A simple thing I’ve overlooked with NixOS is that I can create very different environments with a simple nixos-rebuild switch - effectively making my machine distraction free when I want it to be, or permitting some play in the off hours. I wrote a piece a couple years back about blocking internet distractions - and...

Apparently my RSS Feed was not displaying full post content - just the title - making people have to click through to the actual post on site. It should now be fixed and full posts should be available in your feed reader of choice (you are using Elfeed in Emacs, right?) Thank you to katabex, Sneed1911, and...

As we go into another year, I have paired down even further as to what is allowed on my mobile device. You can see my previous posts about smartphones here, here and here. I am running a Samsung s24 - with ADB you can disable much of the bloat, but it is not perfect. I would recommend going with a Google Pixel...

With the LLM hysteria seemingly without an end in sight, what is sorrowfully missing from the modern world is a push toward mastery. This is not a new phenomenon. The vast majority of people have been trying to “hack” life away by any means necessary for some time now. Limitless tips and tricks to make things...

While many would complain about the internet “dying” - the information is still out there for anyone to find - you just need to know how to look for it. Search engines still offer the ability to find that which you are seeking, but you cannot use them as 95% of people use them (ie. enter search term and pray). Using...

Look around you, and you will see so much noise. So many attempts at your attention, so many attempts on the life that you are supposed to be living. If you give in to the noise, you will lose the way, you will find yourself 5,000 miles from your intended destination. Distraction drives the world in which we live....

I started the new year by getting kicked off Cloudinary’s free tier for image storage. Deciding that I do not want to have to migrate ever again, I have architected a simple way to get off of SaaS/Cloud services and still maintain control of my media. I was not willing to pay $99 a month for a hosted image service...

“I did try to found a heresy of my own; and when I had put the last touches to it, I discovered that it was orthodoxy.” GK Chesterton When I was much younger, I tried to found my own religion. We all do at one time or another: how can I take what everyone is saying and combine it to map the ultimate way to live this...

I logged into IRC this morning to see this message: “Don’t take this the wrong way but does anyone else find Joshua Blais’ blog posts and twitter feeds a rabbit hole?” I had a laugh and then thought about a response (my friend that wrote this: come setup a bouncer and idle in the channel!) Here is my reply: When I...

If you work in text, make everything you possibly can a git repository. This means that if you work in front of a computer, this post is for you. Stop being that person with 50 variations of the same file scattered across your desktop. Why would we want to do this?# At the surface level, so you can have a “backup”...

It feels as if 2025 has flown by. Looking back it always interesting around this time, so let’s see what this year has brought. Personal# This year was a great one for our family. We… took a trip to Hawaii in November got formally engaged our daughter started daycare and is enjoying it immensely baby #2 on the way...

Ah, programming language choices - the great philosophical debate of our time. While I am sure I will have a gazillion comments about “why not X?” or “why X?” - I figured I would still put out there the languages I am pursuing and wanting to grow in as we near the end of the year and head into the next. Without...