Axxuy's Internet Notebookhttps://axxuy.com/Hugoaxxuyaxxuy@axxuy.comaxxuy@axxuy.com2026-06-25T00:00:00ZWriting Too Slowlyaxxuyaxxuy@axxuy.com2026-06-25T00:00:00Z2026-06-25T00:00:00Zhttps://axxuy.com/blog/2026/writing-too-slowly/<p>My last post is not long, but it did end up taking quite a bit longer than I wouldhave liked. Sometimes you just do not have as much time for a project as you expect. In this case it was also hindered by being tied to a programming project, which invited tweaking and contemplation of features, etc.</p>
<p>I became hesitant to post it. It took too long to finish.</p>
<p>What I find happens, is that the longer I spend with a piece of writing, the less confident I become in it. As I tweak, edit, revise, the writing seems (<em>seems</em>, not <em>does</em>) to become less clear, not more. Editing always has the feeling of pushing food around on my plate with my fork, at best stirring everything up without really changing the substance, at worst making a mess of it. I come to doubt whether I’ve made any point at all.</p>
<p>And so with these blog posts I have a tendency to rush and try to get them out as quickly as possible. One writing session is best. I can tell you, it is very possible to write something without reading it all by oneself—no AI required. I suppose it would be interesting for me to actually reread some of my own posts. I treat my blog like a stack of papers, each new post goes on the top and older ones sink deeper and deeper.</p>
<a href="mailto:axxuy@axxuy.com?subject=writing-too-slowly">Reply by email</a>Adding Stats to a Static Blogaxxuyaxxuy@axxuy.com2026-06-24T00:00:00Z2026-06-24T00:00:00Zhttps://axxuy.com/blog/2026/adding-stats-to-a-static-blog/<p>A little while ago I was wondering just how many words I’ve written on my blog. I was inspired by Wouter over at <a class="h-cite" href="https://brainbaking.com/post/2024/07/good-blogging-habits-yield-a-book-each-year/">Brain Baking</a>
.</p>
<p>Now, I use a static site generator for my blog, the upshot of which is that the whole thing is just a big folder full of files. So counting up all the words is really easy with a simple shell command:</p>
<pre tabindex="0"><code>wc --total=only -w content/blog/*/*.md
55198
</code></pre><p>That’s 55,198 total words as of the time of this writing. Well that’s neat. With <a class="h-cite" href="https://gregable.com/2010/09/why-you-should-know-just-little-awk.html">a little bit of <code>awk</code></a>
you can get the average too:</p>
<pre tabindex="0"><code>wc --total=never -w content/blog/*/*.md \
| awk '{total+=$1} END{print total, total/NR}'
55270 321.337
</code></pre><p>(The change in total word count is because I am running these commands as I write this post.)</p>
<p>And finally I have a breakdown of the number of posts by year.</p>
<pre tabindex="0"><code>rg "^date: \d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}" -t markdown -o content/blog \
| cut -d' ' -f2 \
| date -f - +"%Y" \
| sort | uniq -c \
| awk 'BEGIN{print "|Year|Number of posts|\n|----|----|"; OFS="|"}
{printf "|%-4s|%-4s|\n", $2, $1}'
</code></pre><p>That one is a little more complicated… But in brief it searches my files for the date each post was published and tallies up the number of files in each year. With a bunch of wrangling to get everything in the right format. There is an impulse to downplay that part, but really a large amount of programming consists of wrangling data into the right format.</p>
<p>That gets us some information that is hopefully interesting to someone besides me.</p>
<p>I copied this set of stats from <a class="h-cite" href="https://joelchrono.xyz/stats">Joel</a>
. The nice thing about them is that they are very easy to do. I have ideas for more complex data to show about my blog, but that is beyond my skills with shell scripting, so this will have to do for now. There are a number of <code>bash</code> wizards on my Mastodon timeline, but I am just not one of them. But the beauty of it is that you do not need to know all that much to do some cool things.</p>
<a href="mailto:axxuy@axxuy.com?subject=adding-stats-to-a-static-blog">Reply by email</a>I Bought a New Notebookaxxuyaxxuy@axxuy.com2026-06-16T00:00:00Z2026-06-16T00:00:00Zhttps://axxuy.com/blog/2026/i-bought-a-new-notebook/<p>I bought a notebook. Yes, another one. No, I did not <em>need</em> another notebook. But, you know…</p>
<p>It all started when I heard about a new stationery shop that opened in my city. Of course I had to go visit one weekend. They had a great selection of fancy notebooks. (Despite my avidly accumulating notebooks, I am picky about which ones. It is important that they have paper suitable for fountain pens, my preferred writing instruments.) It was a nice, friendly, cozy place. I only wanted to support them. So I bought a notebook.</p>
<p>It’s a brand I’ve never seen before: a Nakabayashi Logical T-line.
<img src="https://axxuy.com/images/26/t-line_notebook.webp" alt="A grey notebook on a tabletop. It is a Nakabayashi Logical T-Line in A4 size" title="A grey notebook on a tabletop. It is a Nakabayashi Logical T-Line in A4 size"></p>
<p>What am I going to do with it? Well, let me tell you. You don’t end up a notebook hoarder like I am by worrying about questions like that. But as it happens, I do have a clear purpose for it. I am going to use it for writing blog posts. It is really surprising that I don’t draft more posts by hand.</p>
<p>This post was first written in the aforesaid notebook. I took it to a cafe and wrote these words with coffee and a donut. The sun is streaming in through the windows. It is a lovely day at the start of summer. The air is gently warm. I can raise my head and look outside at all the people going by, on foot and in car. I’d include a picture if I weren’t so shy about that sort of thing<sup id="fnref:1"><a href="#fn:1" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">1</a></sup>.</p>
<p>I could bring my laptop (in fact, I did, and used it to work a little on another project) but what fun would that be? I admit it, I’m a sucker for aesthetics.</p>
<p>When I took the notebook out and searched my thoughts for what to write about, I initially thought about declaring some opinion or hot take. Or possibly sharing some new fact I learned from a headline, or perhaps skimming a Wikipedia article. It would probably be better for SEO if I did those sorts of things. But that isn’t really what I want this website to be and it never has. I don’t exclude those kinds of posts from consideration, I just don’t want to do too many. It also puts a bad taste in my mouth (or maybe this coffee has just been sitting in the pot for too long) to sit down and deliberately try to find an Opinion. I prefer spontaneity for this blog. This blog is whatever I happen to have on my mind at a given time.</p>
<p>What’s on my mind right now is the paper in front of me. So that’s what this is about.</p>
<div class="footnotes" role="doc-endnotes">
<hr>
<ol>
<li id="fn:1">
<p>I know I’ve had an idea for a blog post elaborating on this. I was going to link to it but it seems I never got around to writing it. <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-backref" role="doc-backlink">↩︎</a></p>
</li>
</ol>
</div>
<a href="mailto:axxuy@axxuy.com?subject=i-bought-a-new-notebook">Reply by email</a>I Want to Talk to People, Not Chatbotsaxxuyaxxuy@axxuy.com2026-06-09T00:00:00Z2026-06-09T00:00:00Zhttps://axxuy.com/blog/2026/i-want-to-talk-to-people-not-chatbots/<p>I don’t really want to make another post about LLMs. I would love for blogging about LLMs to become as gauche as blogging about blogging. But this is the idea I have right now.</p>
<p>I don’t want to talk to chatbots. There is one simple reason:</p>
<p>I am not chatty. I am not talkative. I find it difficult to think of things to say. It takes me quite a bit of time and effort to think of things to say. It’s hard!</p>
<p>And so, if I am going to spend all that time and effort, I want to spend it on <em>actual people</em>.</p>
<p>I want my computer to be a tool; I want to wield it; I want to operate it; I want to use it. That way my energy can go into the task that the computer is for, not thinking of things to say.</p>
<p>There are other reasons too, but this is <em>my</em> reason.</p>
<a href="mailto:axxuy@axxuy.com?subject=i-want-to-talk-to-people-not-chatbots">Reply by email</a>I Love Walkingaxxuyaxxuy@axxuy.com2026-05-30T00:00:00Z2026-05-30T00:00:00Zhttps://axxuy.com/blog/2026/i-love-walking/<p>I love to go for long <a class="h-cite" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walking">walks</a>
. That is my first choice for getting places.</p>
<p>I love being able to walk places. It is a privilege. It is a privilege to have a body that can do it without pain. It is a privilege to have places close enough to walk to. It is a privilege to have a climate and landscape amenable to it. None of these are guarantees.</p>
<p>Sometimes they are short walks. There is a bakery a few blocks from where I live. Every now and then, when I have a bit of time in the morning, I indulge in a sweet treat from there.</p>
<p>About half an hour away on my legs, there is a little park with a stunning view of the local landscape. That is always a good stroll.</p>
<p>There is nothing like the feeling of moving through the world by yourself, with nothing more than your own body (and the help of the teams of people who designed, manufactured, and shipped my shoe; or the people who designed, built, and maintain the roads, paths, trails, etc that I walk on). There are other cafes and parks that I walk to.</p>
<p>It feels freeing to go where I want, when I want, regardless of where everybody else is going. I can even go, simply is whatever direction pleases me, without worrying about exactly where. Or I can go to a place without knowing the route, content that I know I am heading the right direction. I can go at my own pace, at ground level.</p>
<p>It is hard, in a car, to stop to admire the interesting things, the shape of a rock, a pretty flower, the color of the light against a building, the sound of trees rustling in the wind, the chirping and singing of birds. Cars are boxed in. Traffic is alternately halting and urgent. Walking gives you a chance to actually observe the patch of world around you.</p>
<p>Walking is not only a way to get <a class="h-cite" href="https://shellsharks.com/outside">outside</a>
, it’s <em>free</em>!</p>
<p>Walking has all manner of health benefits, I am told. I admit that is not a major reason I walk. It is certainly good for thinking. I have come up with quite a few ideas while walking.</p>
<p>I think I am going to go for a walk now. Feel free to join me.</p>
<h2 id="context">Context</h2>
<p>This post was written as a response to this month’s <a class="h-cite" href="https://indieweb.org/IndieWeb_Carnival">Indie Web Carnival</a>
, with the theme <a class="h-cite" href="https://hamatti.org/posts/indieweb-carnival-write-a-love-letter/">“Love letter”</a>
</p>
<h2 id="ps">P.S.</h2>
<p>Here are some of the other things I considered writing a love letter to for this post:</p>
