[Blog] identi.ca: farewell, for now
2018-07-17T23:19:37Z via Spigot To: Public
(http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CraigMaloney/~3/15gaJxpkFwM/)I've decided that I'm shutting down the system that I use for posting to identi.ca. Right now I'm using a combination of spigot and pypump to push content to identi.ca. Unfortunately these systems appear to be unmaintained (I still have pull requests open on both projects for bug that occurred when I upgraded to Python 3). That and the engagement that I'm getting over on Mastodon is much higher than the engagement that I'm getting on identi.ca. So I'm going to let my identi.ca account sit for a while.
identi.ca is the longest-running social network that I've been on. I started around 2008 (There's a post about it called spleen venting here). I've enjoyed all of the conversations that I've had on identi.ca but I think it's time to move my attention elsewhere.
I know identi.ca is working on ActivityPub so this isn't the end of the journey. But we must part for now. I bid you farewell until we meet again, in the bold ActivityPub world of tomorrow.
Craig, in front of an identi.ca screen, circa 2008 
Well Craig, I had to tell Walt that I've been cutting back. Things are getting very, very bad at work. Depending upon which way Congress goes with a few measures, things will get horrifying at $BUREAU due to quite a bit of wasted time. If Pelosi and Schumer win control via the midterms, a mutiny may begin if they try to repeal the Tax Cuts & Jobs Act of 2017 with retrospective effect to the start of the tax year as they've promised.
I nuked the Mastodon account. I'll be re-nuking Twitter. The Identica account is invincible and otherwise cannot be destroyed. Quitter.se is apparently gone.
I'm reachable via Launchpad. I'm also reachable via this Gogs instance if I ever get it configured right: http://git.erielookingproductions.info. It was installed from a snap, of course.
see you soon
[Blog] Writing every morning
2018-07-10T04:00:04Z via Spigot To: Public
(http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CraigMaloney/~3/G8RwEnCMym4/)I've been working on the habit of writing every morning after I get up / get cleaned up. I've found that making sure I write for 10 minutes each morning has been very good for me. It's given me a sense of confidence that I can keep writing, no matter what. It's also helped me with one of my largest problems; namely "resistance" where I don't feel like writing. All I have to do is just agree to do 10 minutes of writing and then I'm OK to do whatever else I wish. I've also taken to writing in vim on a machine that boots directly into the console (a Raspberry Pi Zero with wireless). I ssh into my main machine and then bring up vim to write. So far I'm on the 6th chapter of my book and still going strong with my shitty-first-draft. I'm looking forward to releasing this book as it's a bit of a motivational memoir of programming. And with the constant flow of writing a bit each day I can keep up at least some pace to finish it. Hoping to apply this to other projects as well.
Open Metalcast Episode #178: Head in a Rocket
2018-07-03T12:00:05Z via Spigot To: Public
(http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OpenMetalcast/~3/BTfyoj8HRVY/)Here at the Open Metalcast headquarters were’coming up on the July 4th holiday. That can only mean one thing: a constant barrage of folks taking their hard-earned money and transforming it into displays of sound and color. That’s all good for them but we prefer to celebrate freedom by taking our hard-earned cash and transforming it into displays of the most amazing Creative Commons metal music the net has to offer. Gathered in this episode are the likes of Beastmaker, Goddess Of Fate, Blot, Antisoph, VOR, filferro, BLACKWYCH, and GENTEMAYOR. And unlike a fireworks display you can re-play this again and again and even share it with your friends. Its 100% better to share than mosquito repellent and unlike that potato salad that’s been out all afternoon it’s only guaranteed to give you sick riffs, not sick… well, you get the idea.
- (00:10) Colors Of The Dark by Beastmaker from EP. 1 (BY-NC)
- (03:10) Demolition by Goddess Of Fate from A Reversal Civilization EP (BY-NC-ND)
- (04:35) Hate by Blot from Blot EP (BY-NC-ND)
- (09:19) Hypnoroom by Antisoph from Antisoph (BY-NC-ND)
- (13:27) Black Goat by VOR from Depravador (BY-NC-ND)
- (19:06) Light The Fuse by filferro from The Capaces – Rawness (BY-NC)
- (21:15) Out Of Control by BLACKWYCH from BLACKWYCH – OUT OF CONTROL (1986) (BY-NC-ND)
- (24:36) The Struggle: the Calf felt scared with his Emptiness by GENTEMAYOR from A Tragic Inter-Species Love Tale (BY-NC-ND)
Please support the bands in this show! Buy a T-Shirt, buy an album, or head to the shows. Whatever you can do to help these bands keep making music, please do it!
If you have any suggestions for Creative Commons licensed metal, send me a link at [email protected].
Open Metalcast #178 (MP3)
Open Metalcast #178 (OGG)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.[Blog] Designing a Well Lived Life: Checking In (June)
2018-07-01T16:00:04Z via Spigot To: Public
(http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CraigMaloney/~3/FFuOUEkqtTM/)Checking in for June for my "Designing a Well-Lived Life" blogging. This is about making small changes during the year to make larger changes.
