I wasn't sure where to put this, but it is regarding reading and 'the library' seems kinda barren, so I'm putting it here. orchids blog posts aside (it's his site, after all), I'd rather not have a singular thread for every individual one. Also, I'm quite proud of this one so I wanted to share it:

HERE BE AI

Edit: Doesn't have to be a "blog" post, yo.

THAT, amigo. Was one doozy of an article, yo.

Man, I have things I'd like to say here, but ima bite my tongue a bit. While I found the author in the article to be a little over-sensitive to the feelings and plight of the customers, the conclusion was 100% on point about corporations and this kinda 'business'. It is 200% exploitation and the worse thing is some people can develop not just 'attachment' to the 'service', but even to the underlying exploitation.

I'm afraid I don't, but I tried searching it: this one, Sub Rosa? Tried reading the synopsis, but wasn't able to make a connection, sorry :(

Absolutely, and this is a problem with education I dig into in another of my blog posts, but it is obsessed with gimmiky-like shid. And schools don't really care if learning is happening as much as they care for the appearance that learning is happening, imo.

1. And I apologize cause this just be me cause I'm in education and I feel like I'm constantly walking on eggshells, but people shouldn't be so terrified to be a bit of an asshole.

2. We shouldn't even give it the thought that it's 'you'. It is less than a farce.

"Sex with a ghost" is an absolutely wonderful metaphor for this.

It will never stop being refreshing to read this kind of sentiment on the internet. I'm going to leave it at what I said, but your points regarding business and personal information are probably the #1 essential thing the majority of people should keep in mind.

This is quite timely, as we are dealing with an issue of identically this nature at my school right now.

One of the things I teach is programming and, in my opinion, like Mr. Khan mentions in his presentation, it is a faster, better "teacher" (feedback provider?) than I could possibly ever hope to be. It's not perfect, but I do think it is worthwhile enough right now to warrant its use, (data harvesting issues notwithstanding ofc). Slippery slope from there imagining AI being a student's exclusive educator though.

I take a lot of pride in being beginner-friendly, though I feel that computer science curriculum as a whole is weak in this aspect. Add on the fact that tech is elective-prioritized, even if the curriculum were improved, how would one have the time? A testament honestly to your feelings that you were better off on your own. Though I am speaking more from a K12 perspective.

Additionally, I've read that as of late, many first year college computer science professors use obscure programming languages in 101 courses to try and get the diverse background of students on a similar playing field. An interesting strategy, I think.

Kek. Fun fact: the most advanced computer science test a high schooler can take in the US is pencil / paper exclusive. So it's always interesting when I've taught that course to prepare students for that.

I agree, but I also disagree, cause lately I've found a love for writing. For this sort of stuff. So easy to dismiss things. But you're not wrong.

Fuggin BADASS. This says a lot about learning and struggle and capability. But hopefully that's self-evident.

I forgot to mention that along this same thread of related topics, I was also made aware of this website: Character.ai <= Wikipedia article, not the website, sorry if that's confusing. Which essentially takes this concept to its natural conclusion of... being a meme, I guess? The folks over at Agora Road have been having... fun? with it. Some more seriously than others. But, if you read the replika article, I believe reading through this thread could* prove interesting (if not at least childishly entertaining) for you: Character.ai thread

Based! God I love webrings. Did you see that Agora Road recently had a member make one?

Mr. Thomas also has his Webrings Technology page for explanations and details for a bunch of different systems for creating one! For example, the Agora Road forum member used onionring.js

Basement Community webring, anyone?

I find it funny that you in particular wrote so much. I quite enjoyed 'Part 3 Be Human' of the first article.

Manu recently posted AI will not replace you, which, alongside your writing, demonstrates similar sentiment among many of us.

Don't forget to share your 3rd one when it's done.

Congrats on the blog / post, yo. I completely understand that uncertainty of whether or not you'll keep at it. Blogging is indeed a hobby, and it will be for some people and not for others. Part of the reason I've been enjoying 'Personal Website'-ing as a hobby is because it's actually turned out to be various hobbies, not just one...

Writing blog posts, reading the blog posts of others, participating in online communities / discussions, learning old / new technologies, implementing old / new technologies, tracking down small / niche / hidden corners of the internet, coming face-to-face with modern culture in an authentic direct way I'd never experienced irl

It's so much more than just "making a site", for me at least. It can certainly become never-ending, overwhelming, and I would totally understand why someone would want to save themselves time by dropping any one of its numerous parts.

I do feel that speaking one's mind is a crucial point of having your own space online, but I'll never judge anyone for how they approach or prioritize their time. Nothing is more valuable.

Specifically in terms of blogging, having been doing it for almost 10 months now, there's a few things I can speak to regarding my own experience:

• I appreciate setting a soft time limit. I've told myself: 2 posts per month. I've also told myself quality > quantity (personal feeling) and that it's OK if I can't meet that quota. But the quota pushes me to try and more importantly...

