# rss_item

guid: https://lukesmith.xyz/2020.html#new-vids-on-shell-scripting-and-substring-removal
title: New vids on shell scripting and substring removal
url: https://lukesmith.xyz/2020.html#new-vids-on-shell-scripting-and-substring-removal
feedurl: https://lukesmith.xyz/rss.xml
content:
<p>Yesterday and just a bit ago I put out two videos of extreme relevance if you want to script efficiently:</p>

<p>Now <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5phSVBEHhQ">the first</a> formally was about writing a network traffic module without dependencies, we talking about the file location of network information, shell arithmatic and some other efficiencies.</p>

<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXineadwG4E">The second video</a> is on an important trick for getting a substring from a string without having to call separate programs like <code>awk</code> or <code>cut</code>, and thus saving time.
That is, <em>substring removal</em>, which you've probably seen before. It looks something like this:</p>

<pre><code>echo "${fullfilename%.*}"</code></pre>

<p>That particular command will echo a file name removing its extension.
I explain the logic of what all the symbols mean and how to manipulate them in the video.
</p>


guid: https://lukesmith.xyz/2020.html#help-me-livestream-from-the-remote-unaboomers-cabin
title: Help me livestream from the remote Unaboomer's Cabin!
url: https://lukesmith.xyz/2020.html#help-me-livestream-from-the-remote-unaboomers-cabin
feedurl: https://lukesmith.xyz/rss.xml
content:
<p>I want to have a way to stream from my home internet, which is beyond bad.
It is certainly at least good enough to upload audio: I've used some VOIP services perfectly,
but the issue is that <strong>YouTube and most other sites specifically require a video stream</strong> as well.</p>

<p>Probably the best solution would be something like streaming an audio feed to a server of mine, which is doable given my bandwidth, and on that server, combining it with a video feed which can then be fed to YouTube or other streaming sites.</p>

<p>If anyone can give me good specifics on this it would be highly appreciated. My eyes still glaze over when I hear about sockets and such, but there might be a more streamlined (bloated) solution as well...<p>

<p>I made a previous request for how to do a simple audiostream on my own server: most people recommended Icecast, which I've been playing around with. I might just go with that platform-independent solution despite the fact that it will probably lessen the viewership by a good bit! (Maybe that's a good thing?)</p>


guid: https://lukesmith.xyz/2020.html#i-dont-trust-wikipedia-anymore-also-a-request-for-a-stallman-meme
title: I don't trust Wikipedia anymore. Also, a request for a Stallman meme!
url: https://lukesmith.xyz/2020.html#i-dont-trust-wikipedia-anymore-also-a-request-for-a-stallman-meme
feedurl: https://lukesmith.xyz/rss.xml
content:
<p>I put up a video on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_Q7reJtiLU">why I don't use or trust Wikipedia anymore</a>.
It's gotten so bad over the years that I don't even trust it for little things.
I might do more on this later, because I think it's a weather-vane kind of issue, but that's my take on it now.</p>

<p>Obviously I don't trust it for news or politics, but I also can't trust it for specialized topics I'm familiar with: it doesn't very accurately represent academic issues in linguistics, philosophy or especially the history of thought.
This has totally undermined my view of the enterprise in total and I'll be relying on a constellation of smaller sites when I need "basic" encyclopedia information.</p>

<p>Also, for a thumbnail, I'm looking for any meme containing a depiction of Richard Stallman as either a crying wojak or a pink wojak.
I'm sure someone has this and I'm very busy today and can't look too much more after a cursory search... I'll be leaving the house soon...</p>


guid: https://lukesmith.xyz/2020.html#github-sponsorship
title: Github sponsorship
url: https://lukesmith.xyz/2020.html#github-sponsorship
feedurl: https://lukesmith.xyz/rss.xml
content:
<p>I went through the rigamarole of setting up Github Sponsors today.
Basically it's just a built-in funding mechanism using Stripe with Github.
So now people can donate to me from Github and support from/for specific projects.</p>

<p>Go to <a href="https://github.com/lukesmithxyz/">my Github page</a> and you'll see "Sponsor" buttons on my profile and all my main repositories. Hey, free software gotta pay <em>some</em> bills.
Or at least start the expansion cabin...
Did I mention I might be starting a business soon?
Maybe more on that later.</p>

<p>Anyway if you want platform independent ways to donate to me, including direct bank transfers and crypto currency, you can always just see <a href="https://lukesmith.xyz">https://lukesmith.xyz</a>.</p>

<p>I always feel like a shill to even say so (or to put the link in video descriptions), but then again, people still come up asking me how to donate. That's how. You have a lot of choices! Thanks for all who do donate; I'd hate to have to resort to selling bath water!</p>


guid: https://lukesmith.xyz/2020.html#converting-facebook-feeds-to-rss
title: Converting Facebook feeds to RSS?
url: https://lukesmith.xyz/2020.html#converting-facebook-feeds-to-rss
feedurl: https://lukesmith.xyz/rss.xml
content:
<p>I'm going to record a video today on RSS&mdash;one nice fact of RSS is that there are some services that can automatically generate RSS feeds of social media profiles, even those that have intentionally shirked off RSS to be able to further control content.</p>

<p><a href="https://twitrss.me/">https://twitrss.me/</a> is an example of this for Twitter, so you can subscribe/follow any Twitter account without Twitter being able to filter what you see (and importantly without having an account in the first place).</p>

<p>Unfortunately, despite looking several times, I've never found something like this for public Facebook pages, which I think a lot of people would find hard to live without.
There are a lot of normie/Boomer businesses whose only internet presence is their Facebook page.
Even in my case, there's a local grocery store that has weekly deals that I could only see by navigating to a public Facebook page, which I don't like doing: I'd rather the updates just appear in my RSS feed reader.</p>