(I should probably make this a template at some point. blush)
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Writing more / designing more: I've instituted a writing requirement every morning where I write for 10 minutes on a book that I'm working on. So far it's been going well: I'm starting to see progress on the book and can see that I'll have a working draft soon. Of course there will be the phase of editing and second-guessing what I wrote but that I have something at all to edit is a testimony to how this is working. I think I need to do the same for designing but haven't done that yet.
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Programming more: Work has been the only place I've really done any development. I did do a release of tootstream 0.3.4 but I need to get back to it so I can add Mastodon.py 1.3 support for tootstream 0.3.5. That and eventually I want to clean up the code for tootstream so it adding things can be a little easier.
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Engage more with people, not things: Same as last check-in. I'm still primarily interacting with folks online, and a small circle of friends when I'm not online.
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Blogging more: I'm hoping to do more blogging as I have things that I want to talk about, but I'm also finding that I'm getting more engagement for what I post on Mastodon than I do here. That might be in part because I turned off comments. I might go back to Disqus at some point but they're acting weird lately.
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Getting out of debt: Still making some headway here, but it takes way longer than I would like.
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Supporting creators in sustainable ways: Outside of Patreon and Liberapay I haven't figured much to help this front. I've also taken to donating to a few organizations that are responsible for the tools I like, but I feel there is more I can do.
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Physical health: I managed to wind myself while using the reel mower in the front yard, so that's not great. I've been using the exercise bike in the basement on and off, but haven't really made much progress on this front. I do need to check out our bikes, but I've literally been meaning to do this for over 5 years now. Ugh.
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Kindness: It's been a bit of a struggle but I'm finding myself being more kind when I'm not under stress. But when stress comes to the fore there too come my sarcastic and angry habits.
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Mindfulness: I'm meditating and taking time to pause and see myself doing what I'm doing. This has been the area where I'm seeing silent progress as it's something that I'm reminded of each day.
Disqus sux! Don't go back to that xD
Other than that, congrats on your progress!
JanKusanagi at 2018-07-01T22:23:03Z
Craig Maloney likes this.
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Open Metalcast Episode #177: Harnessing Chaos
2018-06-26T04:00:05Z via Spigot To: Public
(http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OpenMetalcast/~3/Hn_nAf-ewmw/)Sometimes I like taking the whole Open Metalcast headquarters music library and put it on shuffle mode. This morning I decided to record an episode completely made up of these tracks. The only rule was that it couldn’t be something that I already played on the show (funnily enough one track didn’t make the cut because of that reason). This episode features tracks from Lords of the Trident, Thicket, Raging Steel, Mindwarp, Vanagloria, Gangrel, Colossal Figures, Digger, Mental Waste, tao te kin, and Dr. Zilog. I’m a little worried that the forces of chaos are going to put me out of a job making these playlists. Perhaps the computers really are taking over.
- (00:35) Winds of the Storm by Lords of the Trident from Frostburn (BY-NC)
- (05:00) Colombian Necktie by Thicket from Origin (Single) (BY)
- (10:09) Altered Reality by Raging Steel from ST (BY-ND)
- (14:33) Adrenochrome by Mindwarp from Mindwarp EP (BY-NC-ND)
- (20:59) Resurgir by Vanagloria from Involución (BY-ND)
- (25:01) Terrorizer by Gangrel from Gangrel Strike EP (BY-ND)
- (28:28) Stone to Water by Colossal Figures from Clockwork Dilation (BY-NC-ND)
- (34:24) Digger – Evidence [2009] – Y.K.I.B. Klauz by Digger from Evidence… is written in the noizz – Full Album (BY-NC-SA)
- (39:10) Infection by Mental Waste from Meltdown (BY-NC-SA)
- (39:54) Fragil by tao te kin from Abada (BY-NC-ND)
- (47:05) The Speed of Bit by Dr. Zilog from Vulgar Fractions (BY-NC-SA)
Please support the bands in this show! Buy a T-Shirt, buy an album, or head to the shows. Whatever you can do to help these bands keep making music, please do it!
If you have any suggestions for Creative Commons licensed metal, send me a link at [email protected].
Open Metalcast #177 (MP3)
Open Metalcast #177 (OGG)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.Open Metalcast Episode #176: Rules of Acquisition
2018-06-05T04:00:06Z via Spigot To: Public
(http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OpenMetalcast/~3/3IDPHQ-bT7k/)Here at the Open Metalcast Headquarters we’re always acquiring Creative Commons metal music for the show. We carefully select the finest CC-licensed metal music and run it through a scientific process to ensure the best listening experience possible. And this show is no exception, featuring music from Cara Neir, Epiphany From The Abyss, Anvil of Doom, Altars of Grief, ctrlBrain, Force Events!, Pyrit, The Neptune Power Federation, and Fuzz Forward. And we can pretty much guarantee that a certain Redmond-based software company won’t purchase us for $7 billion any time soon so we’ll continue to bring you the best CC-licensed metal music available.
