Released a new plugin for Micro.blog: Sidebar for the Bayou theme (yes, another sidebar plugin). Thanks again to @Mtt for making changes to the theme to support adding the sidebar. Can be installed from the plugin directory (please ensure you have Bayou version 1.1.3 or later).

What a cruel irony it is that the instinctive response to an itchy eye is to rub it, which doesn’t provide relief and only prolongs the irritation. The only way out is to ignore instinct and practice self control. There’s a metaphor here somewhere I’m sure.

About My New Cooler's Programming Feature

There’s lots to like about my new cooler, but the programming feature is not one of them. My old unit had a very simple timer with two modes: turn cooler on after N hours, or turn cooler off after N hours. Anything else requires manual intervention.

Auto-generated description: A wall-mounted thermostat with buttons labeled for power, mode, and temperature adjustment options.
The old control panel (turns out I did have a photo, albeit an old one). Set the mode: cool/vent (fan), the power setting, then tap Timer Select to choose between turn on or off after N hours.

I really liked this simple setup. Many times in summer, when the days are warm but not hot, and the nights are cool, it was nice to turn the cooler’s fan on and set the timer to turn it off after 2 to 3 hours, maybe longer if the days were a bit warmer1. The cooler will simply pull cool air from outside and circulate it around the room. This was enough for me to get to sleep, at which point the cooler would shut itself off in the middle of the night.

With the new cooler comes a control panel that is effectively a cheap Android phone, so it’s capable of much more. You can now set a program that has four separate modes set to four separate times of the day. Each day of the week now has it’s own program too. A particular mode can either be a desired temperature setting, or “off”.

Auto-generated description: A digital control panel for a Seeley International air conditioning system displays a program schedule with times and statuses.
The new control panel, showing the four mode settings for a particular day of the week.

To recreate what I previously had, I would now have to choose a specific shutoff time for every day of the week. No longer am I able to set the running time based on how I feel: it has to be an actual timestamp, with several taps involve if you want to change it. This timestamp can only be set up to 11:59 PM so if you want the unit to shut off after midnight, you’ll have to remember to choose the program for the next day.

Oh, and mercy on you if you wanted a timestamp that didn’t land on the hour. The minutes can only be changed by 1, so you’ll be tapping 30 times if you want the unit to shut-off at the half hour.

Auto-generated description: A digital thermostat screen displays settings including start time, day selection, temperature, and status options.
Adjusting the settings of a particular mode, one minute at a time.

You also have no control over the fan speed. That was another nice thing about the old unit: you set the speed to what you want, and then you set the timer. The unit will stay in that mode until it shuts off. I don’t want the fan to be blowing a gale when I’m trying to get to sleep, so the fan was usually set to the lowest or second-lowest setting.

This new programming modes only have a temperature setting, so if the house is warm, the cooler will crank up the fan until it reaches half-speed or just above; speeds I usually use in the middle of a very hot day. This means noise that will change in intensity as the target temperature is reached. I’m not a great sleeper so any additional noise like that is disruptive.

Auto-generated description: A Seeley International MagiQtouch controller displays temperature settings and a schedule for cooling with the message PREWET IN PROGRESS.
The unit operating in program mode.

So I’m a little sad that I lost this simple timer-based approach to operating the cooler. I’m not even sure who this programming feature is built for. It sort of exists in that nether region where it’s too complicated for the simple things, yet useless for anything other than a set weekly routine. I set my cooler based on the weather conditions which, you may be surprised to know, does not fall into a nice weekly routine. Granted, it may make it possible to use this to recreate the simple timer approach I had before: I just preset everything and only activate the program when I want it. And yeah, it’ll probably be fine, but I do feel like I’ve lost something.


  1. If the days and nights are hot, I don’t bother with the timer and just leave it running all night long. ↩︎

Recent earworm: Samplextra, by Lee Rosevere. 🎡

Quick review of Samplextra, by Lee Rosevere. Rating: good. Review: I’ve only recently discovered this album a couple of weeks ago, and although many of the tracks are yet to grow on me, the 1st and 3rd are great.

