Category: technology

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Linux Is Here

My friend David converted an old PC that could not run the current or even the not-current version of Windows into a computer that is running the current version of Fedora Linux like a champ!

Here we see the Intergalactic Headquarters of ConcreteLunch Projects.

This is not a state of the art computer. This is 10-year old tech.

  • 4x Intel Xeon CPU
  • 16 Gigs RAM
  • NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 video card
  • Fedora Linux 44
  • KDE Plasma Desktop Edition

It runs Firefox really well, and handles 3 monitors of the following resolutions: 2k, 1080 HD, and 1600×900.

I’m not using this machine for video editing. Not even really for watching videos. It is really for writing and playing online tabletop RPGs using a Virtual Tabletop System (Roll20.net). It is snappy as hell for these uses.

I did get a wider desk to accommodate the three monitors. Still getting the layout dialed-in. I think this really demonstrates that for most uses older tech is still fine.

Non-federated social media will never be used on this computer.

3 computer monitors on a desk, in a darkened room

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AI Art is Not Art

If you walked up to an artist and said “paint me a picture of this or that”, and the artist painted it, would you then say “I created this.”

Probably not.

That’s why AI art is not art, and people using AI to do their “art” are not, in fact artists.

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Things the feel rebellious now

It has never been easier to rebel against mainstream culture. Here are some ways…

  • Go for a walk with no earbuds or phone
  • Read a book with no other “media” “interacting” with you
  • Turn of all the notifications on your smart phone
  • Watch a movie on a proper TV without scrolling on your phone
  • Buy a magazine and read it
  • When you are standing in line somewhere, just stand there and breath and watch what’s going on rather than reaching for your phone
  • Refuse to us AI for anything
  • Spend a day with no social media
  • Spend a day using no computer technology
  • Sit down at your table with paper and some pencils and draw a picture on actual paper
  • Write in a journal/notebook that no one else will read
  • Go to a concert and don’t take any video or pictures – just enjoy it and your memory of it
  • Have a personal website/blog that is not connected to any social media in any way – maybe just a “reply to” email address
  • Write long-form articles on that blog rather than just a couple of lines – force people to read
  • Call someone and talk to them rather than texting

This list could just go on and on…

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AI – There is no upside for humanity

Not trying to start any discussions or arguments here. No comments here on this post.

The more I consider it, I see no upside to humanity from AI. ​

Removing the cognitive load from people’s brains will only make us stupider, more incompetent at simple tasks, lazier. This applies to every task. Use AI to write an email? Weakens you. Use AI to program a website function? Weakens your brain, atrophies your skills. Have AI summarize an article for you? Weakens your brain, which should be able to focus, read, UNDERSTAND, and summarize. Use it to brainstorm ideas for a game? Weakens your brain by offloading the creative process. And all of these things rob you of the sense of accomplishment you should experience and replace it with simply – being – a – consumer.

It’s not just a tool, like a pocket calculator. That’s like saying a dagger is the same as a nuclear bomb. It’s a bullshit argument and intellectually lazy.

Every time you let AI lift the intellectual weight you get weaker.

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Humans only, please.

Saw someone online today write ” how to get the most out of an AI collaboration. ”

You don’t collaborate with an AI. It’s a bunch of chips filled with ones and zeros and programmed to guess what word should come next. Collaboration is reserved for human beings, you idiot.

This is the kind of person who falls in love with his AI girlfriend.

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Linux Cyberpunk Dreams

My friend David took an old beat to shit PC he built us a few years ago and refurbished it. Even better, he put Linux (Fedora) on it.

I haven’t had a “desktop” in a long time. Honestly, it is nice to have that tower on the floor and reclaim my the space on top of my desk.

My preference is always the Apple ecosystem and MacIntosh computers, but hell, I had this laying around and he fixed it up for free, and I’m excited to dive into a consumerist orgy of finding a 3rd monitor, a wider desk, a cool cyberpunk-looking keyboard, an Ono-Sendai Cyberspace-7 poster on the wall above this little tech-nest, and some glowing LEDs setting the proper mood when I use it to run my online Traveller RPG game and whatnot.

