Here’s where I put things that don’t otherwise fit in a blog post as well as links to content I find interesting. It’s always changing and never complete.
See also, the meta page for more this website and how I build it.
I used twitter for a while, automatically replicating my tweets on the main page. The tweets are archived here.
I no longer do this since twitter has paywalled their API.
Elon’s 5 steps to process improvement:
- Make requirements less dumb: Question and verify requirements to ensure they are not error-prone and to remove unnecessary work.
- Delete parts or processes: Remove unnecessary parts or process steps.
- Simplify and optimize: Simplify or optimize the design and process.
- Accelerate cycle time: Streamline the manufacturing process to speed up cycle time.
- Automate: Automate the manufacturing process to ensure efficiency, reliability, and cost reduction.
Importantly automation is the last step, not the first. This is the opposite of what many people think!
If you have too many things to do, get something done
Networking is optimising for serendipity
If you can’t make a decision, either you don’t have enough information or it doesn’t matter. If you don’t have enough information, determine the requirements.
- SBAR – Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommendation. A structured way to SWAT Gantt
- Ignore existing constraints, start from the ideal and work backwards.
- Bartosz Ciechanowski’s blog – Bartosz explains complicated systems and concepts such as GPS, colour spaces, cameras and lenses in the amazingly understandable way, complete with from-scratch WebGL (and other) interactive diagrams.
- The Asahi Linux blog – such a high concentration of extreme technical expertise, applied to something I thought impossible without manufacturer support.
- Phoronix – Michael Larabel covers Linux & Linux hardware extremely thoroughly and with great integrity
- Jeff Atwood’s blog – opinionated, often right! He’s the guy behind stack overflow and discourse, so there’s a lot to learn from him.
- Andrew Holme’s website – I used to work with Andrew. He’s made some impressive things in his spare time – like a GPS receiver from scratch!
- Chris Bishop’s blog – A friend with a some serious network skills and his own ASN
- Chips and cheese – Incredibly deep dives into hardware architectures
- Jeff Geerling’s blog – Lots of experimentation with Linux and strange things with server/hobby hardware
- Rodrigo Copetti’s blog – super interesting and astonishingly well communicated posts about game console architectures among other things
- Ken Shirriff’s blog – Deep dives into electronics and processor architectures. The charger tear-downs are particularly illuminating
- I Code 4 Coffee – Lots of hardware and game hacking
- Rob Hague’s blog – I work with Rob, always an interesting read. Especially if you like keyboards ;-)
- Ben Cartwright-Cox’s blog – All sorts of software hacking
- Phoboslab – Lots of video game and otherwise 3D pipeline hacking
- GMUNK – the insanely creative guy behind so many future user interfaces, cool looking adverts and the Windows 10 wallpaper
- Eddie Pace’s blog – I’ve had the pleasure of working with Eddie for several years. He’s a talented developer with some serious knowledge and skills in multiple, sometimes unrelated fields.
- aintnobodygottimeforthat – Frill has made various highly precise clocks and runs one of the UK’s top NTP servers
Jeff’s also the guy behind commonmark, a standardised Markdown variant
Some books really stand out to me. I reckon I need to read some from https://blog.codinghorror.com/recommended-reading-for-developers/ so I can grow this list!
He’s focussed on consumer rights more recently, particularly right to repair.
No affiliation, just typefaces I like.
- Pragmata Pro (Iosevka SS08 is a good free alternative)
- Fira Code – My current terminal font
- Berkeley Mono – Great for instrument panels!
- Raleway – A sans serif typeface with a clean, modern look. A little like Helvetica, but with a bit more character.
- Futura – A classic geometric sans serif typeface. Great for signage and headings.
I met a person that deleted everything – all possessions and hobbies. He’s now rather productive after picking only a few hobbies and deliberately choosing not to make everything a project. I’ve deleted DJing and amateur radio…
I like 90’s/2000’s hacking/disaster films where technology is involved. Anything where sci-fi interfaces and sound design is involved.
- Hackers (1995) – the definition of 90s cyberpunk
- Swordfish (2001)
- The Core (2003) – ridiculous but fun
- TRON Legacy (2010) – mostly for the soundtrack and the visual design
- Interstellar (2014) – draining but great visuals and sound design
- Takedown (2003) – Loosely based on the capture of Kevin Mitnick
- Antitrust (2001)
- Enemy of the State (1998)
- Low pressure sodium street lights
- CRT monitors and TVs
- Physical media (CDs, DVDs, Blu-rays, game cartridges, floppy disks, etc)