I had a productive day, finally posted that blog post regarding left wing politics and the importance of ensuring that what you say and how you present yourself doesn’t become an obstacle to getting your ideas listened to. I had a bit of a sleep in today and I decided to have my walk in the evening rather than the morning – at the moment I had an epiphany, why am I getting up early to go for a walk? the original reason I had changed from having a walk at the end of the day but instead doing it in the morning was because during the winter the weather is horrible but now summer has come now I realised why going for a walk after work or after 9:00 pm is better. The benefit of having a work out later is that I get a good work out then come back home for a shower then by the time I get into bed I ready to fall asleep. Oh, and the other two benefits – avoiding the heat during the day and avoiding all the noise of cars and activity during the day since the walking track I walk on runs parallel with a main road.
The delivery I ordered last night arrived in the morning and once that all arrived I got in contact with mum who will be coming over for dinner on Tuesday. Last night I took the tandoori chicken out of the freezer and it is now fully defrosted. I’m going to put it in the oven at around 4:45 pm so by the time mum arrives at around 5:30 pm it’ll be almost ready and I’ll pair that up with some coleslaw. I am tempted on Tuesday to head down to the supermarket to pick up some fresh ciabatta baguette – maybe have a filled roll for dinner and for desert I’ve got some cheesecake that arrived on my ordered today.
uBlock Origin Lite 2026.1018.2229 was released today and it was up on the Chrome web store within a few hours of it appearing on the GitHub release page. Have Google started automating the process or hiring more reviewers? what ever the reason, I am impressed with gettiing the update in a timely manner. I’ve also checked out AdGuard as well and that was updated at the same time as the update for uBlock Origin Lite. AdGuard 3.0.0 beta is still in testing – it looks like there are some big under the hood improvements. I’m looking forward to eventually getting to try AdGuard 3.0.0 once the stable version has been released.
There have been a few events over the last few years that bring to the forefront the need to discuss how we on the left present ourselves particularly when you consider the hostile nature of the media towards anyone who falls outside of the neoliberal orthodoxy. When I say that I am not invoking some sort of ‘woe is me’ victim mentality but rather the need to accept reality as it exists and working within it rather than forever rebelling then complaining no progress is being made. As my old man used to say, “you only have one opportunity to make a first good impression”, and whether you like it or not people will instinctively will make a judgement within the first few moments of meeting you so way erect additional barriers?
When it comes to language being used, are we using language that is accessible? are we using language that turn people off from what we have to say because the first impression after hearing it is negative? When I worked at a bank there was a law change in Australia where if you used your credit card to top up your betting account, lotto, buying casino chips etc. it was treated as a ‘cash equivalent transaction’ which would result it being treated as a cash advance. We had a large number of people who rang up and wondering why they were being charged a cash advance fee because according to their memory they didn’t do a cash advance aka going to an ATM and withdrawing cash from their card. The one thing you never ask is “do you do gambling?” – why? because the word gambling has a whole lot of negative connotations – organised crime, a vice, addiction, dishonourable, disreputable etc. but if you phrase it as “do you like to have a cheeky bet on the Melbourne Cup” or “do you occasionally get a lotto ticket online” then the tone of conversation changes.
When someone from the left starts speaking about ‘white privilege’ to an audience that is primarily made up of white working class people who barely have two nickels to rub together, how do you think they’re going to respond to that? what does the phrase ‘white privilege’ invoke in the minds of the audience? Compare that to if you said “some people people aren’t born with the same opportunities, some are born into poverty, others into broken families, others don’t have the opportunity to get ahead because of discrimination or the lingering consequences of past discriminatory policies that impact communities today” – which one would a positive reception from the audience? both are essentially saying the same thing but the second example I gave doesn’t turn off the audience within the first five minutes of hearing you speak. It all comes down to how to deliver your message – ensure that how you present that message doesn’t become an obstacle to getting your message out there.
We’ve just seen the most recent fiasco with two political parties recently taking a photo with members of a prominent gang and in the background there are symbols of that gang. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t meet with constituents but when you’re running a campaign you need to realise that the media are not the friend of the left wing – they’re ultimately the mouthpiece of capitalist class interests. Yes, you can talk about breaking the cycle of poverty and the pathway of how people get involved with gangs without giving the impression that you’re sympathetic to gangs themselves given the negative consequences that communities feel regarding the existence of these gangs.