- (00:11) Imperialist Design by Cara Neir from Stagnant Perceptions (BY-NC-ND)
- (04:56) Generation Of the Hopeless by Epiphany From The Abyss from Generation Of The Hopeless (BY-NC-ND)
- (09:58) Turn Your Back by Anvil of Doom from Turn Your Back EP (BY-NC-ND)
- (15:35) Her Shadow is the Night by Altars of Grief from This Shameful Burden (BY-NC)
- (22:12) Буря by ctrlBrain from Семь (BY-NC-SA)
- (24:47) Отрешение / Тонуть или плыть by Force Events! from Force Events! (BY-NC-ND)
- (28:29) Šina by Pyrit from Jazdec bez hlavy (BY-NC-SA)
- (31:00) Wizard Lovin’ by The Neptune Power Federation from Mano A Satano (BY-NC)
- (34:44) Summertime Somersaults by FUZZ FORWARD from Out of Nowhere (BY-NC-ND)
Please support the bands in this show! Buy a T-Shirt, buy an album, or head to the shows. Whatever you can do to help these bands keep making music, please do it!
If you have any suggestions for Creative Commons licensed metal, send me a link at [email protected].
Open Metalcast #176 (MP3)
Open Metalcast #176 (OGG)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.Open Metalcast Episode #175: Remember to Reminder
2018-05-29T04:00:13Z via Spigot To: Public
(http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OpenMetalcast/~3/9r79r6ya8PE/)Here at the Open Metalcast headquarters we’re celebrating Memorial Day Weekend. It’s a time of remembrance for those who fought for the freedoms that we in the USA enjoy. And one of those freedoms that I enjoy is sharing Creative Commons Metal Music with you. And this show is no different, with artists like Galactic Pegasus, Fountainhead, Necro-Cannibal Machinery, Terminal Man, Nolens, Crows, AgainstYouAll, and Die Leere im Kern deiner Hoffnung to bring the freedom of CC-Licensed music to your ears. And remember to support the bands in this show so they have the freedom to bring you more amazing music.
- (00:11) Volenti Non Fit Injuria by Galactic Pegasus from Dysphoria (BY-NC-SA)
- (03:47) 1. All Hail To Decay by Fountainhead from Fountainhead plays Despotic (BY-NC-ND)
- (06:16) Sacrament by Necro-Cannibal Machinery from Fractures (BY-SA)
- (12:46) El salto by Mosh from El filo (BY-NC-SA)
- (17:17) Diamonds by Terminal Man from Body of Crisis (BY-NC-ND)
- (20:50) #2 by Nolens from REJECT . SOMETHING (BY-NC-ND)
- (22:09) Reach by Crows from Carry This Flesh (BY-NC-ND)
- (25:06) Bringing You (Into My Chaos) by AgainstYouAll from None (BY-NC-ND)
- (30:31) Das Leben ist komplex by Die Leere im Kern deiner Hoffnung from Das Leben ist komplex und Entropie real (BY-SA)
Please support the bands in this show! Buy a T-Shirt, buy an album, or head to the shows. Whatever you can do to help these bands keep making music, please do it!
If you have any suggestions for Creative Commons licensed metal, send me a link at [email protected].
Open Metalcast #175 (MP3)
Open Metalcast #175 (OGG)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.[Blog] Happy Anniversary, Sweetheart
2018-05-17T14:00:06Z via Spigot To: Public
(http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CraigMaloney/~3/7ltgdn6LFL0/)Today JoDee and I celebrate 15 years of marriage (and many more prior to our marriage).
I know it's cliche to say "I'd do it all over again" but frankly it's true; I would do it all over again.
You complete me in ways that I never thought possible.
I love you, sweetheart.
McClane likes this.
Oooohh =)
[Blog] Designing a Well Lived Life: Checking In (April / May)
2018-05-15T04:00:04Z via Spigot To: Public
(http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CraigMaloney/~3/fk8fGo0x2W8/)Checking in for April and May for my "Designing a Well-Lived Life" blogging. This is about making small changes during the year to make larger changes.
I didn't do one in April because things got away from me in the interim. But that's OK. Being kind to myself for not meeting certain expectations is part of the practice.
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Writing more / designing more: Ho boy. This one really didn't get much attention, but that was in part because I was working on Penguicon presentations and getting things squared away there. I've been really bad about creating a regular writing habit, but I'm hoping to do more of that with some new morning routines.
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Programming more: I did a whole presentation on the TIC-80 fantasy console which taught me some of how Lua worked. I've also done some programming on tootstream, and I've been getting interested in the Mycroft AI project. But I've also neglected some of the training things that I've signed up for and need to build some of that discipline back into my day.
