Quorn “bacon”
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif){kind=small}
kateaw is out of the house on Thursday mornings, so echodarkly and I take the opportunity to have veggie bacon for breakfast. Kate is not fond of the smell of it cooking.
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Fifteen years
Fifteen years ago I started working for Scotland Online, as the business was called back then. I started contracting through an agency in March ’06, and then when we realised I’d be there for a longer run, directly contracting from September the same year. And when it was obvious that I’d be about for a longer longer run, I became an employee in September 2010. All seems like another world.
When I started I think I was one of two software developers working for a company that was mostly focused on systems and infrastructure work. I spent the first couple of years writing PHP and MySQL, a skill set that meant I was well placed to develop the internal tools for handling the 1911 census project when we won that. And I’ve been doing the same sort of thing ever since, with technologies changing as the years have passed.
The company name changed to Brightsolid Online Publishing, then DC Thomson Family History, then Findmypast, but it is still the people I work with, and the history we work on, that continue to make work a pleasure.
Holiday’s over
At work our holiday year starts at the beginning of April, so there is always a rush to take one’s remaining hols before the end of March. I always keep a couple of days of holiday to hand in case I need to use them at short notice, so end up taking them around this time. Hence being on holiday yesterday and today. But I’m back to work tomorrow.
This past year many colleagues didn’t take as much holiday as usual, for obvious reasons, so have been taking weeks of holiday in the past couple of months. Makes sense, but has left work feeling quite sparsely populated at times.
On our work Slack I suggested that we could solve this in the future by giving everyone their own holiday year, cycling on their birthday. That would spread the pinch points throughout the year. It may not be common to do this, but other organisations take similar approaches. But it obviously wasn’t popular with my lot, as the idea was shot down, with an unexpected level of negativity. I suppose people get quite attached to the structure of their working life, and any suggestions for change feel like a threat. Or just a lot of hassle.
Thank you, Keybase, for buying us a family dinner
I’ve been using Keybase for years, most recently as a way to transfer things like Azure and AWS credentials to partner organisations. Back in 2019 they added some kind of cryptocurrency wallet to their app as part of a deal with Stellar, and in doing so furnished all of their users with some XLM Lumens. At the time, around £50 worth. I happily took the handout and, with little interest in cryptocurrencies, happily ignored it.
But when I opened the app earlier this month I noticed that my wallet was worth nearer £420, which is a sum to pay attention to. I figured out how to transfer the Lumens to Coinbase and from there into pounds in my Monzo account. And then £400 into savings, and the remaining £20 into pizza via Papa John’s.
Working from home
I’ve been mostly working from home for over a decade, with my contract specifying that I only need to be in the office one day per week. That one day was typically in the local Dundee office, and then I’d spend maybe a week each quarter working in the London office.
For a year now I’ve been working from home 100% of the time, and it has been a fantastic working year. I feel more productive and happier with my team working from home than I ever did with colleagues in the office.
Zoom calls, particularly for pairing, have been a great success. I find it far easier to work on technical tasks with a colleague on a call, than it is to sit next to them. With my eyesight, when sitting next to someone I struggle to read text on their screen.
Meetings are far more personal and egalitarian if everyone is on their individual connection. I don’t want to go back to the grim days of connecting in to a meeting room, where as a remote participant I can’t easily hear what people are saying, or for that matter tell who is talking. And worse, company meetings where a meeting room in London is connected to a meeting room in Dundee.
And as a result of our Zoom calls over the past year, I now know the names and faces of far more people in the London office. Which is good.
I hope we don’t lose the benefits of working from home when people start heading back into the office. Although my observation is that there is a significant minority who, like me, never want to go back.
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Hiring a data engineer
We’re hiring again for data engineers. Part programming, part database work, and part systems work. Do you fancy working with big historic datasets?
https://apply.workable.com/findmypast/j/A80172A332/
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Four years on
What’s this? About four years since I last looked at LiveJournal. Has anything changed while I’ve been away?
Hung parliaments
Why are hung parliaments greeted with the expectation that the large parties will do a deal with whatever small parties will make up their numbers? This puts undue power in the hands of fringe political movements (and associated pork-barrel politics).
Wouldn’t it make more sense for there to be an expectation that the two largest parties should do a deal, and hence find a compromise that matches the largest number of voters. We’ve had a National Government work for us before.
Wouldn’t it make more sense for there to be an expectation that the two largest parties should do a deal, and hence find a compromise that matches the largest number of voters. We’ve had a National Government work for us before.
Harmony
We use a Harmony universal remote to control the hifi and TV at home. But recently the button to turn the volume up has stopped working.
I found the amp remote, put some batteries in it, and now I can turn the volume up. But the volume down button on the amp remote has stopped working.
Currently we need to use two remotes to control the volume; one to turn it up and the other to turn it down. So much for making life easier.
I found the amp remote, put some batteries in it, and now I can turn the volume up. But the volume down button on the amp remote has stopped working.
Currently we need to use two remotes to control the volume; one to turn it up and the other to turn it down. So much for making life easier.
4 ✖️ 25 minutes
Watching Doctor Who last weekend, it dawned on me that the fundamental problem with modern Who is not the nonsensical stories, the feeble characterisation of the Doctor, or the emotional outpourings. The problem is the 45-minute episode length. Barely has a story started before it is ending, and there is no space for middle, for development, for subplots, or for a change of pace.
The typical length of a classic Who story was four 25-minute episodes, giving a total story time of just over 90 minutes. Which is a far more natural length for visual drama.
Having watched the first four seasons of Elementary earlier this year, I came to the same conclusion. It would have been a significantly better television programme if there were half the number of episodes, and each was double the length.
I think the same goes for most televisual drama; we are stuck in the wrong format. The 100-minute length of television films is far better for story telling than the 45-minute length of episodic television.
