Posts on Spool-Five

On the Radio - June 2026

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Tue, 30 Jun 2026 22:45:00 +0100

Related to my previous blog post, here are some of the interesting things I heard for the first time on the radio over the past couple of months.

Wu Wei

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Fri, 26 Jun 2026 12:54:00 +0100

The Taoist idea of Wu Wei (無為) has always seemed very ambiguous to me. In my own life, I often recall this principle, along with whatever interpretation of it suits best at the time, when making decisions. Here, I wanted to try think through some of the potential meanings of it.

The New Westworld

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Fri, 05 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Westworld is a science-fiction film (1973) and TV series (2016-2022) that is based on the premise of a theme-park populated by AI robots role-playing the setting of the American “West”.

AI Alignment

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The term AI Alignment, like many new concepts associated with AI, is very broad and fuzzy. It means something like the techniques and processes to ensure that a LLM is aligned with human interests. It is usually discussed within the context of AI Safety, which can mean anything ranging from “content moderating LLM outputs” to “let’s not develop an AGI that takes over the planet and enslaves us.”

On the Radio - Apr 2026

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

When I was younger, I used to love following music developments. I went to a lot of gigs and festivals, mostly indie music, but also a lot of house/techno.

Small Web Feeds

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

I came across the 512kb club a long time ago, and it was very influential in helping me understand how websites work and the impact different kinds of assets or design choices can have on how pages load. As a fan of gemini, it makes sense to me that websites should be as minimal as possible.

Smallnet Protocols

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Tue, 24 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

I’m calling the protocols discussed below “smallnet protocols”, but actually I don’t know the right name for them…

Counting Capsules

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Mon, 02 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

A quick look at some stats about gemini capsules.

For those that aren’t aware, gemini is a largely text-based, minimal internet protocol. It is part of what is sometimes called the “smolnet”, an alternative to the mainstream web.

2025 Highlights

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Tue, 23 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Some notes on the year.

Movies/TV

Lots of TV shows this year. These are some of the ones that stood out.

Clojure Flow - First Impressions

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Mon, 07 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Clojure’s core async library recently added a namespace called ‘flow’.

One or Many or Six

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Mon, 12 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000

I dreamed that it is night and I am lying in my bed (the foot of my bed was under the window, and outside the window there was a row of old walnut trees. I know that it was winter in my dream, and night-time). Suddenly the window opens of its own accord and terrified, I see that there are a number of white wolves sitting in the big walnut tree outside the window. There were six or seven of them. The wolves were white all over and looked more like foxes or sheepdogs because they had big tails like foxes and their ears were pricked up like dogs watching something. Obviously fearful that the wolves were going to gobble me up I screamed and woke up.

Plaintext Weblog Posts

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Sat, 25 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

I use sourcehut pages for both my gemini and website. It is a simple, great service where you don’t need to worry about managing a server.

Technology and Privacy

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Thu, 12 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0000

If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?

Gemini Chess

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Fri, 07 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve had a go at making a two-player chess game for Gemini. If you want to try it out it is available at the link below. There is also a version of wordle there, though I made this before I realised that there is already a much better wordle clone available on gemini, Wordo.

OFFLFIRSOCH 2024 - Flights

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Tue, 26 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

In response to Solerpunk’s 2024 OFFLine-FIRst SOftware CHallenge, I wrote a command line script for looking up flight ‘information’ offline.

The Undeath of the Author

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Sun, 08 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Here lies One Whose Name was writ in Water

In 1967, Roland Barthes published his influential essay “The Death of the Author”. The essay was a key reference point in the structuralist and post-structuralist movements and called for the abandoning of the idea of the ‘author’ as the focal point for meaning when interpreting a text. According to structuralist theories of language, meaning arises through a variety of factors (grammar, culture, history, etc.). Seeing the meaning of the work as the product of a single mind (the ‘author’) misses this diversity of perspectives at the heart of language.

Three Years On

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Sat, 16 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

My website (spool-five.com) has now been online for three years. In the spirit of this anniversary, this is a quick look-back at some of the key points over that time.

Legislative Compliance

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Tue, 25 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws. - Plato

Rent or Buy?

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Mon, 01 May 2023 00:00:00 +0000

This is just a short post I’m leaving here for posterity.

Everyday Games

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Mon, 16 Jan 2023 00:00:00 +0000

It’s the beginning of a new year and I’ve dusted off an old smartwatch to help me with my new year’s goal of exercising and staying active more. I started to feel a bit guilty, relying on Samsung and Google’s proprietary systems to help me track things like heart-rate, time spent exercising, etc.

2022 - My Year in Review

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Wed, 21 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000

A post about my own personal 2022 - financial situation, GTD, and downtime.

Emacs Youtube

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Thu, 08 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000

One of my goals for 2023 is to use YouTube as little as possible.

Bjork Tier List

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Mon, 05 Sep 2022 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve just finished listening to the Homogenic episode of Bjork’s new podcast series Sonic Symbolism.¹ Each episode of the podcast is a retrospective look at a Bjork album.

Offline Week July 2022

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Sun, 07 Aug 2022 00:00:00 +0000

A week ago, I switched my life to being primarily ‘offline’. Or, perhaps it is better to say I took steps in that direction. I was still online during working hours, and I left the messaging apps on my phone online.

Snow Crash - Metaverses and Viral Culture

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Fri, 05 Aug 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Snow Crash - A book by Neal Stephenson, published in 1992.

Irish Climate Targets July 2022

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Thu, 04 Aug 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Last week (28 July), the Irish government reached an agreement on targets for carbon reduction across multiple sectors.

re Communism Against Earth

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Mon, 27 Jun 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Related to Idomdrottning’s post:

Communism Against Earth

Tug of war on the brink will lead to both falling over.

Spacing Out - Gangnam Style

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Sat, 07 May 2022 00:00:00 +0000

I’m writing this in response to the May 6th entry on Ran Prieur’s, always-lovely, blog:

GloPoWriMo - It's a wrap!

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Sun, 01 May 2022 00:00:00 +0000

I participated in this year’s global/national poetry writing month and I actually managed to write a poem a day! Now, in the case of a lot of the poems, I did end up spending only around five minutes on them. This was on days when I was particularly busy. Still, it shows that it is possible at least. I had every written any poetry before, so it was quite an experiment for me.

God and Climate - Lent 2022

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Sun, 17 Apr 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Disclaimer - I am not really a practicing Christian, but I have always been interested in all kinds of religions. If I were to classify my beliefs, it might be as something like ‘anatheistic’ - a term used by the philosopher Richard Kearney to describe a point between theism and atheism.

Gemtext and Image

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Thu, 14 Apr 2022 00:00:00 +0000

One of the most noticeable things about Gemini is that it is text-based. Sure, it can support images but, depending on the client, these are mostly left hidden. Gemini gains a lot of its identity from this emphasis on text. One of the first things you’ll notice if you compare an average web page and a page on Gemini is that one is filled with images and highly visual, while the other is just a wall of text.

New GTD System

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Wed, 02 Mar 2022 00:00:00 +0000

First, a disclaimer. I know very little about the original Getting Things Done system. What I do know is mainly taken from Gemini posts by idomdrottning.

The Linus Tech Tips Conspiracy

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Wed, 01 Dec 2021 00:00:00 +0000

The recent Linus Tech Tips series on ‘gaming’ in Linux seems to have sparked a lot of controversy and discussion¹. It was genuinely heartbreaking to watch PopOS fail so miserably. I primarily felt bad for the PopOS team themselves, who probably work tirelessly contributing to an open source ecosystem, only to be ‘shown up’ in front of millions of viewers, for a mistake that, come on, wasn’t really their fault.

Gitlog Client

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Wed, 27 Oct 2021 00:00:00 +0000

This is a short followup to my previous post.

