Gemini* and Gopher

• Personal/Opinions

  • matzah

    I had a craving for pizza, so I decided to make some. Pizza is not part of my regular diet anymore and if I do eat it, I cannot eat it like I used to. I limit self to one slice. If I make it, sometimes 2 slices. Today I made a pizza with matzah, tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, pepperoni, kimchee, and everything bagel seasoning.. Cooked it in the air fryer (sliding tray version). Easy enough and satiated my craving.

    I usually buy a box or two of matzah when it goes on clearance after Passover. This box was $0.25US for 14 matzah. Dirt cheap. I'm not Jewish, but I do enjoy discounted matzah (or anything else at discount.)

• Technology and Free Software

  • RIP Backups

    Yesterday I was trying to clean out the `/home` directory of my desktop-turned-homelab. I saw a bunch of .zip files prefixed `drive-download-*` in my Downloads which totalled around 100 GB, which I probably downloaded when Google reduced my storage limits after my graduation.

    I thought that I already backed those photos up to my network storage, and a quick check with `unzip -l` confirmed that ONE of the videos was already backed up. Pretty confident, I mindlessly `rm -rf`'d it. I saw another .zip file with an unfamiliar prefix, and tried to upload the photos inside. I then discovered that I haven't backed that up before.

    A chill suddenly went down my spine. I checked one (1) zip file and deleted dozens (>1), without checking each one individually. Part of 6 years of my university life and travel photos potentially gone. I froze for a few minutes before shutting down the server and booting to a live USB. By that point, it was already too late. Nothing came up from `extundelete`.

  • Copy and paste parrots

    As an actual human, and someone that has a little bit of pride in communicating, I don't know why copy and paste parrots exist. What is a copy and paste parrot, you ask? A copy and paste parrot takes information you've supplied, usually internal between staff members, and copy and pastes that information _VERBATIM_ into an email or some other communication; it's a clear indication that the information is _not understood_ by the parrot. I am sure that the parrot thinks the information is useful for the recipient, but it usually isn't due to jargon that exists in the field, the organization, and the speaking/writing style of the author.

    I know that not everyone is the same; we weren't raised the same, our educations aren't the same, our values aren't the same, etc. This is what makes us unique! My complaint is this - why would you simply copy and paste informal jargon to a client who most likely/more often than not, would not understand the information?

  • Internet/Gemini

    • A question of email

      I'm interested to find other's opinions on "best practice" when it comes to email in this space. I wouldn't put my email in the open on the web, but I notice many in geminispace who do just that. Others, though, make efforts to obfuscate.