Bonum Certa Men Certa

Gemini Links 14/08/2023: Movie Showcase and Digital Detox



  • Gemini* and Gopher

    • Personal/Opinions

      • Movie Showcase: Into the Spider-verse

        When I first watched “Spiderman: Into the Spider-verse (2018)" I was expecting a solid eight, or maybe a nine; how good could another spiderman movie be, anyway?

        So it was an unexpected surprise when the movie not only hit “ten” on my personal scale; it redefined it.

        “Spiderman: Into the Spider-verse” is a fantastic super hero movie, succeeding as it does in playing the story completely straight while simultaneously making fun of it and injecting a healthy dose of new ideas; but far more than that: it redefined what an animated movie can do, visually.

      • All over the place

        Since the last entry I've been to Colorado, Kansas, Alberta, Texas, Arizona, Illinois, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Iowa, and likely some other states that do not immediately spring to mind. I am going to try and be more regular with the updates moving forward.

      • the soul's agenda

        "...If our work does not support our soul, then the soul will exact its butcher's bill elsewhere. Wherever the soul's agenda is not served, some pathology will service in the arena of daily life.

        We may choose careers, but we do not choose vocation. Vocation chooses us. *To choose what chooses us* is a freedom the by-product of which will be a sense of rightness and a harmony within, even if lived out in the world of conflict, absent validation, and at considerable personal cost.

    • Technology and Free Software

      • Bop Skitfeld

        This whole place keeps gnawing at my brain. The wires. The circuitry. The unorganized cables. Castles made of discarded junk, soldered together by slaves and fools working for the opportunity to get their hands on antique tech. All under the watchful lense of glistening bi-pedal semi-sentients. The loud screech of jury-rigged cooling fans, the clacking of the drum drives that were never allowed to die.

        Every morning I am reminded of my sub-serviency, as a metallic arm squeezes 1/3rd of the daily protein ration inside a paper cup, before I am walked to the stripery. The monochrome walls of my discomfort. "The wheel of the market must turn!"

      • Internet/Gemini

        • Emergency Notifications, Mastodon, the Climate Crisis

          The last few years (the last decade? when was the starting point?) have seen things get decidedly worse. Weather is hotter, more variable. In 2021, Lytton, British Columbia burned after a wildfire got out of control. The area had record setting temperatures, peaking at over 49C. I was born in BC, and the Interior gets warm, but not like that. There are lots of similar stories. Spain is supposed to get ground temperatures above 50 degrees. People are dying from heat and it's only going to get worse. The last few years we've all been learning about wet bulb temperatures. Everyone's wondering what's going to happen 10, 20, 40 years down the line, but climate change is hitting what feels like exponentially quicker than we expected. Now I'm wondering what next year will be like. Should I start a little light hoarding? I just opened a new sack of rice - should I get another, just in case?

        • Changing domain names

          I have registered the domain geminiprotocol.net. There is nothing there yet, but in the near future this will become the domain for the official Project Gemini capsule. Fear not, the familiar gemini.circumlunar.space hostname won't disappear. Instead, I plan to split the official capsule in two. The CAPCOM aggregator, the SFTP user capsules, and the SSH kiosk will all remain at their current gemini.circumlunar.space URLs. The official news feed, documentation like the FAQ, and the protocol specifications will move to the new geminiprotocol.net.

          This is a big change! I will do all that I can to make it as smooth as possible. I'll put redirects in place to ensure that no links or bookmarks break, and my hope is that SFTP users will not even notice anything has changed aside from a very brief window of downtime. The change will probably happen in late August or very early September. I will make announcements here at every relevant stage to keep people abreast of the transition.

        • Re: The Minimalist Vegan

          I was going to point out an error in the URL, but now that I'm writing this up it has already been fixed. Since I have already read the book by now, I was able to kinda fix the broken link by myself - and it was totally worth it! The book is a rather short one, it took me less than two hours straight to read it through, but I really enjoyed it. Now I have to admit that it didn't bring anything new for me to the table, but it is really well written and to the point, and probably much easier to digest at first than other, more comprehensive works.

          I can totally recommend it to anyone using Gemini, even to those who won't want to become a vegan!

