James Bell

@sarcain@ruby.social
116 Followers
211 Following
2K Posts

South East Asian-raised web person, co-organiser of the Scottish Ruby User Group, and Engineering Manager at FreeAgent

@sarcainian on Twitter

he/him

James Bell18h ago
Quinn Norton18h ago

This thread is so wonderful and so... human. Deep time human.

I do love us sometimes.
https://mastodon.online/@sarahtaber/114931894620904505

Sarah Taber (@sarahtaber@mastodon.online)

Attached: 1 image So they found a 125,000 yr old Neanderthal fat rendering plant & I have thoughts. Knowing that they loved saturated fat SO MUCH that they industrialized to get as much of it as humanly possible? Makes me feel seen, heard, supported, etc https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adv1257

Mastodon
James Bell5d ago
Jessamyn5d ago

Small town tech support. Phil rings my doorbell (BEFORE NOON) to say his cell-phone-less pal Pablo, age 76, is having urgent laptop issues. Doesn't want to come to drop-in time and wait. I tell Phil to tell Pablo to come over (b/c I am a prima donna who won't use the phone for tech support) and ask what kind of laptop he has "A Mac"

Pablo shows up around 12:30 with his 9 year old PC (Phil's not great with computers either) and we take a look. He tells me one of those spooky computer stories....

James BellJul 20
Electromagnetic FieldJul 20

We are finally ready to announce that EMF 2026 will happen on July 16-19, 2026, at Eastnor Castle Deer Park, Herefordshire.

Expect more updates soon as we start spinning up the organisation again.

James BellJul 17
Jess👾Jul 15

Hey "seniors":

Ask "stupid questions" where your juniors can see you asking them and getting answers from other people. Don't make juniors feel alone in not knowing something and being the only ones asking for help.

James BellJul 17
Dr. Cat HicksJul 12

This study includes ALL THE FIRST AND SECOND GRADERS ENROLLED IN SCHOOL IN FRANCE

"the gender gap increased with schooling rather than with age. These findings point to the first year of school as the time and place where a maths gender gap emerges in favour of boys"

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09126-4

Rapid emergence of a maths gender gap in first grade - Nature

Boys and girls exhibit very similar maths scores upon school entry, but a gender gap in favour of boys becomes highly significant after 4 months of schooling, which increases with years of schooling, independently of age.

Nature
James BellJul 17
Paddy DukeJul 15

#webdesign and #webdev folks:

How often do you use fixed breakpoint media queries in your CSS?

By that I mean set breakpoints based on the browser viewport, whether they use relative units or pixels. Also let me know if you use a predefined list of values for small/medium/large sizes, or different breakpoints for different elements.

(Please boost for a better sample size)

All the time
28.6%
Fairly frequently
50%
Very rarely
14.3%
Never
7.1%
Poll ended at .
James BellJul 16
Alphastream Jul 16

Shower with Your Battlemat?

Yes, you should indeed shower with your battlemat. Find this and other tips as I add my review of the time-tested Chessex Battlemat.

Mastering Dungeons is on vacation this week! We will be back next week.

Need to "cleanse" your timeline? Teos has a video for you involving showering and battlemats...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQjU6SNzLBo

#DnD #TTRPG

James BellJul 14
North West Ruby User GroupJul 14

This Thursday! Come hear @caius expound the virtues of tugging on those mysterious threads that we happen upon during our day to day code weaving #ruby

https://nwrug.org/events/tugging-threads-july-2025

NWRUG Event: Tugging threads, Thursday 17th July

After last month's Brighton Ruby break we're back for another edition of Ruby in the North West, AKA NWRUG. This month we have our very own Caius (https://ru...

