Ben Lovell
@ben.lovell.io
web: https://ben.lovell.io
toot: https://toot.cat/@socksy
opinions expressed are my own and do not reflect those of me
toot: https://toot.cat/@socksy
opinions expressed are my own and do not reflect those of me
Reposted by Ben Lovell
writing prose without proper em-dashes just because ChatGPT ruined that for humans :(
November 4, 2025 at 7:59 PM
writing prose without proper em-dashes just because ChatGPT ruined that for humans :(
this is the ideal conditional. You may not like it, but this is what peak performance looks like
![a diff showing two ways of doing the same code. The first is a simple `if {} else {}` block in rust. The second is with a match statement, matching true and false. The text is as follows:
35 - let source_files = match script.ends_with(".py") {
36 - true => vec![script.clone(), "*.py".to_string()],
37 - false => vec![script.clone()],
35 + let source_files = if script.ends_with(".py") {
36 + vec![script.clone(), "*.py".to_string()]
37 + } else {
38 + vec![script.clone()]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2jddfnz36zhls4sbozn3nysh/bafkreidtwlrbiqcdtw5s6spnssqaho5zt3habe2fswzlek4o3wzfqnuawy@jpeg)
August 22, 2025 at 1:07 AM
this is the ideal conditional. You may not like it, but this is what peak performance looks like
Reposted by Ben Lovell
Have you ever considered that your PM is “vibe coding” you
August 18, 2025 at 10:50 PM
Have you ever considered that your PM is “vibe coding” you
Reposted by Ben Lovell
The famine in Gaza has been entirely manufactured by Israel.
Israel and its cheerleaders are lying through their teeth about the crime of the century.
Here are Israel's lies taken apart 👇
www.owenjones.news/p/israels-li...
Israel and its cheerleaders are lying through their teeth about the crime of the century.
Here are Israel's lies taken apart 👇
www.owenjones.news/p/israels-li...
Israel's lies about Gaza's famine taken apart
Israel has deliberately starved Gaza. Here are its lies taken apart one by one
www.owenjones.news
July 26, 2025 at 4:10 PM
The famine in Gaza has been entirely manufactured by Israel.
Israel and its cheerleaders are lying through their teeth about the crime of the century.
Here are Israel's lies taken apart 👇
www.owenjones.news/p/israels-li...
Israel and its cheerleaders are lying through their teeth about the crime of the century.
Here are Israel's lies taken apart 👇
www.owenjones.news/p/israels-li...
Reposted by Ben Lovell
We are having a Berlin Clojure meetup next Wednesday. The topic is going to be clojure-mcp, so bring your 💻 for some experimenting.
clojure.berlin/events/2025-...
clojure.berlin/events/2025-...
Clojure Meetup - July 2025
clojure.berlin
July 11, 2025 at 9:45 AM
We are having a Berlin Clojure meetup next Wednesday. The topic is going to be clojure-mcp, so bring your 💻 for some experimenting.
clojure.berlin/events/2025-...
clojure.berlin/events/2025-...
Reposted by Ben Lovell
I'm a big fan of the pomodoro technique for productivity, where I do my best impression of a tomato and sit in the dark for 48 hours before I am devoured by beings beyond my comprehension
May 17, 2025 at 9:57 PM
I'm a big fan of the pomodoro technique for productivity, where I do my best impression of a tomato and sit in the dark for 48 hours before I am devoured by beings beyond my comprehension
Reposted by Ben Lovell
i’m sure all we need to make things better in our lives is just One More App
January 30, 2025 at 12:24 PM
i’m sure all we need to make things better in our lives is just One More App
Can't believe the runner farted out this template variable just like that
![subject field of an email:
🏃💨 *FNAME|*, jetzt aber schnell! [Inbox]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2jddfnz36zhls4sbozn3nysh/bafkreididsybi6wtal27zklc3ymhwggijlvbj2jwsgmwz3uvogudjnsdc4@jpeg)
January 30, 2025 at 1:28 AM
Can't believe the runner farted out this template variable just like that
Reposted by Ben Lovell
U.N. Warns Trump May Be 7 Months Away From Acquiring Nuclear Weapons
http://theonion.com/...
http://theonion.com/...
January 22, 2025 at 9:00 PM
U.N. Warns Trump May Be 7 Months Away From Acquiring Nuclear Weapons
http://theonion.com/...
http://theonion.com/...
Reposted by Ben Lovell
Brilliant satirical cover from Private Eye, mocking spineless media organisations and journalists who submit and cower in the face of power 👏
January 22, 2025 at 10:53 AM
Brilliant satirical cover from Private Eye, mocking spineless media organisations and journalists who submit and cower in the face of power 👏
Going to FOSDEM for the first time at the end of this month. Anyone else I know going to be there?