<ul>
<li>Love letters</li>
<li>Mail</li>
<li>Libraries</li>
<li>Blogging</li>
<li>Trees</li>
<li>eBay</li>
</ul>
<a href="mailto:axxuy@axxuy.com?subject=i-love-walking">Reply by email</a>Tab Cleaning: May 2026 Editionaxxuyaxxuy@axxuy.com2026-05-18T00:00:00Z2026-05-18T00:00:00Zhttps://axxuy.com/blog/2026/tab-cleaning-may-edition/<p>First up is a pair: <a class="h-cite" href="https://tracydurnell.com/2026/04/27/nostalgic-for-past-futures/">Nostalgic for past futures</a>
by Tracy Durnell and <a class="h-cite" href="https://brainbaking.com/post/2026/04/nostalgia-always-includes-a-temporal-context/">Nostalgia Always Includes a Temporal Context</a>
by Brain Baking. Both posts, as the titles suggest, are about nostalgia.</p>
<p>In <a class="h-cite" href="https://taonaw.com/2026/05/14/its-pie-day-for-me.html">It’s Pie day for me</a>
JTR shares a picture of some delicious looking pizza. I’m a very big fan of pizza.</p>
<p>Two more from Tracy Durnell: <a class="h-cite" href="https://tracydurnell.com/2026/05/14/bookshelves-as-mental-constructs/">Bookshelves as mental constructs</a>
with some philosophizing on bookshelves. And a recipe for <a class="h-cite" href="https://tracydurnell.com/recipes/chickpeas-and-pasta-with-rosemary-oil/">Chickpeas and pasta with rosemary oil</a>
—sounds yummy!</p>
<p>Aaron Hertzmann wrote an essay about dogs and the way dogs think: <a class="h-cite" href="https://aaronhertzmann.com/2026/05/15/dog-knowledge.html">Dogs Do Not Know Things</a>
. In short, dogs <em>do not</em> think like we do, and trying to treat them like they do will not have good results for anybody involved. Also, with respect to training, intentional or otherwise, humans are not actually so different.</p>
<p>I have a couple of tabs with a classic topic: bloggers talking about why blogging is great. They are right; blogging <em>is</em> great. Marc Jenkins has a post about <a class="h-cite" href="https://marcjenkins.co.uk/personal-blogging/">Personal Blogging</a>
—blogging as a better way to express yourself and connect with people on the internet than social media platforms. Meanwhile, Gordon McClean has written <a class="h-cite" href="https://www.gordonmclean.co.uk/2026/04/28/the-bloggers-manifesto/">The Blogger’s Manifesto</a>
with advice and ideals born of years of blogging.</p>
<p>There’s another post from Brain Baking looking back at <a class="h-cite" href="https://brainbaking.com/post/2026/05/april-2026/">April 2026</a>
with lots of interesting links that have really set this clean-up project back T_T.</p>
<p>Blast-o-rama has an exhortation: <a class="h-cite" href="https://blast-o-rama.com/2026/05/13/dear-internet-read-a-little-deeper-it-wont-hurt-you-i-promise/">Dear Internet: Read A Little Deeper, It Won’t Hurt You, I Promise</a>
. This should be basic stuff. Think about the claims that are being made in articles. Think about the sources.</p>
<hr>
<p>Well that was nice to clear out some of the blog posts I’ve had open. They accumulate. I open links in new tabs thinking I will read them later. But “later” doesn’t happen unless you make a deliberate effort to make it happen. It turns out, a lot of those links are actually pretty good. There were some interesting posts, and I’ve added a couple new blogs to my feed reader.</p>
<p>Now, at the end of this effort… I still have way too many tabs open. Oh well. I’ll just keep chipping away at it.</p>
<a href="mailto:axxuy@axxuy.com?subject=tab-cleaning-may-2026-edition">Reply by email</a>The Tool For the Jobaxxuyaxxuy@axxuy.com2026-05-14T00:00:00Z2026-05-14T00:00:00Zhttps://axxuy.com/blog/2026/the-tool-for-the-job/<p>I have noticed an interesting phenomenon with LLMs. There is something I have never quite understood.</p>
<p>From what I have gathered from people talking about LLMs in comments, and blog posts, and chat rooms, and Youtube videos, etc. One of the most common uses for them is looking up information. And I don’t get it.</p>
<p>I do try to avoid using LLMs where I can, but this particular case is not aversion or resistance for me. It is categorization. I simply that I don’t associate them with finding information. When I want to look something up, I go to <a class="h-cite" href="https://www.wikipedia.org/">Wikipedia</a>
, or <a class="h-cite" href="https://youtube.com/">Youtube</a>
. I go to a search engine and look for blogs and forums.</p>
<p>LLMs aren’t even in the list of things that I think about for learning. I am a little mystified by how they got onto that list for so many other people. There are many tools for this task already. Those tools can certainly be improved on—who has anything good to say about search engines in 2026? But for me, LLMs do not seem tool-shaped.</p>
<p>I suspect this may be a bigger divide between me and LLM users than even moral or economic considerations.</p>
<p>What tools do you use to find information, to learn? What makes something look and feel like a tool for that?</p>
<p>Wikipedia is, of course, patterened after encyclopedias, the default reference tools of the print era. Youtube videos vary, but often register either as lectures like you might find in schools, or practical demonstrations. Blog posts are (we always hope) experienced people sharing the lessons they have learned, as if we were listening to a mentor or colleague.</p>
<p>Moreover, when I am looking something up with one of those resources, I am usually looking for something specific. In that directed, information-hunting mindset, a conversation or chat is simply the wrong format.</p>
<p>Learning can and does happen in conversation—but it is reactive. It begins when a particular person makes a statement, either written or spoken. And perhaps you would like them to clarify a point you did not fully understand. You would like them to elaborate on an idea you found interesting. You would like to challenge them on something you disagree with. And in this way the conversation starts and may proceed to new information. But this does not map onto LLM conversations. The bot has nothing more to say than you do.</p>
<p>And for my part, I rarely have anything to say to actual people. Going to a website to talk at a bot in hopes of something productive is extremely artificial and unlikely.</p>
