The Hive

The 2nd Amendment and Defunding the Police

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Mon, 11 May 2026 10:29:02 -0400

I’d like to open this post by saying that anyone who is pro-second amendment and also pro-cop is delusional. Those two ideas are antithetical. This is what I’m writing about today

The Delusion of the Second Amendment

The second amendment to the United States Bill of Rights states that

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

Eating: It's Nice!

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Thu, 07 May 2026 09:47:26 -0400

Today I read “This is why I’m fat” by Gordon McLean, and a lot of the ideas he puts forth I can relate to, so I wanted to write about those, and my own experiences. With the societal stigma put on people with high weight numbers, it’s good to have neutral conversations about it.

Am I Fat?

Personally, I don’t consider myself fat. Not yet, anyways. Despite this, I actually weigh more than Gordon does at the time of that post. Regardless, I don’t feel fat. I’ve got a belly, sure, but I still think I’ve got some pounds to go before I reach “fat”. Of course, my doctor disagrees, with him having once noted in the after-appointment notes that we “discussed over-weight BMI.” We, in fact, did not discuss this.

A .well-known Complaint

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Tue, 05 May 2026 10:52:42 -0400

Some years ago I learned about security.txt, a proposed document that could be added to a website to let security researchers know who to contact in the event a security concern is found. It’s a really cool proposal, and you should definitely check it out. This proposal also showed me the /.well-known/ folder, since that’s where security.txt is supposed to be placed.

/.well-known/, also known as RFC 8615, is a URI intended to be the store for documents/files/paths/etc. that web servers can be expected to contain. Had robots.txt come out after this RFC, I think it can be safely assumed that it would be placed in the .well-known folder.

humans.json: Yet Another Identification Protocol

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Tue, 05 May 2026 09:53:26 -0400

There’s been talk going around about a new protocol, humans.json - not to be confused with humans.txt, of course. The purpose of this protocol, as I understand it, is to provide yet another way for us on the open web to differentiate ourselves from AI and to “vouch” for each other.

I’ll start by pointing out, I did go ahead and implement this on my site. I like joining in on these sorts of things because I see it as just another way of promoting other sites that I like/love.

RSS Feed Is Back

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Mon, 27 Apr 2026 11:23:28 -0400

Apparently my RSS feed hasn’t been working for an indeterminate amount of time. I only found this out because I was checking out Bubbles.town. I saw that my site should be included, but only one of my posts were on there. Following the link they have listed as my RSS feed is what showed me that it wasn’t working.

Anyways, if you get this, welcome back, and go checkout Bubbles.town 🫧!

What Can I Put in It?

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 09:48:47 -0400

The other day, my wife and I went to one of our favorite places to get brunch. It was a busy day, so we were seated at a table that was right up against another table. This made it nearly impossible to not listen in on what your neighbor is talking about.

At the table to my right were two women, who we’ll call Steph and Mary. They seemed to be catching up on each other’s lives since the last time they met up. My ears first perk up when I hear Steph, say, “Yeah, so then I had ChatGPT make me a list, and like, label things on the list.” Mary is amazed by this. “Wow, you had it make a list! That’s so smart!” Mary was being genuine, folks.

100 Webmaster Questions

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Thu, 12 Mar 2026 09:39:20 -0400

I haven’t had much energy to write lately, but when I saw Shellsharks had completed this questionaire, I just had to join in.

1. Please introduce yourself.: My name is Apis Necros, or Bee.
2. How long have you been making websites?: I think I made my first website in fourth grade on Freewebs.com. If I recall correctly, I think it was about Sid Meier's Civilization IV, which had recently come out.
3. And what got you into the hobby?: I wanted to talk and write about my favorite video games.
4. What kind of website are you most interested in?: I like seeing peoples' tech demos, and reading their thoughts on a wide array of subjects.
5. What's your workflow? Do you plan your websites out thoroughly or do you come up with the design as you go along?: Professionally, I do try to settle on a general structure for a site before writing any code. Personally, I do *think* about how I want the site to flow, though I usually just go with whatever idea comes as it arrives.
6. Please link to your biggest inspirations.: For prose: Ed Zitron
For personality in writing: Shellsharks
For genuine-ness: Jame's Coffee Blog
7. What's your favourite part about making websites?: I like having a place to express myself whether that's through my writing, my coding of the site, or through the design of it.
8. And the thing you struggle with the most?: Resisting the urge to burn it all down and start over.
9. Do you keep the same layout on all of your pages? Or do you use different ones?: For the most part, yeah, all my pages have the same layout.
10. How confident are you with CSS?: I'd say, like, 6 out of 10. I still rely on one of my best friends whenever I struggle, though.
11. Do you know how to correctly use <dl>?: Nope, lol.

