Author Archives: Mark Doliner

Mastodon: The Cost of Running My Own Server

Posted on 2025-02-23 by Mark Doliner

Two years ago I wrote about running my own Mastodon server. I thought I had written about the price but apparently not. Anyway, I run kingant.net (this site) and mastodon.kingant.net on AWS. kingant.net needs minimal resources and I’ve been using … Continue reading →

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Home Network

Posted on 2024-08-25 by Mark Doliner

I did some home networking! Four years ago. I installed some networking equipment in a closet, ran a bunch of Ethernet cable, and ceiling-mounted a Wi-Fi access point. The closet box looks like this (click pics for a bigger size): … Continue reading →

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New Bike Saddle

Posted on 2024-05-07 by Mark Doliner

I had been using a Selle Italia SLK Gel Flow saddle on my road bike almost since I bought the bike in 2011. And it was fine. No major problems. Reasonably comfortable. Fairly light. It was a gift from a … Continue reading →

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Old La Honda Is On Zwift This Month

Posted on 2023-12-03 by Mark Doliner

There’s a hill that I loved to ride up when I lived in California. The road is Old La Honda in the Santa Cruz mountains west of Palo Alto. Here’s the Strava segment. It’s 2.98mi with 1,255ft elevation gain at … Continue reading →

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I Bought a Bike Trainer

Posted on 2023-12-03 by Mark Doliner

For the past 20 years I’ve biked or ran about once a week, usually on the weekend. But recently it’s been harder to make time for it. I think my weekends are busier than they used to be. So I … Continue reading →

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Phone Mount vs Dedicated Bike Computer for Road Biking

Posted on 2023-10-06 by Mark Doliner

I don’t know why they’re called computers. “Speedometer” seems like a more useful descriptor. Anyway. From 2003 to 2012 I used a super basic bike computer with just speed, distance, and maybe cadence. Very much like this one: From 2012 … Continue reading →

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Mastodon and ActivityPub

Posted on 2023-06-13 by Mark Doliner

Edit 2025-02-23: I wrote sort of a follow-up post about the cost of running my own server. I’ve started using Mastodon. It’s an open alternative to Twitter. “Open” meaning there’s no central controlling entity. Tech-savvy people can run their own … Continue reading →

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Let’s Encrypt is Fantastic

Posted on 2023-04-09 by Mark Doliner

Apparently I haven’t posted this anywhere so I just want to go on record: Let’s Encrypt is amazing and fantastic. In five years the percentage of web pages loaded by Firefox using HTTPS went from 30% to 80%. That’s huge! … Continue reading →

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