Notes – Page 15

Threads

Meta are launching Threads tomorrow.

If you’re wondering how this will impact the world and society’s social connections, I direct you to the predictive powers of 1984 British cinema.

Note #21487

I have minus 26 new articles in my RSS reader! Either I’m a time traveller, or there’s a wraparound bug when you neglect your unreads for long enough.

Both seem equally likely, if I’m honest.

Note #21312

Today I learned that the quiet, high-pitched neighing sound horses sometimes make is called “nickering”.

I learned this from a subtitle which read “[horse nickers]”. Which, as a Brit, I can’t help but interpret as somebody making a misspelling while talking about equine underwear. 🤣

Note #21293

Max props to the developer of puppeteer-extra-plugin-stealth, who I just bought a coffee for.

The screen-scraper I wrote to bulk-export data from my Garmin sports tracker (because Garmin’s API is “only for corporate partners”, which is a magic spell you can say to make me write and open source a screen-scraper that targets your systems) stopped working today. Turns out Cloudflare could detect my automation.

Installed puppeteer-extra-plugin-stealth. Fixed instantly. Awesome.

Note #21196

I bought Zach Weinersmith‘s Bea Wolf for my kids (9 and 6, the elder of them already a fan of Beowulf). It arrived today, but neither of them have had a chance to because I wouldn’t put it down.

My favourite bit is when Bea and her entourage arrive near Treeheart and the shield-bearer who greets them says “Your leader sparkles with power and also with sparkles.” The line’s brilliant, clever, and accompanies the most badass illustration.

I’ll give it to my kids… eventually. But if you’re looking for a book recommendation in the meantime, this is it.

Note #20998

Beginning to prepare/test my costume for an upcoming murder mystery party, I glanced into the mirror and briefly didn’t recognise myself. Glasses can do so much to change your face shape!

Hasbro Alignment Chart

Hasbro seem to be rolling up a new character. Maybe this’ll help them.

Note #20856

Things The Other Child Did Wrong That Lead To The Fight that I’ve heard so far today:

Clapped too loudly
Sang too loudly
Sang too quietly
Sang the wrong words
Put their feet too close to the dog
Ate the last grape
Ate the wrong grape (!?)
Finished brushing their teeth first
Clapped too loudly, again
Called somebody “buttocks”
Said somebody had buttocks
Expressed interest in going a different route to school
Put shoes on in wrong order

Note #20798

Finally got around to implementing a super-lightweight (~20 lines of code, 1 dependency) #spring83 key generator. There are plenty of others; nobody needs this one, but it’s free if you want it:

https://github.com/Dan-Q/spring83-keygen

Note #20645

Unable to sleep, I found myself wondering whether anybody with a retro-hipster vibe had built a smart pocketwatch. All your smartwatch features, but in pocketwatch format.

Then I realised I was describing a mobile phone on a keychain.

Note #20639

Just when I thought I’d seen every conceivable XML data format with an approved MIME type (!) I discover @mamund‘s Maze+XML, a format for describing orthoganally-connected squares of a maze.

Note #20582

The output of this data anonymisation/scrambling script makes me feel seen. 🏳️‍🌈

Note #20578

Kids: We want porridge for breakfast.
Me: How do you want it?
Kids: Surprise us.

Presenting… oatmeal, honey and sultanas with a toasted marshmallow.

Note #20517

Was a 10th century speaker of Old Saxon a “Saxophone”? 🤔

Note #20304

After talking about impulse control, our “puppy school” OABT half-jokingly issued homework to photograph our dogs waiting patiently next to their initial, written in treats. #holdmybeer