Deri Jones
@derijones.bsky.social
Engineer/surveyor and hillbilly. Designer of giant Airfix kits for boatbuilding and 3D laser scanner of everything from aircraft to theatres.
Yup, I know exactly what the weather's doing in Leeds. Wondered why I was getting French Google results until I twigged I hadn't switched the laptop VPN off and it decides the French server is the fastest.
February 5, 2026 at 3:36 PM
Yup, I know exactly what the weather's doing in Leeds. Wondered why I was getting French Google results until I twigged I hadn't switched the laptop VPN off and it decides the French server is the fastest.
Normal day in Wales then...
February 2, 2026 at 6:05 PM
Normal day in Wales then...
Accident Investigation reports make grim, but fascinating reading. I've read the reports on boats I've worked on that have sunk and the snowball effect of small things amalgamating, where no single decision/failure led to failure really hits home.
February 2, 2026 at 9:14 AM
Accident Investigation reports make grim, but fascinating reading. I've read the reports on boats I've worked on that have sunk and the snowball effect of small things amalgamating, where no single decision/failure led to failure really hits home.
Engineers, telling users and management "This is a really bad idea, don't use it like that..." and being ignored, since the days of Daedulus.
February 2, 2026 at 9:02 AM
Engineers, telling users and management "This is a really bad idea, don't use it like that..." and being ignored, since the days of Daedulus.
I went down a rabbit hole with some of this stuff when I was supposed to be doing my masters - the USS Thresher is another is another example of lots of little things snowballing en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Thr...
USS Thresher (SSN-593) - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
February 2, 2026 at 7:35 AM
I went down a rabbit hole with some of this stuff when I was supposed to be doing my masters - the USS Thresher is another is another example of lots of little things snowballing en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Thr...
Ah, thing not to do with O-rings. I had a great lecturer (later boss) used this as a vivid teaching point, making sure we understood that you had to look at not just the detail, but also the global environment it would be working in. Also, as a warning about bad management methods.
February 2, 2026 at 7:35 AM
Ah, thing not to do with O-rings. I had a great lecturer (later boss) used this as a vivid teaching point, making sure we understood that you had to look at not just the detail, but also the global environment it would be working in. Also, as a warning about bad management methods.
After getting a puncture in a pair of muckboots and ripping the side of a pair of the Dunlop Purofort within 6 months of each other, the Nora Max wellies I've got have lasted for 5 years. Warm, reasonably cheap, fairly light and you get to make jokes about wearing Nora boots.
February 1, 2026 at 4:56 PM
After getting a puncture in a pair of muckboots and ripping the side of a pair of the Dunlop Purofort within 6 months of each other, the Nora Max wellies I've got have lasted for 5 years. Warm, reasonably cheap, fairly light and you get to make jokes about wearing Nora boots.
Exhibit 1.. If you run your life to minimise messiness, then you can logically expect data to be neat and tidy and ignore the "edge cases" of messy data - that's just the world being sub optimal and if they only used AI, it would be tidied up and orderly...
January 29, 2026 at 9:21 AM
Exhibit 1.. If you run your life to minimise messiness, then you can logically expect data to be neat and tidy and ignore the "edge cases" of messy data - that's just the world being sub optimal and if they only used AI, it would be tidied up and orderly...
Falling for authoritarianism is a bit of a security blanket for people as it minimises inputs - right party/wrong party, male/female, guilty/not guilty etc. AI helps that illusion as it allows you to avoid another set of decision making and can be blamed if things are wrong. RealLife is exhausting!
January 29, 2026 at 8:27 AM
Falling for authoritarianism is a bit of a security blanket for people as it minimises inputs - right party/wrong party, male/female, guilty/not guilty etc. AI helps that illusion as it allows you to avoid another set of decision making and can be blamed if things are wrong. RealLife is exhausting!
If your world is data and logic and there are no external human/physical world messy inputs, then AI makes sense as it can operate as a closed box with known constraints. Some AI evangelists will try and make life fit that box, rather than admit that AI can't cope with real world.
January 29, 2026 at 8:27 AM
If your world is data and logic and there are no external human/physical world messy inputs, then AI makes sense as it can operate as a closed box with known constraints. Some AI evangelists will try and make life fit that box, rather than admit that AI can't cope with real world.
They're AC75 racing yacht skippers on the weekend and forgot to switch back to the day job mentality?
January 28, 2026 at 10:21 AM
They're AC75 racing yacht skippers on the weekend and forgot to switch back to the day job mentality?
