This weeknote is a bit of a rush-job – mostly because it\u2019s Sunday afternoon and I\u2019m writing this at the side of a public swimming pool whilst supervising a pool party\u2026 it will be late tonight when I get to finish it!<\/p>\n
There not a huge amount to say about this week though. It\u2019s been as manic as usual, with a mixture of paid consulting days, pre-sales and time at Microsoft.<\/p>\n
The time at Microsoft was excellent though – I spent Tuesday in their London offices, when Daniel Baker<\/a> (@AzureDan<\/a>) gave an excellent run through of some of the capabilities in Azure. I like to think I have a reasonable amount of Azure experience and I was really looking to top up my knowledge with recent developments as well as to learn a bit more about using some of the advanced workloads but I learned a lot that day. I think Dan is planning some more videos so watch his Twitter feed but his \u201cBuild a Company in a Day\u201d slides are available for download<\/a>.<\/p>\n I’ve seen many Azure demos and @AzureDan<\/a>‘s #BACIAD<\/a> is one of the best. Covered IaaS and PaaS topics running through networks, VMs, containers, DevTest Labs, App Service, Logic Apps and Cognitive Services – all in one day! #Azuredandemo<\/a> https:\/\/t.co\/b0Qzgm9cVk<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Mark Wilson ???? (@markwilsonit) November 21, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n On the topic of Azure, I managed to get the sentiment analysis demo I\u2019ve been working on based on a conversation with my colleague Matt Bradley (@MattOnMicrosoft<\/a>) and Daniel Baker also touched on it in his Build a Company in a Day workshop. It uses an Azure Logic App to:<\/p>\n Finally got my Twitter sentiment analysis demo working today using #Azure<\/a> Cognitive Services Text Analysis, #Azure<\/a> Logic Apps and #PowerBI<\/a> #ConnectedBusiness<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/ViNmj2GYQC<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Mark Wilson ???? (@markwilsonit) November 24, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n It\u2019s a bit rough-and-ready (my Power BI skills are best described as \u201cnascent\u201d) but it\u2019s not a bad demo – and it costs me pennies to run. You can also do something similar with Microsoft Flow<\/a> instead of an Azure Logic App.<\/p>\n I hate Black Friday. Just an excuse to shift some excess stock onto greedy consumers ahead of Christmas…<\/p>\n …but it didn’t stop me buying things:<\/p>\n My weekend involved: cycling (my son was racing cyclocross again in the Central CX League<\/a>); an evening out with my wife (disappointing restaurant in the next town followed by great gin in our local pub<\/a>); a small hangover; some Zwift (to blow away the cobwebs – and although it was sunny outside, the chances of hitting black ice made the idea of a real road bike ride a bit risky); the pool party I mentioned earlier (belated 13th birthday celebrations for my eldest); 7 adolescent kids eating an enormous quantity of food back at ours; and\u2026 relax.<\/p>\n My eldest son discovered that the pressure washer can make bicycle bar tape white again! (I wrote a few years back about using baby wipes to clean bar tape<\/a> but cyclocross mud goes way beyond even their magical properties.)<\/p>\n After posting my 7 days 7 photos efforts last week, I saw this:<\/p>\n I’m not doing the black-and-white photo challenge thing but I am using it as an excuse to share Marcin Ryczek’s man feeding ducks and swans from a snowy bank in Krak\u00f3w: pic.twitter.com\/h7XktzOT9h<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Ian Duhig (@ianduhig) November 17, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n I’ll get my coat.<\/p>\n I also learned a new term: “bikeshedding” (nothing to do with cycling… or smoking… or other teenage activities…):<\/p>\n I’d never heard of the term “bikeshedding” before today. This is my new favourite word.<\/p>\n “Futile investment of time and energy in discussion of marginal technical issues”<\/p>\n \u2014 Jay George (@_JayGeorge) November 20, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n It’s scary to see how much we’re cluttering space – not just our planet:<\/p>\n Last year 471 new #SpaceJunk<\/a> items were added to our mess.? \u2014 Project Adrift (@ProjectAdrift) November 20, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n There’s a new DNS service in town:<\/p>\n New \u201cQuad9\u201d DNS service blocks malicious domains for everyone https:\/\/t.co\/rDaqaOWvV7<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Joe Baguley (@JoeBaguley) November 20, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n I’ve switched the home connection from OpenDNS (now owned by Cisco) to 9.9.9.9 and will report back in a while…<\/p>\n This ad tells a great story:<\/p>\n Regardless that it\u2019s really just an ad for smart energy, it\u2019s interesting to read this story of how the establishment ignored John Logie Baird as he tried to pitch television in the 1920s ? (back page of today\u2019s @MetroUK<\/a>) pic.twitter.com\/Mo5jujYikN<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Mark Wilson ???? (@markwilsonit) November 21, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Curve is now available to ordinary employees and not just business-people!<\/p>\n I’ve signed up for the world’s smartest card: Curve. Thought you’d like it too, move fast as the waitlist is growing. https:\/\/t.co\/6oHZui2dM1<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Mark Wilson ???? (@markwilsonit) November 21, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n We recently switched back to Tesco<\/a> for our online grocery shopping (we left years ago because it seemed someone was taking one or two items from every order, hoping we wouldn’t notice). Well, it seems things have improved in some ways, but not in others…<\/p>\n This afternoon, I learned @Tesco<\/a> Maths. Quite right we didn’t pay more, but we also got 75% of what we ordered, for the same price. Then “Customer Services” had the cheek to tell me I had accepted the substitution… Next time, their driver can wait whilst I check every item… pic.twitter.com\/9miZl6fOrM<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Mark Wilson ???? (@markwilsonit) November 25, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n On the subject of less-than-wonderful online shopping experiences, after I criticised John Lewis<\/a> for limiting website functionality instead of bursting to the cloud:<\/p>\n Looks like @johnlewisretail<\/a> might need some help with bursting to the cloud… site is up, but displaying a reduced service notice… #BlackFriday<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/cVSd0Y73Xx<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Mark Wilson ???? (@markwilsonit) November 24, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n It seems they got their own back by shipping my wife’s Christmas present with Hermes, who dumped it on the front doorstep (outside the notified delivery timeframe) and left a card to say it had been delivered to a secure location:<\/p>\n Rushed home for @JohnLewisRetail<\/a> parcel due to be delivered by #HermesUK<\/a> between 17:00 and 21:00 only to find it was dumped on the doorstep sometime this afternoon…<\/p>\n — Mark Wilson ???? (@markwilsonit) November 26, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n It may be silly but this made me laugh:<\/p>\n Machine Learning: pic.twitter.com\/3mPZWQhUAn<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Shawn Wildermuth (@ShawnWildermuth) November 20, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Finally, for this week, I borrowed my son’s wireless charger to top up my iPhone. Charging devices without cables – it’s witchcraft, I tell you! Witchcraft!<\/p>\n Witchcraft! pic.twitter.com\/baUVRGiDyp<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Mark Wilson ???? (@markwilsonit) November 26, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n
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Black Friday<\/h3>\n
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The weekend<\/h3>\n
Other stuff<\/h3>\n
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\nWe now track 18,347 of them. We are yet to successfully remove any.?
\n?#SpaceDebris<\/a> #SpaceDebris2017<\/a> #Space<\/a> #Junk<\/a> #Satellite<\/a> #Orbit<\/a> #OrbitalDebris<\/a> #earth<\/a> #earthfromabove<\/a> #earthfromspace<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/VciovSD84C<\/a><\/p>\n\n
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