<p>In conclusion, yes, I am still using search engines to find things. That is what they are for. Or are supposed to be for. Tools for finding information and knowledge and experience.</p>
<a href="mailto:axxuy@axxuy.com?subject=the-tool-for-the-job">Reply by email</a>Re: Who Knows That You Blog?axxuyaxxuy@axxuy.com2026-05-05T00:00:00Z2026-05-05T00:00:00Zhttps://axxuy.com/blog/2026/re-who-knows-that-you-blog/<h2 id="who-knows-that-you-blog">Who Knows That You Blog?</h2>
<p>First, this is a response to David’s post: <a class="h-cite" href="https://forkingmad.blog/who-knows-that-you-blog/">Who knows that you blog?</a>
. It is also a response to the <a class="h-cite" href="https://hamatti.org/posts/i-tell-about-my-blog-to-anyone-willing-to-listen/">other</a>
<a class="h-cite" href="https://kevquirk.com/who-knows-that-you-blog">people’s</a>
<a class="h-cite" href="https://kaigulliksen.com/re-who-knows-that-you-blog/">responses</a>
that I have seen in my RSS feeds.</p>
<p>For the most part, no one I know in real life knows this blog. My partner knows <em>that</em> I blog, but I have not showed it to them. I—like many other people, it seems—feel a sense of separation between real life and internet life that I am hesitant to violate. Also, the name I blog under here is the same one I write fanfiction under, so I feel a little shy about that. Beyond that I am not embarassed about what I write here—even if some things are hastily and uncarefully written. I am sure I’ll share this sooner or later.</p>
<p>But all in all, nobody I know in real life knows both that I blog and where my blog is. At least for right now.</p>
<h2 id="who-knows-you-from-your-blog">Who Knows You From Your Blog?</h2>
<p>Now here’s where it gets interesting. I have actually been in the reverse scenario. Once, I met at a convention, <a class="h-cite" href="https://crystalwobsite.gay">someone</a>
who read my blog, but that I did not know in real life. I’ll wager that is a great deal less common. The same separation applies, however. They remarked to me that they read my blog, but did not have much of a sense of who I was. I did not have a good answer.</p>
<h2 id="do-you-want-to-be-known">Do You Want To Be Known?</h2>
<p>I certainly do prefer to omit personal details. I hope, or think, or expect, that people will simply read between the lines to get an idea of me. I guess I have done a good job of that. In part, I am old enough to have been taught not to give out personal information on the internet. But mostly, I am just very shy. Somewhere in the queue of blog post ideas is one about not posting more pictures—because they are a trace of where I have been and where I am.</p>
<p>Is it even worth the worrying? What I am most concerned about is not any particular reader, but the vast constant sweeps of surveillance that patrol the internet—and those already know who I am.</p>
<a href="mailto:axxuy@axxuy.com?subject=re-who-knows-that-you-blog">Reply by email</a>It's Not Just Slop—It's Bad Writingaxxuyaxxuy@axxuy.com2026-05-04T00:00:00Z2026-05-04T00:00:00Zhttps://axxuy.com/blog/2026/its-not-just-slop-its-bad-writing/<p>There was an article I saw floating around recently. It was about an experiment: <a class="h-cite" href="https://arman-bd.hashnode.dev/i-left-port-22-open-on-the-internet-for-54-days-here-s-who-showed-up">setting up a computer with a fake login and leaving it open to the internet</a>
. It quickly became apparent as I read it, that it was written by an LLM.</p>
<p>The other day, I started watching a video by a youtuber I have enjoyed in the past. The script of the video was very obviously LLM-written. I didn’t finish the video.</p>
<p>It was undeniable. The “it’s not just X—it’s Y"s. The triplets of short sentences with an implicit verb. The “Question? Answer.” introductions to paragraphs. All repeated relentlessly until there was no chance of it being a quirk of individual style.</p>
<p>It all bothered me. But it took a moment for me to realize exactly why. Eventually I came to the conclusion that both of these things were actively made worse <em>because they were written by LLMs</em>. Why?</p>
<ul>
<li>Not because I doubt the accuracy of the information</li>
<li>Not because of the ethical issues with LLM training</li>
<li>Not because of the resource usage in data centers</li>
</ul>
<p>It isn’t that these aren’t valid criticisms—they just aren’t the point I am trying to make. And besides, plenty of blog posts have been written on them already.</p>
<p>My problem is that the content I was dealing with was obviously made by LLMs. Why is this so bad?
Simply because it made me think about AI. I was thinking about AI—and <em>not</em> the information in front of me. It was pure distraction.</p>
<p>Yes, LLMs can be instructed to avoid this stereotypical style. I have probably read things generated that way without ever realizing it. I know I will in the future. I don’t even mind that.</p>
<p>There are very few hard and fast rules for writing. But if there is one, it is <em>keep your audience’s attention</em>. If some element of either content or style distracts from the point of the work, remove it. If you have any respect for your audience: stay on topic. If you care at all about what you are trying to communicate: don’t add noise to the message.</p>
<a href="mailto:axxuy@axxuy.com?subject=its-not-just-slopits-bad-writing">Reply by email</a>Emailing about Blogging and Blogging About Emailingaxxuyaxxuy@axxuy.com2026-04-30T00:00:00Z2026-04-30T00:00:00Zhttps://axxuy.com/blog/2026/emailing-about-blogging-and-blogging-about-emailing/<h2 id="reach-out-to-your-fellow-bloggers">Reach Out to Your Fellow Bloggers</h2>
<p>A few days ago, I read a post about email: <a class="h-cite" href="https://taonaw.com/2026/04/22/about-writing-other-bloggers-email.html">About Writing Other Bloggers Email</a>
. It’s a reflection on the joy of emailing other bloggers. Not so much as a way of <a class="h-cite" href="https://axxuy.com/blog/2025/shootmeanemail/">commenting on their posts</a>
(though not excluding that), but as a way of connecting with the people behind those posts.</p>
