Bonum Certa Men Certa

Gemini Links 11/07/2023: Old Computer Challenge and Mastodon Blog Comments Automation



  • Gemini* and Gopher

    • Personal/Opinions

      • Chorale

        Except it isn't really a chorale, more like four voice harmonic practice, except it isn't really harmonic practice as not much attention is paid to chord progressions nor are fancy chords used (except in passing). What is going on here is some counterpoint, Dorian mode (-ish), vague modulation to dominant, and a some harmonic sequences, in particular the ground bass from Pachelbel's Canon which is a -4 +2 sequence though can be modified with inversions so the bass line is somewhat less jumpy and not so bleedingly obvious.

      • Sinclair A-Bike

        I once owned this thing [1]. It was around 2008, I think. It was the second, updated model with larger (inflatable to 90 psi) wheels.

        If I remember correctly I was very unsatisfied with it - it wasn't as small as I expected and it was rather uncomfortable when carried in its dedicated backpack. But as a bike it was quite a disaster. It rode well only on ideally flat surfaces (like corridors in buildings). And I wasn't able to climb anything (there are no ideally level surfaces in the real world). The final problem was that one of plastic parts broke after a few weeks of use. So I sold it.

    • Politics and World Events

      • Abdullah Öcalan, And All the Other Political Prisoners Must Be Released!

        Abdullah Öcalan, also known as Apo (“uncle”), is born 4 April 1949, in eastern Turkey. He is a founding member of the militant Marxist-Leninist “Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK)” in 1978, which was based in northern Syria from 1979 to 1998 as a sanctuary, and led part of the Kurdish political movement from there.

        During the 1980s, the Turkish state began a program of forced assimilation of its Kurdish population. In protest against this fascist act, the PKK began an armed rebellion against the Turkey, and in connection with it began attacking its military forces.

      • Why I am an Anarchist

        Like so many others, I used to think that anarchists were violent pricks who enjoy throwing Molotov cocktails and destroy property. As usual, the propaganda machine _reverses_ reality completely.

    • Science

      • Agfa Click II

        I have got this old film camera. It wasn't expensive. Actually it is an interesting piece of German engineering. It's fairly simple, it's made mainly from plastic materials (including its faux leather case) yet if produces relatively nice images [1].

      • Thinking about how to teach logic

        I'm starting my full-time teaching load in a little under three months and while I was full of confidence and vigor before now a lot of the self-doubt is creeping in.

        I'm teaching multiple sections of the intro to computer science class, CS 160, and CS 250 the intro to math/logic for CS. I'm also supposed to work on revising CS 205, the intro to C and assembly programming class so I can start teaching it the following term. That one is the one I'm weakest on in terms of practical experience but, I mean, I still know this stuff I just need to practice specifically x86-64 programming instead of risc ISAs used in teaching compilers classes such as MIPS. I'm rusty on C but not incompetent at it, if you get what I mean.

    • Technology and Free Software

      • Going online forward

        That reminds me of how as a kid (roughly 50 years ago) I'd hide notes/messages in library books: sometimes in the cover flaps, sometimes in the spine, sometimes just between pages. It would surely be nice to know if any were ever found.

        Makes me wonder if I can shift my posting motivation from "to meet and interact with interesting others" to "to bless others with serendipitous finds"? Because the former seems essentially impossible.

      • I give you: Serendipitous Finds

        Since I obviously suck at being texturally edgy in ways engendering interaction, I'm shifting my motivation for writing to reporting on placing messages on paper scraps, 3x5" cards, etc. in somewhat hidden public places, making such messages what I want to call "serendipitous finds".

        I'll likely post their content, and then go on to report on whether or not a message has been found. That'll be obvious if/when a message is gone. But I suppose I should place things in ways recognizable to me as having placed by me in case people carefully re-place them. So I should also log the details of their placement to make evidence of having been found unambiguous.

      • Christina's 5 questions

        written on GPD Win 1 via PuTTY as first daughter mumbles herself to sleep: "this a-way, this a-way" (from the song 500 Miles)

      • My Computer Challenge

        I am not actively participating in Solene's "Old Computer Challenge"^ this year--I only heard about it yesterday evening and am not in a position to go all in at the moment. However, I do want to follow the spirit of the challenge this week by reducing my energy and technology footprint.

        There are two ways I'm approaching it. The first is using a smaller machine with more limitations and requiring more active configuration, and the second is reducing the amount of content I passively consume.

      • OCC Update

        All my notes regarding the old computer challenge are now here...

      • Day 2

        I'm a bit busy today celebrating my birthday so I won't have time to do anything for the challenge, but I'm writing this from the old computer.

      • (No) Old Computer Challenge

        I just have spent a nice half of hour by reading of other people' Old Computer Challenge Entries [1]. Pretty interesting but some computer - while really old by today standards - dot's seem to be old to me.

      • Pin-Bored

        Some weeks ago, I submitted a support request to change my Pinboard username. I still haven’t heard back!

        And today, I happened to run across people on HackerNews (yeah, I know) talking about how Pinboard has been broken for them, how their paid archival functions haven’t been working (I don’t have an archival account, so I didn’t notice that), how the owner, Maciej, has been completely incommunicado on the Pinboard blog for *years*... And yet every time someone makes a complaint on HN, he’s right there in the comments with some snarky response.

      • Internet/Gemini

        • Announce: OMG [dot] Pebcak [dot] Club certificates changed!

          This is a brief announce to let anyone know that for a colossal pebcak I deleted my VPS, and therefore I had to create a brand new VPS and to create new self-signed certificates.

        • Server updates and Gemini with lowdown

          What I’ve been up to since the last blog posts in this server? Not much, but there’s been changes. Notably it’s running off some old bottom-tier Intel Celeron laptop from ~2007 now instead of the Raspberry Pi 2B as some minor-ish enough updates has been causing it to no longer boot properly, and this issue wasn’t even new, I’ve known it since the last 2 years when trying it with Alpine Linux and wondering why that happens also. This time it’s Debian so I guess better to just throw in the towel with that hardware and just use the laptop I had laying around instead. It was already having troubles anyway before that and giving “illegal instructions” errors when just trying to setup some files for some few packages during apt install. It’s probably the SD card issue, or maybe armhf architecture is too niche and left underlooked, or both, but for sure I don’t want to deal with it anymore. I can at least say that laptop was able to do a major upgrade from Debian 11 bullseye to 12 bookworm sucessfully, so it certainly doesn’t have that issue. I did managed to hastly move some services and datas over to the laptop, only leaving out setting up a Gopher server mostly because I still haven’t bothered to have my site generator setup to do Gopher yet, and the Debian repository, cause I somewhat can’t be bothered to set that back up.

        • Mastodon Blog Comments Automation

          When I post here I usually also put the link out on Mastodon where people will sometimes comment. I've always done this by hand but, since I know just enough bash to be dangerous, I recently started thinking of ways to automate this step for me and also link back to the Mastodon post from the original blog post while I'm at it.


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



Recent Techrights' Posts

Creditors beware: VMS Enterprises Ltd vs Brexit Party (Reform UK Party Ltd)
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Slop-Posting is a New Form of S---posting
We recently caught several more "linux" sites (with "linux" in their domain name) turning to slop
 
