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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: June 13th, 2023

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  • I just don’t know who this movie is for. Slapping a plot on a sandbox game aimed at a wide audience is weird. Leaning heavily into the Legends content is reducing the appeal. The IRL people in weird outfits make it feel like they slapped a Jumanji template on the Minecraft IP, which is a bad sign. I don’t see the appeal of this other than “I like Minecraft, therefore I will spend money on anything Minecraft related.” I don’t see an indication of a plot, the characters don’t seem special (Jack Black is Jack Black, Jason Momoa is Jason Momoa). I just don’t it.





  • It’s a different device. Already, the existing google tv workflow is different than the chromecast, which was phone control first. Now, it brings up an app which favors navigation with the remote. If I want a set top box, I’ll put a kodi box in…I wanted a dumb dongle which could be controlled from a phone. It’s fundamentally a different product.

    My hope is that casting decouples as a concept from being a google protocol. Even though Amazon is backing it now, I hope MatterCast can become an open casting standard. My vision is having MatterCast be an installable add-on to Kodi, and then an ultra-light image can be made for super low-end devices supporting audio and video (or both).







  • I did not dislike the show, but I’m confused who it was for. My wife is not as deep into Star wars as I am and thought it was boring and could not connect with the sisters at all. I thought a lot of the lore stuff was interesting, but everything I’m seeing online and on YouTube is complaining that the lore does not match their expectations from Legends. I mean Legends doesn’t count, but you can’t pitch a show for people who are super into deep Star wars lore and not figure that you have to be consistent with legends or else you’re going to make them mad. I guess I’m just not sure who this show was for?




  • Universities have huge endowments and investment portfolios. These are generally broad and in support of keeping the financial backing of the school stable; this is extremely prevalent in the large older universities like Harvard or Columbia (but almost all universities have one in some form or another). They support both students and ongoing academic research.

    While many of these portfolios consist of wider funds, many have specific investments in specific companies and industries. That means that the university is invested in, and taking benefit from, areas of industry. The main request is to divest the investment portfolios from companies owned by or supporting entities connected with Israel’s war on Gaza. In some cases this may be possible (move a ton of stock from a defense contractor making weapons sold to Israel to an energy company) and in some cases it may not (they’re invested in a wide market fund that itself invests in specific funds, but you can’t easily cherry-pick which stocks are actually in it). It’s also possible that there are research grants funded through companies who the students want to apply negative pressure to; cancelling a grant sends a message to the company, but also leaves entire teams and time-dependent science without funding, potentially ending it outright unless alternate funding can be found. There also may be contracts involved for specific research and engagements, and breaking a contract is more complicated than just ripping it up (especially if there are early termination policies outlined).

    Realistically, the best students can hope for is a commitment to investigate and divest where possible, which is frustrating but also makes sense. I’ve worked in higher education for 20 years and have seen this on a smaller scale around defense contractors during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The endowment is a slow moving leviathan, but I think it’s a good place for the students to apply pressure.