diff --git a/.gitmodules b/.gitmodules deleted file mode 100644 index 5e75eac..0000000 --- a/.gitmodules +++ /dev/null @@ -1,3 +0,0 @@ -[submodule "themes/gokarna"] - path = themes/gokarna - url = https://github.com/gokarna-theme/gokarna-hugo.git diff --git a/archetypes/default.md b/archetypes/default.md index cdc869f..1b7735c 100644 --- a/archetypes/default.md +++ b/archetypes/default.md @@ -1,11 +1,13 @@ --- date: {{ .Date }} description: "" +draft: false lastmod: {{ .Date }} showTableOfContents: true tags: [ ] type: "post" title: "{{ replace .Name "-" " " | title }}" -image: "" +image: "images/" +image_alt: "" --- diff --git a/config.toml b/config.toml index e30cc1c..b2e90c3 100644 --- a/config.toml +++ b/config.toml @@ -4,7 +4,6 @@ title = "Foss Cat" theme = "gokarna" enableRobotsTXT= true enableEmoji = true -# code highlighting: use CSS classes so customHeadHTML can override colors # pygmentsStyle = "catppuccin-frappe" [params] @@ -21,8 +20,8 @@ customHeadHTML = ''' + ''' # customFooterHTML = '
foot123
' @@ -167,7 +58,6 @@ avatarSize = "size-s" numberPostsOnHomePage = 5 showPostsOnHomePage = "recent" - [params.meta] favicon = true svg = false diff --git a/content/index-about.md b/content/index-about.md index a35fc94..ec70b62 100644 --- a/content/index-about.md +++ b/content/index-about.md @@ -1,3 +1,3 @@ -## Hello Weary Traveler +No tracking or data collection. Just my blog, my thoughts. -Took alot of effort to fetch those bytes, hope I have something here worth your while. +Took effort to fetch these bytes, hope I have something here worth your while. diff --git a/content/posts/dog-based-search-path.md b/content/posts/dog-based-search-path.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..539e540 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/posts/dog-based-search-path.md @@ -0,0 +1,26 @@ +--- +date: 2026-02-23T00:53:05-07:00 +description: "Wondering what sort of algorithm my dog uses for navigation" +image: "/images/otto-on-nature-path-algorithm.jpg" +lastmod: 2026-02-23T01:08:53-07:00 +showTableOfContents: false +tags: ["dogs", "optimization"] +title: "Dog Based Search Path" +type: "post" +--- + +I was walking today on my preferred route. + +I can leave my house, walk through a park behind it, cross a neighborhood road, walk through a "nature park" (where the nature is left to do its thing), cross a church parking lot, then take a canal-like path through tall natural grasses back to my neighborhood. Then its just some sidewalks to get back home. + +Its wonderful! It helps me feel like I'm actually out in nature and escape from suburban sprawl. + +While walking along the path, Otto came running up to check in with me, as he does after having sufficiently strayed off. + +The path seems like it was a part of a pond or lake shore, as there is a steep drop off on one side. Otto happened to be on this side, and as he approached, I could see the "path" through many bushes and up a very steep, albiet short, ridge wall. I thought quickly and efficiently to myself that he would not be able to scale it. + +Despite my extremely based and factual take, Otto charged ahead. And with little more effort than he noramlly gives while sprinting around, he crested and came to pant next to me with such ease! + +Our drastically different calculus made me wonder. I wondered if dogs have some complex decision hierarchy like we do. I wondered if he just tried the first path he could see, whether or not it was viable. + +I remember also reading _Entangled Life_ by Merlin Sheldrake, and hearing how slime molds perform various search algorithms in mazes to find food. I wonder how many biological processes should be mapped more frequently to the world of computure science! diff --git a/content/posts/hammock-driven-development.md b/content/posts/hammock-driven-development.md index e3dcf7d..8988436 100644 --- a/content/posts/hammock-driven-development.md +++ b/content/posts/hammock-driven-development.md @@ -1,12 +1,12 @@ --- date: 2025-03-03T09:19:07-07:00 description: "I learned the importance of taking time away from the computer in software development" -lastmod: 2025-03-03T09:19:07-07:00 +lastmod: 2026-02-23T01:08:53-07:00 showTableOfContents: true type: "post" title: "TIL: Hammock Driven Development" image: "images/hammock.jpg" -alt: "hammock with a cat" +image_alt: "hammock with a cat" tags: ["clojure", "practices", "rich hickey", "til"] --- diff --git a/content/posts/seeing-the-blind-men-and-the-elephant.md b/content/posts/seeing-the-blind-men-and-the-elephant.