Notes

Welcome to my notes page where I share short posts and interesting links from around the web. Some of these posts may be available on my social media accounts for further sharing.

28 Jun, 2026 #042
Python is open-sourced?! Wow I really want to learn how it use it now...
22 Jun, 2026 #041
Now I know why I don't like to write stuff that requires links. Research! I want to post NOW!!!
21 Jun, 2026 #040
Deleted my Wordpress account. Hadn't updated that site in years. Don't like wordpress dot com. Never got to understand how to use-so complicated! One of the many reasons I learned front-end web dev.
21 Jun, 2026 #039
Fell into a bit of a rabbit hole. More posts of brennan.day of course. Somehow started on a post on third spaces and ended up in an analysis on BoJack Horseman. And somehow it's 7pm.
20 Jun, 2026 #038
Imagine liking your writing, heh. Blog post coming soonTM?
20 Jun, 2026 #037
Read two more articles at brennan-day:
- Steal My Work
- How to Rewild Your Writing Practice
Somehow I shifted from the Indie Web-focused posts to the writing-as-a-craft focused ones.

Think I might need a reading journal.
19 Jun, 2026 #036
Gobbled up two more posts at brennan.day:
- Blogging Saved My Life
- A Beginner's Guide to the IndieWeb for Writers Who Don't Code (But Maybe Want to a Little)
No thoughts to be written about them yet. I do feel like I'm getting closer to taking action. What action? Beats me. Doing some things for me is like filling up a bar videogame style. What happens when the bar is filled is anybody's guess.

Wait, I think I want to revamp this website. And make a website for my crafts. I don't have a place to show off my physical crafts!!!
18 Jun, 2026 #035
Damn, finding a community is HARD. I relate a bit to people who remain passive consumers and just stay on social media. If I had an IRL social circle, I might not put my energy into making and maintaining these websites and checking out different platforms/servers.

If I had to write a tip that has helped, it would be to reach out first. Leave comments in guestbooks, comment in posts. I do it so aggressively in some spaces on a bunch of different posts outside of social media which are just fueled by the need to write what I'm thinking and curiosity that some people do reply back and check my stuff. It has nothing to do with self-promotion. I found their thing, said it was cool, and they replied back and looked at my site without me having to mention it!

I don't think I was capable of these kind of mindset before joining the indie web. When I comment, I don't think I'm doing a favor to anyone, nor do I consider the other person's reaction to my comment. I am just... indulging in my hobby of web surfing. Seeking social interaction. Yeah.

PS. Had half a thought of making this a blog post but I don't know the difference between microblog, blog post, and journal entries anymore. Glad I don't care who's watching. I'll figure this online presence thing out someday!
18 Jun, 2026 #034
Read three more post from brennan.day:
I might have to start blogging something that could have been a comment but the ideas in each post are so DENSE (hell it's more like I'm just too neurospicy I can't write a single sentence comment to a 2k post-wait no one sentence to longform is so disrespectful to the writer what am i writing?!). Also for some reason the provided comment section I don't find it too inviting I guess. Still thinking about how to interact with the posts in a way I'm comfort, thus the reply blog post idea. Also I don't like how IndieAuth shows this site's full title lol. It makes me overconscious! Wish I could just sign with my name...
17 Jun, 2026 #033
Who would have thought that what I needed all this time was a private online journal. Dreamwidth is truly the last bastion of the indie web. May it outlast us all Wall-E style.

This quote from Brennan's essay, "Dreamwidth and Yearning for Humanity on the Web," reflects some of my strong feelings behind this new experiment, "Journals are where you work things out before you know what you think."
17 Jun, 2026 #032
I'm real frigging tired so I'm just gonna drop folk.zone here and think about how to message "access please" in a way that's socially acceptable. Unlikely tomorrow but you never know with me.

I just really really like testing out stuff. Dang I wish I could get paid for doing this. But community service is pretty nice too. It's fun to write feedback.
- irc.folk.zone: I have been curious about IRC since Discord's threat of age verification.
- write.folk.zone: would be nice to find a writing community. I want to write SO BAD but I keep feeling scared of coming up as a weirdo or something. Damn ableism.
- rss.folk.zone: godsend. my special interest in its beautiful glory. ok maybe i should be a bit careful of not having backups of my subs. make a backup first and then play with fire (be part of an experiment).
17 Jun, 2026 #031
Being part of the Indie Web means getting happy little surprises on your email inbox. Haven't had a day this good in a while.
09 Jun, 2026 030
Happy 30th post! Happy Pride!!! 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈 What was I gonna say? Uh yes, intention to rename RSS to subscribe an offer some options for feeds: Blog, Notes (microblog), and Entries (personal journal). Also, I gotta start that reflection on How to ADHD, gahhh!!! Add a section under Toolbox for reflections on what has happened before and how to incorporate several strategies.