<p>Anyway, if anyone knows of a free service that produces RSS feeds for Facebook pages, please tell me ASAP so I can include it in the video.</p>


guid: https://lukesmith.xyz/2020.html#first-episode-of-a-full-series-on-the-basics-of-shell-scripting
title: First episode of a full series on the basics of shell scripting
url: https://lukesmith.xyz/2020.html#first-episode-of-a-full-series-on-the-basics-of-shell-scripting
feedurl: https://lukesmith.xyz/rss.xml
content:
<p>I actually somewhat enjoyed doing the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8XtNXutVto">"Vim Diesel"</a> hour long vim tutorial...</p>

<p>So I decided to do something I've been asked about over the years, and that is to do a series on very basic command-line/terminal/shell/bash usage.</p>

<p>I've put up <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4gE8k2RE_s">the first video in this series here</a> so check it out. Although it's very basic, covering the key commands and key-bindings on the terminal, you might learn something or another new or forgotten...</p>


guid: https://lukesmith.xyz/2020.html#not-related-is-officially-back-new-episode-tomorrow-morning
title: Not Related! is officially back. New episode tomorrow morning.
url: https://lukesmith.xyz/2020.html#not-related-is-officially-back-new-episode-tomorrow-morning
feedurl: https://lukesmith.xyz/rss.xml
content:
<p>The madman has finally done it.</p>

<p>I've finally restarted <a href="https://notrelated.xyz">Not Related!</a>, my long lost podcast!</p>

<p><a href="https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/notrelated/S02E00_-_Live_from_the_Wild.ogg">Download the new Season 2 introducion</a> episode.</p>

<p>
You can also see the episode <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_IR4UBdDmw">on YouTube</a>, although obviously the audio format is primary.</p>

<p>
I always shot for the perfect sweet spot between that signature "Big-Braned" content and a kind of non-pretentiousness: while the topics of <em>Not Related!</em> are always different, they're all in depth coverages of topics out of the typical realm of common knowledge and internet discussion, oftentimes found in somewhat abstruse study...
If I've wasted time in my life learning something, I might as well make it more accessible to others, even if part of that is just previewing it in audio format.
</p>

<p>Some had noted that a kind of a pattern emerged behind some podcast episodes: deflating some of the academic pretentions of institutionalized science.
That might continue in some episodes (definitely the first real episode, which will come out tomorrow morning), but I really only promise varied and unexpectedly interesting content.</p>

<p>
I've learned on the internet that you can never wait around and expect someone else to cover topics, so while I sort of quit the podcast out of tiredness, I view returning to it as a kind of duty.
I was happy with its content and direction.
</p>

<p>Anyway, blah, blah. <a href="https://notrelated.xyz/rss">Subscribe to the podcast RSS feed</a>. Listen or relisten to the older episodes too.</p>

<p>I read <a href="https://lukesmith.xyz/donate">any kind of donation</a> during the middle-of-the-episode break, so if you have a smart comment or an innocent question about a previous episode, submit it with a donation and I'll read it.
Again, I've already recording the first real episode for the second season, but I might be recording #2 soon after.</p>


guid: https://lukesmith.xyz/2020.html#manjaro-is-good-for-noobs
title: Manjaro is good for noobs.
url: https://lukesmith.xyz/2020.html#manjaro-is-good-for-noobs
feedurl: https://lukesmith.xyz/rss.xml
content:
<p>I put out a video on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWowqM2S9VU">why I always recommend Manjaro for new users</a>. Get Manjaro at <a href="https://manjaro.org">manjaro.org</a>.</p>

<p>Manjaro has a couple of main benefits over other distros:</p>

<ul>
	<li>While other distros idiotically try to containerize programs allow people to get either normie/proprietary software or very up-and-coming software, Manjaro can just use the AUR.</li>
	<li>The frequent updates give Manjaro a substantial edge over Ubuntu and Linux Mint since it allows noobs to get quick updates to highly-active software areas like gayming.</li>
	<li>On a minor point, pacman is better than apt-get on pretty much any metric.</li>
	<li>Manjaro eases the transfer into Arch Linux, which is a typical rite of passage into mature Linux.</li>
</ul>

<p>Of course, reading the comments from new users, I am continually reminded that the real hurdle to getting the most out of Linux is a psychological one: most users want to replicate their Windows 10 setup perfectly and more than that, have the mindset of a passive consooomer for whom even the most inconsequential unexpected things on an operating system are a world-ending impossibilities and sources of frustration.
</p>

<p>There's a lot to say about that.
I spend a lot of time making videos to make life easier for other people.
One thing I've realized is that there are some people who get a lot more excitement out of complaining than having solutions to their problems.</p>

<p>I don't understand that psychology, but it's ubiquitous.</p>


guid: https://lukesmith.xyz/2020.html#on-the-swallowing-patch-in-dwm
title: On the swallowing patch in dwm
url: https://lukesmith.xyz/2020.html#on-the-swallowing-patch-in-dwm
feedurl: https://lukesmith.xyz/rss.xml
content:
<p>dwm has a somewhat unique patch called <a href+"https://dwm.suckless.org/patches/swallow/">swallow</a> which automatically positions a window opened from a terminal over that terminal that would otherwise be non-responsive, uncloseable and thus a big annoyance.</p>

<p>I show this patch and why it's needed <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92uo5OBOKfY">in a new video I just released</a>: "Does your Window Manager Swallow?"</p>

<p>I'm also going to start putting my dwm videos into <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-p5XmQHB_JSrWHdm-Fb5khZpw2JXLImj">a playlist here</a> so if you want to keep up with them individually you can.</p>


guid: https://lukesmith.xyz/2020.html#oooof-big-server-downage
title: Oooof! Big server downage!
url: https://lukesmith.xyz/2020.html#oooof-big-server-downage
feedurl: https://lukesmith.xyz/rss.xml
content:
<p>I was playing around with my server today, you know, the one where I host <a href="https://lukesmith.xyz">my website</a> the <a href="https://larbs.xyz">LARBS website</a> <em>and</em> <a href="https://notrelated.xyz">the <em>Not Related!</em></a> website.</p>

