It’s been a while, and what a while it has been. I hope you’re all well!

So, as ever, a bunch of things I’ve read and enjoyed - both non-tech and tech. Events, parenting, note-taking, potatoes, USB-C, and more!

Assorted

PyCon UK 2022 is happening this year after a hiatus - in person, in Cardiff, from Friday 16th to Sunday 18th September 2022. We never tried to run it as an online conference, but Emilia Lazer-Walker’s “So you want to run a virtual event” looks to be full of excellent advice for anyone looking to do so.

Australian researchers appear to have found a cause for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) writes Rosemary Scott - a brain defect. This is particularly poignant as up until this point parents were told they could prevent SIDS by taking assorted precautions - and when the tragic deaths occurred, they were left feeling like they could or should have done more. While we don’t yet have a cure - or even a test - this seems a huge step forward.

There’s a whole bunch of articles from / about non-autistic parents raising an autistic child - a lot of them somewhat problematic. However Jaime A. Heidel’s “What Is It Like for An Autistic Parent to Raise a Non-Autistic Child?” is a well-written, thoughtful, and fascinating view from the alternative perspective.

I have a terrible memory so note-taking is really important for me. My notes have levelled up significantly since I started using a lightweight Bullet Journal-esque system but they still have plenty of room for improvement. Baldur Bjarnason’s “The different kinds of notes” is an interesting dive into various styles and techniques, with a bunch of interesting references and pointers.

Finally, though dieting/weight-loss can be problematic, and I’m not especially looking to do so myself, Slime Mold Time Mold describes an all-potato diet that looks fascinating, and is running a trial to assess effectiveness…!

Tech

I’m a big Heroku fan - and of PaaS in general - I’m deeply frustrated with people reinventing the wheel when it comes to their service infrastructure. Xe Iaso (Christine Dodrill)’s Fly.io: the Reclaimer of Heroku’s Magic looks fascinating as a “next generation” offering. Your startup probably doesn’t need Kubernetes.

USB-C is full of dubious joys. Between Benson Leung’s work on auditing USB-C cables for standards compliance, the “delight” that comes from having computers in the cable plugs (thanks whitequark!), and the fact there are eight types of USB-C cable with no obvious way to distinguish them, a part of me longs for the days when cables were just long bits of metal wrapped in plastic. But if you’re looking for a USB-C hub, learn from Dennis Schubert’s “USB-C hubs and my slow descent into madness” and save yourself before it’s too late.

I am tired of crypto hype, and had been looking for good yet neutral content. Stephen Diehl, Rufus Pollock et al.’s “Making Sense Of Crypto And Web3” is an excellent resource - taking a dispassionate look and providing concise, clear, yet thorough explanations - e.g. Non Fungible Tokens (NFTs).

Standards and conventions are great, especially when someone else has gone to the work of producing and documenting them so I can just adopt them. Conventional Comments is a neat standard for review/feedback comments (e.g. for GitHub PRs) - see also Conventional Commits for commit messages.

Finally, there’s Semantic Versioning, there’s Calendar Versioning, now enjoy Setaceous Versioning!

So

Thanks for making it this far, I hope you enjoyed it. Feedback is always much appreciated, whether by email, Twitter, or the thumbs-up button!

If you think someone you know might enjoy reading this, then do please pass it on, or point them to the subscription page at https://www.getrevue.co/profile/doismellburning/

Cheers, Kristian