Software History

Software History

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Brainstorming an organization to place pianos in airports | James' Coffee Blog
Brainstorming an organization to place pianos in airports | James' Coffee Blog
One of my favourite parts of travelling to a destination by plane -- and indeed train -- is to play an available piano. I find playing piano relaxing, a way for me to take a break from thinking about all of the details of my journey. With that said, there are many airports without pianos, and many more that have one piano in a single terminal but no pianos in other terminals. I was speaking with a few people about how we could help place pianos in airports where one is not available, providing travellers with the ability to have the same experience I and many other travellers have: a moment to sit back and make music between legs of a journey.
Brainstorming an organization to place pianos in airports | James' Coffee Blog
Moments of joy: Little bites | James' Coffee Blog
Moments of joy: Little bites | James' Coffee Blog
I like to reflect on moments of joy on this blog: the tiny moments throughout your day that make you feel happy, joyful, or alive. Many of these moments are what I observe; the serendipitious little things that happen as I go about my day. I wanted to try something new in this series: summarize a few little moments of joy in one post, the ones that may not make their way into a longer feature post.
Moments of joy: Little bites | James' Coffee Blog
Moments of Joy | James' Coffee Blog
Moments of Joy | James' Coffee Blog
I gazed out at the sunset. The sun had not yet passed the horizon so I had to aim my gaze in such a way where I was able to appreciate the colours on the horizon while not staring at the sun. In the foreground, I noticed illuminated flies above the trees. They had a warm colour, as if the light was from the yellow colours in the sky onto the flies. They danced.
Moments of Joy | James' Coffee Blog
Discovering new music (with recommendations) | James' Coffee Blog
Discovering new music (with recommendations) | James' Coffee Blog
The primary ways in which I discover new music are: (i) by looking for other songs written by artists who have written songs I like; (ii) looking for artists who have done collaborations with artists whose music I love and; (iii) using Spotify to look for songs that might interest me. Spotify shines when it plays a random song next. I tend to just scroll through lists of songs in playlists but when Spotify plays a song automatically I tend to find something new. This does not always work, but thus far I have found so many great songs by listening to Spotify. This list is not exhaustive but indicative of my primary ways of finding new songs and artists.
Discovering new music (with recommendations) | James' Coffee Blog
Connection | James' Coffee Blog
Connection | James' Coffee Blog
We spoke every week or two. You were behind the coffee bar, I was a patron. One day, you casually mentioned that you were moving on to a new career. I was excited, although in hindsight I am not sure to what extent my excitement is visible and interpretable. Part of me entered a contemplative mood. An acquaintance who brought warmth to an environment moved on to something new. Fresh horizons, a new opportunity to shine. Will the environment be the same?
Connection | James' Coffee Blog
Tips and reflections from running online meetups | James' Coffee Blog
Tips and reflections from running online meetups | James' Coffee Blog
For the last year and a half, I have been co-hosting Homebrew Website Club London / Europe, a meetup where people interested in personal websites come together to chat, ask questions, and share on what they are working. I co-host the meetup with Mark.
Tips and reflections from running online meetups | James' Coffee Blog
Writing on the IndieWeb Wiki | James' Coffee Blog
Writing on the IndieWeb Wiki | James' Coffee Blog
A day or two ago, a fellow IndieWebber [^1] recommended that I contribute to the IndieWeb wiki. The IndieWeb wiki is at the heart of the community. It is a live and growing repository of information about all things IndieWeb.
Writing on the IndieWeb Wiki | James' Coffee Blog
Activation Functions in Lisp | James' Coffee Blog
Activation Functions in Lisp | James' Coffee Blog
Every so often I get an urge to write some Lisp code. I do not have much experience with Lisp. I need to think of a project I can take on that would excite me! Here are some activation functions I wrote in Lisp earlier:
Activation Functions in Lisp | James' Coffee Blog
Fun with Words c6d480 | James' Coffee Blog
Fun with Words c6d480 | James' Coffee Blog
I have become more attuned to new words since starting my Fun with Words series ^1. I was listening to an episode of This Week in Tech yesterday and I heard an interesting word. I stopped to note down the word for future reference, perhaps for inclusion in a future edition of this series. Today, I have four words for you that I have gathered from the depths of digital media after extensive reading and evaluation, specially curated for your edification. (I was going for the verbosity associated with an episode in Stephen Colbert's Meanwhile series in that last sentence ^2. Colbert really does a great job at the humorous run on sentence in that series.)
