R.L. Dane

I Loved Computers Before the Internet was a Thing

2026-04-10T12:45:00-05:00

A reconstruction of the Commodore 64's BASIC prompt, adapted from Wikipedia

I loved computers before the internet was a thing, and I will continue enjoying them long after the internet becomes an unusable hellhole of mass surveillance, age verification, deplorably invasive technical "standards," and hyper-aggressive advertising.

I've seen truly enormous triumphs in "personal" computing over my lifetime. Computers went from monstrous lumbering machines hidden away in a handful of bright computer rooms in each city to inscrutable-but-inviting beige boxes you could bring home for the price of a used car, to appealing gadgets you could carry in your backpack (or later, in an oversized pocket), to sleek-aluminum-slab status symbols, and finally, to glass rectangles used mostly passively, as a successor to the television, which you can carry with you everywhere.

At the same time, the Internet went from a distant promise, hidden in university and military facilities, and hinted at in the delightfully oblique world of bulletin board services, to an inviting, new, but still cryptic realm to be explored on the mysterious terminals and UNIX workstations at Universities, to something you'd occasionally dial into from home, to a permanent "utility" you'd install at home via cable, DSL, or finally fiber optic line, and eventually, to this magical, mysterious, ever-present wireless subspace realm that is accessible to you at any place or time you should so choose.

But before the internet was a thing, before any kind of online services were readily available, I was enjoy hours in front of my computer with only a literal handful of games and the ever-inviting, but hella unwieldy BASIC interpreter (and later, the absolute glory of HyperCard).

I think this might be difficult for a young person to understand, because unfortunately, it has become very normative for people to use computing devices in a very passive way. The chief machine-human interaction paradigm has gone from a placid and open "What would you like to do today?" to a more controlling "Here is what you should read, watch, and be upset about right this second." We've gone from a textual paradigm to a graphical paradigm to now a feed paradigm, and it is the purpose of the feed to force-feed you as much information (and advertising) as possible.

It's the worst.

But sitting in front of a computer in 1985 or 1995? Limitless possibilities. An invitation to truly understand the machine, and not just be a passive consumer of human or machine-made slop.

But fortunately, human-centric, human-empowering computing hasn't gone anywhere. While both major computer operating systems (Windows and MacOS) and both major mobile operating systems (Android and iOS/iPadOS) are all pretty terrible from the perspective of letting the user to do what they wish with the device that they themselves purchased, there are excellent alternatives (at least in the non-mobile space) that are still user-centric, rather than corporate-centric and invasive. Linux distributions, the various BSDs, Haiku, and others are all worth looking into, and very enjoyable in their own right, although they all have their own individual strengths and weaknesses, as you would expect.

So, in the midst of the encroaching Digital Dark Age, there are still plenty of ways to enjoy truly personal computing without having a constant corporate nanny trying to bug you to spend money on something, watch something, think something, or believe something.

And even if the Digital Dark Age becomes so bad that the Internet itself becomes an unusable heap of nonsense, computing itself is an enjoyable pastime, and will be viable, even if we have to construct computers out of sticks and leaves while foraging for non-irradiated Hershey's bars. 😄

The Cowardice Snowball

2026-04-09T09:03:00-05:00

Content Warning: Discussion of fascism, modern U.S. politics, and a bible quote

Background

Back around 2011, there was a bible verse that was working its way through my cognitive machinery:

Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, I have no pleasure in them;
before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened and the clouds return after the rain,
in the day when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those who look through the windows are dimmed,
and the doors on the street are shut, when the sound of the grinding is low, and one rises up at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of song are brought low
they are afraid also of what is high, and terrors are in the way; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along, and desire fails, because man is going to his eternal home, and the mourners go about the streets
before the silver cord is snapped, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern,
and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher; all is vanity.
—Ecclesiastes 12:1-8 (English Standard Version), emphasis added

Now, what I missed initially (and realized soon after) was that the entire passage is an analogy for aging: light being darkened, windows dimmed (vision loss), grinders ceasing (tooth loss), etc. And yet, there was an existential dread creeping upon my soul, a gut feeling that the world was heading towards very tumultuous and unpleasant times.

Last night, as I was contemplating the fact that I have now had the dubious honor of living long enough to see the U.S.A. turned into a fascist oligarchy that threatens other nations with genocide* in order to protect its Pyrrhic petroleum empire, I started thinking about the events of the past decade...

* Donald Trump's statement, in verbatim:

A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don't want that to happen, but it probably will. However, now that we have Complete and Total Regime Change, where different, smarter, and less radicalized minds prevail, maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen, WHO KNOWS? We will find out tonight, one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the World. 47 years of extortion, corruption, and death, will finally end. God Bless the Great People of Iran!
—The President's post from "Truth" Social, via Snopes

The first Flake of the Snowball

Former U.S. Senator Jeff Flake, the moment his soul left him. September 2018

The thing is, a nation does not get into the state we find it in today because of a single act of treachery. It is a long decline marked by the cowardice and moral compromise of those who could have done something.

And thus we get to Jeff Flake. I am neither a Political Philosophy expert, nor a historian, but the Kavanaugh hearings seem to have been a fulcrum in our nation's history. It was a point at which any number of people could have done something, with relatively small repercussions, but chose not to.

Watching the hearings, you could tell that Senator Flake's conscience was rasping him, hard. But he did the bare minimum, and not nearly enough. He could have stopped the madness, stopped the "progress" of the Trump machine, could have blocked the appointment of a Supreme Court justice that so obviously did not have the character of a Justice, but was a creep, an alleged rapist, and a deeply partisan demagogue with vengeful rhetoric.

But he didn't. He tried to slow things down a little bit, tried to test the waters, but ultimately folded like a cheap card table.

I would like to propose a formula that helps define what I'm calling the "Cowardice Snowball," which is what I'm calling this phenomenon:

(the potential positive outcome) ➗ (the potential repercussions)

For someone like Jeff Flake, the potential good from standing up to Trump was massive. He could have potentially redirected the political discourse of the entire country by speaking up. The potential repercussions were bad, but not life-threatening. He could have lost his job, but he didn't run for re-election anyway! He could have maybe been hounded by the "deplorables." There would have been an extremely low risk of loss of life or even income, and no risk of incarceration.

Now the snowball has rolled on for nearly eight years. The cowards have all folded. That leaves it up to you and me to stop this madness, somehow. But how? How's the formula looking for you and me?

Potential positive outcome: I might influence someone, probably not someone important. I might somehow contribute a very small amount to the groundswell of resistance against fascism.
Potential repercussions: Extremely high. Violence, persecution, incarceration, even death. There's no telling. The machinery in support for this monster is extensive, and powerful, and the person I talk to while out for a walk could decide to report my anti-fascist words to someone who could come after me. That's increasingly a reality.

So, the longer this goes on, the lower the reward ratio for action becomes (lower positives ÷ higher repercussions). It starts off high, and gets lower and lower, roughly resembling a logarithmic graph:

Mostly made-up/arbitrary example graph, courtesy of Wolfram Alpha

The only reasonably safe way to pursue change, I suppose, is... very carefully, and very slowly.

It did not have to be this way, but here we are.

I Miss My Hometown

2026-04-06T09:42:00-05:00

Image of the Cactus Cafe, taken from Wikipedia

I went to a live music venue (really just a restaurant with a sizable enclosed patio and questionable sound system) with some family and friends a couple nights ago, and as we were sitting, sipping our drinks and waiting for the primary act to come onstage, a member of our party leaned over after glancing around and said, "This is a new experience for me." I replied, "Not for me. I grew up here."

Now, of course, I wasn't talking about that particular questionable venue, nor indeed the city we're in, as I've only lived here for a little over a decade, not counting a year-long stint in the 90s. I was talking about the experience of (pretty decent) live music at a venue near home, something which I very much took for granted growing up.

My parents were both college-educated (and indeed educators), and wanted to give me a pretty cultured upbringing, so they would take me with them whenever they went to hear live music, even at bars. Probably not a course of action I would necessarily recommend (bringing a child to bars and such), but I always felt safe and happy in those environments, and they never took me to places where the people were unruly.

I had the pleasure of listening to all kinds of artists, both relatively well-known and quite obscure. I grew up listening to Ed Miller and Utah Phillips both in person and on tape, and many others you haven't heard of (and for which there are no wikipedia articles ;)

Unlike the crowd a couple nights ago, the people we listened with were not particularly drunk, nor high (there really were all kinds of odd human behaviors on display that night 😅), but were there for the music, and to have a good time. Maybe it's just the blissful ignorance of a child, but I really can't remember anyone in those places we went to acting strange or cringey.

After the performance Saturday night, I looked up the band/artist and was surprised to learn that they were based out of Austin (which some people maddeningly persist in referring to as "ATX." 🙄). That connection made me think back to my upbringing in that town (long before it became so popular, and populous).

I thought about now somewhat forgotten Austin personalities like Cactus Pryor and Tim Ross (I recomend watching this video in mpv and using the "A" key to override the aspect ratio to 4:3 so people don't look stretched — I have no idea why people force 4:3 videos to 16:9, but anyway).

I was dismayed to learn recently that the Cactus Café (no relation to Mr. Pryor) was closed in 2010. I listened to many great artists in that place, particularly Ed Miller. I've also recently learned that you can't even get into the UT Student Union itself without a student/faculty ID or escort. When I was growing up, it was open for all, and it was a great place to hang out, listen to music, or play table shuffleboard or bowl. That only heightened my feeling of displacement, because every time I visit Austin, it's both familiar, and foreign. It's where I grew up, and yet, bears very little resemblance to the small college town I grew up in.

Well, I guess you really can't go home, but the best parts of home, you take with you. 😊

The Farmer's Station Wagon: A Parable

2026-03-17T07:35:00-05:00

One day, a farmer went to load up his station wagon to take his family to visit some friends, but found that it wouldn't start. Looking under the hood with his friends, they sadly discovered that the engine block was cracked, and there was no likelihood of an easy or inexpensive repair. After consulting with his friends and neighbors, he drove into town to buy a new station wagon for his family.

He drove up to the sparkling Dellzini dealership in his dusty-but-reliable pickup truck wearing his best jeans and flannel. He walked confidently into the showroom and flagged down one of the salesmen.

"Yes sir, how may I be of service," the salesman was polite and courteous, even though he was dressed finely in a three-piece suit, and the farmer in much humbler attire.

"Hi, I just need something simple for taking the family into town every few days, nothing too fancy."

"Of course, sir! I think you will be delighted by the Inspirzinni 9000, a very dependable and affordable family van."

The salesman opened the door of the sparkling blue six-seater. It had cup holders, seat heaters, a games and video system, the whole nine yards.

"This is really quite impressive, and seems quite comfortable," the farmer remarked. "How much?"

"Of course, we have many financing plans available, but this model starts at the low price of $75,000."

The farmer balked. For that kind of change, he would have to sell a portion of his land to afford it.

"That's surprisingly expensive," the farmer remarked. "Do you sell a lot of these?"

"Oh, thousands!" The salesman was genuinely enthusiastic. "Just last week, we fulfilled an order for a fleet of 240 of this exact model. They're used by many families and also many businesses as reliable daily conveyance."

The farmer was unsure. It was still very expensive, and he had a sneaking suspicion that the depreciation for such an expensive vehicle would be steep. "Thanks, but I think I'll shop around a bit."

"Of course, sir! Let me give you my card. I understand you're looking for a good deal for your family, but I think you'll find that we have some of the most affordable new vehicles available. I will be eagerly awaiting your call."

The farmer accepted the business card with grace, but doubts multiplied in his mind.

For the rest of the day, he visited various dealerships. Lenazzo, Packard, Pomo, all had glistening shiny autos of every size and type imaginable, all with amazing feature sets and equally astonishing prices.

Not wanting to go into unsustainable debt, the farmer started looking for deals on used cars. He found several dealerships selling recent-year models, but those weren't much less expensive than the new ones. Finally, digging through classifieds, he found people selling 5-7 year old sedans and station wagons. The price was right, only about $5-$7,000, vs the $50-$70,000 for the new vehicles. He went with a friend to inspect a seven-year-old station wagon someone was selling. There were some dings on the door panels, but the interior was recently detailed and the engine seemed to run well. He looked carefully at the title transfer documents, handed over the cash, and drove the gently-used station wagon home.

Not soon after bringing the station wagon home, he started noticing issues. While it ran fine around the neighborhood, the engine seemed to be struggling when merging onto the highway. The car had a ten-year manufacturer's warranty, but it was an ordeal to get any real help diagnosing the issues. There was always some kind of service fee in the way, and more exceptions to what was covered by the warranty than actual coverage. He was drowning in the obtuse bureaucracy and red tape of of it all.

One day when complaining about his station wagon to a family friend, he was surprised when his friend's teenage son piped up with, "Why don't you just replace the engine, since that's the part that's giving you the most trouble?" The farmer was amused with the boy's direct line of thinking. "That's a great idea, Billy, but engines cost a lot of money, and there are usually all kinds of maintenance fees and contracts to sign that are a total headache." "Actually, I was just hearing from my friends that there's a co-op that gives away new engines for free!" "Billy, how in the world can someone just give away engines? It takes hundreds of engineers to come up with the design, and there's real costs to manufacturing them." "Oh, I know that, but a bunch of people were unhappy with how expensive cars are, and how they seem designed to get slower and slower every year, so they just got together and designed their own engine! Of course, they had some help, a few of the big equipment manufacturers gave their designs to the community so they could use the community's designs in return. But they actually work really well, and I've been hearing some really good things about them!"

So, still feeling quite skeptical, but not feeling like he had too much to lose, the farmer drove his increasingly struggling and puttering station wagon to the local meet-up. There he saw dozens of cars up on jacks, and pallets of shiny new engines of various sizes and bearing various markings.

"Do you guys really just give away engines," the farmer asked, somewhat incredulously.

"We sure do," replied the overalls-clad group leader. "Just bring your car out back, we'll jack it up and put in a new engine for you. You might have to adapt to slightly different steering and handling than you're used to, but almost everyone is much happier with the outcome."

So, somewhat in a daze, but happy, he drove his station wagon into position in the line of waiting cars, and an eager technician working off-hours to help people with their cars jacked up his station wagon, dropped the puttering, self-defeating engine out, and put in a brand new, shiny Free and Open Source engine. After just a few minutes of making the necessary connections and tweaks, his car was back on its own four tires, and ready to go.

"Take it for a quick spin in the parking lot, make sure you like the way it handles and accelerates. There are a lot of different driving profiles you can try, and if you like tweaking under the hood, there's about a million settings you can mess with... or not!"

The farmer eagerly hopped into the driver's seat and turned the ignition. The engine came to life, not with a roar or a sputter, but an eager mechanical purr. He put the transmission into drive and the acceleration was immediate, and well-controlled. The handling and suspension was timed well, and it had no problem pulling tight corners in the parking lot.

"This is great, I think I'm ready to drive it home now," the farmer happily yelled at the technician over the noise of other engines starting and revving."

"Great," the technician cheerfully responded, "we'll be here next Saturday if you have any questions or want to tune your driving profile a bit more. And if you like this sort of thing, we can train you to help out with other conversions to help your neighbors as well!"

The farmer drove home in his new-to-him station wagon, thankful that he didn't break the bank by buying yet another new vehicle, or continue to suffer the poorly-performing stock engine. While he never left the farm to become a professional mechanic, he helped all of his neighbors convert their cars to smooth-running FOSSmobiles, and lived happily ever after.

Book mini-review: "Gulliver's Fugitives" by Keith Sharee

2026-02-12T07:54:00-06:00

Note: no substantive spoilers in this review

If you're short on time, you can skip the preamble

Preamble

As you will know from my previous blog post, I've been on a bit of a reading kick lately. I honestly hadn't read too many novels since I was in University last, and I had a lingering impression of myself as a very slow/poor reader that was actually really inaccurate. I guess reading goes a lot more quickly/enjoyably when you're not reading puffy scholarly articles laden with gratuitous, altiloquent phrases like "[X] qua [X]" and "the rôle of [X] in..."

I first got a copy of Gulliver's Fugitives (which is a Star Trek: The Next Generation novel) as an audiobook from my aunt when I was a teenager. Of course, this wasn't a digital audiobook, it came in the form of a single 90-minute cassette, read by none other than ST:TNG star Jonathan Frakes. I'm not certain, but I think it was my first ever audiobook, and it's honestly a really good one. While it's quite abridged, by a factor of about 5.5:1 (the full book is over 70,000 words, so an unabridged audiobook would be over 8 hours), it's an extremely enjoyable listen, with Frakes reading the text dramatically and in different voices (although he sadly doesn't try to replicate Sir Patrick's British accent 😄), and some actually neat audio "special effects." The audiobook is available DRM-free at libro.fm (please don't use Audible!)

I'm not exactly sure what mental process took place between the two decades of receiving the audiobook and buying the e-book, but at some point, I remembered the book, and wanting to read it unabridged, I purchased the e-book from Evil, Inc. in the fall of 2014. And then, of course, twelve years later, I finally sat down and read it this week, starting on Sunday and finishing yesterday.

Setup

I first bought the e-book right after purchasing an e-reader ahead of my first semester at University in 2014 (well, my first semester for my most recent attempt at getting a bachelor's degree, which was thankfully quite successful).
I still have that Kindle e-reader somewhere, but I couldn't find it when I wanted to read this book, so I decided to use my laptop instead.
Side note, please don't buy Kindle devices. They're horribly locked-down, and everything they sell is encumbered with DRM (a.k.a., lame copy protection that prevents you from reading it on the device of your choice).

Thankfully, there are ways to remove DRM from e-books, although they can be somewhat complex and fiddly to set up, as the sellers of digitally-maimed e-books like to engage in an arms race against the tools created to remove pointless copy protection from e-books.
So, I had my "legal" copy of Gulliver's Fugitives on my laptop in the open EPUB format, and read it on my laptop using my favorite reader program, Zathura. This was actually a far more pleasant experience than you'd think, as the laptop's screen is large and bright, and the laptop is comfortable to hold on your lap for extended periods of time while sitting on the couch. I know some people hate the idea of reading on a backlit screen, and I totally get that. I'm not saying everyone would enjoy the process, only that it didn't bother me. I still have my eyes on getting a Kobo e-reader, but I haven't pulled the trigger on that yet.

If you're wondering why I think a Kobo reader (which also uses DRM and some vendor lock-in) is okay, but a Kindle device is not, the answer is that while the Kobo is far from a perfect device, it's not as evil as the Kindle. There are ways of installing Free and Open Source reader programs on it, and it also has direct access to Library books via the Overdrive service. While Overdrive books are still DRM-encumbered, it's a free service, and there's a big difference to me between buying a book that you'll never own (because of DRM) and just checking out an equally-encumbered book from the Library.

Review

First of all, this author is a bit of a thesaurus. I've been logging dictionary lookups I make on my computer via the dictd utility, and I looked up over 70 unique words (11 of which were proper nouns/place names, or just too obscure for dictd 😄) while reading this book. Of course, in the 1990s, I probably would have just glossed over the unknown words without looking them up, and I don't think the author's vocabulary really hurt the enjoyment of reading the book. Wordsmiths may actually enjoy the challenge.

I couldn't find any other works by this author, and there is scant information about him online, although given how many results I saw listed from data brokers when I searched for "Keith Sharee" (no, I didn't use one of those horrid "services," or even visit their sites), I'm guessing that is the author's real name. There was a brief interview with the author in the May 1990 issue of the official ST:TNG magazine, which reveals that he studied a lot of mythology in preparing to write the novel (and it definitely shows), and that Data's "poetry" was created on an Atari computer, although it isn't revealed if it was an Atari 8-bit machine, or an Atari ST. I remember reading somewhere that the poetry was generated by a BASIC program, but I can't find a reference to that online. If so, it is of impressive complexity:

“The teachings of macaroon erotica doin’ a little thing we call three-toed minty-fresh logo tissue.
Quest for the Golden Aphids where they call the wind ‘Mr. Conceited-B-Gone.’
I walk down Spanked Mandrill Strasse with gently yielding fun-bladder under warranty.
Prometheus indicator-light blinking through the hydrogen eternity boo-boo.”
—Chapter three, about three pages down

Jonathan Frakes' dramatic reading of Data's "Poetry" on the audiobook was utterly fantastic. Highly recommend. 😄

The central theme that really grabbed me in the book, which I certainly wouldn't have understood as a teenager, nor appreciated until the past few years, is the struggle between chaotic creativity and rigid dogmatism. The citizens of Rampart are under an oppressive 1984-like regime where invasive brain scans are commonplace, and possession of any work of fiction is considered a capital offense. There is a scene in which Picard looks at a Rampartian Bible, and his reaction to it was a revelation to me:

“THIS BIBLE SETS FORTH the only true religion. All other religions and philosophies are hereby declared false and criminal.
“Everything contained in this Bible has been verified as factual truth, and is to be accepted as such, and in no other way, by the reader. Any interpretation of this Bible as metaphor, literature, or mythology is expressly forbidden.
“Violators will be subject to the full penalties as determined by the Council of Truth and enforced by Cephalic Security.
“To report criminal violations call this number toll free . . .”

Picard leafed farther into the book. It was recognizable as a Rampartian revision of the Christian Bible. The Rampartians had annotated it throughout with “proofs” as to the “factual” nature of its “events.”
What confused people, he thought—they take what should be understood as a metaphorical story and they try to make it into science and history. They see a hand pointing a moral direction, and instead of looking to see where it points, they spend their time sucking on its finger and declaring to themselves, “It’s a finger, a finger, a finger.”
Picard closed the book solemnly and put it back where he had found it, on the table by his cot.
He looked up at the camera lens and brain wave antennae in the upper corner of the small white room.
That’s right, he thought defiantly. You heard me correctly.
—Chapter nine, at the very beginning

This analogy for, and criticism of the dogmatic and "factual" view of religion absolutely riveted me. How did this author in 1990 describe exactly how I'd feel in 2026 after a decade of repressive "religious" leadership in my country? Well, there's nothing new under the sun.

Paper Books vs. e-books vs "librebooks?"

2026-02-08T11:47:00-06:00

I took a few days of a break from the fediverse to try to do a mini digital detox, to stop zombiescrolling youtube, and to read more. I picked up a used copy of Michael Jan Friedman's Gauntlet, the first book in the Stargazer series, a Star Trek novel that covers Jean-Luc Picard's early captaincy. I was wanting to read more about that era of that character's life, as my interest in the character was piqued by watching Star Trek: Picard, particularly the second season.

I do have a mini review up on Bookwyrm for those who are curious. It was... easy (and surprisingly fast) to read, but not great. I was tempted to buy the rest of the series, but I don't think I will. I'm intrigued to know how certain plot elements will be resolved by the rest of the series, but I was disappointed by some things, particularly (no spoilers) the author's two-dimensional thinking when it came to maneuvering in three-dimensional space.

While I was reading, I was pondering the now rather old debate between physical books and e-books. I used to be very gung-ho about e-books, because of the conveniences they provide, but I've been more gun shy about giving Amazon and Lex Lutho—*cough*—Jeff Bezos more control of my life. While reading this most recent paper book, I made a mental list of the pros and cons of both formats:

Paper books
- Pros
  - Convenient: no battery to charge, no app to install, immediate and (relatively) portable.
  - Freedom: once you own it, you own it. You cannot lose it unless you physically misplace it, or it's stolen
  - Shareable: You can buy/sell physical books used, and share them with a friend, which you cannot with most e-books
  - Useful for digital detox: an e-book reader is, admittedly, a very low distraction device, but it isn't a no-distraction device. A book is.
- Cons
  - Weight: A single paperback book might be lighter than some e-readers, but a stack of them definitely won't be
  - Space: Even a small personal library of books takes up a lot of space, and requires both funds and energy to transport when moving
  - Inflexibility: You can't change the font size, font styling, or layout of physical books. Also most books don't lie flat on their own, and require you to hold it, or to use some kind of book holder.
  - Aging: digital data is decidedly not permanent, especially when dealing with capricious locked-down services and DRM, but books physically age, and somewhat rapidly, unless they're manufactured and treated in a particular way. The book I purchased is only 20 years old, but the pages were quite yellowed, especially near the edges.

E-books
- Pros
  - Incredible convenience: Books are purchased with just a few taps in the e-book reader itself, and appear in your library in seconds, rather than minutes or days (depending on whether you're shopping for books in-person or online). There is no need to manage a physical or electronic library, everything is completely automatic and easy. Also, most e-book readers have a built-in light, so illumination is usually not an issue.
  - Flexibility: Since nearly all e-book formats are basically just a zipped-up collection of XHTML files along with some extra metadata (and sometimes encryption, sadly, more on that in a bit), the font size and style can be changed dynamically, along with layout options like margins. If you forget your reading glasses (IYKYK), you an just bump up the font size and keep reading. Those with dyslexia can switch the font to OpenDyslexic and (hopefully) have an easier time reading.
- Cons
  - Dependence on digital devices: even the best digital devices (e-readers, etc) have battery limitations and limitations in durability and operational lifetimes. A well-made physical book will last for centuries. An e-reader will last for handful decades, at best. Given the impermanence and flux of the online services they are dependent on, two decades of useful life is quite optimistic.
  - Illiberality: nearly all e-books sold today (especially e-books sold from online e-book sellers that are bundled with e-book readers) include DRM. They cannot be shared, they cannot be resold, they cannot be copied, and they cannot be meaningfully preserved.

Interestingly, there is a middle-ground between these two extremes which is worth considering. This is what I'd like to call "librebooks," or in other words, e-books that have been liberated from their DRM bonds. This involves either finding an e-book from a store that doesn't include DRM (sadly quite rare), buying from boutique e-book sellers that never use DRM, or buying an e-book from a typical e-book seller and then using software to strip the DRM (can be quite tricky to set up, only works with some stores, and can often break as e-book sellers engage in an arms race against deDRM tools), or buying a book from a store and then downloading the same book from a "Shadow library" and loading that copy onto your e-book reader.

This middle-ground solution combines some of the best pros from physical books and e-books, while avoiding most of the cons of both, but comes with its own cons:

"Librebooks"
- Pros
  - Convenient: Almost all of the conveniences of regular e-books
  - Flexibility: All of the flexibility of regular e-books, and perhaps a bit more, because there is more that you can do to modify and reformat non-DRMed or deDRMed e-books, if you so desire.
  - Freedom: Like physical books, a librebook cannot be taken from you, and it can be shared with your friends.
  - Longevity: as long as you are good at managing your data, your e-books will never go away. You can keep them through untold decades as the usual suspect of e-book sellers come and go. As e-book servers eventually go offline, your e-books stay put.
- Cons
  - Usually no on-e-reader store: you have to procure the e-books and load them on your device through a process that varies in complexity depending on how it is procured
  - Still dependent on digital devices: It's still not paper. But you have backups, right? Right? 😄
  - Legal gray areas: It's theoretically possible that you may have to provide evidence that your e-book was procured legally, and not "pirated". This is an unfortunate reality, although quite unlikely.

I'm still hashing out how I want to enjoy my books. There's something nice about the physicality and uniqueness of a lightweight paperback. Not that paperbacks are unique in the sense of being largely physically different from each other, but each one has its own cover, which is always "on." They are also single-purpose devices, so when you're holding a copy of Don Quixote, for example, that is all you have. It's not a whole library of books to select from, but just a single one. The singleness of that is refreshing, in a liberating-inconvenience kind of way.

I love the idea of librebooks, but the procurement, management, and fighting with DRM aspect of it is a bit of a bummer. That may be a silly attitude, though, as the road to hell is paved with conveniences.

However you choose to enjoy your books, enjoy them well. =)

Examining The Ethics of Media Consumption and Sharing

2026-02-01T16:00:00-06:00

One of my new fedifriends, Terminal Tilt recently posted:

We should not call sharing "piracy."

Piracy involves the physical theft of property where the original owner no longer has it. Sharing is an act of duplication, not subtraction.

Language matters. Using the industry's preferred labels only helps reinforce their control over how we view digital ownership.

#FOSS #DigitalRights #Copyright #Copyleft #OpenSource #TerminalTilt

Let's first separate the issues of paying media companies from the issue of how media is now consumed (and the collateral damage thereof).

To examine the latter issue, let's pretend that all of the streaming services are free, and that the various studios and companies make no money off of them. That all you have to do is install Disney+, Apple TV, Hulu, Netflix, and/or HBO and others and view all of the media your heart desires. Even though it would be monetarily free, it would still come at a cost. The media companies use their streaming services as a data collection source. The media delivery companies like Roku, Google, and Apple also use your viewing habits to sell ads. You are being monetized, whether you're paying or not. It would be greatly preferable to avoid taking part in such a privacy shell-game. To that end, many people are getting back into optical media and personal media management systems like Jellyfin, just to avoid the privacy loss and annoyances of modern streaming services.

Now for the more direct financial issues. Buying media directly from its producers (whether through streaming services or purchasing new physical media) directly benefits the producers of the media. In a perfect world, this is the perfect system! You pay to purchase or view media that you enjoy, and your payment goes to create more media for your continued enjoyment. The earnings from such endeavors benefits all those involved: producers, directors, actors, special effects artists, etc.

That's not the world we live in, sadly. The greatest benefit from the profits of media creation goes to the megacorporations producing it, then secondarily to big-name stars in the productions, then to lesser-known actors, special effects artists, gaffers, stage hands, prop builders, and so on down the line. The work of creating visual art is not very financially rewarding for most people involved in it. But that in itself is not much of a reason to want to "starve" Hollywood of your patronage. But there is a very solid reason to do so now:

Last July, CBS announced that The Late Show would be canceled, amid rumors of a deal with Donald Trump.
Last September, we saw the Disney company suspend the Jimmy Kimmel show because of an acerbic comment he made regarding perceived politicizing in the wake of the Charlie Kirk assassination. They later relented after a public backlash and three million Disney+ customers cancelling their membership.
Just two days ago Amazon MGM Studios released a 104-minute infomercial for American Fascism called "Melania." This was pitched by Jeff Bezos personally to Trump at Mar-a-Lago in 2024.

It is clear that the major media companies are in full cooperation with fascism, and it is ethically reprehensible to give any of these companies a single dime.

What that leaves us with (as is so often the case) is a field of choices, none of which are all that particularly great, and absolutely none of which are easy:

Try to use streaming services like PBS, Kanopy, or Nebula that aren't directly tied to these inhuman media conglomerates
Buy used physical media (so you're not directly benefiting the conglomerates), and do your best to make sure the media is genuine (there are a lot of bootleg DVDs and Blurays sold as genuine new and used on eBay)
Just read a dang book and forget media altogether
"Piracy"

Now we get to the original question that prompted this treatise. What is "piracy" and when is it justifiable?

Like so many things, the victor writes not only the history books, but the dictionary itself. What is piracy? Why is it called that? What is wrong with just sharing with your friends?

I won't pretend that these aren't ethically muddy waters. I don't really care if multi-millionare A-listers get paid. I do care that the likes of Disney and Amazon do not get paid. I do want the "little guys" to get a paycheck, though. (And I'm still quite salty about Rhythm & Hues, but that's another matter altogether.)

I think only a total corporate suckup would object to someone lending a friend a legitimately purchased physical copy of a movie. That is obviously justifiable. But what about sharing your personal media collection on Jellyfin or Plex? Or what about sharing your Netflix password (back when that was a viable thing)? Finally, what about just downloading a movie on thepiratebay? Is it "sharing" if you're sharing with a thousand anonymous users over the internet? Or is that just straight-up distribution, and unauthorized, at that?

Obviously, I don't have easy answers for any of that. Personally, I tend to be a rule-follower, even to a fault. But lately, the question isn't a financial one. I don't care about the $12 per month (or however much) to get on a streaming service. I care about that $12 going into the pockets of someone who doesn't bat an eyelash at the horrible things going on in the world around me, and who see fit to use their incredible financial power to make things worse, rather than better.

I can't be a party to that, and I don't think you want to, either.

📀?

🏴‍☠️?

🤷‍♂️

Some Thoughts on Star Trek: Picard

2026-01-27T08:54:00-06:00

Warning: (obviously) spoilers abound!

I just finished watching Star Trek: Picard last night, and while this won't be a thorough analysis (I'd probably have to watch it five times to accomplish that), I did want to briefly write down my thoughts on it.

Like many older Trek fans, I'm not particularly fond of the LENS FLARE era of Trek. I thought Star Trek (2009) was an utter travesty, and I feel quite justified in referring to J.J. Abrams as "The Destroyer of Worlds." That movie (2009) was a betrayal of all that Star Trek meant and stood for, reverting a series that stood on social commentary and mind-expanding premises to mindless pandering fisticuffs, cheesecake, and slapstick in space.

I had also watched the first three or so seasons of Star Trek: Discovery, and my reception of it was lukewarm, but not overly negative.

I do, however, feel the need to say that I am not one of those people who constantly lambast "Kurtzman Trek." The essays and videos I've seen that have taken that tack all had a particular political smell to them, and I have nothing to do with that persuasion. Nevertheless, there is no lack of credible criticism of this era of Star Trek, and I don't think it really carries the torch all that well, from what I have seen. But neither did Enterprise. Neither did Voyager. Those two series were plagued with questionable decisions from the beginning, and overall poor and honestly lazy writing, respectively.

I think I started watching Picard with my sister in 2020. I got as far as S1E05, "Stardust City Rag," as that's the time we had to watch it together, and I had intended to continue watching it on my own when I got back home. But I didn't. Why? If you've seen the episode, you know why. Icheb's bloody and gory torture scene was absolutely chilling, and not in a good way. Season 1 seemed to start off trying to be as dramatic and edgy as possible, and honestly, I'm not here for it.

Between Icheb, Ro, and Shelby, Picard has a habit of bringing back beloved characters just to kill them off right away, and that seriously sucks. At the same time, the series loves re-using faces (namely Spiner's and Briones') beyond what's remotely plausible, particularly in the second season. I can accept that Noonien Soong had a son, and maybe even that he looked identical to him (?!). I can also accept that there were other androids that looked just like Dahj and Soji. But the idea that Soong had a 20th century ancestor that looked identical to him, and that his genetically-constructed "daughter" would look identical to Dahj/Soji? That's a bit much, even for a long-time fan of the franchise. Speaking of 21st century Soongs, The tie-in between Soong and Khan came very close to my own headcanon for the character, namely that Khan Noonien Singh somehow survived his last fight with Kirk, settled down on a remote planet, amended his savage ways, and used his genius towards bettering the galaxy: by getting into positronics! That's right, Khan Noonien Singh became Noonien Soong. Now you can't unsee it! 😄

My other problem with the Picard series is something I alluded to earlier: I think I'd have to watch it no less than three times to really understand all of the details of what happened in it. Each season felt like its own series, both in terms of how much detail (and loose ends) were packed in it, and how much they differed from each other, and really didn't do much to resolve the previous seasons' questions.

What happened with the Romulans? Did Picard finally muster Starfleet to help relocate all of them?
What happened with Laris? Did Picard go back to her, or did he rekindle his relationship with Beverley?
Is (Anton) Chekov ok?
What happened to all of the androids?
What happened to Kestra when Vadic kidnapped Troi?
Is anyone going to address the insane breaches and war crimes of Starfleet Intel/Section 31?
Where was the real Tuvok when the shapeshifter was posing as him? Why didn't the shapeshifter kill him outright?
What the heck did Seven say before the Titan's warp engines engage at the end??? 😅

But what I will say the series did right is in bringing back one of the most important characters of all: the Enterprise D! I do wish they had managed to do the Captain's Ready Room as well, but I'm thankful for the Bridge, and they did an absolutely beautiful job of it. With modern display tech, the consoles looked even better than the originals, without looking different or out-of-place. The startup and shutdown animations in particular were magnificent.

To me, it wasn't truly a Star Trek series until we see the Enterprise D. That is the exact moment when the series clicked for me. Even though it had some serious flaws, and the overall writing quality seemed to be about on par with Voyager, they really captured the tone of true Star Trek at the end, and pulled out a winner, without a moment to spare.

We can wish the show's writers and creators had "gotten it" in Season 1, rather than the last quarter of Season 3, but at least they finally got it. With all of the pieces finally put together, the band of wonderful friends we'd missed for over two decades unified and all sitting around the same table, I finally realized just how much I had missed them all. It was a real reunion: not merely for the characters and cast, but for the fans as well. After so many years of missing them, my heart opened to recall and enjoy once more everything those characters, no, those dear friends meant to me in my youth, and it made me want to get a bunch of Star Trek novels to explore their adventures in the years in between Nemesis and Picard.

Smartphone Minimalism: the Underappreciated Middle Road

2026-01-21T08:50:00-06:00

My current Android setup with IodéOS, KISS Launcher, and grayscale mode

The other day, I was watching a Techlore video while folding laundry, and became increasingly annoyed as it went along: not at Techlore or the video, but the Wired article he was responding to.

Peertube link Invidious link 1 Invidious link 2 YouTube link

The crux of the article seemed to be that not having a smartphone was some kind of disability, and that smartphones were somehow these great enablers to make our lives better and more productive, and there was only passing lip service given to the incredibly addictive nature of smartphones and hardly anything was said about the incredible privacy violations done by tech companies, nor how they are now the long digital arms of fascist regimes all round the world, including the big one in North America right now.

I will disclaim that I did not read the actual article. It might have been far better than Techlore gave them credit, but I kind of doubt it.

As a response to the alleged fallacies of the article, and wanting to find a way to become less dependent on my own smartphone, I dove into making changes to hopefully make my smartphone usage less addictive and scroll-happy, since I had been struggling with that a bit myself.

I've been running only FOSS Android builds since late 2021 on my phone, and I kicked corporate social media out of my life for good in 2022. I did have a rather languishing facebook account for a while, which I finally extinguished for the last time in 2024. But I haven't had any corporate social media apps on my phone since at least 2022, if not 2021. I won't even install apps that contain trackers from facebook or other unscrupulous players.

But even with in those constraints, I was still a pretty heavy smartphone user. I had Tusky, a Fediverse client at my beck and call at all hours, and I used video clients like NewPipe and PipePipe heavily.

So, I went through my app list and started purging. I deleted Tusky and other Fediverse clients, I deleted the YouTube/PeerTube clients, and I deleted several apps that hadn't used in a while. I also switched my phone to grayscale mode, and increased the text contrast settings a little. I honestly wish that Android had some kind of contrast filter to increase the contrast of text further, even to the point of being monochrome.

The result was actually pretty surprising to me. My phone felt like a different category of device. No longer a pocket tv or social feed device, it became something akin to a postmodern Blackberry: all touch screen, but also all "business." I found myself cleaning up my email accounts during downtime instead of scrolling the Fediverse. I hadn't done any email on my phone in years! I found myself cleaning up my maze of text messages and archiving stuff I didn't need to see anymore. I also found that my app list (pictured at top) was only relevant stuff: having fewer apps and no non-essentials meant that the frequently-used-apps list became pretty static and useful, rather than getting clogged with minutiae.

I also found myself listening to music while getting ready in the morning, rather than trying to find some interesting YouTube video to watch to serve as body doubling. So far, it's been a mood-booster.

I'm hoping I don't give in to the temptation to turn my phone into a pocket tv and scrolling-obsession device again any time soon. :)

The Past is the Future

2026-01-19T08:07:00-06:00

Yesterday was my grandmother's funeral. As a family member, I had the shared duty of greeting the various guests, and then when things got started, I just kinda hopped from table to table, talking to people I know and catching up with folks. It was a great way to top up my social batteries, as an ambivert (but just as you'd expect, my social batteries were completely drained by the end of the day). 😄

Not having any assigned seating, I had planned to just hop around indefinitely, but when one of the guests said, "Oh there you are, we would like to sit with you!" I stopped hopping around, and just entertained/engaged where I was at, which was fun.

One of my acquaintances asked me about what was going on in my life, and we spoke about things going on in the world at large. I don't remember how we broached the subject of modern technology, but of course I expressed that things were not good, thanks to "A.I." huckstering and the tech industry's general cozing-up to fascists.

My conversant asked, "So what are you excited about these days? What gives you joy [in that realm]?"

That's when I launched into a monologue about retrocomputing, regaling them with the story of how a handful of nerds pooled their money together to buy the Commodore brand and I.P., and how there were all of these amazing retrocomputing projects out now, where people are either adding hardware to make really old computers work on the modern internet, or recreating ancient computers with modern hardware and a modest modern spin on the classics.

I told them that the beauty of old computers, and the beauty of Free and Open Source Software (though not using that terminology) is that your computer is your own, and does only what you tell it to do. It doesn't tell you what to do.

Now, I must confess, I'm hardly a retrocomputing champion. My oldest computer is only from 2010 (though I do use it pretty much daily thanks to OpenBSD making it still a compelling device for personal use (though almost any well-configured FOSS OS would do, not just OpenBSD)), and my Commodore 64 Ultimate is still unopened in its box after nearly a month. But in my defense, I've kind of had a lot going on, and I politely decline to apologize for taking things slow. 🤭

One thing I do get to enjoy from time to time is infinitemac.org, which has pretty much replaced mini vMac for my emulation needs. With it, I can re-live the glory days of Macintosh System 6, System 7, or even NextStep!

So, whether your jollies are from keeping ancient computers running and relevant, re-living the past with emulation or modern spins on the classics, or just enjoying your computing devices your way thanks to FOSS, here's to a fun 2026 ahead!

Just Never Mind the Bollocks.

Disclaimer: I absolutely don't mean to make light or ignore the horrific events going on right now, but merely to distract from them for but a minute. Cheers.

P.S., for a humorous take on retrocomputing (with a little bit of political snark mixed in), check out my article entitled A Time-Traveler's Guide to Affordable Computing!

How Many Pixels Do You Really Need?

2026-01-17T06:37:00-06:00

I was reading in Ploum's excellent blog yesterday about his history with Ubuntu, when I stumbled upon a lovely screenshot of his FVWM setup circa 2003, and it brought me back to a friendly, and long-raging debate with some fedifriends on the subject of pixels, namely, whether or not you can tell the difference between videos at various resolutions on various types of devices, and at what point do those pixels become wasteful?

While I am a fan of viewing high-quality 4k content up-close on a 4k TV for that really filmic feel, I still don't have any computing devices capable of displaying 4k or HIDPI content, not counting any phones.

I remember having laptops with resolutions of 640x480, 800x600, and 1024x768. Especially with the first two, if your eyes were young, you could see every pixel. Sub-pixel, even!

Not one pixel was wasted, and honestly, I have to wonder if we really need our modern high-resolution displays for anything. I'm not even talking about HIDPI here, just 1080p!

Looking at screenshots of linux desktops at what we would call today very low resolutions: I'm amazed at how much information they could display comfortably:

A screenshot of FVWM2 taken from the fvwm-ewmh sourceforge page

This was (originally) only an 800x600 screenshot! I scaled it up (nearest-neighbor) to prevent blurring when viewed on high-resolution devices. I think (other than the screen aspect ratio) it displays nearly as much information as most people view on their 4k monitors, unless they have extremely large monitors or very sharp eyesight.

That said, I'm not sure I'd elect to go back to 1024x768. Even 1366x768 (which is what I'm running on this BSD laptop) feels far more roomy.

The Mad, Joyful Chaos of the Creative Process

2026-01-15T08:26:00-06:00

After yesterday's unhinged, painfully cathartic threnody of a post, I really wanted to post something short, light and enjoyable. I was considering writing down my thoughts on my favorite TV show, The Good Place, but that would have taken altogether much too long, so that is going to remain a somewhat long-term plan, but I might get to it within a week or so.

So anyways, while watching an episode of said show last night, I noticed that I really liked the opening riffs of a song that plays during something akin to a nightmare sequence (or fantasy sequence) in that episode.

Using the FOSS music recognition program on my phone, I determined that the song was Chicago's "25 or 6 to 4." Given the enigmatic nature of the song's title, I knew that there would be some enjoyable sleuthing to be had in learning its background and meaning.

I first looked up the lyrics on genius.com to get some background on the song, but finding that interface a bit annoying to use, I just looked up the article directly on Wikipedia.

I learned that while there had been many accusations of a drug theme surrounding the song, it was actually written very early in the morning: "twenty five or [twenty] six [minutes] to four [am]."
Reading that while getting ready in the morning, I laughed out loud. The story behind the title is also self-evident in the first two lines of the lyrics:

Waiting for the break of day
Searching for something to say

It reminded me of so many times in my undergrad university days when I was scrambling to prepare a paper just a couple hours before class, and somehow knocking out a homer with nearly no time to spare.

And it's so amazing to me that the entirety of this hit song is just the author basically saying, "I have no idea what to write, I'm bleary-eyed and trying to stay awake, here's this song where I'm basically saying nothing."

It's a good day when the Muse is that cooperative. :)

invidious link (nadeko)

invidious link (yewtu.be)

youtube link

Nietzsche's Heavy Declaration

2026-01-14T11:30:00-06:00

Content Warning: this post is a downer. I will be dealing with issues of religious manipulation and existential guilt

Chidi grabs the drug dealer by the hoodie while reciting Nietzsche

In yesterday's post*, I discussed my favorite episode (s03e05 "Jeremy Bearimy") of my favorite series (The Good Place). I didn't want to spoil too much of the episode for those who hadn't already seen it, but Chidi's entire arc in that episode is just so good, and honestly so funny and relatable. I seriously could have copied and pasted the entire script for that part of the episode (Chidi's mental collapse) and analyzed all of it, but didn't want to spoil it for new viewers.

*I do recommend you read yesterday's post before this one

There is, however, one part I do want to focus on. Immediately after the "Jeremy Bearimy" conversation with Michael, Janet, and the other three humans, Chidi walks off, alone, disillusioned, and discombobulated. He immediately runs into a drug dealer:

DRUG DEALER: Hey, you want to talk to God?
CHIDI (grabs him by the hoodie)
CHIDI: "God is dead.
"God remains dead, and we have killed him.
"Who will wipe this blood off us?
"What festivals of atonement, what sacred
games shall we have to invent?"
Friedrich Nietzsche, 1882.
DRUG DEALER: I was just trying to sell you some drugs, and you made it weird!

This scene was a bit of a sleeper for me, as it was in the midst of an episode packed with comedic and emotional impact. I felt my mind subconsciously bookmark that quote without really knowing why. Re-watch after re-watch, that daft Nietzsche quote gnawed at the back of my mind until I finally stopped and confronted it.

Here is a more complete excerpt of the quote (from Die fröhliche Wissenschaft):

The madman jumped into their midst and pierced them with his eyes. "Whither is God?" he cried; "I will tell you. We have killed him—you and I. All of us are his murderers. But how did we do this? How could we drink up the sea? Who gave us the sponge to wipe away the entire horizon? What were we doing when we unchained this earth from its sun? Whither is it moving now? Whither are we moving? Away from all suns? Are we not plunging continually? Backward, sideward, forward, in all directions? Is there still any up or down? Are we not straying, as through an infinite nothing? Do we not feel the breath of empty space? Has it not become colder? Is not night continually closing in on us? Do we not need to light lanterns in the morning? Do we hear nothing as yet of the noise of the gravediggers who are burying God? Do we smell nothing as yet of the divine decomposition? Gods, too, decompose. God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him.

"How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it? There has never been a greater deed; and whoever is born after us—for the sake of this deed he will belong to a higher history than all history hitherto."

Now, most Christians will rather confidently tell you that God is not dead. There's a song called "God's Not Dead" that's kind of catchy, and there's also a movie called God's Not Dead, which I would like to say is one of the worst Christian films I've ever seen, but that is a breathtakingly low bar. 😂

Since I don't really think that God is dead, why did this crazy quote get jammed in my cognitive food processor?

Well, I'm no philosopher (nor indeed a Nietzschean), but my understanding is that the thrust of what he was getting at is that during his time, the place of God (religion) in public life and reason was effectively dead.
I'd hate to be the one to tell Friedrich that there are more gods now than ever: gods of violence, strife, lust, pride, rapine, arrogance, and greed. Postmodern humanity has "more offenses at [its] beck than... thoughts to put them in, imagination to give them shape, or time to act them in." Nothing has fundamentally changed, even if academia did, for a time, earn a reprieve from dogmatic ideological meddling. Now, even that has reverted to kipple.

So again, why is this little quote rattling around in my head?

I think a lot of it has to do with the period of mourning I'm going through in my personal life. I am still scrambling to even map out the magnitude of the loss. I think that is the central thrust of the quote that grabbed me. Not so much the "we have done something truly awful" aspect of the quote at first, but that we do not yet understand the magnitude of it. I do not yet understand the magnitude of my loss. It is an unexplored galaxy, pressing in to the fringes of my mind, held at bay by sheer force of will. But beyond the personal mourning, I think there is a global mourning going on right now.

I wrote this little poem in an off-the-cuff comment to a friend's facebook post seven years ago:

I held truth in my arms as he expired.
Slain by political machinations,
Slain by the intellectual laziness and stupor of the culture,
Slain by the folly of a church serving wicked men,
Slain by my own complacency and passive complicity in all of the above.

In all these things, the intercessor remains limp and hog-tied, made immobile by the impossible interplay of a thousand living paradoxes, gagged by his own tongue, desperately seeking flight into a thousand imprecations.

But I think there's something deeper to it (what I'm feeling, the gnawing I'm seeking to form into words) than just a general sense of mourning (of all humanity).

So if God is not dead (as I am affirming), what is? What is this dreadful mourning and loss that I have been feeling for the past seven years?

Basically, I think that the American church has killed the Gospel for a generation. An entire generation of people are walking out the doors into a presumed Godless eternity, because they saw through the charade of Trumpism to the core of what it was: just naked human ugliness. Promised an encounter with God, they encountered avarice and lies in our churches.

But how did we do this? How could we drink up the sea?

We did it through craven politicking.
We did it through convenient lies and manipulation.
We did it by "avoiding politics" and seeking unity at the price of truth.

How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers?

I really don't know. I have seen in my lifetime the greatest Crime committed, and I'm still at a loss for words to even describe the deed, let alone understand how it happened, or how to reverse it.

What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent?

This is the crux of the thing. It's easy for a lifelong atheist to pan religion. It's easy for someone who has always reviled a thing to revile it all the more, and I honestly don't despise that. I came from an atheistic background and I can relate to it deeply.

But to the one who loved a thing to finally see it for what it is? For the one who loved church to now see only naked deception? That is the devastation. And I'm not even saying that I hate church, or that it is fundamentally bad everywhere. But something is deeply rotten in the American church, and I can't be quiet about it anymore.

So, what festivals of atonement must we now invent, who have downtrodden the Gospel handed to us by angels for the sake of stormtrooper boots and the illusions of power and influence? How can we again be "renewed to repentance" after exchanging the Lord of Glory for an orange imp of delusion?

Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us?

Every bit of it. All I can do is look at the people around me and try to help and comfort them. The world is on fire, and the church is found holding the match while whistling Dixie.

The people I talk to in churches are either as quiet as the proverbial church mouse on the pressing issues of the day, or so completely deluded that they think that having a fascist president that makes abortions less accessible is a net positive.

Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it?

No, but those who have done this must certainly esteem themselves so.

The Scenes that Made Me: The Good Place (2016)

2026-01-13T13:07:00-06:00

Professor Chidi Anagonye stirring a pot of Marshmallow-Peeps-and-M&Ms chili in class as he rants

Note: Spoilers of Seasons 1-3 of The Good Place follow. Also, a minor discussion of religion.

Anyone who follows me on the Fediverse will know that I have been more than slightly obsessed with the TV Show The Good Place ever since I started watching it last summer. I'm currently on my fifth watch-through, and I don't think it'll be the last, by any stretch.

I've been promising a detailed blog post/analysis on the series ever since I completed my first watch-through, and that is in the works, but this post is not that.

Instead, I want to go over my favorite scene from my favorite episode of my favorite series. In Season 3 Episode 5, "Jeremy Bearimy," Chidi and the three other humans find out that they had died, were psychologically tortured in The Bad Place for a few centuries, and are now in a pocket reality where their lives were spared so that they could hopefully improve (and prove that humans can become better), but because they overheard Michael and Janet discussing the afterlife and its points system, they are now hopelessly lost, because anything they do now would be out of a corrupted motive.

Uhh, this is a comedy, I promise! And also a very endearing and enheartening show, even though it sounds very dark. ^___^

Beyond all of this, when asking about how time works in the afterlife, the explanation that Michael gives completely breaks Chidi's brain:

Chidi pointing to the dot in the "i" of "Jeremy Bearimy"

CHIDI: Well, how is it possible that all these things happened to us but no time passed on Earth?
Did you go back in time to save us?
MICHAEL: Uh, I didn't have to because of "Jeremy Bearimy."
CHIDI: (Looks around incredulously) Who's Jeremy Bearimy?
MICHAEL: Okay. Things in the afterlife don't happen while things are happening here, because while time on Earth moves in a straight line
(one thing happens, then the next, then the next), time in the afterlife moves in a "Jeremy Bearimy."
ELEANOR: What?
MICHAEL: (Scribbles on impromptu whiteboard) In the afterlife, time doubles back and loops around and ends up looking something like "Jeremy Bearimy."
This is the timeline in the afterlife. Happens to kind of look like the name "Jeremy Bearimy" in cursive English, so that's what we call it.
ELEANOR: Sorry. I'm— my brain is melting.
How can events happen before the ones that happened before?
MICHAEL: It's just the way it works. It's it's "Jeremy Bearimy."
I don't know what to tell you.
That's the easiest way to describe it.
CHIDI: Okay, but, um... what the hell is this? The dot over the I. The hell is that?
MICHAEL: Okay, um, how do I explain this concisely? This is Tuesdays and also July.
JANET: And sometimes it's never.
MICHAEL: That's true.
Occasionally that moment on the Bearimy timeline is the time-moment when nothing, never occurs.
So you get it.
CHIDI: This broke me! The dot, over the I, that broke me.
I'm— I'm done.

Chidi goes on to walk around very much dazed and confused. I won't give away the rest of what happens in that episode, you have to watch it yourself. Heck, you have to watch the entire series. I've haven't been so gung-ho in recommending a TV Show since I was a teenaged Star Trek: TNG fanatic. It's just that good.

There was a moment in my own life which very much mirrored Chidi's total cognitive collapse in Jeremy Bearimy. I was at a bible study in the fall of 2025 when one of the guys at the bible study mentioned the late Charlie Kirk in passing, saying something like, "Yeah, we want to be like Jesus, or Paul, or Charlie Kirk."

My brain completely broke at that point. Here you have a racist douchebag, ultra-right-wing political provocateur being compared to the Apostle Paul and the Lord himself.

I don't remember saying anything at that point, but I stopped going to that bible study and pretty much gave up on Bible Study Fellowship from that point. Much like Chidi, I literally walked around in an utter daze for several days after that. I was completely unable to process what I had heard, and stumbled around like an Asimov robot after receiving equally-weighted conflicting orders.

Previous entries in this series:
Lars and the Real Girl Star Trek
Star Wars

Monocultures Considered Harmful or: Why Linux Nerds Should Give BSD and Other "Weird" OSes a Try

2026-01-11T15:16:00-06:00

In yesterdays's article, I described the benefit of having a large supply of physical hardware to try different OSes on. Now I would like to talk about why it's important to run more than just various Linux distros (although just trying different distros is a great way to start broadening your horizons.

To begin with, you have to have a certain appreciation for inconvenience. If convenience is your god, I don't think you'll benefit much from this article, or nearly anything I have to say. Then again, not everyone has the time or wherewithal to get their jollies from trying out different operating systems. Neither convenience nor inconvenience should be the point, but rather the ability to learn, expand, and grow; and no one avenue for doing so is the correct one. So let that be a palliative for my otherwise polemical disposition. 😄

I think the thing that is driving people away from Windows and to a lesser degree MacOS into the Linux world is what will also someday drive people away from Linux to other alternatives: monoculturalism.
I'm absolutely NOT saying that BSD is perfect. I'm talking about inconvenience, remember? I still haven't figured out how to get the headphone jack working on my FreeBSD laptop. Headphone jack, guys. I'm not even talking about Bluetooth. Speaking of Bluetooth? OpenBSD? Doesn't have it. At all. Not supported. Probably never will be. And even on the BSDs that do have it, I surmise it probably doesn't work terribly well. Also, I have random freezes on FreeBSD that I haven't figured out yet (particularly when opening some web pages), and swaylock will randomly lose its mind and not accept my password, no matter how carefully I enter it. I have to force shutdown my laptop, as it doesn't let me switch to a virtual terminal, either. At least zfs is bulletproof.

Am I selling it? Probably not. Linux is easier to set up, requires a lot less thought to get configured, and other than the default/typical filesystems (zfs > (btrfs|ext4), all day long), seems to be a lot more stable.

So why?!? Why accept the inconvenience???

Simply put, because "A" is not "B." And while "A" may be better than "B" in many ways (though certainly not all), a world consisting only of "A" will always be vastly inferior to a world consisting of A's, B's, C's, and so on.

I've used Linux for over a quarter century now, and it's still my favorite operating system. But a world that's just Linux isn't any more tolerable to me than a world that's just MacOS or especially Windows.
Monocultures stifle innovation, promote cultic thinking, and cut off the broad horizons of color and variation in the world. In the real world, monocultures make life tragic and intolerable. I came from a country that was a monoculture, and I live in a country that is rapidly approaching the same kind of cultural stagnation.

Monocultures are the stuff of cults, dictatorships, and fake "theocracies." So why would we want our digital life to look like that?

I'm with the Vulcans on this:

Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations

🖖

Why You Need A Stack of Thinkpads

2026-01-10T11:26:00-06:00

Modified image of a stack of thinkpads taken originally from https://old.reddit.com/r/thinkpad/comments/17xf8kl/my_thinkpad_stack/

A lot of people experience vendor lock-in and outright "ecosystem captivity" because they've plunked down several grand towards pricey and shiny laptops from Apple, Microsoft (*snicker*), Samsung, or whomever. Such a one would be understandably hesitant to wipe and format their main home or work computer to try out some "dodgy" operating system created by an opinionated Finn, a snarky Canadian, or some scruffy hackers wherever.

Easy fix, fam. Get you a cheapo $100-$150 used Thinkpad, or a dozen. You can experiment with "alternative" operating systems like Linux, the BSDs, 9front, Haiku, or whatever strikes your fancy. No need worry about losing time, work, or data while trying to figure out the basics. It can be a side project for however long you want it to be, and if you like it enough to daily-drive it, you can promote it to your main machine, or buy a nicer, somewhat-less-used Thinkpad.

Why Thinkpads, specifically? Partly because they tend to be more sturdy and repairable than the alternatives (although a bit less so more recently), and partly because they're popular enough to usually be pretty well supported by most professional and hobby OS projects.

Now, I remember being a Mac snob in the 90s and looking down my nose at boxy and clunky Thinkpads. I get it. But you know what? Utility won me over. I have literally washed my (oldest) Thinkpad out with running water under the sink before (don't try that at home, kids!) ;)

I've told the story before, but I bought my very first thinkpad in early 2019, intending to use it "just for writing." I put Linux and i3wm on it, and, well, the rest is history. Thinkpads are great little "gateway drugs" for fun FOSS OS experimentation, and way more legit than just trying something out on a vm.

Look, admit it. You've spun up dozens of vms of various kinds to try various OSes, only to forget them, and later delete them to reclaim space on your disk. There's no shame in it, but why not try something that costs you a little more than a vm, but that offers a little more permanence, but without any real major pain if things go awry?

My three thinkpads (I think I'll avoid buying a fourth one in 2026, but no promises! 😅) have been great launching-off points for me to experiment FreeBSD, OpenBSD, a little NetBSD, and more Linux distros than I could even begin to count.

What are you waiting for? "Fleabay" is calling! ;)

Bonus: ThinkCentres make great little office desktops, media servers/set-top boxes, or even light gaming machines in a pinch!

P.S., Pro tip, if you look for a Thinkpad with a 7th generation or older Intel processor, it will be significantly cheaper than one just a single year newer, because Windows 11 is a (horrible) thing! ;)

Random updates

2025-09-22T10:57:00-05:00

Ironically, this isn't intended to be a "filler" post, but more of a fill-you-in post, as I've actually decided to stop trying to do "100 Days to Offload" this year.

I still technically have enough time left in the year to do it, but then I'd just be slamming the pipeline with content, and that's not really good for either of us. I've had enough major life events this year to make trying to fulfil an arbitrary number kind of meaningless, but I will try to pursue something meaningful for this year's WritingMonth, instead. I'm trying to decide between writing some short stories, or just journaling on paper.

Some minor interesting things that have happened in the last month:

I bought The Good Place on Bluray, which turned out to be a fantastic decision, because it frees me up from buying into yet another streaming service (netflix), and the Bluray (1080p) content is both higher quality than the streaming options, and has more content (the episodes are actually a little longer).
I wiped (factory-resetted) my Roku TV. I had logged into a family member's roku account (ironically to start watching The Good Place again), but all of the streaming platforms slowly blocked my device, as I wasn't in the same location as them. So, the streaming services all cut me off, except for the couple that I already had logged into my own name. So for now, my Roku TV is just a "dumb" TV. Glorious.
I got my old Wii set up again. I'm beyond disappointed in Nintendo, but I won't waste time here kvetching about it. I'm hoping to spot some good deals for Wii and maybe GameCube games here and there and enjoy those platforms, rather than spending an arm and a leg on the new stuff. No sense in rewarding profiteering gigacorporations.
I canceled my Amazon Prime Video ad-free subscription. It was only 2.99 USD per month, but I no longer watch anything on there, and I'm kind of done with streaming services.
I said goodbye to Star Wars and Disney altogether. It's obvious to me that Disney is incompatible with a free world, and I will no longer be giving them money to further their fascistic goals. It will be sad to not be able to watch Rebels, Ahsoka, or upcoming Mandalorian episodes, but these are a small price to pay for the integrity of our democracy and our world. I'll keep an eye out for used blurays, though. ;)

More updates to come... organically. ;)

Where to now?

2025-09-12T21:46:00-05:00

I debated whether or not this should be a "toot" (status update), or a proper blog post.

Like one time before, I am going to allow it to be something in-between. An off-the-cuff blog post, not quite as structured and agonized over as a proper blog post/article, but more permanent than an ordinary status/toot.

Watching the last episode of The Good Place... again.

(Third time around)

This time, seeing Chidi walk around his old neighborhood struck me much differently than before. I wasn't thinking about my mom or anyone else, but my own life. I was remembering walking around my old "neighborhood" (my old university) a couple years back when I went to VCFSW, which was hosted at my old Alma Mater.

I was remembering that feeling when nostalgia and remembrance gave way to the present and the banal, and my special day of nostalgia-tripping turned into just another day at the university, even though I hadn't been a student for six years at that point. Beautiful sentiment was effaced and replaced with ordinary nowness, even though it was out of place (as was I).

And like Chidi, I found myself wondering... what's next? What's left?

I'm... scarcely sainthood material, but I've done what I could in the past few years to live for the sake of others, and the one I had been focusing most of my emotional energy on is now no longer here.

So... what now?

I guess this is me unraveling one of the stages of grief. Until the past few days, I was unsure if I was even really in grieving at all. I felt fine. Relieved. A burden lifted, not that a person is ever a burden, but the burden of concern, of worry, the tight cage of emotional perturbation defined and constricted by a thousand eternal variables coming together over the span of years and finally all focusing in on a single moment.

All that suddenly gone, I felt... almost an elation. Not happiness, for certain, but a release.

And now that strange tightrope has gone slack, and I am left wondering where my footsteps should take me.

Just a quick note...

2025-08-21T06:40:00-05:00

...to let you all know why I haven't been blogging for the past couple weeks.

After many years of fighting with illness, and multiple organ failures, my mother passed away peacefully last Tuesday night.

I'm doing ok, overall, but haven't had much motivation to write. Everything is still very surreal to me. I'm not sure when I will resume writing in earnest, or if I will comlplete the 100 Days to Offload this year. I'm also not sure if I will participate in Writing Month at all this year. (But I don't anticipate a terribly long hiatus, in either case).

I'm currently combing through over 200,000 photos stored haphazardly on an old backup disk (along with some duplicates, which I'm attempting to identify with md5sum) to collect photos of my mom for her upcoming Celebration of Life.

I've noticed one theme over and over again:
She's not looking at the camera maybe a quarter of the time. She was often looking to the side, at others.

The reason?

She was always more interested in making sure everyone else was happy and having a good time than looking pretty for her own photos.

Selah.

Desperately Seeking Preview.app

2025-08-09T14:00:00-05:00

Preview.app shown in NeXTStep 1.0 courtesy of infinitemac.org

In yesterday's post, I talked about the things I do and don't miss about MacOS, mainly focusing on the global menubar search as the main positive from my experience with Mac OS X.

Looking over blog post ideas note today, I realized that I missed a major one: Preview.app. Originating in the very first version of NextStep as a PostScript previewer (likely not a difficult job, as NextStep's display subsystem was based on Display Postscript), Preview grew over the years to the point that it became a much more functional PDF utility than "proper" Adobe Acrobat (to say nothing of far more enjoyable to use: Acrobat is such a turd!!! 💩)

I often used Preview for annotating and signing PDFs. It was simply the best PDF program I had ever used, and did a lot for me in my daily work.

When I switched back to using the Linux desktop full-time, I started searching for a Preview.app replacement.

Believe me when I tell you that I pretty much tried them all (not including non-FOSS programs). There are some really nice and fairly fully-featured PDF viewers like Okular and Evince, some very nice minialist viewers like Zathura, and some really excellent markup/editing utilities, but there are none that do it all, like Preview.app did.

What I finally had to do was find a mix of utilities that covered all of the features I used to use Preview.app for. There's no one that does it all, but by combining several FOSS utilites, I have been able to do all I needed to do with PDFs:

Basic viewing
- Zathura, Sioyek, Okular, or Evince
Basic annotation (drawing shapes only, no images)
- Okular or Evince
Flexible annotation (inserting images/signatures, etc)
- Xournal++ or possibly Inkscape or LibreOffice Draw
Adding/removing PDF pages, combining PDFs
- PDFArranger or possibly Poppler pdfunite (command line)
Extracting images from a PDF (not actually a Preview.app feature, but handy to know how to do)
- pdfimages (command line)

100 Days to Offload 2025 - Day 50

What I Do and Don't Miss About MacOS

2025-08-08T15:34:00-05:00

Background and disclaimer

I was a Mac kid. I was lucky to have my own Mac at home (a relatively low-end one, but still) for most of my high school. And like most people, I do look at the past (particularly the retrocomputing past) with pretty strongly rose-tinted glasses.

But I have no rosy tint for Apple today. "Friends, Nerds, Unixmen, I have not come to hagiographize Apple, but to bury them." Apple is a fetid luxury brand, selling $15 earbuds for $150 and $200 laptops for $2,000. More importantly than their naked profiteering, they're a force for evil in the world, staunchly resisting right-to-repair efforts until very recently, and now being a part of fascist, racist, rapist Donald Trump's sycophantic corporate circus. I'm not cool with any of that, and I'm not cool with them.

Nevertheless, I did daily-drive a Macintosh from the late 80s until early 1994, and from early 2008 until 2019. Looking at it from a purely technical viewpoint, I'd like to talk about what I do, and don't miss from those experiences.

Things I Miss: The Classic Era

The versions of the Macintosh OS I used in this era were 6.0.4 to 7.0.1. I probably used earlier versions as well, but I can only remember the versions I had on my own, personal, full-time computer at home, a Macintosh SE with 1 (later expanded to 4) MiB RAM and a 20 MiB hard disk (later expanded with a 105 MiB external SCSI disk). Other than a vague feeling of nostalgia, there isn't a great deal I miss from this relatively primitive era, except...

Monochrome Graphics

The one thing I hated about my computer back then is that it had no color. I got to look at, and play with $6,000 color computers at the University computer store, and I drooled at their 24-bit color. I also drooled at one friend's Amiga, that was (using some impressive hardware hacks) able to display 4096 colors.

But now that 24-bit color is old hat, and 30-bit (commonly called "10-bit*" or "HDR") graphics are on the horizon, I must say that I miss the era of monochrome.

"But you can just convert any picture you want to monochrome in GIMP or whatever!"

This is true, and I have, many times. I'll even occasionally post images in monochrome with Floyd-Steinburg or even Atkinson Dithering, as it both reduces file sizes greatly, and provides a very aesthetic and enjoyable view of the subject. But my point isn't about aesthetics, it's actually about usability and accessibility.

You see, modern designers have gotten very... complacent? I'm not sure that's the right word. They design for themselves, often not taking into consideration the wide gamut of the visual acuity of their users. I often see gray-on-gray text that is very hard to read.

Even if you were Richie Rich with a Mac IIfx and huge 32-bit color monitor in 1989, the software you were using was designed to look good both in color and in monochrome. Text was crisp and readable, and everything was distinguished without the use of color, or shades of gray.

Now, UI is a soup of grays and colors that are all too often very hard to read and distinguish without painstaking eye fatigue.
It need not be so.

* If you're confused at why 10-bits is greater than 24, the reason is that "8-bit," "24-bit," and "32-bit" color refers to the total number of bits per pixel, whereas the modern parlance of "10-bit" refers to the number of bits per channel. Therefore, what we call 10-bit color today would have been called 30, or 40-bit (don't forget the alpha channel!) color back then.

Function/Usability over Form/Aesthetics

I won't belabor this point, because UI Design is a very specialized field, and I'm not qualified to argue the specifics. But in brief, using older software, I get the impression that a lot of decisions were made with deep introspection and debate about the nature and purpose of human-machine interfaces, and modern UIs are... not... as much.

Selah.

Things I Miss: The OS X Era

I used Mac OS X Leopard through High Sierra from early 2008 until 2019. I bought a MacBook 4,1 (classic white plastic version) in 2008, and got a new MacBook Air in 2014. I also daily-drove a 2011 model iMac (aluminum before they got rid of the DVD burner) for a few years until 2019.

Universal Menu Search

This is an oft-overlooked feature of Mac OS X and modern MacOS, and I must say I miss it on Linux: Every single item on the menu bar can be reached through a search box in the Help menu, and it will not only let you find menu items, but it will actually draw a blue arrow to where those items are located. In complex programs like LibreOffice, this is an absolute godsend.

The only desktop I've seen even attempt this feature is Mate, where it seems a bit half-baked. But they are trying. KDE doesn't have it at all. Gnome's answer is to basically not have a menu, or features in general. 😅

Things I Don't Miss: The Classic Era

Instability

The Macintosh System (we didn't generally call it MacOS in the olden days, IIRC) had no memory protection until Mac OS X. Crashes came hard and fast, and 99% of the time, the only solution was a complete reboot. The more system-extending software you used (INITs/Extensions and Control Panels/CDEVs), the more unstable your system became, but even a basic application crash would take down the entire system.

Slow Boot Times

Speaking of reboots, rebooting computers in the 1990s was very slow. Again, depending on how many extensions and such you had, it could take several minutes, or just a handful of seconds.

Mechanical Mice

Ohhhh, man. Ball mice. I do NOT miss those boogers. Speaking of boogers, scraping off the dust-boogers from the rollers of mice at the university is a memory I'd really like to lose. It seemed that nobody knew how to take care of those things, so nearly every time I went to a computer lab, the very first thing I'd have to do was open up the mouse and clean off the rollers. Even the early optical mice that came with the Sun workstations got kinda gummy on the cork pads. I don't remember the last time I had to clean the pads on an optical mouse. Mice are just kinda perfect, now.

The File Metaphor

People may not realize that the classic Macintosh system did not have an application-centric interface like modern OSes. It was completely file-centric. As a matter of fact, if you wanted to open an application, you literally had to find the file and open it.

As in, you double-clicked on your hard disk icon, then probably a folder called something like "Apps" or "Productivity," then something like "Microsoft Word 𝑓" (a folder), then you'd see a few icons, one of which would be an application icon (a sheet of paper with someone holding a pen above it) that said "Microsoft Word." You double clicked on the Microsoft Word application icon, and Microsoft Word would launch.

There was NO application launcher. Not until later versions, in which case you had a super-simplified launcher called AtEase (IIRC), or a very small icon-oriented dock that lived in the corner of the screen.

While I celebrate the non-application-centric past, the purely file-manger-oriented metaphor was really a drag.

Things I Don't Miss: The OS X Era

For this segment, I'm not talking about things I hated about Mac SO X so much as popular things I actually didn't like, or don't like so much anymore.

The Dock

Mac users generally love the dock, especially that incredibly smooth, swoopy magnification mode. It's an incredible tech demo, and looks amazing. When I was a Mac user, I made rigorous use of the dock, and liked it a lot.

When I moved back to Linux full time, I was initially on Gnome, and used the "Dash to Dock" extension, like many other Gnome users. Now that I'm on KDE Plasma (when I'm using a desktop, that is), the default panel is set up to generally resemble and function like a dock.

But I don't use it that way. At the very most, it's a visual indicator to show what application windows are on the current desktop/virtual screen. Why?

Using tiling/tabbed window managers like i3wm and Sway changed the way I work, and I grew to really love launchers like dmenu, rofi, fuzzel, and even KRunner. I find a keyboard-centric workflow (even within KDE Plasma) to be much more productive than the icon-centric system I grew up with.

Universal Menubar

Lots of people love the Universal Menubar (as in, there is a single menubar at the top of the primary screen, rather than a menubar within each window). Some Linux desktops even allow you to replicate it (MATE and KDE Plasma, IIRC). I'm not so enamored with the idea.

In the early days of low-resolution screens, it made a lot of sense to just have one menubar, to save screen space by not repeating the same menu for each window. Now, mouse travel is more of an annoyance than screen space, and I think it makes sense to just put a menu on each window.

Desktop Icons

Desktop Icons are another feature that some people miss on Linux (although some desktops, like Mate and Plasma, have it). I never liked having a desktop littered with icons, but having the desktop icons was a staple of using a GUI for me from the early days until recently.

Like the dock, the desktop icons are something I just gradually grew out of, and now don't use or miss them at all.

Overly Mouse-Driven Interfaces

The first three Macintosh models (128K, 512K/Ke, Plus) didn't even have cursor keys. All insertion carat placement was handled by the mouse. Many things didn't have keyboard shortcuts, and most applications didn't let you customize the ones that they did have (although some, like Microsoft Word, were impressively flexible).

I don't miss that. The mouse was a great innovation in 1968, but I think the Macintosh went too far in requiring it for too many things. One of the things I liked about Windows 3.1 was that you could theoretically use it without a mouse at all.

While Mac OS X isn't as mouse-dominant as classic Macs were, it's still not as keyboard-friendly as most Linux desktops.

Crazy Keyboard Shortcuts

The first three Macintosh models had three modifier keys: Command, Option, and Shift. Starting with the next machines (the SE and II in 1987), the Macintosh also got a Control key, but it was exclusively used for MS-DOS emulation and terminal emulation, and almost no native Macintosh application used the control key.

In MacOS X, you have four modifiers: Command, Option, Control, and Shift, and many keyboard shortcuts use both Command and Control. I found it overly confusing to remember those, and I wish they had avoided Control altogether.

100 Days to Offload 2025 - Day 49

Why Do We Blog?

2025-07-31T17:11:00-05:00

A few days ago, I was reading someone's blog (I don't remember who)* that was talking about the art and the "why" of blogging (or it might've been in a chat conversation, I'm not sure). I had been thinking of posting something about it, because when I told someone IRL that I have a blog, they asked me if I had monetized it, and my answer was, "Why in the world would I sell my soul and my readers for a few measly dollars a month?"

So, if money isn't the reason (and it really shouldn't be—it is the most servile motivation for doing anything), what is?

I think of the old adage of the mountain climbers: "Why do you climb?" The obvious response, "Because it's there!" As an old joke goes, when asked "Why do you do what you do?" the spelunker answers, "Because it isn't there!"

I think of blogging like spelunking: We look to what isn't there. We write what hasn't been written; we capture in a moment of inspiration words that have been waiting the entire age of the universe until now to be inscribed with pen, pencil, charcoal, or bytes for the betterment of all.

Now, the necessarily wizened among us would likely retort, "What do you mean, 'it hasn't been written yet'?!? It's all been written: by better authors, by AI slopvalanche, or if nothing else, The Library of Babel!"

True, true. But ultimately, I'm not competing with Borges, Shakespeare, Hemingway, an AI-automated room full of furious typewriter-pounding monkeys, or even you, gentle reader.

I am competing with me. To see if I can produce beauty from the ashes of life all around me.

And that is why I write.

Addendum

*Silly me, it was the excellent OrbitalMartian, of course!

100 Days to Offload 2025 - Day 48

My Favorite GUI Programs, Part II

2025-07-28T07:18:00-05:00

Background

In yesterday's article, I went over the GUI programs that I enjoyed using over the years and remembered fondly. While I was going to go over TUI programs today, I realized that there's a category of GUI that straddles the line between GUI and TUI that deserved its own article, and that's "Keyboard-Oriented GUIs."

What I'm specifically talking about is GUI programs that are meant to be used primarily with the keyboard, that produce little to no clickable visual elements, yet let you view or manipulate graphical data using the keyboard, interactively.

Sadly, there is a pretty short list of programs that are meant to be used this way. I would really like to see this category expanded, as I find them incredibly useful.

The list

Zathura

Zathura is one of my favorite programs, and my favorite PDF viewer, hands-down. The entire idea is that you can run it from the command line and view a PDF graphically, but you entirely forget that you're in a GUI program. You just use the basic movement and search commands you're already used to from less and vi, and Bob's your uncle. I cannot recommend it enough. If you're lucky to be using a version that was compiled against the MuPDF library, then in addition to viewing PDFs, it can view ePUB ebooks natively. It functions as a very lightweight and basic ebook reader, as well. It can also read Comic Book Archive, DjVu, and raw PostScript files.

nsxiv

nsxiv is also a favorite that I use every single day. It's a very powerful image viewer and can even function as a thumbnail viewer to help organize your images. It also supports reading and writing filenames from/to STDIN/STDOUT, so you can use it as an image selector in your shell one-liners. In addition, the source code is pretty clean C, and I've been able to modify it to add more thumbnail sizes for higher resolution displays (or for just viewing thumbnails at more comfortable sizes). Very nice!!

Honorable mentions

luakit / qutebrowser

I really want to love luakit and/or qutebrowser. I love the idea of a keyboard-centric web browser, as browsing the modern web is an incredibly depressing affair for so many reasons more pressing than the lack of keyboard navigability, but that is an issue. My problem is that I can't really let go of firefox(-forks) as my main browser. My other issue is that while I'd really love to use something like luakit with javascript turned off as a lightweight browser, a lot of its functionality doesn't work with JS turned off. My issue with qutebrowser is that while it's a little more functional than luakit, the fact that it's written using the Qt GUI toolkit (something I'm usually in favor of) means that the actual web browser backend is based on Blink, a.k.a. Google Chrome. That's a big no, from me, but respect to the project.

imv

imv is a very similar image viewer to nsxiv, and has the added benefit of supporting both Wayland and X11 natively, but lacks the thumbnail mode, so I don't use it as often.

100 Days to Offload 2025 - Day 47

My Favorite GUI Programs

2025-07-27T13:24:00-05:00

Background

Yesterday, I wrote about why I loved the command-line, and one of my good Fedifriends commented that while he appreciated a good command-line program, he generally preferred GUIs (Graphical User Interfaces).

My personal history in computing started with what you might call command-line computers, although I think it's more accurate to call them "text-based." The first computers I worked with were the various 8-bit offerings, particularly a few weeks or months with a rented Apple ][+, and a Commodore 64, my first personal computer at home that we owned.

I'm hesitant to call these command-line systems, because the basic operating element for the interface wasn't individual command lines, but rather the listing of a BASIC program. You could, of course, enter BASIC commands/instructions one-at-a-time without line numbers (or in other words, without appending them to a BASIC program), but the commands didn't do much on their own.

After using a Commodore 64 at home from early 1982 to much later in the 1980s, I was gifted a Macintosh SE with an internal 20 MiB hard disk as a Christmas present in 1989. This was my first GUI machine, and using it was a formative experience for me, although I had used Macintoshes here and there for several years, including one borrowed from my stepdad's office. But this one was finally my own Mac to keep.

The list

So, I thought I'd make a little list and talk about the graphical programs that were special to me throughout the years, and why. Quick note, I strongly resist the modern trend of referring to computer programs as "apps." You can read that article for the reasons why, but in this post, I will be using the now somewhat archaic term "program" exclusively.

Choplifter!

Ok, so it's a bit odd to refer to a video game as a GUI program. But when I think about it, Choplifter! has a lot of the elements of a graphical interface. There are objects that you have to navigate to, but instead of using a mouse and having the mouse cursor as an indicator of on-screen interaction, you have a joystick and the helicopter itself.

Actually, I can't think of a single game or program of any type that did more to prepare me for interacting with onscreen graphical interfaces than choplifter. It was the equivalent of fine motor dexterity training for graphical computer interfaces, and it was a very fun game.

MacPaint

MacPaint was the G.O.A.T. among classic GUI programs. I still remember being a kid playing with a Macintosh for the first time. What must have been no more than half an hour or so felt like hours just sitting in front of that machine in 1984, trying all of the neat tools MacPaint had (the spray can is still such a cool idea!), and printing out my crazy wannabe Picassoesque digital scribbles.

The source code for MacPaint was actually released some years ago, and there are websites based on that source that allow you to enjoy the original MacPaint experience in a web browser. There's also the excellent Infinite Mac that allows you to run a full classic macintosh virtual machine in your web browser.

HyperCard

HyperCard could really be thought of as "MacPaint Unchained." It really showed off Bill Atkinson's genius, as it was a paint program, a presentation program, a programming language, and a forerunner to the World Wide Web itself.

With HyperCard, you could do basic doodles, write notes, create presentations, games, animations, and even basic databases.

HyperCard took the creativity of something like BASIC and Logo, and turned it up to 11, while being incredibly easy to use. I don't think I've used anything quite that freeing and creatively-energizing since then. In a way, it was my generation's Minecraft or Roblox. That kind of feeling of limitless creativity. HyperCard even became the basis for some notable games of that era, such as The Manhole, and Myst.

MS Paint

I think just about everyone reading this has used MS Paint in the past, many of which probably have fond memories of it. But I don't think most who think of MS Paint have seen it quite like this. MS Paint in Windows 3.x (simply called "Paintbrush") was far more cartoonish and derpy. According to Wikipedia, Paint in Windows 95 and on was based on a different codebase than the earlier Paintbrush.

While the Windows 95-XP versions of Paint are the ones that most people reading this will remember, those versions look boring, business-like and stodgy compared to the older Paintbrush and its cartoony UI.

While Paint/Paintbrush doesn't have the same nostalgia factor for me as MacPaint, its colorfulness and playfulness are very memorable, and I find the UI appealing even today.

Dillo

I wanted to include more Linux programs in this list, but since nostaliga is the general feeling here, it's hard to include programs that have been continuously updated and changed through the years, unless I'm pointing to a specific version. The fun exception to this is Dillo, which while it has recently started getting wonderful updates again, is still very, very similar to what it was 25 years ago: an incredibly efficient Web-1.0 browser.

100 Days to Offload 2025 - Day 46

Why I Love the Command Line

2025-07-26T16:39:00-05:00

I was going to post a much more serious blog post about anhedonia yesterday, but I didn't get to do so, as I was feeling... anhedonic!

One thing I do when I'm struggling to feel... anything (because I've spent way too much time feeling way too much, but that's a blog post for another time!) is think about things that deeply satisfy my mind on purely cold-and-rational level. If emotional joy is too much to muster because emotional pain is far too present, then absolutely robotic, cold, Vulcan joy is my ticket out of the shadow zone of utter inaction and inertness.

One of the things that gives me a ton of joy is using the command line.

Why?

I really don't have a bullseye answer on that, but I can shoot around it and trace it out:

Resource-efficiency

Command line utilities are usually very efficient. They spool up in an instant, do their thing, and GTFO, if you'll pardon a coarse idiom. Or in the case of interactive/TUI tools, they still run very quickly, execute their tasks quickly, and don't use a ton of resources while they're... resident (to use an archaic, MS-DOS-ish term).

Elegance of function

I find CLI and TUI programs very elegant to use. They hearken back to a much older era of human interface design and interaction, and they just seem to have a lot less pomp, bluster and artifice.

Avoiding that blasted rodent

I actually love mice. I mean standard, old-fashioned mice: wired or wireless, definitely preferably optical (I used ball mice for 20 years, I won't be going back! 😅), but not trackpads, trackpoints/nubs, touchscreens, gesture interfaces (as in, waving your hand in the air, because that was actually a product category at one point), neural interfaces, or whatever.

The first time I used a mouse was in 1984, and it was a revelation. It was about on par with the introduction of the iPhone/iPad, and we all discovered we could just reach out and touch our digital world. It was amazing!

Like the touch interfaces that came two decades afterward, the mouse is both an amazing demo (in its era), and a very useful tool in the right circumstances. But as a primary driver for human interaction, both the mouse and the touchscreen are rather bad.

The typewriter keyboard, whether you use QWERTY, Dvorak, Colemak, Workman, or something entirely different, is an incredibly efficient interface. The average person, once they have learned touch typing, possessing average dexterity and a tiny bit of discipline, can reach 80-100 words per minute. While this isn't as fast as machine voice dictation (which has finally gotten pretty good in just the last decade), it is far less error-prone.

Every time I have to reach for a pointing device, it seriously crimps the flow of what I was doing until that point, unless the task at hand is inherently pointer-oriented, like drawing or visually/spatially organizing something (such as desktop layout).

Tactility

The biggest bummer with touchscreens is that there is zero tactility. I remember in the early teens there was a research project involving small air bladders in a clear plastic layer on top of the screen to allow a part of the screen to be raised off of the surface of the glass, but that never got beyond prototyping, for understandable reasons. It makes a neat research project, but wouldn't be durable or even all that usable.

There was also a product for the iPhone 3G/3GS that was a clear plastic overlay with bumps where all of the keyboard keys went, so you could put the cover on, which would be precisely aligned, and then feel little bumps where all the keys are. I don't know how well that sold — it was a repectably neat idea, but not incredibly practical, because the cover would have to be parked behind the phone (which had a curved back at that time), and then be placed on the phone when it was time to type.

Mice are a little bit better, because there is a tactile click, and back in the halcyon days of skeumorphism in UI design, clicking on a button actually looked like a physical button being depressed, which your brain would connect to the click of the momentary switch inside of the mouse itself.

But even that pales to the tactility of a good keyboard. Even the flat, "Island-style" (MacBook-style) keyboard on this Thinkpad is satisfying to type on, and gives just enough tactile feedback for me to know that I'm typing, and hitting the keys right.

But it's more than just tactile feedback for the sake of efficient typing. On a good keyboard, the tactility is an extremely pleasant sensory experience.

The command line, being a keyboard-driven interface, is a far more tactile experience than a GUI. That may not be a big deal to some, but I find the different enjoyable enough to prefer it to GUIs. I'm not saying that if that was the only difference that it'd be enough by itself, but it is one of many.

Scriptability

Now, GUIs have been scriptable for a long time. Macintoshes had HyperCard (with the HyperTalk language) and its child, AppleScript. Windows has had various scripting languages and addons over the years; the Windows sysadmins at the job I had in the 2000s actually just used ActiveState Perl for all of their scripting, and made great use of it.

But there's a rare pleasure in being able to just take commands, one per line, appending them to a file, adding a shebang, and making it executable. So much like the MS-DOS BATCH language some of my fellow GenXers may be familiar with, shell scripting just starts with throwing commands into a text file and running it.

That is freaking incredible. What a delightfully easy start to programming. Just throw commands together, and have the computer execute them, one after the other, like dutiful robot.

And then learn about conditionals, variables, and other more complex subjects.

I understand that Python is much more sane and powerful in so many ways, C is so much faster, Go has so much more features, and Rust is... whatever it is ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

But shell scripting will always be a dear favorite of mine, and an entire category of utilities (CLI programs) that are inherently scriptable are always going to be far more useful to me than stand-alone utilities.

100 Days to Offload 2025 - Day 45

Songs to Improve Your Mental Health

2025-07-23T14:00:00-05:00

Background

I'd be fooling myself to think that I could be the first person on the earth to note music's incredible ability to heal and salve the tormented human soul. My own journey with music is, well, unsurprisingly, about as old as I am. Most everyone on one side of my family is pretty musically talented, and many of them play multiple instruments. I'm not what I'd call a musician, but I'd really like to be. The few times that I've been able to spontaneously perform something on the piano that I found personally pleasing were incredibly powerful moments, where the loop between music enjoyer and music creator became closed and began to feedback positively. I definitely want more experiences like that!

I've had a couple music-themed blog post series percolating in my mind for the past couple of years. I've thought of looking at the #1 hit songs from every year of my life and commenting on them (especially the ones I actually remember hearing growing up). I haven't started that yet, because it would be a pretty long blost series (I'm kinda old!!) I've also thought of reviewing the songs that I've found personally transformative in my life, although that's a much more personal and not particularly pluralistic subject, so I have kept that on the shelf for a while as well.

But reflecting on current events and my own recent personal history, I thought maybe putting together a short list of universally-uplifting songs would be fun, and maybe helpful to others. The tricky part, of course, is in finding songs that are universally uplifting. I find Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring to be a very beautiful composition, and one I have a bit of personal history with, but it wouldn't necessarily be universally appealing. So here's what I've been able to assemble on fairly short notice. I hope these songs touch your soul, or at least give you some positive, or at least light-hearted things to think about:

The List

Don't worry, be happy - Bobby McFerrin

I remember listening to this song when I was a teenager. It got a decent bit of circulation among my family members, and it's still one of my favorites.
Ok, the video is kinda campy, but the song—Holy crap, is that Robin Williams!!!?!? Ok, I wasn't expecting that. The feels, man, the feels. I really miss that dude.
So anyway, the meaning of the song isn't exactly hidden. It's a very simple song encouraging you to be happy... just to be happy. No reason.
Not enough? Well, it's a start, anyway. Let's continue. ;)

Lovely Day - Bill Withers

Gotta love those 70s collars. Bro's ready to taxi down to the runway and take off! 😄 This is another song that I just personally find very moving and uplifting. It's also not incredibly deep in terms of message, but I do rather like this one stanza:

When the day that lies ahead of me
Seems impossible to face
When someone else instead of me
Always seems to know the way

The singer (or bard, as it were) is confessing the difficulty of the day, but just "one look" at his beloved is all it takes to have some hope and confidence in the day ahead.

I was reminded of this song recently because of a humorous short video imagining what the recording process would've looked like with Bill Withers' amazing sustained vocals: [Invidious link] [Youtube link]

Isn't she Lovely - Stevie Wonder

One thing I love about this song is the total lack of a long spin-up. The song plays a single bar, and then he just launches into "Isn't she lovely?"

Ok, I'm not ashamed to say this: I get misty-eyed (at the very least) or just completely blubbery (at the worst) EVERY TIME I hear this song. It hits me right where it hurts, because the point of the song is so far removed from all of the vainglorious, selfish pursuits enshrined in song for eons past. It's the song of one man looking upon (metaphorically speaking, as Stevie is blind) his daughter for the very first time.

Ok, I can't get too deep into analysis on this one, because I'll just turn into a puddle.

Sir Duke - Stevie Wonder

I think I first discovered this song sometime last decade when they were playing it at the local city gym/rec center. It was so incredibly catchy, I just had to listen to it some more, so I found it on my phone when I got home and played it for the whole family while doing the dishes.

When Stevie sings, "Music knows it is and always will / Be one of the things that life just won't quit," he definitely knows what he's talking about!

Happy - Pharrell Williams

I know that a lot of people panned this song when it came out, saying that it's just shallow feel-goodism, and what not.
To such criticism, I have but one humble entreaty:

Shut up. *cough*

Clap along if you feel that happiness is the truth.

Many people are unhappy for many good reasons. Many people are happy for good reasons. Some people are unhappy without a good reason, and some people ostensibly are happy with no good reason. The entire truth table checks out. But in the face of so much unhappy stimuli, why not just choose to be happy? Unreasonably so? Irrationally so? Annoyingly so??

I often think of one of my Undergrad reading assignments, Philip K. Dick's 1968 novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, which the 1982 film Blade Runner was loosely based on.
There is a part in the book (but not in the film) where Deckard's wife is dialing in her Mood Organ, a device that allows its user to select a mood, and that is exactly how they will feel. The user can dial in anger, or sadness, incredible elation, or dial in a knock-down, drag-out argument with their spouse. In the book, Iran (Deckard's wife) would occasionally dial in intense, crippling depression, because she felt that that was the most honest setting. (To be clear, I'm paraphrasing something I read a little over a decade ago, so please forgive me if there are factual inaccuracies).

The thing is, I really don't think that's true. As someone who has grappled with debilitating depression many times, I find that depression's number one weapon is to convince you that it is not only an accurate view of your world, but is actually THE true view that colors every other viewpoint as foolish, shallow optimism.

But that's not true at all. You can simply choose joy, especially in the midst of crushing circumstances. Do it for yourself or for others (or both!), but that is absolutely a choice you can and should make. It doesn't deny bad things. It only chooses to believe that it can be better, and that your life matters, because it absolutely does.

100 Days to Offload 2025 - Day 44

Anker SoundCore P30i mini-review

2025-07-22T08:28:00-05:00

Time for another little hardware review.

Background

I've been getting complaints that the small, inexpensive bluetooth earbuds (Skullcandy Dime XT/XT2) I had been carrying around for the past five years have pretty poor audio quality during phone calls (likely no microphone noise cancellation), so I started looking around again. I had purchased a pretty cheapo random-nonsensical-name-branded set from amazon (whom I enjoy non-affectionately referring to as "LexCorp," since Jeff Bezos is bascially Lex Luthor) last year, but the case was a bit too bulky, and the controls were very awkward (one stray tap would end a phone call, pause music, etc). I keep those in my bag, but I wanted a good pair to carry with me in my jeans. I always try to keep a pair of earbuds in the little watch pocket of my jeans (and I'm almost always wearing jeans), so I never have to go looking for one. I also keep spares in my backpack, but my backpack isn't always conveniently located (sometimes in my car, sometimes in another room somewhere, etc.).

The good

The audio quality seems quite good. I'm not an audiophile, and my hearing is decent-to-average, but not fantastic. Like many middle-aged folks, I can't hear the more high-pitched frequencies of sound, which is where a lot of artifacting and distortion is readily apparent. The bass seems quite nice, and the fit and finish is also comfy and secure. The battery life also seems nice, although it doesn't give you any indication of what the case's battery status is (until it's low).

I can't judge the call quality yet, as I don't make phone calls super often (and I don't wear the earbuds 24/7). Hopefully, it doesn't sound as potato to other callers as my old SkullCandy pair.

It's a bit of a gimmick, but the other side of the case also folds down to form a phone holder, which is actually pretty well-executed. The phone holder part of the device is very thin, so it's not contributing much to the overall thickness, and it actually holds my phone (a Pixel 7 with a 6.3" display) both in landscape and portrait orientations pretty decently securely.

The other good thing is the price. It's normally $29, but I got it on sale for $23. I find it absolutely unconscionable that people spend $150 for FAANG-branded earbuds. I mean, it's your money, I guess, but grow a soul, or something? Quit bankrolling TESCREAL reprobates, already.
Yes, I am judging you. ;)

The meh

My main reason for buying a name-brand pair was hoping to get better ANC (Active Noise Control/Cancellation), as the ANC in my no-named pair seemed to work, but it wasn't perfect. I think I had been sold a bill of goods as to what ANC is actually capable of. It's great at cancelling out constant droning noises like an airplane engine, or noisy air conditioner, but it does next to nothing to actually quiet a noisy environment, like a cafe. So the ANC on these Anker buds aren't really any better than the ANC that came with my random-jumbled-name-correct-horse-battery-staple brand earbuds. So that's a draw.

The not-so-good

One issue I have is with the overall size of the case. It's definitely not a big case, but it's the bulkiest case I've had so far (see photos at end). It's just small enough to fit in the watch pocket of my jeans, and is fortunately smooth and rounded at all sides, making it more comfortable than it otherwise would have been at its size. Of my three wireless earbuds cases, it's the shortest along the x axis, but the tallest along the y, and the fattest along the z.
According to my digital calipers, the case measures just under 57 x 50 x 20 mm (x, y, z), or 2.24 x 1.94 x 1.14 in I-prefer-ignorance-and-bombast-to-reason-and-cooperation units.

A more significant issue I had with it is that there's no way to turn off ANC from the device itself. By default, long-pressing on either earbud switches between ANC and "Transparency Mode" (kind of like reverse-ANC or a bit like a hearing aid, boosting the surrounding sounds), but it can't turn it off to just play music without doing something (dampening or boosting) with the surroundings. Fortunately, you can turn it off from the Soundcore app, and also change the settings of the earbuds such that the long press switches between the three modes (ANC, Transparency, OFF), instead of just the two. I can also report that the Soundcore app works if you have it firewalled off from the internet, because I have no reason to trust that app, or any other proprietary app, for that matter. The main problem I have with the app (other than it's required to change a setting that should have been the default to begin with) is that it's nearly three hundred megabytes. How? How did we even get here??!? 🤦‍♂️

Fortunately, the excellent FOSS app, GadgetBridge supports controlling earbuds, and it may be possible to add support for the P30i to it. The GadgetBridge account on the fediverse was kind enough to send me instructions for generating a log that I can then submit to them for review and hopeful implementation. I will be trying that this weekend. :)

Minor update

I recently discovered that the earbuds can be connected to my phone and my laptop simultaneously. That is pretty cool.

Images

(If you can't see anything, your web browser lacks AVIF support)

My old SkullCandy Dime XT earbuds, no-brand earbuds from Amazon, and the SoundCore P30i

The SoundCore P30i (open)

The SoundCore P30i (open, with earbuds out)

The SoundCore P30i in "phone holder" mode

100 Days to Offload 2025 - Day 43

Why I love vim

2025-07-21T08:00:00-05:00

Disclaimer: I will be using the name/term vim in this blog post, but I actually mean any command-line editor based on or inspired by vi, or "vi-style editors." This includes the original vi, nvi (which IIRC was the basis of the vi that comes with the various BSDs), elVIs, NeoVim, and even newer editors like Helix and Kakoune, but with the small demerit that some of the newer editors break muscle memory by not being completely compatible with the original vi commands. But the point is, when you read vim, please replace that name with whatever your personal favorite vi-style editor is.

If you scour the ebullient database of opinions that is the Internet, you won't find too many lukewarm opinions of vim. People tend to either love or hate it, adore it or avoid it.

I will admit that when I first started using Linux in 2000, I preferred using GNU nano, and even wondered why Linux didn't have an editor as easy to use as windows notepad (or more accurately, MS-DOS EDIT.EXE). I'm not sure when my opinion changed, but at the very latest, it was 2002 when I was working a job that required securing HP-UX machines, and there was definitely no nano available on those machines, or any other GNU utilities. So I basically had no choice but to learn it, and recall printing off a couple TechRepublic vi cheat sheets and pinning them up at my cubicle for easy reference.

I also had some exposure to UNIX (via SunOS) in the early 90s. I didn't much like vi back then, either. Fortunately, we had pico, the editor that came with the PINE email package, which was the direct inspiration for GNU nano. So even though I'd heard a lot about vi for a solid decade before having to learn to use it, I avoided it, just like a lot of other people who find the interface (or relative lack thereof) confusing.

Before I say too much in praise of vim, I really must say that the learning curve feels relentless. Now, I'm either the laziest man on this green earth (jury's out), or it just doesn't really ever get much easier. I've been a vim user for 25 years, and I'm still a noob. I guess that keeps you humble. ;)

Nevertheless, learning vim, even just the most basic movement and editing keys, is very rewarding. It feels incredible to not have to move your hands off the "home row" (ASDF JKL;), let alone picking up one hand off of the keyboard entirely to grab the mouse to move the cursor.

Sitting there with your hands locked into position, effortlessly moving reams of text around and performing tons of various editing operations without ever having to break the flow of what you're doing to use something as clumsy as a mouse, cursor key, or obtuse E-M-A-C-S modifier-key finger-twister is just amazing to me.

100 Days to Offload 2025 - Day 42

My Approach to Online Notes

2025-07-19T10:22:00-05:00

Note: When I say "Online" in this context, I literally mean "on a computer," vs. "on paper." This is the older, more classic meaning of the word, similar to "on-line documentation" (i.e., "on the computer," not "on the internet").

Background

I know a lot of folks like solutions like Joplin and Obsidian, and in a previous decade/lifetime (think about it), I rather enjoyed using "full-fat" tools like Evernote and Day One when they both initially came out.

In time, like many others in the communities I inhabit online, I grew tired of using primarily web-based solutions and technologies. They burn more energy, contribute to the e-waste upgrade cycle, and have serious and laughably bad usability issues. I don't begrudge anyone who chooses to use that type of tool, but it's not for me, and I think I will say that it's just not good technology. Not everything has to be written in super-efficient C, but just slapping together the universe in JavaScript and web technologies is getting pretty old. Ok, RANT OVER! 😄

Objectives

Here are the main things I look for in a technical solution:

Cross-platform
- For notes particularly, I have to be able to enter notes on the fly on my phone when out-and-about without worrying about saving or syncing, or authenticating to a website.
Elegance
- The interface on the phone has to be a good phone interface, but the interface on the desktop has to be a usable and easily keyboard-navigable interface, not just a PWA or (ugh) Electron.
Synchronization
- I know that I said that I do not mean "on the internet" when I say "on-line," but that doesn't mean that I don't want my notes to be "online" in the internet sense. I have a phone, 4-5 old laptops running around, and a desktop. I need all of these to be synchronized transparently.

What I actually ended up was using two different solutions for two different sets of notes. One solution is 100% functional for mobile/web and 90% functional for desktop use, and the other is 100% functional for desktop use, and about 75% functional for mobile use (not web). I keep a subset of my notes that I need to access on the go on the mobile/web-first solution, and the rest of my notes (which I don't access as often, or just don't need on-the-go) on the desktop-first solution.

Solutions

So let's go over them!

Desktop-first

vi/vim/NeoVim is a well-loved meme within the Linux community ("Help, how do I get out of here?!?"), and I have loved using it since the early 2000s. I will give vi its own article, but any note-taking solution I use must allow me to edit the notes in vim, non-negotiable. There are some graphical editors (like Kate!) that have a very good vi input mode, but I still prefer to just edit files in vim/NeoVim.

So, for my "desktop-first" note-taking where I won't need to access the notes on-the-go too often, I just have a Notes directory on my machine that I get synced between computers (and my phone) with Syncthing. Now it's important to note that running Syncthing constantly on your phone will drain the battery pretty quickly in the course of a day, so I have it set up to only sync when connected to power. Therefore, the notes I keep synced with Syncthing are the ones I don't have to look up or edit on my phone too often, for fear of editing an older version of the file.

But when I do, I have found Markor to be an excellent solution for editing markdown files within a directory structure. Oh, I guess I should specify that I keep all of my notes in Markdown format. It's just the most natural and enjoyable for me to use, although some others may prefer ReStructured Text, LaTeX, html, or even xml (lol please say it ain't so).

Mobile-first

For notes that I need to keep synced 24/7 and editable on my phone, I use Simplenote. Simplenote has a web interface, an excellent mobile program for both major mobile platforms, an excellent native Mac application, and an Electron application for all of the other desktops.

I thought you don't like Electron!

I don't, particularly, and I don't use the Electron application for Simplenote very often. There are, fortunately, a couple alternatives. There's nvpy, the somewhat ugly-but-functional python-based Simplenote GUI that's very straightforward and easy-to-use, and there's sncli, the very simple-but-intuitive TUI (command line interface) for Simplenote.

I use sncli a great deal to manage most of the notes that I edit daily and need on my phone as well, like shopping lists and blog post ideas. It's a very elegant and simple program, and it does a great job of keeping my Simplenote notes in sync. All it does is sync the notes, gives me a very simple TUI for managing notes, and calls my favorite $EDITOR (NeoVim).

It's worth noting that sncli had an issue recently where it would not work at all on more recent versions of Python. I also noticed that the synchronization back-end (which I believe is called "Simperium") was occasionally failing, making it impossible for me to synchronize my notes for a few hours at a time every month or so. I'm happy to note that the community around this small software tool came together to update the code and make it work again. I haven't had a single problem with it since I reported the breakage to the developer a couple months ago. (Not to say that I was the first to do so, nor that I had any part in fixing it, but the dev was very nice to answer my emails asking about it at that time).

100 Days to Offload 2025 - Day 41

A Fine Vintage of Sass

2025-07-18T08:07:00-05:00

Just now, I was doing what all great bloggers do when they run out of (easily) actionable blog post ideas:

I got around to cruising my RSS feeds!

To be fair, there are many wonderful bloggers that keep up with their RSS feeds and dutifully read and comment on all their friends' blogs.
Unfortunately, I am not one of them. ADHD, or something. This brain does not drive in a straight line, ever.
Probably a bent axle, no idea.

But anyway, while cruising some very nice blog posts, I came across one by the still astoundingly prolific Reuben Schade which contains what is, to me, THE quote of the Year:

UX at Apple gives me reverse imposter syndrome!

Dear God, what delightful sass. 😂 As I haven't played with Mac OS X* at length since High Sierra, I can't really comment on the UI/UX of the latest MacOS, but I trust what I'm hearing from others about the regressions of the UI, particularly from those who are designers and app developers.

* Yes, I still write the X (sometimes). I don't know why. Curmudgeon.

Another one:

But I can't remember the last time I walked past the local Apple store and wondered 'huh, some of that looks interesting'.

Man, that reminds me of the time when Apple shuttered all of their stores in my part of the city back in 2019. So, one day after that, I found myself at the mall, and there was no Apple store to browse randomly at. So what to do? I went to the Microsoft store!! (Shock, horror!).

While the OS (Windows), is obviously laughably bad, the hardware design of the various devices (some by Microsoft themselves, some by Samsung and others) was actually really, really nice! Inventive! Creative! More than just the same old Unibody MacBook chassis with minor variations for over a decade. I will say that since then, the industrial design of the iPads has been amazing to see, especially with their keyboard cases/stands. Very sci-fi-looking to me as an outside observer. But they are, of course, obscenely overpriced, and locked down with a more-than-just-proprietary OS, iOS. I mean, iPadOS. Whatever they're calling it this week.

Another gem:

The only thing, the only thing going for Apple since 2015 is that they haven’t been Microsoft, so I can run Office without Windows that has also slipped into the realm of absurdity. But Liquid Glass now puts us back in the deep, dark period of Vista, an OS that was designed in direct response… to Mac OS X!

Hilarious. Although to be fair, XP was the first, and wholly inadequate response to Mac OS X. Even the name had an "X" in it! But yes, Vista is what Microsoft accomplished with five more years of development, millions of dollars, and an army of engineers. 🤭

I would also have to say (depending on your exact workflow), you really don't even need Office anymore. LibreOffice can't do exactly everything MS Office does, but it's getting really darn close for me, and I exchange .xlsx spreadsheets with someone who is a relative master at Excel, regularly.

My own journey away from the fruity kingdom was catalyzed by 1) Apple deciding to no longer support my iMac, and 2) myself accidentally baptizing my beloved 2014 MacBook Air in hot tea in 2019. This caused me to rely on the cheapo used Thinkpad X200 which I bought "just for writing" as my daily driver. While I found that while there were some minor kinks to work out, I really, really loved being on Linux again.

100 Days to Offload 2025 - Day 40

A Time-Traveler's Guide to Affordable Computing

2025-07-17T21:26:00-05:00

Greetings! If you are reading this, it means you were selected by TODD (the Temporal Observation Directorate Division) for a temporal excursion. Since you're a member of the Computing Sciences History Reading Room, you will no doubt want to brush up on how to procure computing resources in your assigned temporal coordinates with a minimum of labor, since as you should well know by now, memes were not accepted as currency before 2250, and using foreknowledge of events to procure resources within your temporal assignment (also known colloquially as "betting on Secretariat") is a temporal crime punished by the most severe form of censure in the Galactic Duchy: downvotes and a mocking segment on The Tonight Show.

This list will be focusing on the North American market, so please consult the appropriate offices for details on the European and other markets for the same time periods. In addition, we must remind all analysts that visiting the United States after the year 2015 is prohibited for all but Class B and above Senior Analysts, as the region was plunged into increasing instability from that point on, until the Zargonians invaded the Earth and turned that country into a wilderness refuge for Arseclauwns, an endangered breed of quasi-sentient cattle.

Therefore, the following will be a list of means for securing computational resources easily and affordably, organized by temporal sequence:

Before the 1920s: Some basic mechanical computers may be available for study, depending on temporal region. Otherwise, seek out positions at university computer banks, or in other words, jobs involving computing mathematical tables by hand.
You are the computer! Exciting!!
1920s: You may find a research project involving electromechanical computers, but they are rare.
1930s: Some basic electronic components were affordable, and the good thing is that people were using literal bread boards for breadboard prototyping, which is fun. Early digital circuits using electromechanical relays may be assembled, and may be fun to troubleshoot, though quite temperamental and limited.
1940s: Avoid involvement in the World War if at all possible, but working at Bletchley Park or the equivalent U.S. military programs would be hard to pass up, if given the opportunity.
1950s: Research projects involving early electronic computers are more prevalent, and less tightly integrated with active military efforts. Seek out the largest universities for the best chance at working with an actual general-purpose electronic programmable computer, although more limited machines may be rewarding to work on, as well.
1960s: There are sophisticated electronic computers available at a number of universities. Barring that, you may find a model railroad club that needs help with component-level circuitry, which while not as satisfying to work on as digital circuits, can still be fascinating.
Early 1970s: There were a number of somewhat affordable, though very basic computing kits available in the latter half of the decade. If journeying to before 1975, follow the same instructions as for the 1960s.
1977: There is one primary reason for traveling to '77, and that is to explore the "1977 trinity" of computers released that year: The Commodore PET, the Tandy TRS-80, and the Apple ][.
- While the Apple ][ was very appealing to collectors in later decades, at the time, it sold for an eye-watering $1,298, despite being designed to be as affordable as possible by Steve Wozniak. TODD does not approve of this profiteering, and we do not believe it to be worth the temporally-procured resources (i.e. money you make in the time period by working odd jobs).
- The Commodore PET-2001 is far more affordable at $795, and will be somewhat compatible with later Commodore devices, but the cash-register-style keys were small, and difficult to type on, even with practice. While this would be remedied with the PET 4000 series in 1979, there would be a better, and more affordable option available starting in 1980.
- The TRS-80 is the most affordable of the three, coming in at $599.95 and including a good, touch-typeable keyboard (unlike the PET 2001), and a tape drive and monitor (unlike the Apple). Of course, you have passed with a grade of at least "pecan pie" over "long day at the beach" in the related touch typing courses before being considered for a temporal excursion, YES? They don't have telepathic circuits in this era, and won't for centuries to come.
Early 1980s: For those journeying to the early 1980s, the most affordable computer at the time was the Commodore VIC-20, selling for only $300, and only requiring a (presumably already procured) television and a Datasette (an early kind of tape drive) for $75.
- While the VIC-20 doesn't compare favorably to 1982's epic Commodore 64, it was half the price (and two years earlier), and the lower resolution video mode made working with it on a television set a little bit less eye-strainy. (The effective resolution of the TV signal was very low, the fidelity of the image on screen was fairly poor, and the means of conveying the signal (via actual in-wire RF transmission) was incredibly unstable. Television sets would not provide composite (let alone component or RGB) ports for several years to come in the U.S.).
- While lacking in RAM, BASIC language features, or even any kind of DOS (Disk(-based) Operating System), the VIC-20 was a very functional platform for experimentation, and one could procure a machine language monitor cartridge fairly affordably. The origin and meaning of the name (in particular the "20" portion), however, has been lost to time, and if anyone is able to get a conclusive answer for it and present the evidence to the directorate, we have it on good authority that said analyst would be awarded a bonus of 1,500 vintage Smudge the Insult Cat memes, as well as a temporally-reconstituted can of genuine SPAM meat. Dig in!!
1985: As Commodore founder Jack Tramiel moves from Commodore to Atari, so do we. Similarly to the VIC-20 vs. Commodore 64 debate, the Atari ST is a technically less-advanced and less-capable machine compared to the more expensive Commodore Amiga (and a bit less popular), but in typical Tramiel fashion, the ST packs a ton of value, being only $800 with a monochrome monitor, vs. the Amiga 1000 of the same year, which sold for $1,285 (plus $300 for a monitor).
- It may be tempting to procure an IBM PC-compatible at this point, but the prices hadn't been driven down quite enough at this point. The Apple Macintosh 512k (of late 1984) is even more unreasonable, being four times the price of the Atari ST, while having the same processor, same amount of RAM, and a smaller and lower-resolution screen.
- The late 16-bit/early 32-bit era of personal computing (represented perfectly by the Motorola 68000 CPU's architecture, and indeed the "ST" naming of the computer ("Sixteen—Thirty-two")) is seen by many in the directorate as The Golden Age of Computing, although others consider the 8-bit era to be The Golden Age.
- There are many spirited debates on this subject and many others among the analysts of the Retrocomputing Debate Club and Four-Dimensional Origami Folding Group, open to any analysts of Class D or above! Reserve your seat at the next meeting while supplies of effervescent blue cognition-accelerating Fleem last!
1990s: This is the decade where IBM PC-compatibles really took over the market. The Atari ST was discontinued in 1993, and similarly, the Commodore company itself folded the very next year. Additionally, the same time period was marked with Apple floundering badly as it tried to rush into the inexpensive computer market (after enjoying 100+% profits for so many years), and finding itself unable to make any money because of its own inefficiencies, organizational and structural bloat, and the inability to function at that competitive level. The 90s saw the market flooded with very affordable PC compatibles, and Microsoft slowly learning how to create an almost usable Operating System during that time.
2000s: Up until this point, the directives have focused on scratch-built/hobbyist equipment and affordable, new computers. Starting in this decade, used computers became a viable market, as the rate of change in computing power began to slow significantly. Also, in the last quarter of the decade, the market would be flooded with inexpensive miniature laptops called netbooks, which were good for... admittedly not a great deal, but they were very cute!!
2010s: While underutilized by the general public, this was truly the decade of the cheap Thinkpad. Starting in the 2010s and especially the 2020s (assuming you have permission to travel to that decade), a very functional 5-10 year old laptop could be had for less than $200 on eBay. Even at this early point in time, the impending collapse of the upgrade/e-waste hardware treadmill was a harbinger of the post-market revolution, which unfortunately faltered due to [REDACTED—Class A or above temporal license required for this content].

100 Days to Offload 2025 - Day 39

What is a blost, anyway?

2025-07-16T19:02:00-05:00

Welcome to the PADDING.

This blost is a part of the interstitial spaces that make up my blog. It's here to support other blosts. Think of it as one of the glial cells supporting the superstructure of the twisted online brain that is https://rldane.space/.

Of course, that doesn't mean it shouldn't be read! I will do what I can to make this blost interesting:

BOOGER!!!

See? INTERESTING!!

Anyway "blost" is a particularly blursed coat-carrying word devised by the evil, likely extraterrestrial mind of my good fedifriend, Amin, consisting of the words blog and post.

While I am happy to use the term, and hashtag the ever-living snot out of it, I still maintain that it is somewhat unnerving as a word, sounding like some kind of tumor, like "blastoma."

So there you go. Blogosphere?
Pheh! Welcome to the

blostoZONE!!!!

100 Days to Offload 2025 - Day 38

Speedrunning life with a Rube Goldberg brain

2025-07-15T15:24:00-05:00

There's a scene in The King's Speech at the end where he's finally giving his big, inspiring speech, and while you hear is the speech, what you see is the scribbled crib notes and the incredible mental gymnastics he has to go through to get each word and phrase out coherently.

This is a lot like life with ADHD. On the outside, the "Neurospicy" person might appear calm and collected, but internally they are navigating a maze of mental complexity not unlike a Rube Goldberg Machine.

I had been meaning/promising to write an article about my ADHD journey for about a year now (ever since I was diagnosed), but it's been such a moving target, I couldn't get it to "sit still" long enough to write anything particularly helpful. My thoughts on the subject have gradually morphed through a progression somewhat like the Kübler-Ross model of grief:

Denial: lol I don't have ADHD, I'm just scatterbrained and undisciplined!

Anger: Oh holy crap, I could have had this fixed when I was a kid!!

Bargaining: Ok, if I can only find the right meds and therapist now, I can still be normal!

Depression: My brain is broken. The meds don't work. Nobody has a real answer for me. This freaking sucks.

Acceptance: This is just the way my brain works. Sometimes it's a superpower. A lot of times, it's a burden. I have to learn to manage it, and somehow still get stuff done.

What I actually wanted to write about today was something I hinted at in yesterday's blost: my experience with "digital doodling." But I'm not actually talking about the doodling experience itself, as my extreme lack of experience in that realm doesn't make for much interesting blog-fodder. It's more my experience navigating the neurospicy brain-machine that I'm wanting to explain.

I got into doodling earlier this year because of a toot encouraging others to try doodling as a kind of protest against the flood of meaningless and soulless AI-generated slop that's been inundating the internet as of late.

So, wanting to get back into digital doodling (which I enjoyed doing a bit of in decades past), I bought myself a wacom tablet and started experimenting with software to doodle with. I loved the idea of doodling with vectors, rather than pixels, but I didn't really have the time to properly learn how to use Inkscape. After trying Krita and a couple other programs, I finally settled on Xournal++. While its graphics features were pretty limited, and it's mainly meant for notetaking, it is easy enough to use for basic doodling, and that's just what I did.

As I mentioned in yesterday's review, while the digitizer performed well, there were some aspects of attempting to sketch with a stand-alone digitizer that were a little sub-optimal (at least in my experience — I'm probably missing a lot of skills in that area, and a skilled illustrator reading this (or the previous post) would probably roll their eyes at it). So, what do I do? Decide that digital sketching is a bit more trouble than it's worth and just go buy a dot-lined notepad and bust out my wonderful collection of fountain pens?!?

Of course not!

"In for a penny, in for the GDP of a small Caribbean island," screams the ADHD brain. So, I go and buy a laptop that I honestly didn't need and just dug the hole deeper and deeper.

After awkwardly flipping my Yoga tablet around and struggling with the too-small-for-comfort pen and the general clumsiness of the device and software stack for several days, I had to stop and admit that it wasn't really working for me.

So, I guess I'm going to order myself a Rhodia notebook and start doodling on pencil again (pencil, ya know, 'cause mistakes. ;)

100 Days to Offload 2025 - Day 37

Thinkpad X390 Yoga mini-review

2025-07-14T16:46:00-05:00

About two and a half months ago, I bought a Wacom digitizer to do doodles with, but I found the process of sketching with a standalone digitizer a bit dissatisfying after using an iPad in years past. To be clear, the fact that the screen and digitizer are separate devices isn't as big a deal as you might think, as the digitizer is very precise and pleasant to use. There was, however one intuitive action that completely broke the illusion of drawing, and that is rotation. When drawing certain angles, you will usually want to rotate your drawing surface a little bit (like by 25° or whatever) to make drawing straight lines at varying angles more comfortable. This is completely undoable on a separate digitizer device, because there's no real way to hold your laptop at an angle while holding the digitizer at the same angle. It's a little difficult to explain, but if you've ever used a digitizer tablet, it makes intuitive sense, and it's kind of a pain. It wouldn't be so bad with a standalone screen like a tablet, as that can lay flat on your desk at any angle you like, but with a laptop or desktop, the rotation is a non-starter, and having the screen be parallel to your desk surface while trying to hold the digitizer at an angle is extremely clumsy and non-intuitive for drawing, at least in my very limited experience.

Hi, my name is ADHD. I'm not satisfied if my explanations for the most banal subjects imaginable are any less than a kilobyte. 🙄

Mooooooooving right along...

I wanted a real tablet to draw with. I had a linux tablet that a fedifriend gifted me, but it didn't seem to be supported by UBPorts any longer, sadly, so I couldn't get system updates. It's still quite useful for other things, but I didn't think I could make a drawing tablet out of it. I also have a cheapo Kindle Fire tablet I got on sale from woot, but that thing is... cursed. Don't ever buy an amazon tablet. They're just terrible. Very slow SoCs and a horribly locked-down OS. They can't even manage to do blue-light filtering decently, but then again, this isn't a review of that device.

There's also my aformentioned iPad, but it's quite long in the tooth, and I don't even know where my 30-pin iPod-style charging cable is. ;)

So, I found a good deal on a Thinkpad Yoga model (about 150 USD) on "fleabay," and jumped on it.

After debating which Linux distro to choose, I went with Kubuntu because I wanted to test it out to see if I could recommend it for new users. Kubuntu is... ok. I did a doas apt purge snap, because I'm just not a big fan of it, and installed a few things via flathub. Other than not wanting to see the fingerprint sensor when logging in (although I was able to train the fingerprint model once I had done a doas apt install fprintd libpam-fprintd)* and occasionally forgetting about the touchscreen (requiring a reboot), kubuntu is fine. KDE Plasma itself is, of course, really great, and handles both touchscreen and pen input very nicely.

*nevermind, I was able to get the fingerprint reader working just now. It just needed a doas pam-auth-update to be run and select to enable fingerprint authentication. That was easy!

I intend to write about my experience with digital doodling tomorrow, but overall, this is a very nice and thin, if somewhat compromised device.

Obligatory fastfetch:

rld@prometheus:~$ fastfetch
           `.:/ossyyyysso/:.                rld@prometheus
        .:oyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyo:`            --------------
      -oyyyyyyyodMMyyyyyyyysyyyyo-          OS: Kubuntu x86_64
    -syyyyyyyyyydMMyoyyyydmMMyyyyys-        Host: 20NQS18E00 (ThinkPad X390 Yoga)
   oyyysdMysyyyydMMMMMMMMMMMMMyyyyyyyo      Kernel: Linux 6.14.0-23-generic
 `oyyyydMMMMysyysoooooodMMMMyyyyyyyyyo`     Uptime: 7 days, 5 mins
 oyyyyyydMMMMyyyyyyyyyyyysdMMysssssyyyo     Packages: 2478 (dpkg), 31 (flatpak)
-yyyyyyyydMysyyyyyyyyyyyyyysdMMMMMysyyy-    Shell: bash 5.2.37
oyyyysoodMyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyydMMMMysyyyo    Display (LGD05EA): 1920x1080 @ 60 Hz (as 1749x983) in 13" [Built-in]
yyysdMMMMMyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyysosyyyyyyyy    DE: KDE Plasma 6.3.4
yyysdMMMMMyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy    WM: KWin (Wayland)
oyyyyysosdyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyydMMMMysyyyo    WM Theme: Breeze
-yyyyyyyydMysyyyyyyyyyyyyyysdMMMMMysyyy-    Theme: Breeze (Classic) [Qt], Breeze [GTK2/3]
 oyyyyyydMMMysyyyyyyyyyyysdMMyoyyyoyyyo     Icons: breeze [Qt], breeze [GTK2/3/4]
 `oyyyydMMMysyyyoooooodMMMMyoyyyyyyyyo      Font: Noto Sans (10pt) [Qt], Noto Sans (10pt) [GTK2/3/4]
   oyyysyyoyyyysdMMMMMMMMMMMyyyyyyyyo       Cursor: breeze (24px)
    -syyyyyyyyydMMMysyyydMMMysyyyys-        Terminal: konsole 24.12.3
      -oyyyyyyydMMyyyyyyysosyyyyo-          Terminal Font: JetBrainsMono Nerd Font Mono (12pt)
        ./oyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyo/.            CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-8365U (4) @ 4.10 GHz
           `.:/oosyyyysso/:.`               GPU: Intel UHD Graphics 620 @ 1.10 GHz [Integrated]
                                            Memory: 2.33 GiB / 7.42 GiB (31%)
                                            Swap: 451.49 MiB / 10.00 GiB (4%)
                                            Disk (/): 93.34 GiB / 229.43 GiB (41%) - ext4
                                            Local IP (wlp0s20f3): 192.168.1.122/24
                                            Battery (5B10W13927): 69% [Discharging]
                                            Locale: en_US.UTF-8

If anyone's curious about the hostname, I have a convention going back six and a half years to name all of my laptops after Star (Wars|Trek) ships, and my desktops/servers after Star (Wars|Trek) planets. So the X390 Yoga I named after the USS Prometheus which was sort of a "convertible" starship that broke up into three pieces, each with their own warp drive (IIRC) and weapons systems. (Or at least two out of the three pieces had their own warp drive. The top-most piece might not have.)

As far as the system specs goes, the RAM is a touch anemic, but I'm miserly enough to get a LOT of life out of 8GiB. The CPU is good enough (even in powersave mode), the screen is crisp, bright, and lovely at 13.3" and 1920x1080. The keyboard is also very enjoyable to type on, very close to my surprisingly pleasant Pinebook Pro.

The negatives are twofold: The power subsystem and the tablet mode.

Give her more power, Scotty!

This is a very thin and light laptop. It's very pleasant to carry around, and almost forgettable in a backpack. The battery life is a solid OK at around 7 hours, maybe more. It supports charging thresholds so you can extend the battery life (e.g., automatically stop charging once the battery is 80% full), and the standard USB-C charging port is great for compatibility. I actually charge it off of my Pixel phone's supplied charger, so that it charges nice and slow (and cool!)

But it's not a standout battery life champion, and it does not resume from suspend particularly quickly (clocked it just now: 5.00 seconds according to my trusty CASIO), and it loses battery somewhat quickly when in S3 suspend (and I have confirmed from the system logs that it's using proper S3 suspend).

Looking at my battery/power log, I'm losing 1% battery life about every 4-6 minutes just sitting here and typing with my CPU 97% idle and my screen brightness at 30% (it's deliciously bright). That's really quite respectable, actually, but the suspend is a little disappointing, losing between about two-thirds of one percent to one percent of battery per hour in suspend. That sounds miserly, but you're talking about depleting the entire battery in about six days. It comes out to about 20% of battery lost per day.

Again, compared to so many laptops, that's absolutely great. But for a laptop made in 2019, it's kinda Meh. If you only charge your battery to 80% (to preserve the battery life), and then stick it in your bag at night and then open it up the next afternoon and find you're down to 65% before you've done anything? That's a bit of a bummer.

So, absolutely not terrible in the power/battery department, but not fantastic, either. Oh, and upower --dump says the battery is 51.48 Wh. Just FYI.

It's got a pen. It's got a digitizer. But a Cintiq, it ain't.

The pen experience (i.e. the entire reason for buying this particular Thinkpad) is solidly okay. It works, and it works well, but it's not great. For one thing, I'm running Linux, a desktop OS with a desktop DE. Now KDE Plasma does a great job of adapting itself to a tablet or digitizer device, and it does work well, but it's just not going to be as optimized as something like an iPad, I'm sorry to say. Truly sorry to say, because I strongly dislike iPads, on many levels.

My main complaint with the pen is that it's just rather small (kind of like a Samsung S Pen, but not quite that small), and that it's battery-powered. Of course, the battery is internal, and it recharges while it's docked inside the laptop itself, but that does mean that compatibility is a bit trickier than just buying any old wacom-compatible pen. It has to be an active pen, and I don't know how compatible the third-party pens are. I'd just have to buy one and try it out, which I'm not super eager to do, as they're not particularly cheap (at least 20 USD, as I recall).

So, ironically, the number one feature I bought the device for I haven't even used in a couple weeks, preferring to just use it as a normal laptop. I don't even put it in tent mode or tablet mode 90% of the time. So the compromises that paid for the pen and yoga features were a little bit in vain.

But it's still a very nice, and very thin and light laptop, and the price was fantastic (and it's in great physical condition), so I'm not complaining!

Also, while I rarely ever put it in "tablet mode," the touchscreen does get used every now and then, because it's just there, and it's so convenient to just reach out and scroll with my thumb instead of futzing around with turning on the touchpad or using the trackpoint (I will lose lots of neckbeard points if I admit to not liking trackpoints, a.k.a. "nubs" much, but it is so).

This is my third ThinkPad so far in six and a half years of buying them on ebay (fourth if you count the ThinkCentre I bought earlier this year) and... I can quit any time!!! ;)

100 Days to Offload 2025 - Day 36

Some thoughts on Android launchers, or, The Need For Spatial Regularity In Touch Interfaces

2025-07-13T12:22:00-05:00

Background

I've used android as my main mobile OS for about four and a half years, and used it previously for about a year and a half before then. In total, I've spent eight and two thirds years on iOS, and six and one third years on Android (so far). Fifteen years (almost to the day!) on smartphones (not counting one dinky little Blackberry not-quite-a-smartphone I had, and 24.5 years carrying a mobile phone of some kind with me, every day.

ADHD oversharing/overspecificity say, "What?!" 😄

While I've tried several different launchers over the years (including the much-touted and incredibly customizable Nova launcher), I always went back to the stock launcher, even the stock AOSP launcher (since I started running AOSP-based Android OSes in 2021). The main reason for this is manifold, but for the most part, the stock launcher hits the sweet spot on the feature-richness/simplicity scale. It successfully avoids a lot of complexity while still allowing a decent amount of customization. Another reason for not sticking with alternate launcher is just the resistance to learning the complexity of a completely new system.

The only launcher I've stuck with for any amount of time is the KISS Launcher, which I daily-drove for probably a year or more, although I'm unclear on exactly how long.

KISS Launcher

My previous setup with KISS Launcher

KISS Launcher is really made for simplicity. It has only rudimentary support for widgets, and doesn't support placing any icons on the main portion of the screen. You have instead a favorites bar at the bottom similar to the standard icon dock on the default launcher, except that it can store seemingly any number of icons (of course, the icons get smaller as you add more, so there's a reasonable limit of ten or so before they become too small to distinguish or tap reliably). While you give up the option of having icons in the main portion of the screen (what you might call the "desktop," except that mobile OSes don't use a desktop metaphor), you gain a very clean look (just your favorite wallpaper, the search bar, and your favorites icons, and even those can be turned off for a really minimalistic look), and an incredibly powerful and intuitive search and history function.

Where KISS Launcher shines is in learning from your habits. It presents icons according to frequency and/or recency (this is configurable). So when you tap on the wallpaper, you get a list of the dozen or so most recently/frequently-used apps. If you tap on a "folder" called a tag — those are the single-letter icons you can see in the favorites bar — it opens up a list of apps sorted the same way as the main list. So for example the right-most tag on the favorites bar in my screenshot above (apologies if you can't see it, you should switch to a web browser that supports AVIF images!) is Media, which has a lot of apps. Ordinarily, I'd have to scroll through the list of media-related (tagged) apps to find the one I need, but since KISS sorts by frequency/recency, the app I was wanting is almost always in the first screenful of icons.

In all, it's a very powerful (yet simple) and elegant launcher.

So why did I quit using it and go back to "bog standard" QuickStep/AOSP Launcher??

Back to plain jane

My new setup with QuickStep (the default AOSP launcher)

Having a dynamic, search-oriented launcher that learns from you is awesome. It's like walking into a restaurant that scans your tastes and preferences each time you walk into the door, and prints out a bespoke menu by the time you reach your table that caters to your whims in the moment. But...

But sometimes you just want a burger and fries. Not a bacon burger and fries. Not a burger with a gold leaf-covered bun. Not a burger with truffle oil fries. Just something regular and familiar. KISS' constantly-changing "menu" became a bit chaotic to me after a while. While it excelled in serving my immediate needs, I missed the familiarity of being able to just think, "Ok, top right icon is going to be Tusky," or whatever.

Furthermore, I found myself having to regularly wipe the history for a particular app because I used it too often and wasted time with it. I didn't want to blacklist it from the history — I didn't want it to sink to the very bottom of the listings for all time, I just didn't want it to always be at the very top, being an ever-present temptation to fly around in Luanti or cruise the Fediverse feed on Tusky whenever I got stuck at work. A fedifriend gave me the suggestion of pausing the history, which is a solid suggestion, but it then causes the disadvantages of KISS Launcher to become more prominent, namely, the lack of information density (only getting about a dozen icons per screenful, since it's in a list format).

So, after deliberating back and forth, I went back to the stock launcher on CalyxOS, and set it up more or less the way I had it for years prior...

...aaaaand it was a gigantic mess. Absolutely unusable. It was a jumbled disarray of folders and widgets attempting to be all packed together in a single screen or two. The clutter was anathema to my mind that had been pacified by KISS Launcher's simplicity and quietness.

So, I started over from scratch. I completely abandoned the idea of having folders at all (iOS 3.0 crew say "hey!" lol). I kept the very first screenful as basic as KISS: A single weather widget up top, a search bar, and a favorites bar/dock with a handful of icons.
For my second screenful, I added the most-often-used-for-positive-purposes apps. Navigation. Podcasts and (local) music. Bibles (sorry).
Third screenful, utilities: file manager, settings, calculator, calendar, contacts, clock, SimpleNote, and yes, KISS Launcher is there as a backup because it's easier to search with it than the stock app drawer (I also have KISS set up as the "assistant" app, but I don't launch it that way very often).
Fourth screen is still mostly unpopulated, but it's going to be mostly for work apps, of which there are few in my case (thankfully).
Fifth screen (just far enough away to be a little annoying to get to) are the enjoyable time-wasters: Tusky, NewPipe/PipePipe, but also some other vaguely "social" apps like K-9 Mail (I don't use it very often, to be honest) and Element chat.
Sixth screen is app stores (regularly, but not frequently used), seventh screen is email and calendar widgets, and eighth is media and text messaging widgets.

It probably seems a bit chaotic, to be sure, and I did try looking at alternate launchers, because I'm really wishing there were a simple way to go to "screen #n" than just swiping n times, but overall, I'm liking the new setup. It's kind of a bodged-together attempt at combining the simplicity of KISS with the regularity of QuickStep.

100 Days to Offload 2025 - Day 35

Some thoughts on Severance

2025-07-06T09:32:00-05:00

Content warning: This post contains some minor spoilers for Severance seasons 1 & 2, as well as a discussion of some religious and cultic themes.

I had seen many fedifriends discussing the Apple-produced TV series Severance, and after completing my watch-through of The Good Place (blog post on that is in progress), I felt like tackling another series.

Based on what I had heard others say about it, I expected it to be quite dark, but... I didn't expect it to be quite so relatable. Almost everyone reading this is currently grinding away 40+ hours per week at a job which they may enjoy some of the time, but almost certainly don't enjoy all of the time. The concept of work being a pocket reality that we're trapped in isn't all that foreign or novel, but there's a lot more going on with the series than just the surface explanation.

Before I delve into explorations of interpretive methods, right of the bat, this series actually helped me with my own job, believe it or not. As someone with ADHD, I don't have a lot of layers or depth in which I experience and respond to things. I pretty much will tell you exactly what and how I'm feeling unless I have a really pressing reason not to, and if I'm not having a good day, pretty much the whole world is going to see it. Seeing the way the workers lives were bifurcated helped me explore the concept of dealing with emotional stresses in a multi-layered way and... basically stuffing my feelings just enough to get through the day. In my experience, the neurodivergent brain either stuffs things so deeply that they become landmines for later discovery, or wears its feelings on its sleeves to the point of being completely debilitating. As silly or obvious as it sounds, the idea of just putting off "feeling" about something long enough to get through whatever it is I have to do at the moment was actually kind of helpful.

In trying to make sense of the world of Severance, I'm again reminded of the notion that Hollywood's visions of dystopia are often nicer than reality. I even joked on a fediverse post,

I haven't done any homework to see what the reaction to #Severance has been at large, but I'd imagine it's something like this:

#EU: "Oh my God, what a horror! This is just unimaginable!!"
#US: "So... does anyone know if Lumon is hiring? I'd be up for knocking out some scary numbers crazy fast. They have benefits, right?"

I think probably the most obvious interpretation of the series is that of a criticism of capitalism. Certainly, the amount of control the Lumon exercises over the lives of both "Innies" and "Outies" is exhaustive, and terrifying. Hollywood seems very adept at criticizing capitalism while at the same time massively benefiting from it, and supporting its continued existence, and the exploitation thereof. I also see it as a criticism of cults, and cultic corporate culture. There are parts of the Season 2 episode "Woe's Hollow" that gives me strong Moromonism vibes, but not being a Mormon (or ex-Mormon), I can't speak to it at length or with any considerable depth. The scene where Ms. Cobel throws a cup at Mark S., saying it was painful for her to do so, then tells him to keep the door both open and closed as he leaves was a real brain-scrambler. Mr. Milchik's performance review dinging him for putting some paper clips in upside-down was also a very loud "WTF" moment for me. Along the religious/cult themes, the handbook that Irving is flipping through is actually some type of bible commentary, into which a few corporate-themed pages are inserted. This is the scene in which he puts a deviled egg inside the handbook as a purposeful desecration of it, you can see the commentary on the Pauline epistle of Philippians clearly as he's flipping through the pages.

I also see a thread of consumer culture present in the series, with the Outies being consumers of the Innies' labor and exploitation. The Outies are left to enjoy a life of significant leisure or even indolence (in the case of Dylan), while the entire life and consciousness of the Innies is endless labor with few respites or recreation. The incredible banalities of their highest recreation (a waffle meal), and the incredible ease in which their corporate leaders lie to them ("This is the world's tallest waterfall") are indicators of how isolated and controlled the Innies are. Compare this to the life of the average middle-class American vs. the life of the average factory worker in Asia.

Another theme I couldn't help but notice is the significance of the characters names, many of them being pointers to their character/nature or function within the story. "Mark Scout," can be literally interpreted as a statement: "See, a spy." "Scout" also has an alternate meaning of "to reject [something] with contempt." The name Gemma derives its origin from "gem," and she is a very precious person in the protagonist's life. The historical antagonist, Kier Eagen's first name refers to a kind of vat (he worked in an "Ether Mill," I suppose the nineteenth century equivalent of a Meth lab). Eagen refers to some kind of fire. Harmony Cobel has an ironic first name, given what a stressful character she is, while her last name refers to boldness, a characteristic she certainly portrays. Mark's sister is named "Devon," which is usually a masculine name which means "to divine prophetically." She is a strong supporting role that often has much more insight than the male characters around her, particularly her new-age-guru husband Ricken, who is often portrayed as being silly and full of himself, and his friends even more so. Speaking of him, "Ricken" means "brave ruler" (ironic again, but maybe not? He might have an interesting story arc), and "Hale" means "strong/healthy." Irving's name is a reference to his role in exposing Helena Eagen's lies, as "Irving" means "fresh water" (IYKYK), and Baliff is a court officer. Irving's love interest's name, "Burt" means "noble/bright," while Goodman is self-explanatory. I think the name choice is significant, because he is a character with a very checkered past, who desperately wants to improve. We don't know Burt's husband's full name, but "Fields" may be a reference to "Elysian Fields," a Greek concept of heaven, which is a significant subject in their conversation, and Burt's motivation for being severed. Helena's name seems to be a nod to Helen of Troy, as she's outwardly beautiful, but also the source of a lot of conflict. "Helly" may also be a reference to the character "Hel" in Metropolis (also referring to Helen of Troy), who undergoes a metamorphosis from robot to woman, similar to how the soulless oligarchic Helena becomes the vital labor resistance fighter, Helly.

I'm looking forward to seeing what season 3 brings us!

100 Days to Offload 2025 - Day 34

The Scenes that Made Me: Lars and the Real Girl (2007)

2025-05-24T12:52:00-05:00

Lars looking on wistfully while ingesting his sister-in-law's retort to his rant
Video clip

Content warning: this post unavoidably and briefly touches on some "mature" topics

If you had told me six months ago that one of my favorite movies of all time would be a bout a man who buys a sex doll, I would've said, "Nice try, now please go away."

Lars and the Real Girl is paradoxically about a very innocent-hearted person that purchases a very-not-innocent, er... accessory. The plot line of slowly unraveling and healing Lars' mental illness is fascinating in itself, but the way the town and the church rallies around Lars in his delusion is incredibly heart-warming and honestly convicting. It helped me frame my understanding of church and community in a way that was a lot less critical and honestly less self-centered.

To briefly summarise the set-up of the film, Lars purchases a "real doll" online, and when she arrives, he presents her to his family members (his brother and sister-in-law) as his girlfriend. When they question him and insist that she's not real, he completely ignores them, pretending that "Bianca" is a very real human, but merely disabled and not able to move on her own accord. They understandably take him to the doctor to get his noggin checked, and the doctor says that he is suffering under a delusion and there's no way to force him to face reality, but that they must let it play out, and try to draw him out of it gradually.

The one scene in this movie that grabbed me was a brief altercation between Lars and his sister-in-law. Lars is frustrated because the community is taking Bianca on so many excursions. Of course, they're doing it to limit his time with her (for his mental health, not necessarily for prudish reasons), but he interprets it as them meddling in his life, and he begins a rant about it until his sister-in-law cuts him short:

Lars storms through the Lindstrom house, ranting, while Karin is doing pregnant woman yoga in the family room.

LARS
She’s my girlfriend, and I shouldn't have to check a schedule to see her!

Karin falls out of her pose.

EXT. BACKYARD — MOMENTS LATER

Lars paces around by the firewood, muttering to himself in a little boy’s rage. Karin comes out to see what’s going on. She’s surprised, he so rarely exhibits emotion.

KARIN
You ok?

LARS
How'd she feel if I just left her. If I just abandoned her like that—

KARIN
Wait, wait, she didn't abandon you, she'll be back.

LARS
How do I know that? Huh? People do whatever they want, they don't care!

Karin gets mad.

KARIN
No, we all care, Lars. We do care.

LARS
No, you don't!

KARIN
That is— that is just not true! God! Every person in this town bends over backwards to make Bianca feel at home! Why — why do you think she has so many places to go and so much to do? Huh?
Huh?

LARS
I don't—

KARIN
Because of YOU, because all these people people LOVE you.

We push her wheelchair, we drive her to work, we drive her home, we wash her, we dress her, we get her up, we put her to bed, we carry her... and she is not petite, Lars, Bianca is a big, big girl! None of this is easy for any of us, but we do it, w— (voice breaks)
We do it for YOU. So don’t you DARE tell me how we don’t care.

She walks back in the house and slams the door. Lars, spent, tries to figure it all out.

That scene was extremely memorable to me, because it reminds me of conversations I've had with family members over the years, when I was self-absorbed and extremely pessimistic (which I lean towards all too often). It made me realize just how much so many people have bent over backwards for me, out of love, just to make me happy, when it was never really enough for me and all I could see in anything was the downsides.

It was, in all, an incredibly uplifting and pure-hearted film, despite the awkward star (and I don't mean Ryan Gosling 😄).

Previous entries in this series:
Star Trek
Star Wars

100 Days to Offload 2025 - Day 33

Unix Data Compression Shootout

2025-05-23T08:30:00-05:00

I wanted to try a new-to-me compressor, lz4, but it turned into a full ADHD-fueled file compression shoot-out:

Dang, lz4 is crazy fast!

