• DdCno1@kbin.social
    0·
    7 months ago

    There’s a new application-layer Internet protocol like (but also very much unlike) http by the name of Gemini. It was first launched in 2019 and until yesterday, flew completely under my radar. It’s primarily meant to be used for uncluttered text-only pages (although any type of file can be distributed), which are created using a deliberately simple and limited markdown language. Unsurprisingly, this results in a plethora of small niche blogs being published through it.

    The basic user experience is essentially the same as browsing the web, until you notice just how much it isn’t. You enter URLs (except that they start with gemini://) you read texts and you click on hyperlinks - except that every page looks exactly the same due to the markdown language. There are no pop-ups, no ads, nothing autoplays, nothing wants your consent to exploit your user data. Even images only load when the user clicks on them. It shows just how little is actually needed, how many aspects of the modern web are completely unnecessary and mere pointless distractions.

    Gemini pages - and this is a small hurdle that will keep most people away from it - can not be accessed with a normal web browser and instead require a specialized client for viewing (although paradoxically, creating pages often requires a web browser, at least for now). The idea is that both the underlying tech and the browsers are much more straightforward than anything related to http and html. A Gemini client is not effectively an entire operating system of its own that can execute near arbitrary code. It displays formatted text with basic images and videos - that’s it.

    Here’s a neat, but slightly outdated introduction that also recommends a few clients and where to find pages to read:

    https://geminiquickst.art/

    The entire thing feels very early, tiny, experimental and odd, almost like a parallel reality, as if the World Wide Web didn’t exist and someone came up with something like it only now, using today’s hard- and software. If Lemmy is a response to social media in general and reddit in particular, Gemini feels more like a response to the World Wide Web as a whole or like a time machine back to a highly idealized version of the early days of the information system (the primary difference being the lack of horrendous '90s UX design and malware everywhere), including some unfortunate aspects that I had long forgotten about, like how the common method of finding content next to feeds - manually updated indexes instead of search engines - is plagued by dead links; and these dead links, unlike on the normal Internet, cannot be attempted to be resolved using the Wayback Machine or some other cache, at least not yet.

    Gemini is equally parts exciting and promising, like a new frontier, but also at times confusing and frustrating. Don’t expect your Gemini client of choice to replace your web browser any time soon (or ever), but it’s still worth trying out, if for the novelty alone.

    • teawrecks@sopuli.xyz
      0·
      7 months ago

      I was initially interested in the idea of Gemini, but when looking for a client, I happened upon this blog post by the creator of one of the clients about why they were abandoning it.

      After a lot of thinking, I’ve realized there is one main reason I don’t keep coming back to Gemini: it offers no advantage over how I already use the Web.

      In practice, the Web already has all the Gemini content I’m interested in from various people, and then of course everything else. Having everything in one place (whether my web browser or feed reader) makes for a much nicer experience.

      Gemini is a reaction to bloated modern websites, but in fact I don’t actually visit that many gross websites like that. When I do, my ad blocker and paywall bypasser usually make them decent again. Otherwise, I spend the majority of my non-work Internet time on lightweight sites like my feed reader and Hacker News, and some time on sites that Gemini can’t emulate: YouTube, Reddit, Discord. The reality is that Gemini just wouldn’t actually improve this experience for me.

      These are exactly the reservations I had about the concept, so to have someone so invested in it reach this exact conclusion and leave it made me decide to forego it. I think it’s a neat toy, and if it becomes relevant I’ll definitely take another look, but I think it’s a bit of putting the cart before the horse. I don’t want to use a protocol for the sake of using a protocol, I want it to serve a purpose and solve an actual problem I have.

      • currawong@lemmy.ml
        0·
        7 months ago

        I enjoyed browsing Gemini capsules using the Lagrange browser. Its look and feel is awesome and made me want to write smol websites again. I’m appalled by what modern websites have become. I miss making light but cool sites without an ounce of scripts in them.

        • teawrecks@sopuli.xyz
          0·
          7 months ago

          I’m not familiar with the Gemini protocol, but how does it differ from just starting up a webserver pointed at a single folder with an index.html? Isn’t it still just as possible to make a simple site using http?

