So, I’m not that much of a glass panel enjoyer. Ultimately, I think using glass panels to control technology is kinda uncool. It’s just so bleh. It doesn’t have character. I was reminded of this because Apple recently did their whole announcement of how now the glass panels in their glass panels are going to have glass panels made of liquid glass :0000000.

(Unrelatedly, I love how this Verge article [plz link future Quyen don’t do this like your cover letter] wanted a down to earth presentation from apple and then their actual keynote starts with one of their executives doing donuts in an f1 car around the roof of their fancy and expensive campus)

Here’s why I think the whole pane of glass thing is kinda boring:

• It isn’t tactile. You can’t really feel the effect of your input, outside of maybe a vibration.

• A poor auditory experience. Nothing goes click or tshstshsthsth or fwoop or creeeeeeaaaa

• It doesn’t have character. It’s literally just a flat piece of glass with maybe some graphics on it. It doesn’t really have a story, a place in the world. It’s digital, not real.

• It’s finicky. I love when I’m using a kiosk and I have to drive my finger into the display for it to register that I’ve touched something… an inch away from where my finger actually touched.

• Subject to software bugs. Have you ever tried to unlock a locker with a touchscreen and there are two options: I know my passkey and I don’t know my passkey and they BOTH TAKE YOU TO THE SAME PLACE. (Getting the Barry ‘Bee’ Buzzword printed materials was a pain. By the way, if anyone wants posters, I have so many please take some.)

Here’s what I propose instead: the government is legally required to get me one of the incredibly hot switchboards that Kleya has in Andor. (Apparently they’re called “fractal radios.” Either way, I’d love someone to make Star Wars: Andor — Fractal Radio (all scenes). I’d watch it three times every day.)

Now, you might say “what would you use all of that for?” and I will say “read on”.

The Switches

I mean, this one is pretty easy. They’d totally control the lights in my place. Every light fixture has a little switch on the switchboard. You know, while we’re at it: the fireplace, too. Are we allowed to use the fireplace at our apartment? No, it just sits there being dirty. But this is a fantasy world so I can have what I want.

Speaking of a fantasy world, in this reality I totally have one of those really fancy gaming tables that has a hidden inner play space with a fancy monitor for map purposes (I want one of these so bad). There’s also a switch that will go from “dining table” to “gaming table.” (It’s motorized in this fantasy world too. Don’t worry about the logistics).

The Holes

No one speak to me about the practicalities of this, but each of the holes would have a different sound track, and you could just plug one of the AUX cords in and it would play that track. We’ve got the obvious ttrpg ones (TTRPG background, TTRPG battle, TTRPG tension — what can I say I have a type). One will obviously be the gay sapphic gay playlist my partner made for us (cringe, gay. imagine). Another is just The Ubyssey’s new podcast on loop — which is definitely 100% on good authority going to be named Little Red Chairinghood. And there are so many little holes (don’t be weird) that we put whatever we want in them (auditorily. get your mind out of the gutter).

I also absolutely know that this isn’t how it works, but I’d love if you had to connect some of the holes to get things onto the internet. Like your phone can’t just join our actual wifi network Born to Fish like it does now. You have to physically wire from the “internet source” section to a hole that is somehow correlated to your phone (don’t tell me this wouldn’t work or make sense just let me believe)

The Dials and Sliders

Pretty obviously: music volume. The way I’m imagining this works is you have a wire from the “music source” hole over to the “volume control” dial which then outputs another wire that can go to the “speaker broadcast” hole. It would be totally rad.

Another idea? Climate control. You can spin the dials to adjust the temperature and it does your heating and cooling automatically.

Also, there are going to be three sliders next to each other. What do they do? Control the lights, obviously. Together they can determine the RGB value of all the lights in my place. It’ll be soooo coool. Way better than using a dinky e-waste plastic remote or controlling it with an app on my phone.

Other News

FREEEEDOMMMMMMMM

It’s all gone. No more Barry ‘Bee’ Buzzword and /u/sasamats backwash honey. (My partner wouldn’t help me use it up, for some reason.)

Texas mention!

Yahoo, I loveeee Texas! Even more than I love AIIIIII!!!!!!! (I do genuinely love Texas more than AI.)

THAT’S MY STATE!!!!!!

I fell into a little rabbit hole

I was looking at the student papers at some Texas schools and only recently did the University of Texas at Dallas’ student paper relaunch independent of the university.

The original paper — The Mercury — was previously overseen by Student Affairs (a department of the university). In recent years, the administration refused to collaborate with the editorial going so far as not to tell the editorial the budget (preventing the editorial from accurately determining how many staff to hire and print issues to produce). Then, in 2024, the Student Media Director (who advises The Mercury) was demoted — two days after the publication of an issue documenting the campus’ encampment. His replacement insisted on more oversight of the editorial process, included an insistence that she have prior review of stories before they are published. When The Mercury resisted (because prior review is like… a journalism bad), they were prohibited from attending journalism conferences.

Also as a result of opposing this threat to editorial independence, the Editor-in-Chief of The Mercury was fired: citing both mismanagement of funds (he didn’t have the full budget) and not including the new Student Media Director the process of writing a story (again, prior review is a nono in the journalism world). The staff of The Mercury went on strike and were also fired.

Thus, the editorial board started The Retrograde — an independent paper for the University of Texas at Dallas. Since then, they’ve had their newspaper kiosks removed and have been threatened with arrest if they enter the Student Media Office. Which is cool and normal not-censorship behaviour. But they’re still operating independently and fighting the good fight. So… good for them. Yay journalism.

I’m really thankful to have an independent paper here on UBC’s campus — and to be but a small part of it. I think it’s going to be a good year.

From the Archive

October 17, 1930

That’s All!

Tonight’s issue, done and dusted! We’ve been a little busy, but things have been good in me-land. Within 12 hours of publishing the latest issue, I had received a co-op offer. Which is… you know. Exciting. Questionable if it was deserved given I only applied to 4 positions, interviewed for 1, and my cover letter had very obvious placeholder text (I wanted to die). But we take these wins :).

I’ll probably get to be a bike-to-work kinda nerd, which is exciting. Need to get a bike though!

Until Wednesday at 10:03 pm, buzz on, my busy bees!

“From BlueSky” since 2025