I was watching the following video from ‘Current Affairs’ over on YouTube regarding ‘Suit Socialism’ and the importance of presentation, branding and identity associated with a particular political or social movement:
It is easy to attack someone on the left wing if they represent themselves in a way that makes them look like the parody of what the right wing think left wing people look like. Part of selling your message is how you present yourself – what do the clothes you’re wearing say about you and does that send the message that you should be taken seriously? I always go back to what what my dad used to say “you only have one opportunity to make a first good impression”, it may not be fair that people make snap judgements like that but you deal with the world as it exists not how you’d like it to exist.
On a side note there are too many people in the media willing to give right wing commentators the benefit of the doubt by assuming they’re making an argument in good faith when in reality there is no interest in having a good faith discussion. For example, there is this constant narrative that makes the round at every election of a National-Greens coalition floated by bad faith actors online – some sort of teal coalition. The origin of this idea is that if the Green Party jettison all their non-environmental policies then they could give National a potential coalition partner outside of NZ First and ACT, and the Green Party would have an alternative partner they can use to negotiate better concessions from the Labour Party.
The above narrative not only exists online but also in the minds of media commentators who claim that the Green Party need to “stop doing woke politics and stick to advocating for the environment”. Whenever I hear such nonsense I have to wonder whether it is concern trolling by right wing bot farms because to turn the Green party into a ‘one trick party’ would make them complete unviable as a political party. The reality is that people vote for a party because there is an expectation that they do more than just one policy – we’ve had single issue parties in the past such as ‘Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party’ that has existed for 30 years with no MPs in parliament and little impact in terms of changing the discussion regarding the reforming of the legal system in relation to dealing with drugs.
The problem with being a single issue party, such as being exclusively a party focused on the environment, is that it makes you a target for attacks by the right that you’re advocating environment policies without any consideration or plan regarding the impact to the economy. This is the reason why the Green Party have policies beyond just the environment because to address environment challenge it also involves having a just transition to a sustainable economy where the concerns of the working class are being being addressed. You cannot implement a transition to a sustainable economy successfully unless you have buy in by the masses by ensuring their interests are being protected because if you don’t address those concerns then it opens up an avenue of attack by the right along the lines of “the Greens are fixated on the environment at the expense of the interests of the working class”.
Finally it is the end of the week, time to relax in bed before heading off to sleep. I’m at the moment pondering whether I should change my alarm back to 9:00 am or maybe 9:30 am to get an extra bit of sleep or whether I should stick to 8:30 am. I know an extra hour of sleep probably isn’t worth much but I did find it restful this morning doze in bed until 9:30 am which made getting out of bet a whole lot easier. I guess I’ll see how I feel on Monday and see what happens. I’ve done my shopping online with Woolworths and it’ll get delivered on Monday – it saves me from having to carry home four bags of stuff on the bus and the added benefit that I can take my time, compare prices and plan my meals for the coming week then buy according to that meal plan.
The more the election goes on and the more I hear the great policies coming out of the Green Party the more impressed I am that the left wing in New Zealand is finally getting their act together. I hope that even if it doesn’t translate to a victory for the left in the coming election that the foundation that is being laid with this election will translate to even better policies in the future. It is funny how as I have gotten older I’ve moved further to the left – things that you believe had always existed and always worked a particular way you quickly realise that isn’t the case and that a lot of what we believe is ideology rather than objective reality. As a society we tell ourselves narratives about the world in justification of the way things are and in turn we internalise that to the point that we convince ourselves that a different world isn’t possible – the world we live in is the only world that has existed.
The conversation that I see recently has been regarding the protests and riots occuring in France along with the fact that France has a very high level of public debt. I think what is being ignored is the fact that what makes the situation difficult is the fact that France like many other countries in Europe have the Euro which is effectively a ‘gold standard’ as so far as the European Central Bank are not allowed to monetise debt in the same way that the United States cannot go bankrupt because they ultimately control their own currency. The big question is how the European Union will respond to the challenges regarding public debt because the current status quo is eventually going to result in a rethink regarding the role of the European Central Bank.
On a side note, I agree that free movement and free trade in Europe is a good idea but I’m sceptical of a single currency because of the straight jacket that it imposes on the participating member countries. Maybe the better solution to having a Euro would be to have a bancorp that John Maynard Keynes talked about which would make trade easier for the participating countries while also giving each country the flexibility to manage monetary policy to meet the needs of the country – raising interests rates when needed, lowering when stimulus is required rather than a one size fits all approach that having a single currency and monetary policy results in.
I woke up this morning, had a bit of a doze then went for a small walk – wanted to get out of the house for some fresh air before having to work. A video appeared in my shorts on YouTube regarding the term ‘gear acquisition syndrome’ and the trap of buying gear for a new hobby that gives you the feeling of acquiring an identity through the acquisition of merchandise without actually doing the hobby itself. Like a person who buys books but never actually reads them but they’ve given themselves the identity of ‘a reader’ and I hate to admit that when I look at the decisions I’ve made in my life I have fallen into that trap of ‘gear acquisition syndrome’. Going out and buying the gear is the easy part but having the discipline to not only start but to keep something up for the long term requires a whole lot more effort which is made more difficult if there are many other things going on in your life that are demanding your attention.
There has been much talk about Microsoft’s ‘Windows K2 Initiative’ with the recent release of Windows 11 26H2 with the recent blog post by Microsoft outlining those changes (link). What I do hope is that the changes that were added to Windows 11 26H2 will be the start of a long term project about modernising the platform by transitioning over to Windows App SDK. I say that because Microsoft has a tendency to make an announcement, ship some improvements and then months later the energy that propelled the improvements suddenly disappears resulting in a sloward drift back into the old way of doing things. I think the interesting future release will be be Windows 11 27H2 which appears to include a kernel that is recompiled to support Intel APX plus other enhancements. I am also looking forward because it is a major leap forward in the build number which normally indicates major under the hood changes and also give them time to merge and test the user visible changes.
The Windows K2 Initiative was announced at the end of late 2025 so it makes sense that Windows 11 26H2 was too far into the planning stage to make big changes so it isn’t surprising that what we see in Windows 11 26H2 are modest changes. There is still a lot of work being done on the Windows App SDK (link) so I wouldn’t be surprised if part of the modernisation is delayed because Microsoft is having to build those new APIs required before the replacement can be built on top. From an outsiders perspective it appears that the underlying technology of Windows is rock solid but it is turning that low level functionality into something useful has resulted in Windows earning the reputation it has. I think long term Windows App SDK is going to be that unifying way of allowing developers to write software using modern practices that are based are the modern Windows Run Time (WinRT).
Although I rage on regarding Microsoft and the slow development of Windows, I have a lot of respect for what Microsoft are doing – attempting to move the platform forward while ensuring that they don’t break things in the process (they’re not always perfect but they at least try). A good example of trying to move the platform foward is the work around window management unification (link) with the blog post on GitHub giving a good overview of the challenges being faced – dealing with legacy while addressed the challenges and coming up with a solution that makes life a whole lot easier for developers moving forward.
Daily writing prompt
If you could go back in time and give your younger self advice, what would it be?
Learn how to triage – not everything you think at that moment is important, step back and look at the bigger picture and you’ll realise that there is a whole lot of stuff that isn’t actually important. On a side note, stop caring whether something is ‘cringe’ because no one else is actually paying any attention because 99% of people are too focused on their own lives than caring about what other people are doing and whether they’re ‘cringe’. As many have said online: “embrace the cringe and experience true freedom”.
I’m now in bed with my laptop at my side – I promised myself to read more but I think I need to get better organised in the morning so then I can write my blog posts then and then leave the evening for reading. The one thing I think I’ll also do is have a diary near my bed because when I’m reading if I find something really neat that I want to mention in a post I can write down the details rather than having to open up my and put it in Apple Notes. I’m around 1/2 way through the political blog post and hopefully on Monday or Tuesday next week I’ll have it all complete and posted.
I’ve been watching some videos recently from a channel ‘Holy Post Media’ where there has been some well needed discussions regarding the marriage of Trump, MAGA, Republican Party, Evangelicals and non-denominationals whose origins can be traced back to the South Strategy and the Moral Majority slightly over 60 years ago. I think it is good that these discussions are taking place and platforms like YouTube and Tiktok along with Podcast distribution networks provide an opportunity for people to hear other points of view. I’m not a Christian myself but it is good to hear that there is some healthy discussion taking place because it demonstrates a willingness to tackle thorny issues.
