Category: technology

when tech goes wrong

Posted on by admin

I had a brilliant little first draft of a scene written out, absolutely perfect (I mean, it would need editing, but for a first pass, I was in the zone), and then, I went to save it.

All OpenOffice locks up, leaving me unable to even copy the text into Notepad, let alone save the file. I tried to let it sit, let it run out whatever putting a period on a sentence made it do, but to no avail.

I prayed the autosave function that automatically restores files after they’d crashed would bring it all back, but nope. You had to apparently save at least once in order to get that back.

Eight hundred words down the drain, to be replaced by a second version coloured by my frustration and nowhere near as good, though it followed the same lines.

That’s annoying. Technical issues should never be the difference between something good and something mediocre. OpenOffice has served me well over the years, and I fucking hate Microsoft Word, for more reasons than their nonsense policies and anti-user standpoint (it’s the fucking UI and functionality I hate; it’s like they’ve never watched anyone try to create a document before).

But it may be time to think about finding something else. Something more basic. Functional.

Intelligent and user friendly.

But mostly, stable. Reliable. So flawless as to be almost unnoticeable.

Is that too much to ask?

Target: 1100 words
Written: 1186 words, novel: Bad Neighbours (officially, who knows what I was at before the crash)

Read: Adam Bede, George Eliot
Comics: Cyblade 2-4, Fusion 1
Music: The INXS Collection 1980-1993, INXS

change for the sake of change

Posted on by admin

I’m all for change; things change. It’s the only thing we can’t change.

But change for change’s sake, as pushed by tech companies and corporations filled with individuals who may have had a purpose at one point, but have now accomplished that task and are just trying to justify their existence?

Enshittification is a real thing, partially driven by greed, but partially, but idiocy and ego.

You design an app; it’s easy, it’s clean, it does what it’s intended to do and very well, all it requires is maintenance after that.

But then comes the lull. The people who built the app aren’t really necessary at that point; they’re really just there to fix bugs and security flaws. That means most of them can go. But they don’t want to lose their jobs, their prestige, so they start tweaking. This needs this unnecessary feature. What if we update the look?

Cornflower blue?

And next thing you know, the app is a mess, your users are disenchanted and the only thing you can do to keep them is to create more restrictive systems to try and lock them so they have no choice.

But all you had to do was maintain.

Someone should tell the bosses they are no longer needed. Coast, bitches. It’s fun, and it’s easier on everyone.

Target: 800 words
Written: 408 words, novella: The Mungk

Read: The Regiment, Farley Mowat
Comics: Postal: Night Shift 1
Music: Underground Network, Anti-Flag

pickle-palooza

Posted on by admin

Is anyone else more than a little concerned about social media and AI’s ability to predict what we want and what our lives should contain?

For example, Facebook has apparently decided that I’m attending an event called Pickle-Palooza today.

I’ve never heard of this and I’m not entirely certain what it is. Is this a farmer’s market for brined cucumber-philes? Or is it a Farmers Only event for um, those with pickles?

I don’t know, and I don’t know why Facebook’s algorithm thinks I need this in my life?

AI is just weird.

Target: 600 word
Written: 199 words, novella: The Mungk

Read: Awaken The Giant Within, Tony Robbins
Comics: Aphrodite IX 11, Aphrodite IX/Cyber Force 1, IXth Generation 1-2
Music: Off To See The Lizard, Jimmy Buffett