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

  • A productive first day of the weekend.

    I finally got down to Kmart today to pickup the microwave shelf that I saw online. I couldn’t find it on the shelf but lucky enough the guy at the local Kmart was able to locate it because it wasn’t on the shelf where it should be. I got home, assembled it and then organised it all:

    It looks a whole lot less chaotic now that I’ve got it all organised which leaves more space for my kettle and toaster. While was was down there I picked up some food from Woolworths for dinner with mum on Tuesday – mum is bringing over the home made pumpkin soup and I’ve got the fresh bread bought today for tomorrow where I’ll add some garlic butter.

    The artificial plant is on its way along with the woven planter that it’ll sit onside of – it’ll add some greenery to the space without me having to worry about taking care of it. The Ikea order is probably going to arrive in the next couple of weeks but I’m unsure whether the deliver date is the latest that it’ll arrive or whether it’ll arrive on that day. I’ve put a note on the order itself to leave the delivery on my back door so worse case scenario if I am working during the day I don’t end up missing the deliver then having to pick it up from the courier post depot.

    I’ve finally folded up the fitted sheets and they’re in the linen closet along with the new sheets for the king single in the office. Once the Ikea deliver arrives I’m going to wash all the duvets separately along with airing out the new duvet inner that I bought. Although I have a queens sized bed I’d prefer to have a king size duvet on it which makes it all the more cosy especially during winter. The duvet inner is a king size but I opted for a woollen filling because the one I currently have now is also has a woollen filling.

    Just before I go, I’ve noticed some really weird behaviour recently with Microsoft Teams and Safari where I keep getting the following error message:

    And the issue has only just started recently and another thing that occurred recently is when uploading images to WordPress that it’ll just keep saying it is uploading event though the image has already been uploaded. I’m unsure what has happened because I haven’t changed any setting on Safari and I’ve got both WordPress and Microsoft Teams on my allowed websites in uBlock Origin Lite – the issue has only just started appearing within the last week or so. The only other thing I had changed was I installed the Safari Technology Preview 246 but I doubt that would have impacted it given that both websites were working perfectly fine when I had it installed. I have been experiencing bugginess with YouTube with pages not loading when pressing the back button but I’ve come to terms with my disappointment regarding Google and how broken YouTube and YouTube Music is.

    With the rumours regarding a MacBook Pro Ultra, Microsoft announcing the NVIDIA RTX Spark – I’m wondering whether we’re seeing two big players hedging their bets that the future of LLMs won’t be in the cloud but being run locally. I say that because we’re already seeing companies after promoting ‘tokenmaxxing’ are now pumping the breaks. Uber pulling back on AI has given social permission to other b businesses to come out and admit that the promises made by the big LLM providers like OpenAI and Anthropic haven’t materialised. As Ed Zitron has noted in numerous interviews, the numbers for OpenAI are a pigs breakfast and I’d hazard to guess that Anthropic isn’t looking much better either.

    As I keep reminding people about what a Sun Microsystems executive said over 20 years ago – the world runs on GET, good enough technology, which was in reference to the rise of x86-64 challenging traditional RISC based UNIX vendors and Sun Microsystems return to supporting Solaris for x86-64. This reality can be applied to LLMs – does it make sense to pay a premium to an LLM cloud provider or are you better off getting a machine with some good specs and run a local mode which is good enough to do the job without having the on going worry about how many tokens you’re spending? I think long term Google will win because there is a place where LLMs in the cloud makes sense but they also understand that developers will probably prefer not having to constant worry about billing that they cannot forecast based on the work they’re going to do. The big question is, does OpenAI and Anthropic have a plan B or are they ride or die with LLMs in the cloud.

  • The start of a weekend.

    Today was good and I finally made the progress I wanted to finish up detail cleaning my house – all the skirting boards have been wiped down, corners of the ceilings removing any cobwebs, pulled out the furniture and vacuum cleaned behind it all. I was quite surprised at just how but dust and random things I found under the sofa. After all that work the house is looking really nice, it feels like I’ve finally gotten around to doing something I’ve kept kicking the can down the road for ages. I’m not too sure whether it is my age but I’m deciding that rather than putting things off that I should do them when I have the opportunity rather than pushing it onto the next day which turns into the day after next day which then translates into next week then eventfully it turns into some time in the future.

