commit cd4d6b158d358c2d827597b277a76f1a55f89739
parent 27756d5ca08b5bcdf1d47c2431ae24f29743c24d
Author: Andrew Laack <andrew@laack.co>
Date: Tue, 17 Feb 2026 14:00:47 -0600
Working on post ideas
Diffstat:
7 files changed, 235 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)
diff --git a/posts/wip/are-llms-useful.md b/posts/wip/are-llms-useful.md
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+# Are LLMs Useful?
+
+## Date: 2025/01/13
+
+## Motivating Usefulness
+
+
+
+## Definition of Usefulness
+
+## Citations
diff --git a/posts/wip/encrypted-messaging.md b/posts/wip/encrypted-messaging.md
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+# Encrypted Messaging
+
+## Date: 2026/01/30
+
+## Acceptability
+
+I am only willing to use E2E encrypted messaging platforms, barring exceptions for work and school.
diff --git a/posts/wip/how-to-choose-software.md b/posts/wip/how-to-choose-software.md
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+# How to Choose Software
+
+TODO: Edit
+TODO: Make this more focused / actionable
+TODO: What even is my point? what even do I think?
+TODO: I guess one thing I think is that you probably won't be happier with new things.
+TODO: You probably are also wasting time, and you might be led back to where you started.
+TODO: I'd also like some sort of flow chart for this. We shall see
+TODO: Maybe say to build your own software?
+
+## Constraints
+
+These are my opinions about software selection. I have been thinking about this extensively as of late because I was curious about what software existed to take notes, but this invariably led me back to where I started many years ago, vim. I have recently realized that left unbounded I will explore the same loops indefinitely. I have done this before. I last time I started with vim, used vim-wiki for ~1 years, tried nextcloud notes for a few hours, mediawiki for a few hours, logseq for a few hours, zettlr for a few hours, and circled back to vim, but this time with oil for filesystem manipulation.
+
+This was basically the same loop I went through years ago as well. I had been using vim for a while, tried some other things, and went in almost an identical loop that time as well. This is because I have specific requirements for note taking software that constrains software I would consider trying. Such constraints are listed below:
+
+1. Free software
+2. Markdown only, no db
+3. No data collection of any kind by default
+ - This includes auto-updating which you can't disable in qownnotes.
+
+Beyond this, I have expectations of performance, but this is on a case by case basis, but was what originally led me away from nextcloud. I mention these constraints because I think they are a useful starting point for software selection. First, start by stating what you are not looking for. I find this to be easier than saying what I am looking for because there is potential for programs to provide functionality that is life-changing, but I would've never considered before.
+
+## What you want
+
+I said saying what you want is hard, and it is, but there are some primitives you probably are interested in. A few primitives I wanted are listed below:
+
+1. Ability to take MD notes with in-line LaTeX rendering
+2. Standard MD format, no special formatting / syntax
+3. Simple to configure without requiring adopting some ritualistic note taking practices
+
+This was really it for me.
+
+## Where I went wrong
+
+I went wrong by believing there could be something I hadn't ever thought of but would significantly alter my life. I have had the same issue with keyboards, programming languages, and software. Basically, there is this sense that there might be something better out there so I should always keep looking. In the end though, I use gateron clears, I write code mostly in C++, and I use vim, dwm, and tmux for basically all things computing related.
+
+## How to fight this
+
+I haven't figured this out yet. I suspect I can fight this by asking myself the question, "What am I looking for to be better?". If I can't answer this question, I shouldn't continue searching. I still will probably continue looking, but this question seems to at least decrease my fervor. Another thing to consider is this; what software do you like?
+
+For me, I like suckless software, generally. Knowing this, a simple heuristic for search is that of simplicity. Is there something that has less features than what I am using right now that doesn't remove the features I use? Or, is there something out there that has a feature I would use. This is again dangerous.
+
+## Never happy
+
+You will never be happy with your software. You will always believe there might be something better out there. That is okay. Should you continue looking for it? That depends how much it matters to you. If this is somethign you enjoy, maybe. If this is something you get paid for, probably. If this is something you do and get some enjoyment out of, but is overall a distraction, probably not. The final category is the one I find myself in. There are so many things for me to study, research, and work on so spending time on these sorts of things, while slightly enjoyable, is often not worthwhile.
