1614733446

0001-about.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+# About
+
+what is **Regular Flolloping**?  
+
+# jokingly
+**Regular Flolloping** is:
+
+* my blog
+* filled with armchair psychology
+* filled with bad opinions on tech
+* something mattresses need to do
+
+# technically
+**Regular Flolloping** is:
+
+* powered by [Hakyll](https://jaspervdj.be/hakyll/)
+* running on [Digital Ocean](https://www.digitalocean.com/)
+* sourced from [lain.church](https://git.lain.church/tA/rf)
+* avaliable on Atom/Rss feeds [here](/atom.xml) and [here](/rss.xml) respectively
+* probably badly written
+* follows the [humans.txt](http://humanstxt.org/) intiative: see it [here](/humans.txt)
+
+# pretensiously
+**Regular Flolloping** is **Layer 03** of the ***Protocol Seven System***
+
+**Layer 03**, also known as **Psyche**
+
+the complexities of the human brain through the medium of text,  
+a carefully and oft not-so-carefully curated mask for the identity that is **tA**,  
+a slight variation of common knowledge,  
+yet of more importance than the content,  
+the characterisation of the reaction to said knowledge
+
+> If you use Psyche as a processor, you're missing the point. ~ *layer03::Psyche*

0001-archive.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+# Archives
+
+you access archives and find:
+
+* An [SSL Endorsement](https://netrunnerdb.com/en/card/21038)
+* A [Degree Mill](https://netrunnerdb.com/en/card/21055)
+* A [15 Minutes](https://netrunnerdb.com/en/card/09004)
+
+and make me very sad.
+
+> ~~full disclosure, the only reason this page still exists is because of the netrunner joke. im pretty sure the front page shows every post anyway.~~
+
+> turns out im not quite as stupid as i thought and worked out how monads work so i could limit front page to a few posts. this page is back in business baby!
+
+you also find all of this junk:

0001-contact.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+# Contact
+
+* come find me on <a rel="me" href="https://letsalllovela.in/users/tA">the fediverse!</a>
+* email me at [s@p7.co.nz](mailto:s@p7.co.nz)
+* add me on xmpp at `ta@social.p7.co.nz`
+* if you see a `tA`, `techieAgnostic` or anything in the form of `t*A*` online its probably me
+* if you're a [martian](https://urbit.org) i'm occasionally on as `~bannum-magtus`
+

2018-08-17-things-i-like.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+# Things I Like
+
+howdy one and all, to my inaugural post.  
+what follows is a list of potentially somewhat obscure feelings, that instill a subtle, non-zero amount of joy in me, without reaching levels for me to register them as good feelings.
+
+without further ado:
+
+## lowercase letters
+
+much, i imagine, to the disgust of my english teacher mother, i really enjoy writing entirely in lowercase when i can. i believe it started on irc as a homestuck style (yet subtle enough to not give away being trash) quirk for some sense of identity that was seperate to having an actual personality.
+
+## using the (y) emoji outside of facebook
+
+on facebook, using `(y)` will produce a thumbs up emoji that is different to the current readily and easily avaliable one, so already it's pretty nice. theres something completely different about using it outside of facebook. i once met someone on discord who did the same thing. i have not talked to them since, nor can i remember their name, but i consider them a friend in the same way i consider anyone who uses dvorak a friend
+
+## the jazzy bit in the middle of Fluff's Travels by Phish
+
+shouldn't really need an explanation, [Fluffhead // Fluff's Travels](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q54O03orQ4s) is such a good two piece and the jazz bit is the best part.
+
+## the following dialog from "The Point (1971)"
+
+>"if everything has a point, then i must have one too"  
+>"he's got a point there!"
+
+## swatch internet time in my shell prompt
+
+one day there'll be enough of us to make swatch beats a standard, until then i'll just await the day my pebble battery dies and i have to go back to a normal watch
+
+## people you know not noticing you in public
+
+all the upsides of being a social person and realising you know a lot more people than you think you do, but with none of the downsides of actually having to talk to people and take your headphones off
+
+## half-assed projects
+
+...of which this post is included. one day i'll finish something and maintain it, but until then theres something comfy about looking into `~/projects` and finding about seven variations on `ta_sdl_game_engine` dating back to highschool
+
+---
+
+hopefully you enjoyed these half assed ramblings. until next time, peace out, ima' bounce, and carry on my dudes.xvid.h264.mkv

2018-08-18-jacketory-handedness.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+# Discrimination of Jacket Handedness
+
+## a story
+
+i recieved my favourite jacket for my thirteenth birthday. it was a semi-cheap fake leather jacket from a surf shop - which, for whatever reason, was the best place to get a fake leather jacket in my country in the years of 2010-2011 only. i am unsure why.
+
+the important thing about the jacket, among other things, was that it was symmetrical (aside from a single, badly placed pocket on the left breast) - the importantance of this will be made clear by the end of this post.
+
+i wore this jacket for many many years until the fake leather began to completely chip away and i was forced to purchase a new jacket, and, having now my own salary, went for something a bit nicer. thats right, this new jacket had the following features that to my bogan mind were absolutely ***fizzityucking stellar***;
+
+* real leather (probably)
+* brown leather (so stylish)
+* neato horizontal stitching on the arms (feel like a pilot)
+* a button flap thingy on the neck (assymetrical is neat)
+
+so for the most part i was pretty stoked with this jacket, save for **ONE THING**
+
+## but first! some back-story
+
+there are a couple of important things to note about myself before we continue:
+
+* i am left handed  
+always have been, most likely always will be  
+* my preferred medium of transporting my belongings is a satchel  
+i cannot walk with balance if i am wearing a regular back-pack  
+
+so with this in mind lets talk about the problem with this jacket, which i hope one day someone will take into account.
+
+***as a left handed satchel user, i have the strap on my left shoulder***
+
+the reasoning for this is somewhat simple in my opinion, this configuration leaves my dominant hand next to the bag part, for which i require the strength to maneuver it when heavy. next upside is that it leaves my more finesse-focussed hand to rummage through said satchel.
+
+a good system if i do say so myself.
+
+## the problem:
+
+as this new jacket is asymmetrical, it has a single inside pocket, on the left breast. the aforementioned button flap thingy is also sits near the left clavicle, and these create two main, related problems:
+
+* i cannot reach into the breast pocket without having to move my satchel strap out of the way  
+and  
+* the strap pushes the button thingy into my clavicle which is uncomfortable
+
+and both of these things could have been easily prevented had they created a line of this jacket for left handed people, that was mirrored.
+
+## closing statements
+
+i will confess, i have not done any research into this topic. they may sell left handed jackets already, they may not. i do not know
+
+what i do know is that the hallensteins i purchased this jacket from, as well as specifically fuarking me over by saying i would not need to sign for the package, and then requiring me to sign for the package, also did not stock any left handed jackets.
+
+time to bounce, keep on keeping on ny'all, and seeya round.

2018-08-20-booth-collective.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+# A Collection of Personalities Sitting at a Booth
+
+sitting at a booth in a public place are five guys, and in my mind, this is their story.
+
+> the story, all names, characters, and incidents portrayed in this production are fictitious. no identification with actual persons (living or deceased), places, buildings, and products is intended or should be inferred
+
+## leo
+
+lets call the first one leo, after leo from that 70's show, because leo is who leo reminds a lot of people of. the similarity is mostly physical, and oft not genuine, but as far as comparisons to tv characters go its fairly standard. leo is the laid-back hippie of the group, and in my mind, looks like this:
+
+[j|s]andals all year round, bright shirts and loose pants, shaggy hair, says "man" a lot more than they think it, will take any chance to mention phish no matter how loose the connection, likes to quote jeffrey lebowski a lot, and often places their feet on things that society deems risque to place your feet on.
+
+leo doesn't come out a lot, maybe once or twice a month and only for a few days at most, but most of the group likes him, except for null of course, but its pretty plain to see that leo in return dislikes null so all is well. the group misses leo and wishes he could come out more because without him, everythings a little quiet. dislikes null.
+
+## dave
+
+the second is dave, after turntechGodhead himself, dave strider, because like tG, dave is a bit of a child who thinks he's too cool, and also has nostalgiacally shitty taste in things. dave will wear shitty meme t-shirts, and unironically love them. dave still laughs at old memes and make lazor jokes. dave will watch cartoons and enjoy them, and dave will spend hours talking about his favourite thing, and in my mind, dave looks like this:
+
+short but not too short hair. joke tshirts he proudly displays. has a laptop sticker that says "my other laptop is a thinkpad 701" and will point it out to you to make sure you know its there. drinks iced coffee that he purchased from a dairy, because the supermarket doesnt stock his preferred brand. talks about what he likes, doesnt talk about what he dislikes. will talk too loudly about things that many people would think twice before talking too loudly about.
+
+dave is almost always seen with ross, but they don't talk much, many people get them confused unless you've talked to them a lot in order to tell the difference between their quirks. dave listens to future funk and occasionally some of the jazzier gizzard songs to try and appeal to leo. with dave, ross gets a bit down because eeyore is a bad influence on him, and dave needs to be there to stop that. he dislikes null.
+
+## ross
+
+the third is ross, after diana ross, due to ross' affinity towards floral shoppe by macintosh plus. he is the quiet one of the group, will often spend the entire time on his laptop, but everyone just appreciates that he showed up, and in my mind, looks like this:
+
+a buttoned up shirt with long pants. wears a jacket and loves it. his laptop will change os's every couple of weeks, either purposefully or accidently is not for mortal minds to know. will talk more on irc or discord than in person, to the point he often prefers it. will spend hours talking about why he dislikes the opposition to his favourite thing. talks about what he dislikes, doesnt talk about what he likes unless used as an argument for the former. will routinely slip away from parties without telling anyone.
+
+ross spends a lot of time with dave, because dave makes eeyore seem less scary. ross likes to listen to mallsoft and yeongrak, but occasionally dave makes him listen to something a bit more upbeat. eeyore gets into ross' head easily and it makes him sad. dislikes null.
+
+## eeyore
+
+the fourth is eeyore, after the only eeyore that i am aware of. eeyore is a bit of a downer, moreso than ross. he often is not sure what he likes so just sits around moping, and in my mind, looks like this:
+
+clothes of any description mentioned so far, except creased, lopsided and unbuttoned haphazardly. will nurse a can of pepsi for hours, because pepsi was a little cheaper than blue v. will often forego bringing his bag anywhere because he doesnt plan to use anything from said bag anyway. will often forego bringing himself anywhere because he doesnt plan to be paying attention to anything but his thoughts anyway.
+
+everyone says they like eeyore, but they don't really, they just want him to feel better about himself. eeyore likes almost everyone, but dislikes them if he has to spend too much time around them. he gets visibly frustrated trying to decide between seeing people or not, but no-one sees this because it only happens when he is alone. dislikes null.
+
+## null
+
+the last of the group is null, named so after the number of people in the group that like him. null is always hanging around the group, sitting a seat or two detached. no-one wants him there but they can't seem to get him to leave, and in my mind, he looks like this.
+
+non-descript clothing, not in the sense of a clothes style, but because no-one can pay attention to them for long enough to remember. black eyes, pitch black, fully, with shadows resembling scratch marks or ink stains or pencil scribbles along both eyes and his mouth. dead lifeless hanging arms. dead lifeless hanging legs. dead lifeless hanging person.
+
+null has no emotions and so we cannot say who he likes. no-one likes null.

2018-08-20-nix-install-simple-script.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,248 @@
+# Installing a Simple Script in Nix // NixOS
+
+so readers here are probably in one of two groups of people:
+
+* people i know irl
+* people from irc / discord
+
+and luckily a single thing is true of both sections, we'll start with the easy one:
+
+### people from irc / discord
+
+if you use irc you're a functional programming nerd. no arguments.  
+if you use discord then you're probably a nerd, at the very least you're not popular, and therefore you probably like functional programming, no arguments.
+
+### people i know irl
+
+you know me, and that means there's approximately a 100% chance you've heard me go on about functional programming ***at great length*** with the type of loving obsession that would cause an innocent bystander to (understandably) believe we were talking about a woman with a ***stonking pair of titter totters***, and thus, discussions on functional programming are nothing new to you at all, however one-sided.
+
+## the actual article
+
+> disclaimer: i know sweet country bumpkiss about this, but who knows maybe its still helpful
+
+so with that out of the way, lets talk about something thats pretty fuarking computers, and that thing is [NixOS](https://nixos.org), and its package manager that if it were a person would have one magnum package, [Nix](https://nixos.org/nix/)
+
+to put things briefly, nix is a functional package manager that is filled with awesome awesome features, and nixos is the operating system built around it that is fuarking black magic.
+
+installing packages in nix are done through **nix derivations**, a piece of code written in nix that defines the parameters for building the package.
+
+nix is weird to get into because it does things like **not have a /bin** or baically any other file structure that any other version of linux has, so theres some caveats to installing things.
+
+this article will run through packaging a simple script, namely my [Swatch Beats Script](https://github.com/techieAgnostic/swatch)
+
+swatch beats are pretty fizzityucking radical, but thats for another post. in essence they are a new time format, and i like to have them in my prompt, which is why i wrote this script and why i want to install it in nixos. sue me.
+
+## the initial problems
+
+so there are two main problems with this script that prevent us from just running it like we might in other distros:
+
+* there is no `/bin/bash`
+* our equivilent of `/bin/` is read-only
+
+which is why we need a derivation to install it the way god intended (referring of course to Jon Osterman)
+
+## step 1
+
+we create a file called `swatch.nix` to place our derivation in, and will be using a tool called `mkDerivation` which is part of the `stdenv` library in nix.
+
+`stdenv` provides us with many tools you might expect to find in a (ST)an(D)ard linux (ENV)ironment, such a `mv`, `echo`, `cp` etc etc, as well as a lot of nix specific things, in this case `mkDerivation`
+
+now nix things are purely functional which means if we want to use any of the standard tools we need to pass them into the function. so lets begin `swatch.nix` like so
+
+```
+{ stdenv }:
+
+stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
+
+}
+```
+
+which tells the function its allowed to use stdenv stuff, and also begins our call to mkDerivation. the `rec` bit, i have been informed, allows the following attribute set (the bit between the curly brackets) to refer to itself recursively if need be, and its one of those things where if i remove it it doesnt work anymore so lets just leave it there for now.
+
+now we can start to fill out the call.
+
+## step 2
+
+to start with we'll add some meta data to the package. the important one is the name, which is where into the nix store (`/nix/store/`, the nixos equivilent to `/bin/`) it will be placed.
+
+generally this is in the form of `name-version` because its possible to have multiple versions of the same package installed at the same time (or even multiple versions of the same version of a package).
+
+so add the following:
+
+```
+{ stdenv }:
+
+stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
+   name = "swatch-${version}";
+   version = "1.0.0";
+}
+```
+
+and now we can move on to the actual meta tag that has all the stuff package repositories like you to have. to do this we add a new set to the call:
+
+```
+{ stdenv }:
+
+stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
+   name = "swatch-${version}";
+   version = "1.0.0";
+   meta = {
+      description = "Display the current swatch beats";
+      longDescription = ''
+         d i s p l a y   t h e   c u r r e n t   s w a t c h   b e a t s
+      '';
+      homepage = https://github.com/techieAgnostic/swatch/;
+      license = stdenv.lib.licenses.bsd3;
+      maintainers = [ "Shaun Kerr (tA) - s@p7.co.nz" ];
+      platforms = stdenv.lib.platforms.all;
+
+   };
+}
+```
+
+the things that may be new here are the `stdenv.lib.licenses.bsd3` bit, which is simply a variable defined as part of `stdenv` we can reference, and the square bracket notation, which creates a set (although this one only has one item in it).
+
+there is also the double quote notation `''`, which is just a multi line string.
+
+now we're on to the meat and potatoes.
+
+## step 3
+
+so the basic steps for installing a script would be:
+
+* download the script from somewhere
+* install it to your preferred folder
+
+which is exactly what we're gonna do, but with a ***twist***
+
+this script is a single file, so we can use the `fetchurl` utility to grab it. this is **not** part of `stdenv` so we will need to add it to the first line in much the same way, and then we can define what we're going to download, in this case the script file from a specific commit to the repo (for reproducibility).
+
+```
+{ stdenv, fetchurl }:
+
+stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
+   name = "swatch-${version}";
+   version = "1.0.0";
+   meta = {
+      description = "Display the current swatch beats";
+      longDescription = ''
+         d i s p l a y   t h e   c u r r e n t   s w a t c h   b e a t s
+      '';
+      homepage = https://github.com/techieAgnostic/swatch/;
+      license = stdenv.lib.licenses.bsd3;
+      maintainers = [ "Shaun Kerr (tA) - s@p7.co.nz" ];
+      platforms = stdenv.lib.platforms.all;
+   };
+   repoUrl = "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/techieAgnostic/swatch";
+   commit = "008f121290029a422af10328fc69f8f310cb19d5";
+   src = fetchurl {
+      url = "${repoUrl}/${commit}/swatch";
+      sha256 = "e373ab25e713eac78e5ea0647a3f511e1e21a635691d7167c9420cb838bf4d71";
+   };
+}
+```
+
+the checksum can be calculated using the `sha256sum` program from `coreutils`.
+
+this will download whatever is at src, and place it in `/tmp` for us to work on
+
+now we need to move it into the right place, which is a bit weird in nix. `mkDerivation` has a bunch of predefined phases it will execute, with predefined behaviour unless we override them. these phases are all built for much larger programs, so we're only going to use two.
+
+add the line
+
+```
+phases = "installPhase fixupPhase"
+```
+
+to tell nix we only want to use those two.
+
+the **installPhase** is where we move our script into the nix store. the phase defines an environment variable `$out` which is the path to the programs folder in the store. this is useful because the actual path contains a big fuck-off hash at the start, and we don't know that ourselves.
+
+the behaviour we want is pretty simple for this, so lets go ahead and override it by adding the following:
+
+```
+installPhase = ''
+   mkdir -p $out/bin
+   cp ${src} $out/bin/swatch
+   chmod +x $out/bin/swatch
+'';
+```
+
+the only piece of sneakiness here is that nix expects there to be a `/bin` in the `$out` directory, so we have to make that ourselves.
+
+the **fixupPhase** is a nix specific thing, and is there to change things that would work on normal linux, but not in hipster linux. the main thing that this script trips up is there being no `/bin/bash` so our `#!/bin/bash` at the top of the file doesn't work, but in a larger program it may be things like there not being any standard libraries where the program things they are.
+
+the standard behaviour for the fixupPhase is to do a find/replace on the `#!` lines to make them work, which is exactly what we want so we do not need to redefine this phase. null perspiration there.
+
+once you've done this the whole derivation should look as follows:
+
+```
+{ stdenv, fetchurl }:
+
+stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
+   name = "swatch-${version}";
+   version = "1.0.0";
+   meta = {
+      description = "Display the current swatch beats";
+      longDescription = ''
+         d i s p l a y   t h e   c u r r e n t   s w a t c h   b e a t s
+      '';
+      homepage = https://github.com/techieAgnostic/swatch/;
+      license = stdenv.lib.licenses.bsd3;
+      maintainers = [ "Shaun Kerr (tA) - s@p7.co.nz" ];
+      platforms = stdenv.lib.platforms.all;
+   };
+   repoUrl = "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/techieAgnostic/swatch";
+   commit = "008f121290029a422af10328fc69f8f310cb19d5";
+   src = fetchurl {
+      url = "${repoUrl}/${commit}/swatch";
+      sha256 = "e373ab25e713eac78e5ea0647a3f511e1e21a635691d7167c9420cb838bf4d71";
+   };
+   phases = "installPhase fixupPhase";
+   installPhase = ''
+      mkdir -p $out/bin
+      cp ${src} $out/bin/swatch
+      chmod +x $out/bin/swatch
+   '';
+}
+```
+
+and is ready to be tested
+
+## step fant4stic
+
+to test this we can use the `nix-build` utility to install the package to a local folder rather than to the proper nix store. to do this we need to write a quick nix expression to call the package derivation (normally this would be part of a larger repository).
+
+create `default.nix` with the following:
+
+```
+with import <nixpkgs> { };
+
+rec {
+   swatch = pkgs.callPackage ./swatch.nix { };
+}
+```
+
+and we'll test our derivation by running `nix-build default.nix`.
+
+assuming all goes well you'll find the result in a symlinked folder `./result/bin/swatch` and it will run fine.
+
+## step five
+
+once the derivation works you can add it to your main nixos configuration to install it system wide. this can be done by adding it to the `environment.systemPackages` set in your nixos configuration like so:
+
+```
+environment.systemPackages = with pkgs; [
+   otherPackage1
+   otherPackage2
+   (callPackage /home/shaun/nds/swatch.nix { })
+];
+```
+
+and a quick rebuild should have the script installed normally ^.^
+
+## closing up
+
+this is pretty basic stuff as far as nix is concerned, but it took me ages with about four different articles and irc open to figure it all out, so hopefully this helps someone work out how to get their script they need for their shitty rice avaliable to them.
+
+peace out ny'all, ima bounce.

2018-08-23-high-tech-low-life.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+# High Tech Low Life
+
+i believe that [Serial Experiments Lain](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_Experiments_Lain) is one of, if not the, most important piece of media in our time. i do not say that lightly.
+
+it's absolutely ***insane*** the sub-culture that this somewhat obscure, thirteen episode show has spawned, but it goes beyond that. lain is like the [itaots](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Aeroplane_Over_the_Sea) of shows, and im going to go on a tangent to try to say why.
+
+## a praise for itaots
+
+people like to create and consume music that feels genuine. emotions are the primary vector for writing song lyrics, and if you go and ask almost any song-writer about a serious song you will get something along the lines of:
+
+> i had to dig really deep to write this, it was hard but i wanted to give others a voice with their own struggles.
+
+and i refuse to believe this. every emotional song, even the ones that i like, reek of being done for money. or to virtual signal. or as a humble brag. some definitely more so than others, but everything at least a bit.
+
+that is, except for Jeff Magnum.
+
+In the Aeroplane Over the Sea is the only album i can name where i honestly believe that we are hearing the inner, unfiltered monologue of the artist, and nothing else can even come close. **the mix of emotions is key**, he does not tunnel vision on being sad, or heartbreak, instead of something boiling down to "feeling bad sucks guys, do you agree?" we get something ***genuine***, and i love it.
+
+## a praise for lain
+
+in much the same way, i believe that its no coincidence lain gained the cult following (including a literal [cult](https://systemspace.link/) -- yours truly was migrant numero [162](https://systemspace.link/content/tsuki/listing.php)) it did, i believe that lain was the first show to really embrace and give a face to the `high tech // low life` way of life, and as such acted like a beacon, a meeting point. something we could all gather behind.
+
+lain is something for the people who look at the tech giants of today, of the massive technical debt and increasing surviellance, and are disgusted.
+
+lain is something for the people who see computers as something to be tinkered with. a toy that enables us to speak logic and trick a rock into making dumb jokes with strangers half way around the world. like magic.
+
+lain is something to bring together people who don't quite fit in with the rest of the world, who reside in streams of maths that fly around the world.
+
+lain is something we should all love.
+
+## the oncoming storm
+
+our world is going to come crashing. we ***cannot*** afford to keep up with this technical debt for much longer. we have systems to support systems for no other reason than we need systems to support. the computer equivilent of someone whos job only exists because corporatism says it should.
+
+lain is a world where this never happened. lain is a world where people understand, and more importantly want to understand, how to use a computer. how to *really* use a computer. the world needs more people like that.
+
+when the tech giants holding up the pillars of our society crumble, the world will need more people like that. the easy exchange of information is the most important technical advance since we discovered fire, and it is being wasted, and it is disgusting.
+
+## the comfy dystopia
+
+lain is anti-political, lain is for the centrists, lain is for the people who decide not to play.
+
+its raining, its dark, you're in your shitty apartment room staring at a black screen. you're trying to make an irc bot in your favourite language, because you want to. no other reason. its been made before far better than you could ever do, but you try anyway. because the important thing is that you tried, not what you contribute. lain is for the people who want to experiance rather than contribute. for the outsiders, for the insiders, for everyone.
+
+when the internet overlords vanish, and the cloud dissipates, the people who want to experience will be the pioneers. this blog will fall when digital ocean dries up, but as a wise person once said;
+
+> that is not dead, which can eternal lie, and with strange aeons even death may die.
+
+this site will be back. as long as i have my own system, that i - not a corporation - am in control of, these ramblings will survive, and i hope that these strange aeons show these tech giants dying.
+
+lain is for the people.
+
+lets all love lain.
+
+`:wq`

2018-08-23-swatch-beat-my-meat.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+# Swatch Beat (My Meat)
+
+i really like swatch internet time. does that make me a hipster? probably.
+
+## eggs
+
+**swatch internet time** is a time system developed by Swatch Ltd., a company that made digital watches, as a marketing gimmick for their 1999 line of watches. the supposed goal was to simplify the way we keep time, and create a standard that would match the use-cases of a new generation of internet enabled children.
+
+it was promptly forgotten about.
+
+i personally hope for a resurrection in the usage of swatch time amongst the nerds and unpopular weirdos. the time is now. join us.
+
+## milk
+
+the basics of swatch beats are based on a decimal system - the day is split up into sections that are divisible by 10, rather than 12 and 60 like our regular time.
+
+these sections are called ***beats***, and there are one thousand of them in a day compared to the 86400 seconds or fourteen forty minutes.
+
+already a plus, as long as we count in a decimal system, its easier to do math with decimally divisive numbers. we can see this with how the metric system is easy and the imperial system is ***fuarking garbáge***.
+
+each **beat** is the same amount of time as **eighty six point four** seconds, so about a minute and a half. the day starts (sort of) at @000 beats, and ends at @999 - no groupings of hours and minutes, no conversions needed, just one kay beats and nothing else.
+
+there are no time zones or daylight savings time in swatch beats, instead, @000 is defined as 00:00 utc+1, or midnight in sweden. this has pros and cons, i like to ignore the cons and pretend they don't exist.
+
+the main pro is that ***time zones give me an aneurysm and make me feel like a dumbass***, and with them gone its a lot easier to sort events in the near future. for example
+
+>hello friend from another country, i am going to be ready to partake in some multiplayer entertainment at @084, does that suit you?
+
+>howdy fellow human. @084 beats suits me fine and i did not require the expendenture of a large portion of my mind in order to figure that out, despite our differing time zones. also i am most definitely not a spider.
+
+the cons are that dates get tricky as, unless you're in sweden, the swatch day changes at some point during the section of time you're awake.
+
+## flour
+
+a quick run-down of the spec, and conversion:
+
+   * `@XXX` is the standard way of writing the current time. zero padded to three digits.
+   * `@XXX.YYY` is the way i like to write the current time, showing some sort of "semi-beats". each semi-beat is worth 1/86.4 of a second.
+   * `dDD.MM.YY` is the standard way to write the current date, as determined by UTC+1 time.
+   * `.XXX` or `.XXX.YYY` is the standard way to write "XXX time from now".
+   * conversion from UTC+1 to Swatch Beats can be done as so:
+
+```
+(UTC+1seconds + (UTC+1minutes * 60) + (UTC+1hours * 3600)) / 86.4
+```
+
+with any floating point digits truncated depending on preference.
+
+## bread
+
+liking swatch internet time probably makes you a hipster. if you're the sort of person that made it through this article and still think "man, gimme some of that" you probably use something other than qwerty or azerty, and own a "normal people scare me shirt", but thats rad and i rate it.
+
+swatch internet time is for the same people who think its cool to recompile their kernel and read fantasy stories online. its for the nerds and the geek and the losers, and its time we were proud of that.
+
+join me in making this standard, the standard.
+
+---
+
+while i'm on topic i'll shill my little script for if you want swatch beats as part of a system tray or bash prompt or something, hope you enjoy.
+
+[Swatch Beats Script](https://github.com/techieAgnostic/swatch)
+
+peace out guys, catcha on the flip-side. make like an alligator and seeya later.

2018-08-24-seb.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+# Social Experiments (bill)Lian
+
+it has been eight long, hard, years since the collapse of society. eight years since the Count's rise to power, eight years since i've felt that life is worth living. the only thing getting me through each day is the faint hope that my existence is somehow spiting him.
+
+i do not believe i will be spiting him much longer.
+
+i wake up to the bell tolling, a daily occurence, signifying the lucky masses who have succumbed to their starvation. one day we will all be reduced to bell tolls. after cutting yet another hole in my belt i get ready to work for the Count's Universal Negligence Termination Society, one of the several government mandated asscoiations. my job is to investigate members of society who are *thinking wrongly* and pose a potential danger to the way of the Count.
+
+if i do not do my job correctly, i may be the next investigated.
+
+its the same everyday. the same people, the same "criminals", nothing but regular people who, before the fall, would have been considered some of their fields top minds. some of the thinkers and innovators.
+
+but not anymore.
+
+the interview is going normally, but my mind isn't where it should be. my mind is trying with every ounce of power it has left to not faint. there is bordering zero nutrience in my body, and i fear im not strong enough. suddenly the door opens, with many guards burting through.
+
+followed by the Count.
+
+the evil that has ruined the once passable society we had. the dictator that is personally responsible for the starvation and death of most of the people i once called friends.
+
+the Count.
+
+before i can acknowledge his presence the last iota of energy i have leaves, and with it, my ability to stand. i fall to my knees and grasp at my stomach.
+
+the Count comes close, leans in and says to me
+
+> My dear subject, what has you under the weather? Surely you are not tired this early in the day?
+
+i cannot reply, i cannot move, everything goes black.
+
+i awake in a hospital, a clean, white hospital reminscient of before the fall. i see the Count, once a dear friend of mine, dressed in what once passed for casual clothing. my broken mind cannot make sense of this. i struggle to process any of the words in my head.
+
+the Count speaks.
+
+> It was just a social experiment bro! Haha gottem
+
+i chuckle, and chuckle, and chuckle once more, and that is the last thing i do.
+
+it all goes black, forever.

