I've been having a hell of a time at work lately, my boss sold us to another firm and it's been grindingly slow getting integrated into the new team. They're a lot more advanced in some ways, but it feels like they didn't really think through what they wanted from the buyout, other than our book of business. I also need to get them to realise how much money they're leaving on the table by sticking to their old ways, but we'll see. The old boss is mentally checked out, he's been ready to retire for ages.

I've been excited for this upcoming week, we're staying with some friends for Christmas. The kiddo is much better behaved around company, so it's tactically genius. So far so good. Lots of time on trains though.

Leominster was interesting. We'll know around February if they want her for the job. The Black Swan took good care of us, and the local accent wasn't as difficult as I was worried. The kiddo slept well perhaps because of the hubbub downstairs, and not in spite of it.

It is slightly too small a town for a trio of ridiculous loudmouth Americans, but it's commutable from Hereford, where the library is very charming and the people are very good hearted. We happened to be in town for their Christmas tractor parade, which was loud in the best way possible. I quite liked the Hereford street market and their indoor market stalls. Leominster does have some unbeatable antique shops though, it has to be said.

Finally stopped work for "the holidays"... even had to work the morning if my first day off just to catch up the urgent () work that a few () idiots decided we needed to do before year end...

But, I feel the anxiety of a massive todo list has left my mind, so I can chill now.

Now, it's just driving along motorways every other day to go and see friends and family.

I worked out that the 3rd and 4th Jan are the only 2 days rest I get.

But, I'll get to see some old friends again... and that makes it all good.

It was quite stressful at work and then I picked a virus of some kind that forced me to bed for couple of days. On the positive side, I recovered from the virus just in time for the Christmas break, so I have that going for me, which is nice.

Alright mate cheers, how was yours?

I'm finally thinking about knocking the TV Licence on the head.

It wasn't the "loony left BBc" or "Tory Mouthpiece BBC". The way I see it, if both camps are as incensed as the other then the BBC must be doing something right.

It wasn't the ludicrous salaries some of the top celebs were on. I suppose they're just market rate and someone will pay for them.

It's not even the upcoming Trump defamation that we'll end up bankrolling - it was a poor editorial decision, but the BBC have been fairly good at owning up to fuckups.

It's the constant fucking trailers now for the Smeds and the Smoos on iPlayer. I only really use it to catch up on Reporting Scotland to check out the weather, and I'm fed up of having to skip the trailer. Every. Fucking. Time.

I only really paid it for this long because the BBC News and BBC Sport sites are fucking brilliant in fairness, and I rationalised it as paying my licence fee to keep those two sites going... but it's taken a constant hammering of eight seconds trailers to really lose my rag.

First job of the new year. edit: fuck it, done from the end of the month.

Still recovering from this flu. Had a couple of days where it wiped me out again and had to call in sick two weeks after the initial fever stage. Now stuck with a cough and sniffly nose!

Dad is still in hospital but is getting much better. He's mentally a lot better too, I think him being around people all the time is doing him a lot of good. He even said he doesn't want to be discharged home which is an enormous 180 for home, he's been incredibly stubborn about staying in his house. I think the message is starting to get through that he's in no state to live in his own. Social services are keen to send him back home though as there's no available space in rehabilitation (for his poor mobility).

Kids are excited for Christmas which is nice! I just miss that excitement myself, now it's just a stressful time with trying to organise everything and make sure the day goes smoothly!

My mate is back from the Netherlands visiting his parents for a bit so looking forward to grabbing a few pints with him in our usual decent pub!

I've completely checked out of work due to the time off I've had due to being sick. Just 1.5 days left!

The original sources are not, of course. But Kagi News are AI-summaries. However, because every source is linked, you can easily search the original articles for more details.

I don't.

It's all AI generated though isn't it?

I'm afraid "news of the day" is exactly what I'm looking for, but The Ferret looks rather good. Definitely going to add it to my FreshRSS.

