Doubtfully Daily Matigo: Recent Episodes
matigo
Nobody has ever accused me of being a man of few words when I begin to monologue. This, unfortunately, means that people will start to tune out before an idea has been communicated.
So much of our lives depend on the reliability — and existence — of our data. There is really no excuse to not have even a rudimentary backup plan in place.
One of the many traits that separates a junior developer from someone with a little more experience is how they approach the idea of a "bug report". Many younger people will rush ahead to solve a problem — even if it's not a bug — in order to prove themselves. However, a lot of times there is no bug in the code but in the process. When this happens, the issue quickly turns into a "learning opportunity" where communication and collaboration is far more useful a skill than coding.
There has been a lot of discussion around the amount of energy that gets wasted daily and, while this is certainly something we need to solve as a species, the stated expectations from various vocal activists will do little to curb the bulk of the issue. In this episode of DDM, I lay out the costs of creating a podcast, the costs of running a small data centre in the home, and an actual source of waste that needs to be addressed if we are to reduce our carbon footprints and enjoy a cleaner atmosphere.
To a lot of people's surprise, Richard Stallman has returned to the Free Software Foundation. What's not a surprise is the result: a lot of people and organisations disassociating themselves with the FSF.
Stephen Hawking's final book, Brief Answers to the Big Questions, tries to answer ten of the biggest ideas that people have struggled with or wondered over the last half century. I offer some thoughts on just one of them.
Wikipedia defines Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) as a mood disorder subset in which people who have normal mental health throughout most of the year exhibit depressive symptoms at the same time each year, most commonly in winter. Common symptoms include sleeping too much and having little to no energy, and overeating. This sounds like all of 2020.
A lot of people have asked me how I solve problems over the last few years. This is an interesting question because it's one that I've struggled with at times as well. Some of the issues that we try to resolve can seem insurmountable given the obstacles that face us. However, thanks to lessons learned from people way smarter than I'll ever be, I do have a short list of steps to follow that allow for a more focussed effort.
In this longer-than-necessary episode, I examine some of the pitfalls that I've experienced with scrum and "modern agile" development over the years and how this has often resulted in "worse" code.
Many years ago, Jordan Peterson shared 40 valuable things everyone should know to answer a question on Quora. While the applicability of these points will differ for everyone, there are sixteen of them that I tend to use on a daily basis at work and it has had a profound impact on the opportunities, privileges, and responsibilities that I have been able to assume. Some of these I learned at a young age. Others were learned much later in life.
The new house appears to be a little more than half done, and this is certainly exciting. What's also exciting is the CAT6 cabling that'll run to every room in the home, making WiFi optional and not at all a requirement.
Burning the candle at both ends is rarely sustainable and I'm wondering if this is the cause for the recent lack of focus I've been experiencing. Regardless of where I am or what I'm doing, the mind will wander mid-process ...
A moving company recently came to give us a quote on how much it would cost to move from our apartment to the new house. Suffice it to say, the way the moving company went about assembling the quote was ... scammy.
The National Post is a Canadian newspaper that is not known for being wholly accurate with its stories, but a recent article on coffee culture in Japan got right under my skin for all its stereotypes and outright misinformed statements.
Larry Elliot wants to drum up fear via The Guardian, claiming that "robots will take our jobs!". He's not the first to do this, and he sure as heck won't be the last. Heck, people have been saying the very same thing for over two centuries.
An episode of Doubtfully Daily Matigo was published every day for the month of January, and that means that the first milestone has been reached. Now the hard part of maintaining the momentum comes.
While walking home from the train station after a day trip to Tokyo, I rambled into the microphone about the future ...
Over the last few weeks I've been working on an application to reduce some of the friction people face when recording quick podcasts that do not require a great deal of post-editing. Will people use it, though?
It's that time of year again when the heel on my right shoe is in desperate need of repair or replacement. Unfortunately, shoes are not designed to be easily repaired in 2018.
While out with Nozomi, I picked up two hot drinks at a nearby vending machine. One for me, and one for Hideki; the homeless man who lives under a bridge near my home.
The boy turns 1 year of age today, which means that I've not completely failed as a parent to keep him safe from harm. I'll consider this a small victory.
