Notices by Paul (pwaring@fosstodon.org)

For once, the BBC have published a good technology article where they have interviewed people who know what they are talking about (and I think the future of open source is a challenge unless we recruit the next generation - particularly for projects like the Linux Kernel which are hard for new people to break into):

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly7n2jm5m5o

#OpenSource

WordPress seems to be having similar problems to other projects which have an overbearing lead contributor (I don't call them benevolent dictators because there's no such thing). It all seems 'okay' from the inside until suddenly it isn't - which is usually a long time after people on the outside have run away.

It is hard to tell how many people don't contribute because of an OLC, but I am put off getting involved in any project with one.

Sometimes freelancing feels a bit like online dating did:

1. >50% ghosting rate.

2. 'I appreciate your professionalism / honesty / clear communication' is 'you're a really nice guy'.

3. Never knowing whether you'll get past the first call.

4. Occasionally your mates will try and suggest someone for you.

5. Unreasonable expectations / requirements (>6ft, >£75k vs must quote for and fix this bespoke app by tomorrow morning based on a vague description).

I'll be giving a talk on Advent of Code at 14:00 today (UK time / UTC) at the Manchester Linux User Group. Everyone is welcome, but please check the website or DM me if you want the Jitsi details as we don't publish them widely to avoid gatecrashers.

If you can't make it, the talk won't be recorded but the slides will be online. I'm open to giving the talk elsewhere if there's demand (remote-only and sensible overlap with UTC).

https://www.manlug.org/

#AdventOfCode #ManLUG

On Saturday 16th November at 14:00 UTC, I'll be giving a talk about Advent of Code at the Manchester Linux User Group (ManLUG, possibly the oldest LUG in the UK). We meet remotely and everyone is welcome (we get people from across the UK and further afield), details are on the website:

https://www.manlug.org/

#AdventOfCode #ManLUG

Two things I find odd about elections are how quickly the UK counts compared with other countries, and how short our queues are at polling stations. Even in a general election, where 4 countries are voting, we usually know who forms the next government by the end of the next day, and no one ends up queuing for 5 hours to vote (and we supposedly love queuing). If the PM's party loses, they go to the Palace to resign more or less immediately.

Don't think I'll ever buy something that needs assembly from Argos again. Part was missing when I opened the box.

1. Online order of spare parts: Not available for this item (it doesn't have a part number).

2. Online chat: We can't do anything, call the store.

3. Call store: Always busy so you get redirected to the overflow call centre... who can't do anything.

4. Visit store: TODO

IKEA OTOH: 6 digit code for each part, order online, posted immediately free of charge, no quibble.

TIL: If you are getting annoyed with the HMRC 'digital assistant' (which is basically just a search engine), tell it: 'I want to speak to a person' and it will actually transfer you to an operator (it doesn't give you any hints that this is possible, but it worked for me).

@neil I've seen it a few times, usually because they're using a platform like Medium (with their own domain, so it doesn't look that way).

If vaccines really did contain computer chips someone would have ported Doom to them by now and posted to Hacker News about it.

If you are interested in the (very) early history of Linux, @liw has written an article for LWN which has a subscriber-invite link so you don't have to wait for it to leave the paywall:

https://lwn.net/SubscriberLink/928581/841b747332791ac4/

#linux