Bonum Certa Men Certa

Gemini Links 04/07/2023: Happy Independence Day and GemText Tweaks



  • Gemini* and Gopher

    • Personal/Opinions

      • Watching movies... Everything Must Go (2010)

        While I sometimes watch some short films on and off, its been awhile since I sat down and watched an entire film. That changed today.

        Everything Must Go 2010 - Starring Will Ferrell is one of his more dramatic outings. Similar to Stranger Than Fiction (which I also enjoyed). Also, legally free on Youtube as of this post.

      • On Being Short

        My mother told me as a child, "You will grow up to be as tall as your father", who was over six feet tall. I am still waiting.

        I was a teen when I realized that most kids around me started getting taller, then, substantially taller. When I stopped growing I was not horribly short, but pretty damn short, compared to those around me. When I realized what it meant I was pretty devastated.

        I was also transported, some time earlier, to a place where height mattered much more than where I grew up. All of a sudden, I became the subject of bullying - both physical and psychological. I was misgendered, mocked, and shoved. I was called vile names. I cursed gods of all kinds for making me the way I was, and the circumstances that placed me situations in which I was not able to defend myself -- both physically and otherwise, as I could not speak the language without making a complete mockery of myself.

        [...]

        As I got older, women literally looked over my head at the tall men behind me. I was largely invisible as a potential sex partner. Recent data from dating sites confirms it: for every inch of height (in men -- bra size in women) the potential match pool doubles. There is literally a factor of 1000 between someone 5'4" and 6'2". ONE THOUSAND!

      • 2023-07-04

        Happy Independence Day to my fellow Americans out there. As the 1st son of immigrants to this country, it's always interesting for me to reflect on America.

        For many immigrants, America truly was the promised land. My parents left Asia with literally nothing but the clothes on their backs. I have a picture of my dad taken when he came to America with all of his belongings. He literally had one suit and a small hard-sided 70s luggage the size of a large briefcase.

        He started working in Chinese restaurants as a waiter for years while he was in college. He eventually got an accounting degree, married, and moved to Texas where he had me and my sister.

      • The Reader

        The last of the lucky few, those who could afford sinking a year's salary for a ticket, push their way into the vast hall as the lights slowly dim. Hushed conversations end, and an opressive silence pours over the darkness. A barely-lit stage commands full attention now -- except for the occasional tigadink-dadading-dadaa-wink of a stray phone followed by aggressive hissing from all directions.

        The silence continues. And then there is motion on the stage. Everyone stands -- The Reader is on stage!

        I can't believe it. Hearts are flying across my screen as my friends cheer me... Volume goes up and everyone is taking selfies, even though The Reader not really visible.

      • Flowers, Birds, and Trees 2023-07-04 (Fairbanks, AK, USA)
    • Technology and Free Software

      • Analog challenge

        Now I have to use a smartphone more often (as a remote control for some home equipment) so I have decided for a small challenge.

        The plan is to be as non-digital as possible.

      • It's 16 Messidor, year 231.

        I recently learned that tilde.pink's mail setup works perfect, with mutt pre-installed, and I can accept and send email at my username at tilde.pink. If anyone wants to reply to my posts directly, this is an option!

      • Internet/Gemini

        • Gemtext Tweaks

          I agree with Acidus’s points about tables: they are far, far too heavyweight for Gemtext.

          The “burned in” tables look good to me.

        • Somehow I like this one more than that. Whatever shall I do?

          I believe passionately *reading* - especially paired with *some* public effort to indicate that reading took place - is at least as important as passionately writing, else I suspect most will eventually lose heart over what slowly, increasingly feels pointless effort - as we can simply "post" writing to local files if we truly don't give a shit whether we're read.

        • Re: CircaDian: Gemtext Tweaks

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



Recent Techrights' Posts

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And it was likely talked about by his lawyers around the exact same time Nat Friedman was packing up
 
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Maybe it's time to just stop saying "FOSS". The people who use that term are promoting Microsoft.
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Microsoft must be laughing its arse off, seeing how a bunch of Serial Sloppers (no skills, no comprehension, no integrity, no creativity) and slopfarms use Microsoft LLM to flood the Web with anti-Linux FUD
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It's not legal, but administrators who don't care about the law and don't fear the law would just go ahead and turn things to junk
Over at Tux Machines...
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IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, June 04, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, June 04, 2025
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spewed out by Microsoft-controlled LLMs
Links 04/06/2025: Workers' Strikes, Sudan Exodus
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Links 04/06/2025: Linux Foundation PR Spam and Lee Jae-myung Wins Election
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Gemini Links 04/06/2025: Future Leaders of the World and Platforming Jordan Peterson
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Links 04/06/2025: WSL Backfiring on Microsoft and "Disney, Microsoft Announce Massive Layoffs"
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Censoring is what people do when they lose the argument
Say the Truth, the Rest Will Follow
There's no guarantee that writing the truth will result in an audience (or readership), but over time - in the long run - people generally gravitate towards what they know or feel to be crude truth, not just what's comforting (albeit false or self-deluding, usually groupthink dictated from above)
How to Expose High-Level Corruption Without Getting in (Too Much) Trouble
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In-Depth EPO Coverage at Techrights Turns Eleven
11 years is a very long time
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about 80% are Android (Linux) users, compared to only about 10% for Windows
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Democracy and fake "tech" don't mix well; the latter tends to interfere with the former and that's why we get more "Putins" out there
EPO: Taking Away From the Staff to Give More to the Rich
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Over at Tux Machines...
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IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, June 03, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, June 03, 2025
Abuse Inside the Polish Patent Office (UPRP) - Part I: It's a Lot Like the EPO
we can commence a series soon
Gemini Links 04/06/2025: Inescapable Questions and Quitting All "Oligarch Tech"
Links for the day
Slopwatch: Linux FUD From Slopfarms, Blaming Linux for Microsoft Issues; Even WebProNews Has Become a Slopfarm (Googlebombing "Linux" With Slop Images and Fake/Plagiarised Text)
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Links 03/06/2025: Tiananmen Square Massacre Censorship and Growing Military Activities Around Taiwan
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Italy knows a thing or two about digital autonomy
Nigeria is All Android and Google
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Mass Layoffs at Microsoft (Second Wave) Not Limited to Redmond
"More layoffs at Microsoft as axe falls in Washington and California"
Gemini Links 03/06/2025: Forth System and "Common Lisp is a Dumpster"
Links for the day
The Leaks Were Right: Mass Layoffs at Microsoft in May, Then Another Wave in June
Just as we've been saying for over a month
Over at Tux Machines...
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IRC Proceedings: Monday, June 02, 2025
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