Bonum Certa Men Certa

Gemini Links 22/05/2023: Bubble Debated a Week Later



  • Gemini* and Gopher

    • Personal

      • Some new books

        New to me, that is. Two new thrift store books, $1/ea:

        the life-changing magic of tidying up (2014), Marie Kondo and The Land Breakers (1964), John Ehle

        Both are hardcover. My wife has the digital version of the Marie Kondo book, and tells me that the book itself suggests being given away, so it's not odd to see it at a thrift store. Seems like sound advice. It's a book about letting things go. Maybe it was secretly written by the League of Thrift Store Masters, as propaganda to replenish their shelves?

      • Etymology

        It's probably not a familiar word if you're an American, maybe more of a British/Canadian thing, but today I learned that "Tory" (as a nickname for Conservatives) is derived from the Irish tóraidhe; appropriately, "bandit".

      • All Day Outside

        On Saturday I went up to my parents' for a family get together with my dad's sister, my mom's sister, and my mom's aunt. I don't much care for my mom's side of the family and while I tried coming at them with an open mind and heart, it being a number of years since I'd last seen them, they proved to repeat the same negative traits that has pushed me away from them. My dad and his sister agreed so we ended up spending a lot of time together, hiding from my mom's half. One of the things I did to stay busy away from the family was prepping an old metal horse trough to be turned into a raised planter box. I had to drill a few holes in the bottom for drainage and load it, as well as a bucket of composted horse manure, into the back of my car. I unloaded it all as soon as I got home that night.

    • Technical

      • Pixel, Audio Clipping, etc

        Yesterday I mentioned I was having audio issues with my Pixel. I never got it sorted out on the default Camera app, despite all the suggestions I found on reddit.

        So I tried plan B: downloaded Open Camera from the Play Store, tried a few recordings on a few different instruments.

      • Science

        • Factorizing x^5-5x-3

          Just another ".tex" file that shows how to factorize some quintic polynomial.

      • Internet/Gemini

        • A read-only web front-end for a news server
        • Everybody Has a Take on Bubble. Here’s Mine

          But to have arrived at this non-take, I have had a couple of hot or not so hot takes.

          I participated on Geminispace.org quite a bit. But my foremost reason to participate was because I agree with @skyjake in dog-fooding Gemini for issue tracking for Lagrange. So I had a snack.

          Because I added my email address to Geminispace.org, I received notifications. I participated in more subspaces. The slow web got faster. Uneasily faster. But the gained value from staying in the loop had more upside than downside; collaboration increased. Still, there was the lingering feeling that I moved from a cozy zen retreat to the hustle and bustle of a metropolis. All those feelings still apply after a week.

        • Feedback and Validation, Engagement and Performance

          Sometimes I miss the direct and immediate feedback of social media. Most times I’m happy to not hunting down notifications.

          Sometimes I miss validation for something I wrote or created. Most times I’m happy with just expressing myself.

        • Re: Everybody Has a Take on Bubble. Here’s Mine



          In any case, why should Gemini cater to only one of these groups and not the other? The protocol is simple for sure, but it's perfectly capable of serving the needs of both groups. Anyone regardless of their preferred communication style can enjoy the other benefits of Gemini, such as privacy, lack of bloated web technologies, no unsolicited ads, and being in control of the overall experience with their client selection, to name a few.

          This is total speculation, but I feel like the long-form gemlog-preferring group is much smaller than the microbloggers. There are many reasons, but an important one is that serious long-form blogging is more like an art form in that takes dedication and focus, and these things are in short supply. Microblogging is something that many more people are able to partake in, enabling them to express their thoughts and feelings in a way that seems impactful. Here we should be very careful before making value judgements about which form of communication is "better": one may favor thoughtfulness, and the other immediacy and feedback loops, but both have their strengths and weaknesses.

        • Re: Bubble

          The sourdough protostarter is not really bubbling, yet, and mostly smells of flour. I suspect the environment is more about bleach than yeast, a win from the War on Bacteria. There aren't any wheat fields visible, though there may be some off in somewhat walking distance range? I'm already doing the "leave the water in a jar for a day so it smells less like a swimming pool" thing.

