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The morning is a crisp 9 degrees. I like the freshness and absence of humidity which clogs the brain. 

Over the morning cup of tea we talk about trains. There is confusion about ticketing due to the proliferation of train companies, different websites and companies incentivised to hide the best ticket prices. And then the tracks owned by another company further confusing the commercial incentives and adding a layer of indirect costs. 

Dad observed that the trains had originally been privately owned, then government owned, now privatised. Dad wonders if it is time for them to be nationalised again. It’s a contrast to Sydney that has always seen government ownership of trains. 

Over the dog walk the conversation goes to council plots and waiting lists for garden allotments. Apparently you get the allotment taken off you if you don’t look after it. We walk with nothing to rush to, just needing to be.

Trixie proves she is not an alpha dog by refusing to walk unless there is something walking in front of her. 

As we sit down for breakfast Jamiroqaui’s “This corner of the earth” comes on. The lyrics feel perfect. 

The music changes to Gerry Rafferty’s Baker Street. The saxophone matches the mood. 

Part of the wall of Dads building is 400 years old, another part 200 years old. The council controls what sort of wood design they can put in to replace a window that needs maintenance. 

An afternoon walk over the stream.

(It seems like the local school uniform is remarkably close to Hogwarts – featuring brown pants and a yellow striped tie. )

Walked to the local brewery, then a community orchard. It preserved 50 types of Apple trees. 

Further on found me tramping uphill along rights of way past holly bushes and paddock gates. 

Walking past a painting of King Charles II (not King Charles III) hiding from insurgents wanting his head, and looking at bricks that weathered the smoke of the Industrial Revolution – it makes the current US Government issues seem like a blip in time. 

I walk through a stile to get to a walking track by the river. 

I come to a council allotment garden setup. 

Walking back I find a swing hanging from a tree by the river. The tree looks like it was once host to a family of squirrels. 

After dinner, we went down the road and listened to some jazz.

[This is written for my daughter Trinity, and my mother Katrina.]

The room is filled with the shining brass of telecopes, and the shining silver of clocks.  Through a large window the masts of many ships are visible, and over the trees of the park, the buildings and ships of the Admiralty can be seen.  A silver line runs down the middle of the room. 

The door opens. A man walks in carrying a large hat, marking him a Naval Captain.  

“Cookie! It’s so good to see you!” 

“Bradley, I’ll have you know it’s been Captain for quite a while now.”

Both men laugh. 

“How about, you just call me James.”

“Chief Astronomer eh? Bradley this place is looking good! I saw junior astronomers updating log tables and polishing telescopes as I walked in. You’ve got this place really humming!”

Bradley sighed. 

“Yes, we keep it ship-shape, but the Admiralty wants more and more every year.”

James smiled. 

“Tell me James. When you look through that ‘scope, do the planets still dance for you?”

James looks him in the eye for a moment. 

“With all my heart.”

“Bradley I have a new mission coming up. I’m sailing to New Zealand to measure the transit of Venus. We get to see how big the dance floor really is!”

Bradley looked into the distance for a moment visualising the scene.

Bradley then looked at James with one eyebrow raised, “What then James?”

“And then we sail off the edge of the map!”

“James, you know what sailors say when you reach the edge of the map!”

James grinned.
“Time for a new map!”

Both men laugh. 

“The problem is longitude. All our calculations of longitude are a guess with sextants and these unreliable clocks. You can’t make good maps of North-South coasts with a guess.”

Bradley puts his hands on a shining brass and silver clock. 

“Do you see this Cookie?” 

James puts his head on the side and squints. 

“This is the greatest chronometer ever made. And you shall take it with you on your travels. And your maps of North South coasts will be so great, they will last for hundreds of years. Think of it James! Your name will be on them! They’ll call you a discoverer!“

“Oh pshaw!  No one will believe that.”

“A warning to you Bradley. The Admiral got word of two ships that sunk off the Spice Islands. They’re calling it a navigation failure.”

The two men exchange a look. 

“You’re going to have to put on a real song and dance if you want to keep this fancy job.”

Bradley smiles, a glint comes in his eye. 

“Take this clock with you James. Godspeed for your travels.”

The morning dog walk proceeds without a care in the world. There is no reason to rush here as we wander lanes and avenues. Birdsong and the cry of land-seagulls provide a backdrop.  We say hello to other dog-walkers and stroll back along the main street. 

