Gemini* and Gopher

• Personal/Opinions

  • 3 AM

    I told you I was struggling, existentially
    you said: being an adult means doing things that you don't want to
    do you think I like doing laundry?
    
    
    --
    
    
    It's 3 AM and I'm feeling sick, emotionally
    I woke to vertigo, to racing thoughts, to write what I can't say
    the feelings fade eventually
    

  • Important parts of society

    I think most people agree that monopolies are a bad thing, as a general statement, because they tend to be exploitative. I think it's also reasonable to say that we need to guard against any sort of exploitative system (like monopolies), especially for anything that is particularly important - maybe stuff like medical care, food production, etc.

    Maybe we could set up a system to prevent exploitative systems from developing in those important categories. My idea is this: we set up an organization to run it and exclude anyone else from doing the same job - preferably this organization is derived from another organization that's already familiar with running programs of scale, and something that hopefully has lots of money already. To prevent conflicts of interest we should make sure the people that run the organization are selected by another group of people who have told us they are working for our benefit (this is an important part, they have to *verbally say* that they are working for our benefit), and that small cadre of selected people get to make all decisions about how much anyone gets to pay or be paid for anything that has to do with that system. Want to charge too much for that syringe? You're out of business, bucko.

  • ♑︎ Talking Planners once again…

    This won't be the last time I'm humming and hawing about this during this planner season. Because, I'll have to fight that Want, so the boring Need wins…

    I came across this video on yt and might use that as a base for today's humming and hawing: Before You Buy Another 2027 Planner, Ask These 5 Questions

    So, the planners I'm thinking about are of course a Hobonichi, a dated TN Weekly Vertical and the Jibun Techo.

  • books - updated august 12th

    peace pilgrim: her life and work in her own words

    3/5? never heard of her before someone mentioned this book. a non-denominational mystic, it seems, although she uses mostly christian language. lots of parallels with buddhist awakening, unsurprisingly. an interesting person, i've always admired that sort of clarity of purpose and dedication in people, can only hope to reach a similar level of clarity and integrity one day.

    not very much here in terms of instruction other than "do good, be loving and truthful, and receptive to god's voice". also not a fan of "you create your conditions through your thoughts", even though i think i know what she means (identifying with the ego leads to "wrong" thoughts and does indeed cause a lot of needless suffering), but without much explanation it stinks of the manifesting crowd and blaming opressed people for their circumstances. probably won't be re-reading, there are texts of this variety that speak more clearly to me.

    alright, i also figured out it exists and read her "steps toward inner peace" pamphlet, more instruction there! not bad, lists all sorts of components of ego-death. might actually use it as a program for myself when i'm ready for another challenge! maybe even a whole year sort of thing?

  • ♑︎ Time for more Pantsing

    It seems I got so used to having plans when writing, that the level of pantsing I now need is stifling.

    That's what happens when you change your antagonists five chapters in while still being set on the same outcome. The lore now needs to wiggle and bent to fit old and new. And I've reached the point where the new bits need to be introduced.

    We've salvaged papyri that should give us some hints of those, but you know, I need to write down those legends now. (After avoiding to actually mention details about two books the first part centered around…)

  • ♑︎ The Vinylyssee

    I'm a Muse fan. So, of course, I've pre-ordered the new album, even if they don't do those pretty box sets anymore. I ordered the pretty "Store Exclusive Collectors' Edition" and added that pin, because one can never have enough pins either.

    It was shipped on June 23. A few days before album release. Which is new for them. Because people who pre-order, clearly do so in order to wait weeks for their albums. (Yes, these days you can just stream while waiting. When I've started being a Muse fan, that was not an option yet. It either was waiting while everyone else listened and talked, pirating or getting some other copy from other shops.)

    My parcel was transmitted to customs on July 3rd where it stayed until the 20th. Because there was a change for goods going into the EU. New fees, that must have surprised Warner a lot and clearly no-one could've guessed they'd suddenly appear and become an issue. Surely, no-one could've prepared for that!

• Technology and Free Software

  • Internet/Gemini

    • GeoCities sites that never updated again (scary!!!)

      It's a tiny bit haunting seeing pages with these kinds of messages. There's the irony of seeing people promise updates, while knowing with hindsight that it'll never happen; GeoCities is long dead. No one's coming back.

      That makes me wonder what these GeoCities homesteaders had in mind for updates. Or how they're doing in the present day now that they've moved on. I guess this feeling counts as sonder.