I’ve maintained my own scripts for updating software on a few Linux distributions for a while. This weekend I decided it was time to consolodate all my installation and update scripts in one place, and amend them to reflect the new ways I work with Linux (both in using i3 as a window manager and relying more on WSL and Multipass).
What follows is largely for my benefit, but I thought it may be of interest to others.
One of the last social things I did before lockdown was the 6 Music Festival (and an excellent non-festival Jehnny Beth concert that is probably the musical highlight of my year so far). I’ve been trying to do more live music (combined with cycling adventures) and this sort of event really works for me as it takes me to a different city and builds in enough time to properly explore.
Obviously more adventures of this type are not possible now, but over the last week I’ve been participating in Tim Burgess’ Twitter listening parties where people all listen to the same record at the same time, and the people who made the record in the first place commentate. I’ve never consumed music in quite this way before, but I now think it’s something I’d like to continue doing after lockdown. I’ve rediscovered some old music that required hunting down CDs and MP3 backups, connected with people who share my love of some of my current favourites, and generally added a bit of structure to my evenings.
This is my calendar for this week. I’ve been off work so I’ve had a lot of free time, but even next week I think I’ll tune in for a few as well as nothing actually eats into work time.
My new social life
I know this is making things easier for a lot of people, and also that this is introducing people to new music that they can buy, and thus support the artists who are really struggling right now without the revenue from gigs. It’s a good thing, and I’m glad I’m part of it.
I realised this week that I have a single blog post for all my other Album of the year lists, and would probably regret doing 2019 in sections at some point. This blog post addresses this issue, and also has undergone some light editing to preserve the narrative.
I’ve been compiling a list of my favourite records of each year for a decade or more. This year I’ve listened to music slightly differently; with monthly Spotify playlists on shuffle during train journeys and walks, but otherwise by putting a record on my record player and listening to the songs in the order they were sequenced. These are my top 10, starting with something that came out during a surprisingly warm February.
Ex:Re – Ex:Re
Ex:Re is the solo project of Elena Tonra (from Daughter), and this record is touched by heartbreak, but also by the realisation that you sometimes need to pick the pieces of other people out of your skin before you can start to heal. It’s sparse and beautiful, and one of the most emotionally raw collections of songs I’ve heard this year.
The Twilight Sad – It Won/t Be Like This All the Time
The second selection from my list of my favourite records from 2019 takes me back to the very start of the year.
Anyone who has known me for a while will know that The Twilight Sad are one of my favourite bands, and that their music often soundtracks the winter months for me. This year they delivered an excellent new record in January, which got me in the right head space for a couple of weeks of sub-zero cycling and an extremely challenging month at work (but it’s good to get the worst month out of the way at the start of the year, right?).
Weyes Blood – Titanic Rising
Part 3 of my list of my favourite records from 2019.
At this point I realise there are very few cheery records on this year’s list. This one is probably the most uplifting musically, although lyrically it deals with climate change, and the growing sense that if we don’t do something to avert the climate catastrophe then it doesn’t really matter what else we do because we are underwater. This one is a grower, and nothing like what I usually listen to, but it’s one I keep coming back to.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Ghosteen
I said previously that there are very few cheery records on this list, and this one doesn’t help. It is however one of the most beautiful pieces of music I’ve ever heard (this year or any other year), and it’s a million miles away from where Nick Cave started all those years ago (check out Release the Bats by The Birthday Party for something a lot angrier). This reminds me of one of those books where you just have to read it all in one go. Partly to find out what happened and partly because it deserves your full attention until you have consumed it completely. I would be surprised if there is an album of the year list that doesn’t include this record; it really is that good.
Kate Tempest – The Book of Traps & Lessons
This is a record that definitely needs to be listened to in the order it is sequenced. It’s also probably my favourite record by an artist who is responsible for at least one of my favourite records already (2016’s Let Them Eat Chaos). Kate Tempest is a writer who also performs, and The Book of Traps & Lessons is a single long poem put to music that demands to be listened to in one go. The music is much sparser than anything she has done before, but it allows the words to take centre stage as they should do. This record has probably provoked the most extreme emotional reaction of anything I’ve listened to this year, and I suspect I’ll listen to it for many years to come.
Belle & Sebastian – Days of the Bagnold Summer
This next record takes me back to September. I spent about half of September in Japan, and as a result couldn’t buy this record until it had been out a couple of weeks. It was my soundtrack to that trip though (thanks to Spotify), and also to the desolate weather and subsequent mood crash that followed my return to the UK. Many people will know that Belle & Sebastian are one of my favourite bands, and this record serves as a great introduction to them, from the re-recordings of two old favourites to the newer songs that may themselves become old favourites in the years to come. They managed to provide at least two of my favourite songs of last year (Cornflakes and Best Friend) and in This Letter and Safety Valve they have added two more songs that just seemed to perfectly sum up how I was feeling at the time I first listened to them. They have made better records, but for now this one will do nicely.
The Delines – The Imperial
My seventh record of the year is from January, when 2019 was only a few days old. I loved the soulful gin-soaked vibe of the first Delines record (Colfax), and this one picks up very much where the last one left off. It’s very much an album of stories, with clear narratives, believable characters (with names – which reminds me a bit of The Hold Steady), and songs that sound like they could have been written at any time since the early 70s. This isn’t a fashionable record, and I suspect it won’t be in many end of year lists, but it’s one that is well worth giving a chance to if you are interested in well-written songs performed to perfection.
Cigarettes After Sex – Cry
My 8th record of the year is much newer than most of the rest, but definitely deserves a place on this list. The first Cigarettes After Sex record was on my list in 2017, and I was wondering what direction they would go in next. The answer is very much that they are going in exactly the same direction, but are much closer to getting there. It’s very much still all about crooning falsetto, shimmering guitars, and lyrics that don’t look like anything special when written down, but which still manage to blend perfectly with the music; but if anything there are even more great songs this time around. This record sound-tracked most of November and December for me, and if the year started in November it would easily be my record of the year.
Durand Jones & The Indications – American Love Call
This is a record that I got as part of my Rough Trade Club membership, and I don’t think I would have given it a chance otherwise. From the cover I had it pegged as retro American soul, and while that’s not too far off the mark there is something about this record that transcends genre and just transports me to America in the sunshine instead (not bad considering I’ve only ever been to America in December). Both vocalists can really sing, there isn’t a bad song on the record, and it has very quickly become the record I put on if I just want to feel better about myself and the world for a little while.
William Doyle – Your Wilderness Revisited
For my 10th selection I’m going to pick something that I’ve only owned for a few days, but which I’ve loved since the first time I’ve heard it. William Doyle used to record as East India Youth, but this record is very different than anything that has gone before, and swaps electronic music for something more organic and breathable. It still does a fair bit of genre-switching, but is on the whole a collection of excellent songs with clever and thoughtful lyrics. Words are important to me, and these words are perfect.
The Best of the Rest
There is more though (there always is), and there are some records that I’ve really enjoyed but I don’t really have anything to say about. These are the rest:
She Makes War – And Peace
DIIV – Deceiver
Lost Crowns – Every Night Something Happens
Fontaines DC – Dogrel
Pip Blom – Boat
Mark Kozelek and Petra Haden – Joey Always Smiled
Sudan Archives – Athena
FKA Twigs – Magdalene
Maps – Colours. Reflect. Time. loss.
The National – I Am Easy to Find
Angel Olsen – All Mirrors
Viagra Boys – Street Worms
Big Thief – UFOF
Big Thief – Two Hands
Richard Dawson 2020
Kim Gordon – No Home Record
Pixies – Beneath The Eyrie
The Comet is Coming – Trust in the Lifeforce of the Deep Mystery
I attended a talk by James Stanger from CompTIA at the SITS17 conference in 2017 (I totally forgot I’d written these notes until now). He talked a lot about the sort of skills and knowledge that world class Service Desk staff needed to have, and it dovetailed nicely with a list I drew up myself a couple of years earlier, and also with ideas from other presentations from the same conference.
