Bonum Certa Men Certa

Gemini Links 24/05/2023: Razors, Profit, and More



  • Gemini* and Gopher

    • Personal

      • Razors

        Note: if you want my thoughts on safety razors, you can skip to the section below, otherwise, directly following this is my background on how I got to using safety razors.

        When I started shaving I remember asking my father how to do it. I remember thinking to myself this is some kind of father-son rite-of-passage to manhood and that he hadn't offered yet to show me so I figured I might as well ask. I think I had these visions in my head of a father showing the son to go "with the grain" and whatever other sage advice he could give. And while my father did tell me, it was less than climactic and I remember him giving me a look that said to me that he hadn't really thought about it and it wasn't all that hard because he'd been doing it for years. This has stuck with me all these years later but not because I was mad or disappointed, but it was still a defining moment in our relationship and my progressing towards adult-hood.

      • Twenty-Three Years

        A week ago was my wedding anniversary. Usually I don't give specifics, but this is one day that I'm happy to have found someone who was willing to stick with me for twenty-seven years and not wander off for greener pastures… or at least pastures without me.

        When I first moved from my mother's home, burned out from too many hours and barely able to hold my life together, I had no intent on ever getting married. In reality, I had no intent on even finding someone and didn't really try. It just wasn't in the cards for me.

      • Smokey: New Job, Future Plans

        I am currently two weeks into a new job. I decided to try a custodial gig at a healthcare facility. I should update the 'now page' I guess.

        So far I am enjoying things. I get to listen to music all day, work at my own pace, and not deal with other people beyond the occasional "Hi, how are you, have a good one." Im not getting paid a huge amount of money compared to my old work, but as a trade off there is much less stress involved. Im basically my own boss. Just keep the place relatively clean and everyone is more than happy.

        The first week was a tough one. My body wasn't used to the activity and there was a covid situation I helped take care of. It was a little off putting but I didn't get sick so things all worked out.

      • 4 🔤SpellBinding: ABCKORS Wordo: BEGUN
      • short sleep

        in college when I felt invincible (unlimited stamina and so) I went a week or so reading creepypasta and then not sleeping much (as a consequence of not wanting to be eaten by a wall or whatever). then I read about dymaxion sleep or polyphasic sleep and thought maybe I'll give it a try someday, but never actually got to sleep in the morning or at noon (even when I had some classes I would definitely want to sleep through). now that I have to get used to a two hour on/off schedule, I definitely cannot recommend it.

    • Politics

      • On Profit

        I work for a big tech company—a megacorp—that for the sake of a simple life I’ll refer to as $company.

        I have noticed that discourse about $company often over simplifies to an extent that removes all value from the conversation.

    • Technical

      • Internet/Gemini

        • News group peering

          Oh boy, this is confusing! @tomasino@tilde.zone and I are trying to set up peering for cosmic.* and campaignwiki.* groups from our respective news servers. User xwindows is helping us out on IRC, but it's not easy to figure out what to do.


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



Recent Techrights' Posts

GNU/Linux Measured at All-Time High in Sweden
Can 'influencers' have played a role
GNU/Linux Becoming More Universal
It seems likely the end of Vista 10 coinciding with a sharp rise in memory prices (and now energy prices) will benefit GNU/Linux and therefore give us more to write about
Can Economies Like the American One Hang On?
The coming weeks will be "interesting" unless wars end
 
