Wes's recent activity
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Comment on The case for cultured meat has changed in ~food
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Comment on Why do you like your job? in ~life
Wes Link ParentI'm not sure I have a good answer, as I am also very susceptible to distraction. One thing that probably helps is that I am unreachable by chat or phone. Everything comes in via email. It allows...I'm not sure I have a good answer, as I am also very susceptible to distraction. One thing that probably helps is that I am unreachable by chat or phone. Everything comes in via email. It allows me to organize my tasks at the start of the day, prioritize those that are most important/time-sensitive, and work through them as time permits. Though I recognize that's likely specific to my role, and not a practical solution for most people.
I practice Inbox Zero - not always successfully - but it makes it easier to keep a list of actionable items. I use features like email snoozing to put tasks out of mind when not needed, and for managing follow-ups. I archive emails when they're done, not unlike a ticketing system.
My biggest struggle with context switching is when I'm working on one task, and an email comes in for something else. In these cases, I try to assess quickly if it's worth switching contexts. Is a server on fire? Are clients rapidly losing money? If not, I'll weigh it against what I'm doing now. Because you're absolutely right that there's a cost to switching contexts.
If it's something that's easy to knock out quickly, like answering a question or making a small website change, I'll often take care of it right away. I dislike having too many tasks piling up, since I find that stressful, and being responsive can always look good to a client.
However, if I'm into something deep, like I'm debugging software and am 10 function calls down trying to figure something out, I'll generally ignore any distractions until I get what I need. I'm simply unable to hold all that information in my head while also balancing other tasks.
If you find you're distracted when actually writing code, due to noticing bugs, getting new ideas, etc, you might want to have a notepad to write those things down quickly and move on (either physical or digital). I often keep an ephemeral document or two just so I can record these passing observations without losing them. Before I close off the project, I'll skim through it to make sure I haven't missed anything.
I would just caution about making sure any such documents do in fact stay ephemeral. It's easy to accidentally create a new, private to-do list this way. If something is a bigger task, file it in a more proper way (an issue in a tracker, a
//TODOline, or whatever else is appropriate at your org). Ideally your document should only last until the end of the day.Some environments allow you to set a "Do not disturb" status and turn down notifications, but it doesn't guarantee you quiet (and some bosses may not like it). So that might be something that you need to discuss with others.
This is more speculative, but I know that a lot of devs who struggle with focus later discover that ADHD was part of the picture. If that resonates, it could be worth exploring. Medication can make a big difference in their lives, and even just learning the diagnosis can help them find new coping mechanisms.
I'm sorry I can't offer any more practical advice, but those are the techniques I've developed to deal with information overload. Narrow the channels, develop heuristics to assess new information quickly, and put things aside so they're out-of-mind when not being acted on.
Best of luck in finding your zen.
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Comment on Why do you like your job? in ~life
Wes LinkI'm the technical lead at a small company, and it means that I wear a lot of hats. Some days I'm building websites, debugging applications, or managing servers. Other days I'm dissecting email...I'm the technical lead at a small company, and it means that I wear a lot of hats. Some days I'm building websites, debugging applications, or managing servers. Other days I'm dissecting email deliverability issues, or working with clients to solve problems from the simple to complex.
Today I get to build an old school form for a legacy website, and I'm finding all my old PHP knowledge is coming back to me. Yesterday I helped set up Cloudflare security rules to help fight off some persistent credit card spammers. We've had a cat and mouse game going for weeks. I keep blocking them, and they keep finding workarounds.
The variety of experience helps keep my skills fresh in an ever-changing tech landscape, and I have to imagine the reduced monotony helps me stave off burnout.
In terms of downsides, it can be stressful at times, and this position has no room for advancement. I also have no one above me to learn from, so it requires self-motivation to adapt to changing tides.
But for upsides, I get to work from home, set my own hours, and I like my boss a lot. All in all, it's hard to imagine myself leaving.
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Comment on Seeking videos of mastery in action in ~creative
Wes LinkYou might enjoy the /r/ArtisanVideos subreddit. The submissions are infrequent but high-quality, so it's a good one to subscribe to and then forget about.You might enjoy the /r/ArtisanVideos subreddit. The submissions are infrequent but high-quality, so it's a good one to subscribe to and then forget about.
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Comment on Tildes Book Club discussion - August 2025 - Cats Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut in ~books
Wes Link ParentI listened to it as well. I don't think it necessarily changed my outlook, but it helped me connect to the author as a real person. I found his history, and particularly his experience during the...I listened to it as well. I don't think it necessarily changed my outlook, but it helped me connect to the author as a real person. I found his history, and particularly his experience during the war to be illuminating. It added some real context to his views, and for me also helped explain his later book Slaughterhouse-Five, which deals with the ugly truths of war more directly.
