Christof Damian

Friday Links 26-01

2026-01-09T13:25:00.001+01:00

First round of links for 2026. Everything is bad, so have some links to cheer you up.

I really liked the article about visibility, the one about Friday deploys, and sitting alone in a café … which I can relate to.

I am a big fan of Bill Nighy's podcast, that certainly will improve your mood.

For some reason, the random section is full of cassette tape related links.

Leadership

Team's “Wrapped 2025” to Increase Velocity - nice idea I clearly didn't implement

The Product Operating Model at Google – A Critical View - possibly a bit outdated.

Why Federated Design Systems Keep Failing - design systems need leadership, not democracy, as so many decisions

You Can’t Debug a System by Blaming a Person - people need to feel safe to make good decisions and do good work

Visibility is Velocity - this is so true, on every level of organisations

Engineering

The cardinal sin of software architecture - "The worst kind of accidental complexity in software is the unnecessary distribution, replication, or restructuring of state, both in space and time."

On Friday Deploys: Sometimes that Puppy Needs Murdering (xpost) - I like this: "Deploy freezes are a hack, not a virtue"

LLM-powered coding mass-produces technical debt - especially if you go anywhere near vibe-coding

Tackling tech debt | Meri Williams | LeadDev New York 2025 [YouTube] - another perspective on tech debt, going into the problems and some nice metrics to track them.

What is a PC compatible? - apparently nothing

How AI is transforming work at Anthropic - some interesting data

Environment

Wind power slashed 4.6 billion euros off electricity bills in Spain last year claim - good for the environment, good for the wallet

Urbanism

Geometry, Empire &Control - the massive influence of military engineers on the history of urbanism [YouTube] - long video about how history influences how we live

Why Europe’s night-train renaissance derailed - it's expensive and will take time, nobody has the patience

Car Brain - opening roads in San Francisco

Random Cassettes

*PREMIERE*: Tanith Tape Archiv 01: Cybertape II (1989) [German, YouTube] - Tanith is releasing some of his old mixes on cassette tapes.

Why I Quit Streaming And Got Back Into Cassettes [$$$] - "tapes remind us what we’re missing when we stop taking risks."

Streaming Music To Cassette - because we love the sound … apparently.

Stuttgart 21: In der Bahnsteighalle werden die Gleise gefräst [German YouTube] - I love specialised train machines!

The Amiga's filesystem is now on Linux and Mac, thanks to an emulated driver - good old Amiga.

The Unbearable Joy of Sitting Alone in A Café - bonus points for not using your phone or a laptop.

Why Didn’t AI “Join the Workforce” in 2025? - because nobody wants it and it isn't ready

ill-advised by Bill Nighy [Podcast] - When I grow up, I want to be as cool and well-dressed as Bill.

Friday Links Disclaimer

Inclusion of links does not imply that I agree with the content of linked articles or podcasts. I am just interested in all kinds of perspectives. If you follow the link posts over time, you might notice common themes, though.

More about the links in a separate post: About Friday Links.

2025 in books

2026-01-07T18:21:00.001+01:00

Another year, another bunch of books.

I spend most of the year binging through thriller series that I had already had started in 2024.

The books I really liked were the newest book from the Slough House series, the spy novel The Persian, and Fundamentals of Software Architecture (even if I didn't finish it).

I am still using Goodreads to track these, so you can find the pretty Year in Books there.

Currently, I am reading The John Varley Reader: Thirty Years of Short Fiction, which is great. Apparently, I have to wait until someone passes until people tell me about them.

Non-Fiction

This year was very light on non-fiction. I just didn't have the patience for it.

Never Search Alone: The Job Seeker’s Playbook Never Search Alone: The Job Seeker’s Playbook - while searching for a new job, I used this book and the associated community to help. Some of it worked, a lot of it doesn't make sense for my roles in the current market.

Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile - I love the podcast, but this was mostly about cars and not the life after them.

Fundamentals of Software Architecture: An Engineering Approach - I quite liked this one, but I didn't finish it. I will continue at some point.

Future Boy: Back to the Future and My Journey Through the Space-Time Continuum - Michael J. Fox autobiography from the Back to the Future days. Many cool titbits.

Fiction

I binged quite a few series, so I keep it short.

DCI Logan Crime Thrillers #14-#21

Robert Hoon Thrillers #3-#5

DI Heather Filson Series #1-#2

First Among the Dead: A Constable Tyler Neish Novella

All in the same universe, pleasant quick reads, exciting and with humour.

Pretty Face, Isabella Rose #6

Charlie Cooper Thrillers Series #7-#10

John Milton Series #24-#26

Atticus Priest #5: The Inheritance

Not much about these to say. I love Mark Dawson's thrillers. The stories are maybe a bit predictable, but they have exciting moments.

Detective Inspector Declan Walsh Series #2-#6 - this was nice and then jumped the shark so badly I gave up on the series.

Nightshade: A Novel a new Michael Connelly series. More cosy than the usual LA setting.

The Lincoln Lawyer #8 The Proving Ground - OK, but so much better than the quite rubbish TV series.

Use of Weapons - I wanted to continue with the Culture series by Ian M. Banks. It turns out this is the last one available on Kindle.

Slough House #9: Clown Town - he is not writing fast enough. This is also so much better than the TV series. And the TV series is brilliant.

The Persian: A Novel - another spy novel by David McCloskey, excellent, if a partly depressing. With this year's news, I would also like to have anything playing in those parts of the world.

Titanium Noir #1: Titanium Noir - like a Raymond Chandler story in the near future

Commissario Montalbano #1: The Shape of Water - not a series I will continue. It feels so outdated.

Legends & Lattes #2 Brigands & Breadknives - I was eagerly awaiting this cosy fantasy story. It was good, but there were not enough hot beverages and biscuits.

Hidden in Memories - Cosy Nordic Noir - I think this is part three in the series.

The Tourney: The Adventures of Maid Marian - I got this because I like the author on Mastodon, the book is very much average. At 65 pages, you read this romantic yarn quickly.

Comics

Lazarus Fallen #1-#6 - This is nearing the end, and it has been great. Good action, well drawn, and Greg Rucka at his best.

Friday Links 25-29

2025-12-19T13:33:00.005+01:00

Clearly, I have been slacking for the last weeks.

Just look at all the links from other people at the bottom!

This might also be the last post for the year, as I will be enjoying the festive season.

Nonetheless, a lot of great content this week. I discovered a few new blogs that will keep me busy for the future.

Leadership

Are women less convincing or perceivers biased? Understanding differential reactions towards men and women’s intentions to exert influence [Paper] - No. "In the context of our study, we thus do not find evidence that women and men differ in their ability to exert influence, or that others are biased towards women when evaluating their speeches."

Futurespectives: learning from failures that haven’t happened yet - nice idea, similar to pre-mortems.

Stop Looking for Silver Bullets and Start Looking at Your Context - I must confess I sometimes still fall for them.

Most Technical Problems Are Really People Problems - 100% agree

The Mathematics of the Christmas Rush: Why ‘One Last Push’ Guarantees You’ll Be Late - yep.

40 questions to ask yourself every year - I'll try that.

Engineering

Turbo Vision - A modern port of Turbo Vision 2.0

Automatically merging dependabot PRs - I quite like to do that manually, but with many projects, this is probably a good idea.

AIs Exploiting Smart Contracts - I never liked them either.

Linux kernel version numbers - short version: everything is stable and higher is newer

Strategic re-architecture, moving beyond the “black hole” fear - this makes a lot of assumptions about the team :-)

It’s The End Of Observability As We Know It (And I Feel Fine) - frankly, I would appreciate any observability.

Programming peaked - maybe, or perhaps JavaScript peaked.

Level 9 code archive is now open source - if you want to look at some ancient code

Urbanism

How London Built A Utopia [YouTube] - The Barbican

Spain to launch €60 monthly public transport ticket for buses, Rodalies, and medium-distance rail network - Spanish Deutschlandticket!

You Need a Train to Get to this Hotel [YouTube] - this is a bit specific

Almost 2,000 homeless people in Barcelona, 43% increase from 2023 - there is enough space for them. Instead, we are evicting more.

AI vs. Human Drivers - we don't know yet if it is good or bad, probably bad.

The Data on Self-Driving Cars Is Clear. We Have to Change Course. - another angle.

Bad Cyclists? or… Bad Infrastructure? [YouTube] - nice to see that the channel is back. Some of the infrastructure in Barcelona is a mess, and this crossing is pretty new.

Access City Award - Spain is well represented!

Car Culture, Part 1: The Battle for Disneyland - Autopia going electric.

Mapping Diversity - embarrasing.

Random Art

Latest painting (acrylic on canvas) - Lee Madgwick's latest

Forget the far right. The kids want a 'United States of Europe.' - I am not sure if these kids are actually alright.