    • tobiah@lemmy.world
      0·
      7 months ago

      That’s like html when it started out. The idea was that the user got to choose what all pages would look like. That gave way to the author having total control.

        • XTL@sopuli.xyz
          0·
          7 months ago

          And the star system and sign. Naming projects after very common words (or even worse, just letters or numbers) is really stupid as it makes searching for them or discussing them difficult and context sensitive and prone to fail.

    • Mr. Satan@monyet.cc
      0·
      7 months ago

      It’s cool and all, but this feels more like a toy than a tool. I can make dead simple web site in minutes with current stack. Nothing, but plain static pages.

      Heck, if I looked for it, I bet I could set up markdown to HTML converter as this is already a widely used functionality throughout the web.

    • SuperSynthia@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      7 months ago

      Thank you so much for sharing this. I literally cannot stand the modern net. I’ve made it a point to curate personal websites. Found a bunch of cool ones on the lainchan web ring. Will check out Gemini

    • Hjalmar@feddit.nu
      0·
      7 months ago

      I have seen Gemini before but never tried it. Maybe i will but i do have a few questions first:

      • Is there a Gemini search engine?
      • Is there support for Forms/server side code
      • How big is it? Is there like just a few sites or a few hundred?
      • DdCno1@kbin.social
        0·
        7 months ago

        Is there a Gemini search engine?

        I’ve found this one:

        gemini://geminispace.info/

        Needs a client to access, of course. Basic, but functional. I found a general-purpose forum not too different from reddit or lemmy through it (and they decided to call it a BBS, because the Eternal September hasn’t happened to Gemini yet):

        gemini://bbs.geminispace.org/

        Is there support for Forms/server side code

        To the best of my understanding (and it’s highly limited, since I only just learned about this, so take everything with a grain of salt), what Gemini does is primarily limit what the client can do. No local scripts, highly limited markdown. The server side is not limited. You can write any complex code you want that works behind the scenes - but it still has to deliver static pages (called “capsules”) to the end user. This series of articles explains the basic underlying tech and uses the example of a simple server to illustrate how Gemini works:

        https://medium.com/erus-encodia/creating-your-own-gemini-server-part-1-what-is-the-gemini-protocol-cf497477c4d

        And yes, forms are possible, even though there appears to be a somewhat widespread misconception that they are impossible. Please excuse the sketchy-looking IP address instead of a URL, this was the best resource I was able to find on this (and yes, I checked if this page is on Gemini - this appears to be not the case):

        http://216.218.220.144/tutorials/sig-tutorials/misc/gemini-forms.gmi

        Screenshot if you don’t want to click on the above link: https://i.imgur.com/s2mL3bM.png

        Disclaimer: This is two years old and I have not tried to implement it myself. Looks entirely plausible though.

        How big is it? Is there like just a few sites or a few hundred?

        According to the search engine linked above, there are 2420 domains and 1,854,666 individual pages as of yesterday. This is about comparable to the World Wide Web at the same time 1994, a number that grew to 10,000 by the end of that year; I wouldn’t expect the same explosive growth from Gemini - the field has already been plowed, after all. Gemini Space is small, but not a ghost town.

    • dan@upvote.au
      0·
      7 months ago

      I’d love to host my personal site over Gemini but that site doesn’t have any details about self-hosting. Guess I’ve got to research it in more detail. Do you have any recommendations? Should I just write my own server? 🤔

    • Patches@sh.itjust.works
      0·
      7 months ago

      Couldn’t they just use No JavaScript and get the same approach? Or no JavaScript and no CSS?

      Why do we need a whole new standard? That’s never a good approach

        • Patches@sh.itjust.works
          0·
          7 months ago

          They were teaching HTML in Primary Schools and then again in Middle Schools. I have a hard time believing it’s easier especially when it’s not every real Markdown. It’s its own former because again - why use a standard when I can make my own???

          • anothermember@lemmy.zip
            0·
            7 months ago

            Admittedly I’ve only just found out about this today, but my understanding is that it’s meant to be going back to basics since modern web design is so far removed from the original intentions of HTML.

          • Interstellar_1@pawb.socialOP
            0·
            7 months ago

            I’m probably too young for that- I didn’t learn HTML in school, all the programming curriculum was in Scratch or Microsoft Makecode, and I assume it still is.

