musings

like thoughts, but deeper and sometimes stupider

imagining an email-free contact form

by benjamin hollon on january 27, 2023

I don't like email for many different reasons, including that it's a decentralized platform that's been forcibly centralized by big companies.

To line up with that, I've been slowly eliminating email from the code of my websites over the last few years. Finally, I stopped putting out emails when I post new things, instead providing RSS feeds for people to keep up with my posts.

There's one spot I still use email though: for people to contact me. Let's think for a moment about how I could do away with that, too.

a 3 minute read

Read Full Article

a semester with the framework laptop

by benjamin hollon on january 4, 2023

Back at the beginning of my first semester at Texas A&M (a few days in), I received a Framework Laptop, a long-awaited purchase for me.

Spoiler alert: I absolutely love this thing.

For whatever reason, though, I never got around to writing up the full review of it I planned to. Now that the semester is over, here's a review of how it performed over time. That should be an even better indicator than a "first impressions" post to anyone considering buying their own.

a 10 minute read

Read Full Article

2022 in review

by benjamin hollon on january 2, 2023

A lot happened this year. Not really any easier way to describe the year.

Let's jump in.

a 7 minute read

Read Full Article

a nanowrimo pep talk

by benjamin hollon on november 6, 2022

If you've used the NaNoWriMo website, you've probably seen that they'll occasionally get famous writers to write "pep talks" to encourage current writers to keep going. Personally, I haven't found them very helpful.

I'm not a famous writer. There are a few people who like my writing a good deal, but I haven't yet pursued publishing in a professional capacity. I'm not the kind of person who would write an official NaNoWriMo pep talk.

But then, maybe that's what you need. So here we go.

a 6 minute read

Read Full Article

a social experiment on copyright

by benjamin hollon on october 23, 2022

I had an idea, so I tried it out. Sometimes I have trouble keeping myself from doing that. But this one seemed pretty fun, it intrigued me, and I thought there might be fascinating results behind it.

It was definitely fun, and the results are intriguing, though I don't have an explanation behind them.

I just thought I'd put the facts out there.

a 2 minute read

Read Full Article

a seven-dimensional universe

by benjamin hollon on april 28, 2022

My current mental framework of the universe works in seven dimensions. It's weird, and I haven't seen this theory before, but neither have I seen anything yet that contradicts it. It's perfectly possible something does, but I haven't seen it, and this makes a lot of sense to me.

To understand my theory, you'll have to understand two more mainstream interpretations of physics: Eternalism and Many Worlds.

a 4 minute read

Read Full Article

"non-comprehensive" ≠ "wrong"

by benjamin hollon on february 9, 2022

When it comes to learning, I hate analogy. Being given a simplified solution, only to later be told, "Oh, it really works like this, but that was an easier way to think about it," frustrates me to no end.

That being said, explanations don't have to be complete. Admitting that you don't know everything is laudable, not a problem.

And lists of examples, of all things, certainly don't need to be complete. In fact, they should not be complete.

a 2 minute read

Read Full Article

how to code a blog

by benjamin hollon on january 25, 2022

To kick off my third blog, Musings, I thought it might be fun to list out the general process I follow now when coding a new blog (or, the process I wished I followed).

But first, let's look a little at the idea behind Musings.

a 7 minute read

Read Full Article

You've reached the oldest article. Found anything you especially liked? I'd love to hear from you!