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 on 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.

Small update to nf (netfinger) in the Free Apps page (improved the help page (nf -h), screenshot). 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.

22 Apr 2026: The static blog generator is working very well. The core script, blog.py, is so quick to rebuild the three main blog files (index.html, index-2, rss.xml). I intend to post to my Free Apps page in a week or two. Here are a few notes and a deeper dive into the RSS creator turned static blog generator.

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:

• Tropical Merengue
• Isle of Capri
• Perfidia
• The Peanut Vendor
• Maria Elena

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). In the meantime... loving MX Linux and those other distros in the Linux/BSD ecosphere for the pushback on this! 💙

Current distros/BSDs that are resisting government surveillance. See BryanLunduke / DoesItAgeVerify for a more complete list.

• MX Linux : Linux Journal (02 Apr 2026) : will not implement
• Zorin OS : Linuxiac (05 Apr 2026) : will not implement
• Debian : Linuxiac (04 Apr 2026) : prefers not to implement (reviewing legal)
• Parrot Linux : Linuxiac (02 Apr 2026) : strongly opposes for now
• Omarchy Linux : Lunduke (05 Mar 2026) : no to this "retarded California law"
• Adenix GNU/Linux : Adenix Blog (04 Mar 2026) : will fight until there is no choice
• MidnightBSD : OSTechNIX (14 Mar 2026) : exclude California residents from use
• System76 : The Register (10 Mar 2026) : Advocating for excluding FOSS, otherwise complying

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.

• Tess Doerner in 'The 4400' (2005–2007)
• River Tam in 'Firefly' / 'Serenity' (2002, 2005)
• Cameron in 'Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles' (2008–2009)
• Skylar Adams in 'Alphas' (2011-2012)
• Isabel Rochev / Ravager in 'Arrow' (2013–2014)
• Bennett Halverson in 'Dollhouse' (2009-2010)
• Jamie Fleming / Orwell in 'The Cape' (2011)