Previously, in Office Hours..

1) A big theme was “own your stack”: use AI coding agents to stand up a VPS and migrate off SaaS tools (bookmarks, notes, mail, etc.) toward self-hosted equivalents like the Awesome Self-Hosted list (catalog of self-hostable apps).

2) Related: build “Squarespace vibes, but you control it” publishing workflows with Astro (content-driven web framework)—static output, simple deploys, and less platform rent-seeking.

3) On that data-security thread: if you must collect names/emails, treat it like sensitive infrastructure so..minimize what you store, and prefer privacy-first services like Proton Mail (encrypted email) over casual spreadsheet vibes.

4) A privacy tangent surfaced Don’t Track Us (privacy tool directory) as a handy resource for finding privacy-respecting alternatives to common web services.

5) Counterpoint: sometimes query strings are the whole point (they encode state for playful web toys), so the real skill is learning when “?” is surveillance versus when it’s the mechanism of the experience.

6) The “make the internet small again” conversation got anchored by After the Internet (MIT Press page) and the First Things First Manifesto 2000 (Eye Magazine) as a pair of prompts: stop optimizing for platforms, start optimizing for meaning and autonomy.

7) There was a nerdy preservation swerve into reviving classic Flash-era web art from YOUNG-HAE CHANG HEAVY INDUSTRIES PRESENTS (official site), using Internet Archive (web + media archive) as the retrieval layer for old SWFs and related artifacts.

8) A craft tangent turned into a real workflow: use Calligraphr (handwriting-to-font tool) templates to capture brush/pen lettering, then build a personal typeface that can travel across projects without losing the hand-made character.

9) Planning chatter surfaced a June Denver “compound” style gathering with a letterpress/typesetting sprint—making printing less “precious object” and more “daily practice,” including ideas for using cameras/sensors to track and document the physical composition process.

10) Two writing-structure tricks landed: number every paragraph/line (Bible / code style) so the text becomes referenceable and remixable, and build a living glossary where key terms link to your definitions so you don’t inherit funder jargon by accident.

11) Denver culture notes: a fundraising push was mentioned around screening BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions (official film site), with the local anchor point being MCA Denver (Museum of Contemporary Art Denver) as the likely venue/home base.

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