Edit: I just went back and read the docs, and I gotta say, this questionaire was given to me in the form of a <dl>, but that's not right! This should be an <ol>!
12. What is your favourite HTML element?: I mean, the humble div is hard to ignore, but I think it's gotta be dialog because it help standardize the concept of a modal.
13. If you're making a new web page from scratch, what is the first thing you do?: I start by figuring out, generally speaking, where I want the reader's eyes to go. Where should the nav bar be? Where should the main content be? Stuff like that.
14. Do you know JavaScript?: All to well...
15. How about PHP?: Sure do! Big fan of PHP 8.2.
16. Does your website have a theme that you stick to?: No. I intended for it to be a place to talk about cyber security stuff, but at that time I thought of my site as a way to promote myself. I thought of it as branding. Over time I found myself just wanting to express my true self on here, so now that's what I do. I write about whatever I want, and I write the same way I talk as opposed to writing a LinkedIn post.
17. Are you more focused on content or design?: Definitely content. I usually have a big burst of energy to focus on design at the start of the site, but then before the design is even finish I tend find myself wanting to start on the content instead.
18. Do you own a domain name? If not, would you ever want to?: Sure do! A couple, actually.
19. What do you think of nostalgia-focused or "retro" websites?: I love them! My favorite sites to visit tend to be Y2k-core.
20. Is your HTML valid? Do you even check?: I try to keep it valid, but I'm sure there's a few "invalid" things here or there because I just disagree with why the "correct" way is "correct".
21. What are your opinion on buttons and banners?: Check my footer, lol. I think they're a great way to personalize your site.
22. What do you think of button walls in particular?: Good. We need more of them, and we need more people making buttons.
23. If you started over again, would you make something similar or completely different?: This design is very much so a product of me, so I know any new design I make will be very similar to this one.
24. Are you envious of other people's websites?: Eh, no? I mean, I think some people have really cool sites, and I wish mine could be that cool, but then I look at my site and think it's exactly what I need it to be, so :shrug:
25. What text editor do you use?: On desktop I use VS Code almost exclusively. I do break out Notepad++ when I need to do some heavy regex-based find & replace. On the commandline I use vim.
26. Why do you use that one?: VS Code just works™. NPP handles large files the best of any editor I've used. Vim is a flex.
27. Do you host your image files on your web server, or on another host?: I do host my own images, yes. I really don't have a lot, so it's not a hassle. If I had a ton of images, I'd just run a different domain to organize them there, and then just reference them on my other sites.
28. This might not be relevant to you, but what's your opinion on the Neocities vs. Nekoweb debate?: Never heard of Nekoweb. I do like how Neocities has gotten people back into the concept of personal websites though, so if it's anything like that, I'd probably like it.
29. How much server space would you estimate your main website takes up?: It's about 200mb
30. Do you keep local backups of your files?: Kinda? My site is a git repository, so I have various "backups" depending on which computer I'm on.
31. Do you prefer simple or highly visual websites?: I prefer highly visual sites, though I do usually use my browser's reader mode when reading long pages. I do this regardless of the amount of visual noise on a site, though.
32. Do you stick to certain colours? Do you do that on purpose, or is it your subconscious?: I do stick to certain colours and it is subconscious, but I don't know why.
33. Have you ever thought about quitting? Why?: Not particularly. I go through periods of not writing, but I don't think I ever **won't** need a place to yap about whatever, so I think I'll always have this site.
34. Do you have many webmaster friends, or is it a solitary hobby?: I've got a best friend that has their own site, and I consider a few of the people in the Indieweb scene friends.
35. Do people in your real life know about your website?: Some do, some don't.
36. Do you update your website very often? How often is "very often"?: I think before today it's been months since I touched it, lol
37. And the overall design, do you change that much? Why or why not?: No, I try not to change the design very often except for maybe adding new features. I think users tend to get confused when site layouts change, and especially if they change often.
38. Is your website more you-focused, hobby-focused, or outside world-focused?: I'd say it's more me focused, but like, my perception of the outside world-focused. I tend to talk a lot about how I process the things going on around me.
39. Do you do web design professionally?: Sure do. Been at it for almost 10 years at the time of writing.
40. If not, would you like to? And if you're comfortable answering, what do you do for work?: N/A
41. Do you communicate with people by email very much?: Yes. I actually prefer it over instant messaging platforms a lot of the time.
42. Some people reject social media and use websites as a replacement. Do you keep social media outside of your website?: Eh? I do link to some of my socials on here, and I do post links to my site on my social whenever I write a new post, so in some sense they are intertwined.
43. How about instant messengers? Do you use a mainstream one like Discord or Telegram? Or something like Matrix? Do you avoid them?: I have a handle of them. Mostly mainstream ones.
44. Do you listen to music while you work on websites? If so, what kinds of artists?: I almost always have music playing. And if it's not playing, I'm probably singing/humming in my head. I couldn't even begin to list off all my music, but you can find some of it over in this post.
45. Do you keep everything you make on one website, or do you have more than one?: I have more than one, but >90% of what I do is on one site.
46. On a similar note, do you keep to one topic on your site, or many?: Many, many topics on this site.
47. Do you present your real self, or at least try? Or do you construct a persona on purpose?: This is about as real of a me as if we were talking in person.
48. Have you ever made a good friend thanks to your website?: I'd like to think so.
49. Are you happy with the way HTML and CSS currently work?: Yeah, I think the specs are in a pretty good place.
50. What are practices that you think people should avoid?: Don't use <b> for bolding. That's what <strong> is for. Get with the times, lol
51. What about under-utilised practices, or things you think people should do more?: Tying this into the previous question, I think people should learn about the more semantic elements, and make use of them. main, aside, article, etc. They're there, and they're pretty good. I know that, mostly, they're all div's at their core, but like, you can't just have a mountain of div's. Semantic elements don't just help bots. They also help future developers (including you) understand the intent of a block.
52. Do you use a lot of semantic HTML? Or are you guilty of generic structure?: lol, didn't even see this before answering the previous question. Yes, I try to make use of semantic elements where ever appropriate.
53. Do you consider different browsers?: Ehhh not really. Pretty much everything is chromium now, so as long as it looks good on chromium, it should look fine anywhere.
54. Speaking of, what's your preferred browser? Convince your readers why they should use it.: I currently use Vivaldi. It was made by the guy that originally made Opera back in the day. He made Vivaldi after he was kicked off the Opera project because he didn't want to give into what The Corporate world wanted him to do to the browser. And now we have Opera GX sponsors on YouTube. I think he was vindicated.

It is still chromium, so that’s not great, but its built in ad and tracker blocker is pretty good.

Why Are We Celebrating?

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Mon, 17 Nov 2025 14:28:25 -0500

Maybe it’s because I’ve gotten older, or wiser, or maybe just more jaded, but it dawned on me the other day, that I can’t think of any holiday I celebrate where I actually feel like I’m celebrating anything. For the most part, holidays just feel like an excuse to spend more money than I actually have. There are truly only a few holidays I can think of that feel worth celebrating.

A Ritual of Some Sort?

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 09:26:53 -0400

This story’s a bit different from my usual People stories. You see, this one is spooky.

This would’ve taken place some time in 2020 or 2021. I was driving along a major arterial road in my town late in the night, say, around midnight. In the car with me was my then-fiance and our partner. We were on our way to Taco Bell, listening to music, and having a good time. There was pretty much no one else on the road, so it made for easy driving.

Library of Echoes

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Tue, 02 Sep 2025 13:40:56 -0400

Over the past year, this blog has become a library of echoes. You all don’t see it, and that’s kind of the point. I’ve acquired quite a collection of drafts. Many of the posts are about things I felt very strongly about in the moment, but then the moment passed, and I am no longer sure I was making the point I wanted to make. I still feel strongly about the topics, mind you, but the firey passion I had is no longer there.

Ghost in the Sand

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Tue, 24 Jun 2025 15:46:40 -0400

When I was a wee lad, say 6 years old, my favorite place to be was in the sandbox at the park down the street from where I lived. Given the opportunity, I’d be there all day everyday. While there, I met a lot of the regular kids, though most of them I’ve forgotten about. One I don’t think I’ll ever forget though was this odd little girl.

I was playing in the lower of the two sandboxes, and was having a grand ol’ time digging a big hole. This girl comes up to me, sits down next to me, and begins talking with me. Almost immediately I notice that she has very little of a short-term memory. Every minute we’d essentially start the conversation over with her asking questions she’d already asked.

Saucey Dogs

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Thu, 15 May 2025 10:48:49 -0400

Saucey dogs are a simple dish of just tomato sauce and hot dogs. They’re barely even a dish, and yet, here we are.

As my mum explained to me, this recipe comes to us from a Betty Crocker cookbook my maternal grandmother’s mother had. My great-grandma made it, my grandma made, and my mum made it for us. Saucey dogs are only really considered to be a complimentary dish for Kraft Mac’n’Cheese, but I have considered pairing it with other dishes as well.

Quirked Up White Boy

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Wed, 14 May 2025 14:13:00 -0400

A fun thing about having been raised as a middle-class, white, AMAB who is also at least a touch self-aware, is that any time I have, what I believe to be, a profound thought, I have to stop and wonder if it actually is profound.

