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{ "version": "https://jsonfeed.org/version/1", "title": "jeremycherfas.net", "home_page_url": "https://www.jeremycherfas.net/blog", "feed_url": "https://www.jeremycherfas.net/blog.json", "description": "Jeremy Cherfas", "author": { "name": "Jeremy Cherfas" }, "items": [ { "title": "The Week’s Links 02", "date_published": "2026-10-23T17:56:00+02:00", "id": "https://www.jeremycherfas.net/blog/the-weeks-links-02", "url": "https://www.jeremycherfas.net/blog/the-weeks-links-02", "content_html": "<p>You have spoken. (Thank you, Peter.) The experiment continues.</p>\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https://www.thenutritionarchive.com/blog/2026/10/19/is-there-a-food-policy-version-of-what-happened-with-tobacco\">Did Trans Fat Have Its Tobacco Moment?</a></strong> The answer is yes, although perhaps the question should be <em>Did nutrition science ever have its tobacco moment?</em> Jessica Fanzo charts the change, from a 1990 feeding study to the first ban, in Denmark, in 2003, and later restrictions and bans in various of the United States and around the world. The results showed up quite quickly in hospital admissions and resulted in a Federal ban in 2018. There may be no similar examples in future. Fanzo explains why not.<br />\n<strong><a href=\"https://gkeenan.co/avgb/four-months-in-poland/\">Four months in Poland</a></strong> is exactly what it says, Keenan telling us a bit about his first four months in Poland. A lot of it struck several chords for me, even though his language difficulties are not my language difficulties. Part of me admires Keenan’s reticence, taking four whole months to start sharing his experiences. Part of me is grateful I don’t seem to be quite as anxious. And all of me hopes he will write more soon.<br />\n<strong><a href=\"https://duncanstephen.net/what-you-get-is-what-you-mean/\">What you get is what you mean</a></strong> takes a bit of unpacking. Duncan Stephen looks hard at the false promise of word processing software, which is all about looks, not words. Worse, most people sucked into adjusting the look of words do a piss-poor job of it, aesthetically and technically. Duncan would like us to ignore layouts and pages and encode meaning. Fair enough, but don’t make me try and distil your meaning from something that looks horrible.<br />\n<strong><a href=\"https://www.pelliclemag.com/home/2026/10/21/youve-got-the-money-ive-got-the-soul-scotlands-enduring-love-for-80-shilling\">You’ve Got the Money, I’ve Got the Soul — Scotland’s Enduring Love for 80 Shilling</a>.</strong> In another life, I was a frequent visitor to Edinburgh. A former in-law introduced me to The Diggers and heavy with the magic trick described in the article, of having our pints ready between walking through the door and arriving at the bar. I’ve loved 80/- ever since, and this article gives more background than the “it’s to do with tax,” that I received. All I need now is to understand the first part of the headline. Is it something to do with <a href=\"https://genius.com/The-virginmarys-youve-got-your-money-ive-got-my-soul-lyrics\">The Virginmarys</a>, and if so, what? </p>", "tags": [ "Weeknotes" ] }, { "title": "Necci dal 1924", "date_published": "2026-10-20T15:26:00+02:00", "id": "https://www.jeremycherfas.net/blog/necci-dal-1924", "url": "https://www.jeremycherfas.net/blog/necci-dal-1924", "content_html": "<p><strong>#coffeeneuring2026</strong> No. 3 20.1km round-trip</p>\n<p>I needed some new inner tubes for the Brompton, and although local bicycle shops stock them in the right size, only the LBS seems to stock Schwalbes which, in my experience, are slower to degenerate. And nearby one can get a coffee and more besides at <a href=\"https://www.openstreetmap.org/?mlat=41.889180&mlon=12.528952#map=17/41.889180/12.528952&layers=T\">Necci dal 1924</a>, an extremely hip joint despite being 102 years old.</p>\n<p><img alt=\"An espresso in a white cup on a gray table with a place mat depicting a distorted view of Rome, How Pignetans See Rome. Behind is the yellow exterior of the restaurant with the wines and menu on blackboard and an assortment of customers and waitstaff.\" class=\"u-photo\" src=\"/user/pages/03.blog/necci-dal-1924/necci-caffe.jpg\" /></p>\n<p>Necci is in the heart of an area called Pigneto, which is hemmed in by railway lines and major roads and is extremely charming, in a ramshackle kind of way. It's no surprise, for example, that the Local Brompton Shop is there. And Necci is very much a hangout rather than a conventional bar or restaurant. Students lounge at the tables, one a proper celebration for someone who had just bassed some degree or another. Fresh mums navigate their strollers, old couples, young bucks, and a solitary person with a folding bicycle.</p>\n<p><img alt=\"A folded black brompton against an ironwork gate set into a yellow wall. Through the gate can be seen a mixte bicycle chained to some railings.