          [...]

          Not sure why bread is still stuck on bubble sort, presumably someone would have invented a better method by now? Okay, that joke was a bit of a stretch. You did not need to hear any of this!


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



Recent Techrights' Posts

The Same People Who Attacked Richard Stallman (RMS) Are Attacking Daniel Pocock to Discourage People From Listening to His Information
Pocock is being demonised for the same reasons and by the same people who attack RMS
We Are Safe in a Modern "Tech" Society, Right?
People are safer if they control their own computing
The Way Things Are Going, They May Soon Stop Saying "Web Address" and Instead Say "Chrome Address"
The Web isn't built or based around open Web standards anymore. It's centered around user-agent.
Microsoft as a Golden Cage
"I was laid off by Microsoft and can't find a job. I'm weeks away from giving up my apartment and moving across the country to live with family."
Weekend Discussion About How IBM's Bluewashing of Red Hat Will Cause "Enshittification" for Users
"I worked at a software company that was acquired by IBM so I knew it was game over for RedHat the day they were acquired"
Brett Wilson LLP Getting Sued by Its Very Own Clients, a Legal Story That Has Made the Mainstream News (Law360)
Law360 or Law.com are about as mainstream as one can get in that "sector" (litigation 'industry')
 
It's Not Justice When One Side Denies the Other Side the Ability to Even Speak
At this stage, Brett Wilson LLP is in my humble opinion acting in contempt of the Court
Links 13/10/2025: Australian Catholic University Uses Slop to Libel Students, Canada Threatens to Kill Beluga Whales
Links for the day
How Not to Silence Tux Machines (It'll Only Backfire, Badly)
defending Microsoft while attacking this site
Slopwatch: UbuntuPIT and Google News
It seems abundantly clear that Google News and Google in general participates in the slop epidemic
Vincent Danjean (not INTERPOL), Claire Bardel & Debian pregnancy cluster
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Christmas lynchings: Martin Krafft (madduck), Penny Leach (mjollnir) & Debian pregnancy cluster
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 13/10/2025: Birthdays and "Committee Unable to Contact Nobel Prize Winner"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, October 12, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, October 12, 2025
Your Typical Anti-Richard Stallman (RMS) Cancellist
"About the RMS cancellation"
Richard Stallman (RMS) Has Announced His Talk in Rome Less Than 20 Hours in Advance (and on a Sunday)
Why did he wait until the night before?
GNU Tools Cauldron Event in Portugal: Videos Now Available via Invidious
Go have a look
Slopwatch: GNU/Linux Sites That Became Slopfarms and Spamfarms
The Web is a mess and "Linux" or "Ubuntu" sites became part of the problem
Richard Stallman's Talk 25 Hours Away, Aula Magna Palazzo del Rettorato (CU001), Sapienza Università di Roma (Piazzale Aldo Moro, 5)
The talk is 25 hours away and we see some QR code for it
Gemini Links 12/10/2025: Watches, the Depression of 2026, Gamboling with Odds
Links for the day
Links 12/10/2025: 'False' DMCA Claims and Slop Facing Perils Again (the Hype Wears Off)
Links for the day
Microsoft Has Just Lost Privacy Case in Austria and Its Latest Moves Make a Complete Ban Seem Imperative
Microsoft is not a software company, it's a spying agency that uses software to collect data
The Register MS: Microsoft is the Security Expert, Not the Prime Culprit, So Buy More Microsoft
This front page feature is devoid of any actual substance, it's just Microsoft copypasta
Paris 'Love Nest' & Debian Outreachy: from Lycée Lakanal to ENS Cachan, Cr@ns, nepotism
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Stefano Zacchiroli (Zack) & Debian pregnancy cluster
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Lucas Nussbaum & Debian pregnancy cluster
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 12/10/2025: "Palm Computering", Further Exploration of Slide Rules, and Key Takeaways from The Well-Grounded Rubyist
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, October 11, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, October 11, 2025
