Good Posts 2025-08-17
Another links post - two in a row! A bit more in the tank this time, as I got a decent link-saver set up. It's not actually all "posts" but I don't like changing the names of things.
I'm a little unsure how to name people/sites in the titles, but seeing as they're links I don't think it's a major problem - let me know if you have a better rule to follow!
Posts
You should customize things! - Rose (MewMus)
I like this approach to the internet and software - so much is ultimately a webpage in disguise that the rules for customising them are often very analogous.
I personally tend to value plug-and-play simplicity - if I need to reinstall something I don't want to have to spend ages implementing my own version, but in reality that's a documentation problem - something I need to do myself.
The format of the "call-out doc" - Kyle (Blueberry Lemonade)
I've seen a lot of these docs over time - it's part of what I disliked about Twitter and wider social media. Kyle talks about how the whole construct ought to be largely unnecessary if people can just communicate and understand that they don't need to justify their distaste for others in an essay.
I've seen a handful of these docs which are framed and titled as if they're dealing with extremely serious accusations, then the content was utterly banal "bad friend" whining - it's a dangerous format.
Boycott Microsoft. I am no longer asking - Kaile Hultner (noescapevg)
It's grim reading at times but it's worth keeping up with the extent of corporate culpability in global atrocities. Kaile makes a comprehensive case for committing to the Microsoft Boycott, specifically around their material support for extensive and excessive mass surveilance of Palestinians by the Israeli intelligence. Notably, Microsoft claimed just a couple of months ago that they found no evidence of such usage - this would appear to be a lie.
The official BDS Microsoft stance is focused on their gaming products - I don't think you have to stop there. I've been using Bazzite for a couple of months now and haven't touched Windows outside my work laptop - Linux requires some know-how but these days it's easy to learn-how.
My Favourite Public Media - The Works of Egan
Growing up on the BBC side of the Atlantic I didn't get a lot of the specific references - Norm Abram and Arthur made it over though so I think we did ok. I didn't realise some of these long-running shows with online presensces (This Old House, America's Test Kitchen) had public broadcasting roots - that's neat tbh.
We have the opposite problem - our national public broadcasters still get funding, but they went all-in on competing on glitz and glamour and it's unwatchable. I don't think we'll see another Fred Dibnah in my lifetime.
The Worm Hunters of Southern Ontario - Inori Roy (The Local)
Laura mentioned this in her last round-up (alongside some more info on the Microsoft Boycott), and I won't talk too much on it - it's a really interesting read! Another victim of the millennial-industrial extinction complex.
Videos
Bill Maher: An Autopsy - Big Joel
I mentioned this in my Bill Maher and Identity post - I think it's a really solid example of Big Joel's style. He navigates his way around various angles and has more empathy than I can usually muster, while still dismissing bullshit when it appears.
# Hulk Hogan's Last Ride - Wrestle Me
Wrestle Me is a bit of comfort food for me - this video (an edit of their podcast, with video) goes into how weird the response to the death of Hulk Hogan was. Hogan devastated his legacy by doing the sorts of stuff that built it, and the way that translated to muted memorials and a general unwillingness to talk about him is a little unsettling.
Dude didn't deserve any kindness, but that doesn't usually stop them getting it in memoriam. My favourite quote from it:
It is so strange to see a 10 bell salute for a big wrestler and nobody is crying.
Nobody.
Not not even Zelina Vega, they stick her at the front because she cries. She cries, man. She's emotional. And even when Zelena Vega is dry eyed, you have not lived your life well.
# YouTube Tricked Me Into Using AI, and It Sucked - icklenellierose
YouTube has been pushing more and more of Google's AI tech to try and justify the vast quantity of money they've spent on it - Ellen does a good job not just criticising and making fun of their attempts to recycle her own ideas, but really digs into why their approach is manipulative bullshit.
That's really been the experience of trying to dodge AI lately - I don't want it, I don't want to be offered it, but companies keep shoehorning it into the places I used to find things I do want. You will misclick their metrics up.
I made a mechanical counter, but it's a little bit different. - Not An Engineer
Unreasonable what a man can do with just some aluminium, brass, and a simple homemade 4-axis CNC mill.