Gitlog on Port 9418

Gitlog on port 9418

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Tue, 26 Oct 2021 00:00:00 +0000

This post is written in response to the fascinating post by Solderpunk:

Journal - Petty Academia

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Sun, 24 Oct 2021 00:00:00 +0000

I talked with an old friend recently. She is now on the academic ‘job market’ after finishing her PhD over a year ago. I was in a similar situation to her a few years back and I know how incredibly stressful and all-consuming it can be.

OpenBSD Experiences

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Wed, 20 Oct 2021 00:00:00 +0000

A short post to talk about my experience with OpenBSD. It’s not a guide or anything, just some rough thoughts. Somehow, working with OpenBSD gives me the same comfortable, distraction-free feeling I get browsing Gemini.

Journal - Melancholy

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Sun, 22 Aug 2021 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve been experiencing moments of melancholy and nostalgia over the past months. Nothing too intense, just notable. It’s an old, familiar feeling, but one I hadn’t felt in a long time.

Journal - Smart Kids

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Wed, 11 Aug 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Prior to teaching kids English, I had zero experience working with children. I was so surprised and relived to find that the kids I teach here are very smart and well-behaved for the most part.

Org Roam V2

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Mon, 02 Aug 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Edit - 21/08/21

I’ve been using Roam V2 for about a month now. After actually spending some time with the new system I really love it. It is much faster than the previous version when it comes to loading/indexing the notes at startup (it’s pretty-much instantaneous).

Cruella

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Sun, 13 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Thoughts on Cruella (2021, Craig Gillespie)

I watched this last weekend and thoroughly enjoyed it. It has plenty of obvious flaws, the biggest being that it doesn’t make any sense as a prequel. But, as a standalone film it is worth watching.

Journal - Fake Plastic Trees

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Sun, 13 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0000

I currently live in what you could maybe call a ‘suburb’ of Seoul. I guess when you think of suburbs you think of sprawling streets with houses and lawns. So, in that sense, my town is not a suburb. But, if you imagine stacking all those houses on top of each other - stretching between fifteen and thirty stories - and imagine all the green lawns as ‘communal’ gardens, then, yes, it is a suburb.

Folding Beijing

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Sat, 05 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0000

A note on Folding Beijing by Hao Jingfang (translated by Ken Liu)

Journal - Korean Books

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Wed, 02 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Wed 2 Jun 23:18:06 KST 2021

Dear Gopherspace,

I still haven’t gotten the hang of journaling. Perhaps my life isn’t eventful enough. I imagine journals to be writings you look back over later in life to trigger memories of places, times, people, feelings, thoughts, etc.

Switching to Emacs

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Sun, 09 May 2021 00:00:00 +0000

The majority of ‘mainstream’ technology is awful. I lived for thirty years without ever really understanding what is possible with computers. The one exception to this was maybe my experience with music production software. I used Logic for a long time on a friends Mac (I’ve never owned a Mac), when we were recording stuff in his garage. I’ve also used Ableton a lot. Anyway, both those pieces of software amaze me. I’m sure there are ways to criticise them, but I really found them so empowering.

Journal - Christina's Five Questions

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Thu, 06 May 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Christina’s Five Questions for May 2020

This is my first time participating in this. I think it’s a great idea and I love reading other people’s answers.

Journal - Centralised Learning

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Tue, 04 May 2021 00:00:00 +0000

I’m fairly apolitical by nature. I’m not sure where this comes from. It’s probably form my father.

Shell Script - Crosspost

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Sun, 02 May 2021 00:00:00 +0000

In previous posts, I mentioned how I’ve started trying to learn a bit more about shell scripting in my free time.

Gone Baby Gone

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Sat, 01 May 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Dir: Ben Affleck, 2007

Gone Baby Gone, released in 2007, was Ben Affleck’s directorial debut. It’s a crime/noir film about a missing child.

Nomadland

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Sun, 25 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Dir: Chloe Zhao - 2020

A beautiful and sad film about grief. It’s kind of a ‘revisionist revisionist’ western. The main character, Fern (Francic MacDormand), leaves her home following her husbands death and the literal ‘closing down’ of her mining town after the mine shuts its doors. She travels America in her van, leading a ’nomad’ life.

