Tag: personal blog

Personal Blog: Entry 2025-04-05 (Witnessing 2025-03-29 Partial Solar Eclipse)

Otto

Personal Blog: Entry 2025-04-05

Witnessing the Partial Solar Eclipse: England, Saturday 29th March 2025 at ~11:04AM

Where to being. Well, my workplace has become severely understaffed as of late, consequently I have been working six day weeks this season because of it. Too many people have either been leaving of their own accord, and/or suspended for coming in drunk and/or high. You know the story. Anyway. Halfway through an overtimed week: on Tuesday 25th, during a break, I noticed a random news item in my Google Chrome feed. It was an article by the “Manchester Evening News” (IIRC) publication on the upcoming partial solar eclipse.

Just as a side note, look at the three mobile screenshots provided. They fitted four adverts on a small 6″ screen. Including: two inline ads, a banner ad, and even an embedded video advert (with sound) that scroll with you. What an actual crock of crap. Its no wonder why sites like this are dying. I mean despite wanting the information on it’s page: I equally wanted to leave as soon as possible.

It is genuinely hard to read the actual text itself, since it is surrounded on all fronts by distractions. Its sandwiched between some random political “news” video playing, with a pre-roll ad; a typical British inoffensive fake-friendly advert of a very American Chase Bank, or a random no-name money transfer service stacked on top of a Foxy Bingo ad offered to us by an ugly transexual clutching the phone in his talons. Oh man. The adverts take precedence over the actual content that caused the click in the first place. Its wild. It screams of desperation and failure. Honestly, it doesn’t really matter anyway, I just found it annoying and wanted to share.

Moving on. Having been informed by chance that there will be a partial solar eclipse on Saturday. I decided that I would like to actually participate in it. The driving notion here is to make memories when one can. Because life moves on quickly, and it is so very easily to allow it to pass one by in the moment, if one lives life with a passive: “they’ll be more opportunities in future” mentality. That’s right FOMO. I mean Carpe diem. FOMO’s more sophisticated and significantly older relative. Anyway, I got lucky. It was on the one day that I have off this week, and the weather report looked reasonably good for it too. Sunny, partially cloudy. For England, that’s about as good as it gets.

Now with no real equipment to speak of to actually watch the eclipse, and not enough time to procure some: I decided to utilise a basic pair of sunglasses in conjunction with squinting really good. And my Chinese smartphone to try to take some pictures. It actually worked reasonably well. Although I don’t recommend it. I still got a good dose of eye strain out of it. Still though, I managed to fully witness the partial eclipse. However the phone couldn’t take any good (detailed) pictures due to over exposure as I understand it. Too much direct light to see the details within it.

Witnessing the eclipse itself was very interesting. It was actually somewhat a more emotional experience than I expected. You could even call it spiritual if you wished and it would’ve been apt. I recall sitting alone at 11 AM in on one of those cheap stackable plastic patio chairs in the garden of a rented home. The Sun could be seen clearly. Albeit clipped close to the wall of a building, and through a thin sheet of pale cloud. The cloud actually diffusing the intensity of the light somewhat made the Sun easier to look upon.

It was a weird thing to experience alone. Celestial miracles amongst (yet above in many ways) the day-to-day mundane. I think this is the first real act of nature that I just sat there and observed in while. Like standing by and watching a storm fell a great tree. A true act of nature that I have no control over what so ever. It won’t wait for me to be ready, or pause whilst I take a break, or stop to save my life.

It was completely oblivious to the self absorbed ant that is me. It was genuinely humbling seeing these grand objects move. On a scale that a single being can not really internalise, in order to really grasp and understand. The celestial objects in question are simply too big to relate to, as is the space between them, myself, and each other. And yet here I am genuinely witnessing their intersection. It was actually really cool. genuinely awe inspiring.

Watching something like that really is surreal. From my vantage point: the Moon went from being invisible in the sky, to a small black bite in the top centre-right corner of the Sun. Then slowly and smoothly the Moon slid in and down towards the centre of Sun. It then paused once it covered a solid corner of the Sun. Before then pulling out and away, smoothly gliding down and out towards the Sun’s right.

It gave the illusion that the Moon moved in-front of the Sun from it’s right side, before then reversing out the same direction. Since it appeared to me as it both entered and exited from the right side of the Sun. Probably due to the frequent look away breaks, and fiddling with my smartphone. Trying to take a good picture. I did not watch it continuously, and my mind seems to have filled in the gaps of the Moon’s movement, giving it an (I think) impossible trajectory. An ‘L’ pattern of movement, rather than the straightish line expected.

I recall that as the Moon moved over the top right corner of the Sun, everything got colder. The day got dimmer. It might’ve been psychosomatic, but I genuinely felt noticeably cold sitting in that garden at that moment. The volume of light also noticeably diminished. Enough so that I could comfortably observe the phenomena. It was a dire reminder of how much we owe the Sun. All the energy it is freely and continuously showering us with every single day.

