Prattle

In Defence of Crypto Currencies

Jun 25, 2022 · 2 min read · Prattle

People rightly irritated by NFTs often lump Bitcoin et al. into the mix, and some of the complaints go too far. The Use Case A friend owed me €100, and wanted to send that money to me online. The traditional banks demanded: Looking up the IBAN About €15 processing (possibly more for Scotland to Serbia, I never looked …

I Read It on the Internet

Jun 20, 2022 · 1 min read · Prattle

I feel like we all need to stop using 'Did you read that on the internet?', in such a derogatory way. The internet contains just about all writing at this point. It contains academic journals, books, and intelligent discussions by professionals, often on Reddit. Snarky comments about Reddit also apply - the space …

I Will Prove vim is Easy

Jun 16, 2022 · 2 min read · Prattle Linux Memoirs

It's literally three commands: i to insert text Escape to not insert text ZZ to save and exit An old girlfriend once asked me if she could write a website. This came out of the blue - she had no experience with computers beyond installing Sims. "Is it easy?", she asked. I said "yes", then showed her: 1 2<BODY> 3 <H1> …

Comparisons are Fine

May 27, 2022 · 3 min read · Prattle

I've seen a meme trending hard of late. Not a 'funny picture' meme, but an idea: 'Don't compare your thing to another, just show us your thing. Don't say why it's better than the other thing, just tell us what it does'. This advice might work in some limited way to stop bad writing, but then we may as well just stop …

Leaving Passwords

May 25, 2022 · 3 min read · Prattle FOSS

We're all going to die, so we have to share passwords. When family die, we already have a mountain of nonsense to deal with, and I have no doubt that we'll see a growing number of people wrestling with American corporations, attempting to regain access to Coinbase accounts, banking apps, et c. Clearly, we would all …

FOSS Enthusiasts aren't Enthusiastic Enough

May 13, 2022 · 3 min read · Prattle FOSS

Games I hear Linux podcasts and bloggers pulling themselves back, with an eye to keeping things realistic, and too many end up with unwarranted pessimism. 'You have to admit that computer games are just better on Windows'. And I won't disagree, but I don't see why they phrase the situation like that. Linux is the …

The Tell Rick and Morty Missed

May 9, 2022 · 1 min read · Prattle

Rick & Morty's parallel episodes show myriad alternative versions. There's Fat Rick, Juggling Rick, et c. From the point of view of Fat Rick, all alternative Ricks have an easy tell - they are all skinny. And of course the Drama-Morty can instantly spot alternative-universe Morties because they don't have the same …

Silent Mode was a Mistake

May 7, 2022 · 1 min read · Prattle FOSS

My phone bings three times, and I really want to tell it 'listen, matey, if I haven't answered the first three bings, I won't answer the next'. I wander over and tell it to shut up. Of course if I forget to turn off silent mode, I could miss something important in a few hours. The entire approach here misunderstands …

Video Games and FOSS

Apr 30, 2022 · 1 min read · Prattle FOSS Games

The FOSS community have generally grown a kind of tacit acceptance of proprietary computer games. Everyone loves them, so nobody wants to make too much of a fuss, but I think we have good reasons to treat them differently. Computer games do not - by default - require environment interaction. They can (mostly) operate …

Returning to Games after a Decade

Apr 29, 2022 · 5 min read · Prattle Games

I never had the money for serious gaming, and perhaps it did me well; I've focussed on other things. But when the pandemic hit, I decided that this was exactly the time to start playing again, so I bought Tomb Raider from 2013. Having not played anything much since Metal Gear Solid 3, I was blown away. The seamless way …