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@lowededwookie

Joined 6 July 2020 · 721 posts

I'm doing life because I was born. It wasn't even my fault.

120 KT

0 KT · $1.27 received · 0 KT · $5.07 given

Posts

@lowededwookie

If you are a woodworker then this is a must-have site. https://cutlistoptimizer.com Set your stock goods then what cuts you need and it will work out the most efficient use of your stock. #DIY #woodwork

@lowededwookie

This is my first ever post using nothing but dictation on Apple‘s iPhone. I remember in the bad old days when dictation was just in its infancy and it took a lot of computing power and a monotone voice. Studies showed later on that this monotone voice was actually causing throat cancer in some people. Apple dictation seems to be the best of the lot and has come a long way since I last used it about 10 years ago. One of the phrases I had a lot of issues with was something as simple as “I am going to bed because I have been bad“. The problem most dictation software has is it couldn’t pick up the Kiwi accent. Apple has done a fantastic job of working through this and now we have a properly working dictation system. I’m quite amazed at how far we have come and how much processing power that iPhone actually has to be able to achieve this. It seems to me that soon we will be in a position where full context sensitive search will be able to be achieved on something as small as an iPhone. This will be a threat to Google as Google requires keyword searches in order to track what we are doing. I can’t wait to be able to get full context sensitive searching, something that should’ve been available by now but has had no economic reason to exist. It makes sense that Apple would be the one to achieve this as Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, and other search engines have no desire to give us this ability. While the system is not perfect, and I do have to edit with the keyboard, it is far superior to other dictation software that I have used in the past. Part of this is obviously the partnership that they had with Dragon Naturally Speaking, the other part is just a simple desire to make systems accessible to those who have no ability to use their limbs. Accessibility in this day and age is extremely important and is something that Apple has been pushing for many years including at the release of the front facing camera on the iPhones. I remember when that came out and I thought that it was nothing more than a gimmick, only to see the ad with Matt Damon signing to his friend. This is when I realised the full potential of technology to better everyone’s lives and I’m happy that Apple are progressing in this direction even though I am fully abled. I feel this way because accessibility also enables more interaction with our devices which makes the devices more personal and also more capable of helping us in our day-to-day life. Say what you will about Apple, but it is quite telling that they are the only ones that are forward thinking and trying to make devices far more capable of helping out in our lives no matter what our abilities. Dictation is just one example of this and being able to fully utilise an iPhone while completely blind is also another example. Once again while the system is not perfect it is far more than anyone else has been able to provide. The neural engine in the iPhones and the Macs are going to allow computing to move in ways that just simply hasn’t existed in the past. OCR software in the past has failed to achieve accuracy that humans can do simply by looking at a page of text. The Neural engine on Mac and iPhones is allowing this capability on a wide range of devices. This is exciting because this is moving computers into a level of artificial intelligence that has been lacking today and yet has been clearly needed for a long time. This post has been quite fun to make even though I’ve had to edit it on a couple of occasions, I have had to do so far less than I would have in the past. To be able to do this on a device the size of a phone is incredible considering in the 18 years that I worked in IT, nothing had come even close and the software was a nightmare to set up. The amount of training that was required to get the system to a basic level of understanding was ridiculously over the top. Most people gave up before they had fully read all of the information that they needed to to get the system to understand their voice. On the other hand, I have had to do no training for the iPhone to understand my voice. However using Siri more and more is actively training dictation to be better and even does so on device as opposed to on cloud. Once again only Apple has the desire to give us this and the rest will follow when people understand that they want this. #Accessibility #Advancement #iOS #MacOS #Interaction

@lowededwookie

I’m a big fan of using tags and you’ve probably noticed it if you’ve read my long-form posts. I have wanted tags since the Alpha days of noise.cash and when they came it was such a happy day. I prefer tags to Chambers and Channels because you can tag in several places. If you use Channels or Chambers you can only place it in one location. I feel tags also increase user interaction. Say you have a bunch of people interested in Formula 1. You could set up a Chamber and keep it there. The problem with that is sometimes someone like myself comes along who wants to comment on your post but can't because they're not part of the chamber. Joining just to comment is not something most people want to do. But if you use tags, like-minded ones can subscribe to the tag but you also get comments from those not subscribed to the tag but to you. I'd love for tags to be used more so I can find more of the stuff I want without subscribing to a bunch of Chambers ill never post to. Admittedly, there is room for tag misuse as scammers and low rent individuals see what tags are doing well and use them to post crap posts. That's where we hold the responsibility to report these low rent posts. What are your thoughts? Do you prefer using tags or Chambers/Channels? What do you find to be the pros and cons of your choice? #tags #interactions #sorting #Chambers

@lowededwookie

It’s taken me 15 years to find this tool. Thanks Jaycar. #tools #suppliers #found

@lowededwookie

Only you can truly love yourself. Do not be ashamed of this. Do not be afraid to love yourself. You will have no regerts

@lowededwookie

I decided that I don't need a tonne of fitness apps. Currently, I've got Actifit, sMiles, and SweatCoin in addition to Apple's Fitness and Health apps. I decided that there's no point to any other than the Apple stuff. It's not that I'm an Apple fan, its that the Apple Fitness app tracks more than just steps. I got the above 3 because I was told that I could get cryptos for walking. It sounds cool but the only useful coin is with Actifit which can payout in HIVE. SweatCoin pays out in its own coin but you can't do anything with it outside of the app and there’s not a lot in the app of use to me. sMiles pays out in Satoshis but it's a pain to convert to anything of any use. But the thing that irritates me is that they only track steps and not movement. Muscles use energy which is created when carbohydrates are broken down into Carbon, Hydrogen, and Oxygen and then reassembled into Carbon Dioxide and Water. This results in heat which powers the muscles. This reaction is made when ALL muscles move and doesn't even require working out to achieve. Apple Watch and Fitness record all movements not just steps and thus gives you a more accurate picture of what you're burning. I wish most fitness apps worked like this. I’d like to see a fitness app that pays out in Bitcoin Cash for every kiloJoule burned no matter if it was from steps or doing other stuff. Basically I’d like to see an app like Apple Fitness but paying out in BCH. One day maybe. #fitness #health #crypto

@lowededwookie

Stopping for a quick break before heading off to Oakura. I’ve got an overloaded bike I’ve got to ride fifteen minutes away through 100km/h zones. Gonna need all the energy I can get.

@lowededwookie

So on Saturday we had our first meeting of worship in our Kingdom Hall in just over 2 years. While many businesses and religions have relaxed their rules in order to make money, our Governing Body relies on the principle of sanctity of life and so went for more stringent rules about meeting together. That’s why you haven’t seen us at your doors for over two years and instead have been getting letters and phone calls. The meeting went alright but we had teething troubles for the first half. It was caused by Zoom trying to override everything on the PC. To be frank we’re trying to do something Zoom is not designed to do. We’re literally pushing the technology to the limits. I can see our organisation making their own Zoom type system for two reasons. The aforementioned inability to run Zoom how we NEED it, and the cost of Zoom. We have 110,000+ congregations spread across the world. We have purchased ~65000 licenses for Zoom. At the cheapest price that’s almost 14 million dollars per year and I suspect that we’ve gone middle price across the board which is around 18.5 million dollars per year just on Zoom licences. Cutting that cost allows us to use that money for our preaching work rather than software. So it seems reasonable that they’d be working on their own stuff. But it reminds me about how many people have misconceptions about who we are. In the 80s and 90s when I grew up we seemed to be viewed as some cult who preaches and isn’t allowed to use technology. The only thing they got right was that we preach from door to door as per Jesus’ instructions found at Matthew 28:19,20. Jehovah’s Witnesses have made good use of technology, even so much as developing their own. For instance, in 1914 we released “The Bible Drama of Creation”. It was 8 hours long, split over 2 days. A gramophone produced the sound and a light was lit when to start playing the record. In essence it was the first ever talking movie ever to be played. It wouldn’t be until 1921 until the first commercial talking movie was made using similar techniques. That’s not even to state that they also had colour by painting each frame, a technique that would also only come later. As our principle concern is to get the Good News of God’s Kingdom to as many people as possible we translate our publications into many languages. Initially there were only about five languages but today just The Watchtower alone is printed in 240 languages. But we go far beyond that. Our website JW.org has content in over 1000 languages, making it the MOST translated website on the internet. In fact, close behind it is WOL.jw.org which is our study material website. The next most translated website is Wikipedia but that’s a paltry amount of languages by comparison. To do all of this we had to develop our own translation system which we called MEPS (Multilanguage Electronic Publishing System). Even today the print industry has nothing like it. We had the need, there was nothing that was out there to fill that need, so we made something that would fill that need. That’s what technology is all about. In essence I’m using our example to make the statement that technology is not evil. It’s the use of technology that determines whether or not it is good or evil. This goes for Artificial Intelligence. If technology was used for good then inherently technology helps us. If used for evil then it hinders us. But in either case technology is not the problem… we are. #technology #jehovahswitnesses #artificialintelligence #ai #humanity

