Software History

The goal of IndieWeb Utils is to make it easier for you to add IndieWeb features to your application in Python. In v0.3.0, released earlier this week, we added a lot of new features to the library. But, there were some features that were almost ready that did not make their way into the release. Today, we are releasing those features as part of v0.4.0, in addition to a few minor bug fixes that I discovered since the launch of the last version.

Jess (@peachymist@colorid.es on Mastodon) wrote a post (Tooted, if that is the terminology in the world of Mastodon) that caught my eye:

I have spent a lot of time thinking about creative ways to work with embeddings. Embeddings are numeric representations of data, such as text or an image. Embeddings are

My website has been hosted on a number of platforms over the years. Last year was my year of using CMS tools to publish my website. I used WordPress initially because it was easy for me to set up. I wanted a website over which I had more control and WordPress looked like a good option. At the time, I was not as comfortable with web development as I am now. I could build a website but I didn't feel ready to create my blog from scratch.

A few weeks ago, I composed a zine called Quiet Edinburgh, a photo essay based on my experience visiting Edinburgh coming out of lockdown. The zine contains photos taken between April, days after travel restrictions were eased allowing for people to travel outside of their council areas, and June. I composed this zine shortly after taking a break from travelling due to rising COVID cases.

On my desk rests a large book, verging on a tome. The title reads Chicago Manual of Style, the seventeenth edition in the series. ^1 Earlier this week, I took great joy surfing the pages, discussing with friends at Homebrew Website Club how to navigate the book using the code numbers (i.e. 2.XXX) and the index. The topic de jour was text formatting on the web and the Chicago Manual of Style -- herein referred to as CMoS, a shorthand for the publication -- was an incredibly useful book.

Organisers at the W3C are working on various initiatives related to sustainability. Over the last few months, two new community groups (CGs) were started to focus on sustainability and how it pertains to the web and the W3C as an organisation. [^1] After doing some reading about the revived Sustainable Web (sustyweb) group, I decided to join and see how I could help.

A young boy hoisted on the shoulders of a parent waves at a departing train.

At the start of October, I participated in a virtual cupping with Steampunk Coffee. One of the coffees I got to try was from Uganda, which was perhaps the most distinct between all of the five coffees on the table. The coffee reminded me of tropical fruit, a characteristic I had not tasted in coffee up until that session.

Building websites is one of my favourite pastimes. I built this website to share some of my thoughts about coffee and then I started to share some coding tutorials on the site. While building a website can get complicated, I believe that anyone who puts in some time can create their own web page from scratch. You can build a web page that shows some of your interests to the world on the internet.

This weekend, I attended the State of the Browser conference in London, an event run by the London Web Standards community. I stayed in the city for a few days to attend the event. One of the highlights of my trip, aside from the delightful and engaging conversations at the State of the Browser event, were my London sunrise walks.

Machina Coffee roasts coffee, sells coffee equipment, and serves coffee from their cafe Brougham Place, Tollcross, Edinburgh. I have been following their business for a while and I had a few questions about how they roast coffee (which is particularly relevant now that they are roasting some special coffee as part of their Filter Map series).

This evening, I read Jeremy's IndieWeb Carnival invitation post, in which he invites readers to write about the kind of weather they like most. In the beginning, Jeremy notes

Caffeinated has been sitting on my to-watch list for a week and last night I finally got around to watching it. This documentary came recommended when I researched coffee documentaries to watch and I thought I'd give it a go. For only $4.99 (however much that was in British pounds), I rented the documentary, which lasted about an hour and fifteen minutes.

Note: I wrote this blog post before Christmas 2020 and never got around to publishing it at the time.

I first found Fraser, the owner of EH9 ESPRESSO, on Instagram, where he shared his experience with speciality coffee. I had no idea that a few months later he would be opening a speciality coffee shop in Dundee. I reached out and asked Fraser a few questions about what it's like to start a speciality coffee shop from scratch. This interview is an excellent glimpse into what it's like to start a speciality coffee shop. I hope you enjoy it!

I have read a lot of news about the US over the last few years. I learned that the term

To accompany my new Kalita Wave, I purchased a gooseneck kettle. Gooseneck kettles have a pouring neck similar to that of a goose, or a swan, and they give you greater control over pouring. For pour-over brewing, having a gooseneck kettle is almost essential. I knew that I needed one because my home kettle does not give me very much control over the direction of water pouring. It has a wide spout at the top of the kettle, which means it is difficult to get close to the cup in which I am brewing without tilting at a large angle. I need to get close to the cup so I can maintain a gentle pour.

Fortitude Coffee Roasters, which has two cafes in Edinburgh, is deeply rooted in the Scottish coffee scene. In addition to running two cafes, Fortitude roasts its own beans. I was curious about how Fortitude roasts their coffee so I decided to reach out to their team. Bruce, their head roaster, got back to me to share some insights about Foritude.

Full Court Press, a coffee roastery based in Bristol, has been on my radar for a while. I've read Coffee: A Modern Field Guide, the book written by the founder. I have seen they have a stellar reputation through Instagram.

Note: I wrote this blog post before Christmas 2020 and never got around to publishing it at the time.

I have never written a review of a book before. I was reading the Caffeine Galore blog and I saw a review of a coffee book that was short and eloquent. I wondered whether, instead of writing paragraphs upon paragraphs about a book I've read, I could write a short summary in this vein.

A few weeks ago I visited South Queensferry, the home of Brew Culture Coffee and Tea. I had wanted to walk over the Forth Road Bridge and also visit Brew Culture, which opened earlier this year as the only speciality coffee shop in the area. I had previously interviewed the owner, Robert, about his blog a few months prior, but I wanted to ask him a few questions about starting his coffee shop. I sent Robert some questions over email which he kindly responded to. I hope you enjoy the interview.

Fortitude Coffee is a speciality coffee business based in Edinburgh, Scotland, serving coffee from two cafes in the city and roasting coffee for sale online and in their stores.

Scotland is a country in the United Kingdom. Scotland has a rich speciality coffee culture, with roasteries and coffee shops around the country. Edinburgh and Glasgow are home to many speciality coffee shops. There is also a diverse range of eateries around the country.

Today (which is Saturday. I usually post blog posts a couple of days after I write them because I either: forget to post a blog post or have other articles to post.) I visited four speciality coffee shops in Edinburgh. In doing so, I was able to experience four different service interactions with coffee shops. I just started thinking to myself that today I saw some interesting things so I wanted to share them on my blog.

When I was at Union Brew Lab on Saturday, the coffee I ordered was given to me in a latte art pitcher. I was also given a mug into which I could pour the coffee on my own. I liked this experience because the act of pouring coffee into a mug, I found, was soothing. There's something nice about pouring coffee that has already been prepared into a mug, ready for you to drink. I was able to pour coffee from the pitcher into my mug three or so times before I was out of coffee because the mug I was given was quite small (and there was quite a bit of coffee in the pitcher, to be fair).

Union Brew Lab is a speciality coffee shop situated on 6-8 South College Street, Edinburgh. Union Brew Lab is owned by Union Hand-Roasted, a large UK speciality coffee roastery.

There is something blissful about awaking naturally before your alarm is scheduled to go off for the day. I woke up on my own terms, joyfully surprised given my propensity to depend on multiple alarms in the morning.