    With all the talk about banning children under 16 from using social media I am reminded of George Carlin when he commented about how politicians hide behind two things – the flag and children. Politicians playing on the sense of helplessness that many parents have but rather than providing parents with the tools they instead sell a false sense of security by saying, “just give us more power and we’ll take care of everything”. I’m always cautious when I hear politicians make claims that they can solve a problem but all you need to do is give them more power and everything will be taken care of.

    As I remind people, power is consolidated through promises of security but power once consolidated is never given up freely. Anyone who has studied history and the rise of dictatorships in the early 20th century made use of emergency powers by claiming the consolidation of power was necessary to protect democracy – “protecting democratic institutions by undermining them”. Need people be reminded by the 1980s ‘Satanic Panic’ followed by claims of subliminal messages in music, claims of violent video games leading to violence not to mentioned the discredited idea of ‘Repressed memory’ – this latest hysteria about social media is in a long list of panics that have been manufactured so don’t fall for the unsubstantiated hysteria.

  • Brrrr it has been a cold day today.

    The rain has stopped but it still is very cold outside but it looks like things will clear up by Tuesday so I’m going to hunker down until the cold weather passes. I worked from home and kept the heater running to keep warm – my power bill this month is probably going to be a bit of a shocker but I’d sooner have a higher power bill than getting sick because I didn’t keep warm.

    After work I finally got the office organised by pulling all the furniture away from the wall and then vacuum behind it, cleaned the skirting boards, dusted and got rid of the cobwebs. I have to admit I’ve been a bit lazy and hadn’t done it in a long time because the only time I really use the room is when I’m working. The ethernet cables I’ve organised so that they’re now pinned to wall just above the skirting board which looks a lot more organised along with rolling up the excess ethernet cable in an orderly way. Once all done I put everything back and the room is looking better organised.

    I got a reply back from Kmart stating that one of the things I ordered isn’t in stock and have been refunded (the microwave shelf) but on a good side there is a wooden version which is available from the local Kmart so what I’ll do is go and pick it up on Monday or Tuesday. I’d like to replace my two monitor setup with a single widescreen monitor – I saw one down the road and I think it would make life a whole lot easier with everything on the same screen plus it would replace my current USBC with one that is built into the monitor. I was going to order it online but then I thought I may as well just go down the road and buy it so then I don’t have go through the whole drama of waiting and then hoping that I don’t miss the courier when they try to drop it off.

    uBlock Origin Lite 2026.625.2148 has been released and the update is now available on the macOS and iOS App Store – it is strange that it was on the iOS store before the macOS store because I would have assumed if it was approved for one that it would automatically be approved for the other. It is interesting to compare uBlock Origin Lite 2026.625.2148 running on Chrome based browsers vs Safari where the same website will have better content blocking on the Chrome based browser vs the same exact website on Safari. I really do wish that as part of their whole ‘Snow Leopard’ release of macOS 27 that would actually fix their extension framework to bring it inline with what Chrome provides to avoid the inconsistent experience one has – it shouldn’t be a situation that the same content blocking extension does a better job of blocking content on one browser over another.

    On more optimistic news, Ubiquiti has released UniFi Network Application 10.5.54 release candidate which includes many new features (link) however there is a feature that depends on a component upgrade that is only present in UniFi OS 5.1.20 or greater. At the moment UniFi OS 5.1.21 is currently sitting in the early access channel however it was released 5 days ago – generally they wait 7 days before graduating it to a release candidate although I’ve seen quite a few people in the comment section reporting issues so it may not graduate and instead we’ll see a 5.1.22 early access build made available in the next couple of days.

  • A wild and rainy day today.