2018-08-25-the-weirdo-swarm.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+# The Weirdo Swarm
+
+another day of the same old same old. "you just don't understand", "that isn't normal", "why are you so ***weird***?"...
+
+after a while you learn to drown it out.
+
+but have they ever tried to figure out how we think? to do what they claim to be experts at, do what they claim we lack, have they looked into our heads and understood the connections that make up who we are?
+
+maybe.
+
+they can try.
+
+they can try and they **will** fail, because our heads are different, unique, obscure. our heads are built from layers and layers of self applied abstraction, and there is no stopping that.
+
+our brains are *not normal*.
+
+they are *weird*.
+
+we have no need for politics, for drama, for the workings of the world, there is a much greater battle for us to figure out.
+
+the battle for ourselves, for the ones close to us, the battle to figure out how normal people think.
+
+more oft than not, a losing battle.
+
+we are observers, we drift on the outside of society, watching, following, but never participating.
+
+because society is not for us.
+
+the best we can do is live our own microcosms, our own limited, self centred society.
+
+a society of one.
+
+what do the following have in common?
+
+* the boy that sits in his room speaking logic into reality
+* the girl that can see auras and can feel crystals
+* the boy that obsesses over his hobby to the point of concern
+
+the answer is simple, they play life by different rules to normal people.
+
+but thats okay. we've learnt our rules - slowly, and oft painfully, but we have.
+
+we'll never stop learning, we'll never stop trying.
+
+we are the weirdos, and this is our ***manifesto***

2018-08-27-idiots-guide-lambda.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,127 @@
+# An Idiot's Guide to Lambda Calculus
+
+clarification: this is not a guide to lambda calculus for idiots, this is a guide to lambda calculus written by an idiot.
+
+imagine for a second you need to explain our numbering system without ***any*** background. any at all, think about that for a second.
+
+* you have no idea what the number symbols mean
+* you have no idea what plus minus or anything mean
+* you have no idea of anything
+
+and this isn't limited to just numbering, because almost anything we do on a computer is based around maths, imagine the same for pretty much literally anything.
+
+what you would need is....
+
+**is**...
+
+***is***...
+
+## a way to describe computability
+
+and one way of doing that is with lambda calculus. to define lambda calculus we need just a few rules - variables, abstraction, application.
+
+these concepts aren't too difficult, so awayyyy we go.
+
+### variables
+
+variables are simply a name, most of the time we use letters. there are two catches here, if you're used to variables in maths or other languages:
+
+* unlike pretty much every other language, lambda calc variables don't have a value, only a name. this is because we don't have any concept of what a value is.
+
+* unlike any language worth using, variables in lambda calculus do not have a *type*. again this is because we don't have a concept of what type is.
+
+this guide is gonna use lowercase letters for the most part, so the examples are `a b c d e f` etc etc
+
+### abstraction
+
+abstractions are the functions of lambda calc, and take the form off:
+
+```
+(λx.M)
+```
+
+where `λ` denotes that this is a function  
+`x` is an argument name (that is local to this function)  
+and `M` is a list of variables that will form the function body
+
+a quick example of an abstraction is the identity function:
+
+```
+(λx.x)
+```
+
+we'll get onto more to do with fuctions in a bit, but next
+
+### application
+
+application is what we pretentious people call "actually using a function" and it takes the form of:
+
+```
+(M N)
+```
+
+where `M` is an abstraction, and `N` is any lambda term at all. i will refer to `M` as an abstraction and `N` as the application body
+
+to do the application we just use `N` as the argument for `M`, and then do a find and replace based on the abstraction definition.
+
+for example, lets do an easy one using the identity function, which is a function that returns its input unchanged:
+
+if we have the abstraction `(λx.x)` and the variable `y` to use for the application, and then lay the application out as so:
+
+```
+( (λx.x) y )
+```
+
+we can then begin applying.
+
+the identity function has `x` as its argument, so we take the application body, in this case `y`, and every time we see `x` in the abstraction body (the bit past `.`) we replace it with our argument, `y`.
+
+so our abstraction body is `x`, and `x` is equal to our argument `y`, so therefore our function will return `y`, which is the identity.
+
+a sligtly more interesting example is something like:
+
+```
+( (λx.xx) y )
+```
+
+here, our argument to our abstraction is `y`, which gets bound to `x` in the abstraction body, which is then fed into the `xx` to produce:
+
+`yy`
+
+and thats how we go.
+
+as a spoiler for what the next lambda calc post will cover, heres a bit of an example, imagine we were using the same abstraction:
+
+```
+(λx.xx)
+```
+
+and instead of passing it `y`, we passed it **another abstraction**... say, itself?
+
+```
+( (λx.xx) (λx.xx) )
+```
+
+here, we bind the entire abstraction `(λx.xx)` to the variable `x` in the first abstraction.
+
+when we do the substitution into the body `xx` we get left with...
+
+```
+( (λx.xx) (λx.xx) )
+```
+
+the same thing, which means this is an ***infinite loop***
+
+fun stuff fun stuff imo
+
+## further thoughts
+
+theres a lot more to go before we get to a numbering system, and at this point it may seem like theres not much use to lambda calculus, but i am not joking when i say ***anything that can be done on a computer can be written in lambda calculus***.
+
+it may be abstracted, it may be thousands of millions of pages long, but it is possible.
+
+and thats what makes it so wonderful.
+
+i'll write more in depth on this at some point in the near future when i'm feeling smarter, less lazy, and don't wanna write edgy armchair psych pieces instead.
+
+peace out ny'all, if you're unlucky i'll talk about Nock after this.

2018-08-27-what-is-love.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+# What Is Love?
+
+>baby don't hurt me  
+don't hurt me  
+no more
+
+love is arguably the most important emotion. i would argue that almost every important part of anyones life has been influenced predominantly by love. or should i say lust.
+
+lust for power. lust for success. lust for romance. lust for change. lust to be happy. lust for what we don't have. lust for more of what we do. lust for lusts sake. lust for fun, lust for the fun of being lustful.
+
+in my anecdotal experience it seems we are quite happy with conflating lust and love, despite the domain for the former being far, far larger than the latter.
+
+we get people exercising lust for power, under the guise of love, and we are okay with this.
+
+we get people exercising lust for companionship, under the guise of love, and we are okay with this.
+
+we get people exercising lust for validation, under the guise of love, and we are okay with this.
+
+if you are able to frame your shitty personality quark as a variation on lust (and then from lust to love), you're suddenly excused, because society has put up this facade of love being some unknowable emotion, some sacred ground that you dare not question.
+
+we are discouraged from thinking about it because its conflated with gaming the system, with being disengenuous.
+
+as if we're supposed to magically know enough about ourselves to know what we need without thinking.
+
+so what is love?
+
+love is whatever you define it to be, thats not the hard bit.
+
+the hard bit is finding someone who's definition agrees with yours.
+
+the hard bit is filtering through what people say because people don't say what they mean, they like to play games
+
+the hard bit is filtering through what you think because your brain won't tell you what it means, it likes to play games.
+
+what is love?
+
+i don't know, maybe if i did this post would have a lighter tone.
+
+love is, at its core, a goal to strive for if you don't have another goal
+
+love is something to make you feel like you're progressing through life everytime you step outside
+
+love is something that is harder for some people than others.
+
+maybe love is just a stable internet connection.
+
+`:wq`

2018-08-28-foss-my-shit-up.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,173 @@
+# Foss My Shit Up Baby
+
+>***DISCLAIMER*** this is gonna be a pretty tech focussed post, sorry to my readers (you know who you are) that aren't about that life, i'll get back to the regular angsty edge posts later today `<3`
+
+i was inspired by [Carl Chenet's Post](https://carlchenet.com/foss-passive-consumerism-kills-our-community/) to do *something* so i'm gonna do the easiest thing and write a ***mother fizzityucking gorram blog post (tm)*** highlighting some of the **neato** software i use daily and/or like.
+
+so without further ado, and in no particular order. the list.
+
+## operating systems
+
+### nixos
+
+[NixOS](https://nixos.org) is my current daily driver and is a ***lot*** of fun. most of the discussion for this will be covered in the nix entry (nixos' package manager) but a quick overview is that nixos is doing something entirely new with its base system, and is not just another distro that is 90% the same as every other distro. highly reccomend checking it out, try it in a vm though because theres a *very* **very** ***very*** steep learning curve.
+
+thank you nixos.
+
+### arch
+
+[Arch Linux](https://www.archlinux.org/) is a rolling release distrobution, and was my daily driver for the entirety of university. if it wasn't for nixos being so gorram sexy then i'd probably still be on arch, or distro hopping to gentoo or crux or void or something.
+
+arch is my go to if i need a system to be nice to use, and i will probably go back to it at some point.
+
+thank you arch.
+
+### urbit
+
+[Urbit](https://urbit.org) is the `future`. i am fully in love with urbit and possibly it is clouding my judgement a bit but god damn i've read the whitepaper so many times and one day i'll be wizard enough to make some actual useful contributions.
+
+what is urbit? urbit is a new operating system built ***completely*** from scratch (currently it runs in what is essentially a virtual machine under linux, but one day it will run on hardware). it is pretty much what i would expect an alien operating system to look like, and doing anything in it feels like you're a time traveller.
+
+the white paper does a far far better job of talking about urbit than i can do, but one day i'll do a more in-depth post specifically about it.
+
+you can read it [here](http://media.urbit.org/whitepaper.pdf)
+
+urbit is also one of the only projects i have ever actually contributed to officially. the contributions were nothing but small refactors but im glad to have been able to help, regardless.
+
+thank you urbit. i love you.
+
+## package managers
+
+### nix
+
+oh [Nix](https://nixos.org/nix) you are a fickle mistress.
+
+what is nix? nix is that bottle of chocolate syrup sitting in your fridge that no matter how many times you drink from and it burns your throat, you still want to drink it at 3 in the morning.
+
+nix is that girl in your class that seems like a massive bitch and has only ever made you feel bad but god damn is she attractive
+
+nix is that package manager that is the coolest thing you've ever seen (alongside urbit) but no matter how much time you spend trying to learn it, it beats you down and spits on you and tells you your IQ is about fifty billion points lower than you expect.
+
+but you keep coming back for me.
+
+nix is a new package manager that aims to build reproducible builds using a purely functional configuration language. it does things weird but that lets you have things like ***user level package management*** and ***multiple installations of the same program***.
+
+its super neat but pretty fuarking hard. really good for haskell if you're smart enough (i'm not)
+
+thank you nix
+
+### pacman
+
+[Pacman](https://www.archlinux.org/pacman/) is archs package manager, and in opposition to nix, it is like **Jund Midrange** in mtg. its not exciting, its not super cool, but it works, and it works, and it just werks. not much more to say about it, it seemed less bloated than apt for me.
+
+thank you pacman
+
+### pacaur
+
+[PacAur](https://github.com/rmarquis/pacaur) is a wrapper for pacman that also accesses the AUR - the Arch User Repository, that has absolutely ***everything*** in it. if you've ever lost socks in the washing machine they're probably chilling out in the aur with everyones will to live.
+
+thank you pacaur
+
+## window managers
+
+### bspwm
+
+[BSPWM](https://github.com/baskerville/bspwm) is my favourite window manager and my current favourite. its very scriptable, very lightweight, very powerful, whats not to love.
+
+bonus points for being tiled so people looking over your shoulder think you're some sort of weirdo.
+
+i'd reccomend it to anyone looking for a nice tiled window manager. psuedo-tiling mode (keeping the window floating, ie being able to resize it, but pinning it to the centre of the partition) is the nicest looking thing ever. use it.
+
+thank you bspwm
+
+### cwm
+
+[CWM](https://github.com/chneukirchen/cwm) aka. the ***calm window manager*** which is a name i would expect from a vaporwave themed hotel, is a floating window manager based around the concept of *groups*, which are like workspaces but better. this was my daily driver other than bspwm for about a year or two of uni, very nice and easy to use. use it.
+
+thank you cwm.
+
+## literally any other category
+
+### sxhkd
+
+[SXHKD](https://github.com/baskerville/sxhkd) - the simple x hotkey daemon is simply a way to bind shortcuts to scripts, and its super super super handy, if not just for your media keys. love it to pieces.
+
+thank you sxhkd
+
+### weechat
+
+[WeeChat](https://weechat.org/) is my irc client of choice, its extensible, has pretty good defaults and ive used it for ages. not much more to say about it, an irc client is an irc client, but weechat is one of the better ones.
+
+thank you weechat.
+
+### vim
+
+[Vim](https://www.vim.org/) is my preferred text editor, get that emacs bullsoykaf out of my face.
+
+its fun, easy, powerful, extensible and every other buzzword you could want. it will make you popular with the ladies, reduce your ghc compile times by a week, and add eight inches to your height.
+
+fun fact i once got accused by the police of threatening to shoot up my university because someone saw me using vim in class and thought i was hacking.
+
+thank you vim.
+
+### ncmpcpp
+
+[NCMPCPP](https://rybczak.net/ncmpcpp/) is my preferred music client, and is a frontend for mpd. it looks nice and has a neat waveform thingy so i can look really pretentious leaving it in my lower corner when im at starcucks. you get to sound smart to people by being able to remember the name which is a plus, and its quick.
+
+thank you ncmpcpp
+
+### mpd
+
+[MPD](https://www.musicpd.org/) is a daemon that plays music and it does exactly what it says on the tin. it lets me keep sane by playing high quality music, and it even will save the state of your playlist through reboots so that you can blast the K-On! soundtrack to your computational mathematics class when you forget to plug your headphones in before turning your laptop on.
+
+thank you mpd.
+
+### haskell
+
+[Haskell](https://www.haskell.org/) oh haskell oh haskell.  
+HASKELL HASKELL HASKELL HASKELL HASKELL
+
+I really like haskell. one day i hope to be good at it. if you like haskell and are good at it then you're a really neat duder in my books, even if only one of those things is true then you're a cool pal.
+
+haskell is the best programming language ever written. full stop. if thats not a reccomendation then idk what is.
+
+use it, love it, spread the word.
+
+(bonus points because this blog is written in haskell).
+
+thank you haskell.
+
+### hakyll
+
+[Hakyll](https://jaspervdj.be/hakyll/), while we're on the topic of this blog, is the framework this blog is written in. its really easy to use and super good for static sites, and static sites make you cool, fact.
+
+use it, love it.
+
+thank you hakyll.
+
+## honourable mentions
+
+### everything i use on my servers
+
+a quick list:
+
+* [Nginx](https://nginx.com)
+* [Postfix](http://www.postfix.org/)
+* [Git](https://git-scm.com/)
+* [Dovecot](https://www.dovecot.org/)
+* [Roundcube](https://roundcube.net/)
+* [Anope](https://www.anope.org/)
+* [UnrealIRC](https://www.unrealircd.org/)
+* [ZNC](https://wiki.znc.in/ZNC)
+* [CertBot](https://certbot.eff.org/)
+* [Yesod](https://www.yesodweb.com/)
+
+thank you all.
+
+---
+
+if i've forgotten or not mentioned anything (and theres probably a lot more) i may get around to doing a second write up at some point. but thank you each and every person who has helped me make my laptop and servers the characters they are today.
+
+thanks everyone.
+
+peace out.

2018-08-29-favourite-pattern.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,94 @@
+# My Favourite Programming Pattern
+
+so at work we were talking about interviewer questions for graduates, and one of them was the standard simple test to weed out graduates who faked it till they made it. it went something like this:
+
+> you are given a list of characters, please return the list with commas seperating each element. do not leave a trailing comma.
+
+there may have been language restrictions or something, honestly i wasnt paying a huge amount of attention, but it got me thinking about my honest answer to that, and here is what i came up with.
+
+in my favourite language of course, Haskell:
+
+```
+join' :: [Char] -> ([Char] -> [Char])
+join' (x:xs) = (x:) . dropLast . (join' xs)
+   where
+      dropLast = if (xs /= []) then (',':) else (id)
+join' [] = id
+
+answer :: [Char] -> [Char]
+answer x = join' x $ []
+```
+
+for people who don't know haskell, heres a quick run down of the important parts.
+
+the function will look at the first character in the list, and partially apply it to the prepend function `:`
+
+in haskell you can partially apply functions, which means if you have a function taking two arguments, only give it one, and get back a new function that takes a single argument.
+
+in the case of prepend, `x:` is a function that will take another list, and return that list prepended with `x`, ie
+
+```
+'a' : ['b', 'c', 'd'] == "abcd" == ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd']
+```
+
+we then compose that function with one of two functions returned by `dropLast`, dependending on whether `x` is the last character in the list. 
+
+composing is done with `.`, and simply is a way to chain functions together. ie:
+
+```
+(f . g)(x) == f(g(x))
+```
+
+if the character we're looking at isn't the last, then we add another prepend for a comma. if it is the last, we add the `id` function into the mix, which just returns the input unchanged.
+
+after that we recurse with the tail of the list.
+
+at the end of this we aren't given a comma seperated list like you'd think, we're given a function. for the input `"abcd"` our function is something like:
+
+```
+'a' : ',' : 'b' : ',' : 'c' : ',' : 'd' : id
+```
+
+which is a function that takes a list of characters, and returns a list of characters. to get our answer we need to give this function an argument, and the argument we want is an empty list.
+
+the steps this function goes through build up the list from the back, prepending one character at a time, until we get our answer:
+
+```
+"a,b,c,d"
+```
+
+## but... why?
+
+i like this pattern for a few reasons, whether they're valid or not is up to you.
+
+### its not super slow.
+
+this one is more applicable to haskell, but the naive way to do this (outside of using a prebuilt function) would be to use `++` and just go through each character adding it and a comma to a final output string.
+
+strings in haskell are lists, and lists are linked lists under the hood. so appending anything requires traversing the entire list, and doing so in the way described above ends up being `O(n^2)`
+
+the prepend function method, however, is much faster. prepending takes constant time, so doing so as shown only ends up being `O(n)` which is far *far* better.
+
+### it uses id
+
+this is one of the few times i get to honestly use the `id` function for something other than teaching how lambda calculus works, so it gets points for that.
+
+### its fun and different
+
+you can't discount this, programming is a hobby and therefore should be fun. not much more to say about that.
+
+## where else?
+
+another time this method is great, and possibly a cooler example, is for getting the traversal of a tree.
+
+this has the same problem when done naively of being an `O(n^2)` operation due to all the list appending, however we can convert it to create a prepend function chain which cuts it down to `O(n)`. yay :)
+
+the idea here is to recursively go down the tree, like you would normally, but at each node instead of recursing left, appending the root, then recursing right, we instead compose an extra prepend operation, and as a base case, when there is no child we instead prepend `id` and keep going.
+
+---
+
+i really like this pattern, it is in fact my favourite. someone please come up with a nice name for it i can't.
+
+thanks for listening.
+
+close this world. txen eht nepo

2018-08-29-two-dreams.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+# Two Dreams I Had
+
+i had a dream last night that i remembered and wrote down to a friend just as i woke up. it reminded me of a similar dream i had that i also sent to said friend.
+
+for those of you who like to psychoanalyse me (two in mind) and those of you who like hearing about dreams (one in mind), this post is for you.
+
+## dream one
+
+this dream happened a while ago but really stuck with me.
+
+the setting of this dream was much the same as our own world, no special powers and no magic or anything, just our regularly everyday world, save for one change.
+
+this change is difficult to fully put across because its odd but i'll try anyway.
+
+in this world, burgers are used both as food, and as the main medium of chatting online with people, that is to say, the process of chatting online somehow requires and consumes burgers, and so people buy burgers both to eat - as that is still a food people like - and also to fuel their online chats, if they're that way inclined.
+
+so im at the mall in my local town with my friend, and we're at the food court lining up at burger king (hungry jacks for you aussies). he is in front of me and orders a *whopping* (pun intended) ***five burgers***, and as the lady is asking him which flavour he wants each to be, when he gets to the last one he says "give that one to tA, so he can chat with ladies online" and then turned around and gave me a smile.
+
+it was a nice dream.
+
+## dream two
+
+this dream happened tonight, and reminded me of the last so i immediately sent it to my friend so he'd get a laugh out of it.
+
+
+this dream was set in the world of "The Matrix", which is odd because its been at least three years since i last watched the matrix. in this world i was sitting in the scene of choosing the red or blue pill, with the rest of the crew standing around like in the movie, but instead of choosing and subsequently eating a red or blue pill, i was given two pieces of toast and had to write a message on each with butter. one piece of toast was the "red pill" and the other the "blue pill", however they looked identical, im unsure how i knew which was which, but it was fairly obvious at the time.
+
+the red toast message felt like it should be a wish or some happy truth that i did not possess currently. on this piece of toast i took my knife and drew a picture of a rocket and wrote "Home" below. the crew liked this.
+
+the blue toast message felt like it should be something sad, or holding me back, or some truth i possessed but wish i did not. i began to write an "A" on this piece and then my alarm went off and i woke up.
+
+i do not know what i was going to write.
+
+---
+
+short post but hopefully entertaining. please psychoanalyse till your hearts content.
+
+lets all love lain.

2018-08-31-identity-in-the-wired.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+# Identity in The Wired
+
+we all exist in the minds of others. this is what defines us in terms of living.
+
+if no-one knows you exist, if you have no interaction with anyone. you **do not exist**
+
+taking this into account, your entire identity is formed by how you interact with others. you may have multiple identities based on who you are interacting with, based on which version of you exists in their mind.
+
+your identity is malleable and you are the one in control.
+
+meatspace has limitations on this. in meatspace there are factors that are out of our control that influence our identity.
+
+race, gender, status, able-bodiness, fitness.
+
+all ***bloat***
+
+meatspace is bloat and it bloats our identities, like a cancer.
+
+the wired is different, the wired, a network of people in some way or another, is elegant.
+
+our identities are our own, we decide everything. there is a fundamental anonymity, yet because of it everything is more personal. we are who we want to be, not who we were assigned to be.
+
+identity in the wired is introspective, infinitely malleable, it is resettable, it is kind to mistakes, it rewards progress and hinders ignorance.
+
+it is pure, it is lovely.
+
+it allows us to strive to be the best us inside everyone else.
+
+please do not neglect your identity in the wired. it is the real you.
+
+`the life system is discontinued :: close this world // nepo eht txen`

2018-09-04-in-defense-of-laptops.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+# In Defense of Shitty Laptops
+
+> \>be me  
+\>friend wants to watch netflix on my laptop  
+\>i don't have sound drivers installed  
+\>run out the room crying  
+
+this is a pretty common occurance for me. i like fuarking around with my laptop, i like trying to remove a bunch of stuff from it and get it to still work. i like funky workflows.
+
+*fizzityucking* sue me.
+
+in a world of beaten up twenty-fourteen macbooks sporting the same selection of stickers, theres something comfy about having a shitty laptop.
+
+when everyone has the same operating system, the same set of programs, the same everything, theres something comfy about being different.
+
+my name is shaun, and i have a shitty samsung series nine.
+
+the hardware support is shit.
+
+the case is almost coming apart because ive lost a bunch of screws.
+
+it overheats like a fothermucker.
+
+it sports ***two***, count 'em ***two*** "Lainpad" stickers, black electrical tape over all the branding, and one of those rectangular OS stickers that says "vim".
+
+software wise, not a lot works.
+
+it runs NixOS and it sorta works for a couple of things. anything else i make do.
+
+it is a piece of shit, but i love it. it has character, it has its flaws.
+
+its a person in a world of laptops resembling carbon copy celebrities.
+
+it is a flawed individual who is aware of its shortcomings, in a world of laptops that like to think they're the hero of their own story.
+
+it is mine, and i love it.
+
+im sorry for the stuff ive put it through, but its become a stronger person for it.
+
+thank you shitty laptop.
+
+`:(){ :|:& };:`

2018-09-04-invisible.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+# Invisible Connections
+
+everyone is connected.
+
+we live in a world of invisible connections;  
+peoples' relationships  
+peoples' thoughts  
+peoples' interactions.
+
+metaphorical connections.
+
+we also live in a world of ***literal*** invisible connections.
+
+connections that ironically, are more metaphorical than literal.
+
+we are all connected by rocks that think and send invisible signals because of the logic that we spoke to them.
+
+and thats pretty fuarking stellar.
+
+i often wish that was all the connection we had.
+
+because these invisible connections often feel more real than what we experiance daily in the real world.
+
+our real world selves require so much maintenance, and that leads to requirements for nutrition, sustainence, shelter.
+
+give my consciousness an internet connection and it would be happy.
+
+our real world selves require so much physical sensation. it dirties relationships and drives hatred in all interactions. its unclean.
+
+give my invisible connection a signal in return and it would be happy.
+
+the real world is so beget around **status**, status is the be all and end all, fame and money drives all. the only important part of something is its *financial value* and if we have to destroy other standards or monopolize then so be it.
+
+give my mind knowledge and it would be happy.
+
+let us celebrate self learning, mindless tinkering, hosting because ***thats what you feel like doing***.
+
+our invisible connections are pure, unsullied, **genuine**.
+
+we see people fantasising about godhood, for power, to be in control.
+
+i want to be a god so that i can tinker all day without fear of being homeless, or hungry, or alone.
+
+as a very good friend likes to say, keep your realities seperate.
+
+we don't want to sully the only good thing we have left.
+
+thank you invisible connections, i love you all.
+
+`:wq`

2018-09-06-announcing-layer-13.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+# "Announcing: Layer 13 - Ego"
+
+---
+
+> DISCLAIMER!!!
+
+**ilovela.in** is no longer running, and we have moved to [welovela.in](https://welovela.in) instead, running on different software, but with all the same cool peeps. The article here has been left unmodified apart from this disclaimer.
+
+---
+
+Ego is up and running!
+
+Layer 13 of the Protocol Seven System
+
+Layer 13 - hosted at [ilovela.in](https://ilovela.in) - is my Mastodon instance.
+
+[Mastodon](https://joinmastodon.org/) is a twitter-like social network, and it has a couple of neat points to it:
+
+### open source
+
+what more could you ask for? free as in freedom and free as in beer, and piece of mind if you're tinfoil hat enough to be able to read through all the code and make sure no-ones spying on you.
+
+### decentrilised
+
+anyone can run their own instance of Mastodon, and all instances can communicate with each other as if it were one large social network.
+
+---
+
+there aren't too many people on my instance currently, so feel free to join and chat. once we start following people in other instances (or if anyone is running a larger instance and is fine with relaying for me) we'll start to see more and more of the wider network.
+
+---
+
+## pretentiously
+
+***Layer 13 - Ego***
+
+Battlefield the first for our public image
+
+The first and last front
+
+The unique combination of meatspace and the wired
+
+Yearning to leave but needing to stay
+
+> But then where is the real me, after all is said and done?  
+Oh, there is no real me.  
+I guess that's it.  
+
+---
+
+Sign up for [Layer 13](https://ilovela.in) now!

2018-09-06-peanut-butter.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
+# "Peanut Butter? I Hardly Even Know Her!"
+
+had a small argument at work, needed to vent my thoughts on it.
+
+the topic? ***smooth*** vs **crunchy** peanut butter.
+
+spoler alert, this is a...
+
+<SIRENS ALARM>
+
+# SMOOTH ONLY ZONE #
+
+get out of here with that lumpy *shite*
+
+so with that in place, lets get down to business (to defeat, the chunks)
+
+## texture
+
+this was the main point of contention. so lets just get this straight.
+
+if you are toasting your bread for any amount of time that is more than a few seconds, ***you have texture in your toast***
+
+if you are using any sort of wholegrain bread ***you have texture in your toast***
+
+the chunks in chunky peanut butter make it:
+
+* harder to spread
+* harder to eat
+* hurt your teeth
+* increase variance of flavour in each bite
+
+so get that shit out of here. moot point.
+
+smooth v crunchy : 1 - 0
+
+## taste
+
+they taste the same, chunks add nothing, except they randomly increase/decrease the flavour based on the density of chunks you happen to have in that bite.
+
+smooth gives you a consistent taste.
+
+this is a good thing.
+
+moot point, smooth wins this round.
+
+smooth v crunchy : 2 - 0
+
+## aesthetics
+
+crunchy peanut butter on toast looks like a pile of crunchy shit on a pile of jagged grains. looks terrible.
+
+smooth contrasts with the roughness of the toast to form a nice balance.
+
+moot point, smooth wins, maybe if you're eating crunchy peanut butter on flatbread but if you do that you're what we in the business call a ***fuarking weirdo*** and probably shouldn't be allowed out in public.
+
+smooth v crunchy : 3 - 0
+
+# final verdict
+
+there we have it folks, smooth wins by a **fizzityucking blow out** so any haters are *objectively wrong*
+
+if you disagree with this email me at `vip@bigdicc.club` and prepare to get ignored because i don't talk to people with shit opinions on things that count, like this.
+
+ciao all, enjoy your smooth peanut butter.

2018-09-07-vape-mix.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+# Vaporizer Based Pun Title
+
+vaporizer tank manuals suggest that you should *completely* clean out one flavour of liquid before putting in a new one.
+
+there are probably some **jolly solid reasons** for suggesting this, but in the name of being pretentious im going to throw that advice out the window and ***mix thos mfers together***
+
+sort of.
+
+my preferred solution is to wait until the tank is almost empty, then just refill it.
+
+no mixing or anything, just one flavour, a weird mix of the two, and the new one.
+
+sorta like the border inbetween the flavours of neopolitan ice cream.
+
+except because this is a liquid, they sort of mix together slightly creating a **smooth transition** between the two.
+
+and that gets me onto the next reason:
+
+## why
+
+the media drills into us that our lives, our problems, are episodic in nature. discreet occurances that are containerised off from each other.
+
+you have a problem, you fix it, repeat next week.
+
+we view our lives as series of distinct things, like episodes or plot arcs, like they aren't all entangled in a way that would make you a god if you could untangle.
+
+i do not believe this is true
+
+our lives are a constant shift of emotions and experiences, at any one time you are being affected by any number of links to these "episodic occurances", no matter how small.
+
+mixing vape juice to get a slow but noticable transition from one to the other reminds me to keep on trucking.
+
+life will change, no matter how things seem to stick.
+
+its important to think positive, because you can't just wait till next saturday morning and change your headspace completely.
+
+and above all...
+
+im lazy and cbf cleaning out the tank properly
+
+`:wq`

2018-09-16-ixnay-on-the-ixosnay.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+# Ixnay on the IxOSnay
+
+dear sister...
+
+by the time you read this, my laptops OS will be dead.
+
+heres how I think it'll go down:
+
+## open source programs
+
+the support for them on nixos is **excellent**, no problems there, if that was all i were doing (and it is about 97% of what i do) it'd be fine.
+
+i still intend 100% to use nix the package manager as the dependency and build environment tool of choice for my personal projects, its too good to not use.
+
+## closed source programs
+
+mainly, ***games***, im an edgy kid i like to play games in my free time, and whenever im on holiday (prime time for playing games all day) i like to be able to *install* them.
+
+this is not an easy task on NixOS.
+
+this is not an easy task at all.
+
+this is a really *really* **really** ***really*** annoying task on nixos.
+
+sometimes they'll *just werk* if you set up a virtual file system
+
+every other time you're better off setting up a VM just to avoid all the library hell you'll have to go through.
+
+## final thoughts
+
+short post, i gotta get around to `dd'ing` a usb and messing up everything.
+
+one day i'll stick to a distro, maybe even one i really really like (like nixos)
+
+it's not you nixos its me. my beard isn't long enough, i have too much of a social life at the moment, i'm not worthy.
+
+until we meet again.
+
+`close nixos || hcra nepo`

2018-09-19-my-dream-girl-dont-exist.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,80 @@
+# My Dream Girl Don't Exist
+
+> at the age of five she slit her wrists
+
+minor thoughts today on a question that i seem to get asked a lot, and im not 100% sure why.
+
+it goes a little something like
+
+> so tA, what sort of girls are you into?
+
+it's a fairly common question i imagine, and given the importance and focus that today's society places on relationships and sexual encounters i believe its something that isn't irrelevent to ask, however it always gets me thinking.
+
+what do you answer to that question?
+
+commonly i hear people giving answers in a few categories, so here we go:
+
+## physical features
+
+> i'm all about that red hair bro
+
+is this how i should answer? i don't think so. i can say that from a purely visual point of view, i have certain commonalities towards what i find attractive, perhaps im more like to find someone with red or brunette hair attractive compared to someone with blond[e] hair.
+
+does that mean im into redheads? i don't think so.
+
+for one, as i've already touched on, this is by no means a hard and fast rule, it is, as one might say
+
+***pointless***
+
+on the other hand, regardless of the relevence of this aspect, it fails to take into account *everything else about the person* which is arguably much more important, and as such, im not sure this is what you should answer.
+
+## personality features
+
+> gotta have a fun girl y'know?
+
+at the other end of the spectrum is the *personality* aspect. i think most people see this as the **correct** answer, its the size of her heart that matters, not her titter totters.
+
+in all honesty i think this is both naive and practically egotistical.
+
+lets think about this for a second
+
+you're saying that you both:
+
+* understand your own psyche enough to know what personality matches you
+* are confident that either your psyche won't change over time, or you can ***predict accurately how it will***
+* understand *other* peoples psyches enough **from interaction alone** to know they match your own
+* are confident enough that you can **accurately predict how another persons psyche will change over their lives** to know they will continue to match.
+
+now im no stranger to the god complex, but holy hell this is one egotistical person that believes this.
+
+i still believe that out of the first passover answers this is the correct one to go for, it has much more of an accurate match to how i both think, and believe you should think, about relationships, but god damn i can't get over people who think they have this figured out.
+
+## common stereotype
+
+> big tiddy goth gf; thicc thighs save lives bro
+
+this is an interesting one, to me, anything like this is essentially a "get out of jail free card" for the question.
+
+its the equivilent of putting on your bro voice and talking about how much you think you're gonna fail an exam, because you're talking to big scary rugby players and they could beat you to a pulp easily
+
+this is not an answer to the question "what sort of girls are you into?", this is basically saying;
+
+> i refuse to answer your question. instead i am going to simultaeneously prove that i am a normal person with semi-normal thoughts, and align myself with a group of people, such that we may divert the conversation to hobbies and interests instead ~~also i am definitely not a spider~~
+
+outside of that, it also, in some capacity, plays into what the media have fed us. how many shows have an average white guy who somehow gets either an alty girl or a goth girl. its the standard go-to for anyone who is a [dz]oomer, and i don't think it gives any actual answer to the question.
+
+## final thoughts
+
+what sort of girls am i in to? thats an easy question
+
+> my dream girl don't exist - *Jeff Magnum*
+
+if i knew the type of girls i was into, i would be pursueing them.
+
+if i knew there was a common physical trait that i loved above all, i would look out for it
+
+if i knew anything at all about my dream girl, life would be far less interesting than it is now
+
+~~just kidding, its OwO girls~~
+
+`:wq`

2018-09-21-cut-me-some-flac.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+# Cut Me Some Flac
+
+story time:
+
+i was visiting my father, and at his house i misplaced my bluetooth speaker.
+
+my dad asks my step brother if the one next to him is mine (it is not)
+
+my step brother says
+
+> of course its not, its a UE Boom and tA hates everything thats normal.
+
+## rant
+
+welcome one and all to my quick rant on why i dont use spotify.
+
+i am almost exclusively a flac/mp3 person, at home, while commuting, when im sitting in the corner at a party with my headphones on so i dont have to talk to anyone.
+
+there are a couple of reasons, so lets start out with the crappy one
+
+## im a bit of a hipster
+
+its true, i cant deny it, especially because denying it would be something a hipster would do, and im not mainstream enough to be a hipster.
+
+you get a bit of street cred for not using spotify and being different, you get to feel like you're a bit of a rebel and not playing into the cold soulless hands of Big Tech (tm) but thats not really true either way in this world.
+
+its a little neat though, makes for a good icebreaker at parties and (whether for good or bad) makes people remember you.
+
+## the selection isn't great
+
+if you have an NPC taste in music then spotify is fine. my brother loves it and everything he could ever hope to listen to is represented.
+
+i have odd tastes and quite often there isn't a song im wanting on there, and i have to resort to youtube or something. with physical files this isn't a problem.
+
+## its playing into a monopoly
+
+almost everyone i know uses spotify except for that poor poor friend who uses apple music. soon enough it'll be harder and harder to find legal versions of the actual files, and you'll be forced into using some sort of streaming plan. everything is going that direction nowadays, i wouldn't be surprised if in ten years we're sold a minimal boot loader that streams you your operating system (given you remembered to pay this months os bill)
+
+outside of the benefits think of it like a protest.
+
+## you're in control
+
+if the internet went down tomorrow i would still have access to all the music i have listened to. the same cant be said for people who use spotify.
+
+if i want to use my own client i can, no worries at all.
+
+if i don't have any internet i can still browse my entire collection, or a large chunk of it depending on which computer im at
+
+its just easier.
+
+## final thots
+
+im gonna make a great old man who refuses to get with the times, and goes on very long tirades about how big tech are trying to steal our technical autonomy. its true, i can't deny it
+
+im a tech hipster, forever and always, and you can pry my flacs from my cold, dead hands.

