31 March 2016
It would be fair to say that I’m between social networks. I don’t mean I’m not participating, no. I mean that I’m inhabiting the void between those I used to be active in. Ok, ok, I’m bouncing about in either the Venn diagram voids or the overlaps between services. Or both.
It’s an odd sensation.
So, my past:
- MSN Chat, from early 1997 until autumn 1998 was my entry point into online chat. It was easy. I fell into the What’s Cooking Online (WCOL) room entirely by accident and stayed there for a while,
- Facebook appeared in my life around 2008. It’s still there, though you wouldn’t know I’d been around since then were you to look at my ‘Friends’ list. They’re pretty-much all people I know, see?
- btinternet.chatter grabbed me in 1998 as a BT phone customer with the related btinternet ISP, once I’d spread my wings away from the cosy MSN. Though it was shut down some time ago, I occasionally attempt to keep in touch with the lovely people who inhabited it. Closure notwithstanding it’s been around 11 years since I was last active there anyway,
- Twitter, we all know about Twitter; it was my home from 2010 until…
- I discovered App.net, early in April 2013. A great community, lovely people, an ad-free and owner-meddling-free environment; I can’t quite figure out why I’m not there right now…
- 10Centuries.org is where I ‘am’ right now though, more of a dipper than prolific. Great people (a number* from ADN) and a comfortable, spam and ad-free environment. The network, as I’m sure you’ve heard me say, is in an invite-only phase right now. I have some.
Well ok, I do know why I’m not active. I’ve spent more time programming/developing/attempting to fix and evolve my 10C client - and avoiding talking about it online - than being ‘social’. Weird.
*100%.
29 March 2016
Last year, amidst a mood of indecision, I decided to move my expired phone contract to the UK’s budget MVNO ‘Giffgaff’. It’s cheap, user-friendly, 4G, and cheap.
Then, eventually, I started to compare my data speeds with others on different 4G networks, and the rot set in. ‘Slow’ is the order of the day.
The company I work for grabbed a very tempting mobile discount scheme from their new provider, but I looked around for a more customer-(wallet)-friendly alternative.
My deliberations bear fruit tomorrow; my new contract SIM arrived at the weekend, my current number will be ported between networks sometime during Wednesday.
I had a test of course. The uploads are 3 times my current network’s, the downloads 10 times faster.
And I’m getting 3 times the data for the same price.
Which is nice.
27 March 2016
“Developing an application is not easy.”
So I said earlier today, at a time I really couldn’t see an end to the failures cascading through my application. It’s the weirdest feeling, knowing there’s nothing wrong with code; code that resolutely fails to work. And when it does work despite a total absence of things that should make it work, it’s the weirdest feeling.
It feels like that scene in ‘Men In Black’, the one where we’re shown to be an utterly-insignificant part of a hopefully more-advanced-than-us civilisation…
For providing the opportunity to exercise my brain, thanks must go to Jason Irwin - creator of the 10Centuries social network! My life would be a lot simpler right now without 10C. Incidentally, I have invites available if you want to have a social change!
Links:
My application.
10Centuries.org
I am @bazbt3.
25 March 2016
Yes, it’s that time of year again; we’re decorating!
Paint, paper (the big bedroom), mild peril.
24 March 2016
During winter the darker hours bring out the worst in people. I’m not talking about death, mayhem, increased criminality; it’s a simple as a disregard for child and personal safety.
Every morning I’ve been seeing see cyclists ride along busy roads, black clothing, black bags, black bikes. Even on the wrong side of the road. Lights? None. Adults don’t seem to care, and children… Well, surely parents and schoolteachers should be monitoring departures and arrivals?
There’s a phrase. Most don’t seem to know what it means, don’t seem to care:
“Personal resonsibility”
noun,
modern, ambitious, ambiguous:
1. An overwhelming reliance on state initiatives to promote a sense of wellbeing in self.
Yesterday evening around 5pm, as I was driving home, I spotted a young man walking past a high hedge above a low wall. That is I eventually spotted him; his clothing (not camo) hid him very effectively. Though visibility was reduced by that time of day, by no means everyone had side- or headlights on…
And don’t get me started on drivers of black cars - overwhelmingly the most common group to avoid side- and headlights entirely, Is it a part of the mindset involved in the purchasing decision?
Modern LED car sidelights are annoying too. Daytime running lights at the front, but absent entirely from the rear, bypass common sense entirely. Drivers get in the car safe in the knowledge that people in front can see them…
A stealth, Darwin-Awards-winning society, that’s what we have.