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Loughrea Unlocked
I'm on the map! No matter what else my mother and I achieve this week, my name will forever be recorded as the unlocker of the Loughrea graticule in Ireland: https://geohashing.site/geohashing/Ireland -
Horse-Powered Locomotives
You're probably familiar with the story of George and Robert Stephenson's Rocket, a pioneering steam locomotive built in 1829.
If you know anything, it's that Rocket won a competition and set the stage for a revolution in railways lasting for a century and a half that followed. It's a cool trains, history, horses, steam, travelSabbatical Magic
A couple of weeks ago, I kicked off my first sabbatical since starting at Automattic a little over five years ago.
The first fortnight of my sabbatical has consisted of:
Three Rings CIC's AGM weekend and lots of planning for the future of the organisation and how we make it a betterHour of Ambiguity
Here in my hotel room, high above Barcelona, I woke up. It was still dark outside, so I looked to my phone - sitting in its charging cradle - as a bedside clock. It told me that the time was 02:30 (01:30 back home), and that the sun would rise at 07:17.
But how long would it be, until time, published on gemini, spain, timezones, travelMeetup Magic
I've spent the last week in Tulum, on Mexico's beautiful Yucatan Peninsula, for an Automattic meetup. And as usual for these kinds of work gatherings, it was magical (and, after many recent departures, a welcome opportunity to feel a closer connection to those of us that remain).
Only after automattic, cocktails, work, travel, memorable, magic, party, swimmingHurricane Milton
From safely outside of its predicted path, just around the Yucatan coast, Hurricane Milton seems like a forboding and distant monster. A growing threat whose path will thankfully take it away, not towards, me.
My heart goes out to the people on the other side of the Gulf of Mexico who findWindow Tax
...in England and Wales
From 1696 until 1851 a "window tax" was imposed in England and Wales. Sort-of a precursor to property taxes like council tax today, it used an estimate of the value of a property as an indicator of the wealth of its occupants: counting the number of windows provided the tax, automattic, capitalism, history, politics, canal, work, boats, travel, windows, laws, published on gemini, netherlandsNerd Sniped Traveller
I think I might be more-prone to nerd sniping when I'm travelling.
Last week, a coworker pointed out an unusually-large chimney on the back of a bus depot and I lost sleep poring over 50s photos of Dutch building sites to try to work out if it was original.
When a boat tour guide told me netherlands, travel, geekyIcebreakers - Heraldry and Compairs
I'm in Amsterdam for a meetup for my new team at Automattic.
When we've not been out tackling escape rooms, finding geocaches, and eating curry, we've been doing a variety of activities to help solidify our new team's goals, priorities, and expertise: y'know, the normal things you might automattic, networking, games, work, travel, escape rooms, game, netherlandsFreedom of the Mountain
During a family holiday last week to the Three Valleys region of the French Alps for some skiing, I came to see that I enjoy a privilege I call the freedom of the mountain.
The Freedom
The freedom of the mountain is a privilege that comes from having the level of experience necessary to take published on gemini, travel, skiing, holiday