Episode: 2587
Title: HPR2587: Cleaning out your Digital Gutters
Source: https://hub.hackerpublicradio.org/ccdn.php?filename=/eps/hpr2587/hpr2587.mp3
Transcribed: 2025-10-19 06:14:00

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This is HPR Episode 2587 entitled Cleaning Out Your Digital Dutton.
It is hosted by ITWI's and in about 25 minutes long, and can remain an explicit flag.
The summary is, ITWI's talks about being a geek and his quest to curate the library on his mind.
This episode of HPR is brought to you by an honesthost.com.
Get 15% discount on all shared hosting with the offer code HPR15. That's HPR15.
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Hello there, Hacker Public Radio. This is Knightwise from the Knightwise.com podcast,
checking in for another episode. So before we start, I want to say thank you for the feedback
that I got on the previous episode where people said they enjoyed so much that I was doing
the podcast, talking about tech while painting the house. Well, meanwhile, since then, we have moved,
we have taken, we have moved into the house, and thus comes the work of having to maintain such
a house. And one of the things I'm doing today is I'm cleaning out the gutters from the
small building that is in the garden, which are full of leaves. So you'll, as I go along, continue
to hear me rattling up and down my ladder as I reach up into those roof gutters and pull out,
I think, about a year or three worth of dead leaves because I started to notice that my gutter
was actually becoming a flower bed. Things are starting to grow out of it. So I thought, you know,
I might just, there's enough dead leaves and crap in here to sprout life, which is basically not
what this is supposed to be about, but so I'll clean it up. So you'll hear me picking up the leaves
and dropping them on the floor. So what I wanted to talk about today is something that's been on my
mind a little bit, is that I didn't have a lot of time to nerd out anymore to geek out to work on
stuff and do stuff. And I thought that, you know, it's been something that's been really on my mind
having a lot of, had had a lot of time to listen to podcasts. I hadn't had a lot of time to
reach some interesting blogs. And, you know, a couple of days ago, I caught myself aimlessly just
going through nine gag, looking at stupid pictures. And a little later, actually checking out the
Instagram feed of a celebrity, when it suddenly struck me, my, oh my god, I'm becoming a norm,
I'm becoming, you know, one of those non-nerdy people who consume media content and don't know
anything about tech or any, don't know anything about the fringe culture that it's, you know,
that is involved with being a geek. And, you know, I've been doing tonightwise.com
blog for over 10 years now. And the podcast, although it's been yelling lately, and I thought like,
hey, you know, I used to be a nerd. I used to be a geek. What happened? So I kind of, you know,
put an intervention on myself. I said, okay, this has got to stop your, you're basically consuming
normal content. You're actually looking at the local website of the newspaper and you're watching,
you know, we don't have any cable TV, so I'm not watching drudgery like that. But, you know,
all the fringe stuff that I used to watch and that I used to consume and that used to interest me,
I just didn't get around to it anymore. And instead, I was, you know, watching crap like,
like nine gag. So I thought this has to stop. This has to stop now. So I did a little intervention
on myself where I said, okay, it's time to geek out again. So over the last couple of days,
weeks, I've been actively trying to get my geek back on and also thinking about what it's like
to be a geek, to be a nerd. Nerd always has a negative ring to it, but I don't think it has to.
One of the things that I love about being a geek or being a nerd depends on what you want to
call the definitions is that you're into fringe things, you're into niche things, you're into
things that nobody actually knows anything about. And I've always, always liked to do that. I
always loved, you know, reading books that nobody knew about. I always enjoyed not knowing anything
about mainstream stuff. Like, for example, the World Cup is going on right now. I have no idea.
I have no idea when, if we are playing, apparently we are. And Belgian, by the way,
when we are playing, I have no idea. And who we are playing, I have no idea. And what the outcome
of that is. I mean, well, my neighbor has painted his garage door in the national colors. So
and he goes, he's very enthusiastic about it. And he talks to me about it. And I go like, I have no
idea. And I enjoy that. You know, I talked to him. I said, like, I was on YouTube last night.