<p>Shortly after that, on <a class="h-cite" href="https://bubbles.town">Bubbles</a>
, I read a reply to that: <a class="h-cite" href="https://kaigulliksen.com/re-about-writing-other-bloggers-email/">Re: About Writing Other Bloggers Email</a>
. It’s a short note that I found very relatable. The author, like me, thinks about emailing other bloggers, would like to make a habit of it, but so far has not followed through much. I know the feeling.</p>
<p>I have sent both of these people a message, so that’s a start. One of the things that keeps me from doing it more is overthinking what to say. In the end, I kept it to a simple “hey, I saw your post and I like your blog.” Every now and then I get an email to that effect, and it always is a pleasure. It is unfortunately satisfying, in 2026, simply to recieve an email from an actual human being.</p>
<h2 id="email-is-a-social-network">Email Is A Social Network</h2>
<p>There is a way to take this even further. A few <em>weeks</em> ago I read an interesting post about a certain “workflow”—blogflow is perhaps a better word?—for the smolweb. <a class="h-cite" href="https://ploum.net/2026-03-20-social-smolnet.html">The Social Smolnet</a>
. The post talks about some specific software, namely <a class="h-cite" href="https://offpunk.net/">offpunk</a>
. I have not used it, but it seems to be a browser designed specifically for the small/indie web.</p>
<p>The specific software is not the interesting part. To me, the interesting part is the philosophy I see in this post. It makes the case for a social network composed entirely of blogs and email. What if you looked at your RSS feeds not just as a list of interesting people to listen to, but as a contact book, a list of interesting people to <em>talk to</em>?</p>
<p>I love that idea. And I think it gets to the heart of things. We aren’t writing all these posts about email because email is so great in and of itself. We are writing about it because email is a tool for connecting.</p>
<h2 id="conclusion">Conclusion</h2>
<p>Email is nice. So I’m going to end this post with two things. One is a pledge to send more emails to the people who’s posts I read. And two is a bit of shamelessness: I would love to get more emails from all of you. My inbox is open.</p>
<a href="mailto:axxuy@axxuy.com?subject=emailing-about-blogging-and-blogging-about-emailing">Reply by email</a>I Also Got An Xteink X4axxuyaxxuy@axxuy.com2026-04-23T00:00:00Z2026-04-23T00:00:00Zhttps://axxuy.com/blog/2026/i-also-got-an-xteink-x4/<p>Have you heard about it? The hot new device? I have recently seen a flurry of discussion about a new gadget: the Xteink X4. This is only a sampling of the blog posts about it:</p>
<ul>
<li><a class="h-cite" href="https://joelchrono.xyz/blog/early-days-with-xteink-x4/">Early Days With Xteink X4 - Joel Chrono</a>
</li>
<li><a class="h-cite" href="https://moddedbear.com/i-love-reading-on-the-xteink-x4/">I Love Reading on the Xteink X4 - JP</a>
</li>
<li><a class="h-cite" href="https://www-gem.codeberg.page/sys_x4/">Barebones e-reader: Xteink X4 - www-gem</a>
</li>
<li><a class="h-cite" href="https://bit-101.com/blog/posts/2026-04-08/xteink-x4/">XT Eink X4 - Bit-101</a>
</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="what-is-it">What is it?</h2>
<p>It is an ereader. The big deal is that it is small and relatively cheap. It’s about A6 sized and retails for $69 USD. It’s got a magnet so you can stick it to the back of your phone and take it everywhere.</p>
<p>There is open source <a class="h-cite" href="https://github.com/crosspoint-reader/crosspoint-reader">firmware</a>
you can install to enhance it’s features.</p>
<h2 id="why-did-i-get-one">Why did I get one?</h2>
<p>At first, I looked at all this discussion, and I thought “I don’t need one.” I didn’t feel like buying <a class="h-cite" href="https://axxuy.com/blog/2024/primitivepics/">yet another gadget</a>
. It’s neat sure, but I already have an Amazon Kindle. I don’t love Amazon, but I have it and it still works. I like to ask “what can I do with this that I can’t with the old one?” when I am thinking about buying something like this. At the end of the day, it is a toy. $69 is a lot of money to spend on a toy.</p>
<p>And then I realized exactly what I would use it for. Sometimes I have downtime at work. I often wish I had a book with me during these moments. A book—or even my kindle—are a little too inconvenient, and, well, conspicuous, to pack. I have my phone, but that is obviously quite distracting.</p>
<p>So, with that specific use case in mind (and of course I will read it in other places too), I ordered one for myself. It is really nice. People are raving about it for a reason. It is a supremely convenient way to read—at work, on the bus, in waiting rooms, etc. I have a book everywhere I go now, and it’s not connected to the internet. How wonderful.</p>
<p>The build quality is okay. You can only expect so much at this price point. I’ve already had one button crack, and that does not give me very much confidence in the longevity. We shall see.</p>
<p>Overall, I can recommend it. It’s pretty cool.</p>
<a href="mailto:axxuy@axxuy.com?subject=i-also-got-an-xteink-x4">Reply by email</a>Back In Spaceaxxuyaxxuy@axxuy.com2026-04-16T00:00:00Z2026-04-16T00:00:00Zhttps://axxuy.com/blog/2026/back-in-space/<p>Once upon a time, when I first started this blog, it was not on the regular internet. The indieweb is a niche, and I was in a niche of a niche.</p>
<p>This blog began as a <a class="h-cite" href="https://geminiprotocol.net/docs/">gemini</a>
capsule. Briefly, gemini is an alternative to the http(s) system that most of the internet runs on. The result is a “secret” web that you need a special browser to use. Now what’s the point of that? Gemini is specfically designed for small/indie web purposes. It simply does not support the things that make the standart web complex: there is no scripting, there isn’t even any way to control appearance. It’s just text and links.</p>
<p>As the setup I use to build my site changed, it eventually moved over to the “big” web and the gemini side was left behind. I have wanted to get it back up and running for a while now. There’s some nice people over there.</p>
