advertising tv · 2 comments · 300 words
Matt Webb has a whimsical blog about buying unused TV advertising space. There are a bunch of shows on streaming services which have ad-breaks unfilled. Mostly, I assume, because everyone hates adverts and no one can afford to buy anything right now. Matt proposes that he hyper-targets his friends and family with fun little messages. I think that's a nice idea. The cost of TV advertising has…
Continue reading →vegan vegetarian · 600 words
I've been a vegetarian for 21 years. And, last year, I became (mostly) vegan. Because my bum kept falling off. I'd been getting frequent stomach cramps and "gastrointestinal distress" which culminated in a nice man from the NHS shoving a camera up me to see if my guts were rotten. They were not (aside from a couple of small polyps). After various food diaries and testing exclusion diets, my…
Continue reading →Book Review · 1 comment · 350 words
This is an entertaining, useful, and thoroughly tedious book. Imagine your time machine went wrong and you were stranded in the past. How could you "invent" the technology needed to improve the world, At its heart is a potted history of every piece of technology required for modern civilisation. Short and entertaining chapters which discuss everything from leather tanning to electromagnetism.…
Continue reading →Book Review · 1 comment · 200 words
The novelisation of the TV series! OK, OK, the book was written nearly 40 years before the Netflix miniseries. But it is uncanny how close the two are. Most adaptation are really "creative reimaginings" of the source material. Taking liberties with the source material, introducing new, relatable characters, and monkeying around with the plot. But the series is almost beat-for-beat the same as…
Continue reading →contacts Social Media Social Networks · 16 comments · 300 words · Viewed ~352 times
I don't have a great memory. I often meet people who remember me, but I don't remember them. I've had whole conversations with people who clearly know me, but on whom I've drawn a blank. My phone's address book has a "notes" field, and mine is peppered with little aide memoirs about the people I've met. Things like this: And, I guess we've all got a contact like this, right? (Sorry,…
Continue reading →4 comments · 600 words · Viewed ~6,052 times
Texas is under a mountain of snow. As the energy grid struggles, the law of supply-and-demand kicks in. Electricity prices climb ever higher. The wholesale cost rises. And doesn't stop rising. Some people signed up to "Griddy" a service which charges users the wholesale rate for electricity. In normal times, that might be a good deal. Cut out the middle-man and get access to market rates. But…
Continue reading →blockchain grift nft scam · 19 comments · 900 words · Viewed ~17,366 times
(A hastily written and grumpy post.) Another day, another Blockchain Bullshit project. Someone "claimed" one of my Tweets and added it to the Blockchain. I'm not particularly happy about that. Nor am I happy with the hoops I had to jump through to contact the company and remove my work. You can read the whole sorry thread on Twitter. But, mostly, I'm unhappy with this whole scammy…
Continue reading →Book Review time travel · 2 comments · 300 words
This is either the greatest time-travel novel ever - or a load of monkeyshine. And I'm not sure which! What if Quantum Leap was an Agatha Christie novel? That's the basic plot - but, in this, Sam is only leaping between characters in the same story. The whodunnit plot is brilliantly worked out - and has the requisite number of twists-and-turns. But the quasi-time-travel requires the reader to…
Continue reading →culture leadership MSc · 6 comments · 1,000 words · Viewed ~202 times
As part of my MSc, I'm reading a lot of "Leadership" books. They're all pretty bad - but they have one common thesis; it is essential to improve your company culture. I'm not sure if I agree. I feel completely divorced from most forms of company culture. I find the way that these books talk about changing people is pretty creepy and disingenuous. That's my problem, not theirs. I prefer to look…
Continue reading →Movie Review · 500 words
So, farewell Christopher Plummer. This might be one of the most bizarre role he's ever played, in this charming - but flawed - production of the stage classic. I met my wife at a University production of Royal Hunt of The Sun. As an anniversary gift, she got me the DVD. The film is incredible - the DVD is terrible. So this review will be in two parts. The Film Would your lust for gold drive…
Continue reading →rant tech web · 4 comments · 250 words · Viewed ~376 times
My laptop ran out of space yesterday. Why? Useless ZIP files! I needed to download a Windows Virtual Machine in order to upgrade the firmware on a device (long story). The official Windows 10 VM is 20GB TWENTY GIGA-FUCKING-BYTES!!! It downloaded reasonably quickly - yay fibre! But I had to wait almost as long to unzip the bloody thing. Whereupon, I discovered that zipping the file - and it was …
Continue reading →MSc · 550 words
Before GameStop became a memestock (what even is 2021) - it was the subject of another popular meme. The First National Bank of GameStop. This got me thinking. In the UK, retail banking is (mostly) free. Rather than pay interest to depositors, banks give away free ATM withdrawls, free Direct Debits, free transfers to other accounts. Some premium accounts cost money. In return, the customer…
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