Updated May 12, 2025

Who? ---- ### Hard Worker I bring dedication and focus to everything I do. I believe in rolling up my sleeves, going the extra mile, and delivering results that count. For me, hard work isn't just a habit—it's a mindset. ### Avid Learner Curiosity fuels my journey. I'm passionate about expanding my horizons, mastering new skills, and staying ahead of the curve. Whether it's exploring cutting-edge ideas or honing tried-and-true techniques. ### Star Performer When it comes to excelling, I don't settle for anything less than my best. I thrive in challenges, embrace opportunities, and consistently aim to exceed expectations. ### Family Man My family is my foundation. They inspire me to work hard and stay grounded. Whether it's sharing laughter, creating memories, or supporting one another, I treasure the moments that truly matter. Articles -------- ### Go Tools 2025-05-12 * Read ### Go Install And Switch 2025-02-02 * Read ### Go Concurrency Patterns 2024-11-15 * Read ### Bitwise Operations In Go 2024-11-10 * Read ### Go Typed Nil 2024-06-12 * Read ### Programming At The Edge With Fastly Compute 2024-06-12 * Read ### Ci Cd With Terraform Cloud And Github Actions 2024-03-10 * Read ### Openapi 2023-08-18 * Read ### Terraform Build A Provider 2022-11-12 * Read ### Rust Smart Pointers 2022-06-20 * Read ### Laptop Setup V2 2022-05-26 * Read ### Go Install 2022-04-22 * Read ### Neovim Rust Go 2022-04-14 * Read ### Vim Themes 2022-04-14 * Read ### Dev Tools 2022-03-09 * Read ### Go Style Guide 2022-01-11 * Read ### Github Actions 2021-12-01 * Read ### Vim Advanced 2021-06-15 * Read ### Rust Ownership 2021-03-28 * Read ### Go Reflection 2020-08-17 * Read ### Software Comparison 2020-07-18 * Read ### Rate Limiting 2020-07-08 * Read ### Git Internals 2020-03-29 * Read ### Python Context Managers 2020-01-06 * Read ### Python Generators 2019-12-28 * Read ### Tox Ini 2019-12-18 * Read ### Python App Dependencies 2019-12-01 * Read ### Python Asyncio 2019-11-30 * Read ### Go Arrays And Slices 2019-11-17 * Read ### Anonymity 2019-09-04 * Read ### Http Caching Guide 2019-08-06 * Read ### Laptop Setup 2019-04-10 * Read ### Git Multiple Branches 2019-03-22 * Read ### Algorithms In Python 2019-03-13 * Read ### Remote Working 2019-03-09 * Read ### Python Mocking 2019-03-08 * Read ### Calculating Big O 2019-02-28 * Read ### Algorithmic Complexity In Python 2019-02-02 * Read ### Data Types And Data Structures 2019-01-30 * Read ### Design Python 2019-01-02 * Read ### Js Modern 2018-09-29 * Read ### Engineer To Manager 2018-08-25 * Read ### Interview Techniques 2018-08-18 * Read ### Post Mortems 2018-08-09 * Read ### Slackbot Opsbot 2018-08-07 * Read ### Go Interfaces 2018-07-21 * Read ### Multigrain Services 2018-07-19 * Read ### Authentication With Aws Cognito 2018-06-15 * Read ### A Guide To Effective 1 1 Meetings 2018-06-04 * Read ### Project Management 2018-05-25 * Read ### Reading List 2018-05-25 * Read ### Python Security 2018-05-15 * Read ### Static Site Search 2018-05-10 * Read ### Interview Topics 2018-04-08 * Read ### Go Reverse Proxy 2018-03-03 * Read ### Hashing Encryption Encoding 2018-02-16 * Read ### Computers 101 2018-01-30 * Read ### Statistics Basics 2017-12-19 * Read ### Queue Best Practices 2017-11-26 * Read ### Monitoring Best Practices 2017-11-15 * Read ### Load Testing Guidelines 2017-11-13 * Read ### Logging 101 2017-11-12 * Read ### Fastly Varnish 2017-11-02 * Read ### Profiling Python 2017-10-31 * Read ### Profiling Go 2017-10-31 * Read ### Dev Environments Within Docker Containers 2017-03-29 * Read ### Key Architecture 2016-12-10 * Read ### Go Hitchhikers Guide 2016-12-02 * Read ### Concepts From The C Programming Language 2016-11-28 * Read ### Man Pages 2016-11-25 * Read ### C And Syscalls 2016-11-18 * Read ### Bits And Bytes 2016-11-16 * Read ### Terminal Password Manager 2016-10-19 * Read ### Terminal Utils 2016-09-12 * Read ### Github Pull Request Formatting 2016-08-22 * Read ### Big O For Beginners 2016-06-28 * Read ### The Perfect Developer 2016-05-27 * Read ### Git Merge Strategies 2016-05-15 * Read ### Grpc For Beginners 2016-04-11 * Read ### Bash Watchtower 2016-03-03 * Read ### Rpc Variations In Go 2016-02-19 * Read ### Go Func Type 2015-11-23 * Read ### Github Multiple Ssh 2015-11-18 * Read ### Http2 2015-10-20 * Read ### Building Systems With Make 2015-10-07 * Read ### Client Cert Authentication 2015-10-03 * Read ### Dns 101 2015-09-30 * Read ### Security Basics 2015-08-25 * Read ### Docker Nginx 2015-08-04 * Read ### Designing For Simplicity 2015-03-30 * Read ### Concurrency 2014-12-28 * Read ### Github Workflow 2014-12-27 * Read ### Functional Recursive Javascript Programming 2014-04-26 * Read ### Refactoring Techniques 2013-11-10 * Read ### Design Mvcp 2013-10-22 * Read ### Basic Shell Scripting 2013-10-01 * Read ### Clean Coder 2013-06-01 * Read ### Message Passing In Object Oriented Code 2013-03-31 * Read ### Design Oop 2013-02-12 * Read ### Git Tips 2012-12-16 * Read ### Javascript 101 2012-11-02 * Read ### Maintainable Css With Bem 2012-09-12 * Read ### Host Methods Vs Native Methods 2012-04-22 * Read

Updated May 11, 2025

© Miguel Raz Guzmán Macedo. Last modified: May 11, 2025. Website built with Franklin.jl and the Julia programming language.

Updated May 10, 2025

* Home * About me 2025 ---- Fitting models from noisy heuristic labels 2025-05-10 Bootstrapping ranking models with an LLM judge 2025-03-30 Kelly fractions for independent simultaneous bets 2025-01-12 2024 ---- RBF kernel approximation with random Fourier features 2024-04-28 Metric learning with linear methods 2024-04-24 The "Billion Row Challenge!" with Fortran 2024-03-24 Advent of Code in Prolog, Haskell, Python and Scala 2024-02-02 2023 ---- Domicles: a novel logic puzzle using Dominoe tiles 2023-11-19 A minimal probabilistic Prolog meta-interpreter 2023-10-18 Better data analysis with logic programming 2023-10-15 Hidden information and solving Dominoes 2023-10-06 Analysis of the data job market using "Ask HN: Who is hiring?" posts 2023-08-12 An optimal-stopping quant riddle 2023-07-30 Estimating gym goers: a mark and recapture experiment 2023-07-05 Blocking, covariate adjustment and optimal experiment design 2023-06-18 Semi-supervised clustering with logic programming 2023-05-12 Prolog for data science 2023-04-30 2022 ---- SQL + M4 = Composable SQL 2022-12-28 A beautiful embedding applied to defect detection 2022-11-16 A fixed effect UK house price imputation model 2022-05-21 Fast thinking on lichess.org 2022-04-15 2021 ---- Hello and goodbye to the J language 2021-07-02 2020 ---- Some less usual IQ scepticism 2020-12-01

