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Restocking
As I was moving my larder shelves, I was throwing out everything that had expired. There was rather a lot, nearly half a bin bag's worth of stuff. This, due to the relative inaccessibility, was why I started to make a spreadsheet and why I wanted to have a stock control system with the new setup - in order than things would not be lost and/or forgotten.
As it turns out, putting the shevles flat against the wall has made things a lot more accessible. So much so that I'm not sure if I even needed to have a stock control system - but, hey, it was fun to throw one together. ☺
Anyway, I went shopping yesterday to replace some things and to stock up on that which I felt like I was missing. Here's how it looks now.
 Colourful, isn't it?
Larder v0.05
In the process of moving everything over, I discovered that it was rather a pain to have to enter the same thing multiple times. It was an easy fix to add in a prompt to ask how many. The default is '1' and if that's good then simply press Enter to add one of whatever. Otherwise, type in a new number then press Enter. Note that the '1' is a "ghost number", you do not need to delete it, just start typing in a new number.
I also fixed a nasty bug in the CSV export code where I was incorrectly looking to see if the pointer was null, rather than the first character pointed to by that pointer.
In code terms, this is the difference between "if ( name == '\0' ) and if ( name[0] == '\0' ). As you can see, it's a tiny change but a very significant one.
I also added in another CSV export. This time to the Inventory menu. It write, to <Larder$Dir>.^.amounts/csv a file containing the items names and how many of each are in stock. This is intended for loading back into something like Fireworkz or Google Sheets in order to know how many of things you have (or print it out, whatever).
Celebration
In order to celebrate moving those shelves, which has been on my to do list for ages, I decided to treat myself to something.
A new TV so I'm not watching a 7" screen? A new Pi 400 or somesuch? A big box of chocolates? A Big Mac maybe?
Nope. I got myself a new desk lamp and a bag of rice.
 This is how I party...
The desk lamp is from Lidl. It is an LED lamp, runs off USB (so it is currently plugged into the same power block that is running this Pi 3B+) and it has a little touch sensitive lump in the cable that allows me to select bright, medium, dim, off. It isn't quite as bright as the anglepoise lamp, but it's more than suitable for the desk. Plus, the three intensity options are greatly appreciated.
The rice is a variety called Nijinokikirameki. That's quite a mouthful, it translates as Rainbow Twinkle which sounds like something right out of My Little Pony. I believe is a new strain of Koshihikari (traditional sushi style rice) that has been bred to support higher temperatures (climate change and all) and be more blight resistant. It also gives a higher yield. Apparently it is slightly less sweet than Koshihikari but it has a good visual aspect (shininess) after cooking. It is also notably less expensive than its contemporaries.
This bag of rice, 1kg, was polished in Japan on the 7th of July and shipped over directly from the rice growers in Niigata, which is the region reputed to create the best rice. As you can imagine, I'm quite looking forward to trying out this rice.
In addition to that, it is actually imported by Satsuki. That's the "little" company based in Lyon that I get my Japanese stuff from. Well, not so little any more. Nikko has done a good job in developing his company from a small mail order operation to a place with a shop and warehouse that imports their own products. A big thumbs up to him.
And since I was having to pay some postage, I also threw in a pack of Sweet Sakura Tea which is exactly what the name would lead you to expect - black tea with cherry leaves and blossoms. And just for an extra treat, some yuzu gummy sweets for that subtle hit that's a bit like a cross between a lemon and a lime.
Just add fire
I went and took a few photos of the recent Super Blue Moon Supermoon. Quite disappointing, it wasn't blue. Actually a "supermoon" is a full moon that occurs when the moon is closest to the earth, thus making its apparent size slightly larger, and a blue moon is either the second full moon in a month, or (as in this case), the third full moon in a season containing four. It's not as rare as the names might suggest.
As I came inside, this is what the living room looked like.
 Darkness.
Time to add fire.
 Oh, much cosier.
Hmm... wasn't there a film in the '80s called "Sixteen Candles"? ☺
Speaking of lunar madness
A couple of days ago I watched "The Boy Who Would Be King" on FilmFour. It's a modern retelling of Arthurian legend by the guy who did "Attack The Block".
There were two things that let the film down for me, and spoilers follow.
The first is the end of the movie (yes, spoilers) has the boy roping in a lot of the rest of the school to fight the... Darkness? Forces of evil? Whatever. They put on these daft-looking sort-of-knight outfits and get maybe a half hour or so of learning how to fight with a sword.
Nobody screams. Nobody pees. Nobody is like "screw this, I'm going home". And because this is a British movie, nobody asks "why are we risking our lives using swords when we could just go find a Gatling gun?".
Worse yet, they are fighting fiery dead knights on flaming horses - yes, you read that correctly, here's a picture...
 This was Ghost Rider before they invented motorbikes.
Now, from my school days, I can well imagine there would be some "well 'ard" boys that would be like "give me two swords, arsehole". They'd be the ones that wouldn't see the next sunrise but would have legends written about them. There would also be some who would scream like a girl and run, probably in such a state of panic that they'd run straight into solid objects, like walls. And the rest of us? Probably dead because we'd be too shocked to be capable of basic functions, like running. I mean, what do you think would be your response to seeing dozens of blokes on horses on fire? Unless you're an expert sword swinger or versed in some form of magic (actual magic, not pretending to be one of the cast of The Craft), probably best not to even try.
