Derek Peden

More than a little delicate today. Last night’s finale to the holidays was maybe a step too far. Or maybe it was just that last beer was one too many.

Straight from the presidential playbook : When in trouble, distract the voters away from your own performance by an act of war. This time it’s the people of Venezuela who are paying the price.

Whilst it is now 2026, but my Overcast backlog is still in 2025 thanks to the podcast time machine

I’ve been creating content for a while but infrequently and without the engagement I had hoped for. On re-reading some of my previous blog posts one obvious issue is the lack of transparency.

I have tended towards non-specific references to personal details, meaning that my content is minimal, cryptic and perhaps only makes sense to me.

One of the things I need to do this year is make them a bit more explicit and meaningful.

For example if commenting on a TV show or news event then a reference to that event is essential. Otherwise there is no connection to the topic and no connection for anyone reading. It’s hard to respond to something so completely unintelligible that you have no idea what it is actually referring to.

Secondly writing assuming an audience, even if I don’t think of myself having one. That’s maybe a small shift in tone but necessary to be more direct and lean into communication rather than a merely a public journal.

And thirdly, keep writing, keep sharing, keep generating content. Have an engaging bio and make the content frequent and engaging. The former is easier than the latter, so keep publishing and sharing when I can.

Whilst I don’t expect the Clicks Communicator to sell, I can at least see their vision. The sole purpose of my work-issued iPhone is communication, in Microsoft Teams / Outlook with phonecalls relegated to a distant 3rd place. They would prefer no other use cases, especially not the camera.

Another walk up to the loch but immediately turned and headed home. It’s absolutely freezing, with a northern wind that cuts you.

The surprising hit of this holiday break was sitting down to watch the original Star Wars Movies. Despite my better half claiming she would watch them one day I could never have predicted it would be now. Just the last act of Jedi left to watch.

This evening’s lesson is a Bailey’s coffee requires a shot glass, not a guess

Around this time last year I created a post on the highlights of the outgoing year. It seems only fitting to do the same again, and also look forward to the incoming year.

Highlights for 2025

• The proposal: After months of thinking about it, wanting it, dreaming it and it was over in an instant. Yet almost immediately the hard work began and continues
• Not taking for granted, the time well spent: it stands to reason that she makes me laugh every day, so the time we spend together has to be a highlight even when it’s the seemingly mundane every day stuff
• Recovery from another unforeseen and avoidable injury
• The rise and fall of a standing desk, getting the blood flowing
• The rise and fall in the creation and cessation of career opportunities, with the realisation that it continues to be a marathon without opportunity for a sprint finish
• Living within reach of spectacular scenery (or here), and occasionally taking advantage of that
• Exploring the both the land and the water, with a catamaran experience on a gorgeous day and an escort from dolphins in finale.
• Completion of the driveway project: by no means low cost, but absolutely worth every penny
• All the time we spend together: As I said, she still makes me laugh every day

Hopes for 2026

• Good Health, and the rest will follow
• Then following the proposal above the work continues, but only for a few months and then we can celebrate with family and friends
• Reaching a marker on the career marathon, hopefully a positive outcome with similarly positive compensation

Thanks to the Carrot Weather notification, reminding me we have only 17 hours of darkness to look forward to today.

Just finished The Last Frontier and found that was cancelled after 1 season. It’s enjoyable, with lots of twists, perhaps too many to make it viable. Pity.

A bit bracing today.

Just deleted my task to update to macOS 26 Tahoe. Still not worth even considering the “upgrade” to what is clearly a series of ill conceived mistakes and blunders.

Just as well the previous owners left no forwarding address. I would like a word and then some. The latest in the continuing list of issues in the daily failure of the central heating which for reasons unknown requires crossing the yard to the boiler in the garage.

Need to remember the key to having a smart home heating system is having it come on for you getting home

Yes, yes absolutely. I love this callback from Spigen.

An illustration of the Earth Temperature Timeline and our climate crisis challenge. Sorry Mr President but burying your orange head in the metaphorical sand of popularism won’t help anyone.

The correct corner radii on any digital UI is 0 (zero)

Had a busy December and only now listening to Upgrade 593 and cannot disagree more on their position of the departure of Alan Dye from Apple.

I understand the need for a balanced and levelheaded communication, particularly a podcast format. But if your job is to deliver the user interface to the company’s software and this fundamentally fails, with the interface unusable then there is no world in which this is defendable. This means his departure is both overdue and should be publicly celebrated.

I think there should be talked about as a discussion of the personality, with a collective grievance against the individual who was personally responsible for delivery of the software UI.

Perhaps my best impression of Barry White was not appreciated as she rubbed butter into the turkey crown…

Karoline Leavitt’s White House briefing doublethink is straight out of Orwell’s ‘1984’

In the world of “1984,” not only are statistics invented, they are continually reinvented to serve the needs of Big Brother’s regime at any given moment: “All history was a palimpsest, scraped clean and reinscribed exactly as often as was necessary.”

Short update to my Now Page.

Fascinating post on the merger of Apple + NeXT.

MacRumors reporting Apple Seeds First Betas of iOS 26.3 and iPadOS 26.3 to Developers. Tempting to just wait for 26.3 if that’s going to fix OS usability.

My voice has shifted from a low murmur to a wheezy croak. Don’t think I’ll be doing karaoke any time soon.

And all the day after downloading Wavelength.