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The Price of a Donut
I entered the live stream as a human being, but to the interface and the creator, I was quickly reduced to a metric. She wanted a "Donut"—a 30-coin gift on her wish list. At the time, I didn't realise the "Wish List" was
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From "Error 500" to Encrypted Bliss: My Journey Self-Hosting Ente
I have always believed that owning your data shouldn't be a privilege reserved for systems engineers. I wanted to break away from Big Tech's surveillance and host my own instance of Ente—an end-to-end encrypted photo storage solution. I have the hardware (a VPS running YunoHost)
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The Ivory Tower and the Cage: A View from the Ground
The internet has been deafening since the news broke. My feeds on the Fediverse and TikTok are flooded with hot takes on imperialism, sovereignty, and the hidden agendas of superpowers. But amidst this digital noise, I see a distinct glitch in the logic: everyone is debating the method of the
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Adapting to an Unbuilt World: My Path Toward Decentralised Unity
This is not a story about overcoming the world, because the world was never a finished product to begin with. It is about learning how to live, work, and stay intact inside a reality that offers no templates, guarantees, or built-in safety. What follows is a quiet exploration of adaptation—
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The Nodes of My Identity: Reclaiming a Domain from the Void
I have spent a lot of time lately thinking about what it means to own a piece of the internet. As an IT student currently on hiatus due to financial constraints, my digital property is not just a collection of files or a string of characters; it is my laboratory,
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Seni Bina Tanpa Hierarki: Kesatuan Desentralisasi dalam Mesh
Saya seorang pelajar IT yang sedang berehat, tertarik dengan bagaimana kita boleh merampas semula lapisan fizikal dalam kehidupan digital kita. Dalam dunia LoRa, “node” ialah unit ketahanan. Kekuatan Meshtastic bukan pada skrin yang cantik, tetapi pada topologi multi-hop tanpa hierarki. Setiap node yang menerima paket akan bertindak sebagai relay, meluaskan
The Architecture of Non-Hierarchy: Decentralised Unity in the Mesh
I am an IT student on hiatus, fascinated by how we can reclaim the physical layer of our digital lives. In the world of LoRa, the "node" is the unit of resilience. Meshtastic's power isn't in a shiny screen; it is in its non-hierarchical,
The Illusion of Civility: Truck Nuts, Order, and the Space In Between
It started with a screenshot. A friend on the Fediverse shared a photo of a pickup truck parked in the US. Hanging from the rear bumper was a pair of "Truck Nuts"—a plastic accessory designed to look like testicles. But what struck me wasn’t just the
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The Glitch in the Wind: What a Virtual "Bank Angle" Taught Me About Systems and Control
It started as a routine approach. I was sitting there with my phone, running Rortos’ Real Flight Simulator (RFS), descending towards a runway in Sarawak. The virtual cockpit was calm, the glowing instruments were steady, and the autopilot was locked onto the glideslope. It felt like running a clean script—
The Glitch in the System: A Sysadmin’s Notes on Guardianship and "Useless" Lives
Note: This post reflects on a clash of worldviews regarding animal welfare and poverty. It is written to analyse a mindset, not to condemn individuals who are struggling with their own circumstances. I am lying here in the dark, and the room is warm. It is not warm because of
The "Slot Machine" and the Shield: A Reflection on Tools, Survival, and Autonomy
It began with a comment: a fellow disabled person calling my use of AI "disgusting" and "grift-tech," as if the digital tools that help me think are a betrayal rather than a lifeline. To them, prompting an AI is like pulling a slot lever—a mindless
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The Digital Shield: A Manifesto on AI, Disability, and the Fight for Authenticity
AI is a tool that can be used to assist us, rather than an external intruder. I utilise it to uphold my dignity in the face of ableism and capitalism. Being authentic involves relying on one's own strength rather than adopting a false persona. AI is intended to