahead and shared your request with our team and will follow up with you if any additional information or verification is needed.\"</li>\n</ul></li>\n<li>2025-07-31 - Sent a reminder to them.\n\n<ul>\n<li>Response: \"We've escalated your concern to our developers and are still waiting for their response and confirmation. We'll get back as soon as we get this information.\"</li>\n</ul></li>\n<li>2025-08-25 - One month later sent an escalation to their legal team reminding them of their obligations.\n\n<ul>\n<li>Response: Asked to provide my country of residence and to prove my account ownership by send an email from the address associated with my BSky account.</li>\n</ul></li>\n<li>2025-09-05 - Sent yet another chaser.</li>\n<li>2025-09-13 - Over seven weeks since the initial request. Told them that I wanted to know which data protection authority they were registered with so I could make a formal complaint.\n\n<ul>\n<li>Response: \"Please be aware that we are currently in the process of making your data available for download. We will notify you as soon as it is ready.\"</li>\n</ul></li>\n<li>2025-09-22 - 8 weeks since the complaint was raised. Sent another chaser asking how long until my data would be ready to download.</li>\n<li>2025-09-25 - After 64 days they sent me a CSV with my data!</li>\n</ul>\n\n<h2 id=\"result\"><a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/can-you-use-gdpr-to-circumvent-blueskys-adult-content-blocks/#result\">Result</a></h2>\n\n<p>Here's an extract of the CSV. I've lightly redacted the data, but you can see how JSON embedding works.</p>\n\n<pre><code class=\"language-csv\">convoId,sentAt,sender,contents\n3kt6f7a2,2025-07-24 05:50:09.339+00,did:plc:pxy4cjqfu5aa6eadtx5,\"{\"\"text\"\": \"\"Testing testing\"\"}\"\n3ku4lvbh,2024-06-04 18:17:52.414+00,did:plc:i6misxex577k4q6o7gl,\"{\"\"text\"\": \"\"Thought this might be up your alley. I've been to a few of them - pretty good crowd. thegeomob.com/post/july-3r...\"\", \"\"facets\"\": [{\"\"index\"\": {\"\"byteEnd\"\": 114, \"\"byteStart\"\": 85}, \"\"features\"\": [{\"\"uri\"\": \"\"https://thegeomob.com/post/july-3rd-2024-geomoblon-details\"\", \"\"$type\"\": \"\"app.bsky.richtext.facet#link\"\"}]}]}\"\n</code></pre>\n\n<h2 id=\"thoughts\"><a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/can-you-use-gdpr-to-circumvent-blueskys-adult-content-blocks/#thoughts\">Thoughts</a></h2>\n\n<p>I didn't have to prove my age. I just proved account ownership and then politely but insistently asked for my data. Frankly, it is baffling that such a well-funded company takes this long to answer a simple request.</p>\n\n<p>Does this expose a gaping whole in the idea of online safety?</p>\n\n<p>No. Not really. I suppose that a theoretical abuser could send messages to a minor and then that minor could go through a Subject Access Request process to try and access them. But that all feels a bit far-fetched and is likely to draw attention to both parties.</p>\n\n<h2 id=\"but-why-didnt-you-just\"><a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/can-you-use-gdpr-to-circumvent-blueskys-adult-content-blocks/#but-why-didnt-you-just\">But why didn't you just…</a></h2>\n\n<p>This was definitely \"playing on hard mode\". There were other ways to get my DMs. Here are some alternatives which I didn't try and <em>why</em> I didn't try them.</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Use a VPN to circumvent the geoblock.\n\n<ul>\n<li>Why should I have to pay for a VPN, or trust my browsing data to a dodgy 3rd party? I shouldn't have to install and configure software just to work around a crappy design decision.</li>\n</ul></li>\n<li>Go through age verification.\n\n<ul>\n<li>I don't browse BlueSky for the \"gentlemen's special interest\" section. I already have lots of ways people can contact me. I'm not against a KYC process - but I simply don't need it.</li>\n</ul></li>\n<li>Use a 3rd party client to download the data.\n\n<ul>\n<li>I don't trust my data with 3rd party apps, and neither should you!</li>\n</ul></li>\n<li>Use <a href=\"https://docs.bsky.app/docs/api/chat-bsky-convo-get-messages\">the API</a> to read DMs.\n\n<ul>\n<li>I wasn't sure if the API required age verification. And, frankly, I couldn't be faffed learning a brand new API.</li>\n</ul></li>\n<li>Escalate straight to the CEO or via a friend who works there.\n\n<ul>\n<li>I like doing things the official way. Not everyone has a friend who works at BSky (thanks <REDACTED>!) and I feel it is better if legal teams get direct feedback from users; not management.</li>\n</ul></li>\n<li>Ignore this and use a better social network.\n\n<ul>\n<li>I go where my friends are. I have lots of friends on Mastodon and other services. BSky is OK, but I'm only there for my friends. But, while they are there, I didn't want an obnoxious DM notification taunting me.</li>\n</ul></li>\n</ul>\n\n<h2 id=\"next-steps\"><a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/can-you-use-gdpr-to-circumvent-blueskys-adult-content-blocks/#next-steps\">Next Steps</a></h2>\n\n<p>I've emailed BlueSky to ask them to completely disable my inbox and clear my notifications. We'll see how long that takes them!</p>",
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"label": "/etc/",
"term": "/etc/",
"url": "https://shkspr.mobi/blog"
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"url": "https://shkspr.mobi/blog"
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{
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"term": "gdpr",
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{
"id": "https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=62987",
"title": "Drunk CSS",
"description": "A decade ago, I was writing about how you should test your user interface on drunk people. It was a semi-serious idea. Some of your users will be drunk when using your app or website. If it is easy for them to use, then it should be easy for sober people to use. Of course, necking a few shots every time you update your website isn't great for your health - so is there another way? Click the \"🥴 …",
"url": "https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/drunk-css/",
"published": "2025-09-27T11:34:51.000Z",
"updated": "2025-09-25T07:40:59.000Z",
"content": "<p>A decade ago, I was writing about how you should <a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2014/01/ui-for-drunks/\">test your user interface on drunk people</a>. It was a semi-serious idea. Some of your users <em>will</em> be drunk when using your app or website. If it is easy for them to use, then it should be easy for sober people to use.</p>\n\n<p>Of course, necking a few shots every time you update your website isn't <em>great</em> for your health - so is there another way?</p>\n\n<p>Click the \"🥴 Drunk\" button at <a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/drunk-css/#theme\">the top of the page</a> and see what happens!</p>\n\n<p>These are a relatively simple set of CSS rules which you can apply to any site in order to <em>simulate</em> inebriation.</p>\n\n<p>(I may have changed these since writing the post. Check the source for the latest version.)</p>\n\n<p>First, monkey around with the fonts. This sets all the lower-case vowels to be rendered in a different font - as discussed in \"<a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/targetting-specific-characters-with-css-rules/\">targetting specific characters with CSS rules</a>\":</p>\n\n<pre><code class=\"language-css\">/* Drunk */\n@font-face {\n font-family: \"Drunk\";\n src: url(\"/blog/wp-content/themes/edent-wordpress-theme/assets/fonts/CommitMonoV143-Edent.woff2\") format(\"woff2\");\n /* Lower-Case Vowels */\n unicode-range: U+61, U+65, U+69, U+6F, U+75 ;\n size-adjust: 105%;\n}\n</code></pre>\n\n<p>The rest of the characters will be rendered in the system's default Cursive font. Characters will also be slanted. The first character of every paragraph will be shrunk:</p>\n\n<pre><code class=\"language-css\">:root:has(input#drunk:checked) * {\n font-family: \"Drunk\", cursive;\n font-style: oblique -12deg;\n text-align: end;\n}\n:root:has(input#drunk:checked) p::first-letter {\n font-size: .5em;\n}\n</code></pre>\n\n<p>Next, use the child selectors to rotate and skew various elements. While we wait for <a href=\"https://webkit.org/blog/17285/rolling-the-dice-with-css-random/\">CSS randomness to come to all browsers</a> this is a simple way to select various elements:</p>\n\n<pre><code class=\"language-css\">:root:has(input#drunk:checked) *:nth-child(3n) {\n transform: rotate(2deg);\n}\n:root:has(input#drunk:checked) *:nth-child(5n) {\n transform: skew(5deg, 5deg);\n}\n:root:has(input#drunk:checked) *:nth-child(7n) {\n transform: rotate(-3deg);\n}\n</code></pre>\n\n<p>Make the entire page blurred and saturate the colours:</p>\n\n<pre><code class=\"language-css\">:root:has(input#drunk:checked) body {\n filter: blur(1px) saturate(2.5);\n}\n</code></pre>\n\n<p>Make any hyperlink harder to click by having it gently bounce up and down:</p>\n\n<pre><code class=\"language-css\">:root:has(input#drunk:checked) a {\n animation-name: bounce;\n animation-duration: 4s;\n animation-direction: alternate;\n animation-timing-function: ease-in-out;\n animation-iteration-count: infinite;\n}\n@keyframes bounce {\n 0% { margin-top: 0px; }\n 25% { margin-top:-10px; }\n 50% { margin-top: 0px; }\n 75% { margin-top: 10px; }\n 100% { margin-top: 0px; }\n}\n</code></pre>\n\n<p>Does this <em>really</em> simulate drunkenness? No. It is a pale simulacrum. What it is, however, is deliberately inaccessible to the majority of people.</p>\n\n<p>How does it make you feel using the site in Drunk-Mode? Does it frustrate you? Do your eyes hurt due to the garish colour scheme? Do you keep missing the thing that you try and click on? Are the words so hard to read that it takes you extra time to do anything useful? Will you recommend this experience to your friends and family?</p>\n\n<p>I've written before about <a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2019/07/i-feel-hopeless-rejected-and-a-burden-on-society-one-week-of-empathy-training/\">cosplaying as being disabled</a>. Strapping on a pair of <a href=\"https://www.lowvisionsimulators.com/products/glaucoma-rp-simulators\">Glaucoma Goggles</a> will give you an idea of what a visual impairment is like. But it won't give you the experience of living that way for months or years.</p>\n\n<p>You should test your stuff with people who have cognitive impairments or physical disabilities. Find out how usable your site is for someone lacking fine motor control or for those with learning disabilities. Pay disable people to take part in usability studies. Integrate their feedback.</p>\n\n<p>Faffing around with CSS will only get you so far.</p>",