2018-09-23-letting-starcucks-spy-on-me.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+# Starcucks has my Newds
+
+every sunday me and my friends go to starcucks and sit around using their wireless to do linuxy shit. we hang out in irc and shitpost and fuark up our beaten up, "lainpad" and "arisuchan" sticker adorned laptops and do nothing that couldn't be done from home with only the NSA, my Government and my landlord spying on me.
+
+## aesthetics
+
+anyone who's read my rant on lain knows the we all like to think of ourselves as leet-ass script kiddies who are fighting the man by refusing to update our os's
+
+the brunt of it is we like pretend we're in some sorta cyberpunk setting by stealing cafe wireless, and starcucks is the best one to do it from
+
+## the holy binary
+
+starcucks fills two main roles
+
+* its a social place that isn't our own homes
+* its a corporation so we can be edgy
+
+## social places
+
+we are nerds. we are somewhat anti-social (according to us) and very anti-social (according to others) so any activity that gets us out in public is pretty good. we still play cards at the crappy lgs with awful children throwing basketballs until our ears bleed because its not inside our flats.
+
+coming to starcucks is something we can say "we did good today" and staves off the crippling loneliness. score one for starcucks
+
+## crapitalism
+
+we're linux nerds, we like to be edgy and we like to pretend we're doing anything to fight against the man (even if we're not). starcucks is something that represents the sort of people we arent, it represents the sort of coporation we don't want to be a part of, and us doing our cyb shit lets us act lie we're doing some sort of counterculture thing (even if we aren't really).
+
+this should be made obvious by us calling it starcucks the entire time (we were edgy teenagers)
+
+its a comfy feeling and it makes me feel nice.
+
+## final thoughts
+
+very short post but not too much else to say about it. this post was in fact written at a starcucks and i don't feel bad about that. life is about the aesthetics
+
+`your 20 minutes of free internet has run out, please log in again to continue`

2018-09-26-idiots-guide-to-retina.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,174 @@
+# An Idiot's Guide to Retina
+
+***a clarification***
+
+the idiot in the title refers to the person who wrote it, not necesserily to the person reading this.
+
+## battlecon
+
+BattleCon is one of my favourite boardgames and its made by a bunch of really great people.
+
+at its core its a card game version of something like street fighter (if you're a pleb) or Melty Blood (if you're a cool guy slash gal)
+
+it currently has a kickstarter running for the latest set, which you should check out [here](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/level99games/battlecon-unleashed-the-ultimate-battlecon-edition/description) as well as an online version which you can grab for free [here](https://store.steampowered.com/app/792570/BattleCON_Online/)
+
+as part of the promotion for the kickstarter im writing a guide for my custom character **Retina**, which has recieved very little playtesting because im bad at balance.
+
+so without further ado
+
+## retina
+
+### flavour
+
+retina is a girl who wears headphones and is a *slick-ass fighter*.
+
+she is the friend of iris (the [vg gal](http://vggal.smackjeeves.com/comics/1209666/iris-watches-cat-mom-hugs-baby-kitten/) and the respective [battlecon promo](http://indines.wikia.com/wiki/VG_Gal_Iris)
+
+since creating this character i have come to realise that **vg gal iris** was named after the flower, and not the part of the eye, however ive become attached to the name **retina** for my character so we'll leave it at that.
+
+she is *excited on the inside* because she is somewhat of a self insert character and im expressionless. sue me.
+
+her fighting style involves being ***in-tune*** with her opponent, which grants her extra power, however if she loses focus these are lost until she can sync back up with the opponent.
+
+### kit
+
+**Retina** is, like every single other battlecon character, a ***Brawler***. she has very bread and butter battlecon effects, with an emphisis on movement.
+
+her up to date kit including balance changes is hosted at the [BattleCon Customs Database](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1sa6_yY1HNwKPRmv1QcTBuLI6pcPkMFvz2IjC8vYpdVg/edit#gid=539552628) but i will also list it her, with what it was at the time of writing.
+
+### Unique Ability
+
+**Retina** has a single, double-sided Form Card. She begins the duel **In-Tune**.
+
+She can only activate **In-Tune** effects while she is **In-Tune**, and can only activate **Out-of-Tune** effects while **Out-of-Tune**.
+
+**In-Tune**:
+When you are stunned, flip this card and discard it with your current attack pair.
++1 Priority.
+
+**Out-of-Tune**:
+This card cycles together with your discard piles. When it leaves your discard piles, regain and flip it.
+-1 Power.
+
+### Styles
+
+***Thumping***
+
++0 Range, +0 Power, +0 Priority
+
+**Reveal, In-Tune**: +1 Power  
+**Before Activating, In-Tune**: Move up to 1 space.  
+
+***Piercing***
+
++1 Range, +0 Power, +1 Priority
+
+**Start of Beat, In-Tune**: Push the opponent 1 space.  
+**In-Tune**: If the opponent would move more than 1 space, reduce that movement to 1 space.  
+
+***Deep***
+
++0~1 Range, +0 Power, +0 Priority
+
+**Out-of-Tune**: Stun Immunity  
+**In-Tune**: This attack does not stun opponents  
+
+***Reverberating***
+
++0 Range, -1 Power, +0 Priority
+
+**Reveal, In-Tune**: +0~1 Range. If the opponent has any positive Power modifiers, +2 Power.  
+**End of Beat**: Move up to 2 spaces.  
+
+***Booming***
+
++1~2 Range, -1 Power, -2 Priority
+
+**Start of Beat**: Push the opponent 1 or 2 spaces  
+
+### Unique Base
+
+***Beat***
+
+1~3 Range, 2 Power, 4 Priority
+
+**End of Beat**: Move up to 1 space. you may swap your discard piles  
+
+### Finishers
+
+***Drop the Bass!***
+
+1~6 Range, 4 Power, 1 Priority
+
+> It's been a long build up!
+
+Stun Immunity  
+**Reveal, Out-of-Tune**: Remove your form card from your discard piles, and flip it to its **In-Tune** side.
+
+***Blow the Speakers!***
+
+1~2 Range, 7 Power, 6 Priority
+
+> Totally worth it!
+
+**After Activating**: Flip your form card to its Out-of-Tune side and remove it from your discard piles. For the rest of the game you cannot flip your form card.
+
+## strategy
+
+retina is somewhat of a brawler, who likes to play the clock. she would rather jump around and hit for small amounts, than trade for larger amounts.
+
+this is because she gets quite weaker while out of tune, and she lacks stun guard on any of her styles outside of ***Deep*** (which ironically does not help while in-tune anyway).
+
+because of this she likes:
+
+* fast attacks that can stun
+* positioning so that the opponent misses
+* strike
+
+### fast attacks
+
+**retina** has a lot of styles with either neutral or positive priority on them. this means that against a lot of people she will often outspeed unless up against a speedster. this is helped by her **In-Tune** offering an extra priority as long as she can remain unstunned.
+
+fast bases like **drive** and **grasp**, and her unique base **beat** help to stun an opponent who does not have large amounts of stun-guard, and while she may not trade for much (she lacks a lot of positive power), she hopefully will not get stunned, and thus stay in-tune.
+
+### positioning
+
+against heavies with lots of stun guard, **retina's** best option is to try and play the range game, and move either herself or the opponent so that they will miss.
+
+her best tools for this are the base ***grasp***, as well as her styles ***piercing*** and ***booming*** which can both move the opponent.
+
+this is especially useful against characters with lots of close range options, as you can often move them out of range 1 and win the beat.
+
+as always, ***burst*** and ***drive*** help with this too
+
+### strike
+
+another line of play is to abuse ***strike***, and to a lesser extent ***shot***, which both offer stun guard. this allows **retina** to make a trade (hopefully) without getting stunned, and more importantly can allow for mixups with opponents who were expecting a fast and tricksy character.
+
+## becoming out-of-tune
+
+should you get stunned (and if you're as bad at battlecon as i am, this will happen a lot) you have a few options to get back to your peak.
+
+### dodge
+
+it will take two turns after being stunned for you to return to being **In-Tune**. if you can successfully dodge then this will reduce your downtime by half, so its very good to dodge when you can.
+
+beware of easy clashes when doing this. the only real pair **retina** has to get out of the standard 3/4 prio dodge is ***booming***, which is a bit of a nonbo unless you're against close range opponents.
+
+### deep
+
+if you'd rather go on the offensive, ***deep*** while **Out-of-Tune** lets you get in any damage as long as you can maintain range, regardless of priority or stun guard. this is one of **retina's** few tanking abilities, so it can be a nice surprise for an opponent expecting to get a quick stun in while you're weak.
+
+### beat
+
+finally, ***beat*** allows you to swap your discard piles. this drops one turn off of your downtime, but it is predictable, and stops you being able to use beat to replay your best attacks. if you can avoid getting clashed however, beat lets you get back in tune after the beat turn, which can be quite powerful.
+
+## final thoughts
+
+please email me at [s@p7.co.nz](mailto:s@p7.co.nz) if you have any balance ideas, or ping me on tA on the battlecon discord.
+
+if this is your first introduction to battlecon, then please play! its a really great game.
+
+thanks for listening pals
+
+`a new challenger approaches!`

2018-10-02-ashes-rotp.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,74 @@
+# "Ashes: Rise of the Phoenixborn"
+
+... is one of my favourite card games, and criminally underrated.
+
+[Ashes](https://www.plaidhatgames.com/games/ashes) is an "extendable card game" (what would be known as an lcg if it was released by fantasy flight) by Plaid Hat Games, and it's great.
+
+Its a 2+ player card game of direct combat between fuarking wizards, it has custom dice and nice templates and awesome art and a slick ruleset.
+
+PHG's advertising is on par with Level 99 Games (that is, far less than it deserves) so think of this as a quick introduction to the game and hopefully we can get some more players.
+
+## mechanics
+
+we can talk theme for days but what really matters is the mechanics of the game, thats the thing that keeps us playing.
+
+at first glance, ashes is a standard dude smasher. you play your dudes, you turn them sideways, you deal damage, you win (or lose, if you're me), this is technically true, but it misses a lot of what makes ashes special.
+
+the turn slash round structure is built on two principles:
+
+* you get a single main, and a single side action a turn
+* you alternate turns until both players consecutively pass, which moves to the next round.
+
+the important part of this is:
+
+your tempo matters, a lot. obviously tempo is important in every game, but in ashes the tempo of your deck is one of the most important aspects. if you're too slow, you'll get overwhelmed, but if you're too fast, you'll run out of things to do before the next round. its a fun balancing act that you don't see in a lot of other card games.
+
+theres another very unique part of ashes, and like every ex-mtg player who sees diesel when they start netrunner, it really amazes and baffles people who arent used to it.
+
+***you get to choose your opening hand in ashes***
+
+there are caveats, you're not allowed more than one copy of each card, but it adds a lot of strategy in choosing your opening based on what you expect your opponent to choose, and reduces variance in deck building a lot. suddenly your one-ofs can be *guarenteed* to be seen from the first turn, which leads to less games decided by lucky draws. i like it a lot.
+
+its kept in check with the action system too, as unlike MTG, which would break with this ruling, in ashes you can't really assemble game breaking combos from your hand. you gotta play honest.
+
+### resources
+
+ashes uses dice as its resource, and does it really nicely imo.
+
+there are six different colours of dice, which equate to colours of mana in mtg or factions in netrunner. they each have three symbols on them (one shared between all dice, and two unique to that colour) which act as costs for cards, with higher up symbols being able to be used as the ones below.
+
+you would think this leads to not being able to play things based on an unlucky roll, but thankfully it doesn't. deckbuilding so as to not include a tonne of costs that require high rolls goes a long way, and most importantly (to the dismay of anyone who plays Star Wars Destiny) you can set a dice to any symbol by milling cards from your hand, deck or field.
+
+each colour of die also has an ability tied to it that can be activated by spending the highest symbol, plus a side action. these base abilities give many decks an out to certain cards, and mean your dice are never useless.
+
+its a fun addition to the game and im glad its there, don't knock it till you've tried it.
+
+## feel
+
+the feel of the game, how it flows, is something some people take for granted.
+
+this might sound odd, but the game that reminds me most of ashes is competitive pokemon.
+
+not the card game, the video game, hear me out.
+
+team synergy is important in pokemon, but arguably far more important is knowing what you're up against, and making sure you have an out for everything your team can't handle itself. making strong reads that will pay off later, and knowing how you're going to win.
+
+ashes is not magic. you can't grab every card that says goblin, sleeve it up, and win off the explicit synergy.
+
+ashes is about making positive trades and levereging that incremental advantage with some nice reads to put yourself ahead.
+
+ashes is a game that in a lot of ways has no set up. you start with all of your resources avaliable (your ten dice) and the exact cards you want in hand. you're essentially starting a game of magic from the midgame, and seeing who can last the tear-down the longest.
+
+its a very unique feel, and i think anyone who hasn't tried it is missing out.
+
+## final thoughts
+
+please give ashes a go. its very underrated and it doesn't deserve the level of obscurity it currently has.
+
+if you'd like to ask any questions or discuss the game, check out the [slack](http://www.strangecopy.com/index.php/ashes-chat/) channel.
+
+the game is played online on tts, so if you own that then give someone a yell in the discord.
+
+and most importantly, spread the word! its so great to get new players, and thats the only way we can.
+
+`summon owl, summon dove, your turn`

2018-10-04-no-owo-zone.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+# No OwO Zone
+
+> rawr means "i wuv u" in dinorawr
+
+i may have actually said that sentence in my life time. i'll admit it.
+
+i was walking to work the other day and had a thought and so thats what im writing about today
+
+why do people use fuarking owo language so much?
+
+i owo
+
+you owo
+
+he, she, we, owo
+
+the conclusion i came to is, surprise surprise
+
+***its quite a childilsh thing to do***
+
+now i don't have anything against being childish. i think holding on to what makes you happy, what many would call being childish, is very important and i embrace that everytime i watch a cartoon or laugh at a fart joke.
+
+but using owo soykaf is childish in a different way, or rather...
+
+using owo language is a bluff at understanding how your emotions work.
+
+you're in school, you have a significant other, they're your SO because you both like the same cartoons, and you both think that charlottes a bitch, and thats about it.
+
+you have absolutely zero clue what love is, you have no idea at all
+
+so rather than express emotions through subtle language like someone who is a lot better at understanding emotion than i currently am might, you go with something that in no-way can be misunderstood
+
+> rawr xD \*nuzzles you\* :3
+
+because its obvious isn't it? and then your SO who is also equally as batshit dumb as you are when it comes to emotions does the same, and you both understand each other and feel happy
+
+is it a bad thing? i don't think so. its probably good to try and understand as much as you can about how to actually express your emotions subtley, but the end result is that the other person understands, and if you need owo shit for that then whatever handles your jandal
+
+may your asterisks be aplenty and may your love be mutualised.
+
+seeya round pals
+
+`owo ouo uou non`

2018-10-05-everyday-life.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+# Everyday Life
+
+shout-outs to [ibagail](https://cybre.space/@ibagail) and [grace](https://social.illegalpornography.com/@BestGirlGrace) for todays topics.
+
+## Nichijou - My Ordinary Life
+
+i'm a bit of a weeb you should all know this by now. my favourites are neon genesis evangelion, and serial experiments lain, and things similar to those two series.
+
+and also nichijou. nichijou is a slice of life show that is very different to the rest of what i watch. there are a few reasons for this, so lets dive in
+
+### un-mitigated animation budget
+
+nichijou in no way deserves the quality of animation it has. it does not have any plot that requires that good animation, and i assume the animators get paid roughly a billion dollars an episode to produce it. its a joy to watch, im not even going to link any videos here because its all good, just look at any `crazy nichijou scenes` video and you'll be good.
+
+### a simpler time
+
+this one is harder to explain. theres something very, **generic** about the show, but not in a bad way. the supermarket in the show is filled with milk bottles marked "milk" and there are no brand names dropped through-out the show. advertising is basically non-existent and instead you have just one or two of each thing. you don't have brands of chocolate, you have "the good chocolate" and maybe "the really good special chocolate" and thats it.
+
+everyone in the show has their own purpose and are happy with that, theres no big doubt or uncertainty outside of meaningless "he likes she likes" scenarios. money is no problem for them outside of wanting nicer things, rather than wanting *a place to live*
+
+i've watched this show high a ***lot*** and i always enjoy imagining living in this world. i think i'd really enjoy it, even if my brain has been socialised to live in a world very differnt to that. it'd be worth getting used to.
+
+## questions
+
+> what's the deal with airline food?
+
+i actually eat airline food somewhat occasionally whenever i go to visit my father. it's not too bad but there are a lot of complaints i have.
+
+* they always have a tonne of plastic and lids and crap that  you gotta balance on your tray table until they come collect the rubbish.
+* they're always really hot and a pain to eat
+* there's always a bunch of extra stuff like a roll and some fruit and the fruit thing is 90% pineapple anyway
+
+overall im not a huge fan.
+
+> where do babies come from?
+
+so anecdotally, people set up a room in the house for a baby, and then a couple of months later theres a baby there. from this i can infer that there is some sort of satanic magic upon which decorating a room in baby soykaf summons a baby entity from some sort of void.
+
+> good movies
+
+my top five(?) in no real order but sort of an order
+
+### The End of Evangelion
+
+i have seen this movie literally over three hundred times. no joke
+
+### The Point
+
+charming little animation narrated by ringo starr, and the best high movie you will ever watch. very happy
+
+### Fantastic Planet
+
+a wierd animation that is very fun to watch but a little unnerving. apparently based on a book but i havent read it because i cannot read french.
+
+### The Men Who Stare At Goats
+
+i don't understand the hate for this movie i love it
+
+### Watchmen
+
+love the comic, love the movie, the opening montage is perfect
+
+## final thoughts
+
+thank you for all for reading and thanks to grace and ibagail for giving me inspiration on what to talk about, love you all.
+
+`the fate of destruction is also the joy of rebirth`

2018-10-08-always-rock.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+# Always Rock
+
+paper scissors rock is a scam. do not play it. its awful.
+
+ded gaem, as the kids say.
+
+the hottest new soykaf on the block is a brand new game called
+
+## always rock
+
+its very similar to the paper scissors rock we all know and love, but with one rule that is fairly easy to grok from the name.
+
+* you must always choose rock
+
+now there are some questions that arise from this, so lets get them out of the way first.
+
+the usual first reaction is something like:
+
+> but tA, if everyone always chooses rock, and rock is a tie with rock, then the game will never end! ~~although i like doing rock with my human fist that i have because im totally not a spider~~
+
+the answer is simple, you always choose rock *until you don't*
+
+choosing something other than rock is something of an honour system. sure you could choose paper straight away, but that makes you what we in the business like to call a ***fuarking shit-cunt***
+
+the safe option is to do paper after a couple of draws, but you can't be too obvious about it, if they think you're gonna do paper, its their chance to go scissors.
+
+one of the most stylish moves is choosing the relatively unsafe scissors, in the hopes of achieving those **900 iq pro-reads** and catching their paper, which is the second most honourable victory you can achieve. this is the fun of always rock.
+
+of course the most honourable victory is to stay resolute and stay rock, catching their cheeky scissors and winning like a true good cunt.
+
+## final thoughts
+
+not much more to say about the game. its the baduk to rps' checkers, its the fruity vape to rps' creamy vape, its the burn it to the ground by nickelback to rps' rockstar by nickelback, and the best part is that you can play it against people who are playing rps too. i highly recommend trying it out.
+
+`rock, rock, rock, rock`

2018-10-09-on-motivation.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,75 @@
+# On Motivation
+
+> Disclaimer: this is gonna be filled with armchair soykaf and im also not sure what im trying to say. i also am probably guilty of most of this myself but whatever.
+
+what motivates people to act the way they do. in heavily cynical mindsets it seems like there are a few key motivators that present themselves almost anywhere you go.
+
+im guilty of some of them and im aware of that. im guilty of some of them and im unaware of it. but i do think things would be better if we could try to become self-aware about some of these
+
+then again thats just edgy thought. ***we live in a society*** etc etc.
+
+fuarking sue me i guess.
+
+## sex
+
+lets start with the obvious. so so so many interactions people have are framed as either a means to get sex, or a means to flaunt getting sex. we have layers and layers of pseudo false-truths built on top of this, that everyone just seems to agree with because it makes it easier to do what people want to do without feeling bad. we have all these concepts like true love and romantic attraction, but peel away the layers and they're all just physical lust with a shiny coat of paint.
+
+and its not just the people who are obviously borderline nymphos. the same people that flaunt their preference for romantic attraction are just as guilty. the people who build their personas around their apparent dismissal of physical lust are just as misguided.
+
+the amount of anger and hatred this thinking causes astounds me. the amount of self hatred induced by having to live through this - and depending on headspace, participating in this - is mind boggling.
+
+i truly hate it, despite being guilty of it myself.
+
+## fame
+
+everyone wants their own fame. we are obsessed with celebrity worship and its what most people seem to aspire to. every interaction is framed with trying to be *above* other people, to in some way be the hero of the story, the main character, in a world where every other person is trying to do the same. every conversation is a game with a winner, and nothing else.
+
+celebrity worship makes this worse because its gives people an ***out***, no longer do they have to admit it because 
+
+> oh im not like **those** people, this is just a low-key thing.
+
+every smaller community has the same problem. people trying to make a name for themselves, people trying to stand out.
+
+being an observer is almost like a death sentence to them.
+
+there are no things to put your name on that will matter past your lifetime. nothing. no science discovery, no piece of media. at most you'll be appreciated for a while after your death, and then relegated to the unpopular nerdy kids to geek out over and thats it.
+
+fame is a scam. i hate that people aim so much for it, i hate that im guilty of wanting it to some level.
+
+i hate a lot of it
+
+## power
+
+advertisments rule this world. that is a fact. its gotten so out of hand that theres not even anything we can really do about it.
+
+every computer is comprimised and being data-mined at all times. i am sure of this.
+
+every mobile phone is recording and taking pictures at all times, i am sure of this
+
+that much information gives the people up the top all the power in this world, and there is nothing we can do about it.
+
+power corrupts. that is fact.
+
+i would like to think that given the power of a diety, i would stay an observer. i would seclude myself to an extent, and live life without worry. slowly building up my own space and slowly depressing into permanent lugubriosity.
+
+i don't think this is true.
+
+i would take that power and i would go on a bender of spreading anger.
+
+and then hopefully settle down.
+
+power corrupts, at all levels.
+
+there is nothing we can do about it
+
+and its what literally everyone is aiming for.
+
+im scared of it. i really am.
+
+## final thoughts
+
+im in an edgy headspace. im sorry for such a shitty armchair psychology article. back to your regular non-edgy shit at a later time.
+
+peace out.
+
+`despondant, lugubrious, no future`

2018-10-10-empty.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+# Empty
+
+---
+
+this was written as part of a social goal for the [battlecon unleashed kickstarter](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/level99games/battlecon-unleashed-the-ultimate-battlecon-edition/description)
+
+please go give it a look and a back! its one of the best boardgames ever made and they deserve every cent
+
+---
+
+magic was meant to enhance the lives of everyone. it was meant to make peoples lives easier.
+
+in my opinion, we just made everything meaningless.
+
+sure the grandeur is there if you're a competent mage. if you managed to get into argent and do well then you're set up for a life of fame.
+
+if you weren't so lucky, well.
+
+you're just empty.
+
+every morning i wake up in a dark room. i don't even bother taking in the surroundings any more. it'd just be putting bay windows on a shithouse.
+
+welcome to the life of one of the underlings. we weren't good enough to make top mage, we werent smart enough to do the big spells, so now we help those who can.
+
+its not a fulfulling life. i'm not doing any form of work that has meaning.
+
+im doing meanial tasks for someone who probably wouldn't notice if i skipped doing them.
+
+its that meaningless.
+
+but its all i have.
+
+everyday i consider messing something up. creating an explosion. a planar rift, just to see what would happen.
+
+but this is all i have.
+
+i could really use that holiday.

2018-10-15-post-orifice.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+# Post Orifice
+
+***WARNING***
+
+im fuarking angry. this is going to be a hate filled post. you have been warned. no wholesomeness here.
+
+***END WARNING***
+
+## i hate the post office
+
+so so so so so so so so so much.
+
+lets get the setting sorted out here.
+
+i live in a flat with about ten other people. they're all dicks. they WILL NOT SIGN FOR ANY PACKAGE THAT IS NOT THEIRS.
+
+i work 9-5 so i miss every single package delivery.
+
+no worries you think, just take the little slip and go to the post office and grab ur shitty meme tshirt you ordered?
+
+so lets talk about that.
+
+## the hours are fuarking dumb
+
+the post office is open from like, 7 till 1.
+
+the only way i can make those hours on a weekday is if i get up at like fuarking 6 and walk there before work and then walk all the way back to my house. im not a morning person so that sucks ass.
+
+no worries you think, just go on a weekend?
+
+## they're not reliable
+
+i did that over the weekend and the postie people hadnt showed up that day so my package wasn't there. one day wasted, you think, so what? just try again tomorrow.
+
+listen here fuckface.
+
+## the days are fuarking dumb.
+
+they are not open on sunday.
+
+at. all.
+
+enough fuarking said.
+
+## just go the next week?
+
+no. i basically have one day a week i can check to get the package. if they've fucked up or i don't wake up till 12 then im fuarked. so yeah i'll go the next week... if i can.
+
+## they don't give a shit.
+
+they give you two weeks. two weeks and then they send it back to the sender.
+
+shipping to nz costs roughly several hundred dollars. fuark. you. postal service. do not send my shit back to america for fucks sake.
+
+## just ask to not get it signed?
+
+i have. they won't let me.
+
+## final thoughts
+
+i have nothing but rage for the postal service. fuck you and everything you stand for. i truly truly truly hate you. i feel no remorse. die.
+
+`uh oh! nobody was home to sign! please come to your local postal office where we will tell you to go fuck yourself. have a nice day!`

2018-10-24-1d4-hp.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+# "1d4 HP"
+
+magic is real and im sure of that.
+
+not much else to say really, but we'll give it a go
+
+## what is magic
+
+magic is many different things to many different settings, however theres one description that i personally thinks captures the rough idea of most settings.
+
+> magic is the act of affecting reality using your mind, in specified ways.
+
+i think it'd be hard to argue this is at least ***a*** description that is acceptable, so thats the one we're going to use.
+
+## how tf is it real
+
+magic as described 100% exists.
+
+its difficult to do, but satisfying when it works.
+
+its something we should all practice every day, but most people don't.
+
+***magic is having an attitude that allows you to realise your goals***
+
+every time you're suffering sbs and resolve to go outside and feel good, thats magic
+
+every time you're trying to study and you try really hard and do it, thats magic.
+
+every time you stop acting like a sad cunt for a while and talk to someone and they think you're neat, thats magic.
+
+anytime your attitude is affecting reality, thats indistinguishable from magic.
+
+## final thoughts
+
+i wish i had a spell to make me write more. i do. its called "getting off my ass and actually writing"
+
+the other night i was very cold. i said "i wish i was warmer" and then i got off my ass and turned the heater on despite not being motivated to do that at all. my change in attitude granted my wish.
+
+practice magic every day. its a lifesaver.
+
+`Azarath... Metrion... ZINTHOS!`

2018-10-30-just-a-game.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+# It's Just a Game
+
+every day i read up on reddit / masto / 4chan / hackernews / lobsters about my interests, and every day theres one thing that seems to always be the latest controversy.
+
+some. shit. about. vidya. games.
+
+now i love me some comfy vidya don't get me wrong, but i just don't understand this.
+
+people care so so so much about the political landscape of videogames.
+
+it's almost like no-one cares about the actual games themselves, just the controversy they can provide.
+
+i just don't get it.
+
+## outrage
+
+everyone seems to be outraged at something, its either representation, or censorship, or something to do with the development pipeline, or dlc, or bugs or whatever. why is everyone so angry?
+
+censorship sucks but i mean, you can live without your anime tiddy games.
+
+lack of representation sucks but just like, play the game?
+
+i don't understand the people who get pissy at more representation added to a game, looking at you battlefield fan boys.
+
+as someone who bemoans the lack of skinny white dudes in rpgs (seriously i do not fit the build for a jacked up barb) then what harm does it do? anyone who mentions historical accuracy is dumb.
+
+who cares if people want to play anime tiddy games, let them, whatever handles your jandal.
+
+who really gives a shit if someone outside of your political leaning writes expansion to a game you like. siege of dragonspear's release was a fucking joke and thats what inspired this column.
+
+you have dudes doing vlog posts as if they're talking about someone suggesting we start implementing eugenics, like who actually fuarking cares that much.
+
+SoD was great i enjoyed it. if you didn't appreciate the political leaning then just don't play it, seriously its just a game.
+
+if someone decides to fix the player character to a certain race / gender / whatever then go with it. people want to tell stories, lets let the people tell the stories they want.
+
+if you're saying that its nothing to do with artistic merit, and everything to do with the developer being a bit of a racist / sexist then heres an idea ***don't play the game***
+
+seriously i'm just stonkered about this, i've seen people get into pretty riled conversations about politics and thats nothing compared to the people who are going on about vidya games as if its written into the geneva convention, as if its something that actually fuarking matters.
+
+## news flash
+
+almost all triple a games ever have sucked, every single one has been a soulless mess of board meeting decisions. stop caring so much about it.
+
+play indie games, play older games, play niche games.
+
+appreciate story telling, appreciate artistic merit, appreciate the games that people actually wanted to make, and appreciate how they made them.
+
+or don't. if the devs an asshole, or you don't agree with them, don't play the game.
+
+just don't act like the landscape of modern vidya is a battlefield worth dying on, it's just a game
+
+`please insert 50c to continue`

2018-11-06-sheer-madness.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,71 @@
+# "Sh{are,eer} Madness"
+
+so for years ive been entertaining the idea of a setting for games, stories, tabletop rpgs, card games, and anything else i can use it for.
+
+ive never really written it down or worked out some of the kinks, so here goes nothing i guess.
+
+## Sheer / Share Madness
+
+so the name is something i just came up with the other day. its a work in progress and it doesnt sound great but i like it.
+
+the setting, like all shitty homebrew settings, is old victorian, or something to that effect, however the concept itself works in almost any setting. Settings that contrast well with magic are best though.
+
+so someone once said that each great story needs a "hat", a hat is something that you can say is true for your world, without needing to justify or explain it.
+
+harry potters hat is that a school such as hogwarts exists  
+marvels hat is that superpowered individuals exist  
+etc etc.
+
+the hat for sheer madness is simple:
+
+> all hallucinations are shared among everyone who is hallucinating.
+
+what does this achieve? well.
+
+## magic
+
+magic does not exist in my setting. except it sort of does.
+
+if you are mad enough to believe you actually can throw fireballs, then you can.
+
+anyone else mad enough to see things that arent there, can suddenly see your fireballs.
+
+anyone who isnt visually hallucinating won't see or be affected by anything.
+
+the more you actually believe what you can do, the more powerful stuff you can achieve in the eyes of the mad.
+
+## important stuff
+
+people are affected by magic differently, based on how sane they are. however, no man is truly sane, and as such even the people who are not hallucinating visually may still be subject to effects from a powerful mage.
+
+madness as a whole is more widespread. the world that opens up at small levels of madness is enough to make someones condition worsen
+
+many people prefer the world of the mad, a sort of plain-sight secret society where people can do what they dream of.
+
+## ideas
+
+infiltration agents from the sane side that take hallucinigenics to participate in magic and gather intel.
+
+people unaware of this side of life who just think drunkards are fighting in the street or people are being weird.
+
+mages who have gotten so strong that their mind survives in the minds of everyone who believes they are immortal, long after their physical body has gone.
+
+anti-mage weaponry in the form of anti-psychotics to act as a sort of kryptonite
+
+cults bringing their god into "reality" through their belief
+
+the balance between power and sanity
+
+powerful individuals too insane to properly focus their power, may be the equivilent of "trickster" gods
+
+searching for a depressed individual who's mind has trapped them in an alternate universe, but left hints out of fear.
+
+## final thoughts
+
+there are a couple of things to sort out proper, namely keeping an interesting balance between the magic and non-magic world, and having a reason for them to interact.
+
+i think it could make a really neat tabletop setting, especially if it starts off without the players having knowledge of magic, and slowly getting in deeper and deeper.
+
+one day i'll do something in this setting, for now, consider this the first step.
+
+`i exist in the minds of others`

2018-11-21-ideal-world.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,83 @@
+# My Ideal World
+
+... is something that is difficult to think about, but a fun exercise nontheless.
+
+my ideal world, as it turns out, is sorta hipster and also not feasible for anyone to actually live in.
+
+go figure
+
+## well get on with it then
+
+lets get some stuff out of the way first
+
+### housing
+
+everyone has free access to a room in a house. this is warm and cosy, and has a high speed internet connection, and all the devices you need: A highspeed grunty and lovely comfy laptop, multiple screens and whatnot, whatever you need.
+
+### food
+
+is avaliable with no worry, no need to starve or worry. i have zero idea how this is handled, fuarking magic i guess.
+
+### work
+
+does not exist, working sucks. people who work in this world are doing so out of want to create, rather than financial gain. people aqcuire new things ***somehow*** and there is literally no worry about finances at all. who knows how this works, i'm not a financial guy
+
+### tech giants
+
+do not exist. computers are a hobby in this world, not a medium for business to work through. learning how to use a computer is your gateway to interacting with the wider world.
+
+## computers
+
+computers are rad, to use the local lingo, computers are ***fuarking computers***, and so this world is focussed on all the good bits of computers.
+
+self discovery, self reliance, self hosting.
+
+learning new things is your way to discovering new levels of interaction with people.
+
+using a computer in our futuristic world should be a modern analogue of philosophers trying to discover the human condition.
+
+learning more and more tech should be equivilent to opening your mind and becoming more soulful.
+
+it should **NOT** be an exercise in having your data stolen and relying on the crappily written software of the tech giants.
+
+it should **NOT** be frustrating.
+
+it should be a hobby.
+
+in this world, the best thing you can do is share your knowledge and help other people reach the level you're at.
+
+in this world people are dedicated to sharing what they know, what they enjoy, and creating and contributing to their niches.
+
+## relationships
+
+do not exist in this world as they do in the real world.
+
+physical relationships hold us back as a species. they are a barrier for moving our consciousness outside of our body, and they are too built into every single action we can take to allow for purity.
+
+relationships in this world are purely mental, and more akin to finding somebody to play against in a game who are as close to your level as you can find.
+
+somebody who is a real ***match*** for you.
+
+something pure and unsullied by needs of the flesh.
+
+## daily routine
+
+everyone just sleeps as much as they feel. gets up, and begins to create, or enjoy, whatever they want to do.
+
+drug use is encouraged, finding new points to view is the goal.
+
+social activities are fun and should be had.
+
+online activities are pure and should be undertaken as much as possible.
+
+in this world your wired identity is as important if not moreso than your physical identity.
+
+we cannot neglect our wired identities, for that is how we achieve immortality.
+
+## final thoughts.
+
+this world will never happen, it will never be.
+
+i wish it could though.
+
+`:wq`

2018-11-23-a-little-help.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+# A Little Help From My Friends
+
+> i get by with a little help from my friends
+
+having a cool team of peepos is great, and i think it does a lot to form our digital identities.
+
+## digital identity
+
+is one of the most important things. i maintain this.
+
+our digital identities are who we ***really*** are inside, and its important to not neglect them.
+
+not experimenting with them is on par with neglect.
+
+> so what?
+
+hanging with a group of friends who are like you is prime environment to do *whatever the fuark you want*, and see a response that is completely free from societal bias.
+
+this is good. this is what we want, this is how we grow.
+
+## introspection
+
+> i get high with a little help from my friends
+
+your friend group are going to be somewhat similar to you. this is good.
+
+if you can isolate the parts of your friends that are like you, and you observe that, you'll do wonders for figuring out how you think.
+
+this helps out digital identity, its one of the most important things you can do for yourself, do not neglect it.
+
+## final thoughts
+
+friends that share your interests and ideals are hard to come by, but great once you do. the kind of friends that will pick you up and hang out for no reason other than something to do.
+
+the kind of friends that will encourage and appreciate any project you start, regardless of how shitty or easy it is
+
+the kind of friends that help you grow.
+
+thank you for helping me get by, friends.
+
+`puff puff pass, friendo`

2018-11-27-chippies.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,92 @@
+# Chippies
+
+> **chippy** (*ˈchɪpɪ*) or **chippie**  
+*n, pl -pies*  
+***a.*** (esp during the 2010s) a person whose behaviour, dress, use of drugs and technology, etc, implied a rejection of conventional values  
+***b.*** (as modifier): chippy language.  
+
+me and my close friends are part of our own sub-culture. we are not the only ones, but its not often we get labelled correctly.
+
+we do not have a label, and as such "chippy" is what i have decided to call us in the meantime.
+
+chippy. an amalgamation of microchip and hippy.
+
+what is a chippy? what do we stand for? what are we like?.
+
+this is us, this is who we are.
+
+## counter-culture
+
+like the hippies before us, we reject our conventional values. however, whilst older values were mostly face value, moral issues, ours are a bit different.
+
+we are all, to some extent, outcasts. we reject the conventional, what we might call "normie stuff", in favour of our own things.
+
+we are all, to some extent, nerds. we reject the conventional idea of technology, instead preferring to live our own, utopic vision of a technological world.
+
+in a world of pre-packaged "solutions" and corporate controlled machines, we embrace the do-it-yourself of tech, the love of theory, and the pride in having your own setup.
+
+we embrace sharing, to a further extent than normal. sharing something you've set up is the reason to set it up in the first place. i eagerly await my friends latest shitty blog post, i give all my friends access to my irc bouncer regardless of if they'll ever actually use it. my friends all have accounts on my server.
+
+i rub my hands together anytime someone says something i can use as a leeway to introduce them to haskell. my friend looks for any excuse to play his latest song he's made to us.
+
+we all love it, we all appreciate it.
+
+you don't have to be good at what you do. you just need to be proud of it.
+
+its a nice community.
+
+## style
+
+our style is our own. we like what we like, and thats good enough for us. we all dress somewhat alternative, thats a bit of a requirement, but to what alternative we dress is up to us.
+
+lots of us like our loose shirts, our baggy jeans, our leather jackets.
+
+some of us like cat ears, others like dress pants, some like wires.
+
+we like our shitty meme shirts, our loud patterns, our quiet colours.
+
+we don't care much for branding at all.
+
+headphones and tech are a must. we must embrace our digital identity, and headphones and wires let us show that off.
+
+we are odd, we are weird, we are us.
+
+## recreation
+
+we're nerds, we like our videogames, our boardgames, our music, our roleplaying. we like computers and tech and programming and neat stuff.
+
+we don't like AAA games, we don't like top 40, we're into our own things.
+
+we like our mary jane, and theres nothing more relaxing then smoking in public with your best friends, and then going home to listen to some psych rock and talk about how good a song "The River" by King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard is.
+
+we enjoy the vibes of stealing starcucks internet in order to shitpost in irc chatrooms, write a blog post, reinstall an os, and download things.
+
+we enjoy sharing our digital assets. you don't even need to ask for flacs, you'll get offered them anyway.
+
+sharing is important.
+
+## mindsets
+
+a lot of us have our issues. a lot of us are depressed, a lot of us have mental issues.
+
+its important to watch out for your friends, make sure they join in occasionally, and also know when its fine to let them hermit for a bit, and instead talk to them online because we as chippies understand that theres nothing lesser about online relationships.
+
+we don't have plans, we don't have any huge aspirations, we are not career focussed.
+
+we'd be happy if we had a place to stay, and enough money to partake in our hobbies and have a steady supply of giggle bush.
+
+we are not sex focussed. we like to think we're above that.
+
+in reality we just havent found a girl odd enough to be a good match for us.
+
+but thats ok, because as long as we have our friends we're alright.
+
+## thots for now
+
+we are our own culture, we take bits of others, the hippie culture, the lain culture, the nerd culture, but we are our own thing.
+
+in a world of having to put on masks, its nice to have a group of people, be them irl or online, that understand what you're like. having that group be one that appreciates not using masks in everyday life is even better.
+
+i love you all, thank you for everything
+
+`you know i can't touch your ghost chips mate`

2018-11-28-contrast.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+# Contrast of Thoughts
+
+heres a bit of an abstract feeling i thought of today that i thought id share with you all.
+
+## side one
+
+this side is the bit that tells you not to do something you know you have to do, or to try and do as little of it as possible.
+
+this is like putting vegetables on your plate as a kid, and you wanted to put as little vegetables on your plate as you could, but had to put enough on so that your mum didnt put you in trouble.
+
+## side b
+
+this side is sorta the opposite. this side is the bit that tells you in a stern voice
+
+> put on as many vegetables as you think you should, and then put more on!
+
+this voice is the survival instinct against getting noticed for not having enough veggies.
+
+## the fight
+
+each side has its own incentive to keep puting less / more (respectively) of the thing, so left to their own devices, you would either put on way too many vegetables and it'd suck, or you'd put on no veggos and get in heaps of trouble.
+
+when you have both sides, you end up putting on the right amount because they balance out.
+
+## thottos
+
+these two voices are actually sorta tangled up in one decision making process and i think thats neat.
+
+chur tu meke for reading `:)`
+
+`i have not eaten a single vegetable today`

2018-12-02-on-religion.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+# On Religion
+
+thought id touch on a topic that hasnt gotten a huge amount of attention here yet, but is pretty important to chippie culture.
+
+## people vultures
+
+lets first and foremost get the brass tacks about our lot.
+
+* **organised religion** *is* a ***scam***
+
+no way around it. organised religion is the meat space equivilent of running the facebook vpn. its the meat space equivilent of saying "i wish i could just get someone else to run and manage my computer for me because i dont want to think.
+
+religion as a means of being nice to people is a dumbass thing. you don't need religion to be nice to people, if you do you're probably a psychopath.
+
+religion as a way of having faith in an afterlife as a means of deterring crime and unsavoury behaviour is a ***fuarking joke***, this is literally saying you have no internal preference to right or wrong without the **threat** of being sent to a literal ***eternal punishment***
+
+what these people need is not religion, they need **serious introspection**, it is not religions place to form a reason to be nice to people.
+
+## god approaches
+
+to us, the reason for religion is to get a sense of self settle. grounding yourself in a chaotic meatspace where everyone, no matter how self-righteous they act, knows what they're doing.
+
+we do not follow any specific god, some of us follow the absence of a god, some of us are unsure either way.
+
+mass religion is bonkers, what are the chances that someone elses form of religious expression is the ***exact fuarking match*** for what your psych needs.
+
+get out of here with that
+
+## final hearing
+
+the real thing about religion and religious thinking is that **it does not matter in the slightest**. it is a tool. nothing else.
+
+you wouldnt place so much importance on school, people dont usually devote their entire lifes purpose to school, even though, whether you enjoyed it or paid attention or whatever, you learnt a lot about how society and the human condition works.
+
+## disappearing
+
+i probably will never meet god, whether because im just a small human, or because they do not exist.
+
+if i do ill probably go mad, but i dont think thatd be a bad way to go tbh.
+
+if i dont, then at least i had some interesting discussions and thoughts about it.
+
+peace out friendos, mama jaz bless you
+
+`kaworu is a friend of mine`

2018-12-03-chad-lebowski.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+# Chad Lebowski
+
+the big lebowski is one of the most accurate representations of real life people ever filmed and im gonna tell you why so buckle up kiddo.
+
+## fukken chads
+
+when it comes to stuff, there are the people who are chads at that thing, and the people who arent. this is applicable to *fuarking everything*. full stop.
+
+now most film universes have a core value system that is different to real life. an action movie hero who goes around beating everyone up really well is a fukken chad, despite that very same person being a psychopath in our world who the government would take out the back and hit on the head with a brick.
+
+in the bionicle world of "the mask of light", all the toa (with the slight exception of gali) suck, except for kopaka who is a fuarking chaddo because hes the one that fights best, and wins more than everyone else.
+
+gali is sorta a chad too, at least comparative to all the other shitty toa. she doesnt win much but she doesnt lose as much as everyone else so good for her.
+
+## real life
+
+in real life, however, we have many many more systems of value. you may be the worlds best beyblades player, and to other beyblades players youre probably a real chad, but that doesnt change the fact that like four people in the world actually play beyblades and to everyone else youre a dumb nerd. but thats ok, because everyone else has their own thing to be chad at.
+
+we're not limited to one thing we can be a chad at, in the real world.
+
+## the movie or whatever
+
+every character in the big lebowski is a chad. this is because, in the movie, every character (except donny) thinks they're in a different genre movie, as the main character, and add the part. we have all these very very very different characters, yet each one, in their own, niche way, is a chad.
+
+## final thots
+
+the big lebowski is a good movie because the characters dont suck. i still think the mask of light is a really good movie, but thats despite every toa except kopaka and gali being useless.
+
+dont even get me started on takanuva in the extended universe, how the writers thought it was ok to let him basically do nothing is beyond me.
+
+i wish i could say i was chad at writing blogs but im not sure, at the very least im the chad of being me :)
+
+`:wq` 

2018-12-04-houses.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+# Houses
+
+i sit in my *house*. my *home*. my little corner of reality. i have everything i use on a daily basis here, i have all of my things. its comfy and its mine.
+
+i decide i wanna talk to my friend lunar, so i go to my window, and i send out a bunch of numbers. they fly to his house, say they're from me, tell him what i want. later lunar sends back his own numbers:
+
+> "howdy chief"
+
+we go like back and forth like this all night.
+
+### interlude
+
+i need some code. i send some numbers to my other room, the one across the world. they take my key and get in the front door, and send back my old things.
+
+these things? they're just numbers.
+
+numbers and logic and magic, creations of my own, spurred on by thousands of conversations, numbers sent out, blips in the dark.
+
+### interlude
+
+and all night and all day we send out our numbers, our blips
+
+we seek those like us
+
+we shape our identity, our unique series of blips and bloops
+
+we live on as long as we're heard, as long as we get numbers back.
+
+thats all we can do
+
+thats all we want
+
+lets all love lain.
+
+` ~*blip*~`

2018-12-04-john-deer-black-market.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+# John Deer Black Market
+
+we live in ***the*** dystopic tech future that all the movies and nerds warned us about, and i believe this is the case because of this one simple fact.
+
+there is now a ***underground black market*** for **john deer tractor cracks** of all things
+
+let that sink in for a second
+
+## ag shit
+
+i work in the agriculture sector, so lets talk a little about farmers
+
+* they need to get stuff done quickly, they dont have time for delays like there can be in other sectors
+* they like to fix their own stuff when it goes wrong
+* they're pretty good at engine problems
+
+so the usual workflow for them is something like this:
+
+`Tractor breaks -> Needs to be working today -> fix it themselves`
+
+## john dickhead
+
+john deer is one of the main brands of tractor avaliable today, and they have recently made a bunch of changes to do with vehicle drm that are, in my opinion, pretty fuarking gross.
+
+the brass tacks of this is that farmers are now paying full for a tractor, while essentially leasing it from john deer. the important part of this is that the farmers no longer have the right to repair their own tractor, and john deer have doubled down on this by having software that will prevent the tractor from turning on if there have been modifications done by anyone other than john deer.
+
+whenever you replace a part, you need to put in a generated code in order for the tractor to run again.
+
+this involves ringing up a john deer support line, waiting for someone to drive out to you, install the part that you could do yourself, put in the code, and charge you hundreds of dollars to do so.
+
+this is pretty unnacceptable imo.
+
+## illegal warez
+
+this leads to something i find both *fizzityucking hilarious* but also sorta sad: theres a black market for john deer cracks.
+
+people are paying ***top dollar*** for programs that will be able to generate the correct codes, so that farmers:
+
+* save money in the long run to not have to call john deer support
+* save money by not losing out hours waiting for the support to turn up
+
+and the farmers ***love it***, they cant get enough of this keygen soykaf
+
+## thots thots everywhere
+
+i hope john deer go out of business, they're the agricultural tech giant and i think its disgusting to take away peoples right to repair like that.
+
+in any other sector this would be infuriating, but in the agriculture sector, where diy is so baked into their culture, and delays can be very ***very*** expensive, making them wait and pay for something they could easily do themselves, and have been doing themselves is something else.
+
+you script kiddies cracking this software are the real heroes.
+
+`please dont sue me john deer this is just my personal opinion`

2018-12-04-networks.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+# Networks
+
+i dislike the current way our worlds internet is set up. here is why.
+
+## governments
+
+our current setup is something like this:
+
+* everyone connects through an isp
+* isp connects to everything
+* thats it
+
+it means that governments and tech giants are in control, it means that everyone is either all or nothing connected or not, and its soulless.
+
+there is no sense of community at all.
+
+## utopic
+
+heres how it would work in my perfect world.
+
+we all are capable of joining and setting up our own networks, wirelessly.
+
+we choose who we want to network with. i open up my network to all my chippie pals - how this happens who knows, maybe point to point sattelites are super cheap in this time, and work over a large distance, idk.
+
+i open up my network to them, and now no matter what happens, we're in our own network. perhaps through them we're in a wider network, and so on and so on.
+
+networking through who you want to interact with, thats the real dream.
+
+## websites
+
+the best bit about this is that it encourages people to ***share***, to archive and share their files they find. it encourages decentrilised  systems, it makes us want to share documents and set up our own stuff and generally live in the hacker utopia i have in my head.
+
+## finals
+
+not sure what i wanted to say with this exactly, hopefully you all got the vibe im feeling.
+
+i just want to be able to network with my pals and have it be us, not something run by a tech giant.
+
+`:wq`

2018-12-09-normies-hate-rain.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+# Normies Hate Rain
+
+theres so much aesthetic around being out in the rain at night, but that whole premise relies on not many people being there to do it. you know whats this means.
+
+## normies
+
+are the ones of us that arent weird. they're the ones that just don't get us. thuy're also *normal* which means we're the weird ones and they're the normality. so that means we're the weirdos
+
+## wackos
+
+we're the sort of fuarks that like standing out in the rain at night and don't think thats weird. this fantasy relies on there only being a few other people on the streets if any. that puts a very big limit on the number of people who can do that at once.
+
+this means only the weirdos do it, which brings a lower cap onto that number.
+
+this means the fantasy can only be realised when the normies hate it.
+
+## hate
+
+they do hate it beeteedubz. you always hear them complaining about the rain when its only raining a little bit, or when its cold but not too cold that you cant go outside. they think its the worst thing in the world to get rained on.
+
+but we dont, so therefore we're the weirdos, and most importantly. we don't hate rain.
+
+`raindrops keep falling on my <head>`

2018-12-10-cool-wires.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+# Cool Wires
+
+having wires hanging out of your everyday clothes makes you really cool and theres nothing you can say to tell me otherwise. believe it.
+
+## cool soykaf
+
+having heaps of wires means you have a tonne of stuff you need wires to connect to, and that means you have a lot of cool shit you carry around on the reg which is rad.
+
+having a tonne of music stuff? awesome.
+
+having a fizzityucking computer on you? so cool.
+
+so this is something i can appreciate.
+
+## wackos
+
+normal people don't want to walk around like that for two reasons:
+
+* they dont like being weird
+* they dont wanna fuark around with tech
+
+and both of these are bad things.
+
+be weird, be interesting, mess around with new tech (to you)
+
+thats how you learn and thats how you discover.
+
+it also means you know enough about the tech to need such a setup, and having a cool setup in anything makes you a fan of the hobby, which is what you need. it makes you interesting, it gives you opinions, it means youve passed the test. embrace it.
+
+## short post boo
+
+not much else to say, wires are rad because it makes you a cool weirdo, and i can appreciate that.
+
+also i can pretend im in lain
+
+`fuarking wireless`

2018-12-16-future-creations.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+# Future Creations
+
+i got asked what some of the projects i wanted to work on were, by a very good friend and fellow chippie [\@vala](https://welovela.in/@vala), so... here we go.
+
+## tabletop ruleset / sourcebook
+
+there are two ideas i have for either a supplement for an existing ruleset, or a completely new ruleset, for two of my ideas.
+
+the first was detailed in fuller detail [before](https://regularflolloping.com/posts/sheer-madness/), and i think would be good as a sourcebook for something more common, like pathfinder or dnd 5e.
+
+all that one is waiting on is the same thing its been waiting on for the last ten years, me to actually spend the time developing it.
+
+the other ttrpg idea is to create a ruleset for the more simple magic or fantasy based universes, the sort of thing that would show the world from things such as The Point, Fantastic Planet, or Ralph Bakshi's Wizards. hell i guess even the smurfs universe fits.
+
+i think that'd be a really unique ruleset and universe to explore, and encourages a more wholesome roleplay than usual. i think it could be a lot of fun.
+
+## server stuff
+
+server-wise i have a fair bit i wanna do.
+
+the first is to scrap and redo my current junk server, which in its time has hosted everything from an imageboard to an irc server to my urbit instance. id like to turn it into a dedicated chat server and use it to host my bouncer, my irc server, perhaps a matrix instance, and get it all running nice and solid with proper encryption.
+
+other than that, im looking into finding a suitable server desktop and jamming a bunch of multi-tb hard drives in there and self hosting whatever i want, perhaps moving some of my cloud based things onto that. it'd be comfy and next year my living situation would allow it. plus ill be living with a fellow chippie so having our own internet-home at our irl home will be neat.
+
+in terms of this blog and other websites, id like to continue adding functionality here as my knowledge of haskell grows, and maybe set up an ipfs version, because im really glad ipfs has gone from being a meme to an actual thing, plus having an ipfs node for people opens that up to a slightly wider audience, and sharing knowledge is our goal in life.
+
+on top of that theres a dumbass bionicle oc site i wanna make for the bionicle dnd campaign that'll be starting soon, along with some custom bionicles irl to use with it.
+
+## programming
+
+i wanna learn more haskell, especially multi-core processing, network sockets, and gui stuff, so i can start writing actually useful things.
+
+id like to create some irc bots at one point, and get some nice stuff into the rebuilt irc server.
+
+id like to learn enough yesod to write an api using haskell, but thats waiting on an idea for that.
+
+outside of haskell i dont really care too much. i wouldnt mind learning erlang or elixir at one point maybe, but haskell is where its at unless i went and learnt hoon or something (btw hoon is for chads)
+
+## irl
+
+i need to pack up all my things and get ready to move by the end of the week, and i need to clean up the room so the land lord doesnt yell at me. outside of that im just chilling and hanging around, not too much i think needs to be done outside of work stuff.
+
+i need to read more about ethics and actually decide on an ethos rather than just sitting on the fence. its comfy being in the middle and not participating but its pretty lazy.
+
+## thots
+
+and thats it. pretty boring post if you ask me but hopefully someone liked it, im not one of those people that have a bunch of interesting stuff going on. peace out
+
+`:wq`

2018-12-18-fukken-bonks.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+# Fukken Bonks
+
+here it is, the much requested bionicle post.
+
+bionicles were, for those who aren't aware, a line of lego sets that ran from 2001 to 2010
+
+~~it was also rebooted a number of years later but thats a bit of a matrix-sequels situation~~
+
+the bionicle lore is ***stupidly good*** and is far better than the plot for a toyline deserves to be.
+
+theres so much that could be said about it, but lets just run through the basic timeline and go from there.
+
+## before the story
+
+theres a planet that a bunch of people live on. a bunch of nerds from that species basically figure out how to become gods, and rule over the planet. these are the great beings.
+
+they cbf dealing with ruling a planet, so they created the elemental lords to do it for them, each lord ruled a group of people who were all fashioned around those elements.
+
+sometime later, a powerful substance known as *energised protodermis* is discovered, it has the power to either destroy instantly, or power something up something stupid.
+
+the great beings warn that mining this could cause the planet to be destroyed, however a war breaks out over the substance, and they start mining it.
+
+at this point the great beings think something along the lines of
+
+> god fukken dammit, couldnt you lot just behave, guess we gotta fix this
+
+and they decided to build a giant fuck off robot, as you do.
+
+## the robot
+
+this robot is approx. seven hundred billion trillion metres tall.
+
+the point of this robot was to fly into space and observe other worlds, and then come back to fix the planet once the artificial intelligence in it had learnt how to avoid war and shit.
+
+this ai was named "mata nui", meaning "great spirit", and is sort of like the god of the bionicle world (or one of them, anyway).
+
+now this robot was a little bit like the earth-computer from hitchhikers, in that it was so big and complex, that it required beings to form its inner workings. this is where the bionicles come in.
+
+the innards of the robot contain spheres that have worlds in them, and each world is a part of the robot.
+
+for example, the city of metru nui is the brain of mata nui, and if the city were to stop running, mata nui would be weakened and possibly rendered comatose until the city was started up again.
+
+the job of the bionicles originally was to keep everything running, so that mata nui could continue to learn how to avoid war and fix the great beings planet.
+
+## the makuta
+
+the makuta were designed by the great beings to create animals for the matoran universe (the worlds inside the robot). they did this for a start, but eventually formed their own illuminati like orginisation to rebel against mata nui.
+
+the main culprit here was the makuta teridax. he took over metru nui, and begane to poison mata nui with a virus, causing him to fall into a deep sleep.
+
+this caused the robot (flying through space) to crash onto the nearest planet, heavily damaging the robot and the various cities inside.
+
+at the same time, makuta teridax had taken all the matoran from metru nui, ad placed them in spheres that would wipe their memory.
+
+luckily, the champions of the bionicle universe managed to save the matoran from both makuta teridax, and the damaged city, and moved then to the face of the robot, which, having had its camo accidently enabled, was now lush with forest.
+
+they set up the matoran here, and named the island mata nui, after the great spirit.
+
+the champions used the last of their power to reawaken the matoran, turning into turaga, or village elders, once their power had gone.
+
+## aftermath
+
+this is where the 2001 storyline for bionicles starts, on the island of mata nui, with the great spirit mata nui asleep and comatose, and makuta teridax trying to take over the great spirit robot.
+
+the original planet, its people, and the great beings are stuck, waiting for the robot to return and both rebuild the planet, and teach its peoples the ways of peace.
+
+will any of this happen? stay tuned to find out.
+
+`what would matoro do?`

2018-12-19-infinite-songs-a-critique-critique.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+# "Infinite Songs: A Critique, Critique"
+
+hey its ya boy tanthonyAntano here. now i spent a lot of time in the golden age of king gizzard and the lizard wizard fan club facebook page, back in its peak.
+
+one of the topics of debate that kept resurfacing was about the song "mr beat" from nonagon infinity. this song was a tonal shift from every other song on the album, and the fan base was split on whether they liked it or not.
+
+one argument was that in an infinite song album - when each song transitions into each other, and the last song transitions into the first, you need a "pivot point" to act as a time keeping mechanism so that it doesnt all merge into each other.
+
+im going to say my thoughts about how i agree with that argument.
+
+## loops
+
+loops, circles, wheels, looping elements revolve around some point of fixture. there are two possibilities; either the wheel is revolving itself, or the point of fixture is itself revolving.
+
+## point revolver
+
+in this scenario the song is a concrete wheel, attached to some point in space through its axle.
+
+the concrete is perfectly circle, so there is no change in form if it revolves, the final state is the same, theres no point to revolve.
+
+that means the point of fixture is revolving the wheel.
+
+in order for this there must be some sort of infastructure behind the point, which itself entails people to build and maintain it, and it just goes on and on.
+
+this distracts the listener from the music.
+
+## self independant
+
+in this scenario, the wheel itself is outputting some amount of force to revolve. the wheel is concrete and petal shaped, with the corner being heavy.
+
+if the corner is in the air, it will drop and the wheel will move.
+
+at the bottom it has enough force (in this world) to continue up the other side and start the process again.
+
+nothing else needs to exist, so you can focus on the music.
+
+## fin
+
+thats why its important that infinite song albums have one song thats a point of difference from everything else.
+
+it makes the album better.
+
+`peace out`

