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just a bit of myself

Most civilisation is based on cowardice. It's so easy to civilize by teaching cowardice. You water down the standards which would lead to bravery. You restrain the will. You regulate the appetites. You fence in the horizons. You make a law for every movement. You deny the existence of chaos. You teach even the children to breathe slowly. You tame.

― Frank Herbert, God Emperor of Dune

I'm ~w3bk3rn3l, also known as ~ʍ3pĸ3ʁu3ɼ. I live and work in a sunny country (though it’s not as sunny as it used to be).

I spent 25 years in the software industry and am currently a communications advisor for the local government.

Even before having full Internet access, I was exploring Usenet groups and email through local BBS systems. Then, in the early ‘90s, I became fascinated by the Internet and its possibilities—email, Gopher, the World Wide Web, and so on. My interest in communications goes back to 1979, when I began using transceivers to connect with people around the world. In amateur radio, we've been using data protocols like AX.25 to create BBS systems and transfer files since the ‘70s, and we still use these today.

My first Linux distro was Mandrake (which later inspired OpenMandriva). I enjoyed customizing the kernel to suit my needs, which is how I came up with my nickname [webkernel aka w3bk3rn3l]—a nod to the early days of the web and kernel compilation. These days, I enjoy testing various distros (mostly Arch-based), although my daily work is done on a MacBook (sorry!).

Recently, I discovered the Gemini project, which brought back the magic of simple, direct content. It may seem a bit anachronistic, but having the freedom to choose the best way to build a community is a kind of freedom in itself. And that’s what the Internet is really about.

gemini capsule:

=> ~w3bk3rn3l

ctrl-c club webpage

=> ~w3bk3rn3l

tilde.club webpage

=> ~w3bk3rn3l

tilde.club gopher hole

=> ~w3bk3rn3l

interests and hobbies

Hamradio, Astronomy, Computing, Cyberculture, Decentralized Web, Flight Simulation, FOSS, GNU/Linux, Hacking, Indieweb, Literature, Music, Nerd Culture, Numbers Stations, Philosophy, Privacy, Semantic Web, Software Libre (just to name a few).

gear

computers

• MacBook Pro (2020)

• Macbook (2017)

• Macbook Pro (2012) --> Manjaro Linux KDE Plasma

• iMac 27" (2009)

• Lenovo ThinkPad R400 --> Linux Mint xfce

• Lenovo ThinkPad T430s --> Garuda Linux Dr460nized

• Lenovo ThinkPad T480 --> OpenSuse Tumbleweed

• Generic Desktop --> Trisquel

smartphones

• Pixel 6a --> GrapheneOS

• iPhone 14 Pro

• Nothing 2a

favorite software tools

• Productivity: Omnifocus, Obsidian

• Notes: Standard Notes

• Database: DevonThink 3

• Browser: Mullvad Browser, Brave, Firefox, Icecat

• Terminal: iTerm2

• File Transfer: Transmit

• IRC Client: irssi

• Password Manager: Bitwarden, KeepasXC

• Music: Neutral, Tidal