This week in squirrels…

Summary

  • Fighting the RAM eaters
  • Fighting this NixOS post
    • If you read these, you might be wondering where the NixOS blog post that I said I was going to write is. I have scrapped and rewritten it three times at this point, trying to figure out not only the tone but exactly what information would be valuable.
    • I spent a few days this week approaching it from some different angles, and honestly, it was a great way to re-evaluate what information needs to be shared, what of it is me making words. and thinking about what it is actually difficult.
    • In all of this research, I ended up doing way more research than I ever expected to do about why, issues, confusion points, and also inefficiencies and problems with Nix and NixOS.
    • it’s still not done, but it’s CLOSER on its way fr
    • If you have feelings or confusions about Nix or NixOS let me know. I am not an expert, but I am looking for the issues people are having.
  • The great Flake drop
    • As part of my refactor and experimentation work, I tried twice and failed to implement some useful patterns to make using NixOS even easier.
    • However, out of this, I did an overdue MASSIVE refactor of my flake, breaking apart so much more to give me a really good granularity and making things easier to find.
    • After that came the biggest change. I finally de-flaked. The more I researched flakes and flake issues for the blog, the more I wanted to re-evaluate MY flake usage. So I did, and the results really speak for themselves pretty well.
    • It’s not perfect, but npins has simplified my configuration a lot, and it’s also changed how all my various shells work in ways that may be less pure, but streamlines so much.
  • tired of the news
    • I am just tired of it. I normally feel the need to stay informed, but that is slipping.
  • Spout2PW by Hoshino Lina
    • It’s here, and I was able to use it for TWO streams with no issues.
    • Spout2PW & OBS-PWVideo
    • I packaged it for NixOS myself, and right now, I am using binary release hacking because building all of that wine code and everything in NixOS was looking like a beast, and I was failing to do it over and over.
    • I hope that after a few patches on both sides, I can submit the NixOS packaging because I want everybody to use this
  • Bandcamp Friday
    • It’s Bandcamp Friday this week! I scored A bunch of new albums AND some re-releases. It will take me a while to get through all these
    • KMFDM’s “ENEMY” - Brand New KMFDM I talk about more below
    • Caustic “Unicorns, Kittens, and Shit (2026 Turd Polish remaster)” - Remaster of my favorite Caustic album
    • Razed in Black’s “Oh My Goth!” - re-release of an amazing maxi-single
    • Sweeps, Luv Pug’s “Oregon Coast” - new Chillhop album
    • Matt Kap “Lovish Original Sound Version” - 8-bit soundtrack to a game I am into
    • Cervello Elettronico’s “Aural” - a new album from an old favorite
    • Steve Roach’s “Sentient Being” - A new-to-me Ambient artist I have gotten into

Books

  • I Wanna Be Your Girl Volume 3 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
    • This has turned into one of the best dissections of gender feelings and also the difference between how you feel about yourself and how you want to be perceived. This has so many perspectives and approaches to the variety of experiences. I just wish most people could talk about gender at this level

Music

  • Royal & the Serpent
    • Going back to some of my favorite 2021-2022 eps. Serious bad mental health music. And right now is a time for bad mental health. This is the vast majority of my listening this week: this artist’s EPs on loop
  • Hazbin Hotel: Season Two (Original Soundtrack)
    • I needed a break from depressing and decided to pick this up. I didn’t really love the music in the first season, but the second one has a lot of bangers. Extra big shoutouts to Gravity. Will this get me into showtunes? Probably not, but it’s good.
  • Sneaker Pimps’ Becoming X
    • I am back on this favorite of mine for no good reason, other than it’s one of my favorites.
  • KMFDM’s Enemy
    • A new KMFDM album dropped! This one is moving away from their heavily compressed, kinda muddy sound they often used and opening it up a LOT. It’s also a well-timed bit of protest about a lot of things. I love hearing them experimenting more.

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