The original Mozilla "Dinosaur" logo artwork - I love the design, now I can also follow the artist.

Kevin McCloud: ‘We measure the value of a home by the number of toilets it has – which is bonkers’ - toilets, guestrooms, garages, …

RIP John Varley - more for my reading list

Size of Life - pretty visualisation - annoyingly not completely ordered by size

Energy Predictions 2025 - solar and batteries will win

The Pulse: Could a 5-day RTO be around the corner for Big Tech? - thankfully, there isn't just big tech.

Mythic Maps - more stylised Strava maps. I actually like these.

After the Bubble - "there will be a crash and a hangover"

Readers reply: What are the greatest life lessons? - "This, too, shall pass. Leoned"

A Remarkable Assertion from A16Z - by Neal Stephenson

Trees Are So Weird [YouTube] - WTF?!

Our Zoo

2025-11-24T11:23:00.001+01:00

OK, Zoo might slightly be overstating it.

Let's start at the beginning.

In March 2019, we moved from Barcelona into the countryside.
While I grew up in a village and studied in a small town, my recent life I spend in London and Barcelona.
It was also my first house, farmhouse even, having lived in flats most of my life.

So clearly, I thought about how I could complete my cosplaying of country life.

"A dog and a cat would be nice at some point"

A couple of months later…

Cheeky & Foggy - July 2019

I planned to clean out our small barn, and to my surprise discovered a litter of kittens.

I remembered that I saw a bigger cat going through or garden, which might have been pregnant.

She picked up most of the litter, but left Cheeky (black one) and Foggy (white one) back.

They got used to us and the house quickly. Cats are great, they understand potty training on their own. They stay clean on their own.

We obviously bought all the toys, feeding station, and a cat flap once they got a little bigger.

When they were small, they climbed on top of me and my shoulders while watching telly.

Now they are more attached to my partner and just tolerate me.

I thought: "Two cats, that's great. At least they can play together. Maybe a dog at some point".

A couple of months later…

Hoover - October 2019

I was in Barcelona on a Friday for Future protest when my partner called me. She had found an injured dog in the road and naturally picked him up. It took me a while to get back with train and bicycle. When I arrived, I was greeted by a sad and hurt beagle.

We found a 24h vet clinic in the next town and got him checked out.

He might have been attacked by other dogs or wild animals. He was in a pretty bad shape.

We got him fixed up and also removed a growth on his leg.

He was chipped, but the chip was not registered.

I came up with the name Hoover, as he had a cone of shame for a while, and he did look like a vacuum cleaner when doing the sniffing around. He reacted directly to the (new) name.

After a while, we wanted to register him with the town. That's when we learned about the previous owner. He was known to the town hall, and apparently not great with animals, they would have preferred not to give the dog back.

In Spain, if you find a dog and then return it to the owner, the owner has to pay for any vet expenses. Since we had paid exceeding 1000 Euro by now, the owner decided that he didn't want Hoover back (his original name was Bruno).

He got used to us so quickly, and is now the most cuddly dog you can imagine.

He gets along with the cats well.

Me: "This is great. A dog and two cats. Pet achievement reached"

Quite a few months later…

Yuki - February 2021

When we are travelling, we leave our dogs at a local dog hostel. We are friends with the owner, and she thought of us when she came across an abandoned dog.

The dog was called Mia at the time, which is a very common name. We renamed her Yuki after asking Reddit for suggestions.

She was super undernourished and needed a good clean.

She didn't really get along with me, or maybe men in general. She did like Hoover and my partner. The cats, not so much.

So obviously, we cared for her, fed her well, and made sure she felt at home with us.

Me: "OK, two dogs, two cats. This is perfect."

A few weeks later…

Yukitos - March 2021

She was gaining weight, which was great. At some point on one of our walks, noticing Yuki's size, I said to my partner: "I think she is pregnant".

A trip to the vet and an X-ray confirmed this. The same vet hadn't noticed anything just two weeks ago. Hidden in Yuki's tummy were eight little puppies.

We had a home birth in our living room. There were still COVID-19 restrictions in place and we were working from home.

We had to feed them with bottles, as Yuki was too undernourished to provide for them.

Sadly, three of them didn't make it. I am sure we did something wrong.

I now also have a lot more respect for parents. The bottle feeding continued for two months, and I don't think I slept at all during this time. My brain was not really functioning when at work.

The five that grew were quite fun, active, and destructive. Our living room didn't survive them.

One, we gave to my partner's parent: Seven.

One went to a village nearby with lots of space to roam: Lola.

In what turned out to be a big mistake … which I probably would make again, we kept three of them: Neo, Baty, and Crash.

And that it is for now. I ended up with four dogs and two cats. They are exhausting and have changed our life. I wouldn't change a thing.

A few months later…

I am just kidding.

We did temporarily take in a cat, which sadly died in our care. I was really fond of Charlie.

And we sometimes host other dogs for a while.

For all other pets, we encounter, we have found the original owners.

As I said in the beginning, that "zoo" is overstating it a bit, and that is true. We do have constant visits from other animals in our garden: other cats, birds, snakes, badgers, foxes, rabbits, mice, rats, martens, …

If I learned anything from all of this, then it is that I am not good at saying no to an animal in need. Since we have a crowded house already, I have to be better at it.

Friday Links 25-27

2025-11-21T13:38:00.001+01:00

This week, I enjoyed the blog about chat programming, and coding at work, which is probably related.

Leadership

Hybrid workers are putting in 90 fewer minutes of work on Fridays – and an overall shift toward custom schedules could be undercutting collaboration - Friday is always different in Spain.

Thermostats - Tuning team temperature - first rule of leadership: don't panic

Feedback doesn't scale - this is mostly about bigger teams

Managers, Don’t Bet on Your People’s Ideas! - bet on the people

Engineering

AI World Clocks - some are actually good, the others are funny.

A Month of Chat-Oriented Programming - I can relate to this. I have been shouting at Claude this week.

run-ancient-unix - Version 1 on a fake PDP-11!

Coding at work (after a decade away). - "Dubious return-on-effort of manager coding"

The Pulse: Cloudflare takes down half the internet – but shares a great postmortem - good summary of the whole episode

Environment

When Bill Gates Yelled At Me About Climate Change - he is weird.

Ban on veggie ‘burgers’: plant-based products may lose meaty names in UK under EU law - "There’s no genuine, citizen-driven demand to ban veggie burgers or sausages – just a meat industry push to protect its profit margins from a rising tide of dietary change."

Urbanism

Why have deaths and serious injuries in collisions involving HGVs being driven in London halved since 2019? - What? You can actually improve things?

Random Adventures

Zork is now open source - nice.

My Framework for Technical Debt

2025-11-17T10:48:00.000+01:00

I've mentioned my approach to technical debt often, but I've never actually written it down. Here's the framework I use.

Technical debt is most typically brought up from individual engineers or the engineering department. If not attended to, technical debt can slow down future product development and reduce the developer experience.

To me, technical debt is simply technical work we choose to postpone, focusing on something that currently has higher priority.

I am not going to get into why it is bad, but how it is created and what you might do to reduce it.

The following is the model I use to split technical debt into three classes.

On the smallest scale it is in the individual work, where shortcuts are taken
Medium scale is the project / product level, where product work take priority over technical work
The biggest level are migrations, for example version upgrades to systems

Smallest Scale: Individual Level

Make quality part of every story.

This is the easiest to address by the engineers, as it is fully in their hands.

They might decide to take a shortcut, by writing fewer tests, not spending time on refactoring, or ignoring agreements about code style or quality.

This could be due to pressure from the product side, or sometimes from taking the path of least resistance, or from wanting to focus purely on functionality.

If the pressure comes from the product side, make sure that the time required for proper testing, refactoring, and code quality is included in the feature estimate. This isn’t extra work — it’s part of delivering the feature itself.

You need a team agreement about the minimum quality that is expected, and then it is part of each task.

You don’t create extra tasks for this, you don’t reserve extra time, you don’t add it to the task specification, instead it is included in the feature work.

At the same time, the team has to hold everybody responsible for this.

If the team isn't holding people accountable, no one gets to complain about quality later.

Medium Scale: Project Level

Agree as a team when to defer, and track it explicitly.

At the project level — whether you call it an initiative, epic, cycle, or sprint — technical debt often appears when product delivery takes priority over internal improvements.

If you work in an agile environment, you want to deliver iteratively to the user as fast as possible. On the product side, it might be an MVP, or individual experiments.

The faster you learn, the faster you can decide if further investment is worthwhile

In this case, it might be valuable to delay technical investment to a later part of the project. You would create separate tasks to work on once the results of the experiments are clear.