        • Re: What if Gemini could be served on port 80?

          It can be, in which case you'll have "gemini://example.org:80" links instead of the shorter "gemini://example.org". Downsides include the need to deal with the usual "only root can listen on ports <1024" restriction, or more problematic that lots of web scanners will be poking at your gemini service. This may fill the logs and will waste CPU.

          Also client software will tend to expect HTTP at TCP/80, and will probably throw weird errors if a client ever points their normie browser to your http://example.org:80 that runs gemini. Probably not the best experience. Good luck getting the browser company to support Gemini?

        • Digital Detox 2

          Another round of removing online accounts.

          Due to some completely unforseen wiggle in the delicate fabric of space time it occured to me that I could get rid of three more accounts since I last wrote about it.

          [...]

          And by now, my job life is nearing its end rather than the next exciting position with demanding challenges. So, why keep it? I could cancel the premium thing online. But I had to request a service ticket to get the whole thing deleted. With a bit of luck it should be gone in a few days.

      • Programming

        • KL1 on a Mac M1

          KL1 is a programming language from the 1980s Japanese 5th Generation project. It's a committed-choice logic programming language derived from Prolog, but (perhaps fatally) not particularly compatible with Prolog.


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



Recent Techrights' Posts

This New Determination on a Case Echoes the Modus Operandi of Microsoft's Serial Strangler vs Techrights (Its Online Decision/Judgment Says Truth and Public Interest Defend the Publisher)
Noel Anthony Clarke hopefully has enough money left to pay his victims, which include the publishers
 