But as we know, magic isn't real. But then, neither are dead flaming knights. Which is why seeing a bunch of them would cause complete cerebral malfunction. And maybe some other malfunctions.
So that part didn't seem even remotely realistic.
The next quibble is perfectly described by this next photo.
 Note the glowing object in the sky.
The evil woman/witch/sorcerer/whatever was going to do some magical mojo in two (or was it three at this point?) days during the solar eclipse. That would not have been good. Darkness spreads across the world, blah blah. The only thing they were missing was Christopher Walken. But they did manage to squeeze in an old-looking Jean-Luc Picard, so I guess there's that.
Now, it makes for some rather stunning photography of the barren Cornish landscape (hey! I've been to Tintagel!) but maybe, you might have thought, a former Enterprise class ship Captain could have told them THE MOON DOESN'T WORK LIKE THAT.
I know it is horribly nit-picky, but if the Moon can go from a nice full moon (in other worse, opposite to the Sun) to a Moon capable of eclipsing (in other words, between the Earth and the Sun) in two (or three) days, then we have far bigger problems than some evil biddy on a power trip.
And, yes, I'm aware I'm pointing out an astronomical fail (a pretty bloody big one if you ask me) in a film that features a ghostly arm rising out of water three times to give a sword (twice) and receive it (once). Yes, the Arloedhes an Lynn (in Cornish because that's where we first see her) who might have been Morgan, but that's not a detail the film concerns itself with.
Also, just for the record, the supporting cast are rather clichéd characters - the bully that discovers redemption, the dweeb that discovers courage, and the mouthy girl that discovers friendship. Shouldn't one of them have been a lion and the other a scarecrow and...?
The visual effects were good (the horses especially), the cast weren't bad if a little OTT at times (particularly young Merlin), and the score was superb. It was...the script. There's a certain amount of suspension of belief necessary for a film like this, especially one aimed, I presume, at children...but this is no Goonies. Too formulaic. Too relying on stock characters. And, the entire world is in danger and we're all saved by a bunch of children that... actually... enough. They didn't show anybody getting hurt. Which means there's no risk, no suspense, no stakes, nothing. Those kids would probably have suffered more in PE than fighting off demons. Dumb.
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| Zerosquare, 22nd August 2024, 01:08 |
Those yuzu gummy sweets do taste good indeed, but I find them a bit overpriced... |
| David Pilling, 22nd August 2024, 02:18 |
Staring at the larder... is there a protocol, that says new items are put in at the bottom of the pile or on the left, or at the back. Then you may come upon the problem of the item you just bought at the shop being older than one that is in stock - which is the 'newest' - shop storage may be better than home.
Maybe the app can help, tell you the date of what you've got in stock when you're in the shop. |
| jgh, 23rd August 2024, 21:04 |
As a treat to celebrate my first week of work I bought a proper-USB to USB-C adapter (well, I ordered it on Wednesday and it arrived today), so I can now plug in my mini keyboard to my work tablet and Actually. Properly. Actually. Use. the damn thing. Until today I was on the point of smashing the ****** thing against the edge of a table.
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| Rick, 23rd August 2024, 22:37 |
I'd hate to be one of the younger generation brought up to think that the ideal way to "type" is thumb dexterity.
Can't beat a real keyboard. I use the Android portable, or various Bluetooth keyboards with my phones/tablets. I can't imagine doing serious writing by prodding a piece of glass. Ugh. |
| Clive Semmens, 27th August 2024, 17:03 |
"I can't imagine doing serious writing by prodding a piece of glass. Ugh."
This, very much so. But I can't imagine doing serious writing without a decent size screen, either. The 15" laptop screen isn't really enough, but sometimes it has to do. A 5" phone screen?? No thanks. Short messages when out and about, painfully, if absolutely necessary. |
| Rick, 27th August 2024, 17:47 |
That story you read? Seven inch tablet to start with, then a ten inch one.
Screen size, for me, is less important than a functional keyboard. I guess I *could* write using just my phone, but only with a keyboard.
I think the screen on my Pi is the largest I've ever had on RISC OS. It's a 17" 1280×1024. Back in the day, I used a 12 inch AKF12 50Hz RGB monitor. And I have written loads (of crap) using Ovation(Pro).
I even did a few short stories using a Psion 3a organiser (aka Pocketbook II). Tiny but functional keyboard and reasonable but basic text editor.
It's the convenience, I guess. When I get a pile of ideas in my head, the best monitor and Cherry keyboard imaginable is no good if those ideas have dissipated by the time I'm actually sitting in front of the machine.
Like right now. I had a pretty weird dream last night. I turned it over in my mind for a while at work. Now I'm here, in front of the Pi waiting for the kettle to boil, can I remember any of it? Pffft... Nope. |
| Clive Semmens, 27th August 2024, 18:50 |
It's me eyes, innit. I'd have to wear a watchmaker's loupe to read more than a dozen words at once on a phone screen. Most of my writing I do on a 43" 4K screen - which flips easily between the Pi and the Mac. Likewise the proper keyboard and (sadly) a 3-button mouse (I really must get round to USBifying a trackerball...). Just now I'm at the 15" screen Macbook, in the living room - but I'll go upstairs to the proper machines as soon as Grace puts the telly on for the nooz. |
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