Alex
@blangry.bsky.social
Generalist civic technologist (& final year DPhil). Norwich with a cargo bike. Greyhound pictures extra.
Reposted by Alex
I am absolutely not reading that "stakeholder state" article everyone is getting salty about, but I will observe that most of the hand-wringing exculpation I hear from failing product managers boils down to looking inward at the org and concluding "it would have worked if I'd had more power".
January 2, 2026 at 10:10 AM
I am absolutely not reading that "stakeholder state" article everyone is getting salty about, but I will observe that most of the hand-wringing exculpation I hear from failing product managers boils down to looking inward at the org and concluding "it would have worked if I'd had more power".
Hasn't been an immensely easy season, didn't end up taking many pictures. Just a few from the last few days.
January 1, 2026 at 9:47 PM
Hasn't been an immensely easy season, didn't end up taking many pictures. Just a few from the last few days.
Last sunset of the year over the hill and trees.
December 31, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Last sunset of the year over the hill and trees.
Anecdata, but talking to another school dad, he got sent to a&e by his GP for 5 days of hiccups. Sometimes it feels like the issue can be that any sort of acute further investigation starts at a&e as it is the universal front door (compared to when there also used to be a "medial admissions unit").
December 31, 2025 at 11:51 AM
Anecdata, but talking to another school dad, he got sent to a&e by his GP for 5 days of hiccups. Sometimes it feels like the issue can be that any sort of acute further investigation starts at a&e as it is the universal front door (compared to when there also used to be a "medial admissions unit").
This is also my experience of architecture. It's trouble from a product perspective: if what your team can do to build something valuable is artificially constrained by a separate team who don't have any skin in the game, then it just sets up pointless and boring conflict.
“You want your structural engineers to be drawing, not laying bricks, after all. I don’t know if structural engineering works like this, but software engineering doesn’t. In practice, architecture advice often has to be ignored by the people on the ground.”
www.seangoedecke.com/you-cant-des...
www.seangoedecke.com/you-cant-des...
You can't design software you don't work on
--
www.seangoedecke.com
December 30, 2025 at 12:59 PM
This is also my experience of architecture. It's trouble from a product perspective: if what your team can do to build something valuable is artificially constrained by a separate team who don't have any skin in the game, then it just sets up pointless and boring conflict.
Love being punched and kicked because the bracelet plaiting didn't look like the picture on the box.
December 30, 2025 at 12:22 PM
Love being punched and kicked because the bracelet plaiting didn't look like the picture on the box.
I'm sometimes surprised that ferries haven't made more of a comeback. Or that there isn't a night ferry doing London - Amsterdam or similar.
December 29, 2025 at 9:24 PM
I'm sometimes surprised that ferries haven't made more of a comeback. Or that there isn't a night ferry doing London - Amsterdam or similar.
Reposted by Alex
Much like Labour, the BBC has burned its natural supporters to chase the populist right, who inevitably continue to despise it
The BBC tells the story of Britain in a way Netflix simply cannot. In the year to come, please remember that | Tony Hall
The BBC tells the story of Britain in a way Netflix simply cannot. In the year to come, please remember that | Tony Hall
I love many shows on the streaming channels, but the BBC is our storyteller. It defines a nation and its culture – and we must defend it, says former BBC director general Tony Hall
www.theguardian.com
December 29, 2025 at 10:09 AM
Much like Labour, the BBC has burned its natural supporters to chase the populist right, who inevitably continue to despise it
Reposted by Alex
Yer modern websites look like one of those new-build estates they throw up next to dual carriageways. Monotonous, bland and boring
December 28, 2025 at 7:19 PM
Yer modern websites look like one of those new-build estates they throw up next to dual carriageways. Monotonous, bland and boring
Reposted by Alex
Handy guide to the British Aristocracy from GDH Cole’s The Simple Case for Socialism 1936. Particularly like the fact that both ‘Poor Relations’ and ‘Company Directors’ appear to be ejected from the charmed spiral.
December 28, 2025 at 9:33 AM
Handy guide to the British Aristocracy from GDH Cole’s The Simple Case for Socialism 1936. Particularly like the fact that both ‘Poor Relations’ and ‘Company Directors’ appear to be ejected from the charmed spiral.
Reposted by Alex
Reposted by Alex
Happy Boxing Day, everyone!
December 26, 2025 at 9:39 AM
Happy Boxing Day, everyone!
The Christmas mug is almost dead.
December 25, 2025 at 8:08 AM
The Christmas mug is almost dead.
About to suggest to mine that Santa would probably like some calvados this evening.
Currently drinking Santa's whisky. Thankfully, Santa likes the good stuff... a ten year old single malt matured in mezcal, bourbon and oloroso casks.
December 24, 2025 at 8:10 PM
About to suggest to mine that Santa would probably like some calvados this evening.
