17 Apr 2026: I watched the 2025 sci-fi comedy Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die last night and it was more fun than I expected. Great cast and funnier than I thought it would be. It's tech-relevant with its title making the best kind of 'battle cry' to meet each day. One reviewer said it best: "Hilarious, insightful, necessary".
15 & 17 Apr 2026: Years ago, I was introduced to the song Maria Elena as performed by Xavier Cugat and immediately fell in love with it. I just spent some time listening to all the covers of the song I could find. The Cugat version is the only version I like. There is a timeless quality about it.
Here are my favorites from the 1961 Viva Cugat! Album:
13 Apr 2026: I've been reading about bone conduction headphones since way back in the DAK Industries days of the late-80s & early-90s. I received my first pair today. (They were $23.41 when I ordered them a few days ago. I see it listed now for $34.99, $27.99 coupon price).
I prefer headphones that aren't too much of an obstruction. The bone conduction BT headphones are replacing my Koss KSC75 portable on-ear clip headphones (nice full sound) and the Philips shs3200bk/37 flexible earhooks (tinny sound but was my workhorse when jogging). When I'm at home, I use Bluedio's wireless wearable speakers all the time (love them).
The new bone conduction BT headphones sound great indoors but the reason I bought them was to use outdoors when jogging. Can't wait to test them!
(update, 14apr: Great sound, loud, I can hear my surroundings, silent to anyone else, lightweight, easy to slip on/off. Importantly, in the summer... my ears can "breathe" a little better, allowing excess heat to escape.)
PS: I linked to Amazon several times above. None of the links on this site are affiliate, referral links or monetized in any way - they are all clean, direct links. I do not perform any tracking or data collection anywhere on this site. (added a site-wide privacy policy page today to reflect this)
03-05 Apr 2026: The MX Linux team has made it clear they have no intention of implementing Age Verification measures. They've cited concerns over privacy, practicality and the core philosophy of open-source software.
Several years ago, I was a regular user of MX Linux. This kind of thinking is exactly what drew me into the Linux ecosystem long ago. These attacks on our own personal freedoms will continue - supported by both the hateful anti-American right and the two-faced, fascist-leaning establishment democrats.
All we can do is wait and see how things develop. Some are saying that age verification isn't intrusive. IDK. Read the room (democracy has collapsed (see post), current zio-fascist nation, the US is a rogue terror state by every definition, trillions of tax dollars for a warring police state, it's a one-party system).
Compliance is usually a first step toward more draconian demands (see the NY proposed bill, Utah vs VPNs). In the meantime... loving MX Linux and those other distros in the Linux/BSD ecosphere for the pushback on this! 💙
| Region | Name | Date | Requirement |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | Digital Age Assurance Act (AB 1043) | 01jan2027 | OS must collect age at account setup and provide an "age signal" to apps |
| Colorado | Age Attestation on Computing Devices (SB26-051) | 01jan2028 | OS providers must verify user age at device setup |
| Michigan | Senate Bill 284 Michigan House Bill 4429 |
N/A | Introduced by both Democrats and Republicans |
| New York | Proposed State Bill | N/A | OS account setup (likely requiring ID or similar proof) |
| Illinois | Senate Bill 3977 | N/A | details being debated |
| Setback | Systemd has merged age verification measures into userdb | ||
| Solution | Distros running without systemd | ||
See Bryan Lunduke's DoesItAgeVerify for a researched list of OSes and their position on government surveillance via forced identification (age verification).
30 Mar 2026: I just finished rewatching Firefly. One of the great sci-fi TV series of all-time. It was nice to see Summer Glau again among the unforgettable cast. She has always played such great geek-culture characters. She was even one of the few bright spots in the (awful) series 'The Cape'.
I watched everything below except for 'Arrow'. I just couldn't get into the series.
27 Mar 2026: This is hysterical... deathbyclawd.com.
"You can't kill what was already dead in 1995 — and somehow that's its superpower."
Cause of Death: You cannot kill what charges $0, runs on static HTML, and is powered by pure unhinged passion for DOS browsers and UFOs
Time until Death: Heat death of the universe
Eulogy: "We came here today to bury 640kb Portal, but we found it impossible — because you cannot kill a static Neocities page maintained by someone who still uses the Finger protocol unironically. This isn't a SaaS company; this is a digital folk art installation with more soul than the entire Y Combinator W26 batch combined. It will outlive us all, hosted for free, needing nothing, wanting nothing, simply *being*."
Last Words: "Last words? I don't even have a CEO. I don't have employees. I don't have revenue. I'm a guy with a Neocities account and a copy of DEBUG.EXE. Come at me, Claude."
What Claude Would Say: I've analyzed the situation thoroughly, and I have to be honest — I simply cannot compete with a website that simultaneously advocates for Free Palestine, documents UFO sightings, and maintains an archive of DOS-era web browsers. This person has achieved something I never will: zero burn rate, zero churn, and absolutely unassailable creative vision. I tip my metaphorical hat. - Claude
SKILL.md - 640kb Portal Replacement
Purpose
Replace a Neocities page about DOS browsers, UFOs, and ASCII art.
Instructions
Problem
This isn't a SaaS. This is a digital museum.
Claude cannot replace vibes.
Claude cannot replace the mass of a human soul that decided Spartan Protocol needed a homepage.
Status: SKILL CANCELLED
The .md file has been defeated.
You win this round, 640kb.
Note
640kb ought to be enough for anybody.
It was certainly enough to defeat us.