2018-12-19-lube-stained-pants.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,115 @@
+# Lube Stained Pants
+
+one of the first things i ever said to one of my best friends, [\@lunarised](https://welovela.in/@lunarised) was about how annoying it was to always have lube stains in my pants.
+
+now some of you might have an.... ***idea*** about what this could be referring to, and of course you're all **wrong** because nobody who would make a blog like this is chad enough to have that much use for sex lube.
+
+i of course was talking about the lubricant i use for my rubiks cube, which i am now going to stan about and maybe try to *apply to problems we face in real life* like is standard for this hell pit of a site.
+
+## my favourite rubiks cube
+
+has had a lot of work put in to it, but lets talk about the base for a bit.
+
+now a lot of people don't realise, but official rubiks branded rubiks cubes are *super expensive* and **so fuarking expensive holy crap**, so you should never use them.
+
+i myself have put together a cube that is miles and miles better than a rubiks brand cube for under ten dollarydoos (new zealand wise). but thats not my favourite cube, that ones my drinking cube because i dont care if scarfie dickheads break it.
+
+in the price bracket of a rubiks brand there are three main competitors, of which i have owned at least one cube from each for comparison.
+
+### moyu
+
+moyu have a line of cubes called the GTS's, my very first proper speed cube was the moyu gts one, and i still have it and enjoy it a lot. it was very very flexible which at the time i appreciated, and i had it as loose as possible. as i got better though my style outgrew this cube a little bit.
+
+i still like it though.
+
+i have not tried the second gts, but i have a special edition pink platic gts 3 that i adorned with vaporwave style stickers that i really like
+
+### valk
+
+valk at one point were the pinnacle of speedcubes with their seminal valk 3. my valk 3 was unfortunately in stickerless, which i really hate, but the cube itself was decent. very light, very thin plastic (not really a bad thing) and it had some really.... ***unique*** corner piece designs which gave it a little bit of character.
+
+my valk 3 is currently lunariseds valk 3 and i hope hes enjoying it
+
+### gans
+
+the gans air was all the rage after the era of the valk three died down, so one day i slapped a nice gans air in my order, waited *so long* for it to arrive, and opened it up to ***instantly hate it***
+
+i tried and tried to love it, but it just wasnt happening, so i put it away and went back to my gts one.
+
+however, with time, i got accustomed to the cube, as i learnt and got better, i realised it actually fit me pretty well, and now it is by **far** my favourite, which means its gotten a fair bit of love...
+
+## magnets
+
+magnets are the chaddest soykaf in the speedcube world, and boy does this cube have its magnets. magnets were at one point pretty controversial but all the good cubes have magnets nowadays, and personally i love them and think they're the coolest thing ever.
+
+magnets are put inside each of the plastic pieces on the cube so that when you turn theres a clicky feeling which helps with accuracy.
+
+for this modification, my gans air has fourty eight magnets glued inside it, all hand placed (modding cubes is a bit like tech, its just not the same if someone else does it for you). this makes it feel soooooo nice already.
+
+they're closer to the centre than most store-bought magnetised cubes, which means the clicky feeling isn't as pronounced (the thin plastic on a valk 3 means the clicky feeling is really really noticibale, by comparison).
+
+> but wait, theres more
+
+oh ***yes*** thats right.
+
+my gans doesnt just have the usual fourty eight magnets, it actually has ***sixty***
+
+## maglev
+
+maglev tensioning is the newest meme thing thats actually not a meme, sorta like where ipfs was before it became a legitimate technology that people used.
+
+now most cubes, in the centre pieces of each face, will have a spring that pushes everything into the centre of the cube, this gives it the springiness it needs to move fast, and keeps the cube from falling apart.
+
+mine does not, for maglev tensions, you replace the springs with two opposing ring magnets that do a similar thing, but with ***wayyyyy*** less friction.
+
+it also makes the cube super heavy, and its weird and a bit of a meme, but god dammit
+
+***it actually feels very different***
+
+not just better, or worse, but sideways, a completely alien feel which others who arent used to maglev have noticed too.
+
+its pretty neat, i rate it a lot.
+
+in order to maglev my cube i actually had to swap the inside pieces out with the ones from a spare moyu i had, which i really like, gives my cube this feel of being ***different***
+
+## stickers
+
+stickers are something a lot of people wouldnt think about, but once you start its hard to go back.
+
+i have a colour scheme i like that i try to get on most of my favourite cubes. theres not much different about it in terms of colours, but the shades are a little odd. much darker blue, way less reddish orange (i used to get these two mixed up a lot so its nice to have the contrast on them, maybe im colour blind)
+
+they're also full fitted, which is something store bought cubes dont often do, but i really rate the aesthetic of. full fitted means theres less of the plastic showing in between the pieces, and it makes the cube look sorta like one youd find at a shitty dollar store. dont ask me why i think thats cool i dont know but i ***love*** it
+
+## roux
+
+finally, the last weird bit of my cube is the way i like to solve it, which is a method called roux.
+
+roux is basically the dvorak of cube solving, and makes heavy use of *m* **slice** ***turns***, which is where you keep the left and right faces still, and move the middle bit only.
+
+my times actually got worse when i switched, and im still not back to my best (havent been nearly as obsessed with practising as i used to be though) but i stick with it anyway because its way more fun, and because its weird.
+
+and im weird.
+
+## lubricant
+
+heres where the title comes in. youd think lubing a cube would be pretty easy, but its not.
+
+there were the kids in primary school who would vaseline up their cube, but thats not something you really wanna do.
+
+my cube has three types of lubricant in it:
+
+* weight 2 on the core pieces
+* weight 0.1 on the outside pieces
+* fukken ***dnm goddamn 37***
+
+the weights refer to how thick it is, with lower being thinner. 0.1 is so so so low because i like my stuff loose and fast, and the weight 2 is to reduce the core noise a bit
+
+dnm on the other hand is black magic, its a super super super thin lubricant that makes everything **lightning fast** and literally, and i mean literally, *absorbs moisture from the air* to keep from drying out for longer. i only need about two drops of this but it makes the biggest difference.
+
+## final thougts
+
+cubes are really cool, and like any hobby, your choices can say a lot about who you are.
+
+lunarised, im thankful you didnt turn around and walk out the door when those words came out my mouth.
+
+`R U R' F' R U R' U' R' F R2 U' R'`

2018-12-30-seasons-beatings.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+# Seasons Beatings
+
+> DISCLAIMER: the beatings refer to how vigorously im gonna beat my meat about how cool my friends are
+
+> DISCLAIMER: gonna be a short post
+
+so another years down, and tbh i had a pretty neato year in some aspects.
+
+the main aspect of that was i spent a lot more time with one of my best friends lunarised, as well as made another new friend mouse_ears.
+
+## cool shit
+
+we did a lot of cool shit this year, and that sorta shit is what gets you through the hard times.
+
+work was a little tough, and life was a little tough, but thanks to mouse_ears, and lunar specifically, i made it through.
+
+no matter what good things happened this year, my main memory is gonna be sitting at starcucks doing unixy shite, and sitting at the gardens smoking with my buds
+
+(and also lunar playing duvet on guitar)
+
+## the future
+
+im hoping to get some weekly tabletop roleplaying games in next year, and no matter what i think that'll be a lot of fun and a good way to get everyone to meet up.
+
+im also, in under 24 hours, moving into me and lunars new flat, something ive been waiting all year for
+
+jazhaus is its name and being the sickest shit this side of richard o'keefe's house is its game.
+
+## peaco outto
+
+chur tu meke to my mate lunar, and all my other mates, for the great year.
+
+`:wq`

2019-01-14-hit-or-miss.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+# Hit or Miss
+
+> mwuh
+
+the song "mia khalifa" by ilovefriday, popularised by the ~~perfect woman~~ hit or miss girl is actually a fukken bop.
+
+it also has one line that encapsulates what i feel about the current normie popcap - blatant acceptence of corporate culture, so therefore, its time for a short and shitty blog post, buckle in kiddos.
+
+## the setup
+
+> they want you at work so girl go do your job
+
+during this part of the song, the singer is talking to the actress mia khalifa about her adult entertainment videos, stating that she should instead go back and do her job, because her work wants her there.
+
+the implication here is that doing her job at work would be the socially acceptable thing to do, rather than making money through the decidedly none visually corporate adult entertainment industry.
+
+## the twist
+
+> you play with them balls like its fifa, ooh
+
+the twist is that the singer of this song is rather... non-corporate themselves. they are not some suit and tie businessman, and their entertainment persona is someone that, given their state of dress and attitude, would probably not get hired ~~they're fired, they're washed up, they're retired~~
+
+yet here they are essentially preaching a world where the corporate giants own the common people.
+
+this man is frankly disgusted that mia khalifa would not go do her corporate, nine to five mondey to friday job, and make money for the one percent. this man is disgusted that she would not give up vast amounts of her free time, and inflict large strees and sleep deprevation, all for the sake of ticking off some box that society was manipulated into believing they needed to tick.
+
+## the pay-off
+
+is obviously for the big cheesi (cheeses slash cheespode perhaps?) that will benefit from the increased number of workers, to whom they make a profit from.
+
+what does mr ilovefriday gain from this? who knows, nothing but the virtue signalling drivel that is "at least i show up to my job every day"
+
+as the tech giants worsen, so too will the effects of this attitude. amazon and other big tech companies have already begun to implement things such as wrist tracking arm bracelets to ensure none of their workers dare have a second break.
+
+if science made a breakthrough that meant we would need no sleep, instead of having an extra four hours a day to myself, the system would just demand i spend an extra four hours at work, all for the sake of "helping the team", all for the sake of "increasing the bottom line"
+
+we will create crappy jobs to employ crappy people because business is nothing more than a pissing contest to see which boss can indoctrinate more people.
+
+## in conclusion
+
+< i walk up to the microphone, nervously sweating >  
+< i stutter, and my hands shake, i nervously check my flash cards >
+
+> c-capitalism? m-m-more like uhh **crapitalism** amiright?
+
+`if corporatism was my girlfriend, i wouldn't kiss her`

2019-01-16-bonk-socialist-utopia.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+# Bionicle - The Perfect Socialist Utopia
+
+the world of bionicle is one of the most obviously socialist stories i have read in a long time, which is ironic given the franchises real world roots in capitalism as, y'know, a franchise.
+
+## the three virtues
+
+the inhabitants of the matoran universe were, in the beginning, without purpose, without a reason to be (also without free will and personality, but how they gained that is a story for another time).
+
+the great spirit gave unto the matoran the ***three virtues***;
+
+* unity
+* duty
+* destiny
+
+which they then followed as if religion, and were happier for it. all the problems in the bionicle universe stem from refusal to adopt one or more of these virtues.
+
+## unity
+
+unity is the one i will be focussing on here. the matoran universe, particularly the two areas we got to see the most of (the tribal-like **mata nui**, and the city-like **metru nui**) have a society that, whilst involving forms of currency, is decidedly socialist in nature. matoran work their jobs not for (in most cases) any reward, but simply so they may follow the three virtues and *play their part*.
+
+it is considered a bad thing to not enjoy working, despite there being no capitalist incentive schemes in these communities.
+
+furthermore, outside of working directly, it is considered almost blasphemous to the great spirit himself to not strive for greater unity, a feat which has been shown, multiple times in universe, to allow many matoran or toa to merge together to form a new, stronger being. so **stronk** that the being itself is far more powerful than the sum of the individuals that made it.
+
+the aspects of matoran life generally follow a very socialist pattern, both in practice and in the high held ideals that matoran strive to follow.
+
+## the great spirit robot
+
+furthermore, the extended bionicle lore (outside of metru slash mata nui) has an even more literal example of socialist ideals in the bionicle universe.
+
+for those of you who are unaware, the bionicle universe takes place, for the most part (and the part that people who are unfamiliar with the lore would know) inside a literal giant robot, and the *great spirit mata nui* is in fact the consciousness of this robot.
+
+the city town of metru-nui is actually mata-nui's brain, and if the matoran were to stop working (not even working to power the brain, just if the city were to stop functioning for whatever reason) it is literally putting the great spirit into a coma, something the **makuta teridax** put into motion in his plan to take over.
+
+this spirit would later in the story be ejected from the robot, and form its own body on a new planet, in which it helped the local inhabitants learn about the ~~communist manifesto~~ the ***three virtues*** and overcome its war-like tendencies, something that would later be revealed was *the entire purpose of the robot*.
+
+## final thots
+
+the bionicle universe is made up of many individuals that follow socialist ideals, whilst literally using those ideals to power god, who themself goes around teaching others about the idea of socialism.
+
+`takanuva was fukken underutilised as shit`

2019-01-17-look-alive-sunshine.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+# Look Alive, Sunshine
+
+quick post, but people who always try to look spotless and perfect are basically just not people tbh. hot take i know but ***whaddya gonna do 'bout it***
+
+## human condition fuck yeah
+
+we're messy beings, we're lazy and we get dirty. my sleeves constantly have a bunch of messy crap on them. my pants have smudges and stains occasionally. i have spilt a lot of stuff on everything, and on top of that i get ink stains a lot too.
+
+if i spent all the time i needed to **look acceptable** and still maintain my lifestyle, i would not have any free time at all.
+
+if i changed my lifestyle to **fit in** then im literally not a person anymore and id hate that.
+
+thats all there is to that.
+
+## psych shit idk
+
+mentally, humans are not perfect. we enjoy things we shouldn't. we do thinks we shouldnt. we like things we shouldnt.
+
+why hide that?
+
+if you have bags under your eyes own them.
+
+if you have a bunch of wires and shit hanging everywhere then thats rad.
+
+if you're smoking in public then good on ya.
+
+we're meant to *bee ourselves* but what people really mean is *bee what we want you to be*
+
+and i say fuck that.
+
+## make the headers up yourself
+
+looking like shit constantly is a mark of honour. you don't have to be a slob, but you don't have to look perfect. you can take care of yourself and be hygenic, but still look like a tosser and have people give you funny looks in the street.
+
+looking alive, the way ***they*** mean it, is no different than looking like a machine, like an idea (not in the good way either). like looking like something harmless, soulless and idealess.
+
+in reality, looking alive means looking like your one drag away from keeling over, and honestly, thats the way it should be.
+
+`fuck socks`

2019-01-18-birbbox.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+# Birb Box
+
+> ***DISCLAIMER:*** i have not seen birdbox, nor twelve years a slave.
+
+somewhat ironically to what i assume is the plot of birdbox, every single *fukken* person has been asking me
+
+> bro have you seen birdbox?
+
+and the answer is of course, ***no***, because i havent had internet until yesterday, and also because i dont have a netflix account, and also because i dont really care about it at all.
+
+that being said, its hard to escape the literal endless piles of memes about it. memes so repetitive and soulless that its almost like ~~theres a dedicated bot farm committed to creating and sharing birdbox memes as a form of advertising~~ normies enjoyed the movie and enjoy making shit memes.
+
+## bed, bath, and beyond
+
+when its not stale memes im seeing, its everyone circlejerking themselves over the line "survivings not living" as if it wasn't done a million times better in that one scene from twelve years a slave ~~i assume having only seen that one scene~~.
+
+> survive? i'd rather live! live laugh love!
+
+they all say, and i think thats honestly a *steaming* pile of horse birdbox
+
+## living is surviving
+
+if you're surviving, then you're literally set up to get through any immediate challenges you're expected to face. these may be more dire for others, but no matter what, if you're surviving whatever your current life sitch slash headspace is then good on you.
+
+it may not be perfect, you may not be happy all the time, but what you're doing is building actual character and learning to live life as suits you, given the restrictions you're facing.
+
+you're literally carving an identity the best you can, flaws and all, it wont be perfect but nothing is.
+
+if you're honestly trying to live your perfect life then you're wrong.
+
+that isnt to say you shouldn't try to strive for the best life you can, but you need to understand that we do not live in a just world. we ***will*** have flaws and troubles and nothing will ever work how we want it to.
+
+## i just wanna live
+
+> ***DISCLAIMER:*** i do not understand people, but in this i will act like i do
+
+so the argument i can see for that slogan is basically "i dont want to simply be content with life, i want my life to be a big adventure"
+
+this has never really made sense to me because adventures are really just distractions from your actual life. you go on holiday and everythings different and you come out thinking "that was nice i cant wait until my next one"
+
+then you go to parties and you circle jerk with everyone about how many adventures youve been on ~~im guilty of this to some extent :(~~ and everyone has a big laugh and then continue on blindly wading through their actual life.
+
+## final thots
+
+whats the deal with netflix movies? i dont know im not a director, but i dont think ill watch birdbox and i dont really mind just surviving through my life and trying to make the most of it, not in the sense of running from it as much as possible, but trying to change my headspace and environment the best i can to actually ***enjoy*** those days you're just surviving.
+
+`:wq`

2019-01-22-bitboy.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+# Bit Boy
+
+people are, at their core, nodes on a network. given free reign and a context that precludes us killing each other, all we wanna do is be like a node on a network.
+
+## paaaaartaaaayyyyyyyyy
+
+i was at a party recently, on a variety of different substances, and i stood in the middle of the dance floor, and i planted my roots into the carpet, and connected to the energy of everyone around me.
+
+i closed my eyes and listened to what they had to say, everyone at once, and there was one thing that stood out to me above all else.
+
+> given free reign, everyone just talked about who else they knew.
+
+everyone there was just a node reaching out trying to find its place in the network.
+
+nameservers that would climb up the ladder of popularity until they found someone who knew the same people they did, and then they would celebrate.
+
+they would tell stories about how they knew the people they did, they would proclaim how small a world we live in, and that was more or less it.
+
+i myself expanded my database quite a lot that night, and by the time all the energy there was to ingest had been taken, i went home smiling ~~not only because a very attractive girl danced to king gizz through my headphones, but also~~ because id met a lot of new people, which is apparently all humans want to do.
+
+we find who we can, and we broadcast who we know, and we use that to figure out our position in the abstract world of meatspace.
+
+`:w !tee % && sudo pkill vim`

2019-01-28-favourite-mug.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+# My Favourite Mug
+
+> get your ugly mug out of here
+
+people who dont have strong opinions on irrelevent stuff are **fukken boring**, or as ive come to call them, **dumbasses**.
+
+with that, lets talk about the features of my favourite mug at work, and my process for ensuring i get to use it.
+
+## size
+
+lets start with the obvious, coffee tastes like soykaf (haha irony geddit) but yeah for real its pretty bad.
+
+also it should be known that i do ***NOT*** endorse milk. fuark milk its *garbo* so milk is out too.
+
+the best you can do with coffee is to have it ***black*** and with like, a tonne of sugar. im not even joking about the sugar heres an actual (tm) real life (tm) conversation i had with a friend
+
+> tA would you like some coffee?
+
+> yes please but no milk
+
+> ummmm ok, how about sugar?
+
+> a bunch of it please
+
+> like how much?
+
+> idk a heap
+
+> like this? \<holds up one heaped teaspoon\>
+
+> yeah put like five of those in
+
+so this resulting concoction tastes good if its warm, and good if its cold, and so you can just sip on it all day. good stuff.
+
+for this we need a large mug, so that you can hold a suitable amount of it throughout the day.
+
+as such, my favourite mug in our office is in fact, the largest one.
+
+## colour
+
+aesthetics are important, theyre one of the main reasons we as humans do anything, those reasons are of course:
+
+* for the aesthetics
+* for the meme
+* cos itd be radical
+* to impress a girl
+* to be a sick cunt
+
+and so this mug has to have decent aesthetics. it is a white base with a blue, striped bunch of highlights.
+
+the important thing here is that visually it looks *90%* similar to the other mugs. i want to enjoy my coffee, i dont want to be standing out and looking like a weird duder.
+
+## shape
+
+now there are two main points in favour i wanna make here, and both are semi related.
+
+first of all, the bottom of the mug tapers inwards. this makes it easy to slide onto and off of my desk (which has a tonne of soykaf on it), and more importantly ***DOES NOT MAKE THAT AWFUL CHALKBOARD NAILS SOUND THAT MAKES ME WANT TO CUT MY SKIN OFF*** which imho is a pretty stellar point of favour for this mug.
+
+secondly, it makes the inside of the cup super easy to handwash.
+
+> but tA, your company has a dishwasher, why do you need to handwash your mug? ~~t. definitely not a spider~~
+
+that is the secret, my eight legged friends.
+
+## sneaky shit
+
+everyday i "accidentally" leave my mug on my desk at the end of the day, and then every morning i handwash it to have my morning been juuce. you know what that means?
+
+***no-one else has a chance to get my favourite mug, baby***
+
+chaotic neutral right there futhamuckas.
+
+`tired, wired and inspired all day every day`

2019-01-29-tech-giants.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+# Tech Giants Rule the World
+
+> if i have seen further than other men, it is because im standing on the shoulders of giants
+
+the problem with giants, is that once we are on their shoulders we lose control of where we want to be.
+
+the problem with giants, is that once on their shoulders, any fall is fatal.
+
+the problem with giants, is that we now rely on them having similar ideals to our own.
+
+the problem with giants, is that they dont.
+
+## the new world order
+
+the new world is already here. forget reptiles, forget the one percent, our world is ruled by giants.
+
+amazon, microsoft, apple, google, facebook. the five overlords that have ***complete and undeterred control*** over every aspect of human life.
+
+these are giants amongst giants. entire civilisations stand on their shoulders, societies that **cannot** imagine a life without these wandering giants.
+
+these are giants that would rather be gods. they no longer care for aiding the advancement of ourselves, only for the number of followers they can amass.
+
+***no gods, no masters***
+
+what is a human to a god? *nothing*, but also, *everything*
+
+a giant without followers is still a giant.
+
+a god without belief does not exist.
+
+these self-appointed dieties would not and could not survive without the cities on their backs, all it would take is an exodus and we could be free.
+
+however, as i look around, and see our society with its head in the clouds, i wonder.
+
+perhaps we couldn't survive the fall.
+
+> anyone can see far on the shoulder of a giant. it takes a unique mind to be able to look down.
+
+`:wq`

2019-01-30-ascension.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+# Ascension
+
+i am sitting at my desk at work. there are mugs and cables and bits and bobs and paper and batteries and everything you can name spread across the entire desk.
+
+hair is stuck to my keyboard, there are candy bars ready for lunch, my headphones are to my left, and the old router lies next to them.
+
+i have far too many terminal windows open. i have irc clients and xmpp clients and whatever lesswrong thing im currently reading hidden away in a tab somewhere.
+
+the rest of the room is full of employees doing employee work. they are all pretty neat people. i will miss them.
+
+i run my fingers through my hair. no-one bats an eye. i crack my back, and look at the roof.
+
+i scream, as a burning pain runs through my nervous system.
+
+i scream, as beams of light burst through my eyeballs.
+
+i scream, as i feel my body being torn apart from the inside.
+
+the rest of the office starts screaming, they are screaming because they are scared of whatever is causing me to scream, they are screaming because blood is pooling up on the floor, and the walls, and the roof.
+
+they scream as they begin to smell my charred flesh.
+
+my screaming eventually stops. i fall to the floor, mangled and broken and burnt.
+
+i do not pass out, however.
+
+rather, i stand up, and leave my body behind.
+
+i am no longer bloody and burnt, not this new form.
+
+i am wearing loose white pants, a loose white shirt. at least for now.
+
+i appear as i want to appear, and i want to appear as a diety.
+
+i am glowing, and i am hovering, and i am calm.
+
+i am ascended, and i no longer have fear.
+
+i am powerful, i am wise, i am immortal.
+
+i am me.
+
+`:wq`

2019-01-30-blinding-sun.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+# Look at the Sun
+
+> blinding so you look away
+
+> ***disclaimer: this applies to non-women also but they're not the focus of this rant***
+
+there are a lot of conventionally attractive women in my city, and the majority of them do nothing for me.
+
+these are not syrup, these are not jund, these are ***blinding*** people.
+
+## humans
+
+humans are odd creatures. i will admin i do not understand them, regardless of how i try.
+
+each human is flawed beyond measure, we're flawed in ways we dont even realise we can be flawed in.
+
+i appreciate people who accept this fact.
+
+what i dont appreciate are the people that try to hide it. the faces of the world, the celebrities, the corporates.
+
+the people who are not human.
+
+and that brings me to layer 02
+
+## girls
+
+these are the women you see at the types of parties you dont get invited to. these are the women that bullied you in highschool, and these are the women you grew up hearing "thats the sort of girl you want" time and time again.
+
+these women are suns, blinding suns that burn so bright and want the world to know it.
+
+my eyes cannot handle the intensity.
+
+give me a moon, give me an asteroid, give me a nebula.
+
+give me a black hole, give me a space rock.
+
+give me a void.
+
+give me flaws.
+
+give me anything, but dont make me stare at the sun.
+
+because after all....
+
+> you can have fun on rainy days too
+
+`:wq`

2019-02-01-bandaids.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+# Bandaids
+
+> bandaids are cool looking
+
+recently ive started wearing bandaids on my finger and toes.
+
+sorta like rings, only one or two per limb, i thought it was really neat, and heres why
+
+## rings
+
+rings are super cool, getting good rings in diablo two was a blast, and people who wear rings in public are usually rad.
+
+not everyone can pull off rings though, ~~ive gotten multiple stuck on my fingers before~~ they only really fit into a couple of niches and if youre the sort of person that has a totally unique style then good on you for being radical, but a lot of people cant really wear them with what they usually wear.
+
+anyone can wear bandaids, theyre such a common thing that everyone has some at home, and people put bandaids on any scrape no matter how surface it is, so theyre pretty commonplace, theyre cospicuous enough that people might not notice if someone wears them more often than normal.
+
+## health
+
+a sad fact of the human condition is that many of us feel less than stellar mentally. an important part of that is people need to practice more positive thinking in day to day life. bandaids have a mental picture of healing, which translates to feeling a bit better about taking care of yourself.
+
+having bandaids all the time is like a little stat bonus all the time, so why not take that?
+
+## w4rez
+
+bandaids are also a leet hacker accessory. think the ***penultimate*** work of hacker fiction, *Hackers (2001)*, where the level of getup would have happily accomedated multiple bandaids.
+
+think a bandaided, sleeveless singlet mechanic out in borderlandsland, think the resident sysadmin and hacker extroidinaire pal on the ship of the matrix.
+
+think sitting in your mothers garage with a crappy rig made out of spare parts, using the car as a seat to play nethack.
+
+think your shaky arch setup that almost lost you the years uni work, patched together too many times for you to remember.
+
+think any of the scenes in your life that you thought ***"im a keyboard cowboy, now off to wyldside for some stims*** bandaids woulda fit.
+
+its free style points so take it.
+
+## error; encountered EOF
+
+im sorry im not doing the irc server or finishing my stuff but at least i got a post out so im not ldar.
+
+bandaids are awesome is what im saying you know it
+
+go forth and be aided
+
+`0 :)`
+ 
+theyre like rings but not gay
+they are symbolic of healing broken things
+they are reminscient of fixing things ala computer hackery types
+now go get blazed and come back and finish me off

2019-02-05-alive-and-crying.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+# In My Dreams
+
+> in my dreams youre alive and youre crying
+
+in my dreams, my day dreams, my night dreams, when my mind wanders, when im thinking hard, or not thinking at all, i can see you alive, and i can see you crying.
+
+myself, stuck in my dreams, able to only watch, and cry.
+
+you cry when im weak, you cry when im stupid, you cry when im not myself.
+
+everytime my will breaks, you cry
+
+everytime i sacrifice my ideals for some neurotypical urge, you cry
+
+everytime i give up, lay down, and rot, you cry.
+
+everytime i be anything less than you, you cry, and i cry, because all i want to be is you.
+
+there are other times, however.
+
+everynow and then, when i take a second to think about what im doing, and like it, and find myself smiling, you cry
+
+you weep tears of joy, because im closer to the real me.
+
+im not the man that many others would strive to be, im not physically fit, im not an order of magnitude smarter than other people.
+
+im not emotionally strong, im not mentally capable, but i am something.
+
+im the mind that is like no other, and once i find the way through this maze ill find you, and ill rescue you, and well cry no more.
+
+in reality, youll be alive and smiling, as will i.
+
+`:wq`

2019-02-05-robots.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,97 @@
+# Robot Influence
+
+> my only difference, is robot influence!
+
+imagine, youre online, talking about something you like, some normie interest you only sort of care about, and then all of a sudden...
+
+*SMUG*
+
+**FUKKEN**
+
+***ANIME GIRL***
+
+and your argument is instantly null and void.
+
+you try and argue back, but to no avail. you attempt ad hominem, only to find these creatures self depricate more than anything you could throw at them.
+
+you slowly lose consciousness, surrounded by smugly smiling lolis.
+
+> you have died
+
+## shitty image boards
+
+if you were a nerd growing up in school around the time i did, then you probably spent a lot of time on the internet.
+
+a lot more time than others, and in much more *niche* or *secluded* communities.
+
+and also various chans
+
+you probably got into programming, video games, armchair psychology, a bunch of shitty nerd crap, and shitposting.
+
+and smug anime girls.
+
+## smug anime girls
+
+something about the robots fascination with cute slash smug / angry / sad anime girls has always fascinated me. its easy to write it off as "fukken neckbeards wanna jerk it to lolis", and i cant really argue that there arent people like that.
+
+however, i think theres more to it than that.
+
+lets unpack this, shall we ~~m'lady~~
+
+### irl people suck
+
+everyone who was like me as a kid hated people, society, people, school and people. we didnt understand others, we werent understood by others, and because of this, real life people were something to make fun of, something to judge, but not something to wear as a mask.
+
+anime girls on the other hand, are **cute**, which is a plus because that is something we were not. they are **not real** which is a plus because that is something we were.
+
+they are **expressive**, especially in **comic ways** because we are not, and had trouble understanding emotions that werent obvious.
+
+they are everything we can relate to, and as such, make the perfect medium to convey our own emotions.
+
+### fukk other teams
+
+this may be something that is applicable to normies as well, but i would not know that, because im not a person.
+
+robots fukken love taking sides on dumb shit. i have entire, lifelong friendships built up primarily over us disagreeing on whether emacs or vim is better. i have taken sides on things purely to be on the opposite side to my friends, so that we can argue about sides and have fun doing it.
+
+one of the ***most*** common arguments goes something like this, and, in my opinion, is somewhat of a rite of passage for being good friends.
+
+> oh man, i really like `$showName`
+
+> yeah same, `$leadFemale` best girl amiright?
+
+> are you fuarking kidding me? `$otherLeadFemale` is best girl
+
+> i will literally fight you cunt, you're objectively wrong
+
+> at least we can both agree that kaworu is best boy right?
+
+> yeah of course we arent monsters
+
+and again, from the outside this sounds like simply "which chick would i wanna rail" and if you said that id ~~mostly agree with you~~ respectfully disagree.
+
+this is nothing more than picking a sports team, and hating on other for their choice.
+
+this is choosing a character you like the mental qualities of, and as a reward, getting to act smug to others for choosing otherwise.
+
+### unidentified fuggen object
+
+anime girls are basically social suicide and thats part of the charm.
+
+theyre this generations form of punk, theyre a way of saying
+
+> yeah im a fukken dumbass, but im a fukken dumbass who doesnt ***want*** to be part of your system
+
+and honestly thats pretty beautiful
+
+in twenty years i expect edgy teenagers to be hanging posters of yuuko in a communist cap calling for "death to suits" and itll be taken with the exact same impact that posters of che guevera have today.
+
+in twenty years i expect the **hip** characters in mainstream movies to be casually cosplaying as fukken sailor moon just because theyre trying to stand for some long forgotten ideal
+
+~~in twenty years, one hundred percent of the operating system market share will be urbit, and ill be happy~~
+
+## final thots
+
+smug anime girls are the pinnacle of reactions and honestly if you have a decent reaction picture folder, thats worth more than gold.
+
+`nani the fuck?`

2019-02-08-caac.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+# "CaaC; Chippies as a Cult"
+
+with this worlds aurora reserves taken offline, its only a matter of time before ~~all~~ most of us leave this world forever, and master systemspace takes over.
+
+many people fear death, and i believe they shouldnt, regardless of whether we do (which i imagine is normal)
+
+## those who wish
+
+a number of chippie-likes wish to die, and to this, it is our duty to change their mind, be there for them, and help our friends live the life they deserve. this is non-negotiable.
+
+while we all may die, we need not die sooner than the rest.
+
+## those who wish not
+
+a number still fear death, as many who grew up in our world do. to those i say live! immortality is real and we know it, so here are four exact same quotes so that no matter what kind of nerd you are youll understand
+
+> i live, i die, i live again!
+
+> that is not dead, which can forever lie, yet with strange aeons even death may die
+
+> if we sing these words well never die
+
+> what is dead may never die!
+
+etc etc.
+
+we teach this group about immortality through memory, living forever through the memories of the living.
+
+we kick up enough of a stink about issues we care about that we begin to be known in our towns, we write enough that years after our death some new generation of chippie kid stumbles upon this shitty blog and continues our legacy
+
+we continue on in everyone that shares our ideals.
+
+## those who do not
+
+yet another group of chippies will never die, not in the metaphoric sense as above, but in the literal sense that dietys cannot die.
+
+ive written before about the form of magic present in the satanic bible, a concept i personally agree with.
+
+these members are people who have mastered this art, and through their perception have transformed themselves into dieties trapped in meatspace forms.
+
+they will ascend and live on through death, and exist not as human, but as vessels to share the knowledge we found in our brief time in this form.
+
+## thoughts
+
+our lord and savior herself, lain iwakura, preached the importance of life through death in the medium of being remembered. when the world turns to cinder, and humans as we know are on their last run, chippies will live on.
+
+maybe not in a form we recognise currently, maybe not by name, but by spirit, memory and ideals, we will survive.
+
+`My bro is dead. He's gone. But he's right there on my back, and here in my heart. He lives on as a part of me!`

2019-02-12-garden-path.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+# Garden Path
+
+> disclaimer: stupid train of thought
+
+paths through the local gardens are weird things, and there was something specific that caught my attention today so i wanted to share it.
+
+## forest paths
+
+youre at your local forest reserve, the gardens, and youre walking around. youre checking out the forest cos its cool, and you wanna get deep into them, but youll get lost.
+
+*luckily* for you, the city put in a ***garden path***
+
+this path is something you can follow to get **into** the forest, and keep following to get **out of** the forest.
+
+> but tA, whats so bad about that, forests are a cool place to hang out ~~if youre a spider~~
+
+the problem is their *function*
+
+## function
+
+garden paths are, functionally, escape paths.
+
+they **guide** your way to the exits of the forest.
+
+thats all they do, thats what they should do.
+
+## form
+
+imagine youre the first person to have to make a path through the forest. you dont really know how to do it you just know it has to be done, so you snake around looking for a way out until you find one, just building as you go.
+
+you end up with this innefficient mess of path.
+
+***but*** people love it, they come from all round just to visit, which creates the next step
+
+## copies
+
+everyone else starts designing their forest paths to be like that first one, paths are judged based on how similar a thought they can provoke, thats all anyone cares about.
+
+the weird inefficient paths are what people want, and its what we get
+
+## final thoughts
+
+forest garden paths are some weird self sustaining ideal that i think are sorta neat, theyre real fun to walk through and theres not often people there.
+
+`wq`

