Finished reading: The Rise and Decline of Nations by Mancur Olson 📚

Proud of my brother, winning a VES Award for Avatar 2 - WetaFX on Twitter

Watched Everything Everywhere All at Once 🍿

Enjoying Premonition by White Lung, thanks to Spotify Discover 🎶

open.spotify.com/album/2GO…

I was given a second hand iPad, so picked up an Apple Pencil. Giving digital sketching a go. Here’s the first attempt: a two minute sketch of Harriet on the sofa.

Crossed paths with Gordon, staying in Gatehouse and out marathon training in Kirkcudbright

Out spotting red squirrels at Barhill Wood today 📸

Lovely: Zebra finch hatching

Currently reading: The Rise and Decline of Nations by Mancur Olson 📚

Finished reading: The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers by Paul Kennedy 📚

Reading: On the limits of computational photography

First task of the week: assessment submission for the Open University module I’m taking on politics.

Indirect utilitarianism states that not everything is a moral question. You will not maximise happiness, Mill says, by maximising utility, but by attaching yourself to projects, people, and activities. Utility is a guiding principle for society, not a way of assessing everything we do in our lives. Get something to do, someone to love, something to enjoy, and you will become happy. Utility is not the one-and-only moral decider.

EA and moral hygiene on the Ruffian by Henry Oliver.

This quote chimes with what Viktor Frankl said: life asks you the question. Experiences, relationships, creative works and suffering. It is you that lives in this world, and you that has to respond.

Resilience takes slack, and slack looks a lot like waste.

from Resilience and Waste in Software Teams

Reading: On the blandness of the Netflix aesthetic

Who is locally influential?

Is this a lack of accountability, a lack of power, an atomised society?

🏃‍♂️🚴‍♂️ Twelve Weeks of Sprint Interval Training Improves Indices of Cardiometabolic Health Similar to Traditional Endurance Training despite a Five-Fold Lower Exercise Volume and Time Commitment

Interesting article relating “Five days in class with ChatGPT” via Marginal Revolution.

I now know non-technical folk who are using ChatGPT as a prompt to brainstorm business plans.

Product recommendation: Karcher OC3 Portable Pressure Washer. Good for cleaning bikes, and muddy prams.

Get the extension tube for additional water sources.

One of the delights of having a baby is that every day things are new and fascinating. We’re at 12 weeks, but Jack has only just seen Harriet brush her teeth. He was smiling and squeaked out a little laugh at the noise and H’s face.

Joy in the small moments!

Went to Indaba Cafe Bar yesterday afternoon. It’s a small Spanish cafe in the middle of Newington. We had a late afternoon glass of wine and olives. Worth a stop!

We had the first EdinburghJS event of the year last night. It was a great turnout - remembering that this time last year we had just one attendee (due to Covid restrictions!).

I’m looking forward to building this community in 2023.

The Cab Ride I’ll Never Forget, Kent Nerburn

🍿 Watched The Imitation Game

Reading “Theory building and software development”, with a point on software documentation that I think needs exploring:

www.baldurbjarnason.com/2022/theo…

Most internal documentation only begins to make sense to a developer after they’ve developed an internal mental model of how it all hangs together. Most code documentation becomes useful after you have built the theory in your mind, not before. It operates as a mnemonic for what you already know, not as a tool for learning.