Pete's May 2022 update
New bone, who 'dis? Hacked, Taxed, and Flash(heart)
Nutmeg 🐾
First we named the shellducks (Bill and Fleur). Then we named the rabbits (Stewart and Willow, then Hazel, then Cinnamon and Sugar). Then we named the hedgehogs.
You might think there was a little furry gap in our lives.
Enter Nutmeg, aka “Meggie”.
Oh look, suddenly those gates I built have a purpose! 😉
Meggie is a Lakeland Terrier, nearly 6 in human years, and needed a new home because she wasn’t getting along with the other dogs. She seems to like it here.
And why wouldn’t she? Life here is pretty great! We get a walk on the beach most days — sometimes twice a day now. She gets to hang out in the garden with Lucy, with fresh air and sunshine. If we’d just stop washing her face and brushing her teeth life would be perfect!
Other highlights
Podcast 🎙️
I was interviewed last year for a podcast on the history of the Australian Startup Ecosystem. I had huge imposter syndrome going into it. But they released my interview last week and it's quite good! I've had a bunch of people reach out and say they found it interesting. Listen to me talk about improv, startups and my life philosophy: https://w2d1.com/pete-lead/
First frost ❄️
We had our first frost of the season. A couple of mornings it got down to just above zero before sunrise. And yet the locals would be wearing shorts at the beach. Long shorts, but still.
I remember a line from the grunge documentary Hype! I saw as a teenager. Eddie Vedder saying that all these kids were copying the grunge style and wearing long shorts and flannel shirts. But the bands wore them in Seattle “because it’s frickin’ cold.” It has only just occurred to me that wearing longer shorts is a strange solution to that particular problem.
Haven’t seen anyone eating ice-cream in a few weeks, though.
I had a bit of a revelation last week about living here. We’re extremely fortunate to live where we do, where every day something wows us, and we get fresh air and sunshine and an amazing outlook. But I’ve been feeling frustrated and guilty that I haven’t been getting as much other stuff done as I’d like — writing, creating, performing, selling. But I realised that living here is my hobby right now. I’m learning new things, I’m having an incredible time. So I’m going to let go of that frustration and guilt and embrace the change in lifestyle.
Heading out tomorrow to buy some shorts. 😜
Startups 👩🚀
12 startup supported this month (plus a few more informally in online spaces), which is pretty great when you consider I don’t work directly with startups anymore! I was invited to the final presentations for the Startups class I used to teach at Uni of Sydney, and it was great to see how much impact my re-designed approach is still having when I’m not the one running things. Some cool new problem spaces, as well as the old favourites.
The current cohort of the Giants Mentoring program is wrapping up next week so June might be a bit quieter for startup mentoring.
StackGo, the startup I invested in late last year, is going great and should have some good news they can share publicly soon.
Work 🛠️
It’s been a tough month or so at work. I’ve felt behind and overwhelmed and disorganised, and I dropped the ball on a bunch of stuff. I’m starting to find my feet now, and feel good about the work I’m producing, and I’m excited for what’s to come.
I don’t have a strong insight here. Just acknowledging that I’ve been struggling. 🤷♂️
Brainstrust! For the program we’re developing now I’d love some input from social impact, tech or startup folks at a couple of virtual workshops I’m running in June. See more at this linkedin post:
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6937923061992013824/
Automation failures 💔
A bunch of my automations for Jobs for Generalists in Startups, Innovation and Tech broke last month, and I didn’t have the headspace to fix them. This, and the interviews I recorded earlier this year, are two of the things I feel felt frustrated and guilty about. 😆
(Maybe Jobs for Generalists should become a community project? I don’t have time to make it a big thing, but if someone else wants to take the reins let me know!)
Hacked 📵
Lucy’s Instagram account got hacked. The thing that annoys me the most is that the hackers rely on goodwill to get access to people’s account. People who think they are being nice and helpful are the ones who fall into the trap. It’s not like the Nigerian Prince thing where greed is what tips the balance.
Here’s a screenshot of a message they sent from Lucy’s hacked account to lots of people in her network. They ask you to send them a code that Insta will send to you — which turns out to be the two-factor-authentication code to log into your own account.
Insta-Meta-Face is of course no help at all in getting the account back. It’s almost as though they don’t care. 😮
Mind you, when I got a text from my bank saying “here’s your two-factor code, if you didn’t request this call us NOW” and I called them to tell them someone was trying to log into my account, they said “we don’t know anything about that.” Maybe there’s a theme here.
Taxed 🌶️
Moving overseas has created more complicated tax funsies than I anticipated. Oh well, it’s an adventure.
Read, Watch, Listen 📚
[Listen: me, for 34 minutes] I’m on a podcast! Podcast interview for Welcome to Day One. I’m darned happy with it. You know when people talk in a way that makes you think “wow, they know what they’re talking about!” — I do that!
[Watch: 9 minutes] Fun fact! Octopus is one of the few things I won’t eat, and it’s purely because I think they’re intelligent creatures that deserve not to be eaten. Totally emotional and arbitrary, I know, but there you have it. Anyway, John Oliver explains why octopuses are cool in his weird, impassioned way:
[Read: 5 minutes] The psychological tricks people use to justify things they know are wrong, applied to gaming. Wow, this is great stuff to know!
[Read: 4 minutes] 5 Small but Alarming Things My Danish Husband Noticed in the U.S. This Week. “What is this, a deodorant jail?”
[Watch: 4 minutes] Rik Mayall talking about his time on Blackadder. I miss Rik.
[Read: 3 minutes] An Honest Job Listing for Self-Employed Writers is a fun(ny) look under the covers. I’ve been reading Medium for years but I’ve noticed either the algorithm or types of writing on there now mean I’m seeing way more noise than signal these days. Some good stuff — as above — but a LOT of self-promotey, repetitive how-to-do-Xy kinds of writing on there. The kind of writing I imagine one produces when one follows the writing advice articles on there — the ones that give you a formula like “use X process to find a topic to write about, use Y process to generate a clickable headline, use Z process to write 500 words.” I like to read stuff that is written because someone wants to write it, not because someone wants to be read.
[Read: 6 minutes] Trying to use AI image generator DALL-E to generate a particular set of images runs into some challenges in A Guide To Asking Robots To Design Stained Glass Windows
[Cool tool] Remote controlled timer for events like pitch nights, standup shows, conferences etc.
“You shouldn't let poets lie to you.” — Björk