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Since playing with Knoppix on a friends thinkpad circa 2001 while he was on break from uni, ive been a Debian user ever since. That extended to Ubuntu back during 6.06 LTS days and then on to Linux Mint and Cinnamon after hating unity/gnome 3. But I've been craving something more lightweight and systemd free but had yet to find an interesting enough alternative until reading this reply (Thanks urza9814 and Azuma Hazuki!).

I really liked what I saw and it felt like a cross between a modern Linux distro and light weight OpenBSD. BSD licenses for their from-scratch package manager; I don't dislike the GPL but BSD is much more permissive and allows giving back to the BSD folks. Then we have the use of runit for init which uses the very slick idea of a managed process tree (very Unix). Plus the distro is rolling which is something I've always been interested in for desktop use. LibreSSL is a big plus along with a myriad of ports to other arch's like raspberry pi and other arm boards (like open and net bsd).

I first downloaded the musl libc version to see how much it could support and surprisingly the musl libc version is plenty stable and usable. Though, I wanted to run a serious hardware box to test it out and see how it performs, and more importantly, how simple it is to install and manage. So I opted for the standard glibc version. Runs like a champ. The xbps package manager is easy to use and a few simple commands keep the system up to date and install packages and resolves dependencies just like apt or rpm. The install process is also very simple as you boot into a live desktop, open a terminal and run the installer as root using sudo. After a very quick configuration the installer does its thing and you're ready to reboot. So far I have my plan 9 tools setup such as drawterm and plan9port. Getting a usable system up and running is honestly pretty damn easy. One word that sums it up: refreshing.

My next steps are some sort of mdadm torture test to see how stable it runs between reboots. Though I'm not so sure if it's systemd/kernel/hardware related just yet. If its crap software, then my workstation/big file server gets voided. I'm also interested in switching my laptop as well.

== All aboard the 9grid Part 1.1 ==
So I've been eager to write a second chapter to my plan 9 experience and so far progress has been slow and steady. I have a much better grasp of the concept of name spaces and how the OS works but do not yet feel qualified to write a guide. I have been tinkering with my setup, a Celeron J1900 board with a 256GB SSD running the most recent version of 9ants configured as a CPU server. The box sits next to my router plugged into the network and happily hums along at about 11 watts which costs me about a buck sixty here in NYC to run 24/7. I don't allow direct access instead relying on an ssh tunnel via my ageing Debian box which is an old wyse terminal that sips power at 8W (void conversion in the future). I can pop onto my CPU server from work using cygwin on windows 10 and drawterm built under cygwin.

The feel of plan 9 is quite interesting. The GUI feels obtuse at first but after getting to know how to mouse chord and use the terminal, it becomes a pleasure. The whole idea behind the lack of a command history is because the text buffer of the window is your history and is fully editable. if you see a command example in a man page you can edit it on screen, highlight it, and "send" it which runs that command.

The plumber is a message server that receives plumb requests which are text strings that the plumber parses and matches against a set of rules in your plumber config. The rule then performs the appropriate action such as running the associated command. This is similar to the context menus in the MS Windows right click menu. Instead of having open/openwith or some menu modifier buried deep within the registry, you just have a message decoding server. If it's a url, open the web browser with that url. If it's a png open page to display it. If it's a text file which includes scripts and source files then open them in acme. etc. Very neat little service that gives you a lot of interesting functionality.

The Acme Text editor is quite interesting and quickly showing it's powerful ease of use. Open a session and you have a listing of your home directory. right click a file to open it in a new window. if the file is an image, media, or whatever, then the plumber will forward the request to page which will open the appropriate viewer. Right clicking a directory opens that directory in a new window. want to create a directory? type the shell command mkdir newdir, highlight it, and middle click it to run that command. Then click get to refresh the directory listing and you will see newdir. Acme use example:
Create a new script file in current directory window:

touch newfile, highlight, middle click.
middle click get to relist directory contents and observe newfile.
chmod +x newfile, highlight, middle click.
right click newfile to open edit buffer in new window.
add some stuff to file, e.g. #!/bin/rc \ echo "Hello world!", click put (save)
in directory window, middle click newfile
new windows opens with script output we just executed: Hello world!

All of the above commands and editing is done within acme windows. The idea is the editor works with your tools, not against them. The only issue I have had is input events are skipped causing infinite loops. This happened when using fgets from stdio and not native plan 9 input using the draw libraries.

I have to organize my notes and writings pertaining to my tinkering with plan 9. The architecture is quite interesting and simple overall. I plan on writing a bit of a basic into of the OS internals such as how the kernel works, booting, networking, graphics and more. But I am still a ways off but having a ton of fun learning by working in the OS. I have been fooling around with this guide and building the examples in plan 9 using acme and as much native plan 9 libraries as possible. Fun learning experience.

14m2s video: TWITCH VICTIMS

Polygon article: Streamer Amouranth is latest example of ‘Twitch thot’ harassment problem¹

In summary (since you may not be arsed to watch a 14 minute video), (some... many?) girl streamers wear skimpy clothing and cultivate a fanbase on Twitch and other streaming platforms. People, mostly young men (or boys with the parents' credit card), shell out lots of money² to get attention from these streamers, despite getting far less for their money than what a camgirl would show off. The streamers are often accused of violating Twitch's terms of service by "accidentally" shaking their ass, showing major cleavage, actual nudity, and other on-camera mishaps (you can look for compilations of these on YouTube if you want). However, Twitch tends to overlook these infractions (which are lucrative for Twitch since scantily-clad girl gamers drive traffic and Twitch gets a cut of the stream's ads or revenue), while punishing males more regularly for their bits of nudity and terms of service violations, sometimes including things that are done/said on entirely different platforms.

In this case, the streamer repeatedly lied on camera to portray herself as single, fueling the fevered dreams of her fans. She also revealed that she lived in Houston, TX (making doxxing her an easy task), and filmed inside of a gym (identifying it, since it was getting phone calls) and lied about it to the gym's employees and manager until she decided to leave. None of this is justification for being harassed or really so bad at all (lying to grift some horny kids and acting like an asshole in a private establishment aren't exactly crimes), but after being called out on her deception by fans and apparently harassed/"doxxed", she found a ready-made ally in the form of a lazy gaming media outlet.

^{1. Polygon appears to have made itself resistant to archive.is, but not archive.org.}

^{2. Apparently, lots more money than I expected. One of Amouranth's fans donated about $10-13k. Yikes.}

Why you should care: You don't have to, but it's another fascinating look at how millennials make a buck online these days.

Similar drama:

Pewdiepie vs. Twitch streamer Alinity

TanaCon (one big unmentioned detail is that the venue was intended to hold about a thousand, not the ~5,000 that tickets were sold to, so the event was doomed from the start and there are layers of lies involved)

Come to think of it, I keep on forgetting that Twitch is a subsidiary of Amazon now.

Scarlett Johansson’s Casting as Transgender Man Draws a Backlash

Scarlett Johansson faced a storm of criticism this week after it was reported that she would play a transgender man in a movie, a year after she drew scrutiny for taking on a role that was originally Japanese.

The newly announced film, “Rub & Tug,” is based on the real-life story of Dante “Tex” Gill, who ran a string of massage parlors that were fronts for prostitution dens in the 1970s and ’80s.

The online backlash was led by transgender actors, who argued that such casting decisions take opportunities away from members of marginalized communities.

[...] The actress faced further anger online after the website Bustle published a statement from an unidentified representative for Ms. Johansson that said, “Tell them that they can be directed to Jeffrey Tambor, Jared Leto, and Felicity Huffman’s reps for comment.”

