Cookie policy
This site stores very little in your browser. Here is all of it, with its real name, what it does and how long it lasts.
UPDATED · 2026-08-30
What a cookie is, and why this page talks about two things
A cookie is a tiny file a site leaves in your browser to remember something between visits. Local storage does the same by another route, and the law treats both the same. So both are here.
What you won't find: third-party analytics, tracking pixels, advertising or profiles. There is no Google Analytics. It isn't a stance, I just don't need them.
What this site stores
Four things. Three are mine and one is Google's, and that last one only if you authorise it.
| NAME | PURPOSE | DURATION | OWNER |
|---|---|---|---|
| ac-themelocal storage | Remembers whether you picked the light or the dark theme. It only appears if you touch the toggle; until then it doesn't exist. | Until you clear your browser data | First party |
| NEXT_LOCALEcookie | Remembers which language you're reading in, so you don't get sent back to Spanish on every page. | 1 year | First party |
| ac-consentcookie | Stores what you accepted and what you declined here, with the date. Without it I'd have to ask you on every page. | 12 months | First party |
| VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE, YSC and others from youtube.comthird-party cookies | Set by YouTube when an embedded video loads, and only if you accepted "Marketing and third parties". The exact names are Google's and they change; the current list is in their policy. | Session, and up to 6 months depending on the cookie | Google Ireland Ltd. |
The visitor counter on the home page
It's the only figure on the site I didn't write myself, so it deserves the long explanation.
When you load the home page, the server computes a SHA-256 hash of your IP address, your browser and a secret key that changes every day. It stores that hash only so it doesn't count you twice on the same day, and adds one to a total. The rows holding hashes are deleted after two days. All that survives is a number.
There is no cookie, no identifier, and today's hash can't be compared with yesterday's, because the key is no longer the same. I could ask you nothing on that basis. I ask anyway: if you say no to "Measurement", your visit isn't counted — and it isn't counted on the server, not just in your browser.
The side effect is that if you come back tomorrow, you count again. That's the price of not keeping a permanent identifier for you, and it seems cheap to me.
The YouTube videos
Articles with a video embed it from youtube-nocookie.com, which writes no cookies until you hit play. That isn't enough: merely loading the player already sends your IP address to Google.
So the player doesn't load unless you accepted "Marketing and third parties". Instead you get the marked placeholder and a button to load it just that once, without changing your general decision.
From play onwards Google's terms apply, not mine. And if you withdraw permission the player disappears immediately, but anything Google already stored is cleared from your browser, not from here.
How to change your mind
In the footer of any page there is "Cookie preferences". It opens the same panel, with your choices already ticked, and you change whatever you want.
Your decision is stored for twelve months. After that I ask again: consent from years ago doesn't say much.
Clearing them from the browser
You can also do it yourself, without coming through here. Every browser explains it in its help pages:
If this changes
If I ever add something that stores data in your browser, it will appear in that table before it starts being used and I'll ask you again. The date at the top says when this page was last touched.