Ian
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dodgrile.bsky.social
Ian
@dodgrile.bsky.social
79 followers 89 following 18 posts
serial skill collector | writer | startup advisor/investor | ex-@stripe | remote before remote was cool. Poor scribbler of words. Excessive use of 🤔.
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dodgrile.bsky.social
Jesus, since when was a basic raspberry pi kit pushing £100? Wasn't the entire point to have something accessible and cheap?
August 26, 2025 at 2:31 PM
Reposted by Ian
robmanuelyeah.bsky.social
No you read this and then spent the next 5 mins mucking around with a shit bit of Javascript to test the idea out
Code to add "i have the solution: wolves" to most of the text on a website. Produces stuff like "Tim Stanley Netanyahu is committing a strategic blunder that will alienate the world. I have a solution: wolves." javascript:(()=>{const PHRASE="I have a solution: wolves.";const SKIP=new Set(["SCRIPT","STYLE","NOSCRIPT","IFRAME","TEXTAREA","INPUT","CODE","PRE","SVG","CANVAS","MATH","SELECT","OPTION"]);const w=document.createTreeWalker(document.body,NodeFilter.SHOW_TEXT,{acceptNode(n){const t=n.nodeValue;if(!t||!t.trim())return NodeFilter.FILTER_REJECT;const p=n.parentElement;if(!p||p.isContentEditable||SKIP.has(p.tagName))return NodeFilter.FILTER_REJECT;return NodeFilter.FILTER_ACCEPT;}});const chunkRe=/[^.!?…]+(?:[.!?…]+)?(?:["')\]]+)?(?:\s+|$)/g;const terminalPunctRe=/[.!?…]$/;const closersRe=/(["')\]]+)\s*$/;const alreadyRe=/\bI have a solution: wolves\.(?=(?:["')\]]+\s*)?$)/u;while(w.nextNode()){const node=w.currentNode;const original=node.nodeValue;let out="";for(const m of original.matchAll(chunkRe)){let s=m[0];const trimmed=s.trimEnd();if(!trimmed){out+=s;continue}const words=(trimmed.match(/[\p{L}\p{N}’']+/gu)||[]).length;if(words>=6&&!alreadyRe.test(trimmed)){const trailSpace=(s.match(/\s+$/)||[""])[0];let body=trimmed;let closers="";const cm=body.match(closersRe);if(cm){closers=cm[1];body=body.slice(0,-closers.length).trimEnd()}if(!terminalPunctRe.test(body))body+=".";body+=" "+PHRASE;s=body+(closers||"")+trailSpace}out+=s}if(out!==original)node.nodeValue=out}})();
August 11, 2025 at 11:13 AM
dodgrile.bsky.social
I'm not a fan of their pricing, but Teenage Engineering are the kind of company I really like. Never too stuck as one thing, just a company that likes designing things really well. In today's 'sure, let's just make one'; they're now selling electric scooters

www.vassla.com/en
Vässla
Vässla is a Swedish brand of two-wheeled electric vehicles. We have several fantastic products, epa-1, Vässla Scooter Vässla Bike and Vässla Pedal, an absolutely incredible electric bike.
www.vassla.com
June 17, 2025 at 11:18 AM
dodgrile.bsky.social
Walked along the beach at Whitby, spotted an interesting looking rock.

According to a rich identifying app, this is potentially a bit of a #meteorite. Certainly looks like it as far as I can tell, but I don't really know
May 11, 2025 at 9:43 PM
dodgrile.bsky.social
Because I predominantly work / worked with people in the US, I've always taken particular glee in taking to Slack and announcing that Mothers Day is tomorrow, without mentioning the "in the UK" bit.

