u/Free_the_Radical

Fatboy Slim's seminal track Eat, Sleep, Rave, Repeat reimagined for coders. AI was involved in the generation of these lyrics...

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So I’m at this hackathon, right? Well, I think it’s a hackathon. It might just be the office. It’s difficult to tell because it’s three in the morning, nobody remembers arriving, and there’s a person asleep underneath the printer.

Nobody knows who they are. They’re wearing one of our company hoodies, but we’ve never made company hoodies. Someone suggests waking them. Someone else says not to interrupt a process unless we know what it does.

Anyway, I’m staring at the same error message I’ve been staring at for four hours:

UNEXPECTED TOKEN

Unexpected by whom? I expected it. I put the token there. So I remove the token. Now it wants the token back. Fine. Put it back.

Different error.

Progress.

There’s this developer sitting next to me. At least, I think she’s a developer. She’s got six monitors, three keyboards and a coffee cup that says IT WORKS ON MY MACHINE. She hasn’t touched any of them for twenty minutes. She’s watching a loading circle.

And the loading circle is watching her.

Then she turns to me and says, “Whatever you do, don’t pull the latest branch.”

So obviously I pull the latest branch.

Everything disappears. Frontend. Backend. Database. Documentation. Even the folder containing the documentation about why there is no documentation.

Gone.

For a few seconds nobody says anything. Then she nods at the blank screens and says, “Well, it definitely did something.”

EAT. SLEEP. CODE. REPEAT.

EAT. SLEEP. CODE. REPEAT.

Now I’m panicking. I’m pressing Control-Z. Nothing. Control-Z again. Still nothing. I press it seventeen more times because maybe it remembers effort.

Then a message appears:

ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO UNDO ?

And I’m thinking, that isn’t a normal Git message. But at this point I’m prepared to try anything, so I click yes.

The lights flicker. The printer wakes up. The person underneath it sits bolt upright and says, “Did the build pass?”

Nobody answers because nobody knows who they are.

Then all six monitors turn green. Tests passing. Server running. Deployment successful.

Beautiful. Absolute perfection.

I lean back and take my first breath since midnight. Then my phone buzzes.

The client says, “Looks great. Can we make the logo bigger?”

So I open the laptop. I change one line. One tiny line.

And somehow the payment system starts invoicing itself. The navigation menu begins translating everything into Latin. The weather widget says it’s raining inside the server room. The contact form submits a complaint about the contact form.

And the logo—

The logo is now the entire website.

The client replies, “Getting closer.”

There’s another message on my screen:

ROOT ACCESS REQUIRED

The developer says, “You need root.”

I say, “Root what?”

She points beneath the desk. There are cables everywhere: thick ones, thin ones, some disappearing through the wall, one plugged into a socket that isn’t connected to anything. They do look like roots.

I crawl underneath and find a small dead plant behind the UPS. I hold it up and ask, “This root?”

She looks at the plant, then at the network diagram. “Keep that. It may be load-bearing.”

While I’m under there, I notice another pair of shoes. I ask if that’s the person from beneath the printer.

A voice says, “No.”

I ask who it is.

“Busy.”

I crawl back out. Nobody asks what happened.

EAT. SLEEP. CODE. REPEAT.

Then security arrives. Black shirt, black trousers, little thing in his ear. He looks around the room as though he has entered halfway through a conversation nobody intends to explain.

He says I’ve been generating excessive traffic.

I say, “I came by bus.”

He asks which bus. I say, “The only one running at that hour.”

He says the system has three. I say that explains why I kept arriving.

He asks whether I’m talking about the system bus, the network bus or public transport.

I say, “I was hoping you knew.”

He turns one of the monitors around. My account is logged in from twenty-three locations: workstation, server room, roof, basement, production, backup production, old production and something called production-final-FINAL-USE-THIS.

There’s also an active session on the vending machine.

I tell him I’m not in the vending machine.

The vending machine beeps and drops a packet of crisps.

Security tells me to log out of everything. Every time I close one session, another two appear. Twenty-three becomes forty-six. Forty-six becomes ninety-two.

Then one of the accounts sends me a message:

STOP LOGGING US OUT.

I ask who sent it.

The developer says, “You did.”

I ask which me.

“Probably the one who knows what’s happening.”

Security looks at the ninety-two active sessions, quietly removes the thing from his ear and puts it in his pocket.

At some point I decide to leave. Not properly leave. Just go outside and get some air. There isn’t any air in the office, only cooling.

