Bonum Certa Men Certa

Gemini Links 25/07/2023: No Change Friday, Twitter Getting Worse



  • Gemini* and Gopher

    • Personal/Opinions

      • Things are going Okay

        Some time ago I reduced my exposure to doom-feeling-inducting websites even more. After initial FOMO eased up I noticed a lot of positive changes in my life. I’ve always know that I alone will not save the World but it has never sunk in. You cannot help everyone, but you can help your family, friends or neighbors. You cannot save the World, but you can make your vicinity a little better. Think simple, think small. This philosophy made me for the first time since forever feel completely calm. Politics is still shitty here and around the World. The war abroad is still going on. The internet is still collapsing. Corporations are still doing their power grab. But I’m not feeling that everything is lost.

        So instead of shouting: “Doom is near! Everything is lost!” I’ll write something positive.

      • Life is but a I have a dream

        I awoke to pee at 2:31am last night, and became enchanted with the title of this - albeit fearful I'd not remember it by the morning given how it seems memory is no longer a gimme.

        I returned to bed, and oriented this nearer-the-end-than-the-beginning body the opposite the way it was pre-pee, knowing it was just a matter of time before my wife's nasal foghorn would kick in.

        But soon enough the other side of the bodily waste elimination game was tapping me on the inner shoulder loudly enough to prevent falling back asleep. So I showed it its due respect, then walked slowly out into the house proper, and opened most of the windows, as it was pleasantly cool outside, remembering the central air could just barely keep the insides 76F yesterday. Service for that is supposed to arrive today. But I wanted to get the house as cool as possible before the environment started bringing the heat.

      • Red Rising book review

        Red Rising is a science ficiton novel written by Pierce Brown in 2014. It tells the story of a dystopian universe ruled by a society that enforces a caste system based on colors. At the top, the almost inhuman Golds, physically and mentally stronger than the rest, born to enforce the rule of their class. At the bottom, the Reds, born to work the mines and treated as less than human. As the title of the novel suggests, the Reds grow tired of being slaves of the Golds and begin to rise against the society.

        I found this book after finishing the Silo series by Hugh Howey. I was initially drawn to the novel as it starts off similar to Silo. The Reds live deep underground, safe from the inhospitable surface of Mars above them. They work to one day make the planet safe for themselves, and other members of the society. Similarly, Silo is the story of the last of humanity living in a massive underground bunker, safe from the toxic wasteland that has consumed Earth.

    • Technology and Free Software

      • No Change Friday

        Sysadmins (or whatever it is they are called these days) may push for no changes to production on various days, Friday for example. There is plenty else to do meanwhile. Some developers instead push for all changes all the time. This probably depends where one is on the "change nothing, ever" to "move fast and break things" line and may also depend on who is going to be woken up at two in the morning to do triage (a sysadmin, usually). There will be variance by industry: an experimental lab may differ from a bank as to what regulations apply, when changes can be made in production, etc.

      • Whoooooo are you... who who .. who who?

        Are all of you essentially non-player characters in my dream/simulation?

        Or is it that all of you *and* "I" are essentially NPC's in <can't be said>'s dream/simulation?

      • Internet/Gemini

        • Twitter's Getting Worse and I'm Saying My Goodbyes, Again

          Yesterday, completing what felt like a weekend whim by its owner, Twitter rebranded to X. I refuse to call the new service X, in the same way that the stadium the Blue Jays play at will always be the SkyDome, and not the Rogers Centre: the people in power can change an official name, but you don't have to go along with it. You can call things whatever you want.


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



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