Brigading Against Women - Part XIII - The Offer We Didn't Ask For (and Under Threats to a Lady at the Webhost, a Form of Extortion From America)
Two and a half months ago Garrett made an offer to my wife
Techrights Turning 20 Next Month
Our image is under attack, our finances are constantly under attack and so on
Links 01/10/2026: "Meat Proxies" and "Japan’s Far Right Is Courting Young Voters"
Links for the day
Red Hat Being Phased Out of Existence (Like Many Other Companies That IBM Bought)
The "Red Hat" brand (and badge) is being dissolved some more today [...] IBM is imploding 'creatively'.
IBM Layoffs Cover-up
thelayoff.com is censoring threads
"Restricted Boot" Garrett's State is Now Implementing Kill Switches (Just What We've Warned About All Along)
The underlying concept is hardly new
Brett Wilson LLP Has Had No Annual Report in 16 Months
A cynic might hint that they try to hide something
Reform UK last minute accounts filing
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 01/10/2026: "Babel With Better Hardware", Software Input That's Slop, and DWeb Cascadia 2026
Links for the day
Today is D-Day at Red Hat and People Leave in Droves
They said there would be "bluewashing", we're mostly seeing people announcing they're leaving
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, September 30, 2026
IRC logs for Wednesday, September 30, 2026
Gemini Links 30/09/2026: Fish Leather, Slop Formation, and ROOPHLOCH
Links for the day
In a Lot of Europe (or EU) Android (With Linux) is Bigger Than Windows
For example in Greece
EPO Cocainegate: Lots of Money (Over a Million Euros) for Cocaine Addicts, Not for Children With Special Needs
Next month we'll bring out some more Campinos scandals
High Court victory: Nigel Farage is 'the Company's own candidate'
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
It Took GNOME's Code of Conduct Committee (CoCC) Over 8 Months to Realise CoC Reports Went Into /dev/null/
It would be ironic if the blunder's culprits were punished for it, would it not?
Links 30/09/2026: Microsoft "OpenAI Ignored Employees’ Warnings About Safely" and "Pentagon Personnel Agency Data Breach Impacts 3 Million People"
Links for the day
The Register MS "Events" As Paid Spam That Promotes and Keeps Afloat Hype About Slop
This dreary sort of media reads like a soup of words, i.e. like the thing it is advertising
Digital Independence in the UK and in Western Europe
We have the technical capacity and skilled personnel to achieve this
IBM's Anderon as a Mass Layoffs Ritual With a Bailout (From US Taxpayers to IBM) and Other Perks
Like those empty promises in the first term of the Cheeto dictator
Gemini Links 30/09/2026: David Bowie, Web Rendering Proxy, Ink and Letters, Gemlog Nostalgia
Links for the day
EPO Annual General Meeting (AGM) Will Speak of Financial State of the EPO's Union
Their work is needed because the EPO breaks the law
Rust Causes Upgrade Issues in Ubuntu
They could just keep GNU coreutils in place (nothing was broken about it) and avoid Microsoft's back doors and TPMs
Losses From Slop Are "Investment", Hundreds of Billions in Debt Are "Growth Opportunity", Layoffs Are "Great to See", and Loss of Business Means "We Need a Slowdown" (for "Safety")
Microsoft is removing staff, as investment is apparently the act of shrtinking
Brigading Against Women - Part XII - Toxic Masculinity, Hunting Women, Will Code for Sex
Who says things like these?
The Microsoft Lunduke Slop Problem
Microsoft Lunduke does not support Software Freedom; he serves to discredit many ideas championed by Free software or ideals articulated which are apolitical for the most part
Links 30/09/2026: "Understanding the LLM Bubble" and "Florida Senate Threatened Legal Action Against Newspapers"
Links for the day
It Looks Like Mass Layoffs at "Nordcloud, an IBM Company" Today (a Day Ahead of Red Hat)
Expect the same from Red Hat next
British Prime Minister Recognises Social Control Media as National Cohesion Problem
one has to wonder if addiction to social control media is not compatible with peace
The Future Isn't Social Control Media (Nothing Will be Left of It, Not Even Archives)
"Error code: 502 Bad Gateway"
GNU/Linux Usage in China is Increasing
China is leaving Microsoft and Windows behind
43 Years of GNU and GAFAM's (Especially Microsoft's) Attacks On It
GNU is very widely used (when people say "Linux commands" they typically mean "GNU programs"), hence it's being attacked a lot
CDMAG Covers Free Software, New Magazine From Decent People
If enough people accessed their site, they would not rely on social control media (third parties, censorship platforms)
Brigading Against Women - Part XI - An Abject Lack of Social Skills (and Not Knowing How to Handle Women)
GGG enjoy - if that's the right term - very bizarre or esoteric sex life
Gemini Links 30/09/2026: Accelerationism, "The Billionaire is Wrong", Rant About LLM-generated Support E-mails
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, September 29, 2026
IRC logs for Tuesday, September 29, 2026
Black Brit on "Pictures Comparing Me to a Monkey" Because of Brett Wilson LLP Client
"Like Firm, Like Clients..."
President of the EPO Should be Kicked Out, Not Have His Term Terminated in 2028
The President is facing more scandals soon
David Gordon at The Register MS Keeps Feeding the Pyramid Scheme With Fake Articles That Say "AI" Dozens of Times
How can such a publisher still be taken seriously?
The Local Staff Committee The Hague (LSCTH) at the EPO Explains the Working Conditions and Crisis of Plunder (Less for Workers, a Lot More for Dictators Who Refuse to Leave Leadership Roles)
Next week will be epic
EPO Will Stop Working for 10 Days to Protest Against 'Cocaine King' and His Assault on Democracy, Lawfulness, Transfer of Power at EPO
Strikes, work stoppage, all rolled onto one
IBM Brings Avalanche to Red Hat October 1st 2026 (Thursday)
IBM is turning up the heat on staff
Links 29/09/2026: Mass Layoffs at Microsoft and Backlash Over Data Center Policy of Microsoft
Links for the day
Techrights is International
There are many sites that focus on local communities or nations. We're not one of those sites.
5 Years Ago (September 29, 2021) Richard Stallman's Talk in Ukraine Noted
Let's hope the war will end soon
Links 29/09/2026: Acceleration, Morale, and ROOPHLOCH 2026
Links for the day
Links 29/09/2026: "Scam Altman Is Driving Drunk" and Anthropic Lies About Slop Usage
Links for the day
Brigading Against Women - Part X - When Actions of American Men Are Not Judged by Other American Men
"There is not the slightest suggestion that either Dr or Mrs Schestowitz did anything to invite or deserve it. They are both clearly and justifiably angered, dismayed, distressed and hurt by it."
European Patent Office (EPO) Series: A Source of Pride for Portugal?
In this part our focus returns to the main theme of this series, namely the current reappointment campaign of the EPO President, as we consider whether Campinos can still expect to enjoy the same level of support from the Portuguese political establishment as he did during the earlier stages of his career
Computers Freeze Because of UEFI Restricted Boot
damage is also done to computers running Windows
It is Very Expensive to Slow Down Techrights
Garrett's expensive hearing (costing the British taxpayers about 120,000 pounds; he doesn't live here and does not pay tax here) slowed us down for a few days, but we've picked up the pace since
Linux Has Conquered Mobile, But Desktops and Laptops Matter More
When people say the desktop "doesn't matter" they seem to be missing the point that workplaces use desktops (or laptops) and a lot of the work gets done not on skinnerboxes but "workstations" or terminals
Brigading Against Women - Part IX - "What Are You, a Racist?"
Because behind every strong man is a strong opinion?
Gemini Links 29/09/2026: "Digital Sabbath", Starting a GemCapsule, and Sterrenkijker 1.1.0
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, September 28, 2026
IRC logs for Monday, September 28, 2026