yen is building stuff
@weiyen.net
I post about databases, web development, software engineering and other nerdy stuff.
Sydney 🇦🇺
Website: https://weiyen.net
Sydney 🇦🇺
Website: https://weiyen.net
"The incentive gradient was clear: sanity was expensive, and extremism paid dividends.
We talk a lot about polarization as if it were a disease that infected society, but we’re missing a key data point: polarization is a growth hack, and it works."
www.joanwestenberg.com/p/how-to-sta...
We talk a lot about polarization as if it were a disease that infected society, but we’re missing a key data point: polarization is a growth hack, and it works."
www.joanwestenberg.com/p/how-to-sta...
How to Stay Sane in a World That Rewards Insanity
Is There Still a Return on Being Reasonable?
www.joanwestenberg.com
November 20, 2025 at 7:26 AM
"The incentive gradient was clear: sanity was expensive, and extremism paid dividends.
We talk a lot about polarization as if it were a disease that infected society, but we’re missing a key data point: polarization is a growth hack, and it works."
www.joanwestenberg.com/p/how-to-sta...
We talk a lot about polarization as if it were a disease that infected society, but we’re missing a key data point: polarization is a growth hack, and it works."
www.joanwestenberg.com/p/how-to-sta...
Reposted by yen is building stuff
I read the caption first and thought the illusion might be because the y-axis was on a log scale, but it's not!
My brain was bamboozled regardless.
My brain was bamboozled regardless.
November 19, 2025 at 12:15 PM
I read the caption first and thought the illusion might be because the y-axis was on a log scale, but it's not!
My brain was bamboozled regardless.
My brain was bamboozled regardless.
I posted a question about cloudflare on hacker news, and got this really lengthy reply from the CEO.
Cloudflare is operating on a different level
Cloudflare is operating on a different level
November 19, 2025 at 3:51 AM
I posted a question about cloudflare on hacker news, and got this really lengthy reply from the CEO.
Cloudflare is operating on a different level
Cloudflare is operating on a different level
Out of curiosity I've checked out the Discover feed, and it has become good?
It's serving me a lot less political posts than my For You feed right now
It's serving me a lot less political posts than my For You feed right now
November 18, 2025 at 6:07 PM
Out of curiosity I've checked out the Discover feed, and it has become good?
It's serving me a lot less political posts than my For You feed right now
It's serving me a lot less political posts than my For You feed right now
CloudFlare is down.
I like that CloudFlare tells you that it was CloudFlare that messed up. That's a nice touch.
I like that CloudFlare tells you that it was CloudFlare that messed up. That's a nice touch.
November 18, 2025 at 11:52 AM
CloudFlare is down.
I like that CloudFlare tells you that it was CloudFlare that messed up. That's a nice touch.
I like that CloudFlare tells you that it was CloudFlare that messed up. That's a nice touch.
The internet is a wonderful source of inspiration, but a terrible source of truth
November 17, 2025 at 6:37 PM
The internet is a wonderful source of inspiration, but a terrible source of truth
❌ Solar panels
✅ Thermonuclear fusion harvesters
✅ Thermonuclear fusion harvesters
November 17, 2025 at 9:00 AM
❌ Solar panels
✅ Thermonuclear fusion harvesters
✅ Thermonuclear fusion harvesters
So tempted to get a Stanford degree and memorise leetcode so that I can work at Google and fix the YouTube Music app
November 14, 2025 at 10:05 AM
So tempted to get a Stanford degree and memorise leetcode so that I can work at Google and fix the YouTube Music app
This X screenshot blocker has significantly improved the quality of my feeds.
If I wanted to see tweets, I wouldn't be on here!
@xblock.aendra.dev
If I wanted to see tweets, I wouldn't be on here!
@xblock.aendra.dev
November 14, 2025 at 4:14 AM
This X screenshot blocker has significantly improved the quality of my feeds.
If I wanted to see tweets, I wouldn't be on here!
@xblock.aendra.dev
If I wanted to see tweets, I wouldn't be on here!
@xblock.aendra.dev
Reposted by yen is building stuff
There is an image labeler that hides (or blocks if you prefer) screenshots, and you can mute posts with links. Not single built-in features though.
bsky.app/profile/xblo...
bsky.app/profile/xblo...
bsky.app
November 4, 2025 at 10:04 PM
There is an image labeler that hides (or blocks if you prefer) screenshots, and you can mute posts with links. Not single built-in features though.
bsky.app/profile/xblo...
bsky.app/profile/xblo...
Reposted by yen is building stuff
PSA if you think a news article is dumb, DON’T share it. That just makes the problem worse
November 1, 2025 at 10:31 PM
PSA if you think a news article is dumb, DON’T share it. That just makes the problem worse
Apple is worth 391 Garfields
You can measure the economic value of something in Garfields. Garfield makes about 1 billion USD in revenue annually, so if an industry is smaller than that it's worth less to the world than Garfield
October 25, 2025 at 3:57 AM
Apple is worth 391 Garfields
I try to be clear about what form of AI I'm talking about.
