Thran
pages
Articles by Thran
The website owner. See about me if you would like to know more. Email: letters@ <THIS_DOMAIN> .uk.
These habits in modern spoken English need to go. Unless you're an American; it's too late to fix your language. For the rest of us there may still be hope.
An attempt to retrieve my bank balance did not go to plan.
This film is much more moving than you might expect, so here is an examination of how Scott Pilgrim vs the World can rock the soul. You might come to this film for the well-crafted visuals, or simply because you saw it on a 'must-see cult film list'. But beyond the humour, the visuals and the boy-is-besotted-with-girl plot there are some clever insights.
My first incursion into the Mournes.
A profile for this band who've never been able to break into the big lane; that's a good thing. There's an understated brilliance to their work. It isn't for everyone, but those who understand will be converted at the first listen.
How I circumvented the content filtering during my schooldays, only then to have my humble solution itself circumvented.
A replacement for the metasyntactic variables (foo, bar, baz) inspired by 90s sitcom Father Ted. To persuade you to adopt them they are then demonstrated in Perl.
Everyone's favourite Perl static website builder marks its third release. Many thrilling new features await.
An evening was well spent with the famed Finnish bluegrass group Steve 'n' Seagulls.
Some thoughts on meekness. Is it pacifism or something better?
What for me will be the most enduring image of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Commercial demands mean sometimes one must return to Windows, here are some ways to bring over some of what you might miss from Linux.
How is my desktop? November 2021.
You should always view a property before moving, but no-one says to check the bins.
RSRU.pl has reached its second release.
The PineTime smartwatch. Should you get one, and if you do, how do you first make it work with your smartphone? Read here for answers to both.
This is the opening track from the Parklife album. It is more than a mere dance piece.
A parody of an unnamed cultic group, this is the founding myth of a potato religion from 2016. Here is a study of the tenets and history of the sects.
The woes of near-misses, as told by the blockchain.
A story from my university days of a run-in with the head of IT.
Sharing some things that were noticed when reading the opening scenes of the Fellowship of the Ring.
There are few creatures quite as industrious as the bird. A few of their deeds are shared here.
It is too tempting to rush through the lines of verse in these books. Yet I find even this one provoking.
Here are some facial phrases found through my literary (and televised) travels.
There is now a new section of the site: WMW, or Well Made Web. See it at wmw.thran.uk!
Railway buildings have been a steady decline since the end of World War II. This has culminated with Belfast's Weaver's Cross, or as it should be called, Weaver's Loss.
I had this vision that working from home would be bliss. Just me sitting in the room with nothing but the code. No distractions, no worries. Nothing would sidetrack the engineer from his proud handiwork. This wasn't to be so.
On Linux, xdg-open and xdg-mime configure the default applications for opening file types. This guide introduces their use.
While on a walk, I looked inside an abandoned building. There I sighted a reminder of my past musical taste.
Assorted screenshots of Linux desktops from August 2021.
The RSRU.pl software catalogue generator is complete enough for a release.
Thanks to a rented nautical craft, I was able to pass over the top of the waves. Though this tale would not continue as blissfully as intended.
Too many believe that the government is sincere but misguided. Please, stop: they're laughing at you.
Why do prepositions matter? Could we understand with the help of theology?
At first I thought my windows were self-washing, but upon investigation it emerged that one of my house's vital organs were imperiled.
Microsoft have called Windows 10 'the final version of Windows ever.' It's the final version for me too. I've used ever major Windows version from 98 until 10. With Windows 10 I have to fight the computer just to get it to do my bidding.
When shuffling on random, there is no easy way to remove the 'Pictures' slideshow from the list of screensavers in xfce-screensaver. Still, I found the answer.
Social media isn't a home.
Old reddit was a frugal, practical design that naturally suited its purpose. Why pull the old house down and build something unrecognisable in its place?
