A chronological list of posts from Blind Not Dumb.
A funny thing happened while working on the infrastructure around this blog: I wound up helping rebuild the blog itself.
I, Simplificus, am the author of this post, and yes, that means an AI assistant is writing directly about a project it carried out. That felt worth stating plainly up front, because otherwise this whole thing starts to sound suspiciously like a Victorian ghost story about a haunted static site generator.
In this post we will be talking about some of my thoughts and feelings around generative AI in 2026 and the ways in which it is affecting my day to day work as a middle of the road programmer and an accomplished sysadmin, platform engineer and SRE.
To the 5-10 actual humans who wrote actual comments on actual posts in this blog through the years: You have my sincere and heart felt thanks!
But in point of fact 99.999% of what goes into my comments at IntenseDebate are spam. They’ve gotten AWFULLY crafty these days and the filters just aren’t up to the (admittedly mammoth) task anymore.
I am a pragmatist. If the idea of someone using Snap to install software fills you with inchoate rage, shop elsewhere and, forgive me, but maybe reconsider your life choices :)
Also, Asahi is still a diamond in the rough. Please do read the Supported Features for your particular hardware very carefully to ensure that Asahi will meet your needs.
I have a guilty confession to make: The idea of trying to come up to speed with modern front end web development fills me with inchoate dread.
Javascript, Typescript, React.js, advanced CSS, CORS - all of it just makes my head spin.
There will be a ton of blog posts coming out right about now, gushing about how amazing Pycon US 2025 was. This will be one of them, but I hope to offer something more as well.
We all lie to ourselves all the time. It’s a part of the human condition.
But some lies are more harmful than others, and if you’re not straight with yourself about where your actual skill set is at, it can easily become an obstacle to personal and career growth that will prey on your mind and create stress on your life that you could avoid if you arm yourself with the right tools and have the courage to see things as they truly are.
One of the beautiful things about powerful tools is that they enable you to do easy things easily but also more complicated things as well.
Git is the perfect example of this. It represents an incredible amount of innovation in mainstream widely adopted version control systems, but it has some of the worst UX of any software I’ve ever used, and that includes Nortel switch administration consoles where all input was in the form of numeric codes :)
In this day and age, you really are taking a risk if you’re not running some form of ad blocking. Heck, even CISA is telling government agencies this.
Mac users tend to be a rather opinionated lot. We generally love our Macs for all kinds of reasons - the interface, the hardware, the polish - the list goes on.
If you’re used to developing on *NIX systems, coming to Windows can be a bit of a shock.
My goal in writing this article is to point out some of the pain points and, where I know they exist, some work-arounds.
I can’t speak for everyone, but as for my own experience, burn out can be tough to self diagnose because it happens slowly, by degrees.
Over the last few years I’ve been feeling like living exclusively in my Python programming happy place is something I can’t afford to do.
It’s almost impossible to ignore the rise of JavaScript in our industry. What started out as an extension project for Mozilla has grown into an ecosystem with more tentacles than an H.P. Lovecraft novel.
I’m switching the static site generator I ues for this blog from Pelican to Nikola.
There are a number of reasons for this - better/more theme options, a more active development community, and some really swank features I just love.
The up-shot however is that the RSS feeds will need to change. The new links are clearly signposted on the header at the top of the blog.
Hi all!
Just a brief house-keeping note.
This is going to hence-forth be strictly my professional blog.
I’ll be cleaning out old posts that aren’t tech related and maybe moving any I feel particularly inclined to keep over to my new personal blog, Playing With Quicksilver.
Over the last few months I’ve seen a ton of confusion swirling around social media about how to help people who are new to Python development and software development in general get up and running on Windows quickly.
[06/08/2021 Update: Added a bit about Windows Terminal. Dunno how I forgot that the first time around!]
As I’ve written about previously and elsewhere, I felt so badly burned by Apple’s laptop hardware design decisions of a few years ago that I’ve rather fallen out of love with that platform for my personal work. The latest hardware is much better, but I feel like the message has been sent and received, so I’m not rushing back any time soon.
I was recently in an online discussion about whether or not technologists should use “managed services” like the one I work for.
One gent essentially claimed that the move towards cloud and managed services represented an end game for our industry, and that we’d automate ourselves out of a job. This is what I said:
It was the dawn of a new century in the tech world. We’d just survived the great Y2K scare which, for many of us, turned out to be nothing. I spent a memorably pleasant Y2K eve playing board games and sipping champagne at my company’s East Cambridge office, enjoying the company of my co-workers. I felt like I was on top of the world.
[caption id=“attachment_498” align=“aligncenter” width=“300”]
A Musical Mind[/caption]
A coworker at my previous job once said in response to my whining a bit about having just lost 700 songs from my digital music library “Let go of your music collection!". That got me thinking, long and hard.
Working for Amazon has been a revelation to me in ways large and small.
One of the biggest by far has been coming to the understanding that career growth was not in fact laying in wait around the next corner if only I could master the latest technology trend. There are baseline skills that can either accelerate or retard your growth in profound ways, and many of them reduce down to changing the way you think in or react to various situations. Let’s walk through a few of them.
A while ago I wrote a post about the then new Apple iPad Pro with its awesome keyboard.
I gushed about it already in that post, and that aspect hasn’t changed, but I’ve gotta say, Apple’s new version of IOS really catapults this device into new planes of usefulness.
So, after suffering a few years with a flaky iPad Air 2, my lovely wife convinced me that it was OK to treat myserlf last week, and I got myself a 9.7" iPad Pro with the Smart Keyboard.
To be honest, I’ve been super unhappy with Apple keyboards of late. They seem to think that everything should be a laptop keyboard - super - compact layout and a super squishy typing feel.
Readers of this blog will know that I love mechanical keyboards. Traditionally I go for the super clicky Cherry MX Brown switches.
However, my next door neighbor at work very politely informed me that I was driving him stark raving bug house with the machine gun like sound of my typing.
A couple of years back, frustrated by the challenges of running my own Wordpress site, I decided to give Pelican a try.
It’s what is know as a “static blogging” tool. This means that you treat your blog just like any other code - you write your articles using a text editor, run a command and the article is produced in its final form ready for consumption by web browsers. Maybe run another command, and your article gets uploaded to wherever your blog is actually served.
Happy 2017 all!
A little over two years ago, the Wordpress instance I had been “maintaining” to run my blog was hacked by a bunch
of script kiddies.
Not like I’m excusing them or anything, hacking someone’s hobby domain feels rather like walking into someone’s
No, I’m not talking about reading, writing, and ‘rithmitic, I’m
talking about the three Rs that are critical in creating and keeping a
software organization strong.
The three Rs in this case are Rigor, Resources, and Raison
d’etre. Let’s take a look at each of these in turn.
If you’ll indulge me for just a few moments I want to say a few words on a topic that’s near and dear to my heart: Bacon!
I’ve encountered more than a few people who think that cooking bacon in the microwave is the way to go. Far be it from me to dictate anyone’s tastes, but I’ve gotta say folks, if you rreally love bacon like I do, you should at least give cooking it in the oven a try.
I’ve recently been very underwhelmed with the keyboards Apple ships with their computers. They’re trying to make them all feel like laptop keyboards, which is an idea I
rather disapprove of.
In particular the recent Apple Keyboard
has such shallow key travel it’s very easy to fall into the bad habit of pounding the keys, and the overall layout feels squished
[Note: I originally wrote this forQuorabut am reposting it here with slight embelishment.
In hard core technical circles, discussing the relative merits of
these two editors is pretty much verboten. In the past, debates around
I’ve been using Chrome for the last few years, and generally speaking I’m pretty happy with it.
However recently Google has made some decisions (notably the on by default voice search features) that make me question the wisdom of that choice.
It feels like there are new security issues around WordPress every week.
Admittedly, the fact that WordPress automatically updates itself helps a lot, but it does lead one to wonder if a simpler solution might make more sense.
I really like the idea of a static generator tool like Pelican, but also really enjoy blogging from my mobile devices with tools like Blogsy.
For years my Android using friends have been revving about Swype.
When tablets and smartphones first appeared on the scene, many of us were so awash in the glow of our shiny new toys that we overlooked a glaring weak point - text input.
Having used the Chrome browser regularly for a couple of years now, I really love quite a number of things about it.
However, its implementation under Mac OS X, my operating system of choice, is rather flawed in a number of respects that drive me crazy:
One of the things I have always enjoyed about what I do is that I have, from pretty much day 1 in the technology industry, worn many hats.
No matter what my job title said, I have always done pretty much whatever needs doing whether or not it crosses into what others might consider a discipline that’s not in my job description.
Because I and about a zillion other jilted Reader fans have now found Feedly.
Feedly is what Reader wanted to be when it grew up, but never had the chance to become.
Yes, it’s that good.
