YouTube video summaries via ChatGPT

Just Tell Me cleverly leverages ChatGPT to provide short, insightful summaries of YouTube videos. Have you ever wasted some time watching a youtube video, that got you kind of interested because of the click-baity topic, but in the end turned out to be nothing more BUT click-bait? Or have you ever wanted to just quickly recall what a video that you’ve watched some time ago was about? Just Tell Me has you covered!...

February 6, 2024

Marcus Aurelius the man who solved the universe

I’ve been reading Marcus Aurielius’ Meditations and, very appropriately and scaringly, YouTube algorithm thought I would be interested in Marcus Aurelius, the Man Who Solved The Universe. The title is bombastic and misplaced, but the video is well executed and correctly summarizes some of the Emperor-Philosopher’s thoughts.

February 3, 2024

Being autistic

A lot of the things David describes in this post resonate with me. As far as I’ve been able to figure out so far, the things my mind is best at are details and systems. It‘s part of what makes me a good programmer: I can hold a lot of detail in my head about how a system fits together, I can mess around with it more easily than most people, and I can pick up on details other people might miss, such as potential bugs....

February 2, 2024

Mars in 4K

The footage, captured directly by NASA’s Mars rovers - Spirit, Opportunity, Curiosity, and Perseverance - unveils the red planet’s intricate details. These rovers, acting as robotic geologists, have traversed varied terrains, from ancient lake beds to towering mountains, uncovering Mars’ complex geological history. As viewers enjoy these images, they will notice informal place names assigned by NASA’s team, providing context to the Martian features observed. Each rover’s unique journey is highlighted, showcasing their contributions to Martian exploration....

January 31, 2024

pg_dump and pg_restore can backup and restore single Postgres schemas

Today I learned that pg_dump can make a copy of a Postgres schema instead of the whole database. Likewise, if needed, pg_restore can restore the schema in either the original database or a different one. Backup of a Postgres schema: pg_dump -h host -d source_database -U user -n schema_name -F c -f schema_dump_file.dump Restore of a Postgres schema: pg_restore -h host -d dest_database -U user -n schema_name schema_dump_file.dump All primary and shared knowledge, I am sure....

January 30, 2024

Digital books wear out faster than physical books

Brewster Kahle, at The Internet Archive Blogs: Ever try to read a physical book passed down in your family from 100 years ago? Probably worked well. Ever try reading an ebook you paid for 10 years ago? Probably a different experience. From the leasing business model of mega a publishers to physical device evolution to format obsolescence, digital books are fragile and threatened. […] Our paper books have lasted hundreds of years on our shelves and are still readable....

January 30, 2024
the Verghereto marls, along the ridge of Rio Petroso

Rio Petroso

Wet, cold, and foggy winter day in the plains, I knew it would be splendid in the highlands. At the last minute and even a little late by my usual safety standards, I packed my backpack and dashed into the hills. To avoid being late or having to return in the dark, I didn’t even stop eating, munching on two bars as I walked, but it was worth it. Rio Petroso is a rather complex and articulated circular tour, with frequent environmental changes, configuring itself among the most arid of the entire Park territory; I wouldn’t do this route at the height of summer....

January 29, 2024
Early in the morning at the Microsoft House in Milan. Preparations underway

Video of my C# 12 session at .NET Conference Italia 2023

The video and slides of my C# 12 session at .NET Conference Italia 2023 is finally available online. Unfortunately it’s just my voice and my laptop screen, and that’s too bad because the location was as cool as it can get, and the room was packed. It is in Italian1 and you need to login in order to see it (sorry, I don’t have control over it.) I also submitted to several international conferences; let’s see what happens....

January 26, 2024

Dungeons and Dragons turns 50 today

Dungeons & Dragons played an outsize role in popularizing fantasy literature, ideas, and themes, as well as inspiring many of its devotees to create their own. Roleplaying, as a formal activity, owes nearly its entire existence to the phenomenal success of D&D. Even more remarkable is the extent to which the computer and video game industry, which is bigger and more profitable than the music and movie industries combined, owes a huge debt to the example set by D&D....

January 26, 2024

Fixing the "Failed to create CoreCLR error 0x80070008" error when starting a .NET 8 docker container

Another day, another unexpected problem. Launching a .NET 8 app from a docker container, I got this error: Failed to create CoreCLR, HRESULT: 0x80070008. I was puzzled as the same container ran smoothly in our test environment but not in production. I ruled out resource problems (memory or disk full, maybe?) but then compared the Docker Engine versions we run in test and production. Both were old (20. xx when 25 is available), but interestingly, the production version was older....

January 26, 2024