life, public

This website isn't about anything in particular, except perhaps living parts of my life in public. At times technically precise, at others wildly fanciful, what's found here nevertheless represents the infinitely diverse creature which is me. As Thoreau mused, "I would not talk so much about myself if there were anybody else whom I knew as well."

Almost in the same breath, he also says, "The stars are the apexes of what wonderful triangles! What distant and different beings, in the various mansions of the universe, are contemplating the same one at the same time!" When I think on this second quote, it occurs to me that what we call "diversity" in the present day is often based on the attributes that we're trying to avoid. Choosing to hold someone in high esteem because of a genetic attribute does them more harm than good.

Said differently, we are all "distant and different beings" when it comes to dealing with each other. I see my friend, the outward appearance; I hear what they say and observe their facial expressions; but I'm not really seeing them. I think I may explore that idea of true diversity here, some. Maybe, as I have time.

That said, this website (kind of) has no binding theme, in that it's often about:

  • ideas that struck and just haven't gone anywhere yet.
  • things I tried that haven't worked out yet, and maybe never will.
  • projects I started and haven't finished (and maybe never will).
  • stuff lying around on the floor, waiting for an OCD mood to clean up.
  • projects I've done that are useful and good and might help somebody else.
  • essays and insights that might have some value for others.

In that sense, at least, it's an accurate representation of real life. Goes back to the "distant and different beings" thing. And I do hide things that are private: everyone does, and that's normal and natural. But I try not to hide more than is really necessary.

it kinda defies labels

Is this a blog? A personal website? A manifesto? A photo album? Somebody's personal code stash? An opinion piece?

Well, yes and no. It's not written to fit into a niche or a genre. Those who need genres to help interpret what they're reading may not grok what's here, and that's okay. I'm not writing it for anybody in particular. But if you lock onto something and like it, that's okay too, and you should let me know at the "Mail" link above. It helps.

good things to know

Here are a few useful alignment marks:

  • I sleep under an emacs (yes, emacs) blanket, I have several org-mode t-shirts, and I use both of these tools extensively and almost exclusively. But I'm not a fan of a lot of the open-source & free software bigwigs: they're too arrogant and rude for my taste.
  • I believe in deep work, in the sense that I am trying to gravitate toward those things that are difficult, rare, and valuable -- and shy away from things that amount to administrivia.
  • My best skill is probably writing, although I can certainly hold my own developing software, solving difficult problems, or ciphering puzzles. My strongest technical skills revolve around the UNIX operating system. I supposed I'm pretty good at command-line fu.
  • I actually live life according to a codified, self-generated set of values, which seems to be a rare thing. I dunno; these are just rules I like to try to live by. At any given time, I'm more or less successful in sticking to these principles.