Watch a documentary about, you know, how robots are cleaning up the nuclear reactor in Swooshima.
He looks at me and goes like, what? And that's something I didn't have a lot of time for.
lately. So, consuming content as a nerd or as a geek is about finding these niche things
that nobody knows about and enjoying them, or not hoarding them, sharing them to the great,
baffling norms by telling them about it. But, you know, it's fun. It's fun to be reading something
that people say, what? And to choose something that really interests you. Not something mainstream
or something that media says or corporations say that you have to do. You know, just something
that, you know, you found online. And this can be anything. This can be a strange documentary
or a YouTuber doing a video on God knows what or finding a 60s or 50s sci-fi flick.
Sorry, kid next door is having an annual, it's having an hysteria attack.
And that's something I've always, I've always enjoyed, enjoyed doing. So, why stop?
So, lately, I've been kind of focusing again on, you know, what am I going to consume. I remember
lots of years, quite a few years ago, I did an episode which was probably without bragging one of
the best podcast episodes I've ever did, which was called curating the library of your mind.
Where I talked about the art of shaping the information streams around you into something
that has the highest possible value, making sure that the library of your mind is well curated
and not, you know, stuffed with crap like the latest episode of Big Brother or some trivial
video of an episode of America's Got Talent, you know, mainstream crap. Sorry,
doing crazy things with the latter here. This is going to be challenging.
So, yeah, so I've been thinking about that quite a bit and been looking at the media that I
consumed. So, I took a couple of steps that kind of, you know, I listened back to that old podcast
and reminding myself of a few tips that I gave myself. For example, instead of, you know, having
you know, having a standard stock page on my browser, I now launch my web-based RSS leader.
I use an app, a web service called InnoReader that allows you to,
that allows you to, you know, read your RSS feeds online. So, instead of, you know, just
aimlessly browsing around on the net, you know, while you're on holes on a phone call or
you don't have anything to do, I now actually play it differently. I, you know, go forth and
click through the RSS feed because those are, sorry, information feeds that I've curated.
And now I only, you know, instead of surfing around aimlessly and consuming the content that,
I don't know, the local newspaper thinks that I should watch. I do something different. I just
watch, you know, I read the streams that I've selected beforehand. And,
if you're a Lord now banned, it's me falling down. My ladder here. No, so I'm deciding what I want to
watch and what I want to consume. And so I look at the RSS feeds that interest me when I want to.
And a lot of it is going in there. One of the things that I found out is, of course, YouTube is,
is a fantastic source of content. I absolutely love it. But the algorithm in YouTube tends to,
you know, distracts you a lot. It also helps you discover new things. But it also is very,
very distracting because, you know, you're watching one video and in the sidebar, there's already
this next video that says, hey, you should watch this. And before you know it, you never finish
a video. So what I did, I've done, is I've taken all the, Jesus Christ, this place is packed with
leaves. I've taken all of my YouTube subscriptions. And I've put them into this RSS regar.
So I now watch, you know, YouTube from my RSS regar. And it has a nice clean interface,
it strips out all the ads and all the extra distractions. You can put it in dark mode, by the way.
And that really works. That really works very well, by the way. And I just watched the videos
that I'm subscribed to. And I don't, if I don't want to, get all of the suggestions and
the sidebar like, watch this, watch this, watch this. And that really helps. And audio wise,
I've started putting my podcasts in there as well. Because having all my podcasts on my phone,
that's fun. It's nice. But, you know, they tend to go up to quite a bit. And then you have this
backlog of shows you still got to watch. And I only keep the last three episodes on my phone,
because I don't want to run out of storage. So instead of doing that, I've also put my OPML,
I've exported my OPML feed. And sorry about the rattling noise. This is my microphone
hitting my sleeve. Hold on, fix it. My hands are full of dead leave gunk. So,
all right. So instead of keeping everything on my phone, I put all of those fees into my RSS
reader as well. Because that really helps me in, that really helps me when it comes down to
selecting, you know, a show from the backlog that interests me without having to, you know,
download it and stuff like that. So that also works. And those are just, you know, the ways I call my
content. One of the things that I've also found to be very good against, you know, when you're on
your phone, at least I'm prone to that, that you, you know, start browsing around and, you know,
Instagram and Facebook and stuff like that. Which is this, I know, a good friend of the show,
Katie Murray calls them, empty calories of the internet, where you can spend hours on them,
but not really learn anything. And I've found that to be very sad. I went like, so you don't always
have the time to delve into something. So what I've done is, what I do is I have
pocket, which is this great app that allows you to bookmark articles, it stores them offline,
and you can read them on your tablets and on your phone or on your PC later, which is a really
great app, by the way. And I've got that as the first icon on my home screen, boom, pocket.
