Steven Hicks
pepopowitz.bsky.social
Steven Hicks
@pepopowitz.bsky.social
Ok, I guess I'm here now.

Milwaukee, software, devex, trail running, triathlon, art... All of them with astounding mediocrity.

Streaming to the void at https://youtube.com/@FriendsWithCode.
Reposted by Steven Hicks
#3: a "factory second" disc that I bought new, used a few times, and decided I hate.

This time I spaced on placing the disc. I had a line marked on the disc so I could center the disc name in the yellow section for good contrast... But forgot to align when placing.

Those colors though 🤤
November 6, 2025 at 4:58 AM
Reposted by Steven Hicks
#2: another used play it again find. This brand's plastic is supposed to be stellar at absorbing dye. It had color to begin with, but I wanted to experiment with a floral look and the plastic so I dyed it anyway.

I messed up the timing, badly, and got some nasty streaks all over the edges.
November 6, 2025 at 4:58 AM
Reposted by Steven Hicks
Disc 1: an older but good shape play it again find. I considered wiping the stamp, but I thought I could swirl to accentuate it. Unfortunately I didn't realize the swirl direction would be backwards for a righty... Which maybe no one but me cares about.

Looks good though! Wish I'd used more yellow.
November 6, 2025 at 4:58 AM
I went on a little run of discs over the last week. I got a little fire in my belly, because I decided I'm going to try to get about ten or so into my local disc shop for consignment by black Friday. Eek!
November 6, 2025 at 4:58 AM
YOU GUYS THE ROBOTS ARE GOING TO START MAKING US DO THEIR WORK FOR THEM
November 5, 2025 at 10:18 PM
Aaaand another one today.

I *love* the colors on this disc... But I'm not sure I'll enjoy looking for it in the brush. I can't wait to throw it, I've been playing without a straight midrange, waiting until I got this one dyed. Hopefully the straightness keeps it out of the brush every throw.
October 29, 2025 at 2:27 PM
Another disc to report.

Tbh this is probably the one that convinces me to monetize this hobby, damnit. Not that I'll sell this specific disc, because it's a light weight that I can actually throw and those don't come around very often, but I'm pretty sure I can make more good ones like this.
October 28, 2025 at 1:27 PM
So tonight I bought a used "digital converter" turntable for 20 bucks.

I guess it's for playing a record directly to a flash drive.
October 28, 2025 at 4:43 AM
Reposted by Steven Hicks
Okay, for the folks who asked: here's the majority AI view, writing up the reasonable, thoughtful view on AI that the vast majority of people in tech hold, that gets overshadowed by the bluster and hype of the tycoons trying to shill their nonsense. anildash.com/2025/10/17/t... Please share!
The Majority AI View - Anil Dash
A blog about making culture. Since 1999.
anildash.com
October 17, 2025 at 7:29 PM
Spent my Indigenous Peoples Day chucking plastic circles into the woods on some beautiful Potawatomi land.
October 14, 2025 at 1:13 AM
Reposted by Steven Hicks
AI coding sucks

CJ just one-shotted a 15 min rant and it's incredibly refreshing.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZUk...
AI Coding Sucks
YouTube video by Syntax
www.youtube.com
October 9, 2025 at 4:33 PM
Reposted by Steven Hicks
CHATGPT: I understand where you're coming from. You worked really hard to get here, and now it's time to enjoy the fruit of your labors.

ISILDUR: So I should keep it? Elrond says I shouldn't

CHATGPT: The ring is precious. Sometimes friends don't have your best interests at heart.

ISILDUR: true
October 6, 2025 at 1:58 PM
It’s probably not going to work very well, for reasons well described by the subculture I’ve stumbled into, but today I started my first glue bed disc dye!

A clear champion factory second teebird3 in clear glue and acetone pcad dye.

None of that should make sense to you…unless it does.
October 7, 2025 at 1:49 AM
If you were wondering like I was, it takes five months of public GitHub inactivity to wear off your free maintainer copilot subscription.
October 3, 2025 at 9:00 PM
Ayyy, an entire summer (and then some) went by, and Friends! With code. didn't even hang out once.

