Curious about how the trans sisters in your computer work? Of course you are! Go watch Heydon’s Why is Everything Binary? now.

A bold, black-and-white design with WHY IS EVERYTHING BINARY? in the center. Binary code surrounds the text. On the left, a male figure with a huge, exposed brain. On the right, an upside-down female figure mirroring him.

What a lovely pledge this is. 🥰

there are eight billion people in the world, 67% of whom are on the internet (in case you don't have a calculator handy, that's 5,360,000,000 people). this little corner of the internet represents .000000130597015% of the world's internet users. and I am so excited about it.

to my seven subscribers, i pledge to never be exciting. i pledge to be a reflection of your own humanity. i pledge to be full of faults and make lots of mistakes. thank you for seeing me.

Here’s a summary of some drama that unfolded while I slept.

Adam:

Today I received a cease and desist notice related to my recent comments about the attitudes and behaviors of some people within the IndieWeb space.

Folks assumes this is about Manton and Micro.blog. Pitchforks on the timeline.

James:

Confirm a negative for us. If this ISN’T about Manton and/or Micro.blog, say so. Many people on MB deserve to know if this is about their platform.

Adam:

Confirmed.

Don’t assume, get mad, and immediately post about it. Take a breath. Give it 5 minutes. Don’t be a hothead.

❤️

Switching things up at home—new sofa, coffee table, and rug in the living room. Sanna and I have been together for 22 years, and this is the third sofa we’ve bought. It cost an arm and a leg, so hopefully, it’s also the last one we buy before we die. 😋

Close-up of a living room setup with a round oak coffee table, a textured green rug, and a cozy ochre sofa.

Hi there, sun, I’ve missed you.

Beautiful sunrise over a frosty field—crisp air, golden light, and peaceful vibes.

Sanna feels like there are more and more books piling up at home. 📚 And, well, she’s not wrong. That’s on me.

Here are my three favorite reads from January:

  • Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto
  • The Walking Man by Jiro Taniguchi
  • The Guy She Was Interested In Wasn’t a Guy at All by Sumiko Arai

A stack of twelve books on a side table.

I’ve had a Nirvana song playing in my head* for the last couple of days (not constantly), and I kept meaning to look up the exact lyrics because—well, my memory is okay, but short. When I finally sat down at my computer to actually look it up, I saw that Anamanaguchi released a cover… three days ago?!1 Weird! What are the odds? 🎵

Never met a wise man
If so, it’s a woman

Anyway, here’s the original Territorial Pissings (Live At The Paramount/1991) and the recent cover (⚠️ Warning for flashing lights).

* Do all humans do that? Play music in their head, I mean.

Damn, it sucks that Read.cv (and Posts) is winding down. I’ve lost count of all the cool websites, projects, and humans I’ve found over there. Like Karlie’s Text-iles, Robert’s music player, and Connie’s site – and those finds are just from the last couple of days!

If you’ve never heard of Read.cv before, do yourself a favor and scroll through their explore page before it disappears. Don’t wait too long, though.

May 16th, 2025 Read.cv and Posts and all corresponding data will be fully wound down.

Welcome to my homepagemy little corner of the internet. It’s here, on the world wide web, thanks to me and my machine. The glorious machine.

Tired of scrolling through endless AI slop? Fed up with the never-ending churn of algorithmic anxiety?

Yeah, me too. That’s not what the web is about.

The goal of the Web is to serve humanity.

Tim said so.

It’s time to escape the algorithm! Making space for a handmade web. The free web.

Or, you know, leave the machine for a bit. But first, let it find your next read. Because AI isn’t entirely evil, just mostly–see TRISHASODE 1.

Ayla’s new album, Ayla Ondamoon, has become my nightly soundtrack. Playful, distorted, synthy, and packed with deep bass—it slaps! Start with When u sleep and Noll, or get an overview of the album in ~2 minutes. 🎵

A diptych featuring vibrant album art for Ayla Ondamoon, depicting surreal, alien-like illustrations against a cosmic backdrop, alongside Ayla herself dressed in dark clothing, balancing on rocky terrain with an overcast sky and a body of water in the background.

Marginalia Search recently moved to a new domain and got a bit of a facelift. If you haven’t checked out this indie web search engine yet, now’s a great time to give it a try. Not sure what you’re looking for? Head over to the explore page and see what catches your eye. 👀

I’m redesigning my homepage, and I think it’ll feature Aqua-style buttons and looping videos. Also, I felt a little sorry for my mouse pointer—it’s always so lonely. So, I gave it a little friend to chase around. 👻

A quick update on my #DecemberAdventure… It went really, really well for ten days—then not so well. But I still had a great month. Here’s my log. 👀

Thanks for organizing, @[email protected], and see y’all again in eleven months.

