This week a colleage of mine shared an interesting video describing AI (mainly Suno) as problematic to the musical industry in the sense that musicians will become less and less skilled in making truly original music. It coins the term “de-skilling”, which perfectly captures something I also see in the software development area, even though it is beautifully hidden by the “impressive results”.
Tag: opinion
GT7 Safety Ratings Broken
I regularly play Gran Turismo 7 on my playstation 5. Fanatec Direct Drive steering wheel, seat, pedals, the works. I even have a pit crew telling me when my tyres are warm or cold, and which laps I need to pit in by using EzioDash Pro. I put great effort in keeping my SR (Safety Rating) as high as possible, hoping that I get placed in lobbies where people behave. I very regularly get the “Clean Race” bonus, and my SR is maxed out. Yet still I get into lobbies with dimwits like NicoTabe or JabCrash. Last week I noticed that these dirty drivers actually get increased safety ratings. This video clearly shows the problem:
Warmtestore review
Toen we een huis kochten met een open haard, was ik super enthausiast. Een vuurtje stoken was al snel gedaan en het oogt en ruikt fantastisch. Het enige nadeel van een open haard is dat er niet veel warmte vanaf komt: het rendement van een open haard is zo’n 15%. Al snel keken we naar een haard (niet open dus), omdat dat makkelijker stookt, veiliger is, minder rook en stank produceert, en niet onbelangrijk: het rendement van een gesloten haard is zo’n 75% tot 85%.
Apple Watch 8 Uninstalled
After wearing a simple Pulsar analog watch for years, and then not wearing a watch at all, I convinced myself a month ago that an Apple Watch 8 would be an improvement. Part of that decision was based on my hipster IT colleagues being surprised I was not wearing a smartwatch. I also noticed my girlfriend practically can’t live without hers, and then I saw this endless stream of youtube videos with raving reviews of (lets be honest) pretty biased people.
Salarisverhoging Leraren Basisschool
Ben je leraar in het basisonderwijs en wil je weten wat je nieuwe salaris wordt nu er een akkoord is over het dichten van de salariskloof tussen het PO (Primair Onderwijs / basisonderwijs) en het VO (Voortgezet Onderwijs)? Aan de hand van de huidige salarisschalen voor PO, salarisschalen voor VO, en de uitleg van de Algemene Onderwijsbond kom ik op onderstaande nieuwe schalen, treden en salarissen.
Voor uw eigen veligheid
Sinds 21 maart vraagt onze regering ons om binnen te blijven bij verkoudheidsklachten. Sinds 23 maart last onze regering alle bijeenkomsten en evenementen af. Dat de KNVB denkt dat die regel niet voor hen geldt is nog even tot daaraantoe. Toch wordt onze vrijheid niet zodanig beperkt dat we niet naar buiten kunnen, of zelfs tegen het advies in elkaar kunnen bezoeken. Wat ook niet is veranderd is dat we net als de KNVB vinden dat maatregelen vooral over anderen gaan, en niet over onszelf.
Even geen donor meer
“Niertransplantatiefietsen” worden ze onder artsen wel eens genoemd. Tot nu toe had je grote kans dat je de nieren, longen of andere organen van deze gezonde motorrijder had kunnen ontvangen. Zodra ik me mocht registreren heb ik gelijk aangegeven dat ik volledig donor wil zijn. Omdat ik niet geloof in leven na de dood, en wel geloof in het helpen van anderen.
Ashley Madison in perspective
However I disagree with sites like Ashley Madison and the way its owners scam people, last week I have noticed something far more disturbing. As I understand, Ashley Madison was charging people for their profiles to be deleted, and then did not (promptly) delete them. I guess some of it’s “hackers” got caught up in this and decided to attack Ashley Madison for that. Up to this point, merely a quarrel between two parties which may have better been solved by legal procedure.
Hand me a napkin
It’s not until you or someone very close to you becomes dependant on a wheelchair until you notice that the world is not as wheelchair friendly as you might think. Hotel rooms are wheelchair accessable, but the lobby can only be reached by stairs. People with kids can take strollers all the way up to the airplane seat, but people in wheelchairs need to magically heal themselves and leave the wheelchair at the gate.
But this is not a rant about inconsiderate travel company employees. This is about helping people with “a challenge”, as our funny American neighbours tend to call it. And no, this is also not a rant about helping in a big way, raising a million for a cause, getting all the local supermarkets to give away groceries to people in wheelchairs, or TV shows selling tear-jerking advertisement minutes while building a house for a familiy who really needs it.
No, this is about the little things. Things that make you and me different. Things that require only a little twitch of a muscle for healthy people. Quirky things like aligning the napkin to the edge of the table, or petting a cat, or getting a different color straw because it doesn’t match the color of your shirt.
Imagine you had to ask somebody to align your napkin to the edge of the table. That person would find you demanding, and because he doesn’t see what’s solved by doing that, it’s very likely that the napkin will never move. Soon, you will stop asking people to do the little things that used to make you who you were.
It’s a tough choice. Loose friends because they think you’re too much of a demanding prinsess, or loose friends because you stop being you.
When you see or know somebody in a wheelchair, remember that their mind still wants to do those quirky things that make them who they are. It’s okay to say no, but please consider this little blogpost when somebody asks you to straighten their bracelet or clean their glasses.
The world does not need one-time big-mouthed Facebook-selfie heroes. The world needs polite people who can discretely hand over a napkin without asking what’s it for.
Replace Evernote with Spidernote
In the past I have used Evernote extensively, it really helped me in my research for this blog and keeping track of meeting notes, todo lists and even making pictures of whiteboards at work searchable. As a product, there is no note taking app that can beat Evernote. But there is a little problem that has become a deal breaker for me, and that is basically the NSA and the way Americans, and particularly the American government seems to think about people’s privacy and online security.
Evernote is an American company, which sadly has to comply with whatever ridiculous request by the U.S. government to turn over data of innocent people all over the world (yes, even outside the U.S. border, I know, it’s amazing). This, combined with the fact that Evernote clearly can not use zero-knowledge encryption because of the services it provides, makes that all the data you and I put into Evernote are at NSA’s fingertips at all times. If you find that as scary as I do, and you have a Mac, there is a way to solve this.