Heptathlon 6
Seven notes on what's keeping me busy this week. One for each day.
July Reply has officially started. The goal of this challenge is to reply to other people's blog posts. I already posted my first reply at the end of June before the challenge started. Since then, I wrote to an unknown blogger and responded to someone who thought they should give up programming. I'm curious about the other blog posts I'll reply to this month.
The other challenge, Junited, finished at the end of last month. I wrote a piece about my Junited experience and how it felt like a journey through the IndieWeb. I managed to pick one blog post for every day of the month, and I read many more posts that didn't make it to the final list. I discovered interesting personal websites that I added to my RSS feed and look forward to being inspired by in the future. But the best thing this challenge gave me was the renewed love for writing my thoughts on digital paper.
Over the last couple of weeks, I developed some plugins for Bear blog that you can add by injecting some light JavaScript. One of them was the estimated reading time for blog posts. I never really got to writing something that explains how this plugin works, but after some inquiries, I found time to do that last week. So, here it is: Step-by-Step Guide: Estimated Reading Time in Bear Blog.
I get quite irritated by people who seem to make it their life's goal to bash AI. They blow up every little mistake an AI makes. They go completely berserk over a generated image of a person with a six-fingered hand, or a video of a girl with an odd walk, or even a piece of code that does what it's supposed to do but doesn't consider some exotic optimization. So, here's to all the AI critics out there. Yes, AI is still far from human intelligence. No, it does not perform well on your strange and unique use case. That's because you're using it completely wrong.
I've been looking to add a guestbook to my personal website. I wanted one that is simple and easy to embed. Last week, I found it with this awesome little Guestbooks project. Just a little bit of JavaScript to inject and easy-to-read HTML you can completely customize to your liking. The resulting guestbook is now live on my website and you are very welcome to sign it.
I followed the YouTube channel of Benji Naesen in the past. This guy posts career playthroughs of Pro Cycling Manager on his channel, where he starts with a low-class team and tries to bring it to the top over a couple of seasons of virtual cycling. He just started a new career with the latest version of the game and it's well worth a watch if you're at least somewhat interested in cycling. It's a perfect side-channel to put on during the boring stages of Tour de France.
OK, if you're not Dutch (or not interested in football) you might not like this last one, but I had to include it. Euro 2024 is well underway and the Dutch national team managed to reach the semi-finals, for the first time in twenty years! The orange lions are roaring again after a magical comeback against the Turkish team. Watch the match summary here and enjoy. Who knows, we might even become European champions again for the first time since 1988. Dare to dream!