------------------------------------------------------------------------ -------- entry: 0001 --------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ---------------------------------------- 2017.11.04 -------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ======================================================================== ========== on (my recent absense from) internet publication ============ ======================================================================== -------------------------------------------------------- nydel@sdf ----- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ i suppose my hesitancy to contribute much more than occasional microlog entries to the public internet stems from several traumas. to explore or at least to name them might be worthwhile. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -------- we have lost control of numerous internet components ---------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ why and how this happened is an interesting subject alone. that it did happen i hope is self-evident. whether or not it is, some examples may serve to point at a general spirit of that to which i refer. ........................................................................ ------ some broad categories that have been discouraging to watch ------ ........................................................................ ...cryptocurrencies! when bitcoin started - although i was skeptical of the spec and whispers of inherent potential for abuse - i briefly did enjoy using it. in my mind, a bitcoin represented about an hour of some type of useful hacking. perhaps i needed a friend to log in to a BSD instance under my domain and help me with a pkgsrc issue. i'd toss them a few coins. or if someone wanted me to validate their account on my public cluster, they could toss me a few bitcoins -- i.e. they sort of represented some sort of hacker karma points. it was funny to pay some- one 10K bitcoins for a pizza[1] because that's not their intended use, so/but the action adds even more street-cred to a body (e.g. a new- money rap star overpaying for the champagne room with heavy gold chains s/he's "not feelin' right now" or whatever). enter "new-money" indeed. i'm not sure why regulation on GPU mining was never implemented. and how anyone convinced anyone else that a bitcoin could have a value in USD, EUR, GBP, YEN etc. is nuts. i keep a wallet still with more bitcoins than you might initially guess but i will not use it for anything. it's literaly on a thumb drive in the earth. the burial was ceremonial and i dare not disturb it. i drew up the ritual around the time we said "hey IRS - this thing is money" and they said that they couldn't understand it so it was not. this was of course very immediately followed by several years of people using cryptocurrencies in the most trailer-park-boys ways imaginable, which is what america seems to be aboot lately. as of right now one bitcoin is valued at USD$7.4k ... sigh/on to... ........................................................................ ...WWW! slow and only very semi-sarcastic applause to the EFF, which finally withdrew from the W3C. they're not GOP retiring senators y'know "standing up finally" because no career consequences - they definitely fought very long and hard. yet the world-wide-web seems to be moving forward as if its sole purpose is to stream copyrighted audiovisual content without a potential risk of payment to holders. i don't hate DRM because i want to steal things of value. i hate DRM because a) it DOESN't stop people from stealing things of value, b) talking about the absolute nonsense of DRM has exhausted me to the point that this list only goes to c when it should have made it to at least g (& probably to rrr for pirates fuck you) c) the whole faith assumption thing i will get to by the end of this entry. and it's not only DRM that is obviously stupid. the ad versus adblocker arms race is - for lack of a better word - dumb. the enemy in a cold war is nuclear weapons. obviously the enemy here is advertisement support, i.e. an intelligent person should not be persuaded to buy something based on anything other than a list of the properties inherent to the product or service. nobody wants to watch an advertisement. the only two web services i like (SDF and Wikimedia) get by on donation alone, both without solicitation. necessary products and services are great, but the web is populated with a bunch of people who think their content is worth your money/soul whichever they ask for/take. this entry aims to be worth the time it takes you to read it. if it is not, then i have failed as a publisher. this principle seems to have become lost, or lost have become the people who should adhere to it. ........................................................................ ...libresoft! even gnu/linux is no longer on-the-level due largely in part to software creep from systemd's replacement of init and god knows what else. ALSO i seem to not want to publish half-thoughts. but actually, if others did such a thing, it wouldn't bother me. i.e. i don't feel like finishing this entry right now even though i've much more to say. since it's only gophertown i might as well simply publish this rather than imagine i'll get it done tomorrow (in a few months more likely). be well & be good. --nydel