I subscribed to The New Yorker awhile ago. They had a promo available where the print/online combo was cheaper then just subscribing to the paper edition, so I gave it a shot. Canada Post is notoriously slow with any delivery, especially scheduled, routine ones – and my hope was that I'd be able to read the magazine exactly on its publishing date and then deep-read the paper copy when it eventually arrived.

How plussed was I to discover that the online portion of my subscription was in actual fact just full access to all the articles on their website. There is a dedicated app for iOS, but If you have Android, tough love. You can get it on Google Play News Stand, but if your a paranoid freedom-loving commie like me, you don't have the neccesary Google account to log into the app (let alone even have it installed on your phone).

This brings me into a larger topic, that being: Why don't News Publishers understand the internet? Most of them, from your local fish-wrap all the way to massive publications like Vogue or Wired, outsource their digital publications – their website, digital subscriptions, etc. – to external providers like PressPad or Magzter, companies who – A, don't spend a lot of time making sure the digital version looks great, and B, don't really give two shits about customer service.

All I want is a readable, digital magazine, like issuu does. I want to turn pages, scroll around, and zoom in on text. It doesn't have to be perfectly optimized for my phone – that's not what matters. What matters is I'm getting the same information as the print publication, because if I'm not, I feel ripped off.

It's no secret in the world of journalism that the budgets are getting smaller and newspapers are dying. I feel a major portion of this crunch is from the inability for publications to get with the times. Spend some money, New Yorker! DIY a digital version. Hack the Planet!

#general #rant #media #newspaper #magazine

Photo by Clem Onojeghuo on Unsplash

I haven't had the time to sit down and really play any sort of serious game recently. Not that I've truly been all that terribly busy – It's just the only thing I've had any inkling of interest in playing is Donsol, a solitaire-like card game from the ocean-based studio Hundred Rabbits.

It's premise is simple – the cards represent a dungeon – Diamonds are shields, Hearts are potions, Spades & Clubs are monsters – that you must vanquish. The rules, while simple, create a deviously complicated array of options and much like solitaire your win to loss ratio will be lacking until you get in practice.

There isn't a ton to it, but it's a hell of a time sink (and I believe a worthy time sink), plus at only $2.00 it's pretty hard to pass up and well worth the cost.

You can purchase it here.

#gaming #haveyouplayed #solitaire #media #hundred.rabbits #itch.io

The Internet, as it is always keen to do, revolutionized filesharing in a big way. Bulletin Board Systems was where shareware began to congregate, where the very idea of the “scene” really began. Eventually, the Scene spread to Usenet, then FTP & FXP. In the late 1990's, IRC became the system of choice, as development in the DCC protocol made it significantly faster compared to other methods.

While Bittorrent stands out now as the be all end-all for filesharing, killing Usenet, and neutering the usefulness of services such as Napster or Nicotine, IRC and the DCC protocol still are actively used and developed; sharing files via IRC is still a viable way to find and download files – especially rare ones – that stays on par with modern expectations in speed.

Foreword

This guide explains how to enable DCC in Weechat. This process, while simple, is, in my findings, not greatly documented.

If you are using another client, like Hexchat, I'm afraid you're left to your own devices in regards of DCC setup.

Step One: Enable DCC

Weechat comes with the plugin needed installed (at least on Arch Linux), but disabled. To enable DCC receiving, type

/plugin load xfer

Step Two: Warez Channels

Files are distributed either peer to peer, or via a XDCC bot. These bots congregate in warez channels.

While some of these channels are regularly scraped, most of the ones of any value are very hard to find and will require an invite from someone who is already in the know.

Ask around in your favoured IRC channels. Someone will point you in the right direction.

Step Three: XDCC Bots

The hardest part is already over; XDCC bots are very simple to interface with. Type !list in channel, and a bot will PM you a list of what files it has to download. Follow its instructions to begin a transfer.

Some bots will not allow you to ask it for a file list. In that case, wait in channel and eventually it'll list what packs it has available.

Easy as bread.

