My surname is “Stavrou” (Stávrou, Σταύρου). It is the genitive case of the given name “Stavros” (Stávros, Σταύρος), which is related to the Greek word for “cross” (σταυρός). As is the norm among Greeks, this is the family name on my father’s side.

Stavros (or variants) is a common name mostly among males but also for females (Stavri, Stavriani, Stavroula). By contrast, Protesilaos is an extremely rare name of ancient origin. I do not know anyone who has it.

Because of the rarity or maybe uniqueness of my name, I never needed any qualifiers to specify who I am. People call me “Protesilaos” or one of its shortened variants (Protos, Proto, Prote, Prot). This also happens in places where others would normally be addressed by their surname. For example, public servants or bank clerks will spontaneously default to “Mr. Protesilaos” (κύριε Πρωτεσίλαε).

“Protos” means “first” while “laos” or “las” means “the people”. Several Greek names have laos/las as a constituent: Agisilaos, Charilaos, Menelaos, Nikolaos. “Protesilaos” is a posthumous title bestowed upon the legendary hero of the Trojan War Iolaos (again, “laos”), perhaps (i) to immortalise his initiative as the first among his people to proceed through self-sacrifice and also (ii) to exalt the belief in the primacy of the common good over personal gain.

I am no hero of legend. Mine is but an uneventful mountain life. I do nonetheless have a strong sense of contributing to the commons however I can. Everything I have published, for instance, is available for free and in freedom. These are my deeds, not my claims.

I am on good terms with everyone in my family. Though I do not feel any sense of belonging to them. We talk from time to time, have fun, and that is all. I otherwise know very little about their everyday affairs. Their actions do not define me.

I have been away from my homeland for two decades and do not show any particular interest in my Greek nationality. Even my accent in English does not sound like that of the average person from Greece. In Cyprus, where I have been living for many years already, I am not truly a local but not a real foreigner either. I have friendly relationships with everyone around me though, again, I am not connected to them in any special way.

I am not religious, meaning that I do not partake in the single most important expression of religiosity: communal events. This will not change, as I feel no attraction to religion. Not even towards the ethnic Greek religion which I like aesthetically and which I recognise as the closest to my way of living.

I do not participate in the commons in some other capacity, such as through politics. I am an outsider and do not have the enthusiasm to get involved. Sport would have been the exception, as I remain at the peak of my fitness, but there are no sporting events in my region: it is a sparsely populated area.

Omitting the surname is a recognition of my lived experience. There is no “my people” and no legacy to pass on. I just mind my business in this patch of earth. The rarity of my name turns out to be the rarity of my person or, perhaps, the rarity of my situation.

This is because of the prevailing economic conditions, which I suspect make it harder for prospective students to justify the old rate of 20 EUR per hour (was 15 EUR for college students).

I will inform current students who may not read this about the lowered price point.

I thank all those who have taken up my coaching offer. Take care!

The patience and attentiveness I have shown thus far underpins the overall hut project. I have been improving it little-by-little. The longer-term goal is to have a house that is suitable for the average person: that may cover other people but, most likely, it is just about my future self.

As of this writing, I am not average in terms of resilience: I can live under a rock and have endured some extremely uncomfortable situations. This may not be a good thing because of how it conditions me to tolerate sustained discomfort without saying anything about it (i.e. “be vulnerable”), but is who I am and have proven that I get results.

Heating

At around 07:00 this morning the temperature indoors was 6 degrees Celsius. There is snow at the highest peaks, but nothing out of the ordinary. At noon it rises up to 15 degrees Celsius, thanks to the direct sunlight. I always dress well and do physical activities (long walks and/or manual labour) that help me keep my core temperature high. But the house has to be viable even in the scenario where I am not at my best (e.g. if I suffer an injury) or have to host another person (like an elderly relative). I thus want to bring the room temperature to around 20 degrees Celsius.

I looked around for heating units. Anything that needs to generate a lot of heat is energy-intensive. I do not like that because it will fail me when I need it the most, i.e. on a dark and extra cold day like those we had the past week.

The most viable option seems to be an air conditioning unit. The prices are comparable, so the criterion is the electricity profile. Air conditioning seems to be less energy-intensive, though I have to confirm that. I also need to determine what exactly do I need to install one, as I have not done it before (I will do all the work myself, of course, otherwise the price doubles or triples to prohibitive levels).

Realistically, I can have this project done for the winter of 2028 or beyond. It depends on my income.

Insulation

This is a multi-stage project to improve the building’s resilience to cold, heat, and water. I have already done the water-proofing of the roof. There still are two corners at the base of the house that leak a tiny bit of water on intensely rainy days. I will fix those in the coming spring or summer at the latest.

Resistance to heat is subject to the walnut trees I have strategically planted around the house. They need about three to five more years of growth before they can cast their shadow on my rooms. That aside, I planned the house at the outset (of course I did the architecture myself) to have windows on all opposite ends in order to optimise air circulation (the other optimisation is maximum exposure to direct sunlight based on the position of the sun at the winter solstice). It gets warm here at the peak of summer, but it is manageable. With the trees it will be comfortable.

I can reinforce all the walls with an extra layer of material. I am thinking of adding it to the exterior, because this gives me maximum flexibility from a construction point of view: the interior is not uniform due to the metallic skeleton that holds everything together, plus there are cables for the electricity and the power outlets.

Industrial products now include patterns such as faux brick, so that might be a little extra touch to consider, though my priority is the function it will perform. A generic grey gets the job done just as well, but if the cost is the same then I will think about what I like more.

Insulation is the single best upgrade I can make to my house from now on. Depending on what I can achieve, it might even eliminate the need for a heating solution altogether.

Assuming all goes well, I can place an order for the materials before the end of 2026 and start construction work in the spring/summer of 2027.

Floor work

The floor needs to be improved. Right now it is the concrete I had initially built. This works but (i) it is cold and (ii) get dusty. The goal is to apply an extra layer of material on top. I am prepared to do tiling work, though all the tiles I found on the local market are expensive. Perhaps there is some kind of mineral that is relatively cheap. I do not need it to be fancy, just to seal off the concrete below once I combine it with cement. I may also want to apply an extra layer of synthetic material above it, such as some laminated surfaces that caught my attention, but I need to sort out the basis first.

The floor work is still indeterminate. I must find the most viable option for me and then plan accordingly. So probably during the summer of 2028 or later.

