ntietz.com blog -...
Where I've been, and the future of this blog
Recently, I got an email from a reader who noted that I hadn't published anything in a little while,...
17th Jun 2026
Recently, I got an email from a reader who noted that I hadn't published anything in a little while, and he said he hopes I'm doing well.
The truth is, some days I am and some days I'm not.
I want to share a little bit about what's been going on, and what the future looks...
ntietz.com blog -...
You can't always fix it
I have some weird hobbies, and one of those is opening up the network tab on just about anything I'm...
2nd Mar 2026
I have some weird hobbies, and one of those is opening up the network tab on just about anything I'm using. Sometimes, I find egregious problems. Usually, this is something that can be fixed, when responsibly reported. But over time, I learned a bitter lesson: sometimes, you...
ntietz.com blog -...
Some good English word datasets
I'm working on a silly word game right now, which means I need a list of words for it. I can't rely...
2nd Feb 2026
I'm working on a silly word game right now, which means I need a list of words for it. I can't rely on the system word list, since this is for a web project. I'd also like, ideally, multiple lists of words with different criteria: most common words, all words, some subsets.
It's...
ntietz.com blog -...
Reflecting on 2025, preparing for 2026
As I do every year, it's that time to reflect on the year that's been, and talk about some of my...
5th Jan 2026
As I do every year, it's that time to reflect on the year that's been, and talk about some of my hopes and goals for the next year!
I'll be honest, this one is harder to write than last year's.
It was an emotionally intense year in a lot of ways.
Here's to a good 2026!
Reflecting...
ntietz.com blog -...
A new system for organizing my writing and projects
Keeping up with regular blog posts is a challenge.
To do it, I've churned through a few different...
1st Dec 2025
Keeping up with regular blog posts is a challenge.
To do it, I've churned through a few different organizational systems.
Sometimes I have to change them due to actual life circumstances changing; other times, due to the old one just wearing off[1].
Well, my life circumstances...
ntietz.com blog -...
Automating updates to a digital vigil
November 20th each year is Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDoR).
It is a day when we memorialize...
24th Nov 2025
November 20th each year is Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDoR).
It is a day when we memorialize those who've been lost to transphobia, through violence or suicide.
And each year, I make the most difficult git commit of the year, updating the list of names in the digital vigil...
ntietz.com blog -...
Custom for designing, off-the-shelf for shipping
As software engineers, we're paid to write really cool type annotations solve problems.
Usually we...
15th Sep 2025
As software engineers, we're paid to write really cool type annotations solve problems.
Usually we do this by taking a bunch of different pieces and putting them together to solve the problem.
Maybe you mix together a database, a queue, a web framework, and some business...
ntietz.com blog -...
Visualizing distributions with pepperoni pizza (and javascript)
There's a pizza shop near me that serves a normal pizza.
I mean, they distribute the toppings in a...
18th Aug 2025
There's a pizza shop near me that serves a normal pizza.
I mean, they distribute the toppings in a normal way.
They're not uniform at all.
The toppings are random, but not the way I want.
The colloquial understanding of "random" is kind of the Platonic ideal of a pizza: slightly...
ntietz.com blog -...
Covers as a way of learning music and code
When you're just getting started with music, you have so many skills to learn.
You have to be able...
21st Jul 2025
When you're just getting started with music, you have so many skills to learn.
You have to be able to play your instrument and express yourself through it.
You need to know the style you're playing, and its idioms and conventions.
You may want to record your music, and need all...
ntietz.com blog -...
Proving that every program halts
One of the best known hard problems in computer science is the halting problem.
In fact, it's widely...
23rd Jun 2025
One of the best known hard problems in computer science is the halting problem.
In fact, it's widely thought[1] that you cannot write a program that will, for any arbitrary program as input, tell you correctly whether or not it will terminate.
This is written from the framing of...
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