@castaway@fosstodon.org avatar

castaway

@castaway@fosstodon.org

Working with Perl, Typescript at Shadowcat. Tinkering with Flutter/dart. Living in Swindon, UK

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ross, to random
@ross@fosstodon.org avatar

My Scrabblish game now has skip/swap tiles! 🙌

Two more major things to add:

  1. Double/triple squares
  2. Instructions!

Then the rest is just polishing.

Really happy with how this turned out.

https://words.pico.games/

castaway,
@castaway@fosstodon.org avatar

@ross noticed this morning, hooray!

ross, to random
@ross@fosstodon.org avatar

My son decided to try randomly typing a game code into the serverless-scrabble thing (games are encoded in URLs).

I mean... it TRIED!!! 😂

(If you want to know what's going on: https://rosswintle.uk/2024/04/static-not-scrabble/)

(If you're bored of all my talk about this... I'm sorry. I made something neat, and I really want people to use it!!!)

castaway,
@castaway@fosstodon.org avatar

@ross does it know about the players at all? or if I post a started games url to facebook, will chaos happen?

ross, to random
@ross@fosstodon.org avatar

This news story is a near-perfect Ross cross-over of:

  • Grammar policing
  • IT system ridiculousness
  • Over-enthusiastic NIMBYism

North Yorkshire Council to phase out apostrophe use on street signs
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-68942321

castaway,
@castaway@fosstodon.org avatar

@ross Is this what the world is coming to..

ross, to random
@ross@fosstodon.org avatar

Oh dear. How awfully (or wonderfully!) middle aged am I now.

I have a preferred toothpaste brand.

And I’m buying bird feeders and watching the birds in my garden.

😂

castaway,
@castaway@fosstodon.org avatar

@ross you didn't before? (the toothpaste bit)

whitequark, to random
@whitequark@mastodon.social avatar

latest Matrix issue: someone joined a channel I'm in and posted a message. it got bridged to IRC and Discord, but somehow I can't see it in the Matrix room itself

how is this even in principle a failure mode? how do you even begin to investigate it?

castaway,
@castaway@fosstodon.org avatar

@whitequark I'm using the Matrix layer and the message appeared in-sync for me, is it maybe your client and not the whole system? (Using beeper over here)

castaway,
@castaway@fosstodon.org avatar

@whitequark replied in chst, answering here for less confusion of everyone else - beeper.com (apparently) .. and now I know more about how Matrix works)

ross, to random
@ross@fosstodon.org avatar

Lol. Pop quiz for web dev nerds:

Why might you suddenly start seeing Stripe test card failures today?

castaway,
@castaway@fosstodon.org avatar

@ross guessing the test cc num expired?

ross, to random
@ross@fosstodon.org avatar

Has anyone else got this stupid virus that won’t go away for many weeks? I get a little flare up every 1.5-2 days. Mostly just a sore/swollen throat. But had been headaches too.

I know folks who’ve had a cough for 6 weeks now.

What is this thing?

castaway,
@castaway@fosstodon.org avatar

@ross I had a long one end Feb until mid/late March.. I think it's mostly gone now... (may have combined a bit with start of hayfever season)

ross, to random
@ross@fosstodon.org avatar

🫣 Oh no! It’s the school holidays. I’m on DadOps duty. And I’m down to my last two coffee filters!! What do I do? Eat the beans whole and raw? Use a tea strainer or muslin cloth?!Grind them and spread it on toast?!! SEND HELP!!!!!

castaway,
@castaway@fosstodon.org avatar

@ross tesco whoosh order :)

ross, to random
@ross@fosstodon.org avatar

Idea: Gyms should have “quiet sessions” for introverts and neurodiverse folks. The lights and music are SO annoying. 😬

castaway,
@castaway@fosstodon.org avatar

@ross did you tell/suggest them that?

thunderbird, to random
@thunderbird@mastodon.online avatar

As we start producing video guides for Thunderbird beginners, we'd love to see your opinion: what tips or walkthroughs should we include?

Teleport yourself back to your first few months using Thunderbird. What do you wish you would have known about?

Thanks in advance for all your feedback!

castaway,
@castaway@fosstodon.org avatar

@thunderbird it took me some searching to discover "Preferences" means Settings -> Config Editor

18+ ross, to random
@ross@fosstodon.org avatar

The photo is clearly fake. Her kids are NEVER that old yet.

