Bonum Certa Men Certa

Gemini Links 03/05/2023: Scepticism of 'the State of Modern Computing'



  • Gemini* and Gopher

    • Personal

      • Sunrise and Bird Song 2023-05-03 (Fairbanks, AK, USA)

        This morning I went back to the same spot on the east side of the UAF hill and took some more sunrise photos. This time I did not get as much of that purple twlight effect, owing I think to the clouds being at a lower altitude. But I was still able to get a good number of nice photos from twilight to dawn.

      • Yretek - It seems I have fallen off the wagon

        Fear your wishes for they might become true, they say, or something of that sort. In my case I've got two: a promotion for which I had worked for so long and, on top of that, it seems I'm a game-master again. The curse with the first wish is that I have to go to another office. This came unexpected as there's actually a lot of work to do where I'm currently stationed. [...]

        It's that I've been posting less often. Not a big deal, to be honest, I don't want to be a slave to the Gemini, but it makes harder to come up with ideas for a new post. So, you see, that's the main reason for this one.

    • Technical

      • P E R M A C O M P U T E R

        I've ranted quite a bit on my phlog on the state of modern computing and the direction we're headed. And now with LLM being a fad, things have gotten so much worse yet again. A few weeks ago the Washington Post released an article (1) with therein a widget that lets you look up whether your website has been scraped by AI or not. I was dissapointed (but not surprised) to find out that they had scraped, not only my websites (ignoring robots.txt), but also gopher proxies, and presumably gemini http proxies as well. What this means is they likely slurped up all of gopherspace and gemspace as well. I do not consent to this. Anyhow,...

      • Gobs and gobs of gobs and gobs

        My bookmarks situation - across a variety of readers/browsers on a couple devices - is already an unknottable tangle of URL entropy. No time to go through it all, and possibly organize. And it goes without typing there's likely plenty of link rot therein. We're talking several hours of wading, renaming, deleting, nesting, becoming dissatisfied with organizational choices along the way, forgetting initial nesting guiding principles, etc.

      • The "Technological Futures" Letter

        Going back to 2010-2012, I was new in the industry, and I was so, so proud to be a programmer. In a time where a lot of rough things were going on in my life, I latched on to being a software hotshot as a core part of my identity and my self-worth.

        [...]

        It's all fucked up. I don't want to live in the future that Microsoft/Alphabet/OpenAI/Meta are selling, and I'm scared that many people will be badly hurt by it. Those companies are trying to push a narrative of inevitability so they can manufacture public consent for developing and releasing these things. I don't really know what I can do about it, but ever since I first read the small things manifesto, I've felt strongly like I need to do something. The truth is, I'm badly disillusioned by computing in general, and I'd like to accomplish at least something toward making computing work for people, not just companies. I'm just a person, not terribly bright and with a large number of regrets, but if I can, I'd really like to help work toward the right thing.


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



Recent Techrights' Posts

People Who Assault Women Are Not Victims of "Distress"
It seems like an American tradition. In a country with almost 50 presidents, not even one was a female.
Adoption of Gemini Protocol Still Growing
Gemini Protocol is being obscured by the media - it doesn't help that Google 'hijacked' the word "Gemini" - but people still manage to find out about it, download a client, and use it
Brett Wilson LLP "Takes it Personal" (Character Assassination, Not Professionalism). Everybody Can See That.
On behalf of violent men
Pissing Contests and Pissing Off Everyone
people who came from Microsoft are trying to vex and divide the community
Microsoft Repeats the Mistakes Made by the EPO After We Exposed a Major Microsoft/EPO Scandal 10 Years Ago
That scandal was all over the media, not just in English
 
