Bonum Certa Men Certa

Gemini Links 09/05/2023: Personal Stuff and Proportional Coding



  • GNU/Linux

    • Personal

      • Re: JeanG3nie: I'd rather be Ferrari than Ford

        For me it's liking bare fingers on acoustic guitar strings, attempting to hit higher vocal notes through 62-year-old vocal chords that might have encounters one cigarette too many the night before. It's ftp'ing files I'd vim'd to a gemini account instead of typing into either a textarea or a javascript-mediated equivalent.

      • Growing in the Wrong Places

        The city that I live in used to be a steel production town, it has since morphed into a hybrid college town and regular small city, but the scars are still here. An environmental survey of a pond near my house revealed that the only way to clean it would be to either cover the whole thing over and forget it existed, or dig out >6 feet of contaminated sludge from the floor of the pond. There isn’t 0 green-space in the city, but there is at least a 3:1 ratio of abandoned parking lots to flora. Nature within the city is often seen as a problem that needs to be overcome, rather than a harmonious relationship. In spite of this, small plants jut through cracks in the sidewalk made by the roots of trees. Squirrels use the power lines in lieu of dense forests, and geese inhabit the parks in droves, daring anybody to challenge their authority.

      • Ne-an-nes!

        Yesterday I sang the Liturgy in Byzantine chant at another church than the one I usually attend. It was stressful (I was protopsaltis and it was my first rodeo at that particular klḗros), but ultimately it was a good experience. I really enjoyed improvizing during the Anaphora, the Cherubic Hymn, and the communion hymn. The 2 other chanters were good isokratḗs and I appreciated their help in pointing me to the right hymns for the day and filling in the places I was unsure on.

        The weather has been beautiful, and spring is finally here. It's pretty warm here most days, sometimes even getting to 75℉. I've been playing koi-koi with my family and a solitaire matching game outside using a hanafuda deck I recently bought. It's pretty fun.

      • virginia woolf, between the acts

        There had always been lilies there, self-sown from wind-dropped seed, floating red and white on the green plates of their leaves. Water, for hundreds of years, had silted down into the hollow, and lay there four or five feet deep over a black cushion of mud.

        [...]

        Life, the history of the world, and all individual histories present themselves to us as a series of events, in other words of brief and dramatic acts. A battle, an encounter between statesmen, an important speech, a crucial letter are instants in history. I remember a night near Bahia, when I was enveloped in a firework display of phosphorescent fireflies; their pale lights glowed, went out, shone again, all without piercing the night with any true illumination. So it is with events; beyond their glow, darkness prevails.

      • 🔤SpellBinding: EFIYTVS Wordo: XEROX
    • Technical

      • Internet/Gemini

        • Ad-hoc served gemini file

          This file is being served by a bit of nonsense /bin/sh. It uses ncat(1), part of the nmap package, to listen on the right port and wrap the connection using my letsencrypt key. xq came up with the idea and the core server code for an experiment he's running for Kristall. I stole it to make this silly thing.

        • 2023 Week 16/17/18: Status and Photos

          The last few weeks have been dominated by two things: work and moving. At my job, we are engaged in a large upgrade project that takes up almost all of my time each day. In the evenings, I have been helping to pack, move and unpack dozens of boxes and bins. These tasks have left me very little time to engage in Gemini.

          Compounding the issue has been my recent trouble with our ISP. Not only did I post nothing onto my capsule for a week, but the capsule itself was unavailable for the same period. I'm so glad that issue has finally been taken care of.

      • Programming

        • Proportional Coding

          We are told—correctly—that readability of code is of primary importance in large codebases. And yet, most programmers miss a simple trick that can greatly boost readability.

          You might have guessed it from the title: use a proportional font.


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



Recent Techrights' Posts

Microsoft XBox is Having Its 1990s Apple Moment (Near Bankruptcy), Says Respected Insider
Microsoft's CEO has already admitted that XBox is having serious financial problems [...] They already try to reuse the brand "XBox" to refer to Vista 11
OECD Carries Water for Microsoft, Targets Schools and Children With Slop Agenda
Peel off a layer or two to find GAFAM
Links 16/06/2026: UK to Restrict Access to Social Control Media; The FCC Wants to Eliminate Burner Phones
Links for the day
 
