Rolandt

A couple of times, I’ve been invited by a major platform or a social network to provide strategic direction.

One of the overlooked considerations in these ‘mega’ projects is what will competitors do?

For example, you can use your audience research and intuition to determine features or activities which will prove popular with members. For smaller communities (or those without natural competitors i.e. most support communities), hitting a home-run here is good enough.

But at the ‘social network’ level, you can be sure if a feature proves popular, a competitor’s first move will be to copy and improve upon it. This is why the pioneers of a particular feature are rarely those who build long-term success upon them.

If the competitor has better resources than you do, having a head start of 6 months won’t help you much. You’re simply saving them some market research time.

So what can you do?

The best option is to integrate features with other features to deliver value that proves increasingly difficult to copy, i.e. adding disappearing images isn’t hard to copy. But combining this with a powerful and existing distribution system using a member’s existing connections is hard to copy.

Whatever feature you develop, you need to combine it with your unique advantages (unique focus, unique skill set, unique niche), in such a way that any major competitor will be unable or unwilling to copy it. This in turn should lead you to only develop features that can be configured in such a way that your competitor’s simply won’t be able, or willing, to copy them.

Of course, if you have better resources than competitors, you have to be ready to double down and constantly improve upon the feature quicker than competitors can catch up.

Don’t overlook what competitors will do.

They moved the peanut butter at Sobeys on Allen Street a few weeks ago. It was just a couple of shelves up, but that I found it as temporarily debilitating as I did reinforced how well-worn the Sobeys aisles have become to me, and what a hair-trigger debilitation threshold I have.

My mother made a casual comment this summer about stirring peanut butter being a good thing; I’d never done this despite the clear call to action on the lid (which I had always dismissed as an ignorable on the plane of “coffee may be hot” and “contents may have settled during shipment”).

But my mother is wise, so I gave it a tentative try, sticking a big spoon deep into a freshly uncorked jar and mucking about. It helped, especially when the dregs, a few weeks later, were less dreggy.

So last week I kicked things up: I emptied the peanut butter from its jar into our immersion blender cup and went to town. The immersion blender was clearly at the edge of its operational limits, but it didn’t conk out, and when I decanted the peanut butter back into a glass jar it was wonderfully smooth. And has continued to be spreadable and luscious in the days since.

Score one for mother-wisdom (and, sometimes, reading labels).

In a one-sentence ruling, the Supreme Court of the United States rejected the Trump administration’s plea to overturn the election result in Pennsylvania. But what a sentence! The background: U.S. Representative Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania filed a document to overturn the decision of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and nullify the election result in Pennsylvania, where … Continued

The post The rare nested triple passive, courtesy of the US Supreme Court appeared first on without bullshit.

We got a little more snow overnight than forecast, to the extent that today was really my first snowy commute of the year. Always an opportunity to take a look at snow clearance, particularly this year when the number of protected bike lanes has greatly increased.

Here is the Bloor bike lane at about Emerson. Looks pretty good.

Ironically this is the only point where I was blocked, by a private snow plow, no less.

No plowing on the Shaw contraflow.

No bike lane plowing on Harbord either.

Even though Harbord is on the list of bike routes with snow clearance, I was particularly disappointed by the lack of clearance of the newly protected parts of Harbord, like the stretch on the north side by Central Tech. Note the bike on the sidewalk, which was probably cleared by the TDSB.

No clearance on this bit by Robarts Library either.

I did see a mini plow clearing the sidewalk along Harbord just west of Spadina. It is possible that with more calls for sidewalk snow clearance downtown (and not just in select suburbs), there will be more competition for a fixed amount of snow clearing equipment. The city needs to step up its game to make sure that those that walk or bike in winter get the support they need.

I am writing this post from my new 13” Macbook Pro with an Apple M1 Chip. If you’ve been following the five year long #davegoeswindows saga, then this might come as a sudden surprise. I will be honest, it comes as a surprise to me too. The decision was a bit impulsive but my dev environment was blocking me and my time and patience was not a luxury I could afford. I’m living that aluminium utopia dongle life now and will stick to this for the forseeable future.

Why the sudden change?

I’ve had some troubles with Windows this past quarter. Notably I didn’t have an email client or a calendar for nearly three months. Gmail integration quit working on the Windows Mail and Calendar app¹ and it’s hard to be a convincing business man without meeting alarms. I did all I could to fix it, but nothing worked and there was no signal on Microsoft’s Feedback Hub.

So I did the thing. In an attempt to revive it I cast that cursed necrotic Windows incantation… I wiped out my whole computer…

And it didn’t fix it! 😱😱😱

Other small annoyances existed, but the final straw was last week when I wanted to contribute to an open source project. Noticing the project had tests and wanting to be a good netizen, I decided to abide in TDD. I stubbed out a test and fired up the @web/test-runner → @web/test-runner-chrome → puppeteer-core test runner and was surprised that Puppeteer didn’t work. I’m 99% sure I’ve used Puppeteer on that machine before, but now it wasn’t working. Not sure if the system reset broke it, or upgrading to WSL2, or my client’s Active Directory settings? A myriad of potential causations.