Fun with Words c6d480 | James' Coffee Blog
Writing a Colophon | James' Coffee Blog
Writing a Colophon | James' Coffee Blog
I am presently sitting with nothing else to do. I enjoy writing so here I am again, back for another (short) blog post.
Writing a Colophon | James' Coffee Blog
Interview for The Coffee Life Blog | James' Coffee Blog
Interview for The Coffee Life Blog | James' Coffee Blog
The Coffee Life, authored by Jass Goodman, was one of, if not the first, coffee blogs I encountered online. This blog was what got me thinking about writing posts on coffee.
Interview for The Coffee Life Blog | James' Coffee Blog
Coffee Blogs To Follow This Holiday Season: Part Two | James' Coffee Blog
Coffee Blogs To Follow This Holiday Season: Part Two | James' Coffee Blog
The holiday season is quickly coming upon us. I spend a fair amount of my free time reading and I thought it would be nice to write lists of the places I go to read about coffee. When I started writing my first post, I realised that I could not fit every blog that I've read a few posts from this year in one post. To avoid trying to squeeze too much detail into one post, I decided to write a second post, which is the one you are reading right now.
Coffee Blogs To Follow This Holiday Season: Part Two | James' Coffee Blog
I was featured in Coffee People | James' Coffee Blog
I was featured in Coffee People | James' Coffee Blog
I have been a fan of Coffee People, a digital and print zine about the world of speciality coffee, for months. I first read one of their magazines last year and the content intrigued me. A mix between poetry, photographs, drawings, writing, and other creative media, Coffee People explores a theme through the lens of coffee in each edition. The work I have seen in the editions I have read has been creative and engaging, which is what led me to submit an entry myself.
I was featured in Coffee People | James' Coffee Blog
Coffee Chat with Darryl from Short Long Black Coffee | James' Coffee Blog
Coffee Chat with Darryl from Short Long Black Coffee | James' Coffee Blog
Situated in Govanhill, Glasgow, Short Long Black Coffee serves baked goods and speciality coffee. I recently spoke with the owner of Short Long Black, Darryl, about what it's like to run the coffee shop, the importance of choosing a good location for your shop, and the sorts of tasks he takes on in his work as a coffee shop owner. I hope you enjoy the interview.
Coffee Chat with Darryl from Short Long Black Coffee | James' Coffee Blog
Throwbacks and Brainstorming Timehop for Blogs | James' Coffee Blog
Throwbacks and Brainstorming Timehop for Blogs | James' Coffee Blog
Timehop is a smartphone application that generates throwbacks for the photos you have taken on your phone. Each day, you could see photos you had taken on a given day in previous years. I recall installing Timehop but at the time I didn't have too many photos that I could share with the application. With that said, the core idea has stayed in my mind: a system through which you receive reminders of what you were doing on this day in the past.
Throwbacks and Brainstorming Timehop for Blogs | James' Coffee Blog
Coffee Chat with Jordan from Grumpy Mule | James' Coffee Blog
Coffee Chat with Jordan from Grumpy Mule | James' Coffee Blog
I have been thinking a lot about accessibility in coffee and so I have been chatting with people about how they share their coffee knowledge. I recently spoke with Jordan Harvey, a barista support representative and trainer for Grumpy Mule. Jordan is also a volunteer for the Speciality Coffee Association (SCA) and a committee member at the Kore Directive, a coffee community of feministic diversity allies.
Coffee Chat with Jordan from Grumpy Mule | James' Coffee Blog
Coffee: A Modern Field Guide Review | James' Coffee Blog
Coffee: A Modern Field Guide Review | James' Coffee Blog
In preparation for writing this review, I decided to read a few other book reviews. It's been interesting hearing opinions by other people on the books they have read. I hope that this review, and future book reviews I write, can deliver the same sense of insight. I already want to buy two books I read about before I started to write this article.