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Comment on Tildes Book Club discussion - August 2025 - Cats Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut in ~books
Wes Link ParentI really liked that ice-nine had a plausible explanation as a polymorph of water. The facts of seed crystals forming in water, disappearing polymorphs, and different phases of ice were all things...I really liked that ice-nine had a plausible explanation as a polymorph of water. The facts of seed crystals forming in water, disappearing polymorphs, and different phases of ice were all things I had some vague ideas about, but never enough knowledge of to fully understand. So I found the concept and explanation about stacking bowling balls to actually be fairly convincing, scientifically-speaking.
Apparently in the original publication of the book, it included a disclaimer that "Nothing in this book is true", to help set aside concerns of this being a real threat. There's quite an interesting parallel there to what Bokonon later says in his own writings, that "All of the true things I am about to tell you are shameless lies". It's all just foma - harmless untruths. But just because it's fiction, doesn't mean it doesn't hold any value, right?
Regarding the ending, it reminded me a lot of Dr. Strangelove, which came out the following year (1964).
Movie spoiler
So much of the film is spent trying to avoid a bad outcome. Yet when the catastrophe does come to pass, people essentially shrug their shoulders and move on. They immediately go back to arguing over petty things, like establishing "cave dominance". Even at the end of the world, people are gonna people.In Cat's Cradle, the new normal is one where water is often deadly and germs no longer exist. Where animal life is nearly-extinct, and technologically has been sent back centuries. And yet when you read along, it almost feels like not much has actually changed. The characters shrug and resign themselves to their new reality. So it goes.
Is there a comment here about apathy? About how inaction can lead to the worst outcomes? Ice-nine seems like a not-so-subtle analogy for the atomic bomb, or perhaps the immediate follow-up of the hydrogen bomb. It feels like Vonnegut wanted to inspire people to take stronger stances against enabling these doomsday scenarios. Don't build a bigger bomb, or any other kind of weapon. Nothing good will come of it.
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Comment on Tildes Book Club discussion - August 2025 - Cats Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut in ~books
Wes Link ParentI was quite chuffed by Frank's mannerisms towards the end of the book. "I like the cut of your jib! I want to speak cold turkey to you -- there's no sense in beating around the bush." Like his...I was quite chuffed by Frank's mannerisms towards the end of the book. "I like the cut of your jib! I want to speak cold turkey to you -- there's no sense in beating around the bush."
Like his father, Frank never really learned how to communicate with people. It made him feel very inhuman as a character, as if he's only parroting speech. A simulacrum of a person. He had his interests, and didn't much care about anything else.
It's certainly an amusing way of making the point, and I had a giggle at the idea of somebody only speaking in clichés.
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Comment on Make new friends here! in ~life
Wes Link ParentIf you haven't yet, I'd suggest disabling view bobbing in Minecraft. I find that helps me, along with bumping the default FoV up a smidge. You could also try playing in F5 (third-person) mode,...If you haven't yet, I'd suggest disabling view bobbing in Minecraft. I find that helps me, along with bumping the default FoV up a smidge. You could also try playing in F5 (third-person) mode, though that might make certain actions a lot more difficult!
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Comment on How Tea’s founder convinced millions of women to spill their secrets, then exposed them to the world in ~tech
Wes Link ParentIt was a major incident for them. It spawned multiple lawsuits, and they were fined by departments in both the United States and France. Other countries in Europe opened separate investigations,...It was a major incident for them. It spawned multiple lawsuits, and they were fined by departments in both the United States and France. Other countries in Europe opened separate investigations, while countries like Canada required careful audits to verify the data was deleted. It took years to resolve, and likely thousands of lawyer-hours to finally put the incident behind them. All because they logged some public data.
The story had a large influence on the modern discussion of privacy and the "surveillance" by big tech. It was one of the first big incidents that made people aware of this topic, with the other being Cambridge Analytica.
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Comment on Google is killing the open web in ~comp
Wes Link ParentI always appreciate Eric's takes. Styling RSS feeds is literally the only thing I've ever seen XSLT used for. I've run it across it maybe once or twice in 20 years, and I love weird obscure stuff...I always appreciate Eric's takes.
Styling RSS feeds is literally the only thing I've ever seen XSLT used for. I've run it across it maybe once or twice in 20 years, and I love weird obscure stuff like that. It just doesn't seem very important to the foundation of the web. I can completely understand why the vendors would want to remove it -- especially if it has any security exposure.