James BellJul 13
Scott Hanselman 👸🏽🐝🌮Jul 12
We are back! #C64 https://www.commodore.net/ The first official Commodore 64 in over 30 years is here - a faithful recreation of the original motherboard on FPGA hardware. HDMI, WiFi, USB, but compatible with every existing cartridge and peripheral. Not an emulator - a recreation. Same price as my first $299
Home | Commodore

Commodore
James BellJul 4
Scott Hanselman 👸🏽🐝🌮Jul 4
It’s so frustrating that there is this illusion that we are all 49%/49% right now. Us versus them, good versus bad, and it’s all because of the BS that is the electoral system. It’s very likely 70% versus 30% and we’re just not seeing representative government.There’s just no common sense right now
×
Julia EvansJun 24

delighted to announce that my new zine "The Secret Rules of the Terminal" is out today!!

You can get it for $12 USD here: https://wizardzines.com/zines/terminal

Show threadJulia EvansJun 24

The reason this zine is called "The Secret Rules of the Terminal" is that I learned more useful things while writing this zine than when writing any other zine, even though I've been using the terminal every day for 20 years.

It really left me feeling like the terminal is full of hidden secrets -- because "the terminal" is made up of so many different pieces, there's no single terminal manual you can read!

Here's the table of contents (which as a bonus shows the components of the terminal!)

Show threadDaniel LandauJun 24
@b0rk I've used the terminal for a long time too and know quite a few of its secrets, but back when you did the (a?) survey a while back I went to answer it fully expecting to learn some new secrets and was happy to indeed learn.
Show threadPaul EmersonJun 24
@b0rk purchased. Thank you for your hard work on this!
Show thread/////Jun 24
@b0rk congrats on the zine. Can't wait to read!
Show threadZaniddJun 24
@b0rk it looks so cool 😎
Show threadJoão S. O. BuenoJun 26

@b0rk I plan in the next few months to resume working on my Terminedia ASCII art/ Terminal framework.

I feel confident the information in this zine will teach me a lot and allow me to include some nice features and behaviors there

Show threadMark DominusJun 24
@b0rk OMG this illustration is SO clever!
Show threadJulia EvansJun 24
@mjd the illustrator (Vladimir) is SO good, often he puts in fun little touches that even I miss until much later
Show threadsvenkJun 24
@b0rk @mjd out of curiosity, did you only "outsource" the cover or do you have all your drawings done by (other) professionals? Can you share details of Vladimir, is he available for other projects too? I like your work and this cover is also amazing.
Show threadJulia EvansJun 24

@svenk @mjd yeah I draw everything except the cover (though often with a lot of help from Marie https://marieflanagan.com/)

this is Vladimir's instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_vlo3y_/

MCLF

Designing and building play experiences, experimental games, installations, events, and spaces for people.

Show threadMark DominusJun 24
@b0rk It reminds me of Gary Overacre's “Unix Magic” poster. https://archive.org/details/unix-magic-poster-gary-overcare-1
UNIX Magic Poster by Gary Overcare : Gary Overacre : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

The classic UNIX magic poster by Overacre was distributed at past USENIX conferences and featured a white bearded wizard with UNIX related things around him,...

Internet Archive
Show threadJulia EvansJun 24
@mjd that was definitely an inspiration
Show threadFinnJun 25
@mjd @b0rk oh I definitely worked with that guy in college (the one depicted I mean, not the illustrator)
Show threadMoss (the τεχie) <(fsm)>{{Jun 24
@b0rk
Has this been approved by The Elders of the Internet?
Show thread∴ esoterik ∴Jun 24
@b0rk A=awesome; printf "\\r\033[35m${A} ${A} ${A}\033[0m\\n"
Show threadP. AndiJun 24
@b0rk congrats on launch! I love how many zines you've made. zines are the best (this is pam btw from cegep)
Show threadJulia EvansJun 24
@blueberryjams aw nice to see you on here!
Show threadrgegriff (On a new server)Jun 24
@b0rk instant buy decision! Amazing work!
Show threadNathan SchneiderJun 24
@b0rk Yay just bought mine!
Show threadZaͩnͦsͤt̀́rͤa̅̆̈Jun 24