<p>I ended up "accidentally" install a nginx server which obviously interferred with my preexisting apache server (well, at least because I was running a hand-holding distro that automatically turns everything on when you install something!). This caused a general crash of everything a couple hours ago.</p>

<p>It <em>would've</em> been an easy fix, but I decided instead to just wipe the whole thing and restart on a clean server, so that's what I'm doing. This time, I'm just running nginx.</p>

<p>Anyway, some things are still down and I'm going to dinner tonight, so it might be until tomorrow that I fix everything:</p>

<ul>
	<li>The LARBS link at <code>larbs.xyz/larbs.sh</code> is offline until I figure out how to link stuff on nginx the way I did with <code>htaccess</code> on apache.</li>
	<li>Some old links might not rewrite properly, similar to above. I think I have it removing .html at least on my personal site.</li>
	<li>My personal files on my website are down since again they were Apache based.</li>
	<li>My git server is down. I might just remake it on video because people always ask about it.</li>
	<li>If you have the <em>Not Related!</em> link at the notrelated.xyz address, it might be down too: <code>https://notrelated.libsyn.com/rss</code> will work instead; the one at notrelated.xyz was just a link to that one.</li>
</ul>

<p>Thanks to <a href="https://github.com/LukeSmithxyz/emailwiz">that email script</a> I made a while ago I can receive emails, but it looks like I have to tinker with it a little more for isync. I guess that's for the best since I'll update the script for other people.</p>


guid: https://lukesmith.xyz/2020.html#ill-have-server-downtime-tomorrow
title: I'll have server downtime tomorrow.
url: https://lukesmith.xyz/2020.html#ill-have-server-downtime-tomorrow
feedurl: https://lukesmith.xyz/rss.xml
content:
<p>I'm going to make some more changes to my server. Expect my websites to be offline tomorrow, hopefully no more than a couple hours. I just want to make sure to get everything right. 😉</p>


guid: https://lukesmith.xyz/2020.html#le-shill-lion
title: Le Shill Lion
url: https://lukesmith.xyz/2020.html#le-shill-lion
feedurl: https://lukesmith.xyz/rss.xml
content:
<p>Redditors have been spamming my videos asking me to respond to the "controversy"/"fiasco" that Brave has been using affiliate links to certain sites openly for their intended purpose.</p>

<p>In March, a commit added additional links that added in suggestions to sites like Coinbase that included Brave's affiliate link.
This was merged into the upstream in April.
You can see the <a href="https://github.com/brave/brave-core/commit/e8fdde70a3ac2c25e6ccc567bc93c6d4059c2d72#diff-4e85e1d3377a3f7b7da27f16f88e9bd5">relevant git history</a>.
</p>

<p>These affiliate links have displayed openly in the url bar and in the autocomplete as options for months.
Mind you, Brave already had a built-in autocomplete/suggestions that recommend sites that you've never been to.
(This has actually always annoyed me to no end and there's no obvious way to turn off these recommendations to useless sites like the New York Times, LinkedIn or Google Calendar.)
</p>

<p>Yet in the past couple of days, some regular investigative journalists discovered what had been in front of their faces every time they typed in their url bar. A lot of people and pages melodramatically call this "link hijacking."
I wish they held those standards for any other program...
</p>

<p>The "controversy" is that when Brave added links to Coinbase and other sites will affiliate links, it includes those affiliate links into the autocomplete.
(With non-affiliate suggestions as well.)
Some non-intrusive affiliate pages would autofill as well (while intrusive pages like Coinbase's would only open if manually selected by the user).
</p>


<p>Really, what is Brave supposed to do?
It already recommends sites, including the sites with affiliate links and Brave is actually literally leading users to these sites anyway.
Using an affiliate link is the right way to do it: these companies want to know and incentivize people who share their sites.
Brave is already doing that.
It's not like it's costing the user anything.
The sites already know your browser anyway.
</p>

<p>Note that DuckDuckGo has done exactly the same thing and makes money from forcibly putting their affiliate links on Amazon and eBay search results.
</p>

<p>There are a lot of furry communists who think that anything involving money must be "shady" or untrustworthy.
The fact is, if Brave is not going to make money by shilling for NGOs and political non-profits like Firefox, or sell user data like Google, it should be making money on things like this.
<em>This is literally what affiliate links are for.</em>
I can't even pretend it's bad.
This is just dumb.
</p>


guid: https://lukesmith.xyz/2020.html#gnutards-unequivocally-destroyed-eternally
title: GNUtards unequivocally destroyed eternally
url: https://lukesmith.xyz/2020.html#gnutards-unequivocally-destroyed-eternally
feedurl: https://lukesmith.xyz/rss.xml
content:
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Wz9BkzU1zY">Important meme video.</a></p>

<p>"I use Linux as my operating system," I state proudly to the unkempt, bearded man. He swivels around in his desk chair with a devilish gleam in his eyes, ready to mansplain with extreme precision. "Actually", he says with a grin, "Linux is just the kernel. You use GNU+Linux!' I don't miss a beat and reply with a smirk, "I use Alpine, a distro that doesn't include the GNU coreutils, or any other GNU code. It's Linux, but it's not GNU+Linux."</p>

<p>The smile quickly drops from the man's face. His body begins convulsing and he foams at the mouth and drops to the floor with a sickly thud. As he writhes around he screams "I-IT WAS COMPILED WITH GCC! THAT MEANS IT'S STILL GNU!" Coolly, I reply "If windows was compiled with gcc, would that make it GNU?" I interrupt his response with "-and work is being made on the kernel to make it more compiler-agnostic. Even you were correct, you wont be for long."</p>