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, April 02, 2026
IRC logs for Thursday, April 02, 2026
A Much Better Use of Fuel Than Slop
Something positive for a change
Hoping for Peace
There are still many things to be enjoyed, including nature and kind people
Gemini Links 03/04/2026: "Slide Rule Triple Multiplication" and End of "Picture Pages"
Links for the day
Rumours of Microsoft Layoffs This Season
Just how much trouble is Microsoft in at this point?
SLAPP Censorship - Part 31 Out of 200: Speaking About 20+ Years of Alleged Harassment/Defamation and High-Profile 'Targets' of Garrett
attempts were made to settle (in effect end the case) by the person who started the case almost half a dozen times along the way
In Asia, Windows is in Its Teens (Below 20%)
On a global scale, Windows is down to about 26%
Low Morale at IBM and Perception of Destructive Management
IBM is going nowhere, fast
Gemini Links 02/04/2026: Super Mario Galaxy Movie and New Antenna Instance
Links for the day
It Seems Like Google News Cracked Down on (Omitted, Delisted) a Lot of Slopfarms
There's no justification/point in spending so much energy just to plagiarise things poorly
Steam Survey for Last Month Says 5.33% Use GNU/Linux
big leap for GNU/Linux
Links 02/04/2026: Science News, Energy Scarcity, Oil Sold in Yuan
Links for the day
Links 02/04/2026: Apple Turns 50, Efforts To Ban VPNs
Links for the day
Gemini Links 02/04/2026: Kubernetes With FreeBSD, OFFLFIRSOCH, and Great Circle Distance
Links for the day
Dr. Andy Farnell on Microsoft Silencing or Deplatforming Opposition in the UK and Elsewhere
Microsoft as a king or a kind of "religion" one cannot question
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, April 01, 2026
IRC logs for Wednesday, April 01, 2026
SLAPP Censorship - Part 30 Out of 200: The Time We Reported Abuse to Greater Manchester Police (GMP) and It Was Escalated to Its Cybercrime Unit
he started trolling and harassing me for criticising his employers' monopolistic and users-hostile agenda
'Modern' Cars Not a Rosy Industry
The current "modern" cars already have a shelf life similar to that of many toothpastes
Wrongthink Detector and Filter in "Think About the Children" Clothing
It is not about "age verification", it's a Trojan horse for social control
IBM Facilities Now Deemed Legitimate (Military) Target, Along With GAFAM Bases
Does IBM have any defences in place to protect against "downtime by explosions"?
What Happens When Some Large News Sites Turn to Slop and Spew Out Nonsense
LLM slop makes such grotesque mistakes abundant
Hardly Seeing Slopfarms Today, Even in Google News
Google's adventures with slop increased its debt significantly
Links 01/04/2026: Quantum Hype (Turing and Google), "US Fuel Prices Surge Past $4 a Gallon"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 01/04/2026: "Sacred Week of Cycling" and Zenity for Scripts
Links for the day
Losing Debian: Sruthi Chandran election flop
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
French judgment: parasitisme by FSFE & Matthias Kirschner (CO23.002709)
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Microsoft Uses April Fools to 'Joke' About Inserting "Age Verification" (Surveillance) Into Linux
MinceR says the "lkml [message/page] one is April Fools or at least they're trying to pass it off as April Fools [however] the [GitHub] one was archived on the 8th and yesterday, so that probably isn't..."
IBM "Headcount Reductions" by Early Retirement and Death
The tragedy at IBM started 33 years ago on the first of April
Red Hat: Latin-1 character set under threat from Bishop Michael Martin, North Carolina
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 01/04/2026: Microsoft GitHub Now Pushing Ads Into People's Code/Commits, Earth Overshoot Day Draws Nearer
Links for the day
What IBM and EPO Workers Have in Common: European Media Not Covering Very Major News (Press Became Dysfunctional)
Are IBM operatives working to scuttle the process of investigative journalism?
Free Speech in the United Kingdom When "Chilling Effect" is Increasingly Prevalent
If politicians cannot even use a term like "parasitic behaviour", then where do we as a society end up?
Oracle Lays Off Because of Debt and Commercial Issues, Not Slop
Like Scam Altman, Larry Ellison hangs around Cheeto King because he could use some bailouts in the form of government contracts or phony money with an incredible name like "Stargate"
The Real Reason Many Sites and Forums Shun Microsoft Lunduke
When forums say that they banned Microsoft Lunduke or don't want him mentioned it's probably because they are familiar with the "stench" that follows him around
Gemini Links 01/04/2026: Hallucinations, Stitching, and Type Systems
Links for the day
Lots of Layoffs at IBM, "Media Blackout" About Mass Layoffs at IBM's HashiCorp and Confluent Last Month
IBM is a dying company circling down the drain while manipulating or paying the media to pretend everything is fine
Microsoft Under Investigation by the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) for Abusive Tactics
What's noteworthy is that this is "set to begin in May"
Sounds Like Red Hat (IBM) Layoffs in Slop Clothing
This is an IBM policy. They try to justify staff cuts.
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, March 31, 2026
IRC logs for Tuesday, March 31, 2026