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April 2024

  1. Founders Need to Be Ruthless When Chasing Deals in startups

    One of the most exciting things a startup CEO in a business-to-business market can hear from a potential customer is, “We’re excited. When can you come back and show us a prototype?” This can be the beginning of a profitable customer relationship or a disappointing sinkhole of wasted time, money, resources, and a demoralized engineering […]


  2. How I didn’t become a philosopher (but wound up presenting a named philosophy lecture anyway) in science

    Many people ask why I became a theoretical physicist. The answer runs through philosophy—which I thought, for years, I’d left behind in college. My formal relationship with philosophy originated with Mr. Bohrer. My high school classified him as a religion … Continue reading →


  3. Randy Fertel on the Power and Peril of Creative Improvisation in architecture

    A lively talk with the author about his new book, Winging It.


  4. Lucy Moses Award: 486 Liberty Avenue in architecture

    You can read about the building in the awards program: here. The short version: this was a very ornate police precinct house constructed in 1892, when Brooklyn was still an inexpedient city, and abandoned for quite some time. Here’s what the interior looked like the first time we saw it: The structure was pretty much […]


  5. Collections: Phalanx’s Twilight, Legion’s Triumph, Part IVb: Antiochus III in history

    This is the second part of the fourth part of our four(ish) part (Ia, Ib, IIa, IIb, IIIa, IIIb, IVa) look at the context between the Roman military system based on the manipular legion and the Hellenistic military system structured around the Macedonian sarisa phalanx in the third and second century BC. Last time we … Continue reading Collections: Phalanx’s Twilight, Legion’s Triumph, Part IVb:...


  6. Your app is not a product in design


  7. Not just fishing knots in life

    Took mum to her childhood home Sunday just gone to see Papa. We walked in and mum saw Nana and they both started to cry. Papa, Alan, Alby, my grandfather was quite sick. The room was quiet and somber but had an unshakable aura of warmth and love. Everyone was


  8. How Do Fish Ladders Work? in science

    [Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.] Building a dam imparts a stupendous change to the environment, and as with any change, there are winners and losers. The winners are usually us, people, through hydropower generation, protection from flooding, irrigation for farming, and a stable water supply for populated areas. But, we've known for a long time, probably since...


  9. The Mathematics of the Pattern on the Sala de la Barca Ceiling in architecture

    (This is the math geek part about the Sala de la Barca ceiling. For instructions on constructing the pattern with compass and straightedge, go over to Part 1.) In the process of figuring out how to draw this pattern, I ran into a lot of questions, and had to do more than a little math … Continue reading The Mathematics of the Pattern on the Sala de la Barca Ceiling →


  10. The xz Issue Isn’t About Open Source in programming

    You’ve probably heard of the recent backdoor in xz. There have been a lot of takes on this, most of them boiling down to some version of: The problem here is with Open Source Software. I want to say not only is that view so myopic that it pushes towards the incorrect, but also it … Continue reading The xz Issue Isn’t About Open Source →


March 2024

  1. Internet Harvest (2024, 1) in science

    Free covid treatment for everyone in the US, a novel orthopox virus, a really big machine, cameras used for good and evil, ant heaven now, and more.


  2. The quantum gold rush in science

    Even if you don’t recognize the name, you probably recognize the saguaro cactus. It’s the archetype of the cactus, a column from which protrude arms bent at right angles like elbows. As my husband pointed out, the cactus emoji is … Continue reading →


  3. Designers, charge more $$$ to help yourself and your clients. in design

    By charging more $$$, you are lifting up the quality of the outcome and satisfaction.


  4. My experimental adventures in quantum thermodynamics in science

    Imagine a billiard ball bouncing around on a pool table. High-school level physics enables us to predict its motion until the end of time using simple equations for energy and momentum conservation, as long as you know the initial conditions … Continue reading →


  5. Stay the course in finance

    I spend a couple of weeks every February keeping up with my investments, timing it to coincide with the release of Buffett’s annual letter to shareholders. I found something interesting while performing this ritual this time. I came across Aswath Damodaran’s website, where he has compiled data on the S&P 500 index, including earnings, dividends,…


  6. 40 Life Lessons I Know at 40 (That I Wish I Knew at 20) in life

    Today is my 40th birthday. When I turned 30 a decade ago, I wrote an article sharing life lessons to survive your 20s and crowd-sourced advice on how to excel in your 30s. And apparently you guys loved it. So, here's more of the good stuff: 40 life lessons I now know at 40 that I wish I knew at 20. Dig in. If you treat yourself with dignity and respect, then you will only tolerate others who treat...


