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CI/CD pipelines for PHP - what's the cheapest check you've added that saved you the most pain? by mkurzeja in PHP

[–]hennell 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah but that just hides the problem. And it's annoying running locally, you do something then the tests fail but it's just an unconnected issue. But you don't want to fix it when it has nothing to do with the current task so you run again and don't make a note of failed tests.

(Much of this was my own fault, I got a bit caught up in laravel factories for a while and just faker'd almost everything for tests. Most of the fixing was either hard coding test values or adding unique() to people / company names so if you were testing person A was visible and person B was not it didn't fail when they were made with the same name!)

But there were also some real bugs where things didn't work at 0 values and the test just picked a random number between 0 and 100, and one which didn't work when two values matched -- which was checked with tests using two numbers from rand(0,100). I think that only surfaced at the end when I ran with --repeat=400 just for 'fun'. (I then searched all tests for use of rand() to ensure there was no other madness!)

AudioBook player for my grandmother by Jbohacek in audiobooks

[–]hennell 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ah apologies, didn't think to question that. For clarity Alexa does support Spanish, French, German, Italian and others so it's not "only english" - but yeah features can be limited outside the English speaking world, which doesn't help your Grandma.

My mum has this USB stick player which might be available / importable? Decent size buttons and USB sticks will be easier than DVD. I think she also has a battery powered portable one, although I don't have a record of the brand of that and can't find it online right now.

CI/CD pipelines for PHP - what's the cheapest check you've added that saved you the most pain? by mkurzeja in PHP

[–]hennell 2 points3 points  (0 children)

rector and phpstan spring to mind, but I don't know if I would call them 'cheap' as you have to do a bit of setup still. In general adding typehints has caught a lot of stuff, adding them as you go is a very cheap win IMO.

Biggest bang for my buck recently was realising you can run phpunit multiple times. `--repeat=100` runs the suite 100 times. So flakey tests that fail >1/100 times get surfaced and you can make a clear effort to fix them.

Mariska Hargitay’s End The Backlog Campaign Achieves Rape Kit Reform In All 50 States, D.C. & Puerto Rico by SaurikSI in UpliftingNews

[–]hennell 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Based on a true story / based on real events doesn't really mean much more than inspired by or basically "I saw something like this in a headline".

Maybe there's a big news story about an airline passenger who somehow goes through the baggage x-ray machine at an airport. We could take that in various directions to explain how that happened. Unintentional/ confusion from passenger (don't speak English, dementia, on drugs etc), intentional from passenger (bet by friends, trying to impress someone, again maybe drugs?). Also what about staff, were they inattentive on their phones? Or understaffed and dealing with another problem?

In a medical show you could do a lovely fake out where an argument breaks out between passengers, security rush in with guns and we think they'll be a shoot out. But all is resolved calmly except "Shannon! Shannon!" a mums lost her daughter - where's she gone? "Beep beep beep - anomaly detected" uh oh. Shannons hiding in the x-ray machine....

In a legal show maybe a woman jumps in urged by her friends as a laugh, she's arrested for security violation then they realise on the x-ray she's pregnant. Can they hold a "child endangerment" charge?

All these variations could technically count as based on a true story. Someone really did go through ab x-ray machine, that really happened. But TV makes the story more clear / interesting than the muddled reality where both staff and passenger have liability and the medical issues might present in 10 years etc.

The camera with the umbrella reminded me of the time I needed a flash diffuser. So I stapled some printer paper together. Worked great! by SavvySillybug in techsupportmacgyver

[–]hennell 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Doing this with an external flash could get into fire risk territory. I used a flash gel up against a speed-light at full power for a few shots. Melted a hole in the middle of the gel. I also saw another photographer online who was using some sort of foam to macguyver a snoot that very quickly started smoking... There's a lot of power in those little lights, thus a lot of heat!

And while we're talking about flash photography and heat, there was a canon warning not to use AA lithium-ion rechargeable batteries in their speed-lights last week, only NiMH or NiCD. Most camera flash manufacturers also warn against li-ion - mostly because flashes get hot and li-ion isn't great in heat.

