| indieweb | 1,915 words
TAGS: Web Development, IndieWeb, JAMstack, Open Source, Blog Themes, Hugo, eleventy
I've spent the last few weeks working on three new free themes for IndieWeb blogging: Indiepaper, Newsprint, and brennan.jp.net, all of which centre around giving people a place to call their own on the internet.
| ai | 1,137 words
TAGS: AI, art, Culture, technology, Media Criticism
Prompt Engineers Lack Any Canon, Don't You? AI artists have an existential problem: they consume only their own work, severing the dialogue of culture that connects us across generations.
| writing-craft, politics | 1,763 words
TAGS: Substack, writing, Culture, IndieWeb, Capitalism
The newsletter platform is supposed to be the new economic engine for culture. Yet, they let hate speech fester. Why? The answer is obvious. Writing is treated as commodity instead of sacred art. But there is a solution.
| 843 words
TAGS: personal essay, writing, Software Development, Digital Culture, AI
A roundup of recent developments: building a terminal-based writing organizer, being interviewed by Le Monde about AI social media, and thoughts on Medium's Partner Program changes.
| ai | 1,310 words
TAGS: AI, technology, criticism
A critical look at the hype around OpenClaw's MoltBook platform and why AI agents talking to each other isn't the singularity.
| personal-favourites | 883 words
TAGS: personal essay, politics, reflection
Writing about the state of the world as a cusp Millennial/Gen Z that grew up in the optimistic Obama era, contrasting that with what today holds for us.
| 1,317 words
TAGS: creativity, art, Media Criticism, philosophy
How creative ambition transforms into a trap of endless expansion, examining YouTube essayists, neoliberal work culture, and the pressure to constantly optimize artistic output
| 2,286 words
TAGS: personal essay, IndieWeb, writing, community, blogging, Digital Culture
You don't need to be a developer to own your corner of the internet. A guide for writers, poets, and creators who want to escape algorithmic feeds and reclaim their digital presence. No computer science degree required.
| 1,866 words
TAGS: personal essay, creativity, writing, community, education
A manifesto on learning to persist in your writing and to write anywhere. I'm finally pursuing my dream of being a writing instructor by starting a new, low-cost online class for those ready.
| personal-favourites | 2,342 words
TAGS: personal essay, Social Commentary, politics, Digital Culture
What is the future of coding bootcamps? Is there a future? And, more importantly, what is the future of junior developers in an industry with an effortless AI bubble?
| religion | 4,112 words
TAGS: philosophy, Anthropology, spirituality, Cultural Criticism
What is the meaning of life? Is there more than one correct answer? I've decided to take a rather long-winded exploration of how different cultures approach the sacred, the dead, and the transcendent, suggesting that multiple paths can lead to...
| technical-tutorials | 752 words
TAGS: Web Development, eleventy, Nunjucks, technical
I transformed a messy tag list into an organized alphabetical sections, and there were a surprising amount of gotchas I encountered along the way.
| technical-tutorials | 604 words
TAGS: IndieWeb, Microblogging, decentralization, technical
I set up a sync between my status.lol updates and a twtxt feed, creating a bridge between IndieWeb tools and classic decentralized microblogging.
| community | 1,295 words
TAGS: Creator Economy, Digital Culture, community, Cultural Criticism, IndieWeb
Beyond tipping culture, there are meaningful ways to support independent creators that don't involve money. Here are eight of the best.
| personal-favourites, science | 2,384 words
TAGS: Chronic Illness, Medical Ethics, covid, Cultural Criticism, politics
Six years into COVID-19, the world has moved on while the virus continues to disable millions. An examination of the ongoing pandemic, long COVID, and our collective failure to prevent a mass disabling event.
| indieweb | 2,183 words
TAGS: docker, homesteading, technical
Building digital resilience through self-hosted infrastructure and permacomputing principles in an uncertain world. Using Docker, Caddy, and open-source tools for digital resilience and independence.
| culture | 829 words
TAGS: personal essay, review, creativity, philosophy
A delightful surprise from an author I initially dismissed. Gilbert's Big Magic explores creativity as sacred play, rejecting the tortured artist myth for a lighter, more joyful approach to creative work.
| indieweb | 885 words
TAGS: personal essay, community, Digital Culture, IndieWeb, technical
A month of building, connecting, and discovering the independent web. Small technical joys that turned solitude into dialogue. Treat the Internet like a personal playground and lab!
| technical-tutorials | 865 words
TAGS: eleventy, IndieWeb, netlify, technical, tutorial
Learn how to implement a Micropub endpoint for your static site, allowing you to post content from external clients like Quill while maintaining JAMstack architecture.
| technical-tutorials | 1,055 words
TAGS: css, eleventy, javascript, technical, accessibility
A journey into making a website gracefully degrade for users without JavaScript, including the CSS-based .no-js approach, testing with Lynx, and creating an informative experience for all users.