  7. Sotto Voce in design

    “AI” and “The Cloud” are both hot topics, but couldn’t be more different. AI is new, unproven, and surrounded by hyperbole, whereas “The Cloud” is older, established, and broadly accepted. But online, criticism is mounting against both, not so much for the technology itself but for its misuse. Instead of waiting for big tech to […]


  8. What is progress? in science

    In one sense, the concept of progress is simple, straightforward, and uncontroversial. In another sense, it contains an entire worldview. The most basic meaning of “progress” is simply advancement along a path, or more generally from one state to another that is considered more advanced by some standard. (In this sense, progress can be good, neutral, or even bad—e.g., the progress of a disease.)...


  9. A Collection of Design Engineers in programming


  10. Reader Mailbag: Struggling to do it all in life

    A reader writes in with questions about technical up-skilling, finding balance in life and work, and getting in touch with their identity outside of work.


February 2024

  1. 8 Lessons from "Curb Your Enthusiasm" in startups

    What Larry David's legendary sitcom can teach about creativity and work.


  2. The Berkshire Hathaway Playbook in finance

    Competition tends to eliminate high profits resulting from business models that have worked spectacularly well. Will Berkshire's playbook continue to perform well in the future?


  3. The World's Most Controversial Interactive Map in cartography


  4. We need to talk about digital ownership in finance

    "Ownership" means ten different things to ten different people. Let's talk about what we actually want.


  5. Where Are the Good AI Products? in startups

    On waiting for AI's Godot.


  6. The rain in Portugal in science

    My husband taught me how to pronounce the name of the city where I’d be presenting a talk late last July: Aveiro, Portugal. Having studied Spanish, I pronounced the name as Ah-VEH-roh, with a v partway to a hard b. … Continue reading →


  7. The startup founder bootstrapping his creator economy business in startups

    Douglas Kendyson, a former engineer at Flutterwave and Paystack, has built a profitable bootstrapped African startup.


  8. i was a murder mystery dinner theater actor in life

    my role? first-to-die. the job? weird as hell.


  9. 33 Powerful Books That May Change Your Life in life

    I've read over 1,000 nonfiction books in my life, and these 33 are the most powerful of them all. I can honestly say they changed my life, who's to say they won't change yours too? Don't just take my word for it though. Read on for my summary of all 33 books and see for yourself how your next read might just change your life. https://youtu.be/7kwqWgXzHvc This might be the most practical book ever...


  10. Creams, Clothes and Cases: The material culture of pre-modern travel. in history

    I am currently on study leave, getting on with research for my new project on the history of travel preparations. One thing that I’m particularly interested in is the material culture of travel, and what sorts of things were available for travellers as they got ready for their journeys.  Today, ‘things’ are incredibly important both … Continue reading Creams, Clothes and Cases: The material...


January 2024

  1. RSS in HTML in programming

    I have a question: has anyone ever tried to standardize an RSS feed in HTML? I can’t find any discussion around it — but I’d love to read more about the idea because it intrigues me. The OG RSS was an XML feed. Later we got JSON feeds. So why not an HTML feed standard? (I know, I know, obligatory xkcd link.) At this point, I think it’s fair to say HTML has won. As Yehuda says: HTML…is humanity's...


  2. The Scandalous Success of the Daily Mail in history

    The Scandalous Success of the Daily Mail j.hoare Mon, 01/01/2024 - 13:07


  3. The Double Kick [EPISODE] in architecture

    Watch a skate video today, and you’ll notice how similarly shaped the boards are. It’s called the “popsicle” design, because the deck is narrow in the middle and rounded off at both ends, like a popsicle stick. This may seem stupid simple, but that basic, clean popsicle shape is actually the product of a lot of experimentation and The post The Double Kick appeared first on 99% Invisible.


  4. 7 Unusual Writing Systems From Around the World & How They Developed in history

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  5. Orange Free State, South Africa: A History in history

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  6. Status Limbo | Theory No. 27 in startups

    To get status, you have to give up status.


  7. Breaking up with Slack and Discord: why it's time to bring back forums. in startups

    When I first found my people online, forums were the main way people gathered to discuss shared interests. Web-based bulletin boards allowed members to have ongoing, asynchronous conversations over days or weeks as participants logged in to read and respond on their own schedule. Topics were neatly divided into threads, which made it easy to follow specific conversations. Unlike...


  8. How Spotify helped turn Afrobeats into a global phenomenon in startups

    The Swedish music giant is pushing to make Africa’s biggest sound the world’s favorite sound.


  9. The Life of Aldous Huxley — Author of “Brave New World” in history

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  10. How Apple built iCloud to store billions of databases in programming

    Apple uses Cassandra and FoundationDB for CloudKit, their cloud backend service. We take a look into how exactly each is used within their cloud and the problems they've solved.