Thus far I am enjoying Linux. I’ve used it before, and years ago I had a Unix workstation at my desk at work (previous job). For a librarian I am pretty good on the command-line as well. What I lack these days is patience, but that is something to work on.

I’ve got all my peripherals working well, installed the Discord app, and a few other things. Over the next week I’ll get it organized as I want it, put a cool desktop image on the screens, and take care of various other details.

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Social Media Semi-Blackout Update

Last week I removed all social media from my phone. Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, Mastodon, Twitch, Discord. Even my micro.blog app for my skateboarding blog.

Yes, I can still get to all that stuff on my computer, but there is something about removing it from the phone that already feels liberating. Sitting at a computer I can still get to Instagram, but it really doesn’t work well on a computer. So I’m not really using it anymore. I can get to Facebook on a computer even here at work. I never use Discord from a work computer, so removing it from my phone means I’m not really using it much at all.

So at this point I think removing all that shit from my phone has been noticeably positive. I’m not checking social media in waiting rooms, in the restroom, etc. At night, after dinner, I look at it for a little while and then I pick up my Kindle or an actual physical book and read.

I know at least a few of my readers have made this kind of change, or a great change, already. Friends, I am right behind you. I’ll catch up. I’m working on it.

There can be little doubt that the “smart phone” is the worst technology ever invented – until AI. They go hand-in-hand.

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On Portability

We have a Nintendo Switch, so obviously we also have a subscription to whatever their service is (ugh – another damned subscription to cancel). Therefore, I am on their mailing list.

Last week I got an email with the subject line “Bring your games with you, anywhere you go”, and the attached image…

After spending a lot of time thinking about current and future technology use, the way online activity interferes with concentrating on more valuable activities (like reading, writing, skateboarding, the list goes on), I couldn’t help be think when I saw this email “Why is it good that people can take video games with them anywhere? Is it good? Is it desireable?”

Like the cursed cellphone, I think this kind of thing isn’t really good. I know it sounds like I just don’t like video games, and that is partially true. I’m not into them really, so I don’t really value them much. I understand, however, that they are entertainment and people like them so I’m not voicing this opinion just to crap on someone else’s fun.

A book is portable too. Why do I view that differently? Well, I think reading is a better thing to do when I’m sitting in a waiting room than playing a video game. Making video games portable is an example of what my niece calls “the Poison of Convenience.” It’s also a way of keeping people jacked-into the content machine and reinforcing the digital addition. It’s not even a conspiracy. It’s just Capitalism doing what Capitalism does, extracting value from the humans and nature.

The same goes for the damned cellphone. Harvesting your attention and the irreplaceable and valuable moments of your life to sell another product.

I’m not saying people shouldn’t play video games. I think video games can be amazing and fun entertainment. I’m talking about our ability to disconnect and be alone with the wonder and the horror of our own thoughts, in silence. The power to concentrate on something like a book, or sit and listen to music with no other sensory input.

I like having my Kindle with me at all times. I keep it in my backpack, along with some pens and a couple of notebooks. I like to write in journals. Before the Kindle I would usually have a physical book in there. Sometimes I’ll throw this Chromebook I’m typing on now in there too. But again – what do I really want to carry with me? Isn’t a book enough? At least the Kindle, while it can get on the web, makes it hard to do so.

Anyway, yeah, been considering how much portability is too much.

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Human Creativity Is Not Artificial

I found this article a few months ago via the 32-bit Cafe Discourse forum. One of the participants wrote it…

The Colonization of Confidence

It’s great. READ IT.

A little background on it. The author is, in fact, a professional writer and is blind. Not sure that matters at all, but maybe it does? Is an intelligent blind writer harder to sweep up in the Generative AI Hype Train? I have no idea.

Anyway, I enjoyed this short story a lot. Apparently it is a true story. Frankly, and I mean no insult to the author, there are parts that seem fictionalized. Nothing huge. A little bit of the dialog. Makes no difference if it is. It works.

