Chema Hernández Gil

Un prieto colorado. Foiled engineer and onetime media activist. Nowadays, stumping for the working class, full-time. Vegetarian from the start, vegan for the animals.

Public Key

npub1z9fv8g7edw0mvrkaeakn5ygnz2txgkeh5w5yutx972nmtf2kvdwq04l4qc

NIP-05 Address

chema@ctrvx-net.mostr.pub

Profile Code

nprofile1qqspz5kr50vkh8akpmwu7mf6zyf399nytvm682zw9nzl9fa454txxhqpz4mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerfw36x7tnsw43qw0m2md

Publishing to

relay.ditto.pub

Author Public Key

npub1z9fv8g7edw0mvrkaeakn5ygnz2txgkeh5w5yutx972nmtf2kvdwq04l4qc

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Last Notes

2026-06-11 16:44:46 UTC

I don't often write in French or Spanish, but their influence is very appreciated when I write formal emails to elected officials. I feel compelled to make it warm AND formulaic, and I guess it somehow works.

2026-04-13 18:19:26 UTC

Filed my taxes and owe something for the first time ever. Not a surprise though, just annoying the compromises one has to make to ensure family has health care in this country.

2026-04-13 06:03:30 UTC

I took apart my six-year-old laptop yesterday, carefully brushed off all the lint and dog hair, gently cleaned and vacuumed the fans, wiped down the case, and put it back together. It's so quiet now!

2026-03-05 06:57:54 UTC

I meant to migrate my last domain name from Gandi to Porkbun this past weekend but totally spaced out and then because I waited last minute, it expired for a few hours. Downtime is very annoying.

2026-02-09 22:04:10 UTC

I watched the half time show on YouTube and I understood maybe 10%. Bad Bunny's Spanish is effectively inaccessible to the majority of Spanish speakers. The show itself was good, but the music, rhythm, and vibe has much more in common with US traditions. A Spanish settler-colonial base with a sprinkling of African flavor. Entertaining, but very distant from my Mesoamerican perspective.

2026-01-26 03:02:15 UTC

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I forgot about Flying Falafel! And totally agree on Saluhall. It has been a disappointment. A total wasted opportunity. Could have relaunched that area, but last time I went, it was an embarrassing ghost town.

2026-01-26 02:37:54 UTC

With all the sad news coming out of Minneapolis, I had missed that the Westfield Mall had closed for good after such a long agony. I worked next door for years and have fond memories. I was a fan of the Loving Hut and spent many breaks walking around its rooftop POPO. It was an anchor for downtown, so its strange its gone for good.

2026-01-12 03:31:35 UTC

I'm absolutely floored by the videos coming out from Minnesota. What seem to be door to door, (judicial) warrantless raids.

2026-01-10 06:25:22 UTC

Great song with a nice, simple video. A walkman, a bike and a park. Olive Jones - End of Time.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pjjhyMvrbRM

2026-01-10 06:08:28 UTC

I'm heartened and inspired by the incredible acts of bravery by otherwise unexceptional individuals. They redeem this country. May they persevere.

2025-12-26 06:37:09 UTC

I got some amazing Christmas gifts. I feel so fortunate. Particularly happy about some amazing Japanese frankincense. One of my favorite smells.

2025-12-25 04:20:35 UTC

I randomly bought some silver coins from Costco in the middle of last year and then saw prices have gone crazy a couple of weeks back so sold them today. A little unexpected Christmas gift.

2025-12-24 03:00:36 UTC

I've really enjoyed following all the news from 3I/ATLAS. All the science and speculation.

2025-12-23 21:58:32 UTC

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Yes! I still keep in touch with people I met over mailing lists and IRC channels 25 years ago. Those spaces might have been small, but they were very real.

2025-12-23 19:47:52 UTC

I spent years of my life on Usenet, IRC and FTP sites. Now those spaces are veritable ghost towns, while corporate social network are full of ads and bots and search engines throw up AI slop. They're all dead or dying.
But the internet continues to have promise and potential and the fediverse is an example of what's still possible. Real communications and people. Great stuff.

