Saturday 23rd December, 2023 - Nutritious Tech (Issue #146)
Holiday edition - Elon’s actually quite interesting backstory, the Beatles, the year of AI, Kasparov & freedom, javascript upcoming new features, and some quality bitcoin stuff.
Hello and welcome to my newsletter!
Another season 2 instalment…
It looks like it’s another one of those emergency weeks. It’s Sunday, issue #145 went out yesterday, but I’m putting this together now because things are looking so unbelievably dire. It’s been constant harassment for days now.
And oh my god it’s so god dam hot today. It’s like being stranded in the desert. I reckon I could literally cook an egg on most level flat surfaces. That’s how hot it is.
Anyhow, here’s the very last podcast I listened to, the All-in Podcast. It was a really great one, with lots of great discussions, all peripheral to the tech industry. The chaps have some good banter at the start too, felt like an unusual amount of kimono opening in several new dimensions. I’m glad some of us are having fun.
It occurred to me that there should surely be an All-in equivalent done by girls, shouldn’t there? Or what about one done by non married single people. Just a few thoughts.
Epic legal win, OpenAI licensing deals, FCC targets Elon, Alex Jones re-instated and more Ep#157 (All-in Podcast) - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbGxpbmNoYW1hdGhqYXNvbi5saWJzeW4uY29tL3Jzcw/episode/ZTQ0MGQ1OTgtMjk2Ni00Yzk0LTk5YTgtODY1NzIyYTY5M2Qw?sa=X&ved=0CAUQkfYCahcKEwjYxrqS55WDAxUAAAAAHQAAAAAQDw
Update: while scheduling this issue the scheduling screen got completely blocked. I wasn’t able to scroll down to the date selector. I tried multiple browsers and restarting device. The only thing that worked was creating a copy of the issue. The copy was totally fine, as far as I can tell anyhow. Very very odd. What are the chances?
Update 2: However now when I go into settings the screen is blocked again. There’s a chance the url has been reset to the default, but at least it’s scheduled for the usual time next Saturday 23/12/2023.
Update 3: It’s Saturday morning, I found time to add some podcasts with a few comments, see below…
It’s the holidays, of course time to celebrate and indulge, but remember to feed people nutritious stuff too. And water! Don’t feed people garbage, and don’t accept garbage food either. It’s a slippery slope, eventually they are feeding garbage food to your kids in all the schools. It happened for many years in the UK, and it’s really really difficult to reverse once it sets in society wide. There are horrible people out there that believe it’s totally justified to do this. And they introduce it gradually, perfectly timed to happen when you can no longer refuse. I’ve seen it happen. This is why I’ve been outspoken against zero based budgeting, that’s the type of insidious thing that occurs.
It’s not OK. Speak out against it.
If people are feeding you garbage don’t be afraid to tell them to shut up.
I wish you all the very best for the holiday season :)
Happy holidays.
Update 4: The issue from earlier in the week where the Substack article scheduling page isn’t scrolling is still happening. If that continues I’m not sure how I’ll be able to schedule next week’s issue. I hope to be with you all again next week!
Podcasts
Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson Ep#814 (We Study Billionaires Podcast) - This was a really interesting episode, does a really good job of concentrating on the facts and not getting mixed up in the hyperbole. There was a ton of stuff I had no idea about, from early childhood in South Africa, to moving to US via Canada, University, the key timelines and numbers of all his businesses including PayPal, SpaceX, Tesla, Starlink, as well as products like Optimus, Cybertruck and AI ventures. It really complimented the Jeff Bezos interview in last week’s issue. Very different blokes both leading the way in some of humanities largest endeavours. https://www.theinvestorspodcast.com/episodes/elon-musk-by-walter-isaacson
Hey Jude by the Beatles Ep#171 (500 Songs Podcast) - It's been so many years since I've heard any of their music. I still remember it perfectly, every chord change, drum beat and weird sample. Lots of interesting stories about what was happening back in the times that led up to the music scenes that I grew up in. I think they are probably the band that had the most influence on the Tech industry too, so I think technically it falls within the theme of the newsletter! https://500songs.com/podcast/episode-171-hey-jude-by-the-beatles
The Year of AI, Arc, and Being Mad About the Right Thing Ep#596 (Shop Talk Show Podcast) - This was just a straight up good episode, with good discussions around AI and the future of browsers, all in the usual casual 2 mates having a webdev natter format. https://shoptalkshow.com/596
Garry Kasparov on Why Freedom Always Wins Ep#210 (Bankless Podcast) - I’ve been thinking quite a lot about bitcoin and freedom this week, as I’m concerned about the practicalities of bitcoin self custody in the future as fees are set to skyrocket. Arguably he was the first celebrity to have his job taken away by artificial intelligence, having lost to IBM’s Deep Blue way back in 1997. So he’s got some relevant perspective on the recent AI madness. He’s been active in Central Europe politics and human rights over the years. It’s a really interesting chat. https://www.bankless.com/early-access-garry-kasparov-on-why-freedom-always-wins
Everything TC39 has been working on (JS Party Podcast) - Some rare good quality javascript nourishment for all you web developers out there. In this episode the gang look through the best new language features that are in the works. There are some really useful sounding improvements to promises, maps & sets, and features like records, tupples, temporal and groupBy. Also some discussion about web standards work that is ongoing. https://changelog.com/jsparty/305
Bitcoin’s Finite Supply Is The Breakthrough with Dhruv Bansal Ep#470 (TFTC Podcast) - Loads of good bitcoin discussion around fundamentals and current hot topics and a really insightful wonder into the world of artificial intelligence. This was as a great convo, especially the AI bit, lots of new perspectives. https://tftc.io/bitcoins-finite-supply
And finally, I don’t like to end on a dark note but this is how it is at the minute. It’s been several months since I posted starvation and thirst data. Things got better but then they got much worse again recently. The data shows how many days that were without 3 meals. Generally speaking it always feels very correlated with the gang stalker incidents, though I haven’t gone through and verified that myself. In any case I want the data to be out there whatever happens. Here’s the data:
Recent ‘Not 3-per-day days’ starvation and thirst data
Sep 9-15
Starvation 3
Thirst 0
Sep 16-22
Starvation 5
Thirst 0
Sep 23-29
Starvation 2
Thirst 0
Sep 30-Oct 6
Starvation 3
Thirst 0
Oct 7-13
Starvation 7
Thirst 6
Oct 14-20
Starvation 2
Thirst 0
Oct 21-27
Starvation 6
Thirst 1
Oct 28-Nov 3
Starvation 1
Thirst 0
Nov 04-10
Starvation 1
Thirst 0
Nov 11-17
Starvation 3
Thirst 2
Nov 18-24
Starvation 3
Thirst 1
Nov 25-Dec 1
Starvation 1
Thirst 0
Dec 2-8
Starvation 1
Thirst 0
Dec 9-15
Starvation 4
Thirst 0
Dec 16-22
Starvation 7
Thirst 4
This is some dark fucking shit. What am I a central reserve fucking bank. WTF world?
I’ll leave you with this Jeff Booth clip from a WBD podcast the guys recorded on a plane returning from Africa. We are transitioning from economies based on theft and lies at their core to ones based on truth. It’s probably going to be a bumpy ride but together we can all get through it:
https://twitter.com/bitcoinpilgrims/status/1737483704979599766
That’s all from me…
Best reguards,
Mark
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