The latest in an irregular series of posts on what I’ve been reading.
Books
The Running Grave by Robert Galbraith
The latest in JK Rowling’s Robert Galbraith’s Cormoran Strike detective series, and also the longest (weighing in at 945 pages). I found it a gripping read, and the best book in this excellent series so far.
Real Tigers by Mick Herron
Mick Herron’s Slow Horses series is growing on me, and I enjoyed reading this, the third book in this series. I haven’t yet seen the Apple TV series, but I’m looking forward to seeing Gary Oldman as Jackson Lamb, the slovenly boss from hell.
The Veiled Throne by Ken Liu
I loved the first book in Ken Liu’s The Dandelion Dynasty Series, The Grace of Kings. This is the third book in the series, and it is a real disappointment. The book is too long, and really needed an editor - despite its length, the book doesn’t move the story forward.
Articles
Microsoft faulted for ‘cascade’ of failures in Chinese hack
Following on from the CrowdStrike outage last weekend, Microsoft are still dealing with the aftermath of various hacks that have exposed a litany of security failings. Coming after the u-turn on the Recall feature, and things are not looking great for Microsoft.
Mouse Heaven or Mouse Hell?
The story of John Calhoun’s rodent experiments in the 1960s. I found reading this to be deeply disturbing. I’m not sure what upset me more - that someone came up with the experiment, or the results.
Public CDNs Are Useless and Dangerous
Following on from the discovery of a remote code execution vulnerability in cdnjs, this article details why the use of public CDNs is useless at best, and a needless security risk.
A Eulogy for DevOps
Matt Duggan details why the DevOps movement was doomed to fail. As someone who has been in various organisations who have adopted DevOps, I’ve seen many of the failings he documents. DevOps can help with some deployment issues but it brings its own issues and costs.
Open Source is Not About You
Rich Hickley sets us straight as who matters in Open Source projects - and it isn’t the consumer.
A Moment for Democratic Hygiene
Written before Joe Biden finally read the room and dropped out of the Presidential race, this piece by Alex Massie details what the elections in the UK and the US really represent.