<p>It was mostly a matter of dragging my feet. The simplicity of gemini means that “converting” things is a simply affair—with the exception of links. So now I’ve got a little program I wrote acting as a second static site generator on top of my main one. It was quite satisfying to build it myself—there are no off the self programs for this kind of thing.</p>
<p>It’s good to finally be back.</p>
<hr>
<p>Also the recent <a class="h-cite" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemis_II">Artemis</a>
mission was really cool. Actual space is great too.</p>
<a href="mailto:axxuy@axxuy.com?subject=back-in-space">Reply by email</a>I Don't Blog Every Dayaxxuyaxxuy@axxuy.com2026-04-15T00:00:00Z2026-04-15T00:00:00Zhttps://axxuy.com/blog/2026/daily-blogging/<p>A while ago—I don’t remember exactly when or how—I came across a pair of posts: <a class="h-cite" href="https://mtwb.blog/posts/2026/blogging/going-back-to-daily-bloggin/">Going Back To Daily Blogging</a>
and <a class="h-cite" href="https://brennan.day/my-blogging-workflow-a-routine-for-nearly-a-post-a-day-for-4-months-straight/">My Blogging Workflow: A routine for nearly a post a day for 4 months straight.</a>
. Both of them touch on writing and blogging habits.</p>
<p>I do not write a blog post every day. I don’t try to. I’ve done it for brief stretches, during <a class="h-cite" href="https://tagn.wordpress.com/2025/07/29/blaugust-2025-is-nearly-here/">Blaugust</a>
. It quickly felt like a chore. It felt exhausting.</p>
<p>For that matter, it’s a good day when I even get a Mastodon post out. Though that may be a little different. Posting on social media has never come naturally to me; I have little to no impulse to express myself that way.</p>
<p>I do have one daily writing habit. I’ve been Journalling every evening for quite a while now, almost <a class="h-cite" href="https://axxuy.com/blog/2025/journal/">four years</a>
. I have a physical notebook where I write about my day.</p>
<p>There is a more aspirational bout of morning writing that I do. It doesn’t happen every day and it’s not quite the 750 words that Brennan talks about, but it’s something similar. Again, this is in a dedicated physical notebook (while the evening journaling is done with a fancy fountain pen (varying) in a fancy notebook (Leuchtturm), this is a cheap composition book. It consists of a simple brain dump. I stream-of-conciousness onto the page until I reach the bottom. There are rarely any “useful” ideas in there. That’s okay. The point isn’t to get anything useful. It’s not even a rough draft. The point, for me, is really just to prove to myself that I do have things to say, if only I let my filters down. I often feel like that is something I need to prove.</p>
<p>I don’t have much in the way of an explicit “process” for writing my blog posts. I just “have an idea” sometimes and then I write a little about it. Often the starting point is simply a vague feeling that I want to blog about <em>something</em>. I don’t do drafts or revision. Sometimes I don’t even remember to fix all the misspelled words. This is a rough blog. It took me a long time to decide on a title for all this. I think the one I have now “Axxuy’s Internet Notebook” captures the spirit well.</p>
<p>What are your writing habits like?</p>
<a href="mailto:axxuy@axxuy.com?subject=i-dont-blog-every-day">Reply by email</a>Do You Have the Time?axxuyaxxuy@axxuy.com2026-04-02T00:00:00Z2026-04-02T00:00:00Zhttps://axxuy.com/blog/2026/do-you-have-the-time/<p>Today’s post is in the old-man-yells-at-cloud genre. It’s a sequel of sorts to a much older post of mine, in which I complained about the difficulty of <a class="h-cite" href="https://axxuy.com/blog/2024/shoes/">buying shoes</a>
.</p>
<p>I want a timer for Pomodoro type tasks. My phone has a timer, of course, and my watch, and my computer can do it. But I don’t want those.</p>
<p>I want a physical, analog timer that can sit on my desk in front of me. I have another requirement, and this is where all the trouble has been. I want to buy it in person, at a physical store.</p>
<p>I went to the local $megastore and to the kitchen section—nothing. I didn’t even see a digital timer. I went to a kitchen supply store, and they did not have one either.</p>
<p>I am not trying to buy anything obscure or specific. Just a kitchen timer. This is somehow difficult. I still don’t have one.</p>
<p>Obviously, I could just go on Amazon and have a plethora of choices. But I wanted to avoid that at the start, and at this point it’s a matter of principle.</p>
<p>My complaint is not really that I can’t find this timer. It is about the black hole of commerce that Amazon has become, pulling everything in, closing off even the option to get things elsewhere.</p>
<a href="mailto:axxuy@axxuy.com?subject=do-you-have-the-time">Reply by email</a>March Tinkeringaxxuyaxxuy@axxuy.com2026-03-30T00:00:00Z2026-03-30T00:00:00Zhttps://axxuy.com/blog/2026/march-tinkering/<blockquote>
<p>Remember to update your RSS feed for this site to axxuy.com!</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I’ve been doing some work on my little site here. I thought I’d talk about it a little.</p>
<h2 id="humanjson">human.json</h2>
<p>In my part of the web, <a class="h-cite" href="https://codeberg.org/robida/human.json">human.json</a>
is a project that has been getting a lot of attention lately. It is an attempt to make a more human web by building networks of websites that trust each other.</p>
<p>I’m a human so I wanted in.</p>
<p>Now, json is not the kind of file I want to maintain by hand. So I wrote some code to generate it from a simpler format.</p>
<p>First I looked into using <a class="h-cite" href="https://gohugo.io">Hugo’s</a>
templating systems to do it, but I couldn’t quite figure it out from the documentation—at least, not before I got impatient enough to just <a class="h-cite" href="https://codeberg.org/axxuy/humans-generator">do it myself</a>
.</p>
<p>A few days later, however, I came across a blog post detailing exactly <a class="h-cite" href="https://foosel.net/til/how-to-automatically-build-a-humanjson-file-in-hugo/">how to automatically build a human.json file in Hugo</a>
. So I switched over to that.</p>
<p>Thank you foosel!</p>