\" src=\"/user/pages/03.blog/necci-dal-1924/necci-brompton.jpg\" /></p>\n<p>My coffee came after a rather good gazpacho with a lump of burrata and a healthy pour of olive oil. Everything was delicious.</p>\n<div class=\"notices yellow\">\n<p>A post in compliance with The <a href=\"https://chasingmailboxes.com/2026/10/03/coffeeneuring-challenge-2026-and-were-16-basic-in-the-best-way/\">Coffeeneuring Challenge 2026</a>.</p>\n</div>", "tags": [ "Bicycle", "Coffee" ], "image": "/user/pages/03.blog/necci-dal-1924/ladri.jpg" }, { "title": "Mystery Cafè", "date_published": "2026-10-18T18:41:00+02:00", "id": "https://www.jeremycherfas.net/blog/mystery-caf%C3%A8", "url": "https://www.jeremycherfas.net/blog/mystery-caf%C3%A8", "content_html": "<p><strong>#coffeeneuring2026</strong> No. 2 10.3km round-trip</p>\n<p>Beautiful autumn Sunday afternoon, bright skies, warm, but not too warm, so out for a little ride to a new park along the Tiber. The Parco Marconi used to be a total tip 20 or so years ago when I sometimes had to walk my dog down here. Used needles, human crap and crap, lots of litter of all sorts of broken stuff, from fridges to bicycles.</p>\n<p>Anyway, it is just one example of the buckets of money spent by the city for last year's Jubilee and it is now a very pleasant space, with chairs for the sun worshippers, slides and swings for the kiddies, lots of neat green space, and a bar.</p>\n<p><img alt=\"A grey metal table on which is a tiny cup of espresso and a pastry. Behind the table is a partially-folded black Brompton bicycle with a helmet dangling from the handlebar. Behind can be seen more parked bicycles, people enjoying the space, and some greenery.\" class=\"u-photo\" src=\"/images/0/2/4/d/c/024dc4c589e08a333cb96d7f0c7d53bc1caaed4c-brompton-coffee.jpg\" /></p>\n<p>I had a coffee and a bun and sat a while in the sunshine enjoying a rather good busker with an electric piano and people watching.</p>\n<p>It was only a moment ago, when I got home, that I realised both that I had not taken a photograph of the establishment and that there was no information in any of the mapping apps I have. I mean, Open Street Map <a href=\"https://www.openstreetmap.org/?mlat=41.861627&mlon=12.473098#map=18/41.861627/12.473098&layers=T\">knows that there is a cafè there</a> but not much else. Maybe this will be my repeat visit so I can add the details.</p>\n<div class=\"notices yellow\">\n<p>A post in compliance with The <a href=\"https://chasingmailboxes.com/2026/10/03/coffeeneuring-challenge-2026-and-were-16-basic-in-the-best-way/\">Coffeeneuring Challenge 2026</a>.</p>\n</div>", "tags": [ "Bicycle", "Coffee" ], "image": "/user/pages/03.blog/mystery-cafè/brompton-coffee.jpg" }, { "title": "The Week’s Links 01", "date_published": "2026-10-16T18:56:00+02:00", "id": "https://www.jeremycherfas.net/blog/the-weeks-links-01", "url": "https://www.jeremycherfas.net/blog/the-weeks-links-01", "content_html": "<p>This is an experiment. At an online Homebrew Website Club on Wednesday talk turned to week notes, the ones we liked, why we liked them, and so on. Some are mostly personal reflections, others are mostly links, and naturally some are a mixture of both. The ones I like tend towards the linky, but when challenged to share some of the links I had myself enjoyed I couldn't. So, an experiment. Each week or thereabouts, a few links I have enjoyed for one reason or another. Here goes, with no promises.</p>\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https://www.johnhawks.net/p/modern-humans-evolved-from-an-80\">Modern humans evolved from an 80-20 mixture of two deep streams</a></strong> is a recent newsletter from John Hawks (on Substack) that pulls together evidence and speculation on early human evolution. \"Lots here,\" said <a href=\"https://appdot.net/@jgordon#.\">John Gordon</a> on Mastodon. He's not wrong.<br />\nIt is astonishing how much DNA has revealed about human origins since my own round-up was published in 1982. I have not kept up with all the details of either the evidence or the stories they tell, so there was plenty in Hawks' article that I had to slide over. Still, the idea that two human populations split about 1.5 million years ago and then came together again around 300,000 years ago, after the Neanderthals and Denisovans had split but before the emergence of modern humans, is mind-blowing. That the two populations might have thrived on different continents even more so. And it isn't just the story that is amazing, but how it makes sense of different strands of DNA-based evidence.</p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https://www.notesfromtheroad.com/europa/vendicari.html\">Vendicari and the Citrus Before Time</a></strong> is the latest chapter in Erik Gauger's story of The Citrus Kingdom. I subscribe to <a href=\"https://www.notesfromtheroad.com/feed.xml\">his feed</a>.