    • Buddahriffic@lemmy.world
      0·
      7 months ago

      Is it an ocean? What makes that an ocean and not the Mediterranean? And is it younger than the Mediterranean, regardless of which counts as an ocean and which doesn’t?

        • Buddahriffic@lemmy.world
          0·
          7 months ago

          My understanding of oceans involves a lack of continental crust (which the Baltic and Mediterranean both have). I thought that was the defining difference between an ocean and a sea. And bi-directional connection to oceans or other seas is the difference between a sea and a lake.

          Though reading more about it leaves me feeling like the definitions themselves are fluid (heh).

          • noobnarski@feddit.de
            0·
            7 months ago

            Huh, I didnt even think about the word sea, as a non native English speaker I didnt think of it. I get the argument that the baltic sea and the Meditarranean are both seas and not oceans, but I looked it up too and, yeah the definitions flow into each other (lol). (Also, greetings from someone who lives a few kilometers away from the baltic sea).

            • Buddahriffic@lemmy.world
              0·
              7 months ago

              Oh lol it didn’t even occur to me that this might be a language thing rather than a… uh, different kind of language thing lol.

              And greetings back from Canada, about as far as you can get from the Baltic Sea in the northern hemisphere lol. Actually, that looks more like Alaska or Hawaii. Lol Russia is too big, it’s on the Baltic Sea but is also one of the farthest points from it in the northern hemisphere.

  • I Cast Fist@programming.dev
    0·
    7 months ago

    Watching historical stuff on youtube (I download and watch during my commute), today I learned how the Portuguese managed to get a very firm hold on the western coast of India in the early 1500s. The TLDR version is that they managed to get the cities that were vassals of Calicut under their wing, and even managed to fight off a massive siege the raja of Calicut sent to destroy their small garrison at Kochin in 1504: a 50k strong force was beaten by a garrison of 90 Portuguese soldiers + ~200 local Nayar warriors + 3 Portuguese ships (1 carrack and 2 caravels).

    Before it got to that part, I also learned that Vasco da Gama, who led the initial demands on Calicut, was a short tempered psycopath and violent maniac hell bent on teaching “those muslims” a lesson.

      • I Cast Fist@programming.dev
        0·
        7 months ago

        Flash Point History - The bit on Kochin was in the last 2 or 3 videos about Duarte Pereira, I watched via the compiled stuff “Forging an Empire - The Portuguese Empire - Part 2 Commerce”

        I’m not exactly fond of the excessive use of AI generated images, especially when the host could’ve used more historical pieces from wikipedia, but the overall structure of the video is really good.

        • DdCno1@kbin.social
          0·
          7 months ago

          Thank you!

          I have to say though, the AI imagery is off-putting as an idea alone, because what else from the video is AI-generated? Text and perhaps even voice as well? I’ve seen this before, entirely artificial videos with absurd mistakes as part of the content or even entirely nonsensical content.

          • I Cast Fist@programming.dev
            0·
            7 months ago

            I share that sentiment. I can understand using some AI to give more visual candy so people have more help their imagination as to what things might have looked like. AFAIK, however, all the map and “token movement” (moving the portraits, ships, etc) can’t be done by AI, so there’s plenty of human meddling in the creation of the video.

            A somewhat related channel that might interest you then is SAMA - Study of Antiquity and Middle Ages. Seems to be more focused on archaelogical findings than written history, the video on Sunken Sciences taught me a lot about stuff found in now submerged coastlines, as well as the Yonaguni Monument (with a nice tangent on why some people insist in conspiracy theories about “lost continents”)

            A more directly related channel is Kings and Generals, it goes into good details of historical conflicts and battles. Seems to use the same graphic pack/map software as Flash Point

            Fall of Civilizations podcast also releases big videos sometime after the podcast proper, and it’s always amazing.

    • spittingimage@lemmy.world
      0·
      7 months ago

      Before it got to that part, I also learned that Vasco da Gama, who led the initial demands on Calicut, was a short tempered psycopath and violent maniac hell bent on teaching “those muslims” a lesson.

      Kicked out of his command because instead of establishing a trading post in Calicut he bombarded the city for two days when they refused to expel their Muslim population.

