Nicholas Bate starts another essential series of posts, life reminders
I’ve been giving a second look at React over the last few weeks.
What I like about React is that it’s widely adopted and has a large community. I still need to find some time to build something with it though. I have enough tutorials to get me started which is good.
Debating clowns
I didn’t miss much then with last night’s election debate.
BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg said it was not clear if either men had won or lost the debate but it was striking how the audience had been ready to laugh at their statements.
— Election debate: Johnson and Corbyn clash over Brexit - BBC News
And that pretty much sums up UK politics just now. Two guys making empty promises and being laughed at by the very people who have the choice to vote for them.
This election is the stuff of nightmares.
Trying to get organised with Things again so that I can abate this ongoing state of procrastination or just plain old forgetting everything.
Sleep deprivation on the rise
It seems we now need naps at work.
A recently published study from Indiana’s Ball State University, which examined self-reported sleep duration of 150,000 people, found the numbers of respondents who got seven hours of sleep per night or less rose to 35.6% in 2018 from 30.9% in 2010. About half of the respondents who were police officers and healthcare workers reported not getting enough sleep.
Is there more to this story?
Are there any other causes of sleep deprivation? Perhaps mobile phone use? The rise in sleep deprivation since 2010 is eerily close to the rise in mobile phone use, especially with the increased use of social media.
How many times do you find yourself surfing on your phone in bed?
It’s a terrible habit that I’ve been trying to break to give myself more sleep. Not only that, but I’m trying to set a good example for my kids. They need their sleep even more than I do.
Even so, if sleep deprivation is not related to this, there’s another argument. If you are allowed to nap at work, then why not offer employees a small reduction in hours so that they can get the right amount of sleep?
We all have to take responsibility for getting the right amount of sleep. However, in this age of always on technology, there has to be a way in which we can get the work-life balance right so that people shouldn’t need to nap at work.
Tonight’s goal is to build a better image upload experience in my Rails application. I’ve never really bothered too much about adding drag and drop to my applications, but for image uploads is a much better experience than using a file picker.
I always love the superb view at my parent’s garden in the winter.
Over the years, I’ve taken a few pictures like this, some with leaves everywhere, some with frost, and even a couple with snow. I’ve yet to capture the deer that sometimes wander into the garden, though.
I’m not sure if it’s age or wisdom (they’re not exactly the same), but as these increase, I’m becoming increasingly selective about the technology that I introduce into my life.
Watching Jaws tonight. The murky waters in the movie are much more realistic looking than the more modern shark movies.
Had a wee listen there to “Protect Ya Neck” by Wu-Tang Clan.