Friday Links 24-25

The experience of the creator of "One Million Checkboxes" is a fun read. You never know what you will find in your logs. 

I also liked the interview with Michael Feathers. 

Leadership

When to write strategy, and how much? - one is probably enough, and don't start before you understand the context.

Engineering

Michael Feathers Reflects on "Working Effectively with Legacy Code"  [Podcast] - his views on TDD are interesting. 

The secret inside One Million Checkboxes - when you let the internet loose on your site.

Recommending for Long-Term Member Satisfaction at Netflix - they seem to put so much effort in, and it is still so bad for me personally. 

Less Is More: Principles for Simple Comments - I am still subscribed to this and like the little nuggets like this one.

Environment 

Gemeinde kauft Dorf zurück, das abgerissen werden sollte  [German] - municipality buys back a village that was supposed to be demolished for coal mining. Everybody living there had already been relocated to different villages. 

Can climate stripes change the way we think about air pollution? - it looks like only changes in laws can change trends. 

Australia’s ski season could melt away early as snowfall drops to nearly half the average -  "The report also showed local towns, tourism industries and ecosystems relied on the snowfields and could struggle to survive if snowfalls continued to slide away."

Urbanism

Paris Olympics: Could this be the first fully cyclable Games? [Podcast] - is Paris the city moving quickest to be cycling friendly? 

Could driverless vehicles open a door to safe, car-lite lifestyles? - maybe, many predict that the number of cars overall will increase. 

The most (and least) walkable cities in Europe, ranked - I find Barcelona quite walkable, especially compared to Madrid. Lisbon is also not that bad. 

Why is Shibuya Crossing the Busiest in the World?  [YouTube] - it's a lot of people going there because it is.

Disappearing Bicycle: Understanding the Bodily Experience of Cycling - "People do not merely observe the city as they move through it; they actively constitute the city through their mobile practices. "

Labour is right about LTNs – the Tories need to learn the same lesson - "For all the initial noise against low-traffic neighbourhoods, most people like them and they can benefit the public purse"

Random Breaking

CrashFest x The Notorious IBE 2024 [YouTube] - I am pretty sure most of this is impossible.

Take a Nostalgic Dive Through a Visual Cassette Tape Archive - tapedeck.org is a pretty wonderful resource. I think all of my tapes are already on there.

shademap.app & app.shadowmap.org - two sites to calculate the shadows at a certain location and time. I think shademap is the better one.

'When I was cycling, the world was big again': What it takes to replace a flight with a long-distance bike ride - it's about the journey, and this looks like a beautiful one.

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 24-24

I am still enjoying the Book Overflow podcast, this time with John Ousterhout. 

The podcast about the UK environmental agency is also great, and depressing.

Leadership

Wisdom for Work #25 - The Art of Generative Listening [Podcast] - the five levels are an interesting approach. As a leader, you have to master listening, that's how you know where to go. 

The Surprising Long Term Impact of Layoffs on Company Performance & Employee Experience.  [Podcast] - that is understandable, at times you can't really avoid it, though. 

A New Era of Medium Engineering - I quite like the messaging around this, and also the realisation that there is a shift in the company. 

TBM 305: Stop the (Goal) Cascade Madness - I really like the idea and structure of them, but they never work in the real world. 

Humans >> Data - "If you want to lead geeks effectively, at whatever scale, you need to be a person & interact with them as people. "

No "We" in IC - fascinating experiment. I prefer team ratings (and bonuses, perks, budgets, …) over individual ratings. As with everything with people, it can go horribly wrong.

Engineering

John Ousterhout Reflects on "A Philosophy of Software Design" [Podcast] - at least he knows that some of his ideas are controversial.

What the fuck is an SBAT and why does everyone suddenly care - in case you are wondering why your dual boot Linux doesn't work any more after your Windows update.

Klarna’s AI chatbot: how revolutionary is it, really?  - not a lot? 

0.0.0.0 Day: Exploiting Localhost APIs From the Browser (Oligo Security) - no place like 0.0.0.0

Urbanism

Müllwagen werden kleiner [German] - Mercedes is designing narrower rubbish trucks, as there is less space between all the parked (including Mercedes) SUVs.

Environment

Can Science Fiction help us fight climate change? [Podcast] - No, but you get an interview with Kim Stanley Robinson.

How we made our hardware packaging 100% plastic-free - yes, it is true, there are still companies not doing this. 

Dirty waters: how the Environment Agency lost its way [Podcast] - that is a remarkable story of mismanagement and industry interference. 

Staat fördert CO₂-Ausstoß mit 35,8 Milliarden Euro pro Jahr [German] - Germany subsidises polluting sectors with 35.8 billion Euro a year. 