December 2023

  1. Breaking Down The Power Broker [EPISODE] in architecture

    In 1974, two very significant things happened, if you are a fan of 99% invisible. Number one is that 99pi host Roman Mars was born. And number two, The Power Broker by Robert Caro was published. Roman learned about the power broker when he first started to cover cities and infrastructure on the radio. This The post Breaking Down The Power Broker appeared first on 99% Invisible.


  2. Apple M3 Machine Learning Speed Test in life

    I put my M1 Pro against Apple's new M3, M3 Pro, M3 Max, a NVIDIA GPU and Google Colab.


  3. Four predictions for 2024 in startups

    It’s going to be a bumpy ride.


  4. 10 AI predictions for 2024 in AI

    Hey Siri, set a reminder for 365 days.


  5. The Cheesy Charm of the Clapper in science

    “Clap on! Clap off! Clap on! Clap off! The Clapper!” This 1980s earworm of a jingle touted a gadget to turn your lights, your TV, or any other electrical device on or off with the clap of your hands. If you watched any amount of American television back then, you probably saw the Clapper’s repetitious and yet oddly endearing ad, and perhaps you, like many others, felt compelled to give it a...


  6. Explore Ancient Rome by Visiting These 6 Sites in history

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  7. Caravaggio: The Scandalous Crimes of a Baroque Artist in history

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  8. switching to a "dumb" phone made me feel pretty dang smart in life

    the Light Phone diaries


  9. Who Are the Most Famous Sorceresses of Greek Mythology? in history

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  10. The Best Online Essays & Articles of 2023 in life

    Longform journalism is coming back (and deserves our support)


November 2023

  1. How Companies Use Transfer Pricing to Avoid Taxes in finance

    In the world of finance, there are a myriad of strategies employed by corporations to optimize their tax liabilities. One such method, known as transfer pricing, has become increasingly prevalent in recent years, raising concerns about fairness and equity in the global tax system.


  2. 7 Things to Know Before Seeing a Broadway Show in New York City in travel


  3. Make Every Day Count in finance

    It was a 2012 evening, and I was driving home from the office. I was worried about finishing a big project at work on time. I’d made the journey from the office to my home so many times, my car almost seemed to know the way by itself. My hands were on the wheel, but…


  4. What Makes Citizen Kane the Greatest Film of All Time? in history

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  5. I Fight For The Users in programming

    If you haven't been able to keep up with my blistering pace of one blog post per year (if that), I can't blame you. There's a lot going on right now. It's a busy time. But let's pause and take


  6. 💡 Business Brainstorms 💡- My favorite ideas of the week in startups

    Hey, this is Jakob Greenfeld, author of the Business Brainstorms newsletter - every week I write this email to share the most interesting trends, frameworks, opportunities, and ideas with you. Let's dive in! #1 💡 It's cool that smartphones have become all-in-one devices. But at the same time, there’s a reason why people buy Kindle devices.


  7. № 76: RIP Charlie Munger (1924-2023) in life

    The investing legend, the goat of common sense and wisdom, and the Vice Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway


  8. Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal - BAH! in comics

    Click here to go see the bonus panel! Hovertext: The keynote is gonna be reeeediculous. Today's News: Or click here for info! Tickets are more than half sold and we're still two weeks out, so buy soon to lock yours in!


  9. Tutorial: How to make and share custom GPTs in AI

    They're not going to disrupt everything (yet), but they're a ton of fun.


  10. How to Be Successful in Life in life

    The internet is inundated with countless videos and advice columns promising to teach you how to become more successful than 99% of the world's population. Most of these claims revolve around setting goals, developing discipline, and eliminating distractions. But let's face it: if you take a close look at the habits of highly successful people, you'll quickly realize that they don't strictly...


October 2023

  1. What people ask me most. Also, some answers. in AI

    A FAQ of sorts


  2. The Most Dangerous Thing in Culture Right Now is Beauty in life

    You think I’m crazy, but just wait and see....


  3. First impressions of the MoErgo Glove80 ergonomic keyboard in programming

    How does the Glove80 stack up against similar keyboards like the Moonlander and Ergodox? I share my impressions after the first few weeks of use.


  4. The Fever Tree Hunt [EPISODE] in architecture

    “Most heists target gold, jewels or cash. This one targeted illegal seeds. As the British established their sprawling empire across the subcontinent and beyond, they encountered a formidable adversary — malaria. There was a cure — the bark of the Andean cinchona tree. The only problem? The Dutch and the French were also looking to The post The Fever Tree Hunt appeared first on 99% Invisible.


  5. Database Migrations in programming

    I consider database migrations one of the most annoying problems to deal with during a software engineer’s life. Not only […] The post Database Migrations appeared first on Vadim Kravcenko.


