Richard's blog

Category: observation

  • Self-driven Cars and Failing Infrastructure

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    Reading Time: 3 minutesIn the US people are obsessed with the lure of self-driving cars and robotaxies but I think these are looking in the wrong direction. If you’re looking in the right direction you improve bus services. You improve their frequency and you improve their coverage. You also improve the bike sharing infrastructure. If…

  • The Platform – Thoughts

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    Reading Time: 3 minutesTwo nights ago I saw that Netflix was recommending that I watch The Platform 2, so I watched The Platform instead. The Platform is a Spanish film that takes place in a pit/prison. Within this prison every cell is stacked vertically and those on the first floor get first dibs on food.…

  • Threads and Its Toxic Design

    Threads and Its Toxic Design

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    Reading Time: 3 minutesThreads, for the very beginning was an awful idea. Facebook already has Facebook, Instant Messenger, Whatsapp, Instagram and more. It was greedy so it created Threads but Threads has one fatal flaw. It’s a web chat driven by algorithms rather than chronological conversations. The reason for which this matters is that it…

  • The Sound of Heavy Rain

    The Sound of Heavy Rain

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    Reading Time: 2 minutesYesterday I walked with a light rain coat because it rained a few times during the day. This morning it has been raining heavily for hours. I stepped outside to get 4 season tyres from the post box for the bike and my back was quite wet after a few minutes. Such…

  • Practical Thoughts on Publibike

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    Reading Time: 4 minutesYesterday I finally tested Publibike after years of considering these bikes. There is a paradox. I think nothing of spending three francs, for a coke, rivella, hot chocolate or coffee but the idea of paying 3 CHF to use a bike for a six minute ride is disturbing. I didn’t pay for…

  • A Possible WordPress Implosion

    A Possible WordPress Implosion

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    richard
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    Reading Time: 2 minutesWordPress and WordPress engine are fighting at the moment. Mullenweg wants WP-Engine to pay its fair share, or contribute more developer hours to keep improving WordPress as a whole. To be more specific “a significant percentage of its revenues for a license to the WordPress trademark.” source “The abbreviation ‘WP’ is not…

  • Traffic Calming and Motorway Expansion

    Traffic Calming and Motorway Expansion

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    Reading Time: 2 minutesIn 2030 the motorway between Nyon and Geneva will be expanded to three lanes because they think that this will encourage growth and promote the economy. At the same time almost every village is lowering the speed limit to thirty kilometres per hour and villages like Signy, Gingins and others are placing…

  • Listening to every Podcast

    Listening to every Podcast

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    Reading Time: 2 minutesThere was a time when it was much easier to listen to every episode of a podcast for two reasons. The first of these is that they were new so it wouldn’t take too long to burn through one hundred episodes. The second reason is that podcasts were half an hour long…

  • The End of my Exposed Host Experiment

    The End of my Exposed Host Experiment

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    richard
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    Reading Time: 2 minutesFor months I have been hosting Immich, Photoprism and AudioBookShelf and the experiment has been a success. It has been stable and reliable so far and I did not detect anyone accessing my server without permission. I had these services as Exposed Host via the Swisscom router DMZ setting. it was easy…

  • Strava and the Fallacy of Quick Edit

    Strava and the Fallacy of Quick Edit

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    Reading Time: 2 minutesTwo days ago Strava came out with their "Quick edit" feature that is actually nothing new. They claim that it will simplify renaming activities to get more likes but that’s not what the "simple edit" is about. It’s about renaming activities to train AI. Some apps will call a run Morges Run,…