Someone at work found this blog. Apparently they found a link to it on LinkedIn. Probably should get that fixed. 😜

(Hi, K.K. 👋)

I was not expecting tense to be a stumbling block with writing design proposals that’ll eventually become documentation. I’ve been catching myself writing in the future tense — “this service will do this” — instead of the present tense — “this service does this.” This is probably a habit I formed while writing design proposals to be reviewed, only to leave them be forgotten once they’re approved.

I’m trying to avoid that here, and although the use of present tense instead of future tense might seem like a small thing, I think it’s a very important one. Once the design is approved and realised, what will be will eventually become what is, and I want to make sure the reader gets that, and keeps it up to that when the design changes. Using the wrong tense here would just signal to the reader that the document is just a proposal and is no longer relevant. And when that happens, it’ll never get looked at again.

🔗 How to deactivate your X account

Finally got around to deleting my Twitter account. I’ve seen others do likewise, yet many say they’re “deleting” their account and the only option in Twitter’s Settings is “deactivate”. So I was unsure if they were one and the same. Looks like they are.

So, walking from the station to the only cafe that’s open to pick up a coffee before my train arrives is about a 5 minute round trip. This assumes the barista is ready and there are no customers in front. So, let’s say it’s safe to go when the earlier train has just left the station.

It’s such a romantic idea to think that they’ll always be a customer or product manager available to me to answer all my business rules questions. Would love that to actually be the case. 😕⁉️

I’ll never understand Go developers who insist on using pointers to represent a lack of something, where a zero value would work just as well. Better even, as you wouldn’t need to dereference things or worry about nil-pointer panics. Remember, don’t fear the zero value.

It only just occurred to me that I can turn off “Use ⌘+Scroll to Zoom Page” in Vivaldi to compensate for the Magic Mouse’s incessant need to scroll while I’m trying to Cmd+Click a link.

I still dislike the mouse, but hopefully with this off, the urge to throw it out the window will be diminished.

Love this post by Mike Grindle, especially this line:

To me, it shows what happens when you regularly write, publish, share and hyperlink into the void that is the web: the void speaks back.

Similar things happen to me from time to time, and when I find it, it’s always a bit of a thrill. I don’t expect the ripples that are the posts on this site to reflect back, but it’s wonderful when they do.

A recurring element of my dreams is an unmaintained railway line. The infrastructure is falling apart, yet it’s still an important connection and trains occasionally do use it. I usually approach it at level crossings and in past dreams I’ve not once saw a train. Last night, I almost got hit by one.

Every single dog I’ve met is an optimist. Not once have I seen a dog around someone with food, and that dog be like, “no point begging for that. That food ain’t coming my way.”

As bad as being swooped can get for humans in the Spring, dogs get it so much worse. So it’s good seeing a kelpie running around the park, being swooped by three noisy miners, and not bat an eyelid over it.

Interesting to thing that the most useful software tools I use for work are the same ones that, should I make a mistake, can blow my foot off. It struck me that I don’t think it’s possible to have such powerful tools that can be completely safe. You can add guards to stop you from doing silly things — think dry-run switches and confirmation popups — but there needs to be a way to disengage that safety in order to use the full power of the tool. Otherwise, why have the tool at all?