  6. The Big Dig [EPISODE] in architecture

    Over its more than 40 year journey from conception to completion, Boston’s Big Dig massive infrastructure project, which rerouted the central highway in the heart of the city, encountered every hurdle imaginable: ruthless politics, engineering challenges, secretive contractors, outright fraud and even the death of one motorist. It became a kind of poster child for The post The Big Dig appeared...


  7. This Home Hidden In The Forest Appears Like A Stack Of Illuminated Boxes in architecture

    William / Kaven Architecture has sent us photos of a home they completed in Portland, Oregon, that’s part of a collection of private residences perched on several steeply sloped sites within Forest Park, a 5,000-acre woodland. A simple material palette of dark steel, concrete, glass, and custom bronze-black cladding grounds the house within the surrounding […]


  8. Authoritarian vs. Democratic Socialism: What’s the Difference? in history

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  9. Networking as an introvert CTO in programming

    There I was, standing in the middle of a buzzing tech event that our company organized, feeling like a fish […] The post Networking as an introvert CTO appeared first on Vadim Kravcenko.


  10. Building a photography website in programming

    Last year, I started a photography hobby. Soon after, I've created a place where I can share some of my work, without any attention-driven algorithms dictating the terms. Here's a technical write-up of my journey. Table of contents: Motivation Inspiration Design Implementation Content management Loading performance Navigation RSS Accessibility Pipeline Preparation Metadata update Content...


September 2023

  1. Making $6k from a baby AI photo generator in indiehacker

    Ever wondered, "Is there an AI to see how your baby looks?" Well you're not alone! OurBabyAI is an app that shows how your future baby may look.


  2. Aging Code in programming

    In a quaint bar on the outskirts of Catania (Italy), as whiskey glasses clinked and muted conversations blended into a […] The post Aging Code appeared first on Vadim Kravcenko.


  3. Books I Read in August 2023 in literature

    As I suspected my energy for writing in August was diverted to more important things.  Plenty of energy to read, though. With a respite in September, I should soon be able to write a bit on the Greek philosophers I have been reading.  The Cynics, Epicureans, and Stoics work well as a cluster.  Then later a bit on Plutarch and the little philosophy project is a wrap.   PHILOSOPHY Meditations (c....


  4. What I’ve been reading, September 2023 in science

    A quasi-monthly feature. Recent blog posts and news stories are generally omitted; you can find them in my links digests. I’ve been busy helping to choose the first cohort of our blogging fellowship, so my reading has been relatively light. All emphasis in bold in the quotes below was added by me. Books Joel Mokyr, The Lever of Riches: Technological Creativity and Economic Progress (1990). I’ve...


  5. How Google Stores 10,000 Petabytes of Data Efficiently in startups

    Google Colossus Explained Simply


  6. AOL Pretends to be the Internet in programming

    In 1994, Ted Leonsis was the head of the new media marketing firm he created, Redgate Communications, spun out six […] The post AOL Pretends to be the Internet appeared first on The History of the Web.


  7. A Week Off And A New Language in history

    See you again soon


  8. 14 of the Best Nonfiction Books You Should Read in life

    All ye readers, buckle up. Today, I'm giving you 14 non-fiction books I believe everyone should read. For each book, I've provided a brief summary. Now it's up to you to decide if it's worth your time. Let's dig in. This book dives deep into the world of trauma, discussing its effects on the mind, body, and daily life. If you want to know everything about trauma and how to deal with it, this is...


  9. Swyx's Simple Guide to Singapore in programming

    A personal guide to Singapore for foreign friends visiting.


  10. How Much Do Couples Share Traits? in science

    Do birds of a feather flock together, or do opposites attract? These are both common aphorisms, which means that they are commonly offered as generally accepted truths, but also that they may by wrong. People like pithy phrases, so they spread prolifically, but that does not mean they contain any truth. Further, our natural instincts […] The post How Much Do Couples Share Traits? first appeared on...


August 2023

  1. How Games Typically Get Built in programming

    The differences between games development and more “standard” software engineering, roles, and how games are typically built.


  2. July 2023: $6K MRR – getting back on recurring revenue in indiehacker

    small updates from me in July 2023


  3. Those days when nothing gets done in life

    A lie.


  4. Why Mathematical Proof Is a Social Compact in science

    Number theorist Andrew Granville on what mathematics really is — and why objectivity is never quite within reach. The post Why Mathematical Proof Is a Social Compact first appeared on Quanta Magazine


  5. Elon Musk's creep show in startups

    Caught in a series of lies about his willingness to fight Mark Zuckerberg, the billionaire's disturbing spiral accelerates


  6. Iterators in Go in programming

    The iterator proposal is a neat way to write “lazy loops”, where we never generate more results than we actually use. Let’s see what that would look like in Go programs.


