2024 Week 02 - Weekly Notes

Containers didn’t just lower the cost of shipping—they all but eliminated it. Transportation costs became negligible, no longer a barrier to worldwide distribution.
— Deb Chachra, How Infrastructure Works, Chapter 3: Living in Networks

I’ve been taking a slow burn reading Deb Chachra’s new book, “How Infrastructure Works”. It’s the book I wanted The 99% Invisible City to be. It’s a nice compliment to it, and dives deeper into the idea of how networks dominate our everyday lives in a (sometimes) hidden way.

At some point, expect this book to be in my book list.

Also, a quick update about the website. My library will be changing. I’m working on a “Curations” page that will replace it, as I want to extend it to be a gallery of found things. It’s like all of those tiny European museums that have trinkets and things, but in a more digital, meaningful way. And if you have no idea what those are, maybe I’ll write about it in the near future.

• I’m absolutely smitten with the idea of escalating streaks. It’s something I’m keeping a note of for my “Year of Renewal”
• Last week, I wrote about my experience using Make Real and prototyped a working piano
• Time for masking up again. Highest levels of COVID infections seen in Bay Area wastewater surveys since they began
• Overnight lines and mayhem in stores. It’s not a new iPhone — it’s a Stanley tumbler
• Gabriel Attal: Macron’s pick for PM is France’s youngest at 34
• 2023’s billion-dollar disasters list shattered the US record with 28 big weather and climate disasters amid Earth’s hottest year on record
• Zero Interest Rate Period - ZIRP, an introduction to its role in start-ups for the past decade and a half
• How Discord Modernized MFA with WebAuthn
• Think more about what to focus on - by Henrik Karlsson
• Making small games, which is fun in itself · Joys of Small Game Development
• What developers using AI chatbots can tell us about how it’s changing work
• Wall Street Is No Fun Anymore - Bloomberg
• I don’t know what my obsession is with micro-niche articles like THE CHAIRS OF DOCTOR WHO (1963 – 89). My ex-roommate did her final paper on the history of chairs, and it’s one of those hidden household features. Even more fascinating is what people in the past thought chairs in the future might look
  • Related: Ex Astris Scientia - Commercially Available Chairs in Star Trek
• The Rabbit R1 is an AI-powered gadget that can use your apps for you - The Verge
• Potent psychedelic drug banishes PTSD, small study finds
• How Microsoft found a potential new battery material using AI - The Verge
• Every time someone brings up the argument “X” job will be displaced by AI, I think about how AI has to be maintained. This article is a good place to start. It’s Humans All the Way Down - Jim Nielsen’s Blog
• Where have all the websites gone?
• Load Balancing Algorithms Explained Visually
• How to get 💩 done as a software engineer
• Shapiro Administration and OpenAI Launch First-in-the-Nation Generative AI Pilot for Commonwealth Employees
• Guillermo Rauch on X: “An AI-generated clone of HN built with @nextjs App Router
  • I’m really interested in bespoke apps that involve no-code or low-code. If you want to collaborate with me, please contact me
• 2023 JavaScript Rising Stars
• Why Are American Drivers So Deadly? - I wanted the reason to be something else besides COVID-19
• Ecuador hunkers down for government war on gangs after TV attack | AP News
• Maui residents’ post-fire rebuilding plans caught in insurance payout limbo - ABC News