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| -rw-r--r-- | .md/about/faq.md | 29 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | .md/about/whereami.md | 38 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | .md/about/whoami.md | 6 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | .md/thoughts/net/in-defense-of-anonymity.md | 15 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | .md/thoughts/syntax/my-worst-habit.md | 2 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | .md/tutorials/www/how-to-make-this-site.md | 2 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | .md/tutorials/www/how-to-use-the-internet.md | 49 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | tutorials/www/how-to-use-the-internet.html | 244 |
8 files changed, 79 insertions, 306 deletions
diff --git a/.md/about/faq.md b/.md/about/faq.md index 18b4c37..21b2c73 100644 --- a/.md/about/faq.md +++ b/.md/about/faq.md @@ -80,21 +80,20 @@ code and I agree that there are many cases where *that* is the preferred option. But it doesn't make sense for me; at least not for a homepage like this. I'm not sure about other people, but most of my ideas are not my own; they come from reading a history book or doing a textbook -exercise or an off-color joke. So without getting on a soapbox, I guess -you can say the idea of "intellectual property" never made too much -sense to me in general. - -I get that people have to get paid. I get that people are afraid of -someone else taking credit for their work. But for this site at least, -I guess I just don't really care. If someone really finds some way to -profit of some random guy's Linux tutorials and unqualified thoughts -on the world I honestly think *they* deserve the credit not me. I have -no idea how I'd do that; I'm not sure I'd even want to waste my time -with all the marketing nonsense of the modern web. And on the second -point, if someone "steals" my work it's not exactly hard to figure out -it was published here first--a Google search will prove that. But even -if that weren't the case, I still wouldn't mind. I'd be glad that this -stuff is useful at all. That would be a nice surprise. +exercise or an off-color joke. + +So for this site at least, I guess I just don't really care. +If someone really finds some way to profit of some random guy's +Linux tutorials and unqualified thoughts on the world, I honestly +think *they* deserve the credit not me. I have no idea how I'd do that; +I'm not sure I'd even want to waste my time with all the marketing +nonsense of the modern web. + +And on the second point, if someone "steals" my work it's not exactly +hard to figure out it was published here first--a Google search will +prove that. But even if that weren't the case, I still wouldn't mind. +I'd be glad that this stuff is useful at all. That would be a nice +surprise. *Not* everything that is *linked* to on this site falls under the same guidelines, so be sure to respect that author's copyright; I tend to diff --git a/.md/about/whereami.md b/.md/about/whereami.md index 9cf4129..1c88696 100644 --- a/.md/about/whereami.md +++ b/.md/about/whereami.md @@ -22,8 +22,8 @@ computer called mine, and mine answered with directory full of pages. The way you get here is through a device you have at home called a router, which literally does what the name implies--it routes signals to where they need to go to make things go beep. In the 60s and -70s, routers tended to be people-based and would spend their time plugging -cables into and out of ports so calls could connect. +70s, routers tended to be people-based and would require workers spend +their time plugging cables into and out of ports so calls could connect. <img src="/static/human_router.jpg" /> @@ -34,19 +34,20 @@ contributors](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Jersey_Telecom_switchboard_and_ Fortunately, we figured out that was dumb and made robots do the job for us. Internet companies, governments, and anyone else with enough money and influence bought huge routers and hooked them all up to talk to each other. -Then they convinced us all to go out and buy a router from our ISP of "choice" +Then they convinced us all to go out and buy a router from our ISP of choice so we could all send cat pictures to each other seamlessly. We got rid of phones, replaced our phone with our IP address and email, just to ironically end up back at phones again. All of our devices serve, or at least can serve, -as a router in some way, and all these little robots talking to each other +as a router in some way. And all these little