In my day-to-day work, I spend a lot of time working with JSON, and and one of my favourite tools for working with JSON is jq. Jq is an excellent tool for working with JSON on the command line … however, I can never remember what arcane syntax I need to use to accomplish the simplest of queries. So, as any mediocre programmer, I built my own jq in my favourite language, Ruby.

UAC scientists have discovered another portal to Hell. There's an isle of death on the other side. An infiltration team has been sent through to clear the area, but they haven't reported back … you're being sent in to discover what happened, and clear the area for further teams.

https://www.doomworld.com/forum/topic/119752-third-map-isle-of-death-doom-ii/?tab=comments#comment-2258839

An ancient medieval citadel has been discovered under the Welsh Mountains, with help from documents obtained from the Mars Base during the first invasion of Hells forces. A team of archiologists has been sent in to learn more about the connections between the ancient martian civilisation, and medieval Britain.

But contact with the archaeologist team has been lost … you’ve been sent in to clear the citadel.

https://www.doomworld.com/forum/topic/119397-new-doom-ii-map-the-halls-of-aethelwulf/?tab=comments#comment-2251069

At the beginning of 2020 I had planned to focus on my landscape photography a lot more, This was going to include dedicated days off work just for photography around where I live, some nice holidays abroad, and maybe some new kit. Well … holidays, remember them?

So, lockdown happened, and that kind of put an end to all my plans for the year. However, even during global pandemics, and the extreme restrictions required to beat the virus, there have been a few opportunities for some photography.

A UAC Gun Turret has fallen under the control of Hells forces. Although the base was mostly staffed by Humans, the base was also testing some of the latest UAC battlefield weapons.

One of the plans for this year, a part from staying at home reminiscing of what travel used to like, was to focus on building this site and expanding the features that it provides. First, a little background. This site is 100% custom, it's not an 'off the shelf' template. everything you see here has been built, and designed by me. Over the years, I've tried a many different approaches to keeping track of things that need to be done, or ideas to implement, and bugs that need to be squashed.

Now, there are many project management tools available, that would fit this purpose, from simple task lists, to full blown tools providing reporting, gantt charts, agile stories, and kanban boards. For many projects, these tools can be very helpful, but for just me and this site, every one of them has always been overkill. I've tried to use these tools, but the complexity has just got in the way. I always kept finding myself going back to using a plain text file (well, actually an Apple Notes file for easy syncing between devices).

The problem of using text files

Text files are great for many things. They are simple, they can have their own structure. You can mix bullet points with text. They work everywhere. But, they have their downsides too, it's very hard to provide context within the document. Ideas that might be connected, can be separated into different sections, and loose context of how they relate to the wider subject.

Using mind mapping to keep track of things

I've always been intrigued by the idea of mind mapping. Connecting thoughts with links and hierarchies, and using colours to disguise intent behind each idea. But unfortunately, I've never had a good subject to play with them properly. It's very hard to just pickup and use a new piece technology without a good reason to need to use it.

When I first saw Mindmeister being demoed at a Ruby conference in Vienna, I suddenly had the thought that this could be a really good way to finally have a process to keep track of my plans for maniacalrobot.co.uk.

Bright sunny summers days are not typically great for landscape photographers. Harsh shadows, and bright direct light don't typically make for good photographic conditions. Sunrises and sunsets offer the best light, but here in the UK, at midsummer, that means very early starts or late finishes. However, Infrared photography is a great approach to making the most of these challenging bright conditions without sacrificing too much sleep.

Choosing a name for your website, your online identity, the thing you'll need to say to people all the time is very important. Ideally, you should choose a name that is short, unique, easy to remember and easy to spell. A good domain should be unambiguous, for example, stationary.com and stationery.com sound the same when spoken, but have very different meanings when written. It also helps to avoid ambiguity with numbers and characters that look or sound similar.

2019 has been a great year for my photography. I started the year by upgrading from my EOS-M, which has served me very well, to an EOS-M5. Apart from the improvement in image quality and resolution, 18 megapixels to 24 megapixels, the extra manual controls have made using the camera much more natural, and the boost in image quality was so big, that I quite quickly decided to add some new lenses to make the most of all those new megapixels. I'm quite a frugal buyer, so I wanted to maximise performance for the best possible cost. Up until now, I've been using wide-angle zooms and standard primes, so I went all in and got a 70-200 F4 L, the base 'L' lens in the 70-200 range, but the image quality on a tripod is simply excellent. In addition to this, I also purchased a second hand 24-105 F4 L IS, the 'kit' lens from Canons pro camera bodies. For the price, this is also an excellent lens, sharp and versatile, but on the negative side, heavy and prone to chromatic aberration, but nothing that can't be fixed in post-processing.

New kit aside, this year also marked a return to simply going out with a tripod and taking my time to compose landscapes. Recently, most of my photography has been from walking and holidays. It's been quite satisfying to just take my time without any pressures or time contraints.