This requires trust in the product planning process. If these tasks consistently end up in the forever backlog, the team will stop agreeing to defer them.

Big Scale: System Level

Plan migrations early, budget them like real projects.

System-level debt typically builds up quietly over time. A few examples:

A large system, like a database, needs an upgrade
One of the libraries or frameworks in use deprecates the version you are using
A dependency of your system is abandoned
You need to change a third-party system because of a change in costs
You inherit a system that has different quality standards as yours

All of these will require not only operational work, but also changes to existing systems, and code bases.

These will be large migrations, that often require multiple people, a team, or even teams to work on them.

They have to be handled as proper projects and will take time that would normally be reserved for feature projects.

In most cases, they will just cost money and not bring any new one in. Occasionally, they can even save money, especially if the new system brings performance improvements you can leverage.

This makes it often difficult to justify the work.

On the positive side, they are typically not urgent. For most of these, you will know about the changes in version or support very early. You can plan them well in advance.
The key is to treat these migrations as part of your long-term product strategy — planned, visible, and funded like any other project.

Summary

No matter the scale, managing technical debt is about conscious trade-offs and shared accountability. What matters most is that these decisions are made transparently, understood by everyone involved, and revisited regularly.

What doesn’t work is pretending technical debt doesn’t exist, or treating it as purely an engineering problem. It’s a product and business decision as much as a technical one.

And there will always be some technical debt, it is just important to make sure that it has the lowest impact on future development.

Friday Links 25-26

2025-11-14T11:04:00.001+01:00

Short, but with lots of good stuff. The fad of engineering management, drug policy in Spain, and Mr. TIFF are my favourites.

Have a lovely weekend!

Leadership

"Good engineering management" is a fad - you will have to adapt and core skills are reusable

Seven Decisions - "Inspired" -- right.

Engineering

Mr TIFF - the story of the TIFF format. As an Amiga fanboy, I like to follow anything related to IFF.

Prompt Injection in AI Browsers - nice. We will have so much fun in the future.

Rust in Android: move fast and fix things - Google's experience with Rust. Faster reviews are interesting.

Urbanism

The Trammmformation of Diagonal [YouTube] a look at the new tram lines and some history

34-Year-Old Finds Dream Job Doing The Unexpected [YouTube] - cargo bike Olympics as a business.

Roads need to be narrower or wider to protect cyclists, says new government guidance - interesting finding. I do like smaller lanes, as this also reduces speed.

Random Skateboarding

We can't have nice fountains, part 3 [YouTube] - Some great skateboarding shots.

Time to Migrate - Tim wants you to move to Mastodon. He is right.

Drugs policy: Who Does It Best? [Podcast] - another special episode from The Europeans.

Friday Links 25-25

2025-11-07T11:07:00.006+01:00

Short one today.

Listen to the last episode of Science in Action, or check out the archive.

For a fun, scary game, have a look at The Scope Creep. One for the product managers.

Leadership

Become the Consequence - I'll have to digest this a bit more.

The Scope Creep - scary product game

Engineering

Ambient CI, progress this year - progress on a distributed CI

Environment

‘If you ignore emissions, we did great’: Germany’s challenging fight to go green - still stuck in the 90s.

Urbanism

Stations and transfers - metro stations mapped in 3D

Radeln ohne Hirnschaden [German] - in Berlin they are smoothening the cobblestones for easier cycling. Obviously, only in one street.

End of The Line? Saudi Arabia scales back plan for wildly ambitious 100-mile-long megacity in the desert - this will not happen at all.

Free public transport trial in Glasgow to benefit 1000 citizens - that seems to be a tiny trial.

Random Cyclists

‘You can do hard things!’ The young cycling enthusiasts reclaiming the streets of Johannesburg - I miss this kind of groups.

12 Hours of Retro Gaming for Halloween Vibes (PAC-MAN Edition) [YouTube] - in case you need some retro background music.

Removing obfuscation in Java Edition - Minecraft is making the Java client easier to work with.

Maldives becomes the only country with generational smoking ban - that will be interesting to watch.

1283. Isamu Nakamura /// PF-2 /// Higashinada Ward, Kobe, Hyogo, Japan /// 1996-97 - I love this style. Maybe not something I would want to live in today.

The dawn of the post-literate society - this long read will be especially challenging.

How science got here, and where next [Podcast] - The last episode of Science in Action. It will be missed.

Childcare policy: Who Does It Best? [Podcast] - Slovenia?

Friday Links 25-24

2025-10-31T11:23:00.003+01:00

I was busy last week, which means more links for today.

I really like the podcast with Charity Majors about teams, and it made me rediscover her blog.

Some interesting posts about security and LLMs and LLMs in general this week.

Leadership

Thoughts from LeadDev NYC 2025 - good high-level summary. I should have a look at the videos.

Vibe Engineering: A Field Manual for AI Coding in Teams - this got updated.

In Praise of “Normal” Engineers - it's about the team and enabling them.

Everything is identity [Podcast] - identity not just about the individual, but the group.

How to Lead and Scale a Distributed Team That Actually Works with Charity Majors [Podcast] - I really like Charity's approaches. She also brings up the "normal engineers".

We need to tackle workplace loneliness [Podcast] - it's not just related to working remotely.

Engineering

How I Reversed Amazon's Kindle Web Obfuscation Because Their App Sucked - Annoyance-driven development. That is a weird way of obfuscation.

Unlock Your App's Full Potential for Free with AppSignal - I really like AppSignal. It is worth a look if you have a small project and want to get some monitoring.

What caused the large AWS outage? - DNS.

Agentic AI and Security - it's not great currently, you have to be careful.

BaxBench: Can LLMs Generate Secure and Correct Backends? - not really.

New trend: programming by kicking off parallel AI agents - I sometimes let them compete on the same problem. I am still limited myself by context switching.

Environment

Lifetime theft - How much lifetime do you kill when driving or flying.

Can we build better cities for mental health and the climate? [Podcast] - examples from the Netherlands and Egypt.

Urbanism & Transport

More on US Pedestrian Deaths - Lots of statistics. The increase in deaths seem to be mostly at night. Also interesting that homelessness could play a role in the US.

I Cycled London and Paris the Same Day – Here’s What I Learned [YouTube] - it's the infrastructure.

Traveling back in time to visit Barcelona's Correus metro ghost station - I didn't even try to get a ticket. Some nice photos.

Speed cameras lead to 31% reduction in traffic accidents with injuries or deaths on Catalan roads - not bad.

Unió del tramvia per la Diagonal: així quedaran els carrils entre Verdaguer i Francesc Macià [Catalan] - Connection of the Diagonal Tram is in the works.

The European train that travels by sea - so cool.

What happened to Britain’s great transport experiment? [YouTube] - I never took the big one, maybe I can take the smaller one at some point.

Why is it SO HARD to Take a Train Across the Border? (w/Jon Worth) [Podcast] - borders are awful. Jon explains the hurdles well.

Random Rowing

‘Those final few hours were brutal’: British duo end epic journey in Australia after rowing across Pacific Ocean - what an achievement.

Spain to push for end of daylight savings at European level - nice. Not so nice: "Spain would most likely keep winter time."

Advice to feed babies peanuts early and often helped thousands of kids avoid allergies - intriguing.

The PSF has withdrawn a $1.5 million proposal to US government grant program - Good!

Sony RM-65 - Probably the least relevant video you’ll watch today. [YouTube] - there were some weird contraptions in the 80s/90s.

34 Years Of Strandbeest Evolution [YouTube] - so odd, so pretty.

15 Worst Audiophile Snake Oil Products That Break the Laws of Physics but Still Sell in 2025 - some new ones for me.

Housing policy: Who Does It Best? - Part 1 and Part 2 [Podcast] - surprising, to me, winner.

Intellivision Sprint - Pre-Orders Open! [YouTube] - most old-school console ever?

Friday Links 25-23

2025-10-17T15:33:00.003+02:00

A few interesting articles about AI this week. A good interview with Jane Goodall from 2020, and a weird assembler tutorial game.

Also check out the link from Jason at the bottom, I could have copied them all.

Leadership

The illegible nature of software development talent - boring work is important work, and invisible.

Research: The Hidden Penalty of Using AI at Work - people think you are not as good, for the same result.

Engineering

Autonomous AI Hacking and the Future of Cybersecurity - we are all well buggered.

AI Bug Hunter Sets Milestone By Claiming Top Spot on HackerOne’s Leaderboard - leaderboards are now useless too.

Customize Claude Code with plugins - let's see if there will be anything useful.

AI-Generated Tests are Lying to You - it is just telling you what you want to hear.

10 Things Bikepacking Taught Me About Software Development - crossover!

Large language models for patch review - 50% success rate

EmuDevz - fun assembler tutorial game

Environment

Plug-in hybrids pollute almost as much as petrol cars, report finds - they are not worth the hassle any more anyway.

