Blog

I added a set of new categories and related resources to the Lean Traveller site yesterday including Communication, travel and some resources under archiving.

After visiting the Tate Modern over Christmas and seeing these two images (I've forgotten the artist):

I spent Christmas undertaking some more general board game theory and computer history research, this has been helped by a slew of book bundles over the last month covering the topic.

I have started building the site for the "One Day the World Ended" project in Ruby on Rails and thus needed some designs. Here are my rough ones so far.

I guess most of its stylistic inspiration comes from Kurt Vonnegut and to a lesser extent surreal dark British comedy such as Douglas Adams. It is about the end of the world, but that isn't the point, it's just a vehicle. The fact that the world is ending isn't relevant, it's merely a surreal vehicle to explore elements of the human condition. Wow, that last sentence sounded pretentious!

I have just finished getting in place the basic structures behind the sites for my new projects and redeveloping my older sites accordingly.

This update is more behind the scenes updates I'm afraid, I have been working on the product release and event cards, making very good progress. However I am currently using real names in the cards and I have no clearance for any of them, that will be a big task in the new year, but for now it's easier to just keep them private. Sorry, but the research has been a lot of fun, follow the twitter feed to see a few highlights.

2014 was quite a year, especially for technology and how it affects everyone. Here are some of my highlights, lowlights and observations on the year and how it maybe affected developers.

I love Drupal and end up undertaking most of my programming projects with it. I have been using it for so long that I find it far easier to push out projects with Drupal than with anything else, despite it's infamous learning curve.

Chip Shop has had quite a busy week and I have a few updates to tell you about.

I've had Lollipop (Android 5) on my phone for about ten days now, so it seemed like a good time to report back on my feelings and experiences with this new, 'material design' laden Operating System.

Just a small update, with a much larger one coming next week.

Along side getting the Chip Shop website online (needing a lot more work of course!) I have started defining the core game concepts, i.e. what you are aiming to do in the the game and what components will help you achieve this. I have also spent some time trawling through 80s US computer history pulling out products, personalities and events that will form the game cards.

I have just rolled it the first incarnation of <a href="https://theleantraveller.com/" target="_blank">The Lean Traveller</a>, with the first of the topics we will be covering, '<a href="https://theleantraveller.com/money" target="_blank">Money</a>'.

Are you looking for smart answers to dumb questions? Then you might enjoy 'Answers Against Humanity', based on that 'award' winning game, Cards Against Humanity.

Now I live in a non-english speaking country, not only am I far more understanding of non-english speakers in English speaking countries, but I am also more conscious of providing content in multiple languages. The first point is something I would like to revisit in a future post, but for now lets look at a new option for providing content in different languages.

With a variety of our projects we have been looking into methods of how to provide easy and open access to documents produced that most people could understand how to edit and contribute.

We have been hearing about Drupal 8 for quite a while now and it&rsquo;s sounding increasingly exciting and close. After DrupalCon Amsterdam I was keen to get my hands dirtier with Drupal 8 and try building a website with it.

I have been Macs for a very long time, since the dark days of the mid 90s and the days of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macintosh_Performa" target="_blank">Performas</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_7" target="_blank">System 7</a> and unremarkable CEOs. I have been through the massive change to OS X and processor changes from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_68000" target="_blank">68000</a> the series to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PowerPC" target="_blank">PowerPC</a> and then to Intel.

Before spending seven years in Melbourne and then moving to Germany, I lived and grew up in London. I am one of London's rarities, a real, born-and-bred, bona fide Londoner. In fact I am actually a Cockney -- and one of the last!

I&#39;m always a bit behind with development trends, mainly because working for yourself or small businesses, you rarely have the luxury of spare time to experiment and tend to<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp; stick with what you have to get the job done.

As has been the pattern of many recent DrupalCons and Camps, DrupalCon Amsterdam 2014 was all about Drupal 8 and the changes that it's bringing to the platform and community.

Today Apple held one of its signature events in its home town of Cupertino, California, announcing a new range of iPhones, a long-awaited wearable device, and a new payment system.

A valid discussion, but what will the limitations and potentials be.

Growth is always a goal in many countries, statistics appear everywhere and it's always discussed. Even small reductions in GDP are met with bitter disappointment, it's become one of the most important measures in the modern era.

Michelle Bauens, the P2P Foundation The Nutrient dense project is a global community of farmers and civic scientists who believe that putting nutrients into the soil it will improve food growth rates. These projects will often receive no funding, so they have mutualised their research and practices. This knowledge and information is shareable and escapes the commodity model. This is the production of commons, not capital.

We are looking at what these models and projects share in common and what is different between them and why.

It's refreshing to hear someone (unsurprisingly an engineer) mention that the Degrowth movement could do with more practical projects and methodologies to run alongside the theoretical discussions.

Konstantatos Haris of the Harokopio University of Athens is a member of Syriza and Political scientist in the department of Geography. He states that Geography and History are also factors as well as different political and socio-economic structures. There are commonalities amongst many Southern European countries that need to be addressed today.

Despite attending the conference, not everyone will fully understand what 'Degrowth' is, or the multitude of related terms that will be mentioned during the conference. Thankfully the first session on the schedule is ideally suited for getting your knowledge up to scratch.