• THINK. Even if I didn't post something that month, the quota guarantees that I've thought about it. In a similar vein to programming and being stuck on a problem for a while to then finally have that "brain-blast", eureka moment of what to write about / how to write something is pretty awesome.

• I believe reading other blog posts is wonderful "food for thought". Only thing keeping me from calling it "necessary" is that I could appreciate someone trying to keep their writing untainted by others, which could be interesting. But even then, none of us are 100% an island.

• The quota forces me to finish. "Perfection is the enemy of good enough". Finish your posts; not all of them, nor all at once, but what you may find (like I have) is the more time has passed since you wrote them, the more you are happy with them as they are, which is likely closer to how a reader interprets your writing.

• Share your work. Even if it's to the notice of no one. Even if all it ever receives is criticism. Put yourself out there. Meet people "halfway". I don't use any of the big social medias, but I also don't have my site exclusively on Tor (or at all right now, unfortunately). I post to Mastodon, it's ¯\(ツ)/¯ I give others a chance.

• RSS feed is probably the most crucial imo. I browse sites for fun and even I can't keep up with their life-like nature. RSS feed or bust, I think.

• I recently made a small message at the top of my blog with my favorite posts. The more I write the more overwhelming it might be for a visitor so I thought it was a simple, helpful idea.

• Consider putting your email at the bottom of every post. Try to lessen the friction for someone to reach out to you. I also have a comments section and I like it, but email at least, even if it's elsewhere on your site, put it on every post.

• Consider joining a "blog club". I started blogging cause I joined the Lainchan Webring and the lainanons ripped me a new one for having an empty blog page. Then I came across Bring Back Blogging. Later on a forum friend became inspired and started his own: Agora Road Travelogue. And now I've joined IndieWeb Carnival. I also write on my blog because I have a soft goal of getting into ooh.directory and Ye Olde Blogroll. It's like going to the gym, having a buddy to drag you there can be really nice.

Hope any of that helps with how you approach it going forward, stonehead.

Forgot to mention that Starbreaker does something with his RSS Feed that I haven't seen anybody else do. He'll occasionally revive old posts and put them on the feed. Even more interesting he usually adds to them with a small update / comment at the bottom. He's been doing it for a long time so it can be really interesting to read a piece he posted years ago and then see if something's changed or maybe a snarky "told you so". I love it.

Something I'll definitely look into doing once I have a crap ton of posts.

Haven't shared a post here in a while and I worked really hard on this one:

My Lolcow & Me

It's about an old acquaintance of mine, but also a touchy term that, I feel, is growing in popularity recently. It turned out a little longer than I'd prefer, but I hope you enjoy!

man, i can't believe there's a got dang details element. Every search I did was like you want an accordion? Javascript. can't wait to implement this, thank you!

This might be of interest to you if you haven't seen it: How Far Back in Time Can I Take My Website's Design + orange site discussion

Imo fren, and it ofc depends on the individual, I, personally, find this web dev shid hard enough without adding additional challenges on top. But I don't do it for a living so YMMV. My most important thoughts for web dev are:

• minimal javascript

• reads / works / looks good on desktop AND mobile *edit

• RSS feed, front and center

And just MAKE CONTENT. The rest is icing. I'm actually not obeying this #1 rule of mine right now, but I'm justifying it as a temporary exception so that in the long-run I can follow that rule. There's other stuff I think highly of but those are the main 3 that I'd tell someone who was looking to start (or restart, in your case).

burnin' in the melting pot

If you do it, I will try. Kinda haven't met neither my IndieWeb Carnival nor my Agora Road Travelogue quotas for the past 2 months And that's really saying something cause they're not mutually exclusive / they help each other out.

Another good piece on this subject: Supporting extensive backwards compatibility on the web

Don't think any of you are particularly interested in becoming teachers anytime soon, but:

The Pupil

Had someone email me over the holidays about becoming a teacher and they said things like it was "speaking to them" or "the idealism is what attracts them". And my first instinct, because I've been there, is to shut that down. But at the same time it's a topic that has a surprising amount of nuance so I shared my thoughts and it also fit in with:

IndieWeb Carnival January 2024: Positive Internalization

Which I'm hosting and u hoes should at least consider participating in, lol!

Anyways, hope u enjoy!

I'm right behind you fam, but dam is the last third of my fugging blog post taking me a bit.

Well, the time limit didn't do me much good. I got the last third to a better state than it was, but don't feel I quite nailed the landing... Oh well! I can always come back and update the last couple of sentences if the muse strikes. I wouldn't say I procrastinated as much as went back and forth on what approach I wanted to take with it. Yours definitely helped push me over the finish line.

The Neon God

Lessssgooo, I got my very own Starbreaker response post! Thank you so much for taking the time to read and then write that all out, yo. I loved reading it!

You should consider (maybe) submitting it into the Lainchan Web Festival. I'm pretty sure you do not have to be a Lainring member to participate. You can email: [email protected]

As for what you wrote, I agree with a good chunk of it..

• There's a lot of nuance I steamrolled over (some for artistic? purposes), that I'm glad you addressed.