  7. The Power of Being Weird in life

    There are a lot of different ways to be an outsider. Nobody really wants to be a misfit or a "noob." But there is wisdom in outsiders. They can be characters who challenge societal norms and reshape our understanding of what it means to belong. There are some people for whom persistent weirdness is not a weakness but a strength. One person who made this case beautifully is Paul Graham.


  8. what does it mean to live well in life

    A while ago an old friend texted me that an unexpected event had once again reminded her how transient life can be, and she thought of me because I was one of...


  9. When tech says ‘no’ in startups

    The tech industry always has a reason why any new laws or regulations are bad - indeed, so does any industry. They always say that! The trouble is, sometimes it’s true, and some laws are (or would be) disasters. So which is it? Well, there are three ways that people say ‘NO!’


  10. Programming transforms your brain. Here's how. in startups

    Knowing how to program has a multitude of positive effects on the brain.


July 2023

  1. Actual Progress in comics


  2. People are talking about me, and I started it in design

    People talk about you the way you talk about yourself.


  3. How to Use AI to Do Stuff: An Opinionated Guide in AI

    Covering the state of play as of Summer, 2023


  4. The Best Luxury Hotels to Book in France in 2023 in travel


  5. The Skill of Capital in finance

    What, exactly, is the skill of capital? What does it consist of? How do you recognise it? We walk through three stories, and then talk about the shape of the skill in practice.


  6. being creative is not just about making things in life

    I place a lot of value on creativity in my life, and this has been pretty consistent throughout my various life stages. For a long time it was tied to my identity...


  7. Dell's Capital Expertise in finance

    We trace Michael Dell's skill at the art of capital in business, and use it to examine how skill at capital allows you to make moves that aren't available to a novice business operator.


  8. The Story of Titanium in architecture

    The earth contains a lot of titanium - it’s the ninth most abundant element in the earth’s crust. By mass, there’s more titanium in the earth’s crust than carbon by a factor of nearly 30, and more titanium than copper by a factor of nearly 100. But despite its abundance, it's only recently that civilization has been able to use titanium as a metal (titanium dioxide has been in use somewhat longer...


  9. The Surrounding Desert Was Blended Into This Modern Home in architecture

    Photography by Stetson Ybarra Multi-disciplinary design studio Daniel Joseph Chenin, Ltd. has shared photos of a modern home they completed on the edge of the Las Vegas Valley that has views of Red Rock Canyon. Photography by Stetson Ybarra Commissioned for a family embracing an active lifestyle of immersive environmental experiences, the home has a […]


  10. StorySelling in life

    How to skip the brain, bypass reason and head straight for the heart to sell


June 2023

  1. May 2023: I sold my 2 years old business for only $128K in indiehacker

    Everything about the Black Magic's acquisition + May 2023 updates


  2. What I’ve been reading, June 2023 in science

    A monthly feature. As usual, recent blog posts and news stories are omitted from this; you can find them in my links digests. In all quotes below, any emphasis in bold was added by me. Books Thomas S. Ashton, The Industrial Revolution, 1760–1830 (1948). A classic in the field, concise and readable. Crafts (see paper below) cites this work as pointing out “the links between scientific thought and...


  3. Instagram cofounder on Mark Zuckerberg in startups

    will he go into destroy mode if I say no


  4. The perfect drawing tool in programming

    The emotional rollercoaster I experience in art supply stores can be summarised in one word: greed.  I want every single pen, every brush, every quill, and a sheet of every paper, ranging from crude cardboard to magnificent handcrafted Japanese washi. And yes, I need papyrus. And no, I don’t know what for.  I want it all! Which one should I pick? Here is how to find your perfect partner in crime....


  5. Why You Should Have Fewer Opinions in life

    https://youtu.be/qJ8aRl1UNgw I'm on an old man rant today. The world's a shitfest, and something needs to be said: Opinions are like assholes, everyone's got one, and most are full of shit. So, here's my argument: people need to have fewer fucking opinions. The problem is that we're all drowning in information, and this overload causes us to mistake the quantity of knowledge for the quality of...


