In my latest blog roundup, I dive into a multifaceted exploration of topics ranging from the intriguing concept of modular monoliths inspired by Game of Thrones to innovative DIY solutions for keeping your workshop dust-free. I also share a glimpse into enhancing productivity with a simplified morning routine, including meditation and gratitude practices, and address the critical yet often overlooked aspects of responsive web design, demonstrating its importance across different devices. Additionally, the revival of print in a digital world is celebrated through a high school newspaper’s journey to foster community spirit. Whether you’re looking for tech insights, self-improvement tips, or just some curious reads, this collection has a bit of everything.

• Actually Talking about Modular Monoliths: That’s Winterfell from a Game of Thrones if you were curious. I have no earthly idea whether or not this mini-series of posts will be the slightest bit useful for anyone else, but it’s probably been good for me to read up much more on what other people think and to just flat out ponder…
• Squishy Miter Saw Shroud Spares You The Sneezy Bits: Let’s be honest. When it comes to operating miter saws, these tools kick dust out the back like a spray paint can. Most of us have accepted this quirk as-is, but not [Inspire Woodcraft] who&#…
• How I Simplified My Morning Routine for Better Results: A morning routine is not just about getting up and getting ready for the day. It’s about creating a ritual that sets you up for success, day in and day out. I’ve written about my morning routines in the past, but like everything else, these habits evolve over time. I’d like to share my updated morning routine, a simple yet effective routine that I believe is the secret to a productive day. Meditation: The First Step to a Tranquil Morning Before I even leave the comfort of my bed, I engage in a 15-minute meditation session. Despite the common misconceptions, meditation is not as daunting as it seems. It’s about closing your eyes and focusing on your breathing, giving yourself a moment of tranquility before the day’s chaos ensues. It’s not about clearing your mind but noticing what comes up and then grounding yourself in the present moment by focusing on a mantra or your breath. Gratitude Practice: Starting the Day on a Positive Note Along with meditation, I’ve incorporated a gratitude practice into my routine. I dedicate a few minutes to reflect on three specific things I’m grateful for. It may range from simple pleasures like the aroma of […]
• Breakpoints in Responsive Design: Breakpoints determine when a webpage may adjust to different layouts. They help designers (and developers) maintain layout consistency across multiple screen sizes, orientations, and devices.
• How print got cool again: In 2022, on the day they met, Zoe Otto and Orlena Fella decided they wanted to start a newspaper at their school, Manhattan’s High School for Mathematics, Science, and Engineering. They would call it The Echo, and they hoped it would build some community pride at their specialized STEM school—a place otherwise lacking that conventional […]
• Free Stuff: Learn how to win (and keep) customers while generating big revenue with Broadstreet’s Digital Ad Sales Training guides.
• Blog Posts, Sorted by Sleep: April 5, 2024 — Have you ever examined the correlation between your writing behavior and sleep?
• 9 strategies to unlock high-performing teams: Thought leaders bring new perspectives on how you can build a diverse, harmonious team.
• 10 Ways Minimalism Will Change Your Life: Minimalism is a journey towards abundance. It will change in your life in positive ways—continue to pursue it.
• Micro Self-Discipline: How Small Wins Lead to Big Rewards: Feeling overwhelmed by big goals? Discover the power of micro self-discipline and learn how small, consistent actions can lead to significant achievements.
• I’m a programmer and I’m stupid: But it kind of works.
• Watch: Mount Etna puffs ‘smoke rings’ in rare display: A new crater on the volcano’s summit has created a spectacular sight for tourists and locals.
• SentenceTransformers Documentation — Sentence-Transformers documentation: SentenceTransformers is a Python framework for state-of-the-art sentence, text and image embeddings. The initial work is described in our paper Sentence-BERT: Sentence Embeddings using Siamese BERT-Networks.
• Is the frequency domain a real place?: The discrete Fourier transform is vital to electronics, signal processing, and radio — but we’re reading too much into what it means.
• A Lego Model of Financial Capitalism: Unboxing the dark arts of finance
• ‘If this one guy got hit by a bus, the world’s software would fall apart.’: How many critical software packages are maintained by a small, unpaid team (or, worse, a single person)?What happens when that person gets bored with the project… or decides to do something malicious (as in the case with a recent backdoor in the XZ compression tool)… or… gets hit by a bus?These are not only fair questions to ask… but critical as well.The reality is that we’re not simply talking about a handful of key software packages here — the entirety of our modern computing infrastructure is built on top of thousands of projects (from software packages to online services) that are built, maintained, and run entirely by one person (or, when we’re lucky, 2 or 3 people).One wrong move and the Jenga tower that is modern computing comes crashing down.Source: xkcdJust to give you an idea of how widespread — and dire — this situation truly is, I would like to call your attention to two projects that most people don’t even think about… but that are critical to nearly every computer system in use today.The TZ DatabaseDealing with Timezones in software can be tricky. Many rules, many time zone details. As luck would have it, a standard database (TZ Database) was built to make it easier for software projects to get those details right.And, every time those timezone details (across the world) are changed — something which can happen several times per year, often with only a few days notice — that database needs to be updated.What happens if those details are not updated… if the timezone data is incorrect?At best? A few minor scheduling inconveniences. At worst? Absolute mayhem… computer-wise. Times can become significantly out of sync between systems. Which can mess up not only scheduling (an obvious issue), but security features as well (as some encryption tools require closely synced time).To give you an idea of how widespread the TZ Database is, here is just a teeny tiny fraction of the number of software projects which rely upon it:Every BSD system: FreeBSD, OpenBSD, SolarismacOS & iOSLinuxAndroidJava, PHP, Perl, Ruby, Python, GCC, JavascriptPostrgreSQL, MongoDB, SQL ServerYeah. It’s basically a list of