Weekly Thing 310 / Signals, Research, Playlist
Weekly Thing 310 comes to you from Cannon Lake, where the water is frozen but ideas are flowing — let's talk gas limits, playlists, and power.
Good morning! ☕️
I've been playing around with some of the automation I use to create the Weekly Thing. I've decided to add some AI use cases in some specific areas. More on this in an upcoming blog post but it is working nicely. Not using it for writing but for making some other areas of it work nicer.
I’m here on Saturday night getting the final bits put together. It was a fabulous day today with nice sun and temperatures right at freezing. Tomorrow we are going to be in the 40s!
Hope your weekend is going great.
Introducing Jesse Lang's Blog
Let me take a moment to introduce another of the Christmas blogs — hello Jesse Lang. Jesse's blog is still getting rolling but I’m excited that he is giving it a go. Jesse is part of our tech team at SPS! And like many technologists I like that Jesse has thoughts on writing his own Indieweb stack. 😁
Please introduce yourself to Weekly Thing readers. Who are you? What is your background? Some interesting things about you?
I am an extremely blessed husband, married for 22 years, the father of four kids ranging from 16 to 6, each one unique, talented, and quirky. I enjoy playing tabletop games, and especially introducing people to their new favorite game they didn't know existed. I am a self-educated technologist, a journey that started as a homeschooled teenager, and an interest I expect will continue as long as I am a being. In another life, I was a musician, private pilot, and part-time pastor.
Why did you put your name in for a Christmas Blog? What is it that you are hoping to do with your blog?
I have a bad habit of signing up for free things. ;-) Honestly, blogging is something I've aspired to do regularly. I've had several fits and starts standing up a blog, but struggled to produce content on a regular basis. I put my name in for the Christmas Blog with high hopes that 2025 could be the year that I prioritize sharing some thoughts (however brief or of erratic cadence) with myself and whoever might be interested in reading them. In recent years, I've become disillusioned with social media networks, and have abandoned or deactivated my accounts as I've realized the power we continue to give them in the form of our data as they broker it for profit. I'd like to build a home for my data that I control.
What are some early reactions and comments you have about micro.blog and using this blog? Anything you would like to share with everyone?
I actually started playing with micro.blog a few years ago as I was becoming more interested in alternatives to social networks. One of the sites I tripped over was IndieWeb which provides some ideas, patterns, and tools to own your own content. micro.blog was one of the services I found through that research, and while I really liked the idea, I wasn't ready to commit to a plan at that time. I've just started looking at the customizations that micro.blog provides, and I'm really interested in seeing what I can do with it in terms of theme and integrating with GitHub.
I am also interested in writing my own IndieWeb stack that can be easily self-hosted for folks who would like to do that instead of using an existing service.
Thinking about summer.
February 22, 2025
Cannon Lake, Minnesota
Notable
Reasons to have higher L1 gas limits even in an L2-heavy Ethereum
I continue to see promise in Ethereum's Layer 1 (L1) versus Layer 2 (L2) network. I think the idea of one blockchain "winning" is not likely, and would likely be a bad thing. Ethereum's approach is much like the Internet itself, a network of networks. This blog post is exploring how much more scale is needed in Ethereum in order to support this vision, and in the short term doesn't making L1 gas fees super low actually discourage L2 adoption? As usual I found Buterin's analysis logical and I particularly liked the different use cases he highlights.
With today's technology (ZK-SNARKs), this is a cost of ~500,000 per L2, and so Ethereum would only be able to support 36 L2s (compare: L2beat tracks about 150, including validiums and optimiums). But what's more important is that it is too economically unviable to do this: at an approximate long-term average gas price of 15 gwei and an ETH price of $2500, the cost per year of submitting is
500000 * 15 * 10**-9 * (31556926 / 12) * 2500 = $49M per year. If we used aggregation protocols, the cost could again drop, in the limit perhaps about 10,000 gas per submission because the aggregation mechanism is somewhat more complex than just updating a single storage slot. This would make submission cost about $1M per year per L2.
So yes, Ethereum needs to get at least another order of magnitude cheaper and faster to support this. The example of a L2 going rogue and all assets needing to be moved off of it is an interesting one. Reading this continues to make me wish that Gnosis would transition to a proper L2.
TAG Grading
Tyler and I have branched into the world of "graded" Pokémon cards. Most cards are graded by PSA and when we sent our first cards in to be graded I was floored — it takes a month to get your card back, and costs $25 a card to be graded. Apparently a person does all this voodoo to determine the grading. That seemed bonkers to me with all the advanced computer vision capabilities that exist. TAG is a different take using those capabilities. You get super detailed analysis of the card via computer vision analysis and the grading is quantitative. Cheaper as well, but still not as cheap as it should be.
I still think these services are missing two big things.
-
They should all offer a mobile app that allows you to apply a "light" computer vision model using your phones camera. Give me an estimate of the grading so I have an idea before I send it in. This could easily be part of the first process of getting a card graded.
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They should be issuing an NFT for each card they grade. They all maintain a database of the cards they've graded and a link so you can see that info. But these databases could be completely open and tradable as NFTs. Plus it would be a simple add-on sale for $5 to mint an NFT to go with the grading process.
calculator-app - Chad Nauseam Home
Another of these great explorations of the edge cases of writing software. This is a fun dive into all the various ways that computers "approximate" numbers and even the more complicated issue of numbers that cannot be expressed completely like π. After reading this I’m now going to cede that the Android calculator app may be pretty cool. 😁
Sadly I did the same test with my preferred calculator app PCalc and it also got the (10^100)+1-(10^100) solve wrong.