There it is. So whenever I'm in a dead moment and I pull out my phone because I'm bored,
I go like, oh yeah, there might be an article on pocket here. And pocket might not be enough.
You notice that the article might be too long. You go like, I can't, I can't watch this right now.
So I put Reddit on there, which automatically shows the subreddits I'm interested in.
Which is something easy to scroll through without having to resort to mainstream content
curated by somebody else. And then I have my Kindle app on there. I have a Kindle voyage,
which I really like. And whatever book I'm reading on there, I can just open up my phone
and start reading where I left off because of the fact that I've seen the pages.
And that also really helps. So yeah, I've been kind of working on getting away from mainstream
curated content and getting my geek back on. But it's very hard. I mean, these algorithms
like for Facebook and for, I don't know, nine gag, maybe not so much, but even so. Those are curated.
Towards, you know, popularity, they are really built to to sink in your attention and your time.
And before you know it, you get sucked in for hours on end. And that's why I've really actively
deleted the Facebook app and the, and the Instagram app off my phone because, man, it just sucks you
in for hours and hours on end. And it's content that I'm not choosing. I mean, yeah, I can choose
my friends on Facebook, but gone were the days that Facebook shows you actually what your friends
are doing. They just show you what you think you should be watching. And for all effects and
purposes, you're being programmed. I mean, I'm not paranoid. If there is an application that feeds
certain information into a system in order to get a designated result, well, that is called
programming. And I think that we are being programmed by the algorithms. And if these algorithms are
hoarded by people, fine. But at some points, we don't know what the algorithms are doing anymore.
And we're programming society. And we don't even know what the outcome will be. It will just be
more of the same, you know, people who fear, who fear, I don't know, immigrants. They like posts about
immigrants doing bad things because they fear it. And then Facebook shows them more posts about
immigrants doing bad things and they fear it even more. And even more. And then they start hating
them. And then, you know, it's 1939 all over again. I'm not being paranoid. I can see this
actually happening. And social media is dangerous in that effect. So it's YouTube. I mean, all those
algorithms are pretty tricky. They want to show you more of what they think you like. And you end up
in this tunneled echo chamber where you only see one side of the story because the algorithm knows
that that's the part of the story you like. And you never, you know, you never get to talk to the
other guy, which is, it's just sad. But hey, so back to the fringes. Back to a part where
where there are no algorithms or you have to find out your own geeky stuff and niches and corners.
So, yeah. As I was saying, pockets on my phone, I've got my RSS reader on my phone. Those
were feeds that I curated myself. Those weren't curated by algorithm or anything like that.
Jesus, there's a lot of gun coming out of these gutters. I haven't been cleaning years.
And, you know, back to some of the geeky things I'm working on and listening to.
