Because I frequently work on Saturdays and Sundays I sometimes take a half day off on Mondays. Some people get upset if I don’t immediately respond to their Monday morning calls or emails. They can get stuffed.
Call the cops.
Birkenhead New World was selling Hot Cross Buns yesterday.
HOW ARE THESE PEOPLE NOT IN PRISION?
Shuffling the streaming video options ahead of the must watch new season of Slow Horses which starts midweek on Apple TV. Have decided there is no need to subscribe to more than two services at a time, so out goes Prime… which we’ve more or less sucked dry anyway.
As an exercise I asked ChatGPT to write a short blog post in the style of my main billbennett.co.nz website.
It did an OK job but I’m not going to be put in the shade anytime soon.
On Friday afternoon I was asked to make a few minor additions to an otherwise finished and agreed writing job. I was tired so said I’d get them done for Monday morning. It’s now Sunday noon and the muse still hasn’t arrived. This never used to happen to me before I had Covid.
I’ve been writing about infrastructure for the New Zealand Herald since 2013. Here’s a story from this week:
I’ve been writing about infrastructure for the New Zealand Herald since 2013. Here’s a story from this week:
I decided a while ago that for every time I complain about something on social media, I must then post something positive. So here goes:
I got to the conference at the Viaduct Events Centre really early and the coffee that’s in those flask things was really fresh… and surprisingly good.
I can enjoy TV drama, sport and documentaries, but I simply cannot watch any kind of ‘reality TV’.
I’m probably in a minority of one here, but I can live with that.
The last technology news story posed on Stuff.co.nz’s RSS feed was on November 23.
Either the feed is broken (very likely) or the news organisation has completely given up on technology news (still likely, but not quite as likely)
Given all the talk about the Oasis reunion, I’m surprised no music-savvy news subeditor has worked Gas Panic into a headline.
On the other hand, it is quite possibly the worst-ever Oasis track,
Forget AI, VR and Blockchain, the technology that gives me the largest productivity boost is the humble RSS feed.
That and the Bialetti espresso moka pot.
What unsung tech heroes drive your productivity?
Ben Werdmuller and Manton Reece prefer the term social web to Fediverse.
This makes perfect sense to me. Social web does a far better job telling you what to expect, Fediverse is far more abstract.
Will be spending the next couple of days covering the Building Nations conference for the NZ Herald. e
If I get irritating unsolicited email I don’t bother unsubscribing, I just send it straight to the spam folder. Many of the swine ignore unsubscribe anyway. Others use it to verify the address then trade it with other spammers. Sending it to spam trains my mail sorting algorithm and can train your mail provider so you’re doing everyone a favour.
Cognitive dissonance:
On one hand my inner music snob is appalled by the idea of tribute bands.
On the other hand, if you listen closely, a lot of excellent, well known acts are stealth tribute bands. For instance there’s a lot of Beatles tunes and ideas hidden in Oasis' best albums.
My homemade Chicken Mulligatawny soup is a favourite in our house. I worried that my recipe was too inauthentic to even be considered Mulligatawny, but apparently the concept is quite loose, so there’s plenty of leeway.
Pinging social media
When I post a new story on my main website: [billbennett.co.nz ](billbennett.co.nz ), it pings Micro.blog which, in turn, works Fediverse magic to ping Mastodon and BlueSky.
What’s interesting is that Micro.blog picks up the ping immediately. Even when at its slowest we are talking about a few seconds.
On the other hand there are always delays going from Micro.blog to Mastodon and BlueSky. Usually a few minutes… but they can be much longer. The worst I’ve noticed is around 100 minutes.
I’d be interested if you have any insight into why this can be so variable.
When people say “things are turning to custard” they mean that’s a bad thing, but I love custard. I’d be quite happy - and probably full - if everything really did turn to custard,
Looking at the diary on my laptop, I can see I have written “save this date” on the Wednesday two weeks from now. Which is good… or it would be if only I could remember what it was that I’m saving the date for.
It’s coming up to 2 years since I left Twitter and I still can’t decide whether Mastodon or Bluesky is the better alternative. Bluesky has more activity, more of my colleagues and readers. Mastodon has a different vibe and subject focus. Neither is as good as Twitter was for story leads. Looks like I need to stick with both for now.
Have an “AI-powered” HP Omnibook for a short-term loan. The hardware looks and feels great.
This is the first time in a couple of years that I’ve attempted to get work done with Windows 11 after moving back to MacOS about 10 years ago and I’m feeling overwhelmed by Windows' built-in distractions.
Here’s a question for the sad folk who defend Morris Dancing.
Ask yourself why the English Rugby Team doesn’t do a Morris Dance before a Test Match.
A correction
There’s a small correction in this week’s newsletter.
I was looking at last year’s Commerce Commission Telecommunications Monitoring Report while writing about this year’s report and inadvertently used last year’s Starlink numbers in the original text of this week’s newsletter.
You may wonder why I was looking at last year’s report. Well… there may be a interesting story there, but it needs more fact checking a research before I go into print.
“She never told her love, But let concealment, like a worm i’ the bud, Feed on her damask cheek: she pined in thought, And with a green and yellow melancholy She sat like Patience on a monument, Smiling at grief.” — Twelfth Night, Act 2, Scene 4