    Woke up after sleeping in a bit and I was surprised at how wild the weather was and Radio NZ was keeping a live story as events unfolded (link). My driveway is has a blocked storm water drain so unfortunately it is flooding a bit but nothing major happened although I haven’t gone for a walk due to the bad weather so I’m unsure whether there are any trees down. I’m going to assume because I didn’t experience any power outages today that all the trees stayed upright as they should.

    For dinner I’m having a late meal of making use of the potatoes I had left over which I sliced up into wedges, tossed in some rice brain oil, coated in cajun seasoning and then cooked in the oven at 180°C for around 35 minutes. They’re the low carb variety so I’d assume they have a lower amount of starch which should make it easier for them to get crispy in the oven. What I think I need to do is make use of my air fryer because I’ve only used it a few times but I think I need to get some more practice because it’ll mean I can cook up this meal in probably 15 minutes rather than having to wait 35 minutes but that being said it does have a limited amount that can be cooked so I guess I’ll need give it a go anyway.

    I’ve had a look on YouTube at different overnight oats recipes and I’m tempted to maybe adding it to my meal rotation because my goal is to boost my fibre intake per day and having overnight oats with chia seeds is a quick way to do that. I’ll probably first maybe get some ingredients and try some recipe out to find out which ones work but the one that does look good is the Tiramisu one I saw on YouTube which looked tasty and wasn’t sweet given the lack of sweetener being added. For me, I’m not a fan of sweet things in the morning for breakfast. As for the current routine I have now, I’ve been mixing a container of Up and Go, 25g of chia seeds and two teaspoons of psyllium husk which has made the chia seed pudding as thick as dairy food or a really thick chocolate moose. I’ve given the coffee flavoured Up and Go a try and it is very tasty – the benefit of the additional fibre has meant that I feel full for longer.

    I’m still in the process of decorating my place and I’ve finally order the microwave shelf:

    Which will free up more space on the counter top and I ordered that along with an artificial plant which will look nice sitting in the corner of the lounge room. The artificial plant is around 180cm high which is around 8cm shorter than I am but where it’ll be placed it will look nice in contrast with the other colours and the vibe I’ve got going in the lounge room. Regarding the bed sheeting I ordered from Farmers, it arrives today but before using it I put it through the wash with the king single being washed first and it is now hanging up in the lounge room on the clothes rack to dry over night while the dehumidifier is running.

    I’m working through a blog entitled ‘The myths we tell ourselves.’ regarding the myths that nations tell themselves about their own history and how it shapes their identity. I’m not too sure who said it (I doubt I was the first to say it) but if you want to understand the psychology of a nation then you need to under their history. Tomorrow I’ll wash the rest of the sheets – I’m doing them two sheets at a time because I only have enough room to dry two sheets inside the house at a time. The order from Ikea will be arriving in around 2 1/2 weeks time – I’m unsure as to why there is such a long lead time, maybe they have to order it in from Australia? oh well, I guess I”ll find out soon enough.

  • A long cold day.

    I’m happy that I worked at home today because the weather has been atrocious where at the time of writing my blog the temperature is 6°C and there is plenty of rain along with wind and warnings by the Metservice. I’m at home with my heater running and I’m thankful that I made the investment in insulation and double glazing resulting in a place that can retain the heat really well during the winter. Tonight for dinner I had chicken and corn soup along with toast and some relish with slices of cheese on top. It was a tasty meal to warm me but before jumping into bed. The weather is till pretty horrible so I’ve decided to have a bit of a sleep in on Friday – I may as well make use of this weather to catch up on some sleep.

    I was having a look through the release notes of macOS 27 Beta 2 (link) and I notice that there is quite a lot of changes that haven’t been give much attention. The first thing that popped out at me was the removal of DVD Playback support – VideoLan does the job nicely but I guess with people moving to digital media that is downloadable that Apple has decided that it is better to remove it and have one less having to be maintained. I’ve had a look at the Web Platform Test website and the Safari Technology Preview is still sitting at 86% but I’d say that with the focus mainly being around fixing implementation but then again I wouldn’t be surprised if things are fairly quiet until the release of version 27 of the platform with maybe 27.x series being where they pick backup in terms of adding functionality into the mainstream release to close that functionality gap as part of Interop 2026.

