January 2022

Running and reading, like every other month

I started the month with early morning walks, and with late winter sunrise, I managed to get some nice photos in Holyrood park. I’m still trying the Magnesium/Vitamin D/sunlight combo, and I think it has an effect.

I am finally going to get to run the postponed Edinburgh Marathon this year, so have started training. It was fun running with friends again, both with EH3 Milers, Edinbar Runners and ad-hoc so thanks to both Pete and Gordon for getting the running year off to a good start.

As well as the running I’ve also been on a couple of cycle rides with EH3 Miler folks. If you fancy joining for a weekend cycle in the next few months then please do give me a shout.

I co-organised the first EdinburghJS meetup in two years. The meetups, like many others, have been paused because of the pandemic. I think it is essential for the Edinburgh technology scene to have a JavaScript meetup: to share technical information, to find mentors, to become mentors, to discover interesting side projects and job opportunities.

Sadly the first meetup had to be live-streamed rather than in-person, but we’re back in Febuary with an audience, on the evening of the 17th at the Bayes Center.

I want to build the meetup as an inclusive space, not just for seasoned developers, but for beginners, dabblers and those working in adjacent technology spaces. The organising team is reaching out to group members over the next few months encouraging people to do “lightening talks” on work or side-projects. We hope this will be a good low-risk way of introducing new people to talk about their work. We will offer mentoring and support for first time speakers, and have been able to set aside a pot of money to help support those who would otherwise be unable to attend due to disability or poverty.

If you want to get involved, drop me a line on Twitter.

This month’s book reading consisted of:

The Anarchy, William Dalrymple looking at the East India Company and the British in India. I’m reading more about Empire, the cultural legacy, history and economics. I read Empireland by Sathnam Sanghera last year, and have Neil Ferguson’s Empire and Akala’s Empire and Class queued up on Kindle. (Twitter thread)
Bourgeois Virtues, Deirdre McClosky looking at the morals and ethics of capitalism / innovism and the effect of the honouring of the bourgois on the great enrichment of the past few hundred years. (Twitter thread)
Mrs Dalloway, Virginia Woolf in preparation for the Febuary Interintellect “Great Books” salon (January was Bertolt Brecht’s Mother Courage)
The Glasgow Effect, Ellie Harrison is from the artist who received £15k to not leave Glasgow city boundaries for a year, writing about how she doesn’t like neoliberalism. Not recomended (Twitter thread).

I’m coming to the end of a couple of work projects in Febuary, so will be open to new contracts in April. I likely have availability for 2-3 days per week organsing development work and commercialisation on software products, alongside React and NodeJs coding.