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Engage more with people, not things: Same as last check-in. I'm still primarily interacting with folks online, and a small circle of friends when I'm not online.
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Blogging more: As you can see from the title this hasn't had much focus.
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Getting out of debt: Slow progress on this front, but there's still some progress.
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Supporting creators in sustainable ways: Outside of Patreon and Liberapay I haven't figured much to help this front.
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Physical health: The summer is fast approaching and I'm now out doing yard work, but I'd hardly call that progress.
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Kindness: Starting to feel some of my sarcastic tendencies at the fore, especially with myself.
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Mindfulness: I'm meditating and taking time to pause and see myself doing what I'm doing. This has been the area where I'm seeing silent progress as it's something that I'm reminded of each day.
More next month.
Ya know, things are calmer over here compared to the Mastodon realm. Work is also getting VERY stupid at the moment as I've referenced in a previous post. I'm glad you're doing more.
As for sustainable support, you can see the realm of creative work I produce twice per month at: http://erielookingproductions.info/Ch0.S6.html
And yes, the original for my website is a LaTeX2e document thank you very much. This lets me imitate an older style of website organization yet have it be done in HTML5 thank to LaTeXML produced by a branch at NIST. This also reminds me I have a "short film" script to eventually write when I get downtime: http://erielookingproductions.info/Ch0.S5.html
Calmer is an understatement; this place is rather quiet. :)» Craig Maloney:
“Calmer is an understatement; this place is rather quiet. :)”
Stating the obvious... if you follow few and not very active people, yes, you'll see it "rather quiet". But it obviously depends on you, and your interactions.
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Open Metalcast Episode #174: Won’t Fade Away
2018-05-15T03:00:04Z via Spigot To: Public
(http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OpenMetalcast/~3/_NqPlwpDegI/)I’ve made it no secret that the hardest part of putting together these shows is coming up with new and interesting things to put at the top of the episode. I mean, with metal like Godless Truth, Spawn of Annihilation, Throne of Botis, Catalytic, NONE, Antimelodix, Demiurgo, and Illuminus it’s hard to come up with the right words to describe such amazing metal. It’s like these blurbs almost fade away into the background radiation of such amazing talent. But ramble on I must until I get to a point where I feel like stopping. Hey, here looks like a good spot.
- (00:10) Look Inside Your Pain by Godless Truth from Too Late to Stop My Hate (BY-NC-ND)
- (06:36) Power and Glory to the Reason by SPAWN OF ANNIHILATION from Inquisitor of Lies (BY-NC-ND)
- (13:27) Dismantled And Dissolved by Throne Of Botis from Hymns Of Homicide (BY-NC-SA)
- (16:53) God Complex by Catalytic from The Fall (Full Digital Album) (BY-NC-ND)
- (21:35) Bed the cold earth by NONE from Life has gone on long enough (BY-ND)
- (29:19) Пропаганда (Propaganda) by Antimelodix from Хаос РФ (Chaos RF) (BY-NC-SA)
- (34:05) Nadie a quien fallar by Demiurgo from La Virtud del Invitado (Capítulo 2) (BY-NC-ND)
- (39:27) Endless by Illuminus from Endless (BY-NC-SA)
Please support the bands in this show! Buy a T-Shirt, buy an album, or head to the shows. Whatever you can do to help these bands keep making music, please do it!
If you have any suggestions for Creative Commons licensed metal, send me a link at [email protected].
Open Metalcast #174 (MP3)
Open Metalcast #174 (OGG)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.Open Metalcast Episode #173: Combined Forces
2018-05-01T02:00:04Z via Spigot To: Public
(http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OpenMetalcast/~3/Ju5xzEHfzSM/)Here at The Open Metalcast Headquarters we usually make an entire episode in one night. We’ll toil over Audacity tweaking and adjusting until the perfect episode is ready for you to listen to. But sometimes we won’t be able to finish the episode all at once and we’ll leave it on the hard drive waiting to be unleashed. This was such an instance where we’d started the episode and then forgot that we had already uncorked the metal rocket-sauce before. But lest you think that we’re somehow giving you stale metal, or twice-unblessed metal please rest assured that we ensure that all of the metal is vacuum-packed using only the finest artisinal magnetic media. And who wouldn’t want to hear our fine selection of music from Tinnitia, Terrestrial Chaos, cranial incisored, Chivo, SUNNATA, No Hand Path, Kartzarot, and Ark Of Passage? It just goes to show that we will not rest until we bring you the best if Creative Commons Metal Music. Unless we do rest. Then we put it away until we can continue again.