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{
"id": "https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=63496",
"title": "Book Review: This Might Surprise You - A Breast Cancer Story by Hayley Gullen ★★★★★",
"description": "My pal Hayley has written a book - a graphic memoir about dealing with breast cancer. Graphic as in graphic-novel - although there are a large variety of sketched boobs dotted throughout the pages and some frank discussions of sex. I'm not very good with \"medical stuff\" - so I was quite proud of myself for only twice needing to take a break from reading it because I felt faint. It is the most…",
"url": "https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/book-review-this-might-surprise-you-a-breast-cancer-story-by-hayley-gullen/",
"published": "2025-09-25T11:34:17.000Z",
"updated": "2025-09-25T08:56:03.000Z",
"content": "<img src=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Hayley-Gullen.webp\" alt=\"Comic book cover.\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-63498\">\n\n<p>My pal Hayley has written a book - a graphic memoir about dealing with breast cancer. Graphic as in graphic-novel - although there <em>are</em> a large variety of sketched boobs dotted throughout the pages and some frank discussions of sex. I'm not very good with \"medical stuff\" - so I was quite proud of myself for only twice needing to take a break from reading it because I felt faint.</p>\n\n<p>It is the most perfectly human book I've read in a while. The inner monologue will be intimately familiar to anyone who has sat nervously in a hospital waiting room. It is in turns funny, heartbreaking, devastating, and hopeful. The illustrations are lush. Soaring between the mundane nature of being stuck in a machine, to the surreal nature of your body conspiring against you. It expertly mixes the factual (what to take, when to take it, where to go) with the fanciful (how to visualise your oncologist catching you with a butterfly net).</p>\n\n<p>This book is vital reading for anyone involved in the NHS. It presents a <del>patient-</del> person-centred view of everything that can go wrong on a <del>patient's</del> person's journey through the health system. From technobabbling doctors to outdated IT systems. It's a clear and punchy call for improved holistics. Every part of the system matters - especially when <del>patients</del> people are at their most vulnerable.</p>\n\n<p>In a delightful meta-narrative, the book passes the eponymous Gullen-test which asks whether a character with cancer is cured by normal science or a miracle. In this case, it is lot (and lots) of drugs, machines, doctors, nurses, and chemicals.</p>\n\n<p>People with cancer get bought a lot of books. This is a tight 180 pages exploring the melancholy and the joy which can accompany the journey.</p>\n\n<p>Highly recommended.</p>\n\n<h2 id=\"technical-details\"><a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/book-review-this-might-surprise-you-a-breast-cancer-story-by-hayley-gullen/#technical-details\">Technical Details</a></h2>\n\n<p>This part is more of a technical review of the eBook. Firstly, it's all in black and white - which makes it suitable for reading on an eInk device.</p>\n\n<p>It's also available as an ePub - rather than just a flattened PDF. That means the text is selectable, available for screen readers, and searchable.</p>\n\n<p>The book weighs in at 156MB, which is a bit chunky and will be slow to open on some eReaders. The images are all 1134x1700 resolution which makes them gorgeous to look at. But they're saved in the rather inefficient JPEG format, at extremely high quality. Shifting the images to PNG would have reduced the filesize by at least a third, with no loss of quality.</p>\n\n<p>Bafflingly, the publisher has fixed the height and width of every page using:</p>\n\n<pre><code class=\"language-html\"><meta content=\"width=444, height=665\" name=\"viewport\"/>\n</code></pre>\n\n<p>That's approximately the right aspect ratio, but far too small. Some eReaders will display the pages in a small box on the page, others might be prevented from zooming in. The CSS is also weirdly bloated and could do with being optimised.</p>\n\n<p>None of this will spoil your enjoyment of a very fine book. It's just evidence that some publishers need to get better at the technical aspects of graphic novels!</p>",
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"id": "https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=62760",
"title": "Targetting specific characters with CSS rules",
"description": "You can't. There is no way to use CSS to apply a style to every letter \"E\". It simply can't be done. At least, that's what they want you to think… What if I told you there was a secret and forbidden way to target specific characters in text and apply some styles to them? As part of my experiments in creating a \"drunk\" CSS theme, I thought it would be useful to change the presentation of s…",
"url": "https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/targetting-specific-characters-with-css-rules/",
"published": "2025-09-23T11:34:09.000Z",
"updated": "2025-09-23T11:48:05.000Z",
"content": "<p>You can't. There is no way to use CSS to apply a style to every letter \"E\". It simply can't be done.</p>\n\n<p>At least, that's what <em>they</em> want you to think…</p>\n\n<p>What if I told you there was a secret and forbidden way to target specific characters in text and apply <em>some</em> styles to them?</p>\n\n<p>As part of my experiments in creating a \"drunk\" CSS theme, I thought it would be useful to change the presentation of specific characters. Wouldn't it be <em>fun</em> to have every letter \"a\" look slightly different to the rest of the text?!</p>\n\n<p>So here's how you can apply <em>limited</em> CSS styles to certain characters while leaving the rest of the text unchanged, and without having to wrap characters in extra markup.</p>\n\n<pre><code class=\"language-css\">@font-face {\n font-family: \"Different\";\n src: url(\"whatever.woff2\") format(\"woff2\");\n /* Lower-Case Vowels */\n unicode-range: U+61, U+65, U+69, U+6F, U+75 ;\n}\nbody {\n font-family: \"Different\", sans;\n}\n</code></pre>\n\n<p>This creates a new font-family called \"Different\". It loads a unique font. It is applied to <em>specific</em> Unicode characters - in this case: a, e, i , o, and u.</p>\n\n<p>The body places this font-family <em>first</em> and then defaults to a different family. This means all the lower-case vowels will use one font, and every other character will use something else.</p>\n\n<p>That's… OK. I guess? Having certain characters as Garamond and the others as Times New Roman isn't exactly exciting, is it?</p>\n\n<p>Sadly, there only other thing we can do in CSS to spice things up is to monkey around with <code>size-adjust</code> which lets the text be scaled up or down.</p>\n\n<p>But modern fonts are pretty magic, you know!</p>\n\n<p>The WOFF2 format has a new(ish) <a href=\"https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/typography/opentype/spec/colr\">COLR table</a> which allows you to create multi-coloured fonts. That means it is possible to target specific characters and have them display in living colour.</p>\n\n<p>For example, using this <a href=\"https://fontstruct.com/fontstructions/show/2469233/street-fighter-ii-large-1\">colourful pixel font</a> by <a href=\"https://www.splintered.co.uk/\">Patrick H. Lauke</a> (<a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/\">CC BY</a>), I can target the Unicode Range of upper-case characters.</p>\n\n<style style=\"display:block;white-space: break-spaces;font-family: mono;\">\n@font-face {\n font-family: \"colrWOFF2\";\n src: url(\"/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/street-fighter-ii-large-colour.colr.ttf.woff2\") format(\"woff2\");\n unicode-range: U+0041-005A ;\n}\n.colrW{\n font-family:\"colrWOFF2\", monospace;\n}</style>\n\n<p><span class=\"colrW\">The above CSS only changes the appearance of UPPER Case characters!</span></p>\n\n<p>To wrap things up - yes, you can target specific characters with CSS rules. Sadly, you're pretty much limited to fiddling around with their fonts.</p>",
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{
"id": "https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=63410",
"title": "LLMs are still surprisingly bad at some simple tasks",
"description": "I asked three different commercially available LLMs the same question: Which TLDs have the same name as valid HTML5 elements? This is a pretty simple question to answer. Take two lists and compare them. I know this question is possible to answer because I went through the lists two years ago. Answering the question was a little tedious and subject to my tired human eyes making no mistakes. So…",
