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As I am polishing the interface for my task manager, I am looking into ways of reusing code across different display environments - specifically I right now want to expand from the CLI to the web and Messenger Bots, with potential native interfaces in mind for later as well. One very specific component prompted a bit of a search: A table with colspan, styled to not have cell delimiters.
I found some hope in https://github.com/Canop/termimad - it uses Markdown which can easily be converted to HTML and is frequently supported within messengers. But my table requirements are not supported, and would not be portable either way because such specificities are outside the scope of Markdown. For now I might just settle with it though, finding a way to move forward without colspan.
For the future, the other aspect that needs to be reconsidered is interactivity: The CLI is a REPL, so there are no interactive elements, similarly for messengers. But on the web and in an app, clickable elements are expected and useful. By then, a cross-platform library like flutter or its aspiring Rust alternative https://github.com/emilk/egui shall be considered.
I am building a Task Manager called mostr where I am testing a lot of surprisingly novel concepts. Fundamentally, all tasks are organized in a tree rather than a pretermined project/subtasks structure. This allows tracking time by simply moving like through a directory tree. The currently selected task is the one being time-tracked, but also heavily influences the creation of new tasks, which are automatically subtasks of the current task.
Furthermore, you can attach tags to a task. Adding a context to your session then both filters for visible tasks with specific properties but also adds these properties to any newly created task.
Now I am figuring out how the selected task should affect the current task, because there should be some sort of tag inheritance: Usually subtasks would be annotated with similar tags as their parent tasks. So initially I thought I could simply match all subtasks of a matching parent task (virtual tag inheritance) or apply the tags of the parent task to the subtask (physical tag inheritance) But while I do want straightforward and intuitive defaults, I also want to maintain maximum flexibility so that mostr can accomodate different power users. But cases like this would not be handled well by the above options of inheritance:
Mostr #pc #dev
|- Think about Feature #think
|- Write about Feature #pc #write
|- Implement Feature #pc #dev
When I work on mostr, I am generally on the computer, which is why it has the pc tag. But there are also tasks in that project that do not necessarily happen on the computer. And how do the task tags interact with an active context?
When entering a task, we have three cases to handle:
- no current context
- current context subset of task tags (common case, when navigating
through the tree)
- mismatch of current context and task tags (when jumping to a
specific task)
With that in mind, I came up with the idea of virtual tags. When you enter a task and there is no existing context, the virtual tags behave like a transient context, both applying to filtering and creation. If the context is a subset of the current task tags, the extra tags only apply to creation of subtasks. If there is a mismatch, the current context is apparently obsolete, so it is removed before proceeding as if there was no context.
So the remaining question is how to remove virtual tags if you want to find or create a subtask which only has a subset of those. This touches the issue of storage: The context is a list of tags and excluded tags (tasks with these tags are hidden from view, not explicitly relevant here) and I presumed I could derive the virtual tags from the selected task without storing them separately. But to allow removing a virtual tag, I either need to track removed virtual tags or current virtual tags. This becomes even more tricky when moving up and down with such tasks. So when I enter mostr, I have the virtual tags #pc #dev - I remove them to enter the thinking task - but then what happens when I move up again? Per default, the virtual tags would be active again, unless the removal of virtual tags is also tracked in the context, which might just be the most effective way.
After being on my list of languages to explore for years following my contribution to Mixxx in the Google Summer of Code 2020 where I got to know C++ professionals who love Rust, I finally start learning Rust last month by implementing a long-anticipated nostr-based project.
First of all, I wanted to get an introduction to the language, so I read a bit in "The Book" - The Rust Programming Language. In a quest for a more interactive experience I found Rustlings and then the Jetbrains adaptation. I have been an Intellij IDEA user for years, displacing Eclipse which I used back in school, especially once I migrated to Kotlin - Jetbrains also made Kotlin so their IDE is of course ahead while also being the de-facto best Java IDE (even though I would love to use fully open-source software like Eclipse, I sometimes need to be pragmatic). But I soon found those courses too slow and basic for somebody of my experience level - instead I opted to get my hands dirty straight away in a project, producing a usable tool within days. In between I read up on some select chapters of The Book and of course did some research.
