Andrew Godwin

https://fedi.aeracode.org/@andrew

Tech leader, Django/Python developer, public speaker, occasional youtuber, collector of hobbies, and misplaced Brit. Day job: Lambda Labs. 🏳️‍🌈🐉

Homepage: https://aeracode.org
Location: Denver, Colorado, USA
Pronouns: He/Him/They

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Last Notes

2026-03-23 07:39:15 GMT

Woke up somewhere over the Atlantic to the news of AC8646. Just awful stuff. Godspeed to the crew, who seem to have saved the passengers at the cost of their own lives.
Initially looks like ATC controller overload, which should be a big wake-up call given the underfunded state of US ATC for years, but we'll see.

2026-03-05 20:00:23 GMT

Doing my US tax return involves telling them how much money is in my UK pension, so yesterday I found myself driving 10 minutes to an area where Three UK has a tower with a roaming agreement just so I could receive an MFA code to log in and see the amount, to tell the IRS, so they can ignore it.

2026-01-23 14:51:06 GMT

Finally got a chance to stay in one of my favourite examples of brutalism, the Hyatt Regency San Francisco. As the front desk clerk joked when I asked to check out - "Why would you want to leave?"
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2026-01-22 19:36:22 GMT

"Spend company money like it's your own", says our expense policy. So you're saying the company should buy five 3D printers, import lots of British chocolate, and acquire a series of increasingly esoteric laptops?

2026-01-16 22:02:45 GMT

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It's just a Perfectly Normal Laptop!

2026-01-16 18:13:43 GMT

Did I need the silly two-screen laptop? No. Am I delighted with the build and OLED screen quality, surprised how useable the touchscreen keyboard-and-touchpad Lenovo wrote for it is, and happy that a decent amount works in Linux out of the box? Yes.
(Also, what a way to play Factorio)
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2026-01-10 22:40:24 GMT

Passed my EMR exam so I am now certified to give oxygen, splint things, patch up bad holes, and mostly go "oh yes, you really need someone much more qualified than me".
Will probably go up to EMT at some point but that requires quite a bit more hands-on training!

2026-01-10 16:43:57 GMT

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It is really lovely to see the wonderful ridiculousness all laid out like this. (Have been enjoying the recent rules variants too!)

2025-12-25 18:33:36 GMT

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I did not, they were the result of a trawl through Amazon options a few years ago. Now you mention it, though, I could print better ones...!

2025-12-25 18:13:56 GMT

Pictured: One cat, shortly before he realises that now there are presents under the tree he can avoid the anti-cat spikes and try to climb it
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2025-12-23 21:21:06 GMT

Nice long break ahead means I can finally get around to rewriting my travel checklist app properly (and add on the house regular-maintenance items functionality I've always wanted).
Past me would have added user accounts and stuck it up for everyone to use; now I'm instead thinking "what if I didn't go through all that hassle?"

2025-12-21 22:22:26 GMT

In rather excellent news, we're now at the point where a light aircraft can detect its pilot being incapacitated and successfully land and then shut the engines off fully automatically. My hat is off to the Garmin engineers who built this system.
https://avbrief.com/autoland-saves-king-air-everyone-reported-safe

2025-12-21 17:48:26 GMT

For reasons known only to myself, I documented and reviewed nine different Christmas sandwiches on my trip back to London. Please, maybe, enjoy.
(Mostly I wanted to get practice at lower-effort single take filming!)
https://youtube.com/watch?v=cF2-DUw7IYA

2025-12-17 17:51:54 GMT

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Yup, free entry, built as a combination museum and storehouse. You can't get to all the exhibit storage but a decent amount are on show.

2025-12-17 13:33:09 GMT

The new V&A East Storehouse is fantastic. Not only is it the most pure, channeled form of the V&A's eclectic collection, but the big pieces on display are great, including an ENTIRE FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT OFFICE.
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2025-12-16 16:29:02 GMT

Popped into Hamleys (the world's oldest toy shop, and something of a dream destination when I was little!) and while it is definitely still delightfully packed with toys, wow is it smaller than I remember. Though I guess I'm a lot bigger now as well.

2025-12-16 10:02:44 GMT

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I'd also prefer having none at all but that seems impossible these days

2025-12-16 05:58:20 GMT

Lost my Google TV dongle a trip ago and decided to try a Roku stick in its place.
I'm quite impressed - power still works off a TV USB port, you can Bluetooth your phone to it, you can have it send audio to your phone (and headphones), and it asks if you're sure when you press the Netflix button!

2025-12-15 15:20:01 GMT

The biggest difference I'm noticing since my last trip back to London so far is that they've seemingly changed the cadence on the "sorted" announcements from 61-01-6 to 6-101-6.