"url": "https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/llms-are-still-surprisingly-bad-at-simple-tasks/",
"published": "2025-09-21T11:34:38.000Z",
"updated": "2025-09-21T11:35:13.000Z",
"content": "<p>I asked three different commercially available LLMs the same question:</p>\n\n<blockquote><p>Which TLDs have the same name as valid HTML5 elements?</p></blockquote>\n\n<p>This is a pretty simple question to answer. Take two lists and compare them. I know this question is possible to answer <a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2023/09/false-friends-html-elements-which-are-also-top-level-domains/\">because I went through the lists two years ago</a>. Answering the question was a <em>little</em> tedious and subject to my tired human eyes making no mistakes. So surely this is the sort of thing which an LLM excels at, right?</p>\n\n<p>Wrong!</p>\n\n<p>Here's how the three big beasts fared.</p>\n\n<h2 id=\"chatgpt\"><a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/llms-are-still-surprisingly-bad-at-simple-tasks/#chatgpt\">ChatGPT</a></h2>\n\n<p><a href=\"https://chatgpt.com/s/t_68cba42f89cc8191856689675b86e165\">OpenAI's LLM does a poor job</a>:</p>\n\n<blockquote><p>Good question! Let’s carefully check this.\n</p><p>[…Skip preamble…]\n</p><p>✅ Confirmed Matches\n</p><p>The following <strong>TLDs</strong> exactly match <strong>valid HTML5 element names</strong>:\n</p><ul>\n<li>.audio → <audio>\n</li><li>.code → <code>\n</li><li>.link → <link>\n</li><li>.menu → <menu>\n</li><li>.nav → <nav>\n</li><li>.video → <video>\n</li></ul>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>This is wrong on two counts. First, it misses off several matches. Secondly, <em>there is no <code>.code</code> TLD!</em> There is a <code>.codes</code>, but that's not a match.</p>\n\n<h2 id=\"google-gemini\"><a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/llms-are-still-surprisingly-bad-at-simple-tasks/#google-gemini\">Google Gemini</a></h2>\n\n<p><a href=\"https://g.co/gemini/share/06380dbba3e8\">Gemini shits the bed completely</a>:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\nHere are the top-level domains (TLDs) that have the same name as valid HTML5 elements:\n<ul>\n<li>.address: The HTML <address> element is used to define the contact information for the author/owner of a document or an article.\n</li><li>.article: The HTML <article> element specifies independent, self-contained content.\n</li><li>.aside: The HTML <aside> element is used to define some content aside from the content it is placed in.\n</li><li>.audio: The HTML <audio> element is used to embed sound content in a document.\n</li><li>.body: The HTML <body> element defines the document's main content.\n</li><li>[…Skip a dozen more items…]\n</li></ul>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>It just lists a bunch of HTML elements with no crossover to TLDs. Thanks Google. Thoogle.</p>\n\n<h2 id=\"claude\"><a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/llms-are-still-surprisingly-bad-at-simple-tasks/#claude\">Claude</a></h2>\n\n<p><a href=\"https://claude.ai/share/39177222-3eb0-4310-942b-1e352c1f2b8e\">Anthropic's AI does a half-arsed job</a>.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\nHere are the TLDs that match HTML5 element names:\n<ul>\n<li>.audio - matches the <audio> element\n</li><li>.video - matches the <video> element\n</li><li>.data - matches the <data> element\n</li><li>.link - matches the <link> element\n</li><li>.menu - matches the <menu> element\n</li><li>.style - matches the <style> element\n</li><li>.select - matches the <select> element\n</li></ul>\nSome other potential matches depend on how broadly you interpret \"HTML5 elements\":\n<ul>\n<li>.app - while there's no <app> element in HTML5, there was discussion of it during HTML5 development\n</li><li>.art - not a standard HTML element, though some frameworks use custom elements like this\n</li></ul>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>The first seven <em>are</em> correct - although it ignores a dozen more correct answers. But then it does the LLM thing of trying to over-fit the data in a simulacrum of usefulness.</p>\n\n<h2 id=\"dont-believe-the-hype\"><a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/llms-are-still-surprisingly-bad-at-simple-tasks/#dont-believe-the-hype\">Don't believe the hype</a></h2>\n\n<p>To be clear, I would expect a moderately intelligent teenager to be able to find two lists and compare them. If an intern gave me the same attention to detail as above, we'd be having a cosy little chat about their attitude to work.</p>\n\n<p>I've discussed before why <a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/06/why-do-people-have-such-dramatically-different-experiences-using-ai/\">people have such dramatically different experiences using AI</a>. For some it is an all-knowing and ineffable source of wisdom. For others, like me, it is mostly garbage.</p>\n\n<p>I think it comes down to how familiar you are with the domain and its constraints. When I watch a medical drama, I have no idea if they're using <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_AmdvxbPT8\">realistic language</a>. It <em>sounds</em> good, but real doctors probably cringe at the inaccuracies.</p>\n\n<p>AI seems <em>plausible</em> because it relies on the <a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2023/02/how-much-of-ais-recent-success-is-due-to-the-forer-effect/\">Barnum Effect</a> - it tells people what they <em>want</em> to hear. It produces words which <em>sound</em> correct.</p>\n\n<p>We need a new term for <a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2024/05/gell-mann-amnesia-and-purdah/\">Gell-Mann Amnesia</a>. Something that describes how an AI is convincing if you don't understand its reasoning, and close to useless if you understand its limitations.</p>",
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"id": "https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=63392",
"title": "Class Warfare! Can I eliminate CSS classes from my HTML?",
"description": "I recently read a brilliantly provocative blog post called \"This website has no class\". In it, Adam Stoddard makes the case that you might not need CSS classes on a modern website: I think constraints lead to interesting, creative solutions […]. Instead of relying on built in elements a bit more, I decided to banish classes from my website completely. Long time readers will know that I'm a big f…",
"url": "https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/class-warfare-can-i-eliminate-css-classes-from-my-html/",
"published": "2025-09-19T11:34:55.000Z",
"updated": "2025-09-19T08:50:55.000Z",
"content": "<p>I recently read a brilliantly provocative blog post called \"<a href=\"https://aaadaaam.com/notes/no-class/\">This website has no class</a>\". In it, Adam Stoddard makes the case that you might not need CSS classes on a modern website:</p>\n\n<blockquote><p>I think constraints lead to interesting, creative solutions […]. Instead of relying on built in elements a bit more, I decided to banish classes from my website completely.</p></blockquote>\n\n<p>Long time readers will know that I'm a big fan of using semantic HTML where possible. If you peek beneath the curtain of this website you'll only see a handful of <code><div></code> elements (mostly because WordPress hardcodes them) - all the other blocks are fully semantic. Regrettably, there are rather too many <code><span></code> elements for my liking - normally for accessibility or for supplementing the metadata.</p>\n\n<p>Overall, my CSS contained about 134 rules which selected based on class. Is that a lot? It <em>feels</em> like a lot.</p>\n\n<p>On the one hand, classes are an easy way of splitting and grouping elements. Some <code><img></code>s should be displayed one way, the rest another. There's no semantic way to say \"This is a hero image and should take up the full width, but this is an icon and should float discretely to the right.\"</p>\n\n<p>But, on the other hand, <em>why</em> do we need classes? Keith Cirkel's excellent post \"<a href=\"https://www.keithcirkel.co.uk/css-classes-considered-harmful/\">CSS Classes considered harmful</a>\" goes through their history and brings together some proposed solutions for replacing them. I think his idea of using <code>data-</code> attributes is a neat hack - but ultimately isn't much different from using classes. It's still a scrap of metadata to be tied into a style-sheet.</p>\n\n<p>Classes are great for when you <em>reuse</em> something. I have multiple <code><section></code> elements but most don't share anything in common with the others. So they probably oughtn't have classes.</p>\n\n<p>Removing classes has some advantages. It makes the HTML fractionally smaller, sure, but it also forces the author to think about the logical structure of their page and the semantics behind it.</p>\n\n<p>Looking through my HTML, lots of classes exist because of laziness. If I want to position all the <code><time></code> elements which are within a comment, I don't <em>need</em> to write <code><time class=\"whatever\"></code> and to pair it with <code>.whatever { … }</code>. Instead, I can use modern CSS selectors and say <code>#comments time { … }</code>.</p>\n\n<p>But this leads me on to another existential question.</p>\n\n<h2 id=\"are-ids-necessary-in-modern-html\"><a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/class-warfare-can-i-eliminate-css-classes-from-my-html/#are-ids-necessary-in-modern-html\">Are IDs necessary in modern HTML?