Over time I’ve learned that men are in our culture so regularly spout the most mundane takes ever, and act like they’re Socrates. I’m aware of this, and yet I myself will find myself having a thought, and be like, “damn, that’s really impactful. I should tell other people about this.” I’ll then bring this up with my partner who will swiftly let me know that, yeah, that’s neat, but a lot of people figured this out a long time ago. Now, they don’t tell me this just to knock me down a peg, they just want to make sure I don’t go around embarassing myself.

Blazing Through the Intersection

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Fri, 09 May 2025 11:06:25 -0400

Today’s entry is a short one, as it was less than a five minute encounter, but it’s too good not to share.

My partner and I were driving home one day, and arrived at the last major intersection before we got home. This is a large intersection with two left turn lanes. We were in the right of the two lanes, and since it was a nice day, we had the windows down.

Ten Pointless Questions

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Mon, 05 May 2025 08:24:01 -0400

There’s another blogging questionnaire going around, and thanks to a tagging from ShellSharks, you now get to know some useless information about me. You can find the original post by David on his blog.

Do you floss your teeth?

Pft, no. Not with any regularity. Much to my dentist’s chagrin, I struggle to have any routines in my life, and my dental hygiene is included in that. I floss if I need to (i.e. I can feel something stuck in my teeth), or if I’m not doing anything and I happen to see some floss.

Core Values

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Wed, 30 Apr 2025 09:11:22 -0400

The company I currently work for has something they call the Core Values. The Core Values are four guiding principals that help us achieve our business goals. They are principals we want to see in all employees, and they drive our hiring, firing, and promotion decisions. This all may sound pretty “corporate synergy”-ish, which would make sense since it does come from a business philosophy system called the Entrepreneurial Operating System, but these Core Values have successfully gotten us where we are today, and I think the Core Values we use align with my own personality pretty well.

Hoping the Void Shouts Back

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Thu, 17 Apr 2025 10:56:26 -0400

Thanks to Kev Quirk’s post, I found this post by Joel Chrono, Blogging Expectations, which was in turn inspired by a post from Robert Birming, which was inspired by a post from Brandon’s Journal. Isn’t the internet great? I encourage you to go read all their posts to get a clear picture of the conversation at hand. If you only read one, though, for the sake of this post, make it Joel’s.

I was struck by Joel’s words because I felt like I was reading my own thoughts. Because of this, I wanted to take this time to expand on my /why page. The core detail of Joel’s post that struck a cord with me is that behind the notion that we write for ourselves is the honest, guilt-laden notion that we write hoping that maybe someone will notice, and maybe give us a crumb of attention.

Slash Pages

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Fri, 14 Mar 2025 13:32:24 -0400

This page serves as a catalog for all my slash pages.

/whoami - All about me
- /about - An alias for my Who Am I page
/why - A brief composition on why I maintain this blog
/blogroll - My blogroll with all my favorite blogs
/links - A collection of links to various sites I use, enjoy, want to share, etc.
/chipotle - My usual Chipotle order

Why I write This Blog

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Fri, 14 Mar 2025 13:32:16 -0400

I write this blog because I have a lot to say. I have a lot of thoughts on things, but I only have so many people around me I can talk to. Furthermore, I’m actually really bad at saying what I want to say. While I may come across as well constructed in my writing here, I often take hours or days to put these words together; a luxury I don’t have when speaking.

Pet Peeves - Bad Identity Management

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Tue, 04 Mar 2025 10:39:45 -0500

I do not consider myself a professional database administrator. I know how to administer a database. I know about the three forms of normalization. I know, generally, how to make a robust database, and all I took was a 101 database management course in college.

Why then, in the year of our lord 2025, do I still see people tying user profiles to email addresses??? “Sorry, we can’t change the email on your account without creating a whole new account?” I’m sorry?! Did children design your database? Surely children would’ve done a better job of it.

An Aggregate Problem

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Thu, 27 Feb 2025 14:07:19 -0500

I was talking with my coworkers one day about our work lives before joining our current company. One of them mentioned how the union at the grocery store they worked at was very corrupt. There were rampant cases of sexual assault and harassment amongst employees, but no one would ever get fired, or even talked to about it, because the union would just sweep it under the rug. I was absolutely flabbergasted! Why would a union protect those kinds of people? Unions are there to protect the workers, not to facilitate crimes against them. I then remembered that, of course, this is the problem with humans; en masse, we’re corrupt.

Get To Know My Taste In Music

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Tue, 04 Feb 2025 13:29:13 -0500

It seems that questionaires have become a trend among bloggers, and I’m so happy about that. As I explained in my last one, I used to love filling out these kinds of things back in the MySpace days. My friend ShellSharks tagged me in his post where he answers these ten questions, and who am I deny the people what they want.

I did do a similar kind of questionaire in the past, A Music List, but that one was a bit more ephemeral than the questions asked here.

Phasing In N Out

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Tue, 28 Jan 2025 10:01:37 -0500

I often find myself scared of existing. The way I see it, as long as I can be aware that I’m existing, then I can prove I’m still alive. Cognito ergo sum, and all that. But I’m not always aware that I’m existing. Some times I’ll be going about my day, and suddenly become aware that I wasn’t aware for the past couple hours. Where did I go during that time? I was still doing things. I was still processing information and performing tasks, but it’s almost like I was a different person. I was a mostly autonomous being doing what needed to be done. Once I become aware, though, I phase out of that person into someone else who has realized that I occupy this flesh bag, can never escape, and can never see from any other point of view.

Get to Know My Blog

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Wed, 15 Jan 2025 11:05:39 -0500

I’m a child of the mid-2000’s internet, and as such, I spent a lot of my time on MySpace filling out surveys, or memes, or meta posts, or what ever you want to call them. When I saw this post from Kev Quirk in my RSS feed, I opened it so quick. And after reading it, I knew I had to fill it out too!

Get to know my blog

Why did you start blogging in the first place?

I started blogging because I’m too much of a thinker for my own good. I’ll sit there for hours just ruminating on this or that. I learned in high school that writing can be a good way to get those ideas out of my head, but I also knew that some times I did want other people to see what I was thinking about. There’s also the matter that I want a career in the tech sector, and I know it’s good business to have a blog where you write about technical things. Now, do I really write all that many technical posts? Maybe not, but I do write about what’s important to me.

Anniversary Ganache

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Fri, 18 Oct 2024 08:59:03 -0400

I’ve been really into making ganache recently after having to do it once for some brownies. Something about the ease of it, and it only taking a few minutes, really makes it an enjoyable process.

For this ganache, I did something special, and used a shot of the 20-year port wine I got my partner for our fifth anniversary. The port really comes through, and lends a deeper flavor to the ganache than it would have without it.