And for names of companies/projects that are inevitably going to be bad shit/not what they seem, just from the cultural reference. A reference list for our politicians to go "Aha, maybe not give them big juicy contracts..." See Palantir, Anduril, Skynet...
January 26, 2026 at 4:18 PM
And for names of companies/projects that are inevitably going to be bad shit/not what they seem, just from the cultural reference. A reference list for our politicians to go "Aha, maybe not give them big juicy contracts..." See Palantir, Anduril, Skynet...
It's bad enough with reading glasses! I was wondering why I couldn't find a pair, then eventually twigged that 3 of the 4 pairs had migrated to the car...
January 25, 2026 at 4:29 PM
It's bad enough with reading glasses! I was wondering why I couldn't find a pair, then eventually twigged that 3 of the 4 pairs had migrated to the car...
This is what happens when the company with the contract for hull plate forming at the yard has an insider in the design office. They weren't called French curves for nothing when you were doing tech drawing....
January 23, 2026 at 2:41 PM
This is what happens when the company with the contract for hull plate forming at the yard has an insider in the design office. They weren't called French curves for nothing when you were doing tech drawing....
More Cartman from South Park "respect ma authority...."
January 20, 2026 at 9:51 PM
More Cartman from South Park "respect ma authority...."
Cambrian News front pager that!
January 20, 2026 at 7:46 AM
Cambrian News front pager that!
Affinity for my tech documentation and page layout - a lot more pleasant than trying to wrangle images in reports in Libre office (which is worse than MSOffice) and doing the odd photomontage. This has been bought out by Canva (Aus), so don't know what the future holds.
January 19, 2026 at 5:58 PM
Affinity for my tech documentation and page layout - a lot more pleasant than trying to wrangle images in reports in Libre office (which is worse than MSOffice) and doing the odd photomontage. This has been bought out by Canva (Aus), so don't know what the future holds.
I've also gone back to using Thunderbird as an email client, rather than a web based email - I can drag and drop emails in to my local folders so they're archived with the project files - something I've gone full circle on!
January 19, 2026 at 5:58 PM
I've also gone back to using Thunderbird as an email client, rather than a web based email - I can drag and drop emails in to my local folders so they're archived with the project files - something I've gone full circle on!
Obsidian for note taking instead of Google Keep. I've paid for the sync ability as that was a PITA on Proton drive, but otherwise I've managed to build a project management/todo system that works better than anything else I've tried: obsidian.md
Obsidian - Sharpen your thinking
The free and flexible app for your private thoughts.
obsidian.md
January 19, 2026 at 5:58 PM
Obsidian for note taking instead of Google Keep. I've paid for the sync ability as that was a PITA on Proton drive, but otherwise I've managed to build a project management/todo system that works better than anything else I've tried: obsidian.md
For PDF editing, I've been using PDF Xchange, which is based in the UK/Canada and is great for drawing markup and combining different PDF's. Couldn't live without it: www.pdf-xchange.com/company
PDF-XChange Co Ltd :: Company
This page details further information about PDF-XChange Co.
www.pdf-xchange.com
January 19, 2026 at 5:58 PM
For PDF editing, I've been using PDF Xchange, which is based in the UK/Canada and is great for drawing markup and combining different PDF's. Couldn't live without it: www.pdf-xchange.com/company
I've moved to Proton for my email/shared folders - based in Switzerland. I'm a one man band that needs to share files with clients and it works well for that. There are collaboration tools, but I suspect that they aren't as slick as Dropbox.
January 19, 2026 at 5:58 PM
I've moved to Proton for my email/shared folders - based in Switzerland. I'm a one man band that needs to share files with clients and it works well for that. There are collaboration tools, but I suspect that they aren't as slick as Dropbox.
For tech illustration work, I was using Canvas GFX, which did most of what I needed: vectorgfx.net
VectorGFX – Precision Meets Passion.
Precision Meets Passion.
vectorgfx.net
January 19, 2026 at 10:32 AM
For tech illustration work, I was using Canvas GFX, which did most of what I needed: vectorgfx.net
Watch with affinity as it has been bought out by Canva, so don't know whether it will be absorbed/ killed off down the line. I'll miss it if it does go, as it has a good mix of tools for the odd bits of viz and page layout I do.
January 19, 2026 at 10:32 AM
Watch with affinity as it has been bought out by Canva, so don't know whether it will be absorbed/ killed off down the line. I'll miss it if it does go, as it has a good mix of tools for the odd bits of viz and page layout I do.