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Something a foot

Completed 6,000 km distance for cycle riding this year, a very satisfying number as I wasnt able to do much cycling before May.

A new month means its time to update dependencies across all projects. Although antq has proven very good at reporting outdated dependencies for Clojure projects and GitHub actions, it is quite a niche tool and something extra to learn or maintain a config for.

When reviewing options for liquida/antq there was a link to ... GitHub workflow that generates a PR with all the dependency updates. This project is now in maintenance mode and recommends looking at the Renovate GitHub action.

So I decided to create a CI workflow using Renovate that generates a pull request to update Clojure library dependencies and GitHub actions.

Rather than write this myself, I felt it was a useful task to ask an LLM tool to tackle. I felt confident I knew how to write a clear question (prompt) for the LLM tool. It was also a small enough task that I wouldnt blow all my 'free' tokens. I also hoped that it was a simple enough task that I wouldnt have to keep refining the question to get the response I needed.

The reply should be simple enough that I can understand, as I already have plenty of experience writing GitHub workflows and configurations for the tools used by a workflow (e.g. Megalinter).

Unfortunately the resulting Renovate.json configuration doesnt like Clojure, so AI seems to have failed quite badly (or was too optimistic).

Taking my usual approach of an Internet search, I discovered the Mend App, which is described in more detail in the Mend for GitHub.com docs.

The Mend app kind of works but still seems to require some manual intervention (pressing buttons on developer.mend.io app) and only supports (or only configured for) maven dependencies and not git updates, e.g. seancorfield/deps-new.

The results of the discussion with the LLM are documented in this post and the results were also published to the web:

Create GitHub workflow with Renovate for Clojure projects

Hello darkness my old friend

It is getting noticeably darker now, before I finish 'working' on Practicalli content and other computer things.

At the end of last week I contributed questions to the next Clojure Survey, which I assume will be out in early January 2026. I also shared some thoughts about why this information was useful to capture.

Earlier this week I ran through the draft survey and provided feedback directly to Christoph. It was mostly nitpicks (I used 🌐 conventional comments style for the feedback).

Getting close to a total of 6,000 km in distance for 2025. Only 146 km to ride and I've hit my target.

NOTE: the title is taken from the song "Sound of Silence" by "Simon and Garfunkel"

First taste of Winter

The days are very cold now, especially when the day is not sunny. I am determined to get out on the bicycle for several rides each week.

Previously I've have added SSH keys to my GitHub account via the GitHub website. The GitHub CLI can add SSH keys, which is more convenient that copying the contents of the public SSH key into the website. I still need to figure out a good way to cache an SSH passphrase in a key ring when not using Gnome desktop. I use the SSH key for signing a commit, so need to enter the passphrase for each commit.

Friday was house maintenance, replacing the valves for the heating system top-up loop. Now I can top up the water pressure for the heaters when ever needed (which shouldn't be very often). My neighbors boiler started making a huge banging noise when the pressure was very low, so I can avoid this situation myself (I've heard at least one other neibour have the banging boiler problem this week, but couldnt figure out where exactly it came from as its a base sound and travels).

For a distraction this week, I am continuing to watch Blakes 7, Doctor Who (Matt Smith, Jenna Coleman) and Battle of the Planets (possibly the first Americanised Anime).

Debian Linux returns

Discovered Neovim GitSigns plugin could be used to stage specific lines, as well as hunks.

Material for MkDocs is the static site generator tool used to create all the Practical.li websites. This project is now in maintenance mode and a project called Zensical is under active development. It seems that there should be a fairly smooth migration of existing projects to the new tool :crossed_fingers:

This summer has been an adventure with the new shiny Hyprland wayland compositor and tiling window manager. Whist Hyprland (and associated tools) can be made very beautiful, I find it has some major productivity limitations compared to i3 tiling window manager.

I've switched back my main laptop to using Debian Linux, using Sway Wayland Compositor via Regoligh Desktop as Sway works the same way as i3 (at least from a user perspective).

The evaluation of Terminal UI tools is proving much more successful and I have found some nice system tools to use (better than the GUI tools that come with Gnome desktop).

I use the keyboard for everything except graphics & video editing work, and the occasional link in the browser if its a busy page. Using a tiling window manager has helped me keep my fingers on the keyboard where they work the fastest.

I common keyboard combination I used is to copy the URL from a browser window into one of the Practicalli books, or this very journal.

  • Super and one of h j k l keys to navigate to the browser window (SPC followed by a number if the browser is on a different desktop)
  • Ctrl+l to highlight the current page URL in location bar.
  • Ctrl + c to copy the URL into the clip board
  • Super and one of h j k l keys to navigate to the Neovim window
  • p to paste the URL into the Neovim buffer

Peddle Peddle

Lots of cycling this week with 4 consecutive rides, Thursday to Saturday. The Cafe at East Peckham was closing, so we took a trip as a last farewell. It turns out there is a new buyer, so it should be back open before we know it.

I continue to look for the most effective way of adding data overlays to the videos captured on cycling routes.

Continuing to evaluate Terminal UI tools and finding very useful tools to understand what is going on under the hood of the operating system.

Another Arch Linux disaster

After a kernel panic with Arch Linux after a package upgrade (and many other issues), I will switch my main machine back to Debian Linux.

I did have a small issue starting Regolith on Debian after an update, but there was a fix already defined that was quick to apply successfully.

I can still choose to use Wayland compositor with the Sway tiling window manager, the Wayland equivalent of i3 for Xorg.

Terminal User Interface tools are on the rise, so I have started evaluating them to see which ones I want to adopt.

