Friday Links 25-14

These are too many links. I was on holiday … twice. 

I could stagger these, but there will be more next week. 

There are still many good things here. 

Too many.  

I am sorry.  

Leadership

How We Plan Retreats, After Hosting 14 over 12+ Years (+ Get Our Retreat Planning Playbook!) - important for fully remote companies, and I didn't often see this done right

Middle managers fade as AI rises - Six people doesn't seem too bad.

Failure to communicate - nice way of putting levels on failures. 

Why workplaces should be doubling down on DEI - everybody knows that. We shouldn't listen to the trolls. 

Moving from an orchestration-heavy to leadership-heavy management role. - different companies, different types of approaches.

Rands Cheat Sheet, #1 - 1:1s 

AOE Technology Radar - A static site generator for AOE Technology Radar

Cofounder & CTO of Geordie AI on the paradox of giving control with Benji Weber - you can't give control to people, you have to create the environment where they can take it. 

Engineering

I still care about the code - working with LLMs 

de-pixelate_gaV-O6NPWrI - removing pixelation from videos. 

State of Developer Experience Report 2025  - "The widening disconnect between leadership expectations and developers' actual experiences"

Using Radicle CI for Development - interesting distributed CI

Cursor makes developers less effective? - apparently you spend more time checking the results.

The JavaScript Date Quiz - this was fun

Shifting Left on Security - The DevOps Handbook [Podcast] - maybe I have to read it after all. (there are more podcasts in that series)

Amazon, Google and Vibe Coding with Steve Yegge [Podcast] - some insights into the companies and why he is back to "coding" 

Inside the 3rd largest Rails monolith in the world with Cisco Tech Lead Ed Gibbs [Podcast] - being an outlier is nothing to be proud of. 

Environment

A change in the Southern Ocean structure can have climate implications - "we’re seeing that the Southern Ocean is drastically changing, as sea ice coverage declines and the upper ocean is becoming saltier. This could have unprecedented global climate impacts."

M25 protester sorry for delays but has no regrets - It's unfortunate to see where the UK is going. 

Afghan taxi drivers beat the heat with handmade air coolers - as all ACs, probably worse for the environment. 

First electric flight lands at Gatwick Airport - currently mostly useful for training. 

Dams around the world hold so much water they've shifted Earth's poles, new research shows - they also affect sea levels. 

The Scale of China's Solar-Power Projects - the future - it's not in the west. 

Atommüll bleibt finanziell eine Ewigkeitslast [German] - nuclear waste is a financial burden forever. Germany spends 1.7 billion Euro of their 2.7 billion Euro environmental budget on nuclear waste management. 

Primer mapa global de la contaminació lumínica a Catalunya desenvolupat mitjançant modelització avançada  [Catalan] - light pollution map of Catalonia 

Motherfucking Wind Farms - "like a middle finger to CO2"

Urbanism

Die Stadt der Viertelstunde [German, Paper] - 15 minute city.  Many German areas are already 15 minute cities, or can easily reach this goal. 

Percentage of Airbnb's in Barcelona - interactive map. It is pretty centralised. 

Barcelona moves to limit cruise tourism by reducing terminals from 7 to 5 - are they just going to build bigger ships? 

Some nice drone videos from redesigned public spaces in Barcelona

•  Recorre la nova via Laietana amb dron [YouTube] - the missing bike lane going down is a mistake. There will be accidents with cyclists. 
•  Sobrevola l’avinguda Diagonal, de Glòries a Verdaguer [YouTube] - So nice from above, I haven't used that tram yet. 
•   La ronda de Sant Antoni, a vista d’ocell [YouTube] - the one most tourists are probably not going to see

Between two trees: Vancouver man maps more than 2,600 places to hang a hammock - brilliant idea. 

The world's most liveable cities for 2025 - and what it's really like to live there - it's pleasant.

Bicing bike sharing reaches 100m trips since 2019 - The previous one started in 2007.

FEATURE: The pros and cons of the UK’s Low Traffic Neighborhoods - not that many cons?

NYC’s Congestion Pricing Is Paying Off As Motor Traffic Drops Through July - surprise!

Helsinki goes a full year without a traffic death - nice. 

Random Cyclists

Cyclists [YouTube] - Frankie's cultural observations. I like this weird channel.

BERLIN VETERANS [YouTube] - more observations 

WTO: EU, Germany push for new world trade body - more ways the EU is filling the void 

Boys Go to Jupiter - Official Trailer (2025) Cole Escola, Janeane Garofalo, Elsie Fisher  [YouTube] - that looks fun and weird

The real Salt Path: how a blockbuster book and film were spun from lies, deceit and desperation - oops. 

Barcelona promises 'most spectacular' Grand Départ in Tour de France history - can't wait!

The life swap dream – or a marketing gimmick? The Italian towns selling houses for €1 - I like the idea. It isn't easy. 

Commodore emulation packages Amiga Forever 11 and C64 Forever 11 released - I might have to go to emulation. 

Sweden set to rent cells in Estonian jails as it runs out of room for its prisoners - sad.

