blogging
Being a Bad Salesperson, By Choice
https://my-notes.dragas.net/2025/05/02/being-a-bad-salesperson-by-choice/
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New: Privacy and Security on Mastodon 
All Em's Privacy Guides articles 📚
Queer Dating Apps: Beware Who You Trust With Your Intimate Data 💔
Stay Safe, but Stay Connected 💚
Selling Surveillance as Convenience 
The Importance of Data Privacy For The Queer Community 
KeePassium Review: A Flexible Password Manager for iOS and macOS 🔐
Sam Altman Wants Your Eyeball 👁️
Age Verification Wants Your Face, and Your Privacy 🪪
In Praise of Tor: Why You Should Support and Use Tor 
Interview with Micah Lee: Cyd, Lockdown Systems, OnionShare, and more 
KeePassXC + YubiKey: How to set up a local-only password manager 
Privacy is Also Protecting the Data of Others 💛
How to Reset Your YubiKey and Create a Backup 
The UK Government Forced Apple to Remove Advanced Data Protection: What Does This Mean for You? 🍏
No, Privacy is Not Dead: Beware the All-or-Nothing Mindset 🔒
CryptPad Review: Replacing Google Docs 🛡️
The Future of Privacy: How Governments Shape Your Digital Life 🌐
Using Tails When Your World Doesn't Feel Safe Anymore 💜
Personal blog (older articles): 👇
The Solutions to Proctoring Software 🎓
The Problem with Proctoring Software 
The Mastodon’s Guide to the Fediverse
Easy Practical Privacy Tips for Everyone 
The Importance of Using Messaging Apps With End-to-End Encryption, Which Ones to Use and Why 
I Just Want to Go Back Home
https://my-notes.dragas.net/2025/07/30/i-just-want-to-go-back-home/
No Masks, Just Us
Okay, I didn't want to go on about this, but...
https://my-notes.dragas.net/2025/06/05/when-we-become-cheerleaders-for-our-own-demise/
Reposting to generate some load on the VPS 🙂
Why I'm Expanding My Blogging Presence
https://my-notes.dragas.net/2025/04/17/why-i-m-expanding-my-blogging-presence/
9 September 1943
On 9th September 1943, my grandparents faced fear, hope, and loss in the midst of war. This is their story, told through the memories of that day.
MacBook Pro vs Car: Why Small Businesses Still Win
https://my-notes.dragas.net/2025/06/09/macbook-pro-vs-car-why-small-businesses-still-win/
Make Your Own Kind of Music
The sound of classic rock from a passing bike on a summer evening, and the unexpected bridge it creates between two generations. A quiet reflection on the courage to choose your own music, and your own path.
https://my-notes.dragas.net/2025/08/04/make-your-own-kind-of-music/
My smartphone just showed me a photo, taken exactly four years ago today. I published it on the Fediverse back then, showing nothing but enthusiasm for the great takeout food we had ordered.
The truth was different.
https://my-notes.dragas.net/2026/01/28/the-scent-of-a-photo/
#MyNotes #Life #Reflections #Blogging #Memories
The Doctor's Eyes
Curious minds never grow old. Their fear isn't aging, but running out of time to learn.
The Weight of a Millimeter
A distracted driver, a motorcycle crash, and the terrifying wait to see if I would ever walk again.
https://my-notes.dragas.net/2026/02/02/the-weight-of-a-millimeter/
#MyNotes #Blogging #Life #Reflections #Memories #Blogging #WiFi #Hacking
MyNotes is now on the Fediverse
This account is the Fediverse presence of my personal blog, my-notes.dragas.net.But I want to be upfront about how it works - because it works a little differently from most blog accounts you may follow.
I won't post teasers. I won't post titles with a link asking you to click somewhere else. I will post the full articles, right here, in your feed.
The reason is simple: I don't monetize my content. I have no ads, no paywalls, no analytics chasing your attention. My only interest is that the things I write reach people who might find them worth reading. If you're already here on the Fediverse, you shouldn't need to go anywhere else for that.
Over the coming weeks, I'll also gradually repost older articles from the archive - without flooding your feed. Some of them are personal reflections, some are about technology, some are somewhere in between. That's more or less what my-notes has always been: a slow, honest mosaic of thoughts.
If you enjoy what you read, follow this account. If a piece isn't for you, scroll past. No hard feelings - that's what feeds are for.
