My RSI is back with a vengeance. As an experiment, I am writing these weeknotes by dictating everything. You’ll have to forgive the spelling and grammar mistakes, as I don’t intend to edit extensively.
The voice control functionality in macOS is pretty good. I am able to use my computer in a hands-free way. Using voice control sure has a learning curve, but at least it gives me a way to get some stuff done. For fun, I have added several custom voice commands, including the Star Trek-like “open a channel” and “on screen.” It is a little finicky, but I am happy to have it.
Let’s talk about gremlins!
My calendar started giving me notifications for driving directions. I don’t own a car. I don’t even have a drivers license. I have never used driving directions. I even get notifications when it’s time to leave by car. Why?!
In the past I’ve had trouble with notifications not showing up. This appears to be fixed now, but now some notifications appear twice. My computer is mocking me.
Google Maps seems to believe that I am a tourist in Berlin, as evidenced by a hotel recommendations as well as suggestions for touristy places to visit. Never mind that I’ve lived here for nearly 10 years.
My internal MacBook Pro speaker has mysteriously reappeared as an audio output device, despite Apple support saying I should take in the laptop for repair. I’m happy to have it back, although for the first time ever, the internal speakers screeched a distorted square wave sound. It was quite disconcerting, and makes me think that not everything is quite all right.
On occasion, applications (both desktop and command-line ones) take a very long time to start up. A text editor shouldn’t take more than one minute to start, but it does. I am unable to figure out why.
Perhaps I need to accelerate the timeline for replacing my personal MacBook Pro.
A few weeks ago, my employer Shopify sent a parcel from Italy, but the parcel was shipped from Italy to the US first, and then from the US back to Europe. I thought this was ridiculous, but then I got another parcel from Shopify, sent from the US containing “made in Belgium” snacks. Logistics, right?
I am disappointed in what my employer posted on Twitter for Earth Day: see this tweet. Shopify is doing more and more with cryptocurrencies, and specifically the proof-of-work ones. Claiming that they’re “all for saving the planet” is greenwashing. Yikes.
Speaking of cryptocurrencies: People on Twitter have been dropping the .eth suffix from their Twitter names. Making your Ethereum Wallet address publicly known (via the .eth domain in the Ethereum name system) was maybe not a smart move: all transactions on the blockchain are public, so these people essentially published their financial history. Yikes for them.
More yikes: Binance’s Twitter swastika hastag. Introducing that branded hashtag on Hitler’s birthday is, at best, mind-bogglingly ignorant. But cryptocurrencies seem to be generally aligned with the far right: the Bored Ape Yacht Club logo cannot be a coincidence.
WandaVision had such a good start, but the end of the season was a disappointment.
I started watching The X Files (from season 1). It’s good, though very 90s, occasionally rather trope-y, and episode quality is inconsistent. It’s good enough for me to keep on watching into season two.
Links:
Blogging and the heat death of the universe (Robin Rendle)
Increasing the surface area of blogging (Tom Critchlow)
Ain’t No Party Like a Third Party (Jeremy Keith)
Tech Won’t Save Us: We Can’t Allow Tech Solutions to Delay Climate Action (Molly Taft, Paris Marx)
Transhumanism (Philosophy Tube): This one feels relevant in current events!
Blockchain stuff: