another day, another blog

2025-09-17

I had a blog in one form or another for a while... but I haven't really blogged consistently. A problem as old as time, really.

My first commit to prydt/algorithms is from 2017!

I've moved from Jekyll to Hugo, and now from Hugo to Zola. The only real thing that has changed recently is that I am no longer using an off-the-shelf theme. I found that while some themes looked really neat, a lot of them were far too complex for my needs, and I had trouble modifying them to fit my needs.

My current setup is exactly what I need: just default Zola, with a tiny style sheet.

Finally, there is are a couple things I want to say about my thoughts on blogging. The first is that writing really helps in thinking.

There's a quote attributed to Leslie Lamport:

Writing is nature's way of telling us how lousy our thinking is. - Leslie Lamport

and although I cannot actually find a real source for this, I deeply agree with the sentiment.

I also believe that perfectionism and wanting to have a perfect blog with only the highest quality posts is actually hampering my ability to become a better writer. This isn't to say I'm going to put out utter garbage, but I will be loosening my standards and just trying to be a more consistent writer in general. Consistency and quantity will hopefully result in eventual quality.

Finally, my plan is to make blogging a much more social activity. I will share my blog posts with friends, and I am making a blogging circle. Initially it might just be a Discord channel among friends, and that's enough.