nostr:npub16syjw4ece4hxj9su7e6cyjvadzdqeq53x9s7c763w6ftpluz6wjqadx0q6 I am told the Brussels-Berlin sleeper service isn't on the InterRail scheme, doesn't run every day, and is booked solid months in advance.
I'm going an event in Amsterdam on Thursday 22nd: https://abc.nl/events/event-details/an-afternoon-with-charles-stross/3220
nostr:npub1ku30mphs68tg30c4jj0d80g698resvue70hhrvnawxvdfaq4p0usadqwn9 I am too old for that stuff šŖ¦
nostr:npub1ku30mphs68tg30c4jj0d80g698resvue70hhrvnawxvdfaq4p0usadqwn9 Mostly leisuring but doing a reading/Q&A at Otherland in Berlin next Monday evening, and an interview at ABC in Amsterdam the week after next.
nostr:npub1e7pd9g47g8vx0m2kgnfqsj8y8hwu6h53metl3j74x5p89jt3xc3q3hhktr USB-C power bricks have to have enough on-board smarts to negotiate what current/voltage to deliver: I'd guess dirty mains power repeatedly fuzzes or crashes the power brick's microcontroller so it keeps thrashing around and renegotiating what it's supposed to be delivering.
nostr:npub13wzkafcmgra2x0ap2w2cpj6648m2sgkmyu2g48ehqxpkryseclds5q84y8 I have a 20,000mAh backup battery in my backpack AND a Macbook Pro I'm not using outside of a hotel room. I should be okay. Nevertheless ā¦!
nostr:npub1psdfxfpxz2cwmmnsk60y3nqpn2tqh9n24h4hstvfkwvr6eaek9js499sr7 Original hover text: "The lion sleeps tonight. And every night, actually. Dunno why I mentioned it"
Original alt text: "King of the beasts marries giraffe for political reasons"
nostr:npub1hcm6hdruvlmd0q7tskh24c6ctcay866v82vfnyg5r9gtpxklltas2mwkzk Ah. I didn't see those. (Javascript blocker is on by default because damn you, advertisers/malware.)
nostr:npub1psdfxfpxz2cwmmnsk60y3nqpn2tqh9n24h4hstvfkwvr6eaek9js499sr7 nostr:npub1zvc3hhwp38f9lttw4f6948qvtq42vgz3ycewks53dlntcmz0z8gsud4qw0 nostr:npub1wkyrr4pnk5chvzjp4y64fjfu3xtv9c7al4sryyvy9244a5h87s2qur6c6c nostr:npub1rtlcdfujrn5kps54szzffw5txaws38xgfx2m0hp0wtk86nfca3esxnyxal
On that note, can we possibly work out some sort of scaling punishment for UI designers who randomly just move shit around for no goddamn reason in products that we are already extremely familiar with?
I can understand it (somewhat) if there is a reasonable straightforward path, but just swapping around things that worked just fine via forced updates is absolutely infuriating to me.
nostr:npub1fp92ep06wv7h8v0gztvsc3nmsktajelcxyxql6jktdprkawetn3qffwpyl nostr:npub1zvc3hhwp38f9lttw4f6948qvtq42vgz3ycewks53dlntcmz0z8gsud4qw0 nostr:npub1wkyrr4pnk5chvzjp4y64fjfu3xtv9c7al4sryyvy9244a5h87s2qur6c6c nostr:npub1rtlcdfujrn5kps54szzffw5txaws38xgfx2m0hp0wtk86nfca3esxnyxal What I want to see with any application/OS that supports online updates is a radiobutton selector for:
1. Bugfix-only channel (NO UI changes or new features)
2. Stable-UI channel (new features allowed, but need to be switched on by user individually)
3. Active channel (new features and UI changes show up from time to time, enabled by default)
4. Development/test channel (fire-hose of change)
Instead we are given a choice of (3) or (4).
nostr:npub1hh2j7mygd5wjdnywyl56upunv0pre3pd5jnl5n332wh5wjntdrmqnjy5zf Well, that's why I tooted the image in full!
nostr:npub1psdfxfpxz2cwmmnsk60y3nqpn2tqh9n24h4hstvfkwvr6eaek9js499sr7 nostr:npub1wkyrr4pnk5chvzjp4y64fjfu3xtv9c7al4sryyvy9244a5h87s2qur6c6c nostr:npub1rtlcdfujrn5kps54szzffw5txaws38xgfx2m0hp0wtk86nfca3esxnyxal Itās interesting that Apple abandoned āthemesā in MacOS back in the 90s; it would be useful if they offered an accessibility mode that switched back to the old skeuomorphic UIs with bigger buttons and no hidden elements.
nostr:npub1zvc3hhwp38f9lttw4f6948qvtq42vgz3ycewks53dlntcmz0z8gsud4qw0 nostr:npub1wkyrr4pnk5chvzjp4y64fjfu3xtv9c7al4sryyvy9244a5h87s2qur6c6c nostr:npub1rtlcdfujrn5kps54szzffw5txaws38xgfx2m0hp0wtk86nfca3esxnyxal I'd forgive them a lot of the "innovation" nonsense if they did exactly thatāand made migration to a new machine retain the theme settings from the old one (and come to think of it, included a big shiny button when changing themes labelled PUT EVERYTHING BACK THE WAY IT WAS BEFORE).
nostr:npub1m63p3fsz7rag0zk5c4jd30nldpcud8tp4ppgqheyz538ehvsejjsgnya47 The smaller tenkeyless K3 models are probably better for a laptopāsame width as the laptop keyboard, carrying case available.
