markjgsmith

2024/08/14 #

• Whatever the new regime was from yesterday didn’t last long. As predicted it just ended up being turned into more warpathing. Change all the rules so you can blame the victim while pretending to help, then just as the victim is getting used to the new rules, change them back again, and once again don’t waste the opportunity to blame the victim on the return leg. Make maximum equal minimum, and start the whole escallation process off again. That’s pretty much what happened over the past few days.

  I managed to listen to several podcasts and found a bit of time to fix a few bugs in the reusable workflows feature, but there was no way to write any podcast reviews because extra time I had was consumed figuring out their latest regime, and fielding their blame and harrassment and all the bullcrap that comes with that.

  Looks like it’s back to the beginning of another starvation cycle today, and all the resource restriction shit that that entails. I’ll likely have to start conserving and rationing everything soon, so I’ll effectively be blocked again.

  Going to try to make a bit of progress on the reusable workflow feature this morning. #

• The thing today is grumpy men spitting as they pass on front of me, that’s happened several times as I’ve been standing here, trying to debug the reusable workflows feature. By regular offenders but also some that I’ve never seen before. Also somewhat more worryingly throwing lit cigarettes at me. That’s what prompted me to write this note.

  World definitely on the warpath again, all from grumpy men at the minute, and wouldn’t you know it, coincides with the start of another starvation cycle. What are the chances?

  When I said something after the cigarette projectile, someone shouted 'Come!'. Pretty sure the anger goading and starvation will be followed up with some weird ass sex goading shit. That’s what usually happens. #

Today’s links:

• Google’s $1,799 Pixel 9 Pro Fold arrives with 8-inch inner display and Gemini - I’m very intrigued by these new foldable phones from Google. They have almost comparable specs to laptop! 16GB of RAM and 512GB storage. The screen unfolded is small compared to a laptop, but 8inch is huge for a phone. And it appears each pane can operate independently, so you could have an editir in one and a browser in the other. Since it’s Android and thus Linux does that mean you can get a bash shell? A small foldout keyboard and perhaps you could do dev work on it? And the AI features look very snazy in the promo video. Seems pricey though, same price as the MacBook Air! techcrunch.com #

• Sunil Bharti Mittal: who is the Indian tycoon now BT’s largest shareholder? - I’m not saying this is bad per se, but it is a bit suprising that a nation state would allow it’s communications network to be mostly owned by foreign interests. It’s certainly a lot of trust to put in someone. On the other hand, if the trust is merited, having run the main comms network in a country as large as India might be great in terms of experience in getting high performance and value for money. It would be interesting to hear what the sentiment is from current BT staff members. www.theguardian.com #

• How Spotify started -- and killed -- Latin America’s podcast boom - I find the whole Spotify approach to podcasting very puzzling. CEO Daniel Ek has seemed to be in interviews I've listenned to, a complete audio nerd, with tons and tons of great ideas for podcasting, yet his approach has seemed very anti-podcasting, more of a take over of the entire medium, than helping to build the whole ecosystem up. I don’t get it, why isn’t he putting effort into the whole podcasting 2.0 movement? Seems like an opportunity missed for everyone. It will be interesting to see how the podcasting scene in Latin America develops. restofworld.org #