<p>With a sickly wheeze, the last of the man's life is ejected from his body. He lies on the floor, cold and limp. I've womansplained him to death.</p>


guid: https://lukesmith.xyz/2020.html#i-have-my-own-search-engine-now
title: I have my own search engine now
url: https://lukesmith.xyz/2020.html#i-have-my-own-search-engine-now
feedurl: https://lukesmith.xyz/rss.xml
content:
<p>I'm actually a bit ahead in making videos: tomorrow or the day after or so, I'll have a video coming out about <a href="https://searx.me">Searx</a> the decentralized meta-search engine which runs on free software and anyone can install and use.</p>

<p>There are already <a href="https://searx.space">many public instances</a> of Searx out there, but I've also decided to make my own at <a href="https://searx.lukesmith.xyz">searx.lukesmith.xyz</a>, so you can try that out if you want. It's hosted on this very server.</p>

<p>If I get <em>too much</em> traffic, I might close or more it, but I'll leave it up for now to see if the traffic isn't too inconvenient.
After all, if I'm the only one using the instance, it's easy enough for the engines it polls to determine it's just me that's searching!
</p>

<p><big><em>Absolutely no coomers allowed!</em></big></p>

<p>Again yeah, I've already made videos on Searx and the process of actually installing your own instance of it and they'll be out within the week.</p>


guid: https://lukesmith.xyz/2020.html#anyone-done-peertube-before
title: Anyone done Peertube before?
url: https://lukesmith.xyz/2020.html#anyone-done-peertube-before
feedurl: https://lukesmith.xyz/rss.xml
content:
<p>I get emails about Peertube semi-frequently.
<a href="https://joinpeertube.org/">Peertube</a> is software you can install on your server to make a kind of a YouTube site.
This would actually be a goal of mine:
to be able to host all of my videos, serve them and have a platform truly independent of YouTube (or at least the core of it).
</p>

<p>I've never bothered to join an instance because I can't necessarily trust individual terms or my bandwidth requirements are too big for most,
but I figure it's worth figuring out now and I'm fiddling around with a separate VPS for doing it myself.</p>

<p>I will admit that the installation process has been a pain.
I've come 99% of the way a couple times in the past couple of days, but there's always something missing or out of sync by the time I finish.
I've even degraded myself by deploying containerized versions of the program (soydev.jpg), but to no avail.
</p>

<p>Anyway, I was wondering if any body out there is passionate and knowledgeable about Peertube and could either help me set it up or has principled suggestions.
I'd like to get this done soon.</p>


guid: https://lukesmith.xyz/2020.html#a-guide-to-using-rss-to-replace-social-media
title: A Guide to Using RSS to Replace Social Media
url: https://lukesmith.xyz/2020.html#a-guide-to-using-rss-to-replace-social-media
feedurl: https://lukesmith.xyz/rss.xml
content:
<p>I've just released a
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMH9w6pyzvU">video on RSS</a>, more or less talking about the basics.</p>

<p>RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is the best way to keep tabs on things online. While social media sites have tried to replace it, it is still the best way to consoooome content, even on social media sites.</p>

<p>For all basic blogs and smart websites, RSS feeds will be obvious and sometimes your browser will automatically detect them, but here is how to get RSS for some common social media sites.</p>

<h3>YouTube</h3>

<p>Thankfully, YouTube still has RSS feeds, albeit very hidden ones:
for example, mine is <code>https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?channel_id=UC2eYFnH61tmytImy1mTYvhA</code>, where my channel ID (starting with <code>U</code>).
</p>

<p>
All YouTube channels have channel IDs that you can either see in their channel page URL, or which you can find by looking at their page source and looking for something like <code>channel_id</code>.
</p>

<p>To "subscribe" to a channel via RSS, just take that channel ID and put it in the format of mine I gave above. The main link goes directly to the video page and I usually stream/download them directly with mpv and youtube-dl.</p>

<h3>Twitter</h3>

<p><a href="https://nitter.net">Nitter.net</a> is a Twitter proxy that mirrors Twitter, but without Javascript soyware and spying.
Importantly, Nitter also openly displays links to RSS feeds they generate for accounts in the upper right-hand corner.</p>

<h3>Github/Gitlab</h3>

<p>Github and Gitlab offer RSS for repositories so you can watch activity.</p>

<p>Want to watch development of my dotfiles?
Just use
<code>https://github.com/lukesmithxyz/voidrice/commits/master.atom</code>.</p>

<p>As you can guess, replace my username and repo name with whatever you want to get a feed for that.</p>

<p>Note also that there is an option to get a "private feed" which lists even more things (who follows you and repository events you watch).</p>

<h3>Facebook (and basically every other site)</h3>

<p><a href="https://github.com/RSS-Bridge/rss-bridge">RSS-bridge</a> is the ultimate RSS feed helper and will not just give you RSS feeds for Facebook pages, but basically anything else.</p>

<p>This is software that can run on a server. You can just do an internet search for instances, then feed them a link you want an RSS for and RSS-bridge will autogenerate a feed.</p>

<h3>Podcasts</h3>

<p>Podcasts literally just are RSS feeds! That's why it's so easy to view them anywhere.</p>

<p>For example, my podcast <em>Not Related!</em> is syndicated by Libsyn and its RSS feed url is <code>https://notrelated.libsyn.com/rss</code>.
If you want another Libsyn podcast, just replace "notrelated" with the podcast name on the site.</p>