Climate investment is only growth opportunity of 21st century, says leading economist - if we don't do it, everything else doesn't make sense either.

Urbanism

The Amazing Story of the Ukrainian City That Built Its Own Tram in 1949 - Konotop [YouTube] - scrappy and amazing.

New Study Shows How Paris Pedaled Its Way to a Cycling Revolution - In the end, the French capital didn’t just build bike lanes—it built belief.

I'm so Sick of this Lazy Excuse ... [YouTube] - with good infrastructure, people also cycle in "bad" weather.

Cardiff set to tackle SUV ‘carspreading’ in UK first - nice.

Random Coffee

Coffeeneuring Challenge 2025: You’re Only 15 Once - it's an easy cycling challenge. I already tried some new coffee stops.

The Life Scientific: Jane Goodall [Podcast] - repeat from 2020.

A digital dark age? The people rescuing forgotten knowledge trapped on old floppy disks - sorry, I love that jumper.

‘It’s a question of humanity’: how a small Spanish town made headlines over its immigration stance - still some decent people around.

The Big Interview: Tim Curry - more about Rocky Horror

Three Years After Trial Launch, Ireland Is Making Basic Income for Artists Program Permanent - programmers are artists, right?

Photos show polar bears chilling at home in abandoned Russian research station - cuddly

Friday Links 25-22

2025-10-10T11:52:00.003+02:00

This week, I remembered Jane Goodall. I love the interview with her in The Live Scientific.

Some reasonable predictions for the future of AI, too.

And the progress of public transport in Medellín should be an example for everywhere.

Leadership

25 proven tactics to accelerate AI adoption at your company - Some good and some awful ideas.

People not Resources - there is even a domain for it!

Engineering

UNIX For A Legacy TI - mind blown!

Monolith-ifying perfectly good microservices | Brian Scanlan | LDX3 London 2025 [YouTube] - I like his very pragmatic approach.

Using GitHub Copilot CLI - my experience with this hasn't been great compared to Claude Code.

Abusing Notion’s AI Agent for Data Theft - we will see a lot more of this with tighter AI integration.

90% - code written by AI … unlikely anytime soon. There are some areas where it works.

GenAI Predictions - very similar predictions from Tim Bray.

Environment

‘I couldn’t look’: European farmers on losing crops as the industry collides with worsening drought - meanwhile they are lobbing to worsen it.

Environmental damage is putting European way of life at risk, says report - and still nobody cares.

Global renewable energy generation surpasses coal for first time - some good news.

Urbanism

How NYC Is Banning Cars on Broadway [YouTube] - I walked most of this the last time I was in NYC. It is quite nice.

The Battle for New York's Subway [YouTube] - I agree that it will probably never improve.

How has Medellín’s cable system changed communities? [YouTube] - this is remarkable. A whole modern transport system in a bit over 30 years!

Random Primates

Jane Goodall, Iconic Chimpanzee Expert Who Was Subject of Dozens of Films, Dies at 91 - what an inspiration.

Jane Goodall, world-renowned primatologist, dies aged 91 - :-(

The Life Scientific: Jane Goodall [Podcast] - Interview with her from 2020.

A new start after 60: I rented out my flat and bought a bike. Now home is a tent and the open road - I love this series. I couldn't live in a tent, though.

Every Level of Wealth in 13 Minute [YouTube] - most of us a very well-off in comparison, and there is something wrong at the very top.

Collected vehicle registration data - by energy type and country/region.

Eat, sleep, rave, ribbit! How Tribe of Frog became the UK’s trippiest, happiest club night - psytrance lives!

Coffeeneuring Challenge 2025: You’re Only 15 Once - in case you need another reason to cycle.

‘Deadly but unforgettable’: conversation pits make a comeback on and off screen - I completely forgot about this trend!

We need to adapt to the new rhythms of work - Leesman’s conclusion is that the commute ‘sets the tone for the day’ and should be seen as part of the workplace experience.

DHH Is Way Worse Than I Thought - so bad!

AI Slop Is Destroying The Internet [YouTube] - We are already seeing this. I think it will also kill services like Instagram and TicToc.

Babiš is back [Podcast] - some not so good news from Europe.

From the archive: Forgetting the apocalypse: why our nuclear fears faded – and why that’s dangerous [Podcast] - I still can remember not being able to sleep because I worried about a nuclear war.

Friday Links 25-21

2025-09-26T16:57:00.000+02:00

Don't Need Money
by Poorly Drawn Lines

Some "AI" related stuff today, with the idea of prompt engineering being requirements engineering and how these new tools can enable non-programmers to get closer to the code.

I also liked how much Wil Wheaton likes a new metro line.

Leadership

RTO mandates lead to us questioning leaders - it was never about RTO.

Engineering

Prompt Engineering Is Requirements Engineering - I don't think we were ever good at requirements, how are we going to be good with prompts?

URL Pattern API - this is new, and took quite a while

How I, a non-developer, read the tutorial you, a developer, wrote for me, a beginner - :-)

To vibe or not to vibe - good compact framework to think about vibe coding … or not.

Developer Productivity With and Without GitHub Copilot: A Longitudinal Mixed-Methods Case Study [Paper] - "We did not find any statistically significant changes in commit-based
activity for Copilot users after they adopted the tool, although minor increases were observed."

Mean time to shared understanding: Bridging the gap between citizen developers and developers [Podcast] - citizen developers, aka normal people changing the code.

RPM 6.0.0 released - RPM v4 turns 25! See here for some history: Evolution of the RPM package format

Environment

Troubling scenes from an Arctic in full-tilt crisis - the Arctic is not completely frozen any more

Urbanism

“…we are all Angelenos who love our city of angels. Our Metro system is an expression of that love for our communities.” - Wil Wheaton attending a new metro line opening

Good cities can't exist without public order - it isn't as bad as in the US, but crime does affect transit ridership everywhere.

Random Money

Minimum Wage Machine - that is a good visualisation of minimum wage

Rails Needs New Governance - guess who misbehaved again!

The Ruby community has a DHH problem - yes, he did.

C2PA Investigations - I'm not really concerned about C2PA or see it be more widely available. It is interesting and probably worth looking into if you are a photographer.

The Life Scientific: Doyne Farmer [Podcast] - Hacker who became economist.

Friday Links 25-20

2025-09-19T15:20:00.002+02:00

If you have a weird fascination with trams, you should probably check out the full World Tramdriver Championship video.

Otherwise, the podcast with the author of Code Complete is great, so is the one about a train ride through Canada.

Engineering

Hashed sorting is typically faster than hash tables - in case it comes up in the next interview :-)

"Shai-Hulud" NPM attack runs malicious GitHub Action - more NPM fun

Netscape Navigator 2.0 was released 30 years ago today - frames and JavaScript - thank you very much!

Code Complete with Steve McConnell [Podcast] - great interview. I don't think I ever came across the book.

Environment

2025 Sustainability Report - Meta also adding nuclear power to the mix to support AI.

Record sea temperature in June and July: 2ºC above historical average - this is for Catalonia

Barcelona ranks third in Europe for climate change heat deaths, study finds - winning!

Side-by-Side Glacier Photos Show Extent of Retreat Over The Decades - just from the US

Urbanism & Transit

Highlights First World Tramdriver Championship, Vienna 2025 [YouTube] - this time it's a world championship. Watch the full video if you have the time.

Almost 2,000 vehicles per hour on Barcelona's busiest streets: Gran Via and Aragó - it is pretty bad, but it is getting better. 15% down on previous years.

Barcelona ja té el seu primer mapa de circulació ciclista carrer per carrer [Catalan] - first cycling traffic map for Barcelona

This Train Just Keeps Getting Worse 😢 [YouTube] - they still look pretty great to me, at least the old cars

Germany's 'Deutschlandticket' price rises again - the current German government are continuing to make everything worse for non-drivers.

Random Dumpster Fire

I made myself an Emotional Support Dumpster Fire - cosy

Why Billionaire Productivity Hacks Won’t Work for You - we are not the same

Two Slice 2px font "somewhat" readable

Eye drops could replace glasses or surgery for longsightedness, study says - this is pretty cool, if it ever becomes usable

Enjoyed the blogging about blogging about blogging - adding another level to this. I am not a big blogger. I am more on the consumer side.

Friday Links 25-19

2025-09-12T13:26:00.001+02:00

Small selection today. Some good reads, about the job market, corporate job, and a good podcasts about teams & AI.

