25 Aug 2026 · inkdroid
A few days ago I wrote about a new tool called wacz-pdf , which will read a WACZ file and write out each web page as a PDF file. I got some quick feedback from Henry Wilkinson who suggested that it could be useful to allow a user to extract a Markdown file instead of a PDF. He also pointed out that the defuddle JavaScript library could be useful for doing it. defuddle is open source, and is part of the browser extension that Obsidian uses to save things from the web. Claude chewed on this idea f…
23 Aug 2026 · inkdroid
These are some things I’ve wandered across on the web this week. 🔖 Do you WANT contributors? An open-source project’s first few artifacts are click-through: license (checkbox), README (template), .gitignore (whatever your framework spits out). Then you hit CONTRIBUTING.md—the first artifact that actually asks you what you want. Sure, there are best practices and helpful guides for you to follow, but it’s where your project starts having opinions instead of defaults. So it’s worth pa…
18 Aug 2026 · inkdroid
Sometimes the bad guys come out on top Sometimes the good guys lose We try not to lose our hearts, not to lose our minds Sometimes the bad days maintain their grip Sometimes the good days fade But the rain today hurts the head to dream But nothing ever stays the same Nothing’s explained The higher we go, the longer we fly ’Cause this is it for all we know So say goodnight to me And lose no more time, no time Resisting the flow. I like how the song transforms into the repeated mantra “Resis…
17 Aug 2026 · inkdroid
Archival Poetics and the War on Memory (Naropa University, 2012) is a panel discussion about the conditions that produce, sustain and delimit archives, and how these processes are intrinsically connected to (or born out of) poetics and creative practice. The panel included a talk from Stacy Szymaszek where she shared her Archival Poetics Manifesto , which I wasn’t able to find on the web. Since it’s 14 years old at this point, I thought I’d make it more searchable with a pointer to the rec…
16 Aug 2026 · inkdroid
These are some things I’ve wandered across on the web this week. 🔖 Illich at 100 We’re spreading a rumour. Over the first weekend in September, 2026, there will be local gatherings around dinner tables and picnic blankets and in convivial spaces of different kinds, in places around the world, to mark what would have been the 100th birthday of Ivan Illich. Whether you’re a newcomer to Illich’s work, a long-time reader or anywhere in between, you are warmly invited to be part of this. C…
11 Aug 2026 · inkdroid
Vine on bark
11 Aug 2026 · inkdroid
Update: this tool is now called waczdoc . I was recently working with a journalist who wanted the articles they had written archived from the newspaper’s website. I gave them a WACZ file (created with Browsertrix ), and they were like: Hey nice! But could I get the articles as PDFs? A WACZ is a good container for a web crawl. It plays back easily in open-source replay software like Browsertrix and ReplayWebPage. But it’s not always the most convenient format for a non-archivist who wants to …
11 Aug 2026 · inkdroid
I’ve been buying music on Bandcamp for years. Over that time sometimes I’ve remembered to download what I purchased, and other times I haven’t. I wanted to be able to inventory what I have and then look at Bandcamp and download what is missing. There are already fine tools for downloading a Bandcamp collection: bandsnatch and the bandcamp-collection-downloader both fetch the lot, in parallel, in the format you want. But they know only what they downloaded, and what I needed to know was wha…
9 Aug 2026 · inkdroid
These are some things I’ve wandered across on the web this week. 🔖 Elasticsearch isn’t your AI search problem. You are. Why data governance and evaluation matter when building search systems, and especially when doing Retrieval Augnented Generation. llm search 🔖 Can AI agents conduct open-ended AI research? Early evidence from two case studies Forecasts of explosive AI progress hinge on AI agents automating AI research. But evidence on whether agents can carry out open-ended AI researc…
2 Aug 2026 · inkdroid
These are some things I’ve wandered across on the web this week. 🔖 Code was our medium for thought See how we weren’t just “writing code”? We were exploring the problem, making decisions, evolving our understanding of the code, problem solving with teammates. Writing code was our medium for thought, where we figured out what we wanted. Our code evolved with our thinking, going from “fuzzy” to “clear and granular” in tandem. programming 🔖 Bugonia (film) Bugonia is a 2025 dar…
26 Jul 2026 · inkdroid
These are some things I’ve wandered across on the web this week. 🔖 Refusal as Instruction Equipping Patrons to Resist AI, Data Brokers, Big Tech, & More This column explores the ways in which library workers can better align technology use and instruction in library settings with library values, through championing the refusal of technologies that conflict with values like privacy and intellectual freedom. Drawing on experiences with individual patron instruction, class design, and passive …