Bonum Certa Men Certa

Gemini Links 06/07/2023: Fire Retardants and lp0 on fire



  • Gemini* and Gopher

    • Personal/Opinions

    • Politics and World Events

      • What should the government do for us?

        Often, some people make remarks like “Don’t expect the goverment to just hand you things!” in response to concerns about healthcare, food, housing, what have you. This, I think, fundamentally misses the point of what a government, or at least a democratic government, *should be*.

        (Note: I understand there is a massive difference between “should be” and “is”.)

        See, like, if you’re just in a small group of people, you probably get along just fine talking things out with each other and making compromises. This is how things work in my family of all adults, for example. Most friend groups are this way too.

        This kind of breaks down when you have a much larger group. Maybe, *maybe* you could gather everyone in a small town together and have them hash out budgets and laws, but a big city? An entire nation?

      • Re: Fire Retardants are not a legal requirement

        The source in the original article lists only legislation for Delaware, and even then it only prohibits "harmful flame retardant chemicals".

    • Technology and Free Software

      • lp0 on fire

        A user once showed up at the office door, and claimed that the "printer smelled funny". That is never a good sign. What had happened was that they had loaded iron-on t-shirt paper into a laserwriter. The paper, or rather its coating, had in turn melted around the fusor, the most expensive replaceable part. No actual fire, but it did smell pretty bad.

        Fire is rare in server rooms, or rather "significant heat incidents" as one might see in the official reports. There may not actually have been a fire despite all sorts of burn damage from the, I don't know, electrical arcs.

      • Just some yet another day kind of whatever

        Fun couple days, in no small part for having less to do with monitors and/or keyboards.

        Grant it, I had to deal with so called "4th of July" activities. I think I summed up my take on that well when I turned to a couple adult guests and said, "This is what the people not good at math consider entertainment."

        I honestly have very little to say. I don't even like talking. And forget about listening to others unless they've an intriguing voice *and* come up for air regularly so others can get a word or three in.

      • Teaching physics with code

        I'm probably going to get a chance to help write a class that teaches physics majors how to code and how computation integrates with physics.

        This is actually a topic I love a lot and I've been low-key thinking for years that I wanted to write a textbook that teaches intro physics and intro programming at the same time, to avoid the panic-inducing nature of anything that requires calculus.

      • Internet/Gemini

        • revolting

          A few months ago, I happen to notice some crazy spikes in my gopher server stats.

        • I'm on Lemmy now!

          Following reddit's decision to monetize their public API, I decided to simply get off the platform. I'm however a fervent lurker, and love to mindlessly scroll through links and memes posted by random people. Hopefully for me, a bunch of nerds were already working on a decentralized link aggregator: Lemmy[0] (see also kbin[1]).

          It's a link aggregator one can self-host, but which can talk to other software involved in the €« Fediverse €». Long story short, all servers can communicate together, and with an account created on website A, you can read, post and comment on website B. Many software use this principle of federation, starting with emails (but also Mastodon, Matrix, …).

        • Fundamentals in Reform

          My purpose, in this address, is to bring about a juster understanding and appreciation of different classes of reformers among one another and to direct their attention to what seems the most practical as well as the easiest method of reform which is already within their grasp whenever they are willing to undertake it. I have no expectation of bringing about any formal union of those different classes; but only to favorably incline the most thoughtful individuals among them toward united action; and to soften, in some degree, the asperities which now prevail. Hoping that it will not entirely fail of its purpose, is the hope of…

        • activity pub (lemmy)



          I wanted to be able to find a post and just hit a "like" button to upvote them directly from my desktop.

          Found out that lemmy is kind of picky with the Accept header.


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



Recent Techrights' Posts

Snooping EPO Management, Sniffing Up Every Staff Action
It this a problem for whistleblowers? Of course.
Don't Do That
Options do exist. People should exercise freedom.
Iran Has Debunked GAFAM and Cloud Computing as Safety of Data
Cloud of smoke?
SLAPP Censorship - Part 188 Out of 200: Used, Then Discarded, by Microsoft (as We Predicted All Along, It's Always Like That)
The longer they carry on with it, the more scandalous this will get
43rd Anniversary of the GNU Project Announcement
Coming soon
SLAPP Censorship - Part 187 Out of 200: Reminding Ourselves of the Great Damage Garrett Did to Linux (for Microsoft)
he rejects freedom
 
