bugsmith's recent activity

  1. Comment on Do you keep a diary? in ~talk

    bugsmith
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    I wanted to write more, as a habit. My first idea was to start a blog, but then I constantly find excuses not to write. "I have nothing interesting to share.", "I'm not an interesting person",...

    I wanted to write more, as a habit. My first idea was to start a blog, but then I constantly find excuses not to write. "I have nothing interesting to share.", "I'm not an interesting person", "Nobody will visit your blog", etc. True or not, these excuses prevented me from writing consistently.

    And so, I started a journaling habit. I write using Obsidian and make an entry every day in my daily note. Occasionally I slip, but I apply the "two day rule", and never miss writing in it twice in a row. Sometimes I write about how little I have to talk about because my day was uninteresting. Sometimes I write about something I learned. I love to write about something new I learned about someone, which is great for future reference too.

    I've been doing this since January of this year. I've made an entry almost every day, but interestingly (or not!) have never once read an entry back!

    4 votes

  2. Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books

    bugsmith
    Link
    Dungeon Crawler Carl. I've not long finished Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky, which was phenomenal but quite heavy. Ahead of picking up it's sequel, I wanted something light and fun. DCC,...

    Dungeon Crawler Carl.

    I've not long finished Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky, which was phenomenal but quite heavy. Ahead of picking up it's sequel, I wanted something light and fun.

    DCC, so far, is absolutely hitting the mark on that account. It's silly, it's light and it's extremely fun. Tonnes of pop culture references, and just an absolute slew of nerd-culture references. I'm about two thirds of the way through the first book and will almost certainly pick up the second and read that before moving on to something else.

    5 votes

  3. Comment on What have you been watching / reading this week? (Anime/Manga) in ~anime

    bugsmith
    Link Parent
    I think your retort is enough to convince me to at least continue up to the arc in question and make up my own mind. Really appreciate it :)

    I think your retort is enough to convince me to at least continue up to the arc in question and make up my own mind. Really appreciate it :)

    2 votes

  4. Comment on What have you been watching / reading this week? (Anime/Manga) in ~anime

    bugsmith
    Link Parent
    I don't know whether I'm disappointed or relieved to have stumbled upon this. I've just started Frieren and was immediately impressed by the different feel it has. I'm probably just going to drop...

    I don't know whether I'm disappointed or relieved to have stumbled upon this. I've just started Frieren and was immediately impressed by the different feel it has. I'm probably just going to drop it now rather than let myself get more sucked in, just to have it change like that.

    1 vote

  5. Comment on What have you been watching / reading this week? (Anime/Manga) in ~anime

    bugsmith
    Link Parent
    So that is how I consume almost all videos on YouTube, but I've always avoided doing so with TV shows and movies. Mostly because I fear that I'm fueling my already concerningly short attention span...

    So that is how I consume almost all videos on YouTube, but I've always avoided doing so with TV shows and movies. Mostly because I fear that I'm fueling my already concerningly short attention span...

    1 vote

  6. Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp

    bugsmith
    Link Parent
    Thanks for the link and explanation. I only asked about APIs as that seems to be something that's becoming popular with UK targetted tools at the moment, made much easier by Open Banking. But most...

    Thanks for the link and explanation.

    I only asked about APIs as that seems to be something that's becoming popular with UK targetted tools at the moment, made much easier by Open Banking. But most of all, we have modern "challenger" banks, which are as much tech companies as they are finance, and provide excellent APIs for balance checkings and creating transactions, etc, that I could imagine being integrated effectively into a payment splitting application.

    1 vote

  7. Comment on What have you been watching / reading this week? (Anime/Manga) in ~anime

    bugsmith
    Link
    I go through phases of watching no anime at all, and watching anime pretty intensely. I really struggle with watching ongoing series, because I hate waiting a week between episodes. Typically, I...

    I go through phases of watching no anime at all, and watching anime pretty intensely. I really struggle with watching ongoing series, because I hate waiting a week between episodes. Typically, I just let a series near the end of a season and binge it all over a weekend or two. But I found myself pulled toward Kaiju No 8 and I absolutely love it. It's far from my typical taste in anime, but something about it just captivates me.

    As I'm putting myself through the loathful process of waiting a week between episodes, I'm also watching Monster for the first time. It's something I've put off for years, because every time I've tried , the pace has just bored me to the point of tapping out an episode or two in. This time I've made it 10 episodes in and I'm hooked. It's a very non-anime, anime. It could have been a live action series and work just as well. But the story is gripping. But the pace is still a little too slow if I'm completely honest.

    4 votes

  8. Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp

  9. Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp

    bugsmith
    Link Parent
    What does that entail? This sounds really interesting. Will you be integrating any banking provider APIs?

    I spent some work ensuring my database schema is normalized

    What does that entail?

    This sounds really interesting. Will you be integrating any banking provider APIs?

    1 vote

  10. Comment on Do you use an RSS reader? in ~tech

    bugsmith
    Link Parent
    Hi, fellow FreshRSS user! How do you organize your feeds? Any FreshRSS specific wisdom you have to share?

    Hi, fellow FreshRSS user!
    How do you organize your feeds? Any FreshRSS specific wisdom you have to share?

    2 votes

  11. Comment on Do you use an RSS reader? in ~tech

    bugsmith
    Link
    Yes. I self-host FreshRSS and use it to subscribe to blogs I enjoy (mostly programming related), release notes for software and programming languages I like, small subreddits I follow and a few...

    Yes.

