Bonum Certa Men Certa

Gemini Links 20/06/2023: Gemini's Fourth Anniversary is Today



  • Gemini* and Gopher

    • Politics and World Events

      • God, nature, and the space aliens

        Recently I talked with a religious friend about how I find the body very complex. He then jokingly said to me, assuming I believed in his religion, "can you believe that some people think something as complex as a human crawled out of the ocean?" I shrugged it off as I did not want to ruin my relationship with this person (we live in a society), but his comment did make me think.

        [...]

        When he taught us the leg muscles, he used one particularly funny example that I still remember. One certain muscle near the knee (that I forget the name of) prevents the knee joint's capsule from getting pinched between the femur and tibia bones when the knee bends. He told us the story of how when god, nature, and the space aliens all got together to design the lower extremities, they had problems with their prototype caveman pinching the knee capsule every time he tried to walk. Luckily, baby Jesus came along on his tricycle and suggested that a muscle pull the capsule away from the bones just before they bend, making it so that the caveman could walk just fine.

      • Top Gun: Maverick

        Finally got around to finishing Top Gun: Maverick tonight. Rented it from the library a couple weeks ago, but hadn't gotten around to it until now. Definitely a fun movie, the action scenes were super well done! Love that the "enemy territory" was in a snowy, mountainous region, made for some great visuals. The dogfights were great, had me on the edge of my seat the entire time.

      • Little meadow

        When I moved in there was grass behind the house, a little, inhospitible backyard past the sandpapery square of concrete patio. Looking out the back door there's the sun-blasted patio, some grass, swampy yard, then the hill up to the cemetary scrubby with thicket and young trees.

        I dug a bed for mint along the house's back wall up to the patio, another bed out from it that supports a healthy horseradish where Evy grew gourds. Other plants didn't do well there til this year when I planted onions. Evy's parents brought their old painted iron yard table and chairs.



      • 🔤SpellBinding: CERSTUY Wordo: MEATY
    • Technology and Free Software

      • Using git bundle to synchronize a repository between Qubes OS dom0 and an AppVM

        In a previous article, I explained how to use Fossil version control system to version the files you may write in dom0 and sync them against a remote repository.

      • Asus L410MA lid screen issue with XFCE4 on Debian 12

        Despite being cheap I decided to buy another Asus laptop from the same family for my little one, also this laptop was purchased as second-hand hardware, even because I was convinced to have definitely resolved all the issues, in the previous tests eventually Devuan worked better than Debian.

      • Asus L410MA lid screen issue with XFCE4 on Debian 12
      • Framework Laptop, one year on

        This laptop was meant to be an auxiliary laptop, for writing on the couch. I'm an Apple main user, and knowing macOS has helped my career. But I'm also very pro Right to Repair, and those two things are butting heads right now. So the Framework laptop seemed like the obvious choice, being Very Repairable.

      • Re: Richard Stallman

        After reading Ploum's recent post about how Richard Stallman was right all along, I have to say that I agree with his take.

        [...]

        This might seem odd coming from someone who just posted about how sick he was of Linux and was moving back to FreeBSD. If only all of my choices were easily explainable in life.

        I've found myself as I get older actually becoming more "radicalized" than I was in my 20's and 30's. I definitely feel like society lost it's way a long time ago. One of the things that I like most about Ploum's post is that he recognizes the larger parallels between society's ills and free/libre vs proprietary software. Everywhere you look these days you see that what used to be held in common trust is being carved up and divided among those who don't really need any more.

      • Internet/Gemini

        • Gemini's Fourth Anniversary

          The Gemini protocol was first publicly announced under the name "Gemini" on this day in 2019. solderpunk considers this to the official start date of the protocol, meaning today is its fourth anniversary.

          From my earliest days on Gemini, I knew the protocol dated back to 2019, but last night I got to thinking about what that really means.

          I first explored Gemini and decided to create my own capsule in March of 2021. By then, COVID-19 had been ravaging the world for more than a year. Many businesses were still shuttered, many areas were still in full lockdown, and most people still practiced social distancing. We were forced to carry out most of our communication through social media and other online platforms controlled by corporate interests. The Reddit post became our only source of news, the Netflix subscription our only form of entertainment. And in that isolated environment, political and social tensions spilled over, fresh on the heels of the George Floyd protests and riots on one side and the contentious US Presidential election and January 6 protests and riots on the other.

      • Literature

        • Re: The Library Rocks!

          Alex wrote an excellent quick post about using local libraries. It reminded me of when my mother used to take me and my brother to the library almost every day as a child; they really are excellent places with incredible services.

          As Alex wrote about the physical benefits and services of libraries, I thought I should share some of the digital ones. I agree that going to a library can be an amazing experience, but it is also useful to know how to get the most out of yours when you can’t go there in person.


