Read Me Right To Left

In which I talk about pubs. And on occasion SFF. And maybe do other things.

[readmerighttoleft]

I will be in Oxford on January 6th. Anyone who wants to meet up, get in touch.

[ashby-santoso]

what will i do with my life when gbbo is over

(after nadiya wins spectacularly next week, you know she will)

[readmerighttoleft]

Pretend it’s still going on by setting yourself ludicrously difficult baking challenges? If you need someone to distract you by making lots of double entendres I’ll volunteer.

Also I was hoping for Nadiya but I found out Tamal is from Manchester and now I’m conflicted.

[quizzicalqueek]

My housemate is taking away all of the bookshelves tomorrow. All of them. And next week I need to pack up and send all of my books away. I’m not sure if I can last three more weeks in a house without books or bookshelves. I may have to camp out in the library for company. Or huddle under my duvet hugging my kindle for warmth.

[threefolddefencespeech]

The cruellest fate! (Okay, second cruellest. Cruellest would be if I offered my copy of The Sparrow as replacement :P )

[readmerighttoleft]

Surely crueller would be that book you were sent to review? Or maybe Virtual Sexual Reality?

[readmerighttoleft]

Interesting fact about the Byzantine Empire.

There was some mathematician from Constantinople at the time who claimed that the Byzantine Empire had actually been predicted in the conquests of Alexander the Great and used it to build up an entire view of the universe and his ideas actually gained a surprisingly large amount of currency in the west in later years but then in like the 1700s a scholar pointed out that if you keep reading his works not only do they sound kind of suspicious but towards the end they actually start containing the phrase "I'm making this all up" and you realise it's all a bad attempt at self referential humour

[readmerighttoleft]

Fear and Loathing in La Liga - Sid Lowe

I reviewed the above book on Goodreads, as I didn’t think anyone here would be too interested, but for completeness and just in case, here’s a link.

The book's awesome, you should read it.

[quizzicalqueek]

[readmerighttoleft]

quizzicalqueek:

Marshmellow cookies tend to look like they have chest-bursters halfway through cooking.

I wanted cookies but then decided not to as I won’t have other people to feed them to for a couple days. Then I realised I could keep the dough in the fridge and make several smaller batches :D . I will have marshmellow cookies and pecan cookies and all possible cookies.

threefolddefencespeech​ would you like it if I pidged you exam cookies? (They would contain oranges and shredded bits of the exam regulations. The paper version, not the canadian friend version).

How could you possibly guarantee this? No one can tell which is which, because of quantum.

[readmerighttoleft]

It’s not the first time code I’ve written has gone into production somewhere. But a whole subsystem that I got sole responsibility for, got dropped straight into user facing (not logging, internal tools, actual doing shit) and has processed over 400 patients. This is more exciting than it should be.

[readmerighttoleft]

Promised a friend I'd try to go if it was in Sweden. Well....

[readmerighttoleft]

Tried to vote for Australia, but no idea if it worked

[readmerighttoleft]

I need someone following me holding my cape

[quizzicalqueek]

but clearly you now see the dangers of this. at any point they can steal it and run away.

[readmerighttoleft]

Then I have my even better costume beneath. Win win

[readmerighttoleft]

I need someone following me holding my cape

[readmerighttoleft]

The Eurovision drinking contest rule: "Drink for every costume or prop gimmick" is every bit as deadly as hoped. Close second is drink for every no singing performer.

[readmerighttoleft]

I managed to inadvertently come out as the wrong sexuality at work (not whilst trying to come out, something I said as part of conversation retrospectively imply I'm a sexuality I am not). My main reaction had been be/amusement but I should maybe correct this to avoid later awkwardness.

[readmerighttoleft]

Contrary to previous statements, I’ll be in Oxford Monday. Feel free to get in touch if you’d like to meet up.

[readmerighttoleft]

Hindsight: If I’d known we’d have to test the system for the case of patients dying I wouldn’t have named them after my friends. On the other hand, bringing people back to life is something I could get used to.

[readmerighttoleft]

If I were to come to Oxford a week Sunday (the 3rd May), would people be around at any point during the day?

This isn’t set in stone, but I’m looking at when I can come and would want to check there will be people if I do.

[readmerighttoleft]

I’m pretty sure the guy who wrote the specification for a protocol I’m reading made sure I wouldn’t be able to find a single flaw in his security by documenting it so vaguely it might as well have a step staying “Transmit data securely.”

Tempted to just go in Monday and say I found an attack which is just “Steal encryption keys and read the data.”