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61 February 2024 | Monthly Digital Breadcrumbs

(A good reminder, via What’s Your Gift?)

A bunch of things (which I added to my Tumblr) for your eyes and ears plus brain to spend time on (as no longer on Twitter).

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“Google, especially, has relied on the open web RSS protocol to gain so much market share and influence, but continues to engage in behavior that exploits the open web at the expense of its users. As a result, Google has single-handedly contributed to the reason many users who once relied on RSS feeds have stopped using them.”

How Google helped destroy adoption of RSS feeds – Open RSS

“Don’t be distracted by criticism. Remember, the only taste of success some people have is when they take a bite out of you.” Zig Ziglar

99 Great Quotes That Will Help You Handle Criticism | Inc.com

“When writing by hand, brain connectivity patterns were far more elaborate than when typewriting on a keyboard, as shown by widespread theta/alpha connectivity coherence patterns between network hubs and nodes in parietal and central brain regions. Existing literature indicates that connectivity patterns in these brain areas and at such frequencies are crucial for memory formation and for encoding new information and, therefore, are beneficial for learning.”

Frontiers | Handwriting but not typewriting leads to widespread brain connectivity: a high-density EEG study with implications for the classroom

“Put simply, the numbers don’t add up. Data from Patreon and Substack suggests the average conversion rate from follower to paying fan is about 5%. This means a creator would need a total fanbase of 20,000 followers to yield 1,000 paying supporters. And building a core fanbase of 20,000 engaged followers is extremely difficult in today’s crowded creative landscape.”

The creator economy can’t rely on Patreon. — Joan Westenberg

“A Vicar asks his congregation in the valleys the question “What would you do if Jesus returned tomorrow?”. A voice in the flock pipes up; “Move Barry John to inside-centre”!”

From the comment section of Barry John was ‘the King, a magician, my friend’ – Sir Gareth Edwards – BBC Sport

“Much furor has been raised in recent months over the unauthorized scraping of the web to train AI models; OpenAI even thanked the faceless “millions of people” who created the data to train GPT-3 in its paper describing the model. But when it comes to data willingly shared with Facebook and Meta, that Faustian bargain was struck long ago.”

Zuckerberg Boasts He Will Be AI God King Because We Already Gave Him All Our Data

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This minimal, customisable typing online tool / test.

Check out the quietest places in the world’s loudest cities.

A nice Terminal-level workaround for applications hiding under the MacBook Pro notch.

Free ‘innovation’ posters for exploration / sharing / discussion (via Innovation illustrated – by Dave Gray).

All monthly digital breadcrumbs posts.
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#60 January 2024 | Monthly Digital Breadcrumbs

(via The 1944 CIA guide to sabotaging meetings — Authentic Comms Strategic Consultancy)

A bunch of things (which I added to my Tumblr) for your eyes and ears plus brain to spend time on (as no longer on Twitter).

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“I can get through this.” / 2. “I’m not going to let myself be a victim.” / 3. “Life is hard.” / 4. “This, too, shall pass.” / 5. “What can I learn from this?” / 6. “I need some time.” / 7. “I still have things to be grateful for.” / 8. “It is what it is.” / 9. “I’m letting this go.”

Harvard psychologist: If you use any of these 9 phrases every day, ‘you’re more emotionally resilient than most’

“The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) today unveiled its new Street Level Surveillance hub, a standalone website featuring expanded and updated content on various technologies that law enforcement agencies commonly use to invade Americans’ privacy.“

(via Street Level Surveillance)

“The possible consequences of a changing concentration of the CO2 in the atmosphere with reference to climate, rates of photosynthesis, and rates of equilibration with carbonate of the oceans may ultimately prove of considerable significance to civilization,” Epstein, a researcher at the California Institute of Technology (or Caltech), wrote to the group in November 1954.

Experts say the documents show the fossil fuel industry had intimate involvement in the inception of modern climate science, along with its warnings of the severe harm climate change will wreak, only to then publicly deny this science for decades and fund ongoing efforts to delay action on the climate crisis.”

‘Smoking gun proof’: fossil fuel industry knew of climate danger as early as 1954, documents show | Fossil fuels | The Guardian

“The act of entering an airport starts with the removal of personal sovereignty. If you linger at a curb, you will be ticketed. If your bag is overweight, you are screwed. Inside, you are scanned, told explicitly what you can and cannot take with you, and people must submit or be punished. Often surly people are yelling at you about your laptops, shoes, and belts. It is now also taken for granted that if you wish to consume anything at an airport, it will cost 2-3X what it does in the wild.”

