Alex Chan @alexwlchan.net · 27/09/2026how about barleycorns? it counts how often you’ll be distracted by cool historical facts in the given duration 020
Alex Chan @alexwlchan.net · 25/09/2026“For too long, developers have been freeloading by letting data centre providers do all the hard work of providing reliable cloud services, and skipped on designing their applications to be resilient against unexpected outages. We will solve this by making outages an hourly occurrence.” 020
Alex Chan @alexwlchan.net · 24/09/2026[redacted year but not as long ago as I would've thought] is it after you moved into the house, and this is you learning the outbuilding was occupied by Men In Black who wiped your memory 1130
Alex Chan @alexwlchan.net · 23/09/2026Have you ruled out the possibility that it's the ruins of an outbuilding that doesn’t exist yet but will in the future 0120
Alex Chan @alexwlchan.net · 18/09/2026friends of mary piggles (an unnamed character in the musical where we all met) Starlight Express Gang (the crafting friends, of whom maybe half have seen Stex) Girlish-shaped objects (trans femmes) AAA isn’t just a type of battery (all A names) 010
Alex Chan @alexwlchan.net · 16/09/2026One optimisation not mentioned in the post: my script creates all of the images twice, once as JPEG, once as PNG, then picks the smaller of the two. 110
Alex Chan @alexwlchan.net · 16/09/2026Fairly small; the images are only a handful of megabytes in total, and there’s no extra encoding when they’re added to the MP3 file. So far I don’t think I’ve seen a final MP3 over 50MB, which is smaller than a lot of podcasts I listen to. 110
Alex Chan @alexwlchan.net · 16/09/2026Maybe the companies are worried that if they wait twenty minutes, your village will declare independence from the UK and all the standards will change 040
Alex Chan @alexwlchan.net · 15/09/2026Abusing ID3 chapters to turn videos into glanceable podcasts: alexwlchan.net/2026/glancec... If you create hundreds of second-long chapters which have a video frame as cover art, you can get a video into an audio-only podcast player. 231
Alex Chan @alexwlchan.net · 14/09/2026so, fun fact, I just asked work for a week of PTO in mid-October (unless I have my own house to do stuff with 🤷♀️) 110
Alex Chan @alexwlchan.net · 13/09/2026There’s a block under 0808, but not under 0800. www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-and-b...ofcom.org.ukTelephone numbers for use in TV and radio drama programmesOfcom continues to receive requests for Geographic Numbers to be used for drama purposes. In light of this, Ofcom has set out below a range of Geographic Telephone Numbers recommended for drama purpos... 030
Alex Chan @alexwlchan.net · 08/09/2026If the colleges gift them, they control how much of their silverware walks out the door, rather than discover just how capable the Odent’s Eleven are 1250
Alex Chan @alexwlchan.net · 20/08/2026Happy birthday! I hope it has been an excellent day with some nice things to look at. 020
Alex Chan @alexwlchan.net · 20/08/2026Why can’t you combine .tar.gz files with cat? alexwlchan.net/2026/cat-con... I wanted to combine some archives, so I had to understand the tar and gzip file formats. I learnt about tape drives, patent laws, and end-of-file markers.alexwlchan.netWhy can’t you combine .tar.gz files with cat?To combine archives safely, I had to start by understanding the `tar` and `gzip` file formats. I learnt about tape drives, patent laws, and end-of-file markers. 120
Alex Chan @alexwlchan.net · 20/08/2026The BBC have serious questions to answer about why Newsnight dropped their own investigative report into this issue, and whether they came under pressure from the CBBC lobby who’d recently awarded this child a Blue Peter badge. 140
Alex Chan @alexwlchan.net · 19/08/2026i can’t believe andy burnham would let channel 4 would do this 030
Alex Chan @alexwlchan.net · 18/08/2026won’t somebody help me chase the deserts away gimme gimme some rain after midnight take me through the darkness with the splash and the spray 050
Alex Chan @alexwlchan.net · 17/08/2026😭 They came from Edinburgh, which is surely closer to you than to me? Thank you, I’m glad you enjoyed it! 010
Alex Chan @alexwlchan.net · 17/08/2026I feel you would enjoy knowing that my new stamps arrived, I already used one of them to send a card… and only then did Royal Mail send me an email saying “your stamps are on their way!!!” 111
Reposted by Alex ChanAlex Chan @alexwlchan.net · 13/08/2026I wrote about finding an SQLite bug for the Tailscale blog! I learnt so much from working on this series of incidents, and I’m proud of the outcome and the story we can finally tell. 🥰 2364
Alex Chan @alexwlchan.net · 13/08/2026I wrote about finding an SQLite bug for the Tailscale blog! I learnt so much from working on this series of incidents, and I’m proud of the outcome and the story we can finally tell. 🥰 2364
Alex Chan @alexwlchan.net · 12/08/2026Three things my partner loves: birds, me, and sending letters between us. I am about to buy… a lot of stamps. 😂 010
Alex Chan @alexwlchan.net · 02/08/2026This topic gets double points because it can lead to a) the weather and its effect on transport OR b) regional variations in the shittiness of transport 160
Alex Chan @alexwlchan.net · 01/08/2026I’ve been keeping LLMs at arm’s length in part because I know my brain is susceptible to that sort of addictive behaviour. 091
Alex Chan @alexwlchan.net · 31/07/2026I hear BP are selling their North Sea rigs, if you wanted to plunder them for stronger parts 020
Alex Chan @alexwlchan.net · 25/07/2026My nugget of advice, as a techie: long before the fire comes, think about how you’d get back into your digital accounts if you lost all your devices. If you have to flee your home, losing access to your email/bank/contacts will make an already difficult situation even harder. 0110
Alex Chan @alexwlchan.net · 25/07/2026Trial by Djinni – when a young attorney‘s wish for love is overhead by a mischievous couple, she finds herself in an unwanted legal triangle – a dating deal with the devil, and a marriage contract with a vampire. Can she exit both contracts safely… and does she even want to? 030
Alex Chan @alexwlchan.net · 25/07/2026Werewolf for the Defence – a closeted werewolf turns up in court, only to realise the prosecuting attorney is their childhood sweetheart, and one of the few people who knows their lupine secret. Is everything over in love and legalities, or is this a court case where both sides win? 1271
Alex Chan @alexwlchan.net · 23/07/2026Okay now I’m imagining a bomb squad who squabble over who gets to go on the museum jobs, because they’re calmer than the normal jobs, and usually come with an offer of tea and/or the chance to look at interesting non-bomb objects. “It’s my turn!” “No, it’s my turn, you went last time!” 1110
Alex Chan @alexwlchan.net · 23/07/2026When I help people with digital estate planning, one of my bits of advice is “tell your executors which folder has your intimate/naughty pictures in it, so they know to delete without opening”. I know somebody who got that “Nope!” moment when cleaning out their late father’s computer. 2290
Alex Chan @alexwlchan.net · 21/07/2026@media conference and (remainingTickets < 15) { .alert { display: block; background: red; font-size: 4em; } } 020
Alex Chan @alexwlchan.net · 20/07/2026other toddlers love it when you violently smash up your lego and always want to play with you afterward 021
Alex Chan @alexwlchan.net · 12/07/2026Was this a kitchen that John knew about prior to recording, or was it a secret kitchen that was only discovered thanks to the fire 050
Reposted by Alex ChanAlex Chan @alexwlchan.net · 05/07/2026Describing all my photos: alexwlchan.net/2026/describ... I wrote about a change to my photo reviewing workflow: I now write a description for every photo I’m keeping. A sentence or two of context goes a long way to cementing the memory, so I remember more when I look back on the photo.alexwlchan.netDescribing all my photosWhen I save a photo, I write a sentence or two of descriptive context. It helps me remember what's in a photo, why I took it, and how I felt when I did. 041
