• Overview: Void Linux

    calendar Jan 13, 2022 · 6 min read · Linux

    It's the little things that make me feel comfy.

    Services are Simple

    Systemd is fine, but I have to look up how to make a new unit file every time, and then input the path to the executable, which is generally some script I've written. With Void's runit, the service file is the script. There's nothing to learn or look …


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  • Self Driving Cars may not happen

    calendar Jan 4, 2022 · 3 min read · Prattle Prognostication

    I have doubts about self-driving cars. The entire argument rests on analogy with software translators.

    Software translators began as simple dictionaries. You type in 'cat', it returns 'le chat'. Next, programmers started to feed in simple rules, so 'black cats' could return 'les chats noire'. The rules became so …


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  • The Jimbo Problem

    calendar Jan 2, 2022 · 5 min read · Prattle 

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    In one …


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  • Privacy for One

    calendar Dec 23, 2021 · 2 min read · FOSS Politics

    Privacy for one makes very little sense. As individual as an individual might be, humans think in groups. We talk, research, and revise ideas together.

    I once had super-encrypted email with Tutanota. Nobody could see it, even with a court order, because the emails were persistently encrypted on the server's disk, and …


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  • Robot Non-Wars

    calendar Dec 22, 2021 · 3 min read · Prattle Prognostication

    Printers never waged war on pens, they simply made pens redundant.

    I suspect that if robots ever take over, we'll go the way of the pen rather than the dodo.

    Once machines can bake bread, calculate the proper tax rate and generally take care of what needs done, and do so cheaply, humanity can take a breather. I'm not …


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  • Arch Linux is an Act of Faith

    calendar Dec 12, 2021 · 2 min read · Linux

    Too much ASCII has been spilled debating about whether or not Arch Linux is worth the time, but I'd like to offer yet another way to judge the situation, starting with the cost.

    Costs

    • Starting Arch requires that you already know the basics of bash (or zsh). Playing about with a terminal in Ubuntu and following …

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  • Documentation and Washing with Soap

    calendar Dec 3, 2021 · 2 min read · Learning Linux
    My grandmother had thirteen children. Each one was produced by her leaving in a taxi, and returning not-pregnant, and with a child. It's not that the waiting room was too close for comfort - someone had to stay to look after the children. On one of these occasions, my grandfather had to cook for the children. He …
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  • Android Security is Mad

    calendar Dec 2, 2021 · 2 min read · Security Linux
    The basic idea seems to be that if the user wants to install random, unaudited software, they can safely do so without worry that the application will steal their contacts, record their voice, or otherwise engage in bad behaviour. What keeps the user safe is the ability to allow or deny an app access to these various …
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  • A Response to the Knowledge Argument

    calendar Dec 1, 2021 · 3 min read · Philosophy

    The knowledge argument wants to show us that the world contains more than physical facts.

    Mary is a colour scientist, and has studied every possible fact about colour, from how light-waves work, to how it's processed on the human brain. However, Mary has been raised in a black and white room, and has never seen …


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