Darren

My wife and I are finally in a place where we’re financially comfortable enough to book tickets to things. So we’re seeing Alanis Morissette in Cardiff in July, then we’re off to the Royal Albert Hall in September for a performance of Holst’s Planets.

These aren’t big things by any means, but her mobility isn’t great and our income hasn’t been amazing, so it’s nice to have something on the calendar that isn’t a reminder of a bill that needs paying.

Has Anna added it to her archive “store” yet?

I have ADHD, so a massive bonus of a smart watch for me is not having to look at my phone every time I get a notification. If I do, there’s a strong likelihood that I’ll just keep on looking at it. Having notifications go to my watch means I only get my phone out for important ones.

Also, an alarm clock that taps my wrist without waking up my wife at 5:30am is worth its weight in gold.

Split Fiction came out a few days ago and is excellent. My wife and I are a good way into it already and are enjoying it every bit as much as we enjoyed It Takes Two.

Yep. Welder in a previous life, and can’t go to travelling fun fairs without casting an eye over the rides.

Yes Jeff!

Honestly, the base level M1 mini is still one hell of a computer. I’m typing this on one right now, complete with only 8gb RAM, and it hasn’t yet felt in any way underpowered.

Encoded some flac files to m4a with XLD this morning. 16 files totalling 450mb; it took 10 seconds to complete. With my work flows I can’t imagine needing much more power than that.

it felt more like what you’d expect from a labor-of-love indie game

I thought that too. It was like a long cutscene and I loved it.

If only the goal of the tech firms was to make the world better while making enough money to achieve this, rather than their goal being to make as much shareholder value as possible while ekeing out improvements on a schedule that fits their need to maximise profits.

This past month has felt like two years.

I was thinking about this the other day, while loading music onto my modded iPod. If I could go back in time and stick a pin in tech growth, it would be 2006, before the iPhone came along. Don’t get me wrong, I think the explosion in smartphones that came after the first iPhone is broadly good and has the ability to be democratising. But that’s not really what shook out.

The world in 2006 had digital cameras and small, portable music players. We had SMS for easily staying in touch with each other, and we did have smartphones - just not as smart as they are now. From a communication perspective, we mostly had what we needed. Hell, by 2006 3G connections were pretty universal, so we could do video calling if we had a phone that supported it. Having a bunch of devices that all did specific things meant that we spread our reliance around a number of companies. Now, with our camera, MP3 player, computer, and communication device all being controlled by one company, if that company turns to shit we have to jump to a less shitty firm, but we have to abandon all of the conveniences to which we’ve grown accustomed.

As someone who recently jumped from 15 years of iOS to GrapheneOS, this last one is particularly painful.

And sure, everything has gotten a lot faster since then, but there’s a part of me that kind of enjoys the inconvenience of slower, finicky hardware that sometimes needs a nudge in the right direction.

I’ve been using Moshidon. One day I’ll find an app as good as Ivory on iOS, but in the meantime Moshidon is fine.

I have a Brother printer at work that’s old enough that I don’t have a single thumb drive small enough to work with it. Haven’t tried in a while, but iirc it tops out at 8gb and the smallest I have is 32gb.

But it works fine over the network, so I’ll just carry on ignoring the firmware update it’s been begging me to install for two years.

Safari + AdBlock + Vinegar makes for a great YouTube experience.

That said, Freetube on my Pixel is wonderful.

I had my 13 mini for two years, and in that time I never once felt like the battery was on the way out. At worst it would be around 20% when I went to bed.

I had a 13 mini until a month ago. It’s one hell of a phone, and honestly, I’d still be using it if iPhones didn’t keep their value so well and Apple weren’t such a shit company.

I don’t necessarily think it’s underrated because it’s the underpinning of a major religion, but;

Existence is suffering.

The first noble truth of Buddhism that I don’t think enough people really grasp.

On first read, those three words sound like an angsty teen being all sad, but a deeper exploration tells us that to expect a life of ease and unending contentment is to set ourselves up for continued disappointment and anguish.

When I first really absorbed the meaning of this it actually made me feel incredible. I am alive, therefore my knee hurts. I am alive, so I’m worried for the welfare of those I love. And when I considered it even further I began to understand that this is something that connects us all, regardless of our status in the world. From the most powerful kings and presidents to those sleeping rough begging for change; we are all fundamentally the same.

For me, it’s really helped me to push through boundaries that have stopped me being more assertive with those who are more powerful than I am; managers, bosses and such. My boss worries about stuff the same way I do. It’s probably different stuff, sure, but he’s still experiencing existential pain.

I am not a Buddhist, nor am I particularly spiritual. But I take a lot of inspiration from that phrase.

I say “That’ll do pig” almost daily. It’s basically a tic for me at this point.

Hands down, Ron Swanson from Parks & Recreation.

He’s a libertarian who firmly believes in his right to self-determination, but doesn’t force that view on those around him; he lets them live their own lives and is there to help them whenever they may need. I do somewhat envy his ability to ignore the meaningless bullshit around modern life, how he paddles his own canoe and strives not to be in anyone’s way.

But most importantly, he’s fond of pretty, dark haired women, and breakfast food, and who can argue with that?

I didn’t.

I must admit, I don’t really know how it all works and am mostly just blindly picking my way through, appreciating what works at this moment in time.