So I did the thing. I made a reduced test case and tried to get a basic Puppeteer script working. I couldn’t install chromium-browser from apt because snap didn’t work without replacing the Linux kernel². I installed the Debian package, but no dice. I sort of got headless (regular) puppeteer working using its locally installed Chromium inside node_modules. I could even spawn a non-headless Chrome.exe on Windows from WSL, but hit a ECONNREFUSED error about a failed WebSocket connection. I tried workaround after workaround but couldn’t configure puppeteer-core to find a working executablePath. Third-level dependencies strike again! The final workaround is to install some X Window System tool off of Sourceforge. After losing two days to this problem and the answer is I need to download some budget app off of Sourceforge, I threw in the towel.

Workarounds for workarounds. I’m tired of workarounds. I fully acknowledge it could be 10+ months of the pandemic causing this feeling. I’m tired in general. Patience is wearing thin from the ambient stress of the pandemic and the utter failure of our government. I came to the realization that if I can solve one headache by chucking some money at it, then I should do that. I may regret that decision but I felt a palpable decompression of stress at checkout.

What I already miss about Windows

But Dave, Dave, Dave… aren’t you the Windows guy? Don’t you actually like Windows? Don’t you have a Zune tattoo? Yes. I do. Wait. Not the tattoo thing. But I do like Windows 10. It’s a bittersweet OS switch and I’m well aware of the tradeoffs. I’m already building a list of features I’m missing.

I miss touching my laptop’s screen. Mac users don’t understand this, but anyone who has used a Windows laptop in the last 5 years knows how intuitive and visceral it feels to tap your laptop screen to close a window, flick an app, or swipe away emails. I’ve already poked my screen a dozen times. Trading a touchscreen for a touchbar is a major downgrade.

I miss Windows Hello for logging in. I miss Windows’ superior first party window management³. I miss how my Surface Ear Buds would actually stay paired to the device and last all day (I say side-eyeing my Air Pods). Bluetooth on the Mac is a fickle mess. And oddly enough, I even miss having IE11 on my machine, because it’s extremely convenient to debug IE problems without opening up another computer.

I miss the modern Windows 10 UI. Windows 10 is a squared off, typographically-driven UI and fits my personal aesthetic. I prefer it over the primary-colored nature of macOS, which I affectionately call “Cartoon OS”. The iconography is vibrant but lacks cohesion. System Preferences is a weird mess. And I would pay another $1,000 to remove the rounded corners in Big Sur. macOS has tread down a path and is all cards, everything is a card.

I miss Segoe. Probably going to offend some type nerds here, but San Francisco is too squatty. I also find macOS’ 1× type rendering pales in comparison to Windows’ type rendering. Type looks great on 2× but at 1× it’s too bold and looks like a lossy JPEG.

I miss telling my coworkers to not send me .Pages, .Keynote, or .Sketch files.

I miss scrolling with a mousewheel and not feeling like a second class citizen. macOS nudges you to own a Magic Touchpad, which I like, but I also like my ergonomic mouse. God forbid I want to use natural scrolling direction on a trackpad and inverted on a mousewheel. Windows seems to understand peripherals that better than macOS. Accessory-wise, I’m left feeling pushed to spend another $500 on a keyboard, trackpad, and single cable dock to appease the Apple gods.

Above all, I miss PWAs as a first-class citizen. Windows betting on PWAs filled me with a sense of pride. Apple doesn’t appear to have the ambition nor incentive to make PWAs a reality, but hey, I’m willing to be surprised. I guess I’ll use Electron apps while I wait.

What excites me about Mac

I’ve offered a lot of criticisms. I’m sure there’s workarounds or whatever, but again, remember, I’m tired of workarounds. To balance those criticisms out, here’s my shortlist of Mac things I’m excited about.

Quality 3rd party apps! It’s no secret that a lot of design talent and innovative utilities happen over in the Mac ecosystem. I’m looking forward to trying out all the Sindre Sorhus apps, the nice-looking accessibility tools, and the quality photo editing utilities enabled by Apple’s Core Graphics. I’ve heard good things about Setapp and it appeals greatly to my interests.

Sidecar is pretty compelling as a optional ad-hoc display. For ergonomic reasons I want to migrate to a single ultrawide display but I love having a dedicated (non-ultrawide) display for screensharing on calls. Sidecar meets that desire and lets me get more value out of that iPad I bought last year. Right now Sidecar eats all my Wi-Fi to the extent it isn’t practical for screensharing on calls, but will need more experimentation on that.

The M1 hardware has a lot of potential as well. The nerdy PC YouTubers I watch seem smitten by the hardware and I think it will be years before Qualcomm catches up, so I’m happy to hop on the wave. I do worry I’m trading one set of workarounds for another with the new Apple architecture, but I have a couple thoughts on that…

1. I’ve lived through this a couple times before. When I switched to Mac in 2002, Apple was going through an awkward OS 9 → OS X migration. Then I lived through the PowerPC → Intel migration around 2006.
2. I think a lot in trajectories. I feel Apple’s software has somewhat plateaued, even their hardware design has plateaued, but these chips… these new chips are something magical. At ~5 hours into this battery, I’ve installed all of God’s earth and I’ve spent ~30% of my battery.

