Matisyahu's Blog

"When the people are being beaten with a stick, they are not much happier if it is called 'the People's Stick'"

recent posts

  • It makes you wonder.

    Just thinking of all the things that have occurred over the last few weeks – the speech given by Mark Carney, the free trade agreement between the EU and India, murmurs regarding China wanting to position itself as the reserve currency and all the discussion regarding the latest tranche of Epstein related documents that were made available. That doesn’t even touch on the United States budget negotiations, the behaviour of ICE and Border Patrol agents not to mention the real economy is cratering while the share market booms as day traders are getting on their own supply.

    The reason I bring this up is because we maybe living in the dying days of American hegemony and I think for many the expectation was that it would eventually happen but the question was how the decline would take place. Would it be a slow decline where the United States gracefully exits the stage, will it be where the United States makes a series of dumb decisions to ‘restore the former glory’ resulting in the decline being sped up or will it be an spontaneous collapse off the back problems that have built up of decades that have been left unaddressed or one last attempt to reclaim the United States role in the world.

    As I’ve noted on a post I made over on BlueSky – in my life time we’ve had 8 years of George W Bush and by 2028 there would have been 8 hears of Trump. I can’t speak for everyone but I think the world has really had it with the United States. The world is tired of the chaos, tired of the craziness, tired of a country inhabited by people who don’t understand the role that the United States plays in the world and the historical events that led to the United States being in that position. When you have a largely ignorant population then it isn’t surprising that someone like Trump eventually gets voted in resulting in the whole global order unravelling.

    I have noticed over the last decade or so that the petty squabbles between many nations are being put to one side recently, alliances are being built and are now being taken seriously rather than just a get to gather once a year. BRICS was set up a while ago but the recent discussion of an alternative to the American dollar has finally turned from something talked about into something that actually has been fleshed out into something serious. There is also a discussion regarding an alternative to SWIFT, work is being done regarding an alternative to the Visa and MasterCard payment network by using UnionPay as a platform on which to build an interoperable alternative.

  • At the half way point.

    Ah, I love working from home, being able to enjoy a quiet place to work, being able to grab a coffee within arm reach. I’m reading through ‘WECG Meetings 2026, Public Notes—Jan 29, 2026’ and there is a good amount of stuff that is happening in terms of harmonising implementations, addressing the short comings of MV3 when compared to MV2. It’ll be interesting to see whether in the long term Firefox will keep supporting MV2 particularly if the limitations of MV3 are addressed (which appears to be the case) and the benefits of MV3 outweigh the technical debt associated with maintaining MV2.

    Next week will be the launch of Chrome 145 (link) and there are rumours regarding Android on the desktop and laptop is delayed until 2027-28 with Chrome OS still receiving updates well into the early 2030s but that being said it has all been unconfirmed rumours. Given all the work that needs to be done I wouldn’t be surprised if Google take their time and maybe even offer a path to upgrade from ChromeOS to this new Android based operating system so then those with existing hardware can migrate to the new platform.

    There is also a lot of stuff that needs to be done such as adding extension support to Chrome not to mention issues that may appear when conducting internal testing as well as working with OEMs who raise issues that need addressing – hardware support, functionality missing when compared to ChromeOS, the opportunity for OEM customisation such as One UI – we may see Samsung embrace Android on the desktop and laptop, making use of their own ARM chips then using One UI to create a unified brand that spans from televisions to phones to tablets and now desktops and laptops.

  • A bit of a shock to the system.

    I had an early start today – up and out of the bed at 7:45am and off to catch the train to work by 8:30am. I was making great time until I ended up at the train station to then find that the train was 15 minutes late with no explanation given. It was kind of strange there was the delay given that the express train that comes before the one I was going to take arrived on time (well, it didn’t arrive per se as so much as it went past the train station without stopping). I don’t see any news other than the alert that went out this morning so I’m unsure what the issue could have caused it but I still got to work in the end.

    I finished work at 6:00pm then went to hang out with work mates for ten pin bowling with the business shouting us some pizza and I bought a pint of Monteith’s Apple Cider (or what the Americans call ‘hard cider’) which is nice on a hot day. We played a few matches and then we all went out separate ways home – in the case of me I stopped by New World to pick up a few bits and pieces and then caught the train home – quite a few people were using it tonight which is a bit unusual for a Thursday so maybe this is an indicator that there is some sort of recovery under way.

    Oh, and I opened up the App Store once I got home to find that uBlock Origin Lite 2026.202.1612 has been released – I updated it, waited for a few minutes for the filters to finish converting, and I then checked it with a few websites and it appears everything is working well. The release candidate for Apple’s platforms, version 26.3, has been released and assuming there are no show stopper bugs then it’ll probably arrive next week some time. With all that being said, 26.3 is a small update given that the development occurred over the Christmas and New Years holiday period where as 26.4 will be when Gemini integration will appear plus plenty of other improvements.

  • Early night in bed.

    Got an early start on Thursday because we’ve got a work function afterwards – up at 7:45am to catch the 8:30am train to work then finishing off at 6:00pm to meet up after work with my work mates. I was going to go for a walk tonight bu unfortunately if I did then I wouldn’t get back until very late meaning I’d only get around 5 hours sleep which leave me pretty much a zombie for the next day.

    Another good news came through this morning, I received email confirmation that the CD I purchased on Discogs has shipped. It truly is a wonderful resource if you’re looking for those hard to find CDs particularly if they’re out of print such as the one I purchased. Yes, I could purchase it through iTunes however I prefer having the physical copy where I rip two copies, one to FLAC for a cloud based backup and one to AAC so I can listen to it on my iPhone or computer.

    I’m still waiting for uBlock Origin Lite to appear – it appears that the fix that is coming is related to a but in Webkit/Safari that needs addressing however it appears that at the moment fixing up extension related issues in Safari doesn’t appear to be a priority. I guess it is a situation of allocating resources where the greatest demand is – it would be interesting to know what percentage of Safari uses make use of extensions or more specifically content blocking extensions and how that percentage compares to users on Firefox and Chrome.

  • Grocery shopping all done, back at home.

    I’ve come back home after having dinner with mum and on the way home I picked up some groceries – I was hoping to get the roasted seaweed that I normally get but the store was out of that so instead I went with the other brand they have there which will be good enough. There were a few things on special so picked up those when I was there but apart from that I’m all good for the next couple of weeks. I’m back to work tomorrow however I was going to work from home but the weather is going to improve by tomorrow so I’ll head into the office. Oh, and on a side note, I’m happy I got that walk in because by the time I got home the rain was crazy.

    Ubiquiti have pushed out some early releases for various pieces of hardware but the feeling I get is that they’re taking their time. There appears to be an issue regarding VPNs and maintaining a reliable connection which tells me that something more complex needs to be addressed so we may not see an update for a while when it coms to the UniFI Gateway (non-cloud based gateways).

    Regarding what the Democratic Party are doing today, the best description of the current leadership is as follows: “If Chuck Schumer found a genie in a magic lamp that granted 3 wishes, he would find a way to negotiate it down to 1 and then ask Republicans what they would wish for.” It truly is amazing how the Democratic Party have an audience waiting for them to put forward an alternative vision for the United States and so far they appear to be shuffling around in the lounge room trying to avoid stubbing their toe while trying to look for the light switch.

    A word of warning to the Democratic Party, people aren’t just going to vote for you if you offer nothing because the alternative for voting for Republican isn’t Democratic but rather to stay on the sofa. Trump won because he appealed to low propensity voters and as Michael Moore along with many other people have pointed out, you need to grow the voter base beyond just those who turn out regardless of what is on offer. Yes, that means you’re going to have to have some party discipline and focus, to come up with a party platform with a list of your top 10 policies you wish to pass and make it abundantly clear that if you run for the Democratic Party that you fall in line and vote for those 10 policies – if you cannot agree to that then run for a different political party.

    This is the reason why I’m always sceptical when I start seeing polling regarding how the National led government are unpopular and then commentators concluding that it points to it benefiting the left wing alternative. Don’t get me wrong, I’m certainly no fan of the current government but at the same time I think it is important that we don’t engage in copium because it gives us momentary euphoria. It is very rare for a government to only get one term and for that to happen they would have had to screw up monumentally for that to happen and for all the faults of the National led government they haven’t hit that low point yet – keeping in mind there is plenty of time between now and the 7 November 2026 (early voting starts 2 weeks before election day so I’ll get my vote in early so I don’t end up forgetting).

