10/07/2025

Interesting Things Around The Web July 2025

I've been on vacation recently so haven't put much time into updating the blog but I did recently find some really cool websites that I wanted to share!

Tools

  • powRSS
    • This website is phenomenal, even if simple. It's basically an RSS aggregator but driven by a community of people who want to help others discover personal websites and blogs. They have a rotating monthly selection of blogs that they aggregate the RSS feeds for, so every month you can discover new websites to check out

Blogs

  • Elizabeth Tai
    • I found the article titled 'I support deleting your second brain' through powRSS and really loved the subject of the article and the authors voice. Immediately added the RSS to my reader, and it led me to discover the second blog on this list!
  • Westenberg
    • Westenberg's article where they talk about deleting their entire Obsidian repository of notes from over 9 years really stirred something in the internet. I ended up reading several more articles of theirs and the reddit thread on r/Obsidian about their article. The reddit thread also inspired me to start writing a little bit about how much Reddit annoys me lately.
    • While I have some qualms about Westenberg's 'professionalized' website and what reads to me like 'thought leadership' and personal consulting services - something I ardently believe is for self-important yuppies who want to be the next Bezos - I cannot deny that their writing style and specifically this article that touches on strategies to reclaim your attention span has been generally enjoyable
      • I have started applying one of their rules to myself lately: I start all my essays on paper now. And I'm trying to force myself to write by hand every time I have an idea, rather that going straight to the computer. Their rule about one day without AI being 'strict' is hysterical because I avoid AI like the plague. Maybe if you need a robot to 'generate thought' for you, you aren't a 'thought leader'?

Self Hosting

  • Kavita
    • A self-hostable e-reader. Has functionality to send books and manga to kindle! Very neat, started using it a few weeks ago, works a charm even if the intial book tagging and setup is a bit particular.
  • LazyLibrarian
    • Readarr really didn't work for me and I got fed up, so I found this tool as a way to manage and acquire ebooks in a semi-automated way. I am not a fan of its UI and true true lack of good documentation. However, it works with some manual intervention for moving files (damn Docker volume mounts) and so I am now running it until I find something better. It's awesome that it has the ability to link to Soulseek for directl file sharing though!

_ _ _


Thoughts? Send me an email!
kagumail.uselessly535@passinbox.com
Feel free to remain anonymous and send it from a secure mailer!

Last Update: 06/04/2025