half a liter of espresso, 3 cigarettes and 70mg of amphetamines.

I wish I was joking.

Holy shit, mine does that too. It’s how we got her, we went to the shelter to pick one and when we entered the cage with all the cats in it, she jumped on my shoulders.

Oh, it definitely is.

I tried to keep her off my stuff in the beginning. But she’s more stubborn than I am, and keeps trying again, for hours and days if necessary. At some point I just gave up.
Now, when she wants to sit down on the keyboard, I quickly lock it and accept that it’s time for a break and some scritches.

My cat managed to crash a fresh install of Debian Stable to an unrecoverable state, just by walking across the keyboard.
I had to reinstall, but of course she still got treats for doing such a good job as software tester.

Cat tax

And German. And French. And Polish. And Danish. And Spanish. And I thought it was pretty universal? Guess it’s European.
Anyway, fuck ketchup.

I want to be in that room now.

I have free-roaming cats, so that’s a sound I wake up to regularly.

me

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the engineering term is a different word with different pronunciation. It’s not even a noun.

I changed the password to a 256 character string, disabled pasting, and changed the keyboard layout on all servers to Thai.
My security philosophy is: “When even admins with all the info can’t get in, no one can.”

No.
“I keep the computer systems running at the local newspaper, and prevent it from getting hacked” is pretty straightforward.
It provides enough to latch on to for normie small talk.
And I can dose the tech talk based on what questions I get back.

Meeting my wife.
Before: Living in a cluttered room in a shared apartment, unemployed, drinking heavily, no purpose or direction in life.
After: Living in a house with big garden, dream job, sober, volunteering in my free time, 2 cats, planning children.

But that’s already regulated.

The top speed of cars is limited to the highest speed limit in the country they’re certified for.
For emergencies, there’s a covered switch on the dash which disables the limit, calls 911 and transmits your position to them.

Depends on the age, I guess.
My parents read it with me when I was 7 or 8, and it started a life-long fascination with fantasy books.

It’s a children’s book.

And then you fail, or you’re overwhelmed by negative emotions associated with the task, and you’re frustrated and go back to doomscrolling or trying out another Linux distro.

“Always eat your dessert first”

Meaning, when you feel overwhelmed by a huge task or a long list of tasks in front of you, start with the easiest, smallest and most pleasant parts. That way you overcome inertia and the feeling of standing in front of a huge, looming mountain, and get in the groove.

Once you’ve started, the next task on the list is just a little bigger than the last, which you’ve just successfully completed. That way you can get a lot done, step by step.

When only the biggest and most difficult tasks are left, you can break them down into tiny steps (don’t “clean the house”, just “pick up this one thing and put it away”). Again, do the easiest steps first, and celebrate each one as a thing you’ve just successfully accomplished.

Some people say you should start with the hardest stuff to get it behind you, but I have ADHD and trying that just keeps me from starting anything at all.

On a related note, don’t write To-Do lists.
They’re a devious trick by your brain to procrastinate. You already know a dozen things that need to be done at any given moment, so instead of writing a list, just do one of them.

push down clutch pedal
put car in fifth gear
start the engine
push down gas pedal until you hit the rev limiter
slowly release the clutch until it smells right