Technology has promised so much, has *delivered* so much, and yet, I'm horrified.
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 …
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Responding to The Linux Cast's Vitriolic Diatribe
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 …
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The Case for AVIF
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 …
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I kinda hate "apps"
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 …
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How I Mitigate Horrible "Apps"
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 …
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You can *never* be apolitical
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 …
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Loops is... interesting
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 …
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The Last Stage of Loss?
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 …
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"Online" documentation should be offline
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 …
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Blog Questions Challenge 2025
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 …
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