<h3>My RSS feeds:</h3>

<p>This blog, a link to my youtube RSS and my podcast RSS.</p>

<pre><code>https://lukesmith.xyz/rss.xml
https://lukesmith.xyz/youtube.xml
https://notrelated.xyz/rss
</code></pre>


guid: https://lukesmith.xyz/2020.html#ill-be-returning-to-make-videos-on-monday-check-out-peertube
title: I'll be returning to make videos on Monday. Check out Peertube.
url: https://lukesmith.xyz/2020.html#ill-be-returning-to-make-videos-on-monday-check-out-peertube
feedurl: https://lukesmith.xyz/rss.xml
content:
<p>After a full month of doing videos pretty much every day, I decided to take a two week break early July.
In case you're new here, it's pretty normal for me to go weeks or months without a public appearance only to end that hiatus with a long video series.</p>

<p>I hope all of you have enjoyed making your own website: <strong>it will be probably the best technology investment you will make</strong>. You get a lot of freedom and knowledge in doing it. I'll be doing more videos about having your own website/server pretty soon, along with other videos.
If you haven't jumped on the bandwagon:</p>

<ul>
	<li>I have <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-p5XmQHB_JRRnoQyjOfioJdDmu87DIJc">a playlist on all the basics</a> and I'll do more on how I manage my website soon.</li>
	<li>I put out affiliate links to the registrar/VPS provider I use/recommend:</li>
	<ul>
		<li>Use <a href="https://www.epik.com/?affid=we2ro7sa6">Epik</a> as a registrar, prices are as cheap as they get and they have made sacrifices in the past to avoid suppressing political speech. In a day when registrars have started dropping domain names at the minor calls of the media, this is essential.</li>
		<li>Use <a href="https://www.vultr.com/?ref=8384069-6G">Vultr</a> as a VPS provider. That link gives you a $100 one-month credit to play around with and if you stay with Vultr, your first $25 spent goes to me instead of them.</li>
	</ul>
</ul>

<p>Additionally, I encourage you to check out <a href="https://videos.lukesmith.xyz">my new self-hosted Peertube instance at https://videos.lukesmith.xyz</a> .
I want to see what kind of bandwidth I need.
If you want to watch the videos above on Peertube instead of YouTube: <a href="https://videos.lukesmith.xyz/videos/watch/playlist/e279cb01-cccf-44d6-b017-38cc6b5bbcf7?videoId=9aadaf2f-a8e7-4579-913d-b250fd1aaaa9">check it out here</a> 👈 instead of on YouTube.

<p>Now one important key to internet independence is what's called <em>federation</em>, i.e. "social media sites" that can be run on your own or your friend's server and can interact with other instances of that site. I'll talk about this in videos soon, but you might want to look it up if you don't know. Peertube is an example of a federated site. While you will only see my videos on my site now, I can "follow" other instances to make their content visible from my site. You can also join as a user on my instance for the time being&mdash;that might have to change in the future, so you might want to do it if you want.</p>

<p>Obviously if you're running a Peertube instance, come follow mine and back up/mirror videos if you want! I might follow some instances soon myself.</p>


guid: https://lukesmith.xyz/2020.html#ill-be-migrating-to-a-superior-server-for-peertube
title: I'll be migrating to a superior server for Peertube
url: https://lukesmith.xyz/2020.html#ill-be-migrating-to-a-superior-server-for-peertube
feedurl: https://lukesmith.xyz/rss.xml
content:
<p>As I say in <a href="https://videos.lukesmith.xyz/videos/watch/bd0ebff8-245c-4092-a1fa-b604086a460e">this video</a> (exclusively on Peertube 😉),
I did <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrEwHn7XmRU">a video yesterday</a> about my new video site at <a href="https://videos.lukesmith.xyz">videos.lukesmith.xyz</a>, which is a Peertube instance.</p>

<p>As I predicted, I wouldn't be able to tolerate the bandwidth needed on my puny Vultr server, so after the suggestions of many subscribers, I've decided on another company to host the Peertube instance (I'll still be using Vultr for all of my other VPS's for their other advantages).
</p>

<p>
A subscriber, Harambe (I'll just assume that's his real name) has agreed to fund the instance for the first few months, so thanks a lot to him.
Thankfully, it offers infinite bandwidth, (nearly) infinitely expandable space and is much cheaper than I anticipated.
It also has a beefier processor, which actually does make a difference when Peertube is trying to transcode your most recent upload all while serving a thousand people.
</p>

<p>Peertube does have <a href="https://docs.joinpeertube.org/#/maintain-migration">some documentation on migrating your instance</a>, but my new server is currently also running Debian (the original Peertube server runs Arch). In the worse case scenario, I won't be able to migrate and that means people will have to reregister and comments will be deleted. Hopefully that won't be the case though.</p>

<p>
I'll need to set everything up again, but hopefully it will be done in a couple days before we meet the 1TB bandwidth cap.
If you want to donate to the maintain the instance and my management of it in the meantime (or well, all the other stuff I do online), you can always <a href="https://lukesmith.xyz/donate">donate!</a>
I'm going to feel like a shill for asking, but I'm starting to take bigger financial investments with my channel and hope to be able to be fully YouTube-independent very soon.</p>

<p>I also may be able to mirror other people's videos, with a focus on people who have been recently banned or are in the threat of being banned on YouTube.
I was sad to hear that <a href="https://rooshv.com">Roosh Valizadeh</a> was banned from YouTube yesterday and while he is on D.live was <a href="https://nitter.net/rooshv/status/1282768776468078593#m">looking for a new platform to stream on</a>.
I've also noticed that Ryan Faulk (<a href="https://www.bitchute.com/thealthype/">the Alternative Hypothesis</a>) has privated his videos.
I don't have Ryan's email, but if anyone has his contact information, I might be able to offer some space.
(Actually both of these guys make long videos/streams, but it might be possible.)
</p>


guid: https://lukesmith.xyz/2020.html#peertube-will-be-down-for-migration-today
title: PeerTube will be down for migration today
url: https://lukesmith.xyz/2020.html#peertube-will-be-down-for-migration-today
feedurl: https://lukesmith.xyz/rss.xml
content:
<p>My new PeerTube instance will be temporarily down today as I migrate to a new and much better server with plenty of storage space and bandwidth (and a better processor to boot).</p>

