If you're in a position to pitch in a few bucks, it'd really be appreciated. A Ko-Fi link is at the bottom of the page, or if you'd prefer another method, contact me. I do hate to ask, because that's not what I want this to be about, but anything right now would be a huge help.

Thank you for reading and sticking around. I'm still here, and once the clouds start passing a bit, I'll be back to a more consistent output schedule. Have a great rest of your day, and if you're also living in the Chicagoland area: Stay safe. Weather is terrible out today.

[ https://hisvirusness.com/ill-keep-this-brief ]
[ - HisVirusness - ]

[ Support via Ko-Fi ]

Tech media is reporting that Linux's marketshare has officially grown higher than its ever been, finally reaching double-digits: 10%! This is based on figures from Statcounter stating Linux has 10.65% of the desktop operating system marketshare in North America as of July 2026, and 7.61% worldwide.

You more than likely see the first problem: the "10%" is based off of North American marketshare, where anywhere else, it's much lower. On top of that, the statistics are intrinsically flawed given where these numbers come from. Let's break down what's actually going on here, and figure out if 2026 is truly The Year of the Linux Desktop™ (it probably isn't).

// Bad Numbers, Worse Methodology

If you dig into the marketshare stats in other countries, you'll notice that they hang between 3%-7%, which averages out to 5%: the 2025 Linux marketshare in the US, according to Statcounter. So worldwide, the number is closer to last year's US numbers, right? Not exactly, and it has to do with how Statcounter actually collects its data.

According to the Statcounter FAQ:

Every month, we record billions of page views to these sites. For each page view, we analyse the browser/operating system/screen resolution used and we establish if the page view is from a mobile device.

[W]e calculate our Global Stats on the basis of more than 3 billion page views per month, by people from all over the world onto our 1 million+ member sites.

[W]e track the activity of third party visitors to our member websites. We do not calculate our stats based on the activity of our members alone.

Now, when a person visits a website, every single time they touch the web server, that activity is saved to the server's access log. Whenever a page is requested, it's typically followed by requests for the assets, stylesheets and scripts that are embedded on that webpage. Each request lists the timestamp of the visit, the IP address of the user and the web browser's "user agent": the operating system and web browser used, and if their device is mobile. The access log is invaluable for troubleshooting, analytics, and firewall operations. It's also incredibly unreliable for accurate consensus data, since UA strings are very easy to spoof.

"That sounds very illegal."
In many ways, it can be; it doesn't stop people who run cheap VPS-run bots from doing it, though. That's just the background radiation of the modern internet: bots, crawlers, scrapers, uptime validators, hobby projects, misconfigured feed readers; it adds up, and not all of them are upfront with their identities. It's something you have to deal with when you're running a website, or what you have to keep in mind when reading these kinds of stats, because those stats will always be approximate at best.

And that's not to disparage Statcounter; I'm sure they do their due diligence, but even they know they'll never be able to get fully accurate data. According to their FAQ, they make every effort to eliminate bot activity. The keyword there is "effort"; the missing word is "efficacy", because no amount of filtering will ever be perfect.

Keep this in mind: These surveys analyze web data; they never take into account the machines serving that web data, or the countless sysadmins that keep them running. And they're both overwhelmingly using Linux.

// A Clearer Picture... ?

If you frequent YouTube as much as I do, you'd notice the uptick of "Getting Started With Linux" tutorials, as well as general commentary videos more targeted to new Linux users, especially ones migrating away from Windows. They've been becoming more and more prevalent in the last few years, and have been getting an impressively large number of viewers.

Not far down the list, you start seeing videos about how to get gaming set up in Linux. Valve has been spending a fortune on making games on Linux run just as well, if not better, than on Windows. They've also been making Linux gaming more accessible, especially through Proton, the Steam Deck and the Steam Machine. So, let's take a look at the Steam Hardware Survey.

As of July 2026, Linux makes up 4.01% of the userbase, whereas Windows 11 makes up 93.67%. That's a far cry from 10%, and less than 1/10th of all users, in a service that actively wants Linux to become more viable for PC gaming in order to reduce its dependency on Windows.

And personally, I think that number may be more accurate to the current general Linux userbase. While the Steam Hardware Survey certainly isn't representative of all desktop users and has its own stat biases, it measures a much more concrete population than user agent data. Remember: UA data can easily be changed, while changing hardware signatures can be a bit trickier. And if any general computing service was gonna have the highest concentration of Linux users, it'd be Steam.

// So, Is This The Year of the Linux Desktop™?

Short answer: No, it's not. It's a fun thing to say when you want to annoy someone, but it's far from the truth.

Long answer: While I don't think 2026 is the year, I do believe it's in the "Years of the Linux Desktop™". There may be a year where the paradigm shifts sharply, with the year ending much differently than it began, but it's probably not this one. However, with Microsoft constantly tripping over themselves to find more innovative ways of shooting themselves in the foot, and Linux getting better everyday with adoption always on the rise, I'd say we are in the middle of the "Years of the Linux Desktop™". And it's actually been a couple of years now, and the only direction to go is up.

[ https://hisvirusness.com/the-year-is-here ]
[ - HisVirusness - ]

[ Support via Ko-Fi ]

First off, what the fuck is with the phrasing? When I first heard about this, I thought they were talking about something completely different. It just means... not doing anything during a flight (which sometimes includes eating and drinking). That's like saying, "Man, I'm gonna bareback the shit out of this breaded steak sandwich."

As for the actual concept itself, I don't get it. What's the appeal? "This was just a meme two years ago, this is old news." Yeah, but this is still a thing that people actively do and brag about. Someone told me it's about not being distracted, to which I asked, why is being distracted such a bad thing?