Austria Shows Rapid Demise of Windows in the EU
Expect many Microsoft layoffs soon, and not just in XBox/gaming
Links 16/06/2026: Mainstream Media Affirms Microsoft Studio Closures Planned, Anthropic’s Latest Marketing Hype Debunked by Experts
Links for the day
This Morning The Register MS Published Page With "AI" 42 Times in It. It Was Paid SPAM.
The Register MS is propping up a pyramid scheme
Microsoft "Xbox braces for sweeping studio closures before June 30."
Microsoft's control of the damage-limiting narrative has clearly slipped
In Africa's Largest Nation Windows Has Fallen From 100% to a Lot Less, Now All-Time Lows
Let's see what happens or will happen in Algeria in 2027
Richard Stallman's Talk Due in One Hour, Here's What People Say
To Stallman, what matters is control by users and collective control
SLAPP Censorship - Part 108 Out of 200: Moving On and Moving Up
an explanation of our rich history and commitment to courageous whistleblowers
Why We Call Him Dr. Stallman
He got at least 15 such titles
United States of America: GNU/Linux Hovering Around 5% (It Started There)
GNU/Linux is turning 43 this year (in a few months), Linux will turn 35
Microsoft Promises Made to be Broken
It's a real problem and it is not limited to XBox
IBM Down $61 in Two Weeks, The Lies About Quantum Computers Didn't Last Long
IBM is an unsafe employer, not a good place to work
You Probably Don't Want to "Go Viral" in Toxic Social Control Media
Good news sites do not strive to go "viral" but to be consistently good, irrespective of "traffic"
New 'Article' in The Register MS Has Mentioned "AI" 44 Times. The Register MS Got Paid to Publish It.
Bear this in mind when seeing "hey hi" all over the news
18-Year Anniversary of Our IRC Community
As noted some months ago, trolling and abuse in our IRC network is very rare these days
Microsoft - Like IBM - is Leaving a Legacy is Emptied/Abandoned Buildings
Microsoft's LinkedIn had many layoffs recently
Richard Stallman's (RMS) Speaking Tour in Europe Coincides With Abandonment of Microsoft Windows
The message applies to all governments
Gemini Links 16/06/2026: Nazi Law of Mental Abuse and Lewis Aburrow's 3D-Printed Slider
Links for the day
Links 16/06/2026: Windows TCO and Fedora Finding Serious 20-Year-Old Holes in Microsoft Outlook
Links for the day
European Patent Office (EPO) Series: An Advisor to the President
he had recently advanced to membership of the "inner circle" of Team Campinos.
Two Weeks Ahead of July Three Studios Microsoft Plans to Shut Down Already Named
This is what happens when companies try to establish themselves on a mountain of promises and false assumptions, kicking the can down the road until payroll becomes hard to complete
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, June 15, 2026
IRC logs for Monday, June 15, 2026
IBM Works for Microsoft
Hours ago in IBM.com
Microsoft May Already Be Shutting Down More Gaming Studios
the writings are on the wall: XBox is in disarray.
European Patent Office (EPO) Series: The EPO's Brussels Liaison Officer
It would appear that in January 2020, Pellegrino was induced by Campinos to jump ship from the EUIPO and take up his current position as Brussels Liaison Officer for the EPO
European Patent Office (EPO) Receiving Section (RS) and Elimination of Many Roles
Open letter to Mr Rowan (VP1) and Mr Aledo Lopez (COO) [...] Does the EU leadership intend to tolerate this?
Microsoft's XBox is Disintegrating, Executives Are Quitting
We're basically witnessing the slow-motion "end of XBox"
Gemini Links 15/06/2026: Slop Code Benchmarked, Wireguard on NixOS and Guix
Links for the day
Links 15/06/2026: More Own Goals for the Slop Industry, Palantir Trouble in UK
Links for the day
Apple Wants Everybody to Forget About "Vision Pro" Because It Was a Giant Flop
worthless gadgets with no obvious use case/s
The Cyber Show is Adopting 'Book Form' (or Long Form Publications)
Andy and Helen nowadays invest more time in making their site faster
Richard Stallman's Software Freedom/Digital Sovereignty Tour in Europe
As things stand at present, the vast majority of people have their interactions controlled/policed by GAFAM
Estimates of Scale of Microsoft Layoffs, Will Likely Happen "in Batches"
"Heard 10 to 15 percent eventually but idk date."
IBM Has Put Red Hat on a Poor Diet of Slop, Now Fedora and Red Hat Suffocate or Choke on It
Over the weekend we saw more people leaving the company
Estimates of Microsoft Layoffs: 3,000 Staff to be Culled Just in Gaming, How Many in Other Divisions?
Now the XBox division has its own "fall guy", but it is a woman
Straw Man Arguments Against Rust
If anything, it teaches the importance of auditing packages
Tesla Debt Rose Sharply, Sales Declined, Wall Street's Claim of Tesla "Value" is Merely a Fairytale (and Not Just Tesla)
We would gladly sell land on Mars to anyone who honestly believes a company that loses money is somehow "worth" trillions in Wall Street
Stop Calling Losses "Investment"
XBox is losing money, it is a sinkhole
For Justice We Need More Speech, Not Less Speech
When you attack something you are just giving that something a bigger platform
SLAPP Censorship - Part 107 Out of 200: Keeping Law Accessible to Everybody
We'll have stories related to this in the future
Links 15/06/2026: Slop "Beg Bounties", Wall Street Fakes 'Worth', and Arkansans Saved PBS
Links for the day
Gemini Links 15/06/2026: Dating Oaks, Simulation, and Theremin
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, June 14, 2026
IRC logs for Sunday, June 14, 2026
Links 14/06/2026: Energy Cost and Reality Strikes at Heart of Slop Bubble, 75 Data Center Build-outs "Successfully Blocked"
Links for the day
Microsoft CEO Says XBox is Not a Sustainable Business
"Now, we have to turn this into a sustainable business," he said about XBox
MElon (MUSK, Elon) is a Trillionaire Like Penguins Are Mammals
Have media outlets told the truth?
Unlikely Heroes
One personal hero who is not alive (anymore) is Navalny
Bruce Schneier Was Probably Wrong About Slop
Right now politicians who openly speak in favour of slop are committing "political suicide"
SLAPP Censorship - Part 106 Out of 200: 100 Kilograms of Legal Papers
When one party's communications and filings weigh at about 3 KG of paper and another's... at about 100 KG of paper
Links 14/06/2026: More Google Layoffs, Wall Street Deems Companies That Lose Money "Worth" Trillions
Links for the day
Gemini Links 14/06/2026: "The Universe is a Hologram", "Matrix Brain Download", and "Happy 0th Year"
Links for the day
European Patent Office (EPO) Series: Battistelli's "Baltic Crusader"
Gilles Requena, Battistelli's erstwhile "Baltic Crusader" and the loyal servant of his successor Campinos
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, June 13, 2026
IRC logs for Saturday, June 13, 2026