A final pointer, one I hope I should not have to state, but will to cover my ass: Be respectful. Don't eat up bandwidth grabbing files you don't need. Don't clutter chat with commands. Don't spam the bot with !list requests.

Be a decent human. Pirate with courtesy. When you can, support the creators you love.

#tech #general #howto #piracy #irc

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Hey, I've got nothing against a good gui. It's just that most graphical user interfaces make me want to smash my face through a glass window and swallow the shards it produces. I'm looking at you, Clementine.

Now, frankly, none of these applications need anymore touting or celebration. Everyone who is anyone already knows how good they are. But I've been strapped for post ideas and didn't want my blog to stagnate. I promise I'll come up with something better for Friday.

Anyways, here we go.

1: Weechat

Weechat is great. It is better then IRSSI, and anyone still using Irssi needs to get with the times.

Plugin support is great – mine is configured to not only connect with all the IRC Channels I frequent, but also lets me contact my friends by XMPP, and is even how I post to Mastodon when I'm on my desktop.

It's a great little application, and if you're using IRC any other way...

Well, you're using it wrong.

Not actually. Use whatever programs you want. Don't let some asshole tell you how to live your life.

2: Gtop

Everyones got their preference when it comes to system monitors. For the longest time, I used Glances, but got frustrated by how poorly it scaled down in my window setup. gtop is the perfect balance between style and usable information. It looks clean, but most importantly, tells me exactly what's going on. You don't need much more in a system monitor.

3: ncmpcpp

ncmpcpp is the best-is, it outdoes the rest-is.

Someday I'll do a better writeup on my exact digital music process, but, in short:

1. I rip cds using abcde, into the Ogg/Vorbis codec – only vinyls are ripped to flac.

2. I then import and tag them via beets, which adds the lyric information and tags them with album art from MusicBrainz.

3. Then, mpd moves it to my speaker system, which is controlled on my desktop by ncmpcpp.

It seems complicated, but in practice it's completely seamless.

In Closing

This was all a ruse to secretly to show off my sick desktop rice game. Someday soon I'll writeup how that works.

Someday also I'll show off my mobile setup.

#tech #general #ricing #cli

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You remember Threes!, right? That awesome little puzzle game that was ripped off by the much more successful 2048?

That game was written by the very talented Asher Vollmer, who also wrote Puzzlejuice, an incredibly good mobile puzzle game, and recently teased his newest game Guildlings,which now since you know his track record, will likely be another very good Fantasy mobile game.

This isn't about any of his mobile selections – instead, one of his much rarer desktop games, and a very obtuse one at that.

In fact, the description of the game, in its entirety, is simply:

an old forgotten game from your youth you can't find the manual

In it, you play as a lowly peasant with the lofty ambition of becoming Royal, building up an empire of servants and fighting off the other, already well established, far more powerful kings that are upset at you trying to rise above your status.

You mine for gold, buy properties, exile yourself to the desert, convince people to follow you in your ambitions, meditate in the mountains, and die at thirty because you are a peasant without access to quality modern healthcare.

It is very difficult to win. Like any game with no instructions, strategies are learned through trial and error. When faced with something new, you have to decide whether to spend one of your very valuable turns to find out what it does, or ignore it for tried and tested strategies. Repeated rounds become easier. You slowly learn and become better at trying to be king.

Notice I said trying. I've played through this game fifty times and have never succeeded. Apparently it's possible. The hope that it is keeps me playing – and, unlike a lot of very difficult games, I've never had a moment of not having fun.

In conclusion, it is simple, it is fun, it is under 150 MB. It runs great in wine, if you are using Linux.

Oh, also, It's completely free. Maybe I should have opened with that.

Give it a shot.

DOWNLOAD @ ITCH.IO

#haveyouplayed #gaming #tech #general #itch.io

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In our modern age, Anno Domini 2018, what is beloved by the masses changes as rapidly as the wind on a rainy day, and far less predictably. This is a truth for all of human culture, but stands most aptly in the world of Public Radio and Music. What was considered poignant, relevant and beautiful at one moment changes in the next.

