add new projects, xssbook, and blog post
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src/assets/blog/2025-02-24.md
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src/assets/blog/2025-02-24.md
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---
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name: From Guix to NixOS
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date: 025-02-25T14:57:00-05:00
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desc: I love GNU, but im tired of managing everything myself.
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---
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I love GNU and all of the work they do, but If i have to work a full time job to
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use your software the way I want, its not feasible for me to use...
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### GNU/Guix
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[Guix](https://guix.gnu.org) is a declarative linux distrobution developed by
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the GNU project. If you ever herd of glibc, coreutils, or GNU/Hurd, its that
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crowd. Guix's goal is to build declarative system that is fully libre: the
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primary goal of the GNU project and the free software foundation. This means
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running zero free software, no drm, no binary blobs, no strictly licensed
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code, and not even providing the option to the user to run proprietary software
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if they want. This is the GNU way.
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#### Declarative systems
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A declarative system is built and can be fully reproduced from a single
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configuration. On my old guix system, I had a set of multiple guile scheme files,
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guix's configuration language of choice, that specified the entire system. What
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packages were installed, the users of the system with what groups they have, the
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bootloader, init system and the services it runs, and everything else is all
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contaiend in those scheme files.
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For example, the following scheme defined the users that were on my systems.
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```scheme
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(define freya-user-accounts
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(lambda (groups)
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(cons* (user-account
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(name "freya")
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(comment "Freya Murphy")
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(uid 1000)
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(group "users")
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(shell (file-append zsh "/bin/zsh"))
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(home-directory "/home/freya")
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(create-home-directory? #t)
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(supplementary-groups groups))
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%base-user-accounts)))
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```
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Packages can be defined...
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```scheme
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(define-public %freya-packages
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(append
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(specifications->packages (list ; video audio
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"mesa"
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"mesa-utils"
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; terminal
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"alsa-utils"
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"vim"
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"neovim"
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; .... and so on
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))))
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```
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Guix also uses an inhouse init system called shepherd that defines services using
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guix configuration scheme files. Declarative systems are really cool. If I break
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something, I can easially fix it by rolling-back my system. I dont have to figure
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out what stuff in the system changed, and manually repair it. Since everything is
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defined by configuration, it be overwritten when I rebuild the system state.
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Another thing specific to guix I liked is that it uses guile as its
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configuration language. For these reasons and many more, I switched to guix over
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two years ago and stayed on it until recently. Recently I left guix, and this is
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why.
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### The problems
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1. The Guix package manager is really slow
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I have no gosh darn idea what the heck GNU was doing when they built guix, but
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their package manage is slooooow. Really slow. Snail slow. If I wanted to
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instantiate my configuration on a new system It could easially take one to two
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hours. HOURS.
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Also, the guix package manager doesnt do TLS correctly. I don't
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know what why, but it every so often, especially when installing an entire system,
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it will crash and loose any builds or downloads it was in the middle of processing.
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Since the guix package manager is slow, it then takes a moment to start back up.
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In conclusion, when instantiating a new system, I have to start the installer
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multiple times, which adds to the hassle and install time.
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2. Very few packages
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The main issue with using software that is used by a very small community is
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you will run into things just not being supported. With guix, this is packages.
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Since guix does not expose binaries and shared libraries globally (this is
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just how declarative systems work) you cannot just download software and built it.
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With guix and other declarative systems, you have to package the software to
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get it to run at all.
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Due to this, I had to spend hours packaging software I wanted to use
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including, but not limited to, UEFI firmware for QEMU, Hyprland, my lock screen,
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clipboard, gtk themes, and modern versions of pipewire.
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Since I was packaging all this software myself, there were no official binary
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substitutes avaliable such that I didnt have to build all the software all the
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time. Instead I had to manage my own [build server](https://cuirass.freya.cat/).
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3. No non-free software
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Do you need to use Discord because all your friends use it? Do you want
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drivers to run a functional computer? Well if you asked those to questions GNU,
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GNU would tell you to get better friends and get a better computer.
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I'm sorry but im just not going to do that. Unlike other distrobutions that
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hide non-free software behind a flag, GNU just doesnt support it. At all. Nada.
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There are people in the community that add support themselves in their own
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third-party repositories, but they can break. And even with those third-party
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repositories the software may still not be packaged. Even more If you want to
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package it yourself, guix's build system doesnt make it easy to package non free
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software. Guix does not provide the utilities to do it. There are third-party
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extensions to the build system that make it easier to package proprietary
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software, but its not official and provided by guix.
