oddEvan In Brief

I remember Lindsey Graham as a senator who took principled stands. He compromised and reached across...

Sun, 12 Jul 2026 10:37:23 -0400

I remember Lindsey Graham as a senator who took principled stands. He compromised and reached across the aisle to get things done, even when it made him unpopular with his party.

I’ve been mourning him for over a decade.

Thinking about how I want to do side projects, optimizing for having fun while building over other...

Fri, 12 Jun 2026 11:25:33 -0400

Thinking about how I want to do side projects, optimizing for having fun while building over other considerations. To that end, is there a set of common interfaces for patterns like the PSR interfaces in PHP in other languages like Swift or Rust?

Had possibly my best shot off the tee this morning… 😇 #discGolf

Sun, 31 May 2026 14:14:48 -0400

Had possibly my best shot off the tee this morning… 😇 #discGolf

Really really trying to accept flawed tools that let me do more now instead of deciding to build my...

Tue, 26 May 2026 21:25:13 -0400

Really really trying to accept flawed tools that let me do more now instead of deciding to build my own thing to get that last 10% (and then getting burned out on building said thing).

The original inspiration for Smolblog was a decentralized Tumblr free of Verizon’s meddling....

Mon, 18 May 2026 22:02:45 -0400

The original inspiration for Smolblog was a decentralized Tumblr free of Verizon’s meddling. Tumblr’s in better hands now (yes, still better hands), but I haven’t given up on the idea. Today’s experiment: rebuilding the theme editor in Svelte, featuring the design from my first Tumblr.

Believe me, I really, really want to embrace the web app future. But I keep running into things like...

Fri, 15 May 2026 16:13:41 -0400

Believe me, I really, really want to embrace the web app future. But I keep running into things like scheduled actions and SFTP access and just pure “how do I get a normie to install this” that I’m afraid I can’t commit.

I don’t know what hurts more: not being able to pull up the music I transferred to my phone because...

Thu, 07 May 2026 19:39:59 -0400

I don’t know what hurts more: not being able to pull up the music I transferred to my phone because I have to agree to a privacy policy while I’m not driving…

Or the fact that Apple’s the one doing this.

Looking for feedback: Chat Transcripts in Markdown

Sun, 26 Apr 2026 20:41:45 -0400

I write short stories, and I vastly prefer writing in Markdown to a word processor. I’ve got one series with a lot of texting/group chat, and I’d love to represent this better both in the Markdown and the resulting HTML.

Requirements

Optional title
Optional speaker handles/names
Difference between incoming/outgoing messages (as if we’re looking at someone’s phone)

Working draft

] #chat name
]
] [@Other](https://micro.blog/Other) Person:
] Hey, have you written that novel yet?
]
]   [@Me](https://micro.blog/Me):
]   I came here to have a good time and
]   I'm honestly feeling so attacked right
]   now...
]
]   (that's a no, BTW)
]
]   (and now a third message for comedic
]   effect)
]
] [@Other](https://micro.blog/Other) Person:
] I kinda figured :)

Denoted with ] (like block quote except not >)
Chat name starts with # (like an IRC or Slack room)
Speaker name starts with @ and ends with : (to avoid a normal message that starts with a mention and allow spaces in names)
POV character indented by 2 spaces (mimicking placement in most SMS/chat apps)

Examples

Group chat:

] # A Perfectly Normal Group Chat
]
] @EternalSneptember:
] (pw change logs out all other devices/browsers)
] 
] Ideally remote wipe but IDK if that's an option.
]
]   @EarthStars:
]   Thanks for the reminder, Snep. Remote wipe is an
]   option but would cross a line.
]
] @BuckTheWorld:
] Ugh, this sucks. How bad, @EarthStars?

DM/SMS:

] # Mom
]
] You're up late!
]
] No judgement, of course. 😜
]
]   I'll judge for you LOL Working late?
]
] Binging a new show. I'm a bad example.

Problems/feedback needed

Without speaker names, it’s not as obvious that it’s two different people speaking (see second example).
- Could increase the indentation, but that makes it even more awkward to type
- Even the current indentation is awkward to type since macOS/iOS typically adds a period instead of two spaces
Not completely sold on a blockquote-style syntax, open to other options

Anyway, wall of text over, thanks for reading, honestly I just want to talk through this with other Markdown users. I’m not making this for everyone, but I want to make something good enough for someone other than me to use it.