Now, when I say "distracted", of course I mean distracted in the moment, not distracted in general. Essentially multi-tasking; doing something else that's distracting you from the fact that you're compelled to sit still inside of a metal box in the sky. After all, being on a plane gives you ample time to do other things, especially if you have some stuff on the backburner that you could accomplish on your digital device; it's not like you have any other plans, you're on a plane.

Even if you're not getting work done or whatever, what is so wrong with just watching a movie or some reruns during a flight? Again: the fuck else are you gonna do with your time? Is sitting still and staring forward really an improvement? Why intentionally remove one of the very few modern conveniences you have in-flight that makes the otherwise-dead time useful?

"People don't know how to be bored anymore." Good. Boredom sucks. We don't need to be, so why should we be? You could say it has to do with the modern trend of people being glued to their phones and how that negatively impacts developing minds. But at that point, you're arguing less about boredom, and more about what people choose to fill those gaps with, which is another conversation entirely.

As is the discussion of this in relation to childhood development, in which case my answer will always be STOP GIVING YOUR VERY YOUNG CHILDREN TABLETS AND SMART PHONES. You wanna give them something? Give them a laptop and tell them if they wanna use it, they'll have to figure out how it works.

There's no virtuousness in boredom. If someone chooses to spend a few hours reading a book, writing some code, watching a documentary, or even playing a game instead of just staring ahead, that's perfectly okay; I fail to see how boredom would have been the positive alternative in that scenario.

I could be wrong, but I think this whole thing against wanting to fill in idle time is inane. If the whole point is to fight the urge to doomscroll or mindlessly wander on TikTok, then it really should be what you're doing on your device, instead of just using the device itself. Start a project. Write a story. Replay Mortal Kombat for the billionth time. Actually do something. At some point in time, it stops being about the device itself, and starts being more about you.

[ https://hisvirusness.com/boredom-blows ]
[ - HisVirusness - ]

[ Support via Ko-Fi ]

News of the incident in casual user groups has been... muddled, with some even falsely claiming that Arch Linux was hacked. So, I want to do my part to set the record straight. I'm gonna cover what the AUR is, what it isn't, and highlight something that always seems to get overlooked: If you're an inexperienced Arch Linux user, you shouldn't be using the AUR.

// WTF Is The AUR?

The AUR is the Arch User Repository; a user-run software repository for Arch Linux. Whenever you need a package that can't be found in the main Arch Linux repos, you can always check the AUR; more often than not, you'll find what you're looking for. Access to the AUR is available through GUI package managers like Pamac and Octopi, or CLI helper programs like yay and paru.

The AUR is not maintained by the Arch Linux dev team; it's technically maintained by the community at large (so long as you have an account, and new enrollment is currently paused). It's constantly emphasized that if you're ever going to use the AUR, you're doing so at your own risk, as its use is not recommended. That means doing your due diligence in making sure you know exactly what you're installing, especially during an update.

// Coming In Hot

Whenever someone first hears about Linux, inevitably, they're going to hear about The Arch Install. It's the rite of passage of any Linux user, made completely redundant nowadays because ArchInstall exists. It really highlights a general misunderstanding of what The Arch Install is, which downstream becomes a misunderstanding of the current incident.

The Arch Install is seen as a rite of passage because it's meant to be a learning experience. The ArchWiki is one of the most exhaustive and comprehensive pieces of Linux documentation in existence. You follow along in the wiki, learning about how your system works while handling a manual setup process where you are responsible for the resulting system.

The AUR is no different. First off, you have to opt into the AUR. You can't access it by default in pacman, AUR helper applications still require manual installation, and even the package manager GUIs that come with Arch derivatives don't opt into the AUR by default. You have to set it up yourself and every step of the way you're reminded that it's all at your own risk.

If you saw The Arch Install as a flex and turned away now because of this AUR incident, then the flex rings hollow because you didn't actually learn anything.

"But what about dependencies in the AUR?"
You will never come across a package in the main repos that depends on an AUR package. If an AUR package is ever a dependency, it's one for another AUR package. The main repos are entirely self-contained: you will never NEED to use the AUR to run Arch Linux.

// Bottom Line

Currently, it affects less than two percent of the AUR, with the affected packages being orphaned and more than likely not something you'd find on your system. While it's not nothing, it is absolutely close to nothing. And personally, I think it's a great reminder for everyone that if you're going to use the AUR, you have to pay attention. I run Arch on all of my machines, and I absolutely did a thorough check to make sure I didn't have any of the affected packages (and currently doing at least one daily check, since the list is still growing).

It's also a reminder of another important thing: the AUR is structurally vulnerable by design. That's kind of the point, that anyone can participate. If anything, this kind of thing was inevitable, which is partially why all of those warnings were there in the first place. If you're downloading random packages from the AUR without any vetting process whatsoever, whatever happens after the fact is the result of a skill issue.

Arch Linux's base distribution is unaffected. The main repo is still clean and safe to use, and that's what's most important. Don't let someone tell you Arch Linux got hacked; at best, they're misinformed and at worst, they're lying for engagement.

[ https://hisvirusness.com/arch-linux-aur-issue ]
[ - HisVirusness - ]

[ Support via Ko-Fi ]

// General Review

One thing I appreciate about this movie is that it doesn't even warm up; there's a brief introduction and the tournament just starts. The movie expects you to either be already deep in the lore, or already caught up with what's going on (it is a sequel, after all). And the first scene before the introductions is a pretty deep cut of MK lore that's only recently been portrayed in the modern games.

As for the surface-level visual details, they are pitch-perfect. All of the characters and locations are practically ripped from the source, and there are some locations from the first two games that make surprise appearances.

My only real complaints have to do with dialog and pacing issues, but even those are very few and far between. There is so much that this movie does right, right down to bringing Kano back. Just like before, he's one of the best parts of the movie. As is Karl Urban's Johnny Cage.

// Spoiler Talk

I can't really talk about what I loved without spilling all of the beans. So, let's get into the bean spillage, and start with something I've expressed on here before.