Watch Queen’s Brilliant Live Aid Performance: It Happened 40 Years Ago Today (July 13, 1985) - I was stuck to the television back then. 

The Case for Urban Staycations - or just experience the area around you in general.

"Visit Dubai!" - "If you try to humanise the place you will lose your mind."

‘It can bring you to tears’: is this the world’s most beautiful sounding nightclub? - Open Ground in Wuppertal

40 years of Amiga – the wow machine - my first proper computer. I learned so much. 

‘Everybody was fondling underwater!’: the Rocky Horror Picture Show at 50 – an oral history  - these anniversaries just make me feel old. I didn't see this on release though. 

When We Get Komooted - what happens when our services die. 

What you need to know about The Greatest Gathering - best event ever?

Tooth and Claw: Praying Mantises [Podcast] - we sometimes see them in our garden.

Dragons [Podcast] - another great In Our Time.

Tooth and Claw: Leopards [Podcast] - TIL: panthers are leopards 

Max Kidruk: Imagining the future in a science fiction trilogy [Podcast] - this sounds a bit like The Mars Trilogy? 

Back To The Future with Bob Gale & Back To The Future Part II with Bob Gale - I love the movies and I learned something new. 

Other Links

• Bruce Lawson: Reading List 343 - including new PNG spec! The report from the DMA compliance meeting is also good. 
• Bruce Lawson: Reading List 344  - with even more links 
• John Freeborn's Weekly Design Links – 7/15/25 - I found the I Deleted My Second Brain interesting. 
• Ben Crowder: Links #143 - cools link to Mac settings panel design. 

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 25-13

Photo: Oto Godfrey and Justin Morton
Wikimedia Commons - CC BY-SA 4.0

Too many random links this week. 

The interview with the creator of Praise You (sampled by Fatboy Slim) is pretty good, what a strong woman.  

If you need some inspiration to get on a bike, watch the video about riding 2500 km in London.  

Leadership

Expert Generalists - "But we've found that our most effective colleagues have a skill in spanning many specialties."

The Illusion of Control - work is not your life, don't even try to control it. 

Engineering

Gemini CLI: your open-source AI agent - still needs some work to keep up with Claude Code. 

Augmented Coding: Beyond the Vibes - adding things like TDD to coding with an LLM. 

Environment

Plastic bag fees and bans are working–big time, researchers say  - "We find that plastic bag policies lead to a 25 to 47% decrease in plastic bags as a share of total items collected relative to areas without policies”

Spain records temperature of 46C as Europe heatwave continues - I can confirm. 

Political cowardice hindering Europe’s climate efforts, says EU’s green chief - the recent news show this even more. 

Barcelona's leading food waste initiative recovers 850 tons of food in a year - nice, and this was just wasted before. 

Urbanism / Transport

Night Ride - plan your night trains in Europe. 

The Best-Designed Town in the Netherlands (and therefore, the world)  [YouTube] - it does look dull. Not as boring as a US suburb.

Barcelona metro to add 39 new trains by 2029 in €331m investment - yay!

The link between low-stress bicycle facilities and bicycle commuting [Paper] - if you build them, they we will come. 

I Cycled 2500km in London — Here's How It Changed My Life  [YouTube] - it is always delightful to hear these kind of experiences I can relate to. And it isn't just about cities, or cities where you live, it is everywhere. 

Random DeLorean 

‘The film wouldn’t even be made today’: the story behind Back to the Future at 40 - forty! 

Tens of thousands defy Hungary’s ban on Pride in protest against Orbán - I am so glad to see this resistance. 

We're Buying COMMODORE and Bringing It Back?! • Let's Buy Commodore p2  [YouTube] - YouTubers earn too much. I appreciate it in this case. 

Out of Pocket and into the wallabag [LWN] - another Pocket replacement, if you want to self-host 

Foxes in Love - Bike Ride [Comic]

Some Thoughts on the Shortcomings of Stoicism. - I was never a fan, or maybe a fan of people pursuing it. Where is the fun? 

1275. Waro Kishi /// House in Higashinada /// Higashinada Ward, Kobe, Hyogo, Japan /// 1995-97 - I don't know why, but I love this style. 

1277. Koh Kitayama (architecture WORKSHOP) /// Lime House /// Ota City, Tokyo, Japan /// 1996-97 - another nice house. I would have skipped the round roof. 

Japan loves them. And now they're in the UK - strawberries and cream sandwiches - I am up for this. 

9 Cold Soup Recipes for Hot Summer Days - I am seeking alternatives to a warm lunch in this heat. 

Why don’t people hitchhike any more? Is the world more dangerous or just meaner? - they still do. 

Aphex Twin: a case study in nostalgia [YouTube] - "have become nostalgic for a past that they weren't even a part of"

The unbearable obviousness of AI fitness summaries - here is a summary that you could have figured out yourself. 

Face it: you're a crazy person - "When you fully unpack any job, you’ll discover something astounding: only a crazy person should do it."

The grindification of hobbies [YouTube] - this has happened to me before. I am trying hard to just have fun now. 