I don’t understand YouTubers who start their videos with a hype bumper. Just get to the frickin' interview. You got my attention already.

Keep forgetting to give my keep-cup a proper clean when I get home. Now today’s morning coffee taste like yesterday afternoon’s lemon and ginger tea.

I had a Ventolin inhaler expire on me, a first in my life. It was a little smokey yesterday so I used it, and sprayed… something into my lungs, resulting in a coughing fit. I still feel the effects a bit today. Hope I didn’t cause too much damage.

πŸ”— Animating Rick and Morty One Pixel at a Time

Using OpenGL Shading Language, which is apparently supported by browsers, to produce an animation of Rick from Rick and Morty. I’ve yet to go into this post in any great detail, but it certainly looks very interesting.

Via: Simon Willison

My unread items in Feedbin are starting to pile up again, largely because I’m “keeping them for later.” Need to decide when later is now. May as well have later be now now. 🧐

May have gotten to the bottom of a problem that was stumping people at work. The cause, yet to be verified, looks to be a change in the integer value of a gRPC enum value. Suspect that it may have been a manual change to generated code (yeah, try to avoid doing that if you can help it).

It’s a shame online integrations assumes that everyone’s using GitHub. I can understand why they build their products that way, and I knew that I’d loose much of those integration niceties when I moved to my own setup. Still, it would be nice to see more integrations work with any Git-based SCM.

Trying out Bayou theme by @Mtt on a test blog. Lots to like about it, especially the idea of having the latest micro-post appear in the form of a status message. Very unique.

Auto-generated description: A minimal blog page titled Leon Mika features categories like About, Archive, and Replies, along with a post mentioning categories being sorted and three other listed posts from 4 February 2025.

New AC installed and doing the best it can on this slightly humid day, although it’s performing better than the old unit. I forgot to take a photo of the old panel, so here’s a photo of the new one (the lower one is for the heater).

A digital thermostat showing a temperature of 25Β°C is mounted below another digital control panel with a touchscreen showing various settings displayed.

Already making daily note archives for 2025.

Auto-generated description: A computer interface displaying a folder structure for daily notes from 2022 to 2025, highlighting a note dated January 6, 2025.

Was not expecting the 10 mm of rain we had last night. Not sure anyone was, not even the Bureau. Put a dampener on my plans. I thought I was being super smart washing my towels in the evening and hanging them on the line to dry overnight so I could use the line for other washing today. Ah well. 🀷

My latest YouTube binge has been Drew Gooden, and his videos on YouTube and Instagram influencers and trends: an area of online culture I know nothing about. I’m kinda glad that I stayed well away from that area of the internet. Seems like more drama than I can handle. πŸ“Ί

Getting a new cooler installed tomorrow. The one I have, which I think is as old as the house, is on it’s last legs. It struggles to cool the house, only managing to keep the inside temperature steady if I turn it on early enough, and leaks profusely. I shutter to think what my next water bill will be.

The new unit’s going to be another evaporative cooler. Everyone I talk to tells me I’m crazy, and I should just go with reverse cycle. And I will agree that it’s a bit of a gamble. But it’s worth trying, given the quote I was given and the fact that I don’t have to do any major modifications to the house. If it doesn’t pan out, there’s nothing stopping me from getting reverse cycle later.

I did pick the worse time to do it though: we’re going through a heatwave that won’t break until Tuesday. At least it’ll give me an opportunity to do a fair before/after comparison.

No trains today.

Railway tracks run through a wooded area with signal lights visible along the path.

Can one have a project with a relational database that is deployed early and often, and not have thousands of SQL migration scripts? Seems like it’s difficult to have both. Maybe there’s some way to “roll up” old migration scripts into one nice SQL schema. I guess running them all on a new database and exporting the schema will do that. πŸ€”

πŸ§‘β€πŸ’» New post on TIL Computer: Local Values In Fiber