Microblogvember 2022, Day 30: I am having to watch online cybersecurity safety training videos. They suck, and the questions at the end are poorly worded.

Embedding Toots in a Blog Post

Sometimes I ask dumb questions:

Sometimes, kind people humour me:

Thank you, @jameskoole@indieweb.social

I can’t sleep so I’m reading my book, Principles. I’m at the section where there are glowing references to amazing “shapers”, such as Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, and Elon Musk. Yeah, those latter two are so amazing. 🙄 This book is perhaps not ageing well.

We Need a New Approach to Social Platforms

The Elon-gate’d Man | Jared White:

Jared White mounts a solid argument as to where we have gone wrong with big tech celebrity, and talks about how me might be able to do better in the future.

with this maturity has to come broader awareness that Big Tech can’t simply act like 21st century echoes of the robber barons. Either the tech sector must demonstrate its ability to police itself and show good corporate governance and a willingness to let bottom-up creativity and entrepreneurship flourish in the marketplace of ideas, or we must call for increased regulatory scrutiny on all fronts.

…

And for the love of all that is holy, we must rid ourselves of this absurd myth that a single person just shows up one day with a skip in their step and a spark of genius in their brain to change everything overnight. Never again should we fall for an Elizabeth Holmes. Never again should we fall for an Adam Neumann. Never again should we fall for a Sam Bankman-Fried. Never again should we fall for a Mark Zuckerberg.

Doing the same thing again, with a different company, a different founder offering a story of salvation, a different VC backer… any of that will only take us to the same place we’ve been, and has been proven to fail.

Let’s build something different. Let’s build interop.

Microblogvember 2022, Day 29: Is it wrong that I’m waiting for our fish to die? I don’t want to kill them, but if they were to not make it much longer, I’d probably be okay with that. 😬

A reminder that now is a great time to sign up to @hemisphericviews at One Prime Plus Dot Com to take advantage of our version of Black Friday/Cyber Monday!

When considering investing time and effort into a service, check to see whether it is VC funded. If it is, keep in mind that they are more interested in their financial return than you receiving a return on the investment you make in that service.

I may need a note taking/writing app intervention.

Microblogvember 2022, Day 28: I loathe the current trend towards the mullet haircut. Wasn’t good in the 80’s, isn’t good now.

I’d forgotten how enjoyable World Cup Soccer (Football) can be. Morocco beat Belgium, 2-0. Amazing. ⚽️

We set the Christmas tree up today and in doing so crossed some sort of kid threshold. This year, our boys actually helped setup and decorate the tree. They enjoyed unpacking decorations and reminiscing about their associated memories. It was really sweet.

Microblogvember 2022, Day 27: I had to work hard to find the motivation to put up the Christmas tree. Didn’t I just take it down a couple of weeks ago?

Microblogvember 2022, Day 26: I have made a commitment to not use Twitter while it is owned by Elon Musk.

I’ve figured out why Australia doesn’t have Thanksgiving. It’s celebrated on a Thursday, which would mean our entire country would then of course chuck a sickie on Friday. The productivity decline would be far too deleterious.

Currently reading: Principles by Ray Dalio 📚

Seems host nation Qatar will be out of the World Cup. If this were basketball, I’d say “ball don’t lie”. Some degree of justice delivered for the payola World Cup. ⚽️

Microblogvember 2022, Day 25: Completing a microblogvember post everyday this month has almost become ritual at this point.

I'm Out on Twitter 🫡

“The standard you walk past, is the standard you accept.”

— Lieutenant General David Lindsay Morrison AO

Upon reflection, I have determined that my values are inconsistent with those of Twitter’s post-acquisition by Elon Musk.

Rather than continue to use the service - even within my safe #NBL23 bubble - I believe the correct and appropriate action is to cease use of the platform.

I am available on Mastodon @canion@social.lol and micro.blog @canion 🫡

Microblogvember 2022, Day 24: As I get older the challenge to retain my hair becomes greater.

Lunch date at Parliament House, with Hannah and, uh, Benji’s lion.