# Links for 2019/08/06

August 6, 2019 ยท 3 minute read

Posted in:  terminal tty fonts rss politics



### Some terminal-focused links

I've been working in Cool-Retro-Term again, and craving a real
green-screen glass tty, so here are some terminal-related links.

#### [jwz: export TERM=aaa-60][1]

jwz tells a story about an interesting terminal and its even more
interesting termcap file. The pictures and video in this article are
what gave me terminal envy again this time.

#### [WiFi232 - An Internet Hayes Modem for your Retro Computer][2]

Of course, once you have your glass TTY, you need to be able to connect
it to your modern computer. The path of least resistance seems to be to
wire it as a serial console to a Raspberry Pi. But here's an interesting
alternative: a self-contained WiFi "modem" that connects to a WiFi
network and an RS232 serial port, and is configurable and controlled
through "AT" commands on the serial port. It then lets you telnet to
hosts and ports specified in AT commands. Sold out, unfortunately.

#### [The Newsboat RSS Feedreader][3]

I've been working in the terminal, not even using screen/tmux for
multitasking, just trying to focus on one thing at a time with as few
distractions as possible. This doesn't mean not doing my reading; I'm
reading the fediverse in brutaldon, and email, and gopher, and a private
NNTP server, all in their respective apps. What I didn't have was an RSS
feed reader. I mostly read news on my phone, with the tt-rss app, so I
needed a console app that syncs with tt-rss. Thankfully, newsboat can!

#### [Input: Fonts for Code][3.5]

This is an interesting and really large font family with serif,
sans-serif, and monospace faces, and several weight variants for each.
You could use the monospace variant in a terminal, which is why I
mention it here, but what I think is the really interesting bit is that
the proportional fonts are also designed for code. I have been using the
sans font in Emacs at work, and it's actually surprisingly nice to use.
It looks good, it looks more balanced than a monospaced font, but not
jarringly proportional; it's hard to explain and you basically have to
see it. The only thing is that horizontal alignment of continuation
lines doesn't quite work right...

### Politics

#### [My Life as a Retail Worker: Nasty, Brutish, and Poor][4]
#### [I Was a Fast Food Worker: Let Me Tell You About Burnout][5]

A couple of recent articles about how low-wage work is getting worse
under late capitalism.

#### [We Desperately Need Marianne Williamson's Message. It's Ominous That We're Only Getting It From Marianne Williamson][6]

Marianne Williamson, despite her New Age beliefs, is the only candidate
who's actually talking about the moral stakes of the issues of the day.
And she's only one of two candidates (with Bernie) who has an actual
theory of political change. Her theory is wrong (idealism), but at least
she has one.

#### [Extra-state violence and right-wing strategy: a conversation][7]

The notable thing about this political moment is the way the state is
condoning and tacitly encouraging extra-state violence against its
preferred targets. More in this article.

#### [Health Insurance Companies Are Useless. Get Rid Of Them.][8]

Gratifyingly direct.

### Arts

#### [Clue (1985): A Treadmill to Nowhere][9]

A positive review of a widely-maligned movie. I remember greatly
enjoying it, and we have been playing the board game a lot at home, so
we're thinking of watching it.

#### [musicForProgramming][10]

An ambient radio show. I find it *sometimes* good for programming; other
times I need something a little more energetic. The worst times are when
ambient is too low-energy, and psychedelic trance is too high-energy.
Then I'm in a bind, though some psychill is just right.


[1]: https://www.jwz.org/blog/2016/10/export-termaaa-60/
[2]: http://biosrhythm.com/?page_id=1453
[3]: https://newsboat.org/
[3.5]: https://input.fontbureau.com/
[4]: https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/03/my-life-as-a-retail-worker-nasty-brutish-and-poor/284332/
[5]: https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2019/7/6/20681186/fast-food-worker-burnout
[6]: https://theintercept.com/2019/08/05/marianne-williamson-2020-presidential-campaign/
[7]: http://threewayfight.blogspot.com/2019/08/extra-state-violence-and-right-wing.html
[8]: https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2019-08-05/health-insurance-useless
[9]: https://www.brightwalldarkroom.com/2019/08/02/a-treadmill-to-nowhere-clue-1985/
[10]: http://musicforprogramming.net/