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

IBM Lost Nearly 33% in "Value" in 3 Months (Shares Down $100), But Nobody Held Accountable
This is a truly dysfunctional company
 
At GitLab, "AI" is "All India"
It says "as much as 30%," but they also hire and it's clear what demography is targeted
Verified Accounts of Microsoft Offering 'Retirement' (Layoffs) to People in Their 40s, Over Two Decades Earlier Than Retirement Age
It's not even about performance, it's about age (or "cost" as well as location; they cheapen the labour)
Links 13/05/2026: Slop Turns Into 2008-Style Subprime Bubble, Mass Layoffs at Starbucks
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They Don't Like the Layoffs, So They Are Rebranding Them
Layoffs are layoffs
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The current strategy of IBM is financial engineering, wage reductions, and mass layoffs that the corporate media refuses to even write about
Over at Tux Machines...
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IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, May 12, 2026
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incomplete outline
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statements made last week (and last month) by Microsoft's CEO confirm that Windows is rapidly losing users
SLAPP Censorship - Part 75 Out of 200: All True, All Verifiable, Unlike Garrett and Graveley Lying to at Least Three High Court Judges About What They Did
A lot of what I said a year ago not only turned out to be correct; it was moreover affirmed by Garrett after he had sworn on the Bible and put himself at risk to his liberty
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This isn't a democratic institution
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Links for the day
IBM Falls to One-year Low
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Gemini Links 12/05/2026: On Astronomy and Stargazing, Coyote Time, and Freenom
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Links for the day
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Seems like a large room
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Seriously!
If IBM Suddenly Vanished in the 1980s, There Would be Chaos. Not Anymore.
IBM's management has rendered IBM more irrelevant than ever before
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Proprietary platforms are a problem. Some people "get it" sooner than others.
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Microsoft: Mass Layoffs Are "Offers" (Like "Job Offers"), Culling Experienced and Highly-Paid Staff is "Softer Workforce-reduction Strategy"
Media sites that play along with those lies don't do journalism, they're in the PR industry
Under IBM, Mass Layoffs at Red Hat No Better Than Oracle Under Larry Ellison (Treating Workers Like Disposables - Even Enemies - Overnight)
under IBM the respect for the worker (or peer) does not exist
The Slop-Amplified Fear of Privilege Escalation (Local, Not Remote) in Linux, the Kernel
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Jim Zemlin/Linux Foundation Selling Anthropic Slop After Getting Bribed for Slop Marketing ('Linux' Foundation is a Pay-to-Say For-Profit Marketing Company That Buys and Manipulates the Media Based on False Pretences)
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GitLab the Latest Company to Do Mass Layoffs and Use Slop as the Go-to Excuse (GitLab Users Should Worry Too)
This round of layoffs (disguised as something else) has nothing to do with slop ("hey hi"). It's about commercial problems.
The Corrupt Lecture the Non-Corrupt - Part XX - EPO Management's Unified (One) Voice or Policy is, Doing Cocaine is OK When You're a Friend and/or Family of President Campinos
The management needs to resign to save the Office
Technology Not Meant to Last
A society apathetic towards declining production (or manufacturing) standards will end up ripped off
statCounter Cannot 'See' Chinese Operating Systems That Gain Many Millions of Users Per Month
There is no way for statCounter to recognise or show the market share of HarmonyOS
SLAPP Censorship - Part 74 Out of 200: The Basis of My Lawsuit Against Alex Graveley, Who Helps Garrett Stack the Docket in Another Continent
claim against the Serial Strangler from Microsoft
Update on Slop About "Linux"
"Linux" is a term many people are interested it, so it's not shocking that slopfarms target it
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, May 11, 2026
IRC logs for Monday, May 11, 2026
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reminder that confidentiality and Clown Computing are complete opposites
Another Discrimination Lawsuit Against IBM and Workers Say IBM Culls Older Workers (Just Like Microsoft)
If IBM fails to retain some of the smartest people, then what is the future of IBM?
Gemini Links 12/05/2026: Android Nostalgia and Switching to Guix
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Links 11/05/2026: Another Oracle Setback and Mass Layoffs in Iran
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Gemini Links 11/05/2026: Older Can Be Faster and Textmode Workflow
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Links 11/05/2026: The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Admits It Only Reacts When It's Too Late (Damage Already Done), Ombudsman’s Animal Cruelty HK Report
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If It Takes You a Second to Serve (or Receive) a Page, That's Definitely Too Slow
For speeds at milliseconds (e.g. for pages to fully load in a tenth of a second) the pages must be ready to be sent as soon as they're requested
It's Not About Speed, It is About Patience and Adherence to Truth, Principles, Scientific Integrity
attacks on us only ever made us stronger - a lesson that our adversaries have learned the hard way
Cyber Show Does it Like Techrights: Static and Gemini Protocol as 'First-Class Citizen'
HTML and GemText (over Gemini Protocol) would be rendered in tandem
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GNU/Linux has hit an all-time high there
SLAPP Censorship - Part 73 Out of 200: Microsoft's Graveley and Garrett Remain Closely Connected in May 2026 ("Tag-Teaming" Against Bloggers in Another Continent)
The phrase "judge a person by their friends" seems applicable here
Codecs and Software Patents - Part VI - The European Patent Office, Nokia, Microsoft, Sisvel, and More
Whatever Nokia used to be, it's certainly not an ally and a lot of the turmoil at the EPO is the fault of companies like Nokia
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"Kyndryl restructuring should reduce overhead functions and reduce the number of managers that lack technical knowledge"
A World After Microsoft (and GAFAM) and After GitHub Shuts Down
the only growth area is debt
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This will not end well
Today the Whole European Patent Office (EPO) is on Strike and Next Monday an Even Bigger Strike
the media refuses to cover these and is thus complicit
The Corrupt Lecture the Non-Corrupt - Part IXX - EPO Management Speaks of Reputation and Integrity While Putting Cocaine Addicts in Management
If the EPO values its "reputation", then it needs to start by ousting the management
Over at Tux Machines...
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IRC Proceedings: Sunday, May 10, 2026
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