Updated May 10, 2025

In a recent interview, I was asked about my design philosophy for Haunted Chocolatier, and I talked for a bit about my interest in the “intuition”, and using an intuitive process to make chocolates. I wanted to elaborate on that a little bit here. It’s true that I am interested in the intuition. As someone without formal training in art, music, or game design, I rely heavily on intuition and feeling to do my work. I think it’s where creativity comes from. You can’t really “engineer” creativity… it comes from a mysterious, indeterminate part of our being. But it’s a crucial and important part of what makes us human. Video games, on the other hand, exist within mechanical devices, and are governed by mechanical laws. They can’t ever truly be intuitive in nature, except to the degree in which they rely on the player as the intuitive agent. So really, there’s no way to make a TRULY intuitive chocolate making system in Haunted Chocolatier. The best I can do is make it seem intuitive on the surface. But eventually, min-maxers will reverse engineer everything and find out how to optimally game the system. Oh well. For that reason, as well as my general design philosophy of giving players multiple paths to reach the same goal, I’m going to offer more than one way of making chocolate. There will be a more “intuitive” way, but there are also more conventional ways to do it. There will be reasons to use both, but you could just focus on one or the other if you wanted to. At their core, they are all processes in which you convert ingredients into final products. It’s just that one process might be more “whimsical”, and another process might be more mechanical. Anyway, I’m probably getting too philosophical about all this. At the end of the day, a game has to be fun. That’s what is most important, and that is always my primary goal. Everything else is secondary. So, keep in mind anything I ever say about Haunted Chocolatier is subject to change if I ever feel like it’s not as fun as it could be. Thank you for reading, and have a nice day \-Ape TLDR: There will be more than one way to make chocolate Hello, I know it’s been a while since I last posted here. As you may already know, I haven’t been able to work on Haunted Chocolatier in a while. This is because I started working on new stuff for the Stardew Valley 1.6 update. The 1.6 update was originally planned to be a technical, “under the hood” update to expand Stardew’s modding capabilities, done by others so that I could focus on Haunted Chocolatier. But then I got involved, adding a little bit of new content to the update, and it kind of snowballed into a pretty substantial amount of new content. And even after 1.6 came out on PC, I have been heavily involved with bug fixing, porting, and more. This has all pulled me away from Haunted Chocolatier development. It’s been a little sad to see Haunted Chocolatier getting dusty on the shelf… but this is the reality of my situation. Stardew Valley is a big and popular game, and I have a lot of attachment to it. I also feel a strong sense of duty and obligation to all the people who have bought Stardew Valley over the years, granting me this rare opportunity to be an indie game developer. So it’s hard to “let go” of Stardew, even temporarily, to work on something that isn’t already established and meaningful to people. However, I also have a strong desire to make more games. I like making games, and I have a lot more that I want to share, with Haunted Chocolatier and beyond. And even though Haunted Chocolatier has only been revealed publicly to a tiny degree, in my own private world it’s a special place, and I’m very attached to the characters, themes, and ideas. Also, I’ve already done a ton of work on the game. Before I took this break for Stardew 1.6, I had created a “vertical slice” of Haunted Chocolatier, essentially a skeleton of the game with most (not all) of its bones in place. My next task will be to tweak the existing bones until I’m happy with them, add all the rest of the bones, and then flesh it all out with all the content that will need to be in the game. Yes, it’s going to be a lot of work still, but it’s okay, I’m addicted to the grind. As I’ve mentioned before on this website, Haunted Chocolatier is being developed in the same way as Stardew Valley was… I’m coding it (mostly from scratch) in C# and I’m working solo in all areas. Why?… It’s what I’m comfortable with, it’s what I enjoy, and it worked well for Stardew Valley. I may get help with some technical things later on, but I want the game to be essentially complete before I think about anything like that. I know many people are excited to play Haunted Chocolatier, and may be disappointed to hear that it will still take a while, or that I took time away to work on Stardew Valley. I understand. I will be very happy when the day comes that I can finally release Haunted Chocolatier. However, as with Stardew Valley, I will not be doing any “early access”, crowdfunding, or pre-orders, so I don’t feel a ton of external pressure to finish the game on a timeline. The major source of external pressure is the fact I announced the game kind of early (I had my reasons for doing this), which built up excitement, meaning that if I take a long time, people might become sad. And that is a real pressure to me. But ultimately, I will not release a game unless it is complete and I am very happy with it, and I think that’s what most people would want, anyway. As development continues, I may want to post about it and share things with you. But if I don’t post for a while, it doesn’t mean I have abandoned the game. Sometimes I feel like sharing things, and sometimes I don’t. My preferred approach is to disappear and work in isolation, and only emerge when I have something complete and worthy, rather than share a bunch of stuff that is unfinished, and therefore not in accordance with the final vision. But I know people are interested in the development of the game, so I will post some things. Regardless of dev blog timing, know that the game will eventually be finished and come out. I think I’ve written a lot of this same stuff in previous posts, but I just wanted to check in with all of you, let you know that Haunted Chocolatier is still going to be a thing, and re-affirm some of the stuff I’ve said before. Thank you for reading all this, and I look forward to sharing this new world with you… when it’s ready (all screenshots are “work in progress” and likely to change before release) \-Ape Hi, everyone I’ve been doing a lot of work on Haunted Chocolatier, and making good progress. Mostly, I’m working on core elements of the game. I will be doing this for a while. I don’t really feel like sharing much, because I’d rather let the game be a surprise than reveal everything. I just like working in secret. However, I still want to check in and let you all know that I am working on this game all the time and making progress. Merry Christmas! \-Ape Hey everyone, Thanks so much for all the kind words about the announcement last week. It’s been a lot of fun to see everyone’s reaction after working on this for over a year, in secret. Now I am back into the “grind” of making the game (which I enjoy). I plan on using this blog in a casual way, to write about what I’m up to and to share tidbits about Haunted Chocolatier. I probably won’t stick to any defined schedule, but instead just post things when it feels right. One thing I want to mention is the combat. Haunted Chocolatier has a greater focus on combat, so it needs to be very fun, satisfying, and engaging, while also appropriately fitting into the big picture. You can rest assured that I’m not “copying and pasting” Stardew’s combat. On the contrary, almost everything in Haunted Chocolatier, including the combat, is completely coded (and drawn) from scratch. Here’s an example: You may have noticed this from the earlier video footage, but there are shields in this game. Many attacks can be blocked with a shield, and in most cases, blocking an attack causes the enemy to become “stunned”. While an enemy is stunned, you can attack them much faster, as seen above. The shield/stun mechanic rewards more cautious, patient players who wait for a window of opportunity. But you don’t have to play like this, you could just as well charge in aggressively, and if you can pull it off, you’ll defeat enemies more quickly that way. There will be other off-hand items besides shields that will compliment different play styles. You might also notice that the sword swing animation looks different than it did in the original footage. That’s because I’m still working on everything, and it’s all a work in progress. Everything seen so far could still change before the game is finished. If you followed the development of Stardew Valley, this will be familiar. Also, if you followed Stardew’s development, you might know that I like to keep my cards close to my chest. I prefer to leave many things to be discovered by players. I think it’s more fun that way. I want to surprise and delight people. But if they already know everything in the game, that takes a certain element out of the final experience. The bottom line, is that I won’t rest, or release this game, until I am personally satisfied that it’s very fun and compelling, in every aspect. If it never gets there, I’ll just never release it. But don’t worry, I have 100% faith that I’ll get it there. Everything is on the right track so far, I have the complete vision for the game in my head, and it’s just a matter of “grinding it out”, which is what I’m doing every day! Thanks for reading all this. alright, I’m going back to work \-Ape Hey everyone, After dedicating 10 years of my life to Stardew Valley (and counting), the time has finally come to announce my next game. It’s called _“ConcernedApe’s Haunted Chocolatier”_. Why chocolate? I’m not sure. It just kind of came to me. I think sometimes the best ideas just appear in a flash, instead of being cleverly thought out. That’s how I like to work, anyway. What’s important is the execution. And after 10 years of practice, I feel more confident than ever in being able to bring an idea to life. Regardless, I think a lot of people like chocolate. In Stardew Valley, the focus was more humble: living off the land, growing food, and connecting to the people and nature around you. However, with my next game, I wanted to explore more fantastical possibilities… experiences that take you beyond the ordinary. That’s where magical haunted ghost chocolate comes in. Chocolate represents that which is delightful. The haunted castle represents the allure of the unknown. The ghosts represent the imprint of the past. All of these things are important. However, don’t think for a moment that, because this game features ghosts in a haunted castle, it is an evil or negative game. On the contrary, I intend for this game to be positive, uplifting and life-affirming. However, if Stardew Valley mostly channeled the energy of the sun, _Haunted Chocolatier_ channels the energy of the moon. Both are vital. More important than all that, I just want to make a fun game. Now, you might be scratching your head, wondering exactly what type of game this is. I’m not sure how best to describe it. It’s evolving organically as I develop it, so I’m not sure where it will go. But at its core, the gameplay loop involves gathering ingredients, making chocolate, and running a chocolate shop. Of course, there’s a lot more to the game than that, but I don’t want to get too deep into at this early stage, partly because I don’t want to be tied down to any particular concept of what the game is. So far, I’ve been having fun working on this game. There are so many possibilities. With Stardew Valley, I felt somewhat constrained, because I was working within an established tradition. I don’t regret that at all, but there’s always been a part of me that wanted to go “unleashed”. I believe this will be a good opportunity, but I haven’t even gotten to the good stuff yet. I’ve been mostly working on the “meat and potatoes” of the game so far. But what really brings a game to life is the spice, the sauce. And I haven’t really gotten to the sauce yet. That’s coming. Anyway, this is all largely talk at this point. While the video I put together may look like the game is at an advanced stage of development, there is still a ton of stuff to do. And the way I work, things often don’t come together until the final moments. I tend to work with a “vertical slice” approach, and so it’s easy to put together some video that looks like a finished game. But there is a ton of content I still need to make. So, please understand that it will be a while before this game is done. I’m going to be working on it as much as I can, though. Thanks for reading all this, \-Ape