If you need an example, when was the last time you listened to Gotye's Somebody That I Used to Know? There was a time once, not so long ago, where you couldn't go an hour without hearing it somewhere, whether on the radio, in the deli line, or from supermarket loudspeakers. As a society it seemed we would never get enough of it. But we did, and we moved on.

The Individual, however, acts differently then the mass. This list is not songs that everyone will love forever and always, but instead some albums I love. Albums that still, all this time later, I can't help myself from playing all the way through to the end at least once a week.

These are my personal choices – but I'm interested in hearing yours. Get in touch with me on Mastodon. What are some albums that are near and dear to your heart? I'm eager to know.

No. 1: Songs of Saltfork – Simon Swerwer

Download

You play Dwarf Fortress, right? If not, I highly recommend it. There are not many games – let alone free ones – from which I have derived so much enjoyment and inspiration from then that CLI Dwarf game.

I mention it, because if you have played it, then at some point certainly you must have modded it.

And if you have modded Dwarf Fortress, then you have installed SoundSense, a mod which replaces the original and equally quite brilliant song that loops in the background while you play with an assortment of different songs and sounds which play depending on context within the game.

By extension, you must have already heard the work of Mister Swerwer, as that very mod was how I discovered the soft, occasionally haunting and often energetic guitar pieces he produced, some of which have lyrics beautifully sung in Dwarf Fortress' own Dwarven tongue – all of which were released under a Creative Commons license.

Songs Of Saltfork sounds like something I'd here inside a coastal cavern, a crackling campfire casting the shadows of the musicians upon the walls. Listening to it fills me with a need to explore and get sickeningly lost, thrown so deep into trouble I'm not sure how to climb back out. I love it dearly and so should you.

No. 2: Hometowns – The Rural Alberta Advantage

Purchase

I grew up in the hustle and bustle of Canada's City of “Champions”, Edmonton, Alberta. I don't think anyone will contest my denunciation that not a lot of songs about Alberta really get to the heart of what it means to live there.

Sure, there are a ton of songs about how beautiful the Rocky Mountains are and how hard-working the men and women (although the songs are mostly about the men) are who toil and die in the oilfields and coal mines.

Rural Alberta Advantage really hits home with just about everybody who actually live there, perfectly encapsulating just how it feels to live in a Province with goddamn cold winters and stunningly beautiful summers.

They sing about how nobody in Edmonton can seemingly never relax – which is harshly, the truth, they sing about the quietly acknowledged life-long advantage Albertans receive (due to the wealth of natural resources in the province), but the song that stings the most, and is by far my favorite, is the one in which they bring light to the bridge in Lethbridge, poignantly called the Deathbridge, in which people frequently commit suicide – a dark secret quietly ignored by the locals.

The songs are cold and beautiful. They sound like Alberta, a particular unhelpful comparison if you've never actually been there. They're very good, is what I'm trying to say. Exceptional.

No. 3: 17 Days – George Barnett/AKA George

I'll admit it – I'm a filthy pirate. I steal music when I can't afford it and try to vote my fellow eye-patches into parliament, as fruitless an effort as that sometimes seems.

But if I wasn't a disgusting music thief, I would have never discovered the beautiful work of one George Barnett – who uploaded his own album, 17 Days, to the Pirate Bay early 2012.

I don't say this likely but the man is a Bona Fide musical genius. He produced and released 17 Days entirely by himself, playing nearly all the instruments on the record and doing all the vocals. It is a damn fantastic record and one I can't stop touting and recommending to people six years later.

The story gets a little strange, though. He still uploads new songs to his YouTube channel, but stripped nearly all record of his old music off of the internet entirely, leaving us only with his new releases (which he does under the name AKA George).

I have a suspicion why he did this, but I won't speculate on what I can't conclusively prove, so I'll leave that part of the story be.

What I will say is that it's a tragedy, as what's left of his older body of work is low-quality reuploads, and most of it is lost completely. The most important loss in my opinion is the missing music video for Lone Rose, the second piece on the album, a brilliantly shot piece of home-grown cinema.

Audio recording >>

Luckily, however, we have the Pirate Bay – the site upon which he himself uploaded the full albums in high quality so many years ago, and the original torrent still stands. Since it's now the only way to get the record, I will share it with you here, as well as mirror the album somewhere else.