- Cole Young -

I don't know how else to say it: The movie did what needed to be done. His intro was brief, his presence takes a complete backseat, and after he's swiftly killed off, he's only brought up once more before being completely forgotten about. And they didn't just kill him out of nowhere; they telegraphed it perfectly. Once you saw who he was up against, you knew there was no way he was leaving that match alive.

As I said last time, it's a waste of a good actor. Lewis Tan should have been cast as someone else, and Cole should have just not been. But, what's done is done.

RIP, Cole.

- The Amulet -

Of course, like always when it comes to Mortal Kombat, Shinnok's Amulet comes into play. And lo and behold, Kano stole it sometime before the first movie. Not only is it the thing that brings him back into the story, but it factors into almost everything else that happens.

Truth be told, I do have conflicted feelings about that. It's not enough to ruin the movie, but it is enough to lessen the overwhelming power factor that Shao Kahn is supposed to have. And that's never a good thing.

- Johnny Cage vs Baraka -

This whole thing had a very Will Riker and the Klingons campy quality to it, and that's exactly why I love it so much. I was worried when I heard a rumor that they made Baraka look weak; finally seeing the movie, I can see what they were saying and I disagree with that assessment entirely.

Now that Baraka is part of the campaign, I hope he and Kano get screen time together in the next sequel.

- Kano's Face Turn -

Speaking of, I always love when Kano leans into the agent of chaos aspect of his character, especially when it comes to a good face turn. It's honestly something I've always wanted to see in MK media, ever since his MK3/UMK3/MKT ending. After that, he's always been portrayed on the malevolent side, regardless of any other factors. Dude is a chaotic pirate; yes, he's a murderous bastard, but that doesn't mean he wouldn't flip the script just to shake things up.

- Fire God Liu Kang -

They set this up pretty hastily and out of nowhere, but looking back at the first movie... little breadcrumbs start to emerge. Liu Kang seems less like a monk in the training program, and more like a god masquerading as a monk, kinda like he does in MK1. Will definitely be interesting to see how this goes down the line.

- Liu Kang vs Kung Lao -

Best live-action Mortal Kombat fight put to screen, hands down. If you know, you know.

- Kitana Kahn -

One location that this movie was begging for was the Koliseum. The final fight between Shao Kahn and Kitana does have a large crowd, but not in the kind of grandiose way that's needed for a final fight against Shao Kahn.

Also, watching this play out feels just like reading the story blurbs in the MK2 Fighter's Kompanion 30 years ago. It was awesome when Kitana won in MK11, and it was awesome seeing it on the big screen.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, and I can't wait until I get the opportunity to watch it another 50 times. Hopefully we'll get a sequel sooner rather than later, but given that we had to wait 5 years for this sequel, I'm not holding my breath. If this ends up being the bookend of this specific film franchise, I'd say it went out on a high note and good luck to whoever has the unenviable task of rebooting it in 20 year's time.

[ https://hisvirusness.com/mk2-movie-review ]
[ - HisVirusness - ]

[ Support via Ko-Fi ]

I hadn't been going to meetings as frequently as I was for that first month, so I got asked what was keeping me sober. I almost said, "I just don't feel like drinking." But that answer is cheap, it doesn't hold up to scrutiny and it's only partially correct. Despite seeming a bit exposed, I answered honestly: Working on my website. The design, the programming, the layout, the content; it's kept me focused on something positive at a time where I'm surrounded by perceived constant negativity. It's not the only thing that helps, but it's the most notable one that's come into frame since I've gotten sober.

I could tell my answer wasn't taken seriously, especially since I wasn't approaching this endeavor exactly how I was "supposed to", which continues to be my main criticism of supposedly agnostic recovery programs. I'm also relatively sure that at least a couple of them read the previous post, because things were said during the meeting that seemed very pointed, but were obviously not aggressive or accusatory. They were just... vaguely on-topic to that post, in an anonymous context, in a way that was almost too specific to be coincidental.

Regardless, the direct response I got was that if I didn't get a sponsor and start working the steps, I was going to drink again. Up to that point, there had been traces of toxicity within that I was willing to overlook. They were few, isolated, and only coming from maybe two people, which is just kinda expected in any social framework. However, this very much crossed a line. Whether or not this person's intentions were good was irrelevant; this comment felt like it was meant to ramp my anxiety, and influence me to get in line and do things "the right way", regardless of if it felt right to me.

That sealed the deal: I was done with that program. And honestly, the overall experience I had after my first sobriety post left me feeling a lot less generous with the good will I previously expressed anyway.

That was six months ago. I haven't been back and I don't plan to be back. You know what else I haven't done? Had a drink. Maybe I could have been better served by another group, but at that point, where is the line drawn? How many times should I be expected to "just try again" before realizing that maybe this just isn't for me?

Will I be sober a year from now? Maybe, maybe not. Overall, that's completely irrelevant, given that we're supposed to be taking things one day at a time. It doesn't matter if I'm drinking tomorrow, so long as I'm not drinking today; we work on tomorrow when tomorrow comes. That's supposed to be the fucking point.

And this, right here, has very much helped me. Whether I'm consolidating more of my past projects, working on the backend, adding optimizations, building new features or just putting down what I need to put down to feel better about everything going on in my life. And it's not even just about the catharsis; let's just say, I can see now why dwarves go insane when they're not allowed to build their masterwork objects.

You read the title, so you know exactly where this is going. And yes, this folds right back around into hVmark. Because of course it does.

In Featurecreepin', I waxed on about trying not to over-complicate a tiny piece of software that still continues to receive updates and new features. I've had some tell me I betrayed the concept of hVmark as soon as I started adding new markers and holy shit, could I not disagree more.