What follows is notes I took at the time (with my observations in italics)
Tech support today
Evolving endpoint – IOT
Analytics
Automation
The cloud and mobility – BYOD
Cyber / security
Complexity of privacy
Device diversity
We are all knowledge workers
Helpdesk are the frost line of defence against security.
More Mac and Linux now than 10 years ago.
More business units than ever before
Service desk and service management is a growing industry and there are more jobs available. This should be an increasing trend.
Need a more diverse skills set – increase in cloud, and move from Helpdesk to service desk.
Technical skills that Service Desk staff need
Security
Database
PC
Storage
Backups
Cloud
Telecoms
Web dev
Server
Mobile
Etc.
Top skills
Troubleshooting
App management
PC
Security
Data
Mobility
Repair
Ticketing
Cloud
Permissions and directory services
It’s about accessing data from any device rather than the device itself. The device breaks, then you just try and access it on another device.
Five essential skills
Cybersecurity
Linux
Programming – shell scripts and python
Networking – TCP/IP, network segmentation, VPN
Soft skills – customer service mindset, project management, ability to turn negatives into positives.
Can we take these 5 skills and turn them into a blueprint for the sort of person we want to recruit into IT support roles (and I’m talking across the institution here, not just Service Desk people)? Should also add some stuff from the other lists though – especially around cloud, troubleshooting and application management. Do our people need to be lesss skilled but more knowledgeable? Or is it just that they need to be skilled and knowledgeable about different things?
I look at this list and see a lot of things that have previously been on our “nice to have” list. Things like cybersecurity, Linux and the ability to script solutions to IT problems have never been things we have tried to recruit at first line, and maybe even most second line teams. That is going to have to change if we are going to meet the demands of our customers and provide the sort of service they need from us.
Other things:
We want someone who loves problems
Can this person really look beneath the hood?
Can they see around the corners of a problem? Trend analysis and documenting new things and fixes to hard problems.
Hackers will go after the points where one technology interacts with another (where people are a technology – interface between people and technology is a big vulnerability).
Security trends
Notice the unknown (Ransomware, social engineering etc.)
Zero day attacks
Malware
Top security skills
The usual, plus social engineering, authentication methods.
Attacks occur where people and technology converge. This isn’t news.
We have too much information, too much data, if we had less there would be less to attack.
A good Helpdesk person will spot trends in security, and will help visualise data in a way that other people can understand.
Multi factor authentication – something you know and something you hold. 3rd factor is something you are (fingerprint, iris scan, face etc.)
Understanding monitoring and performance via command line tools is an important skill. All the stuff I have been talking about for years.
Saying things the right way is absolutely vital. Change geek speak into plain language. This is a key skill.
Give suggestions / say no / transfer a call
Identify the problem
Define the problem
Explore and examine the options
Act on the solutions
Look back at the solution and the consequences, or learn from the problem.
80% technical, 20% soft skills. And technical skills are much easier to teach, so recruit people who already have the soft skills.
I’ve posted writeups of 10 records I really loved this year on Facebook and in a couple of previous blog posts (part 1 and part 2). There is more though (there always is), and there are some records that I’ve really enjoyed but I don’t really have anything to say about. This is the full list:
Ex:Re – Ex:Re
The Twilight Sad – It Won/t Be Like This All the Time
Weyes Blood – Titanic Rising
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Ghosteen
Kate Tempest – The Book of Traps & Lessons
Belle & Sebastian – Days of the Bagnold Summer
The Delines – The Imperial
Cigarettes After Sex – Cry
Durand Jones & The Indications – American Love Call
William Doyle – Your Wilderness Revisited
She Makes War – And Peace
DIIV – Deceiver
Lost Crowns – Every Night Something Happens
Fontaines DC – Dogrel
Pip Blom – Boat
Mark Kozelek and Petra Haden – Joey Always Smiled
Sudan Archives – Athena
FKA Twigs – Magdalene
Maps – Colours. Reflect. Time. loss.
