Lifenotes #36: November 2023

✨ Highlights

• FFConf was really great fun, as usual. I got to hang out with my lovely web friends and we had delicious vegan food at Bonsai Plant Kitchen in the lunch break. I loved all of the talks, but these two stood out the most to me:
  • The Expanding Dark Forest and Generative AI - Maggie Appleton
    • I’m fairly skeptical of AI, so I found Maggie’s talk a really good - and not hype driven - overview of where the field is and what the challenges are.
  • Exploring the Potential of the Web Speech API in Karaoke - Ana Rodrigues
    • Ana’s talk was just so much fun, it really shows how much you can do with web APIs and creativity.
• I went to see Little Simz live with a friend in London, and she was incredible, unsurprisingly.
• The eng christmas party at work was a lot of fun. There was a Dance Dance Revolution machine, nice cocktails, and I got to hang out with my work friends and chat.
• I got to see my impossibly talented friend Sophie perform with her choir, they were so good!
• I finally managed to get a bed ordered and delivered, so I’m no longer sleeping on a mattress on the floor 🎉
• Started training sessions with Juno. We’re working with a trainer to hopefully get him a little bit calmer, as he is a very nervous baby 🖤

🎮 Played/Read/Watched

• The Fall: I’m not really big on mystery drama shows, but Gillian Anderson is amazing, as usual, and this is a good watch.
• Strange way of life: This short caught my eye while scrolling Mubi, and it was a fun watch.
• Good thanks, you?: Another short from Mubi, this one quite sad.
• I want to die but I want to eat tteokbokki: I quite liked this book, it was interesting to read someone’s therapy notes. While some of it was relatable, ultimately she’s a very different person to me, struggling with very different things, and also doing a different style of therapy than I do, but it was still an interesting read.
• Why Major Meal Kit Companies Lose 90% of Customers in a Year | WSJ The Economics Of
• Dear Duolingo: Are any words the same in all languages?
• Primer: I love time-travelling films, this was a very fun one I watched with my friend Hayden who recommended it.
• The Morning Show series 3: A good series, but not much to say about it.
• The Menu: I did not expect to like this film going in, but it was really fun and different, I loved it.
• The internet con: how to seize the means of computation: A friend lent me a copy of this as they thought I might enjoy it. It was a great read, from the overview of how the tech industry evolved to making a case for interoperability as a way to dismantle huge tech companies.

📸 Pics