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Name Marco von Ballmoos
Member since
Email [hidden]
Home page https://earthli.com/users/marco
Description

The (only) developer at earthli.com.

Contents

3752 Articles
113 Comments

3 years Ago

Google’s trying too hard to be cool

Published on in Miscellaneous

I had the following video in my queue recently,

Why is it overflowing? by Google Chrome Developers: Una Kravets & Adam Argyle (YouTube)

The following is not a comment on the usefulness of the information in these videos, but on the presentation, which I found so distracting as to make me stop watching. If the poster for it has changed, then here’s what it used to look like.

I dunno, it’s just too many colors and too much extra content and … too much stuff before I get to find out the answer to the question posed in the title.

The backgrounds of Una and Adam’s offices look... [More]

Links and Notes for August 11th, 2023

Published on in Notes

Below are links to articles, highlighted passages[1], and occasional annotations[2] for the week ending on the date in the title, enriching the raw data from Instapaper Likes and Twitter. They are intentionally succinct, else they’d be articles and probably end up in the gigantic backlog of unpublished drafts. YMMV.

[1] Emphases are added, unless otherwise noted.
[2] Annotations are only lightly edited and are largely contemporaneous.

Table of Contents

Software sucks. AI is software. Ergo…

Published on in Technology & Engineering

 I'm with stupid ⬅️The article Does AI Just Suck? by Freddie deBoer (SubStack) writes, after providing two examples of a heavily feted AI utterly failing to create images of John Candy and Goldie Hawn, defaulting to middle-of-the-road “fat man” and “blonde woman” representations that leaves the viewer to fill in all of the gaps left by the mediocre effort.

From the essay,

“[…] you’d think that, among the various tasks you might charge an AI image generator with, recreating faces that have been photographed many thousands of times would... [More]

The lament of the hyper-online

Published on in Philosophy, Sociology, & Culture

The article Is It Time To Embrace “Opinion Fatigue”? by Kate Lindsay (Bustle) writes,

“In April 2022, creator Paulomi Dholakia had some thoughts about Disney. Specifically, she was upset the company didn’t seem to be promoting the Ms. Marvel series, which features the franchise’s first Muslim superhero, as much as it had promoted its other series, like Hawkeye. She first posted this opinion on TikTok, and after people agreed with her, she brought the same video to Instagram.

““It went viral in a very bad... [More]”

U.S. and European malls

Published on in Finance & Economy

The following ~10-minute video presents a thesis on why malls in the U.S. are dying out whereas malls in Europe are still going strong.

Why US Malls Are Dying (And Why European Malls Aren't) by Adam Something (YouTube)

  1. Purchasing power has increased in Europe, while the U.S. has allowed entire swaths of the country to drop precipitously—e.g., the Rust Belt, The Appalachians, The Rural South, and even large parts of the West Coast.
  2. The U.S. absolutely drowned the market in oversupply, with e.g., 10x as much commercial space per capita than Germany. Europe generally has... [More]

Elite Morons

Published on in Philosophy, Sociology, & Culture

The post Nostalgia curdles by Ryan Broderick (Garbage Day) writes,

“I can’t think of anything more ugly and insane than combining American media’s desperate obsession with Trump and the era of politics he created in 2010s with American media’s toxic obsession with high-profile court cases. In fact, right-wing media is already pushing for Trump’s trial to be televised. So if you ever wondered what the Johnny Depp/Amber Heard trial would have been like if Depp became president at the end, well, now you might have a... [More]

When is it quixotic nostalgia?

Published on in Philosophy, Sociology, & Culture

The article The Age of Average by Alex Murrell writes,

“[…] while yet another places subjects in front of faux scenic backdrops reminiscent of a low-budget Sears photo studio. Each of these distinct setups is utilized broadly and across industries, with the same composition and concept seen on the Instagram feeds of a major beverage syndicate and an indie skincare brand alike.””

 Oh, man, I am of a generation that got its pictures taken at Sears. Those were the family photos for years. We had one shot at a... [More]

Free. Julian. Assange.

Published on in Public Policy & Politics

 The western world doesn’t have a moral leg to stand on unless or until this happens.

From the article, US Moral Authority Is Dead And Buried by Caitlin Johnstone,

“[…] when people try to frame Assange’s persecution as a matter of public perception and fighting foreign narratives about the US, they are incorrect. The issue is not that Assange’s persecution makes the US look bad, the issue is that it proves the US is bad. (Emphasis in original.)”

The letter[1] writes,

“The prosecution of Julian Assange for... [More]”

Links and Notes for August 4th, 2023

Published on in Notes

Below are links to articles, highlighted passages[1], and occasional annotations[2] for the week ending on the date in the title, enriching the raw data from Instapaper Likes and Twitter. They are intentionally succinct, else they’d be articles and probably end up in the gigantic backlog of unpublished drafts. YMMV.

[1] Emphases are added, unless otherwise noted.
[2] Annotations are only lightly edited and are largely contemporaneous.

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Links and Notes for July 28th, 2023

Published on in Notes

Below are links to articles, highlighted passages[1], and occasional annotations[2] for the week ending on the date in the title, enriching the raw data from Instapaper Likes and Twitter. They are intentionally succinct, else they’d be articles and probably end up in the gigantic backlog of unpublished drafts. YMMV.

[1] Emphases are added, unless otherwise noted.
[2] Annotations are only lightly edited and are largely contemporaneous.

Table of Contents

Capsule Movie Reviews Vol.2023.06

Published on in Movies

Links and Notes for July 21st, 2023

Published on in Notes

Below are links to articles, highlighted passages[1], and occasional annotations[2] for the week ending on the date in the title, enriching the raw data from Instapaper Likes and Twitter. They are intentionally succinct, else they’d be articles and probably end up in the gigantic backlog of unpublished drafts. YMMV.

[1] Emphases are added, unless otherwise noted.
[2] Annotations are only lightly edited and are largely contemporaneous.

Table of Contents

Links and Notes for July 14th, 2023

Published on in Notes

Below are links to articles, highlighted passages[1], and occasional annotations[2] for the week ending on the date in the title, enriching the raw data from Instapaper Likes and Twitter. They are intentionally succinct, else they’d be articles and probably end up in the gigantic backlog of unpublished drafts. YMMV.

[1] Emphases are added, unless otherwise noted.
[2] Annotations are only lightly edited and are largely contemporaneous.

Table of Contents

Links and Notes for July 7th, 2023

Published on in Notes

Below are links to articles, highlighted passages[1], and occasional annotations[2] for the week ending on the date in the title, enriching the raw data from Instapaper Likes and Twitter. They are intentionally succinct, else they’d be articles and probably end up in the gigantic backlog of unpublished drafts. YMMV.

[1] Emphases are added, unless otherwise noted.
[2] Annotations are only lightly edited and are largely contemporaneous.

Table of Contents

Where do your loyalties lie?

Published on in Quotes

“My loyalties will not be bound by national borders, or confined in time by one nation’s history, or limited in the spiritual dimension by one language and culture. I pledge my allegiance to the damned human race, and my everlasting love to the green hills of Earth, and my intimations of glory to the singing stars, to the very end of space and time.”

Links and Notes for June 30th, 2023

Published on in Notes

Below are links to articles, highlighted passages[1], and occasional annotations[2] for the week ending on the date in the title, enriching the raw data from Instapaper Likes and Twitter. They are intentionally succinct, else they’d be articles and probably end up in the gigantic backlog of unpublished drafts. YMMV.

[1] Emphases are added, unless otherwise noted.
[2] Annotations are only lightly edited and are largely contemporaneous.

Table of Contents

Links and Notes for June 23rd, 2023

Published on in Notes

Below are links to articles, highlighted passages[1], and occasional annotations[2] for the week ending on the date in the title, enriching the raw data from Instapaper Likes and Twitter. They are intentionally succinct, else they’d be articles and probably end up in the gigantic backlog of unpublished drafts. YMMV.

[1] Emphases are added, unless otherwise noted.
[2] Annotations are only lightly edited and are largely contemporaneous.

Table of Contents

Limiting the View

Published on in Quotes

“The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum — even encourage the more critical and dissident views. That gives people the sense that there’s free thinking going on, while all the time the presuppositions of the system are being reinforced by the limits put on the range of the debate.”

Oligarchs of War

Published on in Quotes

 The real power in America is held by a fast-emerging new Oligarchy of pimps and preachers who see no need for Democracy or fairness or even trees, except maybe the ones in their own yards, and they don’t mind admitting it. They worship money and power and death. Their ideal solution to all the nation’s problems would be another 100-Year War.”
Hunter S. Thompson

Links and Notes for June 16th, 2023

Published on in Notes

Below are links to articles, highlighted passages[1], and occasional annotations[2] for the week ending on the date in the title, enriching the raw data from Instapaper Likes and Twitter. They are intentionally succinct, else they’d be articles and probably end up in the gigantic backlog of unpublished drafts. YMMV.