The relentless focus on battery life reminds me of an image I made the last time I had to use a Mac:

Switching to ARM is a big deal for Apple; they’re all-in. I’m hopeful the new shiny fetishists in the Mac ecosystem will iron out the problems soon. And to answer the question: Yes. I did get puppeteer-core working on that project. I have to use Intel bindings via the legacy Rosetta terminal, and I hit timeouts when running the tests, but all tests pass when watching the project. One more wrinkle to iron out I guess.

On giving up.

This post has end of an era vibes for sure. I enjoyed being a Windows user and I have a lot of identity wrapped up in that. There’s some shame and embarrassment in letting go of that. There’s this old episode of Freakonomics called “The Upside of Quitting” that advocates for overcoming the sunk cost fallacy and moving past the idea that quitting is some kind of moral failure. I’ve been thinking about that a lot.

I still like Windows. If Windows is working for you that’s awesome, I hope it continues to do so. I think I hit a weird seam in the support matrix and I’m out of patience to wait for it to resolve. I’m headed into a season where I have to push the ball forward. In the past I found it worthwhile to find those seams, struggle to fix them, but now… now I’m just tired. Those burdens can’t be my burdens any more.

Thanks to Rey Bango and all the folks over on the Edge team for helping me navigate Windows issues over the years. And thanks to the WSL team for moving mountains and making the last 5 years possible. I couldn’t have done it without everyone’s support, input, and internal escalation. Some true heroes work at Microsoft and they are great at listening.

My final thought is not too different from my very first takeaway from five years ago: While the Web is Universal, the tools are not. I still feel it’s important that our tools and our processes work on computers different than our own. I’m fortunate enough that I can afford one of these aluminum computers, but not every one has that privilege. Tools failed me this time around and I had to change my life to maintain progress. I know ubiquitous support is hard, but it’s so so so important for the Web that we keep the doors open and meet people where they are, meet them on their devices.

1. Windows’ Mail and Calendar got patched in the latest Windows 20H2 patch ↩

2. After complaining on Twitter, I heard from Canonical that the snap issue has a fix in the works. ↩

3. I know there’s third-party window managers and even first-party workarounds, but Windows’ native manager is way better and faster. ↩

The Canadian Institute of Planning presents a free webinar on the Foundations of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion for the planning Community.

This webinar provides foundational knowledge of equity, diversity, and inclusion principles and terminology, and explores why these concepts are important for planning. This webinar will be facilitated by Wyle Baoween and Aida Mas Baghaie from HRx.

Wyle Baoween is CEO and Senior Facilitator at HRx, a Canadian consulting firm providing data analytics to address inequality in our communities and workplaces. Wyle has been recognized as one of Canada’s thought leader in equity, diversity and inclusion for the solutions he has developed and re-engineered, including technology for assessing unconscious bias, the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Culture Change Curve, and data analytics for EDI. Wyle speaks regularly on the topics of equity, diversity and inclusion, unconscious bias, data analytics and organizational change.

Aida Mas Baghaie is a planner and research specialist in resilience planning and is  based in Vancouver. Her research focuses on participatory planning, and how communities exercise their right to the city through community control of land. She has experience working in transportation justice, community engagement, and housing policy. She believes that fostering equity in active transportation requires putting tools in the hands of the community.

Foundations of Equity, Diversity & Inclusion for the Planning Community
Date: Fri, Dec 18, 2020

Time: 10:00 AM – 11:15 AM Pacific Time

To register please click this link.

 

The case against client certificates

Colm MacCárthaigh provides a passionately argued Twitter thread about client certificates and why they should be avoided. I tried using them as an extra layer of protection fir my personal Dogsheep server and ended up abandoning them - certificate management across my devices was too fiddly.

Via Thomas Ptacek

We live in a digital world overflowing with images and screens. By creating a tangible photo book, you can reconnect with your images and those moments in time. Photo books also make sharing memories with family and friends so much easier.

After conducting more than 120 hours of research and testing (which included creating 29 photo books and consulting with a master printer on the results), we recommend Mixbook as the best online photo-book service. We also have recommendations for a premium album for capturing truly special life events, as well as a great budget option.

This has happened to me a few times. As I’m using my 2019 16" MBP, it lets out, at some random moment, a startlingly aggressive “Fehhhhh,” and then it shuts down.

It sounds as if the fan goes to 11 for about a second, and then it turns silent and dark.

To be clear: it’s completely unexpected. This is not happening when I shut down the computer. It happens whenever… it wants? Is bored? Is tired? I dunno.

So far I’ve seen this only on one laptop, and that laptop is running Big Sur. I tweeted about it, and found that I’m not the only person who sees this. James Dempsey calls it “the Big Sur Sneeze.”

