That's really cool, Tony!

I couldn't make my post work. It's just a gif!
So if you want to see it (I recommend you do, particularly if you're a fan of octopi), click here.

Speaking of sharing things, here's something I've been meaning to show for some time now.

A favourite game of mine as of late is the 'Kerbal Space Program'. In short, you build rockets and the like to help put a race of little green aliens into space. (It's actually a lot trickier than it sounds.) Like with many games and TV shows, it has a bunch of fan tribute items - in this case, short films made using the game. Often, there is little more than a basic plot and some action sequences and that's it. But one YouTube user managed to take some short films in a different direction, and make something artful. This is one of those films, a tribute to Neil Armstrong and the Apollo program. And yes, that is Carl Sagan that you hear providing narration of sorts.

SIGH

I wanted to post a wee gif here, but alas, my coding skillz aren't good enough. Facebook it is.
I don't like Facebook.

I like sharing words and stuff with friends, not whatever Facebook has become. ... it's not really words and stuff with friends, though. There's a lot more performance in it.
/grumble

Confused about Apple vs. FBI? Here's a good summary from Bruce Schneier:

Earlier this week, a federal magistrate ordered Apple to assist the FBI in hacking into the iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino shooters. Apple will fight this order in court.

The policy implications are complicated. The FBI wants to set a precedent that tech companies will assist law enforcement in breaking their users' security, and the technology community is afraid that the precedent will limit what sorts of security features it can offer customers. The FBI sees this as a privacy vs. security debate, while the tech community sees it as a security vs. surveillance debate.

Specs

Not to sound so stereotypical but it is my honour and privilege to be your friend Par and the same to the rest of you as well. I hope even when I'm an old, withered shell of a man in his twilight years I will think back to the days when I was younger I will always remember all of you.

Swimming's become an important activity to me for the past few years -- it forces me to be alone with my thoughts undistracted by music or screens or people asking questions and just reflect and think (until I realize my technique is getting worse or I lose count of how many laps I've done. I guess I'll always find a way to distract myself.)

And so as I was gathering thoughts during my swim yesterday, I thought it important to thank the people who have been generous and funny and supportive to me for so long and teaching me over the years how to be the same.

Recently one of my own small projects moved into a active phase. In that transition I've had to try to clean up a mess caused by dealing with people who are decidedly not generous, not funny, and not supportive.

There are not enough people in the world like you, my friends, but I'm thankful that you have been the rule, rather than the exception, in my life. So, thanks.

(And if you're interested, there's more about the project here.)

Happy New Year, everyone!

Feel free to post mine and Nadeesha's too!

I want to say Andy. Yes they are awesome!