Blogging

In the last article, we created a simple APEX application fetching data about English football from the Football Web Pages site which provides an authenticated REST API. However, all I really want to do is to quickly look at Kingstonian’s forthcoming fixtures for the next month. Fortunately, there is an FWP API providing that information. Endpoint: https://football-web-pages1.p.rapidapi.com/fixtures-results.json Matches - The current list of matches for a competition/team The following parameters may be set: comp - The ID of the competition (note: one of “comp” or “team” is required) team - The ID of the team (note: one of “comp” or “team” is required) We already have created an APEX report listing all the available Competitions (including the numeric ID values) so it would be useful to have a similar report listing all the Teams....

a brief history of blogging I have maintained a blog, on and off, for a long time (since 2005). During that time I have used a wide variety of blogging platforms (Blogger, WordPress, Typepad, Drupal, Tumblr, Django, Posterous, Jekyll, Ghost, Nikola, Hugo) My blog was a personal blog. Looking back, some posts were essentially micro-blogging (trite one-liners), link blogging (interesting, amusing BBC news stories), endless analysis of Manchester United together with some longer form articles....

This blog uses Hugo and was previously hosted on Amazon S3 storage. The traffic and hence the costs were minimal (zero). After recently having to completely re-install Arch Linux after an idiotic mistake, I realised that Hugo was out of date, my Hugo theme was out of date and I’d forgotten precisely how the deployment to S3 actually worked. I was toying with taking my ball home in a mindless fit of pique, migrating 1,000 posts to Eleventy and I also looked at the Publii static site CMS with interest....

I anxiously coaxed my wife out of the door to her work trying not to raise her suspicions. My stomach was fluttering as I had an important early morning meeting. To fully prepare, first, I chose my mask. I had two options; a flesh coloured creation that resembled a one bosom bra or a more sinister black model. I tried the pale pink mask but as it, err, masked my nose, mouth and chin, it made me resemble a burns victim who had endured time consuming and expensive reconstructive surgery which had either failed or was still ongoing....

‘Mum, mum. Please calm…’ ‘You don’t understand. I just want to be able to see the grandchildren. I just want to hug them, to hold them, to cuddle them’. ‘Yes, Mum. I realise that but this won’t…’ ‘Is it too much to ask to sit out on the patio, drawing and colouring with them ? Is it too much to want to spoil them with toys and treats ? Like any proud Grandma ?...

Wife: ‘Jane told me yesterday she just found it all quite overwhelming last week and just sat down and had a little cry’. Me: ‘There’s nothing wrong with that. I’ve think we’ve all had wobbly moments. I certainly know I have.’ Wife: ‘Have you ?’ Me: ‘Yeah, it was a couple of weeks ago now. I heard yet another radio interview with a lady who’d lost her Mum, she couldn’t visit her in hospital and now her Dad is left grieving on his own....

10pm Thursday – congregate in the street to look at a ‘Flour Moon’. This is handy as flour is in short supply. 10am Friday – congregate in the street to watch a fly-past. Didn’t see anything so returned inside. 11am Friday – given special dispensation not to congregate in the street to observe a two minute silence. 3pm Friday – congregate in the street for a toast. Have a chat with the neighbours (again)....

After detailed analysis by medical professionals, data scientists and epidemiologists, we are delighted to announce that blog traffic to ‘Blog In Isolation’ finally looks to have peaked on Wednesday April 29 with 15 million unique visitors. Yesterday’s number, by comparison, was just 4 million. However, bear in mind this doesn’t include people who with pre-existing health conditions who have experienced pain and discomfort using an RSS Reader. Hopefully, if this promising trend is sustained, the blog can be re-opened up to Facebook and WhatsApp audiences on Sunday 10 May....

Instead of moaning about trivial marital disputes over cheque books, it’s time to celebrate some good news ! David celebrates a new arrival. As in a new baby not an Amazon delivery. Richard celebrates a significant anniversary during these unprecedented times with freshly brewed coffee, craft beers and cake. I have known David and Richard for many years, back from identi.ca days. They remain two of very few people (from social media circles) I have actually met in real-life....

After six weeks of lockdown, I finally lost it and had a blazing row with the missus over a trivial issue. ‘Have you got a cheque book handy ?’ ‘No.’ ‘What - you don’t have a cheque book ?’ ‘I have a cheque book somewhere but I haven’t used it in years so it isn’t handy, no’ ‘Hmm OK. Well, I can’t find mine and I need to write a cheque for the man from the allotment’....