-
๐ Free is a Lie (2014)
by JamesPrivacy is between me and myself. Privacy does not mean between me and Google. Privacy does not mean between me and Facebook...Violating privacy violates the United Nations of Human Rights.
I don't have a specific quote, but I quite enjoyed this talk from Aral (of Small Tech). The premise of the talk is something that most people are familiar with, free (ala Google/Twitter/FB) silos aren't free, but you pay with your privacy. ( This blog respects your privacy and doesn't track you).
But what really made me think was the chart quadrant chart comparing Open Systems and Closed Systems on Features and Experience. In the upper left Closed / Features you have the leader: Microsoft. Next to that is Closed / Experience, where Apple and Google lead.
What's in the bottom half where open systems preside? Open source can compete with features, but they often can't compete on experience. Most people care about experience more than they care about features. An entire quadrant of the chart has no competition from open systems!
And since there's no competition in from open systems on the experience front, the system is going to arch closed. In order to have an open future, open systems must compete not only on features, but also on experience as well.ย
Competing on experience is increasingly difficult as more systems have some kind of hosted server component. I think about this in regards to Tanzawa on a regular basis, but I haven't figured out a model that I think would work.- Tagged with
- video
- computing
- social media
- privacy
-
Response to
by JamesSelf hosting is about freedom, you can choose what server you want to run, which version, which features and which configuration you want. If you self host at home, You can also pick the hardware to match your needs (more Ram ? More Disk? RAID?).
Excellent post about the importance of self-hosting. It also rightfully points out that buying new hardware isn't necessarily ecological to save 20 wants. ( As we learned in Frugal Computing the lifespan of a server needs to beย 10 - 20 years to offset the energy used to manufacture the computer).ย
More people should self-host. I'm self-hosting where it makes sense (my blog) and paying for hosting where it doesn't (Fastmail).I have a strong opinion on the subject, hosting your own services is a fantastic way to learn new skills or perfect them, but it's also important for freedom.
Amen. (Which reminds me, I was planning on moving my server to a BSD. I should really get around to doing that). -
Checkin to Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Natural History (็ฅๅฅๅท็็ซ็ๅฝใฎๆใปๅฐ็ๅ็ฉ้คจ)
Dinosaurs! ๐ฆ ๐ฆ โค๏ธDino bones!
I miss workstations like this classic one. And mousepads!(Fujitsu rebadged?) Sun IPX and Sparcstation 5 -
๐ Frugal computing: On the need for low-carbon and sustainable computing and the path towards zero-carbon computing
by JamesOn the need for low-carbon and sustainable computing and the path towards zero-carbon computing.
Computing and infrastructure currently use around 11% of the world's electricity and is projected to grow 3 - 4 times over the next 20 years. As makers of software (and hardware) we've got to find a way to extend the lifespan of devices for as long as possible.Taking into account the carbon cost of both operation and production, computing would be responsible for 10 GtCOโe by 2040, almost half of the acceptable COโ emissions budget
The report about the cost of planned obsolescence by the European Environmental Bureau [7] makes the scale of the problem very clear. For laptops and similar computers, manufacturing, distribution and disposal account for 52% of their Global Warming Potential (i.e. the amount of COโ-equivalent emissions caused). For mobile phones, this is 72%. The report calculates that the lifetime of these devices should be at least 25 years to limit their Global Warming Potential.
25-years on the same mobile phone. I can't even imagine. I'd love it if that were possible in today's world. Maybe if it was a "dumb" phone. But even then wireless network's lifespans aren't even that long these days.ย
I used my iPhone 6S+ for around 4 years until a pin broke on it and I could no longer charge it. "Repairing" it (my first option) would have meant getting a new iPhone 6S+ for half the cost of a brand new iPhone XR. I hope I can keep my phone for at least as long as I've had my current computer (7 - 8 years).- Tagged with
- co2
- computing
- electricity
-
The Week #54
by James- A couple weeks ago I was lamenting about having to cancel our trip to Atami. However, instead of going to Atami we were able to get our first vaccine shot! Our vouchers came and we were able to make an appointment at a clinic in Shin-Yokohama, with some good timing. It's funny how life works out like that.