- (00:11) Второе небо by Ark Of Passage from Время жить и время умирать (EP) (BY-NC-ND)
- (04:28) Nostradamus by Kartzarot from Kartzarot (BY-NC-ND)
- (10:19) Birth of Decision by No Hand Path from An Existence Regained (BY-NC-ND)
- (18:06) Outlands by SUNNATA from Outlands (BY-NC-ND)
- (25:40) Wasted Time by Chivo from Waiting for so long (BY-NC-ND)
- (30:45) Dreaming Illusion ~ Constructing Extinction by cranial incisored from None (BY-NC-ND)
- (32:24) 02 – On The Verge of Humanity by Terrestrial Chaos from Pānoptikón (BY-NC-SA)
- (35:57) Hydraulic Operated Machinaria by Tinnitia from Live at NomaNooirax Fest (BY-NC-ND)
Please support the bands in this show! Buy a T-Shirt, buy an album, or head to the shows. Whatever you can do to help these bands keep making music, please do it!
If you have any suggestions for Creative Commons licensed metal, send me a link at [email protected].
Open Metalcast #173 (MP3)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.Open Metalcast Episode #172: Ringside Seat to Apocalypse
2018-04-15T01:00:06Z via Spigot To: Public
(http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OpenMetalcast/~3/0-VFC6IVgkw/)Here at the Open Metalcast Headquarters we’re awaiting the next bout from Mother Nature and her minions of winter to deposit more wintery mix (read: ice) over the land. But the metal must flow and we have a great line-up of metal music for you. We have tracks from Within Destruction, Homicidal Raptus, Enthrallment, Kekal , Stolen Lives, Electric Valley, This Age, and Slugdge. Hopefully it’ll keep your ears warm and filled with Creative Commons Metal Music goodness.
- (00:10) Human Defect by Within Destruction from D E A T H W I S H (BY-NC-ND)
- (03:33) Disemboweled in a Public Toilet by Homicidal Raptus from Erotomanic Hallucinosis (BY-ND)
- (08:05) Fruits of Pain and Blue Sky by Enthrallment from People from the Lands of Vit (BY-NC-ND)
- (11:59) Blessing In Disguise by Kekal from Acidity (BY-NC-ND)
- (17:33) Budoucnost sviní by Stolen Lives from Budoucnost sviní (BY-NC-ND)
- (20:07) War of Cosmos by Electric Valley from Two Realities at War (BY-NC-ND)
- (27:15) Fri[End] by This Age from ‘Till The End Of Time (BY-NC-SA)
- (32:08) Eyehatesalt by Slugdge from Born of Slime (BY-NC-ND)
Please support the bands in this show! Buy a T-Shirt, buy an album, or head to the shows. Whatever you can do to help these bands keep making music, please do it!
If you have any suggestions for Creative Commons licensed metal, send me a link at [email protected].
Open Metalcast #172 (MP3)
Open Metalcast #172 (OGG)
[Blog] Letting go of expectations
2018-03-29T04:00:05Z via Spigot To: Public
(http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CraigMaloney/~3/k4sv_Rh_kWI/)One thing that I have heard often in practices of Mindfulness (and Buddhism) is that desire and attachment are the causes of suffering. And that all seems well and good (surely if you don't desire anything then it stands to reason that you won't suffer in wanting anything. Problem solved! Yay humanity!) But I think there's a little more to it that can become part of the practice of developers.
Too often I have sat frustrated in front of a piece of code because one of the following things happened:
- It didn't behave like I wanted it to behave
- It wasn't as simple as I thought it would be
- The code became much uglier than I wanted it to be
- The problem eluded me longer than I wanted it to take
- It wasn't as fun as I had hoped it would be
All of these problems aren't the code's fault. Nothing about the code or the computer could care less about how I feel about it. What I brought to the session were my desires of how it would turn out. My wants precluded me seeing things for how they were and taking them at face value in that moment. My frustrations arose from wanting things to be different and realizing that no matter how hard I tried, or how much I begged, the session was going to do what it would.
Getting mad at the computer wasn't going to make the bugs pop out quicker. Feeling pressured by the deadline wasn't going to make my mind think any clearer about the problem at hand. Fretting that the code that I was generating wasn't the most beautiful code I'd ever written wasn't going to make the code any better. What I brought to the whole exercise was how I wanted things to be and when those didn't happen I suffered for it.
I've been working on recognizing this tendency in my work. Rather than bring my expectations for how easy or quick or unbelievably awesome something will be I choose instead to agree that I will work on whatever it is that I'm working on and see where it leads. Rather than bring my preconceptions for how things will be I instead see how it is and work from there.
It's not easy. There's still times where I bring my old habits of frustration and anger to bear. But I've noticed that when I act with more curiosity that things tend to work out better.
There is still the intention of getting work done as well. It's not just unfocused sessions of sitting in front of the keyboard hoping that I'll write something amazing. I still have to understand what it is that I'm working on. But it happens on a more gradual scale and is driven by curiosity of how things will play out.
