An attempt to rewrite


What used to be here was the output of a Python blog engine that I wrote when I should have been writing my master’s dissertation in 2006. I liked it because I would write a code snippet which constituted a post, run my script, and out would come perfect XHTML on the other end.

Of course many CMSes and blogs existed at the time, but what I liked about mine was that it was static. No comments, no backend, nothing dynamic, just flat text: the way the internet was when I first encountered it. Writing the engine was both a way of getting myself to write posts, since it was fun to use the engine, but it was also—as is inevitable in academia—a way of procrastinating. Putting off writing to tune the engine. Of course in those days, however glacial my academic output, I did write a lot of letters (yes, the kind you post) and journals, so perhaps I wasn’t as illiterate as I find myself now.

Maybe I’ve gotten lazy as I’ve aged, but I’ve decided to try a full 180. I’ve switched to WordPress, which of course existed back then as well, my thinking being that maybe the fact that it’s easy to use will encourage me to use it. Maybe I won’t get mired in coding, and will write something worthwhile. I know myself; it’s probably just a passing feeling. But I’ve successfully acquired some habits over the years so let’s try again.

Apart from the perennial feeling that I should be writing, another discovery got me thinking about beginning again digitally. I learned on IRC about cjdns, and I joined Hyperboria. If you’ve not heard of it (as I hadn’t), this is an incipient meshnet which is intended to be a decentralized alternative to the Internet. Like many new things, the early adopters in this community are great people. It has that utopian feel. The trolls haven’t arrived yet. Lots of services have gone up lately, including a free blog service, and it got me thinking that maybe I should try again to start a site. I intend to mirror this blog there.

So here’s the first post. On the Internet, and on Hyperboria.


Loading Facebook Comments …

No Trackbacks.