● 07.06.23

Gemini version available ♊︎

● Gemini Links 06/07/2023: Economic Fascism and Leaving the ‘Social’ Web

Posted in News Roundup at 7:15 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNU/Linux

Gemini* and Gopher

Personal/Opinions

• A recent frank exchange between Geminauts was interesting in some ways, unfortunate in others.

Politics and World Events

• One of the great thing about moving places is that now I leave in the same city again as one of my best friends :). This is great as we can see each other more often when life allows. Today, we had lunch together at my place which is something we try to do once a week. He surprised me today by saying we should take remote courses at the university “just for fun”.

• He suggested to go for a “licence degree” (the first level after high school, takes 3 years to complete) in philosophy. I was not surprise by the topic as this is a subject we like to discuss and discover together. We try to sometime read the same books or at least learn about a common philosophical concepts so we can share and discuss about it later. We often chat about how we both didn’t read much when younger and that it may be a reason why we are so eager now.

• This post is a response to all kinds of discussions I’ve seen on Gemini lately, especially about the United States. Apologies if it’s wide ranging.

• For everyone that isn’t Western centric, that the United States acts like a fascist country isn’t a surprise. It’s not ‘only’ the economy, because the politics are built upon the economic system. Fascism is not it’s own ‘thing’ that just appeared out of the blue, it’s Capitalism in decay trying to save itself. I find it funny that citizens of the US always mention, especially liberals, fascism represented by Trump and such figures, when they’re just more mask off than their other benevolent corporate leaders. Like that saying goes: “The United States is a one-party state, but we have two because we’re America”

• I’m a really short guy, almost 5′ 2″, and here are some things I can share with those interested in short people stories.

• [...]

• It doesn’t bother me anymore, but I remember how the other kids laughed at me. I was short, with a big head, an unproportionally tall forehead, and a Russian name. Sometimes they laughed at me, sometimes they hit me, and sometimes they made feel like I don’t exist. I still remember how it feels when every day is the same, there’s nothing you can do about this, and you’re always a victim.

• Two days ago, a random guy saw me on the street on my way back from the fruit store. He started yelling something offensive and inappropriate about my forehead, and kept trying one joke after another when I crossed to the other side of the street without saying anything. When I lost my temper (something I’m really ashamed for) and asked if he always insults strangers like that, he started chasing me (a true multi-tasker) and I had to convince him to go away, while planning how to defend myself using a watermelon if he pulls out a knife.

• What is really confounding is that current ‘interests of the country’ include greenwashing. Enormous subsidies for completely unsustainable technologies flow directly into the pockets of billionaires like Musk. Impossible to follow regulations that pretty much guarantee the only ones standing will be huge corporations. Actual impact on the environment is largely imaginary, and increased consumption is encouraged.

• The world isn’t ideal, in fact, it’s the opposite: messy, grey, and well, messy. So its ever more important to have a safe space where you can go and be sure you’ll be okay.

Science

• Urethane foam, most commonly used, simply requires some kind of treatment as it is highly inflammable. Synthetic latex, likewise, burns hot. Most websites about mattresses simply repeat each other about “government requirements for flame retardants”.

• The yardstick is passing a flame test, which is most easily accomplished with chemicals. Wool works — obviously not for you (my veganism falls slightly short of that — respect!). Fiberglass is completely inert as far as I can tell, but seems like a bad idea (prohibited in California). Cotton is an option. I’ve heard of kevlar, graphite and other substances in use.

Technology and Free Software

• A few years ago I wrote a shell script to create and manage a local, Twitter-like “microblog” file. Though I don’t use it often anymore, for a while I used that script to document all my thoughts and feelings in a micro-journal. The script is available in the “Files” section of my capsule–to this day the only script I’ve ever written that I feel confident in sharing publicly.

• The script takes a single argument at the command line, namely the location of the timeline file. During creation of the timeline, however, the user specifies a username, and it does not have to match the name of the timeline file itself. Nothing in the invocation of the script reflects what the username might be. This is inconvenient if the script is ever deployed in a multi-use environment.

• I’ve been spending too much time on Twitter lately. It feels a bit like watching the last few seconds before a catastrophic trainwreck. One of the articles on my timeline last night was a piece in the Nation, talking about the extent to which Meta manufactured (with the breathless, complicit help of tech journalism) the narrative of the Metaverse, and the extent to which they deceived us.

Internet/Gemini

• Lot is happening in the social network landscape with the demises of Twitter and Reddit, the apparition of Bluesky and Threads, the growing popularity of Mastodon. Many pundits are trying to guess which one will be successful and trying to explain why others will fail. Which completely misses the point.

• Particular social networks will never “succeed”. Nobody even agree on the definition of “success”.

• My Gemini search engine Kennedy now lets you filter a search query to a specific type of file like PDFs, MP3s, or ZIPs. This makes it really easy to specific types of files about a subject.

• With the release of Threads by Meta and the never-ending discussion of it on the fediverse, I feel myself retreating from online ‘social’ spaces once again.

• A few years ago I retreated from centralized mainstream social media. I learned about the fediverse and it felt like a much better space to be. However, with the impending tsunami that is Threads’ federation with, I think I’m at a point where I don’t want to be in any online space that exceeds a certain threshold of users.

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