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Terence Eden’s Blog

@shkspr.mobi

14 followers 0 following 35 posts

Regular nonsense about tech and its effects 🙃 Published by @Edent / @edent.tel If you reply to these posts, your reply may appear as comments on my blog. 🌉 bridged from https://shkspr.mobi/blog/@blog on the fediverse by https://fed.brid.gy/

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Terence Eden’s Blog @shkspr.mobi · 1d

## How to *actually* test your readme

https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/how-to-actually-test-your-readme/

If you've spent any time using Linux, you'll be used to installing software like this:

> The README says to download from this link. Huh, I'm not sure how […]

[Original post on shkspr.mobi]

List of Linux OSes.

Terence Eden’s Blog @shkspr.mobi · 3d

## You did no fact checking, and I must scream

https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/i-have-no-facts-and-i-must-scream/

I'm neither a journalist nor a professional fact checker but, the thing is, it's has never been easier to check basic facts. Yeah, sure, there's a […]

[Original post on shkspr.mobi]

**“I’ll be turning 95 this coming Monday. In my younger years, I was often filled with worry — worry that I wasn’t quite good enough, that no one would cast me again, that I wouldn’t live up to my mother’s hopes. But these days begin in peace, and end in gratitude.”**

Terence Eden’s Blog @shkspr.mobi · 5d

## Getting started with Mastodon's Quote Posts - technical implementation details for servers

https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/getting-started-with-mastodons-quote-posts-technical-implementation-details-for-servers/

Quoting posts on Mastodon is _slightly_ […]

[Original post on shkspr.mobi]

Screenshot of me quoting a post.

Terence Eden’s Blog @shkspr.mobi · 7d

## Book Review: Streaming Wars - How Getting Everything We Wanted Changed Entertainment Forever by Charlotte Henry

https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/10/book-review-streaming-wars-how-getting-everything-we-wanted-changed-entertainment-forever-by-charlotte-henry/ […]

[Original post on shkspr.mobi]

Book cover.

Terence Eden’s Blog @shkspr.mobi · 9d

## Can you use GDPR to Circumvent BlueSky's Adult Content Blocks?

https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/can-you-use-gdpr-to-circumvent-blueskys-adult-content-blocks/

In the battle between the Online Safety Act and GDPR, who will win? FIGHT!

I'll start by saying […]

[Original post on shkspr.mobi]

A notification counter showing the number 3. The message next to it says I need to complete age assurance.

Terence Eden’s Blog @shkspr.mobi · 11d

## Drunk CSS

https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/drunk-css/

A decade ago, I was writing about how you should test your user interface on drunk people. It was a semi-serious idea. Some of your users _will_ be drunk when using your app or website. If it is easy for […]

[Original post on shkspr.mobi]

Screenshot of the homepage all askew.

Terence Eden’s Blog @shkspr.mobi · 13d

## Book Review: This Might Surprise You - A Breast Cancer Story by Hayley Gullen

https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/book-review-this-might-surprise-you-a-breast-cancer-story-by-hayley-gullen/

My pal Hayley has written a book - a graphic memoir about dealing with […]

[Original post on shkspr.mobi]

Comic book cover.

Terence Eden’s Blog @shkspr.mobi · 15d

## Targetting specific characters with CSS rules

https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/targetting-specific-characters-with-css-rules/

You can't. There is no way to use CSS to apply a style to every letter "E". It simply can't be done.

At least, that's what _they_ […]

[Original post on shkspr.mobi]

Terence Eden’s Blog @shkspr.mobi · 17d

## LLMs are still surprisingly bad at some simple tasks

https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/llms-are-still-surprisingly-bad-at-simple-tasks/

I asked three different commercially available LLMs the same question:

> Which TLDs have the same name as valid HTML5 […]

[Original post on shkspr.mobi]

A t-shirt which says Dunning and Kruger and Gell and Mann.

Terence Eden’s Blog @shkspr.mobi · 19d

## Class Warfare! Can I eliminate CSS classes from my HTML?

https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/class-warfare-can-i-eliminate-css-classes-from-my-html/

I recently read a brilliantly provocative blog post called "This website has no class". In it, Adam Stoddard […]

[Original post on shkspr.mobi]

Terence Eden’s Blog @shkspr.mobi · 21d

## Theatre Review: Interview (Understudy Performance)

https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/theatre-review-interview-understudy-performance/

One of the best things about London theatre is that once in a while a show will give its understudies a chance to break out […]

[Original post on shkspr.mobi]

Poster. A man sits in a bathtub while a woman pours wine over him.

Terence Eden’s Blog @shkspr.mobi · 23d

## How big a solar battery do I need to store *all* my home's electricity?

https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/how-big-a-solar-battery-do-i-need-to-store-all-my-homes-electricity/

I have a modest set of solar panels on an entirely ordinary house in suburban London […]

[Original post on shkspr.mobi]

Graph of power flow.

