Bonum Certa Men Certa

Gemini Links 11/09/2023: RICO Charges Against Protestors in Atlanta, NYC’s Airbnb Problem



  • Gemini* and Gopher

    • Personal/Opinions

      • Do Dogs Face North When Pooping?

        I saw a stupid Youtube segment that claimed that dogs prefer facing towards the magnetic North when crapping. This sounds like nonsense, but it seems that many other places of questionable reputation concur.

      • An Anecdote from Another Place

        Just yesterday, far away from Nightfall, I spent some time at a much more crowded place. It was noisy and the scent of exhaust fumes was so strong that it seemingly affected the inhabitants' minds negatively.

        [...]

        The guys were joined by a woman claiming to be a marine biologist and agreeing wholeheartedly with the guy yelling himself into a rage.

        How paradox. At least from the marine biologist I would have expected a more nuanced response, yet this doesn't seem to be encouraged at this place. But considering that the other two guys appeared to be academics, as well, I wonder if that is supposed to be a reflection of the current state of academia and higher learning, which is... disappointing enough to have made me leave this place immediately, to say the least.

      • roophloch'23

        which about as far as I can go before the wifi cuts out and there is somewhere to sit that isn't lawn or garden stuff. The box thing is the bottom a bird house, though it's pointed towards the house which is also where most of the weather comes from (off the Pacific) so maybe the orientation isn't so good for birds?

        Keeping conifer needles off the keyboard occupies some of my time. The squirrel that usually yells at me is not around. The daystar makes it sometimes difficult to type; it's partly cloudy. There's a better spot in the shade with (usually) less squirrel, but that's outside wifi range.

      • 2023-09-11

        One of the ways you know you are getting old is when you see the state-of-the-art desktop PC technology and ask the question "why would you need all that?"

        that's a bonafide sign you are too old. I hit that point a few years ago but I was reminded of it again when I saw a younger family member's workstation.

      • I hate being two timezones from home

        This makes the east coast my least favorite spot by default. I have no real reason though to dislike out east, however. The culture is foreign to me, but the people are alright.

    • Politics and World Events

      • The RICO charges brought against protestors in Atlanta are ridiculous

        Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr's recent indictment of the Stop Cop City protestors is laughable. His office's 109-page indictment cites "mutual aid", "occupy[ing] a treehouse", and a man "sign[ing] his name as 'ACAB'" as "overt act[s] in furtherance of the conspiracy" to prevent the construction of a police training complex in the Weelaunee Forest.

      • Edan's Capsule - The Barbie Movie

        Today, I finally went to see the Barbie movie! Oppenheimer isn't at my local cinema anymore, but I guess I'll be able to get it on Blu-Ray soon enough.

        To be frank, this was a really€ awesome film. The funny scenes were hilarious and on-point; and there were also some seriously deep and introspective scenes. This film was good enough, in fact, that it's now on my Blu-Ray list. On top of that, it was SO memable.

    • Science

    • Technology and Free Software

      • NYC's Airbnb Problem

        NYC is supposedly cracking down on Airbnb. I sure hope they make it illegal altogether. But I am sure the crackdown is not about making rents more affordable, but about squeezing more tax revenue from Airbnb.

        NYC is a great city -- if you can find reasonable housing. But that is a big if. Why is it so expensive? Hint: it's not really greedy landlords, it's mostly rent control laws. Also, Airbnb. Even if you ignore inflation (everything else doubled in the last few years, so it's not a surprise that rents did also). But the real problem is rent control. According to some sources, 70% of NYC apartments are stabilized or controlled, and are pretty much forever off the market. You'd be an idiot to give up a rent-controlled apartment in NYC.

      • How to add pledge to a program in OpenBSD

        This article is meant to be a simple guide explaining how to make use of the OpenBSD specific feature pledge in order to restrict a software capabilities for more security.

        While pledge falls in the sandboxing features, it's different than the traditional sandboxing we are used to see because it happens within the source code itself, and can be really tightened. Actually, many programs requires lot of privileges like reading files, doing DNS etc... when initializing, then those privileges could be removed, this is possible with pledge but not for traditional sandboxing wrappers.


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



Recent Techrights' Posts

Purchasing Concert Tickets in 2025 in Manchester: The "Modern" Experience
I recently spent a couple of days here testing the "terrain" in order to better understand how large public venues, for concerts rather than sporting events like football, currently "work"
Lovers and Haters
Always beware hate preachers and demagogues (or how they frame issues or whose fault they distract from)
 
