[2025-03-02] Creating post archive, some style updates

_posts/archive/2023-01-14-musings-on-the-cinema.md

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+---
+title: Musings on the power of cinema
+---
+
+I've realised that going to the cinema makes me sad; a quiet, contemplative melancholy. Ennui. No matter the film, something about the cinema experience is meditative for me. I always look at things differently in the aftermath; like my perception is temporarily knocked off balance. No, more like a fog is lifted for a while. I especially enjoy that time immediately after, the cycle home. I notice so many little details, scenes of beauty and of strange nostalgia. Like I'm finally seeing the world how it is, or rather, I begin to see rather than look, listen rather than hear. I feel as though these moments, however brief, are when I am truly in touch with myself. My soul, my inner essence. This is why I love the cinema. These moments of private melancholy, of temporary clarity. It is a feeling I cannot replicate anywhere else in my life.

_posts/archive/2023-03-05-yuri-felsen-on-love.md

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+---
+title: Yuri Felsen on love
+---
+
+_"Like everyone, I have my own, maybe obsessive futile, maybe in some way authentic, vision: all of a sudden, I will imagine the entire homogenous world as it is revealed to us-the streets, the cities, the rooms, those intelligent beasts of a sad and predatory nature, who have learn to stand on their hind legs, who have built all this but are fated to disappear, who, despite this, still try to cling to something solid and lasting, still try to ward off the inevitability of death, who dreamt up fairy tales and, now that these stories have been disproved, are disconsolate - and for me the only means of defending myself from our terrible fate is love, my love - Lyolya. Without love we fall into a stupor or despair, it covers our naked animal essence; with the fear of death, with deliberate attempts to grab hold of some kind of eternity, one that is at once a mystery to us and yet devised by us, even the remains of love, even its very echo in music, imbues us with a semblance of fearlessness, dignity and the spiritual range to disregard death. Only by loving, by knowing about love, hoping for love, are we inspired and meaningfully engaged in life, able to banish the sovereignty of petty day-to-day cares, to stop waiting for the end to come"_
+
+**- Yuri Felsen (*trans. Bryan Karetnyk*)**
+
+From 'Deceit', first published in 1930 and translated to English in 2022.

_posts/archive/2023-03-10-putting-thoughts-into-action.md

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+---
+title: A measure of how easily thoughts can be translated to action
+---
+
+Recently, I've been using multiple different languages and frameworks (both at work and personally) and I've been thinking about why I prefer some over others. Ultimately, I think it comes down to this:
+
+_How easily can I translate what I am thinking about into a working setup?_
+
+That is, how much effort needs to go into converting my idea into a solution? (If there is not already a word for this, then there should be. Don't worry, I am willing to take the hit and have it named after me.)
+
+For example, I've been building this website over the past month or so. Generally, for static websites, I think that HTML + CSS are very good at allowing me to get what I see in my head running on `localhost`. At this point CSS has so many different options that you just need to find the right search terms in order to get what you want.
+
+However, they are both lacking somewhat in _intuitiveness_. Especially when starting out, it can get very confusing to know the right tags and the right syntax and the right placement (and so on) to realise your vision. 
+
+This is where services like Squarespace et al. come into play. They give you that intuitive UI, dragging and dropping of features, resizing and changing colours. They make it super duper easy to do the actual building, at the cost of the range of bricks you can use.
+
+So, we have two measures:
+1. Can I do everything I want to?
+2. How easy is it?
+
+These are usually a direct tradeoff, with ease typically preferred over options. This tends to frustrate me, as I want full control of all those little configurations.
+
+The solution to this, at least for me, are frameworks such as Bootstrap and Jekyll. They put a layer between the user and the options; essentially translating and simplying all the little configurations into something much easier to work with. Columns in Bootstrap make page layouts simple; markdown-to-html parsing in Jekyll makes text formatting a breeze. But, most importantly of all, these frameworks don't sacrifice on the possibilities. They make it easier to apply complex setups, but if you want to go in and tweak absolutely everything to your liking, go right ahead. By providing the user with simpler ways of doing the same things as before, they manage to bridge the gap between _Can I do everything I want to?_ and _How easy is it?_. And I think that is beautiful.