“Recognizing that people’s reactions don’t belong to you is the only sane way to create. If people enjoy what you’ve created, terrific. If people ignore what you’ve created, too bad. If people misunderstand what you’ve created, don’t sweat it. And what if people absolutely hate what you’ve created? What if people attack you with savage vitriol, and insult your intelligence, and malign your motives, and drag your good name through the mud? Just smile sweetly and suggest – as politely as you possibly can – that they go make their own fucking art. Then stubbornly continue making yours.”
– Elizabeth Gilbert

From the wonderful book Big Magic. It’s like rocket fuel for every creatively minded human.

Like most people I know, I’ve spent a lot more time on Zoom (and a couple of other similar web conferencing systems) this year than I expected. I’m writing this post between zoom calls. I’ve also spent a bit more time supporting people in their use of zoom – both professionally and personally than I expected. In fact at the beginning of 2020 I really didn’t have any expectations of zoom at all! But from what experience I did have I knew that the ‘viewing’ experience of being in a zoom meting was very different to the “viewing” experience of a face to face meeting. Non verbal communication cues change, you spend a lot more time looking at yourself and others. Your gaze changes, it’s tiring.

Like a lot of people I know, this week I read The Zoom Gaze by Autumm Caines. If you haven’t read it, I would encourage you to. It’s a really powerful piece about how technology mediates control and power of virtual spaces which impacts on behaviour, and expectations. It asks us to question just what the “zoom gaze” is.

“As Zoom shifts the nature of the relationship between viewing and being viewed, it also shifts our awareness of it: It makes us more conscious of how visibility is mediated by technologies in general. That is, it calls our attention to what theorists describe as “the gaze,” which analyzes the power relations in looking and being seen and how these are consolidated in a particular way of seeing that may come to seem natural. Right now, our new conditions call attention to the different power dynamics that come into play as face-to-face interactions shift to online video spaces — what we might call the Zoom gaze (though, of course, it would apply to video telephony in general). It is critical to understand the Zoom gaze now, before it becomes so familiar that it seems immutable — just the way things are.”

Over the past 3 weeks as my local area has been in stricter lockdown measures, my life drawing class has moved to a zoom version. I was quite curious to see how/if this would actually work. I like life drawing with a real model, in a physical space. I’m one of those people who can’t really understand why some of the artists on shows like Portrait Artist of the Year, work from a photograph and at times don’t even seem to look at the sitter.

Conversely, I do work from photographs quite a lot in my landscape work. My only defence, if I need one, is that they are generally reminders of places I have been, and I often have sketches too. The weather here in Scotland can be challenging for “plein air” painting. My camera phone photo roll is a kind of digital sketch book for me now. I have incorporated that aspect of technology into my practice, I feel I am in control of that view and it’s static, one way if you like. But back to the life drawing and zoom

My tutor Ewen, worked really hard at making the classes work and was really open to trying new things and upfront about his lack of experience of how “this would all work”. Week 1, we had 4 different camera views to choose from ( we all of course had to have the same view), week 3 it’s down to one. Automatically I had my mic on mute (hello behaviourism), the others in my group don’t use zoom as much as me so didn’t. There’s not a lot of talking when you are life drawing so it’s been fine to have mics on, and there were only about 6 of use each week. We did of course have a bit of “external conversations” and “why can’t I see the model on my screen” in week one but that quickly got sorted.

The experience has really made me hyper aware of the mediation of technology on my “drawing gaze”. My gaze was restricted by having to viewing the model through my screen (a 14″ MacBookAir). The camera was fixed, the model was clothed, the lighting again mediated through technology. I was sitting at my desk not standing behind an easel, I was using smaller pieces of paper. I could almost feel a cognitive crisis seeping throughout my body.

I found the drawing hard, I had to work my way through all these changes. It was frustrating, there was an emerging foggy idea of what/how to draw in this new technology mediated way, but what my hands were actually doing wasn’t quite matching up to what I wanted – even though I didn’t really know what it was that I actually wanted to do. I was very aware of how the the screen was framing my view. Last night though I had a bit of a break through, I started using oil pastels and a bit more colour. I felt a bit more at ease, a bit more in control of my understanding of what was going on and the “zoom gaze” I was working within.

I also realised last night that what this particular zoom mediated gaze did most was to remove my emotional connection with the sitter and their surroundings. Sometimes you just get a feeling when you are drawing which guides what you do. Even though it might not be an “accurate” drawing, the overall feeling that the lines, tone and shade present make the whole thing just work. In our last pose last night our two models wore their masks (in our f2f classes we all wear masks but the models don’t) and I think that gave me a bit of an emotional hook.

Anyway it’s been a bit of minor revelation for me being able to think about many of the issues Autumm raised in the article in this context, particularly about how technology can simultaneously enable and block emotional connections. It has made me think even more about the different aspects of the zoom gaze and the need to seriously consider they way technology mediates and controls human interactions. Thanks Autumm.

Ich arbeite in der IT für einen größeren sozialen Träger in (Name entfernt). Wir betreiben so einige Kitas. Dort gibt es jetzt natürlich den einen oder anderen Corona-Fall.

Wenn das passiert, schickt das Gesundheitsamt eine xls-Datei. Also Office 2003 Format. Bleibt natürlich in der Firewall hängen, wegen der Sicherheit. Ist dann immer ganz dringend.

