geraldew

Data analyst and programmer: SQL (in my sleep), Pascal (in my head), Python (in development), VBA & MS Access (for my sins). Interested in mathematics and computing theory & FOSS.

Public Key

npub1vzg8hxwnpajwfvfxhxswxtjy5tv0z2lepf8nqkltpj7lyc5vk0ese0jtzu

NIP-05 Address

geraldew_at_fosstodon.org@mostr.pub

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsxpyrmn8fs7e8ykyntng8r9ez29k8390us5nest04se00jv2xt8ucpzemhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumn0wd68ytnzv9hxg7n4ju7

Publishing to

relay.nostr.band

Author Public Key

npub1vzg8hxwnpajwfvfxhxswxtjy5tv0z2lepf8nqkltpj7lyc5vk0ese0jtzu

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Last Notes

2025-06-21 01:08:35

An FYI for Australians seeing this "news" item from the ABC
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-06-21/google-apple-facebook-passwords-caught-in-cyber-breach/105445072
Perhaps read this one as well.
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/no-the-16-billion-credentials-leak-is-not-a-new-data-breach/
For context, someone had alerted me to a Forbes article about this yesterday but it struck me as dubious.
Time will tell as reality gets sorted out, but disappointing to see such lax reposting by the ABC.

2025-05-14 15:45:04

Ah: Perth, Western Australia. A city with so much historical integrity and a rich visual delight from all angles.
Nah, just kidding; here's two example new buildings right where the city meets the majestic Swan river at Elizabeth Quay.
Such rectangular boxes tell you all you need to know about the architectural vision here - i.e. none at all.
https://cdn.fosstodon.org/media_attachments/files/114/506/929/133/231/812/original/85f3cbceac1851e6.jpg

2025-05-10 11:04:29

Recent family IT support activity:
- fix an obscure bug/issue in Thunderbird on Windows 8.1
- show relative how to edit the list of payees in their online bank (different bank to mine) (no actually I just did it for them and told them how I did it) (but you guessed that right?)
- fix their inkjet printer having paper feed problems ... by lying on the floor with the printer upside down on a chair above me so I could coax out the pen that they'd dropped inside of it.

2025-04-20 05:38:01

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@nprofile…s6x2 it's the word "portable" there that got my attention!
When I was routinely using microfiche readers they were quite large. The trickiest part was how the mechanism allowed for manipulation of the microfiche in both broad movement and finely positioned.
So how does a small device provide such variable precision?
Also, some had printers but I have zero recollection of what their technology was.

2025-04-14 14:15:10

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@nprofile…23jl look at page 236, it clearly shows the title is "Gardens to Feed Our Spacemen"

2025-03-12 07:48:15

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@nprofile…d2rl
I asked the house librarian for their resources. Will abbreviate into a thread. Some do free email newsletters
First section: General & Discounts
https://www.eventbrite.com/ (choose city and categories)
https://www.broadsheet.com.au/melbourne
https://whatson.melbourne.vic.gov.au/
https://halftixmelbourne.com/
https://www.timeout.com/melbourne
https://www.weekendnotes.com/melbourne/
https://www.theurbanlist.com/melbourne
https://www.promotix.com.au/event?state=VIC (reduced priced comedy, music, film, etc. has lots of comedy for the festival)

2024-12-23 01:57:27

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@nprofile…p3jt a key word in there is "aesthetics" because it is only occasionally that I see anything useful written about actual functionality differences between various GUI approaches and toolkits.
As creator of one application I initially just used the default GUI library of the language, expecting to change later to something else.
But every time I investigate an alternative I give up after swimming through a pool littered with aesthetics instead of practical features.

2024-12-16 11:32:00

A quick Mastodon usage tip.
If you're scrolling along and see a post that - for any reason whatever - you suspect you might want to find again, bookmark it right then.
It's taken me ages to realise this is the best thing to do, even if you never come back to it.
This is because Mastodon - via web or an app - is quite poor at letting you later search your own feed for "that thing I saw".
But it will be in your bookmark list - at least long enough - most of the time.
#Mastodon #mastotip

2024-12-13 01:33:16

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@nprofile…795r works well on mobile.
Only flaw I found is that on the About page, the items after "They include:" were too small to make sense of without zooming. Maybe have text to go with them?

2024-11-10 12:19:14

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@npub14zv…gvhs @npub1m8f…yyjx @npub1886…pzzz Well that will certainly be something for me to note.
I found it tricky enough to write code to do foolproof Unicode handling in generating bash scripts as a possible outcome of my file and folder tool.
If I ever want to have it generate Perl scripts then I will need to be aware of how to do that properly, and how that is distinct.
In my case that's only about file and folder names, not their contents.
Thanks for sharing.

