kate

kate, 2 months ago to random

The verb ‘to earn’ has two senses: the objective statement ‘to be paid’ and the ethical judgement ‘to deserve’. When people defend billionaires by saying “they earned their money” they’re confusing the two senses: no-one can deserve unimaginable luxury in a world where others can’t afford food or shelter.

kate, 3 months ago to random

Yes, the Enhanced Games are a terrible idea that would encourage athletes to recklessly endanger their health, but here’s the thing: current elite competitive sport is also a terrible idea that encourages athletes to recklessly endanger their health. For all the talk of a ‘level playing field’, elite sport has always involved the genetically blessed pushing their bodies to the verge of breaking. In many cases they push too far, resulting in career-ending injuries and sometimes even death.

kate, 3 months ago to random

This paragraph from Robert Macfarlane’s book The Old Ways is particularly meaningful for me, as it was in the vast landscapes of Skye and the Scottish highlands that I finally realised who I really am:

“For some time now it has seemed to me that the two questions we should ask of any strong landscape are these: firstly, what do I know when I am in this place that I can know nowhere else? And then, vainly, what does this place know of me that I cannot know of myself?”

kate, 3 months ago to random

Self portrait, ink on paper, 8cm by 8cm

kate, 3 months ago to random

I took this photo on the day I proposed to @Clare back in 2012. It was the fourth anniversary of the start of our relationship. She was working at a small organic farm at the time, and had the Saturday shift that week. I came along to help, and during the lunch break we saw this bloody-nosed beetle on the boardwalk of the farm’s nature trail. As we left for the day there was another good omen, as swifts screamed overhead for the first time that year.

kate, 3 months ago to random

#Introduction (January 2024 edition)

Hi, I’m Kate. I’m a 40-year-old software developer based in the south-west of England. I created my first website in 1998, and I’m best known for my National Grid: Live site at https://grid.iamkate.com. In my day job I’m the Development Director at https://itseeze.com, where in 2007 I created a content management system that’s now used by thousands of sites for organisations across the UK and Ireland.

kate, 3 months ago to random

Here’s a happy half-brick to brighten your day:

kate, 4 months ago to rust

Apparently around the time of the #Rust 2021 edition there was some discussion of making a specialised Termination impl for Error that makes use of its Display impl instead of Debug (see https://github.com/rust-lang/project-error-handling/issues/39) but it was suggested that this be deferred until the 2024 edition. Does anyone know if this is still being considered?

kate, 4 months ago (edited 4 months ago) to random

I’ve updated my historical (1751 to 2024) UK price conversion calculator with 2023’s inflation rate. Prices have doubled since 2005 and tripled since 1991: https://iamkate.com/data/uk-inflation/

kate, 4 months ago to random

Whenever I see a news article with an isometric illustration my first reaction is “I’d love to play that game”. In this case I’m imagining rushing to apply surreal repairs (plasters, rubber bands, duct tape) to a miniaturised rail network while the trains are still running on it.

kate, 4 months ago to random

It will be a few days before we get official confirmation from the National Grid, but I’m calling it now: 2023 was the year renewables overtook fossil fuels as the largest contributor to British electricity generation. In the 12 years I’ve been running National Grid: Live at https://grid.iamkate.com electricity generation from fossil fuels has fallen from an average of 25.1GW to 10.2GW, while renewables have risen from 2.5GW to 10.8GW.

Figures for 2023: Demand 29.6GW Fossil fuels 10.2GW Renewables 10.8GW Other sources 5.9GW Transfers 2.7GW

kate, 5 months ago to random

Gris is one of the most beautiful games I’ve ever played, with a world that starts off in greyscale but gradually becomes a riot of colour as Gris comes to terms with her grief. Platformers usually aren’t my kind of game, and this puzzle-platformer was at the limit of my abilities in the few time-limited sequences, but I’m so glad I persevered.

kate, 5 months ago to random

My niche skill is hand-coding SVG icons, but this afternoon’s project was more ambitious as it’s built almost entirely from Bézier curves. This is a new logo for my website: a letter K based on my signature but in the style of Proza (http://bureauroffa.com/about-proza), the typeface I used on my site. The SVG is 482 bytes in size.

kate, 5 months ago (edited 5 months ago) to random

Attention retro-computing people: I’m giving away my Amiga 1200. It was a Christmas gift from my parents in 1993 and after 30 years it’s still in working order (if a little discoloured). It’s still in its original Desktop Dynamite box with Workbench, Deluxe Paint, Wordworth, and the special Amiga Format issues. It’s been upgraded with a 400MB hard disk.

Edit: Wow, I didn’t think so many people would be interested in this! I’ve now offered it to one of the responders.

kate, 5 months ago to random

Spotify Wrapped, but for my day job:

👩🏻‍💻 You edited 2,697 files this year

✅ You added 53,194 lines of code

❎ You deleted 40,467 lines of code

🐘 The language you used most was PHP

🦀 The language you enjoyed most was Rust

✉️ You sent 479 e-mails

🎟️ You handled 382 support tickets

📅 You attended 81 scheduled meetings

kate, 5 months ago to random

Millions of roast potatoes will be eaten over the next week, but far too many will be soggy, stodgy lumps. Here are my six steps to roast potato perfection: https://coastalvegans.com/2017/12/23/six-steps-to-roast-potato-perfection/