One of the great things about unemployment is that I now don't have to fix #PHP installations that were chosen by the idiots I work for.

So what are people using on their phones now instead of the #CAMRA #GoodBeerGuide? They've stopped updating the app (which was excellent, and which I subscribed to for years) and seem to expect people to use their website, but that's covered in pop-up ads and thus unusable.

#beer

Happy #WorldStandardsDay! Unless you're unfortunate enough to be in Trumpistan in which case it will be on the 8th of December.

Today in IT hate ... #bash!

Can't edit a shell script while it is running, because bash doesn't just read the whole thing into memory and execute it, it reads a few bites at a time and then starts executing, reading more as necessary starting at the offset it last read up to. An intermediate write means that bash then ends up with inconsistent gibberish in memory. This might have made sense for original #sh running on Ken and Den's original #PDP7 with 4K-words of RAM but it's stupid these days.

Wow! Someone on #Kickstarter has invented a worse ... shelf!

Have a good laugh at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/printableaccessories/dropvault-0.

These shelves are mechanically complex (some even require electronics too) and waste space because you need twice as much space for these special shelves as you do for normal shelves.

Thanks @ianvisits for making me feel old. I used to catch one of these to go to school and now it's Special and Vintage.

If you don't follow @roots then you are in a state of sin. The drawings are beautiful.

They also explain why the grass in all my local parks was burnt to a yellow crisp this summer but with bright green patches of weeds all over. Compare the root systems of https://images.wur.nl/digital/collection/coll13/id/385/rec/2 and https://images.wur.nl/digital/collection/coll13/id/291/rec/1 with that of https://images.wur.nl/digital/collection/coll13/id/1434/rec/1. The grass has predominantly shallow roots, the weed predominantly deep roots.

#science #art #OverlappingMagisteria

I have a rule to never *ever* buy anything immediately just because it looks cool, or is a great deal, or "this special offer must end soon". Anyway, these looked cool, and arrived today from Aliexpress!

#notepad #windows95 #PureEvilReified #RetroComputing #hashtag

I, of course, would never fall for this.

#chess #WorldAltTextChampionshipEntry

This is my semi-regular request for suggestions on a replacement for #Readerware, whose author has passed away so it's no longer maintained. Requirements: I need to catalogue #books, #music and #video; no subscription; no cloud bullshit; must be able to import/export in a sensible format such as CSV; must support all major platforms (ie Mac and Linux); support for FreeBSD would be nice; prefer a desktop application, not complicated client/server stuff.

#library #database

Today's #unemployment achievement is that I unplugged and removed my old KVM from my desk, and replaced it with a newerer biggerer betterer one. The old one would share two monitors between two machines, the new one shares three monitors between four.

"That's not much of an achievement" I can hear some of you say. None of you have seen the absolute pigsty of a tangled mess of cables that is the back half of my desk.

"press 1 if you would like to listen to bird song instead of normal hold music"

If I were to ever recommend a financial services company (and I won't) then it would be this one.

Today’s #unemployment adventure: day 2 of #ENGvPAK at Lord’s. I have brought a #Canadian cricket-virgin with me. Suggest amusing lies with which to confuse her!

#cricket #england #pakistan

RE: https://mas.to/@pooh/117106842133461092

Today in "Pooh and the special interest websites" ...

RE: https://mas.to/@pooh/117073576020426969

Everything on github

As I am now blessed with copious free time, please recommend interesting and cheap conferences in the UK. No, the subject matter isn't important.

#unemployment

Good news! I'm #unemployed! The plan is to spend several months being an idle layabout. Considering a career change, I fancy being a professional owl comber or something.

#DontGetFediHired

(OK, I might consider getting Fedihired if you've got a really fucking top notch job available that involves few hours, lots of money, interesting computer-wrangling, all while working in my pants at home)

Cheers! 🍻

This doesn't contain a translation for (opslags)værk. And yes, I did look at the *end* of the V section, because in Danish æ, ø and å sort at the end.

And re weird sorting, did you know that "sausage" is sorted weirdly in Johnson's dictionary? That no doubt explains why it appears in that #Blackadder the 3rd episode. In my copy the word order is Savoury / Savoy / Saur / Sausage / Saw. He sorts as if u and v are the same letter. The whole SAU/SAV section is a hopeless muddle to modern eyes.

I did not expect to have to use this reference book today - or indeed ever - in my job as a computer wrangler.

#English #Danish #dictionary #lexicon #ordbog #hashtag #WorldAltTextChampionshipEntry

“Please escalate this to someone who understands all the words in my previous message”.

Surprisingly, they did.