The Oppressive Culture of Air Travel

“One significant anniversary in 2023 passed almost without mention. In May 1923, the Welsh women’s peace petition was initiated – a plea from the women of Wales to the women of the US, urging the US to take its place in the newly formed League of Nations and encouraging its full participation in the permanent court of international justice, which had come into being in 1922. The text refers to American-Welsh cooperation in the 19th century, and welcomes the steps taken after the first world war to control the arms trade and tackle what we now call human trafficking and the movement of illegal drugs.”

Remember the tenacity of 400,000 Welsh women a century ago. Then use your power to shape events today | Rowan Williams | The Guardian

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Watch YouTube without the ads via YewTu.be.

This list of 50 types of Science Fiction is interesting.

Nearly 300 (unicode) arrows. Which are your fav(s)…?

4131 free icons for your games & other creative projects via game-icons.net.

This open source app: GitHub – MrKai77/Loop: MacOS window management made elegant.

At templatemaker.nl, you can create and download custom sized papercraft and packaging templates for free!

Play around with this Text to Speech & AI Voice Generator – ElevenLabs to see how far this technology has come.

A specific problem which I’ve been having with my Mac solved with this open source app: Blue Snooze: Sleeping Mac = Bluetooth off.

At Techcopes, you can access a variety of font generator tools to customize and enhance your text in different styles for different social media platforms.

All monthly digital breadcrumbs posts.
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#51 April 2023 | Monthly Digital Breadcrumbs

Nope.

A bunch of things (which I tweeted) for your eyes and ears plus brain to spend time on.

READ

Here’s a completely non-technical explanation of AI and deep learning which really does help you get how they do what they do (and through the metaphor used discover it has nothing to do with intelligence).

Another article on how awful Bitcoin (& crypto mining) is for the environment and another for good measure.

This article about Long Covid is scary stuff, which is echoed in some conversations with those in my networks who are suffering the same fate.

A great exploration of the secret list of websites that make AI like ChatGPT work with bonus link of how this site is listed even though probably without them carrying on the terms when referenced.

A cheeky monkey who entered an AI created image and won a photography competition.

A different taken AI (that’s “Augmented Imagination”) to spark some thoughts.

How one company scraped 30 billion images from bookFace & other social media sites and gave them to cops: it puts everyone into a ‘perpetual police line-up’, douches!

A clean energy milestone the world is set to pass in 2023 which is news we all need more of.

Where I live in Wellington there is a danger of every street lamp falling out (which weighs that of a full grown turkey) plus the nation is becoming less attractive for rich foreigners based on visa numbers.

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Draw a character, upload and animate. So much fun for the little & large humans!

Just live air traffic control with lofi hip hop.

Iceberger: draw an iceberg and see how it will float.

Humaaans, which is a mix-&-match illustrations of people, CC0 free for commercial or personal use.

Mockdrop is a free device mockups site.

Ukiyo-e Search, is a collection of a wide variety of Japanese woodblock prints.

This podcast with to Rex Weyler (one of the founders of Greenpeace) on Team Human, good for the ears and brain.

All monthly digital breadcrumbs posts.
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For Those Who Want To Tell Better Stories #7 | Consultation, Hwyl, & Budgets

A few chosen narrative examples, to uncover forms, inspire the soul and stir the creative spirits.

FRAGMENTS illustrates superbly how to report back on a research project. My first career was in local government and I remember taking part in ‘community consultations’ which we’d then had to synthesis into written reports for committee meetings. Here’s an example of how to do it properly. Led by ff.studio and Peopletoo, in collaboration with Essex County Council (ECC), plus funded by the DfE.

This is what happens when you ask a Welsh actor of pedigree to improvise what he would say to a Welsh football side ahead of the World Cup to inspire them. Not just does this but so full of ‘hwyl’ (a Welsh word for heart and ). Read about the backstory here.

In the UK there is recently a new (now gone) Prime Minister (which only 0.3% of the UK electorate voted for) and (now gone) Chancellor who together announced a mini-budget which could be deadly (the latter of which attended a same-day champagne reception with hedge fund managers). With that in mind, click on the above graphic to a website which Led By Donkeys has put together to tell the story by showing how much this inept-budget is going to cost normal people, plus how much the rich will get, as well as an overall example of how those in power truly don’t care about closing the wealth divide anymore. Adds another dimension to doomscrolling.


All offered up to inspire, teach and make you smile / think.

Check out all the ‘For Those Who Want To Tell Better Stories’ posts.

Image credit.
Published

Leaving To Return / Returning To Leave | My Recent Europe Adventure

Captured in one of the many churches explored in Brussels.

“Eang yw’r byd i bawb.” / “The world is wide to everyone.”