  • Getting back into the swing of things.

    It was a tough start to the day getting up at 9am after being used to getting up at a more leisurely time but I know that if I want to get back into a good routine then it’ll require maybe a week of discomfort then eventually my body will get used to the routine of going to sleep before or at midnight and getting up at 9am. Today I did some meal prep when working from home with the 25g of chia seeds soaking in Up and Go however I have added two tea spoons of psyllium husk to add some extra fibre which will boost the total fibre in it to around 18-20g and if I have that twice a day then I’ll hit my fibre goal per day without having to put too much effort into it.

    I didn’t go on a walk today because it was raining but I did stick to my plan of getting out at 9am and I’ll do the same on Thursday regarding getting up at 9am however as I am typing this post there is already some rain so maybe I’ll be lucky and it’ll all clear up by tomorrow morning. One habit I’m getting myself into is making sure that I don’t leave things for the next day, for example, I hung up my washing last night on the clothes rack, let it dry over night but rather than just ignoring it for the next week I forced myself to fold the washing and put it away. The other habit I’m getting myself into is that when I have a meal I clean things up straight away rather than just rinsing the plates, placing them in the sink then washing it the next day.

  • Back to work on Wednesday.

    Laying in bed and relaxing before heading off to sleep. I finally made the decision and ordered some sheets for my bed, duvet covers, pillow protection sleeves etc. I’ve had to split it between Farmers and Ikea because there weren’t sheet sets at Ikea and Farmers had them on special so I thought I may as well split the difference. As for the old sheets and duvet covers, I’m going to donate them to the local Salvation Army because just like the pots and pans I donated, I may not find them useful but someone doing it pretty touch that needs some sheets or duvet covers will have something that’ll get them by until better times arrive.

    I’ve got the alarm on my phone set for 9am and I’ll go for a walk but I think I need to push myself to get into the office or otherwise I risk turning into a hermit – I’ll reward myself with a coffee and something nice for breakfast when I get into the office in the morning (they have a tasty Mexican bean wrap). I’ve been on a bit of a push to increase my fibre intake because although I am hitting my protein goals I think it is also important to get that fibre in as well which the chia seed pudding in the morning. The suggested amount for someone my age is around 30-38 grams so what I may end up doing is adding some psyllium husk to bolster up the fibre content.

    At the moment I’m looking at maybe some carpets for my bedroom, hallway and office because the floor is bit bare and adding a carpet will add some warmth to the place. At the moment I’m in no major push to get it done and in fact I may not even get it done given that it is pretty low on the list of things (along with the idea of getting a lamp – still mulling over whether it fits with the vibe) now that I’ve gotten the big things out of the way such as a new chair for my desk in the lounge room, cushions for the sofa, throw rugs to give a bit of colour etc. which has made the place a lot more homely which will be nice during the winter.

    As for the weather, it is gradually getting colder however the coldest time will be over July and August then once we’re through all that then we’ll come out the other side with warmer weather going into spring then into summer. I’ve got the time off organised for November where I’ll travel to Australia and over Christmas I’ll take a week off which will be a total of 9 days off. In the past I used to be a bit of a martyr of not taking holidays but as I’ve gotten older I’ve realised that no one gets a reward for working yourself into an early grave – if you’ve got holidays then you may as well use them. What was the old saying about being that no one wishes they spent more time in the office while on their death bed.

  • Another relaxing day.

    Had a great night sleep last night and I’ve decided that I’ll just stay at home instead of going down town. I’m still having a look at the duvet covers and sheets – checking out Ikea which are located in Auckland but you can order their products online to get delivered. I’m still trying to work out what kind of vibe I’m going for, what kind of pattern and colour will complement the furniture I have in my room. I’m also looking at maybe getting myself a duvet as well – I’ve got a queen sized bed but I’m tempted to get a king size duvet which I can order at the same time I order the duvet cover.

