Miscellaneous Miscellany

There’s a lot going on, and my brain is a noisy place at the moment, so I thought I’ve got a lot of small updates in one post today, rather than a more focussed single-topic post.

Build Time Improvements — I rolled out a change last night that dramatically reduces the amount of time it takes to build this site. Total time, including all the GitHub Actions spin up/spin down that isn’t actually building but is necessary for it, is ~2 minutes.

The actual build itself is around 30 seconds + some time to index for search. This improvement only affects existing images, so I still have to create some automation around new images, but I have a stop-gap workflow I can use for now.

I discovered a new drink I really like: Brite Lemon and Lime. It claims to be a “natural nootropic” that will “enhance mental performance”, which is quite possibly a load of cobblers… I bought it the first time because it caught my eye in the drinks fridge, and the shop didn’t have anything else I fancied. I subsequently really enjoyed drinking it, so I’ve bought some more. I’ll keep an eye out for any improved focus though. For science.

Inspired by Jarrod, and the One A Month Club, I’ve set up a £1 a month “membership” over on Buy Me A Coffee. Much like with my existing Buy Me a Coffee, I don’t expect much will happen with it, but there’s no harm in presenting people with the option?

Back on the subject of drinks — I recently got myself this 24 fl. oz. Yeti travel cup, and I love it. It holds the perfect amount of coffee for me (I found myself throwing away an amount of coffee with my previous 30 fl. oz cup, because it was just too much), it keeps a drink hot/cold for ages, and fits perfectly into the pouch on the side of my rucksack. As well as using it for my morning coffee I’ve found myself refilling it with water throughout the day (and as a result, drinking loads).

I finally watched Dune: Part One last weekend. It was… fine…? It’s hard to judge. Visually it looks amazing, and really brings the universe to life. The way they show how the shields and combat work, for example, is brilliant. On the other hand, it’s the first act of the larger story and so sort-of feels like it is a movie of set-up and nothing much happening. I’m looking forward to seeing Part Two, when it’s available to watch at home.