Getting 'Accidentally' Cast In War Games Made Michael Madsen Into An Actor - He already impressed me in this small scene - RIP

Up the kriek: Apple gets punchy in Brussels DMA compliance workshop - Apple is the new Microsoft, everybody should stop defending them. 

Praise You: A forgotten love letter to black men [Podcast] - Interesting interview with the original artist.

Vera C. Rubin Observatory first images [Podcast] - that sounds spectacular. I had to google some pictures.

Other Links

• Tim Bray - Long Links 
• RTO mandates lead to top performers leaving and other links from Make Work Better

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 25-12

Today is apparently the Urbanism YouTube edition.

I also really liked the podcast about Hindenburg, and the video about the bikepacking trip (in Germany, sadly). 

Engineering

Annotation Mono v0.2 - a pretty new mono font 

Libxml2's "no security embargoes" policy [LWN] - It is a pretty drastic move, and I wonder if anything will change after this. 

Setting Up MCP Servers in Claude Code: A Tech Ritual for the Quietly Desperate - I have to give some of these a go. 

Environment 

Batteries are so cheap now, solar power doesn’t sleep - "In 2024 alone, global battery prices dropped 40%" 

Transporting a DYNAPAC Electric Road Paver with my Iveco S-eWay Electric Truck  [YouTube] - the future is already here. 

Urbanism

When Building a Brand-New City Doesn’t Go as Planned  [YouTube] - OK, maybe South Korea isn't so great after all. 

The Life-Sized City - Calgary - S04E03 - Full Episode [YouTube]  - a rare view on North America. 

Why U.S. Cities Don't Build Metro Systems [YouTube] - no political will. 

Fighting air pollution: Cars no longer welcome in French city of Lyon • FRANCE 24 English  [YouTube] - I love the boat to cargo bike transfer.

paper "Wheels of Change: Transforming Girls’ Lives with Bicycles" - improving girls' education and wellbeing.

Nearly two-thirds of Catalans exposed to air pollution above 2030 EU limits - that what happens if cities don't change. 

What Makes a City a Cycling City? [Podcast] - including research into African cities.

Random Bikepacking

Ein Bikepacking Trip als Abenteurer ohne Navi & Smartphone [German] - fun cycling trip with Rick Zabel and André Greipel, where they are not allowed to use digital tools.

railfinder - new rail travel planner for Europe.  

Catalonia's wildfire strategy - Insights from a world-class brigade [Podcast] - OK, compared to the 90s we are doing pretty good. 

Paul von Hindenburg [Podcast] - he seems like a bit of a dick.

Anthropic destroyed millions of print books to build its AI models  - that's one way to do it. 

S Rower Turns Your Smart Trainer Into Smart Rower: First Look!  [YouTube] - nice hack. 

 

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 25-11

My YouTube links got lost because of my new workflow. It is working now.

This week I enjoyed the Podcast about copyright and the video about cycling couriers in Seoul.  

Leadership

The Heart of Innovation: Why Most Startups Fail - long read about demand. 

Your Manager Is Not Your Best Friend - your manager should be thinking about the company and the team, then the individuals. 

Engineering

TDD, AI agents and coding with Kent Beck [Podcast] - I appreciate Kent's perspective here. 

Work 

On How Long it Takes to Know if a Job is Right for You or Not - probably shorter than you think.

Breaking down the infinite workday - interesting numbers from their work report. 

Environment 

How the threat of extreme heat is starting to change our holiday plans - I think this has been happening already. 

Urbanism

Thousands of cyclists take to the streets of Berlin to demonstrate | DW News   [YouTube] - I never managed to take part in one of these. 

TfL drivers play Train Sim World 5 | Transport for London [YouTube] - no a game for me, but fun watching the pros playing. 

Així és el parc de les Glòries des de l’aire  [YouTube] - redevelopment of Glories in Barcelona, which used to be a massive elevated round about. 

From Scratch: the only bike messengers in Seoul // Eui Ho Kim at Gig Courier 무(無)에서와 다른 이야기들 [YouTube] - that is such a pretty town.  

Verkehrsberuhigung im Neuköllner Reuterkiez: Poller-Gegner scheitern in letzter Instanz [German] - two locals and a random person try to get a Kiezblock removed, and fail before court. 

Barcelona rents down 8.9% a year after cap introduced - interesting that this works in Barcelona, but not in Germany. 

Random Headphones

Sony’s WH-1000XM6 Gets a Repair-Friendly Upgrade - nice to see this. I am still on the MX4's, but these are tempting. 

007 First Light - Announcement Trailer | PS5 Games  [YouTube] - I am mostly interested in how much of Hitman mechanics are left. 

Fixing the AMIGA 1200 with a cheap meter!  [YouTube] - That is quite a dedicated repair. 

TePhOS - alternative OS for the TI99/4A

Start your own Internet Resiliency Club - I never heard of LoRa before, this could be fun.

Spanish minister rules out cyber-attack as cause of April blackout, after expert report - it is just a complex system. It is surprising that this doesn't happen more often.

&udm=14 - Google search without the rubbish. 