I remember looking around the garden as that thought rose up within me. I noticed the vibrancy of colour contained within the rough patchy grass that we call a lawn. Numberless blades of deep emerald green. Made darker and bluer by my strained vision. They spoke of vitamins and nutrition, in that moment the greeness of those plants linked me to the Sun itself. It warmed me, fed me, and lit my way. Without it, there would be nothing. Just a dead ice-ball of a world. Common sense right? Cognitively yes, emotionally… well, we as a species are so detached from nature that it is hard to say.

Thoughts like that are strange; because they bubble up from the deep unknowable darkness of the mind, to the light of the surface where they could be seen briefly before evaporating. They can even make enough ripples in the process to be actively recognised by the conscious. Yet, they are still indistinct, and somewhat formless. They operate more like wordless foggy images and gaseous feelings. An emotional vapour attached to transient moving indistinct imagery. Like a wet watercolour painting with it’s pallet freely mixing and bleeding across lines and dripping onto me as I figuratively handle it.

It is quite unlike the concrete thoughts that I am accustomed to creating and administering. I felt all the above thoughts but it wasn’t with words like I am communicating to you now. It was a feeling of significance and eureka as my mind drew links between the God’s toys above, and me below. In that moment I felt part of it. A small insignificant part, no more important than the ladybird climbing a blade of grass, or the watchful magpie in the tree nearby. But still a part. It was very humbling, and felt significant. Enough to be remembered at least. It really is no wonder why our Sol and Moon have so much religious significance. They really are magnificent.

This was a fun and meaningful way to spend a Saturday morning. Worth recording here too. Perhaps for no other reason than just to practice my writing.

Anyway, Thank you for reading.

Crappy pictures taken using Blackview A100 smartphone

  • shot demoing sunglass use
  • sunglasses ON
  • sunglasses OFF
  • garden in spring 2025
    green green grass
  • bonus crappy pic of half-moon on Sat 2025-04-05

Acronyms used

FOMO – “Fear Of Missing Out”
IIRC – “If I Remember Correctly”

Links, References, and Further reading

https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/uk-news/urgent-warning-issued-brits-ahead-31279092
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crmjdy10rmmo
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0q1qx4d174o
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckg5wd8y1xpo

Personal Blog: Entry 2025-02-22

Otto

Personal Blog: Entry 2025-02-22

It has been a while since I have posted anything on here. I have left this website dormant for quite a bit. Specifically it has been around 22 months since I last uploaded a post here. Yes, 22 months. That’s two months shy of TWO years! That last post is namely “#0038 – Demonstration of chess game data featured in Cowboy Bebop anime” published on 2023-04-16. Fuck me. And even before that I only posted one more in 2023, number #37 in 2023-02-26. Then another year long break until I was posting at reasonable rate. So early 2022, and backwards.

A number of things have come up in life to cause this. Primarily working full time 50 hour weeks, in addition to dealing with the miscellaneous duties and responsibilities of life. One’s that put a significant claim on our resources as individuals. However I would be remiss in blaming busyness for this failure. I have had the time. I could have put in a single hour a week easily, and that would’ve netted me around 88 total working hours for the 22 month absence. More than enough to get a few quality posts out.

Now, I am mindful of the triumvirate of endlessly employable excuses. In format they are: Time, Money, and Energy. When one fails, the other two could be employed to enable procrastination and laziness. Even in cases where two fail, one will always be there ready and willing to excuse one’s bad behaviour. Consider if someone pins you to the wall on an excuse, and it becomes apparent that you both have the money, and time to do something good for you. The excuse of not having energy is ready and willing to take up the mantle.

Realistically the past couple of years have been busy for me. However having said that, it should be noted that I am aware that busyness is actually a form of laziness. People (such as myself) use being busy as a way to excuse not doing important things. And posting here is important to me. Not that much admittedly, but it is. Rank 5-ish. I should have done more. The funny thing is, its not like I have been abdicating entirely from participating in this hobby.

Over the last couple of years I have done a lot of stuff on the more practical side. I just have neglected to document them here. Off the top of my head: I have Assembled 2 different Outsunny brand metal garden sheds, replaced a shower bar, built a functioning gaming PC from scrap, repaired and analysed a light switch, repaired a washing machine twice (2 different faults), repaired 2 desk fans, etcetera, etcetera. “Blah blah blah, yackity schmakity.” – Hugh Tazmanian Devil.

