Soirée

Spent the evening at a friend’s place—another sailor gearing up for the season. We traded plans for boat tweaks, from small fixes to ambitious upgrades, both of us already half‑living in the months ahead.

The surprise highlight was dinner. I learned a new way to cook steak on a wood stove: steady heat, smoke pulled cleanly away by the draft, and a perfect, subtle wood‑fired flavor. Simple, clever, and absolutely delicious.

Good boats, good talk, good food. A solid night.

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Via Hackernews, an interesting take on reliable communication versus entertainment.

ploum.net/2025-12-15-communication-entertainment.html

Summary:
Communication didn’t disappear — it was replaced by entertainment. Ploum argues that most people now treat social platforms, ActivityPub included, as content feeds rather than communication tools. Reliability no longer matters; scrolling does. Email is the last dependable medium, and those who still value real communication retreat to quieter spaces like blogs, RSS, and mailing lists.

Spain at S5, Sounding Like S9

Radio Exterior de España on 17,715 kHz is rolling in today with that rare shortwave magic: an S5 signal that sounds absolutely pristine. No flutter, no fade, just clean, steady audio riding the bands like it owns them. Moments like this remind you why tuning the dial never gets old.

Meanwhile, the ionosphere isn’t quite hot enough to pull in the BBC relay from Ascension Island on 17,670 kHz, which is not getting through the noise. Funny how the bands pick their favourites.

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The house feels whole again tonight. Everyone’s finally back under one roof. The noise, the clutter, the familiar rhythm—it’s all here, and it’s exactly what I didn’t realize I was missing. Nothing extravagant, just the quiet relief of togetherness. Tonight, that’s enough.