<br />\nMy interest in human evolution evolved into a broader interest in the evolution of agriculture and crops. Erik Gauger, like some brave souls before him, is working to help mortals understand the evolution of citrus, an evolution complicated enormously by the extraordinary promiscuity of all citrus species, varieties and mongrels. In this chapter he takes us \"to the mountains where China, Myanmar and northeastern India meet, and back about eight million years\". From that vantage point, and with the wisdom of hindsight (and some DNA), it is possible to glimpse an outline of how we got to the riot of citrus we can enjoy today. Are they more diverse than modern humans? And how about his photograph of the Southern Migrant Hawker?</p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https://lithub.com/a-necessary-history-of-the-oddest-letter-w/\">A Necessary History of the Oddest Letter: W</a></strong> is an extract from the book <em>Why Q needs U</em> by Danny Bate in Literary Hub. <a href=\"https://social.vivaldi.net/@whitingx#.\">Rob Whiting</a> shared it on Mastodon.<br />\nI love this kind of stuff. If you've ever wondered why the vowel in <em>has</em> and <em>was</em> sounds so different, Bate will explain, and much more besides.</p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https://worksinprogress.co/issue/everything-rhymes-with-porcelain/\">Everything rhymes with porcelain</a></strong> is an essay by Charles C. Mann in Works in Progress Magazine. This has already been quite widely shared, I got it from <a href=\"https://bsky.app/profile/charlescmann.bsky.social\">Mann himself, on Bluesky</a>.<br />\nI love this kind of stuff too, a deep dive into a topic most people never give a moment's thought. Porcelain is one of those things that challenges my belief in evolution. As Mann explains, \"porcelain was a giant leap, a concatenation of multiple innovations\". Obviously super-intelligent aliens came down to show the simple Chinese how to do it. But no, the technology did evolve, and Mann's article shows how and accounts for the latest iterations, closer to gene editing than random mutations.</p>", "tags": [ "Weeknotes" ] }, { "title": "Frank Horvat at the Terme di Caracalla", "date_published": "2026-10-15T16:30:00+02:00", "id": "https://www.jeremycherfas.net/blog/frank-horvat-at-the-terme-di-caracalla", "url": "https://www.jeremycherfas.net/blog/frank-horvat-at-the-terme-di-caracalla", "content_html": "<p>It being a perfect autumnal morning, with warm sunshine, blue skies, and just a touch of freshness in the air, we took ourselves off to the Terme di Caracalla for a Cultural Quickie®. The primary purpose was an exhibit of photos by <a href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2020/oct/30/frank-horvat-photographer-obituary\">Frank Horvat</a> but the ruins of the baths are themselves always worth a visit.</p>\n\n<p><img alt=\"A view of some of the monochrome photographs displayed outdoors, with a woman in a blue cap and jacket and a pink scarf taking a photograph of them.\" class=\"u-photo\" src=\"/user/pages/03.blog/frank-horvat-at-the-terme-di-caracalla/show-view.jpg\" /></p>\n<p>The Terme has a unique approach to photo shows, mounting large prints, made specifically I’m sure, on both sides of a free-standing transparent block of plastic. How they stand the heat, I do not know, but the overall effect I find very pleasing.</p>\n<p>The images themselves were fascinating, and, like Gaul, divided into three parts. One arose from a commission to visit Sicily and capture some of the places that Goethe memorialised in his Italian Journey. Having been to many of those places myself, I was absolutely entranced by how Horvat had captured the essence of the views and how well they illustrated the Goethe quotations. I found myself wondering whether he had been given a very specific itinerary and list of shots wanted, or whether he read the book and decided for himself where to go and what to shoot. I also found myself wondering why I had not yet read it and putting Italian Journey on my reading list.</p>\n<p><img alt=\"A few photos of Sicily displayed in shade with a view out to blue skies and a tall brick wall of the 2nd century CE.\" src=\"/user/pages/03.blog/frank-horvat-at-the-terme-di-caracalla/sicily.jpg\" /></p>\n<p>The main section was a selection of his photos from across his career. Some were candid images and portraits, others drawn from his work as a fashion photographer. </p>\n<p><img alt=\"A view of three portraits of women with the brick walls of the baths behind\" src=\"/user/pages/03.blog/frank-horvat-at-the-terme-di-caracalla/show-view-2.jpg\" /></p>\n<p>Horvat was not the first to take classy models and swanky modes out of the studio; Norman Parkinson was a pioneer of fashion in exotic locations, as was Richard Avedon. But Horvat, unlike those two, put these gorgeous creations into very humdrum situations, where the background often consisted of local people gawping at the spectacle in front of them. In some images the bystanders were actively part of the picture, like one shot of a model accompanied by a gaggle of young children. I really loved those.