  6. A Garage Transformed Into An Apartment With A Home Office in architecture

    YR Architecture + Design has shared photos of a modern 575 square foot (53 sqm) live/work studio in Columbus, OH, that was once a 2-car garage. The homeowners were determined for their two-car garage to be an asset, with the couple seeking to maximize their property, and at the same time, offer options for leasing […]


  7. The richest person you know in finance

    What’s it like to be in the top 1%? According to the statistics, most of the readers of my blog are among the highest earning and/or richest people in the UK. I bet however that not many of you feel that way. Let’s start with income To be in the top 1% of earnings in… Continue reading The richest person you know →


  8. Unleash Your Inner Sage: 5 Powerful Mindsets Fostered by Stoicism in life

    By Michael McGill The Stoics had a name for a person who fully realized the virtues of Stoicism. A person who overcame all of their personal defects to achieve a life of complete tranquility and goodness. The perfect Stoic, if you will.  They referred to this person as the Stoic Sage. Now, the Stoic Sage Read More >>


  9. 5 Best Personal Traits for Life in life

    https://youtu.be/kDqQGogavmY What if I told you there's a hidden treasure trove of personal traits that could turn your life around? Are you curious? Are you dying to know what they are? Are you wondering why I'm asking so many questions instead of getting to the point? OK, OK—fine. Here, I'll uncover the five good qualities that I think will help you make it through this chaotic, unpredictable,...


  10. Books I Read in May 2023 in literature

    I had a good time. GREEK PHILOSOPHY The Nicomachean Ethics (4th C. BCE), Aristotle - a post, however shallow, should appear soon. FICTION Joseph in Egypt (1936), Thomas Mann The Long Valley (1938) & The Grapes of Wrath (1939), John Steinbeck - I last read this probably forty years ago.  The great turtle chapter is still great.  It's not Moby-Dick, but the mix of rhetorical modes is brilliant...


May 2023

  1. Problems harder than NP-Complete in programming

    People always talk about “P vs NP” like P problems are easy and NP problems are hard. This is a useful day-to-day model but also an oversimplification. Problems can get way, way harder than NP. (If you want a brief refresher on P and NP, check out my post NP-Complete isn’t (always) Hard.) PSPACE-complete P is the set of all problems that can be solved in polynomial time, relative to the input....


  2. Is It Real or Imagined? How Your Brain Tells the Difference. in science

    New experiments show that the brain distinguishes between perceived and imagined mental images by checking whether they cross a “reality threshold.” The post Is It Real or Imagined? How Your Brain Tells the Difference. first appeared on Quanta Magazine


  3. 19 books to read in 2023 in startups

    Rest of World's staff favorites, from around the globe to add to your must-read pile.


  4. Github Copilot and ChatGPT alternatives in programming

    There are a growing number of AI coding tools that are alternatives to Copilot. A list of other popular, promising options.


  5. God, living is enormous! in life

    When she wrote the following entry in her journal and imagined fleeing college to venture into the unknown, Susan Sontag was a precocious sixteen-year-old studying English at the University of California, Berkeley. By the end of the year she had indeed left—not on a bus to an undecided destination, but to the University of Chicago […]


  6. This Cafe In Austria Has a Cycling Inspired Design in architecture

    Architecture and interior design studio Archisphere collaborated with Carbone & Kacerovsky to design a ‘Cyclist’, a modern cafe at the Hotel Andaz am Belvedere Vienna. Archisphere drew inspiration from the movement, freedom, and enjoyment associated with cycling. In addition to this, the spirit of the art collector Prince Eugen, whose influence can be found throughout […]


  7. Polar Night in science

    Surreal and otherworldly.


  8. You can have two Big Things, but not three in programming

    No you can't "have it all." You can have two things, but not three.


  9. Decoupling is just going to happen in startups

    Chinese policy and geopolitical risk are doing a lot of the work here.


  10. The Grand Press in design

    Designed by Dixon Baxi, London.


April 2023

  1. Making $22K in 7 days: the story in indiehacker

    and other updates from me in Mar 2023


  2. A guide to prompting AI (for what it is worth) in AI

    A little bit of magic, but mostly just practice


  3. Instant Plugins for ChatGPT: Introducing the Wolfram ChatGPT Plugin Kit in programming

    This is the first in a series of posts about new LLM-related technology associated with the Wolfram technology stack. "Color" with something like: When you set up a plugin, it can contain many endpoints, that do different things. And—in addition to sharing prompts—one reason this is particularly convenient is that (at least right now, for security reasons) […]


  4. How to Tame the Endless Infinities Hiding in the Heart of Particle Physics in science

    In the math of particle physics, every calculation should result in infinity. The set of techniques known as “resurgence” points toward an escape. The post How to Tame the Endless Infinities Hiding in the Heart of Particle Physics first appeared on Quanta Magazine


  5. The Winner’s Edge in finance

    A lot of otherwise talented people are too pessimistic to actually do anything. They are paralyzed by risks that don’t exist and greatly exaggerate them where they do, preventing them from being one of the best. Consider this lightly edited excerpt from a conversation between Charlie Rose and Magnus Carlsen that argues it’s better to … The post The Winner’s Edge appeared first on Farnam Street.


  6. How Indians are watching Succession after HBO ditched Disney in startups

    With HBO walking away from Disney+ Hotstar, shows like Succession, The Last of Us, and Game of Thrones can no longer be streamed in the country.


