Bonum Certa Men Certa

Gemini Links 15/06/2023: Solaris and Deliberate Practice



  • Gemini* and Gopher

    • Personal/Opinions

      • "Soyokaze"

        According to wordhippo, "Soyokaze" means gentle breeze; slight breeze. It has been rather stuffy here in Tokyo over the past few days: going back and forth from wet and humid to dry and humid. I've managed to keep the AC off and stick with USB fans .. but for how much longer?

      • The library rocks!

        Took my little guy to the library today, he participated in a "baby laptime" program and got to bounce to different songs, read (or more accurately chew on) books and play with other little ones.

        It's really amazing to me that libraries offer these services for free. Since my son was born in November, we've gone from never using the library to visting on a weekly basis. We've started borrowing books, movies and even video games. I've mostly stopped paying for content (besides the newest Zelda game haha). Just last week I got to play the newest God of War game (admittedly after a 3 month wait, but I'm not in a rush). Older games and movies are available within a day or two (they'll even transfer it between locations for you).

      • Other People Have Loved This Too

        There's a park near me that I sometimes go to, with a canal running right through the middle of it. Recently I was wandering through a part of it I don't go to much, far off in a little corner. There the canal turns and that opens up a lovely vista where you can see straight down it and all the land around it.

      • IT WireNextcloud offers on-premise AI capabilities in Hub 5 release [Ed: Now with more buzzwords]

        In a statement, the company said given that numerous organisations were scrambling to build AI into their products, Nextcloud was well placed to be a platform for collaboration when dealing with sensitive data.

        "What do Goldman Sachs and Citi Group have in common with Samsung and Apple?" asked Nextcloud founder and chief executive Frank Karlitschek.

        "They all ban the use of ChatGPT and other online AI products for fear of data leaks. This is entirely sensible, given the record of the companies offering these services.

        {loadposition sam08}"While AI offers incredible opportunities to improve the productivity of employees, the risks are equally large.

    • Science

      • Solaris

        Solaris, in all forms, was a huge influence on me. I remember being up late as a small child, Tarkovsky's Solaris on TV. I was desperately trying to figure out what's going on, but it was very mysterious and completely over my head...

        Later on my father introduced me to Lem, my life-long favorite writer. I've read and re-read Solaris many times, always finding something different...

        The movie is kind of nuts, to be honest. I think it was an attempt to match 2001-A Space Odyssey in scope. I am always particularly amused by the running-around-the-circular-hallway-for-no-reason scene, which to me rings as a low-budget response to glorious rotating space-station excercise scene, and the 15-minute driving-through-the-tunnel-for-no-reason scene matching the hyperspace jump scene...

    • Technology and Free Software

      • Re: beehiveth: degrowth and its discontents

        I do this here USENET-like quote-and-reply thing from time to time, imagining it's going to coax feedback and/or engagement from someone somewhere along the line, despite the vast majority of life evidence screaming it won't. But I do it anyway because I enjoy the mechanics, and can occasionally imagine such engagement transpiring, e.g. imagine responses, counter-responses, etc.

      • Deliberate Practice

        The Orange Site linked to some article or the other on Deliberate Practice, so here are some thoughts on DP.

        Cultures vary in depth, or even within a culture; some pour the tea into a cup, while elsewhere there is a whole ceremony. DP may be necessary to get halfway good at a tea ceremony in a reasonable amount of time. Others pour their coffee from a device that was cleaned last who knows, while elsewhere one will wait for the barista to try a few more pulls until they get it just right. Either method works if you only want some stims for the day. Either may be a bad habit if done too often.

        Cutting out distractions—smartphones, the internet—may help build concentration. Without sustained concentration, what can you learn? There is a Goldilocks zone, maybe three to five hours of good, deep practice per day, split into sessions maybe an hour to 90 minutes long. Spending more time on the same task is pointless and may even regress. The quality of the practice—focused, intent, looking for the errors and how to improve—is more important than quantity of practice.

      • Internet/Gemini

        • The state of the internet

          The internet has gotten complicated. Websites take gigabytes of data, complicated pipelines, frameworks and teams of enigineers. I should know, I've been one of those engineers. I've also been a designer, having to consider to complexity of the beats we build these days. But it wasn't always this way, and I'm not convinced it *better* this way.


