For the past year, this website has been generated using some Go code I wrote, which was fun while it lasted, but it got to the point where every time I wanted to add something I would have to hand-code the new feature, which resulted in my website never getting updated. So moving forward, I’ve gone back to using Hugo as a static site generator. It’s been a great experience so far, converting my old stylesheets into a Hugo theme has been quite easy. My custom-built site generator is a project I’d like to revisit in the future, but for now ease of use takes priority.
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Specifically, I got a ThinkPad T450s from 2015 for about $40. It didn’t come with storage, a power adapter, or the external battery, which cost me about an extra $100 to order. The internal battery is there but I can’t really test it until my power adapter comes in (I forgot to order it at the same time as the laptop whoops). There are also some keycaps missing. I can’t test if the switches are good yet but hopefully it turns out to be an easy fix. When I removed the back panel, I found that the plastic towards the front that the screws go into was broken, as if someone had just ripped the thing open with the screws still in there. One screw’s plastic is completely gone, but the other two are there, loosely hanging around, which is annoying, but some super glue should fix that right up. Assuming the laptop works once all my parts come in, I can’t be too mad over a $140 laptop.
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I’ve spent the majority of my holiday break working on my PC and software instead of relaxing. Here is a quick recap of what I’ve been up to.
First is powerlinx, the static site generator that runs this site. I rewrote major parts of the program and finally gave it a cli. I’m gearing up to add some cool features, like tags and categories on posts. This website now generates Atom feeds for all directories in the site contents.
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I can’t seem to find a healthy way to use TikTok, so I just shouldn’t use it at all. I first installed it during the height of the pandemic in 2020 and have since uninstalled and reinstalled it at least 4 or 5 times. While there is a huge load of shit on the platform, there are also cool and interesting creators on there, lots of funny jokes, shitposts, and memes, and even videos where I legitmately learned something! However, short-form video scares me as a social media format because of how addicting it is. TikTok’s algorithm in particular is so good at showing you what you want to see that you can’t help but scroll. It got to the point where I was reaching for my phone and scrolling TikTok every time I had a free minute. On my worst days, this would sometimes last hours. Just scrolling. Filling up my brain with content of dubious quality and intentions. TikTok is also experiencing a rise in Internet discourse and outrage culture on the platform. Due to the short virality cycle of content on TikTok, it seems to be speedrunning the same discourse Tumblr did a decade ago. It’s exhausting. I’m tired of all interaction online being subject “discourse”. I’m tired of hot takes. I’m tired of hearing the unwanted opinion of every random online.
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Yesterday’s news about Yu-Gi-Oh! author Kazuki Takahashi really hit me hard. Yu-Gi-Oh! was a huge part of my childhood and introduced me both to card games and mange/anime. I would be a very different person without his influence.
Thank you for everything, Takahashi-sensei. May you rest in peace.
I’ve been out of commission and stuck in bed for the past few weeks, and this weekend was the first time I could sit in at all in a few weeks, so I wanted to do a small project. There has been some chatter about self-hosting cloud services in the Yesterweb forum🔗, and I decided I wanted to give it a shot.
My home hardware situation is a little lacking, but I do have a Raspberry Pi 4 8GB with an external hard disk attached, which is sufficient for a few services. I decided to start with Jellyfin🔗 because I have been starting to manage my own music library locally again, to supplement my usage of Spotify. Jellyfin was attractive because it solves a long-time gripe I’ve had with Spotify: management of local media files is absolute shit.
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This week, Apple announced it was ceasing production on the iPod touch, officially making the iPod a gadget of a bygone era.
My first iPod was a 3rd gen iPod touch, but I also owned a few Nanos.
That iPod touch was my introduction to the mobile web and app space, while smartphones were still a novelty, before they were a necessity.
Everyone I knew had novelty apps like the beer glass and the zippo lighter.
It was also before mobile games were basically only freemium-only, with a lot of high quality games for only $0.99.
It’s strange how different the internet and mobile tech was only 10 years ago, it certainly didn’t turn out how I expected.
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This year will mark two years since I graduated college. Despite graduation feeling like the resolution following the climax of the movie with the bad guy defeated and the cast living happily ever after, time continued to move forward.
While in college, I studied Japanese to fulfill my degree’s language requirements. In my Japanese 101 class I met a few classmates who were as weirded out as I was by the general clownery that some of the other students engaged in, and we started studying together. Over the next two semesters, we met up to study (by which I mean not doing that) almost every day and became quite close.
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My favorite thing to do is nothing. Just sitting idle, observing the environment (or more likely, my apartment wall). It’s fun. I just get to think. Like David Puddy on a 16 hour flight. The world requires constant attention these days, so don’t forget to take a break.
So that’s it. Twitter reached a deal with Elon Musk. There’s not much to say that hasn’t already been said. I want to believe Musk will make improvements, but I think whatever improvements he makes will please the wrong crowd of people. Twitter has a monopoly on the type of platform it provides, which puts him in a unique position of power, especially with all the fuss US lawmakers have been making about free speech on Twitter and elsewhere online.
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