** The Bulletin ** September 23, 2023
Hello again,
Since it has been a moment, I figured we’d spend a little time this evening having a heart-to-heart.
Happy to report that I’m the happiest I’ve been since COVID began. My entire well-being has changed. I’ve had a couple downs here and there, but it has mostly been ups. There’s a lot that I am thrilled about coming up in just a few weeks. I can’t talk about anything just yet, but I’m so looking forward to it. These last few months of 2023 are going to be a blast.
On that front, I’ve changed a lot this year. I’m proud of the progress I’ve made as an individual. There’s a lot on the horizon, but as they say: great things take time. This is no exception.
It’s funny – the other night, my best friend sent me a text that included a simple Spotify link. The song? Kris Allen’s ever-popular cover of “Live Like We’re Dying”, originally written by the members of The Script. I’m not quite sure why, but it has really been resonating me since I listened to it again. I’ve had it on repeat this week, just taking it in ever since she sent it to me. Quite honestly, dear reader, I can feel the deepest parts of my inner child healing. It’s hard to explain, but it’s such a beautiful God damn thing!!
You have to let yourself feel things. Be human. Allow yourself the grace and space to be you and heal from the past. Live now in the present. It’s so worth it.
Also new in my world: I put 6.6 miles on my bike yesterday (Friday), and started day 1 of volunteering for a local organization: the Bennington Bike Hub. It was such a blast and I am looking forward to what the future has in store. October is set to be a very busy month, including a bit of traveling towards the end of it (sorry, can’t talk about it yet!), but I’m looking forward to it regardless. It’s not a stressful sort of busy!
New from the Journal
Well, there was a Microsoft event this past week. It was boring. So instead, I wrote about my honest thoughts on the company and its direction because that’s more interesting. (Some of y’all are going to hate me, and I’m so sorry in advance. Spoilers: I mainly dislike their approach with Windows.)
Things I found across the net
It’s time for your regular episode of “what on Earth did Slade find on the internet THIS TIME?!?!” — let’s go.
In case y’all still wanted to run Windows 7 (or Vista, or XP…) in 2023: well, Retro Systems Revival is a great blog for you. And I wouldn’t blame you either—Windows 10 and 11 are awful.
In that same vein, here’s a Medium article from the folks at ChangeWindows getting into exactly how Microsoft uses “enablement packages” within Windows as a tool to force users into their data collection schemes, etc.
Windows Central’s Zac Bowden recaps the Microsoft event, calling it “A massive blunder and a missed opportunity” — which is absolutely what it was. They didn’t announce many new things, after all, and most of it was simply re-announcing what was already announced by the company before.
Google put out an excellent ad titled “The iPager” — a part of their #GetTheMessage campaign — to help put pressure on Apple to upgrade the outdated SMS (“Text Message”) technology to RCS (“Rich Communication Services”), the new industry standard. (No, it’s not a Google product.)
Mr. Beast is now using the Samsung Galaxy lineup as his official “vlog cam” going forward. I’m known for being kind of anti-Samsung, but if it helps folks understand that Android isn’t so bad, and that everything’s down to preference, then I’m okay with it.
In an interesting story from the land of Washington, DC, a former USPS employee has been charged and accused of stealing over $1.6 million USD in checks from the mail from October 2021-March 2023. The exact amount is $1,697,909.52 according to the article.
President of Unity Create, Marc Whitten, had to apologize again for the confusion caused by Unity earlier this week after the company’s announcement of its game engine’s new pricing model. Unfortunately, I believe the damage has already been done, and many other engines will get some new business as a result. RIP Unity.
Finally in “Elon’s not a smart guy” news, the billionaire would like to charge you a fee to even have the privilege of using his X (Twitter) platform. It should be noted that his premium offering, Twitter Blue (now branded as X Premium) has only around 850,000 subscribers. So this will undoubtedly kill the platform. Maybe… don’t use his website if he actually implements this. It’s not worth the money given all the other alternatives, like Mastodon or Meta’s (owner of Instagram/Facebook) Threads, are available for free with little to no ads.
Aaaaaaaaand that’s all I wrote for tonight’s edition, folks!!! See you back here in the future for another inevitable edition. As always, if you have thoughts, shoot a reply my way!
Thanks for being here,
—Slade
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