+
+This leads me to conclude the following; stick with what you have. Select software that is simple and does one thing well. If you want more things, find single programs that add that to what you already have. If you want better note taking in some ways, use nb or vim-wiki. If you want a better editor frontend, find one, but don't try to find a program that does everything for you. This will invaraibly be too tall of an ask and will miss some things that others do better, but do some thingss better than others. There is no way to win except building everything from the bottom-up slowly and over time.
diff --git a/posts/wip/my-favorite-piece-of-software.md b/posts/wip/my-favorite-piece-of-software.md
@@ -0,0 +1,113 @@
+# The My Favorite Piece of Software
+
+## Some Possible Options
+
+To start, I'd like to list the software I use frequently that I don't detest. This list is short so it will be exhaustive, and from there I will filter down the list.
+
+- Browsers
+ - Qutebrowser
+ - Librewolf
+ - Lynx
+- Mail clients
+ - Thunderbird
+- Text Editors
+ - Neovim
+- Operating Systems
+ - GNU/Linux
+ - OpenBSD
+ - FreeBSD
+- Tools
+ - Git
+ - Fzf
+ - Dmenu
+ - TCC
+ - GCC
+ - Rsync
+ - Unison
+- Document Conversion/Viewing
+ - Pandoc
+ - PDFLatex
+ - Zathura
+- Window Managers
+ - DWM
+- Other
+ - Newsboat
+ - DVTM
+ - Tmux
+ - St
+ - Entr
+
+## Filtering
+
+I like Lynx quite a bit, but most of the other browsers feel like the lesser of evils. In particular, I don't think JavaScript on the web is a good idea (JavaScript is basically just RCE in a *controlled* environment), but I also realize it is a requirement for the modern web, and sometimes I am compelled to use some modern websites.
+
+I quite like Thunderbird's simplicity to use. I have found mail clients like mutt and neomutt a bit difficult to get working with mainstream email hosting providers, and Thunderbird simplifies this greatly. It is also extremely easy to use OpenPGP with which is great. The only thing I am not a huge fan of with Thunderbird is it is a bit heavy, weighing in at 255.62 MiB (currently) when downloaded via pacman.
+
+Neovim is a decent text editor. I like its ease of extension, but there are some built in features, like a terminal, that I'd prefer if they didn't exist. It would be reasonable if there was a plugin to add that, but I dislike that it is shipped with the product.
+
+GNU/Linux, OpenBSD, and FreeBSD are all good operating systems with their own benefits and drawbacks. I struggle to say any are my favorite piece of software though because they are all very complicated. This makes sense because each of them supports a wide variety of hardware, but it saddens me a bit that different hardware requires special considerations as this really shouldn't be the case.
+
+Git has many features I don't want and rebasing allows for easy rewriting of history. I'm on the fence about whether rewriting history should even exist, but making it easy is something I *really* don't want.
+
+Fzf is phenomenal at its job. It functions similarly to dmenu except from the terminal. Unfortunately, it is written in Go.
+
+TCC and GCC are the two C compilers I use. GCC is quite slow so while it is very good at optimization, it isn't my favorite. TCC is honestly awesome. It is so fast and just works. It compile C code and that's that.
+
+Rsync and Unison are my preferred ways to synchronize files between systems. Unison can be a bit tedius to ensure directories stay synchronized because of how hard it is to merge file changes (heck, that's why VCSs exist). This isn't an issue with Unison, moreso the issue it's trying to resolve.
+
+Pandoc is pretty awesome. It converts across (pan) document types in a performant manner and gives descriptive errors when things go wrong.
+
+PDFLatex is the latex to PDF converter I use. Some people seem to have compatibility issues with it, but my LaTeX needs are quite limited so it does the job. That said, I find LaTeX's slowness a bit annoying. Understandable, but annoying. As such, no LaTeX tooling can be my favorite piece of software.
+
+Zathura is a document viewer that relies on other renderers, like MuPDF, to display and navigate documents. I quite like Zathura, but I'm not a huge fan of file formats that aren't entirely text based, like PDF, which limits my appreciation for the software.
+
+DWM is a pretty good tiling window manager. It is simple, performant, and portable.
+
+Newsboat is the best RSS feed reader I have used. It is however written in C++ which is not my preference.
+
+DVTM is pretty decent, but I've experience some weird issues when reattaching to DVTM sessions with abduco. Also, it sometimes enters into weird states that don't allow text inputs. For these reasons, it isn't the best piece of software.