Lover Boy

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Fri, 27 Sep 2024 09:17:02 -0400

Back in ‘09 or ‘10, my church’s youth group made a trip to a nearby amusement park. While I knew pretty much everyone in the group, there was one girl roughly my age that I didn’t recognize. She must’ve been someone’s “plus one”, but I don’t recall ever seeing her before or after this night.

Throughout our day there, she was stuck to my side the whole time. Being the young autistic boy I was (am), I was as polite and friendly to her as I would be to anyone else. As far as I was concerned, she was just another kid in my youth group. After a certain point though, I did finally start to pick up on something. She had been flirting with me the whole time?! It was very much so the “assertive girl/shy boy” kind of flirting. Now mind you, I had a girlfriend already, and as soon as it got through my thick skull what was going on, I made it a point to mention that I had a girlfriend. I brought it up in a casual way, of course. Shouldn’t be too direct, lest I seem confrontational. You know what she says? She just calls me “lover~ boy~” and continues flirting with me!

Love and Transactionality

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Tue, 17 Sep 2024 10:57:52 -0400

One of my partners recently posed an interesting question: do I think love is transactional? I immediately responded with a “no”. I said that I think no true, proper love should be transactional. They then followed that with, “Okay, but then what’s ’true love’?” Having considered this many times, I explained that to me, true love is doing things for another person simply because you want to. After some more discussion, they were satisfied with my answer, but I kept thinking about it. A little while of introspecting later, I realized that maybe my answer wasn’t correct or complete enough. Today I’d like to expand on these ideas.

Scraps Are For The Real Ones

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Tue, 17 Sep 2024 10:53:18 -0400

It occurred to me yesterday that I don’t generally advertise the posts in this section of the blog. There’s a link to it on the archive page, but otherwise the only way to know about them is if you follow my RSS feed.

Don’t get me wrong, that’s exactly the point of this section. I want a place where I can dump thoughts and not have to worry about sharing them every where. Some times you just need to write things down, you know?

Library Denizens

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Wed, 10 Jul 2024 14:19:03 -0400

During my middle school years, I spent a lot of time at the library. Mostly, I was there to play on the computers. My best friend Alexa and I would sit there for hours playing Runescape. Truly some of my best times were spent there.

Over the hundreds of hours I must’ve logged sitting there, I encountered a handful of people who I still think of all these years later. Here’s a few of them.

Hamburger Buns

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Fri, 05 Jul 2024 16:07:20 -0400

These hamburger buns are a modified version of my peasant bread recipe. The modifications provide for a sweeter, softer bread.

Servings

Makes 18 buns.

Ingredients

2 1/4 cup bread flour
2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 1/4 teaspoon dry active yeast
1 tablespoon salt
2 cups luke-warm water
1/3 cup honey
2 tablespoons room temperature butter
1 tablespoon butter (for topping)
1/4 cup milk (for topping)
sesame seeds (for topping)

Special Equipment

Kitchen scale
Basting brush

Steps

In a large mixing bowl, sift together bread flour, AP flour, and yeast.
Add salt, water, and honey.
Mix until a shaggy dough comes together.
Turn out onto floured surface, and knead for 3 minutes.
Add 1 tablespoon of butter, and continue kneading for 3 minutes.
Add rest of butter, and knead for another 4 minutes.
Place dough in a greased bowl, and allow to rest for 1 hour.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Cut dough into individual balls weighing roughly 110 grams.
Place balls onto baking sheet, and allow to rest for 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 385°F
In microwave, heat butter and milk for 10 second intervals until combined.
Brush buns with butter/milk mixture, and top with sesame seeds.
Bake for 15 minutes
Reduce heat to 375°F and bake for another 15 minutes.
Allow to cool completely before cutting.

Storage

Can be stored in a mostly-closed ziplock bag. Good for 2 - 5 days.

Orange Almond Marmalade

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Tue, 02 Jul 2024 14:40:24 -0400

I’ve never considered myself a marmalade guy, but my roommate made this for a special occasion, and it was phenomenal.

Modified from Castello’s recipe

Servings

Makes about 1 cup.

Ingredients

5 whole mandarin oranges
- Tangerines work too
100ml sherry
200ml water
200g sugar
100g almonds
1 Cinnamon stick

Special Equipment

Blender

Steps

Slice oranges thinly.
In a small pot, add orange slices, cinnamon stick, sherry, and water
Boil for 30 minutes
Add sugar and almonds
Reduce heat, and simmer for another 30 minutes
Remove from heat, and allow to cool for 5 minutes
Transfer to a blender, and pulse until almonds are desired size

Milk Bread Starter

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Tue, 18 Jun 2024 14:47:17 -0400

This recipe is a core component of the Milk Bread recipe. It could also be used in any other bread recipe.

Servings

Makes approximately 1 cup of starter, which should be enough for two loaves of bread.

Ingredients

1/3 cup of bread flour
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup water

Special Equipment

None

Steps

In a small sauce pot, whisk together flour, water, and milk
Bring to a simmer over medium-low heat, stirring often
Remove from heat once the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon (5 - 8 minutes)
Pour into a cup or bowl, and cover with plastic wrap

Storage

Stays good in the fridge for at least 5 days.

Milk Bread

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Tue, 11 Jun 2024 22:09:25 -0400

This recipe is my partner’s recipe for a Japanese-style milk bread. It has one sub-recipe, which is the starter used for the bread.

A loaf of Milk Bread fresh out of the oven

Servings

Makes 1 loaf of bread

Ingredients

1/2 cup Milk Bread Starter (room temperature)
2 1/2 cups bread flour
1/4 cup white sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons dry active yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg (room temperature)
1/2 cup warm milk, plus some extra for brushing
4 tablespoons softened butter

Special Equipment

Stand mixer (not required, but helps with the initial mixing)
loaf pan
Basting brush

Steps

In a medium mixing bowl, sift bread flour.
Add sugar, yeast, and salt, and whisk to combine.
Add milk, egg, and Milk Bread Starter, and mix to combine.
- If the dough seems dry, and not all the flour is incorporated, add splashes of milk until dough comes together.
Turn dough out onto a floured surface, and knead for 3 minutes.
Add butter, and knead for 10 minutes.
- I find it easiest to add butter 1 to 2 tablespoons at a time, and only add more once the first is fully incorporated.
Shape into a ball, and place in a small, buttered mixing bowl.
Cover with a clean kitchen towel, and allow to rest until doubled-size (roughly 45 - 60 minutes).
Punch down dough, and scoop out onto clean unfloured surface.
Divide in half, and form into balls.
Cover with a damp kitchen towel, and allow to rest for 15 minutes.
Grease and lightly flour your loaf pan
Lightly flour rolling pin, and roll one ball into a 12" x 6" oval.
With the oval pointing towards you, fold 1/3rd of the oval towards the middle.
Fold the other 1/3rd towards the middle, over the first fold.
Opposite the folds, roll the dough into a log.
Place the log into the loaf pan seam-side down.
Repeat the last four steps with the other ball of dough.
Preheat oven to 375°F.
Cover dough with a kitchen towel, and allow to rest for 35 - 40 minutes.
Brush top of loaf with milk.
Reduce oven temperature to 350°F, and immediately begin baking on the bottom rack for 35 minutes.
Let cool for 8 - 10 minutes in the loaf pan, and then finish cooling on a wire rack for an additional 30 - 60 minutes.

