WFH rejig

[citoyen]

We had a similar problem with a similar keyboard, solved by sticking (I think I used double sided tape) a 20mm wide strip of 3mm closed cell foam packing material to the tope edge of the back of it. That gave enough resilience and give to even out the slightly uneven desk top.

Good idea! I was going to try blu-tac but I haven't been able to find any around the house yet. Sure we have some somewhere...

[ian]

The cats don't really bother my desk, they sometimes jump up on their way to the executive penthouse bed on top of my office wardrobe (curiously only filled with shoes), but that seems out of favour at the moment.

LMC occasionally sleeps on the sofa which interferes with horizontal meetings.

I was impressed that Citoyan blurred out his 'reading matter.' A gentleman never discloses.

[citoyen]

I was impressed that Citoyan blurred out his 'reading matter.' A gentleman never discloses.

[quixoticgeek]

Extra points for the anglepoise lamp.

Ikea's finest.

Excellent, I wanted one and did wonder whether to spunk £250+ on a genuine Anglepoise or get a cheap knock-off.

£9. Bargain!

Even better, that clamp can be screwed to a vertical surface (such as my shed wall) over a workbench, giving local light without obstruction. Ordered!

Do note, if you move the thing around by grabbing the shade part, it works loose and falls off. Which is annoying. Fortunately the bulb tends to keep it from falling on the floor. Still annoying when you have the hot soldering iron in one hand, and you're trying to fix it one handed with the other...

J

[Ham]

I am simultaneously impressed and awed by those who achieve a tidy minimalist nirvana, and comforted by those, like me, who have a more relaxed approach. Just for the lolz, I might well produce an annotated version, following Ian's inspiration, all depends on  how boring my meetings are today.

[Afasoas]

Disappointed no one else has a Cat Docking Station!

quadruple points for feline content

[quixoticgeek]

quadruple points for feline content

And for content feline...

J

[Mr Larrington]

Estate Office 1 by Mr Larrington, on Flickr


Estate Office 2 by Mr Larrington, on Flickr

Highlights include:

• Ball of pink string for no readily-apparent reason
• The feet of a penguin
• Not an Anglepoise lamp, with its switch and cable carefully screwed to the Thing With The Turntable On It
• Crib sheet for saved notepad++ macros
• Denon AVR-X520BT for Tunes
• Manky IKEA chair with the finish flaking off
• Logitech G27
• IBM Model M
• MSI blinkenlight-equipped mouse
• Glowing red orb that indicates the sub-woofer under the desk is still asleep
• Brother DCP9020 printer/copier/scanner
• Set list from the outfit who supported The Laurence Jones Band at the Oslo in Hackney last November
• No work

[Kim]

You also appear to be fully equipped for playing Staplerfahrer Klaus Simulator 3000

[ian]

Unfortunately, Señor Larrers forgot to share his office selfie. I feel I should address this deficit.

[Ham]

I can see why he always has Windows driver problems

[Pingu]

I'm going to steer clear of any gratuitous punnage.

[Pingu]

Minimalist set up with docked kitties.


IMG_7056_01 by The Pingus, on Flickr

[darkpoint]

or a green screen...

I've been tempted to fill the visible bookshelves behind me with the most appalling/distasteful books I could find (or at least wrapper the existing books in sleeves that made them look like the most appalling books).

Instead I went for a deeply off putting set:-



I have a worrying number of those books on my bookcase.. although most are scheduled to go to music magpie who were willing to give me 4 quid for Unix networking.. 

[citoyen]

• Ball of pink string for no readily-apparent reason

Peripheral for the cat docking station, surely?

[Mr Larrington]

• Ball of pink string for no readily-apparent reason

Peripheral for the cat docking station, surely?

I decide not to bother with the cat docking station, because it would be a bit of a waste of money without a cat to go in it.

[L CC]

Does Pingu's count as a hub, as he has multiple kittehs charging at once?

[Greenbank]

I have a worrying number of those books on my bookcase.. although most are scheduled to go to music magpie who were willing to give me 4 quid for Unix networking.. 

I'd like to be making more money with the left hand side of the bookcase but the right hand side still dominates (and the rails/mysql/javashit books were just for a side project that didn't go anywhere).

In better news the USB-C to DP cable ordered from Amazon turned up today so I am back to dual displays.

