Gemini* and Gopher

• Personal/Opinions

  • Eyeless in Hau Hin, or Groundhog Day at the Quagmire

    Most locals you meet in Thailand are polite to the extent of being painfully deferential; few tend to ask you questions about yourself, and it is rare to have a conversation that goes beyond the superficial. The legendary Thai friendliness and warmth seems genuine, but it is seldom more than surface deep. Most interactions are transactional, and never go beyond the functional. If you are buying something -- food or an item at a market -- the conversation is about the business at hand. If they are trying to offer more personal services, it's all about empty flattery and advertising their special skills. Too bad for them I'm somewhat impervious to flattery and not really interested in their special skills.

  • Covid, Birds & Fishing

    So this week I got hit with Covid. 1 collegue came to the office ill and in 1 week over 30% of our entire workfore was sick at home.

    Please just stay at home when you are ill, especially if you have the option to work from home!

    I must add the disclaimer that we have paid sick days over here and WFH in my sector really isn't a problem most of the time.

  • Hiatus and...

    Meanwhile, the march towards our imminent move overseas continues. To recap, Skeeter and Mr. Skeeter (hubby Matt) are moving to Ireland, hopefully by the end of the year. We are actually hoping to get there in time for Christmas. We did just do a quick 4 day stay to look at houses. We are back home, purging, sorting, tossing, and packing. I recently went through all of my original PC and PCjr floppies and copied off as much data as I could. I'm hoping to do some DOSBOX stuff when we get to the other side of the pond and maybe give some of these old programs a whirl. Sadly, my first machine, an IBM PCjr, won't be going with me at this time, but it will be stored safely stateside until the time is right.

  • A Short Guide to Hermetic Right-Living

    As opposed to the reverent, Mind will "remain distant" from "the thoughtless and evil and wicked and envious and greedy and violent and irreverent".

  • Narcolepsy

    I've found out that the optimal time for me to sleep without losing my day is 15 minutes. I set a timer and nap anytime I feel a sleep attack coming on.

    But it all feels like it adds up.

    Time is a limited resource, why must I have it stripped from me to be a functioning person.

    I could clean my living room in 15.

  • my parents are not divorcing!!

    my parents have decided to try again, and they are doing so well. i don't live with them anymore, on account of my studies, but when i visit them for week-ends or holidays, i see them just how they were before. well, i suppose i should not say "how they were before", rather, they have overcome the hard times, and are making amends. they have evolved, progressed, and i am so happy to see them happy again.

• Politics and World Events

  • On our watch

    Terrible things are happening on our watch. I'm a bit over fifty years old and when I was a lot younger I felt that those over fifty had let us down. And now I'm seeing how easy this came to me. I don't feel strong enough to turn the tide. I can write. I can post. I can vote. 🗳️

    I guess the frustration just builds up until one day a mob forms on the streets outside, no matter how small, and suddenly a lot of people will discover that where as they can't start a riot, they'll happily join one.

• Technology and Free Software

  • Internet/Gemini

    • NNCP benefits and doubts

      So, what are the benefits of Node to Node copy (NNCP)? What are my doubts? I have many doubts, now that I've been experimenting with NNCP for a while.

      NNCP is a way to securely store-and-forward files, mail and other commands. As such, it can replace Unix to Unix copy (UUCP). Since almost nobody uses UUCP these days, the question remains: what for?

      NNCP is based on the exchange of public keys, so you can’t reach strangers this way. Email, for example, allows you to reach strangers. A positive take would be that NNCP is allow-list based. If you send mail via NNCP, the nodes have to both agree to it before data can be exchanged.

    • Tuesday-4

      Yeah, I know it's not very nice to insert a gemini protocol link given you likely weren't reading this in a browser fluent in gemini... but then maybe it's no worse than an https site having a link an explanation of how to write "gemtext", including its non-inline link format?