<p>I've already started the transfer, but I'll need to stop the current instance in an hour or so to make sure I can transfer the whole database without a problem and test it all.
That means that the video site (but nothing else) will go dark for a couple hours.</p>

<p>The new instance will still be at <a href="https://videos.lukesmith.xyz">videos.lukesmith.xyz</a>.
Hopefully I will be able to move the whole database over without data loss, but if I fail to do that, it will just start a new instance and people can recreate accounts and re-follow my instance.
Hopefully that won't be necessary though.</p>

<p>And yes, I'll be able to transfer all my old videos over once this migration is complete.
PeerTube has some scripts that automatically mirror YouTube channels and I'll have plenty of hard-drive space.</p>


title: Peertube migration is done! No obvious errors. Full video sync to happen soon!
feedurl: https://lukesmith.xyz/rss.xml
guid:
https://lukesmith.xyz/2020.html#peertube-migration-is-done-no-obvious-errors-full-video-sync-to-happen-soon

url:
https://lukesmith.xyz/2020.html#peertube-migration-is-done-no-obvious-errors-full-video-sync-to-happen-soon

content:
<p>Title says it all. <a href="https://videos.lukesmith.xyz">videos.lukesmith.xyz</a> was only offline for an hour or so before I managed to migrate everything over.
If there are any errors in the meantime, feel free to tell me.</p>

<p>It looks like everyone's accounts have synced over and it still has all of its following instances. Great.</p>

<p>The next step is that I want to do a full sync with all my videos on YouTube including banned and privated ones. I'll be scripting that soon, so you might see literally hundreds of videos randomly being added to the instance in the next day or so.</p>


guid: https://lukesmith.xyz/2020.html#open-call-for-larbs-users
title: Open call for LARBS users
url: https://lukesmith.xyz/2020.html#open-call-for-larbs-users
feedurl: https://lukesmith.xyz/rss.xml
content:
<p>I was thinking of adding to the <a href="https://larbs.xyz">LARBS website</a> some screenshots, but I thought it would be really lame if I just pulled up some htop windows and took some screenshots myself.</p>

<p>For those of you who use LARBS, if you have changed it a little or a lot, if you see yourself doing something "interesting" looking that could look like a good advertisement, just hit PrintScreen and <a href="mailto:luke@lukesmith.xyz">send it to me</a>.</p>

<p>Anonymize/blur whatever you want private on your own.</p>

<p>If I post a small gallery of these on a page on the LARBS website, give me a screen name or real name if you want it to be identified with you (being anonymous is, of course fine).</p>


guid: https://lukesmith.xyz/2020.html#redesigning-the-website
title: Redesigning the website
url: https://lukesmith.xyz/2020.html#redesigning-the-website
feedurl: https://lukesmith.xyz/rss.xml
content:
<p>I've been redesigning the website again, trying to simplify it.
Before, I was going for a "personal introduction" with pictures on the mainpage, but now I'm going for something slimmer.</p>

<p>The biggest problem is always <em>fitting all the links I have so that they aren't annoying!</em>
While I lack most social media sites, it's a pain having so many video archives and other things to link...
I've decided to go with a classic dropdown menu (pure CSS, sorry JS-soydevs).</p>

<p>I do want to start writing up more guides and content on my website proper, and that might happen soon.
We'll see.</p>

<p>I might be changing around the aesthetics of the site a little bit more, but I think it has the general look I want.
I sort of need a new headshot.
I have a sketch of my drawn by a friend on the mainpage now just because I'm getting tired of all my profile photos.</p>


guid: https://lukesmith.xyz/2020.html#recommended-libreopen-source-crypto-wallet
title: Recommended libre/open source crypto wallet?
url: https://lukesmith.xyz/2020.html#recommended-libreopen-source-crypto-wallet
feedurl: https://lukesmith.xyz/rss.xml
content:
<p>
First off, congrats to all you Stinky Linkies who've become millionaires on your internet Monopoly money in the past weeks!
(I actually went ahead and added my Chainlink wallet to my donate page just because it might actually become a thing...)
</p>

<p>
What a retard I was for having a meme folder of Chainlink Pepes for months and it wasn't until it was nearly $9 that I bought!
Sad! Even if the price gets bogged, I'll still make some good money, so I'll live with it.
</p>

<img style="margin:auto;display:block" src="https://lukesmith.xyz/pix/pix/balloon-chainlink.png" alt="Apu with Chainlink" title="Ur life on chainlink">

<p>
Anyway, on a related note, unfortunately there are too many dirty normies who trade crypto who have no taste in software.
I've never been happy with the crypto wallets/services I use.
Most applications I've used are Bitcoin only.
</p>

<p>So if anyone is semi-passionate about their wallet, I'm looking for a better one.
The ideal credentials would be:
</p>

<ul>
    <li>Libre/open source.</li>
    <li>Can deal with a wide variety of cryptos and ETH tokens. The ones <a href="https://lukesmith.xyz/donate.html">on my donate page</a> are the ones I generally care about.</li>
    <li>Is heirarchical deterministic (i.e. one key (usually of words) can backup and restore the whole wallet with all currencies).</li>
    <li>As private as possible: no centralized sign-in or something silly.</li>
</ul>

<p>Preferably also...</p>

<ul>
    <li>Has some kind of exchange interface with sensible exchanges.</li>
    <li>Has some kind of price monitoring.</li>
    <li>Not written in a soydev language.</li>
</ul>