</a></h2>\n\n<p>Mayyyyybe? I only have one <code><main></code> element, so an ID on there is unnecessary. <code><input></code> elements need IDs in order to be properly targetted by <code><label></code>s - but the label can wrap around the input. I have multiple <code><aside></code> elements because there's no semantic <code><widget></code> element, so they need unique IDs.</p>\n\n<p>In theory, as suggested by Adam above, I could use an <a href=\"https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Web_components/Using_custom_elements\">autonomous custom element</a> like <code><my-widget></code> - but that has none of the semantics and, frankly, feels like a bit of a cheat.</p>\n\n<h2 id=\"trimming-the-fat\"><a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/class-warfare-can-i-eliminate-css-classes-from-my-html/#trimming-the-fat\">Trimming the fat</a></h2>\n\n<p>Any day where I can delete some code is a good day. This was an excellent exercise in going through (years) of HTML and CSS to see what cruft had built up.</p>\n\n<p>The first CSS rule I changed was, as mentioned above:</p>\n\n<pre><code class=\"language-css\">time.commentmetadata {\n float: right;\n}\n</code></pre>\n\n<p>Which became:</p>\n\n<pre><code class=\"language-CSS\">#comments time { \n float: right;\n}\n</code></pre>\n\n<p>Classless and slightly more brief. Is it more readable? Having the fact it was about the metadata in a class could have been slightly useful - but if I thought it would be confusing, I could stick a <code>/* comment */</code> in there.</p>\n\n<p>Next, I found <code><nav class=\"navigation posts-navigation\"></code> - what a tautology! I have multiple <code><nav></code> elements, it is true. But none of them have the same style. So this swiftly became <code><nav id=\"posts-navigation\"></code> with an accompanying CSS rewrite.</p>\n\n<p>My theme switcher had a bunch of <code><label class=button></code>s. They were all within a container with a unique ID, so could they be changed? Yes. But seeing the class name in the HTML is a good reminder to the author of <em>how</em> they are meant to display. Does that co-mingle content and presentation too much?</p>\n\n<p>Some of the WordPress default classes are ridiculous. The <code>body_class()</code> function injected this into every <code><body></code></p>\n\n<p><code>\"wp-singular post-template-default single single-post postid-62959 single-format-standard wp-theme-edent-wordpress-theme\"</code></p>\n\n<p>Most of that is redundant - what's the difference between single and single-post? For my purposes, nothing! So they were all yeeted into the sun.</p>\n\n<p>Rather than targetting IDs or classes, I targetted the presence or absence of Schema.org microdata.</p>\n\n<p>For example:</p>\n\n<pre><code class=\"language-css\">main[itemprop=\"blogPost\"] { … }\nmain:not([itemprop=\"blogPost\"]) { … }\n</code></pre>\n\n<p>This can go to the extreme. I have lots of comments, each one has an author, the author's details are wrapped in <code><div class=\"authordetails\">…</div></code></p>\n\n<p>That can be replaced with:</p>\n\n<pre><code class=\"language-css\">/* Comment Author */\nli[itemtype=\"https://schema.org/Comment\"] > article > div[itemprop=\"https://schema.org/author\"] {\n margin-bottom: 0;\n}\n</code></pre>\n\n<p>Is that <em>sensible</em>? It is more semantic, but feels a bit brittle.</p>\n\n<p>Parent selector are also now a thing. If I want a paragraph to have centred text but <em>only</em> when there's a submit button inside it:</p>\n\n<pre><code class=\"language-css\">p:has(input#submit) {\n text-align: center;\n}\n</code></pre>\n\n<p>Again, am I sure that my button will always be inside a paragraph?</p>\n\n<p>Similarly, <a href=\"https://css-tricks.com/child-and-sibling-selectors/\">sibling selectors</a> are sometimes superior - but they do suppose that your layout never changes.</p>\n\n<h2 id=\"what-remains\"><a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/class-warfare-can-i-eliminate-css-classes-from-my-html/#what-remains\">What remains?</a></h2>\n\n<p>There are some bits of this site which are reusable and do need classes. The code-highlighting you see above requires text to be wrapped in spans with specific classes.</p>\n\n<p>Image alignment was also heavily class based.</p>\n\n<p>There are some accessibility things which are either hidden or exposed using classes.</p>\n\n<p>A bunch of WordPress defaults use classes and, even if they are redundant, it's hard to exorcise them.</p>\n\n<p>As much as I would have liked to get rid of all my IDs, many needed to stay for linking as well as CSS targetting.</p>\n\n<p>All told, the changes I made were:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>134 class selectors down to about 65.</li>\n<li>35 ID selectors up to about 50.</li>\n<li>5 attribute selectors up to to about 20.</li>\n<li>Deleted or combined a lot of redundant CSS and tidied up my markup considerably.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>I have around 250 CSS rules, so now the majority target semantics rather than classes or IDs.</p>\n\n<h2 id=\"is-this-really-necessary\"><a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/class-warfare-can-i-eliminate-css-classes-from-my-html/#is-this-really-necessary\">Is this really necessary?</a></h2>\n\n<p>No, of course not. This is an exercise in minimalism, creativity, and constraint. Feel free to litter your HTML with whatever attributes you want!</p>\n\n<p>As I went through, it increasingly became apparent that I was fitting my CSS to my HTML's logical structure rather than to its <em>conceptual</em> structure.</p>\n\n<p>Previously, my comments were targetted with a class. Now they have the slightly more tangled targetting of \"divs with this schema attribute whose parent is an article and whose grandparent has this ID\".</p>\n\n<p>It is a delightful meditative exercise to go through your code and deeply consider whether something is unique, reusable, or obsolete.</p>",
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{
"id": "https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=63383",
"title": "Theatre Review: Interview (Understudy Performance) ★★★☆☆",
"description": "One of the best things about London theatre is that once in a while a show will give its understudies a chance to break out of the dressing room and soar on the stage. It's a chance to see talented performers at a discount price. What's not to like? Lucy Donnelly and Mark Sean-Byrne are both flawless. His slouched frustration plays against her manic dream pixie self-loathing. The stage is…",
"url": "https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/theatre-review-interview-understudy-performance/",
"published": "2025-09-17T11:34:30.000Z",
"updated": "2025-09-16T18:49:52.000Z",
"content": "<img src=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/interview-poster.webp\" alt=\"Poster. A man sits in a bathtub while a woman pours wine over him.\" width=\"256\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-63385\">\n\n<p>One of the best things about London theatre is that once in a while a show will give its understudies a chance to break out of the dressing room and soar on the stage. It's a chance to see talented performers at a discount price. What's not to like? Lucy Donnelly and Mark Sean-Byrne are both flawless. His slouched frustration plays against her manic dream pixie self-loathing. The stage is gorgeously laid out - allowing the performers to dance around each other.</p>\n\n<p>The Mayor of London passed a law a few years ago which said that every theatre performance needs to incorporate a live video backdrop. That's the only explanation for that particular cliché's ubiquity. But here it actually makes sense! We see social-media star Kat<em>ya</em> going live to her legion of followers, and her face is blown up a million pixels wide, dominating the stage. At times, the waveforms of the characters' voices undulate along the back wall. It is hypnotic.</p>\n\n<p>It's such a shame that the dialogue is so inept and the plot so ridiculous. The characters' emotions change because the plot needs them to - not because of anything that has actually happened. I get that the play is called \"Interview\", but that doesn't mean every line of dialogue needs to be a question, does it? Finally, there's no reason for <em>any</em> of the plot to happen.</p>\n\n<p>At its core is a good question about the tension between new-media and old. Whether selling parasocial relationships is whoreish behaviour (and if that matters)? Are pale-stale-male journalists the enemy? Or does their tragic backstory absolve them of responsibility?</p>\n\n<p>Unlike, say, <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oleanna_(play)\">Mamet's Oleanna</a> there's no he-said/she-said. There isn't a lot of ambiguity about what is and isn't happening. The final \"twist\" is works well but, again, there's no reason for it to happen. The whole play lacks a sense of <em>why</em>.</p>\n\n<p>The play is on until the 27th of September. The performances are stunning, the staging innovative, the sound design is excellent. It's just a pity the play itself is a bit underwhelming.</p>",
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"id": "https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=62959",
"title": "How big a solar battery do I need to store *all* my home's electricity?",
"description": "I have a modest set of solar panels on an entirely ordinary house in suburban London. On average they generate about 3,800kWh per year. We also use about 3,800kWh of electricity each year. Obviously, we can't use all the power produced over summer and we need to buy power in winter. So here's my question: How big a battery would we need in order to be completely self-sufficient? Background …",