The National – I Am Easy to Find
Angel Olsen – All Mirrors
Viagra Boys – Street Worms
Big Thief – UFOF
Big Thief – Two Hands
Richard Dawson 2020
Kim Gordon – No Home Record
Pixies – Beneath The Eyrie
The Comet is Coming – Trust in the Lifeforce of the Deep Mystery
I’ve been compiling a list of my favourite records of each year for a decade or more. This year I’ve listened to music slightly differently; with monthly Spotify playlists on shuffle during train journeys and walks, but otherwise by putting a record on my record player and listening to the songs in the order they were sequenced. This is the second half of the list (the first half can be found here).
Belle & Sebastian – Days of the Bagnold Summer
Part 6 of my review of music from 2019 takes me back to September. I spent about half of September in Japan, and as a result couldn’t buy this record until it had been out a couple of weeks. It was my soundtrack to that trip though (thanks to Spotify), and also to the desolate weather and subsequent mood crash that followed my return to the UK. Many people will know that Belle & Sebastian are one of my favourite bands, and this record serves as a great introduction to them, from the re-recordings of two old favourites to the newer songs that may themselves become old favourites in the years to come. They managed to provide at least two of my favourite songs of last year (Cornflakes and Best Friend) and in This Letter and Safety Valve they have added two more songs that just seemed to perfectly sum up how I was feeling at the time I first listened to them. They have made better records, but for now this one will do nicely.
The Delines – The Imperial
My seventh record of the year is from January, when 2019 was only a few days old. I loved the soulful gin-soaked vibe of the first Delines record (Colfax), and this one picks up very much where the last one left off. It’s very much an album of stories, with clear narratives, believable characters (with names – which reminds me a bit of The Hold Steady), and songs that sound like they could have been written at any time since the early 70s. This isn’t a fashionable record, and I suspect it won’t be in many end of year lists, but it’s one that is well worth giving a chance to if you are interested in well-written songs performed to perfection.
Cigarettes After Sex – Cry
My 8th record of the year is much newer than most of the rest, but definitely deserves a place on this list. The first Cigarettes After Sex record was on my list in 2017, and I was wondering what direction they would go in next. The answer is very much that they are going in exactly the same direction, but are much closer to getting there. It’s very much still all about crooning falsetto, shimmering guitars, and lyrics that don’t look like anything special when written down, but which still manage to blend perfectly with the music; but if anything there are even more great songs this time around. This record sound-tracked most of November and December for me, and if the year started in November it would easily be my record of the year.
Durand Jones & The Indications – American Love Call
This is a record that I got as part of my Rough Trade Club membership, and I don’t think I would have given it a chance otherwise. From the cover I had it pegged as retro American soul, and while that’s not too far off the mark there is something about this record that transcends genre and just transports me to America in the sunshine instead (not bad considering I’ve only ever been to America in December). Both vocalists can really sing, there isn’t a bad song on the record, and it has very quickly become the record I put on if I just want to feel better about myself and the world for a little while.
William Doyle – Your Wilderness Revisited
For my 10th selection I’m going to pick something that I’ve only owned for a few days, but which I’ve loved since the first time I’ve heard it. William Doyle used to record as East India Youth, but this record is very different than anything that has gone before, and swaps electronic music for something more organic and breathable. It still does a fair bit of genre-switching, but is on the whole a collection of excellent songs with clever and thoughtful lyrics. Words are important to me, and these words are perfect.
I’ve been compiling a list of my favourite records of each year for a decade or more. This year I’ve listened to music slightly differently; with monthly Spotify playlists on shuffle during train journeys and walks, but otherwise by putting a record on my record player and listening to the songs in the order they were sequenced. I’ll share a few of my favourites over the next few days just in case anyone is looking for new music to get them through the Christmas period, starting with something that came out during a surprisingly warm February.
Ex:Re – Ex:Re
Ex:Re is the solo project of Elena Tonra (from Daughter), and this record is touched by heartbreak, but also by the realisation that you sometimes need to pick the pieces of other people out of your skin before you can start to heal. It’s sparse and beautiful, and one of the most emotionally raw collections of songs I’ve heard this year.
The Twilight Sad – It Won/t Be Like This All the Time
Anyone who has known me for a while will know that The Twilight Sad are one of my favourite bands, and that their music often soundtracks the winter months for me. This year they delivered an excellent new record in January, which got me in the right head space for a couple of weeks of sub-zero cycling and an extremely challenging month at work (but it’s good to get the worst month out of the way at the start of the year, right?).
