Bonum Certa Men Certa

Gemini Links 21/08/2023: Trust Model Online and Gemini Radio



  • Gemini* and Gopher

    • Personal/Opinions

      • One Meal

        One meal per day is pretty tricky; you probably don't want to drop from three or more to one directly. Maybe start with two per day, say around 09:00 and another 16:00 or so, and keep at that for a week before going to one. Another good idea is lots of fibre—sugar wafers or whatever are not going to tide you over the hours like a good bowl of brown rice and lentils or beans and brown rice or brown rice with tofu. Variety! A lot of modern food is somewhat lacking in fiber, though, or if there is fiber it comes with, like, 7000% of the daily salt requirement. 7000% salt was probably okay if you were working in a foundry and sweated out that much, but maybe not for keypushers.

      • 🔤SpellBinding: CEKLURN Wordo: STIRS
      • Summer storm/apple tree

        We are having the biggest storm in 80 years pass through today/tonight (it is just befor 8pm local time) where I live (Southern California Mountains). It mostly just rained all day like most other rainy days. But I guess the accumulated water caused my soil structure to weaken deep enough that one of our two apple trees (the one that produces more apples) collapsed onto my driveway a bit ago, just narowly missing my car (which I have moved back out of the way of the other apple tree).

        We've been getting around .33" of rain an hour, but it is about to bump up to 1.4" of rain an hour for a few hours with 50ish mph winds. We are hoping none of the other trees around us, particularly the large evergreen trees, fall. We've moved my daughter's bed away from windows and toward the low center of the house out of an abundance of caution.

      • Venn diagram of improbability â­•â­•

        I have a colleague who likes to play the banjo. He's an enthusiast for this rather niche instrument, which he's been playing for some years now.

        Recently the company moved to a new online meeting tool, and there have been teething troubles. Today the same colleague was in a meeting with someone and they had issues with screen sharing. Everyone in the room was trying to ignore the half of the meeting we could hear, but we were all as surprised as he was when said "When I accepted the screen share, you heard BANJO MUSIC?!!"

      • Thoughts on Oppenheimer (2023)

        I just saw Oppenheimer. What a film! It was probably the first film that I've gotten really immersed in. Some people disliked how quick the cuts are, but I loved it. I finally felt like I'd seen a film with a pace matching the speed of thought. I didn't feel patronized by the movie, and I was easily able to follow the different scenes as the film jumped between time periods.

        Oppenheimer was so optimistic about how nuclear bombs would be thought about. I won't spoil the movie (thô you can read what he thought from many sources), but I will say it reminds me of the finvenkismo of the early Esperantistoj, who thought that Esperanto would solve war and promote cross-cultural acceptance instead of chauvinism. Evidente, la tuta mondo post Esperanto ne eniris denove al milito.

    • Photos

    • Technology and Free Software

      • Re: Dark mode/light mode

        The good news is that Lagrange is already fully equipped for this because it has been implemented for macOS and iOS.

        The bad news is that supporting this on further platforms requires specialized code for each platform. There's already a feature request open on GitHub about adding support for this on Windows, for instance.

        I understand you're talking about GNOME, though. Since Lagrange uses none of the GNOME libraries, it cannot easily access the system-wide setting for dark mode. At a glance it seems at least D-Bus is required, and Lagrange does not use that (directly) either. D-Bus would be a pretty useful addition for Linux desktop environments for a few other reasons, though.

      • Retro Mail Call (New pickup!)

        Every now and then I get nostalgic, get online and order some of the gadgets that I craved for back in the day. I am a Palm OS enthusiast, former dev and these devices will always have a soft spot in my heart.

        In todays mail bag, we get a Palm Tungsten T3! It's one of the more "modern" Palm devices that sport Bluetooth (which can be handy for setting up a internet connection, routing it through your phone or computer). Only appropriately that I would take a picture of it using my Palm Zire 71, hence the slightly blurry pictures.

      • Internet/Gemini

        • Thoughs on trust, SSL and Gemini

          People criticize Gemini for standardizing trust-of-first-use policy of TLS certificate verification (FAQ:4.5.5), discussing security and scaling. Here is my take on these issues.

          [...]

          Whenever you connect to a server you never connected before and have no a-priory reason to trust, it doesn't really matter whether it has a self-signed certificate or a certificate signed by CA. Well, there is a little difference -- you will know if your DNS response was spoofed in case of CA-signed certificate. But you still has no reason to trust the content server sends to you.

          Now suppose this server happens to publish source code of some useful program. You download the source, audit it diligently and deem non-malicious and useful. Server publishes new version of the software, and another one, and you eventually develop trust into the server and its certificate.