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I started using Duolingo about three months ago on my third visit to Kenya, after seeing a friend use it to practice German. I realized that in as much as I knew some bits of Swahili, I was missing a proper foundation of vocabulary to practice with. And I did not want to go back to pesky word lists from school, that worked decently well for me to learn Latin but were very simplistic and unflexible.
First of all, I can report sucess in that: I am now able to express myself decently! Duolingo nicely fit itself into pockets of time throughout my day, teaching me incrementally.
The main struggle right now might be a feature of the language: Swahili is very compact and often spoken quickly (unlik almost anything else Africans do ^^) so comprehension in a conversation is still low, but also got better - rather than understanding only individual words like a few months ago, I can now comprehend phrases and sometimes a whole sentence. Still, a conversation requires the other person to consciously accomodate me so far, which especially kids are not really aware of unfortunately - and those are the ones I like to connect with most. Then again, not always words are needed.
Another challenge is the fact that Kenyans commonly intertwine Swahili and English, to the point that many are unable to speak either language purely. This means that I tend to commonly only get to hear a certain subset of words, with words such as colors entirely missing in everyday conversation. Additionally, I pick up Sheng, colloquial words typically used for example in money amounts - Nusu, Mbao, Chwani, Soo, Punch. Tanzania purportedly can help.
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Many people nowadays struggle to keep in touch with friends. Let me share my system that works for me and many of my closest contacts.
Rather than struggling to allocate time specifically, I maintain a list of people I call regularly. When an opportunity comes up, like a longer drive or a walk, I see who fits the mood and is available. I keep being surprised how glad people are for me to call them. Since I do it at my convenience, everybody is happy and I almost always have somebody to talk my thoughts over with.
This works most easily when I am with my family with the obligation to walk the dog every day. Because then I usually get outside at least twice a day, with ample opprtunity for a run, listening to music and podcasts, talking to people and enjoying nature.
This is my way of having regular walks with friends, bridging any distance without painful scheduling.
Habari, niaje, sasa, mambo, jambo - a diversity of greetings point at the rich history of the common east african language. Typically African, none of these can really be equated to "Hello" - somehow they all more or less mean "how are you?" - even though that phrase also has literal translations like "Ukosalama?" or "Ukofiti?" I gave up on trying to make a proper distinction and just went along. What I can say is that "habari" is more formal (literally meaning "news") while "jambo" is the greeting of the coast. In my experience it is the only of these greetings used like "hello" - for all other words, you are not expected to respond with the greeting but a response indicating your state, almost always positive - here a selection in descending formality: Mzuri (good), Salama (peaceful), Nikosawa (I am fine), Fiti (nice), Poa (cool)
Similar to German, it is spoken across a few countries but differently - Tanzanians are generally regarded as speaking it properly, while people in Kenya and Uganda commonly mix it with English or tribal languages in a single sentence.
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One and a half years ago, I ordered one of the first Framework laptops and never regretted the move from my old bulky HP Pavilion, despite initially thinking the display would be too small for me. The aesthetics, the portability, the flexibility are on a whole new level. To this day I have not added a single sticker to my framework because I felt it would ruin it despite having had prepared a dedicated bag of stickers for my new laptop. I also want it to be recognizable - just like the Fairphone, it affirms my identity as somebody valueing sustainability and multiple times made people ask me whether I would recommend it - My answer is a resounding YES, and that is why I also finally wrote this post now.
The ability to have an HDMI jack as part of the laptop on the go or as many USB-Ports as I want, exchanging memory and disks as I was always used to and in the future upgrade from an Intel to AMD CPU (only Intel was available at the time of purchase) without abandoning all the other components has proven handy already.