Weyes Blood – Titanic Rising
At this point I realise there are very few cheery records on this year’s list. This one is probably the most uplifting musically, although lyrically it deals with climate change, and the growing sense that if we don’t do something to avert the climate catastrophe then it doesn’t really matter what else we do because we are underwater. This one is a grower, and nothing like what I usually listen to, but it’s one I keep coming back to.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Ghosteen
I said yesterday that there are very few cheery records on this list, and this one doesn’t help. It is however one of the most beautiful pieces of music I’ve ever heard (this year or any other year), and it’s a million miles away from where Nick Cave started all those years ago (check out Release the Bats by The Birthday Party for something a lot angrier). This reminds me of one of those books where you just have to read it all in one go. Partly to find out what happened and partly because it deserves your full attention until you have consumed it completely. I would be surprised if there is an album of the year list that doesn’t include this record; it really is that good.
Kate Tempest – The Book of Traps & Lessons
This is a record that definitely needs to be listened to in the order it is sequenced. It’s also probably my favourite record by an artist who is responsible for at least one of my favourite records already (2016’s Let Them Eat Chaos). Kate Tempest is a writer who also performs, and The Book of Traps & Lessons is a single long poem put to music that demands to be listened to in one go. The music is much sparser than anything she has done before, but it allows the words to take centre stage as they should do. This record has probably provoked the most extreme emotional reaction of anything I’ve listened to this year, and I suspect I’ll listen to it for many years to come.
I posted quite a lot about my trip to Japan on Facebook, but never got around to posting it here (that’s what not having a day off since September does). The following is what I wrote at the time (with light editing where required), and there are also more pictures from the cycle tour of the Japanese islands on my cycling blog.
Monday 9th September
Its the early hours of Monday morning, and I’m sitting in a beautifully air conditioned room in Tokyo. It is nearly 6am, and jet lag has been banished by three hours of sleep on the plane and then an early night last night. In fact I think we’re about 2 hours ahead of ourselves now, which fits quite nicely with the dark nights and light mornings of Japan.
The only problem is the storm. It’s sitting right over us and doesn’t show much sign of moving for at least the next hour or so. But we have coffee, hotel breakfast, and all the delights that the hotel vending machines have to offer, and we stocked up on food in between the initial downpour of yesterday evening and the overnight storm that is raging directly above us.
Apart from that all is well. The flight was great, I saw two movies I’d missed at the cinema (The Girl in the Spider’s Web and Murder on the Orient Express), and whilst the Tokyo subway resembles one of Dante’s circles of hell it is no worse than what we have back home.
The first hotel we stayed in
(a few hours later)
I’m back in the hotel room after a few hours of adventures. We have eaten breakfast and lunch, rescued several bikes from the storm (by putting them upright again – I don’t like to see bikes that look unloved or otherwise out of place), visited a woodland shrine, and wandered around the shops in the sort of blistering heart that makes me very thankful that most shops have air conditioning. We also had a much better experience of the subway today, which may have a lot to do with having slept and not carrying 2 weeks of luggage around.
A bike that required rescuing
Wednesday 11th September
Another day another part of Tokyo, and this morning saw us lugging our bags from Asakusa to Disneyland during what seemed too early to be rush hour, so was probably just a series of busy trains.
The capsule hotel we stayed in
I’ve been known to be negative about all things Disney in the past, but I did have a lot of fun today, and went on a few rides that very much tapped into things I hold dear (Star Wars and Indiana Jones) rather than the aspects that I feel no cultural resonance with.
It was a hard day though. I don’t think we really stopped for about 15 hours, and that is probably going to come back to bite us tomorrow. We did manage to eat properly, but as with a lot of Japan the vegetarian options are limited, so I didn’t really get to experience much in the way of Japanese cuisine today (although pizza for breakfast and curry for dinner were ok).
Mickey Mouse
On the bright side, tonight is one of our luxury hotel nights, and both the hotel and the room are outstanding. I’ve enjoyed the budget hotels and hostels, but sometimes it’s nice to relax with a hot bath and a cold beer before bed.
