2023 started with a bang and January has been a pretty busy month for me.
Back in 2022 I applied for a visa to live and work in Brazil 🇧🇷. After some delays I'm pleased to announce my visa finally got approved 🥳. There's a deadline for me to present myself in the country with the appropriate paperwork so I've been rapidly scrambling to get ready. I'm a little anxious about the process, but fingers crossed everything will work out okay.
I drew up a huge list of things I need to complete before my departure on the 11th February and thankfully most of the things have now been crossed off.
In preparation I've been moving items into storage and selling (or donating) personal belongings before I leave. So far I've managed to sell my car, completely clear out all of books on my bookshelf, and sell a bunch of unused computing devices.
According to eBay I've sold 18 individual items in the last 30 days. Despite the postal strikes in the UK, much to my amazements all of them were delivered to buyers with zero issues. So I think I've used all my luck quota for 2023.
The process of having a giant clear out has been quite therapeutic, and feels like I'm effectively starting my life afresh. The experience really made me realize quite how much rubbish I'd accumulated over the years.
Amongst the pile of books was a 'Python for Dummies' I had as a teenager, which gave me a chuckle because now I'm paid to write Python.
📚 Books I Read This Month
Alongside selling books, I somehow managed to find the time to read this month. I managed to complete three books in total, which sets me well on target for my 2023 reading goals.
1. Contact - Carl Sagan
I really enjoyed this one, a page turner that captured my attention all the way through.
The book captures the work of the SETI Institute (Search for extraterrestrial intelligence), following a group scientists who monitor space for signs of life with telescopes.
2. Kleptopia: How Dirty Money is Conquering the World - Kleptopia: How Dirty Money is Conquering the World - Tom Burgis
I'll be honest this one felt like a bit of a chore to get through. There were numerous points where I nearly shelved it, but eventually I managed to power all the way through.
3. The Anthropocene Reviewed - John Green
Although I've read some of his previous books I'm think I'm more familiar with John from his YouTube endeavours than his literature.
I've been an on and off watcher of John (and his brother Hank) on YouTube for as long as I can remember. So it was nice to learn a bit more about someone who's been a stable of my YouTube subscription box for most of a decade.
Currently Reading
I'm currently reading the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, and I'm on Book 1 of the Fellowship of the Ring.
Some Articles I Enjoyed
State of the Windows: How many layers of UI inconsistencies are in Windows 11?
Every time I touch Windows I'm shocked by the number of UI inconsistencies and this article really drives that point home. Made me realize I really do take Linux and MacOS for granted sometimes.
This article/array lays out some arguments explaining why investing resources into travelling to Mars is most likely a bad idea.
I do think it's a bit absurd the billionaire class on this planet (Elon Musk/Jeff Bezos) are so desperately trying to escape to space/mars via privately funded space programs instead of using those resources to solve problems back home on earth.
Prediction: We won't see human being on the surface of Mars in my lifetime. Elon can barely run Twitter, so I hardly trust SpaceX to colonize another planet.
Classifying Python virtual environment workflows
A comprehensive overview of the madness that is Python packaging. Every time this topic comes up it's a tad depressing, because the landscape hasn't really improved, (and in some cases continues to fragment) in recent years.
But I do think efforts to document & describe all the different workflows like this are an important step to hopefully improving the situation. I am hopeful the situation will improve.
This one resonated with me, we all like to think of programmers as super objective, but in reality, when it comes to the tools we pick there's a lot of tribalism. Things aren't necessarily trendy because they're 'the best' (by some objective measure), sometimes tools or language just happen to be in the right time at the right place.
Python’s “Disappointing” Superpowers
A cracking article written in response to another article lamenting the lack of 'superpowers' in modern languages. This article shines a light on some major Python projects that do happen to make use of clever dynamic programming (you just might not notice). I'd encourage you to have a read of both.