Adam Vartanian
@flooey.org
Software engineer at Relay. Counterculture-adjacent. Strong opinions, rarely posted. (he)
Today I learned that Brian Blessed voices the Tarzan yell in Disney's Tarzan.
November 15, 2025 at 9:30 AM
Today I learned that Brian Blessed voices the Tarzan yell in Disney's Tarzan.
Reposted by Adam Vartanian
OAKLAND WE DID IT!!!! 🏆
September 22, 2025 at 4:45 AM
OAKLAND WE DID IT!!!! 🏆
I should probably blog the details, but it turns out that checking if a user is a member of a group on GCP is incredibly convoluted. You'd think there would just be an API for this, but GCP and Google Workspace do not play well together at all.
August 13, 2025 at 2:08 PM
I should probably blog the details, but it turns out that checking if a user is a member of a group on GCP is incredibly convoluted. You'd think there would just be an API for this, but GCP and Google Workspace do not play well together at all.
I love the implication that before Pac-Man, enemy movements in video games were entirely controlled by humans.
This is an insane thing to write about game development. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/28/a...
July 29, 2025 at 6:03 AM
I love the implication that before Pac-Man, enemy movements in video games were entirely controlled by humans.
TIL the term "portmanteau" for a word mashup was coined by Lewis Carroll.
June 27, 2025 at 7:15 PM
TIL the term "portmanteau" for a word mashup was coined by Lewis Carroll.
Sometimes you sort of forget you live in one of the world's great cities, and then you go out to a show that happens to be right next to Tower Bridge
June 19, 2025 at 5:12 PM
Sometimes you sort of forget you live in one of the world's great cities, and then you go out to a show that happens to be right next to Tower Bridge
I found Godzilla's favorite restaurant in London
June 14, 2025 at 12:19 PM
I found Godzilla's favorite restaurant in London
@ahl.bsky.social I don’t know if you intentionally didn’t insert the chime on the one reference to a past episode where Bryan said to, but it was hilarious either way.
June 8, 2025 at 7:43 AM
@ahl.bsky.social I don’t know if you intentionally didn’t insert the chime on the one reference to a past episode where Bryan said to, but it was hilarious either way.
This probably isn't news to anyone, but Ursula K. Le Guin is a tremendous author. The idea that she published A Wizard of Earthsea and The Left Hand of Darkness in consecutive years is mind blowing.
June 3, 2025 at 7:29 PM
This probably isn't news to anyone, but Ursula K. Le Guin is a tremendous author. The idea that she published A Wizard of Earthsea and The Left Hand of Darkness in consecutive years is mind blowing.
I also think, like so many things in life, there’s no universal right answer. Some people prefer in-office work at least some of the time (I’m one of them), some prefer fully remote.
The ideal state is to have a company and employees that all prefer the same thing.
The ideal state is to have a company and employees that all prefer the same thing.
I'll be honest though, I'm pretty irritated with the state of discourse around this topic on bsky.
Believe it or not, a lot of people are quitting their remote jobs and looking to return to office.
A lot of companies have struggled to make remote teams work.
We have something to learn from them.
Believe it or not, a lot of people are quitting their remote jobs and looking to return to office.
A lot of companies have struggled to make remote teams work.
We have something to learn from them.
May 27, 2025 at 7:58 AM
I also think, like so many things in life, there’s no universal right answer. Some people prefer in-office work at least some of the time (I’m one of them), some prefer fully remote.
The ideal state is to have a company and employees that all prefer the same thing.
The ideal state is to have a company and employees that all prefer the same thing.
I will never get over how much Southern’s stations sound like someone made up fake English towns for fun. We’re on the train to Dorking, including stops at Sutton, Cheam, Leatherhead, Hackbridge, and Boxhill & Westhumble.
May 25, 2025 at 8:31 AM
I will never get over how much Southern’s stations sound like someone made up fake English towns for fun. We’re on the train to Dorking, including stops at Sutton, Cheam, Leatherhead, Hackbridge, and Boxhill & Westhumble.
The town of Colma, CA is mainly composed of cemeteries for nearby San Francisco. It has about 1500 residents and 1.5 million dead.
Its motto: “It’s great to be alive in Colma”
Its motto: “It’s great to be alive in Colma”
April 20, 2025 at 11:47 PM
The town of Colma, CA is mainly composed of cemeteries for nearby San Francisco. It has about 1500 residents and 1.5 million dead.
Its motto: “It’s great to be alive in Colma”
Its motto: “It’s great to be alive in Colma”
We’re in the US visiting family and I’m horrified to discover that it now feels weird to have the light switches inside the bathroom.
April 14, 2025 at 9:21 PM
We’re in the US visiting family and I’m horrified to discover that it now feels weird to have the light switches inside the bathroom.
Today I managed an incredible feat: I played a 3-player game of Monopoly to its ultimate conclusion within 90 minutes.
March 15, 2025 at 9:34 PM
Today I managed an incredible feat: I played a 3-player game of Monopoly to its ultimate conclusion within 90 minutes.
