Rapture in Everything

Setting up a Matrix chat server

 Last time I started writing this post, I ended up explaining how federated services work in general, and what Matrix can do in particular. This post will describe how to set up a homeserver of your own and join the Matrix chat network. Initial considerationsI will be using the reference server implementation, Synapse. It offers two options for data storage: Postgres or SQLite. Since I only plan to use it myself, and even then I'm not sure whether I'll actually end up using it much (any chat platform is only useful if people you want to talk to actually use...
tech matrix self-hosted

Privacy, data ownership, federation, and the Matrix chat network

 Matrix is a federated chat network. If you already know what it means, feel free to skip ahead a bit. Otherwise, here's the (very terse)[1] gist of it: The gist of it There are a number of issues with chat apps. Let's disregard those of accessibility or usability - there are plenty of tools with great user experiences, so everyone can find something just right. Let's just focus on two common issues: privacy and ownership. Privacy - and I also include security in this, since you can hardly have privacy if your communication lines aren't secure[2] - determines...
tech matrix overview

Hob

 Hob is a great game. It made me notice and enjoy things I'd normally overlook or filter out subconsciously. If you want something well-crafted, relaxing and engaging, give it a go....
games opinion

csv-to-sqlite 2.1 - script support, encodings and brackets

 Version 2.1 of csv-to-sqlite was just released. There are a few new things, suggested in GitHub issues: you can now specify that you do not want brackets around your column names, you can specify the encoding your files (the default still is UTF-8) and it's now easier to use csv-to-sqlite in scripts. If you wish to do that, simply install it as a dependency: pip install csv-to-sqliteAs an aside: if you're not using Pipenv yet, take a look at it. It's great.Then import it and call write_csv(). import csv_to_sqlite # all the usual options are supported...
python csv-to-sqlite open source

The Longest Journey

 Twenty years. It took me twenty years to get around to playing this gem of a game. That's not an overstatement, either: I distinctly remember the cover of the LEVEL magazine in 2000: after nagging them for a long time, my parents finally bought me my first issue ever. I remember the moment well; I also remember reading the review of The Longest Journey, liking it and thinking yes, this sounds great, I will play this one day. I knew that day wasn't coming any time soon: I had no way to get the game, and even if I did,...