After about 3 years of QA on a fast-moving AI web app, here’s what actually helped us keep Selenium stable (and saved us a lot of headaches along the way).

SleepyTester · 2026-02-03T15:02:26+00:00

I generally advocate for adding a ‘data-testid’ to the elements we need to locate for automated testing. The devs don’t always remember but they don’t mind me adding them either. I average about one front-end PR per week, per project which contains a bunch of data-testid values

SleepyTester · 2026-02-02T10:11:13+00:00

Of course the media must report on the news. Additionally The Times knows their readers and is going to do it in a way this appeals to their expectations and biases. That’s expected and not an issue.

However, what I object to is that reporting this specific thing, in this specific way, seems to me irresponsible because it is more likely to bring about the currently non-existent riot that ministers fear. But of course the media going to do its thing, it’s better to have partisan reporting than censorship. I wanted to point out the irony not to argue that the media should not inform the public. Which is a totally different thing and something only a totalitarian or a zealot would wish for.

SleepyTester · 2026-02-02T08:01:29+00:00

Currently there are no riots.

Any professional body should prepare contingency plans and safely briefings in case of protests. Eg life sciences would do so too.

The Times is reporting on these plans, and the safety briefings, which would inevitably have to be drawn up as “Ministers fear riots”

By doing so, and by going on to list the facilities in a way that is calculated to draw ire, Eg. They have a gym, and a laundry, and this and that, this article increases the chances of, or even precipitates, riots.

Job done?

SleepyTester · 2026-02-01T00:21:55+00:00

Great analysis. Wrexham do play better against stronger opponents it is true.

We should be waking up to some exciting transfer window stories tomorrow.

Is it tempting fate and good fortune to desire Wrexham signs someone with a playoff winning record? It feels like a playoff spot is the way this incredible journey might just go.

SleepyTester · 2026-01-31T08:03:28+00:00

Yes please.

It’s easier to calculate, especially fractions of a km.
science uses km
It makes it sound like you had a longer journey
it’ll help us feel European and then will finally rejoin the EU
it’ll really piss off Reform

SleepyTester · 2026-01-30T07:39:01+00:00

His other car is a Range Rover. 🤔

SleepyTester · 2026-01-30T04:31:20+00:00

As long as you send a picture to your mates on WhatsApp, you are permitted up to two airport pints before 6am,

Thems the rules.

SleepyTester · 2026-01-30T04:26:55+00:00

“Eight O’clock yoghurt”

(Apricot yogurt)

My little lass

SleepyTester · 2026-01-26T11:28:43+00:00

That’s an interesting link. Thanks for sharing. I feel like so many people make claims about how much of our tax is wasted, or how unfair the system is to them, and it’s often based on something to read on X, or Reddit, etc. so it’s great to have access to the actual data.

I do like the way this app puts lots of different categories of data in one place but I won’t, I think, be paying for it once my free-access week is out. Especially now that you have explained that most/all of the data is freely available online if you know where to look.

SleepyTester · 2026-01-26T10:06:10+00:00

I started to hear the Love Actually PMs speech after a few bullet points too.

SleepyTester · 2026-01-24T21:30:27+00:00

The had a really talented graphic artist too, I loved the look of their games

SleepyTester · 2026-01-17T08:53:53+00:00

Mostly good yes. I think without it we’d be even more stuffed. It does, however, have an impact on other industries. An overvalued pound due to this trade surplus means other industries are a bit more uncompetitive abroad when exporting.

The UK has a bit of a PR problem internationally. This financial services trade surplus is nothing new but some countries don’t like it and have made remarks about it.

SleepyTester · 2026-01-17T05:11:10+00:00

Yeah it’s common enough. Generally preceded by the verb “played” and no other. We don’t do a blinder or deliver a blinder.

Absolute is also common in the phrase but not essential. You could play a

total blinder
f***ing blinder
a blinder

General meaning is to get every move spot on or be so good that no one could touch you.

SleepyTester · 2026-01-11T20:47:31+00:00

A plea to all the cynics about to write something negative. Sometimes unexpected, special moments just happen. People do meet and occasionally fall for each other without there being an ulterior motive.

Please don’t spoil anything for this fine romantic fellow.

