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.

Friday Links 25-18

Quick selection.

This week I liked the podcast with the whaler, and the Chinese cycling industry.  

Leadership 

Rate My Manager - Oh, no! It's pretty new. (Side note: This looks vibe coded) 

Engineering

Bringing BASIC back: Microsoft’s 6502 BASIC is now Open Source - very nice. It is one, 7000 line file. 

Browsh - new text-based browser.

BYTE - visual history - I still have my favourite issues, like the one with the Amiga 3000 on the cover. I also remember one about Desqview/X, that I probably have somewhere.

Urbanism

Safety and space at risk as SUVs reach 30% of car market in English cities, researchers warn - we replaced family vans and station wagons with something that is much worse

Barcelona metro opens Correus and Gaudí ghost stations for first time - I am probably not going to get a ticket. This looks fun. See also: Barcelona opens doors to key public transport sites during European Mobility Week

What the end of The Block means - is there something good in the suburbs? 

Radverkehrskonzept 2030 [German] Tübingen cycling plan.  Apparently, the city in Germany who spends most on cycling per person. 

GPS pay-as-you-go rail tickets to be trialled in England for first time - Why would we need this kind of tracking when we have tap-to-pay? 

Random Whales

Extra: A Modern Whaler Speaks Up (Update) [Podcast] - finally an interview with a whaler. 

ReThinking: How you can do more for others with Rutger Bregman [Podcast] - inspiring episode. 

Is China ready to take over the cycling industry? [Podcast] - talking to some Chinese producers. Another interesting shift in the cycling industry.  

Why is the EU not acting on Gaza? [Podcast] - looking at the EU politic side. 

Visualised: Europe's population crisis - sadly nobody cares for 2100, especially not the politicians 

Alcohol is AMAZING  [YouTube] - maybe not.

As beer sales fall, young Germans develop taste for alcohol-free lager - this can only be good, I wonder how this will change the culture. 

The Drug To Master Reality  [YouTube] probably not either. 

Daniel Popper - I love this artist! 

3,000 Eggs Daily: The 400-Year Japanese Tamagoyaki That Still Sparks Dawn Queues [YouTube] - those look a lot better than mine. 

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 25-17

This week I enjoyed the post about dealing with abandoned EV charger hardware and of course, the video about the TI 99/4A. 

Leadership

Nobody Wins at Calendar Tetris - busy doesn't mean productive 

Tech debt isn’t an ‘IT issue.’ It’s a business strategy - yep.

The Management Skill Nobody Talks About - how to fail good. 

Engineering 

Building your own CLI Coding Agent with Pydantic-AI - lots of them are popping up now. It is a good intro to the tools and libraries. 

mise-en-place - I hate having multiple environments. But I have to, this seems nice. 

Escaping the chains of tethered products: the Juice Rescue project - hardware and software hacking of abandoned hardware

Urbanism

What is the real cost of free parking?  [YouTube] - all the NIMBYs you expect. 

This Might Just Be the World's Best Metro System [YouTube] - that is massive 

Random Home Computers 

How the TI-99/4A Home Computer Worked  [YouTube] - my first computer was the TI99/A4 - it was so much fun, and weird. It also was the first assembler I learned.  

Possible Causes Of Your Problems [Comic] - you can adapt the right side to different minorities. 

Spy Novels: A Starter Pack - some more for my long reading list 

Heatwave that fuelled deadly wildfires was Spain’s ‘most intense on record’ - it didn't feel that hot here, but it was long.  

Other Links

• John Freeborn: Weekly Design Links – 8/26/25 

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 25-16

Lots of good stuff again this week.

I recommend listening to the history of TrainingPeaks and coding in the red-queen area. 

Leadership

Using postmortems to break out of infinite loops | Adnan Karač | LDX3 London 2025  [YouTube] - a quick talking about how to make them useful.  

Team OKRs in Action  - they have to be co-created, not top down. 

Why Do Interviewers Ask Linked List Questions? - tradition. I last worked with linked lists in C on the Amiga. 

AWS CEO says using AI to replace junior staff is 'Dumbest thing I've ever heard' - “How's that going to work when ten years in the future you have no one that has learned anything,”

Engineering

The International Obfuscated C Code Contest is back for 2024 - I think that is cheating. 

Vibe Coding: The Shadow IT Problem No One Saw Coming - I recently vibe coded a simple version of Officevibe. I am sure it is full of bugs and security issues, but I could easily have started using this in a company. Now it is sometimes easier to vibe code something, than ask for subscription to some SaaS tool. 

Email is Easy - test your email parsing skills 

opencode - kind of open-source Claude Code 

This Website is Served from Nine Neovim Buffers on My Old ThinkPad - well, that's one way to do it. 

Coding in the Red-Queen Era [Podcast] - you have to figure out what you can do, what the machines can't do. 

Urbanism

I went to America's road trip hell  [YouTube] - pretty, in an ugly way.

Dear Britain, it’s now clear: 20mph zones save lives and don’t slow traffic. Implement them - Sadiq Khan - Dear Germany too. 

States rethink a long-held practice of setting speed limits based on how fast drivers travel - this is even worse than the German way

Use of Bicivia bike lanes up 21% in five years, with 75,600 daily users in 2024 - these are inter-city routes 

Online tools for IRL amateurbanism - some new ones for me

I changed my mind about these bike protests  [YouTube] - I miss critical mass

David Seymour was right to question our compulsory helmet laws - cycling without helmet can be unhealthy, not cycling is worse 

Global Insights from The Future Design of Streets [Podcast] - reports from different cities and roles. 

Environment

Spain wildfires are ‘clear warning’ of climate emergency, minister says - most are burned ever. 

‘Unlike any other kind of fear’: wildfires leave their mark across Spain - this numbers are old, I think it is up to 400,000 hectares now

Spain faces its worst wildfire season in 30 years, with 40 active blazes and more than 30,000 evacuated  - a bit newer 

Civio - Forest fires map - surprisingly many in the north-east 

The Future of Climate Change Is on Mauritius - today's dystopia 

Random Raves

The Butterfly Who Flew Who Into The Rave - RISING 2025 (Trailer)  [YouTube] - love it. Via The Guardian article. 

Accidental Icons: The Roland TR-808, TB-303, SP-404 and More - if you never played around with a 303, you got to try it, in the best case a hardware one. 

ChatGPT will apologize for anything - "they're just continuing with your improv session."

There's a Reason Bar Ice Looks Better Than Yours (And You Can Fix It) - my first try at this was a failure. I have to dig out my insulated container. 

Why Leather is Unbeatable - Motorcyclist Review while Sliding  [YouTube] - I am more a textile guy, but this is fun. 

Why isn't anyone Talking bout the INSANE CASSETTE PRICES  [YouTube] - my taste is cheaper. 

‘I didn’t realise pigs were like, massive’: the London rapper who fell in love with farming - this is a fun watch, and free on YouTube. 

Amiga Developer Docs - I am still sad that I threw all of them out, except of the Design Manual. 

Scroll bleedthrough - more realistic e-book reading in the browser. 

"It's one of the most powerful software sound design tools on earth – and it's free" - Composers' Desktop 

How Spain put up wealth taxes – without chasing away the billionaires - seems to mostly work. 

AI Is a Mass-Delusion Event - yep

Say farewell to the AI bubble, and get ready for the crash - we will see, the money has interest in it going on. 

Denmark to abolish VAT on books in effort to get more people reading - from 25% to 0%.

"In addition to reading and writing SQLite database files, the sqlite3 program will also read and write ZIP archives." - what?

Building TrainingPeaks [Podcast] - another lovely podcast looking into cycling related businesses.

The Life Scientific: Anthony Fauci [Podcast] - more than the Covid guy. 

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 25-15

I liked the work bringing Doom to the Amiga, without actually using Amiga code. 

And I learned some new things about the history of Civility in the BBC podcast. 

Leadership 

How We Encourage Self-Improvement at Buffer - $1000 is nice, it is more than in many organisations. I don't think it is enough.

TBM 370: Dependencies Aren't Your Problem - "Shift the goal from managing dependencies, to focusing on the throughput of potentially value-creating activities"

Vibe Engineering: A Field Manual for AI Coding in Teams - rather than "vibe coding". I think this mostly has to come bottom up. 

How Octopus Energy used culture to reach the top - some good ideas, and some of them might actually be in place. I like that they don't use "no-reply" emails. 

Engineering

Cordoomceps - replacing an Amiga's brain with Doom - I used to juggle the Blitter and Copper a bit, but this is pretty out there. 

How far can we push AI autonomy in code generation? - not quite there yet, especially about implementing the functionality 

Measuring the Impact of Early-2025 AI on Experienced Open-Source Developer Productivity - in this research, the developers think they are faster, but are slower. 

Vibe code is legacy code - fully agree. 

On the use of LLM assistants for kernel development [LWN] - mostly about the policies. 

From the archive: Bicycle graveyards: why do so many bikes end up underwater? [Podcast] - because we can't have nice things. 

Urbanism

Summer Streets returns with uninterrupted car-free stretch across Manhattan - only in the summer, only some roads, only on Saturday, only in the morning, … well, it is something. 

Girona to count number of tourists and map their routes across Old Town - by monitoring mobile phone signals. 

The Case AGAINST One-Way Streets [YouTube] - Superblocks are one-way streets, it's not all bad. Big one-way roads are bad. 

La nova Gran Via des de l'aire  [YouTube] - some more drone shots of the new bits of Barcelona

Random Fires

Visualization of forest fires 2025 Provisional data - I finally found the current data and a visualization about local wildfires.  

I Deleted My Second Brain - this was in one of the extra links yesterday. If I deleted my second brain, I had no brain. 

The NNCPNET email network [LWN] - go weirdly old school. I used to use UUCP for email. 

Germany’s ‘oldest and biggest’ gay nightclub declares bankruptcy - killed by Berlin and apps. 

Civility: talking with those who disagree with you [Podcast] - I wasn't even aware of the reformation origins.  

Other Links

• Tim Bray: Long Links - including Instax camera at cartel wedding. 

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 25-14

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 25-11

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 25-09

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 25-06

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.

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.

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.

Friday Links 25-03

I have been slacking recently, today you are getting a bigger dose of links. 

If you want to listen to something nice, have a look at the episode about developer productivity and about keeping our food fresh.

Leadership

Is engineering strategy useful? - there is always one, best to make it clear 

Developer productivity with Dr. Nicole Forsgren (creator of DORA, co-creator of SPACE) [Podcast] - I loved this episode. Many good bits.

Engineering

See the code that powered the Pebble smartwatches - nice … most of the code, at least.

How AI generated code compounds technical debt - next AI will help us to reduce it again? 

The evolution of Memcached [LWN] - I remember when it first showed up. It was a little bit too late for our startup.

AI Copilot Code Quality: 2025 Look Back at 12 Months of Data - this is just the summary of the document, you have to register to download the whole thing

Kent Beck Reflects on Tidy First? [Podcast] - another book for my long reading list.

ediMeteo: How a Tiny €4 FreeBSD VPS Became a Global Weather Service for Thousands - constraints are fun.

Environment 

Spain could return to the 1980s with a bottle deposit payment system - this will be interesting to see. Recycling here is really not great. 

Lab-grown meat goes on sale in UK dog food - our pets are our main meat eaters. 

Emerging evidence for the impact of Electric Vehicle sales on childhood asthma: Can ZEV mandates help? [Paper] - "States with ZEV mandates are already experiencing measurable public health benefits."

Brake pad dust can be more toxic than exhaust emissions, study says - I kind of would have expected that anyway.

Urbanism & Transport

Natural Handcrafted Artisanal ... Streets?!  [YouTube] - those are some pleasant tiles. 

People Who Cycle to Work Take Fewer Sick Days. But Why? - I am just going to pretend that it is because it makes you happy. 

Huge Tactical Urbanism Project in Kyiv - Kontraktova Square - maybe you can help? (UA subs) [YouTube] - Mikael still doing good in Ukraine. 

Vueling cancels Barcelona-Madrid route - high-speed trains work.

The big impact of workplace commuting on Irish towns and villages - suburbisation

Random Motorbikes

Just Why is the Honda Rune Such a Classic? - I would love to have one of these pointless bikes. Maybe they could make it electric?

Simple Sabotage Field Manual by United States. Office of Strategic Services - apropos nothing. 

After 44 Years, Someone Beat the Donkey Kong Kill Screen [YouTube] - I don't agree with the slo-mo playing.

WikiTok - endless Wikipedia browsing … knowledge-scrolling 

Scientists crack what they say is the perfect way to boil an egg - this seems to be too much work

What if you never come down? The 90s clubbers who wouldn’t let the night end – a picture essay - I am not in those pictures. 

Wayback Machine extension - for Firefox

blocksalat - fun in-browser modular synth 

ISBN Visualization - fun book browsing!

What happened at The Pro's Closet? [Podcast] - more insights into the bike business, it applies to other startups too

The Battle of Valmy [Podcast] - I usually skip the history episodes. This one is good. 

Forever Fresh [Podcast] - how we keep our food fresh 

S4 EP3: Jamie Oliver on public feuds, chopping his finger off on live TV, and his controversial jerk rice [Podcast] - He is a bit weird nowadays, but he did bring me back to cooking when he first showed up on telly. 

Brewing tea removes heavy metals from water, study finds - let's ignore that we are probably adding microplastics. 

The Complete Guide to Sweater Detectives - my favourite genre 

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.