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Marcin Wichary

@aresluna.org

he+him / Writing about software craft and quality: unsung.aresluna.org / Wrote a book about the history of keyboards: shifthappens.site / Design @figma / Typographer / Occasional speaker / Chicagoan in training

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Latest posts by Marcin Wichary @aresluna.org

Thanks for sharing! It probably made perfect sense at the time to design it to do that, too.

10.03.2026 13:07 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
πŸ“… Calendar Emoji | Meaning, Copy And Paste A single date on a calendar. Generally depicted as a page torn off from a daily desk calendar, displaying month and day on a white, square page. Like πŸ“†...

You can see how this emoji renders on different platforms here: emojipedia.org/calendar#des...

09.03.2026 23:00 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

In Apple’s defense, I understand that when they added those function keys, they said in a normal Mac OS context they are for the *users* and apps shouldn’t bind to them – which is in contrast to DOS and Windows where apps just used them themselves.

09.03.2026 18:46 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

On macOS’s side, there is at least a relatively easy built-in option to switch the modifier keys to behave more like a PC’s.

09.03.2026 16:58 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Welp, I did it. bsky.app/profile/did:...

09.03.2026 16:44 πŸ‘ 7 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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I don’t know what is Apple’s endgame for the Fn/Globe key, and I’m not sure Apple knows either The origin and the evolution of the most confusing modifier key

I wrote an essay about the history of the [Fn] key, and my annoyance with how Apple has been handling it for the last many years.

Hope you enjoy it! aresluna.org/fn/

09.03.2026 16:11 πŸ‘ 47 πŸ” 8 πŸ’¬ 5 πŸ“Œ 2

Thanks! You’re right. A lot of it was β€œbad ass rathr than just bad” coded.

I felt BCS also kind of glossed over the years when Saul Goodman was supposed to be despicable. To me the character didn’t fully connect to its BB version because it felt too sympathetic overall.

07.03.2026 04:01 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

This is a great take! Do you think this is because of the last episode, or more of a challenge throughout the series?

07.03.2026 03:55 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

These look great.

05.03.2026 19:44 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Thanks!!!

05.03.2026 17:36 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Yeah, exactly. It’s somewhere down on my list! The work never ends.

05.03.2026 17:34 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

The author seems like a nice guy! We exchanged a few notes.

05.03.2026 17:34 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

BTW I intentionally started with Montaigne even though its styling is pretty minimal – wanted to develop a habit of posting for a few months and seeing how it feels before I β€œlaunch” and develop custom tooling. This was another 180 from how I usually do things.

05.03.2026 17:33 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

I am on DreamHost now, but I wonder if I should branch out. I see it struggle weirdly sometimes.

Trying to pick one battle at a time haha

05.03.2026 17:32 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Yeah, that’s more or less what I’m doing now. I am wondering if it might be interesting to synthesize an animated GIF/AVIF thumbnail with a few frames, but I understand it’s not possible to embed it in the email.

05.03.2026 17:32 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

I love chaining little tools like curl, ffmpeg, imagemagick etc. to do image thumbnails, grab data, etc.

05.03.2026 17:31 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

How can I play

05.03.2026 17:29 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Whoa! That’s really cool. So the data is there actually!!!!!

05.03.2026 17:29 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Videos have been a big pain so far. I don’t know how to output them well in the weekly newsletter (ran via Buttondown), and even on the web they seem to burn some browsers. But I really wanted to try not to add too much JavaScript to Unsung – another self-imposed constraint.

05.03.2026 17:25 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

The whole thing is very retro in many ways (intentionally or not).

05.03.2026 17:22 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

I mostly wanted to try something different after like ~30 years of authoring in raw HTML.

05.03.2026 17:21 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

That’s the same author as Montaigne, so probably related!

05.03.2026 17:20 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

And I literally sync static files to the server (in a very dumb way right now).

Inside Notes, now I also have my own little silly markup on top, like:
[images side by side]
[use next image as thumbnail]
[next video is retina]

etc.

I just keep improving it bit by bit over time.

05.03.2026 17:20 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0

↑ Yep, thanks! Also explored Quotion in between, which is similar to Montaigne (also syncs from Apple Notes using a shared folder), but its style was too corporate to me.

Also, I realized that I actually don’t need to do complex sync via shared notes, so my Notes are all just processed locally.

05.03.2026 17:19 πŸ‘ 5 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

You just know he’s jerking off at home practicing these lines.

04.03.2026 14:32 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Internecine.
Diegetic.
Vis-Γ -vis (in preposition form).

03.03.2026 05:37 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 1

I haven’t heard of them until last month! But Apple II basically didn’t exist in Poland.

02.03.2026 01:08 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
β€œOur programs are fun to use.” – Unsung A blog about software craft and quality

little post about Beagle Bros, perhaps the most fun 1980s software company. unsung.aresluna.org/our-programs...

02.03.2026 00:29 πŸ‘ 5 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 1
Images of an old silver 1999 Toyota Corolla for sale

Images of an old silver 1999 Toyota Corolla for sale

You want a car that gets the job done? You want a car that's hassle free? You want a car that literally no one will ever compliment you on? Well look no further.
The 1999 Toyota Corolla.
Let's talk about features.
Bluetooth: nope
Sunroof: nope
Fancy wheels: nope
Rear view camera: nope...but it's got a transparent rear window and you have a fucking neck that can turn.
Let me tell you a story. One day my Corolla started making a strange sound. I didn't give a shit and ignored it. It went away. The End.
You could take the engine out of this car, drop it off the Golden Gate Bridge, fish it out of the water a thousand years later, put it in the trunk of the car, fill the gas tank up with Nutella, turn the key, and this puppy would fucking start right up.
This car will outlive you, it will outlive your children.
Things this car is old enough to do:
Vote: yes

You want a car that gets the job done? You want a car that's hassle free? You want a car that literally no one will ever compliment you on? Well look no further. The 1999 Toyota Corolla. Let's talk about features. Bluetooth: nope Sunroof: nope Fancy wheels: nope Rear view camera: nope...but it's got a transparent rear window and you have a fucking neck that can turn. Let me tell you a story. One day my Corolla started making a strange sound. I didn't give a shit and ignored it. It went away. The End. You could take the engine out of this car, drop it off the Golden Gate Bridge, fish it out of the water a thousand years later, put it in the trunk of the car, fill the gas tank up with Nutella, turn the key, and this puppy would fucking start right up. This car will outlive you, it will outlive your children. Things this car is old enough to do: Vote: yes

Consent to sex: yes
Rent a car: it IS a car
This car's got history. It's seen some shit. People have done straight things in this car. People have done gay things in this car. It's not going to judge you like a fucking Volkswagen would.
Interesting facts:
This car's exterior color is gray, but it's interior color is grey.
In the owner's manual, oil is listed as "optional."
When this car was unveiled at the 1998 Detroit Auto Show, it caused all 2,000 attendees to spontaneously yawn. The resulting abrupt change in air pressure inside the building caused a partial collapse of the roof. Four people died. The event is chronicled in the documentary "Bored to Death: The Story of the 1999 Toyota Corolla
You wanna know more? Great, I had my car fill out a Facebook survey.
Favorite food: spaghetti
Favorite tv show: Alf
Favorite band: tie between Bush and the Gin Blossoms
This car is as practical as a Roth IRA. It's as middle-of-the-

Consent to sex: yes Rent a car: it IS a car This car's got history. It's seen some shit. People have done straight things in this car. People have done gay things in this car. It's not going to judge you like a fucking Volkswagen would. Interesting facts: This car's exterior color is gray, but it's interior color is grey. In the owner's manual, oil is listed as "optional." When this car was unveiled at the 1998 Detroit Auto Show, it caused all 2,000 attendees to spontaneously yawn. The resulting abrupt change in air pressure inside the building caused a partial collapse of the roof. Four people died. The event is chronicled in the documentary "Bored to Death: The Story of the 1999 Toyota Corolla You wanna know more? Great, I had my car fill out a Facebook survey. Favorite food: spaghetti Favorite tv show: Alf Favorite band: tie between Bush and the Gin Blossoms This car is as practical as a Roth IRA. It's as middle-of-the-

When I ran the CarFax for this car, I got back a single piece of paper that said, "It's a Corolla, It's fine."
Let's face the facts, this car isn't going to win any beauty contests, but neither are you. Stop lying to yourself and stop lying to your wife. This isn't the car you want, it's the car you deserve: The fucking 1999 Toyota Corolla.

Google map of cars location

When I ran the CarFax for this car, I got back a single piece of paper that said, "It's a Corolla, It's fine." Let's face the facts, this car isn't going to win any beauty contests, but neither are you. Stop lying to yourself and stop lying to your wife. This isn't the car you want, it's the car you deserve: The fucking 1999 Toyota Corolla. Google map of cars location

Never forget: 8 years ago a random person on Craigslist wrote the most effective ad for the Toyota Corolla, ever.

01.03.2026 05:22 πŸ‘ 1770 πŸ” 524 πŸ’¬ 40 πŸ“Œ 47

This is so good.

01.03.2026 05:28 πŸ‘ 8 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0