Tomorrow: Founder of the Free Software Foundation and of GNU/Linux, Richard Stallman, Speaks in Roma (Rome), Italy at 4PM
GNU/Linux is more important than ever in this dystopian world
Microsoft and Apple Are Rare Topics in Geminispace
in Geminispace it's rather safe to assume everyone is into BSD, GNU/Linux, and sometimes retro
Qualcomm and Manchester United Appear to Have Dumped Microsoft (Qualcomm Now Invests More in Linux, Apparently)
It's a relief to no longer see Microsoft logos and brands on a local football club's gear (I'm not a Manchester United fan, but not a foe either)
As Guest of Honour in Rome, Founder of the Free Software Foundation to Speak ("Distinguished Lecture") After Introduction by Leonardo Querzoni
Happy hacking...
All Things Open is Proprietary
The OSI has become a front group of proprietary software openwashers, led and sponsored by proprietary giants
When Microsoft Lays Off Lots of Workers They Say It "Invests in AI" (a Lie), Now It's "Reshuffles" or "Microsoft Tightens"
Microsoft "news" by bots
"I saw Richard Stallman give a talk in the mid 80s, which began my fear and loathing of software patents" and "Richard Stallman was always right."
"By betraying the legacy of our ancestors, we’ve set ourselves on a path toward self-destruction — moral, intellectual, economic, and ultimately biological."
There Were Several Waves of Microsoft Shanghai Layoffs in 2025, Western Media Continues to Turn a Blind Eye to Chinese Layoffs of an Epic Scale
Sometimes select Taiwanese news sites (published in English) or automated translations are all we have
Brett Wilson LLP Spreads Trumpism to the United Kingdom, Looking to Profit From 'Legal Colonialism' (Overriding Sovereignty)
There's growing recognition of this conundrum worldwide
The Demise of Shopping in Person
In a world like this, how valued is the customer?
This Past Friday, "Nearly 700 People Came to Listen to RMS!" (Richard Stallman)
"Nearly 700 people came to listen to RMS!"
Distinguished Lecture by Richard Stallman This Coming Monday in Rome
After "Free software, Crucial for Freedom in a Digital World"
Slopwatch: UbuntuPIT Churning Out Plagiarism and the Slopfarm LinuxSecurity Turns to Pseudonyms
Our hunch is, UbuntuPIT will sooner or later realise that this toxic approach is just harming UbuntuPIT and tainting the reputation of past articles
The Lawsuit by Clients of Brett Wilson LLP Against Brett Wilson LLP is Officially On, It is Progressing, The 'Experts' Pick Outside Law Firms (RPC and Mills & Reeve) to Spare Them From Litigants in Person
So it is probably quite potent
Gemini Links 11/10/2025: Nyctography, Gerrymandering, and Lurking
Links for the day
The 'Culture Wars' in Free Software Have Gone Out of Control
Social control media amplifies such utterly infantile discourse
Teaser: To Compensate for the Fact Our Clients Are Terrible Human Beings Who Strangle Women (While on Microsoft's Payroll) and We Get Paid by Mystery Parties We Bombard You and Your Wife With Almost 10 Kilograms of Legal Papers
If you can't win an argument, then drown the other side with papers?
Links 11/10/2025: World Mental Health Day 2025, Another European Legal Defeat for Microsoft 360
Links for the day
MIT Technology Review is Part-Time SPAMfarm of Billionaires and Mega-Corporations
Does MIT operate its own "b2b" SPAMfarm?
Open Source Initiative Executive Director Leaves, Replacement Sought by Monopolists, Not the Community or OSI Members
Serves to show who runs this show...
Links 11/10/2025: China-US Tensions Grow Again, "Hey Hi" More Widely Recognised as Bubble Made of Capital That Doesn't Exist
Links for the day
Now Confirmed in Western Media: Microsoft Azure Layoffs This Month
Affirmed by more sources moments ago
Peter O'Callaghan QC represented grandparents, Westernport Hotel, at Liquor Royal Commission
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Either The Register MS Divests From FOSS Coverage or Liam Proven is on Long Holiday
Publishers perish when their audience loses trust in them
Microsoft Cancelling Another Datacentre is a Sign of Financial Trouble and Lack of Growth
The debt continues to grow
Gemini Links 11/10/2025: An Evening at the Fair and Fast Fourier Friday
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, October 10, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, October 10, 2025