content

content/journal/dispatch-32-october-2025/index.md

@@ -9,6 +9,10 @@ references:
   url: https://lmno.lol/puddingtime/aspiration
   date: 2025-09-14T05:24:26Z
   file: lmno-lol-f6bq3n.txt
+- title: "Uses This / Roly Allen"
+  url: https://usesthis.com/interviews/roly.allen/
+  date: 2025-10-04T20:06:09Z
+  file: usesthis-com-dkir4f.txt
 - title: "David, please stop posting"
   url: https://johan.hal.se/wrote/2025/09/26/david-please-stop-posting/
   date: 2025-10-04T17:57:50Z
@@ -119,44 +123,51 @@ I've a lot of things I _think_ I want to do, but then don't. Maybe I need to adm
 
 ### This Month
 
-* Adventure: Bull City Race Fest half-marathon, camping at Fairy Stone with friends, team offsite in Nashville
+* Adventure: Bull City Race Fest half-marathon, camping at [Fairy Stone][16] with friends, team offsite in Nashville
 * Project:
 * Skill:
 
+[16]: https://www.dcr.virginia.gov/state-parks/fairy-stone
+
 ### Reading & Listening
 
-* Fiction: [_Carl's Doomsday Scenario_][16], Matt Dinniman
-* Non-fiction: [_Title_][17], Author
-* Music: [_Like Water For Chocolate_][18], Common
+* Fiction: [_Carl's Doomsday Scenario_][17], Matt Dinniman
+* Non-fiction: [_The Notebook_][18], Roland Allen
+* Music: [_Like Water For Chocolate_][19], Common
 
-[16]: https://bookshop.org/p/books/carl-s-doomsday-scenario-matt-dinniman/f62cd04ed29db65c
-[17]: https://bookshop.org/
-[18]: https://www.turntablelab.com/products/common-like-water-for-chocolate-2lp
+[17]: https://bookshop.org/p/books/carl-s-doomsday-scenario-matt-dinniman/f62cd04ed29db65c
+[18]: https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-notebook-a-history-of-thinking-on-paper/21106064
+[19]: https://www.turntablelab.com/products/common-like-water-for-chocolate-2lp
 
 ### Links
 
-* [David, please stop posting][19]
+* [Uses This / Roly Allen][20]
+
+  > I'm the author of The Notebook, a History of Thinking on Paper, which so far as I know is the first and only book on the subject, and thank-you-Jesus has been well received. I'm currently writing another history, but I can't tell you what of, and my day job is in illustrated book publishing.
+
+* [David, please stop posting][21]
 
   > I think most rubyists would be pragmatic enough to just accept things for what they are and let them settle, if he'd just let them. If he stopped posting inflammatory rightwing nonsense then we could all pretend he wasn't drunkenly stumbling towards the open arms of QAnon and the manosphere with tears of joy on his face. The deal is this: if he can shut his mouth, we can hold our noses. Then we can all make this work despite our differences.
 
-* [The Last Days Of Social Media][20]
+* [The Last Days Of Social Media][22]
 
   > The problem is not just the rise of fake material, but the collapse of context and the acceptance that truth no longer matters as long as our cravings for colors and noise are satisfied. Contemporary social media content is more often rootless, detached from cultural memory, interpersonal exchange or shared conversation. It arrives fully formed, optimized for attention rather than meaning, producing a kind of semantic sludge, posts that look like language yet say almost nothing.
 
-* [Hosting a WebSite on a Disposable Vape][21]
+* [Hosting a WebSite on a Disposable Vape][23]
 
   > Someone's trash is another person's web server.
 
-* [Through a Love of Note-Taking, José Naranja Documents His Travels One Tiny Detail at a Time — Colossal][22]
+* [Through a Love of Note-Taking, José Naranja Documents His Travels One Tiny Detail at a Time — Colossal][24]
 
   > From postage stamps to jetliner specifications to items he packed for the journey, José Naranja’s sketchbooks capture minute details of numerous international trips. “I’m lost in the intricate details, as always,” he tells Colossal. Everything from currency to noodle varieties to film references make their way into small books brimming with travel ephemera and observations.
 