The small size became a big plus for me. Unlike my previous laptop with double the weight, I hardly ever think twice about whether to carry my Framework. It slides into every little backpack and swiftly back out even when I only have a few minutes on commute weighing little more than a water bottle. When the screen estate does not suffice (such as when gaming, or doing advanced programming) external monitors are quickly attached via USB-C, and by now there are even plenty of affordable portable displays. This way I can now decide whether to pack the whole workstation or the minimalistic variant - either because the usecase does not need more (such as writing a blog entry) or because I know I can easily hook up at my destination.
I do have a few complaints, but they do little to hamper my enthusiasm:
- the hinge between display and keyboard is too flexible, this is a
known issue with the first models and can easily be solved with a spare
part
- speaker and microphone quality are not the best, but that is why I
have a decent headset
- the battery drains faster than it should, but this could also be
related to my Manjaro Linux setup
- speakers and ventilation face downwards, so both are easily impeded
when using the laptop on the lap or - god forbid - on a pillow.
But with Framework 16 released, with flexible keyboard/speaker modules and the potential to have an inbuilt spare battery, all those can easily fade.
I love writing, even technical. And I am a perfectionist. This leads to me regularly hitting edit while reading through a README file or the like because adjustments jump at me. In this post, I want to share some of my lessons and recommendations from doing this in the last years.
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Now that I am in Kenya the second time, it is time to recap what I have learned so far. First of all, like with all explorative journeys, I recommend to use https://wikivoyage.org , the collaborative encyclopedia (like Wikipedia) for travel guidance which has detailed articles on many topics touched in this article, some of which with contributions by me. Also, learn some basic Swahili words to amuse the locals and make a less touristic and more genuinely explorative impression :)
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Im Februar 2022 war ich auf Lanzarote, mein erster Flug in vielen Jahren, und dann im März 2023, vor nunmehr einem Jahr, auf Teneriffa - beide den spanischen kanarischen Inseln zugehörig. Daran schloss sich letzten November noch ein Besuch der separaten portugiesischen Insel Madeira - immer jeweils ein bis zwei Wochen. Dazwischen war ich noch in Israel, Irland, und Kenya, doch hier möchte ich mich auf die europäischen Inseln fokussieren, da diese unkompliziert und kostengünstig Sonnenbaden und Erkundungstouren versprechen. Dazu kommen noch die etwas weiter Richtung Amerika gelegenen ebenfalls portugiesischen Azoren, auf denen ich noch nicht war, aber aufgrund eines guten Reiseführers schon einen Eindruck gewinnen konnte.
Für Unentschlossene empfehle ich gleich vorweg Teneriffa: Es hat grünes Hochland, schöne Strände, einen Regenwald, den Vulkan El Teide und generell viel Diversität. Lanzarote, und von dem was ich gehört habe, auch das benachbarte Fuerteventura, sind auch sonnig und haben ein paar interessante Tunnelsysteme, sind aber ansonsten eher karg. Ein Argument für Madeira sind die ganzjährig milderen Temperaturen - diese schwanken auf den anderen Inseln stärker, sodass man im Winter eine Jacke braucht und es im Sommer wohl wirklich heiß wird.
Ein paar interessante Fakten zu den Inseln:
- die Azoren sind ein guter Ort für einen Zwischenstopp zwischen
Europa und Nordamerika - und zwischen den Inseln nutzt man kleine
Propellerflugzeuge wie bei uns Züge zum täglichen Transport
- Billigflüge zu den Kanaren fliegen über Marokko, aber jegliche Flüge
auf die ebensoweit entfernten afrikanischen Länder kosten ob bis zum
zehnfachen
- trotz seiner guten Lage und des ganzjährig milden Klimas hat es
Madeira scheinbar nötig, seine Wirtschaft anzukurbeln, und lockt mit
staatlich finanzierten Förderprogrammen gerade im IT-Sektor, wodurch es
sich zu einem Stützpunkt für digitale Nomaden entwickelt hat
- wer Sandstrandurlaube sucht, ist mit den Kanaren generell gut
beraten - Madeira und die Azoren sind da eher dünn besetzt
- bei einem Besuch in Lanzarote empfehle ich definitiv einen Abstecher
zur Nebeninsel La Graciosa mit reichlich Zeit zum Wandern, die Insel ist
klein und dünn besiedelt und hat dadurch eine ganz eigene
Atmosphäre
Today in talking with my mentor I once again realized the insufficiency of our digital tools. Even as a proper nerd using Linux and experimenting with all kinds of Software, in the end my tasks end up in notebooks, scraps of paper, on post-its or buried in messengers.
