We mourn our craft
Someday years from now we will look back on the era when we were the last generation to code by hand. We’ll laugh and explain to our grandkids how silly it...
Archivio Grafica Italiana
"Archivio Grafica Italiana is the first online archive dedicated to the entire Italian graphic design heritage." Beautiful resource. Some samples came as a...
There's no such a thing as the 'Dark Ages'
The actual phrase ‘Dark Ages’ itself derives from the Latin saeculum obscurum, which Caesar Baronius – a cardinal and Church historian – came up with around...
Europe needs an independent tech infrastructure
Sam over at theTangentSpace has the perfect analysis on Europe's sorry situation in these troubled times, so much so that I have a hard time picking just one...
Writing forces clarity
Writing forces clarity. When I explain a concept to others - in a doc, a talk, a code review comment, even just chatting with AI - I discover the gaps in my...
Karpathy: I have never felt this much left behind as a programmer
I’ve never felt this much behind as a programmer. The profession is being dramatically refactored as the bits contributed by the programmer are increasingly...
Books I read in 2026
TODO: intro.. The usual scoring system applies: One star means a book is meh. Two stars mean a book is perfectly fine. Three stars mean a book is...
Karpathy: I have never felt this much left behind as a programmer
I've never felt this much behind as a programmer. The profession is being dramatically refactored as the bits contributed by the programmer are increasingly...
Books I read in 2025
I read 35 books, or 10726 pages, in 2025. A remarkable step up from the previous year. I have not read so many books since 2015 (36), and I never read so...
Becoming the machine
Every machine serves a purpose. People need purpose. The temptation to become the machine is higher than ever. The promise of the machine is alluring. If I...
Importance of writing
As AI generated content becomes the norm, I believe that human-generated content and raw thoughts and emotion will become more valuable. In many ways, I’d...
Rediscovering a 2021 podcast on Python, .NET, and open source
Yesterday, the kids came home for the Christmas holidays. Marco surprised me by telling me that on his flight from Brussels, he discovered and listened to...
Isengard in Oxford
The Los Angeles Review of Books on The Bovadium Fragments, JRR Tolkien’s posthumous complete work, which was just recently published. Anyone who has read...
Less
When I’m writing, I write. When I’m cooking, I cook. When I’m talking to someone, I put my phone away. The constant mental juggling that felt necessary...
JJ Cale
We watched A Private Life in the theatre yesterday, a fine, funny and intriguing French film set in Paris with a solid Jodie Foster as protagonist. But I’m...
A Plea by Flea
I reluctantly admit that it was Spotify’s Discover Weekly that let me discover Flea’s new solo single, A Plea. It’s jazz, and it’s beautiful. There are...
Programming isn't the job
AI can replace most of programming, but programming isn’t the job. Programming is a task. It’s one of many things you do as part of your work. But if you’re...
Fleeing Deer
I swear it’s not an impressionist painting, just a blurry photo I took yesterday during my forest walk. The deer were watching me from the edge of the woods,...
Why speed matters
If everything is slow-moving around you, it is likely not going to be good. To fully make use of your brain, you need to move as close as possible to the...
On the boundaries of humanity
For most of humankind, and for tens of thousands of years, the idea that humanity includes every individual on the face of the earth has not existed. This...