Bonum Certa Men Certa

Gemini Links 20/06/2023: Gemini's Fourth Anniversary is Today



  • Gemini* and Gopher

    • Politics and World Events

      • God, nature, and the space aliens

        Recently I talked with a religious friend about how I find the body very complex. He then jokingly said to me, assuming I believed in his religion, "can you believe that some people think something as complex as a human crawled out of the ocean?" I shrugged it off as I did not want to ruin my relationship with this person (we live in a society), but his comment did make me think.

        [...]

        When he taught us the leg muscles, he used one particularly funny example that I still remember. One certain muscle near the knee (that I forget the name of) prevents the knee joint's capsule from getting pinched between the femur and tibia bones when the knee bends. He told us the story of how when god, nature, and the space aliens all got together to design the lower extremities, they had problems with their prototype caveman pinching the knee capsule every time he tried to walk. Luckily, baby Jesus came along on his tricycle and suggested that a muscle pull the capsule away from the bones just before they bend, making it so that the caveman could walk just fine.

      • Top Gun: Maverick

        Finally got around to finishing Top Gun: Maverick tonight. Rented it from the library a couple weeks ago, but hadn't gotten around to it until now. Definitely a fun movie, the action scenes were super well done! Love that the "enemy territory" was in a snowy, mountainous region, made for some great visuals. The dogfights were great, had me on the edge of my seat the entire time.

      • Little meadow

        When I moved in there was grass behind the house, a little, inhospitible backyard past the sandpapery square of concrete patio. Looking out the back door there's the sun-blasted patio, some grass, swampy yard, then the hill up to the cemetary scrubby with thicket and young trees.

        I dug a bed for mint along the house's back wall up to the patio, another bed out from it that supports a healthy horseradish where Evy grew gourds. Other plants didn't do well there til this year when I planted onions. Evy's parents brought their old painted iron yard table and chairs.



      • 🔤SpellBinding: CERSTUY Wordo: MEATY
    • Technology and Free Software

      • Using git bundle to synchronize a repository between Qubes OS dom0 and an AppVM

        In a previous article, I explained how to use Fossil version control system to version the files you may write in dom0 and sync them against a remote repository.

      • Asus L410MA lid screen issue with XFCE4 on Debian 12

        Despite being cheap I decided to buy another Asus laptop from the same family for my little one, also this laptop was purchased as second-hand hardware, even because I was convinced to have definitely resolved all the issues, in the previous tests eventually Devuan worked better than Debian.

      • Asus L410MA lid screen issue with XFCE4 on Debian 12
      • Framework Laptop, one year on

        This laptop was meant to be an auxiliary laptop, for writing on the couch. I'm an Apple main user, and knowing macOS has helped my career. But I'm also very pro Right to Repair, and those two things are butting heads right now. So the Framework laptop seemed like the obvious choice, being Very Repairable.

      • Re: Richard Stallman

        After reading Ploum's recent post about how Richard Stallman was right all along, I have to say that I agree with his take.

        [...]

        This might seem odd coming from someone who just posted about how sick he was of Linux and was moving back to FreeBSD. If only all of my choices were easily explainable in life.

        I've found myself as I get older actually becoming more "radicalized" than I was in my 20's and 30's. I definitely feel like society lost it's way a long time ago. One of the things that I like most about Ploum's post is that he recognizes the larger parallels between society's ills and free/libre vs proprietary software. Everywhere you look these days you see that what used to be held in common trust is being carved up and divided among those who don't really need any more.

      • Internet/Gemini

        • Gemini's Fourth Anniversary

          The Gemini protocol was first publicly announced under the name "Gemini" on this day in 2019. solderpunk considers this to the official start date of the protocol, meaning today is its fourth anniversary.

          From my earliest days on Gemini, I knew the protocol dated back to 2019, but last night I got to thinking about what that really means.

