Neil Vass
@neil-vass.com
Helping software teams work well together
We keep trying to put this bird feeder somewhere squirrels can't get to it. Another failed attempt.
I wouldn't mind if squirrels just took a fair share, but they empty the whole thing every day! Apparently they hurt food and forget where 90% of it was so they need to stock up with loads.
I wouldn't mind if squirrels just took a fair share, but they empty the whole thing every day! Apparently they hurt food and forget where 90% of it was so they need to stock up with loads.
November 23, 2025 at 10:15 AM
We keep trying to put this bird feeder somewhere squirrels can't get to it. Another failed attempt.
I wouldn't mind if squirrels just took a fair share, but they empty the whole thing every day! Apparently they hurt food and forget where 90% of it was so they need to stock up with loads.
I wouldn't mind if squirrels just took a fair share, but they empty the whole thing every day! Apparently they hurt food and forget where 90% of it was so they need to stock up with loads.
Reminds me of this classic Kate Bush interview
(All I have is this saved screenshot someone sent me, the actual interview may or may not exist...)
(All I have is this saved screenshot someone sent me, the actual interview may or may not exist...)
November 18, 2025 at 6:21 PM
Reminds me of this classic Kate Bush interview
(All I have is this saved screenshot someone sent me, the actual interview may or may not exist...)
(All I have is this saved screenshot someone sent me, the actual interview may or may not exist...)
Pavement poetry in Manchester
November 15, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Pavement poetry in Manchester
Having a go at some old #AdventOfCode puzzles while I excitedly wait for this year's. One day I hope to collect all the stars!
Latest: My solution for 2015 day 24 part 1 got the right answer (yay!), but it took 10 seconds to run...
Latest: My solution for 2015 day 24 part 1 got the right answer (yay!), but it took 10 seconds to run...
November 12, 2025 at 6:10 PM
Having a go at some old #AdventOfCode puzzles while I excitedly wait for this year's. One day I hope to collect all the stars!
Latest: My solution for 2015 day 24 part 1 got the right answer (yay!), but it took 10 seconds to run...
Latest: My solution for 2015 day 24 part 1 got the right answer (yay!), but it took 10 seconds to run...
I've been baking! Incredibly impressed with this lot.
November 7, 2025 at 5:17 PM
I've been baking! Incredibly impressed with this lot.
November 5, 2025 at 8:13 PM
Search engines all seem to be getting worse - I moved from Google to DuckDuckGo but I'm still disappointed.
Here I'm looking for stories of comically large Rubik's cubes, but all its results are sales pitches for tiny or perfectly normal ones.
Here I'm looking for stories of comically large Rubik's cubes, but all its results are sales pitches for tiny or perfectly normal ones.
November 5, 2025 at 11:46 AM
Search engines all seem to be getting worse - I moved from Google to DuckDuckGo but I'm still disappointed.
Here I'm looking for stories of comically large Rubik's cubes, but all its results are sales pitches for tiny or perfectly normal ones.
Here I'm looking for stories of comically large Rubik's cubes, but all its results are sales pitches for tiny or perfectly normal ones.
Spotted a concealed @kevlin.bsky.social : this screen outside a multistory car park has "Device preview cp-c" at the top, and someone's covered the rest of it with tape.
October 17, 2025 at 4:59 PM
Spotted a concealed @kevlin.bsky.social : this screen outside a multistory car park has "Device preview cp-c" at the top, and someone's covered the rest of it with tape.
Looking for AWS learning resources, I'm very charmed by the "Cloud Quest" 3D game that's free from Amazon. I think the town appreciates the infrastructure I've been setting up for them, the mayor just built me my own island!
aws.amazon.com/training/dig...
aws.amazon.com/training/dig...
September 10, 2025 at 2:48 PM
Looking for AWS learning resources, I'm very charmed by the "Cloud Quest" 3D game that's free from Amazon. I think the town appreciates the infrastructure I've been setting up for them, the mayor just built me my own island!
aws.amazon.com/training/dig...
aws.amazon.com/training/dig...
I finished all of the Discworld novels! It was a multi-year journey, really enjoyed them all, now ready to listen to completely different books.
Just been surprised by this book's section on data replication and violating causality, using an example conversation between "Mr Poons" and "Mrs Cake".
Just been surprised by this book's section on data replication and violating causality, using an example conversation between "Mr Poons" and "Mrs Cake".
July 12, 2025 at 12:07 PM
I finished all of the Discworld novels! It was a multi-year journey, really enjoyed them all, now ready to listen to completely different books.
Just been surprised by this book's section on data replication and violating causality, using an example conversation between "Mr Poons" and "Mrs Cake".
Just been surprised by this book's section on data replication and violating causality, using an example conversation between "Mr Poons" and "Mrs Cake".
Fact checking for a blog post… is the Express Building in Manchester in the Northern Quarter, or Ancoats?
This check is made a bit more difficult by the council's city centre map page not having a map on it any more!
www.manchester.gov.uk/homepage/956...
This check is made a bit more difficult by the council's city centre map page not having a map on it any more!
www.manchester.gov.uk/homepage/956...
June 3, 2025 at 6:43 AM
Fact checking for a blog post… is the Express Building in Manchester in the Northern Quarter, or Ancoats?
This check is made a bit more difficult by the council's city centre map page not having a map on it any more!
www.manchester.gov.uk/homepage/956...
This check is made a bit more difficult by the council's city centre map page not having a map on it any more!
www.manchester.gov.uk/homepage/956...