  7. New decisions based on new information in creative

    More than ever, we’re pushed to have certainty. Strong opinions, tightly held and loudly proclaimed. And then, when reality intervenes, it can be stressful. The software stack, business model, career, candidate, policy, or even the social network habits that we had as part of our identity let us down. It’s not easy to say, “I […]


  8. The freedom loop in creative

    We spend almost no time teaching toddlers about freedom. Instead, the lessons we teach (and learn) for our entire lives are about responsibility. It’s easy to teach freedom, but important to teach responsibility. Because if you get the responsibility taken care of, often the freedom will follow. When someone points out a lack of responsibility, […]


  9. Global TikTok creators depend on U.S. viewers. A TikTok ban would be devastating in startups

    Without Americans on the app, advertising dollars are at risk.


  10. Five things to do and see this April in architecture

    The clocks have sprung forward and the spring chicks are chirping: yes, April has arrived. But it’s not only those longer, lighter evenings luring us out of the house; this month’s brilliant list of cultural and culinary must-dos and -sees is equally tempting – even […]


March 2023

  1. Designing the Ideal Bootstrapped Business in indiehacker

    Jason Cohen’s 2013 Microconf talk, Designing the Ideal Bootstrapped Business with Jason Cohen, is one of the most valuable resources I’ve found for bootstrapped founders. I watched it for the first time in 2020, and I’ve revisited it repeatedly since then. If you’re new to the world of bootstrapped software business, or you’re struggling to gain traction with your business, I highly recommend this...


  2. Private-ish GitHub repos in programming

    This week, we discovered that GitHub.com’s RSA SSH private key was briefly exposed in a public GitHub repository. – GitHub’s “We updated our RSA SSH host key” blog, 2023-03-23 Once you git push, nothing is private. Private info in git only stays private on your laptop. But once you schlep it out to a remote: all bets are off. As GitHub’s incident last week demonstrates—private repos are, at best,...


  3. Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal - Cosmo in comics

    Click here to go see the bonus panel! Hovertext: Also, in this model, everything is flat and it's the same everywhere and eventually all the stars are dead! Today's News:


  4. Breaking Free from Results-Oriented Thinking in programming

    Magic: The Gathering, poker, and business strategy all have something in common: they're vulnerable to a cognitive bias known as results-oriented thinking. But to optimize for success, we should avoid this bias and strive to replace it with sound strategy.


  5. Operational Excellence is the Pursuit of ‘Knowledge’ in finance

    It turns out that operational excellence results from the pursuit of a certain form of knowledge. This is Part 3 of the Becoming Data Driven series, and the result of a deep dive into the field of statistical process control.


  6. Bicycle in science

    There is something delightful about riding a bicycle. Once mastered, the simple action of pedaling to move forward and turning the handlebars to steer makes bike riding an effortless activity. In the demonstration below, you can guide the rider with the slider, and you can also drag the view around to change the camera angle: Compared to internal combustion engines or mechanical watches,...


  7. Creating a Python dictionary with multiple, equivalent keys in programming

    In my previous post, I was creating groups of students, and I wanted to track how many times students had worked together. I created a nested dictionary to track the pairs: pairs = { 'Alice': {'Bryony': 3, 'Caroline': 1, 'Danielle': 0, …}, 'Bryony': {'Alice': 3, 'Caroline': 2, …}, … } To find out how many times Alice and Bryony had worked together, you’d look up pairs['Alice']['Bryony']...


  8. Towed Message in comics


  9. The Remedy for Creative Block and Existential Stuckness in literature

    "Faithfulness to the moment and to the present circumstance entails continuous surrender... Only unconditional surrender leads to real emptiness, and from that place of emptiness I can be prolific and free."


  10. Astronomers Dig Up the Stars That Birthed the Milky Way in science

    There once was a cosmic seed that sprouted the Milky Way galaxy. Astronomers have discovered its last surviving remnants. The post Astronomers Dig Up the Stars That Birthed the Milky Way first appeared on Quanta Magazine


February 2023

  1. The IBM 701 in technology

    "IBM's first computer"


  2. The Legacy of Corita Kent in creative

    Corita Kent was an artist with an innovative approach to design and education. She worked in the Immaculate Heart College Art Department, above, c. 1955. (Photo/Fred Swartz, courtesy of the Corita Art Center) “Sometimes you can take the whole of the world in, and sometimes you need a small piece to take in,” says Sister … The Legacy of Corita Kent Read More » The post The Legacy of Corita Kent...