@b0rk Cool cover! The middle woman looks a lot like Franka:

https://franka.nl/product/franka-magazine-2/

Show threadJack C.Jun 24
@b0rk just picked up my copy! I remembered excitedly that I actually own a color printer now, so I'll be printing this and other ones that I've picked up previously 😁
Show threadabadideaJun 24
@b0rk we need more of this cover’s energy in the world
Show threadWordCamp CanadaJun 24
@b0rk Does this solidly Canadian product have a bulk rate for meetups and conferences? Asking for a friend. 😃
Show threadJulia EvansJun 24
@WordCampCanada very happy to set something up for you! just email support@wizardzines.com
Show threadTony PapoušekJun 24
@b0rk ordered - excited for the print!
Show threadRaven667Jun 24
@b0rk got it, thanks for all the hard work compiling all this info. I'm digging the cover art, trying to catch every piece of visual language, like the obvious fish in the bowl but also the glob in a globe, color pallete and other fun details.
Show threadPower_to_the_People (he/him)Jun 24
@b0rk Wow, this looks great, & it's probably exactly what I need! I'm an old codger who's been using Linux for years, but limited to GUI. Now there's a program that I want mucho, but its package isn't in my distro's repositories. Tried "winging it" via the terminal, but no joy and I don't know why. I think you may just have saved the day! Ordering the zine asap! Many thanks!
Show threadsuperketchup Jun 24
@b0rk as a real nerd I prefer plain text documents …
Show threadNeville ParkJun 25
@superketchup @b0rk try pdftotext $file | less!
Show threadsuperketchup Jun 25
@nev @b0rk
^_^
( o o )
\_O_/
Show threadWTLJun 24
@b0rk Ordered!
Show threadmanchickenJun 25
@b0rk this looks so friggin’ cool, I had to buy it in print too.
Show threadEjner BorgbjergJun 25
@b0rk the table of contents is sort of short... how many pages is the publication actually?
Show threadJulia EvansJun 25
@ejner1 28
Show threadLars ChristiansenJun 25
@b0rk Just bought / discovered this zine, a delightful moment for me who is at best an occasional terminal user. It will help preventing me from procrastinating myself away from the terminal. An instant buy and a steal at $12.
Show threadAFROJun 25
@b0rk Just purchased a copy!
Show threadleberschnitzelJun 25
@b0rk all of those Zines look great! Will order the printed ones once I moved :)
Show threadMatt ZagajaJun 25
@b0rk this is the best $12 I've spent this month
Show threadRetJun 25
@b0rk just bought this - looks excellent. Can't wait to have a thumb through this evening.
Show threadRetJun 25
@b0rk aaand printed too! After debugging why my printer kept saying "Out of Memory". Love it!
Show threadCeBeJun 25
@b0rk
Congratulations! Proud to be a small part of this as a beta reader. Will order a print for my collection.
Show threadVaishali ThakkarJun 26
@b0rk Wow, that illustration is amazing 🤩
Show threadHumberto Fraga Jun 26
@b0rk I don't know if this code is from you or from the platform, but it has made my day.
Show threadSindarina, Edge Case DetectiveJun 26
@b0rk I am a bit confused; why does the store demand that I supply a full billing address, including a valid phone number, when I am just buying a download link to a PDF, and you already get my email address 'in case you need to contact me about my order'?
Show threadJulia EvansJun 26

@sindarina your email address is so you can get a confirmation email with a link to the PDF

but the phone number part is silly, i wish i could turn that off, you can just enter a fake phone number

Show threadSindarina, Edge Case DetectiveJun 26
@b0rk Yeah, I understand why you need the email, I guess the rest is just the shop SaaS, heh.
Show threadAwkward TuringJun 26
@b0rk best cheatsheets 
Show threadPaul SuttonJul 4

@b0rk

This could be an excellent resource for @missionlibre

On that topic if anyone aged 13 - 19 is interested in learning about free software this could be a useful thing to get involved with

Show threadJeff McNeillJul 5
@b0rk Lovely in Dark Mode (Evince on Debian)
Show threaddill5d ago
@b0rk Wow love the format!