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- Thread starter Gutwrench
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Never been to Tenerife. I rarely get away for more than a couple of days.
But I’ve never had a holiday when I don’t do some work in the last 15 years.
Uggggh, sounds like my software development past but I left many jobs with a load of money for the vacation time I didn't take.
I've never been to Tenerife, either, but isn't that the number one destination for UK travellers, followed by Florida?
No idea. I thought more would go to France than Spain.
I do take my vacation time. Just an odd day here or there.
Very tired today. Decided to skip work for the evening (even though I have plenty to do), and headed to bed.
Football is on, but I doubt I’ll get to full time.
Football is on, but I doubt I’ll get to full time.
I swear that the pandemic made people less considerate and cautious about infectious disease than before it. I've always been wary of people coughing and spluttering all over the place so I don't think I'm experiencing a full blown frequency illusion effect in noticing people doing it far more often and callously nowadays, all around me.
Then again, it could just be localised to where I live, which is also just generally full of ****** people already. They just got worse, is all.
Oops, it came off my head when I ducked the boom on a jibe. It then hit the sailboat tiller and bounced into the water and sank. I hope the company has insurance.
I experienced some awful people while working in retail., and not any of them were named Karen.
Bin day (be still, my beating heart).
Fridge is pretty empty, and larder and cupboards are (almost) out of fresh food.
Paid a swift and fleeting visit to the city (but did take time for a lovely coffee in the French bakery); bought bread, and ordered (and paid for) bread for the week-end.
Visited the library to return some overdue books, to find that their system is ahead of itself; I had received an email at insane o'clock informing me that two books I had requested were ready for collection.
They weren't; the staff agreed - studying their computer - that the system said they were ready for collection, but, in actual fact, they hadn't yet arrived.
Well, anticipation is sometimes more than half the fun.
Visited M&S (everywhere seems out of organic milk), and bought some Jersey milk (rather, milk from Cornwall, but from Jersey and Guernsey cows), some double cream, and lovely butter.
One of the places where I stopped by - a well regarded fruit and veg store (that also sells wine), - were out of blood oranges, which was very frustrating, as I had been looking forward to filling a large basket with them.
Fortunately, some of the good stalls are trickling back to the farmers' market, and I phoned one of them to put aside some blood oranges (and free range, organic, eggs) for me, this coming Saturday, when I hope to have wheels at my disposal. I also phoned the organic meat stall.
And I visited the cheesemonger.
Some cheese was bought.
Fridge is pretty empty, and larder and cupboards are (almost) out of fresh food.
Paid a swift and fleeting visit to the city (but did take time for a lovely coffee in the French bakery); bought bread, and ordered (and paid for) bread for the week-end.
Visited the library to return some overdue books, to find that their system is ahead of itself; I had received an email at insane o'clock informing me that two books I had requested were ready for collection.
They weren't; the staff agreed - studying their computer - that the system said they were ready for collection, but, in actual fact, they hadn't yet arrived.
Well, anticipation is sometimes more than half the fun.
Visited M&S (everywhere seems out of organic milk), and bought some Jersey milk (rather, milk from Cornwall, but from Jersey and Guernsey cows), some double cream, and lovely butter.
One of the places where I stopped by - a well regarded fruit and veg store (that also sells wine), - were out of blood oranges, which was very frustrating, as I had been looking forward to filling a large basket with them.
Fortunately, some of the good stalls are trickling back to the farmers' market, and I phoned one of them to put aside some blood oranges (and free range, organic, eggs) for me, this coming Saturday, when I hope to have wheels at my disposal. I also phoned the organic meat stall.
And I visited the cheesemonger.
Some cheese was bought.
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This is an absolute nightmare and fills me with horror.
Now, I can see a very useful - indeed, very valuable - function for such a device for people who have suffered (paralysing and/or other) injuries; in such a context, this could be priceless.
For the able-bodied, however, it seems to substitute the virtual for the real, which I find deeply disturbing and yes, a dystopian nightmare.
Quoting an article pondering a daily 20% jump in $META " ... growing up in a world different to Mark Zuckerberg or to the regulators as well, where it’s just normal to be on a screen as often as you can be, and that brings with it health risks and it brings opportunities too. ... ".
The absolute enormity of the sleight of hand masterfully executed by our dopamine providing overlods substituting, free-time/expression and independent thought with self-validation as a commodity has always baffled me.
I browse through very heavily add-on supported versions of Firefox and avoid native apps ... Still the sliver of what the ad-fueled personalized-experience driven web that gets through to me nauseates beyond comprehension, to an end that I might be developing an intolerance to visible manifestations of it in written and therefore thought patterns of others.
Yet I don't see my cohort escaping it lest we live an even bigger trauma within our lifetimes, and that realization is in itself fuel for the deepest of existential angst when pondering about the ever slimming possibility of inter-subjectivity and what it entails.