Random Hovercraft

The Last Surviving Giant Passenger Hovercraft  [YouTube] - Christof's Regret #23: I never went on one of these when they were around, and I could even have been useful (Unlike a Concorde flight).

ytch.xyz - watch YouTube like telly.

Why Spain wants tourists to go home [Podcast] - mostly about house prices, but also about keeping your neighbourhood.

Professor Patricia Wiltshire, forensic scientist [Podcast] - she sounds like a brilliant nerd.

LA Sheriff Gets SCHOOLED by Pro Cyclist [YouTube] - spoiler alert: you can't school the police.

Scrolling through online videos increases feelings of boredom, study finds - shall I have a surprise of the week column?

597. Why Do Your Eyeglasses Cost $1,000? [Podcast] - it's a scam / monopoly. 

India's schoolgirls are leading a silent cycling revolution - until they grow out of it.

Wealth tax on super-rich could raise £1.5tn globally, campaigners say - eat the rich? Also: "some exemptions in the Spanish tax – including [...] some high-value assets such as boats and aircraft."

Zettlr: note-taking and publishing with Markdown - I am fully bought into org-roam, but this looks like a nice option.

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 24-23

I was a bit distracted last Friday, so it is another double week today. 

I truly enjoy the Bookoverflow podcast. Some of the books I know already, and find the different perspectives interesting. Some of the other books I do plan to read now. 

For something entirely different: The Orkneyinga Saga and Fed podcasts.

Leadership

No More: It’s The People - at least not all the time.

Engineering

Bookoverflow  [Podcast] - many good episodes discussing engineering books or talking to authors. Some examples:

• "The Practice of Programming" by Brian Kernighan and Rob Pike 
• "A Philosophy of Software Design" by John Ousterhout  
• "Fundamentals of Software Architecture" by Mark Richards and Neal Ford (Part 2)  
• "What Is ChatGPT Doing... And Why Does It Work?" by Stephen Wolfram  
• "Clean Coder" by “Uncle Bob” Martin   

Story: Jeffrey Snover and the Making of PowerShell  [Podcast] - banging your head against Microsoft's wall. 

Maximal min() and max() [LWN] - that should be easy with a macro … tens of years later … oops.

Work 

Why Don't We Have a 15-hour Work Week?  [Podcast] - probably because of the rich. 

Return-to-office mandates hurt employee retention, productivity, survey says - surpise!

Environment 

Extreme heat poses ‘real risk’ to Spain’s mass tourism industry - and the locals.

Fed with Chris van Tulleken [Podcast] - about the chicken we eat.

‘Morally, nobody’s against it’: Brazil’s radical plan to tax global super-rich to tackle climate crisis - eat the rich! 

Germans Combat Climate Change From Their Balconies - this is not legal yet in Spain. 

‘It made me cry’: photos taken 15 years apart show melting Swiss glaciers - whatever you do, don't read the Twitter replies.

Barcelona records lowest nitrogen dioxide levels in 25 years - good, but: "However, pollution levels still exceed the limits set by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the European targets for 2030. "

All-night streetlights make leaves inedible to insects, study finds - that is a new side effect to me.

Wildfire boundary maps expand to new countries in Europe and Africa - nice. I have seen this working in Catalonia already.

Urbanism

A Swiss Town Banned Billboards. Zurich, Bern May Soon Follow - nice. I think they banned neon lights in Barcelona at some point. 

Do bigger highways actually help reduce traffic? - no

NYC REALLY Screwed Up Congestion Pricing (with Doug Gordon) [Podcast] - that is a pretty remarkable mess-up. 

‘Massive disinformation campaign’ is slowing global transition to green energy - it is better and cheaper, but many still believe this. 

"Every casualty reduced makes a difference": Significant drop in casualties on Welsh roads since 20mph speed limit - surprise!

Prague 1 reintroduces night ban on vehicles in defiance of Prague City Hall - because of noise pollution.
Very similar to Wiesbaden (in German): Wiesbaden reduziert Tempo in kompletter Innenstadt

Environmental Urbanism and Urban Geographies: Medellín 2024-2027 Urban Plan - mostly about green corridors. There was a plan like that in Barcelona in the past, it never happened.

Random Tea

Europe's under-the-radar region that's home to the 'undisputed tea world champions' - I can't find a decaf version of this.

Western DJs accused of ‘normalising war’ for playing at Russian techno events - I am sad to see Magda on the line-up.

CDs sales are growing. How I wish I hadn’t given my beloved collection away - or we could just buy music, instead of rent?

Battenburg markings - I find the British emergency vehicles strangely attractive. I didn't know that the pattern had a name and a design brief. 

The Orkneyinga Saga [Podcast] - super fun. 

Techno godfather Juan Atkins: ‘There were 5,000 white kids going crazy to my music’ - one of the great ones. 

Mosquitoes can fly but they can't hide from the Bzigo Iris - all it needs now is a stronger laser.

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.