Did 1,600 words of writing on the Flutter programming book and 2,500 words of editing on the novella about sentient raisins.

So not too shabby a day, I guess?

#AmWriting #Writing

I couldn't continue with the Vulture article on Gaiman. I've never been a Gaiman fan. Only work of his I've read is "Good Omens" and that was due to the collaboration with PTerry.

But he's a monster. And it surprises me still how well people hide their vileness.

#Reflections

Edited about 3200 words and wrote 2400 for my Flutter programming for kids book.

Unfortunately, I've written myself into a corner for this particular chapter. Now need to backtrack to figure a way around 😛

#amwriting #writing

So my current employer has joined the "let's get rid of the senior people and build our product on rookies and AI" bandwagon. Not laid off, but that looks like it's coming.

If any of you know someone who needs a senior software engineer with a strong background in apps security, knows OAuth/OIDC, and speaks Java and Python, HMU. #FediHire

I am looking for a new #iOS or #swift dev/engineer position. The only major sticking point is that it has to be remote-friendly. I bought a house less than a year ago and I can't move again so soon.

Happy to share work history and such with anyone who is interested. Also if anyone has an indie or personal project and needs some contract or even volunteer dev help I'd be happy to pitch in.

Edit: I am on the US East Coast (specifically Baltimore, MD) so a US time zone based position is preferred.

#FediHire

I seem to be out of my coding phase and into the drawing phase 🙂

While it isn't that good, this is based on a dream about a space yatch and a space yak ... but the yak is yet to be drawn 😛

But I really want to draw more and so this is good?

Incidentally, I learnt English mostly by reading. So for a long time I pronounced "yatch" as it's written (like "latch") in my head.

So maybe that's why in my dream it was funny to have a yatch meet a yak. But now, awake, it doesn't make as much sense to me 😛

#Art
A drawing of a space yatch trav…

Somebody remarked that if you say "e-mail" (with the hyphen) that it shows that "you aren't with the times".

While I don't think they aren't "with the times" (or the Daily Mirror or the Sunday Observer), people who end sentences with "lol" grate on me 😛

Apparently, it's a new norm, but it grates.

#Language #Trends

When I try to think of something to draw/paint, my mind goes totally blank 😛

So decided to take inspiration from something that Ira Marcks did in one of his videos and draw something similar. This is the result.

Guess I keep drawing till the wellsprings of the imagination open up?

#Art
A drawing of a yellow/orange sn…

I have these random people who contact me on Instagram saying, "I have the same name as you, can you give me your username and use another?"

My question is, if it's advice they offer, then why can't they use another username instead? 🙂

What's the magic in one user name over another?

#Reflections

A solar beach umbrella, a solar powered cooler — these are the kind of gadgets coming out of CES this year.

But with climate change issues on one hand and the AI apocalypse on the other, do people have time to go to the beach?

#Tech #Gadgets #Reflections

Hiring: We are looking for a Linux Support Specialist to join our growing team support team. This position will focus on Linux support efforts across all relevant social surfaces where Framework has a presence. https://jobs.lever.co/framework/1e7b0169-520e-4207-bafc-b454cec10809

Hey: Can I get #fedihired maybe?

Best fit with my 19 years of experience would be building and managing software teams, or writing code myself. I'm full-stack, but I have more fun with backend + database work.

Preferences:
* Org size <=200 people
* 100% remote work (otherwise, PDX)
* Org is not currently ditching DEI work
* Org is engaged in doing something that will buy the Earth some extra runtime...
* ...or at least trying very hard not to shorten it

Boosts = <3

https://www.linkedin.com/in/hornkatie/

To add to the #Language posts ...

In Malay (or Bhasa Melayu), cake is "kek" and cheese is "keju". So cream cheese is "krim keju" and cheese cake is kek keju.

And of course, cottage cheese is "keju kotej" and blue cheese is "keju biru". Note the similarity between biru/blue ... same root? No idea.

And sure, the etymology here for the cream and cottage words probably was just Malayisation (not a word) of the English words. I didn't do the research to see if that was the case.

But "biru" is the Malay word for blue and that seems to have come from either Javanese, or Proto-Malayo-Polynesian. So not just taking the English word.

And on the other hand, the English "blue" apparently is of Germanic origin meaning shimmering/lustrous. But where did the Germanic word come from?

Do you know an artist??

I’m looking for someone to draw me a new profile picture, and i would prefer to pay a real artist instead of some shady corporation or AI

So if you know someone to suggest who takes commission, share this post with them!

Any #boost appreciated!

#artist #profilepicture

LinkedIn continues to be a wretched hole for finding work. Thought I'd give it another go here:

I'm a technical writer and software developer based in Berlin. I'm looking for work as a writer or developer with a company that has a legal presence in Germany (for my visa). Remote is more than fine.

I have experience writing Java professionally. I've done training in Go, Rust, and Typescript along with frontend frameworks like React, Vue, and Astro. I'll learn whatever I'm given to learn, really.

The painting and the words came to me in a dream 🙂 I think this is the beginning to a novel that's been in the back of my mind.

--

It was the night they came for us.

The flame hair trees wafted gently in the non-existent breeze, perfectly framing Mount Coinjar like a criminal mastermind in peak-Machiavelli mode. I could almost feel the bramble bugs, their tiny pinprick eyes peering out of their black blob bodies, waiting, waiting, waiting for an unwary target to come by.

#Writing #Dreams
A digital painting based on the…

Following on from yesterday's thread on parallel language, something interesting I learnt while learning Malay was that their word for cheese is "keju".

This might not mean much to to a lot of people, but Sinhalese speakers will recognize it since it's the same word in Sinahala 🙂

The etymology here was a bit clearer though. I was certain that this was from Portuguese "queijo" (Spanish queso) since Sinhalese has a bunch of borrowed words from Portuguese.

I didn't know that the Portuguese got to that region though. I knew the Dutch did since Batavia was held by them (I remember because of a "Phantom" comic 😛) but apparently the Portuguese were there before the Dutch moved in.

Interesting how language moves and flows, right?

It's even more interesting when you consider that the Spanish "queso" comes from Latin and the root word for the Latin term was probably a Proto-Indo-European word meaning "to ferment".

So the word went all the way (possibly) from India to Europe and then came back to East Asia and Sri Lanka 😛

#Language

Just had this conversation with my wife.

Me: It's .. not enforce but ...

Her: Influence?

Me: Yes, that's the one! They are a cult like that other one, you know the one which is supposed to control everything?

Her: The illuminati?

Me: Yes!

I think I've lost my words and now have to stop being a writer 😛

#Words #Memory #GettingOld

So, this year I inherited the Polymath Reading Challenge from its creator. 📚

It is a yearly 12-book nonfiction reading challenge. You read books of your choice for 12 categories, and post your reviews of them. I have had immense fun finding books for topics I otherwise wouldn't read.

Would people want to join in if I also ran it on Mastodon?

#PolymathReadingChallenge #Reading #books #bookstodon #ReadingChallenge #nonfiction

I am fascinated by how languages evolve parallel terms.

For example, Tamil and Malayalam both have the term "adikkiratha"/"adikkiya" which literally means "Do you hit" but coloquially means "Do you drink"?

(Parallel to take a hit/swig maybe?")

In Sinhalese you have "gahanwada"? Which also means "Will you hit?" and is coloquially used to mean "Do you drink?"

Now did these two uses evolve parallely? Or did Sinhalese borrow the term from a neighbouring language?

Or was it something else?

I'm curious and wish I knew how to answer the question 🙂

#Language