Passing fancies #21

 

I used to call these posts with collections of links "link dumps" but I recently found another blog which also included books and television programs which the author enjoyed and I liked that idea.  I follow a number of RSS feeds to make it easier to find interesting articles without having to regularly visit my entire list of interesting blogs, many of which aren't updated often.  As you might gather from these links, I find a wide array of topics interesting.

Books

In the past week or so, I finished reading Jeeves and the Wedding Bells by Sebastian Faulks.  It's an homage to P. G. Wodehouse's characters Jeeves and Wooster.  It was enjoyable but it's hard to match Wodehouse's mastery of the English language so I found it a bit lacking.

I also finished Neil Gaiman's graphic novel The Sandman, Volume 5: A Game of You.   Gaiman's comics often send me researching terms or topics he includes and this book was no exception.  The only comic author I'm aware of whose works are more reference laden is Alan Moore.  This one sent me down a few rabbit holes looking up references.  For instance, I had no idea that Thomas Paine was imprisoned in a French prison for a while.

Music

Over the weekend we enjoyed another opportunity to hear a favorite local band called Felix Pickles.  They're causing me to buy more music by getting songs they cover stuck in my head.  I just bought the MP3 of Jenny Says by Cowboy Mouth because once I get an earworm, I need to listen to the song to get it out of my head.  The version from Felix Pickles was intensely interesting in its own right.

I also found a Youtube video by Red Baraat, a band I discovered while searching for bands like Hazmat Modine.  That search discovered a few interesting new bands for me but none of them were much like Hazmat Modine.  Red Baraat's music is happy music and seeing them perform it is even better.
https://youtu.be/lgmw41CY1Fo?si=HkbxMiY8MIR9q1aN

Television/Movies

We watched Project Hail Mary for the second time which was enjoyable because I always notice things in movies which I missed on the first viewing.  It was great on the big screen but watching via streaming allowed for breaks which is nice.  I'm happy to report that I liked it just as much the second time.  The book is excellent as well.

I also convinced my wife to watch Normal which stars Bob Odenkirk.  I've been enjoying his journey as an unlikely action movie star which I think started with Nobody.  Nobody is worth watching because it throws a surprising early twist at you.

I also watched Slaughterhouse-Five which surprised me by being shown on TCM for the first time recently.  I loved both the book and the movie.

Links

A few days ago I saw a post about on Bluesky about doing software estimates using LoC (lines of code) which I've always thought was absurd.  It reminded me of the comic linked below which in turn reminded me of a friend who reported his weekly status as 125% because he had exceeded the LoC estimate he had originally provided.  Management was not amused.  Often they seem to have no sense of humor.
https://www.workchronicles.com/p/comic-the-estimate-game

This article about Scrum (meetings in the Agile methodology) echoes my feelings about it being ridiculous but somehow a necessary evil.  I think it often trades careful design for quick results.
https://kasperowski.com/scrum-doesnt-matter-and-it-never-did/

I found the idea that someone was producing counterfeit BMW vehicles surprising.  It would be hard to produce cars as carefully as a German company does.
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2026/07/11/bmw-warns-of-unauthorized-production-of-pirated-cars-in-russia-a93223 

Given how badly Facebook has managed to screw up people's timelines, it's no surprise that people are abandoning daily updates.  For me Facebook is more of an obligation to catch up with a few friends there than it is a joy these days.  I much prefer Mastodon and Bluesky where there are an abundance of interesting people and far less argumentative behavior.  Both seem to have the philosophy that it's better to block trolls than it is to interact with them.
https://www.pcmag.com/news/death-of-the-status-update-why-55-americans-stopped-posting-social-media

I was happy to catch a glimpse of Umberto Eco's large library of books.  I admire his writing and what he chose to spend some of his money on as well.  One can only imagine what it would be likely to have that much space to store the books accumulated over a lifetime.
https://www.openculture.com/2017/03/watch-umberto-eco-walk-through-his-immense-private-library.html

I've long thought that the English language could benefit from an attempt to correct its spelling and pronunciation.  What might young people learn if they weren't required to devote so much time to memorizing all the exceptions to the rules of English spelling?
https://boingboing.net/2026/07/07/why-english-spelling-looks-like-it-lost-a-bar-fight-with-history.html

