Chris Albon on X:

*The thing nobody talks about with engineering management is this:

Every 3-4 months every person experiences some sort of personal crisis. A family member dies, they have a bad illness, they get into an argument with another person at work, etc. etc. Sadly, that is just life. Normally after a month or so things settle down and life goes on.

But when you are managing 6+ people it means there is always a crisis you are helping someone work through. You are always carrying a bit of emotional burden or worry around with you.*

(via Simon Willison)

Cert NZ’s Cyber Smart concentrated on awareness of online scams. It’s worth sharing this site with friends and family.

Is it actually worth it to run uphill?

Fancy an hour long walk down memory lane with Rob Pike, discussing his experience programming in the 70s, working on UNIX at Bell Labs, and developing, among other things, the first windowing system? Of course you do.

Celebrating 15 Years of StackOverflow. It’s very hard to overstate the impact StackOverlfow had on software development when it finally opened up after months and months of being six to eight weeks from launch. It was a sea change in how developers figured out what the hell was wrong with their code. This oral history by the original team is great value.

Contribute to this repo and you’ll legitimately be able to claim you’ve worked on a Little Game Galled Mario.

Six rules for dealing with injury, illness, and aging as an athlete.

Identifying and Mitigating the Security Risks of Generative AI

Every major technical invention resurfaces the dual-use dilemma – the new technology has the potential to be used for good as well as for harm. Generative AI techniques, such as large language models and diffusion models, have shown remarkable capabilities…However, GenAI can be used just as well by attackers to generate new attacks and increase the velocity and efficacy of existing attacks.

How the 5-panel hat took over the running world

Throw a rock at a running event and it is likely you’ll hit someone in a five-panel (note: We do not condone throwing rocks at running events). Of course, trends come and go and runners often glom onto a particular look before the newest trend comes along (see: sweatbands). But the five-panel hat has enjoyed a relatively long run at the top atop the heads of runners. Is this pervasiveness a passing phase, or has the five-panel hit that hallowed sweet spot between functionality and style?

Two recent links from Schneier on Security: Bots are better than humans at solving CAPTCHAs and LLMs and tool use

I run and cycle fairly frequently and the running volume is ramping up as I incrementally build up to the 52km trail run in February. In the past I’ve found the biggest barrier to consistency in my exercise is soreness and injury. I’ve tried to prevent injury and treat soreness via stretching, even doing a daily yoga-like routine. But stretching hasn’t really helped.

Earlier this year I listened to what my gym coaches have preached and concentrated on mobility and improving my range of motion. I bought Built To Move by Juliet & Kelly Starrett and started some of the daily practices in it. More recently I cancelled a couple of streaming subscriptions and signed up to the Starrett’s Virutal Mobility Coach and encouraged everyone in my family to give it a go. Every day for three weeks we’ve squatted, rolled, and mobilised using a variety of simple equiment and techniques. The results have been transforming. Working on my hips and feet has made running easier and reduced pain. I used to occasionally get abductor cramps after riding. a 40km jaunt the other day had no ill effects. The daily maintenance has worked for me and my family.

I’m looking forward to when the 10 Minute Squat Test is a piece of cake. I don’t think it will be that long.