Elizabeth Tai

Blog

elizabethtai.com/

Profile

elizabethtai.com/author/firedi

Homepage

firediarist.wordpress.com

  • Substack Notes and the content moderation furor

    Chris Best’s interview with The Verge was the “why Substack sucks” article of the week. In this article I argue why top down moderation is not the solution and why Substack Notes not a Twitter killer. 📧 To read, subscribe to the blog.

  • You don’t have a moral obligation to leave Twitter

    Believe it or not, many parts of the world do not think of Twitter the same way Americans do. Some are still happily on Twitter enjoying themselves. A semi-rant about being a non-American in the heavily North American Mastodon. 📧 To read, subscribe to the blog.

  • Creatives, you need to figure out your 3 core routines

    We are far too eager to sacrifice our well-being for the sake of our creative projects. To prevent that, we need to nail down the routines that takes care of us first. 📧 To read, subscribe to the blog.

  • Cheng Beng in Penang

    It’s April, and that usually means I’ll return “home” to Penang for Cheng Beng or Tomb Sweeping day. Of course I also take the opportunity to enjoy my time there as well. Here’s my travelogue.

  • I survived a janky hotel in Georgetown

    I never wanted to leave a hotel immediately after checking in before but there’s a first time for everything. This is my first stay in a janky hotel and not a super great start for my 2023 visit to my hometown.

  • My misadventures with furniture

    The epic saga of me trying to buy living room furniture, pillows and mattresses that will please my Princess and the Pea fussy body.

  • Utterly random episode 3: What it means to be multilingual in Malaysia

    In this episode, I talk about why Malaysians are multilingual, how people react to this, and the politics of language in Malaysia. And you get to hear me speak Mandarin, Hokkien, Malay and English.

  • Strange Tales of Tang Dynasty – review

    Liking Strange Tales of Tang Dynasty as much I did really surprised me. It wasn’t the popular, addictive, idol-driven drama that tends to get a lot of attention, but it delivered solid storylines and performances.

  • Unboxing Onyx’s Boox Leaf 2 eReader

    I’ve had a Nook (Barnes & Noble), several Kindles and was thinking of getting a Kobo next. But I then discovered Boox

  • Leaving the cult of wokeness

    Africa Brooke’s open letter, “Why I’m leaving the cult of wokeness” gave voice to what many have hidden in their hearts, too afraid to speak up.

  • What it means to be Peranakan

    I little something about me – I am Peranakan or “Straits Chinese”, a descendant of people from China who moved to (then) Malaya hundreds of years ago.

  • Utterly Random episode 2: Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (spoiler-free review)

    I talk about Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Why it is not THAT bad and why it is also not good enough.

  • Mastodon, trolls and filters

    Despite our idealism about social media, it is not a town square but a forum. Usually, a badly moderated one.

  • Utterly Random episode 1: Is Mastodon for you?

    A quick introduction to Mastodon’s culture and politics , how to be a part of the community and have a good experience on the decentralised social media network.

  • Monday Notes: AI

    Originally posted on K E Garland: Recently, I used Lensa to generate some artificial intelligence (AI) photos. I’d seen a couple of celebrities do it and thought why not? So, I uploaded 15 photos, and two hours later these appeared. They’re beautiful, right? I was amazed. It was mystifying to see how the app captured…

  • Return of the personal blog

    It’s time to own the spaces where we dwell online.

  • Giving the Rings of Power a chance

    Rings of Power received a toxic reception on a level I’ve not seen before. Does it deserve the flack? I decided to check it out.

  • Artificial Intelligence Will Do What We Ask. That’s a Problem.

    Some interesting quotes from the article: “The current way we do AI puts a lot of burden on the designers to understand what the consequences of the incentives they give their systems are,” said Hadfield-Menell. “And one of the things we’re learning is that a lot of engineers have made mistakes.” A major aspect of…

  • The Lord of the Rings – a review and a confession

    Among some fantasy readers, I had done something sacrilegious. Most were horrified when they discovered that although I had read almost every fantasy book on the planet, I had not bothered to touch the fantasy tale of all fantasy tales – The Lord of the Rings (LOTR). They would probably be in despair if they…

  • A beautiful tiny home

    I adore tiny homes. There’s something very soothing about the ability to live in small spaces. This one is especially wonderful because she has a beautiful garden too. Honestly, this place doesn’t feel small at all! Her TINY HOUSE is the size of a garage, & it’s really cute! – YouTube