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Jake Occasional Lee · Aug 25, 2024

#23: Junkbot! 10 years in tech! PLATO!

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Jake Lee · Jake Occasional Lee

Quite a few big articles this month, including one that has been pending publication for 6 months!

  • After researching a few historical digital text systems, I created an emulator for behaviour from the 1970s’ “PLATO”: overwriting characters to create artwork! There’s also an explanatory post, but it’s fun to just try various words.

  • This August marks 10 years of being a professional software developer, a startling milestone. It seemed a fitting time to do a retrospective on the 7 career lessons I’ve learned from my 7 employers so far. This is also a useful resource the next time someone asks me for general career advice, a question I usually improvise an answer to with mixed results!

  • Perhaps my highest effort article yet, on my Internet History site I published a 4000 word analysis of LEGO’s “Junkbot” game to mark the 23rd anniversary of it’s release. I spoke to some of the original creators for this article, and it was extremely interesting seeing how many are still making or educating about games today.

  • As is now a monthly tradition, I wrote about the 3 Android games I’ve been playing in August.

  • I added a tiny new feature to the software my sites run on, adding the ability to add an “Updated” date to an article, released in minimaJake v1.0.15.

  • The twitter account @dailyobject_ posts a random object every day. Vaguely surreal, always worth keeping an eye on.

  • In San Francisco, automated Waymo cars have a car park they typically congregate in (sometimes noisily). Astonishingly quickly, a 24/7 stream with chill music & a cat cam sprung up creatively titled “LoFi Robotaxi Hip Hop Radio 🚕 Waymo Depot Shenanigans To Relax/Study To”. Beautiful.

  • I read a lot, often via my Kindle, and just send them directly instead of using software like Calibre (despite writing a detailed guide 6 years ago). Recently I encountered a few epub compatibility issues that this tiny little webapp solved.

  • If you’re in the UK and also like trying slightly weird snacks, @newfoodsuk on instagram posts new foods daily! Whilst some are probably sponsored posts, it’s a great way to keep an eye out for new stuff. As a recent example, Walkers’ “sausage sarnie with ketchup” crisps are (in my opinion!) a better smoky bacon flavour.

  • There’s a Korean family on instagram that posts painfully cute videos, reminding me a lot of a young distant family member! For example, picking who to run to, sharing food,

That’s all! See you in an unknown number of weeks! 🏄‍♂️

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