New book on engineering management

A meeting I had to discuss engineering teams was postponed, so instead I have started writing 'engineering stories' to capture and organise my experiences from various companies and roles. I will capture lessons learned from my experiences (and others) and my current thinking on how to resolve issues that I encountered.

Updated :format/cljfmt-check and :format/cljfmt-fix aliases in Practicalli Clojure CLI Config to use the newer publishing name for the library. The older cljfmt name did not have a domain, so cljfmt/cljfmt had to be used as the name when using Clojure CLI. The library published as cljfmt stopped being updated at versino 0.9.2.

Started a page on Terminal User Interface (TUI) apps in the Operating System section of Practicalli Engineering Playbook. I have been using an increasing number of TUI apps, especially after I began using Neovim. I also like apps that are completely keyboard driven, as I am a fast and effective typist and find the mouse very fiddly these days.

Created a GitHub template repository to quickly create a new Practicalli book or blog web site, using Material for MkDocs. This template repo was used to create Practicalli Engineering Manger repository

Walking, pull-ups and weights are this weeks approach to building up my health again after a few weeks of flu. No cycling since the 8th October, but this had given me a chance to catch up with editing videos of my cycle trips

To the recouperation lounge

I remain in recovery mode this week to ensure I am fighting off the current Covid infection completely. I still have sore ears and swollen throat and more tired than normal. I am however getting a lot more sleep and not feeling as ill as previous episodes with covid. I have become very experience with managing this condition.

I am applying for engineering manager roles again, a couple of companies a week, mainly through job adverts on LinkedIn.

I am also posting on LinkedIn on the topic of 'AI', trying to include pragmatic conversations around what the (completely overhyped technology) is actually useful for and what people are currently doing with it. It is interesting that through all the hype around 70% of people using 'AI' are not using it for work. Maybe all those recent cat pictures on the internet are fakes.

I continue to find things in my life that I can let go of, making more space in my house and easing a move to a new location when the time is right. I had forgotten how challenging it is to actually deal with cash nowadays, although I was able to deposit almost all of my coins in my bank account.

NOTE: the title of this post is a reference to the "Back to Reality" episode of Red Dwarf. Once I am fully recovered, then the next article would be called back to reality 🤣

Upgrades break often with Arch Linux

OBS screen capture via pipewire has broken again after an Arch Linux upgrade. I didn't see any reports about this issue, but something has changed that broke a working OBS. A rollback of the Btrfs snapshots via the Garuda Linux boot menu restored to a working version.

Editing the video of the cycling trip to Grain in August 2025.

Its Covid season again and I must scale down my cycling as I have an infection. I did manage a ride on Monday and Wednesday, but on Wednesday evening I had a very bad dizzy spell and uncontrollable shaking for 30 minutes. I couldnt really move and would have called for an ambulance had my phone been in reach. It took a few days to feel okay again, but my energy levels are still feeling compromised.

A break from cycling will be hard as it has significantly helped improve my health. Instead I will rely on walks in the park, at least 1 hour every day (unless its raining all day). I managed a 2 hour walk on Friday to attend a blood test, although was too tired to walk on Saturday. I will endeavour to go for a walk mid-day on Sunday.

Darker days

The days are starting to get shorter. Time to start getting up earlier :)

This year continues to been filled with many dark days across our society of human beings. Selfishness seems abound, driven by fear created by the few to manipulate the many. The ever increasing propaganda seems to know no end.

When you are put into a position of constant fear of the other, you are loosing a party of your humanity and missing out in the multitude of joys in our world.

It is easy to forget that these hostile views are from a vocal minority who really do not understand the damage they are doing to our society and themselves. Unfortunately they also impact the lives of everyone else.

One regular tonne from those in fear is that they are loosing their identity because of others. How can this be the case when each person's identity is shaped by so many active and passive experiences. Fear shuts down the intricacies of each persons identity. Prolonged fear reduces a person to a mindless savage, capable of unbelievable hate towards others (and themselves).

The movement of people has been the bedrock of human survival and evolution over the last 10,000 years. To think this would ever stop is to deny a significant part of our society. Went people are welcomed into a society, they contribute and become part of a richer society. When we fail to all welcome people into our society then people do not feel they can become a part of our world. When a vocal minority throws hate or even bricks, then not only those on the receiving end feel hurt, our whole society is greatly damaged.

A cold and foggy start to a nice 112 km ride on Monday which brightened up just over half way. I had lots of layers on, including 3 pairs of socks and 3 pairs of gloves. Surprisingly I managed quite a few personal best times along the route. I thought we were going quite steady.

I was quite exhausted on Tuesday though, I seem to have some covid or flu symptoms affecting me and draining my energy. I will start doing deliberate breathing to help keep my lungs clear.

Wednesday was a big organisation and tidy up of the house, as a plumber is coming to service the boiler on Thursday. I gave away the last of the IKEA 365+ food containers I bought a long time ago. The containers always felt a bit top-heavy (they are tapered with a small base). I posted them on Freegle at the weekend and after one person didnt turn up, another came on Wednesday.

Thursday the boiler was serviced and I also arranged a service for my neighbour (who looks after my cats). One of the people I cycle with is a plumber, so its nice to have someone I can trust looking at the boiler. My boiler is in very good condition, which is nice.

Saturday I was helping my neighbour identify the cause of a vibration with their central heating system. After around 45 minutes of heating the radiators, the boiler was creating a very loud vibration. This vibration occurred every 5 minutes or so, for about 30 seconds. I bled the radiators, a couple of which did have a lot of air in. The issue remained. After a bit of a hunt the water pressure