This was my quickest solving of Cross|word by far. Feels pretty good.
This was my quickest solving of Cross|word by far. Feels pretty good.
Want to read: Computer Power and Human Reason by Joseph Weizenbaum 📚
Micro.blog State of the Platform is happening on YouTube. A surprise demo is currently happening!
Micro Camp links
Getting some chores done and preparing for Micro Camp. Working out my window set-up, between Zoom, YouTube, and a spare browser.
Edit: I now know that we’re going back to the Help forum chat for during the sessions. I’ve used the web app Mac feature for the chat:
Another Micro Camp, another chance to win an awesome prize:
All the prizes are amazing, so you really can’t go wrong.
Fully agreed with Jean on this. Good luck!
Such good news to see Kimberly Hirsh joining the Micro.blog team! 🎉
Also fantastic news from the same post:
Vincent has also been at work behind the scenes to improve the admin features in our platform, with the hope that some of it can be available to more community members.
Yet more great work from Vincent, and also a good sign of the team taking the well-proven careful and considered approach when making significant changes to the platform.
Brad Enslen has made a new linkblog. An easy choice to follow.
Tonight’s D&D was another great one. It’s like drinking a late coffee — honestly it reminds me of when I’m in the flow with @TIL.
For new users who join Micro.blog starting today, it’s turned on by default.
— Manton Reece, New AI global setting
The switch for the setting is good.
I continue to feel sad about the broken nature of our world of technology such that opt-out is deemed not just preferable, but essential.
Gregory Alvarez said a lot in Living Like It’s 99: No Social Media, No Smartphone, and I’m not going to quote anything in particular right now. The whole thing is worth a read.
(h/t @jamesvandyne)
Gibberish doesn’t have those features, it’s meant to be easy to understand. I want my users to use almost all of the features in Gibberish, not just 10%. Users are supposed to click around the Gibberish app, look at the post information etc, and ask, “Is that all?” That’s a good thing.
— Zhenyi Tan, Gibberish Is Now Available on TestFlight
The app is an intriguing idea in its own right. However, I love seeing people make anything with this mentality and am keen to support those efforts.
The newest video from the folks at Lux, about the latest update regarding their upcoming video app, Kino is a good example as to why I am so happy to largely buy from them sight unseen. Clear and simple communication is one of those creative tricks; it takes so. much. work to produce such a thing.
In Manners Maketh Man, Davey Craney states:
This bitter growing rumbling spiteful hosepiped rage directed towards these truly inconsequential matters. Imagine the multitude of ways this bitter buffon could channel his energy better within his day.
I largely agree. However, the word “growing” caught my eye.
Davey, I like a lot of what you have written here. Regarding the position of “nowadays” and “the political landscape”, though, I have to disagree. I see a lot of this viewpoint — to me it’s similar to the mentality that leads to making things great again — and I can hardly ever agree.
What made the multiple bad experiences I had in service 20 years ago happen? Or, more importantly, when my cousin was racially abused as a child by other children? Did somebody travel back in time from now and poison the well? Nah I don’t think so. Instead, I think this is just looking for patterns where there are none; seeking certainty because, as an animal, we hate uncertainty.
I’m happy you happen to have the right mix of personhood to handle stress and disappointment in such a cordial manner; not only do I strive, as you do, to always maintain my composure in this way I also believe we’d all be better off if everybody attempted to do so. However I do think it’s important to remember that not everybody is the same and that’s ok. An assertion that your way is undeniably correct seems a little short-sighted, given the vast differences in the lives of people even on our tiny island — again, I am happy for you but I see a lot of this viewpoint as well and I’m not comfortable with casting aspersions in this way.
Your view seems to be “This happened to me? Things must be getting bad.” and that idea makes complete sense when looking to make order out of the chaos of life. I’m not convinced, though, that it’s a particularly helpful way to process these events.
I’m probably missing your specific, nuanced point; it just caught my eye in the way I’ve seen some of the more generalised aspects of these issues presented by others. And I struggle to reconcile that with my own experiences, overall.
Improved a few things with the recommendations page linked from a Micro.blog profile. Now includes an OPML download link too.
Excellent work. Raising the visibility and ease of access to OPML files strengthens web feeds as an alternative to silo feeds.
I was looking into creating OPML files for @TIL; I’m still going to do so, only now I do not need to wait until I have accomplished this to launch related features. Instead, I’ll immediately use this MB mechanism for those features.
Idea: Use the new MB Recommendations feature to make an expanded version of Micro Monday.
It’s a way to curate a list of favorite sites to link to from your blog.
— Manton, Recommendations and blogrolls on Micro.blog
One of my favourite parts of this feature is that the recommendations lists are available on a web page. Expected yet still great implementation which favours the web.
The big wigs at Apple should take a leaf out of Jen Simmons’ book.
It would be a much wiser approach as compared to “Web developers will sacrifice your children to the devil.”
I wrote a short post which I’m half-regretting and was then inspired by the ensuing conversation to waffle on a bit.
⁂
I’ve tried to become much more careful when talking about this type of thing, not least because MB is in a bit of an odd place; plenty of people are trying to volunteer but the tools to do so are limited, whilst there is no way to know whether such efforts are going to be bolstered by fully-equipped, paid official help.
Whilst I think there is a lot we in the community can talk about regarding these issues and generally have greater interaction to help foster the best environment possible, I also believe a lot of that particular work won’t be worth much if the team isn’t able to reciprocate in the best way.
This situation might be much better than I believe it to be, and I just haven’t been involved enough with conversations that happen elsewhere — this is mostly how I see it based on the public spaces for the community.
I am looking forward to better conversations about these issues, especially beyond just text and timelines, and hope to see some of my doubts proven wrong.
I can’t pick a particular line to quote from It’s Okay to Not Write so I suggest you read the whole thing.
I think Lady Madonna is my favourite Beatles song. 🎶
Listening to Eight Days A Week 🎶
Currently listening to a 1 hour loop of the main theme from Shadow Of War. 🎶
It is soothing like a lofi ambient mix, whilst also lively enough that it helps me to settle into work, like a lighter version of Einaudi’s music (his work is my go-to for work).