Normalcy Bias [263]
Greetings from my shed...
Back again so soon?
Seriously though. I know how much email you get.
Thank you for opening this one.
#TheAction
Here in the UK, lockdown has afforded us few escapes. With weeks still to go before some lifting of restrictions, we can only grab slithers of freedom. And with those moments, a small sense of achievement and joy.
A walk in the woods, a cycle down an unfamiliar road, the discovery of an unexplored off licence.
To all intents and purposes Tuesday should have been an ordinary day for me. I’d cracked the week, was just getting up to speed and of course had a list I was working through.
But Tuesday was a day in which I managed to achieve something different. Something special. And certainly not on my list.
For the first time in my life I was able to ponytail my beard. Only just. Like I said. A small sense of achievement and joy.
If I hadn’t trimmed it these last few months I’d be able to plat it right now.
Other highlights this week involved a trip to the shops, multiple dog walks and bouncing a signal off the ionosphere that was picked up on the east coast of Australia.
#ThePictures
I enjoyed the film ‘The Rider’.
So much heart. Really well made. The director Chloé Zhao also made the film Nomadland which I will watch over the weekend.
Pie shares has thoughts on Boris. And doesn’t hold back. Obviously this is a swary vid and #NSFW
This is insane. Digital humans made easy. I think the only thing actors have going for them at the moment is that they are cheaper. Oh, and they can act. Either way, it looks like voiceover artists will be in work for longer.
Here is more information on Meta Human Creator. Including another video of the creations talking.
If you have ever used the Beeline navigation device for bikes, you’ll know that in the wilds it’s great for exploring the most direct path from one place to another. You plug in where you’d like to go on your phone and the little arrow sits on the handle bars pointing straight to your destination.
This is great until you reach the side of a river, or motorway. Then you might have a very long ride to get round the obstacle. When out on foot I will either take the device off the bike and use it like a compass or use the app Crowsflight.
On foot you can sometimes get over, round or through the obsticles that the bike cannot. For example I once crawled through a storm drain under a road to save on a big diversion.
Now scale this up about as far as you can go and you have GeoWizard. He likes to plan ahead. Using satellite mapping to plot his straight line course. Across countries!
#TheWords
The eBook ‘Why You Won’t Get Rich’ is currently £1.99 on the tax avoiding Amazon (who is rich). And that link I just posted is an affiliate link which I can guarantee won’t make me rich. It’s just easier to grab.
If they ever find my body. Please read this at my wake.
And some more words…
I recently rediscovered BuyMeACoffee.com. I dropped a couple of posts there and it might be that on occasion I do some more. Anyone who buys a virtual coffee gets the option to be added to a list of supporters. Supporters can get notified of all future posts. There is also the ability for me to to add extras. Digital assets and suchlike. I’ve just added a consultation slot. And this morning I posted this AudioMo related post. With so much disruption to the usual income streams it might be something you want to look into. Here is the obligatory affiliate link. I think if you sign up, the site will buy me a coffee. Which really means they PayPal me a few quid.
Anyway. Watch this space for more late night ramblings coming soon.
#TheSound
If you are a fan of the podcast ReplyAll you may have heard about their current internal troubles. This thread is one voice of many involved.
Thoughts on the colonisation and commercialisation of space.
When you’re lonely, life is very long.
#TheConsumed
I occasionally find a food I’m sure my kids haven’t tried. This week it was Biltong.
Biltong is not to be confused with jerky.
Traditionally biltong is normally marinated and air dried, while jerky is normally dehydrated. Biltong is also cut wider and thicker, is dried with the addition of spices, vinegar and salt and contains more fat. After tasting it for the first time my daughter said… “It tastes like dog food smells. Can I have some more?’
They bother liked it.
Choose your pizza size wisely…
Ended up doing my lads homework this morning. Got to eat some of it too.
I’d not made savoury scones before and it was super simple. You need:
225g self-raising flour, plus some for dusting
100g mature cheddar, grated
20g of diced onion
55g chilled butter, cut into cubes
Pinch of salt (if not using salted butter)
100ml milk
a little extra milk or egg for glazing
I dumped all the ingredients into a bowl and used a spatular to fold it in. Then realised I needed to get my hands dirty. After creating a sticky doughy ball, I flattened it to be about 2.5cm thick and used a medium sized cookie cutter to cut rounds that I then placed on grease proof paper on a baking tray. If you have extra cheese you can sprinkle on top. I forgot, but did glaze the tops with some egg. Once all the mixture was used I popped it in a preheated oven for 10-15 minutes at 200°C.
There was a tiny bit of egg left so not wanting to waste it I made a tiny omelet in my tiny one egg pan.
Honestly they were delicious. I don’t remember buying savoury scones before and I don’t think I will ever need to. Not when it’s this easy to get something much better than shop bought. And very customisable too.
#TheThings
Has your house been verified?
I have a new hardware crypto wallet.
It will hold many more private keys than the original which means I can speculate on more coins. If you have any recommendations please let me know.
I can’t store my Pi-Network coins on there as they are still not portable. Although it’s also not worth anything yet. Which is a shame as I’ve ‘mined’ over 100 coins since last weeks email. Read this if you want to join the mining team. We also have a little ‘Earning team’ chatroom in their crappy app.
If you play guitar you might like the beautifully simple Zen Tuner app.
#TheThanks
I made this spot to thank paying subscribers. Those folk that drop the $6/month to get all the content I share into this feed. I’m dedicating this issue to Roger Mitchell. Thank you. If you’d like me to link to something in the next free issue let me know. A personal project, a website, your LinkedIn profile or a Robin Davey GIF…
That goes for everyone… If you do decide to hit the red button and support this email getting all the posts and content, let me know what you’d like me to link to.
#TheWeb
It took 200 years to eradicate Smallpox. The only illness we’ve entirely eradicated.
New browser tracking hack works even when you flush caches or go incognito.
The Wind Telephone is there if you need to speak to lost loved ones.
Twitter’s proposed “Super Follow” will let you charge for tweets.
Have you added yourself to the Documentally community map?
Remote controlled lobster pots are great news for whales.
Did you crack the code in Nasa’s parachute?
How to Bitcoin during the apocalypse.
Best drones for video.
#TheEnd
And here we are. This is the bit where I snap a photo to put at the top. Next week is the last week of home schooling. Last week of lying in till 8am. I’ve kind of enjoyed it.
Right now, it’s Friday, and I’m glad Friday still makes me happy.
Let’s have some fun.
“Relationships are mysterious. We doubt the positive qualities in others, seldom the negative. You will say to your partner: do you really love me? Are you sure you love me? You will ask this a dozen times and drive the person nuts. But you never ask: are you really mad at me? Are you sure you’re angry? When someone is angry, you don’t doubt it for a moment. Yet the reverse should be true. We should doubt the negative in life, and have faith in the positive.” ~ Christopher Pike
Doubt the negative,
See you out there.
Over…
