Wasting Time
Ale, music and enjoying life.
Octopus Deploy – Nuget Feed – 401 Unauthorized Pain
Experienced an issue with Octopus Deploy this week refusing to pull down in-house Nuget packages. Connecting to the Octopus server and checking the error logs gave a 401 Unauthorized error. First thing I did was to hit the endpoint in a browser and it worked fine. Strange. Checked the Octopus deploy Nuget Feed connection ensuring user and password details were correct and same error. What???!
Some sort of Octopus caching issue clearly. Ok I’ll create a new Nuget Feed using the same details and that should shift it? Nope. Guess again!
Still convinced it’s a caching issue I decided to restart the Octopus Deploy service on the Octopus server and that shifted it.
Powerline Adaptors – Review – TP-LINK TL-PA4010KIT V1.20 AV600 600 Mbps
Powerline adaptors are pretty cheap these days. They used to be pretty expensive and the results were hit and miss but at around £30 I thought I’d give them a go. I was surprised with the results didn’t think I’d notice to much of an improvement but I was wrong.
Before
After
Quit Facebook
Over Xmas 2016 (27th December to be precise) I decided to deactivate my Facebook account. Been thinking about it for a while and having a bit of time off work meant I could take a step back and re-evaluate what value it adds to my life, and it’s very little if I’m honest. I’d kinda fallen out of love with it a long time ago and most of my posts only comprise of images linked from when I post images on Instagram or Youtube links of stuff I’m listening to which of course lead to about 90% of my Friends bored shitless 🙂 . I was planning on reactivating my account after the Xmas festivities but having spent the last week off Facebook and not missing it I doubt I’ll bother.
Anyway some of the reasons and pros and cons as to why I quit are below.
Time Killer
Facebook kills so much time and it’s scary to see how much time you spend wading through stuff (mainly ads and clickbait – see below) and not really getting anything of interest back. Sure it’s great to see what friends are up to but it’s very likely they’re also on Twitter, Instagram etc which are 2 platforms that are suited better for that sort of thing.
Even now I’m procrastinating writing about feckin Facebook! That said it feels like I’ve gained about 20% of my life back. Time that I can spend on other things like reading, learning, meditation, going out, seeing friends just enjoying life really.
Facebook “Features” – Events
I focus on gigs and music here (as that’s what interests me) but you can easily apply this to Sports Events, Local Community Events whatever floats your boat really.
It just feels like Facebook isn’t the right platform for organising/attending events etc. It’s trying to do too much and failing badly. All the content you put on Facebook generates more revenue for them then it will for you. If you organise an event and post a Facebook event page to promote it immediately Facebook are benefiting from your efforts. They can direct advertising at people who click through and profile them further for future advertising and clickbait bullshit. It’s also easy to click “Yes” I’m attending but much more of an effort to get off your backside and actually attend so that feature offers little benefit.
It’s another page that the venue/organiser has to update and will probably fail to do so when there’s a last minute change or cancellation. Much easier to tweet or for the venue to update their website.
Bands websites and mail outs are the best way of finding out about events. I’m much more likely to read an email mailout from a band and make a note of the tour dates rather than stumble over a Facebook event. British Sea Power and The Wedding Present are 2 bands that spring to mind that do great email mailouts. Ents24 is also worth a mention here for gig alerts as a much better alternative to Facebook events.
Clickbait / Ads
One of the things that has really pissed me off with Facebook recently is the amount of adverts and clickbait bullshit. It’s getting real nasty as well. Some of the clickbait now is showing nudity or violence. One I saw fairly recently was some gruesome scene with “You’ll never guess what happened next!!”. I know it’s bullshit but why do I have to wade through all this shit. There’s better revenue models out there. Oh yeah, and they’re making money through all of your content and likes etc.
Innovation
Facebook’s algorithms seem absolutely batshit crazy at the moment. Why when I refresh my “news feed” do I get a different ordered set of posts each time? Just post them in decesnding time order like any normal person would do. And that’s another thing why do I have to refresh my feed? Another click, just stream it like Twitter does.