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



Recent Techrights' Posts

Slopwatch: Plagiarism, Fake Articles, and FUD About Linux
not a day goes by without Google News feeding FUD from slopfarms
Gemini Links 01/10/2025: Chat Control and End of Life
Links for the day
Links 01/10/2025: Long Covid Risk Reiterated, "Bitcoin Queen" Caught
Links for the day
Links 01/10/2025: EA $55 Billion Deal is Debt and Slop "Raises Vishing Risks"
Links for the day
Bluewashing at Red Hat Means Redundancies
The man who sold Red Hat to IBM meanwhile became a Microsoft Mono booster
After Killing OpenSource.com, IBM ('Red Hat') and OSI Told Us OpenSource.net Would Replace It (But That Didn't Happen)
Now it's time to move on, perhaps tarnishing the "Open Source" label some more (for whatever sponsor wants this)
Linux is Not a Community Project, It's a Wall Street Product
The core goal should be freedom
Bad Actors Abusing the Free Software Community, Vandalising It Using Rogue Politics and Old Tactics
Oil giants have long attempted to do this; now, the digital equivalent of Big Oil does this in technology
Social Control Media Isn't the Future, The Federation or Fediverse Isn't Growing, People's Accounts Vanish for Good
users' accounts will get deleted, not just become inactive
IBM is Failing, This Helps Show Wall Street is Entirely Detached From Actual Commercial Performance
IBM is unable to grow, it's just constantly shrinking
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, September 30, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, September 30, 2025
Clerical Aspects of Publishing and Development
In Free software, the management aspects are considerably reduced
Slopwatch: Fake Articles and Google News Promoting "Linux" Spam or Bot-Generated Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt (FUD)
These slopfarms help misplace blame
Third Wave of Microsoft Layoffs in September, This Time Many in Liverpool Affected
Be ready for more waves of layoffs ahead of the so-called "results" in late October
Gemini Links 30/09/2025: Motorcycling in Central Oregon, Protocol Styles and the Flag of Sark
Links for the day
Links 30/09/2025: Death Sentences, Internet Censorship, and Internet Shutdowns
Links for the day
Gemini Links 30/09/2025: Social Control Media and ROOPHLOCH
Links for the day
Richard Stallman About to Give More Talks in Europe, Some Confirmed Already
In Göteborg
Links 30/09/2025: CERN in "Have I Been Pwned" and More Windows TCO Blunders
Links for the day
Microsoft Canonical is Selling Mass Surveillance and Back Doors as "Security for Ubuntu"
If you are looking for a GNU/Linux distro to use, just remember that Microsoft has Ubuntu in the bag
Justice for Wildlife
animals cannot speak to humans who hate animals
Cowboys Gonna Be Cowboys (on the Internet, They're Not a New Problem)
Boys will be boys
Cowboys of the "Left" and Cowboys of the "Right"
Don't believe the lie that this is some "leftist" thing
When Codes of Conduct Serve to Protect Criminals From Much-Deserved Scrutiny
CoCs are typically unfit for purpose because enforcement lacks context and suitable understanding of the full background (the "full story")
It Took the Open Source Initiative (OSI) 4+ Years to Address the 'Data Breach' or Data Protection Violation Reported to the California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) in March 2025
We may never know the dialogue or its nature
Even Microsoft's Biggest Boosters (and Media Operatives) Are Turning Against Microsoft
Expect many more layoffs before the fake "results" next month
GNU Was Right 42+ Years Ago
Since then the abusive, user-hostile technology has spread like mushrooms
Old Isn't Always Inadequate
How many gadgets manufactured today (in 2025) will still work in 2075?
The Monkey Business of Rust People
Compatibility won't matter
Almost Half of the FSFE's Money (the Fake 'FSF', Misusing the Brand) Comes From Vodafone
That money always comes with strings, even if they're invisible to most of us
Microsoft Lunduke Spreads Deliberate Lies to Incite Online Mobs
Has he lost his reading comprehension skills?
Our 19th Birthday (in Just Over 5 Weeks From Now)
We meanwhile have ongoing, solid plans to cover patent-related issues when the FSF turns 40
British GNU/Linux Distro FydeOS Tops DistroWatch
That seems like a decent site and decent effort to keep an eye on
We'll Soon Have 75,000 GemText Pages
avoid many perils of today's Web
Google Used Free Software to Build a Monopoly. Now Google Kicks Free Software to the Curb
The "G" in "Google" does not stand for GNU. It never did. It's just another greedy company.
Gemini Links 30/09/2025: Retro Hardware, Federated Fragmentation, and Nex Server Written in C
Links for the day
4 More Days Till "4 decades, 4 freedoms, 4 all users"
We are now just 4 days away from the rare anniversary
Two Months After Merging to Hide GitHub Losses Microsoft is Doing It Again (This Time Windows)
Merging those two together is not a sign of strength but a tightening of budget
Speculations About the Next Large Wave of IBM/Red Hat Layoffs
the mass layoffs are likely to happen on week 3 or 4 in October
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, September 29, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, September 29, 2025
Links 29/09/2025: Opposition to Surveillance Giant Google and Conflicts Worldwide (Moldova Sides With EU)
Links for the day
Why the EPO Never Managed to Silence Us (After Over a Decade of Trying)
Firms like Mishcon de Reya and Brett Wilson LLP contribute to a bad stigma, staining the entire occupation
Links 29/09/2025: Datacenter Fires and "Too Much Internet Use Is Changing Teenage Brains"
Links for the day
Almost a Couple of Years After Microsoft Hijacked the Name 'Sudo' (to Describe Unrelated Windows Stuff) Microsoft Canonical Breaks Sudo in Ubuntu
These are vandals in "goodwill" or "security" clothing
Does the Good Law Project (GLP) Know the Director of Brett Wilson LLP Deems It OK to Endorse Violent Actions Against Trans People?
We were miffed to see this morning's report
Names Are Not Unique IDs and the UK Government's "Digital ID System" Would be a Nightmare
Digital surveillance, "apps", and worse (all the time)
What is Roy and Rianne's Righteously Royalty-free RSS Reader?
A news reader that uses OPML files and parses RSS feeds
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) Turns 40 in 5 Days
We should be talking about software freedom, not "Open Source"
It Feels Like Brett Wilson LLP Has Just Tacitly Admitted That It Defamed Me
It arguably admitted many other things by refusing to deny or address them (altogether)
Stefano Maffulli's Front Page Mentions "AI" 11 Times
They're more focused on slop (plagiarism) than sharing or Software Freedom
CMS Rot
With "modern" (bloated) content management systems (CMSs) there is a long chain of dependencies
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, September 28, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, September 28, 2025
Slopwatch: Fake Articles About Linux 6.17 and Microsoft Meddling in Linux Development
today's Slopwatch is short because the picks are from Sunday
Gemini Links 29/09/2025: The Labor Wars and Retro
Links for the day