Richard Stallman (RMS) Was Right About "Sideloading" in 1996
We now have computers that treat booting GNU/Linux like an act of "Sideloading"
Panama: Windows Down From 97% "Market Share" to Less Than 30%
In 2009, Windows was measured at 97.24% (compared to 62.32% right now or less than 30% if one also counts Android)
The UEFI 9/11 - Part I - Introduction to Impending Catastrophe (Microsoft Preventing People From Booting Non-Windows Systems)
eight-part series
Why Techrights is Slow Today (Bot Floods)
We don't know if those bots are connected to LLMs (we have not checked), but that is a possibility
Slopwatch: DDoS Slop, LinuxBSDos.com Spam, and Slopfarms in Google News, Including webpronews.com
Among the news we also found fakes, albeit not so much today
Links 26/08/2025: "Ballooning Debt" in France and "Transnational Repression in the UK"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 26/08/2025: Listening to Alcest and Google Doing Evil (Users Installing Software is "Sideloading" and Prohibited)
Links for the day
Links 26/08/2025: DNS Tampering and TikTok Layoffs
Links for the day
Microsoft's Windows "Market Share" Overestimated
Microsoft's income sources are shrinking
We Shall See...
My wife and I are hardly the first victims of Brett Wilson LLP
Going Offline
There was life before the Net
The Register MS Has Apparently Shut Down Its Office
It is basically a fake address on the face of it
There Are Also Expectations of IBM Layoffs Very Soon With "Narrative Control."
Some of them mention Red Hat and how IBM failed to achieve anything substantial with that acquisition
After at Least Two Rounds of Mass Layoffs in August Microsoft Said to Have "September Layoff Confirmed - Performance Based"
Those "M5 level meetings" sound plausible
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, August 25, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, August 25, 2025
Slopwatch: Slopfarms All Over Google News and Real News Sites Pushed Out of Visibility
Google News is dying (as a tool of value)
Gemini Links 25/08/2025: Numeric-only VM and Alhena 5.3.0
Links for the day
Links 25/08/2025: ‘Panama Playlists’ and Live Nation/Ticketmaster Suit Aims at Class Action
Links for the day
Gemini Links 25/08/2025: Empathy Towards Autistic People and Old Gadgets
Links for the day
Links 25/08/2025: Datacentres Versus Water Supplies and "The IPv6 Divide"
Links for the day
Links 25/08/2025: Data Breaches, Politics, and Financial Strain
Links for the day
GNU/Linux Distros Ought to Replace Firefox (and Firefox ESR) With Something Like LibreWolf
Perhaps it's come to replace Firefox
Father of Julian Assange Said the US Government Was Trying to Bankrupt WikiLeaks, Now the Assange Family Promotes Fake Currencies
Using the name for bad purposes?
Bailing Out GAFAM, Giving Taxpayers' Money to Failing Companies, and Trying to Outlaw Lawsuits Against Them
What would the late Lincoln have said?
Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC) Inc. Lost 2 Million Dollars Last Year and Its Chief Took a Salary Increase of Almost $6,000
Another year or two like this... and the SFC will be bankrupt [...] Hallmark of mismanagement
The "New Techrights" Turns Two Very Soon
Accomplishing something each year is what's important, not merely "finishing" another year
Gulf Nations Leave Microsoft Behind
How much lower will Microsoft stoop in an effort to raise money from oil-rich lenders?
How to Combat IRC Trolls (in Our Experience)
Today I want to share my experience (or knowledge) of how to deal with IRC trolls
The Register MS Needs to Stop Participating in the "Hey Hi" (AI) Hype, But It Gets Paid to Participate in This Hype
the publisher (The Register MS) wants to have it both ways
Gemini Links 24/08/2025: Living With Your Parents, Zürich Zoo, and Macondo
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, August 24, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, August 24, 2025
Gemini Links 24/08/2025: Signal on OpenBSD and Keyboard Layouts Compared
Links for the day
Men Who Abuse Women Should Never Spend Over 3 Years of the UK High Court's Time
This demonstrates that we need a reform in the UK
Links 24/08/2025: Microsoft Settles Data Breach Lawsuits and Climate Change Causes Heatwaves, Water Shortages
Links for the day
CachyOS is Rising Fast, But Slopfarms Are 'Googlebombing' It
CachyOS receives more media attention
No Reason for Red Hat Relief Yet (Layoff Rumours)
the execution could be stalled, delayed, or scheduled for some time after people come back from holiday
GNU/Linux 6%, Windows 60% in Venezuela, Suggests statCounter
The cash cows are dying
Mass Layoffs Continue at Microsoft This Month (Remaining Workers See Conditions That Deteriorate)
So far this month (one week remaining) we saw at least two waves of layoffs at Microsoft
How SPAM E-mails With Windows-Centric Files Get Twisted as Linux Threats, Then Slopfarms Spread the Word
Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt/Fear-mongering/Dramatisation
Links 24/08/2025: Heatwaves Threaten Workers, Maldives Versus Press freedom
Links for the day
Gemini Links 24/08/2025: Digital Cameras and Printers
Links for the day
Links 24/08/2025: GAFAM Lie About Pollution and Slop's Carbon Footprint, The Guardian Says Slop ("Hey Hi") is a Bubble That Will Send Stock Markets Into a Freefall
Links for the day
80% of the Sponsored (Fake) Articles in The Register MS Are Promotions of Ponzi Schemes (Unethical Money), the Rest is Banned Chinese Business
Is that an ethical way to make money? No.
The UEFI Restricted Boot 'Time Bomb' is About to Go Off in a Few Weeks
Garrett was the first person to face sanctions (like muting) in our IRC channels because of his abuse; worse yet, he hijacked other people's names and then locked them out of their own accounts
Should Currys PCWorld Start Voiding Warranties of Users of Vista 11?
If a person's laptop has a mechanical issue, should this person replace GNU/Linux with Vista 11 for the repair shop? Only to damage the SSD?
Newer is Not Always Better, and It's Possible That 'Peak' is the Past
People creating their own platforms means progress, whereas centralisation (like moving from blogs to social control media) is the opposite of progress
LLM Hype is Sowing Destruction: It Contributes to DDoS Attacks and Makes the Web Less Accessible (JavaScript "R U Human?" Tests)
If it was googlebot, it would be possible to argue that you'd at least then get referral traffic from Google Search. With LLMs, all you get is plagiarised.
Links 24/08/2025: New York Times Talks About Hey Hi (AI) Bubble
Links for the day
Gemini Links 24/08/2025: Upgrading Debian and Mobile-indifferent Design
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, August 23, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, August 23, 2025