Just one more day and it would have been gone forever.

I had to look up the panopticon reference, so I thought to share with others: ‘A proposed prison of supervision, so arranged that the inspector can see each of the prisoners at all times without being seen by them: proposed by Jeremy Bentam.’

That’s pretty cool. I knew some shows’ plots were in parallel, but it’s surprising seeing all the interleaving. I hope they update it with the new seasons soon. https://thestartrekchronologyproject.blogspot.com/2009/09/and-now-conclusion.html?m=1

One benefit of colocating the food bank with the grocery store is that shoppers could make direct contributions to the food bank. Instead of those questionable ‘donate $1 to such and such’ prompts at payment, one could purchase an extra can of food and discreetly drop it off after checkout. Seeing the beneficiaries in person is confidence the grocery store isn’t just making a money grab.

Since most of us have to buy groceries, it would also provide shoppers a convenient opportunity to practice compassion. Sometimes a bad day can be turned around by doing something good.

I like the ‘ground up’ approach they mention that doesn’t rely on insecure ‘adversaries’. I’ll check it out soon.

It’s true (and it feels a bit dusty), but it’s still meeting my needs. I hope it’ll get picked up again or perhaps another project will replace it.

I installed a custom launcher that’s close to the stock one on my Pixel 3 specifically to make it possible to remove the Google Search widget. Now I have a Firefox widget that points to DDG.

If any are interested, the launcher is Lawn Chair, and it can be installed via F-droid.

This, and it’s not a human. All these analogies trying to liken a learning algorithm to a learning human are not correct. An LLM is not a human.

This hits the nail on the head. A major component of art is that it’s an outlet of human creativity, something we find fulfilling to both produce and consume. If creativity is delegated to machines, what’s left for us humans? At some point, we’ll grow tired of Taco Bell and re-runs, and what then?

This is not a real term, but maybe Freudian Hint?

That’s an interesting thought, that could potentially create corporate day jobs for artists.

Edit: I don’t believe in this idea, but thought it interesting. It’s better for artists to exercise creativity.

I often wonder, “Can’t my web browser keep Alphabet better apprised of my personal life and interests?” Yes, it can! Finally, an ad company that ‘gets me’.

One cool thing is that the comments are self documenting. I read the program earlier and it’s quite clear what it does. Excellent accomplishment, dear colleague!

Not to worry my dear Wordpad coders: Neovim is a good alternative. One can always set wrap and the default font to Times New Roman.

I’ve was doing the same until yesterday, then I found StreetComplete. Since then, it’s so much easier to enter addresses. So much easier to add addresses while out walking than to carry a notepad or memorize numbers.

Gosh he could smelt at least 100 items with that.

I’ve avoided Microsoft for years, but recently I’ve been reducing my Google use. I’m still on Gmail, and Street View is special, but I’ve been slowly replacing Google utilization:

• Search: Duck Duck Go
• Maps: Open Street Map, OsmAnd
• Drive: Extra Hard Drives
• Chrome: Firefox
• Home: Home Assistant (WIP)

Upcoming projects include replacing my phone’s Google-built Android image and transitioning to ProtonMail.

It’s not one big project, it’s lots of projects. It’s worthwhile, though. Along the way, I’ve reconnected with my love of good tech and I’ve gained new hobbies like privacy and contributing to OSM.

Agreed, Ricardo did have an exceptional chest. We could all only be so fortunate.

There’s almost too many good things to make a coherent summary, so let me list some high points: Khan is a tie back to Space Seed, an original series episode featuring Ricardo Montalban. Also, James Horner’s sound track was incredible. Kirk’s Explosive Reply and Surprise Attack almost tell the story all by themselves. Then there’s the well paced storytelling of the cat and mouse battle between Enterprise and Reliant. Throw in some dark sci-fi elements (possibly Alien inspired) like the ear bugs and the abandoned science station filled with rats and dead bodies. There’s the Trekish ethical/moral plot of making Genesis vs using it (not unlike Oppenheimer). The self exploration of a middle aged Kirk who’s realized he’s getting older and regrets missing out on a family. The no win scenario and the loss of Spock. Spock’s death is a powerful scene that plays Vulcan logic against human emotion on the stage of a deep friendship. Generally, the film transforms Kirk into a three dimensional character. Those are a few things.

Edit: spelling

After using it since Lucid Lynx 10.04, I switched from Ubuntu to Mint last weekend. I’m lazy about distros these days, and I really didn’t want to switch, but Firefox instability was driving me nuts. The web browser must be reliable, IMO. It’s a fundamental requirement for a desktop OS, and this problem didn’t exist before snaps.