Changing One's Name Won't Change One's Past
People who have earned a bad reputation are not magically "entitled" to reset
Slashdot Media Turned Linux Journal Into a Slopfarm and Now Slashdot Actively Promotes Anti-Linux Slopfarms
Yes, "no-nonsense" apparently means actual nonsense
Links 14/07/2025: Arresting Photographers, Threats to Revoke US Citizenship Over Criticism
Links for the day
More EPO Leaks on the Way
We hope that Mr. Rowan will actually try to refute what we say and show, not merely point the finger at the messengers
Decommodification is a Corporate Strategy Against Communities
systemd is led by Microsoft and hosted by Microsoft
copyleft.org 'Hijacked' by the People Who Attack the Person Who Created Copyleft
So far there's nothing "tasteless" in copyleft.org, but that can change at any time in the future
Asking People to Take Down Articles and Videos Only Makes These More Popular and "Viral"
If you do something bad, one of the worst things you can possibly do it try to silence those who speak about it
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, July 13, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, July 13, 2025
Two-Thirds Towards FSF Goal, Richard Stallman to Give Talks in Europe
There are 67 left before reaching the target
Gemini Links 14/07/2025: Politicised Tech and "Leaving GitHub"
Links for the day
The Demise of LLMs
We've just checked BetaNews again. They've dropped all the slop and went back to human authors.
Gemini Links 13/07/2025: Sonpo Museum of Art and FCEUX
Links for the day
Links 13/07/2025: UnitedHealth's Censorship Campaign, Australia Wary of China
Links for the day
Firing Away With Nonsense
Or fighting fire with fire
Links 13/07/2025: Climate Crisis, GAFAM Poisoning the Water
Links for the day
Turns Out LLMs for Code Don't Save Time and Don't Improve Quality
Neither legal nor useful
The Microsofters Will Have an Obligation to Compensate Us
This story isn't just about Microsoft. It's also about corruption, there are many women victims, there is abject "abuse of process", and many more scandals to be illuminated in years to come.
Reproducing at the EPO Instead of Producing Monopolies for Foreign Monopolies With Their Price-Fixing Cartels
Does the EPO recognise the need of well-educated Europeans to bear kids?
Valnet Inc. Dominates Real (Not LLM Slop) GNU/Linux Coverage in 2025
And likely in prior years, too
Free Software Foundation (FSF) Fund Raiser Goes on
Later this month we'll expose another OSI scandal
EPO Staff Representatives Issue a Warning About Staff's Health and Inadequate Care
Even the EPO's own stakeholders (money sources) are openly protesting against what the EPO became
Links 13/07/2025: Partly Assorted News From Deutsche Welle and CBC
Links for the day
Gemini Links 13/07/2025: Board Games and Battle Styles
Gemini Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, July 12, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, July 12, 2025
Plunder at the Second-Largest Institution in Europe
cuts, neglect, health problems, even early deaths
Links 12/07/2025: Political Developments, Attack on Opposition, Climate Actions
Links for the day
Gemini Links 12/07/2025: Melodic Musings and Small Web July
Links for the day
Links 12/07/2025: Jail in China for Homoerotica, South Korea Discriminates Against Old Workers
Links for the day
If Only Everything Was Rewritten in Rust, We'd Have No More Security Issues?
Nope.
Links 12/07/2025: Birdwatching and Fake/Misleading Wall Street 'Valuation' Figures
Links for the day
Gemini Links 12/07/2025: How to Avoid Writing, Apps for Android
Links for the day
Using SLAPPs to Cover Up Sexual Abuse and Strangulation
The exact same legal team of the Serial Strangler from Microsoft and Garrett already has a history fighting against "metoo"
EPO Staff Committee on Harassment in the Workplace
slides
Adding the Voice of Writers to UK SLAPP Reform
The journey to repair antiquated (monarchy era) laws will likely be long
EPO Takes More Money From Staff for Speculation (Pensions), Actuarial Study Explains the Impact
"The key change in this year’s Actuarial Study, due to cascading the new “risk appetite” from the financial study, is a significant increase of the total pension contribution rate of 5.7 percentage points, up to a total of 37.8%. This is driven by an unprecedented decrease in the discount rate of 105 bps down to 2.2%."
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, July 11, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, July 11, 2025