Bonum Certa Men Certa

Gemini Links 12/06/2023: Opal 1.7.0 and More



  • Gemini* and Gopher

    • Personal/Opinions

      • Funeral For a Friend - Casually Dressed & Deep In Conversation

        I've talked about this album a lot. Every now and again I'll feel in the mood to just be 12 again: sad confused and angry.

        Disclaimer: This kinda got away from me! Bare with what is basically a listen along once I get into the song breakdowns. I highly recommend listening along if you want to! Back to the gemlog!

      • Introduction to the series (no album)

        The CS nerd in me is sad number 0 isn't an actual entry. But I figure this requires its own introduction!

        For the longest time I have considered a few albums I love "perfect". A perfect album to me is one I can press play on and I never get bored, tired, or that urge to "ugh let me skip this track" (cough uncough Drive by Incubus). But especially those that once I start listening I can't stop. I just want to keep listening or if a track comes on I have to just continue forward. That doesn't necessarily mean they have to be "album albums" where they require that context and ordering - but just an overall solid album through and through!

      • the art of letting go

        late at night, i'm the most productive. and when you used to be able to smoke inside, writing, smoking, and drinking is probably the best combination for successful prose on paper since liber and mercury bestowed us with their gifts. but even still, there is not much cooler a vibe than a writer at the end of the bar at a local pub, scribbling in a notebook in between sips of their beverage of choice—and it does say a lot about them, doesn't it?

        a pint: probably a more lover of language who writes for the hell of it. a dirty martini: some emotions are a bit built up in that one, there. an old-fashioned: who are you kidding? i see ~bartender shaking his head; i must've gotten that all wrong, but generalizations are more fun to write.

    • Science

      • Problematic Monoculture Reductivism in Literary Analysis

        In reading opinions of literary analysis, I sometimes come across large sweeping claims with little justification. Statements such as "Western stories focus on a singular power fantasy hero, while Eastern stories focus on unity to overcome threats." Usually they try to tie this in as a cultural analysis.

        They'll point to examples like *John Wick* to demonstrate their idea of Western stories, then *Sailor Moon* for Eastern stories. This ends up painting the stories of both cultures as one singular idea. It over-simplifies to a point where the the nuances of the cultures are ignored for the sake of the author's thesis statement.

      • the little things

        i tend to speak very openly about my mental health. about three to four years ago, i was at my absolute worst. i got stuck in really dangerous thought patterns, things like "if i were to jump out this window then i could knock myself out for a week at least at best". i was fortunate enough to (almost) never pull through with these ideas and sought help when i was at my lowest. within two weeks i got a first appointment with a psychotherapist in training. preliminary diagnosis: f32.1 moderate depressive episode. five months later i found myself in group therapy. i filled out a questionnaire at the beginning of every session which had me reflecting on my mental state of the past two weeks. the result was a score representative of the severity of my depression. before my first session i got a score of 33 out of 63, thinking it wasn't that bad. we weren't given the scale until late into therapy where we had the opportunity to look at our past scores and reflect on our mental growth. as it turned out, a score of 29 and above is classified as a severe depressive episode. it hadn't dawned on me just how messed up my mind was until then. at my last session, i got a score of 5. the scale didn't speak of depression up until a score of 8.

    • Technology and Free Software

      • Bad Loops

        A bad loop might be "10 open up reddit, read all the posts, close reddit, open hacker news, read all the posts, close hacker news, GOTO 10". Sure, you might learn a few things, and put even more things into the ever-growing list of things to get to, but then where did the day go? Where were the other things you wanted to do?

      • Yet Another Homelab Setup

        I have a new homelab setup. I've been homelab-hopping for the past year or so, and with each new setup, something or other just never sit right with me. It always felt like there was something that could be made better or more effcient with the resources I had. I recently discovered the wonderful world of LXD, and I was excited over how robust the technology is, so I endeavored to make my homelab setup with it.

      • so many standards

        This is also a way of identifying a URL as the location of an avatar, and works pretty decently as just an extra class that can be added to what would otherwise be a normal HTML page containing information about a person.

      • Internet/Gemini

        • Identity Again: Visual Hashing

          Feedback on my ideas around identity on Gemini has emphasized the need for decentralizaton and privacy.