So I had some more or less novel ideas that would make use of idle technological space.
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I hate repeated manual labor. So I set out to use my experience gained with cloud-init in experimenting with Harvester to automate the setup of Virtual Machines with the help of https://blog.robertorosario.com/setting-up-a-vm-on-truenas-scale-using-cloud-init/.
A few notable things to mention:
- I created a child dataset in each of our datasets ([f]ast=SDD for
root filesystem, [b]igdata=HDD for storage) specifically for VMs, this
makes administration much easier
- I went with debian, which has a slim genericcloud image, which
worked on Harvester but it does not work here because the cloud-init
config is mounted as CD-ROM - so after some tinkering I found the
generic image to work well
- I added the password, which is now unfortunately mandatory
The section "BOTH" contains a few variable definitions that should be provided before every of the other commands. The "LOCAL" section exists because the cloud-image-utils package is needed and TrueNAS Scale does not allow you to easily install packages. It will presume you provided a suitable cloud-init config in <VM-Name>-seed.qcow.yaml and then convert and copy it over to the TrueNAS Scale server (which I shorthanded as nas in my ssh config). All other variables should be self-explanatory. I did not extract the size of the disks into variables because we usually just go with lavish defaults due to our setup having plenty of space (>100TB).
Here are the commands in a compacted fashion, for easy copying out:
# LOCAL
${EDITOR:-nano} $SEEDFILE.yaml
cloud-localds --verbose $SEEDFILE $SEEDFILE.yaml
scp $SEEDFILE nas:${IMAGE_PATH}
# BOTH
VM_NAME=nostr
IMAGE_PATH=/mnt/b/media/iso/servers/
SEEDFILE=${VM_NAME}-seed.qcow2
# REMOTE
VM_PATH=eagle/vm/${VM_NAME}
# do not use genericcloud here as it is missing CDROM drivers
VM_IMAGE=http://cloud.debian.org/images/cloud/bookworm/latest/debian-12-generic-amd64.qcow2
# extra data volume, comment out to omit
VM_DATA=b/vm/${VM_NAME}-data
VM_MEMORY=$(expr 8 \* 1024)
VM_PASSWORD=password
sudo zfs create -V 40G "${VM_PATH}"
test -n "${VM_DATA}" && sudo zfs create -V 150G "${VM_DATA}"
cd "${IMAGE_PATH}"
test -e "$(basename ${VM_IMAGE})" || wget "${VM_IMAGE}"
case "${VM_IMAGE}" in
(*.raw) sudo dd if=$(basename ${VM_IMAGE}) of=/dev/zvol/${VM_PATH} status=progress bs=1M;;
(*) sudo qemu-img convert -O raw $(basename ${VM_IMAGE}) /dev/zvol/${VM_PATH};;
esac
# Create the VM
RESULT=`midclt call vm.create '{"name": "'${VM_NAME}'", "cpu_mode": "HOST-MODEL", "bootloader": "UEFI_CSM", "cores": 2, "threads": 2, "memory": '${VM_MEMORY}'}'`
VM_ID=`echo ${RESULT} | jq '.id'`
# Add the display
midclt call vm.device.create '{"vm": "'${VM_ID}'", "dtype": "DISPLAY", "order": 1004, "attributes": {"web": true, "type": "VNC", "bind": "0.0.0.0", "password": "'${VM_PASSWORD}'", "wait": false}}'
# Obtain a random MAC address
MAC_ADDRESS=`midclt call vm.random_mac`
# Add the NIC
midclt call vm.device.create '{"vm": "'${VM_ID}'", "dtype": "NIC", "order": 1010, "attributes": {"type": "VIRTIO", "nic_attach": "br0", "mac": "'${MAC_ADDRESS}'"}}'
# Add the root disk
midclt call vm.device.create '{"vm": "'${VM_ID}'", "dtype": "DISK", "order": 1001, "attributes": {"path": "/dev/zvol/'${VM_PATH}'","type": "VIRTIO"}}'
# Add a data disk
midclt call vm.device.create '{"vm": "'${VM_ID}'", "dtype": "DISK", "order": 1002, "attributes": {"path": "/dev/zvol/'${VM_DATA}'","type": "VIRTIO"}}'
# Add the CDROM
midclt call vm.device.create '{"vm": "'${VM_ID}'", "dtype": "CDROM", "order": 1005, "attributes": {"path":"'${IMAGE_PATH}${SEEDFILE}'"}}'
Nostr is a simple protocol for microblogging and more. This is the best summary of it I have seen so far: https://sebastix.nl/blog/why-nostr-resonates/