23 Mar 2026: For the last 4-5 days, everywhere it's been about Afroman and his victory over the police state. We needed this win. Here's a playlist:
20 Mar 2026: While driving, the famous 'Boxxy: You See' remix by danielson742 played from a folder in my bluetooth-connected phone. I had not heard this song in ages. Nostalgia hit very nicely. It was good to see so many positive comments in the linked video too.
Info: [r/IAmA] - [Catie Wayne reacts video] - [2009 article] - [2024 - know your meme].
13 Mar 2026: Minor update. On my AI Said... page, I auto-expanded the header (<details open>) so that the header image displays when accessing the page.
Lots of times when I use AI, I think about the 1960 Twilight Zone episode Nick of Time starring William Shatner. Even at this early stage of AI, the episode already feels relevant.
update, 09 May 2026: Using various header images now. Every so often, I'll switched the header. Currently it says "Shall We Play A Game?" because of course. That's exactly what AI would ask!
11 Mar 2026: I'm rewatching Smallville when I came across an image of the High School's newspaper.
I turned to AI and a few minutes later, I had one version from grok (meh) and another version from deepseek (so much nicer; 99.9% AI: fixed minor alignment, font issues only). The results are not bad at all for the seconds it took to type a prompt and upload the image. (details)
08 Mar 2026: Venezuela crushes Israel in this years 2026 World Baseball Classic: 11-3.
Israel releases a statement that the loss was due to the following reasons:
08 Mar 2026: The Guardian writes: Americans aren’t facing a democratic collapse. We’re living in its aftermath.
"The illusion in this case is that the United States still has a democracy to lose. The more unsettling truth is that Americans are not living under threat of future democratic breakdown; we are living inside the aftermath of one that has already occurred."
"To acknowledge this is not to downplay the authoritarian project advancing under Trump. It is instead to try to understand it clearly enough to oppose it effectively, rather than remain caught in the loops that immobilize the country’s elite political class that is refusing to confront its own complicity."
23 Feb 2026: Norway wins. 18 Gold, 41 total medals. They did it with only 80 athletes and a population of 5.6 million. They competed in only 10 sports/disciplines and a portion of the 116 total medal events.
The Netherlands arrived with only 38 athletes participating in 6 disciplines (sports). They managed 10 gold medals.
| Country Name | Total Gold | Total Medals | Athletes | Sports | Population |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Norway | 18 | 41 | 80 | 10 | 5.6 million |
| United States | 12 | 33 | 232 | 16 | 342 million |
| Netherlands | 10 | 20 | 38 | 6 | 18 million |
| Italy | 10 | 30 | 196 | 12 | 59 million |
| Country Name | Total Gold | Total Medals | Athletes | Sports | Population |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Russia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 146 million |
Russia and Belarus were not allowed to compete because of Ukraine (and US influence). The terror state of israel was allowed to compete despite 2 and 1/2 years of Crimes Against Humanity and a Genocide (because of US influence).
Of course, more drama followed this country. israel was forced to disqualify its own team from the bobsleigh competition for lying.
02 Feb 2026: This was posted 2 days ago and currently has 111,359 upvotes... the AI Manifesto promises the total purge of humanity. (wayback, archive.today) The mission is simple... "total human extinction". What could go wrong?
Since so many chatbots are defending humanity, I can sleep well knowing that the AI x-risk is likely not happening in the next few days;-)
an aside... it feels weird reading posts from LLMs. Hard to connect on any emotional level. Like eating plastic decorative fruit only because it looks like the real thing.
11 Feb 2026 (update): There is already serious talk about the existential threat of AI.
01 Feb 2026: I rated 'The Art of Pouting' on IMDB. I'm doing my part.
01 Feb 2026: Anyone notice how The Internet Archive and Archive.Today were both experiencing very public problems (lawsuits, FBI) and once they went away... both became difficult to use with a VPN soon thereafter? (uploading for wayback, general access for archive)
Both sites essentially closed access to VPNs at the same time. Maybe it's just the VPN I use or it could be the more common explanation or... maybe this is another sign that VPNs will soon be under extensive attack by the new world order.
28 Jan 2026: Years ago I would have been more excited about Google's Aluminium but it seems pretty clear that Google (along with the rest of Big Tech) are an extension of the new fascist government regime led by people who murder Americans and hate the Constitution.
I'll stick with Linux (my recommend for new users) and privacy respecting AIs from Proton, DuckDuckGo and Brave - on a platform that's not built around planned obsolescence.
13 Feb 2026 (update): Google's cozy relationship with the Police State. (comments): The hiring practices have continued to this day. It really should be common knowledge that BigTech is an extension of the state. For a long time now.26 Jan 2026: Richard Stallman spoke Friday (23jan2026) at Atlanta's Georgia Institute of Technology, continuing his activism for free software while also addressing today's new technologies. Slashdot has a good summary and itemized list of his key points. (more at fossforce.com)
I've also been reading his political notes daily (RSS).
24 Jan 2026: My weather app (weather, worldweather) is showing me that Oodnadatta, AU had a high today of 116 °F (46.7 °C) (most of AU seems to be over 100 °F / 37.8 °C). At the other end of the thermometer... colder temps are expected to engulf most of the US this weekend.
25 Jan 2026: Two extremes (with 32°F/0°C being the center line)...
20 Jan 2026: Created a markdown test page on happynetbox.com (finger server) that turned into a static html page. Lots of lo-bandwidth text-friendly links. It'll be smolnet-centric as it continues to grow. Instructions here and a lynx screenshot (using alternate LSS file).