Are they? 🤯

castaway,
@castaway@fosstodon.org avatar

@ross time, its a weird thing! FB friend just posted that their daughter is now 18, and I thought similar.. she was teeny not so long ago! turns out have lived this side od town 8yrs already.. wtf

ross, to random
@ross@fosstodon.org avatar

Poor code readability slows us down. So I'm going to post some of my code-readability tips! This is an introduction with the ideas behind it and all the caveats, and an initial example.

https://rosswintle.uk/2024/03/readable-code-tips-intro/

castaway,
@castaway@fosstodon.org avatar

@ross personally i like a comment describing the variable contents if they are ambiguous, long names are unwieldy

ross, to random
@ross@fosstodon.org avatar

Having heard so much about Brandon Sanderson, I spotted “The Way of Kings” on Kobo for 99p and picked it up. Seems to be quite a tome! Did I do good?

castaway,
@castaway@fosstodon.org avatar

@ross we've read pretty much his engire output, so.. yes!

castaway,
@castaway@fosstodon.org avatar

@ross yup pretty good

layers, to random
@layers@fosstodon.org avatar

Wanna play "guess that printer"?

castaway,
@castaway@fosstodon.org avatar

@layers Prusa MK4

ross, to random
@ross@fosstodon.org avatar

I really need to bookmark my open tabs! 😬

castaway,
@castaway@fosstodon.org avatar

@ross my browser has a way to do that automatically..

ross, to random
@ross@fosstodon.org avatar

A simple, web/cloud based, private key/value store. Like a fediverse but for personal data.

Is this possible? Does it exist?

I've mentioned this a few times here and it's always too hard to explain in short posts.

So here’s a long one.

https://rosswintle.uk/2024/02/static-databases-for-static-sites-possible/

castaway,
@castaway@fosstodon.org avatar

@ross firebase isnt v complicated.. it is Google tho..

ross, (edited ) to random
@ross@fosstodon.org avatar

I just walked out my house (Swindon, UK) and I swear I saw a really big meteor cross the south-eastern sky top to bottom.

Really cool.

Trying to track down if anyone else saw it.

About 9:58 if anyone nearby has a camera pointing that way.

castaway,
@castaway@fosstodon.org avatar

@ross neat! ours probably didnt cos its only looking for people..

mntmn, to random
@mntmn@mastodon.social avatar

just QA-tested 14 brand new MNT Reforms :3

castaway,
@castaway@fosstodon.org avatar

@mntmn and they all passed?

ross, to random
@ross@fosstodon.org avatar

I also wrote up a cheeky bit of Facebook scraping I did with JavaScript at the weekend to get birthdays to put in my non-Facebook calendar.

I don’t know if this is useful to anyone else. But seemed good to make a note of.

https://rosswintle.uk/2024/01/scraping-birthdays-from-facebook/

castaway,
@castaway@fosstodon.org avatar

@ross would have been easier to use the .ics export?

ross, to random
@ross@fosstodon.org avatar

You know how designers get no-code solutions?

Are there any no-design solutions for coders to use?

castaway,
@castaway@fosstodon.org avatar

@ross a fair number, grid ui framework things

ross, (edited ) to random
@ross@fosstodon.org avatar

I did it. I made a notes app. In a few hours in the weekend.

"I can't use any of my favourite note-taking apps at work. But I can use a web browser and I can write JavaScript. The logical conclusion is, of course, that I should build my own!”

Write up: https://rosswintle.uk/2024/01/weekend-project-simple-notes-app/

Try it (at your own risk - not mobile friendly): https://notes.veryuseful.app/

castaway,
@castaway@fosstodon.org avatar

@ross why can't you use your favourites at work? (luckily my browser has one built-in)

ross, to random
@ross@fosstodon.org avatar

Help! AV advice needed.

I have an office with low-level background noise.

I’ve tried a condenser mic and they pick up EVERYTHING!!!

I’ve tried a dynamic mic and I need to really have it in my face to eliminate the noise and it’s looks stupid (but sounds awesome).

I’m currently trying a cheap(er) wired lavalier mic and this seems like a good compromise.

Should I:
a) Now I’ve proven it’s good invest in a wireless lav mic?
b) Do something else? Shotgun/directional mic? Hide under a duvet?

castaway, (edited )
@castaway@fosstodon.org avatar

@ross definitely hide under the duvet!

ross, to random
@ross@fosstodon.org avatar

I found this in my house. I eventually worked out what it was for. But without context it’s a very random collection of words.

What do YOU think this is a label for?

castaway,
@castaway@fosstodon.org avatar

@ross skein of wool? (or something made out of wool)

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