The purpose of table manners is to stop us killing each other. That's the rather provocative assertion in Margaret Visser's excellent deconstruction of why we have such elaborate and infuriating rituals around eating. It starts, naturally enough, with a chapter on human sacrifice. It is grim, violent, and soaked in blood. A delightful amuse-bouche this isn't! But it makes the case that this is (part) of the origin of our modern table manners. We no longer need to appease the gods and secure a …
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This post will show you how to programmatically get the cheapest possible price on eBooks from Kobo. Background Amazon have decided to stop letting customers download their purchased eBooks onto their computers. That means I can't strip the DRM and read on my non-Amazon eReader. So I guess I'm not spending money with Amazon any more. I'm moving to Kobo for three main reasons: They provide standard ePubs for download. ePub DRM is trivial to remove. Kobo will undercut Amazon's prices! …
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This is spoiler-free review. In one episode of Inside Number Nine, two old comedians are bickering. In a moment of understated savagery one says to the other "That's a cheap laugh, Len." Len replies with a mischievous twinkle in his eye, "Oh, come on. A laugh's a laugh however you earn it." That sets up the central tension for the West-End-Spectacular version of the show - Stage/Fright. What makes for a "cheap" scream of terror? It's easy to have a jump scare, or an on-stage explosion. The…
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I am a regular user of Transport for London's services. On my phone I have the TfL Go app for finding my way around the city, and a web shortcut to a specific bus stop so I can find my way home. Why are they different shades of blue⁉️⁉️⁉️ TfL, like most large organisations, have brand guidelines. It enables them to set a consistent look and feel across their services which, hopefully, makes it easier for users to identify them. A glowing roundel in the night tells you you're near a tube stat…
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Since time immemorial, software has had version numbers. A developer releases V1 of their product. Some time later, they add new features or fix bugs, and release the next version. What should that next version be called? Modern software broadly bifurcates into two competing standards; SemVer and CalVer. SemVer Semantic Versioning is usually in the form 1.2.3, the last digit is usually for minor bug fixes, the second digit for new functionality, and the primary digit for big and/or breaking …
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The venerable curl is one of the most fundamental pieces of code in the modern world. A seemingly simply utility - it enables other programs to interact with URls - it runs on millions of cars, is inside nearly every TV, used by billions of people, and is even in use on Mars. And, as of last week, features a small contribution by me! Look, I'm not an experienced bit-twiddler. I can't micro-optimise algorithms or spot intricate C-based memory leaks. What I can do is get annoyed at poor…
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I was lucky enough to score playtest tickets for the new season of Phantom Peak - the open world, interactive and immersive puzzle experience in London. I'd never been before and generally have a mixed reaction to these sorts of immersive shows. I loved Doctor Who - Time Fracture but found 1984 to be underwhelming. Phantom Peak takes you inside an Old West mining town in a weird steam-punk alternate reality. The corrupt mayor is on the prowl, demons stalk the land, love is in the air, but can …
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Because I'm an optimist, I submitted a few talks to FOSDEM in the hope one might be accepted. Because I'm lucky, I got two speaking slots. Because I'm an idiot, I decided to do both talks. On the same day. An hour apart. On opposite ends of the venue. Fool! My first talk was at the Social Web Birds-of-a-Feather session. I told people about my ActivityBot social networking server and how I built it into a single file. In the spirit of minimalism, I only had 8 minutes to present. Time for a…
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Long-time readers know that I am not a fan of What Three Words. I think it is a closed, proprietary, and user-unfriendly attempt to enclose the commons. I consider that it has some dangerous failure modes. A year ago, The Financial Times wrote about What3Words' business woes. But it looks like things are about to get a lot worse. As reported by a user on Reddit, Mercedes cars no longer support What3words. I was in touch with What3words customer support and they confirmed me that Mercedes…
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I was packing for FOSDEM when I suddenly realised that I'd lost my clicker. Disaster! Here's a shortlist of what I need in a presentation remote: Ring style to fit on my finger USB-C Works on Linux Frickin' lazor beams! The only one I could find which matched all that was this Voviggol unit. Ring Here's how it looks hooked to my hand: The ring is stretchy and will fit around the thickest thumb. It grips the finger tight and didn't fly off even when I was gesticulating wildly. USB-C …
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I was delighted to be invited to speak at FOSDEM. And I was not at all intimidated to be speaking on the cavernous Janson stage. The audience were lovely, asked interesting questions, and - most importantly - laughed in all the right places 😅. Regular readers will recognise this as being an updated version of the talk I gave at EMF 2024 - feel free to watch that one if you want to see if I've improved. Huge thanks to the AV team and the video-wizards behind the FOSDEM in…
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I'm just back from my first ever FOSDEM - a megaconference dedicated to Free and Open Source technology and culture. It was epic. I'm still ruminating on the experience, but here are my first impressions of what did and didn't work. The Good Bits Really, it is a dozen conferences squeezed into one. Over a thousand talks, on a seemingly infinite array of subjects, about a million people crammed into one tram from Brussels city centre, and a panoply of wonderful humans with crazy ideas on how …
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