Talking of which, it’s nearly midnight here…
Thursday 12th September
Day two of the Disney adventure is now over. We didn’t get quite as much done as yesterday, but did take many more photographs and have now started to plan the next phase of the holiday which will see us bid farewell to Tokyo and head to Osaka for most of the rest of our time in Japan (although there will be several exciting day trips to other places, including a cycling adventure).
I could (and probably will) write much more about what I liked and didn’t like about Disney, but that will be a story for another day.
Saturday 14th September
Our last full day in Tokyo involved a short trip from Disney to a capsule hotel in Tokyo city centre. It wasn’t quite as good as the one we stayed in a few nights ago, but it was good enough to grab a shower, catch up on sleep, and be up bright and early for the epic journey to Osaka via a very impressive and speedy train service. We also grabbed the best meal of the holiday so far at the vegan ramen restaurant in Tokyo station, which made a nice change after several days of not being sure exactly what I was going to be able to eat (Japan can be hard for vegetarians, as can Disney). I’m less worried about food now, as our hotel in the Yodoyabashi District of Osaka is right next door to a great restaurant that does the full range of Japanese modular food, so tonight I feasted on edamame, plum rice, tofu and mushrooms (with food already chosen for at least one more trip there). It’s also next door to a convenience store that sells noodles, snacks and drinks. The hotel itself is great, the mountain of washing is now done, and it’s nice to be sleeping in the same place for 5 nights in a row after a week of being in a different place most nights. If nothing else it will make for much lighter bags for the 4 days of adventures we have planned (including cycling between the Japanese islands on Tuesday and visiting Kobe and Kyoto over the next couple of days.
Osaka
After a week of backpacking it’s clear that most of the kit we bought with us was chosen well. The bags are holding up well, the two universal chargers that will handle 10 devices between them are getting a lot of use, and the portable wifi hotspot we have hired has proved invaluable for navigating between places. I’m finding using an iPad as my only computer to be fine, and I’ve also started using my old iPhone (which I bought here as a music player) because it’s a lot smaller than my current phone and has a really good camera. It’s interesting that a phone I had as part of a contract nearly 5 years ago is still serving me well on a trip like this, and I’ve very much been plugged into it during the capsule hotel evenings, largely listening to the excellent new records by Pixies and Belle & Sebastian.
Wednesday 18th September
The last few days have been a blur of activity. We have visited the world’s largest aquarium and seen the world’s largest suspension bridge. We have seen modern skyscrapers juxtaposed with ancient temples, cycled the length of three Japanese islands (and the bridges that connect them) and encountered the horror that is the Universal Studios theme park. I do feel that we have done Osaka justice during these 5 days though, and I’ll be very sad to leave.
A bridge connecting 2 Japanese islands
But leave we must. The rest of the trip largely involves travel. Firstly a long train journey to get us back to Narita, and then (after a night in a capsule hotel at the airport) the plane home. It’s been a great adventure, and I’ll be very sorry to leave, but at the same time it will be good to be home.
It’s national album day, and as is traditional I’ve spent today playing some records that mean a lot to me, and also some that are new. This is today’s selection.
Richard Dawson – 2020 (2019)
Kim Gordon – No Home Record (2019)
Big Thief – Two Hands (2019)
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Ghosteen (2019)
Black Francis/Frank Black – Frank Black Francis (2004)
The Flaming Lips – Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (2002)
Radiohead – Kid A (2000)
Big Thief – Capacity (2017)
DIIV – Deceiver (2019)
Belle & Sebastian – Days of the Bagnold Summer (2019)
Kate Tempest – The Book of Traps and Lessons (2019)
Nick Drake – Bryter Layter (1970)
Julian Cope – Skellington 3 (2018)
Nick Drake – Pink Moon (1971)
It’s all different than last year but there is a lot on that list that I wish I’d had the time to play today.
I made some changes to this blog (and the server it runs on) tonight. It’s running in a new directory, on (technically) a new server, but should otherwise be largely the same.
If you notice any strangeness then let me know. But hopefully you should just notice speed.