Please send him my love via Twitter, or if you have Spotify, listen to him on that, as you seemingly can't just outright buy his music anymore.

Years ago, prefacing his upload to the Pirate Bay, he uploaded this audio snippet. I hope he still holds this sentiment today. Forgive me, Mister Barnett, for refusing to let the past rest.

Download OGG

Magnet Link

Make sure you have adblock and privacy mode enabled in your browser!

In Closing

What are some Albums you couldn't live without? I'm interested in hearing them. Let me know via Mastodon, at cybre.space/@international.

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#music #review #criticism

I was a little surprised when the response I got back from my niche wasn't: “Oh wow thank goodness I totally needed this”, but instead was:

Wait, you absolute madman, you blog in Vim?

To which I respond, yes! Yes. All my writing is done in Vim. It's very comfy.

Here is how I do it.

An Acknowledgement

This guide will not go into heavy detail regarding how to use Vim in its most basic form. If you need an absolute primer on how to use Vim, simply type :h tutor into Vim, or check out openvim.

This guide assumes you are starting out with a clean .vimrc, as well, but can easily be applied if you already are comfortable using vim.

Step 1: The Plugin Manager.

I use vim-plug, as in my testing it is significantly faster than both Vundle and Pathogen, but the differences are minimal and if anyone tries to shame you into using a particular manager they're a sphincter-spanner and should be disregarded.

Installing any of them is as easy as moving a .vim file into your ~/.vim/autoload/ directory. In the case of vim-plug, it is as easy as running curl:

curl -fLo ~/.vim/autoload/plug.vim --create-dirs \
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/junegunn/vim-plug/master/plug.vim

Step 2: The Top of ~/.vimrc

This is a must. Ensure the very top of your ~/.vimrc is this:

set nocompatible	
" Enforces vim defualts instead of vi
set encoding=utf-8	
" Sets encoding to utf-8
scriptencoding utf-8	
" Sometimes the above fails. This corrects that.

Step 3: Installing The Plugins

You need to call plug-vim, define where it should place its plugins, then list the plugins you wish to install. In short, put this near the top of your ~/.vimrc:

call plug#begin('~/.vim/plugged') 
" Call plug and define the plugin folder
	Plug 'reedes/vim-pencil'
	" The mother plugin which makes this all possible
	
	Plug 'junegunn/goyo.vim'
	" Turn vim into a distraction free editor

	Plug 'junegunn/limelight.vim'
	" Make editor even cleaner
	
	Plug 'reedes/vim-wordy'
	" Make your writing better
	
	Plug 'reedes/vim-litecorrect'
	"Annoyance free autocorrect

	Plug 'rhysd/vim-grammarous'	
	"A clean grammar checker.

	Plug 'internationa1/write-as.vim'	
	" Upload straight to write.as

	" Ensure all Plugins are added above the following line
call plug#end()

Step 4: General Settings

Filetype detection must be enabled for some of the plugins to auto-enable, and for markdown syntax to be detected.

" File detection
filetype on
filetype plugin indent on
syntax on

Line numbers are convenient for editing, autocompletion is awesome, unloading buffers are a pain, mouse use is nice, and word wrap is soft handled via vim-pencil. So we'll enable and disable functions accordingly.

set number	"Enable line numbers
set completopt=longest, menuone	 " Autocomplete options
set complete=.,w,b,u,t,i,d	
"Autocomplete options, for more info :h complete
set hidden	"Don't unload buffers
set mouse=a	"Enable mouse
set nowrap	"Disable nowrap
set showbreak="+++ "	" string to show with wrapped lines
set ttyfast	" Render characters quicker
set title	" Use filename in window title
set wildmenu	" Enhance command line completion
set wildchar=<TAB>	" Set tab for command completion
set noerrorbells	" Noises are annoying

Vim 8 comes with baked-in spellcheck. You are running Vim 8, right?

set spellang=en_gb	
"Set spellcheck language. You might want en_us, or en_can

set spellfile=~/.vim/spell/en.utf8.add	
"The dictionary file

hi clear SpellBad
hi SpellBad cterm=underline ctermfg=red	
" Underline spelling errors in red

hi clear SpellCap
hi SpellCap cterm=underline ctermfg=blue	
" Underline spelling warnings in blue

hi clear SpellLocal
hi SpellCap cterm=underline ctermfg=green	
" Underline localization errors in green.

