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This post is my contribution to the September 2026 IndieWeb Carnival topic "Parenting", hosted by winther: https://winther.sysctl.dk/indieweb-carnival-september-2026-parenting/ My parents are good people, and I think about this often. About how lucky I am to have had a childhood free from abuse, trauma, or neglect. To have had an adolescence where I was encouraged, supported, and redirected towards interests and passions that have stayed with me into adulthood. In this life I have been blessed…

At the very beginning of August, I made a hasty and last-minute decision to participate in Blaugust 2026 [1], an indieweb community blogging event that encourages writers to develop their writing habits by posting more frequently. It's an entirely voluntary, honor system, no-stakes situation. Just a way to for those who are already interested in this stuff to absorb a little extra motivation from being part of a community effort. In a recent post about answering song title questions, I touched…

Recently I caught up on an older 32-Bit Cafe thread[1] that discussed the death of the power user in computing. The post linked by OP had some really strange ideas of what a power user looked like back in the day - really, power users used to understand DNS and IP routing? I think not - and was almost certainly written by AI, but it got me thinking about what I would consider characteristics of a power user in 2026. Here are some ideas I have about different categories of users, ranging from…

So, a few days ago I joined kunulo on the geminispace bbs to discuss how and where to chat about smol.pub posts. It seems like the conclusion was...why not on the main feed itself? So, I'm going to try something a little bit different and use this post to reply to a few interesting questions or topics that have come up on the smol.pub feed lately. @fwdudu - RE: your question about writing gemtext, I too just use a text editor and treat it like the near perfect subset of markdown that it is. I…

Subtitle: as an adult, without hurting yourself. This post is my response to the 32-Bit Cafe "Back To School 2026" prompt: "Make an educational/informative page (blog post, tutorial, etc) that about something that "everybody already knows". Believe it or not, not everyone knows about this thing or knows how to do this other thing. But _you_ know; why not share that knowledge?" https://discourse.32bit.cafe/t/back-to-school-2026/5099 Premise I was in my late 20's when I first decided that I…

It's no secret that I, like many others, have been on a kick to reduce screen time lately. I don't discriminate about the nature of the screen, either. Computer, tablet, phone, eReader, TV - these are all devices that I'm looking to spend less time with. Tablet is the easiest - years back, I decided I didn't really want one, and gave mine away to someone who actually needed it. No tablet, no problem. TV is also not a problem. I watch very little TV (here I am counting streaming services as…

In which I mine my music collection for inspiration, and decide to have fun answering questions posed by song titles. Where is my mind? Asked by the Pixes, on Surfer Rosa It's wandering, mostly. And by wandering, I mean it's traveling with no particular destination in mind, which is what I'd like physically be doing as well. I can tell you where my mind isn't: it's not on money, it's not on work, it's rarely on tech, and it's not even really on movies or video games these days, either. I'm…

I've been an alcoholic for over 15 years, since I was a teenager. My mind has always been my own worst enemy, and from a young age I found that booze was really the only way to shut that guy up. I won't lie, drinking that much for that long, I knew there was gonna to be some problems, but what else could I do? Problems now, or problems later...I'll take the deferred problems, please. Only, it finally caught up with me. Ever seen your skin turn yellow? That's some freaky shit. I've never been…

A while back, Ava wrote a post that I enjoyed (as always), but at times offered a perspective that didn't entirely sit right with me. Ava's issue of concern is a lack of precision around labeling, using "vegan", "almost vegan" and "basically vegan" as examples. If you haven't read that post yet, definitely go do that. Ava is a great writer, and the post is well worth reading. I'll wait. https://blog.avas.space/name-things-right/ Ok, good, you're back. So...what's my problem? (Note to self: is…

In which I mine my music collection for inspiration, and decide to have fun answering questions posed by song titles. Is there anybody out there? Asked by Pink Floyd, on The Wall Based on the activity in the .pub lately, it seems so. To all the the new folks who are just getting started in geminispace, welcome to the cozy smol neighborhood. It's cool to see more reply posts happening on the feed. To all the folks that post regularly, even daily, you are Very Impressive. Way to go! What Would I…

Lately, our conversations feel like navigating a labyrinth. One way in, one way back. But guess what? There's a minotaur in here, and every turn of phrase leads me closer to the center. Like any good Theseus, I come prepared with my ball of string. Only...is someone running around in here with scissors? One way in, always forwards, always down. No way back now. But silly me, mixed up again: I've been the minotaur all along.

