So it's now two days since the Skillswap about Responsive Web Design in Bristol. I am happy to have been one of three speakers and, having just listend to the audio, I think it was kind of okay - which hadn't been my initial impression, so I'm glad there was a recording. I just thought I'd add some thoughts, some of them regarding what I talked about.

This is not really that difficult once you know it, but I had to combine instructions from several posts and fiddle around a bit, so I thought I'd write down the different steps. This is assuming you have an external screen attached to the Raspberry Pi to do the configuration.

There is this vortex of thoughts going through my head. I wonder if I can make some sense of it all by writing it down. If it just wasn't so coooold. I am shivering while I am typing this. One thing that will be especially difficult is separating the personal from some general observations. That is part of the problem I fear.

As I could not find the solution to this anywhere online, I thought I'd post it here. Curiously we had already been sent a replacement figure (but the wrong one!) when one of the Activision support staff suggested this little trick.

Hang on, what, no, I didn't really mean to.. Too late. I killed my Twitter account. Sure, I could just reactivate it. But I'd have to follow everybody again and hope that they refollow me too. I'd have to create my beloved "irl" list again. Actually, this can all be quite easily done, and I am sure I will do again, at some point. - Still, it all feels quite strange.

Today I checked Twitter for a bit and saw some statements about 2012 having been a difficult year, by at least three people. I don't think I saw any that said 2012 had been a brilliant year for them. Are there years that collectively are perceived as difficult? Does every year seem difficult in hindsight? Or are people more prone to state a year was difficult than that it was great? I don't know. I think politically, for Europe and for the UK (and not only) it has been a bit worrying as well, and this might have seeped into the collective unconsious as well as having concrete effects down the line. We had the Olympics and the European Championship, and - as many other people - I enjoyed watching these events. We often had people over for the football, of English, German and Austrian nationality, and had some nice little parties. And watching the Olympics Opening Ceremony, I felt so proud I almost forgot I'm not British. Still I could not help but sometimes feel a bit cynical as well. The ancient Romans already said "panem et circenses" if what I learned at school is right. You have to give the people bread and games to keep them happy, and, I suppose, distracted from getting too enraged with their government and start rebelling and demanding stuff.

If you think now this is going to be a highly political rant you are wrong. No, just some random thoughts.

It is just a few days to Christmas and I feel quite reluctant to organise things (still some presents to buy or make, all the cards to write, and a suitcase to pack). But I am writing my end/start-of-year blogpost early.

Adventures of a newbie server admin Part 1

About a year ago I started using eatStatic blogging engine for this blog, and it's been working really well. Apart from not actually writing much, the only thing that was bugging me is that I'd not set it up to work with files from a Dropbox (as does the original). As I have recently started to run my own vps and am now moving sites over, I thought it was time to give it a try!

A few days ago, I was made aware of a post entitled What I know about Germans and after a brief Twitter conversation felt compelled to write my own 'expat view' list. So, here is a quick-fire list after almost 10 years in this country (and Bristol! My anniversary will be on bonfire night this year)

Today I got back from three days in London, where I attended this year's Dev8D. Dev8D is quite a remarkable conference (or more accurately perhaps, a conference, unconference and workshops all in one). It is aimed at developers in Higher Education, but open to anyone interested. It offers a great opportunity to learn new skills, get a feel for what is being discussed and important in certain areas, and meet people with the same interests as you.

I went last year for the first time (it has been running for four years now), and I was very happy to go back. The format of the event seems to have changed slightly every year, but what remains constant is the focus on hands-on-learning, and the informal atmosphere.

As there was so much going on at once, I can only write about a fraction of the sessions from first-hand experience, but for anybody interested in the event I would recommend reading the relevant DevCSI blog posts (there's lots of videos and interviews in there). Read more…