Storage

Keep in a not-fully-closed zip-lock bag. Stays fresh for roughly 7 days.

Inside Me Are Two Wolves

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Mon, 03 Jun 2024 12:55:49 -0400

Why Did I Think I Could Do This?

Last night, before I went to bed, I started trying to learn cross-stitching. I bought one of those beginner kits that’s got a pattern and everything you need, and as I sat there reading the instructions, I thought to myself, “Why did I think I could do this?” It’s not that the instructions were particularly complicated, but they were more extensive that I thought. And worse, they were new to me.

/Chipotle

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Thu, 23 May 2024 15:12:39 -0400

This bee’s Chipotle® order.

Bowl with a tortilla in it
Barbacoa
White rice
Black beans
Pico de gallo & corn salsa
Sour cream
Lettuce
Cheese

I’m very particular about the flavor profile of this combination, and no changes can quite compare to its perfection.

This page was inspired by Shellsharks’ concept created as a parody of similar IndieWeb /<page>’s.

My Dear Friend Tyler

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Wed, 15 May 2024 11:55:48 -0400

Content Warning: suicide

During my time in the bakery, I made one of my best friends ever, Tyler Baumgartner. He was a goofy guy, and had such golden retriever energy. There certainly were times where he could be grating with his silliness, but he never meant to upset anyone. In many ways, I thought of him as a little brother. He was an amazing man, and had so much potential. One summer he packed up his things to go out west and volunteer as a fire fighter to help contain the raging forest fires. At the same time, he was learning several languages as he was training to be a linguist. And still, on top of those things, he was also learning to cook. He made an amazing banana bread that was so good we were selling it in the bakery. And his banana creme brulee was phenomenal. He had this beat up, early 00’s, red sedan he lovingly referred to as “Ruby”.

10-key Encoding

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Wed, 01 May 2024 16:02:42 -0400

10-key Encoding

I recently made a big switch, and downgraded from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone to a dumb flip phone. I’ll spare you my soapbox speech about why, but one of the most jarring changes has been moving from a swipe-style keyboard to the classic 10-key keyboard. I was able to get used to it kinda quickly, having dealt with it many years ago, but I still stumble sometimes.

Jalapeno Cheddar Loaf

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Tue, 30 Apr 2024 08:39:42 -0400

I had originally tried to make this a pull-apart bread, a la monkey bread, but it turns out savory monkey breads are pretty hard to make, and it ended up just turning into a loaf. Nonetheless, this bread is perfect for things like grilled cheese, or even just as a side for dinner.

This recipe is a modified version of the Peasant Bread recipe, but this time it’s seasoned and savory and also kneaded. For a more classic white bread, go check out that recipe.

51 ÷ 3

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Thu, 18 Apr 2024 09:46:17 -0400

One night in early spring, I was alone in my state’s capital waiting for my partner to be done at a metal concert, and found myself with little to do. Despite being the state capital, and a fairly large one too, there was nothing to do at 9 p.m. on a Sunday.

After lamenting on Facebook that even the book store closed at 7 p.m., a friend of mine sent me to a link for a book store that was open until 11 p.m.! This was an independent store that boasted an impressive 32 rooms of books! I made my way there, and it was exactly the sort of time killer I was looking for.

Sic Erat Scriptum

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Tue, 16 Apr 2024 14:41:08 -0400

The curse of knowledge is one of my favorite cognitive biases to ponder on. This is our brain’s bias to think that just because we know something, then everyone else must know about it too. It seems like such a childish idea, but it’s something affects us all the time.

One time, while working in the bakery, I had taken an order for a cake that the customer wanted writing on. They wanted a word on the cake specifically spelled wrong. So, on the order, I wrote what they wanted written, spelled it exactly as they had specified, and put quotes around it so the decorators would know they should put that exactly. I come in a few days later to hear that the decorators had spelled the word “correctly”, and the customers were disappointed. Some of our bakery staff are/were trained to write on cakes, so I’m sure we fixed it for them, but still.

DLA - A Naive Approach

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Mon, 15 Apr 2024 15:50:58 -0400

DLA - A Naive Approach

Jump to the demo!

Generative landscapes have always been a topic I’ve wanted to learn. Like many of my peers, I originally got into programming because of Minecraft! That said, making a world like Minecraft takes a lot of maths, and can be a lot to take in without proper schooling, so it’s always been out of my grasp. The closest I’ve ever gotten was this attempt at generating “clouds” using a noise-like process, or my cellular automata caves.

A Music List

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Wed, 03 Apr 2024 15:14:10 -0400

I saw this fun looking “meme”, as they used to be called back in the day, on Facebook where you ask your friends to give you a number, and then you answer the question respective to the number they picked. I really like sharing my music tastes, so I thought I’d just answer them all here. Not only am I excited to share this part of myself with other people, I also look forward to looking at this in 1 years time, 3 years time, 10 years time, and seeing all the music I used to like, and all the music I’ll have forgotten about.

A Niche Snack

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Wed, 27 Mar 2024 11:14:47 -0400

One time my partner and I were at our local grocery store. It was around Halloween time, and so right in the main aisle they had their main, 4-sided display of assorted Halloween candies and treats.

Now I tend to feel weird for it, but I love popcorn balls. I don’t know if it’s the Ohio in me or what, but I feel like they’re such an underrated snack. Seeing as it was that time of year, one of the first things I looked for in the display were popcorn balls. Alas, there were none to be found. So sad.

Bookmarklets

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Mon, 18 Mar 2024 16:13:19 -0400

Inspired by a post from Jeremy Kieth, I thought I’d share some bookmarklets that I use. This page will be updated from time to time whenever I think of a new one.

What are “Bookmarklets”?

Bookmarklets are links that you can bookmark that, instead of directing you to another webpage, perform some action on the webpage you’re on. In the case of the ones I have here, they perform some Javascript operation(s) on the page you’re on. These can even be done on pages that aren’t typically thought to be HTML documents. To make use of the ones I have here, just click and drag the provided links to your Bookmarks bar.

An Ode to Lost Friends

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Mon, 11 Mar 2024 10:00:43 -0400

The mind is truly a fragile thing, and an unfortunate truth is that in order for it to maintain itself, it must forget things eventually. Even people we once held dear cannot always escape this fate. Today’s post is an ode to forgotten friends. I remember you, even if I cannot remember who you were.

This post is actually one of the first that I wanted to write for my blog. I’ve been working on it since before this site even existed, and it’s the reason I have my People series in the first place. This series exists to help prevent me from forgetting anyone else important to me. I’ve always had a bad memory, so I try my damnedest to catalog whatever I can; be it through pictures, video, or blog posts.