I can’t wait until the week has ended – one more day to go and it’ll be the weekend soon and then in three weeks I’ll be going to Australia for a holiday. Ever been in a mood where you just don’t want to do anything but instead just shut out the world and relax at home with no responsibilities, no obligations – flicking on the television and binge watch movies and shows? I’m at that point, the week appears to be dragging on and on, the feeling of “oh god why do I need to keep doing this?!” then followed by the realisation of “because you need a way to pay the bills and only fans isn’t a viable option”.
Over on Ubiquiti release forum UniFi OS 6.0.13 for Dream Routers has been released to the early access channel and UniFi Network Application 11.0.89 was released a couple of days ago (I can’t remember whether I mentioned that). UniFi Access Point & Wireless Bridge 8.8.11 has made its way to the release candidate channel however there are some people reporting issues with mesh networks. Given that it is quite a big change with the U6 and U7 being unified into a single release schedule I guess there are issues that are popping up with that change – looking forward to the eventual release and how that’ll translate to performance and reliability improvements.
I’m still working through a blog post regarding how the left presents itself and about how it is important that we don’t become the obstacle – great policies that are marketed poorly may as well not even exist. If you have a good policy then the ability to market the policy is as important as the policy itself – you need to get mass support behind it which then translates to political power. I really have to wonder whether there is a certain section of the left who revel in the idea of being the perennial outsider that convinces themselves of their own magnificence by justifying their lack of political success to either “not willing to compromise” (aka ‘an appeal to purity’) or “the masses just aren’t advance enough to understand” (aka ‘an appeal to being superior and everyone else is below you’).
I woke up this morning, more rain outside but I had a coffee to wake me up along with some free weights while watching some news on television. I’m following along with the the election but the one thing I can help but get the feeling that the media are like kids you knew at school that would spread rumours, stir up trouble then sit back and watch the drama unfold thanks to their handy work. I’m not saying that the media shouldn’t hold politicians accountable but equally I think it is important that voters see a fair representation of parties and their positions so then the voters can make an informed decision.
The cost of petrol and diesel is going crazy at the moment with unleaded 95 getting up to NZ$4.14 per litre which translates to US$8.88 per US gallon. It is always funny when I hear people talk about how the market is rational and yet can be easily swayed by promises being made by people you wouldn’t trust even if they said the sky was blue. I think things are going to get a whole lot worse before they get better and even if Democrats get into power then I don’t expect much to change because they don’t have the ability to impeach and remove the US president. I expect some performative politics but don’t expect any substance until 2028 but even then I fear that we’ll see a repeat of Obama’s presidency of “we need to looking forward, not backwards” resulting in the Republicans once again getting away with what they did while in power.
Interesting things are happening around the AI bubble – interest rates are going up, questions are finally being raised about whether there is a viable business model and a pathway to profitability (it would have been nice if that done before piling in hundreds of billions into data centres based on ‘vibes’). As others have pointed out, things are going to get nasty because those involved aren’t just a bunch of rich trouser stains speculating with their parents money but we’ve now got insurance companies involved, pension funds etc. meaning the exposure has moved to mainstreet. As one analysts said, the best time for the bubble to pop was yesterday, the next best time would be today because the longer it goes on for the worse the collateral damage is going to be. Unfortunately the cheerleaders of today are going to be the ones tomorrow claiming that “no one saw this coming” except for numerous people writing articles and providing analysis that it was a house of cards.
I woke up today a little later than usual because I wanted to get a good night sleep after having that shocking headache yesterday. For breakfast I had a sashimi salad and some blueberries on the side then paired that up with a cup of tea – a nice way to wake up in the morning. For me I don’t really have ‘breakfast food’ but instead any food I have in the morning I consider breakfast food – I personally prefer having something savoury and more geared towards protein or if I have something like toast I’ll go with a multigrain bread with plenty of fibre so that it keeps me full until I have my lunch.
Chrome version 155.0.8059.85 has been released which includes 10 security fixes included with the build (link). It was funny that yesterday a mysterious update from 155.0.8059.80 to 155.0.8059.81 appeared but it only appeared as an update on my MacBook Pro but not on my Mac Studio. The surprised update left me kind of confused – did they accidentally release an update but then cancelled it rolling out to more people which is why my other computer didn’t it? Chrome 155.0.8059.85 is working well so far but I haven’t checked my work computer whether the tech team have allowed for updates – I think they’re maybe a bit hesitant ever since the Chrome 153 rele a few weeks ago that caused problems with Salesforce.
