Recently updated blogs

A little while ago I wrote about managing my reading list using a JSON file. Then I decided that was too easy, so I starting using an SQLite database instead. Moving my reading list to JSON was a mistake, to be frank. Data is spread across three tables, and there’s no easy way to reference the schema while I’m adding new entries, as I mostly do it via the slqite3 …

Sitting at the bar in my local pub, the Great Northern Railway Tavern, earlier in the year, I noticed the regular guest lager produced by the brewery I co-owned, Bohem Brewery, had been replaced by a specially-brewed lager for the pub by Gipsy Hill Brewery. The deal had just been struck and the sales guy…

I’m writing an adventure. I might even get round to publishing it one day! The adventure at the moment has quite a lot of NPC-NPC relationships going on, and I thought it might (initially) be tricky to follow these relationships as a GM running the game.So, I wondered if providing some sort of relationship ‘mind map’ would be helpful.I started the ‘mind-map’ with this webpage: csacademy This app is nice …

Continuing on with some of the topics that Handmade PHD is attempting to make sense of through exploration...Side seam length and shape. Length- the front and back side seams in her sample trouser pattern should be the same length. In most trouser patterns they are. Is there a time when the lengths could be different? Yes, if it is an intentional design feature, or sometimes for shaping. (

[The figure above is from HM Government (2021) ‘Climate Change and Net Zero: Public awareness and perceptions’ study here ] “While most people recognise that climate change is occurring, only half of people (51%) recognise that human activity is the primary driver of climate change and only a quarter correctly identify the rate at which global temperatures have changed within recent decades…There are also strong trends towards minimising the perceived …

SQLite, a lightweight, self-contained SQL database engine, is a popular choice for embedded applications due to its simplicity and minimal setup requirements. In Go, working directly with SQLite’s C API offers low-level control and can be ideal for those who need efficient, fine-grained database handling. In this post, we’ll explore how to integrate SQLite with Go using the C API, focusing on key operations like opening and closing the database, …

Some good news: Caltrain is working on a level boarding plan, as documents requested under the Public Records Act attest. Their "Level Boarding Roadmap: Technical Task Force Platform Report" dated April 2024 is a reasonably well-written document that discusses how the system might be converted to level boarding using the European 550 mm platform standard. After reading it, three questions arise:Why are 48" level boarding platforms never discussed? The roadmap …

After 150 days on the trail, I was exhausted. Last week, CareFree and I worked out a plan to take a day off, and then travel to Stewart Island, about 40 km south of the southern tip of the South Island, as a capstone Te Araroa. But, partially thanks to the cold I had over the past few days, I was so tired after finishing the trail yesterday that I …

I am delighted and honoured to have been asked to present the November lecture at The Model Railway Club this Thursday 14th November. My presentation is on the history of the LSWR Adams T3 locomotive and developing the RTR model for the EFE Rail range. The lecture will start with background of producing a Ready-to Run model and the initial research detailing and illustrating the history of the Adams T3 …

Former United States president and war criminal George W. Bush gave a speech in Australia, directing a v-for-victory hand gesture at the assembled crowd. It wasn’t received the way he intended. What he failed to realize is that this gesture means a lot of different things to a lot different people. In Australia, the v-for-victory gesture means the same as giving someone the middle finger in the United States. This …

Since I got my amateur radio licence in 2019, I have set up and operated my radio in a small boiler room in the basement. However, this room also serves as a workshop and is therefore crammed full of tools and difficult to keep clean. In winter, it also got quite cold in the unheated basement, so I often operated with a jacket. I then got a remote station, which …

We keep trying to get LLMs to do math. We want them to count the number of “rs” in strawberry, to perform algebraic reasoning, do multiplication, and to solve math theorems. A recent experiment particularly piqued my interest. Researchers used OpenAI’s new 4o model to solve multiplication problems by using the prompt: Calculate the product of x and y. Please provide the final answer in the format: Final Answer: [result] …

The post was originally shared on the PauseTalk website. The next PauseTalk in Shanghai (Vol. 93) is set for Thursday, December 12, again at Bananafish New HQ. As usual, we’ll start the discussion at 19:30, and please note that there is no entry fee, and you are free to bring drinks and/or snacks. Here’s the Facebook event page, and as a lot of updates are shared via WeChat, get in …

About a hundred meters away from my apartment, between two groves of trees and a red-shingled temple, is a bakery that has been shuttered for eight years, ever since the owner hung herself from a second-floor beam. This revelation is available to unsuspecting members of the public in the form of a brutally crude, unpunctuated, one-star online review. Oh, Google Maps, how did it end up like this? Did you …