I said that adding QoL features would be redundant since it is a QoL. Yes, but it is still a QoL. It's going to be upgraded based on my usage patterns, which was the general concept of hVmark from the beginning. Yes, edge cases are meant to be circumvented through hard-coded HTML. However, if I find myself hard-coding one specific convention over and over again, it would actively be stupid of me not to just fold it into the parser and let hVmark handle that bullshit for me.

I will say, I know things have... evolved on this site in the last seven months. However, even with minor liberties, the root concept has remained consistent throughout. I'd say it's become even more of what it should be, and it's done so with little to no bloat in the process.

If you've found it hard to follow the last few paragraphs, I think you at least get the idea that a lot of work has gone into this site. And a lot of work will continue to go into it. The system's design, the structure, the constraints, the problem solving; it keeps me focused on something positive, which helps keep me sober. As does getting messages about how my writing has resonated deeply with complete strangers from around the world. Of course, not in huge numbers, but to know at least one person was moved by something I wrote is rewarding in a way not many get to experience. And I'm very grateful for that.

So, yeah. One year and a few days. Stay tuned for more bullshit.

[ https://hisvirusness.com/its-been-that-long ]
[ - HisVirusness - ]

[ Support via Ko-Fi ]

The book repository was on Iron Street, a half-mile away from anyone who was still awake. The open industrial park was free of any traffic, and the air was still enough to hear the Orange Line pass by in the distance. When I arrived in the area, I wasn't too late for anything. We had officially crossed into a new day, yet the lights were still on. People were still inside, running their operation. And I needed a way in.

I moved through the shadows, clocking their ranks. Hired muscle was staging large crates from one area to another. Every 20 feet stood a watchful eye, making sure the area was clear of outsiders. The path of their surveillance lead to a stairwell going upstairs, seemingly where the big man was stationed. There was a guy watching the backdoor, watching over a blind spot of the cameras. I had to quickly dispatch him in order to slink through. Hiding the remains becomes easier when the area is surrounded by boxes of books.

The more ground I covered, the stranger this entire situation became. I found guards, I found goods, but there was one thing notably absent: Clients. The dead of night is perfect cover for under-the-table logistics, yet there didn't seem to be any sign that any of this was outgoing. The things being moved around also set off some alarm bells. These guys weren't moving knock-offs or drugs; they were moving hazmat containers and medical equipment. What exactly was the nature of this operation?

A guard inside had noticed that no one was watching the door in the back, so he went to go investigate. He didn't find anything, but it gave me a great opportunity to get some intel of my own. With him separated from the pack and out of ear-shot, I pulled him in closer to the shadows and neutralized him. It was a bit messier than the first, but I was still able to get him sufficiently hidden. And unlike the first guy, this one had some valuable information on their PDA. They seemed to have been facilitating the services of a PI with an obscured phone number. Their last sent text was to "RT", and simply read, "File's in the common."

"RT". Roger Thorne. I was definitely going in the right direction. The text had been sent an hour previous, so I still potentially had time. Hopefully. A pool of blood had started slowly approaching my feet, so I quickly moved away from its source and started to make my way deeper into the building.

Upstairs was the general office area. It was a very old-fashioned setup, it made me feel like I had stepped back in the 1940's. The boss's door window was obscured, but that room was definitely not empty. I carefully looked around until I saw a door marked, "Common". It looked like a break room, with small tables on either end of the room. If Sam were here, he'd probably call it a "dining area". Idiot.

I saw something on the table farthest from the door: A file. I thought, maybe I'll finally get some answers. Finally, we'll get some idea of what we're actually doing here. Finally, some actual closure.

Oh, what a sweet, innocent and naive creature I was.

What I saw left me with more questions than answers. And not out of confusion, but out of pure, unfiltered shock.

What I saw in that file was me.

It was the most comprehensive report about me I've ever seen. I don't even think Mikey would be able to replicate the depth this report contained. Of course, it had the usual descriptors: "dangerous", "psychotic", "unpredictable"; blah blah blah. But under all of that were things that I file like this wouldn't have cataloged. Not so much things researched, and more... studied. The perfect file for an external party to use for blackmail.

Just seeing my face in this file shook me to my core. I had forgotten what "panic" felt like before opening it. What are we going to do about this? What is there to do? Those questions were answered before even being asked: I had to condemn this building.

Whoever that woman was led me to something serious. Whether or not she realized it, she just set off a bomb with a shockwave of indeterminate radius. I don't know whether to thank her or make sure she also suffers in the fallout.

I rolled up the file and tucked it in the inside pocket of my coat. Before I could turn around to leave, I was tasered in the side. Startled, I made a blind back-swing and was quickly tackled into the table. The impact destroyed the table under us, and it wasn't long before the taser came back into play. I threw the man on top of me off and tried to move against the one with the taser. Because my attention on the taser was sharper, I didn't notice someone else come into the room and inject something into my neck. I was immediately out.

When I came to, I was in the middle of the warehouse floor, tied to a chair. It felt like all of the light in the building was concentrated on me. Every armed body in the building was standing around me, ready to fire. In front of me was the boss, who periodically coughed into his elbow.

"I was hoping you'd come around, sooner or later."

I couldn't place that voice exactly, but I recognized it from somewhere. My vision soon started to clear, so I looked up and saw his face.

It was Roger Thorne: the man in the visions. The man I watched die.

"Wha... I watched you die."

"No, I'm not dead. And hopefully, you could help make sure it stays that way."

To Be Continued...

[ https://hisvirusness.com/textbook-case-part-3 ]
[ - HisVirusness - ]

[ Support via Ko-Fi ]

Looking through the service, things are a lot different than they were 10+ years ago. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing is yet to be seen, but like everywhere else, the bottomfeeders always pop up first.

// I've Actually Been Here Before

A little background: I have a negative history with Fiverr. Of course, this goes back ~13 years, so of course it's really not the same service. For one, you can now charge more than $5.

I was offering custom 3D logo slides; to get a sense of what that looks like, check out "art". For how much? The only price allowable: $5, which was a literal steal for what I was offering. I later found out that my work was getting resold at a high markup, which came with the added benefit of making it hard for me to charge more for work outside of Fiverr.

When I learned this, I stopped completely. Not long after, I only accepted commissions through referrals, and that's generally how it's been for about a decade.

// Decade Double Take

I've been very open about what's been going on. I try not to make it this site's whole thing, but it's what's currently going on in my life, so naturally, it's gonna come up. The job market has spent the last 18 months kicking the shit out of me. I'm trying more and more to think outside of the box, and having another try at Fiverr is my next step in that process.

My first attempt can be found here. A bit of a departure from art commissions, but it's something I can do right now, while also trying to cut through the more generic and template-heavy entries that pollute the service. Also, feel free to contact me and tell me all about what I'm doing wrong, and what I should be doing. I need the feedback because, well, I'm new to Fiverr and I suck at freelancing in general.

// First Day

No takers yet, but I did get a lot of spam. Some of it was caught before I was able to see it, but some stuck around.

What impressed me was the sophistication of their phishing system. Out of morbid curiosity, I clicked one of the links, and it had one of those "press and hold to prove that you're human" verification challenges before asking for your account name. No password, just the name. The page was still able to parse my public-facing account info, giving it an air of legitimacy.
Editor's Note: DO NOT EVER click on phishing links. The previous claim was done on a web browser not signed into Fiverr, running on a virtual machine by someone who knows what they are doing. Do as I say, not as I do.

Of course, then it went directly into a form where you could put in your credit card number to "collect your fee". The immediate disconnect was that the currency was in pounds, but someone with tons of orders and not paying immediate attention could potentially be overwhelmed enough to fall for it. It's just another reminder to always stay vigilant.

// "Does this mean your commissions are open?"

If you're reading this, then technically this site would be your referral. So, in that case, yes.

Will this bear any kind of fruit? I don't know. It's the end of the week, and I have a few solid leads for work. Hopefully they'll pan out as we go into the next week. But, I'll be honest: I'm exhausted. I'm working my ass off and getting nothing, mostly because the modern job market is now dominated by AI-powered systems that reject applications for arbitrary reasons just for simple jobs. It was easier for me to get a face-to-face remote interview for a potential job paying $30/hour than it was for me to get any kind of actual interview for a potential job paying $17/hour; the closest the latter gave me was a "recorded interview". That's not right. Everyone bitches about how "no one wants to work", without seeing that it's hard to even get a low-wage job nowadays.

Anyway, keep your fingers crossed for me. Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for more bullshit.

[ https://hisvirusness.com/trying-to-branch-out ]
[ - HisVirusness - ]

[ Support via Ko-Fi ]

I hosted a livestream on YouTube, where we took a mini-tour of the indie web. Someone came on who was new to the concept. They didn't grow up with the old web, so they were just learning about webrings and personal web pages that operated outside of social media network algorithms. Soon, they came across a tough concept that still plagues the indie web to this day: Some sites just die, and dead links don't always get cleaned up.

It's an ever-present bottleneck with discovering new sites and services. Sometimes whole webrings will lay dormant, filled with dead links, and you won't notice it right away. Pre-AI, this is what had people claiming "the internet was dead", even back in the old web days that we all wanna get back to.

Regardless, I still disagree with the statement for one main reason:
The tech never left. The infrastructure still exists.

Yes, over time, general internet use became a lot more compartmentalized between a handful of services that are typically polluted with AI slop, so the internet feels smaller, but the broadcast functionality is still the same. It didn't sunset just because people stopped using it. Whether you're building websites or just being a participant in the community, it's still possible to help create the internet that you want. You know: think globally, act locally.

On the ØɄ₮₴łĐɆ webring, I'll have the crawler intermittently fetch member sites to make sure they're active. There have been a few times where member sites went dead, so they got nixed from the ring. I'd personally check every so often to see if they've come back, so they could get readded. Once, I noticed a site went live after a week of inactivity, and I added them back in. One time, a member site added themselves back in once they were active again. It's easy to do when the system is mostly automatic.

My point is, with how I design my sites, I'm creating the kind of internet that I'd want to inhabit. I'm very vigilant about dead links, everything is in perpetual dark mode, and if you were so inclined, you could view this website from a command-line web browser adequately (I recommend w3m or lynx).

"But what about whole blogs that seem to only exist for gaming SEO algorithms?"
Well, I got news for you: Those existed in the old web, too. While the old web might have made it harder to discover new sites, it also made it easier to overlook slop. So no, the internet isn't dead, so long as we give it life.

[ https://hisvirusness.com/long-live-the-interwebz ]
[ - HisVirusness - ]

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It's late-afternoon in a working class part of town. The houses are spacious, but they're cramped together, as if a city planner 80 years ago had a quota to fit as many homes on a block as physically possible. There's a man walking down the street, heading home. He walks the same path he's taken over the last 16 years, but this might be the final time. He's dying.

For the last few days, he'd been experiencing rolling fatigue, along with random spells of exhaustion and sleepiness. He figured he just needed to catch up on his rest tomorrow; can't do it tonight, because tonight's important. He's about to learn "tonight" is a concept he might not experience.

The symptoms had been manageable up to now. He opens the door of his house, and immediately collapses. His wife is close enough to catch him and keep him awake. She notes the lack of color in his face, as if he's suffering from serious anemia. He weakly claims to be okay and is back on his feet within a couple of minutes. She implores him to go to the doctor, or at least call off his plans for the night. He assures her that he just needs to take a quick nap, and that he'll be alright. She brews him a cup of tea, which he drinks before falling unconscious.

I can see it clear as day, but I don't know what it means. I don't recognize the man or his wife. But I can see this man dying, like a plea for help that will never come.