Open Metalcast Episode #171: Engines of Metal
2018-03-27T02:00:04Z via Spigot To: Public
(http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OpenMetalcast/~3/Nl5q1PIZUm4/)Apparently there is something going around the Open Metalcast headquarters that is wreaking havoc upon your beloved host. But the engines of metal must rage on, and rage on they shall in this episode. We have music by Head Cleaner, Incinerator, Drop Out, With Teeth, GLAM, S3V3N, Marche Funèbre, Rotten Casket, We Exist Even Dead, Oblivion’s Garden, and Kraanston to help sooth those sinuses with the echoes of metal music. By the end you’ll be smelling in infrared from the heat generated in your ear-holes, guaranteed.
- (00:11) What Normality Means? by Head Cleaner from Of Worms and Men (BY-NC-ND)
- (02:32) Slaughter by Incinerator from The Stench of distress (BY-SA)
- (06:14) Cabezas Huecas by Drop Out from Drop Out (BY-NC-ND)
- (07:38) Waltz by With Teeth from Captives (BY-NC-ND)
- (10:53) Crisis Atomica by GLAM from Veneno en sus flechas (BY-NC-SA)
- (12:14) Termites by Most Likely Forever from S3V3N (BY-ND)
- (16:08) Capital of Rain by Marche Funèbre from Into the Arms of Darkness (BY-NC)
- (24:54) In Search Of The Perfect Skin by Rotten Casket from Emerged From Beyond (BY-NC-ND)
- (30:28) Self-Reflected by We Exist Even Dead from Meet No End (BY-NC-SA)
- (34:56) My Revolution by Oblivion’s Garden from Outbreak (BY-NC-ND)
- (42:24) Cargo Cult by Kraanston from Dead Eyes EP (BY-NC-SA)
Please support the bands in this show! Buy a T-Shirt, buy an album, head to the shows, or walk in to their Skype conversation like you just don’t care. Whatever you can do to help these bands keep making music, please do it!
If you have any suggestions for Creative Commons licensed metal, send me a link at [email protected].
Open Metalcast #171 (MP3)
Open Metalcast #171 (OGG)
[Blog] 12 Questions About My Job (from 2008)
2018-03-13T17:00:04Z via Spigot To: Public
(http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CraigMaloney/~3/7imnmBJ2ZFc/)I just noticed that I'd saved a questionnaire from 2008 about my job and computers. I think this might have come from my college as a way to help prepare students for entering the computing workforce. Back then I was working for a car company doing Perl and Java. Some things have changed since then (I'm no longer doing anything with Perl or Java and I'm OK with that. Also starting salaries have hopefully increased since 2008). But what's more striking is how some things haven't changed (I still want to help people. I still use vi via vim) and how computers have intruded in our lives (smartphones, smart TVs, and the Internet of Things).
So here it is, typos and all; a glimpse into what I was thinking back in 2008 about my job and computing in general:
1. What do you like about your job?
I like the daily challenge of the job. I love solving problems and working out puzzles. I enjoy working with computers and seeing them do amazing and cool things. I enjoy helping out people whenever I can.
2. What dont you like about your job?
I dislike it when the technology or political issues get in the way of helping me help out people. I hate the politics that can come in any corporation, especially if they make no technological or other sense.
3. How did you decide to go into that profession?
I've always enjoyed computers, ever since I was little. I would see computers on the television doing amazing and incredible feats, and knew I wanted to be a part of that. I would read the World Book Encyclopedia and look at the pictures of computers and dream about building or working with those machines. Unfortunately the encyclopedia we had was several years out of date, and the pictures I associated with computers being mammoth, room filling machines were quickly replaced by pictures of Apple ][, Commodore VIC 20s, Timex Sinclairs, and my first computer, the Atari 400. The idea that I could own a computer and use it was foreign to me, but I quickly got over that and pestered my parents at length to let me have a computer.
4. How do you use computers in your job?
I use them to maintain and develop web-based software. I use UNIX, Perl, and Java to help provide financial and performance information for a major automotive company.
5. How have the computers changed since you have been working?
I started working in 1993, and the machines have changed dramatically. In 1993, the SPARCStation 20 was the machine to beat, and the 486 machines were the fastest processor most home users would have. I gravitated to UNIX and Linux early on, because they were similar to the machines that I had used in college. At that time it was unheard of for home users to have UNIX at home. Now, it's more commonplace for people to use UNIX-based operating systems. When I started working, computers were seen as single-tasking machines. You brought up your word processor, and that was it. Now, you can have multiple programs running simultaneously on a machine without even thinking about it. Viruses were a common problem on DOS and Windows machines, but you had to pass around a floppy in order to be infected. Now, it takes 15 minutes for a Windows machine to be completely compromised. When I started working, the network was a scarce resource. Now, the network is considered to be ubiquitous.
6. What types of software do you use?
I use vi, Perl, Linux, Solaris, and Apache for Development. I use OpenOffice, Lotus Notes and Lotus SameTime for office communication and groupware.
