Terence Eden. He has a beard and is smiling.

Terence Eden’s Blog

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Movie Review: Palm Springs

· 200 words


Two people sat on pool floats, drinking beer.

When carefree Nyles and reluctant maid of honour Sarah have a chance encounter at a Palm Springs wedding, things get complicated as they are unable to escape the venue, themselves, or each other. It's almost impossible to review this movie without giving away the twists and turns that it takes. Just know that it is deeply funny in unexpected ways. It stars the cop from the TV sitcom and the…

Don't trust Cloudflare with your personal data

· 11 comments · 700 words · Viewed ~12,632 times


It has been over a year since I cancelled my Cloudflare account. They keep emailing me and haven't taken me off their marketing lists despite repeated requests. Their CTO told me he would investigate, but nothing changed. Their Data Protection Office hasn't respond to my requests. Cloudflare do not appear to respect the GDPR. I've escalated this to the highest levels of Cloudflare, but they…

WOTAN - the Font of Doctor Who and the War Machines

· 7 comments · 250 words · Viewed ~1,231 times


The War Machines title card.

As part of my silly floppy artwork, I wanted to find a retro computer font. Then I remembered that there's a 1960s Doctor Who serial with this beauty. The War Machines is a cracking slice of 60s sci-fi. It's very groovy. But what font is it? It isn't Westminster. The W is completely wrong. And the letter T is mirrored. Westminster has a surprising and interesting history. It isn't Data…

Cisco AnyConnect for Linux - save profile

· 1 comment · 100 words · Viewed ~2,203 times


Binary code displayed on a screen.

I couldn't find a simple guide to this - so these are notes to myself. Create a file called myVPN.xml: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <AnyConnectProfile xmlns="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/encoding/" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/encoding/AnyConnectProfile.xsd"> <ServerList> …

Review: YumAsia Mini Panda Rice Cooker

· 4 comments · 450 words · Viewed ~3,862 times


Rice cooker which looks a bit like a panda.

I read this wonderful article about the invention of the rice cooker and, because I am easily influenced, bought one. This is the YumAsia Panda Mini. It seemed to hit the sweet spot for physical size and price. For £80 you get a rice cooker, steamer, and utensils. Makes enough rice for 2 people. Although, when full, we felt like it was more like for 4. Depends on how hungry you are. It's …

Should Twitter tell you if you've been following a fake account?

· 6 comments · 500 words · Viewed ~1,403 times


A report from Twitter saying an account was suspended.

I get a lot of random Twitter DMs from attractive women who are desperate to make friends with me. I usually report the obvious spammers. But a few weeks ago, one nearly slipped through the net. The woman was wearing a military uniform - a proper one, not a sexy Hallowe'en costume - and was asking a fairly sensible question of me. But something didn't sit right. Usually, these accounts have…

Opening a Rediffusion Junction Box

· 5 comments · 450 words · Viewed ~3,124 times


Rediffusion junction box JB 134.

Way back in the mists of time, the UK had a Cable TV service called Rediffusion. It had a long and noble history, but has been defunct for the best part of 40 years. All technology leaves scars on the landscape. And Rediffusion was so popular, that it had junction boxes built into the walls of houses. When we moved into our new London home, I spotted this junction box hidden behind a plant pot. …

How can I get consistent sizes with physically different monitors on Linux?

· 1 comment · 450 words · Viewed ~944 times


Multi monitor settings showing the relative placement of the screens.

I can't think of a concise way of wording this. I have three monitors. Each has the same resolution - 1920x1080px. But each one has a different physical size - 61 cm monitor, 39 cm laptop, and 48 cm monitor. Here's my problem. When I move a window from one screen to another, the window changes size. It contains the same number of pixels, but it has different physical dimensions. Here's one…

You have no idea of the changes which are coming

· 11 comments · 900 words · Viewed ~830 times


The New National Health Service.

I wrote this before the pandemic. I chickened out of publishing it because I was working for NHSX at the time. Some of these things have come to pass. Some are yet to come. I'll never forget the look of horror on my professor's face when I told him I didn't think his university course was good value for money. I was in the first cohort of UK students paying tuition fees. A massive £1,000 per …

Rituals and Milestones in Developer Life

· 2 comments · 600 words · Viewed ~430 times


Binary code displayed on a screen.

Most human societies have rituals. One popular ceremony is of the young person being made a member of the tribe. For some, it is at the start of life - a Baptism or Christening. For others, it is when the child becomes an adult - Bar Mitzvah or Ritusuddhi. Most societies have marriage ceremonies - to mark the transition into a new stage of life. Houses are blessed, leaving for university…

All the jobs I failed to get

· 31 comments · 1,200 words · Viewed ~19,259 times


Terence Eden standing outside Number 10 Downing Street.

A few years ago, Johannes Haushofer published a CV of failures. In it, he lists all the grants he wasn't awarded, positions he didn't get, papers rejected. I think that people need to be more open about failure. None of us are perfect - despite what our social media presence says - and all of us suffer rejection. But, by being open and honest about it, we make it easier for others to realise…

iOS 14 gets support for the Unicode Power Symbol!

· 1 comment · 300 words · Viewed ~293 times


Power symbols displayed on the screen.

It has been four years since Unicode officially accepted our Power Symbols proposal into the standard. Now I’m delighted to announce that users on iOS 14 are finally able to use the full set of Power Symbols. ⏻ ⏼ ⭘ ⏽ ⏾ They’re available to use in the browser, in emails, and messages. Here’s how they look, in both dark and light mode: Terence Eden is on Mastodon@edentAnyone with iOS 14 able to …