In short, the story deals with an author in a writing group. One member of the group, a tech bro, has a boner for AI. Also, he’s a fucking douche. The rest of the group falls under his spell even as he destroys a good man’s confidence in his own writing.

Just read it. It’s about a 15-minute read, and worth it. Because here’s the thing.

WRITING is only done by humans. Not machines.

Writing, like all art, is a fundamentally human endeavor. Creating art involved human cognition. Remove human cognition and what you have left – is – just – shit.

I am doing writing at this exact moment. Sorry, if a machine put these exact words together, it’s not writing. ART is done by humans. I’ll go so far as to say that anyone who uses AI to write, or to even brainstorm, or to help arrange their thoughts on “paper” is not writing. Sorry. They just aren’t. If that’s you, then you are not writing.

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Unfollowing Tech

For the most part, across any social media or blogging platform I use, I am unfollowing anyone who works in “tech.” There are a few I’m staying with, represented in my blog roll, and at least one other, but for the most part I just can’t read another post or article about one of the AI platforms doing this or that, why one is better than the other, etc.

I know this is just fascinating, right?

 

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Slow Down

Saw a blogger I follow expounding on the value of AI to make everything he does easier and accelerate everything.

I reject the notion that things – anything – needs to be accelerated. That’s a pernicious idea that’s been created by the tech bros and capitalists to further enslave us.

Everyone needs to slow down.

Productivity is a lie.

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Noise

I’ve been reading the Minutes to Midnight blog for a year or two now.

Simone recently wrote an article called Noise. Then he wrote More About Noise. As you’ll see in the 2nd article, this topic seems to have struck a chord with a lot of people. I was one of those who emailed him about the first article.

More and more I find myself affected by noise of all sorts. So many things want my attention, and I only have so much I can healthily give. Only so much that I want to give. And yet the world and the internet often feel like a parasite attached to my frontal lobe, drawing out my attention — my focus – faster than it can be replenished.

It’s an addiction. Plain and simple.

I often joke that people are terrified of being alone only their own thoughts. But honestly it’s not a joke. It’s the truth. With the smartphone you can be connected all – the – fucking – time to the Beast. You think you are getting something, but you’re not. You are giving something.  Something that is limited in quantity and precious beyond compare. Your time and attention. Maybe your sanity too.

I had hoped by now to have a plan of action for 2026 for really altering my tech ownership and use. Simplification. Intention. Awareness. As I just wrote those three words I realized that maybe that is my plan. My ongoing plan. Evaluating what devices I use, and what is on them. Evaluating what digital services I use. Evaluating the software I use. Evaluating where and how I store my own data. Do I continue using the “cloud”? Is that really needed? How much of it is noise? Probably a lot.

There’s a lot to think about.

A few years ago I read a number of books about Zen. I have never really “practiced”, though I feel like aikido shares some principles with Zen practice. Maybe that’s why Zen really spoke to me. I read about Zazen, the practice of the Zen form of meditation without a goal. No “success”. You just sit there quietly, staring at a blank wall, and let your thoughts pass through your mind without really doing anything with them. My understanding is that you learn that thoughts are “just what your brain makes”, and it can make a lot of them. You observe them. You don’t act on them. You just let them happen. It seems like what you come to find is that most of them are, in fact, noise.

We already have enough noise in our heads already, generated by our own brains. We don’t need to add the noise of everyone else’s brain to that bedlam.

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Tech Stuff

iCloud vs Google Stuff

I’ve been using iCloud more and more the last couple of weeks. I’m pretty addicted to Google Drive and Docs, but for most likely completely ridiculous reasons I consider Google to be worse than Apple in the “doing evil in the world” department. Both are big evil corporations. I get that. For whatever reason I feel like Apple is “the evil I can live with.”

Using Notes and even Pages from iCloud works really well. The challenge is that so many people are on the Google platform while relatively few are on iCloud. That makes it harder to share documents with, for instance, podcasting partners.

