The Anti Social

Hi people

Wed, 21 Jan 2026 17:17:07 -0700

Big News for the Blog

Sun, 31 Aug 2025 15:03:48 -0600

Wanted to let you all know that I have released the first major update to this blog since I launched it in 2022:

It’s now powered 100% by my own static site generator named Marginalia. �

Moving From Wordpres

Wordpress has always been a great blogging platform but it has some deficiencies. For one thing, I’ve been paying $10/mo for a VM all this time to run it. And a VM means I need to regularly patch it, and patch Wordpress, and patch all the software involved. This expense and this work is just too much for a little blog like mine

Much better are static site generators. These allow you to write your posts (usually in Markdown), they’ll generate the HTML once and you just need a place to host the HTML files. There’s no database. There’s no execution that happens on each page load. They’re super efficient. All you need is a place to store your HTML files, and hosting for that will cost pennies in comparison. This blog should go from $10/mo to probably about $0.30/mo

There’s just one snag

Static Site Generators are certainly a nerd’s dream. But almost all static site generators are meant to run on your computer. And most SSGs require you to finagle images yourself. This is problematic for me. I want to be able to post while on the go, this site is meant to replace social media for me. And I don’t really use social media all that much when I’m sitting at a computer, I’m using it when I’m out and about

Secondly, social media is all about images. (Well these days it’s even more about video but I’m not that into it) And so if posting updates from mobile was a little janky — posting images to a static site is FAR worse. Way too much friction

Enter Marginali

I often call our phones “pocket computers” because they are just SO powerful. So I have long thought, “Why don’t we just put together a static site generator that has an interface optimized for phones?” This has been an idea of mine for about 7-8 years. Well earlier this month, I decided to do JUST THAT

I’m writing this from my own static site generator running on my iPhone. It is designed to be similar to social media, but instead of posting to a social website, it uploads to your own static hosting. Adding images and locations is just a few taps. It handles creating thumbnails and galleries and linking to locations for you. Easy peasy. What I’ve been dreaming up for years

All this to say..

Now that I have made posting so much easier, especially pictures and media, expect content here to really pick up

And if you are interested in a static site generator for your phone, please stay tuned. My intention is to release it on the App Store in the near future

Sunsets

Sat, 30 Aug 2025 18:51:27 -0600

Shooting sunsets might be one of the coolest things.

Feeling so very sad

Wed, 27 Aug 2025 21:05:20 -0600

I am just so down from the news about the school shooting in Minnesota. Lord, have mercy.

Emailed Auth Codes

Fri, 22 Aug 2025 09:35:52 -0600

There’s this growing trend where every account will automatically email you a code you need to enter before logging in. I hate this trend. I get as a SaaS operator why we are trending this way, but the way auth is trending in the world is unsustainable.

Soon I will be spending a-not-insignificant amount of time just logging into things.

I was particularly peeved the other day when I was setting up an account to have my fingerprints taken for a background check I need to do. They had extremely bespoke password rules. They wanted a second factor. All to just simply schedule a time for me to go into a place and physically hand over my ID. They don’t need such security. It should just be a “one way” system where I enter my information and I have no way to retrieve it back, and then there would be no need for such security measures.

It’s particularly annoying because I only need to do finger prints every five years, and the odds that this platform will be the same platform they ask me to use again in five years is almost exactly zero.

So I spent about 20 minutes setting up an account that I will, in all likelihood, only ever use once in my life. And that was 20 minutes as a very technical user, I can’t imagine someone’s grandma trying to use this system. All for something that if they had thought of for more than five minutes, they could have design to only accept any needed data (name, address, driver’s license ID, etc) and to never show data — and then they would never need such stringent security measures in the first place.

And as AI takes over the world and software quality declines so much more these user-hostile security measures will just grow and grow and grow.

/rant over

Another great song! I’m loving this style of music.

Sat, 09 Aug 2025 19:34:36 -0600

Another great song! I’m loving this style of music.

Citizens
https://music.apple.com/us/album/citizens/1507343679?i=1507343681

So beautiful!

Sat, 09 Aug 2025 16:34:49 -0600

So beautiful!

Looking forward to trying this.

Fri, 08 Aug 2025 12:06:43 -0600

Looking forward to trying this.

The New ChatGPT Resets the AI Race
With GPT-5, OpenAI is making its strongest effort yet to hook users.
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2025/08/gpt-5-launch/683791/

Mount Royal and the ten mile range.

Thu, 07 Aug 2025 22:32:04 -0600

Mount Royal and the ten mile range.

Sunrise beauty.

Thu, 07 Aug 2025 22:23:32 -0600

Sunrise beauty.