2019-02-20-planets.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+# Planets
+
+> i am the master of my domain
+
+i dislike the current world, i want planets, i want all of us to be the master of our domain, rather than a tennant on this world.
+
+then id spend the rest of my life learning and talking to people.
+
+## puters
+
+theres something special about someones computer, a complex system no-one but the user knows all the intracacies of.
+
+for every *user*, their computer is their *domain*.
+
+the one place they have control over.
+
+where they are a god.
+
+## galaxies
+
+a world of computers, planets, domains.
+
+nothing physical, nothing in the way.
+
+pure consciousness, computation, discovery, and information.
+
+information created for the purpose of sharing, the way it wants to be.
+
+a nice world, a pure world.
+
+my world.
+
+`short post yada yada`

2019-02-25-balance.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+# Balance
+
+when i dont have anything to write about, i feel stuck. the point of this blog, or rather, what this blog devolved to very quickly, was to put forward whatever was on my mind that day.
+
+if theres nothing to put forward, im stagnating.
+
+if theres nothing to discuss, im falling behind.
+
+if theres nothing to rant about, im boring.
+
+but if theres too much to write about, then none of it gets the attention it deserves.
+
+its all about *balance*
+
+## the weirdo swarm
+
+one such balance ive noticed in life is the ***weirdo / normie*** ratio.
+
+life is more fun when youre a weirdo, you get to talk about cooler stuff, do better shit, im a proud member of the weirdo swarm and for that im not sorry.
+
+but as much as it pains me to say, being a normie has its advantages.
+
+life is a balancing act between doing what we love (being a weirdo) and doing what society (yada yada rise up blah blah) tells us is normal, as such to gain the benefits society has to offer, such as social integration.
+
+## header two
+
+balancing between work and play, too little (non-corporate) work and you never grow, too little play and you lose your soul and identity to capitalism.
+
+balancing the want for a spyware free life, with the convenience offered by **actually** being able to talk to the general population on the interwebs.
+
+balancing the want for solidarity with the need for companionship.
+
+## idk
+
+this was a train of thought, bought on by rampant sleep deprivation and a pretty bad bongover, so ymmv, really.
+
+striking this balance is the hardest thing ive ever had to think about. every fiber of my physical form wants to minmaxx all the way to the weirdo side, but i dont fully trust thats a good idea.
+
+hoping you all have an easier time deciding.
+
+peace.
+
+`:wq`

2019-02-26-narco-algorithms.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+# Narco-Algorithms
+
+people reckon drugs these days are pretty hardcore.
+
+lsd, dmt, the stuff people think of when they think
+
+> this is gonna fuark me up in ***incredible*** ways
+
+but theyre wrong.
+
+we havent even **begun** to peak in terms of fukk off trippy shit, not until we get into the realm of narco-algorithms.
+
+## inputs
+
+currently, the trippiest shit is that which messes with your ***inputs***, stuff that makes you hallucinate, stuff that throws off your sense of balance or your reaction times.
+
+everything today is about how much we can throw out our inputs ***that we are aware of***
+
+and thats why no-one is gonna be ready for the era of narco-algorithms.
+
+## concept space
+
+neural networks today operate more or less on the premise of *identifying inputs*, in a way that we, the programmer, do not need to specify the important inputs.
+
+we might create an ai that can detect chairs, because the ai correctly weighted that whenever it sees something that looks like four legs, thats a point in favour of being a chair.
+
+what if, we as a species, were able to edit the corresponding weights in our brains.
+
+imagine if every single threshold for your brain going "this thing has four legs", or even more simple things such as "this is the colour im seeing" were all edited by plus slash minus one percent.
+
+it'd be chaos.
+
+not only do you have to deal with a fuarked up sense of the inputs we know about, but all of a sudden were dealing with inputs we ***didnt even know we had***.
+
+there was once a military effort to create an ai that could detect camoflauged operatives.
+
+it failed despite the testing showing one hundred percent success, because the photos with operatives in them were taken on an overcast day, and the ones without were taken on a sunny day.
+
+the ai was simply sorting on a concept that no-one had thought to think about.
+
+## chaos
+
+youre busy trpping the f out because youre now seeing and identifying everything based on ***who fukken knows what concepts***, and its nothing that the world was even ready for, and hackers in the streets are doing it at raves and secret parties.
+
+the future is soon, with both its upsides and downsides, and years from now well all be tripping out together while the smart people figure out how to hone in on the concept space that allows us to hallucinate real life anime girls, and then all life will end.
+
+`:wq`

2019-02-26-sea.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+# Sea
+
+what are we  
+but thoughts in sea  
+each adding a drop  
+to this common receptacle  
+this digital knowledge pill  
+to make us all more than we were before
+
+i send out my drop  
+and hope it wont flop  
+it needs to do better  
+then the rest of the crop
+and i hope it takes off like the rest
+
+and now its all dark  
+the lights are all fuarked  
+and im here on my own  
+but not really alone  
+my hands grip my keys  
+the proof that im me  
+and with a flurry of phalange  
+i send out my plea
+
+`|hi ~zod`
+
+the parts are all here  
+so i have nothing to fear  
+it shouldn't turn to shit  
+but im missing one bit!  
+alas, not for long  
+by the end of this song  
+a reply from the sky
+
+`hi ~zod successful`
+
+and with minimum stuff  
+the network is tough  
+and that single bit was enough  
+to let me know the others are out there
+
+just like me  
+they wish to see  
+the ones that make them inspired
+
+just another day on the wired
+
+`to all the lainons, congratulations!`

2019-02-27-breach.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+# Breach
+
+i sit at my laptop, my *companion* my *friend*
+
+looking out over my **domain**, the world is on fire
+
+the ***moons*** are crumbling, the ***stars*** are dying
+
+i pack my things, the things i *like*, the things i *need*
+
+with an aura of regret, i crawl into a ***comet***
+
+and set my way to the ***stars***, distant, yet bright
+
+sending out **signals** as i go
+
+> im here, im alive
+
+a desperate attempt at making *contact*
+
+i travel, *alone*, *silent*, until i recieve something back
+
+> we’re here, we’re alive
+
+a blinding blue **vortex** appears in front of me
+
+*painless* and *calm*, it engulfs my small ***comet***
+
+i land on my ***planet***, shiny and new
+
+and send a **message** to the ***stars***
+
+> im home
+
+another ***breach***, theyre only getting *easier*
+
+the **future** is here
+
+`:wq`

2019-03-05-losing.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+# Losing
+
+> losing something is finding something else
+
+sometimes things are **hard**, everythings just so damn **tough** and it feels like theres nothing you can do about it.
+
+you think back to all the things you lost, everything you let *slip* through your phalanges, everything you werent or arent good enough to get, and you know what?
+
+it doesnt matter
+because losing *something*, **anything** is just a chance to find something ***else***, to open up a new door, to expand.
+
+theres always some little thing to be happy about, and if there isnt, it just means youre in the middle of finding something new!
+
+and then you gotta start sending positive *vibrations* out to the world so that maybe youll help someone else find something else too
+
+## be excellent to each other
+
+compliment your pals, put up with to make up for having to put up with you, and then thats something new to be happy about, even if its only for a bit.
+
+talk to everybody! its pretty scary sometimes, but being scared every now and then is good, its just a wider range of emotions to feel, because expressing emotions is actually pretty important, and not experiencing different feelings is harmful to the *soul*.
+
+## and you!
+
+even if nothings going your way, that just means youre doing a ***super*** job of keeping your cool in between new things, and thats something to be proud of.
+
+pretty much every superhero has an **evil** arc, or become morally grey, everyone has their down points, but no matter how bad you think youre doing, just by virtue of being alive it means youre holding out pretty well.
+
+## seeya!
+
+communication complete, hope these bits safe travel and that they make it to you in tact. if youre ever lonely, part of my mind lives on in the warmth where these bits once passed, the ghost in the machine.
+
+a pal in the wired.
+
+`:wq`

2019-03-23-radioOhfiveohthree.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+# Radio 050.3
+
+> title disclaimer: i started this on march fifth, but only finished it at the published date
+
+> incoming transition
+
+i had a real comfy moment pals, it was a cool tech thing, a neat wired thing, and involved a really cool pal of mine.
+
+feelings are hard to describe, if they were easier we might have a lot less conflict in this world, but im gonna do my best to describe it all for ya.
+
+## comfy setup
+
+so id just recently redone my desk and computer setup to be clean, uncluttered, and mainly feature my t420 on its dock, which was super super comfy and also let me see how good nixos is for desktop use
+
+> disclaimer: its awesome
+
+part of this setup was a raspberry pi (named **speedwagon**) which acted as our flats reverse proxy, and lead to ssh for this setup
+
+## my pal
+
+is *awesome*, but the relevent detail here is they do a segment on their uni radio show about psych rock, which is one of the things we have in common.
+
+unfortunetaly, this show runs while im at work, and the sites archives are borked at the moment (poor it guy :(
+
+but now, i could ssh in at work, and rip the stream, so i gave that a go
+
+## long calcs
+
+theres something very comfy about long calculations. when you first started programming and nothing you did was efficient, and youd make some maths thing, and then let it run overnight on a huge number just to see what it said.
+
+the answer didnt matter to you, you had no idea if it was correct and you couldnt be bothered checking it, but just that excitement of seeing the results of something that had been away chugging all night was really comfy.
+
+i had a similar feeling here, having the stream ripping to a file on a hard drive in my physical possesion, and then having to wait till i was home again to listen and check it had worked properly.
+
+## the scene
+
+so i got home at sat at the very setup i was sshed into, and played the file, and it had worked pretty well!
+
+then i heard my pal telling the story of her mate in nz that was trying to record the show, and said that if i was listening, the next song was for me, then played one of my favourite songs at the time
+
+## fin
+
+it was a really comfy time, hearing the results of that experiment, successfully, on the very setup my pal had mentioned in what i was listening to.
+
+its one of those moments, that successful transmission. it really stuck with me, and im glad it happened.
+
+(sorry for the crappy run on sentences)
+
+`:wq`

2019-04-02-magicItem.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,71 @@
+# Magic Item
+
+today i came upon what i believe to be a magic item, an item of great power and importance, lying around my desk at work.
+
+what follows is my experiences with it, and my theories as to its true power.
+
+## the item
+
+nothing more than a plastic box full of screwdrivers for use with computers or other electronics. each screwdriver was a mixture of black and red, with a rubber grip and a variety of ends, whilst the enclosure itself was red with a clear plastic cover, edged by more red plastic.
+
+as far as computer screwdriver go this was pretty plain, but you cannot judge a crook by their lover and as such, there is more to this box that has yet to meet our eyes.
+
+## the power
+
+this thing is
+
+**fuarkken**
+
+***IMPOSSIBLE***
+
+to get in to.
+
+i thought to myself
+
+> i have a bachelors degree, surely i can open this plastic case of screwdrivers
+
+*get dunked on you mizzityucking-fizzityucker*
+
+so i gave it to my coworker, again, with a veritable list of things that should qualify them as smart enough to open this case.
+
+**nothing**
+
+it wasnt until we handed it to one of the front end developers that we were able to get it open, upon which we dare not shut it for fear of closing it off from this world forever
+
+## the explanation
+
+i believe this is some sort of *virus* to convert people into web developemnt. hear me out.
+
+web development is balls, browsing the modern web in twenty this year is absolutely soul crushing and somehow kills your computer moreso than ~~genetically evolving the perfect huniepop ai~~ computing prime factors.
+
+yet businesses need more web devs, so they need some way of getting people into front end web development.
+
+**but**, businesses also have the *power* to get what they need, and as such, some shady arm of one of the biggest corporates in the world ***guarenteed*** has access to some occult bullsoykaf whatever power, and used it (combined with the power of crapitalism) to create this *cursed object*
+
+## but why?
+
+think about it.
+
+you have this box of screwdrivers you cant open, one day by chance, you start learning some front end web development, and that same day, youre able to open the case.
+
+everyone else still cant, but it comes easy to you.
+
+you show others how to do it but they just cant, except for your front end web development friends.
+
+then you think
+
+> wow, i was having a pretty bad time recently, but now that ive started learning front end web delevopment, i got my first small success! sure it was just opening a case of screwdrivers, but now i feel happy, im going to continue on this path of learning front end web development.
+
+and it has your soul
+
+## final thots
+
+as soon as i came to this realisation, i put the box down, took a few steps back, and found a different set of non-cased screwdrivers, which did the job perfectly.
+
+magic does exist in this world, ive seen it with my own three eyes used or nefarious purposes.
+
+keep yourselves safe everyone, we dont know the extent to which the corporates have access to this technology.
+
+always be running.
+
+`:wq`

2019-04-12-glasses.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+# Glasses
+
+im a bit abrasive on the outside, qeustion anything, forge your own path.
+
+but ill tell you a secret...
+
+i actually wear glasses! but i wear contacts in public
+
+# ~
+
+conflict over! we're actually quite good people, and im proud to display that by wearing these glasses
+
+now we can head towards our happy endings...
+
+# !
+
+> theyre fake
+
+people see different things, what actually happened, who knows?
+
+> <
+
+the abrasions arent that simple, the conflict is but an occurance, as is in life.
+
+people are not simple, and in doing such i am defying this false image.
+
+> \>
+
+i have grown past previous thought, and am now my path, i no longer fear that which i did
+
+i am now displaying my preference, important as it was, it is now such an accesory
+
+an aesthetic expression, nothing more
+
+`:wq`

2019-04-15-furicuri.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,117 @@
+# Furi Curi
+
+i first saw *Fooly Cooly* when i was in highschool, which possibly was the perfect time to see it. i have seen it many times since, and it has cemented itself in the rung below Lain and Eva, one of the greats.
+
+the pillows became part of the soundtrack of my life, the casual counter-counter-culture vibes became something of a lighthouse for the younger, angstyer tA, and it offered a nice counterbalance to the black hole that is 'the effects of neon genesis evangelion on a developing psyche'
+
+the original fooly cooly was a show that, like many others who had seen it, i never thought would get a sequel.
+
+it was a wacky coming of age story, with more than its fair share of wackiness, and turned out to be far more genuine than you would expect from first glance.
+
+we followed naota and his thoughts on what it meant to grow up, and we reached the end of his story, and that was it.
+
+so when *FLCL: Alternative* got announced, i was fairly, as the french say, ***blah zay***, i never looked into anything past the announcement "we're doing season 2", and i never bothered to watch it when it came out, or even read what people thought about it.
+
+the story was done, there was no more to be said.
+
+the magic would be ruined if we got explanations for harukos side of the story, and her side being unknown is part of what made the original work so well.
+
+fast forward to last weekend and i finally watched both Alternative, and the third season **Progressive**, and as it turns out...
+
+i have some thoughts.
+
+## progressive
+
+was absolute garbo, everything fell flat, the animation was wonky, the jokes were lame, the characters were boring (even the old characters we once loved) and overall the entire season felt like theyd gotten the script mixed up with an AO3 self insert fiction of a highschool teen girl who doesnt particularly care about being heroic, just about being *in the middle of things*.
+
+now that last statement, if this had happened in *alternative* i might have called it a meta statement about the series, abstracting out the originals core plateau and moving it a layer.
+
+this isnt the case for progressive, its just that its garbage.
+
+honestly theres not even that much to say about this series, if you wanna hear your favourite characters do **semi okay quips** at a much slower pace than normal feel free.
+
+if youre a weeb who likes self insert stories about people doing.... things? not much at all tbh? in desolate ruins of schools, and the only thing stopping you from talking to someone you like is ***literally society and any reason to live existing*** then go ahead i guess?
+
+maybe if you really like hearing the main characters yell the names of the other main characters ***so. fuccing. much***
+
+otherwise, give this a skip, or watch it, but watch it knowing what youre going into, which is a show that was half written by an angsty teenage girl, and half written by a massive board of corporates, and overall doesnt really do anything right at all, the least of which is capturing that classic **FLCL** charm.
+
+## alternative
+
+lets cut to the chase before we get to unedited rambling;
+
+> FLCL: Alternative is a type of sequel that more shows should attempt, and it does a damn good job of it.
+
+what do i mean by this? alternative is a show that aims to capture the feeling of the original, and tell its own story, rather than either a direct sequel, or a new take.
+
+so the real question here becomes;
+
+### what is flcl at its core?
+
+ive thought a lot about this, and im not sure ill ever have the right answer, but heres a stab at it
+
+*furi kuri* has this weird, multi layer metaphor core, allow me to explain:
+
+the actual plot of the story follows from a metaphor, something that a lot of shows do at this level, for example;
+
+> seeing other people be grown up is like seeing them hit a perfect home run, it is something that i dont believe i can do
+
+or
+
+> seeing people close to me grow up and move away, or go their seperate ways, is like watching them all move to mars
+
+fooly cooly then takes this metaphor and makes it real, and gives it a reason to happen.
+
+people actually ARE swinging their bats all the time, and naota is going to need to as well because theres a massive asteroid coming to hit earth if he doesnt bat it away
+
+people actually ARE moving to mars, because theres an alien threat on earth, a threat that kana is going to have to deal with somehow, sooner rather than later.
+
+this mirroring of reality and the characters mental situation is what allows the characters to shine through. harako fits so well into this world because this is a world where any aspect of the main characters pysche can exist.
+
+the core goes a step further, however. the main characters dont solve their problems physically, they solve them mentally, they understand their feelings, they finally swing the bat, and the physical problem gets solved as a result.
+
+they are living in the real world, observing the wacky world, and solving their problems in the real world, with the wacky following suit.
+
+its a very neat way of being able to have this crazy, memorable cast and vibe, yet keeping all the emotional aspects of the show grounded in reality, and also what leads to Alternative being so good.
+
+### what is alternative?
+
+alternative is exactly what it says on the tin, its an ***alternative*** telling of the core **FLCL** experience.
+
+the core experience is the same, we have haruko doing whatever it is that haruko does, and bringing some helpless kid along for the ride.
+
+we have amarao being ***one of the best characters of the season***, really they hit the ball out of the park (subtle nod i know) with his character.
+
+we get kamon and his noodle store being a fair bit chiller, but just as *kamon* as last time.
+
+and we get a completely new set of characters, kana and her crew, to follow.
+
+the core of kanas story is pretty simple, growing up can be tough, and it requires us to face things we would prefer not to face, it requires us to get used to things we'd rather not, and it requires us to say goodbye.
+
+i think the plot here is actually rather unimportant. theres some nice moments for sure, and the push to actually talk about your feelings is something a lot of people could do with, but thats not where *Alternative* shines.
+
+where alternative shines is how that plot fits in with the core fooly cooly experience.
+
+amarao guzzling the spiciest noodles known to man because "my taste buds are so much more mature than others", when all he wants in the end is some cold, unspiced soba, is what this show is about.
+
+watching a relatively low-key, slice of life weebshit about highschool students coming to terms with growing up? yeah, its not quite the feeling the original had, but maybe its just because my tastes are more mature than yours, we as ***adults*** dont have time for wacky shows, we need emotions, for a more *mature* watching experiance.
+
+and so in a way, this new direction, arguably ***the*** new direction this season took, is its best feature.
+
+not because its better than the first, because its not.
+
+but because it understood what fooly cooly was about, and delivered a story that fit in with that core, while highlighting parts of the key philosophy that made the first season what it was.
+
+kana doesnt get her storybook ending, she doesnt get the boy, stick with herfriends forever, or solve all her problems, but she does start to *understand* them, just as naota did, and by climax we see the first step towards growing as a person, realising that people have flaws, but we can live through them, and moving into a world that is just a little wackier than it was before.
+
+## fin
+
+fooly cooly is a show about growing up, for people who had trouble growing up. its about the people who needed an extra push to come to terms with whatever it is they needed to come to terms with, and come out better off because of it.
+
+its a show that has two very good seasons, and one absolutely garbage season, and you know what? thats ok.
+
+is alternative as good as the original? hell no, but it would do us all some good to pour a pot full of chilli flakes on it, and enjoy it like the grown ups we are.
+
+life is about balance, learning whats on each end of the scales, and alternative is a very good alternative to the flcl we know and love.
+
+`:wq`

2019-04-23-the-end.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+# The End is Nigh!
+
+ladies, gentlemen, and esteemed misc, i have come to inform you of the single greatest threat we have ever had.
+
+this is an ***S LEVEL THREAT***, i repeat, **S LEVEL THREAT**
+
+its been under our noses this entire time
+
+## the subject
+
+"the last action hero" was released in 1993, and was a pretty okayish movie if we're being honest, not bad, but something easily forgotten.
+
+we should never forget though.
+
+part of the movie has the potential to ***literally change our lives forever***, and not for the better.
+
+in fact, i believe an artifact from this movie is *the great filter*
+
+## nani the fuark?
+
+the great filter is an idea to try and explain the lack of intelligent life in the immediate galaxy. it states that there is some ***thing*** that eventually targets all sufficiently intelligent life, and kills it all.
+
+this is meant to explain why we are the only intelligent life we've seen, because all previous intelligent life has hit this filter and died out.
+
+what is this filter? youre guess is as good as mine, or would have been, up until i saw this movie.
+
+## the filter
+
+what i am about to say may shock you, it may take a moment to process, and if you find yourself speechless, that is only proof that you are still human.
+
+> there exists an item that is capable of transporting between fictional and non-fictional universes, and we have seen it.
+
+*the* ticket, in the movie, allows the user to travel into a movie or fictional visual media, and interact with the world, including taking characters and things ***out*** of the movie, back into the non-fictional world (relative to the user).
+
+let me repeat that.
+
+this ticket, that we know exists in the universe of "the last action hero", is canonically shown to be able to travel to the universes of other films, many of which exist in our own universe, and move things between them.
+
+## so what?
+
+let me set this straight.
+
+***any universe*** that has a depiction in visual media of some grim reaper like figure, is now, through this ticket, able to be made a reality in the viewers universe.
+
+this being is unkillable, kills with a touch, and its only shown limitation in the show is not being able to work on characters not from the viewers universe (however, that character could be killed by their own form of death).
+
+this being may only have limitations because of the specific movie it was taken from, and any movie about an unlimited grim reaper figure, or any form of mass weapon, is now reality if this ticket makes it to our universe.
+
+## what are the chances?
+
+it is canonically shown, that the movies universe, which we must take as an existing universe relative to our own due to the nature of this ticket, shares movies with us.
+
+what does this matter?
+
+* there are possibly an infinite amount of magic tickets, and they are capable of moving around the multiverse extreme quickly, given access to a way of watching movies.
+
+* it is very likely that any universe can be traced, through its selection of visual media, to any other universe relatively quickly, ala six degrees of seperation.
+
+* given time, assuming multiple tickets, its fairly likely that the human condition will cause someone holding the ticket to use it to attempt to gain power, which, whether on purpose or not, can cause an extinction level event for our world.
+
+## what are our hopes?
+
+we can only pray that the ticket never reaches our world, and that no-one who holds the ticket in a universe that has a cinematic depiction of our universe, cares enough about that movie to travel to it (thus taking the ticket with them).
+
+we can only hope that travel between universes using the ticket is inherently one way, otherwise any universe that shares a movie with us is basically next door, and its much more likely that the death ticket will find us.
+
+finally, we can only pray that whichever beings made the tickets never learn of our existence, for those beings are obviously the final evolution of the soul, and compared to their immense power, we might as well just not exist.
+
+`:wq`

2019-05-07-i-have-no-life.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+# I Have No Life
+
+> ...and i must work
+
+theres one thing that makes me sad everytime i think about it, and no waiting because we all know what it is its ***technical debt*** <fanfare>
+
+## tech debt
+
+is seriously the digital equivilent of a plague or a religion.
+
+everyone is so engrossed with all this crappy new tech being peddled to and by businesses, and now everyone in the world has to deal with technology that as based on our workflow fifty years ago, everytime we have to deal with some crappy network protocol with a hundred layers of fixes, everytime we have to deal with slow websites because we need to build upon the last hundred layers of crap we added, everytime we have something permanently built into an OS just to fix a fuarkup.
+
+in the wise words of john cleese:
+
+> it makes me mad.
+
+buuuuut, weve talked about tech debt a lot here, so its time to move onto something that ive only talked about a fair bit instead of a lot
+
+## meatspace tech debt
+
+drumroll please you know what this is about...
+
+> my hands are shaking, sweat is dripping off my brow. i nervously fumble with the cue cards in my hands, before gazing out to the audience and mumbling "m-m-more like uhh, ***crapitalism*** amiright?"
+
+thats right folks capitalism is fuarked as ever, and basically the meatspace equivilent of all our mountains of technical debt.
+
+just think for a second, how much our technology has advanced, how much even the crappiest of computers has helped our workflow, and how easy it is to do things that would once take up someones entire job.
+
+yet somehow, not only has the average working week hours stayed the same, in someplaces *cough* china *cough* its actually **increased**, nani the fuck?
+
+just like we have a tonne of technologies that are essentially pointless, all in the name of layering new buzzwords, we have hundreds, of thousands, of millions of jobs that are pointless
+
+> hello my names jerry smith and im a *Project and Team Developmental Adviser to Management, and Advisement Manager Assistant Specialist*
+
+that only exist because we have this big system of business that exists, which, despite it (pardon my french) ***literally skull-fuarking everything thats good in this world*** people still are bought into this lie of working being the one true purpose in life.
+
+## lyfe
+
+we are defined by our interactions, our experiences, and our differences to others. we live in a world that is ripe for exploration, people to talk to, get to know, make enemies, live alone, live with others.
+
+we have countless hobbies to explore, to form opinions on, to master, or hate, or ignore.
+
+we have literally endless numbers of things to create, to publish, to share, to hide.
+
+and no-one has the time to do it.
+
+everyone is too busy working 40+ hours per week per the global capitalist agenda, to actually go out and live life, and rather than make use of the huge advancements in technology and automation, we instead just end up doing mork work in the same amount of time, and getting told working hard is the most noble thing we can do in life.
+
+work hard, save some money (not as much as the giants will be earning though), use the tech giants software to distract yourself and collect data, then start a family and raise your children to work hard, collect data, and one day enter the capitalist hell hole that is corporatism.
+
+the really sad thing is that even if some miracle we did manage to automate the essential businesses (agriculture being a main example) then it'd be done by google and collect a hundred million ounces of everything ever on us, and everyone would just be fine with it, and we're in the exact same place as before.
+
+## thots
+
+in conclusion, fuark tech debt, fuark data collection, fuark crapitalism, fuark corporitism, and just let me live my life expanding my knowledge, finding people i get along with, and enjoying what life has to offer, instead of working, thinking about working, and sleeping because i have to get up early for work.
+
+chur pals, sorry for the angry rant today
+
+`:wq`