Leadership

Organizational design and Team Topologies after AI [Podcast] - a much more balanced view on the changes AI brings to teams

MIT report: 95% of generative AI pilots at companies are failing - a bit older article

AI Adoption Rate Trending Down for Large Companies - this is more interesting, maybe theory is hitting reality now

The Job Market Is Hell - another thing buggered up by AI

The death of the corporate job. - I like it. I never worked for a corporate job, so I don't know how true it is.

Engineering

npm debug and chalk packages compromised (Aikido) [LWN] - The aftermath of this is still happening.

Environment

This is amazing: The @esaclimate office have produced a beautiful set of easy to access tools for using with their satellite data products. [Mastodon] - Quite a treasure chest

Urbanism

The Genius Plan to Make Amsterdam Car Centric [YouTube] - luckily it didn't happen.

s the Tube strike turning London’s cycle lanes into a New Amsterdam or a “mosh pits on wheels”? - this looks nice. It also shows how many people use bicycles and public transport.

I Rode the Longest Waterfront Path in the World [YouTube] - we need more waterfront rides.

Why Paris Is Extending One Of Its Metro Lines... With A Cable Car [YouTube] - weird, but pretty solution.

Random Hackers

Children hacking their own schools for 'fun', watchdog warns - didn't everybody at least try this?

Greece announces €1.6bn relief package to tackle population decline - more EU countries will follow, or allow more migrants in.

“Some of this stuff is harder to get hold of than rare analogue synths”: Why we’re in the midst of a vintage software revival - keeping old software alive is important

Friday Links Disclaimer

More about the links in a separate post: About Friday Links.

Friday Links 25-18

2025-09-05T16:17:00.003+02:00

Quick selection.

This week I liked the podcast with the whaler, and the Chinese cycling industry.

Leadership

Rate My Manager - Oh, no! It's pretty new. (Side note: This looks vibe coded)

Engineering

Bringing BASIC back: Microsoft’s 6502 BASIC is now Open Source - very nice. It is one, 7000 line file.

Browsh - new text-based browser.

BYTE - visual history - I still have my favourite issues, like the one with the Amiga 3000 on the cover. I also remember one about Desqview/X, that I probably have somewhere.

Urbanism

Safety and space at risk as SUVs reach 30% of car market in English cities, researchers warn - we replaced family vans and station wagons with something that is much worse

Barcelona metro opens Correus and Gaudí ghost stations for first time - I am probably not going to get a ticket. This looks fun. See also: Barcelona opens doors to key public transport sites during European Mobility Week

What the end of The Block means - is there something good in the suburbs?

Radverkehrskonzept 2030 [German] Tübingen cycling plan. Apparently, the city in Germany who spends most on cycling per person.

GPS pay-as-you-go rail tickets to be trialled in England for first time - Why would we need this kind of tracking when we have tap-to-pay?

Random Whales

Extra: A Modern Whaler Speaks Up (Update) [Podcast] - finally an interview with a whaler.

ReThinking: How you can do more for others with Rutger Bregman [Podcast] - inspiring episode.

Is China ready to take over the cycling industry? [Podcast] - talking to some Chinese producers. Another interesting shift in the cycling industry.

Why is the EU not acting on Gaza? [Podcast] - looking at the EU politic side.

Visualised: Europe's population crisis - sadly nobody cares for 2100, especially not the politicians

Alcohol is AMAZING [YouTube] - maybe not.

As beer sales fall, young Germans develop taste for alcohol-free lager - this can only be good, I wonder how this will change the culture.

The Drug To Master Reality [YouTube] probably not either.

Daniel Popper - I love this artist!

3,000 Eggs Daily: The 400-Year Japanese Tamagoyaki That Still Sparks Dawn Queues [YouTube] - those look a lot better than mine.

Friday Links Disclaimer

More about the links in a separate post: About Friday Links.

Friday Links 25-17

2025-08-29T15:51:00.007+02:00

This week I enjoyed the post about dealing with abandoned EV charger hardware and of course, the video about the TI 99/4A.

Leadership

Nobody Wins at Calendar Tetris - busy doesn't mean productive

Tech debt isn’t an ‘IT issue.’ It’s a business strategy - yep.

The Management Skill Nobody Talks About - how to fail good.

Engineering

Building your own CLI Coding Agent with Pydantic-AI - lots of them are popping up now. It is a good intro to the tools and libraries.

mise-en-place - I hate having multiple environments. But I have to, this seems nice.

Escaping the chains of tethered products: the Juice Rescue project - hardware and software hacking of abandoned hardware

Urbanism

What is the real cost of free parking? [YouTube] - all the NIMBYs you expect.

This Might Just Be the World's Best Metro System [YouTube] - that is massive

Random Home Computers

How the TI-99/4A Home Computer Worked [YouTube] - my first computer was the TI99/A4 - it was so much fun, and weird. It also was the first assembler I learned.

Possible Causes Of Your Problems [Comic] - you can adapt the right side to different minorities.

Spy Novels: A Starter Pack - some more for my long reading list

Heatwave that fuelled deadly wildfires was Spain’s ‘most intense on record’ - it didn't feel that hot here, but it was long.

Friday Links 25-16

2025-08-22T16:42:00.001+02:00

Lots of good stuff again this week.

I recommend listening to the history of TrainingPeaks and coding in the red-queen area.

Leadership

Using postmortems to break out of infinite loops | Adnan Karač | LDX3 London 2025 [YouTube] - a quick talking about how to make them useful.

Team OKRs in Action - they have to be co-created, not top down.

Why Do Interviewers Ask Linked List Questions? - tradition. I last worked with linked lists in C on the Amiga.

AWS CEO says using AI to replace junior staff is 'Dumbest thing I've ever heard' - “How's that going to work when ten years in the future you have no one that has learned anything,”

Engineering

The International Obfuscated C Code Contest is back for 2024 - I think that is cheating.

Vibe Coding: The Shadow IT Problem No One Saw Coming - I recently vibe coded a simple version of Officevibe. I am sure it is full of bugs and security issues, but I could easily have started using this in a company. Now it is sometimes easier to vibe code something, than ask for subscription to some SaaS tool.

Email is Easy - test your email parsing skills

opencode - kind of open-source Claude Code

This Website is Served from Nine Neovim Buffers on My Old ThinkPad - well, that's one way to do it.

Coding in the Red-Queen Era [Podcast] - you have to figure out what you can do, what the machines can't do.

Urbanism

I went to America's road trip hell [YouTube] - pretty, in an ugly way.

Dear Britain, it’s now clear: 20mph zones save lives and don’t slow traffic. Implement them - Sadiq Khan - Dear Germany too.

States rethink a long-held practice of setting speed limits based on how fast drivers travel - this is even worse than the German way

Use of Bicivia bike lanes up 21% in five years, with 75,600 daily users in 2024 - these are inter-city routes

Online tools for IRL amateurbanism - some new ones for me

I changed my mind about these bike protests [YouTube] - I miss critical mass

David Seymour was right to question our compulsory helmet laws - cycling without helmet can be unhealthy, not cycling is worse

Global Insights from The Future Design of Streets [Podcast] - reports from different cities and roles.

Environment

Spain wildfires are ‘clear warning’ of climate emergency, minister says - most are burned ever.

‘Unlike any other kind of fear’: wildfires leave their mark across Spain - this numbers are old, I think it is up to 400,000 hectares now

Spain faces its worst wildfire season in 30 years, with 40 active blazes and more than 30,000 evacuated - a bit newer

Civio - Forest fires map - surprisingly many in the north-east

The Future of Climate Change Is on Mauritius - today's dystopia

Random Raves

The Butterfly Who Flew Who Into The Rave - RISING 2025 (Trailer) [YouTube] - love it. Via The Guardian article.

Accidental Icons: The Roland TR-808, TB-303, SP-404 and More - if you never played around with a 303, you got to try it, in the best case a hardware one.

ChatGPT will apologize for anything - "they're just continuing with your improv session."

There's a Reason Bar Ice Looks Better Than Yours (And You Can Fix It) - my first try at this was a failure. I have to dig out my insulated container.

Why Leather is Unbeatable - Motorcyclist Review while Sliding [YouTube] - I am more a textile guy, but this is fun.

Why isn't anyone Talking bout the INSANE CASSETTE PRICES [YouTube] - my taste is cheaper.

‘I didn’t realise pigs were like, massive’: the London rapper who fell in love with farming - this is a fun watch, and free on YouTube.

Amiga Developer Docs - I am still sad that I threw all of them out, except of the Design Manual.

Scroll bleedthrough - more realistic e-book reading in the browser.

"It's one of the most powerful software sound design tools on earth – and it's free" - Composers' Desktop

How Spain put up wealth taxes – without chasing away the billionaires - seems to mostly work.

AI Is a Mass-Delusion Event - yep

Say farewell to the AI bubble, and get ready for the crash - we will see, the money has interest in it going on.

