Bonum Certa Men Certa

Gemini Links 05/08/2023: DSN Note, Social Spaces



  • Gemini* and Gopher

    • Personal/Opinions

      • Venom is not a good sage’s charge

        In short, none of Spidey’s strengths apply at all.

        Venom is sensitive to sound and fire, so someone like The Human Torch, Banshee, Siryn, or Firestar would be a good match for him.

        Spidey could just ask one of them to “swap villains for a day” and it’d be all sorted quickly and easily.

        Another clearcut case is over on the DC side.

      • Tanana River: Cranberries and Willow (publ. 2023-08-04)

        I couldn't leave the building for lunch today, so instead I upload a few more photos from the pile. These are from my Tanana River walk last Monday (July 31 2023) I went to check on "my" high bush cranberry patch.

      • What a shame

        We're performing at an adult birthday party tonight for an age group in our wheelhouse in the sky keeps on turning: our own.

        House ready for short-term renters this weekend.

        Had to muck with the outside light by the sidewalk along the road in sun, heat, and humidity. One way or another, wires even inside connectors tightly wrapped with electrical tape still allows water in, leading to wire rust that compromises connectivity. Extra not fun due to old legacy attempts at various lighting solutions, so I had to sort through a mass of wires in the pole leading up to the latest light figure. Electrocution was slightly on the table given there doesn't seem to be a switch controlling it, and I can't figure out which circuit breaker covers it.

    • Technology and Free Software

      • DSN Note

        I had some time to check out the log for DSN and noticed a few folks were submitting articles but the page wasn't showing anything. I then realized folks are trying to submit individual articles and, unfortunately, Antenna as a whole does not currently support individual articles. You still need to submit a gmisub or atom feed with your non-technical articles.

      • Internet/Gemini

        • My Stupid Brain Won't Shutup: Duolingo/Unrivaled

          Most accomplishments on Duolingo aren't competitive - you can earn them yourself at your own pace. One series, which involves moving up the leagues, involves some competition, but isn't a big deal if you put in 15-20 minutes a day.

          And then there's "Unrivaled", which requires placing 1st in the Diamond league, the highest league.

          These accomplishments are very well designed, hooking me in even though I know I don't want them. It's why most games I play don't have accomplishments - I don't like getting drawn into stuff like this, and I know I will if I play games like that. So I generally don't.

        • Social Spaces

          Do you know why I like coming here, Bartender? The upholstery, the wood, the low ceilings. Save for the murmur of conversations and the occasional clink of a glass or scraping of a chair, it’s quiet. This isn’t the case in most establishments any longer. Restaurants have decided to be unbearably noisy in the last decade or so, either for architecturally fashionable reasons or to make it so unpleasant for people to be in the space that they will eat and drink faster, allowing for more ‘turns’ in a night.

          We went to a retirement party for one of my wife’s friends at a local Mexican joint. I was actually excited to go, as we only eat out once or twice a year. Alas, it was...well, representative of what our social spaces have turned into. The NIOSH sound level app on her phone showed 89 dBA, and that was before the mariachi band started up. ‘Conversations’ involved shouting and straining to hear the reply. It wasn’t as loud as the nightclubs of my youth, but the vibe was reminiscent of those days.


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



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