Eurobloat #0080 • December 2016
The month Brussels found a clever legal trick to override a Dutch referendum, scolded Poland, blessed a defence fund and wrote the small print that quietly capped its own free roaming promise.
Eurobloat
2016
115 posts
Reflecting on the year 2016
Reflection on the year 2016, checking progress of the goals, and some numbers.
Journal
Eurobloat #0079 • November 2016
The month Brussels appointed itself a Ministry of Truth, unveiled an EU army fund and a federal energy rulebook, demanded a permit before you board a plane, and lectured the eurozone to spend more it does not have.
Eurobloat
Superintelligence: The Idea That Eats Smart People
Today we’re building another world-changing technology, machine intelligence. We know that it will affect the world in profound ways, change how the economy works, and have knock-on effects we can’t predict.
Gems
Merry Christmas
Christmas remains a time of reflection for me. The coming of Jesus proves the depth of Gods love.
Christianity
Close as You Get by Gary Moore
Gary Moore's 2007 release, a record that leans on tone and touch. I reached it late and it has stayed with me.
Music
Christmas Chants by Gregorian
A later discovery: Gregorian's 2006 album sets carols and modern songs to choral chant and soft new age textures for the season.
Music
Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari
In Homo Deus, Yuval Noah Harari looks ahead from the rise of Homo sapiens to a possible future where biotech and data give people the power once given to the gods.
Books
Useful macOS defaults: Software Update
Handy defaults write commands for com.apple.SoftwareUpdate, controlling how macOS checks for and installs updates.
Mac
What is parsecd?
If you see parsecd in Activity Monitor and wonder what it is, here is what this macOS process does.
Mac
Swift 3.1 Release Process
Swift 3.1 aims to maintain source compatibility with Swift 3.0 while adding minor language enhancements, improvements to the Swift Package Manager, better Linux support, and general fixes to the compiler and standard library, with a planned release in spring 2017.
Development
Monthly update #0319 • November 2016
Monthly update 319 • November 2016 • 2016-11-01 - 2016-11-30
Monthly Updates
Oxygène 3 by Jean-Michel Jarre
Jean-Michel Jarre's 2016 album closes the Oxygène trilogy, warm analogue electronic music marking forty years of the original.
Music
Privacy Roundup #0124 • November 2016
November 2016 hardened state surveillance into law while breaches, botnets and ransomware showed how fragile everyday data really was.
Privacy
Night School by Lee Child
Night School revisits 1996, with Reacher in Hamburg teaming with CIA and NSA agents to stop a jihadist selling a nuclear weapon.
Books
Eurobloat #0078 • October 2016
The month a Belgian region of three and a half million people halted a continental trade pact, while Brussels relaunched its dream of taxing companies itself, fast-tracked a treaty before its own members had ratified it, and offered teenagers free train tickets to feel European.
Eurobloat
What are the mdmclient processes?
If you see mdmclient processes running on your Mac, here is what these Mobile Device Management processes do.
Mac
What is deleted?
If you see a process called deleted in Activity Monitor, here is what it does and why it is there.
Mac
The Fall of a Rebel Angel by Enigma
Enigma's 2016 album is a cinematic electronic concept record about a soul's journey through doubt toward a new life.
Music
What is WirelessRadioManager-osx?
If you see WirelessRadioManager-osx running on your Mac, here is what this wireless radio management process does.
Mac
Monthly update #0318 • October 2016
Monthly update 318 • October 2016 • 2016-10-01 - 2016-10-31
Monthly Updates
Privacy Roundup #0123 • October 2016
October 2016 was dominated by mass surveillance disclosures, record breaking botnet attacks on the open internet and a wave of breaches and rulings that tested how far governments and companies could reach into private data.
Privacy
The Promised Land by Jul
Lucky Luke escorts the Stern family, Jewish immigrants newly arrived from Poland, across the country to the home a friend has waiting for them in the West.
Books
Eurobloat #0077 • September 2016
The month Brussels answered Brexit by demanding more Europe: a defence fund, an EU army headquarters, free wifi, a link tax, and a roaming cap so stupid that Juncker had to bin it himself within days.
Eurobloat
Server APIs Work Group
Swift grew popular for server use after its Linux port, sparking frameworks like Kitura, Vapor, Perfect, and Zewo.
Development