T is quite an ecstatic atmosphere here around the stadium, not just because it’s early (4PM still very bright in August) but also sunny and the dramatic win not too long ago resonates in the minds of people. I’ve just seen some butterflies coming by and Bottle sits on the door handle.

We’re now just hours away from the long-awaited birthday celebration and today I made some preparations while sunbathing. It’s sunny, but not too hot, so that’s just perfect (no sweating). This morning I bought some gifts I’ve long looked for.

My aim this week – the last week of vacation – isn’t to publish much but to relax as much as possible. On Friday Manchester City has an away match in London. The opponent didn’t far well last season (unlike Bournemouth), so it should not be so hard to win.

HE change of style of the local “Viking” (born here) might impact the looks or hairstyle of locals. I myself inadvertently imitated Haaland’s style, but I think I’ll stay with what I have. It’s not hard to manage.

It meanwhile seems like City belatedly got its turnaround.

Well done, Enzo. Welcome!

think there are many people in society that are imposters and very well know they are imposters. So what bothers them most are critics and people who expose that they’re imposters, as those latter people represent a risk to them. Sometimes those are colleagues.

Each time Garrett is called out on his lack of qualifications in security he’d post some circle-jerking self-praise and buzzword-dropping in social control media. To be clear, asserting that work on ACPI trains you at security like insisting that writing a CS thesis trains you to be a good physician.

The skills of physicians are very different. They need not write theses. Diagnosis is very important.

“It’s worse,” a friend has told me, as “the “security” degrees in the EU, even the PhD theses which I have seen, don’t cite any of the recognised, foundational articles or authors. It’s all a circle jerk of bullshit. But Microsoft likes it that way.”

Nowadays they call back doors “security”. Real security experts get marginalised.

Don’t claim to be what you are not. It won’t end well.

he team without Bernardo, KDB, Rodri and others is still failing to deliver. It made a comeback against Atlético Madrid, then suffered a humiliating defeat to Arsenal. Both away from the local stadium.

It’s looking like this time the disappointment comes home.

When “Pep” arrived it took him a whole season to deliver results. How much time will Maresca get?

N the modest local market we buy almost everything. We pay with cash, we enjoy every moment of it unless it’s rainy, and we can return things if they’re faulty (provided we know the vendor and choose a reliable one based on reputation/pedigree/word of mouth).

One thing I learned over the years is that forming personal connections/relations with vendors doesn’t just give you “free stuff”, it also gives you useful friendships, sometimes “free advice”.

I may need to find gift/s in market today (Sunday Market), then make 5 or 6 cards for Rianne, so I don’t expect many articles to be published throughout the day. I always enjoy writing unique things, but then again… “s/n ratio” (Signal-to-Noise Ratio) matters. Besides, it’s a Sunday!

Lately we’ve seen lots of VERY good news regarding Free software, not just taking into account the rapid growth of GNU/Linux this summer. Maybe the Summer Vacation (long break for Western nations in particular) gives people time and incentive to explore GNU/Linux, resulting in usage surges; I’ve just told a friend that I don’t wanna ‘miss’ those surges due to stories I can tell ‘later’ (no rush) – mostly the personal stories about lawfare, for those aren’t so time-sensitive anyhow.

I will improve “s/n ratio” here and in other sites. Maybe I’ll make “s/n ratio” a sort of New Year’s Resolution as well, some time in late December. A quota system (like “no more than 10 posts in this site per day”) would be too prohibitive and restrictive because numbers alone don’t say much and not all posts are similar in length/importance.

HE term “s/n ratio” (shorthand for the above) is short, simple, and catchy. It implies we should strive for quality, not quantity, or at least for relevance.

Some months ago I became growingly aware that technical blogs where I wrote contained “too many” personal stories, which may or may not bore some of the target audience. That’s when I began writing a lot more here, in my old blog from 2004 (yes, 22 years ago).

While it’s tempting to write a lot when one has plenty to say maintaining a high “s/n ratio” is a challenge one must take seriously and tackle in a timely fashion.

One reason social control media is so time-wasting is the lack of scope. For instance, you follow someone for covering xyz, then the next day the person will write about some totally unrelated things or post holiday photos.

‘ve just found this 15-year-old performance by 10cc. I particularly like how ~40 years later they still sound mostly the same (I assume they’re not smokers) and can play reasonably well, recreating their work from the mid-70s. The fact all of them are alive and mentally well (enough to go on stage) is a sign of good health and happiness.

Many musicians (both new and old) don’t last long. They perish (die) or become unable to perform within a short period of time. It’s a form of burnout.

Lo and behold, Wikipedia says: “On July 2nd, the record label Breaking Wave announced that it had signed 10cc to release a new album later in 2026″ (that’s last month).