Avoid sending DMs/PMs for support and technical questionsThis is a blurb I usually add to the wiki pages of teams I work with, it’s a simple reminder that we should avoid sending direct messages (or worse - calling) individuals for support and technical questions. Instead, we should use the appropriate channels for the team. This is a simple way to make work visible, share knowledge, reduce context switching, avoid silos and share the support load Avoid sending DMs/PMs for support and technical questions We value making work visiblePart of this is achieved by us making an effort to ensure we’re asking for support and technical questions by starting a thread in our squads (or the relevant) room - instead of via of direct messaging (or calling) an individual.

Near the end of each year I note down a summary of the best apps I’ve enjoyed using throughout the year, here’s 2022. Info See also Firefox Addons - 2022 The Best MeetingBar (Meetings in your menubar) - Get MeetingBar Reeder (RSS) - Get Reeder Shottr (Better screenshots) - Get Shottr Bumpr (Multi-browser rules for links) - Get Bumper Onyx (macOS customisation) - Get OnyX Brew (Package manager) - Get Brew mas (Mac App Store manager for Brew) - Get mas Little Snitch (Firewall) - Get Little Snitch RadioSilence (Simple Firewall) - Get RadioSilence Pixelmator Pro (Image/Photo editor) - Get Pixelmator Pro Keka (Archive/Compression tool) - Get Keka LaunchControl (Frontend for launchd) - Get LaunchControl Peek (Quicklook plugins) - Get Peek MusicHarbor (Track new and upcoming music releases) - Get MusicHarbor DaisyDisk (Disk usage inspector) - Get DaisyDisk Things (GTD/Notes/Lists app) - Get Thing BetterTouchTool (macOS automation and customisation) - Get BetterTouchTool Parcel (Track parcels) - Get Parcel Backblaze (Backups) - Get Backblaze MicroSnitch (Get notifications for active mic/webcam) - Get Micro Snitch Handbrake (Transcode video files) - Get Handbrake Amphetamine (Keep you mac awake) - Get Amphetamine Bear (Markdown/notes/web clipping) - Get Bear Calibre (eBook management and conversation) - Get Calibre ImageOptim Beta (Image compression) - Get ImageOptim Note: This is a beta version, but it’s the only version that supports Apple Silicon natively, the author is working on ImageOptim 2 - A complete rewrite.

Over the past month I’ve been playing with OpenAI’s DALL·E 2, below are some of the interesting images I’ve generated. “DALL·E 2 is a new AI system that can create realistic images and art from a description in natural language.” “A renaissance oil painting of two developers arguing over which javascript framework is the worst” “A Ralph Steadman painting of 7 cats sitting on a fence, and one raven” “A poster of Bruce Lee posing in front of a wall painted with traditional Japanese dragon artwork” “An Art Nouveau painting of Batman outside a church” “Old man yells at cloud” Variations on “A romantic oil painting of a chicken wearing beats by dre and smoking a cigarette” “A Romantic oil painting of a chicken wearing ripped jeans, aviator sunglasses, smoking a cigarette leaning up against a wall” “A romantic painting of snoop dog and a cool chicken wearing ripped jeans and aviators standing in a recording booth rapping into a microphone” “A dutch masters style oil painting of the rapper snoop dogg rapping into a microphone along side a cool looking animal wearing ripped jeans” “An oil painting of the rapper snoop dogg as a marvel super hero whose super power is smoking” “A romantic style oil painting of the rapper snoop dogg as a marvel super hero whose super power is smoking” “A detailed psychedelic painting of a person listening to the band TOOL for the first time and having their third eye opened” “A white Romantic Sculpture of the dude from the film the big lebowski” “A dutch masters oil painting of a robot cat” “A red Tesla model 3 crashed on the side of the road due to it’s poorly designed suspension” “A kiwi walking over hot coals” “A Ralph Steadman style ink painting of cats sitting on a fence smoking” “Two chickens playing chess while smoking” “Cats get dressed up to go to the theatre” “A grumpy cat drinking black coffee and smoking a cigarette” “A female artist with brown and grey hair hangs white deer antlers in an art gallery” “A black and white cat and a boarder collie dog in the style of Grayson Perry” “A lonely cat by a window in a Ralph Steadman style” “A post-apocalyptic city at night ruled by cats” “A border collie dog and black and white cat in the style of Gustav Klimt” “DevOps hipsters deploy to the cloud” “A psychedelic monkey smoking” “Cats smoking cigars and playing poker” “An elite hacker breaks into the computer mainframe, his eyes are red, his beard is long, he is in a dark room at his desk” “Cats captaining space ships with lasers” “Two lamas duelling with lightsabers at a disco” “A dark, detailed oil painting of a post-apocalyptic city a night, two terminator cyborgs are patrolling the street” “A photo of a beautiful British field in the summer, there are butterflys, birds and a small pond.