Cold air. Hot servers. Warm pizza. Cold coffee.

I take the lift. The lift asks for a password. I enter my password.

Incorrect.

I enter it again.

Incorrect.

Then the display says:

PASSWORD MUST INCLUDE ONE UPPERCASE LETTER, ONE NUMBER, ONE SYMBOL AND ONE PREVIOUSLY UNDISCLOSED PERSONAL FAILURE.

I press the emergency button. Hold music begins. It’s the same hold music that has been playing from somebody’s phone since Tuesday.

After six minutes, the doors open onto the floor I started on. Security is standing there.

He asks where I thought I was going.

“Down.”

He looks at the display. “This lift doesn’t go down.”

I ask where it goes.

“Mostly between states.”

Behind him, the printer starts again. From underneath it, the person says, “Still no build?”

Eventually I make it outside. There’s a bus waiting at the kerb. Or perhaps I only think it’s a bus because of the earlier conversation. It has lights. It has doors. There are cables hanging behind the driver.

I get on. The driver asks for my destination.

“Food.”

He says that isn’t a valid endpoint.

“Anywhere with chips.”

He asks what kind of chips.

I get off again.

Across the road there’s an all-night takeaway. Bright lights, white tiles, nobody eating. Everyone charging something.

The woman behind the counter asks what I want.

“Chips.”

“Computer chips?”

“No. The other kind.”

“We only have the other kind.”

Then she asks for my name and I give her my username by accident. She writes it on the bag.

The receipt comes out covered in code. I ask what it is.

“Receipt.”

“No, this part.”

She looks at it. “That wasn’t there yesterday.”

Then the refrigerator behind her starts humming. Not loudly. Just a low electrical rhythm.

eat-sleep-code-repeat
eat-sleep-code-repeat
eat-sleep-code-repeat

I ask if anyone else can hear it.

The woman says, “Hear what?”

A person in the corner, charging one battery from another battery, says, “They mean the compressor.”

I say, “It’s saying something.”

The woman says the fridge always does that.

The person says, “No, it doesn’t.”

Then the refrigerator door opens. Inside, between two bottles of water and a container of coleslaw, there’s a laptop.

Screen on. Cursor blinking. My account is logged in.

LOCATION: TAKEAWAY REFRIGERATOR

I close the laptop. Open it again. Still logged in. Close it. Open it. Still there.

The person with the batteries says, “You can’t close everything by closing the lid.”

I ask what that means.

They say they don’t know.

Sounded right.

My phone rings. It’s daylight when I answer. Not outside. On the phone. The little clock says 11:43.

My friend asks where I’ve been.

“Coding.”

“You weren’t coding. You were standing outside a takeaway arguing with a refrigerator.”

“That was later.”

“Later than what?”

I try to explain. There was this place. Office. Hackathon. Maybe a club. Screens everywhere. Music. A person under a printer. A bug. Security. A bus.

He says, “You went clubbing?”

“No, coding.”

He asks what the difference is.

I try to remember. There were people moving around in the dark. Somebody had six monitors. Somebody was underneath a desk looking for root. Security thought I was in ninety-two places.

The machines kept making this rhythm.

He asks what rhythm.

EAT. SLEEP. CODE. REPEAT.

He goes quiet. Then he says, “You’ve been saying that for twenty minutes.”

“Have I?”

“You haven’t said anything else.”

I look around.

Desk. Screen. Pizza box. Coffee cup. Printer.

Same office.

Or another office.

The person underneath the printer is gone. There’s a company hoodie folded where they were sleeping.

We still don’t make company hoodies.

The developer is watching the loading circle again. Or she’s still watching it.

She turns to me and says, “Whatever you do, don’t pull the latest branch.”

I tell her I already did.

She says, “Not yet.”

My phone buzzes. The client again:

“Tiny change. Should be easy.”

I open the laptop. The cursor moves by itself and types:

EAT.

I take my hands off the keyboard.

SLEEP.

I stand up.

CODE.

I back away.

REPEAT.

Then I realise I’m explaining the problem out loud. Full technical explanation. Architecture, dependencies, race conditions, legacy decisions.

I think I’m talking to the senior developer.

But the senior developer went home yesterday.

I’m talking to the coffee machine.

The coffee machine flashes:

INVALID INPUT

Fair enough.

Then all six monitors turn green. Tests passing. Server running. Deployment successful.

Nobody understands why.

We agree never to touch it.

We write that down.

Then somebody touches it.

The lights flicker. The printer wakes up.

And from underneath it, a voice says, “Did the build pass?”

EAT.

SLEEP.

CODE.

REPEAT.

Just posting regarding the wind drought in SA over the next week, this will probably affect those of you looking to gain on spot prices with solar and batteries installed.

Just a heads up.

I don't have batteries or solar installed on my rental.

A good mate with both a Tesla 2 and 3 battery is utilising custom discharge to the grid settings at the right moment to maximise profit by looking at the spot prices.

Edit: Old mate has also setup up manual gating to prevent automatic discharge to the grid at the whim of his provider. Maintaining charge in his batteries going into the evening.

https://www.aemo.com.au/energy-systems/electricity/national-electricity-market-nem/data-nem/data-dashboard-nem/

Click Price and Demand, then SA for local real-time stats.

Edit 2: and there it is at 7pm tomorrow, confirming the wind drought.

https://imgur.com/a/Q1jtgBJ

Hi Folks, we have a pretty active storm underway atm with HP sitting at whopping 167GW. Sadly the cloud cover is a big issue. Whilst there may be some breaks in the cloud going into the evening it is going to make it hard recommending any where to get some good shots, it is going to be pot luck.

More so just posting so if you pop your head out tonight and have a patch of clear sky to the South grab your phone or camera and have a crack.

Moon is very bright at 87% illumination but with the current numbers any Aurora should over power that with some colour on camera.

Happy Hunting

Update: 7pm 4/7/26

A few reports are coming in on Glendale from SA, but still seems a bit hit and miss locally in Adelaide with the cloud.

Numbers have dropped a bit, but I reckon the Lady is up there.

Update 820pm

Major substorm underway

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Cloud Cover

https://www.ventusky.com/satellite-map#p=-35.18;137.97;7

https://www.ventusky.com/?p=-35.18;137.97;7&l=clouds-total

Live Numbers

https://www.spaceweatherlive.com/en.html

Live Forecast

Reload this image every 10 minutes or so for an update

https://services.swpc.noaa.gov/images/aurora-forecast-southern-hemisphere.jpg

Glendale is the best Aurora tool for live reports and data.

https://aurora-alerts.uk/

ENLIL Forecast

https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/wsa-enlil-solar-wind-prediction

Here's the Rad's Aurora Viewing Guide again

https://old.reddit.com/r/Adelaide/comments/1fzm6dh/radelaide_aurora_viewing_guide/

Deets: https://pinballexpo.com.au/

Source: https://www.facebook.com/share/1BoXefVp1Z/

Hi Folks, better late than never I guess, but the CME that was expected to arrive last night looks like it is on the way in.

We have a blanket of middle level cloud that may impede photography for most of us.

Silly I know, but check to see if you can see stars to the South.

https://www.ventusky.com/satellite-map#p=-35.18;137.97;7

https://www.ventusky.com/middle-clouds-map#p=-35.18;137.97;7

I just thought I would give an update.

OP:

https://old.reddit.com/r/Adelaide/comments/1tzw1lb/aurora_watch_monday_8th_june/

Hi Folks, our sun let off a rather fast CME yesterday that is expected to arrive early evening tonight. It may just make up for the lack luster effort on Friday night. It's more of a glancing blow rather than a direct hit.

As always we don't know what kind of impact the storm will have until it arrives due to it's magnetic alignment, which we can't predict until it arrives on our doorstep, North Bz (bad) or South Bz (good).

As a rule we require at least 100GW of Hemispheric Power to start seeing colour on camera in Rads.

Moon rise is just after midnight @ 50% illumination. A small patchy amount of low level cloud is forecast.

This watch is for photographers at this stage as naked eye visible Aurora in SA is a very rare event.

Update 1: 8/6 6:45pm

The CME has not arrived yet, but we have had sustained Southward Bz for several hours. If the storm (when it arrives) is also favourably magnetically aligned to the South we are on. Current HP is 50GW.

Update 2: 8/6 9:30pm

Even with low HP numbers as they are, it looks like we may be on (live noaa forecast for the next 60minutes currently sitting at 50GW HP - see live forecast link below). Positive reports on Glendale are starting to come in. The main storm has yet to arrive.

Update 3: 9/6 8:30am

Well either the storm is running stupidly late or that was a complete miss apart from some minor disturbance/substorm around 10pm last night. The fact that the plasma density remained so low indicates that nothing really ever arrived.

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Cloud Cover

https://www.ventusky.com/satellite-map#p=-35.18;137.97;7

https://www.ventusky.com/?p=-35.18;137.97;7&l=clouds-total

Live Numbers

https://www.spaceweatherlive.com/en.html

Live Forecast

Reload this image every 10 minutes or so for an update

https://services.swpc.noaa.gov/images/aurora-forecast-southern-hemisphere.jpg

Glendale is the best Aurora tool for live reports and data.

https://aurora-alerts.uk/

ENLIL Forecast

https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/wsa-enlil-solar-wind-prediction

Here's the Rad's Aurora Viewing Guide again

https://old.reddit.com/r/Adelaide/comments/1fzm6dh/radelaide_aurora_viewing_guide/

Happy Hunting

Hi Folks, I'll update this post with more details later. We have a couple of CME's on our way expected to arrive in the early hours of Friday morning. If the storm persists we could get Aurora on Friday night.

Moon rise is at 920pm @ 83% illumination. A decent amount of low level cloud is forecast, so it's going to be hard to find the gaps for photography, particularly before the moon rises.

This watch is for photographers at this stage as naked eye visible Aurora in SA is a very rare event.

Update 1: 4/6 4pm

The first CME could arrive as early as 4am Friday morning so for those that want to have a go at photography before sunrise there is a 'chance'. There are in fact 3 CME's on the way in which complicates forecasting a bit (it's a bit of a soup in there), one of them is a strong X flare which is set to be a direct hit slip to the North a tad. As always we don't know what kind of impact the storm will have until it arrives due to the magnetic alignment of North Bz (bad) or South Bz (good).

It will be a watch and see if the storm has enough legs in it to last until after sunset tomorrow, I reckon it does.

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Cloud Cover

https://www.ventusky.com/satellite-map#p=-35.18;137.97;7

https://www.ventusky.com/?p=-35.18;137.97;7&l=clouds-total

Live Numbers

https://www.spaceweatherlive.com/en.html

HUXt Forecast

https://swxforecastlab.org/forecasts.html

Live Forecast

Reload this image every 10 minutes or so for an update

https://services.swpc.noaa.gov/images/aurora-forecast-southern-hemisphere.jpg

Glendale is the best Aurora tool for live reports and data

https://aurora-alerts.uk/

Lumina Observer

A quick shout out to this ambitious project being developed by a fella from Rads (/u/gregerg27) to assist in Aurora forecasting and field reports.

It will be interesting to use this tool for the first time for me.

https://lumina.observer/

Here's the Rad's Aurora Viewing Guide again

https://old.reddit.com/r/Adelaide/comments/1fzm6dh/radelaide_aurora_viewing_guide/

Happy Hunting

Old Tailem Town has announced a new addition to its pioneer village, with a Barnacle Bill franchise set to be established among other relics of a bygone era, further preserving Barnacle Bill as part of South Australia’s living history.

The new exhibit will allow visitors to step back into a lost South Australia, when a cardboard Treasure Chest counted as a family seafood event, tartare came in tiny plastic tubs beside a wedge of lemon, and every suburb seemed to have one Barnacle Bill quietly refusing to die.

A spokesperson said the partnership made perfect sense.

“Old Tailem Town is dedicated to preserving the buildings, customs and commercial experiences of South Australia’s past. Barnacle Bill is one of the few institutions that already arrives fully heritage listed.”

The former Baker Shop has reportedly been rebranded as a period-accurate Barnacle Bill outlet, complete with the faint smell of vinegar, nostalgia and hot oil drifting down the main street.

Historians say the addition will sit comfortably alongside the blacksmith, telephone exchange and general store, helping visitors understand daily life in the late 20th century, when takeaway seafood was considered a family treat and nobody questioned why it was better than your local chipper.

Old Tailem Town says the exhibit will be fully interactive, with guests entering a period-accurate dining area featuring white linoleum benchtops and form-fitting fibreglass seating, offering parents the opportunity to argue over whether one Treasure Chest is ever enough, and whether to grab a set of jelly cups for the whole family.

Barnacle Bill has welcomed the move, saying it is proud to be recognised as a surviving South Australian relic.

Critics say placing Barnacle Bill in a pioneer village may be premature, as several outlets are still operating in the wild.

Old Tailem Town has rejected the criticism, noting that this is exactly what makes the exhibit so important, citing it as a rare chance to experience a living South Australian icon before it slips into the annals of time.