Content warning: this post discusses punk music that contains themes of humanity repeatedly failing itself. I recently came across some of my music writing from years ago where I reflected on my favorite albums of all time. Since I've been listening to one of these in particular a lot during the last couple of years, I thought it fitting to dig in to a few of the tracks and discuss why I find them relevant in today's world. The album in question is All Ages, by Bad Religion, which was released…

I was doing some chores and tidying around the house today when I had a funny thought. Forgive a brief detour while I provide some context. When I was in school long ago, I took a data structures course where I learned about tree traversal. Two of the most common algorithms for traversing a tree are depth-first search (travel down the tree before visiting sibling nodes) and breadth-first search (travel to sibling nodes across the tree before descending). My little bit of humor today came when I…

It's so easy for a healthy habit to get derailed by a consumerist impulse. A while ago I started journaling, and things were good. I like the Field Notes pocket notebooks, and I've been using them for a long time. I had a small surplus in a drawer, waiting to be used. Pocket notebooks are handy, and if you're in the habit of carrying a pen, then it only makes sense to carry a small notebook to go with it. Anyway, I decided to start using my pocket notebooks for journaling. My journaling was…

"An escape from the erosion of self" A stranger feels compassion for the suffering of another. This other is sensitive, brilliant, desperate, isolated, possibly dangerous, profoundly loved, and terribly, terribly trapped. A kindred spirit of sorts. The words of this other collide with a stranger, leaving unexpected ripples. They are worlds apart in time, and in space, and in destiny, but there exists a perception of alignment in spirit. They are both far too self aware to keep falling into the…

I told you I was struggling, existentially you said: being an adult means doing things that you don't want to do you think I like doing laundry? -- It's 3 AM and I'm feeling sick, emotionally I woke to vertigo, to racing thoughts, to write what I can't say the feelings fade eventually -- You don't tell me things because you're afraid of how I'll react. That I won't respond, in the way that you want and guess what? I share that fear now -- "What can we be doing to support you?" is a line that we…

I do put "my email" in geminispace and on the open web and make no effort to obfuscate it. Why did I use quotes above? I have a lot of email addresses: definitely dozens, and probably over a hundred. In my view, the trick to being fearless with your email address is being able to sunset it with no impact or little impact. So: a unique email address for almost every different use, and certainly for every service signup. If web01@sarnart.dev (my posted email on smol.pub and my website) gets…

How can our individual actions move the needle on a massive, complex, and systemic problem like climate change? How should we act in order to make the necessary impact? How *must* we act? What is our personal obligation to maximize the extent to which we're part of the solution, and minimize the extent to which we're part of the problem? How do we determine that obligation? Is it really an obligation, or is it something else, something softer and harder to define? Catastrophe Ethics, by Travis…

Today I was thinking about a plant. Weird, right? I keep a lot of houseplants, have a number of favorites, and attach deep meaning to a few of them. Of these, my peace lily is perhaps the most meaningful, due to the circumstances around which I received it. In the late 2000's, my dear grandmother passed on from this world. She had a good life, but was quite sick and was debilitated and suffering in her final weeks. She struggled to breathe, and existed in a perpetual state of literal…

The forest seems quiet, until you really stop and listen. The hum of insects, the chits and warbles of birds, and the scampering of small mammals in the undergrowth all coalesce into a sustained ambiance. There are few insects today. The sky is cloudy, but the sun feels warm. The occasional breeze causes the trees to shiver and rustle like an ocean of green. I sit in a rocking chair, thinking and reading, and thinking some more. A stray raindrop or two hit my skin. The clouds, heavy with…

If we are among the lucky ones, we have friends in our lives that inspire us to be better versions of ourselves. These friends live their truths in ways that shine like beacons, illuminating the way ahead, beckoning us to follow their examples as we stumble through our own personal journeys of self-discovery, searching for fulfillment. I am fortunate to count myself among these lucky ones. I have a wonderful friend who I find to be impressive and inspiring in exactly this way. Over the years,…

Something interesting about writing every day is that my expectations around the process and the output have changed. And, to be clear, this is neither a good nor a bad thing, just different. Writing every day is quick, almost-but-not-quite stream of consciousness. It's not a premeditated act, and it certainly doesn't involve deep thinking in the way that periodic writing does. Making this a daily practice generally does seem to scope my mindset to the last 24 hours, and that's what shows up on…

It's been a rough week, but in some ways things are starting to look up. I'm doing a slightly better job saying "no" at work, and have managed scale back my hours slightly. Granted, things are still not where I'd like them to be, but this week has been a vast improvement over the last couple months where my balance has been seriously out of wack for reasons that are neither interesting nor justifiable. The end of summer always presents a certain amount of added stress, as back to school…

Without preamble and in no particular order: I thrive in small groups and can be extremely chatty and even somewhat gossipy under the right conditions. In groups larger than 6-8 people, I generally recede into the background and become one of the quiet ones that listens but doesn't contribute much to the conversation. Creativity, questioning, defiance, compassion and thoughtfulness are traits I admire in others and try to embody in my own life. Conversely: obedience, cruelty, carelessness,…

I recently had an interesting conversation in an unexpected context. I was at a work happy hour of sorts, attempting to mingle and chat in the best way that a slightly introverted person can manage. I found myself in a conversation with one of the higher-ups in my department. Nice guy, easy to talk to. Not someone I interact with every day, or even every week, but we had clearly built up some kind of a rapport nevertheless. He shared a problem that he was having: making new friends as an adult.…

This weekend I finally got around to switching to Linux on my desktop PC. Like many others, I've become increasingly annoyed with how Microsoft has been pushing changes that help them but hinder me. Unfortunately, despite my paying good money for a Professional license, I am viewed as the product and not as the customer. I'm not scared of Linux. I've used it off and on for quite some time, first getting curious about it all the way back in the bad old days of Windows Vista. Remember how bad…

In my ongoing quest to better manage (i.e. restrict) my media consumption, I've made some changes to my RSS setup. I noticed that, broadly, the types of feed I subscribe to fall into one these categories: Personal blogs that are specifically not politics or tech (70%) Indie media that mostly covers polities (20%) Indie media that is tech adjacent, but not specifically tech focused (10%) (Yeah, my appetite for tech focused content outside of work is currently near zero...) What I've noticed is…

Several weeks ago I missed my 25 year high school reunion. Actually, missed is the wrong word. I skipped it. I avoided it. The event was held less than ten miles from my house, and I went out of my way not to go. To be honest, this was the closest I've come to going to one of these reunions. A few weeks prior, I had pulled out my old senior yearbook and spent an afternoon looking through it. I read the messages that were written in the interior cover pages, looked through the team, club, and…

My co-worker is obsessed with bats. I don't know exactly when it happened, but wow: they fell hard. One week: regular conversations, or at least approaching regular. The usual detours, sympathetic complaining, mostly lighthearted, occasionally with actual work getting done in there somewhere. And then, out of nowhere, bats. All meetings must now by necessity begin with a short preamble on "bat facts". Details about these little critters are interspersed into chats throughout the day. I've seen…

For a while now, I've been thinking about getting a new work bag. My current daily driver is of a canvas attaché-style, with metal hardware, and one chunky zipper that has stood the test of time. I've had this bag since I graduated college in the mid 2000's. I received it as a graduation gift and have used it almost daily for 20 years, before I transitioned to becoming a mostly remote worker. I have a sentimental attachment to this bag, love the look of the worn-in canvas, and plan to use it…