@geraldew@fosstodon.org avatar

geraldew

@geraldew@fosstodon.org

Data analyst and programmer

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ricmac, to fediverse
@ricmac@mastodon.social avatar

Fascinating look at how is being used by the SFO art museum to help encourage revisiting its cultural objects. Still early days, but you can see the potential here -> “The reason I am telling you all of this is that SFO Museum has written it's own limited ActivityPub server implementation and we have, in fact, created an ActivityPub account – a social media, account – for every object in our collection.” https://orthis.social/@thisisaaronland/112339899293624779

geraldew,
@geraldew@fosstodon.org avatar

@ricmac lots to delve into here. Is it ironic that it will take me several reads to digest?
And after going "what's this Pen thing?" I had to gulp for not knowing about the ACMI lens despite having been there many times (ok, but not since COVID came along).
I do remember that MONA in Hobart also had this kind of scheme in place. I probably have an email it generated for post-visit online revisiting of a time there. I wonder if that still works.
Anyway, thanks for posting this!

geraldew,
@geraldew@fosstodon.org avatar

@ricmac @arichtman
postscript
I found the email from MONA - from 2015 !
It goes to https://theo.artpro.net.au/login/
and after entering my email I got sent a fresh link and can see my tour again.
Shall I say that again?
2015
At my work, the IT people can't ever manage any web system change without breaking every link, over and over again for as long as we've had web systems.
(I've been there 35 years so that's only part of my time.)
So a tip o' the hat to MONA for this one!

mcc, to random
@mcc@mastodon.social avatar

Anybody use sqlite3? I'm trying to open an sqlite3 directory to which I have read but not write access, and the first thing I do is type ".tables", and it says "Error: attempt to write a readonly database". I could sudo to the user that owns the file, but then I get a little nervous because I don't want to write to the database, I just want to read it. If I write to it right now that probably means I'm breaking something. Is there a way to interact with a sqlite3 database in readonly mode?

geraldew,
@geraldew@fosstodon.org avatar

@mcc at the risk of being obvious, can you not copy it to a place where you do have write permission and then read that?
Not saying it's a general solution but might be a temporary method.

timrichards, to random
@timrichards@aus.social avatar

Tried stringing along a scammer calling from "Telstra" and she hung up in the middle of the call. Don't know what's going on there, I try to sound meek and agreeable but they somehow suss me out. What should I be doing to waste more of their time?

geraldew,
@geraldew@fosstodon.org avatar

@timrichards I think I've seen a few people setting up systems to do that for you.
This seems to be one of them.
https://lighthouse.mq.edu.au/article/june-2023/scamming-the-scammers

timrichards, to random
@timrichards@aus.social avatar

I have a friend who turns 64 this year who was born in 1960, while I'm turning 60 this year and was born in 1964. That seems neatly symmetrical.

geraldew,
@geraldew@fosstodon.org avatar

@timrichards funny you should mention this, in my head already this year has been that I'll turn 62 and was born in '62.

timrichards, to architecture
@timrichards@aus.social avatar

Glad to see Tadao Ando’s M Pavilion might stay in place. It's a very impressive structure, particularly from within.

‘Concrete Picasso’ masterpiece saved from the wrecker’s ball

(maybe paywalled) https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/concrete-picasso-masterpiece-saved-from-the-wrecker-s-ball-20240408-p5fi7b.html

geraldew,
@geraldew@fosstodon.org avatar

@timrichards @NarrelleMHarris I still haven't visited the current MPavilion but regularly walk past two of the earlier ones in their relocated instances. One is in Docklands and one is on the Uni of Melbourne campus.
I sometimes wonder where all the others went to (if they did at all).

geraldew,
@geraldew@fosstodon.org avatar

@timrichards @NarrelleMHarris I did try the link (after writing my earlier post, because of course).
Alas, as you predicted, was not able to see it.
FWIW we do actually buy the physical Age for both days on the weekend, so it's not just the money thing.

geraldew, to debian
@geraldew@fosstodon.org avatar

The next "back from travel" to-do is installing Debian on my old 32bit netbook.
It went well and now I'm in the phase of looking up how to do things in Debian that are not as apparent as they are for Xubuntu.
For example, installing gnome-system-tools to have a GUI tool for managing user accounts and groups.
Another was for the touchpad, doing a setting to have taps count as mouse clicks.
Next is: customise GDM or replace it with LightDM for clicking to select login account?

geraldew,
@geraldew@fosstodon.org avatar

@array good suggestions to note.
I don't really know what this machine is for now. In March 2020 it became my work-from-home computer with just the task of running a Citrix client for remoting to the office. Thus allowing my main personal computer to remain always free for my own use. At that point it had Xubuntu 18.04 on it, which was still current.
Fast forward to now, I have a newer 64bit laptop, letting my old one take that role.
As 18.04 no longer updates, hence over to Debian which does.

vsp, (edited ) to fediverse
@vsp@mastodon.world avatar

Meet Jör.