    I’m also sceptical because there are a lot of things happening, the US dollar is declining which translates to the New Zealand dollar increasing in value which may help with inflation given that must of what we import is in US dollars (see oil as an example). There is also the fact that the European Union has signed a free trade agreement with India, there is the one that New Zealand is looking at singing (it’ll require Labour to get it across the line) etc. so the era of paralysis has disappeared and countries are now actively working around the United States.

    Regarding the recent hype around the US dollar going down in value, it is still a lot stronger than it was around 30 years ago where one New Zealand dollar would buy 74 US cents but these days one New Zealand dollar can buy 60 US cents so the value I still well above the lows it has been in the past. It appears that many of the business channels want to get their audience excited while the historical context is completely ignored. The US has some serious economic issues so it’ll be interesting to see how the rest of the world maneuverer to insulate themselves from any possible economic fallout that may happen in the next few years.

  • Getting ready to head out for dinner.

    Had another great night sleep, woke up, had an Up and Go then headed out for a walk – just a small 5.8km one, came back home, had a shower and I’m now relaxing as I wait for the washing to finish so then I can hang it out. I’ll be heading out for dinner after I get that all hung up and then afterwards I’ll pick up some groceries, come back home, go for a walk, a shower then a good night sleep the coming week ahead. I hope that this week things won’t be too chaotic.

    Safari Technology Preview 236 has been released (link) and there is quite a few changes particularly addressing issues being resolved. It will be interesting to see how many of these changes make it into 26.3 and 26.4 but I that’ll be something we’ll find out once 26.3 is release and the beta for 26.4 starts. On Safari extensions related issues uBlock Origin Lite 2026.202.1612 has been released to fix up a regression when using uBlock Origin Lite on Safari – it is currently available on the iOS App Store but the Mac App Store is waiting for it to be approved and made available publicly.

  • Chilling out, enjoying the weekend.

    I went for.a 5.8km walk in the afternoon, came back home, watched some YouTube videos and then went for an 11.6km walk thus making it a total of 17.4km that I’ve walked today. It actually worked out good to split the work out into two sessions rather than trying to do the 17.4km all at once. Tomorrow I’ll be doing the same and focus on ensuring I get consistently out and exercising every day but eventually I’d like to get to the point where I go for a 11.6km walk during the day then a 11.6km in the evening on my day off – really make use of the time I would have otherwise just doom scrolled.

    On Tuesday I’ll be going for a walk in the afternoon, have dinner with mum then stop off at the supermarket to pick up a few bits and pieces – not a big shop since I’ve gotten myself stocked up pretty well but there are a few things I need to pickup. One thing that has really added some extra tastiness is eating the tuna/salmon rice bowls in conjunction with the roasted seaweed. It adds some extra flavour as well as variety in texture along with the added fibre and iodine that comes naturally with it. Tuesday night dinner will be panned seared salmon with a salad – one of thing things I love about summer is the availability of fresh produce so when the weather is good I like to take advantage of the opportunity because I know during the winter the price of fresh produce can be prohibitively expensive.

    This week I’m going to make a few tweaks to my diet – I think what I need is some more protein which will help me feel fuller for longer. I may have a look at some protein bars and/or protein shake mix along with other forms of protein I can prepare and cook easily. What I’m also going to do is dial a bit back on the carbs as well and up the amount of fibre because I have a feeling that the carbs I have ben eating lack the fibre which is why I end up getting an energy spike then followed by a crash because the lack of a decent amount of fibre means the energy isn’t released slowly which is what fibre does.

    When it comes to the world of tech, there are rumours of Apple maybe looking at reducing their risk of being dependent on TSMC and instead they’re looking at Samsung and maybe even Intel as well. It’ll be interesting to also see how Apple will navigate the current NAND and RAM storages, whether their M5 release will be delayed given the capacity that exists is being used up by AI orientated production. I guess we’ll wait and see what happens but then again anything could happen – Wall Street may finally come to its senses and realise that LLMs aren’t the be all and end all, that they won’t reach AGI using LLMs with all th money spent so far being more or less a write off thus freeing up capacity for more productive uses rather than speculative radium-water like idiocy.

  • Feeling so much better.

