index.md (7836B)
1 --- 2 title: "Dispatch #34 (December 2025)" 3 date: 2025-12-10T23:34:59-05:00 4 draft: false 5 tags: 6 - dispatch 7 references: 8 - title: "Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair" 9 url: https://kottke.org/25/12/kill-bill-the-whole-bloody-affair 10 date: 2025-12-03T20:52:54Z 11 file: kottke-org-d62ajj.txt 12 - title: "Software Development in the Time of Strange New Angels" 13 url: https://davegriffith.substack.com/p/software-development-in-the-time 14 date: 2025-12-01T17:31:41Z 15 file: davegriffith-substack-com-o74bc9.txt 16 - title: "Hate to be so blunt, but if you're a… | justin․searls․co" 17 url: https://justin.searls.co/takes/2025-11-24-11h24m25s/ 18 date: 2025-12-01T17:31:41Z 19 file: justin-searls-co-onmvll.txt 20 - title: "Naz Hamid • Million-Mile Tech" 21 url: https://nazhamid.com/journal/million-mile-tech/ 22 date: 2025-12-01T17:31:43Z 23 file: nazhamid-com-oi7zls.txt 24 - title: "Software is supply-constrained (for now) | justin․searls․co" 25 url: https://justin.searls.co/links/2025-11-04-software-is-supply-constrained-for-now/ 26 date: 2025-12-01T17:31:58Z 27 file: justin-searls-co-ka38uo.txt 28 - title: "Five Months of Journalling • Robb Knight" 29 url: https://rknight.me/blog/five-months-of-journalling/ 30 date: 2025-12-01T17:31:36Z 31 file: rknight-me-oemhtz.txt 32 - title: "Going Analog • Nic Lake" 33 url: https://niclake.me/going-analog/ 34 date: 2025-12-01T17:31:36Z 35 file: niclake-me-dfeqiz.txt 36 - title: "xkcd: Fifteen Years" 37 url: https://xkcd.com/3172/ 38 date: 2025-12-01T17:31:38Z 39 file: xkcd-fifteen-years.png 40 - title: "Daring Fireball: ‘Fifteen Years’" 41 url: https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/11/27/fifteen-years 42 date: 2025-12-01T17:31:39Z 43 file: daringfireball-net-nvnrwt.txt 44 --- 45 46 We took a quick trip down to Lake Norman to visit Claire's grandmother, but the big travel in November was up to New York for Thanksgiving. We did a long weekend in NYC then spent a week at my sister's house. The kids loved the big city (especially the [Statue of Liberty cruise][1], [Bluey's House][2], and this [giant indoor playground][3]). I just loved soaking up the city -- we were there [a few months ago][4], but that was mostly in Brooklyn, which is a pretty distinct thing from being in Lower Manhattan. We'll be back. 47 48 <!--more--> 49 50 [1]: https://www.circleline.com/sightseeing-cruises/statue-of-liberty/liberty-cruise 51 [2]: https://camp.com/bluey-x-camp-nyc 52 [3]: https://completeplayground.org/ 53 [4]: /journal/dispatch-31-september-2025/ 54 55 {{<dither IMG_9438.jpeg "782x600">}}Snuggled in winter coats, two kids giggle cheek-to-cheek with bright, happy eyes.{{</dither>}} 56 {{<dither IMG_2076.jpeg "782x600">}}Family photo op with Bluey and Bingo: three generations smiling while the kids in Bluey ears line up between the giant mascots.{{</dither>}} 57 58 {{<dither IMG_9456.jpeg "782x600">}}Four little buddies in PJs and play clothes building a block village on the living room floor.{{</dither>}} 59 {{<dither IMG_2217.jpeg "782x600">}}Dad and two kids huddled around a tabletop music setup, each exploring synth pads and keys in a cozy kitchen studio scene.{{</dither>}} 60 61 I did the Troy Turkey Trot 10K Thanksgiving morning. Felt pretty good! [Happy with my result][5], though I came out a little hot and faded down the stretch. My family joined me for the mile walk afterward. 62 63 [5]: /journal/dispatch-34-december-2025/ttt-2025-result.pdf 64 65 At work, I built a simple tool in Go to extract content from our [HR platform][6], consolidate it, and upload it to Google Drive. I showed it to a couple other managers who seemed interested in using it, but then I had the problem of how to distribute it and get non-devs set up (installing dependencies, managing config files, etc.). Codex (my AI coding agent of choice) was super helpful here: it suggested and implemented a few subcommands to help with initial configuration, then set up [GoReleaser][7] to build the program and distribute it via [Homebrew][8]. _Super_ cool, and simple enough that I had it create [Homebrew formulas for some of my personal apps][9]. 