# indicator (blogs) — RSS Amplifier Recent posts from the 4 feeds in the RSS Amplifier directory that cover indicator. Page: Feed: --- ## [The Year of the Linux Desktop](https://www.hendrik-erz.de/post/the-year-of-the-linux-desktop) _2026-08-07 · Hendrik Erz · Personal Research Blog | Hendrik Erz_ Windows 11 turns worse by the minute, and complaints about Microsoft products from Teams through Office 365 to VS Code are mounting. Nowadays, only few people actually like Windows. Switching to Mac is difficult as it involves buying an entirely new device, so more and more people are turning towards Linux as an alternative. And, in 2026, this is finally a viable option for a large group of… ## [Croissant Club](https://laggingindicators.blog/posts/croissant-club/) _2026-08-02 · Lagging Indicators_ Croissant Club has been live for about 3 weeks now. It is a personal review blog for croissants. Huge traffic to it, obviously. Over the past few years I have developed an appreciation for croissants, and I thought this would be a simple funny project to look back on in a few years if I keep up with it. Backfilling the data has been a bit irritating, but luckily I’ve only had this idea for a… ## [Entitlement and Culture](https://www.hendrik-erz.de/post/entitlement-and-culture) _2026-07-31 · Hendrik Erz · Personal Research Blog | Hendrik Erz_ Open source always had issues with entitled people. Many people don t make a distinction between paid software and free software, and as such it is common to see reports in open source projects by individuals who have encountered a problem and expect an immediate solution. But since the emergence of LLMs as capable coding tools, things have taken a wrong turn. Now, the same people who previously… ## [Disassembling a Nespresso Vertuo Next](https://laggingindicators.blog/posts/nespresso/) _2026-07-30 · Lagging Indicators_ The Nespresso Vertuo Next we had would when initially turned on, immediately blink orange and not stop if you pressed it, sometimes it would switch to blinking orange twice, then pausing, over and over the application would various show and error that the machine was unlocked, or ready to brew never was the mobile application useful A couple tips that I struggled with from watching videos (and I… ## [LLMs and the Blurry Distinction Between Code and Data](https://www.hendrik-erz.de/post/llms-and-the-blurry-distinction-between-code-and-data) _2026-07-24 · Hendrik Erz · Personal Research Blog | Hendrik Erz_ There is still a lot of confusion about what LLMs actually "are." A very helpful mental model to understand LLMs a bit better is to recognize the distinction between code and data, and when this distinction breaks down. In this article, I introduce you to what code and data formally are, and how LLMs completely defy this seemingly neat distinction. I also include some recommendations for any… ## [How to Smartly Take Notes](https://www.hendrik-erz.de/post/how-to-smartly-take-notes) _2026-07-17 · Hendrik Erz · Personal Research Blog | Hendrik Erz_ Taking "smart" notes is a business. Dozens of influencers on YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, and the likes, try to sell you the next best workflow, using fancy new apps with cool features, AI integration, and of course a graph view. But is this really helping us write papers? In a recent converssation with a good friend, we discussed many of these issues. I came to the conclusion: None of it… ## [Some Reflections on INAS 2026](https://www.hendrik-erz.de/post/some-reflections-on-inas-2026) _2026-07-10 · Hendrik Erz · Personal Research Blog | Hendrik Erz_ Last week, the 2026 edition of the INAS conference convened at the birthplace of analytical sociology - Nuffield College at Oxford University. It was an inspiring meeting of many colleagues I hold dearly, but it was also a first in that it more explicitly than previous instances made scholars of political sociology visible. In this article, I provide some initial reflections on what this can mean… ## [How I use Generative AI in My Work](https://www.hendrik-erz.de/post/how-i-use-generative-ai-in-my-work) _2026-06-26 · Hendrik Erz · Personal Research Blog | Hendrik Erz_ Locally-running generative AI has made considerable jumps in quality in the past three years. I think it is finally time to evaluate such models in terms of how they can help researchers do their work. In this article, I review two use-cases for which I believe they are excellent: preparing a paper for submission and using LLMs as "friendly reviewers." ## [The Rise of Slopware](https://www.hendrik-erz.de/post/the-rise-of-slopware) _2026-06-19 · Hendrik Erz · Personal Research Blog | Hendrik Erz_ An important but overlooked dimension in the ongoing discussions of LLM-assisted app development is quantity versus quality. With the help of AI, more people will be able to produce more apps. But there are two crucial ingedients to good software that no AI tool can do: maintenance and UX design. ## [Four Uncomfortable Truths About the Impeding Collapse of AI](https://www.hendrik-erz.de/post/four-uncomfortable-truths-about-the-impeding-collapse-of-ai) _2026-06-12 · Hendrik Erz · Personal Research Blog | Hendrik Erz_ The "AI Bubble" will collapse. That is not a question of "if," but a question of "when." However, I have seen several people arguing that, once the AI bubble will burst, everything will go back to normal. But this is very unlikely to happen. In this article, I outline four uncomfortable truths which everyone – apologetics and critics – will have to come to terms with. ## [Earn crypto for idle GPUs (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/UCzSctpM69YS) _2026-06-12 · **Sponsored**_ Run one CLI, host Qwen/Llama/Mistral, and earn BTC, ETH, SOL, or USDC ## [The End of General and Free Public Education](https://www.hendrik-erz.de/post/the-end-of-general-and-free-public-education) _2026-06-05 · Hendrik Erz · Personal Research Blog | Hendrik Erz_ Recently, the German educational minister has publicly stated that German Student Assistance, known as BAföG, does not need to be increased to counter the current cost-of-living crises. This has raised vocal critique across the political spectrum. I take this incident as a chance to focus on a bigger trend: Educational Retrenchment across all of Europe is rising, not just in Germany. Higher… ## [This App Should’ve Been A Website](https://www.hendrik-erz.de/post/this-app-should-have-been-a-website) _2026-05-29 · Hendrik Erz · Personal Research Blog | Hendrik Erz_ Every once in a while I go on a trip with friends. And, while I can keep data brokers (mostly) off of my phone with a bit of research, this is less possible when a group needs to coordinate. Because someone must suggest how, e.g., budget splitting is being done. And typically, this ends with me having another single-use app on my phone. So today I will be yelling at the clouds about this app that… ## [TrueNAS, or, How I Rediscovered The Joy of Owning My Media](https://www.hendrik-erz.de/post/truenas-or-how-i-rediscovered-the-joy-of-owning-my-media) _2026-05-15 · Hendrik Erz · Personal Research Blog | Hendrik Erz_ A few weeks ago I received a free computer, and turned it into a NAS. I subsequently discovered my old music collection, and decided to turn my NAS into a streaming service. Now I am rediscovering the joy of having no perfect choice, and supporting artists I enjoy directly. ## [Why 8 GB of Memory Might Still Be Enough](https://www.hendrik-erz.de/post/why-8-gb-memory-might-still-be-enough) _2026-05-01 · Hendrik Erz · Personal Research Blog | Hendrik Erz_ Whenever I visit online discussions and someone is about to buy a new computer, one of the first and most fiercely discussed questions is always: "How much memory do I need?" This is typically answered with "More" or "More than you think." But I think that this is silly, especially in times when memory is priced closer to gold than to consumer electronics. In this article, I want to provide some… ## [Made in Compose: Airbnb Month Picker Dial](https://www.sinasamaki.com/made-in-compose-airbnb-month-picker-dial/) _2026-04-17 · sinasamaki · sinasamaki_ How to create a gorgeous Dial in Jetpack Compose ## [Security Advisories and Cognitive Overload](https://www.hendrik-erz.de/post/security-advisories-and-cognitive-overload) _2026-04-03 · Hendrik Erz · Personal Research Blog | Hendrik Erz_ Security advisories are a mechanism by the open source community to distribute potential software vulnerabilities to their developers confidentially. It is a vital mechanism to ensure software remains safe to use. However, in recent years, there has been an increase in low to medium severity reports which tend to drown out critical reports that need much faster response times. A rant on cognitive… ## [Heuristics and Assumptions](https://www.hendrik-erz.de/post/heuristics-and-assumptions) _2026-03-28 · Hendrik Erz · Personal Research Blog | Hendrik Erz_ Heuristics are everywhere. But every heuristic is always also just a good assumption. And assumptions can be violated. In this post, I share a story about when my data suddenly turned foul, and the cause of this was anything but obvious. The lesson? The road to hell is paved with good assumptions. ## [I spent $16 opting out of Pearson VUE's facial comparison policy](https://laggingindicators.blog/posts/pearsonvue-facial-comparison/) _2026-03-21 · Lagging Indicators_ Signing up for an online, at-home test from Pearson VUE also means accepting their Facial Comparison Policy. 1 Pearson VUE may use facial images collected during the testing process to develop, upgrade, and improve our online proctoring application in the event that automated facial comparison processes are determined to have resulted in a matching failure. In these cases, facial images will be… ## [How to create custom Dials](https://www.sinasamaki.com/how-to-create-custom-dials/) _2026-03-14 · sinasamaki · sinasamaki_ ChromaDial is super customizable and delightful ## [Can We Still Trust Our Software?](https://www.hendrik-erz.de/post/can-we-still-trust-our-software) _2026-03-13 · Hendrik Erz · Personal Research Blog | Hendrik Erz_ In the past months, the software I use daily has started to get less and less reliable. While mostly anecdotal evidence, I believe this to be a potential canary for deeper problems that plague software. For now, we may still be able to trust our software. But what about in ten years? ## [Stay updated on your professional world (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/VAo88x1ZnhKZ) _2026-03-13 · **Sponsored**_ Keep in touch with people you know, build your career. ## [Where Zettlr Failed: How I Wrote My Entire Thesis Using (Almost) Only One Program](https://www.hendrik-erz.de/post/where-zettlr-failed-how-i-wrote-my-entire-thesis-using-almost-only-one-program) _2026-03-06 · Hendrik Erz · Personal Research Blog | Hendrik Erz_ This is a (late) extension to both my PhD series and my “How I work” series. In this article, I explain the technical setup of my PhD thesis — how I integrated my data analysis pipeline into my writing, and how I enabled exports for the various journals I had to submit my work to. ## [WebGL Series, Part 8: Implementing Multi-sample Antialiasing (MSAA)](https://www.hendrik-erz.de/post/webgl-series-part-8-implementing-multi-sample-antialiasing-msaa) _2026-02-27 · Hendrik Erz · Personal Research Blog | Hendrik Erz_ In this last article in my series on WebGL, I re-implement antialiasing to make the rendered graphic look more crisp. This step concludes the full setup of the iris indicator that you can see on the demo page. ## [WebGL Series, Part 7: Adding a Bloom-Filter](https://www.hendrik-erz.de/post/webgl-series-part-7-adding-a-bloom-filter) _2026-02-20 · Hendrik Erz · Personal Research Blog | Hendrik Erz_ In the second-to-last installment of my series on WebGL, I explain how a Bloom filter works and how I added it into the processing-pipeline of the iris indicator. ## [WebGL Series, Part 6: Post-Processing](https://www.hendrik-erz.de/post/webgl-series-part-6-post-processing) _2026-02-13 · Hendrik Erz · Personal Research Blog | Hendrik Erz_ In part six of this series on WebGL, I introduce the concepts behind post-processing a rendered image, and how to implement that in a WebGL program. ## [Deduplicating 40k SNAP news articles with MinHash LSH](https://laggingindicators.blog/posts/deduplicating-news-articles/) _2026-02-10 · Lagging Indicators_ I needed to identify and tag duplicate news articles from a Google Alerts RSS feed which filters the news through keywords while working on topic modeling of news coverage on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program since summer 2024. I also want to in the future group these on the surfaced SNAP News site I put together for these articles. After reading it for around a year, I consider… ## [WebGL Series, Part 5: Computing Colors](https://www.hendrik-erz.de/post/webgl-series-part-5-computing-colors) _2026-02-06 · Hendrik Erz · Personal Research Blog | Hendrik Erz_ In this fifth article on WebGL, I explain how I procedurally generate colors and animate them to convey changes in the state of the iris indicator. ## [How to create Dials in Jetpack Compose](https://www.sinasamaki.com/how-to-create-dials-in-jetpack-compose/) _2026-01-31 · sinasamaki · sinasamaki_ Introducing ChromaDial, a library for building delightful dials ## [WebGL Series, Part 4: Animating Things](https://www.hendrik-erz.de/post/webgl-series-part-4-animating-things) _2026-01-30 · Hendrik Erz · Personal Research Blog | Hendrik Erz_ In this fourth article of my eight-part series on WebGL, I explain how I animated the rendering and ensure that it conveys a sense of motion. ## [WebGL Series, Part 3: Drawing Things](https://www.hendrik-erz.de/post/webgl-series-part-3-drawing-things) _2026-01-23 · Hendrik Erz · Personal Research Blog | Hendrik Erz_ In this third installment