_posts/archive/2023-04-29-links-arent-performances.md

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+---
+title: Links aren't performances
+---
+_"For starters, it finds that publishing a link can be a "performance" of a copyrighted work, which meant that when Linkletter linked to the world-viewable Youtube files that Proctorio had posted, he infringed on copyright._
+
+_This is a perverse, even surreal take on copyright. The court rejects Linkletter's argument that even Youtube's terms of service warned Proctorio that publishing world-viewable material on its site constituted permission for people to link to and watch that material."_
+
+
+Via: [Pluralistic](https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/20/links-arent-performances/#free-ian-linkletter)

_posts/archive/2023-12-03-001.md

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+---
+title: 001 - Philosophy, grief and macaques
+layout: post
+---
+
+I read a lot of stuff on the internet. A lot of it I don't enjoy, or it outright angers me. However, I frequently come across some diamonds in the rough: articles I really enjoy, useful tools and guides, a dearth of blog posts and the ever-present Wikipedia article.
+
+The problem that I face is that all of this consumption is ephemeral. I read an blog post, think to myself _Wow that was a really great read_ and then promptly forget all about it. To resolve this, I am starting (as of right now) a weekly-ish roundup of all the interesting stuff that I've read and found. It helps me keep track of all the stuff I have read, and also has the added benefit of sharing it with others. 
+
+Without further ado:
+
+- A [very interesting philosophy paper](https://consc.net/papers/extended.html) on the limits of the human mind. Where can the mind actually be said to end? How is a diary any different from your memories? This is especially potent when considered with the possibility of neural implants and the increasingly common cyborg-fetishism of the ultra-rich. I take extensive notes at work, and it is fun to consider whether they are actually a _part_ of me. 
+
+- A bit less heavy, this [blog post](https://jacobbartlett.substack.com/p/my-toddler-loves-planes-so-i-built) about a father who built his daughter her own radar app to spot planes together is both heartwarming and technically interesting. I recommend the [HN thread](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38435908) where I came across this too, it has some equally nice stories about technology and parenthood.
+
+- [This post](https://www.robinsloan.com/notes/home-cooked-app/) is in the same vein. A story of family's beloved app reaching the end of its life, and being manually revived (but only for the family). It has a nice sentiment about software on a small-scale, as something that can be personal, private, and free from corporate interests. 
+
+- [Here](https://d3ward.github.io/toolz/adblock.html) is a useful tool for checking how good your browser setup is for blocking ads and fingerprinting. Pretty happy with 99%, but room for improvement.
+
+- A fun little rabbit hole of a [Wikipedia page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Approximate_measures) about approximate measurements. Apparently dash, pinch, smidgen, drop and hint are all quantifiable!
+
+- Another rather techy [blog post](https://luke.hsiao.dev/blog/housing-documentation/) about why you should write documentation for your house. This currently exists for my partner and I as a couple of binders filled with notes, instruction booklets and takeaway menus, but I am looking forward to a proper setup whenever I get around to it.
+
+- [This](https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2023/10/16/were-more-ghosts-than-people/) is a very interesting piece on religion and loss, explored through a relationship to a virtual character. Thought-provoking stuff, especially when confonting how we strive for control in our lives even with death always looming over us. I will certainly never play _Red Dead Redemption 2_ in the same way.
+
+- And finally (for a happier ending): enjoy [these excellent photos](https://time.com/3148/these-monkeys-are-having-the-best-spa-day-ever/) of Japanese macaques in a hot spring. I especially like this [almost biblical one](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/japanese-macaque-snow-monkeys-spa-day-3.jpg).
+
+Thanks for reading!<br>
+A.