Alex Chan @alexwlchan.net · 05/07/2026Describing all my photos: alexwlchan.net/2026/describ... I wrote about a change to my photo reviewing workflow: I now write a description for every photo I’m keeping. A sentence or two of context goes a long way to cementing the memory, so I remember more when I look back on the photo.alexwlchan.netDescribing all my photosWhen I save a photo, I write a sentence or two of descriptive context. It helps me remember what's in a photo, why I took it, and how I felt when I did. 041
Alex Chan @alexwlchan.net · 04/07/2026It’s 2-4-6, a story about a six-way polycule who saw a couple from across the bar and really liked their vibe 042
Alex Chan @alexwlchan.net · 04/07/2026If there are three wolves and the recipient, there must be at least two participants of the same gender (pigeonhole principle) or at least two participants who are non-binary, either of which is a strong case for LGBTQ+. 2550
Reposted by Alex ChanAlex Chan @alexwlchan.net · 03/07/2026I don’t want to repeat repeat myself: alexwlchan.net/2026/repeati... I wrote about these two regular expressions: \b([A-Za-z]+) \1\b \b([A-Za-z]+ [A-Za-z]+) \1\b They helped me find a bunch of mistakes where I had repeated words or phrases. Try them in your writing and code today!alexwlchan.netI don’t want to repeat repeat myselfI wrote a pair of regular expressions to find repeated words and phrases in my source code. 021
Alex Chan @alexwlchan.net · 03/07/2026I don’t want to repeat repeat myself: alexwlchan.net/2026/repeati... I wrote about these two regular expressions: \b([A-Za-z]+) \1\b \b([A-Za-z]+ [A-Za-z]+) \1\b They helped me find a bunch of mistakes where I had repeated words or phrases. Try them in your writing and code today!alexwlchan.netI don’t want to repeat repeat myselfI wrote a pair of regular expressions to find repeated words and phrases in my source code. 021
Alex Chan @alexwlchan.net · 03/07/2026I have done all three – same person, different dates Whoever plans the date also makes hand-drawn checklist of things for the other to tick off as we see along the way, and teaches the other the BSL sign as they tick off the item (My partner is HoH so we’re learning snippets of BSL together) 000
Reposted by Alex ChanAlex Chan @alexwlchan.net · 29/06/2026Rebuilding the computer room: alexwlchan.net/2026/compute... I wrote some thoughts on how computers have become a ubiquitous physical presence in our lives, and trying to reintroduce a dedicated space so my digital devices can’t always get to me.alexwlchan.netRebuilding the computer roomWe traded the physical boundaries of dedicated rooms for the convenience of our always-on digital lives -- but recently I've been building those walls back up. 021
Alex Chan @alexwlchan.net · 29/06/2026Rebuilding the computer room: alexwlchan.net/2026/compute... I wrote some thoughts on how computers have become a ubiquitous physical presence in our lives, and trying to reintroduce a dedicated space so my digital devices can’t always get to me.alexwlchan.netRebuilding the computer roomWe traded the physical boundaries of dedicated rooms for the convenience of our always-on digital lives -- but recently I've been building those walls back up. 021
Alex Chan @alexwlchan.net · 17/06/2026“Building more houses is a fantastic idea. You aren’t just designing structures, em dash, you’re creating homes.“ “If you’d like me to write the documents you need to create a horse, please sign up for a ClaudeGPT GemiPlus subscription.” 010
Alex Chan @alexwlchan.net · 11/06/2026Back in January, I made a dozen fake movie posters based on web tech, like Hidden <Figure>, Apollo 13px, and Git Out: alexwlchan.net/2026/parody-...alexwlchan.netParody posters for made-up moviesI rented movies from Blockbuster, HBO Max-Width and Netflex. 040
