Mum
It’s happened. That what everyone was so scared to bring up but nonetheless inevitable. You. Are. Gone.
There was nearly no joy left in your life in the last year and a half. Not after you lost your beloved husband and, unexpectedly, your eldest son.
You have never been outside since. Not that you wanted it anyway. You couldn’t sleep, you lost weight, and you were suffering from pain in the leg you broke almost two years ago.
So long twenty-twenty-one
Image by Gordon Johnson/Pixabay.
It’s time for a traditional upshot post again; we’ve all had a crazy year with all that pandemic bustle. And as the year nears its end I realise one gets imminently used even to crazy.
When it comes to my blog I haven’t been particularly active, so here is my year’s roundup.
COVID-19 (20, 21, …)
I need to begin with a sad recent event: on December 15th my older brother Serge Kann passed away. It happened exactly a year after my dad died, and from the same cause: due to post-COVID complications.
Ymuse ‣ 0.18
My interview for Verdict UK
Verdict UK have published my interview in their weekly CTO Talk series. There I shared some personal facts, answered question about my role at Postoplan and reflected on the present and the future of technology.
once.to ‣ October update: URL Explorer, bookmarklets, sharing
💡Characters & Compose key: how to type unusual characters in Linux
A devoted reader of my blog might have noticed that I care about typography. For instance, my use of em-dash — which I love — or ⌀, the diameter symbol. That involves the use of special techniques while typing.
It’s also worth noting that many people prefer to communicate with emojis over letters nowadays (which is even reflected in modern architecture).
While it’s quite trivial to enter such characters on a smartphone, it may get tricky when it comes to a Linux desktop. But fear not, for that is actually taken care of: there are even multiple ways of inserting your favourite 🐱.
once.to ‣ September update: statistics, redirects, abuse reports
We’re back with a number of updates about the world’s fastest link shortener once.to!
This edition’s highlights: phishing, abuse, slugs and redirects!
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Shortly after once.to went out of beta the service got flooded with phishing and otherwise malevolent links. There were dozens of them created during a short timespan, all leading to pages mimicking login pages of banks, Facebook, Google and so on.
Kubernetes Application Developer certification
Yesterday’s Friday 13th proved to be a lucky day for me as I became a Certified Kubernetes Application Developer (CKAD).
For those not familiar with Kubernetes (K8s), it’s the most popular and advanced platform for cloud deployments. It’s been initially developed by Google, and is used in nearly every mature cloud these days.
It also runs our once.to URL shortener, by the way.
Kubernetes is an awesome platform: powerful, flexible, and — last but not least — open-source.
But back to the certification: as always, there are nuances, which I’d like to share with you, hopefully they can be of use.
Norse Life — The Best Viking Sites in Scandinavia
Photo by Veroniki Thetis Chelioti/Unsplash.
Scandinavia is known for many things. From the beautiful coastal sceneries of Dueodde Beach on Denmark’s Bornholm island and Norway’s Svalbard outpost, to the enchanting treks through the isolated Hornstrandir peninsula, this region has become a mainstay in the bucket lists of explorers and globetrotters the world over.
The region has also become known for its unique-sounding place names, making destinations in Scandinavia all the more appealing to foreigners. Not only is Finland home to Äteritsiputeritsipuolilautatsijänkä, the third-longest place name in Europe, but a geography facts post on Gala Bingo also highlights how there are villages in Sweden and Norway just called Å — the shortest place names in the world.
once.to ‣ July update: out of beta, 25% discount
Today the world’s best link shortener once.to has officially lost its beta status!
Here’s a short summary of what we’ve been up to in the past thirty days or so.
Sound Switcher Indicator ‣ 2.3.6
The version 2.3.6 of the Sound Switcher Indicator has been released, featuring improved keyboard shortcuts and device display.