Hello World

I’m Nathan Hollows

I build tools that make learning feel like play. Working on Rapua, reading constantly, and preparing for future PhD studies.

Waiting for the second beat

Spoilers ahead, though for a 200-year-old book I don’t have much sympathy for anyone who minds I started reading Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen early last year and gave up on it halfway through. Turns out I was reading it wrong the whole time. Around the same time as I started reading Austen, I was also reading Calvino, who writes a particular type of fiction where structure and concepts can be as meaningful as characters. It’s a style that I particularly enjoy, as it often plays with ideas and concepts in a way that really tickles my brain. What I’d done was train myself to read books with particular attention to the structure, which isn’t remotely how this book was meant to be read. ...

Nugget Watch is finally finished

Nugget Watch is hands down the dumbest project I have ever worked on. It started around January 2019 when my eldest younger sister decided it would be funny to send me constant chicken nugget price updates. I thought it would be funny to document that information. By the end of the year I had a live website, a database of chicken nugget prices, and a growing collection of reviews. The original nugget watch design. The orange background was part of a royalty-fee stock image. It was easier to leave it than change it. ...

Lime pickled onions

Original Recipe Ingredients 1 red onion - peeled and thinly sliced 4 limes - juiced 1 Tablespoon cider vinegar 1 teaspoon kosher salt ½ teaspoon fresh ground pepper Directions Slice the onions thinly. In a large glass bowl or jar, add all ingredients and toss to combine making sure the onions are coated through. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before serving. Shake or mix the onions at least once while they cure. This will ensure all the onions are covered in the juice and will pickle evenly. Taste before serving and add salt if needed.

Tomato Soup

Original Recipe Ingredients 50g Tbsp unsalted butter 2 yellow onions 3 garlic cloves, (1 Tbsp minced) 1.5kg crushed tomatoes and juice 2 cups chicken stock 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil, plus more to serve 1 Tbsp sugar, or added to taste 1/2 tsp black pepper, or to taste 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream, or to taste to combat acidity 1/3 cup parmesan cheese, freshly grated, plus more to serve Directions Heat a nonreactive pot or enameled dutch oven over medium heat. Add butter then add chopped onions. Sauté 10-12 minutes, stirring occasionally, until softened and golden. Add minced garlic and sauté 1 minute until fragrant. Add crushed tomatoes with their juice, chicken stock, chopped basil, sugar (or add sugar to taste), and black pepper. Stir together and bring to a boil then reduce heat, partially cover with lid and simmer for 10 minutes. Blend with an immersion blender. Add 1/2 cup heavy cream, 1/3 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese and return to a simmer. Season to taste with salt and pepper if needed and turn off the heat.* Ladle into warm bowls and top with more parmesan and chopped fresh basil.

event.currentTarget vs event.target

I was working on Rapua, late on a sweltering summer night while visiting family, finally tracking down the root cause of a bug I’d been studiously avoiding. The steps to reproduce were simple: Add any “content block” to a game location. Click to delete the block. Click Confirm to delete the block. The block would then disappear with a confirmation, but only sometimes. In between steps 2 and 3, there’s an event listener on the delete button that triggers a modal, populating it with all the information required to make a valid deletion. However, sometimes this information was coming back as undefined. ...

Hello World#

I’m Nathan Hollows#

Hello World

I’m Nathan Hollows