    Back to what is happening in the world in regards to the Iran vs United States/Israel war, the whole ‘memorandum of understanding’ is falling to pieces just as anyone with an IQ above room temperature expected. What I find interesting is the fact that no details were given in regards to the $300 billion reconstruction fund – is it $300 billion in cash? if Saudi Arabia said “we’ll build $30 billion in new schools using our own construction companies” is that considered an investment according to that number given? then there was talk about JD Vance having to to speak to congress which I assume relates to getting rid of the sanctions on Iran and the talk about “not using American funds” does that translate to “we’re to giving them cash but we’ll pay contractors to over to Iran and build stuff”?

    The fact that the ‘memorandum of understanding’ leaves so many unanswered questions makes me wonder whether this is a genuine good faith attempt by the United States to wiggle their way out of a mess or is this the attempt by Trump and the Republicans to buy time for the mid terms. This isn’t the first it was done – remember how the United States lured Iran to negotiations only to wipe out the negotiators with an air strike? At this point I really have to wonder why anyone, friend or foe, would take the United States at their word given how Trump and the Republican Party have made it abundantly clear that a relationship with the United State is a one way transaction for the benefit of the United States.

    Daily writing prompt
    What’s the best advice you’d give to someone younger than you?
    View all responses

    Some advice for younger people:

    a) What you see on social media is a highly curated insight into a persons life, only the highlights but none of the lowlights so as a result you get the impression that people are doing better than you when in reality there is a lot of faking it till they make it – check out numerous videos on YouTube about influencers renting a mansion or an expensive sports car for a video or photo shoot,

    b) Life doesn’t work in a perfect sequential order and we all reach different milestones are different points of our life – no one is ‘ahead’ of anyone else. For me, when I ended high school I worked for 8 years before eventually deciding to go to university because for me I wanted to get out in the world, experience life, earn some money, have a sense of independence and once I was ready to make that commitment to study I then decided to go to university.

    c) It is up to you to set your own goals and aspirations – don’t look to others for what makes you happy or otherwise you’ll be chasing the illusion that your happiness is found by trying to achieve the aspirations of others rather than of your own. One thing to always keep in mind is that the importance you place on something is subjective – what maybe important to you maybe of little or no interest to someone else thus the comparison of oneself to others makes little sense when viewing it from that perspective.

    d) What is seen as ‘cool’ and ‘hip’ doesn’t occur organically but is manufactured – savvy people working in marketing and product design who know how to tap into the human desire for wanting acceptance, approval, adulation and admiration. It makes sense that humans are a social creature and we like the idea of being accepted by a group or winning over acceptance by a group because we signal to them, through our acquisition of stuff, that we’re ‘one of them’. When you get older you’ll look back at what you thought was important and realise it wasn’t so.

    e) What happens at school before going to university and polytechnic is largely irrelevant to the rest of your life outside of getting a good education. There is a reason why the meme of ‘high school hero, real school zero’ exists because once you leave high school no on really cares about who was the cool one at high school, whether you were the captain of a sports team or whether you were a prefect. Oh, and as for going to university and polytechnic – since tertiary education isn’t compulsory then you will find that those who do attend are doing so because they want to rather than they’re being forced so the sort of idiocy you saw at primary, intermediate and college disappears in tertiary education.

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  • A great day relaxing at home.

    I slept in today and decided to have a lazy day at home – no going down the road, just enjoying the vibes of being at home and watching television. Mum dropped off some food for me to cook tonight when we have dinner together – roast chicken, potatoes, kumera, parsnips and pumpkin, boiled broccoli and cauliflower, and topped with a chicken gravy. I’ve been able to make use of all the cooking utensils I’ve bought over the last month which makes the investment all the more worthwhile. After dinner I headed down to the supermarket to pick up a few bits and pieces – I’m getting myself into a habit of making sure I always have cupboards that are full or otherwise I’m tempted to order take aways and although they are healthy takeaways I would sooner avoid that and use the money for something more productive.