        • I am Spartacus — Anonymous Identities on Gemini

          After a few days of musing, I am of the opinion that Morgan's Gemini identity proposals are fundamentally flawed and I am not going to implement them in Bubble.

        • gemini client testing

          The original torture tests that were up at => gemini://gemini.conman.org/test/torture had been taken down some time ago, and I started writing some new ones for shits and giggles and talked about it in

      • Software Releases/Announcements

        • Opal 1.7.0 - now with Titan!

          Last night I finished the initial implementation of support for the Titan protocol in Opal.

          Opal is a Gemini client library written for the C# world (.NET Standard 2.0 and .NET 7).


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



Recent Techrights' Posts

Gemini Links 23/12/2025: Hydraulic Pressure Balance and mercury://
Links for the day
Techrights as 'Regulator' Against Runaway Trains
"Runaway trains" never scared us because we know that they, unlike us, don't think rationally
Social Control Media is Bots (Fake Traffic, Fake 'Engagement')
As per FORTUNE, 76% of Twitter is alleged to be bots now
"Major [IBM] Reductions Will Take Place Soon in Rochester MN"
Maybe that's just the latest office gossip
 
Serial Sloppers Lost Momentum, Sites With "Linux" in Their Name Barely Bother Anymore
Will 2026 be the year slopfarms jump the shark?
Gemini Links 23/12/2025: "The sun is shinning" and "problem in the Butlerian Jihad setup"
Links for the day
Links 23/12/2025: "Over 8,700 News Articles Censored in Turkey in 2024" and "Photos Are Being Deleted From the Epstein Files"
Links for the day
Links 23/12/2025: That ‘Satisfying Click’ and Security Lapses, Car Bomb Kills Russian Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov
Links for the day
Links 23/12/2025: GNU Taler 1.3, US Regime Censors Television Again
Links for the day
Valve Can Bring More Users to GNU/Linux, But It Won't Bring Freedom
Steam is DRM
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, December 22, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, December 22, 2025
How the Slop (So-called 'AI') Bubble Will Burst Next Year
There are already talks about mass layoffs in January
"Generative AI Bubble Has Begun to Pop", Nvidia Rides “Circular Financing... a Strategy That Hearkens Back to the Dot-com Crisis”
For companies like Microsoft this may mean another 30,000+ layoffs next year
Microsoft-Connected Media Talking About XBox Division "Profit Margins" is Distraction From XBox Sales Collapsing 70% in One Year
The simple fact is, Microsoft's console is dead in the water
The Reality is "Vibe Code" (Slop) is That It's Worthless
“Confidently Wrong”
British Web Developers Can Probably Ignore Firefox Users (Based on US Standards)
Mozilla has managed to piss off enough people
On the 'Digital Gulag' of 'Secure Boot' and Microsoft Disguising Its Attacks on Users as "Security"
Dr. Andy Farnell has this new article
Slopfarms Can Only Survive in Google News, Which is Still Promoting Them
Google News promoted only 3 slopfarms today
Gemini Links 22/12/2025: Films, Creativity vs. Consumption, Slop in YouTube
Links for the day
Microsoft XBox Losing Money, Layoffs and Studio Shutdowns (As Well as Price Hikes) Not the Solution
Microsoft does not quite talk about profits
Links 22/12/2025: Data Breaches, deterioration in Politics, and Geminispace
Links for the day
Links 22/12/2025: North Korean Applicants Target GAFAM (Amazon), ‘Orwellian Climate of Fear’ of CPC (Even Outside China)
Links for the day
More IBM Layoffs in India
It's not as simple as "laid off to be replaced by an Indian"
GAFAM Deeply Connected to Jeffrey Epstein, Richard Stallman (RMS) in No Way Connected to Jeffrey Epstein
people who hoarded all the capital get to decide what people think and say
Linus Torvalds Has a Birthday This Coming Weekend, Thankfully He Still Controls His Main Project
GNU and Linux should remain under their control as long as they live
Mozilla is Getting Attention for All the Wrong Reasons, Take a Look at LibreWolf
Just last week Mozilla added a new top-level manager who (as usual) came from a "tech giant"
When Conformism Means Capitulation and Defeat
In an age of injustices like these, we all have some kind of moral obligation not to be conformist.
