Bonum Certa Men Certa

Gemini Links 01/09/2023: LXD 5.17 and Wget2 2.1



  • Gemini* and Gopher

    • Personal/Opinions

      • The only help I got for it.

        Louis was doing good the other day, almost human-like still. So we walk out to Dr. Chin's to see what work he's got.

        Says he'll give us forty if we take some bags of oats over to Aiyaz's mill. So we hitch up his horse and wagon, load it up. Folks'd always laugh at Chin for running horse and wagons like its old times. But now them folks can't afford the e'trics, and there's hardly a gas truck anywhere to be got by now. I guess Chin gets last laugh on that.

        So Louis and I are going along with the wagon and Shirley, that's Chin's mare, the older one. And the road is bad. Gumbo and deep puddles all through, wherever it's not washed out. Rain finally came last week. So we're going along about an hour, and we get into one puddle so deep, the mud's up to Shirley's hocks and she won't move. Louis and me undo the harness and get alongside to encourage her.

      • 🔤SpellBinding: AWCEHLB Wordo: PORKS
      • Depth and Surface

        A couple weeks ago I finished Fawn Parker's "What We Both Know", a very good novel that is not a happy read. It's narrated by the daughter of Baby Davidson, a CanLit darling. His mind is going. He has dementia. And as he worsens, as his daughter first helps with, then takes over his memoirs, the family's awful secrets are slowly revealed.

    • Politics and World Events

      • Degrees of democracy

        Jonas Staal is a self-described propaganda artist. In his recent book he mentions the widespread assumption that democratic societies have no propaganda. Typically we would associate propaganda with authoritarian states and assume that it has nothing to do in a democracy where the press holds power to account and there is some reasonable level of transparency. Staal also refers to propaganda as the performance of power. Being in power means, among other things, being able to shape public perceptions.

        The cognitive dissonance resulting from the myth that there is no propaganda in a democracy may be resolved by claiming that the propaganda we see all around us implies that, in fact, we do not live in a democracy. But there is another solution if we admit that democracy can be realised to varying degrees.

    • Technology and Free Software

      • Program your computer (addendum)

        It's great to hear that my last post resonated [1] with a few other people. Maybe there's hope yet! :)

        Before the dust settles, I want to add a few clarifying remarks. Reading through my post now I realise that I never explicitly defined what I meant by "program". This word is usually taken to mean writing code in some text editor, IDE or what have you, in some programming language or other. With this narrow interpretation in mind, the post might come off sounding a bit gatekeepy.

      • Yggdrasil

        When I moved my capsule from self-hosting to EC2, I gave up a static IP address for my residence and changed my jsreed5.org domain to point to AWS. As I have a home server designed for deploying and managing VMs, this change also meant I was giving up the ability to spin up new servers on the fly and configure them to run Internet-facing services. Now I have only one EC2 instance in AWS, and if I want more, I have to pay a monthly cost for each one.

        The decision to move from self-hosting to AWS was a financial one: I saved quite a bit of money each month by changing my home ISP plan from a business account to a residential account. But beyond the ability to self-host, I lost other functionality that I use quite often: using SFTP to move files to and from my NAS, kicking off backup and download jobs on my home connection, and so on.

        [...]

        I use Debian and Fedora at home, and my EC2 instance runs Amazon Linux. There are Yggdrasil packages for Debian and Fedora, but I prefer to build it from source on all my systems, since I already use other tools written in Go and Go is easy to run portably.

        [...]

        IPv6 addresses are somewhat cumbersome, so I maintain a list of the Yggdrasil addresses of all my nodes. I could certainly mitigate this through a hosts file or local DNS settings, but I'm too lazy to do that.

      • Internet/Gemini

        • Solderpunk's gemlog - Announcing ROOPHLOCH 2023

          Ahoy, smolneteers! September really does seem to be recurring on an annual basis. It's happened five whole times now! Deeply mysterious. Once again, the time for ROOPHLOCH is upon us.