Breakfast bacon rolls. The place originally banned dogs, but was in danger of going out of business. The community considered it mean- spirited, and came back when they changed the policy. 

Walk back – I see sales of window-daffodil-bulbs for Mother’s Day. Whilst this would be amazing at home, it seems strange here, where daffodils grow wild like daisies.

We pass a community theatre down the road from Dad’s place. It looks like there is lots on.

We pass the time talking about home projects, and Dad describes mechanism he has built to wind kite handles for his kids kits business.

As we walk to lunch people ask about the dog. It is the key to relationship here. 

A Blooming Cherry tree celebrates the spring. 

In the afternoon we Dad about another community project Dad is part of – organising a hat festival. It seems that everyone does their bit here to build a sense of community.

I stroll through second hand book shops.

Hyacinths mark the entrance to a Garden Chapel. 

Dinner with more friends from the street. We talk about Cricket and Rugby and Dogs.

On a visit to my Dad he showed me his custom rig for winding kite handles at scale for craft kits – driven by Arduino. (Arduino Every). The connection to the display counter board is I2C wire protocol.

A potentiometer is used to control speed. This is on the power line to the motor – not connected digitally.

The logic board reads a button to start and stop the device. This is connected on the I/O pins to the arduino.

The arduino logic board triggers a scooter motor which drives the toothed belts connected to the axles.

The axles hold cardboard kite handles held in with pad folder clips.

There is a second mechanism to oscillate the string guides to spread the string evenly across the handle. This stops bunching and slipping of the string off the handle.

There is an axle tab with an optical detector board with source LED and detector that looks at the reflection off the shaft. The tab is covered with black from a texta.

There is an input button for setting the desired number of meters.

The Ardiuno system outputs the desired number of meters on the display.

After the start button is pressed, the Ardiuno system counts the number of rotations from the optical sensor, does a ratio calculation to meters wound, and stops after the desired number of metres.

The output display shows winding progress. (The strobing/refresh of the display has caught the larger meter count in mid-refresh.)

After completion the handle is removed from the clip and is nearly ready for shipping.

This is the overall System.

This is the system running.

Scale
This has the capacity to do about 120-130 handles per hour.

Engineering Iterations and Reflections:

This logic board is the first attempt, different to the second board shown further above. On the first attempt, power glitches on the first attempt. The logic board at the top of the post has added capacitors to solve coupling problems.

One of the issues encountered on early software development iterations was that the system would miss the exact matching target length and keep going even if the target length had been exceeded.

This is Dad’s workshop. It is reminiscent of the place where he taught me to solder, and to reason about electrical systems.

“It is wrong Isaac! The title of your book is wrong!”

“What are you talking about Halley? This book will rock the world!”

“That’s just it Isaac. We’re living in an incredible age. And we must respect its shape. We must help those who come after us, build, to craft wonderful things in this age we are given!”

“Oh rubbish! Principia Mathematica? It’s glorious! The great foundations of Mathematical Principles! This will shape our world for hundreds of years.”

“What would Leonardo say Newton? Where is the Art? Where is the dancing?

“It’s in the book! The planets dance gloriously!  And this book shows how to make the mathemtics join the dance of the planets! To make the maths do the bend and sway of light!”

“The title doesn’t say that Isaac. The title says only one side of Leonardo’s Age.”

“Who ever heard of a person judging a book by its cover?”

“It will be your legacy Newton! They will say you took Leonardo’s world and bent it to one side! They will blame you for taking the dancing and art out of our age!”

“Anyone who truly reads it will understand! They will see the Maths join the dance of the planets! They will see the Maths do the bend and sway of light like a butterfly.”

(A painting of Newton in 1805 around 1805).

A statue of Isaac Newton outside the British Library. Notice the cross-marks in his shoulders and head matching Leonardo’s Vetruvian Man.

[This is written for my daughter Trinity, and my mother Katrina]

“They don’t like it! They don’t like the dancing!”

“Calm down Galileo. Focus on what is important.”

“I can’t be silent Giovanni. They won’t make me!”

“Galileo, come back to earth. Now tell me. Are your bills paid?”

“Mostly. I have a teaching job from the University where I teach the sons of the Councillors and  merchants how to calculate how far a projectile will fly from a catapult. Good for leading military jobs.”

“And your family Galileo?”

“Oh, not so great. I can’t afford the dowry for my daughter. She will not marry well. ”

“Have you got a plan for that Galileo?”