2024-11-09 11:30:56

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@npub14zv…gvhs FWIW I'd probably be interested in the detail of this.
I've spent part of my week tackling complexities brought on by features I wrote into my program intended to deal with encoding differences across file systems.
It seems it's always a nasty business to sort out.

2024-08-06 03:03:24

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@npub1mjj…h2pr FWIW Ubuntu also doesn't include Tkinter by default even though Python is. I'll guess that is therefore also true of Debian.

2024-08-06 03:03:24

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@npub1mjj…h2pr FWIW Ubuntu also doesn't include Tkinter by default even though Python is. I'll guess that is therefore also true of Debian.

2024-03-04 09:09:46

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@npub17td…apfk 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.

2024-01-21 06:42:19

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@npub19st…u9g9 certainly not "slowed down a lot" for me.
But, I quite consciously found enough follows to give me a consistent feed, from around the timezones, so that's for any time of day.
I deliberately prefer accounts that post rather than boost. I only follow a few hashtags and add follows from that.
I think that means I'm in quite a different culture to the other place, of people who also like it here.
I suspect people who want or need an algorithmic feed have left or become inactive.

2024-01-08 12:03:08

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@npub1x4m…tvht to quote: For the last 30 years, businesses and proponents of Open Source, including Linus Torvalds, have been decrying the GPL because of the essential right of "doing business" aka "privatising the common".
That's simply false.
Linus Torvalds quite consciously chose to use the GPL2 for the Linux kernel in early 1992, see:
https://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2016/08/23/linus-torvalds-early-linux-history-gpl-license-money
And in 2016 he was very clear that this had been a crucial choice - two example quote references:
https://www.infoworld.com/article/3112778/linus-torvalds-credits-gpl-with-preventing-linux-fragmentation.html
https://iwf1.com/linus-torvalds-linux-succeeded-thanks-to-gpl-license

2023-10-27 01:40:44

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@npub1z24…mvj9 gosh don't remember that bit. Not sure if I still have my copies of that trilogy, will have to look. Still remember the sequence of climbing the tower of sideways trees.

2023-10-26 02:00:51

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@npub1z24…mvj9 Cap Sante Park?

2023-10-21 23:51:09

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@npub1z24…mvj9 ok this is weird. I was going to chip in with "But, but.. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle_(song) "
But when I went to check that was the right reference I don't recognise the title of the TV series for which that was the theme music.
I have a strong memory of a show with that theme and that it was how I knew that there was a Washington state distinct from the USA capital. Maybe it was re-titled for Australia et al, but I can't recall it nor find any evidence.

2023-10-20 03:00:40

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@npub1z24…mvj9 @npub1e80…mtys time for arvo coffee break and ... you made me do it!
https://www.chrisfossart.com/2012/01/foundation-and-empire/
Bingo!

2023-10-20 01:22:18

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@npub1z24…mvj9 @npub1e80…mtys ... must do work and not go looking up Chris Foss and the covers of the Foundation trilogy paperbacks I used to have...

2023-10-01 12:08:44

Questions for people who write programs that they themselves use:
- for a program that you still use at least once a week, how long ago did you start writing it?
- do you still modify it occasionally?
I guess I'd draw the line at a continuous edit history for the source code, but really, just say if you think something else qualifies from your perspective. Maybe a change of language (and/or of its version) somewhere along the way was just a big edit.
#programming #coding

2023-09-09 23:23:38

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@npub1z24…mvj9 ah, so that's what it's like up there! Didn't go up when I was in Seattle (checks calendar) in 2017.
Cliff (and similar) edges freak me out, so I don't go up things if I can't be sure of being thoroughly enclosed.
But we did go to the Chihuly Garden and Glass gallery nearby.

2023-08-01 11:19:22

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@npub1zj4…fyjh or maybe "outs" them?

2023-07-08 05:01:50

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@npub1f6a…pnql my open question is how dependent that method is on all usages - both building and importing - being for having quite current versions of Python running.
Every time I read about changes to the packaging approaches, the "depends on Python X.YZ" seems to be left unsaid.
Maybe there's no such dependency but with nothing said I don't feel I can trust to that.

2023-04-30 05:37:17

One of the things I learnt many years ago is that you usually can't fight battles about how people "should" use words/terms.
By the time you feel a need to argue, with "should", the majority have already adopted a usage that you simply won't shift. Wishing I'm wrong about that won't change the fact.
Instead you can write clearly about concepts, as those are what's important anyway. You can adapt the words you use as language changes - and in the tech domain, language certainly evolves.