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..48c8188 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/posts/seeing-the-blind-men-and-the-elephant.md @@ -0,0 +1,78 @@ +--- +date: 2026-02-21T19:52:06-07:00 +description: "An old parable poorly applied" +image: "images/elephant-and-blind-men.png" +image_alt: "Still of an elephant and blind men from the animated short video Discovering Truth by the LDS YouTube channel." +lastmod: 2026-02-23T01:08:53-07:00 +showTableOfContents: false +tags: ["philosophy", "buddhism", "truth"] +title: "Seeing the Blind Men and the Elephant" +type: "post" +--- + +# Which Man is Blind? + +A few days ago I listened to [an interview by Alex O'Connor (YouTube)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCo7QozGKWA&pp=ygUMYWxleCBvY29ubm9y) with the Hindu monk [Swami Sarvapriyananda (Wikipedia)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swami_Sarvapriyananda) (Swami in his name is a title, much like a Father or Bishop in Christian practices). + +In the interview, Swami Sarvapriyananda mentioned an old Buddhist parable, [_the blind men and an elephant_ (Wikipedia)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_men_and_an_elephant). The poet [John Godfrey Saxe (Wikipedia)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Godfrey_Saxe) most famously introduced the parable to western audiences. + + + +> It was six men of Indostan +> To learning much inclined, +> Who went to see the Elephant +> (Though all of them were blind), +> That each by observation +> Might satisfy his mind +> +> Moral: +> So oft in theologic wars, +> The disputants, I ween, +> Rail on in utter ignorance +> Of what each other mean, +> And prate about an Elephant +> Not one of them has seen! + +I suprisingly recognized the parable, from a much earlier time in my life, from a very different source. I could even picture the animated elephant with the westerner's stereotypical depiction of "Indians" (eastern kind) grasping at its parts. + +## The Whole Truth + +In [Dieter F. Uchtdorf's talk (speeches.byu.com)](https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/dieter-f-uchtdorf/what-is-truth/), to students of Brigham Young University, an apostle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints spoke about the importance of seeing the whole Truth. + +> The thing about truth is that it exists beyond belief. + +The church later made a short animated video, clipping up his talk in a nice portable format that I remember watching many times as a kid. Growing up, Sundays were special days, so YouTube was only kocher on a church affiliated channel. I had watched each of those videos many times over. :grin: + +I reflected today on the possibility that this parable of the elephant may have been misconstrued or appropriated by Uchtdorf for his, or more generally, for the church's, purposes. I wondered how exactly he had presented the parable those years ago, and if it matched its original intended purpose. + + +I think my gut instinct was to use this as some sort of fodder. Pointing out a mistake on the part of Uchtdorf could really reaffirm my decision to step away from the mormon faith. On further reflection and researching for this post, I think it makes more sense, and is intelectually more honest, to compare how this story has been applied. As Wikipedia states, the parable "has been used to illustrate a range of truths and fallacies". + +And isn't that how parables, allegories, and friends all work? We mold them to our time. The cultural morays shape the parts of the elephant the blind men see. For the 500 B.C.E. crowd its a plowshare, a mortar, and a pestle, and for us modern folk, a spear, a tree, and a snake; for an elephant's tusk, leg, and tail respectively. + +## Ancient Elephants + +In the earliest version of the parable, found in the [Tittha Sutta 6.4 (accesstoinsight.com)](https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/ud/ud.6.04.than.html), the Buddha highlights the flawed position of the sages in his day: + +> In the same way, monks, the wanderers of other sects are blind & eyeless. They don't know what is beneficial and what is harmful. They don't know what is the Dhamma and what is non-Dhamma. [^1] + +Buddha here clearly seems to indicate he sees the elephant for what it is, not these monks of other sects. + +And what about my favorite German pilot? + +## Modern Parables + +Other than taking a strong position against Flat Earthers: + +> For example, in spite of one-time overwhelming consensus, the earth isn’t flat. + +Utchdorf claims there is such a thing as absolute truth. And this truth, like seeing the whole elephant clearly, "is His gospel. It is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is 'the way, the truth, and the life.'" + +## The Battle for the Elephant + +And so it seems, from my cursory investigation, that this parable has been used by each to advance their own perspective, which is ironic. + +Not sure why the thought crossed my mind, but I'm trying to write everyday, and so I thought it'd supply an interesting lens into my mind these days. + +[^1]: [Buddha in Tittha Sutta 6.4, text snippet on accesstoinsight.com](https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/ud/ud.6.04.than.html#:~:text=In%20the%20same%20way%2C%20monks%2C%20the%20wanderers%20of%20other%20sects%20are%20blind%20%26%20eyeless%2E%20They%20don%27t%20know%20what%20is%20beneficial%20and%20what%20is%20harmful%2E%20They%20don%27t%20know%20what%20is%20the%20Dhamma%20and%20what%20is%20non%2DDhamma%2E) + diff --git a/static/images/elephant-and-blind-men.png b/static/images/elephant-and-blind-men.