toroidalcore

I'll be honest, I'm pretty happy with how the internet is these days, at a low level. I don't recall how fast my family's first cable modem was, but I do remember how much of a leap it was from dialup. I remember when it was hit or miss whether or not someone you spoke to would use the internet. I remember them teaching us about it in school.

Now, it's everywhere. It's part of mobile phone plans, and you can find free Wifi without too much difficulty (and if you trust it). And of course, just about everyone has it in their homes. Fast, too, fiber not being uncommon.

People wax poetically about the old web. What I think, or hope, they're referring to is the days before eg Google search went to pot. When you weren't having a dialog with it, and what search results were there were trying to sell you something. No, this is back when a search would give you a bunch of honest-to-god web pages, probably curated by people who just wanted to document the thing that the subject of them was, and they probably didn't cause your browser to use gobs of RAM too.

I know that stuff is still out there. There are directories of HTML files someone hand-coded, or nearly hand-coded. Or perhaps Wordpress blogs, made by people dedicated to maintaining them for informative purposes. Not SEO, sites that try to get noticed to sell ads or something. There was a time when this wasn't just some big machine to get you to consume.

Big Social Media

People like to communicate, more than they like to touch computers, for the most part. Social networks like Facebook or Twitter and others try to make this easy. They are also businesses. They may not charge for basic service (aside from paying for check marks for Twitter or X or whatever), but they stick ads everywhere and try to analyze what ads will work for you so they can better advertise to you. And that data can of course be used for more nefarious things.

This is sort of how we were promised the engine of capitalism would work. Those entities can make money, and people get something they want. Until they think about it, and maybe grumble about how they're being tracked or advertised to. But Facebook is just too easy! It's got everything right there and you don't have to set any of it up. Just... Create a page, or an event, or post on your wall.

And there's something to it. You can't expect everyone to spin up their own server and CMS for that stuff, even if it's possible to self-host all of it.

The Web

Can you expect people to make web pages again? People still do. The spirit of the old web, where someone got free web space somewhere, perhaps through their ISP, lives on in anyone who posts cat pictures or talks about their niche interests on social media.

And of course, with the Fediverse, maybe we have a compromise: maybe not the greatest user experience, but it's more accessible than publishing HTML files, and it can be self-hosted. Maybe not by everyone, but enough people that you don't have to rely on a big corporation that wants to jack its share price up.

But, I know those pages are still out there. I want to publish them here. You know, an HTML page, static without much crap, that just dives into a specific interest. Maybe your site has a bunch of these, of assorted subjects. Maybe there's an overall theme or subject, or maybe not. Ideally, a search engine would just index it, so someone wouldn't need to know where to go exactly.

So, that's what I miss. Small pages that get to the point. Not dial-up or slow connections, although the idea of eg networking over amateur radio is interesting. Not ditching all the progress we've made, just refining it. And taking it back.

Find me at @toroidalcore@masto.hackers.town

We're around the mid-point of summer. Another one.

Heat Waves

We had one or two heat waves recently, depending on how you look at it. Those aren't too unusual. The temperature goes up to the mid to high 90s F, sometimes hitting 100 or more. It gets miserable, especially if there's any humidity.

My house has a pool, which is not heated. In the past, when not working in the office, I dealt with the heat by swimming, sometimes in frigid water. Once I got used to it I would swim around and get out, and be comfortable for an hour or two.

Night was still tough. It usually cools off at night, but during a heat wave it can still be hot. My bedroom doesn't always get the greatest air circulation either. I eventually got an air conditioner, a floor-standing dual-hose unit that doesn't suck air from the room, which made a huge difference. I don't have to use it all the time, though, which is nice.

Now, it's still warm during the day, but it's actually cooler at night. If I open enough windows downstairs I can sleep comfortably without the AC, and the downstairs actually stays cool on its own. Until next heat wave...

Wildfire Smoke

This seems to be a routine occurrence now. I don't remember if we got it last year, but it seems like it's happened a few years this decade. Earlier this summer, the sky grew murky yellow again, this time from Canadian wildfires.

