ResidueOfSanity's recent activity
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Comment on Sweden's employment agency has been tracking the online locations of thousands of citizens claiming unemployment benefits in an effort to crack down on welfare fraud in ~tech
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Comment on What is a business/org that's so terrible no one should use if possible? in ~life
ResidueOfSanity Link ParentI've worked with, or been a customer of, almost every one of the UK high street banks and incompetence is kind of standard across the industry. Personally I've switched to using "challenger" banks...I've worked with, or been a customer of, almost every one of the UK high street banks and incompetence is kind of standard across the industry.
Personally I've switched to using "challenger" banks wherever possible, for over 5 years now and it's been comparatively great. My general rule is if they have a physical branch somewhere they are to be avoided if possible.
Anecdotally my partner and I both opened new current accounts at the same time a few years back. She went with Nationwide as there is a branch within 10mins walk of our house. I went with Starling, who don't have branches at all. My account was open in about 30mins, fully security cleared and active within 8 hours and my physical cards arrived in the post within 48 hours. I took Nationwide over 10 days and multiple physical visits to do the same.
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Comment on Weekly thread for casual chat and photos of pets in ~life.pets
ResidueOfSanity LinkBusiness Issues . Looking hopeful that I may be carrying a meaty snack.Business Issues . Looking hopeful that I may be carrying a meaty snack.
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Comment on Fitness Weekly Discussion in ~health
ResidueOfSanity LinkAfter a decade of not being able to run, due to severe acid reflux, I've been able to start on a treadmill again after some general health improvements and management technique changes. And 4...After a decade of not being able to run, due to severe acid reflux, I've been able to start on a treadmill again after some general health improvements and management technique changes.
And 4 (short) runs in I've torn something in my right calf.
Oh well, I guess I'll be taking it easy for a while and working my way back up to it.
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Comment on Victories and challenges: An A[u]DHD community and support fortnightly thread #6 in ~health.mental
ResidueOfSanity LinkBizarrely work is something of a refuge at the moment, I'm involved in lots of interesting things (if occasionally frustrating) and its providing a distraction from near constant back-pain and the...Bizarrely work is something of a refuge at the moment, I'm involved in lots of interesting things (if occasionally frustrating) and its providing a distraction from near constant back-pain and the ever worsening political situation in the UK.
Trying to stay motivated to exercise daily and finding it something of a struggle. In the long term it will help my back problems, and general health, in the short term trying to get started exercising when you are in pain is not easy. Currently managing to do some exercise every day, even if it is small, to just keep the momentum going.
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Comment on What's your current PC wallpaper? in ~tech
ResidueOfSanity LinkThe Ubuntu default wallpaper, I rarely see the desktop so I've given up on my old galleries of images.The Ubuntu default wallpaper, I rarely see the desktop so I've given up on my old galleries of images.
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Comment on How can England possibly be running out of water? in ~enviro
ResidueOfSanity Link ParentYou are correct, and the UK has certainly had its share of poorly run public institutions in the past, however much of the mass-privatisation since the 80s was done for ideological reasons (and to...You are correct, and the UK has certainly had its share of poorly run public institutions in the past, however much of the mass-privatisation since the 80s was done for ideological reasons (and to enrich certain people .. allegedly) rather than because there were good business cases for the operations being privitised or any specific problem being "solved". In many cases it was also wildly unpopular.
In the specific case of the water utilities there is no competition, or possibility of competition being created, it was just handing monopolies over to private business.
In the specific case of Thames Water, which supplies my home, they have managed to bankrupt themselves while also failing to invest in infrastructure and the public are not happy. They are crying out that they need to heavily increase bills, well beyond the increases they are legally allowed, to fund tens of billion of urgently needed investment and additionally they have over £15 billion of debt. Inevitably questions have been asked about where on earth all the money has gone and it turns out over the last decade they have paid out tens of billions in share dividends (and hundreds of millions in bonuses to executives), while taking on dept and cutting infrastructure investment.