Classic Peanut Butter Cookies

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Wed, 28 Feb 2024 13:23:51 -0500

Just a classic peanut butter cookie recipe. Not much else to say.

Servings

Makes about 16 cookies

Ingredients

1 cup smooth peanut butter
1 large egg (room temperature)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup white sugar
1/4 cup white sugar (for rolling)

Special Equipment

None, but an electric mixer of some kind would be helpful

Steps

Preheat oven to 350°F
Mix peanut butter, egg, vanilla, and 1 cup of sugar until smooth
Scoop and mold into 1 inch balls of dough
Place dough ball into sugar and roll to coat evenly
Place on parchment-lined baking sheet with approximately 1 inch of space between cookies
With a fork, press flat-side down on top of the cookies at opposing angles, forming a small grid
- Press firmly enough to leave a mark, but do not flatten the dough unless desired
Bake 10 - 12 minutes
Cool on the pan for 1 - 2 minutes, then move to a wire rack for cooling

It's Because I'm Right

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Thu, 22 Feb 2024 09:35:29 -0500

Another short story from my time working bakery retail.

I had a coworker then who’s still a good friend of mine, Elizabeth. Elizabeth was, and still is, quite the conversationalist. Nearly any subject you could think of, Elizabeth could have an informed discussion with you on it. This remains one of my favorite aspects of her. Furthermore, not only could she have an informed discussion on it, she would usually have quite the passionate opinions it too! As an early-twenties white guy who liked “debating”, she was the perfect coworker.

An Angry Man

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Fri, 16 Feb 2024 14:54:31 -0500

This one’s a short one, but he’s truly living rent-free in my head and I love it.

I still follow the Facebook page for the grocery store I used to work at, and on almost every single one of their posts, there’s always 1 angry react. It’s the guy we’ll call John P., and no post is safe from him.

Announcement for a new type of cookie? John P. is angry about it.

Breaking Bread With a Pagan

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Thu, 15 Feb 2024 10:53:03 -0500

One time, when I was quite young, I ended up staying at the park with my friends until sundown. I can’t quite place how old I was at the time, but I know I was young enough that it was unusual for me to be out so late. As the sun began to set, I noticed a woman sitting on the swings all alone. Being the curious child I was, I approached her, and ended up sitting on the swings with her.

Key Lime Cheesecake

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Tue, 13 Feb 2024 16:24:35 -0500

Servings

Makes 1 9-inch cheesecake.

Ingredients

Crust

230 grams crushed graham cracker crumbs (approximately 15 sheets)
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup melted butter

Filling

1 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
3 packages cream cheese, softened
4 eggs
2/3 cup sour cream
1/3 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup fresh lime or key lime juice
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Misc.

4 cups boiling water

Special Equipment

9-inch Springform cake pan
Heavy-duty aluminum foil
Casserole dish

Steps

Prepare The Crust

Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit
Line the outside of a 9-inch springform pan with a sheet of heavy duty aluminum foil.
Add graham crackers and sugar to a mixing bowl and stir to combine
Pour butter into graham crackers and sugar, and mix with a fork until evenly moistened.
Pour into prepared springform pan, and press evenly into bottom and up the sides coming about 1-inch from the top of the pan.
Bake in preheated oven 10 minutes
Remove and cool on a wire rack.
Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees.
Place roasting pan with 4 cups of water in oven to maintain humidity

Making The Cheesecake

In a small mixing bowl, whisk together granulated sugar and cornstarch until well combined.
In a separate, larger bowl, add cream cheese.
Pour sugar mixture over top and using an electric hand mixer to blend cream cheese until smooth.
Mix in eggs one at a time, mixing just until combined after each addition. Scrape down sides and bottom of bowl as you go.
Add sour cream and heavy cream and mix until combined.
Mix in lime juice and vanilla.
Tap bowl forcefully against countertop about 30 times to release any large air bubbles.
Pour over cooled graham cracker crust.
Place cheesecake in roasting pan then place roasting pan in oven and carefully pour in enough boiling water around cheesecake pan to reach halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan.
Bake in preheated oven until cheesecake is nearly set but still jiggly in the center, about 60 - 65 minutes.
Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack for 1 hour.
Cover and chill in refrigerator 8 hours or overnight.

Lonely Lunch Break

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Wed, 07 Feb 2024 16:03:38 -0500

You know that feeling when you don’t quite hear what someone said, so you reply with something generic, and hope it works out?

A few years ago I was working in a grocery store bakery. One of our breakrooms was down some stairs, and that’s also where we could go to get a bottle of water if we needed. So one day, I head down there just to get some water.

Ultimate Sweet Heat Grilled Cheese

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Tue, 06 Feb 2024 10:11:32 -0500

To me, the grilled cheese is the perfect canvas. There’s so many ways you can customize the basic premise and make something your own. This Ultimate Sweet Heat Grilled Cheese is the first of my many grilled cheese creations that I deemed worthy of writing down.

The recipe does truly depend on having that asiago french boule, though sourcing it may be difficult. I’ve linked the mail order site for where I get the bread. I am not affiliated with this company in any way, and receive no kick-backs from this. It’s just really good bread.

Quick Curry Rice

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Tue, 06 Feb 2024 09:57:49 -0500

This recipe came to me due to my stove being broken, and having nothing else in the house to eat. It uses a microwave, but could be easily adapted to work on the stove. The rice-to-water ratio of 1 cup:1 cup is what my rice recommends; follow the ratio advised by the rice you have.

Ingredients

1 cup water
1 cup Minute Rice
3 dashes sesame oil
1/4 teaspoon tumeric powder
1/4 teaspoon ginger powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon msg powder
1 teaspoon yellow curry powder
1/2 tablespoon salt
1/2 tablespoon butter

Special Equipment

None

Steps

Add water to microwavable bowl
Add the seasonings and stir thoroughly
Add the rice to the water and stir thoroughly
Cover with a microwave-safe plant and microwave on full power for 6 minutes (or follow microwave directions on box)
Let sit for 5 minutes then fluff rice
Add butter to rice and stir
Add salt & pepper to taste

Peasant Bread

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Tue, 06 Feb 2024 09:40:46 -0500

I was shown this bread recipe in a by @williamcraft09@tiktok.com, and after seeing how easy it was, I knew I had to give it a try. It’s since become my go-to bread recipe because I can basically start it and then forget about it and nothing will go wrong. It requires no kneading, and no expensive mixer.