Back in the food court, I was staring straight forward at nothing. Someone kept waving their hand in front of my face. "Jackie. Hey, Jackie; what are you looking at?" Suddenly, the wave turns into a clap, and I'm snapped out of whatever spell I was in. I didn't know how much time had passed, but I was awakened to Mike holding a very thin file and looking down at me with concern.

"You alright?"

I rubbed my eyes and stretched a bit while signaling for Mike to take a seat. "Yeah, I'm fine. What'd you find out?"

"You were right: 'Elise Thorne' doesn't exist."

"Figures. Everything about this is preposterous."

"However, I did find the kind of printer that she mentioned. In the current local black market, only one fits the description: it's at a fence that does business out of an abandoned public school book repository in McKinley Park."

And, the plot thickens. I took out another cigarillo and lit it. I'm trying to dash forward, but I'm still at fifth place. "How do we know this is related at all?"

"Because the racket's run by a 'Roger Thorne'; a man who notably does not have a wife, sister or other association with anyone named, 'Elise'."

That's all I needed to hear: This was a set-up. Someone wants me to crash that party, but I don't know who and I don't know why. "It's crazy that a huge fencing operation pops out of nowhere right under our noses, and we didn't notice."

"...I've known about this operation, Jackie. And they've been in business for a while. These guys... they're not who you're looking for, trust me."

"Friends of yours?"

"No. I... may have obtained an enterprise-level server rack from them a while back, but that was expressly a professional exchange."

"Mikey, for one reason or another, these people are now on my radar. This whole thing stinks to high heaven; I have to figure out what's going on." I could have dropped this. I could have written this off as a potential trap set for me that will never spring. I could have considered "Elise Thorne" a prank. All of this could have been avoided. But I'd never be able to let it go. Call it curiosity, call it obsession, call it paranoia; the wave had emerged, and we had to ride it to the end. Mike's jaw locked, because he knew that trying to change my mind would be futile.

"Of course." Mike opened up the file and laid out the information he could find, and these people weren't amateurs. Their secrecy didn’t show in what Mike found; it showed in what he didn’t. This man could typically piece together the hierarchy of any outfit, with robust dossiers describing every person involved. However, with this operation, he was only able to track down two collaborators. And the information found was next to useless.

"I'm just going to throw this out there: You don't have to do this. Whoever that woman was, it sounds like they're fucking with you. It sounds like a wild goose chase."

He was probably right. At best, I find nothing and look like an idiot. But with how these people are moving, the absence of evidence isn't the evidence of absence. Elise Thorne may not be real, but there's still something going on. And I really don't like not knowing what's going on.

I stood up from the chair and Mike followed suit. He looked at me shocked, "You're going over there now?"

"The night's fading." I put my coat and hat on, because if I'm going out to investigate the shadows of the city, I might as well look the part. I couldn't spend all night having hallucinations of the damned; a mystery was afoot, and it was time to figure out exactly what was going on.

To Be Continued...

[ https://hisvirusness.com/textbook-case-part-2 ]
[ - HisVirusness - ]

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I mentioned to someone that I was buying new headphones and when they saw a wired pair, they asked, "Why didn't you just get Bluetooth headphones?" It's because I have a bad experience with Bluetooth headphones, so much so that it's turned me off from ever buying Bluetooth headphones for the foreseeable future. And I will have those opportunities, since wired headphones aren't going anywhere, despite what the hype-machine would have you believe.

When Apple first nixed the headphone jack a decade ago, I felt two things:

• Even happier that I didn't buy Apple products, and
• Nervous that the market would follow suit.

Thankfully, the market didn't follow suit (for the most part). Not for lack of trying, as trendy-tech tailriders still come out of the woodwork to say shit like, "You still use wired headphones? Do you still have a tape player, too?"

Which is a dogshit comparison. The format migration from audio tapes to CDs was off the back of CDs being a materially superior format. Better sound quality, easier navigation, you don't have to rewind CDs; there were a myriad of reasons for the consumer to switch. Bluetooth headphones do not have that. In fact, they have reasons not to migrate.

I'll put it to you like this: You buy a pair of Bluetooth headphones. When you first take them out of the packaging, you probably won't be able to use them right away because of the battery's charge. You charge the battery, now you have to pair them with your device, which is going to turn from inconvenience into nightmare if you plan on using more than one device. Finally, you can use your headphones; but the audio... may sound weird. Why is that? Well, that's our old friend compression: in order to cut down on latency while maintaining a consistent and sturdy connection, the actual audio signal is compressed heavily, which degrades the audio's quality. The amount of compression is different across devices, and is not user-controllable. Over a few months, the battery will start to degrade, which you will notice when it stops holding a consistent charge. And you can't just replace the batteries (after all, who replaces batteries nowadays; this isn't the 1980's), so your only recourse is to buy another pair of headphones.

There's a reason why, ten years later, 3.5mm to USB-C adapters are still a readily-available thing: Because the headphone jack works. Hell, USB-C itself is a wired interface still used on high-end devices that have ditched the headphone jack, specifically because the alternatives haven't proven why they should be the singular standard.

I think the general reason for the forced-obsolescence of the headphone jack has to do with one thing and one thing only: that it's tech from the 1950's. We can't have our sleek and shiny gizmos shipped with ports designed before the moon landing! Having mid-1900's microtech that still does what it says on the tin better than the modern alternative proves the tech's longevity and maturity. Mature tech is predictable; predictable tech is debuggable; debuggable tech respects the user's right to control their tech. Trying to force obsolescence and alternative adoption in the face of mature engineering is anti-user, anti-consumer and continues the ugly trend of allowing Apple to steer the course of the tech market, even in small part.

Some tech is just timeless, and there's a reason why many designs and concepts seem to stick around forever. Trying to force them out based purely on trends isn't evolution, it's the complete opposite. And if you disagree, you better not use a layout created 150 years ago to tell me about it.

