High Winds And A Skipped Walk

High Winds And A Skipped Walk

Byrichard

There is a cold wind blowing today so I skipped my daily walk. I can dress for the weather and I am usually fine. Today I simply decided to miss my daily walk. I believe that walking whatever the weather, whatever the wind, and whatever the precipitation is good. I also believe that it fatigues us. For this reason it makes sense, sometimes, to stay indoors, and focus on studying or spending money on things we don’t need.


Early Sunsets


One of the problems with winter, aside from cold weather and finding a valid excuse is short days. When days are short you spend daylight working towards your goals, and by the time you’re free to go out the sun has set. It sets at 1720 at the moment so a one and a half hour walk requires going at three in the afternoon at the latest. Today I missed the window of opportunity.


Studies


I finished a course on closures in JavaScript today and I played around with creating a function to convert from knots to kilometres an hour. The first version was simple and had no interactivity but the second version, by copying someone else’s code works. I always make sure to credit the source from which I am learning. The next topic will be JavaScript Classes.


Android and iOS


I revived my android phone and tried Google Pay and it works very well but then tried Android car play or whatever it is called and that worked badly. In fact it didn’t work, so I feel that unless I swap the car, or go for what could be an expensive car os upgrade I might as well stick with Apple despite not being enthused with the platform at the moment. I wish switching the two could be as easy as a dual boot computer or laptop. Choose one, or the other, and everything is smooth. Unfortunately you need to commit to one or the other.


Playing With Tweetdeck


Recently I grew tired of seeing tweets that fill the entire screen. Twitter is meant to be a microblogging platform, not FaceBook. One way to avoid seeing tweets that fill the entire screen is to use Tweetdeck.twitter.com. It allows you to see as many lists and columns as you want. You can use the number keys to change between views. I believe that the decision to design for mobile first is a mistake, in the current web landscape, but is worth exploring in another blog post.



A Walk By The Léman

A Walk By The Léman

Byrichard

Today I walked down from a village towards the Léman and passed by the UEFA headquarters and football fields before walking by the car Park to the Colovrey Swimming pool. There were very few people, except a few cyclists. The road was good. I went down to the water and took two or three pictures before heading back up.


I walked by the lake because, on a windy day a few days ago I saw the lake, and felt tempted to go down. At the time I didn’t go down because I hadn’t decided on that walk, but also because it could be a little more physical. A second time I was tempted but chose to play Ingress instead.


This time I walked down from one village, along a route I seldom walk along, during the pandemic, because people walk along that path, two astride. In normal times this would be okay, but during a pandemic this is irrational behaviour as they always chose to sacrifice one of their own, rather than be safe.



If you’re not afraid of dogs, or people walking side by side then this is a nice walk to enjoy, especially in summer, when the days are long and there is plenty of time. At this time of year you have to be home by 17:20 or so or the sun will set as you’re walking.


I am still doing what I can never to use the car to do sports. I can use it for shopping and chores, but not for sports. I can walk or cycle, but without using the car to get anywhere, at least until this summer, or the pandemic ends. By pandemic end I mean 0 new cases per day for several months in a row. We are far from that for now, so driving will be avoided.

Playing Wordle

Playing Wordle

Byrichard

I saw the little boxes, and then I saw that the New York Times had an article on the distraction so I read about it. It’s a game some people were playing via whatsapp during the lockdown, spread to friends, and then it spread wider and wider. Boiled down Wordle is hangman for people who no longer feel comfortable with capital punishment even in game form.


I read an article seasons, or even years ago about how schools were having to rethink the game of hangman because it no longer reflected the sensibilities of people of the current age. Wordle is a good solution.


At the same time I think that Wordle is an interesting way of practicing thinking of words by yourself, before playing scrabble with others. The faster you can find the word in Wordle, the better prepared you will be for playing wordle.


I anticipate that Wordle could become addictive for three reasons. The first is that you have one problem to resolve per 24 hours, and you only have five tries before you need to wait for another problem. I find it unpleasant, but in such a small dose, that I could go back daily, until I am addicted, like so many are.


There are more interesting challenges. Crosswords are one. At least with crosswords you are entertained for an hour or two, until you get better. If you learn a new language you could be entertained for 770 days in a row before finally finding the need to try something different. Finally, I think that learning to code, or reading books may be more enjoyable.