April 18, 2025 at 8:53 PM
Weather's much worse today! It's OK.
April 18, 2025 at 7:07 PM
Weather's much worse today! It's OK.
Reasons I'm very slowly moving off my Wordpress blog, #144: reading an old post I found the aspect ratio on all images had gone wrong. This wasn’t happening last time I looked!
Editing, I see this message on every image. “Attempt recovery” button makes the problem go away… but what caused it?
Editing, I see this message on every image. “Attempt recovery” button makes the problem go away… but what caused it?
April 9, 2025 at 7:06 AM
Reasons I'm very slowly moving off my Wordpress blog, #144: reading an old post I found the aspect ratio on all images had gone wrong. This wasn’t happening last time I looked!
Editing, I see this message on every image. “Attempt recovery” button makes the problem go away… but what caused it?
Editing, I see this message on every image. “Attempt recovery” button makes the problem go away… but what caused it?
Barbecue breads! Using this river cottage recipe:
rivercottage.net/recipes/barb...
I took these pictures and then got distracted when they were actually cooked... all got eaten with no photo evidence. Delicious.
rivercottage.net/recipes/barb...
I took these pictures and then got distracted when they were actually cooked... all got eaten with no photo evidence. Delicious.
April 6, 2025 at 6:54 PM
Barbecue breads! Using this river cottage recipe:
rivercottage.net/recipes/barb...
I took these pictures and then got distracted when they were actually cooked... all got eaten with no photo evidence. Delicious.
rivercottage.net/recipes/barb...
I took these pictures and then got distracted when they were actually cooked... all got eaten with no photo evidence. Delicious.
Someone on our neighbourhood group was giving away an acoustic guitar because they never use it. I snapped it up!
Despite barely being able to play at all I now have a guitar collection 😄
It had a missing string so I've bought a new set. Remarkable list of famous guitarists who use these strings:
Despite barely being able to play at all I now have a guitar collection 😄
It had a missing string so I've bought a new set. Remarkable list of famous guitarists who use these strings:
March 23, 2025 at 7:49 PM
Someone on our neighbourhood group was giving away an acoustic guitar because they never use it. I snapped it up!
Despite barely being able to play at all I now have a guitar collection 😄
It had a missing string so I've bought a new set. Remarkable list of famous guitarists who use these strings:
Despite barely being able to play at all I now have a guitar collection 😄
It had a missing string so I've bought a new set. Remarkable list of famous guitarists who use these strings:
Updated VSCode and... wow how many times can you mention "copilot" in one message?
March 21, 2025 at 1:58 PM
Updated VSCode and... wow how many times can you mention "copilot" in one message?
I'll be speaking at LDX3 in June - it's 3 @leaddev.com events combined into one mega conference. Lineup looks amazing!
I have a 15% discount code you can use for tickets: NEIL15
leaddev.com/leaddev-london/
I have a 15% discount code you can use for tickets: NEIL15
leaddev.com/leaddev-london/
March 19, 2025 at 9:46 AM
I'll be speaking at LDX3 in June - it's 3 @leaddev.com events combined into one mega conference. Lineup looks amazing!
I have a 15% discount code you can use for tickets: NEIL15
leaddev.com/leaddev-london/
I have a 15% discount code you can use for tickets: NEIL15
leaddev.com/leaddev-london/
It took a lot of practice to get sourdough loaves to rise at all, all I made was flat biscuit loaves for quite a while. These precise measurements document the first time I started getting the hang of it - taller than 2 Lego figures!
March 10, 2025 at 9:04 PM
It took a lot of practice to get sourdough loaves to rise at all, all I made was flat biscuit loaves for quite a while. These precise measurements document the first time I started getting the hang of it - taller than 2 Lego figures!
Next batch: normal oven setting, but tried letting the dough rise and fall fewer times before shaping the loaves and leaving them to prove till they were very puffy. Worked wonderfully, loaves much bigger and airier than last week. Not sure the photo shows the full effect.
March 10, 2025 at 7:53 PM
Next batch: normal oven setting, but tried letting the dough rise and fall fewer times before shaping the loaves and leaving them to prove till they were very puffy. Worked wonderfully, loaves much bigger and airier than last week. Not sure the photo shows the full effect.
They've turned out very nicely! But this is about what I'd expect from the usual oven setting, don't think the new one did anything very fancy.
Experiments continue after we've finished eating this batch
Experiments continue after we've finished eating this batch
March 5, 2025 at 4:09 PM
They've turned out very nicely! But this is about what I'd expect from the usual oven setting, don't think the new one did anything very fancy.
Experiments continue after we've finished eating this batch
Experiments continue after we've finished eating this batch
Baking day! In my endless tinkering with ideas to get better results, today I've noticed my oven has a "moist fan baking" setting. How long has that been there?
Might be perfect for high heat without crusts hardening too soon, meaning big airy loaves. Stressfully watching to see what happens...
Might be perfect for high heat without crusts hardening too soon, meaning big airy loaves. Stressfully watching to see what happens...
March 5, 2025 at 3:28 PM
Baking day! In my endless tinkering with ideas to get better results, today I've noticed my oven has a "moist fan baking" setting. How long has that been there?
Might be perfect for high heat without crusts hardening too soon, meaning big airy loaves. Stressfully watching to see what happens...
Might be perfect for high heat without crusts hardening too soon, meaning big airy loaves. Stressfully watching to see what happens...
Next: Jit Gosai with Psychological Safety
February 12, 2025 at 7:57 PM
Next: Jit Gosai with Psychological Safety