So I felt like 1 week was too short of an interval, but maybe 3 weeks is too long? We’ll keep fiddling until we can get it right.
But also, I’ve been completely sucked into Satisfactory:
I started playing it as a filler for our regular board game night with some friends and become absorbed by it. I find it incredibly addicting and it has that loop where as soon as you finish something you’re ready to tear it down because now you know how you’d do it 10x better. I’ll probably be stuck on this one for a little while.
Why write a blog post when there’s a factory to optimize. I do find it funny how so much of my job is about cleaning things up and optimizing, and here I am doing it for fun in my free time:
Photo
I was fortunate enough to have a great view of the Aurora, so that was really nice. Props to my sister for reminding me because I might have otherwise forgotten.
What I’ve been reading
I’ve started Mort, by Terry Pratchett. I also got the Audiobook for Empire of Silence from the library so I can finish that up since I only got halfway through the novel before I had to return it to the library. That has a waiting list, but the audio book had multiple copies available. Easy choice.
https://hojberg.xyz/the-programmer-identity-crisis/
An interesting read, as I think we’re all still trying to understand both the role of AI in our work as well as our role in Software Development as things progress. There’s still so much uncertainty.
https://www.theverge.com/report/822110/opentable-ai-assisted-data-restaurants
Thanks, I hate it. Why can’t we just have things without them trying to hoover up all our data?
https://animationobsessive.substack.com/p/the-toy-story-you-remember
Sent to me by a friend, it’s an interesting look at how films change over time and who ultimately owns the idea of what a film should look like. Does the studio get final say because they can just stop releasing the version they don’t like (I’m looking at you, Star Wars)? Should what the fans saw in the theater be preserved forever?
https://www.wired.com/story/ai-pr-ed-zitron-profile
Interesting look. I like a lot of his articles because I think the core of his thesis is valid: The internet was amazing and then it was hijacked.
https://martinfowler.com/articles/llm-learning-loop.html
A great look at how to use LLMs as tools for learning rather than magic problem solvers. I think they have good potential here.
https://loeber.substack.com/p/29-poison-poison-everywhere
It’s written a bit pessimistically, but it’s not wrong about any particular point.
https://www.gapingvoid.com/care-is-a-risk-do-it-anyway/
Empathy and compassion can get us a long way. Reminds me a bit of this comic: https://asofterworld.com/index.php?id=263
https://www.authoritarian-stack.info
A neat tool that dives into the interconnection between much of the negative things in the world right now. I think it’s a bus factor of like a dozen people.
https://pudding.cool/2025/11/democracy
Fantastic analysis, as always, as to how people have been using the threat to democracy over the years.
What I’ve been watching
Late to the party on this one, but it was excellent.
Probably the weakest of the newer Poirot movies.
As a Lego fan, I think he describes a lot of the problems well. I think some of my absolute favorite sets are the polybags and Star Wars Micro-fighters, which are pretty much all under $15.
A neat idea and cool so see everything on GitHub. Always good to see people tinkering to solve their own specific problems.
Immich is wonderful. Watch this and set it up for yourself!
Jeff Geerling is always a good watch.
I’m stuck on Satisfactory (expect a longer post about that soon) but it rings true.
There’s special characters and then there’s special characters.
Geared more for beginners, but still a decent watch.
Apparently it’s cheap and appeals to Gen-Z, which makes it catnip for brands. I will admit I’ve never been a huge fan of hot honey though.
An interesting look at the history of the recliner. I love mine, but placement can be tricky. I settled with it near the fireplace so I can read with my feet up by the fire.
This does an excellent job explaining the final act and how the director expertly puts the viewer in the same position as the protagonist.
$16 billion in revenue from scams, with a potential of $1 billion in fines. Why wouldn’t they let their customers get screwed over.
I already run most of these, but it was a good video and the first time I’d watched this channel.
This will probably be fine, right?
Okay maybe not. Anything that helps the people a bit helps the stock market way more, which further exacerbates the issue.
It’s and interesting look at how things have been shifting. On the one hand, an individual’s personal politics shouldn’t matter much. But open source is inherently political and inclusive by nature. Additionally, as more radical views have become mainstream it’s far less “I think taxes should be lower” and much more “I think this entire group of people need to go away” and that’s not something you can just ignore.
What I’ve been listening to
A bit less music these past few weeks mostly due to me listening to the audiobook on my commute. I have been on a bit of a kick for a hyper specific collection of songs I’ve been calling “Upbeat crashout songs”. Some examples:
Given this and last month’s Ted Lasso video maybe I just need to rewatch it.
Another example:
If you have any more feel free to send them my way.
Another great song I listened to was this cover: