niracler

Some Self-Agreements on Writing Articles#

Why write articles? Actually, I write articles not for any other reason, but to think. By organizing my thoughts into words, I can more easily examine my viewpoints. And why publish articles? If the articles are well-written but only for myself, there will be no progress. It's very likely that what I write for myself can be understood and satisfying within 30 minutes. But when I present it to others, it becomes nothing. I often fall into this trap: "I thought I had figured it out, but in fact, I haven't thought it through at all." By putting it out there for others to see and trying to explain it clearly, I force myself to continuously question, "Have I really figured it out? Does it make sense? Is there a better way to express it?" So, in summary, it's about thinking, thinking deeply.

What should the writing cycle be like? A former colleague of mine insists on writing a diary every day and publishing it on a public account, which is quite admirable. However, I prefer to write weekly journals. Although I record some snippets every day, if I were to go through the process of "clarifying thoughts => organizing layout => ensuring fluency => checking for typos" every day before publishing, it would be too exhausting. Moreover, I don't like to treat X (Twitter) as a social circle where I share a bit of content every day. Therefore, I decided to adjust my writing frequency to once a week, writing a weekly journal.

However, the weekly journal is just scattered material of my thoughts, and to integrate these materials into a complete work, I need another approach. Therefore, I decided to publish a themed random piece at another point in the week, specifically on Wednesdays. These pieces may vary widely; some may be just a short paragraph, while others may involve longer topics. The more challenging articles may require more time from conception to completion. However, considering my current accumulation of materials, publishing a random piece every week for six months should be feasible. (Though I can't guarantee quality). The monthly random topics also fall into this category; I have already published articles on the random topics from the previous two months, one being VA-11 Hall-A and the other being Apple Game Porting Toolkit. If we count the article "Little Sang," I have now published three short articles on xLog.

2. Weekly Journal (Sunday Night): Similar to the article you are currently reading, my weekly journal will record my thoughts, feelings, observations, and actions throughout the week. Unfortunately, I may not republish previous weekly journals, as these scattered materials have not been organized into works with specific themes, and thus may not possess high readability.

However, I can list the titles of my previous journals, which generally represent the keywords of that week. (Does this satisfy your curiosity?) The timeline is in reverse order, tracing back to when I first started writing blogs with Hexo. I will fold this section to avoid excessive length.

In summary, these self-imposed regulations have found a balance for me, allowing me to express myself in a more organized and purposeful way in writing, without being overwhelmed by daily tasks, while still maintaining a consistent writing habit.
(This could be considered my stock? But honestly, there aren't many pieces worth showcasing~~)

Random Thoughts#

⭐ The star indicates topics that can be elaborated on later. Subjects for dedicated articles.

A Week with xLog#

I have that kind of "easily fall in love with various things" constitution: I found myself addicted to xLog, eagerly watching the modest reading numbers and getting excited. I had to limit myself to only checking it at night. Whenever someone publishes a few articles, I go on to see them, it seems I also have a tendency to gossip about others' boring lives. Previously, when watching anime and manga, I would always say, "Ah, this is great," and then the next time, "Wow, this is even better than the last one." It's as if every work is my true love.

xLog is truly a place for camaraderie, where many of the members are young people who have just started blogging, and everyone is mutually liking and laughing at each other's posts (even though there are quite a few articles like mine that are quite amateurish). However, I believe that those who seriously engage with others will gradually receive serious engagement in return. xLog also showcases many impressive articles from talented individuals, so it is not just a mediocre circle. Especially the various different lifestyles and technologies shared by everyone really captivate me.

I didn't expect that an article Elegant Philosophy-v1 would become my most liked article. I intended to make this public as a constraint to regulate my own behavior. "Publicly stating the ability to maximize the enhancement of thought abilities through information." Similar to the rules of oaths and constraints in Hunter, simply put, it’s the setting that awareness/contribution and risk will bring about enhancement.

This week, when I wrote an article about the game porting toolkit, I received dismal feedback, indicating that people are not interested in this topic. Our boss was right; for tutorials, timeliness and reproducibility are very important. Without a large number of readers using it and providing feedback, it is indeed difficult to write something comprehensive.

Work - The Dilemma of Collaborating with Others#

⭐ Bad Prompt = Bad Result. Right, puppeteer, substitute, and this Dorothy is the main body, while the Anna next door is the substitute.

It's not just GPT; it's the same in work. Many times, without good communication, the result is just a pile of shit. Finally, on Friday, my collaborators and I were called by the boss for tea. Paranoia: Yes, I often imagine various scenarios of "I might get fired." This is a characteristic of someone with serious internal conflict; it really is... although I am also a master of slacking off in various senses.

The reason I feel dissatisfied is perhaps because my expectations for my life are too high? This is a form of courage; endurance is indeed a form of courage. However, since I have started to find meaning in my life, I can actually not care about these matters.

About the function descriptions I write every day? 🤣

Changed Email to Fastmail#

⭐ Why I use Fastmail: Yes, I have changed my commonly used email to Fastmail. I can elaborate on the trade-offs later. I have also changed all the accounts originally linked to my Gmail to use Fastmail. As for the reasons?

1. Aliases are convenient; I finally got rid of the traditional setup of 4 switch accounts and 4 emails. I can even use a random email for each service.
2. I can link my own domain. This is actually quite nice.
3. (Maybe I can customize some more?)

I also took this opportunity to set up MFA authentication and random passwords for various websites, finally using some of the advanced features of 1Password. In fact, the corresponding features of Apple's Keychain are basically all available, and I am starting to doubt whether 1Password is a bit excessive for me.

Others#

The following topics are ones that I find easy to write about. I will find a small week to write about them.

• ⭐ Encrypting SSH private keys: This week, I encrypted all my previous SSH private keys and wrote a script to check the SSH agent every time the shell starts, which is something everyone should do.
• ⭐ The charm of one-click dropdown terminals: This is actually a topic I thought could be written well in a short article. (Setting a flag here) I really like being able to summon a terminal with just one F1 key to work.
• ⭐ Why do people find oh-my-zsh useful? What configurations does it have? This is a topic I can write about later.
• ⭐ Usage records of various software, tools, and services; actually, looking at the software a person uses can reveal their taste, and I will write about this later.

News Reading#

• RedHat found a way to get around the GPLv2 license intention with contract law | Hacker News: RedHat found a way to use contract law to circumvent the intention of the GPLv2 license.
• Touch Music Night Talk: Traces of Time - Touch Music: I am quite interested in the book "The Imaginative Ideas of Guillermo del Toro."
• Improving the 1Password SSH Agent: A rare technical article that I somewhat understand; I learned that when there are multiple ssh-agents, it will retry.
• 【Personal】The Six Major Systems of Hunter and the Relationship between Oaths and Constraints - Zhihu: This setting was referenced and placed into the YY of real life, haha.
• I vaguely thought that software like opencat would be banned. I need to find time to migrate the opencat service.
• Some books, reading them early, I feel is actually an asset, such as Zhu Guangqian's "On Aesthetics."
• I definitely need to find an opportunity to visit bilibili world.
• Damn, I 社 give me back my tears💧: I’m just short of writing an obituary for you.