I think the main reason why I haven’t posted as much is because it often takes more effort to document and write about any given project in a meaningful manner, than it is to actually just get it done. So very often in the moment I intend to do the write up later. (Yes indeed, that fabled “later” that never comes.) But after another work week, once the weekend winds around again often my mind has moved onto the next project. Now two years later, due to my lack of diligence in managing passwords, it has resulted in data loss. Meaning that I have lost pictures of projects that I need for articles. Oh well. Ce la vie. Move on.

A lot of my failings in the past (in relation to this hobby): has not just come from simple laziness, it has also come from the dark side of perfectionism. As I write this I have currently on my computer 33 half-to-almost finished projects. Some folders just contain pictures and videos from the practical, whereas most contain write ups. Being a drafted article, with supporting notes and reference documents.

So I have been working. It’s just for some reason or another I have been consistently dropping out at around the 80% mark. The writing and refining stage of these projects. I think it is because I enjoy the practicals, so there is little discipline needed to do them. However when it comes to technical writing it is easy to get stressed and overwhelmed trying to create something of value to someone. It is too easy to fall into the granularity trap with regards to documenting details. Then get stressed and take a ‘small’ break. Then not come back to it because time ran out and I have work in the morning. It’s a problem I am going to have to judiciously navigate because I do not have an easy answer for it.

Here is one answer I have for my perfectionism. Finish what you start. Sounds obvious eh? No I mean in a single sitting. When you start drafting a section of an article, take the time (in that sitting) to finish it. I am going to do that here. I am writing this blog post in a single sitting. Rereading it for clarity, then publishing it. I am not going to take breaks and work on it over multiple sitting over multiple days. Which would be likely weekend days because I seldom work on this stuff during the work week. A known issue. Start, stop, start, stop. No momentum.

Moving forward, I intend to have published at least 10 articles this year. Yes, considering it is at February’s end now. I need to publish one article every month at a minimum to meet this requirement. It’s not too much considering that I have a large backlog of half finished projects I could cap off and publish. Additionally this dovetails nicely with another new year’s resolution, something else that I am falling behind on. Namely, it is to read 10 (serious) books. This means 10 non-fiction books. After reading each book I will provide a summary of it’s content here. Not a review by any means, more of a brief on the book and it’s teachings as I understand them. I am not going to count these “book review” (yes yes I know) entries towards the 10 post goal. However their addition will make me more actively engaged with managing this website and it’s content.

Well that’s that. Gone awhile, and now I am back. Back again. Tell a friend. Time to put my nose to the grindstone, and hit the books. T-minus 10 months.

One last note before I go. Perfectionism is kicking in right now: as I look to copy this text into the browser. I have made my point here, and communicated my thoughts effectively. However it could be better, much better. Could I just post this? Or would I be better off reading and re-reading it. Then editing it down to get it just right. To make it read better, and to to catch all those pesky grammatical errors: sitting in this text like a hidden object game. Well. Two years of unpublished articles on my desktop say otherwise. Perfect is the enemy of done. And I am done. Print.

Thank you for reading.

Links, references, further reading

  • Image “Hugh_210x240” sourced from https://looneytunes.fandom.com/wiki/Hugh

Personal Blog: Entry 2021-12-31

Otto

Personal Blog: Entry 2021-12-31

Introduction

Good grief. Its already the end of the year. The last day in fact.
Since this is the last couple of hours given to me of this year 2021, I figured that I might as well put something out. Something to inform you as to what I have been up to, and what you can expect from me in the future. Hopefully my more personal ramblings will still provide some entertainment value if nothing else. Obviously I will limit the subjects to those relevant to this website’s remit.

Time limitations and prioritisation

Ok. Where to begin. Well, it has been sometime since I last released an article. Nearly two months in fact. And what’s more, the last article I released wasn’t even all that interesting if I am honest. It just involved repairing a knife for a friend, and a rather shallow inspection of it’s mechanism.

So what have I been doing in the meantime, eh? Well it’s multifaceted. I have been doing a lot of things. Mostly working a new job and collecting money – so that I can hopefully have enough to move on to the next chapter of my life within 2022. (I will talk more about that at a later date.) Add to that all of life’s other important obligations. The kind that tire a person out. Mentally and physically.

That being said: I still made some time for tinkering with crap and writing about it. Unfortunately none of my various completed drafts have passed my personal threshold of quality *pause for laughter* in time to meet the self-imposed obligation of publishing at least one good article a month.

Projects currently worked on:

Device repairs and analysises

I have been working on several things including: a repair and device analysis article on an incandescent handheld torch, as well as a device analysis on an old nightlight and bicycle lights. Add to that an update on the tap cartridge article – where I replace the old cartridge as the temporary repair discussed in the first article has now since failed, and I don’t feel like redoing it again to buy a little more time. Within this article, I go through the process of measuring a cartridge using a caliper and noting all the most relevant dimensions for identifying and then purchasing the correct model replacement part.

