[BR] : Book Review [C] : Comedy [N] : Note to self or a journal entry [PR] : Product review [WD] : Word of the Day (discontinued) No posts are deleted, just unlisted if they're no longer relevant.
Edit: This was a hit on HackerNews and I received a ton of valuable feedback. I’ve put markers for the amendments I’ve made Recently, I had the rare opportunity to test several agent harnesses, LLMs, and AI gateways in my daily tasks and greenfield projects. Each discovery befuddled me on the popular sentiment for agentic development. I learned that in the past two weeks, Anthropic has diminished…
Traditional photo libraries like Amazon or Google Photos will sell and use my media to build an AI and advertising profile on my family, and they can refuse me access to my photos. I get to “own nothing and be happy.” Well, I’m not happy with that offer—I’ve used Windows before, so I know when I’m being screwed over. (Or I’m paranoid.) I deleted my Google account two weeks ago, and the only loose…
Over the past 11 years, the software engineering world has been disrupted with the widespread adoption of GraphQL from companies like Github, Shopify, and Yelp. We have large enterprises like Apollo, The Guild, and Wundergraph to host the necessary complexity associated with this revolution in API development. But I’m skeptical of the hype. How can an API paradigm as established and battle-tested…
Recently, I discovered n8n , a workflow automation tool targeted as an open source and cheaper alternative to Zapier. At SecondShop, I used the tool to integrate with our Shopify storefront to avoid adding and deploying webhooks. Like all low code tools: it’s great! Until it isn’t. An example of a simple n8n workflow. n8n is different from other low code tools I’ve tried in that I can export all…
After developing software for small and large teams, I’ve learned lessons I wish I knew starting out. I wrote a similar, generalized article more than a year ago, so check it out if you aren’t a programmer. If you haven’t already, realize coding is the easy part of the job—especially with AI. It’s the planning, teamwork, and politics that gets you. Work with legacy code. So, you want to make an…
The first five days of my trip to Scandinavia were great. Copenhagen was bustling, vibrant, and fun until August 4th, 2025. One mistake derailed my trip by three days. To this day, it remains the most expensive, stressful, and time-wasting error I’ve ever made. Day 1: Malmö The interior of an Øresundståg train. Credit: Seat61 I’m traveling from Copenhagen to Stockholm, with a stop at Malmö Central…
Upon movie theatres declaring bankruptcy, I would experience immense schadenfreude. I can’t fathom why anyone enjoys this 20th century social charade. “The cinema: where money is burned, calories are gained, germs are spread, time is prolonged, sex scenes are awkward, and kids spill drinks on people.” At Cineplex, a basic movie ticket used to cost $15-18. Costco made movies at Landmark Cinemas…
I took some notes for my introductory classes at Wilfrid Laurier University (WLU) I thought I’d share instead of tossing or uploading them to a paywalled platform like CourseHero. NOTE : select documents may be partially complete Number Name OverLeaf Link BU127 Intro to Accounting https://www.overleaf.com/read/tcbmhhnjwggq#abf43e PS101 Intro to Psychology 1…
I’ve most likely sent you this post because you asked “why did you pause your university education?” A university or college education should be, but isn’t: 1 fun inclusive accessible immersive multifaceted accommodating open to criticism stimulating curiosity invigorating discovery nonexclusive to students encouraging critical thinking Paying $996.75 2 to teach yourself one course that over…
I edit my posts constantly, and only post when I think they’re “good enough.” They’re only “finished” when I’m tired of working on them. The problem is, I’m not tired of working on them even after they’re posted, so the RSS and email newsletter folks receive outdated copy. It doesn’t bother me that no post is finished. Fashion is never finished. The Zodiac and Jack the Ripper cases were never…
Who am I? I put the fun in dysfunctional, the LOL in halal, the cook in cookie monster, and the bitch in obituary. I’m an idealist turned realist, I jest to escape. A lingering opportunist. A duct looking for tape. I play piano like this: asdjf8emx;.lkldihdkkiep[93. I magnify magnification, investigate investigations, generalize generations, and manage expectations. I’m chronically dehydrated. I…
Mr. Snowman and Snowma’am were happily wedded homeowners of Snow World: the land of packed stacked balls, buttoned eyes and pointy orange noses. Together, they spawned a snowbaby: or an empty-headed ice cube. Despite the frozen atoms, his pliable brain was ripe for indoctrination. First, Snowma’am “educated” him on religion: claiming he’s special while tip-toeing around conspiracies like…
