The expectation of invisibility

I rewatched Princess of Chaos, the TV drama centred around my friend, Bevan Chuang. I’m proud to have stood by her at the time, because, well, that’s what you do for your friends. I’m not here to revisit any of the happenings that the TV movie deals with—Bevan says it brings her closure so that […]

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Back, on the new box

There are a few experiments going on here now that this blog is on the new server. Massive thanks to my friend who has been working tirelessly to get us on to the new box and into the 2020s. First, there’s a post counter, though as it’s freshly installed, it doesn’t show a true count. […]

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When Here WeGo still sends you to the wrong location six years on

Six years ago, I reported this error in Here Maps (a.k.a. Here WeGo), both via the official channels and to a software engineer I knew working there.    It’s still there. There aren’t two Wharekauhau Country Estates (this is the route between them, to highlight just how wrong it is; the westerly one is correct). […]

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Is the sun setting on Alarm für Cobra 11: die Autobahnpolizei?

It does seem the sun is setting, after 25 years, on Alarm für Cobra 11: die Autobahnpolizei on RTL.    Last week, the network released three episodes from 8.15 p.m., and to heck with the low ratings of the last episode which would be far too late for younger viewers. They’re doing the same this […]

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The accidental 9-11 post: their Republicans and Democrats still have the same concerns

Above: I photographed this gentleman praying at Ground Zero during the 9-11 commemorations in 2005. A very moving day and my first return to the site since 2001. This was never meant as a 9-11 post. I recorded this a few days ago, after chatting to my US friend Jerry, who had voted for Trump […]

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Catfished on Facebook? That’s OK, too, they’re there to provide the tools

I don’t particularly have it in for Google and Facebook. I’m only pointing out the obvious: if you say your policy is x, or your product is y, then don’t deliver us z. Put it into non-electronic terms: if you sell me a car and I put it into first gear, and it instead reverses, […]

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Has Directwrite arrived on my Chromium-based browsers four years after everyone else?

After considerable searching, the bug that I reported to Vivaldi, and which they cannot reproduce, appears to be one that the general public encountered back in 2016, when Chromium took away the option to disable its Directwrite rendering. I don’t know why I’ve only encountered it in 2020, and as far as I can tell, […]

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Facebook is getting away with it again—even though it knew about Cambridge Analytica

Thanks to my friend Bill Shepherd, I’ve now subscribed to The Ad Contrarian newsletter. Bob Hoffman is one of the few who gets it when it comes to how insignificant the FTC’s Facebook fine is.    Five (American) billion (American) dollars sounds like a lot to you and me, but considering Facebook’s stock rose on […]

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When the writers don’t check the Cobra 11 universe

This is how big an Alarm für Cobra 11: die Autobahnpolizei nerd I am.    Three years ago (April 7, 2016), we were introduced to Daniel Roesner as Paul Renner in ‘Cobra, übernehmen Sie’. There is a flashback scene dated April 7, 1996 when Paul and Semir meet for the first time, with Paul as […]

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The newer the Instagram, the clunkier the video

It’s been nearly one week with the new Meizu M6 Note.    It’s the “international” model, which means it’s not Chinese-spec, and there was no way to turn it into a Chinese one.    One observation is that the international one is far buggier than the Chinese one. Either that, or Android 7 is far […]

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