Thomas Vander Wal

Talk me down from making an atproto birding app

I started watching PONIES over the weekend when I finished Copenhagen Test. I was expecting to not make it through the first episode, but it is fun and entertaining.

This room gets me everytime.

Love this shot.

Was hoping for this coverage.

It was some shots from the ends and and non-left-right game play. I switched away to other games and could see the difference clearly.

Knowing the processing and production work and tech needed this was rather impressive. Now I want it for all games. Also to improve.

How Markdown took over the world - Anil Dash A blog about making culture. Since 1999.

Been working on this one for a while — it's a little bit of history of a key foundation of internet technology, and a little bit of an explainer about how people _actually_ invent things. This is the amazing (true!) story of how Markdown took over the world. www.anildash.com/2026/01/09/h...

NASA’s Largest Library Is Closing Amid Staff and Lab Cuts

(🎁 Article)

"The Trump administration is closing NASA’s largest research library on Friday, a facility that houses tens of thousands of books, documents and journals — many of them not digitized or available anywhere else."

This follows 7 other closures since 2022.

3 just this year.

#Pinks

Happy New Year!!!

The Journal is supposed to be a J and L representation.

I really liked this, the title had me concerned but enjoyed your take and I deeply agree. I'm really looking forward to the next generation at Apple.

Happy Thanksgiving those who believe in being thankful.

@oreilly.bsky.social I'm hoping the recording of the @timoreilly.bsky.social interview with Anjali Shrivastava is being recorded as trying to access the event is throwing Server Error 500 responses.

There must be some low hanging rafters around Apple Park where leadership is smacking their heads to think this (and other odd decisions) are good ideas.

I can't "heart" this enough. I think of Kathy's work and discussions often. An utter gem of a human.

Oh, 100%!

Editors rock!

Pioneer Square Webcam in Portland Pioneer Square Webcam in Portland

This is Portland right now. We’re“under siege” by pollen and potholes, that’s about it. We have a ton of live webcams if you want to watch us go to the farmers markets or walking our dogs, we love dogs.
Release the Epstein files.
www.camscape.com/webcam/pione...

I felt a little caught off guard this morning when aiming to listen to the most recent In Our Time with Melvyn Bragg - vanderwal.net/random/entry...

The process behind getting the “summary" of the Complexity Lenses felt like would be helped by an overview of what helped to get it out after months of working on it and being less than pleased with it.

So, “Getting the summary Complexity Lenses - An Overview Out “ - vanderwal.net/random/entry...

I posted (on my Personal InfoCloud) "Complexity Lenses - An Overview" - personalinfocloud.com/blog/2025/09...

This has been brewing for a while and been a bit of a logjam for other posts.

Last night I stumbled into the design studio (Territory Studio) that did all the AR and digital design elements for the movie Swan Song.

I stumbled into it from a demo video in Vimeo. I have a deep affinity for the movie and the future tech design.

I blogged it:

vanderwal.net/random/entry...

Jeremy Keith announcing a new conference in Brighton:

"Web Day Out is all about what you can do in web browsers today. You can expect talks that showcase hands-on practical uses for the latest advances in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript APIs."

Also specifically calls out that there won’t be AI talks.

Appeal Regarding the Suspension of my Facebook Account @stephtara Given the official appeal process for the suspension of my account did not provide me with the opportunity to argue my case, I am doing it here. I believe that my account, like others, has been wro…

Thanks in advance for sharing this in your networks. My hopes are that some way or another, my appeal will be reviewed by a human. If you know anybody I should speak to, or can think of anything useful to do at this stage, do let me know.
climbtothestars.org/archives/202...

I completely agree!

I bought a small Stream Deck just for this. I now use it for more too.

My brain still has San Diego Comic Con patina. In that light I'm glad to revisit Microsoft Comic Chat: it merged chat with avatars in a comic panel conversation interface in the 90s. nathan.com/ixd-blast-fr... [shoutout @vanderwal.bsky.social for reminder of @nathanshedroff.bsky.social] #UX #Comics

Looking for a Movie Club in August and / or you want an excuse to watch (or rewatch) Local Hero?

I have the pleasure to host the August 2025 IndieWeb Movie Club. The introduction is here - www.vanderwal.net/random/entry...

More about the IndieWeb Movie Club - www.vanderwal.net/random/entry...

The term seems to have surfaced in the 1970s to early 1980s. I don't run into it much in the US. When ever I use the term I have to define what I mean. There are other approaches similar, but not quite the same.

I've used this well beyond schooling to not read what I know and focus on what I don't

I hadn't heard it until it was introduced. Others who have been through that way of learning, where the focus isn't on the books but building the depth and breadth of one's knowledge seem to have run into it in England.

After years of thinking I had written about gutting books, which I mention a fair amount when talking about reading I finally have it written up and posted. - www.vanderwal.net/random/entry...

Other

They have a wonderful support staff that I've pestering about a bug I've been running into on occasion for the past couple months.