They're the mascot for an online service called @bookwyrmworld.

geraldew,
@geraldew@fosstodon.org avatar

@vsp @fedihosting_foundation whatever BookWyrm might be, it is definitely not FOSS.

Here is where to find its license statement in the source code repository.
https://github.com/bookwyrm-social/bookwyrm/blob/main/LICENSE.md

The position of the Free Software Foundation on that license is here:
https://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.en.html#anticapitalist

array, to random
@array@fosstodon.org avatar

I began with programming about 3 years ago, and did an Associate Degree in web programming. If I may say so, I passed with pretty good grades, but 3 months after I landed my first gig, I am more convinced every day that I arrived too late for this. I have an Humanities background, zero Science/Maths in my belt, and I'm just too old for this. It's been a ride, trying to make my way from zero to code monkey at 50. So let's call it a day now that I'm still winning. <3

geraldew,
@geraldew@fosstodon.org avatar

@array maybe I can recommend a pivot into data work? It's a field where real life experience informs the writing of scripts and the wrangling of data.
Alas I can't advise on what the job prospects are like from your situation (as I've had a steady position for over 20 years rather than been in the job market).
But perhaps it could be a way deploy the skills you've acquired in a satisfying way.

geraldew,
@geraldew@fosstodon.org avatar

@array The vast majority of it is just about matching values to other values - think the card games of Snap and Concentration rather than the counting cards and probability calculation/estimate strategies of Poker or Bridge.

And do note that I said "data work", not "data science" as there's a lot more of the former to be done - independent of whether the latter adds any real value.

geraldew,
@geraldew@fosstodon.org avatar

@array FWIW this conversation might prompt me to get around to writing the "My Datawork History" piece that I've long intended to write. A counterpart to the My Coding History pair that I wrote some years ago.

My personal bent is to counteract the "how to be amazing" articles and videos that I constantly see. Some of us, while we find the work interesting, just want reliable employment.

I opined decades ago that there was too much data work to ever be all done. So far that's proven true.

geraldew,
@geraldew@fosstodon.org avatar

@array sure, links for the coding history are in this pinned post
https://fosstodon.org/@geraldew/111515885409696473
You'll see from that why I don't give "how to get work/job" advice as I'm simply ignorant on that vector.

geraldew,
@geraldew@fosstodon.org avatar

@array FWIW, because from this prompt I'm now writing the data history piece, there's quite a lot about data in the part 2 article.

I'm actually surprised how much I'm going to quote from it for this new one.

Which points to a paradox:

  • on one hand there clearly isn't any boundary point between programming and data scripting
  • however I maintain that their skills are distinct, at least at the range extremes if not in their overlap region.
mttaggart, to random

I need a Creative Commons license that explicitly prohibits the use of material for training ML/generative models.

geraldew,
@geraldew@fosstodon.org avatar

@mttaggart @ShredderFeeder which means that what you are after is a form or body of legislation which has that power, because as you have already recognised, copyright law does not.
I chip in with a statement of the obvious because I'm always bemused by people thinking that it is the licence statement that provides the powers (that we use for FOSS or CC) when in fact it comes by turning copyright upon itself.
Alas, getting better laws is much harder.

liztai, to random
@liztai@hachyderm.io avatar

Today social media decides to send me more weird information -
A podcaster said that Taiwan and South Korea is in ASEAN.
Like, did I miss a memo or something or did we get new members😅 😆

geraldew,
@geraldew@fosstodon.org avatar

@liztai interesting that despite many years of knowing about ASEAN my mind doesn't do well at listing the countries in it. Being Australian it's easy to know that we're in it, and Indonesia and Malaysia seems obvious, but after those I'm guessing (probably well but that is geography not knowledge).
At the risk of being glib, I suspect that's representative of the Australian viewpoint re the region: we know we're in it, feel we're important but hazy on the specifics.

