● 08.30.23

Gemini version available ♊︎

● Gemini Links 30/08/2023: Spincare Vinyl Cleaner and Back in a TUI World

Posted in News Roundup at 8:43 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Gemini* and Gopher

Personal/Opinions

• This is not a new practice; the Prussian education system has been widely imitated. When done right it offers free schooling for poor citizens. The “curriculum inculcates a strong national identity” which could yield civic pride, or may promote exciting world wars against terrible and/or inferior foreigners, or exciting problems with internal outgroups (those with the wrong skin color, wrong orientation, wrong age, wrong wealth, …). The schooling is efficient and does reduce illiteracy. And if the population is going up, lots, you may need to stack ‘em deep and teach ‘em cheap.

• “Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling” by John Taylor Gatto (1992) points out problems of the Prussian model as implemented in some parts of America, and one can probably find other critiques. I probably need to re-read it, as it’s been a few years.

• I believe this is the same thing as what I had identified earlier as Resin Birch (Betula glandulosa) but am doubting this identification now. Looking again at the sketches in my book (“Alaska Trees and Shrubs”, 2nd ed., Viereck et al, pg. 150.), the leaves do not look the same. I’m thinking it must be some kind of birch, though.

• The double-toothed featured of the leaves looks similar to the sketches of Western Paper Birch (Betula papyrifera), but that does not grow in the interior, and is not a shrub. The leaf is similar to the sketches of Sitka Alder (Alnus sinuata) which is a shrub, but it is not supposed to be growing in Fairbanks, and also the twig description doesn’t match. As to the twigs, there appears to be some similarity with Siberia Alder (“Hairless, smooth, dark brownish-red, with many light dots”) but the leaves are very different.

• We moved house, again, last month. Hopefully for the last time as we’re now “proud” home-owners… which also means we’re skint, staring down the barrel of a never ending list of DIY jobs, and all our boxes are out of storage. Including my Vinyl.

• It’s been a long time since I’ve had my Vinyl out. They’ve been in storage for at least 6 years, and it’s closer to 10 since I regularly mixed with them. To make it up to them, I decided to show them the love; I’m going to replace any knackered inners, get some proper plastic outer sleeves, and give them all a damn good clean.

Technology and Free Software

• I’m switching my default Android browser from Chrome to Iceraven. I appreciate how snappy the UI and add-on features are (thanks to Firefox Fenix), and the security features are impressive.

• In my desire to simplify and lighten my internet, I’m looking at some of the lesser known ‘corners’ of the web like sdf.org and all the tilde sites. It’s also a non-commercial approach to the internet, a place where sharing is more important than making money. But for someone like me, a former Apple fan and Graphical User Interface (GUI) user, it’s not easy because it uses SSH, Unix command lines and Text-based User Interface (TUI). I’m not completely stupid and I have memories of command lines, especially in bash (I sometimes write some scripts for myself or for work), but in the era of mouse and keyboard it seems very anachronistic to me.

• I had old (bad??) souvenirs from VI and Man, but for my first trip into this world I had to use PiCo (Pine Composer) or Nano. Not very powerful, but I managed to do what I wanted. I’m just thinking about the fans of the touch user interface (not another TUI ??!) with just a keyboard and that black and white window, ha ha. And I’m also thinking of fans of CLI who just want to work with a keyboard. I’m open-minded, so I’m always thinking of the different users, trying my site with Lynx (a text browser) or with Firefox or Opera mobile. I discovered the SDF.og bulletin board, which reminds me of the old BBS or the French Minitel. It’s quite easy to learn. But when I had to use Mutt as a mail client, it was not so easy for the first few minutes. After a few aborted attempts, I managed to send an email to the poor sdf users who were trying to help me discover this “dark” world.

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