We miss each other, so come hang with @pav.vin, @jonallured.com, and I as we take turns giving summer reports to start the school year.

www.youtube.com/live/tGxbsQA...
Dev Show & Tell: What I did this summer.
Summer reports from Jon, Pavlos, and Steve! What'd they do this summer?
www.youtube.com
August 30, 2025 at 3:30 AM
Reposted by Steven Hicks
I considered writing a long carefully constructed argument laying out the harms and limitations of AI, but instead I wrote about being a hater. Only humans can be haters.
I Am An AI Hater
I am an AI hater. This is considered rude, but I do not care, because I am a hater.
anthonymoser.github.io
August 27, 2025 at 5:04 PM
I bought a shirt at a concert 25 years ago from the band hum (you'd prefer an astronaut is a perfect album -- all rippers no skippers -- & it still holds up). It's the oldest band shirt that I still wear. The design looks...very homemade. It is one of my favorite shirts.

But it's on its last legs.
August 12, 2025 at 4:33 AM
Reposted by Steven Hicks
i can't think of anything witty to add to this that's funnier than what's already been written, so you're just gonna have to read it

www.colincornaby.me/2025/08/in-t...
In the Future All Food Will Be Cooked in a Microwave, and if You Can’t Deal With That Then You Need to Get Out of the Kitchen
As a restaurant owner – I’m astounded at the rate of progress since microwaves were released a few short years ago. Today’s microwave can cook a frozen burrito. Tomorrow’s m…
www.colincornaby.me
August 6, 2025 at 10:40 PM
Reposted by Steven Hicks
"There’s real value in faster prototyping, scaffolding, and automation. But LLMs don’t remove the need for clear thinking, careful review, and thoughtful design. If anything, those become even more important as more code gets generated."

ordep.dev/posts/writin...
Writing Code Was Never The Bottleneck
LLMs make it easier to write code, but understanding, reviewing, and maintaining it still takes time, trust, and good judgment.
ordep.dev
July 9, 2025 at 2:25 PM
Reposted by Steven Hicks
Buried in the tax bill: "no State or political subdivision thereof may enforce any law or regulation regulating artificial intelligence models, artificial intelligence systems, or automated decision systems during the 10-year period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act."
May 22, 2025 at 2:22 PM
me solving a rubiks cube:

algorithm based on mnemonics... more mnemonics....more mnemonics....COMPLETE BLACKOUT WHILE MY HANDS PERFORM WIZARDRY BASED ON MUSCLE MEMORY...mnemonics, mnemonics, done.

I am astonished every single time that middle part works out and I don't understand what's happening.
May 22, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Reposted by Steven Hicks
"I, too, was once a little skeptical of the Giant Plagiarism Machine™. But that was before I attended The Conference for Big Boy Business Owners™."

www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/a-c...
A Company Reminder for Everyone to Talk Nicely About the Giant Plagiarism Machine
Hey team. It’s your CEO. I know your time is valuable, so I’ll cut right to the chase: It’s come to my attention that some of you have been bad-mou...
www.mcsweeneys.net
May 22, 2025 at 8:14 AM
Blink twice if you need help, YouTube ai caption robot.
May 20, 2025 at 5:38 PM
Reposted by Steven Hicks
Hello, I am a creative professional. Generative AI is incredible and empowering, and will only get better.

I love generative AI.

In the last 12 months, my creative business has dropped more than 50%.

I hate generative AI.

Read more... reverentgeek.com/ai-really-is...
AI Really *Is* Taking My Job – ReverentGeek
Generative AI is incredible and empowering and will only get better. I love generative AI. I hate generative AI.
reverentgeek.com
May 20, 2025 at 4:32 PM
This week's friday micro-improvement: a pre-commit hook to remind me when I've marked a file as `skip-worktree` from the git index. (Sometimes I want to keep a non-prod change locally, without accidentally including it in a commit.)
May 16, 2025 at 6:07 PM