          For those who came in late, the Remote Outdoor Off-Grid Phlogging Challenge, or ROOPHLOCH, is a smolnet community ritual I have organised each September since 2019. Originally a Gopher-only phenomenon, this is the first year I am also announcing it on Gemini, since last year's edition got some Gemini participation anyway and nobody seemed upset by it, so what the hey, the more the merrier.

          The essential idea is that you should make a phlog and/or gemlog post sometime between September 1st and September 30th (inclusive, in your local timezone), under the following conditions: you need to make your post without being inside any kind of permanent, non-natural shelter (e.g. be outdoors, or in a cave, or in a tent, not in a building, not even a log cabin. Do yurts count? Nobody has tried it yet) and the device you post from should not be plugged into a wall for any reason - get your electrons and your packets some other way! Once you've done this, email solderpunk@posteo.net to let me know the URL of your post. At the end of the month, I will post a roundup of everybody who participated.

        • re: why would students use gemini?

          i discovered and started visiting gemini early 2022, and started my capsule sometime in april that year (my first microlog entry was 28/04, shortly before my 21st bday). before that, i was already a keeper of a personal website for a while (since 2020 maybe?) and hovering around smolweb and alternative internet spaces (hell, my capsule is hosted by yesterweb).

          [...]

          but the thing is (at least to me) that gemini presents itself as a blank slate, a way to enter somewhere without baggage. and somewhere with freedom to create without pressures of algorithms, clout, blowing up etc etc. it's the same draw of personal websites, except less technically demanding (gemtext's learning curve is essentially flat, and i can't even think of writing html on a phone. i do hate using phones though).

        • Re: Why would students use Gemini?

          The best part of the smolnet is that content is king. We blog, post code and recipes, create simple services for social interaction. Every page we go to has a single purpose, sharing content with no noise. The initial Internet was like this too. Content for content's sake.

          Pretty soon after this initial Internet people wanted to monetize content. Sadly the "best" solution was banner ads. Turn physical real estate in your content into billboards. With dynamic content came dynamic ads. Suddenly you could flood your content with monetization and businesses started up where their primary task was making money while serving up some small bit of content. That's when content lost it's privileged role.

          Today we are seeing content producers trying to find a happy middle ground with monetization while corporations seem to be going crazy. Bloggers and podcasters get sponsors, patreon and money through services like YouTube. But the TikTok generation doesn't always understand why so many services are "free". Your personal information is sold while you're actively targeted by marketing. The "algorithms" of these services aren't there to find like minded individuals. They exist to find the best way to monetize the content you consume.

      • Programming

        • Weird Shell Arithmetic

          Portability might vary here; these assume ksh on OpenBSD 7.3.

          [...]

          Probably the FOO='1+2' and similar forms are undefined behavior, and hopefully never show up unexpectedly in a shell script of yours that is trying to math. (I'd sooner switch to some other language.)


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



Recent Techrights' Posts

Red Hat Layoffs Expected in 5 Days (Monday)
"They will announce and proceed with the cuts on 08/11."
They Want You To Talk About Trump or 'The Other Bill' in Relation to Trafficking of Underage Girls for Sexual Exploitation
Just something we wanted to say...
How to Quadruple Your "Goodwill" Value and Grow Your (Wall) Street "Value" From $152B to $4000B Without Producing a Single Successful Product/Service
The longer it goes on for, the bigger the implosion will be
Staying Productive
Two very reputable institutions recently told us they now reckon Microsoft is somehow funding those SLAPPs against us
66 Countries Where More People Use iPhones (or iPads) Than Microsoft Windows, According to statCounter Data
a list of countries where iOS now exceeds Windows
Windows All-Time Lows, Android All-Time Highs in Kuwait
New lows for Windows can be found in many countries this month
 