@lowededwookie

“Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away.” Yesterday was one of those weird days that ended pretty well. I started sorting the mail for Run 4 so that our new guy who actually left us last Friday but started back with us yesterday could begin work. It’s so great having him back because he enjoys the job and he is a great worker. During my sort I found out one of our runners wouldn’t be in because he tested positive for COVID. That meant that I had to also do his run which was already two days behind. It is so because he was supposed to be back from his dad having COVID. He doesn’t have a drivers license and his dad normally brings him in. His dad also works for us. We felt it was better to not have our Run 5 runner come in while his dad had COVID, in order to protect everyone else. Seems like a smart move now. Annoying, but smart. We’re working through a tonne of mail though because we have had the AA Directions mags drop. These are a pain to sort but quick to deliver. I also had to go to Oakura which is at least an hour’s worth of work. I wanted to deliver all the AA mags for there but having to do Run 5 put a spanner in the works for that. So all in all, from a mail perspective, the day was a bit of a bust. But while I was delivering the mail I needed to go to my chiropractor appointment. She made me feel a lot better and so I carried on the mail delivery feeling really good. Then I got home, had left over nachos then went to the Kingdom Hall - this is what we Jehovah’s Witnesses call our places of worship. Our Governing Body has given us the go ahead to hold meetings in the hall again so we needed to complete the setup of the sound system so we could also broadcast over Zoom. We had been having trouble with the audio over Zoom when playing videos, but our biggest concern was the screens in the hall weren’t working. Our lead brother had an external company come in and test stuff and worked out it was the 8-way SDI splitter that was the problem. We thought it was the HDMI to SDI convertor but thankfully it wasn’t. The screens all have an SDI out port so we ended up daisy chaining the tvs to each other. I was sceptical of it working because doing this normally ends us with slight delays between the screens. This delay is not happening and I’m blown away by that fact. When I got home I watched a movie with Mrs Wookie from free to air TV. We haven’t done that in years. It was real nice. I went to be at midnight so I’m tired now but not too tired. Today is going to be interesting. I’m running the sound system on our first meeting of worship in our Kingdom Hall in 2 years. Exciting and nerving at the same time. #worship #work #problems #solutions #happiness #COVID

@lowededwookie

Like many on this platform I have just turned a year old. I was here back when noise.cash still showed “alpha” in its logo. During the year I’ve seen a number of changes to the payments system. Most have been for the best but a couple of changes were less than pleasant… and I’m not talking about removing likes equaling random payments. I love the current payment system where tips are given for free and we’re recommended to give them out. I personally operate on a 70/30 split. I give 70% to your posts and I keep 30%. 70 to you because you took the time to write your post, 30 to me because it cost me time to read it. Time is money as they say. noise.cash is also more interactive. read.cash and Publish0x don’t have anywhere near the same interaction as noise.cash which is the reason I love noise.cash the most. You’ll probably see this as the biggest post I’ve made on noise. This is by design and is an experiment. I spend a lot of time as a consumer, reading what you’ve written while not really posting much of late. It’s mostly been down to time so I’m thinking hard about how I use my time wisely. So for the month of April, all of my long form posts, as well as my short form posts, will be here on noise.cash exclusively. I may add to Hive the odd post but I want to explore this platform as my sole platform for a little bit. I’ll write a multi-platform report at the end of the month to let you know how I get on. #writing #blogging #thoughts