We have seen the most extensive means of social control ever devised roll out under our eyes in the aftermath of the smartphone revolution, and given the still (hopefully and knocking on wood) relatively ample time that I have on this earth, I see little hope other than joining the ranks of the rent-seeking techno-feudal landlords.
/rant off.
Absolutely agree with you both. What is worse is that everyone laughed (mostly) at the Meta offering because it was, well, Meta (Facebook) and people associate anything by Zuckerberg with dystopia. Whereas Apple has a more positive image so it is more likely to catch on. I believe in "progress" generally but I wish people would stop to consider that, at least in my view, many of the changes wrought during, for example, the industrial revolution and even the agricultural revolution were negative - the less varied diet at first and stratification of society during the latter and of course pollution and greater dehumanisation during the former. At least in my view but I'm an Gen X (boomer to the millennials and zoomers) so what do I know?
Yea. Time for me to re-read some dystopian literature. 1984, Brave New World, Lord of the Flies, Animal Farm, F451 and more.
They’re redoing F451. It’s going to be called C232.8
I wholeheartedly agree with you. In all fairness, the evaluation of the impact on society and lifestyle of a new technology has always been a difficult topic. However, I see four big differences from the past here,
- Technology is moving faster and faster. This means that its impact will be faster and faster. It also means that legislation, and moral evaluations will be very much delayed, which means that any action to counter the ill effects will be delayed.
- Ubiquity. This technology, and the newer ones, are more and more ubiquitous. This means that many lines have been blurred. My rants on this very forum about seeing families at a restaurant being glued to a screen (with young kids on iPads!) aren’t new. The fact that many kids have their brain so jacked up that not only they can’t admire reality but they can’t even distinguish reality vs artificial reality (see Instagram influencer, AI models etc) is telling the same way that the increasing rates of depression and suicide is telling. Now we can bring a whole office at the beach, this is scary stuff.
- Double Classism. There is no denying that society is somewhat classist. I don’t mean it as in “rich evil” or “poor evil” type of way. I simply mean it that more money will buy more stuff which creates some unofficially recognized forms of classism (rich CEO, Hollywood star etc). Now we’re adding another layer. Do people really think that their life on the Vision Pro metaverse will be free? Nah. You’ll have to buy shoes. You’ll have to buy the extra screen. You’ll have to buy clothing, and even furniture. Similar to videogame skins. Now that the item goes for $3,500 and is new we won’t see this. Once the technology will be cheaper, widely used, and maybe even mandated by companies the same way that smartphones are, we’ll see this.
- Impact of IA. This is the first time in history in which we’re actually replacing human’s ability to actually think. I am not sure how this will impact the future, but I am not entirely happy about this.
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Hope you get your blood oranges!
I wonder if I ever had Jersey milk from New Jersey.
For over a year, Target has been selling Marks & Spencer chocolates for holidays such as Christmas and Easter. They're too expensive so I haven't tried them.
1-3 don’t bother me so much. Number 4 however is a worry.
Yes, I had planned to buy as many as I could carry, and had anticipated being able to devour several of them today, - I craved them - but, sadly, was thwarted.....
Not New Jersey.
Rather, Jersey (and Guernsey) - which are two of the Channel Islands.
They lie off the coast of France, but are (sort of) under the authority of the UK.
Re milk, the Jersey (and Guernsey) breeds of cow (naturally) produce a milk with a higher degree of butterfat - around 20% more - (and more proteins etc) than that produced by other breeds, which means that it tastes richer and creamier, and......is a lot more delicious.
Gloomily agree.
Gloomily agree completely.
While I never liked being young, (okay, the energy and strange belief that you were immortal were welcome), and wasn't very good at it - I am a lot more comfortable in myself and comfortable in my skin in middle age - but, I must say that I am very glad that I am not a young girl these days.
It would be a horrible, horrible, horrible, life; absolutely horrible.
Your point about the ubiquity (point 2) is very well taken; it is hard to avoid (or escape) being engaged with this world, and, as a teen, you will not have the will, the experience, the confidence, to be able to set your own boundaries.
Indeed, as an adult, - with bosses sending emails at insane o'clock (which I believe is outrageous; it doesn't matter if you are not obliged to respond immediately or instantly - you will still have seen it and be mulling it over - in your sleep if nowhere else) - the right to set boundaries on availability has also been eroded.
People should have the right to switch off.
Personally, (re point 1) I cannot wait for some form of robust regulation to be passed: Which will come - this is inevitable, it is just that it is - as always - too late, and probably too little, and many will have paid a high price for this tardiness in the meantime).
Point 4 fills me with horror; the lack of responsibility, or accountability, on the part of some owners of some of these platforms, for what appears on their platforms is something I believe to be outrageous.
If this was a medicine, it could not have been unleashed upon the unsuspecting world without having met standards, and having been subject to strict oversight and regulation.
Anyway, excellent post, and I completely agree with you.