January 22, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Going to FOSDEM for the first time at the end of this month. Anyone else I know going to be there?
Reposted by Ben Lovell
Changes to Nightjet planned from 7 April: Amsterdam-Innsbruck/Vienna becomes a new-generation Nightjet. Double-deck sleepers disappear completely, replaced on Zurich-Vienna & Zurich-Hamburg by Comfortline sleeping cars. Last 3 months to experience the double deckers!
January 4, 2025 at 12:48 PM
Changes to Nightjet planned from 7 April: Amsterdam-Innsbruck/Vienna becomes a new-generation Nightjet. Double-deck sleepers disappear completely, replaced on Zurich-Vienna & Zurich-Hamburg by Comfortline sleeping cars. Last 3 months to experience the double deckers!
Is there any kind of movement to make trams lighter? Would that allow them to go faster (from a safety POV)?
December 22, 2024 at 12:00 PM
Is there any kind of movement to make trams lighter? Would that allow them to go faster (from a safety POV)?
Doesn't "touch grass" have undertones of an assumption of having a suburban lawn? Like why grass in particular? A lot of the nice places I like outside don't have any grass
December 18, 2024 at 8:51 PM
Doesn't "touch grass" have undertones of an assumption of having a suburban lawn? Like why grass in particular? A lot of the nice places I like outside don't have any grass
Dunno who cares about this that hasn't already taken advantage of it, but there's just under an hour and a half left to take advantage of a 25% discount on interrail tickets. 4 days of unlimited train travel within a month for 213€
December 17, 2024 at 9:36 PM
Dunno who cares about this that hasn't already taken advantage of it, but there's just under an hour and a half left to take advantage of a 25% discount on interrail tickets. 4 days of unlimited train travel within a month for 213€
Such a nice surprise that when requesting some bureaucratic forms from TK that they not only typeset stuff accessibly, but also that things are written in simple English! My German comprehension isn't too bad, but this made me realise that I had been wading through quicksand the whole time
December 17, 2024 at 11:42 AM
Such a nice surprise that when requesting some bureaucratic forms from TK that they not only typeset stuff accessibly, but also that things are written in simple English! My German comprehension isn't too bad, but this made me realise that I had been wading through quicksand the whole time
Reposted by Ben Lovell
hear me out, making hooks order depended was a terrible design decision in React
December 17, 2024 at 11:22 AM
hear me out, making hooks order depended was a terrible design decision in React
boo
From today, the right to a free transfer between Brussels Midi & other Brussels stations (such as Brussels Central) with any Eurostar ticket is discontinued. www.andybtravels.com/news/eurosta...
Eurostar Makes Negative Adjustments to Connection Fare - AndyBTravels
Eurostar will change its connection fare, affecting travellers looking to connect in Brussels to trains heading to nearby Belgian stations.
www.andybtravels.com
December 15, 2024 at 12:02 PM
boo
gonna start adding "Confused by the jargon? Don't be." in all my technical documentation to prevent confusion in my readers
!["Perfection, at least to Americans, is a coffee that falls in the range of 18 to 22 percent Extraction with a brew strength between 1.15 and 1.35 percent Total Dissolved Solids."
[ graph labelled "Brewing control chart", plotting Extraction % against Strength % as a positively correlated line, with the middle bit highlighted as "Perfection"]
"Confused by the jargon? Don't be."](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2jddfnz36zhls4sbozn3nysh/bafkreif4bhfetqxzonaoeikdcmeayhwoeyoz2iia4djntxh6xv7fol32mq@jpeg)
December 12, 2024 at 11:43 AM
gonna start adding "Confused by the jargon? Don't be." in all my technical documentation to prevent confusion in my readers
the fact that Go doesn’t have an `abs` function for integers because “it’s trivial to implement yourself” is the pinnacle of the “worse-is-better” orthodoxy (as stated in the OG Richard P. Gabriel essay)
December 7, 2024 at 1:24 AM
the fact that Go doesn’t have an `abs` function for integers because “it’s trivial to implement yourself” is the pinnacle of the “worse-is-better” orthodoxy (as stated in the OG Richard P. Gabriel essay)
Reposted by Ben Lovell
Korea Expert here. I’ll explain what’s going on over there because the Orient can be confusing to Westerners. In Korea, there is a concept known as “the law.” (법) This is a set of rules which are enforced to encourage prosocial behavior and ensure stability which leaders aren’t allowed to break.
December 3, 2024 at 9:24 PM
Korea Expert here. I’ll explain what’s going on over there because the Orient can be confusing to Westerners. In Korea, there is a concept known as “the law.” (법) This is a set of rules which are enforced to encourage prosocial behavior and ensure stability which leaders aren’t allowed to break.