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Comment on How do you manage separate development environments on your computer? in ~tech
ResidueOfSanity LinkAt my company I develop the "full stack", including what is usually covered by sysadmin & devops, which means jumping between languages and language versions constantly. My general rule is to not...At my company I develop the "full stack", including what is usually covered by sysadmin & devops, which means jumping between languages and language versions constantly.
My general rule is to not even have the runtime, let alone the tool chain and dev environment, for any language installed on my workstation and do everything in docker.
I've got various editors installed and chrome/Firefox/etc but with everything else being in docker switching project is very fast as is switching desktop to laptop and similar.
I've been running this way for well over 5 years and I'm yet to find a significant drawback to the approach, for my way of working at least.
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Comment on How my life changed with ADHD medication in ~life
ResidueOfSanity LinkI was diagnosed with ADHD, inattentive sub-type (what used to be called ADD), two years ago at the grand old age of 41. I was offered medication at the time, but decided not to go ahead until...I was diagnosed with ADHD, inattentive sub-type (what used to be called ADD), two years ago at the grand old age of 41.
I was offered medication at the time, but decided not to go ahead until recently as I wanted time to learn more about it and basically think over my current and past life with the new knowledge about how my brain works to put it all in context.
Decided to start the medication process earlier this year, mostly as I wanted to see if treating my ADHD would allow me to get off one or more of my other medications. Being in the UK the process appears to be a bit different from the process described by Americans that I've seen much of online. I was started on a very low dose of Methylphenidate (Ritalin), and gradually stepped up each month after having plenty of time to adapt to any side-effects.
First few months the dose was low enough for any effect to hard to distinguish, some headaches but otherwise minimal side-effects.
Once I got up to ~30mg/day (now on 40mg/day, likely the dose for the foreseeable) the effects became very noticeable, mostly:
- sleep; this was a huge surprise, particularly as its a stimulant and NOT being able to sleep is a side-effect. I can now look back and realise I've not had more than a handful of "good" nights sleep in almost 30 years! I'm now getting to sleep quickly, sleeping deeply and waking up feeling rested. I can actually function in the mornings, and am apparently considerably less grumpy! I suspect for my long-term health this is going one of the most important changes.
- mental clarity; the noise level in my head being drastically reduced, I don't feel like I've "lost" too much of my ability to multi-task but I think I'm generally doing a better job staying on-task without having to exert a huge mental effort to do so
- anxiety/stress reduction; I've been on blood pressure drugs for years and drugs to reduce me clenching my teeth in my sleep, it took me a long time to realize a lot of the need for those was likely rooted in anxiety and stress. Its looking likely I'll be able to stop at least one of my regular drugs in the next few weeks and my blood pressure appears to be reducing slowly so hopefully more soon
- emotional stability; I think I'm a bit more "level" generally, likely a lot of this comes out of the "good sleep" but I suspect there is a direct effect also. I think my mood is generally a bit lighter and less low periods.
Has it all been positive? Kinda of yes, kind of no. But even most of the "bad" bits are likely a positive in the long-term.
In terms of the expected side-effects I've had some mild headaches and a frequently get a "tingling" on my tongue, but that is about it.
One of the big short-term painful, but long-term likely very good, elements has been realising how long I've been able to mentally skip-away from distressing/painful thoughts and not dealt emotionally with some things that have been bothering me for a long time. Now that my unconscious ability to change the subject until I'm no longer thinking about what is distressing has been stymied some stuff has been "bubbling up" to the surface. This has not been pleasant to deal with, but now that I have the "clarity" of thought to actually sit and work through my feelings properly I'm increasingly certain its going to be a strong-positive in the long-term. And certainly good for my blood pressure.
To get ahead of the inevitable NHS questions, so far I've done the whole process privately. Going via the NHS was likely to be a fairly extended process, one I may have had trouble sticking with as somebody with ADHD. Going private allowed me to accelerate the process considerably since I'm lucky enough to be able to afford it. Now that my medication has been stabilised there will be a treatment plan handover to the NHS in a few weeks time, and my medication supply will switch to NHS supplied so I don't have to pay for private prescriptions any more.
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Comment on Hi, how are you? Mental health support and discussion thread (May 2025) in ~health.mental
ResidueOfSanity LinkBit of rough day today (and night last night with it looping around in my head); had to have a very unpleasant conversation with my mother where I had to tell her some of the things she has been...Bit of rough day today (and night last night with it looping around in my head); had to have a very unpleasant conversation with my mother where I had to tell her some of the things she has been saying have crossed the line from "she old and set in her ways, let it go" to "this in unacceptable bigotry and you should know better".
We had been planning on hosting some gatherings in my garden over the summer, since they don't have a garden in their retirement place, that I wasn't comfortable doing that any more. And upset enough with her that don't want to see them at all right now.
Shes freaking out and expressing shock/surprise and I'm trying to avoid shouting that if they are surprised I'm upset then they have not been paying attention to what I'm saying for a long time.
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Comment on All four major web browsers are about to lose 80% of their funding in ~tech
ResidueOfSanity Link ParentI was working in webdev in this era and for the most part if you developed for "anything but IE" your results were fairly solid in everything but IE as most features in most browsers followed...Peak web was when IE, Firefox, and Chrome all had a significant enough marketshare that most needed to fix breakage across all of them.
I was working in webdev in this era and for the most part if you developed for "anything but IE" your results were fairly solid in everything but IE as most features in most browsers followed standards and carefully documented where they had "extended" past the standards.
Then you had to build a load of quirks/bodge files to fix each version of IE that was still in use, which was always painful and multiplied for more versions you tried to support. There was always a tendency for management to fight against this approach but in my experience it was always significantly less work in the long run.
The lazy approach, that a lot of organisation took, was to develop IE-first as they had majority market share and then usually not bother to complete the compatibility work for the other browsers afterwards. Beyond frantic patching when they inevitably found (after launch) a bunch of their stakeholders or power users were on Macs.
I'm not directly involved in frontend much these days, but I'm involved enough to know there is surprisingly little in the way of cross-browser bodges needed these days for the vast majority of cases.
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Comment on What's an atypical thing you do that you'd recommend to others? in ~talk
ResidueOfSanity Link ParentI sort of do this, if you substitute "a proper breakfast" with "a proper espresso". I don't eat before midday, so my breakfast routine was non-existent. Making myself a "proper" coffee first thing...I sort of do this, if you substitute "a proper breakfast" with "a proper espresso".
I don't eat before midday, so my breakfast routine was non-existent. Making myself a "proper" coffee first thing in the morning means I'm forced to spend at least a few minutes of "slow" time and I get to start my morning with something that tastes nice.
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Comment on [SOLVED] LG C4 TV annoying brightness changes in ~tech
ResidueOfSanity Link ParentTV manufactures universally suck at software and ongoing maintenance (if they do any at all). Any "smart" TV should be expected to be a dumb panel within a few years as the lack of updates mean...TV manufactures universally suck at software and ongoing maintenance (if they do any at all).
Any "smart" TV should be expected to be a dumb panel within a few years as the lack of updates mean the various online services gradually stop working.
If I could just buy a "dumb panel" I would, when I bought my last TV (Samsung) I decided to at least try the native apps ... I managed to crash my TV 3 times in the first day and just switched back to external devices.
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Comment on Server admins, PHP/Symfony experts: I need your guidance in ~comp
ResidueOfSanity Link Parentthe above is the solution to this; docker has a bit of a steep curve to get started on and get your head around but it will allow you to permanently decouple the OS version from the application...However, I am terrified of upgrading PHP in the current (outdated) Ubuntu environment.
the above is the solution to this; docker has a bit of a steep curve to get started on and get your head around but it will allow you to permanently decouple the OS version from the application version(s).
I've got Ubuntu VMs running containers with a mix of Ubuntu/CentOS/Alpine/Debian/other OS based containers and never have to worry about finding packages for the base VM that docker is running on.