Trying to parse (lol) the remark docs so I can write a Markdown extension, and, well… Extend the...

Fri, 24 Apr 2026 22:11:03 -0400

Trying to parse (lol) the remark docs so I can write a Markdown extension, and, well…

Extend the syntax of markdown means […] Defeating the purpose of markdown: being simple to author and looking like what it means

With all due respect, I’m extending the syntax because I want it to be simple to author and look like what it means. I want to differentiate between a handwritten note, a chat transcript, and a normal block quote as quickly as I differentiate between normal text and something emphasized.

So there. 😜

Car manufacturers of America, I am once again asking for an electric vehicle with NACS...

Sun, 12 Apr 2026 16:53:23 -0400

Car manufacturers of America, I am once again asking for an electric vehicle with

NACS charging,
200-mi range, and
is a sedan or hatchback and not another 🤬ing crossover.

I have a low-mileage VW I am happy to trade in for this car. But none of y’all make it. Maybe now you will?

Reading over CloudFlare’s EmDash, and my thoughts are: You can’t call it a successor—spiritual or...

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 23:47:20 -0400

Reading over CloudFlare’s EmDash, and my thoughts are:

You can’t call it a successor—spiritual or otherwise—to WordPress without plugin/theme compatibility.
What am I even doing with Smolblog?
…no, seriously, what am I doing… and why am I doing it…?

Hey Apple, can you tell me why the 🤬 Launchpad search can’t find stuff in the 🤬 Applications folder...

Tue, 31 Mar 2026 09:47:46 -0400

Hey Apple, can you tell me why the 🤬 Launchpad search can’t find stuff in the 🤬 Applications folder anymore?

(Maybe why you felt the need to integrate it with Spotlight instead of just filtering the list like before?)

A system-on-a-chip architecture with unified memory doesn’t leave room for a modular system with...

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 21:14:40 -0400

A system-on-a-chip architecture with unified memory doesn’t leave room for a modular system with discrete RAM and GPUs. RIP Mac Pro. (For real this time.)

Somehow an infinite loop got past most of my unit tests and didn’t show up until the integration...

Wed, 18 Mar 2026 21:13:52 -0400

Somehow an infinite loop got past most of my unit tests and didn’t show up until the integration test. So here’s how to run Xdebug on the command line for the next time this happens.

I’m glad Anthropic is sticking to their principles and not giving into pressure from the United...

Fri, 27 Feb 2026 21:37:03 -0500

I’m glad Anthropic is sticking to their principles and not giving into pressure from the United States Department of War. I wish they weren’t working with them at all, but I’m glad they are holding to the principles they do have.

Meanwhile I was afraid the one with Trevor Noah and Charles Leclerc was going to be some stupid AI...

Sun, 08 Feb 2026 21:40:15 -0500

Meanwhile I was afraid the one with Trevor Noah and Charles Leclerc was going to be some stupid AI thing. Never been happier to see Jigglypuff show up.

(Mine’s Mew)

Not me tearing up over Rocket Mortgage showing us the helpers while playing Mr. Rogers’ song… Let’s...

Sun, 08 Feb 2026 19:38:10 -0500

Not me tearing up over Rocket Mortgage showing us the helpers while playing Mr. Rogers’ song…

Let’s imagine a better world. And then make it.

If they can retroactively defund PBS they can retroactively defund the “immigration enforcement”...

Sun, 25 Jan 2026 08:56:25 -0500

If they can retroactively defund PBS they can retroactively defund the “immigration enforcement” that is killing US citizens.

Towards the end of 2018, Apple threatened to pull the tumblr app from the App Store over the...

Sat, 10 Jan 2026 10:54:15 -0500

Towards the end of 2018, Apple threatened to pull the tumblr app from the App Store over the presence of CSAM on the site. Tumblr responded with a radical change in policy that affects it to this day.

Today, despite similar concerns, the X app has not been pulled.

Come on, Apple.

How is Plaid still a thing? No, I’m not entering the password for my bank account anywhere other...

Wed, 31 Dec 2025 11:25:16 -0500

How is Plaid still a thing? No, I’m not entering the password for my bank account anywhere other than my bank’s website, thank you very much!