Hardware

I’m sitting at the car dealership writing this post on my very nice Asus C34 Flip Chromebook. It really wasn’t much less expensive than a MacBook Air. I’m kinda determined not purchase any new computers for the next year. The Chromebook honestly gets the job done, and I can use iCloud from it no problem.

It just occurred to me that what I’m actually struggling with is consumerism…read on…

So, I LOOOOVE my iPad Mini. A couple of weeks ago, for the first time, I plugged my Apple Keyboard (that I normally use with my MacBook Pro in my home “office) into the iPad and tested it doing some writing. It was actually a really nice experience. The iPad just makes everything look great, and the keyboard worked so well with it. So I’ve been shopping for wireless keyboard/mouse combos for the iPAd. But here’s the thing…that’s dumb for me. A laptop (like this Chromebook) is much better for on-the-go writing. Having a keyboard like that just for my iPad would be a waste of money even while it might scratch my consumerist/materialist itch.

It’s weird the things we (I) attach value to. Do I get more personal gratification from working with what I have, or from buying flashy new stuff and being the guy with all the cool stuff? I’m not really sure. This is what happens when someone has disposable income. Yes? Yes.

Also on the hardware front…my $5000 ridiculously maxed-out late 2019 MacBook Pro has been declared by Apple to be obsolete, as they will no longer support machines with the old Intel chips going forward. A couple of months ago I stupidly “upgraded” to MacOS Tahoe and my computer immediately starting having problems with things like charging, waking up properly, etc. Power management issues. There were some other odd behaviors too. So over the last two weeks I 1)downgraded back to Catalina, the OS it came with, and 2)upgraded back up to Sonoma, which is 2 OSs behind Tahoe. It seems to be working well again. We’ll see. I and a bit skeptical, as there is still one thing it is doing that seems wrong. Will have have to re-downgrade to Catalina and leave it there? Maybe.

I bought this machine when it was clear I would be working at home during the pandemic and I needed a badass machine for video/audio work. It was the right decision at the time, but I’ll never spend that much on a computer again. In a little more than a year I hope to be retired, and I will not need a powerhouse machine for work.

Also – just to let y’all know – Tahoe is stupid. Most new OSs are stupid. Bloated, stupid, useless things — like Trump. No one needs the UI to be animated. No one needs fucking AI built into their shit. All this has me seriously taking another look at Linux, which of course I’ll abandon after expending some energy fretting about it.

Speaking of AI

I still see no valid use for AI outside of extremely technical uses, like medical research or something like that. Using AI to edit one’s writing is simply weak. Using it to “brainstorm” ideas for anything is weak – use your own brain. I understand that the genie is out of the bottle with regard to this, that the Tech Bros have already managed to infect the educational systems with this rubbish, but that won’t stop me from hating it. I have become that guy. I have a friend who is very into AI art. He’s a trained artist and has a degree in digital art. I understand why he finds this all fascinating. I just don’t think it is needed. Give me a shitty hand-drawn picture with heart any day.

This blog

October 6, 2026 will be the 2oth anniversary of this blog. Honestly, I am kinda tired of WordPress. I’m tired of the theme(s) I’ve been using for many years, but all the new themes available are…shit. And I don’t feel like creating my own theme. That’s not how I want to spend my time right now. The advantages of WordPress are…

  • I can log in from any computer and work on this blog, and publish
  • Since WordPress installation runs on my virtual server space on dreamhost, it is independent of any other hosting company. I like that. I have access to everything, and that means I have real control of my stuff.
  • It works

The downsides of WordPress…

  • The theme suck, and they are really hard to change. They are much more complex than they were 20 years ago. This one I’m using is one of about three that look like blogs and not like catalogs.
  • Since WP is based on PHP and MySQL it isn’t simple to move to another host, should I wish to do so. YES – I could. I am technically adept enough to do it. But still it is nice to just drag and drop static files.

At this point, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. I’ll keep with it.