    I self-host FreshRSS and use it to subscribe to blogs I enjoy (mostly programming related), release notes for software and programming languages I like, small subreddits I follow and a few other small things.

    I've never used Twitter much, as I've never really "got it". I think I'd have liked old Twitter if I'd made a fresh account and only followed creators I wanted to hear updates and thoughts from.

    2 votes

  12. Comment on Lana Del Rey says her Bond theme was turned down in ~movies

    bugsmith
    Link
    Having heard Spectre by Radiohead for the first time thanks to the thread (thanks u/cfabbro for the links!), I am in awe of how someone decided to go witht he Sam Smith track over that. Wow. What...

    Having heard Spectre by Radiohead for the first time thanks to the thread (thanks u/cfabbro for the links!), I am in awe of how someone decided to go witht he Sam Smith track over that. Wow. What a song!

    2 votes

  13. Comment on Book recommendations, specifically in ~books

    bugsmith
    Link Parent
    Thank you. I've not come across that one. I really appreciate you not giving away any spoilers. I think your short description is plenty for me to know that I'll probably enjoy it.

    Thank you. I've not come across that one. I really appreciate you not giving away any spoilers. I think your short description is plenty for me to know that I'll probably enjoy it.

    1 vote

  14. Comment on Book recommendations, specifically in ~books

    bugsmith
    Link
    I would like recommendations for books that explore the idea of timeloops. Either people stuck in a daily timeloop (think Groundhog Day, Palm Springs) or a longer timeloop, such as constantly...

    I would like recommendations for books that explore the idea of timeloops. Either people stuck in a daily timeloop (think Groundhog Day, Palm Springs) or a longer timeloop, such as constantly being reborn into the the same loop on death.

    So far, I have really enjoyed these books:

    The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North

    As Harry nears the end of his eleventh life, a little girl appears at his bedside. "I nearly missed you, Doctor August," she says. "I need to send a message." This is the story of what Harry does next, and what he did before, and how he tries to save a past he cannot change and a future he cannot allow.

    Replay by Ken Grimwood

    Jeff Winston was 43 and trapped in a tepid marriage and a dead-end job, waiting for that time when he could be truly happy, when he died.

    And when he woke and he was 18 again, with all his memories of the next 25 years intact. He could live his life again, avoiding the mistakes, making money from his knowledge of the future, seeking happiness.

    Until he dies at 43 and wakes up back in college again...

    3 votes

  15. Comment on What Is A Secure Note-Taking App? in ~comp

    bugsmith
    Link Parent
    This is exactly what I do. One of my devices happens to be a VPS I run a few services on, and with that I get my "always-on, in the cloud" syncing service.

    This is exactly what I do. One of my devices happens to be a VPS I run a few services on, and with that I get my "always-on, in the cloud" syncing service.

  16. Comment on RSS users - how do you use, organize and maximize your enjoyment of RSS? in ~tech

    bugsmith
    Link Parent
    No problem at all. Thanks for letting me know.

    No problem at all. Thanks for letting me know.

    1 vote

  17. Comment on Which book is the best introduction to your field of expertise, for a lay person? in ~books

    bugsmith
    Link Parent
    I can vouch for this one. Truly an excellent book, and shockingly so for it to be free. I'd recommend this to anyone picking up JavaScript.

    I can vouch for this one. Truly an excellent book, and shockingly so for it to be free. I'd recommend this to anyone picking up JavaScript.

    2 votes

  18. Comment on Which book is the best introduction to your field of expertise, for a lay person? in ~books

    bugsmith
    Link
    "The Phoenix Project" by Gene Kim, Kevin Behr, and George Spafford is a fantastic introduction for anyone curious about the field of DevOps and its impact on IT and business practices. While the...

    "The Phoenix Project" by Gene Kim, Kevin Behr, and George Spafford is a fantastic introduction for anyone curious about the field of DevOps and its impact on IT and business practices. While the book is presented in a novel format, it provides a narrative that illustrates the principles of DevOps in an accessible and relatable way.

    It uses the story of an IT manager tasked with rescuing a critical project to bring DevOps concepts to life. The reader follows the protagonist as he encounters the challenges of traditional IT environments and learns through experience how the adoption of DevOps principles.

    While informative, it is not a technical manual. It simplifies some concepts in order to make the story more digestible to readers who may not have a deep background in tech. They did release a technical manual of sorts as a companion book (or rather, this is the companion book)

    Note that the book was published in 2013, the concept of DevOps has evolved, forked and warped in many ways since then.

    13 votes

  19. Comment on Which book is the best introduction to your field of expertise, for a lay person? in ~books

    bugsmith
    Link
    Now, it is hardly my field of expertise, but certainly something in the spirit of this topic: Fermentation. It's something I became mildly obsessed with during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, and...

    Now, it is hardly my field of expertise, but certainly something in the spirit of this topic: Fermentation. It's something I became mildly obsessed with during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, and I've not shaken it off yet. I like experimenting with all kinds of fermentation, such as:

    • Ginger Beer
    • Yoghurt
    • Sourdough
    • All kinds of fermented vegetables and fruits
    • Sauerkraut
    • Kimchi
    • Hot sauce

    And without a doubt, the best introduction to this topic that I've ever come across (often known as the Fermentation bible in certain crowds) is "The Art of Fermentation" by Sandor Katz.

    It's a comprehensive guide to fermentation that covers concepts, processes and science behind how fermentation works. Anybody can pick up this book, and by the time they have finished it (assuming they fermented a thing or two along the way) they will have a solid foundation and be well-prepared to fall further down the rabbit hole.

    14 votes