Wenn die Kollegen die Datei ändern und das sichere xlsx-Format wählen, verweigert das Gesundheitsamt die Annahme bzw. die Bearbeitung. Also das Spiel wieder in der anderen Richtung. Der Versand muss wieder genehmigt werden, wegen der Sicherheit.

Das Gesundheitsamt gewährt dann gerne mal zwei Stunden für die Bearbeitung. Mit der Aussage, wenn man nicht rechtzeitig zurück meldet, findet der Massentest nicht mehr statt.

Wir haben eine Pandemie, die massiv in unser Leben eingreift. Und die bekämpfen wir mit ollen Excel-Tabellen statt einem integrierten Informationssystem. Und schicken dabei fleißig brisante personenbezogene Daten einfach so per Mail durch die Gegend.

Warum? Weil wir uns mit unseren primitiven Mitteln helfen müssen, statt gar nichts zu machen. Und wir haben ja auch immer noch Fax.

Keith Stuart, The Guardian, Dec 10, 2020

More grist for the learning styles debate. Suppose you are playing a video game where you're flying something, and you want to go up. Do you push your joystick forward or do you pull it toward you? Are you sure? Whatever you picked, a large number of people do it the other way, even to the point of inverting their controls so they push or pull their joystick their preferred way. The big question is: why? Is it something we've learned? Is it an innate preference? Does it depend on the equipment? This article reports on a project "to gain insight into how an individual’s visual perceptual abilities may affect how they interact with both real and virtual environments." Why? "Understanding these sorts of individual differences can help us better predict where to place important information."

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]

After releasing in the U.S. earlier this year, the revamped version of Apple Maps is now rolling out in Canada.

This redesigned version of the platform features better road coverage, pedestrian data, navigation, land cover and more precise addresses.

“With Apple Maps, we have created the best and most private maps app on the planet and we are excited to bring this experience to our users in Canada,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of internet software and services, in a recent statement.

Along with these updates, ‘Look Around,’ Apple Maps’ version of Google Maps’ ‘Street View,’ is now widely available across the country. This includes major cities like Calgary, Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver and parts of Newfoundland and Nova Scotia.

Another significant update relates to ‘Guides,’ Apple’s curated list of interesting places to visit in a city. The tech giant says that it worked with publications like Toronto life, Narcity and Lonely Planet to compile these lists.

Other new Apple Maps features include electric vehicle routing and real-time transit information.

Source: Apple 

The post Apple Maps now features better road coverage, pedestrian data and navigation in Canada appeared first on MobileSyrup.

If you believe the hype, blue-light blocking glasses will prevent headaches, decrease eyestrain, and help you sleep like a baby. But do they work?

The answer is murky.

Too much exposure to blue light, particularly at night, may disrupt your sleep-wake cycle. The experts we spoke with agree that wearing blue-light blocking glasses after dark, for computer work or scrolling through your phone, may help you to doze off afterward and sleep better.

Still, these glasses won’t magically cure headaches or tired eyes, and those who tell you otherwise don’t have the data to back it up.

For people who are curious and want to give blue-light blocking glasses a try, we found four comfortable and stylish options that won’t break the bank: a wire-framed pair with a subtle cat-eye shape; a square-shaped frame that comes in tons of colors; and two higher-quality rectangular pairs that can be filled with your prescription, if needed.

As visualization practitioners, we tend to sway towards the novel, but bar charts are still good. Read More

Stumped on finding the perfect gift for the cycling enthusiast in your life? We can't blame you--we're a difficult bunch. As cyclists, it's fair to say even when we know exactly what we need we can still spend hours splitting hairs over color, dimensions, weight, and compatibility. Understanding that dilemma, we have compiled a list of pain-free picks to please even the most particular bicycle connoisseur this holiday season. 

Runwell Tools

One of the latest additions to our catalog, Runwell Tools is a small shop dedicated to the production of high-quality hand tools, bike accessories, and lifestyle items. We're talking "made in Japan's historic Tsubame-Sanjo manufacturing district" quality. 

A multi-wrench is one such tool that nearly any cyclist could appreciate, and Runwell offers several options. The 4 & 5 mm Wrench with Belt Clip or 4 & 5 mm Wrench with Cord are both portable tools that can tackle a majority of the bolts on a modern bicycle build. If that special cyclist in your life rides a fixie, a shiny new 15 mm Wrench might be just what they have always wanted. 

Runwell applies the same craftsmanship to a few gift ideas you just won't find anywhere else. Anyone who appreciates a well-designed tool will find the 10 mm Wrench and Bottle Opener, tool-inspired Stir Sticks, or Charcuterie Picks a welcome addition to their bar cart.  

Visit our collection of tools for more from Runwell as well some of our favorites from VAR, including their Professional Hex Wrench Set, Compact Multi-Tool, and Tool Bottle. 

Safety Pizza

Who doesn't like pizza? Or being safe, for that matter. The one-and-only Safety Pizza provides both in the form of a fun single-serving slice. Even better, each Safety Pizza is customizable using the included reflective toppings, making this a truly unique gift idea. 

