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Month: January 2024

  • Four "round" checkboxes, two of them checked.

    In Loving Memory of Square Checkbox

    Niki observes that Apple's new visionOS design violates the long-established standard (that was already being eroded by 'imaginative' Web designers) that checkboxes are square and radiobuttons are round.

    Read more (163 words)

    • Repost
    • of this original
    • posted 31 January, 2024
  • Tabby kitten hiding under a rug.

    [Bloganuary] The Fear

    Bloganuary's final prompt asks me to dig deep into the root of my fears. I'd love to say I was scared I might underdeliver, but I'm more-worried that the opposite might be true!

    Read more (450 words)

    • Article
    • posted 31 January, 2024
  • A pile of window frames, factory-fresh and covered with tape. propped against the side of a white house, on a gravel driveway.

    Installation of Windows has Stalled

    I was told Windows installation should take less than 20 minutes, but these ones have been sitting outside my house all day while the builders sit on the roof and listen to the radio. Do I need a faster processor?

    Read more (40 words)

    • Note
    • posted 30 January, 2024
  • Annotated composite photograph showing two toilet rolls on their holster. One hangs in front of the roll, as is correct and proper, and it labelled "right". The other hangs behind the roll, in the terrible forbidden way acceptable only to imbeciles, and is labelled "wrong".

    [Bloganuary] Toilet Paper

    There is a correct orientation in which to hang a roll of toilet paper, and it's the one that leaves the loose end hanging away from the wall. Fight me.

    Read more - about 3 minutes (687 words)

    • Article
    • 2 comments
    • posted 30 January, 2024
  • Open Turds

    I've open-sourced a lot of pretty shit code.

    So whenever somebody says "I'm not open-sourcing this because the code is shit", I think: wow, it must be spectacularly bad.

    And that only makes me want to see it more.

    Read more (39 words)

    • Note
    • 2 comments
    • posted 29 January, 2024
  • Monochrome line drawing showing a 19th century scene of a football match. The ball appears to have been headed towards the goal by a jumping player; the goalkeeper is poised to dive for it.

    [Bloganuary] Sportsball!

    I could have just written a blog post today that said "I'm not really into any sports." But instead I thought I'd get lost in the regulations of 19th century soccer leagues. That's something a normal person would do, right?

    Read more - about 5 minutes (1182 words)

    • Article
    • posted 29 January, 2024
  • Dan, wearing an Oxford-branded t-shirt, shrugs and looks confused in front of a screen showing Automattic's "Work With Us" page.

    Automattic Shakeup

    Matt's announced a re-organisation we've been doing in Automattic. I like it, because it reaffirms our commitment to doing the most good for our users (whether they're paying us, or not, or even our competitors). But I don't understand how we persuade the world how committed we are to it.

    Read more - about 4 minutes (788 words)

    • Article
    • 9 comments
    • posted 28 January, 2024
  • Screenshot of Dan's "Not The Lottery" game. The player has selected the numbers 35, 48, 18, 37, 2 and the lucky stars 4 and 1, and run then through EuroMillions entire history. Had they actually played all those games, they'd have spent ยฃ3,640 and won back only ยฃ481, for a total loss of ยฃ3,159.

    [Bloganuary] Not The Lottery

    You already know what I'd do if I won the lottery: the same things I do now, just with more of the ones that don't pay. But before we talk about that, let me talk introduce you to game that's much more-satisfying to play than the lottery.

    Read more - about 4 minutes (901 words)

    • Article
    • 1 comment
    • posted 28 January, 2024
  • A pile of books on a round-topped wooden bedside table. From top to bottom: Time's Mouth by Edan Lepucki, a slim book whose spine doesn't show a name, Bad Words by Philip Gooden, Absolute Efficiency: Book One by Neil Wilson, Market Forces by Richard Morgan, Kids on Brooms by Jonathan Gilmour, Doug Levandowski, and Spenser Starke, Terry Pratchett: A Life With Footnotes by Rob Wilkins, The New Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko, and a book whose spine is turned away from the camera.

    [Bloganuary] Reading List

    At this kind of time of year, I've got a long reading list already. But when I'm done with that, maybe it's time for me to re-read Antkind, and see what I see in it the second time around.

    Read more - about 4 minutes (728 words)

    • Article
    • posted 27 January, 2024
  • Posed sepia photograph of Dan, JTA, Ruth, and their children and dog, dressed in Victorian-era clothing, by a Christmas tree.

    [Bloganuary] Traditions

    By virtue, perhaps, of being a three-parent family, we draw family traditions from a wider array of sources than many. And then we supplement those with even more that we've adopted from elsewhere or invented for ourselves. Want to hear about some of them?

    Read more - about 4 minutes (778 words)

    • Article
    • posted 26 January, 2024
  • Dan, wearing a purple t-shirt with a WordPress logo and a Pride flag, sits in his home office and gives two "thumbs down" signs while frowning at the camera.

    [Bloganuary] Landslide

    Today's Bloganuary prompt... just sucks a bit, alright? So instead, I'm going to answer last year's prompt from the same date and tell you about one of the most meaningful songs I can think of.

    Read more - about 3 minutes (648 words)

    • Article
    • posted 25 January, 2024
  • Three stone towers stand about the height of the tallest trees in Stanton Harcourt.

    [Bloganuary] Harcourt Manor

    I see it several times a week, but I've never yet had the opportunity to go inside Harcourt Manor, the ancestral home of the English branch of the Harcourt family, who came over with William the Conquerer and whose name may forever survive in place names around this area.

    Read more - about 3 minutes (588 words)

    • Article
    • 1 comment
    • posted 24 January, 2024
  • A 20mph "repeater" speed limit sign around the corner from the cache location.

    Temporarily disabled GC9EXXX Church Micro 14129...Sutton

    This checkin to GC9EXXX Church Micro 14129...Sutton reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs. Cache removed and temporarily disabled. The council have just started installing new signage to advise of a new 20mph speed limit around here. ๐ŸŽ‰
    When they recently did the same in a nearby village, they removed โ€ฆ

    Read more (82 words)

    • Checkin
    • to GC9EXXX
    • 1 comment
    • posted 24 January, 2024
  • Two soft-toy emoji-style smiley faces peeping out of a small box which is decorated with smiley emojis.

    [Bloganuary] Fun Five

    Five things I do for fun: code, magic, piano, play, learn. Let's dig into those a little...

    Read more - about 5 minutes (980 words)

    • Article
    • posted 23 January, 2024
  • A champagne-coloured French Bulldog looks up from behind a fence, in a hallway.

    [Bloganuary] New Tricks

    I wish I could explain to my dog that the workmen who come by on a daily basis are not going to steal her toys or cause her harm, but I'm not sure she'd believe me.

    Read more (348 words)

    • Article
    • posted 22 January, 2024

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