smolZINE - Issue 1
smolZINE - Issue 1
2021-05-07
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Introduction
smol as in smolnet. smol as in tiny and cute. smol as in smol-er than this zine's inspiration, SMOG.
I discovered SMOG, the Saturday MOrning Gemzine, and subsequently SMOG's final issue, within the span of a month. This left of a bit of a void in geminispace that I hope to fill a tiny bit of with this much less ambitious project. The goal of the smolzine is to curate and highlight different gemini capsules and content from around geminispace with a little commentary thrown in. For now. This is for fun and I'm open to letting it evolve however it makes sense in the future. Lets get to it.
Hidden (and not so hidden) Gems
Signals
From a mysterious corner of geminispace comes a very lovely and abstract capsule. I will let the geminaut themselves tell you about it in a much better manner than I am able.
"You're traveling through space and you get ahold of a random capsule. And there's these blips that occasionally radiate from it. You look into the capsule and you can see a whole array of stars you've never seen before. You've found SIGNALS."
=> gemini://signals.pollux.casa/ Signals
Calm Waters
With some internet and online culture musings as well as a slant towards off-grid living, Calm Waters is a good read. The post about foods that last forever is particularly interesting. Maybe it's time to stock up.
=> gemini://calmwaters.xyz/ Calm Waters
Birchkoruk's Gemlog
A true "log" style gemlog, Birchkoruk primarily chronicles their process and goings on related to their engraving craft. Other interesting topics pop up here and there as well. A neat little window into their world.
=> gemini://gemlog.blue/users/birchkoruk/ Birchkoruk's Gemlog
Senders' Capsule
Lots of writing about music of all sorts, with a smattering of devlogs and posts about self-hosting, Senders maintains an interesting gemlog, and always has a good music recommendation.
=> gemini://senders.io/ Senders' Capsule
Pennywhether's Place
Posts about books, games, technology, and just general thoughts, Pennywhether maintains a variety of content on their gemlog. Their recommendations explore a variety of genres so even if one thing they recommend isn't your thing their other recommendations are usually still applicable. Their tech posts are interesting and explore a variety of topics, and their miscellaneous posts are usually thought-provoking deeper explorations of a topic.
=> gemini://pennywhether.xyz/ Pennywhether's Place
Emanations
Don't undervalue yourself
by nytpu
In the past I've done computer repair stuff (just going to people's houses on a word-of-mouth thing, not running a shop or anything), and I'd charge roughly $40–50/hr, rounded to nearest $10.
I didn't charge that much when I first started out though. Actually the first job I ever did, I was like 16 and I was replacing a hard drive for someone. It took 3 hours (most of which was waiting around for stuff to copy, not actually doing anything) and I charged $50 + cost of parts (like $20). The guy said something to the effect of “I refuse to pay you that little. Even if you think the job was easy, I'd never have been able to do it myself, which means that it doesn't matter how easy the job was for you because it'd still be impossible for me. Don't ever undervalue yourself and your work.” and gave me $100. I think I still have that money somewhere, both because it was pretty much the first money I'd ever made but also because it was a really important reminder to me.
I haven't been able to make use of this lesson much, I haven't done anything where I can set my own price easily for a while, but it's still something to take to heart, even from a non-monetary position. Don't think that because something is simple or easy compared to what others have done—or even other stuff that you yourself have done—that it isn't worth anything. Don't sell yourself short.
Community Contributions
Please consider taking part in making this zine better and more diverse by contributing your thoughts and finds. If you are interested in contributing a short article or capsule picks email me at: kel (at) cyberbot.space.
Thanks
Thank you to fellow geminaut nytpu for their contributions to this issue of smolzine.