Denmark to abolish VAT on books in effort to get more people reading - from 25% to 0%.

"In addition to reading and writing SQLite database files, the sqlite3 program will also read and write ZIP archives." - what?

Building TrainingPeaks [Podcast] - another lovely podcast looking into cycling related businesses.

The Life Scientific: Anthony Fauci [Podcast] - more than the Covid guy.

Friday Links Disclaimer

More about the links in a separate post: About Friday Links.

Friday Links 25-15

2025-08-08T15:46:00.002+02:00

I liked the work bringing Doom to the Amiga, without actually using Amiga code.

And I learned some new things about the history of Civility in the BBC podcast.

Leadership

How We Encourage Self-Improvement at Buffer - $1000 is nice, it is more than in many organisations. I don't think it is enough.

TBM 370: Dependencies Aren't Your Problem - "Shift the goal from managing dependencies, to focusing on the throughput of potentially value-creating activities"

Vibe Engineering: A Field Manual for AI Coding in Teams - rather than "vibe coding". I think this mostly has to come bottom up.

How Octopus Energy used culture to reach the top - some good ideas, and some of them might actually be in place. I like that they don't use "no-reply" emails.

Engineering

Cordoomceps - replacing an Amiga's brain with Doom - I used to juggle the Blitter and Copper a bit, but this is pretty out there.

How far can we push AI autonomy in code generation? - not quite there yet, especially about implementing the functionality

Measuring the Impact of Early-2025 AI on Experienced Open-Source Developer Productivity - in this research, the developers think they are faster, but are slower.

Vibe code is legacy code - fully agree.

On the use of LLM assistants for kernel development [LWN] - mostly about the policies.

From the archive: Bicycle graveyards: why do so many bikes end up underwater? [Podcast] - because we can't have nice things.

Urbanism

Summer Streets returns with uninterrupted car-free stretch across Manhattan - only in the summer, only some roads, only on Saturday, only in the morning, … well, it is something.

Girona to count number of tourists and map their routes across Old Town - by monitoring mobile phone signals.

The Case AGAINST One-Way Streets [YouTube] - Superblocks are one-way streets, it's not all bad. Big one-way roads are bad.

La nova Gran Via des de l'aire [YouTube] - some more drone shots of the new bits of Barcelona

Random Fires

Visualization of forest fires 2025 Provisional data - I finally found the current data and a visualization about local wildfires.

I Deleted My Second Brain - this was in one of the extra links yesterday. If I deleted my second brain, I had no brain.

The NNCPNET email network [LWN] - go weirdly old school. I used to use UUCP for email.

Germany’s ‘oldest and biggest’ gay nightclub declares bankruptcy - killed by Berlin and apps.

Civility: talking with those who disagree with you [Podcast] - I wasn't even aware of the reformation origins.

Friday Links 25-14

2025-08-01T13:07:00.001+02:00

These are too many links. I was on holiday … twice.

I could stagger these, but there will be more next week.

There are still many good things here.

Too many.

I am sorry.

Leadership

How We Plan Retreats, After Hosting 14 over 12+ Years (+ Get Our Retreat Planning Playbook!) - important for fully remote companies, and I didn't often see this done right

Middle managers fade as AI rises - Six people doesn't seem too bad.

Failure to communicate - nice way of putting levels on failures.

Why workplaces should be doubling down on DEI - everybody knows that. We shouldn't listen to the trolls.

Moving from an orchestration-heavy to leadership-heavy management role. - different companies, different types of approaches.

Rands Cheat Sheet, #1 - 1:1s

AOE Technology Radar - A static site generator for AOE Technology Radar

Cofounder & CTO of Geordie AI on the paradox of giving control with Benji Weber - you can't give control to people, you have to create the environment where they can take it.

Engineering

I still care about the code - working with LLMs

de-pixelate_gaV-O6NPWrI - removing pixelation from videos.

State of Developer Experience Report 2025 - "The widening disconnect between leadership expectations and developers' actual experiences"

Using Radicle CI for Development - interesting distributed CI

Cursor makes developers less effective? - apparently you spend more time checking the results.

The JavaScript Date Quiz - this was fun

Shifting Left on Security - The DevOps Handbook [Podcast] - maybe I have to read it after all. (there are more podcasts in that series)

Amazon, Google and Vibe Coding with Steve Yegge [Podcast] - some insights into the companies and why he is back to "coding"

Inside the 3rd largest Rails monolith in the world with Cisco Tech Lead Ed Gibbs [Podcast] - being an outlier is nothing to be proud of.

Environment

A change in the Southern Ocean structure can have climate implications - "we’re seeing that the Southern Ocean is drastically changing, as sea ice coverage declines and the upper ocean is becoming saltier. This could have unprecedented global climate impacts."

M25 protester sorry for delays but has no regrets - It's unfortunate to see where the UK is going.

Afghan taxi drivers beat the heat with handmade air coolers - as all ACs, probably worse for the environment.

First electric flight lands at Gatwick Airport - currently mostly useful for training.

Dams around the world hold so much water they've shifted Earth's poles, new research shows - they also affect sea levels.

The Scale of China's Solar-Power Projects - the future - it's not in the west.

Atommüll bleibt finanziell eine Ewigkeitslast [German] - nuclear waste is a financial burden forever. Germany spends 1.7 billion Euro of their 2.7 billion Euro environmental budget on nuclear waste management.

Primer mapa global de la contaminació lumínica a Catalunya desenvolupat mitjançant modelització avançada [Catalan] - light pollution map of Catalonia

Motherfucking Wind Farms - "like a middle finger to CO2"

Urbanism

Die Stadt der Viertelstunde [German, Paper] - 15 minute city. Many German areas are already 15 minute cities, or can easily reach this goal.

Percentage of Airbnb's in Barcelona - interactive map. It is pretty centralised.

Barcelona moves to limit cruise tourism by reducing terminals from 7 to 5 - are they just going to build bigger ships?

Some nice drone videos from redesigned public spaces in Barcelona

Recorre la nova via Laietana amb dron [YouTube] - the missing bike lane going down is a mistake. There will be accidents with cyclists.
Sobrevola l’avinguda Diagonal, de Glòries a Verdaguer [YouTube] - So nice from above, I haven't used that tram yet.
La ronda de Sant Antoni, a vista d’ocell [YouTube] - the one most tourists are probably not going to see

Between two trees: Vancouver man maps more than 2,600 places to hang a hammock - brilliant idea.

The world's most liveable cities for 2025 - and what it's really like to live there - it's pleasant.

Bicing bike sharing reaches 100m trips since 2019 - The previous one started in 2007.

FEATURE: The pros and cons of the UK’s Low Traffic Neighborhoods - not that many cons?

NYC’s Congestion Pricing Is Paying Off As Motor Traffic Drops Through July - surprise!

Helsinki goes a full year without a traffic death - nice.

Random Cyclists

Cyclists [YouTube] - Frankie's cultural observations. I like this weird channel.

BERLIN VETERANS [YouTube] - more observations

WTO: EU, Germany push for new world trade body - more ways the EU is filling the void

Boys Go to Jupiter - Official Trailer (2025) Cole Escola, Janeane Garofalo, Elsie Fisher [YouTube] - that looks fun and weird

The real Salt Path: how a blockbuster book and film were spun from lies, deceit and desperation - oops.

Barcelona promises 'most spectacular' Grand Départ in Tour de France history - can't wait!

The life swap dream – or a marketing gimmick? The Italian towns selling houses for €1 - I like the idea. It isn't easy.

Commodore emulation packages Amiga Forever 11 and C64 Forever 11 released - I might have to go to emulation.

Sweden set to rent cells in Estonian jails as it runs out of room for its prisoners - sad.

Watch Queen’s Brilliant Live Aid Performance: It Happened 40 Years Ago Today (July 13, 1985) - I was stuck to the television back then.

The Case for Urban Staycations - or just experience the area around you in general.

"Visit Dubai!" - "If you try to humanise the place you will lose your mind."

‘It can bring you to tears’: is this the world’s most beautiful sounding nightclub? - Open Ground in Wuppertal

40 years of Amiga – the wow machine - my first proper computer. I learned so much.

‘Everybody was fondling underwater!’: the Rocky Horror Picture Show at 50 – an oral history - these anniversaries just make me feel old. I didn't see this on release though.

When We Get Komooted - what happens when our services die.

What you need to know about The Greatest Gathering - best event ever?

Tooth and Claw: Praying Mantises [Podcast] - we sometimes see them in our garden.

Dragons [Podcast] - another great In Our Time.

Tooth and Claw: Leopards [Podcast] - TIL: panthers are leopards

Max Kidruk: Imagining the future in a science fiction trilogy [Podcast] - this sounds a bit like The Mars Trilogy?