66 67 [6]: https://lattice.com/ 68 [7]: https://goreleaser.com/ 69 [8]: https://brew.sh/ 70 [9]: https://github.com/dce/homebrew-taps 71 72 I've never been great about adding [alt text][10] to the photos I put on this site, and decided to see if I could farm it out to AI. I tried a few local models with limited success, then figured I'd see how Codex could do. Pretty well, turns out -- inspect the photos above to see the results. I already have a shell script to encrypt images, and I added [a few lines][11] to have Codex generate a description before encrypting. I promise this will be the only AI-generated content ever featured in these posts. 73 74 [10]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alt_attribute 75 [11]: https://git.sr.ht/~dce/davideisinger.com/commit/7f24335f97ee9c32666b22d5c031a4715fea45e2 76 77 Finally, my sister's been working on a secret project for the last few months, and it's finally been released to the public. It's a [short Kill Bill / Fortnite film][12] of a scene that didn't make the original movies. It rips. [Here's a post from Kottke with more information.][13] 78 79 [12]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XtqVx8fdCM 80 [13]: https://kottke.org/25/12/kill-bill-the-whole-bloody-affair 81 82 ### This Month 83 84 * Adventure: my girl turns FOUR; Christmas in Greensboro 85 * Project: couple music things -- an animated music video for a work event + a chill collaboration 86 * Skill: Santa's got me down for a 3D printer, pretty psyched for that 87 88 ### Reading & Listening 89 90 * Fiction: [_The Eye of the Bedlam Bride_][14], Matt Dinniman 91 * Non-fiction: [_The Magic of Code_][15], Samuel Arbesman 92 * Music: [_Please Don't Judge Me_][16], Gas-Lab 93 94 [14]: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/788703/the-eye-of-the-bedlam-bride-by-matt-dinniman/ 95 [15]: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/samuel-arbesman/the-magic-of-code/9781541704480/ 96 [16]: https://gas-lab.bandcamp.com/album/please-dont-judge-me 97 98 ### Links 99 100 * [Software Development in the Time of Strange New Angels][17] ([via][18]) 101 102 > Those that succeed in making this transition are going to be those with higher-order skills and larger vision. Those who have really absorbed what it means to be engineers first and computer guys second. That means knowing what to build, and why. That means being able to understand the second- and third-order effects of their decisions. That means recognizing bad ideas early, and giving business recommendations backed by solid evidence. 103 104 * [Naz Hamid • Million-Mile Tech][19] 105 106 > A deeper appreciation and intimacy grows as you hold onto something longer and longer. There’s a point at which it evolves from the shiny new thing into a tool you love. You’ve cultivated a lopsided fondness for a material possession that’s now a well-worn friend. May all of the things we care for outlive us. 107 108 * [Software is supply-constrained (for now) | justin․searls․co][20] 109 110 > It’s long been my view that the appropriate response to the current moment is to ride this walrus and leverage coding agents to increase the scope of our ambitions. 111 112 * [Five Months of Journalling • Robb Knight][21] ([via][22]) 113 114 > I am going to continue with this, tweaking things as needed. As long as I'm keeping up with the things I want to get done, whatever that ends up looking like in my journal, I'm happy. 115 116 * [xkcd: Fifteen Years][23] ([via][24]) 117 118 > “Want to feel old?” “Yes.” 119 120 [17]: https://davegriffith.substack.com/p/software-development-in-the-time 121 [18]: https://justin.searls.co/takes/2025-11-24-11h24m25s/ 122 [19]: https://nazhamid.com/journal/million-mile-tech/ 123 [20]: https://justin.searls.co/links/2025-11-04-software-is-supply-constrained-for-now/ 124 [21]: https://rknight.me/blog/five-months-of-journalling/ 125 [22]: https://niclake.me/going-analog/ 126 [23]: https://xkcd.com/3172/ 127 [24]: https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/11/27/fifteen-years