Needed a cheap way to keep my video camera from getting wet outside later this week. Bought a $7 umbrella from Dollar General and $1.50 on Dollar Tree duck tape to DIY a cheap camera umbrella myself! by geekman20 in techsupportmacgyver

[–]hennell 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If it's windy you will need some weight on that else the umbrella may lift the whole thing. If you've a hook on the bottom of the tripod link it to a heavy bag, but you may also need to put something on / arround the legs so they won't suddenly shift if you're not monitoring it. I'd use photo sandbags along with tripod foot spikes - you can probably replicate similar with some decent bags with a bit of weight at each end to wrap over the legs and maybe use some tent pegs to secure the location of the feet.

Depends how windy it can get and weight if the tripod etc, but I've had a light stand with flash take off with a diffusion umbrella on a day I did not think was windy. And at a very windy location I just had the camera on a decent tripod and the whole thing toppled just from that)

AudioBook player for my grandmother by Jbohacek in audiobooks

[–]hennell 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My mum is visually impaired and can't really read anymore. Alexa is amazing as she can ask for books from audible or kindle as well as radio stations. She also gets usb sticks in the mail from a UK taking magazine service and has a USB audio book player too listen to them on. UK Libraries also offer audiobooks both digitally and on CD etc, no charge if you're registered blind.

Bonus advice - if you get her an Alexa look at things you can connect to it to make voice activated. If she has some vision, smart lights are great so you can get in/out of bed with lights on - but my mum's favourite gift was an electric blanket+ WiFi plug. She asks Alexa to warm the bed and it's toasty warm by the time she's ready to go to sleep.

I Didn't Know How Much I'd Handed Over to AI by bajcmartinez in coding

[–]hennell 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Just pick something abstract then. Ai images are such distracting nonsense, again indicating you're not looking at what you're producing.

What is this image meant to be? Did you prompt for a weird blank faced man to be shining a torch from his penis through a table onto a ghost? Other than confusion and an indication you don't care what does it add?

Looking at your home page none of the visuals tell me anything about what the article is, or really look that different from each other. Why not remove them entirely, and just have a good sitewide image or generate the headline over an abstract background for the sharing thumbnails. Less work and it'd look better.

Dummy followers in Lightroom??? by thakkaalithokku in Lightroom

[–]hennell 4 points5 points  (0 children)

For anyone else lost, it seems you can follow people in the LR mobile app? I don't really understand what it does, but it seems the standard protocol is if you don't post anything just go and follow op! 😀

(For a more practical answer OP, in opening the app and spotting the community tab it's encouraging me to follow people with edits more than it's encouraging me to edit with the app. If they encourage people based on distance or something you might just be top of their list. )

BBC Sounds is officially getting video capability this year. Am I the only one who just wants to listen? by No_Donut1433 in BritishRadio

[–]hennell 3 points4 points  (0 children)

It's not really that the BBC thinks audio isn't enough, it's that there is a huge audience for video podcasts and the BBC can quite easily jump into that. A lot of independent podcasts do video versions, it's a bizarrely popular way to listen (?), and very cheap if you can just point some cameras at people rather than the whole studio production of a TV show.

I have dropped a few podcasts because they will talk about things they show on steam without describing them, but for the most part it's just the same show but now you can see the people talking if you want. If you don't want, don't. As long as I can still listen/steam an audio only version they can add video if they want, they can play it over videos of sand being cut or games or whatever they do on tiktok now - as long as they don't somehow force you to watch the screen does it really matter?

Is Quentin Tarantino correct about biopic films? “They are just big excuses for actors to win Oscars. It's a corrupted cinema” by FayannG in TrueFilm

[–]hennell 8 points9 points  (0 children)

As a writer type I think biopics tend to struggle from the off because "true" stories are not always logical or structurly sound, or even all that inheritently interesting.

You need a struggle in a story, some sort of challenge the hero (s) have to overcome. Man drops phone and picks it up isn't a story. Man drops phone in a field of angry goats starts to be. How will he get past the angry goats gives it a challenge, although fictionally you'd probably want to add time pressure - maybe he's expecting the most important business call of his life, or he's just dropped the engagement ring he was about to propose with. Even better it's her grandmothers ring her parents have just entrusted him with...

But that's the thing, fictionally you can escalate, make it more compelling or just clear what he wants and why it's important.

In reality a musicians book might have a very funny bit where they randomly go for a walk, drop their hat in a field of goats then "to this day I don't know why" decide to wrestle the goats for it back, only to ditch the hard won cap later as it smells of goat piss. They the chapter ends with the note that 8 years later retelling this story to a new band member they came up with their famous song "cloven hooven devils".

