Bonum Certa Men Certa

Gemini Links 17/08/2023: Old Phone Morning Project



  • Gemini* and Gopher

    • Personal/Opinions

      • Re: I Want to Wear a Dress

        I have been thinking hard about getting one for a year already, but until now my black corduroy flare pants will have to do instead.

      • Re: Guys in dresses, skirts

        To be honest, I agree! I'd wear a skirt (but not a dress) in the summer for sure. There are ways for a man to ditch the shorts and wear a skirt, but if you don't want to make too strong a statement the garment's cut will have to be different. I have a sulu from Fiji that I like to wear some times, but not often in public. The sulu evolved from the traditional grass skirts that Fijian men wore pre-British colonization, and it doesn't really look too """feminine""". It's very straight, and it's more like wrapping a towel around your lower body and securing it with a belt than a 'normal' skirt.

      • Dresses, Kilts and more

        Kilts have been mentioned as well, and while I'm totally all for kilts and have considered getting a few, I think that's missing the point. The original topic was dresses. As in the totally feminine, not at all masculine all in one piece ensembles associated with Disney princesses. Kilts are not that. I associate the Kilt (with a capital K) with Scotsman carrying two handed swords into battle, or at the very least tossing small telephone poles across a field to prove their masculinity.

        I'm not trans. I'm a pretty masculine guy in appearance. That said, I've never been conventional. I have no problem with defying gender stereotypes and totally support anyone else doing the same.

      • Red Lentils

        Greetings, comrades, to another episode of food science: the boring stuff. Herein we explore water, red lentils, and salt. The base is 100g of red lentils, which is about half a cup, good for a portion of a meal, and pretty easy to weigh the salt against: 1% salt is 1 gram of salt, 2% is 2 grams, etc.

      • Some corrections

        A good friend has informed me that my gopher post "re:...the maxim of Arkham (luxferre)"[1] didn't quite make sense in several ways. I've thought on what he said for a few days, and I'd like to revisit a few points. I'm doing this here rather than in our personal correspondence, because my initial comments were public and I don't wish for them to be misconstrued by anyone who may have read them; and, because the subject is interesting to me and I'd like to keep it open.

      • Strange phone call

        Got a strange phone call this morning. It was a man claiming to be the father of a friend. I haven't seen this friend for a couple weeks. The man said that he had been talking to my friend this morning, and that my friend was suicidal. I told him I would check into it, and hung up.

        I texted and left a voicemail for my friend, texted a few of his family members that I know, and even talked to the folks at 988.

    • Recreation

      • running marston flashes

        i am again consistently completing short runs in the 3 to 5 km range.

        there are two flashes close to where i stay when in marston. quite flat and in nature with link paths to marbury country park and the trent and mersey canal.

      • Garage Decluttering, Take 2

        Something is living in my garage.

        I think it's a rabbit. That's small comfort: the poop is round, and small. I'm very familiar with what rabbit poop looks like, because the critters are often in my backyard, in my vegetable garden, or hanging around the bushes out front.

        And I say "I think" because they're smaller and harder than normal, not the bigger pellets I usually see outside. So maybe it's not? But it's not the shape you get with a mouse or a vole, either.

    • Photography

      • Resin Birch? (publ. 2023-08-16)

        I have been wondering about a tree/shrub which I had previously classified as a "mystery tree" (see my August 2 2023 post).

        [...]

        Reading in "Alaska Trees and Shrubs" (2nd ed., Viereck et al), it appears to be a "Resin Birch" (betula glandulosa Michx.). I thought paper birch was the only birch found in interior Alaska, but apparently resin birch is quite common throughout most of Alaska. I had little trouble finding more of this plant, once I knew what I was looking for. It tends to be found on moist ground, however, so one must look near ponds or places where water-runoff tends to collect.

      • Sad Hill Cemetery, Santo Domingo de Silos, Burgos
    • Technology and Free Software

      • Thinking about moving on

        I am now 7 years in my current job (Head of IT in a small company), a job that i really liked for the most time, but in recent months there are creeping ever more thoughts in my mind that it is turning sour. So, i am currently evaluation my options in which way to move on.

