I understand that the scientific method relies on experiments and particularly on making a prediction then testing it. However it is extremely disappointing when you think you know what is going on, then you make a test to prove it only to find the experiment fails and disproves what you …
For many years, I have wondered about the process of getting old and watching technology progress and being unable to keep up. As someone who has always loved and been interested in technology, I found it difficult to believe that I will, one day, be unable to keep up and …
I read an interesting article about setting up a calm work environment and how the founders at Basecamp do it.
One section did catch my attention though:
At a conference attended by 600 people, the authors asked how many had recently enjoyed 3-4 hours of uninterrupted work; only 30 hands …
So my daily posting streak lasted 90 days.
Last night when I got home, we ended up doing the evening routine in a different order and we swapped over who did the various tasks. As a result, I completely forgot about writing and publishing a post. Annoyingly I have been …
Well I found out why I had lost my energy. Right after posting last night's entry, I crawled into bed feeling very cold.
For the next four hours I was curled up and feeling cold despite my body temperature being particularly high. Then about 11pm, the fever broke and I …
I seem to have lost all of my energy. I had a fair amount last week but this week I seem to have virtually non left.
So if anyone knows where I have left it, please let me know.
Thanks
My legs are in pain
After I went to the gym
I must be insane
On my way home from work, I noticed the slogan on the side of one of the fuel trucks:
The slogan reads:
I'm delivering fuel to your local filling station...
... to save you collecting it from the refinery
Thanks for the help, but considering that …
I spent today fixing a number of hacks that I had previously made. One was a tool I quickly built last week as a mashup of older tools. Even as I was building it last week, I could see that there were lots of bad practices that I had used …
I am still working my way through the DisasterCast back catalogue. During the episode on security and safety.
Part of the discussion described the difference between safety and security as:
Safety protects the environment from the system.
Security protects the system from the environment.
I am not convinced that it …
Over a year ago now, the sistern on our downstairs toilet started to leak. There was a crack in the casing so I isolated the water supply and we made do with the upstairs toilet until we could get it replaced.
Then my second son was born and we never …
Last night, one of the compressors tripped and was restarted. Due to the way it tripped and got restarted, the machine logic got stuck and generated a couple of extra alarms.
Luckily, the alarm response manual stated how to fix one of them. Are you sure? Unfortunately the logic of …
Today I was reviewing an updated policy document at work. In the document was a 'RACI matrix' detailing who was responsible, accountable, to be consulted or informed about the various steps to the process.
I had never (as far as I can recall) seen one of these matrices before but …
I have been asked to help glue two separate programs together. The first program generates four different Excel files. The second program needs multiple XML files.
It is such a complex mess and I am not sure what the best way to tackle it is.
Part of me wants to …
I have been attempting to write a letter of complaint to Aer Lingus about our return flight for the past three nights. It is a very difficult task.
On one hand I want to be as polite and respectful as possible, making my point in a prompt and professional manner …
Antaŭ unu jaro mi komencis lerni Esperanton.
I started to learn Esperanto One year ago.
For the last year I have been using Duolingo to learn the language in small bursts. It is weird how sometimes I feel that I am making good progress and can express myself pretty effectively …
I am still working my way through the back catalogue of DisasterCast and today got to one on the preflight briefing.
It was the next on my list when I was on the plane back home but I was too tired to listen to it that night. I am not …
What is this short post?
Surely this must be a cheat.
Yes, but I don't care.
At 5pm UK time we made it home. After 49 hours of traveling and 54 hours since I last lay in a bed.
I am ridiculously tried and in need of my bed.
First I apologise that this post is not polished at all but I am writing it after being awake for around 31 hours now.
Flight EI130 from Hartford to Dublin was not a good experience.
We did not get going as I had hoped last night after the storm delay …
Today was our last day in America. I am writing this in the airport while waiting for our return flight.
As always, it has been an interesting experience, seeing how things are different from home. But I am definitely looking forward to my own bed.
Unfortunately due to the bad …
I have been keeping this 'streak' of posting something every day for a couple of months now.
I was keen to keep the streak going during this trip to the USA, but how do you define a daily blog when the timezone you are normally in and the timezone you …
For the last week I have been unable to find my sunglasses. I was annoyed at myself but had accepted that they were gone.
Today my eldest son came running through the house shouting"I found Daddy's glasses”. And sure enough he had my glasses and their case in his …
Last night I finish reading The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande. I remember hearing about the book when it first came out but have only just now got around to reading it. The book is about 75% explanation about how awsome checklists are in various fields such as aviation, medicin …
I was confused by the best by date on a packet of crutons I found here in America.
How could you possibly have a best by date over 100 years in the future?
