Kim van Wyk

I find the little pause when they ask for Kim and my very male voice says "speaking" very handy - it means they don't know who I am so the likelihood the call will be of value to me is suddenly very low.

I don't have a middle name either but my last name has 2 separate words (very common in South Africa, from Dutch and/or French heritages). This means online forms can yell at me for having the temerity to have an incorrect name 2 different ways.

I hope it isn't necessary to clarify, but obviously not all or even most contractors do this. I have however been on several get-it-done-asap type projects with external contractors that seem to attract this kind of cheap but not good business model.

With my own colleagues it's happened but it hasn't been common. Maybe 3 people in 20 years who seem incapable of doing the work rather than just inexperienced. With contractors it's a lot more common as they hire as cheaply as they can and don't seem to prioritise repeat business, so quality is moot

Talking of solving problems with relays with hachyderm.io/@leoncowle reminded me of a hacky but successful project I worked on, which I've just written up: kimvanwyk.co.za/260111_relay...

I was going to write a reply here, but I got a cup of coffee instead.

More seriously, I agree - almost everyone is more productive some days than others. The less productive days can feel like you've done something wrong or let down your employer, but it just makes you human.

Educational Institute of the Southern Hemisphere, I assume :-)

I was the president of the Student Engineering Council at the then-University of Natal as the merger with Durban-Westville was approaching. An apparently genuine shortlisted new name was presented at a faculty meeting I was at: "Southern Hemisphere Institute of Technology".

The 1970s era SABC test pattern with some rude language replacing the genuine "testing" text - "Vokof dis bedtyd"

Just leaving this here:

Watching the highlights of the SA vs Ireland women's cricket tonight, I was impressed by a sign in the crowd from a fellow admirer of Laura Wolvaardt's exquisite batting: "Niemand kan soos Wolvie kolfie"

On this note, thank you as a South African for pointing me to Cricket Ireland's site, the ball-by-ball coverage there is pretty good. I was astonished to find a game of this stature isn't being covered by Cricinfo.

Something that I'd find interesting and helpful would be current best practice for Dockerising Python apps, with the rise of uv and the like. Perhaps Hynek Schlawack or Itamar Turing-Trauring would make good guests for that.

Many of you may know that the #PSF had to pause its grants program this year, affecting many small, under-resourced communities that rely on it heavily.

One such community is

I think this is brilliant, but presumably it's mostly met by an orc-ward silence.

@iamstan.elmo.sh as a contribution to your tour of Durban coffees, this is excellent. A bit hard to get though, its from the Bidvest lounge at King Shaka domestic departures.

10 DAYS to go! PyCon Africa 2025 lands in Johannesburg, South Africa! Ready to code, learn & connect? 🌍✨
🎟️ Buy ticket now: za.pycon.org/tickets
#PyConAfrica2025 #PyConAfrica #PyConZA

Ah, thank you, that makes even more sense :-)

Out of ignorance and curiosity, is the blade permanently green or is there a coating of some sort on it as part of the forging?

I have two thoughts:
* A series of questionable choices and woolly thinking led to this being made

* What in the actual am I looking at

I'm impressed at how deftly that pun was woven into your post.

As you might know by now, I'm quite involved in this year's #PyConAfrica. There are a lot of interesting things happening. Even if you are not in Africa and wont be able to join our event in person, you might be interested in some of the things we are doing.

www.sheenaoc.com/articles/20...

✨ We are excited to welcome Kim van Wyk as a speaker at 🐍 PyCon Africa 2025
“You are not your code - unsolicited advice from a no-longer-new developer)”
🗓 Oct 08–12, 2025
📍The Wanderers Club, Johannesburg, South Africa 🇿🇦
#PyConAfrica #PyConAfrica2025 #PyConZA

none of us really have anything, but our voice

The #PSF has paused its grants. #PyConAfrica needs your support to continue opening doors for the community! Even small donations help. Buy a donation ticket here: www.quicket.co.za/events/3216...

Tune in to our livestream for a fun-packed experience with an incredible guest lineup! Don't miss out!
za.pycon.org/friends-of-...

#FriendsOfPyConAfrica #Python #PyConAfrica #PyConZA

I remember those - if anything, they left a far worse and messier page than the pencil marks you were trying to erase. Form over function is an excellent description.

Jan Smuts - Wikipedia

I suspect the J has faded on the inscription on the statue, that's the South African statesman Jan Smuts: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Smuts

It might also help to think of it as a board-based version of gin rummy, the card game (assuming that means anything to you).

I get pretty good integrated results with my work email on a Linux box using Thunderbird and Owl For Exchange, which I bought for a pretty low once off payment.

Sadly as of a few years ago I'm no longer "Youth" even by the ANC's flexible definition :-)