Image by Tyler Scagliarini I was in the living room, living, when I saw an airborne butter knife. “Jesus!” I yelled, “why is there a knife levitating in my kitchen?” It turns out that a fly was lifting the butter knife Superman-style. Meanwhile, my stick of butter contemplated its flying abilities, so the fly dropped the knife and landed on the butter, evolving into a butterfly! Together my butter…
As an autodidact, I hate time dilation and relativity. Fast objects move faster through time, which sucks for someone like me, who likes going fast. WLU, my favourite corporate indoctrination hellhole ripe with aimless underage drinkers, pays professors enough to have less-than-zero enthusiasm when teaching bibliography formats. So, I don’t go to their lectures. My Astronomy 101 professor, Dr.…
Looking back 5 months later, this headline sucks. From Roberts, David. “What’s Causing Climate Change, in 10 Charts.” Vox, September 11, 2020. My theory of why people think electric personal transportation is sustainable is akin to recycling: control with purchasing power. It’s not like [Average Joe] can tell nearby electrical plants to build nuclear/solar/wind power. He can, however, trade his…
If you’re someone who likes learning for fun, I highly recommend Steven Strogatz’s Infinite Powers . 1 I finished this book last night at a bar in downtown Waterloo with blaring music at 11 PM. How does one focus on a book with all of those distractions? From experience, noise cancelling headphones or earplugs only go so far. The only way I maintain focus is if the material in the book demands,…
This post is aimed at those looking to have kids and who have fully considered the climate changed, potential nuclear doomsday wasteland, incorporated, militarized dystopia they are potentially subjecting them too. I ask that you imagine your response to your child's question: "Mummy/Daddy, why did you bring me into this shithole knowing that it would be a shithole?" Suddenly, what you thought was…
Information is beautiful wonderfully summarizes the factual accuracy for historical dramas/biopics from The Wolf of Wall Street , Hidden Figures , Hacksaw Ridge , etc. But you’re here for the film that scored last place on historical accuracy. The Imitation Game is one of the most historically inaccurate films analyzed. In summary, it covers how Alan Turing, the father of Computer Science working…
There are too many fonts, so much so that I usually choose the Braille Institute’s Atkinson Hyperlegible for everything from my browser’s sans-serif default, to Obsidian notes, to my personal blog. I few weeks ago, I started writing LaTeX papers and Atkinson Hyperlegible looked awful! So, I scoured the deepest cavities of Reddit (using Perplexity of course; fuck u/spez ), and finally found…
Wilfred Laurier University’s Financial Accounting course: BU127, had me at odds with the reality of learning. It is by far the hardest university course I have taken in my first year. What I learned too late, after the second midterm, was how little support there was for self-directed learners based on the material. Here are the course materials: Lectures by Kai Chien . Accounting is a long and…
After being indoctrinated by the Reddit and then Lemmy hive minds pushing socialism and "eating the rich" I've taken a pretty negative view of corporate power as a result of the free market system, but I've also seen how stupid governments can be in regulating corporations. The funniest thing is that after a few months of studying, I still don't know what I want to do. What I have learned is that…
“Are you sleep deprived, occasionally depressed, lethargic, exhausted/depleted, and don’t feel like getting up in the morning?” What a great infomercial hook for most Gen Z folks entering adulthood. In the quest to be the best , one must supplement their body’s desires, not by the minimum, but by the ideal. The wet dream for all nootropic microdosers is Limitless (2011) , a film where the…
In 2024, I see a surge of enschittification, so much so that the word might as well be Merriam Webster's word of the year. Not only do I see the quality of products declining, but also the tools used to design those products. ⚠ As with most, this topic has its roots in free market economics, so if you're heavily right-leaning for whatever reason, consider yourself warned. I'm not judging, I just…
Bill (Stormrider) Wear’s article on The Quiet Art of Attention got me thinking about my understanding of efficiency. Efficiency is achieving an outcome while wasting as little time and resources as possible In my productivity system post, I synthesized the optimization of space and time complexity into doing things the “best” way, leaving it up to the reader to determine what the best way was. I…
“Someday? Someday my dream will come? One night you will wake up and discover it never happened. It's all turned around on you. It never will. Suddenly you are old . Didn't happen, and it never will, because you were never going to do it anyway. You'll push it into memory and then zone out in your barco lounger, being hypnotized by daytime TV for the rest of your life.” — Vincent (Tom Cruise) from…
The goal behind my "word of the day" posts was to learn words, but I realized it's as useless as Duolingo. The only way to learn a language is to expose yourself to it. Just as you can't learn German without speaking it, you can't improve your vocabulary if you stop reading it. I have already forgotten what 'tact' or 'alacrity' means, even though I have written about them. I've also found that…
Sporadic refers to an expected behaviour occurring inconsistently. Let’s say we expect Tesla stock to go up every month, but instead, it goes up every quarter, then every month, then every quarter again. This behaviour is sporadic as what we’re expecting to happen is what’s happening in an unexpected way. Erratic means inconsistent and unpredictable relative to an expected pattern. For example, if…
This guide is for my own reference on learning through a textbook, whether it be studying for an exam or catching up on lectures I most definitely missed . 📖 Flip through all of the pages to understand how long the chapter is and what stands out to you 🤔 Review the end-of-chapter quiz to view the important things the author(s) expect(s) you to learn ↪️ Skim the end-of-chapter summary to get a…
Dan Luu’s post on looking stupid struck me on a a personal note. Especially as I navigate the university environment. “The gain from asking a stupid sounding question is small in most particular instances, but the compounding benefit over time is quite large and I've observed that people who are willing to ask dumb questions and think "stupid thoughts" end up understanding things much more deeply…
Nabeel S. Qureshi's article on understanding /learning concepts from the perspective of people perceived as unintelligent made me think of project-based learning. Project Based Learning Learning through experimentation; getting your hands dirty trying to prove something In particular, Michael Faraday wasn't really appreciated until Maxwell verified his experiments on electromagnetism. His…
As soon as I hit "publish" on this draft, it is immediately out of date as my setup evolves. The main point I want you to take away from this is the nuance between productivity and efficiency: Productivity (noun) Efficiency (noun) Quantity of output per unit, e.g. money or time Maximising output by doing things the best possible way My productivity, or rather efficiency system, aims to optimize…
The Question Would a hypothermic person feel the same way about a slightly colder pizza as a properly heated pizza would feel to a normal person? Hypothesis Yes, because the pizza reflects your ambient temperature. If you are colder, it means that everything around you feels warmer. Assumptions Made Our average body temperature is 37°C. This includes oral temperature Hypothermia occurs when our…
Over the past few months, I've come across a lot of articles and posts with life advice. I'm only 19 at the time of writing, so I know very little about life. I have no religion, no partner, no (close) friends. However, I'd like to make the right decisions when it comes to enriching my life. I never had any mentors other than those from my previous job: Malcolm Fischer and Beraki. Hopefully the…
"Blogging is fun and therapeutic. Grammar and editing aren’t. As long as your thoughts are coherent, don’t worry too much about writing mistakes or filtering yourself. Just use Grammarly to fix elementary-level errors and move on. It’s more about the writing process than the final product." — Ash I disagree, because when I look back at my work from less than a year ago , I'm embarrassed by how…
I don't tend to hear much jargon from software developers, but rather from managers or products. I'm not sure why they use this verbosity. This is a list of all the jargon I've heard while working as a software developer for 2 years. Note: Skip to the Glossary for the complete list. Examples Welcome aboard to the new team, we hear you bring a lot to the table ! I hope your onboarding went well; HR…
Alacrity : brisk and cheerful readiness So that's why it's called the Alacritty terminal . It's really fast and always happily ready for user input.
The 2016 MacBook Pro is one of the most abysmal abominations known to personal computing; its reveal trailer is an ironic comparison of Apple's blunders and successes. The first eye-catching notebook we see is the iBook G3, with its iconic translucent tinted exterior and friendly, almost childish clamshell design. The next notebook: the original 2006 MacBook, I used in Grade 4 (2014)! For…
To drastically improve query performance on transaction aggregations, Neo Financial 1 implemented an online analytics processing (OLAP) database solution: Rockset . Instead of creating aggregation pipelines to group transactions by spend category or month, we would store the data pre-aggregated, significantly improving query times. One month later: The project was a huge development success, with…
Chutzpah is best defined by its synonyms: Nerve, gall, balls, audacity, and guts. I discovered the word from DHH's post today: "At first glance, it could seem like Apple actually attempted some semblance of good faith compliance with the Digital Markets Act that goes into effect March 7 in the EU. But once you start peeling the onion, you realize it’s stuffed with poison pills so toxic you can…
Tact : the sense of what to do or say to maintain good relations with others or to avoid offending them. The first thought I had when I learned this word was about office politics. Companies culture us to be corporate zombies for our protection. Tell me if you've heard at least one of the following: - Don't say anything directly, you'll get into a conflict that's not good for anyone - Always…
"To tease something desirable, but keep it constantly out of reach." A man is riding a pig by dangling a carrot on a stick in front of the pig's nose. The pig chases the carrot, never coming close to eating it. The man riding the pig has a destination to ride to, so to keep the pig from losing motivation, he never gives the pig the carrot. The pig doesn't realize that it is a slave to its rider…
Traditional Piracy A pirate is synonymous with a robber. The pirate steals on the sea or "on land from the sea" without being commissioned by a sovereign authority. For those unfamiliar with the difference between theft, robbery, and burglary, robbery is theft accomplished by the use of force or fear . Etymology It comes from definitions such as "attempt," "trial," or "attack." But unless you're…
Before we get into the horseshit procedural indoctrination that leads us to include text in slide decks, let's consider whether slideshow presentations are necessary. EMVS: Order of Communication Mediums "The most revolutionary ordering system since BEDMAS." When attempting to communicate a message, consider following EMVS ( em-viz ): 📧 Email /Messaging Preferred because it's the most…
Ontology is defined in the study of philosophy and metaphysics as the study of being and existence. It refers to entities, their relationships, and how they are grouped. Say, this reminds me of "domain entities" in computer science. How do we define a thing ? An object, a data type, a relation, a program, or an abstraction? Ontology in Computer Science derives the meaning of said "things" and…
I recently migrated to a self-hosted blog because Hashnode stores blog posts in JSON instead of Markdown, giving me less control over my work . My first custom blog was done in a week, and a similar effort would be tedious now that I no longer develop front-end code. The Astro Cactus template gave me a head start, as it took me a day to customize. In retrospect, my now-defunct YouTube channel took…
Preface I'm in 🇨🇦 Canada and source all my parts from here. Your sim racing gear situation may look different based on your location. Vocabulary Term Definition FFB Force feedback: the forces pushing against your hands when you drive Shifter H-Shifter/Gearbox Shifter Wheelbase The rotation mechanism that the steering wheel attaches to Cockpit The stand that the wheelbase, pedals, and sometimes…
I'm not a fan of introductions or TL;DRs because they give you a summary of what you're going to learn, but you can summarize the key takeaways with AI these days. Anyway, you read the title. Background We had a dependency so outdated, it had a critical vulnerability. I was tasked with upgrading it. Sounds small and simple right? It was not. — Raheel Danger Junaid: Understatement of the year Here…
I'm always looking for ways to do less while delivering more to increase my value. But how do I do that while learning new skills and tools in a rapidly changing industry? The answer is that I try to fail hard (fall on my ass) by intentionally putting myself in challenging, unfamiliar, and uncomfortable situations where I'm likely to make mistakes and learn from them. This does not mean I…
I've been keeping my dotfiles private for some time now because I don't want to remove secret information and create a PR for every change. Now the config climbs out of its "private repository" cave for you to see in all its glory. Who's been requesting it? Most comments on my YouTube channel . TL;DR: Here's the link to the full gist What is LunarVim? An IDE layer for Neovim with sane defaults.…
It's a lot of hard work, pressure, and uncertainty. But sometimes I wonder if I'm biting off more than I can chew or if I should have followed the traditional path of going to college. Before you ask, no, this is not an autobiography; I've written enough of those for my nine college applications. This is, however, my very first blog post (except for the Webflow one, which we can ignore for now).…