On the topic of coding, I would like to write an app, where if I give letters and their positions in a word, that it comes up with suggestions. I don’t want to cheat at scrabble or Wordle. I think it could be a way of designing crosswords, for example. The game is to find which word it is, by the letters that it has, and by their position. My aim would be to use that thought process, for a different context.


And Finally


I can see how Wordle would be a good game for children, writers, and people with five minutes spare. It is a quick and possibly entertaining word to expand one’s vocabulary and think laterally.

Cheap Curiousities and Expensive Ones

Cheap Curiousities and Expensive Ones

Byrichard

Mobile Phones


We are in a pandemic and I am between contracts, two reasons for which having an interest in the latest mobile phones is a futile pass time. I tried to revive my old Android phone and succeeded. I sometimes find it hard to get the phone recharged, and when it is recharged I need to keep it charged. This time I had a bonus problem. No data connection



I tried to connecting to wifi, no luck. I tried using the mobile phone’s data connection, no luck. I tried using one phone as a hotspot. No luck either. Restart the phone, no luck. In the end I tried a factory reset and the problem was resolved. Data worked both on wifi and 4g. The phone is old, but at least it allows me to play with Android when I want to.


Nettle Tea


I read that Nettle tea tastes of various things, honey, grass, slightly minty, spinach and more. The combination of those tastes didn’t sound appealing, except for mint and honey. I also wanted to see what they taste of. I spent an entire 2.95 for twenty tea bags and I tried it. When it’s dry it smells like hay, and when you smell it in boiling hot water it smells quite bad, like fish, or some other unpleasant smell. I then tasted it and it tastes like it smells when it’s dry. Hay. It’s like drinking the smell of a barn. You can see why people mix it with other flavours. Now I have one less thing to be curious about.


Jungfrau Tea


Jungfrau Tea, named after the mountains is made from seven herbs. It is made from a combination of round leaved mint, citrous thyme, orange mint, fennel seed, Lemon balm, Achilles Yarrow and mauve. I am confused by the lat one. The taste is definitely different. It has texture and I consider that it could almost be good. I have not added sugar or anything else and it has had time to sit so I may not be getting the full experience.


For more info


The Pandemic


I try not to write about the pandemic too much. We are stuck in a loop where governments make mistakes, and people who don’t follow international news go along with it. We are four or five waves into this pandemic in Switzerland and it is only possible to remain positive if we expect little from our governments. England, Switzerland and Sweden have governments that are trying to ignore the problem, and pretend that it is endemic as soon as possible.


Meanwhile in most of Asia the pandemic is under control and there is less human suffering. Europe and the US are suffering, and yet other nations are not. Some people say that it is because in the West we have selfish cultures where the individual is put on a pedestal and community is ignored, while in Asia there is community spirit, and this helps to control the pandemic.


Either way, Covid-Zero should be prioritised over the fool’s errand of endemicity.


Now you understand why I avoid writing about the pandemic.

The Negative Impact of Social Networks on The Mental Health of Girls

Byrichard

In today’s Le Matin, which was then mentioned by the RTS they discuss the impact of the pandemic of girls. When I first read this I was unclear as to whether they mean women or girls. It is about girls. The article speaks about how boys can play computer games and compete and in general to win, whereas girls go to social networks and compare themselves to their peers and other girls. As a result of this they end up needing psychological help.



This is relevant to my blog because for decades I have argued that social media should be a place for conversations and friendships. Websites such as Facebook, Instagram and apps like TikTok encourage women, not to converse, but to be beautiful, be better coordinated than others, imitate, use filters and more. Women are encouraged to be superficially beautiful rather than to converse, interact and establish something meaningful.


Look at Instagram. Many girls, and women post self-portraits, copy trends and do such things. Their presence is axed towards being appealing, talented and more.


This isn’t good. Websites like Instagram used to be networks of friends sharing with direct friends, Facebook was about sharing with uni friends, and Twitter was a place where we could converse, with people that those we followed were conversing with. Every network was about networks of trust and friendships.


Today, with algorithms, memes, trends and more, via TikTok, Instagram and Facebook the friendship aspect is gone, to focus on influencers, making money, and being part of trends. The individual has been lost in a sea of conformity. It is for this reason that girls would be struggling during the pandemic.


As a single person I can’t stand Facebook, Instagram, or even TikTok, and I am an adult with a clearly defined identity, in theory. TikTok, Facebook and Instagram are designed in such a way that genuine friendships and conversations are hard or impossible, so it is easy to fall into a positive feedback loop where we feel worse and worse about our lives.