Data/setup

The corpus is a 2.29 GiB uncompressed tar file consisting of several years worth of GPS data in various plain-text formats.
The computer is a Thinkpad x260 with the CPU governor set to performance. The CPU is an Intel i5-6200U

Outcome

Chart: (grouped by compressor)

command/compressor  time (user)       size  ratio
none/cat              0.077     2462955520 
gzip                 57.283      338289587   7.28
gzip -1              22.682      400956710   6.14
gzip -9             113.047      325547190   7.57
bzip2               319.847      262857414   9.37
bzip2 -1            255.654      278217711   8.85
bzip2 -9            326.718      262857414   9.37
bzip3               205.822      231173201  10.65
zstd                 12.520      321229917   7.67
zstd -1               8.812      317234226   7.76
zstd -9              63.019      282940675   8.70
zstd -11            101.278      281894351   8.74
zstd --ultra -22   7317.944      230075751  10.70
xz                 1476.153      228082956  10.80
xz -1               201.569      290137816   8.49
xz -9e             4683.144      212748984  11.58
lz4                   5.744      549838913   4.48
lz4 -1                5.762      549838913   4.48
lz4 -9               74.670      434543206   5.67

Sorted by size: (descending)

command/compressor  time (user)       size  ratio
none/cat              0.077     2462955520 
lz4                   5.744      549838913   4.48
lz4 -1                5.762      549838913   4.48
lz4 -9               74.670      434543206   5.67
gzip -1              22.682      400956710   6.14
gzip                 57.283      338289587   7.28
gzip -9             113.047      325547190   7.57
zstd                 12.520      321229917   7.67
zstd -1               8.812      317234226   7.76
xz -1               201.569      290137816   8.49
zstd -9              63.019      282940675   8.70
zstd -11            101.278      281894351   8.74
bzip2 -1            255.654      278217711   8.85
bzip2               319.847      262857414   9.37
bzip2 -9            326.718      262857414   9.37
bzip3               205.822      231173201  10.65
zstd --ultra -22   7317.944      230075751  10.70
xz                 1476.153      228082956  10.80
xz -9e             4683.144      212748984  11.58

Sorted by time: (ascending)

command/compressor  time (user)       size  ratio
none/cat              0.077     2462955520 
lz4                   5.744      549838913   4.48
lz4 -1                5.762      549838913   4.48
zstd -1               8.812      317234226   7.76
zstd                 12.520      321229917   7.67
gzip -1              22.682      400956710   6.14
gzip                 57.283      338289587   7.28
zstd -9              63.019      282940675   8.70
lz4 -9               74.670      434543206   5.67
zstd -11            101.278      281894351   8.74
gzip -9             113.047      325547190   7.57
xz -1               201.569      290137816   8.49
bzip3               205.822      231173201  10.65
bzip2 -1            255.654      278217711   8.85
bzip2               319.847      262857414   9.37
bzip2 -9            326.718      262857414   9.37
xz                 1476.153      228082956  10.80
xz -9e             4683.144      212748984  11.58
zstd --ultra -22   7317.944      230075751  10.70

Chart: (compression ratio / time score)

command/compressor  time (user) size        ratio   ratio/time
zstd --ultra -22    7317.944     230075751  10.70    0.0015
xz -9e              4683.144     212748984  11.58    0.0025
xz                  1476.153     228082956  10.80    0.0073
bzip2 -9             326.718     262857414   9.37    0.0287
bzip2                319.847     262857414   9.37    0.0293
bzip2 -1             255.654     278217711   8.85    0.0346
xz -1                201.569     290137816   8.49    0.0421
bzip3                205.822     231173201  10.65    0.0518
gzip -9              113.047     325547190   7.57    0.0669
lz4 -9                74.67      434543206   5.67    0.0759
zstd -11             101.278     281894351   8.74    0.0863
gzip                  57.283     338289587   7.28    0.1271
zstd -9               63.019     282940675   8.70    0.1381
gzip -1               22.682     400956710   6.14    0.2708
zstd                  12.52      321229917   7.67    0.6124
lz4 -1                5.762      549838913   4.48    0.7774
lz4                   5.744      549838913   4.48    0.7798
zstd -1               8.812      317234226   7.76    0.8811
none/cat              0.077     2462955520   1.00   12.9870 (nonsensical)

Conclusion

lz4 is the fastest compressor... but zstd -1 still kicks butt While it doesn't score well in the overalls core, bzip3 still provides excellent compression in a reasonable amount of time.

Raw output

tmp $ lscpu |grep i5
Model name:                           Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-6200U CPU @ 2.30GHz
tmp $ time cat < corpus.tar |wc -c
2462955520

real    0m1.388s
user    0m0.077s
sys 0m1.497s
tmp $ time gzip < corpus.tar |wc -c
338289587

real    0m57.971s
user    0m57.283s
sys 0m0.633s
tmp $ time bzip2 < corpus.tar |wc -c
262857414

real    5m21.280s
user    5m19.847s
sys 0m1.192s
tmp $ time bzip3 < corpus.tar |wc -c
231173201

real    3m26.608s
user    3m25.822s
sys 0m0.712s
tmp $ time zstd < corpus.tar |wc -c
321229917

real    0m11.717s
user    0m12.520s
sys 0m1.278s
tmp $ time xz < corpus.tar |wc -c
228082956

real    6m15.579s
user    24m36.153s
sys 0m1.481s
tmp $ time lz4 < corpus.tar |wc -c
549838913

real    0m2.190s
user    0m5.744s
sys 0m0.833s
tmp $ time lz4 -9 < corpus.tar |wc -c
434543206

real    0m25.151s
user    1m14.670s
sys 0m0.869s
tmp $ time zstd -9 < corpus.tar |wc -c
282940675

real    1m2.564s
user    1m3.019s
sys 0m1.351s
tmp $ time zstd -11 < corpus.tar |wc -c
281894351

real    1m40.556s
user    1m41.278s
sys 0m1.292s
tmp $ time zstd --ultra -22 < corpus.tar |wc -c
230075751

real    122m1.384s
user    121m57.944s
sys 0m2.642s
tmp $ time xz -9e < corpus.tar |wc -c
212748984

real    78m3.870s
user    78m3.144s
sys 0m1.345s
tmp $ 
tmp $ time xz -1 < corpus.tar |wc -c
290137816

real    0m50.878s
user    3m21.569s
sys 0m1.083s
tmp $ time zstd -1 < corpus.tar |wc -c
317234226

real    0m8.282s
user    0m8.812s
sys 0m1.162s
tmp $ time gzip -1 < corpus.tar |wc -c
400956710

real    0m23.496s
user    0m22.682s
sys 0m0.721s
tmp $ time gzip -9 < corpus.tar |wc -c
325547190

real    1m55.453s
user    1m53.047s
sys 0m0.730s
tmp $ time bzip2 -1 < corpus.tar |wc -c
278217711

real    4m16.753s
user    4m15.654s
sys 0m1.376s
tmp $ time bzip2 -9 < corpus.tar |wc -c
262857414

real    5m27.726s
user    5m26.718s
sys 0m1.157s
tmp $ time lz4 -1 < corpus.tar |wc -c
549838913

real    0m2.212s
user    0m5.762s
sys 0m0.832s

100 Days to Offload 2025 - Day 32

The Scenes that Made Me: Star Wars

2025-05-19T08:23:00-05:00

Luke looking wistfully out at the dual sunset on Tatooine as The Force Theme plays hauntingly in the background, beckoning him to his grand adventure

Having grown up in the 1980s, one thing random friends would often ask me (actually what family friends would ask my mom) was: "Has he seen Star Wars yet?"

I wasn't around for the original 1977 release, and I didn't know about The Empire Strikes Back when it first ran in 1980, but I got to see Return of the Jedi in theaters when it came out in 1983.

There's a lot of really amazing scenes in the original Trilogy, but rather than unpack them in chronological-to-me order (RotJ first), I'll go through them in story order.

A New Hope

I think ANH was the last of the trilogy I saw, though I'm not sure. It's the one I remember the least, as I saw RotJ in the theaters during its first-run (and it was very memorable to me then), and I saw ESB many, many, many times as a kid.

The one scene that stands out to me the most even to this day is the one pictured at the top of this article. It's "Luke looking wistfully out at the dual sunset on Tatooine as The Force Theme plays hauntingly in the background, beckoning him to his grand adventure." He feels stuck in his boring existence as the nephew of "moisture farmers*," and is longing to do something worthwhile with his life.

* "moisture farmer" always sounded like such a ridiculous occupation, until "crypto miner" became a thing. Then *that* **absolutely** became THE most ridiculous "profession" of all time.

I can't be certain when I first saw ANH, what I thought when I saw it, how it affected me, or what scenes spoke to me the most.
But when I think back on it, in that scene, there is both a calling forth and a calling back. A calling forth to my young self towards all that the future could possibly be, both good and bad, and a calling back towards the hope and optimism that seemed to be all around me when I was a young one.

The Empire Strikes Back

ESB is the Star Wars film I have the most "ocular mileage" on. It was one of few films I had available to me on my beloved Betamax deck, which I had hooked up to my equally beloved Commodore 1702 monitor.

Of course, my copy of ESB was a bootleg, and the copy for whatever reason cut out right near the end, just after the Falcon manages to escape into Hyperspace. Vader sees the Falcon escape, turns around (apparently to force-choke someone for their failure!) and then khschhhttttt! Just STATIC. The recording ends. XD

I really loved ESB for all of the training scenes with Yoda, but also for the long and quite brutal battle Luke had with Vader. I identified with the concept of "father" being a dark one, a long shadow from the previous generation being cast onto my future, footsteps I dared not follow in.

Return of the Jedi

The most memorable scene in RotJ for me is the one where he lifts the mask off Vader's face. As a kid, of course, it was a pretty "Ewww!" moment because of Anakin's disfiguration, but it was still poignant. I recall the now long-defunct Science Fiction parody web-toon website sev.com.au had a comic of that scene that ends with Luke saying, "Ok, can I put your mask back on now?" 😅

That one scene (and the viking-style burial afterward) beautifully resolved the tension between father and son, and gave me hope for some kind of resolution in my own life (which would not come, but hey, that's life).

Bonus: Rogue One

I had no intention to cover the prequels, because I was already in my 20s when they came out, and of course, the sequels are _That_Which_Shall_Not_Be_Spoken_of, but Rogue One more than gets a pass.

There are a lot of striking scenes in Rogue One, but the one that was an absolute gut-punch was the one where you see Princess Leia receiving the Death Star plans. I was not expecting it, and I was coincidentally viewing the film in the theater on the very day that Carrie Fisher had passed away.

YEAH.

100 Days to Offload 2025 - Day 31

The Scenes that Made Me: Star Trek

2025-05-17T09:43:00-05:00

I'm starting a new series where I recount the TV show and movies that were formative in my life. Not only in my childhood (although that will be heavily emphasized), but even recent days.

As I mentioned in a recent post, there were some scenes in Star Trek that deeply marked me when I was younger.

ST:TNG: The First duty

In this episode, Wesley Crusher is faced with peer pressure as he attempts to balance his duty to society with his desire to please and honor the peers that inspired him. He has a new family in Starfleet Academy and finds himself opposed to his "old" family of The Enterprise, particularly his former captain.

The words that Picard speaks in this episode rang in my ears for decades, and have rang only louder in the light of our shallow, influence-chasing culture as of late:

[Ready room]

PICARD: Come.
WESLEY: Captain.
PICARD: Can you tell me what manoeuvre this is?
(on the PADD we see five ships go into a circle, cross each other's paths and light up a five pointed star)
WESLEY: It's a Kolvoord Starburst, sir.
PICARD: Five ships crossing within ten metres of each other and igniting their plasma trails. One of the most spectacular and difficult demonstrations of precision flying. It hasn't been performed at the Academy team in over a hundred years. Do you know why?
WESLEY: It was banned by the Academy following a training accident, sir.
PICARD: An accident in which all five cadets lost their lives.
I think that Nicholas Locarno wanted to end his Academy career in a blaze of glory. That he convinced the four of you to learn the Kolvoord Starburst for the commencement demonstration. If it worked, you would thrill the assembled guests and Locarno would graduate as a living legend. Only it didn't work, and Joshua Albert paid the price.
Am I correct?
Cadet, I asked you a question. Am I correct?
WESLEY: I choose not to answer, sir.
PICARD: You choose not to answer?
But you've already given an answer to the inquiry, and that answer was a lie.
WESLEY: I said the accident occurred after the loop. It did.
PICARD: What you neglected to mention was that following the loop your team attempted a manoeuvre that was the direct cause of the crash. You told the truth up to a point. But a lie of omission is still a lie.
...
PICARD: ...And then later when I decided to make you an acting ensign, I was convinced you could be an outstanding officer. I've never questioned that conviction, until now.

The first duty of every Starfleet officer is to the truth.
Whether it's scientific truth, or historical truth, or personal truth.
It is the guiding principle upon which Starfleet is based.
If you can't find it within yourself to stand up and tell the truth about what happened you don't deserve to wear that uniform.
I'm going to make this simple for you, Mister Crusher.
Either you come forward and tell Admiral Brand what really took place, or I will.
WESLEY: Captain
PICARD: Dismissed.

DSC: Through the Valley of Shadows

This is obviously a much more recent episode (2019), which I only saw a couple years ago at the earliest. Still, the words that Pike utters after seeing his (horrifying) future were extremely poignant to me. He dealt with the horror of seeing his radiation-mangled face by reminding himself of who he is, and recalling the duty, purpose, and values of his life in the midst of a reeling revelation.

TENAVIK: When the future becomes the past, the present will be unlocked. Come.
PIKE: Well, what do I do?
TENAVIK: You must see for yourself. But it is for you, alone.
A warning, Captain. The present is a veil between anticipation and horror. Lift the veil, and madness may follow.
(Pike sees the future: the accident, the radiation leak, his immobile form and disfigured face)
TENAVIK: You may still choose to walk away from this future. But if you take the crystal, your fate will be sealed, forever. There will be no escaping it.
PIKE: (to himself) You're a Starfleet captain. You believe in service, sacrifice, compassion… and love.
(to Tenavik) No. I'm not going to abandon the things that made me what I am because of a future… that contains an ending I hadn't foreseen for myself.
No. Give it to me.
TENAVIK: I honor you, captain.

100 Days to Offload 2025 - Day 30

I (again) want Star Trek to be real

2025-05-11T17:00:00-05:00

When I was in High School, I fell madly in love with Star Trek: The Next Generation. The fascinating characters, the (at the time) amazing special effects, the stories, the optimism, but most of all, the technology.

My eyes dazzled seeing huge touchscreens, digital tablets, and incredible spacefaring vessels every Thursday night.

Star Trek was incredibly cool, not just because it gave a somewhat realistic depiction of very advanced tech, but also of a very advanced and liberated society.

In the 35 years since that one summer watching ST:TNG reruns every evening, I've watched our technology slowly catch up, but our society has only stagnated since then, and indeed greatly relapsed.

On the technology side, we now have incredibly advanced computers, somewhat convincing "Artificial Intelligence," digital tablets, some basic energy weapons, some basic medical scanning, and a stable, long-term human base of operations in orbit.

On the society front, we had the end of the cold war, the stability of the 90s, and then Bush Jr.'s questionable 2000 electoral victory, 9/11 and our horrid responses to it, endless wars in the Mideast, the erosion of Constitutional Rights in the U.S. in the name of "safety from terrorism," then the fanatical and racist reaction to Obama, Republican entrenchment and the rise of the Tea Party, total governmental gridlock, and of course, the orange-tinted mini-Antichrist.

I don't much care about new technology anymore. I followed tech advancements with keen excitement from the early 1980s through the 2000s, but lost interest sometime in the mid-2010s. I think the infamous new MacBook of 2015 with no USB-A ports and its terrible keyboard was a signal that not only had Apple fallen from "grace," but tech itself was no longer exciting.

There are modern design elements that I find exciting, like the industrial design of the recent iPads and their keyboards, the folding phones and folding all-screen laptops (making a little sandwich with a thin, detachable keyboard that rests between the two screens when closed). Those physical/industrial designs are really neat, but they're merely beautiful window dressing for a caustic soup of bad UI design, bloated software, and privacy invasion on the OS front. Hard pass.

But back to Star Trek, I don't really care if — no, I honestly don't want humanity to develop phasers, warp drive, or necessarily even super-advanced medical tech within my lifetime. What's the point of buying a bulldozer if you're going to give the keys to a toddler? That's a horrible idea! Humanity is still very much that toddler. (Dang, I guess that means that Q was kinda right all along!)

Every time I see some new advance in A.I. or Quantum Buzzwording, I just honestly feel a kind of disgust, because every single advancement is just more ammunition in the hands of people who are happy to allow the kind awful injustices we're seeing every day to go on in the earth for the sake of their own enjoyment and enrichment.

What I yearned for mostly out of fear-of-the-unknown as a youngster, I now yearn for out of hope as someone increasingly advancing through middle age: a society that is just.

The Just Society is exactly the kind of society that ST:TNG described. Even if it utterly failed to realistically describe how such a state of civic grace was attained, at the very least it gave some hope that it was theoretically possible.

100 Days to Offload 2025 - Day 29

I really wish the Fediverse had more permanence

2025-05-10T22:12:00-05:00

One of the things I hear people on the Fediverse celebrate is its incredible transience. There's no one big central network, so posts have nebulous reach throughout the network, depending on how well-"connected" your instance is, and many people set posts to auto-delete after a set period of time, so that old interactions can become one-sided, depending upon your interlocutor's auto-delete setting.

I'm of the opposite mind. As someone diagnosed with ADHD, I can sometimes struggle with object permanence: I will completely forget to think about friends or to call, unless something external triggers the connection, and I will often remember conversations in vivid detail, except who I was talking to, where, and precisely when.

I've been on the Fediverse since late 2018, and have used it as my main social network since April 2022. I dearly love that space, and it's honestly where I spend most of my time, online-wise.

It is frighteningly ephemeral to me.

The Fediverse is like this really amazing, lively bar. It's not a huge bar, it's not a bougie bar, it's more like a coop bar. There isn't much in the way of bouncers, just leaders of various families trying to keep things on the straight-and-level, and there are always many vivid conversations going on. Corporate social media like Trashbook and Xitter are more like manipulated mobs, hopped up on some kind of algorithmic drugs and constantly stoked to be agitated and angry, or just completely out to lunch in poopposting and digital nihilism/absurdism.

The only thing with this amazing bar is, nobody is checking your ID at the door, and nobody is yelling at you to stay and have another drink. It's very easy to come in, and it's very easy to slip out.

Some of those who have slipped out are completely forgotten.

That makes me sad.

I remember a couple of people I greatly enjoyed talking to that just disappeared, or closed up their self-hosted instance or whatnot, and were just GONE. Poof.
How many more were there that I don't remember, yet really valued talking to and enjoyed?

I was just tonight thinking about some of the doodles I've been sharing under the #DailyDoodle hashtag, and I remembered a friend who used to share sidewalk chalk art that he did that was always quite nice, and I found a renewed appreciation for the effort he put in.

What was his name...? Uhh...

See my problem? (I did remember his userid finally, thankfully, but he hasn't posted anything in a few weeks.)

On the crappy corporate platforms (Trashbook, at least), they're always trying to remind you of old memories to keep you bound to their platform (and feeding their rage farm). Not so on the fediverse. You curate your own experience, manage your own memories.

I do try to use lists to remind me of people I enjoy reading, and bookmarks to remind me of very helpful or interesting threads, but even with those features, there's just so much. Even among favorite (posts and people), you can still lose the forest for the trees.

So, if you're reading this, and we used to speak often in the past, but haven't spoken much recently, please say something. Holler at me. Heck, disagree with me when I'm in the middle of a glorious rant. I love that, seriously!! (If you're making good points, that is. Otherwise watch out! 😂)

100 Days to Offload 2025 - Day 28

Gathering Hashtags from the Fediverse

2025-05-08T11:00:00-05:00

Background

One minor foible of the fediverse instance I'm on is that searching (for accounts or hashtags) can be quite slow. As a workaround for now, I've saved a list of accounts I've followed for easy reference, but I also wanted some way of saving a list of hashtags to refer to.

There are plenty of sites that will give you a list of 10, 20, maybe one hundred currently active hashtags, but for general purposes, I'd really like to have a thousand to look through, because I never know what hashtag might be popular enough to use, but not so popular that it lands in the top twenty or whatnot.

So, I asked around on the fediverse, and was helped greatly by Don Hayward, who gave me the URL and usage.

The one-liner

So, here is how I generated the list:

for ((x=0; x<1000; x+=20)); do curl -sL "https://mastodon.social/api/v1/trends/tags?limit=20&offset=$x" |grep -o '"name":"[^"]*"' |cut -f4 -d\"; echo $x; sleep $(($RANDOM/1500)); done |tee fediverse-hashtags.txt

A more readable version:

for ((x=0; x<1000; x+=20))
do
    curl -sL "https://mastodon.social/api/v1/trends/tags?limit=20&offset=$x" |grep -o '"name":"[^"]*"' |cut -f4 -d\"
    echo $x     #show progress
    sleep $(($RANDOM/1500))     #sleep a random amount of time between 0 and 21 seconds to give the server a break and not get flagged
done |tee fediverse-hashtags.txt

The results

Now, strangely, I didn't get 1000 unique results. I couldn't figure out what was wrong until fellow polymath Clayton pointed out that the list probably changed between the various invokations, and so there were some repeats.

So, here are all 1000 *cough* 975 hashtags, as of 2025-05-05:

(Oh, and a content warning: I haven't read, vetted, or censored any of these)

#toxiv_bot_toot
#Fotomontag
#PhotoMonday
#alcatraz
#SilentSunday
#MonochromeMonday
#cincodemayo
#MondayMotivation
#misquoteoreggcornstarwars
#skype
#starwarsday
#bevrijdingsdag
#OpenAccess
#maythe4thbewithyou
#karlmarx
#日本学術会議への介入に反対します
#MountainMonday
#みどりの日なので緑色の画像を貼る
#mastobada
#maythe4th
#0
#StarWars
#waffle1200
#revengeofthefifth
#segundaficha
#mondog
#assault
#MetGala
#eggcornacomicbook
#monsterdon
#reddressday
#may4th
#veday
#MythologyMonday
#mmiwg2s
#childrensday
#wisskomm
#thelastofus
#protesttag5mai
#sicherheit
#maythefourth
#20
#mmiw
#uae
#maythefourthbewithyou
#medizin
#rwanda
#wissenschaft
#apartheid
#MicrosoftTeams
#maytheforcebewithyou
#inklusion
#5mei
#NichtMeinKanzler
#フォロワーさんが引用で好きなところ教えてくれる
#zoom
#wissen
#marx
#genocidio
#liberationday
#telemessage
#filmindustry
#40
#wordle1416
#l
#realestate
#felizlunes
#spikelee
#infrastruktur
#biotech
#dndart
#spam
#tariff
#hollywood
#freelance
#meeting
#tlou
#zombie
#cardinals
#kabinett
#postgres
#signal
#liege
#60
#sexualassault
#cnn
#Schoof
#oilprices
#ecologie
#euskara
#azure
#fiesta
#denken
#happymonday
#ipados
#thinking
#microsoft
#botanique
#jeu
#unity3d
#windsor
#trailer
#evolution
#artificial
#80
#自分の戦闘力上げてけ
#unternehmen
#venom
#ecole
#barrierefreiheit
#elf
#paypal
#GeorgeSimion
#bellaramsey
#serbien
#bilbao
#asthma
#MelvilleMonday
#chrupalla
#meta
#battleroyale
#wilders
#tariffs
#greve
#sncf
#100
#kriegsende
#teaching
#wazifubo
#idf
#debugging
#change
#polen
#teams
#gpu
#therighteousgemstones
#Simion
#mord
#shakespeare
#oppo
#universe
#macromonday
#sachsenanhalt
#ladygaga
#study
#120
#gis
#linnemann
#5mai
#その他
#tecnologia
#ホビー
#マイナビ
#MusicMonday
#geburt
#flights
#JohnOliver
#rebirth
#mcm
#自然消滅する絵チャグルあるある
#numerique
#opendata
#vodafone
#technik
#名作をいきなり終了させる
#doctor
#140
#democracynow
#restoration
#psa
#キャラクター
#addiction
#emo
#水瀬いのり
#luxurylifestyle
#softwareentwicklung
#rennrad
#naturalisation
#layoffs
#ろぐぼチャレンジ2
#AMinecraftMovie
#worldbuilding
#VEDay80
#openscience
#gizartea
#vegetarian
#160
#scribesandmakers
#coalition
#mastoartist
#kundgebung
#mcp
#energie
#family
#cryptonews
#jugend
#worldwartwo
#musical
#stellaris
#threejs
#winnipeg
#floral
#iphone
#こどもの日童話誰デザ
#bauen
#klingbeil
#goldenstatewarriors
#180
#jesuschrist
#nola作家タイプ診断
#tolkien
#spiderforest
#tdc4861
#arrasate
#playoffs
#prozess
#gleichstellung
#polizeiruf110
#wageningen
#dax
#seanpenn
#wisteria
#applewatch
#verdi
#emissions
#peguisfirstnation
#tax
#5maggio
#200
#bibliothek
#prison
#artificialintelligence
#oneplus
#don
#disabilityjustice
#学園ドラマ
#butterflies
#thestudio
#surprise
#aitools
#ListeningClub
#TheGate
#xiaomi
#saskatchewan
#RighteousGemStones
#オタク
#j2s
#jagmeetsingh
#mondayvibes
#220
#advice
#pistorius
#syndicat
#_sommer
#netanyahu
#homeoffice
#_gericht
#dfw
#cina
#mileycyrus
#be
#mastodonpr
#medical
#wtf
#マイナビニュース
#1970s
#solarenergy
#apple
#ai
#240
#donation
#verschlusselung
#workshop
#adventuretime
#forschung
#sega
#opec
#befreiung
#tech
#business
#oss
#er
#smart
#menschenbild
#bauarbeiten
#airfare
#assumption
#renaissance
#paisaje
#neuzeit
#260
#treaty
#EscapeFlights
#adele
#monitors
#cdmx
#modernen
#drohnen
#wewv
#dubnation
#economy
#cybersecurity
#guerra
#eurovision2025
#job
#digitaltransformation
#manitoba
#kunstlichen
#280
#headphones
#IsraelTerroristState
#shooting
#ChatGPT
#cancer
#mauthausen
#energia
#FloridaPanthers
#esken
#astrophysics
#denzelwashington
#qgis
#mmiwg
#bootc
#prisons
#engineering
#epfl
#weserbergland
#radverkehr
#300
#palestina
#elektromobilitat
#a11y
#indigenous
#nos
#lawsuit
#田中圭
#craft
#stephenmiller
#lead
#TheRehearsal
#free
#consumer
#monatsmalerei
#DeepSeek
#vrijheid
#concept
#robertdeniro
#bahnhof
#cfp
#320
#voip
#francais
#deportations
#digitalhealth
#五等分の花嫁
#nordsee
#urban
#nuclear
#modular
#dotnet
#csu
#serie
#inflation
#rise
#kentstate
#dodenherdenking
#papafrancisco
#RejoinEU
#ethniccleansing
#340
#spionage
#medicalresearch
#notfall
#capcom
#melenchon
#taz
#scicomm
#appstore
#WorldHandHygieneDay
#cdu
#behinderung
#genki
#llm
#gojetsgo
#nfldraft
#mallorca
#laravel
#libraries
#pr
#nhl
#360
#380
#jamesbond
#mentalhealthmatters
#kirola
#fr
#malmai
#atmosphere
#horizon
#malware
#computing
#firstnations
#vehicle
#koalitionsvertrag
#pictoucounty
#gotosocial
#zapfenstreich
#interviews
#koalition
#blueskymonday
#squarerootday
#hezkuntza
#400
#deportation
#caturday
#edge
#iOS
#playstation
#companies
#furryfandom
#cryptpad
#kaiserschnitt
#swr
#elektroauto
#maralago
#hbomax
#IsabelaMerced
#java
#czech
#recherche
#TimeTravelAuthors
#golang
#lfi
#420
#psychology
#medicine
#unix
#eink
#brexit
#SundayVibes
#health
#revolution
#nclt
#lifestyle
#hunger
#pinterest
#ursulavonderleyen
#newzealand
#restore_freedom_of_speech_and_expression
#Financial_Abuse_By_RBI_CoC_AjayPiramal
#Scrap_RBI_appointed_COC_for_DHFL
#NCLAT
#DHFL_Scam
#Scrap_IBC
#440
#analogphotography
#eu
#Save_Indian_Legal_System
#460
#alleged_dawood_mirchi_rkw_dhfl_bjp_collusion
#Resist_Saffronized_Judiciary
#DHFL_Victims_Demand_Justice
#Seize_Cronies_Fairplay_for_DHFL_Victims
#retail
#bundesregierung
#emk
#corruption
#bush
#syrien
#frenchgp
#winnipegjets
#politique
#color
#metalcore
#interiordecor
#gamingpc
#480
#milesdavis
#gronland
#construction
#histodons
#macron
#StarWarsDay2025
#webcomic
#computer
#berlin
#techtrends
#hungary
#gamingnews
#epicgamesstore
#whatsapp
#innovation
#science
#jobs
#nasa
#500
#motorcycle
#event
#age
#nl
#ace
#desserts
#btconf
#typo3
#smartphone
#redbubble
#r
#_wahl
#rant
#liberation
#research
#greenparty
#projectmanagement
#読書
#pride
#referendum
#520
#tennessee
#didyouknow
#genx
#academicchatter
#stanleycupplayoffs
#recall
#middleeast
#movies
#_china
#forschungsdaten
#samsung
#schedule
#foret
#arbeit
#datenschutz
#demo
#amazon
#parteiverbot
#540
#thuringen
#SwastiCar
#newsletter
#hero
#lovestory
#next
#articles
#teachers
#wiesbaden
#MutualAidRequest
#hacking
#comicstrip
#productivity
#impeachtrump
#econsky
#上坂すみれ
#日記
#season2
#byd
#pay
#560
#gunpla
#spanien
#gold
#BookTok
#lost
#ういろみてみて
#activitypub
#extremismus
#COVID19
#teatime
#olympia
#socialjustice
#maintenance
#contemporarypainting
#pasta
#port
#wellbeing
#580
#writing
#ひって打って出てきた言葉が10年後の姿
#larsklingbeil
#fantasyart
#classicrock
#chill
#harvard
#salud
#luxury
#fungi
#tattoo
#allstartrek
#facebook
#sante
#xbox
#industrie
#courts
#bru
#600
#bills
#silly
#4mei
#money
#fascisme
#nintendoswitch
#interview
#breaking
#diadelamadre
#anniversary
#artists
#yunohost
#conclave
#macos
#github
#bundesverfassungsgericht
#scrum
#CrimesAgainstHumanity
#620
#inequality
#techforgood
#alberta
#dresden
#abs
#government
#wordle1415
#warriors
#yoda
#strategy
#activism
#transports
#occupation
#hills
#glauben
#gosensgo
#zweiterweltkrieg
#cloudsecurity
#640
#kultura
#database
#digitalmarketing
#riodejaneiro
#smartphones
#democratie
#waffle1199
#CallOfDuty
#punkrock
#notebook
#マストドン
#ansible
#charity
#madrid
#audi
#roumanie
#datascience
#helpfolkslive2025
#python
#660
#yellow
#solarpunk
#westbank
#hnom
#oilandgas
#70s
#astro
#cozymystery
#robertocarlos
#reality
#metsä
#SignalGate
#cinema
#ipad
#economics
#musique
#bookish
#ceasefire
#challenge
#cleanenergy
#680
#meloni
#sarcasm
#publichealth
#morocco
#donaldtrump
#CanadaElection
#intelligenz
#artisan
#cfs
#paganism
#patriots
#on
#May4thBeWithYou
#EMTecHBD
#StandingStoneSunday
#ia
#southcarolina
#700
#intelligenzaartificiale
#training
#infosec
#PWHL
#start
#lighthouse
#studentloans
#financialfreedom
#javascript
#cybercrime
#lindner
#japon
#finalfantasy
#musicsocial
#browser
#translation
#shortfilm
#dhl
#videogiochi
#720
#oil
#menschen
#_auto
#witch
#mercedes
#mint
#snl
#gnome
#trumptariffs
#動物
#bas
#travelphotography
#rose
#traffic
#ds9
#recording
#drc
#twice
#pollen
#lastofus
#740
#cine
#walk
#york
#degrowth
#spd
#LazySunday
#technews
#_wirtschaft
#tigers
#benjaminnetanyahu
#dessert
#conservation
#harrykane
#foodsecurity
#wikidata
#ダンス
#stopgenocide
#neveragain
#messenger
#accessories
#760
#raiders
#banking
#_euro
#website
#StarWarsMemes
#hotel
#beton
#stickers
#mountain
#parenting
#palestine
#artgallery
#infrastructure
#workers
#cloud
#bankholiday
#immigrants
#thegate1987
#elon
#newyork
#780
#hockey
#_wien
#snakes
#topoli
#property
#tournament
#novels
#_verkehr
#university
#gift
#talk
#safety
#bareback
#puertorico
#dsgvo
#creation
#openai
#security
#800
#fire
#ps
#stadtradeln
#livestreaming
#zestoa
#getaria
#gesundheit
#healthyeating
#neworleans
#ざつ旅
#googleads
#is
#tatort
#snow
#indiegames
#modern
#nationalpark
#landwirtschaft
#copilot
#820
#iris
#inteligenciaartificial
#fantasybaseball
#3dmodeling
#energy
#Furth
#nationalsecurity
#driving
#maytheforce
#studie
#contentcreation
#tfg
#munchen
#assassinscreed
#tesla
#generativeAI
#films
#nintendoswitch2
#pyconus
#ask
#840
#ads
#weeknotes
#NazisRaus
#africa
#сша
#rts
#医療
#extremeweather
#softwareengineering
#commission
#missing
#cheliv
#veterans
#nfl
#extremism
#iot
#alcohol
#mond
#aiethics
#archlinux
#860
#accountability
#鯉のぼり
#gangbang
#kirjat
#funnymemes
#pflege
#nowlistening
#investing
#mdrza
#publicart
#verbotsverfahren
#scientists
#test
#commissions
#グルメ
#events
#nerdlings
#lfc
#ラジオ
#ducks
#880
#コミック
#groningen
#dev
#soziales
#argentique
#vibecoding
#netflix
#metallica
#inspiration
#boston
#typography
#sql
#yemen
#sanfrancisco
#politica
#kernel
#sound
#永野芽郁
#network
#bc
#900
#uutiset
#Papstwahl
#BuyIntoArt
#WingsForLifeWorldRun
#crypto
#turismo
#industry
#kubernetes
#door
#company
#halflife3
#greenland
#共有
#market
#ligamx
#umwelt
#cpp
#TTMD
#fun
#violence
#920
#startup
#neuhier
#saints
#sachsen
#fear
#russie
#houstonrockets
#stlblues
#legislativas2025
#opensource
#STLvsWPG
#bwphoto
#butterfly
#retailtherapy
#kpopmonday
#historical
#nsc
#hunde
#acab
#940
#novascotia
#houthis
#israeli
#newmusic
#jedi
#imperialism
#osint
#dach
#threesome
#air
#happystarwarsday
#law
#moda
#manufacturing
#dandelion
#gecko
#cavs
#climbing
#960
#feminismo
#queerartist
#psychiatry
#nhlplayoffs
#darthvader
#iosdev
#blackmirror
#django
#rural
#bd
#console
#litteraturejeunesse
#epic
#flatpak
#genetics
#physicalmedia
#frauen
#980

100 Days to Offload 2025 - Day 27

Device mini-review: One by Wacom

2025-05-07T05:44:00-05:00

Partially for the sake of my daily doodles, which I've been posting to the Fediverse, and also because I've been learning the Persian alphabet, I recently purchased a small USB pen digitizer, the "One by Wacom," by Wacom (great branding 😄).

For those of you not familiar with digitizers, think of a small iPad, except without the screen. It's just the pen input portion, and you look up at the screen while holding the pen down onto the pad. Is it less intuitive than using an iPad or a USB tablet with its own screen? Yes, it honestly is. But it's not that bad, and it's infinitely better than trying to draw with a mouse, not only because you're holding a small-and-light-pen, rather than a large puck of a mouse, but because mice only track a single point in space, and are not aware of rotation, which really messes with drawing. I know, because I recall trying to turn an ordinary mouse (one with a ball, if you can remember those) into some kind of poor-man's tablet by disabling mouse acceleration and attaching an partially opened paper clip onto the side as a kind of pointer to help trace drawings. I read about it in a magazine when I was a teenager, probably MacWorld. It did help with tracing, but it was still very inaccurate, precisely because the mouse has no way of knowing when it's being (inadvertently) rotated in your hand.

So anyway, I've had a tablet before, and enjoyed using it, so the fact that it's not an iPad (haha) isn't a big detractor to me. I initially tried it with Inkscape and Krita, then relented and used KolourPaint (an MS Paint clone), until I remembered the excellent pen-oriented note-taking application, Xournal++. It's great both for notes and for sketches/doodles, and it's vector-based!

The One by Wacom does have good pressure sensitivity and overall accuracy, as far as I can tell, although I don't believe it has tilt sensitivity, which I don't actually mind.

I got the small size, with a 152x95 mm input area (it's 25.4 mm to an inch, I'm not going to make it any easier on you than that. This is one case where the metric units are incontrovertibly superior, get over it ;)

I do rather wish I had splurged a bit more on the larger device with the 216x135mm input area, but it was more expensive, and I recently found that if you hold it at an angle (by resting it against the front of your laptop, for example), the lip of the device isn't nearly as annoying, and the size is generally fine.

I do have two criticisms of the device, though. One, it's USB Micro.
In 2025.
For 40USD.
Are you kidding me.

Cheap boogers. The second is that while the device has a little cloth tag/loop on the right with the Wacom logo on it on the right, the tag is juuuust too small to fit the pen itself into. I seriously thought the loop was there to hold the pen in a convenient place, but nope, it's just there for (say it with me, boys and squirrels!) — BRANDING!

So, there's absolutely no convenient way to store the device with the pen, let alone the USB Micro cable (which we've all now gotten used to NOT carrying around), so I just pack up the device, pen, and cable into the box it came in, and carry the whole thing in my backpack, like a faux over-sized paperback of disappointment.

Overall, it's still a decent little device, but not exactly affordable, and not nearly as excellent as it could have been with some decent storage options and a USB-C port.

Update

Just FYI, I found that the pen does fit quite nicely in the loop/label. You just to have to insert it blunt/butt-end first, not point-first.

While I've enjoyed using it for the past month, I am looking forward to getting a "yoga"-style laptop with a pen, as the main disadvantage of using an input tablet is that you can't really tilt the tablet to get a more comfortable writing/sketching angle.

100 Days to Offload 2025 - Day 26

A Toast to the Prolific ones

2025-05-06T08:03:00-05:00

I wanted to take some time out today to acknowledge some folks on the fediverse that are remarkably prolific, just for fun.

Prolific blogger — Rubenerd

Oh holy moly. This fella has words. Lots of words. Many very fine words. Just look at bro's output for 2024:

~ $ curl -s https://rubenerd.com/year/2024/ |grep -Fc "<li><p>"
561

HOW?!? I'm struggling to blergh out 50 "blosts" a year, and dude is a one-man blogging empire.

Astounding. XD

Prolific tooter — Adrian Cochrane

Adrian's got 165,711 toots (as of writing), and has been at it for over seven years. I thought I was a prolific tootaholic with over 60,000 toots across my instances, but Adrian's got the corner on that.

Not only does he uh, toot a lot, but his toots are usually very technical and informative. Always a joy to read.

Prolific instance hopper — Juan C. Torres, a.k.a. Orthoheterodox

I haven't gotten as many lately, but there was a fair stretch of time when I'd get a new follower notice from orthoheterodox nearly every day. Just attempting to count his currently extant instance accounts, I see at least a dozen, but I know he's had many more in the past. :)

He doesn't seem to be as active lately, so wherever he's at, I hope he's having a blast.

Polific account holder — Orbital Martian

Much like the previous category, the Orbital Martian excels at holding accounts, but simultaneously! I'm currently counting nineteen, although I think some of those are cached (no longer extant instances).

Ultimately, only the Orbital Martian himself knows how many accounts he holds.
Let's hope he comes in peace, unlike his countryman (planetman?), Marvin.

Honorable mention: Nature Photographer — Jason Evangelho

Well, kinda. I'm sure there are plenty of folks that post more nature photographs than Jason, as there are obviously folks that do it for a living. But Jason is notable that he has recently branched out from being an overall tech blogger to now journalling his new adventures on the trail both with the written word and in photos.

As someone who's known Jason, followed his posts for several years, and conversed with him from time to time, I'm really happy to see this new journey in his life, and the newfound spring in his step.

100 Days to Offload 2025 - Day 25

Blog Questions Challenge: Ten Pointless Facts About Me

2025-05-05T08:29:00-05:00

Thanks to my fedifriend Joel for nominating me for this challenge (after I had pestered him 😄).

Do you floss your teeth

Before I answer this, you must understand something about me: I strongly believe in truthfulness as a core virtue. Inasmuch as I am able, I never lie or purposefully dissimulate.

Of course I floss

Ok, humorous aside..., uh, aside, flossing is difficult for me as well. The gaps between my teeth are nonexistent, and I was never able to get into the habit of flossing as a youngster. Also, whenever I'd go to the dentist, invariably, the hygenist would forcefully snap the floss past the non-existent gaps between my teeth, treating each and every vulnerable little spot along my gums between my teeth to the dental equivalent to a wet towel snap against the butt. It not only hurt, it bled. Every time.

I use a combination of disposable flossers (I don't like the use of disposable plastic, but I'm not able to find a workable alternative at this time) and a waterpik instead of traditional flossing.

Tea, coffee, or water?

I'm fondest of tea, as I've been drinking it the longest.

I do drink coffee occasionally, but every time I drink it, I get that oddly alien feeling, like that Steve Buscemi "How do you do, fellow kids" meme, except it's more like, "How do you do, fellow coffee drinkers? This burnt bean broth is righteously provocative of a general wakeness, and the vaguely musty flavor is exceeding pleasant, no?"

Plain water I drink when I'm thirsty. I don't think of it so much as a drink, but a general consumable. I usually like to add something to it for flavor when I'm wanting to actually, uh, enjoy it. My current favorite additive is a few scoops of fine pellet ice, a splash of cranberry juice, and a good amount of stevia for sweetness. Shaken, not stirred. 😆

Footwear preference?

Man, I remember when Air Jordans were like a hundred bucks, and that was ridiculous. I don't care so much for brands, but I'm usually wearing something like New Balance or Adidas running or walking shoes, nothing fancy. I'd wear "trainers" with a three-piece suit, if I could get away with it. I don't see the point of pretty shoes that aren't comfortable. Also, I have fairly large feet, so it's almost like the comfort of my feet is proportionately important to me. 😅

Favourite dessert?

Hmm, so hard to decide. I really love a good baklava or halva, but also Key Lime Pie and Pecan Pie. I haven't had Key Lime in a really, really long time, so maybe that's my favorite, absence causing the heart to grow fonder.

The first thing you do when you wake up?

Not proud to admit it, but the very first thing I do is scroll the fediverse on Tusky on my phone while visiting the loo.

Age you’d like to stick at?

I usually say my brain stuck at 25, but having spent some time around 25-year-olds recently, I was shocked that they looked like... somewhat agèd children to me. 😂
So maybe I'm stuck at 35 now?

How many hats do you own?

I don't think I have any right now. Not that I could easily get my hands on, anyway. In the past, I've owned a few baseball caps and at least a couple cowboy hats (grow up in Texas and someone will just give you one, at some point).

Describe the last photo you took?

Good reminder, because I forgot to post it, but I haven't yet decided where to post it:
It's a photo of a magazine rack at a supermarket, and two magazines are visible. The top magazine is a TV Guide. The headline is "The CHOSEN" with other lines reading "The Last Supper — Jesus Breaks Bread During His Final Meal" and "Season 5 Key Moments." The image is a screencap from The Chosen where Jesus is breaking the bead and looking up in a prayerful and emotionally poignant look.
The bottom magazine is a "LIFE Explores" magazine with the headline "JESUS — How His Lessons, Miracles, and Devotion Changed the World." The image is from what appears to be a renaissance painting of the resurrected Jesus and His disciples.

I guess posting this is as good as posting the image itself. The reason I took the photo is because of the deeply conflicted feelings I had, seeing it. I was simultaneously happy to see a TV show I've genuinely and greatly enjoyed being promoted, yet at the same time felt conflicted because I felt the show has perhaps been declining from the purity of the Message by endorsing more minority theological positions.
I also had conflicted feelings with the second magazine, because while I genuinely love the message of the Gospel, I can't help but recall how the current benighted political administration is attempting to co-opt Christianity to further its own bloodthirsty ends.

So, is the presence of religiously-themed magazines a sign of a growing true devotion among people, or yet another cynical attempt to make money, or an abhorrently cynical push towards religion by those who would claim their own devotion while murdering innocents for their own benefit?

Worst TV show?

Hard to say, because if I really think a TV show is horrible, why would I continue watching it? And if I stop early on, how can I accurately judge how terrible it is? I think it's much easier to say what a horrible movie is, because it's more likely that you'd stick through the entire thing, then render a judgement on it, and feel justified in doing so, because you've seen the entire thing.

So, I think I'll modify the question to "Worst movie you've watched recently?"
That's easy to answer, it'll have to be Break Every Chain (2021).
Now, please understand. This is a Christian movie, and Christian movies are always horribly campy. But this is barely even a film. It's more like a stack of filmic vignettes pasted together with almost zero plot or character development. Throughout the viewing (which I had to break up in two days so that I didn't slip into insanity), I couldn't care less about the protagonist, and that's really saying something for me.

As a child, what was your aspiration for adulthood?

Both of my parents were highly-educated and involved in academia, so I always thought I'd end up getting a PhD in a technical field and teaching, even when I was kid. Unfortunately, that never happened, and probably never will. Academia isn't what it used to be, at least in the U.S. 🙄

100 Days to Offload 2025 - Day 24

Used laptops are wonderful... except when you need batteries

2025-05-04T17:03:00-05:00

When I was a kid, a new computer cost the equivalent of $3,000 in today's money, and a five year old computer was basically a dinosaur.

Nowadays you can get a brand new computer for $200 or less, and a ten-year-old computer can still be a viable daily-driver. You can often buy quite nice six-or-seven-year-old-computers for $100 or less, and a very nice laptop of five years old or so can be had for around $300.

THIS IS AMAZING

There is, however, one eentsy weentsy little catch.

Depending on the age and model of the laptop you buy used, it will either come with a rather aged and somewhat worn-out battery, or no battery at all. No problem, you say, there are plenty of places to buy new batteries for quite cheap!

Wellll, yes, but not quite.

You see, batteries for older systems are almost always third-party aftermarket batteries, and they almost invariably suck. Of the three batteries I own for my Thinkpad X200t, one lasts about half an hour, one lasts about two hours, and the newest one might just barely last four hours before it peters out. That's even after I replaced the energy-sucking spinning HDD with a power-efficient SSD.

Not great.

On my Thinkpad X260, the situation is even more dire—*cough*—hilarious. The internal battery (original, old) will last a couple hours or so, and the external battery (aftermarket) will last two and a half to three hours. Now it reports about 10 hours of battery life estimated, but as soon as the battery percentage dips below 60%, it will rapidly drain to zero in about five minutes and die, switching over to the internal battery (if I'm lucky).

It's so tragicomic, I actually tooted about this:

#ThirdParty #Thinkpad #Batteries: A Tragedy in Four Minutes 🤣

2025-04-21 22:25 Battery 1: Not charging, 92%; Battery 2: Discharging, 58%, 02:34:47 remaining; 8.117 W; uptime: 5 days, 16:55 2025-04-21 22:26 Battery 1: Not charging, 92%; Battery 2: Discharging, 50%, 01:16:18 remaining; 12.951 W; uptime: 5 days, 16:56 2025-04-21 22:27 Battery 1: Not charging, 92%; Battery 2: Discharging, 43%, 03:25:46 remaining; 5.02 W; uptime:5 days, 16:57 2025-04-21 22:28 Battery 1: Not charging, 92%; Battery 2: Discharging, 36%, 03:13:20 remaining; 5.138 W; uptime: 5 days, 16:58 2025-04-21 22:29 Battery 1: Discharging, 92%, 01:28:51 remaining; Battery 2: Not charging, 0%; 9.36 W; uptime: 5 days, 16:59

WHO FEELS MY PAIN??? LET ME HEAR YOU!!!! 🤣🤣
—Me

So, I thought, instead of buying a used laptop today and scrounging around for a sub-standard replacement battery, I'd just buy a new, genuine lenovo battery today, and buy the accompanying laptop used in five years or so.

And of course, being 2025, the website is super user-friendly and easy to navigate, right?

HA! Here's about how it went:

A dramatization:

Me: "Hey lenovo dot com, can you show me which thinkpads have batteries available? I don't want to have to scour every possible replacement battery to see which ones are for thinkpads, just help me find a decent replacement battery for a modern Thinkpad. And can you make it kinda snappy? I don't want to wait all day waiting for your page to load fifteen human-centipede JS frameworks."