Updated May 10, 2025

Recent blog posts ----------------- Avian Physics 0.3 Avian Physics 0.3 ----------------- May 10, 2025 * #Physics * #Simulation * #Rust * #Bevy Improved contact reporting, collision hooks, and many more collision detection updates Avian Physics 0.2 Avian Physics 0.2 ----------------- Dec 21, 2024 * #Physics * #Simulation * #Rust * #Bevy Reworked scheduling, transform interpolation, overhauled mass properties, and more Introducing Avian Physics 0.1 Introducing Avian Physics 0.1 ----------------------------- Jul 06, 2024 * #Physics * #Simulation * #Rust * #Bevy The next evolution of ECS-driven physics for Bevy See all 8 posts * * * Recent projects --------------- Avian Physics Avian Physics ------------- * * Jun 19, 2023 * #Physics * #Simulation * #Rust * #Bevy An ECS-driven 2D and 3D physics engine for the Bevy game engine. Algorust Algorust -------- * Oct 02, 2021 * #Algorithms * #Rust * #Visualization * #Website A website with interactive visualizations of various types of algorithms, like sorting and pathfinding algorithms. The entire project is primarily built with Rust using the Yew web framework. See all 2 projects

Updated May 10, 2025

Page created: 2021-11-11 Updated: 2025-05-10 Hello from Spring-Summer, 2025. A lot has happened. In the world and in my own life. * Just finished the Snobol adventure at last. What a relief! * Have started up a Ren’Py language examples page to which I can slowly add content. * Finished the tiny "Fam" friends and family social media site. I’ve been doing little additions and fixes on that. * Another loss. * The OpenBSD stuff is back-burnered, but that’s gonna be "next". * I’m all-in on getting OpenBSD (and OpenBSD’s `httpd` server) working for my needs. * You can kind of track my progress for some of that here: Dave’s OpenBSD blog, etc. * Specifically, my OpenBSD httpd rewrites and redirects page _Then_, I’ll get back to Hiss, but I gave myself a pretty ridiculous side-quest with the Hiss documenation - I’m planning to make an SVG editor with extremely tiny file size output as the main feature. I’ll use that to illustrate the docs. Crazy, I know. I _know_. And _then_ (or maybe concurrently), I want to start up the next "Assembly Nights" project. I’ve got the perfect thing for that, the arm compiler book by Keleshev and do it on the Pocket Reform, which runs ARM. What is this page, anyway? -------------------------- I’ve wanted to do _something_ like this for a while and when I ran across Derek Sivers’s concept of the "/now" page, I knew I had to jump on board. Read more at nownownow.com! It’s now 2023, two years after I joined the trend and I’m seeing "Now" pages on a **lot** of the personal websites I’m visiting. I think that’s totally awesome. The personal Web is alive and well!

Updated May 9, 2025

Tech leader with over 20 years experience delivering software, building communities and producing podcasts based on personal passions. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Follow Si on Threads ↗︎ * GitHub * Mastodon * LinkedIn * Instagram * Spotify * YouTube * RSS Feed #### Engineering Manager Rightmove, ASOS, Alibaba, Yahoo and UEFA #### Podcast Producer House Finesse, Make Life Work and Verbal Diary #### Community Creator On The Side, Derby County, Multipack and more Career Highlights ----------------- Recent Posts ------------ 20 June 202510 takeaways from LDX3 2025 Lessons in leadership, AI, and metrics from a few days surrounded by some of the … 14 June 2025Find your own pace Progress looks different for everyone — but the best teams figure it out together, one … 16 May 2025Vulnerability ≠ Safety (But It Can Be) This week, I saw two very different sides of psychological safety play out, and both … 9 May 2025Building Tools for Healthier Teams From frameworks to feedback, and finding joy in making things that matter. 16 January 2025How can MK become a tech hub? Today, I was invited to a Protospace Roundtable discussion with fellow tech leaders from around … 21 November 2024Product on a Podcast – Agile Therapy Workshops Kicking off a new season of podcast episodes, reviving an old Product On A Page …

Updated May 9, 2025

I’m Noah Bradley and I’m a creator. I’m mostly an artist but I do a lot of other things too. I shoot beautiful 📸 Reference.Pictures for artists. Now you don’t have to spend hours googling to find good reference or spend $$$ to hire a model—we’ve got you covered. I teach how to make better art at 🏕️ Art Camp, a self-directed online program that covers the fundamentals of art in two courses and another course on landscape painting. I wrote a book on how I learned to 📚 Paint Figures Better and how you can too. I just self-published my second book, Art is Dead: And Other Hopeful Essays on How to Make Good Art and Not Be a Bad Artist. I have a free YouTube channel where you can watch me work and learn how to paint and listen to my ramble on about art stuff. **🖌️ Download my digital painting brushes here** because they’re pretty fucking great. I also taught The Art of Freelancing so that you can learn how to get your foot in the door and thrive as a freelance artist. I make primal fantasy art for my world, The Sin of Man. I’m writing the novel right now and the prose is coming out of me like the last dregs from a honey bear bottle. To spice up your screens, download a free bundle of wallpapers of my art. Or if your walls and desk look boring and sad, I sell prints, desk mats, MTG stuff, and more. I’m married to Rachel Bradley. We call ourselves Team Bradley and we record a podcast called Creators.Chat. Here are a few things I’ve written that you might enjoy: * 🧙 How I Became an Artist * 📚 10 Books Every Artist Must Read * 🎓 Don’t Go to Art School * 📚 How I Wrote and Self-Published My First Art Book (and 9 Lessons I Learned) * 🤖 How to Sketch with AI * 🚫 What It’s Like To Be Cancelled * 🔥 Burn It Down: On the Merits of Personal Disasters and the Power of Rebuilding * 🌿 Kratom is Awesome and You Should Try It * 📵 Phones are ruining art (and artists) * 💀 Art is dead * 🤙 10 Things That May Have Helped Me Not Have Wrist Pain * 💣 Self-Destruct: How the Art Industry is Destroying Itself * 😰 The Reasons for Burnout * 😐 Why Most Artists Stop Getting Better (But Some Don’t) * 🤯 Self-sabotaging Self-care * 💰 Golden Handcuffs: The Misaligned Incentives Diluting Art * ⏳ 2023 in review * 10 Ways to Use Reference to Make Better Art * Artists Who Use Reference Are Cheaters * The 9 Best Places to Find Pose Reference * How to Spot Bad Art Reference * Become a Better Artist in #21Days * #JuneStudyJam ### **Would you like to receive a weekly email with an inspiring image, a short blog post for creators, a useful tool I’ve discovered, and a quick update on my work?** ✉️ Here’s a sample email so you can get a feel for what they’re like. Join over 6000 other creators and get a weekly dose of motivation and inspiration. It’s free to join and you can unsubscribe anytime. Social media is probably destroying society, but I’m on Instagram, and X. If you’ve got a cool project and you need some concept art or illustrations for it, get in touch: noah@noahbradley.com. * * *

Updated May 9, 2025

I try to write every now and then, often about stuff I've recently been working on. Hover your mouse here to see the list. Ambient Declarations -------------------- Explaining ambient declarations with @types/bun as an example Avoiding homework with code (and getting caught) ------------------------------------------------ The eventful tale of me getting fed up with my homework The 0kb Next.js blog -------------------- How I shipped a Next.js app with a 0kb bundle Serverless Discord OAuth with Next.js ------------------------------------- Implementing basic Discord OAuth on Vercel's serverless platform A strict TSConfig ----------------- The strictest TypeScript configuration possible. "Look ma, no errors!"