Scarlett Johansson faces firestorm amid news she will play a transgender man

Trans Actors Slam Scarlett Johansson Rub & Tug Casting

Scarlett Johansson's Defense of Her New Role as a Trans Man Is Only Fueling Critics

Scarlett Johansson

$ echo "Just _once_ in _every_ man's life he just _has_ to bust loose and '$ sudo rm -rf *'."
Just _once_ in _every_ man's life he just _has_ to bust loose and '$ sudo rm -rf *'.
$ sudo rm -rf *
Password:
$

Amy Coney Barrett Is Allegedly a Member of a Religious Group That’s Been Called a “Cult”

The Supreme Temptation of Amy Coney Barrett

Trump should nominate Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court to save his presidency

The dogma lives loudly within you.

Not for the first time, the thought has occurred to me that an empire, defined as any nation with an expansionist and/or colonialist system of existence, bears several striking resemblances to parasitic and parasitoid species. Beyond simple resource theft, I speak mostly of parallels to how these organisms often lose functions from their own genomes in favor of allowing the host to perform them instead...and their subsequent complete dependence on said host species. When the hosts either die out or move on, the parasite too withers and dies.

There has been a pattern throughout history of analogous processes taking place in imperialist nations. What chiefly concerns me here is the effective outsourcing of both manufacture and raw-material procurement, beyond what is necessary due to said resource not existing natively or lack of infrastructure at home. Rome, in its middle and latter days, relied on grain imports and slave labor. Britain's loss of India had much to do with its economic dependence on its colony, for textile manufacture for example. And I don't think I need to paint you a picture of the effects of globalization on the US's economy, specifically with regard to wage depression and overseas flight of production.

What all these have in common is that the people at the top are essentially trading the vitality and independent function of the nation they rule--and make no mistake, the golden rule, that the guys with the gold make the rules, is and has always been in full force--for their own personal enrichment. Whether it be kings or CEOs of multinational corporations with US headquarters, the end effect is the same, because the concentration of power is the same.

(Incidentally, this is why the Citizens United decision was such a complete disaster and why lobbying itself ought to be illegal: making money does not always coincide with the interests of the nation, and very often opposes them in a global society.)

So...where does this end? Eventually, the empire in question allocates more resources to maintaining its "interests" (read: colonies) overseas and across borders than it does internally. And the citizens of the empire, especially the poorer ones, suffer more and more over time. There grows, between the moneyed powers and the average citizen, a great, impassible chasm, a gap of not just material wealth but of anomie and hopelessness. The laws and law enforcement apparatus turn inward, protecting not citizens from criminals, but the haves from the have-nots. Long-term planning by the ruling class for the good of the nation becomes not just impossible, not just unthinkable, but outright mocked. The average citizen completely loses faith in the institutions of the nation, and with good reason, for they have become an enemy and they see the citizens as such.

Add to this that no empire ever truly got its power and resource base by above-board, honest, peaceful means--with the possible exception of the Marshall Plan, and even that struck me, all the way back in sixth grade, as a particularly cynical piece of international brinksmanship. Empires have terrible karma. They become ringed with enemies, many of whom may at one point have been allies. Foolish decisions regarding allies and trade and warfare are made. Eventually, the global order shifts...and the empire in question, overextended beyond endurance, demoralized from within, decadent and incompetent and decrepit from decades of internal misrule, is vulnerable and weak and *completely* unable even to see the coming seismic shift as it happens, let alone respond to it after the fact.

Time flows like a river. History does not repeat, but it does rhyme. Care to guess where the US is in this pattern?

Previously: Thermophilic vs. Mesophilic Yogurt Making

I boiled a gallon of milk in an Instant Pot. I let it cool to about 98°F, and then added the filmjölk yogurt drink "culture" and stirred it. I poured 1 quart of that mixture into a mason jar, sealed it, and left it out at room temperature (around 75-77°F). The remaining 3 quarts were heated back to ~115°F. Both yogurts fermented for about 16 hours before going in the fridge.

