83k Github stars in under 4 years is definitely indicative of an excellent project

And if you do this twice, you've got a calztwo

An unpopular opinion I actually agree with! Part of the issue in my opinion is that houses are no longer made in ways that are designed for their environments. In the past, houses in warm areas would use large balconies or awnings to shelter the windows from the sun, which is where the greatest share of heat would come from. Also, high ceilings and transom windows would allow hot air to dissipate. Courtyards would serve a similar function. All of these provided natural ways for homes to cool without having to use ACs.

Now that ACs are prevalent, house design has deteriorated to what's cheapest to build, without regard to climate. This leads to higher AC usage to cool energy inefficient homes, all while pumping heat into the atmosphere that makes the temperature worse.

I believe ACs should only be used as a last resort. We should design our homes based on where they are, so that ACs are unnecessary except during the worst of heat waves. There are plenty of other ways to stay cool that don't involve ACs, so let's exhaust those before we turn down the thermostats.

Portugal doesn't have a property based golden ticket visa as of October 2023 due to concerns that it was affecting real estate prices in cities like Lisbon and Porto. But you can still donate 250K euro in cash or invest 500K euro in a local business that leads to job creation (among a couple other investment options). Another option for Portugal is the D7 visa, which requires you to live in the country 6 months the year for 5 years, but requires foreign income of 10K euro per year. Either way, after 5 years, you're eligible to apply for citizenship.

It's Win + Shift + F23

It's a known phenomenon called revenge bedtime procrastination

The Owl House: it deals with a teenage girl who gets stuck in a world of magic, and explores being an outcast, found family, LGBTQ+ relationships, bullying, and underdogs who save the day. Devastated that Season 3 didn't get to get fleshed out, but the creators did the best with the constraints the network placed on them. Super wholesome, 10/10 no notes.

Honourable shout out to Gravity Falls as well!

Less wholesome but still great:

Carmen Sandiego (2019): it is centred around an antihero who escapes the clutches of a criminal empire and uses their teachings to take them down. It involves geography, sensitivity of cultural norms and how they differ, found family, and drawing the distinction between intent and action to determine when it's justifiable to do things that are viewed negatively but for the right reasons. Lots of flawed characters, but nonetheless rather unique in that sense.

Unfortunately those aren't safe either :/ The article mentions how several subs for the game Luigi's Mansion got banned, even though they have nothing you do with Mangione

If anyone needs a more comprehensive explanation:

• This comic became a popular meme many years ago
• Those memes evolved to include overly simplified illustrations, like depicting the characters in each panel as lines like I Iı II I_
• That last panel simplified looks kind of like the letter L
• L in Roman numerals is 50
• Turning back into digits, you get 1 2 2 50

Allegedly over $38.4 trillion (as of December 2025)

Canada does have Interac E-Transfer, which is already used as a free alternative to the likes of PayPal. It is also possible to use e-transfer for business transactions. An e-transfer system similar to Alipay where you scan a QR code to pay would be quite handy to make payments at stores. Would it be possible for credit card merchants to use e-transfer for their transactions?

And Cloudflare protection on it as well, that surprised me

GrapheneOS recently announced a working relationship with a top 10 Android OEM to officially support GrapheneOS builds, so that'll give another choice once the first release happens next year. Though it's been confirmed that it won't be FairPhone, speculation is pointing to Nothing, Motorola, or possibly OnePlus. I'm pretty excited about this because I quite like GrapheneOS but have had hardware issues with every single Pixel I've owned (2, 2XL, 3XL, 3a, 7 Pro)

From the book:

A is for Aisle

B is for Bdellium

C is for Czar

D is for Djibouti

E is for Ewe

F is not for Photo, phlegm, phooey, or phone

G is for Gnocchi

H is for Heir

I is not for Eye

J is for Jai Alai

K is for Knight

L is not for Elle

M is Mnemonic

N is not for Knot

O is for Ouija

P is for Pterodactyl

Q is for Quinoa

R is not for Are

S is for Seas

T is for Tsunami

U is not for You

V is for Five

W is Wren

X is for Xylophone

Y is not for Why

Z is for Zhivago

Sevenk

PHEVs accomplish exactly this. It's good to hear that people are actually mostly charging their PHEVs according to this recent Toyota study.

We went involuntarily car-free for a month after a heavy rain flooded my family's car. It was much more manageable than expected, due to both the walkability of our suburban neighbourhood and commutes that aligned with nearby bus routes. But if we lived even 1km further from the bus stops, it would have been unpleasant. The alternatives to driving need to exist with reasonable frequency before more suburbanites consider ditching their cars. But I also believe that people need to be receptive to trying something different that may not always be as comfortable as getting into a climate controlled, sound insulated private box to get around.

Despite how close we are to amenities, almost everyone drives to the grocery stores or to work regardless of age or physical health. One factor is 30+ minute bus headways even at peak times. Another is that 2+ buses are needed to get to the nearest commuter rail station, which has free parking and again 30+ minute headways. So to make it to the station on time, people just choose to drive there. That lack of integration with regional rail schedules is another thing that may be limiting bus ridership. An interim solution to low built densities affecting bus routes is more bike infrastructure that is transit compatible, like bike racks at bus stops instead of awkwardly using utility poles. (Also, why are we not allowed to use both bus bike rack slots when they clearly have the space for it? It seems asinine.)

While we are not really a car-lite household, many grocery and commuting trips have been replaced by transit. I realize there's a degree of discomfort that comes with a change in travel patterns when the alternatives are not as maturely developed. Waiting 30 minutes for a bus or walking 20 minutes to another bus route because the last bus came early can be unpleasant, but on the flip side, the ride itself unlocks the ability to relax or get work done that driving does not permit. Walking or biking to the grocery store can be a workout on the way back, but it's free cardio through 'the gym of life,' as Jason Slaughter of Not Just Bikes would say. We need to be okay with some discomfort before ridership can increase enough to improve transit frequencies. Or, you know, hope that 40% increases in gas prices in 2 weeks is enough of a price shock that people start embracing the alternatives on their own accord.

Buy penny Bitcoin?

So it is not just "so stupid design" that "we don't even feel devices are 10x faster than 15 years ago", but deliberate design to use the hardware capabilities for the sake of other people's computers.

To my limited understanding, better use of hardware requires both some level of standardization of hardware and better optimized software, with lower level programming languages if possible. Vibe coded Electron apps are never going to be as well optimized as something made to run a particular chipset. But how do we accomplish that when most programming is being done on high level programming languages? It seems that the industry has prioritized human readable code and improved UX over hardware efficiency, which at a surface level isn't the worst trade-off.

I ultimately agree with this vision, and it's a serious problem I've contemplated as well. That said, what's the right balance between more efficient, repairable hardware and accessible, more readable code?