Colophon

The human

Who?

Happen to be an editor and membership program producer at SSPAI, a content community focused on digital products and cultures.

Used to be a transactional lawyer (until July 2021).

Born to be a nerd.

Whereof?

Personalities are hard to describe, but I’m constantly tested as an INTJ, which means — if you insist — more Introverted than extraverted, perceiving by iNtuition more than sensing, judging by Thinking more than feeling, and perferring use of the Judging function than the perceiving one. I don’t take MBTI seriously, though, and the reference here is only for convenience.

Politics are hard to discuss, but I roughly identify as a progressive conservatist, which means when there’s a conflict, I generally put more vaule on the market than equality, liberty than authority, progress than tradition, and ecology than production.

Whence?

Shouting and murmuring on Twitter and Weibo.

iPhoneographing on Instagram.

Flagging spams — but waiting for humanely greetings — at hi (at) cyhsu.net, or platyhsu (at) sspai.com for work purposes.

Which?

Metal?

Binaries?

The site

What for?

Neverland is the name of a fictional island in certain literature and cartoon works. However, I appropriate the name not for the cultural reference but simply the vibe.

Neverland unapologetically acknowledge that it’s a nonplace. Like an airport or motorway, Neverland is meant to be left behind. I land pieces of idea and go on. You land fractions of attention and turn over. And that’s exactly what the content here deserves — you could never expect something useful from it, but neither could you expect you will never find one.

Blogging seems to be an anachronism in this information-abundant era. After all, what’s the point jotting down words that may never be revisited even by yourself, only to add entropy to a system already chaotic enough to make people fatigue?

There is a distinction, however, between being selective to consume and to produce content. Surely it won’t make any visible contribution to enlarge a huge pie by a zillionth in, but neither will it do any harm. And, it might be this very addition that helps one in need.

As such, the words here don’t exist for being useful. They exist for a potential future me or someone else in search of resonance, recollections, or reconcilement. If there is a possibility, there is a dynamic.

Never say never — Because we say “never” by believing in the “ever.”

Where to start?

Here are some posts I’m satisfied with and illustrative of my personality and interests. You’re also welcomed to check the archive (chronological) and tags (topic-based) pages.

• Technical
  • 理解 Log4Shell 漏洞
  • Word 编号的内部结构与工作原理
  • Apple Watch 指针表盘 —— The Missing Manual
  • 数字世界中的纸张——理解 PDF
• Legal
  • 从 SEC 申报文件看推特收购案的细节
  • The “Big Tech” Congressional Hearing: Things to Know
• Pedant
  • 不要大喊大叫
  • 从邮件通讯的流行谈起
  • 信息消费——从入门到放弃
• ESL
  • 译文 | 雪埋
• Reviews
  • 一次「买椟还珠」的选择——得到阅读器体验
  • Soylent 一年体验记
  • 播客客户端音频特效探微

Chinglish?

For two reasons:

The technical reason is I prefer to write in whichever language my inner voice spoke when I was thinking about the topic because it’s easier.

The philosophical reason is the separation of language can serve as a separation of concerns. As the mother tongue, Chinese can sometimes feel too intimate and natural to express in candidly. Modern Chinese is also becoming regretfully meme- and Newspeak-liked, lacking the tool to write seriously and analytically with. English, though not without problem of its own, provides an alternative for a cowardly, escapist, or cynical me to think and write in. See also Yiyun Li’s To Speak Is to Blunder, one of my favorite essays of all time.

Making-of?

As of February 2022, Neverland is built with Hugo and hosted on Netlify. Prior to that, it was a self-hosted instance of WordPress. I may write about the rationale and process when time permits, but the gist is that the WordPress’ block-based Gutenberg experience turns out to be too voracious for my low-end virtual box and too fiddly for me as a minimalist. On the other hand, the static site generators and serverless providers have really come a long way since my previous flirting with Hexo. That you can set up a simple blog, certificated and CDN’d in minutes is no longer a goal, but a given.

Feeling generous?

You are welcome:

(Or with PayPal.)

Caveat emptor?

Reasonable care has been taken to ensure the information I provided here is experimented or checked by myself and up to date at the time of publication, but it is still subject to inaccuracies and changes. I take no responsibility for any errors, omissions, damages, or distress resulting from following the advice or information made available.

License?

CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 unless otherwise suggested, which means you are free to copy and redistribute the material from this site in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit without remixing, transforming, and using for commercial purposes.

Exceptions are mostly works for hire, contract works, and translated works. Kindly ask when there’s ambiguity.