Home appliances

I will eventually need all the common home appliances. The immediate priority is a fridge and then a washing machine: spring or summer 2026. Then I can think about “nice extras”, such as a dishwasher. Though those will be done after all of the aforementioned.

Stability and consistency

Things are looking good. There still is a lot to be done. I continue with the same intensity. Up until this point, my focus was on the absolute essentials. Namely, to have a roof over my head, to guarantee that it is safe, and to make it have electricity all day (off-grid solar panels with a battery). I thus cleared the land, built the house, installed the solar panels, created the electricity cabin that houses the inverter, battery, and combiner box, and did the flood-control infrastructure by the stream. Plus all the labour on my land to plant trees and herbs, improve resistance to soil erosion, do stairways, and many more. I am confident in my ability to finalise this project. It is a matter of having favourable circumstances, which I try to affect as best I can.

I installed the battery by myself by reading the manual and paying close attention to the wiring that was already in place. My electrician friend had already done the hard work of setting up the solar panels, the inverter, the combiner box, and the connection to the house. My job was to simply replace the old short cables with longer ones and attach them to the poles of the new battery; a task that I did diligently. Then I read the inverter’s manual on how to switch to the new battery type and here I am!

I have been playing the long game with the hut project. I knew from day one that the original batteries I had were not powerful enough to cover my needs throughout the darker months (shorter days and more cloudy skies are the norm from roughly early October to late February). But it was the best option I had at the time, given my budget. The previous arrangement effectively gave me two years of “okay” uptime during which I was able to save the money I needed for investing in this new battery.

The past year was especially difficult for me because my old batteries were deteriorating and losing their effectiveness by the day. They stopped working completely in mid-November 2025. There were days where I did not have any electricity and others where I would only get a maximum of four hours on the computer. I was thus unable to handle my email correspondence the way I like to. There have been messages I completely missed and meetings I could not arrange.

The new battery is a major upgrade for my house. I will have electricity all day, which gives me the luxury to commit all the time I want to my computer-related projects.

This experience has taught me how to live within my means energy-wise. It has also made me more patient about a subset of my wants. I am more resilient as a result.

I started the hut project in Spring 2023 with a 5-year plan: to begin with something modest—and admittedly inconvenient in many ways—and continuously refine it until it is a beautiful rural house that lives up to the average standard. I am on track to do this and am happy that my efforts are having the desired impact.

Like the turtle, I proceed one step at a time. Slow, steady, and with unwavering determination.

In this 1-hour video I show one of my usual hikes with my four dogs. I first talk about the surgery Atlas had and then start commenting on my surroundings. This eventually turns into a philosophical commentary on the importance of putting things in perspective. I discuss fear, beauty, and the ease with which we can conduct ourselves once something has been embedded as second nature. Throughout the video I also make asides, such as to describe the vegetation around me and remark on what my dogs are doing.

I had originally committed to run the series until the end of the year. Here is the article with the announcement of the project and the first selfie embedded therein: https://protesilaos.com/news/2025-09-15-selfie-project/.

I knew that the cumulative file size could be an issue, but I had not actually checked how big the jpg files are. It turns out they are large. To not make my website any heavier than it needs to be and to minimise longer-term constraints with hosting arrangements, I am hereby concluding the selfies project.

It was a fun experiment. I might still post the occasional photo, revealing or not, but not daily anymore (yes, I did censor a few).

What I learnt about myself:

1. I kept the streak, despite the abrupt ending. I am good at doing what I set my mind to, but it was still a challenge to make this happen, given that I had to force myself to get used to the whole selfie thing.
2. I still do not care about pictures of people. Not me, not others. And this is despite the fact I had several chances to take such shots. Whereas I enjoy capturing moments of my dogs, eagles flying above me, crows looking into my room, foxes in close proximity (I even have a video where I walk close behind a fox without it noticing me for a while), hedgehogs running around, picturesque mountainscapes throughout the year, flowers of all sorts, and generally all the beauty around me. Not the human element though: it remains distant.
3. Originally the selfies were visible from my website’s home page as well as the catch-all RSS/Atom feed. I removed them after a few days on the premise that they would crowd out my other publications. I think this is factually true, but I will not rule out the possibility that it was also a convenient excuse to relegate the selfies to obscurity where really only I would see them.
4. Fact or rationalisation, I think what matters is that I still prefer to be known for my deeds. I have so much to do on the creative front: essays, poems, and videos. I wish to be useful to—and even connect with—like-minded people. Pictures of me do nothing in this regard.

A while back I noticed that I did not have a single selfie in my phone’s camera roll: https://protesilaos.com/commentary/2025-05-16-not-one-selfie/. In fact, there is no human element in the countless photos I have taken. All one finds there is snapshots of my dogs and the surrounding environment. Perhaps I have hitherto only identified beauty in the animals and landscapes. It may be because it is easier for me to discern the universal in the particulars of their presence. With people I tend to think more in terms of the given arrangement, the place and the interpersonal dynamics at play.

I plan to change this. I want to appreciate myself and others in a different way. This can only start from within. There are no selfies because, fundamentally, I do not like something about them. “What” exactly I cannot tell. It does not matter, anyway. I shall condition myself to pay attention to what the camera is telling me. This is the time of acceptance; of committing to a course of action that cannot be undone. Hence the publicity of it: to have an external accountability structure, to empower others to call me out in the scenario where I renege on my promise.

Behold me outside my hut (click to enlarge):

The plan is to take a selfie each day and put it online. From today until the end of 2025. I do not know yet if I can host a lot of high resolution pictures on my website—I must review the terms of my service provider… If I cannot keep them directly on protesilaos.com, then I shall create some social media account for this purpose (I am unaware of the options as of now). I admit that I am not enthusiastic about social media, but it is a sacrifice I am willing to make for the greater good of appreciating people in this new light.

And, in case it is not obvious, I might draw inspiration from the Greek gods—my gods—when thinking about the next theme of the selfie.

peacock-mode enabled!

Also watch “Two new puppies at the hut (Meelon and Oreeon)”: https://protesilaos.com/news/2025-07-02-vlog-two-new-puppies-hut/.

The authorities are working hard to abate the flames. Two specialised planes are now flying over my place. There still is a fire raging within ~25 minutes of walking speed from here. The air smells of ash even where there are no fires.

The calamity is ongoing. News reports inform us that a large part of the electricity grid is damaged, leaving many settlements without power. There have been human casualties and loss of property. I work with off-grid solar panels and mobile Internet, meaning that I continue to be available as usual.