Back To The Future with Bob Gale & Back To The Future Part II with Bob Gale - I love the movies and I learned something new.

Friday Links 25-13

2025-07-04T16:18:00.004+02:00

Photo: Oto Godfrey and Justin Morton
Wikimedia Commons - CC BY-SA 4.0

Too many random links this week.

The interview with the creator of Praise You (sampled by Fatboy Slim) is pretty good, what a strong woman.

If you need some inspiration to get on a bike, watch the video about riding 2500 km in London.

Leadership

Expert Generalists - "But we've found that our most effective colleagues have a skill in spanning many specialties."

The Illusion of Control - work is not your life, don't even try to control it.

Engineering

Gemini CLI: your open-source AI agent - still needs some work to keep up with Claude Code.

Augmented Coding: Beyond the Vibes - adding things like TDD to coding with an LLM.

Environment

Plastic bag fees and bans are working–big time, researchers say - "We find that plastic bag policies lead to a 25 to 47% decrease in plastic bags as a share of total items collected relative to areas without policies”

Spain records temperature of 46C as Europe heatwave continues - I can confirm.

Political cowardice hindering Europe’s climate efforts, says EU’s green chief - the recent news show this even more.

Barcelona's leading food waste initiative recovers 850 tons of food in a year - nice, and this was just wasted before.

Urbanism / Transport

Night Ride - plan your night trains in Europe.

The Best-Designed Town in the Netherlands (and therefore, the world) [YouTube] - it does look dull. Not as boring as a US suburb.

Barcelona metro to add 39 new trains by 2029 in €331m investment - yay!

The link between low-stress bicycle facilities and bicycle commuting [Paper] - if you build them, ~~they~~ we will come.

I Cycled 2500km in London — Here's How It Changed My Life [YouTube] - it is always delightful to hear these kind of experiences I can relate to. And it isn't just about cities, or cities where you live, it is everywhere.

Random DeLorean

‘The film wouldn’t even be made today’: the story behind Back to the Future at 40 - forty!

Tens of thousands defy Hungary’s ban on Pride in protest against Orbán - I am so glad to see this resistance.

We're Buying COMMODORE and Bringing It Back?! • Let's Buy Commodore p2 [YouTube] - YouTubers earn too much. I appreciate it in this case.

Out of Pocket and into the wallabag [LWN] - another Pocket replacement, if you want to self-host

Foxes in Love - Bike Ride [Comic]

Some Thoughts on the Shortcomings of Stoicism. - I was never a fan, or maybe a fan of people pursuing it. Where is the fun?

1275. Waro Kishi /// House in Higashinada /// Higashinada Ward, Kobe, Hyogo, Japan /// 1995-97 - I don't know why, but I love this style.

1277. Koh Kitayama (architecture WORKSHOP) /// Lime House /// Ota City, Tokyo, Japan /// 1996-97 - another nice house. I would have skipped the round roof.

Japan loves them. And now they're in the UK - strawberries and cream sandwiches - I am up for this.

9 Cold Soup Recipes for Hot Summer Days - I am seeking alternatives to a warm lunch in this heat.

Why don’t people hitchhike any more? Is the world more dangerous or just meaner? - they still do.

Aphex Twin: a case study in nostalgia [YouTube] - "have become nostalgic for a past that they weren't even a part of"

The unbearable obviousness of AI fitness summaries - here is a summary that you could have figured out yourself.

Face it: you're a crazy person - "When you fully unpack any job, you’ll discover something astounding: only a crazy person should do it."

The grindification of hobbies [YouTube] - this has happened to me before. I am trying hard to just have fun now.

Getting 'Accidentally' Cast In War Games Made Michael Madsen Into An Actor - He already impressed me in this small scene - RIP

Up the kriek: Apple gets punchy in Brussels DMA compliance workshop - Apple is the new Microsoft, everybody should stop defending them.

Praise You: A forgotten love letter to black men [Podcast] - Interesting interview with the original artist.

Vera C. Rubin Observatory first images [Podcast] - that sounds spectacular. I had to google some pictures.

Friday Links 25-12

2025-06-27T15:22:00.003+02:00

Today is apparently the Urbanism YouTube edition.

I also really liked the podcast about Hindenburg, and the video about the bikepacking trip (in Germany, sadly).

Engineering

Annotation Mono v0.2 - a pretty new mono font

Libxml2's "no security embargoes" policy [LWN] - It is a pretty drastic move, and I wonder if anything will change after this.

Setting Up MCP Servers in Claude Code: A Tech Ritual for the Quietly Desperate - I have to give some of these a go.

Environment

Batteries are so cheap now, solar power doesn’t sleep - "In 2024 alone, global battery prices dropped 40%"

Transporting a DYNAPAC Electric Road Paver with my Iveco S-eWay Electric Truck [YouTube] - the future is already here.

Urbanism

When Building a Brand-New City Doesn’t Go as Planned [YouTube] - OK, maybe South Korea isn't so great after all.

The Life-Sized City - Calgary - S04E03 - Full Episode [YouTube] - a rare view on North America.

Why U.S. Cities Don't Build Metro Systems [YouTube] - no political will.

Fighting air pollution: Cars no longer welcome in French city of Lyon • FRANCE 24 English [YouTube] - I love the boat to cargo bike transfer.

paper "Wheels of Change: Transforming Girls’ Lives with Bicycles" - improving girls' education and wellbeing.

Nearly two-thirds of Catalans exposed to air pollution above 2030 EU limits - that what happens if cities don't change.

What Makes a City a Cycling City? [Podcast] - including research into African cities.

Random Bikepacking

Ein Bikepacking Trip als Abenteurer ohne Navi & Smartphone [German] - fun cycling trip with Rick Zabel and André Greipel, where they are not allowed to use digital tools.

railfinder - new rail travel planner for Europe.

Catalonia's wildfire strategy - Insights from a world-class brigade [Podcast] - OK, compared to the 90s we are doing pretty good.

Paul von Hindenburg [Podcast] - he seems like a bit of a dick.

Anthropic destroyed millions of print books to build its AI models - that's one way to do it.

S Rower Turns Your Smart Trainer Into Smart Rower: First Look! [YouTube] - nice hack.

Friday Links Disclaimer

More about the links in a separate post: About Friday Links.

Friday Links 25-11

2025-06-20T16:07:00.003+02:00

My YouTube links got lost because of my new workflow. It is working now.

This week I enjoyed the Podcast about copyright and the video about cycling couriers in Seoul.

Leadership

The Heart of Innovation: Why Most Startups Fail - long read about demand.

Your Manager Is Not Your Best Friend - your manager should be thinking about the company and the team, then the individuals.

Engineering

TDD, AI agents and coding with Kent Beck [Podcast] - I appreciate Kent's perspective here.

Work

On How Long it Takes to Know if a Job is Right for You or Not - probably shorter than you think.

Breaking down the infinite workday - interesting numbers from their work report.

Environment

How the threat of extreme heat is starting to change our holiday plans - I think this has been happening already.

Urbanism

Thousands of cyclists take to the streets of Berlin to demonstrate | DW News [YouTube] - I never managed to take part in one of these.

TfL drivers play Train Sim World 5 | Transport for London [YouTube] - no a game for me, but fun watching the pros playing.

Així és el parc de les Glòries des de l’aire [YouTube] - redevelopment of Glories in Barcelona, which used to be a massive elevated round about.

From Scratch: the only bike messengers in Seoul // Eui Ho Kim at Gig Courier 무(無)에서와 다른 이야기들 [YouTube] - that is such a pretty town.

Verkehrsberuhigung im Neuköllner Reuterkiez: Poller-Gegner scheitern in letzter Instanz [German] - two locals and a random person try to get a Kiezblock removed, and fail before court.

Barcelona rents down 8.9% a year after cap introduced - interesting that this works in Barcelona, but not in Germany.

Random Headphones

Sony’s WH-1000XM6 Gets a Repair-Friendly Upgrade - nice to see this. I am still on the MX4's, but these are tempting.

007 First Light - Announcement Trailer | PS5 Games [YouTube] - I am mostly interested in how much of Hitman mechanics are left.

Fixing the AMIGA 1200 with a cheap meter! [YouTube] - That is quite a dedicated repair.

TePhOS - alternative OS for the TI99/4A

Start your own Internet Resiliency Club - I never heard of LoRa before, this could be fun.

Spanish minister rules out cyber-attack as cause of April blackout, after expert report - it is just a complex system. It is surprising that this doesn't happen more often.

&udm=14 - Google search without the rubbish.

ACARS Drama - random messages from aeroplanes.

Friday Links Disclaimer

More about the links in a separate post: About Friday Links.

Friday Links 25-10

2025-06-13T13:10:00.003+02:00

This week I enjoyed the podcasts about Lise Meitner and Korea.

