Recently, I saw a post on the NS forum asking how to optimize WordPress rendering speed from 2 seconds to under 1 second. My immediate thought was the OpenLiteSpeed + SQLite solution. Firstly, because OpenLiteSpeed is built for extreme WordPress acceleration, and secondly, using OLS + SQLite on a low-performance VPS can maximize server resource savings and deliver a noticeable speed boost.
2025 has quietly slipped away. Seizing the tail end of the final day, let’s draw a perfect conclusion for this year.
A brief look back: this year, I published a total of 100 blog posts (including this one), covering a wide and eclectic range of topics.
1. Deep Dives into Technical Exploration. From “Using Goaccess in 1panel to Replace Website Monitoring” to “Migrating Soomal.cc to Hugo” and “Adding Article Search Functionality to HUGO”, nearly one-fifth of the year’s articles focused on blog operations, tool optimization, and open-source practices. Technology is the skeleton, supporting the continuous growth of content.
Recently, Lao T suddenly discovered that some AIs already have shopping capabilities. For example, when wanting to buy a cabinet for a specific gap in the bathroom, the conventional method is to search on shopping apps using keywords like “side cabinet,” “gap cabinet,” or “narrow cabinet,” then browse product detail pages one by one. If dimensions are unclear, you might need to contact customer service; for material or installation concerns, or worries about quality, you’d have to sift through reviews. But now, AI shopping models are likely changing this approach.
Recently, a relative of Old T was injured and hospitalized after accidentally falling on their way home from work. According to the injury assessment, it would take at least six months after surgery to regain the ability to work. Their biggest concerns were: 1. Will they be able to keep their job? 2. How can they secure their basic livelihood during this period when they are unable to work?
This year’s Christmas in the United States feels a bit quieter than before.
It’s not because the weather is colder, but because people’s hearts have grown colder.
Under the sudden tariff hikes imposed by Trump, prices for Christmas gifts and toys imported from China have risen to some extent. For ordinary consumers, this may just mean a few extra dollars in their shopping carts, but for importers already operating on thin profit margins, it represents a critical line between survival and failure.
Over the past couple of years, I’ve read numerous analysis articles about AI, and I’ve written a few myself. But the more I write, the more I feel the focus of the discussion might be a bit off. Whether it’s computing power, model parameters, or comparisons of AI investment scales between China and the US, these essentially remain comparisons at the “outcome level”: who computes faster, who applies it more, who raises more capital. This way of discussing things isn’t meaningless, but it implies a hidden assumption: as long as you master enough knowledge, data, and methods, wisdom will naturally emerge.
Recently, around the Winter Solstice, the sun rises at its latest time of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. Almost every morning, I have to “battle” with my two children, trying to get them out of bed while it’s still dark outside to make it to school for breakfast at 7:20. The process is exhausting, and I can’t help but think how difficult it is to raise two kids, let alone three or four. Little did I expect that while driving to school and listening to the radio, I would hear a news report about a “Chinese billionaire going to the US to have 100 children.” My blood pressure instantly spiked. Good grief, ordinary people struggle to raise two or three children, yet these individuals are having 100 at once.
In recent years, I have installed the 1Panel control panel on almost all my VPS instances, mainly because it is simple and easy to use. However, since 1Panel launched its Professional Edition, features like website monitoring are no longer available in the free version.
A few days ago, I came across a tech news article mentioning that 33 years ago, a British engineer named Neil Papworth sent the world’s first SMS—“Merry Christmas”—from his computer. Since then, SMS quickly became a globally ubiquitous messaging tool.
Coincidentally, a few nights ago, my child found one of my long-unused backup phones wedged in the sofa. After plugging it in and turning it on, I was greeted with a barrage of dozens of messages. The vast majority of these were notifications from online services I had previously linked to that phone number, along with some marketing messages for online loans and promotional offers from carriers.
Recently, several articles published by Lao T have drawn questions from readers in the comments section about whether the content was AI-generated. I can definitely answer that: no.
But, to be honest, AI did play a role in the creation process.
Coincidentally, this morning Lao T saw an article titled “Zero AI Writing” on the HN front page. Inspired by it, let’s discuss the flaws of AI writing and how to distinguish it.