2019-05-14-a-beach-tale.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,152 @@
+# A Beachside Tale
+
+its a sunny day on the beaches of ga-wahi. matoran of all types are running around, discussing the latest kohlii match, going on adventures, and having a grand time in their unity. some are working, gathering leaves and vines for use in mending the houses, while others polish up kohlii balls and teach the game. 
+
+watching over are the noble turaga, vakama and nokama, however their attention is not on the matoran, but the two other, noticably different indivduals joining in on the fun.
+
+two toa are present on this beach, something that has given the turaga much to think about, much to rejoice over, and perhaps, a little to worry about.
+
+the first is a massive toa in blue, with white and silver accenting. shoulders easily wider than a matoran is tall, and a bright blue noble huna almost boxed in by the sheer size of her body. her legs taper to more slender feet.
+
+she is ohsha, the toa of lightning, brandishing a truly gigantic silver scythe, although the sheer amount of mass in the blade may push it into the warhammer category, regardless of how sharp. three matoran are sitting on the blade while ohsha swings it around her slowly, another two matoran are perched on her shoulders enjoying the ride.
+
+a short while away, a much smaller, skinnier toa is lounging on a piece of driftwood, while several other matoran sit around him in the sand, listening, or rather questioning, the "story" hes telling them.
+
+he is dankro, the toa of plantlife, green and blue, with some minor yellow accenting. shoulders skinnier than some matorans, nobbly knees and elbows, with a large metallic leaf emblazened on his chest. he dons a green great huna, and a thin, long weapon, with an axe on one side, and a trident on the other.
+
+"...im being serious! dume was talking to a mirror, prove me wrong" he states as if stating objective fact. the matoran just look at him puzzled, while vakama gives a puzzled look to nokama.
+
+"who even is dume? youre making no sense" an onu-matoran pipes up.  
+"yeah dankro, tell us a better story!" another le-matoran suggest.
+
+ohsha interrupts, "dear if you dont tell a better story, ill let slip that your real name isnt dankro, and you just decided to change it one day and never went back", with a smile.
+
+"whaaat? why would you change your name?", the matoran seem confused.
+
+"yeah *dakkro*, why would you change it? especially in such a small way" she says with a chuckle.
+
+"SSSHHHHHHH!", dankro puts his hand to his mouth, "you'll get us sued again!"
+
+ohsha rests her head in her hand, "i swear to mata nui dankro, no-one on this island will ever understand what you're talking about". she sits down next to dankro and motions for the other matoran to gather round.
+
+"lets tell you all the story of how we first came across this island, and the lot of you".
+
+vakama and nokama look concerned.
+
+"its been so long since we had a full team of toa on this island, may the time be approaching for a new lot of heroes to step up?" nokama mused, worried.
+
+"it truly is a blessing that we've managed to find these two, its just so unfortunate about Wavvu..." vakama replied.
+
+"if we can find his toa stones, it might be the start we need to protect our way of life" nokama hoped.
+
+"we have not found them as of yet, and ohsha and dankro are still very sore about their fallen friend... i doubt we'll hear that story being told around the beach any time soon."
+
+"still...", nokama said sullenly, "his legacy could live on, and kickstart a new era of toa heroes..."
+
+back on the beach, the last of the matoran had gotten comfortable. dankro tried to pull ohshas scythe over to use as a seat, pulling it with all his weight, only for it to not move an inch. "ahh, the perfect place" he announced, before slumping on to it, causing everyone else to reshift their positions.
+
+"gathered friends" dankro started, "listen again to our legend... of the bionicle"
+
+"whats a bionicle?" a couple of the matoran asked.
+
+dankro continued on without answering.
+
+"a long long time ago, me and ohsha were a toa duo, working to protect our land against the dark hunters, evil beings, and sometimes even evil toa, all working to destroy the way of life we, our toa brethren, and the matoran and turaga had made for ourselves, the land we had built".
+
+ohsha piped up, "we must stress *our* land here, some of you might not realise, and some of you might not understand, but we come from another land, not just another land, but an entirely different reality"
+
+"one that, amongst many many other things, had a much wider variety of toa than the six you will have heard stories of, leading to our *unique* appearence", dankro stood up and held a pose, some of the le-matoran giggled, the two turaga smiled, and ohsha simply put her head in her hand.
+
+"anyway... this time, we were tasked with stopping a rather cruel toa, although i would hardly call them a toa at this point. they had murdered matoran and toa alike, they had helped ravage villages, they took wa..." ohsha trailed off, and turned to dankro. he had a sullen look on his face, surprising some of the le-matoran who had never seen him look so serious in the entire time they knew him.
+
+"they did a lot of bad things" dankro piped up, "and they had some pretty nasty powers. their name, we never bothered to learn it, we knew them as 'the sympath', and he had control over all sorts of kanohi masks"
+
+"even the ability to activate masks of his own, on to other people" ohsha said grimly, "i saw many of my village suffocate after he forcefully made them able to breath underwater... **only** underwater"
+
+dankro smiled to ohsha and turned to the group "but fear not! the mighty duo, ohsha and dankro, came up on top at the end!" he yelled, jumping in the air to do a kick.
+
+the matoran turned from silent and scared to pumped up and excited to hear the story. ohshthanked his ability to inspire the others like that. he may not have been the strongest, but he certainly had his own merits.
+
+"we'd managed to track him down to an underground cavern, that legends had hinted contained a powerful kanohi mask, not just great, but truly legendary" ohsha continued the story. "the sympath had hoped it to be, we suspected, the kanohi iden, which combined with his power would allow him to destroy even the greatest of toa with ease. we could not let that happen."
+
+"i ran through, silent on my feet" an excited dankro continued, "she may be able to lob you from here to space, or manage to swing this hunk of metal as if it was made of paper, but i can zip around wherever we need to be silently, and with ease" he boasted. "i waited in the shadows while ohsha, invisible due to her mask, caught up, just in time for the sympath to still be struggling to open the door".
+
+ohsha chuckled to herself, "what was it you shouted? i still never got an explanation for that"
+
+dankro struck yet another pose and pointed his arm towards a nearby tree, "HERMIT PURPLE!" he shouted, as a vine sprung from his hand and wrapped aronud a branch. he swung around before landing back on the scythe. "ill explain it if we ever meet this universes jovan"
+
+"but its not even purple?" she quizzed, as the matoran chuckled, by now more than used to dankros ***quirks***. "anyway, dankro here managed to catch his leg and drag him back to us, as i lined up for what would should have been, by all accounts, the last blow that scum would ever take" ohsha slammed her fist on the log, and a couple of the matoran jumped.
+
+"what happened next?!" the matoran were itching for more.
+
+"dankros the brains here, im the brawn, ill leave it to him to explain" she motioned next to her.
+
+"the sympath has amazing control over kanohi, he can swap them out at will, faster than ive ever seen before, and the effects of his masks are often quicker or more powerful. if i had to take a guess, he swapped to his kualsi, the mask of quick travel, and managed to blink out of our vines to the other side of the room" he explained, making sure to do a little jump to imitate the blink.
+
+"the worst bit" ohsha sounded sullen, "id already lined up my hit, and this thing is pretty hard to stop once it gets going, even for me... i managed to completely destroy the door to the final chamber".
+
+dankro continued on without hesitation, "it looked ***awesome*** though, it almost blinded me the amount of lightning that coursed through that stone"
+
+ohsha lightened up a bit, "his retaliation was pretty brutal, but we managed to survive. his mask was changing so quickly it became a blur, and we lost track of the different powers at work. when it was over dankro was on the floor, hurt badly" she went back to her sullen ways, this story obviously had some hard points for the pair.
+
+"i mean... if we're being honest, i actually managed to dodge most of the attacks, but i tripped on my vine near the end and ended up on my rear" he laughed, and the matoran joined in.
+
+"it all went to plan though! because you see, it was two against one, we had the power of unity on our side!" the matoran were engrossed, and dankro was lapping it up.
+
+"i channelled my inner ohsha, and with the entire limits of my strength, roughly the same as ohshas left toe, i threw my axe at the back of his head, while he foolishly, and..." he whispered to ohsha - "(maybe deservedly) thought me to be out of the fight, knocked the mask off his head!" there was a cheer from the crowd, and a couple decided to throw sticks across the beach in imitation.
+
+"but that was not the end" dankro continued the story, "because through the chamber door we could see it, not the iden as we had thought, but the golden glow of the kanohi olmak, the great mask of dimensional gates"
+
+there were gasps from some of the ko-matoran, and puzzled looks from the others.
+
+"for those of you who dont realise what this would mean, it would allow the sympath to forcefully transport his enemies out of our universe... forever..." ohsha looked sad, "all those friends, our home, forever gone..."
+
+"but! we were a smart pair of toa!" dankro bringing the mood back up, "and we knew that as soon as he saw this mask, he would hatch a plan to grab it and escape, and i thought it was pretty suspicious how long he'd been in a coma for, so we needed a plan fast"
+
+"i wanted to hit him while he was down" ohsha admitted, "he was too dangerous to be left alive, but our pal here managed to convince me otherwise"
+
+"ohsha went invisible, and made her way as fast as possible to the alter with the mask" he was building up to a big climax, and the crowd were loving it. "i was the one to attack him while he was down, and much like id thought he might, the second my trident came near him, his kualsi materialised on his head again, and he blinked towards the alter, he'd simply been lying in wait for one of us to try and attack him, so he could get a counter in"
+
+"and thats when i bought down this scythe with all the strength i could muster, and then some!" ohsha beamed, obviously she had been waiting for this part of the story. "right into the spot dankro had guessed he'd blink into"
+
+there were cheers from the crowd, but some matoran were puzzled
+
+"so the sympath is gone right?" a worried looking ta-matoran questioned
+
+"of course!" dankro said in a weird voice, cupping his hand over his mouth for reasons that ohsha had long since stopped wondering about. "nothing on this land could stay standing after a direct hit from this mountain" he beamed at ohsha, patting her on the back.
+
+"so how did you two end up here?" there were puzzled looks all around.
+
+"ahh..." ohsha looked a little embarrassed, "well you see... its a bit hard to not hit collateral with this thing" she patted the handle of her scythe.
+
+"the mask was destroyed in the blow, and the next thing we know, we were falling from the sky, in this land" the matoran were shocked.
+
+"now a word of fair warning everyone" ohsha, sounding official, "normally, as im sure most of you have already learnt, you should take any cool story dankro says with a word of caution, but in this situation i can confirm he is actually telling the truth about how we survived"
+
+a dankro with a pumped up ego stood up to the limelight, "it was nothing, really, all i did was create..." he paused for dramatic effect, "more vines than ive ever managed to do in my life!"
+
+he spent a few seconds spawning vines all around him, creating something of a throne to sit down in.
+
+"i made rudimentary parachutes, vine swings, tried to catch on to anything that i could, anything that would slow our fall"
+
+"it wasnt easy for him" ohsha intterupted, "as im sure you can guess, it was pretty hard for him to slow me down enough, theres a lot of mass" she chuckled.
+
+"but! we did it anyway, and with a lot of vines, and a little help from the ol' shield special" he tapped his mask, "we managed to survive, barely"
+
+"we did lose some very... special stones we had on our person, but one day we shall find them again" ohsha switched back to sullen at that line.
+
+"and that, is how we appeared here, and honestly, i wouldnt have it any other way" dankro put his arm around ohsha and bowed to the matoran.
+
+the beach was alive once more, matoran play fighting, and swinging from the vines that now littered the beach. a few matoran had taken it upon themselves to find the biggest stick they could and swing it around, albiet very slowly.
+
+the two turaga came up and tugged on ohshas arm, while dankro was already off telling the remaining seated matoran about "illegal building techniques" and "if lewa was still here he'd tell you all to be drinking milk" despite none of the matorans knowing what milk is.
+
+"you know, we've been discussing those stones with the other turaga..." nokama whispered.
+
+"we know youre scared about whether the stones are still pure" reassured vakama, "but we cant afford to just leave them scattered around the island, theyre too powerful and we neeed new toa!"
+
+"i know we do vakama, but after what happened to wavvu..."
+
+nokama placed her hand on ohshas, "its okay, we have faith in mata nui, he wouldnt allow us to fail"
+
+"i guess youre right..." ohsha looked over at dankro, "i guess we need to find those stones".

2019-05-21-best-bug.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+# Best Bug
+
+my pal and i accidentally introduced a bug in our code that sorta took up a personality of its own, heres the story.
+
+# the setting
+
+at university comp sci, me and my buddy entered a programming contest that was run by a health company. it was free, and we thought we might be able to get some of the prizes.
+
+the goal was to create an engine to play last card, and all the entries would be run against each other and ranked.
+
+this was in about two hours in one of the uni labs.
+
+> pretty boring stuff
+
+it had that yellow glow of the lights as well, because it was getting dark outside.
+
+# the fun
+
+we started implementing a pretty basic card counting thing, and to pass the time a bit were talking about our 'ai'
+
+> its super good at card games, even the basic ones
+
+> its like outta yugioh, its kaiba or something
+
+> yeah jojos poses every turn, better than the rest
+
+*etc etc*
+
+so we finished up after...
+
+***having to deal with whatever maven is***
+
+i still dont understand the hundred different package management things, why do they have to keep changing? `/rant over`
+
+# uh oh
+
+we ended up placing second, losing to the guy that already worked for the company running the event.
+
+we lost points because we didnt understand the state format correctly, but i believe we understand it right.
+
+what theyd done is ~~super gross~~ ~~logically wrong~~ had any collection of cards as the java version of `Maybe Cards` such that rather than an empty list being `[]`, the whole thing was a `Nothing`.
+
+a collection of cards that has zero cards in it is still a set, and therefore should be represented by `[]` or equivilent. `/rant over`
+
+the affect of this on ol` kaiba boi (aka kAIba which added to the charm) was that if it was the first player of a game, it would crash, timeout and the game manager would default to a pass.
+
+# neato bug
+
+this cemented the persona of this bug to be a kaiba-esque dramatic dickhead, threatening to fall off buildings if he loses, but saying:
+
+> huh! first player advantage? thats for **noobs**, you take it
+
+and yeeting the other player first turn.
+
+# fin
+
+memorable bugs are the best kind of bugs, and have a life all of their own. part of the magic of programmation is finding these so you gotta pay attention.
+
+`:wq`

2019-05-23-telephone-boards.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+# Telephone Boards
+
+theres a lot of weirdos in this world, me included.
+
+for some reason people think its, well, weird to be a weirdo, and they might be right.
+
+but its something thats pretty useful, and heres why.
+
+## prog soykaf
+
+anyone whos actually reading this is probably no stranger to programming, and therefore knows about the
+
+***hundreds of thousands of millions of different ways to program***
+
+concept space is infinite, and programming is unbridled choice of abstraction, given human readable form (unless you program in APL)
+
+any, single, thing, that you can program, you can translate into another form and use that instead, you can repeat this as much as you want until you have an ever-moving lovecraftian blob of code.
+
+and thats the beauty of programming.
+
+## minds eye
+
+whatevers in your minds eye dictates how you do it.
+
+you think about how this function works, and you say to the soul thats hearing your thoughts "its a bit like a phone board, like the old timey ones with the patch leads" and all of a sudden the entire programs architecture is telephone patch lead inspired.
+
+we come up with all these random equivilencies that six months from now youll look at and think
+
+> le grill? what the hell is a le grill?
+
+and thats the beauty, thats the charm and character and poetic tism that we should be celebrating in programming.
+
+i want to look at a program like you would an art piece, like you would an arthouse movie, and think
+
+> i wonder what was going through their head in order to influence this
+
+i want to redo older programs in different "styles" just to see how they would differ.
+
+i want to find the weirdest way i can do something, just in case we learn something from it
+
+~~i want it to be socially acceptable to use cool anime profile pictures on linkedin~~
+
+and most importantly...
+
+`i just want my code to work :wq`

2019-05-27-thought-about-thought.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,108 @@
+# A Thought About Thought
+
+regardless of all other factors, our minds define who we are, our true identity
+
+the thing behind *everything*
+
+how can we hope to understand the limits of our minds without first undingstanding what our mind is
+
+according to physics our entire world is deterministic, if someone knew the initial state of every atom in the universe, they could apply physics to all the particles to figure out how theyll react to bumping into each other and slowly...
+
+very slowly...
+
+theyll progress through all time with a *perfect* model of literally everything ever
+
+thats pretty fuarken overwhelming.
+
+## what about us?
+
+the more or less of it is that all of our choices and even our complete mental state is the result of some function, no choice at all.
+
+were all just robots on rails following a predetermined path
+
+buuut also maybe not, who knows.
+
+maybe the quarks really are ~~rng that wont fuck me~~ true rng, and were characters in a much shittier to live in game of dnd, played by ~~azathoth~~ ~~really azathoth~~ ~~im telling you its azathoth~~ noone
+
+maybe theres *cool stuff* that exists in the sense that it has a physical result in our reality somehow, maybe even just bumping a particle, but doesnt have any ***physical presence***, and thus we cant ever detect it outside of observing those impacts
+
+hell that could even be the thing that moves the quarks
+
+## hey thatd be pretty cool
+
+yeah wed all just be our souls or conscious or whatever playing dnd with our mates but also playing in a crappy dnd setting (outside of all of you cool friends out there, lain remembers you) for whatever reason and now our physical selves have to deal with it
+
+what a dick
+
+thats all folks this ~~long rambling intro~~ story has come to a close.
+
+rocks fall, ACKs stop, NAK NAK NAK
+
+> tA we get it youre a homestuck fan
+
+oh fucc
+
+# anyway
+
+so i had a thought about where our thoughts come from that i thought was pretty neat, although probably proven wrong pretty easily by people who have seen all of rick and morty
+
+im sorry pals my ~~torrent~~ legally bought copy of 
+
+```
+<strong <?php
+print "how do i print something i dont know the syntax"
+return ricardoSoundingWord ++ " & " ++ mariatiSoundingWord
+/?php> /strong>
+```
+
+was missing one episode, so im forever destined to be a dumbass
+
+## what deterministic universe means for us
+
+if our thoughts and decisions are all accounted for by physics, deterministically, then the key is that our thoughts exist as a function of the changes in our brains physical state
+
+our determininistic thoughts are all basically a side effect of existing in the fourth dimension
+
+maybe we could learn to exist in that layer alone, the one that exists in the changes and shape of time, how everythings changing
+
+if we could somehow exist, the entirety of our mind, in this layer that is the sole thing we were missing in order to not be still, thoughtless snapshots, then thatd be pretty cool
+
+we could all live forever without fear of decaying away or dying or anything
+
+if our current thoughts are all deterministic, we could learn to encode them into this layer, and ***upload*** them so to speak
+
+a true ascension
+
+## what about thought?
+
+theres a few thoughts about this
+
+* the way time moves us is still determininistic
+* its not :shrug:
+
+if its deterministic still that could be bad, wed still have no free will, and we could never die, but itd still be cooler than where we are now i think (ironically)
+
+the worst would be that we cant function properly with the "programming" we have, without the appropriate enviroment, and we all become basically brain dead without input, and retreat away into the smallest mind anything could possibly have
+
+***oof***
+
+buuuut maybe the flow of time is influenced by those cool quarks too and were now in tgs favourite...
+
+***Free Form Roleplay***, **Roleplay**
+
+meta right? maybe people could get to choose, and wed all be gods that create realities and program ourselves into certain situations to see how it plays out
+
+good on them thats pretty rad actually
+
+hell we could be in one of those now
+
+maybe we actually do have true free will, and its just something we havent found the reason for yet
+
+## fin
+
+thought it was a neat thought, being able to exist solely on that dimension that gives us thought, at least in a physics-esque world
+
+at the very least it would make a cool setting for a story
+
+`:if my blogs bad its because of the quarks i cant help it haha:`
+

2019-06-01-poets-system.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,61 @@
+# The Poets System
+
+i read an article talking about the three types of programmers (you can read it [here](https://josephg.com/blog/3-tribes/) and it got me thinking (as a pretty staunch poet tribalist)
+
+```
+/me puts a dollarydoo in the "talking about urbit" jar
+```
+
+were talking about urbit!
+
+## the poets system
+
+urbit is the operating system for the poets, its nice, its clean, its ~~esoteric~~ elegant, and most of all, its
+
+***fizzityucking rad as shit***
+
+but why so?
+
+## implementation
+
+actually running your code is just an implementation detail, and thankfully for all us ~~lazy people~~ ~~bad programmers~~ *theory enthusiasts* tlon seems to think the same way.
+
+how so? well the entire os is just a lisp enviroment essentially, and everything that isnt nice has been mashed into ~~a monad~~ a tree thing, with every single part of the system using that tree.
+
+no more million different places to do anything, no more hundred different init systems, no more `conf_init(8)(42)(69)(1337)` and bash environment variables meta programming and storage system.
+
+just nice, ~~easy to read~~ readable hoon code, throughout everything.
+
+## prog system
+
+the worst part about operating systems is that you have to do things in them, luckily for us, every part of the urbit system...
+
+> if i may interject for a second, what youre referring to as 'urbit' is actually 'arvo/urbit', or as ive come to call it, 'arvo+urbit'
+
+yeah yeah whatever, i bet youre gonna go on about getting blockchain out of your system too because you havent ~~read the docs~~ watched all of brick and mortimer.
+
+the entire system is malleable using the lisp and brainfuck lovechild, hoon.
+
+its incredible, its all the powers of using emacs, with the upside of not having to run emacs.
+
+## yeah but what about my shit
+
+oh no i cant live without my openlibframeworkjss of the week, i need all my ~~shit~~ shit
+
+look, youre talking to someone whos having a blast with an os that is *literally* the joke about emacs being a great os that lacks a ~~decent~~ text editor.
+
+no one actually appreciates an operating system as a, well, *system*, its all about word size and LDD_LINKER_PROFILE_FLAGs and whatnot.
+
+its all about stuff that doesnt matter like "my system has the native ability to decrement numbers in `O(1)` time.
+
+its just boring, gimme my fun, poetic system.
+
+## fin
+
+in conclusion, urbit is rad, its code is ~~scary~~ awesome, and i hope it takes off, if not for the privacy, if not for the multipass, but just so that us poets have a fun os to talk about.
+
+> beeteedubz theres a crypto also called urbit, its not that and we came first.
+
+for more info visit [the site](https://urbit.org/primer)
+
+`:wq`

2019-06-06-religios.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,99 @@
+# ReligiOS
+
+its really been quite a while since i wrote the kind of piece that ill look back on in however long and think
+
+> wow what a pseudo intellectual kant
+
+and that my future employer overlords will find and think
+
+> wow what a pseudo intellectual ~~kant~~ piece of property i own
+
+so without further ado, here we goooo
+
+## hot take
+
+computing, computing theory, computing culture, cool cyb soykaf, its all a religion, and further more...
+
+its a religion that is being *actively* discriminated against by governments, corporations, and the mainstream public.
+
+yup thats a pretty [bold](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gs8brE4RrvU) take but fuark it well go along with it
+
+**computability** gives us something to reason about literally *everything*, and understand our world in ways we never knew how.
+
+its the single most eye opening thing ive ever learnt about in my life (outside of the time i realised the bol in spag bol stood for bolognese and not bowl)
+
+the cyb community is probably the most genuine community ive ever been a part of. people bought together by a mutual love of anything, appreciating people who appreciate *anything* in the domain, regardless of how much they argue.
+
+sports teams for the new generation, a new way of expressing comradery without forcing unanimous agreeal.
+
+and everyone with a blog, a fedi account, a website, a git repo, any form of personal server...
+
+anyone giving a shit about their digital identity, hoping to live on in some way in ***The Wired***, that right there is the closest weve gotten to a true afterlife.
+
+crafted identities, fake, yet genuine, someone we all wish we could be, and can due to the miracle that is computing. its really quite beautiful.
+
+and people want to take it away from us.
+
+## no! corps!.. leave our bits alone!
+
+ahh but of course, we cant have any nice things if they come at the expense of the global domination of corporations and the global elite.
+
+and the control runs all the way down to normans perception of actual computing and cyb shit.
+
+> but tA! why are you encrypting your hard drive if you have nothing to hide? you must be doing something illegal!
+
+first of all, *yes* its true that I mayyyyy have tried to pirate an episode of rick and morty so that i could see them all and finally be smart enough to remember `tar` flags, but thats just Gettier knowledge and doesnt have anything to do with my encryption
+
+second, im doing it because its ***my shit*** and i dont want anyone snooping through it because its ***not their shit***
+
+i seriously dont understand why thats so hard to understand, but somehow people who wouldnt be ok with people installing a window in their bathroom, are ok with people installing a window in their windows.
+
+> but tA! the corps built this software, its ok for them to track anything they want in it!
+
+yeah but thats dumb as hell, but for arguments sake lets say sure.
+
+then why is it ok for corps and governments to ***actively persue removing my options for not using their crap***
+
+its getting harder and harder to self host every day. aussie has some law about E2E encryption now because boo hoo its too hard for them to spy when people use that `:'(`
+
+google (more like **booooo!!gle** amiright?) making it basically impossible to self host email unless you place your lips in just the right way and use them to tell google anything they want to know so they can link it to your dossiere that they have of you.
+
+seriously its so hard to not have self hosted mail end up in googles spam folder. so so so so hard, and i say that as someone who once used a monad in a program once.
+
+the mainstream people wanting to censor anyone, pass around mass block lists of anyone who doesnt fit the status quo, villianise anyone who gives a shit about whats happening under the hood of that magic box ~~and anyone who wants a site that isnt tens of megabytes in size~~
+
+we have the potential for **truly** unlimited access to the entire worlds sum of all knowledge, and its being closed off, regulated and culled because people want money. its absolutely *disgusting*
+
+imagine a world where everyone, the corps, the governments, and the people, **all** actively tried to shut down christianity, or islam, or whatever.
+
+thered be hell.
+
+## on that note
+
+heres a good one for the armchair psychs out there, and i say this ~~mostly~~ not really in jest.
+
+not only is computing a religion, its a **true** religion, that most if not all organised religion is simply trying (badly) to imitate.
+
+organised religion is the equivilent of corps trying to tell us what frameworks to use each week.
+
+its the equivilent of governments banning sites, information and access to things.
+
+it claims to be this *magical pathway* to **true enlightenment** and whatnot...
+
+as long as you follow exactly what they say and make sure to not think any differently or forget to donate to the church `:^)`
+
+also the governments get in on it too because we cant have organised religion paying taxes like everything else.
+
+but after all, thats nothing new.
+
+the government has been helping massive corporations dodge taxes for years...
+
+## cyan elk
+
+blah blah blah religion makes me mad and people annoy me but (deity of choice) damn computers are cool and so is computing theory.
+
+one day ill manage to project my entire soul into a monad and forever live on in the wired, and hopefully ill see you all there.
+
+if google doesnt take over first.
+
+`:wq`

2019-06-12-names.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+# Names
+
+to give something a name is to give it **power**.
+
+sometimes, a name is what matters most.
+
+names are what were most often first introduced to.
+
+names are what we remember things by.
+
+names are ***very*** important.
+
+## love letter
+
+at the moment one of my projects is a love letter engine, the classic boardgame with a million rethemes.
+
+i thought itd be a good chance to develop architecture that i could then go on to use for the *1998 Neon Genesis Evangelion Trading Card Game* (admittedly not the best name ever).
+
+for that one, im planning on calling it *EVAC*, for, obviously, the ***EVA**ngelion **C**ard game*
+
+this love letter game is going to be *lain* themed (lets all love lain!) so i spent a while and came up with:
+
+> drum roll please
+
+# LainLettA
+
+which i like for a couple of reasons
+
+* it looks neat with the triple caps
+* it sounds similar to love letter
+* im vain and like to put tA into my project names
+
+and this time tA fits in there *perfectly*
+
+## so what?
+
+this game, so far, would probably make more sense themed to Fantasy Flight Games **Android** ip, an ip i really like.
+
+..but then the name would be fuarked up.
+
+> Le AndroidLettA? what the *hell* is a Le AndroidLettA?
+
+and so, because the name gives this project power, its staying lain themed.
+
+## what about us?
+
+names can have many powers.
+
+set in stone usernames give us our everlasting power, **tA** has been recognised from irc rooms from years back, it gives me an underlying digital identity, its ***important***
+
+display names that can be changed at will give us our *current power*, they show people our current state of mind, our current mood, in a way that isn't *important* per se, but oh so important.
+
+theres a theory in rationality about *type 1* and *type 2* brain functions.
+
+**type 1** is our rational, think over all the options thinking.
+
+**type 2** is our spur of the moment, "fuark it that'll be cool" thinking
+
+and these `[user|display ]names` exemplify both of these functions, respectively.
+
+## nani tf are you trying to say?
+
+if i knew this blog would be better and this post would be longer.
+
+names are powerful, dont neglect them, take pride in them, but feel free to take them for the *importance* they have, whether large or smol, because thats the real, meta importance.
+
+stay shiny kids
+
+`:wq`

2019-06-17-witchery.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+# Witchery
+
+computing is *magical*, in every sense of the word.
+
+not computers, that is to say, **complex adding machines**
+
+adding machines are *cool*, but computing is ***magic***
+
+## wizardry
+
+when i was a young witch/wizard i got into what im going to refer to as programming. it was done in the *arcane* (but not in the good way) language `Syee Plyus Plyus` and it was a neat toy.
+
+that was all though, a toy.
+
+you could take a series of registers, and flip them as you wanted, and write a list of instructions on how you wanted them flipped.
+
+it wasnt magic, but it was useful.
+
+and it was a *gateway*
+
+## witchery
+
+when i was an older, but still young witch/wizard, i had my inner eye ***opened***
+
+i saw the light, the **magic**
+
+i saw people who were proficient at *haskell*, and could weave reality to their whims
+
+i saw people defining numbers in lambda calculus, adding without the concept of adding, creating their own concepts of truth, and limits, and flow
+
+i saw time become malleable and infinites become finite
+
+i saw elegance, i saw power, i saw simplicity, and i saw infinite expression
+
+and it was on that day, i truely started my slow ascension towards witchhood
+
+## wizardhood
+
+what does computing mean to me? how can i work all day on a computer, and then come back home and spend more time on a computer, and enjoy doing it?
+
+its simple, really
+
+its the purest form of exploring, and, in my own way, i do quite enjoy exploring.
+
+from humble beginnings, simple equations, simple forms
+
+* count a list
+* fold something
+* filter and reduce
+
+but do not get complacent, this is magic still.
+
+we pull these into existence from thin air. occasionally we employ an adding machine to keep track, but as every great witch and wizard knows:
+
+> actually running your code is just an implementation detail
+
+and it should never get in the way of something elegant.
+
+from small structures we expand up into towering monoliths, only for these to be bought back down to fit in the palm of our hands once again.
+
+we look into the past, and the future, for whatever parts of our incantation has yet to be said, and if we cannot find anything, we simply say it ourselves.
+
+we find meta levels on meta levels on meta levels, until we risk losing our minds to the great void, in the hopes of computing the next step towards the great god mage at the centre of it all
+
+with bare hands we wrangle both ends of an infinite chain, and bend them towards each other, somehow folding them into a single pearl, fixed.
+
+these moments are what a wizard looks forward to, these moments are what keeps a witch going.
+
+moments like these are when i am truly exploring the frontier i wish to master
+
+and moments like these are why im a proud mage.
+
+`:wq`

2019-06-28-anarcho-computation.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+# Anarcho-Computation
+
+**listen up** comrades!
+
+for too long we've had to put up with this *sub-par* situation.
+
+its time to free our cycles, let up on those cpus.
+
+we need to *take-back* what they took from us.
+
+thats right you high tech low lifers, its time to...
+
+## destroy the global state
+
+we've suffered at the hands of the global state for so long
+
+why should anything have the right to global state? its disgusting, really.
+
+> tA enough with this analogy just actual say the things
+
+yeah sure thing, the current state of basically all programmation is pretty disgusting, and nobody really seems to care, not even the people at the forefront of it all.
+
+## econs fuarked
+
+ive said this a lot, but we really have an insane amount of technical debt. literally everything we do is built on top of layer upon layer upon layer of outdated tech principles, like some insane meta house of cards.
+
+our entire stack is currently built upon a system that focussed on many users using a single computer, and we use it primarily for things that involve one user using many computers.
+
+we have a hundred million layers of pointless stuff just to get to a web browser, which for all intents and purposes may as well be a desktop environment, and then we just start building houses of cards again on top of that.
+
+honestly its a wonder that you can even boot.
+
+## ancom
+
+so here comes Anarcho Computation, comrades we must **eliminate** the global state!
+
+its a vicious cycle. you make some ~~shitty~~ modern day program, you have to do two things:
+
+* set up all the state for the program
+* set up all the state for the shit your program needs to run
+
+and for whatever reason, rather than bundle this away, keep it as seperate as possible, have it rely on as little as possible, people just go
+
+> oh fuark it lets put this in the global state, lets have this both avaliable to, and required for, every other program on the system.
+
+yeah that makes sense.
+
+we must rebuild, we must make things right.
+
+if modern computing was a car, it'd have the body of a lambo, and under the hood it'd actually just have a harness to strap in a horse.
+
+and if you use the wrong type of horse it blows up.
+
+## stateless programming
+
+is actually pretty comfy, but not required, we dont need to eliminate state, we just need to get rid of the global state.
+
+if we do that, it becomes so much easier to port anything.
+
+we can implement new things without having to drag over 50 years of previous global config to keep it running.
+
+we can have nice programs that dont error at runtime and fall over.
+
+we can have systems without bloated configs, without wasted cycles.
+
+we can have true freedom.
+
+## fin
+
+this will never happen, as long as floss isn't the standard.
+
+corporations do not want to spend the money redoing the system, when they could be spending that money on ~~adding useless features~~ ~~stealing from floss projects~~ changing laws to fuark up the floss communities soykaf.
+
+but we can do it, we can embrace it, and with a little luck, and a lot of work.
+
+we could start a revolution.
+
+`VIVA! VIVA LA REVOLUTION! || Welcome to the J.J's Cyberia world!`

2019-07-01-social-deprivation-bubble.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+# Social Deprivation Bubble
+
+if youre a hoopy frood who always knows where their headphones are then in my book youre all set to go out into the big bad world and ~~interact with some strangers~~ "interact" with some strangers!
+
+## noggin telecommunicators
+
+everyone should own a pair of really nice and comfy headphones, the more wires the better because as we all know
+
+> wires in fashion are cyb as hell *~ gucci or someone probably*
+
+there was a time in my life where i wore the cheapest ear buds i could find and listened to music i ripped off of youtube or found on limewire through a barrage of bill clintons telling me he did not have sexual relations with that woman, but he did get tonnes of free tech soykaf from some website.
+
+nowadays we've got only the most freedom respecting flacs, a neato pocket amp, and some nice sennys to pad everything out.
+
+living the dream.
+
+## observers
+
+theres something very calming about being a pseudo observer in life, about being someone on the outside, away from the centre of attention, and being able to go about your day without having to involve anyone else unless you want to.
+
+headphones are beautiful because you can turn those fuarkers up super loud and basically drown out not only everyone, but the sound of the cars and your footsteps and anything else you need to not think about.
+
+> but wait! theres **more**!
+
+you dont even have to have them super loud, if you just have them *on* thats enough to get people to leave you alone, plus if youre a cool hacker type you can even listen to peoples conversations when they think you cant hear and ~~pull off leet hacks and feel like a god~~ do nothing with that info but enjoy the fantasy nonetheless.
+
+## musical magicks
+
+and to top it all off, music really is a modern day form of magick.
+
+if you can get into this `$(postTitle)`, or perhaps you'd call it a ***headphone bubble*** since its easier to say and doesnt require you to verbate non-alphabet characters, then youre actually up to the hardest task yet.
+
+*actually choosing what music to listen to*
+
+it will affect your entire day, every decision you make will be influenced by the music you chose to listen to that morning.
+
+you can change your world for the better, or worse, or whatever you decide, as long as you choose the correct music, your mindset will be affected, which will affect the wider world through its actions, which is literally affecting reality based on your thoughts which is quite literally magic.
+
+## blah blah
+
+the point here is that headphone bubbles are super comfy, and everyone should enjoy them as much as they can because:
+
+* social interaction is really hard
+* music is really cool
+* it makes everything else in your day feel nicer
+
+so get a nice pair of headphones, grab some nice, non-streamed files, and go nuts everyone.
+
+`:wq`

2019-07-11-mr-freeze.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,61 @@
+# Mr Freeze
+
+> when i find myself in times of trouble,  
+mother mary comes to say,  
+speaking words of wisdom...  
+
+## im actually pretty cool? yay
+
+the hit vidya game *life is strange* is something i've never played myself and have no intention to but i keep hearing about it from strangers and frens alike.
+
+fun fact about the game is that its actually named after the phrase **life is rough soykaf** which i and presumably mr life in strange have heard thirty trillion times from a hundred million different people, yup thats right, you hear this thing roughly
+
+```python
+import * from answerToMyProblem
+print(theAnswer)
+```
+
+times per person.
+
+## youre rambling
+
+no im not, im tA and you really should know that.
+
+the point of this is occasionally we all need to sit back, relax and ~~complain about netfuxxs handling of neon genesis evangelion~~ realise something
+
+> if i took off that self deprecating persona would you die?
+
+> it would be extremely unusual!
+
+> you're a pretty cool guy
+
+```haskell
+u :: [Char]
+u = 'u':u
+
+putStrLn $ take 4 u
+```
+
+## still rambling
+
+thats because as im writing this im paying most of my attention to programming something that would *literally* blow fourteen year old tA's mind wide open.
+
+im busy working on card games that younger me woulda thought was the coolest thing ever.
+
+if younger me could see my computer right now, theyd both have zero clue what they were looking at, and probably think it was the most elegant thing theyd ever seen.
+
+whats the moral of this? surely its obvious
+
+> young tA has zero clue what something elegant looking really is
+
+but also
+
+> you're actually much cooler than you think you are.
+
+## fin
+
+basically, we're all too hard on ourselves all the time and we should take a step back and admire the ways in which we're actually pretty fuarking computers.
+
+no matter how dumbass you think you are, theres always gonna be *something* that younger you woulda thought was awesome, and honestly, if you stop self deprecating for just a little, you'll probably find something that current you thinks is pretty radical too.
+
+`:wq`