ACARS Drama - random messages from aeroplanes. 

Copyright [Podcast] - Great show, but not enough about computers and copyleft. 

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 25-10

This week I enjoyed the podcasts about Lise Meitner and Korea. 

OpenRailwayMap is also nice to play around with, if you are interested in railways all over the world. 

Engineering

The Work of Building for Other Engineers: Platform & SRE Mindset 

Anatomy of a Recruitment Phish - the things jobseekers have to deal with nowadays. 

Environment

Climate action literacy interventions increase commitments to more effective mitigation behaviors [Paper] - people don't know which individual actions are useful. I should get rid of my pets. 

Revealed: More than 24,000 factory farms have opened across Europe - those are some depressing maps. 

Urbanism 

A desire for a loud car with a modified muffler is predicted by being a man and higher scores on psychopathy and sadism [Paper] - this is an older paper, and the result is maybe not quite unexpected. 

20mph limits in London linked to sharp fall in road injuries and deaths, new report finds - let's just leave this here: "Child casualties dropped by 46%, and children killed by 75%" 

‘Cleaner, greener and absolute reliability’: trams make UK comeback - nice. 

OpenRailwayMap - lovely way to visualise train lines worldwide. 

El carril bus de la B-23 estarà llest al juliol: 7 quilòmetres per afavorir l'accés a Barcelona [Catalan] - new bus lanes into Barcelona

Europe was promised a new golden age of the night train. Why are we still waiting? - exactly!

Ever-higher: the rise of bonnet height, and the case to cap it - our classic Defender is probably around 100 cm, while our Berlingo is possibly 65 cm? 

Random Morocco 

Morocco's new cross-country cycling route - sadly gravel :-) 

Terms of Service; Didn't Read - helpful terms of services summaries 

Talking Heads Celebrate 50th Anniversary With ‘Psycho Killer’ Video Starring Saoirse Ronan - I am not sure if I like the video. The song is still great. 

Lise Meitner [Podcast] - new to me, scientist working on nuclear fission around early in the last century.   

The Korean Empire [Podcast] - overview of the history.

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 25-09

First post curated via Readwise Reader. I am creating some scripts to help replicate what I did with Pocket. 

I enjoyed the Komoot goodbye video this week. It is lovely and a bit sad.  

Leadership

Stuff I learned at Carta. - lots of good stuff, maybe not applicable in all organisations. 

Early Days of Agile Development & Is Design Dead? • Martin Fowler & James Lewis • GOTO 2024  [YouTube] - nice chat.

The secrets of a great apology [Podcast] - An important step is to accept that you were in the wrong.

Urbanism

Transport Fever 3 - Cinematic Announcement Trailer [YouTube] - I see trains, trams, bus lanes, but no bike lanes, and also highways going through the city. 

They Tore Down a Highway and Made it a River (and traffic got better) [YouTube] - I have seen pictures before. This goes into quite a bit of detail. 

Another way electric cars clean the air: study says brake dust reduced by 83% - and they are often not much heavier than legacy cars. 

Los Angeles - The Life-Sized City - S04E01 - Full Episode [YouTube] - lots of stuff happening, but an uphill battle.

Random Raves

Be transported to an illegal Acid House rave by the Barbican's new immersive experience - not quite the same, innit?

Digg co-founder offers to save Pocket as Mozilla winds it down - I mostly learned that Digg is still around or coming back. 

Little Lamb Chilling With Cat [YouTube] - emergency-cute. 

I just started using n8n to automate my workflow, and I wish I had sooner - next project?

The Workload Fairy Tale - "the idea that their current commitments and obligations represent the exact amount of work they need to be doing to succeed in their position."

Unreleased Amiga Hardware Plays MP3s - I always assumed the Amiga could play these without help.

Windows Was The Problem All Along  [YouTube] - I am delighted with my SteamDeck. 

A new start after 60: I became a dog-walker – and I’ve never been happier - this is my plan. 

Cory Doctorow on how we lost the internet [LWN] - we are well buggered. 

Komoot Team Says Goodbye - great video. Imagine you have a team like this and fire all of them.

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 25-08

Amiga 1000 by Blake Patterson

Pocket is a big part of how I collect the links for the Friday Links. Sadly, Mozilla has decided to shut Pocket down. My plan is to migrate to Readwise Reader, which seems to be a reasonable replacement. I am now migrating some of my helper scripts to make the change easier. You will see next week if I will be successful. :-) 

Engineering

As US vuln-tracking falters, EU enters with its own security bug database - nice. 

Principal Engineer at John Deere on how extreme programming saved his startup [Podcast] - Quite a bit of XP in there, pretty interesting.

Environment

Climeworks’ capture fails to cover its own emissions - This is never going to be useful. 

Top winemaker ‘may have to leave its Spanish vineyards due to climate crisis’ - "acquiring plots in Benabarre, in the Aragonese Pyrenees, at 1,100 metres, where it is still too cold to grow vines. "

Low emission zones are successful in cutting air pollution, study finds - surprising no one.

Urbanism

More Motornormativity with Marco te Brömmelstroet, aka "The Fietsprofessor" [Podcast] - reviwing the study from a Dutch perspective.

Apple's new $5 billion campus has more space for parking than offices - So much future.

Spain Responds To Exploding Tourist Demand With A Groundbreaking Approach, Prioritizing Regional Growth And Strategic Visitor Management 

Thinking of a trip to Barcelona this summer? Beware – here’s what you’ll find - I don't like opinion pieces. This one mentions many things I recognise about Barcelona, and tourism in general.

How a Highway Became San Francisco’s Newest Park - people will be looking back and wonder why you would have a highway on the seafront. 

Paris races to top of European rankings of cycling-friendly cities for children - beating Amsterdam and Copenhagen. 

Londoners are swapping cars for bicycles at a rapid pace, data shows - This is mostly about the city.

Random Amiga

Brand New ReAmiga 3000 - At some point I have to check if my ancient computers still work.

So long, farewell, Auf Wiedersehen... - Mozilla is shutting down Pocket. I blame AI. 

Sean Penn on dining with Jack Nicholson and Putin, run-ins with the paparazzi, and his relationship with Zelenskyy [Podcast] - He seems nice, maybe a bit too much smoking?  

In the Studio: Esben Holmboe Bang [Podcast] - cooking as art. 

Trailblazer Alfonsina Strada: One Woman’s Battle at the Giro d'Italia | The Power of Sport [YouTube] - If you don't have women's races, perhaps open the men's races up to everybody? 

‘People were buying crossbows faster than I’d like’ – how prepping went mainstream in Britain - "I’m not one to body shame anybody, but if you’re preparing for an apocalypse, you have to be able to kneel." 

The Story Behind That Photo Of The Pinto In Front Of The Mt. St. Helens Eruption - run!

How Sierra Was Captured, Then Killed, by a Massive Accounting Fraud - long read.

Old Tosh - Toshiba's personal stereo radio cassette combo [YouTube] - I want this, ideally in working condition. 

'It's about the music' - DJ duo Slam celebrate 35 years - I have been listening to them for many years. They have a great podcast too.

1264. Akiko Takahashi & Hiroshi Takahashi (Workstation) /// SUM HOUSE 1996 /// Matsushige, Itano District, Tokushima, Japan /// 1995-96 - I like this boxy industrial style.

A kernel developer plays with Home Assistant: general impressions - I am playing with HA again too. I finally have some use cases.

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 25-07

A very random collection this week, with some prepping research. 

The Life-Sized City report from Berlin is pretty cool, so is the one about building a simple game in different engines, I also liked the post about microservices.

Engineering

Microservices Are a Tax Your Startup Probably Can’t Afford - very long read about the pitfalls and some advantages of microservices.

Formally verified cloud-scale authorization [Paper] - fascinating. Maybe only do that if you have a billion calls a second.

I Made the Same Game in 8 Engines [YouTube] - I always wanted to give this a go. There seem to be some easy options.

Environment

Farmers are making bank harvesting a new crop: Solar energy  - "On average, that energy savings and revenue added up to $124,000 per hectare (about 2.5 acres) each year, 25 times the value of using the land to grow crops. "

Urbanism & Transport

The Absolute Best Transportation for Cities [YouTube] - it's true. 

How Can Cities Fix Big Box Stores? [YouTube] - this is mostly a US problem. We are seeing this in Europe on a much smaller scale. 

The Life-Sized City - S04E02 - Berlin - Full Episode [YouTube] - Some new places to check out when I am in Berlin the next time. This is from 2022. 

lars' transport maps- sadly not for Spain. 

This company built its own rail terminal in New York City to avoid relying on trucks

What Should New York City Do About Tourist Helicopters? - ban them, and the ones used as fancy taxis too.

Random Blackouts

The recent Spanish and Portuguese blackout was an interesting day and refreshed my interest in light prepping. Obviously, this only happens after emergencies.  

• Download or order the brochure In case of crisis or war - from Sweden, this is very reasonable. 
• Emergency kit retailers experience surge in sales after Spain and Portugal power outage  
•  Ratgeber für Notfallvorsorge und richtiges Handeln in Notsituationen [German] - German booklet and checklist. 
• Spain-Portugal blackouts: what actually happened, and what can Iberia and Europe learn from it? - nobody knows yet.
  

Smoking: How large of a global problem is it? And how can we make progress against it? - lots of data and graphs on this.

Salt Lake City and Boise adopt official pride flags to skirt Republican bans

Minimum Viable Curiousity - Rands musing about our AI future.

Quite a Ride - Official Reveal Trailer [YouTube] - nice, a horror cycling game.

Desire: The Carl Craig Story - Official Trailer (2025) [YouTube] - I wonder if I will be able to see this. 

the six seconds that changed music forever [YouTube] - the Amen break. 

The TECHNICS Tape Deck (RS-671) [YouTube] - I am even more scared of opening my decks now. 

I Randomly Decided To Pay Off A School’s Lunch Debt. Then Something Incredible Happened. - I don't even understand the concept of lunch dept, but this is an uplifting story in a way. 

Are alcohol-free drinks worth the price in 2025? - it's silly that they tend to be pricier. 

Update: Diese Alpenpässe sind 2025 autofrei [German] - list of passes in the Alps that are for cyclists only on certain days.

Other Links

Tim Bray - Long Links - some good stuff, I learned about the AWS research and the Dafny language.

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 25-06

A few uplifting stories about urbanism and science this week. 

I also really liked the video about the empty virtual world and browsing through Moby's gratis track collection.

Leadership

The best culture book of 2025: The Power of Mattering [Podcast] - I am not 100% convinced, but it is on my to-read stack now. 

TBM 351: The 4 Prioritization Jobs (And Why It Matters) - I would say they are very much related.

Engineering

How should Stripe deprecate APIs? (~2016) - most importantly, they don't use versioning, like many organisations.

Why is there a "small house" in IBM's Code page 437? - spoiler: we don't really know.

Urbanism

Putting the Trans in Transit with Katelyn Burns [Podcast] - transport infrastructure protects everybody.

When Darkness Fell: How Spain’s Blackout Revealed Architectural Truth - interesting idea, sadly without any photos from the blackout. 

UK Ikea boss backs calls to pedestrianise Oxford Street as flagship store opens - "In the past two years, the number of vacancies and candy shops have dropped" 

Cycling in City of London rises by more than 50% - in two years!

How to make cars disappear without banning them - about LTNs being quite successful.

Paris Proves the Power of Pedals: How Cycling Helped Cut Pollution in Half - infrastructure is making a difference again.

Random Science

The Age of Aquaticus [Podcast] - one example of fundamental science unexpectedly leading to big industries. 

Unstoppable: Tu Youyou [Podcast] - the one example of traditional Chinese medicine being useful? With the help of a lot of science, obviously. 

Signal Hill: Caterpillar Roadshow [Podcast] - lovely story about a wonderful Japanese kid doing science. 

The fly-tipped sofa: how an abandoned couch changed a small village – in pictures - I love this. I guess the story would have been different with a fly tipped washing machine. 

mobygratis - 500 free tracks from Moby! Free as in beer, and mostly as in freedom. 

I Spent 30 Days in a Dead Game [YouTube] - there must be many of these around, unless they just shut down. Lovely video anyway. 

demanda.ree.es - nice site to track the Spanish energy mix in real time. You can also browse back to the blackout. 

How Kraftwerk’s ‘Autobahn’ altered the course of electronic music - I think this was the first electronic record I heard, my father used to play this. The influence on techno music was pretty big.

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.

Collecting Cassette Decks

This probably falls into the category of weird hobbies. Friends have asked me about it, so I figured it was time to write it down.

Some history

I grew up in the 80s and cassettes were a big part of how I experienced music. I remember recording bits of radio shows to create my own mixtapes. Furthermore, I also recorded records of friends and relatives to play on my Walkman. 

In the 90s, I really got into techno music. It was difficult to get the music to play at home or in the car. There were basically two sources, the radio and recorded DJ sets from clubs. Once you got your hands on a recording, they were widely shared between friends. 

I had a Sony TC-C5 five cassette-changer back then. I used it to record one of the radio shows which was going over multiple hours, and sometimes also DJ sets at parties of friends.

In the 00s, I lived in London and had a bit more disposable income that allowed me to acquire a Sony TC-K6 ES, which is probably one of the best cassette decks ever built.
At the time, you were able to buy mix tapes on Camden Market. The quality and source was often questionable.

Technology  

There is no way around it: cassettes are a pretty bad medium for music. There is a lot of mechanics involved, the tape is far too small and thin, and they do tend to get a lot of abuse. Duplicating them quickly reduces the quality, too. And they disintegrate over time. 

Companies producing hi-fi equipment, like Sony and Nakamichi, put in significant effort to improve the recording and playback quality of cassettes. 

They added more magnetic heads, motors, direct drives, dampening of the mechanics and cases. They improved the cassettes themselves with different recording media. Furthermore, they used a few different noise reductions systems from Dolby and others. 

There were also different types of playback systems, from the miniature Walkmans, that were not much bigger than a cassette case, to ghetto blasters. Single cassette decks in all quality levels, dual cassette decks for easy duplications, cassette changers from 5 to 10 cassettes, and many more.

Nostalgia  

Nowadays, cassette decks don't make a lot of sense. I get my music digitally and have access to many DJ sets through SoundCloud and similar services. For pop music, you have all kind of streaming services. If you want even higher quality, you can buy music on services like Qobuz. And if you prefer something you can hold in your hand, you can get everything on CD too, which are easy to rip and copy without any loss of quality. 

You can still buy pre-recorded cassettes from many artists, but the quality of the tapes is pretty bad, and they are mostly limited edition collector items, similar to a band t-shirt or sticker.   

So my collection is mostly about nostalgia. There were some cassette decks I dreamed about as a kid, when I browsed the catalogues of high-end brands that I was unable to afford. 