    I was watching the news today regarding the National Party announcing their Kiwisaver policy of making it compulsory along with a $1500 starting amount when a baby is born they’re automatically signed up for the Kiwisaver scheme (I assume that parents will be able to make contributions). It sounds like a good idea at least on paper but the problem is that:

    a) The government haven’t addressed when employers do the dodgy with the whole ‘total renumeration package’ nonsense where employers will double dip into the employees salary or wage. A while ago there were some minimum wage employees who signed up for Kiwisaver believing they were doing the right thing only to find that their employer was double dipping resulting in them earning below the minimum wage as a result. Has the National Party mentioned anything about fixing that up? nothing has been announced so far.

    b) When it comes to the issue outlined in (a), how are the government going to ensure that wages aren’t stagnate as in any pay increases go to the Kiwisaver rather than in the employees hand? once again you need to force the hand of employers because when employers are left to their own devices they willl do everything humanly possible to screw employees over.

    c) If the government are going to encourage New Zealanders to return from Australia to New Zealand, are they going to make it easier to move savings from Australia to New Zealand? I’ve currently have some money in a superfund in Australia from when I was working over there and yet the Australian provider I was with, Rest Superannuation, have made it as difficult as humanly possible to transfer that balance from Australia to my New Zealand Kiwisaver – get this document, get that document, talk to a government department etc. basically the ultimate test of endurance to see whether you’re worthy to get access to your own money. All I should need to do is provide my bank with my details for my superannuation provider and that is the end of the conversation.

    We need to improve our rate of saving and investment but when you have one half of the equation playing silly buggers and the other half are struggling to make ends meet thus they need every single dollar they earn to keep their head above water…well, lets put it this way, it isn’t going to end well. Yes, you have to plan for the future and 99% of people understand that but at the same time you also have to deal with the here and now which means paying the mortgage, groceries, petrol for the car, electricity and all while getting the kids off to school. Don’t get me wrong, I think it is a good policy at least in abstract but something tells me that National isn’t going to address the concerns that many have raised when speaking to the media.

  • End of the first week back at work.

    Had a great day today, finally caught up on some office work that thad been building up and hopefully that as long as the team on Monday and Tuesday keep on top of it then it should mean it doesn’t build up again. I ordered some shopping online from Woolworths because I wanted chicken burgers tonight for dinner but I lacked coleslaw and some sauces. The sauces I ended up getting were: Sidecar aioli garlic, Sidecar mayonnaise original and Sidecar mayonnaise smokey habanero. The Sidecar mayonnaise smokey habanero is what I put on my burgers and good lord it is so good – the spiciness, the smokiness coming through. I then paired it up with the spicy Tegal chicken burgers, Japanese coleslaw, pickled red onions and Swiss cheese – a meal fit for a king and a lot cheaper than if I bought it from a takeaway store.

    On Monday I’m going to head down to Bed, Bath and Beyond as well as check out a few other stores regarding sheets and duvet covers. I did buy some sheets a while ago but they were these cheap polyester sheets and the problem is with them is that they don’t ‘breath’ and become quit stuffy and uncomfortable particularly during summer. I’m going to have a look at getting some 100% cotton sheets with a high thread count – even though they cost a bit more than the cheaper low thread count mixed fibre blend, I find that they last a lot longer and you don’t get the sort of pilling that I’m currently getting with the cheap ones I bought (the ones I bought are less than 6 months old).

    Daily writing prompt
    Who are you most inspired by?
    View all responses

    I’m inspired by Henri Rousseau – a self taught painter who created his own style of art that people are only now are appreciating it for its uniqueness. Charles Mingus because of his music style that paid respect to the past, acknowledged the present and pushed boundaries in future directions to where music could go. Dennis Ritchie and Ken Thompson that developed C, UNIX and other key pieces of technology that even today form the foundation for so much of what we take advantage of – things we create today that we think will never be a major force in the world suddenly take on a level of importance that would have been difficult to predict (which reminds me of this comic (link)).

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