- Since getting my shot, I can't help but think about life 6 weeks from now when I'm fully vaccinated. There's still a pandemic going on and the delta variant, while it (probably) won't put me in the hospital, is something I'd like to avoid. So despite being vaccinated, I don't think it will change too much. Of course Leo's too young to be vaccinated and I don't want to needlessly get him sick just because Dad wants to travel. But man do I think about getting on a bullet train with Leo...ย
- Speaking of being sick, Leo spent the week off pre-school being sick. He had a fever (off and on) for a couple of days and a cough / runny nose. This is the first time he's gotten sick since starting pre-school. But it wasn't just Leo. The same virus had 40 kids home from school(!). It was probably the RS Virus that's having a boom-year this year.
- Our garden is growing. Basil is happy and doing it's thing. Each mini-tomato plant is producing fruit, but they're all still green. Corn is pollinated and growing a few cobs. Bean production has slowed down a bit and the red / orange bell peppers haven't started producing fruit yet. I imagine the bell peppers are waiting for it to get hot and it just started to get hot hot outside. We've also moved the bell peppers so it gets both a southern and western exposure, rather than just a southern exposure. Hopefully that does the trick.ย
- I launched a new feature in Tanzawa to allow me to make private and unlisted posts. My motivation was two-fold: 1) I wanted to improve the interface around post-status and 2) I wanted to be able to write posts (mostly replies) on my blog without necessarily cluttering up my main feed. I don't know how much I'll use either of them yet, but I'm excited to see how my habits might change with these new capabilities.
-
Two Memories About Trees
by JamesWhere I live in Yokohama we have some small forests that they've decided to turn into parks. There's some paths through them, they're nice. I'm not sure if they're "native" forests or not, but the patches of green are nice.
Trees are something I've found myself become more of an advocate for as I've gotten older. We need more of them. Not just for the carbon capture features, but for the purely practical reasons: their shade helps cool us down and they clean the air. There's also some psychological benefits of seeing green, too.
---
Growing up in southern California, our house was a typical post-war ranch style house. In the back we had 3 big lemon trees that produced more lemons that any person could consume. Out front the entire street was lined with tree.ย Most houses didn't have trees in their yards because of these mature trees provided shade most of the day. It was great when you were playing outside, riding your bikes and skateboards.
But these trees roots were deep and apparently starting to interfere with some plumbing. So the city decided to cut them all down. They replaced them with these young trees that looked like toothpicks in comparison.
The difference in street temperature and the harshness of the light being outside was immediate. Without trees to filter the sun going outside your house you were blinded be the light. The rest of the neighborhood kept their trees, just ours became this hot barren wasteland.
But it's been 20 years. Writing this post I looked at street view on Google maps to see what has changed. All of the trees on my street have gotten bigger and can provide enough shade for a single parked car. Except the one in front of my old house. It's still a twig (or more likely got replaced again). The city also seems to have found their way to the rest of the neighborhood as there's not much shade along the sidewalks anywhere anymore.
---
One of my favorite summer treats were tips to Knotts Berry Farm, an amusement park.ย The day before we'd go we'd visit the local Vons and pickup sub rolls, deli meats, and other sandwich fixin's. We take the van (a Ford Econoline). This van had 2.5 rows for seating: two seats up front, a bench in the back, and a single seat in the middle, giving you a nice open area around the sliding door.
Knott's has multiple parking lots, but one of them was park-like and almost entirely covered in shade. We'd park there with a big cooler full of sandwich goods and drinks. During lunch we'd leave the park, enjoy the breeze, and have a nice picnic in the van.ย
Sometimes, even with the trees, it was a bit warm. On those days we'd have our "Texas coolers" (a cool/ice cool wet tea towel wrapped around our neck) help. Without those trees any picnic would have been hot and miserable.
---
I don't really have a way to end this post. I just always think about trees and heat island effect more during summer and these two memories of growing up resurfaced themselves.ย -
Checkin to ๆฐๆจชๆตๆดๅฝขๅค็งใชใฆใใ็ง
First shot done. Next shot in 3 weeks. ๐๐ป๐Got my shot! -
by JamesI saw this tweet of what Dallas, Texas used to look like and I love it. Compared to what this same spot looks like now, the difference is startling. US cities (even in Texas) used to not be too different from their European counterparts. Maybe this pandemic will allow Americans to start building cities for humans, rather than cars... again.
Dallas! -
by JamesJust shipped support for unlisted and private posts in Tanzawa. This work also allowed me to improve the posting interface and make it a bit easier to use. ๐
-
by JamesLately I've been thinking I want a way to post comments on other sites from my site without putting them into my main feed. I could pull it off with just unlisted posts...but I'm not sure if that's a robust enough solution...will have to ponder some more.
