This week
- There are, I think two reactions to the title of this post. One is to scoff at how short a time 24 hours really is; something barely worth mentioning. But another, perhaps less voiced reaction is to think "wow, I can't remember when I last did that..." When I last did this it...
- “You are not your grand plans. You are your daily patterns.” I love this quote from James Clear because it hurts me in all the right ways. At my worst, I feel like my daily patterns are at war with my grand plans. When I’m fighting a daily battle and willpower is slipping, I...
Last week
- Every post I publish represents at least two things I’ve learned: the thing that prompted me to write the post, and the thing I learned in the course of writing it. If I don’t learn anything new while I’m writing, it’s not interesting enough to publish.
- Every time I have given up on America, it has been a mistake. And yet, America has never, ever given up on me....
- The story has no relation with software engineering today. This is the story of a building company CEO named Matthew. Matthew is a simple person: he likes to build buildings, and he likes it when people appreciate its buildings. Compared to other construction companies, Matthew...
Two weeks ago
- I quite enjoyed this talk from Bryan Cantrill where he discusses the difficult engineering problems they overcame while working on their company Oxide. Some of the problems they ran into were bugs. But these weren’t any ordinary bugs, they were company-destroying bugs: bugs...
- If you have’t heard, Om Malik passed away. People are sharing stories of their graceful encounters with him. This one is mine. Back at the beginning of 2021, I set a goal to write 72 blog posts. I was puttering along, publishing whatever came to mind, mostly figuring that nobody...
- John Gruber writes about those annoying popups every website seems to have now and while he does a great job tearing into these ubiquitous, user-hostile patterns, one of the things that stood out to me about his piece was this meta commentary on blogging. Here’s John: If you...
About a month ago
- Blog About Moonbound Shop This is a post from Robin Sloan’s lab blog & notebook. You can visit the blog’s homepage, or learn more about me. June 19, 2026 I absolutely LOVE the premise of this upcoming conference at Georgetown Law: Life After Data, the conference on...
- You’ve probably heard the term. It’s meant to convey how difficult it can be to start something. “Blank page paralysis”. But for my money, beginning is easy. Finishing is the hard part. In software, they call it “the last 90%”. In logistics, they call it “the last mile”. It’s...
- I play Clues by Sam nearly every single day. I wrote about it before, but solving a little crime puzzle adds a micro-thrill to my day. A little blast of logic, misdirection, and wordplay. It’s a frequent topic of conversation in the ShopTalkShow Discord where people share their...
- Almost exactly three years ago the Oceangate submarine implosion happened. The disaster came about when a billionaire called Stockton Rush created his own unclassified submarine to go sightseeing on the Titanic. Ignoring all advice from experts he created a "macgyveresque death...
about 1 month ago
- Golf content on social media is my online junk food and the other day I came across a video interviewing professional golfers that asks: “What does an amateur golfer have to shoot to be considered good?” It’s a leading question because the phrasing implicitly frames a number as...
- 09 Jun, 2026 Quick aside: My sister has a Bear blog called Notes on Making where she writes about knitting, wool dying, pattern design, and shows off what she's created. If you're into wool and crafting, take a look. It's really cool! I'm currently reading What I talk about when...
- In thirteen years at GitHub I was part of 25 reorgs—almost one every six months. Reorgs are a constant in tech, not a crisis. Here's how to navigate them....
- 05 Jun, 2026 I recently completed my first long trail race, set in the Southern Drakensberg mountains with Emma, my siblings and their partners. It spanned 2 days with 30km on the first, and 15km on the second, winding through valleys and around mountains. It was spectacular. I...
about 2 months ago
- 27 May, 2026 One of the things I like best about blogs is that posts stick around (or at least they should). I enjoy scrolling through historic posts of bloggers and reading about what they were thinking about 1, 5, or even 10 years ago—if I'm lucky. I've noticed that my most...
- Very recently, I was hunting for a new TV show and clicked on Apple TV, drawn in by the buzz surrounding Margo Has Money Troubles. I launched the first episode and got hooked by the new intro logo. It caught my eye because it felt weirdly alive. There was a specific, imperfect...
- I’ve been slowly listening to Poor Charlie’s Almanack: The Essential Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger. I like his practicality. He’s never trying to be overly academic, as if he needs to prove how smart he is. He says Berkshire’s success doesn’t come from them solving hard...
- May 1, 2025 Magic the Gathering format: Fun 40 During the Beasts of the Bay's "Quest for Urza's Chalice" event of 2026, a side tournament proposed to revive the late 90s. Custom boosters were distributed and the 80+ participants were invited to build a deck of 40 cards. Trading...
- May 20, 2026 Magic the Gathering format: Fun 40 During the Beasts of the Bay's "Quest for Urza's Chalice" event of 2026, a side tournament proposed to revive the late 90s. Custom boosters were distributed and the 80+ participants were invited to build a deck of 40 cards. Trading...
2 months ago
- Krakow airport. Or, to give it its full official name, Krakow Balice John Paul II International Airport. Or, to give it its full name in Polish, which we probably should, because it is in Poland, Międzynarodowy Port Lotniczy im. Jana Pawła II Kraków-Balice. Or, to give it as...
- Here’s Scott Jenson in his insightful piece “The Ma of a New Machine”: the chatbot interface [makes us] feel like deep cognitive work is happening. But the interface is fundamentally reactive. It spits complex text at you, you skim it quickly, and you immediately type a reaction...
- May 11, 2026 For almost 20 years I’ve maintained a journal for my family. I recently met someone interested in this practice, so I’m documenting it here for both them and anyone else that might benefit from it. Why I journal Our memories are not only terrible, but they’re...
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