Blog
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Tom Forsyth recollects a bug that made Half-Life 2 unwinnable when built using a compiler to that supported SSE. A reminder of how weird the edge-cases in tech can be!
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DOCTYPE
I received my copy of DOCTYPE magazine, a genuine 'type this program in and run it'-style programming magazine but for a modern world, and enjoyed writing, debugging, playing, and then considering refining Stuart Langridge's puzzle The Nine Pyramids.
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This form dynamically changes the labels for the Surname and Forename field based on the value of the Gender field. Wut?
Because a Male Surname is totally distinct and nothing like a Female Surname, I guess?!?
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A form asking for Surname, Forename and Gender (with options Male, Female, and Both) changes its labels to e.g. Male Surname/Male Forename or Female Surname/Female Forename when the Gender option is changed.
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SVGs that feel like GIFs
Back in July Vincent D. Warmerdam shared a great tip on screen-recording terminals into small, scalable animated SVG files, and I only just got around to reading it. Amazing stuff!
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Happy Polyamory Day y'all. (Plus max props to Petra without whom I'd have forgotten about it, like most years.)
Closest thing I did to celebrating it was going out to the pub last night for beer and food with my metamour, while our partner-in-common took our kids to see a film. Polyfam life isn't always glamorous; but it is full of love.
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Pushing RSS to WhatsApp (for free?)
RSS remains the gold standard for subscribing to Web content... but WhatsApp Channels/Newsletters provide another interesting opportunity for syndication. If only somebody had written an RSS-to-WhatApp integration that could run for free in a GitHub Action? Oh wait, that's what I just did!
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Postcards... from the Internet!
A few weeks ago I published a PO Box address to which visitors to my site can post postcards, to try to bridge the gap between my 'Internet friends' and the physical world. Today I received my first two postcards, and I couldn't be more thrilled (not least because I wasn't entire sure anybody would go for my weird suggestion!).
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AI and cigarettes
Chris Ferdinandi draws parallels between people pushing 'less-harmful' AI and those promoting vaping as 'less-harmful' smoking; the latter, of course, ultimately resulted in new people taking up a nicotine habit that might now have otherwise: not what was intended at all!
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I guess I'm never paying DreamHost back
About 17 years ago, I stopped using DreamHost. They later decided I owed them money. I disagreed, but enjoyed watching them incredibly-slowly claw it back via the 'refer and earn' program, from all the people I ever recommended them to. But now, only a few months from the (alleged) debt being settled... they've killed the program, depriving me of the opportunity for... a more-humorous blog post, I guess?
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This telegraph pole in the centre of Eynsham carries the scars of hosting countless community announcements, notices, and flyers over the last 30 years.
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Close-up of a wooden telegraph pole littered with rusted staples and drawing pins of different sizes and ages, with an out-of-focus urban street disappearing into the distance.
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Beige Buttons
When was the last time you saw a computer with a reset AND a turbo button? Bet it's been a while. But now, thanks to a stupid web component I made, you can see one on my website... or your own. What does it do? Nobody knows!
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Gorgeous autumn dawn this morning with a razor-sharp moon hanging above the shifting hues of the South-East.
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A silver sliver of a crescent moon in the indigo part of a colourful autumn sunrise framed between spindly tree branches above and roofs below.
It's going to be a cold one. (At last; it's been an unseasonably-warm November so far!)
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Wrote note for GC88ZY9 The Devil's Quoits
A local landowner has (controversially) decided to start enforcing their ownership of the land surrounding the lake at Dix Pit, and has erected new fences and private property signs to deter trespassers. So this evening, the geopup and I took a walk to the GZ to check that it's still an achievable find.
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We Need to Talk About Botsplaining
In a wonderful blog post from last month, Stephanie describes the scourge of Botsplaining. Here's my experience of it.
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I really liked Only Murders in the Building. It started with a fun premise. It grew into something hilariously self-aware. I'd recommend it.
But man, the fifth season had the most-disappointing reveal/conclusion imaginable.
Hoping the promised sixth season does better.