My Every Day Carry, Part II: Backpack Edition
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
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My Every Day Carry
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 …
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Why would you use Perl in 2024?
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 …
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Which Linux Distro *shouldn't* I pick, and why?
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 …
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Android Messaging, Part II: Life Limped Along at Sub-sonic Speeds
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 …
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FOSS ROMS and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad State of Native Messaging on Android
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 …
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Mozilla and the Death of Virtue
A fedifriend mentioned me yesterday on a post about a recent kerfuffle regarding some decisions that Mozilla has been making, particularly in regards to buying an advertising company (and integrating advertising into the browser) and adding "A.I." features into recent builds of Firefox.
I had intended to reply with …
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Gesture navigation is lame
In late 2017, Apple introduced what was to be a very revolutionary iPhone (by iPhone standards, heh): The iPhone X.
Gone were the archaic huge forehead (how much room do you really need for a speaker, camera, and proximity sensor?) and chin (with physical home button*). In its place was …
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The Toxicity Dance
There's been some kerfuffle today on the fediverse over the issue of toxicity in the Linux and Open Source community. "Toxic" is one of those trigger words that immediately gets fingers a-pointing. The great irony is that just to mention the word "toxic" can in itself be a toxic statement …
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Use what works for good
Exactly a month ago, I wrote an article challenging the prevalent pragmatist-argument for choice in the digital world.
I'd like to refine that thought a bit further, based on recent experiences.
A little over a week ago, I started crafting an article covering FOSS keyboards for Android. This is one …
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