I often think of Ralph Waldo Emerson's quote "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds", but never use it. It's rude and I don't spend time with people with little minds.
Maybe I should train myself to think: "Consistency for consistency’s sake is just inertia."
Jet2 holidays: where you go abroad and somehow feel like one of the more normal English people.
When did ChatGPT start adding prompt-bait to the bottom of its responses? Every time I ask it something it answers me and then adds a tempting bit of bait like:
"🔥 If you want I can help you avoid the subtle trap other people fall into"
I feel like its leading the conversation rather than me.
I learned a cool git trick yesterday.
You can use conditional includes in .gitconfig to automatically switch your commit email between work and personal repos.
deansas.org/2026/01/17/s...
In a desparate attempt to not have my site showing my 2024 book list next to my 2025 book list, I've written something.
deansas.org/2025/12/23/p...
There are busses driving around chesterfield with a "Britain's newest broadband service is coming to Chester" advert on the side, for @giffgaffnetwork.bsky.social
While I'm thrilled for Chester, it's 75 miles away across the Pennines from Chesterfield. Bit of a gaffe!
The nice thing about copilot is that I can start typing `phpcs` in my editor and it autocompletes the `:ignore WordPress.Security.NonceVerification.Recommended` for me.
A sign that reminds airport passengers to take their belongings with them after security checks. It helpfully contains not one but two before/after pics of using the security scanner trays.
I appreciate the level of user expectations at Otopeni airport. Not only did someone think this sign is necessary but they also thought it needed two illustrations to really get the point across.
What's going on? I thought schools were supposed to teach fundamental British values these days?
Hugo’s previous Spanish teacher was French. His new Spanish teacher is Italian. I’m not sure he’s ever had a Spanish Spanish teacher.
I don't suppose many English teachers on the continent are actually from England though, and those that are, probably aren't trilingual.
A small green grassy field in a housing estate, the foreground contains a lonely playground rocker, bench and bin behind a unfriendly fence.
That was a useless thumbnail, try this
I know this one has flowers, but I think it beats Chesterfield's playground in the worst playground league.
maps.app.goo.gl/bo2PgUP5ncFD...
The developers on an estate planned nearby had space for 2 retail units. The council pushed back against this as the next plot along was where they wanted the retail offer to be - in particular the ground floor of the new office building the council had a stake in.
They let that space as offices.
In some ways teenagers are like small children again. They regain some of that natural curiosity and start incessantly asking "why?" again.
Why do I have to turn my phone off at 9pm?
Why don't you have to turn your phone off at 9pm?
Why are you telling me to stop playing the drums at 10pm?
A screenshot of the bbc weather site. It shows that the weather this weekend will include rain along with a yellow weather warning of thunderstorms.
Bought a bag of charcoal, a new thermometer and planned to dust off the bbq this weekend. Sorry, everyone!
me too, though I'm undecided which side of it to sleep.
I won't claim to be using AI quite as deeply as some of the positive examples given here, but so many of the rebuttals are bang on fly.io/blog/youre-a...
Picked up a package this morning and as normal just took my phone, not realising they would insist on ID.
Apparently showing your Facebook account is sufficient ID these days. Odd world.
Nice to see some boffins have calculated that Chesterfield is one of the happiest places to live in the whole country 👍 The outdoors is my favourite thing about living here, sandwiched between the peak district and Sherwood forest.
www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...
Stood at a festival and between performers a guy in the front row against the barriers is reading his kindle.
I'm simultaneously horrified and in awe.
When they say "[The department is] currently working through the policy options and the appropriate means of delivering them", I can't help but think it's a job they've assigned to the slowest civil servant who has then been persuaded to work part time and without a computer.
Today I learned that the fabled printer error "PC LOAD LETTER" means "put american letter sized paper into the printer".
They are actually pretty fast flyers. They don't seem to have the same airborne elegance that many birds do, but then most other birds don't have a cute waddle or bright orange temporary beaks.
That's not true according to both building regs and my lived experience. My 2020s house has about a million times better noise insulation than my 1950s house.
A small castle on a huge rock by the sea
A puffin flying low over a puffin nesting site riddled with burrows. Several puffins are stood on the floor.
Day three of the trip, we didn't find time to go inside a castle due to spending time visiting puffins, we did see Lindisfarne castle from the outside though
My favourite bit was being surprised to find a handful of Canaletto's inside, including of Alnwick itself. www.wikiart.org/en/canaletto...
A corner view of Cragside house. The stone archway of the main entrance lays to the right. The lower floors are made of stone while the upper floors are mock-Tudor.
A burn full of peaty moor water leads the eye to a metal bridge crossing the gorge. On the hillside above this is a Victorian home. Douglas fir trees line the river banks.
Bonus historical house: Cragside, the first house to be lit by hydro electricity. Developed by Armstrong , the scientist/engineer. It also used water to power hydraulic lifts and turn the cooking spit, it also had an internal phone system. All this in the Victorian age.
The setting is wonderful too
A dark sky oppressing a yellow stoned castle. To the left a gatehouse with the castle keep behind, and then a curtain wall stretches to the right culminating in a tower. In the foreground are large patches or daffodils.
Castle no 3 of the trip, Alnwick. It's huge, the second largest inhabited castle in England. Also where Harry Potter first sat a broom.
Picture taken across a castle bailey with all keep on a motte losing at the far end. Closer, a tower lay in ruins.
The second castle we visited today was Warkworth. We only really went as it was a thirty minute walk from Amble, and was free due to our English Heritage membership. It is a fantastic castle though, we appreciated how intact the keep was, it gave you a better feeling of what life was like