Facebook feels very clunky these days with all it’s features and bloatware. Catching up on social media should be a pretty slick user experience.
Twitter isn’t without similar issues here but it keeps things simplistic. I honestly think Twitter has a very interesting future. It’s very easy to find a company and tweet them and get a response. With bots and AI technology this will get even easier and Twitter lends itself well to slot right in here.
Friends
Facebook is great in this respect. In the last few years I’ve got in touch with friends from schooldays and met them for drinks etc for the first time in decades! and it’s been great. However, all of my friends on Facebook are genuine friends that can phone me or contact me through other means. I follow them on Twitter and I can pick up the phone at any point. And even go outside! and meet them for drinks/food etc.
I know a few friends that have quit Facebook and they’ve said they don’t miss it at all.
But you’re still on Twitter right?!
Sure, and Instagram and other sites which could be classed as social media but none of them come close to the bloatware/clickbait world of pain that Facebook currently offers.
You logged into Facebook – I saw you!
I’m the only admin for a group with over 3k members. After 6 days of being offline I logged in to approve/moderate and there were around 30 new members needing approval. I’m currently looking to hand this over to someone.
The future for Facebook looks bleak
For many of the reasons above I can’t see Facebook improving. They seem to remove or destroy any decent features / content and mess about with things that aren’t broken. IF Facebook ever sorts itself out and gets rid of the crap and starts to become innovative I may one day return but right now it looks unlikely.
Kenickie – Leeds Cockpit 7th October 1998
Kenickie and Lauren Laverne before she was famous…..I think this was 1998? Could’ve been the year before when they played here in May. My memory is hazy here. I first saw Kenickie at Reading Festival 1997 and was going to see them at Breeze Festival in Leeds in 1998 but we left before they came on as the festival was a shambles.
Anyway….. me and a group of friends (all obsessive Kenickie fans) definitely saw them at Leeds Cockpit. I was pretty familiar with the Cockpit spending many a Friday night at “Brighton Beach” or the occasional Saturday at “The Garage” club night.
Some of my mates bought Jelly Babies for Johnny X and handed them to him before the gig. I don’t remember much about the gig itself but I do recall hanging around afterwards trying to meet Lauren Laverne. She eventually came and talked to us. We all had a chat with her, she gave me a kiss on the cheek and I took the photo below.
One of us (not me) made a lasting impression on Lauren which formed the headline in an NME article a few weeks later. I remember the surprise of opening that NME and seeing that on the bus home from college one day. But that’s another story.
Some of my treasured Kenickie stuff…
Hugh Cornwell & John Cooper Clarke @ Manchester Ritz 03/12/16
Saturday in Manchester had it’s fair share of early Xmas drinkers and a lot of the pubs I usually frequent before a gig were rammed. That said I managed to get sufficient ale and took in a wonderful Tofu dish in Chinatown with my mate Johnny before the gig.
Never been to the Ritz in Manchester and I was surprised on entering just how big it was. Hugh and Johnny Clarke had managed to sell this out (or very close to it) as the place was packed.
An appreciative audience delighted in Hugh and John’s run through of the album. The songs really shined live helped by a great backing band. There’s a genuine friendship between Hugh and John which came across in between songs. Cool bantz guys!.
Great to see Windsor or drums and Phil Andrews on keyboards. There was a couple of chaps stood behind me commenting on Phil. “Who is he? He has luscious hair!” . Once the album was out of the way John went off stage for a ciggie whilst Hugh delighted the crowd to some old Stranglers classics and a couple of solo numbers. Phil providing the Dave Greenfield-esque freakout on Walk on By.
Was good to meet up and chat with Hugh after the gig.
Hugh’s drummer Windsor has to be one of the greatest drummers out there at the moment.
Great also to see Phil Andrews who handed me a copy of his solo album which I will review on here in due course.