</p>\n<p>The third section was devoted to Horvat’s <a href=\"https://www.studiofrankhorvat.com/photography/very-similar\">Very Similar</a>, a stunning collection of images inspired by, but by no means slavishly copying, famous works of art. I cannot find words to explain how these moved me, most notably, I think, the Fayum portrait come to life, which in the end is “just” a straightforward portrait of a woman with dark hair and simple earings, and yet ... Each of the images has a quality that is mystical and suggestive and, despite being elaborately staged, very real. Part of that may have been the <a href=\"https://www.atelier-fresson.com/home.htm\">Fresson printing process</a>, though it wasn’t clear whether the images on view had been printed that way or were digital reproductions of the original Fresson prints. In any case, I was too overawed to attempt a photo of the images.</p>\n<p><img alt=\"Part of a fresco showing two deer on either side of an ornamental urn, set upon a platform and surrounded by red bands of decoration. To the left is a female figure.\" class=\".img-fullwidth\" src=\"/images/8/5/1/1/4/85114cb3138c41e5bce7ec6354e2c919bee2276a-fresco.jpeg\" /></p>\n<p>Then of course there are the ruins. They are massive, and there is still a lot of structure left, so whenever I am there my head fills with an endless chatter of unanswerable questions. How did this bit work? Where did the wood come from to heat the water? How often did ordinary Romans come here rather than their local baths? What plots might have been hatched, or deals done? </p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Wide angle view of a shallow reflecting pool with small fountains and a platform in the middle of one side, like a stage. Behind are umbrella pines and other dark green trees and there are people sitting on chairs and benches.\" src=\"/user/pages/03.blog/frank-horvat-at-the-terme-di-caracalla/pool.jpg\" /></p>\n<p>The ruins are set in a park, with the statutory umbrella pines and, recently, a lovely pool with small burbling fountains. Allow me a small gripe. Entrance to the Terme and exhibit is €10, and that is worth it. I think you have to pay that just to sit in the park, and that seems outrageous. I believe it would go a long way to ameliorating the worst excesses of super-tourism if residents of Rome were allowed free, or highly subsidised, access to at least some parts of the city that are currently off limits. This would be one. The Pantheon should be another. And the thing I miss most of all, the freedom to walk through the Forum between the Campidoglio and the Colosseum. </p>\n<p>Give me those, and I swear I’ll never complain about the jammed streets, horrible little golf carts, rapacious coffee bars or drunken children ever again.</p>", "tags": [ "General" ], "image": "/user/pages/03.blog/frank-horvat-at-the-terme-di-caracalla/fresco.jpeg" }, { "title": "Cafè du Parc", "date_published": "2026-10-14T17:32:00+02:00", "id": "https://www.jeremycherfas.net/blog/caf%C3%A8-du-parc", "url": "https://www.jeremycherfas.net/blog/caf%C3%A8-du-parc", "content_html": "<p><strong>#coffeeneuring2026</strong> No. 1 16.3km round-trip</p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https://chasingmailboxes.com/2026/10/03/coffeeneuring-challenge-2026-and-were-16-basic-in-the-best-way/\">Coffeeneuring Challenge 2026</a><br />\nkicked off a few days ago, and after dithering last year, this year I’m resolved to give it a go. So, between now and 25 November eight rides to seven (or eight) beverage-serving locations, no more than two a week, and despite clocking the first ride today, I’m saying the week started on Monday 12 October.</p>\n\n<p>One reason I didn’t participate last time was because it really is no big deal getting an excellent coffee here in Rome. More or less every corner bar will do a very acceptable espresso and cappucino and much else besides. You really have to go out of your way or order something absurd for it to be bad. So going out on my bicycle <em>for a coffee</em> just seems silly. On the other hand, there are a few beverage-serving locations that are more than the beverage. I’ve thought of three already and I’m sure I can come up with another four or five by the end of the challenge and arrange to visit them while running other errands.</p>\n<h2>café du parc</h2>\n<p><img alt=\"A view of a bar at the side of a busy road. Several people are sitting at small tables in front of the building and leafy plane trees overhang the scene.\" src=\"/user/pages/03.blog/cafè-du-parc/IMG_0472-rrp.jpg\" /><br />\n<a href=\"https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=18/41.877498/12.480769&layers=T\">On the edge of a busy road</a> but backed by a nice green park with benches, tables, and umbrellas out in the park as well as in front of the building, this is bit of a hipster spot although I didn’t feel at all unwelcome.