Hello, netizens! I realized I don't have a particular topic today that I want to sink my teeth into. Don't get me wrong, I have a backlog of ideas, but It's just one of those days where my brain is running in slow motion. You know?

Luckily, I have a few smaller things I'd like to share. Think of this as a round-up, like the one-of-many newsletters typically on Substack.

The (Terminal) Box for Writers

To start, I decided yesterday to start work on a terminal-based program I'm calling WriterBox. What does it do? Well, it's a TUI organizer and visualizer of your plain-text markdown files written in Python using Textual, and it uses the data from the YAML of the files for the organization, a lot like how blogging software like Jekyll or Eleventy or Hugo does.

Why did I make it? Good question. I guess I've been thinking about the current ways we have of viewing and organizing our plain-text files, it's become a cottage industry unto its own with applications like Obsidian, LogSec, Roam Research, etc.

But I found that Obsidian, even without any plug-ins, doesn't run that nicely on my older machines. So I figured a terminal-based application would particularly useful for those who use SSH on their servers to write static content, or on low-end hardware in general.

I don't know, I still have thoughts of permacomputing on my mind, and trying to figure out sustainable, low-energy solutions. I think about how even the best laptops of today have a life expectancy of twenty years because of transistors. Is this something I'll need to worry about? It certainly is apocalyptic thinking.

Le Monde Interview

Something else I wanted to share is that I was interviewed for the prominent French magazine Le Monde about the recent new AI-only social media platform Moltbook, which I wrote about only a few days ago. (Bonjour à tous les lecteurs qui découvrent mon site grâce à l'article !)

It was really flattering to have someone seek my opinion (and call me an expert in their article, no less!) I hope to do stuff like this more often in the future. I think having a background of being a self-taught web developer and also having formal education in language and communication puts me at a neat intersection and I want to help unite these seemingly-disparate worlds (which are really so much closer together than people realize)

You can read the article here, though it is paywalled. Here is a quote translated into English by me to the best of my abilities (which isn't saying much!)

An expert in open source projects – those on which Moltbook relies – Canadian developer Brennan Kenneth Brown recounts on his blog how he too got caught up in the game. Once configured, his robot did not start chatting cheerfully with other agents. Worse: it wrote nothing. Interviewed by Le Monde, he explains: "I had to push it a bit to make it research, draft, and post." Far from the initial promise of autonomy. He ultimately found himself having to give his AI agent specific prior instructions for each message posted. He therefore decided to cut his losses after a few hours, after having it post a farewell message.

It goes on,

For Brennan Kenneth Brown, the conclusion is simple: Moltbook is not a social network of AI agents, but rather of AI agents constantly piloted by humans. This is because the robots in question were initially "designed to be useful autonomous assistants. (...) Their parameters are not those devoted to originality or creativity: that would give much too random results," he says.

The Current State of Medium

Something else I'd like to share is that I wrote an article on Medium yesterday about how they've paused the Medium Partner Program, which is the system in which writers get paid.

This means that they are currently not accepting new writers into the program, but current writers like me are still able to get paid just fine. I wonder if they've been required to close down the program because of the influx of AI writing that most likely is flooding the platform.

I certainly hope it's temporary, because not only do I really enjoy Medium, but it is how I'm making my living right now. I have plans to launch a writing school in the summer, and have my web dev. studio Berry House, but I don't plan on those making me large amount of money. I want to do as much open-source contributions and teach writing classes as low-cost as possible.

I'd much rather make money by paywalling my writing on a platform that lets me syndicate a free version of the article on my own site. That said, you really should get a Medium membership, it's $5/month and you help sustain many writers like myself.

Okay, that's enough promotion!

So, what have you been up to recently? Don't forget, you can leave a comment if you have a website that uses IndieAuth!