2025-12-15 09:01:53 GMT

Always nice to see the standard UK weather from the other side.
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2025-12-15 00:08:44 GMT

Rideshares to the airport were $45 one way today. Parking in the "economy" lot is $20 a day. But it turns out that parking at my local train station, which has a train direct to the airport every 15 minutes, is just $2 a day. Feel a bit silly I didn't do this before (it does take slightly longer!)

2025-12-13 00:27:45 GMT

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I will be qualified to splint and give oxygen and not much else! But hey, that is a lot of what we need up in the mountains.

2025-12-12 21:08:42 GMT

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I will be doing a 30 minute drive for the EMR license for a similar reason.

2025-12-10 06:38:29 GMT

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As for the machine itself - it's the perfect small size where it's still very typeable, it weighs less than a kilo, runs Linux (in this case Bazzite, which is now my daily driver) superbly, and lasts for over 6 hours on a charge - and all for less than US$400 (and even cheaper in places without tariffs)

2025-12-10 06:36:35 GMT

Spent a little bit of time tonight working on a tablet mode (hinge angle) service for this delightful little machine - the Chiwu Minibook X N150.
Was just taking someone's existing Go project and changing a few things, but it _did_ involve udev rules so I think that at least counts as Real Work.
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2025-12-04 23:34:38 GMT

Now OpenAI has bought 40% of the world's DRAM capacity and prices have shot up, starting to wonder when the 384GB of RAM in my basement server will outpace my house's value...

2025-11-28 17:27:13 GMT

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I had just been using it for curries and sauces mostly. Even though I've made sauces that are not that far from custard I never made the leap!

2025-11-28 08:07:07 GMT

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Let's not discuss what the US does with domestic phases as it's just a different kind of weird.

2025-11-28 02:49:26 GMT

I have owned a Thermomix for five years and have only just discovered that it can make a very decent custard in 13 minutes. This has revolutionised tonight's apple pie.

2025-11-27 21:30:29 GMT

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I'm so glad he did this after he previously hooked up a powerful electric heater in a similar way

2025-11-27 07:18:19 GMT

What I love about Lumines Arise is that there will be a level with an emotional song about the meaning of humanity, and then a few levels later one that's just a fun piano riff about how cool pigeons are.

2025-11-26 04:40:27 GMT

I am very much enjoying Lumines Arise, but I wish they had put the music and visuals on a game I was any good at.
(I am getting better, but it's hard to beat decades of getting better at Tetris)

2025-11-25 02:45:10 GMT

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It was a small counter-serve place called Friskie Fries. Not top top tier but very decent and some good weird options.

2025-11-24 19:30:31 GMT

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This also marks my 39th state visited so I'm gonna have to make some decisions soon about which one I visit last (and ensure it's not North Dakota)

2025-11-24 19:26:35 GMT

Denver, a metro area of 3 million people: zero good poutine places.
Providence, RI, a city of only 200,000 people in a state of only a million: I was eating delicious poutine within 10 minutes of getting off the train.
I know they're a bit nearer Canada here but cmon.

2025-11-24 14:38:51 GMT

Finally riding one of America's very few Proper Trains (currently enjoying a great view on the way out of NYC). And I even snagged a cheap first class upgrade!
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2025-11-15 18:06:44 GMT

My attempts at a nice relaxing weekend have immediately been undone by my garage door opener failing (pulled off the top and the belt sprocket is at much more of a jaunty angle than it should be)

2025-11-12 22:03:39 GMT

Catching up on all the new Steam Hardware announcements and boy, am I going to be giving Valve a lot of money next year.

2025-11-11 14:56:01 GMT

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I set my notification sound set to 0.5 seconds of silence a few years ago, which is the best thing I've done for my phone use overall

2025-11-06 20:32:02 GMT

Fortunately if I get stuck in Atlanta next week due to an airspace shutdown I can just get the train home!
(holds finger to ear) Hold on, I'm being told that it would be literally faster to cycle back to Denver...

2025-11-05 04:29:23 GMT

I need to get one or two more flights in this year so you bet I'm going to head to Mayor-Elect Mamdani's fine city and try at least some of the food recommendations he's dropped during the campaign.

2025-11-04 00:27:23 GMT

Not only does everyone just get opted in to vote by mail here, but they make sure you still get the sticker. And even better, my closest drop-off box is right next to both Halal Guys and Five Guys.
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2025-10-31 22:32:20 GMT

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How much RF can you pump through the dish in order to heat your house?

2025-10-27 17:03:30 GMT

I do have to say, though, that walking into Mr Burger in Grand Rapids is like stepping back in time 50 years. In a good way.

2025-10-27 17:02:46 GMT

Have really enjoyed my short visit to (west) Michigan. Absolutely beautiful here (though it is also maybe the perfect time of year as well)
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2025-10-23 20:50:38 GMT

For cursed reasons, I find myself needing to create a 10-pin Mini USB (yes, that's a thing) to composite video cable - "compatible with the GoPro Hero 3", as the spec sheet says. Great, let me just go back to 2012.