</p>\n<p><img alt=\"Two bicycles resting on staple racks with road traffic and people behind them and, out of focus in the foreground, a small white espresso cup, a slice of banana bread with a fork and a na pkin, and a glass of water on a slatted wooden table.\" src=\"/images/d/d/e/0/2/dde02a9eedcf9924e4c54e0a1ae4e0ccead4a7e5-img0471-rrp.jpg\" /><br />\nI had a <em>caffè lungo</em> and a slice of very good, fresh, homemade banana bread and cycled home suitably refreshed and restored.</p>\n<h2><rant></h2>\n<p>While we’re about it, I need to vent about my Apple Watch and iPhone. A week ago I moaned that the Outdoor Cycling workout was failing to record speed or distance, although it was drawing a map of the route, so clearly it was connected to GPS. Since then I’ve tried absolutely everything — force restart watch, force restart phone, unpair and re-pair watch, sacrifice a black-skinned chicken — with no effect whatsoever. Today was no different. Of course I have ways of recording distance and extracting pace, should I want to, but that’s hardly the point. The point is that Apple stuff used to Just Work. Increasingly now, it doesn’t. But while I am still happy to be a prisoner in the velvet-lined Apple cage, I don’t want to hand my data over to Strava or whoever just because it can feed into Apple Health. I’ll find a way.</p>\n<h2><rant /></h2>", "tags": [ "Bicycle", "Coffee" ], "image": "/user/pages/03.blog/cafè-du-parc/IMG_0471-rrp.jpg" }, { "title": "To the beach for lunch", "date_published": "2026-10-07T18:34:00+02:00", "id": "https://www.jeremycherfas.net/blog/to-the-beach-for-lunch", "url": "https://www.jeremycherfas.net/blog/to-the-beach-for-lunch", "content_html": "<p>⏱️ ~05:30 total (? actual) ⇄ 57.7km ⌀ ?km/h ↗ 11m ↘ ?m</p>\n<p>Group outing on Sunday with <a href=\"https://www.ruotalibera.org\">FIAB Ruotalibera</a>, from Cesano di Roma station to Parco Leonardo station. Perfect day for it, sunny but not too hot, although the technology let me down.</p>\n\n<p>I've missed lots of FIAB excursions this year for a variety of reasons, mostly being too busy at the weekend, but this was one I was looking forward to. I know the area well, having lived nearby for a while before moving into Rome, and was excited to see what tricky route they had planned to avoid the main road down to the coast. None. We just barreled down that road, easy as pie, and although there were some drivers who just couldn't bear the thought of having to slow down for a bunch of cyclists, most were very polite. There is also a lot of security in being part of a group, even strung out in single file. </p>\n<p>Unfortunately, my Watch refused to track either distance or average speed. Of course I shouldn't worry about the lack of measurements -- as I said it was a great ride -- but I do have a slightly obsessive streak and it annoys me. However, by one of those lovely coincidences, today someone pointed to <a href=\"https://trailreplay.com/\">TrailReplay</a>, a really great tool.<sup id=\"fnref1:1\"><a href=\"#fn:1\" class=\"footnote-ref\">1</a></sup> Feed it a GPX track and it creates an animated fly-through of the journey. Some time ago, when playing with such matters, I had written a little program to extract a track from Overland data. I uploaded that and a few photos (which it added at the correct location), made a few stylistic choices, and the result is what you see here.</p>\n<p><video controls=\"controls\" class=\"center\" aria-label=\"Animated fly-through of cycle route, one minute long\"><source src=\"/user/pages/03.blog/to-the-beach-for-lunch/trail-replay-640.mov\">Your browser does not support the video tag.</video></p>\n<p>The original plan was to return via Maccarese station after lunch at the beach, but it was such a nice day we decided to go on towards Fiumicino airport and come home <em>via</em> a different station. In the end, the group went into town to get an ice-cream but I had had about enough, so we parted company and I made my own way to the train and home.</p>\n<p>I don't really recommend the ride around the airport, though I have done it a few times. It is just too boring and seemingly endless, and planes taking off over your head is not that exciting after the first one. Still, one of the other riders snapped this shot, which gives a flavour.</p>\n<p><img alt=\"Two cyclists on a cycle path. Behind them is the barbed wire fence of an airport and above them an airplane with a bright blue fuselage and red, white, and green flash on the tail. The sky is a paler blue with whispy clouds.\" src=\"/images/a/4/8/f/f/a48ff28764a4e35d08e1f4b3f50a5614327babf6-plane-overhead.jpeg\" /></p>\n<div class=\"footnotes\">\n<hr />\n<ol>\n<li id=\"fn:1\">\n<p>I immediately tried to buy the developer a coffee, but Ko-Fi was having none of it. Next time. <a href=\"#fnref1:1\" rev=\"footnote\" class=\"footnote-backref\">↩</a></p>\n</li>\n</ol>\n</div>", "tags": [ "Bicycle" ], "image": "/user/pages/03.blog/to-the-beach-for-lunch/plane-overhead.jpeg" }, { "title": "Monthly report: September 2026", "date_published": "2026-10-05T18:36:00+02:00", "id": "https://www.jeremycherfas.net/blog/monthly-report-2026-09", "url": "https://www.jeremycherfas.net/blog/monthly-report-2026-09", "content_html": "<p>Travel at the start, travel at the end, and in between enjoying some slightly fresher weather at home.