Welcome!
Stefano
#MyNotes #Introduction #Blogging
A new pair of earbuds triggers a sudden journey back 16 years.
https://my-notes.dragas.net/2026/02/14/up-16-years-later/
#MyNotes #Life#Reflections #Blogging #Memories #LifeLessons
The Scent of Freedom
A rubber keychain shaped like a foot, a Piaggio Zip, and the sweet, terrifying taste of independence.
https://my-notes.dragas.net/2026/03/02/the-scent-of-freedom/
A rubber keychain shaped like a foot, a Piaggio Zip, and the sweet, terrifying taste of independence.
https://my-notes.dragas.net/2026/03/02/the-scent-of-freedom/
#MyNotes #Blogging #Life #Memories #Freedom #GrowingUp
179 Euros
A 179 Euro purchase in 2010 seemed like a splurge. 16 years later, that appliance has survived moves, earthquakes, and snowstorms, becoming a silent witness to my life's changes.
Your reader, your couch, your rules.
Starting today, both my-notes.dragas.net and it-notes.dragas.net are changing the way they distribute content - on RSS and on the Fediverse alike.
No more excerpts. No more "read more" links. Full posts, delivered directly to you, wherever you choose to read them.
Here's why:
I don't run ads. I don't have paywalls. I don't sell attention, or measure success in page views. I never have, and I have no intention of starting. My blogs exist because I enjoy writing, and because
some of what I write might be useful - or simply enjoyable - to someone else.
That's the whole business model. There isn't one.
When that's the case, there's no reason to keep content behind a click.
Sending you a teaser and asking you to visit my site would only make sense if I needed you *on my site* - for an impression, for a conversion, for something. I don't. So why would I make you leave your reader, your client, your comfortable corner of the internet, just to come to mine?
What I want instead is simple: that you can read what I write the way you'd read a book on a cold winter evening, wrapped in a warm blanket. Privately.
Quietly. On your own terms, in your own space, without anything tracking your eyes or nudging you toward something else.
Your RSS reader is yours. Your Fediverse instance is yours. The content should be yours too.
If you're on the Fediverse, you can follow both accounts directly:
- my-notes → @mynotes
- it-notes → @itnotes
These are low-traffic accounts. If you don't want them to get lost in your timeline, feel free to hit the notification bell. I promise it won't make much noise.
So from now on, it will be.
When Bigger Stops Being Better
https://my-notes.dragas.net/2025/10/10/when-bigger-stops-being-better/
#MyNotes #Blogging #LifeLessons
The Rubble of Memory
A fleeting glimpse of a car on the highway sparks a journey back in time, a reflection on youth, lost dreams, and the powerful, deceptive nature of memory.
https://my-notes.dragas.net/2025/10/27/the-rubble-of-memory/
I write technical articles on my blog.
AIs show up in large numbers to read them, crawl them, learn from them.
Time passes. I publish a new post.
And right on schedule, someone comments:
"This was clearly written by an AI".
Which is fascinating, really.
I write.
Machines read.
I keep writing.
Then humans accuse me of being the machine.
At this point I am not sure if the problem is that AI sounds too human,
or that humans have forgotten what a human who actually studies sounds like.
Either way, I will keep writing.
Worst case scenario, the AIs will enjoy it.
Best case scenario, one day a human will too.
Looking Back at 2025, Looking Forward to 2026
Pizzas, tiramisu, stickers, and plenty of coffee. But above all, people.
My 2025 has been a journey from Canada to Croatia, reconnecting with old friends and launching new projects. In a difficult year for the world, I chose to focus on the light emitted by positive figures, who are often the quiet ones.
I’ve written a farewell post for this incredible year on my personal blog. See you in 2026, with the same Smile(TM).
https://my-notes.dragas.net/2025/12/31/looking-back-at-2025-looking-forward-to-2026/
#MyNotes #PersonalBlog #2025Highlights #BSD #Community #Gratitude #Fediverse #Blogging #FreeBSD #NetBSD #OpenBSD #illumos #BSDCafe #illumosCafe #EuroBSDCon #BSDCan #OSDay
A small domestic crime, a cold night walk, and the mind starts to wander...
https://my-notes.dragas.net/2026/01/01/the-universes-behind-the-lights/
#MyNotes #Blogging #FirstPostOfTheYear #PersonalReflections #Reflections #Life #People