Coffee: A Modern Field Guide Review | James' Coffee Blog
How my blog search engine works, briefly | James' Coffee Blog
How my blog search engine works, briefly | James' Coffee Blog
I have been building a search engine for my blog. The search engine is designed to make it easy to find content on my blog. I started with a simple program that indexed content so I could keep track of my posts. I built a web interface to query the index so anyone could find search results. Then I started to add more features to make the search engine more intuitive and better at discovering content. This has been such a fun project to work on because I have had to spend a lot of time planning technical solutions and then I have implemented them, two tasks I enjoy.
How my blog search engine works, briefly | James' Coffee Blog
Orea Brewer Recipe | James' Coffee Blog
Orea Brewer Recipe | James' Coffee Blog
The Orea coffee brewer has been my go-to pour-over device for a long time, alongside the Kalita Wave. The Orea, whose size is ideal for a one-cup pour-over, consistently brews delicious cups of coffee. I first applied my standard Kalita Wave recipe to the Orea, then later moved on to a continuous pour. This means that instead of stopping for a bloom phase, I pour all 250g of water in at once, slowly.
Orea Brewer Recipe | James' Coffee Blog
How I store coffee at home | James' Coffee Blog
How I store coffee at home | James' Coffee Blog
When I first started brewing coffee at home, I had a fear that if coffee was not as fresh as possible, I would be missing out on its full potential. I stored my coffee bags, when opened, in a plastic tub, and would often think about whether my storage setup was adequate. Indeed, freshness and proper storage are essential components of making the most out of your coffee, but I always found storing coffee at home confusing. Do I need a vacuum sealed container? Will my coffee be okay in a cupboard? Should I only open bags of coffee when I have finished one that is already open?
How I store coffee at home | James' Coffee Blog
From Seed to Cup: Sourcing, Exporting, and Roasting | James' Coffee Blog
From Seed to Cup: Sourcing, Exporting, and Roasting | James' Coffee Blog
Many speciality roasters visit the farms or co-operatives from which they buy coffee. This allows the roaster to get to know the crop from the people who are growing and processing it. These visits give roasters insights into a crop that cannot be found without having direct contact with a farmer or co-operative. Direct trade has become popular for this reason: a direct connection between the farmer and roaster lets the roaster learn more about their product.
From Seed to Cup: Sourcing, Exporting, and Roasting | James' Coffee Blog
Breakfast and Coffee: A wiki for sharing food and drink recommendations | James' Coffee Blog
Breakfast and Coffee: A wiki for sharing food and drink recommendations | James' Coffee Blog
For all of those that subscribe to my website in a feed or social reader, you may have been wondering why a few pages that do not look like my regular blog posts showed up. The answer to that is that I am now working on a new project: a MediaWiki for sharing breakfast and coffee recommendations to which you can post from your own website.
Breakfast and Coffee: A wiki for sharing food and drink recommendations | James' Coffee Blog
Coffee and food pairings | James' Coffee Blog
Coffee and food pairings | James' Coffee Blog
About a week ago, I posted a question on Instagram: what is your favourite coffee and food pairing? I asked this question as a result of a discussion I was having with a friend and my ongoing thoughts on coffee as a culinary experience. Three respondents indicated they liked something sweet and/or a pastry with their coffee. One person said that their favourite coffee and food pairing was an espresso affogato, a surprising response because I did not consider that espresso affogatos are in fact already a pairing of coffee and food.
Coffee and food pairings | James' Coffee Blog
Introducing the HyperText Coffee Pot | James' Coffee Blog
Introducing the HyperText Coffee Pot | James' Coffee Blog
Please note this project has not been tested, and is likely not going to be tested, on a real coffee pot. My implementation relies on an entirely fictional digital coffee pot. No advice is given on how to implement this protocol with a real coffee pot.
Introducing the HyperText Coffee Pot | James' Coffee Blog