I have been calm the whole time and continue to mind my business, all while remaining vigilant and ready to act. I stayed awake all night, monitoring the situation in my immediate vicinity. As part of my precautionary planning, I walked towards my two likely escape routes to confirm they are unaffected. I can count on this continuing to be the case due to how the wind is blowing. Plus, I will adapt depending on the phenomena.

My plan, in case of emergency, is to abandon the hut. I will take with me a backpack with my laptop, my critical documents, a torch, a face mask, some small tools like a knife and a pair of scissors, and some dry food plus a few bottles of water. I can carry all this as well as my two puppies. The puppies are too young to cover long distances. They can walk for a little while but will require plenty of breaks. My two older dogs will join me on foot as they can cover long distances just fine. I know these mountains very well and can reach any spot within a few hours, including the coastline. Everything will be fine!

This is a time of readiness. Each of us has to stay on alert and do what they must to protect lives.

Nothing is permanent in our life. We cannot affect the greater magnitudes and are powerless to either hold on to anything or take it with us. Whatever little control we have, we may use it in the service of a lofty cause such as to develop a bond between our species; an enduring friendship built on mutual trust and respect.

Experience is a series of moments. We let the details fade away as we cherish the impression of the little things that we hold dear. I thus remember you from a few weeks ago, when you finally decided to find shelter in my hut. You learnt from Atlas how to knock on the door and did it in the early morning hours of one of January’s heavy storms. Despite the noise caused by the rain, I heard you or, perhaps, I somehow felt your plea, and opened the door. You wagged your tail and ran in exuberantly, as you quickly found your way to a corner that you made your own. I was happy that you were comfortable, though I could tell that something had changed. This was not normal. You must have been aware that our time together was running out.

Many humans think they are the only ones who possess language and are thus entitled to some special treatment by the heavens. It is because they do not know any better. Those of us who commit hours each day to our beloved animals know that you possess language in all of its manifestations, verbal and non-verbal, and that we humans can accurately communicate with you. It is what you and I always did.

You were cautious not to come indoors, opting instead to sleep somewhere close to my habitat. These past few months, I would frequently find you sunbathing on the grass in front of my room or sleeping under the solar panels. Whenever I would go out with Atlas and Raizou, you would follow us for a little while even though you did not have the stamina to keep up with us. Still, you were there showing your friendship.

I first met you seven years ago. It was a sunny February morning. You appeared at the village without a collar and had no chip on you. This is a common phenomenon in the mountains, as hunters abandon their dogs on the premise that they are not suitable for hunting. You were no hunting dog though. Those are typically afraid of people. They have no chance of survival because they have been subject to such neglect and abuse that they do not trust humans, including those who, like me, would like to offer their help. You must have been some nice person’s pet. Perhaps they suffered a misfortune and you were then forced to leave your home. Nobody knew your name, so they ended up calling you “Kore” (Κόρη), the Greek word for “girl” or “daughter”.

That was seven years ago and two relocations away from where I currently am. At the time, I did not have the means to take care of you. The neighbours were providing you with food and you found shelter in an abandoned house nearby. We quickly became friends, as you would see me multiple times a day hiking together with Atlas.

When I left that village in desperate search for another room, I did not expect you to follow in my footsteps. A few days after I had moved to the nearby village, I found you roaming around my new place at the time. The dynamic of our relationship was the same: we would go for walks together, you following in our footsteps at a distance, while you would retain your freedom throughout the day as a stray animal that was still taken care of by the entire neighbourhood. It was then no longer a surprise when you followed me once again, this time to the hut where you lived peacefully for the last year and a half.

As the full moon rises from the east, I hold dear the memory of your friendship. Thank you!

The video starts now. All good. I am not sure I am visible. Let me have a seat. But let us all be visible.

Thanks to Philippos for organising this symposium. I believe it is the first symposium we have here at the village and I am very happy for this.

What is, then, the “philosophical symposium”? And this is our topic today. Let’s examine what the words “philosophy” and “symposium” are and how they combine together, in order to understand what this is about.

Philosophy is the friendship one has towards wisdom. What is wisdom? It is our ability to understand the big picture of things. Thus, to be able not to remain in the specifics in our life but to be able to zoom out, as it were. To be able to see the general lines and understand what is happening overall. To understand our experiences and those of other people, and historical events, and to be able to see things more spherically. This basically is wisdom.

The philosopher, then, and philosophy… The philosopher is the person who tries in their life to always act in accordance with wisdom. Always, in the specifics of what they are doing to also have a general idea of what is happening. So that they do not remain stuck in their own understanding but see things more spherically. And thus to not get confused by difficult details and not lose their general direction. This is generally wisdom and this is generally philosophy.

The philosopher is the person who has to approach wisdom. But to approach wisdom they must be able to think. To think, we all have the capacity for it. We all have a brain and we all have intelligence. This is not enough though. To think we need courage. You need to dare to think. You need to dare to tell yourself, first and foremost, that “I may be wrong”. “Let me think about it, and I might be right, but I might also be wrong”. To do anything, you have to recognise that there is the possibility to succeed as well as the possibility to fail. Thus, it requires courage.

As the poet (Andreas Kalvos) has said, “liberty requires virtue and courage” and this is how philosophy is more-or-less, because to think for yourself you have the freedom to think for yourself. You will not just say what somebody else told you. You might agree with someone, but you will agree following your own initiative. Meaning, somebody told you something, you thought about it, and said “yes, I agree”, or “no, I disagree”.

Philosophy also requires sincerity. It requires honesty. When I think of something—anything—, I do not try to fool myself. I do not try to tell myself that I am better than I truly am or that I know more than what I truly know. But I tell myself “you know, here is where you were wrong”, “you know, this is not something you have knowledge of”. When we have this honesty, we have a basic humility. This humility is not a mere internal affair. Humility is expressed towards other people but also towards the topics we study. It is expressed towards other people like through the symposium and every discussion we have. Because, when I state anything, I do not say it out of a belief that I am infallible. I will say something and we will discuss it. I may be wrong. I may be right. I may be partially right but something still eludes me, so you will tell me “hey, you forgot this; if you think of it from this angle you will reach a different conclusion; let us discuss it”. So I want to have the sincerity to be honest with myself, but also to have the courage and sincerity to talk with my fellow human. And to recognise in my fellow human that he or she also has experiences, thoughts, moments, that I do not have and from which I may learn something. And the same for everyone: we may all learn something.