geraldew,
@geraldew@fosstodon.org avatar

@liztai well, to prove my own ignorance, after checking I see the recent meeting in Melbourne was a "ASEAN-Australia" Summit - which is to say a meeting of ASEAN with Australia.
i.e not Australia as part of ASEAN
While that somewhat makes my point, it's not quite how I wanted to.
Side note, I was walking to my office last week and was briefly prevented crossing a road by an ASEAN police escort on route to the meeting venue.

itsfoss, to random
@itsfoss@mastodon.social avatar

Do you know about the CP/M operating system?

https://itsfoss.com/cp-m-os-history/

geraldew,
@geraldew@fosstodon.org avatar

@itsfoss I remember it well. Almost because it wasn't a real/full operating system let me gain a confidence for understanding a whole system.
So that now, when I use systems that really are too complex for me to fully understand, that little core of confidence let's me trust myself to do well.
Ditto for programming, where it was Pascal on CP/M that set me on a lifelong path.

timrichards, to random
@timrichards@aus.social avatar

On a Qantas flight back to Melbourne, easy run but not as much fun as the train. Managed to switch to a flight two hours earlier, so that was good. I've learnt the trick to that is never telling them you bought the flight with frequent flyer points; then they get picky about changing it.

geraldew,
@geraldew@fosstodon.org avatar

@timrichards BTW for anyone wondering quite what distinction is involved in that, here is an article about the 2021 border agreement between the Wurundjeri and Boonwurrung
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-06-26/melbourne-aboriginal-traditional-owners-bunurong-wurundjeri/100236480
in which you can just see the text of "Tullamarine" in a border picture (just above the box of Map 2).

Daojoan, (edited ) to random
@Daojoan@mastodon.social avatar

What are your thoughts on blog posts published as threaded toots on Mastodon?

geraldew,
@geraldew@fosstodon.org avatar

@Daojoan alas, can't vote with a simple yes or no because it will depend on context and scale.

There's also the variable nature of Mastodon post limits, which in some cases will cause a single long post (i.e. not a thread) to become a thread of three or four.

itgrrl, to Blog

In an effort to encourage myself to start writing posts again, I’m sharing some of my old posts with a new audience here on mastodon 🙃

Next one:
Radia Perlman at 2013 (2013)

https://itgrrl.com/2013/03/06/radia-perlman-at-lca-2013/

geraldew,
@geraldew@fosstodon.org avatar

@itgrrl I always like an excuse to point people to the book where I learned of Radia Perlman - "Broad Band - The Untold Story of the Women Who Made the Internet by Claire L. Evans"
https://www.penguin.com.au/books/broad-band-9780593329443

But equally to say, as I did so much throughout that book: "why did I not already know her name and her work?" (given how many other bits of computing and network folklore I did know).

geraldew, to random
@geraldew@fosstodon.org avatar

Really not my area of knowledge but this seems a good piece about the decline of Cantonese in Australia and beyond.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-01-06/takeover-melbourne-teen-and-the-cantonese-language/103069564
I got very used to hearing the lilt and tone of Cantonese in Perth during the 1980s thanks to a couple of cinemas running lots and lots of Hong Kong movies.
While I'd occasionally hear it on campus and around the city it seemed to fade away during the decade.

mariatta, to random
@mariatta@fosstodon.org avatar

I've always been bothered with the saying "code as if the next person maintaining your code is a violent psychopath who knows where you live".

Why are we instilling fear and promoting toxic behavior and workplace violence?

You should code so that you can take that beach vacation without having to be on call.
Code so that you have free time to be with your family.
Code (and document things) so that you can leave the project for something even bigger.

geraldew,
@geraldew@fosstodon.org avatar

@mariatta my mantra has long been "code for myself to read in ten or twenty years time" - i.e. long after I've forgotten almost everything about how and why I wrote it.
Admittedly it took me ten years to see why that was wise, and then twenty to be really clear about it, but hey that's time for you.

geraldew,
@geraldew@fosstodon.org avatar

@jhwgh1968 @mariatta which, to return to the sentiment of the original post, involves coding with a sense of kindness and generosity.

At least that's the kind of state of mind I like to have while coding.

I like to think this goes well with the idea that the code will be posted as Open Source - even when, or maybe especially because I don't know who, or if anyone will ever read it.

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