nostr:npub1fwqkm8p99m2plj0cd2sqxtdtwlfvk9unsjdgl2a05xm0eqrssets9w0dns There *is* a fan wiki on wikia. It's useless for my purposesācontaminated with non-canon stuff from the RPG, and there was no way of exporting data from wikia last time I looked (it's a roach motel service).
nostr:npub1lrp758re9dvkys3hxvkt3axu0w4s6krt72m8d2nzyl6pf29yrk8qvsn7q6 Answers on my blog comment thread, please, not Mastodon (which is unsearchable)!
nostr:npub1s3d0hyalknarns77np6vm82trse0tqjqs6djd8sq0eg9alyg2yuspu0tcp nostr:npub1g3jc6pasekkv39ks9f5rul670yha63lr69xtgtz20ptghuc7kvlq7hk5cu nostr:npub1dme5v398xnrf4p4xmwr3tqfnl3autg49tt2k7s3q7hf40sjtzzfs49ch6s In 20/20 hindsight I should have pushed mum onto an iPad as soon as possible. I tried to do it eventually but I was a year or three too late and the cognitive decline by then was too steep to learn a whole new style of interaction. Even a simpler one.
nostr:npub1cgksty0euw9zetpv9pt2q7ks7w3j9ugjhwyrwdrr3j5s9350hn8ss2dqwu nostr:npub13n409lc4d9w06xuqurrkkh4mtdzc2afc5m07tkkc26u7p2lcq04qkh3h2h nostr:npub1g3jc6pasekkv39ks9f5rul670yha63lr69xtgtz20ptghuc7kvlq7hk5cu I grant you the Bourne shell is the guaranteed bedrock lowest-common-denominator for scripting insofar as anything from System 7 onwards came with it and Bash is a strict superset ā¦
nostr:npub1g3jc6pasekkv39ks9f5rul670yha63lr69xtgtz20ptghuc7kvlq7hk5cu nostr:npub13n409lc4d9w06xuqurrkkh4mtdzc2afc5m07tkkc26u7p2lcq04qkh3h2h nostr:npub1dme5v398xnrf4p4xmwr3tqfnl3autg49tt2k7s3q7hf40sjtzzfs49ch6s Old SCO (when it was a respectable UNIX VAR), not New SCO (zombie lawsuit shysters in perpetual motion)
nostr:npub13n409lc4d9w06xuqurrkkh4mtdzc2afc5m07tkkc26u7p2lcq04qkh3h2h nostr:npub1g3jc6pasekkv39ks9f5rul670yha63lr69xtgtz20ptghuc7kvlq7hk5cu nostr:npub1dme5v398xnrf4p4xmwr3tqfnl3autg49tt2k7s3q7hf40sjtzzfs49ch6s The first set of UNIX release notes I wrote at SCO included explaining the addition of the then-new Korn shell.
New blog entry: Do my Laundry! https://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2023/09/do-my-laundry.html
nostr:npub1psdfxfpxz2cwmmnsk60y3nqpn2tqh9n24h4hstvfkwvr6eaek9js499sr7
I would agree many UI changes in all manner of tools seem to be change for its own sake (where improvements are not clear, or worse, where the UX feels worse), as if the decision makers need to feel productive
nostr:npub1g3jc6pasekkv39ks9f5rul670yha63lr69xtgtz20ptghuc7kvlq7hk5cu nostr:npub1dme5v398xnrf4p4xmwr3tqfnl3autg49tt2k7s3q7hf40sjtzzfs49ch6s
nostr:npub1upmt44eakuzpjlxq7e8kw8xsh3qaupejcw3f59acv0gm65z4mcaqxxmm0t nostr:npub1g3jc6pasekkv39ks9f5rul670yha63lr69xtgtz20ptghuc7kvlq7hk5cu nostr:npub1dme5v398xnrf4p4xmwr3tqfnl3autg49tt2k7s3q7hf40sjtzzfs49ch6s UI changes in corporate products seem to happen purely to justify the product manager's request for a pay rise at their annual review! And at Google, old products get killed ruthlessly to make way for new products because that's the only way a manager can earn promotion.
This shit is actively hostile to the users' interests, but it's ubiquitous.
I mean, Canonical think 5 years is "long term stable" for Ubuntu, which is bullshit: should be AT LEAST a decade.
nostr:npub1g3jc6pasekkv39ks9f5rul670yha63lr69xtgtz20ptghuc7kvlq7hk5cu nostr:npub1dme5v398xnrf4p4xmwr3tqfnl3autg49tt2k7s3q7hf40sjtzzfs49ch6s There's a deeper point: the past 70 years of computing have focussed on a spurious vision of progress that forgets to consider the utility of a stable platform. Operating systems in particular are driven by commercial goals (sell more software! Get more Linux desktops out there!) that are actively inimical to the needs of their users. Forcing users to learn a new way of working every yearāeven if they don't need toāis crazy. And it renders computers inaccessible to the elderly.
nostr:npub1g3jc6pasekkv39ks9f5rul670yha63lr69xtgtz20ptghuc7kvlq7hk5cu nostr:npub1dme5v398xnrf4p4xmwr3tqfnl3autg49tt2k7s3q7hf40sjtzzfs49ch6s I watched my mother progressively (and completely) lose the ability to use her iMac during her final decade because Apple kept f*cking around with the Mac OS X user interface, the way Mail worked, the colour of the window maximize/minimize buttons, and stuff that probably looked trivial to a 30-something UI designer but was deeply disruptive to an 80 something with impaired memory. And by losing that access, she lost touch with friends (via email).