  3. Dots Will Be Connected in life

    The Convivial Society: Vol. 4, No. 3


  4. An insight into redesigning the Midland Appliance logotype in design

    An insight into redesigning the Midland Appliance logotype abduzeedo0215—23 When it comes to branding, one of the most important elements is the logo. It's the visual representation of your brand, and it's the first thing that customers see when they encounter your business. So, it's no surprise that Full Punch, a design agency, was recently contacted to assist...


  5. Lonely Surfaces: On AI-generated Images in life

    The Convivial Society: Vol. 3, No. 20


  6. Mud Murdo in science

    The beautiful ambiance of a McMurdo summer.


  7. Neon Worms — colorful illustrations with the Blend Tool in Illustrator in design

    Neon Worms — colorful illustrations with the Blend Tool in Illustrator abduzeedo0220—23 RETOKA shared another phase of their series of illustrations titled Neon Worms. If you're an illustrator looking to add some glowing effects to your designs, you might be interested in this series with the backstory about  the "neon genes" discovered by Dr. Jacqueline Johnson...


  8. Blocking Sediment Migration in architecture

    Blocking Sediment Migration from Colorado River Basin to Gulf of California I didn’t intend to map human migration for the Atlas in a Day project. My plans for a map of the migration of sediment in rivers raised some eyebrows at home, mostly wondering how the subject would fit in an atlas on migration. My wife suggested I ponder the relevance of mineral migration, especially in an age when so many...


  9. A rare sort of writer in literature

    Today is Gabriel Josipovici's 80th birthday. To mark the occasion, I'll link to various posts I've written over the years – after a brief interlude. I read him first in July 1988 after borrowing The Lessons of Modernism from the second floor of Portsmouth Central Library because it had essays on Kafka and Saul Bellow. The link explains how significant that brutalist building was for me and how...


  10. Cartographic palettes and colour harmonies in architecture

    This story begins one day when I was assembling a map of the city of Edmonton, Alberta from OpenStreetMap data. It was going to be a big map, a 42″ (106 cm) wide poster for a wall. The data was good, but the standard OSM colours were not. They would work fine for a street … Continue reading Cartographic palettes and colour harmonies →


January 2023

  1. Hotel Guest User Agent Data in programming

    I wrote a script that exposes browser and software platform data from hotels across the country. This data is very different from say: StatCounter or NetApplications estimates because they rely on getting their data from trackers on specific websites. The data I pulled comes from guests getting redirected by Network Access Gateways at hotel hotspots and so user agents are tracked regardless of...


  2. Would You Put AI Art In Your House? in AI

    I’ve been thinking for a couple of weeks about making and hanging some AI art in my house. But I immediately faced some internal resistance. Like, I wasn’t (and still am not) sure whether this is the right way to “do” art. And that got me thinking what that really means. What does it mean to do art…


  3. The Demanding Work of Analyzing Incidents in programming

    2022/11/01 The Demanding Work of Analyzing Incidents A few weeks ago, a coworker of mine was running an incident analysis in Jeli, and pointed out that the overall process was a big drag on their energy level, that it was hard to do, even if the final result was useful. They were wondering if this was a sign of learning what is significant or not as part of the analysis in order to construct a...


  4. The Need to Read in startups


  5. Why Apple Keeps Winning in AI

    People are blown away that Apple keeps winning while its competitors are floundering. It’s a simple formula. Make consistently super-high-quality products that work together as part of an ecosystem. Google and Microsoft have 20X Apple’s losses in the last year. A staggering $3 trillion in combined market cap has been lost in one year from just 7 companies.…


  6. My Journey from No CS Degree to AWS from Age 30 - 34 in programming

    I was interviewed by Pete from No CS Degree on my journey, here are some extracts!


  7. M4 Hex Socket Thumbscrew Knob Caps in technology

    For the past few weeks I’ve been teaching myself how to use Fusion 360, a free online cloud-based CAD/CAM program that lets you create your own 3D designs. The best way to learn how to use a new program is to build something you actually need. And my latest design is a work in progress […] The post M4 Hex Socket Thumbscrew Knob Caps appeared first on Style over Substance.


  8. What Big Tech layoffs suggest for the industry in programming

    Microsoft, Amazon and Salesforce have announced large layoffs in January. What will these events mean for the rest of the industry?


  9. What does Quitting the Rat Race Mean to Me? in programming

    Am I going to move to a cave in the mountains and immediately get eaten by a bear? This is what 'quitting the rat race' means to me.


  10. The Hard Problem of Rendering Tweets in programming

    I've been unhappy with my [tweet rendering strategy](https://github.com/sw-yx/swyxkit/issues/61) for a while - Twitter encourages you to use their heavy JS script to render tweets, which undoubtedly heaps all sorts of tracking on the reader, docks your lighthouse performance score by ~17 points, adds ~4 seconds to Time to Interactive, occasionally gets adblocked (so _nothing_ renders!)