      • Old phone morning project

        We've had a family mobile plan with Verizon for a number of years now. The service wasn't bad, but the price kept creeping up no matter what we did. It always amazes me how companies these days are so willing to punish their long time customers with higher rates while offering a much better package if you should "switch" from another service. Seems like a really backwards way of doing business to me. Anyway, due to my SO being a first responder we qualified for an AT&T special plan that will prioritize her phone if the lines are crowded. The best part is that it's a pretty good savings, and not just an introductory rate. We should be able to save money for years to come, so we switched.

        One of the annoying things about the switch is that we were unable to carry our current phones over due to being carrier locked. I've always hated this practice. It's a totally non-subtle way of locking you into your current carrier. Well, FU Verizon, because even after putting four new phones on a payment plan we're still saving $50 a month. But I hate to see the old hardware, which still has plenty of life left in it, just sitting in a drawer. Her phone, and my daughter's, were new enough to trade in. That leaves mine and my son's. I'll be trying to think of something cool to do with his, but this morning I put mine to use with a nice simple project.

      • Internet/Gemini

        • Failed attempt at free multilingual TTS by abusing IPA

          My recent job have been developing a very fast TTS system for our internal use. I can't share too many details about it because NDA. But I do want to share some findings while messing with our system. - My boss is ok with me sharing these findings. We are looking to open source it soon anyway. It's not a breakthrough or anything. Just well engineered and fast - To make our model perform better, our system first converts the input text into the International Phonetic Alphabet. That is then fed into the speech synthesis model. Me with some basic phonetics training thought to myself, IPA is supposed to be universal. Can I, in principle, train a model in English. Then force it to speak Esperanto by feeding it the corresponding IPA? More far fetch, can I make it speak Japanese or Chinese?

          Kinda. But not really.

          The International Phonetic Alphabet is a writing system that allows us to write down the sounds of human languages. It's not a language itself. It records the sound of the spoken language itself. For example, the sentence "I would just like to interject for a moment" first get converts into `aɪ wʊd dʒˈʌst lˈaɪk tʊ ˌɪntɚdʒˈɛkt fɚɹə mˈoʊmənt`. The IPA letters look weird. But if you squint hard enough, you can almost see how it spells out the pronunciation.


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



Recent Techrights' Posts

Evidence Contradicting Microsoft's Non-Denying Denials and Expectation of Many Layoffs Soon
"Microsoft has had this constant drip of layoffs for months."
At Least 3 Richard Stallman Talks in Europe Confirmed So Far, Next Week in Rome There's Another
Dr. Stallman has not announced this yet
 
