David Coveney

A personal blog transitioning into an exploration of the intersection of design, technology and ethics

Tag: support

  • The astonishing power of modern computing

    The astonishing power of modern computing

    Being very old (or at least, that’s how I feel being in tech!) means that after coming up to nearly forty years in technology, I’ve seen some changes. My first computer at home, that I owned, that I could truly call my own, was a Dragon 32. It was a small, 32KB computer using the…

  • Off-Cloud Backup for Heroku apps – a possible answer

    Off-Cloud Backup for Heroku apps – a possible answer

    The Heroku platform is an absolutely fantastic way to have to not bother with devops within a small development company. We’ve been using it at interconnect for years now, and whilst it’s not entirely perfect, it takes away one set of headaches and does so at a reasonable cost. All the services offer backups, and…

  • Recovering from a heart bypass. The physical and mental challenges.

    Having a coronary artery bypass isn’t much fun and comes with challenges. Four years later I thought I’d describe some more of my experiences.

  • Interesting times in the world of software

    Interesting times in the world of software

    About a decade ago, I was at a conference and talking to a fellow developer (I still call myself one, even though I don’t code so much these days) when he giddily told me about the funding he’d got for building a new piece of software he was hoping would make it big. It was…

  • The great pension scam, how people were conned, and how young people fixed it

    The great pension scam, how people were conned, and how young people fixed it

    In my previous post, I discussed the importance of separating wealth from income, and to stop beating up a chap called Rob Barber who made the mistake of having a high income but not feeling rich. I get exactly where he’s coming from because I’ve been in the same position. In fact, it was more dangerous,…

  • Why political parties lose support by winning.

    Why political parties lose support by winning.

    People do like to look back angrily, don’t they? Yet many a time, their anger today doesn’t reflect how they really felt back then. If you look at the Iraq War, and the UK’s involvement in it, most people supported the action. For sure, an awful lot of people today don’t think it was right…

  • Finding a missing person in South America (and elsewhere)

    Finding a missing person in South America (and elsewhere)

    I promised, ages ago, that I’d write up some tips on how to find somebody who’d gone missing in South America. Recently I had an email from somebody in the same situation which has spurred me into action. Since 1997 I’ve found or been found by my mother, my brothers and my sister. Here I’m…

  • Why You Should Be A Secularist

    All these arguments about Britain being a ‘Christian’ country at heart (see Baroness Warsi here, here and most importantly here) are so much bull, and I’m tired of it.  It’s part of an attack on the growing secularist movement but framed in such a way that it’s designed to scare the religious into thinking they’re going to be…

  • The Story of Juanito

    The Story of Juanito

    Here’s something… a smiling, happy and charming man who knew my father in Arica, lives just around the corner from the hotel I’m staying at. He actually lives in the cabin that guards a car park.  Just him.  He’s been married twice, I believe, but that’s all I know. So how can I tell his…

  • The Funeral

    And so it came.  In a way it’s weird… I always felt there were only two likely things to happen. First, I would find my father (or he would find me) and a period of reconciliation may take place.  Closeness, perhaps never, but reconciliation would be fine. Second, I would never find him, and that…