Breathing gets hard, and I got a headache when going out. I tried not to do much outside, and ran the air conditioners inside for some degree of filtration. I need to either buy a dedicated air filter, or build one of those DIY ones using a box fan.

Grass

Mowing hasn't been too bad. The grass doesn't always grow since it's been dryer. Apart from some bare spots, the lawn is doing okay.

Work

Thinking about trying to find a new job, for various reasons. There are things I don't know if I want to leave, though. The house for one, but also a few others, people, etc. It's weird starting to have some roots. I could pick up and move, but the thought of starting over is kind of daunting.

Travel

I feel like I should take a vacation. I'm not sure where to, but I should think of something. I did take some time to go to a jazz festival recently, but it seemed like only a partial vacation.

Internet

Hopefully I'll have fiber internet soon. I have an install date set up in a couple weeks. It was bumped once, hopefully this goes through. Looking forward to more upload speed.

That's It?

Until I think of more stuff I guess.

Find me at @toroidalcore@masto.hackers.town

It occurred to me today that it might be interesting to do some sort of digital detox. That is, go someplace, maybe camping, away from screens. No laptop, phone stays off (but maybe handy for emergencies, or in airplane mode). Not necessarily all screens... I could see something like a watch/Fitbit or multimeter screen. Like maybe a change, working on something out away from my home office or office proper. Not necessarily away from “artificial” light, but not with the laptop screen.

Basically, something different from the normal grind. The work computer, or the home computer. Maybe an adventure, maybe not. Just a change of scenery.

It's getting nicer outside, and I've been enjoying getting out in the yard with Tim. It's been a while since I've had what I would consider a vacation, aside from various mini breaks and diversions.

The thing is, I know I shouldn't be staring at a screen as much as I do. But I also do enjoy technology. Even just being able to type something out like this, not to mention working on a project, or writing code, or hell even doomscrolling now and then.

Find me at @toroidalcore@masto.hackers.town

Tim, my Irish Wolfhound, will bark if I let him out into the backyard at night. I try to get him out before we go to bed for a last bathroom check, and then he gets confined to the dining room for the night. Unfortunately, he doesn't always want to come in. Sometimes he wants to romp around with me, which I admit can be kind of fun, other times he has his own reasons. I sometimes have to lure him in with food.

There are other dogs in the neighborhood who he seems to converse with. He will start it, or one of them will, and it will go back and forth. Other times he picks up on something with his keen senses which go beyond my own, and upon evaluation determines that barking is the correct course of action.

If he's out with me, he usually won't bark as much. Or not at all, if we walk around the yard together. Ultimately, barking is an alert sound, and while I think he is trying to communicate to or confront something (another dog, some mystery thing), he's trying to alert me. This is probably one of the reasons humans and dogs started living together, they alert us to stuff.

Barking can be annoying, but in a way it's kind of his job. He'll occasionally bark in the house, but other than certain times at night he's a relatively quiet animal. So, I do appreciate him communicating this way. I figure if he's got something to say, I should hear him out.

Find me at @toroidalcore@masto.hackers.town

Trying out 0.16 of Writefreely now. I don't usually write here, but it is kind of nice to have.

Find me at @toroidalcore@masto.hackers.town

Happy New Year to all those who find their way here, either on the Fediverse or through my website. I'm not sure what this year will bring. I try to be optimistic, because what else can I do? But I'm also kind of anxious. We shall see.

For myself, I have some projects I'm hoping to attack. For one, I'd like to revamp my website – I have my own plans. There's other stuff I'll be looking at as well, which I will post about if I feel so inspired.

In the mean time, be well, and take care of each other.

Find me at @toroidalcore@masto.hackers.town

It's gray and windy out, but lighter. The leaves are mostly gone from the trees, and a bunch are in my yard. It's actually the last pile I'm planning to get rid of. Still nice fall weather I would say.