A few days ago I came back from a 10 week trip in Europe. It was my first international travel in 3 years and the main aim was to reconnect with family, friends, the fatherland plus reignite my wanderlust which has been dormant since Covid and other confidence-damaging events.

I didn’t have a return flight booked but had a couple of gigs already booked in beginning of November to provide a backstop.

I spent the majority of time in the valleys of Wales as well as side trips / escapades to Scotland (Glasgow and all over Isle of Skye), Ireland (Dublin and Tramore), England (London), Germany (Munich), Switzerland (Winterthur—see Time With Rilke | A Rhapsodic Swiss Side Quest—Raron, and Basel), France (Lille and Basel), plus Belgium (Brussels, Antwerp, and Bruges):

When you’re away for 2.5 months things change. Buildings and roadways which were once familiar are different. Vistas which are known have a fresh look. My flat seems bigger. The world feels smaller.

I’m brimming with gratitude, energy and hope from the experience.

Am tired but hungry to build / collaborate.

I yearn for stability although am looking for new streets to wander for the first time, again, already.

I’ve changed and I guess that’s the lesson: when you leave, the return creates just another opportunity to depart, again.


Whilst away was very lucky to continue working fulfilling several opportunities whilst on this trip, which included my online ‘Presenting Engagingly Online’ talk / demo to NZTA, ACC, MinterEllison, Sports Wales, Liverpool Port City Innovation Centre Accelerator.

For my lovely ongoing client of Teulo got to MC the August monthly event (took a break for September) as well as a couple of sessions for a group of speakers they are sponsoring for the upcoming ArchiPro event in Auckland next month.

As mentioned, delivered two masterclasses for Accenture global R&D department at The Dock. Also delivered an in-person ‘Purposeful Storytelling’ talk for the start-ups of FinTech Wales and spent two afternoon consults / ideation sessions with friends businesses.

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#45 August & September 2022 | Monthly Digital Breadcrumbs

A bunch of things (which I tweeted) for your eyes and ears plus brain to spend time on.

READ

Even though Facebook tried to brand its way out of its trouble: Meta is being sued for allegedly creating a tool for US hospitals which disclosed private patient information back to Facebook or Meta having to pay walkie-talkie app $174 million for infringing on its patents or Meta facing a new class action lawsuit that accuses it of tracking and collecting the personal data of iPhone users, despite features and policies made by Apple which are meant to stop that same type of tracking.

10 reasons why Brexit has been a pile of wank for the UK.

Why you should be worried about Amazon’s ‘surveillance purchase’ in buying Roomba.

How Tesla is also getting in on the ‘surveillance’ market when you own one of their cars.

Here’s the UN (two years ago) calling NZ’s housing conditions a “human rights crisis” (total agree, it’s a disgrace here and none of the local / national politicians do anything about it).

A tough read from a psychologist in the field who pulls apart their profession and their approaches.

Why a broken heart is the same as clinical pain.

How 100,000gk was removed from the great Pacific Garbage Patch “comparable to the size of Luxembourg or Rhode Island.”

About those doofuses who enabled Bitcoin to have a climate impact greater than gold mining.

WATCH

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This House Does Not Exist, an AI powered website that generates a beautiful new house every time which is not real.

Some rail announcements in Scotland plus some ambient tunes.

52 places you can visit and be part of the solution.

Vector Express to convert your vector files for free.

Palette, a vibrant AI colorizer (free online) app.

Nightdrive, trust me.

Image credit: A Small Fiction.
All monthly digital breadcrumbs posts.
Published

Returning To The Fatherland | Dod yn ôl at fy nghoed

It’s been 3 years since I was last in the company of family and friends there⁠—feels more like a decade.

I’ll be back in Wales from next month and the plan is to linger (with a few side adventures into Europe), reconnect with humans, the land, plus explore creative collaborations / opportunities.

“Dod yn ôl at fy nghoed / To return to my trees, to relax and unwind, to calm your mind.”

I already have a few bookings in place for my ‘Purposeful Storytelling’ public speaking masterclasses which is a bonus and open to more (these are half-day sessions for leaders and I have a ‘beginners’ plus ‘advanced’ offer, let me know if you need further info, I also do 1-2-1 speaker coaching also plus happy to speak / consult with groups on other aspects of ‘crafting delicious learning experiences’ and storytelling).

Like many of you I would imagine, the past couple of years has been about challenges and consolidation. Judging by the response I got from this LinkedIn post, the experience is not unique and it filled my spirit how many kindly reached out to share their experiences and / or left a lovely comment (even though it was a quick post and nothing I thought too deeply about as the intention was to celebrate the ‘lightness’ I was feeling). So this feels like a signifying expedition.