_posts/archive/2023-12-10-002.md

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+---
+title: 002 - Trains, iPods and plagiarism
+layout: post
+---
+
+Hello again. Lots more interesting stuff this week, so I'll jump right in.
+
+- [This](https://social.hackerspace.pl/@q3k/111528162462505087) is a fascinating Mastodon thread. A very impressive reverse engineering of some train software, showing that it was deliberately designed to brick itself when being fixed at third-party repair workshops. Capitalism makes people do silly things.
+
+- [A mammoth article](https://emilygorcenski.com/post/making-god/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email) by Emily Gorcenski, dissecting the recent A"I"[^1] "revolution". It is meticulously researched, and gets deep into the motivations behind the grift.
+
+- Next up, [a technical breakdown](https://www.cameronmacleod.com/blog/how-does-shazam-work) of the inner workings of Shazam. This is always something that I have been amazed by, but never looked into the technology behind it. Who knew that Shazam used to be a phone number you could call? I'm certainly too young for that.
+
+- Something a bit different: I learned this week that you can play (online!) chess from you command line, through `telnet` and [freechess.org](freechess.org). Just run `telnet freechess.org 5000` and play some games. I love things like this, and that they continue to exist.
+
+- [A tool for easily dithering images](https://seleb.github.io/ordered-dither-maker/), very cool.
+
+- I learned this week about the [Rockbox project](https://www.rockbox.org/), which is custom software for mp3 players (inlcuding iPods!). [Here is a thread](https://mastodon.social/@bagder/111538350617290554) from Daniel Stenberg about how the iPod was "rockboxed".
+
+- I was too quick to use "mammoth" earlier. For the final link today, [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDp3cB5fHXQ) is a ***mammoth*** deep dive into the problem of plagiarism on YouTube. Some incredible stuff in here, and it is very interesting throughout, despite being almost 4 (four) hours long.
+
+Thanks for reading!<br>
+A.
+
+<hr>
+
+[^1]: It is artificial, but certainly not intelligence. Just statistics.

_posts/archive/2023-12-18-003.md

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+---
+title: 003 - Bryan, Cory and Mickey
+layout: post
+---
+
+I've been pretty busy this week, so a little shorter than usual (although I still found plenty of time for some [Cory Doctorow](https://pluralistic.net/).
+
+- First up, with no exaggeration, the [Greatest Blog Post of All Time (so far)](https://ciechanow.ski/mechanical-watch/). This is a full and thorough breakdown of the inner workings of a mechanical watch; something I had a vague interest in before this, but am now fully and whole-heartedly invested in. The content alone is enough to get me to recommend it, but it is paired with countless interactive animations and diagrams, which take this thing to another level. And that's before you realise that they were all written, *by hand*, in OpenGL. Amazing stuff.
+
+- Next up, something amazing in a different way: [the Perseverance rover has now been active for 1000 days!](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-67700437)
+
+- Apologies for the YouTube link: [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQfJi7rjuEk) we have a great talk from Bryan Cantrill about so-called "AI doomers", who genuinely believe that Chat-GPT is going to kill us all. Bryan breaks down this idea and why we should take it seriously, as well as repudiating some of the main "doomer" talking points (but in like, a fun way).
+
+- [This man](https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/dec/17/i-never-thought-i-would-get-this-far-london-man-runs-365-marathons-in-365-days) has just completed 365 marathons in 365 days. An absolutely incredible achievement, and I hope he breaks the record. It is all for charity and he seems like a good guy.
+
+Last up, a couple of links from Cory Doctorow (I told you I'd been reading him!): 
+
+- ["If buying isn't owning, piracy isn't stealing"](https://pluralistic.net/2023/12/08/playstationed/). This is a great breakdown of the problems that now seems to be present in every software medium: the idea that you don't own your games/music/films, you are merely renting them. 
+
+- [It all started with a mouse.](https://pluralistic.net/2023/12/15/mouse-liberation-front/) On January 1st 2024, Steamboat Willie (the first Mickey Mouse cartoon) *finally* enters the public domain. As Cory talks about, it is high time that Disney contributes back to the public domain space after benefitting from it for so long. I can't wait for all the legally-prtoecte memes.
+
+And that's all for this week.
+
+Thanks for reading!<br>
+A.