Lenovo dot com: "Hahahahaha! E chu ta."

Me --___--

Welp, that sucks.

100 Days to Offload 2025 - Day 23

I Miss RC

2025-04-22T21:21:00-05:00

I was on a Signal video chat with my siblings today, and when I mentioned something about RC flight as an analogy for a person's health (being "three mistakes high"), my brother looked confused and then amused when I explained what I was talking about.

Oh, quick explainer, I'm not talking about UNIX(-like) init scripts. I'm talking about Radio Control: the hobby where people put planes made of foam and/or balsa in the air and fly them as if they were in the pilot's seat.

I haven't flown RC in nearly a decade. Yes, I have a drone. No, I don't count it as flying RC. Not in the least. Why? Because there's so much avionics on those little things that you are not flying. You're just playing Space Invaders in the sky. Now, don't mistake me: there's absolutely nothing wrong with that, and I enjoy flying my drone from time to time.

But... that "flying" isn't flying. It is, at the very least, not piloting. It's more like driving.
Is driving fun?
Well, yes. I live in Texas. Driving is a part of life here, like it or lump it. And I do enjoy it, to a certain degree. There's a certain feeling of freedom in it.

But driving is far removed from flying.

How exactly?

Viscerally.

When I fly my little DJI Spark drone, it's genuinely enjoyable. That little thing is pretty powerful for its size, and it can do a lot of neat little tricks, even though it's a fairly old and limited drone.

But my knees never got weak when I was flying my drone.

The first time I flew my RC plane (which contained NO avionics, and required the pilot's input to stay in the air) my knees shook violently. My adrenaline was through the roof. The maybe 10 minute flight time felt like half an hour. And this was a fundamentally stable plane, designed like a motorglider: passively self-righting, well balanced, it could maintain level flight with minimal input from even a beginner pilot.

But the first time I flew it, my entire nervous system went into hyperdrive/hyperfocus. I was a wreck, and I loved every second of it.

Oh, same for the second flight.

...aaaaaand the third flight.

Yeah, pretty much every time I flew, my hair was standing on end. It was the most exhilarating and rewarding hobby I've ever had.

For my second plane, I built one from dollar store foamboard (the kind you use for signs or school science projects) using free plans I printed out (and a motor/radio I purchased) from FliteTest.

Well, for complex reasons, both planes ended up taking rather ferocious dirt naps in due time. I put away my RC transmitter for good around 2015-6. It was getting harder to find places to fly, people were getting more and more nervous about "drones" (please, please never refer to a fixed-wing RC craft as a drone, unless it's self-piloting, or something (yes, those do exist).

But as I reminisce about the unreasonably vivid feeling of flight and freedom I got from standing on a patch of grass with something that looked like a cross between a portable radio and a game controller in my hands, I realize how much I miss it.

I'm going to have to look into joining a local flying field.

See you in the air!

100 Days to Offload 2025 - Day 22

Blog Questions Challenge: TV Shows Edition

2025-04-12T16:20:00-05:00

I keep finding more of these blog challenge questions, and I totally love them.

This one comes courtesy of Andreas' blog.

Like Andreas, I'm not a big TV watcher. I think I formally quit watching TV in 2003. I did watch a few things on Netflix and Amazon Prime over the years, but not a ton. Most of my answers are going to be based on things I saw as a youngster, or on very recent streaming series.

What TV Character From A Beloved Show Do You Wish You Could Be Best Friends With In Real Life?

I'm gonna let my teenage-self's nerd flag fly, and say it'd be ST:TNG's Jean-Luc Picard.

Of course, there were other characters I related to a lot more when I was younger, but as I age into Picard's apparent age from the (original) show, I relate to him the most. His wisdom and reserve (in almost every sense of the word) are very appealing as we sail into very murky waters at this point of history.

The only thing that gives me pause is the "best friend" part of the question. Jean-Luc Picard does not have a best friend. He's not a best friend sort of fellow. If he deigns to drink an ale with you, you can count yourself lucky.

I... am not nearly that aloof, but I don't have a best friend, either, so I guess it fits.

If You Could Binge-Watch An Entire Series Again For The First Time, Which One Would You Choose And Why?

There's one that's at the forefront of my mind: The Chosen.

I tried to think of a secular answer, but honestly, there's just no comparison. Even if I could binge ST:TNG again for the first time, or watch the Star Wars movies again for the first time, The Chosen was just way more impactful to me.

I've literally watched the series six times (seasons 1-3), and recently completed my third watch-through of season 4.

The thing about a series like this is that watching it is a little like reading the Gospels again for the first time. It really captures the imagination and engrosses the heart.

Highly recommend.

Name A TV Show That Changed Your Perspective On The World Or Taught You Something Valuable.

Just shy of ten years ago (*gulp*, man, Father Time is a freaking ninja!), I took an undergraduate literature class on Anime. The entire class was incredibly eye-opening and... well, entertaining is too meager a word. It was fascinating. One of the miniseries we watched was Haibane Renmei, a 2002 series by yoshitoshi ABe.

The way this series got under my skin really surprised me. We watched other Shōjo anime like Magical Girl Madoka which I... just got through, somehow. But not Haibane. It grabbed me by the lapels and sent me on a journey.

The anime deals with really deep and heavy topics, but simultaneously has such a light mood, look, and music.

I think a big part of why it was so beautiful and surprisingly impactful is that the creator didn't have the story all mapped out. He just sort of explored the subject in semi-real-time, and let the story develop organically. That's not usually a formula for success (Star Wars Sequels, lol), but in this case, it made for a beautiful and haunting corpus that is as haunting as it is enjoyable.

It's been ten years, I should really watch it again.

Addendum:

A comment from Michał reminded me of some aspects of Haibane Renmei that I forgot to write about in this post:

Something from that class that really amazed me, coming from a slightly sheltered Christian background: the way the ABe (in Haibane) and Kenji Miyazawa (in Night on the Galactic Railroad) combined Christian and Buddhist concepts in a way that was honoring to both, yet new and unique.

I told my prof that I was astounded that it took an anime to introduce "this generation" to the concept of sin (Christian perspective) and pollution (Buddhist perspective, I think). People had heard the same drum about sin and guilt beaten over and over and over again that they were completely deaf to it — not that I was wanting the drum beats to become effective again, but only that I was sad that there was no concept of it anymore, because it's still a valuable concept, even if it has been tragically abused and effaced by clueless religionists and hypocrites.

One thing I forgot to mention in my blost is that watching Haibane actually motivated me to write some of the best poetry I've ever written, which got me extra credit in the class 😁. I think I sat down in my room for 2-4 hours with a single song on repeat until that poem came out of me. I have a snippet of it here.

—(Me)

100 Days to Offload 2025 - Day 21

P.S., want to grab a copy of the questions from this post? Just run:

curl -s https://rldane.space/blog-questions-challenge-tv-shows-edition.html |grep "<h3>" |sed 's/<[^>]*>//g; s/^/### /'

Why I love Markdown

2025-04-11T07:42:00-05:00

...
...
...
Because it's cool! But first, a brief history of writing in the digital age!

Some History, or: I have ADHD and we're all aboard the unnecessary detail traaaaaainnnn!......

The very first computer I had at home was an Apple ][+ that my mom rented for a computer class in university. The only thing we wrote was BASIC programs. That was literally all you could do with it, in addition to playing great games like Choplifter.

A couple years later, and my mom brought home a Commodore 64, just for me. It had a cassette drive called a Datasette, which could very slowly read and write BASIC programs and games from ordinary audiocassettes, and could run programs via cartridge ROM, most of which were (of course!) games.

A little while later, my mom splurged on a floppy disk drive, which was incredibly expensive (the C64 floppy disk drive was also a computer; it had its own CPU and RAM). I remember getting Microsoft Flight Simulator for the C64, as well as some kind of word processing package.

The word processing package (I don't remember its name) was my least favorite program. It wasn't a game, it wasn't technologically interesting, it just spat words onto the screen, which I could then print out on the nifty Okimate 10 my mom got me. (Dang Mom, you sure got me a lot of kit when I was young! 🥹) It was very helpful for schoolwork, but not at all interesting to me.

It's curious to me that nobody who made 8-bit home computers seemed to think that writing would be a killer feature to have; only writing software in BASIC. The Atari 8-bit computers came close with a notepad like utility that would run from ROM if no ROM cartridges were present. It was only slightly limited in that while it could display and edit text onscreen, it couldn't (checks notes) load, save, or print text. 😄

Side note: when I was in High School in the early 90s, the one computer lab was full of old TANDY 8086 machines with CGA monitors. The only software they had (as I recall) was GWBASIC and Borland Turbo Pascal.
I distinctly remember witnessing fellow students typing up their papers for other (non-computery) classes on those machines using GWBASIC, which wasn't a word processor. They would write BASIC programs that looked like:

10 LPRINT "The History of the Roman Empire"
20 LPRINT ""
30 LPRINT "The Roman Empire was one of the biggest and most powerful empires"
40 LPRINT "in history. It started a long time ago, like before Jesus, and"
50 LPRINT "lasted for a really long time."
...

THE HORROR!!! 🤣

Fortunately, by the time I was in High School, I was comfortable using word processors, and used MS Word for 4.0 Macintosh throughout most of my High School years. I also used HyperCard a fair bit for experimentation, programming, and even making my own fun little games. One thing I tried using HyperCard for was creating a journal in it. I recall spending several days writing my little teenaged thoughts and dreams down into that HyperCard stack.

At some point, I thought I might want to try to protect what I was writing from prying eyes. I looked at the different options for locking down the stack (as HyperCard documents/programs were called), and I think I knocked it down to the lowest permission level, which was read-only. I could no longer edit the text, but just look at it dumbly. There was no way (to my knowledge) to undo what I had done, and I didn't have any backups.

Proprietary binary formats bit me in the butt, hard. I didn't journal again for many, many years. I never saved that stack, and all those juvenile thoughts are lost to Data Heaven. I hope they're happy there.

Before markdown: can you wiki wiki that for me me?

Now, Markdown is already over 20 years old, but I don't think I heard of it until 2015 or so. At least, the oldest markdown file I could find on my computer is from 2014, and the oldest that I myself authored is from very early 2019 (which is also when I started daily-driving Linux at home again). But whenever I finally did discover Markdown, it was already quite familiar to me: "I know this! It's a UNIX syst—" ** *cough* **
Sorry, what was I saying? Oh yes. "I know this! It's just wiki syntax!"

Now, to someone only/primarily familiar with MediaWiki, that statement is ludicrous. That is, of course, because MediaWiki has the most overwrought, over-engineered, over-complex syntax known to man. You might as well just write directly in OOXML and zip it up, along with your self-respect*.

* It's a joke hot-take, gentlemen. No, no, please put down the pitchforks. Thank you.

But I never messed with MediaWiki. I mean, not much. There were much simpler wikis like WikkaWiki and TiddlyWiki, which both had fairly simple markdown formats (particularly the classic TiddlyWiki 2.x series, which I'm still fond of).

What these basic wiki formats started doing, and what Markdown (somewhat) perfected was taking the already common-sensical plain-text formatting styles of the day, and making a usable markup language out of it.

So if you have ever spent any time in plain-text internet media like IRC or Usenet, you've probably seen text that looks something like this:

My dude, if you *don't* apologize for using Windows, I'm gonna slap you around with a big **fat** trout!

It's obvious by looking at the placement of asterisks that they are used for emphasis (in this case, emphasizing very important words in a very important sentence that is not at all just a silly thing I wrote to have an example). The single asterisk emphasizes the word "don't," and the double asterisk emphasizes "fat" even more.

So, Markdown takes this basic plain text style and interprets it as rich text:

My dude, if you don't apologize for using Windows, I'm gonna slap you around with a big fat trout!

Isn't it wonderful? How very ~edifying~!

Your text, your way

And so, the beauty of Markdown is that word processors finally become wholly irrelevant. TEXT IS KING, BAYBAY!

So, for writing any basic rich text (there are, of course serious limits to what Markdown can do), you are no longer bound to using a particular word processor, or any word processor. Want to write that big paper in Markdown in ed? Go for it!!
Want to do journaling in Markdown in Microsoft Word and manually save as plain text? You're a masochist, but okay??
Want to write documentation in Markdown in VSCode? I won't judge you!
(The heck I won't XD)

100 Days to Offload 2025 - Day 20

Blog Questions Challenge: Technology Edition

2025-04-10T07:15:00-05:00

I saw this update to the "Blog Questions Challenge" format on jnv's blog, and without reading* it first (in order to not taint my own answers — I will definitely go back and read his), I thought I'd write down some of my own thoughts, for fun.

*I used curl, grep, and neovim to grab the h3 tags without reading the text ;)

When Did You First Get Interested In Technology?

I can't remember a time when I wasn't. I grew up in the twentieth century: we didn't have high technology bits and bobs all around us, saturating our pores with kit and "content."

A computer was a very rare and special item to have at home when I was a kid. It was rare and special even in a library. The only time you'd see a large number of computers clustered together would be at a (financially well-off) school or university, and just in one or maybe two computer labs for the entire school.

So, any bit of sufficiently advanced tech or machinery was interesting to me. I even found the household mechanical typewriter of particular enough interest to vaguely recall spending some time playing with it as a very young child.

What’s Your Favorite Piece Of Technology All-Time?

It's tempting to give a totally nostalgic, but not particularly meaningful/helpful answer, so I'll answer it twice:

Nostalgic/Personal

My all-time favorite tech item would have to be my Macintosh SE. I got it just before Christmas 1989, and it was my only computer (what we'd call a "daily driver" today, haha) until January 1994.

Its screen was monochrome, low resolution (175 glorious kilopixels), and small (9" / <23 cm). It was slow (8MHz, single core, haha), and had very limited RAM (1 MiB stock) and storage (20 MiB).

After I had it for about a year, its limitations infuriated me. Like any spoiled kid, I wanted more. Color! Bigger screen! More storage! ...for... something!

The 486 PC I received as its replacement was a technological marvel. 14" screen (13" viewable). True color (24 bpp) at 640x480, 256 color at 1024x768. It had a 300 MiB hard disk, and the 486 processor itself was incredibly powerful for its day.

But I almost never think about that 486. If you showed me a 486 today, I'd say, "cool!" play with it for a bit, and go back to what I was doing.

If you sat me down before a classic compact mac, I'd greet it like an old friend. The nostalgia factor is really something.

Sadly, I had to give up my Mac SE and a couple old tech-friends a dozen years ago during a move. My 486? I gave it away to a friend a mere four years after I got it, without thinking much about it.

Actually, I had kind of forgotten that. That really blows my mind. Today, I buy and happily use (daily-drive, even!) computers older than that. 😅

Practical/Categorical

I think my favorite piece of technology (as a category) would be the PDA, particularly the generation of PDAs just before the current style ("2007-," a.k.a., "iPhone-like") of smartphone came to dominate everything.

In short: "Pocket computers before they got handcuffed to late-stage capitalism."

PDAs were pocket computers that were really pocket computers, and not pocket televisions. I'd have to particularly highlight the Psion Revo and similar devices that were still pocketable, but had (almost) touch-typeable keyboards (never had one myself, but they looked amazing). Perhaps the traditional blackeberry-style smartphones, as well, although we're getting closer to iPhone-style territory, and its associated artificial limitations.

I had a Palm IIIx and a first-generation* Sharp Zaurus running Linux. They were both great little devices, although I do wish I could go back in time and get a Psion Revo when they were cheap used ;)
* (in terms of U.S. releases, that is)

What’s Your Favorite Piece Of Technology Right Now?

Off the top of my head, I'd have to say Syncthing. Syncthing has been an essential to freeing myself from surveillance capitalism by replacing 99% of my need for "cloud" service providers with an incredibly easy to use and easy to "host" sync solution that works effortlessly over the internet without having to worry about having an open port to the internet or hosting a server software stack that may or may not be secure.

I'm not saying that Syncthing "IS" secure, but so little of it is exposed to the internet that it's a great relief.

Another favorite isn't a piece of tech in itself, but just a hugely positive reality we're living in:

There's lots of old computing hardware floating around
Old computing hardware is so cheap, it's almost free
Free and Open Source Software enables you to derive incredibly great use and value from very old hardware.

I am, at this moment, typing this blog post on a fifteen year old laptop. Even though it's so old, it runs the latest version of the FOSS Operating System I've picked out for it (OpenBSD), and a very recent version of the text editor, programming language interpreter, Static Site Builder, Secure Shell client, and file synchronization tool that I use to write, build, and upload this website.

I could not have used a fifteen year old laptop (at least, not with anything remotely resembling joy) if I was writing it in a website window on a slow, and rapine-bloated proprietary operating system. It would have been miserable. And so, people toss their five year old computers, because, "Eww, that's so slow and crappy!"
No. Your entire software stack is slow and crappy. :D

Name One New Cool Piece Of Technology We’ll Have In 25 Years!

I am old enough to be able to look backward 25 years with great clarity of recall. The development and evolution of hardware is beyond my wildest dreams. When I see the industrial design of things like iPads, folding phones*, folding-screen laptops, and other recent developments, I am amazed.

* I'm not saying I don't think modern phones aren't terrible. They truly are. iPads, too, for that matter. But the industrial design is amazing.

I am simultaneously horrified at how software and digital ethics has deteriorated. Even something as basic as UI design seems to have gone mad.

When I first drafted this article, I didn't even realize that I had neglected to answer the question. The truth of the matter is, I'm afraid to look forward. I already have a lot of trouble to relating to where technology is already. But let me now call on my Star Trek-inculcated Science Fiction optimism:

The coolest piece of technology we'll have in 25 years is ubiquitous, distributed personal computing. Actually personal, not corporate-driven, and not entertainment-focused. You'll have a server in your pocket for everything you'd ever need. It'll be connected to a world-wide mesh network and only connect to corporate cellular or wifi for high-bandwidth tasks like video. Someone will figure out how to do handheld typing (like the twiddler that actually works well, possibly through a combination of gestures and button presses that takes only a few minutes to learn. People will take control of their digital lives again. People will use technology to think, to interact to be free.

Final Thoughts

As I learned nearly twenty years ago when I purchased a wacom drawing tablet, advanced technology itself does not convey skill. That has to be earned through practice and instruction. Neither does it convey virtue. Neither does it justify the excesses it enables in the realm of digital ethics, nor the injustices perpetrated on the ones who mine the materials, assemble the parts, or develop the code.

With or without hyper-advanced technology, human beings are still a dangerous, savage child-rac—
Uh, sorry. That's Q. But anyway!

I'm thankful for the technology. I am, however, eager to see true change: Justice, Mercy, and Faithfulness. Without these things, humanity's technological developments are just impressive baubles around the neck of a feral boar.

100 Days to Offload 2025 - Day 19

I miss the days of ubiquitous portable data storage

2025-04-09T08:30:00-05:00

I was reading Clayton's blog post about his habit of buying larger and larger USB thumb drives back in the day (when they were getting rapidly larger every few months), and it reminded me of a wish I had in the 2000s that got only partially fulfilled.

As anyone who knows me well enough to wager a guess as to my age can tell you, I grew up in the days of floppy disks. They were the standard way that everyone carried their data around (although few actually carried floppies on them all that regularly).

Apple users carried Apple floppies, Commodore users carried Commodore floppies, Atari, Atari, etc. They weren't remotely cross-compatible. Heck, on the Apple ][, the floppy drive was completely software-controlled, and you could have incompatible floppies on the same system! We didn't get a universal floppy standard until non-PC machines like Macintoshes gained the ability to read DOS-formatted floppies in the very late 1980s, as the High Density Mac floppy drives were compatible with PCs (they did so by abandoning the superior variable RPM encoding scheme used by lower density Macintosh floppies, and thereby lost about 29% of their potential capacity).

Ten years later, and floppy disks were basically useless, their 1.44 MiB capacity a joke compared to the demands of file storage of that era. While there was an obvious successor to the 1.44 MiB floppy: a 2.88 MiB floppy, it never gathered widespread adoption, and NeXT is the only manufacturer I recall using it (maybe IBM, as well). There were zip drives, LS120 "floptical" drives, Jaz drives, Syquest, and any number of other competing standards, and lacking a single clear successor, the floppy died. The original iMac, released in 1998, was the first well-known and ubiquitous computer to not ship with a floppy drive, similar to the NeXT machine that Steve Jobs unveiled a decade before.

In the early "naughties" (the term I enjoy using for "the two-thousands"), recordable optical media such as CDs and later, DVDs became the de-facto removable media for use on computers, but they never quite replaced floppies, either. They were fragile, easily scratched, and in most cases, you couldn't just "drag" files over onto the optical drive. You had to use authoring software, and even though Windows XP tried to make it as intuitive as possible, you still were just saving a local copy onto your hard disk until you were ready to "burn" all the files out to disk as a session. In addition to that, not all burned CDs/DVDs worked on all readers, especially older ones.

Simultaneously, flash media started becoming ubiquitous. At first, they were an expensive novelty, not having much storage: the first flash drive I bought in 2002 was a whopping 32 MiB. That's not a typo. It was the equivalent of a mere 22 floppy disks.

There was a problem with flash media, though: you generally had to plug it in in the back of your PC (or you'd be smart and get a USB-A extension cable), and they tended to be quite bulky, having large plastic or rubberized cases/bodies. PCs soon adapted with front-facing USB ports, but there was one thing I still missed: having an eject button (or software command)! The thumb drives hung out the front of your PC and could get damaged if you were walking by your PC without thinking and whacked it with your knee.

Still, they were very convenient, and I carried one with my keys for several years, but they never really became the floppy disk replacement. Close, but no cigar.

The funny thing is that we do have a standard removable storage format today! It has plenty of capacity, has a standard size, fits inside your computer (not hanging out the front), is cheap, and almost every computer has a port for it! It's the microSD card! I know, you'll try to curb your enthusiasm. What are we supposed to do with those tiny things, glue them to a fingernail? Buy the world's tiniest wallet to keep them in?

Well, they are good for espionage, at least. Snowden-approved! ;)

100 Days to Offload 2025 - Day 18

The Switch 2 is a Tone-Deaf Moneygrab

2025-04-08T07:30:00-05:00

I mean, that's certainly one way of looking at it.

On the other hand, I know how much people were pooh-poohing the specs of the original Switch, and saying if Nintendo had just invested $50 more into it, it would've been such a better platform.

I guess you can't have your cake and eat it, too, and hardware development cycles are long, drawn-out things. The hardware you develop and finalize during times of relative plenty can come to market during times of great paucity.

I don't know if the price is justified based on the hardware/B.O.M. I know it's not justified based on the current market, but there may not be much Nintendo could've done about that.

As I've written about in the past I'm really not a gamer. I don't have the patience or focus to enjoy most games that require the careful cultivation of specialised skills, and I don't honestly enjoy exploration or games that require long-or-medium-term strategizing.

I do, however, have a peculiar history with Nintendo consoles: I have owned (at some point, not currently) every other Nintendo home console:

The NES
The N64
The Wii

Even though I'm not particularly interested in the Switch 2 (or in mobile gaming in general [points to middle-aged eyes]), I might buy a Switch ("1") if the prices come down.

I miss my friendly neighborhood Italian plumber. ;)

100 Days to Offload 2025 - Day 17

Libraries are awesome

2025-04-07T19:50:00-05:00

About a week ago, I had the pleasure of answering some interview-style questions from Hyde that got posted to his blog series, Over/Under.

Give it a read, as I had a lot of fun writing my responses, such that I forgot to actually answer "Overrated/Underrated" to some of his questions. 😄 (Luckily, it was easy enough to infer what I was saying from the novella I provided in response to each question, and he was able to add in the implied one-word answer 🤦‍♂️ 😂)

This morning, as I was getting ready and having some quiet time to read, I was excited to see there was a new episode/post, with our mutal fedifriend Amin answering the questions.

The first question was about libraries, and I'm obviously in agreement with both of them: libraries are incredibly underrated!

Some of my warmest memories as a kid were from spending long hours at the enormous six-floor library at the university where my mom was a graduate student. I always found something to do there: working on homework, looking at children's books, and later technical magazines like MacWorld, and of course, playing around with the amazing IBM 3270 terminals that the library catalog was accessed through.

I could wax poetic about how libraries are like grand, holy temples to human knowledge, but more importantly, they are the very last remaining truly public gathering space in our modern lives that aren't built, regulated, and controlled by corporations.

Libraries are truly of and for the people, and are a safe space for children and adults to go to to pursue their own betterment.

I simply can't think of anything better than that.

100 Days to Offload 2025 - Day 16

A KSP Design Log

2025-03-16T07:58:00-05:00

I had only intended to post this as a reply to my own "toot" on the Fediverse, but it actually went over my instance's post limit of 5,000 characters, so here we go! 😆

On Friday night, I posted a toot saying that I was intending to play Kerbal Space Program that night (which I haven't played in a while). My idea was to make a close-to-stock Learjet (like the one I flew in MS Flight Simulator many years ago) in KSP, but then add parts to it to make it space-faring, but 100% recoverable, and absolutely indistinguishable (both visually and from a BOM perspective) once the space "bits" had been jettisoned.

So, I was up until 2am Saturday morning doing this. Staying up way past my bedtime seems to be a KSP tradition for me, going all the way back to early 2016 😅. It explains why I don't play the game very often. It is so engrossing to me!!

While I had intended to use the (circular cross-section) mk1 parts for the Learjet for optimum visual realism, I had to use mk2 parts, because the mk1 passenger cabin only seats two. That's why. It had nothing to do with the fuel capacity or heat resistance of mk2 parts. 😁

I did disable the mk2 cockpit's reaction wheels (Learjets don't have reaction wheels!), and the Learjet itself was pretty decently realistic, sporting a little fuel adapter/tail piece (no oxidizer) and angled pointy nose cone in the back, and two engine nacelles sporting each a mk1 Liquid Fuel Fuselage, a standard mk1 Circular Intake, and a "J-33 'Wheesley'" engine for comparable performance.

I still ran out of electricity during the orbital portion of the flight, because keeping the lights on drains power, but the power came back as soon as the "Wheesley" engines came back online within the atmosphere. I may add a solar panel for the next iteration, maybe placing them on the orbital engine pods for realism (since, again, Learjets don't usually have solar panels).

The Center of Gravity was a little fiddly and tail-heavy, but I blame KSP for not putting any fuel capacity inside the belly of the passenger compartments like real airplanes have. (Or in any of the smaller wings, for that matter). I might add a few mk0 fuel tanks with mk0 nose cones attached radially to the bottom of the passenger compartments and translated internally, but I'm not sure if I want to go that far. That's a design tip I gleaned from "Cupcake Landers" on YouTube, who used an array of mk0 fuel tanks tucked into the base of a plane consisting of just two cargo ramps, wings and engines.

I then added two detachable RCS/OMS (space engines) pods consisting of about 12-16 of mk0-size "Oscar-B" fuel tanks each connected to two pylons in the back, arranged in a double stack so that I had room for four 48-7S "Spark" mk0-sized engines, total. Each stack/cylinder of the RCS/OMS engine pods was capped with a mk0 nose cone. The pods didn't provide a LOT of thrust (about 0.3 TWR), but it was fine for orbital maneuvering, and also provided basic attitude control during orbital maneuvering burns. I added a couple mk0-sized FL-R20 RCS fuel (monopropellant) tanks to each pod (four total), and four directional "Place Anywhere 7 Linear RCS Ports" to each pod. Since the RCS thrusters used for roll control were attached pretty far from the rotational axis of the craft, they gave a bit too much roll authority and caused the RCS to oscillate a lot, but I didn't want to put any thrusters on the Learjet itself, because Learjets don't have RCS thrusters! I also removed the monopropellant/RCS fuel from the mk2 cockpit for the same reason. I kept learning that less (power) is more when it comes to RCS, at least for vessels of this size.

The RCS/OMS rocket engine pods also had a "Mk16 Parachute" on the front of each cylinder (four total), and I tested jettisoning the rocket engine pods while in low-altitude flight powered by the two "Wheesley" engines. The parachutes deployed just fine at subsonic speeds (which is all the "Wheesleys" are capable of, lol), and landed safely, with no part loss. Circling around the parts in the Learjet to remain in loading/rendering distance to ensure their safe recovery was a bit of a pain (they had to be jettisoned at 400m altitude, as 200m proved fatal to the parts' recovery), so I just landed, taxied to the parts to inspect them up-close, then took off again.

The launch booster is still in early alpha. I was mainly testing the RCS/OMS and reentry, so I just created a huge, somewhat overpowered orbital booster with three SSME-clone "S3 KS-25 'Vector' Liquid Fuel Engines", a "Probodobodyne HECS" probe core, and a "PB-NUK Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator" (RTG) for electricity during non-powered flight. The orbital booster had no reaction wheels or RCS, but relied on the Vectors' overkill 15° gimbals for attitude control and re-orienting, and had a wee bit more than enough fuel to push the Learjet into orbit and perform its own retrograde burn. Of course, the vector engines required adjustments to the maximum deflection angle during latter parts of the flight, because overzealous gimballing led to a lot of painful oscillations, as per norm for that engine with the not-exactly-NASA-spec RCS algorithm in KSP.

I did lose a single vector engine due to heating from a butt-first reentry (despite using four rather large wings to try to keep the heat-resistant nose pointing forward), but I think this can be remedied by fuel balancing for the next launch: preferring to keep the front two fuel tanks full and to drain the rest first in order to keep the center of gravity further forward. The single mk1-sized heat shield at the very front (just behind a mk1 nose cone) should be more than enough to handle reentry heating if I can keep the nose pointed forward, but I think I will scrap this alpha orbital booster and replace it with a horizontal takeoff winged booster, as the TWR requirement for horizontal takeoff is only 0.3-0.5 TWR, as opposed to 1.3-1.5 for vertical. That allows for a much more efficient, less brutalist craft. Nevertheless, the entire booster was recovered in a water landing with parachutes and no engine power, save the loss of the one Vector. I used the trick of placing extra parachutes on the base of the dorsal side of the booster to prevent it from landing on its butt and then tipping over (forcing a bit of a belly-flop landing, which is safe enough in KSP).

The orbital booster is connected to the Learjet orbiter by an engine pylon that has been mounted to the bottom of the Learjet and translated to visually mate with the tail. The (next) root part of the booster, a mk1 rocket fuel tank is then translated to visually mate with the back of the pylon. Using a pylon like this allows both the very front of the booster and the tail of the Learjet to remain aerodynamically efficient after separation, vs. using any kind of stack separator. The overall craft retains structural stability (despite KSP's noodley physics) through the use of autostruts on several parts, particularly the cockpit (set to autostrut to the current heaviest part), and several parts on the periphery of the craft, particularly on the engine pods and the booster.

Surprisingly, the Learjet handled reentry just fine, even without any real heat shielding. Using more heat-resistant mk2 parts for the bulk of the plane helped, but I also did allow myself one minor cheat: using another trick learned from "Cupcake Landers," I placed a single "Place Anywhere 7" Linear RCS Port at the very tip of the nose of the cockpit, and each engine intake. They were turned inward to look more like decorative parts, and had their own RCS toggle turned off, so they weren't ever used for attitude control, but just as "heatsinks" to keep the more vulnerable parts safe. I don't think the RCS port "balls" on the engine intakes were needed after all, but I know from experience that having one on the nose of a plane helps with reentry heating, especially if using mk1 parts (which I did not do, as they're far too vulnerable to reentry heating, even with the "RCS Ball" trick).

The RCS was a bit fiddly during reentry (since the RCS pods were only located on the rear extremities of the orbiter, on the spacefaring engine pods), but it managed to maintain a slight angle of attack of about 20° during reentry, which was enough to induce enough drag and keep the plane from getting hot during reentry, even from a 500km apoapsis. I reentered with a modest 50km periapsis, which required an extra aerobraking pass, but kept the safety margins comfortably high.

The next time I play (I never know when that will be), I look forward to designing a proper horizontal-takeoff-and-landing booster to bring the Learjet into orbit more efficiently, without requiring bombastic Space Shuttle Main Engines. I might also add an optional kick stage to make a Mün landing possible. 😄

100 Days to Offload 2025 - Day 15

Technology has promised so much, has delivered so much, and yet, I'm horrified.

2025-02-15T10:50:00-06:00

I was an 80s kid. I grew up in a booming and optimistic time. The future held so much promise: all kinds of cures for disease, technology and automation would free humanity from the drudgery of labor (heh), and the Information Age would bring an acceleration to learning and innovation. The year 2000 would be a wondrous time, and things would only get better from there.

Yeah. How's that going?

Something funny happened the other day when I was visiting a family member at the hospital: I was walking back to the foyer from their room, and a robot wheeled right by me. It wasn't dangerously close to me or anything, it was just wheeling away from me on a perpendicular path. I freaked out a little, and the nurses saw it right away. I said, "I'm good! I'm good!" and walked on, but I was both a little freaked out by the robot, and freaked out by the fact that I was freaked out.

I am not the guy to be freaked out by technology! I practically came out of the oven with a keyboard in-hand, especially for someone of my generation. I've been drawn towards and fascinated by technology for as long as I can remember. When other kids were reading comic books during their lunch periods, I was perusing an industrial automation and scientific robotics catalog. I was all over that shiz! Loved every bit of it. I had a PDA before it was popular (ok, really, PDAs were never all that popular, but you get the idea), even had an acoustic coupler modem for my PDA, as well as a folding keyboard, all the way back in 2000. Computing was going to change the world for the better, and I was going to be a part of it, somehow.

What the heck happened?

You know.

Facebook/Meta.
Google/Alphabet.
Microsoft. (Ok, they've always been evil in my eyes, but now they're really evil)
OpenAI.
Amazon.
Elon Musk's techno-corporo-Eldritch-horror-du-jour. (and now add "-governmental-", for goodness' sakes)

We grew up being told by Science Fiction that the robots would kill us all (something I was never convinced of as being particularly likely), but in reality, the robots are rather going to monitor and control every little detail of our lives, and they won't even do the dishes for us: they will sit in our pockets and on our desks and kitchen counters, monitoring every minute detail, spoken thought, and activity, and not for the sake of some giant robot brain with inscrutable goals, but for the sake of an economic über-elite with the dumbest goals, outlook, and perspectives imaginable.

So, the kid who adored robots grew up to fear them.

This timeline sucks, y'all.

100 Days to Offload 2025 - Day 14

Responding to The Linux Cast's Vitriolic Diatribe

2025-02-14T07:36:00-06:00

The Linux Cast is one of my favorite Linux youtubers, as he usually posts very interesting videos and isn't afraid to share his off-the-cuff opinions of things in the Linux world, yet is usually not toxic, unlike some of that space's more infamous members.

He published a slightly ranty video about what he considered the most overrated aspects of Linux, and of course, daring to share your opinion on the internet is not a deed that can go unpunished 😂

While I tried to stay snark-castic throughout my reply, he honestly does have some good points.

My thoughts are the following:

1. Open Source

Matt says that the Open Source nature of Linux is overrated because most users don't review the code. I don't know what he's talking about, because I obviously reviewed every one of the millions of lines of the Linux kernel and Firefox before using it. Don't you?!?

Obviously all of the code that is released within the Free and Open Source world is exhaustively reviewed, isn't it? ;)

Ok, the funny thing is that the (purposefully planted) xz vulnerability wasn't found because of a mythical source code review, but only because automated testing determined that xz had become a tiny bit slower from the previous version. But the open nature of the source code did make it much easier to figure out why that was happening, and stop the vulnerability before it became widely promulgated. Much of that could have been accomplished if xz wasn't open, but it would have taken longer.

2. Choice / 3. Distro-hopping

I think what Matt is saying here is that we don't really need all of the choices that we have, that all the Linux distros are more-or-less the same at the end of the day.

I think it depends a lot on what you're looking at. If Wayland, for example is giving you heartburn for whatever reason, a distro that's wayland-heavy is going to be a bummer. But most end users wouldn't be able to tell you whether they were running Gnome/KDE on Wayland or X11. Also, I do run OpenBSD on one of my laptops (just to have something different and to be able to enjoy learning a different system), but when I'm just interacting with neovim on i3wm, does it FEEL all that different than using a Debian box? Perhaps not.

Also, I think I'll go a step further than Matt to say that we really don't need yet another re-skinned "distro" that just packages Arch or Ubuntu and slaps a custom theme on it. I mean, he didn't say those words, but I think he was probably thinking something along those lines. ;)

4. Security

If had been asked 20 years ago, I would absolutely have said the Linux is more secure than Windows (and I did, on many occasions). Windows had a huge black eye in the security scene in the "naughties." Nowadays? I think it's honestly a toss-up. Linux is not a security-oriented operating system, although there are definitely very advanced security mechanisms that can be used. Security is not a top priority for Linus, and he has made his opinion on the subject pretty clear. I'm not saying it's insecure, but it's all pretty relative.

Matt mentions "security through obscurity", which I think is an interesting term to use. I think the way he uses the term is valid because "Obscurity" in English can either refer to not being well known, or to something that is purposefully hidden. In the infosec field, however, "Security through Obscurity" technically refers to wilful obscuring of details to prevent disclosure. In that sense, Windows has (and likely still does) use Security through Obscurity by not disclosing its inner workings, rather than Linux having Security through Obscurity by virtue of not being as popular. Again, his use of the term is technically correct in the English language, but not technically correct in the security field, as far as I understand it.

As far as what the most secure OS in the world is, I suppose it's the OS that's running on an air-gapped server, guarded by a cult of rabid, homicidal ninjas that swore an oath to never let a living being near it. Or perhaps it's the OS running on a server with a nuclear bomb strapped to it, 1 microsecond after the bomb goes off. The most secure computer is one that no one can touch, that isn't connected to anything, and can't have anything done to it. So basically, a brick. ;)

5. Rolling releases

Honestly, I think staggered releases (every 6 months or so) is the best of both worlds. I'd so love it if Debian could switch to that, but I know that would be a lot more work for the volunteers to do. While I love Debian, having packages over 2 years old (right before a new stable release) is pretty rough, and makes some things difficult to do, when even some programming languages are too old to even compile some programs from source.

6. AUR

The AUR is a good "Ports"-style system, although I have trust issues with user-submitted build scripts. When you look at Arch's package repo, it actually has far fewer packages than Debian (15,000 vs. 50,000). The AUR has far more (90,000), but they aren't vetted. I know nearly everyone on Arch or Arch-derived (I know, "boo, hiss!") distros uses the AUR (and I did as well when I was using a derivative), but I always tried to read the build scripts and at the very least check all of the URLs within them.

7. Firefox

To me, the thing with Firefox is that it is pretty much the only "modern" browser that I consider ethically okay to use. Anything based on Chrome / Chromium / Blink is out of the question for me, because then you're voting with your User Agent and basically saying that Google's hegemony over the web is okay, which is seriously not cool.

Of course, by "modern" I'm specifically referring to the ability to use most popular commercial websites, which I'd rather not care about, but a guy's gotta eat. If it wasn't for webshites like amazon, ebay, financial institutions, and the like, I'd be ecstatic to just use browsers like w3m, chawan, XLinks, dillo, and perhaps Ladybird.

Dropping all humorous pretense of angry criticism because I actually am being critical on this point: considering geegaw features like (I guess) vertical tabs and A.I. (whatever that actually is) as more important than essential freedoms (community control over web standards, no tracking, proper ad blocking) is how we got here, y'all. So maybe don't do that. Please. :D

Just for clarity, Chromium (the basis of Chrome) is also Open Source (very nearly as open as Firefox is — IANAL, but the licensing terms seem fairly comparable). Firefox isn't better than Chrome because it's more Open Source than it (it's only a little more open than Chrome, and arguably not any more open than Chromium). Firefox is better than Chrome because it isn't used by a trillion-dollar corporation to strong-arm web standards for maximum profit.

8. Suckless.org

I think my defense of suckless would be to decouple the suckless design/user methodology from the suckless programming methodology. I agree with Matt that suckless' tools by default are kind of unusable, for the most part. I recently discovered sent, which is an excellent X11 presentations application that uses dead-simple plain text as its presentation format. I first used it on OpenBSD without realizing that the version packaged for OpenBSD had a couple of patches applied. When I used it on Debian, I couldn't set the text colors. What?? Oh, that's a patch. <facepalm>

I also love nsxiv, which I always thought was a suckless tool, but it's actually just a tool inspired by the suckless utilities, not created by them. And it shows, because it's actually usable! 😄

But I'm still a fan of suckless, and I don't agree that adding all the packages would make the suckless tools as bloated as anything else. I just wish they weren't quite as extreme with their minimalism at times. ;)

I took Matt's statement that applying all the patches you needed to make dwm function would make it the size of qtile in terms of source lines of code a little too seriously, and I started to try to download ALL of the patches. An hour of downloading later, I was about half-way through the list (I probably should have scripted that, lol), and it amounted to 23k SLOC of patches alone, on top of the 2500 SLOC for dwm itself. Qtile weighs in at about 56k SLOC, so I guess if you need a LOT of patches to make dwm usable, then Matt is correct.

Man, sometimes being a pedant is exhausting.

100 Days to Offload 2025 - Day 13

The Case for AVIF

2025-02-13T09:21:00-06:00

Disclaimer: Right off the bat, I am NOT an imaging expert, a compression expert, or really an anything expert. I'm just speaking from my own experiences as a relatively ordinary user of image formats.

When I was a young-un in the early, early 90s, PICT was the day-to-day image format I used. For those not familiar with Classic Macintosh formats, it was the Classic Macintosh equivalent of Windows Metafile — the bog standard, the native format of the OS's graphics routines. MacPaint was another option, which provided a decent little bit of very fast (Run-Length Encoding) compression, but was limited to a fixed size: 576 x 720 at 72 dpi (approximately a US letter page, within the margins: 8" x 10" exactly).

For images shared on the Interne— I mean, on BBSes and services like GEnie, there was the glorious GIF standard: arbitrary resolution, up to 256 colors, and 1-bit alpha channel transparency. These took some time to load on my beloved Macintosh SE, but they saved a lot of space.

Then a little later on in the early 90s, I started hearing about this utterly magical compression format called JPEG: It made image sizes much smaller by throwing out unneeded data. Witchcraft!!! I rushed and found a JPEG program for the Mac from an online service and loaded a small JPEG file. It took minutes to decompress, and I found that it didn't really save any space compared to GIF with the images I had (they actually got bigger than the GIFs). I later learned that JPEG wasn't meant for monochrome images! It was like trying to run quartz crystals through a hamburger grinder. It just wasn't going to end well.

Nowadays, while JPEG still gets plenty of use online, there are a lot of other contenders, and many modern smartphones don't even save to JPEG by default! While I won't argue the suitability of JPEG for high-fidelity images (it still has many eloquent apologists who make valid points), I think there are better formats for low-fidelity images, such as for social media sharing.

On the Fediverse (which is the only social media I belong to nowadays), most images are saved and shared as JPEG, while some fediverse servers seem to support WebP.

While WebP (which is backed by Google) provides a lot of savings over JPEG for very small (data-wise) images, I think there are better formats still, and it would be great if the fediverse looked into supporting them.

Methodology

For these examples, I took a very high quality, high resolution PNG of a thinkpad (with some transparency), and reduced it to 640 x 506 resolution. I then took that lower resolution (but very high quality) PNG and saved it as a JPEG with 10% quantization using GIMP. I then tried to produce images of the same (file) size using the other formats for comparison.

PNG

First, let's look at the source (640 x 506) PNG:

171,605 byte PNG

JPEG

Now, here's the JPEG I created in GIMP using 10% quantization/quality:

9,745 byte JPEG at 10% quantization, converted with GIMP

JPEG gives you the basic idea, but there's a great deal of loss, as each 8x8 pixel block has very little detail. It looks like a mosaic. Again, not hating on the format — it was amazing for 1992, and is still great for high-fidelity images. But it wasn't meant to do miracles.

WebP

Now, let's see what WebP (derived from the VP8 open video format) can do at about the same file size:

9,546 byte WebP at 44% quantization, converted by GIMP

We're getting a LOT better, now. The mosaic look is gone. Things are quite blurry in places, but the gradients are smooth. The detail is lacking, but the overall picture is quite nice. The transparency is intact, as well.

AVIF

Another new free format that hasn't been getting nearly as much love is AVIF. It's based on the AV1 open video codec, and I think it has a lot of promise.

Here's the same image, compressed down to a 9,413 byte AVIF with 46% quantization via GIMP:

9,413 byte AVIF at 46% quantization converted by GIMP

For basically the same file size, AVIF does a little better job at representing details comapred to WebP. The edge of the image where the transparency is happening is also much smoother, but that may be a fluke of how I exported it from GIMP, not sure.

I found it easiest to view each image in their own tab, zoomed in 200% or 300% and then flip back and forth quickly to notice the differences.

I will also provide other formats I was able to try with minimal commentary:

HEIC

HEIC is the common extension for HEVC (h.265)-encoded image data stored within a HEIF file. While HEIF is an open standard, HEVC is patent-encumbered, which reduces its suitability for broad use. In spite of this, all iPhones since 2017 save images as .HEIC (HEVC image encoded in HEIF) by default, which has been known to cause issues.

9,433 byte HEIC at 31% quantization, converted by GIMP

JPEG-XL

JPEG-XL is another open format which unfortunately has not recieved a lot of support from modern web browsers.

9,361 byte JPEG-XL at 18% quantization, converted by libjxl-tools

JPEG 2000

JPEG 2000 is an upgrade to the original JPEG that was designed in the latter 90s. It provides better performance than JPEG, but doesn't compare well to the newer compressors.

8,955 byte JPEG 2000 at 31% quantization, converted by ImageMagick

Conclusion

Of all the formats, AVIF seems to offer the best performance in a default browser, with HEIC, JPEG-XL, and JPEG 2000 not even displaying in Firefox 128esr. I'm glad that some Fediverse servers already support WebP, which is a great step forward beyond JPEG for image reproduction at ultra-low file sizes, but I think AVIF might be a better fit. Either way, I think all fediverse software projects should look into using somethign like WebP or AVIF internally be default in order to save storage and bandwidth.

P.S., It's pronounced JIF.

100 Days to Offload 2025 - Day 12

I kinda hate "apps"

2025-02-11T06:45:00-06:00

I'm talking mostly about terminology, but of course, when in doubt, "I don't want your dumb app."

So, as I briefly alluded to in yesterdays blog post, most mobile apps are pretty terrible. They're generally chock full of spyware (trackers), and are inherently user-hostile.

But I want to talk about how the name itself is a dark pattern, or "PsyOp."

First, some history. "App" wasn't the universal term for "computer program" until a little over a decade ago. On most platforms, computer software was called "programs," or just "software," although on the classic Macintosh platform, it was common to refer to them as "Applications," as that is how the operating system itself referred to the file type "APPL."

By searching through Wikipedia, I found an OSNews article that traces the origin of "App" as a branding term and abbreviation for "Application" back to at least 1985. I'd link it here, but the article includes a savage invective against CamelCase that is not for the faint of heart ;)

Nevertheless, as many will still remember, it was the 2008 release of the iOS "App Store™" that really cemented "App" and promoted it from a common abbreviation to the actual proper name for "computer program."

This is genius branding. "App" is so easy to say. It rolls right off your tongue. It objectifies the complexity of computation into a simple name, simple icon, simple service. It hides a legion of calculating demons behind a pleasant face, like No-Face from Miyazaki's Spirited Away.

Like No-Face, "apps" enter your home through the innocent action of young ones, present a placid mask while consuming all in their sight.

Perhaps it's best if you put a reign on them.

100 Days to Offload 2025 - Day 11

How I Mitigate Horrible "Apps"

2025-02-10T07:51:00-06:00

This morning, I enjoyed a blog post by James Ashford about whether or not it's good to use a bible app.

I commented on a tangential issue: the fact that bible apps have so many trackers!

I mentioned that I do use YouVersion, even though it has many trackers (including Facebook Analytics), but with several mitigations in place.

Disclaimer: I am not an application developer, and my knowledge of the inner workings of mobile OSes is very limited. The explanations and advice here may be wholly inaccurate.

