Saturday 31 December 2022

2022's A Wrap. (?)

I'll use this blog to wrap up the year. I don't usually do these but there's stuff and I may as well link it all up.

Early on I started working on CANonical CNC which quickly turned into CAN_CNC over on my ptec3d blog, and then the Not So Bastard Gate Trilogy with one episode outstanding until after I finish painting it. CAN_CNC has been put on the back burner because so much is going on and I expect to pick that thread up again soonish. 

Partway through NSBG.

Meanwhile I also started TTMMGH (Things That Make Me Go Hmm) posts spread across various blogs because odd things seem to keep cropping up don't they? 

Water gets mentioned a fair bit, mainly because it's now been found to be contaminated with both microplastics and PFAS compounds from pole to pole on the planet. It gets mentioned a lot.

Water.

Worried about AI taking jobs? Yeah so are a lot of people. But I tried out ChatGPT and it's both a triumph and a worry, because it is just so good. I think it'll change the Earth, our society, and our very foundations of civilisation. You've been both evangelised to and warned... It's a VERY two-edged sword with more edges than I can predict. 

I also found Dall-e mini, DALL-E 2 and Nightcafe and started using the images they created as a basis for my illustrations for all the blogs, so now I use them to generate reasonable graphics to break up the whitespace.

Also, the subject of drones used for delivery - there are multiple issues and sides - but this is a topic I'll come back to in 2023 because it has layers like an onion, and (as I've found) like an onion, some of them stink. (Think privacy, roads and footpaths, tunnels, and even airships.)

Okay - THIS image I used without editing.

The perpetual issue of people printing guns comes up too. Expecting them to stop just because it's illegal isn't going to work any more than laws about spam and phishing stopped spam and phishing. Educate yourself so you'll be forewarned if anything like this happens near you.

I've also had a first-hand look at a "WEB3" newsletter software but like anything to do with WEB3, cryptocurrencies, tokens, NFTs, and that whole gamut of virtual currency and art, I'm reminded that at least one wise person said something like "the first thing you must realise when talking about anything virtual is that 'virtual' is just another word for 'not'." and they were talking about virtual worlds but the same principle applies to almost everything WEB3.

Here, have a monkey on a throne. OOH! NFT!

I posted links to some really great Youtube videos about recycling - everything - and the first of a set of three articles is here. For anyone that works with electronics, beware - the days of the humble PCB (Printed Circuit Board) are numbered and the numbers are really small.

Recipes pile up very slowly on TEdAMENU Tuckertime but they do get posted. The blog also looked at the effects that climate and COVID were having on our food supplies and predicted some things quite well. Sadly. 

There really was a lot posted despite medical issues, pandemic/no pandemic confusions, building stuff, and winter. My least favourite weather is cold, I can't work outdoors because I get some kind of temperature related inflammatory arthritis and also find myself wanting to just yell at the damn clouds, but that just means it's time for indoor projects more. You can find my 3D models for stuff at Thangs and Printables and unedited raw videos of whatever I managed to remember to capture on Youtube.


Please Read Down Here Too.

I blog because I like to share. Things you can read about on my suite of blogs (which I'm the sole person creating, researching, writing, and publicising) range over topics like cyber-ethics (AI, sustainable energy, EVs) and 3D printing and recycling plastics and other waste streams, general tech and personal ramblings, environmental and ethical issues, rants about sustainable and eco-friendly tech and bad actors on those scenes, COVID news and opinion, even a recipe blog that has less chit-chat and more recipe.

There are a few others but they're not really my main topics. On top of that I design and make the odd machines and things to help with things like recycling, my vegetable garden and soon to be reinstated mini aquaponics system, and more. It's a lot to do. I can only manage it because I'm retired on a disability pension. I've included a link below to chat to me on Mastodon (which is a Twitter alternative without the bitter after-taste) if you think you'd like to write the odd article on one or more of the blogs and help out, or if you have an idea you'd like me to investigate and follow up.

Latest project in mini aquaponics I'm working on.

Lastly, if you'd like to help me defray the costs of domain names, server hosting, parts and materials for the show projects, you could donate the price of a cup of coffee - or even make that a monthly donation - by going to my Ko-Fi page, and you could also Paypal Direct.

Chat with me on Mastodon >>


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