Friday Links 24-28

Mostly urbanism links today. 

This week I recommend the talk by Cabel Sasser, it's weird and fun.

Engineering

gptel - Emacs client for all kinds of LLMs 

SMURF: Beyond the Test Pyramid  - everything is a tradeoff.

Environment

Tax on Europe’s frequent flyers could raise €64bn a year – study - unlikely to happen. 

Fuel duty expected to rise by up to 7p a litre after the budget - it has been reduced before and had been frozen for a long time.

Urbanism

Welsh roads safer this spring compared to last – new data - low speed works. "Collisions and casualties on 20mph and 30mph roads have fallen by almost a quarter compared to the same period in 2023"

Testing back alley laneways to unlock a hidden bike network (plus a visit to a top laneway city) [YouTube] - these don't really exist around here. I imagine the main problem will be the crossings with other streets.

Barcelona tramway between Glòries and Verdaguer to come into service on November 9 - this has been taken forever, and there is still a long way to go for the full connection.

TfL seizes 1,400 vehicles from drivers who ignore London Ulez fines - nice. 

Should Cities Ban Drive Thrus? [YouTube] - I would start fining people who queue on public roads. This also doesn't seem to be an issue in Europe.

Creating the First Bicycle Traffic Model of Barcelona - I am already looking forward to the results. 

Towards the Renaturalization of Urban Spaces: How 08014 arquitectura's Projects are Reclaiming Barcelona's Streets - the agency behind the design of the Superblocks.

Cycling with Balloons in Amsterdam - pretty.

Milliarden-Projekt wird zur Geisterstadt [German, Video] - it looks pretty bad. I do like all the greenery.

Barcelona is turning subway trains into power stations - I think I had this before, this is a new article. 

I went inside a "war on cars" neighbourhood in the UK [YouTube] - LTNs again.

Random Dogs

Dogs Are Entering a New Wave of Domestication - service dogs. 

TBM 317: Yes, Or... - it depends, or does it?

Mosaic Netscape 0.9 was released 30 years ago today - I'm old.

Montserrat monastery to host stage finish of 2025 Volta a Catalunya cycling race - the race comes to my hood again.

Pluralistic: You should be using an RSS reader (16 Oct 2024) - yes!

‘We were cheeky outlaws getting away with it’: the total euphoria of Liverpool’s 90s club scene " "“It’s a luxury to have something that’s underground and intimate where you know everyone in the room [...] But it can’t last. If it’s brilliant, it’s gonna go mainstream"

Casio made a furry robot designed to cuddle and calm you down - I approve. 

XOXO Cabel Sasser Panic [Video] - great talk. "Appreciate everything endlessly"

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 24-27

Many links today, as I skipped some Fridays due to business and problems with my local workflow for links, which should finally be fixed.

This week I especially enjoyed the video about donated bikes for Ukraine and the podcast Shell Game about scary AI stuff.

Leadership

TBM 313: Chat, Breathe, and Reflect - how to deal with uncertainty, don't pretend you don't have to change your approach. 

Testing strategy: avoid the waterfall strategy trap with iterative refinement. - as always, start with a proof of concept, then iterate, and gather data.

Measuring developer experience [Podcast] - someone plugging his product, but still with some good information.

Are happy workers the way to better results? - the data seems to show this. 

Your company needs Junior devs - I would rather say: your company needs a good mix of seniority.

Engineering

NIST Recommends Some Common-Sense Password Rules - sensible indeed, frameworks should just adapt these in code. 

How we improved availability through iterative simplification - some examples from GitHub in tracking down and improving performance issues.

Committing to Rust in the kernel - summary of the discussion from the 2024 Maintainers Summit

Should we decompose our monolith? - an example of a fictional organisation. 

Uptime nines aren’t equally distributed - it doesn't help if your site is unavailable, when it is supposed to be busy. 

Software service granularity: Getting it right [Podcast] - everything is a tradeoff.

Work

Employers used return-to-office to make workers quit. Then this happened. - spoiler: it's probably the people you want to keep who are leaving.

Inside the chaos of Amazon's RTO mandate - see above. 

Should we focus on making workers happy? [Podcast] - yes.

Environment 

End of an era as Britain’s last coal-fired power plant shuts down - mostly switching to gas, which isn't great either, but there is progress on the renewable front too. 

In Barcelona, the subway trains are helping power the stations - I didn't know this, and this totally makes sense if you don't have batteries on the trains. 

Rich countries silencing climate protest while preaching about rights elsewhere, says study - this makes me sad and angry.

Urbanism

The European Tram Driver Championships: 26 Cities, 52 Drivers, 100% Sporting Drama [YouTube] - last time I post about this … promise. This is a good summary.  You can also check out the full stream.

Barcelona Completes First Phase of a Multiyear Renovation of La Rambla - the renderings are looking good. I haven't been able to check out the progress yet.

London saw a surprising benefit to fining high-polluting cars: More active kids - surprising? 

How are donated bikes rebuilding urban mobility in Ukraine? | With Bikes4Ukraine [YouTube] - some more good news from Ukraine.  

15min-City platform - browse cities on a map and see how accessible they are. When drilling down to individual cities, you can see a detailed map. 

A Map That Visualizes Walkable Neighborhoods Across the US - similar map, but more detailed for US cities.

‘It’s positive’: shoppers react to Oxford Street pedestrianisation proposal - I was always amazed that the road was open for cars. 

Are Taipei's Roads Still a "Living Hell"? [YouTube] - yes and no.

Random Elite

Elite 40th Anniversary Out  - more source code.

The WordPress mess [LWN] - good summary from LWN, in case you were curious, like me. 

Street Artist painting funny fake shadows to confuse people (20 photos) - I like this

Is Alcohol Really THAT Bad?! | Dan’s Journey Back to Health and Fitness (Pt. 6) [YouTube] - yes.

New Amplification - something to look into once my retro amps will give up.

The Alps [Vimeo] - tilt-shift and time-lapse for tiny models effect. Mostly spam for a hotel, but pretty.

601. Multitasking Doesn’t Work. So Why Do We Keep Trying? [Podcast] - sometimes we are forced into it, sometimes we believe we actually can do it. 

Bonus: Lives Less Ordinary [Podcast] - about the friends who remade Raiders of the Lost Ark. 

‘A diagnosis can sweep away guilt’: the delicate art of treating ADHD [Podcast] - view from the UK.

Shell Game [Podcast] - scary AI stuff.

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.