Shareables n. 1

I don’t have as much time as I’d like to work on posts for my website. I have finals coming up for my Junior Spring semester, I work part-time, and also have a social life. However, I like showing things to my family and friends, and hope to do much more with my website once I learn more web development skills. For now, I am doing this thing I’m calling “shareables,” where I just make a short post of things I’ve been thinking/learning about (especially articles that appear in my RSS feed). Here is this week’s.

Shares

- Another Periodic Suggestion to Try, Just Try, Switching to Kagi for Search by Daring Fireball and the related Why I abandoned Google search after 27 years — and what I’m using instead from The Boston Globe (link is unpaywalled using Archive Today).

I had been struggling with search engines for a while. I mean, it’s not the most important thing in my life to worry about, but I switched from using Google several years ago to using DuckDuckGo and thought most of my problems were solved. It wasn’t as good as Google, and I still used Google for school specifically because of this, but it was more private and not littered with sponsored material. Then, it did start having sponsored material, didn’t get much better, and I started feeling like everything on the internet was getting worse and worse. I felt like I couldn’t look up “How to tie a tie” without 10 articles starting with some BS like “What is a tie? A tie is a form of clothing that is commonly worn when…” and then not really telling you much at all. Of course, all for the purpose of you viewing their ads.

I have use an adblocker on every device so I haven’t really seen that many ads on websites for years either. But it’s grotesque how hard they’re pushed to everyone that we all need a browser extension of some kind to be rid of them (and then Chrome removed support for adblockers). I guess all this to say that when I heard about Kagi, it was really eye-opening and a breath of fresh air. It wasn’t a gradual transition, either. As soon as I started using it, it was a full-on replacement. I use it on every device I own now. Amazing filtering capabilities, no sponsored material, actually relevant results that show me what I want every time, the AI summary is opt-in for every search instead of the first loaded result, the ability to quickly summarize any website, quickly see how ad-heavy certain websites are and even block or limit them from future searches, etc. That’s a whole post in itself, so check it out.

Run as a public benefit corporation and charging a subscription fee instead of relying on advertising, Kagi’s incentives hopefully will remain pure. If not, I’ll be searching for a new search site once again.

- I switched to Linux Mint as my main desktop operating system.

I tried switching to Linux in general a few years ago. Things were just more difficult to adjust to back then. Everything imaginable primarily supports Windows, and Linux is still not really a plug-and-play system for most people. I’m also a gamer, and Linux was not compatible with most games until recently. However, I was tired of doing coding and development on Windows 10 inside of a Linux virtual machine, and I decided I would rather sell my left arm than switch to Windows 11 once security updates stopped for Windows 10, so I dual-booted Linux Mint alongside it. I thought I might get tired of it and forget it was on there, but I pretty much immediately got sucked into customizing and tinkering with it. I found a suitable replacement for every app I was initially worried about, or mostly it just had that app already compatible, and I can actually game on Linux now.

If you’re not aware, Valve has done a huge service to Linux gaming with the release of the Steam Deck (which I own and love). They made most games compatible with Linux through Proton. Proton is a compatibility layer developed by Valve that enables Windows games to run on Linux through Steam. It is built on top of Wine (Wine Is Not an Emulator), incorporating additional technologies like DXVK (DirectX to Vulkan) and vkd3d (DirectX 12 to Vulkan) to translate Windows graphics APIs into ones compatible with Linux. What that means now is that I can play The Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion: Remastered on my computer running Linux. I can also use the aforementioned Wine to run most Windows programs if I want. Proton’s impact is so substantial that it has redefined Linux’s role in the PC gaming landscape, turning it from a niche into a serious alternative to Windows.

Did it take some tinkering to get what I wanted? Yes, but I have grown substantially in technical knowledge since I last tried to make this switch. Now I have everything I want and more. If you’re curious, Linux Mint is one of the most beginner-friendly introductions to using Linux for someone from other operating systems, and can be installed alongside Windows if you don’t want to take the whole plunge. You can even install icon and cursor packs to make the system look like Windows or macOS if you prefer those styles.

My desktop

My file explorer

- Tariff impact on my tea consumption.

Unfortunately, the recent insane tariffs have impacted how much tea I can buy and therefore consume lately. Therefore, I have been rationing my tea and will be posting less reviews on ones I try. When I visit West China Tea House in Austin again, I hope to at least write some reviews from what I have there. I am thinking of looking into more Indian teas, considering the strong tea production there, but it’s not exactly my favortite as Chinese teas still.

- Upcoming trips this summer?

I am planning some trips this summer if I don’t land any internships. One to Massachussetts to visit my boyfriend’s family in Cape Cod, and maybe one to Ireland again. We enjoyed the Ireland trip so much that we just really want to go again, especially since we didn’t do as much as we wanted to with the short amount of time we had.

- Adding Bluesky accounts to my RSS feed.

I recently added a couple of my close friends’ Bluesky accounts to my feed so that I can see their posts without actually using the app. So far it has worked great, so if anyone reading this would like me to keep up with their life on Bluesky, Mastodon, or even Instagram if your account is public, shoot me a message/email with your details.