Bonum Certa Men Certa

Gemini Links 13/06/2023: GPL and Upgrading Debian Bullseye



  • Gemini* and Gopher

    • Personal/Opinions

      • Blowing it up and gone.



        I was just over at Tinny and Reg's old place. Yeah, you know the last one. I went to drag over some pallets, to prop up the right front of their old van laying in the grass aside the sheds. It was hard to set inside the back of it, there on the plywood sheet the kids lay in there. Hot too, even with the hatch removed.

        Those kids still come around there sometimes. They once had more in store. I surely can't fix that, but I'll add what I can. Even if it's just someplace dry and shady to while away the summer, one bottle-flip at a time. A space is a space.

      • Photos from the UAF Botanical Garden

        My family visited the UAF botanical garden this last Saturday. It was a little disappointing, because a lot of plants had not flowered yet, and the ones that had flowered, had been beaten up badly by a recent wind and rain storm. But nonetheless I got some good photos. Sorry, I don't know the identification for most of these flowers; I didn't see much at the garden by way of signs or labels to tell me what is what.

      • Tokyo Thoughts #1

        I spent the last few days in Tokyo. It is an amazing place. The people are very proud of where they live and they take good care of it. They are nice and welcoming. It makes me think that Americans have forgotten how to be kind and how to care for our culture.

      • Tokyo Thoughts #2

        Almost no one in Tokyo looks at you on the streets, at least not in the eyes. I feel like this is respectful, but VERY different than in the US.

        This phenomenon is the same in big US cities, though. Certainly, in Chicago people also avoid looking at strangers. It just felt like I was so separate from the citizens of Tokyo.

      • Bad Dreams at Mt. Fuji

        I had a bad dream about you last night as I slept here next to Mt. Fuji, Brandon. The gist of the dream was that I was driving both your cars around and someone was trying to take them from me. I awoke grunting as someone was trying to take our Jeep! I think it happened because just before bed last night, I posted on here my first thoughts that weren't about you. My brain was connecting you to where I am now.

      • News of my demise, etc etc

        So, some quick advice: Don't get COVID.

        I went back to Seattle in the beginning of March, wore a mask the whole time (my partner did not. I think this is important). We got to drop in on Emerald City Comic Con, which was well missed, and I was so happy to be there, and also just walk around the city again. I miss walking around cities.

        My partner was sick by the time we were done at ECCC (they did wear a mask there, as we do for conventions). By the time we got home, I had cold-like symptoms. That Tuesday I was fully sick with it.

        [...]

        Anyway, three months out, I still have a little bit of a cough, and my brain fog has mostly cleared up. I truly believe it could have been so much worse, if I had not gotten vaccines. I wish I had gotten the booster before I left town.

      • 2023 Week 22/23: Status and Photos

        A friend from out of town is visiting us this week, and to show him around the area, we've done many activities we don't normally do. My favorite so far has been a visit to a nearby amusement park, which we haven't been to since 2017.

        My family gave me three old hard drives to try to pull data from. The oldest was from our family Windows 95 PC, the second had Windows 98 installed, and the newest was salvaged from my dad's Windows XP system--which was heavily used by my sister whenever she snuck into his office room after bedtime. I was able to successfully clone the 98 and XP drives, but the 95 drive appears to have some sort of logic fault that prevents the head from reading the platters properly. I don't hear any clicks, whines, scrapes or beeps when it powers up, and my computer can even detect the correct storage size, but it can't read any data. I may need the help of an expert on old hard drives.

        The recent big buzz on Gemini seems to be about user authentication. The question is, in short, if one creates accounts on two different services with the same client certificate, how can one prove the accounts belong to the same person? Without some way to see information about users' certificates, and without third-party tools such as PGP, this doesn't appear to be possible.

    • Science

      • The EURion Constellation

        On some notes they’re disguised: one on UK bank note they’re musical notes, although the music doesn’t make sense. On others they are zeros mixed in with other digits.

        The pattern has a very specific purpose: it’s very quick to automatically detect, and it says “I am a bank note”. Various pieces of hardware and software look for it, and will refuse to copy the image if it’s found.

    • Technology and Free Software

      • Upgrading Debian Bullseye (11) to Bookworm (12)

        I’m reading the release notes, and following the instructions. I started reading at 14:20, and I logged into the server at 14:34. – 2021-08-30 Upgrading Debian Buster (10) to Bullseye (11)

      • The GPL: A Postmortem

        I do not have much corporate experience, but recall folks saying "do not bring in GPL" at some FAANG or the other. Other random comments indicate this is a fairly common corporate position. Still others use copyleft licenses as a poison pill: pay up for your proprietary or I'll tap this enforcement card. Sleepycat Software comes to mind, though Michael Olson is doing different things these days. The AGPL has likewise been weaponized in the cloud wars. Others can maybe ignore the GPL as they don't distribute anything—welcome to cloud city, where our deals never change!—or they make their money elsewhere, so why not open up the code? However, a GPL does not seem a common or anyways exclusive license choice here.