@lowededwookie

I’m really getting sick of Baby Boomers if I’m being honest. One of the guys here threw a tantrum because AA Magazines that we deliver were all over the place. He has a rep for being a whinger as is “She who shall not be named” and both are of the same age bracket. Meanwhile, a runner I just trained left on Friday to pursue a different job but is returning on Monday because that job wasn’t to his liking. A Boomer would see that as someone who’s all over the place. I see it as someone who is looking out for his family but also knowing what he wants. His work ethic is stellar but the Boomers will only do what they’re assigned to do. Any Boomer that rails on my generation and younger can take their head out of their bum. They aren’t better than our generations, they taught our generations and we are rejecting their selfish teachings. We are the better generations, although not without our faults. #okboomer #genx #geny #genz #millenial

@lowededwookie

Been at our place of worship working on making the driveway safer by removing the top layer. There was a sealant which was put on top but didn’t react properly and mould got under it. This causes the driveway to get slippery in the rain. That’s one of our friends with Mrs Wookie who’s in the safety shirt. It was a satisfying job actually. You were instantly seeing results which urged you on. It never felt like we were there for three hours just doing one section. But man does it look so much better now though.

@lowededwookie

Brown doesn’t exist. It’s literally orange with context. This means that the colour we see as brown only exists because of the colours around it. Therefore brown is nothing more than a human construct, pretty much just like time.

@lowededwookie

Safety boots can cut people's toes off but we still recommend them as a safety option. Says everything about safety really.

@lowededwookie

I got rid of my AAPL for the time being and turned it back into BCH in the interim. Only Apple could release game-changing products that will destroy the competition and immediately have their stock drop on the news. If that's not market manipulation then I shudder to think what is. I'll see how much it drops before the earnings announcement then buy when low. I'm not giving up, just repositioning. On the plus side, I've almost got 1BCH.

@lowededwookie

We bought a paddle board (SUP) over a month ago but still haven’t had a chance to use it yet. While camping in Ohakune (more a mountain village than a water sport village) we found a spot about an hour away. Lake Rotoponamu is a beautiful little lake that was a great place to paddle board. Well worth taking a punt on bringing the board with us.

@lowededwookie

I freaked out and thought I had turned into a vampire before I realised what was going on.

@lowededwookie

This is the first weekend in over a year where I get to do stuff all but relax. We are going for a big bike ride on Sunday and hopefully on Saturday I’ll finally get to use our paddle board but other than that I’m doing nothing.

@lowededwookie

Here's to all those who think Macs are just overpriced desktops/laptops. The new machine released today fully specced out is $8000US. A fully specced Intel-based Mac Pro is $53,000 and LESS powerful. To date, there isn't any way to spec a Windows/Linux PC to this machine, let alone a price point that matches this machine. The closest is to use the highest Intel Xeon processor and the highest NVidia GPU. You'll drop around $12,000US and still be significantly less powerful. #Apple #powerfulMac #cheapMac #nocontest https://appleinsider.com/articles/22/03/08/fully-loaded-mac-studio-costs-just-7999-more-powerful-than-similarly-priced-mac-pro

@lowededwookie

I learned something new the other day. I genuinely never knew horses could drive.

@lowededwookie

Here's the thing, in NZ the store has to sell at the lower price. So even if the product's "special" price is more than the original price, the store has to sell at the lower price. The mistake was theirs and so they need to wear that mistake. I had this experience about a month ago. Briscoes was having a sale and there was a 40% price reduction on appliances. I was after a slow cooker but had asked the salesperson about crockpots. Because I used the term "crockpot" he wanted to know if I meant slow cooker or the brand CrockPot? I said I meant slow cooker but show me what you've got with CrockPot. He did and mentioned the 40% off. I then noticed the sticker on the display model said $130 but the price on the boxed model was $259. I enquired if the 40% was off the boxed price or the display price. He realised what had gone wrong but then said that because I had seen the incorrect price he would have to give it to me at that price. So 40% was removed from the $130 price tag, not the $259 price tag. I walked out paying around $89 - give or take. There are a lot of consumer protections in NZ which is pretty good. In fact, manufacturer warranties mean pretty much nothing in NZ. The store actually has to provide the warranty and it has to be reasonable use which means a product failing within 3 years of purchase is not considered reasonable. The store has to refund. #consumer #reasonable #prices #protection https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/127806278/the-price-isnt-always-right-supermarket-errors-leave-shoppers-fuming

@lowededwookie

Just about completed moving all my 2FA passwords from 1Password to Apple's internal iOS password manager. I wish that functionality was added to older versions of macOS. But then we're hopefully going to upgrade to an M1 Mac Mini this year.