-* [An E-bike For The Mind - by Josh Brake][23]
+* [An E-bike For The Mind - by Josh Brake][25]
 
   > At the end of the day, we must remember that innovation is a bargain. We often consider what technology promises to enable for us, without considering what it will almost certainly disable. Most of the time, we fail to stop and consider the tradeoffs. Perhaps e-bikes may give us a metaphor to frame our thinking.
 
-[19]: https://johan.hal.se/wrote/2025/09/26/david-please-stop-posting/
-[20]: https://www.noemamag.com/the-last-days-of-social-media/
-[21]: https://bogdanthegeek.github.io/blog/projects/vapeserver/
-[22]: https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2025/04/jose-naranja-travel-notebooks/
-[23]: https://joshbrake.substack.com/p/an-e-bike-for-the-mind
+[20]: https://usesthis.com/interviews/roly.allen/
+[21]: https://johan.hal.se/wrote/2025/09/26/david-please-stop-posting/
+[22]: https://www.noemamag.com/the-last-days-of-social-media/
+[23]: https://bogdanthegeek.github.io/blog/projects/vapeserver/
+[24]: https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2025/04/jose-naranja-travel-notebooks/
+[25]: https://joshbrake.substack.com/p/an-e-bike-for-the-mind

static/archive/usesthis-com-dkir4f.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,132 @@
+[1]Uses This
+
+1297 interviews since 2009
+
+Enjoying the interviews? Support independent publishing and help keep the site
+ad-free by [2]buying me a coffee!
+
+  • [3]Interviews
+  • [4]Categories
+  • [5]About
+
+A picture of Roly Allen
+
+Roly Allen
+
+Writer
+
+September 27, 2025 in [6]mac, [7]writer
+
+Who are you, and what do you do?
+
+I'm the author of [8]The Notebook, a History of Thinking on Paper, which so far
+as I know is the first and only book on the subject, and thank-you-Jesus has
+been well received. I'm currently writing another history, but I can't tell you
+what of, and my day job is in illustrated book publishing.
+
+What hardware do you use?
+
+At the age of 49, I've owned two computers. The first was a colleague's 2010 
+[9]iMac which I stole from my employer when they upgraded in 2015. (I say
+stole: the IT manager was disgusted by the company's old-machine-destruction
+policy, as was I, and looked the other way when I walked out of the office
+carrying it in a bin liner). It was a great machine (although the CD drive had
+been long dead), especially after I installed Linux (I think Ubuntu) on it.
+
+I replaced it with computer #2 in late 2021 – a very new 24-inch iMac. It has a
+gooooorgeous screen, which is the main thing, and has so far given me no grief
+apart from the dumb 'No! You CAN'T charge and use at the same time!' mouse.
+Seriously – someone was paid A Lot Of Money to design that, wtf. When it
+becomes too old for the current [10]macOS, I'll install Linux again and all
+being well this will be my last computer purchase as well as my first.
+
+Other kit: a cheap Zealsound USB microphone for being interviewed remotely; 
+[11]B&O Beoplay H4 headphones ditto; an [12]HP Officejet 8100 printer which
+can't do colour anymore yet still costs a fortune to keep tonered-up; a [13]
+Fairphone 5 which I plan to use until at least 2032, kept in a drawer to reduce
+its mind-melting distraction potential.
+
+But my main hardware is a shelf of notebooks. The daily diary is an A5 Stalogy
+368-page Editor notebook which I love for the fine paper, indestructible
+binding, and real-cloth cover. Loose threads dangle out of the edges as it gets
+worn! For note-taking for my books, I have a stack of B5 softcover exercise
+books, mostly the 72-page model from Stalogy. Each chapter, or potential
+project, gets its own notebook so I have about ten on the go at present. For