Why, then, “symposium”? Why it matters to have “philosophical” and “symposium” and why I think these things should go together. Because philosophy is something we do daily. Philosophy does not only concern books. Of course, it also is a study that encompasses books. But not only books. It also concerns quotidian life. What must I do? What is my purpose? Which are my values? I have to be able to reason about those things and to talk about them. Not to take them for granted, because anything I take for granted, anything I do not subject to critical thinking, has the potential to be wrong. And if it is wrong, so is everything I do that is based on it. So I want to have the sincerity to talk with the other person; the sincerity to sit at a table with others and for all of us to be equal. We all sit at the same table, we all share the same wine, the same food. There is not one who is smarter, one who is more experienced, et cetera, who is infallible and whom everybody else listens to. All make mistakes. All have something right to say and, precisely, we have the humility to recognise these qualities in all other people.

And this, basically, is the idea of the symposium. It is, then, to bring people close and demonstrate to them that you too can dare, that you to can think, that you too can have the courage of opinion; the courage not to be right and faultless, because no-one is faultless, humans always make mistakes; but the courage to make the mistake. The courage to make the mistake, though, within a social environment. In an environment of solidarity. Because if I say something wrong here, you will not use it against me. If I say something wrong here, I have trust in you that you will correct me. There is, thus, a basic solidarity, a community, a society, that depends on trust. On trust is embedded the courage to think, the courage to say my opinion, the courage to say something right, the courage to make a mistake. And whatever happens. This is, in a few words, the essence of philosophy.

Then, of course, there are lots of technical topics which, depending on the degree of technicality will require extensive study for a long time. But you do not need to be a specialist to do philosophy. You need to be a specialist to do special topics. What you need to do philosophy is to be honest. Do not fake it. Do not pretend that you know it all but also do not be afraid to make mistakes. And to trust other people, that they will be by your side when you commit an error to tell you about it. And the idea to have other people beside you and to have trust in them at your moments of error is exactly to recognise that you make mistakes. Because when we do not recognise our nature, when we do not recognise our self, when we do not recognise that we can make mistakes, it is then that we will make them, then is when we will not have the natural stop.

[ Others are joining and I say that we are basically done and ready for the open discussion. Then someone suggests I summarise for them to have an idea of where we are. ]

Just to conclude with this. Basically, philosophy has two dimensions. The one dimension is the personal dimension. The person must have the courage to voice an opinion, the courage to think, the courage to do something right, the courage to do something wrong. It also has an interpersonal dimension, a social dimension. Which is the dimension of what we have today at the symposium. Which is that what I will do, to express myself, my opinion, to say what I have in mind, I will tell it to you because I trust you. And, if I say something right, we will agree and elaborate on it, and if I say something wrong you will tell me “hey, you are wrong” and you will help me. And always this happens within the confines of solidarity and trust, the confines of friendship. This is the rationale and this is the idea of “philosophical” and “symposium”, which go together.

And this is what I wanted to basically talk about. We now have an open discussion and can talk about anything you want.

UPDATE 2025-02-08 13:04 +0200: I translated what I said at the symposium.

The owner of the tavern sees this as both a business opportunity to draw customers on a weekday and as a way to promote culture. From my side, I appreciate the chance to be close to people and to do philosophy face-to-face with them. This is how I like it because I strongly believe that philosophy is not limited to academics or elitist circles: it belongs to the people and thus the tavern is among the best places to talk in public.

I will provide a brief introduction and then give the stage to an open discussion. We do not yet know how this will develop, though the idea is for people to raise their points and/or ask questions. The rest will follow from there. I am confident everything will be fine. If people do not have anything to say, I will happily elaborate further on my topic.

My talk will be done alla prima, as usual (My ‘alla prima’ method of creativity), and shall be in Greek. I expect to record my opening speech, though I do not know if it will be possible, given that I wish to respect the privacy of the attendants (plus my phone is not good in low light environments). At any rate, this will be an introduction to what philosophy is at the basic level and why the symposium—in its original sense—is an excellent way to put to practice the notion that nobody is special.

So what is philosophy? In short, it is to be a friend of wisdom: to seek it and to cherish it. This is done through deliberate deeds and attempts at clarifying one’s thoughts. It is about leading a life that is thoughtful and consistent. The person who wants to be a friend of wisdom has the courage to think on their own; the courage to proceed through trial and error; the courage to admit to their mistakes and to learn from others. This is why the community is essential: other people help us understand the world and our thoughts, as well as to identify flaws in our judgement.

The symposium helps people learn from each other. I strongly believe that courage is contagious as is any virtue that a person embodies through conduct. People follow the truth of the deed. At the symposium we all sit next to each other, have access to the same food and drinks, and enjoy an equal sitting at the table. We can learn from each other and together muster the strength to push on with our lives, striving for excellence in every field of endeavour.

At the tavern we get to hear about the life experiences of our peers. Everybody faces specific challenges and they must all apply practical reason to achieve their goals. Just as the person who runs the tavern tries to serve the best possible meal, so must each of us push their art to its completion, to the best of one’s abilities. By holding such meetings, we offer ourselves the chance to talk about the general themes that are common to the multitude of our otherwise diverse affairs. Though we not only draw inspiration and try to improve on what we have, but we also come closer as people. There is a stronger sense of camaraderie between us, which engenders respect, and cultivates humility.

If I manage to record the event or at least the opening part of it, I will post the video here. Otherwise, I will give the same talk in English (well, “the same” is figurative given alla prima).

Since I already got the Signal app as a plan B for my communications, I am adding Telegram to the mix: https://t.me/protesilaos. I have updated my contact page accordingly.

Note that I am checking those messaging apps on occasion, but email remains my preferred medium of communication because of its interoperability.

Note that email is still my preferred method of communication. I would hate to type on the phone. I will do it, if necessary, but will not provide the kind of lengthy/complete answer I do via email.

I am aware of four cases where this has happened: two were GitHub notifications related to my Emacs packages and the other two were from people I frequently correspond with.

I have now revised all the relevant settings and am, hopefully, able to receive every legitimate email. If you sent me a message in the past week or so and I did not reply to it, then I most probably never got it. Please send it again.

Here is how this place was a few months ago:

• Water from the stream (2023-04-06).
• Clearing the pipes for the hut project (2023-05-05).
• The adventure of getting to the pipes (2023-11-21).
• Clearing the hut’s access to the stream (2024-03-14).
• Tour of the hut’s new path to the stream (2024-04-02).

Thanks to Arialdo Martini for gifting me the Keychron K5 Pro and for helping me get started with mechanical+programmable keyboards.