"url": "https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/how-big-a-solar-battery-do-i-need-to-store-all-my-homes-electricity/",
"published": "2025-09-15T11:34:42.000Z",
"updated": "2025-09-15T21:07:11.000Z",
"content": "<p>I have a <a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/solar-faq/\">modest set of solar panels</a> on an entirely ordinary house in suburban London.</p>\n\n<p>On average they generate about 3,800kWh per year. We also use about 3,800kWh of electricity each year. Obviously, we can't use all the power produced over summer and we need to buy power in winter. So here's my question:</p>\n\n<p>How big a battery would we need in order to be <em>completely</em> self-sufficient?</p>\n\n<h2 id=\"background\"><a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/how-big-a-solar-battery-do-i-need-to-store-all-my-homes-electricity/#background\">Background</a></h2>\n\n<p>Let's take a look at a typical summer's day. The graph is a little complex, so I'll explain it.</p>\n\n<img src=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Power-Flow.webp\" alt=\"Graph of power flow.\" width=\"1788\" height=\"988\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-62974\">\n\n<p>The yellow line shows solar production. It starts shortly after sunrise, peaks at midday, and gradually drops until sunset.</p>\n\n<p>The red line shows how much electricity our home is using. As you can see, there's a large peak about 19:00 when we cook dinner.</p>\n\n<p>The blue line shows how much electricity we draw or export from the grid. From midnight until sunrise we import because the sun isn't shining. Once the sun has risen we're able to power our house <em>and</em> export to our neighbours. When we cook, we draw from the grid <em>and</em> our battery - which is why the evening grid peak is lower than the household use dip.</p>\n\n<p>The CSV of the data looks something like this:</p>\n\n<table>\n<thead>\n<tr>\n <th align=\"right\">Local_time</th>\n <th align=\"right\">Household_(W)</th>\n <th align=\"right\">Solar_(W)</th>\n</tr>\n</thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n <td align=\"right\">2025-08-25T08:25:00.000+01:00</td>\n <td align=\"right\">-187.76</td>\n <td align=\"right\">1166.77</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n <td align=\"right\">2025-08-25T08:30:00.000+01:00</td>\n <td align=\"right\">-227.04</td>\n <td align=\"right\">1193.25</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n <td align=\"right\">2025-08-25T08:35:00.000+01:00</td>\n <td align=\"right\">-253.06</td>\n <td align=\"right\">1222.84</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n <td align=\"right\">2025-08-25T08:40:00.000+01:00</td>\n <td align=\"right\">-266.87</td>\n <td align=\"right\">1245.18</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n <td align=\"right\">2025-08-25T08:45:00.000+01:00</td>\n <td align=\"right\">-450.8</td>\n <td align=\"right\">1268.66</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n <td align=\"right\">2025-08-25T08:50:00.000+01:00</td>\n <td align=\"right\">-251.84</td>\n <td align=\"right\">1281.79</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n <td align=\"right\">2025-08-25T08:55:00.000+01:00</td>\n <td align=\"right\">-1426.26</td>\n <td align=\"right\">1306.93</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n <td align=\"right\">2025-08-25T09:00:00.000+01:00</td>\n <td align=\"right\">-206.78</td>\n <td align=\"right\">1341.37</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n <td align=\"right\">2025-08-25T09:05:00.000+01:00</td>\n <td align=\"right\">-215.52</td>\n <td align=\"right\">1390.9</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n <td align=\"right\">2025-08-25T09:10:00.000+01:00</td>\n <td align=\"right\">-242.6</td>\n <td align=\"right\">1426.19</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n <td align=\"right\">2025-08-25T09:15:00.000+01:00</td>\n <td align=\"right\">-246.84</td>\n <td align=\"right\">1473</td>\n</tr>\n</tbody>\n</table>\n\n<p>It's fairly trivial to sum both columns and subtract one from the other. That shows either the excess or deficit in solar power for the household.</p>\n\n<p>On that day, the house used 9.7kWh and generated 19.6kWh. I'd need a 9.9kWh battery to store the excess right? Wrong!</p>\n\n<p>Because my usage doesn't track the sun, I'd actually need a 13kWh battery. That's the peak amount of excess electricity I've generated in that one day.</p>\n\n<p>What I want to do is find out what the <em>maximum</em> size battery I would need in order to store all of summer's electricity for use in winter.</p>\n\n<p>Luckily, I have several years of real data to go off! Let's get started!</p>\n\n<h2 id=\"disclaimer\"><a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/how-big-a-solar-battery-do-i-need-to-store-all-my-homes-electricity/#disclaimer\">Disclaimer</a></h2>\n\n<p>This is based on data generated by my home battery. It has probes to measure solar output and grid flow. It is not 100% clock-accurate compared to my solar-panels' internal reporting nor what my smart-meter reports. I estimate a 1-2% deviation, which is good enough for these purposes.</p>\n\n<p>My energy usage isn't representative of anything other than my usage. Your household is probably different. I already have a 4.8kWh battery which changes how and when I use energy.</p>\n\n<p>This doesn't account for gas heating or hot water. We have some electric heaters and taps which increases our electricity usage.</p>\n\n<p>My maths is <em>probably</em> right - but the code is open source, so feel free to check for yourself.</p>\n\n<p>Remember, this is just a bit of fun. There's no practical way to build domestic batteries with this capacity using the technology of 2025.</p>\n\n<h2 id=\"code\"><a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/how-big-a-solar-battery-do-i-need-to-store-all-my-homes-electricity/#code\">Code</a></h2>\n\n<p>We tend to start generating more electricity than we use starting in Spring. So I've picked the end of March 2024 to the end of March 2025.</p>\n\n<p>Let's see how big a battery we'd need to store our summer excess for winter. This finds the cumulative difference between each day's energy production and usage:</p>\n\n<pre><code class=\"language-python\">import os\nimport pandas as pd\n\n# Load all the CSVs\nfilepaths = [f for f in os.listdir(\".\") if f.endswith('.csv')]\ndf = pd.concat(map(pd.read_csv, filepaths))\n\n# Make sure they're in order\ndf = df.sort_values(\"Timestamp\")\ndf = df.reset_index(drop=True)\n\n# Resolution is every 5 minutes, so divide by 12 to get hourly\ndf[\"Cumulative_Difference\"] = ( (df[\"Household_(W)\"] + df[\"Solar_(W)\"] ).cumsum() ) / 12\n\n# kWh of battery needed\nint(df[\"Cumulative_Difference\"].max() / 1000)\n\n## Draw a pretty graph\ndf.plot(kind=\"line\", x=\"Local_time\", y=\"Cumulative_Difference\", xlabel=\"Date\", ylabel=\"MWh\", xticks=[\"2024-04-01\", \"2024-05-01\", \"2024-05-01\", \"2024-06-01\", \"2024-07-01\", \"2024-08-01\", \"2024-09-01\", \"2024-10-01\", \"2024-11-01\", \"2024-12-01\", \"2025-01-01\", \"2025-02-01\", \"2025-03-01\", \"2025-04-01\"], legend=False, grid=True, fontsize=15)\nplt.show()\n</code></pre>\n\n<p>The total is <strong>1,068KWh</strong> - basically, a MegaWatt-hour of storage.</p>\n\n<p>Here's a quick graph to show how the storage would be used over the year.</p>\n\n<img src=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Cumulative-Graph.webp\" alt=\"Graph showing a steady climb to 1 MegaWatt-hour and then down again.\" width=\"1300\" height=\"700\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-62980\">\n\n<p>As you can see, even in this scenario there are a few days where we'd need to import energy from the grid.</p>\n\n<h2 id=\"is-this-sensible\"><a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/how-big-a-solar-battery-do-i-need-to-store-all-my-homes-electricity/#is-this-sensible\">Is this sensible?</a></h2>\n\n<p>Probably not, no. It doesn't account for increased energy use from having an electric car or moving away from gas heating / cooking. As <a href=\"https://www.nrel.gov/pv/interactive-cell-efficiency\">solar panels increase in efficiency</a>, it might be more sensible to replace the panels on my roof, or add some onto a shed.</p>\n\n<p>The environmental impact of creating and storing such huge batteries could also be factored in.</p>\n\n<p>A battery which is only 100% full for a few days probably isn't an efficient design. Using wind, hydro, and other green sources from the grid might be preferable.</p>\n\n<p>But, remember, this is an exercise in wishful thinking.</p>\n\n<h2 id=\"is-this-possible\"><a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/how-big-a-solar-battery-do-i-need-to-store-all-my-homes-electricity/#is-this-possible\">Is this possible?</a></h2>\n\n<p><a href=\"https://mathstodon.xyz/@johncarlosbaez/115190527741497635\">Grid-scale batteries exist</a> and they work brilliantly.</p>\n\n<p>But if I wanted my own MegaWatt-hour of battery storage, it would probably cost me between <a href=\"https://www.fogstar.co.uk/collections/solar-battery-storage/products/fogstar-energy-32kwh-battery?variant=55157091205497\">£100k</a> and <a href=\"https://modoenergy.com/research/battery-energy-storage-capex-containerised-bess-development-costs-oem-balance-plant-bop-grid-connections-survey-2024\">half-a-million quid</a>.</p>\n\n<p>That doesn't include maintenance, the land, planning permission, and a hundred other things.</p>\n\n<p>But battery prices are falling fast. In the last decade <a href=\"https://www.energy.gov/eere/vehicles/articles/fotw-1354-august-5-2024-electric-vehicle-battery-pack-costs-light-duty\">lithium ion battery prices have fallen 90%</a>. With new <a href=\"https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11913365/\">sodium ion batteries</a> promising an even bigger drop - down to <a href=\"https://www.geeky-gadgets.com/catl-sodium-ion-battery-packs/\">US$10/kWh</a>.</p>\n\n<p>If - and it is a <strong>big</strong> if - those numbers came to pass, it would probably cost around £8,000 for a domestic battery. Basically the same cost as adding solar panels in the first place.</p>\n\n<p>Domestic solar <em>works</em> - yes, even in the rainy UK! It is relatively cheap, moves energy production as close as possible to energy consumption, reduces bill-shock, and means we don't have endless planning arguments about whether fields should be turned into solar farms.</p>\n\n<p>It is possible that, not too long in the future, every home could also have a 1 MegaWatt-hour battery. They would be able to capture all the excess solar power generated in a year.</p>\n\n<p>There's a bright and sunny future where every home can be solar-self-sufficient.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>If you've enjoyed this blog post, please consider <a href=\"https://share.octopus.energy/metal-dove-988\">switching to Octopus Energy</a> - we both get £50 when you join.</p>",
