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This looks cool. FWIW I’m not a Django guy, but pulled up the site (djangoproject.com) out of curiosity to compare it to Plain. One thing that stood out to me was this:

> Ridiculously fast.

> Django was designed to help developers take applications from concept to completion as quickly as possible.

This rubs me as a little deceptive/insincere. When I read “ridiculously fast” on a hero banner, I’m expecting that to mean the speed of the language/framework itself. Anybody else see it similarly or am I just being cranky?

Anyways, I as an outsider see a lot more immediate value proposition on the Plain page than the Django one. Good job whomever put it together.

Does it go to 11?

Amen. Having dabbled in martial arts and had the good pleasure of hitting my mid thirties, his ability to win at 48 is nothing short of jaw dropping. Shouldn’t be possible.

The elephant in the room though is Europe. Trump wants Europe to step up and act more independently. Pay their fair share for NATO. Increase their active militaries.

Here's another fact to remember: Trump told Europe to kill Nord stream pipeline during his first term. He didn't want them tied economically to Putin. He didn't want Europe to depend upon Putin! Why? Because he's Putin's ally? Or maybe he is trying to make strong, independent countries that act as a deterrent.

That would be a hell of a deterrent, instead of old people with no kids droning on endlessly about NATO.

Trump speaks very, very plainly. He is certainly discursive. He most certainly goes back and forth on a few things, sometimes because he changes his mind other times because he is negotiating/trolling/etc.

But the main problem isn't that he needs "augors", it's that you have an entire media complex that is constantly misrepresenting what he says in the most negative possible light. People listen to what he says and then immediately apply a filter of the most negative interpretation possible. Or they outright lie.

Did Trump call white supremecists very fine people? Did he tell people to drink bleach? The list goes on...

Meanwhile, what was the main "instability" of trump's first 24 months? Ah, yes, the Russiagate hoax where any day now a smoking gun was coming. Hoax after hoax after hoax.

Re Obama's blissful years:

- Occupy wall st fades away, no real reform

- Stagnating economy

- Arab spring waffles

- Chinese aggression in Taiwan sea

- Putin annexes Crimea

- ISIS is born and terrorist attacks become a regular part of the news cycle

- Unprecedented union of DOJ w/ president (Eric Holder says "I'm Obama's wingman")

- IRS targeting conservatives

- Tan suit (lol)

Compare all that to Trump going into 2020 whereforeign policy wasn't even part of the debates.

No, I would fight them tooth and nail. As would any member of an invaded country. Duh.

But, if after several years a generation of my peers have been killed and I don't see a logic end to this war any time soon, well then I might start to re-evaluate.

But you know what's really dirty?

The pro-war people in the US are doing the opposite of what you say: gladly cheering on the slaughter of Ukrainians so long as it defeats the "boogeyman". Which side is more pro-Ukrainian? The side that results in more dead Ukrainians or less?

Read my whole reply. I literally addressed that at the end. Read the whole thing before you dismiss something.

> The war started in 2014

Exactly! This is the key. Why do you think Trump was the first US president that didn’t see Putin mount an offensive during his term? Trump armed Ukraine to the teeth during his first term, while being sure not to escalate with Putin. He carried a big stick but also didn’t provoke. Ukraine in NATO is unacceptable for Putin. Fact of life. US wouldn’t want Chinese military defenses in Mexico. Biden admin and Europe seem obsessed with this, but Ukraine in NATO ain’t gonna happen without risking a hot war with A FUCKING NUCLEAR POWER. We either end this now or at the very least drive Russia further into China’s arms or provoke a real WW with millions dead. This isn’t just good vs evil. Reality sucks sometimes, but you gotta deal with it. Trump admin is completely ready and willing to provide arms and aid to Ukraine, just as they did in first term. But we’re sick and tired of seeing endless aid further provoking a nuclear power with absolutely nobody envisioning an end other than “we beat Putin”. All the while we deplete our munitions, supplies, money, and have Russia-China rise.

Well, here come the downvotes, but for anybody who thinks that it is completely believable that Trump is a Russian stooge or is “on Russias side” let me offer this up:

- We want peace. Full stop. No more dead men, women, and children. THAT IS THE GOAL.

CONTEXT:

- Trump armed Ukraine to the teeth in first term, providing lethal aid which previous presidents did not do. He wanted to deter Putin while not also escalating.

- Adding Ukraine to NATO is a line in the sand for Putin. How would we feel the US feel if China and Mexico entered a defense agreement and placed Chinese missiles on the US border? Adding Ukraine to Nato is an ESCALATION.

- Biden admin sent Kamala over to Europe in '21 saying it was time to add Ukraine to NATO. Good job guys.

- Biden then said his response to a potential Putin invasion would "depend on whether it was a major or minor invasion" (I'm generalizing).

- Biden then flopped Afghanistan. US weak.

- There were rumblings of a peace deal in early 2022, but Boris Johnson and European delegation shot it down.