Step 5: Autocommands

Markdown has some particulars when it comes to syntax, so we'll specify what to do when a markdown file is open.

augroup markdown
autocmd!
autocmd FileType markdown,mkd,md
 " Do this when you open a markdown file
	\ setlocal noexpandtab tabstop=4 shiftwidth=4 softtabstop=4
	\ list lcs=tab:+.
	\ set spell spelllang=en_gb	" Enable Spellcheck
	\ call litecorrect#init() 	" Enable autocorrect
	\ call pencil#init	"Enable vim-pencil
	\ setlocal textwidth=80	" Match write.as width-ish
augroup END

autocmd! User GoyoEnter Limelight
autocmd! User GoyoLeave Limelight!
" When Goyo is in use, enable limelight.

" Writeas User Info
let g:writeas_u = 'YOUR_USERNAME'
let g:writeas_p = 'YOUR_PASSWORD'
let g:writeas_b = 'YOUR BLOG'

Step 6: You're set.

When you open a markdown file, spellcheck will turn on, your tab settings will initialize, autocorrect will kick in, vim-pencil will start, and the width will be set to (roughly) what write.as is set to.

When you turn on Goyo – which you do by typing :Goyo – limelight will itself turn on, and when you leave, it will turn off. In short, Vim now looks like this:

Checking for weak wording in your writing is now as easy as typing :WeakWordy.

When you're all finished with writing, uploading to your blog is as easy as typing :BlogPost TITLE. You're now a hardcore writing machine.

Afterword

Or, why I didn't upload my ~/.vimrc

I know a lot of people who use Vim. I know significantly fewer who actually understand vim script. Sure, the file you copied off Github looks super slick, but are you fully aware of what it does?

Following this tutorial means you built your own .vimrc. You now see how simple and versatile VimScript actually is. Now, extending vim to be a Python or Lua IDE is easy as installing your preferred plugins and setting up autocmds.

Maybe next you should setup Airline or setup Vim to manage your accounting via Ledger. Maybe write your own Vim plugin that will let you preview how your blog post will look once uploaded. The limit is your imagination.

#coding #vim #programming #writing

Not very efficient.

Thankfully, @matt pointed me towards the API, and it was a cinch to write up some vimscript and python to post from VIM to write.as directly.

Hence, I wrote This Plugin

Installation

The easiest way to install this plugin is, as usual, via a package manager like Pathogen or Vundle (My personal favourite being Vundle)

Then, just add:

Plugin 'internationa1/write-as.vim

and

" Writeas User Info
let g:writeas_u = 'YOUR_USERNAME'
let g:writeas_p = 'YOUR_PASSWORD'
let g:writeas_b = 'YOUR BLOG'

into the top and bottom of your ~/.vimrc, respectively.

Then, while you're editing a markdown file in vim, it's as easy as executing

:BlogPost TITLE

To upload said file to your blog.

Anonymous posts are as easy as typing :AnonPost Title as well.

Notes

An account is necessary for this plugin to work. Tracking tokens and slugs across VIM sessions was found to be to painful to use, so I stripped it out.

Cross-posting and Post Editing are two things I'd like to do, but I've no idea how to implement that successfully, so for now the plugin rests.

Other Plugins

vim-surround is great for easily manipulating quotes and brackets.

vim-pencil is a must have if you intend to do any sort of writing in vim whatsoever.

goyo Turns VIM into a slick distraction free writer akin to WriteMonkey.

#programming #coding #vim #writing

1. Corporate Diner Coffee

You are unkempt and tired. It's too early in the morning for anything good to happen, and the only restaurant available is a twenty-four hour Humpty's.

