Friday Links 25-23

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

Other Links

Jason Yip: What I’ve been reading (and watching) this week ending 12 October 2025

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.

Friday Links 25-22

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. 

Other Links

Jason Yip: What I’ve been reading this week ending 28 September 2025 

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.

Friday Links 25-21

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.  

Other Links

• Jason Yip: What I’ve been reading this week ending 21 September 2025 

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.

Friday Links 25-20

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. 

Other Links

• Jason Yip: What I’ve been reading (and watching) this week ending 14 September 2025 

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.

Friday Links 25-19

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

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.