EDIT: Done!
29 May, 2026 #029
Added Codepen account to Blue linkhub!
29 May, 2026 #028
Working on some book notes for How to ADHD which led to dust off the Garden page from my previous microblog. I have to edit the CSS to remove the published date.
18 May, 2026 #027
Phew, somehow I manage to make a decent update to my site without breaking the whole thing. I added the website carbon results and blacklight. Also some webrings.

There's a bunch of little ideas I have but it really wasn't the time to test them. The portfolio is much more important.
18 May, 2026 #026
I was fixing some stuff on my website then I got the impulse to add new things. Now I don't like how it looks and I didn't push the important changes. I probably will remove the new things and push the important stuff. Sigh.
17 May, 2026 #025
Another resource. This one is specifically for displaying words.
- BearMin is a theme for Bearblog by Robert Birming.
17 May, 2026 #024
Sharing two third party resources that can be used to be more transparent the resources used on a personal site.
- Blacklight an online tool designed by The Markup to reveal a site's tracking technology.
- Website Carbon evaluates the carbon footprint of a webpage.
17 May, 2026 #023
I just put two and two together about the physical commons (parks, events, natural spaces) and digital commons (CC license). They're one an the same!
16 May, 2026 #022
Found a cool article from Alexandra about being Childfree. Never quite thought about it as something to be politicized but as I feel so alien to the whole caregiving and female gender roles things it's mostly because I have so little experience in it.
16 May, 2026 #021
Wait, I'm looking at my site maryseph.com. So if I want to make a porfolio it's own site, I would have to remove the link from there. Then what kind of site is that one going to be? Wait wait wait-

I think the blog is what bothers me the most. How cumbersome it was to update is the reason why I made a site bearblog.dev. Maybe I can keep the blog but remake for more professional sciency stuff. Like instead of something I would post on Medium, I post in that blog.

That reminds me, I have a couple of Philosophy papers I want to upload. Definitely has to go to that site. I think the porfolio then, or the writing secion of the porfolio would be a selection of posts which are actually academic papers.

I really want to share a link to my StoryMap from my GIS intro course. I'm really proud of that one <3. Professional site it is!
16 May, 2026 #020
Thinking of cv.maryseph.com and portfolio.maryseph.com for the CV and portfolio websites respectively. Very creative, yes.

Also I want to purchase a paid/pro (for how's its called) account on bearblog.dev so that I can use my custom domain and other features. Thinking of calling this site journal.maryseph.com,
16 May, 2026 #019
Beginning to think I should have a blue and green color scheme that differentiates the more "professional" stuff (scicomm.xyz Masto account, website, and Github) vs the more "personal" stuff (social.lol Masto account, blog on bearblog.dev, etc).
16 May, 2026 #018
Catching up with links. I found more cool stuff from Brennan and I would love to emulate. I am so so lost about how to build a presence on the internet and frigging scared of fucking it up for some reason. Also overwhelmed. Where should I start? It's great to have a guide of sorts.
- brennanbrown.ca - professional website? See this is the thing, I have the maryseph.com domain. A full site but but, I have this other site on bearblog, something more informal, something more casual. I feel, anxious when I feel like I have to perform. And I freeze when I feel like that. I love the indie web and want to be part of it but but the portfolio, the performance of a reliable adult, the projects, the-the showcasing of a perfect image. sigh, deep breaths. This is what happens when I don't get adequate sleep.
- Portfolio - For reference. The prospect of designing a portfolio doesn't appeal to me at the moment (tired) but I'm glad to have found an example to follow. I have barely started considering the layout of my portfolio and being a generalist sure... makes things somewhat complicated because I fear the message I give off won't be clear. But then I really haven't done much work on this so what am I worrying about for?
- Brennan.day - linking this again to compare both sites. I can't get over how pretty and minimal it is. The rainbow highlight are so pleasing to the eye and the orange hues feels like a hug. I like this site so so much.
- cv.brennanbrown.ca - This one fired up my motivation when I found it during my graduation trip. I have a boring CV on PDF that I slapped on some social networks I don't use anymore (bleh). I totally need to create an HTML version of this. Trust me, I need to do this (silly)! Also, thankfully, they distribute the code is open-source under a public license or something. Mean I can use and edit the code and share it for free as well (as far as I was able to comprehend; should take a look at it at a later date)!
- https://tilde.town/~brennan/ - I just found this... journal? today. Seems it mirrors the same entries from Dreamwidth. Intersting.
12 May, 2026 #017
Canceled my microblog subscription as it was due for renewal tomorrow. Really enjoyed my time there. I feel ready to move on.
09 May, 2026 #016
Think I'm gonna keep using my status.cafe account. Haven't been able to find how to delete it and I do feel like using a status log right now.
08 May, 2026 #015
This round of bookmarks is focused on brennan.day.
08 May, 2026 #014
Another round of bookmarks ft. personal sites
- An article on virtue signaling at Law & Liberty.
- A blog post on the LAECESS (Latin America Early Career Earth System Scientist Network) on boardgames as an educational tool.
- Wikipedia article on personal organizers
- Article about democracy on Latin America.
- An RSS aggregator tool.
- An article on misogyny on the blogosphere
- Community curated ranking of independent blog posts in the Indie Web.
- On social media by bearblog.dev's creator.
- A list of a hundred ideas for personal websites.
- Brennan Brown's CV.
- Brennan Brown's portfolio
- An example of a webpage from omg.lol I want to emulate.
03 May, 2026 #013
Is it a new variable of the first-world-problems that each time I check out somebody's site/social/whatever, I end up finding cool things I can't check out/need to save?

