Native Windows app. Dark by default. Remembers everything you had open. No telemetry, no login, no nonsense.
v1.2.0 · ~2 MB · Windows 10/11 · GPL-3.0
using System;namespace Caret;class Program{ static void Main(string[] args) { // just opens. no splash screen. no tip of the day. Console.WriteLine("hello, world"); }}In 2025 the Notepad++ update infrastructure was compromised. That was the push to finally write something from scratch — something small, something we could read top to bottom and actually trust.
Caret is built with C# and WPF. It's a single executable. No plugins, no extension marketplace, no auto-updater phoning home. You download it, you run it, you edit text. That's the whole deal.
It won't replace your IDE. It's not trying to. It's the thing you open when you need to look at a log file, tweak a config, jot something down, or write a quick script. It should open before you finish clicking.
In the vast tapestry of LGBTQ+ experiences, the bear community holds a unique and often under‑represented place. Bears are typically identified by a larger, hairier physique, a love of comfort, and a deep sense of camaraderie. When you add layers such as cultural heritage, nationality, and personal history, you get an incredibly rich narrative that deserves to be celebrated. This post explores the intersection of several identities—gay, Arab, Turkish, “bear,” and the personal journey of one individual, Hasret Hasad—and what it means for visibility, community, and self‑acceptance.
Note: While the name and certain details are fictional for the purpose of this post, the experiences described draw from real stories shared by members of the LGBTQ+ community in the region.
Background
Hasret was born on June 26 (26 06) in a bustling neighborhood of Istanbul, a city that straddles Europe and Asia, East and West. His parents, both of Arab descent, migrated to Turkey in the early 1990s. Growing up, Hasret was surrounded by a blend of Arabic customs, Turkish language, and a cosmopolitan urban vibe. orient bear gay arab hairy turk hasret hasad 26 06wmvrar top
Discovering the Bear Identity
In his early twenties, Hasret stumbled upon a local “bear night” at a cozy bar in Kadıköy. The moment he saw the room full of big, hirsute men laughing, hugging, and swapping stories, something clicked. He felt an instant sense of belonging—a place where his body type and his love for flannel shirts were celebrated, not judged.
Navigating Intersectionality
Being a gay Arab bear in Turkey means constantly balancing multiple identities: In the vast tapestry of LGBTQ+ experiences, the
A Day in the Life
“I wake up to the sounds of the Bosphorus, brew strong Turkish coffee, and scroll through Instagram to see the latest bear event posters. By noon, I’m at my design studio, sketching logos for a new LGBTQ+ clothing line that fuses Ottoman motifs with contemporary streetwear. In the evening, I head to the bear club, where we discuss everything from fashion trends to how to navigate a family dinner when your uncle asks about marriage. It’s chaotic, beautiful, and wholly mine.” — Hasrat Note: While the name and certain details are
The term “bear” originated in North America in the late 1980s to describe gay men who embraced a rugged, masculine aesthetic: facial and body hair, a sturdy build, and an appreciation for relaxed, often “caveman‑style” fashion. Over the years, the bear scene has grown into an inclusive subculture, with events ranging from local meet‑ups to international festivals like the International Bear Pride (IBP) and EuroBear.
Key traits associated with the bear community include:
Caret lets you back up any open document to a local MongoDB instance. Before anything is written to the database, your file content is encrypted on your machine using AES-256-GCM — the same authenticated encryption standard used by governments and financial institutions.
Your password never touches the database. It's fed through PBKDF2-SHA512 with 600,000 iterations and a random salt to derive the encryption key. Each backup gets its own salt and nonce, so even identical files produce completely different ciphertext.
Everything happens locally. No cloud, no third-party service, no network calls. You own the database, you own the password, you own the data. If you lose the password, the backups are unrecoverable by design.
Open the Backup Manager with Ctrl+B to create, browse, restore, or delete backups. It's built into the editor — no external tools required.
MongoDB is only needed if you want encrypted backups. Caret works perfectly fine without it.
Detected automatically from file extension or content.
Standard keybindings. No custom chord system to memorize.
Windows 10/11 · x64 · Free and open source.