August Hits Microsoft Hard: Dead Divisions, Dead Products, Layoffs Again (on Week 1)
Microsoft's debt is soaring
Slopwatch: Slow Day for LLM Slop, Serial Sloppers Still at It in Their Slopfarms
The Web would be better off if those sites went offline
Links 06/08/2025: Substack in Trouble, Slop Sceptic Shira Perlmutter Seeks Emergency Injunction Pending Appeal
Links for the day
Gemini Links 06/08/2025: Pinephone, Reverse-Engineering, and More
Links for the day
Links 06/08/2025: Faked Values of Slop Companies and Government Bailouts
Links for the day
FOSSY 2025 Conference Safety
The GAFAM-funded FOSSY 2025 is over
Microsoft's Favourite Pay-to-Say 'Analyst' Firm Has Just Collapsed
'Analysts' that helped propel Microsoft to fictional values akin to Ponzi schemes
Ask Google (Jeeves)
What does Google "know", not know, or would rather forget (or embellish)?
A Blow for Patent Ambitions of Bill Epsteingate
It's about money
Apple's iOS Bigger Than Microsoft Windows in Many Countries
This ought to alarm Microsoft
The Mainstream Media Talks About Spotify Share Price and Price Hikes, Not Its Debt Increasing by About 33% in Just 12 Months
Spotify isn't a company in good shape
New "US Editor for The Register" is 80% Microsoft and Windows
they typically just treat Microsoft like the "Holy Grail" of "IT"
Microsoft is Apparently Sending Gag Orders or NDAs to Staff That Got Laid Off (“We were told not to post on LinkedIn. Not to say anything.”)
The main lies we keep seeing
Richard M. Stallman Has Published AI Memos Since 1980 (45 Years Ago)
Back when the term AI actually meant something
Gemini Links 06/08/2025: BitTorrent and Feedly Bots
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, August 05, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, August 05, 2025
Openwashing Slop... Using Slop!
So get ready for "open" "hey hi" with its proprietary models to engage in openwashing, helped by serial sloppers who use the LLMs to produce fake 'articles'.
On "Tragedy of the Commons in the Production of Digital Artifacts"
There's a better way to do things. None of that should involve GAFAM.
Gemini Links 05/08/2025: Opel Zoo near Frankfurt and Alhena 5.2.5
Links for the day
The Inflammatory Influence of Social Control Media Giants
CPC's ByteDance says it's cool
Microsoft v Planet Earth
Is Microsoft profitable?
IRC Turns 37
Internet Relay Chat (short: IRC), which started in 1988, turns 37 this month
Shortly After a Microsofter Took Over The Register as Editor in Chief Microsoft Tim (Tim Anderson) is Back and It's Still Microsoft Propaganda, Sometimes Funded by Microsoft
Notice his focus
Stricter Enforcement of Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act is Sorely Needed
Who's keeping track anyway?
Calling Plagiarism "Intelligence" is Pure Genius, Brilliance!
One thing to "like" (or dislike) about LLMs is how they're falsely marketed using various buzzwords
Geminispace Promises Simplicity But Also Provides a "bunch of forums that get flood-filled by agitation against the very essence of Gemini itself"
claims of stagnation in Geminispace started because of a person who spent a long time agitating against GNU/Linux as well
Zimbabweans Aren't Into Windows or Microsoft
This cannot be good news for GAFAM
Microsoft's Washington Layoffs Aren't Everything, They're Definitely Not Happening in Just One State in the US
Washington is just more strict with WARN notices
Gemini Links 05/08/2025: Lagrange v1.18.6, No Stagnation in Geminispace, and Fake Coding (Slop)
Links for the day
The Register's Editor in Chief (Who Left for Google) Told Me "AI" Was a Bubble, But Now The Register Gets Paid to Participate in Inflating This Bubble
A lot of the online media is a scam
The Register is Desperate for Money, According to The Register
I decided to check how they're doing as a business
Some Cola Formulas Aren't Secret, But the Barrier is the Branding
That's the power of the channel/distribution, marketing, and brand recognition (accomplished through endless marketing)
Introducing Mission:Libre and FreeXR (and BreakXR)
efforts that accompany the foundations put there by the Free Software Foundation in 1985