[ https://hisvirusness.com/im-staying-wired ]
[ - HisVirusness - ]

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Well, here we are. It's the end of 2025: a landmark year... for me. Well, not really; if I'm being honest, the year had its ups and downs. A lot of downs (like, a lot), and that's okay.

By the way, yes: You're probably reading this in 2026. Well, I'm writing this on New Year's Eve 2025. While I probably will end up posting this early, I won't be refreshing the feed until the new year, so don't get confused. While you may be reading this after the fact, you are still ringing in the new year with me. Bathroom's in the back, there's Pepsi and pizza in the corner: Make yourself comfortable.

I wanted to reflect on this past year, talk about all the positive stuff that happened, what that means for the upcoming year and how I can start 2026 on the right foot. Then, I got hurt at work.

On the last working day of the year, and probably the only working day this week, my day was cut in half because of a nasty fall I took. I'm okay, but my right knee got badly scraped and my right thumb got really screwed up. Just like that, my brain flashed to frustration, infuriation and resentment. I immediately wanted to blow up on everything and everyone.

But, I didn't. After a few deep breaths and a cool down, I refused to let myself. So, we're sticking with the original plan. We are going to cover the good stuff that went down this past year. Because let's be clear: Despite all of the failure, setbacks and bullshit, I ABSOLUTELY FUCKING SUCCEEDED.

// The Textbook Case

It's not much, but at the very least, it's a start.

And to me, that's all that matters. My problem with The Textbook Case is less about writer's block and more about... well, a litany of other issues I'm working on. So many versions of Part 2 have been discarded just because I didn't like the direction they were going in.

Is it perfection?
Is it a lack of confidence?
Could it be self-sabotage?

Maybe it's a complex mix of all three. Regardless: Small wins. And Part 1 being done is just that. Also, Part 2 is at least 80% done. We're talking mid-January, and I promise absolutely nothing.

// This WHOLE PLACE!

Why don't we bring up the elephant in the room? This website, and the feed that broadcasts out of it. I was able to accomplish something that I've wanted to do for years, and do so in a way that I'm more than happy with.

For so long, concept after concept just didn't fit what I not only wanted this site to look like, but what I wanted it to feel like. And, yes: I did dabble in WordPress/Jekyll/etc. They either presented workflows that didn't gel with me, or couldn't do exactly what I wanted without extensive modification. I figured at that point, I might as well just make my own tiny CMS, which I did.

One day, I just began; and brick by brick, this place came alive. It does exactly what I want it to do, consistently and efficiently. So much so, that it led to the creation of another cool web design project...

// hVmark

Of course, we can't talk about web site wins without bringing up hVmark. This site's backend had scaled so perfectly, that when I had the idea to give the site some Markdown-adjacent functionality, getting something up and running was relatively straight-forward.

Also, yes: the idea for hVmark came after the site's creation. Making a custom markup was never part of the original plan, but after writing this Batman post, I realized I liked writing in a style that felt like I was scribbling in the margins. But, hard-coding HTML longform markup sucks. A lot. But, what if I didn't need to do that, while also not having to rely on external dependencies?

Thus, hVmark was born. Then, it evolved over time, being iterated on until I felt comfortable releasing the vanilla spec as FOSS.

What started as an experiment became a curiosity, which then became a useful tool. And I could not be happier with how this turned out.

"Yes, we get it: you're proud of yourself. You're turning into a broken record."
That's fair. I made some cool stuff and I'm happy. Though, it has admittedly overtaken a lot of the conversation on my end, and it is something I do have to work on heading into the new year.

But let's not get bogged down by all the easy wins. Let's get into the real thick of the thin.
The real shit in the gravy.
The real... meat... in the potatoes.

I'm bad at food puns.

// Going (And Staying) Dry

Eight months now. I can't say I haven't been tempted, but it gets easier the longer it goes on.

I'll just leave it at that for now.

// Gainful Employment

This was more of a late win. Throughout the year, consistent work was not easy to come by, so 2025 was full of isolated jobs and whatever I could make from the wonderful and lucrative gig economy. During peak, I got my foot in the door somewhere, and I'm hoping to slam it open.

...We really don't think about how violent that metaphor is, do we?

Yes, this was during peak. Peak means seasonal, and seasonal means temporary. I'm working hard to hopefully not be temporary. And, worst-case scenario, I opened up my network of references for the next opportunity that comes along.

// Heading Into 2026

Despite the bumps in the road, I'm feeling good about the upcoming year. I'm constantly moving forward, and when it feels like I'm not, I'm at the very least doing my best.

And I hope you're doing your best. Happy New Year, get home safely, don't drink and drive, and if you hook up with anyone tonight, the child you end up producing is more than likely going to be a Virgo.
And Virgos are awesome.

[ https://hisvirusness.com/new-year-old-me ]
[ - HisVirusness - ]

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If you're actually reading this on Christmas, odds are it's because you follow the feed. I don't have a large readerbase, but I see you guys. Thank you for sticking around. I hope I made you laugh, made you think and made you feel whatever's the complete opposite of the emotions felt while doom-scrolling. I hope the end of your year is pleasant, that your stomach is full, and that the murderous rage you feel towards Uncle Randy is at least manageable.

And don't you fret: 2026 will have even more barely thought-out unhinged nonsense from yours truly, so stay tuned for even more bullshit!

See you in the new year... unless the sun explodes. And if that's the case, then piece, bitches!

Happy Whatever-The-Fuck,
- Paul (hV)

[ https://hisvirusness.com/happie-hollandaise ]
[ - HisVirusness - ]

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Whenever I've heard it said, or if it was specifically aimed at me, it was always supposed to be taken as ridicule. "Man, no one wants to steal that cheap cellphone you got." Good. Especially since we live in Chicago, and theft is always a possibility.

I just don't see it as an insult. Granted, if someone tries to insult me by calling me broke, I'm unfazed because... well, that's just the truth. Someone not wanting my stuff because of its lack of monetary value? That’s security; that's a feature, not a bug.

If someone stole one of my laptops today, they’d get nothing. They wouldn't be able to log in, and if they took it to a pawn shop, the shop wouldn't even bother because it’s running Linux instead of Windows.

Now, if this theft were to happen, say... 12 years ago? It would be a different story.

Back in 2009, I stopped using Windows on my laptops. Windows 7 proved it wasn't fit for portable hardware (and even XP had its own shitty hiccups), which started my adoption of Linux. A used $50 netbook running Crunchbang ran a lot better than a brand-new netbook running Windows. Instead of wiping Windows entirely, I'd keep a small partition on disk with a solo user that wasn't password protected. And that partition would be laced with keyloggers and other goodies that could potentially feed me back information.

After all, it was my laptop.
I can do what I want.

While there's no record of me having a laptop stolen and then mysteriously getting back, I can tell you that if you did something similar (NOT SAYING THAT YOU SHOULD, but if...), you'd probably end up with enough intel that'd buy you a new machine.

In short, what I'm actually getting at is, cheap hardware is a flex. An even bigger flex is if the hardware was going to be e-waste. Especially if it outperforms over-marketed, over-priced, locked-down, planned-obsolesence trash. Taking something cheap and making it into something usable is way more impressive than paying too much for weak hardware.

[ https://hisvirusness.com/cheap-does-not-mean-bad ]
[ - HisVirusness - ]

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...That may not sound very scary to you, but to me it's terrifying.

// My Current Goals

In the short-to-long term, my current goals are not really complicated:

• Regain steady income.
• Build this site using custom tools and minimal external dependencies.
• Continue The Textbook Case.

Of those three goals, I've been able to accomplish one, and it’s come at the expense of one of the two I’m still failing at.

"Which of the goals is the one you've been succeeding in?"
Well, you're currently reading this from a fully-custom content management stack that has its own markup language; which goal do you think it is? It sure as shit isn't the job one.

// Trying To Pick Jobs From Jobbies

I hesitate to really consider this a goal, given it's the default: Looking for work, and trying to earn through gigs during peak hours to have at least something coming in. Losing my wheels made that prospect significantly harder, but not impossible, despite the dip in earning potential.

This is more geared toward creative output, which lies outside of formal professional aspirations. After all, we all need our coping mechanisms; we all need those things that even us out. I've got my creative pursuits, and I have this website.

There's not much of my life that I can control, but I have full control of this space, and I'm going to take as much advantage of that control as I'm technically able. Which, it turns out, is a lot.

// Chasing Perfection

In the 2004 film Collateral, Max (played by Jamie Foxx) is a taxi driver with big dreams of starting a limo company. Instead of taking at least a few baby steps toward that goal, he daydreams about the concept while going through the motions of his route, which he had been doing for the better part of a decade up to that point. In his own words, "It had to be perfect." Which means, it was never going to happen.

He's then forcefully roped into assisting in a targeted and highly coordinated killing spree, but that's beside the point.

It's a pattern I try very hard not to follow, despite being one that I've been guilty of repeatedly following. Working on this site has actually helped me break that pattern, but the results have still been less than perfect.

When it comes to building the general framework here, along with cataloging a portion of my past output that's been spread all across the internet, I think I've succeeded. Of course, it's an ongoing project, but it's one that has a strong foundation. Decades of half-starts, non-starts and trial-and-error have led this project to where it is today.

This was something that I felt was true months ago. However, despite that, more upgrades were developed. More efficiencies were deployed. More projects were started and completed, like the hVmark table of contents generator (let alone hVmark itself). And this has all been at the expense of The Textbook Case.

// Hardening The Frame Of An Incomplete Picture

If you've followed my /now page for any length of time, you'll notice one constant: It always says I've been working on part 2 of The Textbook Case. And while it's not wrong, it's also not fully accurate.

After all, you're currently reading evidence of the contrary. I've written a lot of other things, and... well, created a markup language since publishing part 1. At this point in time, part 2 is half-written, and that's after drafts that I've completely deleted after not liking the direction they were taking. I still have the outline, so I would walk away for a bit to cool off, work on some other projects and figure I'd try again later.

It's emblematic of another problem I have: I sometimes nuke projects that I'm currently not happy with, regardless of how far along they are. I've mentioned before that I had a hard time getting this site off the ground, and that was a big reason why. It's something I've had to work on, and while I've been making headway, I'm still human (probably); I'm not perfect (as hard as that is to admit).

The Textbook Case is the kind of story I've been wanting to tell for years, but because of that, I get all in my head about it. Doubt, fear of inadequacy, lack of confidence; it has to be perfect. Everything has to be perfect.

// Back-Breaking Straws

Thing is, we're getting to a point where that excuse is no longer applicable. As far as publishing conditions go, everything is perfect. The story itself based on its outline is actually really good (and I say this without any bias whatsoever); any flaws in execution are part of the art. It's never going to be materially perfect because nothing is perfect.

It's go-time. It's time to do. It's gonna be great, and regardless of quality, getting it done means the next one will be even better.

// Takeaway

"Instead of actually working on your story, you just chastised yourself for not working on your story."
Well, first off, thank you for still reading; stay tuned for more bullshit. Secondly, ...I did, yes. I felt the urge to put thoughts down, but didn't have enough energy to work on the story.

However, it's at least something. Baby steps are better than no steps at all. Lateral movement is better than no movement at all. Just... doing something, anything, so long as it is going toward your goals. Will it produce results? No idea. But, at least it'll add to the pressure; if I have to bully myself to finish this story, so be it.

I already said the thing, so... bye.

[ https://hisvirusness.com/finding-the-time ]
[ - HisVirusness - ]

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