Of course I had forgotten that the US likes to …
Today we visited the Essex Steam Railway beside the Connecticut River. It was interesting to see the difference between the railway here and comparing it with the trains back home.
I think that the rails are the same distance apart but the trains and carriages seem so much larger. They …
Every time I visit the United States, I make the same mistake. This time it was when I was asked if I wanted chips or salad with my burger.
I automatically assumed the waitress was talking about, what everyone around here calls french fries. Of course what actually arrived at …
While driving around some of the back roads of Connecticut I noticed that in some places they have installed a rumble strip in the centre of the road when there are double white lines signaling that no overtaking should take place.
Today we took a trip to the Mystic Aquarium because it was featured in a book we have been reading at bedtime and we thought it would be good to actually visit the place.
We decided to go today because we thought it would be raining all day and that …
I have now had a couple of opportunities to drive on the wrong side of the road (as apposed to the left side). They have also been my first experiences of driving an automatic car.
I think the biggest issue I have is that the mirrors are not where I …
We went to a wedding yesterday and I wore a kilt along with both my sons.
This seemed to get us a lot of attention, almost as if the folks around here are not used to seeing folk in kilts at formal occasions.
I have just come across an article written in 2005 about Good and Bad Procrastination. Essentially procrastinating by ignoring errands to get on with the big questions or tasks like an absent-minded professor shouldn't always be considered a bad thing.
Getting on with errands can feel good and productive but …
It turns out that our youngest child will probably be a rollercoaster junky. During both take offs, he had a giant grin on his face. Leaving Edinburgh he had both feet and both arms stretched out in the air. Both kids also enjoyed the strong turbulence as we were coming …
Ready Player One was one of the in flight movie options. I was waiting to watch it.
I loved it more than I was expecting. And I had high hopes.
Today was the second and last day of our quick turnaround between holidays. We have put all the camping stuff from EMF away and are getting ready for our transatlantic adventure.
The biggest pain had been trying to get our heads around transporting the extra car seats. The requirements of …
Today we did rest
Spent time as a family
It was for the best
I knew that the certificate of my home server was about to expire. It looks like I have somehow managed to corrupt most of my apt repository. I get lots of errors and I think it has gotten confused over which version of python is getting used.
The result is …
Today was the last day of EMF 2018. The events and parties will continue on late into tonight and people are welcome to camp the last night but there will be fed facilities tomorrow morning.
We decided to leave early, packed up today and are spending the night in a …
I realize that I have mentioned EMF a number of times now but not really explained what I am referring to. EMF or Electro Magnetic Field is a festival held every two years, where people do fun things with technology in a field.
There is fast internet and WiFi across …
We arrived at EMF1 and set up camp just in time to make the opening ceremony. Well, we were 5 mins late but the opening ceremony was 15 mins late. Unfortunately our 3 year old didn't want to sit in the marquee long enough, so we headed out.
I …
Warning This post is just be a typical rant from a dad having spent the day on the road. TLDR: road trips with kids are a pain.
So today we have driven from central Scotland to Droitwich, just North of Worcester.
As we were just getting started I found that …
Over the last couple of weeks I have had a several emails inviting me to a hackerX event in Edinburgh. These are advertised as "an invite-only recruiting event for developers".
Yesterday I emailed them back informing them that I wasn't a programmer or developer but in fact a chemical engineer …
The last day of work before a holiday is always a weird experience. You obviously don't want to start any new projects1 that can't be finished within a few hours.
Everyone else knows this and so they start to avoid even asking you. As a result it makes for …
In the last three weeks I have completed three lunchtime runs. Today's was the fastest of them but not as fast as I was running last May or last year1. One of the reasons for the slow run may have been the warm and humid conditions 2 but at …
Sometimes things seem bad1
Today was one of those days
All was good post nap.
So in the week before going on holiday I have had to deal with:
This afternoon was the point where all these problems were sorted and there was nothing else for me to do …
Sometimes you need to appreciate the things you have while you still have them. Because when the washing machine brakes the week before you go on holiday, you certainly miss it.
This site no longer used jQuery1. I only noticed that I was using jQuery after I ran some benchmarking tests on the site. The site did well in enough but jQuery contributed a significant amount of the load time.
After digging around, the only place that I found jQuery …
At lunchtime today I attended a Lunch and Learn Session put on by Schneider Electric about the triton atack on a SIS1. Before the talk I was vaguely aware of the incident but without any details.
It appears that the attackers managed to get through most of the layers …
I have been trying to reconcile two competing ideas around how to approach projects.
One idea is expressed here by Tom Scott:
Do not try and produce something if you can't actually make it properly.
The next idea is expressed by Hank Green …