    • jol@discuss.tchncs.de
      0·
      7 months ago

      I find it hard to believe young guys still plan any aspects of their lives around watching sports events.

      • Croquette@sh.itjust.works
        0·
        7 months ago

        Not everyone lives in a busling city with lots to do. For some, sport is one of not many outlets, so it becomes almost like a religion

        • jol@discuss.tchncs.de
          0·
          7 months ago

          Fair enough. I some times am jealous of people who like following sports. Hanging in a bar watching the sports game and getting drunk sounds fun. I just don’t find it fun.

          • Zagorath@aussie.zoneEnglish
            0·
            7 months ago

            I don’t know about bars for it, but I do know people who have shows they watch together with a large group of friends, and alcohol can easily be involved there. Works especially well for trash reality TV. The people I first learnt about this practice from watch the Bachelor.

          • Croquette@sh.itjust.works
            0·
            7 months ago

            You can hang, drink tea and knit if that’s what you like. But it is easy to understand why people get tribal for their sport’s favorite team.

        • oxjox@lemmy.mlEnglish
          0·
          7 months ago

          Ummm… as someone who lives in Philadelphia, I can inform you that young men who live in and around this bustling city have adopted sports as their primary religion.

    • kat_angstrom@lemmy.world
      0·
      7 months ago

      One of my favorite moments from last summer was sitting on my back patio watching a hummingbird flying circles around my back yard in the dying light of sunset, gobbling up insects with every lap. Adorable.

      They also repeatedly killed wasps that were attracted to the sugar water from the feeder I set up for them, that was pretty fun to see

  • CelloMike@startrek.website
    0·
    7 months ago

    The word “asteroid” literally means “star-like”, because when they were first observed, no telescope could see enough detail to know what they were, so they were basically just called “those things that look a bit like stars”.

    Even when eventually we figured out what they were, they were generally considered to all be spherical like tiny planets (see: The Little Prince) until the 1970s when one of the Mars probes flew close enough to have a look at one.

      • speaker_hat@lemmy.one
        0·
        7 months ago

        They do things because they must, and do them quick so they can continue to do the next thing they must do.

        While they do these things, they don’t seem to enjoy the moment doing it, it’s like a robot doing something because it must.

        Most of them has so many things they must do that they don’t have enough time sleeping, and that cycle just gets worse and worse.

        And it doesn’t stop; they get old, they become unhealthy, but they must continue to keep up, because they pressure themselves to do so, or others do it or manipulate them to feel that.

        They fake or ignore how they really feel, just to adjust to the environment, and actually they don’t really know what they feel, only what they must do.

        That’s surviving in my opinion.

  • Elise@beehaw.org
    0·
    7 months ago

    When a quantum wave function decoheres, it doesn’t precisely collapse into a singular state. Instead, it transitions into a more restricted superposition that resonates with the environmental conditions, effectively integrating into a more intricate quantum system.

    This implies that not only individual particles are in a state of superposition, but the entire universe exists in such a state. However, this superposition is so extensively constrained by interactions and entanglements that, at a macroscopic scale, the universe behaves according to classical mechanics.

    ELI5: Imagine the universe is like a giant game of pretend where everything can be in many stories at once—like a cat being both awake and asleep in its adventure, or a ball that’s both rolling and still. But, as soon as we peek to see what’s happening in the game, everything picks one story to stick to where the cat is either just awake or just asleep, and the ball is either rolling or not. But, the game is so big and involves so many things that, most of the time, it seems like everything is following simple rules, like in a regular game, even though underneath, it’s still playing pretend with all the possibilities.

    • Tolookah@discuss.tchncs.de
      0·
      7 months ago

      Interesting fact, but what came to mind for me was camels, dumpster diving like raccoons, running away when the driveway light turns on.

      • ace_garp@lemmy.world
        0·
        7 months ago

        They are chill when you drive past them.

        They can be a hazard for vehicles if in an accident, because of their size. Think moose size.

        The main feralness is that they can smell water, and will head to water-mills to get a drink. They destroy water tanks and pipes to get access. Can’t blame them, the outback is hot.

        Also can outgraze native animals for grasses and shrubs.

        Water-mills look like this: