Finished reading: Dissolution (1st Matthew Shardlake Tudor Mystery) by C. J. Sansom 📚 Quick: Dom Cummings is a modern Lord Cromwell, wellness antivaxxers act like religious fanatics. More in Dec FirstWeek vlog Mon 13th. (#arts)

Ppl who don’t mind signing in with g00g or bookie: go vote for my tourmate @YvngError ’s banger “Sometimes” (my #1 played lockdown song) | at least give it a listen, it’s lush | 🎵 #arts

Some good shouts from Sopel (maybe Kuennsberg’s replacement?) I for one and v. Thankful to be heading Stateside in Jan! (#arts)

I thought syncing my M.b “Currently Reading” on my about page was neat. But when Bill Gates wants to share what he’s reading, it’s a Hollywood production! See this bizarre foresight of wealth -> influence in the video age of Socials

(via @munish - 📚 #arts)

I recommend #SavvyIndie artists to demo drafts publicly. Plagiarism risk is low, and you stand to gain from inspired insights like this a year later from promising amateur songwriter @PolicyGlot (🎵 #arts)

Fully back @The_Portraits quest for John Lewis to donate for ripping off their slow “Together in Electric Dreams”, but picking a song which Sheeran himself famously broke copyright on for their own sequel probably isn’t the best look! (🎵 #arts)

Thank you @adamhillscomedy for the honour 🇦🇺 ! Do you think Border Control would accept this for an Xmas Down Under?! (#arts)

We’re sat right behind Hillsy & guests (Jodie Whittaker, and Darren Harriot) so should be able to see us on @TheLastLeg. As you can see, @SfcBen is v. Excited for the show: xmas pres smashed! (#arts)

Tune into C4 at 10pm to try spot @SfcBen & I in @TheLastLeg audience (#arts)

1st look at AirTable “Interfaces” for #SavvyIndie simple collab - which @ChrisDancy beta-tested & predicted in our interview 🧙‍♂️(guide) — 👍 cleaner for non-tech collaborators | 👎 requires an account i.e. extortionate on Pro (#AirTable for #arts)

This FirstWeek + a day (see vlog for review) I finished reading: The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch by Philip K. Dick 📚 | as part of my exploration of where Zuck is going with ‘Meta’ rebrand I’ve been writing about. Written in 1966, v. prescient (#arts)

This FirstWeek (see vlog for review) I Finished reading: The Christmas Pig by J. K. Rowling & On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan 📚 (#arts)

or on YouTube from Wednesday

0:00 “Yammering Introduction” (as one kind commenter said last month)
0:45 Voice-To-Text
2:30 Tech News: Meta
4:00 My Cultural Week: 💿: No !s, Empty Room
8:00 📚: The Christmas Pig 🇫🇷, On Chesil Beach, 3 Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
12:45 final LightPhone next month in Yorkshire, then Punkt!

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🔗

Meta article

Light Phone Voice to Text instructions [link added just after publish]

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Screen Time

My Micro.blog usage was 0 last week!

Upgrading to MacOS 12: Monterey: hoping it solves annoying lingering Final Cut Pro notifications. And the fact that iPad ScreenTime is still not showing:

Hence, last few days are showing lower than should have been:

but I’m still confident it’s lower than previous normal week:

because iPhone has indeed been 0:

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About

FlipPh.one to join me on a week-long smartphone detox this year. Next month: last chance to join me before I switch to Punkt MP02. You don’t need to drop 300 bucks on a Light Phone II, but if you do you might find it easier: TheLightPhone.com.

FirstWeek FlipPh.one (#arts)

(soz blurry, full digital version)

Imogen West-Knights is clearly a brilliant writer & wordsmith.
BLLW is almost as good as good a privilege-parody Twitter as Titania McGrath, and in about 2 years time we’ll be able to read her words printed onto hardback for like £20, as she’s getting a novel published.

But I don’t believe she’s ever showed real interest in technology, in particular Virtual Reality (unless you count Love Island, which sometimes seems like it!).

So whilst it’s cool to hear a very well written take of watching a tech launch:

one of the most dispiriting pieces of media I have ever watched

The Guardian are in danger of making one of the biggest errors in tech media that Doctorow calls ‘criti-hype‘: that is accidentally hypeing an evil BigTech company in the guise of criticising them.

