Gemini* and Gopher

• Personal/Opinions

  • “It's 250 miles inland! What do you mean it was hit by a hurricane?”

    I've always thought of Brevard [1] as a place safe from natural disasters, nestled as it is in the Appalachian Mountains [2]. It's not along a fault line so no earthquakes … oh wait a second … there is a fault line nearby [3]. But still, it's too far inland for anything horrible like a hurricane to worry about … oh … wait a second … Hurricane Helene is causing issues in the area [4].

  • Affirmations, and Things to Remember

    As I always am, I've been doing some journaling lately. My recent entries have gathered a few thoughts that I'd like to make sure I hold on to; to that end, I'm going to write them out here. Hopefully, I'll remember to review these things and keep them in mind.

    [...]

    I'm learning that security in relationships doesn't really come from the structural. I was in an exclusive partnership for two years that I didn't feel secure in. I've had a multi-year friendship now that is far more secure and trusting than that relationship was. If I want to have relationships I can feel good about, it matters far more to be open and supportive with the other person than to have the structural trappings of a relationship. I always knew it takes effort, but now I'm better understanding how to apply it.

  • Short Story: Tower Defender

    Welcome back to Futurism! This isn't the Tower story I originally talked about, but here's a story about a network engineer who, with some help, works to correct a strange failure.

  • 🔤SpellBinding: AISYUVT Wordo: SAGAS

• Technology and Free Software

  • Fake Swish

    Swish is a proprietary app that’s like the Swedish equivalent to Venmo. It needs to die and a glimmer of hope lately since apparently kids are using a fake version of the app to rob and steal people which is wrong don’t do that but the Swish app itself is even more wrong.

  • Techno women

    I've been thinking more about music recently. I suspect this is partially because I'm a little more relaxed, but I'm also wanting to prioritise understanding my own equipment more: currently Logic Pro, a Volca Drum, and another Korg product, the Minilogue analogue synth.

  • Query ssh config and build a dynamic menu using ratmen

    The file `~/.ssh/config' contains the configuration for how to connect for a number of hosts.

    For each host, it contains a block with a number of lines. The general format of these blocks is:

        Host foo
                Hostname bar.example.com
                Port 123
                User baz
                IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_rsa
    

  • Anbernic RG35XXSP XFCE

    I watched [Michael MJD's video on RG35XXP-XFCE](https://youtu.be/ES3s-WT6FzE) and I immediately purchased an Anbernic RG35XXSP. The [github project](https://github.com/MrJackSpade/RG35XXP-XFCE) had been updated to resolve some issues shown in the video prior to me receiving my console. I was able to install XFCE on the 64 bit aarch64 update to the device (latest modified firmware available online).

    The small screen and partition layout made emacs a no go - stuck at emacs 27 in the ubuntu repos, and didn't care to clear enough space off the device to compile emacs 29 or 30 after dealing with the v27 install on the small screen. Vim of course works great.

  • Internet/Gemini

    • another ROOPHLOCH 2024 entry

      Today has just been me getting ready to leave. There is not much to do but I know that just sitting with this is good enough to experience. There is really nothing else left to do or people to see.

      This rain has been a delight to experience for me. We don't really get to experience rain like this where I'm at so this has been a treat. Unfortunately, this weather is from Hurricane Helene, which has caused a lot of problems south of here. My prayers go out to those affected or who have experienced loss from Helene.

    • ROOPHLOCH 2024

      So yes, here I am, doing ROOPHLOCH [1] on easy mode, posting from the fountain immediately in front of the university library, connecting over the campus wireless network. I am using a vintage 2007 laptop I have never used for gophering before, about which more in a moment, but that scarcely ups the difficulty level.

      The challenge, if such there be, is simply "getting it done." I had somewhat more ambitious plans for last year: restore a 2003 Thinkpad X31, upgrade the wireless card so it can handle modern encryption, and cycle somewhere a bit further away (Royal Roads University) where I would connect over their eduroam access point. Nice idea, but it didn't happen last year, and it wasn't going to happen this year either, alas.

    • Creating a Capsule/Gempod on Gemini with Tiny Distroless Docker Images

      No sooner than 24 hours after discovering the "smolweb" and the Gemini protocol after reading the FAQ[1], I'd already decided that I absolutely must have my own capsule and gemlog.

      After reading the FAQ I was intrigued and a little excited. I actually discovered Gemini through a comment[2] over at /r/linux on reddit of all places while mindlessly scrolling on my phone during a sleepless night. When I awoke, the first thing I did was head to my trusty Fedora desktop and installed the flatpak for the Lagrange Gemini browser[3].

      Upon opening the browser for the first time, I felt like I'd stepped through a portal back to a period that I thought was forever lost to the sands of time. A simpler time when the web was text-heavy. A time when peoples' content was a lot more decentralized as folks blogged their thoughts and feelings on their own personal sites instead of submitting their works to massive tech conglomerates who profit both from the content itself and whatever metadata they can glean from the author. A time when you weren't tracked around the web everywhere through invasive, privacy-hostile techniques that assault your web browser at every turn which, depending on the browser you use, your browser itself may even wilfully conspire to assist in said tracking.

  • Programming

    • Hobby game development

      In this post I write about the practice of creating a video game in a hobbyist approach. I describe a practice where one translates a board game into a video game. For me, the term hobbyist is used in order to contrast from the higher stakes of (semi) professional development, best practices, and conceptual novelty.

      It can be much easier to try to translate a board game into a video game than attempting to design a completely brand new video game wholecloth. Sometimes I find that simple board games I like haven't been turned into video games, but I would like them to be. So then it becomes my own task to satisfy this need. I'm doing this to scratch an itch. It may become something I share with other people, but may not be. It feels lower stakes than my professional dev practice, teaching practice, or art practice. And it's a way for me to lose myself, get into the flow state, and not worry about the outcome.