</p>\n\n<h2>Highlights of the month:</h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The Burrell Collection, my favourite museum in the whole world</li>\n<li>Left my phone in a taxi. Recovered after we had left and retrieved by a cyberchum</li>\n<li>Provisioning a new iPhone is remarkably easy</li>\n<li>A couple of days meeting new friends, with music</li>\n<li>Slow Horses</li>\n<li>Worked with Claude to fix various comments problems</li>\n<li>The Echo Chamber was the worst film I have endured in a long time, and not in a good way</li>\n<li>Bicycle ridden</li>\n<li>Art seen; Temple, Padua, and Venice</li>\n<li>Reached a full 30 minutes jog, though not 5k</li>\n</ul>\n<h3>Activities</h3>\n<p>Somewhat amazed to have reached the end of the NHS Couch to 5k plan, having blown up only once and, since then, enforced my old man shuffle. Now need to decide whether to persevere to the full 5k, which I estimate will require me to jog for around 45 minutes, i.e. half as long again. If I do, how many increases? And what music? With what coaching?</p>\n<h4>September:</h4>\n<ul>\n<li>Run: 12</li>\n<li>Reading: 15</li>\n<li>Steps (avge): 8568</li>\n<li>Podcasts: 9 (all of them <a href=\"https://www.jeremycherfas.net/listens\">logged</a>)</li>\n<li>In bed/asleep 8:09/7:59</li>\n<li>Cycled: 2</li>\n<li>Weight (avge): 91.4</li>\n<li>Naps: 23</li>\n<li>Walking with sticks: 0</li>\n</ul>\n<h4>August:</h4>\n<ul>\n<li>Run: 12</li>\n<li>Reading: 22</li>\n<li>Steps (avge): 7792</li>\n<li>Podcasts: 13 (all of them <a href=\"https://www.jeremycherfas.net/listens\">logged</a>)</li>\n<li>In bed/asleep 7:30/7:21</li>\n<li>Cycled: 0</li>\n<li>Weight (avge): 90.6</li>\n<li>Naps: 27</li>\n<li>Walking with sticks: 0</li>\n</ul>\n<h3>Stuff Done</h3>\n<p>As little logged this month as in July. Claude continues to help me smooth out some rough patches in my use of the computer, though I do wish I could buy tokens rather than subscribe. Mind you, I have no idea how many tokens what I've done would require. Or, really, what a token even is. Happy to note that the guerilla garden downstairs seems to be thriving, especially the irises.</p>\n<h4>Hours logged per month</h4>\n<p><img alt=\"Graph of total hours worked each month since January 2022\" src=\"/user/pages/03.blog/monthly-report-2026-09/hours-logged-2022-2026-09.svg\" /></p>\n<h4>Percent of logged hours</h4>\n<p><img alt=\"Percentage of hours logged for Admin, Podcasts and Writing\" src=\"/user/pages/03.blog/monthly-report-2026-09/percents-2026.svg\" /></p>\n<p>Previous years are still on <a href=\"https://jeremycherfas.net/blog/working-life\">an archive page</a>.</p>\n<h3>Goals</h3>\n<p>Managed only six posts here. Could have been more, but I see no real point in telling the world what Claude and I have been up to. A point of difficulty has been managing the terrace. Too hot during the day, and by the time evening rolls around I am too tired and it gets dark too quickly. Now that the days are cooler, and with the Squeeze scheduled to be away for a couple of days, I will make an extra effort.</p>\n<h3>Niggles</h3>\n<p>None? Again? </p>\n<h3>Final remarks</h3>\n<p>I would trumpet the sheer pleasure of my current life were it not for a stupid lingering fear of angering the dogs. No, fuck it. I am living a great life.</p>\n<hr />\n<h2>Here’s the table</h2>\n<details>\n<summary style=\"font-size: smaller;\">Click the triangle to see or hide the table</summary>\n<table class=\"worktable\">\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th style=\"text-align: right;\" class=\"bigrow\">Month</th>\n<th style=\"text-align: center;\" class=\"bigrow\">Total</th>\n<th style=\"text-align: center;\" class=\"smallrow\">Daily</th>\n<th style=\"text-align: center;\"class=\"smallrow\">Admin %</th>\n<th style=\"text-align: center;\"class=\"smallrow\">ETP %</th>\n<th style=\"text-align: center;\"class=\"smallrow\">Writing %</th>\n<th style=\"text-align: center;\"class=\"smallrow\">Other %</th>\n</tr>\n</thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"text-align: right;\">09</td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">51.8</td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">1.75</td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">32</td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">40</td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">24</td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">4</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"text-align: right;\">08</td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">98.7</td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">4.9</td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">47</td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">18</td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">27</td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">8</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"text-align: right;\">07</td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">51.75</td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">3.7</td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">68</td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">17</td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">12</td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">3</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"text-align: right;\">06</td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">102.75</td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">4.25</td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">42</td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">16</td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">38</td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">4</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"text-align: right;\">05</td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">96.4</td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">4.0</td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">46</td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">36</td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">17</td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">1</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"text-align: right;\">04</td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">67.75</td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">3.05</td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">58</td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">32</td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">10</td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">0</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"text-align: right;\">03</td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">103.3</td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">4.75</td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">58</td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">29</td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">13</td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">0</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"text-align: right;\">02</td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">112.3</td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">4.9</td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">57</td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">28</td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">14</td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">1</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"text-align: right;\">2026-01</td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">54.25</td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">4.2</td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">56</td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">9</td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">35</td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">0</td>\n</tr>\n</tbody>\n</table>\n</details>", "tags": [ "Monthlies" ] }, { "title": "Knitting, crochet and podcasts", "date_published": "2026-09-25T18:10:00+02:00", "id": "https://www.jeremycherfas.net/blog/knitting-crochet-and-podcasts", "url": "https://www.jeremycherfas.net/blog/knitting-crochet-and-podcasts", "content_html": "<p>I just listened to Avery Trufelman’s podcast <a href=\"https://overcast.fm/+AARIdT6k-yg\">Lace and Labor</a>. What a banger. An absolutely thrilling episode for all sorts of reasons. </p>\n\n<p>For a start, I loved the idea that just as the machines came for hand knitting, they have come for podcasting. So Avery Trufelman got two smooth-talking faux-hosts to talk about the history of knitting. No idea what kind of prompts she used, but the results were both fun and indicative of the vast distance between Trufelman’s own art and a stochastic parrot’s version; close, but not nearly close enough.</p>\n<p>I was reminded of my own attempt, long ago (1995) and far away, to do something similar. <a href=\"https://www.organicresearchcentre.com/news-events/news/richard-sanders/\">Richard Sanders</a> and I made a programme for Farming Today on BBC Radio Four about the modern peasant and various practitioners who were not ashamed to call themselves peasants. I came up with the cracking wheeze of getting my swanky Apple computer to speak out loud the email replies I got from one of them, which Richard would otherwise probably have voiced. It worked (although alas, no trace of the show remains today).