If you are likely to be sticking with a single VM for running the application in production then is it totally acceptable to use a docker compose setup with host mode networking to keep everything as simple as possible. For a basic symfony application you may end up with as little as three containers, one for the PHP application, one for nginx/apache and one for MySQL, likely building the PHP one and official container images unchanged for the others.
Once you have the application running as a docker container it becomes, relatively, easy to change how is it hosted and make moving onto fancy modern things like kubernates, container engine, etc as far smaller jump.
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Comment on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS is reaching end of standard support soon: April 2025. Plan to upgrade soon! in ~tech
ResidueOfSanity Link ParentGenerally solid, on server level I just remove snap support totally and problem solved. On desktop I've only got one or two apps running in snaps, they mostly just work. If they ever start to...Generally solid, on server level I just remove snap support totally and problem solved.
On desktop I've only got one or two apps running in snaps, they mostly just work. If they ever start to cause me significant problems I'll probably remove snap support on desktop also and either switch to flatpaks or find a repo for a .deb edition.
For the most part Ubuntu "just works" out of the box on most PC hardware, which is generally what I want out of an OS.
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Comment on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS is reaching end of standard support soon: April 2025. Plan to upgrade soon! in ~tech
ResidueOfSanity Link ParentMy work used CentOS on servers and Ubuntu on laptops until CentOS 7, now it is mostly Ubuntu with a few Debian for specific use-cases and Proxmox on bare-metal. I see lots of people talking about...My work used CentOS on servers and Ubuntu on laptops until CentOS 7, now it is mostly Ubuntu with a few Debian for specific use-cases and Proxmox on bare-metal.
I see lots of people talking about upgrades, generally we would replace a VM with a new version installed on a newer release rather than upgrade. Most of our VMs are either running a single appliance or a dockerised (or kubernetes) workload and are based on a common template, so usually not too heavy a task.
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Comment on Is there a model of computer mouse that will let you easily open it up to clean it OR in ~tech
ResidueOfSanity LinkThere is always the ploopy mouse as an option. but as others have asked; do you really need that as a feature? For the vast majority of users the need to clean a mouse is a very rare event, if...There is always the ploopy mouse as an option.
but as others have asked; do you really need that as a feature? For the vast majority of users the need to clean a mouse is a very rare event, if ever.
Personally I'd prefer a trackpad on a KVM setup, no moving parts and nowhere for dust to ingress.
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Comment on Thousands of Americans see their savings vanish in Synapse fintech crisis in ~finance
ResidueOfSanity Link ParentIt looks like it is partially launched now and tightly integrated with the existing spaces feature. I can create a new "space" as a savings account now. For some reason I've only got fixed type...It looks like it is partially launched now and tightly integrated with the existing spaces feature.
I can create a new "space" as a savings account now. For some reason I've only got fixed type available right now, but apparently easy/flexible should be a thing.
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Comment on Thousands of Americans see their savings vanish in Synapse fintech crisis in ~finance
ResidueOfSanity Link ParentI'm a Starling customer and I'll be waiting for the savings accounts to launch before I call it a "bad" thing. I've always been surprised by how high a rate you could earn on their current...I'm a Starling customer and I'll be waiting for the savings accounts to launch before I call it a "bad" thing.
I've always been surprised by how high a rate you could earn on their current accounts and wasn't shocked that it is going away once they have proper savings accounts. I'm 99% sure they will give us the "spaces" feature, or something that does basically the same thing, on the new savings accounts.
Having been either a customer of or worked with basically every bank (older than 20 years or so) in the UK at some point I still consider them by far the best. Or least bad.
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Comment on Should I go for a fun convertible I can drive every day to work, or a classic weekender? in ~hobbies
ResidueOfSanity Link ParentHeh, I forget automatic 124 & MX-5's exist!Heh, I forget automatic 124 & MX-5's exist!
Geolocation by IP isn't reliable at all using off the shelf solutions, as I know all too well from clients asking me to implement it on their applications.
If the agency spent a serious amount of time/effort/ money they might be able to get reliable results, but you can be sure the reason they reached for this approach is somebody sold it as the cheap and quick solution.