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"id": "https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=63299",
"title": "Book Review: All That We See or Seem by Ken Liu ★★★★★",
"description": "This book is ridiculously zeitgeisty. It's all brain-rotting AI, social-media meltdowns, mixed with some cracking technobabble. She thinks about erasing more: all the practice session recordings; her own encrypted cephaloscripts; the dream-guide neuromesh of her personal AI; the interviews, fan messages, reviews—food for her vanity, training data for her egolets. Fab! But, for all that, it's p…",
"url": "https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/book-review-all-that-we-see-or-seem-by-ken-liu/",
"published": "2025-09-13T11:34:34.000Z",
"updated": "2025-09-13T15:00:47.000Z",
"content": "<img src=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/9781035915934_l.webp\" alt=\"Book cover with a fractured city in the background.\" width=\"200\" height=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-63301\">\n\n<p>This book is <em>ridiculously</em> zeitgeisty. It's all brain-rotting AI, social-media meltdowns, mixed with some cracking technobabble.</p>\n\n<blockquote><p>She thinks about erasing more: all the practice session recordings; her own encrypted cephaloscripts; the dream-guide neuromesh of her personal AI; the interviews, fan messages, reviews—food for her vanity, training data for her egolets.</p></blockquote>\n\n<p>Fab! But, for all that, it's pretty realistic. Sure, it's set five-minutes into the future, but all the tech is plausible and all the hacks somewhere in the ballpark of reality. It is <em>much</em> better than <a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2021/09/book-review-the-ministry-for-the-future-by-kim-stanley-robinson/\">The Ministry for the Future</a> simply because all the technowizardry passes the smell test.</p>\n\n<p>The plot is, charitably, basic. A woman has been kidnapped and her husband (who is a suspect) enlists a <del>Private Eye</del> hacker to solve the mystery. But you're not reading to discover whodunnit; you're there to revel in the pitch-perfect future-gazing and cower before the (hopefully not too accurate) predictions around how technology will be subverted to protect the powerful while leaving everyone else helpless.</p>\n\n<p>The neologisms are off the chart - \"Darcybots\" to help you date, a \"Fiscjinn\" to interrogate your finances, and an \"Oneirofex\" to… well, I'll let you discover that! You'll need to have a good grasp of what's going on with modern technology in order to get more than half the references. I've no idea if the book will be intelligible half-a-decade from now. Perhaps we'll have our self-hosted AIs translate it for us?</p>\n\n<p>At times, it feels less like a book and more like a series of parables woven into one story. The ending feels a little rushed - but it fits in with the fast-paced nature of the plot. A great slab of sci-fi to chew on.</p>\n\n<p>Thanks to Netgalley for the review copy. The book is released in October 2025 - and will probably remain relevant for at least half-a-dozen weeks.</p>",
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"label": "/etc/",
"term": "/etc/",
"url": "https://shkspr.mobi/blog"
},
{
"label": "Book Review",
"term": "Book Review",
"url": "https://shkspr.mobi/blog"
},
{
"label": "NetGalley",
"term": "NetGalley",
"url": "https://shkspr.mobi/blog"
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{
"label": "Sci Fi",
"term": "Sci Fi",
"url": "https://shkspr.mobi/blog"
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},
{
"id": "https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=63158",
"title": "Reasonably accurate, privacy conscious, cookieless, visitor tracking for WordPress",
"description": "I am vain. I like to know which of my blog posts have \"done numbers\". I get a little thrill knowing that an old post I wrote has been read by someone in a land I've never visited. I'm curious and want to know if a newsletter has linked to me. At the same time, I don't want to know too much about people. I don't want to stalk them around the web. I refuse to care how long they spend with me. I…",
"url": "https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/reasonably-accurate-privacy-conscious-cookieless-visitor-tracking-for-wordpress/",
"published": "2025-09-11T11:34:39.000Z",
"updated": "2025-09-11T14:05:19.000Z",
"content": "<p>I am vain. I like to know which of my blog posts have \"done numbers\". I get a little thrill knowing that an old post I wrote has been read by someone in a land I've never visited. I'm curious and want to know if a newsletter has linked to me.</p>\n\n<p>At the same time, I don't want to know <em>too</em> much about people. I don't want to stalk them around the web. I refuse to care how long they spend with me. I can't be bothered setting up a foolproof system that captures 100% accurate information.</p>\n\n<p>After trying several analytics plugins for WordPress, I've decided to have a go at writing my own<sup id=\"fnref:learn\"><a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/reasonably-accurate-privacy-conscious-cookieless-visitor-tracking-for-wordpress/#fn:learn\" class=\"footnote-ref\" title=\"I enjoy learning. If you're about to say \"Why not just install…\" then you've missed the point. I like understanding how things work, I get joy from discovering some new function, my brain feels happy…\" role=\"doc-noteref\">0</a></sup>.</p>\n\n<p>Before embarking on this, please do read \"<a href=\"https://blog.yossarian.net/2023/12/24/You-dont-need-analytics-on-your-blog\">You Don't Need Analytics on Your Blog</a>\" and the slightly more provocative \"<a href=\"https://www.thisdaysportion.com/posts/contra-analytics/\">You do not need “analytics” for your blog because you are neither a military surveillance unit nor a commodity trading company</a>\". Both give excellent examples of why this is at best foolish and at worse injurious. Proceed with caution in your heart.</p>\n\n<h2 id=\"background\"><a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/reasonably-accurate-privacy-conscious-cookieless-visitor-tracking-for-wordpress/#background\">Background</a></h2>\n\n<p>As a consequence of the way the web works, every time you click on a link the website's owner gets the following pieces of information.</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>The time you clicked,</li>\n<li>The page you visited,</li>\n<li>The name of the web browser you use,</li>\n<li>The URl of the page which you clicked to get here,</li>\n<li>The IP address your computer has.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>There are a few other things sent along but they're not interesting to me.</p>\n\n<p>Using that information, I can construct a reasonably accurate view of how many times a post has been viewed and how many people viewed it.</p>\n\n<h2 id=\"defining-a-page-view\"><a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/reasonably-accurate-privacy-conscious-cookieless-visitor-tracking-for-wordpress/#defining-a-page-view\">Defining a page view</a></h2>\n\n<p>If a web page is loaded, that counts as a view. I'm not going to track whether the user stayed for more than 30 seconds or closed their browser in disgust after reading the headline. If the page is loaded, that's a view.</p>\n\n<p>But what if one person repeatedly hits refresh on the same post? To deal with that, I'll need a concept of a visitor.</p>\n\n<h2 id=\"defining-a-visitor\"><a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/reasonably-accurate-privacy-conscious-cookieless-visitor-tracking-for-wordpress/#defining-a-visitor\">Defining a visitor</a></h2>\n\n<p>The \"normal\" way of doing things is to stick a cookie in the user's browser and track them that way. I can't be bothered with that. And, besides, it doesn't account for a person reading on their laptop and then moving to their phone.</p>\n\n<p>So I'm going to use a proxy by creating a cryptographic hash of the visitor's IP address and the browser's User Agent string.</p>\n\n<p>Of course, a household might have one IP address and multiple people with the same phone. But, equally, one person might rove over several WiFi networks in the course of one browsing session, getting a different IP each time.