7. How does using computers make your job more efficient?
With the right scripts and programs, I can take a mound of data and turn it into something useful in a matter of seconds. I can use the computer to help my task management and methodologies for improving my work flow. I can send mail to several people to ask for their input without leaving my desk.
8. What type of degrees do you have?
I have a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science.
9. What would be the best way to get starting in a profession like yours?
Curiosity. You can't learn everything from a book or from school. School gives you the discipline, but finding out the answers yourself and from other mentors is the only way to really hone your skills.
10. How much is a typical starting salary?
$30-$40k.
11. What is a typical task you do on the job?
I do paperwork to handle the corporate policy changes. I fix a little code here and there when it breaks, and handle customer requests for new features.
12. Do you think computers will be forever changing?
I think there will come a point when we won't consider computers as a separate instrument anymore; they'll be so ubiquitous that we won't think about using them, we'll just use them. Television and radio hit that state a while back, yet they still are in constant metamorphosis. Computers found their way into many electronic devices we take for granted, like cable boxes, microwave ovens, and desktop calculators. I think we'll see more and more innovative uses for computers as time goes on.
Open Metalcast Episode #170: Waving and Drowning
2018-03-13T02:00:10Z via Spigot To: Public
(http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OpenMetalcast/~3/LwaYM00ZDow/)Here at Open Metalcast Headquarters we’ve prided ourselves on being punctual with the delivery of Creative Commons Metal Music to your bloodstream via our easy-to-listen podcast format. But sometimes the deliveries are a later than we would like and this episode is much later than it should have been. But fortunately good metal doesn’t spoil while you’re waiting and we have an amazing line-up of Creative Commons Metal ready to give you that much needed infusion. We have music from The Derision Cult, Solem, Beyond Exile, Altars of Grief, Black Autumn, Concince, Wombripper, and Bones of Minerva. And you won’t have to go to the post office to pick it up.
We’ll be back soon another special delivery of metal music later this week.
- (00:11) Get Out! by The Derision Cult from No Esteemed Deeds (BY-NC-ND)
- (04:14) A Blessing In Disguise (Demo) by Solem from Demo 2013 (BY-NC-SA)
- (08:34) Unhallowed by Beyond Exile from Immortal (BY-NC-ND)
- (11:31) Desolation by Altars of Grief from Iris (BY-NC)
- (17:27) The Wait by Black Autumn from Rauhnacht MMXVII (BY-NC-SA)
- (24:22) Грязь больших городов / The Scum of Big Cities by Convince from Падение / Decline (EP) (BY-NC-SA)
- (27:01) Immolation Rites by Wombripper from From the Depths of Flesh (BY-NC-ND)
- (30:56) Fear is a biscuit by Bones Of Minerva from Blue Mountains (BY-NC-ND)
Please support the bands in this show! Buy a T-Shirt, buy an album, head to the shows, or walk in to their Skype conversation like you just don’t care. Whatever you can do to help these bands keep making music, please do it!
If you have any suggestions for Creative Commons licensed metal, send me a link at [email protected].
Open Metalcast #170 (MP3)
Open Metalcast #170 (OGG)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported.[Blog] Designing a Well Lived Life: Checking In (March)
2018-03-11T19:00:03Z via Spigot To: Public
(http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CraigMaloney/~3/jfej61_Ve7s/)Checking in for March for my "Designing a Well-Lived Life" blogging. This is about making small changes during the year to make larger changes.
- Writing more / designing more: I let myself get wrapped up in work-related stuff and this completely went by the wayside. By the time I'd finished up my work for the day the last thing I wanted to do was write or design. I need to bake more of this into my routines and block off some time to make this happen.
Unfortunately this leads to another thing, which is that I don't take my own schedule seriously. If I put something on the schedule that involves another person I will do my best to make it happen. But if it's just for me? Well, I don't make it as important because usually it was a shot-in-the-dark anyway to put it on the calendar and my stuff isn't as important anyway. It's a dangerous habit I've gotten into and one that I need to adjust.
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Programming more: I did more programming for work so that got attention, but I also need to advance myself in larger application design. I've done applications from the ground up but refactoring other folks code without keeping to the original design is something that I've not been so good at. I need to learn how to assert my own thoughts in code in order to make it better. I also need to learn how to build more applications from the ground up.
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Engage more with people, not things: Somewhat of a success but not really. I'm still a bit of a hermit outside of Coffee House Coders and MUG, but a lot of my social interactions are either on IRC or Mastodon (My G+ usage has dropped off significantly).
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Blogging more: Well, at least this keeps me blogging. blush.
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Getting out of debt: Seems whenever I see the edges of the hole something gives way and we're plunged back into darkness. Need to focus on finding other means for getting income in this age because the era of having one stable job for me seems to be long past.
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Supporting creators in sustainable ways: Outside of Patreon and Liberapay I haven't figured much to help this front.
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Physical health: Does breathing count? That's about the only thing I've really focused on.
