From ddb2740296c6c039b744f627026db01182aaa716 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Evgenii Akentev Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2025 14:51:58 +0400 Subject: [PATCH] update --- content/posts/living-according-to-values.html | 78 ------------------- content/posts/on-coffee-shops.html | 42 ---------- content/posts/why-i-am-not-a-scientist.html | 57 -------------- themes/theme/layouts/index.html | 10 +-- 4 files changed, 4 insertions(+), 183 deletions(-) delete mode 100644 content/posts/living-according-to-values.html delete mode 100644 content/posts/on-coffee-shops.html delete mode 100644 content/posts/why-i-am-not-a-scientist.html diff --git a/content/posts/living-according-to-values.html b/content/posts/living-according-to-values.html deleted file mode 100644 index 48753ac..0000000 --- a/content/posts/living-according-to-values.html +++ /dev/null @@ -1,78 +0,0 @@ ---- -title: Living according to values -date: 2024-09-18 -draft: false ---- -We, humans, are hypocrites and it's okay. To be a human is hard. There are many -cases in every situation, it's a mistake to see everything naively in black -and white. But it's important to notice personal hypocrisy and reassess the -personal values on a regular basis and live according to them. I want to write -down steps I've made in this direction. - -I value privacy. And over years it became a some kind of obsession and hobby. -A never-ending journey to go deeper and thinking what and how I can do better. -I think the first important step was a migration from Gmail to an alternative -email service — Fastmail. It took changing emails everywhere and a long -transition period forwarding emails to new address. - -The next one, even more important, is https://grapheneos.org. Thanks I bought -Pixel. Not only it sandboxes Google Play Store, improves security, provides -granularity in sense of settings scopes and reduces tracking as much as -possible, it also helped me to completely abandon Google account. The only -thing besides GMail I was using Google Photos which I replaced with -https://ente.io. Also 1TB hdd, yeah. - -After a few years of using Fastmail I decided to cancel the subscription. The -main motivation was their attempt to cooperate with the Russian government to -avoid being blocked in Russia. I decided it's not the compromise I want to see -from an online service I use especially since they tried to do it preemptively. -Also they are from Australia which is far from the privacy values (my general -impression, maybe I'm wrong). - -I've moved to iCloud because they provided $1 subscription allowing to use -a custom domain. It was a temporary solution to find a better replacement -which in the end is https://protonmail.com. - -A bit later I've installed https://asahilinux.org on my Macbook M1 Pro, coming -back to linux after almost 10 years of osx experience. Works fine for me. This -helped to delete iCloud account as well. - -I also have tried to delete as many accounts as possible on all websites I ever -used. Turned out it might be not so easy sometimes. I also changed usernames -where it's possible to reduce the links. Some kind of debt by using the same -username for about 15 years. - -For example I deleted LinkedIn, because it's almost completely useless. I've -found a job using it only once for all these years of email spam. Not worth it. -Also dropped Twitter because it became useless when all interesting people went -to Mastodon but I decided not to follow them. Got tired of social media. I read -books instead. - -Same with github. I dislike the current data harvest situation with LLM hype. -Also I don't contribute much nowadays and if I want to I would rather -contribute to projects hosted on a private gitlab instance (such as GHC) to -decentralize the open source projects. Sending patches over email also works. -I host all my personal code on my own digital ocean instance via gitweb. -Using my own VPS allows to host my website, personal gitweb, and AdGuard DNS -instance, allowing me easily to inspect, filter and block all tracking domains. - -Instead of Spotify I've started buying music on Bandcamp which means that my -money reach artists directly without awful Spotify distribution schemes. Hello -old offline audio players. I use https://powerampapp.com for Android. It also -helped me to start collecting vinyl records. - -The trickiest part so far is to migrate from Telegram to Signal. The network -effect is strong in this domain and not many people willing to install one more -messaging app. But if people care about my values and respect my choices they -will do it. I will delete Telegram account as well in some near future -(UPD. deleted it the next day) and I acknowledge that it's kind of social -suicide as a lot of people and communitiesuse it. But I don't care. Telegram -became a social media app and all I want is a good messaging app that provides -privacy. - -Overall this whole journey is an attempt to live according to my core values. -To care about privacy, avoid corporations, using open source, choose small -businesses and support nonprofit organizations (donate to Signal!). It hurts -and it's okay. It also aligns well with my desire to spend more time offline. -The current state of web feels unhealthy and active enshittification is -depressing. diff --git a/content/posts/on-coffee-shops.html b/content/posts/on-coffee-shops.html deleted file mode 100644 index bb15d13..0000000 --- a/content/posts/on-coffee-shops.html +++ /dev/null @@ -1,42 +0,0 @@ ---- -title: On coffee shops -date: 2025-01-15 -draft: false ---- -I started working remotely at 2018 and it was lonely to stay at home all the -time. At some point coffee shops become an option as a workplace for me. I -enjoyed the atmosphere there, people sitting around me, chatting, reading, -working as well. It was a silent socialization, feeling a part of the tribe I -guess, that helped me to feel the productive vibe. - -A bit later, next year or so, I started reading fiction in English. I wanted to -dive deeply into the English language, to explore via prose. It grew into a -serious habit I still have, 6 years later. I