<p>I've been using Coinomi, which became closed source a while back due to people freeloading their services and some other issues.
</p>

<p>Of course, there is probably a way to generate a wallet on the command line and use it from there.
Theoretically if I was going to look how to do that up on YouTube, I would look on my channel, but I do not know how,
so if someone wants to red-pill me on an easy way to do without using some obvious program on the Linux command line,
feel free to tell me.</p>

<p>Actually, open season on any crypto-tips: if anyone has based recommendations for how best to buy/sell/withdraw in a cost effective manner
or anything else, feel free to share.
It wasn't until the past year or so that I had any crypto holdings, so I'm sure that there's a lot I don't know,
especially because most of the "resources" for crypto on the internet are literally paid shills or scammers.
</p>


guid: https://lukesmith.xyz/2020.html#internet-has-been-cucking-me
title: Internet has been cucking me
url: https://lukesmith.xyz/2020.html#internet-has-been-cucking-me
feedurl: https://lukesmith.xyz/rss.xml
content:
<p>I had actually been planning to release videos every day this week, but I've been having severe internet issues.
The ISP in our town has been laying new wires as well and for whatever reason even the internet in town seems to be running slower.
I've had the same video uploading since noon Thursday (lol).</p>

<p>I'm always looking for a more permanent internet solution, but it looks like I might have to postpone by videos a little bit until I can get everything uploaded.</p>

<p>This has been one inconvenience.
When I lived in a larger town, I had 30 megs up and could wake up, come up with a video idea and record and have it uploaded before 10AM.
For the last year, uploading videos is a full or multi-day affair.</p>


guid: https://lukesmith.xyz/2020.html#only-mediocre-minds-nitpick-new-article
title: Only Mediocre Minds Nitpick (new article)
url: https://lukesmith.xyz/2020.html#only-mediocre-minds-nitpick-new-article
feedurl: https://lukesmith.xyz/rss.xml
content:
<p>I'm going to be writing some slightly more pictorial articles on my website with memes and such. I have a couple in the works and you can see the first here: <a href="https://lukesmith.xyz/nitpick.html">Only Mediocre Minds Nitpick.</a></p>

<p>Yeah it's separate from my blog system. I'm going to mull over how to best do it all.</p>

<p>Either way, the message of that article is highly important! More to come!</p>


guid: https://lukesmith.xyz/2020.html#new-documentaries-and-lectures-on-peertube
title: New documentaries and lectures on PeerTube
url: https://lukesmith.xyz/2020.html#new-documentaries-and-lectures-on-peertube
feedurl: https://lukesmith.xyz/rss.xml
content:
<p>I've created a new channel on <a href="https://videos.lukesmith.xyz">my PeerTube instance</a> called "Documentaries" where I plan to put up talks, lectures and documentaries.</p>

<p>The goal is just to provide my choice of decent TL;DR talks for you NEETs who have some time on your hands and want at least something to consoooom.
The standards on my PeerTube instance is a little higher than YouTube so less distracting noise...
</p>

<ul>
    <li><a href="https://videos.lukesmith.xyz/video-channels/documentaries/videos">Channel link</a></li>
    <li>Channel RSS feed: https://videos.lukesmith.xyz/feeds/videos.xml?videoChannelId=982</li>
</ul>

<p>I've already put up four talks:</p>

<ul>
    <li><a href="https://videos.lukesmith.xyz/videos/watch/ed7290ac-a585-40b4-b65b-73b5744eacce">The Website Obesity Crisis</a></li>
    <li><a href="https://videos.lukesmith.xyz/videos/watch/733b53cb-b4df-4cb1-9615-045fbd6789dd">Sugar: The Bitter Truth</a></li>
    <li><a href="https://videos.lukesmith.xyz/videos/watch/94a9ef52-4217-48af-b474-4b14bfca7039">The Oiling of America</a></li>
    <li><a href="https://videos.lukesmith.xyz/videos/watch/672efcaa-1def-4c08-929f-0f14a31aac93">The Truth about Mobile Phones and Wireless Radiation</a></li>
</ul>


