Published
Weekend Reading — 404 bragawatts
John S Russell "Where I post from."
Tech Stuff
Zod + TypeScript: Schema Validation Made Easy Learn how to use Zod, a TypeScript schema validation library that allows you to validate external data at runtime.
ftw you realise that pacman is short for Package Manager and you start to question if you're really this slow.
Your URL Is Your State The overlooked power of URLs.
Lucide A collection of 1600+ icons with support for all the major frameworks (React, Svelte, Angular, etc).
Deploying to Amazon's cloud is a pain in the AWS younger devs won't tolerate I guess I'm on the younger side because I have zero patience for anything AWS:
This feels generational to me. For folks of a certain age (Gen X and Millenials), AWS and GCP have made their bones. We came of technical age with the platforms and we're used to their foibles. Azure is of course the Boomer Cloud, but Gen Z is using platforms that aren't designed as tests of skill to let customers prove how much they want something.
AnimateIcons React library for animated SVG icons.
I'm not even going to investigate why Microsoft AutoUpdate is trying to install Silverlight, which was discontinued like 5 years ago.
Simple one-time passcode inputs. Tyler Sticka explains how a fully functional one-time passcode input can be built using plain HTML — no JavaScript, no CSS hacks, no third-party libraries. With attributes like
inputmode="numeric",autocomplete="one-time-code", andpattern="\d{6}", you get accessibility, autofill, and validation out of the box. Progressive enhancement can then layer visual or interactive extras.
Eye for Design
Pixply Such an efficient use of space — you can carry a cabinet full of games in your backpack — rollable digital game board that comes with over 50 games and you can add your own.
404 error face 404 is not having a great day :(
Peoples
Unexpected meetings with deliberately vague titles (“Sync”, “Chat”, “Check-in”) are almost always bad news.
Last night the 11yo broke down the Google Slides middle school Chatroom for me:
- At first they used a Google doc but the infinite scroll was too chaotic
- In the slide deck each new slide is one “post”—some all text, some images, some both—
- They use slides’ comments feature to “reply” to each other’s “posts”
- This allows participants to easily flip between posts using the slide thumbnail navigation, so they can find the conversations they care about easily
- He owns the file & if anyone spams it, deletes other people’s posts, or gets nasty, he can revert the file to its previous save state & remove the spammer’s access
- He did share the file with me on purpose, I think because he was proud & wanted me to see what he’d made
Essentially they’ve created a chatroom with moderation in Google Slides, so they can get around the school’s ban on platforms like Discord. It’s kind of brilliant
Business Side
While mainstream coverage of AI productivity gains has been focused on layoffs at Fortune 500 companies, I've seen VCs increasingly talk about how small teams are getting to millions in revenue faster than they've ever seen due to adopting AI. Y-Combinator made similar claims to the below in May.
Fundamentally AI productivity gains are real and many companies need fewer people than they did a few years ago to get the same output.
Updates: Bragawatts, Nvidia Theater, Me Stuff, etc.
Calling speculative multi-gigawatt data centers "bragawatts" is something I wish I had come up with. Nevertheless, it is a handy description.
It is handy because it captures the idea that much of what is going is a kind of expensive posturing. Companies try to outdo one another with announcements of ever-larger data centers requiring ever more power. Will they ever be built? Who knows, but if they deter other entrants, then at least some of the mission is accomplished.
Consulting Slop Choose the company, choose the business problem you're solving, choose the consulting firm, and it generate a slide deck for you.
Machine Intelligence
my husband made it so the home assistant voice assistant can use full-on ollama to interpret instructions. then he told it to turn the lights on. it's been explaining its thought process for over five minutes now and the lights are still off.
An artist sneaked an AI-generated print on to a gallery wall before bemused visitors alerted museum staff.
The print was hung up at National Museum Cardiff by a secretive artist
Insecurity
Exposure Report: 65% of Leading AI Companies Found with Verified Secret Leaks
We focused our attention on the private AI companies included in the Forbes AI 50, because it's one of the most respected benchmarks for innovation in AI. This list consistently highlights the companies shaping what's next, from established leaders like Anthropic to emerging players like Glean and Crusoe. It’s a “who’s who” of companies disrupting the market in new and exciting ways, making it an ideal lens to explore how security fits in.
Best quote I've seen all day so far, from an Ars piece by @dangoodin@infosec.exchange on skepticism around OpenAI's breathless claim that a Chinese hacking group used Claude code to automate 90 percent of their attack:
“I continue to refuse to believe that attackers are somehow able to get these models to jump through hoops that nobody else can,” Dan Tentler, executive founder of Phobos Group and a researcher with expertise in complex security breaches, told Ars. “Why do the models give these attackers what they want 90% of the time but the rest of us have to deal with ass-kissing, stonewalling, and acid trips?”
