#+TITLE: Matthew Cambion (thinking out loud) #+NICK: starbreaker #+DESCRIPTION: writer by choice, programmer by necessity, metalhead by the grace of the witch #+AVATAR: https://starbreaker.org/.well-known/avatar #+LINK: https://starbreaker.org #+CONTACT: mailto:matthew.cambion@starbreaker.org #+GROUP: Emacs https://relay.org-social.org #+GROUP: Cats https://relay.org-social.org #+GROUP: Random https://relay.org-social.org * Posts ** 2026-07-15T13:11:26-0400 :PROPERTIES: :TAGS: introduction :CLIENT: org-social.el :MOOD: šŸ± :END: Hello. Iā€™m Matthew. I tend to live in Emacs on secondhand PCs running Debian, and use it to write fiction and build my website; though I favor web-mode for the latter instead of Org Mode. (That /might/ be heresy in this space. šŸ˜¼) I had seen [[https://org-social.org][Org Social]] mentioned on [[https://planet.emacslife.com][Planet Emacslife]], which had pulled [[http://en.andros.dev/blog/a70bbaf3/an-alternative-to-webmentions-for-the-emacs-carnival/][ā€œAn alternative to Webmentions for the Emacs Carnivalā€]] by [[http://en.andros.dev/blog/feed/en/emacs/][Andros Fennolosa]]. While I havenā€™t been participating in Emacs Carnival, I did have this itch to try social networking again, but none of the following: - Mastodon and friends - X/Twitter - Substack Notes - Bluesky - any Meta product While I have an account on [[https://status.cafe/users/starbreaker][status.cafe]], posts are limited to about 140 characters and it could shut down at any time. This reminds me of [[https://github.com/buckket/twtxt][twtxt]], but without the length limits and Emacs-native. So Iā€™ll give it a go. But first, I need to add an ā€˜orgā€™ target to my websiteā€™s makefile so this actually gets uploaded... ** 2026-07-17T10:19:49-0400 :PROPERTIES: :TAGS: day-job proprietary-software gripe first-world-problems :CLIENT: org-social.el :MOOD: šŸ˜¼ :END: Itā€™s my last day on my current project at my day job, and I was asked to update the product documentation, which is a Microsoft Word document roughly 170,000 words long. If I had had any sense I would have refused. It took ten minutes just to open this abomination. It bogs down for 30 seconds at a time if I type a single word. Now I know why so many professional writers seem to have problems with substance abuse. Theyā€™re self-medicating to cope with having to deal with Microsoft Word because nobody in the New York publishing cartel seems to understand that plain text is a universal interface. I think Iā€™ll quit early today; I already have two weeks of paid time off approved starting Monday, but with all the unpaid overtime Iā€™ve worked on this project, I think quitting early today is my rightful due -- and a gentler revenge than what I might take if I could bring myself to shed what little in the way of ethics I possess. šŸ˜¼ Frankly, the reason Microsoft products suck so hard is that nobody ever gets fired for buying this garbage -- and they damned well /should/. And /putain de merde!/ -- the damn app just crashed, and it has me cussing in French (which I barely speak) because English profanity is simply inadequate for this. I donā€™t get paid enough for this bullshit. Besides, if I quit early I can focus on ripping the absolutely massive Deutsche Grammophon box set of Daniel Barenboim performing Beethovenā€™s piano sonatas and the Diabelli Variations. I got my copy in the mail last night. I should have tried charging it to the company; itā€™s music I can leave on in the background even if Iā€™m on a conference call. I canā€™t say that about the likes of Alicia Cordisco, Gold Spire, Fires in the Distance, Firmament, Thank You Scientist, or Mortiis... ** 2026-07-19T13:30:00-0400 :PROPERTIES: :TAGS: meta :CLIENT: org-social.el :MOOD: šŸ¤” :END: Wow. It looks like a lot of Org Social feeds are missing today: #+begin_quote Loaded 133 URLs (58 failed) #+end_quote I wonder when and how dead feeds get removed from relays. ** 2026-07-19T13:33:35-0400 :PROPERTIES: :TAGS: drag pride :CLIENT: org-social.el :MOOD: šŸ³ļøā€šŸŒˆ :END: I took Madam Catastrophy to a local drag show last night. It was my very first, and her first in decades. Yes, I was a drag show virgin at almost forty-eight. Very high energy, somehow louder than some metal shows Iā€™ve been to, like Disturbed, though in this case we were in the third row from the front instead of sitting in the back or the mezzanine where the seats are much cheaper. Out of the six performers, I liked Skarlet Overkillā€™s and Amethyst Diamondā€™s looks and choice of songs to lip sync best; they were bringing the rock aesthetic and I was there for it. The troupeā€™s one drag king, Peter Pansy, was also great fun, and he was badass enough to have bedazzled his top surgery scars for his second act. I had a good time despite being a bit overwhelmed and feeling a little unwelcome as one of the few outwardly straight guys there (which was entirely in my head and thus my problem)āøŗand Madam Catastrophy loved it. Next time, though, Iā€™ll damned well remember to bring cash. The ticket prices were low enough that even with a packed house, the performers probably only broke even on admissions alone, and tipping is therefore expected. They work hard for their money, so youā€™d better treat ā€™em right. Also, I donā€™t want to have to use Venmo again. Being owned by PayPal, and thus tied to the likes of Peter Thiel and Elon Musk, I donā€™t trust it. šŸ˜¼ ** 2026-07-24T14:29:32-0400 :PROPERTIES: :TAGS: IndieWeb :CLIENT: org-social.el :MOOD: šŸ˜¼ :END: I had linked to @androsā€™ post about [[https://en.andros.dev/blog/0b8e451e/i-joined-the-indieweb-heres-what-i-learned/][joining the IndieWeb]] while updating a post from 2024 [[https://starbreaker.org/opinions/has-indieweb-become-irrelevant.html][in which I suggested that the IndieWeb is irrelevant to most people]]. More power to him if heā€™s happy with the work heā€™s done. I just donā€™t see the point in doing it myself. I think HTTP, SMTP, POP3/IMAP, IRC, XMPP, NNTP, and RSS/Atom are enough for a social web. Maybe Gopher and anonymous FTP, too--if the latter can be secured against malicious access.