2025-12-21 05:12:07 UTC

I'm glad I live in the part of the city with electricity. Things are normal here.

2025-12-20 23:17:16 UTC

Anytime it rains in the Bay, I think what a huge difference free transit could make here. Driving is terrible and expensive in these conditions, biking and walking isn't a whole lot of fun, but transit is legit unaffordable to many.

2025-12-20 04:31:21 UTC

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Yes, it was by far the most difficult sticking point. As I am hearing it from multiple folks, it's now a 50% pass-through, but capped at $65. That should be a few dollars a month and something tenant advocates believe is manageable for most rent-controlled tenants. Still not ideal, of course, but brings the entire package to a place most people seem satisfied with.

2025-12-20 03:04:14 UTC

Meaningful victory in SF: Seems like there's a deal with the November transit variable rate parcel tax. We're still getting a pass-through, but it's much smaller and manageable.

2025-12-18 19:03:37 UTC

I am tempted to start a lo-fi icecast program. I've done them in the past, when Indymedia was a thing, and it was fun. Even just an hour a week might be enough to scratch that itch.

2025-12-15 05:18:21 UTC

I've been craving Choco Krispis for the past couple of days so I went to the store and got me a box. I'm on my third bowl today and I regret nothing.

2025-12-15 04:47:53 UTC

LLMs might steal content and hallucinate and produce generally untrustworthy content, but they're oh so perfect for the insurance industry. One claim adjuster can now do the job of several, denying claims with seemingly plausible justifications.

2025-12-14 23:38:29 UTC

Noticed another cut bike lock and a two chains yesterday. This was on the ground floor bike rack area, next to the staffed lobby and in plain view of cameras. So three more stolen bikes. Insurance companies must hate our building.
https://ctrvx.net/chema/s/post-67ffa53c52d4225ff44e9d7f3c629bb9.jpeg
https://ctrvx.net/chema/s/post-e87aace366ce10c9967f660c4a5e55fd.jpeg
https://ctrvx.net/chema/s/post-db7e32f5cfa778ef4947b72daaf1c5ee.jpeg

2025-12-12 18:52:49 UTC

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Looked up the lock! It's a Hiplok D1000 Bike Lock. Laughably "designed to withstand an angle grinder, the Hiplok D1000 bike lock offers maximum security for high-risk areas, while remaining lightweight and easy to use." It costs $330+tax, which is absurd considering that it doesn't seem to provide much more security in San Francisco.

2025-12-12 18:41:29 UTC

Another month, another cut lock in my building's garage, all that's left of a stolen bike. This is in a locked, "secured" building in SOMA, here in SF. I lost several bikes the first few years here and finally learned my lesson: I store them either in my apartment or my storage unit. Sadly, it also means I rarely use them, opting for bike share. Hope my stolen Masis are well-used.
https://ctrvx.net/chema/s/post-50c024df1e213dfd2565dde53c6bb3ca.jpg
https://ctrvx.net/chema/s/post-9ccfcac31f04550c3639e84e1a53fb7e.jpg

2025-12-10 20:14:21 UTC

Now that I spend less time on the fedi, I'm not sure there's much value in having two single-user instances (this one and social.sanfranciscan.org). They're complementary in many ways, and that's cool, but maybe I ought to consolidate it all into one.

2025-12-03 17:37:38 UTC

I haven't had mail service in weeks. Our building's mailboxes kept getting broken into, which led USPS suspending mail to our building, forcing tenants to go to the Townsend annex across SOMA to pick up their mail. This has meant waiting 30-45 minutes in line to get a fraction of my mail. I think I am going to have to get a PO Box.

2025-12-02 20:35:07 UTC

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That's right! I'm wearing a coat at my desk and running my electric throw for half the day, like I'm in the middle of Alaska in winter.