<h2 id="shiny-new-toy">Shiny new toy</h2>
<p>That blog was very satisfying, not only because it solved the original problem I wanted to, but because the techniques in it were also useful for <em>other</em> things I want to do.</p>
<p>There are two bits and pieces that I’ve overhailed so far: my 88x31 buttons, and my webrings. It won’t look any different to anyone reading this, but it’s a little easier for me to manage.</p>
<p>Do you have some cool 88x31 buttons? Do you know somebody who does? I’d love to <del>steal</del> add some more to my site, so please feel free to tell me about them.</p>
<p>I also joined a new webring. It’s dedicated to <a class="h-cite" href="https://starry-knight.neocities.org/webring/verdant-webring">websites that are green</a>
, and I thought that was cool.</p>
<h2 id="maybe-some-other-things">Maybe some other things</h2>
<p>This website will never really be <a class="h-cite" href="https://axxuy.com/blog/2025/unfinished/">finished</a>
. So the question is what to do next.</p>
<p><a class="h-cite" href="https://joelchrono.xyz/blog/website-changes-new-section-music-widget-and-upvotes/">Joel</a>
had a nice idea recently of adding an “On this week” section of links. It’s similar to the “On this day” feature I have, but with a slightly broader scope so that more posts actually have some links. I’m tempted to switch over to that approach.</p>
<p>And then, of course, there is the constant whispering temptation to rebuild this site entirely from scratch. There’s nothing wrong with the current system that is driving me toward that, I just want to do it for the satisfaction of making it myself.</p>
<p>That’s all I have for now. Auf wiederposten!</p>
<a href="mailto:axxuy@axxuy.com?subject=march-tinkering">Reply by email</a>Spring Cleaningaxxuyaxxuy@axxuy.com2026-03-14T00:00:00Z2026-03-14T00:00:00Zhttps://axxuy.com/blog/2026/spring-cleaning/<h2 id="a-new-coat-of-paint">A New Coat of Paint</h2>
<p>I felt like it was time to do a little cleaning up around my blog.</p>
<p>I’ve spruced up my background and made some tweaks to the CSS. Things should hopefully be a little bit neater.</p>
<p>That’s well and good, but if that were everything I would not be making this post. It’s only some changes, not a full redesign. And that brings me to the next section.</p>
<h2 id="causing-problems-on-purpose">Causing Problems on Purpose</h2>
<p>I have also made some more disruptive changes.</p>
<p>The big one is that I am changing my domain name. Goodbye <code>axxuy.xyz</code>, hello <a class="h-cite" href="https://axxuy.com/">axxuy.com</a>
!</p>
<p>There are a couple of reasons for this:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>price increases
When I originally bought my domain .xyz websites were extremely cheap. But over the years, the price has gradually risen, until now they are comparable to plain old .coms.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>reputation
As a result of those former low prices, .xyz domains have acquired a bad reputation around a lot if the internet. To be clear, I am not worrying about what the <em>people</em> who come across my website will think. I am worried about the systems that my website has to take part in to get to people, e.g. getting caught in spam filters.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>annoying to type
This last point is rather petty, but I just find “xyz” slightly annoying to type. The y is so far away from the other letters, and you don’t get a clean roll of the fingers.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>There’s more. What I was already breaking links, I figured I would do some reorganizing. I also simplified the folders a little.</p>
<p>If you do these things, it really is better to do them all at once.</p>
<p>I’ve been thinking about doing all this for a while, and second guessing myself for as long. I think there’s a certain point where you have to put your doubts aside and just do the thing, even if you aren’t sure about it. Though rest assured, it’s enough of a pain that I’m not going to switching around on a whim again.</p>
<h2 id="other-new-stuff">Other New Stuff</h2>
<p>As I was working on all of this, I heard about something new: the <a class="h-cite" href="https://codeberg.org/robida/human.json">human.json</a>
protocol, which provides a simple way for websites to indicate who they trust to be a real human—and who trusts them. I’m a human, and I like human websites, so I’ve added my own <a class="h-cite" href="https://axxuy.com/.well-known/human.json">human.json</a>
.</p>
<p>I also threw together a small tool to generate it for me. You can find it on <a class="h-cite" href="https://codeberg.org/axxuy/humans-generator">Codeberg</a>
. I hope somebody finds it useful.</p>
<h2 id="conclusion">Conclusion</h2>
<p>That’s all for now, folks. Thanks for bearing with me as I go around stirring things up.</p>
<p><a class="h-cite" href="https://axxuy.xyz/blog/">axxuy.xyz</a>
will stay up for at least another year or two, and redirect here. Make sure to update your RSS feeds!</p>
<a href="mailto:axxuy@axxuy.com?subject=spring-cleaning">Reply by email</a>Mailcallaxxuyaxxuy@axxuy.com2026-03-04T00:00:00Z2026-03-04T00:00:00Zhttps://axxuy.xyz/blog/posts/2026/mailcall/<p>I will begin this post by doxxing myself a little. I grew up in the transition period of internet communication. When I found out about email it was new enough that the idea of sending a message that arrives instantly was novel and cool. But I was also too young to have actually sent regular mail at that point.</p>
<p>I send more mail now. It’s great! I highly recommend it.</p>
<p>Yes, I am talking about physical mail. Email is cool too, if it is sent with real intent to communicate. But there are enough blog posts on that topic.</p>
<p>I have a certain friend who I met over Discord. At some point I started sending Christmas cards, and later just random letters. It’s fun, and it’s a deeper connection than I think you can get from just chatting. A letter is longer form than a Discord (or IRC or Signal or any other chat app) comment. It’s an artifact, something you can hold in your hands. I do not think our friendship would be nearly as strong at this point if we did not have our letters.</p>
