I wrote some affirmations for people who feel pressured to Monetize Everything and Broadcast All Their Hobbies https://cattsmall.com/advice/rants/2023/01/21/principles-living-outside-boxes-hobbies.html
ChatGPT gets treated like technological magic, but that ignores the humans behind the curtain that make it function.
OpenAI paid Sama to hire Kenyan workers at $1.32 to $2 an hour to review “child sexual abuse, bestiality, murder, suicide, torture, self harm, and incest” content. Their work made the tool less toxic, but left them mentally scarred. The company ended the contract when they found out TIME was digging into their practices.
I experimented with ChatGPT to draft this post. My goal was to learn how it works. It's pretty wild, honestly. I still had to make lots of edits, but the fact that you can tell it your core ideas and have it expound for you is boss.
I like the control I have over my life as a remote worker and don't intend to go back to being in an office full-time. I'm an introvert, and I'm privileged. It still wasn't an easy adjustment. But it was worth the intention and effort I had to put in!
I wrote my first of 3 January blog posts. It's about leading a remote design team and reframing challenges as wins. https://cattsmall.com/design/advice/2023/01/16/remote-design-cons-advantages.html
Pssst my first public workshop of the year is now up on Eventbrite! Influence Without Authority, March 8: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/influence-without-authority-online-workshop-registration-504045161647?aff=estw
On a train to #magfest. It's the first time I've been since 2019. Wild stuff.
I've also added a starred posts feature, so if you want to just skim through the highlights instead of reading all 1,000 (!!!) posts, you can do that too!
(If you're mobile, expand the filterbars to see the "Starred" checkbox).
When the clock strikes midnight tonight, most of the published works from 1927 will move into the public domain in the US. Celebrate these works at one of our two Public Domain Day celebrations, January 19 & 20:
http://blog.archive.org/2022/11/30/the-best-things-in-life-are-free-two-ways-to-celebrate-public-domain-day-in-2023/
I love recapping the year because it helps me see all the stuff I've done as an arc and plan for next year. This year, I included a part about new and old leisurely activities because I do have hobbies. Check it out if you like retrospectives! https://cattsmall.com/updates/2022/12/31/year-in-review-yeet.html
May we all have an extremely chill 2023. We deserve it.
Tomorrow (Dec 31) is the last day to apply for the Q1 2023 cohort of The Collab Lab! 📆
Collab Lab is a free program designed to help early-career developers/bootcamp grads land their first job in tech by teaching the collaboration skills used by professional software teams. 💪
If you know someone who’s working hard to break into tech, please consider passing this along to them! 🙏
We’re running teams in North American time zones only this cohort, but will be back in Europe/Africa (& hopefully Latin America, in Spanish) in Q2. 🤞
This is incredible https://pudding.cool/2022/12/yard-sale/
Psychology Today has always been a good resource for me: https://www.psychologytoday.com/
There are other sites out there, too, and some of them are specific to your needs. For example, Therapy for Black Girls.
I cannot keep this to myself. There is a website (radio.garden) where you can listen to radio stations all over the world for free. No log in. No email address. Nothing.
When the site loads, you are looking at the globe. Slide the little white circle over the green dots (each green dot is a radio station) until you find one you like.
I have been listening to this station in the Netherlands and it absolutely slaps. I have no idea what they're saying but the music is fantastic.
Maker of various things. Bronx-born & raised; defected to Brooklyn; refuses to leave NYC for no reason other than spite. Neutral good.
Some of the things I've made:
• https://cattsmall.com/design
• https://GDoCExpo.com
• https://cattsmall.itch.io
• https://blackgamedevs.com