Thanks to “Andreas” whose generous donation allowed me to buy the Iris keyboard (revision 8) from keeb.io

UPDATE 2024-04-21 15:58: Check my QMK setup: https://github.com/protesilaos/qmk/tree/master/keyboards/keebio/iris/keymaps/prot.

The previous video I talked about is this one: https://protesilaos.com/news/2024-03-14-hut-clear-access-stream/. There you can see how I started with this place and compare to where I am now.

This is the third tree of its kind that I have planted around my hut. Since I did not do a video about the second one, I show it in this video. The plan is to have more such trees, grafted from the third one, which I will plant throughout the valley.

As I walk, I talk about philosophical themes:

• Accept how things stand and appreciate what you have.
• Holidays are an opportunity to recognise what is available to us.
• What rituals can teach us, provided we do them in earnest.
• About putting both the mind and body to work.
• How we are not just spiritual or rational agents.
• The beauty of the world and how the natural surrounding provide an outlet for all facets of our being.

I got the off-grid electricity setup last night. I can finally get back to my Internet-related activities (coaching, Emacs packages, etc.). Sorry for the delays: I am back in action and as eager as ever.

In this video I show the side of the building, the incomplete gate to the place, the bay tree I planted, plus a pomegranate tree that sprouted near the threshold.

It is a lot of hard work, though I am making good progress. As I mention in the video, I hope to have the basic shelter done by the end of next week. The place will still leave much to be desired, though I have no alternative: everything else will have to come later.

There was no construction work today (Sunday), as the person who helps me with the metallic skeleton of the hut took the day off. I thought I would do the same, since I also did not have any coaching sessions during the day… But I got bored and decided to make something happen instead.

There is a hillock right beside my hut’s location. I need to set up stairs to have easy access to the top. I will probably install the solar panels up there, so the stairs must be spacious. Digging through the mountain is hard work due to the density of the soil and the high concentration of rocks, though it is essential long-term.

I also have to gain access to top of the hillock to eventually clear it (and the surrounding area) from vegetation that catches fire easily.

Even an otherwise simple dwelling requires a tonne of effort to be habitable and safe. I keep going, one small step at a time.

My immediate priority is to get some rest. The past few weeks have been intense: I have been working on the hut, often for several hours under the sun, in addition to all the tasks I was already doing. I now look tired…

The announcement on the FSF website lists the nominees and then outlines the next steps:

[…] FSF associate members will ascertain the candidates’ commitment to the fundamental requirements of the FSF mission, identify valuable attributes listed in the board matrix, gauge whether the candidates will help the board fulfill its overall role in the Foundation, and whether they will fulfill a board member’s individual duties in accordance with the board code of ethics.

There will be more follow. Good luck to everyone. May the greater good be prioritised!

Note that I provide coaching services on Emacs, Linux, and Life in general: https://protesilaos.com/coach .

My coaching services: https://protesilaos.com/coach.

I could not find a conventional job. I am thus going on my own as an Emacs, Linux, and Life coach. You can learn more about it here: https://protesilaos.com/coach.

Contact me if you are interested.

UPDATE 2023-01-16 13:41 +0200: I am on a trial with a local entity. It is for an entry-level web development position. The first round runs until February. Maybe there will be another afterwards. I will post a new update if/when I get the job. It is not clear yet. Hoping for the best!

This is a follow-up to my recent status updates on my search for a permanent job and option of moving countries.

State of affairs

I live in the Troodos mountains of Cyprus. When I first arrived here rent was cheap and I could survive on a tiny budget.

Due to a number of factors, including the pandemic, the war in Ukraine, the ramifications of Cyprus “golden visas” scheme, plus other domestic housing market dynamics, the cost of living has risen to prohibitive levels. My previous lifestyle is unsustainable while my landlord wants me to evacuate the house as soon as possible (initially warned me in August 2022 and has sent more memoranda since), thus forcing me to find another place where rent will be three, four, or more times the current rate.

Cyprus simply is too expensive for anyone who doesn’t own property. It’s employment market is also not offering enough opportunities.

Progress on finding a job

As I mentioned in my last status update, I got a small renumerable Emacs-related task. This was not a full-time job but only a one-off project that I fulfilled at the start of December. Nothing has changed: I still need a job and will have to change countries.

Currently, I am in contact with a prospective employer. I do not know what will come out of it, given my irregular skill set. I will write more when I have results: maybe some time in early 2023. There is no point in publishing scenaria.

UPDATE 2023-01-07 05:35 +0200: I keep searching.

Commitment to Clojure

I wanted to specialise in Clojure and studied it, though I will have to revise this decision by putting it on hold for the time being. Most of those who contacted me with potential employment opportunities recommended different languages. Job postings also send the same clear signal.

I like Clojure for reasons I have explained in the previous announcement, but I must prioritise immediate results: I will focus on whatever makes me suitable for a job, given available demand.

• I have a short-term project to work on. It is related to Emacs. I will publish more about it in the near future on my website’s coding blog section.
• This small job pays some money that I will use for the next few weeks. It gives me a modicum of stability.
• I also received some donations. Again, they provide some immediate relief.
• The underlying problem is the same: I need a job and I will have to relocate. But now I am not desperate to accept the first offer that comes my way.
• I do not want to adopt a decision about my future under extreme duress. It has to be something I will not regret.
• I started learning Clojure and I explain why I picked it over Python, JavaScript, Ruby, and Common Lisp. In short: (i) there is sufficient demand for it, (ii) it provides a Lisp conduit to the worlds of Java and JavaScript, (iii) the members of the community who contacted me are very passionate about this language, which excites me.
• I think Clojure has this Emacs-y quality where the members of its community care about the qualitative aspects of their craft. At least based on the feedback I received.
• I am reading books and am setting up Emacs with clojure-mode and cider. The plan is to start writing real code, like toy programs, which will help me understand how things work in practice.
• I explain what I learnt about my CV and how the tech industry does not care so much about formal qualifications. I still rely on the human factor though.
• Brief comment on all the messages I have received and how I am still replying to each of them. It takes time.
• Some words about offers I cannot accept.
• Closing thoughts with a philosophical point about not relying on appearances.

Below is an overview of how things stand.

CV misconceptions

In that video I talked about my CV: I described it as “underwhelming”. People explained that I was wrong in that I can populate the CV with all the informal work I have done. Here it is: https://protesilaos.com/cv. Take out everything I publish on this website and you see why I thought the way I did.