of my 8-part series on WebGL, I explain how I finally was able to draw triangles onto the screen, based on the previous two articles that were merely concerned with setting things up. ## [WebGL Series, Part 2: Setup and the OpenGL Rendering Pipeline](https://www.hendrik-erz.de/post/webgl-series-part-2-setup-and-the-opengl-rendering-pipeline) _2026-01-16 · Hendrik Erz · Personal Research Blog | Hendrik Erz_ This is the second part of my eight-part series on WebGL. This article introduces the basic architectural design of the iris indicator and provides a primer on what WebGL is. ## [Earn crypto from idle GPUs (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/bT7nspjxEp31) _2026-01-16 · **Sponsored**_ Run one CLI command, connect your GPU, and start receiving crypto payouts. ## [A Rabbit Hole Called WebGL](https://www.hendrik-erz.de/post/a-rabbit-hole-called-webgl) _2026-01-09 · Hendrik Erz · Personal Research Blog | Hendrik Erz_ Over Christmas, I made another little side project. But this time around, it turned out to be a rabbit hole of galactic extend. So read this article on my journey, as I fell down the rabbit hole of OpenGL and graphics rendering. ## [Visualizing SNAP Performance Indicators](https://laggingindicators.blog/posts/snap-performance-indicators-dashboard/) _2025-12-22 · Lagging Indicators_ A slow pace, to be sure, but I have been adding to a dashboard of SNAP Performance Indicators over the past year, based on the SNAP data I’ve been cleaning and compiling over the past 2 years, and built with the Observable Framework library. You can view the dashboard here . No extremely tricky visualizations, but that is because I have found that these datasets that are simple tables by… ## [Quickly visualizing some low-effort content on YouTube](https://laggingindicators.blog/posts/ai-youtube/) _2025-12-17 · Lagging Indicators_ Recently on YouTube I searched “population apportionment” to find that many of the recommended videos across different channels looked the same and appeared to be AI-generated, heavily automated, and extremely low effort. Of the 18 Recently Uploaded videos for the search, 10 of theme were all from this same “family” of channels: 2 to 3 minute, political-themed questions… ## [Create animated stripes in Jetpack Compose](https://www.sinasamaki.com/create-animated-stripes-in-jetpack-compose/) _2025-12-05 · sinasamaki · sinasamaki_ Use default gradients to create mesmerizing patterns in your app ## [Vibe Coding: The Final Form of Hyper-Individualism](https://www.hendrik-erz.de/post/vibe-coding-the-final-form-of-hyper-individualism) _2025-11-29 · Hendrik Erz · Personal Research Blog | Hendrik Erz_ A few days ago, I had to deal with the first "vibe coded" PR to my software. In this article, I reflect on this encounter, and analyze the social habitus of the "vibe coder." I conceptualize "vibe coding"—inexperienced users generating complex code via AI tools—as the final manifestation of hyper-individualism. Drawing on sociological frameworks, I argue that this practice disrupts open-source… ## [Thoughts from first 3D print](https://laggingindicators.blog/posts/my-first-3d-print/) _2025-11-22 · Lagging Indicators_ With the Flashforge Adventurer 5m, my first 3D print is the Enclosure kit project. What follows are just a quick few notes from trying to figure this all out. After exploring some of the comments around the enclosure online, I decided to follow the DIY Minimal Enclosure from @design8studio , so thank you to them. I did forget to print the updated riser panels that is now linked on that project,… ## [How political are shutdown alerts?](https://laggingindicators.blog/posts/how-political-are-shutdown-alerts/) _2025-11-17 · Lagging Indicators_ If you visited a .gov website during the 2025 government shutdown, you may have noticed alert banners on the top of the page that indicate a suspension or interruption of normal operations for the agency. Some agencies vary from the standard, however, and instead use this opportunity to deliver a political message. From a cursory analysis, of the 248 shutdown banners I could find from about 1,150… ## [Creating a CRT Screen Effect in Jetpack Compose](https://www.sinasamaki.com/creating-a-crt-screen-effect-in-jetpack-compose/) _2025-11-07 · sinasamaki · sinasamaki_ Using graphics layer, gradients and blur to create this nostalgic effect ## [Well, let's just not measure food insecurity then](https://laggingindicators.blog/posts/household-food-insecurity/) _2025-11-03 · Lagging Indicators_ In September 2025, the Trump administration said it will no longer release the Household Food Security Reports. The USDA also put relevant employees on indefinite leave . This post provides context to the published press release based on the USDA’s own 2025 Information Collection Request renewal for the Food Security Supplement to the Current Population Survey, hosted on Reginfo.gov . 1… ## [Shutdown on Capitol Hill: An Afterword to my PhD Thesis](https://www.hendrik-erz.de/post/shutdown-on-capitol-hill-an-afterword-to-my-phd-thesis) _2025-11-01 · Hendrik Erz · Personal Research Blog | Hendrik Erz_ After five years, we know a little bit more about the lawmaking processes in U.S. Congress. At the same time, Congress is barely legislating anymore, because the government is currently under shutdown. What remains from U.S. democracy as we know it after nine months of Trump? An afterword to my PhD thesis. ## [I think I Finally Got Monads](https://www.hendrik-erz.de/post/i-think-i-finally-got-monads) _2025-10-27 · Hendrik Erz · Personal Research Blog | Hendrik Erz_ Sometimes, we all get hung up on fringe phenomena that are largely inconsequential for the world s pressing issues, but still satisfy some urge to understand within us. One such thing for me were monads, a weird little concept from group theory that sits at the heart of many programming jokes. I have spent years trying to understand them, and now that I finally did, I had to realize that I will… ## [PhDone](https://www.hendrik-erz.de/post/phdone) _2025-10-24 · Hendrik Erz · Personal Research Blog | Hendrik Erz_ After five years of research and writing, I successfully defended my dissertation thesis on Monday. I am now officially PhDone. Time for a first reflection on the process of writing a dissertation. I also share a "Thank you" to my supervisors and all of my colleagues and peers for being part of this incredible journey. ## [What is Analytical Sociology?](https://www.hendrik-erz.de/post/what-is-analytical-sociology) _2025-10-17 · Hendrik Erz · Personal Research Blog | Hendrik Erz_ This might be one of the hardest articles I have ever written. But it answers a seemingly simple question: What exactly is analytical sociology? The answer, it turns out, is surprisingly hard, and this article, too, is unable to unanimously answer it. ## [Glitch Effect in Jetpack Compose](https://www.sinasamaki.com/glitch-effect-in-jetpack-compose/) _2025-10-11 · sinasamaki · sinasamaki_ Easily apply sci-fi, cyberpunk effects on to your app ## [Between Theory and Methods](https://www.hendrik-erz.de/post/between-theory-and-methods) _2025-10-06 · Hendrik Erz · Personal Research Blog | Hendrik Erz_ In this second reflection article on my dissertation, I talk about theory. I explore my theoretical origins, why I am no longer a theory guy, and how the PhD journey over the past five years have changed the way I approach and write theory. I reflect on the style of theory, and why it needs to differ between theoretically-heavy and methodologically-heavy papers, as both parts need to match each… ## [New Shadow API for Jetpack Compose](https://www.sinasamaki.com/new-shadow-api-for-jetpack-compose/) _2025-08-27 · sinasamaki · sinasamaki_ How to build realistic UI with the latest shadow API ## [Building a personalized wedding website](https://laggingindicators.blog/posts/vibe-coding-a-wedding-website/) _2025-08-03 · Lagging Indicators_ At our wedding, each table was named after a country we had either visited or had some relation to, as a personal touch instead of classic table numbers. To complement this, I built a small static website deployed on GitHub pages to learn more about the country with Claude Sonnet 4 through Github Copilot. Each table had small printed cards with QR codes linking to the webpage that attendees could… ## [Animating Text along a Path in Jetpack Compose](https://www.sinasamaki.com/animating-text-along-a-path-in-jetpack-compose/) _2025-06-19 · sinasamaki · sinasamaki_ How to position and rotate blocks of text on any path ## [Wrapping a Fancy Ribbon around any Composable](https://www.sinasamaki.com/wrapping-a-fancy-ribbon-around-any-jetpack-composable/) _2025-05-31 · sinasamaki · sinasamaki_ How to animate a ribbon that wraps around UI elements in Jetpack Compose ## [Sign Me Up, Please](https://laggingindicators.blog/posts/sign-me-up/) _2025-05-22 · Lagging Indicators_ I’d like to take a popular class for 3d printing at the library, but I can’t get a spot. The ideal LLM assistant could check for class availability and sign me up, without me monitoring the page constantly. Unfortunately we are not there yet. Increasingly complicated attempts to sign up MLK Labs in DC offers apparently highly desirable 3d printing classes. These are posted 30 days out…