+the pocket, some slim Kokuyo 'Sketch Books' which aren't sketchbooks, but look
+enviably elegant when I get them out in public. In the past I've filled many
+Moleskines and Leuchtturms over the years, but I fell in love with Japanese
+paper and bindings about five years ago and don't see myself going back.
+
+I write with the [14]Uniball Eye Micro UB-150 gel pen, mostly in black but with
+occasional other colours for contrast or beauty when making timelines,
+spidergrams, diagrams, or flowcharts. This pen is one of the absolute miracles
+of the industrial age and I would fly to Japan to shake the hand of whoever
+designed it. My wife gave me a beautiful brass propelling pencil (ystudio)
+which I use (with HB leads) for marking up printed drafts.
+
+My lovely employers supply me with a 16-inch [15]MacBook Pro. It's overpowered
+for my needs, the screen has various shadows where I seem to have applied
+intolerable pressure on the closed case in my backpack, and I much prefer [16]
+MacBook Airs. Such is life.
+
+And what software?
+
+[17]OpenOffice for writing and spreadsheets. Love it. I experimented with [18]
+Zotero for references and organising my research but didn't get on with it,
+possibly because no-one showed me how to use it properly.
+
+I installed [19]Freedom a couple of years ago to break a terrible Facebook /
+Twitter-checking habit. When it expired after a year, I found that I didn't
+need it again. Hard recommend.
+
+Software for notebooks: common-placing, listing, daily diary, zibaldone-ing,
+spontaneous short aide-memoire-making, various late-90s-academic note-taking
+and planning techniques.
+
+Work is [20]Microsoft Office and [21]365, our [22]FileMaker DB, [23]Adobe CC
+(for [24]InDesign and [25]Acrobat), plus web apps for monitoring UK and US
+stock and sales.
+
+What would be your dream setup?
+
+I'd not change anything mentioned above, although I'd prefer not to be working
+in a corner of the living room. So please can I have an office, with a door and
+a view and ample bookshelves, located a pleasant walk from home? Like a
+Robert-Caro-kind-of-deal? Thank you. Also, thinking about it, a printer which
+works and doesn't eat gold bars for breakfast.
+
+Search: [26][                    ] [28][Go]
+You can keep track of new interviews by [29]subscribing to the feed. Unless
+otherwise noted, everything is available via the [30]Attribution-Share Alike
+licence. Last updated September 26, 2025.
+
+
+References:
+
+[1] https://usesthis.com/
+[2] https://ko-fi.com/waferbaby
+[3] https://usesthis.com/
+[4] https://usesthis.com/categories/
+[5] https://usesthis.com/about/
+[6] https://usesthis.com/categories/mac/
+[7] https://usesthis.com/categories/writer/
+[8] https://roland-allen.com/
+[9] https://www.apple.com/imac-24/
+[10] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacOS
+[11] https://www.bang-olufsen.com/en/us/headphones/beoplay-h4
+[12] http://web.archive.org/web/20230706203032/https://www.hp.com/us-en/shop/pdp/hp-officejet-pro-8100-eprinter---n811a-n811d
+[13] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairphone_5
+[14] https://uniball.co.uk/brands/eye/uni-ball-eye-micro-ub-150/
+[15] https://www.apple.com/macbook-pro/
+[16] https://www.apple.com/macbook-air/
+[17] http://www.openoffice.org/
+[18] https://www.zotero.org/
+[19] https://freedom.to/
+[20] https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365
+[21] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_365
+[22] http://web.archive.org/web/20230317135854/https://www.claris.com/filemaker/pro/
+[23] https://www.adobe.com/creativecloud.html
+[24] https://www.adobe.com/products/indesign.html
+[25] https://www.adobe.com/acrobat.html
+[29] https://usesthis.com/feed.atom
+[30] http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/