Random tangent (blog)
Ameel Khan's personal blog. This is a blog about life, technology, photography, typography, the internet, science, feminism, books, film, music, and whatever other random stuff I come across or happen to be interested in today.
The thunderstorm itself might have missed our suburb, but at least we got to see the gorgeous cloud formations on the fringes of that weather system.
(Of course even this distant thunder managed to freak poor Maggie out. She was a trembly dog all afternoon. *sigh*)
Photo of a completely overcast sky above the roofs of some houses. The sky is full of puffy, swirling clouds and looks quite dramatic.
Cinemas are back, baby! And it’s awesome to have a large screen Reading nearby. Speaking of which, I liked The Eternals a lot more than I thought I would.
Photo of a large, indoor cinema screen that the Reading Cinemas logo is being projected on.
Watching Nadia eat a piece of roast chicken is instantly and infinitely more interesting than playing with a rope toy.
Photo of a red dog on a carpet, with one of its paws on an orange and grey rope toy. The dog has interrupted its play and is looking up intently at someone off-camera.
Do you have a favourite typeface for writing code? (Assuming you write code, of course.)
If not, CodingFont is a brilliant website that will help you find your preferred coding typeface — tournament style!
The process is simple and elegant: you compare code written in two popular coding typefaces side-by-side, then you pick the one you prefer. Do this over and over again and, through the process of elimination, you’re left with the coding typeface you like the most.
In my case that’s JetBrains Mono. (Though I’m also happy to code in both Fira Code and Source Code Pro.)
I love typography and have literally spent days pouring over typefaces, comparing them closely, and then picking the ones I want to use in different scenarios. Like this comparison I did when I wanted to select a typeface for all the charts and diagrams I post on this blog:
Which is why all my charts and diagrams are now in Fira Sans or Ideal Sans. (Where they used to be in DIN Next or Open Sans.)
CodingFont lets you do this type of side-by-side comparison without any of the hassle. So, if you’re a coder – or even someone who regularly uses monospaced fonts – then this is totally worth a try.
Have fun!
Nadia and I made the most of the gorgeous, post-lockdown Sunday we had today.
First we had brunch at the Altona North Jolly Miller Café. (I’d been missing Eggs Benedict so much! Not enough to make any at home though.)
Photo taken from the top of a table in a café. On the table is a menu that’s out of focus because it’s so close to the camera. Behind the menu are a water bottle, two glasses, a salt shaker, and a pepper grinder. In the background are other tables and chairs, as well as floor-to-ceiling windows through which you can see a bright blue sky.
And then we went for a relaxing, hour-long walk through the lovely Paisley-Challis wetlands nearby.
Selfie of a man and a woman wearing hats, sunglasses, and light jackets. They are standing in a flat wetland area, with lots of green grass, several bushes, and pools of water. In the background, behind all this greenery, is the sea.
There were several walkers, runners, and cyclists on the track, but the rest of the place was so peaceful.
A wide-angle photograph of a green, brushy wetlands area, with the blue sea in the background. On the extreme left of the image you can see a thin walking trail with a single person on it.
A lovely way to spring into post-lockdown spring in Melbourne.
Whoa. The Pixels 6 Pro’s forward-facing camera really is excellent!
This photo was cropped slightly, but is otherwise completely untouched.
Selfie of a smiling man standing on an outdoor deck on a sunny day, with a residential garden behind him. The man is bald and has a trimmed, salt-and-pepper beard. He is wearing glasses and a t-shirt with the original book cover of Phillip K Dick’s book ‘Do Android Dream of Electric Sheep?’ printed on it.
Also, compare these two untouched (again, only cropped) selfies.
The Pixel 6 Pro (right) does a much better job than the Pixel 3XL (left) that I just upgraded from.
Collage of two selfies of the same man in the same location. The man is bald, has a salt-and-pepper beard, and is wearing glasses and a pair of black wireless headphones. He is standing in a residential garden, with the sun behind him. The photo on the left, captioned 'Pixel 3XL', clearly shows the bright environment he’s in, but his face is shadowed and the clouds in the sky aren’t well defined. In the photo on the right, captioned 'Pixel 6 Pro', his face is well lit and you can see some of the details in the clouds.
Oh, and in case it isn’t bleedingly obvious by now, I bought Google’s latest and greatest smartphone: the Pixel 6 Pro :)
I’d almost forgotten how lovely it is to smile at your neighbours!
It did feel a little strange walking Maggie without a face mask this afternoon. But I’m so happy outdoor mask-wearing restrictions have eased across Melbourne just before summer kicks in.
Photo of a medium sized red dog on a leash sniffing around a patch of white flowers next to a chain link fence.
We had heavy rain and seriously wild winds across Melbourne overnight and well into this morning.
Screenshot of a smartphone weather app showing a large band of heavy rain moving towards Melbourne from the west.
Luckily just three weeks ago our local council and the power companies that supply our side of the city had come through and cut down all the tree branches that were close to powerlines in our neighbourhood. They’d asked us to do the same with the trees in our front yard too.
Photo of a letter titled ‘Vegetation clearance responsibilities’ with diagrams showing how residents need to trim trees around power lines in front of their houses.
Not that this stopped whole trees and massive tree branches from falling across roads in and around Melbourne’s west, of course.
Screenshot of a smartphone app showing a continuing list of ‘Tree Down’ incidents across several suburbs in Melbourne’s west (including the suburbs of Brooklyn, Ascot Vale, and Maidstone).
Which inevitably led to a bunch of power outages.
Screenshot of an ‘Electricity Outages’ webpage from electricity supplier Jemena. The map on the screenshot shows several pockets of power outages across Jemena’s area of supply, which is mainly to the inner west and inner north of Melbourne. There are no outages at the bottom of the map – between Altona North and Williamstown – which is where the suburb of Newport is situated.
But we lucked out in our neighbourhood: we did have a couple of brownouts during the worst of the wind, but we never actually lost power.
This was the biggest branch that fell on our street.
Photo of a large branch that has fallen off a massive tree on the side of a residential street. The branch that has fallen off is as long as the house behind it is wide.
Fortunately most of the branches that did fall were thinner and leafier, like this one. (Medium sized dog for scale.)
Photo of a relatively thin tree branch that has fallen and is lying on the nature strip next to a residential street. A red dog on a leash is standing next to the branch on the grass.
So chalk one up for proactive maintenance from the Hobson’s Bay City Council, Jemena, and Zinfra!
There’s a first time for everything. Like today, when Nadia and I watched a movie at the Village Cinemas drive-in during a thunderstorm! Which is a lot less disruptive than you think it might be, by the way. As long as you’re not too fussed with watching a movie with the windshield wipers on :)
Also, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is a fun movie.
Photo of a large, outdoor cinema screen taken from inside a car at a drive-in cinema. Being projected onto the screen is the Marvel Studios opening titles sequence.
I’m not a fan of summer picnics, but spring picnics are most excellent – especially post-lockdown ones! And Newport Lakes Reserve is a great place for a picnic.
Selfie of a man and a woman in a large park on an overcast day. The man is sitting in a low picnic chair. The woman is sitting on the ground and is leaning back on to the man. Both have been caught mid-laugh.
(Don’t worry, Nadia and I only took our masks off while eating lunch, which was immediately before we took this selfie.)
And, since it was such a lovely day, here’s another selfie :)
Selfie of a man sitting in the share of a tree in a large park. The man is balk, bespectacled, and has a salt-and-pepper beard. He is wearing a black t-shirt that’s the original cover of the book ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’ by Douglas Adams.
To beach, or not to beach, that is the question…
Definitely that kind of afternoon in Melbourne today.
Photo of a dog fast asleep on its die in a residential garden on a sunny day.
When you leave the bathroom door closed…
Photo of a dog sitting on a rug in a hallway that ends at a closed door. The dog is facing the door, ears perked, listening for what’s happening on the other side.
And when you leave the bathroom door open.
Photo of a red dog poking its head through an open door to a bathroom. The photographer has taken the photo from inside the bathroom.
Apparently it’s ‘Send Ameel spam text messages weelk’ here in Australia. Fortunately Android’s spam/phishing SMS filter is as good as Gmail’s corresponding email filter, so all this crap gets automatically blocked and reported.
Screenshot of an Android smartphone screen showing the SMS messages app. The title of the page is ‘Spam and blocked' and below this are several text messages from various Australian mobile phone numbers. All messages claim to be package delivery updates that trick unthinking recipients to click on a malicious URL.
For a whole week I’ve avoided starting any new book because I knew the latest Seanan McGuire book was on its way from the US – and now it’s finally here!
Sadly I have a lot to do today, so I’ll have to wait a few more hours before I can get into this. *sigh*
Point-of-view photo of a man holding a hardcover book titled ‘When Sorrows Come’ by Seanan McGuire. The photographer is on an outdoor deck and is holding the book in his hand above a red dog who is looking up at the photographer.
Hope folks in Melbourne are getting to enjoy the gorgeous day were having today!
Selfie of a man walking a dog on a residential street. The man is wearing a t-shirt, face mask, and cap. The dog is sniffing around the nature strip next to a parked car.
A mixed berry crisp is a great way to end a long weekend :)
Photo of a berry dessert in a baking dish lying on top of a cooling rack on a kitchen counter. The deep red berry mix has bubbled over on top of the golden-brown upper layer.
Living in Melbourne’s west you get a 10:1 ratio for Western Bulldogs vs Melbourne Demons supporters who have decorated their houses for the AFL men’s grand final match.
Collage of four photos, each showing streamers, balloons, scarves, and residential gates painted in the red-white-blue of the Western Bulldogs or the red-blue of the Melbourne Demons AFL men’s teams.
And then you get balloons after the Demons won :)
Photo of the front of a house. Painted on the gate is a large red and blue heart. Painted next to the heart in large red text is ‘Go Dees’ and, on the other side, a red trident. There are red and blue streamers tied to the sides of the gate. Tied above the garage door in the background is a Melbourne Demons scarf.
This is not a kookaburra post, this is just a post with a kookaburra in it.
Photo of a residential wooden fence. There is a thick wooden post at the end of this fence. Sticking out from this post is a flat metal sculpture of the outline of a kookaburra (a native Australian bird).
Nein, nein, nein. It’s not bin right tonight.
Photo of three garbage bins with the number nine written in large white text on each of them. The bins are lying tucked away in a line by the far wall next to a garage door at the end of a residential driveway.
This is personal website of Nadia Niaz and Ameel Zia Khan. Here we document our lives in Melbourne, Australia.
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia