Gemini* and Gopher

• Technology and Free Software

  • "You have a website, don't you?"

    This is a topic I care about quite a bit, evidenced by the fact that I've written about it quite a bit. Two years ago I think my overarching theme was what I'd call "virtual embodiment," to embody who you are in real life on the internet, or to embody who you are on the internet in real life. At the time I was writing quite a bit and it bothered me that I felt more myself as a disembodied voice in gemspace, or that this was becoming who I wanted to be, neglecting who I am.

  • Ada Binding to "Wide" ncurses

    If you're not interested in Text User Interfaces, feel free to skip this post.

    Like I mentioned in a previous post, I think TUIs make a lot of sense for "admin interfaces" for cloud and on-prem systems. It's also possible their use will be forced for end-users once again if RAM prices keep going up, but we'll see. Its technical merits are arguable, but the curses library for TUIs is part of the Single UNIX Spec and I prefer to follow standards unless you have a radically better idea (similar to the use of Ada).

  • Dissociated JBanana 🍌

    Let's have a go with my gemlog.

  • Internet/Gemini

    • Shorts

      My daily Internet experience is quite different from the norm. Most of what I see online is text, and if not, it's long-form video content such as a full sporting event or a deep dive into a given topic. When I peruse YouTube for these videos, though, I can't avoid seeing shorts, or at the least, previews for them.

      I hate modern short-form videos. Beyond the issue that 30-second videos by nature cannot contain enough information to make me well-informed on their subjects, but current-day video formatting is a bloated nightmare. People talk fast and with way too much energy. The videos are full of sound effects and music. There are tons of transitions that are deliberately designed to confuse the eye. Every spoken word is subtitled, sometimes with distracting fonts, and often using some automated tool that doesn't even select the right words.

    • Re: (Internet) radio

      That's understandable. Like Bungo used to listen to the radio in his car because that was all he had, I used to listen to the radio because I only had so many (read: few) MP3 files to put on my portable music player. When Spotify came around, it took ages to jump on the train, and so for a long while radio was still my main source of new and varied music. I too discovered new-to-me music and started following radio programmes, recognising hosts and memorising schedules. As FM radio was shut down and I spent too much time in front of a computer anyway, I switched to listening to the same stations as internet radio.

      Internet radio was the first convenience. Not only could I play any station I wanted, but I could look up and play individual programmes on-demand, picking the ones I liked the best. But I still could not pick individual songs, albums or artists – the programmes would play what they played, according to the theme and whatever the host felt like. So I still listened to new-to-me music, within a somewhat pickier selection of genres.

  • Poetry

    • 2026-05-12

      Spring blooms surge skyward, 
       violets' snow blanketing.
           A painted canvas.