===== 2025-04-20 =====

 ===== File sizes and computer noises =====

There's something bizarrely satisfying about seeing small file 
sizes. All three copies of this entire site (Gopher/Gemini/WWW) 
together total 280KB as of this writing, and that includes the 
markdown files that don't actually get copied to SDF. Granted, 
there's hardly anything to my site yet, but still. It's nice 
having it be just some simple text and some super-compressed jpegs 
with tons of artifacting. (Is it weird to get nostalgic about jpeg 
artifacting?) Maybe I'll get a drive and do backups on 1.4MB 
floppies. Man, I miss the sound of floppy drives. 

Thinking about it, I miss the sound of computers in general. I 
miss the noisy floppy drive sounds and the clicking of old hard 
disks (okay, not *that* clicking sound). It let you know the 
machines were working, and it gave them a kind of personality. The 
angry floppy disk eject sound was the best: "Nyeehhh!" It seems 
like I never hear computers anymore unless a cooling fan really 
spins up (or is just in need of a cleaning or replacing). I 
imagine most people consider that a good thing, but I don't know - 
I miss the computer having more of a presence. 

On the subject of both small file sizes and computer noises: MIDI. 
My old extensive collection of MIDI music is long gone, but I 
think it's time to start building one up again. 19KB vs 2.5MB in 
ogg form, comparing one song I've got. Yeah, that'll be a fun 
thing to add to the site. Not a massive collection or anything, 
just some good ones. Most of my memories are of of fantasy 
soundtrack type songs from various games I'd play, I never really 
got into MIDI versions of music you'd hear on the radio or 
whatever, but seeing those made was still plenty neat. 

And lastly: If you haven't ever heard of people who make music 
with the noises from operating floppy disk drives, look up 
"Floppotron music" sometime. Incredible. 

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