Updated May 8, 2025

WELCOME ------- C64OS.com is the official website of C64 OS, a versatile operating system expansion for the Commodore 64 that gives you a whole new set of sophisticated tools in a powerful and unified user interface. With an REU you can enable Fast App Switching and have up to 30 Applications open at the same time. The powerful File Manager is loaded with features. Recursively copy or move whole directory trees between any places on any devices. The tabbed interface lets you be in up to 4 places at the same time. The favorites, recents, path bar, and menu bar, access with a mouse or keyboard shortcuts, lets you whizz around all your drives at record speed. App Launcher gives you multiple desktops. You can customize each with a different backdrop, hint color, and color coded aliases to C64 OS Apps, C64 OS Utililities and to original C64 games and programs. C64 OS comes bundled with 35 useful Utilities that can be opened and used concurrently with a C64 OS application, including: A calculator, a calendar, a memo pad, a music player, a timer and stopwatch, a text viewer, a memory inspector and much more. ### Get your copy of C64 OS today. What's New! Learn More Choose Bundle NEWS, EDITORIALS, REFERENCE --------------------------- In the weblog, you'll find posts that cover news, editorial reviews, programming reference documents, technical deep dives into software and hardware, plus thoughts and progress updates on the development of C64 OS. Over time my posts have gotten longer and more detailed. These in-depth posts take time research, write and edit. I have been keeping to steady pace of at least one such post a month. It is difficult to get regular readers if new content is not showing up more frequently. To help cope with this, the weblog also has an RSS feed. Subscribe to it, and you'll get new posts in your feed reader as soon as they're published. Or follow me on X (Twitter), where I announce each new post. ### Recent Posts Read the weblog now ⇒ COMMODORE 8 BIT BUYER'S GUIDE ----------------------------- Commodore hardware is great. The architecture has proven to be very well designed as is still usable and expandable decades later. But in order to take advantage of that architecture design, you need to actually expand it by building or purchasing expansion hardware. Commodore 8-bit computers have had lots of third-party supporting hardware. And while much of it is no longer commercially available, there are hundreds of modern projects and expansion options that are available and under development today. When I returned from my hiatus, I was amazed by the rich support the C64 still has, from hardware, software and publications. However, I learned about these things in dribs and drabs by haunting IRC channels, message boards and following C64 fans on X (Twitter). The Commodore 8 Bit Buyer's Guide is a graphical catalog of all the hardware products, projects and kits I know of that are commercially available today. Product feature pages show high-res photos, link to the homepage, documentation and supporting software, include a mini review and product description and list prices and instructions on how you can buy the product for yourself. ### Quick Links * Storage * Expansion * Audio * Memory * ROMs * Network * Video * Hacker * Input * Hobbyist * Power * Component View the Buyer's Guide now ⇒ C64 OS v1.07: AVAILABLE NOW --------------------------- C64 OS version 1.07 comes with a professionally printed User's Guide, two promotional stickers, and a custom labeled System Card (SD Card) with a complete system pre-installed and ready to boot up. The System Card includes an OS archive and installation tools which can be used to install C64 OS on a different C64 mass storage device. C64 OS v1.07 includes system-level files, plus, File Manager, App Launcher, Image Viewer, Wikipedia, C64 Archiver, and other Applications, 35 Utilities, including a help viewer, calculator, timer and stopwatch, calendar, memo pad, SID music player, and help Utilities like Settings, File Info, and Open and Save dialogs. This system includes 20 hardware drivers, over 25 shared libraries, 28 Toolkit classes, and an array of data type loaders and savers. As a bonus, the System Card also comes with a CMD HD hard drive image and an IDE64 hard drive image pre-installed with C64 OS for use in the latest versions of VICE, as well as sample MText files, graphics files, and SID music. Updates and expansion Apps and Utilities are available for download from the Official Software Updates page, to add to and expand the capabilities of the base C64 OS system. Learn more about C64 OS ⇒ _Purchase a copy of C64 OS, install on any number of Commodore computers and emulators, for your personal use and enjoyment. Install free software updates._ OPCODERS STORE -------------- The OpCoders Store is now open. Where before we offered the purchase of C64 OS bundles, one at a time, the store gives you a proper cart. In addition to the operating system software bundles, we're offering goodies and extras and will be adding a selection of hardware devices that help you get the most out of C64 OS. Visit the OpCoders Store ⇒ Special thanks to "The Sarge" for this beautiful C64 OS boot screen. Bundled in the free update to C64 OS v1.05 C64 LUGGABLE PROJECT -------------------- In 2000 I acquired my first SX-64 Executive Computer. A luggable C64 with a built in 5" display, 1541 floppy drive and a unified power supply. All with a handle on the top. I heavily modified mine to include a SuperCPU, IDE64, CD-Rom drive, Ethernet adapter and High Speed RS232, all powered by a lightweight AT Power Supply. But the SX-64 was built for a different time. Its display is a massive CRT block, 1-foot deep. The rest of the internal layout is modeled around this main feature. C64 Luggable is a project to build an all-in-one C64, oriented vertically rather than horizontally. It has a large 15" LCD display and foregoes old tech like a floppy drive, in favor of SD card and USB-based storage. Ethernet is a standard. And so are its front-mounted 4-player controller inputs, and rear-mounted PS/2 mouse and keyboard ports. I love my Commodore computers and how expandable they are, but they have a tendency to take up a whole desk with sprawling peripherals and multiple power supplies. This is fun its own way, but it makes them inconvenient to take with you. C64 Luggable is a practical project for me, and a reference design for other people to be creatively inspired. It allows me to bring a C64 with me to my friends' houses, to remove the friction of getting them to be able to enjoy C64 demos and multi-player games with me. C64 Luggable helps me share the love of the C64 more easily and with more people. Learn more about C64 Luggable ⇒ * * * SUPPORT MY WORK --------------- #### Dear Commodore 64 enthusiast, I'm working hard on C64 OS, and I'm building it for you and for the Commodore community. Its combination of a zippy and consistent user interface, essential programming frameworks, and a suite of online proxy services, will give you a new way to enjoy your Commodore 64. The C64OS.com weblog brings you quality reading material, programming and hardware reference, technical deep dives, product and event reviews, and updates on my progress. The Buyer's Guide is the best way for you to find out about new and existing, commercially available, products, projects and kits for all Commodore 8-Bit computers. With large clear photos, detailed writeups, and standardized information on price and compatibility, links to documentation, third-party reviews, and specific instructions on how to buy, the Buyer's Guide is becoming the resource of choice for discovering what you want to get next and how to get it. But, you guessed it. Providing you with all of this great content takes time, effort and money. The good news is that you can help out! You can make a real difference, and support the future of these great initiatives with a helpful contribution. The easiest way to support my work is to purchase a commercial copy of C64 OS. If you have already purchased C64 OS and you want to provide additional support, you can always make a donation. Just buy me a cup of coffee. (I also accept Bitcoin.) #### Thank you so much, for your generous support Gregory Nacu — OpCoders Inc. Want to support my hard work? Here's how! To all my supporters: With Special Thanks to ---------------------- * Maurizio Poli * Alex Brem * Louis Giglio * Scott Hanselman * Alan Reed * Saveen Sadanand * Christian Weyer **For repeated and generous support and encouragement.** Most recent contributors: * Thomas Petto * Maurizio Poli * **Salvatore Alamo** * **Tim Harris** * Dietmar Krueger * Rolf Peters * **Alan Reed** * Erik Magnusson Earlier contributors: * Piotr Andrzejczak * Paul Beel * Aaron Bell * Chuck Bell * Olivier Bernhard * Stéphane Blanchonnet * **Jan Blomqvist** * Leif Bloomquist * **Alex Brem** * Thomas Bühler * Joe Carter * Nelson Chamberlain * Deanne Christoph * CodeSecurity * Dennis Costa * **K Michael Cullen** * Fabian Danders * John DiLiberto * Michael Doornbos * Steve Dowden * Antonio Drusin * Jeremy English * Mitchell Farley * Roy Fielding * Scott Finney * Greg Gerke * David Gershman * **Louis Giglio** * Sarmad Gilani * Carl Gonsalves * Laurence Gonsalves * Richard Good * Thomas Gosser * Robert Grasböck * Eric Grejda * Alfonso Coronado Guillén * Steve Haak * Scott Hanselman * Steven Hansen * James Happel * Charles Heinle * Eric Hill * Paul Hocker * Mirko Holzer * Marcus Honey * Immicro * Employing Innovation * Josh Johnson * Rene Kint * David Kraus * Addy van Ladesteijn * Philipp Lehmann * Michael Longval * Karim Lounnas * Owen Mann * **Nathan Marler** * Brad Marshall * Brian Marstella * Sascha Mathejczyk * Jason McEachin * Tristan Miller * Emmanuel Montfermé * Ronald Morrissette * Laszlo Nagy * Bernd Neikes * Christopher Nelson * Jessie Oberreuter * Jonas Olsson * **Nicholas Otz** * Themis Papassilekas * Rayner Pedersen * Bryan Pope * Jonathan Raphaelson * Glen Rapoza * Malcolm Reiter * MindFlare Retro * Retro Rewind * Joel Ricci * Paul Rickards * Saveen Sadanand * Carlos Perez Saldana * Paul Schimmelpfenning * James A Schoch * Aric Sedlacek * David Semke * Northwoods Computer Services * Keith Shirley * Josef Souçek * Jochen Spang * Flemming Steffensen * **Lars-Erik Stenholm** * Daniel Stephens * Martin Studer * Kent Sullivan * Markos Themelidis * Klaus Timmermann * Rodrigo Felipe Martínez Torres * James Trevizo * Tomasz Tybulewicz * Daniel Varga * Jakob Voos * **Peter Walsh** * Matthew Walworth * **Christian Weyer** * Adam Whitney * Jimmy Wilson * David Youd * geekpower * Marko Šolajić ✶ Names in **bold** are multiple contributors. Extra thanks!