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Back in secondary school I extensively used the Leitner flashcard system to learn vocabularies and declensions and conjugations for the Latin language. Despite the effectiveness at the time, the lack of practical use or combination with other techniques and the abandoning of the flashcard box years ago has led most of that to be buried under new boxes in my memory "storage warehouse".
One distinct lesson from the book "So lernt man lernen" by Sebastion Leitner that I did not apply at the time is the importance of putting things into motion. When learning a language, various options exist to bring static vocabularies to life, allowing us to tap into more powerful memory structures. The most powerful is performing the meaning - his example is going to the window as you say the phrase "I go to the window" in the target language. Researching this I found that James Asher formalized this method as "Total physical response", inspired by the way children learn from parents. If the learning environment or material does not allow for that, looking to the related object (letting your eyes wander to the window) or at least letting your eyes flicker back and forth between the vocabulary and its translation will already bring positive effects.
The book also mentioned the universal application of the half second: From average reaction time to Pavlov's conditioning, half a second is the unit of time we live in and make associations within. Leitner concluded that a teacher writing the vocabularies on the blackboard, or making a theatrical pause before providing the translation, actually hinders learning as the gap between the elements to be associated is too large. That is why he proposes to set the material in motion yourself as mentioned above.
The Interview with Benny Lewis by Barbara Oakley (https://www.coursera.org/learn/learning-how-to-learn/lecture/L4yKh/optional-interview-with-benny-the-irish-polyglot-about-learning-languages) provided further valuable insights:
- learn the language basics before visiting the country so you can
accommodate to the culture
- nonetheless, find a way to practice speaking the language early on,
so you can make mistakes and get corrected
- using mnemonics to train vocabularies - he brought the example of
imagining a table made up of tissues for the German translation of table
"Tisch", creating a memory aid that will naturally make itself redundant
upon developing language literacy - just as I do not think about the
German word anymore before coming up with the English one, but once used
to
Though learning human languages is not a main focus of my journey this semester, some of these techniques may be applied to other things I am learning, and I do want to learn additional languages in the future.
Last night I had the opportunity to sleep in a prospective van offer. At the inspection I realized that while having conveniences like shower and toilet and gas stove and fridge like in that model could be nice, I doubt whether they are worth the care they need.
Our roadtrip to Italy was probably a good test drive of that: Just a car with matresses in the back, we slept in it with three people, not needing any of that, supplying well on non-cooked foods and responsibly using nature or motorway service areas for basic hygiene.
The only issue there and last night was that the first nights of camping tend to be restless, me consciously waking up multiple times throughout the night, and I should find out what the cause is - if it is the comfort, maybe putting in a proper mattress would be right. Or is it the new environment, and once I get used to it it will not be an issue.