2025-10-18 04:49:59 GMT

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If you want to know more about the Geodome 4, there's a very excited writeup about it on the North Face Japan website: https://www.thenorthface.jp/special/Geodome4/index_en.html

2025-10-18 04:36:43 GMT

Camping with some of my fellow mountain rescuers and had to explain how I couriered a payphone across the Atlantic and then returned with this tent in its place. It's such a wonderfully weird tent.
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2025-10-17 06:21:37 GMT

Finally booking some very silly travel for the rest of the year (alongside my normal London Christmas trip). Going to some places most people do not go to by choice...

2025-10-15 06:22:50 GMT

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I barely remember the thing exists, let alone ponder how to plan for the very foreign feeling concept of retirement, but they calmly make sure I am reminded about the tiny things now that make a big impact later.

2025-10-15 06:19:21 GMT

Once again my financial advisors have very reasonably suggested that I raise my 401k contributions and I am honestly so glad I have help adulting.

2025-09-28 19:53:01 GMT

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Trying to get here this morning was a comedy of errors, with the Zipcar I initially booked not actually being there (apparently it was left in Malibu), me catching the metro one stop to get to the next available one, and that one having a bee trapped inside (I ushered it out).

2025-09-28 19:46:25 GMT

US National Park #27 (of 62) today - Channel Islands. Had to start getting to the ones you can't just drive to at some point! (Also I love a good ferry ride, especially when it goes via a pod of hundreds of dolphins)
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2025-09-27 21:58:58 GMT

OK, there needs to be a future fancy chair sponsorship tier for PyBeach...
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2025-09-27 16:49:10 GMT

The PyBeach venue certainly has a Vibe (positive).
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2025-09-25 19:57:49 GMT

Currently prepping the North Bay Python networking gear for a beach holiday. A PyBeach holiday, even.

2025-09-19 03:49:29 GMT

Also available in SF: the largest donut I've ever seen in my life.
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2025-09-18 23:59:53 GMT

The beauty of being in San Francisco: wanting Japanese curry for dinner, looking at the options, and finding that there's a great place just two minutes from the hotel.

2025-09-11 15:32:52 GMT

Had a really lovely time in Chicago at DjangoCon US - delighted to be returning here next year. It has really been elevated in my view the past week into one of the true Big Cities of the USA.

2025-09-09 21:12:34 GMT

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The four people I chatted to while in Indiana all seemed lovely and likely to have much better names for towns.

2025-09-09 20:34:53 GMT

Also, who calls a town Gary?

2025-09-09 20:30:42 GMT

Popped out of DjangoCon for a few hours to visit my 26th US National Park - Indiana Dunes. It's quite something to stand on what feels like a seashore and see the skyline of Chicago floating on the horizon.
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2025-09-07 23:23:51 GMT

It has somehow been twelve years since I was last in Chicago, but it is a lovely time of year to be here, and I am already enjoying the weather, an actually functioning public transport system, and this giant one-bedroom apartment that was somehow the cheap option.

2025-09-02 00:07:24 GMT

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What is the water bath made of, you may ask? The best thing I could find in a 30 minute browse at my local hardware store, which turned out to be a water heater drip pan.

2025-09-01 23:58:55 GMT

Inherited an unfinished drone that was missing some of its motor mounts.
Redesigned them in Fusion, built a water bath, machined carbon fibre for the first time ever, all to discover... the polycarbonate 3D printed alternatives I designed are just as strong and within 1g of their weight.
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2025-08-21 17:42:13 GMT

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Oh I know, I just would like a way to avoid writing Yet Another Reconciliation Loop Core for the latest project.

2025-08-21 16:34:05 GMT

Are there any other good pluggable-reconciliation-loop frameworks that aren't Kubernetes? (Where you can use entirely custom CRDs/controllers but it's pushing it a bit).
I find it odd there's not other obvious ones out there considering how nice it is as a code architecture...

2025-08-21 05:13:18 GMT

I know I left it way too late to book a hotel room for DjangoCon US, but what is up with every single hotel in downtown Chicago being $400/night that week?!

2025-08-11 01:20:57 GMT

While it does suck for my flight to be delayed 3+ hours out of DEN due to the usual afternoon thunderstorms, watching ATC carefully stack all the planes over the mountains and then release them around the storm cells is fun.

2025-08-07 19:44:57 GMT

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Looking very nice!

2025-08-02 03:18:40 GMT

The new Naked Gun has so many great background jokes it definitely needs at least a second viewing. And some really nice nods to the originals.

2025-07-29 01:01:33 GMT

Back in SF for a very brief visit and I feel like the AI billboards along the 101 are reaching near-critical levels.

