Simon Willison returns to blogging, in peak form nonetheless. Heck yeah! Janet Jackson, “Rhythm Nation”, posted by Billy Eichner. Heck yeah! A rocket engine made of nuclear fission. Note the “poison rod” in the schematic. Heck yeah engineering, heck no they actually tested this on Earth, heck yeah they never flew it!
Category: Uncategorized
The notes, October 04, 2017
I’m intrigued by folks having luck building virtualized development environments for localhost setups. It sounds like fun to work in this kind of workflow. I never want to do the legwork to make this work, though. I did the preliminaries for this last year and ended up turning back from it. I understand Docker and… Continue reading The notes, October 04, 2017
Afternoon notes, October 03, 2017
Someone will always have a slicker Git workflow than you. For example,Auto-squashing Git Commits for clever rebasing. The passage of time is weird, lately. Nonetheless, it’s surprising that the Dynamo white paper is ten years old. Ten years of NoSQL hype. Even from a naive yours truly. I’ve been using the fish shell for about… Continue reading Afternoon notes, October 03, 2017
Morning notes, October 03, 2017
I like Bluebottle’s coffee subscription service a lot. The web app is well done and having coffee magically appear in my mailbox means I have far fewer “awww heck we’re out of coffee until I go to a coffee shop” moments. However, I do occasionally mess up the timing, such as right now, and then… Continue reading Morning notes, October 03, 2017
Our current political Trolley Problem
As self-driving cars inch closer to a daily reality, the Trolley Problem seems to have entered our lexicon. In short, should a self-driving computer choose to avoid hitting a bunch of people and kill its single occupant as a result? Turns out people expect the car to protect the greater good second and their own… Continue reading Our current political Trolley Problem
Why I blog in bursts
I write here in bursts. It confounds me as to what marks the beginning and end of those spikes. I have a few hunches: ambitions grow larger than my free time: it’s easier to hit publish on a self-contained thought than a connected series or magnum-opus essay intervention of life: work, vacation, various chores adults… Continue reading Why I blog in bursts
How to approach a database-shaped problem
When it comes to caching and primary storage of an application’s data, developers are faced with a plethora of shiny tools. It’s easy to get caught up in how novel these tools are and get over enthusiastic about adopting them; I certainly have in the past! Sadly, this route often leads to pain. Databases, like… Continue reading How to approach a database-shaped problem