          I first explored Gemini and decided to create my own capsule in March of 2021. By then, COVID-19 had been ravaging the world for more than a year. Many businesses were still shuttered, many areas were still in full lockdown, and most people still practiced social distancing. We were forced to carry out most of our communication through social media and other online platforms controlled by corporate interests. The Reddit post became our only source of news, the Netflix subscription our only form of entertainment. And in that isolated environment, political and social tensions spilled over, fresh on the heels of the George Floyd protests and riots on one side and the contentious US Presidential election and January 6 protests and riots on the other.

      • Literature

        • Re: The Library Rocks!

          Alex wrote an excellent quick post about using local libraries. It reminded me of when my mother used to take me and my brother to the library almost every day as a child; they really are excellent places with incredible services.

          As Alex wrote about the physical benefits and services of libraries, I thought I should share some of the digital ones. I agree that going to a library can be an amazing experience, but it is also useful to know how to get the most out of yours when you can’t go there in person.


* Gemini (Primer) links can be opened using Gemini software. It's like the World Wide Web but a lot lighter.



Recent Techrights' Posts

IBM HR "Process is Similar to Raising Farm Animals"
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Brett Wilson LLP Has Just Lost a Case of Its Biggest Client "IN THE COURT OF APPEAL (CIVIL DIVISION)"
Is Brett Wilson LLP proud of such clientele?
Gary Smith Says Brett Wilson LLP Engages in SLAPP Against Him Over LinkedIn Post, "This is the Streisand Effect in Real Time"
"Lawyers who front SLAPP‑style threats on behalf of powerful institutions are not “defending reputation”; they are abusing legal process to intimidate and silence legitimate public‑interest scrutiny."
 