If you’re in what’s left of the ‘United Kingdom’, please check your diaries then let me know what your plans are from mid August onwards as would love to reconnect / spend time together (albeit socially distanced and probably outdoors). See you then / there!

Published

#40 March 2022 | Monthly Digital Breadcrumbs

Several things (which I tweeted) for your eyes and ears plus brain to spend time on.

READ

This annotated critique of a cryptocurrency piece in the New York Times by fifteen researchers.

An overview of the current state of the NFT & Metaverse space (it’s on a serious wane).

A technical look at how Web3 is not centralised and the shortfalls of it all.

Another two articles about how countrywide adoption of cryptocurrencies in El Salvador & Kazakhstan has failed (not to mention the incredible amount of ewaste & carbon emissions created by the ventures).

A court ruled that Sussan Ley (environment minister for Australia) does not have duty of care to protect young from climate crisis.

Another stark piece covering ice shelf collapse in Antarctica related to climate change.

Inside Finland’s plan to end all waste by 2050 through education.

If you use LinkedIn you probably have noticed how bad the content is nowadays and how you never see stuff from those directly in your network⁠—check out this illustration of me scrolling for over a minute and not seeing anything from those in my network, then this post where you can show your support for change.

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A short audio piece from Radio 4 on Getting Better Acquainted with Words (featuring Ted Hughes, Virginia Woolf, Charles Bukowski).

Another amazing BBCRadio4 piece this time on “Welsh Identities.”

Use for free, Spoke, a way to create 3D social scenes for Hubs, where you can meet, share and collaborate together in private 3D virtual spaces.

A BUMPER a list of free software network services and web applications which can be hosted on your own server(s).

There’s Quodb if you’re ever struggling to find a quote from that movie you like OR find out where a specific quote came from.

A list of pricing psychology techniques.

All monthly digital breadcrumbs posts.
Image credit.
Published

#39 March 2022 | Monthly Digital Breadcrumbs

Several things (which I tweeted) for your eyes and ears plus brain to spend time on.

READ

March 1st is St Davids Day / Dydd Gwyl Dewi, did you celebrate in an appropriate way?

Just 15 companies are responsible for three quarters of greenhouse gas emissions in New Zealand (and there’s no strategy to tackle this).

The boss of games platform Steam explains why NFTs are banned.

Got any little humans? Check out this child-friendly explainer on the Ukraine / Russia situation.

Read about Facebook’s African digital sweatshops.

A write-up on a NFT event here in New Zealand.

If you use Tik Tok you might want to read this.

Life would be very good without’ is the response from leaders in Europe when parent company of Instagram and Facebook threatened to shut down it’s operation in said continent.

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Play around with some happy, jumpy birds.

Driving around cities in the world whilst listening to local radio stations.

I Love PDF is where you can ‘merge, split, compress, convert, rotate, unlock and watermark PDFs with just a few clicks.’

An analysis and visualization tool to help readers better understand space situational awareness (SSA) data, with a focus on particularly interesting on-orbit activities, Satellite Dashboard.

All monthly digital breadcrumbs posts.
Published

#38 February 2022 | Monthly Digital Breadcrumbs

Trawl through this cyber-assortments.

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How there’s a new stackable artificial leaf uses less power than lightbulb to capture 100x more carbon than other systems.

That Facebook & partners stole over $9 million from users across the Global South they preyed on specifically because they are low income (but don’t worry as you only use to stay in touch with friends and family, oh and how it’s parent company Meta might be broken up very soon).

You probably been reading about this metaverse thingy – read this: “I can’t help but wonder if these giant companies are so intent on selling us & the markets on the idea of a virtual future in order to distract us all from what they are doing to the real one.

There’s also a salient deconstruction on how bad NFT’s are (why Mozilla has recently stopped using crypto plus some graphs on how bad the energy consumption bitcoins are).

How to claim your settlement from Zoom from it’s previous illegal data privacy operations (why I don’t use it and why others don’t plus why you shouldn’t).

There’s scientists who have made a new COVID19 vaccine and it’s patent free (which it should’ve been in the first place).

About HopePunk, an antidote we all need right now.

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Iconoir, one of the biggest open source libraries (no premium icons, no email sign-up, no newsletters).

Template Maker: download custom sized papercraft and packaging templates for free

Did you celebrate ‘Dydd Santes Dwynwen‘ (the Welsh version of Valentines Day).

FakeYou: Deep Fake platform to say stuff by your favorite characters.

Nitter: a great way to grab an RSS feed from a tweetmailer.

10 design principles which could save the world.

Looptap is fun although a tad addictive.

All monthly digital breadcrumbs posts.
Published