So, I'd like to take a moment to explain how I mitigate horrible apps (and yes, I am calling The Bible App horrible, because it includes Facebook Analytics. It is wonderful in many ways, but the inclusion of Meta trackers is inexcusable — "Do not let your good be evil spoken of"):

The Operating System

The main choices in the mobile space are iOS and Android, with Android having hundreds of options beneath it. While Apple has waged a "privacywashing" campaign for the past several years via advertisements, they are not a company to be trusted, and they provide very little in the way of useful compensating controls for badly-behaving apps, except for a rather weak "please don't track me" system. If I decided to use an iPhone, I would not be using many apps at all.

Of course, Android is far worse in most cases, as is Google/Alphabet a far worse company, ethically, than Apple. I wouldn't run a manufacturer's build of Android (including "stock" Android from Google). Fortunately, Android is still mostly kinda/sorta an Open Source project, and while the AOSP (Android Open Source Project) has been languishing long under Google's neglect, it's still being held together with the efforts of dedicated Open Source developers. There are several good FOSS Android builds to choose from (particularly on Pixel phones), but the ones that get the most attention are CalyxOS and GrapheneOS. I have used both, but currently prefer CalyxOS.

The rest of the mitigations I describe will assume you're running a security/privacy-emphasized OS like Calyx or Graphene, but some will be available on stock Android, and possibly iOS (I haven't daily-driven an iPhone since 2020, so I don't know what the latest options are — a fact I want to be up-front with, unlike some tech writers).

Work Profile(s)

On many Android OSes, you can place an app in a work profile (some might even have multiple work profiles) in order to isolate it from the rest of the system. This doesn't necessarily do much to restrict its activity, but can help to prevent it accessing sensitive data on your system, as it will have a limited view of the filesystem. Also, the Work Profile can be shut off, terminating the applications running within it.

Battery Optimizations

Many mobile operating systems (almost all Android builds, I don't know about iOS) let you restrict an app's background execution as a battery optimization. This means, for example, that your video would play as long as the app is in the foreground, but then will get terminated a few seconds after it goes into the background. This can help prevent an app from snooping around and tracking you, as it does not have the ability to run in the background (much). I don't think this helps while your phone is charging, though.

Firewall

Both CalyxOS and GrapheneOS (and several other FOSS Android flavors) allow you to firewall off an app from the internet. On both of the above, you can specify that an app cannot contact the internet while in the background (but foreground internet access is permitted). This can also help curb an app's snooping.

App Tracking Protection

Both the DuckDuckGo browser and TrackerControl (as well as some other apps) provide control over trackers by using Android's VPN feature. It doesn't provide an actual VPN, but uses that feature to siphon all traffic through the app in order to monitor and block trackers. TrackerControl can also be useful as a kind of basic firewall to deny internet access to apps that you don't want it, such as on a Kindle tablet, or any non-privacy-enhanced Android OS.

I use the DDG app on the Work Profile of my phone to limit the snooping activities of programs like YouVersion and MarcoPolo (a video chat app).

I can't guarantee that all or even any of these mitigations will actually keep you safe/private, but that's what I do for some peace of mind.

Addendum

A Fedifriend, TheDoctor just informed me that Android 15 has a new feature called "Private Space" that provides additional protections beyond the normal Work Profile.

100 Days to Offload 2025 - Day 10

You can never be apolitical

2025-02-06T18:05:00-06:00

Content Warning: This post deals with religion and politics

Last Sunday, I did something that I really don't like doing.

I left church early.
With a heavy and conflicted heart.

The Sunday prior, I walked into church and spoke briefly with the pastor. I told him I was shocked to see Elon Musk make an unmistakable nazi* salute in front of the seal of the presidency, and was looking forward to seeing how he would address it. He politely stated that he wasn't actually preaching that day, but I went in hoping to get something out of it.

* I will never capitalize "nazi." Proper grammar be shucked. They simply do not deserve it.

I was honestly disappointed that the Associate Pastor didn't even mention it, but I expectantly went back the next Sunday to see what the senior pastor would say.

I don't recall the specifics, but he mentioned the importance of the inauguration, and then said something like, "this will not be a political sermon," sidestepped the entire travesty, and went along like it was any other Sunday, using it as an analogy for some spiritual concept I've already forgotten.

Umm, excuse me, what?

Now, I know the guy just well enough to know he is a decent person, and this isn't one of those (sorry, not sorry) sycophantic Trump churches that will follow him straight to hell.

But the politeness of the whole thing rubbed me the wrong way, rubbed me raw.

This isn't a time to be polite. I... don't honestly know what it is a time for.
A time to fight? (With what exactly? How?)
A time to scream? (That does come pretty naturally.)
A time to protest? (I'm sure we will!)
A time to speak??

Yes, a time to speak. Clearly. Directly. Forthrightly. Unequivocally. Heroically.

This is not a time to be silent, and this is not a time to hedge your bets.

"Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it."
—Psalm 81:10c

I think there is value in being non-partisan. Speaking to important issues and not taking sides from the perspective of our guys vs. their guys. But being apolitical? Impossible. Any attempt to do so is itself one of the most privileged, careless, fatuous things imaginable.

100 Days to Offload 2025 - Day 9

Loops is... interesting

2025-02-02T12:40:00-06:00

I, like many, have taken an interest in Daniel Supernault's new Loops video service.

Unlike many, I'm not so much interested in a FOSS, Federated clone of TikTok, YT Shorts, or Vine. I honestly don't care for that kind of media. I don't object to the format (other than vertical video being fundamentally kind of silly), but rather the content: vapid and often hard-boiled brainrot videos.

What I'm really hoping for (and hoping against hope) is for some kind of reimagining of Casey Neistat's Beme.

Beme, ultimately, will be yet another entry in the list of famous-youtuber-tried-to-do-something-cool-and-basically-failed endeavors, and while I usually couldn't care less about the efforts of "famous" people, I really loved the idea behind Beme:

30 second videos
You recorded by holding the phone to your chest, face, or against a wall (it used the proximity sensor as the record button — later you could just press a button onscreen)
The screen was OFF while recording
No ability to edit, no ability to upload a clip you already made elsewhere
Just very real and free expression

Now, the app (Beme) was buggy as heck, and not very well written (I lost a bunch of great videos I took vacationing in San Diego because I didn't have a good quality cell signal. I mean... WHAT?!?), but the idea behind it was priceless.

I don't see a LOT of that kind of content on Loops. Or rather, I see far more re-posted TikTok/YT Shorts content than I'd like (none, for the record). But I do see enough heart-felt just-for-Loops videos that it makes me happy, and hopeful.

I see the beginnings of a community of just-for-Loops artists (I hate the term "content creator") that reminds me a bit of the community on Beme, and that is a wonderful thing.

So, umm... watch me on Loops, as soon as I get my Groucho Marx glasses-and-mustache, I guess? 😄

100 Days to Offload 2025 - Day 8

The Last Stage of Loss?

2025-02-01T07:54:00-06:00

Last night I had one of those "your loved one isn't actually dead!" dreams, but about my cat.

I used to have them a lot about my stepdad that passed away many years ago, and I had a handful about my boss that sadly ended his own life a decade ago.

I had the first dream in a very long time (as far as I can recall) about my cat Hobbes last night. He was suddenly not dead, and I could hold him in my arms. It was a very sweet dream.

I don't think I've had more than a handful of dreams about him, ever. Ironically the only other ones I can somewhat remember were from when he was younger, and my mind was expressing fears about him passing away, because he was just so dear to me.

But I'm thinking that maybe the "your loved one is suddenly and unexpectedly not dead" dream is possibly the last stage of grief.

It's your heart reminding you: not that they are gone, but that they were there, and how much they meant to you. Just as you start to move on (?!???), your heart draws you back; not out of cruelty, but out of love.

100 Days to Offload 2025 - Day 7

"Online" documentation should be offline

2025-01-30T07:32:00-06:00

I'm noticing a troubling trend among FOSS projects, even terminal-only utilities: no manpages (or a 1-paragraph useless one), barely any help screens, and a link to a wiki site like a github page or "readthedocs."

The thing is, the whole ethos behind so many terminal utilities is a hearkening back to a simpler time of keyboard-driven user interfaces, and specifically of eschewing the kind of bloated, unusable mess that characterizes so much of the modern web.

So please don't force me to crank up firefox just to read your docs. They should be included in some kind of plain text (or easily convertible) format along with the source and binary distributions of your package.

Heck, I'd even settle for a PDF at this point, so please:

Keep your online documentation offline. (Because online means on the computer, not on the web, behind some horrid cluodflare captcha just to read five pages of a wiki).

100 Days to Offload 2025 - Day 6

Blog Questions Challenge 2025

2025-01-11T15:24:00-06:00

I came across this set of questions from hyde (a.k.a. Lazy Bear)'s blog, and immediately loved it. It reminds me a bit of the kind of overly personal* questions that got passed between friends on facebook circa 2008, and email circa 2000.

* They didn't feel overly personal at the time, but looking back, with the lens of privacy, they were terrible ;)

Why did you start blogging in the first place?

Settle in for my Internet-historical TED talk, because it can't be helped. ;)

Way back when I started blogging, it wasn't called blogging yet. It was called "having a website." I'm comfortable drawing a line of equivalence between the two, because I no longer have a personal website other than my blog itself. It fulfills the job role that a personal website had in 1997, so I'm going to count my very first website (from 1997-8) as my first blog. In addition, it had some vaguely blog-like features, as I would gradually add to it, and have something akin to an archives page, all in hand-written html.

So, I started "blogging" in the late nineties... because it was there!! The internet was new and cool, and it was amazing to have a permanent place to put my thoughts. Sadly, the wayback machine doesn't have an archive of my old blog, and my own copy seems long lost. But I had random snippets of poetry and stories from the internet on there, along with some pictures of myself (ha, it was a very different time) and my dogs (yes, I was actually a dog person in the 90s!)

I started blogging in earnest in the early 2000s, using blogger dot com with a custom domain. The Wayback machine has a single snapshot of it from March 2002, which I will NOT be sharing, haha. It actually contained a webcam page (oh, the early 2000s were so adorable!) from my cubicle at work and a total of eleven posts, all from late 2001. Of course, that includes my reaction to 9/11, which was certainly... visceral, Ramboish, and immature.

I started blogging again in late 2007 and made about 40 posts in the next ten years, the bulk of them being within a couple years after I had started. This blog was on Wordpress dot com, and was chiefly of a religious nature. I look back on it from time to time, and reminisce about the incredibly idealistic person I was back then.

With the encouragement of great Fedifriends like Kev and Amin, I started blogging again here on rldane.space in early 2023. Kev initially hosted a wordpress vps for me, but I soon switched over to hosting with NearlyFreeSpeech and using an SSG (Static Site Generator), which takes us to the next question:

What platform are you using to manage your blog, and why did you choose it?

I'm not exactly sure how I found it or settled on it, but I use the Python-powered Pelican SSG. I think I tried Hugo first, as it's often highly recommended, but the first step is to set up a git repo for your blog, and I just didn't feel like going about it in that way.

I found a website that hosts all of the popular Pelican themes, and picked one that looked nice, and yielded a fairly small (data-wise) website. The format is basically just simple markdown, which I already loved and have been using for all of my personal writing since early 2019. I especially loved not having to use a website for editing, writing, or management of my blog. It all happens on the terminal, which I'm plenty comfortable with.

Have you blogged on other platforms before?

Already mostly answered in my hilariously unavoidable history section in Answer 1, but to recap:

1997 - Hand-crafted html
2001 - Blogger dot com
2007 - Wordpress dot com
2023 - Friend-hosted wordpress.org instance, then Pelican-built static website

How do you write your posts?

Most posts start their life in neovim on my Thinkpad X200t running OpenBSD. The markdown files get synced between all of my systems using syncthing. Technically, my blog posts start their life as a bullet point in a Simplenote note. I keep a list of blog post ideas on there so I can add to it easily on any of my computers or even my phone on the go. I find that having a pool of post ideas and posting regularly helps keep the ground for new posts quite fertile, as does using an RSS reader to read friends' posts and glean ideas from them (like this one!!) I used to keep a WIP folder of draft posts, but I found that half-finished posts were harder to complete than just single-line blog post ideas, for some reason.

I use a shell script I wrote called blogme (inspired by my tootme script) that auto-populates the blog post header with my post title, date, and commonly-used tags (which I manually prune before publishing each post). It just opens $EDITOR (always neovim in my case) with an instructional header, takes the very first line as the title, and generates the markdown file once you leave the editor, and tells you where it was saved.

So, blogme plops me into a neovim (or editor of your choice) screen that looks like this:

>>>NOTE>>> The very first line of this file will be treated as the title
>>>NOTE>>> of the blog post.
>>>NOTE>>> Any line beginning with ">>>NOTE>>>" will be ignored

This will be the blog post title, as it's the first line.

They were the best of memes, they were the worst of memes...

As soon as I leave the editor, it creates a file like ~/Documents/writings/blog/pelican/content/2025-01-11-this-will-be-the-blog-post-title-as-its-the-first-line.md that will look like this:

---
Title: This will be the blog post title, as it's the first line.
Date: 2025-01-11 16:40 CST
Category: Entertainment, Ethics, Humor, Life, Philosophy, Prose, QuickPost, Tech, Writing
Tags: 100DaysToOffload, ADHD, Amiga, Beauty, Bible, BSD, Christianity, Computing, Content Warning, Entertainment, Ethics, Federated Services, FOSS (Free and Open Source Software), FreeBSD, Gaming, Hobbies, Humor, Informal post, Language, Life, Linux, Loss, Music, Non-religious post, Non-technical post, PeerTube, Philosophy, Polemic, Productivity, Prose, QuickPost, Retrocomputing, Science Fiction, Social Media, Translation, UNIX, Unix Tips, Video, Writing, WritingMonth
Status: Published
---

They were the best of memes, they were the worst of memes...

I have a few more little bespoke shell scripts for my blog: one that does a wordcount on every post, one that gives me my writing month progress, one that gives me my 100 Days to Offload status (links explaining both of those further below), one that auto-generates Category: and Tags: lines for new posts based on the categories and tags used on all previous posts, and a few other very minor bespoke scripts.

After my first pass of writing, I will move to a Linux system if not already on one (so that I can use a full web browser — I won't install a browser onto my writing-dedicated system), and run the needed invoke command(s) to auto-generate the blog post and view them locally on a web browser as I go through my proofreading steps. I then make sure all the outbound weblinks work, double-check my category and tags, proofread again, then invoke publish and write a toot "advertising" the post.

When do you feel most inspired to write?

Usually soon after I had written something. If more than three days go without writing a blog post, the well dries up. Another thing that inspires me to write is reading others' blog posts, just like in the case of this one. I wasn't planning on writing today, but seeing Hyde's post made me want to write one.

Do you publish immediately after writing, or do you let it simmer a bit as a draft?

I do proofread at least a couple times after writing (and for whatever reason, I always proofread in the browser, not the editor. It just seems easier that way). The only time I ever delayed posting something is when it seemed to be a bit of a hot-button topic and there were some impassioned posts recently on the subject. So, I asked a friend who was close to the topic (and to others that had written about it) to read it over for me to make sure I wasn't stepping on anyone's toes.

What is your favorite post on your blog?

Hard to say. I'm particularly proud of my Laptops post, because I absolutely loved crafting the retro-feeling and very space-efficient images for that post (as well as the fact that I was speaking about something I'm passionate about).

All of the posts I wrote about loss were very raw to me, very open and vulnerable.

Joy Will Not Be Contained was an absolute riot to write, and the reaction I got from the community was a thing of beauty.

The posts I write on the subject of faith are often favorites, as they're usually really hot-button subjects, and deeply personal, as well as something I have very passionate and fervent feelings about.

I was also kind of proud of my What is FOSS? post, as it implemented an experimental fractal format to a blog post. Also the series that starts with Don't use what works for you.

Any future plans for your blog?

To take inspiration from the tagline of a tragically controversial and honestly rather oblivious linux youtuber, The Blog Abides. I greatly enjoy writing, and I greatly enjoy the conversation surrounding the posts on the Fediverse. This isn't going away.

I completed my second annual Writing Month last November, and I am working my way towards 100 Days to Offload this year, and making good progress! :)

Who will participate next?

I would like to nominate:

100 Days to Offload 2025 - Day 5

You don't need to share that clip

2025-01-09T20:43:00-06:00

I recall once having a discussion with some friends online about which chat client/network to use for communication, and someone strongly endorsed one over another because it had a better selection of animated reactions/videos. I was pretty incredulous that that was the most important thing to them.

Imagine if you will every single short-form (silent) video/animation being sent across the internet right now, whether on chat networks, or social networks, or any other part of the internet where short-form silent video/animated content is sent. Imagine how much duplication there is:

A million copies of Elrond saying, "I was there, 3000 years ago."
A million copies of the same dancing birthday cake
A million copies of the same holiday greeting
A million copies of the same football goal
A million copies of Tom and Jerry chasing each other
A million copies of Elmo dancing
A million copies of chimpanzees laughing in a car
A million copies of Harrison Ford telling off Chewbacca for sleeping with his wife
A million copies of the same kitten snuggling up under a blanket
A million copies of the same cat riding a unicorn
A million copies of the Shaq dancing
A million copies of Steve Carell saying something crazy on The Office

It's not as if all of these images/animations are all stored centrally and just referenced by URL. They are looked up on various services, and most often sent individually as individual attachments, usually by a keyboard application which has a built-in search feature for this type of content.

Here's the funny thing: how often are these images seen for the first time, compared to the hundredth time? They're rote. They're memes. The content is nearly meaningless, it's the context that matters. The video/animation itself is a mere signifier of meaning, not the carrier of it.

So why spend megabytes per copy of each image/animation/video?

Let's put it another way:

Imagine you've just posted something on your favorite social network (I know what mine is!) describing something positive you've recently done, and I respond. Here is what you see in my response:

<thor_cause_thats_what_heroes_do.mp4>

Confused, you wait for the clip from Thor: Ragnarok to load, but it never does. You hover your cursor over the text, but it doesn't change color. You click/tap on it, but nothing happens. It's just text.

Let me ask you something: Did you actually miss anything? Did your mind have any trouble recalling the exact details of that scene (at least the part of it that would show on a typical shared clip)? Can you picture Thor pointing and saying that precisely as if you just watched it again? Of course you can. You've seen it a dozen times.

If then the mere inclusion of a fake filename for a well-known meme video clip is sufficient to recall the content of it, then why should we be sending thousands or millions of copies of it to and fro on the internet?

Normalize sending fake file names for well-known video memes, rather than the video themselves

This would not only save our own bandwidth (which you may not care about), but the bandwidth and storage costs of small fediverse instance owners (which you probably do care about!)

100 Days to Offload 2025 - Day 4

"Ableism" and the Linux Aristocracy

2025-01-07T07:41:00-06:00

This is Part IV of the series, "Don't use what works for you."

Being an armchair FOSS advocate, there are a lot of anti-FOSS arguments I've become quite used to seeing and answering. Some of them are honestly just pretty dumb:

eloquent_FOSS_apologia();

Well, I just don't CARE about that!

Well, I don't care that you don't care. Where does that leave us, an impasse of arseholery? Bravissimo!

I think the arguments that bother me the most, though are the ones with the greatest component of truth. I was reading a blog recently where the (honestly quite well-reasoned and not anti-FOSS in philosophy) writer was making a case against bothering people with FOSS considerations in their lives when they have so many other things to worry about, and likened it to ableism: a form of discrimination where a person judges or even advises another without considering their physical/mental/financial/etc. limitations.

This argument got under my skin, and gave me pause. Some people really do have a lot going on, and don't need to be sniped by a nerd with an attitude for using MS Word instead of vim.

I can see the argument. There is something "aristocratic" about finding the license of the software I use to be an issue of great import, just as a working-class person would find a rabid argument concerning ontology completely out of touch with their daily life and concerns.

The thing is, while a debate on ontology might be completely irrelevant to actual existence, issues of software freedom and digital agency aren't academic, because they pertain to an individual's freedom and agency in the digital realm, which is increasingly an inexorable and enormous part of our lives. The unwitting choices we make and the dynamics we ignore can have a huge impact on our lives in the real world.

Here's a tangential example:

Most people don't ever read or even peruse/search the Terms of Service and other legal documents they sign nearly every day, but they can have a huge effect on your life. There was recently a wrongful death case against Disney that was nearly thrown out of court because the husband signed a TOS that included a binding arbitration clause years before they visited the park when signing up for the Disney+ streaming service. Disney backed off quickly after an enormous public outcry, but that could have ended very differently. Disney was under no legal pressure to back off from such scummy action, and the family had zero legal recourse in the eyes of the law, because they clicked a checkbox that said "I have read and agree to the TOS."

These are the kinds of dark patterns that are snuck in all of the time, and without awareness, people will be victimized by the kind of limitless corporate cruelty we saw in the Disney case.

So, yes, please be mindful of people's bandwidth (e.g. number-of-remaining-spoons) when discussing supposedly esoteric topics such as software freedom and digital agency.
But don't you dare not discuss it.

100 Days to Offload 2025 - Day 3

Joy Will Not Be Contained

2025-01-03T13:09:00-06:00

I was perusing Annie's Love letters 1-5 (from 82MHz' blog post) today, and I was struck with the subject of happiness:

Most of all, do not bear the burden of your own happiness.

It made me think of an odd thing that happened when I was playing cards with near family members last night. Oh, but first, let's get this out of the way:

Content Warning: this post deals with a rather "adult" subject (in a humorous context). While I strive to make my blog mostly family-friendly, this post will be a rare exception.

Yesterday, I was perusing reddit (a guilty pleasure when I am severely dopamine-deprived — reddit is not a nice place), and one post looked interesting: the title was along the lines of "What was one surprising thing you learned about the animal kingdom that you have not been able to forget?"

I read some of the comments. Some were banal, some were savage, and one was... very odd. We'll get to that. So, I read a few comments, and I closed the article after reading the "very odd" a.k.a. kind of ridiculous/terrible fact, and got back to work, low-key attempting to forget what I had read.

Later that evening, I'm playing cards with two older female family members, and this small fact from reddit comes crawling back to the forefront of my brain.

(It is not welcome.)

The factoid doesn't care that it is unbidden and unwelcome. It sits atop the apex of my brain, unmoving.

I start really struggling. A giggle slowly works its way up my throat. I repress it, partially closing off my airway in the process. My eyes are now firmly planted on the cards in front of me, unmoving. I find it hard to read off the cards for my legally-blind family member. I find it hard to interact.

My mind is in Sev 1 lockdown, trying to quench the riotous laughter that is attempting to force its way out of my body. The weight of three years of intense sadness, unfortunate life circumstances, loss, and family illness conspire with the horrid joke/factoid against me, and I am at a losing the war.

"What is going on?" a family member notices my silence and pained expression.

"No," I simply reply.

"What?"

"Nope nope nope. Not telling. It's bad."

"Uhh, ok," they respond.

I continue to try to play Pasur with them, but I am increasingly incapacitated by the factoid.

"What is it?!?" my relative asks.

I am silent, for my body is convulsing in repressed laughter.

"It is so bad," I say. But I begin to relent. I cannot fight this anymore. It has won. The factoid must be known, the consequences be damned.

"What???" they ask again.

I start to try to tell it, to try to release the Niagara Falls of inappropriate humor now locked up in my soul. But now I am really losing it.

"I was reading online--"

I am doubled over in pain, wheezing.

"--scientists gave--"

My flabdominal muscles are screaming in agony. I have the entire room's rapt attention.

"--scientists gave gorill-as--"

Sounds are coming out of my mouth that I've never heard it produce before. Sobs, cries, gasps, wheezing, and laughter like you could not imagine could come from a human voice.

"--scientists gave gorillas VIBRATORS--"

My windpipe threatens to close as I bury my face in my arms on the table in front of me, my body racked in sobbing laughter.

The family member I am addressing starts losing it as well.

"WHAT ON EARTH FOR?!?" she demands.

I am utterly undone, but I must put the final cherry on top of this massive poop sundae:

I shrug my shoulders and cry out,

"RESEARCH!?!?"

We are both at risk of falling out of our chairs. All of the wind in my chest and lower down has escaped through the appropriate exits.

What a catharsis.

100 Days to Offload 2025 - Day 2

100 Days to Offload — Kicking 2025 Off Right

2025-01-01T21:41:00-06:00

After the enjoyable success of Writing Month last November, I feel like I want to start a new challenge for 2025: "100 Days To Offload."

I'm going to aim for 10 blog posts per month (which is an average of one blog post every 3.04 days), finishing on October 31st (and book-ending perfectly with Writing Month 2025). That gives me December 2025 to mainly just chill out (I wrote 5 posts last month ;)

If I don't make it to 100 by October, I can always count December towards my 100, and if I'm really desperate by then, I'll count November's posts as well 😅

I think I made it to day 7 the last time I tried 100DtO, but I've had two successful WritingMonths since then, so I think this is going to be fun. ;)

100 Days to Offload 2025 - Day 1

A 2025 Resolution

2024-12-30T07:20:00-06:00

1920x1080. That's it. Goodnight, folks!

[phonograph-needle-rip.wav]

Wait, WAIT.

My actual resolution is to use RSS feeds as my primary source of diversion on the go, vs. Pavlovically checking the Fediverse every five minutes, or even worse, getting stuck in an hours-long YT Shorts brainrot watching spree.

If you're looking for some blogroll/rss-reading recommendations, here are my currently configured feeds (in alphabetical order):

Do I Know You?

2024-12-27T18:10:00-06:00

I was reading Deadly Headshot's toot on Christmas day, and it got me thinking about Object Permanence and social media.

The funny thing is, I can remember conversations I had on IRC in the late 1990s, but there are many people I greatly enjoyed conversing with on the Fediverse just a couple years ago that have either simply disappeared (either deleted their account or simply don't post/reply anymore), or just don't show up in my "orbit" anymore.

All too often, I completely lose track of who I'm talking to, being enthralled in the conversation itself and not mindful of the individual identity of my conversant. This is exacerbated by the fact that I'm often using a command-line Fediverse client which only shows users' avatars when requested, and in a separate image viewer program.

I think the best advice I can give to someone concerned about their permanence in people's minds online would be to use a simple-but-memorable avatar/profile pic (and not change it), and to have a unique and memorable user name. Thinking of the avatars I find most memorable, some are basically geometric (but unique), some are images of unique faces (one I'm thinking of is a black-and-white halftoned image of a vampire lady), some are custom clip-art, like a certain fellow who strongly resembles an avocado. The ones that I often get confused with other people are the ones that are either extremely simple logos or geometric shapes, or simple portraits. Most faces just aren't that memorable, sorry. ^__^

My Favorite Bosses

2024-12-13T15:37:00-06:00

Across three decades working in I.T., I've had the opportunity to observe some spectacularly good and spectacularly bad managers. I feel like writing an homage to the three that were the most memorable.

Name obfuscation methodology

I will be using the real name of the individuals mentioned, but I will only be preserving the initials. I therefore have replaced each name (first, last, and where present, middle) with the most common name starting with the same initial. For example, "Abraham Lincoln" would become "Anthony Lopez" according to the common name lists I was able to find.

James-Paul Nguyen

I worked for James-Paul way back in the mid-nineties when I was but a glorified "PFY." I was in a phone technical support role (my very first technical job!) working for a company that was outsourced by a company that was outsourced by a major U.S. computer manufacturer. Yeah, the situation was insane. ^__^

Looking back, I can't think to any great leadership qualities he exemplified, and honestly, my memories are pretty vague — just snippets here and there. But I do remember that he was a naturally easy-going and fairly casual guy, and very supportive of those who worked with him, a characteristic that I highly value.

A few months into our contract, the middle-fish outsourcer gobbled up the smaller-fish staffing company, or rather, pushed them out and hired all of us directly. James-Paul was no longer my boss, and was replaced by a man who was the mirror-opposite of all of James-Paul's positive traits.

Charles Smith

In the early "naughties" (2000s), I landed the job of my dreams: a Unix Infosec Analyst for a fortune-500 company. My first boss there was David Perez: a decent boss, if a little too permissive of some of my coworkers' antics. After about six months working within the infosec organization, most of the department was removed and placed under their respective technical teams: Windows Infosec guys got placed under the Windows sysadmins' manager, us Unix guys with the Unix Sysadmins' manager, etc. Only the basic compliance and provisioning teams stayed on with the infosec department, as well as the NetSec guys.

I'm sure the reason for this drastic change was quite political, but possibly also to cure some of the (honestly minor) strife between the infosec guys and the various sysadmin teams.

Looking back, I should have been nervous, because our new manager, Charles, could have just squashed us like bugs. I was honestly a bit starstruck: while at times pompous, the "sysadmins" as we'd generally call them were actually Systems Programmers, and they REALLY knew their stuff. These were no mere server monkeys; they knew the systems (mostly HP-UX) on a pretty deep level. While I often disagreed with them and even had to tell them "Uh, NO, you're not doing that" on occasion, there was a lot of respect there, and I hope it was mutual.

While Charles, our new manager, expressed doubt that we actually needed as many analysts as we had (I think we were six), my coworker (who would later become my supervisor) worked on him and explained the breadth of our roles, and helped him understand why we were needed. Now, mind you, this was "OLD-SCHOOL I.T." If it were today, we'd probably be one or two guys working overseas and running canned security monitoring tools (and likely pretty crap ones, at that). But back then, everything was bespoke. It was a different time; one I'd love to return to, even if it means lugging around 100-pound 20" CRTs and using underpowered Pentium I's running Win2k again.

After working for Charles for about a year, he called me in for my review and informed me that I would be getting a 33% (IIRC) payraise. I hit the roof with excitement. He told me that the company had lowballed my salary because I had reported the salary from my previous job (a pretty low-paying menial tech job), and the company had a cap on how much higher they would pay you, even if that meant I was doing the same work as people who were paid twice as much as me. Mid-naughties me was ecstatic because of the pay raise. Mid-2020s me would be angry, and insist on getting back pay. Ah, well.

Nevertheless, Charles did a great job of adopting us infosec misfits, and never made us feel like "red-headed stepchildren." As a matter of fact, when he started adding $1,000 23-inch LCD monitors (in the early naughtes) as line-items to million-dollar server orders, we got them at the same time as the syadmins:

I, a relative peon, had one of the nicest monitors in the entire company. :D

George King

Herein is another odd story of "adoption." After working for Charles for five years, almost all of the technical employees in the company got outsourced to a lumbering, giant tech services company. I think it is one of the worst companies to work for, unless you're an elite researcher or something. It was a badly botched outsourcing, and the incoming management had no clue whatsoever what we did. They quoted our former employer something based on the most cursory understanding of our roles and responsibilities, and the work that we actually did, and tried repeatedly to jam a Mandelbrot-shaped peg into a square hole. It was really that bad.

My new employer, in its infinite dearth of wisdom, decided that I and my coworkers were just sysadmins, and their vision of what a sysadmin was really was just a server monkey. Very little enjoyable/creative technical work, lots of slapping boxes in racks.

We were removed from Charles' oversight (who was given a very nice technical position, and continued to enjoy his work for many years) and were put under the supervisor of the Windows sysadmins. Yet another awkward consolidation. But yet again, I was surprised. George fought hard to represent all of his team members well, and we thrived under his leadership... for a while.

My career under the outsourcing company was a six year slog. All of the language from upper management was unhinged moronic corporate speak, and it was all about the money. One centimeter of fluffy "we are great" talk, nine thousand meters of cold corporo-mercenary granite. Dear God, I hated that company.

But George did his best to isolate us from the ridiculous politics and general utter cluelessness of our feckless overlords... for a good while. One of my temp coworkers would say something to the effect of, "It's raining poop, and you (George) are our umbrella."

Despite strongly disliking the company, I really enjoyed working for George, and he made a rough situation infinitely better. At least, he did for a good number of years. About 3-4 years into it, he was worn down by the friction to the point that he no longer put up a fight, and then we were truly on our own, lost in the Matrix (Management).

Lordy, I hate corporate America. No wonder I haven't been back to I.T. since.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

How I Watch YouTube

2024-12-06T21:53:00-06:00

I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts, TuxJam the other day, and they were discussing ways to watch YouTube without the annoyances that Google has added to the experience, namely ads and the inability to download videos for later viewing (also, YouTube stopped letting you listen to videos in the background if you're not a paying customer years ago). Kevie mentioned that while he enjoyed using NewPipe on Android, he didn't really have a good option for watching YouTube on the desktop (namely, on Linux).

Now, let's get the moral/ethical problem out of the way, first. Is watching YouTube without ads and without paying stealing? I think it's a gray area, because it's not like the money goes directly to the artists. It goes to Google's pockets, and maybe some of that "trickles down" to the artist. (Yeah, I know you saw what I did there. ;)

But what isn't a gray area is your rights on your own devices. The ads are a data stream, and nobody can force you to download data. It's your computer, period. Youtube can ask your computer to download the ads, but you absolutely do not have to download or view them. If Google wants to lock down the entirety of Youtube behind DRM and be completely unhinged dinguses, that's on them, but as it stands today, the videos on youtube are freely available to view and download without their shenanigans, although they do plenty of things to try to discourage just that.

With the ethical questions out of the way, let me describe how I enjoy videos at home:

Mobile

This one is pretty obvious. I use NewPipe! Well, actually, I use the fork, PipePipe. Is it exceptionally better than the original? No, not really. It's just that NewPipe is an excellent PeerTube client, and so I leave NewPipe dedicated to PeerTube, and PipePipe dedicated for YouTube.

For those of you still on iOS (I won't judge, lol), there's always invidious instances like yewtu.be and inv.tux.pizza, but be warned that the invidious instances are playing a constant game of cat-and-mouse with YouTube's attempts to block them. They stop working every now and then, and sometime for long stretches of time.

Nevertheless, when I want to share a YouTube link online, I will always check to see if one of my preferred invidious instances are up, and use that instead of YouTube proper. It's as simple as replacing the "https://youtube.com/" part of the URL with that of the invidious instance.

TV

I have a Roku-enabled smart-tv. Yeah, it's terrible. If you're disappointed in me, I don't blame you. I'm absolutely not a genius when it comes to self-hosting. I've tried to set up LibreElec before, and didn't have a very good time of it. I might try it again later. But I do have a little trick for watching YouTube with FEWER ads:

If you go to watch a video, and there is more than 5 seconds of un-skippable ads, immediately hit back, and go into the video again. You may have to do it a few times, but YouTube will gradually reduce the length of ads for that video and possibly skip it altogether. Now they're sneaky: they'll throw a 30-second unskippable ad in the middle of your video. Be vigilant! Hit back right away and go back into it. Now, they're sneakier still: if you've been watching the video and hit back, you may lose your place and be presented with the YouTube home screen. Don't fear, go to the library, history, and re-enter your video. Now, yeah, YouTube still has one more curve-ball up their sleeve: you may lose your place IN the video. EGAD! Don't give in, fast-forward until you find your place.

That may sound absolutely insane, and it honestly is, but it's better than the alternative, until I finally stop watching YouTube altogether (and get up the nerve to once again factory reset my TV and keep it off of the internet).

Web

I don't watch youtube on youtube.com very often, but when I do, Firefox and uBlock Origin are my tag-team of choice to make sure I never see a single ad. I can't remember the last time that uBO let one slip through. It's awesome.

Command Line

There's no nerd cred quite like watching YouTube on the command line! The basic process of doing so is as simple as using a terminal web browser like lynx, links, elinks, or w3m (my personal favorite) to search an invidious instance (because the YouTube website doesn't work without JavaScript, bleh), and then copy the URL of the video and run mpv https://video-url.example.com to view it (using yt-dlp, which you need to have installed as well). In the case of invidious instances, mpv will skip the invidious instance and download/view the video straight from YouTube, so that the invidious instance bandwidth doesn't get a hit (as you're bypassing the YouTube shenanigans with yt-dlp anyway).

Quick note: if your operating system's repos doesn't have a very recent version of yt-dlp, I highly recommend installing it via the python package manger, `pipx`

My own workflow for this is a bit more complex (to set up) and streamlined (to use). I use a bash shell function (should probably be upgraded to a proper shell script soon) called invid to search an invidious instance for a video (using w3m as the browser). The good thing is that even if the invidious instance is blocked from playing videos, it will usually still be able to search videos just fine. Once I find the video I like, I yank the URL from w3m and then call a script I wrote called yt-mpv, which yanks the URL from the clipboard, detects the screen size, and calls mpv with the right options to make sure it is accessing the video through yt-dlp (instead of youtube-dl, which is now unmaintained), and specifies the vertical resolution target (so that mpv doesn't try to play a 4k video on a 720p screen for example — this may save battery life in some instances, or prevent a video from playing choppily when there isn't enough processor speed to handle the full-resolution video).

So yeah, that's how I've been able to enjoy youtube in a variety of contexts with a minimum of frustration.

If this is your first time visiting my blog, I write about a lot of different subjects, some technical, some not. Thanks for checking it out! :)

You Really Can't Go Home

2024-12-02T05:07:00-06:00

Content warning: This post deals with religion and politics

This is in response to my fedifriend's toot:

Sit down next to the fireplace my friend, as I spin my yarn...

In January 2016, after over two years of searching, I finally found a church home. I loved where I was: I loved the people, I loved the atmosphere, I felt truly connected and "fed." It was a life-changing and life-giving place. In the summer of that year, I went through the internship at that church called the "Encounter Jesus School", and it was one of the highlights of my life; I developed some really deep friendships during that time. Fast forward a couple years, and things are going pretty well. I'm serving with the media team and enjoying myself. We just moved into a new-to-us building earlier that year, and there was more breathing room, physically speaking.

But not all things were perfect. I remember one of the last guest speakers I heard while I was there was just... bad. Very loud, very stereotypically Pentecostal-sounding lady. I might have excused myself early, but I was working in the sound/media booth. I simply couldn't connect with what she was saying, and it just felt like the kind of surface-level sermon that got people riled up and excited, but I couldn't see the substance of it. I'm not going to judge anyone based on one sermon, though. I could have just been off that day.

Beyond relativly minor complaints like that, there was a single, hideous orange thread running across the tapestry of my stay there: Trumpism. The pastors of my church were gung-ho on Trump, even boosting the "Trump Prophecy" that Trump was to be a kind of King Cyrus to "open the gates" to Christians, which is total nonsense. Christians aren't a persecuted minority in the United States.

I really didn't believe the Trump stuff, but it didn't bother me all that much (that's privilege, I know). I figured that Trump would be another Bush II or another Reagan at worst, and it would be embarrassing to watch, but that we'd get past it, like all the other terrible Republican presidents we've had since Nixon.

When I saw Trump's baffling insistence that he had the biggest inauguration of all time, and the way he behaved like a complete ass in Europe, pushing his way to the front of a crowd of leaders, I knew we were in for four years of rocky weather. Still, I kept my head down and my mouth shut and discussed politics as little as possible. But I could tell that my friends at church were totally drinking the kool-aid.

This all came to a head during the child separation crisis of late June 2018. I reached my absolute boiling point, and couldn't keep it in anymore. I messaged the wonderful team leader of the sound and media team that I was leaving, and I wrote a five-paged letter to the associate pastor (who I'm still fond of).

What followed was... four years of gut-wrenching awfulness. At the time, I took to Twitter (long before the Elon Musk debacle) and sought other voices that were saying what I was feeling. At first, I was soothed by the digital screaming of the "Exvangelical" community on Twitter, but that only helped so long. My heart missed the community and fellowship I felt at church.

Four years and a lot of therapy later, I felt confident enough to go back and visit my old church. I had just started going back to church semi-regularly earlier in 2022, and things were going well. At first, I just went to a prayer set in the evening during the week, but then I started going on Sunday mornings as well. What had happened was that I had a dream about the pastor of that church which was... kind of odd, but very symbolic (as dreams often are), and made me hopeful for some kind of homecoming. So, with hope, I started attending regularly there. A lot of the people I had known from 2016-18 were gone, but one of the pastors greeted me warmly and even welcomed me "home." I didn't quite know what to expect, but with hope, I attended...

It was... difficult. I had some moments where despite by best efforts, I physically facepalmed. I remember the pastor talked about getting Covid, "but I took Ivermectin, and I was fine." They started talking about the covid vaccine (which I've taken at least four times with minimal side-effects) as being some kind of really evil thing.

I stayed in this uneasy place for a few months, but it all came to a head one morning as the pastor called people to come forward to the front to "repent for taking the Covid vaccine."

Yeah. I had had enough. I walked out that day. AGAIN.

And that's how I came to understand...

You really can't go home.

Keep Buggering On

2024-11-30T17:15:00-06:00

Well, today is the last day of Writing Month, and this is my 20th blog post of 20, which is what I signed up for.

My last post was a lot more involved and time-consuming than I expected, so I wanted to end on a high note, with a fairly simple thought...

One of Winston Churchill's* famous quotes was "Keep Buggering On," or the more PG-rated (as we would say today) version, "Keep Plodding On."

*It's wise to point out that WC was a rather controversial figure in the history of the world. I am not qualified to hash out the pros and cons of his tenure, nor to be his judge, but I felt I must do my due diligence to point out that like many notable world leaders, his viewpoints and deeds are quite complex, and not entirely good.

I tried to write a post about thankfulness on Thursday (U.S. Thanksgiving), but I just couldn't muster it. I had a Big Sad that day: not any major life event or single item of bad news, but just the complex and somewhat sad realities of life for me that day.

I also read a young man's wonderful post describing the loss he experienced in the past few years. I didn't really have the spare emotional bandwidth to ponder it that day, but over the next couple days, I found myself reflecting fondly and feeling thankful for someone out there who so able to have positive reflections after suffering such a devastating loss.

So to all those wonderful people out there reading this: Keep Plodding On. Just keep going after it. Even if it feels like you're not making much real progress.

Nevertheless, it makes a big difference, both to your life, and to those around you.

Pax Christi,

~~R.L. Dane~~

Laptops: A Romance

2024-11-30T10:03:00-06:00

As I wrote in yesterday's article, I have a soft spot in my heart for laptops. They exist in this incredibly sweet spot where convenience and agency/freedom converge in the very best way, possible. I bought my first laptop in 1995 with my very hard-earned money, but let's start just a little earlier:

My Laptops

1989 — Macintosh SE

My first laptop was decidedly not a laptop, per se. But what a lot of people don't realize about the classic all-in-one Macintoshes is that they were actually considered portable computers: You had the main unit which held the power supply, monitor (9" monochrome CRT), and the computer (CPU, RAM, ROM, Floppy drive(s) and on some models, hard disk), a keyboard, and mouse. The classic Macs required you to carry and plug in exactly two cables (power and keyboard) and a mouse. That was it. Apple even sold a canvas carrying case that held everything together nicely, and was padded.

While my Mac was stationary on my desk 99% of the time, I did lug it around occasionally. I took it with me to visit my aunt's house for a couple of weeks for the Christmas holiday around 1990, and I loved how easy it was to transport, even without the fancy canvas bag. I'd so love to be able to lug in a classic mac to a coffee shop, plug in, and start computing 1990-style like a true retrocomputing king, but alas, I gave away my old Mac a little over a decade ago. I remember setting it up in my aunt's office next to her 386 PC for a Christmas display: I did a color ASCII art Christmas Tree in GWBASIC on her 386, and a monochrome graphical Christmas Tree in HyperCard on my Mac. I also recall setting up my mac as a virtual fishbowl for a Noruz Sofreh a couple years later at my grandmother's house, using the fabled AfterDark screensaver as the goldfish.

1995 — Dell Latitude 433

The 433 was my first true laptop, and I got it at the Dell Factory Outlet in Austin after working my first real tech job (phone tech support) for a few months. It was one of the first, if not the first laptop Dell made after a hiatus of making laptops (since their 386 machines had a nasty habit of catching fire), and was a simple re-badge of a very popular AST model. It had a 9.7" grayscale passive-matrix LCD, 40 MB HDD and a 33 MHz 486 processor. The screen was pretty murky, but it got the job done, and it ran Windows 3.1 well. I carried it with joy to my college classes and remember experiencing my first ADHD hyperfocus where I sat down for hours at a friend's house and played with Visual Basic without any awareness of the time flying by. This was an old-style PC laptop, where the keyboard was flush to the front of the device, and there was dead space behind the keyboard. The trackball was tiny and on the front right side, and obviously not very enjoyable to use, but I didn't complain much. One of the big innovations that Apple brought to laptops was putting the dead space in front of the keyboard to serve as a wrist rest, and putting the pointing device in between where your thumbs go. This is how all laptops have been since the early 90s, and my Latitude was among the last of the clunky design.

1997 — Dell Latitude XPiCD

Two years later, I was working at Dell, and sunk some real change (again at the Dell Factory Outlet) on a very nice (at the time) machine: A Dell XPiCD with a glorious 800x600 full-color TFT (Active Matrix) LCD, a CD-ROM drive (ooo!), 2.1 GB Hard Disk, and a 166MHz Pentium MMX processor. This was a beautiful machine, and I wish I still had it. It ran Windows 95 most of the time, although I did briefly experiment with RedHat Linux 5.0 in 1997, but went back to Windows for three more years (as I couldn't get the full 800x600 video mode to work) until RedHat 6.2 came out in 2000, which worked perfectly (and I ran Linux on it full-time from that point on). This was my main computer until 2002, and my only laptop until 2008. For a 1990s machine, that's incredible longevity. It unfortunately was also given away when I gave away my Mac SE.

2008 — MacBook 4,1

Even though I hated the chiclet keyboard design (which infested nearly every laptop ever since), I had my eye on the iconic white plastic MacBook for a couple years. I finally felt like it was time to get one in April 2008, and my goodness, was it a pricey penny. Core 2 Duo ("Penryn"), 2 GiB RAM (upgraded to 4), 13.3" 1280x800 display, you know the drill. This was my main machine until late 2014, and I absolutely loved it. It was not a wise purchase by any stretch, only getting OS upgrades for three years, but I was proud to lug that plastic beastie around with me everywhere. This was, to me, the height of the Golden Era of Apple, and Mac OS X.

Sadly, the white plastic of this model was not particularly durable, and I ended up giving it to my cousin for an art lab around 2019. No major physical damage, but it was just in pretty poor shape, cosmetically, with the white plastic on the very top layer crumbling at the edges. It also had a bad incident with B.O. — I'm not sure, but someone with sweaty hands used it at some point when it was sitting out, and nothing could get rid of that smell. The plastic was incredibly porous.

2014 — MacBook Air 6,2

This was actually a gift from a family member when I was back in college in my 40s. It was a lot lighter than my 2008 MacBook, which was turning into a bit of a back-breaker, especially when I lugged the AC adapter along, as the battery wasn't quite up to snuff for a full day of computing at Uni. I really loved this machine, as it was arguably the nicest laptop I ever owned. It tragically met its end in the middle of 2019 in a tea-related accident. I ended up selling it for parts for a benjamin or two — a most ignoble end to a delightful machine.

2019 — Thinkpad X200t

In January 2019, I bought an old circa-2009 Thinkpad "just for writing." I had no intention of making it my main laptop. It was less than $100 with all of the random accessories I had to get for it. This clunky beauty was quickly named "falcon" after the Millennium Falcon, and I even got a lovely decal of the Millennium Falcon to stick on top of it. Like its namesake, it's old, kind of beat-up, but incredibly useful.

This machine was my "gateway drug" back into using Linux full-time. While I just intended to slap Linux onto it for writing, I became engrossed in using and learning about Linux, and have tried SO many different distros on it. You can read a little more about the history of this device here.

When my beloved MacBook Air died at the hands of a small cup of tea, this became my main computer for a while, and my main laptop for a number of years.

This old beast was already nine years old when I got it, and is nearly fifteen years old now, and is still used nearly every day for the purpose I intended it for: writing, and playing around with different FOSS operating systems.

2021 — Pinebook Pro

The Pinebook Pro is a very odd device. It's basically the internals of a 2017-era Chromebook dressed up as a dedicated Linux laptop. Its CPU is fairly underpowered (a little faster than a Raspberry Pi 4), the trackpad is atrocious, and the webcam is nearly useless. But the keyboard is nice to type on, the screen is a bright, beautiful 14" 1080p IPS panel, and it's crazy light.

I've used it nearly every day for the past three and a half years, and it's still one of my favorites, despite its quirks.

