First post: generation & tech stack

I haven’t used generation to mean anything other than what a large language model produces, in recent memory. Sure, it is more accurate to say that an LLM will generate artifacts, but what is an artifact that is only ever generated? I propose a new definition to be added to Merriam-Webster to define such artifacts.

Generation, n. A product or artifact made by a machine, or the act of making one.

Generation isn’t a new idea, but one whose form has evolved rather significantly in the last few years. It is a shapeshifter destined to serve as a utility, but lacking the determinism a tool demands. And demand it should. Today’s wage earner is issued a tool belt hung with probabilistic-drivers and non-deterministic tapes.

This post has less to do with artificial intelligence than I’m letting on. I bring up gadgets, gizmos, and generated artifacts because they appear to be the generations defining our era.

“My grandfather built gizmos for fifty years,” you say.

And to that, my response is that I’m using my own, scarcely adopted definition of generation.

With so much generation happening, I feel the need to spend time crafting my voice, and exploring ideas in a way that challenges my ability to articulate thoughts, feelings, and concepts on a public stage. I need to spend time creating as a counterbalance to the time spent reading generated text and code.

My goal today is pretty simple, and hardly requires more than Markdown and a web server: set up a blog, and write my first post. I tend to procrastinate by exploring the little details in each of my technical decisions. There was a decent chance I’d churn while exploring decisions about using a CMS, image hosting, web server hosting, and other inconsequential details; finally quitting in exhaustion without having made progress toward my goal of challenging myself to write in a public setting. Instead, I used the Astro framework, Pagefind (to support searching posts), Buttondown (to support my non-existent newsletter), and Netlify to host the damn thing.

I selected Source Serif 4 as my text font, and JetBrains Mono as my code font. While searching for fonts I stumbled on Charter and have felt its gravitational pull. I will probably find a way to self-host it so that I can use it in this blog. Finding the perfect font is like searching through a haystack of needles. As a non-expert, I navigated by feel rather than evaluating a font’s technical specifications. The easiest font to read is not necessarily the most enjoyable.

Because I’m writing everything in Markdown, I’m using VSCode with Zen Mode on, to cut the clutter. I’m using the Zenbones theme, and Dank Mono for now. I’ll probably change things around as I figure out how to enable a quiet, distraction-free environment for writing.

I intend to blog about my personal projects, ideas, and opinions. Although I don’t have much to say yet, once I publish this first post the next won’t be far behind. There are already a couple of ideas I’m keen to explore: agentic tooling, font & typography, and lemon pistachio bars are presently top-of-mind.

For now, I’m glad to have this dreadful first post out of the way.