I wonder what RMS thinks of it

ix years ago, in October 2020, I worked on making a text-only (bulletin) version of Techrights. The sister site would have the same thing 3 years later.

In the same month I experimented with putting these bulletins in IPFS, then I looked into more protocols (like Gemini Protocol, which I had already explored before but did not adopt).

So there’s a sort of anniversary in late October. It coincided with the COVID-19 stay-home directives.

Free software (like IPFS) has since then stagnated somewhat. Like blockchains, we barely hear about it anymore.

It still exists, but how many people use it?

I don’t think RMS knows much (or anything) about IPFS. He’s not a fan of fake-coins, so he would probably find IPFS off-putting.

Local news

t is 4 degrees here right now, 2 hours ahead of a very sunny day (same as yesterday afternoon; I managed to sunbathe twice). It seems like “going tropical” [1, 2] was well timed. All the shells/snails stay at the bottom.

Today there’s a home match here, one that should be a lot simpler than the PSG battle. It starts at 3 (kickoff), so we’ll mostly manage to avoid the rush of fans.

We’ve managed to stay focused, productive and relaxed lately. That’s what we expected. The journey to the Court of Appeal in the coming year or years is paved with growing certainty. It’s something we are positive about and look forward to.

It is moving on this week

he latest from the petitioner (for the end of Reform UK Party Limited as it cannot meet financial obligations to cover the election costs) is advancing.

So far he has shown: 1) Farage is a corporate actor pretending to be a politician; 2) Reform UK Party Limited is a cover; 3) there are financial problems; 4) lies were issued to the media and now to the Court.

This cannot end well for Reform UK Party Limited.

When broligarchs run elections

here is an election coming up in the US. “Decisions [are] outsourced to the highest bidder(s),” a friend has told me, wherein “One dollar : one vote…”

“Elections become auctions, just the way the broligarchs like it. The nations have to choose either millionaires/billionaires/trillionaires or a democracy…”

“Business friendly government” is code for government that gets bribed or compromised to outsource common-wealth to few external actors (sometimes for kickbacks). It is a form of plunder. It’s sold as “jobs”.

In Techrights this was covered in passing under:

• ‘Broligarchs’ Don’t Want Science, They Want Entertainers to Entertain Them (and Make Them Richer)
• Wikipedia – Funded by Slop-pushing Companies and ‘Broligarchs’ – Gave Benefit of the Doubt to Slop, Then Regretted It
• How Can the ‘Broligarchs’ Love Us When They Don’t Even Love Themselves?
• Broligarchs Speech-Policing, Faux ‘Community’ or ‘Hub’ in ‘User-Driven’ Clothing
• What is “Computer Science”? It is What Broligarchs Reject.

James Wilson is upset not because Lewis is “rogue” but because Lewis knew how to handle Wilson

he more I read into the tweetfests (or “storms”) of Wilson, the clearer it seems to me that Wilson’s obsession with Lewis is due to hurt.

Yes, Lewis really hurt him.

In a nutshell, and in chronological order:

• Wilson said some darn things
• These darn things led to backlash
• Wilson threatened to sue over those bouts of backlash (over the above-mentioned darn things)
• Wilson filed a lawsuit he can barely afford against people who had insufficient assets to cover his legal bills
• Wilson soon realised he would not manage to settle the matter
• Wilson spent all his money trying to “win” the case (a pyrrhic victory)
• Wilson “won” but received nothing (could not and still cannot even recover the money he lost in litigation)
• Wilson now protests against the solicitor and barrister, as a distraction from the fact his lawsuit was redundant, misconceived, and fruitless

Sounds familiar, right?

Should have known this 2 decades ago

arlier today I shared some statistics for the first half of October. Earlier this year I decided to breathe fresher life (or air) into schestowitz.com, which I sort of neglected because I was busy in other sites.

This blog is now 22 (Harvey’s too will be 22, but he passed away almost 4 years ago; I still miss him) and I am emboldened by the feedback I receive on it.

I hope more people will get back to blogging. They just need to quit social control media. They waste time there.

Dogs need human attendance

he number of birds we look after more closely (and give names to) has grown from 4 to about 7. One of them was sick and is recovering and two of them are babies/children. Durian has grown a lot though and yesterday he only came (for the first time) at around 5PM. The green-eyed bird decided it was confident enough to stand on my palm while it eats (same as Bot and Durian). Thankfully we have a lot of sanitiser left (litres of it) and hand-washing is routine.

Growing up in homes with dogs, getting accustomed to fish tanks and birds (and a storage room full of seeds) is an adjustment. Having a dog at this time would be challenging because sometimes we both leave for several hours; we do plan to have dogs when we get older. When at least one human is at home the dog (or dogs) won’t feel lonely or sabotage furniture out of boredom/protest.

There are many birds out there (even as far as Mayfield) that recognise us from a distance based on the face or gait. They are good at spotting cycles of behaviour.