Gemini* and Gopher

• Personal/Opinions

  • "Eat That Frog" book notes

    These are my personal book notes from Brian Tracy's "Eat That Frog!" They are for myself, but I hope they might be useful to you too.

    [...]

    There's never enough time to complete all tasks; it’s a never-ending river of responsibilities. Focus on what matters most instead. There is never enough time to finish everything, but there's always time to finish the most important things. Focus on one single, most important task until it's finished. Single-tasking is the most important practice in life. The key to success is action. You will always be behind on some tasks. The key is to be selective.

  • news

    you think the news
    will be devastating 
    yet all I feel is calm
    didn't expect that
    did you?
    

  • music - updated july 28

    it seems i've been extremely lucky to only know them as a goth band! from back in the day i remembered only "europe is our playground" and this 2025 album sounds like it's straight from the 90s. "impressively consistent sound," i'd say, if not for every review and write-up highlighting their status as brit-pop staples and their winding genre-journey. but i'm happy to have randomly found this in particular just as i was in a gothy mood for british vocalists and reverby guitars (i guess it's still the effect of watching the cure perform at werchter). already listened to it twice, will listen again!

  • I have no personality and I must express

    Today I bought two shirts. It's not easy (yet not too hard) finding a black shirt that fits me nicely. I've been looking for more of these because they are a part of my dressing style. I've always liked to dress nicely, and recently I've come to develop a style that I like and that I think reflects something of who I am (and also that goes well with my body type.) I've also been working on decorating some of my clothes. I've been decorating a hat that I recently got back from my mother's house. I am going to add a red pan-chang knot in addition to the spiky studs that I already put into it. I figure it's going to be quite eye-catching. I think it already is. I'm not the kind of guy who likes to draw attention to himself, but on the other hand I do like that self-expression and I dislike looking like the rest. I always strive to have that distinguishing feature that sets me apart. During the winter I wear a wizard hat that I crocheted myself, last year I painted my right-hand nails in neon colors (this in the context of a rural area where it's unseen for men to paint their nails). My partner devised for me a super cool haircut which I wear proudly (she herself has painted her hair neon pink, by the way).

  • On thoughtful consumerism

    For a while now, I've been thinking about getting a new work bag. My current daily driver is of a canvas attaché-style, with metal hardware, and one chunky zipper that has stood the test of time.

    I've had this bag since I graduated college in the mid 2000's. I received it as a graduation gift and have used it almost daily for 20 years, before I transitioned to becoming a mostly remote worker. I have a sentimental attachment to this bag, love the look of the worn-in canvas, and plan to use it until it completely gives out. That day may be coming soon: fraying and holes are starting to develop throughout, and its days of stalwart and reliable performance are clearly numbered.

• Technology and Free Software

  • Mutt Terminal Email Guide

    Mutt is a powerful text-based email client for the terminal. It's fast, efficient, and highly configurable.

  • BASICODE

    I mentioned this in passing before, and recently studied it in a little more depth. To set expectations, I don't think it's a good choice for professional programmers but I was interested if the programming activity could be somewhat democratized, like I remember from domain experts writing BASIC for 1980s home computers and, after that, Excel macros.

    Within these constraints, I think it is a good attempt at the "Write Once, Run Anywhere" aim. A reasonable summary of the standard is a short document in a github repo. The author also has a Python BASIC interpreter that can run full BASICODE.

• Programming

  • A showcase of open source RPG projects which use git

    This minimalistic git server has all the open source RPG projects I've found. Check out the resources section!

    The entire thing's built out of recfiles and makefiles, but it can still update and find recent commits from these git projects. If you have any suggestions for the page layouts, let me know.