FeedCity

Harden your Android phone by replacing Google apps with FOSS alternatives, minimizing Big Tech and optimizing privacy settings for better security.

Harden your Android phone by replacing Google apps with FOSS alternatives, minimizing Big Tech and optimizing privacy settings for better security.

The joy of looking up to the sky after sunset and seeing the moon.

—

Equipped with Stellarium, I could start to identify patterns in the stars. The patterns had names, like Orion and Taurus. I saw Sirius and Rigel and Betelgeuse. I saw Mars — a planet! I saw a planet! I gazed in the direction of Jupiter. The moon was my anchor as I learned the names of more stars and found patterns.

—

There is frost on the fields as the sun cuts through the fog on a spring morning. The chill of winter recedes by the day.

—

The joy of thinking through an idea over my first cup of coffee.

—

I walked past someone who was wearing a jumper that said “My cat is a rockstar.” I love this message!

—

Some places are so beautiful that you stop every time you are there.

—

Overheard: “Dan, you’re just an old soul” — one friend says endearingly to another.

The Barbican complex in London. In the foreground, there is a body of water and many planters in which plants are growing. There are trees on which the light is shining brightly. In the background, there are several storeys of houses with tall glass windows and made of concrete.

This week I have been taking notes about the changes in seasons. Daylight savings time knocked my internal clock a little bit, but the additional hours of daylight more than make up for it. I am grateful to wake up to sunlight, and for the sun to set later in the night – on ...

I was mesmerised by the moon on my train ride home. It’s the early afternoon, but I can still see the moon! I thought to myself. I was on a train going through the country – the rolling hills passed by as my eyes occasionally closed. I could use a nap.

Toward the end of the journey, as more buildings would soon enter into view as I reached my destination, I saw two young women sitting on the grass by a river with a dog by their side. One of them waved delicately at the train I was on. I smiled. Maybe they knew someone on the train. I’ll never know, but the wave brought me joy.

On my way to the State of the Browser conference last weekend, I stumbled upon an open space in which many trees were in full blossom. Pink petals fell from the tree branches as the gentle spring wind blew. The trees were outside a church courtyard. I stopped, taking in the ...

If we don’t keep sharing the joys of the web, its fate will go in the wrong direction unnecessarily. Take a moment today to share a joy of the web with someone! Maybe you made a cool web page. Share it with a friend! Did you see something that made you smile, or think, or r...

I love to find links to accompany virtual calls – especially those that explicitly relate to or were mentioned by someone. This led to my being bestowed the title “Fastest link sharer in the world.” When I saw this pop up in the meeting chat, I knew I had to remember it for ...

One of my favourite times of the year is when trees blossom. I love searching for the first signs of pink buds on the trees, looking closely at the tips of branches to guage when I may first see blossom. Over the last few weeks, I have been delighted to see one tree after another show signs of pink blossom.

This morning, on a walk, I took a moment to think about how a few trees had blossomed. I had walked past them a few times with their white buds, but this morning got me thinking about how there is always something new to see on the path: the change of trees as the seasons ebb and flow, the birdsong, the light as the seasons change. I saw a cat on my walk, too. His bushy fur made me smile.

I was in a Tesco Express – a convenience store”– last weekend. When I walked in, looking for a meal deal and at the stage of choosing which sweet to buy 1, I saw two young women walk toward the ice cream freezer. I then heard:

“They are out of ice cream. What the fuck [laughs].”

I couldn’t help but smile to myself at the randomness of this comment – the excitement for ice cream and the seeming surprise from the fact that there was none available. The joy with which the words were said resonated with me. I am still laughing about it now.
1
I opted for a Bounty, my go-to chocolate bar. The packaging has a palm tree on it!
[↩]

For two years now, I have been buying music again. Opposed to streaming that is. There is a variety of reasons for this.

Last weekend, I attended State of the Browser 2025, a conference all about browsers and the web 1. Niya gave a talk called “To light-dark() or Not To light-dark()” in which she introduced the light-dark function. This function allows you to specify different colours for a va...

I have a few wiki-like pages on my website. Among the most frequently updated is my movies page, in which I list both the movies I have enjoyed and the movies I plan to watch. The movies page contains several sub-lists, each for a specific genre like comedy and romantic come...

framed art: top left by Mònica Figueras, top right by Rachel M Silva, bottom by Apollonia Saintclair