Firehose

Put together a links page on my site today. A curated collection of my bookmarks and findings while surfing the web.

Watch your step. There are rabbit holes!

https://vale.rocks/links

Do let me know if you have any more links I should check out.

Yet another step up for the next year. We’re skipping 1080p and aiming straight for 1440p!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

My plan for 2025 is to put out more everything and focus on what sticks. The goal is to experiment, learn, and double down on what works.

2024 has very much been a year of general experimentation and exploration for me. Now I want to start testing things more aligned with my goals and putting the knowledge I gain to use!

I’d be rich if I got a dollar every time I read OpenAI as OpenAPI and OpenAPI as OpenAI. Drives me loopy.

I love the process of creating and refining things to perfection!

1. Build something.
2. Put it out there.
3. Observe how it’s received and gather feedback.
4. Identify, plan, and enact action to improve it.
5. Repeat until it’s as close to perfection as possible!

The OODA (Observe, Orient, Decide, Act) loop is a powerful framework—not just for decision-making, but for building better products and experiences.

It’s also invaluable in avoiding wasting time building things that nobody wants or needs.

I ensure I write crap that I don’t publish so that if I ever become a super famous writer and then cark it, there’ll be something to tack to the end of special editions.

Still a bit of work to do, but I’ve put together a firehose of my web activities and mirrored many of my microblog posts to my site. Trying to embrace the IndieWeb a bit further.

https://vale.rocks/firehose

Sloppy AI-generated thumbnail images serve as a good litmus test for whether something is worth clicking.

Seriously, it’s great to know what is gonna be slop without even having to even click through.

Instead of pulling up the ladder behind you, why not add some more rungs or lower it a bit for the next person? Helping others succeed is not just a great way to give back—it creates a stronger, more inclusive community for all. Let’s build each other up.

Received my physical diploma in the mail! I truly am a fully licensed front-end developer!

Lost my pet chicken of 8 years today. She was with me from primary school all the way through high school and beyond.

She hasn’t been well these past few days. Today when I came out to see her, she really wasn’t well but was still hanging on. I think she was waiting for me to see her before she went.

I picked her up and cradled her for a while before she passed in my arms. There is a bit of comfort knowing I was with her in her last moments and that she wasn’t alone.

I’ll miss you Garbin. Love you.

I might have neglected to re-add the analytics script to the head of my website. That’s a few days of data I won’t be getting back…

People have been trying to go to /now, /about, and /links on my site. I don’t have these pages nor links to them anywhere. Wonder if it’s time to make some…

ARIA sure you need those roles and attributes?

You oft hear of regurgitation, but not much about standard gurgitation.

Been upgrading and building on this. Pretty happy with it now. It has tons more engines added, a nicer UI (still simple—speed is the priority), and snaps inspired by Kagi which are lovely.

https://vale.rocks/micros/20240721-1249

Pretty convinced jackiechan.com is peak web design.

This has had me thinking about website layouts, and how typically we’ve had navigation situated at the top. Perhaps we need to rethink our designs based on the embrace of sidebars as they become the ‘new normal’?

https://vale.rocks/micros/20241030-0844

A wise man once said ‘Ogres are like onions. Onions have layers. Ogres have layers.’

Make your CSS like ogres and onions.

I’ve been thinking about the concept of ‘heritage listed websites’. We have buildings that we feel are too important to alter and must keep frozen in time – why not websites?.

I suppose this is less important with the web, as we can ‘simply’ archive copies of things but it’s been playing in my mind nonetheless.

Really interesting seeing what posts get picked up on Fedi, and what posts get picked up on Bluesky. I’m struggling to identify any real pattern.

Say what you will, the phrase ‘hacked up, bastardized simulacra’ is genuinely pretty awesome. I suppose we at least got something out of the WordPress mess.

The best time for productivity is any abnormal hour of the day when I can sit semi-comatose, powered purely by stimulants.

Saw a guy sprinting through the city with a Sonic the Hedgehog shirt on.

It took a hideous amount of restraint not to yell ‘GOTTA GO FAST!’

I see a lot of stuff gain traction that I’d have figured is too well known, too obvious, or too low effort. I need to do more stuff.

You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take after all.

Honestly pretty excited to give Ghostty a whirl with the upcoming v1.0. Looks pretty rad!

I think this is one of the best things I’ve ever read on LessWrong. It perfectly resonates with motivation as I experience it.

https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/JBR6AF9Gusv4u6Fwo/laziness-death-spirals