</p>\n<p>Anyway, Avery Trufelman’s episode also pointed out that as the knitting machines improved, knitters applied human ingenuity to come up with patterns and colours, like <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_Isle_(knitting)\">Fair Isle</a>, that the machines couldn’t do. At least, not for a while. Eventually, of course, human ingenuity and machines proved more than a match for human ingenuity and hands, except in one respect.</p>\n<p>Crochet!</p>\n<p>I’d never really thought about it, but because it uses a single needle, there is no way a machine can copy the moves fingers and yarn make around the hook. They can knit something that looks a lot like crochet, but unlike actual crochet, fake crochet looks different on its two sides. Only one of them resembles crochet.</p>\n<p>Another aspect of the story that I had been completely unaware of is the role of crochet in the Irish Potato Famine. Women and girls saved many destitute families by making Irish crochet lace, They were paid a pittance, their produce brought high prices from the English elite, and middlemen raked in the profit. Their skills went with them as they emigrated, often providing the income to get started on a new life wherever they landed.</p>\n<p>There was so much more of interest in the episode, most notably the different status of knitting and crochet at different times and among different social strata. A perfect example of grabbing something seemingly everyday and letting it take you where it will. A pleasure in every way.</p>\n<p>Meta-conclusions too forced themselves on me as I listened. The vast bulk of current podcasts is like Fair Isle, human ingenuity outrunning the machines, for now. And the day has already dawned in which you can create a million knitting machine knock-offs paying only a pittance to the people who manage the machines. But my own podcast and many others, like Avery Trufelman’s Articles of Interest, are pieces of crochet, a permanent revolution against the machine. </p>", "tags": [ "General" ] }, { "title": "Back on my Bicycle", "date_published": "2026-09-20T14:23:00+02:00", "id": "https://www.jeremycherfas.net/blog/back-on-my-bicycle", "url": "https://www.jeremycherfas.net/blog/back-on-my-bicycle", "content_html": "<p>⏱️ 02:17 total (1:40 actual) ⇄28.9km ⌀17.2km/h ↗109m ↘?m</p>\n<p>At last, the weather was cool enough to go for a bike ride at a reasonable hour. </p>\n\n<p>I stopped early on at the still new park along the river for coffee and a bun to fortify me. There was a gaggle of cyclists already there, mostly MAMILs, and I was dead chuffed when one came over and asked if he could lift my bike.</p>\n<p>“Complimenti,” he said, then beckoned his friend over to guess how much it weighs. His friend was more interested in the suicide levers, not to mention the rim brakes, and then both repaired to their tricked out gravel bikes and rode off into town.</p>\n<p><img alt=\"Map of route\" style=\"float: left; padding-right: var(--s0);\" src=\"/user/pages/03.blog/back-on-my-bicycle/ride-2026-09-20.jpeg\"> Off I went, along my usual southerly route. It was all very familiar; the miscanthus and other grasses creeping slowly onto the cycle path, the sweet medicine of the eucalyptus trees, the feral cat encampments, the old horse stables. Some changes too, mostly the sharp smell lingering over the bits of scrub that had burned over the summer.</p>\n<p>The climb back home wasn’t as difficult as I expected after the long pause, but that raises another point. A few weeks back, after an extremely idle June and July, for a lark I thought I might restart the NHS Couch to 5k plan and see whether at my advanced age I could get myself jogging again. I could, but that’s not the point. </p>\n<p><img alt=\"Graph of declining cardio fitness\" style=\"float: right; padding-left: var(--s0);\" src=\"/user/pages/03.blog/back-on-my-bicycle/cardio-2026-09-20.jpeg\"> Cardio Fitness is the point. </p>\n<p>Apple Health estimates it from heart rate and motion data, courtesy of the Watch. And to my great surprise, my cardio fitness has actually gone down from a peak of 29.8 in mid-June to 26.9 after yesterday’s jog. Somehow, in getting from barely being able to jog for 60 seconds to sustaining a 25 minute session, my cardio fitness has dropped. That makes no sense at all, so for now I am choosing to believe that the estimate is wrong. In that, I am not alone. Lots of people seem to have the same complaint, and one reason seems to be that Apple reduces the measure simply because you are older. I did have a birthday in June, but at least <a href=\"https://www.trainermetrics.com/fitness-assessment-calculations/vo2max-one-mile-walk/\">one chart</a> gives a top age-range band from 66 to 100 years old. Maybe Apple has its own age bands, but it still seems rather odd that getting fitter has reduced its estimate of my cardio fitness. Most likely, Apple’s estimate is crap.</p>", "tags": [ "Bicycle" ], "image": "/user/pages/03.blog/back-on-my-bicycle/cardio-2026-09-20.jpeg" } ] }