A Statement Against Violence
The facts are on our side
They've Run Out of Things to Rebrand or Label as "AI"
The next few years will be interesting because if Microsoft lays off tens of thousands of workers each year, there won't be much left except mountains of debt and dying brands
The Register MS is Still Being Paid to Participate in the "AI" Ponzi Scheme Which Will Crash the Economy
The Register MS is hoping to get lucky by tricking people into a scam
Richard Stallman Confirms His Talk in Göteborg This Coming Friday
"The hosts say that the list will not be given to the state"
Most of the "Linux" Results This Morning in Google News Are LLM Slop From the Same Slopfarm, Plagiarising Phoronix
The main question is, does Google even care at this point?
Gemini Links 07/10/2025: Civil War and "Goodbye Web"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, October 06, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, October 06, 2025
The "AI Revolution" is Going Very Well, Right?
money that does not exist and alleged potential that is pure fiction
Links 06/10/2025: Scam Altman Himself Admits He Runs a Scam Based on a Bubble, US Administration Adopts “War From Within” Narrative to Crush Opposition/Dissent
Links for the day
Slopwatch: Fake Ubuntu 'Articles' and Google News Helps People Who Plagiarise Phoronix Using LLMs
Michael Larabel can't possibly be happy about that
6,000 Pages/Articles a Year
Today in one month from now the site turns 19
When Things Become So Ubiquitous That They're Almost Nameless
The notion or the concept of software freedom isn't tied to any particular brand or project, so it should still resonate
IDG Seems to Have Abandoned Sandra Henry Stocker's UNIX/Linux Column
Unless we hear otherwise or see some update/s, this may mark another death blow from IDG
Gemini Links 06/10/2025: Winter Nights and "Virtue Signaling"
Links for the day
Links 06/10/2025: Scientific Awards and Typhoon Matmo
Links for the day
IP Kat Gone Bonkers, Pushing Slop in Patents (Likely Illegal, With Severe Consequences)
AstraZenecaKat: "Last time, this Kat covered some practical steps on how to ensure client confidentiality when using AI tools (IPKat)."
Links 06/10/2025: Grokipedia as Malicious Slop, US 'Martial Law' a "New Normal"
Links for the day
Fake Economics and Clown Computing Circuses
who's gonna pay for these scams?
Nobel Prize in Economics Does Not Exist, It's Propaganda From Sveriges Riksbank
"It is that time of the year when it is important to remind people that there are no Nobel Prizes for professional wrestling, astrology, or economics"
Rust is Eating Linux
That's a recipe for problems
Cindy Cohn (Executive Director of EFF) is a Millionaire, Earned Almost $30,000 Per Month Before Departing While the EFF Lost Money
EFF is "Big Business"
Non-Denying Denial From Microsoft (Again) Regarding the End of XBox Consoles
It's kind of hilarious that even the site chosen by Microsoft to relay its BS, based on past loyalty, isn't quite buying it
Bringing Back Lost Articles From the 1990s: Microsoft Products Leave Door Open to NSA
Nothing has changed since then
When the Slop Bubble Pops People Will Say Richard Stallman Was Right (Again)
What was once known as Computer Science turned into "IT"
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, October 05, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, October 05, 2025
Links 06/10/2025: Science, Hardware, and Andrej Babis Making a Comeback
Links for the day
Links 05/10/2025: Slow News Day and Wondering About the Canada Post Walkout
Links for the day
Gemini Links 05/10/2025: Telnet Debugging and The Programmer’s Brain
Links for the day
More Than "Just a Rumour": XBox Seems to Have Just Died
At this point, why would any studio out there target or partner with XBox?
How to Tell Your Community, Project or Company is Being Infiltrated by Saboteurs
How to identify nefarious social engineering
The Fortieth Birthday of the FSF Made Us Extremely Happy
It feels like the 'hacker community' is regrouping to discuss things and prepare for the next Big Challenge
Chat Control 2 Them, Not 2 U
Follow the advice of Dr. Patrick Breyer
Mozilla: Throw Away Your "Old" PC and Enable "Digital Rights Management (DRM)"
This is heading in a bad direction
Controlling Our Computing for Another Forty Years
40 years of freedom
Motivational Small Place to Run Large Sites
We deem this scenery motivational and inspiring
Techrights' Text Version (Daily Bulletin) Turns Five This Month
our plain-text bulletins are turning 5 this month
We'll Continue Covering the Moribund OSI and Other Dysfunctional if Not Hostile Institutions
Stefano Maffulli's departure is due to his defection and due to him failing the mission in pursuit of money (his salary)
Microsoft XBox is Dying as More Retailers Stop Stocking It and Massive Layoffs Planned Again
Microsoft is circling down the drain
Links 05/10/2025: Lufthansa Layoffs (4,000) and More Spotify Woes (Aside From Massive Debt)
Links for the day
The Free Software Foundation's Livestream Has Ended, Video/s Might be Online Next
I've asked whether they'll upload video of some of the event; I still wait for an answer
The Register MS Does Not Know the Difference Between Microsoft GitHub and GitLab
At the time of writing (October 5) the article from "Thu 2 Oct 2025" remains uncorrected
Linux and the Freedom Paradox
Linux is losing freedom if some external actors who only use Microsoft tools for development wrest control
"Bullshit Generators" (What RMS Calls LLMs) and Fake Images Already Target the FSF
Why does Google News promote fake articles about the FSF while omitting all the real ones?
Software Patents as a Bubble
Don't invest resources in hype; if you detect a bubble, run away from it
Links 05/10/2025: Political Leftovers, Climate Change, and Security Incidents
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, October 04, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, October 04, 2025