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Articles by Thran
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When Xbox Was Alive (Xbox 360 Memories) >> Sat 28 September 2024 >> told-from-the-past, internet culture, gaming, xbox live, xbox 360,
It was just a games console but it defined our lives from 2007 to 2012. Featuring dashboarding, GameBattles, scratchcards and slagging matches.
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MacOS: Mail from 1993 >> Tue 25 June 2024 >> retrocomputing, computing, macintosh, discoveries, apple, command-line,
Apple's MacOS presents itself as a slick and modern operating system. Yet under the modern garb the ancient roots run deep.
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Doctrinal Dissent: A brief criticism of Christianity [Old Paths Part 2] >> Sat 13 April 2024 >> religion, bible, christianity, society, atheism, ethics,
After an absence from the Church, some criticisms have arisen against the Christian religion. Does the experience of a believer match the promises and claims of the Bible? Is the Bible the most valid explanation for these experiences? These questions are explored in this article.
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Rescamming: The story of haha.pl >> Sat 02 March 2024 >> programming, perl, internet culture, trololo, computing, fun, hackery, for-great-justice,
A naughty script delivers payback to some Facebook scammers. A story featuring Perl, great justice and many copypastas.
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Lessons from the Mistakes of Youth >> Sat 30 December 2023 >> philosophy, wisdom, retrospective, youth, alternative culture,
Closing the year, some lessons I wish I could share with my younger self. Featuring loose references to Greek and English philosophers.
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Retreading the old paths: Ascending The Hill [Old Paths Part 1] >> Sat 09 December 2023 >> religion, bible, christianity, society, old paths, retrospective,
Praising the positive side of the Christian religion, drawn mostly from personal experience and reflections upon the same. What do we lose when we forego God?
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Detweeted: Spammers do not deserve rights >> Wed 25 October 2023 >> unsociable media, twitter, happenings online,
Suspended from Twitter for speaking my mind to cryptocurrency scammers.
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The new Sainsbury's slogan is dishonest and condescending.
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Visiting Galway and a report from the Pavement concert on the 24th July 2023 at the Galway International Arts Festival.
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Announcing No-WEI! >> Thu 17 August 2023 >> release, javascript, thransoft, no-wei, google, chrome, modern-woes,
The Web Environment Integrity proposal from Google is a serious threat to user choice and privacy on the Web; it must be stopped. Add this banner to your website that informs Google chrome users of the dangers and urges them to switch to a browser that better respects the open web.
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The Lion and the Fox, or the travails of mobile browsing and privacy >> Sun 30 July 2023 >> software, internet, iphone, modern woes,
Why isn't it possible to browse the mobile Internet while maintaining our dignity?
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When A King Is Crowned >> Sat 01 July 2023 >> modern woes, northern ireland, photos, britain, monarchism, carrickfergus, coronation 2023,
A solemn occasion is sullied by children's entertainers, only for the new King to have his revenge.
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Eleven conversational habits that need a full stop >> Sat 28 January 2023 >> language, literature, culture, britain, americanisms, railways,
These habits of spoken English need their farewells said.
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An attempt to retrieve my bank balance did not go to plan.
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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.
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My first incursion into the Mournes.
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The music of Guided by Voices - An Analysis >> Sun 17 April 2022 >> music, gbv, guided-by-voices, lyricism,
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.
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A Tale of Proxy Avoidance >> Tue 12 April 2022 >> told-from-the-past, education, sysadmin, computing, school days, 2007,
How I circumvented the content filtering during my schooldays, only then to have my humble solution itself circumvented.
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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.
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Everyone's favourite Perl static website builder marks its third release. Many thrilling new features await.
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An evening was well spent with the famed Finnish bluegrass group Steve 'n' Seagulls.
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Some thoughts on meekness. Is it pacifism or something better?
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What for me will be the most enduring image of the Covid-19 pandemic.
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WintoLin: Making Windows more like Linux >> Wed 01 December 2021 >> linux, windows, command-line, shell, hacks,
Commercial demands mean sometimes one must return to Windows, here are some ways to bring over some of what you might miss from Linux.
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How is my desktop? November 2021.
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The Belligerent Bin >> Mon 29 November 2021 >> told-from-the-past, told-from-the-household, government,
You should always view a property before moving, but no-one says to check the bins.
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RSRU.pl has reached its second release.
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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.
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This is the opening track from the Parklife album. It is more than a mere dance piece.
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Potatodom and Potatoism >> Sat 23 October 2021 >> stories, religion, food, told-from-the-past, satire,
A parody of certain religious attitudes using potatoes. Here is a study of the tenets and history of potatoism.
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Bitter Coin >> Sun 17 October 2021 >> bitcoin, cryptocurrency, economics, netlore, mishaps, told-from-the-past,
The woes of near-misses, as told by the blockchain.
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A story from my university days of a run-in with the head of IT.
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Sharing some things that were noticed when reading the opening scenes of the Fellowship of the Ring.
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Peculiar Sightings of Birds, Part I >> Sat 25 September 2021 >> danders, witnessed-outside, wildlife,
There are few creatures quite as industrious as the bird. A few of their deeds are shared here.
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It is too tempting to rush through the lines of verse in these books. Yet I find even this one provoking.
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Here are some facial phrases found through my literary (and televised) travels.
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There is now a new section of the site: WMW, or Well Made Web. See it at wmw.thran.uk!
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Belfast Transport Snub >> Thu 26 August 2021 >> modern woes, railways, buildings, aesthetics, northern ireland, design, photos, belfast,
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.
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Remote work isn't remotely working for me >> Mon 09 August 2021 >> work, computing, development, modern woes, privacy, surveillance,
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.
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On Linux,
xdg-openandxdg-mimeconfigure 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.
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Assorted screenshots of Linux desktops from August 2021.
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The RSRU.pl software catalogue generator is complete enough for a release.
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Wading over the waves >> Tue 27 July 2021 >> danders,
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.
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Sympathy for Sycophants >> Sun 25 July 2021 >> modern woes, government, privacy, britain, internet freedom, surveillance, ethics,
Too many believe that the government is sincere but misguided. Please, stop: they're laughing at you.
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Why do prepositions matter? Could we understand with the help of theology?
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At first I thought my windows were self-washing, but upon investigation it emerged that one of my house's vital organs were imperiled.
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The Final Version of Windows, Ever >> Fri 01 November 2019 >> modern woes, computing, microsoft, linux,
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.
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How do I remove the Pictures screensaver from Xubuntu? >> Sun 20 October 2019 >> linux, graphics, desktop,
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.
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Social media isn't a home.
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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?
