Gemini* and Gopher

• Personal/Opinions

  • TIL a hundred years ago you could just...order free explosives

    Apparently, the US had so much of this stuff left over from World War I that, for a time, DuPont was literally giving it away. Anyone could write to them and receive as much pyrotol as they wanted. All they had to do was pay for packaging and shipping - the explosive itself was free.

    Granted, your neighbors would notice if you came home with a Model T full of pyrotol every single day. There was probably some fed somewhere who might get a call from DuPont if you went too nuts. (Maybe? The FBI existed, but the ATF wasn't founded until 1972.) But if you bought what your fellow farmers thought was a "normal" amount at "normal" intervals? Nah.

  • That's a rap 🎤

    I can't get on with hip hip. My main reaction is "Stop talking shit and try singing". But I'm not consistent. Kae Tempest is excellent, and Little Simz is pretty good too. Even better is when it's in a language I don't understand: Kneecap do it in the Irish language. I might well be the sort or person they're raging against, but how would I know?

  • claude burdel tdm and my handmade archeology collage deck (majors only)

    i was sure i named this deck at some point but i can't remember what or where... arche arcana, maybe? anyway, i picked this one for its green, natural feel, ideal for spring. and the claude burdel wasn't really fitting anywhere in particular in the year, but it was one of those "safe bets" companions to balance out a wacky deck. not only is the arche majors-only, it's not very... what should i call it? i like a traditional marseille deck for its strong visuals - there's the clear outline, the foreground, the background, the symbol. the arche is more artistic, things don't stand out so much, there's no things like line of sight, often there's not even a full figure who could have any meaningful body language, interact with its neighbors etc. so it was a very experimental choice.

  • A hospital concert

    I think I found the reason why the hospital parking garage was full [1]. I arrive to the lobby to the sound of bag pipes. Down the hall was a Scottish pipe band making the rounds of the hospital. Had I known there would be a concert ongoing, I might have tried to come earlier for a better parking spot. I'm also surprised I didn't hear them in the parking garage.

  • The one day I park on the top level of a parking garage

    I arrive at the hospital [1] parking garage. For the past few days I've been able to park on the second, maybe third level of the garage. But today is different. As I'm driving, there are no open parking spots that aren't reserved for doctors or handicapped people. I drive through the second level, the third level, I'm beginning to get worried as I drive through the fourth level, and by the time I hit the fifth and final level, I'm afraid I'm going to have to drive backwards down the parking garage as I don't think there's enough space for a three point turn. Maybe a thousand point turn, but at that point, it might be easier to drive backwards. But there, at the very top, was the final parking spot of the garage, still empty.

  • Notes on an overheard conversation without context because I think it's funnier that way

    “There was something supernatural about it.”

    “That reminds me of … oh … XXXX … I blanking on his last name. He channeled an elf.”

    “Oh! You mean XXXXX­XXXXX­XX.”

    “Yes! XXXXX­XXXXX­XX!”

    “He thought he was an elf?”

    “No, he channeled an elf.”

    “What?”

• Politics and World Events

  • 🎙️ L.N. Hunter

    Absolutely, but I try not to be overly vocal about it. Religions and belief systems are fascinating, but I struggle to understand them—or rather, to understand how people choose to behave within their structures.

  • Eat The Rich

    In 1917, a minority group of factory workers took control of Russia, with the help of the army (they learned that trick from the previous, failed attempt). The ruling royalty and associates were executed, as were those who resisted having their property seized. By the time they were done, pretty much everyone who owned anything of value was killed. Money and class were declared relics of the past.

    Nearby small countries were annexed. A few years later, people were starving: they had killed everyone who knew how to do anything. An emergency "New Economic Plan" brought back 'limited' property ownership. The fields were green again, and things normalized. New oligarchs popped up, and the masses were broke as usual.

• Technology and Free Software

  • Spiraling from a tv ad from the seventies

    One of those days where your dad sends you YouTube video of a commercial from the seventies and you have to spiral through a conversation with a chatbot about the American democracy being held hostage by late stage capitalism before you can get back to doing your work for the day, all the while knowing that this particular work will in all likelihood be automated sometime in the near future, but you’ve got a family to provide for, so you really just have to keep grinding til you die. But along the way you can make time to stare at the wildflowers, pet your cat, and laugh at some comedy, and somehow that tips the scales enough to keep moving forward. One foot in front of the other I suppose.

  • AI Peril

    I have a bad habit of telling every stupid idea or plan I come up to an LLM. On the other hand, most of the time I'm just spitting out plans I KNOW I am not going to do in order for them to stop circling my head.

    I have always been wary of LLMs, and I never joined the hype, always being suspicions, and through experience, I've known them to be worthless. Yet, of all my friends (admittedly not many), I am the one who most uses LLMs. Perhaps, it is because I have no-one to talk to, having substracted myself from most of the internet at this point.