Terence Eden’s Blog @shkspr.mobi · 25d

## Book Review: All That We See or Seem by Ken Liu

https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/book-review-all-that-we-see-or-seem-by-ken-liu/

This book is _ridiculously_ zeitgeisty. It's all brain-rotting AI, social-media meltdowns, mixed with some cracking technobabble […]

[Original post on shkspr.mobi]

$Book cover with a fractured city in the background.$

Terence Eden’s Blog @shkspr.mobi · 27d

## Reasonably accurate, privacy conscious, cookieless, visitor tracking for WordPress

https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/reasonably-accurate-privacy-conscious-cookieless-visitor-tracking-for-wordpress/

I am vain. I like to know which of my blog posts have "done […]

[Original post on shkspr.mobi]

Terence Eden’s Blog @shkspr.mobi · 29d

## Event Review: Doin' the Lambeth Walk (Oi!)

https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/event-review-doin-the-lambeth-walk-oi/

> Historical entities have been sighted in the old village of Lambeth. Are they ghosts? Visions? Or intruders through a crack in time? Join […]

[Original post on shkspr.mobi]

Terence Eden’s Blog @shkspr.mobi · Sep 7

## Some thoughts on personal git hosting

https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/some-thoughts-on-personal-git-hosting/

As part of my ongoing (and somewhat futile) efforts to ReDeCentralise, I'm looking at moving my personal projects away from GitHub. I already have […]

[Original post on shkspr.mobi]

An SSO screen with buttons for GitHub and GitLab.

Terence Eden’s Blog @shkspr.mobi · Sep 5

## Book Review: Star Trek: Lower Decks, Vol. 1: Second Contact by Ryan North

https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/book-review-star-trek-lower-decks-vol-1-second-contact-by-ryan-north/

I can confidentially declare that Lower Decks is the second best Star Trek series […]

[Original post on shkspr.mobi]

Comic book cover.

Terence Eden’s Blog @shkspr.mobi · Sep 3

## 40 years later, are Bentley's "Programming Pearls" still relevant?

https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/40-years-later-are-bentleys-programming-pearls-still-relevant/

In September 1985, Jon Bentley published Programming Pearls. A collection of aphorisms designed […]

[Original post on shkspr.mobi]

Gnarly monochrome scan of Programming Pearls.

Terence Eden’s Blog @shkspr.mobi · Sep 1

## A little oddity in the way curl deals with old dates

https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/09/a-little-oddity-in-the-way-curl-deals-with-old-dates/

For boring technical reasons, computers think the world began on 1st of January 19700. To keep track of the future […]

[Original post on shkspr.mobi]

Terence Eden’s Blog @shkspr.mobi · Aug 31

## Some minor bugs in Proton's new Authenticator app

https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/08/some-minor-bugs-in-protons-new-authenticator-app/

I maintain a a test-suite for TOTP codes. It contains a bunch of codes which adhere to the specification, some of which […]

[Original post on shkspr.mobi]

QR code for a 10 digit TOTP.

Terence Eden’s Blog @shkspr.mobi · Aug 30

## Is it possible to allow sideloading *and* keep users safe?

https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/08/is-it-possible-to-allow-sideloading-and-keep-users-safe/

In which I _attempt_ to be pragmatic.

Are you allowed to run whatever computer program you want on the […]

[Original post on shkspr.mobi]

A terrifying list of permissions.

Terence Eden’s Blog @shkspr.mobi · Aug 28

## Book Review: What Sheep Think about the Weather - Amelia Thomas

https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/08/book-review-what-sheep-think-about-the-weather-amelia-thomas/

> It started with a hummingbird dive-bombing Amelia Thomas over her morning coffee, and a pair of […]

[Original post on shkspr.mobi]

Book cover featuring a sheep.

Terence Eden’s Blog @shkspr.mobi · Aug 26

## Security Flaws in the WebMonetization Site

https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/08/security-flaws-in-the-webmonetization-site/

I've written before about the nascent WebMonetization Standard. It is a proposal which allows websites to ask users for passive payments […]

[Original post on shkspr.mobi]

Web Monetization The Web Monetization API allows websites to automatically and passively receive payments from Web Monetization-enabled visitors.

Terence Eden’s Blog @shkspr.mobi · Aug 24

## Book Review: The Shattering Peace by John Scalzi (Old Man's War Book 7)

https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/08/book-review-the-shattering-peace-by-john-scalzi-old-mans-war-book-7/

I'm _reasonably_ sure I've read all the "Old Man's War" books. As the last one was […]

[Original post on shkspr.mobi]

Book cover showing spaceships and alien worlds.

Terence Eden’s Blog @shkspr.mobi · Aug 23

## Gig Review: Rainbow Girls at LVLS London

https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/08/gig-review-rainbow-girls-at-lvls-london/

At some point around the start of the pandemic, The Algorithm instructed me to listen to music by Rainbow Girls. Who am I to question the […]

[Original post on shkspr.mobi]

Rainbow Girls on stage at LVLS.