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4. Documentation and Support
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The biggest issue I had with guix was their documentation and support, or
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the lack there of. In the standard GNU fassion, the support they offer is
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"read the fucking documentation" (RTFM). This is fine if the documentation is good.
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With guix its not.
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You would be lucky to find something in guix documented. You would be even
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luckier if the documentation was any good. With guix, the best place to figure
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how to use the system is IRC chat logs, mailing list archives, reading other
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peoples dotfiles, and reading the guix source code.
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### NixOS (the solution)
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NixOS is another declarative system that is much older, more widly used, and
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better supported then GNU/Guix. Guix was even a hard-fork of Nix. The major
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two differences is that NixOS is configured using their inhouse nix language,
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which isnt great, and that NixOS uses systemd for their init system.
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Besides not being able to use lisp, and being forced to use systemd, there are
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many benifits to NixOS over Guix. Nix supports non-free software if you choose
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to use it. Nix has good documentation. Nix has packages for almost everything.
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And compared to guix, nix is really fast.
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So I switched.
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#### My experience
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Ive been on NixOS for a little over a month now, and I'm loving it much better.
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The nix language is kind weird, but I can live with it. I dont have to use
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third-party repositories just to get packages to get my system to boot. It
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takes minutes not hours to setup a system. Everything just works™.
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You can see my guix configuration [here](https://g.freya.cat/freya/dotfiles-guix)
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and my nix configuration [here](https://g.freya.cat/freya/dotfiles-nix). If you
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are trying to learn or switch to either system, you can use them as a good
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resource. You can also view the guix repository I created called [sakura](https://g.freya.cat/freya/sakura)
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when I had to package things. But if you need a recommendation to use either GUIX
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or NixOS, from someone who used Guix for two years, use Nix.
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7
src/assets/projects/11-mips.md
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7
src/assets/projects/11-mips.md
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---
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name: mips
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repo: mips
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---
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mips is a mips32 full toolchain featuring an assembler (masm), linker (mld),
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and simulator (msim) for all the mips ELF programs you need.
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7
src/assets/projects/12-crimson.md
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src/assets/projects/12-crimson.md
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---
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name: crimson
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repo: crimson
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---
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crimson is a barebones PHP framework for all your model view controller needs.
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It is currently used on xssbook.com and integrated into this website.
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8
src/assets/projects/13-iris.md
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8
src/assets/projects/13-iris.md
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---
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name: iris
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repo: iris
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---
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iris is a declarative package manager for NeoVIM that providies the ability to
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lock the commits to your plugin repositories. Usefull for setups in NixOS or
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GNU/Guix.
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@ -47,7 +47,11 @@
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<tr>
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<th><?=lang('contact_xmpp')?></th>
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<td><a href="xmpp:freya@freya.cat">freya@freya.cat</a></td>
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</tr>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<th>XSSbook</th>
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<td><a href="https://xssbook.com/profile?id=7">Admin istrator</a></td>
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</tr>
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</tbody>
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</table>
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</div>
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@ -5,10 +5,10 @@ $lang['title'] = $lang['first_name'];
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# sections
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$lang['about'] = 'About';
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$lang['section_about'] = '
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Hello! My name is Freya, and I am a person on the internet.
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I like to make projects that involve many things, though some of my
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favorites are operating systems, programming languages, and networking
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infrastructure.
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Hi, and welcome to my webbed site! I go by Freya (IPA). I make cool
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programming projects, work as a software developer, and lurk on the
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interwebz. You can find me tinerking with systems programming, networking, and
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declarative linux distros.
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';
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$lang['whats_new'] = 'Whats New?';
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@ -23,11 +23,11 @@ $lang['interests'] = 'Interests';
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$lang['interests_general'] = 'General';
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$lang['interests_general_value'] = 'Computing, Anime, FNaF';
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$lang['interests_music'] = 'Music';
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$lang['interests_music_value'] = 'Billy Joel, Linkin Park, Vocaloid, Neil Cicierega';
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$lang['interests_music_value'] = 'Vocaloid (Len <3), Neil Cicierega, SiIvaGunner';
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$lang['interests_anime'] = 'Anime';
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$lang['interests_anime_value'] = 'Sasaki and Miyano, Evangalion, Code Geass, Stranger by the Shore';
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$lang['interests_comics'] = 'Comics';
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$lang['interests_comics_value'] = 'Homestuck';
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$lang['interests_anime_value'] = 'Evangalion, Code Geass, Banana Fish, Stranger by the Shore';
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$lang['interests_comics'] = 'Comics / Books';
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$lang['interests_comics_value'] = 'Homestuck, Erha';
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# contact
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$lang['contact'] = 'Contact Me';
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