      • Dinosauria

        I came across this incomprehensibly gorgeous animation series by David James Armsby and I have not emotionally recovered from it. The love and respect he has for dinosaurs is tangible. I cried at least 15 times. His process videos are also very worth watching because of the sheer amount of preproduction work he does - including very large fully painted dinosaur sculptures(??!?!??!)

      • Internet/Gemini

        • And now for my next trick

          As of now, all of my personal side projects that I've shared are basically complete (I just have to add query support to Cosmarmot). Lately I've been playing with writing GTK4 apps in Common Lisp, my reasons being that I really enjoy the look of a well-designed GTK/Libadwaita application, especially one that supports responsive design for narrow windows and mobile, and fits in well in my Gnome desktop, and because the Common Lisp bindings are so good thanks to the very good GObject introspection bindings. I've done enough to start to get comfortable with writing GUI code, something that has never been my forté. The last time I dipped my toes in desktop GUI programming was writing panel widgets for Gnome 1 (!) in Python. I do feel like writing something fun in it, though.

          I have two ideas, and I'm only probably going to work on one. Both of them are kind of unnecessary for their respective ecosystems, but each would add something that hasn't appeared or hasn't become common yet.

        • Gemtext can be worse than plaintext

          Recently I was thinking about the limitations of gemtext, and how to work around those. For inspiration, I started thinking about how those issues were handled in other limited formats. I thought back to what's often considered the most limited format: plaintext files.

          Plaintext is limiting because it has no formatting at all. There are no semantic elements. That's also part of it's strength, allowing it the most universal support.

          Comparing gemtext to other, intentionally more advanced markup languages would not be a fair comparison. But what about a step down to plaintext?

        • Gemini: Exploring the Cozy World of Capsules and Space

          This post is made to give you basic understanding of what Gemini is, what are Capsules and Gemlogs, modern-day use of retro image techniques and text-based art

      • Programming

        • Variable scope acts like a devil for the user 👿

          You can clone an object to get more than one. The variables in scope 2 are only available to the clones. But...

          If you update a variable in one of the clones, the others don't see the change. When you make a clone, the current *value* is given to the clonee but the cloner keeps its own copy.

          So my code for keeping track of the number of active clones fails.

        • New Chapter

          Last week my job hunt came to a close when I accepted a software engineering role with a pretty large, well-known company. The timing couldn't have been any better either since my last class is over in two weeks.

          I've been looking forward to it more and more as it's had time to settle in. The office I'll be working at is in a good location and we'll be really close to family. I also feel excited about the opportunity long-term. I'm sure there'll be room for growth inside the company and whenever it's time for me to move on I'm confident I'll have gotten some valuable experience.


* Gemini (Primer) links can be opened using Gemini software. It's like the World Wide Web but a lot lighter.



Recent Techrights' Posts

EPO Union Bemoans Lack of Social Dialogue as Dictator Wishes to Govern Forever (No Elections, No Rivals), Hide the Many Issues
"Exchange of open letters"
IBM Cannot Hide the Layoffs Forever
we welcome whistleblower to tell us more and send us documents related to that
What is a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA)? When Law Firms Become the Litigants.
And the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) needs to be more serious about tackling this
Brigading Against Women - Part XX - Attempts by Lozza to Deplatform Techrights and Tux Machines Only Days After I Sued Garrett and My Wife Also Sued Garrett (Shortly Before the Serial Strangler From Microsoft Joined)
in 2024
Links 06/10/2026: A Year Since "NSA Whistleblower Reality Winner Released From Prison", World Tries to Deal With El Niño
Links for the day
 