I used to think that only formal qualifications count. The rest of what I do and love would be relegated to some “hobbies” section. This is informed by my past experiences, all of which came with strict requirements for degrees and certificates. For example, I would apply for a position that demanded English language skills. At the time, I had about 500 articles on my website—five hundred! (Now it’s over 1000, quality notwithstanding.) So I thought I would use my publications as proof that I am not a fraud. Nope, I never got past the initial stage. Never! When I would contact a human, they would reply with the generic “sorry, sir …” and reiterate the stipulation for formal qualifications.

To acquire such qualifications, you need a job that pays handsomely; to get the job you need the qualifications. You explain the problem only to be dismissed as an ideologue. They console you with a “good luck”, which puts an end to your complaints and reminds you of what needs to be done. Hence the epidemic of unpaid traineeships for highly skilled positions. I met several lads who were on their third or fourth unpaid role: I hated it and would not be a part of it. Besides, one must already be able to afford being a trainee without remuneration…

To me, formalities and status are irrelevant. I care about the person at the qualitative level and I do not pursue “social points” for myself. Philosophy does that to the mind. The above is not my opinion or how I judge people. It is how I was treated in a world that is oblivious to the human element. I eventually gave up searching for jobs and scholarships (I once thought I would become an academic), and simply did part-time manual labour.

Based on the feedback I have received, the programming world is more relaxed in this requirement. I am well aware that it is not all sunshine and rainbows in this field, though there is hope that it offers some immediate relief.

Encouragement and advice

I have received lots of messages, especially from the Emacs community. They contain words of encouragement as well as helpful advice. I am replying to all of them, though it takes time. Right now I have 60 unread emails. I hope to get to zero by the end of the weekend. Normally, I reply within a day, though it is impossible under these exceptional circumstances. Thanks to everyone and expect my reply soon!

The advice I get pertains to the CV, which I already covered, and to the sort of skills I should pursue. Most people tell me that web development is the most marketable field. I admit that, as an outsider, I am discouraged by the sheer complexity of all the tooling and frameworks involved. I will continue researching the JavaScript world. My first impression is that the much-touted marketability is not uniform, as there are different (perhaps incompatible?) skill sets involved.

I am interested in Clojure and Common Lisp because they are closer to my Elisp skills. They thus appeal to me. I understand there is not much demand for either of them, especially the latter, and there are no positions for beginners.

I am also looking into server-related fields. I can rely on my knowledge of Unix, though I understand there are enterprise-grade tools involved: I know nothing about them.

The point is that I must pick one. Given my predicament, I will probably end up with JS or server stuff, despite my preference for the Lisps.

“Beautiful place; stay there”

I agree with the sentiment that my mountains are nice. Though there is more to life than sparsely populated landscapes. If I am to pay rent at or around city-level prices, I might as well live in a city to benefit from all its amenities and potential for sociability.

My stay here has allowed me to remake myself and do the sort of internal work that no CV or other token can ever capture: I became a philosopher (plus all the free software goodies). It has also taught me that one’s residence must provide for fallback options. Autonomy cannot be exercised in marginalisation and against unfavourable institutional arrangements, but I will not elaborate in abstract right now.

Here I only have a plan A, which is not sustainable due to the rapidly rising cost of living and exorbitant rates for accommodation. There simply is no alternative in my area. Precarity grinds you, even though the beautiful vistas offer some consolation.

Remote work is an option, yes, though it does not change the fact that this region has no fallback options. I am happy to work remotely in the short-term, but change must happen regardless.

Relocation without a job

Some people offer me a room at their place and are willing to cover the necessities. I thank them and explain that I cannot accept such offers: they are not tied to an employment position. The risk of relocating without having a job is too high. Imagine I visit you, spend 6 months with nothing to show for, and then find myself homeless in a country whose local tongue I am unfamiliar with.

Interest-free loans

I received two offers for an interest-free loan. In general, a loan is useful, though I cannot take one under the prevailing conditions. The reason is that unless I have a job, I cannot guarantee that I will service the debt.

Hoping for the best

I will continue applying for job openings and hope for a positive outcome. Given that relocation schemes are hard to find, I am focusing on the software industry as it offers possibilities for remote work.

My plea for help stands: if you know an employer, please put me in contact with them. I am not asking for charity. Just bring the human factor back to this world.

This video is my public plea to find employment. It comes with an explanation of why I am in this situation and why my CV is underwhelming/useless.

This is a follow-up to the announcement I made on Saturday about finding a job and relocating: https://protesilaos.com/news/2022-11-05-help-me-find-job-move-country/.

If you know of an employer who can put faith in me and help me get started, please put me in contact with them. Any job that pays the bills will suffice, as I also explained in my previous publication.

I have no-one to vouch for me and no formal certification that improves my chances or otherwise flatters me. I can only trust in the human factor.

If you cannot help, don’t worry about it: I am prepared for all possible outcomes and understand the implications.

UPDATE 2022-11-07 09:06 +0200: I published a video where I explain my problem and talk about my underwhelming CV: https://protesilaos.com/news/2022-11-07-job-help-cv-story/

Ever since August, I have a memo to leave the house I live in. A new memo has prompted me to make this public plea. The landlord wants the house for “private use”. I pay everything, so there is no legal pressure for immediate action. Though time is working against me and I will not be able to stay here for much longer. I have to be decisive before the Spring of 2023 or Summer at the latest.

I reside in the Troodos mountain range of Cyprus. When I first got here, the cost of living was affordable. I could survive on an austere scheme of personal finances. In the last three years or so, rents in the area have at least doubled or tripled, while income has remained stagnant. What I have been doing is no longer sustainable. I need a new job and place to stay.

I wish to migrate to another country in the European Union. Cyprus is simply too expensive for someone with no property. The problem is that I am trapped: I do not have enough savings to cover the startup costs of relocation. Any attempt at a job application is thus futile.

My local options are unsustainable. I am publishing this in a desperate attempt to find a solution or, at least, the conduit to one.

Please help me get in contact with an employer who would be willing to assume my startup costs: plane tickets to my destination, ~2 months of rent, 1 month of absolute essentials in living costs. I will pay it all back as soon as I start saving from my wage (e.g. within the first 6 months). I do not ask for charity, but for an investment in me in exchange for my medium-to-long term services.

I am alone and have a small suitcase of clothes. I shall leave my dog behind in the hands of someone I can trust. My health is in peak condition, while I know how to live frugally and independently. There are no hidden costs involved and I will not inconvenience anyone.