Europe and Ukraine are relying on the US to bankroll/supply a war with one of the world's greatest nuclear threat. THIS ISN'T A FUCKING VIDEO GAME. The lines have been more or less drawn. If we continue this war, we either:

(a) at a minimum, drive Russia into closer alliance with China while killing many more Russians and Ukrainians

(b) provoke a hot war amongst many nations, leading to the death of millions

OR

We get a peace deal done with the general boundaries that have been consistent for nearly two years: Russia provinces going to Russia, a DMZ established, and Ukraine sadly smaller.

This isn't simply "we must support the Good Guys and defeat the Bad Guys". Right now Trump wants PEACE and feels as if Zelensky demands to call the shots. He can't call the shots. He is not the US.

Addendum:

Re mineral rights and the accusation "Trump just wants the $$$", you do realize that placing a large US business interest in Ukraine (as opposed to backdoor dealings) is actually a way of strengthening the US's commitment and investment in Ukraine, right?

I’m so happy to see the regulation UI laid out. Congress was the original legislative body, I.e. makes laws. This is great as it makes them accountable to what they do. A law I don’t like is passed? Well then I check to see how many senators and rep voted and take action accordingly. But then some big agency makes a regulation I don’t like? How do I find accountability in that?

While I recognize that Congress has granted said agencies the authority to do this in many cases, I can’t help but feel it’s a massive way for Congress to completely skirt accountability.

I do wonder how many are aware of how law making has shifted from Congress to agencies over time and what the political ramifications of that are.

That first paragraph (in your HN comment, not the blog post) would have read better with zero periods.

Glad to see one of my favorite blogs is still active. I was starting to get a little worried.

The first two blogs currently listed, McCord-Valim’s FLAME-Livebook-GPU and your post which has the word “murid”, truly captures the psychological arc of a developer.

Thanks!

Re creativity, Tailwind is an interesting social experiment of sorts. To be clear, I love it! But it does provide a window into how humans interact with creativity. I recall first coming upon Tailwind after Bootstrap had thoroughly saturated the market and we could all name at least 10 bootstrap-looking sites. Then, suddenly...Utilities! Wow! Unique looking nav bars! Now I can make my own button! But then...fast forward five years and there is definitely a "tailwind" style that has coalesced via the "hot" players/designers (tailwind itself, Vercel, etc).

Even with a tool that should foster creativity we often gather around something familiar/known. That makes perfect sense psychologically and I'm not here to say that that's dumb. For example, I love creativity but detest modern architecture as it strays too far from the "known" and becomes meaningless. I need to know where to look to find a bathroom for goodness sake.

I guess my point is that a tool that allows for or even fosters creativity does not by any means actually result in said creativity.

To creatively code one must first in fact code. I went deep down the IDE->AI rabbit hole. They are amazing tools. However, I have settled into a bare-bones Sublime Text editing flow, wherein I pop into IDEs/AI as needed for one-off items. I am really enjoying it. Oh, I hit a snag? Well, let me think about it for a moment and then if I'm really stumped or need a second opinion I'll pop open Cursor.

Creativity is odd in that it is somewhat revelatory: it seemingly comes from outside of you. At least for me I need to minimize input (e.g. reading docs, AI chat, etc) in order for this revelation to "manifest" in my mind. I don't have the self control to "pause" in Cursor or other IDEs, so I use Sublime to truly read and wrestle with code.

N.B. this isn't some fanatically held rule...I'll do a whole session in Cursor if I know the task is appropriate for it (e.g. something that is mindless).

Thanks for the info! I was wondering if it was something more than speed, but what you said makes a lot sense. Love the "I am interacting" vs "I am requesting" way of putting it as it highlights just how dramatically different of an experience it is.

I just added a "Open In Cursor" plugin:

https://github.com/spencerchristensen/sublime-open-in-cursor

It isn't on Package Control yet as I just submitted the PR.

I made this as I love Sublime Text as a text editor and do not want to pollute it with AI garbage. However, there are times where I want to quickly open the same file in Cursor to hash out some their agents. Workflow is:

- lovely text editing in Sublime

- encounter something I would like AI assistance for

- quickly pop open the thing in Cursor and do the AI stuff

- hop back to Sublime to continue my lovely editing

That’s definitely part of it. Though even before I start typing and am just looking at the characters on the screen, they seem more dense, tactile, and real. Is there a categorical difference for how Sublime renders text vs other editors out there?

So glad to see this. I have been down a long road of text editors:

- Sublime - Vim - Emacs - Atom - VSCode - Jetbrains IDE - Neovim - Zed - Cursor

And these aren’t just little flings. I’ve spent months if not years in most of these editors. However, at the end of the day I always come back to one: Sublime.

It is a beautiful piece of software. It feels like writing with one’s “good pen and good paper”, that high quality stationary sort of thing. It is just me and the code. There is something that just feels different or even tactile about Sublime. That actually leads me to ask as this is outside of my expertise: why does Sublime feel more tactile/real than other editors? When I look at the code in other editors it feels like I’m looking at a projector on a wall. When I look at the code in Sublime it feels like I’m looking at something painted on the wall. Anybody else have the same experience? What’s the psychological/software reason for that?

As soon as you said Mafia I felt that loading in my bones…

First of all we foster a very strong community of likeminded friends from school, church, and other activities. We don’t all see eye to eye on every little thing, but we have generally the same goal. Second of all is that we talk to our kids about it, we try and make these things a conversation.

FWIW we were homeschooling for quite awhile but they now go to a school that has a No-Phone policy.

My kids play Minecraft and Sonic all the time these days. The key is my kids have developed a sense of how some things are different than others and that is good and also bad. It’s a system that allows and encourages discussion.

Good question. Yes they can play. The main absolute no-go activity with friends is something with exploration on the internet. That includes things like YT kids. But, hey you want to play Smash Bros even though we don’t at home, sure have fun!

These are not hard and fast rules, more of a system. Our youngest plays video games much younger than our oldest kid, since we have video games in the house now and didn’t with your first. However, I still make sure my youngest is getting plenty of tactile/analog play in as the majority of time spent.

Heh, you’re indeed right. I use analog in a very loose sense, perhaps better said as “tactile”. As in “I take a CD out of the case, I open my player, I put the CD in the case, I use physical buttons to move one track at a time”.

Four thoughts:

1. I've developed a analog->digital path for my kids. Before they can get a music player, they get a CD player. Before they get video games, they get board games. And then, for video games, before they get Super Mario Odyssey they get the original Super Mario Bros. Each of these "first they get" is a long period. Years long. Give them something that has limitations so they can truly explore it. Find the nooks and crannies of something. Make up their own weird little things within that limitation. And then, back to music, I want my kids to know what a musical album is, know how to savor the highs and the lows, how sometimes certain tracks mean more to you based on your mood or life-stage, then just an endless playlist of newness.

2. The gorilla in the room is that most adults can barely handle online media.

3. The other gorilla in the room is porn. Again, see #2.

4. The classic philosophers placed Prudence as the queen of virtues. What is prudence? It is essentially the ability to grasp reality. Why did they say that was most important? Because you couldn't use any of the other virtues if your didn't have a good grasp of reality (e.g. fortitude would be foolhardiness if you ran into a ill-conceived death thinking you were being brave).

You need to make sure you and your kids are able to grasp reality, not just the appearance of it.

It made me extremely distrustful of any and all interactions I would have with an employee. Is every email I send to my rep going to turn into an upsell? Are they being straight with me in answering my question?

I hate Datadog. We use their name as an epithet at our company for how not to sell/market. Their selling tactics circa 2015-2018 completely burned us out. Endless calls and emails. The icing on the cake was an AWS reInvent presentation on Lambda right when lambda was first announced. We were pumped to get in on lambda early. Got the whole crew to attend the talk. Turned out to be a rudimentary copy of a Barr "lambda up and running" blog wrapped in a stand up comedy routine hawked by a Datadog employee who made sure to tell us he was a Datadog employee. Get us all drunk and happy and think Datadog is cool.

Genuine question: has the company changed enough in the interim to deserve a second look?

This is unequivocally good. That’s it. That’s the comment.

One of the most eye opening moments in my junior dev career was when I found a really nifty way to achieve an operation using SQL alone and brought it to our VP (start up, small company size). It wasn’t esoteric, but used some SQL features not well-trodden by web devs. I thought I was the bees knees and this would be a clear demonstration of my sizable brain. He complimented the thought behind it, but immediately vetoed it as too complex for the majority of developers who would have to touch the code down the road. In hindsight he was completely right.

I reacted to this title the way I react a new menu item at Taco Bell: a strange mixture of desire, shame, and admiration for human ingenuity.

I remember switching from bash to zsh a few years back and thinking I was the bees knees. After the switch trying other shells seemed like bike-shedding because, I mean, what more could a shell? Then I got a new computer and decided to start from scratch with my tooling and downloaded fish. I was shocked how it instantly made zsh feel cumbersome and ancient.

Heartily recommend others give it a try as a daily driver for a couple of weeks. I liken it to Sublime Text: an excellent “out of the box” tool. Just the right amount of features, with the option to add more if you want. But you also don’t feel like your missing out if you keep it bare bones. A great tool in and of itself.

I have jumped around over my career: Sublime -> Vim -> Emacs -> VSCode -> Neovim -> Cursor, which is now my daily driver.

However, I still relish in the ability to open up a nerfed Sublime or basic Vim install where it’s just me and the text. I do so when I want particular lucidity in my thought process and code composition.

Then I can always fire up heavier tools for code review after the fact. How do I “do” it? I got really good at grep’n my way through a code base. It’s amazing what grep/ack/rg/etc can tell you when you know what to ask. And if you don’t know what to ask, well finding that answer is going to teach you a lot more than just hitting Tab on autocomplete or GoToDef.