Specifically, scaremongering around the fate of the ‘digital world’, in particular taking a “they’re coming for our jobs” rhetoric to:

it’s coming for the metaverse

is actually counterproductive in fighting Zuck.
Assuming ‘the metaverse’ is even an important concept worthy of analysis actually plays into FB’s game.
There’s no reason a co-linear virtual world - based on a word dreamt up in a Neal Stephenson fever dream - is A Big Thing. Why not just call BS - as I have - and point out that the name was plucked for expediency out of their existing domain name ownership, and keep calling them more accurate names (like FakeBook).

Or pick up from the theme in your main coverage of the fact that FB have failed to even run the name through one of their (no doubt spookily good AI) translators:

Maybe we could have had an opinion piece riffing on how this brilliantly hammers home Haugen’s revelations that Facebook consistently under-resources non-English-language moderation.

Instead we get a normie writer parroting Zuck’s language.

Cool creative kids: you’re don’t become smart just by stealing the nerd’s glasses!

I could understand picking a non-technical writer here for the ‘FB destroyed reality angle’ if it was a devoted anti-FB campaginer (like Tanya Goodin, or a yoof from the Log Off Movement). But she’s not: she’s just another educated young Brit who gradually slid to the gram over the past half-decade and couldn’t even be bothered to delete their discoverable profile with 912 friends. Doesn’t seem like someone who’s really putting money where mouth is when it comes to disowning Facebook, and some of the contactability benefits it brings.

I know a name & background (yeah I recognise her from my short stint stooging for some oily Old Etonians called Oppidan Education, who she’s still actively working for!) like that can get you a long way at the Grauniad, but with actual experts like John Naughton on hand over at Observer, and many exciting young techies turned writers, why choose an unpublished novelist and pop culture pundit on this one?

Whilst tech innovation is often over-hyped, it is sometimes earth-shatteringly important, and it takes an expert to tell the difference.
Grauniad: if you wanna be the smartest paper, pick the smartest writers for the topic. Otherwise you’ll bleed readers to The Times.

And if you needed proof that the ‘forever’ notion backed into the concept of ‘the metaverse’ is overhyped, and the Facebook network’s recent blackout wasn’t enough, look at your owns tory:

Hey, according to the data everyone’s been as teetotal as me these past two years!

Cheers! 🍻

(see #arts news)

Truss is gonna beat him at his own game. Foreign Sec activities are waayyy more IG friendly than Chancellor. Rishi needs to pivot to Twitter, or even better Micro.blog :D

“Hang around the barbershop long enough and you’ll get a haircut”

I wrote in my “No Time to Die” review

the bloodshed will have history wagging its finger

True to form, the Grauniad already are!

(see #tech news)

And it ended 2-0 to the South Coast. Saints score got cutoff first time, but this photo from 30mins in is still accurate! (⚽️ #arts)

Jeff Stelling’s a #SmalltownDreamer legend no doubt (Middlesborough rant). But shame he’s going out on a season where - when his colleague Merson lost £7m gambling - he stooged for SkyBet. #CleanUpGambling (⚽️ #arts)

Loved how @SoccerAM hosts pointed out that mixtapes are just less confident albums to SX | still #SmalltownDreamer artists who aren’t gonna stay #SavvyIndie: send your 🎵 to @WolvesRecordsUK looks dope (#arts)

1. Classic Pointless moment. Ben & I are applying tomorrow

2. Easiest Chase question ever? Gonna apply to rollin application soon.

3. Eastleigh’s Silverlake on Soccer AM

4. Mike Parry’s changed his tune on minorities (ft. Mansplaining football to Novara Media)
   What is it with shock jocks called Mike?

Had one of the worst guest-weeks on House of Games this week. Really looking forward to see Nabil tear up this oh so polite bit of BBC2:

South Coast 2-0 up ⚽️ #WATSOU #Spitfire (#arts)

Stumbled on the fact that @BoBurnham let BoBurnham.com expire for 7 days this Spring (then clearly learnt his lesson and re-registered for 3 years). He really was disconnecting from the Internet. Welcome back Bo! Good luck at the Grammys. (#arts)

I’m glad to be connected to this wonderful range of people, even if just in the meagre digital sense :D

As I discussed in my Fave ‘Touch’ Photos, I suggested a couple related words that could be interpreted as either very techie, or very IRL, and was interested to see how people would react.

With ‘Touch’, the first prompt of the month, people really leant into the human vibe, with over 50 people sharing pretty candid natural photos. Now we’re towards the end of the month with ‘Connection’, it’s mainly just the regulars, so about half the people taking part.

25 Photos

I’ve screenshotted & categorised the entries in this Dropbox folder.

Here’s a snapshot:

The file name is their M.b username, so be sure to give them some love!
Here were my faves I wanna give some love to:

Natural: Nature (6)

@CliffordBeshers is giving me West Coast wanderlust:

Hon Mentions:

@pimoore used high contrast to effect

@v that actually looks quite nice and no doubt it tastes even better. I’ve been developing a food post concept called #WellFedArtist, which is just meals I’ve made from reduced (stickered) items, which is a really important concept for starving artists. I’m always concerned that people will find real food pics icky though, so you’re giving me good encouragement.

Natural: Social (7)

Social as in people. Not the bookie.

@jafish got me right in the feels with this one:

@maique Homie’s travel photos are unrivalled here on M.b for quality.

@ericmwalk I’m not suprised you’re looking frosty if you spend time around ice rinks too much!

• my entry, taken last week on my holiday in France, in a wonderful bookshop called Culturel.Leclerc (shout on that huge DomainH.ac/k flex registering a TLD btw)

[updated to correct photo after publish]

in the light of McCartney’s revelations, I couldn’t help be struck by the sense that John isn’t pulling, but rather pushing Paul here. It’s a shame they couldn’t stay connected.

Objects: Tech (9)

Loads more people went for the techie interpretation on this one compared to Touch.

@sexyhermit has somehow managed to make wires look cool:

Hon Mentions:

@RonGuest : that’s some impressive radio kit you’ve got there. People Just Do Nothing boys would be proud!

@dfj : I remember my Grandparents having a Mac like that, 2 decades before I’m now something of an Apple-head

Objects: Travel (3)

@alligator

I loved making a 6h flight connection at Keflavik’s local community spa.

Now transatlantic flights are back hope to stop there again sometime soon.

Conclusion

Maybe there’s a correlation between people’s ability to post regularly in a photo challenge, and their interest in tech.

Either way, this challenge still proves that M.b is the best social media hub for mindfully posting candid content onto the grand interent.

Thanks again to @Jean for organising it, and choosing not 1 but 2 of my prompts!

Enjoyed this?

Go take a look at my fave ‘Touch’ photos

There’s still a couple days left in the M.b photo challenge. Consider joining! Micro.Camp videos give a good intro to the community, and my talk gives tips on the best socials-friendly setup.

Appendix

This was picked up into the #mboct category (presumably @manton has made an auto filter for posts with pic & matching word) mistakenly as it feels part of a separate series about board games, but correct me otherwise @sylari

Yesterday’s #arts news(paper): @TheTimes

Arabs in English football.

To be celebrated: the inspirational G.O.O.T:

To be criticized: the insidious loot:

Please consider signing petition for Halyna’s Law.

Also, speaking of protecting people, IMDb Pro should really come good on their anti-harrassment policy and remove Dave Halls’s personal contact details to protect him while investigation ongoing. On Saturday I was easily able to access (redacting here):

A couple months ago I saw him on pitch at Soccer Aid boosting his humanitarian role with Unicef. Now this!

I’m probably gonna be accompanying my brother as his travel partner to Dubai in the new year (I tried to persuade him LA or Tel Aviv instead..), but I hope to generally avoid boosting autocratic countries over the years as much as possible.

It’s always sad when mostly good things with slight imperfections fall to perfectionist ideologues.
But when it’s a charity which should be focussed on fighting the big problems (see UN Sustainable Development Goal 5: “empower all women and girls”), it’s particularly irksome.

And a happy one to finish:

Lucy & I did our audition & 1st rehearsal for Polar in Northallerton.

Look forward to returning there next weekend for Dress Rehearsal!

As you can see I’m trialling bundling my posts about newspaper stories on my two areas of expertise (arts & tech) into two larger articles. Tech one coming next. I just think Twitter is so full of hot-takes already it makes more sense to showcase stories in the same universe of topics side-by-side to give them some perspective.