Matthew Lang

... but certainly not busted. Marco Arment takes a look at why the 2012 non-Retina MacBook Pro is still a sought after purchase.

Despite the low-resolution screen, slow hard drives, very little RAM, and CPUs that were middling even in 2012, it’s an open secret among Apple employees that the “101” still sells surprisingly well — to a nearly tragic degree, given its age and mediocrity.

— Why the 2012 non-Retina MacBook Pro still sells by Marco Arment

Amazing that even after 3 years, this is still available to buy.

I'll admit I do love getting fresh new hardware, but the recent shift to hardware that prevents consumers from upgrading on their own is annoying. Yes, the new MacBooks are crazy thin, but I'd definitely trade for a thicker MacBook so that I can upgrade the memory and hard disk on my own.

Caesura Letters, my daily dose of deep reading, is now freely available for all. I've been reading this from its early days on an almost daily basis. It does go a lot deeper than other subscriptions but that's the joy of it.

Today's commonplace entry courtesy of Nicholas Bate's learning tips.

My Kaweco fountain pen was quite nice to write with but I might downsize the nib in the future.

And yes, the cramped refers to my hand. Definitely not use to writing notes like this.

Maciej Cegłowski, the creator of Pinboard, highlights the growing obesity of the web and what can be done to improve it.

Let’s preserve the web as the hypertext medium it is, the only thing of its kind in the world, and not turn it into another medium for consumption, like we have so many examples of already.

Let’s commit to the idea that as computers get faster, and as networks get faster, the web should also get faster.

— The Website Obesity Crisis by Maciej Cegłowski

Having read this I've just checked this site and I'm glad to say that the index page and a few of the longer form posts are definitely smaller than a major work of Russian literature.

Remember blogrolls? So do I. They were a great way of finding other blogs to follow. Here's a selection of blogs that I'm currently reading.

Annie Mueller

Annie is a freelance writer with a deep knowledge of productivty, personal growth and writing. After a brief hiatus from the Internet, Annie is back with a new website and great new content.

Belle Beth Cooper

Belle's love of her notebooks isn't the only reason I'm reading her blog. Her monthly reviews and consistent blogging makes her blog a joy to read.

Curtis McHale

Currently based in British Columbia, Canada, Curtis writes openly about the trials and tribulations of freelancing, writing and products he’s working on as well as family life and of course cycling. Just the right mix of categories I would say that almost mirror my interests.

Kurt Harden

I first started following Kurt’s blog, Cultural Offering, on the recommendation of Nicholas Bate a few years ago. What I love about Kurt’s blog is that his is more of a journal than anything else. Political stories, current affairs, sports, family life and of course the occasional shots of what’s being cooked on the grill. A true slice of life on the American side of the pond.

Michael Wade

I’m always envious of bloggers like Michael who continually turn out not only excellent posts, but posts that make you question yourself and your work. Michael’s posts take the form of random thoughts, quotes, links to other blogs, link posts and topical news.

Nicholas Bate

It’s hard say when I first started reading Nicholas’ blog and how I found it, but it’s been required daily reading for me for at least the last five years.

Patrick Rhone

Writer, curator, Mac fan, thinker, family man and blog hero. Did I miss anything? It’s hard to put Patrick into one box when his blog lets you know that he isn’t just good at one thing. He’s great at many things.

Last Updated December 2017.

You know what I miss? I miss blog rolls, where authors would list their favourite sites on their blogs.

— Relative Sanity (@relativesanity) January 3, 2016

I miss them as well, so I've added one. It's a work in progress, so I've started off with my essential daily reading. Expect more updates over the next couple of months.

A Star Wars fan has spent a year building the ultimate Lego Millennium Falcon. Absolutely amazing. I just know my sister-in-law would want this.

via Ian Dick

Write a page a day and in 12 months you'll have the makings of a novel. Study a nation a month and in a year you'll probably have a greater perspective on the world.

— May the Incremental Be With You by Execupundit

Love these Atom themes that only use two hues for your syntax highlighting.

I've been a Solarized user for years but I might give these a try.

Love Kurt's more and less theme for 2016.

That's it. The end of another year and the start of a new one.

Start as you mean to go one they say and I intend too. This blog has been lacking in activity of late but that will change.

I just also want to say thanks to Nicholas, Michael, Kurt, Curtis and Patrick. Without my fellow bloggers I wouldn't have the readership that I have now.

Onwards and upwards for 2016!

Maybe. My Knog lights are still going strong and they're holding their charge well. Despite that, these Knog Blinder MOB lights are going on the list as possible replacements.

Love this.

via Kottke.org

Louie Mantia has great wallpaper designs. I've started using some of these for Trello board backgrounds and can see a use for them in a few other places as well.

I was just reminded this morning that it was two years ago that the ice storm hit Toronto and the surrounding area. We were visiting Jen's family in Toronto at that time.

Having never experienced an ice storm, it was quite strange waking up that morning and seeing the amount of ice everywhere. I captured a few shots of the aftermath over the next couple of days.

We were more fortunate than others. We didn't experience any power cuts and we were able to get stocked up for Christmas day.

Aside from the ice storm, we had a great time spending Christmas and New Year with Jen's family. Hoping to do it again soon.