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Comment on How Tea’s founder convinced millions of women to spill their secrets, then exposed them to the world in ~tech
Wes Link ParentIt feels like we're really widening the scope by including ad placement, though. The original concern raised is that of data collection, and the privacy implications thereof. Of the non-tracking...I can't speak to all of them, but some of the ones you mentioned either have been used for mining data or are ad delivery platforms.
It feels like we're really widening the scope by including ad placement, though. The original concern raised is that of data collection, and the privacy implications thereof.
Of the non-tracking services I mentioned, only Gmail has ever had personalized ads, but that was suspended in 2017. And even in that case, they were siloed ads related to the current email/page context, and not used to build a larger profile on the user.
I think people often don't appreciate that data is both an asset and a liability. Google knows that if they're ever hacked, the damage is proportional to the data that can be exfiltrated. For that reason, if something isn't directly beneficial to them, then they are incentivized to not collect it. Remember the fallout from scanning public access points in their street view cars?
From everything I've read about Google internally, they are extremely strict about data access and use within the company. User data now defaults to auto-deleting after 18 months. Their new APIs emphasize end-to-end encryption. Even their recent ad strategies like the Topics API are moving away from storing ad profiles on their servers. The idea of them hoovering everything up seems outdated at best, though it was never really that accurate to begin with.
When assessing something like Google Fonts, you don't just need to ask how it might be used, but how it might also hurt them. That's what the lawyers are asking. Their privacy policy makes a point about only collecting minimal logging, which is necessary for detecting abuse.
Obviously I don't work there, and I can't say if they're secretly building heuristics on other websites and users from these simple logs. But it strikes me as unlikely, as does the notion that a private credentials API would be used for ad tracking.
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Comment on How Tea’s founder convinced millions of women to spill their secrets, then exposed them to the world in ~tech
Wes (edited )Link ParentGoogle has a lot of hosted services that aren't used for personalized ads. Google Drive, Photos, Gmail, Calendar, and Chat are all separate. So is Workspace, and lots of little services like...I don't believe the claims that Google and such wouldn't know what they're verifying you for because they wouldn't run the services if that were true.
Google has a lot of hosted services that aren't used for personalized ads. Google Drive, Photos, Gmail, Calendar, and Chat are all separate. So is Workspace, and lots of little services like Google Fonts.
Analytics data is siloed, unless the owner turned on remarketing features.
The only services I can think of that are actually used for personalization are Google Search, YouTube, Google Shopping, and Maps.
An API specifically for private credentials delivery seems like it'd fall squarely in the "not personalized" category, along with the other services there.
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Comment on AI is creeping into the Linux kernel - and official policy is needed ASAP in ~comp
Wes Link ParentI think you may be misunderstanding the use here. They're not using LLMs to write the Rust code itself. AUTOSEL integrates an LLM (actually, multiple) to do its selection logic. It creates...I think you may be misunderstanding the use here. They're not using LLMs to write the Rust code itself. AUTOSEL integrates an LLM (actually, multiple) to do its selection logic. It creates embeddings for each commit, and narrows down the best options for inclusion in a patch. It's an upgrade over their previous approach that used an earlier neutral network design.
This article goes into more detail on how it works.
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Comment on A friendly introduction to SVG in ~comp
Wes LinkJosh has now posted the promised follow-up on using paths inside SVGs. I also found it quite informative. https://www.joshwcomeau.com/svg/interactive-guide-to-paths/Josh has now posted the promised follow-up on using paths inside SVGs. I also found it quite informative.
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Comment on Most people, even highly technical people, don't understand anything about AI in ~tech
Wes Link ParentI feel like they did clarify that this productivity gain was for specific tasks. From their original post: 1000x sounds like a lot to me, but then I'd probably need to spend a full week building a...When you write about "productivity gains of up to 1000x" without clarifying it is for specific isolated tasks, it is not that surprising that readers interpret this as a general claim about productivity.
I feel like they did clarify that this productivity gain was for specific tasks. From their original post:
And the more capable the tool you're using is, the more the experience can be SO WILDLY DIFFERENT depending on usage and configuration. I've seen Claude Code causing productivity LOSSES as well as creating productivity gains of up to 1000x -- and no, this isn't hearsay, these numbers are coming from my own experience on both ends of the spectrum, with different projects and configurations.
1000x sounds like a lot to me, but then I'd probably need to spend a full week building a project like that. Factoring in sleep time, 5 minutes vs one week of full time dev is actually about 1000x.
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Comment on Tildes Book Club - Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut - How is it going? in ~books
Wes LinkI finished last week. I've written down some thoughts, though I'm not sure how I'll put them together just yet. I'll not go into any details here, but the book reminded me a lot of...I finished last week. I've written down some thoughts, though I'm not sure how I'll put them together just yet.