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3b0c92f Binary files /dev/null and b/static/images/elephant-and-blind-men.png differ diff --git a/static/images/otto-on-nature-path-algorithm.jpg b/static/images/otto-on-nature-path-algorithm.jpg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..06ee044 Binary files /dev/null and b/static/images/otto-on-nature-path-algorithm.jpg differ diff --git a/themes/gokarna b/themes/gokarna deleted file mode 160000 index 83480ce..0000000 --- a/themes/gokarna +++ /dev/null @@ -1 +0,0 @@ -Subproject commit 83480ceb2a7aa2256fd175d666ecadc01444f380 diff --git a/themes/gokarna/.github/FUNDING.yml b/themes/gokarna/.github/FUNDING.yml new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6686db8 --- /dev/null +++ b/themes/gokarna/.github/FUNDING.yml @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +github: gokarna-theme +buy_me_a_coffee: avijitgupta diff --git a/themes/gokarna/.github/workflows/screenshot.yml b/themes/gokarna/.github/workflows/screenshot.yml new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e77d0b3 --- /dev/null +++ b/themes/gokarna/.github/workflows/screenshot.yml @@ -0,0 +1,38 @@ +name: Update screenshots + +on: + workflow_dispatch: + push: + branches: + - main + +jobs: + update-screenshots: + runs-on: ubuntu-latest + permissions: + pull-requests: write + contents: write + + steps: + - name: Check out the code + uses: actions/checkout@v3 + + - name: Run screenshotter container + run: docker run -v $(pwd):/app ghcr.io/gokarna-theme/gokarna-hugo/screenshotter + + - name: Create PR + run: | + if [[ -z $(git status images --porcelain) ]]; then + echo "No changes found" + exit 0 + fi + + git config --global user.name 'github-actions[bot]' + git config --global user.email 'github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com' + git checkout -b auto-update-screenshots + git add images/ + git commit -m 'chore: update screenshots' + git push origin auto-update-screenshots -f + gh pr create -B main -H auto-update-screenshots --title 'chore: update screenshots' --body 'Created by GitHub action' + env: + GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }} diff --git a/themes/gokarna/.github/workflows/stale-bot.yml b/themes/gokarna/.github/workflows/stale-bot.yml new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a73ddf5 --- /dev/null +++ b/themes/gokarna/.github/workflows/stale-bot.yml @@ -0,0 +1,22 @@ +name: 'Close stale issues and mark inactive PRs' +on: + schedule: + - cron: '0 0 * * 0' # At 00:00 on every Sunday + +jobs: + stale: + runs-on: ubuntu-latest + permissions: + issues: write + pull-requests: write + contents: read + steps: + - uses: actions/stale@v9 + with: + stale-issue-message: 'This issue is stale because it has been open for 90 days with no activity. Remove stale label or comment or this will be closed in 30 days.' + stale-pr-message: 'This PR is stale because it has been open for 90 days with no activity.' + close-issue-message: 'This issue was closed due to inactivity' + days-before-stale: 90 + days-before-close: 30 + days-before-pr-close: -1 + exempt-all-assignees: true diff --git a/themes/gokarna/.gitignore b/themes/gokarna/.gitignore new file mode 100644 index 0000000..64cc919 --- /dev/null +++ b/themes/gokarna/.gitignore @@ -0,0 +1,6 @@ +.DS_Store +geckodriver.log +.idea/ +.hugo_build.lock +# Ignore build dir (hugo server) +exampleSite/public/ diff --git a/themes/gokarna/Containerfile b/themes/gokarna/Containerfile new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c11bbb5 --- /dev/null +++ b/themes/gokarna/Containerfile @@ -0,0 +1,17 @@ +FROM python:alpine + +# Enable monospace fonts +RUN apk add font-inconsolata fontconfig +RUN fc-cache -fv + +WORKDIR /app + +# Install dependencies +RUN apk add firefox geckodriver hugo + +COPY requirements.txt requirements.txt +RUN pip install --requirement requirements.txt + +# We mount the gokarna source code to avoid rebuilding the image + +CMD [ "python", "./screenshot.py" ] diff --git a/themes/gokarna/LICENSE b/themes/gokarna/LICENSE new file mode 100644 index 0000000..53d1f3d --- /dev/null +++ b/themes/gokarna/LICENSE @@ -0,0 +1,675 @@ + GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE + Version 3, 29 June 2007 + + Copyright (C) 2007 Free Software Foundation, Inc.