I’d totally forgotten that MarsEdit can do TypeWriter Scrolling in the composition window. It’s right there under the View Menu. Don’t care for it myself, but I know some love it.

Screenshot showing text starts half way down the composition window.

Just now pondering at a very shallow level, whether there’s a role at future Micro Camps for a brief pre-Camp Zoom checkin session where we can discover we need to download a newer version, have forgotten our passwords, how to raise our Hand, Un/Mute, reply to people in chat and other techie things.

Excellent start to Micro Camp 2023 today. Thanks to everyone who participated but especially to all those who helped organise!

The sessions were interesting and engaging. I enjoyed hearing everyone's thoughts on all the topics raised.

Micro Camp 2023 first day schedule.

I had read this somewhere recently, but thanks to @billbennettnz for Apple satellite SOS service now live in New Zealand:

NZ-based Apple iPhone 14 users are now able to use the company’s Satellite Emergency SOS service. The service lets phone users who are outside mobile or Wi-Fi coverage send an emergency satellite message to an Apple’s relay centre. From there, staff will contact local emergency services to send a rescue team or other help.

Recycling — maybe not always a good thing…

Decal on a petrol car that says: Powered by recycled dinosaurs.

I love Aotearoa but this is unconscionable — The twin crises that fuelled the hostel fire:

10% of our population are so poor and stressed they can’t afford a place to live or food without government help to pay their rent, or to eat without food parcels donated from leftovers being thrown out by supermarkets.

Back in September 2017 I came across this little cutie on a driftwood log on the beach. The Kekeno | New Zealand Fur Seal pups often come ashore on our stretch of beach to rest during winter and spring. I haven't ever seen more than one at a time though.

Doesn't it look happy in the sun!

Seal pup on a driftwood log with head raised towards the sun making it look very happy.

The MarsEdit Browser extension

While checking posts from my now defunct KnowIt blog I spotted this mention of MarsEdit from 01 February 2008, emphasis from today:

To post this blog entry I visited the MarsEdit 2 What's New page, selected some text and clicked on my MarsEdit bookmarklet in the browser. MarsEdit came to the front (because I always have it open), with a new Post window open that contained the selected text.

Screenshot of the MarsEdit extension icon in the browser Toolbar above selected text.

Which reminded me … I completely forgot to mention this very handy feature in my upcoming presentation — I've only been using this feature for at least 15 years now! 🤦🏽‍♀️

Screenshot shows the text with link added to a new Post window ready for further processing.

Visit the MarsEdit Help menu and choose the Web Browser Integration… item for instructions on how to enable this Bookmarklet (on older systems) or Extension (newer systems).

Web Browser Integration menu item.
Screenshot  of the Help information.

Settings for how the browser extension passes the title, url and selection into a Post are found under MarsEdit - Settings - Blogs - Post Templates.

Screenshot  of the relevant settings panel, with an area to select what parameters and coding should be applied.

Hmmm, not entirely sure about this step in the online recipe for Crispy Chicken Nibbles… 🤔

Screenshot from the recipe page where a block of Lorem Ipsum type text has been left in the page.

Just enjoying a pleasant lunch time on the beach with my good buddy Willow. 🐶

Small white dog on the beach, tied up to a piece of driftwood.

When I was on the beach yesterday 3 Kakīānau | Black swan flew in and landed on the estuary. Here are two, with a Karoro | Black-backed gull in the background. 🐦

Two black swans on the estuary with a gull on the sand in the background.

Crescent moon and Jupiter in the pre dawn sky above flax spears.

Crescent moon and Jupiter in the pre dawn sky above flax spears.

So frustrating when every world map in Too HOT and HUMID to Live: Extreme Wet Bulb Events Are on the Rise cuts off Aotearoa New Zealand — either completely or mostly.

It’s not a great feeling when 5 million Kiwis are overlooked, ignored and forgotten about.

World map cuts off NZ, leaving only the southern tip.

I struck a lucky shaft of rising sunlight at the estuary this morning, with this Poaka | Pied Stilt. 🐦

Pied Stilt - black and white long-legged bird in shallow water lit up gold by the rising sun.
Pied Stilt - black and white long-legged bird striding forward in shallow water lit up gold by the rising sun.

I haven't read this yet but want to boost Sod's link about writing good alt text for images 🔗 :

Alt-texts: The Ultimate Guide is another hands-on article that I like, with tips and tricks for writing great alt-texts.

I haven’t been for a proper walk on the beach for the last month. Now I’m finally over the ghastly flu, it’s time to get back out there. I hope not all the birds have gone away… Sunrise in 30 minutes, better get myself sorted.

A very clear and very helpful post by Alan Jacobs about the true nature of Micro.Blog 🔗 :

I wrote about the Three Paths of micro.blog.

I stayed up way too late last night, not being able to get this AppleScript (or any other technique) to work. Today I found the ‘missing piece’. I had a BBEdit text file with blog posts, each on its own line. I wanted to split that file into separate documents, one per line.

Screenshot of the Applescript.
Finder window with numerous files created by the script.

Visited with my buddy Leo today. 🐈

Leo, an elderly Burmese cat on a colourful bean chair.

Remember when blogs were fussily called weblogs?

While checking posts from my now defunct KnowIt blog I spotted this mention of MarsEdit 1.0 from 11 December 2004:

Ranchero Software's MarsEdit 1.0

… is a weblog editor for Mac OS X that makes weblog writing like writing email—with spell-checking, drafts, multiple windows, and even AppleScript support.

It works with various weblog systems: Blosxom, Conversant, Manila, Movable Type, Radio UserLand, TypePad, WordPress, and others.

Congratulations must go to Brent Simmons who has released Mars Edit today after a period of thorough development and beta testing. As one of those beta testers I'm thrilled to see this application released today. If you use a Mac and have a Blog then you owe it to yourself to at least test Mars Edit. … I use it every day.

Nearly 2 decades later and I still use MarsEdit every day!