I think about this Tony Benn speech much more than I used to

Me automating: Haha fuck yeah!!! Yes!! Me being automated: Well this fucking sucks. What the fuck.

This story of our local bookshop is a poignant portrait of our times. It rightly centers the previous owner, the workers, the patrons, and the ray of hope from the new owner. denverite.com/2026/01/28/d...

#AdventOfCode Day 9 part 2 definitely threw me today. So much for bragging about the runtime of naive algorithms and JavaScript as “good enough”. A hackish memoized somewhat brute force solution, after several attempts, finally competed in 15 minutes. Phew!

I just completed "Playground" - Day 8 - Advent of Code 2025 #AdventOfCode adventofcode.com/2025/day/8 [Spoiler in thread]

I just completed "Laboratories" - Day 7 - Advent of Code 2025 #AdventOfCode adventofcode.com/2025/day/7 Part 2 definitely caused a rethink - no use trying to trace everything, need to switch to a constant space algorithm. Final result is pretty!

I just completed "Trash Compactor" - Day 6 - Advent of Code 2025 #AdventOfCode adventofcode.com/2025/day/6 Today's main fight was all about turning off the whitespace trim-on-save behavior in my editor. Once the input whitespace was preserved I could get parsing and transposing and evaling. Phew!

I've completed "Cafeteria" - Day 5 - Advent of Code 2025 #AdventOfCode adventofcode.com/2025/day/5 Spoilers in thread...

I've completed "Printing Department" - Day 4 - Advent of Code 2025 #AdventOfCode adventofcode.com/2025/day/4 Staying on brand, here's a visualization of part 2:

Day 3 of #AdventOfCode in the bag, first time I've put the examples into assertions to make sure I don't regress. Satisfying end with a tidy solution for parts 1 and 2 today. adventofcode.com/2025/day/3

Literally pick your poison, e-commerce edition

Is it wrong that I’m starting Advent of Code with a spreadsheet?

Love everything about this emilysneddon.com/fran-sans-es...

Time for 2025 updates to my annual “opinions about solar” thread. If you like these, you might like the second edition of my book, Solar Power Finance Without The Jargon. A 30% discount code WSQ0437 is valid on publisher website until end of November 2025. www.worldscientific.com/worldscibook...

So much to unpack here, a remarkable piece. The timeline at the end highlights events and solidarity from Italy and Spain that hadn’t made it into my US news bubble before. Worth a read. www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/a/25...

Talking away I don't know what I'm to say I'll say it anyway Today is another day to find you Shying away I'll be coming for your love, okay?

“you only get answers to the questions you ask. And you only get reactions to the ads you produce. And you only assess impacts in the artificial environments you construct. And you only apply findings according to your theory of how humans come to judgments.”

If my kids ask me what I did to fight for our country, I'll tell them the least I could do is support and endorse my friend Cammie Croft for congress in NJ-11. Please join me if you're able! cammieforcongress.com

It’s ok to put the phone down.

This is an excellent example of what real leaders should be doing right now and for the last five years, and we’re all the worse for its lack.

This story should get way more attention. Washington state is currently on fire and ICE just rolled up and arrested some of the firefighters. These are the dangerous criminals Trump wanted to evict? People risking their lives?

Make a band a food: BLT Soundsystem

Ha ok Washington post, this is a great photo

great work from @theradavist.bsky.social: theradavist.com/portraits-20...

www.freewheeling.info/blog/swiss-hs2 resonates - clear vision plus incremental delivery beats megaproject thinking.

“He earned admission to a University of California school, where he’ll be studying biomedical engineering. Perhaps one day he’ll help develop a medicine that will benefit some of the people who don’t want him here.” — www.huffpost.com/entry/los-an...

A quiet conversation over dinner, in a restaurant so clearly possible due to global migration, discussing the scenes from San Diego, wondering if it will happen here. www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/91413/...

“What if paying off a specific child’s lunch debt today doesn’t preclude advocating for a complete structural overhaul tomorrow? What if the emotional resonance of specific, concrete actions is precisely what builds the coalition necessary for systemic change?” — www.huffpost.com/entry/utah-s...

The rest of us can get EVs so that scientists can keep doing this if they need to. Article segues beautifully into chronicling the observatory’s relationship to the neighboring community, not always but eventually a part of it. raoulpop.com/2012/04/15/c...

Fascinating profile of a park ranger in San Francisco who works with unhoused residents and has adopted the novel tactic of treating them like human beings, building relationships, and helping them access resources on their own timeline.