</p>\n\n<p>The aim is to be <em>reasonably</em> accurate.</p>\n\n<p>Hashing the contents means I don't need to store the user's IP address. Once hashed, the information becomes a string like <code>db050e7b853e5856</code> which is functionally impossible to <a href=\"https://www.techsolvency.com/passwords/dehashing-reversing-decrypting/\">crack</a> back to an IP address & UA string<sup id=\"fnref:orisit\"><a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/reasonably-accurate-privacy-conscious-cookieless-visitor-tracking-for-wordpress/#fn:orisit\" class=\"footnote-ref\" title=\"Or is it? There are 4 billion IPv4 addresses - although slightly fewer in actual use. Creating a rainbow table with 4 billion rows is possible if I was just using IP addresses. But there are an…\" role=\"doc-noteref\">1</a></sup>.</p>\n\n<p>This also means that I can redefine the concept of a page view. If the same visitor refreshed the page multiple times, it will only count as a single visit.</p>\n\n<p>I'll reset the counter at midnight in my local timezone. If someone visits just before midnight and then just after, it'll count as two visits. Oh well.</p>\n\n<h2 id=\"where-did-they-come-from\"><a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/reasonably-accurate-privacy-conscious-cookieless-visitor-tracking-for-wordpress/#where-did-they-come-from\">Where did they come from?</a></h2>\n\n<p>Generally speaking, there are two ways that visitors share their referrer. One is the \"referer\" header (yes, it is misspelled). It contains a URl of the referring site or application. For example, if someone clicked from a search result it might say <code>https://yahoo.com</code>.</p>\n\n<p>The other way is using \"Urchin Tracking Module\" query strings. At the end of the URl they visit, they might append something like <code>?utm_source=alices-newsletter</code>.</p>\n\n<p>Some sites, like Reddit, might use multiple subdomains - <code>old.reddit.com</code> or <code>out.reddit.com</code> - so some deduplication may be necessary.</p>\n\n<h2 id=\"where-in-the-world-are-they\"><a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/reasonably-accurate-privacy-conscious-cookieless-visitor-tracking-for-wordpress/#where-in-the-world-are-they\">Where in the world are they?</a></h2>\n\n<p>A user's IP address is <em>somewhat</em> accurate method of detecting their location. Yes, users could be proxying through a VPN or using a SIM card from a foreign country. But this isn't an exercise in precise tracking. Rough and ready is fine.</p>\n\n<p>There are a variety of <a href=\"https://mailfud.org/geoip-legacy/\">GeoIP Databases</a> which are updated semi-regularly. I'm only interested in the country of origin, I don't care about finer resolution than that.</p>\n\n<p>Again, the aim isn't precise targetting. I'd just like to know that people in Sudan ever read my blog posts.</p>\n\n<h2 id=\"what-else-could-we-use\"><a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/reasonably-accurate-privacy-conscious-cookieless-visitor-tracking-for-wordpress/#what-else-could-we-use\">What else could we use?</a></h2>\n\n<p>It <em>might</em> be nice to know if someone is using a small-screen or large device. But my CSS is responsive, so I don't care.</p>\n\n<p>Similarly, their Internet connection speed might be available. But, again, I try to optimise things so that isn't necessary to know.</p>\n\n<p>Do I need to know if someone speaks Hungarian? No. There's nothing useful I can do with that information.</p>\n\n<p>Could I extract their operating system, device, and browser from their User-Agent? I guess. Would I use the information that X% of my readers use Firefox on Linux? Doubtful!</p>\n\n<h2 id=\"collect-the-information\"><a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/reasonably-accurate-privacy-conscious-cookieless-visitor-tracking-for-wordpress/#collect-the-information\">Collect the information</a></h2>\n\n<p>There are two main methods of collecting these data.</p>\n\n<p>First is a \"no JavaScript\" solution. This tells the browser to request an image which has a query string to send along the details of the page requested.</p>\n\n<pre><code class=\"language-php\"><noscript>\n <img src=\"/tracking.php?ID=<?php echo $postID ?>\" alt=\"\" width=1 height=1 class=hidden>\n</noscript>\n</code></pre>\n\n<p>The downside is that there's no way to capture referer information. If each page were dynamically generated, I could grab it from PHP's <code>$_SERVER</code> superglobal. But my website is heavily cached, so that isn't possible.</p>\n\n<p>It <em>is</em> possible to use JavaScript to dynamically send the information for collection:</p>\n\n<pre><code class=\"language-js\">let formData = new FormData();\nformData.append(\"HTTP_REFERER\", document.referrer);\nformData.append(\"ID\", <?php echo $postID ?>);\n\nfetch(\"/tracking.php\", {\n method: \"POST\",\n body: formData,\n});\n</code></pre>\n\n<p>This approach has three distinct advantages.</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>It works whether the user has JS enabled or not.</li>\n<li>Repeated requests for the same page will usually reload the image from cache, so won't double-count.</li>\n<li>It doesn't count hits from bots. They typically don't execute JavaScript or don't request images.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<h2 id=\"bot-detection\"><a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/reasonably-accurate-privacy-conscious-cookieless-visitor-tracking-for-wordpress/#bot-detection\">Bot Detection</a></h2>\n\n<p>Not all traffic originates from humans. There are lots of bots which crawl the web. Some are useful - like search engines building up a map. Others are harmful - like AI agents aggressively scraping content to plagiarise.</p>\n\n<p>There are <a href=\"https://www.humansecurity.com/learn/blog/crawlers-list-known-bots-guide/\">lots of identifiable bots</a> out there - and more which obfuscate themselves. There are some, like <a href=\"https://github.com/GoogleChrome/lighthouse/pull/14384\">Lighthouse</a> which cloak themselves.</p>\n\n<p>I'm not trying to eliminate everything which <em>could</em> be a bot. I am trying for <em>reasonably</em> accurate. So I eliminate any User-Agent which contains:</p>\n\n<p><code>\"/bot|crawl|spider|seo|lighthouse|facebookexternalhit|preview|HeadlessChrome/i\"</code></p>\n\n<p>There are some <a href=\"https://github.com/fabiomb/is_bot\">big lists of bots</a> you can use - but they don't seem to trigger my analytics because they aren't requesting the images or executing the JS.</p>\n\n<h2 id=\"what-bits-of-the-site-to-measure\"><a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/reasonably-accurate-privacy-conscious-cookieless-visitor-tracking-for-wordpress/#what-bits-of-the-site-to-measure\">What bits of the site to measure?</a></h2>\n\n<p>I only care about how many visitors my posts and pages get. I don't need to know if someone visited a tag page, or scrolled back to page 100 of posts from 2019. Those sorts of deep pages are usually only accessed by bots anyway.</p>\n\n<p>I also don't want to count visits from me, myself, and I.</p>\n\n<p>So the tracking is only inserted on single pages which are viewed by non-admins:</p>\n\n<pre><code class=\"language-php\">if ( is_singular() && !current_user_can( \"edit_posts\" ) ) {\n …\n}\n</code></pre>\n\n<h2 id=\"oddities\"><a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/reasonably-accurate-privacy-conscious-cookieless-visitor-tracking-for-wordpress/#oddities\">Oddities</a></h2>\n\n<p>Sometimes, the URl requested will look something like: <code>https://shkspr-mobi.translate.goog</code> - that just means Google has translated it.</p>\n\n<p>Sometimes, the referer will look something like: <code>android-app://com.google.android.gm/</code> - that just means they clicked from an Android app.</p>\n\n<p>Sometimes, the URl requested will include a fragment or a query string - they can be ignored.</p>\n\n<p>Sometimes, the <code>utm_</code> will contain all sorts of weird stuff. It isn't always possible to pull out exactly where it has come from.</p>\n\n<p>Sometimes, the referer and <code>utm_</code> will disagree. Ah well, never mind.</p>\n\n<p>Sometimes, RSS views are counted and sometimes not. Perhaps I should fix that?</p>\n\n<p>Sometimes, users block trackers or use a text-only browser. That's fine, they can keep their secrets.</p>\n\n<h2 id=\"saving-the-data\"><a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/reasonably-accurate-privacy-conscious-cookieless-visitor-tracking-for-wordpress/#saving-the-data\">Saving the data</a></h2>\n\n<p>I started this by just shoving what I collected into a CSV.</p>\n\n<pre><code class=\"language-php\">// Write the CSV.\n$line = [date(\"c\"), $ID, $UA, $referer, $domain, $country, $user];\n// Date-based filename.\n$filename = \"log-\" . date(\"Y-m-d\") . \".csv\";\n// Append mode.\n$handle = fopen( $filename, \"a\" );\nfputcsv( $handle, $line );\nfclose( $handle );\n</code></pre>\n\n<p>Nothing fancy. Something easily grepable with the ability to query it in more detail if I need. At the number of hits that my site gets, it is less than 1MB per day.</p>\n\n<p>I've since moved it into a single MySQL table. That might not be sustainable with hundreds of thousands of rows. But that's tomorrow's problem.</p>\n\n<h2 id=\"accuracy\"><a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/reasonably-accurate-privacy-conscious-cookieless-visitor-tracking-for-wordpress/#accuracy\">Accuracy</a></h2>\n\n<p>I've been running this for a couple of days - simultaneously with my other, more professional, stats plugin. It is within 5% accuracy. It appears to <em>slightly</em> exaggerate the number of visitors and undercount my page-views. That's good enough for my purposes and probably good for my ego!