_posts/archive/2024-01-09-004.md

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+---
+title: 004 - Obfuscation, dial-up and tiny chess
+layout: post
+---
+
+I am back after the winter break, and glad to say that I did a whole lot of reading over the holidays. I have a **swathe** of links for you, covering a whole range of topics and interests. Let's jump in!
+
+- First up is [this rather demoralising article](https://www.404media.co/facebook-is-being-overrun-with-stolen-ai-generated-images-that-people-think-are-real/) about the fake image epidemic plaguing Facebook and the internet as a whole. I've resisted the so-called "AI revolution" from the beginning, and stuff like this is exactly why. On a better note, [404 Media](https://www.404media.co) are doing some great reporting on this and similar topics, check them out.
+
+- I finally found time for [this ~30 minute Tom Scott video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqRREz0iBes) about the world's largest optical telescope, and it was just as good as I expected. So many interesting insights in here, but my favourite was the way the mirrors are created. ***Literally atomising*** aluminium and spraying it in a fine mist. Crazy stuff.
+
+- [This](https://mm.icann.org/pipermail/tz/2023-December/033317.html) is an interesting (and kinda hilarious) email exchange from the Vostok Antarctic Research Base, about changing their timezone.
+
+- [More great reporting](https://www.404media.co/laion-datasets-removed-stanford-csam-child-abuse/) from 404 Media on the terrible and awful effects of "moving fast and breaking things".
+
+- [This](https://ethanzuckerman.com/2023/12/22/how-big-is-youtube/) is a great analysis of the current size of YouTube (*way* bigger than I expected, even though I knew it was huge). It seems insane that the number of videos appears to have almost doubled from 2021 to 2023 (!!). This also led me down the interesting Wikipedia rabbit hole of the [German tank problem](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_tank_problem)
+
+- This one is a little late, due to the Christmas theme, but it is worth it. I highly recommend compiling and running this [horrifying C code](https://udel.edu/~mm/xmas/xmas.c) and observing the output. There is a breakdown [here](https://udel.edu/~mm/xmas/), but sometimes it's better to bask in ignorance.
+
+- If you phone [this number](https://talkpaperscissors.com/), you will get matched up against a random opponent to play Rock Paper Scissors. I haven't tried it myself (it requires a US number), but I am interested to hear your thoughts!
+
+- If you know me, then you know I love people on the internet using their strange, domain-specific knowledge to implement a ridiculous idea. [Dial-up over a Discord Call](https://www.lilysthings.org/blog/discord-dialup/) certainly ticks those boxes.
+
+- Similar to the above, [this](https://www.fourbardesign.com/2020/10/diy-espresso.html?m=1) is a wildly impressive blog post about DIY-ing a pocket-sized espresso machine.
+
+- If you are bored and have a browser handy, I recently found out that PICO-8 games are playable in the browser [over on itch.io](https://itch.io/games/platform-web/tag-pico-8). POOM to your heart's content!
+
+- [An interesting look](https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/9780/did-english-ever-have-a-formal-version-of-you) at the English language, and whether we ever had a formal version of you.
+
+- Next up, [a fascinating breakdown](https://forrestheller.com/Apollo-11-Computer-vs-USB-C-chargers.html) of how the Apollo 11 guidance computer compares to the CPUs inside everyday phone chargers.
+
+- If you are interested in writing code (or learning to), [this is a great list](https://austinhenley.com/blog/challengingprojects.html) of challenging projects for you to try.
+
+- [A nice breakdown](https://blogsystem5.substack.com/p/the-ides-we-had-30-years-ago-and) of old IDEs, coupled with a bit of consternation about the things that we have lost since then.
+
+- [Here](https://dubroy.com/blog/cold-blooded-software/) is a nice sentiment about writing software which will continue to work (long after it stops being maintained) along with a great story. I especially like the bit about "boring technology".
+ 
+- On the lighter side, [here is a humourous write up](https://andreasjhkarlsson.github.io/jekyll/update/2023/12/27/4-billion-if-statements.html) about creating a script to tell if a number is odd or even, one number at a time.
+
+- [This is an excellent video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ne40a5LkK6A), covering Sebastian Lague's tiny chess bot championship. Many interesting insights and tidbits throughout, and it has definitely inpsired me to get into [chess programming](https://www.chessprogramming.org/Getting_Started).
+
+- [Some thoughts from Simon Willison](https://simonwillison.net/2024/Jan/2/escalating-streaks/) on motivation through the tracking of streaks.
+
+- And last but not least, rounding out the list we have another [article from 404 Media](https://www.404media.co/13-year-old-becomes-first-person-to-ever-beat-tetris/), about the first person to quote-on-quote "beat" Tetris.
+
+Phew! We made it. Thanks for reading if you stuck around. I am going to attempt to be more consistent with these throughout 2024, but as always, no promises. 
+
+A.