Rough-Stuff Fellowship Archive

The Rough-Stuff Fellowship Archive is the perfect coffee table book for the rider with an appreciation for the history of bicycle touring. Over 190 full-page photos give a look back at a bygone era of cycling--the bikes more simply appointed and adventure paramount. It's a book as breathtaking as it is inspiring. 

Opinel No. 10 Knife & Corkscrew

The only knife you need for 2020 has a corkscrew built in. The Opinel No.10 Knife & Corkscrew is also a great knife for cycle tourists and day-trippers who must always be prepared with a sharp blade or something to pop a nice bottle. 

Mini-Rando Bag/Day Tripper Saddle Bag

What do we like most about the Mini-Rando Handlebar Bag and Day Tripper Saddle Bag? They are both convenient, no fuss solutions to adding a bit of extra carrying capacity to a daily rider, commuter, or touring bike. Both bags attach using only the included strapping and buckles, meaning no specialty rack or bag mounts are necessary. Virtually any bike can benefit from these stylish luggage options. 

Bells

Bells will be ringing this Christmas when you find one of our classic bike bells under the tree. Available in several styles and finishes, these bells add timeless appeal to any bike build and make a very satisfying sound. Choose from our Temple Bell in brass and mirror finishes or our Brass Striker Bell.

Rema Patch Kit

One patch kit can do the work of several tubes and takes up far less space in a stocking (or jersey pocket or saddle bag). The Rema Tip Top Touring Repair Kit includes everything a rider needs to fix a flat: a selection of patches, tube of glue, and sandpaper to rough up the area in need of repair. All is packed neatly into a small, handy carrying case for ready access. 

Jennifer Fletcher @Jennie_fletch16
@weathernetwork These colours 😍. Sunset in St. George, ON pic.twitter.com/SpK5cb6Zpa

mkalus shared this story from mrjamesob on Twitter.

---

mkalus shared this story from mrjamesob on Twitter.

---

I recently had a need to interact with a Google Sheets spreadsheet and it turned out to be pretty easy and worked pretty well! I wanted to write this post to share what I learned and hopefully it can help some others out there.

Source

I didn’t have much of a beauty regime before the lockdown and it’s also the case that I’ve not increased my attention to my appearance since. My disregard for my appearance has always irritated some of the people around me, who believed I could advance myself further in the world if I would just comb my hair. But I’ve always felt that, like men who are not interested in televised sports, women who are not interested in beauty regimes have more time to do interesting things, right?

It is such a relief, my friend told me on the phone, as neither of us had been leaving the house during the lockdown, to not have to wash your hair, or put on makeup. I agreed. To not have an appearance is so relaxing! To appear is mostly to be conscious of appearing. And oftentimes you aren’t even aware that you are appearing at all, until someone interrupts your peaceful and pleasant obliviousness by making you appear, just to point out that you appear differently, or badly, or not how they would prefer you to appear.

This is what many of us experience as Americans (though I am sure it is near universal), and, reading Jaswinder Bolina’s collection of essays, Of Color, it is this rude jolt into another’s conception of us, their questioning of you, and their implicit judgement that is so exhausting, debilitating and wrong. The endless justifications required. The endless appearing. Why are the black kids sitting together in the cafeteria? indeed. Sometimes you just want to relieve yourself of the burden of thinking about your race, and eat your Salisbury steak with those people. As delineated in Bolina’s essay, “Writing like a White Guy.”

I’m guessing more white people are reading books like this, given where we are as a culture, how 2020 went, George Floyd. Most books about race should be read by white people, more so than those who are designated red, yellow, brown and black, who live it and can only nod in recognition. But the white folks? They–we!– might be surprised, learn something new. Like, I wish every book on feminism was read by men. Even ONLY men. How will change happen if men are not on board? So this is one of those books, that I often suspect are read mostly by the POC, nodding.

Bolina is mostly known as a poet, and it was in this context he was accused of “writing like a white guy”, that is, not adding any “Indian” color to his poems. Not representing. Not appearing, as it were, as he was being subtly or not so subtly pressured to appear. You don’t know how relaxing it is to not appear, like white people don’t appear, until you’ve had a chance to be seen-with-expectations.

In the previous post I ran FFmpeg and Handbrake on the 6 core CPU of my workstation and got a good but still modest 2.5x speedup of the video encoding task compared to running the same operation on notebook. I would have expected at least a 5x speedup and I’m still puzzled why I didn’t get there. But I have moved on for the moment and have taken a closer look if I could make FFMpeg and Handbrake use the H.264 hardware encoder on the Nvidia Quadra M2000 GPU instead of running this tasks on the CPUs.

After a bit of searching I found out that Nvidia H.264 hardware encoding was only recently added to Handbrake and the latest version which has not yet made it into the standard Ubuntu 20.04 repository. So I installed the current software version of Handbrake via the project’s PPA and tried again. Here’s the command line that pushes the re-encoding of an mp4 file into a low-quality mp4 H.264 stream:

HandBrakeCLI -i x-original.mp4 -o x--original-q35.mp4 --all-subtitles --all-audio -e nvenc_h264 -q 35 -B 160

Instead of using x264 as target codec, Handbrake pushes the encoding task to the GPU if nvenc_h264 (Nvidia Encoding H264) is specified on the command line. And the difference to CPU encoding is indeed significant. Re-encoding a 1 GB H.264 file in lower quality to achieve a smaller file size takes 29 minutes on my X250 notebook, 12 minutes and 50 seconds when using the Z440 workstations 6 Xeon E5-1650 v4 cores and only 4 minutes and 50 seconds when offloading the H.264 encoding task to the GPU. That’s a 2.6x speedup over CPU encoding and a 6x speedup running the operation on my notebook (and doing nothing else in the meantime). Finally we are getting somewhere! While all CPU cores are fully loaded when running the operation only on the CPUs, CPU load is around 50% when using the GPU for encoding. This is because de-coding the original H.264 file continues to be done on the CPU.

The screenshot at the beginning of the post shows some statistics provided by the Nvidia tool. Video engine utilization jumps from 0% to 97% when the operation is started and PCIe bandwidth utilization goes from 0 to 6%.

Re-encoding an ISO file that was previously created from a DVD with Brasero into a high quality H.264 mp4 stream delivers even higher gains. Running this operation on my notebook takes around 31 minutes for an 8 GB ISO file that contains around 3 hours of video. The same job on the HP Z440 workstation and the NVidia GPU takes 3 minutes 55 seconds, an 8x gain!

And one more advantage of the workstation over the notebook setup: While the notebook has to crank-up its fan to get the heat out, the Z440’s CPU and GPU fans have not trouble getting the heat out and do not even bother to increase their speed and sound level. All very silent despite all the work going on!

And for completeness sake, here’s the output of Nvidia’s command line tool during the operation:

martin@Z440:~$ nvidia-smi -q -d UTILIZATION

==============NVSMI LOG==============

Driver Version : 450.80.02
CUDA Version : 11.0

Attached GPUs : 1
GPU 00000000:02:00.0
Utilization
Gpu : 10 %
Memory : 15 %
Encoder : 94 %
Decoder : 0 %
GPU Utilization Samples
Duration : 16.37 sec
Number of Samples : 99
Max : 10 %
Min : 8 %
Avg : 8 %
Memory Utilization Samples
Duration : 16.37 sec
Number of Samples : 99
Max : 15 %
Min : 12 %
Avg : 13 %
ENC Utilization Samples
Duration : 16.37 sec
Number of Samples : 99
Max : 94 %
Min : 86 %
Avg : 91 %
DEC Utilization Samples
Duration : 16.37 sec
Number of Samples : 99
Max : 0 %
Min : 0 %
Avg : 0 %

Amazon Kids+ ist eine werbefreie Medienbibliothek, mit der Kinder altersgerechte Inhalte in einem sicheren Umfeld entdecken können. Amazon Kids+ für iOS bietet uneingeschränkten Zugriff auf Tausende beliebte und kindgerechte Bücher, Filme und Serien von bekannten Marken und Figuren wie Nickelodeon, LEGO, Bibi & Tina, Die Drei ???, Conni, Paw Patrol, und viele mehr.

Ein kostenloser Probemonat, danach 2,99 für Prime-Mitglieder und 4,99 für alle anderen.

Dishwashers stay pretty clean on their own (surprise!), but food, detergent, and mineral scale can slowly build up throughout the machine. If you notice some lingering smells, or your dishes aren’t getting as clean as they used to, then it’s time to tune up your dishwasher with some simple supplies—and maybe even a powdered dishwasher cleaner.

My pandemic project has been to get down to solving the hard research problems needed to make Subtext real. I started with the Update Problem, which is at the heart of the imperative vs. functional programming dilemma. My last run at the problem was in Two-way Dataflow. I now have a new approach and prototyped enough of it to believe it works. It has restricted “hygienic” forms of writing through aliased pointers and triggering callback cascades that are safe from many of the usual pitfalls in imperative programming (and equally their emulation in monads and effect handlers). The big win is having updatable views, which is cleaner and more compositional than the zoo of state management frameworks engendered by reactive programming architectures.

Unfortunately I’ve concluded that I can’t publish these ideas in their current state. Neither practitioners or academics will consider such radical ideas without proof that they work in practice on realistic cases. Small contrived examples don’t cut it. TodoMVC doesn’t cut it. They’re right: extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof. I need to build out a fully working programming system creating credible applications. Research, like everything else, requires proof of work. And I don’t have graduate students to do it.

I’m just not ready to do that work now, because there is another fundamental problem that needs to be solved first: the Edit Problem. This is really a cluster of problems related to making structured editing beneficial enough to displace text editing. Actually this is a more important problem: not everyone has to update data, but everyone has to edit code.

I guess the point of this post is to help me work through the research grieving process. I am very disappointed to find myself yet again believing that I have a new solution to an important problem yet unable to communicate it to anyone. Add it to the stack and move on.