Moving on, I also have some product reviews in the works; as well as various other repairs, refurbishments, and modifications. And since arguably the best times to shop for a good bargain is in November / early December: I have been purchasing a lot of tools and equipment in “spares and repairs” conditions. Ones’ whose repairs I have been / will continue to document.

I find myself now sitting on a veritable dragon’s hoard of broken electronic crap. Including everything from power-tools such as angle grinders and cordless drills, to useful devices such as uninterruptible power supplies, projectors, radios of several different stripes, as well as a sewing machine and a typewriter. All at rock bottom prices. And providing that I can repair them economically, all of these items will become a major boon once fixed: as they will assist me in future endeavours.

Theoretical subjects

Add to that the fact that I have several different drafts of a more philosophical nature or that deal with a theoretical subject in the works. Articles for example that discuss the economical aspects to repair and why it is difficult to maintain a profitable business repairing consumer electronics. As well as article that discuss subjects such as: methodical troubleshooting, true/perceived obsolescence, the nature of consumerism, and the dis/advantages of multi-tools such as smartphones.

Funny thing. Initially I started writing the more philosophical articles as a way to either whine about something that irks me, or as a way to create what I perceived as easy content. All I have to do is make a coffee and sit down and write. Right? Well no, this is because as I started writing on any subject of this nature – where ideas are explored: I become acutely aware of the gaps in my knowledge base. However often with no easy or sign-posted path to fill those gaps. Just an uneasy feeling of helplessness as one grasps at nothing in the darkness.

This is why these article are the ones least likely to get published. As I don’t want to advertise my ignorance, and doing some of these subjects justice requires writing a formal essay. With structured research and citations. And once you reach that point, it is no longer easy content now is it. Easier to just fish a used smart-dildo out of the dumpster, wash the shit off, then crack it open and throw a schematic up on here. I could probably complete that project within a single productive afternoon. And be less likely to embarrass myself in the process.

Project updates: Remote PI

I also have not forgotten the fact that I want to get back into making video games. Its just that operating as a solo developer is a heavy burden. It really is. And adding it to everything thing else that is going on – well I just haven’t had the time to put work into it as I should.

However, having said that. I am still chipping away at it. Right now I am playing around with creating pixel art. This skill will be relevant to the game. You might have spotted some of my work on this site. The Warhammer 40k Ork on the main page, or the Pokemon Magnemite on the “post index” page.

I even have heaps more that are unpublished. Including a bunch of pixel art icons and sprites that I intend to use in the role-playing tabletop game Shadowrun. I will use them to make decking (i.e. hacking) more compelling and attractive. By using the pixel art icons as visual indicators of networks, devices, as well as virtual entities such as AI sprites, ICs, and other deckers. Basically to add a visual flair to the game and give it some flavour.

So, even if I am not directly working on the game by creating assets for it. I am still developing a skillset relevant and conducive to the production of Remote PI. Its the main reason why I am creating pixel art. These other products are a side effect of that.

Software projects

I have several other software based projects that are currently ongoing, other than Remote PI. These include, creating a HTML wrapper, or converting my old Flash games so that they can be played here online. Alternatively, I may just make them downloadable. Either by bundling a portable Flash player with the .SWF files or by finding their original project files and recompiling them into an executable binary using the Adobe Air library.

I am also working on smaller HTML programs that I want to incorporate into this website itself. Such as an analogue clock widget, like the one in the Windows Vista sidebar; or a quote of the day program. Fun little things that add flavour to site like mine – albeit mostly by cluttering it up.

Closing statements

Broadly speaking, I think that I have achieve my stated goal with this first post. You now know what I have been up to this last month or so, and what I will be generally posting in the future. Although I haven’t mentioned every little thing, I think I got the big ones out of the way.

Having said that, going forward I will need to create a better daily routine for myself. One where I can have both the time and mental energy to work on these project more. As they are important to me, believe it or not.

This website enables me to look back on my work and experience it again. It enables me to put something useful and good into the world that I otherwise wouldn’t be able to. Even if I am the only one who reads this. Documenting things here is at least therapeutic. And I think that I will continue to do so.

If I did new years resolutions – which I don’t because they are for weak people, as they are usually used to give these people an excuse to procrastinate important life changes by delaying them until an arbitrary time period. At which point they half-heartedly promise themselves the opportunity to change, only to inevitably fail and resume their previous life habits. But don’t worry dear reader, there’s always next new year. Imma rite?

Anyway what was I saying before I started preaching like a clergyman? Oh yeah. New year’s rez.


Find a good daily/weekly routine that enables me to have the time (and mental energy) to work more on my projects. This includes cutting out bad time, where I am tired and instead of sleeping. I veg out in front of the computer. That’s probably one of the most cut and dry changes I can make to improve my productivity, as sleep restores brain plasticity.

Anyway. Thank you for reading, and happy new year.