Also ordering the Flexispot EC1 desk tonight hopefully. (If I can get my other work out of the way first.)

[Ben T]

I have a worrying number of those books on my bookcase.. although most are scheduled to go to music magpie who were willing to give me 4 quid for Unix networking.. 

I'd like to be making more money with the left hand side of the bookcase but the right hand side still dominates (and the rails/mysql/javashit books were just for a side project that didn't go anywhere).

In better news the USB-C to DP cable ordered from Amazon turned up today so I am back to dual displays.

Also ordering the Flexispot EC1 desk tonight hopefully. (If I can get my other work out of the way first.)

Possibly controversial suggestion - but why have any physical books at all?
Why not just convert get kindle/online versions?
They just take up space.

I think the last book I threw away was on VB6... I haven't needed it since I bought proper monitor risers in about 2006.

[JonBuoy]

Disappointed no one else has a Cat Docking Station!

quadruple points for feline content

Missed the opportunity to get a bit of recursive cat action going though!

[Greenbank]

Possibly controversial suggestion - but why have any physical books at all?
Why not just convert get kindle/online versions?
They just take up space.

I much prefer physical books. Given the pros and cons I find them much easier than screens for the majority of uses.

There are plenty of docs I'll look at online because there's no point having a physical copy of them, but there are some books that I really prefer having physical copies of.

I'm also trying to reduce the amount of technology in my life. I don't want or need a Kindle (or similar).

Horses for courses and each to their own and all that.

[TheLurker]

Possibly controversial suggestion - but why have any physical books at all?
...

Because ...
a) They don't need batteries.
b) I can scribble notes / code fragments on them as I read through which improves / reinforces my understanding of the material being presented.
c) Physical bookmarks, i.e. scraps of paper, are easier to deal with than electronic ones.
d) I find it easier to read dead tree editions because I can flip back and forth.

Having said that, tech. books  do go out of date frighteningly fast and if you're comfortable with PDF et al it's no skin off my nose. 

Coincidentally, I have, in the last week, put nearly all my C, C++ and early version C# manuals in the paper recycling box.  The Java & Android books may be joining them, although I am currently undecided about that.  One of the C books was over 30 years old!

[Ham]

Possibly controversial suggestion - but why have any physical books at all?
Why not just convert get kindle/online versions?
They just take up space.

Virtual books are shit for random access, especially when you don't quite know where you are going, as opposed to flicking through a book

[TheLurker]

Possibly controversial suggestion - but why have any physical books at all?
...

...One of the C books was over 30 years old!

<Esprit d'escalier>
In addition to Ham's cogent and well made point, because they make for good archives.  Electronic versions of stuff are subject to constant (exaggeration for dramatic effect) format churn and online resources like websites come and go like the morning dew* whereas a book printed on good quality acid free paper will last for decades, even centuries.  I had some chemistry texts (qualitative analysis lab manuals) printed in the 1890s and when I finally handed them on a few years ago they were still in excellent condition.


*Try and find an MSDN or KB article from 10 or 15 years ago (because you're working on some "old" sw and need an answer to, say, a config. problem ) will very often get you a 404 or a holding page saying something like,"Obsolete crap. Use our new exciting blah..."

[Ben T]

Possibly controversial suggestion - but why have any physical books at all?
...

Because ...
a) They don't need batteries.
b) I can scribble notes / code fragments on them as I read through which improves / reinforces my understanding of the material being presented.
c) Physical bookmarks, i.e. scraps of paper, are easier to deal with than electronic ones.
d) I find it easier to read dead tree editions because I can flip back and forth.

Having said that, tech. books  do go out of date frighteningly fast and if you're comfortable with PDF et al it's no skin off my nose. 

Coincidentally, I have, in the last week, put nearly all my C, C++ and early version C# manuals in the paper recycling box.  The Java & Android books may be joining them, although I am currently undecided about that.  One of the C books was over 30 years old!

This is it, for me.
If I want to know how to do something, I want to know the current best way of doing it, not the way of doing it when the book was written.
For instance I bet if you look in your java book there's nothing on streams, although they've been around for a while now.

The best example was when I was at uni in about 1999 and I had some revision to do on something called "manchester carry chains", something to do with electronics.
I looked at the book and could find nothing about them. On firing up netscape navigator in the uni library I found they were only invented in 1995, and the book predated them.