Gemini* and Gopher

• Personal/Opinions

  • Sniper fallacy

    I have been thinking about game balance and came out to conclusion that a big problem in game design is that a lot of people think that *just because a powerful option is locked behind more demanding mechanical execution it is more balanced*. This is a incorrect assumption that works only when everyone on even playing field that is when balance doesn't matter. Gating powerful attacks behind more precision (FPS) or arbitrary QTEs (Fighting games) is not balance, it's a recepie for disaster. Yet people cling to it because it allows people that managed to learn them to feel better about themselves.

  • Small Hope: The Rise of Solar in 2025

    In the midst of all the really bad things going on right now, it's nice to know that some good things are happening, too.

    In 2025, renewable energy surpassed coal in terms of worldwide energy usage, an enormous win for getting humanity off dirty energy. In China, Xi Jinping promised that China would cut carbon emissions by 10% in a decade through increased use of wind and solar. We might soon reach a point where the use of fossil fuels finally starts declining.

• Technology and Free Software

  • Internet/Gemini

    • Blog?

      Is "The Pillow Book" a blog? Easy and short answer: no. Blogs need computers, no computer, not-a-blog. Q.E.D. We might call this a formal or strict definition, much as ASCII has a formal specification, and humans naturally call things ASCII that are clearly outside the specification.

      [...]

      Could be a blog! Is "The Pillow Book" exactly a blog? No, not really, though there are similarities, convergent evolutions or precursorisms of common form. Look if it has wings, sharp teeth, goes quack while the two of them may not both be cats but there are similarities.

    • Smallnet Protocols

      I'm calling the protocols discussed below "smallnet protocols", but actually I don't know the right name for them...

      The gemini protocol is great, I've been using it for five years now. I also browse gopher quite a bit. There have also been some other small internet protocols that have been developed over recent years, which are captured in this "Small internet protocol roundup" page: [...]