Gemini Articles of Interest

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Aug 05, 2023

A Gemini client^* is needed for the following links.

• Technology and Free Software

  • DSN Note

    I had some time to check out the log for DSN and noticed a few folks were submitting articles but the page wasn't showing anything. I then realized folks are trying to submit individual articles and, unfortunately, Antenna as a whole does not currently support individual articles. You still need to submit a gmisub or atom feed with your non-technical articles.

  • Internet/Gemini

    • My Stupid Brain Won't Shutup: Duolingo/Unrivaled

      Most accomplishments on Duolingo aren't competitive - you can earn them yourself at your own pace. One series, which involves moving up the leagues, involves some competition, but isn't a big deal if you put in 15-20 minutes a day.

      And then there's "Unrivaled", which requires placing 1st in the Diamond league, the highest league.

      These accomplishments are very well designed, hooking me in even though I know I don't want them. It's why most games I play don't have accomplishments - I don't like getting drawn into stuff like this, and I know I will if I play games like that. So I generally don't.

    • Social Spaces

      Do you know why I like coming here, Bartender? The upholstery, the wood, the low ceilings. Save for the murmur of conversations and the occasional clink of a glass or scraping of a chair, it’s quiet. This isn’t the case in most establishments any longer. Restaurants have decided to be unbearably noisy in the last decade or so, either for architecturally fashionable reasons or to make it so unpleasant for people to be in the space that they will eat and drink faster, allowing for more ‘turns’ in a night.

      We went to a retirement party for one of my wife’s friends at a local Mexican joint. I was actually excited to go, as we only eat out once or twice a year. Alas, it was...well, representative of what our social spaces have turned into. The NIOSH sound level app on her phone showed 89 dBA, and that was before the mariachi band started up. ‘Conversations’ involved shouting and straining to hear the reply. It wasn’t as loud as the nightclubs of my youth, but the vibe was reminiscent of those days.

^* Gemini links can be opened using Gemini software. It’s like the World Wide Web but a lot lighter.