Reposted by Alex
Searched back through Blue Sky for this.
Which is one of the best things I saw all year in any medium.
Which is one of the best things I saw all year in any medium.
This is one of the most beautiful things I have witnessed, the craft here is impeccable.
December 24, 2025 at 6:21 PM
Searched back through Blue Sky for this.
Which is one of the best things I saw all year in any medium.
Which is one of the best things I saw all year in any medium.
My dad (a former director of IT and Fortran programmer) has described and brought with him an Outlook problem he's already spent 3 hours on the phone with Microsoft about. He is not taking "Outlook will not fix this, use Thunderbird instead" well.
Along with #duvetknowitschrismas, time for a new yearly tradition:
#ITschristmas, where we share IT support horror stories from helping family over Christmas.
Here's mine to start:
#ITschristmas, where we share IT support horror stories from helping family over Christmas.
Here's mine to start:
Time between walking through my relatives door and fixing a tech issue that has been "driving them mad": 8 minutes.
The TV was in demo mode. It has been in demo mode for several months.
The TV was in demo mode. It has been in demo mode for several months.
December 24, 2025 at 6:47 PM
My dad (a former director of IT and Fortran programmer) has described and brought with him an Outlook problem he's already spent 3 hours on the phone with Microsoft about. He is not taking "Outlook will not fix this, use Thunderbird instead" well.
Reposted by Alex
What a flood of messages to wake up to.
It's not the dumbest idea I've ever seen, and it's not a battleship, but there's definitely a few people in NAVSEA crying over those renders.
Naming it the Trump class is everything I expected and less. But, I'll believe it when they build it.
It's not the dumbest idea I've ever seen, and it's not a battleship, but there's definitely a few people in NAVSEA crying over those renders.
Naming it the Trump class is everything I expected and less. But, I'll believe it when they build it.
December 23, 2025 at 7:35 AM
What a flood of messages to wake up to.
It's not the dumbest idea I've ever seen, and it's not a battleship, but there's definitely a few people in NAVSEA crying over those renders.
Naming it the Trump class is everything I expected and less. But, I'll believe it when they build it.
It's not the dumbest idea I've ever seen, and it's not a battleship, but there's definitely a few people in NAVSEA crying over those renders.
Naming it the Trump class is everything I expected and less. But, I'll believe it when they build it.
Reposted by Alex
This year, Grok was reprogrammed to say Elon Musk is better than everyone at everything, including blowjobs, piss drinking, playing quarterback, conquering Europe, etc.
Elon Musk Could 'Drink Piss Better Than Any Human in History,' Grok Says
Grok has been reprogrammed to say Musk is better than everyone at everything, including blowjobs, piss drinking, playing quarterback, conquering Europe, etc.
www.404media.co
December 22, 2025 at 5:57 PM
This year, Grok was reprogrammed to say Elon Musk is better than everyone at everything, including blowjobs, piss drinking, playing quarterback, conquering Europe, etc.
Extremely strong memories of listening to this walking down Deptford High Street in 2006 balanced with seeing the passage of time emphasising how much the past is a foreign country. www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLUs...
The Beta Band - Dry The Rain (Live on KEXP)
YouTube video by KEXP
www.youtube.com
December 21, 2025 at 9:49 PM
Extremely strong memories of listening to this walking down Deptford High Street in 2006 balanced with seeing the passage of time emphasising how much the past is a foreign country. www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLUs...
Reposted by Alex
Reposted by Alex
Plea to stop using prehistoric monuments & peoples as a sub for present-day national identities. Past peoples are not ‘ancestors’, they had no idea of the concept of a nation-state & this archipelago has seen a lot of traffic since the last ice age
December 21, 2025 at 9:30 AM
Plea to stop using prehistoric monuments & peoples as a sub for present-day national identities. Past peoples are not ‘ancestors’, they had no idea of the concept of a nation-state & this archipelago has seen a lot of traffic since the last ice age
Foggy day out by the river today.
December 20, 2025 at 5:04 PM
Foggy day out by the river today.
I love reading this list every year, because a) it usually tracks with what I've seen that I thought was incredible b) it always drives me (unjustifiably?) up the wall that there are all of these locked-away academic/art essays that you're just not allowed to see. www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-so...
The best video essays of 2025
Now in its ninth year, our annual poll showcases 255 vital video essays, nominated by 72 international voters.
www.bfi.org.uk
December 19, 2025 at 8:35 PM
I love reading this list every year, because a) it usually tracks with what I've seen that I thought was incredible b) it always drives me (unjustifiably?) up the wall that there are all of these locked-away academic/art essays that you're just not allowed to see. www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-so...
Reposted by Alex
These are the people the mainstream media is constantly telling us to understand and sympathize with.
December 19, 2025 at 6:10 PM
These are the people the mainstream media is constantly telling us to understand and sympathize with.