A large LEGO minifigure standing next to a green LEGO bicycle, in front of a LEGO mosaic of a city street scene

Again a few good podcasts, I especially liked the one about The Pre-Training Wall and the Mythical Man Month.

Quote of the Week
Rule of thumb: When the debate is no longer productive, it’s time to make a decision.
Managing Humans
Michael Lopp

Leadership

The Ask - what is this meeting actually about?

Trust Factory - “We’re accumulating code faster than we are accumulating trust.”

Is AI flattening your team’s creativity? Here’s how to tell. - I am definitely seeing “AI‑induced groupthink”

Engineering

rsync was basically done until the maintainer discovered vibecoding - I see myself in this, and I don’t like it.

The VibeSec Reckoning - there will be security issues created we are not even aware of.

What is harness engineering? [Podcast] - using the static analysers and similar tools that we can rely on.

The Pre-Training Wall and the Treadmill After It [Podcast] - good overview about the AI economy we are in.

TypeScript, C# and Turbo Pascal with Anders Hejlsberg [Podcast] - I did love Turbo Pascal back then. My first usage of OOP.

Has AI changed everything about software development? - The Mythical Man-Month by Fred Brooks [Podcast] - no.

Urbanism

After years of works, Barcelona will inaugurate new La Rambla boulevard on February 13-14, 2027 - a bit to go. I am looking forward to this.

Goodbye to festivals at the Forum: Barcelona will ban all but one and create a “marine park” for residents - also good, no idea why Primavera Sound gets an exception.

Barcelona has nearly 7,000 bar and restaurant terraces, up 6% compared to four years ago - one of the best cities to eat out

Barcelona looks to reduce bicycle robberies - I have no idea how this is going to help or why there are multiple registries to start with.

Why Walking to the World Cup Final Is Illegal [YouTube] - the US is weird.

Can hybrid village stores answer rural Germany’s ‘cry for help’ and fend off far right? - I like the idea, but would miss having a real person to connect with in the shop.

Environment

Why are people excited about nuclear power again? [Podcast] - because they don’t look at the costs.

Sir David Attenborough [Podcast] - best TV personality ever.

Energy communities gain ground in Catalonia to strengthen a more resilient power system - I hope this will increase acceptance. There is a lot of NIMBY for renewable resource installations.

Konzerne legen erste Tarife für die Rückgabe von Batterie-Strom ins Netz vor [German] - using private battery backup to make money.

Random Lego

12,060-piece LEGO 21065 Sagrada Família makes history as the biggest LEGO set of all time - amazing, but not for me

M.C. Escher [Podcast] - I didn’t know anything about him.

The Spanish Exception - the blame for housing can’t be put just on immigration

FitPub 1.0 is here! A federated social fitness platform and Strava alternative - nice. I am also looking at FitTrackee and Endurain

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Have thoughts on any of this post? Reply on Mastodon or find me at @cdamian@rls.social.