After all, the main purpose of the van will still be sleep, even if I do plan to work in it on the go as well from time to time. But I am erring towards preferrably using our office in Bayreuth and associates or my uni in Berlin when there. Which kind of obsoletes the idea of taking my big computer along, hm...
Also I wonder about how much difference the height makes in terms of consumption - I have little reason to stand in the van since I would rather go outside, and when it is really cold drive to the south or find a friend to stay with.
I often listen to courses, videos and podcasts on the side while doing something else, thus not giving them my full attention. But simple measures can greatly improve retention by breaking down what is in it for me.
I started cultivating the 30-second-recall (Scott, 2014): Taking half a minute after a conversation or finishing a resource to note down important points. This triggers reconsolidation of memory, preparing it for long-term storage.
As mentioned in the TEDx talk "The first 20 hours" (Kaufman, 2013), it is important to remove barriers. So I always carry a pocket-sized Levenger notebook with exchangeable pages with me to note down the nuggets of the day. This also solidifies the ideas by using handwriting as recommended by Barbara. In the rare absence of that notebook, I usually have my phone with me. If I have nothing on hand, simply taking the time to think about it and take a mental note, such as creating an absurd composite image, as well as verbalizing it, will have to suffice.
I will take about half an hour each week to revisit my notes on these resources, by
- checking my learning nuggets from the day as well as how my plan for
the day worked out each evening before going to sleep
- writing and publishing a weekly blog post about the lessons of the
week on https://barelybuggy.blog
The weekly review may also include older book and video notes, revisiting my notes from starting the module in 2021, as well as checking my experiences against lessons from the course and applying course corrections. Monday or Saturday morning might be a good fit for this.
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Like everybody I started with cheap headphones, but grew a little collection and some stood out over time. I think I got the big soft red open Teufel headphones from a competition, and discovered they served me well for DJing, being able to hear the room through the music depending on the volume. For gaming I got the classic HyperX Cloud II Headset.
In my time in Berlin I stumbled upon headphones by Degauss Labs, soon ordered the Bluetooth Vice and later their flagship Twelve Drivers at a discount. Their modularity enticed me, and they served me well over the years. While the MMCX connector is not suitable for switching between different cables frequently, it does allow you to exchange just the cable when it is broken, keeping the expensive earpieces.
After the cheap Amazon bluetooth MMCX adapter broke, I bought the not-too-cheap DR-30 that I use most of the time now, and I am impressed: Because it is not true wireless, I can tuck the cable with the microphone under my clothes, shielding most of the noise and wind, even while biking through stormy Berlin or in a noisy car. The main noise people tend to complain about is rustling plastic or tap water.
All the while I also happened upon a set of the JBL E65BTNC, noise-cancelling bluetooth over-ear headphones that served as a welcome addition for longer listening on the go, sometimes even when running. Unfortunately they fell into the sea once and broke, so I have been considering getting another used pair or a more repairable variant like the Fairbuds XL or Shiftsound BNO. But for now, my other pairs supply me just fine. Just missing a pair of cable In-Ears for In-Ear-Monitoring on stage.
This semester, I will continue my Haskell journey that I started two years ago but had to put on hold due to other commitments. My goal by the semester's end is to develop an open-source comparison platform using the web framework IHP and gain a deep understanding of its generated code, enabling me to make modifications. To achieve this, I will apply various lessons I learned about effective learning.
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For years, starting with my studies in 2018, I have cultivated a rarely broken habit of reading every single evening. Even when I come back at 3 in the night, I read a few verses in the bible before going to sleep. On other days I go to bed at 21, and then read for 2 hours in three different books, an academic english one like "Thinking, Fast and Slow", a lighter one in my native tongue or some magazine and then some fiction before finally going to sleep. Thanks to this habit, I get through a few books each month.
