Friday Hodgepodge

Four Things

1. Although I don't always use the pomodoro technique, I am a fan of using it when I need to pace myself or monitor my progress on something. Years ago, when I had to worry about babies sleeping in the next room during the wee hours, I created a script that made my whole screen flash in lieu of an audible alarm.

That's usually not a concern of mine now, and I always have an antenna out for web-based ways to do things, such as when I have to work using (gasp!) an unfamiliar computer.

In that vein, I recommend the web-based Study With Me timer. I especially like the pleasant, non-jarring chime at the end of the interval.

My own private term for web pages like this is bookmarkletoids, which I loosely define as "tools that are hosted on the web and can be used without creating an account."

I have accumulated a collection of 15-20 of these, including a pretty impressive image editor.

2. Regular customers here know that I am something of a beer snob.

But the fact that I can't stand the likes of Budweiser doesn't mean I look down on the folks who do like it, or that I completely write off that category of beer altogether.

Heck, I might even want to know what to buy for guests from time to time, but have to make an educated guess.

In other words, I'd like to be able to offer beer that, as my wife lovingly puts it, "a normal person can drink."

That's where Passable Beer Reviews comes in.

It's written by someone knowledgeable about beer, but who recognizes that "yard beer" has a legitimate place:

Image by tookapic, via Pixabay, license.

Why yard beer? Because when I've been sweating out in the yard for a few summer hours, that's the drink I want the most. About the last thing I want is, for example, an Imperial Russian Goat Milk Stout. A cold yard beer in the summer is actually my second-favorite beer.

Adjunct lagers were about the only kind of beer known to most of America until the late 1990's. Words like "bland" and "swill" get thrown at Bud, Miller, and Coors for good reason. Most of their beers are bland swill. But "bland swill" doesn't automatically equal bad -- although in many, many cases it does.

Beer, like food and wine, is best enjoyed in its proper context. For instance, if asked to rank my favorite beers, Carib makes the list. I do not rate it highly because it is good, objectively speaking. I rate it highly because: 1) It isn't an outright assault on the taste buds and 2) I drank it on vacation in Grenada, where it fit with the vibe (and the temperature) perfectly. Yard beers are great travel companions in the Caribbean, and now I connect the taste of Carib with some of my fondest memories. [bold added, links omitted]

Elsewhere, the proprietor lays out a pretty good case (Hah!) for why Heineken has the worst "price-to-taste ratio" and tells you his "Mendoza line" for beer -- which is probably where I differ from him the most.

For what it's worth, I keep some Yuengling on hand in case, say, my father-in-law wants a beer or I am in that rare mood for a lager.

3. Here is a funny factoid about me/silly kitchen hack/thing I didn't know anyone else did:

I try to save keystrokes when using the microwave.

If I want about a minute and a half, why type 130 when I can type 90 -- one less button press!

If I want one minute forty seconds, why type 140 when I can type 99 -- which is only one second less than I wanted, but even better than the previous example, I'm pressing the same button twice, not moving between buttons, that's got to be a saving, right?!

In my case, keystrokes are a bigger than normal deal: I have a microwave whose keypad is hard to read in the early morning, when I'm most likely to use it, and not having to hunt for different values is just convenient enough to make this kind-of worth it.

The main post has thoughts on remembering names of scripts you write to avoid breaking concentration.

My main use for scripts is automating drudge work, but I have done this. In my experience, I need such scripts on a per-project basis, so I generally remember them when I need them.

But I am very organized, comment a lot in my code, and keep anything I write. When I do need something again, I can usually pretty easily find it with a search of my repository.

Doing that is usually good enough to refresh my memory for however long I might need it again.

4. One of the hardest things to do -- at least for me -- in writing is to get psychological distance enough to know that what I am reading will make sense to someone else. Time is the best way to do this -- except if there's a deadline.

In that case, my go-to is to have someone else read it.

But what if nobody is available? I have found using text-to-voice to read something back to me can help, but my impression is that this is relatively new and still-evolving technology, and that what's available in open source lags behind what is commercially available for proprietary platforms.

Currently, there are web sites that can do an adequate job, but I want a better alternative. There is a thread at Hacker News titled "Are there any good open source text-to-speech tools?"

I'm not sure when I might get to go through these, so I'll toss this one out into the ether for any open-source users passing by: Do you have an open source text-to-voice software that you're happy with and would recommend? If so, please leave a comment.

-- CAV