robots talking to each other makes it so you can get lost on some person's home page. In a way, you could say you've made it to a place my router took you to. -Not my home router of course--that one sucks. +But not my home router of course--that one sucks. -I'm mooching of someone else's, also known as a Virtual Private Server. -These companies run whole bunch of servers, hook them up on a bulk connection -and rent them out for people to run blogs about cats and porn sites. +I'm mooching off someone else's, also known as a Virtual Private Server. +These companies run a whole bunch of servers, hook them up on a bulk connection +and rent them out for people to run fake media companies, blogs about cats, +and porn sites. I'm getting lost on your question though, so where are we exactly? @@ -60,18 +61,22 @@ local ISPs tend to be ridiculously expensive if you want to do anything besides host some private servers for you and your friends and family. But maybe most importantly, you've reached a webpage owned by another -human being, not a corporation, or a bot, or a government, or work, or -a *network*. All these files were loving crafted by yours truly in vim, -in markdown and converted with pandoc to HTML because of laziness. +human being. Well mostly... I don't own the hardware. But the place is +mine; not a corporation's, or a bot's, or a government's. +All these files were loving crafted by yours truly in markdown, using +vim, and converted with pandoc to HTML because of laziness. + The Internet I grew up with, though I didn't really appreciate it at the time, used to be filled with places like this. "Homepages" were a thing, or were just starting to be at least. But as soon as it started it all got sucked up and commodified into social media; we somehow got coerced into profiles, templates, and -standards to make us easier for ad companies to study. It's not even -unreasonable to believe you're not even talking to real -people on there, because there's a good chance of it now. +standards to make us easier for ad companies to study. And even I really +liked it for a while, but over time, it got fake. I got fake. + +And speaking of fake, it's not even unreasonable to believe you're +not even talking to real people on there, because there's a good chance of it now. [Astroturfing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astroturfing) is not a secret government conspiracy, it's just business as usual at this point. You used to be able to tell a human from a chatbot from the way @@ -79,7 +84,8 @@ they write. I don't know if the bots at this point are smarter, or if we've just been made so cynical and dumb by the process that we've given up. -Who would really write all that garbage on Facebook anyway? +In a way it's a reassuring: would real people really write all that +garbage on Facebook anyway? Don't mistake this for some pity nostalgia piece though. If you look hard enough--I promise you--that *Internet* of humans is still there. Here's @@ -89,8 +95,6 @@ https://neocities.org/ https://1mb.club/ -https://goodsites.tech/ - and old [not-so](https://archive.md/rav1z) faithful: https://www.wikipedia.org/ diff --git a/.md/about/whoami.md b/.md/about/whoami.md index 20d8149..55c9cc2 100644 --- a/.md/about/whoami.md +++ b/.md/about/whoami.md @@ -1,7 +1,7 @@ <center> Quotation is a serviceable substitute for wit. --- [*apparently no one*](https://archive.md/7AC79) +-- [*I thought Oscar Wilde, but apparently no one*](https://archive.md/7AC79) </center> *TL;DR Above everything, I'm a lurker. And I mean that in the traditional @@ -16,14 +16,14 @@ Internet or the paginated newsfeeds written by faceless names or in the rambling profiles that start with birth and forget where they're going around college. It seems to come easy to a lot of us. -Now, I'm not so sure I've earned the right yet. +But lately, I'm not so sure I've earned the right yet. I'd rather just let my work (and my play) stand for itself, for whatever it's worth. You'll get it as you go I'm sure. That said, there are some things that probably help for context's sake: - I'm born, raised, and hosted on the US East Coast. By most countries' - standards, that means I have no sense of the world outside of my own + standards: that means I have no sense of the world outside of my own country, which despite my best efforts, is probably true - I'm raised and hosted (not born) on free software (unless you count diff --git a/.md/thoughts/net/in-defense-of-anonymity.md b/.md/thoughts/net/in-defense-of-anonymity.md index 698da69..924ea34 100644 --- a/.md/thoughts/net/in-defense-of-anonymity.md +++ b/.md/thoughts/net/in-defense-of-anonymity.md @@ -8,15 +8,18 @@ required to use the Internet at all. In the same vein, some have suggested draconian punishments for those who mock or imitate them online anonymously or pseudonmously. -I think at this moment it should be stated on no uncertain terms that -the right to be anonymous online is crucial and must be defended. There -are no doubt consequences to this freedom: all freedoms have consequeces -if they are not excercised with responsibility. That's exactly why I -want to carefully lay out why we need such a right in the first place. +I think at this moment it should be stated clearly that +the right to be anonymous online communication is crucial +and must be defended. There are no doubt consequences to this +freedom: all freedoms have consequeces if they are not excercised +with responsibility. That's exactly why I want to carefully lay out +why we need such a right in the first place and what responsible use of +that right looks like. + Not only do I believe this right is critical for individuals to combat the growing influence of privatized surveillance in their daily lives, but it is critical for our free press, our national security and police -forces, as well as our elected leaders that networked anonymous +forces, and our elected leaders, that networked anonymous communication be available to the public. ## What is anonymity diff --git a/.md/thoughts/syntax/my-worst-habit.md b/.md/thoughts/syntax/my-worst-habit.md index b861396..2f35375 100644 --- a/.md/thoughts/syntax/my-worst-habit.md +++ b/.md/thoughts/syntax/my-worst-habit.md @@ -62,5 +62,5 @@ that, I can pull that together for you). Somehow, I managed to take the *one* point worth emphasizing (an entire sentence at that!) and *de*-emphasized it. -It's a habit I can't break. So please, if you are a caring reader, do +It's a habit I can't break. So please, if you are a caring reader: complain when I overuse parentheses. I deserve it. diff --git a/.md/tutorials/www/how-to-make-this-site.md b/.md/tutorials/www/how-to-make-this-site.md index d62e47c..0a2d201 100644 --- a/.md/tutorials/www/how-to-make-this-site.md +++ b/.md/tutorials/www/how-to-make-this-site.md @@ -125,7 +125,7 @@ server { For now, you don't need to change anything, so don't worry about what it means. -But do note the directory set on "root." This is where the web server +But note the directory set on "root." This is where the web server looks for files and folders. You can change this, but usually, you don't need too. Any files or folders you put under "/var/www/html" will be included as part of the web server when viewed in a web browser. diff --git a/.md/tutorials/www/how-to-use-the-internet.md b/.md/tutorials/www/how-to-use-the-internet.md index f5b98a3..fd9b0e8 100644 --- a/.md/tutorials/www/how-to-use-the-internet.md +++ b/.md/tutorials/www/how-to-use-the-internet.md @@ -3,28 +3,38 @@ Why *would* anyone want to use the Internet, really? +There is actually purpose to connecting all the +computers in the world with near-instant speed +beyond just streaming television, phishing scams, +pornography, punditry, and Fortnight competitions. + Unfortunately, almost none of us use the Internet for it's intended purpose: finding infomation. -Writing to someone or posting a picture of -your cat seems to be second nature for most -people, but converting a picture from a PDF or -looking up a study (or even a word!) you saw -in an article is something else entirely. +Writing an angry tweet to a celebrity or +posting a picture of your cat seems to be +second nature for most people, but converting +a picture from a PDF or looking up a study +(or even a word!) you saw in an article is +something else entirely. While that's in part the fault of our laziness, it's equally the fault of what the Internet has -become. For one, there's just so much more *stuff* +become. + +For one: there's just so much more *stuff* now; it's hard to know exactly where to start and who to trust. And so much of that stuff is now -*garbage*, either in the way it's presented--with -disruptive ads that don't close correctly--or in -the way it's written--vague, misleading, or -straight incorrect. But for seconds: no one really -teaches you how to use this thing do they? There -are no courses on "How to use a search engine" or -"How to find good posts on a forum," yet these are -the kinds of skills you really need if you want to +*garbage*, either in the way it's presented, with +disruptive ads that don't close correctly, or in +the way it's written: vague, misleading, or straight +incorrect. + +For two: no one really teaches you how to use this +thing do they? There are no courses on "How to use a search engine" +or "How to find good posts on a forum," and definitely not on +"How to *write* good posts on a forum." But these are +exactly the kinds of skills you really need if you want to navigate the modern world without getting constantly distracted, misled, or totally lost. @@ -49,15 +59,16 @@ what services are available. As for which search engine to use: you should use all of them, until you get the results you need. + In my experience, none of the major search engines are particularly good and I get inconsistent searches on all of them depending on what I'm -searching. There is much preaching these days -about privacy concerns, but to be honest I don't +searching. There is a lot of preaching these days +about privacy concerns, but I don't really believe any service is more "private" than -another. These are all privacy nightmares, your -best bet is to just search often and as varied as -you can. +another. These are all privacy nightmares, +arguably by design. Your best bet is just to +search often and as many platforms as you can. ## How to read and find scholarly articles diff --git a/tutorials/www/how-to-use-the-internet.html b/tutorials/www/how-to-use-the-internet.html deleted file mode 100644 index b687394..0000000 --- a/tutorials/www/how-to-use-the-internet.html +++ /dev/null @@ -1,244 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html> -<html lang="" xml:lang="" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> -<head> -<meta charset="utf-8"/> -<meta content="pandoc" name="generator"/> -<meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, user-scalable=yes" name="viewport"/> -<title>how-to-use-the-internet</title> -<style> - html { - line-height: 1.5; - font-family: Georgia, serif; - font-size: 20px; - color: #1a1a1a; - background-color: #fdfdfd; - } - body { - margin: 0 auto; - max-width: 36em; - padding-left: 50px; - padding-right: 50px; - padding-top: 50px; - padding-bottom: 50px; - hyphens: auto; - overflow-wrap: break-word; - text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; - font-kerning: normal; - } - @media (max-width: 600px) { - body { - font-size: 0.9em; - padding: 1em; - } - h1 { - font-size: 1.8em; - } - } - @media print { - body { - background-color: transparent; - color: black; - font-size: 12pt; - } - p, h2, h3 { - orphans: 3; - widows: 3; - } - h2, h3, h4 { - page-break-after: avoid; - } - } - p { - margin: 1em 0; - } - a { - color: #1a1a1a; - } - a:visited { - color: #1a1a1a; - } - img { - max-width: 100%; - } - h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6 { - margin-top: 1.4em; - } - h5, h6 { - font-size: 1em; - font-style: italic; - } - h6 { - font-weight: normal; - } - ol, ul { - padding-left: 1.7em; - margin-top: 1em; - } - li > ol, li > ul { - margin-top: 0; - } - blockquote { - margin: 1em 0 1em 1.7em; - padding-left: 1em; - border-left: 2px solid #e6e6e6; - color: #606060; - } - code { - font-family: Menlo, Monaco, 'Lucida Console', Consolas, monospace; - font-size: 85%; - margin: 0; - } - pre { - margin: 1em 0; - overflow: auto; - } - pre code { - padding: 0; - overflow: visible; - overflow-wrap: normal; - } - .sourceCode { - background-color: transparent; - overflow: visible; - } - hr { - background-color: #1a1a1a; - border: none; - height: 1px; - margin: 1em 0; - } - table { - margin: 1em 0; - border-collapse: collapse; - width: 100%; - overflow-x: auto; - display: block; - font-variant-numeric: lining-nums tabular-nums; - } - table caption { - margin-bottom: 0.75em; - } - tbody { - margin-top: 0.5em; - border-top: 1px solid #1a1a1a; - border-bottom: 1px solid #1a1a1a; - } - th { - border-top: 1px solid #1a1a1a; - padding: 0.25em 0.5em 0.25em 0.5em; - } - td { - padding: 0.125em 0.5em 0.25em 0.5em; - } - header { - margin-bottom: 4em; - text-align: center; - } - #TOC li { - list-style: none; - } - #TOC ul { - padding-left: 1.3em; - } - #TOC > ul { - padding-left: 0; - } - #TOC a:not(:hover) { - text-decoration: none; - } - code{white-space: pre-wrap;} - span.smallcaps{font-variant: small-caps;} - span.underline{text-decoration: underline;} - div.column{display: inline-block; vertical-align: top; width: 50%;} - div.hanging-indent{margin-left: 1.5em; text-indent: -1.5em;} - ul.task-list{list-style: none;} - .display.math{display: block; text-align: center; margin: 0.5rem auto;} - </style> -</head> -<body> -<nav id="TOC" role="doc-toc"> -<h2 id="toc-title">Contents</h2> -<ul> -<li><a href="#why" target="_self">Why?