guid: https://lukesmith.xyz/poetic.html
title: Hedonism, Aceticism and the Hermetic Answer
url: https://lukesmith.xyz/poetic.html
feedurl: https://lukesmith.xyz/rss.xml
content:
<h1>Hedonism, Asceticism and the Hermetic Answer</h1>
<p>The modern world more or less gives you the philosophical choice of either <dfn>hedonism</dfn> or <dfn>asceticism</dfn>.
You never really hear it in those terms, but that's how it is.
</p>
<p>
<strong>Hedonism living for pleasure.</strong>
Your default lifestyle is eating whatever, watching Netflix and playing video games irrespective of how late it is.
You watch porn, masturbate, have sex as much as you can and any consequences of any of this are just facts of life which you view as either out of your control or worth the suffering.
You might not use drugs because you are worried of the hedonistic damage it can cause, but you're at least <q>chill</q> with people who do.
At a basic level, modern society is hedonistic because it more or less openly holds as highest moral value what can stimulate people the most.
You know this is the case because anyone who <em>condemns</em> hedonistic behavior will immediately be judged as <q>judgemental.</q>
</p>
<p>
<strong>Asceticism is supposed to be the <q>smart</q> alternative.</strong>
Asceticism is rejecting pleasure, normal life and anything else enjoyable in the world as morally inferior to some higher non-physical ideal.
Buddhism, which rejects the physical world, has become a popular meme philosophy in the West and is highly acetic.
Vegans are acetic: they abandon basic life for their own principles and intense vegans will eventually start talking about "transcending" and "vibrations" and non-sense.
Asceticism come in many forms nowadays, but it is always a reaction to the indulgences of hedonism.
</p>
<h2>The Poetic Worldview</h2>
<a href="https://renaissanceastrology.com/hermestrismegistus.html">
<figure style="float:right;">
<img src="pix/gifs/hermes.png" alt="Hermes">
<figcaption>Hermes Trismegistus,<br>author of the Hermetic Corpus</figcaption>
</figure>
</a>
<p>
The Poetic Worldview is the solution.
Don't worry, it has nothing to do with poetry.
</p>
<p>
The Greek word that <em>poetry/poetic</em> comes from actually is just a generate word for <em>make, create, produce</em>.
The word "poetry" originally just meant something like "creative output."
</p>
<p>
This view is tied into early Platonism and monotheism.
The physical universe is a creation or manifestation or "the One" or "the Source" or really <dfn>God</dfn>.
God is the ultimate creator, and an individual is <strong>good</strong> insofar as <dfn>he reflects this creative tendency of God</dfn>.
We see it expounded in the Hermetic Corpus:
</p>
<blockquote>
    <q>The other name of God is Father, again because He is the
that-which-maketh-all.
The part of father is to make.</q>
    <cite><a href="http://www.gnosis.org/library/grs-mead/TGH-v2/th205.html">To Asclepius</a> (17), from the <a href="http://www.gnosis.org/library/hermet.htm">Hermetic Corpus</a></cite>
</blockquote>
<p>In the Poetic Worldview, <strong>the highest moral goal is creation</strong>.
That can be:</p>
<ul>
    <li>affecting the world,</li>
    <li>improving what is around you,</li>
    <li>having children,</li>
    <li>making money not to spend it on pleasures, but to make something new and great with it,</li>
    <li>writing or making something useful or edifying for others,</li>
    <li>clearing up misconceptions that get in other people's way in accomplishing these things.</li>
</ul>
<p>From the Poetic worldview, hedonism is evil because it is expending otherwise creative energy into nothing of consequence.
Racking up video-game achievements that no one will ever know or care of but you,
watching pornography, pursuing fleeting relationships,
impulsively wasting time browsing the internet and fiddling with social media.
</p>
<p>This passive and impulsive pleasure-seeking reduces someone's ability to live as intended, instead, they are prisoners to their lusts and conveniences:
</p>
<blockquote>
    <q>But whatsoever human souls have not the Mind as pilot, they share in the same fate as souls of lives irrational.
For [Mind] becomes co-worker with them, giving full play to the desires towards which [such souls] are borne,&mdash;[desires] that from the rush of lust strain after the irrational; [so that such human souls,] just like irrational animals, cease not irrationally to rage and lust, nor ever are they satiate of ills.
For passions and irrational desires are ills exceeding great; and over these God hath set up the Mind to play the part of judge and executioner.</q>
    <cite><a href="http://www.gnosis.org/library/grs-mead/TGH-v2/th225.html">About the Common Mind</a> (4), from the <a href="http://www.gnosis.org/library/hermet.htm">Hermetic Corpus</a></cite>
</blockquote>
<p>
Hedonism is additionally harmful because <em>it isn't even hedonistic</em>.
It's clumsy and self-destructive.
Spend your life from ages 16-23 playing videogames, masturbating and smoking weed and you have destroyed your capacity to enjoy life, sex and have normal interactions with normal people.
Your capacity for enjoyment ends and you fall into asceticism as a cope.
</p>
<p><strong>Asceticism is just as evil</strong> because it seeing this issue with the hedonistic lifestyle and tosses up its hands in surrender.
It internalizes the lie that wasteful and sinful living is somehow obviously funner&mdash;when they see they aren't actually having fun, they throw the whole world away.
</p>
<p>
<strong>Most ascetics are liars anyway.</strong>
They pretend to reject pleasure and worldly things, but they often just seek it in perverted or unconventional ways.
There are men who call themselves MGTOW (Men going their own way) who "swear off" women.
In reality, most of them are just desperate porn-addicted men who just can't get the girl they want.
</p>
<p>Contrary to all of this, having a Poetic view proposes that the more moral and also most enjoyable life is one where one is constantly creating something new out of what he is given.
In Hermetic thinking (and, well, Christian thinking) man must hold God as the idea to emulate.
Since God's principle feat is creation from nothing, our goal is to celebrate that creation by making something new and productive from the raw materials we have.
</p>
<p>Asceticism views the material world <em>as a mistake or illusion</em> which leads people to reject life itself.
The Poetic view is that the physical world is a <strong>reflection its spiritual state</strong>, and what you do in the physical world reflects your spiritual stature.
</p>
<p>The Poetic view is <em>somewhat</em> similar to Nietzsche's <dfn>Will to Power</dfn>,
which was an attempt to unite both human and material sciences under the idea that the ideal is maximizing one's
output on the external world.
Will to Power is a little more morally ambivalent though; it can include destruction, while Poeticism merely values creative power.
</p>
<h2>Distractions are literally evil.</h2>
<p>This is why <dfn>I highly condemn wasteful activities like videogames and pornography and social media</dfn>.
They are principally habits that divert your natural energies into something absolutely sterile.
<strong>Many people ask me <q>What can I do to be more productive?</q></strong> and I have to say that the most important thing is to <strong>remove inert distractions and habits</strong>.
</p>
<p>Due to bureaucratic workplaces and bureaucratic education, there are many modern people who <em>just don't know what it means to be productive</em>.
Most of their lives might be someone trying to fill their day with busywork.
Since the normal enjoyable ritual of creative output is unknown to them, this causes a kind of aimlessness and the <a href="files/unabomber.pdf">feelings of inferiority</a> that comes with that.
</p>
<p>
But in truth, you live at <strong>an ideal period</strong> in that you can have a highly impactful and ergo <em>poetic</em> effect on the world using internet technology and the higher material standard of living.
The only trick is to sidestep the distractions of hedonism that turns you into a passive consumer and the apathy of asceticism.
</p>


