--- /dev/null
+---
+title: About the Project
+author: Kyle Bowman
+created: 20241123084949
+last_updated: 20241123084949
+---
+
+[Pandoc](https://pandoc.org/) deserves to be mentioned before Jetsam as it's the
+real workhorse of this operation. Jetsam can be described as a Pandoc-based
+distribution of writing utilities designed to help you write, publish, and
+maintain a corpus of personal-space writings.
+
+# About Personal-Space Writing and Jetsam Philosophy
+
+Personal-space writing is an *ad hoc* term designed to connote your own cozy part
+of the web. It's intended to contrast with enterprise- or commercial-style
+writing. For example, personal-space writing is more aligned to capturing one
+person's thoughts over a lifetime than it is to maximizing reader engagement.
+
+The following principles of personal-space writing help govern the philosophy of the Jetsam project:
+
+* **Prioritize simple data formats.** Data tends to outlast your application, so
+choose something that won't lock you in. Either the format should be relevant
+in 20 years or you should be able to be easily port it to whatever is relevant in
+20 years.
+* **Next, prioritize predicably stable tools.** Even if you choose a simple data
+format, each application tends to have its own quirks about how it handles the
+data. When you accumulate a volume of data, migrating becomes non-trivial even
+for small deviations. Each new dependency incurs a maintenance cost, so it deserves
+scrutiny. When you add a new dependency, try to
+[Choose Boring Technology](https://mcfunley.com/choose-boring-technology) as the
+maintenance risk of _<boring project\>_ tends to be much lower than _<the new hotness\>_.
+* **Then, prioritize extensibility.** Ostensibly, a personalized space is the
+goal. So, why is it last in this list of priorities? Because, if you don't
+have the stability offered by the previous priorities, you'll spend an awful
+lot of time rebuilding your extensions. But you can innovate a lot _on top of_
+boring technology.
+
+With those guidelines in mind, you can see why we rely so heavily on Pandoc.
+
+* **We can use Markdown as our primary data format.** Markdown is a simple
+standard, which makes it easy to create tools for. Furthermore, it's a text-
+based standard, so if all else fails, it's still readable.
+* **Pandoc is its own data migration tool.** This includes migrating between
+different flavors of Markdown.
+* **Pandoc is relatively stable with ongoing support.** There have been 3 major
+releases in its first 18 years. The core seems pretty stable. There are still
+updates every few days. But even if the project becomes unmaintained, the
+existing versions contain a _ton_ of functionality. Its infinitely stable
+in that regard.
+* **Pandoc contains an embedded Lua interpreter.** This gives you a ton of
+room for extensibility without adding potentially fragile dependencies.
+
+# About the Name
+
+The term [jetsam](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flotsam,_jetsam,_lagan_and_derelict#Jetsam)
+comes from maritime law. It refers to cargo that is intentionally discarded
+from a ship or wreckage. Jetsam is often the byproduct of trying to save a
+sinking ship by reducing its load. Per maritime law, someone that recovers jetsam
+is generally not obligated to return it to the original owner. The finder retains
+the value of the recovered goods.
+
+Jetsam is a beautiful metaphor for writing. For the writer, writing is a powerful form of [rubber ducking](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber_duck_debugging)
+(jetsam's mascot). Writing forces you to encounter and clarify any ambiguous or
+underspecified thoughts that you may have about a topic. Once you have written
+about the topic sufficiently clearly, it _feels_ resolved. You can mentally offload
+it. But just because you discard it doesn't mean that your jetsam isn't valuable to
+whomever stumbles upon it.
+
+Also, I chuckle at the mental image of a panicked sailor casting rubber ducks off a
+sinking ship.
+
+Godspeed, little ducky.
\ No newline at end of file
--- /dev/null
+---
+title: Demo Page
+author: Kyle Bowman
+created: 20241123170613
+last_updated: 20241123170613
+---
+
+This page demonstrates how various Markdown elements are rendered and the
+style that is applied. It is useful as a suite of tests when you tinker.
+
+# Demo
+
+This is an anchor tag/hyperlink: [sakura - GitHub Repository](https://github.com/oxalorg/sakura).
+
+Paragraphs look like this. Font size along with line height and maximum width
+are optimized for reading.
+
+_Italic_, **strong**, and `monospace`. Itemized lists look liked:
+
+* this one
+* that one
+* the other one
+
+Here's a block quote:
+
+>Man surprised me most about humanity. Because he sacrifices his health in order
+to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is
+so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being
+that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never
+going to die, and then dies having never really lived. -James J Lachard
+
+## An h2 header
+
+Some code blocks:
+
+``` python
+def foobar():
+ return "Welcome to flavor country!"
+```
+### An h3 header
+
+A nested list:
+
+1. First, get these ingredients
+ * carrots
+ * celery
+ * lentils
+2. Boil some water.
+3. Dump everything in the pot and follow this algorithm:
+
+```
+uncover pot
+stir
+cover pot
+balance wooden spoon precariously on pot handle
+wait 10 minutes
+goto first step (or shut off burner when done)
+```
+
+Do not bump wooden spoon or it will fall
+
+# Header level 1
+## Header level 2
+### Header level 3
+#### Header level 4
+##### Header level 5
+###### Header level 6
+
+A horizontal line:
+
+---
+
+<!-- Link to anchor? -->
+<!-- Link to footnote? -->
+Here's a link to [my acknowledgements for the demo](../demo/acknowledgements.md).
+You can see what tables look like on that page.
+
+
projects / jetsam.git / commitdiff