∴ esoterik ∴

upgraded the G4 cube to NetBSD 11.0-RC2. so far so good 🚩

Just heard that the author of xv (John Bradley) has died.

I never knew John but I have fond memories of using xv back in the day. And it's worth celebrating the excellent web design of the xv homepage (last modified in 2024): https://xv.trilon.com/

thesis: age-verification infects all major operating systems and platforms

antithesis: hackers build operating systems for microcontrollers like esp32

synthesis: you need to verify your age before you can use your thermostat

⚡⚡⚡ IT'S ALIVE! ⚡⚡⚡

https://git.phial.org/d6/uxn-lfb

Tempted to start a bootstrapping seed library, to save software versions of everything needed to bootstrap interesting projects like duskos, uxn, tiny languages, etc

so the cryptic chatroom project many of us have been working on (nanochat) is a bit less cryptic thanks to this article by @soxfox42

https://soxfox.me/blog/nanochat/

⚡ just patched @asie's uxnds to add basic socket support. [1]

😎 it works well enough to run my nanochat client!

[1] we're basically emulating the behavior of netcat, which we currently run in uxn11 using the subprocess extension

My stance on the current trend of using The Lesser Key of Solomon at work and in one's personal life:

1. There's no evidence these evil spirits really are the 72 princes mentioned in The Lesser Key (and their innumerable minions). They only started telling us their "names" after someone incorporated the text of Ars Goetia in a (poorly-worded) binding ritual.

2. There's also no evidence that anyone's binding rituals actually work. It's always the same thing: Belial is asked to clean someone's house but burns it down instead and then everyone blames the binding ritual, summoning circle, wand, chalice, etc.

3. While most wizards report that making dark pacts with imps improves their spell-casting ability there are plenty of other familiars that are safer and more trustworthy.

4. There's a trend of reassuring people about this by asking spirits like Asmodeus the Prince of Lies if they are being truthful. This feels naive at best and actively malicious at worst.

5. It's not clear to me that risking your immortal soul to make your boss a bit richer is a good idea, to say nothing of risking your immortal soul to do a better job keeping up with email.

6. Just because everyone else has already torn innumerable holes in reality and brought forth legions of demons into our universe does not change my own feelings about it, though it certainly motivates a heightened level of interest in exorcisms and abjuration magic.