I really wanted only three decks in my collection, and that I have now:

• The Sony TC-K6ES because I think it is probably the best deck ever created.  
• The Sony TC-C5 for the weirdness of a cassette changer and because I had it before and used it so much
• The Nakamishi RX-505 for the amazing auto-reverse feature that moves the whole cassette. I first saw it in the film 9 1/2 weeks. I only got the RX-202E, but they look and work very similar.
  

While looking for these and for recording, playing, and digitising my tapes, I also acquired some more Sony decks. I also really like the sound of the 90s Sony amplifiers, and while I was at it, I ended up with CD players and radios too. All my amplifiers also have Google Chromecast Audios connected, and are used for music in every room.

If you are looking for a really nice deck that isn't too expensive, I would suggest the Sony TC-K511/611/711. You can find those, sometimes nicely restored, on eBay. 

If you are just curious about the technology and want to watch some videos, I can strongly recommend the channel from Techmoan on YouTube. He also explains why you don't want to use one of the new cassette players you can buy now. 

 

I also bought one (yes, one!) of the most fancy cassettes that were ever available. The Sony Super Metal Master. I remember they were costing about £15 in the 00s, they were probably the last ones in the shop. I should have bought them all, since they now sell for EUR 250 when still in original packaging. That makes me clearly not the only nostalgic and cassette romantic. 

You might also notice that I don't have any portable cassette players, like Walkmans or Ghetto Blasters. So far, I thought this would be a step too far 😀. They also never fascinated me as much, even though the technology is interesting and there are some real oddities available. 

Maintenance & Repair

You might also wonder how much of these devices still work. Good question! They all show signs of their age. The TC-5 and RX-202 will need some real love, they only function sporadically. The amplifiers all have problems with their switches and potentiometers, which leads to noise when changing the volume, the rest mainly works. 

The main issue with cassette decks is their use of rubber belts to transfer the rotation from the motors to the tape mechanism. These disintegrate over time, and you have to take the whole deck apart, clean it, and replace the belts. This can be quite fiddly. If you have added mechanics of tape changers or fancy auto-reverse, this gets even worse. 

In all old devices, capacitors will also fail at some point, and small plastic parts can also break through use. 

I am going to learn to fix some of these issues myself, but there are limits to my skills and the time I want to spend on it. There are some places that do this professionally, but they are not cheap. It is really only worth it for the very fancy devices. Otherwise, it is easier and cheaper to find a restored one on eBay. 

Still going

Finally, I leave you with some of the cassettes I bought over the recent years. More out of curiosity, than for the music. This also explains the weird mix of styles. Sadly, there are not many cassettes with electronic music available. 

Why I Still Care

This hobby is part nostalgia, part admiration for the engineering behind these devices. It’s not the most practical way to listen to music today, but it connects me to a time when music felt more hands-on and personal. And honestly, there’s something satisfying about seeing this ancient hardware work and do its thing.

 

 

 

 

Friday Links 25-05

Many podcasts this week. I really loved the one with Cyndi Lauper.

I did enjoy the one with Kent Beck and basically all the engineering and leadership ones. 

Leadership

Kent Beck on why software development is an exercise in human relationships [Podcast] - great interview with Kent, he is so humble and down to earth.

Meaning: why showing work matters has such an impact [Podcast] - interesting discussion round.  

Great culture starts with teams [Podcast] - about improving culture in your team / bubble, it's not easy.

Engineering 

Dave Farley on remote work, AI, and the future of software engineering [Podcast] - nice chat with Dave on all kinds of topics. 

John Ousterhout and Robert "Uncle Bob" Martin Discuss Their Software Philosophies [Podcast] - I think they summed it up well, they both target different areas of engineering. I am usually more on Uncle Bob's side.

Environment

Story: briffa_sep98_e.pro - The File That Sparked a Storm [Podcast] - going into the tech behind the "Climategate"

From the archive: ‘The treeline is out of control’: how the climate crisis is turning the Arctic green [Podcast] - speaking with the people directly affected by the changing climate in Norway. 

Pet dogs have ‘extensive and multifarious’ impact on environment, new research finds - I feel a bit bad whenever I buy food for our dogs. They are less dangerous to other animals.

Urbanism

Majority of Barcelona residents open to reducing car use - the problem is probably the non-residents

Urbanitzacions amb dèficits urbanístics [Catalan] - overview of UDUs, which are residential areas without services and usually in areas that wouldn't allow building nowadays. 

Everything You Thought You Knew About Roads Is A Lie [YouTube] - GCN about what's wrong with most roads. 

Urban rail trails are great for cyclists, except for this one thing [YouTube] - good summary. I am always happy to see a new rail trail, but also sad that there is no train anymore.

Random Girls

Cyndi Lauper, singer-songwriter [Podcast] - I might have had a crush on her, maybe I still do. 

Reimagining Democracy - fascinating thoughts, he also mentions Liquid Democracy as an option. 

SOUTH KOREA IS OVER [YouTube] - not only them!

 

 

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.

Mindful podcast listening

Poorly Drawn Lines: Podcasts

I have been listening to podcast for a long time. I have blogged about this previously. 

During that time, I have changed devices and players. I might have started with a classic iPod, then went to a Symbian phone, now on Android, first with BeyondPod and currently Pocket Casts. 

The one constant was the increasing number of podcasts and episodes I had to deal with every week. I do love the variety and coming across weird episodes on "In Our Time", where I learn about topics I would never have known about. 

This all takes time, and at some point more time than I actually have. My backlog sometimes went above a hundred episodes and multiple days in playtime.

So I did, what probably most people do: increase the listening speed, skip silences, and similar tools. Pocket Casts even has a helpful page to show you how much you "saved". 

But recently, I started wondering about what I lost. Can I really ingest all this information at higher speeds? Aren't silences in between human and part of the story?

I decided to follow the advice I give everybody who has too many things to do and not enough time to do them: prioritize and reduce the scope. 

I removed many podcasts I previously subscribed to. First, I deleted the ones with overlapping topics. For example, I do listen to a lot of cycling podcasts, a few of them do cover more or less the same topics.

Furthermore, I also went back to 1x speed and without trimming silences. 

I am still skipping and auto-skipping ads. If I notice that I skip over content, I just skip the whole episode. And once I skip a few episodes of the same podcast, I unsubscribe. 

This entire exercise really helped to make the listening experience much more enjoyable. I really like listening to them at their normal speed and natural flow of pauses and silences.  

And I got rid of my backlog. I now listen to most episodes in the same week they were published. I also have time for many other things, like reading, listening to music, or just being more mindful about the things that I am actually doing and like the comic about says: just being with my thoughts.  

Making room for new favourites

That being said, I also have discovered some new podcasts over the last year that I now also have the time to listen to. 

Strangers on a Bench - Tom chats to random people sitting on benches in London. It is a very relaxing listen that reminds me of my time in London and all the interesting people. 

Tea and Sanctuary - Emma talks about random things, very cosy and calm in our weird times.

The Louis Theroux Podcast - Fun interviews, this is one of the podcasts where I only listen to the guests which interest me. I especially liked the ones with Sean Evans and Jamie Oliver.

Bookoverflow - Tech book reviews every week. The only problem is that this also adds to my very long book backlog.

Friday Links 25-04

Have a listen to Greg Korah-Hartman about the kernel development process. Some good and uplifting topics in urbanism this week too.

Leadership

The Product Engineer - I agree with some of it. Every engineer should be a product engineer, but I still think there is a place for product managers. 

Who gets to do strategy? - everybody. 

Ok. So, You’re Failing - how to receive performance feedback, and probably also how to give it.

Engineering

How Linux is built with Greg Kroah-Hartman [Podcast] - first thing I did after this: google Kernel Newbies. I did wrangle the email contributing system in the past.

Why I'm No Longer Talking to Architects About Microservices - mostly because nobody is talking about the same thing and how it relates to the solution. 

6502.sh - because we needed as 6502 written in busybox ash 

How Long Should Functions Be? - "How long, then? Lots of a short functions. A few long ones. The longest long one will keep getting bigger the more functions there are in the system."

Story: Hatetris - Obsession, Friendship, and World Records [Podcast] - I didn't know about Hatetris, it is super frustrating!

Urbanism 

Paris Votes to Make 500 More Streets Car-Free - nice.

How is Ljubljana connected to its nearby forest without a car?  [YouTube] - Barcelona could learn something from this, instead they made it just about illegal to ride mountain bikes in their hills. 

How is a Bike Tunnel this Freak'n Great!? [YouTube] - it is a great tunnel. Would I spend more time than I need in it? Probably not. Should we have more of these? Yes. 

Assignment: Road wars - cycling in Paris [Podcast] - interviews with locals. 

More than a million people die on roads every year. Meet the man determined to prevent them - "Officials were no longer allowed to design roads for idealised drivers who never became distracted or exceeded the speed limit"

Random Houses

1249. Koh Kitayama (architecture WORKSHOP) /// F³ House /// Yamato, Kanagawa, Japan /// 1994-95 - I love this one!

Growth [Podcast] - starts harmless with pumpkins, then ends up with growing back fingertips, and overpopulation 

Sir John Soane [Podcast] - I usually skip over very local and historical episodes, but this one is great. I have to visit the museum the next time I am in London. 

Stockpile 72 hours of supplies in case of disaster or attack, EU tells citizens - great, back to prepping, at least I am in practice from the pandemic. 

Career advice in 2025. - it is a different world. 

Salad Sandwich (Australia) on Sandwiches of History⁣ [YouTube] - great channel, but this is the first sandwich I now regularly make. 

Nick Cave, singer and writer [Podcast] - desert island discs 

S4 EP7: Sean Evans discusses his upbringing in Chicago, interview techniques, and no-go guests on ‘Hot Ones’ [Podcast] - fun interview with my favourite YouTube host. 

The Life Scientific: Bill Gates [Podcast] - is he one of the good ones now? I can't decide.

Other Links

• Tim Bray Long Links

 

 

 Current Soundtrack:  HOME@mtw#2_ben_klock_25.12.08

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.