</a></li> -<li><a href="#how-to-use-a-web-browser" target="_self">How to use a web -browser</a></li> -<li><a href="#how-to-use-a-search-engine" target="_self">How to use a search -engine</a></li> -<li><a href="#how-to-read-and-find-scholarly-articles" target="_self">How to read and -find scholarly articles</a> -<ul> -<li><a href="#how-to-use-wikipedia" target="_self">How to use Wikipedia</a></li> -<li><a href="#how-to-find-articles-with-google-scholar" target="_self">How to find -articles with Google Scholar</a></li> -</ul></li> -<li><a href="#advanced-topics" target="_self">Advanced Topics</a> -<ul> -<li><a href="#how-to-use-tor-to-browse-anonymously" target="_self">How to use tor to -browse anonymously</a></li> -</ul></li> -</ul> -</nav> -<h2 id="why">Why?</h2> -<p>Why <em>would</em> anyone want to use the Internet, really?</p> -<p>Unfortunately, almost none of us use the Internet for it's intended -purpose: finding infomation.</p> -<p>Writing to someone or posting a picture of your cat seems to be -second nature for most people, but converting a picture from a PDF or -looking up a study (or even a word!) you saw in an article is something -else entirely.</p> -<p>While that's in part the fault of our laziness, it's equally the -fault of what the Internet has become. For one, there's just so much -more <em>stuff</em> now; it's hard to know exactly where to start and -who to trust. And so much of that stuff is now <em>garbage</em>, either -in the way it's presented--with disruptive ads that don't close -correctly--or in the way it's written--vague, misleading, or straight -incorrect. But for seconds: no one really teaches you how to use this -thing do they? There are no courses on "How to use a search engine" or -"How to find good posts on a forum," yet these are the kinds of skills -you really need if you want to navigate the modern world without getting -constantly distracted, misled, or totally lost.</p> -<p>There are of course, countless guides on "netiquette" geared towards -every possible internet subculture you can find. While many of them have -influenced this document and give many helpful tips on writing good -informative posts, none of them really go over what I think is most -important: what to do with the information you're reading.</p> -<p>This will probably be an evolving document as new services and -websites become available (or go down), but much of this material in the -beginning should be pretty generally applicable no matter what services -are available.</p> -<h2 id="how-to-use-a-web-browser">How to use a web browser</h2> -<h2 id="how-to-use-a-search-engine">How to use a search engine</h2> -<p>As for which search engine to use: you should use all of them, until -you get the results you need. In my experience, none of the major search -engines are particularly good and I get inconsistent searches on all of -them depending on what I'm searching. There is much preaching these days -about privacy concerns, but to be honest I don't believe any service is -more "private" than another. These are all privacy nightmares, your best -bet is to just search often and as varied as you can.</p> -<h2 id="how-to-read-and-find-scholarly-articles">How to read and find -scholarly articles</h2> -<h3 id="how-to-use-wikipedia">How to use Wikipedia</h3> -<p>A common complaint lodged at me whenever I recommend Wikipedia is -that it's not a source of truth since they found X mistake somewhere, or -made Y edit when they were a teenager that's still there. No one has -ever (or should ever) claim Wikipedia is a source of truth on it's own. -But you can use it to find more sources and maybe get a little -closer.</p> -<h3 id="how-to-find-articles-with-google-scholar">How to find articles -with Google Scholar</h3> -<h2 id="advanced-topics">Advanced Topics</h2> -<h3 id="how-to-use-tor-to-browse-anonymously">How to use tor to browse -anonymously</h3> -<p>Many in the advertising world will boast about using a VPN for -anonymity, or using a VPN in conjuction with Tor to "increase privacy." -This is simply a misunderstanding of terms. A VPN provides -<em>privacy</em> of the user's connection since it provides -encryption--only the VPN provider can "see" what is searched. The goal -of Tor is <em>anonymity</em> not privacy. Anonymity means "no one knows -who you are" not "no one knows what you're doing." Technically, traffic -is encrypted between nodes of the Tor service, so some level of privacy -is provided as well, but this is most effective when using hidden -services, not using Tor in general.</p> -</body> -</html> - |