Is Facebook the king of enshittification?
The Australian Macquarie Dictionary has declared enshittification 2024’s word of the year. The dictionary defines it as: “The gradual deterioration of a service or product brought about by a reduction in the quality of service provided, especially of an online platform, and as a consequence of profit-seeking.” The word was first coined by science fiction […]
Review of War and Peace
If ever there was an epic novel, War and Peace is that novel. Its 1440 pages cover 1805 to 1813, which encompasses the period leading up to Napoleon’s invasion of Russia to a few years after his ultimate defeat. This is a review of an edition translated by Rosemary Edmonds and first published in 1957. […]
Captcha plugging blocking comments
A captcha plugin has prevented visitors from commenting on this blog and my website overall. I just found out about it today when a Facebook friend told me. I don’t know how long it has been a problem. I removed the plugin. This is the second time since I put this site up that a […]
AI generated image used on TOR book cover
[This post has been edited] Gizmodo.com says Tor used an AI-generated image on a book cover. In that report, Tor says the image came from a “reputable stock house”. The caption on the image in the article says that it was from Shutterstock. I immediately thought it should have been labelled as AI-generated at Shutterstock, […]
Way back machine hacked and offline
The Way Back machine went offline due to being hacked on Wednesday after two denial-of-service attacks on Monday and Tuesday. In the hack, the details of 31 million members were stolen. It has been reported that a pro-Palestinian hacktivist group has claimed responsibility. They say: “They are under attack because the archive belongs to the USA, […]
Banning kids from social media
This post is a response to the South Australian Government’s attempts to ban children under 14 from social media. It seems the Victorian Government is on the same path, and so is the Federal Government. I wonder if they have thought about the implications for children who have disabilities and find solace in communicating with […]
Blog construction
I have spent some time setting up an account with a marketing automation service so my blog readers can sign up to be notified when I write a new post. This process involves a number of steps. First, set up a feed from the blog. Second, sign up to a service. Third, construct a subscriber […]
Construction of my new website
I have been working on my new website for a few weeks now. It combines my old static website and my Blogger blog with some additional blog posts from my former business, Wangaratta Website Design Services. I have pages on my fiction and non-fiction writing, as well as a page on my web design efforts. […]
Review of The Gone World by Tom Sweterlitsch
The Gone World is a science fiction novel that involves time travel—but not your run-of-the-mill ordinary time travel. The prologue tells readers they are in for something different. In it, the main character, Shannon Moss, is frantically searching for safety in a winter landscape when she comes across a woman suspended in mid-air, naked, arms […]
Cat’s Eye by Margaret Atwood
Cat’s Eye is a novel about a successful artist, Elaine Risley. She has returned to Toronto, where she grew up, for a retrospective exhibition of her work. While there, she reflects on her childhood and wonders whether one of her childhood “friends,” Cordelia, will attend the exhibition. The novel is set in the mid-1980s. As […]