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October 25, 2025

Starminder + PyBeach 2025 + Blaugust

Hello.

Is it me you’re lo—no, I can’t do it, sorry.

In an attempt to avoid taking another two-year break, I set a reminder to send another one of these sometime after August—and thus Blaugust—and, uhh, well, it’s certainly after.

Starminder

I re-launched Starminder! I initially introduced it way back in 2017, iterated on it, and then even shut it down at some point since. I let the original starminder.xyz domain expire, too, which is practically unheard of for me.

Well, I got the itch recently to bring it back, so I did. It was a test for agentic programming with Claude Code—vibe engineering or coding like a surgeon, if you will—and it went quite well. It’s live and ready for more users, and in addition to the email delivery it had in its past lives, it now also comes with an Atom (think RSS) feed as well. The repo is public, as always, so have it however you’d like.

PyBeach 2025

PyBeach 2025 happened! Huge congrats to the organizers who did an absolutely stellar job, and kudos to all the volunteers, sponsors, and supporters of other kinds. I was there, it was great, and I found it quite emotional. I really hope it happens again next year, and that I’ll see you there.

Blaugust

Blaugust finished and I crushed it. I posted 31 times—once each day—and then added two more posts related to it after the fact. It was great and hard and truly a wild ride.

Blog

Here are all my blog posts since the last time; mostly—but not entirely—the rest of Blaugust:

  • Blaugust 2025: Regressed Expectations | Blog | Nik Kantar

  • Blaugust 2025: All About That Bass(line) | Blog | Nik Kantar

  • Blaugust 2025: No Comment(s) | Blog | Nik Kantar

  • Blaugust 2025: Five (More) Podcasts | Blog | Nik Kantar

  • Blaugust 2025: Links Part 1

  • Blaugust 2025: Stop Pleasing Deathbed You

  • Blaugust 2025: Perseverance

  • Introducing mdut Bookmarklet, Improved

  • Introducing pileof.tools

  • Off Two Wheels

  • I Want My Legs Back

  • Blaugust 2025: Links Part 2

  • Blaugust 2025: Low Stakes Hot Take

  • Blaugust 2025: The Blog Questions Challenge

  • Static Sites with Python, uv, Caddy, and Docker

  • Digital and Analog Writing

  • iPhone Home Screen Tour

  • Blaugust 2025: Small Joys, Big Smiles

  • Blaugust 2025: Links Part 3

  • Blaugust 2025: Bucket List Bucket

  • Blaugust 2025: Staying Motivated

  • Use Good Test Data

  • Fixing Plausible Geolocation

  • In Memoriam: Michael Ryabushkin

  • New 404 Page

  • Blaugust 2025: Blaugust Survival Tips

  • Feed Fix + Noise

  • PyBeach 2025: If You Love Something, Set It Free

  • Blaugust 2025: Links Part 4

  • Blaugust 2025: The Afterfeels

Until Next Time

Thanks for reading! Feel free to say “hi” by replying back. Or don’t—don’t let anyone tell you what to do. Or do, if you want to. You know what I mean…

—Nik

P.s.: Doggie tax:

Small white dog dog on a comfy couch, with his face smushed into an absolutely ridiculous expression
Sawyer testing out—and approving of—the new couch.
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