[1] Emphases are added, unless otherwise noted.
[2] Annotations are only lightly edited and are largely contemporaneous.

Table of Contents

Demons

Published on in Quotes

“My demon is on my butt. My demon talks to me in profanity like a seller, and my demon tries to knock me down, and my demon tries to put me on a hell ride.”

Links and Notes for June 9th, 2023

Published on in Notes

Below are links to articles, highlighted passages[1], and occasional annotations[2] for the week ending on the date in the title, enriching the raw data from Instapaper Likes and Twitter. They are intentionally succinct, else they’d be articles and probably end up in the gigantic backlog of unpublished drafts. YMMV.

[1] Emphases are added, unless otherwise noted.
[2] Annotations are only lightly edited and are largely contemporaneous.

Table of Contents

Links and Notes for June 2nd, 2023

Published on in Notes

Below are links to articles, highlighted passages[1], and occasional annotations[2] for the week ending on the date in the title, enriching the raw data from Instapaper Likes and Twitter. They are intentionally succinct, else they’d be articles and probably end up in the gigantic backlog of unpublished drafts. YMMV.

[1] Emphases are added, unless otherwise noted.
[2] Annotations are only lightly edited and are largely contemporaneous.

Table of Contents

The order of things

Published on in Quotes

“Not everything that is faced can be changed; but nothing can be changed until it is faced.”
James Baldwin

Uncertainty beats incorrect certainty every time

Published on in Quotes

“I think it’s much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers which might be wrong. I have approximate answers and possible beliefs and different degrees of uncertainty about different things, but I am not absolutely sure of anything and there are many things I don’t know anything about, such as whether it means anything to ask why we’re here. I don’t have to know an answer. I don’t feel frightened not knowing things, by being lost in a mysterious universe without any... [More]”
Richard Feynman (What Do You Care What Other People Think?)

Links and Notes for May 26th, 2023

Published on in Notes

Below are links to articles, highlighted passages[1], and occasional annotations[2] for the week ending on the date in the title, enriching the raw data from Instapaper Likes and Twitter. They are intentionally succinct, else they’d be articles and probably end up in the gigantic backlog of unpublished drafts. YMMV.

[1] Emphases are added, unless otherwise noted.
[2] Annotations are only lightly edited and are largely contemporaneous.

Table of Contents

Pakistan doesn’t matter

Published on in Public Policy & Politics

The article Pakistan’s political crisis will deepen its economic misery by Julia Horowitz (CNN) writes,

“What’s known as a “balance of payments” crisis is eroding standards of living in a country still reeling from devastating flooding last year. It could “reverse the poverty gains achieved in the last two decades and further reduce the incomes of already poor households,” the World Bank warned last month.

“Pakistan’s ability to maintain payments on its debt has also been called into question. Ratings... [More]”

Garmin Edge 500 => Edge 530

Published on in Sports

 I recently purchased a Garmin Edge 530 biking computer to upgrade from my Edge 500. It had served me well for over ten years, but the battery was no longer holding a charge reliably and wouldn’t last longer than 3 or 4 hours maximum. I also wanted to be able to store routes so that I was no longer the only annoying guy in the group who had no idea where I was going when we left familiar territory.

I got the 530 because it’s compact and doesn’t have a touch-screen.

I’m still trying to figure... [More]

ImageSharp vs. SkiaSharp

Published on in Programming

I watched a great video about image-manipulation using an AWS lambda function.

Working With Images Like a Pro in .NET by Nick Chapsas (YouTube)

I was curious about the imaging library he was using and searched for ImageProcessingContext (because I saw it in his code). That led me to ImageSharp, after which I searched for comparisons to the cross-platform library used in Maui (MSDN).

That led me to the issue SkiaSharp vs ImageSharp (GitHub), which noted that,

“Note that JimBobSquarePants, the creator of ImageSharp, contributed some interesting discussion in #47.”

I... [More]

Links and Notes for May 19th, 2023

Published on in Notes

Below are links to articles, highlighted passages[1], and occasional annotations[2] for the week ending on the date in the title, enriching the raw data from Instapaper Likes and Twitter. They are intentionally succinct, else they’d be articles and probably end up in the gigantic backlog of unpublished drafts. YMMV.

[1] Emphases are added, unless otherwise noted.
[2] Annotations are only lightly edited and are largely contemporaneous.

Table of Contents