Servings

Makes two loaves

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups bread flour
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
2 cups luke-warm water
1/2 cups sugar
- OR 1/3 cups honey
1 tablespoon salt

Special Equipment

2 bread pans

Steps

In a medium mixing bowl, combine dry ingredients.
Add water, and fold together until a sticky ball of dough is formed.
Let rest in mixing bowl for 2 hours
In the meantime, butter two dishes to bake in
After dough has rest, with two forks, pull the edges of the dough into the middle.
Split the ball down the middle with the two forks, and place each half in the buttered dishes.
Preheat oven to 425°F
Let dough rest in dishes for 20 minutes
Bake at 425°F for 15 minutes
Reduce heat to 375°F and bake for another 18 minutes
Remove from oven, and place on wire cooling rack to cool in dish for 8 minutes
Remove from dish, and let finish cooling on wire rack

Storing

Store bread in a bread box, or a mostly-sealed bag to allow some airflow
Good approximately 1 week

No It's Not

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Thu, 18 Jan 2024 11:58:27 -0500

Not a story about a stranger this time, but instead about an interaction I had in Japanese class. (On that note, 日本語にほんごを話はなせましょ！)

One day, after class, I stayed after to ask my teacher something. I forget exactly what about, but it pertained to how a sentence should be written out. So I’m writing on the chalkboard, and some of my classmates gather round to watch. One of them says from behind me, “Wow, your handwriting is so nice!”

Hellraiser

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Tue, 16 Jan 2024 09:37:49 -0500

Ya ever forget what you’re wearing until someone comments on it, and then you have to take a moment to remember what it is they’re commenting on?

Some years ago, when I was living a little ways north of where I am now, there was a UDF gas station that my partner and I liked to frequent. It always had the best prices in the area. Often working there, though, was this one guy. I have to assume he was autistic, as am I, due to the way he acted. I also gathered that he was the manager. He was always very curt, both with his staff as well as his customers. It became obvious to me that he had very high standards, and not many people could meet those standards.

Deobfuscating a Malware Stager

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Fri, 22 Dec 2023 13:15:11 -0500

I was recently approached by a friend in regards to a WordPress site they manage that had been compromised. While they planned on wiping the site entirely to make sure nothing malicious was left behind, something they had been looking forward to doing anyways, they did offer to let me look over some of the malicious files to see if I could gleem any interesting info. There were dozens of files; most of which had random gibberish as file names.

What're We Listening To

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Thu, 09 Nov 2023 09:50:54 -0500

A couple years ago, my partner and I were stopped at a red light. We had our music up a little loud, and were dancing in our seats while we waited for the light. The music was definitely loud enough that it could be heard by other cars, but not clearly, ya know? Like, if you were to pull up next to us, you’d know we had music on, but probably wouldn’t be able to tell what it was, or even a rhythm.

Live on IPFS

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Wed, 09 Aug 2023 14:52:57 -0400

It actually has been for a couple months now, but I keep forgetting to announce it ^^'

What The Dink Is IPFS

IPFS, or InterPlanetary File System, is a peer-to-peer network designed and developed by Protocol Labs. Its stated goal is create a robust network of nodes to allow for efficient file transfers for networks spanning multiple planets. If you’re on Mars, but want to watch a YouTube video from Google’s servers on Earth, it’s gonna take a hell of a long time for that video to buffer. Through IPFS, the video could instead be fetched from your roommate, your neighbor, and/or anyone at all that’s on the network. The speculative gains on transfer speed are the major point here.

Squishing Circles

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Mon, 07 Aug 2023 16:19:11 -0400

I was admiring my Procedural Circles Generator the other day, and lamenting on the fact that I never ended up doing anything with it. It really is a clever trick for generating some vaguely circle-like shapes, and could still be useful for future genetic algorithm type projects. But this day, I wanted to do something with it. That’s when I thought to myself, “How would this circle look in binary”.

Expanded Circles

As it stands, the circles are already fairly minimal when it comes to the amount of data they use. Seeing as their original purpose was to be easily modified by a not-quite-genetic genetic algorithm, the circle really just consists of an origin point, and then a series of floats that signify one point’s distance from the origin. Everything else that makes the circle a circle is all in the draw step. All of this is kept in a JSON object with just a handful of properties. Even the maximum & minimum distances, and the maximum delta difference aren’t stored.

PentaBit Cipher

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Tue, 02 May 2023 15:30:33 -0400

Credit to Mika Marie for the design of the logo

PentaBit Cipher

The PentaBit cipher is my latest creation in my encoding hobbyist journey. I created this cipher one day while trying to come up with a cipher that doesn’t greatly expand the size of the output, like my straddling checkerboard does.

Sadness - Making and Receiving

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Fri, 24 Mar 2023 22:44:00 -0400

When I was a teenager, and of pretty low emotional intelligence, I had a habit of doing blatantly anti-social things. For example, if I were walking home from school with my friends, and I felt like they didn’t value my presence there (read: they didn’t pay enough attention to me), I would slow down my walking speed, and silently depart from the group. I did this because I got myself to believe that they didn’t want me there. Nothing they said or did was actually to imply this, but I believed it nonetheless. In retrospect, what was happening was that I was sad. Simple as. But then what happened was that I failed to understand my own sadness, and in turn fed it. Without conscious intention, I fueled own sadness by extrapolating my own, incorrect, perceptions of how my friends felt about me. This caused me to lose a lot of friends.

The Rat King

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Thu, 09 Feb 2023 16:55:52 -0500

Oh Rat King, your many-headedness guides us always.
We sing your praises, oh Rat King, for you see all danger.
Eight eyes protect the kingdom from all you perceive.

Oh Rat King, your tails form such a strong knot.
Though many you are, they keep you whole.
Twist and turn as you might, the one that guides is always you.

Oh Rat King, how are we to follow your guidance?
With each harvest, though it remains you, your Self changes.
With each harvest, though it remains you, your laws change.

Men's Kinning Red Flags

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Wed, 04 Jan 2023 09:58:47 -0500

The following is a non-exhaustive list of kins that men often have that, in my humble opinion are red flags. Men that kin these characters may be fixable, but they may also just need time to figure themselves out.

This list will be updated over time as I come across more.

Wheatly (Portal 2)

He sees himself as an under-dog, and wants to conquer, but has some awareness that he just makes everything worse. This can lead to a self-pitying downward cycle as he tries to overcome his own perceived failure.

Rules For Me And Not For Thee

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Tue, 20 Dec 2022 14:10:41 -0500

I have this real funny quirk about how I live my life.

I hold so many rules about how one should be behave. Rules for how one should should act and think. Rules for what one’s obligations are to oneself and those around them. And, internally speaking, I have very little tolerance for these rules being broken. The kicker, though? I only hold those rules against myself.

We all have norms and morals and beliefs. They’re just a part of society, and I’d say a part of the human condition, too. But, at least in the way that I perceive the world, a person’s rules and beliefs should be at least somewhat reflected by the actions and beliefs of the people they keep around them. That is, a person won’t keep people around that don’t share their norms/values/etc.

Define "Terrorist"

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Wed, 07 Dec 2022 09:10:53 -0500

I should hope by now that the general public, at least here in the US, is aware that our governments are always watching what we do online. It’s been public knowledge since 2013 that we’re being watched. But wait! It’s okay guys, they’re just looking for terrorists! But… who are “terrorists”?

