Published
Weekend Reading — One minor bug
40 Funny Single-Panel Comics from New Yorker Cartoonist Brooke Bourgeois
This week we have some more comics, talk about software development bugs, pretend to be Columbo, obsess over creativity, find Star Trek on a map of the universe, and yes, I just had a cup of coffee …
Tech Stuff
What Should We Measure? This got me thinking, and it sounds very correct:
Programming is a kind of “lossy compression.” The thinking that comprises the majority of the effort isn’t directly visible in the end work.
Now would be a good time for Radiohead to release a followup album called "No, Computer.”
Why We Don’t Ship Software as Fast as We Used To Don’t blame it all on bloat—the reason is complicated. One example:
My point is that a lot of complexity is required just to meet today’s baseline expectations. When you meet them, a user doesn’t scream out in joy—they just use it. Maybe that’s one reason why software development has become slower.”
No one actually wants simplicity
We think we do, but in fact every web developer will happily sacrifice simplicity to the first shiny thing promising them relief from the mildest of ailments.
In other words, they prioritise everything over speed. And then they wonder why using their website is like rowing a boat through a lake of molasses on a cold day using nothing but a small plastic spoon.”
The mistake 99% of #developers make is thinking they’re working on a “high #performance" #website.
spooky jess That explains the bug in line 36548 …
have you heard of "mathematics"? its like a slow boring computer you do with your hands and pens, it sucks
Ken Shirriff Speaking of mathematics, this calculator won't fit in your shirt pocket:
How did fighter planes in the 1950s perform calculations before compact digital computers were available? With the Bendix Central Air Data Computer! This electromechanical analog computer used gears and cams to compute "air data" for fighter planes such as the F-101. 1/13
emily 🤔
cannot believe that we taught rocks to whisper Secret Numbers so vast that their names have never before and will never be spoken again in the long span of human time, and we use them to key databases for e-commerce systems
Ted Gould “Seen on a car, but considering this for my new Github avatar.”
Report finds few open source projects actively maintained In news that should surprise no one:
In its 9th Annual State of the Software Supply Chain report, published October 3, software supply chain management company Sonatype assessed 1,176,407 projects and reported an 18% decline this year in actively maintained projects. Just 11% of projects—118,028—were receiving active maintenance. The report also found some new projects, unmaintained in 2022, now being maintained.
40 Of The Funniest Programming Memes From This Week, Brought To You By A Bunch Of Code When everything is code.
Eye for Design
Everything I Know About UX Research I First Learned From Lt. Columbo I grew up watching Columbo with my grandparents. Love the show. It's good even by today's standards. Wish the article was shorter and easier to read. Then again, now I can claim my UX experience is all Columbo-driven and that makes me so proud!
The secret formula for Apple's rounded corners “Discovering the hidden formula that determines the roundness of each Apple product.”
sdw@mastodon.social Throwback to when the Photoshop icon was cool and a literal photo shop
acb “This is thoughtful design: Muji apparently released a flashlight that works with any combination of 2 AA and 2 AAA batteries, only more dimly with fewer batteries.”
Peoples
Lost in self-doubt? Here’s how to succeed despite impostor syndrome. By being psychologically flexible, however, we can overcome these feelings.
benteh +1
if someone writes to you "we need to talk" write back "we certainly do" so they'll feel stressed too
The Surprising Origins of Our Obsession with Creativity
We tend to assume creativity is a timeless human value. But in fact, creativity has only been a regular part of our vocabulary since the middle of the twentieth century. Its first known written occurrence was in 1875, making it an infant as far as words go.
Business Side
PhreakByte Facts!
step one: build question marks factory
step two: ???
step three: profit
Six Months Ago NPR Left Twitter. The Effects Have Been Negligible
Six months later, we can see that the effects of leaving Twitter have been negligible. A memo circulated to NPR staff says traffic has dropped by only a single percentage point as a result of leaving Twitter, now officially renamed X, though traffic from the platform was small already and accounted for just under two percent of traffic before the posting stopped. (NPR declined an interview request but shared the memo and other information). While NPR’s main account had 8.7 million followers and the politics account had just under three million, “the platform’s algorithm updates made it increasingly challenging to reach active users; you often saw a near-immediate drop-off in engagement after tweeting and users rarely left the platform,” the memo says.
Chad “I’m shocked…”
Machine Thinking
Report: GitHub Copilot Loses an Average of $20 Per User Per Month “A new report in the Wall Street Journal highlights the stratospheric costs that Big Tech faces delivering AI capabilities to their customers.”
ellisjrosen “Todays daily cartoon for the New Yorker”
Locked Doors
Californians can scrub personal info sold to advertisers with first-in-US law The new law goes into effect in 2026, so we do have a couple of years to catch up:
The new bill reinforces that all data brokers must register with the California privacy protection agency (CPPA), and it requires the CPPA to establish an easy and free way for Californians to request that all data brokers in the state delete their data through a single page, regardless of how they acquired that information. If data brokers don’t comply with these rules, the bill stipulates they be fined or otherwise penalized.
davidaugust “Seems like the premise for a horror movie called simply: Beef.”
Everything Else
This morning I used Red Bull instead of water to make my coffee.
After 15 minutes of driving on the motorway, I realised I left my car at home.
40 Single-Panel Comics For People With A Silly Sense Of Humor From Evan Lian "A concentrated dose of hilarity captured in one frame.“
What does friendship look like in America?
Women are much more likely than men to say they talk to their close friends about their family extremely often or often (67% vs. 47%). Women also report talking about their physical health (41% vs. 31%) and mental health (31% vs. 15%) more often than men do with close friends [...] Men, in turn, are more likely than women to say they talk with their close friends about sports (37% vs. 13%) and current events (53% vs. 44%).
sjvn “This is what all IKEA furniture kits look like to me.”
The Locations of Star Trek and Other Sci-Fi in Real Space As a short YouTube video (6 minutes, 40 seconds), this is much more interesting than just reading the text.
Everything You Wanted to Know About Salt but Were Too Afraid to Ask TIL that not all salts are the same. They differ in size, in saltiness, and in what you can use them for. Even sea salt is not one, but two different types:
Kosher salt is valued for its coarse, large crystal and pure flavor, though some are more pure (and prized) than others. There are two big brands of “kosher salt”—Morton Kosher Salt and Diamond Kosher Salt, and they are not interchangeable. According to Samin Nosrat, the processes used to make them could not be more different
90 Animals Ranked by Eyesight and How They Compare to Humans
Have you ever wondered how animals see the world? As animals have evolved more complex bodies and behaviors, their eyes have also evolved to suit their survival needs. The team at Lasik by OCLI Vision has researched the wondrous variety of animal eyes to create the ultimate guide to how animal eyesight compares to humans.
redfrog@mamot.fr “Beautiful cable management 🍟🔒”