It's Not the Layoffs, It's the Debt
PIPs and/or "silent layoffs" are about the companies flouting obligations to staff, reducing or eliminating the compensation packages
European Patent Office (EPO) Series: Cutting Ribbons in Sintra While the EPO Burns
Like the Roman Emperor Nero, Campinos fiddles in Sintra while the EPO burns
In Spain, GNU/Linux Now Measured at 5.5%
Microsoft and Windows are generally shrinking
North America: GNU/Linux Leaps to 8% "Market Share"
the trend is clear
statCounter: GNU/Linux Has Risen to All-Time High of 6% Worldwide (July 2026)
GNU/Linux has massive gains
Not Tolerating Death Threats
Death threads are a serious matter
Silent Layoffs, 'Happy' Layoffs, and 'Buyouts' (Pretending to Voluntarily Retire)
We've been seeing lots of that at IBM and Microsoft
SLAPP Censorship - Part 125 Out of 200: Litigants in Person (LIPs) Handling American Lawfare Funded by Third Parties (About a Million Pounds for 100 Kilograms of Legal Papers)
An appeal to the Court of Appeal can be justified at one point
Attacks on the Sites
These are clearly censorship attempts
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Links 01/07/2026: Apple and Microsoft Price Hikes, Political Catchup
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Over time people will find out just how many people "leave" IBM
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Gemini Links 01/07/2026: Wild Flowers, Slop, and Waystone Tools
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Links 01/07/2026: Bending Spoons Makes an 'Exit' ("Going Public"), US Supreme Court Rules on Many Issues
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Sales of the console will take another plunge and debt will skyrocket
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Links for the day
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Does The Register MS recognise what this piece is promoting and who for?
Techrights Never Defended Rapists
In the past, I and others got falsely accused of "defend[ing] a rapist"
"Regular Silent Layoffs and PIPs" at Microsoft, According to Microsoft Insider
Many people leave without a fuss, only a signed NDA
Gaming Companies Help Promote Rootkits ('Anticheat') and Help Microsoft Take Control of People's PCs
The industry in its current form acts a bit more like a cabal of power-hungry companies that actively try to back-door everything and smear people who oppose that
IRC (Internet Relay Chat) Turns 38 Next Month
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opensourceforu.com is a Slopfarm, It's Not "Open Source" and It's Not "For U"
Slop "For U"
DRM and Ownership
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GNU/Linux Reaches 6% in North America
Tomorrow around 10AM we'll see what preliminary data they get for July
IBM Layoffs Still Happening in 2026, They're Just Not Being Reported
The demise of IBM accompanies the demise of the media
SLAPP Censorship - Part 124 Out of 200: The Court Deems My Wife Connected to the Case of the Serial Strangler From Microsoft, Invites Her to the Hearing Last Week
Brett Wilson LLP does not play by the rules
Paying Severance to Staff Laid Off by Microsoft Too Expensive for Microsoft Now?
When companies earn such a bad reputation (not paying severance to people they discard) it lowers morale even further
Microsoft Mass Layoffs Due to Money Problems (Debt, Lack of Money to Complete Payroll), Not "Hey Hi"
If Microsoft later comes up with some "Hey Hi" narrative, then immediately reject it
Stop Conflating Free Software With Slop Plagiarism and Time-wasting
Even decades ago people could use "compute" for lots of fuzzing, then file away false or unaudited reports using bots
What Security Means
Security does not mean asking Microsoft for permission
Microsoft May be Losing 10,000+ Workers This Month
Here's the quick math
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Follow-up meeting with Site Manager VP1 on school matters
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Links for the day
European Patent Office (EPO) Series: Different Strokes For Different Folks
Organisation operating in two parallel universes
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IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, June 30, 2026
IRC logs for Tuesday, June 30, 2026
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GNU/Linux has fared well
Getting Skyped: Closure of Studios Microsoft Bought
wait till July and the mass layoffs outside XBox
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The PIPs and NDAs hard to get a clear picture
Sabine Hossenfelder Versus IBM Scamming Shareholders
IBM has become a garage of BS
Some XBox Layoffs Underway, At Least Five Studios to be Shut Down
Insiders are in a state of panic
Gemini Links 30/06/2026: Music Theory, Addiction, Clown Computing
Links for the day
Links 30/06/2026: France Recorded 1,000 Excess Deaths During Heat Wave, Slop Replaced by Human Staff
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WordPress Becoming What We Feared It Would Become
WordPress and other such bloatware (WordPress used to be fast and light) are moving in the same trajectory that GAFAM leads
People Given the Totally Wrong Idea That "Secure Boot" is About Security (It's the Opposite, It's About Handing Control Over to NSA/Microsoft)
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Today The Register MS is Publishing Fake Articles About "AI", 100% of All "Content"
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America Has Cost Europe Too Much
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Do not fall for slop or sloppy narratives
Call for European Patent Office (EPO) Whistleblowers
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400-Page US Federal Court Against Abuses by Google, Microsoft and Front Groups That Abuse Volunteers for American Corporations
There are 386 pages in total (in the US claim)
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Media Says Microsoft's (XBox) Layoffs May be Record-Breaking
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Sirius Open Source's Latest Report: Fake (False) Number of Staff, Almost No Money in the Bank, Overdraft, and Growing Debt (About £100,000 More Borrowed)
massive (and still growing) debt
Links 30/06/2026: What's Wrong With EU Age Verification, RSA Keys with Many Zeros
Links for the day
This is Not a Security, This is a Circus
Security does not mean "asked Microsoft for permission"
Communities Need Strong Leadership, Not Dictators Like IBM
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Patents Are Not "Cash Cows"
People who deliberately don't understand patents (or believe lies about them) will fail to understand how the world works (or does not work)
Sad Lives of People Who Think Women Are Just Sexual Toys (All They Have is Money)
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SLAPP Censorship - Part 123 Out of 200: Why Violence Against Animals Matters
Starting tomorrow (Wednesday) we'll begin telling stories about what happened last week
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Massive EPO Demonstration Today
It'll start in about 6 hours
More Layoffs in Microsoft's PR Department, Even Ahead of 'D-Day'
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European Patent Office (EPO) Series: Photo-Ops Galore and Suspicions of Influence-Peddling
coverage of the EPO's Croatian junket
Gemini Links 30/06/2026: Music and Broken Hearts
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
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IRC Proceedings: Monday, June 29, 2026
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