<p>Even if you have other channels of communication with somebody (no matter what your relationship is), physical mail is unique, irreplicable. You read it when you get it—you reread it—you reread it again—you hold it in your hand.</p>
<p>I almost wish I was reckless enough to post my address on here for all of you, dear readers, to send me mail.</p>
<p>There are websites where you can sign up to exchange mail. <a class="h-cite" href="https://www.postcrossing.com/">Postcrossing</a>
is one—postcards are still a thing! There are also many smaller, more specialized exchanges for various groups and communities scattered around the internet. Those are harder to link to.</p>
<p>I prefer the more specific ways of sending mail: to people I already know, or at least share an interest with. I was on Postcrossing for a short while. but for me, the fun of trading mail with completely random people wore off quickly. I need to preexisting connection to really write something.</p>
<p>Send mail! It’s not only fun (it’s very fun), it’s also a genuinely nice way of staying in touch with people you care about.</p>
<a href="mailto:axxuy@axxuy.com?subject=mailcall">Reply by email</a>RE: What Is The Oldest Thing You Own?axxuyaxxuy@axxuy.com2026-02-26T00:00:00Z2026-02-26T00:00:00Zhttps://axxuy.xyz/blog/posts/2026/what-is-the-oldest-thing-you-own/
<blockquote>Replying to: <a href="https://thomasrigby.com/posts/what-is-the-oldest-thing-you-own/" class="u-in-reply-to">What is the oldest thing you own?</a></blockquote>
<p>I saw this post as I was catching up on my feed and I thought I’d chime in. I am tempted to get all snarky and start by poking at what “oldest,” “thing,” and “own” mean. There proably is a good essay to be written on that theme, but in the interest of getting this post out the door, I will bite my tongue. For the same reason, I am also not going to take this to literally; i.e. I am not going to catalog everything I have to find the strictly oldest item.</p>
<p>It’s a <a class="h-cite" href="https://axxuy.com/blog/2025/typewritersarecool/">typewriter</a>
:</p>
<p><img src="https://axxuy.com/images/25/blaugust_03.jpg" alt=""></p>
<p>This dates to the late 1940s. So, while it is older than me, it is not <em>old</em> in the grand scheme of things. It’s existence thus far fits in a single human lifetime.</p>
<p>What I admire about it is that it still works—it still lives. It needed a little cleaning when I took it home from the antique shop I got it from, but nothing much. And now it works just as well as when it was new. I did not write this post on it, but I could have (I have, alas, too many writing instruments to give them all as much use as I would like). With some good care, it will outlast me.</p>
<p>That’s satisfying. It’s solid in a way that you don’t see very often in modern appliances.</p>
<a href="mailto:axxuy@axxuy.com?subject=re-what-is-the-oldest-thing-you-own">Reply by email</a>How Much Does A Blog Cost: 2026 Editionaxxuyaxxuy@axxuy.com2026-02-19T00:00:00Z2026-02-19T00:00:00Zhttps://axxuy.xyz/blog/posts/2026/how-much-does-your-blog-cost/
<blockquote>Replying to: <a href="https://www.containsmoderateperil.com/blog/2026/2/17/the-cost-of-blogging-in-2026" class="u-in-reply-to">The Cost of Blogging in 2026</a></blockquote>
<p>Roger Edwards over at <a class="h-cite" href="https://www.containsmoderateperil.com/">Contains Moderate Peril</a>
recently shared a post on the costs of maintaining his blog.</p>
<p>I thought I’d share my own costs. This is partly so that anyone reading this can compare the different options, and partly so that a future me can compare across time. Prices will go up, I am sure. The question is what parts of the price, and how quickly.</p>
<p>There are two bills I pay for this site: one for the domain name, and one for the server to host it. All prices are in USD.</p>
<ul>
<li>Domain (via <a class="h-cite" href="https://namecheap.com">namecheap</a>
): $19.68/year ($1.64/month)</li>
<li>Hosting (via <a class="h-cite" href="https://www.linode.com/">Linode</a>
): $60/year ($5/month)</li>
</ul>
<p>So the total cost of running this blog as of 2026 is $86.04 per year, or about $7 a month. That’s not too bad. It’s a reminder, however, that running the web isn’t free. <a class="h-cite" href="https://axxuy.com/blog/2025/tension/">That matters.</a>
It remains the case that this site isn’t worth much bother to monetize, but that is not universal.</p>
<p>Part of what helps keep the costs this low compared to e.g. a Wordpress site is that I have set the server and all it’s software up myself. And that requires a certain amount of effort and specialized skills.</p>
<p>I’m comfortable. As hobbies go it’s cheap. I can think of any number of things that I pay more for that don’t give me nearly as much satisfaction.</p>
<a href="mailto:axxuy@axxuy.com?subject=how-much-does-a-blog-cost-2026-edition">Reply by email</a>Popcorn: Or, The Internet Is Still Good Sometimesaxxuyaxxuy@axxuy.com2026-02-08T00:00:00Z2026-02-08T00:00:00Zhttps://axxuy.xyz/blog/posts/2026/popcorn/<p>The internet still has it’s moments.</p>
<p>I’ve been eating a lot of popcorn lately. “Getting into popcorn” you might say. And so I turn to the internet for recipes and advice and discussion, etc.</p>
<p>It’s not quite as charming as a <a class="h-cite" href="https://axxuy.com/blog/2025/imissforums/">dedicated forum</a>
, but in our modern internet it will have to do. Oh how sad it makes me that “popcorn.com” doesn’t even exist. The domain is taken, but goes nowhere. This is the curse of our times.</p>
<p>There is a <a class="h-cite" href="https://old.reddit.com/r/popcorn">popcorn subreddit</a>
to no surprise. And there I found out about <a class="h-cite" href="https://amishcountrypopcorn.com/">Amish Country</a>
, a specialty popcorn seller. I ordered some, and they are indeed good. They are better than the popcorn I get at my local grocery store.</p>
<p>I like these parts of the internet, full of enthusiasm incredibly specific topics.</p>
<p>I’m going to have some popcorn now. Happy snacking!</p>
<a href="mailto:axxuy@axxuy.com?subject=popcorn-or-the-internet-is-still-good-sometimes">Reply by email</a>