Random

So Microsoft has been in talks with Github about a potential acquisition. There are several reasons why this is a terrible idea. Github is a pretty solid git repo hosting company, but it has a few core values that are in jeopardy here and I’m not sure Microsoft(or anyone) can acquire an entity like Github without severe repercussions. Platform agnostic integrations Github has a ton of super useful integrations that help make the life for developers a lot easier. Tools like appveyor, travis-ci, coverall, readthedocs, codacy are really useful and what’s so great is you free to run them wherever you like. How can Microsoft make the business case to keep platform agnostic integrations that are aiding competitors? Maybe they won’t ban them, but they may become very much second class citizens. ...

Wild Wild Country – The Soundtrack For anyone who hasn’t seen Netflix’s Wild Wild Country, I highly recommend you watch it. The story told, along with the wealth of footage they got their hands on makes it an incredible watch. The soundtrack is also excellent, I’ve put together the soundtrack as a playlist on Apple Music, you can find it here. Enjoy!

Freedom from the Known can be a tough book to crack, the lessons offered within are almost dismissed by the arguments made within the book, on top of that it’s likely most won’t be in a position to even accept what they read as they are reading it. Despite these barriers, there is still wonderful lessons here calling out our own values, our judgements and what is preventing us from being truly free and present in each moment. ...

A lot of people have been asking about how they might offline their favourite 8track tracks and I’ve come up with a rudimentary solution while I was doing some offline coding. On 8tracks I’ve found a great playlist series called Cold Machines created by user sowat on 8tracks and I wanted to offline my favourited tracks from these playlists as they’re great for coding to. As there’s no direct way to do this it’s a several step process, but an pretty easy one at that. ...

I’ve been reading E. M. Forster’s Aspects of the Novel and in it I came across a discussion on the French writer André Gide, specifically about his book Les faux-monnayeurs(The Counterfeiters). The book is a merge of reality and fiction, Gide himself keeps a journal of his life as he writes the book and appears to merge the two. The writer is celebrated in Aspects for hurling himself into the novel and for not being bound by the style at the time or “All that is prearranged”. There’s a good example of it in this passage. When brought into a discussion about the book Edouard(who is Gide’s representation in the book) responds on it’s subject. I suggest you read this passage but keep blogging in your mind. ...

I went through the precision nutrition trial fast last Sunday, here’s a low-down on how things went through each of the steps. I had trialled this while out and about in central London, but failed at around 5pm, I was disorganised and feeling incredibly dizzy from the crowds and noise, so this time I planned ahead and did this from home. 10 PM Saturday Had a late dinner at the wonderful Chaat on RedChurch Street in Shoreditch. May as well have an epic last meal, right? The advantage of the late final meal was that I actually managed to ramble in from the street and only waited a minute for a table. I didn’t over-do it in terms of food. I often get hungrier the next morning if I eat a huge meal the night before. ...

Last night I finished Roddy Doyle’s The Woman Who Walked Into Doors and I figured I’d write a quick review on it. It’s a book on the life of an Irish working-class woman named Paula who is struggling with an abusive husband and attempting to keep her family from the brink that her husband creates. The details in this book are what make it particularly excellent writing. The lead character recalls incredibly specific details that bring her tragic story to life. There’s a few mildly absurd elements to the book, but they’re grounded in the unrelenting reality the lead character describes. A chipped plate, the heat from a bag of chips on a cold day, an attempt to describe the burning sensation of being repeatedly kicked in the back. These elements are what kept me turning the pages. ...

Recently I watched Akira Kurosawa’s Ikiru, after reading through some of the Criterion info on Kurosawa I realised I’d watched a bunch of his movies, I’m a huge fan of Seven Samurai. The Criterion Collection is a wonderful distribution company and I’m a huge fan of a number of their filmmakers, so much so that I wanted to try and support the service more. Since I live fairly lightly in terms of possessions I can’t really justify $40 on a DVD or Blu-Ray. Especially since I’ll probably have moved elsewhere and be forced to ditch the media before I can watch it a second time. It’s a shame when distribution companies haven’t really adopted digital distribution. I am aware that Criterion is on Hulu(now something else), but unfortunately as I’m not a US resident I can’t access/support it. If you are and can access it, I highly recommend checking out some of their movies. ...

Happy Programmers Day! Have a productive one… Or you’re sacked.

“I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.” — Mark Twain Lately I’ve been struggling with consistently writing. I find it difficult to sit down in the morning and begin to write. Usually ideas fall out of my head and I get into a flow quite quickly but recently, without a clear idea sitting in my head for a period of time I simply can’t put pen to paper. ...