• I'm personally not dogmatic, I think: "every rule has its exception(s), including this one". Heck, I'm not even very biblical myself, just sort-of adopted that style for this piece.

• You're correct in that I was not referring to your journey / relationship. I think its awesome how you met your wife. But I also suspect, and I mean you touched on it in your original post, how it was different back when you did.

But our core feelings are definitely at odds. I really do believe there is salvation in surrender. That darkness, death, conclusions are not inherently worth fighting, particularly to their bitter end. That there's a sort-of idea of "overstaying your welcome", and that grace and wholeness flow more easily when that vibe? is respected. Meaning timing matters a lot, too early and I think a lot of what you argue occurs. But too late, and I think a sort-of beauty is lost.

Thank you again for your time and attention, I know you churn out writing like a got dam machine, and maybe it's not much to you, but still! <3

Something I read once was on the relationship between freedom (or moksha) and love. How the speaker considered freedom a higher value than love. How, if love were to be hindering freedom, they believed it should be dropped. I agree with that idea, and with you. That love should be free-flowing, including in whatever ways it manifests. [Osho, The Tantra Vision Vol. 2, Chapter 2]

But how often do we try to force love / hinder freedom? How often do we try to force a lot of things? I think digital relationships lend themselves to convenience, to comfort, to superficiality. We find them safe, risk-averse, and we have a tendency to want to keep it (and a lot of things) that way. I'd have different feelings on @starbreaker's marriage if it'd had never left the digital, and even stronger feelings on people having relationships with ai's.

Would those 2 cases be 'simply love'? I don't think so.

I completely understand. I do appreciate having the space / flexibility to discuss more crudely or about darker subjects more readily, but those spaces are absolutely double-edged swords.

Well, for example, this idea / quote from your post in particular is one I was thinking about as I was writing my piece:

"Did Nature make viruses, bacteria, and other parasites to sap our strength and cut us down before our time? We developed sanitation, germ theory, and vaccines to armor ourselves against infection and root out those that take root despite our precautions."

Modern medicine is a marvel. How many times have I'd have died by now without it? And with my general sweep of Unabomber-like disdain, I inherently include it in my attack on technology. But there are potentially interesting discussions surrounding some of these innovations. Antimicrobial resistance could be seen as a "divine push back" on the "tampering of" with these forces, but there's tons whose consequences are seemingly non-existent. And I even read once somewhere that, allegedly, antimicrobial resistance correction is potentially something that could occur over the course of months as it seems their defenses require significant amounts of energy, and that once their need for it is unnecessary, evolution drops that shid, pretty quickly too, given at their generational lifespans. So a few grueling months seems like a small price to pay for the countless lives that have been saved. Still, we can see the inherent balance of things, and how tilting the scales too much, "straying from grace" can cause problems.

Have you seen this thread on Agora Road? Is it even ethical to have children? I think you might enjoy it as what you speak of is echoed quite a bit throughout the discussion. Additionally, this post by xandra (you may know her from MelonLand) may also be of relevance: Childfree.txt

This is what I'm kind of alluding to. I don't think you can gain 'immortality' without incredible cost. Because you'd be "overstaying your welcome", the universe would enact a toll so powerful that you'd be left with a diluted imitation of life. And at that point? What are we doing? Lower the curtain, yo. That's a wrap.

EDIT: In reference to your preferred online spaces: I do find it a bit funny though how direct and "rough" your writing can be, but your favorite online spot seems to be MelonLand, with its "rainbows and unicorns" kinda vibe. Not hating in the slightest, just that I find it a bit ironic, you know?

I know that pain. I'm slowly picking up the habit of writing on Obsidian and then copy-pasting, but I still require more discipline.

Kek: Noted.

It wasn't me. I'm open about my Hacker News account on HackerNews itself AND my site.

I don't like it much either, but I've found it useful enough on occasion to not totally renounce it. And I will occasionally post small-web links, but I do try to be considerate about whose*.

I completely agree that any user claiming to be underage on Agora should be banned. I believe its even in the terms of service / forum rules somewhere, it's just not enforced. But, personally, I take the stance: "not my circus, not my monkeys". Anyone that I've noticed say they're underage, I disregard entirely. It's not hard.

As for them being young in general (but over 18). I appreciate the youth. Yes, youth is dumb, but they also bring in new / interesting perspectives or if not, at the very least serve as interesting windows into culture / life, I think. But I'm also a teacher, I work with kids, I'm used to youth's eccentricities.

I have nothing for the antisemitism unfortunately. Though I will say, I personally find it a little (sad) funny that I enjoy the (unrelated) thoughts or ideas someone is sharing, while grappling with the fact that they'd probably throw me in a gas chamber if given the chance. ¯\(ツ)/¯

Slightly overdue, but here's my April IndieWeb Carnival submission for RisingThumb 's theme: "Good Enough" - the Drop in Quality's Siren call.

On the Fish in the Sea

It's about relationships, but not just digital ones, like Manu prompted about. I don't like what I perceive the Internet to have done / be doing to people's approach to them. It's most prominent online, but the digital always bleeds into the real, yo.