Gemini* and Gopher

• Personal/Opinions

  • the mystery that is a social life

    i was washing some berries for breakfast in the morning and remembering all the time spent at my grandparents' allotment when i was younger. how often my sister (well, cousin) would fail to join us, because she was just so busy. i remember at first it baffled me, what could she be busy with? we're kids. we have homework and that's basically it. i was almost in total control of my time outside of school. granted, i was burnt out as an autistic and greatly avoided most activities, even just going out of the house. i spent hours and hours stimming/regulating by playing what's now called single person card games (insert blood orange meme - it's fuckin' solitaire), wore out many a deck by playing on floors and carpets all over. it hadn't occurred to me that you could be so tied up time-wise that you couldn't come over hang out in nature and help your grandma?

  • Casino Royale by Ian Fleming

    This is the first work of fiction featuring James Bond and I'm sure a lot has been said of it since, so I'll try to take a different approach with this review. 

• Politics and World Events

  • Gendery thoughts

    Over the last year I've been questioning my gender. Until last year I've always gone along with the "default" for someone AMAB: cis man. Like many cisgender people I never thought about it. But back in February I read a story where someone transitioned (magically and instantly) and the joy I felt at reading that made me re-evaluate. I kinda thought "there's no way a cis man would feel like that, right?"

• Technology and Free Software

  • A functional analysis of doomscrolling

    First of all, doomscrolling is likely to be reinforced through encountering novel or significant information once in a while. In this respect, the Doomscroller is on a variable-ratio reinforcement schedule. This is one of the most effective and treacherous amplification plans, which also underlies slot machines, for example.

    Although it is, theoretically, possible using any website that regularly updates its content and includes the latest news, doomscrolling is mainly done on social media apps. Likes, shares and interactions or discussions with others engaging in similar behavior constitute social reinforcement.

  • I Guested The European Ham Radio Show

    The European Ham Radio Show is a weekly YouTube live-show about everything amateur radio. I discovered it late 2023 (when they were guests at the Ham Radio Workbench podcast) and quickly found my way into the friendly community on their Discord server. The Discord is a great active place where people share their adventures in portable operation, DIY projects, and so much more.

    I was very happy (and a bit starstruck) when they invited me into the show to talk about my DIY projects! The show went great, despite me being a bit nervous at first. I had a really fun time hanging out with them and in the end the hour just swooshed by. I admire the amount of work they put into sharing their hobby – it certainly has inspired me to try many new things – and I relish that I was given the opportunity to join one of their shows.