Month: March 2026
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People are not friction
Dave Rupert has thoughts on GenAI, the Gell-Mann effect, and the danger that fast, "good enough" solutions have on how we think about the humans that these systems are ultimately supposed to serve.
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Found GC79ZK3 Wootton Word Wall
This morning, the younger geokid and I came out for a walk with the geopup. After a little difficulty getting a GPSr fix we eventuality found a good-looking host, and after a few laps we had the well-camouflaged container in our hands. A good sized, well maintained container and an interesting puzzle, even if the way we solved it might be considered by some to have been cheating!
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Did I Cheat?
I solved a puzzle geocache in an unconventional way: by writing a program to permute all the possible solutions and check them for me. Was that cheating? I can see arguments either way...
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Reply to: I'm OK being left behind, thanks!
A reply to Terence Eden's post about not buying in to every cryptocurrency or AI fad, but being happy to 'wait and see'.
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It's F-Day plus 35, and I'm spending a few hours working in the habitable part of our flood-damaged house while I'm "between" two AirBnBs.
The dog, who doesn't normally get to come upstairs, is sitting with me on the landing. Except she also wants to keep an eye on what's happening downstairs.
The result? Her back legs are sitting and her front legs are standing as she peers blepfully down the stairs.
Alt
A champagne-coloured French Bulldog wearing a teal harness is on the top step of a cream-carpeted staircase. Her hind legs are folded so her bottom sits on the top step, but her forelegs are extended so she's standing on the one below. Her tongue is out in a full blep.
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A Random List of Silly Things I Hate
Just a list of eleven random silly things that I hate, to various degrees.
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Somebody should make a tea cosy but to fit a cafetiere.
That sounds like a great idea.
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Wrote note for GCADCWF Treasure island
I first found this cache last summer while cycling a circuitous route from Witney to Stanton Harcourt. I happened to be walking the dog nearby, this morning, and so I figured I'd check up on it. The outer container continues to deteriorate and could do with some TLC, but otherwise this cache looks to be okay.
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Hint Line 93
Hint Line 93 is an amazing interactive exhibit about the experience of working on a computer games hint line. It's a deeply-researched, immersive, and clever piece of art... and even though the real experience is in a Australian museum, you can play an approximation of it via the Web. Awesome.
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Questionnaire - Plain Text
Over on my other (even sillier) blog, I answered Ellane's questionnaire about how and why I use plain text. In plain text, of course.
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A Hundred Inconveniences
It's F-Day plus 31, and our flood-disrupted lives have become defined by the hundred or so daily inconveniences that are imposed by our accidentally-nomadic lifestyle. Here's hoping we can sort-out some more stable accommodation sometime soon!
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You don’t have to disconnect
Derek Slivers' post about being online only for an hour or two, every few days, inspired a lot of people. But I'd like to share Rishi Dass's rebuttal, and add my own thoughts about the importance of finding your own solution to some of the distractions and stresses of the always-online world.
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Found GC4MJR8 R’n’R #2 Skinny & Boney
This checkin to R’n’R #2 Skinny & Boney reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs. Coming across from Finstock via R'n'R #9 (we're absolutely doing this series in the wrong order!), the geokid, geopup and I made a poor choice by hugging the tree line rather than cutting out of the …
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Found GC4MJY0 R’n’R #9 – Thumper
This checkin to GC4MJY0 R’n’R #9 – Thumper reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs. The younger geokid and I had a plan, this morning, to drive out from our temporary (post-flood) accommodation in New Yatt, park at St. Peter's in Wilcote, and then walk the dog around the area between …
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Why Security Engineering needs a Hacker Mentality
Security engineering is about a lot of things, but the best security engineers show the 'hacker mindset' characteristics of curiosity and imagination. Here's an example of how I found an XSS vulnerability in a forum, mostly by accident, and how curiosity was the key.