    Had a long night sleep, absolutely solid, no interruptions, didn’t have to get up during the night nor did I wake up. I woke up around midday feeling fully refreshed and a whole lot better than I did last week. I woke up, had an Up and Go for brunch then after watching a few shows I then went for a 6.8km walk. The goal I have is that I walk 11.6km per day and on my days off (Monday and Tuesday) I’ll do an extra 5.8km walk during the day then 11.6km at night so then I get some extra steps in.

    uBlock Origin Lite 2026.201.1924 has been released and it is available on the Microsoft Edge extensions store and the iOS App Store however it hasn’t arrived in the Chrome Store or the Mac App Store. Nothing major was announced other than the filters being updated along with a fix for a regression.

    There have been another leak regarding the Chrome OS successor and 9 to 5 Google have given a bit of a glimpse into it:

    What I find interesting has been the additional of extension support which makes me wonder whether it’ll be a feature found exclusively on said operating system or will Google make it available on Chrome for Android phones as well. It also makes me wonder whether a lot of the changes occurring under the hood in recent releases is about optimising MV3 so that it can operate in a constrained environment (in regards to system resources). I guess it’ll be a matter of waiting for Google I/O 2026 in May 2026 regarding Android 17.

  • Feeling a lot better.

    I’m feeling a lot better than I did at the beginning of the week thanks to a combination of rest, keeping hydrated and getting plenty of fresh air. Tonight I took the bus down to the supermarket but decided to walk back then after arriving back I took out the butter for the fresh bread then went for an 11.6km walk so the total amount of walking today was probably around 16-17km. For dinner I had mushroom soup and some fresh ciabatta bread.

    Things are progressing in terms of my new years reset where I’ve made one small change then consistently done that change for a couple of weeks then adding a new task then doing the same. The idea is that rather than trying to make a whole lot of changes then feeling overwhelmed what I decided to is break down the change into smaller steps so then eventually each change becomes embedded into every life to the point that it eventually becomes muscle memory.

    It has been a week worth of consistent walking every night and my goal is to get some exercise every night even if it is on one of the nights when I come back from work at around 11am and I’m limited in how long my walk is the main goal however is to get some exercise. Although I have stuck to doing free weights regularly I have to admit that I’ve gotten a little lazy when it comes to exercise and I think that although 3-5 days per week would be sufficient I do think that having some exercise every night is a whole lot better given that the job I do doesn’t involve any physical activity so the need to regularly exercise is a whole lot more important.

    In the coming week I’m going to be focus on making sure I consistently get some exercise every day – it may not sound much but for me, someone who isn’t naturally inclined to exercise, I need to keep the motivation up. On my days off (Monday and Tuesday) I’ll eventually move to maybe going for a walk during the day then having another walk at night. I’ve found that if I do want to do more exercise I’m better off splitting it into two sessions rather than going for one big walk all at once.

  • Honestly, I just don’t care.

    This could be a TED talk in its own right but it is amazing the number of influencers who convince themselves that they need to create a narrative around the idea of the audience demanding they say or do something. No one is asking you for anything, stop trying to make out that you have some large audience who is terminally online and hanging on every half baked opinion you vomit on the internet. I watched a video on YouShop shorts that was reposted from TikTok – not a single person was asking them for their opinion on a given matter, it was entirely manufactured! it’s like influencers who start off their video with “..I keep being asked…” – no one asked you anything, stop trying to make out that you have an audience who cares enough to engage in the content you put out there.

    Oh, and don’t get me started on American influencers (they tend to be the who do this the most) talking about how xyz store is ‘iconic’ or ‘legendary’ or ‘an institution’- mate, it is a store that sells sandwiches and bottles of soft drink, it isn’t some cultural monument that people go on pilgrimages to. Oh, and while I’m having a whinge, people who say that they’re “not going to gate keep this…” – once again, mate, it is a store that sells cheesecakes and barista coffee, it isn’t some sort of secret store and that only those who are worthy enough can indulge in its delights or that some how you’re letting in the audience or some secret that no one else knows about.

    I always find it hilarious that the same people who complain about Trump and how he speaks do the exact same thing in their own life without the slightest hint of irony. Influencers having self-awareness appears to be like oil in water – they don’t mix.

    On a side note regarding AI and LLMs, I saw this video – when it comes to AI it reminds me of the song with the lyrics “don’t believe the hype” but it appears that far to many on Wall Street are believing their own hype – getting high on their own supply.