People sometimes seem a bit surprised that despite having spent the better part of 50 years in the computer industry, I avoid smart appliances in our house.  After spending my days designing and writing code, I feel little need to interact with it to accomplish mundane tasks in the house.  I have friends who love to show off smart locks which can be activated by their phone.  I still recall the absurdity of a vacation spent in a rental house equipped with smart lights and ceiling fans controlled by Amazon Echo devices as well as people's attempts to interact with one ceiling fan which had no physical switch and which resisted all attempts to control it via vocal commands.  Apparently a previous owner had set up many of the smart devices and some were still tied to their account and unable to be transferred to a new account.  That's bad enough but paying for the privilege of being spied upon seems ridiculous.
https://www.engadget.com/2210745/smart-appliances-data-transmission-weekly/

The use of 3D printing to create tiles for a seawall which not only protects the coast but provides room for marine life to use as a shelter seems a brilliant use of the technology.
https://news.fiu.edu/2026/fiu-researchers-install-3d-printed-seawall-tiles-to-support-coastal-protection-and-marine-life

Hearing about a 95 year old mechanic who enjoys his job enough to continue working made me smile.  I plan on continuing to write software for my own use and amusement once I retire because I enjoy solving problems.  The reason I'll retire is because I'm tired of corporate nonsense after this long in the industry.
https://www.thedrive.com/news/old-school-tennessee-mechanic-celebrates-95th-birthday-working-at-the-shop

Three women set world records at the Lumberjack World Championships recently.  I'm fascinated by the customized chainsaws used in these type of competitions.  Some are basically a motorcycle engine with a blade attached.  This is one of the few sporting events I'll watch willingly.
https://abcnews.com/US/wireStory/3-womens-world-records-set-annual-lumberjack-world-134907345

Darts and hanging out with friends after work

A few days ago while doing some neck exercises given to me 8 years ago by a physical therapist to help prevent pain from bone spurs in a neck vertebra, instead of stopping at 50 repetitions as I usually do, I continued to 51 by mistake.  That triggered the thought that 51 is 3 x 17 which made me think of playing darts where landing a dart in the triple 17 ring is desirable.

I started playing darts around 1985 or so.  At the time, I was working at GE Information Systems in Rockville, MD at the time and commuting there from Northern VA.  At GE I became friends with a Brit named Dave there who organized weekly lunch outings to area ethnic restaurants.  Those outings were a welcome distraction from the repressed corporate atmosphere at GE.  Dave left GE about a year after I met him and he started working at Sprint International in Northern VA.  Few recognize the name Sprint International.  It's what was left of Telenet which used to run one of the largest packet switched networks in the world.

Since Dave lived in MD and was commuting to Northern VA, we had commutes which were close to the opposites of one another.  He and I missed chatting and we figured out that McLean would be roughly halfway if we wanted to meet for a beer after work.  He found a great little place called McKeever's Pub which had a great atmosphere as well as featuring a couple dart boards and we began meeting once a week there.

Dave was quite skilled at darts.  With practice I became a mediocre player but only for about an hour or so when the beer I consumed balanced out the residual caffeine from my workday which tended to leave me too jittery to have much accuracy.  At some point, my skills started waning as the caffeine lost the battle and I relaxed too much.  We usually played either Cricket or 301.  Despite not being very good, I enjoyed playing darts unless forced to play against someone who was too competitive.  

The strange train of thought which began with my 51st repetition next had me wondering what happened to the owners of McKeever's Pub.  I had heard a rumor that it it had closed about 10 years ago which made me a little sad but still nostalgic for the many evenings spent there chatting with friends and trying not to embarrass myself at darts.  It turns out the rumor of the pub closing was true and I discovered that one of the patrons had loved the place so much that he bought up the furnishings and recreated it in his basement.  Those of us who enjoyed the McKeever's Pub's welcoming atmosphere and excellent food (I still miss their bacon cheeseburger and home fries) can understand the impulse to keep it alive.  Then I discovered that the owners had opened a vineyard and restaurant on their farm in Leesburg, VA.  It's called EagleTree Restaurant and Winery and judging by the menus I looked at, it sounds amazing.  I think a visit may be in order at some point.

I hope everyone finds a happy place to meet friends to unwind after work.  I've had a few since McKeever's including Old Dominion Brewpub, Dogfish Head Alehouse, and Leesburg Public House.  Discussions outside of the office tend to let you find interests you may have in common and can make work friendships closer.