Illegal and Unconstitutional Tribunal That SLAPPs Critics Does the Illegal and Unconstitutional: It "Rubberstamps Software Patents"
This is not a legal system. This is mafia.
Privilege in 'Linux' Foundation (Double Standards) and What the FSF Should Avoid Doing
If RMS can talk about politics, others too should be able to talk about politics
Seems Like Many Microsoft Layoffs Are Going On Right Now (Forever Layoffs)
Like IBM, Microsoft hopes shareholders will not know of morale and financial problems
More Threats From the Person of Restricted Boot Infamy
Remember this is the man who is the principal purveyor of restricted boot and who landed restricted boot in Linux
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, September 17, 2026
IRC logs for Thursday, September 17, 2026
Linux Kernel Becoming a Slopfest - Part 3 - Besieged by LLM Bots, Now Hiding Behind a Wall of JavaScript
The series began 3 days ago
Gemini Links 18/09/2026: Modern Linguistic, Boxing, Turning 40, and Solar MiniServer
Links for the day
Links 17/09/2026: Studio Closures and Negative Rumours About Microsoft XBox Again
Links for the day
What's Wrong with Microsoft's GitHub, New Article by Jacob Bachmeyer and Richard Stallman
licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License
EBay is Going to Die Soon
Users will flee
Red Hat PIPs. The Only Question is, How Many?
Insiders know what's coming soon
This Week The Register MS Published a Page With "AI" 34 Times in It and It Was, as Usual, Paid SPAM!
Does The Register MS understand that it is doing harm to its audience (for temporary gains)?
General Assembly (Meeting of All Staff) Starts in Hour Ago to Discuss Strikes at Europe's Second-Largest Institution (EPO), Strikes to Last Until End of 2026 (If Not Further)
The media absolutely does not cover this and that's intentional
Cancel Culture is a Cancer That Harms Democracy, Justice, and Science. It's Designed to Help Corporations Vanish Their Critics.
"Codes of Conduct" sounds benign; in practice, however, it is not
Links 17/09/2026: Class Action Lawsuit Over GAFAM's "NameTag" and Automattic Hides What It Did to CEO Mullenweg (or Why)
Links for the day
Gemini Links 17/09/2026: Google Signals the End, ROOPHLOCH Coverage, EBay Uses Offensive Bots to Falsely Accuse Users of Stuff
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, September 16, 2026
IRC logs for Wednesday, September 16, 2026
IBM's Anderon Another Opportunity for Debt-Loading, Publicity Stunts, Maybe Hidden Layoffs
Anderon is like Theranos
In Praise of 7 Years of Alex Oliva in the FSF, Not IBM
Thank you, Mr. Oliva, for 7 years of uncompressing advocacy and perseverance
SLAPP Censorship - Part 186 Out of 200: Love (Always Commands)
This coming Friday we celebrate our wedding anniversary
With Half of September Finished Clownflare Radar Sees GNU/Linux at 7% "Market Share"
On desktops/laptops
Linux Kernel Becoming a Slopfest - Part 2 - Bribes From Slop Pushers Divide Us
Money can and does divide people
Gemini Links 16/09/2026: Cards, Nature, and Conspiracy Theorists
Links for the day
Links 16/09/2026: Proprietary Chatbots Company Lets Humans Moderate Chatbots, "Putin Looking to See How Far he Can Push NATO"
Links for the day
The Only Still-Supported Version of Windows Breaks Itself (Again), the Microsoft Layoffs Will Carry on in Secret
In the US they marked about 7% for removal just this past summer
Wikileaks Turns 20 Just 18 Days From Now
it's fair to say they've endured online, but aren't lively/active
The Cyber Show Debunks the Alleged Intelligence in Slop
It's shorter than usual
Expecting Failure
Some things would not happen to technology (tech) experts because they know how things work and what to expect (or watch out for)
Links 16/09/2026: US Running Low/Out of Some Ammo Due to Wars, Slop Bots "Are Using an Outrageous Amount of Electricity"
Links for the day
"AI Slowdown" is Code Word for Bubble Imploding (Trying to Make This Slowdown Seem Wilful, an Act of Safety and Responsibility)
They help one another by inflating the bubble and making false excuses when expansion stalls
SLAPP Censorship - Part 185 Out of 200: What Reputation?
Helping monopolies and working for monopolies never made anybody popular
Gemini Links 16/09/2026: Slovenia, Catastrophe Ethics, and ROOPHLOCH 2026
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, September 15, 2026
IRC logs for Tuesday, September 15, 2026