[update] Here lies Subtext 10

Though it remains unclear why, the U1 Ultra Wideband (UWB) chip first added to the iPhone 11 series back in 2019 and then subsequently brought to the iPhone 12 series, the Apple Watch Series 6 and the HomePod mini, is not featured in Apple’s recently revealed AirPods Max over-ear headphones.

The pricey headphones’ press release states that each ear cup features Apple’s H1 chip, but there’s no mention of the U1. In fact, the U1 doesn’t even appear in the AirPods Max spec sheet on Apple’s website.

Ultra Wideband technology allows devices to understand precisely where they’re located relative to other devices in the room. Apple currently utilizes the U1 chip for faster AirDrop sharing and allows iPhone 11/12 users to unlock specific cars’ specific models.

Looks like they made some changes on these to get them out the door as was deemed likely after several development set backs over the past many months — not seeing swappable bands, and Apple Watch Digital Crown instead of touch panels, and left and right sides aren’t reversible.

— Mark Gurman (@markgurman) December 8, 2020

With the HomePod mini, the U1 chip is utilized for handing off Apple Music tracks between the iPhone and the smart speaker. In theory, it would make sense for the AirPods Max to include similar functionality.

According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple reportedly ditched several features from the AirPods Max in order to release them in 2020.

Removed features include swappable bands, the left and right sides of the headphones being reversible and finally, opting for a Digital Crown-like wheel for settings navigation instead of a touch panel. It’s possible that the plan was also to include the U1 chip in the AirPods Max at some point.

The AirPods Max are set to start shipping for $779 in Canada on December 15th.

Image credit: Apple 

Source: @markgurman Via: 9to5mac, MacRumors  

The post There’s no U1 ultra wideband chip in Apple’s AirPods Max appeared first on MobileSyrup.

Well, this came up earlier (and more focused) than I expected.

The only comment I have is that pretty much everyone I follow on Twitter’s very first comment was that Oculus should be on the list (which just goes to show you I’m clearly in need of broadening my horizons, smack in the middle of a local maxima of geeks, or both).

Friends of the VPL @friendsoftheVPL
"The library, in addition to its many civic duties, can function as a great engine of personal clarity, of facing f… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

The latest cyclist fatality was a catalyst for a group ride to remember the many GTA cyclists who have been killed just this year. A large crowd gathered at Bloor and Spadina.

Joey makes some announcements before he introduces a few speakers.

First up: MPP Jessica Bell who has tabled vulnerable road user legislation.

Next, fellow NDPer Marit Stiles, the MPP from Davenport.

Finally, Patrick Brown of Bike Law Canada who has been involved in too many cases where a driver who has killed someone gets off essentially scot free due to inadequate criminal penalties in the current legal system.

Geoffrey and Chloe get ready to lead us off.

Bikes as far as you can see around the curve.

Thanks to the Bike Brigade who was keeping us safe as we rounded Queen’s Park.

Riding into Parliament.

Jess Spieker from Friends and Families for Safe Streets talked about all those who have died, as well as those who have had devastating injuries as a result of being hit by drivers.

Then a list of the 15 cyclists in the GTA who have died this year was read out, followed by a minute of silence.

Dec 2                         Alex Amaro                   (23)          Dufferin and Sylvan

Nov 20                      John Offutt                               (59)          Royal York and Judson

Sept 24                     Inus Goussard                          (37)          Dundas St W and Denison

Sept 4                       Giuseppe (Joe) Pellerito      (53)          Finch and 400

Sept 1                       Nicholas Ramdeyall               (16)          Dixie and Blundell

August 6                  Ahmed Kamal                                            Dixie and N Service Rd

August 5                  Pasquale Alonzi                      (84)          Bolton

July 24                      Daniel Bertini                           (54)          King Township, Keele St and Cavell Ave

July 9                         Robert Bragg                            (55)          Hurontario and Dundas

July 7                         Geoffrey Mitchell                   (53)          Whitby, Baldwin and Canary St.

June 23                     Helen Xiang                              (52)          Oakville, QEW and 3^rd line

June 15                     Safet Tairovski                         (54)          Unionville

May 5                       male cyclist                                 (57)          Clarington

May 2                        Colin Fisher                               (32)          Brampton, Bovaird Dr

Jan 21 2020            Eric King                                     (48)          Brampton

Fifteen tragedies. Eleven ghost bikes placed by ARC. Something needs to change. The City of Toronto needs to get serious about Vision Zero. The province needs Vulnerable Road User Legislation. The federal government needs to set national safety standards such as side guards on trucks.

Thanks to everyone who rode with us or stood with us at Queen’s Park to remember the fallen. Thanks to our speakers, to ARC and to the Bike Brigade for marshalling.

Brian Tao’s very comprehensive video:

CTV News: Memorial bike ride honours cyclists killed in 2020, including 23-year-old woman last week

CBC news coverage starts at about 10:30 of the nightly news report on Dec 9.

B.F. Singer’s Video:

NOW Toronto coverage. Note that this article states the fact that the memorial ride was in honour of just one cyclist, whereas the ride was to remember all 15.