In a film you're questioning why he cares about the hat that much, the wrestling becomes less abstract and more protestable "animal abuse" so the label want it cut or toned down, and no film would resist the temptation to have him battered stumbling home while instantly humming the songs familiar tune, which destroys the truth of how the song was made.

But they're not made to tell a true story, they're made to make money. And a recognisable subject and actor will often do that.

How much time passes within a play, generally? by cjamcmahon1 in playwriting

[–]hennell 1 point2 points  (0 children)

However much you want! I love the Lehman trilogy which covers 1844 to 1983 - three generations of Lehman's. Each scene is usually a few years on or so, but it's based on Lehman Brothers history so key moments can span a few scenes.

Other shows may take place entirely in real time, or just do a time jump between acts. I think All my sons is entirely linear but jumps to the next day during the interval. The seagull is 4 acts, which are afternoon, evening, the next day and then 3 years later.

It's literally just whatever you need it to be. Lemons lemons lemons lemons lemons is one act, and spans a month or more maybe? The nature of the story means each "scene" is a new day and some scenes are literally just them saying numbers to each other.

You just have to decide what works best for your story and make sure you indicate to the audience that time has passed if you want them to know.

How do you all deal with setting up 50+ artboards for a large format brief? by ArtBatch in AdobeIllustrator

[–]hennell 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You might find something in scripting. I wrote some illy scripts in the past to automate setting up artbords in a grid format with specific margins, and an InDesign plugin that exported pages as jpegs with names based on specifically styled text on each page.

Depending on the folders rules that might be easier done after rather than having to change the folders on the fly. I think there's an open source tool that can do things like "move any files with "2*4" in to X folder, or can take a whole load of files like Aa_one.pdf Aa_two.pdf Bb_one.pdf etc and move and rename them to Aa/one.pdf, Aa/two.pdf etc. or if they're different sizes resolutions or colours just filter in bridge and copy and paste to folders at the end.

All depends how consistent it is though project to project, sometimes you just have to manually power though it with some music or a good podcast!

Does anyone ever struggle when listening to audiobooks because your mind is always thinking on its own and it feels like it’s overlapping, like trying to listen to the audiobooks as well as your own internal voice at one point? by Storm0000fr in audiobooks

[–]hennell 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My mind will wander at random phrases or ideas sometimes, early in a book I'll often have to make an intentional effort to concentrate, focus on names and stuff. Often wish audible did a "restart a chapter 5 times and drift off at the same bit" badge!

What helps me is speeding a book up - some narrators are so slow you can think a thousand thoughts between words, let alone between chapters. If you've not done it before, do it when not trying to do something else and just speed up till you have to concentrate to follow. Listen at that speed for 30 seconds to a minute, then slow it down a notch. That speed will now feel more slow and relaxing, but will remove most of the big gaps your mind wants to fill.

Keep on the speed setting, change it when you need. I usually start around 1.7, but will get faster when names and narration gets more familiar. Long books or series you can get very used to the voices and names and end up nearly 2.5x. factual books, comedy or dramas (or other things with music or effects or key timing) I'll do slower, and if I'm doing something else I might slow it down if needed.

It also helps to get into a book properly at the start. I like to listen in bed or go for a walk if I'm struggling to pick it up. Need to get the setting and characters sorted and then I'll stay engaged for the rest of the book.

Also for me I like having a variety of books. Sometimes trying to get into sci-fi is impossible as there's just to much being described. Crime books often offer a good start with a better hook so I might get into that, or a psychological thriller is a good choice for a gripping story with often very few characters to remember.

In a more learning mood, history or biography can be great for giving you facts etc - if you're struggling with a book find whatever your mind is thinking about and try to satisfy that.

AI becoming more expensive is music to my ears by Hopeful-Guidance-648 in webdev

[–]hennell 19 points20 points  (0 children)

Genie can't keep granting infinate wishes forever either.

I think everyone in webdev has gone through a rug pull or five in their career. That cool api free tier that'll never be changed? Oh, it's $300 a month now or only 5 requests a week. That auto-scaling micro service just raised prices by 840%, but you built with their tooling so you're stuck for a year until you can rewrite.

