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Patrick Lam (@va2lam@mastodon.nz) @va2lam

Professing software engineering for the University of Waterloo. Wish I was still in NZ. Former Director of the Software Engineering Program.

Joined August 2013
  • Tweets 11,587
  • Following 2,061
  • Followers 1,142
841 Photos and videos
Not going to tweet much anymore, but I will promote my discussion of @DrDreHistorian's excellent book _Can't Get There From Here_ about the history of NZ passenger rail: patricklam.ca/post/20230107-…
The Northern Explorer train rounds a corner.

ALT The Northern Explorer train rounds a corner.

KiwiRail engine ("Remote Control") at Wellington Station.

ALT KiwiRail engine ("Remote Control") at Wellington Station.

Yellow Dunedin Railways tourist train

ALT Yellow Dunedin Railways tourist train

Steam locomotive at Paraparaumu.

ALT Steam locomotive at Paraparaumu.
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Good masking at SPLASH 2022 in Auckland. First conference in three years.
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And today, stopped by at McMaster to talk about grad school in engineering.
The Iron Ring (enlarged)

ALT The Iron Ring (enlarged)
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Sitting on campus earlier today in the Software Engineering undergrad lounge. (Waterloo just brought back mandatory masks in class, though probably not in this space.)
Me sitting in a couch in a lounge

ALT Me sitting in a couch in a lounge

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Rarotonga flycatcher seen last August in Atiu.
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These birds live on two islands in the Cook Islands. Wikipedia says they were down to 30 birds in the wild in the 1990s but are now at 700 birds on Atiu and Rarotonga.
Hi @IndianaTux! My dad and I are talking about ndir sensors and how the reading at his place goes from 800 to 1200 when cooking. Even with kitchen door closed. Electric stove. He thinks the sensor is detecting other things in the air. I don't think it should be doing that. ???
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A month ago we had a great time on the Banks Peninsula Track. Super scenic, more elevation gain than I might have guessed, mercurial weather. Tiny sheep & yellow gorse. patricklam.ca/post/20221102-…
Playful adolescent seals

ALT Playful adolescent seals

Gorse, super yellow this time of year

ALT Gorse, super yellow this time of year

Baby lamb, very not shy

ALT Baby lamb, very not shy

Akaroa Head: spit of land jutting out surrounded by blue water

ALT Akaroa Head: spit of land jutting out surrounded by blue water

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King Shag seen on the way to Motutapu Island with e-ko adventures.
King Shag on a rock

ALT King Shag on a rock
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Sounds similar to what I've read about the Treaty of Waitangi, which shouldn't be surprising, since it was the same colonizers. Treaty 11 was 1921-1922, Wikipedia tells me.
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Seen yesterday in the Queen Charlotte Sound.
Gannet and dusky dolphin just out of the water

ALT Gannet and dusky dolphin just out of the water
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I wonder if someone has compared NZ Council voting rates with STV vs FPP.
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The real important election this year! #Kakī4BOTY #VoteToroa #AotearoasSweetheart
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Patrick Lam (@va2lam@mastodon.nz) retweeted
Behzad Mehrani
@behzadmehrani
19 Oct 2022
الناز رکابی طرح از بدایوسائو، کارتونیست سرشناس چینی #الناز_ركابى #مهسا_امینی
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It's democracy season! Also have to contact Waterloo Regional Council candidates and talk to them about rock climbing on GRCA land (ontarioallianceofclimbers.ca…)
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Mr Goose says hi.
This tweet is unavailable
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Patrick Lam (@va2lam@mastodon.nz) retweeted
Andrew Wilson@AndrewFromKW
24 Sep 2022
Covid has fundamentally changed all of that. Indoor air quality (IAQ) is no longer a nice to have — it is a must have because it is our only remaining control for Covid.
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I enjoyed contributing to this work, which allows developers to see how different parts of codebases interact (or, more importantly, don't interact directly). @jensnz
VISSOFT@IEEEVISSOFT
21 Sep 2022
The first session of #VISSOFT2022 about software architecture will conclude with the paper "VizAPI: Visualizing Interactions between Java Libraries and Clients" by Sruthi Venkatanarayanan, Jens Dietrich, @craiganslow (Craig Anslow) and @va2lam (Patrick Lam)
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Does it seem right to y'all that San Francisco has a reported 5/100k/day new COVID case rate, estimated to a true 25/day due to underreporting, while NZ is at 25/100k/day reported and a true rate of 50/100k/day? That doesn't quite seem to be what I'd expect.
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Took an hour last night to submit to the NZ parliamentary inquiry on the future of inter-regional rail. Here's my submission: patricklam.ca/post/20220917-… @thefutureisrail @nzrailcoalition
Dunedin Railways train sitting in Dunedin. Hope it comes back.

ALT Dunedin Railways train sitting in Dunedin. Hope it comes back.

Café car of Northern Explorer train about to leave Wellington for Auckland

ALT Café car of Northern Explorer train about to leave Wellington for Auckland

View from the TranzAlpine

ALT View from the TranzAlpine

TranzAlpine departing Christchurch on an early July morning

ALT TranzAlpine departing Christchurch on an early July morning

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