blood · 2 comments · 250 words
The blood donation centre was full. It was literally standing-room only, with those of us waiting our turn stood around until a cheap plastic chair became available. Perhaps it was delays. Perhaps there had been an urgent call for blood. Perhaps the events in Ukraine spurred people to donate. Perhaps, even subconsciously, it feels like a good time to donate what you can, ensure the reserves are …
Continue reading →blockchain Certified Blockchain Professional MSc · 450 words
As previously discussed, I'm doing the Certified Blockchain Professional course. It is self-directed learning, so I'm going through it at my own pace. In order to consolidate my learning, and help organise my thoughts, I'm blogging about my reflections on each module. These are mostly notes to myself - but I hope if you find something interesting (or incorrect) that you'll leave a comment. The…
Continue reading →FIR green infrared IoT Smart Home · 12 comments · 1,600 words · Viewed ~2,140 times
What with the situation in the world, I've been trying to reduce our domestic gas consumption. Looking through our smart meter readings, our biggest usage is heating (in winter) followed by hot water (showers and baths) then cooking. We have a Tado smart thermostat which turns the heating off when we're out - but I wondered if there was something more efficient we could do. Burning gas to heat…
Continue reading →gender IWD2022 Open Data · 2 comments · 650 words · Viewed ~207 times
About a million years ago, the then Coalition Government in the UK announced a slew of Open Data projects. They wanted - in their words - to "mobilise an army of Armchair Auditors". That is, ordinary people would be able to look through the data and find interesting errors. I'm a civil servant (this is a personal blog) so I can't comment on the politics behind the idea. But I think it is fair…
Continue reading →Movie Review · 300 words
There is no point in remaking movies. I just don't understand why you would take something which was successful, beautiful, and critically acclaimed - and then go "I can do better!" What can a film-maker possibly add? There's a high likelihood that the remake will fall flat on its face or become the punchline to a joke. I'm sorry, but I just don't think great movies should be re-made when there…
Continue reading →2fa security yubikey · 8 comments · 300 words · Viewed ~6,607 times
I found this on a security-related Slack (shared with permission). It launched an entertaining discussion about the risks of taking a potentially fake FIDO token. We all know the risks of taking a free USB drive and shoving it in our computer, right? USB sticks can install software, act as a keylogger, transmit data over WiFi, and even physically damage the electronics! So a USB Yubikey…
Continue reading →gadget review · 5 comments · 350 words · Viewed ~362 times
One of the problems with smoke alarms is that they aren't always easy to hear from a distance. If the alarm in your kitchen goes off, but you're upstairs listening to music - will you hear it? The law in Scotland has recently changed to require interlinked alarms. That means if one goes off, all of them sound the alarm. The good folk at X-Sense have sent me their SC07-W set to review. For about …
Continue reading →scam · 5 comments · 700 words · Viewed ~244 times
I've just finished watching the amazing documentary "Jobfished". It tells the story of a group of people who were conned into working for a "fake" company. You can read the news article - it's pretty depressing stuff. In the middle of a pandemic, people were asked to work for what looked like an established media agency, for people who appeared to have a long history in the sector. The pay was…
Continue reading →review theatre · 2 comments · 300 words
There was a delightful end-of-term feel to this show. It was few days before the last performance and the cast were clearly having a lot of fun heckling back at the unruly audience. If you've seen any of the "Goes Wrong" shows on TV, you'll know exactly what to expect. A group of over-enthusiastic but under-equipped performers attempt the impossible and fail in a variety of stunning ways. It was …
Continue reading →Book Review MSc security · 550 words
I found this book while following a citation trail for my MSc. Published before the 21st Century (fuck, I'm old) it's a run-down of this new-fangled thing called Information Warfare. It covers electronic attacks, espionage, computer security and more. In the last 20 years, depressingly little has changed. If you removed the mentions of ActiveX and floppy disks, it'd still be 90% relevant. It…
Continue reading →computer Satire (Probably) server · 1 comment · 500 words · Viewed ~386 times
I used to be a member of social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, Flickr, etc. But I felt guilty because I didn't run my own servers. OK, I could host content with them. But I had a severely limited way of curating what I saw and how much I could customise what people saw of me. So I signed up to a cloud provider and installed Mastodon and Pixelfed. Neat! But I didn't really run that…
Continue reading →Book Review Sci Fi · 1 comment · 200 words
Pure pulp sci-fi - and I loved every page of it. The best sci-fi, in my opinion, doesn't dwell too long on how the magic box works - but spends time exploring the consequences of opening it. The premise is great - cloning is real and you can back up your brain. When you die, your brain is downloaded to a clone. It's a brilliant exploration of human rights. Are clones humans? Are they property? …
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