Welcome to the Ratlands

Here are some pages I made:

What is this?

This is my attempt to make a personal website again.

Maybe it'll mean I don't hate the internet quite so much!

Why do you hate the internet?

Probably for the same reasons as everyone else.

I used to make websites for fun all the time when I was a kid. Then I grew up and got a job making websites. Woohoo, living the dream!

Unfortunately after 10+ years of that, the dream is well and truly dead. I code so little for fun now that when I started setting this website up, I had to install Homebrew on my laptop. And I've had this laptop for well over a year. RIP.

However I love the idea of the indie web, and maybe this can go some way towards recapturing that childlike joy I once felt at making my own website.

Why "Ratlands"?

I had to pick a name and it sounded cool. "Rat" is a great word. Satisfying.

What's this website made with?

I'm running Eleventy, which is a JavaScript-based static site generator. I have only ever used JavaScript for the tedium of work and honestly, we do not get on. Maybe doing something fun with it will mean I learn to love it! (Or we'll want to murder each other and I'll eventually switch frameworks.)

Got anything else to share?

Sure! In 1997, two artists and a composer/neuroscientist analysed survey data about which elements of songs people hated the most, and then made a song containing all of them. "The Most Unwanted Song" is 22 minutes long and includes a variety of exciting instruments, an opera singer rapping about cowboy life, and a group of children singing about holidays and urging you to "do all your shopping at Walmart". It's great! Listen to "The Most Unwanted Song" on YouTube.

A classic construction sign gif