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

Gemini Links 14/07/2026: Old CD Binder and AWK
Links for the day
In Defence of Physical Tickets
Tickets are not some "app" and not some "code" on some "screen"
Microsoft Layoffs Not Limited to XBox (False Narrative in the Mainstream Media)
Microsoft is becoming less relevant and workforce reductions won't end any time soon
Links 14/07/2026: Plagiarism Spun as "Training", Zelensky Announces Leadership Shuffle
Links for the day
The Register MS Has Just Published "AI" Webspam That Mentions "AI" 54 Times. It Was Paid to Do This.
Who pays for all this "AI" hype or "buzz"?
Gemini Links 14/07/2026: Self-Advocacy Online; "The Internet Is Dead: How the Web Lost Its Human Soul"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, July 13, 2026
IRC logs for Monday, July 13, 2026
Modern Technology Harms Women More Than Men (Because the 'Tech Bros' Who Dominate STEM Have a Poor View of Women)
“Privacy protects us from abuses by those in power, even if we're doing nothing wrong at the time of surveillance.”
Internet Relay Chat Trolls Are Not Expressing Opinions, They Are Saboteurs
For the record
Links 14/07/2026: "The Freedom of Information Act Is in Serious Trouble"; Irish Datacenters Use Up Almost 25% of Total Energy
Links for the day
The Register MS: "AI" Puff Pieces for Sale, Not Journalism at All, Just "Webspam"
The Register MS isn't the sole culprit
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, July 12, 2026
IRC logs for Sunday, July 12, 2026
How We Do Techrights (and What's Changing Next Week)
Many former news sites no longer yield much non-meaningless news (not anymore); there's a gap to be filled
Links 12/07/2026: Palantir Unrest and Wireshark 4.6.7
Links for the day
Links 12/07/2026: New Instrument Time and PalmOS Experiences in 2026
Links for the day
Red Hat Staff Says IBM Policy Has Stigmatised Him as a Tool and a Slopper With Plagiarism Tools
IBM is killing Red Hat with slop
Freedom of Choice or Freedom Versus Choice (or When All Choices Are Incompatible With Freedom)
When some business asserts that it gives people different options, then it can rightly argue that it offers some choices, but that is not the same as freedom
Techrights IRC Turns 5 Without a “Code of Conduct”, “Code of Conduct Committee”, and All Those Bureaucratic Nightmares
18+ years if one counts our time in Freenode as well
Why U No Use AI???
Many hype waves come and go
There Are Still Slopfarms in Google News
Google is trying to participate in if not lead this pyramid scheme
The Cyber Show Explains How Slop and Promotion of Slop is About Taking Control Away From Computer Users
"On making a trustworthy machine"
Keeping Available the Site at All Times
Informal arrangements and crowdfunding keep our work available despite resistance (including from people who break the law)
What If "Era of AI" and "AI Revolution" (Fake News) Never Happened?
So how much longer before the bust (or bubble-burst)?
GNU/Linux Approaches 5% in Australia
5% by year's end?
Europe/EU is Moving Towards Independence, Fast to Adopt Free Software
More and more states (governments, public sector) in Germany are dumping Microsoft
GNU/Linux Grows at the Expense of Windows
People who want to get work done already left Windows
Tux Machines Growing as a Volunteers-Run Site
Historically the site did not have many original stories, but this changed as the audience grew and the site gained more recognition
Links 12/07/2026: European Commission Versus ‘Addictive Design’, "Google Loses Final Appeal Over $4.7 Billion EU Android Antitrust Fine"
Links for the day
GNU/Linux Market Share Increases Some More Today, statCounter Measures It at 7.3%
Will more such thresholds and records be broken?
Gemini Links 12/07/2026: Studying Languages and 2026 Old Computer Challenge (OCC)
Links for the day
EPO "Cocaine Communication Manager" - Part XIII - At the EPO, Cocaine Addicts and Their Friends Are "Protected Class"
What does that tell us about the EPO?
Increasing Output by Focusing on Originals
It's probably more important to carry on with these than it is to keep abreast of non-crucial news
Amid Strikes and Industrial Actions, Young Professionals at the European Patent Office (EPO) Kept on 'Short Leash', According to the Local Staff Committee The Hague
Issues affecting Young Professionals
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, July 11, 2026
IRC logs for Saturday, July 11, 2026