14 Comments
Oct 25, 2023Liked by John Birmingham

I read "single-use" to imply you only got to write on it once, which gave me the delightful image of an IMF-style JB smashing out another novel and then diving for cover as soon as he hit "submit"

Expand full comment

Waitaminute- IMF? International Monetary Fund?

Expand full comment

Part of me wants to know how much one of these would cost, and another part tells me if I have to ask, I can't afford it.

Expand full comment
Oct 25, 2023Liked by John Birmingham

I welcome a world where everyone has the time and resources to pursue such a personal bespoke hobby.

Expand full comment

I think an even better one would involve a Universal Basic Income: do the thing you love and if it makes you money, even better. For most, if you want more of the finer things in life then a better paying job or business is out there too. A punitive welfare system is the worst of all options, in my view.

Expand full comment

Gotta tax the shite out of businesses using robots and AI instead of peeps to fund a UBI.

Expand full comment

Looks kinda cool. Now if they could jazz up a Walkman and a brick phone we could pretend it’s the 80s .

Expand full comment

With respect to 3.1, not a typo, but in chapter 14, the stars and bars reference to US aircraft reeks of the Confederate battle flag. I’m a right wing yahoo but I have no patience for traitors.

I may have pointed this out in Book Bub.

Thanks

Expand full comment
author

Ah, nice get. Thanks. I'll fix that today.

Expand full comment

Easy on the spoilers lads. Waiting for the Hardback. Heard a rumor it might be soon .

Expand full comment

This is an example of the steam punk future we all deserved and missed out on.

Expand full comment

I'm particularly pissed off with the lack of zeppelins and swashbuckling science pirates.

Expand full comment

“You hold the power to create your dream life, if only you would believe it.”

― Hiral Nagda

Expand full comment

I've long thought that a lovely "retirement gig" could be hand-building bespoke computers for the well-heeled. I doubt that there's a real market for it though. The sufficiently well-heeled don't do their own computing, I bet.

And FWIW: it's certainly possible to create PowerPoint presentations using emacs on NixOS from a non-graphics console. Apparently the "Marp!" variant of markdown will do the job...

Expand full comment