Once again we see the right wing putting out misinformation and disinformation in the New Zealand election regarding the capital gains tax. Once again the usual nonsense of referring to ones house a ‘nest egg’ while ignoring the fact that a house isn’t a speculative asset or a magical pinata but a house that provides security and stability. On a side note, I really don’t understand where this fixation of treating a house as a ‘nest egg’ came from – the whole point of owning a house is about stability. What do I mean by that? you buy a house (either as a couple of single person), pay it off within 20-30 years then once paid off you then redirect that money used to pay off your mortgage into investments (for example Kiwisaver). The net result of that plan? when you retire you have a freehold house, some savings and the government pension thus leaving the only things to worry about regarding your house is maintenance and insurance. As a country we need to get over this cultural cringe regarding treating a house like a magical pinata.
Regarding AI and big tech, I’ve been watching a few videos discussing the issue of AI companies talking about how their ‘agents went rogue’ and other sensationalist headlines. As I’ve pointed out on a previous post, the greatest threat isn’t AI but humans taking the output of AI and uncritically acting on it – there was a close call recently because someone had the nous to question the report but there is a possibility that it could have ended badly (link). The real solution, as the Australian government have noted (link), is that your company are liable for the risks – if what you’re producing has unpredictable results because it is little more than a scotastic parrot then maybe your AI research and development should be developing AI for areas where the stakes are low and/or the risks can be managed.
I woke up this morning with a horribly bad headache – the pain was at the back of my eyes and just feeling bad all around. I thought maybe I was dehydrated so as a result I draink some water, I put some warm clothes on and got some fresh air (under the carport because it was raining outside) but it didn’t fix it. I left it for as long as I could but eventually I rang my boss to give him a heads up that I wasn’t coming in today. It’s now it’s slightly after midnight and I am feeling a whole lot better so I’m all good for tomorrow. Tomorrow I’m going to set the alarm for a sleep in – the focus for me is recovery and the weather is going to be horrible tomorrow so it isn’t as though I’m able to go for a walk.
I woke up today and had a cup of tea, switched on the television to see what the latest news – we’ve got an election in November down in New Zealand so I like to keep up to date on the latest announcements. At this stage I’ve already decided who are I am going to vote for because the current government is appallingly bad in so many ways so they’re not even comparable.
I did watch a shorts recently on YouTube regarding how the public turn on progressive policies and I would argue that people aren’t opposed to progressive policies but they are opposed to seeing large amounts of money being spent on something and then seeing it being delivered over budget and late or not even delivered at all. For example, ‘Let’s Get Wellington Moving’ had a grand total of NZ$159.1 million and yet there isn’t a single thing to show for it with over half of the budget spent on consultants. Another example is in Auckland regarding the pedestrian bridge where $51 million was spent and once again there is nothing to show for the money that was spent.
Let’s be honest, large numbers of people don’t likes paying taxes because most would sooner see more money left in their pocket but it adds insult to injury when you’re being taxed and then seeing copious amounts of money being spent on projects that don’t lead anywhere. If you’re paying your taxes but for the taxes paid you saw great infrastructure and top notch services then you’d feel that you’re getting value for money – your quality of life is improving and you’d feel that what you pay in taxes is delivering benefits for you, your family and wide community.
If centre left and left wing parties want to win the case for a more active government then that involves making sure that execution is as important as the speeches given during the election campaign. This is the reason I keep coming back to the need to setup a Ministry of Works with a dedicated team of engineers and other specialists working on long term projects rather than having very expensive consultants that fail to deliver. The funny part is that contracting out these functions have actually cost us more than if we retained the Ministry of Works which is the opposite of what ‘disciples of neoliberalism’ promised.
This is what happens when you have ideology calling the shots resulting in something that works being replaced with a model that only benefits what I call the ‘consultancy industrial complex’ (or some other special interest group) with ‘disciples of neoliberalism’ twisting themselves into a pretzel in explaining how the square is actually just a circle but with corners. I think it is time that New Zealand revisits many of the decisions that were made in the name of ideology by justified in the name of ‘market efficiency’ and ask whether the promises that were made and the reforms that followed actually delivered on what was promised.