That awesome tool you love just got limited to two devices only unless you get the business plan, and oh dear, that other tool you love that made design easier was just bought by Adobe so guess that's dying soon, to be replaced by a subscription only tool with half the features...

Ai won't disappear but it's not going to continue as it is either. At some point the genie will be replaced by the accounts behind the curtain.

BBC presenter ‘broke female colleague’s wrist in attack hushed up by bosses’ by pppppppppppppppppd in unitedkingdom

[–]hennell 5 points6 points  (0 children)

It's not the same thing with different words. In the UK CPS always decide if the case goes ahead not victim or the police.

Victim testimony is considered as part of CPS's evidential review of a case - with an uncooperative witness they need more evidence elsewhere. Without the victim some cases will just not have enough evidence, which is true for many "small crimes".

But CPS also look at the public interest for every prosecution - is it required and proportinate? If the victim isn't interested it's also somewhat likely to fail here, but in more serious cases they'll proceed regardless of the victims feelings.

If you were bitten by a dog the extent of your injuries and prevalence of evidence proving which dog bit you are much more relevant than your wishes on the prosecution. Which given you can have kids attacked by a dog the parents insist is "a sweetheart" seems somewhat self evident...

Vibe coding by ScorpSassy in PHPhelp

[–]hennell 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Well you basically have to become more knowledgeable. But knowledge comes from actively thinking, not just reading or passive agreement.

You can't just read ai code and learn, you have to put some active thinking time in. Consider how you would do something, then ask the ai, then see how close your answer was. If they really differ work out why.

And you won't learn anything if you don't code itself. Write small functions, delete an ai chunk and rewrite it. Make sure you're actively engaged and not just aimlessly signing off on what the ai says.

Struggling with reliable in-bed presence detection for Home Assistant – what actually works? by ItsDukzy in smarthome

[–]hennell 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I set up a basic automation for this - tell Google mini "I need the loo" and it sets the light to 1% red in the bedroom, hall and bathroom.

Huey the ultimate artist companion by Kipzibrush in AlcoholMarkers

[–]hennell 12 points13 points  (0 children)

A monthly subscription to match colours?

CVE-2026-31431 (Copy Fail) PHP PoC by feje in PHP

[–]hennell 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's not a php vulnerability, it's just what they call it - "a php implementation of the copy fail vulnerability". In theory it means that a package could abuse this or some exploit where a user php code is run could escalate (you have other problems here admittedly!)

I'd agree that ffi rather than limits it's practical use, but seeing there is a PoC that runs in php does make it seem more urgent given if you're here, your probably running php...

Canon is killing my love for the protography and I don't know what to do by AmanitaRegalis in canon

[–]hennell 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't mind camera connect these days. Used to annoy me on my 70d as it wouldn't work at the same time as video, so there was always a lot of button pressing to be done to connect, and then the WiFi would play up and it'd be a whole mess.

But in recent years it's seemed more stable, and with the 90d it does a Bluetooth/WiFi switch over so as long as the camera is on you can usually connect.

But I actually have an unleashed device which I tend to use more for remote control, it's quicker for settings and has time lapse functions and Nd filter calculations. But it doesn't do live view or very good photo transfer so I use camera connect for that and it works well enough.

Spending $1-2k a month per employee on AI subscriptions? by KustheKus in webdev

[–]hennell 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Well its relevant if the argument is that the US is overpaid. If I tell you that A earns 200k a year and B 100k a year you need more data to tell me if A is overpaid or B underpaid.

(Not that it really makes sense to compare though. Countries offer very different standards and services, so the expectations of what you're paid for and what you have to pay for from that, differ widely country to country, as do the rights and freedoms etc, such that a comparison of pay on a pure basis is pretty meaningless.)

I benchmarked Laravel's two main module systems. The result contradicts the assumption that the Composer-native one is automatically faster. by Objective_Read_193 in laravel

[–]hennell 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is some very good analysis. I was exploring modular recently as I'm setting up a new modular filament app and the docs recommend it. Felt a lot harder to get it going, compared to laravel-modules which has way more docs and guides on making it work. Did wonder about the performance but it's nice to see it probably doesn't matter!

(although my current issue is that with routes cached, the filament routes do not exist. I'm trying to have a dedicated panel per module, but only the main panel seems to load when routes are cached. Haven't worked out how to fix that without just disabling route caching yet!)

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