2024 — Thinkpad X260

This was my most recent laptop purchase, a 2016 model thinkpad. Looking back, I rather wish I had spent $20 more on one with a nicer screen (TN panels are very murky), but it definitely does the job. I started out playing with NetBSD on it, but at this point, it's running Debian and is my main laptop (when I'm not using my Pinebook Pro).

What We Lost Along the Way

2024-11-29T09:38:00-06:00

As I was "delightscrolling" (the opposite of doomscrolling) around on the Fediverse yesterday, I came across this toot that perfectly describes how a lot of us are feeling these days:

I loved computers.

I loved what technology promised.

This wasn't that long ago!

Now it just makes me sad and angry.

I do know why.

—@ajroach42@retro.social

I recall hearing an interview with Steve Jobs where he mentions seeing a graph of the locomotive efficiency of several animals, and human beings aren't near the top, but about a third of the way down. But once you put a human on a bicycle, it becomes the most efficient animal in motion: more so than the cheetah or condor.

This inspired Steve Jobs to come up with the catchphrase, "a bicycle for the mind." That's what a computing represented during the home computing revolution: raw empowerment. The human being had his hands on the handlebars, his feet on the pedals, and the bicycle becomes a part of him, going wherever he wants to go. It is instantly obedient (if not always intuitive), and has no voice or agency of its own. It is purely a tool, and a magnificently capable one.

What are computers today? First of all, do people even own or use traditional computers (other than serious gamers)? Someone who is serious about computing might own a laptop, but I can't recall seeing too many desktop computers in people's homes (not counting home office setups or gaming rigs) in the past decade. The computer is no longer a stationary device commanding attention in someone's living room or bedroom, but rather a device to be carried around or on one's person. And honestly, that's really not a bad thing.

Laptops are incredibly liberating. I remember sitting down with my cousin in 1996 and watching tv: she had her Apple Powerbook and I had my little Dell 486. It felt like such an amazing moment in time that I remember it distinctly: we were now able to bring computers into our context (chilling with family in the TV room), rather than being holed away in separate rooms working on stationary devices. I confess I haven't used a desktop computer on a daily basis since 2020 when my old iMac SSD bought the farm (digging into those machines is not a fun task ;), and I have no less than four laptops that I use regularly (laptop article coming soon!).

But even the venerable laptop is slowly giving way to the tablet and phone. I still remember the infamous "What's a Computer?" iPad ad of November 2017: It shows a girl going everywhere with her iPad, doing all kinds of cool things, and then when an adult comments on her computer (iPad), she responds, "What's a Computer?" A couple years later, I was chatting with a young friend on reddit about getting into Linux, and when I asked him about his prior computer experience (whether it was Windows or MacOS), he just sheepishly admitted that he had only ever used an iPhone before that point.

So, what is a computer, and why isn't an iPad one? Well, an iPad obviously is a kind of computer, and arguably so is a smartwatch, a microwave oven (even a fairly old one), and a car. These all either are or contain computational devices.

The thing that I see missing from our varied computational experiences in the modern era is what I'd like to call "Digital Agency": a person's unhindered ability and authority to make decisions about and affect change in their digital world. If you think about voxel and/or sandbox games like Minecraft, a huge part of the appeal is the nearly unlimited agency a user is given within their digital world, especially in singleplayer/creative mode, or when the user has administrator rights to the server.

That kind of heady digital freedom is how computers used to feel at large. It was a completely open* world that we had ultimate authority to explore and re-make according to our imagination.

* While retro systems like the Commodore 64, DOS machines, and Classic Macintosh weren't "open" in the modern sense, the operating systems and hardware of the era were relatively simple and "hackable" (in the sense that the user could modify how the system ran/behave without too much trouble)

If computers/computing devices of the 80s-2000s were like like a digital playground, what are modern computing devices like?

Well, let me ask you some questions:

What can you do with a tablet or phone once the manufacturer no longer supports it?
Is running custom software (that you either develop yourself or download from a trusted source) getting easier or harder on MacOS of late?
What are the obtrusive icons and messages that are being pushed on Windows computers lately?

Think about these questions for a minute and go on to read how I answer them:

Either use it as a paperweight, or try to keep using it, knowing that it will get increasingly less functional and secure over time. This should be a crime. I still use my laptop from 2010 (I'm typing on it now!) with totally up-to-date software, but my iPad from 2012 is sitting unused on a bookshelf, not having received a major update since 2016, nor a security patch since 2019.
It is getting increasingly difficult. It used to be that if you held down a key on the keyboard while opening an unsigned app for the first time, it was exempted, but now you must disable an important security feature to run any unsigned apps. This is not ok, as getting your app signed requires an expensive developer account, and users should be able to exempt software from Apple's signature verification.
They're ads. They're just ads. In your "professional" desktop operating system. This simply cannot stand.

The central issue here is that humans are no longer the central authority for the behavior of the computer. The massively wealthy and powerful corporations that create the hardware and software are pulling the strings, and Windows especially is increasingly resembling a horrid infomercial with tons of ads being pushed in front of the users faces, and the user's choices being countermanded by the myopic and self-interested priorities of Redmond.

I Miss Palette Rotation

2024-11-26T15:02:00-06:00

Background

In the halcyon days of 16-bit microcomputers, there was a computer graphics technique used by many demos and some games known as Palette Rotation, Palette Shifting, Palette Animation, or Color Cycling.

Computers weren't fast enough to change the entire contents of screen memory in graphics mode (even relatively low resolution ones like 320x200) until the 32-bit era, but 16-bit (and even some 8-bit) machines had a nifty trick called Palette Rotation: instead of struggling to change the contents of screen memory 15+ times per second, the screen was painted once, and the color palette was continually changed, instead. This gave the effect of animation without actually having to re-draw the screen.

The palette is animated/changed several times a second, rather than the whole screen: that's only 768 bytes, maximum (up to 256 colors, each up to 3 bytes), rather than having to manipulate up to 62 KiB (320x200 pixels x 1 byte per pixel) of data several times per second. That might not sound like much to our modern ears, but take into account that you have to read/calculate that data from somewhere for each pixel on the screen, and a lot of 16-bit systems used bitplanes, meaning each pixel required up to 8 memory operations to write).

Why "Palettes"?

You have to understand that early computers did not have enough RAM (or VRAM) to display full-color (24 bits per pixel) images. Very early machines were monochrome, or 4 colors, and some nicer ones had 16 color modes. The machines with really nice graphics let you assign colors in a palette: You still only had 16 or at most 256 colors to work with, but you could assign what those colors were out of a larger palette (of 4096 or more colors). So, the computer got to save RAM/VRAM by only having to work with a small number of bits per pixel (4 for 16 colors up to 8 for 256), but you still got to pick what those colors were for the best possible expression.

For an example of why variable/custom/assignable palettes were an awesome thing, imagine that you're trying to show a picture of a room illuminated by a single blue light bulb. Every color in the image is a shade of blue: no reds or greens. If you were stuck with a static 16-color palette, then you might have anywhere from two to four shades of blue to work with, and that's it. On PCs with VGA graphics, the standard 16-color palette would give you black, white, light blue and dark blue to work with to recreate your all-blue image. That's four colors, but really three, as the white wouldn't be that useful. If you can set your own palette, then it can be sixteen shades of blue, and that's not too bad!

For another example, let's say you have a very colorful image (not just blues), but it's dark (and you want it to be dark). If you were stuck with a set 16-color palette, then only half of the colors in the palette would be useful to you (the dark ones), and you'd basically have 8 colors to use to reproduce your image, instead of 16. With a changeable palette, you get to pick the best colors to best reproduce the image.

The "BOING!" Heard 'Round the World

While the variable color palettes were created with better image reproduction in mind (and not necessarily animation), it became an incredibly effect technique for moving images.

One of the most impressive examples of this technique was the famous Amiga "Boing!" Demo (from 1984!). When seeing it today, a modern viewer would conclude, "ok, so they're calculating the shape of ball each frame, apply a rotation for each frame, and re-drawing the ball with a 1-pixel x and y offset for each frame."

BUT NO! None of that is happening. The ball is drawn ONCE, and the rotation is performed by merely rotating the color palette (probably 16 colors) to give the effect of rotating the ball. The motion of the ball is performed by modifying x and y drawing registers in hardware, so once the ball is drawn once, modifying the palette and the two coordinate registers several times per second is all that has to be done.

You can find many examples of this technique by searching "Amiga Demoscene" in YouTube, or looking at some of TechHut's videos, where he explains the advanced programming techniques he used (such as Palette Rotation) in his 16-bit-era video games.

(Original image source: direct image link, source page. Image was hand-animated by me in GIMP)

My Odd Relationship with Minecraft

2024-11-25T17:45:00-06:00

Unlike most young people, and not unlike many of my GenX peers, I haven't played much Minecraft.

I got into it a little bit with my cousin's kids when they were young around 2010, and I even played it a little bit on my own at the time, but the game didn't really grab me. I think the mild danger element of the game (creepers, zombies, and skeletons, oh my!) coupled with the nearly infinite exploration and creativity afforded by the game was addictive to GenZ minds. To me, the creepy aspects were a bit over the top, and I spent most of my time in Peaceful mode (or just getting blown up by creepers — and freaked out a bit).

I didn't keep MC on my computer for very long, but I did have Minecraft Pocket on my phone for a little while, and did a bit of exploring there, but it never rose to the level of near-addiction that it did with some of my friends (particularly the younger ones).

What's funny is that I've spent at least ten times more time on Minecraft clones and derivatives than on MC proper:

Eden

A year before Minecraft PE was released for iOS, there was an adorkable Minecraft clone called Eden. It was roughly comparable to earlier MC versions in terms of features, but had much prettier textures. I spent a lot of time in Eden in the early 2010s, and designed what was at the time my ultimate dream house: swimming pool, several bedrooms, and enormous communal spaces: a large downstairs kitchen and dining room, an office, upstairs was a library with observation deck, a large sound-isolated TV room with a huge TV screen, and lots of room to sit around the table and have interesting conversations with family and friends.

When I went back to university, I added on an elevated all-glass study room above my bedroom like a glass chimney, and at one point, my cousin's oldest kid (who knew a lot of the quirks and hacks of the game) built me an ice-based launcher that would catapult the player way up into the sky and thousands of blocks away.

Eden didn't get a lot of updates after the first year, but suddenly got a couple updates in 2015 that kind of nerfed the game for me: aggressive mobs (never wanted them) and an all-new terrain generation engine that looked flat-out ugly to me.

I saw just now that the app got a lot of updates in 2023, so I'm wondering if it's good again, or just completely nerfed with ads or who knows what. This game came out in the golden era of iOS (circa 2010-2015) when you paid for games, and got them for life, with no ads.

I'll have to charge up my old iPhone 5c and see if the new version is worth trying. While the game didn't have multi-player, it did have the ability to save and share your world in its own kind of leaderboard-style feature (or maybe I should all it a "single player 'server'-picker"), so I have mine saved out there somewhere, assuming that the data from original servers is still extant.

Then again, I might not upgrade it, knowing that there's no way to downgrade apps on that odious* mobile OS.

* There are a lot of ways in which iOS is far better than Android (low bar, but whatever), but in the chief areas where iOS sucks (privacy, lack of users' agency), it really sucks. You can say anything you like about Android's ham-fisted UI/UX or anything else. But iOS feels like (a very pretty and nicely designed) toy when you consider the multitude of ways that Apple ties its users' hands behind their backs for its own myopic and mercenary ends. That is not ok. (Of course, the way that most Android OSes spy on their users is even less ok, but at least there's something of a choice: using a privacy-centric FOSS Android build.

Minetest (now Luanti)

I vaguely recall trying Minetest on my Android phone a couple years back, and not getting very far with it. I think the mobile app wasn't very polished or usable, but I don't recall it clearly.

I tried it again a couple months back, and I enjoyed playing around with it during my downtime. After a couple of false starts, I finally found a seed (1726359828011149378) that worked pretty well for me, and I started to really enjoy goofing around in that world. I built a cobblestone-and-wood house on top of a mountain, and gave it a gorgeous cantilevered wooden deck hanging out in thin air, then I built a very tall treehouse (by building a single tree on top of a tree on top of a tree and then finally enclosing the top layer of leaves), and joined it to the deck by means of a glass walkway in the sky. I then built the most insane tree farm where it's trees growing on top of trees (and branching out like crazy). The tree farm / Tree of Life is so huge and thick that it goes up above cloud height and is so dark inside because of the dense forestation that I needed to light up torches to see my way around when in the middle of it.

I've mined straight down (I have damage turned off, sue me, lol) over 200 meters in search of ore (primarily iron), and have been able to keep all of the essentials stocked, even with a small cotton farm so I could have a bed — no need for Creative Mode!

I then built a glass walkway going in the opposite direction from the house (away from the treehouse) to the top of a thin mountain, which I then started to hollow out into an apartment-like structure. So far, I've built eight stories (each four meters tall) by hollowing out the mountain, and I still haven't reached the bottom. (So, that's 40 vertical meters of hollowed out mountain so far — the steel pickaxe definitely helps!)

Luanti's been a good "dopamine farming" activity to have on my phone, although I'm definitely trying to rely on it less and less as I seek dopamine among the banal activities of the real world. No time for gaming addiction!

My Every Day Carry, Part V: What's on My Phone?

2024-11-24T08:26:00-06:00

In Part IV, I discussed wristwatches. In this article, I'm jumping back into my pocket, so to speak, with a look at what's on my phone itself.

This was a rather exhausting article to write, because I have a lot of apps on my phone. I have even been ridiculed for it, but whatevs. ;)

For almost every app, I will provide a source link, the kind of app license (FOSS, Source-Available, or Proprietary) and a brief-ish description.

Home Screens

KISS Launcher (FOSS): This launcher is both really basic, and really powerful. It's the best launcher if you really love your wallpaper, because it can either not show anything above the wallpaper at all, or optionally show a single row of icons at the bottom, and/or a single column of widgets. It's also extensively search-based, and does a fantastic job at findings apps by name or name-fragment, as well as contacts and app activities (such as opening a new window in your browser). What it lacks in the ability to manually organize lots of icons, it makes up for in the ability to tag/categorize apps, powerful search, and the ability to present apps based on frequency and/or recency used.
AOSP/Pixel Launcher (FOSS): The stock launcher in CalyxOS, GrapheneOS, and (I guess) LineageOS is quite good and usable, even though it hasn't changed a whole lot in a lot of years

Keyboards

Heliboard (FOSS): This is the best FOSS keyboard I've found so far. It is feature-rich, stable, and is still being maintained, from what I can tell. If you pair it with Sayboard, you even get voice dictation (FOSS and offline).
FUTO Keyboard (Source-Available). FUTO Keyboard is a very polished keyboard app with a source-available license. That means that while the source code is free to view and inspect, there are limitations on how it can be used. This does not qualify as a FOSS license by either the OSI's or the FSF's definition, but the basic freedoms of the end-user is respected (the restrictions are only on "Freedom 3"). FUTO Keyboard also comes with an excellent dictation app, but it is unfortunately not offline (meaning that your voice recording is sent to someone's server for recognition).
GBoard (Proprietary, beware): I've resigned myself to going back to GBoard, for now. Even though it is horribly proprietary and not at all to be trusted, it simply has the best typing experience by far. It has a lot of intelligence and adapts very well to my typing. I run it fully firewalled from the internet, and I wouldn't recommend having it on your phone at all, unless your Android OS enables you to do the same.

Image Gallery/editor

Fossify Gallery (FOSS): This is a very good basic gallery and very basic image editor. It's my default gallery, and my first pick for very basic image editing like crops or markup (although I find I have to use the system magnifier to do a lot of the markup, as it doesn't have any way of zooming in on a portion of the image when in markup/pen mode). Also, the marks are completely opaque, so it's suitable for redaction.
Image Toolbox (FOSS): This is an amazing, full-featured image editor. It has extensive filters, free-rotate, brightness/contrast/HDR-style adjustments, markup, image conversion (including Lossy PNG!!!), and basically, the kitchen sink. I almost never have to use Snapseed now that I discovered this one. It's not a gallery, though, just a viewer.
Aves Libre (FOSS): This is a very full-featured image gallery (not editor). It has extensive metadata support, and even a map mode. It's the bees knees.
Snapseed (Proprietary). This is another "warning, don't even install this unless your Android build lets you completely block network access from an app" Google app. I use it only quite rarely, because there's very little that Image Toolbox can't do.
ImagePipe (FOSS): This is a very basic utility to automatically reduce the size of images and strip the EXIF tags when you share an image to it from another app. I use it whenever I share to the fediverse, except on PixelFed (where I share full-size images).
Scrambled Exif (FOSS): Similar to ImagePipe, but a simpler tool just for stripping EXIF information. I use it when sharing to PixelFed or instant messaging platforms where I want to share the full-quality image.

SMS

See this post for SMS/MMS options (they're not great)

(Internet) Messaging

Element or FluffyChat (both FOSS): These are both very capable Matrix clients. I'm happy with Element, but I recommended FluffyChat to a fedifriend that wasn't happy with Element, and he rather liked it.
Signal (FOSS): I don't love Signal because of the dearth of good native clients for the desktop. but the mobile client is fine. It's probably the closest you'll get to talking to friends and family on a platform that isn't an absolute garbage fire, so there you go. ;)
DeltaChat (FOSS): I don't actually use this, but it comes highly recommended. It's an email client structured to act like a chat/messaging client. It's a genius idea, and I may switch to it in the future when I finally get sick of SMS (since RCS is likely never coming to FOSS phones, because Google is horrible).
K-9 Mail / Thunderbird (FOSS): I've been using K-9 mail for three years now, and while I don't particularly enjoy checking my mail on my phone, it definitely gets the job done. The new Thunderbird for Android is based on K-9, and both are being updated and maintained in parallel for now, but K-9 will turn into Thunderbird in the near future.
Beeper (FOSS): I have it, but I don't use it. I like the idea, though: one messaging app to rule them all. It's worth looking into.
MarcoPolo (Proprietary): I use it occasionally to video message a couple friends and family. I recommend you stay away from it.

Bible Study

AndBible: Bible Study (FOSS): This is a very good and fully-featured bible reading and research application. Like most FOSS Bible study apps, it lacks a lot of the cool, hip new translations, but it has the NASB, which is pretty fly.
Blue Letter Bible (Proprietary): This is my go-to app for lexical research (a.k.a., "looking it up in the 'Strong's'"). It has a couple more modern translations than AndBible, as well.
YouVersion / "The Bible App" (Proprietary): This is the most extensive "free" (as in beer) bible app out there. It has tons of translations in tons of languages, and free bible audiobooks. It is, unfortunately, also a thermonuclear death stew of trackers and garbage. I run it with background battery and network access denied, in a Work Profile, and through the DuckDuckGo browser's tracker protection VPN. I mainly use it for one or two translations I can't get elsewhere, and for the amazing Streetlights audio bible (dramatic reading by African-American voices), but the level of spyware on this Bible app is shameful. I even submitted a trouble ticket over the trackers, but got a nonsensical boilerplate corporatespeak response.

Maps/Navigation

GMaps WV (FOSS front-end): This is just a restricted, dedicated webview to the Google Maps website. I use it to look up points of interest, business open hours, and occasionally directions when traffic is an issue. It does not provide navigation, but you can look up anything on google maps and get basic directions.
Organic Maps (FOSS): This is a good FOSS navigation app using OpenStreetMaps as its source data. It's good for in-city driving, but I don't trust it on highways as it doesn't have sufficiently precise offramp guidance. It's very easy to get lost on Dallas "MixMasters" using this app. It's still my default navigation app 90% of the time, though.
MagicEarth (Proprietary): This proprietary maps and navigation app is my go-to for highway driving, or places where OSM doesn't have a precise location, as it's able to guess a point's location by interpolating between known points. In other words, if you're going to 1050 Main Street, and OSM only has 1000 and 1100 Main Street, MagicEarth will take you to a point equidistant between those two. It also provides very helpful guidance when looking for the correct off-ramp on the highway. It's not FOSS, but the company confesses to be privacy-respecting, and their product is the map itself (providing mapping resources to companies), so they're less motivated to steal/sell customer information. Caveat Emptor, though, as always, when dealing with proprietary software.
GPSLogger (FOSS): This is an excellent and efficient GPS logging app. You can use it for logging coordinates for later adding geolocation to photos taken wth a dSLR, or for travel logging, or whatever. It supports a variety of export formats (GPS, KML, and CSV, from my memory) and logging intervals, and absolutely sips battery, even when logging frequently all day long.
Google Maps (Proprietary): use any Google app with extreme caution. I have it isolated in a work profile, with background GPS, battery, and data privileges revoked, and not logged in. I also manually kill the app from the settings popup whenever I'm done using it. I only quite rarely use it for navigation, and mainly use it every once in a while for looking up POI details that aren't convenient or available on Gmaps WV.

Music/Media

AntennaPod (FOSS): Only the very best podcast program I've ever used. I haven't been tempted to try a proprietary podcast app once since trying AntennaPod. That's really saying something.
NewPipe (FOSS): This is the best Peertube and Youtube client I've used on Android. Do look into getting the version/fork that has SponsorBlock built-in. It's nice.
PipePipe (FOSS): A fork of NewPipe that emphasises YouTube and a few other proprietary video hosting services. I use both apps so I can focus on PeerTube with NewPipe and Youtube with PipePipe. Otherwise, they're not terribly different.
mpv-android (FOSS): The best (IMHO) media player for the desktop is also a very capable (and equally minimalistic) media player for Android.
Auxio (FOSS): A very solid music player for Android, with a very sane and easy-to-read/navigate UI.
Vanilla Music (FOSS): A very full-featured music player. I used it for many years until I recently switched to Auxio. They're both very good, and Vanilla Music has a lot of nice plug-ins.
RiMusic (FOSS): A very nice Youtube Music client for Android, and it is updated frequently. A scruffy-looking gentleman with a wooden prosthetic leg and eye patch just said something like "ARE!" to me, but I have no idea what that's all about.
InnerTune (FOSS): Another nice YT Music player, which also has the option to let you log in to your YT Music account. Has a little more legible UI design than RiMusic, but wasn't working properly the last time I tried it. It does get updated, though, and will probably be working again in the near future, if it isn't working already.
Audire (FOSS): Excellent FOSS music recognition app. I believe it uses Shazam as the backend, but the client itself is FOSS.
Romote (FOSS): This is a straightforward FOSS remote control for Roku devices and TVs. Very nice to have.
YouAmp (FOSS): Client for subsonic/gonic servers. Haven't used it for a long, but it seems to work very nicely.
RadioDroid (FOSS): Excellent app for listening to free internet radio streams. This is also a recent discovery.
FFShare (FOSS): Lets you convert videos using ffmpeg on your phone
Noice (FOSS): Nice noise generator app. Has a lot of different sound tracks available that you can mix together to help you focus or sleep.
Pano Scrobbler (FOSS): Excellent scrobbler app that lets you scrobble to a number of different services, or simply to a local CSV file (my preferred option!)

App Stores

F-Droid (FOSS): The OG. The Definite Article, you might say (with apologies to Tom Baker). I use F-Droid with pretty much stock settings to find and update FOSS apps for android. I don't add any repos to F-Droid, because I want to know that the apps I find in F-Droid proper are fully FOSS and reproducible builds, not just something downloaded from GitHub.
Droid-ify (FOSS): This is an alternate F-Droid client with slightly better search. It also makes it easy to add a lot of optional repos like IzzyOnDroid and DivestOS. I look on Droid-ify when I can't find it on F-Droid. The apps on IzzyOnDroid and other repos are likely all still FOSS, but they haven't gone through the same independent build process that the apps on the F-Droid repo proper do. This means that you can sometimes get a needed update (such as to get a newer version of NewPipe that works around google's attempts to block it) sooner, although making the small sacrifice of safety because it wasn't independently built by F-Droid.
Aurora Store (FOSS, but full of proprietary apps): This is a FOSS app that lets you download apps from the Google Play store without running Google Play on your phone. But do beware that almost all apps on Google Play are proprietary, and likely hazardous to your privacy and digital agency.
MicroG (FOSS): This isn't an app that you install on your phone in most cases, but rather an app that's available from several different FOSS Android OSes, such as CalyxOS, and some builds of LineageOS. MicroG isn't an app store, either, but a service that allows you to run most apps that require Google Play Services successfully, without running any actual Google code on your device. It's a good thing.

Social

Tusky (FOSS): My favorite Fediverse client, works with a number of fediverse servers (Mastodon and GoToSocial, in my testing), but not so well with PixelFed in my recent testing. Lightweight, well-designed, and enjoyable to use
PixelDroid (FOSS): This is a dedicated FOSS client for PixelFed. It works fairly well.
FediLab (FOSS): This is The Kitchen Sink of fediverse clients. It even works well with PixelFed. I used to daily drive it, but I find I now prefer Tusky, even though Fedilab's feature set is really impressive.
SlimSocial for Facebook (FOSS): Facebook is horrible. I use this app about once every three months. It's the second best way to access facebook on your phone. The best way? Don't.

Sync/"Cloud"

SMS Import / Export (FOSS): This has replaced a proprietary utility I used for many years to back up my SMS and MMS messages, although it never seems to start automatically (nightly) for me.
DAVx5 (FOSS): Excellent CalDAV/CardDAV client for syncing your contacts and calendar.
Etar (FOSS): A FOSS calendar, since AOSP doesn't seem to have (a working) one (anymore). I use the CalyxOS calendar, which is a light fork of Etar.
Round Sync (FOSS): This is a fork of RCX, which is a build of rclone for Android. It lets you access nearly any cloud service provider imaginable on your phone. (Very slowly)
Syncthing-Fork (FOSS): The best syncthing client for Android. This one app is itself one of the best arguments for using FOSS Android (or at least, not an iPhone).
KDE Connect (FOSS): An amazing app that lets you sync with KDE Connect on KDE Plasma or GSConnect on the GNOME desktop on your computer. Lets you send SMS/MMS from your computer, and sync files, contacts, and/or notifications between your phone and computer. SMS access is extremely cantankerous, in my experience, but a lifesaver (when it works).

General Utilities

Material Files (FOSS): This is a file manager with a lot of features and a very clean interface
- I also use the stock file manager that comes with CalyxOS (just called "Files", but there's a version on the Play Store which I have not tested. The reason I sometimes use "Files" is because it has more access to some system directories than any of the apps you can download from F-Droid (except for those that have root permission, which my Android OS doesn't allow)
KeePassDX (FOSS): A great mobile companion to KeepassXC. Use with something like Syncthing-Fork to keep your .kdbx file in sync with your other systems.
WiFiAnalyzer (FOSS): Helpful to know which BSSID you're on.
Barcode Scanner (FOSS): "Does what it says on the tin," as my TuxJam friends would say.
Ning (FOSS): helpful network scanner
OSS Document Scanner (FOSS): Very useful document scanner app
RustDesk (FOSS): This is a good remote desktop replacement for something like RealVNC.

Browsers

Default Chromium (or fork): Avoid this. Some of the security-enhanced Android builds have very nice security-enhanced Chromium forks, but it's still chromium, a.k.a., Blink, and you're still contributing to Google's intolerable hegemony of the web.
Firefox Mobile (and forks): I've used the official Firefox Mobile in the past, then the F-Droid purely FOSS version, Fennec Fox. At the moment, I'm using the security-oriented fork, Mull Browser. All three work pretty well.

Camera

(Default Camera) (FOSS on FOSS Android OSes): This is very basic, but does the job ok. I don't use it, except for the rare times I'm taking a picture inside another app (i.e., not a camera app, but something like a messaging app), as I have no choice then. It's honestly kind of disappointing.
Open Camera (FOSS): This is a very powerful camera app, and is the one I recommend for someone wanting a fully-functional FOSS camera app. It's got a bit of a learning curve, but it's not too bad.
Retroboy (FOSS): This camera app is just for fun, and what I turn to when I'm feeling nostalgic for the Iconfactory's utterly fantastic iOS app, BitCam.
Pixel Camera (Proprietary): Honestly, this is the best camera app I've ever used, in terms of ease-of-use, performance in all kinds of lighting conditions, and feature set, if and only if you're on version 9.0.115 or before. Google nerfed the UI badly after this version. Again, this is a Google app. Do not install it unless you're running an Android build that allows you to completely firewall apps from the internet.
GCam Photos Preview (FOSS): This is a FOSS app designed to work with the Pixel Camera app. The problem with the Pixel Camera is that it will only use the Google Photos app as its built-in gallery. GCam Photos Preview app is a simple FOSS gallery app that spoofs Google Photos signature, so that the Pixel Camera thinks it's opening the Proprietary Google Photos app, while it's actually just opening the FOSS Gcam Photos Preview app. Very nice bit of kit!

Misc

SimpleNote (FOSS): This is my favorite notetaking app. It syncs well with Simplenote (electron) or sncli (python TUI) on the desktop.
Luanti (FOSS): The voxel game formerly known as Minetest. IIRC, it didn't work very well as a mobile game in years past. It's quite nice, now.
Termux (FOSS): If your phone doesn't have a full command line, it's lame. 'Nuff said. Termux has a lot of available software packages that can be installed, including a very useful sshd!
J2ME Loader (FOSS): I haven't used this in a while, but I've used it in the past to play old J2ME games. It's a sweet bit of mobile gaming nostalgia. It doesn't come with any games or J2ME (Java Mobile) applications, but you can find them online and install them. It's really pretty nifty.
Translate You (FOSS): This is a great FOSS front-end to Google Translate. Very convenient because you can select text in any app and have Translate You translate it in a pop-up.
Orion Viewer (FOSS): This is the best FOSS PDF viewer I've found for Android so far.
Habits / Loop Habit Tracker (FOSS): I re-discovered Habits when looking over an old list of android apps I had from a few years back in preparation for this post. I just discovered Loop Habit Tracker this evening when looking for Habits. I will be trying both of them out.

What is FOSS?

2024-11-24T07:54:00-06:00

Note: This article was originally written last December, and was sidelined because I didn't feel it was finished. Reading through it this morning, I realized reason that I never "finished" it is because the next step would've been to write a 1280-word chapter, which is no small feat. But honestly, I think what I have here now is quite good, and I'm just going to publish it as-is.

On the off chance that someone un-nerdy should happen upon my blog and reads one of many articles where I discuss "FOSS," I thought it prudent to write an explainer on what FOSS is.

Content Warning/Disclaimer: This article discusses the contributions of a person that is known to be controversial, who has espoused controversial and even arguably immoral/unethical opinions in the past. This article does not seek to condemn or exonerate anyone, but rather discuss historical facts as they occurred.

Important note: This article will be structured in a progressive (or fractal) pattern. That means that each successive section of the article will go into more detail and elaborate on the previous, hopefully without re-treading any previously covered ground. Because of this structure, you may (if you wish) stop reading at any point where you feel satisfied with the depth of information you have read so far. I've always wanted to see this kind of structure used in an article or video, so here we go!

Level 0 (10 words) — The acronym

FOSS is an acronym/initialism for "Free and Open Source Software."

Level 1 (20 words) — The basic ethos

FOSS is software where the source code that generates the software is available for inspection, review, sharing, and even modification.

Level 2 (40 words) — The Dark Ages

Most software is distributed as only an executable (or an online service), which means that nobody can inspect the functioning of the program to see what exactly it does, and make sure that it does not include any nefarious functionality.

Level 3 (80 words) — The beginning

The name "FOSS" is an uneasy marriage of two similar, but conflicting ideologies: "Free Software," and "Open Source Software."

"Free Software" was started in the mid-80s by Richard M. Stallman (rms), who was annoyed that the manufacturer of a printer at his university (MIT) refused to distribute the source code to the printer's driver (the software that allowed the computer to interface with the printer). They stonewalled any attempts to procure the source code, to analyse it or improve it.

Level 4 (160 words) — The frustration

Without access to the source code of the printer driver, he was unable to properly diagnose and improve the way it worked. He was forever stuck with the software as it functioned at that moment, except for the scant few updates he might receive from the printer's manufacturer, without any guarantees of when those updates would come, how much the software's functionality would improve, or even if the updates would be any better than the previous version, or regress and become worse than before.

This attitude flew in the face of the "Hacker Ethic" that was nurtured at the MIT Lab. Note, "Hacker" here refers to a culture of self-driven and self-educated computer enthusiasts, and not to illegal and unethical activities relating to the forced seizure and use of private data. As the story goes, unable to secure the source for the printer driver, Stallman set out to reverse-engineer it and provide his own, better, "free" driver for the community.

Level 5 (320 words) — The answer

The printer driver issue was a clear indicator of what future dealings with software companies would be like. Even though Xerox (the manufacturer) was a hardware (not software) company, and the source was of little use to their competitors, Xerox held their software cards close to their chest, and weren't interested in the community's desire to improve it. The printer was the product, the university the consumer, and the company had no interest in the community's ability to foster the software on their own and improve it. The software would remain proprietary, and improvement impossible. This giant was not letting go of his supposed golden goose, not even for a moment.

Xerox' petulance spurred rms on to try to re-implement not only the printer driver as "Free Software," but the entire UNIX operating system itself, which at that time (the mid-1980s) was still a very proprietary product of AT&T and was licensed to only a few institutions and companies. There was no such thing as a free-to-use UNIX outside of a handful of universities.

In mentioning "Free Software" as I have several times so far in this article, I must now stop and explain something that confuses a lot of people early on. "Free Software" does not mean "Software that has a price tag of $0.00." In fact, one of rms' early Free Software "products," Emacs (a text editor *cough* operating system *cough* plan for world domination) was distributed on magnetic tapes, which he sold. The difference here being that he made no restrictions on the distribution, use, and sharing of the software (we will get into the 4 freedoms in the next section).

"Free Software" means "Software that is free," not "Software that is given away for free." Or as many people like to put it, "It's free as in speech, not free as in beer." The freedom being referred to is the software's ethical freedom, not the price.

Level 6 (640 words) — Progress

To fast-forward through a decade and a half of history, rms' Free Software projects continued, including Emacs and GNU — the project to re-write a UNIX-compatible and free operating system from scratch. (GNU is a "recursive acronym" for "GNU's Not Unix" — a built-in disclaimer that turned out to be wise, if you study the history of BSD (which is outside the scope of this article). The GNU project included many programs and utilities that reproduced the functionality and behavior of programs included in UNIX, mainly a lot of text-processing commands and system utilities.

As the GNU project grew, it slowly reproduced all of the UNIX operating system as free software, except for arguably the most critical piece: the operating system kernel. For those not familiar with operating systems, the kernel (very aptly named) is the core of the functionality of the operating system, and manages all of the low-level things an operating system needs to do, like driving hardware devices, dealing with file systems, and managing processes.

In 1991, a Finnish univeristy student named Linus Torvalds released a Unix-like operating system kernel project called "Linux" onto the internet, and the rest, as they say, is history. While it was extremely limited and "hobby grade" at first, the project grew and took on contributors because of the Free Software license it was distributed with: the GNU Public License (GPL) allowed other people to make copies of Linux, inspect how it worked (read the source code), distribute copies of both the binary (executable) and source code, and even make their own customized versions (with a different name).

As I have previously stated, "Free Software" isn't software available for free, but software that is free, or more clearly, software the preserves the freedom of the user. The Free Software definition outlines the following "Four Freedoms:"

Freedom 0: The freedom to run the software as you see fit (without limitations or stipulations)
Freedom 1: The freedom to read the software's source code, study/analyse how it works, and change it to suit your needs or likes.
Freedom 2: The freedom to share copies of the software and source with others.
Freedom 3: The freedom to distribute your own modified copies of the software (with source) to others.

It's important to note that distribution of the software in any way must include or at least provide access to the software's source. The freedoms given must extend to those you may pass the software and source on to. This is an important difference between the GPL-style of Free Software licenses and others (which will be discussed later). If I release a software called "Widget Central" under a Free Software license such as the GPL (GNU Public License), and I allow you to take the software and source, share it, modify it, and release your own modifications, you are obligated by that license to afford all those that use your software the same rights.

A common sticking point, especially in the early days of FOSS' popularity, was companies using Free Software source code, modifying it, and selling or distributing their modifications as binary-only executables, without the source. By doing this, those companies were enjoying the four freedoms of the GPL, but not allowing their users to do the same. Through advocacy, grassroots action, and yes, extensive litigation, the business world was gradually educated on the benefits and pitfalls (and etiquette/ethics) of Free Software.

Free software grew and thrived because it was free. A free (to procure) piece of software can become very popular — like WinRAR, Adobe Reader, mIRC, or Irfanview. But Free Software can grow in not just popularity but in quality and completeness because the free and open nature of the software invites participation into the process of creating the software, not just inviting participation into the use of the software.

No More Excuses

2024-11-24T00:24:00-06:00

Tonight was one of those nights were things fall into perspective.

I went to a family friend's birthday party, and it was my first time visiting them at their house in about 10 years, as well as my first time seeing both of his kids (both now grown) in nearly as long.

There's one topic of conversation I kinda dread in social gatherings, and that's work. The reason for that is somewhat complex, but let it suffice to say that I'm not really where my passion is at, occupation-wise. Let me be more blunt: I'm coasting. I've been coasting a long time. I'm in one heck of a rut.

I thought about my young friends and how much their lives have changed in the past decade, and how little mine has. Life was moving fast the last time we were all together: I was back in school, getting my bachelors (finally), and being challenged daily (and growing a lot). Two years later (after that 10-years-ago mark), I graduated with crazy honors and felt on top of the world.

Aaaaand the world abruptly stopped, launching me into free fall. Grad school was a slog: my classmates were stuffy and standoffish at best, rude and backstabby at worst. There was no structure, and my gloriously undiagnosed ADHD was a train wreck at 24,000 fps.

I never finished grad school, and I never really found where to put myself. I coasted, I survived, but I never thrived.

I thought long and hard about all of the things that constantly stood in my way. ADHD. Depression. Autism?? Who knows?! I could just sit there and read off the list of why I was so stuck.

But ultimately... I have to own it.
It's my life.

I can justify a million ways from Sunday why it's so bleeping miserable at times. (Ok, a heck of a lot of the time).

Or I can just freaking do something about it.

The Joy of Bespoke Hashtags

2024-11-22T07:10:00-06:00

In Part II, I described the protective function of hashtags. I will now delve into a more entertaining aspect of how they can be used.

Whenever I share a blog post I've just written on the fediverse, I always use the hashtag #rlDaneWriting. It's an easy way for me to find previous posts (and to use them as a kind of template for a new one), and for others to find new blog posts, if they so choose.

But I have many others I use, sometimes purely (or chiefly) for my own benefit:

#LossyPNG - I grew up in the 80s and 90s, and the stark, pastelly look of the computer graphics of the 16-bit era left an indelible fingerprint on my mind. So when I am sharing high-contrast images like cartoons, simple computer graphics, or some memes, rather than share them as a JPEG and deal with lossy artifacting, I share them as a PNG.
"But you just said LossyPNG!"
Well, that's where the irony lies: PNG is, of course, lossless by design; this means that the image you get after decompressing the image is digitally identical to the image you fed into the compressor. But that doesn't mean you can't apply your own lossy image compression manually before you compress it. What I will usually do is lower the resolution a bit if needed, sometimes blur (or mosaic-pixellize) the background, and then reduce the number of colors in the image down to 16, 32, or 64 colors. This both has the effect of making PNGs lossless compression work much better (less data entropy), saving valuable space on the server (which is a resource shared among friends, rather than a part of a vast, global Large Scale Exploitation Engine's resource pool) and evoking the kind visuals you'd expect from the 16-bit era.

#ThisIsTheContentISignedUpFor - When I joined Twitter (RIP) in 2008, it had a "favorite" feature, where you could favorite tweets you liked. I quickly learned, however, that the favorite feature was more of a "like" feature, and there was no way to really save tweets for viewing later, because you likely favorited a dozen tweets a day. The Fediverse (and some other social networks) fixes this by having a separate feature for "liking" a toot, and for "saving" a toot for later viewing. But even among saved/bookmarked toots, I quickly get lost, because I'll save/bookmark something for later viewing, and forget about it later, and end up with dozens of saved toots.
I use #ThisIsTheContentISignedUpFor from time to time as a way of giving the person I'm replying to a kind of Fediverse "brownie point." However, I rediscovered it recently, and enjoyed reviewing the posts I had responded to with that hashtag — at least the ones still extant: disappearing toots are kind of a bummer, but totally a person's right.

#tooters - This isn't exactly a bespoke hashtag, but it doesn't get a lot of use (at least, not ever since an instance of the same name stopped spamming it for every single instance meta-toot). It's a fun tag to use when addressing the fediverse community at large, retaining the fun verb "toot" in favor of the rather clinical now-preferred verb, "post."

#tootlog - This is a hashtag that I exclusively use to publish an occasional log of my daily toot count. I'm the only one that does this (at least using this particular hashtag). Some of my "fedifriends" finds the practice rather bewildering, but I enjoy collecting and sharing data.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

#xkcdOTron / #xkcdOTronStrikesAgain - This is a tag and a nickname I created for my fedifriend Amin, who's mind is like a relational database of xkcd comics. He's very good at posting a relevant xkcd comic in the middle of a conversation, so I started calling him the "xkcd-O-tron"

Hashtags, Part II: Global Search and the Right to Not Be Discovered

2024-11-21T17:00:00-06:00

In Part I, I spoke humorously on the linguistic value of hashtags. I'd like to now go over why hashtags are useful for search on the Fediverse, and why global search is a bad idea.

Reply guys. That's it. End of blog p— Oh okay, okay!

I've noticed that there are some features that recent Xitter refugees have been clamoring for. Some of these (like better moderation or more robust blocking features) are definitely warranted. There are a couple "features" that have been missing from Mastodon by design, however, and I rather wish that people were more cognizant of that.

The reason that Mastodon hasn't had search thus far (and why it will always be opt-in) is to reduce the potential for harassment. Picture this scenario:

Let's say that you really hate chocolate.

You have friends that also hate chocolate, and among your friends that don't agree with you, you still have kinship, understanding, and mutual respect, even humor.

You just had an amazing dessert of cheesecake at your favorite restaurant with your friends and look across the table to one of your friends eating a slice of chocolate lava cake. Smiling archly, you decide to troll your friend. You reach into your pocket, pull out your phone, launch the HypoSoc app to load The Hypothetical Social Network, and you post,

🙅‍♂️ Chocolate Hater @Choc_h8r997
Just saw a dude down a huge slice of chocolate lava cake...
DISGUSTING!

You nudge your chocolate-enjoying friend, and point to the status on your phone. You share a laugh and go on to enjoy your evening.

The next morning, you wake up, stretch, and while taking a leisurely walk around the block, you glance at your phone and see that your HypoSoc notifications have blown up. Someone random person performed a search for "chocolate," saw your tongue-in-cheek post, became incensed, and decided to "make you famous," posting a screenshot on ChocoChan.

You are now getting death threats and disturbing explicit pictures of chocolate figurines in various poses via DMs.

Ok, that seems quite ridiculous, but that kind of scenario plays out on social media daily. People will go searching for what they love and what they hate, and will often react badly to what they find.

So what's the alternative? No search at all? Well, that would stink for discoverability, and would make the process of becoming established on the Fediverse much slower and more limited.

What if you could decide whether or not you wanted each toot to be searchable? What if you could decide whether or not you wanted each word in each toot to be searchable? That's precisely the function a hashtag performs: allowing you to manually opt-in to searches on a very granular level.

In the above scenario, let's imagine you weren't in a trolling mood. Let's say you actually wanted to say something quasi-serious, like:

🙅‍♂️ Chocolate Hater @Choc_h8r997
Not hating this time, honest. Maybe it's just my taste buds being *weird*, but I just don't get why people are so crazy about #chocolate. I've tried so many different kinds, and I just don't care for the taste.

The tone here is completely different: you're attempting to communicate seriously, and because you are desiring to initiate a real conversation, you throw the hash symbol (#) in front of "chocolate" to make it searchable/discoverable.

You've opted in, and you retain control. Now you decide whether you want the world at large knocking at the front door of your toot, or if you want to keep the scope more limited.

Using tons of hashtags (as I myself am wont to do now and again) in a post may look obnoxious and attention-grabby, but there is a very valid reason for doing so: you are participating in the explicit opt-in nature to discovery and search on the Fediverse.

Note: This article has a Part III!

Hashtags are Poetry

2024-11-21T07:00:00-06:00

'Nuff said. End of blog post.

Ok, well...

The funny thing about hashtags on the Fediverse is that they're actually needed, and serve a very similar purpose to hashtags on Twitter (In Pace Requiescat).

When hashtags were first developed, Twitter had no search function (or built-in RTs, or images, for that matter), so the hashtag was an independently-developed feature.

Hashtags helped turn the river of text that was Twitter into something more organized and searchable. This is no longer an issue on (what's left of) that platform. Twitter has global search, threading, image and video sharing, and retweets all baked-in. (Retweets were a manual endeavour in the early days: you would copy the person's tweet, reply to it, then append the original toot and shorten it if needed.)

On the Fediverse, there is no global search. Mastodon has recently rolled out this feature, but it's opt-in (which is the way it should be*). Therefore, hashtags are still the primary way to perform search and discovery on the fediverse, and they're incredibly useful when used for that.

* Follow-up post explaining this later today

But hashtags are more than just metadata tags. They're also useful as a kind of footnote or commentary, even transcending into the verbal world: You've probably heard someone say something like "hashtag blessed" or "hashtag not my problem" at the end of a sentence. Yeah, that's... pretty obnoxious. I don't do that. Please don't do that. Thanks.

Nevertheless, hashtags can represent a voice change, a way to speak self-referentially within a toot that can be very freeing. They provide an outlet for commentary, similar to saying "just kidding" at the end of a statement, or "/s" at the end of an internet post.

One other (short-lived) feature of hashtags on Mastodon specifically was the ability to circumvent toot length limits (which I often find frustrating). I don't have any examples handy, but there was a time when hashtags didn't count against the post length, and you could string on many words within a hashtag to create incredibly long and nearly un-readable sentences past your usual toot length limit (500 characters, on most instances).

But aside from those (honestly kind of annoying) fringe-benefits, hashtags are worth using on the fediverse because they make fediverse posts discoverable (when the poster wants to be discovered — more on that later).

Note: This article has a Part II!

My Every Day Carry, Part IV: So, I Kinda Helped to Start a Cult

2024-11-19T16:09:00-06:00

In Part III, I discussed fountain pens, and how they revolutionized writing for me.

I thought I was done with my EDC series, until a toot from my FediFriend O r b i t a l M a r t i a n reminded me of one more every-day carry item: the "wrist check."

"Smart" watches are quite popular now. Smaller companies like Fitbit and Pebble helped start the trend, and Large-Scale Exploitation Engines such as Apple and Google made them immensely popular.

They're a fascinating idea: You purchase a device that gets strapped to your body and constantly measures all kinds of intimate data about your bodily functions, and then saves all that to an encrypted storage device for your personal perusal and analysis, and does not share it with any untrusted entity. Oh, wait. Sorry, that's Earth #65536. On this Earth, those devices instantly phone home all of your intimate data to an absolutely untrustworthy Large-Scale Exploitation Engine for their enjoyment and analysis, and I suppose, for your own health tracking purposes.

It doesn't take a genius to see the issue with this. Fortunately, there are a few small movements in the opposite direction:

There are a handful of devices that perform the function of a smartwatch without sharing that data with any third parties. The PineTime is one of them, there are a couple other projects like it.
There is GadgetBridge, a FOSS Android program which allows you to use a handful of commercially-available smartwatches in a privacy-respecting way. This program allows you to track your fitness data without ever sending that data to an LSEE — Large-Scale Exploitation Engine (a.k.a. corporation), or at the very least, to allow you to continue using your watch privately after initially setting up the watch with the LSEE and extracting an auth token.
"Dumb" watches: Inexpensive and attractive wrist-mounted timekeeping devices are still readily and cheaply available, and yes, they still keep time, without requiring Bluetooth or an internet connection.

It is in this third avenue of counter-corporate-cultural timekeeping that I found myself helping to, well... start a cult.

One of the most popular (and still quite inexpensive) manufacturers of "dumb" watches is CASIO. The company has been around a long time (78 years!) and is known for quality, affordable products in a multitude of sectors.