We have a hill right below our kitchen window that’s perfect for sledding. As long as there’s some amount of snow on the ground, there’s never not a bunch of kids out there. 🛷

View from our kitchen window, looking out at a snowy hill with kids playing and colorful pulks scattered around.

From my copy of Sarah Andersen’s Oddball, printed in 2021. Happy new year, everyone! 😅

A comic strip titled Time Traveling. In the first panel, Sarah looks surprised, standing in front of a post-apocalyptic scene with crumbling buildings and fire, saying, Whoa! In the second panel, a sciencey looking character with glasses appears, and Sarah continues, This sure is grim. In the third panel, she smiles nervously and says, Glad I don’t live thousands of years in the future. In the final panel, the other character bluntly responds, This is 2025.

Perfect Days is a very good film about cleaning toilets. Hirayama and I share a few quirks—like lying flat on the floor while listening to music. 🍿

The film’s protagonist lies on a tatami mat floor in a modest, sunlit room with a vintage cassette player, a collection of cassette tapes, and a simple bedding arrangement near a window overlooking a quiet street.

🚨 New blog post alert! Look at Me, Giving Away Money is the one where I might come off as a virtue-signaling asshat, but hey, give it a read and see for yourself. 👀

Look at Me, Giving Away Money

I’m lucky enough that most years, when I review my personal profit and loss statement, the numbers are in the black. After paying my taxes, covering the roof over my head, the food on my table, and saving for the future, there’s usually something left over to give away. I donate to charities sporadically throughout the year, but the bulk of my giving happens around yuletide.

In my family, we’ve decided not to exchange Christmas gifts, so having this extra money to donate is a nice way to get into the spirit of giving during the holidays.

I’ve struggled with whether I should share this or not, worried of coming off as a virtue-signaling asshat. But then, with perfect timing, Lu posted:

“Oh but I don’t like virtue signalling”
Oh fuck off
I’d rather be an annoying virtue-signaling influencer than a tight-pocketed snob

So, fuck it. Inspired by Lu’s thread, here are the organizations I sent money to in 2024.

Nine Charities

  • Gemenskap i jul provides support and companionship for those who might be alone during the holiday season in Jönköping, organizing events and meals.
  • GiveWell identifies the charities that save or improve lives the most per dollar. The money goes to causes like malaria prevention, among others. It’s a data-driven approach, but not without criticism.
  • Hug (Help Ukraine in Gothenburg) sends medical and humanitarian aid to Ukraine, alongside long-term support like helping refugees integrate into Swedish society.
  • Internet Archive offers free access to books, movies, music, software, and the invaluable Wayback Machine.
  • Kvinno- & tjejjouren supports and protects women and girls facing violence and abuse in close relationships. This is a local initiative here in Jönköping.
  • The Swedish Childhood Cancer Fund raises money for research into childhood cancers, improving treatments, and supporting affected families and childhood cancer survivors.
  • The Swedish Brain Foundation funds research into neurological and mental health conditions like multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s, depression, and ADHD, with the aim of improving treatments and understanding of brain diseases.
  • Wikipedia is the free, user-contributed online encyclopedia we all love and use.
  • Williams Syndromförening i Sverige supports individuals with Williams Syndrome and their families, offering information, advocacy, and a community for those affected by this rare genetic condition.

Free Money to Give Away

Many countries offer tax relief for people who donate money. You need to check what applies where you live, but here in Sweden, the tax deduction is 25% of the donated amount, capped at 3,000 SEK per year.

So, to maximize the leverage effect, donate 12,000 SEK annually, and it will “only” cost you 9,000 SEK. Pretty neat! That said, some countries have even more favorable deductions, so be sure to check with your local tax agency.

Lots of talk about donating money, which is great, but donating time is equally impactful — we always need more editors, and it’s these volunteers who create and curate our content!

sf

Even if you have no money to spare, giving away your time and energy to a good cause makes a huge difference. And in my experience, it’s usually highly rewarding. This year, I didn’t volunteer for any charities, but I did give my time to internet friends, family, and my local community.

I maintained a website for a community association, developed Faviconique (a free Micro.blog plug-in), helped folks over at the Micro.blog Help Center, contributed to open-source projects, found and reported security vulnerabilities, advised a board of directors, assisted in a business sale, helped set up a new business (my wife’s), and evaluated a local AI startup on behalf of an investment fund.

Some years, we have neither the time, energy, nor money to give away, and that’s okay. I’ve been there. Next year might be different.

Want to connect an old digital video camera—like the Sony DCR-PC5E—to a modern Mac? You’ll need: a 4-pin to 9-pin FireWire (i.LINK) cable, a FireWire to Thunderbolt adapter, and a Thunderbolt 2 to 3 adapter. I call it the MiniDV camcorder cable cascade. 😅 It’s not pretty, but it works!