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Kindness: Being kind to myself is more of a struggle that I would like to admit. Still focusing on being kind to others and trying to see more sides to things.
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Mindfulness: Still meditating.
More to come in the coming months.
Ben Sturmfels likes this.
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[Blog] Musings on Regret
2018-03-11T18:00:06Z via Spigot To: Public
(http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CraigMaloney/~3/Prw05Lh2t-k/)(I posted this on Mastodon and decided it needed a more permanent location).
Regret is useless if the only thing you take away from it is that you are somehow inferior for the decisions you make. Regret is a disservice and an attack on the decisions that got you here and they discount your tender heart and your about to choose in the moment on what is best for you with available information.
Wishing that you had done something different to have a better life takes away from the beautiful gift you have now, here, to learn and do better.
Open Metalcast Episode #169: Strategic Metal Heist
2018-02-21T04:00:05Z via Spigot To: Public
(http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OpenMetalcast/~3/_o65GX8Fh3I/)Recently we at the Open Metalcast headquarters watched an episode of “Dirty Money” where they talked about the heist of the Strategic Maple Syrup Reserve in Canada. Barrels of syrup were removed and in their place were placed barrels of water. And they would have gotten away with it too had the barrels not started to rust and shown signs of being handled more roughly than normal syrup barrels. What does that have to do with metal music? Ummm. Well, we went into our Strategic Creative Commons Metal Music Supply to bring you out the finest in Creative Commons metal music. And what we found wasn’t barrels of water but barrels of great music by Forgenheim, Abhorrent Castigation, Spiritual Deception, (EchO), Moron, BlackStar, and Iron Kobra. Once we found tracks from these bands we loaded them into this here podcast and shipped them off to your podcatcher of choice, where you can listen to them on-demand. And since you’re listening to these metal music bits you can be secure in knowing that we’ve pretty much used up this metaphor and hope you enjoy the music.
- (00:11) Kinderlied by Forgenheim from Kinderlied (BY-SA)
- (04:48) The Tree of Knowledge by Abhorrent Castigation from Throne of Existential Abandonment (BY-NC-ND)
- (07:59) De Rerum Humana by Spiritual Deception from Spiritual Deception EP (BY-NC-ND)
- (12:18) Omnivoid by (EchO) from Devoid Of Illusions (BY-NC-ND)
- (20:39) Ghosting by Coma. from Agony | Hophek (BY-NC-ND)
- (26:03) Pytanie by Moron from Świt EP (BY)
- (29:18) Fight by BlackStar from From The Ashes (BY-NC-ND)
- (35:04) Kerker und Drachen by Iron Kobra from Kerker & Drachen (BY-NC-SA)
Please support the bands in this show! Buy a T-Shirt, buy an album, head to the shows, or give them a bottle of maple syrup. Whatever you can do to help these bands keep making music, please do it!
If you have any suggestions for Creative Commons licensed metal, send me a link at [email protected].
Open Metalcast #169 (MP3)
Open Metalcast #169 (OGG)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported.[Blog] You can't please everyone
2018-02-17T06:00:04Z via Spigot To: Public
(http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CraigMaloney/~3/U51C-V5x6Ss/)There's the old saying "you can't please everyone". Usually folks take that to mean that there are certain people who will never be pleased with what you do so don't bother trying to reach them. But there's a secondary way to read this phrase that I'd like to explore and that's the idea that it is exhausting to please everyone and everything that you really care about.
Over the years we accrue many friends, acquaintances, interests, fandoms, and things that mean something to us. And for the most part we can keep on top of engaging with each of these things. But over time we gain so many of them that we can no longer keep up with them in the same way that we used to engage with them. Those few hours with someone at a position we've held become sporadic contact because our job changed. That really cool thing that we found on the internet lead to several other really cool things on the internet and now engaging with all of them becomes physically exhausting.
We have to step back and realize which interactions are still bringing us joy and which ones are there because we feel an obligation to keeping these connections alive.
But there's the tendency to want to keep everything alive; to keep all of the plates spinning with the same intensity that we had when we first engaged with it. But keeping all of those plates spinning wears us out. We can't keep spinning all of them at the same time. Eventually the plates won't have enough momentum to keep going and they wobble and fall off their posts.
And that's OK, as long as we are conscious of which interactions we're letting go of for now. As long as we know which ones we want to keep and engage with them fully we can be OK with the ones that are no longer bringing us joy.
(This post is just a few notes to myself to remind myself that it's OK not to be all things to all people all the time. It's OK to let things go and let the plates fall where they may. And perhaps someday when I'm ready those unbroken plates can take the place of the other ones that have lost their momentum).
McClane, [email protected] ❌ likes this.
McClane, McClane, [email protected] ❌, [email protected] ❌ and 1 others shared this.
Very true.
A sort of Diogenes syndrome, but with non-physical stuff =)
JanKusanagi at 2018-02-17T13:46:13Z
Craig Maloney likes this.