My hair is beginning to go from brown to silver, and I'm quite happy to see the change taking place. This is something I've wanted to see since I was a teen.
After a late-night meeting with the company's head offices in New Jersey, my future is a complete unknown. Will I still have a job with this company in 2019? No idea. Now what?
In the near future I'll potentially have the ability to work from home for the most part, which means that a desktop-grade machine now makes sense to use. The question I'm considering now is whether I should buy an Apple iMac or go custom ...
Just about everything is becoming more expensive, but is the price worth the product or service? For a lot of things around this part of Japan, the answer is leaning ever more towards "no" ...
Halfway into my 3-month Spotify trial, I'm wondering if it makes sense to keep the subscription. A lot of the music I listen to is music from the 80s, 90s, and 2000s that I bought on CD or iTunes. Why would I want to pay for things I already own?
Here's a fun little bonus: name the three songs. Too easy? What year were they released? Find out next week!
On Monday I have a pretty important meeting with some colleagues in Europe to talk about the problems with "the Big CMS" that has been developed internally at the day job. While the conversation is important, language will need to be watched.
As countries begin to enact data sovereignty laws, companies need to think about where information rests. In this episode, I outline some ideas at the day job as well as how 10Centuries handles data soverignty and Right to be Forgotten rules.
People are often surprised to find out I cannot see every colour of the rainbow. My eyes do not like certain shades of red/green.
I've had an idea for a podcast in my head for well over two years. It hasn't been made primarily due to the fear of lawsuits and other unenjoyable consequences of using copywritten music, but what would the show sound like if it were made?
Sometimes it's important to be very upfront and honest when reporting issues. This results in people becoming "That Guy" and burning bridges or otherwise creating enemies where none need to exist.
Learning is a lifelong journey, and I'm looking forward to learning a lot more about SQL Server, particularly details on how the database engine uses the hardware it's installed on.
An op-ed in the Ancaster News recently went through some of the ways that businesses are automating jobs away and asked the question of whether this is a bad thing or not. A lot of people think it is, but what options exist to discourage automation?
How is it that some people with incredibly stressful jobs are able to unwind and relax when not at work? What's the trick to turning off the mind and focusing on the now rather than the myriad of thoughts in our head?
The career decision has been made, and it shouldn't come as any surprise to people given the title. That said, Plan B may be the better of the two options, as it allows me to stick with what I'm currently doing.
After discussing some of my recent thoughts about a career change with a colleague, I'm left with a different set of questions to ask myself.
There's a senior manager position open within my department, and it doesn't look like the seat will be filled any time soon. I'm seriously considering asking for the job while in Tokyo next week, but should I?
There are some songs that just get stuck on repeat in our heads for hours, days, or weeks on end. Now that my son is paying more attention to the TV, we're watching more shows targeted at people his age. That means lots of kids music.
Elon Musk has been talking a great deal about neurotechnology and attaching computers directly to our brains to help us interact more quickly and efficiently depending on the situations we find ourselves in. But who wins in this scenario?
A week has passed since this podcast began (again), and I'm quite surprised that an episode has been published every day. Let's see what comes next!
Buried in a corner of my closet at home is a hard-working Atom-based netbook that has been heavily modified over the years to act as a NAS with a grand total of 42TB of storage. Is it time for a new server?
A dozen people will interrupt us throughout the day if we let them, making deadlines difficult to meet and priority lists pointless due to the endless shuffling. How can we manage the noise?
It's the start of the year and the day job has a lot of managers in new roles who are trying to assert authority and rally allies. Some people are trying to rope me into their reindeer games, and I have no interest in such pettiness.
A rather serious design flaw in Intel CPUs has been discovered and it's going to cost us all a good deal of processing performance to fix it: between five and thirty percent. Given the number of people who have older notebooks at home, this could very well trigger a lot of people to ditch the old paradigm of using a computer for the modern tablet + phone combination that seems to be catching on with students and young adults. Seeing how most people actually use their computers, this wouldn't be a bad decision, either.
With a new year comes new expectations. So with the start of 2018, I plan on setting some goals for myself, including focusing on the people and projects that matter most to me.