I was today years old when I put together that Tom Lehrer’s The Elements is to the tune of The Major-General’s Song from Pirates of Penzance.
March 2, 2025 at 11:39 AM
I was today years old when I put together that Tom Lehrer’s The Elements is to the tune of The Major-General’s Song from Pirates of Penzance.
When writing documentation, I think people underestimate the value of a giant red arrow pointing at something. I use them constantly, they’re great.
February 21, 2025 at 3:01 PM
When writing documentation, I think people underestimate the value of a giant red arrow pointing at something. I use them constantly, they’re great.
Age yourself with the first computer you used.
(I don’t know that it was exactly one of these, Packard-Bell made a number of different models. Definitely had a 3.5” floppy drive, though.)
(I don’t know that it was exactly one of these, Packard-Bell made a number of different models. Definitely had a 3.5” floppy drive, though.)
February 17, 2025 at 8:19 AM
Age yourself with the first computer you used.
(I don’t know that it was exactly one of these, Packard-Bell made a number of different models. Definitely had a 3.5” floppy drive, though.)
(I don’t know that it was exactly one of these, Packard-Bell made a number of different models. Definitely had a 3.5” floppy drive, though.)
@bcantrill.bsky.social Your early TUI story was eerily similar to mine. I wrote a program in BASIC for my 386 that ran on boot and gave a menu of different system configurations so I could avoid loading some TSRs if I was going to play memory-intensive games.
February 14, 2025 at 8:15 AM
@bcantrill.bsky.social Your early TUI story was eerily similar to mine. I wrote a program in BASIC for my 386 that ran on boot and gave a menu of different system configurations so I could avoid loading some TSRs if I was going to play memory-intensive games.
Yesterday I learned that Holy Names University in Oakland — where I did a number of summer camps — closed down last year. Today I learned that one of the members of the House of Lords went there. It's a small world.
January 26, 2025 at 1:40 PM
Yesterday I learned that Holy Names University in Oakland — where I did a number of summer camps — closed down last year. Today I learned that one of the members of the House of Lords went there. It's a small world.
My last two interviews I’ve signed off with “Talk to you later!”
January 15, 2025 at 1:28 PM
My last two interviews I’ve signed off with “Talk to you later!”
Our local cafe was having a special dish today and so we preordered it earlier in the week. When we went to pick it up, we realized that we hadn't ever given them a name when we ordered. We looked at their list and saw that our order had been recorded under "The American Family".
January 11, 2025 at 1:26 PM
Our local cafe was having a special dish today and so we preordered it earlier in the week. When we went to pick it up, we realized that we hadn't ever given them a name when we ordered. We looked at their list and saw that our order had been recorded under "The American Family".
I don’t remember everything we read, it was 25+ things across high school. By far the one I hated the most was The Catcher in the Rye. I don’t know if I’d get it more now, but at 15 I thought Holden Caulfield was an obnoxious loser and deserved everything that happened to him.
US and UK friends, I'm curious: What books were part of your required reading for highschool literature class? Which of them do you remember loving, and which did you loathe?
January 6, 2025 at 7:04 PM
I don’t remember everything we read, it was 25+ things across high school. By far the one I hated the most was The Catcher in the Rye. I don’t know if I’d get it more now, but at 15 I thought Holden Caulfield was an obnoxious loser and deserved everything that happened to him.
Here's my write up on the experience of using Elixir for this year's #AdventOfCode. Short version: Elixir is awesome!
flooey.org/elixir.html
flooey.org/elixir.html
flooey.org — AoC 2024: A Powerful Elixir
flooey.org
January 2, 2025 at 9:00 PM
Here's my write up on the experience of using Elixir for this year's #AdventOfCode. Short version: Elixir is awesome!
flooey.org/elixir.html
flooey.org/elixir.html
Today in our house is Start the Year Off Right Day, the day where we find things we've been procrastinating on and finally do them, so we don't carry them into the new year.
Sort those papers, clean that desk, tighten those wiggly bolts, and get rid of those things you don't need anymore!
Sort those papers, clean that desk, tighten those wiggly bolts, and get rid of those things you don't need anymore!
December 31, 2024 at 2:20 PM
Today in our house is Start the Year Off Right Day, the day where we find things we've been procrastinating on and finally do them, so we don't carry them into the new year.
Sort those papers, clean that desk, tighten those wiggly bolts, and get rid of those things you don't need anymore!
Sort those papers, clean that desk, tighten those wiggly bolts, and get rid of those things you don't need anymore!
All done with #AdventOfCode for the year! I don’t know if it’s just me getting better, but this year felt easier than previous years. Day 21 was the only day I got at all stuck, and then only for the length of a shower, and day 24 I solved visually rather than in code.
December 25, 2024 at 10:02 AM
All done with #AdventOfCode for the year! I don’t know if it’s just me getting better, but this year felt easier than previous years. Day 21 was the only day I got at all stuck, and then only for the length of a shower, and day 24 I solved visually rather than in code.