One of the most popular watches is the Casio F-91W. In fact, you cannot search Wikipedia for CASIO without also seeing an entry for the F-91W in particular high-up in the list of results.

I purchased my CASIO watch in 2019. I had been using an Amazfit Bip (one of the best-supported devices on GadgetBridge) with my Android phone, but when I switched back to iOS that year, I no longer had the ability to use the smartwatch in a secure and private way. iOS, being extremely locked down, has a limited number of FOSS apps available, and very few apps (if any) that are designed to circumvent the exploitative practices of LSEEs like GadgetBridge. So, after using it with the Amazfit app for a little while, I sold the "smart"watch on eBay and bought a CASIO at a local Walmart.

I had heard a lot of good things about the F-91W, but I wanted a slightly larger screen. The W-217H fit the bill nicely, and other than the "keeper" (strap loop) breaking (I replaced the strap with an inexpensive metal chain), I haven't had a single problem with it.

Well, except for...

How do you make a CASIO watch owner angry?
"Hey pal, go time something in the dark!!"

So, back to the formation of the... cult. As wrist checks started getting popular on the fediverse (particularly among the folks on Fosstodon), I wanted to use my formidable artistic talents in the field of PHC (Pithy Hashtag Creation) to come up with a tag to unify our small cadre of loyal Casio wrist-checkers.

#CasioCult!!!

Now, this happened over two years ago, and I can't conclusively prove that I originated the #CasioCult hashtag, but I seem to recall that I did, and my toots are the very first to show up when searching for it on the Fediverse.

Addendum

I would be remiss if I didn't mention that the Prime Mover of this particular trend/cult was none other than Joel, who wrote an account of how this whole crazy enterprise got started here.

Note: This article has a Part V!

My Every Day Carry, Part III: Fountain Pens are Awesome!

2024-11-19T06:09:00-06:00

In Part II, I went over the items in my backpack. In this installment, I will talk about a single item in detail: fountain pens.

Growing up, I really disliked writing by hand. It was very uncomfortable, and my handwriting was extremely messy, to the point that my classmates would complain about it to the teacher. It was bad enough that I literally lugged a small Brother pen plotter typewriter with me to class in seventh grade, and that thing was not quiet.

The problem was significant enough that test-taking was stress-inducing — not because of test anxiety, but because of the physical discomfort of holding and using a pen or pencil for an hour at a time. A professor at university even commented that he saw me wincing and massaging my hand.

I'm not exactly sure what the problem was — possibly some kind of fine motor control issue coupled with having fairly long fingers (disadvantageous leverage). The amount of force required to hold a thin ballpoint in my hand (pens with built-in comfort grips and/or larger-diameter barrels weren't as common thirty years ago) and apply steady pressure to the page was enough to fatigue my hand very quickly. Ballpoint pens tend to require a considerable amount of pressure, due to the viscosity of the ink.

Fortunately, I grew up just before the Information Age, and it wasn't very long that having some kind of typing device with me at all times was pretty feasible. And before that, secondary school was easy enough that not being able to take meticulous class notes (or hardly any, really) wasn't a big issue.

All that changed one random day in 2015 when I was watching an ASMR video while trying to fall sleep. This guy was (very slowly) demoing a Platinum Plaisir fountain pen, and for some reason, it appealed to me, so I ordered one. Now I did have a fountain pen growing up, but I didn't really understand what the point of it was, so I never used it much.

When I got the pen in the mail, I found that I suddenly enjoyed the process of putting ink to paper so much that I just sat down and copied several pages of Kierkegaard's Either/Or to paper. For someone who hates writing on paper, that is amazing.

That first fountain pen supercharged my in-class notes that summer, and once I eventually switched to a little nicer pen (I tried several, finally settling on the TWSBI Eco) just a month later, and nicer paper (Clairfontaine notebooks are super smooth for fountain pen writing), I found that I could just fly when taking notes in class, to the point that I was writing too much, and not processing the information sufficiently — just as if I was typing class notes on a computer.

The major difference is that a fountain pen needs so little downward pressure to make a good line that just the weight of the pen is enough. Instead of having to hold onto a skinny little stick of a ballpoint pen with a death grip, I had a more comfortable grip (even on the smallest fountain pens, like the Pilot Metropolitan), and didn't have to hold it with a lot of force. I was guiding the pen, not fighting it.

Another reason why I so enjoyed using fountain pens is that the physical connection of pen nib to the page brings the mind into a kind of immediacy, textural awareness, and cognizance of artistic freedom that just isn't there with a ballpoint. You feel the page in a way you just don't when you're slobbering pasty ink onto the page with a rolling metal or ceramic ball.

Note: This article has a Part IV!

My Every Day Carry, Part II: Backpack Edition

2024-11-18T13:11:00-06:00

In Part I, I went over the items in my pockets. In this installment, I will go over the items in my backpack.

Yes, I'm milking the posts to try to catch up to my WritingMonth quota. Hush. 😄

Here's what's currently in my backpack:

Large items

Laptop
- Currently a Thinkpad X260 running Debian, but often a Pinebook Pro running Armbian. What the Pinebook lacks in processor speed, it makes up for in lightness, and the amazingly good 14" 1080p IPS panel. The only real complaint I have of this now 3.5 year old machine is the lack of Full-Disk Encryption (in most OSes, since they're pre-installed binary images, rather than bespoke installs made by an install program like Calamares)
- In years past, my EDC laptop was a Thinkpad X200 running Linux or some variant of BSD, before that, a 2014 Macbook Air running Mac OS X (Up to High Sierra), and before that, a 2008 Macbook (classic white, non-unibody) running OS X Lion. If you want to go back decades, then a Dell Latitude XPiCD 166 MMX was my glorious daily driver, and a couple years before that, a Dell 486 laptop with an incredibly murky 640x480x16 gray passive-matrix STN display, which I happily carried uphill in the snow both ways while walking to college. Before that, my NOT daily driver was a gloriously luggable compact Mac (SE). ;)
- The main reason I'm not EDC-ing my Pinebook Pro right now is that the screws holding the chassis together keep falling out. I need to replace them, and apply some generous thread-locker.
Journal
- I'm trying to get back into paper journaling after being away from it for over a year. I've had a digital journal (bespoke shell script) that I've used for nearly six years, but I've journalled on paper (in fits and starts, to be honest) for almost a decade.
- Right now, it's a dot-lined journal I picked up from Walmart, but it's usually some fountain pen-friendly paper journal. I had to learn the hard way that while Moleskine-brand journals are nice, they are not Fountain Pen-friendly. The quality of paper just isn't there. This otherwise cheap ("EXCEED" brand) journal is of pretty decent quality, and is pleasant to write on.
Bible
- I'm carrying around a rather large NASB "Thinline Giant Print" Bible in my bag at the moment.
- I don't use a "Study Bible," and haven't for many years. I got tired of being steered towards one popular theological slant or another.
- I keep the bible in the cardboard case it came in, as it's a softbound bible with very thin "onion skin" pages, and otherwise wouldn't hold up to being carried around in a backpack.
- I'm just now trying to get back into the habit of carrying a paper bible with me. It's not particularly light or convenient, but it's nice to have, especially when I have my coloring pencils with me for highlighting.
- I might end up replacing it with a lighter bible that only has the New Testament, Psalms, Proverbs, and the Song of Solomon, as I don't read from the full Tanak (a.k.a. "Old Testament") very often.
BSF Workbook
- I'm currently going through a study of the Book of Revelation at Bible Study Fellowship, and they printed out a copy of all of the worksheets as a single, rather large (US Letter-sized) spiral-bound book.
Kindle (2014 edition)
- I'm not using it much right now, but I'm hoping to get back into pleasure reading soon
- It's still in the same hard case that I bought with it 10 years ago. The cloth is getting a touch worn, but has held up quite well.

Small items

Reading glasses
- I hate these, I hate these, I hate these, I hate these, I hate these.
My BSF nametag
Very cheap USB battery bank and USB A-to-C cable
- Just something I bought from Walmart. It doesn't have much capacity (less than one full phone charge), but it works in a pinch, both for my phone and my Pinebook Pro
A couple extra mechanical pencils, just for marking up books/workbooks
- A PaperMate "clear point" click-on-a-button-on-the-barrel-type pencil
- A Ticonderoga auto-advancing pencil with a 3d-printed pen cap
- I've got a Kuru-Toga pencil at home somewhere, but I find the mechanism used to auto-rotate the lead doesn't work very well when you're making long lines on books (for notes/highlighting). It's better for normal writing or math.
Pen case
- I do have a fancy leather pen roll at home, but on-the-go, I just use a cheap vinyl fabric/mesh ("EVA" material) pen case I bought online. It can hold 3-4 pens and some accessories. It currently holds my TWSBI Eco (a fantastic pen, Amin-jaan even agrees!) with Noodler's Black and my second TWSBI Eco in Noodler's Liberty's Elysium (a blue-black ink). It also holds one of my PaperMate mechanical pencils (for marking up paper books I'm reading), and a folded-up napkin (for cleaning up fountain pen mishaps — they happen!). I don't have one in there now, but I usually also carry a small vial of Noodler's Black ink in the pen case, in case I need to refill (the already sizeable capacity of) my TWSBI Eco on the go.
A dozen "Veritas"-brand colored pencils
- I bought this fancy set of coloring pencils from a bookstore, and use them for highlighting my bible (I have my own color scheme where each color is indicative of a different theme). I haven't gotten very far with highlighting in the past few years, though. I'm hoping to start spending more time in the paper Bible.
- The pencils came in a nice cardboard tube. I enhanced it a little by putting masking tape on the inside lip, so that the lid would stay on very firm, and not fall off while jostling in side my bag. I also took the little foam pad meant to protect the tips of the pencils from inside the pencil case/tube cap and stuffed it at the bottom of the pencil case (and turne all the pencils around), so that the colored butts of the pencils could be sticking out, instead of the tips.
"Disposable" film camera
- I bought this on a whim about six months ago when I saw it on the shelf at Walmart. My cousin had come to visit me for a couple days just prior to that, and he's been on a huge film kick for the past couple years.
- I have two exposures left, and I keep it in the aluminized bag it came in to protect it from stray sunlight and dust.
- I grew up in the era of crappy fixed-focus (and later, poor infrared range-finding autofocus) film cameras, so I don't exactly miss the film capture part of the process, but I did dearly love developing black and white film and prints in high school.
- Bonus: I hope to save the fixed-focus lens when I get the film developed and adapt it onto a Canon EOS body cap for my dSLR, like this person did
A to-go communion cracker/cup combo.
- I forgot I had that in there, haha
A spare surgical mask
- I don't wear them much anymore, but I did wear a KN95 every single day for four years.
A spare (cheapo) pair of Bluetooth earbuds
- If you spent more than $50 on your earbuds, please immediately go give yourself a wedgie for contributing to the late-stage capitalistic dystopia we're living in. Thank you.
A copy of The Mortification of Sin, by John Owen
- I'm not a huge fan of the Puritans, but I do like them more than the average person. I have a soft spot in my heart for doomed-from-the-start super-idealistic spiritual endeavours... not so much the persecution of religious minorities, though. (It's sadly ironic that they fled persecution in England only to persecute the Quakers in the New World.)
- It was a gift from a brother at the Anglican men's bible study I go to on Wednesday morning. I don't know when I'll actually start reading it, though. ADHD, yay. 🙄

That's my backpack EDC! The backpack is just a random cheapo I found at Walmart. "Ozark Trail" is the brand. And no, the laptop cushioning isn't really adequate (particularly in the bottom). It almost never is in these things.

Note: This article has a Part III!

My Every Day Carry

2024-11-18T10:41:00-06:00

My EDC is kind of boring, but sometimes even the most boring items have an interesting history.

I used to carry around a Photon Microlight, but haven't needed a pocket light since 2010, thanks to modern phones.

I also used to carry a mini Swiss Army Knife in my pocket, but I save weight by just leaving it in the center console of my car, and it's about 90% as accessible to me as if it were in my pocket.

So, what do I actually keep on me all the time?

Keys

I have my car key, mailbox key, home key, and a key to my mom's house on a keychain with no fob (for compactness). I always know which key I'm holding based on position: the key to my mom's house is separated from the others by my car key on one side, and a bit of broken chain which used to attach a TV-B-Gone to my keychain (a very nice device, but far too bulky a package for the actual size of the PCB) on the other.

Wallet

I'm a big fan of bifold wallets. They're larger than tri-folds, but much thinner. I always keep my wallet in a front pocket, as reaching behind me is physically uncomfortable for me. I've tried 3D printing my own wallets, and using alternate (hard shell) wallets, but a standard, boring old bifold is still my favorite. A friend of mine once had a very interesting wallet: it was a bi-fold in the aspect of a tri-fold (so, basically two-thirds of a tri-fold wallet). That would be great for someone who wanted the smallest wallet possible with the most utility. I'm not at all sold (pun intended) on these fancy hardshell wallets like the Ridge wallet. Seems like a glorified money clip to me, with very little utility beyond an ordinary money clip.

Phone

This has changed a good bit over the years. I'm currently rocking a Pixel 7 with CalyxOS. I was still very happy with my Pixel 4a 5G (except that it was starting to develop dust under the lens, but it wasn't too hard to occasionally blow it out with an air duster), but I unfortunately baptized it in a saltwater pool early last fall, so I've been on the Pixel 7 ever since.

I've used both Android and iOS for many years (each). I don't honestly like either platform very much, but I find that using a privacy-oriented FOSS Android build like CalyxOS is... tolerable. ;)

Before I got my first smartphone in 2010, I used to carry an iPod Touch (Third Generation) along with a Nokia clamshell phone. (PSA: your old phone likely wasn't a "flip phone," it was a clamshell. Flip Phones were exclusively bar phones with a flip-out guard or keypad, where the guard didn't cover the entire front of the phone.)

Bonus

For a very brief period of time nine years ago, I carried a lighter with me. It was a replica of an Eastern European post-World-War-Two lighter which was originally made of spent cartridge casings. It held some sentimental significance to me (I don't smoke), but I realized rather quickly that carrying a cheaply-made sheet metal container of liquid naphtha in my pocket with me everywhere was Not A Good Idea.

What's your every-day carry?

Note: This article has a Part II!

Why would you use Perl in 2024?

2024-11-17T21:49:00-06:00

The rise and fall of the popularity of programming languages is fun to watch.

Quick disclaimer: I'm not a programmer. I've never held a programming job. I have been interested in programming as a hobby for several decades, and have written shell scripts as a part of my job in a previous life.

I still remember when C++ was the hot thing*, then Java (for far too long, haha), then perhaps Ruby, Python, and various and sundry JavaScript abominations. Now Rust seems to have most people's attention and admiration. (I have no opinions of particular substance on that language. I can, however, provide many opinions of lesser substance upon request 😄)

* I clearly remember circa 1993-4 overhearing someone at a restaurant making a joke about "C, C++, and C+++" (Or was it "C, C+, and C++?")

I don't think Perl was ever the hot language, but it gained a lot of popularity in the 90s as a great glue language and cgi language for websites. It was gradually overshadowed by PHP and other languages in the mid-naughties.

So, why should someone still use it?

Looking at my ~/bin/ directory, I have:

a sed script
three python scripts
eight korn shell scripts
a dozen Bourne shell scripts
157 bash scripts
and just four Perl scripts

One of the Perl scripts wasn't written by me (the venerable scrmable.pl by jwz), two of them are trivial (and I don't recall ever using them), and one of them is a 25-line hack to add thousands separators to file sizes in the output of ls -l.

Hmm, my Perl advocacy career isn't looking particularly brilliant.

Nevertheless, I did write a fair bit of Perl as my second-tier language (after ksh) when I worked in I.T.

The advantages it offered over regular shell scripting were:

Incredible speed (even faster than Python, the last time I checked)
Powerful and sane syntax
Native and powerful regex (bash has since added this, although only extended regex)
Universal: Most UNIXes come with a Perl interpreter pre-installed, or quite readily accessible

I still consider myself a Perl noob after all these years, and in truth, I don't think I've written more than a dozen Perl scripts in the last decade. Still, it's a language I remember fondly for its power and elegance.

I can already hear programmers complaining and kvetching about Perl. Please understand, I'm coming at this as a scripter, not a programmer. What I do is best described (in homage to that great 70s/80s dramedy, M.A.S.H.) as "meatball programming." I wouldn't know a functional language if it bit me in the... Noctua fan. I haven't even ever properly learned OOP!

I think people using another serious languages like Ruby, Rust, Python, or Nim have their reasons to stay away from Perl, and I won't tackle arguments I'm not equipped to take on. Besides, we all have very different use cases, preferences, and styles.

But for the fellow scripter, someone who likes banging out bespoke shell scripts here and there, Perl has a lot to offer, and as I recall, the learning curve is not bad for someone coming from shell (a cursory familiarity with C syntax helps). I learned from the well-respected Camel book 20 years ago, and that's not a bad way to go, although there may be easier and more interactive ways nowadays.

If you are looking for some inspiration, inxi (the system information utility) is an extremely powerful program implemented as a single 33k SLOC executable.

Looking at all of the public executables on OpenBSD system I'm writing this on (looking within /bin/, /sbin/, /usr/bin/, and /usr/sbin/), I see:

9 Korn shell scripts
22 Bourne shell scripts
34 Perl scripts
598 ELF executables

Looking at the same directories on my Raspbian server, I see:

2 Korn shell scripts
744 Bourne shell scripts
2 Java source files (?!?)
30 Ruby scripts
102 bash scripts
242 Python scripts
510 Perl scripts
4490 ELF executables

(Dear Lord, always minmaxxing, Linux!! 🤦‍♂️)

So, Perl isn't going anywhere, is very available, fast, and definitely worth learning as a second programming/scripting language!

Love is a choice

2024-11-15T21:10:00-06:00

I was going to go in a different direction for tonight's blog post (thanks to the help of some kind fedifriends), but while starting on that post, I felt like I needed to revive a blog post idea from a few weeks ago first.

A month and four days ago, I adopted a cat (or rather, a sweet kitty adopted me.)

It was one year to the day (almost to the minute) that my sweet floofson Hobbes passed away.

The decision to adopt was a rather belabored one, as I elaborated on previously. Aside from the question of when to adopt, which animal to adopt, etc., the question of "how will I know that this is the right animal for me?" was hanging over my head.

Any cat I would get would have some really oversized shoes to fill. My cat Hobbes was way more than just my pet. He was my companion, my son. He came when I called or whistled, he accosted me with affection every time I came home. There was just so much going on behind his pearly green eyes. How could any other animal live up to that?

So, I visited the cat I ended up adopting (who I named "Mira" after the actress Mira Furlan) about three times in the shelter before finally adopting her. I was waiting for... something. Some kind of sign? Nothing. Just a nice cat. I could have adopted her or just as easily left her there. I really didn't feel anything, and even when I took a family member with me, there was no obvious encouragement or "Yes, this is the one."

I perceived that "still small voice" giving me the nudge forward, but it was a very gentle nudge. It could have gone either way.

So, what happened?

After the initial newness and excitement of bringing her home, two or three days into the adoption, I just had to make up my mind once and for all. I took my new floofdaughter in my arms, looked straight into her eyes, and said, "I love you, no matter what. Forever."

That was it. From that point on, anything that could make me feel disappointment or frustration towards her had no voice in my life. No comparison to Hobbes was permitted, other than warm/postitive ones (reminiscing on similarities). My heart was invested, and I would see whatever issues arose through.

Just moments ago, I brought out one of the last artifacts of Hobbes' that I had kept hidden in the closet: his old bed (which he honestly nearly never used, but which I used to carry him during the last day of his life), and his favorite chew toy. I put both items next to me in my study, hoping she would use the bed (which of course she hasn't, yet), and knowing that she would enjoy the toy.

She hasn't put the toy down for a moment since. 😸

How to love your neighbor...

2024-11-05T21:25:00-06:00

...in the midst of... all this

You're driving to work and you see them. A bunch of people holding up signs in favor of the human being (if they can be truly described as such!) that you loathe the most on the entire earth.

Your blood boils.

You air out your middle finger.

You probably honk.

Your windshield fogs up under a fusillade of swear words.

Relatable?

Nearly a daily occurrence, you say! Oh my!

A better way

"But R.L.," you protest, "we gotta oppose these crazy people! This has gone on too far! It has to stop!"

Hmm... Well...

I am partial to justice. And I'm not a fan of nazis or their apologists, in any country or decade.

But this post isn't about that. I'm not telling you not to fight for what you think is just and right. I'm not telling you not to oppose wickedness as you see it manifest around you or on the national stage.

What I would like to say is...

The person holding up the sign that made your blood boil might actually be worth something more than mere fodder for ideological warfare.
S/he might actually have an intrinsic value that is equal to yours.
And they might actually merit as much forbearance and mercy as you did in your own wayward, foolish moments.

Of course, the danger of holding up a sign is that you become a sign. Your life and being gets flattened to the same thickness as the card stock you're holding up, and you no longer mean anything more than the slogans you've given your agency to emblazon on someone's retinas.

Sometimes it's worth it. Sometimes there is a sentence or even a single word that you feel so strongly about that you're willing to become it. I've been there. I've held up a sign or two. A word or two. I felt extremely passionately about it. I was certain I was right.

Do you know what happened? I grew up. I grew out of that fanaticism. If I had been hated on by someone with more wisdom than me at that time, maybe I wouldn't have. Maybe I would've entrenched even deeper. Maybe I would've avoided all of the wonderful life experiences that opened me up to learn more about life, people, and reality and instead remained a closed-minded person.

Is seeing the person holding up the sign that you hate worth keeping them there in that pitiable state? Or can you begin to see the humanity in others?

Can I?

Can we learn to love, or will we fight and kill over and over until we don't know what we're fighting for?

Your own children are watching. Ok fine, you don't have kids. Your nieces and nephews, then. Your cousins. Your friends' kids. Someone smaller than you that you care about. Someone who still has a bit of innocence that hasn't been effaced by the gaping chasm of existential dread we've all been peering into for the past few years.

They're looking to you. They're looking to you to neither compromise truth for comfort, nor live a life that is less than humane.

And I think they can count on you.

My Socratic Sign

2024-11-03T14:29:00-06:00

In Part I, I listed several things/places/events that felt magical to me in my life. In this article, I will discuss the most recent one, which I refer to as my "Socratic Sign."

Life, Rebooted

At 40 years old, I found myself without a job and without the desire to jump through the crazy corporate hoops to get re-established in my industry (why, hello ADHD, we'll get to you in another article soon, I hope).

So, I did what any dopamine-starved person would do: I hastily packed up my life, left the state, moved in with family and went back to college to re-invent myself... somehow.

I really didn't know what I wanted to do, other than the fact that I was utterly disgusted by my experiences in the corporate world and really wanted to do something different. My intention was to go to seminary to work towards a PhD in Theology (I'm kinda glad I ended up not doing that, but that's a story for another time). Since I didn't have a degree, I had to start mostly from scratch, being the equivalent of a college sophomore when all of my various credits from (I think) four different institutions were all tallied up. Since pursuing an accredited Bachelor's degree in a religious institution would have been insanely expensive, I went the sane route and started in the local Community College and then transferred to the local University once I completed coursework for my Associate's (two-year) degree.

In Community College, I had a lot of freedom to pick and choose subjects that interested me (like Geology, Sociology and Music). But once I got into University, I had to pick a major. I was a little tempted to go the General Education route (it was called "Interdisciplinary Studies" at that University) because I'd have the freedom to try many different fields of interest, but I felt that I would still enjoy Literature, and I would get a more useful degree out of it than General Education.

Still, I didn't have very strong opinions about any of my options, but I went for what seemed to have the most promise and hoped I wasn't going down a blind alley. That hope would be answered in the most unusual way.

The Socratic Sign

My course of study was initially pretty difficult. I was not a bookworm before I started my literature coursework (unlike a lot of my classmates), and I had a lot of trouble keeping up with the reading assignments. (Why, hello again, undiagnosed ADHD! So kind of you to drop in! 🤣)

But I stuck with it, and after the discomfort and adjustment of my first semester at Uni, I started to enter into this grace for my chosen field (or to put it another way, I started feeling more comfortable with where I was at). I enjoyed the reading assignments (ADHD be darned) and immersing myself into the literary world. Most of all, I loved the camaraderie and discussions among my classmates. They were a fascinating bunch of people, and I really loved being among young people again. At least, thinking young people. I didn't enjoy the Community College crowd as much.

As I got into my second semester, I had some once-a-week evening classes. One of them ran to nearly 10pm, and nearly every time I walked to my car in the evening, I felt like my head was on fire. It was like the ADHD Hyperfocus to end all Hyperfocuses. I felt like Rose Tyler after peering into the time vortex and gaining the ability to see all points of space and time as a single constant. Ok, I'm exaggerating (and I definitely wasn't on any recreational pharmaceuticals!), but it really did feel like that at the time.

I would walk to my car, and it just felt like everything in the world was perfect. My brain was fully stimulated and firing on all eight cylinders, and I had a feeling of incredibly intense-yet-calm satisfaction that nearly made my hair stand on end. And because of this... odd "divine sign," I felt assured that my path in life was the right one, that I was heading in the right direction, and that I wasn't wasting my time.

I haven't felt that way in a really long time, and I rather miss it.

Magical Moments

2024-11-01T20:45:00-05:00

This article is written based on a prompt I shared with a friend a couple weeks ago. You can my article from that "round-robin" prompt exercise here.

Since neither of my fedifriends have written their prompts yet, I'm actually borrowing the idea I gave Amin to write:

I'm going to write about things/places/events I consider[ed] magical:

The Epcot Center

One of the most magical places I recall seeing as a kid was The Epcot Center in Orlando. This would've been in the mid-late 1980s, and I was in middle school/junior high.

Nearly everything about Epcot blew my mind as a kid. The rides were so futuristic, and unlike the actual future, everything was optimistic! Technology would free us! We would solve the Fossil Fuel problem with hydrogen, or flywheels, or something! The potential was limitless!!! There were tons of great technical innovations coming across the horizon and there was no sign of the digital dystopia we're finding ourselves in today.

There were many really groovy rides which I only vaguely remember, but I do remember riding Spaceship Earth (the big silver golf ball) which was narrated at that time by Walter Cronkite. Cronkite!!! The dude exuded calm optimism and was the absolute antithesis to the hyper-caffeinated-the-world-is-ending-TODAY kind of awful news delivery we get nowadays.

But the one thing I remember somewhat clearly from one of the rides that absolutely blew my mind was some variation of the illusion known as "Pepper's Ghost". In this version, I was riding in a normal 4-6 seater ride car, and there was a mirror to the left. I looked to the left and saw myself and the other riders, but to my amazement, the car I was riding in somehow appeared super-futuristic. My imagination was absolutely ablaze!

"Money for Nothing"

Something else that gave me a similar feeling of amazement/whimsy was the 1985 Dire Straits music video "Money for Nothing". It's rather difficult to explain to someone younger than 40 just how ground-breaking this was at the time. I had never seen anything quite like it, and it gave me such a thirst to know more about these miraculous machines (computers, that is) that could just generate video out of the aether like that. I was glued to the TV set every time it came on!

Similar to that was the 1994 "ReBoot" series (which coincidentally was created by the same people that did the animation for the Dire Straits music video). The thing I remember the most is how all early cgi had this very floaty feel to the camera movements, because the (software) cameras followed very simple linear vectors. It wouldn't be until later that cgi got sophisticated enough to implement human-feeling, "imperfect" camera motion. Ironically, I get the same kind of "floaty" feeling from a lot of drone or boom camera footage, as they tend to have the same very smooth motions across a large distance.

Multi-touch and the iPhone

If you're old enough, you remember 2007 pretty well, and you recall how the entire world basically lost their minds for a solid year because of the device in question. Bloggers were literally calling it the "Jesus phone."

But let's take a step back. One year prior, Jeff Han gave a TED talk that was equally as shocking, and on a much larger scale than 3.5"/8.9 cm ;)

Imagine someone pulls out their laptop next to you, pulls up an image of an apple, then reaches into the screen, yoinks out the apple, and takes a bite. That's a little how watching this demo felt the first time. This guy was interacting with his computer in a way I had never, ever seen before. Even though I was just watching it online, and not in person, it felt visceral and real. It's hard to understand the reaction unless you try really hard to forget that you'd ever seen a multi-touch interface before in your life, and place yourself in the context of 2006. This was perhaps my generation's equivalent of the famous 1968 Douglas Engelbart "Mother of All Demos," and I haven't seen anyone mention it since then.

Of course, the iPhone took that idea (and a few other innovations) and shrunk it down to fit in your pocket. It might be difficult for younger folks who grew up with multi-touch smartphones to understand, but just seeing someone do a pinch-to-zoom on the maps application would make folks lose their minds a little. It was just so uncanny.

The Macintosh

If I lost a few readers travelling back to 2007, then 1984 is going to be quite a leap.

I got my start in the Home Microcomputer revolution (yes, that is what they were called: "Home Micros") with an Apple ][+ and a Commodore 64. Computers of that day were bulky, keyboard-centric, and noisy. Even before grindy, clicky hard disks and whirring case fans become the norm, home computers had loud floppy drives (the Apple ]['s floppy drive stepper motors would auto-home by noisily crashing against the hard stops every time you powered it on, which sounded like a machine gun) and annoying beeps.

Sitting down in front of the very first Macintosh model in 1984, I quickly realized it was everything my Commodore 64 wasn't. It was compact: consisting of the body (which contained the chips, power supply, screen, and floppy drive) a keyboard and a mouse. The original compact macs were really considered portables -- they actually sold a carrying case for them! It had a cool bluish high-resolution (for the time) monochrome display, not green or amber (or a few colors with very fuzzy/blocky pixels). The mouse itself was a revolution: the original Macs didn't even have arrow keys for the first two years/models! You literally placed the text selection cursor with the mouse, every time. That sounds so exhausting to us vi/vim nerds today.

Beyond the amazing visual things that differentiated the original Macintosh from home computers of the era, there were a couple very noteworthy auditory things: The Mac had no fan at all (it actually really did need one), no clicky/grindy hard disk (also would have been nice, but hey, this was 1984!), but most notable to me was the floppy disk drive!

Ok, let me explain. Floppy drives sounded weird. The Apple ][ drives sounded like death. The Commmodore 64's 1541 was quieter and smarter, but was the size of a computer itself (because it WAS a computer itself -- oh Jack, what were you thinking!?). Most 3 1/2" drives had a kind of annoying "thock-thock-thock" sound.

But the sound on the original Macintosh 400K drives?

Those drives HUMMED at you

I am NOT making this up. It's not easy to find, but if you do some digging online, you can find videos of the original Macintosh 400K disk drives in action, and those babies hummed. It was such a soothing sound, and can bring me nearly to tears up to this very day.

Also, unlike other computers of the time, the Macintosh was capable of outputting 8-bit audio at up to 22khz sample rate, and was capable of rudimentary wavetable synthesis.

University

The last time I had a magical moment was sadly some years ago. I will save that story for my next post: My Socratic Sign!

Goodbye NaNoWriMo, hello Writing Month!

2024-10-31T17:23:00-05:00

FediFriend Amin wrote this in Early September:

Well, NaNoWriMo has made an official statement that they believe categorical condemnation of "AI" to be classist and ableist. I'm… I'm just done with them.

I used to overlook issues I was seeing with the organization behind NaNo, but… this is too much.

Their argument appears to boil down to "without LLMs many people don't know how to write and proofread their novels", but isn't that exactly what NaNoWriMo is supposed to be teaching people to do for themselves?

— https://alpha.polymaths.social/@amin/statuses/01J6T38E3EH375CJF55KMDH3WP

I don't have a long history with NaNoWriMo. Last year was my first time doing it, with the modest goal of (as I recall) 15 blog posts. I never used the official website, only interacting with the community on the Fediverse. I had heard about it many years prior, however, and I recall discussing it circa 2015 with a college classmate that as active in it.

I can echo Amin's disgust with the "classist and ableist" cop-out, and I also recall hearing some of the community's frustration with the ironically accessibility-hostile re-design of the nanowrimo website a couple years back. I have no interest in getting involved with an organization that uses a spurious argument of ableism against the incredibly valid criticisms of adding yet another layer of LLM slop to our lives.

I have changed (retconned) all tags from NaNoWriMo to WritingMonth in the entire blog, but I haven't changed references "NaNoWriMo" in the body text of any previous articles (there were only two).

In addition, my Writing Month profile can be found here.

Writing Month begins!

Which Linux Distro shouldn't I pick, and why?

2024-10-30T20:58:00-05:00

I enjoyed The Linux Cast's recent video tackling the perennially-debated question of "the best Linux" distro, and I wanted to present my own somewhat tongue-in-cheek version of a recommended Linux Distro List, but more like a dis-recommendation list.

So here are some distros I (kinda sorta) do not recommend:

Debian

This may surprise many, seeing as I run Debian on almost all my systems, and have been a fan of it for over two decades. I've been running Debian 12 since it was released last summer, and have been very happy with it.

Nevertheless, Debian 12 is getting a bit long-in-the-tooth. My normal habit since Debian 10 or so has been to switch over to Debian Testing after Debian Stable became a year old, but the xz sabotage/vulnerability this year dissuaded me from recommending that course of action, or even doing it myself.

So, Debian 13 next summer is going to be the bees knees. But Debian 12 is getting pretty old, and I wouldn't recommend it on a desktop at this point, unless you really, really want the most stable Linux distro imaginable (it is what I'm currently running).

One other reason to not pick Debian: Unless you're going to be running a Desktop Environment like KDE Plasma, running a rather plain Window Manager/Compositor like i3wm or Sway has some pain points, unless you're running them with an already-good configuration, such as one you've created yourself after a lot of experimentation, or configs taken from a pre-arranged community edition of another distro made just for that environment. I still have things that I haven't figured out how to do with Sway on Debian, like get a proper dark mode configured so that it's auto-detected in programs, or get some Gnome applications to run correctly.

Fedora

This is a dicey topic. Fedora is a good distro, and there's a lot to like. The cons for running Fedora are rather tenuous and not well-argued from what I've seen, but I think it bears consideration:

IBM.

That's it. IBM. IBM is the one big reason why I don't run Fedora, and I know a lot of Fedora fans would say it's not a good reason, as IBM doesn't run or control Fedora. BUT... IBM is seriously evil, and seeing that Fedora exists primarily to feed IBM (RedHat), and how evil they have been in the last few years, I'd rather just stay away from an otherwise excellent distro lest I give even the most tacit endorsement to a snivelingly evil company.

All that to say: "Fedora, you're wonderful, and you deserve to be loved for who you are. I hope you get to dump those feckless corporate 'freeloaders' real soon."

Arch Derivatives

This one is simple. Don't run Arch derivates, period. Just don't do it. Why?

A blown-up Arch install is no small predicament. It takes in-depth knowledge and technical competence to troubleshoot and resuscitate, which are skills you will not develop when bypassing the normal manual Arch install experience and using a "friendly" derivative.

Simply put, if you want to run Arch, run Arch. Install it manually, after reading all of the pertinent docs. Don't even use archinstall. Do it the hard way, and earn a decent familiarity with Linux in the process. And definitely give Manjaro, EndeavourOS, Garuda, et. al. a wide berth.

Arch Linux and Gentoo

Meme distros stink. Intrinsically, they're both wonderful distros. But the memeification thereof is detrimental. Use Arch and/or Gentoo if you want to, if you learn what they are and how they work and what the pros and cons of running them are. Don't run either because of what some "btw guy" says. And for the love of God, meme bros, stop recommending advanced distros like these to absolute n00bs.

Ubuntu and Ubuntu-branded derivatives

Canonical has been having some kind of spiritual/moral/existential crisis the past decade or so. I honestly don't know what's up with that company. I don't like how they push snaps, or put weird ads into apt, and questionable decisions they have made.

But honestly? For a total n00b? Would they even notice the snap vs. flatpak difference? Would they ever run apt and get the weird Ubuntu Pro ad?

If it helps someone get free from a horrible proprietary OS, let them run Ubuntu.
Psych, guys. I'm actually recommending Ubuntu! (somewhat)

Conclusion

If you've gotten this far and are feeling a bit confused, let me explain: The list wasn't actually a "Distros I don't recommend" list, but for the most part a "reasons for not using otherwise good distros" list. ;)

Happy Linuxing!!

Android Messaging, Part II: Life Limped Along at Sub-sonic Speeds

2024-10-29T18:15:00-05:00

In Part I, I discussed the state of "Native Messaging" services in FOSS Android forks/builds, and why RCS might never be coming to these OSes.

What does that leave us with? Well, SMS and MMS, of course, but using what client?

Unfortunately, there is (of course) no one good answer to this.

I've tried every single FOSS SMS/MMS client for Android I could get my hands on. Here's a list of them, and the pros and cons of each:

AOSP Messaging client
- Pros
  - Fully-featured SMS & MMS, allows sharing photos, videos, contacts, and audio
  - Performant and straight-forward
  - Shares fairly high-quality photos (relative to MMS' rather paltry capabilities)
- Cons
  - Hasn't seen an update in many years
  - No search function
  - On my carrier at least, it fails to send multiple photos at once. I have to send one. photo. per. message.
QUIK (forked from QKSMS)
- Pros
  - Performant and good UI
  - Can send multiple photos (up to three, I think) in the same message without any issues (on my device, anyway)
  - Excellent and fast search function
  - Some advanced features like delayed send (for those experiencing difficulty with impulse control 😁)
- Cons
  - Cannot send videos (this is a very minor con, as MMS videos are essentially worthless)
  - The photos it sends are of a considerably lower quality than the AOSP Messaging client (on my device/carrier, at least)
  - Cannot natively view contacts; you must open contacts shared with you via a contacts application (which usually just imports them directly without viewing) or a text editor (kludgy, but it works)
Fossify SMS Messenger (forked from Simple Mobile Tools SMS Messenger)
- Pros
  - Sends MMS photos well
  - Search function
  - Lots of configuration options
- Cons
  - Poor performance/stability — on my rather large SMS database, Fossify SMS causes the phone to run rather hot and throws a lot of Java errors. It can't seem to handle my years of texting history (which I have to keep for professional reasons)

Aaaaand, that's literally it. I cannot find a single other SMS/MMS client on F-Droid. There is Deku SMS, which adds a layer of encryption, but it does not support MMS at all (last I checked), but rather sends photos over SMS (only to other users of the same program.

Honorable Mention: DeltaChat — This is not an SMS/MMS client at all, but rather an email client masquerading as a chat application. This may be what I end up using once I finally give up on texting.

FOSS ROMS and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad State of Native Messaging on Android

2024-10-28T21:41:00-05:00

Now that I've piqued your curiosity with an reference to a children's book I've never actually read (because I'm an alien, apparently), let me pause the narrative train by carefully defining some terms:

FOSS: Free and Open Source Software
ROMs [sic]: Custom builds of the Android mobile operating system from the AOSP (Android Open Source Project) source code, which are (erroneously) referred to by many as ROMs
Native Messaging: Messaging that is native to the phone/network itself, i.e., SMS, MMS, and (ehhh) RCS. In other words, anything but a purely internet-based messaging system like Signal.
SMS & MMS: The way that cell phones currently send messages and data like images and video to each other
RCS: Rich Communication Services, a ham-fisted attempt to replace SMS & MMS with something more modern and capable
iMessage: A proprietary and completely bollocks internet messaging protocol created by Apple, masquerading as a text messaging standard so Tim Cook can have more superyachts

Skip the history

My History with Android (and iOS, too, shhh!)

I've used both Android and iOS going back to fall 2010. So far, I've spent over eight years on three different iPhones and nearly six years on four different Android phones. After starting out with iOS, I initially switched to Android in mid-2017 because android phones were astonishingly cheaper, but my experience with my first two Android phones was not that great. My $65 BLU R1 HD became unbearably slow after just a few months, and my Nokia 6.1 became slow enough to be quite bothersome within a year.

2019 was the year I started learning a lot more about privacy, and the more I learned about Google, the less I liked them. I decided that the best way to get away from Google's spying on my phone would be to go back to iOS, so I commandeered a hand-me-down iPhone 7 Plus.

I really liked being back in the "blue bubble" zone, and getting Apple-exclusive features like Facetime (along with a handful of nostalgic iOS-only apps that I missed, like The Iconfactory's BitCam). But the dearth of FOSS apps on the App Store, Apple's silly restrictions (18 years of iOS, and still no true/raw Bluetooth stack!) and their petty, mercenary nature started to wear quite thin, as did Apple's reputation of being privacy-respecting. Their true colors shone through in due time.

So, when the speaker/sound board on my iPhone 7+ failed in December 2020, I jumped back on the Android bandwagon, getting a Pixel device: the Pixel 4a 5G. This was a much more premium device than my throwaway Blu R1 HD or the very compromised Nokia 6.1.

But even on a semi-flagship Google phone, the stock Android OS started to feel a bit slow after a little less than a year. I had intended to check out privacy-respecting Android builds all along (still being very wary of Google's spying), so I finally bit the bullet:

In fall 2021, I switched the stock Android OS on my Pixel 4A 5G to the privacy-focused CalyxOS, which like many custom Android builds is based on the aforementioned AOSP. I expected to lose a lot of features, and while it's not a compromise-free experience, for the most part, I went on using my phone just like before, enjoying almost all of the same apps that I used on stock Android.

The Current Shipwreck

Most issues I've had with using a privacy-focused Android build can be mitigated or worked around. The one thing that there is no workaround for (and may never be) is the lack of RCS "rich" messaging services for AOSP and derivatives.

This was not such a big deal when it was just Google's incredibly dorky and convoluted answer to Apple's irredeemably underhanded iMessage "service." But now that Apple has been forced by the E.U. to play somewhat on the same field as others and implement RCS, any mobile operating system that doesn't have RCS is looking kinda backwards. There's nothing quite like getting an important message from a client says, "This video shows where the problem is!" and it's a circa-2004 3GP-format video at 144p and looks like it was compressed by running it through an Infinite Improbability Drive.

Yes! We have no bananas — I mean, there is no RCS implementation for AOSP, and there may never be. Google has not updated the stock messaging app in AOSP in a very long time, and they have not added any RCS functionality. There was a "TestRCSApp" released to AOSP a couple years back, but I never could find any evidence that this was a usable basis for an RCS implementation for AOSP, nor indeed if anyone has volunteered to attempt to make it so. In addition to this, any time I go searching online for information about RCS itself, all I can seem to find is conflicting and vitriolic debates about whether or not it is even an open specification.

You see, in The Good Old Days, Google released almost the entirety of Android as Open Source Software under the Android Open Source Project. This slowly changed with all new google apps being released as proprietary VultureWare, and only be basest basest basest base of the OS being released to the AOSP nowadays. It would appear that some time around 2010, all of the glorious nerds at Google were surgically neutered by Eric Schmidt and his army of Undead VPs of Late-Stage Capitalistic Despair, and as it is now, the company is about as magnanimous as a tapeworm. Almost all new Android features are released as super-locked-down proprietary apps, and AOSP has been left to dangle, without so much as a working calendar app at this point (fortunately, there are a couple good ones on F-Droid).

And if all of that train-wreckage wasn't enough, Google is blocking anyone from using their proprietary messaging app on open Android builds, so even if one were to trust them with their messaging, you still wouldn't be able to get RCS on anything but a proprietary-and-absolutely-spying-on-your-spleen Official Corporate Overlord Android Builds.

In Part II of this series, I will go over the currently extant Native Messaging options for FOSS Android, and no, they're not great 😵‍💫

Collections

2024-10-24T02:57:00-05:00

A while back, a friend and I exchanged subjects for blog posts, which turned out to actually be a lot of fun.

A week ago, he, I, and another fedifriend got together to exchange blog post ideas/prompts, round-robin style.

The prompt I was given (with purposefully no context) was "Collections."

The prompt made me think about collection-based hobbies. A lot of folks enjoy collecting stamps, coins, baseball cards, vinyl records, you name it.

As someone with recently diagnosed ADHD (a blog post on that is planned), I have my own particular collection hobby:

I collect hobbies 😄

Many ADHDers refer to themselves as "serial hobbyists," and the term is quite apt. I don't think I can list them all out here, but from memory, here's all of the hobbies I can come up with that I've done for at least a week:

Programming (a few different languages, none very in-depth except Shell and some Perl)
Digital art (I found out quickly that purchasing a Wacom tablet didn't impart any actual artistic skill)
Embedded/micocontroller programming
Electronics (basic soldering skills)
RC Airplanes (building and flying)
Drones (not very fun when the software does 90% of the flying, honestly)
Photography (haven't busted out my dSLR in probably three years)
Amateur Radio
- I have a handful of "hand talkies" and antannae collecting dust upstairs
- I've listened to ham satellites before, but never had the gear to actually talk successfully
- I've participated in APRS using some software on a phone and some audio adapters
- I've run WSPR software on a software-defined radio to hear stations as far away as Japan on nothing more than a set of "bunny ear" antennae indoors
Creative writing (hello!)
Piano (I can play the black keys real good)
Recorder (I can play that one rennaisance-sounding beginner song everyone learns)
Didgeridoo (I sound amazing... for 2 seconds at a time)
Electric guitar (very short-lived due to unfortunate physical limitations)
Sculpting? (I made a couple abstract things out of plasticine and then threw them away)
Singing (not great, not terrible)
Woodcarving (carved one thing, and man my hand hurt)
Raquetball (decades ago)
Rubik's cube (got good enough to solve the 3x3x3 in 2 minutes, and was happy with that)
Pottery (this was in the early 2010s. I made a couple things with some family members, which was kinda fun)
Fountain pens (this actually revolutionized my handwriting)
Poetry (I've got a poetry blog somewhere on the fediverse)
Journaling (Mostly on the computer nowadays, but I'd like to get back to (fountain) pen & paper)
Audio editing (I can do basic stuff with audacity. I've used other audio editors here and there going back decades)
3D Printing (the Ender 3 is cursed, man!)
Tabletop RPGs (filed my saturdays in the latter half of the 1990s with lots of fun and friendship)
Languages (I know literally a handful of words in a handful of languages)
Annoying zoomers with 80s cultural references (Yes, that IS a hobby!! 😂)

The ADHD Hobby Cycle looks a little something like this:

Find out about a new hobby/interest
Learn quickly that the new hobby gives me lots of yummy dopamine
Spend HOURS watching Youtube videos on the subject
Invest modest financial resources getting into the hobby
Enjoy the newfound dopamine from building/playing/running the hobby
Come across any roadblock
- Crash the RC Airplane
- Practicing the instrument sucks
- Working on vocabulary and grammar rules sucks
- Any kind of physical discomfort sucks
- Spending real money to expand the hobby sucks
- Getting ink on your hands sucks
- Practicing anything sucks
- Lugging around a 3-8 pound camera when your phone is always in your pocket sucks
Find that your dopamine suddenly dried up
Go back to whatever you were doing until you find the next hobby

Such is life 😉

A Grief Exchanged

2024-10-13T20:52:00-05:00

The working title of my previous post was, "A Grief Exchanged."

I couldn't quite make the title work in my head, so I abandoned it for "Adoption," which still works well.

I'm re-claiming that title for this post, because I can make more sense of where I was going with my last post.

I got home tonight after spending a few hours with family, and a familiar-yet-distant feeling was on my mind:

Excitement.

Excitement because I was home.
Excitement because someone was waiting for me.

I've been feeling lately like the last year was almost a Dallas Dream Retcon type of interlude.

...that the past 12 months of mourning, sadness, and intense feelings of aimlessness were just a passing shadow, and that I am now what I always was:

A cat dad!!!

Now, please understand. I am not at all trying to equate cat "ownership" as some kind of great panacea for the soul, or some kind of great spiritual calling in and of itself (although... it really kinda IS). And truthfully, most of the things I struggled with during the past year of loss were things I struggled with even while I had my floofson with me.

But during the past 54 hours, I have felt the sadness of the past 12 months steadily effaced as I spoke to, cared for, fed and delighted in this "Wee, sleeket, cowrin, tim’rous beastie."

And in doing so, I exchanged grief over the loss of one floofchild for the joy of caring for another one.

I think Hobbes would be pleased.