Gemini* and Gopher

• Personal/Opinions

  • Small Notes: Experimental Aesthetics in Tea and Coffee

    I'm old enough that I remember when coffee-you-got-elsewhere was, generally, pretty awful. McDonald's is decent enough now (they use arabica beans), but I remember their coffee used to be thin, bitter, awful - though still better than the stuff I'd smell when we took the car in to the mechanic. I swear that stuff was made from recycled tires.

    But now? It's pretty good! But to me undeniable that the coffee I get when I go out always tastes worse than what I can make at home. When I'm running around, I have it in a travel mug or paper cup, typically with the lid on. I assume part of what's lacking is that the smell of coffee is so central to the whole experience. I loved the smell of coffee long before I ever liked the taste: I remember my parents making cheap coffee in their little Black & Decker coffee maker on mornings in the weekend, and that wonderful smell. So much of that's lost with a lid, you know?

  • Electro trans-pacific

    Today I had lunch with Bender-boy and Anne, his wife. We ate at an establishment in Andrews that exhibits properties of an excellent tex-mex restaurant, though it could be a brothel in Kazakhstan for all I know. My general perception of the world around me is coloured my delusions of being in another place - ANY OTHER PLACE.

    Though, interestingly enough, Bender-boy and I emanated from this area of the world. Perhaps we even defined it. I can't say that it defined us, as there is an alien psychology in any other "human" I meet from these parts. At least there has been recently - meaning within the past few epochs.

    [...]

    It occurs to me that I only have a superficial overview of the myriad stories Bender-boy has told me about his *working* life, though from what I know, him toiling at the zenith of a rig amid the dizzy heights in the baking petrol suffused heat isn't all that far-fetched. After all, he did work at the zeniths of many smokestacks testing the toxicity of their emissions whilst inhaling the fumes and managing not to tumble to his death. He worked at a nicotine "factory" in North Carolina where he absorbed the drug from the atmosphere whilst adding to its potency by smoking.

  • Kummacon 2025 cosplay

    I visited Kummacon today and it was fun! Saw a lot of cool art and trinkets on display, bought myself a tiny skeleton dinosaur necklace.

    I spent the whole time there in my cosplay, it wasn't luckily too hot but inside the con area I was sweating a ton in this suit.

  • Spring is Bustin' Out All Over!

    The song from Carousel is actually "June is Bustin' Out All Over!" but it is not quite June yet.

    The weather here is nice, but still cool, with high temps not quite making it to 70 ℉ yet. The last week or so we have had a mix of partly cloudy and mostly cloud weather, with a little rain here and there.

    Last Thursday (2025-05-22) I had a good lunch-break walk along the Tanana dike trails, and I'm saw, not the first signs of Spring, but the first signs of energetic Spring, or early Summer. The little grasses and weeds are growing thick now. And I saw my first wildflowers this year.

• Technology and Free Software

  • Konsole Layout changes

    I recently made a patch to Konsole[1] terminal emulator, that adds to the current tab layout saving system couple more things: [...]

  • not even Ted predicted our capitulation to Surveillance World

    One thing I find weird about that NYT Mag article is its insistence that so many people "get Tedpilled," aka embrace Kaczynski's comments if not his conclusions, because they ring true to the "younger than the iPhone" generation.

    [...]

    Today, we do not control our cars or personal computers. We can scarcely be said to "own" them at all, given that their manufacturers can and will brick them if we do something they don't like. The "something" doesn't even have to be illegal.