read about a few hours every day -now. - -What's interesting is that my reading was mostly done in coffee shops as well, -despite the noise of the crowd. Again, I was feeling comfortable and warm to -sit by myself near people around, focusing on my book, listening to music, -thinking. - -It became an important thing to me, after moving to a new place, finding a new -coffee shop which will pass the vibe check. Since it's a place which I will -visit almost every day, interact with baristas on a regular basis, noticing and -remembering regulars in face, becoming a regular myself. Each place got its own -mood, culture, audience. - -At some point the mental hygiene came into and I've started separating the -places. One coffee shop just for reading and taking a rest, listening to music, -and so on. Another coffee shop, with standing desks, just for work. - -What's funny is that I'm not a coffee geek or passionate about it after all. Of -course I got used to good coffee since a lot of places serve specialty coffee -nowadays, with a variety of different beans, roast degrees, brewing options. -I still mostly care about the space, interior, design decisions, and values -(but writing this I realized that if the coffee is not tasty I just won't -visit again). - -I find it curious how coffee shops become a daily routine for me. In the same -way, it seems, bars/pubs become for some people. It's more than just a factory -for remote workers, more than just a shop, a place to drink bewerages or meet -friends. Lifestyle attribute it seems. diff --git a/content/posts/why-i-am-not-a-scientist.html b/content/posts/why-i-am-not-a-scientist.html deleted file mode 100644 index a09627d..0000000 --- a/content/posts/why-i-am-not-a-scientist.html +++ /dev/null @@ -1,57 +0,0 @@ ---- -title: Why I am not a scientist -date: 2024-02-03 -draft: false ---- -I was an obsessive tv series binge-watcher in my teens. One of the numerous -titles was "The Big Bang Theory" that I enjoyed while it was ongoing around -2010. Only recently (around two years ago) I have realized the degree of -influence towards my personality and decided to write it down. - -The show got me interested to become a scientist and try myself in the academia. -It created an image of a cool scientist, nerdy and funny. That's why, up to -a certain degree, I've tried to learn lambda calculus, followed a lot of people -from academia, learned about type theory, read different papers, played with -Agda, Twelf and other proof assistants, visited https://www.macs.hw.ac.uk/splv/splv19/, -and participated in the creating of functional programming course for Ural -Federal University (this was mostly about giving back to the community and -getting teaching experience). I seriously thought about applying for different -PhD programs. - -Sounds great and cool! Except the fact that most of this, at the beginning, was -about Ego. The biggest motivation was the desire to build an image of a smart -person who has a PhD degree, knows cool words and facts, draws mysterious -smart-looking diagrams on the board and notebook using greek letters and arrows. -It was all about collecting and assigning different attributes myself that -seemed cool to me, building a simulacrum and an absolute fetishization of it. - -It took me some time (years) to realize this and finally give up on this absurd -quest. I have tried myself in teaching, learning things, creating educational -materials, and tried to contribue to different scientific projects (not much). -Yes, of course, I enjoyed some of these activities. I learned a lot of -interesting things and it was a pleasant experience. But it was a wrong -direction. A good test to check if the path is correct is to ask yourself -(citing Naval Ravikant https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qHkcs3kG44): - -> Would I still be interested in learning this thing if I couldn’t ever tell -anybody about it? That’s how I know it’s real. That’s how I know something I -actually want. - -That's a perfect way to figure out what's worth learning. What's the real -interest. Unfortunately, I have learned it too late. I realized that I -overvalued the theoretical and scientific stuff, that I prefer engineering and -the practical side. It just feels more natural to me. And it took me some time -to understand that software engineering is not less cool than doing science. -All activities are different and require different skills. All we need to do is -to find what suits ourselves better and makes happy. - -I talked to great researchers (who are amazing persons) about their experience -and everyday work. I learned that scientists depend on their funding, on grants -and writing grant proposals, and they can't just start researching what they -find interesting. They deal with a lot of bureaucracy (which I can't stand, -I'm extremely allergic to it) and exist in the rigid social structure -(a university or a research institution), while I value freedom too much. - -That's how removing the Ego from the equation was a major factor that helped me -to resolve my long-standing self-identification crises — to be an engineer or a -scientist. diff --git a/themes/theme/layouts/index.html b/themes/theme/layouts/index.html index 06861da..70d5009 100644 --- a/themes/theme/layouts/index.html +++ b/themes/theme/layouts/index.html @@ -4,8 +4,7 @@ evgenii akentev =============== -hi, i'm a software engineer interested in functional programming, compilers, -programming languages, zero knowledge proofs, &c. +hi @ ツツツ.com posts ----- @@ -32,6 +31,9 @@ projects - https://git.ツツツ.com/?p=gcs.git Garbage collection algorithms +- https://git.ツツツ.com/?p=punycode.zig.git + Punycode library in Zig + - https://git.ツツツ.com/?p=temple.lean4.git A rudimentary template engine written in Lean4 without fancy dependent types and useful operators yet. It can parse, build a tree, and substitute @@ -51,10 +53,6 @@ projects An online course on functional programming that I helped to create and teach between 2019 and 2021. Designed for bachelor students at Ural Federal University (taught in Russian). - -contact -------- -hi @ ツツツ.com {{ partial "footer.html" . }} -- 2.51.0