If you were to ask the average street-goer circa 2007, when the Protect America Act passed and PRISM began, they might say a terrorist is a guy from the middle east who hates America, and wants us all dead and will do anything to make that happen. But is that who your government considers a terrorist? Do you know who your government considers a terrorist?

About Me

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Tue, 13 Sep 2022 16:25:43 -0400

Bio

~$ whoami

Apis Necros

They/Them

Experience

~$ cat experience.txt

Software Development Manager - 1 year

Fullstack Web Development - 6 years

Network Administrator - 5 years

Hacker - 4 years

Server Specs

~$ cat server.txt

Linode - Nanode 1GB

Debian GNU/Linux 12 64-bit

1 CPU core

1GB RAM

25GB Storage

I used to run this site from my own dedicated server in my apartment, but after some technical difficulties, I decided to move it Linode. As to why I chose Linode, it was just the cheapest option is all. This site is built with the Hugo framework, and uses a custom theme.

N-Body

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Mon, 12 Sep 2022 09:47:01 -0400

N-Body

This project was inspired by, and largely came from, this tutorial by Hunar Ahmad. The main difference in my implementation is that, for reasons I cannot determine, the force values in my simulation need to be a couple orders of magnitude smaller than the values used in the tutorial. Aside from that, though, the system is pretty much the same.

This project was named N-Body due to there being N number particles all imparting forces on each other. As this document from Princeton puts it

Straddling Checkerboard

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Tue, 09 Aug 2022 21:00:33 -0400

Straddling Checkboard

Back in 2017, I sought a way to convert text into numbers. My original plan was to use this to then encode text as pictures by using those numbers as RGB values. What follows is my attempt to accomplish this

I didn’t know at the time what I was making, per se. I knew it was a cipher, but it wasn’t quite like any I had seen up to that point. It wasn’t until I posted it to 4Chan’s technology board that I learned what it was. After many discouraging “We don’t care” replies, one anon was kind enough to take interest in it, and informed me that it looked like a Straddling Checkerboard. They also told me that, due to the Straddling Checkboard’s nature, it’d be nearly impossible for them to solve without knowing the original steps.

Posting "Failures" Can Be Good

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Fri, 05 Aug 2022 19:10:00 -0400

Over on the Code Golf StackExchange site, people will post programming challenges with the goal of the challenge (usually) being to write code in the language of your choice that solves the problem in as few bytes (or characters) as possible. What I want to talk about today is a submission I made to a challenge where I actually missed the mark for the shortest, but was still proud enough to post my answer.

Mental Illness, Autism, and Suffering

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Wed, 06 Jul 2022 18:02:01 -0400

The other day, I read this excellent blog post by Mark Dominus. This post, Mental illness, attention deficit disorder, and suffering, is actually a response to another post. This original post is about how the author, Freddie DeBoer, believes that Today’s Kids™ think mental illness is too trendy. DeBoer posits that those with “mental illnesses” are becoming more and more proud of their conditions, and that this turn around is unhealthy, and ultimately unhelpful. Dominus offers a well thought out response, and states that some of what the original author calls “mental illnesses”, are only so to the extent that society defines them as such.

Bees and Their Effect On Technical Recruiters

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Fri, 17 Jun 2022 12:44:19 -0400

The other day, while doing some research in implementing XFN on my site, I came across the work of Tom Morris. Even better, I came across the first public GitHub project I would contribute to: Bees.

A Buzz Of Emails

The aim of Bees is simple, catching tech recruiters in a lie. When working in the tech industry, it’s very common to get cold-calls from recruiters trying to bring you over to their company. A common tactic of these recruiters is to say something like, “I saw your work on X, and I think that your experience there makes you perfect for this role.” Of course, they didn’t really see your work on it, they just saw your name is attached to it, and rolled with it. Even better, sometimes X isn’t anything more than an empty repository!

The Apis Cipher

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Tue, 17 May 2022 20:56:35 -0400

The Apis Cipher

Demonstrated here is my own variation on the classic Caesar Cipher. It makes use of couple of different tricks to obscure the message further than its inspiration, including using some ideas from ROT13 and the A1Z26 ciphers.

See if you can try figure out how it’s working!

Why

I just think ciphers are neat! I don’t care that they’re “cryptographically weak”, they’re cool! Hiding text in plain sight is cool! Furthermore, I think there’s a lot of room for creativity in the cipher space. Take the Apis cipher for instance. It’s a combination of my favorite ciphers, but with my own personal spin. And with that personal spin it becomes more difficult to crack that just any old Caesar cipher

Conway's Game of Life

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Wed, 11 May 2022 12:42:48 -0400

Conway's Game of Life

Below is my implementation of the famous Conway’s Game of Life. The Game of Life is a Cellular Automata simulation wherein “cells” are brought to life or killed depending on the status of the neighboring cells.

This simulation has always been a goal of mine, and this is my first time achieving it. Prior to now, the array manipulation required has always been just out of reach for me.

Cellular Automata Caves

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Wed, 11 May 2022 12:42:47 -0400

Cellular Automata Caves

Below is a variation of a Cellular Automata simulation where instead of simulating life, I can change the “rules” of Conway’s Game of Life in order to create natural looking “caves”.

The idea is in no way my own creation. Instead, I followed the concepts outlined in this RogueBasin post.

Although the idea wasn’t my own, and the concept pretty clearly laid out for me, the implemention wasn’t without its challenges. In order to accomplish this, I needed to make the original Cell class extendable, and then override some of its methods for how it determines whether the cell should live or die. This was no massive undertaking, but it was still something to learn.

Hexes

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Wed, 11 May 2022 12:42:46 -0400

Hex Grid Generator

The project is pretty simple. I needed a grid of hexagons with a transparent background for the navbar of my page, and was surprised to find that I couldn't find a customizable one online. After an hour or so, I had this.

To save your results, simply right-click on the canvas, and the image from there

Grid Width	Grid Height	Cell Size
		10

Procedural Circles

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Wed, 11 May 2022 12:42:45 -0400

Procedural Circle Generator

What you see here is a project I started, and technically completed, but never put to user. The idea was that I could further make use of the Critters genome by making their bodies initialized as a random shape, and store that shape in such a way that could be tweaked. I believe I ended up dropping the Critters project shortly after finishing this.

The process works by finding a start point, the center of our circle, and then selecting X number of points around the center. Each point's distance to the center can only change from last point's distance by a defined delta value.

Critters

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Wed, 11 May 2022 12:42:44 -0400

Critters

The Critters are my own original take on a genetic algorithm, albeit without any use of machine learning. They were programmed using p5.js. The idea for them came about some time in 2018. I had just finished a prototype for “flowers” that could breed new flowers using the genetic make up of themself and nearby flowers. I immediately wanted to do more, and make more “alive” creatures that had to work for survival.

apisnecros@proton.me (Apis Necros) — Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000