Of course, in the world of Doctor Who we are spoiled with Big Finish creating a steady stream audio plays, many at the optimal length of between 90 and 120 minutes.
The typical length of a classic Who story was four 25-minute episodes, giving a total story time of just over 90 minutes. Which is a far more natural length for visual drama.
Having watched the first four seasons of Elementary earlier this year, I came to the same conclusion. It would have been a significantly better television programme if there were half the number of episodes, and each was double the length.
I think the same goes for most televisual drama; we are stuck in the wrong format. The 100-minute length of television films is far better for story telling than the 45-minute length of episodic television.
Of course, in the world of Doctor Who we are spoiled with Big Finish creating a steady stream audio plays, many at the optimal length of between 90 and 120 minutes.
Private delivery of NHS services
My most frequent interactions with the NHS are collecting repeat prescriptions, for me and for the rest of the family. For the last few years I’ve used the pharmacy at our local Morrisons supermarket; it is friendly, efficient, has good parking, and most importantly, is open long hours. It cannot be overstated how important it is that pharmacy services are available in weekday evenings, and seven days a week.
The existing pharmacies in town — Boots, Lloyds — seem happy to collaborate rather than compete, and still close at 5.30pm. It took a new entrant to the market to add a better level of service.
This is private-sector delivery of NHS services, free at the point of delivery, and providing a better service that anything that has gone before it.
The existing pharmacies in town — Boots, Lloyds — seem happy to collaborate rather than compete, and still close at 5.30pm. It took a new entrant to the market to add a better level of service.
This is private-sector delivery of NHS services, free at the point of delivery, and providing a better service that anything that has gone before it.
Political evil
Two of the most poisonous political philosophies of the past hundred years are socialism and nationalism. I find it disturbing that many of our mainstream political parties can be identified, to some extent, as socialists (Labour, Green) or nationalists (SNP, UKIP).
I could never consider voting for such a party, although I’m sure that most of their politicians, members, and voters are well-meaning and don’t subscribe to the nastier side of their parties’ political heritage.
The only mainstream political parties without the taint of political evil are the Tories or the Lib Dems. Both, I suspect, will do very well in the forthcoming election.
I could never consider voting for such a party, although I’m sure that most of their politicians, members, and voters are well-meaning and don’t subscribe to the nastier side of their parties’ political heritage.
The only mainstream political parties without the taint of political evil are the Tories or the Lib Dems. Both, I suspect, will do very well in the forthcoming election.
Television debates
Televised leaders’ debates are bad, because they focus attention on party leaders rather than local candidates.
They’re bad because different parties stand in different parts of the UK.
They’re bad because there isn’t time for policy detail, and challenging questions.
They’re bad because they’re terrible, unwatchable, television.
So I’d be happy if they don’t occur, and wouldn’t watch them if they did.
They’re bad because different parties stand in different parts of the UK.
They’re bad because there isn’t time for policy detail, and challenging questions.
They’re bad because they’re terrible, unwatchable, television.
So I’d be happy if they don’t occur, and wouldn’t watch them if they did.
Dreamwidth
So much for LiveJournal. I guess I’ll be posting over at Dreamwidth from now on, since all the cool kids appear to have moved over there.
http://tobyaw.dreamwidth.org/
(Eight years after buying a Dreamwidth seed account, I might actually get some value from it.)
http://tobyaw.dreamwidth.org/
(Eight years after buying a Dreamwidth seed account, I might actually get some value from it.)
Cold calls
A Birmingham number — 0121 014 2875 — just called me, and told me that they were contacting me because of my recent road accident. This happens far too often, despite my number being on do-not-call lists. And of course I haven’t had a recent accident.
As usual, I told the caller that they should be ashamed of themselves, calling a number that they shouldn’t and telling lies. I told her how upsetting it would be to be called like this if we’d had an accident. And I told her that she should be ashamed to do such a job, and should reevaluate her life.
We got rid of our house phone a while ago, when I worked out that we were making and receiving approximately zero calls on it. Now I’m wondering whether the phone functionality of my mobile is worth the bother; I receive far more junk calls than real calls. Almost all of my real communication is done through FaceTime, Skype, or Slack.
As usual, I told the caller that they should be ashamed of themselves, calling a number that they shouldn’t and telling lies. I told her how upsetting it would be to be called like this if we’d had an accident. And I told her that she should be ashamed to do such a job, and should reevaluate her life.
We got rid of our house phone a while ago, when I worked out that we were making and receiving approximately zero calls on it. Now I’m wondering whether the phone functionality of my mobile is worth the bother; I receive far more junk calls than real calls. Almost all of my real communication is done through FaceTime, Skype, or Slack.
Telegraph ads
I subscribe to the Daily Telegraph web site. I’m a long-term reader of the paper, and although I haven’t picked up a physical copy in years, and it is now a feeble shadow of its former self, I still find enough premium content for the subscription to be good value. And I think it is important to pay content creators and service providers.
But they’ve started adding pop-ups telling me to turn off my ad blocker. I find it hard to describe how annoying this is. I’m paying them money, and yet they are nagging me to let them show me adverts that I don’t want to see. There is something very wrong with the world. And with companies driven by advertising.
(On a more positive note, I’m hoping that YouTube’s changes to disallow smaller channels from joining their advertising programme will mean that many fewer of the videos I watch online will have ads.)
But they’ve started adding pop-ups telling me to turn off my ad blocker. I find it hard to describe how annoying this is. I’m paying them money, and yet they are nagging me to let them show me adverts that I don’t want to see. There is something very wrong with the world. And with companies driven by advertising.
(On a more positive note, I’m hoping that YouTube’s changes to disallow smaller channels from joining their advertising programme will mean that many fewer of the videos I watch online will have ads.)