I'll not go into any details here, but the book reminded me a lot of Slaughterhouse-Five. I guess that irreverent tone is just Vonnegut's style. I found this novel a lot more straightforward, and generally easy to follow.
I look forward to the discussion, and learning about all the subtext I may have missed...
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Comment on Forums are still alive, active, and a treasure trove of information in ~tech
Wes (edited )Link ParentKinda tacky, if you ask me. I just deploy my 30 userbars to show how unique I am. [Coke Music addict] [Windows Vista user] [Winamp really whips the llama's ass] [Last.fm scrobbler] [KaZaA downloader]Kinda tacky, if you ask me. I just deploy my 30 userbars to show how unique I am.
[Coke Music addict]
[Windows Vista user]
[Winamp really whips the llama's ass]
[Last.fm scrobbler]
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Comment on Tildes Book Club schedule 2025 - 2026 in ~books
Wes LinkI found I kept returning to this thread for reference, so I decided to make a table with some links. Read During Title Author Goodreads StoryGraph Aug 2025 Cat's Cradle Kurt Vonnegut Goodreads...- Exemplary
I found I kept returning to this thread for reference, so I decided to make a table with some links.
Read During Title Author Goodreads StoryGraph Aug 2025 Cat's Cradle Kurt Vonnegut Goodreads StoryGraph Sep 2025 Stories of Your Life and Others Ted Chiang Goodreads StoryGraph Oct 2025 The Poisoner's Handbook:
Murder and the Birth of Forensic MedicineDeborah Blum Goodreads StoryGraph Nov 2025 We are Legion (We are Bob) Dennis Taylor Goodreads StoryGraph Dec Break Jan 2026 Fire on the Mountain Terry Bisson Goodreads StoryGraph Feb 2026 The Truth Terry Pratchett Goodreads StoryGraph Mar 2026 The Metamorphosis Franz Kafka Goodreads StoryGraph Apr 2026 The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane Lisa See Goodreads StoryGraph May 2026 Pnin Vladimir Nabokov Goodreads StoryGraph Jun 2026 How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying Django Wexler Goodreads StoryGraph Jul 2026 A Psalm for the Wild Built Becky Chambers Goodreads StoryGraph Aug 2026 Light From Uncommon Stars Ryka Aoki Goodreads StoryGraph Sep 2026 Dr. No Ian Fleming Goodreads StoryGraph -
Comment on A friendly introduction to SVG in ~comp
Wes Link ParentYes, I would definitely link the file over inlining it. It'll cache between page loads that way, and the browser can continue building the DOM while the background image is queued in a separate...Yes, I would definitely link the file over inlining it. It'll cache between page loads that way, and the browser can continue building the DOM while the background image is queued in a separate thread. Modern web servers support multiplexing which really mitigates any overhead from a network request, so you're going to come out ahead that way unless it's a really tiny asset.
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Comment on A friendly introduction to SVG in ~comp
Wes Link ParentYou have a few options to compress things further. For the png, consider if you need the alpha transparency layer. For a tiling background image, you would only need one if it inherits from the...You have a few options to compress things further.
- For the png, consider if you need the alpha transparency layer. For a tiling background image, you would only need one if it inherits from the
background-colorbehind it. - You can also quantize it using a tool like https://tinypng.com/. For a simple shape, you likely don't need high colour resolution. https://squoosh.app/ is another good tool with a little more control. Measure the resulting quality and file sizes.
- Consider other raster formats like WebP or AVIF. image-set() is the background equivalent of
<picture srcset>(with okay support itself), so you can fallback to the png.
However, I actually suspect the SVG may be better in the end.
- Remember that raster images are already highly compressed. You can send an SVG through gzip/deflate and compress it down a lot further (it's just text, after all). Compare the transmission size, not the raw file size.
- You can also use a tool like https://svgomg.net/ and try each setting to see if it affects the resulting image. For a simpler shape, you may be able to get away with lower number precision. 95KB seems really big for an SVG, so I'm guessing it includes a lot of superfluous detail you can strip.
Hopefully these tips help you find an optimal solution. As you may be able to guess, I am also a fan of making webpages as small as possible.
- For the png, consider if you need the alpha transparency layer. For a tiling background image, you would only need one if it inherits from the
"Greedflation" as a concept is ascribing intent to market forces, and doesn't really exist. Corporations have always set the price as high as the market could bear (ie. "greed"). That didn't change under covid. What did change was the sudden injection of new money, the disruption to existing supply lines, and the resulting global inflation. Each of these factors created new market thresholds, which resulted in globally higher prices.
The variables changed, but the formula has stayed the same.