Magic Paper Box

Eight months ago, my beloved Kindle 2 (a fantastic gift from Andrea) started to give up the ghost.

The decline was entirely in the battery. Slowly, but surely it stopped holding charge. Finally, a couple of months ago, it finally got to the point where it wouldn't start up disconnected from power.

For a bit, I made due with my phone. Reading on a phone sucks, but it was better than nothing, and I was in the middle of re-reading The Rook. Then, after I finished it... I sort of stopped reading. For a few months I barely touched a book.

This was fine, as I was very busy at work, watching TV on the bus, and playing a lot of Rocket League at home.

Recently, a friend recommended a series to me that sounded like it'd be right up my alley: The Laundry Files, by Charles Stross. My universe summary 'Mathematics of a certain complexity attracts entities from parallel universes; A nerd special agent is tasked with helping prevent the end of the world.'.

A conundrum: With my Kindle dead, how would I read them?

A faint tickle occurred in the back of my head while pondering this question.

Hmmm. Lye-berry... Lie-Barry...

A Library!

I dug out my library card, which had rested inactive since I had used it to get out The Martian.

A real book! Who would have thought!

Anyhow. This post was inspired by something that caught my eye: Apparently e-book sales are down.

I wonder if others are in the same place as me, Finding their e-book readers hitting their end-of-life, and being greatly disappointed by the heirs. I guess we'll see. It's starting to look to me that e-books will simply be yet another format, beside the hardcover, paperback and audiobook.

On Microaggressions

... I have very little to say. I don't know where I sit, nor what I think to be honest.

However, I am very impressed with Conor Friedersdorf's recent series in the Atlantic on them:

  1. The Rise of Victimhood Culture
  2. Why Critics of the 'Microaggressions' Framework Are Skeptical
  3. Readers Defend the Rise of the 'Microaggressions' Framework
  4. Readers Lament the Rise of 'Victimhood Culture'
  5. On Being Asked, 'Where Are You From?'
  6. Is 'Victimhood Culture' a Fair Description?

Over the course of the series, Friedersdorf takes a clear position on the 'Microaggressions' framework. Yet, he is very open in his writing to the thoughts of others, discussing criticisms of the framework, as well as criticisms of his own writing on it.

I found the series to be a refreshing piece of participatory journalism. Is he right? I don't know. However, I appreciate how he has approached the topic.

Some Music for your Ears

I forget sometimes that this is my damn blog. And if I want to embed a crap tonne of music... I can do that! 

Nao - Zillionaire

Easily one of my favourite songs found via Julie Adenuga's show on Beats 1

Get the February 15 EP iTunes: smarturl.it/feb15 Vinyl here: smarturl.it/feb15lp Spotify: smarturl.it/feb15spotify YouTube: youtu.be/9PAxxJQVSko Produced by @roycewoodjunior Additional production @loxe

Off the same EP, Inhale Exhale has a bassline that I love. 

JME - Man Dont' Care (ft. Giggs) 

I can't help but like a song that has this lyric: 

Nostradamus couldn't see me
Expelliarmus couldn't stop me

Nice reminder of how much I like Grime. 

Buy this song : iTunes📱 http://smarturl.it/Integrity Android 👾 http://smarturl.it/PlayIntegrity

Stormzy - Know Me From

Love the gimmick filled one-take video... surprisingly catchy song too. 

Know Me From available to purchase on iTunes now: https://t.co/1cWmO3ZIsg Filmed and edited by Jaiden Ramgeet Stormzy is back with his highly anticipated debut single 'Know Me From' produced by ZDot! #MERKY! TICKETS FOR STORMZY's HEADLINE TOUR HERE: http://m.gigsandtours.com/artist/stormzy/941712 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stormzyofficial Twitters: https://twitter.com/Stormzy1 https://twitter.com/JaidenRamgeet https://twitter.com/ZdotProductions Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/stormzy1 Instagram: http://instagram.com/stormzyofficial

If that's his mom by the way, +100 points. 

Tinariwen - Chaghayabou

Just listen to this.

Uploaded by Abdoulahi Attayoub on 2014-03-26.

Miles Davis - Tutu

I may be the last person in the world to hear this, but daaaamn.  

Miles Davis - Tutu 1986 HQ (original album version) from the album Tutu.Tutu composed and arranged by Marcus Miller

Alright. That's all for now. Expect more of these though. I'm far too lazy to make a radio show, but, I do enjoy the hell out of sharing new music. 

Web Design - The First 100 Years

Damnit. Maciej Cegłowski is an annoyingly excellent writer. One day, in the far future, when I care more about writing I aspire to write half as well as him. 

He just put up a transcript of a talk, called Web Design - The First 100 years. As is usual with him, I highly recommend it. 

Other pieces of excellence of excellence from him:

There's much much more. The best news, for me personally, is that there's a substantial archive at Idle Words that I've yet to explore. Though, I find myself rationing, afraid for a time when I will have read everything.

Help send him to Antarctica will you? It'll help forestall that fateful day.


Imaginary Tool: Disjoint Function Detector

An antipattern one runs into on a pretty regular basis is the overly-extended function: 

def doFoo()
     code to do foo>
end

Evolves over time, and becomes 

def doFoo(special=false)
    if special
        <do something> 
    end 

    <code to do foo> 
end

But in the worst case, it evolves further and becomes 

def doFoo(special=false) 
    if (special)
        <do special>
    else
        <do foo> 
    end
end

At this point, it's pretty obvious that these shouldn't be in the same function. They don't express common functionality anymore really.

I want a tool that will tell me if there's a parameter to a function that creates two disjoint sets of control flow. This would be a good indication that something about the function needs to be refactored!