And one of these things, excuse me, as I'm putting the wires on my headphones in a different
orientation. So, you don't get the wrestle of my clothes all the time. In one of those
regards, I'm kind of working on, I'm also selecting what I want to read, not only in pocket,
but also, you know, the books that I read. So, one of the things that I've been watching lately,
that I've been reading lately, is seven eaves by Neil Stevenson. I don't really like
Neil Stevenson's books. I tried a few. And then I started reading seven eaves, which is about the
fact that what happens when, you know, a couple of years from now with the technology we have at
the moment. Earth goes boom. We have to go into space and find a way to survive. Well, that's
exactly what happens. Earth goes boom in the form of the moon exploding. And they have to
vacate the earth and try to survive as a human species. The book is from a novel. It's brilliant,
of course, but give it to the layman. And he'll go like, wait, wait, what, this is what? This is
orbital mechanics now? Yes, there's a fair share of orbital mechanics and physics and biology
and even metallurgy and nuclear power in there. And it's a really geeky book. And this is the,
you know, it really reminds me of this is the fringe that I love. You know, that moment when people
ask you, what are you reading? And you try to explain. And he'll look at you like from another
planet. Well, that's that's something that actually enjoy a lot. So yeah, as for watching,
I have the command line app on my Linux machine and on some others as well called MPS,
called YouTube DL, YouTube Downloader. And I try to curate some videos that I download for
offline use and watch them later. And I do this because sometimes I'm on the train and my coverage
isn't really good. So streaming everything from YouTube directly doesn't always work. And sometimes,
I know I get my sources somewhere else. And I want to have them with me offline. So I work on that.
And it's a, it's a lot of fun. I am currently watching Jason Scott's five-part documentary on
on BBS's, which is, you know, the, the, for you youngsters. And even I didn't see this. This was
even before my time. But the dawn of, you know, what happened before the internet? We used to have
guys with a computer and a modem in their basement and going on the internet, which didn't exist at
that point, meant, you know, going towards these guys, you know, dialing into this machine. And,
and watching and, you know, checking out what's on there, a really decentralized internet,
which is, you know, with the current trends of oversight and throttling and scoping and sculpting,
controlling very interesting concept to think about again. And so I'm watching that for the moment.
This is very interesting. And that's also one of those niche things. I've kind of gotten into
retro computing, which also interests me a lot. And into videos about how to do streaming, because
I want to do some video streaming again. And in all kind of drifting away more and more,
from those mainstream algorithm driven content rabbit holes like Facebook and Instagram. And what
have you? Because as a geek, over the last, I don't know, 15 years when I started listening to
podcasts, my life has changed. I got more knowledge because I was learning new things every day,
while I was in the car on the way to work. For two, three hours a day, I would be listening to
to content, to people talking about computer security and networks and new things that were
happening in the technology today. And this really got me a leg up towards my co-workers who had
been watching, I don't know, the latest episode of Big Brother the night before. And it actually
actively helped my career. So staying away from those content sinkholes that are only there to
to entertain and make you docile. And instead going for something that where you can really learn
something with this is not only something that I want to do, but it's also something I have to do
because I have to stay on top of things. And you should think about this, because I'm closing off
and I'm throwing out the gunk because it makes great fertilizer. And
ah, watching my backyard, fertilizer is the last thing we need because this place is packed with
small trees. Every single nut and berry that hits the ground here turns into a fricking tree.
Most of the mini forest. No, as a geek, what you should think about is, you know,
what's it with you? You are connected to the world's greatest information network.
You have the ability to watch a lecture on a certain topic given on a university in
the other side of the world. All of that you can do with a connection that doesn't cost you a dime
or nearly and with a flat battery tower device that you have in your pocket. This will give you
access to communicate with anyone in the world and access any public knowledge that until 30 years
ago, a little bit more, would be unattainable. If you didn't go to Harvard, you never knew what a
Harvard lecture sounded like, unless somebody decided to put it on mainstream TV, but now you just,
go online and watch one. So, you have the power to learn. You have the power to
look out information, find out information that is new and that's until lately was unknown to you.
What are you going to do with that power? Are you going to watch cat videos? Celebrity,
Instagram feeds that are, you know, filled with promotional content and fake advertisements or
are you going to do something else? Are you going to geek out? I'm very curious to your responses
and I'm looking forward to the comments on this episode. My gut is clear. My mind is clear as well.
So, it's ready for, well, yeah, cleaning out my gutters has been a metaphor for this podcast. I've
removed the gunk, removed the Instagram and the Facebook and the nine gag and the
dreary, the empty calories of the internet and my pathways are clear to process new information.
So, what gunk can you clean out and how are you going to maintain your digital gutters?
This has been Nightwise. See you guys.
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