22 Jul 2026: Update - plancat. All special and extended characters now upload properly - brackets, symbols, box-drawing characters and ASCII art spacing are fully supported (see echo@plan.cat).
[pinned] plancat: important update
22 Jul 2026: Update - plancat. All special and extended characters now upload properly - brackets, symbols, box-drawing characters and ASCII art spacing are fully supported (see echo@plan.cat).
30 Apr 2026: It is unlawful to fire someone in China to replace them with AI. It is that simple and yet... for a propagandized mind the idea is radical.
26 Apr 2026: The latest fingerverse update adds many homepages and RSS links. I just can't say enough about RSS... it truly is that one thing that easily connects sites better than any other tech I can think of.
Read Bump in the Night (the first story in DC's House of Horror (2017)). Some say that the story was an inspiration for Brightburn. It was pretty basic story-telling, like a vignette.
A couple of years ago I did a deep search for 'Superman as Evil' and turned up lots of suggestions (heroes as evil, anti-heroes and other stories of a similar mindset). It was during a time I was reading everything having to do with Secret Wars and rereading Civil War. Eventually I came up with a recommended reading list which I posted to my finger account. This is the original text post:
.----------------------------------------------------------------------------. | So I left the comfort of comics & characters I'm familiar with in the DC | | and Marvel worlds. Everything following Irredeemable (below) were from | | online recommendations that told stories similar-ish to Irredeemable. | | | | End result... some of the best reading I've ever done. I've taken a | | hiatus from reading comics: this is my current recommendation list. If | | you love Irredeemable, I think you'll like everything that follows it | | on this list. | | | | Many online recommends did not make this list. This is 'a best of...' | '----------------------------------------------------------------------------' _____________________________________ ____________________________________ | \ / | | * Secret Wars (I, II) | * No Hero (2008, Warren Ellis) | | * Deadpool's Secret Secret Wars | | | | * Sidekick (2013, Straczynski) | | * Civil War + Tie-ins | | | | * Black Summer (2007, Warren Ellis) | | * Irredeemable (BOOM! Studios) | | | | * Halcyon (2010, Marc Guggenheim) | | * Absolution (2009, Christos Gage) | (ends in cliffhangar) | | * Absolution - Happy Kitty (2013) | | | * Absolution - Rubicon (2013) | * Leaving Megalopolis (2014/Simone) | | | * Surviving Megalopolis (Part II) | |_____________________________________/ \____________________________________|
24 Apr 2026: When updating the current help page of the static blog generator, I was getting increasingly bothered by the amount of tweaks the in-house blog script would require of users, so I added a configuration section at the top of ./blog.py. Added some niceties like "base url", "post per page", "rss items", etc... It's slowly starting to turn into something more polished and ready for public distribution.
As I make these and other changes to the script, I'll need to continue to test.
Also need to finish what I started in the fingerverse page. I'm currently linking to home pages of user accounts that run their own public facing finger servers.
The fingerverse file itself has gotten so large (so many links too) that I had to remove it (temporarily? I hope) from it's original home on happynetbox.com. Also cleaned a bunch of other accounts I had on there because I was feeling a bit too stretched out - including spartanware which I need to update. The spartan page is smaller and sees fewer updates, so I should be reuploading to happynetbox soon.
19 Apr 2026: Spent the better part of the day yesterday creating a basic static blog generator because Neocities only hosts static files and doesn't support server-side scripts. I was mostly satisfied with this page but, as a huge fan of RSS, not having it was an issue for me. Writing the script also gave me a reason to automate other things like automatically limiting each blog page to 20 posts and automating the creation of additional pages.
I did some testing on both Inoreader and Newsblur yesterday, some more today. Everything seems to be working well but I'll continue to test.
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.