James Hough

FML I have to explain why we didn't alert to this outage happening before our users complained. There's no way to know before users experience this. Our system (which I can monitor) never had a hiccup but because our system can't be reached its now our fault 🤬

It was a really good season. Well done LWT team! See you in February.

What about any gold they might have in their teeth?

...known answers. But, again, pre-optimisation trap!

Be careful not to fall into a pre-optimisation trap. Before knowing the actual performance you could waste time on something not beneficial. If you know it's an integer answer, use the answer. Otherwise, how do you know it's always integer? If you have a fixed domain, you could have a table with...

There's a weird etymology here.

In the 11th century, a pre-arranged army command was 'CRIER HAVOT', which means in Old French: "order to pillage."

This was corrupted to "cry havoc" in English.

Wreak, meanwhile, is Old English for "punish/avenge".

So "wreaking havoc" is revenge pillaging.

Or he asked a question of someone who couldn't answer. Perhaps asked a General what happens with magnets, and instead of saying "I'll find a scientist to answer that for you", instead said "I don't know". Trump thinks "a smart General doesn't know, so that means all the smartest people don't know".

Just speculation but maybe Trump has had to sit through briefings lately on China's rare earth mineral dominance and he couldn't understand what magnets have to do with everything and so throws up his hands and says "nobody knows, even the smartest people" (meaning "I don't understand").

Trying psychological manipulation? After all you said you'd think about doing it.

I'm stubborn though and any message like that will never get a "yes" from me.

The worst is; "Yes / I will do this later". Come on man, I'm not going to agree to more tasks on my to-do list.

Equal Rites reminded me of an embarassing memory from when I met Terry Pratchett at a signing for Jingo. My lame way of introducing myself to him was "please sign it to James, but not Jaims like in Equal Rites".

He was confused. And there I am spelling J A I M S, "but *don't* spell it that way". 🫣

Speaking of Sir Terry, I met him at a signing for Jingo, but I didn't get that book signed, I had others. My lame way of introducing myself to him was "please sign it to James, but not Jaims like in Equal Rites".

He was confused. And there I am spelling J A I M S, "but *don't* spell it that way". 🫣

Stories of imagination tend to upset those without one.
- Terry Pratchett

comic strip at the other end of the link, click it!

10 years old and maybe never more relevant than in contemporary software development

www.commitstrip.com/en/2016/08/2...

I wish we could ignore Bill Gates on the climate crisis. But he’s a billionaire, so we can’t | George Monbiot Money talks – and his essay denouncing ‘near-term emissions goals’ at Cop30 mostly argues the case for letting the ultra-rich off the hook

This week's column is on Billionaire Brain: the condition which seems to prevent extremely rich people from perceiving the utterly bleeding obvious.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

By the time you get to trial, the prosecution has already spent hundreds of man-hours on building a case, and if local laws, judges, or local juries tend to favour homeowners then it might be wasted time and money that could be spent on other cases. Understaffing, lower budgets. Justice isn't cheap.

You pay fuel duty. Why don’t billionaires?

This week, we launched WeWingAnyCar.com to help you qualify for the same tax breaks that private jets get.

Because tax loopholes shouldn’t just be for billionaires.

They’re for everyone.

Yeah, I dread slushy cornering on my motorbike because of this purple gunk. At least in winter, when leaves fall, we usually don't have a lot of rain, but in spring the flowers and rain go hand in hand.

1. In the wake on Mamdani’s win, we’ll see a lot more far right anti-urban sentiment. Here’s a thread on its roots and evolution.

The idea that the city is evil and corrupt, and the countryside innocent and pure, goes back a long way: to Theocritus in Alexandria, and to the Old Testament. 🧵

I left LinkedIn more than 10 years ago when a data breach leaked my info. Much happier today that this news doesn't affect me. But I think a similar sense of betrayal may hit many of their current users and cause another exodus.

Britain isn't in the grip of mass violence The far right are trying to whip up fear and panic with lies

Britain is not in the grip of mass violence.

The Cambridgeshire train stabbings were horrific - and incredibly rare.

Your odds of being attacked by a stranger are much lower than they were.

Here's the facts! 👇

www.owenjones.news/p/britain-is...

YouTube video by Tim Minchin Tim Minchin’s Full Speech at The Art of Tax Reform Summit 2025 - NSW, Australia

You don't have to be an Australian to appreciate this absolutely brilliant speech about art.

Intercessory prayer in its entirety undermines theology.

(1) are you asking an omniscient being to change their plan, or (2) reminding an omniscient being of the plan that they forgot, or (3) giving permission to an omnipotent being to continue because they couldn't until prayers were received?

Post a movie you’ve seen more than 7 times with a gif…

I don't know where they think the money goes? A vortex out at sea? The money goes right back into the economy.

Unlike the tax cuts for the wealthiest in the country who promptly send it (or as much of it as they can) to Panama or the Caymans to be isolated forever from the UK economy.

You have to disable a lot of CoPilot settings in VS Code now to get it back to what it was. A lot were turned on by default in recent updates.

I don't think preference even factors into it. A common use of the term is "in lieu of" holidays where a public holiday is observed on an additional day if that holiday was a non-working day. If 1 January is Sunday, you get Monday in lieu. Here the "preferred" holiday would be the alternative.

Yep, even in South Africa where we are on the same hypercapitalist path (private healthcare, car culture, etc) annual bonuses were the norm 8yr ago, now non-existant bc "times are tough". CEO pay never stumbled & increased year after year. Staff are replaced by independent contractors (no benefits).

*in society