OAKLAND WE DID IT!!!! 🏆

I should probably blog the details, but it turns out that checking if a user is a member of a group on GCP is incredibly convoluted. You'd think there would just be an API for this, but GCP and Google Workspace do not play well together at all.

I love the implication that before Pac-Man, enemy movements in video games were entirely controlled by humans.

TIL the term "portmanteau" for a word mashup was coined by Lewis Carroll.

Sometimes you sort of forget you live in one of the world's great cities, and then you go out to a show that happens to be right next to Tower Bridge

I found Godzilla's favorite restaurant in London

@ahl.bsky.social I don’t know if you intentionally didn’t insert the chime on the one reference to a past episode where Bryan said to, but it was hilarious either way.

This probably isn't news to anyone, but Ursula K. Le Guin is a tremendous author. The idea that she published A Wizard of Earthsea and The Left Hand of Darkness in consecutive years is mind blowing.

I also think, like so many things in life, there’s no universal right answer. Some people prefer in-office work at least some of the time (I’m one of them), some prefer fully remote. The ideal state is to have a company and employees that all prefer the same thing.

I will never get over how much Southern’s stations sound like someone made up fake English towns for fun. We’re on the train to Dorking, including stops at Sutton, Cheam, Leatherhead, Hackbridge, and Boxhill & Westhumble.

The town of Colma, CA is mainly composed of cemeteries for nearby San Francisco. It has about 1500 residents and 1.5 million dead. Its motto: “It’s great to be alive in Colma”

We’re in the US visiting family and I’m horrified to discover that it now feels weird to have the light switches inside the bathroom.

Today I managed an incredible feat: I played a 3-player game of Monopoly to its ultimate conclusion within 90 minutes.

I was today years old when I put together that Tom Lehrer’s The Elements is to the tune of The Major-General’s Song from Pirates of Penzance.

When writing documentation, I think people underestimate the value of a giant red arrow pointing at something. I use them constantly, they’re great.

Age yourself with the first computer you used. (I don’t know that it was exactly one of these, Packard-Bell made a number of different models. Definitely had a 3.5” floppy drive, though.)

@bcantrill.bsky.social Your early TUI story was eerily similar to mine. I wrote a program in BASIC for my 386 that ran on boot and gave a menu of different system configurations so I could avoid loading some TSRs if I was going to play memory-intensive games.

Yesterday I learned that Holy Names University in Oakland — where I did a number of summer camps — closed down last year. Today I learned that one of the members of the House of Lords went there. It's a small world.

My last two interviews I’ve signed off with “Talk to you later!”

Our local cafe was having a special dish today and so we preordered it earlier in the week. When we went to pick it up, we realized that we hadn't ever given them a name when we ordered. We looked at their list and saw that our order had been recorded under "The American Family".

I don’t remember everything we read, it was 25+ things across high school. By far the one I hated the most was The Catcher in the Rye. I don’t know if I’d get it more now, but at 15 I thought Holden Caulfield was an obnoxious loser and deserved everything that happened to him.

Here's my write up on the experience of using Elixir for this year's #AdventOfCode. Short version: Elixir is awesome! flooey.org/elixir.html

Today in our house is Start the Year Off Right Day, the day where we find things we've been procrastinating on and finally do them, so we don't carry them into the new year. Sort those papers, clean that desk, tighten those wiggly bolts, and get rid of those things you don't need anymore!

All done with #AdventOfCode for the year! I don’t know if it’s just me getting better, but this year felt easier than previous years. Day 21 was the only day I got at all stuck, and then only for the length of a shower, and day 24 I solved visually rather than in code.

Fun tidbit from @bretdevereaux.bsky.social’s latest post[1]: one of the ways historians map instability in Rome is by the prevalence of coin hoards. Because when things start looking shaky, people bury money in the back garden. [1] acoup.blog/2024/12/20/c...

The thing I miss most from being a manager is 1:1s. Having a half hour or hour every week to catch up with people you care about, solve problems, and just keep up on how they’re doing was the best.

Safe to say today’s part 2 is my least favorite #AdventOfCode problem of all time.

Feels like I'm really in a groove with Elixir. Managed to do both parts of today's puzzle directly brain-to-code without worrying about syntax or having to look up basically almost any functions. #AdventOfCode

When you’re putting on a dance routine with little kids (age 3-5), it’s important to make sure you’ve got the right mix of roles. First up: 4-6 enthusiastic kids that sort of paid attention in rehearsal. These make it so the audience has a vague outline of what someone imagined would happen.

Massive away win for the little fella.

Pleased with Elixir so far for #AdventOfCode. I’ve been able to solve every day in one line*, wondering how much longer I can keep that up. *The one line is sometimes formatted as 20+ lines in the source file

Apparently the Linux kernel has a feature that lets you filter breakpoints inside the kernel using BPF programs. What a world.

Alright, after a lot of being inundated at work and general procrastination, I’ve decided that I’m going to do this year’s #AdventOfCode in Elixir. I’ve solved last year’s day 1 puzzle in it now, so I’m ready to go!

Wife: Did you move Ms. 5’s alarm clock when you put her to bed? Me: No… Wife: It’s on her chair Me: It was in its usual place when I left. Wife: Okay. Was she wearing a hoodie? Me: Yes!

I’ve been playing Factorio: Space Age and just finished my first visit to Fulgora and returned to Nauvis. Overall, I’ve been really pleased with it! The 2.0 changes are minor but very welcome. The improvements in fluids are top of my list, personally.

Sounds like fun! Last read: Authority by Jeff VanderMeer Current read: Acceptance by Jeff VanderMeer Last book added to TBR: Land by Simon Winchester Next read: Probably Land by Simon Winchester

Annual morbidity in the 20th century, before and after vaccines: Measles: Before: 530,000, After: 47 Mumps: Before: 160,000, After: 429 Rubella: Before: 50,000, After: 3 Diphtheria: Before: 20,000, After: 2 Smallpox: Before: 30,000, After: 0 Polio: Before: 16,000, After: 0

Two MLB teams will have to play in AAA ballparks as a result of two natural disasters. Rays: Hurricane Milton Athletics: John Fisher

I once saw John McEnroe jog by on Central Park West. Actually, worse than that, I didn’t even see him. My mom did, and after he was gone, said “That was John McEnroe that just jogged by”.