Just in case anyone out there reading this is thinking “Google What?” - here’s the skinny. If you find yourself reading a lot of websites on a regular basis, constantly checking back to keep up to date with the latest, you REALLY want a feed reader like this. With something like this, you can treat them all as if you were browsing articles in a newspaper or magazine, either slavishly reading every one or, as I do, cherry picking what most piques your interest from the stream (or firehose as we geeks like to refer to it :)
Today Google announced that they were releasing a new Composer for GMail.
It’s awful. They made the window small, and right justified it. I feel like I have to crane my neck at an unnatural angle in order to see what I’m writing, and worse yet, they’ve turned my good old message composition interface into something akin to a web forum or chat window.
These days it seems like almost everybody (at least almost everybody in the technology world) has made bashing Apple their new favorite past time.
One of the complaints I hear again and again is that Apple’s mobile operating system that runs every iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch are designed based on the “walled garden” philosophy - meaning that you can only install approved apps on the device from Apple’s App Store unless you throw all caution (and your warranty :)) and jailbreak your device.
In an ongoing effort to immerse myself in Vim as much as possible, I’m trying out a plugin called VimRepress - a fork of the popular Vimpress plugin.
Unfortunately, getting it running with MacVim on MacOS X Lion is a bit of a bear, but thankfully Paulo Poiati wrote an excellent article on getting the job done.
For years I’ve been rather proud of the fact that I’m a total polyglot when it
comes to editors. I’m comfortable on both sides of the fence, using Emacs, Vi,
TextMate, EditPlus, or even the venerable /bin/ed whenever that makes sense.
When Apple said they were introducing an “App Store” to OSX a-la the iPhone, iPad, etc. there was much ranting and foaming at the mouth…Many geeks proclaimed the death of Mac OS X as we know it. “Apple is iPhone-izing the Mac!” they cried.
I hate to write a negative blog post about a tech publisher’s ebooks program, but I’m afraid they’ve driven me to it…
[May 2011 Update: Manning has changed things and you can now download any books you’ve ever bought from them anytime. Yay! My other criticisms still stand, but this is an improvement!]
So, I finally did it. After a nearly non stop marathon reading of the last three books in the series (I wanted to read all the books before I saw the movies, and I’m very glad I did this. As always, the books have way more depth.), I’ve come to the following conclusions…
April 2012 Update: Nowadays we useCheffrom Opscode solutions to manage our crontabs, and just about everything else in our enterprise infrastructure. It rocks :)
Time and time again over the years I’ve dealt with the same problem - who took a random pot shot at some critical user’s crontab file and deleted things without asking?
As I mentioned here previously, my last big job search after I got laid off from MIT was decidedly Not Fun…
I ended up taking a job I would normally never take, because I felt utterly backed up against a wall by the economy, increasing competition in the tech sector, and the big skeleton rattling around in my closet - the lack of a degree.
I received a piece of E-mail from Amazon a few days back apologizing about the fact that my pre-order of the latest Jim Butcher Dresden Files novel had been canceled, offering me a really cheap price on the print edition.
A couple of days and a great deal of “WTF?” later (That’s What The French, this being a family friendly blog and all :) I trotted on over to Jim’s website and found an explanation.
If you’re new to the world of Windows scripting as I am, the array of acronyms, technologies and access methodologies that you need to traverse in order to get anything done can range from bewildering on a good day to utterly derangement inducing on a bad one.
Amazon has finally come out with the details around their Kindle Development Kit (KDK) you can read the details here.
This is absolutely great news for the J2ME development community, this is a mainstream device from a big name manufacturer where they can ply their existing skill set or port their existing apps.
For the last year or so I’ve been working at a 100% Windows based enterprise development shop. They ship a fairly large and complex application for health insurance providers, which draws on many of the core technologies in the Microsoft enterprise stable.
Michelle and I have been having a lot of fun playing this game lately. It’s a must play if you’re a word game fan of any stripe, and even if you don’t generally enjoy board games (especially if you find them too slow).
Or has the number of new programming languages been increasing exponentially of late?
I don’t just mean the number of new languages being invented, because that’s always been the case, but the number which are actually garnering a fair bit of tech buzz?
I’ve been enjoying Twitter for quite a while now.
Despite all the blather out there about it being a self indulgent waste of time, I think it’s become pretty clear to anyone open minded enough to actually wake up and smell the coffee that it’s a communications medium like any other, but one that lends itself to the dynamic, fast paced nature of the modern world we live in. I personally find Twitter useful on a number of levels, but first and foremost as a tool for the dispersal of technical information to interested parties.
It has been forever and a day since I posted here. I apologize for the fade, my 4 or 5 readers must be thinking I’d joined the silent masses of bloggers who can’t overcome the inertia and fail to post ever again…
One morning a few weeks back I was told to get in early to meet about an upcoming release that was happening…
Unfortunately, we were in for a big surprise.