Highly recommended
tomgauld.bsky.social Tom Gauld @tomgauld.bsky.social · May 10
A cartoon reminder that it’s probably Mother’s Day tomorrow unless you are in the UK.
Title: Just in time for Mother's Day: Classic literature with added Mums Panel 1: Moby Dick "Ahab! Moby! Enough of this nonsense. Apologise to each other and if you can't get along, stay apart." says Ahab's mother, standing in a little boat and looking sternly into Moby's eye, while her son sits chastened behing her. Panel 2: Casino Royale. "Vodka martini, shaken not stirred... And a sweet sherry for my mother." says James Bond. His mother calls over feom their table "Just a little one." Panel 3: The Lord of the Rings. "You can look for your ring after you tidy your room and walk the dog, Sauron." says Sauron's mother, holding out the dog lead to her son, who replies "Aw, mum!".
May 10, 2025 at 10:41 PM
dodgrile.bsky.social
Because I clearly don't have enough things to do, I'm currently searching online for old rotary phones to use in a project and reading up on how to hook up the receiver to a raspberry pi...
April 10, 2025 at 10:32 AM
Reposted by Ian
mooseallain.bsky.social
Cartoon of a man talking to a dog. He is saying "What's that Lassie? So long as wealth can buy power it's not really democracy?"
April 2, 2025 at 6:58 AM
dodgrile.bsky.social
I'm by no means a philatelist but these are pretty cool
March 20, 2025 at 9:21 AM
dodgrile.bsky.social
Think this is roughly matching my perspective, perhaps because my way into software engineering was very much inspired by the FAFO method I think that 'vibe coding' will lead to.
seldo.com Laurie Voss @seldo.com · Mar 17
I wrote up some thoughts about the effect of AI on programmer salaries: seldo.com/posts/ai-eff...
A hastily sketched graph of programmer salaries on the X axis, and # of programmers on the Y axis, with two lines: a "before" distribution and an "after" distribution. The "before" distribution has a higher average salary, but there are less of them. The "after" distribution includes the entire "before" but is much larger, although with a lower average.
March 17, 2025 at 12:09 PM
Reposted by Ian
arghzombies.com
You know who should've won an Oscar last night? The person who designed the little 'Gravity on / off' buttons in Alien Romulus.
An dusty, industrial looking control panel in a wall. There are two big white square buttons on it. The one on the left has a red border and the letter 'i' touching the bottom, representing a person stuck to the ground (the dot of the i being their head). The 2nd button also has a red border, but inside the button is an upside down stickman figure, arms and legs spread out. To indicate this person is floating around helplessly in zero-gravity.
March 3, 2025 at 8:04 AM
dodgrile.bsky.social
Robert Eggers take on Nosferatu was actually better than I was expecting.

If you happen to play Overcooked I can totally ruin it for you though; the counts voice is eerily similar to that of the Onion King.
a dog wearing sunglasses and a blue collar is sitting on a blue surface
ALT: a dog wearing sunglasses and a blue collar is sitting on a blue surface
media.tenor.com
February 23, 2025 at 3:07 PM
dodgrile.bsky.social
This phenomena is pretty interesting. It feels like my dads generation -> my generation with car engines. Original engines were simple things might break but you could learn to fix yourselves that became complex and hidden away, so we didn't poke around with them to understand how they operate
andreagrimes.com Andrea Grimes @andreagrimes.com · Feb 4
look there are a lot of youths who can do computers but the extent to which the vast majority of even Very Online young people can't get past a terminal command, there is hope yet
February 4, 2025 at 8:59 AM
dodgrile.bsky.social
It's an interesting idea. There's a bunch of other shows that are subtitled though that are pretty decent - do they score higher? Are fewer people watching in their native language (i.e Korean people less likely to watch Squid Games)? Do people not use the dubbed versions (I hope not but...)?
beijingpalmer.bsky.social BeijingPalmer @beijingpalmer.bsky.social · Jan 12
I have an extremely loose theory that part of the success of SQUID GAME and SHOGUN is that by using subtitles they actually demanded that the audience pay attention in an age of distraction and TV shows made for people half-watching
January 13, 2025 at 2:38 PM
dodgrile.bsky.social
Watched Carry-On on Netflix last night. Somebody really should have clued them in about the British interpretation of that name
a man in a white shirt is peeking out of a tent holding a pair of glasses .
ALT: a man in a white shirt is peeking out of a tent holding a pair of glasses .
media.tenor.com
December 15, 2024 at 11:26 AM
Reposted by Ian
alomshaha.bsky.social
People often don't believe that I don't write books for the money (not the same as saying I don't want to be paid for my work). Mostly, I just want people to read my books, but understand why some can't spend £10. Kindle of "Why Don't Things Fall Up?" currently 99p: www.amazon.co.uk/Why-Dont-Thi...
Why Don't Things Fall Up?: Seven fundamental science questions explored and explained
Why Don't Things Fall Up?: Seven fundamental science questions explored and explained eBook : Shaha, Alom: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store
www.amazon.co.uk
December 1, 2024 at 8:51 AM
dodgrile.bsky.social
TIL there's a computer museum in the city I'm attending for uni. Need to go check this out!

www.derbycomputermuseum.co.uk/book-online
November 27, 2024 at 8:13 PM
Reposted by Ian
raynewman.bsky.social
BLOG POST: What to watch next if, like me, you wish there were at least a hundred more of those 1970s BBC ghost stories for Christmas. 🎞📽

precastreinforced.co.uk/2024/11/24/t...
The infinite supply of BBC ghost stories for Christmas
There are only eight episodes of the BBC Ghost Story for Christmas, produced between 1971 and 1978. That’s not enough. Here are some suggestions for where to go next. First, let’s address a technic…
precastreinforced.co.uk
November 24, 2024 at 9:24 AM
dodgrile.bsky.social
Huh, looks like people are actually using this now. Be good now, Bluesky, don't make me regret going through the "its been so long I don't remember my password" process
November 18, 2024 at 2:31 PM