I used to be one to always read books fully, but as my reading list grew I realized there are too many good books. So rather than bringing my books along on journeys, I now ask my host for recommendations whenever I stay somewhere as guest, because everybody has something interesting to read at home. This way I have picked up multiple great reads and learned to read fast: As the book is only available throughout the stay, I usually have no more than a few hours to distill the essence and evaluate whether to acquire the book for myself. So I read the cover texts, the table of contents and then either start at the beginning and see where I land, or scroll through the pages until something catches my eye.
Recently while cycling I listened to Adam Ragusea talking about never arriving in life and wondered once again about one common aspect for me: Not finding a proper task management solution and thus not getting back on top of the basics as I once were.
In the past I used Todoist, Notion and Taskwarrior before abandoning them again, and never managed to establish a working setup of org-agenda. As a team we tried Nextcloud and Vikunja, but did not follow through with either yet after originally having had a working Wekan setup,
However, I am realizing that the tools might not be at fault after all. Yes I have qualms with all of them, but will that ever not be the case?
My current pain point is quick entry. When I really use org-agenda, where do I throw an incoming task, especially in case I am on the phone? I remember a friend noting that as one of his remaining issues years ago as well.
Furthermore, I have no clear line between work and leisure, so I need my tasks from different duties integrated because I want to choose the fitting one for the current time and mindset rather than following a fixed schedule. Most importantly I need to be aware of important tasks to do when my brain is less alert, because the missing alertness also hampers my abilities to choose a proper task. This however seems better combatted by weekly plans, wherein I outline the commitments for the upcoming week.
So in the end it seems not the tool, but the routine are decisive. Unfortunately every routine I made so far got buried in life sooner or later, which is why I keep thinking about the concept of Antifragile Productivity: Harnessing disorder organically. But it seems this still needs some basic order: When I have a clean task list at hand, I can easily utilize unexpected situations like this night.
I grew up, as I suspect many Christians especially in Free Chuches do, with a fundamentalistic faith: The Bible as pure word of God, with every single word counting equally. If you see a conflict, you simply have not found the right resolution yet.
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In our efforts I have repeatedly seen a pattern where shiny new projects are tackled while stagnating ones are forgotten. This way we always feel productive but remain in an overall stagnation, where no project receives enough effort to truly succeed. Instead, many loose ends trail the path.
This also concerns cooperations and internships. By not taking time to delegate and follow-up on the appropriate level, people are annoyed and overwhelmed.
So let us set boundaries when tackling bigger projects. Optimal Failure refines SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) goals by more granularly breaking down Relevance and Timeframe.
With the goal already set, outline the optimum: Until which date could it be completed, and what would be the result, the benefit of it?
Then define the limit: What date is the latest acceptable for completion? What is the consequence if it does not work out, and which alternatives are available then?
This prevents silent overrun, makes failure explicit and enables you to handle and learn from it, as well as detecting shortcuts along the way. I am convinced these simple steps could have saved us plenty of conflicts and frustration.
I have not published posts in the last two weeks, despite having had quite a few queued up. The reason was a very unexpected data loss, robbing me a lot of energy and hours of time. Thankfully I was able to recover most of my work, and here is how.
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I tend to overthink life. I like to efficiently combine things I do yet I also like to be spontaneous. In hindsight this leads to odd behaviour like declining to meet with somebody I know and value only to then end up spending that time with somebody who had no lasting impact on my life so far.
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I don't know why, but usually when I disconnect an external monitor from my framework laptop running Manjaro Sway, the system crashes fully. The device stays on, but neither SysRq sequences nor tty switching works. Not even previously started shutdown timers act anymore. Only a hard reset makes it usable again. I suspect a relation to Wayland.
Thus there seem to be two ways around it, things to do before disconnecting to avoid the issue:
- Putting the system to sleep (
systemctl suspend)
- Switching to a tty session
This does not solve it, but at least saves me from rebooting my computer regularly until I can investigate a proper solution.