Blog
In 2007, I started this website so I could share my MSc thesis easily. I started blogging random thoughts that were on my mind, mostly related to theology, culture, and humour. I moved part of this to Tumblr, and a dedicated culture review site in 2010 (it no longer exists), but when I joined Automattic in 2015, I revamped my blog. These days, it’s mostly a space where I share photography and thoughts on leadership and tech. The latter is what you’ll find on this page.
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2–3 minutes
Belgian bands growing up
When you listen to music, you get influenced by a lot of other musicians, but I doubt anyone has as much influence as your local bands. Especially in Belgium, where everything is only a short train ride away, I’ve looked up to several bands. I still listen to some of those musicians regularly. So which…
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3–4 minutes
Cambodia
The first ten days of our trip, we were in Vietnam. On the last day of 2016, we flew into Cambodia for the next half of our holiday. Start We arrived in Sihanoukville when the sun was already setting. It was New Year’s Eve, and we had no idea what to expect of this coast…
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1–2 minutes
Acrobat Reader: Scanning without scanner
A lot – as in a lot – of admin these days is still very document focused. One thing that always slows down the process, is the need for scanning those documents. Either I have to scan at work, or go to a copy shop, or just buy a scanner. Scanner app At least, that’s what…
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2–3 minutes
Swag at Automattic: Ethical sourcing
One aspect of our travels to Vietnam and Cambodia over the Christmas holidays was that Kim and I both struggled a lot with how cheap clothing was. If a shirt costs $1, there is no way everyone in the supply chain got a fair wage out of that, even if the cost of living is cheaper…
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1–2 minutes
Hi there, .blog!
One of the “Christmas gifts” that was awaiting me after being on leave for a few weeks, was my own .blog URL. As of now, you can visit my website on job.blog. Easy to remember, easy to search. No worries, jobthomas.com will still be available too. If you want to get your own .blog address,…
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1–2 minutes
WooCommerce in Real “Live”
My slides for the very first WordCamp Harare are now available. I spoke about my experience of setting up my first live WooCommerce store after having worked with WooCommerce for 2 years in testing environments.
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2–4 minutes
Zwarte Piet and My Own Racist Blind Spots
In 2011, I met my South African wife in Belgium. Her friend Crystal was visiting the town where we both lived in late November that year. Both of them were absolutely shocked when they saw Zwarte Piet (or Black Pete). Blind spots Up until that point, I had never ever considered the racist implications of…
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3–5 minutes
Afrihost, or How Customer Service Should Work
Update: Two years ago I wrote this post about the great customer support of @Afrihost – currently, I've been overcharged, and have been waiting for 3 months for my issue to be resolved properly. This post is now getting a disclaimer that this is no longer valid. https://t.co/xzRU5FsmxK — Job Thomas (@jobtex) September 14, 2018…
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4–6 minutes
Contributing to Code without Coding
I’ve been working at Woo for over almost two years now. During that time, I’ve learnt a lot. While working with the different plugins, themes and extensions we offer, it is normal to encounter bugs: small (or big) things in the software not working as they should. Using Software and Reporting Bugs Just using the software…
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1–2 minutes
WordPress Customisation for Dummies (Like Me): Workshop WordCamp Cape Town 2016
A lot of beginners encounter all sort of tutorials on how to add some custom code to the functions.php file or even more basic: change the layout beyond what the customizer allows. Aspects In this workshop, I introduce WordPress beginners to some good standards in terms of customisation. Choosing a plugin that allows custom CSS…
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3–4 minutes
Routers Scare Me (So Here’s a Tutorial for Myself)
I work for a web company, and because of that a lot of my friends and family expect me to know everything about the Internet. Well, I don’t. I’ve just learnt to use Google efficiently. And for that very reason, routers scare me. Because when I’m trying to configure the connection to the Internet, I…
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6–9 minutes
My Biggest Problem with Creationists (and Evolutionists)
My biggest problem with “Creationists” and “Evolutionist” is how much they simplify reality.
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4–6 minutes
From (Too) Long Talk to Workshop That Works
To Really Work Very often, when conferences list workshops, what is offered is not an actual “workshop” but just a long talk. There are several reasons why you should avoid that. First of all, you’re communicating to the audience that they’re attending a workshop. As the word says, there should be work involved. If your audience…
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1–2 minutes
Say hello to WooCommerce 2.6 “Zipping Zebra”
I’ve updated all of my test sites already and have been playing around with the newly added “Shipping Zones” for a while. WooCommerce 2.6 is an amazing update and you should get it for your store as well. Read the post on our development website on how to update safely. Oh, and I even made a…
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1–2 minutes
Field Notes: Grow Leadership Academy 2016
Last week, I wrote my first post on the official blog of WordPress.com. It’s a report of the great teaching experience we had at the Grow Leadership Academy in Athlone, Cape Town.
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4–6 minutes
Ethical Consumption in South Africa: Chocolate and Coffee
When I arrived in South Africa about three years ago, fair trade was not really a consideration here. Very few brands were offering clear information about their supply chains and the control or transparency of those chains by external organisations. In the last few years, there has been quite a big change. Why should you care?…
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1–2 minutes
ScaleConf 2016: Scaling Support by Education Customers
A few months ago, I spoke at ScaleConf 2016, which was quite intimidating. It’s a developer conference, and I’m not a developer. I posted my slides a while ago, but now you can also watch the video as well. I hope you like it! I really enjoyed infusing Thomas Kuhn’s theory of paradigm shifts I learnt…
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1–2 minutes
James K.A. Smith Quote
In its truest sense, eros signals a desire and attraction that is a good feature of our creaturehood. . . . To be human is to have a heart. You can’t not love. So the question isn’t whether you will love something as ultimate; the question is what you will love as ultimate. And you…