Notes for October 15th 2023

Late once again with a hectic schedule.

• As predicted, my Apple Watch Ultra arrived. And as with all new shiny Apple things, I'm loving it. I say that as both a technology nerd but also, a watch nerd. It's just really wonderfully constructed. It's not as bulky as you'd imagine, but I can see how folks who aren't comparing to sizeable watches on the wrist.
• This week I was in the Netherlands for work, which is always a neat trip. I went to Amsterdam for the most part, but spent a day in Rotterdam (less than an hour away by train). The food, company and meetings were all great. But it always strikes me just how free the city feels as folks cycle around. People can literally stop anywhere, lock up and pop into a shop/bar/restaurant. Cycle lanes are there to protect everyone; cyclists from cars and pedestrians from cyclists. And also, there was a reasonably high population of Van Moofers, which hopefully spells for good weather as a customer of theirs in the near-future.
  • One oddity was that we stayed on the north side of the city, so took the boat across to the rear of Central Station each day. That's not odd. Nor is the fact that it's incredibly regular (basically constant). Nor is it that the majority of passengers are on their bikes. It's that small classes of cars can go on it. And the drivers are, by far, the least important passenger. I didn't quite get how it was ok to spin up a 2-stroke engine with loads of lungs around. But the Citroen Ami (an EV) was a cute addition.
  • Another interesting observation outside of Van Moof bicycles was that, in general, people have good bikes and are proud of them. The Danes, by comparison, have quite boring bikes. But also the Danes don't lock their bikes, and then whinge when they get robbed.
• The weather in Dublin has been great for clothes-washing. So easy to get stuff dried. I'll miss the dryer being out of action, given how much money it costs to run!
• My kids have been enjoying the strangest videos lately. Gone are Paw Patrol military industrial complex rescue missions, and in are the man playing with Paw Patrol toys on YouTube instead. I find it really strange. But not as strange as the absolute assault with ads on the platform. My own laptop or personal devices have always had lots of adblock stuff going on, but our little iPad was bereft of such things until this week. Kids advertising needs to take a long, hard look at itself as there's some grim stuff being targeted at kids.
• Ireland were, as is tradition, knocked out of the rugby World Cup at the quarter finals. By New Zealand, which also makes sense. I think that was a tournament to be broadly proud of. But we lost that game as much as they won it.
• Israel and Palestine. That's what the news is right now. And it's awful, if not downright barbaric. I find the news coverage to be horrendous. It's such a minefield of mis/dis-information. Both sides (Hamas and the Israeli government) are absolute, pure cunts. Evil ones, at that. The people do not deserve this. As humans, we can do better.