Cowboy Bebop
I have been following Cowboy Bebop on Netflix (the anime, not the spinoff TV series). The opening is a visual and musical marvel; I’m enthralled by it. The...
Redis is forked
Vicki Boykis has a great piece on Redis’s recent vicissitudes. At the same time, she recaps where we stand and sings the praises of a project that many are...
AI isn't useless. But is it worth it?
Molly White’s experience with LLMs corresponds more or less with my own, but she is much better at recounting, critiquing, and drawing conclusions than I am....
I am speaking at ABP Dotnet Conf'24
I am thrilled to have the opportunity to present at an international conference once again. On May 9th, I will speak at the ABP Donet Conf'24. My session,...
Why I speak at conferences
Among the essential reasons I continue to make presentations at various conferences is that the preparation required to deliver good content forces me to...
Quoting snakeyjake
I wish I was morally bankrupt enough to be a productivity guru. I could, like, charge $50k to stand behind a podium in a hotel ballroom and spout nonsense at...
Timeline of the XZ open source attack
The so-called “XZ attack” is all over the internet these days, and for good reason. Over a period of over two years, an attacker using the name “Jia Tan”...
Listening to purchased music is the way
Happy Easter, everyone. This morning, I completed the long-overdue move of all my ripped CDs from my old 2012 MacBook Pro to the new one and, then, to my...
ChatGPT is the perfect Linux assistant
I spent the day doing remote maintenance on multiple Linux machines via ssh. The revelation is that ChatGPT is the bomb for these tasks: What does that...
William Adams: english advisor to the Shogun
I am not a fan of TV series. However, I have been following the Shogun miniseries with a fair amount of interest, mainly because I am intrigued by the...
From Bocconi to the Twin Mountains
Yesterday I went for a walk in the mountains. This tour starts from Bocconi (on the road to Muraglione Pass) and the nice humpback bridge that is just below...
Cannibalism as a way to honor the dead
As it appears, cannibalism was much more widespread than previously thought, and perhaps for more complex reasons than we think. To honor the dead, for...
Quoting Alice Rohrwacher
In a beautiful essay published in Waiting for God, Simone Weil reminds us that study serves to develop attention, and almost no matter what is studied, even...
Quoting Frank Herbert
I wrote the Dune series because I had this idea that charismatic leaders ought to come with a warning label on their forehead: “May be dangerous to your...
Quoting Lars Wirzenius
Take care of yourself. Sleep. Eat. Exercise. Rest. Relax. Take care of other people, as best you can. People are important. Software is just fun. –Lars...
Astral Gold by Dean McPhee [music]
Thanks to Giovanni Ansaldo’s convincing review on yesterday’s issue of Il Mondo podcast, my first Bandcamp purchase1 is the recently released Astral Gold...
Dirty Rat by Orbital, with Sleaford Mods [music]
I recently bought Dirty Rat, the absolute banger from Orbital’s 2023 Optical Delusion. It couldn’t be anything different, given that it’s a collaboration...
Voice dictation on iOS and macOS is underestimated
Most people likely already know and use the voice dictation feature in iOS and macOS all day, but I’ve only now seen the light. Yesterday, I discovered I...
Medieval monks also had focus issues
Medieval monks also needed help with focus and attention. Joel J Miller discusses this in What Monks Know About Focus, the latest issue of Miller’s Book...
I am presenting on OAuth2 at two conferences this month
I am speaking about OAuth2 and Open ID Connect with ASP.NET Core 8 at Rome .NET Conference 2024 on March 22 and then, less than a week later, at WebDay 2024...