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



Recent Techrights' Posts

Confirmed in the Mainstream Media: A Lot of Microsoft "Workloads" Were Just LLM Slop (Helping to Fake Growth for Years, as Microsoft Had Paid "Open" "AI" to Become a "Client") and Demand is Rapidly Waning, Datacentres Canceled and/or Shut Down
Anything to facilitate further accounting fraud
Taiwan's Media Covers Closure of Microsoft's "AI" Lab, It's Time to Talk About the Gradual Death of Windows and Implosion of the "AI" Bubble
Earlier this week we showed that mostly Asian media had the 'nerve' to mention Microsoft silently shutting down its 'AI' lab
 
IBM Said to be Shutting Down Offices or Sites in the United States
the press can no longer avoid admitting that IBM moves many jobs to India
To Participate in Fedora Diversity You Must Use Proprietary Software
Not for the first time either
LLM Slop as Attack Vector on the Reputation of Linux
The attacks on Linux have escalated to information warfare
Yandex About to Be Three Times Bigger Than Microsoft (Bing) in Asia
That's about 60% of the world's population
Gemini Links 04/04/2025: Decoupling Updates, Elaho as Gemini Client
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, April 03, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, April 03, 2025
Microsoft's Trouble in Africa and Asia
A new all-time high for GNU/Linux
Brett Wilson LLP Reported to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA)
The saddest thing in all this is that law firms can maintain high standards shall they wish to
Links 03/04/2025: Tariff Pains and C.D.C. Cuts
Links for the day
StatCounter: Microsoft is Masking a Disaster, It's Way Behind DeepSeek Already and Interest in LLMs Has Waned
it turns out the money "raised" for "Open" "AI" may not even exist at all
Links 03/04/2025: SoftBank Money for Microsoft "Open" "AI" Probably Doesn't Even Exist, Wikimedia Foundation Blasts LLM Nuisance While Microsoft Admits Demand Has Shrunk
Links for the day
Gemini Links 03/04/2025: Patch Panel and Pictures
Links for the day
Islamic Republic of Iran: GNU/Linux at All-time High This Month, Windows Falls to 12%
Vista 10 is up this month despite being "end of life" (EoL) soon
Indonesia: All-Time Highs for GNU/Linux
What's noteworthy right now is the growth of GNU/Linux
statCounter Says GNU/Linux Usage is Up Again (Internationally)
some preliminary April data
Only on April 1st Can the Free Software Foundation Associate With Microsoft's Open Source Initiative (OSI)
We saw some pranks that day linking the FSF to Microsoft (e.g. "endorsing" Windows)
IBM Gets Rid of Kelly Chambliss as Mass Layoffs Reported in IBM Consulting, IBM Loses Key Contracts/Graft
IBM Consulting has been in disarray lately
More Gains for GNU/Linux, Based on Web Surveys
the Steam site shows rapid growth for "Linux" this month
Slopwatch: Anti-Linux Articles, Not Even Written by Humans
Why aren't Web sites more vocal about this problem?
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, April 02, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, April 02, 2025
Links 03/04/2025: Apple Fined Over Secret Surveillance, "Elegant Writer For A More Civilized Age"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 02/04/2025: Books and Cold Tea
Links for the day
Links 02/04/2025: More Layoffs, Nokia Again Takes Advantage of Illegal and Unconstitutional Patent Court With Nokia Staff as 'Judges'
Links for the day
Links 02/04/2025: Seizures and Returns to Windows of 24 Years Ago
Links for the day
LLM Slop Helps Obscure and Distort News About Layoffs (IBM, GAFAM)
It's hard to find accurate information
Links 02/04/2025: Microsoft Developers Are Threatening to Go on Strike, World Backup Day Noted
Links for the day
Gemini Protocol Has Growing Appeal (the Web Got Too Bloated and Full of LLM Slop)
For any "data plan" with bandwidth limits or "tiers" it would be cheaper to use/browse Geminispace
The Web Can Survive LLM Slop, But Only If We Collectively Shun and Discourage Serial Sloppers
Doing nothing ought not be a possibility
Amid Secret Shut-downs and Mass Layoffs at Microsoft (4 Waves of Layoffs in 3 Months of 2025) Some Microsoft Staff Expected to Go On Strike
workers going on strike
Gemini Links 02/04/2025: No more on Mastodon and Gemini Mention Script in Go
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, April 01, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, April 01, 2025
My Motion Disbarring or “Striking Off” Brett Wilson LLP for Enabling Violent Americans Who Try to Crush Microsoft Critics in the United Kingdom by Multiple SLAPPs
"Guns for hire" (for Microsoft people who received Microsoft salaries)
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Hijacked Again by Patent Litigation Industry, as President Cheeto Prioritises Aggressors
The "mafia" has taken over the "industry" and the Federal system (justice and constitutions trampled upon)
Ubuntu Slop and FUD Manufactured With LLMs and Funded (by Oneself) 'Studies'
Slop and FUD are ruining the Web