Querydash

…which just means the US government will spend millions on an old Carnival Cruise ship (out of service due to never quite being able to eradicate norovirus), slap some paint on it, name it after an Icelandic king (possibly that jerk who caused a riot throwing gold off a cliff), and send it over.

There’s an episode of How It’s Made that shows those being assembled. I watched it last week, very soothing.

The cracker-baking oven appears to be a 65-foot long rolling conveyor belt oven… thingie.

And the peanut butter is deposited in a circle.

And I love that for you, and for many others.

I have just accepted that my sinuses unfortunately contain a portal to another dimension that opens whenever I get a cold. It’s where a scientifically impossible amount of snot comes from, and also where the neti pot water goes to.

I once tried a neti pot and the water all disappeared in my skull. Nowhere to be found. “This is not how this is supposed to work” I thought to myself, muzzily.

Three hours later, just as I was drifting off to sleep, it all gushed out of my pillow-side nostril.

So. Trust issues now.

Did you know there are two different versions of classic Nancy Drews? The originals from the 1930s, then the republish in the 1950s. When they dumbed down Nancy.

It’s fascinating.

…the extra upsell shit they’ve wedged in there is less great, but if you can just laser-focus on those four elements, it’s great.

They’ve deliberately crammed the UI with sparkly gimmick shit, but it’s all ignorable once you have your presets down.

I’ve only just started using Opal (after trying many other apps), but I’m finding it to be surprisingly effective.

The combo of a sleep period, opt-in timer blocks, blocked apps and always-allowed apps is really working. As is the cooldown screen.

I’m very pleasantly surprised, UX-wise.

That was a whole Douglas Coupland short story, right there. Setting, messaging, individual characters - what a trip.

Quite uncomfortable these people aren’t fictional, honestly.

Rip gambling and betting out by the roots.

That’s not a mini-profile. That is an entire article.

Stancil aside: anyone doing basic research to assess your trustworthiness before engaging can pull up this post (confirming a mini-profile pitch) then look up the article you wrote.

I don’t think “yep, trustworthy” will be a common reaction.

Katie and Ravi organized a huge community response meeting within 6 hours of ICE snatching someone on their turf.

They are not fucking around.

Looks like a great screen for projecting Orwell quotes onto.

I’d also like to know how flammable it is.

a close up of a man 's face wearing a hat and a white shirt . Alt: a close up of a man 's face wearing a hat and a white shirt . Alex from A Clockwork orange.

I am bewildered as to why people do not realize he’s just a modern droog.

Oh come on, not remotely the same thing.

Rude to a waiter is a good litmus test, but it’s also character-based and intentional; there’s not really a way to be “accidentally” rude to a waiter.

Meanwhile, doors don’t shut for lots of reasons.

She’s got a grudge about a specific cafe door.

We don’t have the muscle memory. The half-drunk ahjusshis who poured into the streets didn’t need to think it through - the phrase “martial law” reactivated protest instincts that had been dormant for 30 years, but snapped right back into place when needed.

We don’t have that. Yet.

Do it, but also…

FUCK. It’s just another example of “I knew someone was doing illegal horrible things that damaged other people this whole time, but I think of it as currency rather than something that needs to be brought to justice ASAP”.

Girls as goods at every goddamn level.

Also stickiness: if they manage to burrow AI into enough products and services, they bet that companies will keep paying annual subscription fees versus setting aside a multiples-higher budget to scrape all the AI out.

a man wearing a top hat is drinking milk from a glass Alt: a man wearing a top hat is drinking milk from a glass. It’s Alex from A Clockwork Orange.

Can we please stop platforming the droogs.

Ideally before they reach the inevitable ultraviolence part of the story arc.

The symbol artist Prince used when he switched to “The Artist Formerly Known as Prince”. It’s a black image on a white background, combining the male symbol, the female symbol (aligned vertically with the circle on top and arrow/cross pointing straight down) and a kind of bugle-shaped flourish going from left to right. i’m sure there’s a better explanation of its meaning somewhere, but that’s what it looks like

You know what’s going to be a real challenge to embroider on a prison uniform?

oh, I didn’t mean you! Point taken, but more: what an awful conundrum for her family.

They’ve made their wishes known, but they are absolutely going to get drowned out by a soulless billionaire who wants to influence political decisions with the image of a tragic, beautiful blonde.

…didn’t her family expressly ask that her image not be used for political purposes? Like, really early on.

Progressives embrace progress for people. Users. Individuals and communities. Not tech for tech’s sake.

Some AI is capable of meaningfully aiding users, but it’s far from the core use cases being pushed by Silicon Valley. And in a lot of cases it’s doing tangible harm.

Adoption will fail.

This assessment is how I fight my monthly impulse to buy a bread machine, BTW.

1. No. Batter bread takes 2 hours, no-knead takes a day but low effort. I can make (or buy) bread
2. Zojirushi is reliable, I trust them
3. I live in an apartment and already own bread stuff

Therefore: no $300 machine

And to be clear: curation has a few steps.

1. consider whether the tech improves a task. Does it save time? Money? Effort? Don’t ballpark, figure it out.

2. how likely is it this tech will flip to a subscription model or stop working?

3. Holistically, does this tech improve your current life?

I keep circling around the idea that we have to make abstinence and self-restraint cool again.

(…no, not THAT kind of abstinence. People should be having way more sex, actually.)

But a more thoughtful, user-centered approach to tech and services. Careful curation. Avoid early adoption. Abstain.

So here’s the thing with user adoption of new tech: you get one first bite at that apple. If the apple is sour or rotted or even just mealy, the user remembers.

They launched the AI stuff too broadly and too soon. The tech is a gimmick, not a solve for user problems.

Greed & user behavior fail.

a man in a bowler hat says " right right right " Alt: Alex, a glowering man in a bowler hat, says " right right right " to his group of droog friends. Clip from A Clockwork Orange

Can we please stop platforming the misogynistic, aesthetics-obsessed, argot-warping droogs.

Preferably before they get enough of a foothold to really get into the ultraviolence.

I quietly said it in a moment of kindness to my high school nemesis, before a group presentation. Discreet hand gesture and everything.

She pursed her lips and piously announced “It’s ASH WEDNESDAY, Query”. Loud enough for the entire room to hear.

We were in the same CCD and confirmation class.

“The Left” tends to like applications of new tech that are useful to large groups of users, and are ideally decentralized or owned by cooperative groups rather than corporations or monopolies.

It’s not just the focus on the technology that’s the problem - it’s the entire tech biz/profit model.

Wrong question: Is there an application of a new technology that “the left” is excited about - yes! Lots!

But tech for its own sake misses the point. No tech’s worthwhile until it proves a benefit for a user & the current wave of tech is benefiting a very small group - it’s vexing everyone else.