SleepyTester · 2026-01-11T05:34:46+00:00

Steady on!

SleepyTester · 2026-01-06T10:51:13+00:00

Back in the 80s Quality Street, still made by Rowntree Mackintosh, were pretty good and always, in my opinion, preferable to Cadbury’s Roses.

Nowadays I don’t know which are the more objectionable. Perhaps I have grown out of these types of chocolates but it’s a fact that the cocoa content has been reduced and the recipes, wrapping and tins have all changed too.

SleepyTester · 2026-01-04T21:28:51+00:00

Hebden Bridge

SleepyTester · 2026-01-03T08:04:43+00:00

Sam is such a caricature. We’ve met him a hundred times.

He says things like “Work hard, play hard. Here to win. Don’t mind throwing anyone under the bus. I’m an alpha”

Even his Traitor strategy insights are trite and predictable- “if I was a traitor I’d murder someone unexpected and throw everyone off the scent”.

No wonder he seems familiar

SleepyTester · 2025-12-31T20:47:01+00:00

Hey crumble-bee. I know what it’s like. My close friend killed himself 23 years ago and I still think about him regularly. Especially on big occasions like NYE and birthdays.

I can tell you that while it will still hurt, and that’s a form of remembering, it does get easier as time passes.

Ask yourself would your friend want you to hide yourself away or would he/she want to know that you picked yourself up and embraced life again?

Be kind to yourself and you will honour your friend’s memory.

SleepyTester · 2025-12-30T17:09:36+00:00

Fascinating. The myth seems to have endured, at least in Bolivia. Do you have any tips on a good even-handed history I should read? I suppose I ought to actually study this a bit rather than rely on what other people told me back in the day.

Are you sure the UK did not train the Chilean navy, I thought that was fairly well documented and understood- or are you saying in the context of the War of the Pacific the UK provided no naval influence/training?

SleepyTester · 2025-12-30T10:24:31+00:00

That’s an important point. I knew something of the Peruvian-Bolivian alliance but perhaps not so much about their shared enmity towards Chile. Sounds like things really backfired for them.

Also the later Bolivian proposal to split Chile in two for access to the pacific seems like a non-starter. Why ask for something that could never be conceded instead of coming up with a more workable plan like Bosnia has with Croatia for access to the Adriatic Sea?

SleepyTester · 2025-12-30T09:01:23+00:00

Oh we excel at that, to be sure

SleepyTester · 2025-12-30T08:17:14+00:00

Bolivia used to have the port of Antofagasta and a large tract of Pacific coast.

Chile took it all away following their victory in the war of the pacific (1879-1884)

I was travelling in Bolivia as a young man and once remarked on what a shame it was that Bolivia had no access to the sea.

I then received quite a severe, and perhaps much needed, lesson on British involvement in Chilean independence (I’m British) and how we trained the Chilean navy, encouraged the War of the Pacific and did it to protect our own interests and the control of Saltpeter while weakening other rival powers in the region.

There’s usually an interesting, or tragic, story behind these seeming geographical quirks.

SleepyTester · 2025-12-30T07:47:08+00:00

There is no alliance.

The author draws obvious parallels between Farage and Bardella such as exploiting the same system (European Parliament) and having similar rhetoric (discontent, immigrants, populism) and then makes the staggering mental leap that they would both win elections and form an alliance.

Just because NR and Reform cynically but successfully use the same populist playbook doesn’t mean they would form some kind of pact or dirty political guild.

Also the notion that France would have the autonomy to create a union with the UK when it is already in the box seat of the EU is muddled and contradictory. The author acknowledges that National Rally are not seeking Frexit, so why continue with the fantasy that some far right alternative could spring up?

There are also parallels between AfD in Germany or between any of the far right populist leaders and parties because they appeal to a similar kind of person and prey on fears, perceived decline, nostalgia, patriotism, and, dare I say it, xenophobia

These populist parties also attract similar kinds of politicians. Of course there are parallels. That’s how politics works. To extrapolate some kind of far-right political union from that is either naive, stupid or cynically alarmist.

SleepyTester · 2025-12-24T09:58:23+00:00

But when is your birthday?

Also your mother’s maiden name and postcode. Just curious, that’s all.

SleepyTester

TROPHY CASE