Journal - Lovely message and Lonergan movies

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Sun, 18 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Dear Gopherspace,

It’s been a while since my last update. I’ve been busy at work.

Site Updates

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Sun, 18 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000

I decided to update the structure and content of this site a bit.

Auto-Making a Gemini Index

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Sun, 11 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000

A few days ago on Mastodon, I came across a very useful toot by Fixato. He had provided a comprehensive shell command for updating you TLS certificates in light of the recent update to the agate server. He also kindly helped me troubleshoot additional issues I had.

The Three Body Problem

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Thu, 08 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000

I just finished reading The Three Body Problem. It’s a fantastic book, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

How to live

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Thu, 01 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Below are a series of entries on ways to live. It might seem presumptuous to write something like this, but they are intended to be a kind of personal archive of thought/ideas I’ve picked up and that seem to circulate in my mind and guide my action and judgements.

Second Shell Script - Autolog

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Thu, 01 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000

I joined Cosmic Voyage a while back. I really love the system there for updating you ship’s posts. You type ’log’ at the command line and you are presented with a series of options for logging your entry.

Gemini Capsule Update

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Wed, 31 Mar 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Nothing much to report here. I updated the capsule structure to try make it more minimal and even easier to manage.

Reading Note - Heidegger and Technology

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Thu, 25 Mar 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Heidegger: Heraclitus: The Inception of Occidental Thinking, Logic: Heraclitus’s Doctrine of the Logos

p. 174 - “modern technology…”

Journal - Staying Longer in Korea

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Wed, 24 Mar 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Wed Mar 24 19:58:04 KST 2021

I mentioned in my first post here that I am currently living in Korea, but that I would soon be returning to my home country, Ireland.

Comitium and Gopher

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Sun, 21 Mar 2021 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve added a new ‘feed’ section to my capsule. It uses ‘comitium’ by alex/nytpu.

Journal - Covid Test

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Sat, 20 Mar 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Sat Mar 20 14:11:33 KST 2021

I had my first covid test this morning.

Smolnet

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Sat, 20 Mar 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Journal - Technologies of the Self

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Wed, 17 Mar 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Wed Mar 17 22:35:27 KST 2021

I used to study philosophy. Specifically, the philosophy of technology and hermeneutics. In the philosophy of technology, there has recently (recently in academic terms at least) been an increase in interest in Michel Foucault’s late lectures. In these lectures he continues his examination of power, but turns toward a more ‘appropriating’ sense of power. To do so, he returns to an ancient Greek understanding of ’technologies of the self’. Of course, the term ’technologies’ is a bit ambiguous here.

Journal - First

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Sun, 14 Mar 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Sun Mar 14 16:28:16 KST 2021

I’m not really sure what to put in this gopherhole.

Blop

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Sat, 06 Mar 2021 00:00:00 +0000

‘Blop’ is a small *sh script by Drew/uoou/friendo.

Blop at Gitlab

Cage and Feldman in Conversation

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Sat, 06 Mar 2021 00:00:00 +0000

The 4 hour conversation, available on youtube: Cage & Feldman

I originally wanted to upload this here so that I could talk about some of the topics that Cage and Feldman discuss. I realise now that that would be a futile task. This isn’t a conversation that can be ‘summarised’ or ’talked about’ very effectively.

First Shell Script

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Mon, 22 Feb 2021 00:00:00 +0000

After only a month of exploring Gemini, it’s already leading me, happily, outside my comfort zone.

Problems with Gemini 1

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Sun, 21 Feb 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Problems, in the best sense

Much of the Gemini ‘content’ I’ve found so far, at least, some of the most engaging and unique, centers on technical questions about Gemini itself - how to set it up, navigate it, write in it, etc. These questions are usually accompanied by musings on what we can then do with this new protocol or about what Gemini ‘means’. Neither the answers to the technical questions, nor the accompanying speculations, are fully concrete. This is because both how Gemini works and what it can do remain somewhat vague. Yes, the broad brush-strokes have been laid down, but the smaller details have yet to be filled in. This is not a bad thing at all. Gemini is still in its very early stages. Much of its appeal stems from its huge potential.