“Oh I don’t know. I suppose I’ll have to put her into a convent.”

“You can do better than that Galileo.”

“I know, but it’s the gravity of the situation Giovanni. Gravity, you see.”

“I’m afraid I’ve missed you.”

“When we shoot a projectile from a catapult, and it flies back to earth,  it is the same thing that makes the moon appear in the night sky. Gravity!”

“What has that got to do with anything Galileo?”

“The dance of the moons Giovanni.”

“The moons? There is only one moon!”

“Oh rubbish! Even the Ancient Romans could see that Mars had two moons. And I can see the moons of Jupiter as well!”

“What have moons of Jupiter got to do with anything?

“It is the dance Giovanni! It is an orbital dance. The main dancer is the sun. Then Mars and Jupiter and our Earth dance around the sun, then the moons dance around the planets. A glorious orbital dance!”

“Shhh! Quiet Galileo. You can’t say such things! You’ll get into more trouble!”

“Oh pooh! Whoever heard of a church disapproving of dancing!”

“It’s a new age Giovanni! Just like Leonardo’s Vetruvian man. Of art and science going hand in hand!”

“I beg you Galileo. Play the game. Pay the bills. Teach the students. Get your daughter married off.”

“They want us not to freely reason Giovanni. They want to control what we say!”

“They don’t care what you think and say Galileo, as long as you don’t undermine them.”

“We can measure it Giovanni. We can see it in the telescopes. But they want us to say the sun and planets dance around the Earth!”

It is surreal being in a city where cars have been minimised. The streets are empty of traffic but for buses, and pedestrians don’t own the roads, but walk with leisure. Where there is traffic, there is a kind of even bargaining-power between pedestrians and cars for road access.

Walking out my door and see the top of the London Eye I am reminded I’m in a place that is not quite home. The chill dry 10° air adds to the sense of wonder.

Across from my accommodation is a children’s play equipment that feels a level up from anything the Canada Bay Council ever provided. 

Across from my accommodation is a park which I walk into without a care in the world. There is a tent with smoke coming out of it that appears to sell food. I asked them what’s on offer and they say jerk chicken. I recall last time in London when I had to get them to explain what jerk chicken was.

As I wait for my order, I look around the daffodils in the park and listen to the radio on in the background. On the radio the journalist is interviewing a local politician about vacant land tax policy. The journalist appears to grill the politician for inconsistencies in a way that I’m not used to in Australia.

Picking up my order there is a wonderful smell of barbecue sauce. I realise there’s enough here for both breakfast and lunch. I ponder sitting with the tulips and the daffodils but decide to keep going.

Walking through the tunnels to get to the underground at Waterloo station at 8.30 brings in a strong sense of the familiar and different. There is a very strong sense of being at Wynyard commuter hour.

Leicester Square station feels likeSt James station, but expanded out times 10. 

Coming out of Leicester Square station I hit the theatre District and I wonder of white brick 5-story buildings.

I pause for a moment and have breakfast chicken with William Shakespeare. His messages “there is no darkness but ignorance“. Whilst I appreciate the self-congratulatory nature of the message,  I note that the statue was put up in 1874, the full height of British Empire. As I said, William argues with me, and says that he is ambivalent to the nature of empire and wants to celebrate the the playful flexibility of language and its tooling for many contexts. Then Shakespeare tells me that the meaning is the opposite. As Feste (the fool) in Twelfth Night mocks the pompousness of Malvolio (and perhaps the Empire Minded) for their shaded knowledge.

I walked past a vast TWG tea shop. A symbolic reminder of when ships sailed the world carrying tea as a primary source of international trade. 

When I walk through Piccadilly Circus, I am entranced by the white buildings.  Here I have a video call with family evening with background picturesque. 

A tea shop offer desserts that seem a level up from what I’m used to.

I walked past a book shop offering gift subscriptions again a service I’ve never heard of but seems wonderful. 

I pause outside another tea shop waiting for it to open, and snack on some gloriously smoky barbecue chicken.

The coming of the hour is marked by an exuberant chiming clock, It’s mechanics celebrating its Victorian design. Appreciating the attention, the clock goes on to play another four bars of a different tune.

More accent delights, clipped tongue, glottal stops, consonant clusters, and many more. 

Walking back to the station I find two delights one a Japanese desert place offering a strawberry cream cake.

Second I find what appears to be a coffee shop actually offering Turkish Salep (warm drink).

