Quick Thoughts
I changed my Micro.Blog avatar to my little fish logo. I change the logo on the top of my site based on my mood and I would change my avatar, too, but I think the avatar is too small to see what expression the fish has…
Trying out a new Starbucks that just opened. This location was clearly designed to primarily be a drive thru and pick up location. It looks tiny from the outside, but actually has a lot of seating.
So happy that Project Tapestry is funded. Congrats to @Iconfactory@iconfactory.world and let’s keep going until we reach the stretch goal!
In a crowded Starbucks. I glance up to see if they’ve called my name. I didn’t hear them, but it’s been a while. A woman waiting for her drink looks at me and spells my name with sign language. I nod and then realize what she did. B-O-B is pretty easy in sign language, but it was still pretty cool.
We Asked A.I. to Create the Joker. It Generated a Copyrighted Image. - The New York Times
I don’t have an issue with the concept of AI, but especially with imagery, how you train the model matters. The most popular generative systems were trained on copyrighted material and that’s a problem.
A good week for South Carolina basketball. The men beat Kentucky. The women beat LSU on the road to remain unbeaten. 🏀
More than 30 years ago, I used a Mac for the first time in high school and was instantly hooked. I finally saved up enough money to purchase my first Mac my sophomore year in college. A Power Mac 7500 that I used for a very long time until I bought an iMac. Happy birthday, Macintosh.
So I’m working my full-time job, taking a class and teaching a lecture class this semester. I’ve got a pretty good plan for managing my time, but every so often, I wake up at 1:30 with an idea in my head and end up working for a couple of hours in the middle of the night.
Seth Godin on Variety and the Long Tail:
It’s easy to miss the feeling of a monoculture if you grew up with it. Hits gave us something to talk about, adhere to or even work against. There are so many pockets of culture, it can’t help but feel a bit more lonely from a certain angle.
I might also add: It’s easy to miss the feeling of the early web if you grew up with it.
The Atlantic: If There Are No Stupid Questions, Then How Do You Explain Quora?
Provocative content started to take over, perhaps because it led to more engagement and then, in turn, to more advertising revenue.
Also available on Apple News+ for those of you with the Apple One bundle.
The user experience for setting up a kid’s account on most services is terrible… I understand why people just set up normal accounts for their kids and type in fake birthdates. It’s frustrating.
Over the holiday, I had to search on Google for some obituaries and I’ve learned there are tons of sites that scrap obituaries, funeral home sites and social media and then flood Google results with AI-generated, ad-covered garbage.
Both of the textbooks I need for the class I’m taking this semester are available as ebooks, but my options are Kindle or a proprietary publisher owned system. Of course, I can read them on my computer, but now I’m pondering buying a Kindle.
Got word a couple of days ago that a coworker of mine passed away unexpectedly. She’s got two young kids. Just devastated for the family.
It’s Christmas Eve and two of the presents we ordered haven’t arrived. One is scheduled to arrive Dec. 26. The other one hasn’t shipped.
How to fix American democracy, from ranked-choice voting to open primaries - The Washington Post
There are some interesting ideas for reform in this article. I was especially interested in the idea that maybe the House of Representatives needs to be significantly larger.
I was thinking about buying my middle child a non-smartphone camera for her to experiment with. She loves taking pictures and has a great eye. I looked at what’s available and realized that the market only offers really cheaply-made cameras, or really expensive cameras. Virtually nothing in between.
Woke up this morning to low water pressure. Turns out a water main at the front of our neighborhood burst overnight…
How NASA Learned to Love the Worm Logo - The New York Times
Now the worm is back. And the meatball is still there too, still the official insignia for NASA.
Enjoyed this article about the two NASA logos. As designers, we typically preach consistency. But in this case, having two logos seems to work.
Had my last in-person class of the semester this morning. It might be my last in-person class of my PhD program. I have mostly independent studies, online classes and my dissertation to go. I’m a part-time student, so I still have a couple of years left, but it seems like some sort of a milestone.
Every Sunday afternoon after a shift change, the music at this coffee shop switches to 100% Taylor Swift. My daughter and I call it the Taylor Shift.
I know we are a women’s basketball school, but the South Carolina men’s team just beat Notre Dame to remain undefeated on the season. These guys are really good. We’ll see how they do in the SEC once conference play starts.
This NY Times articles on the changing nature of the American workplace took an unexpected turn:
In an ironic twist, other workers are now also finding themselves nostalgic for the age of the cubicle.
Not sure about that. As someone who recently moved from a cubicle to an actual office with walls, a door and windows, I can honestly say that I don’t miss my old desk. That said, the article is an interesting read on the changing nature of the office after the pandemic.
SC defeats Mississippi Valley State 101-19. I knew this year’s South Carolina Women’s Basketball team could score, but holding any team to 19 points in an entire game is an impressive defensive performance.