Updated May 8, 2025

### This is what I'm up to _now_ Updated May 8, 2025 What am I working on? --------------------- ### +$25k I run a program called +$25k to help freelance motion designers make an extra $25k. Past Educational projects ------------------------- **The Lettering Animation Course** (2017-2021) Taught lettering artists how to animate their work via After Effects. **Personal Project Accelerator** (2020-2021) Helped motion designers conceptualize, produce and launch personal projects. **Full Harbor Membership** (2017-2021) Community for motion designers with business/motion design training, challenges, and quarterly planning sessions. Where am I? ----------- * Boone, NC * London, UK * Digital Nomad (I'm probably in either Greenville SC, Asheville, Charlotte, or North Myrtle Beach) * Tempe, AZ * Fort Worth, TX * New York City * Charlotte, NC * Phoenix, AZ

Updated May 6, 2025

I was recently interviewed for an article about remote work, you can read the full thing here. Some of my suggestions: * Tags article, remote work Facebook tried to shut it down, so obviously like so many others I had to read it! Careless People covers the period of 2011-2017, the author pitches a job to Facebook working in policy, and was there from the inception of Facebook getting involved with governments. It’s a well written, engaging story. The author knows \[…\] * Tags books, careless people Having set my intention for the year as “health”, Q1 2025 felt a bit like whatever the atheist, gender neutral equivalent is of the saying “Man plans, and God laughs”. I had a good start to January – all set with my intentions and my Trello board – only to get very sick in February \[…\] * Tags 2025, goals, health, life Recently, someone asked me for my “Leadership philosophy”. My initial reaction was to panic, but after taking a deep breath and a bit of time to think, I came up with this answer: “My job is to make it easier for people to make good decisions.” What does that mean? Firstly – that my job \[…\] * Tags decisions, management Backlash (Susan Faludi) is a long and not particularly easy read. Written in response to the Reagan administration’s assault on women’s rights (originally published in 1991), it was reissued in 2020 as history repeated itself. Two recurring themes in the book. First, the way that the data did not at all align with what was \[…\] * Tags backlash, books I have a set of questions I ask in some variation at the end of my 1:1s. What are you taking away?What was most useful to you? These two I got from my coach and I use them both at work and in my own coaching. The concrete questions are useful, but it can also \[…\] * Tags 1:1s, management I really believe in the power of a good novel as an escape from Real Life. Some of my recent(ish) favorites I’ve been recommending. The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston – an absolutely beautiful novel, I loved it. Somali Dev’s Austin inspired series – I adore this series about an Indian immigrant family, each one \[…\] * Tags books, comfort reads Recently, I reviewed ~150 submissions for a conference. It’s been a while since I did a CfP review, and here are some things I noticed. Noting this is my own personal experience – others may disagree! This was an anonymous review, which was interesting. There are a lot of great reasons to do an anonymous \[…\] * Tags cfps My friends and I went pottery painting this year. Next, we’re trying crotchet. The pottery painting was fun, and my star shaped bowl painted in rainbow colors came out better than I expected. I’m thinking to go back and paint a dragon next. My friends and I, we’re exploring. Trying some new things. Seeing what \[…\] * Tags career, exploring, learning I think the thing I enjoyed most about Ashley Goodall’s The Problem with Change is the author’s cynicism about corporate America. In places it’s a little bit of a diatribe, but what can I say, I love it. I love it all the more that it comes from someone who successfully navigated the Byzantine ladder \[…\] * Tags book, the problem with change

