Rather than hoarding a “Best Sh*t” of blog post at the very end of the year like I usually do, I’m trying something new: Documenting random things I’ve discovered on a quarterly basis. As with most things in my blog, we’ll see if I actually continue doing this or not.
Things I liked
animatedknots.com - knots are pretty sweet, and this site is a simple, straighforward registry of different knots and how to use them. It gets major props for having a simple static layout, with no annoying animated ads or banners.
A few knots I’ve learned recently:
📺 My 5 simple steps to eat healthier in 2026 This year I started to really get conscious about my Diet, specifically around cholesterol management. I’ve switched to a mostly vegan, whole-food based diet (to publish soon) and have gotten back into preparing most of my own meals. There’s
The Opt Out Project - Always a fan of Digital Minimalism and being mindful about the tech we consume. This site provides a lovely 21-day plan to disconnect with tech and reconnect with humanity. Each day provides an achievable but impactful goal (Such as “Secure your Email” or “Trash unwanted accounts”)
How I ship Projects At Big Tech Companies - Anyone who works in big tech has experienced the frustration of needing to ship but not being able to. This article both is reassuring in that it’s a reminder you’re not alone in this plight, but also provides a great mindset into how to get things done anyway.
Agentic Continuous Delivery Love it or hate it, AI is becoming part of how we build software, but many questions and practices are still being discovered. MinimumCD came out with an updated “DevOps”-like flow while incorporating AI. It lays out problems, reasons for them, and a list of practices, common artifacts, and workflows for managing AI in a productive and safe way.
It really does feel similar to when DevOps first broke on to the scene: new practices with big promises of a faster and better way to release software (though still mostly theoretical!). I’m interested in seeing how this evolves.
Speaking of AI… Should I implement this change? No. - I think every Sci-Fi movie about a rouge AI starts off this way??
Things I’m adding
Talon - Talon is voice-control and dictation software that’s highly configurable using Python. As I’m doing more Vibe Coding, I’ve started to think more about what the correct tool are. Vim bindings made a lot of sense when I was writing most of the code myself, but if my prompts to an LLM are conversational, can’t I just have… a conversation?
So I’m experimenting with Talon for transcribing what I say into text for Claude. I currently use:
- Talon Community as the foundational features for Voice control.
- Talon HUD for less annoying subtitles, and a status bar that reminds me if I’m in “dictation mode” or “command mode.”
- My own config, mostly for refining how commonly misunderstood words should be corrected (No, I’m never talking about some guy named Jason)
Ice Menu Bar - This is a great little MacOS app that allows me to hide menu bar items. Particuarly useful to prevent excessive icons from flowing into that super innovative notch on macbooks these days
justthebrowser.com - simple way to remove all “non-browser” features from Chorme/Firefox/Edge (adware, AI feature, etc).
Pure Zsh Prompt I’m over the fancy and bloaty p10k and oh-my-zsh and moving back to a simpler time. This prompt gives me a bit of information I need (really git status stuff) and gets out of the way otherwise.