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Rupert Goodwins

@rupertg.bsky.social

360 followers 820 following 510 posts

Tech hack. Hacks tech. Was Prince Philip. Wrote firmware for Clive and Alan, wrote words for decades, now Register columnist and creative tech at Civic Digits. Quite blind. Music, history, radio, science. Only robots have to be binary: YMMV.

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Rupert Goodwins @rupertg.bsky.social · 13h

0h, withe occasslonal sunny shafts of Kraftwekian photonics thrown in . Mustard cut. spotify.link/V7lITO07yXb

Renewal and Regeneration

Rupert Goodwins @rupertg.bsky.social · 13h

Warrington-Runcorn New Town Development Plan has a new album, Public Works And Utilities. Not the variety of BoC, but the vibe, the uneasy nostalgia of avivd childhood flashback in the middle act of a trip. Lovely. spotify.link/8bvvWp06yXb

Public Works and Utilities

Rupert Goodwins @rupertg.bsky.social · 10d

Bluesky search is broken, so good luck searching for why.

Rupert Goodwins @rupertg.bsky.social · 20d

Going through the ONT data sheet in the hope of finding a way to get it to disgorge stats. Np luck so far, but amused to see it has a Dying Gasp Alarm.

Rupert Goodwins @rupertg.bsky.social · 20d

It took Openreach months to get a fibre five metres from the cabinet to the house, but I have slipped the surly bonds of Vjrgin to touch the face of Zen. Nice to plug my existing router straight into the ONT - just add PPPoE creds and VPN/WiFi etc just carry on. As it should be.

Rupert Goodwins @rupertg.bsky.social · 20d

youtu.be/QgkUVIj3KWY?...

Yes, Prime Minister - Russian Tactics and Nuclear Deterrent

YouTube video by John Doe

Rupert Goodwins @rupertg.bsky.social · 21d

Have you ever had a dream that seemed real to you at the time?

Rupert Goodwins @rupertg.bsky.social · 24d

Integrity. Must be powered by irony thrusters.

Rupert Goodwins @rupertg.bsky.social · 28d

I can't read that site, but the tracks on YouTube and doesn't have that phrase, not that I can hear anyway!

Rupert Goodwins @rupertg.bsky.social · 28d

Everything about our reality is an hallucination by that measure though, so I think the distinction is useful

Rupert Goodwins @rupertg.bsky.social · 28d

PS - if anyone knows where the lyrics are from, there are two people and at least two AIs eager to know.

Rupert Goodwins @rupertg.bsky.social · 28d

... it produced hallucinated verses with the correct chorus. I told it that was wrong, it apologised and said the lyrics were frm Gimme Some Truth by John Lennon. An apt point to give up.

They're not going to fix this. This is not a trillion dollar industry in the making. This is Clippy on acid,

Rupert Goodwins @rupertg.bsky.social · 28d

...with scrambled or hallucinated songs. Eventually, it accused him of misremembering. I tried it, got the same. So I tried it with ChatGPT. It said it was from Private Dancer by Tina Turner, which does at least exist, but when I asked to see the lyrics...

Rupert Goodwins @rupertg.bsky.social · 28d

AI fun. Palb had a lyric fragnebt stuck in his head -"I don't want your secret police, I don't want your spies" and tried to look it up on line. Google AI said it was from "The Things That Dreams Are Made Of" by Morrissey. He tried different varaints of the lyric, and each time the AI came back...

Rupert Goodwins @rupertg.bsky.social · Aug 31

I don't know the Shack's comms history, but the technology was evolving so rapidly, the roles changing so quickly, and the platform had such a long lifetime, that I'd be surprised if there was any continuity. The UK WW2 stuff was pre-war tech, before crystals, SSB, mini valves, etc.

Rupert Goodwins @rupertg.bsky.social · Aug 31

It's the complete gubbins from a Lancaster bomber, it is apparently working (yet to get it) so I'll be putting it on the air if you fancy a chat on 80, and yes, it will take pride of place in the front room.

Rupert Goodwins @rupertg.bsky.social · Aug 31

I may have just bought an unfeasible wireless set...

Rupert Goodwins @rupertg.bsky.social · Aug 30

@marcrileydj.bsky.social Robert Fripp tells tq\es of the tour bus. Thank God my tablet is gin prooi. Think you could slip it out on t'wireless? Me neither. open.spotify.com/track/0CzS4s...

open.spotify.com

Rupert Goodwins @rupertg.bsky.social · Jul 24

The refurb Pixel 8 Pro I got to replace my moistened Pixel 6 has a bunch of spec updates that don;t matter to me, nor did I expect them too. But - the screen is now bright enough I can read the bus app at bus stops in way more daylights. Huge for me. Who knows what matters.

Rupert Goodwins @rupertg.bsky.social · Jul 20

Went to read this, was mesmerised by 'pantheon of aggression', a juxtaposition of concepts that shouldn't work but somehow does, precipitating a snow globe shower of ideas each time you shake it. All aspect of human violence its own god? What does mythos draw? Language and mind are crazy fun.

Anna Merlan @annamerlan.bsky.social · Jul 19

Can you tell I'm working a weekend shift? Anyway, I wrote about Trump's lawsuit against the WSJ and where it fits in with his pantheon of aggression against media companies: www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Trump sues the Wall Street Journal over Epstein birthday album story

Trump called the newspaper a “useless rag” and boasted about the previous times he's sued journalists and media outlets.

www.motherjones.com

Rupert Goodwins @rupertg.bsky.social · Jul 19

Summertime, and the freelance is flowing
Staffers are on hols, and the well's running dry
Oh, your budget is rich, and your readers are looking
Commission me, baby, don't you cry.

Rupert Goodwins @rupertg.bsky.social · Jul 18

Thirsty little travel router sucked the life out of the tablet, dry as a husk dark as the tomb. Onto the resus table, a spritz of vitamin E up the port, and the beast wakes, blinks, and goes into reset. Oh please. Breath held. Lock screen. Ooooh. Swipe up. Trace pattern... AND I'M IN!

YAAAS.

Rupert Goodwins @rupertg.bsky.social · Jul 17

"The new supercomputer has the power of 100,000 home computers and will allow the training of a British version of ChatGPT. Yhe minister said that the data it could process in a swcond would take everyone else in the world 80 years to achieve."

HOW CAN I WORK IN THE MIDFT OF THIS MINCE?

Rupert Goodwins @rupertg.bsky.social · Jul 17

Have left Tab USB powering travel router, which should kill it overnight.

Work to do, so walk away from the rabbit hole, Rupert, walk away.

Rupert Goodwins @rupertg.bsky.social · Jul 17

Now we're into 'let the battery run out' reset. Modern tablets can last weeks o standby.

In other news, my new phone has arrived. Hurrah! Let's set it up.

It has sent my account verification request to my Galaxy Tab.

Am I in an anxiety dream? Is reality thus?