        • Gemini Radio - Episode 54

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



Recent Techrights' Posts

Skype Fell Off a Cliff (Microsoft Killed It), All Microsoft Has Left Now is Slop and Spaghetti Code
"This isn’t about AI. This is a puppet show to drive stock prices up and down."
Slopfarms (Machine-Generated Fake News Sites Authored by Bots With Slop Images) Spread GNU FUD
This isn't about Linux (GNU doesn't run just on Linux)
United States Federal Government's Digital Analytics Program (DAP): GNU/Linux Users Represent Close to 6% of Visitors This Year
How far has GNU/Linux gotten? Very far!
The "LLM Ouroboros of Shit" is Complemented by Even Worse Phenomena Caused by Microsoft's Contribution of SPAM and Pollution
Microsoft became a world leader in promotion of LLM slop
The LLM Ouroboros Phenomenon
Fact #1: over time slop gets worse (training set is like some blurry JPEG). Fact #2: People's "smell" for slop improves over time, as they 'train' on slop and can detect it based on prior encounters. Put 1 and 2 together.
How We Defeated DDoS Attacks
One of the best things one can do is migrate to an SSG
Microsofters Issuing Threats to Microsoft Critics Who Blog About Microsoft
So far we see that their "legal strategy" revolves around trying to discredit people like Theodore Ts'o
 
Microsoft a Top Sponsor at Red Hat Summit (IBM Selling Proprietary Spyware and Back Doors in a "Red" Trench Coat)
They both work for Microsoft
The Official SUSE Blog Uses LLM Slop to Compose Fake Articles Promoting Microsoft and Azure
even a little slop spoils the broth
Links 19/05/2025: Charges of Blackmailing Over Son Heung-min, Chad Opposition Leader Detained
Links for the day
Gemini Links 19/05/2025: Ableism, Silicon Monkeys, and More
Links for the day
Links 19/05/2025: Political Catchup and CISA Advisories
Links for the day
TheLayoff.com Has Begun Deleting Trolls/AstroTurfers Infesting the IBM Section to Discourage On-Topic Discussion About Culls and Maladministration (Bad Strategy)
Moderators have realised there's a problem
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, May 18, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, May 18, 2025
Gemini Links 18/05/2025: Five Years on Gemini and Atom Feeds over Gopher
Links for the day
Links 18/05/2025: F.D.A. More Sceptical of COVID-19 Vaccines, UK Charges 3 Iranian Nationals In Alleged Attack Plot Against Journalists
Links for the day
Gemini Links 18/05/2025: "Finally Upgraded" and "Rebooting"
Links for the day
There Are Days or Occasions Where gemini:// Requests Almost Exceed http(s):// and Gemini Protocol Isn't Even 6 Yet
Gemini Protocol turns 6 one month from now
Abundance of Good Code, "Just Like Air."
Richard Stallman's seminal manifesto and foundational (practical) work on GNU gave us a very solid system that facilitates productive work without concerns over spyware
Messages in TheLayoff.com Drowned Out by LLM Slop (Comments Focused on Replying to Bot-Generated Provocation)
apparently shaking hands with nazis isn't as bad as calling your git repository's main branch "master"
The Importance of Full Disclosure and Transparency Online
there will be full transparency, as always
Slopwatch: Slopfarms and Serial Sloppers Still at It
Apparently Google is too understaffed to figure that out
Links 18/05/2025: Decreased Prospects of Science Careers, Disappearance of Journalists
Links for the day
Microsofters Have a Long History Trying to Take Down Techrights by Sending Threats to Webhosts
picking on women
Links 18/05/2025: Science, Censorship and European Commission Taking on Monopoly Abuse by Microsoft
Links for the day
Gemini Links 18/05/2025: Šibenik and SFJAZZ Historical Archive
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, May 17, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, May 17, 2025
Links 17/05/2025: Microsoft Kills "Surface Laptop Studio" (More Canceled Products/Units), Groups Caution About Harms of Social Control Media
Links for the day
Gemini Links 17/05/2025: Sympathy Algorithm and SSH on Alternative Ports
Links for the day
Inviting the Founder of GNU/Linux to Events (It Only Costs His Travel Expenses) and Recalling the True Origins
It's reassuring to see belated recognition
Slopwatch: Microsoft's Anti-Linux Propaganda and Cover-up, Slopfarms Clogging Up Google News
slop-tracking activities that observe googlebombing of "Linux"
AstroTurfing by IBM in thelayoff.com is Highly Risky (and Likely Outsourced)
Microsoft did this in Reddit (and got caught), so why won't IBM too?
Links 17/05/2025: Stabber of Salman Rushdie Sentenced to 25 Years in Prison
Links for the day
The Microsofters Have Just Shared Privileged Trial Data With Microsoft
There are serious ramifications for liability accountability as Microsoft salaries sponsor these SLAPPs
Trolls With LLM Slop Are Disrupting Communications About Mass Layoffs at IBM
LLM slop to drown out the signal
Gemini Links 17/05/2025: Happier on Gemini and Manipulating Reddit
Links for the day
ComEd and Microsoft: A Mess of Spaghetti Held Together By Circus Clowns
Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, May 16, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, May 16, 2025