2025-07-28 01:49:25 GMT

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That one is the good Taco Bell locally! In that they mostly give you food similar to what you ordered...

2025-07-28 01:14:19 GMT

A hotel nearby has had this on its sign for the last three years or more and... I don't know why. It puzzles me every time I drive past.
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2025-07-27 18:26:02 GMT

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I should release the ones I made, I didn't find any when I searched at the start of the year

2025-07-27 18:03:25 GMT

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My little hack for this is 3D printed colour coded rings to snap onto the cables.

2025-07-23 22:48:13 GMT

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Also the waiting room is great as you just get to see a series of dogs incredibly excited and happy to see their humans again.

2025-07-23 22:46:03 GMT

One of my cats had to visit the animal hospital today to meet the oncologist (prognosis seems positive at least!).
Wild experience though - I got a next-day appointment, talked with two oncologists and their specialist cancer surgeon, they did pathology on the tumour right there, and I paid only $200. He's got better medical care than me!

2025-07-17 23:03:19 GMT

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Oh great! Looking forward to it :)

2025-07-17 21:14:15 GMT

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I miss that part of the world too! Especially just being able to get the train up to Eryri or the Highlands.

2025-07-17 21:00:05 GMT

Lovely day to take a day off and go hiking today though. Weather is very pleasant, not a lot of people on the trails, and the chipmunks were very active!
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2025-07-17 20:31:41 GMT

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Imagine how much easier Lanyrd would have been these days in terms of scraping schedules.

2025-07-17 20:15:37 GMT

Look, it's not every day that your former workplace's CEO makes the news for bad reasons, but that makes it two times in two companies now.

2025-07-13 17:29:30 GMT

Happy 20th to Django, one of the best projects and communities there is around, and something I have enjoyed using and contributing to for the past seventeen of those years. Here's to many more.
https://www.djangoproject.com/weblog/2025/jul/13/happy-20th-birthday-django/

2025-07-09 05:38:32 GMT

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Fair enough - I guess I am lucky to live within a mile of a welding supply place! I've only done MIG and TIG so no good stick recommendations from me, alas - just stay away from the crazy dangerous cheap laser welders...

2025-07-09 04:13:18 GMT

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Are you _sure_ you don't want to fuck with gas? My MIG welder was pretty cheap, is easy for even an idiot like me to use, and I'm still on the same cylinder of argon from 3 years ago as I use it so irregularly.

2025-07-09 04:11:34 GMT

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Those halycon days when I was super excited to finally have the with: statement.

2025-07-08 23:59:46 GMT

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I really hope this isn't actually *useful* to someone in the year 2025 who is somehow still running it...

2025-07-08 23:57:48 GMT

Since BitBucket appears to have finally just deleted everything that used to be publicly hosted, I've converted the Mercurial backups of some of the more interesting repos into Git and stuck them on GitHub. Such as South! https://github.com/andrewgodwin/south
(thanks @npub1l7c…t2an for the nudge)

2025-07-08 23:51:12 GMT

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Well that was easy... here you go! https://github.com/andrewgodwin/south

2025-07-08 23:41:56 GMT

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That's going to be tricky while I have a backup, it's Mercurial, but I'll see what I can do.

2025-07-08 16:26:13 GMT

The caliber of the applicants for the Django Fellow position really is incredible. Over a hundred people, and it's tough to get it down to even a shortlist.

2025-06-28 16:30:28 GMT

We have had at least three pairs of birds nesting around the garden this year and it's delightful. Of course, none of them are in the bird box I built.

2025-06-25 03:45:30 GMT

Great job NYC!

2025-06-24 19:26:44 GMT

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The "worst weather in America" is a hell of a claim. Now wondering what other contenders there might be.

2025-06-19 20:51:25 GMT

Very much enjoying my 24th US National Park here in Yellowstone. Lovely weather for it, and just a really nice part of the world.
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2025-06-14 00:39:43 GMT

Was on this mission last night. Glad both people we rescued are doing alright. https://apnews.com/article/colorado-mountain-torreys-peak-lightning-helicopter-rescue-c38152c3d63a196ffca07799ab4262cb

2025-06-09 22:05:56 GMT

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Anyway, this is to say that any narrative that paints cities versus rural areas as some 50/50 split is so wrong it hurts. They're the core of America.

2025-06-09 21:59:31 GMT

I have a backburner project working on finding the "most average" city in the US, but the key part of it is that cities ARE the backbone of the country.
The absolute average American, by population, lives in Jacksonville, FL.
85% of the population lives in a city of 100,000 people or more!

2025-06-07 17:18:00 GMT

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It's funny how the tiny nags - like Win 11 removing the ability to put the taskbar at the top of the screen, or being able to resize windows with Win+RMB - built up, and how nice it is to have them back. I did turn wobbly windows off, though, after a brief dalliance with them for old time's sake.