_posts/archive/2024-01-29-005.md

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+---
+title: 005 - ccTLDs, BBC Basic and 6174
+layout: post
+---
+
+Hello again! It's been a little while, but plenty of interesting stuff has built up for me to share.
+
+- First up, a couple of posts about the dangers and pitfalls of ccTLDs, and the problems they can cause:
+    - [.af](https://queer.af/@postmaster/111733741786950083)
+    - [.io](https://www.beep.blog/io/)
+
+- A(nother) [great blog post](https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/12/youre-holding-it-wrong/) from Cory Doctorow, this time about the cult of Apple. I have no idea how he pumps out such high quality so quickly. I can barely stick to one post a week!
+
+- Molly White has shared the [in-depth process](https://citationneeded.news/substack-to-self-hosted-ghost/) for switching away from Substack, after everything that has happened with that site. Very useful if you are in a similar situation, but worth a skim anyways just to see what good technical writing looks like. And as always, I am pro-self-hosting whenever possible.
+
+- In a similar vein, I really enjoyed this [article from Android Authority](https://www.androidauthority.com/offline-smart-home-3398608/) about creating an offline smart home using [HomeAssistant](https://www.home-assistant.io/). This has always been something that I've wanted to do, maybe I'll get around to it this year! [he lied].
+
+- This is a [really interesting story from ArsTechnica](https://arstechnica.com/features/2024/01/how-a-27-year-old-busted-the-myth-of-bitcoins-anonymity/) about how the myth of Bitcoin's anonymity was busted.
+
+- There is always something that I have seen during the week that really amazes me when I make these posts, which is rather inspiring. This week that honour goes to [raytracing in BBC Basic](https://mastodon.me.uk/@bbcmicrobot/111762132859648345). I mean, need I say more?
+
+- If you liked the above, then check out the other amazing BBC Basic creations over at [bbcmicrobot.com](https://www.bbcmicrobot.com/). This is fully rendered from a BBC Micro emulator *in the browser*!
+
+- [6174](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/6174).
+
+- Yet another [ridiculous StackExchange deep dive](https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/395382/which-word-begins-with-y-and-looks-like-an-axe-in-this-picture), this time into the pictures on child's alphabet ball (it is better than it sounds).
+
+- Last but not least, a titan of the internet, [David Mills](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_L._Mills) sadly passed away recently. If you want some information on just how important his contributions to the early internet were, this [New Yorker article](https://archive.ph/2fw9A) (archive link) is a great read.
+
+A.

_posts/archive/2024-02-18-006.md

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+---
+title: 006 - Moka, DRM and cromulence
+layout: post
+---
+
+Back again with some more links to save and share.
+
+- First up, [this nice wee blog post](https://laplab.me/posts/whats-that-touchscreen-in-my-room/) about deciphering the meaning of a mysterious, wall-mounted touchscreen.
+
+- For all you wiki folks out there, here is a [Netflix style front-end](https://wikidata-todo.toolforge.org/wikiflix/#/) which collates all of the freely available movies from the Wikimedia commons.
+
+- Anyone who knows me knows I love a good coffee, and especially the black tar spewed out from a Moka pot. [This](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VESMU7JfVHU) is a neutron scan of a Moka pot boiling, allowing you to see what happens inside. There is also [this wonderful site](https://www.scanofthemonth.com/scans/coffee) with its highly detailed scans of various coffee makers. (I can see Scan of the Month featuring heavily in future Weeklinks.)
+
+- Back in [Weeklinks 002](https://andrewconl.in/weeklinks/002/), I shared a Mastodon thread about breaking DRM in Polish trains. Well, the folks behind it have just recently done a full breakdown presentation, which is available [here](https://media.ccc.de/v/37c3-12142-breaking_drm_in_polish_trains).
+
+- [A deep dive](https://cohost.org/cathoderaydude/post/1228730-taking-the-deepest-p) into some increadibly niche OS tomfoolery from the late 2000s.
+
+- I've always been interested in small programs, and the amazing things that can be achieved in just a few kB. [This](https://linusakesson.net/scene/a-mind-is-born/) takes that idea 1 step further, with an entire song and music video programmed in only 256 bytes on a Commodore 64. Truly unbelieveable stuff.
+
+- [A sign of things to come](https://bc.ctvnews.ca/air-canada-s-chatbot-gave-a-b-c-man-the-wrong-information-now-the-airline-has-to-pay-for-the-mistake-1.6769454): a Canadian airline has tried to claim that it is not legally responsible for the information provided by its online chatbot. Obviously this is a blatant falsehood, but I am glad to see it struck down by the judge. Let's hope that future precedents also side with common sense.
+
+- [This is a cool satellite image](https://universeodon.com/@nantel/111912809026371850) of the ongoing eruption in Iceland. The lava is edited in, but an amazing image nonetheless.
+
+- Finally, [a good ole Simpsons joke, now officially in the dictionary](https://www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/what-does-cromulent-mean).
+
+A.