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Podcast: Donald Knuth Lectures on Things a Computer Scientist Rarely Talks About

I recently read ‘Things a Computer Scientist Rarely Talks About’ by Donald Knuth from 2001. Recommended reading if you like reading about how a world-renowned computer scientist wrote a book about how he wrote a book that deals with another book! Sounds recursive 😏 That last book is of course the bible and the book Knuth wrote about it is ‘3:16 Bible Texts Illuminated ‘ — published in 1991. And… Read More »Podcast: Donald Knuth Lectures on Things a Computer Scientist Rarely Talks About

Cruddiy: table relationship support via foreign keys

Read here what Cruddiy is and what it can do for you: here is the code. TLDR: Cruddiy is no-code Bootstrap 4 PHP form builder for MySQL tables. I started Cruddiy when the Covid-19 lockdowns happened this spring, to keep me busy. And I released it on GitHub. After 25 stars 🤩 and 13 forks on GitHub and a couple of really encouraging messages on the original Cruddiy post, I… Read More »Cruddiy: table relationship support via foreign keys

Working 101

Do you struggle to organise your work, because it seems everybody wants something from you? Of do you often wonder whether you’re doing the right things? This post helps you to answer those questions. Here are the six basic responsibilities you have as a professional in the modern workplace. Follow these and you are on the right path. I wrote these down as a reminder to myself and to pass… Read More »Working 101

Moby-Dick – Herman Melville

  • Books

I suspect Moby-Dick — the quintessential Great American Novel — has the curious accolade of being one of the most famous books ever, while also being one of the least read books. Its reputation greatly exceeds its appeal. Nonetheless, I had always wanted to read this extraordinary 170 year old book. And now that I did, I think I understand its reputation as well as I understand the incongruent appeal.… Read More »Moby-Dick – Herman Melville

New WordPress theme: Neve

  • Tech

Frequent visitors might notice a change to the site: I switched WordPress themes. I have been a happy user of the Independent Publisher theme since this site started, and I still use it on my other blog. It’s a terrific theme and I like a lot. But because I really like clean and simple aesthetic I made quite a few tweaks to it, specifically to the fonts and CSS. My… Read More »New WordPress theme: Neve

How I read 52 books in a year

My book tracking app alerted me that I read 52 books over the last twelve months. So, *franticly crunching numbers* yes, indeed, that averages to one book per week! I follow a couple of blogs of people that read way more than I do. Like these guys, respectively read 116, 105, 74 and 58 books in 2019. I don’t know how they managed to do so, but 52 is definitely… Read More »How I read 52 books in a year

Bono on Bono – Michka Assayas

  • Books

I have a soft spot for Bono. The megalomaniac lead singer of probably the world’s most commercial band (“the only band with their own iPod”). The Irish humanitarian multi-millionaire. Yes, I get all the criticism. Still, few singers can belt it out like Bono can. And I will forever stand by that. On May 10th this year, Bono turned 60. So I thought it would be a good time to… Read More »Bono on Bono – Michka Assayas

Who moved my cheese? – Spencer Johnson

  • Books

People like stories, people remember stories. So, tell stories! This is what I learned from Seth Godin. But Spencer Johnson clearly understands this concept too. This little book embodies the concepts of how to deal with change in one memorable parable. Johnson probably wasn’t the first to do so, but this concept — packing management theories as stories — is everywhere now. And this little book, probably has a lot… Read More »Who moved my cheese? – Spencer Johnson

Marx – Peter Singer

  • Books

This was the third book in a twelve part series of introductions to famous thinkers/philosophers (previously I read Plato and Kierkegaard). You might expect these books to be small (check) and comprehensible (not so much). So like the other two books, this book suffers from the same problems. Sure, you’ll get an introduction on Marx, and you get a better understanding of what influenced his thinking and what his special… Read More »Marx – Peter Singer

Unorthodox – Netflix miniseries

I was impressed by the Netflix miniseries Unorthodox. Specifically with the talented actors, the believable authentic world-building and the spot-on casting (so good). With regards to all of these aspects this is a very good show. Huge parts of the show are in Yiddish which is a unique experience (especially when you speak a little bit of German). It felt genuine and intimate. I like that the story works with… Read More »Unorthodox – Netflix miniseries

Impatient Optimist: Bill Gates in His Own Words – Lisa Rogak

  • Books

I have a lot of respect for Bill Gates and tend to follow what he does. So this book, just like the one on Steve Jobs, is a nice reminder of the man’s personality and his thinking process. As it spans some 30+ years, there are mild variations noticeable, but overall: what you see is what you get and with Bill Gates and that is head-on, rational straightforwardness and a… Read More »Impatient Optimist: Bill Gates in His Own Words – Lisa Rogak

iSteve – George Beahm en Wim Zefat

This is a book just with quotes from late Apple founder Steve Jobs. I already knew most of them, having read more than one book about Steve Jobs. Nonetheless, seeing his most salient quotes in one place is a good indication and reminder of the man’s personality and vision. Since the quotes are all dated I particularly noticed 3 types of Steve. The brass, cocky, young Steve (everything up until… Read More »iSteve – George Beahm en Wim Zefat