Some ideas of what I can do:

• Ancillary roles like office clerk.
• Pro-social activities such as educating people.
• Solo tasks of an intellectual sort, like writing reports, analyses.
• Manual labour such as construction, farming, bar tending.

I know how to program in Emacs Lisp. This does not make me a fully fledged programmer for the job market, though it shows I have the basics and can learn more.

I speak Greek and English. My French is also of a high level, though I need some time of daily practice (e.g. 2 weeks) to rekindle my memory of it. My Spanish is good as well, but it needs some more work to get me in the flow.

If you are reading this, you likely know about me through my publications. I work hard and never find excuses to skip my duties. I will not disappoint whomever shows faith in me.

I am posting this in the “news” section of my website. I do not know if anyone will read it. If it does not work, I will make the same statement in video format on my YouTube channel.

The first publication is a comment on a wonderful song: Interpretation of Alkinoos Ioannides’ “Kathreftis” (Mirror). Expect more to follow (maybe even later today).

The section is now titled “General commentary on life”. All URLs have been edited to omit the /advice path and instead point to /commentary. Redicects have been installed accordingly, so users visiting an old link should be taken to its new destination.

However, it is likely that the old RSS feed is broken and users will have to manually update their sources. The old URL was: https://protesilaos.com/advice.xml. The new one must be: https://protesilaos.com/commentary.xml.

I just created a new section on my website, which contains my answers to questions I received about general life issues: https://protesilaos.com/advice. It also has a dedicated RSS feed.

As I note in the new section’s index page:

I often reply to emails and later think to myself: “hey, this might be interest to a wider audience”. If you ever wish to ask me a question about general life issues and have it published here without any identifying information, please contact me .

The first post I have published there concerns the frame of mind we ought to have in assessing the end and the means used to pursue it. The case in point concerns university studies and the prospects of a career: On the frame of mind for university and career choices.

About ten days ago my laptop’s battery stopped recharging. The machine cannot work without it even if I keep it plugged, so I have not had a personal computer ever since.

Now I am writing this from the office of the local commune:

• While there are over 700+ messages in my inbox, I noticed several donations over the past few days. The amount I have received is a bit over EUR 430. Wow! That is more than I have received in all of the previous years combined!

• I do not know how that happened and will reply to each person once I get the chance. Though I must first regain access to Emacs+Notmuch, otherwise the email correspondence is not manageable. All I can do at this point is thank everyone and promise to do my best once I’m available.

• I was searching for battery replacements and was disappointed with my findings. No local provider has any, while online offers, such as on ebay, have exorbitant shipping costs (e.g. EUR 40-60 for the battery and over EUR 100 to send it to Cyprus). That would cost more than the laptop itself. Also, I read that not all batteries are made equal in terms of reliability. It is risky.

• The donation money changes my plan A: I will search for hardware to either build a desktop computer or buy a mini tower. Whatever is available here. I am not particularly knowledgeable about computer components and will need to learn more before committing to any option. If this does not yield results, I will go with the plan B of buying a battery.

Hopefully I will be back in action within the next 3 weeks. Unless something major changes, I will not post a new announcement but will just edit this one instead. That is because I will get back to publishing what I usually do: I have written a couple of manuscripts already and would like to do at least one new Emacs-related video.

• There is a new feed available at https://protesilaos.com/books.xml. In the past I would post in the News section (i.e. here and eventually on the news.xml feed) about any new publication. That will no longer happen. Follow the new books.xml. If you need any help about web feeds, read my RSS feed info page or contact me.

• All old links/URLs have been instructed to redirect to new ones. No further action is required of visitors to this website. The old format was both unsustainable and uninformative. For example, my Notes on the Thinkable, from 2013, had a URL that did not contain the date of publication or the placement of the entry inside the domain: https://protesilaos.com/notes-on-the-thinkable-2-0. That was a historical accident from the time I was using a Wordpress blog and knew next to nothing about computers in general. Now all URLs include the date of publication and the books specifier, like this: http://protesilaos.com/books/2013-11-27-notes-on-the-thinkable/.

• All old books, like the Little Guide to the European Union (2016) and Structured Text on Sovereignty, Nationhood, Statehood (2018) have been consolidated into single files. In the past, I would keep every chapter as a distinct file, each with its own metadata, which I thought was a neat idea. But to make the book work like an index of standalone items, I had to manually create the “mini website” of each publication. It involved several ad-hoc administrative tasks that I will not bother you with. The gist is that now the act of publishing a book is as simple as publishing any entry: just a single file. My only hope is that the consolidation went well and no data was lost in the transition (though I will conduct a review in the near future and I do have access to the version history).

Apart from subscribing to a new web feed, there is nothing you need to do. All those hours of work were necessary to fix problems that accumulated over time; problems that were caused by my lack of knowledge of how websites are pieced together.

While I did not bother to read everything again, I did study a few passages. Much of what I wrote is relevant today, though I do not care about longer term consistency. It is in the nature of the critical thinker to be at odds with their previous self and to alienate former sympathisers in the process.

If you have read some of my other entries in the Books and standalone publications section of my website, you may want to check this one as well.

As with every applicable item on my website, this essay is freely available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) License, version 4.0 International.

For further information, or to discuss this topic, you are welcome to contact me.

If you have read some of my other works in Books and standalone publications, you may want to read this as well.

As with every applicable item on my website, this entry is freely available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) License, version 4.0 International.

For further information, or to discuss this topic, you are welcome to contact me.

In those ten years I have published over 1 million words on this website (1.120.963 to be precise). This, of course, does not count private email exchanges nor all other important discussions or contributions I have made in written form, while it greatly underestimates the information I share through video files.

Furthermore, that number fails to account for my programming endeavours, as it does not capture the effort that goes into reading, writing, editing code. Plus, counting words in code is not particularly insightful, unless it pertains to the concomitant documentation. For an indication of the latter case, consider that my “dotemacs” (the literate program for my GNU Emacs configuration) is well over 50.000 words long in its current state with the actual figure getting close to double that once we add all files that together make up my private Emacs setup. While the official manual of my Modus themes, an otherwise technical and straightforward document, exceeds 17.000 words. Other projects of mine are accompanied by comprehensive commentary of this sort, none of which is included in that +1mil sum.

At any rate, this is the command I used on my GNU/Linux computer. It goes through all markdown-formatted files in the directories (“folders”) that contain my writings, returns a word count for each item, while also calculating the sum, and prints the latter.

