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Ian's Secure Shoelace Knot

fieggen.com

81–90 of 239 posts

Re: Ian's Secure Shoelace Knot

#82
post #68

I always use this site as a canonical example of The Good Internet. The kind of site that is rare today but used to be most of the internet, and we're all worse off for the change. Lightweight handmade HTML and CSS. Very little JavaScript. The site is fast as hell, instant transition between pages, it'd make a React SPA blush. The URLs don't change. The navigation is familiar and unchanging. Back button works as expe…

The site owner, Ian, says he is seeking an alternative to google ads. Seems the site may be struggling financially. https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/support.htm

Thank you for the link! Just donated. That site changed my life in a small but persistent way — my shoelaces haven't come undone in more than a decade now.

Re: Ian's Secure Shoelace Knot

#83
post #68

I always use this site as a canonical example of The Good Internet. The kind of site that is rare today but used to be most of the internet, and we're all worse off for the change. Lightweight handmade HTML and CSS. Very little JavaScript. The site is fast as hell, instant transition between pages, it'd make a React SPA blush. The URLs don't change. The navigation is familiar and unchanging. Back button works as expe…

The site owner, Ian, says he is seeking an alternative to google ads. Seems the site may be struggling financially. https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/support.htm

That's the worst thing about Google Ads. Google keeps an absurd amount of the money, and they punish your users. And, of course, ads in general became so abusive and intrusive that everyone uses an ad blocker, making ads less effective as a revenue source.

But, I don't see how a static HTML site could be a struggle to keep running. It costs almost nothing to host something like that, even with a lot of traffic. I guess if one wanted to make a living off of it, it'd be a struggle.

Re: Ian's Secure Shoelace Knot

#84

I always use this site as a canonical example of The Good Internet. The kind of site that is rare today but used to be most of the internet, and we're all worse off for the change. Lightweight handmade HTML and CSS. Very little JavaScript. The site is fast as hell, instant transition between pages, it'd make a React SPA blush. The URLs don't change. The navigation is familiar and unchanging. Back button works as expe…

You missed the most important part: the site provides something for free.

There's no "if you want to keep learning check my book/course". It's not a funnel entrance, it's not adversarial to you as a reader.

I really really miss being able to enjoy content keeping my guard down, not wondering what is a scam, astroturfing, political propaganda...

Re: Ian's Secure Shoelace Knot

#87
post #16

More than 10 years ago, somebody shared this clip with me: https://youtu.be/zAFcV7zuUDA?is=QDFb5Wxd_tJ-pJ61 Been tying my shoelaces like this ever since.

This is the classic Terry Moore 3 minute video. It boils down to "tie a square knot". It changed my life too!

I love this video because it's both the perfect TED video and the perfect parody of a TED video.

Re: Ian's Secure Shoelace Knot

#88

I always use this site as a canonical example of The Good Internet. The kind of site that is rare today but used to be most of the internet, and we're all worse off for the change. Lightweight handmade HTML and CSS. Very little JavaScript. The site is fast as hell, instant transition between pages, it'd make a React SPA blush. The URLs don't change. The navigation is familiar and unchanging. Back button works as expe…

another one I loved...I guess still love too https://sheldonbrown.com/fixed-conversion.html

Re: Ian's Secure Shoelace Knot

#89
post #80

I always use this site as a canonical example of The Good Internet. The kind of site that is rare today but used to be most of the internet, and we're all worse off for the change. Lightweight handmade HTML and CSS. Very little JavaScript. The site is fast as hell, instant transition between pages, it'd make a React SPA blush. The URLs don't change. The navigation is familiar and unchanging. Back button works as expe…

> I'd prefer it had no Google ads The good thing about those ads is, it's your choice if they're allowed to run on your machines or not. Assuming your "user agent" isn't really an "ad industry agent".

Yes, Ian doesn't do any bullshit with ad block detection or blocking. The site works fine with ads blocked. I'm reminded that there should be a tiered ad block tool. I would like to be able to not block traditional ad banners (an img tag and a link, maybe with an affiliate ID), like the ones on the sidebar of Ian's site, while still blocking the surveillance ads like Google serves. I know traditional ad banners don't perform all that well, but, as a user, they don't bother me at all...and, I'm far more likely to click them if they're really relevant to the site I'm looking at.

Honestly, the old way of doing ads was also The Good Internet. No surveillance, the people placing the ads needed to actually think about where to spend their money, the sites had to decide personally whether the ad fit their audience and ethics. The ad surveillance networks launder all the ethical questions into a wash of hateful attention stealing and tracking user behavior.

Re: Ian's Secure Shoelace Knot

#90
post #41

I only realized in my 30s that I had been tying my shoelaces wrong my whole life and a super minor change in my method has changed them from coming undone multiple times per day (unless double knotted), to instead staying tied the whole day with just a standard shoelace knot [0] (also on Ian's site). This article's web page actually has the essential note: > NOTE: If your finished knot comes out crooked (eg. loops po…

Learning this has also changed my life, but maybe not for the better. Now every time I see someone I know and their shoes are tied in a granny knot I have to waste a bunch of calories deciding if they'd appreciate me telling them.

Don't tell them. Just use the information to silently judge everything they say or do, and have ever said or done. It's gotten me where I am today.
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