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Why IT People Rarely Unionise

Oct 31, 2023 · 3 min read · Prattle Politics

I've seen this question come up a few times, so here's my collection of reasons which makes sense to me: It's new Film has been around for a century, so those people have had plenty of time to unionise. Linux has only existed for 20 years, so 'Linux sysadmins' have only had 20 years of experience, and that's an example …

Learning Programming Languages

Oct 17, 2023 · 3 min read · Language Learning

When learning computer languages, order matters a lot, and I think I got lucky by learning them in roughly the best possible order. Just like a linguistic ladder, it's better to take many small steps than a couple of big steps. bash Bash is a great first language because you can start instantly, and do regular things …

The Zen of i3-gaps

Oct 12, 2023 · 2 min read · Prattle Linux

I feel that the i3-gaps window manager perfectly encapsulates the spirit of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. If you haven't read it, I won't repeat it, but perhaps this will make sense anyway. For a perfectly Romantic desktop environment, we have the classic Mac (and please picture every stereotype you think …

Markdown GUIs

Sep 29, 2023 · 4 min read · Review FOSS

'Organizers', 'wikis', 'note-taking apps', et c. - these apps are mostly Markdown with an attached GUI. Today, I'm trying each of them out for twenty minutes apiece. AnyType Site: anytype.io Size: 383 MB AnyType comes encrypted, meaning you can't easily grab the raw markdown notes and stick them in a Git, or do much …

Distasteful Preaching

Aug 31, 2023 · 4 min read · Prattle Philosophy

I feel an unstated agreement among disparate civil society that one shouldn't preach. Breaching the preaching rule quickly looks like hypocrisy, because everyone has more work to do on themselves. Easier Said than Done Someone - usually young - preaching about veganism, trans-rights, the effects of aeroplanes on …

Open Source is the Best Term

Aug 25, 2023 · 2 min read · FOSS

I once met a man who, having talked to some FOSS-enthusiast, felt moved, and told me he was sure to use 'free' software, but not that 'open source', software. His attempts, of course, would be futile, because the words refer to the same software. The Free Software Foundation (could they not at least have called …

A List of Missions to Venus

Aug 24, 2023 · 2 min read · Prattle

My favourite wikipedia article is called List of Missions to Venus. Nowadays we're all amazed that astronomers can send a rocket out, and expect it to fly around the planet three times, nip round the moon, change trajectory while passing Jupiter, and land on some asteroid like a cautious butterfly, so it can send …

Review: Soft Serve

Jun 21, 2023 · 2 min read · Review Git Linux

Soft Serve is a git server for the command line. You can see the maintainers' version here, with ssh: 1ssh git.charm.sh It looks like this: Soft Serve • Repositories About ┃ Bubble Tea Updated 31 minutes ago ┃ A powerful little TUI framework mirror] ┃ git clone git@git.charm.sh:bubbletea.git Soft Serve Updated 3 days …

Alternative School Programs

May 12, 2023 · 6 min read · Learning

I find it bizarre how similar all schooling is, and how few alternatives people have tried. Of course some experiments exist, such as Summer Hill, run by Neil, which famously did not demand that pupils attend any classes, and showed why children would attend classes anyway. And of course different schools exist - …

Critical Thinking: An Introduction

May 7, 2023 · 3 min read · Prattle Philosophy

Fallacies and critical thinking are all the rage in some circles, but I hear a lot about (and occasionally experience) people making 'logic-noises' who clearly haven't studied the subject. In fact, they seem unaware one can take a University course in the subject, as they've missed the first lesson every student of …