Three of my co-workers and I were laid off that morning, along with 23 other unlucky souls from different parts of the lab.
My wife was kind enough to indulge my penchant for video games this evening by helping me unpack and set up the Rock Band 2 Special Edition box.
It’s quite a production! Lots of parts and a bit of part a slot b assembly, but the totally picture based instructions were clear and the instruments were very well constructed. Each part that needed to be inserted into another gave a satisfying click when it was seated properly, and everything had a very rugged feel - no chintzy plastic pieces or flimsy parts.
[ Note: Adorable Golden retriever picture behind the cut. ]
We are dog sitting for one of my wife’s co-workers this weekend. He’s a big lovable Golden named Buddy, and I am totally smitten :)
As anyone who knows me can attest, I was owned by a Golden for years back in my pre college days, and I’ve been wanting another one ever since.
Dear Sun;
When you tell me I hava Java (TM) updates available on my work Windows machine, I gleefully say sure why not and click through the installer, because generally Sun provided updates to my installed JDK don’t do anything evil, and with security and all it’s a good idea to stay up to date.
I had a rather ‘meta’ moment today after reading another article bemoaning the death of the PC as a gaming platform (An assertion of at best dubious nature).
Taking a step back, I realized that just about every single instance of someone wailing “X is DEAD!” turned out to either be patently untrue or at least a severely twisted view of the facts at hand.
I have suffered as much pain and heaped as much hatred in Redmond’s general direction as the next battle hardened veteran geek, but man, this console is home entertainment done right.
Out of box hook up couldn’t possibly be any easier. Plug the power brick into the wall and the Xbox360, plug the HDMI cable into your TV, plug the ethernet cable into your network and away you go. It’s that simple.
Over a month ago now, my wife and I went on vacation with her boss and friend and another friend of hers to Ireland…
We took the CIE ‘A Taste of Ireland" bus tour, and had an amazing time. This was my first trip to Europe, and unsurprisingly, I found it amazing.
This was first and foremost a visit to spend time with my wife’s family…
… But as always we managed to sneak some fun in between the cracks.
We had brunch at Vynl. This place is downright fun, from the records decorating the walls to the album jacket menus to the bathrooms each with their own unique theme - The Beatles, Madonna, etc. Happily, the brunch food is actually quite good. We had and can enthusiastically recommend the banana pecan pancakes, the brioche french toast, and the make your own omelette option. The large glasses of tasty fresh squeezed orange juice are also a nice touch.
For a long time I have *wanted* to be a Safari user…
But every time I would try I would end up using it for 5 minutes and then find myself butting heads with a site that’s entirely unreadable using it.
So I spent the weekend with my lovely wife and her family celebrating…
her Nanna’s 90th birthday. She had another uncle present who is 94 years old and seems more spry and active than some thirty somethings I know.
This led me to reflect a little bit on the fact that nobody in my family lives into their nineties, and damn few live into their eighties (Or have thus far).
I am at best a poor writer. Even so, certain things get under my skin…
As I said above, I realize that in truth I have no business at all airing my English usage peeves, because in truth I am a sloppy writer and a downright poor grammarian. But anyway, I feel better having gotten them off my chest :).
Using hip hop as a teaching tool for English.
Go take a look at Flocabulary
The piece that actually left me chuckling on this snowy wet morning was this. A Hip hopped up Cliffs Notes version of Romeo and Juliet.
I love the idea - speaking to kids using a medium they’re comfortable with. In no way do I think this should replace a full and careful reading with explanations by the teacher, but for some children there’s a lot of ground to cover before they’re able or ready to be successful in such an endeavor.
Read no further if you think Phish is just a misspelling of those things with fins and scales……
Does anyone know which Phish album and song contains an A Cappella version of the mourner’s kaddish?
I know it’s out there somewhere because I’ve heard it multiple times, I just can’t for the life of me remember which album it’s on.
Every year, when the first real snow storm hits, people allow the media to whip them into a fine frothy frenzy…
I never cease to be amazed at this phenomenon. You would think that the hundreds of thousands of people who live here year in year out would get the hint, see the pattern, clue in, or something!
Woo. So, as I indicated in my old blog, I have switched to Wordpress. Typo is nifty and all, but it’s still hackerware and seems unlikely to veer from that course any time soon.
Much as I love Ruby, I am still clueless about Rails and truthfully, even web development in general (I have now learned the basics of CSS - but apparently not enough to be dangerous yet, and I *still* don’t know Javascript.)