Slopwatch: WebProNews, LinuxSecurity, and Some Success Stories
Google News still has a slopfarm issue
Links 05/08/2025: Hey Hi (AI) Passing Fads and GAFAM "Embracing the Military"
Links for the day
Links 05/08/2025: Samsung and Microsoft Layoffs
Links for the day
Rumours of Mass Layoffs at Red Hat Next Week (August 11th, 2025)
The eleventh means next Monday
IBM is Shutting Down (Piecewise)
IBM is basically being liquidated
The Debian Language Police Department (PD)
"there has never been complaints about anyone that was offended by this -off package"
Tesla's Debt More Than Doubled in 2 Years and the Company Will Operate in the Red (at a Loss) Quite Soon
If your first-quarter net income is $409 million and you borrow billions from banks, plus interest to pay on those loans, then you're not far from returning to losses
When The Register MS Says "Linux Backdoor" It Actually Talks About Malware
The leading story in The Register US/MS this morning is Microsoft
Microsoft Windows Fell to 19% "Market Share" in Montenegro
Microsoft must be well aware of this trend
Why We Also Include Gopher Links in Our Gemini (Protocol) Links
There are still many people who use Gopher to relay their messages (like blog posts). They're mostly technical people.
Shouting is an Indication of a Lack of Convincing Argument
Beware what they are attempting to distract from
Mongolia: Microsoft Windows at All-Time Low
in 2009 when Windows was at 99.45% in Mongolia the company was "worth" less than 200 billion dollars
About a Quarter of Today's "linux" News in Google News Came From One Domain and It's a Slopfarm
Not kidding!
Gemini Links 05/08/2025: Zombie Threat and Switching to NixOS
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, August 04, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, August 04, 2025
ChatGPT in Trouble
Watch out for the newer buzzwords
The Register MS Links to the Wrong statCounter Page
They link to older data
Dr. Andy Farnell Explains How Google Turned From "Librarian" Into "Oracle", Telling Us What to Think Instead of Where to Look
Google was always a lousy librarian
Microsoft Layoffs Continue in August 2025
If Microsoft is doing so well, how come about 10 rounds of layoffs in about 7 months in 2025?
Microsoft and Windows Have Many Back Doors, But LLM Slop Keep Claiming That Linux Has "Backdoor"
It's another example of LLM slop as FUD amplifier, via slopfarms as well
In Many Countries Vista 11 Adoption Stalled or Became Negative
Not just because people move to GNU/Linux
Microsofters' Lawyers Are Name-calling and Insulting Microsoft Critics, Even Their Spouses
How not to win arguments
Flagging or Tagging Slop That We Find Online
Right now we use ImageMagick
Links 04/08/2025: Very Bad Weather and Travel Restrictions in China
Links for the day
Gemini Links 04/08/2025: Misiamisia and Mobile Linux
Links for the day
Microsoft's Stock is Like a Religion, Microsoft Goes Into 'Hiding' (From Shareholders)
like a religious person or devout believer, the media just parrot anything Microsoft says
Links 04/08/2025: 80 Years Since Last Nuclear War, IPv6 in China
Links for the day
Groklaw Static Site Relaunches With New Theme, But Many Pages and All the Comments Are Missing
We suppose that's still a lot better than the site being offline, as it was for several months
"For Five decades; For freedoms; For all users" (Original EMACS Turns 50 Next Year)
Linus Benedict Torvalds was only 6 when EMACS started
In Spain, Microsoft's Search Engine Market Share Fell to 2%
16 years have passed since Bing was introduced
Protecting GNU/Linux-Centric Journalism From Serial Sloppers
Unoriginal slop is taking away traffic from the people who did all the real work
It Looks Like Managers at Oracle Now Use LLM Slop to Write Blog Posts
Did he cheat by prompting LLMs for mindless text "filler"?
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, August 03, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, August 03, 2025
Gemini Links 04/08/2025: Qubes OS and Curious crypto case of certificates (CCCC)
Links for the day