Updated May 6, 2025

There is no shortage of opinions or perspectives on AI and its impact on education. As we get more granular in our understanding of risks and possibilities, new possibilities and risks emerge. Not even necessarily new, but more defined. As I write this, I realize the first paragraph isn’t great. AI could make it better. But I’m leaving it. I’m leaving it for 3 reasons. First, I’m lazy. The reason I blog is that I’ve always treated it as somewhat of a brain dump. Certainly, I want to be coherent and provide something of value to others, but as I’ve often said, my 20 years of blogging are more of a repository of my thinking than anything else. Second, I want this to be me. I’ve not yet trained AI to recognize my style well enough to produce anything that could be mistaken for me. But also, see my first reason. Third, I enjoy the process of wrestling with ideas, deleting words and ideas and seeing a piece of writing to the end. While I use Grammarly to some extent, I find its suggestions a tad annoying and yes, they make my writing better, some of my flaws are fine. (Full disclosure: I used AI to generate the title.) One of my influences over the years was Clay Shirky. I say “was” because I’ve not heard much from him lately. Cognitive Surplus, Here Comes Everybody, and his TED talks were seminal pieces in my learning and understanding of the Internet. He also wrote a piece later on about why he banned laptops in his classroom. I wrote about that. For whatever reason, his name came to mind, and I wondered what he was thinking about Genai. Interestingly enough, he wrote about it last month. I resonated with much of what he wrote: > _After observing that student action and thought is the only possible source of learning, Simon concluded, “The teacher can advance learning only by influencing the student to learn.” Faced with generative AI in our classrooms, the obvious response for us is to influence students to adopt the helpful uses of AI while persuading them to avoid the harmful ones. Our problem is that we don’t know how to do that._ I’ve been working for the better part of the last 2 years exploring the risks and possibilities. I’m just now entering the kind of work where we’ll deal with this challenge directly. It’s complicated and complex. Just like I wrote about Shirky and his laptop experiment, that you have to give it a try before you decide to shut things down, Shirky suggests that’s already been happening in higher ed. > _Since the arrival of generative AI, I have spent much of the last two years talking with professors and students to try to understand what is going on in their classrooms. In those conversations, faculty have been variously vexed, curious, angry, or excited about AI, but as last year was winding down, for the first time one of the frequently expressed emotions was sadness. This came from faculty who were, by their account, adopting the strategies my colleagues and I have recommended: emphasizing the connection between effort and learning, responding to AI-generated work by offering a second chance rather than simply grading down, and so on. Those faculty were telling us our recommended strategies were not working as well as we’d hoped, and they were saying it with real distress_. The ubiquity of this technology is such that it’s going to be harder and harder to distinguish between the good and bad uses of Genai. I’ve been pushing the idea of productive struggle as a primary goal of school. Learning isn’t always hard, but it can be. We live in a world that is obsessed with reducing barriers, both for good and also because, as humans, we are typically looking for shortcuts. I’m 61. I don’t need to “learn” to write, but I enjoy spending time choosing my words and seeing an idea come to life. I know others who use AI much more directly in their writing. To me, that’s personal preference. But in the developmental stages of life, that’s not a preference. The story that Shirky shares about William, describes what may be an inevitable path where AI just does what schools have typically asked for, and learning becomes secondary or non-existent. Currently, I’ve seen progress in trying to create some guidelines and structures to support students and teachers in navigating our use of GENai. However, what Shirky is describing here goes beyond those guidelines to address the emotions and cognitive struggle that is often unintentionally being offloaded to AI. I talk to many who sense an unpleasant feeling when they use AI, and that shouldn’t be dismissed. This goes way beyond just trying to “catch” kids using AI inappropriately or to avoid work, but is about doing the work. The “work” in this case isn’t the product but the thinking and all the things a teacher likely doesn’t see. One of my favourite questions is asking students what they choose to leave out of an assignment or project. This helps me and them understand how they edit and curate their work. Maybe we need to explicitly teach the concept of productive struggle, or as Shirky calls it, “desirable difficulty”. Resilience and grit may be part of it, but I suspect it’s even more than that. Maybe we need to encourage our students and ourselves to monitor our feelings and call out when AI feel weird. As adults, we have the advantage of more experience not using AI. I recently talked with a high school teacher who was sharing similar stories about how her students were reluctant to use AI for fear of learning loss. As teenagers, they have memories of learning without AI. Like many of us older folks who remember learning without the Internet, our high school students are the last generation to have some memory of learning without AI. I’m writing this not because I have a ton of answers, but as I continue to support educators in this work, this is currently my biggest fear. What I am grateful for is knowing how many educators are willing to address this concern and work towards something that helps students. Media literacy and civil discourse have been central themes in my work for over two decades. As we navigate the complexities of Generative AI, these skills are not just underdeveloped—they’re increasingly undermined by the very platforms that dominate public conversation. While certain mindsets, dispositions, and strategies offer hope, I’m discouraged by the lack of visible modelling and the scarcity of platforms that truly foster these essential skills. Recently, I’ve had the privilege of connecting with Andrew McLuhan, grandson of Marshall McLuhan. His insights have deepened my appreciation for his grandfather’s work, which I’ve long admired. Andrew reminded me that while most of us focus on media literacy, Marshall McLuhan was equally invested in media ecology—a concept anchored in his most famous phrase: “The medium is the message.” Media literacy equips us to critically analyze media content, uncovering bias and influence. Media ecology, on the other hand, explores how media themselves—regardless of content—reshape the way we think, feel, and interact. Where media literacy asks what a message means, media ecology asks how the medium changes the message and its effects on society. If you’ve read McLuhan or Neil Postman, it might seem as if they were deeply skeptical—if not outright critical—of media. It’s worth remembering that both were writing long before the digital age exploded. I asked Andrew if his grandfather was anti-media or saw media as harmful to society. He shared that Marshall McLuhan worked hard to maintain neutrality—to be a true scientist. He believed that allowing bias into his studies would obstruct his ability to truly understand a medium. That doesn’t mean he lacked opinions, but rather that he saw bias as a barrier to comprehension. Remaining neutral today is no small task. Being neutral is often condemned, “You must choose a side.” This is where my frustration lies. I want to examine the political tension and chaos that dominate our current reality. As a Canadian, I see my own country grappling with the influence of events happening just south of the border. Watching the U.S. navigate its divisions makes it difficult to find media that calmly, logically, and critically interpret the implications of policy and governance. The media ecology itself is fractured. Many of my colleagues in education—those who do share political views—lean heavily in one direction. As I strive to maintain the mindset of a media ecologist, I see people who are angry, afraid, and disillusioned. I intentionally seek out perspectives that differ from my own to better understand the reasoning behind them. Often, I find those perspectives presented with a sense of certainty, even smugness. On both sides, people seem baffled by the inability of others to “see the truth.” They express frustration and, more troublingly, a belief that understanding and coexistence may no longer be possible. Even suggesting civil discourse today can feel naïve. Some have written it off entirely. And yet, I remain desperate to find examples of thoughtful, intelligent people engaging across ideological divides—people who wrestle with difficult issues, challenge each other’s thinking, and explore the real-world consequences of policy decisions. If such models exist, they are marginalized, unsupported, or invisible in today’s media landscape. Years ago, I followed a podcast called “An Atheist and a Christian,” where two friends with fundamentally different worldviews had respectful, curious conversations. It wasn’t about winning arguments; it was about understanding. I found it inspiring—both for what I learned and for the demonstration of what civility could look like. This week, I searched for a similar platform where Americans with opposing views engage in meaningful discussion. I couldn’t find one. Today’s dominant formats—podcasts and short-form videos—reward speed, certainty, and outrage. The most successful content often caricatures the opposition, portraying them as stupid or evil rather than presenting thoughtful counterarguments. These trends aren’t accidental. They’re engineered to attract followers and engagement. Consumers, in turn, are incentivized to stay in their echo chambers. The closest I came was a new podcast from Gavin Newsom, where he invites right-wing guests to share their views. I appreciated the attempt, but the episodes I watched lacked the depth and challenge I was hoping for. Still, I learned something new. The podcast, predictably, is criticized from both sides: the left sees it as pandering; the right views it as politically motivated. Many readers will insist there are not two sides—only one right side and one wrong. But I’m not interested in picking sides. I’m trying to follow McLuhan’s example and understand why this is happening. When you immerse yourself in each information bubble, it genuinely feels like entering a parallel universe. How can people live in the same country—even the same neighbourhood—see the world so differently? It’s both unsettling and fascinating. From a Canadian perspective, U.S. polarization exerts a heavy influence. While Canada is not immune to division, the stakes seem higher in the U.S., and the ripple effects are real. As an educator committed to diversity, critical thinking, media literacy, and civil discourse, I feel a responsibility to imagine and help build environments where differing viewpoints can be explored—spaces that aren’t governed by algorithms designed to stoke rage and deepen division. At this moment, it appears we may have to create these spaces ourselves. If examples exist, I’d love to hear about them. If not, perhaps we can begin experimenting together. And if you’ve noticed a growing unwillingness to talk across lines of difference, I’d love to know what you think is driving that. Surely, you know people whose beliefs differ from yours—people you still respect. If not, we may already be losing the battle for civil discourse. There isn’t a lot of civility from anyone these days. And if that disappears, I fear it could be replaced by something far more dangerous. 20 years ago, I heard about a thing called blogging. I was a technology director/consultant like a kid in a candy shop trying every new tool out there. For those of you of a certain age, you’ll recall the mid-2000’s was a burgeoning time in edtech. Laptops were replacing desktops, web 2.0 had emerged and multimedia was coming on strong with digital cameras and video. Here’s my very first blog post: Brilliant, I know. Interestingly this post garnered 6 responses which speaks to how things used to be. This was pre-social media as we know it today but it was part of Web 2.0 which was the new ease and opportunity to create as well as consume content. I’ve always been an early adopter. I joined Youtube in 2006 and Twitter in 2007. I’ve never referred to myself as a content creator but the numbers don’t lie: * Blog Posts: 1,441 * YouTube Videos: 366 (that’s just my channel, like over 500 with contributions to other channels * Tweets: 28,947 * Photos: 19,057 (flicker only) * Podcast Episodes: 184 (over multiple shows) Blogging has remained my most important platform. From the beginning, I was excited to be able to share without restriction or gatekeeping. I would post about anything I wanted. The value was partly to document my thinking, bookmarking new tools, sharing something useful for others and occasionally engaging in interesting conversations. What I never did then and not since was strategically use these platforms to grow and build my brand. That word itself has been explored a lot in this space. I didn’t learn about SEO or explore the myriad of tools designed to make the most of digital marketing. I know that cost me $$ and opportunities. But I’m naturally lazy and wasn’t interested in making a business out of it. That is no criticism to those who have. They’re smarter and more motivated than I am. I have no real idea how many people read this blog. It’s been years since I looked at the stats. I know somewhere I have an email subscriber list. I did look at that about 5 years ago and saw I had about 500 subscribers. My guess is most of them have this go straight to trash. At one point I had 40,000 Twitter followers which always blew my daughters away and to this day can’t figure out how that happened. Neither can I. I’ve been posting content for 20 years and I still enjoy it. I have no idea if others find value, although I do know my recent podcast seems to be well-received by many. I have no plans to do anything new or different. I’ve recently watched a colleague Tim Childers grow a pretty nice YouTube following which seems to be a nice part-time retirement gig. This stuff still fascinates me and it’s nice to see people find ways to connect and provide real value to others. I hope I can continue that. Happy anniversary to me. Sticking with my commitment in my first post of the year, I want to write about sports gambling. The extent of my gambling is fantasy football so I can’t be too hypocritical but I think it is, like AI, an issue that schools are going to need to address sooner rather than later. A few years ago, I listened to a Freakonomics podcast that explored how our understanding of risk and reward has evolved. It examined how institutions, from financial markets to sports leagues, have blurred the lines between entertainment and gambling, creating an environment where betting is not just accepted but actively encouraged. More recently, Michael Lewis’ latest season of _Against the Rules_ has taken a deep dive into the explosion of sports gambling, exposing how the industry has positioned itself at the center of modern sports culture. He highlights how accessibility, technology, and aggressive marketing have made betting almost inescapable—especially for young people. The podcast also reveals the way these gambling sites have utilized AI to the point where they can’t lose and not only target poor players but also throttle good ones. While Canada and the US are relatively new to legalized sports gambling, other countries can tell you the negative impact it will bring. The normalization of sports gambling is happening at an alarming rate, and it’s targeting young audiences with precision. If you watch a game today, you’ll see that betting odds are seamlessly woven into broadcasts, social media feeds, and even classroom conversations. While many like me hate it, it is appealing to many and particularly young men. If we’re going to be serious about fostering critical thinking around things like AI and media in general, we have to include the impact of gambling. We already know that schools play a crucial role in teaching digital literacy and responsible decision-making. But are we prepared to help students navigate the risks of a world where gambling is as accessible as checking the score of last night’s game? Consider how we talk to students about risk. We educate them about the dangers of substance abuse, social media manipulation, and financial responsibility, but gambling often flies under the radar. It lurks in the spaces where students feel most comfortable—on their phones, in their group chats, and even in casual conversations about sports. The rise of micro-betting, where fans can wager on things as small as the outcome of the next pitch, further erodes the distinction between engagement and addiction. There’s a lesson here that ties directly into well-being. Just as unrealistic expectations in relationships or careers can lead to dissatisfaction and anxiety, so too can the false promises of easy money and endless wins. The dopamine rush of a small victory can be addictive, and the inevitable losses can spiral into something much darker. Young people, especially boys, are particularly vulnerable to this cycle, as many of them are still developing impulse control and critical decision-making skills. So, what should schools do? First, we need to name the problem. Sports gambling is no longer a fringe issue—it’s a mainstream force shaping how students engage with sports and money. Schools should integrate discussions about gambling literacy into curricula, much like they do with media literacy and financial literacy. We need to equip students with the ability to recognize how the odds are stacked against them and how gambling companies manipulate behaviour. Second, we need to shift the conversation about sports. The joy of watching and playing sports shouldn’t be tied to financial stakes. Educators and coaches can reinforce that fandom doesn’t have to come with a betting slip. Schools can also partner with mental health professionals to address gambling addiction in the same way they approach substance abuse and gaming addiction. Sports plays such an important role in society. Perhaps in our world today not only does it represent a healthy escape but it can bring communities and people together in a wholesome and powerful way. Sports gambling doesn’t add to it but takes some of that away. Finally, parents and educators need to be more aware of the signals. When students casually mention betting on a game, it’s worth asking: Do they understand the risks? Are they chasing losses? Is gambling becoming a core part of their social interactions? These are the kinds of questions we should be asking before the problem becomes too big to ignore. I don’t have all the answers, but I know this: expecting young people to navigate this issue alone is not realistic or fair. Just as we have learned to guide them through the challenges of social media, online safety, and mental health, we need to step up and help them understand the risks of sports gambling. Schools, as places of learning and community, have a responsibility to be part of that conversation. I did talk recently with Tom D’Amico, Director of Education at Ottawa Catholic who told him that his school counsellors were already dealing with this addiction with young boys. Good for them. My ask is that we don’t wait until it reaches that level of addiction. If this resonates with you, I’d love to hear your thoughts. What role do you think schools should play in addressing sports gambling? Is this something your community is already talking about, or is it still under the radar? Before you read any further, I need to be clear in stating my limitations and expertise when it comes to mental health. I have some expertise in my journey as well as a parent and educator but concede there are experts and everyone’s experiences that I can’t speak to directly. As I stated in my 2025 early reflection post, I want to reflect on this issue. If you also deal with mental health issues, it is advised that you seek professional help. A lot of mental health professionals are now using billing systems from ABA Billing Companies to efficiently manage insurance payments and other billing documents. I recall listening to a podcast many years ago, so long I can’t even remember the source, that talked about how marriage and our expectations of marriage have changed over the years. It used to be that marriage was more like a partnership, one that took into account how each would complement one another. In many cases, it was more focused on a business relationship. In an agricultural context, people looked to see how their partner would be able to support the family farm. In addition, there was never an expectation that a spouse would be able to meet all of your needs. A person’s well-being was more of a community effort; relying on family and friends and other things to support you. Over the years, the role and expectations of a spouse changed to be something greater. The idea that your spouse was your soul mate or that they completed you, placed high expectations on someone else to be all things for you. I would argue an unrealistic expectation. I’m not a marriage counsellor but I do believe that a happy marriage means that each partner must seek out other supports to be fulfilled. As well, the idea that your early days of romance and desire will remain constant throughout your life is also a very unrealistic expectation. This doesn’t mean that you have a lousy marriage or a less-than-ideal one, it means that things change and can change for the better as you mature. I share that because I think there is something to be learned here that connects to well-being. We’ve known for a while about the Instagram-filtered world we live in where people only share a thin slice of their lives, often presenting an unrealistic and highly curated representation of life. Even when we understand this is happening, the messaging we hear from so many sources suggests that we must always be reaching for the stars and that being satisfied is seen as settling for less. You can and should be doing better. Expectations from not only our partners but our friends, our families our jobs and our passions are often glamourized and simply unattainable. Once again, I don’t doubt that many people struggle with mental health but for those who simply question all their choices and feel down about them, I wonder if they may be expecting too much. I worry that they are seeking some kind of perfection when not only do I not think that’s possible but I don’t think it’s healthy. My life is far from perfect. I’m certain my 60 years on this planet have taught me a few things. Contentment is often a misrepresented idea. I want for nothing. I also am grateful for an average Tuesday. A day where if I look at it objectively, nothing interesting happens. But in the routine of that day, I find moments of delight and joy and sit with them. They aren’t worth sharing with anyone but being able to reflect in the quiet and the loud and chaos that happen can remind you to be grateful. What many think of as a remarkable life misses out on the joys of being and living. The people I respect and admire aren’t people that are famous but ones like my nearly 93 year old father who wakes up everyday with a plan. The plan usually involves a game of cards, golf and coffee with a different friend each day. Over the years the activities may have changed but the purpose hasn’t. He has told me many times that he’s lived an amazing life. I have no idea if my sentiment here resonates with anyone or not and certainly if mental health and well-being is a struggle for you, please seek help. But if you’re not at that stage but you are less satisfied than you’d like to be maybe it’s you and the things you expect from others and the things around you. I’ve been using this thinking device of late.