Problems with Gemini 2

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Sun, 21 Feb 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Part 1

A problem:

ephemerality: content seems less ‘solid’ than on the web, less well mapped out and less defined.

A corresponding idea:

The Leftovers - Part 3

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Sun, 13 Dec 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Lindelof, HBO, 2014-2017

Part 2

Part 1

The Leftovers - Part 2

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Fri, 11 Dec 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Part 1

Lindelof, HBO, 2014-2017

The Leftovers - Part 1

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Wed, 09 Dec 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Lindelof, HBO, 2014-2017

The Horses of Disaster

Indroduction

The Leftovers is about a lot of things. Too many things to write about here, unfortunately. Nora is my favorite character in the show, and Season 3 was my favorite season the first time I watched it. In attempting to write these posts, though, I ended up focusing mostly on Kevin, and on Season 2. Actually, much of the content for this review derives from the end of Season 2, when Kevin’s ‘dies’ two times. So, maybe this should just be called ‘an account of that really weird moment in that one American TV show’.

Satin Island

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Sun, 25 Oct 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Tom McCarthy. Alfred A. Knopf, 2015

This is How You Lose The Time War

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Fri, 25 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone. Saga Press, 2019

A Brief Introduction

eoinc@posteo.com (Eoin Carney) — Wed, 16 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Here I end this reel. Box—(pause)—three, spool—(pause)—five. Perhaps my best years are gone. When there was a chance of happiness. But I wouldn’t want them back. Not with the fire in me now. No, I wouldn’t want them back.

Posts on Spool-Five

On the Radio - June 2026

Wu Wei

The New Westworld

AI Alignment

On the Radio - Apr 2026

Small Web Feeds

Smallnet Protocols

Counting Capsules

2025 Highlights

Movies/TV

Clojure Flow - First Impressions

One or Many or Six

Plaintext Weblog Posts

Technology and Privacy

Gemini Chess

OFFLFIRSOCH 2024 - Flights

The Undeath of the Author

Here lies One Whose Name was writ in Water

Three Years On

Legislative Compliance

Rent or Buy?

Everyday Games

2022 - My Year in Review

Emacs Youtube

Bjork Tier List

Offline Week July 2022

Snow Crash - Metaverses and Viral Culture

Irish Climate Targets July 2022

re Communism Against Earth

Spacing Out - Gangnam Style

GloPoWriMo - It's a wrap!

God and Climate - Lent 2022

Gemtext and Image

New GTD System

The Linus Tech Tips Conspiracy

Gitlog Client

Gitlog on port 9418

Journal - Petty Academia

OpenBSD Experiences

Journal - Melancholy

Journal - Smart Kids

Org Roam V2

Edit - 21/08/21

Cruella

Journal - Fake Plastic Trees

Folding Beijing

Journal - Korean Books

Switching to Emacs

Journal - Christina's Five Questions

Christina’s Five Questions for May 2020

Journal - Centralised Learning

Shell Script - Crosspost

Gone Baby Gone

Nomadland

Journal - Lovely message and Lonergan movies

Site Updates

Auto-Making a Gemini Index

The Three Body Problem

How to live

Second Shell Script - Autolog

Gemini Capsule Update

Reading Note - Heidegger and Technology

Heidegger: Heraclitus: The Inception of Occidental Thinking, Logic: Heraclitus’s Doctrine of the Logos

Journal - Staying Longer in Korea

Comitium and Gopher

Journal - Covid Test

Smolnet

Journal - Technologies of the Self

Journal - First

Blop

Cage and Feldman in Conversation

First Shell Script

Problems with Gemini 1

Problems, in the best sense

Problems with Gemini 2

Navigation

The Leftovers - Part 3

The Leftovers - Part 2

The Leftovers - Part 1