index.md (3893B)
1 --- 2 title: "Weeknote for 2025-W10" 3 description: "Personal and indie websites, buying ebooks, fed news, and LazyVim" 4 date: 2025-03-03T19:21:08-08:00 5 draft: false 6 categories: 7 - Weeknotes 8 --- 9 10 ## Personal websites are _in_ 11 12 This week's zeitgeist brought a bunch of new (to me) stuff about indie and personal websites to my attention. 13 14 - [This page is under construction: A love letter to the personal 15 website](https://localghost.dev/blog/this-page-is-under-construction/) 16 - [Why Personal Websites Matter More Than 17 Ever](https://www.joanwestenberg.com/why-personal-websites-matter-more-than-ever/) 18 - [Good Internet](https://goodinternetmagazine.com/), a new magazine about the 19 web that's launching soon 20 - [smallweb](https://smallweb.cc/), "a curated collection of cool indie 21 websites" 22 - [indieblog.page](https://indieblog.page/): "randomly explore the IndieWeb" 23 24 These (pseudo) weeknotes represent my attempt to write more here, following a 25 [#DecemberAdventure]({{< ref "/december-adventure/" >}}) spent making it 26 easier to post. 27 28 ## Today's ebook buying experience 29 30 I appreciate this overview of the current ebook purchasing landscape. It's 31 easy to understand why publishers like DRM, but readers are ill-served by it: 32 _especially_ folks who buy their books through legitimate channels. The author 33 of this piece is technically breaking the law (in the US at least---I don't 34 know where they're located) just to buy an ebook and convert it into a format 35 that will work on their current e-reader and whatever device they purchase 36 next. 37 38 [Buying books in 39 2025](https://notes.jays.net/blog/ebooks/#buying-books-in-2025) 40 41 ## What's new in the federal government 42 43 Last week I lost some time to the "five bullets" debacle, and today I lost 44 more to the followup; apparently this is going to be a weekly thing now? In my 45 experience, the first people to flee an organization that starts treating its 46 workers this way are the most talented and hard-working. 47 48 The sacking of 18F strikes me as particularly wrongheaded. They represented 49 some of the best technologists in the executive branch, all working for a 50 fraction of what their labor is worth, because they believe in the mission of 51 making the federal government more efficient and effective for the American 52 public. I wonder which news agency will drop the credulous act, do some 53 journalism, and start reporting on the true motivations of these 54 decisions---they clearly aren't meant to improve governmental efficiency. 55 Anyone can make wild guesses at the end game here[^guess], but a talented and 56 appropriately resourced reporter could really rake some muck. 57 58 [18F: We are dedicated to the American public. And we aren't done 59 yet.](https://18f.org/) 60 61 ## Trying LazyVim 62 63 Since I actually write code for work[^pm], I decided that I'd compliment [my 64 VS Code experiments]({{< ref 65 "/posts/weeknotes/2025-w09/#whats-new-in-the-federal-government" >}}) by 66 trying out the popular [LazyVim](http://www.lazyvim.org/) configuration with 67 [my favorite editor]({{< ref "/posts/vim" >}}). In some ways, I'm finding the 68 learning curve to be more of a challenge than adapting to VS Code. I suppose 69 it's easier to accept an all new editor than a complete reimagining of one I 70 know well. 71 72 This ebook was recommended to me and it's a great resource. I'll admit that 73 I'm not in a great position to read it beginning-to-end, since I already know 74 Vim basics (to which it serves as an approachable introduction) and, as a busy 75 Federal employee, I need to get some code written. But if you're a Vim-curious 76 programmer, I suggest giving this a try. 77 78 [LazyVim for Ambitious 79 Developers](https://lazyvim-ambitious-devs.phillips.codes/) 80 81 [^guess]: I certainly have, though I will keep them offline. 82 83 [^pm]: Although, [as I mentioned previously]({{< ref 84 "/posts/weeknotes/2025-w05/#speaking-of-the-day-job" >}}), I've picked up 85 some product management responsibilities in FY25.