+
+Tmux is a pretty solid piece of software, but it is a bit too featureful.
+
+St is the best terminal emulator I have ever used.
+
+Entr is simple, elegant, and extremely useful for document compilation on file change, and code recompilation on file change.
+
+## Filtered List
+
+Given the above, here is my filtered list of software that might be my favorite:
+
+- Lynx
+- Dmenu
+- TCC
+- Rsync
+- Pandoc
+- DWM
+- Entr
+- St
+
+Of the items on this list, I'm going to eliminate Entr, Pandoc, and Rsync from the running. Entr does its job and does it well, but its job is very small wrt how I do computing. I mostly use Pandoc for converting to PDF or HTML. While I like the HTML conversion quite a bit, if it were up to me, PDFs wouldn't exist, and thus quite a bit of Pandoc's functionality feels like a symptom of poor choices that led to this point. Rsync is also getting removed from the list because it is too complicated. There are CVEs related to Rsync that make systems vulnerable to exploits in non-trivial ways. There might be vulnerabilities in St, but they are often mitigated by the fact that St is not a program that uses networking.
+
+## Continued Filtering
+
+We are left with these final five options:
+
+1. Lynx
+2. Dmenu
+3. TCC
+4. DWM
+5. St
+
+I can eliminate Dmenu because while it is good, I prefer non-graphical software to graphical software in most cases. From here, eliminating more pieces of software is exceedingly difficult. Each of the remaining pieces of software are extremely useful, and designed impeccably.
+
+1. Lynx
+2. TCC
+3. DWM
+4. St
+
+I'm going to eliminate DWM and St next. While I appreciate both, I want my computing experience to not require graphical interfaces, and since these are both graphical programs, I am going to eliminate them.
+
+1. Lynx
+2. TCC
+
+Lynx is enjoyable to use.
diff --git a/posts/wip/why-us-software-sucks.md b/posts/wip/why-us-software-sucks.md
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+# Why US Software Suck
+
+Let's compare some EU software companies with US software companies.
+
+## EU
+
+- Email
+ - Tuta Nota
+ - Proton
+ - Mailbox
+ - Posteo
+
+## US
+
+- Email
+ - Microsoft
+ - Google
+
+
+## Explanation
+
+These lists are non-exhaustive, but it tends to be the case that the most popular services coming from the EU for a given product segment are privacy respecting whereas the same is not true for US based countries. Why might this be?
+
+### Love of the Game
+
+Average salary comparison. Shows people choose it out of passion more than out of greed
+
+### Privacy Laws
+
+They have privacy laws that impact companies substantially, to the extent that they simply position themselves as privacy respecting, and often walk the walk, because it can be too costly to be a POS company like google in the EU.
+
+### Culture
+
+US has greedy startup BS culture sometimes.
diff --git a/posts/wip/will-inference-costs-come-down.md b/posts/wip/will-inference-costs-come-down.md
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+# Will Inference Costs Come Down?
+
+## Date: 2025/01/19
+
+## Context
+
+I have seen a sentiment that the cost of inference will come down quickly over time. This sentiment will dictate what some startups build. If one expects the cost of inference to fall rapidly, making your product cost effective isn't a concern at present, in the future tokens will be very cheap so might as well build systems that use lots of tokens to generate exceptional results instead of being conservative with tokens while maintaining adequate results. Even if one expects prices to fall over time, there are still near term capitalization opportunities, but the upside for these opportunities may be limited.
+
+Conversely, one may expect the price of inference to increase over time because the big players are subsidizing usage right now [1], but this will not be sustainable over longer timescales.
+
+## Citations
+
+[1] -
+[2] - [https://web.archive.org/web/20260117001407/https://openai.com/api/pricing/](https://web.archive.org/web/20260117001407/https://openai.com/api/pricing/)
+[3] - [https://web.archive.org/web/20260119083924/https://claude.com/pricing#api](https://web.archive.org/web/20260119083924/https://claude.com/pricing#api)
diff --git a/posts/wip/you-are-being-tricked.md b/posts/wip/you-are-being-tricked.md
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+# You Are Being Tricked
+
+You are being tricked into thinking new things are useful.
+
+Sense of novelty wears off, leads back to the same position you were in before.
+
+Shit like obsidian, notion, and all these other spywares make you think you are being productive and stuff, but you really aren't, and even at this, once you become productive with them, you realize vim is still what you should be using.
