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?
Needed to get some hot water to quickly wash something this morning. Turned the kettle on, only to shut it off a few seconds later as I thought the coffee machine would be quicker. So I turned the coffee machine on, only to turn that off a few seconds later as I thought it would’ve just be quicker to get use hot water from the tap. I eventually used the tap, but the total time it took me to wash this thing was longer than it would’ve been if I just chosen one method and stuck with it.
Generally, it’s good to know that you’re needed at work. But sometimes, it’s just as good to know that you won’t be needed at work (at least for a time).
Table sub_mapping has more than one primary key, you say? Ok, you might be on to something.
CREATE TABLE sub_mapping (
subscription_id TEXT PRIMARY KEY,
customer_id TEXT PRIMARY KEY,
local_subscription_id TEXT PRIMARY KEY,
user_id TEXT PRIMARY KEY
);
So apparently I can add a wifi network to MacOS whenever one is advertised but I can’t remove it unless I enter the admin password. That’s a strange security model.
📺 Howl’s Moving Castle (2004)
Just to add one point of anecdata to Ben’s experience: I’ve never been happy with the performance of the mobile radio of Pixel phones. You can be in the middle of the CBD and still experience weird dropouts while using mobile data. It’s quite frustrating.
“Geographically-determined relevance deprivation syndrome” is going to be the noun-phrase of the day. 🙌
For no other reason that it’s a great phrase, and also that it’s real.
Via ABC News (CW: US politics)
The next train announcements at suburban stations were always made a couple of minutes before the train arrived. They’ve started making them every 10 minutes before departure time too. I’m sure there’s a good reason for this but it’ll take some time for that tinge of urgency to wear off.
As an aside: is it possible for me to have any new experience without being nervous? I once lost points at a scale playing competition because I said I was nervous. It offended me so much that I never participated again.
Best of luck for Tuesday, America. Go earn those democracy sausages.
🔗 Thinking About Recipe Formats More Than Anyone Should
Just looking at the formats in the post, it’s a bit of a shame that they’re little more than lists of ingredients and instructions. But I’m not sure there’s much that can be done about that, given how varied recipes can be.
The one exception, Cooklang, looks interesting. It seems a bit limited in the types of recipes it could be used for. But sometimes the best languages are the ones with a small, yet deep, focus on a problem space.
And of-course there’s an XML version. I opened this post expecting there to be an XML version. 😄
I have my doubts about this future being realised. Or it’s probably more accurate to say I rather that this future isn’t realised.
⚡
Day trip, but a lot closer to home. Took a train to Hurstbridge and walked the trail alongside the creek to Eltham, around 12.5 km in total. Also took a small break at the tram cafe. 🌲
Oof! Forgotten how sparse the off-peak train frequency is. 40 minute wait between trains going to Hurstbridge. ⏳
WeblogPoMo AMA #3: Best Music Experience
I’m on a roll with these, but I must warn you, this streak may end at any time. Anyway, todays question is from Hiro who asked it to Gabz, and discovered via Robb:
@gabz What’s the best music-related experience of your life so far?
Despite attending only a hand-full of concerts in my life — live music is not really my jam — I’ve had some pretty wonderful music-related experiences in my life, both through listing to it or by performing it. Probably my most memorial experience was playing in the pit orchestra for our Year 10 production of Pippin. This was during the last few weeks before the show opened and we attended a music camp for a weekend to do full day rehearsals with the music director. The director had a reputation of being a bit of a hard man, prone to getting a bit angry, and not afraid to raise his voice. It was intimidating to me at the time, but in hindsight I can appreciate that he was trying to get the best from us. And with us being a group of teenage boys who were prone to loosing focus, I think we were deserving of his wrath.
One evening, we were rehearsing late, and the director was spending a lot of time going through some aspect of the music. I can’t remember what was being discussed but it was one of those times where everyone was tired, yet each knew what they were meant to be doing and was still happy to be working. You feel something special during those moments, when the group was doing their best, not out of coercion but because we were trying to “get the work done”.
Probably a very close second was discovering Mike Oldfield for the first time. This was probably when I was 11 or 12, and I wasn’t a bit music listener back then (I mean, we did have a home stereo but I wasn’t listening to a walkman or anything like that). Dad was working one night and I came up to him. He then started playing track 1 of Tubular Bells II, thinking that I would appreciate it. I was more intrigued at first, as it wasn’t the type of music I was use to at the time: long, instrumental pieces. Yet I found it to be decent, and something I could see myself liking the future1. He then played track 7, and I was absolutely hooked after that.
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In my experience, the tracks that take some time to grow to like turn out to be the best ones to listen to. ↩︎
📝 New post over at Workpad: Weekly Update - 3 Nov 2024
WeblogPoMo AMA #2: One Thing I Wish I Could Change About Myself
Here’s my answer to another question asked by Annie for WebogPoMoAMA. This was previously answered by Keenan, Estebanxto, Kerri Ann, and Lou Plummer:
If you could instantly change one internal pattern/thing about yourself, what would it be?
My answer is that I wish I found it easier meeting new people. Not only am I quite introverted, I’m also really shy, and I find it extremely hard to introduce myself to new people in social situations. That is, if I ever find myself going to these social situations. I rarely do, and if I do attend, I usually stay quietly to the side, keeping with company that I know. It was at one time bad enough that I’d find excuses to avoid going out to see those I do know.
I’m trying to get better at this. For starters, I’m no longer staying away from friends, and I am trying to make the effort of going to more social events as they come. It’s still not great though, and I do struggle when being around a group of strangers. I guess the secret is just practice, and maybe trying to make a game of it: setting goals like saying hello to at least one new person every hour or so. I don’t think I’ll ever get over my shyness, but I’m hoping I can find away to at least manage it a little better than I have been.