Old School
A timeline cleanser: recent newsletter is about rise of "repair cafes" around the world, where communities come together to fix each other's beloved things. The goal: reduce consumer waste, and maybe make some buddies in the process 🔧👭
WriterdeckOS Convert any laptop and most chromebooks into a writer deck: a device designed solely for writing. No distractions. No internet. No apps. Just writing.
best review I've read in ages: "I bought the typewriter to write a book. Copilot kept changing what I wrote without permission. After turning it off and it turning itself back on a few times along with word wanting to save everything to the 'cloud' I went old school."
’80s BASIC type-in mags are back, but this time for HTML!
10 wonderful web apps, including games, toys, puzzles and utilities
No coding knowledge needed, you just type
I just purchased the DOCTYPE zine, and recently received the Internet Phone Book in the mail. The trend of returning to offline experiences inspired by online ones intrigues me. It's online meets tangible reality in the form of expressive art.
Our culture is craving more of the real world as it seeks to strike a balance between being always connected while recognizing the value of real-life tangible experiences.
Everything Else
Fedora man unmasked: Meet the teen behind the Louvre mystery photo (via Lawprofblawg)
I am an IEEE 754 NaN value. You are an IEEE 754 NaN value. We are not the same.
Good or bad, chemistry jokes always get a reaction
My partner walked in and asked if I was still working.
What was on my screen:
ME: [extremely burnt out] I need to take the day off to relax.
ALSO ME: I wonder if there is a way that I could relax that would be more productive.
Scientists have discovered that it is possible to just do something, without making a podcast about it
Jolt Strava for writers — Jolt integrate with your existing writing software to seamlessly track and measure your writing habits and flow.
Y'know, all this could've been avoided if you'd only emailed that chain letter to ten people.
fun fact: tracking your parcel every 15 minutes makes it arrive faster.
Let’s talk tags on clothing. I hate them and they annoy me to no end. And even if I cut them off, the tiny bit remaining always manages to touch me and I hate it.
Do tags bother you?
[me] hey can you make some coffee
[coffeemaker] sure
[me] hey can you wash the dishes
[dishwasher] sure
[me] hey can you print this page
[printer] lmao who do you think you are
My body is a machine that turns cringe memories into high functioning alcoholism
JP Mens "excuse me: do you have these in Tanqueray?"
Slowly realizing that the $99 / year fee for the App Store / developer certificate is what has led to this trend of useful purpose built desktop apps with a single purpose, to now be subscriptions.
You can use American units to flirt, but it doesn't work with European ones. For example, you could say, 'I want to kiss every inch of your body' or 'Every inch of you is beautiful', but if you try saying them in centimetres, you'll sound like a German serial killer who works in a morgue.
Viral Sparrow Song Takes Canada By Storm (via GrrlScientist)
A unique song variant that popped up in western Canada has 'gone viral' and crossed the entire continent - a situation never before reported for any songbird
Today I learned that my colleagues refer to the method I discovered for easily inserting a temperature probe into compost as "Jules's wiggly worm trick", and while I suppose I always wanted a scientific method named after me I wish it hadn't been this one
When it was announced that the funds for public libraries in the last city I worked in would face cuts, a group of punks started coming into my library and specifically borrowed books from the sections they saw particularly endangered, like queer or Black authors. They never seemed to read them, they just came in, checked a bunch of books out, hung out doing whatever on their phones all afternoon, and then returned the books when they left. Noticeably boosted the stats of those sections, which weren't going too well in that location. They might just save them from cuts with that.
In the Netherlands, cycling meets art & sustainability in a remarkable way. A glow-in-the-dark bike path inspired by Vincent van Gogh's painting Starry Night lights up the town of Nuenen, where the artist once lived. The bike path uses thousands of photoluminescent stones that absorb sunlight during the day & emit a gentle glow at night, creating a swirling pattern reminiscent of Van Gogh's iconic masterpiece.
Once upon a time we had a deaf cat called KevyI was sitting at home one day with Kevy in my lap and I was patting him with one hand and giving him a scritch with another hand. He was purring madly and fell fast asleep quickly
My mum came home from work. Normally Kevy would be lying near the door to "hear" her come in but he was purring softly and fast asleep. I hadn't stopped either patting or scritching him
Mum came over very quietly and very lightly began giving him a pat. Slowly the purring got louder and somewhere in the unconscious cat mind Kevy realised "hang on... Is that a third hand?!"
He awoke very suddenly, saw my mum, did his happiest meow at the loudest volume (deaf cats don't know how loud they are 😂) and the purring hit maximum. Whenever Kevy got really happy, for some unknown reason, he started drooling. This purring, drooling mess of a cat stretched the stretch of those truly at peace and settled in for the biggest, comfiest sleep of his little lifeIn all my life, I've never seen any creature so completely content. Mum and I watched a cat achieve true inner peace and it was glorious