I was chatting with someone about their experience with "AI", and then I realised they were referring to Bixby
I was chatting with someone about their experience with "AI", and then I realised they were referring to Bixby
wild how often i see antis casually claim their main experience with AI is the Google search AI Overview and then pontificating seriously about the implications for AI in general based on that experience, when literally every single AI user and also the people at Google all hate that specific tool
October 12, 2025 at 3:37 AM
I try to be clear about what form of AI I'm talking about.
I was chatting with someone about their experience with "AI", and then I realised they were referring to Bixby
I was chatting with someone about their experience with "AI", and then I realised they were referring to Bixby
TIL we have 4 different types of horsepower, including a metric horsepower.
September 28, 2025 at 1:14 AM
TIL we have 4 different types of horsepower, including a metric horsepower.
Slightly diminish a band: The Beatless
Slightly diminish a band:
Old Order
(Maybe more than slightly)
Old Order
(Maybe more than slightly)
Slightly diminish a band: CRT Soundsystem
August 13, 2025 at 4:30 AM
Slightly diminish a band: The Beatless
I like Jetbrains tools, but it is brave of them to increase subscription prices, right when AI-powered dev tools like Cursor or Claude Code are gaining market share.
August 12, 2025 at 10:09 AM
I like Jetbrains tools, but it is brave of them to increase subscription prices, right when AI-powered dev tools like Cursor or Claude Code are gaining market share.
Finally figured out how to integrate Claude Code with ChatGPT
August 10, 2025 at 2:00 AM
Finally figured out how to integrate Claude Code with ChatGPT
*Checks words we haven't seen*
I am kurfuffled that no one has used freebooties on this site!
I am kurfuffled that no one has used freebooties on this site!
Can Bluesky say every word in the dictionary?
I dunno but I plan to find out!
I made a website that tracks every single word said on bluesky (as of yesterday).
I dunno but I plan to find out!
I made a website that tracks every single word said on bluesky (as of yesterday).
August 7, 2025 at 1:00 AM
*Checks words we haven't seen*
I am kurfuffled that no one has used freebooties on this site!
I am kurfuffled that no one has used freebooties on this site!
Google Maps had trouble deciding if I'm using the light theme or the dark theme, so it chose both
August 6, 2025 at 10:02 AM
Google Maps had trouble deciding if I'm using the light theme or the dark theme, so it chose both
Reposted by yen is building stuff
350B rows in is a bit late to realize this Clickhouse gotcha:
"Due to historical reasons, UUIDs are sorted by their second half. UUIDs should therefore not be used directly in a primary key, sorting key, or partition key of a table."
"Due to historical reasons, UUIDs are sorted by their second half. UUIDs should therefore not be used directly in a primary key, sorting key, or partition key of a table."
August 5, 2025 at 7:46 PM
350B rows in is a bit late to realize this Clickhouse gotcha:
"Due to historical reasons, UUIDs are sorted by their second half. UUIDs should therefore not be used directly in a primary key, sorting key, or partition key of a table."
"Due to historical reasons, UUIDs are sorted by their second half. UUIDs should therefore not be used directly in a primary key, sorting key, or partition key of a table."
A cool concept when coding is the idea of "code locality" or "locality of behaviour".
Roughly speaking, it is how much of the surrounding code do I need to understand, in order to work out what a function does.
htmx.org/essays/local...
Roughly speaking, it is how much of the surrounding code do I need to understand, in order to work out what a function does.
htmx.org/essays/local...
</> htmx ~ Locality of Behaviour (LoB)
Carson Gross explores the Locality of Behaviour (LoB) principle, which emphasizes making the behavior of code units obvious on inspection to enhance maintainability. He discusses the tradeoffs between...
htmx.org
August 5, 2025 at 2:09 AM
A cool concept when coding is the idea of "code locality" or "locality of behaviour".
Roughly speaking, it is how much of the surrounding code do I need to understand, in order to work out what a function does.
htmx.org/essays/local...
Roughly speaking, it is how much of the surrounding code do I need to understand, in order to work out what a function does.
htmx.org/essays/local...
macOS has a builtin command-line tool `screencapture` to capture screenshots programmatically
I finally found a use for it: scanning QR codes from the terminal.
I finally found a use for it: scanning QR codes from the terminal.
August 1, 2025 at 7:02 AM
macOS has a builtin command-line tool `screencapture` to capture screenshots programmatically
I finally found a use for it: scanning QR codes from the terminal.
I finally found a use for it: scanning QR codes from the terminal.
Whoever set today's Connections must be feeling pretty pleased about themselves
July 31, 2025 at 1:18 AM
Whoever set today's Connections must be feeling pretty pleased about themselves
This is a headline that will never be topped
July 30, 2025 at 1:56 PM
This is a headline that will never be topped