I was reading Ash Mann’s article about busyness, and I’m putting myself on the record: I am not busy.

Or at least not if I can help it.

I’ve worked in places where I’ve worked my arse off, smashed targets and responded to every email within one working day. My reward was a below-inflation cost of living pay increase and burnout.

I’ve spent a while trying to figure out my own rhythms and how I like to work, and the medicine is pretty simple. I Time how long it tends to do things and don’t take on work that exceeds the time I have. I’m clear on deliverables rather than vague outcomes. I carve out extra time to walk the dog and eat lunch without feeling bad about it. I’m careful about working with Americans.

Looking back on my career, I could have set those kind of boundaries earlier. But it’s difficult when you’re surrounded by busy people.

Content of this week

I haven’t seen anything particularly stellar this week (bar this collaboration between TFL and MTA) so I typed ‘history’ into TikTok.

And what I got was AI slop. So much AI slop.

And the sad thing about the slop is that the history and stories themselves are interesting, but they’re using imaginary and misleading imagery. The authentic imagery exists, the artefacts exist and the locations exist. Why not just take an extra ten minutes and steal them in breach of copyright like we used to in the old days?

But I did find this nice format by genzgeneal0gy which uses photographs of their grandmother throughout history and ties them to significant events, such as women getting the vote and desegregation.

@genzgeneal0gy

reposting one of my favorite videos 😁 #history#familyhistory#genealogy#oldphotos#ancestors#1800s#1900s #greenscreen

One of the compelling things about history is that it’s about normal people living in extraordinary times (apart from 11 Apil 1954). By twist of fate we were born in the 20th/21st century, but what if we lived to witness the Pyramids or Chichén Itzá? To have walked the same streets as Julius Caesar or lived to heckle Maggie Thatcher?

History and archives too often feel distant. This makes it human, and easily replicable if you’re an archive.

The bullet point bit

• Turns out if you tell an AI chatbot to be less politically incorrect, it’ll start calling itself Hitlerbot. In related news, the US and UK refused to sign a statement in support of regulating AI back in February.

• You can now do Whatsapp ad campaigns in Meta Ads Manager so it can use the same set-up as Facebook and Instagram. Whatsapp ads currently sit in the ‘Updates’ tab, which I have never tapped on once in my entire life.

• YouTube’s mobile video editor, Create, is already on Android and now it’s coming to iOs. So you can use that, or Capcut, or Edits, or whatever.

• There’s nothing more satisfying than watching an artist at work.

Personal stuff I do for me and you can just skip this if you like

🎮 what I’m playing

I paused before getting Transport Fever 2. It’s a game where you build transport networks to move around things and people from the 1800s to the present (it also includes lots of trains I’ve seen at the National Railway Museum). I was at a crossroads where I could choose to continue being a whole person or choose to become this second type of thing: a transport guy. With a fever.

I have the fever.

Cockermouth yearns for steel.

👂 what I’m listening to

I started listening to podcasts as a way to pass the time staying up with a newborn, and immediately got into The Rest is History. Both Dominic Sandbrook and Tom Holland can have…robust views at times, but so long as you keep your critical thinking cap on it’s a good ride. If you’re starting or doing a podcast, keep in mind that it’s not just what you say, it’s how you say it. If you’re not putting thought into how the conversation flows or not making an attempt to be entertaining, it’s going to be dull to listen to.

🐕 Keith

Here he is