</p>\n\n<h2 id=\"putting-it-all-together\"><a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/reasonably-accurate-privacy-conscious-cookieless-visitor-tracking-for-wordpress/#putting-it-all-together\">Putting it all together</a></h2>\n\n<p>You can take a look at all the code <a href=\"https://gitlab.com/edent/blog-theme/\">on my GitLab repo</a>.</p>\n\n<h2 id=\"what-does-it-look-like\"><a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/reasonably-accurate-privacy-conscious-cookieless-visitor-tracking-for-wordpress/#what-does-it-look-like\">What does it look like?</a></h2>\n\n<p>If you've made it this far, you can have a little pictorial treat! Aren't you lucky?</p>\n\n<img src=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/stats-view.webp\" alt=\"Three tables. One showing referers with colourful favicons. Another countries with colourful emoji flags. One a list of pages and views.\" width=\"2450\" height=\"1400\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-63260\">\n\n<h2 id=\"whats-next\"><a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/reasonably-accurate-privacy-conscious-cookieless-visitor-tracking-for-wordpress/#whats-next\">What's next?</a></h2>\n\n<p>For now, a simple table structure is fine. I've shoved it in a basic database. Sure, I don't have any indexes or fancy stuff like that. But modern computers are pretty fast.</p>\n\n<p>Eventually I'll need to create some new tables which will consolidate the data. Perhaps a table for individual posts, using date and country? Or maybe referer? I'll have to see.</p>\n\n<p>I also need a way to get historic data into it. I've blog stats going back to 2009 which I am anxious not to lose.</p>\n\n<p>And, yeah, I'll need a better front-end than manually running SQL queries.</p>\n\n<p>Above all, I want to keep it simple enough that my puny mortal brain can understand it after several years of not touching anything. I want to build something which can run without constant maintenance.</p>\n\n<p>Remember, this is only an exercise in self-learning, self-hosting, and self-respect.</p>\n\n<div id=\"footnotes\" role=\"doc-endnotes\">\n<hr>\n<ol start=\"0\">\n\n<li id=\"fn:learn\">\n<p>I enjoy learning. If you're about to say \"Why not just install…\" then you've missed the point. I like understanding how things work, I get joy from discovering some new function, my brain feels happy when it is working on a problem. I don't want to just click install, hit next a few times, and fiddle with a few options. <a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2020/12/build-dont-buy/\">I've written more about my philosophy here</a>. <a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/reasonably-accurate-privacy-conscious-cookieless-visitor-tracking-for-wordpress/#fnref:learn\" class=\"footnote-backref\" role=\"doc-backlink\">↩︎</a></p>\n</li>\n\n<li id=\"fn:orisit\">\n<p>Or is it? There are 4 billion IPv4 addresses - although slightly fewer in actual use. Creating a rainbow table with 4 billion rows is possible if I was <em>just</em> using IP addresses. But there are an almost infinite variety of User Agent strings. It is probably possible to create a rainbow table of, for example, the 10 most popular UAs, concatenate them with every possible IP address, and then see which hashes to <code>65fef01fef257963</code>. But even then, what would that get an attacker? Knowing that the most popular model of iPhone is on a mobile network's IP range isn't exactly private information. <a href=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/reasonably-accurate-privacy-conscious-cookieless-visitor-tracking-for-wordpress/#fnref:orisit\" class=\"footnote-backref\" role=\"doc-backlink\">↩︎</a></p>\n</li>\n\n</ol>\n</div>",
"image": null,
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"authors": [
{
"name": "@edent",
"email": null,
"url": "https://edent.tel/"
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{
"label": "/etc/",
"term": "/etc/",
"url": "https://shkspr.mobi/blog"
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"label": "HTML",
"term": "HTML",
"url": "https://shkspr.mobi/blog"
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"label": "javascript",
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"label": "seo",
"term": "seo",
"url": "https://shkspr.mobi/blog"
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{
"label": "WordPress",
"term": "WordPress",
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{
"id": "https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=63196",
"title": "Event Review: Doin' the Lambeth Walk (Oi!) ★★★⯪☆",
"description": "Historical entities have been sighted in the old village of Lambeth. Are they ghosts? Visions? Or intruders through a crack in time? Join your guides and explore the backwaters and byways that slowly spread over the mysterious marshes of Lambeth. Most walking tours have a guide drag you around the well-known tourist hot-spots while they read out a bit from Wikipedia. Minimum Labyrinth’s tour i…",
"url": "https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/event-review-doin-the-lambeth-walk-oi/",
"published": "2025-09-09T11:34:19.000Z",
"updated": "2025-09-14T10:18:40.000Z",
"content": "<img src=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/lambeth-walk.webp\" alt=\"Poster\" width=\"250\" height=\"250\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-63199\">\n\n<blockquote><p>Historical entities have been sighted in the old village of Lambeth. Are they ghosts? Visions? Or intruders through a crack in time? Join your guides and explore the backwaters and byways that slowly spread over the mysterious marshes of Lambeth.</p></blockquote>\n\n<p>Most walking tours have a guide drag you around the well-known tourist hot-spots while they read out a bit from Wikipedia. Minimum Labyrinth’s tour is <em>different</em>. We were told to find the meeting spot by looking for a mysterious message chalked somewhere on Westminster Bridge.</p>\n\n<img src=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/chalk.webp\" alt=\"Chalked onto the bridge, the message \"Why did you come here?\"\" width=\"1020\" height=\"768\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-63203\">\n\n<p>As the bells from Big Ben faded - ghosts appeared!</p>\n\n<p>We were whisked away onto a tour which was part history lesson, part ghost story, and part science-fiction extravaganza. As we wandered through the streets, various \"baddies\" appeared out of nowhere. Ghosts came to chat with us and then promptly vanished. Music played causing onlookers to pause their hurried strolling. It was somewhere between immersive theatre and <em>immersed</em> theatre.</p>\n\n<p>The walk was well paced. The three acts each consisted of 50 minutes of strolling then 30 minutes in a pub. Perfect for a loo-break and refreshments. The cast didn't stay in character during the pub - which was a relief for them, and meant we could chat about what we thought of the event.</p>\n\n<p>It took us through some parts of London I was vaguely familiar with - and some which were completely new. It is brilliant having someone explain exactly <em>why</em> that piece of art is where it is, or <em>who</em> commissioned that church, and point out that <em>exquisite</em> detail you might have missed.</p>\n\n<img src=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/art.webp\" alt=\"Stencil art on a wall. A photorealistic figure holds some pixelated video game items.\" width=\"512\" height=\"683\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-63204\">\n\n<p>Without wishing to spoil anyone's fun, the sci-fi element was the weakest part of the adventure. It paid \"loving homage\" to an abandoned and somewhat forgotten TV series. I felt that the story would have been much stronger without tying it in to a larger universe. No one under 50 recognised the characters so I think that aspect fell a little flat.</p>\n\n<p>I also felt that there wasn't <em>quite</em> enough to do during the walk. There were some neat snippets of information but there were long stretches of walking down streets without much going on. Given the slightly spooky and sci-fi nature of the story, I would have expected the audience to have been given little tasks or asked to keep a lookout for ghosts.</p>\n\n<p>That said, the tour took us round some stunning and unexpected spots. The ghostly goings-on were suitably mysterious and the cast kept us all safe and entertained. We had fun exploring little alleyways and art displays which were completely unknown to us.</p>\n\n<img src=\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/doing.webp\" alt=\"Terry and Liz smiling in front of a mural depicting the Lambeth Walk.\" width=\"1024\" height=\"729\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-63202\">\n\n<p>The team at <a href=\"http://minimumlabyrinth.org/\">Minimum Labyrinth</a> do a variety of weird tours and events. Worth checking out if you want something entertaining and unusual.</p>",
"image": null,
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"authors": [
{
"name": "@edent",
"email": null,
"url": "https://edent.tel/"
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"label": "/etc/",
"term": "/etc/",
"url": "https://shkspr.mobi/blog"
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"label": "london",
"term": "london",
"url": "https://shkspr.mobi/blog"
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"label": "review",
"term": "review",
"url": "https://shkspr.mobi/blog"
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}