Breakfast must be consumed. You shuffle your way into the diner and grunt at the waitress. She grunts back and leads you to a sticky table. A logo-plastered mug is placed in front of you and filled with coffee, a thin, watery cup that is far too hot, tastes like dirt, and has the sweet aroma of burnt bread.

You take a sip. It burns your tongue, but you power through it. The sepia tone that you didn't realize was staining your eyesite begins to fade away. You feel better.

2. Family Owned Diner Coffee

You woke up at noon today. You're groggy but feel pretty good. The waitress smiles at you when you walk through the door. You like her because she calls you sweetheart, and that makes you feel less alone.

You're seated at a red leather booth. A clay mug is put in front of you full of coffee darker then the ocean. It smells like home. You sip it slowly. It tastes like home. Today is going to be a pretty good day.

3. The Kind of Coffee you get with a Donut.

The bakery smells like sugar and flour and everything that is good in the world. The overweight man behind the counter smiles at you through broken teeth. He learnt how to bake in prison.

There is no discussion about what you're going to have. A glazed donut is given to you in a wax paper bag. The coffee comes in a printed paper cup adorned with printed coffee beans. The sweetness of the donut hides the fact the coffee is burnt. You taste nutmeg and cloves with every sip.

4. Train Station Coffee

You wake up on a bench in a train station. You aren't sure how you got there.

Your shoes and pantlegs are covered in mud. Clutched in your hand is a red scrap of fabric, and a lotto ticket, on the back of which is written “Call Eliza.” Who is Eliza? You don't know. A highspeed train whistles past. It startles you.

You stand up and your head swims. You reach out to steady yourself and find yourself grasping a coffee machine. Shaking, you shove in two dollars worth of quarters and – unceremoniously – coffee is dispensed into a dusty paper cup.

After a few sips, you begin to taste blood. Your mouth aches. Feeling inside, you discover someone has recently pulled out on of your back molars – the heat from the coffee has harmed the stitches.

You vomit up more scraps of red fabric.

5. Book Store Coffee

The man behind the counter eyes you with suspicion. What buisness would you have had with his sister? Your tremor spills your coffee onto your hand and you wince in pain. You cannot explain yourself to the man. Sighing, he reaches for the rolodex he keeps under the counter.

Hands still shaking, you take another sip. The bitterness is the only thing keeping you grounded. You feel someone watching you. Coffee drips down your arm and begins to stain the carpet. The old man gives you the phone number and shoos you from the store.

You shove quarters into a pay phone, finishing off the coffee as it rings. It tastes like summer holiday. A man answers the phone, and you hang up without saying a word.

6. Funeral Coffee

How did you know the deceased? You didn't, but lie. Everyone can tell you haven't slept in days. You say you used to be friends in college.

The deceased didn't go to college, she says. You say she worked at a cafe near your school. This stops the line of questioning.

You take another sip of coffee as you check your watch. He'll be here any minute now. The priest drops an envelope as he walks past. You slide it towards you with your shoe and pocket it when no one is looking.

You read it after you leave. He didn't have the information you needed. Frustrated, you knock over a crumbling grave stone, revealing a nest of spiders.

7. Police Station Coffee

You take another sip as the Detective barrages you with questions. You don't have any answers. He won't be able to detain you for much longer.

He asks you who Eliza is. You say you don't know. That isn't much of a lie.

Why were you at the house? You we're lost. You've been lost for a long time now.

Were you there alone? Yes. Nobody has been able to help you.

Why were there so many jars of teeth? You don't know. You suspect one might be yours.

You take another sip of coffee. You can't taste anything anymore.

8. Your Last Cup Of Coffee

She has a gun trained on you. You take another sip of coffee. Why were you seeking her out, she asks. You were hoping she would be able to tell you that.

She asks if you are working for her adversaries. You tell her you aren't sure.

She shoots you in the kneecap. It hurts much more then you expected it to. She asks you more questions but you can't here any of them because someone is screaming.

You realize that you are the one who is screaming. She shoots you again. Blood fills up your mouth. It tastes like coffee.

She holds your hand as you die.

Buy me a coffee

#prose #writing #general

See the full collection at ello.co

#photography #ello #film #color