keyP

Big fan of this tool, I use it any time I'm doing presentations or writing a document that requires a recording of my Android's screen.

I realised I have quite a few random scripts I use for myself or to improve my usual workflow. Recently decided to start blogging again and figured some of them might make interesting reading for others. Lately:

Made my monitor an "ambient tv" by reverse engineering the bluelooth lights and sending them pixel colours: https://www.reaminated.com/reverse-engineer-led-to-convert-m...

I also wanted to use ChatGPT over my own files and documents. Whilst my personal system is a bit more complex, created an end-to-end tutorial of my learnings to get started with using your own docs: https://www.reaminated.com/run-chatgpt-style-questions-over-...

Yes, an API is now available https://openai.com/blog/introducing-chatgpt-and-whisper-apis

Presumably those thousands of clinics etc in the search results "posit that palm reading is legitimate medicine"

Not really, they're more astrology based, not medicine, and no one is claiming astrology is factual in this thread. Also, they're clinics, not a source of any kind which is what was asked for.

What does that have to do with medicine?

Not sure what your point is here. I'm suggesting that dietary aspects were designed around the aspect of a gut-brain axis and praising that more research is going into the details. Similar to how we're seeing more research in the field of meditation and its impact on brain structure.

Source on Ayurveda posits that palm reading is legitimate medicine?

Ayurveda posited a form of gut-brain axis thousands of years ago (and is a core basis for its dietary aspects), interesting to see more scientific research delving into the details.

I think this is partly why Rubber Duck Debugging[1] can sometimes work, especially if you're vocalising the steps. I've often started typing a question on Stackoverflow when suddenly I solved the issue just by the act of verbalising the question as I type.

I've found this to also help when I'm doing any sort of creative work or brainstorming, simply talking and explaining as if I'm presenting to an audience helps me generate ideas. Never spoken out loud to myself in public though...

[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber_duck_debugging

Congratulations!

Quick feedback, the video on the landing page doesn't have a full screen button, or double click support, so the text can't be read (I'm using Firefox on desktop). It's pretty self explanatory so the text isn't super important but I think it takes away from the video unnecessarily.

I find being transparent with my team makes it a lot easier. There are internal deadlines and external deadlines. Former are internal ones which have no real consequence if missed and just keep a development rhythm (e.g. weekly iteration, monthly release, quarterly roadmap update catchup etc...).

The other type comes from third parties, generally, such as clients or the board. Once you separate these two types of deadlines, I find my engineers more understanding about having to meet external ones whereas blurring internal and external into one "deadline" simply causes people to either burnout or lose faith in management because everything is marked as urgent.

I don't quite agree here, developers need to have an idea of what they're working to so they can manage their own implementation time. If you don't make developers aware, you put too much control in the manager's hand which isn't a good thing here (unless you're referring to a developer lead but even then, individual developers should have an idea of when they need to complete by).

Only did a quick search but it seems like it's the iOS package name for the Amex Mobile app[0]

[0] https://www.americanexpress.com/uk/customer-service/digital/...

Indeed, and pragmatism should be applied, but I mean in the context of not being rushed. I don't mind my team watching YouTube/browsing the web during work if things are going well but I wouldn't accept it if it's done after submission of suboptimal code. If there's time to watch YT, there's time to improve your code (unless it's clearly too much of a refactor).

I think people who recognise this have generally been developing from the days where computing resources were scarce (or on mediums now where they need to be efficient). It was a necessecity to implement efficient techniques instead of a nice to have. Nowadays those restrictions have been lifted for the most part.

In this day of "Agile" development, as long as something's working during UAT, that's all that's needed for sales and consumers.

Webdev, IME, is an example where the ecosystem has facilitated bloated websites. I've worked with developers who throw any library they can just for basic things because they don't have a need to try to optimise. The meme of using jQuery for everything when it came out has just been replaced by other frameworks. I find it often depends on developers who really want to work on something and take pride in it vs those who just need something on their CV or got hired by following a few tutorials on the web but not understanding what they wrote (which, to me, signifies a hiring problem in the company). During code reviews, I encourage leads to keep calling up hacky code to a point where the developer will just start writing it properly the first time round. As developers, I feel we should be aware of not creating selfish software which hogs memory from other software or requires huge data downloads for mobile users (whenever doable). Possibly a naive ideal but if it's a byproduct of developing fast software for my end users, I think that's a win-win.

Depending on your situation, the other answers in this thread may help. Assuming they're not viable for you, you could try reframing the situation. You now have something to look forward to on your off time that can be used to help during difficult times at work. Also, working on a project that you like all the time could maybe make it less appealing over time, similar to over-listening to a song. Maybe you haven't realised it but the immersion you have could be because you have breaks in between sessions for work.

I'm not a Flight Sim player but the technology and potential of this is huge. I'm not registered with Wired so I can't see the article but I assume this is the video in question https://twitter.com/NVIDIAGeForceUK/status/12116170578900951...

Not just megacorps, I've seen long unproductive meetings in startups which means a larger percent of the workforce out of action for the duration. Often I find managers who insist on these types of meetings, frequently, are the same ones that don't really seem to be providing much value generally outside of meetings.

Whiteboard - For me, tangible writing helps with creativity and thought processing and a whiteboard saves on paper if it's not going to be a permanent thing (and even if it is, a simple photo of the board for retention).

Google Keep for quick notes on the go with a permanent pinned tabbed in my browser for quick access

Trello for day to day development management but not as detailed as I would in my work, simply as I don't need it to be. Speed is an advantage for solo projects and small teams so adding unneccessary processes reduces that advantage IME.

Specialised comments within Visual Studio to allow me to write comments and easily find them again without disrupting my flow (I believe IntelliJ and other IDE's may have analogous features) https://keyboardp.com/post/40190774577/using-task-list-token...

Unless Kiwi browser supports Google Chrome user profiles, the main advantange of FF over Chrome on Android, for me, is the ability to share webpages seamlessly.

Ah interesting, I may have to revisit in that case as it has been a while since I tried it on OSX.

I still use this feature, it comes under the "Task List" window. Adds any "TODO" comments in realtime by default but it's also possible to extend what tokens show up alongside "TODO" [0]. I've added "Hack" or "Perf" for temporary implementations that definitely can be improved but not necessarily critical.

[0] https://keyboardp.com/post/40190774577/using-task-list-token...

I switched to FF for my daily driver almost a year ago on my Windows machine and haven't looked back. Previously FF had too many performance issues but since each tab is run in a separate process, it's been just as good as Chrome (not so much on OSX however, I still use Chrome there).

The other advantage of FF for me, besides Pocket, is that I can share and send pages with FF on Android which has support for ad-blockers. Last time I checked, Chrome didn't support extensions on Android.

Stopping the war was never the intention, that would betray the fundamental lessons trying to be taught. In context of the story, the idea is that they still have free will but it was a lesson to be learnt for both sides.

If there was a superhuman in real life who could avert all wars (literal and metaphorical), that would be great, but we don't live in a world where we can pray to fix away our problems (my humble opinion of course, not to offend anyone). This sets a basis for the story upon which life lessons can be learnt in the form of the Gita; fundamentally stating that time has no beginning or end, therefore everything on the battlefield has come and gone, regardless of your input in life (" I am death, the mighty destroyer of the world, out to destroy. Even without your participation all the warriors standing arrayed in the opposing armies shall cease to exist.").

I think it's why the book is so powerful, looking at a wiki list of people it's influenced, a common theme is a day to day reference of spirituality more than actual religion [0]

You're right, I didn't mean to imply it's the only philosophy or religion but I would posit it's the largest. Also, the Matrix thing was just a flippant offshoot but I never noticed until I heard them playing the Sanksrit shokla :D

Agreed, Hinduism is a catch all, often misunderstood. It's completely different from Abrahamic religions from a fundamental point of view. You can be any religion, or atheist, and still be a Hindu, in essence. Most (if not all?) branches of Hinduism considers God to be the ultimate reality of which we're all part of as opposed to an external entity, hence in the Gita, Barbarika said Krishna was the one who one the battle despite not taking part directly. Whether you use the Bible, or Vedic scriptures, to reach Moksha (Englightenment) isn't prescribed, it's your journey.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influence_of_Bhagavad_Gita

It justified violence as the last resort which can be taken literally in the story or as a metaphor for when someone hits rock bottom in their life. War is one of the worst things to be a part of and personal demons can feel like a battle. I actually praise it for choosing a topic that shouldn't exist in an ideal world but it knows that that's not reality and war is sometimes required (Vedic scripts would say we're in the age of "Kali Yuga", believing time is cyclical, the utopian phase of world peace simply doesn't exist).