Today, apart from the leaves, I'll be switching the Halloween lights out for more Christmasy ones. So that should be neat.

Solar

My current hobbyist off-grid system in normal use consists of two 100-watt panels in series, fed into my basement with a 10 AWG extension cord, and charging a 100 Ah AGM battery via an MPPT charge controller. Not much sun these days, due to the clouds and shorter days, but it continues to plug along.

In the spring and summer, and early fall, I use the system to power stuff like my work laptop, coffee grinder, and basically anything I can reasonably run an extension cord to from the system. It's just a matter of the power not going anywhere otherwise, and so it's nice to actually use it.

Now, I still use it for things like charging batteries and my home laptop, but not as much. The goal is to make sure the battery stays charged at the end of the day, in case we get a power outage. So it's nice to have the battery charged just in case.

Find me at @toroidalcore@masto.hackers.town

It's October! This actually tends to be a busy month for me. In addition to Halloween, there are various other milestones I try to hit. Just now, I flushed my furnace pipes (I have single-pipe steam) to get the rust out, later this weekend I'll make sure it lights. Then there's yard work, leaves and such, closing the pool, etc.

And of course I have the orange lights up. I have numerous strands of LEDs on the bushes out front to create a nice orange glow. There are some greens, blues, and purples on another bush for more effect.

This month is also a good excuse to buy candy. I tend to get a few trick-or-treaters, but it can't hurt to stock up, right?

Find me at @toroidalcore@masto.hackers.town

Where I live, a small area is served by the municipal electric service. That is, the town runs it. They maintain the lines, and bill me for power. They are dependent on the local big commercial utility to actually connect to the grid, but they bid on power separately. As a result my electricity is very cheap, around US $0.05/kWh. About once a year they send out a statement listing the sources they buy power from, almost completely nuclear and hydro.

It's reliable, too. The power does flicker now and then, I'd say at least three or four times a year. This is an outage of a couple seconds or more, not long but enough to reset clocks etc. (Regardless of how reliable your electric is, having a UPS for computers and other sensitive stuff is still a good idea.) More rare is an outage lasting a couple hours, but it does happen. We get wind or other storms now and then. One outage of this duration a year might be about right, but it might be more like one every year and a half.

The worst outage I can remember lasted a day and a half, back in 2021. That was the result of a big spring storm. We had snow on the ground, and while it did melt during the day it got cold. I have natural gas for heat, but the controls are electric, and I didn't have an easy way to switch them over to inverter power. I still don't, it's on the list.

Overall I'm pretty happy with this. Sure, it's a small area they serve, but they do a good job. Other town residents seem to be pretty happy with it as well. I just find it interesting, because it's a decent example of government doing something right. There are a lot of factors when you look at it, like it being a smaller town with a more manageable area and engaged residents, and as I mentioned a feed from the local commercial utility. But, my taxes aren't too bad, and electric service tends to be a natural monopoly.

Meanwhile, I've been waiting for a second wired internet option. There's a small company building out fiber, but they haven't reached my area yet. I have cable now, which actually works well, but I'd love the additional upload. Some areas have done municipal broadband, with great success. But then big telecom companies lobby, and all of a sudden the 'government will screw it up' idea looms in the air.

It seems like if people give a damn, and are willing to hold the town's feet to the fire, municipal services like this can work great. Not that there's never a place for private services, but we shouldn't take the idea that municipal=bad as the gospel truth.

Find me at @toroidalcore@masto.hackers.town

It's been a while since I've shouted into this void.

Routine is interesting. It's comforting, stabilizing, reliable. But it's also repetitive, constant, possibly boring. I look forward to it to some degree each day, worry when deviating from it, and look forward to it if I've been away from it. But then again, I also kind of resent it.

I'm not sure where I'm going with this, other than the observation that the weeks just seem to be flying by quicker and quicker. Things in my life have been decent lately, but there's a lot of shit out in the world right now. And I wonder if I should be doing something different.

Find me at @toroidalcore@masto.hackers.town