Text is Still King
But the so-called 'industry' insists that we should download 10 MB of objects from multiple domains... even just to read 5-10 paragraphs of text
Links 22/12/2025: Facebook "Testing $14.99 Monthly Subscription Fee to Post Links" and "Middle East Petrostates as American Media Owners"
Links for the day
Beyond the World Wide Web (WWW)
We continue to treat Gemini Protocol as a first-class citizen
Serbia: GNU/Linux Rises, Windows Down to All-Time Lows
According to statCounter
"Wrestling With Pigs"
"Never wrestle with a pig. You both get dirty, and the pig likes it."
Productive Year and Better Access to Techrights' Archives Going Back to 2006
we've long needed and wanted native, local, independent search facilities
Linux Abandoned by Linux Foundation
It speaks for Microsoft and for so-called 'AI' companies
Microsoft Has Practically Given Up on XBox Already
Expect many XBox related layoffs when 2026 starts (Q1)
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, December 21, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, December 21, 2025
"Today's [Red Hat] is run by a cabal of vultures."
it seems safe to assume Red Hat too will languish away
Microsoft Layoffs in 2026 Can be Bigger Than 2025 Microsoft Layoffs (30,000+ Workers Laid Off)
"Is there going to be any reorg or Microsoft layoffs?"
Gemini Links 21/12/2025: Solstice, Chaos of CSS, and Program Interpreter Fun
Links for the day
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) Represents People, Not Corporations
FSF isn't in the "business" of appeasing oligarchs
Why?
Why write articles?
Microsoft-Connected Publisher Spinning XBox's Death Spiral (It's Dying Fast) as a Strength and Something Deliberate
"Microsoft’s big gaming pivot"
Slop is Rare by Now
A year ago slop was so abundant that we did a whole series about it, and it was daily
Links 21/12/2025: U.S. Strikes in Syria, "Epstein Files Photos Disappear From Government Website"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 21/12/2025: Labrador Retriever of Lagrange's Developer Dies From Cancer, Political Philosophy, and "Getting to Inbox Zero"
Links for the day
IBM: We Can't Make 'AI' (Voice Recognition) Do the Work of a McDonald's Teenager, So Let's Try the Same on Saudi Planes
IBM is lost. It's truly lost.
Microsoft is Becoming Irrelevant: The Case of Georgia
Not Georgia Tech
Sirius Open Source is Now Imminently Dead (Struck Off)
compulsory strike-off
Dr. Richard Stallman, Invited by LibreTech Collective, is Giving a Public Talk in Georgia Tech Next Month (Scheller College of Business)
They can probably squeeze about 400 people into this room
25 Years of Activism for GNU/Linux
My passion for GNU/Linux brought a lot of contentment
Africa, Where Microsoft Used De Facto Slaves to Pretend to be "AI", Chatbots Usage is 0.2% of Measured Online Traffic
Judging by recent trends in Africa, many "Windows PCs" are being converted into GNU/Linux computers
New Drone Footage Shows IBM is Dead (Parts of It)
The people who participated in IBM when IBM actually mattered probably have boasting rights, unlike people who work for IBM today
Michael Larabel Adds Slop Category to Phoronix, Quickly Realises That It's Worthless
Phoronix nowadays gets carried away; it made a new category to talk about slop and it decided to call it "intelligence" with some caricature of a brain (that's misleading)Phoronix nowadays gets carried away; it made a new category to talk about slop and it decided to call it "intelligence" with some caricature of a brain (that's misleading)
After 35 Years the World Wide Web, HTML, and HTTP Are Proprietary
HTTP/2 added a lot of complexity (it's just a Google protocol, based on SPDY originally), many image formats are proprietary and patented, HTML got 'replaced' by Java-Scripts [sic], and many URLs (the URL system was created in the early 90s) are just long strings for proprietary 'webapps'
The General Public License (GPL) Inspired the Web's Original Openness/Freedom, According to Tim Berners-Lee
"During the preceding year I had been trying to get CERN to release the intellectual property rights to the Web code under the General Public License (GPL) so that others could use it."
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, December 20, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, December 20, 2025