The Bhagavad Gita is a subset of the Mahabarata epic, albeit the most famous one, so the preceding story was that peaceful negotiations were not possible even though that was the route preferred. The idea is that if two sides are willing to negotiate peacefully, that is the option that should be taken. But if one side insists on war, action (karma) and inaction (akarma) are two sides of the same coin - inaction is not avoiding doing something, it is a form of action ("He who seeth inaction in action and action in inaction, he is wise among men; he is a Yogi and performer of all actions"). In fact, Ghandi actually wrote a letter to Hitler initially asking him "peacefully" to stop WW2. This was followed up with a less peaceful letter [0]. It would seem he was happy for violent war against Nazis because they were evil and it was against injustice. (Naturally, this leads to discussions on what one would consider evil but the idea is not to be the first to attack and provoke). The ending of the epic is wasteland of emptiness caused by the war - both as a symbol of the waste of war but also as an idea that everything and nothing exists at all times; whether you chose action or inaction is on you, time destroys all regardless.

Ghandi (and I guess Oppenheimer [1] to a degree but not sure) seemed to take the concept of Dharma (duty) to strengthen his resolve and he accepted what he considered his Dharma to keep going through the difficult times. The other aspect is that Arjuna did not choose the war but his previous actions (karma) have led him to be where he is. Just like what is said nowadays about how your past makes you who you are today. Sometimes the battle is unavoidable given past actions.

Sorry, probably too long a response :D but I genuinely had the same thought as you when I first started reading about it but then did some further reading. There's so much to dissect, from all sides, which is why I think it's one of the greatest philosophical works written.

Interestingly enough, if you watch the first Matrix with the Bhagavad Gita in mind, you'll notice a lot of parallels in the hidden meaning of the Gita and Hindu philosophy about what we consider 'real' and how life is an illusory. So much so that the Matrix Revolutions soundtrack during the end fight is a famous Sanskrit mantra from the Upanishads

asato ma sad gamaya

tamaso ma jyotir gamaya

mrtyor mamrtam gamaya

(From delusion lead me to truth

From darkness lead me to light

From death lead me to immortality) [2]

Imagine Neo is Arjun.... there is no spoon ;)

[0] https://www.indiatoday.in/news-analysis/story/when-mahatma-g...

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lb13ynu3Iac

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A67OhOUoUsc

Bhagavad Gita for me, both, personally and professionally

https://www.ancient.eu/Bhagavad_Gita/

I don't think there's a catchall solution but if you break down your guilt of not being productive, there may be some underlying themes.

1) Good chance you're guilty about not beind productive because you've seen other people launching products or releasing progress shots. Realise it's inhuman to be productive 100% of the time, everyone who's released a product or those screenshots have also be unproductive at times. Refocus your goals, make them feasible and iterate on the tasks, don't tackle it in an all-or-nothing manner.

2) Look at what you have achieved and don't underestimate it. There could be a chance you're overweighting the remaining tasks and underweighting patting yourself on the back. Positive spirals exist just as much as negative spirals.

3) What is productiveness for you? Walking your dog is productive, just not directly useful for coding a website (although you could be generating ideas during the walk).

Maybe you feel like you should be doing something constantly but if you take a step back, what race are you actually running in? There isn't really someone else on the track, you're just imagining there is and accepting that this race doesn't exist outside of your mind might make it easier to appreciate you don't have to be constantly working and burning out.

I find if you have a exciting project and you've developed a great team (which includes soft-skills; great technical skills does not necessarily make a great employee), I find a lot of team members voluntarily thinking about the project outside of hours or staying late because they want to.

Whilst more hours certainly doesn't mean more productivity, the idea of nurturing intrinsic motivation is often omitted in discussions about working late and it's more an implicit by-product of a good working environment.

I think some of it has to be taken as more of an adage than pragmatically. Firsly, the four hours may not be continuous so having random hours doesn't really work. Additionally, it's caveated with creative work, regardless of job title, a lot of work would involve non-creative aspects which need to be done.

I've unrolled the thread for easier reading https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1210242184341000192.html