~/Git/Projects/protlab $ find . -type f -iname "*.md" -exec wc -w {} + | tail -1
1120963 total

The quest for clarity

Quantity is not a measure of quality, while verbosity is not my goal. I am interested in clarity. For instance, my latest essay about politics, On platformarchs, the demi-state, and deplatforming (2021-01-26) tackles current events while framing them in terms of their wider historical and ideological context. The article is a bit less than 2000 words long, yet it presents every essential point about the subject and elucidates my thesis. A chronicler of ongoing phenomena could easily clock in at 20.000 words within the span of a few days or weeks, all while wasting their time on minutia and losing sight of the constants.

Emphasis on the quantity of output can lead to false findings. My Notes on Rules (2020-07-01) is a book that consists of aphorisms. It is an exercise in brevity, in that it consists of ~5700 words despite the broad scope of its topic. How about Notes on Simplicity (2019-06-22), which is less than 800 words long? Both express my thoughts and I feel that they need no further work to meet their telos. They are complete.

A brief history of protesilaos.com

• This website started out as a blog on Blogger. Virtually all of my writings were about EU politics and economics.

• In 2013 I migrated to a self-hosted Wordpress installation while the focus of the blog started shifting towards philosophy. Though politics was still a large part of it.

• In 2016 the website evolved into a statically generated set of files. This marked the year I first ventured into coding and started learning about free software and GNU/Linux. My writings thus expanded into relevant areas, while I gradually shifted away from EU-specific affairs in my political writings.

• In 2019 I switched to using Emacs as my main computing environment. More than 60 videos have been produced in the meantime, many of which are over 30 minutes long.

All this information is organised by content type.

The next decade of protesilaos.com

I am not slowing down on what I publish on this website. My future trajectory and the next ten years of protesilaos.com remain unknown. What I can promise is that I will continue publishing writings or videos on philosophy, politics, coding.

Doing philosophy

Since we are here…

In retrospect, it is clear that I was never meant to be an academic in any of the fields I took formal studies in, nor become an apparatchik in some political party or bureaucracy. My tendency to philosophise was evident in those earlier writings, even though it was woven together with otherwise technical insights on current affairs.

A university professor who had noticed a pattern of theorising in the study material I would supply had warned me that incomplete bibliography would result in a 5% reduction from the total grade. “What references do you expect?” I thought to myself, “I am the authority”… So I replied that my homework would still qualify for an A, despite the penalty.

This was not me being rude or arrogant. False modesty and etiquette should not be mistaken for humility. I was merely expressing my honest intent to not pretend that I was echoing some undisputed source of truth on the matter: if I am wrong, address the point, not the formalities, not the superficialities.

The act of publishing my writings follows this exact principle. It is about standing by one’s words and being prepared to face the consequences. These are ideas that have been fleshed out in The Dialectician’s Ethos (2020-09-30), among others.

Doing philosophy is not a career choice: you cannot “just do it”—you are born with it, in the same way an Olympic athlete is endowed with the requisite physical abilities and talents to become a competitor in their field. And the like for all areas of specialisation and sophistication. Commitment can only refine and improve upon the end product of one’s innate strengths and inclinations. It does not outright engender them. No amount of training, formal education and certificates will make you a good philosopher, painter, footballer, listener, artisan, etc. if you are not already disposed for it.

I am a philosopher. This is just my natural propensity towards a field of interest, which comes with its pros and inescapable cons.

Philosophy has, in fact, hampered my EU-related efforts from yester years and catalysed my ultimate failure to pursue a successful career in that field. I could have done it, given that I had gotten a job at the European Parliament even before I had finalised my studies (the last 6 months were carried out remotely from Brussels). But I eventually quit after realising the disconnect between my intellectual pursuits and the quotidian reality of cutthroat politics.

Philosophy also limits my social life, making me a recluse even though I am friendly and easy-going. It has become increasingly difficult to hold a discussion with someone, as I can no longer tolerate gossip and irrelevant details, while the other party has no interest in my musings. Naturally!

Finally, philosophy does not pay the bills. Someone might ask for my advice and my insights might change their perspective on things, including the possibility of altering their course in life. Yet this is not a good that one can quantify and exchange in some transaction. I cannot price it hourly or per kilo: each case differs, while those who do pay for counselling have something specific in mind for which there already exist specialists. Here, have total creative freedom to speak your mind, and I will reward you with a wage. That is a thought that no employer in my life ever implemented, assuming they did entertain it.

So I am a farmer and do whatever part-time job comes my way…

If you have read some of my other works in Books and standalone publications, you may want to read this as well.

As with every applicable item on my website, this publication is freely available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) License, version 4.0 International.

For further information, or to discuss this topic, you are welcome to contact me.

As with every applicable item on my website, this publication is freely available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) License, version 4.0 International.

For any further information, or to discuss this topic, you are welcome to contact me.

As with every applicable item on my website, this publication is freely available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) License, version 4.0 International.

For any further information, or to discuss this topic, you are welcome to contact me.

It is customary to associate fables with children. Doing so in this case would be presumptuous, for it would assume that (i) adults are readily aware of the issues raised herein, and (ii) that imaginary scenaria are didactic for kids in a way they are not for other age groups. Let us avoid such pitfalls.

This is a work on philosophy. The characters and events are imaginary, though I could just as well write about actual stories that would still convey the same ideas you are about to read. What matters is the set of insights one can draw from each fable individually and from all of them taken as a unit.

You can read these chapters in any given order, though I have provided for a loosely sequential progression that could help streamline their teachings.

The book is immediately available on my website: protesilaos.com/fables-on-systems/.

Fables on Systems is distributed free of charge and freed from traditional copyright restrictions. It is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence (CC BY-SA), version 4.0 International.

If you have any questions, thoughts, observations, you are welcome to contact me.

Notes on Rules is distributed free of charge and freed from traditional copyright restrictions. It is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence (CC BY-SA), version 4.0 International.

If you have any questions, thoughts, observations, you are welcome to contact me.

Those who opt for a dark theme in their system settings will view this website in dark colours. Otherwise they will get the default, lighter looks. Either way, the presentation should conform with the highest accessibility standard (WCAG AAA).

Several aspects of the website’s underlying code base have been refactored. If, despite my best intentions, you feel something is amiss, please do contact me.

As with every applicable item on my website, this publication is freely available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) License, version 4.0 International.

For any further information, or to discuss this topic, you are welcome to contact me.

As with every applicable item on my website, this publication is freely available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) License, version 4.0 International.

For any further information, or to discuss this topic, you are welcome to contact me.

Note: yesterday I published On Hubris.