High-profile publisher

n some sense, today was a special day.

It’s about science, not football.

I did not watch this London match, I only followed the score, hoping both teams would lose points (more so Arsenal).

While keeping an eye on the score I noticed having been cited in a major publication. As it turns out, an old article of mine has just been cited in ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) and it’s about Gemini Protocol where my writings became more prominent in recent years:

‘ve already asked around before writing this, as I generally wanted to ensure this observation and sentiment was not just my own.

Many decades ago a “household” (with kids, car/s etc.) could – but no longer can – be managed by a single provider or breadwinner as they called it. That sort of ended after the 1990s with stagnation of wages. Then two parents were expected to work full-time – with dashes added as it became a proper word – to attain the same income level (comparatively).

Now the couple is expected to not only work full time (for the same lifestyle) but to also work overtime.

Sometimes overtime is voluntary, but there is a hidden cost. People fall behind on critical chores like food-buying, laundry etc.

As a result of that, even with a weekend off, there is no true rest, just “catchup” ahead of Mondays.

This won’t be sustainable as it leads to mental fatigue.

Did the “architects of the system” take this into consideration?

Lack of sleep worsens the quality of work. Lack of rest makes moody people, which interferes with health of relationships (couples, parents, peers).

Just got ahead…

think that it’s fair to say Man United has true potential this season. After a rather poor start this season (losing away to Hull, 0-2) and after a strong end to the last season (winning 3-0) we see it getting ahead and showing signs of resurgence, even after signing up the coach with a proper contract. Even… as in the past this led to disappoitnment and regrets.

Is this current game worthy of appraisement? Everton struggled on many fronts as a club.

Next week’s derby will be… interesting.

In terms of stats, in this away game Man United has been the better team so far.

Manchester City fan will be watching

t’s Sunday and two interesting matches are due. One is the derby’s host for next week, Manchester United, and the other a difficult match (a London derby) for Arsenal. Both started this season with two wins. Only one (or neither) can get a third win.

Across several areas

am very proud to say that our persistent ‘activist’ writings (journalism) have worked. This is paying off. We also earn positive publicity (press) for it.

Techrights, for example, is making strong progress this year regarding much-needed SLAPP reform. To be clear, this is NOT about a single incident, it is about changing the whole system.

Days ago I also resumed coverage regarding patents. We are making the public aware of important issues. I say “we” because we began working with other publishers. They recognise this cannot go on.

Outsourcing of the work to the customers

t is arguably bizarre that some of the more/most computer-literate people are trying hardest to avoid computers where those computers objectively introduce risk.

In the case of banks, I still receive statements in the post, I never use a bank’s “app” (I don’t have a “smart” “phone”) and when something important needs to get done, I’ll quite likely go to a local branch of the bank.

Before computer ownership and Internet connection was simply assumed (now the same for “smart” “phones”) banks provided actual services and were held responsible for mistakes they made.

So we’ve lost something.

That I wish I didn’t get

opened something that wasn’t intended for me. That happened yesterday. I didn’t know who it was for. The name on the envelope didn’t say whether it was the sender or recipient. The envelope was put in the wrong home, pushed through the wrong door. Worse yet, it turns out to have been an important envelope and diverting to another address, untampered, would not be trivial.

Why is it that people put important mail in the wrong home? Without specifying clearly who it is for?

This dilemma has already consumed hours of my time. I even phoned a friend, asking or advice.

The sensitive nature of it (maybe death in a family) makes me uncomfortable.

At the end of the day, it is the fault of the person too careless to pay attention to house numbers.

I still feel some sort of moral responsibility to ameliorate things. If there is grieving, then I don’t want to do this sloppily.