At Kings Cross St Pancras station I see a sign on the escalators that says “please stand to the right.” Mystery partially solved but missing the reasoning. 

Another underground to Kings Cross Station.

I pause at Euston Road to say hello to the Isaac Newton statue outside the British Library. I have some thoughts about this Newton Statue that I’ll put in another post. (The artistic message of this statue is a punch in the face.)

The train to Crewkerne leaves Waterloo station and pauses at Clapham Junction. That feels familiar. 

The train signs strongly indicate a preference for quietness, but are ambivalent about eating and subtle on litter. 

Dad greets us with his dog Trixie. Later we go for a walk around the village, and squirrels dash up trees.

Dinner at The Ropemaker. Dog Friendly Pubs!

Lots of good conversations with Dad.

Day 1

Keynote – Dave Farley – Engineering for Software  – How to Amplify Creativity

@davefarley77 www.davefarley.net

Dave answers the question “What are the durable ideas – that if we use in our work – are going to give us a chance of success?”

Dave has wonderful illustrations, the Space Station, engineering rockets, the development of cars, and it is clear he loves planes. We see his technocratic passion for the industrial revolution and how this impacts our lives as software engineers.

Timothy McNamara – When to Choose Rust

@TimClicks @TimClicks@mastodon.nz

Tim loves rust and compares common errors in C, Go, Java, Javascript and shows how these errors would be covered off the Rust compiler. His live-coding is entertaining and shouting “Yahoo” in a NZ accent at the output was priceless. His advice on how to win people of its value in your workplace was invaluable.

Lily Mara – A Kafkaesque series of events

Lily digs into the detail of solving concurrency problems whilst working around Kafka’s partition limit. Good diagnosis of a production issue and how they diagnosed and fixed it.

Matt Ranney – Migrations – The hardest actual problem in computer science

Matt gives a very grounded view of doing migrations in large Silicon valley company. His insights included “If you use the phrase ‘source of truth’ then I know you’re not committed to an ‘always on’ migration.”

Michelle Gleeson – Sensible Defaults for Tech Management

You need sensible defaults for management to defend against decisions of inexperienced managers and to provide equitable decision making.

Fred George – Sabotaging a Transformation

So much wonderful wisdom and experience from Fred. You can tell he has been around the block many times trying to change organisations.

“To be a change agent – you have to be willing to create a stink. Escalate and escalate. Don’t be afraid to get a consultant to do this, when they say a crazy thing, you look reasonable.”

Aino Vonge Corry – What We (Should Have) Learned from the Lord of the Rings

“Gandalf was a manager who gave a high degree of autonomy. He will leave you to figure it out, and then turn up the last minute to deal with the dragon.”

Astrid Atkinson – Building The Self-Driving Grid

“Climate change is not something we have already failed at, or a single tipping point. every single action to help with decarbonisation matters – the opportunity to have an impact is full of meaning and opportunity. “

“we are applying the methods used to solve large-scale computing problems, like load balancing, to the challenges of the electricity grid”

“solar generation lowers apparent demand – creating a ‘duck curve’ (an emu curve in Australia because there is bigger use of solar)”

“When you can light things on fire – you have a different pressure on your software engineering. Fundamentally this is about trust. “

“I want a toaster where it could burn the weather into my toast…”

“We need to have a street or town operate as a micro-grid. The goal is not to have it completely isolated, but to be able to ride out small disturbances in connectivity – same as what we do in computing. “

Sara Achour – Programming Systems for Analog Hardware

Sara Achour at #YOW22 leaves the room with their mouths open as she describes a compiler that can take an equation describing a dynamical system and output a hardware description for *non-digital logic* but still get your answer.

Simon Brown – C4 Models as Code

Simon Brown demonstrates a system for individual teams maintaining a generated diagram of their system, and then loading that into an organisation view of all the integrated systems.

James Lewis – Software Architecture, Team Topologies and Complexity Science

Whenever you see hierarchies – you expect sublinear scaling (y less than x) – whether physical or informational – this is due to the shape of the network itself.

Alison Rosewarne & Stewart Gleadow – Fighting Software Entropy

Insightful look at applying principles from physics in reversing entropy in product IT systems.

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Lars Klint –  Turning Dreaming into Doing – A Life manual for Nerds

@larsklint
Are you truly happy? What are your goals? Be intentional. Do it. (and don’t watch Netflix).