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Product recommendation: Karcher OC3 Portable Pressure Washer. Good for cleaning bikes, and muddy prams.
Get the extension tube for additional water sources.
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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!
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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.
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🍿 Watched The Imitation Game
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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.
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Stephen Bush in the FT arguing for increased technical literacy:
Even in the UK, a country that is fairly maths-resistant, there is a general belief that everyone ought to leave school able to do basic arithmetic. But we think nothing of the fact that the average politician is simply not equipped to act either as a commissioner of technological services or as a regulator. Nor do we seem especially exercised by the fact that the average voter leaves school without the ability or the knowhow to really understand debates about the basic fundamentals of computer code.
I think that people often assume a learned helplessness or a prideful ignorance when it comes to code and technology. We are missing opportunities because of this.
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🍿 Watched All Quiet on the Western Front (2022)
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An excellent article on accessibility and inclusion:
Why is it about their including or not including us? Why is it never about us and whether or not we include them?
Here, the Protactile interpreter operated as my friend’s partner, making subjective yet vital contributions. When he found her dismissal of COVID-19 odd, he pressed her on the topic. An ASL interpreter would never have done that, unless they allowed their instincts to overrule their training.
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Started reading: Ideology by Michael Freeden for my Open University course on political institutions 📚
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Apparently the “36 questions that lead to love” were different to those reported in the NYT - originally 40, with more romance and role playing twitter.com/ivanvendr…
Fun fact: I did some of these on one of my first dates with Harriet.
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On the limits of first principle reasoning, using the example of cash flow: commoncog.com/cash-flow… 🔗
Ultimately, we hold beliefs that are good enough for our goals. We only re-examine them when we discover that they no longer serve us in the pursuit of our ambitions.
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I’m starting to promote the January EdinburghJS Meetup - a talk on WebXR development and socialising.
I’m keen to keep building a consistent community this year - last year we had (thanks to Covid restrictions!) just one January attendee!
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Resolutions and aspirations for 2023
→Running:
- 1000km
- No zero weeks
Reading
- Min 1 fiction per month
- Rise and Fall of Civilisations Reader Course
Cooking
- 1 new dish per month
Projects
- EdinburghJS Improvement
- Open University - Political Institutions course
I also have some private resolutions for family and friends.
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Went up to Threipmuir Reservoir this afternoon. As part of a new year’s resolution to go open water swimming, @hazzacol figured we should get in some water once a month. In January we did the Northumberland sea. Today, this reservoir for a twenty second cold splash. Helps with defeating the flinch, and makes it more likely that we’ll go for a proper swim when we get the chance in the summer. Also, it’s just nice to be out on such a beautiful day. ☀️