2025-12-02 20:33:28 UTC

This has been a crazy year. Work has been particularly intense, with the unexpected November election and preparing to get a new CEO tax on the June ballot. Then there's been a decent amount of travel, both abroad and within California. And then there's the national political climate, which is what it is. I feel very fortunate that I reconnected with the Indigenous radical justice–rooted spiritual mysticism of my youth.

2025-12-02 20:24:18 UTC

It's been crazy cold here in SF. Luna, my quarter Chihuahua dog, hates it. She's been spending 22 hours a day hiding in her bed.

2025-11-22 18:28:08 UTC

I spent the better part of a week in the Indigenous COP30 village. It was a strange, humbling and challenging experience. I've never been in a space with Native individuals from all over the Americas. We had Spanish-speaking, Dutch-speaking, French-speaking and English-speaking Natives in my barrack. Hearing their stories was difficult, made more difficult by the lack of adequate infrastructure. Six showers for 3,000 people. Food lines around the block. I will write more about it soon.

2025-11-04 00:57:42 UTC

In a week's time, I'll be heading to Brazil for the Peoples' Summit towards COP30. I'll be there wearing a couple of hats: giving a presentation on veganic agroecology and Indigenous urbanism with Seed the Commons and preparing a report back for the members of my public sector union employer. I'll be staying at the Indigenous COP village, which is also very exciting. 3,000 relatives, all focused on climate justice.

2025-11-02 07:04:49 UTC

I have a bunch of domain names coming up for renewal and the project I was planning on using them for has stalled. Unsure if I should renew them. One month to decide.

2025-11-02 05:39:06 UTC

I gifted myself a tiny wooden box to store the devotional items I've had since I was a little kid, and it makes me very happy. It also perfectly inside my Zapatista pouch. I was certain it had been lost in the mail, but it ultimately found its way home. I feel like my grandma would approve.

2025-10-27 00:45:55 UTC

This year has been good to me, if only because it's helped me ground myself in Nick Black Elk’s Great Spirit and Juan Diego Talking Eagle’s Tonantzin.

2025-10-26 23:50:57 UTC

- reply

Cool! It seems like a nice place. A bit remote.

2025-10-26 23:20:29 UTC

It seems my great‑grandmother was born and raised in New Mexico and belonged to the Kewa Pueblo. How she later ended up in Guanajuato is a mystery, but it does makes sense that she settled in another Indigenous town with a long artisanal tradition. If true, my grandma (RIP) would probably be eligible for membership, since it was on her maternal side.

2025-10-26 21:01:56 UTC

Last week felt both like an entire month and a single day.

2025-10-16 03:12:14 UTC

So I guess the National Guard is coming to SF...

2025-07-11 06:01:46 UTC

Our local political committee met today and it was good. Not good-good, but good as in they know what's up. They don't have a plan (yet), they're concerned, angry, even scared (how could they not be?), but they're motivated and want to learn and they want to organize. These are the legit Salt of the Earth too. Retirees, nurses, clerks, nonprofit workers. And they bring me joy and hope.

2025-05-03 17:12:28 UTC

I got a ChatGPT account a few weeks back. The motivation was not one I expected:
Earlier this year, I was struggling to settle my insurance claim for last June's hit-and-run collision. I spoke with a few lawyers. They were courteous and gave me a few tips, but ultimately declined to take my case. The expected payouts would be too small. So pro se it was.
Then I realized that both my insurance and the third-party adjuster were using generative AI to handle my claim. Their replies came back too quick, too similar. So I realized I had to step up my game.
I started feeding the system my policy and police report, then some of the correspondence, looking for leverage. It identified a few of leads. Some were hallucinations, but a couple were strong enough to file complaints with California Department of Insurance.
Their mistakes, and the clarity the system provided was enough to put the likely settlement into a range where lawyers became interested. So now I hope I can hand off everything to a professional.
So I guess the lawyers came out ahead, but if it helps close this chapter, I'm all for it.