OpenRailwayMap is also nice to play around with, if you are interested in railways all over the world.

Engineering

The Work of Building for Other Engineers: Platform & SRE Mindset

Anatomy of a Recruitment Phish - the things jobseekers have to deal with nowadays.

Environment

Climate action literacy interventions increase commitments to more effective mitigation behaviors [Paper] - people don't know which individual actions are useful. I should get rid of my pets.

Revealed: More than 24,000 factory farms have opened across Europe - those are some depressing maps.

Urbanism

A desire for a loud car with a modified muffler is predicted by being a man and higher scores on psychopathy and sadism [Paper] - this is an older paper, and the result is maybe not quite unexpected.

20mph limits in London linked to sharp fall in road injuries and deaths, new report finds - let's just leave this here: "Child casualties dropped by 46%, and children killed by 75%"

‘Cleaner, greener and absolute reliability’: trams make UK comeback - nice.

OpenRailwayMap - lovely way to visualise train lines worldwide.

El carril bus de la B-23 estarà llest al juliol: 7 quilòmetres per afavorir l'accés a Barcelona [Catalan] - new bus lanes into Barcelona

Europe was promised a new golden age of the night train. Why are we still waiting? - exactly!

Ever-higher: the rise of bonnet height, and the case to cap it - our classic Defender is probably around 100 cm, while our Berlingo is possibly 65 cm?

Random Morocco

Morocco's new cross-country cycling route - sadly gravel :-)

Talking Heads Celebrate 50th Anniversary With ‘Psycho Killer’ Video Starring Saoirse Ronan - I am not sure if I like the video. The song is still great.

Lise Meitner [Podcast] - new to me, scientist working on nuclear fission around early in the last century.

The Korean Empire [Podcast] - overview of the history.

Friday Links Disclaimer

More about the links in a separate post: About Friday Links.

Friday Links 25-09

2025-05-30T11:43:00.005+02:00

First post curated via Readwise Reader. I am creating some scripts to help replicate what I did with Pocket.

I enjoyed the Komoot goodbye video this week. It is lovely and a bit sad.

Leadership

Stuff I learned at Carta. - lots of good stuff, maybe not applicable in all organisations.

Early Days of Agile Development & Is Design Dead? • Martin Fowler & James Lewis • GOTO 2024 [YouTube] - nice chat.

The secrets of a great apology [Podcast] - An important step is to accept that you were in the wrong.

Urbanism

Transport Fever 3 - Cinematic Announcement Trailer [YouTube] - I see trains, trams, bus lanes, but no bike lanes, and also highways going through the city.

They Tore Down a Highway and Made it a River (and traffic got better) [YouTube] - I have seen pictures before. This goes into quite a bit of detail.

Another way electric cars clean the air: study says brake dust reduced by 83% - and they are often not much heavier than legacy cars.

Los Angeles - The Life-Sized City - S04E01 - Full Episode [YouTube] - lots of stuff happening, but an uphill battle.

Random Raves

Be transported to an illegal Acid House rave by the Barbican's new immersive experience - not quite the same, innit?

Digg co-founder offers to save Pocket as Mozilla winds it down - I mostly learned that Digg is still around or coming back.

Little Lamb Chilling With Cat [YouTube] - emergency-cute.

I just started using n8n to automate my workflow, and I wish I had sooner - next project?

The Workload Fairy Tale - "the idea that their current commitments and obligations represent the exact amount of work they need to be doing to succeed in their position."

Unreleased Amiga Hardware Plays MP3s - I always assumed the Amiga could play these without help.

Windows Was The Problem All Along [YouTube] - I am delighted with my SteamDeck.

A new start after 60: I became a dog-walker – and I’ve never been happier - this is my plan.

Cory Doctorow on how we lost the internet [LWN] - we are well buggered.

Komoot Team Says Goodbye - great video. Imagine you have a team like this and fire all of them.

Friday Links Disclaimer

More about the links in a separate post: About Friday Links.

Friday Links 25-08

2025-05-23T10:39:00.002+02:00

Amiga 1000 by Blake Patterson

Pocket is a big part of how I collect the links for the Friday Links. Sadly, Mozilla has decided to shut Pocket down. My plan is to migrate to Readwise Reader, which seems to be a reasonable replacement. I am now migrating some of my helper scripts to make the change easier. You will see next week if I will be successful. :-)

Engineering

As US vuln-tracking falters, EU enters with its own security bug database - nice.

Principal Engineer at John Deere on how extreme programming saved his startup [Podcast] - Quite a bit of XP in there, pretty interesting.

Environment

Climeworks’ capture fails to cover its own emissions - This is never going to be useful.

Top winemaker ‘may have to leave its Spanish vineyards due to climate crisis’ - "acquiring plots in Benabarre, in the Aragonese Pyrenees, at 1,100 metres, where it is still too cold to grow vines. "

Low emission zones are successful in cutting air pollution, study finds - surprising no one.

Urbanism

More Motornormativity with Marco te Brömmelstroet, aka "The Fietsprofessor" [Podcast] - reviwing the study from a Dutch perspective.

Apple's new $5 billion campus has more space for parking than offices - So much future.

Spain Responds To Exploding Tourist Demand With A Groundbreaking Approach, Prioritizing Regional Growth And Strategic Visitor Management

Thinking of a trip to Barcelona this summer? Beware – here’s what you’ll find - I don't like opinion pieces. This one mentions many things I recognise about Barcelona, and tourism in general.

How a Highway Became San Francisco’s Newest Park - people will be looking back and wonder why you would have a highway on the seafront.

Paris races to top of European rankings of cycling-friendly cities for children - beating Amsterdam and Copenhagen.

Londoners are swapping cars for bicycles at a rapid pace, data shows - This is mostly about the city.

Random Amiga

Brand New ReAmiga 3000 - At some point I have to check if my ancient computers still work.

So long, farewell, Auf Wiedersehen... - Mozilla is shutting down Pocket. I blame AI.

Sean Penn on dining with Jack Nicholson and Putin, run-ins with the paparazzi, and his relationship with Zelenskyy [Podcast] - He seems nice, maybe a bit too much smoking?

In the Studio: Esben Holmboe Bang [Podcast] - cooking as art.

Trailblazer Alfonsina Strada: One Woman’s Battle at the Giro d'Italia | The Power of Sport [YouTube] - If you don't have women's races, perhaps open the men's races up to everybody?

‘People were buying crossbows faster than I’d like’ – how prepping went mainstream in Britain - "I’m not one to body shame anybody, but if you’re preparing for an apocalypse, you have to be able to kneel."

The Story Behind That Photo Of The Pinto In Front Of The Mt. St. Helens Eruption - run!

How Sierra Was Captured, Then Killed, by a Massive Accounting Fraud - long read.

Old Tosh - Toshiba's personal stereo radio cassette combo [YouTube] - I want this, ideally in working condition.

'It's about the music' - DJ duo Slam celebrate 35 years - I have been listening to them for many years. They have a great podcast too.

1264. Akiko Takahashi & Hiroshi Takahashi (Workstation) /// SUM HOUSE 1996 /// Matsushige, Itano District, Tokushima, Japan /// 1995-96 - I like this boxy industrial style.

A kernel developer plays with Home Assistant: general impressions - I am playing with HA again too. I finally have some use cases.

Friday Links Disclaimer

More about the links in a separate post: About Friday Links.

Christof Damian

Friday Links 26-01

Leadership

Engineering

Environment

Urbanism

Random Cassettes

2025 in books

Non-Fiction

Fiction

Comics

Friday Links 25-29

Leadership

Engineering

Urbanism

Random Art

Other Links

Our Zoo

Cheeky & Foggy - July 2019

Hoover - October 2019

Yuki - February 2021

Yukitos - March 2021

Friday Links 25-27

Leadership

Engineering

Environment

Urbanism

Random Adventures

Other Links

My Framework for Technical Debt

Smallest Scale: Individual Level

Medium Scale: Project Level

Big Scale: System Level

Summary

Friday Links 25-26

Leadership

Engineering

Urbanism

Random Skateboarding

Other Links

Friday Links 25-25

Leadership

Engineering

Environment

Urbanism

Random Cyclists

Other Links

Friday Links 25-24

Leadership

Engineering

Environment

Urbanism & Transport

Random Rowing

Other Links

Friday Links 25-23

Leadership

Engineering

Environment

Urbanism

Random Coffee

Other Links

Friday Links 25-22

Leadership

Engineering

Environment

Urbanism

Random Primates

Other Links

Friday Links 25-21

Leadership

Engineering

Environment

Urbanism

Random Money

Other Links

Friday Links 25-20

Engineering

Environment

Urbanism & Transit

Random Dumpster Fire