Both yogurts seemed to have about the same thickness, but the mesophilic yogurt seemed smoother with less lumps. The big difference is in the taste. The thermophilic yogurt has a clear sour/tangy taste as usual, but the mesophilic yogurt is very mild by comparison. That seems to conflict with what this page says about filmjölk (that it has a mild tartness, which I didn't really detect), but it seems clear that the thermophilic strains put out a lot more lactic acid. Increasing the fermentation time would probably have had an effect as well. My taste tester preferred the thermophilic yogurt, but enjoyed both. You could see the sour yogurt as having more uses (such as replacing sour cream or buttermilk in recipes).

I think the next step here would be to try using random storebought yogurt to make mesophilic yogurt. The stuff I used had 10 strains in it, while most yogurts have just 2-3. However, the safe bet is to just make it using the thermophilic process, since almost all of them should have Lactobacillus bulgaricus or Streptococcus thermophilus.

How cheap can you find a gallon of milk? I've seen whole milk at $1-2, and that's basically how much the yogurt costs (maybe with half of a $0.25 cup of yogurt if you aren't back-slopping). The time spent is minimal when using the Instant Pot. Maybe 5-10 minutes in total to pour milk in, hit a button, set the pot aside so it can cool faster, check the temperature with an instant thermometer, stir starter in, hit another button, pour into jars/containers for the fridge, and rinse the pot out. It just takes a day for it all to go down.

Some guy was waxing fundamentalist with a megaphone as he carried a sign upon which he delivered The Christ's once-thought-lost lessons as for example "Gays Deserve AIDS".

Inspired by the bagpiper who got right in this gent's face when he was so very filled with G-d's love that he set out to save a few souls at Portland's Starlight Parade - held after dark with lit up floats, musicians and dancers - I myself walked right up to a perfectly legal and nonviolent distance then with the volume turned all the way up to eleven belted out such timeless hits as The Star Spangled Banner, You Are My Sunshine and Somewhere Over The Rainbow as my quarry struggled in vain to hand out religious tracts at the TriMet Pioneer Courthouse Square MAX Yellow Line Station.

But to my quite cheerful dismay I ultimately conceded he was a better man than I and so demonstrated my good sportsmanship by conceding his victory then suggesting he google "Michael David Crawford Baritone".

What people are saying about Michael David Crawford, Baritone:

"I Love You."

This from a lady who shot an iPhone video of me following Jesus Freak around all over Creation. (I didn't think to request she post it to YouTube.)

When again I take up my tip jar I'll come equipped with URL-bearing handbills that I'll mass produce at NedSpace. We all have the freedom to print a "reasonable" number of pages on a two-sided laser printer as well as the free use of my very favorite musical instrument:

A guillotine paper cutter. I own this particular one that I also use for the case inserts for my instrumental piano EP Geometric Visions: The Rough Draft. I shall soon take up handing them out Free As In Freedom when I sing on the street as well as at Open Mics.

Civilly And Disobediently,

Michael David Crawford, Baritone

PS: Coming Fall 2018: Michael David Crawford LIVE! On Broadway.

(...and Morrison in Downtown Portland, Oregon.)

AMD Threadripper 2990X leak suggests it'll be much cheaper than Intel's i9-7980XE chip

AN OVERLY-KEEN German retailer has potentially revealed how much AMD's upcoming Threadripper 2990X will cost.

Videocardz spotted the since-removed listing at Cyperport, which listed the 32-core CPU with a €1,509 (around £1,300) price-tag, making it roughly €500 more expensive than AMD's 16-core Threadripper 1950X at launch.

However, it also makes the CPU almost €500 cheaper than Intel's Core i9-7980XE flagship, despite the fact that AMD's 32-core chip will likely offer close to double the performance of the lesser-spec, 18-core chip.

$1,500 USD?

Previously: Intel Teases 28 Core Chip, AMD Announces Threadripper 2 With Up to 32 Cores

Creep travels half the world to harass online teen gamer… and gets shot by her mom – cops

Inside Tunisia's Shams Rad - the Arab world's 'only gay radio station'