If you aren’t just looking for “news of the day”, The Ferret is a good source for Scotland-based investigative journalism.

Gosh, quite a varied picture from me: RSS feeds via a self-hosted Miniflux instance. Mostly get defense related updates here. Paid subscription to a couple of defense insider blogs too, which come through via RSS.

Apple News for the day to day - my wife subscribes so have a subscription through our family account.

Jyllands-Posten (subscription) & DR, SVT, NRK for Scandinavian news. BBC and Guardian (which I used to pay for, but have stopped) for U.K. news.

Don’t know they did news. Thanks for the heads up.

I’m currently evaluating Kagi News. They have an RSS feed for each category, so you can define what you want to get news about. It merges the same news from multiple sources into one and gives a nice overview with links to all sources.

And it only updates once a day which simulates getting a classic newspaper. So you don’t end up checking your newsreader all day long.

For my daily bitter pill of updates from Burgerland, I get the WTFJHT email. When I'm really on the ball, I skim the Wikipedia current events page and read up on anything I don't recognise.

Honestly same. Hang in there mate.

Sounds like he's turning the corner! That's good to hear. Odd coincidence that I found out last weekend my father in law back in the states had a fall due to fainting, fractured his lumbar and some ribs. Sounds like he's in for a round of physio himself. You wish they'd look after themselves a bit better, eh?

I also work from home. Really hoping my kid doesn't bring that flu home, I could do without that.

I make my coffee quite strong normally, and the effect of that first sip hits hard. With decaf, it's a similar flavour but you don't get that keen sense of having been dosed with something. I find myself staring reproachfully at the mug. I might just go native and switch to tea at this point.

It's been pretty stressful, not gonna lie! I was visiting him every day straight after work and also dealing with random messages he'd send during the day. Ended up picking up that flu that's going around on Friday and was totally wiped out the entire weekend, recovered enough by Monday to work (I work from home) but yesterday I was wiped again so took the day off sick. I only managed to see him on Monday but due to being ill I haven't had chance, and the number of requests from him for me have been rising.

My dad's still in hospital but they've found the infection and he's been feeling a lot better and mentally doing better too, and he's having physio and OT sessions to help get him back on his feet, but his mobility was so bad before hand they might wonder if he's safe to go back home on his own.

How are you finding having decaf coffee? It's not something I've really done yet, but I think I have a good handle on my coffee intake, I'll have two cups in the morning and then switch to tea until mid-afternoon.

May you find the even rounded buzz you were looking for!

Ah, nevermind! Get back on that horse. I'm still getting caffeine from tea, but a lot less. I'm drinking decaf coffee in the morning, and I'm noticing I get a lot less pleasure from it. I'll eventually be able to drop coffee altogether perhaps.

Still, I'm having just a cup of yerba mate with lunch, though it is super strong stuff. Different feel, a much steadier buzz. I might try to go with just black tomorrow all the same.

Ah I broke my no caffeine streak the other day. I had a task I needed to power through (which historically, caffeine has always done the job) but instead it just got me super anxious and I procrastinated on other tasks

Being an adult is fulfilling your obligations, and I'm now wondering if I've changed much from that anxious teenager who'd rather build a lego fort than do their homework. This year needs to END.

Getting there but oh my god can it please stop raining! Everything I need for work is soaked through and stinking.

I like weird tragedies. #relatable

Carl Panzram

Huh, now that's a... that's a name I've not heard in a while, or perhaps ever. TIL hahahaha

Maybe? My productivity is highly elastic. Yesterday I got 8 hours' worth done in 3, and today I spent 8 hours getting 3 done, but today I laid down a brutal fusillade of emails that looked like I was busy as fuck.

I'm not efficient by choice. I have to finish fast, because if I don't I have to work in the nighttime which makes me into, as Carl Panzram put it, "a bit of a grouch".

I have the feeling you're more efficient with your time though. I remember back when I was with my ex, I was super focused at work because I knew I wouldn't have time later.

Now? I stretch out all my tasks across the whole waking period