Quick bits
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My favourite AI hallucination this week: I am a former Prime Minister of Belgium.
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After abandoning my budgeting app, I resumed my fuzzy math library — and then abandoned that too! It is thoroughly difficult and an incredible amount of work. What is the next project I’ll abandon?
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When using a map, do you keep it pointing north, or do you rotate it in the direction you are facing like a mad person?
First workweek in London
This was my first week at work in London. Some observations so far:
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I am exhausted. The cognitive effort of learning to live in a new country is significant. It’s the small things! How do I sort the trash? How much would this cost in euros? Where is everything in the new supermarket? Which supermarket do I use? How do I get stuff delivered to my place? How much am I spending on transit? What supermarket coffee is decent?
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London traffic is so much less aggressive than Berlin. The worst I’ve seen is an electric motorcycle on a towpath (if you do this, you’re a dick), but unlike Berlin, car drivers and cyclists don’t seem to want to deliberately run you over.
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I’ve seen driverless cars here, and I’m not sure how I feel about that — probably worth being extra careful around those.
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Rush hour in London is intense. I learned that the Oxford Circus entrances get closed during evening rush hour to prevent overcrowding. Luckily, Bond Street is close enough, and I prefer the Elizabeth Line anyway (Central Line isn’t made for people of my height either).
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I don’t have my external display yet, and I’m quite struggling to get much work done on with so little screen real estate. Just two more weeks until I move in to my proper rental — I can’t wait!
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Being in London made me realise how white Berlin is.
Entertainment
- I watched Dogma1 at long last. It is messy, but nonetheless entertaining. I watched it on Mooby!
Links
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Why Is Every Streaming Blockbuster So Bad? (Patrick (H) Willems): I’ve been wondering the same!
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He Won’t Stop Building a Map to an Imaginary Place (People Make Games)
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The Gen Z Backlash to Big Tech (Hasan Minhaj)
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You Have to Poop in the Eiffel Tower (Hank Green, vlogbrothers): Poetry.
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Dogma, written and directed by Kevin Smith (View Askew Productions, 1999). ↩︎