Items I happen to view each day. Science, Technology, Management, Culture, and Writing

    This is my day book for this week. It is a log of things I see on the Internet.

This week: 21-27 February, 2022

Summary of this week:

• Presidents Day in the US
• Russia moves into parts of Ukraine unopposed and welcomed
• Then Russia keeps going with an invasion
• Social media companies and Russian governors hit back and forth
• Intel's 12th generation processors for thin and light laptops are here

Monday 21 February 2022

It is President's Day in the US in which we look around and say things like, "Well, that person was a pretty good President---HE HAD HIS FAULTS, but pretty good."

Stronger rumors about Apple's March event and new computers with newer Apple silicon.

Where the money is: people are pouring $$$ into non-fungible tokens. People who steal money are right on their heels.

Fake company. Fake jobs. Work with no pay. I constantly warn writers and editors to be wary of "tests" that companies want us to take before hiring us. They are perfect setups for doing actual work not test work and receiving no pay and never getting a job. Job interviews are the same. They are job interviews, not consulting sessions. "Tell us about a difficult situation and what you did to handle it." That is a consulting session. The applicant is teaching the interviewer techniques. Don't answer.

Finally, someone is watching what Russian state media is telling the Russian population. This explains the Ukraine situation and why Mr. Putin has won without firing a shot.

Another big-city mayor is asking people to return to the office and spend money at lunch and elsewhere. Elections are coming, elections are coming, elections are coming.

Someone studies the speed of error correction and finds that the Linux world is the fastest.

Some thoughts on speculative fiction and making it work.

Some fine lines between writing personal stuff and writing that says, "Hey, look at me!"

You have been writing, revising, researching, re-writing...when do you say it is finished?

One writer's experience with staying away from social media for a year.

A leader's thoughts on a thought leadership book.

We have some consolidation in the online, independent publishing world as Draft2Digital buys Smashwords.

Write that novel. Some quotes./a> I find that eight hours of writing per week is enough to finish drafting a novel in ten months. Each week, work towards eight hours of just plain writing. Then, add two to four hours of polish based on an element of craft that changes month by month.

Are you practicing or deliberately practicing? Deliberate practice is the effortful, structured, repetition of tasks for the purpose of improvements of performance beyond a current skill level.

Tuesday 22 February 2022

Got $2,500? Get this new Panasonic four thirds camera with 25 MegaPixel sensor.

In Ethiopia, "us" is killing "them." This time the sides are using Facebook to send messages. In prior times they used prior communications. The result was and still is the same. It's not the message medium that is the problem.

Intel shows details of its Bonanza Mine ASICs made just for crypto mining. Intel also has a system that puts these in a box that pulls 3,600 Watts. You will need a 40-amp circuit, the kind used for ovens and clothes dryers.

Russian troops move into "separatist" parts of Ukraine unopposed and welcomed. Everyone else tries to figure out if that is an invasion.

Note: Russia supplies Europe with fuel. Otherwise, it really doesn't have much of an economy that matters.

Now that the New York Times owns Wordle, it is using the game to collect information on players and sell that to advertisers and all the things that newspapers have always done.

Wednesday 23 February 2022

Forward to the same old thing. Much is being made about computer-generated faces that are more trustworthy than "real faces." We have been doing this for hundreds of years. We called it theater, Broadway, Hollywood, Madison Ave, etc.

There are more tech jobs on the west coast than there are people, or so it seems as the companies are advertising in Texas and Virginia.

File this under, "I hope they know what they are doing." Big tech lets people work from home while it buys and buys and buys more office buildings.

Amazon's Astro robot has fallen on its face and can't get up...at least in the marketplace.

For those who watch these things...Apple's MacBook Pro from last year hits a new low price (still $2,200). This usually means a new model is coming real soon now. It also means you can save a couple hundred $$$. Still too pricey.

Our CDC is withholding most of the data it has collected regarding the virus. Conspiracy or incompetence? I side with incompetence.

Research shows that research increases the snowmelt in the Antarctic. This proves the concept that measuring something alters it and lessens the value of the measurement.

Thursday 24 February 2022

It is on. Mr. Putin sends Russian troops into Ukraine. Now we see what happens.

More Intel 12th-generation processors are here. The P and U series for thinner and lighter portable computers are here.

Google tries to return to a new normal and drops the vaccination requirement for employment.

Our Postal Service rejects our President's desire to buy electric delivery vehicles. They simply don't have the billion$$$ needed to do so.

Acer updates its line of laptop computers with the newest Intel processors.

LinkedIn opens its platform to podcasts.

Whole Foods opens a store in Washing DC that has no cashiers.

Intel acqui-hires Linutronix to help it move into the Linux world.

AMD is now worth more than Intel.

Friday 25 February 2022

Strategic importance of Ukraine? Many of the fundamental materials in semiconductor manufacturing come from Ukraine.

The Russia-Ukraine war continues (it has been in progress for about ten years). Higher prices in the developed world. Uncertainty does this to prices, and wars bring uncertainty. Run to the store and get the toilet paper this morning.

Russian forces are not advancing per their schedule. What schedule? What advance? What objectives?

Lest we forget, the US and Russia are strong partner at the International Space Station. And in other matters as well. You may have Russian in your gas tank.

Beware of gifts from software or something. A "fix" that enabled GPUs to mine crypto currency was actually malware.

We have a somewhat practical demonstration of a quantum gravity gradiometer. It finds things underground that were previously un-findable. Oak Island here we come?

Corporate surveillance and profits. It is legal for businesses to follow us, learn our habits, and sell us things. Is it, however, ethical?

Saturday 26 February 2022

Apple hints at a computer in a keyboard like in the 1980s. Of course it would work and it makes sense. The market, however, will probably not buy this.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine enters its third day. We go back to the era of "who is telling the truth?" as I have not found a reliable source on where the Russians are and how much the Ukrainians are resisting or such.

It all comes down to money and personal finances. Education would help. The trouble is that an educated workforce understands Pandemic Prosperity and how the profits are not increasing the salaries.

Nvidia is hacked.

The big social media companies are scrambling to be on "the right side of history" regarding the Russia-Ukraine war. The all missed the boat as the war started ten years ago, not this week.

And the Russian governors hit back against US social media companies.

Folks track the Russian invasion via traffic patterns on Google Maps. This is known as open-source intelligence. One day, mainstream media will wake up. I trust that the US intelligence community has figured this out as well.

Sunday 27 February 2022

Of course these are extreme circumstances, but does anyone think it odd that mainstream media is now praising the idea of citizens having assault weapons?

Who is moving from China to Texas? The crypto currency miners.

Ukraine is the home of several big-name tech companies like Grammarly and Readdle. They are coping and hoping.

I sit here in Starbucks. There is a gentleman from the middle east. There is a gentleman from Central America. Later this morning I will attend church with a family from Russia. We live each day with the people in our neighborhood. All Americans.

Coming soon to a coffee shop or kitchen table near you: the splinternet.

Yet another woe-is-me article about a generation of Americans. They didn't grow up with thousands of nuclear warheads aimed at them.

Elon Musk activates Starlink Internet service in Ukraine. About a month or two too late.

European governors are sending anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons to Ukraine. Again, about month or two too late.

Recent research finds that you know what started in the Wuhan market. So, can we now call it the Wuhan Virus?