What 'Hulk Hogan of UEFI' Could Learn From Jimmy Kimmel About the 'Streisand Effect'
Lawyering up is risky and is usually doesn't work
Linux is Replacing Apple
Apple is money down the drain. Not only are the gadgets overpriced; they cost a lot to maintain and keep going over time
"We don't have that kind of relationship with Microsoft. The only public key that every UEFI firmware is guaranteed to have is Microsoft's, and only Microsoft owns the private key."
This is how to sabotage GNU/Linux distros that Microsoft does not control
Slopwatch: linuxconfig.org, linuxsecurity.com, and Google's Promotion of the Worst and Most Prolific Slopfarms
Over in Google News it has been quite chaotic this past day
Gemini Links 26/09/2025: Reading RSS Feeds, ROOPHLOCH 202
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, September 25, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, September 25, 2025
Links 25/09/2025: More European Airports Shut Down Due to What Seems Like Russian Drones
Links for the day
Gemini Links 25/09/2025: Amiga Revived and Hackers (UTF-8)
Links for the day
Links 25/09/2025: French Unions Want Another Strike, Super Typhoon Ragasa Kills Many
Links for the day
Microsoft 'Secure Boot' and Shim as Barrier or Obstacle to New GNU/Linux Users Trying to Escape Microsoft
Just as intended all along
Focusing on What People Have in Common Instead of Killing and Cancelling One Another
Men and women of both "wings" stand to gain a lot by working together on common interests
'Cancel Culture' Isn't About Enforcing Ethics (and It's Done by People on the Right, Not "The Leftists")
Smarter folks would leave social control media
Russia's Attack on Europe (and NATO) Will Worsen Censorship and Corruption in Europe
Can we still debate issues that predate the invasion of Crimea?
Lawyers Should Permanently Lose Their Licence (and Worse) for Using Chatbots in Legal Work
They not only waste people's money and time. They pollute the literature with falsehoods. They commit perjury. [...] Brett Wilson LLP sent the Judge nearly 1,000 pages of material (mostly mine, copied without proper permission) shortly before a short Hearing, which lasted less than an hour
GAFAM and MATA (Mythical, Metaphor) as Explained by analognowhere.com
They're instruments of suppression that sponsor the oppressor
We've Already Mentioned Who Nowadays Funds Garrett's SLAPP Against Us (Not Garrett), Let's Examine Who Sponsored His Litigation Partner (Other Than Microsoft Salaries There's a Buddy of Bill Gates)
it's alleged that the Serial Strangler from Microsoft got money from him
Florian Müller: Using Software Patents to Attack Software Developers, Agitate Against Patent Reform
He also promotes attacks on the German Constitution and laws
Reliance on Typepad Seems to Have Doomed the Voice of Software Patents and Patent Maximalists in PatentDocs
Follow the money
UEFI 'Secure Boot' is Potential Mayhem to the Environment (Older and Leaner Distros Stop Working)
creating new problems, disguised as "solutions" to problems that do not exist
Sometimes 'Cancel Culture' Backfires Badly
There's no such thing as "too much" coverage
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, September 24, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, September 24, 2025
Links 25/09/2025: Jimmy Kimmel Returns to Air (With Limitations) and London Stansted Airport Latest to Have Incident (Fire)
Links for the day
Slopwatch: Fake Articles, SPAM With Slop, and Google News Directs People to Read Slopfarms
why does Google News insist on still linking to prolific slopfarms?
Gemini Links 25/09/2025: New Game for Gemini Protocol, Eleven, and Network Solutions Woes
Links for the day
Punching People Doesn't Work
It makes nobody any safer
Look Ma, No "Cloud"
So far this year we've had an almost perfect uptime
Links 24/09/2025: Autism Blame-Shifting and Typhoon Ragasa Enters China
Links for the day
Buying From Oneself is Not Business Success
This isn't at all a joking matter even if you already laugh at the whole thing because your pension, savings etc. are tied to this scam at some level
This is How Microsoft's XBox and Entire Consoles (If Not Gaming) Ventures Will Ultimately Die
Ensure you can blame "Tariffs" (politics)? If not "hey hi", the fashionable go-to excuse when businesses fail?
What They Really Hate David Heinemeier Hansson (DHH) for
Nothing to do with code
Smart People Won't Buy 'Smart' Cars
Imagine trying to sell someone a house (proper home) while insisting that it'll need to be demolished 5 or 10 years later, then rebuilt again from scratch on the same vacant lot
The Relationship Between IBM Red Hat and Microsoft, Visualised
This metaphor goes a long way (projects, collaborations, and outsourcing
The Complaint About Brett Wilson LLP - Part III - Spying on Reporters' Families, Chaining Cases for Microsoft Employees Who Demand Censorship of Facts (Even Politely Expressed)
the time seems right to wrap up this introductory series
The Complaint About Brett Wilson LLP - Part II - UK SLAPPs for Americans, SLAPPs for Profit
Brett Wilson LLP has a track record of this kind
Cloudflare Gives Us All Another Reason to Boycott Cloudflare
If Cloudflare wants to use its vast surveillance network (which is what it does as a CDN) to foist paywalls and maybe something worse (like DRM on top), then Cloudflare should be more widely rejected as a company
Links 24/09/2025: "NASA Moving Out of Entire Buildings as It's Gutted" and Purge of Online Critics (Opposing Fascism Becomes Unlawful)
Links for the day
Science is Under Attack
Oligarchy prefers a dumbed-down population
Someone Expiring Certificates on the Day of the 9/11 Attacks is Not Someone I Would Want Controlling My PC (or Deciding What's Authorised for Booting)
"social justice warriors"
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Has Reportedly Failed People With Wrong Advice
At the moment the SRA has a PR blunder
The Man Suing Brett Wilson LLP and Gervase de Wilde (5RB)
Now he's probably using the (almost) 200,000 pounds he's supposed to receive to sue Brett Wilson LLP and former colleagues/partners
More Microsoft-Red Hat Cross-Pollination as the Company Loses a Managing Director
some people move from Microsoft to Red Hat and some do the opposite
Slopwatch: A World Wide Web That's Rotting for Companies That Won't Even Exist in a Few Years
some of the junk Google News is promoting
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, September 23, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, September 23, 2025
Links 24/09/2025: Qt Creator 18 Beta, Microsoft Cannot Bail Out "ChatGPT" Anymore, China and US Intensify Censorship
Links for the day