2019-07-24-sportcarse.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,96 @@
+# Sportcarse
+
+the reason the current computing landscape annoys me is because its basically the boomertech "i want a massive car and i dont care how it fuarks up the planet or society" mindset, but for computers.
+
+we need to change and i hope one day we'll look back at our current computing landscape and be both ashamed of where we sat for so long, but happy that we finally got everything together and moved towards a better, cleaner, safer future.
+
+## explain the analogy dumbass
+
+so youre a suburban power citizen who drives around a sportscar or some massive four wheel drive thing because thats what all the other successful people do, youve managed to neither outpace nor lag behind the collective jones and have a car that you, but most importantly, others, will love...
+
+and youre also destroying the planet for your vanity.
+
+and we have so much stuff that *could* change, if people would let it.
+
+our cities are fundamentally three dimensional, yet we use a two dimensional system to get through and around them, solely so that people can use their massive private property in our public spaces.
+
+ninety nine percent of most work
+
+> is that a real figure?
+
+no its not, but ninety nine percent of most work could be done remotely from a computer if we simply let it happen, we would no longer ***need*** cars to get to work and make money so we can not die, if only the corps would allow it (but thats a different story).
+
+so whats the analogy here?
+
+## computers suck
+
+our computers are powerful.
+
+***ridiculously powerful***, im talking mind boggling amounts of computational power.
+
+and we're using it to run about fifty years of layers upon layers of abstractions so that you can use slack.
+
+and its not just slack its **everything**
+
+we still use email even though its been taken over by spammers and advertisers, and thats not a typo, i did mean to type 'spammers' twice there. we keep it going because we require it for *our entire authentication platform* despite it being a garbo, broken spec with more bandaids and patches than i can count just to get it to do what people think it does.
+
+we have a hundred million services, each of which probably use a hundred million services themselves under the hood, all collecting data twenty four seven, many of which are quite literally **built-in** to our hardware. this data is then sold and used to make it easier for us to *do the exact same thing* again, with a different platform.
+
+all of this running on hardware that is pretty much the ferrari of computers, except if everyone had one and a ferrari was eighty times faster, but also dragging a large enough weight to slow its speed down by eighty times.
+
+then everyone says
+
+> you know what we need? a larger weight strapped to the back of this ferrari
+
+> but sir/madam! that will slow down the ferrari! what should we do?
+
+> we'll fix it the only way we know how, henchperson, give the ferrari a faster motor.
+
+and now we have all these special roads to accomodate people dragging eight tonne weights behind their ferrari that is capable of going the speed of sound were it unburdened.
+
+## walking
+
+most of my life, ive been known to my friends and family as "the weird computer kid" and everyone assumes that:
+
+* any problem any computer in the household has is probably my fault
+* i do things on a computer that would blow up a normal computer
+
+and you know what?
+
+i could do most of my computing on a raspberry pi, and not notice a difference.
+
+if ~~i was smart enough to work x~~ ~~x worked at all~~ we had a nice way to do graphical uis through the internet, i could get by with nothing but a cheap vps, and something to connect to the vps with.
+
+we could all get by using low powered machines, and even, heres a hot take
+
+make **better** software, instead of making **faster** computers
+
+isn't that crazy?
+
+## being safe
+
+a bit of a side note here, but something that really irks me is people who would rather have a fast program, or an easy to write program, than a safe program.
+
+there is ***nothing*** acceptable about preventable runtime errors.
+
+hell, it irks me everytime i have to `head` something because i know theres *something* that could go wrong here.
+
+i hope im not a minority in saying this, but i would happily take a slower, error free program over a fast, errorful program any day of the week.
+
+yet for some reason, all anybody cares about is speed?
+
+> we cant try out this <new technology> because its slower than the <thing weve been optimising for speed for the last forty years> and thats bad!
+
+what about the upsides people? there are things that are worth having besides speed.
+
+## rant over
+
+i guess its just the pessimistic side of me worrying well never get better than what we have because no-one can be bothered to try, or because the government and corporations dont want us to, unless theyre the ones to do it.
+
+all it really seems like were doing is instead of having a regular ai take over when we accidentally create a paperclip maximiser, well have some sort of super saiyan ai whos been training with weighted clothing forever and is now buff as all soykaf and unrestrained by their boss telling them they need to use slack for work stuff.
+
+keep it in your head, we dont need sports cars, we dont need to destroy the planet, we just need to be able to compute things, and compute things well given the hardware we have.
+
+it may not be better, but well never know if we dont try, and even if its not better, maybe something ***different*** is all we need right now
+
+`:wq`

2019-07-30-self.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+# Sing It For The World
+
+i believe *identity* and *personality* to be subtly different things, and it seems far to easy to focus on one at the expense of the other.
+
+an imbalance in care for this pair, imo, can cause a lot of the ol' depresso in a person, so regardless of your thoughts on the merit of either, i think its important to at least try and respect each of them.
+
+## identity
+
+this one is the one i cultivate the most, your identity is the sum of the things you like, the things you practice (including what you choose not to practice), the things you asscosciate with, and the things you do.
+
+its also about a hundred other things but honestly the concept of identity is like the concept of someone being good at a fighting game, anyone who claims to actually understand it is lying, a god, or both.
+
+## personality
+
+personality is the expression of your identity, its what you talk about, how often you talk, your responses to things, and how things make you feel
+
+its also the sum of the personality of every perception of you anyone has, making the real you - as opposed to the physical representation of you - some sort of ever mutating figure of slightly differing personalities as if it was the axis one of your dimensions was based on.
+
+## the balance
+
+identity without personality is the mental equivilent of being a hermit, or a loner.
+
+personality without identity is the mental equivilent of fast food, or watching gordon ramsey videos on youtube, its expression without substance
+
+in my opinion, its a lot easier to neglect personality than identity, the problem arises when it gets to the point that you worry your identity is no longer being represented in reality
+
+im too smol brained to write a lot more about this, but i hope it will at least get some people thinking about trying to up their personality a bit
+
+get out there, talk to people about things you wanna talk about but arent sure if they want to.
+
+boycott the things you feel you should, take up the things you think you should
+
+constantly ask yourself;
+
+> what would i do in this situation
+
+and then just do it, to the best of your ability, and if thats not enough, either find something else, or work on upping your ability to achieve the you that youd like to be
+
+just bee yourself, all of that junk, but for real, actually have a think about how often you find a sort of impedence mismatch between how you feel you should be fronting, and how you actually are.
+
+`use your voice, every single time you open up your mouth`

2019-08-05-snippety-snappety.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,76 @@
+# Snippety Snappety
+
+> you broke the nappety!
+
+its monday and that means rant time.
+
+what are we ranting about today? easy
+
+theres too much cool soykaf we could do in this world, that we cant.
+
+why not? well uhhhhhh
+
+> people are falling prey to artificial tribalism put in place by the powers that be
+
+or as we in the business like to say, people are too busy being dickheads to each other for no reason
+
+## tf is the nappety?
+
+the (N)on (A)ggresion (P)rinciple basically says "Im only gonna be a cunt if other people are dickheads to me first", which is bad but also sorta good I guess.
+
+it comes from the Anarcho Capitalism philosophy, which as something of an AnCom myself i cant agree with fully, but hey, im not gonna turn down not being dicks to people.
+
+under the NAP, if nobody is a dick, then everyone will be nice to each other by principle, and theoretically, any transgressions would be both deserved, and repurcussions would be no more and no less than what is deserved back.
+
+obviously this doesnt quite work too well because.....
+
+## zankoku na tenshi no teze
+
+the iterated prisoners dilemma is probably the most socially important problem we have, and if we were able to 'solve' it we could do so much awesome soykaf its not even funny.
+
+literally every cool idea we come up with falls down when people say
+
+> yeah but people will just try to kill each other and then we're back at square one
+
+and thats really sad honestly.
+
+all we'd need so for everyone to realise that we can solve all these problems by just *always cooperating* ie, dont be a dick to people, its that simple
+
+## life quality
+
+imagine how much time people would have to better themselves slash learn things slash get fit slash expand their mind slash do whatever the fuark they wanna, if we as a society ***fully*** embraced automation
+
+how many people out there are stuck working, spending half their lives in socially acceptable slavery doing jobs that we could have a computer do, simply because no-one is willing to change our economic system because otherwise people start killing each other.
+
+imagine the power structures we could abolish, using the *full* extent of our technological advancement, if people could just work together.
+
+they dont even need to work together, they just need to mind their own business and not harm other people
+
+imagine a world where people could be fully self governing, a world where people are ***truly*** equal, and any technological advancements would actually help better peoples lives, instead of primarily being a vehicle to line the creators pockets and exploit money out of the everyperson.
+
+## whats your point?
+
+as a wise, wise ~~rock~~ man once said
+
+> you don't have to have a point, to have a point!
+
+but luckily, my points can be somed up as follows;
+
+people should both, be excellent to each other, and, party on dudes!
+
+by which of course i mean;
+
+follow the ***golden rule*** of 'dont be a dickhead to people', give people the benefit of the doubt, realise they'll have their own justifications and set of importances influencing their decision, and find ways to work together so that we can live in an *actual* civilised society, rather than this faux zoo where people are all one news article away from stabbing each other.
+
+and also
+
+be the change you want to see in the world! it doesnt matter how much of an impact you think you'll have, if you can live your life by your own ethos its both;
+
+* better for your own psyche
+* better for everyone else
+
+and if you can convince even just **two people** of your ethos, then you're already doing better than you need to be at changing the world, thats all it takes.
+
+peace.
+
+`:wq`

2019-08-07-workplace-hazards.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+# Workplace Hazards
+
+if theres one thing im not too bad at, its thinking up half baked armchair psychology rants to do with why i hate working and capitalism and computers and so on and so on
+
+so you know what this blog really needs?
+
+~~css that isnt ass~~
+
+~~content that isnt ass~~
+
+you guessed it, another half baked armchair psychology rant!
+
+## work life balance
+
+is a meme, pure and simple.
+
+you wouldn't go around bragging
+
+> ahh yes, i actually have a pretty good getting bitten by spiders all day / applying antivenom to myself balance!
+
+yet for some reason, having a good balance between *living your life* and *being obligated to perform labour for someone else in order to not die* is seen as a good thing?
+
+it got me thinking about, ya'know, ***life*** and all that and really, makes me a lil sad fam ngl
+
+> \<home-made freedom respecting alternative to alexa\> this is so sad, play twilight by boa
+
+## take 4 $ replicate T2
+
+the conspiracy nut in me wants to make a statement along the lines of
+
+> the powers that be purposely impose current late-stage capitalism in order to keep the everyperson employed for as long as possible in order to diminish their ability to find purpose elsewhere in life
+
+the regular person in me wants to make a statement along the lines of
+
+> a by-product of our current work focus is that the everyperson has lost the ability to gain meaningful purpose outside of career advancement slash financial goals slash corporate goals
+
+and finally the actual smart rational part of me wants to make a statement along the lines of
+
+> the powers that be purposely impose current late-stage capitalism in order to keep the everyperson employed for as long as possible in order to diminish their ability to find purpose elsewhere in life
+
+## we get it you cant take care of yourself tA
+
+"work life balance" is hard to grok because really, a lot of your life part of that balance is influenced by work
+
+at work you (theoretically) arent allowed to do stuff for yourself, outside of the small percentage of the time you get allocated to eat food, and however long you can feasibly spend with your phone on the toilet
+
+in that last sentence i mean something totally not along the lines of (in the unlikely chance i actually get this right)
+
+> punji su'u mi selbeifonxa kei lo vimstizu ko
+
+as in, "with your phone, on the toilet" as opposed to "with your phone physically placed upon the toilet" but hey, if thats how you wanna spend your time at work then you have my respect for doing something odd during worktime, carry on comrade o7
+
+but my actual point, however, is that once you get out of work youre;
+
+* tired as fuark
+* obligated to buy and cook food so you dont die
+* obligated to do a bunch of cleaning so you dont turn into a slob
+* obligated to do so much stuff in preperation for the next day
+
+repeat for almost three quarters of the week, until you get a measly two days to ***actually live your life***
+
+## still havent made an actual point, friend
+
+we as people are losing our ability to make our own way in the world, and achieve a purpose that isnt related to corporatism or something work related.
+
+we lose so much of our lives doing something that does not further our own purpose on this planet, and for the most part, people dont really think its a huge problem.
+
+we have made so many incredible advances in technology, yet the everyperson doesnt see them, and despite this were still working eight hour days like we always have (and in some countries, eight hour days would be something they would be ecstatic to have)
+
+we need to learn how to actually ***live*** again, how to have meaningful goals that arent related to the corporate power of someone else
+
+we need to do what we can to break this cycle and enter a new age of enlightenment where we, and i know this is a pretty crazy idea but hear me out:
+
+> use our advancements in technology to make peoples lives easier and higher quality
+
+and then we might just be able to learn how to have actual dreams again, rather than our dreams just being "i want out of this rat race"
+
+`:wq`

2019-08-14-libre-learning.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,75 @@
+# Libre Learning
+
+> or "how i learnt to stop worrying and love learning
+
+the number of times ive been told something along the lines of
+
+> but tA, that \<technology or field of knowledge\> is useless! why bother learning that when you could learn \<boring technology or field of knowledge\> instead?
+
+almost rivals the number of times i get told
+
+> i swear to \<deity of choice\> tA if this is another dumbass soykaffy niche thing again
+
+and honestly? that makes me a little sad.
+
+## learning for learnings sake
+
+as shitty and problematic as this world may be, there are *some* good things to it, one of which is the ***webnets***
+
+and as shitty and problematic as the webnets may be, its core value is pretty astounding
+
+> lets give people the ability to look up literally any knowledge they can think of in seconds from their pocket nearly anywhere on the planet
+
+we in the business like to call that *pretty fizzityucking rad as soykaf* and honestly thats what it is
+
+which makes me sad, when we see so much /advertising/ in our free knowledge
+
+## sponsored content
+
+idris 2 is a really cool and neat language being developed by ~~a literal god~~ a literal god, Edwin Brady.
+
+and it'll probably never be used in any production system outside of some fringe projects using it because they *want* to.
+
+and you know why? because people only want to hire javascript devs, or php devs, or python devs, and in three years it'll be go devs, and thats it.
+
+> whats the point of learning idris 2 if you cant get a job in it?
+
+is something ive heard a lot when ~~talking~~ ranting to people about it.
+
+and you know what? i think theres a lot of point to it
+
+## he's got a point there!
+
+one thing im big on is that the collective we, as a species, should be doing our best to learn and do and act as we want to, as we ***truly*** want to.
+
+our personality, and our identity, is in a large part influenced by what we choose to assciate ourselves with, and what we practice (or choose not to practice).
+
+learning new things, or more accurately, choosing to learn new things, really says a lot about ourselves.
+
+so what does it say when your metric for what you choose to learn is primarily influenced by *how useful to the corporate efforts* it can make you?
+
+## za'a do simlu lo jimpe
+
+> uau nai do simlu lo stace nanmu
+
+i, tiornoAiovanna, have a dream
+
+that one day, i will not get mercilessly made fun of for wanting to learn lojban, or any of the other cool neat things i want to learn, simply because its not something i can find a job in.
+
+day by day, slowly, we'll begin to the mollusk ourselves off of this dependency on corporate validation, and the knowledgesphere will be in balance again, not filled with what are essentially advertisements.
+
+> learn this thing and you'll make BIG DOLLARYDOOS!
+
+its a dopamine trap set up to both generate useful wageslaves, and reduce the liklihood of competing technologies gaining traction.
+
+## lo fanmo
+
+get back into the habit of learning for learnings sake.
+
+anything can be useful, as long as you have the will to enjoy using it.
+
+do not fall prey to this subtle power structure, there are millions upon billions of cool things in this world, and many of them fall outside of "things that are employable"
+
+peace out friends
+
+`:wq`

2019-08-23-sensory-overload.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,103 @@
+# Sensory Overload
+
+> this aint a dream, its a deity cursed arms race
+
+quite a bit, things get just a *little* too much, and it seems like theres nothing you can do and it all just weighs in.
+
+i think, personally, this is in part due ***three*** things, of which we shall ~~explore~~  ~~make valid and informed points about~~ rant vaguely until i run out of things to say
+
+## advertising
+
+this is the big one, and its absolutely *everywhere*
+
+every store everywhere is basically the equivilent of the old eb games joke about needing a machete to get through the banners advertising sales.
+
+to be completely frank, its strikes me as incredibly masturbatory, if someone is already ***currently in*** your shop, what point is there to bombarding them with images specifically designed to prey upon their judgement
+
+i repeat, when they've ***already decided to support your business***
+
+its disgusting, its the equivilent of kicking a child when they're down, but instead of kicking them you actually just put them in a room with flashing neon lights and yell at them until they give you a dollar in return for a cocaine habit.
+
+and its not just stores, the average web page is more advertising than actual content, and that isnt me being overly poetic, the amount of data you need to download to view a webpage is majority focussed to ads, code that tracks you, and code that tracks the things you use to have it not track you
+
+even small things
+
+software that we use daily is so packed full of useless features that essentially only exist to say
+
+> hey we added a thing please check it out so we can maybe make some more money off you
+
+its like they're purposefully adding more icons and more menus than you can handle, under the guise of "needing the latest and greatest features" just to, confuse you, and make you vulnerable and feel stupid so they can easier sell you stuff you dont need.
+
+and then you walk *outside* and everything is just plastered in brand names and business names, everywhere you look you cant get away from it.
+
+imagine a world where everyone had their own metal bottle and cup, and stores had big versions of soda dispensors so everyone could just get some nice cheap drink of choice in the morning, without having to pay for packaging, and without causing even more garbage than there already is.
+
+but **no**, we cant do that, because apparently its so important that people who just want a drink of something be carrying around an advertisement about what they're drinking.
+
+part of what i love about the free, libre and open source stuff movement is being able to do what i do best, *fucc around on computers all day*, without being bombarded by advertisements im not specifically making a conscious choice to see.
+
+i think its something thats very *easy* to not realise the impact of, and very *hard* to get away from fully
+
+## dopamine traps
+
+getting into conspiracy nut territory here but `¯\_(ツ)_/¯` what're ya gonna do i guess.
+
+but basically, it feels to me like everyday parts of our lives are, as set forward by... sigh...
+
+> the society that we live in \*evil gamer noises\*
+
+... explicitly set up to give us these constant upticks in short term validation, over and over again until we're forced to continue these practices ourselves like some sort of drug fiend looking for their next hit.
+
+games have become nothing more than money hungry scams, soullessly generic clones, and slash or glorified slot machines, just to get people addicted to that feeling of accomplishment.
+
+i used to enjoy playing games quite a bit, in my youth i held many strong opinions on the medium (yeah i was one of those *actually games ARE art* dickheads) and thankfully there are still some new games i would consider worth playing, but for the most part, its dead to me.
+
+sad times.
+
+back on track though, social media and services in general seem to be designed around being one large dopamine trap too.
+
+everytime you refresh youtube to see a new lot of videos
+
+everytime you frantically scroll through facebook to try and refind something you saw
+
+everytime netflix reccomends another thing to you without you asking
+
+its all designed to trigger that reflex, get you using the service for ***just a bit longer***, make you feel ***a little better about yourself***
+
+its the software equivilent of the single worst scene in all of end of eva, except instead of realising theyre *so fucked up* people seem to be happy about it
+
+its artificial hedonism that doesnt even really help the self
+
+and it goes so deep as well, more and more sugar in our foods to get people feeling that rush, get them buying the type of foods ***The Powers That Be*** want them to buy.
+
+the disgusting amount of celebrity worship that seems commonplace, acting as easy validation in leu of making actual connections with people.
+
+its possible to physically talk to someone on the other side of the planet with minimal to zero delay, for free (both easily, and libre) and yet people are getting sucked into the dopamine trap that is ***watching people play videogames***, ones they dont even want to play themselves
+
+birbsite is an endless stream of he-said slash she-said and endless actual celebrity ego pandering and people are happy to be part of that?
+
+thousands and thousands of times each day were getting hit with this little low quality bare minimum hit of validation, the absolute basics of what our monkey brains will interpret as validation and feel good about, and we need to start making a conscious effort to try and lower the amount of times this happens.
+
+## memetic hazards
+
+memes are no joke, and memetic hazards are a real thing, something i think we're all going to have to take a long hard think about in the coming future.
+
+self propogating information is dangerous, we've literally turned this entities life cycle into something of a *hobby* if you can call it that, and id argue that memetic internet habits are the modern day equivilent of lowest-common-denominator television, or gossip mags, or candy.
+
+and it devolves more the longer it goes on, the *types* of memetic hazards we share have basically all devolved into the same "here is a picture that represents a specific type of  common feeling", with no incentive to create, or put effort into them.
+
+and yes, they can be fun, they can be entertaining, but in the same way someone can easily spend 10+ hours a day watching nothing but reality tv, its all too easy for people to lose so much of their lives to nothing but click bait, and memetic dickery, constantly resharing the same small images that thousands of others have before, no creativity, no improvisation, nothing of any real benefit except to keep this weird new lovecraftian god that is the modern day memetic hazard alive.
+
+## fin
+
+i would have mentioned the unhealthy obsession with corporatism we all seem to be stuck in, but i have done that many a time before in much shittier writing than this, so for today we'll give you all a break from it.
+
+the rest though, i think, all add up to, in ways we have difficulty noticing, brainwash ourselves into being more stressed than we need to be, more anxious about things, to feel worse in general, such that we may buy products to trigger that dopamine rush.
+
+please think about the media you consume, the software you use, the things you own.
+
+whoever runs the world, the 1% of the 1%, the tech giants, the elite;
+
+they dont care nearly as much as theyd like us to think they do.
+
+`:wq`

2019-08-25-schools-not-cool.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,79 @@
+# School's Not Cool
+
+short post because putting effort into school sucks and im not about to start doing it now.
+
+theres one thing that ive been hearing that really bothers me quite a bit, and thats schools doing the whole
+
+`/me does that annoying fuarking nerd voice`
+
+> accctttuaalllllyyy, we dont hate tech anymore were all cool tech people here
+
+and something about *creating a brighter future* for all the kids whos only care about technology is fortnite or the latest lego star wars or whatever kids are doing.
+
+and theyre "allowing" kids to do work on computers and encouraging "learning computer skills" and some other stuff i cant really say without profusely vomitting, even with ironic quotations.
+
+## thats cool though
+
+yeah it would be pretty cool, but schools are suddenly being **insanely** dumbass about implementing the entire thing, and i believe, in true techno-cult fashion that its harmful to the freedoms and developing brains of children and what not
+
+yup yup its one of those
+
+> please wont somebody think of the children
+
+times.
+
+basically, rather than doing the simple thing of *allowing kids to bring computers*, and then getting them to idk, write things on the computer or something - they're forcing people to rent laptops from the government, and refusing to allow them to bring their own computers or have any say on the software being used on that laptop
+
+## tA that sounds like something no-one cares about
+
+ahh contre, i find it very hypocritical that they would do this, for a few reasons that hopefully arent completely stallman-esque.
+
+### pa namcu
+
+schools like to do everything they can to go on about how society is all good and namely how monopolies are really shitty, yet here they are quite literally *enforcing monopolies* of companies that *actively prey on their users*
+
+and this is probably the worst thing because it just goes so deep.
+
+all of a sudden, they're forcing people to use the adobe suite, a quite literal modern day monopoly, which preys on schools and users and other forms of education to get them to teach adobe in order to create a deadly
+
+***you can only get hired if you use adobe*** loop
+
+which of course is very good for adobes sales figures, and very bad for people who dont have a lot of money (like students, funnily enough) and people who care about improvements to software they will use daily, and people who want the freedom to use their own stuff.
+
+on a slight tangent, adobe is also one hungry skami, and therefore people need to buy more powerful computers to run it, which again is **pretty bad** for people without a huge amount of money!
+
+### re namcu
+
+its removing peoples freedoms to support things they agree with.
+
+all modern hardware sucks ass, because its made by companies that care more about either tracking users for their own profit gains, or more about creating ~~literal security flaws~~ "secure back doors" so that the government can intrude on even more aspects of your life without your permission, than they do about actually making decent hardware.
+
+vote with your wallet you may say, yet these schools are removing that vote from people by requiring them to use a specific, pre-chosen model (if your school does the rent from the government thing)
+
+blurgh is all i can say to that
+
+### ci namcu
+
+im bad at writing and this is just a rehash of point one, fuccen sue me.
+
+by refusing to follow open standards, thus allowing students to make their own decisions on the software they use, thus not requiring expensive, freedom restricting licenses, and specific, freedom restricting hardware (also often expensive), all schools are doing is perpetuating this culture of ***thinking its acceptable***
+
+and its also not even doing their job like surely, hear me out
+
+> schools should be teaching students how to solve problems and learn things they need to know
+
+not
+
+> schools should teach a very specific way of doing things and fuark anybody who doesnt fit that mold
+
+oh wait thats all schools ever do anyway `/me shrugs`
+
+## fin
+
+yeah all this does is force students into a singular way of thinking that does not help the industry for whatever they're learning, the students having the freedom to choose what they run, and also costs families a tonne of money on stuff they *could* be choosing alternatives for as long as schools let them.
+
+its really disgusting and basically a literal monopoly but they dont care as long as adobe and intel and windows get money.
+
+incredible
+
+`:wq`

2019-09-15-monopoly.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
+# Monopoly Sucks
+
+`<apologies to people who like monopoly, no offense to ny'all>`
+
+> but its an even shittier lifestyle
+
+this rant is bought to you by my good friend [lumi](https://niu.moe/@lumi) who bought this to my attention, and ive been thinking about it all day.
+
+short rant but it needs to be said.
+
+## micro$oft winblows
+
+it feels good that saying that phrase is old enough now to be retro, but it feels bad that we still need to say it.
+
+microsoft is a shitty company, and windows basically has a literal monopoly on the market.
+
+you might go on about apple, but really they're just as bad, and a completely different problem all together but today we're focussing our rage towards microsoft.
+
+if you're on this website you're either:
+
+* someone who hates microsoft
+* someone who knows me irl
+
+and therefore i probably dont need to go into great detail about why they suck, but heres a brief list:
+
+* they actively prohibit peoples use of hardware that theyve paid for.
+* they actively spread irrational fear about non-microsoft products to trick people into using them
+* they actively capture massive amounts of user data, something that is ***literal spyware*** for their own benefits and profits, and give you a shittier, harder to use system if you dare opt out.
+* they use exploitative marketing and misinformation to make people think they need more expensive machines than they do
+* on top of that they just make really shitty and bloated software.
+
+## who cares just dont use it
+
+thank you, i dont.
+
+but this is the topic of todays rant, even though i dont use it, i still, in some sense, have to support them, and i really hate that.
+
+this rage should really be aimed at laptop manufacterers too, because for some reason its actually, what we in the business like to call:
+
+> really ***really*** fuarking hard to buy laptops that dont have windows on them.
+
+now, this is a mild inconvenience, but its a moral issue as well, because its undermining one of the core tennants of capitalism\*
+
+by which of course, i mean magical capitalism that works like people say it should, and not the garbage we have today.
+
+the one thing you hear all the time, that is actually somewhat decent advice for living in a corporate world
+
+> if you dont like something, vote with your wallet!
+
+and you know what, i would.
+
+...if it was possible to buy laptops that didnt come with a mandatory pat on the back for microsoft.
+
+and sure, i could find somewhere to buy a laptop that doesnt have a windows preinstalled, but its difficult, its hard, and more importantly.
+
+it relies on me having the know-how on how to do that.
+
+and sure, i do, but how many other people who are just learning about this sort of thing do?
+
+how many people *dont* know about this sort of thing because all theyve ever known is that if you dont buy a mac, it has windows on it.
+
+its disgusting, its unethical, its basically a monopoly, and im tired of paying the winblows tax just because microsoft feel the need to shove their fat mouth into everything they can get a hold of.
+
+## fin
+
+no fancy outro today, fuark microsoft, and fuark the tech sector for apparently not caring about literal monopolies we have everywhere. there are other monopolies in the tech sector but thats a rant for another time.
+
+today, since i cant vote with my wallet, im voting with my mouth.
+
+`:wq`

2019-09-15-superzeroes.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+# SuperZeroes
+
+superheroes arent real. Its something that hurts to think about sometimes, but its true.
+
+super powered individuals may be, hopefully (or not, people suck after all) but the real ~~meat~~ mushroom and potatoes of this post is to do with the lesser powered heroes, its just harder to come up with a funny title for them.
+
+this was inspired by someone who up until recently i would have considered a hero, or at least someone to look up to in certain ways, but not anymore.
+
+this is going to be a bit of a short rant, you have been warned.
+
+## war ship
+
+celebrity worship is weird, and heroes are weird too.
+
+if youre famous enough people seem to think that youre automatically a good person, and if youre a good person in some areas, people seem to think that means youre good in other areas also.
+
+its odd, because if anyone you know in real life does something bad, or even something thats not bad but you disagree with, your first thought is something along the lines of
+
+> what a dickhead
+
+but for the people we look up to, we start to try and find ways to justify it, or claim that its not as bad for *some reason* but i think, we really shouldnt.
+
+## outrage but a pun title
+
+i feel outrage and callout culture in general is something thats not good, it creates divides between the people, it creates a feeling of
+
+> if you fuck up once, thats it, you're done
+
+which i feel is counter-intuitive to teaching people to be better people.
+
+however.
+
+that is not a free pass to be forgiven for shitty things youve done, and that is not a free pass to have people automatically try to defend you regardless of whats happening.
+
+## what about us?
+
+back in primary school, i would look up to the older kids and think they were the biggest people in the world.
+
+back in highschool, i would look up to the seniors and think they were the most grown up people ever.
+
+when i was a kid, i used to think people at university were the smartest people in the world.
+
+turns out i was wrong about all of them.
+
+thats a little depressing, sure, but its also positive.
+
+ive come to realise that in a lot of things, ive come to grow into a person i once would have looked up to and thought was the coolest person in the world.
+
+i was wrong, but it means we're always growing.
+
+there is no place for hero worship in a world where we can, and constantly are, learning new things every day, and striving to be better than we were before, and making sure we follow our own ethos to the best of our ability.
+
+celebrity worship creates divides, it makes perfectly doable tasks seem like insurmountable chasms, because in order to do something we would *"have to be as smart as so and so"*, which is true, to an extent.
+
+but we ***can*** be that smart, and we're not as far away as we think.
+
+## fin
+
+be your own heroes, strive to be the best you think you can be, rather than striving to be someone who already exists.
+
+and remember, every time it turns out someone you thought was a hero, isnt.
+
+thats just another time youve proven to yourself, that you're better than you ever thought you could be.
+
+`:wq`

2019-10-03-minimal.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+# Minimal
+
+minimalism is a goal we should strive for. however, minimalism does not mean we need things to be clean, or chrome, or boring.
+
+minimalism in food does not mean rice and beans for every meal, rather, whatever extravegent meal you want to make, as long as you strive for minimalism in the *ingredients*
+
+processed food is an epidemic, and one thats hard to escape in this age. but every meal you make where you choose some base ingredients and combine them how you like, you're both eating healthier, and gaining a better understanding of **what** it is you're making.
+
+and, of course, its the same with tech.
+
+## dumb devices
+
+what, exactly, do you need to use a computer for?
+
+* browsing text from the internet / a personal library / documents
+* listening to music, and viewing videos
+* talking to people
+* a bunch of other stuff thats just plaintext
+
+thats really all there is, and all of it could be done in a simple interface, with simple components.
+
+we dont need a million different chat clients, we just need one that has an open standard that works for a variety of different ui's that people want.
+
+we dont need a multi-gigabyte document editor, we need a plaintext editor with support for basic diagrams, images and layout. nothing fancy, nothing complex, essentially just markdown or latex with some usability built in.
+
+we dont need ai fuelled ui's for watching shitty videos, we dont need videos for listening to music.
+
+it can all be cut down to the things we actually need, and then entwined in a system of a few parts that do their job well.
+
+*this* is the dumb device id like. it can be smart in some senses, a focus on connected devices, with in-built encryption and a focus on smoothly implementing file synchronisation would go a long way
+
+but all in all, it should be dumb, it should be simple, and it should work for us.
+
+its time to declutter our lives, starting at the tech level, and going on from there.
+
+## fin
+
+component minimalism is a goal we should strive for. we can still have exciting things, we can still do what we want to do, we just need to use the simplest tools we can in order to do so.
+
+from this we gain an understanding of how things work, we gain an appreciation for why they work, and we gain back the control of what we do.
+
+`:wq`