FeedCity

I abhor body shaming even if it's of someone whose ideas I find unacceptable.

John Gruber blogging about the app Tea that is near the top of the App Store despite security problems:

I strongly suspect that, although Google hasn’t removed Tea from the Play Store, they’ve delisted it from discovery other than by searching for it by name or following a direct link to its listing. That both jibes with what I’m seeing on the Play Store top lists, and strikes me as a thoughtful balance between the responsibilities of an app store provider.

This is a great way to handle it if true. Developers (like users on social media) are not guaranteed amplification by an algorithm.

Disclaimer: I own zero stock in AI companies, except for mutual funds and some Apple stock I've held for decades for sentimental and tax reasons.

Wednesday evening session in Belfast

The calendar on the wall is reminding me to remind you that if you like a (dailyish) #affirmation to support you and your spirit and mental health– I run automated, parallel Mastodon and Bluesky bots for that purpose. Feel free to follow and share, if you care to: https://thisbot.day/@affirmations https://bsky.app/profile/thisbot.day

After the experiments of June and July, I say it’s time to switch gears, do something a little bit different and take my ass away from the screen and up the mountains. As part of my year-long plan to get back into proper shape, I decided to take hiking seriously again and wh...

Wednesday afternoon session in Belfast

This is the rendering of my linkblog in WordPress. This is a major milestone. We have in WordPress, what you see on the Links page on scripting.com, implemented entirely in WordPress.

BTW, I say ChatGPT instead of "AI" because I'm not comfortable characterizing it as intelligence. Deeper you get into it you learn that these beings whatever they are have serious character flaws that are counter-intelligent.

Another benefit of ChatGPT. It forces you to think and express yourself in tight logical language. Garbage in garbage out. All of a sudden rigorous thinking is required to get a result. This is very different from social media, where garbage is rewarded.

Last night's podcast about how AI is a revolution. I had just listened to a New Yorker podcast interview with the EIC at Wired, saying the hype was bullshit. You hear this from journalists a lot. The only way you can conclude this, imho, is if you aren't actually paying attention. It's as if you were a journalist in the 60s and said the story of the Beatles is that their hair must be fake, no one actually wears their hair like that. OK, whatever you say, but have you listened to the freaking music??

Lobby aquarium fish.

I got out of all stocks last year. If we had money to burn, I might invest in Figma. Seems like they’ve got things figured out. But also there’s too much hype around anything in the tech industry. Established companies will be fine. OpenAI will be fine. Everyone else, who knows. 💸

The Onion: Historians Confirm Lewis And Clark Set Out On Expedition To Justify Purchase Of Expensive Camping Equipment:

You can imagine how, if you had just blown the equivalent of $80,000 in today’s money on a keelboat you didn’t need, you too might feel stupid not taking it out on the river.

🤣

This special edition of Tigana looks beautiful. I can’t justify the price, but I would like to get a hardcover version one day, to go with my old paperback. It’s a favorite I haven’t read in forever.

I’ve been pulled in different directions lately and have a lot to catch up. But I did write some code today. Also working on something that uses ID.me, which I’ll hopefully announce tomorrow if they approve my OAuth access. Argh, gatekeepers!