Really nice problem to have XD. I might have to make a resource page or postroll or blogroll to gather all these interesting things. I don't want to just share them on social media because it feels easy to assume that it's a recommendation.

Anyways, cool links I found today.
- Incels Won the Culture War by Brennan. This one's gonna be GOOD!
- An IndieWeb webring.
- linklings.club. I thought it was one of the many cool little sites by omg.lol but it's not. This is a listing for people to add themselves to a list of interests.
02 May, 2026 #012
Bought an address from omg.lol and got access to some amazing tools! A git account at their SourceTube instance, a /now page, a status page (which federates to Mastodon!), a weblog, and email (maryseph AT omg DOT lol). It's tempting to create ALL the social accounts.

Maybe I can create a web page as another linkhub but for all the above links.

Discourse: https://discourse.lol/u/maryseph/summary
02 May, 2026 #011
Seems like I need to add styling to posts tagged links. Actually, nevermind.
02 May, 2026 #010
A Bridge to Somewhere: How to Link Your Mastodon, Bluesky, or Other Federated Accounts is a neat little practical guide from the people at EFF. Even if I'm not interested in federating my account outside of Mastodon, there's tons of links about sharing in the open web.

One such link is surf.social created by Flipboard. It's an attempt at gathering feeds from various social media platforms into a single feed both by orgs and individuals. They are accepting feedback so I might email them about making those feeds available on some feed format for off-platform readers.
01 May, 2026 #009
I'm satisfied with how my blog looks 😁.
01 May, 2026 #008
What a lovely blog post from James, Joyful Web Design. I like the various challenges and websites he shares.
30 Apr, 2026 #007
Working on this journal is really exciting! 🤩
16 Apr, 2026 #006
Also forgot to mention that I deleted my blog in bearblog.dev. I moved it to my website!

It doesn't have a feed yet. It's in the works though! Once I find how to make it using Eleventy scratches head.
05 Apr, 2026 #005
Continuing to focus on developing my website. I always wanted to add a digital garden and finally decided on some way to go. I copied my website's Obsidian vault version and renamed it as a digital garden. Not gonna focus on it too much today but I know what kind of stuff I want to add there.

The reason why I felt to do this today was because I didn't like how the current Projects page in my website looks. I want a space to show my works in progress and because I don't have large social media presence, I want to make my website look "finished" or at least not have too many broken pages. On a digital garden, unfinished is the point! So I will move my craft projects to my garden.
05 Apr, 2026 #004
My site is now built with Eleventy and deployed with Netlify! 🎉
01 Apr, 2026 #003
Started migrating my website to 11ty. It's been going pretty smooth so far. Practice makes better!

I need to finished populating all the pages that go in the footer before focusing on all the pages in the Projects section. Fortunately, all the text can be in plain old markdown, I think. However, as I changed the format of the Projects page, I need to add pictures to each project.
24 Mar, 2026 #002
Finished adding a link to People Pledge on my site and found human.json protocol.
17 Mar, 2026 #001
Another thing I gotta fix on the site is the two header nav styles that aren't displaying. I think it's because of the iframe. So I want to transfer the site to 11ty because I think that will fix it. I should also check that one tutorial that showed how to code different types of header Navy depending on screen size.