Microsoft Hiring Only on the Cheap
Much of the same can be said about GAFAM and IBM
Gemini Links 06/10/2026: Nightfall Express, Shorthanding, and Raspberry Pi Desktop Gets a Debian Trixie Refresh
Links for the day
20th Anniversary Next Month
We are currently trying to agree on a plan for next month's celebrations
Taking Photos With Richard Stallman (RMS)
What's the point?
GAFAM Attack on FreeDesktop
Now they push lots of LLM slop into Linux
GNU/Linux Has Risen in France Since the Order to Adopt GNU/Linux (in Public Services)
We can expect the same in countries like Denmark, Switzerland, Germany, and The Netherlands
On Microsoft Hiring Freeze or No Permanent Jobs at Microsoft Anymore (Amid Many Silent Layoffs)
Microsoft has changed what it can offer workers
EPO's Central Staff Committee Asking The Council to Get Rid of Corrupt Campinos
We'll be covering EPO scandals around the time of that meeting
Gemini Links 06/10/2026: EU Kids Act, Practicality of Gemini, and Games
Links for the day
Links 06/10/2026: Data Breaches Epidemic and Turkey Blocking Journalists
Links for the day
The Whole Point of Computing is That Computers Are Deterministic (Speed With Predictable Accuracy)
Unlike stochastic parrots that stochastically utter out lies
It's Not a Linux Back Door If It's an Unpatched Device
"Linux Backdoor" is a glaring misfit, a possibly 'obscene' term
"SIRIUS CORPORATION LIMITED" as Evidence of the Financial Shell Games in the UK
Rianne and I still have some fond memories of the time the ex-wife of the CEO treated us like human beings
Lots of Silent Layoffs at IBM Last Week, Employees Explain Patterns of Those Impacted
It wasn't just gossip, it actually happened even if the media chose to look the other way (as usual)
Gemini Links 06/10/2026: Fighting for Purpose, Gemlogs, and Gemtext
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, October 05, 2026
IRC logs for Monday, October 05, 2026
Red Hat is Phased Out of Existence This Month Onwards
Within a few years we'll probably not see many redhat.com addresses anymore; many became ibm.* last week
Finland's GNU/Linux Share Measured at 12%
Last month GNU/Linux was measured at about 10% in Finland
UK Layoffs and Closures by Microsoft. In Expected Blow, Microsoft Likely Shuts Down Another Studio.
Microsoft's layoffs are never-ending, they just try to keep them all secret.
NVIDIA Buys the Media With Companies It Sponsors to Pretend to be Customers (Circular Funding Scheme)
The media crisis worsens
Discussion About Potential Sale of EPO Buildings and Enshittification of Europe's Largest Patent Office
It's noteworthy that only one hour (or 70 minutes) was devoted to so many topics
Brigading Against Women - Part IXX - Overreaction From Young Female Professional After Invalid Threats Made and Sent From an Incel in Another Continent
Cowards who send threats after committing crimes online
Stonewalling by Bots
We'll now turn our attention back to EPO and other matters
Gemini Links 05/10/2026: "Posthumanism", Cardputer, and More
Links for the day
Links 05/10/2026: “I’m Embarrassed on Behalf of the Tech Industry” and Slop Scammers "Lobbying the Vatican"
Links for the day
SIRIUS OPEN SOURCE LTD Officially Insolvent, Is Reform UK Next?
Sirius no more
Links 05/10/2026: "Congress Must Investigate War Profiteers Once Again" and Update on Thomson Reuters v. Ross Intelligence
Links for the day
libera.chat is an Agenda-Peddling Platform Run by Agenda-Peddling Individuals
The volunteers of libera.chat ("staff") aren't working for free, they work towards an agenda
Nobel Season is Plutocracy Week
Later this week the billionaires will give a fake "Nobel" (in "Economics") to someone who parrots their preferred narrative and those same billionaires will use "Nobel" to bless the promoter of their latest pyramid scheme/buzzword
GNU/Linux Market Share in North America 13% This Past Weekend
It is perhaps not shocking that adoption of GNU/Linux is very high there
When Did Europe Begin to Side With White-Collar Criminals (or Participate in Suppressing People Who Oppose Them)?
How much corruption can we tolerate before the European Union becomes another Russian Federation?
Libera Chat's "Level of Control Might Make Sense for a Corporate Platform"
IRC is not centralised
Brigading Against Women - Part XVIII - Turning Censorship Attempts (Articles About Matthew Garrett) Into Mild Redactions
What Lozza did two years ago
Greenland Needs Digital Sovereignty
the large icy island isn't moving to GNU/Linux as quickly as the rest of Europe
Tracker of Internet Relay Chat Networks Out of Service (But Not Down) Since Thursday
We should note that the number of unique networks they track has grown since we last checked
Gemini Links 05/10/2026: NixOS, Guix, Codeberg Banning Slop, and "Gopher Apps on Android"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, October 04, 2026
IRC logs for Sunday, October 04, 2026
Secret Microsoft Layoffs and Maybe Another "Voluntary Exit Program at Microsoft in October"
there's a morale crisis at Microsoft
MIT Technology Review (MTR) Reinforces MIT's Role in Promoting Slop (Pyramid Scheme) in Exchange for Money
MIT is a poster boy (or child) of institutional corruption, perverts, and corporate takeover
Many Topics to Cover
Drops in a big ocean
Proving Wrong Those Slop Maximalists and Boosters, GAFAM Says Slop is a Nuisance and Bans/Hides the Slop Submissions
People who say slop in projects is inevitable or even desirable are usually cheaters with self-guilt
Links 04/10/2026: “AI Torture Chamber” and "Aggressive Push to Integrate Hey Hi (AI) Slop Into Schools Is Turning Into a Disaster"
Links for the day
How Microsoft Hides Massive Layoffs From the Media (as Explained by Microsofters)
"rewards" are not exactly rewarding
Brigading Against Women - Part XVII - The Appeal
more to be known towards the end of the year
Gemini Links 04/10/2026: Peace in Outage, Pen Pals, and deGoogling
Links for the day
Links 04/10/2026: Fires Rage in Borneo and Mass Layoffs at Disney
Links for the day
Garrett's Litigation Partner is Unemployed Again
losing one's job
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, October 03, 2026
IRC logs for Saturday, October 03, 2026