Updated May 5, 2025

© Alexander Bakker 2025 _Content is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0_ _Style is based on the Hugo Monochrome Theme_ generated by /nix/store/8iv266zs18qy97ws018f6jkxxmjnbj3a-blogen/bin/blogen @ c0bb2ff94433a0eb4ac42ac62a40df306cc12f55

Updated May 5, 2025

* * * Looking for my weekly newsletter on all things tech hiring? Go to HiringFor.Tech for more details. Blog posts ---------- ### 2025 * LLMs are like compilers, sort of May 5, 2025 * Reflecting on ten years of my personal project Jan 1, 2025 ### 2024 * On effective communication Oct 15, 2024 ### 2023 ### 2021 * "It's not peaches and cream either for men" Nov 29, 2021* It's okay to not be okay Nov 2, 2021 ### 2020 * Space curves and twist Dec 29, 2020 * Vulnerability, leadership and paternity leave ft. Erran Berger Nov 16, 2020 * Why men's health depends on feminism Nov 1, 2020 * Rendering curves in 3D Sep 8, 2020 * Barebones 3D rendering with WebGL Jul 21, 2020 * Barebones WebGL in 75 lines of code Jul 8, 2020 * Scalability concepts: zero-downtime deployments Jun 30, 2020 * Scalability concepts: the reliability queue May 11, 2020 * Scalability concepts: read-after-write consistency Apr 13, 2020 * Scalability concepts: distributed ID generation Mar 23, 2020 * A tree-based introduction to backtracking Feb 25, 2020 * The balanced parentheses problem Jan 28, 2020 ### 2019 * Reflecting on twelve months of writing Dec 30, 2019* Makefiles for C/C++ projects Dec 16, 2019 * What I learned as a software engineer at a data science conference Dec 9, 2019 * Talking about men's health with Nash Nov 19, 2019* Makefiles from the ground up Nov 18, 2019 * Advocating for men's mental health Oct 31, 2019 * Practical computer science: connected components in a graph Aug 13, 2019 * Improved seam carving with forward energy Jul 29, 2019 * Dynamic programming for machine learning: Hidden Markov Models Jun 24, 2019 * Real-world dynamic programming: seam carving May 14, 2019 * Dynamic programming deep-dive: Chain Matrix Multiplication Apr 25, 2019 * A graphical introduction to dynamic programming Apr 15, 2019 * Creating Raspberry Pi applications with Raylib and Ruby - Part II Mar 4, 2019 * Creating Raspberry Pi applications with Raylib and Ruby Feb 19, 2019 * Writing GUI applications on the Raspberry Pi without a desktop environment Jan 23, 2019 ### 2018 * Setting up an LCD screen on the Raspberry Pi, 2019 edition Dec 31, 2018

Updated May 4, 2025

Last updated: 2025-05-04 18:25:00 +0000 UTC Work ---- Senior Engineering Manager at Heroku. Travel ------ Nothing coming up. Building and Making ------------------- No current active gunpla models. Next up is the Witch from Mercury pair. Maintaining accidentallykv.club. Fitness ------- Running 3x a week, lifting 3x a week. Following Tactical Barbell “Green Protocol” - Capacity. Worked through ~735km on my current pair of trainers, so swapping out for some alternating pairs of Mount To Coast P1s.

Updated May 4, 2025

Modified May 4, 2025 (This is a now page, and if you have your own site, you should make one, too.) Working on ---------- * An open-source platform for Resilient sECure digITAL identitieS | RECITALS Project * Automated fuzz targets generation through LLMs Reading ------- * **The Bullet Journal Method**, Ryder Carroll * **Children of Dune**, Frank Herbert Listening --------- * **Winter Nights**, Al Di Meola * **Bastion of Sanity**, David Binney Watching -------- * **Mad Men** * **The Sopranos** (rewatch)

Updated May 3, 2025

What I'm doing now? ------------------- * Busy busy at Umbraco HQ, working on Umbraco v16/v17. * Preparing my TinyMCE/Tiptap talk for CodeGarden 2025. * Stepped down from my CODECABIN duties. * Still _(slowing)_ migrating my Contentment package for Umbraco, over to Bellissima. * Still _(slowing)_ getting the The Dysfunctions debut album ready. _This update was made on 3rd May 2025._ * * * ### What is this page? > _This is a now page, and if you have your own site, you should make one too!_ > _Inspiration for the "**Now**" page comes from Derek Sivers: https://sivers.org/now_

Updated May 3, 2025

World News 24 * About * Ideas Last updated: 2025-05-03 * announce and share! * lazy load youtube How To Use ---------- You can switch channel by using: * ◀ ▶ (on keyboard) * ←👆→ : one-finger left/right swipe on the player window (on touchscreen) * ⏮ ⏭ (on keyboard or remote control), or * CH▲ CH▼ (on remote control) even in full-screen mode.

Updated May 2, 2025

02 May 2025 Your project should treat GitHub Actions like Someone Else’s Computer. What do I mean by that? Well, I view GHA runners as public, unsecured shell boxes that I can run scripts on. They can check out and build public code, but at no point should they be given any kind of privileges or secrets. Why is that? Well, I view the engineering discipline that went into GHA as similar to PHP4-era web security in the early 2000s – “unsafe at any speed”. They are functionally similar in a way – uncontrolled string interpolation, no type system, no tainting, no meaningful software testing. A stringly-typed carambolage. **Treating GHA like this is freeing.** There’s no supply chain risk – you’re stealing a read only `GITHUB_TOKEN` to a public open source repository? We had a tool for this, it was called “git clone https://github.com/shaddap/yaface”. Your creaky CI scripts need Python 2 linked against OpenSSL 0.9.8xxzz? Wonderful! Beautiful work. **Treating GHA like this is restrictive.** An action can _never_ have commit privileges, or any other privilege more than any GH user. External services wanting to alter something (like, post on a PR) need to be a GitHub App, they cannot use `GITHUB_TOKEN`. Packages (Rust crates, PyPI packages, ..) cannot be published automatically from a GitHub Action. GHA in this model cannot keep secrets, and nor should it ever be given OIDC `id-token: write` permissions. So neither publishing directly nor as a “trusted publisher” can work. **But… but… my workflows! My PR labeller!** If you can’t swing this, zizmor is good. GitHub should fund remedial tooling like this.

Updated May 2, 2025

The following information can be used on conference websites. ### 🇬🇧 English **Title:** Principal Technologist, Confluent **Bio:** Gunnar Morling is a software engineer and open-source enthusiast by heart, currently working as a Technologist at Confluent. Previously, he helped to build a realtime stream processing platform based on Apache Flink and led the Debezium project, a distributed platform for change data capture. He is a Java Champion and has founded multiple open source projects such as JfrUnit, kcctl, and MapStruct. Gunnar is an avid blogger (morling.dev) and has spoken at various conferences like QCon, Java One, and Devoxx. He lives in Hamburg, Germany. ### 🇩🇪 Deutsch **Titel:** Principal Technologist, Confluent **Bio:** Gunnar Morling ist Softwareentwickler und Open-Source-Enthusiast, gegenwärtig tätig als Technologist für Confluent. Zuvor arbeitete er an einer Plattform für Real-Time Stream Processing basierend auf Apache Flink; weiterhin leitete er das Debezium-Projekt, eine verteilte Lösung für Change Data Capture. Er ist ein Java Champion und hat diverse Open-Source-Projekte wie JfrUnit, kcctl und MapStruct ins Leben gerufen. Gunnar bloggt auf morling.dev und teilt seine Erfahrungen in Vorträgen, u.a. bei JavaLand, QCon, JavaOne und Devoxx. Er lebt und arbeitet in Hamburg.

Updated May 1, 2025

If you’re wondering what I’m up to, it’s a little bit of everything. * Building an open source voice banking dashboard for people with progressive speech disorders (in partnership with Team Gleason) * Investigating and measuring CodeGen AI models’ adherence to accessibility best practices. * Working to create and grow adpotion of accessibility tooling for product managers, designers, and developers. * Educating myself on all things Machine Learning, especially its implications for privacy, accessibility, and equity. * Helping give web folks a voice in the future of the platform via The Web We Want. * Setting the editorial direction at A List Apart. * Neglecting my my reef tank. * Doing podcast interviews and talks/workshops on AI/ML, accessibility, PWAs, inclusive design, progressive enhancement, and more. * Writing articles on any of the aforementioned topics. * Article pitches for A List Apart. * Sharing my network with folks in tech who come from underrepresented/marginalized communities. Reach out if you’re interested in talking.

Updated May 1, 2025

I live and work in San Diego, California. Current Project --------------- Constructive Codes – https://constructive.codes CPro1 uses LLMs to generate code that constructs combinatorial designs. Rosin, C.D. (May 2025) “Using Reasoning Models to Generate Search Heuristics that Solve Open Instances of Combinatorial Design Problems.” https://arxiv.org/pdf/2505.23881 Rosin, C.D. (Jan. 2025) “Using Code Generation to Solve Open Instances of Combinatorial Design Problems.” https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.17725 Recent Projects --------------- MAKESPEARE synthesizes short assembly language programs, using a form of local search. In the TIS-100 programming game, it solved the “Image Test Pattern 2” puzzle with a program of just 9 instructions – still shortest on the Reddit TIS-100 Leaderboard. * * * * * * * * * ### Other Publications: * Rosin, C.D. (2014). Unweighted stochastic local search can be effective for random CSP benchmarks. arXiv:1411.7480. Link to source code. * Rosin, C.D. (2014). Game playing. _WIREs Cognitive Science_ 5:193-205. DOI: 10.1002/wcs.1278. PDF of submitted version. Final version is available here. * Rosin, C.D. (2000). “Sample complexity of model-based search.” _Journal of Computer and System Sciences_ 60:278-301. * Rosin, C.D., Belew, R.K., Walker, W.L., Morris, G.M., Olson, A.J., Goodsell, D.S. (1999). Coevolution and subsite decomposition for the design of resistance-evading HIV-1 protease inhibitors. _Journal of Molecular Biology_ 287(1):77-92. * Rosin, C.D., Belew, R.K., Morris, G.M., Olson, A.J., and Goodsell, D.S. (1999). “Coevolutionary analysis of resistance-evading HIV-1 protease inhibitors.” _Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences_ 96(4):1369-1374. * Rosin, C.D. (1998). “Sample complexity of model-based search.” _Proceedings of the Eleventh Annual Conference on Computational Learning Theory_. ACM. * Rosin, C.D., Belew, R.K., Morris, G.M., Olson, A.J., and Goodsell, D.S. (1998). “Computational coevolution of antiviral drug resistance.” Artificial Life 4:41-59. * Rosin, C.D., Belew, R.K., Morris, G.M., Olson, A.J., and Goodsell, D.S. (1998). “Computational coevolution of antiviral drug resistance.” Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Artificial Life. MIT Press. * _Coevolutionary Search Among Adversaries_ Christopher D. Rosin. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of California, San Diego, 1997. * “A Comparison of Global and Local Search Methods in Drug Docking”, Christopher D. Rosin, R. Scott Halliday, William E. Hart, and Richard K. Belew. Submitted version. Final version in the Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Genetic Algorithms. An older version of this paper is available as Technical Report #CS97-522. * Technical Report #CS96-491: “New methods for Competitive Coevolution”, Christopher D. Rosin and Richard K. Belew. Final version in Evolutionary Computation 5:1. * ICGA 95 paper (submitted version): “Methods for Competitive Co-evolution: Finding Opponents Worth Beating”, Christopher D. Rosin and Richard K. Belew. Final version in Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Genetic Algorithms. L.J. Eshelman, editor. * COLT 96 paper (submitted version): “A Competitive Approach to Game Learning”, Christopher D. Rosin and Richard K. Belew. Final version in Proceedings of the Ninth Annual ACM Conference on Computational Learning Theory.

Updated May 1, 2025

Welcome ------- Personal website of Felipe Erias, interaction designer and engineer. To know more about my work, please check my portfolio. In the writings section I am compiling pieces about previous and current projects. Also on Twitter 🐦, Instagram 📸, and LinkedIn 💼. Writings -------- * Kyoto postcards — April 2025, _01 May 2025_ * Towards richer colors on the Web, _01 Jul 2021_ * Mobile design with device-to-device networks, _11 Feb 2019_ * An embodied installation to explore memory and communication, _18 Jun 2018_ * P2P presentations, _27 Oct 2017_ * Design research on Web browsing, _02 Jun 2017_ * Research in Interaction Design, _01 Jun 2017_ * La sagesse, _27 Apr 2016_ Photography ----------- * Kyoto postcards — April 2025, _01 May 2025_