It doesn’t need to be that way. If social networks allowed for personal connections to form, showed networks of friends of friends, rather than strangers, then social media would stop being about the superficial, and return to being about the genuine.


That’s why I can still stand Twitter, and WordPress. Both are about human to human connections. Both are healthy.

Trying To Read Nested Data From a JSON File

Byrichard

Over the last two evenings I have been attempting to read nested data. I have tried to parse the data and other methods but without success. I have browsed the web to try to find solutions but for now I am getting stuck. Learning is also about trial and error, and knowing where to find the right information. For now I am lost. At the end of this process I will be more self-sufficient.


Learning by watching courses is good, and we do make progress, but it doesn’t require us to think about problems in the same way. We learn to follow instructions but not problem solve, and that’s what I want to learn. So far I have spent two hours on this specific problem, and I could easily remove a few lines and it would no longer be nested. I will persevere.


Playing with Comments


Since I am trying and failing to accomplish what I am trying to accomplish I am now using comments to mark what I still need to achieve, whilst looking for solutions and ideas.


Prototypes and CSS


I have also continued studying prototypes, factories and more. I see some overlap between this topic and CSS. For those with experience and time both allow for more depth and complexity than is comfortable when you are starting out. The short version is that with prototypes and factories you can cut down on the lines of code in a project, making it easier to read, and lighter.


The Pandemic Continues


It is now the weekend but the pandemic is still alive and well. Governments are deciding not to do anything to stop the spread, preferring to tell people that for vaccinated people it’s no worse than the flu, whilst ignoring the fact that children from 0-18 have not been vaccinated. There is a certain degree of indifference by governments that is hard to observe. They expect the next few weeks to be difficult, and that’s as far as their sense of responsibility goes. It is a challenge not to be disappointed by this attitude.


A Cold Walk In The Wind

A Cold Walk In The Wind

Byrichard

Today I went for a cold walk in the wind. The wind was blowing from west to East so for at least half of the walk I had it in my face. This was a good day to wear a cagoule and to wear the face mask, even when people were not around. The windchill made walking unpleasant and I even considered skipping my daily walk but didn’t. I am disciplined enough to walk, even when it is unpleasant. This weather is frustrating because we have the cold, without any of the beauty. It would be nice to have this cold, with snow and ice, rather than just ice.


Linux Mint On an EEEPC


Last night I installed Linux Mint on an EEEPC quite easily. I downloaded a 32bit OS, flashed the ROM to a USB key, booted the OS from the SD card, and then installed the OS. So far I have done very little. The eeepc feels slow. It is an old machine, and even when it was young, a few years ago, it felt slow. It would be nice to install Linux on a newer machine, to take more advantage of the OS. I actually like Linux but most computers are either windows or macOS.


And Finally


I should re-work my website so that it is KaiOS friendly. For now the top bar navigation and images are not friendly for the OS, especially not on a phone such as the one I am playing with. I find that it refuses to load the blog section of the website, and it struggles with the drop down menus. I should turn that feature off for tiny screens, and just let people scroll down to the relevant content. I have an opportunity to think differently.


I think the old WML format, Wireless Markup Language would be better suited, than the modern multi-display farce.

Reviewing EcmaScript 6

Reviewing EcmaScript 6

Byrichard

Recently I have spent time focusing on JavaScript and EcmaScript to make sure that I understand it. By now it is over a year ago since I felt that I wanted to study Angular but felt that I didn’t have enough knowledge to resolve the challenges so I decided to return to basics. My return to basics involved a number of courses and books but it also led me to study this Linkedin Learning Pathway. It is easy to study, get a certiciate and move on, especially for extroverts or outgoing people who find interacting with people easy.


If I know people then I do find it easy. In other scenarios I struggle. I am working to ensure that if and when I say that I have certain skills, that I have those skills. I want to understand what I am doing and why.


A while ago I managed to get my instagram feed from Instagram JSON files to Wordpress via a number of steps and this felt good but I felt that I did not fully understand what I had done. Since then I have studied JSON, JS and other related technologies so I should be able to accomplish the same task more easily, and with fewer tools. I have to decide whether I want to import this data into wordpress or whether I want to run it outside of the CMS.


Such a project will encourage me to conceptualise and then realise my goal, without the skeleton of a course behind it to provide me with guidance. I want this to be a self driven project. It will indicate my progress. When I decide to take the plunge I should find the task easy.


I always find new things to learn, during this pandemic, and these new things keep me occupied and distracted from the eternal return that are these days.