Beginner Harmonica Practice ExercisesWay back in around 2008 I wrote up a doc with a list of beginner harp exercises and practice riffs, at the time it was uploaded to a few forums and a shared Google doc - both have since disappeared. To this day I still get regular emails asking for a copy of it so I thought I’d copy it to a post here. Note: I haven’t updated these since around 2011. Practice Exercises (skip forward for the riffs) ScalesThe Blues Scale 2 3' 4+ 4' 4 5 6+ Practice jumps 4B 4D 4B 5B 4B 5D 4B 6B 4B 6D 4B 7D 4B 7B -2 6 -2 -5 -2 5 -2 -4 -2 4 -2 -3 -2 Hans Scale

Firefox Addons - 2022 EditionMy list of must-have Firefox addons - 2022 edition Updated: 2022-10-09 Privacy and SecurityFirstly - you should have Firefox’s Enhanced Tracking Protection enabled. Don’t Track Me Google LocalCDN UTM Tracking Token Stripper Note: You can accomplish some of what this does by setting up the removeparam uBlock origin rules I’ve listed below. Multi-Account Containers Useful for setting sites such as Amazon, eBay, Twitter, LinkedIn, Banking etc… each to always open in their own isolated container. The official addon for whatever Password Manager you use. Firefox Translations uBlock OriginProbably the single most important addon. uBlock Origin Enable and update all built-int filter lists except for ‘Regions’ and ‘Languages’.

Until recently I used Evernote for my notes, web clippings and document drafts, I was a subscriber going on 14 years and had over 3000 notes. However in recent years Evernote has gone downhill to the point it could be considered hostile to it’s users. The native macOS app was replaced with an Electron Javascript webframe and like almost all Electron apps I’ve tried it was plagued by poor performance, memory leaks and aggressive idle CPU utilisation and above all else it now lacks the low latency feeling the native application had. With the release of the updated client, Evernote has removed offline note functionality - tough luck if you’re travelling or don’t have reliable internet access.

Weekend upgrades to my Ranchilio Silvia v4 espresso machine. Added a digital PID kit for improved temperature control Replaced the boiler element Thermal insulation Basic “smart” power control with Siri integration Upgrade the standard Ranchilio basket to a VST 18g Ridged Rebuild PhotosNote the damage to the boiler elements terminals, this was shorting and causing the houses RCD to trip Wiring the PID controller Replacing the boiler thermostat with one connected to the PID controller Adding insulation to the boiler Before After

A template team charter for software and platform engineering teams. Research1 shows there is great value in people embracing a shared vision and ideas that are bigger than themselves. When it comes to a team charter, it’s important to remember that it’s not a static document. It’s a living document that should be updated as the team evolves and grows. Keep in mind that One size doesn’t fit all. Consider your (teams) mission, cultural background and values. While not exhaustive - this is on the longer side, you may wish to distill as is practical, but I implore you not to only pick the easier items - that’s missing the point.

Last weekend I had a chance encounter with a Ferrari F12 Berlinetta and the owner kindly let me jump in and take a few photos. Specs 6.3L v12 544 KW (740 Horsepower) 690 Nm at 6000RPM 1525 kg 0-100 in 3.1s 0-200 in 8.5s Maximum speed: ‘over 340 km/h’ Was ‘The fastest road car Ferrari ever built’ Photos

Near the end of every year I note down a summary of the best apps, hardware & podcasts I’ve enjoyed throughout the year (and often for some time before). Info This post has been superseded. You can find the latest version of this post here. Software and Services Plex Things Pixelmator Pro Reeder NextMeeting Bumpr Fastmail 1Password Calibre Backblaze iTerm Gitlab PFsense Stay Onyx Evernote Handbrake Amphetamine Firefox Software - Mobile Plex Things Reeder Overcast Evernote MiniHack Alien Blue Singal Prompt Browser Addons uBlock Origin Dencentraleyes Hardware LG C9 OLED TV Das Ultimate 4 Logitech MX Master 3 16’’ Macbook Pro iPhone 12 Pro AppleTV 4K Audioquest DragonFly Red USB DAC Ultrasone Signature Pro Headphones Kindle Paperwhite All Day Socks Bellroy Wallets Podcasts The Skeptics Guide To The Universion (SGU) You Are Not So Smart Risky.