Run LLMs on macOS using llm-mlx and Apple’s MLX framework
Filing this one away since one of the reasons I got the M4 Pro chip on my new laptop was to play around with local LLMs. 👨💻
WikiTimeline - Generate Interactive Historical Timelines from Wikipedia
I dig timelines and generally think they are an underused form of data visualization. This is a cool tool to display Wikipedia content using them. I whipped up a timeline with ARM, Linux, and iPhone milestones as an example.
The Deep Research problem — Benedict Evans
Main issue with all AI tools is what level of confidence do you need to actually rely on them, and the more complicated the work they do the more you have to double check. I’m using AI a lot for things that are purely subjective and I can "judge" them very easily. When you get to more complicated topics that require your own analysis the benefits vanish.
That sounds just like doing a group project with other people by the way. Is this even a solvable problem?
My LLM codegen workflow atm | Harper Reed's Blog
Super interesting overview of how one developer is using LLM's to help build software. Love to see folks exploring new territory like this.
Reflections on 25 years of Interconnected
Lovely history and look back on blogging.
Slowly, slowly, the web was taken over by platforms. Your feeling of success is based on your platform's algorithm, which may not have your interests at heart. Feeding your words to a platform is a vote for its values, whether you like it or not. And they roach-motel you by owning your audience, making you feel that it's a good trade because you get "discovery." (Though I know that chasing popularity is a fool's dream.)
Writing a blog on your own site is a way to escape all of that. Plus your words build up over time. That's unique. Nobody else values your words like you do.
Blogs are a backwater (the web itself is a backwater) but keeping one is a statement of how being online can work. Blogging as a kind of Amish performance of a better life.
Oh except that it does work as well as those other platforms, if that's what you want, that's the magic.
Also all the good people are here.
This all warms my heart and I can’t emphasize enough the point of "words build up over time". I treasure my blog (and my newsletter!).
The Imperfectionist: Reality is right here
There has been an absolutely avalanche of news recently. I found this concept of "psychological center of gravity" from Burkeman interesting.
Here's what I mean by "your psychological centre of gravity": I've been puzzling for a few years now over a shift I first noticed around 2016, when various acquaintances -- and me too, in some ways -- started doing what I called "living inside the news." They seemed to view the world they accessed through news sites and social media as somehow more _real _than their immediate surroundings. The latter was a place they merely dropped into from time to time, before hurrying back to the main event.
I've seen folks in this spot. I've been in this spot! I love his call to action.
I've found one tried-and-tested mindfulness exercise to be helpful here. Become consciously aware of your feet -- of their position in space and their temperature, their contact with your footwear or the ground. Come out of your head for a moment, and especially out of other people's heads. Here you are. Here. On the ground. Now: what feels like it needs doing?
Your feet. Love it. 🦶
Journal
New Standards Valentine's Concert
Feb 14, 2025 at 10:00 PM
Tammy and I enjoyed The New Standards Valentine’s Concert at The Woman’s Club of Minneapolis tonight. The emcee introduced this as a hopeful first show to become a tradition for Valentine’s day. We’ve seen The New Standards so many times and we’ve even seen them at the Woman’s Club, however it was in the theater and this was a more intimate setting in the dining room. The performance was good but the sound was a bit lacking. I felt the speakers and amplification was too small for the room, and I didn’t see a sound person working the dials. It also seemed like Chan was “off” in some way, he wasn’t his typical witty self.
Ritual. ☕️
Would you like some help with the snow?
Feb 15, 2025 at 10:08 AM
The doorbell rang this morning and I figured it was probably a delivery or the mail carrier. I looked out front and no trucks were around. I opened the door to find a young guy, I would guess in his early teens, finding opportunity in yesterday’s snowfall. Outside it was pretty and very bright with a fresh 3 or 4 inches of snow yesterday. “Would you like some help with the snow?” he asked. I declined. In fact, I had almost finished getting my stuff on to head outside and shovel the same snow he was asking if I wanted him to tend to. He looked a little bummed but that is how offering your services goes. You don’t close every deal. I closed the door and walked back toward the garage to get ready to go outside.
I had recognized this kid at the door. Last weekend we came home after a night away and there was a few inches of snow. I started shoveling right when we got home and was clearing the front sidewalk when this same kid asked if I needed any help. I was nearly done and said no. I was fine finishing it up. He continued on to the various houses.
Here he was again on the next weekend morning with fresh snow. Smart strategy and willing to do the work. This all made me think of neighborhood lemonade stands.
I love that we live in a neighborhood that still has young kids who run a lemonade stand in the summer. I decided a while ago that if you see some kids running a lemonade stand, your obligation as an adult in that community is to stop and get some lemonade. Not thirsty? So what. Lemonade doesn’t look that tasty? Don’t care. A glass of lemonade cost 75¢? Fine, pay twice that. The value has nothing to do with any of that lemonade. The value is in these kids doing a thing, in the community, and engaging with others. It should be rewarded and magnified. So buy that lemonade.
And then I thought here I am saying no to this kid that is doing exactly the right thing. Will others say yes and he’ll have a productive day? Sure, most likely. But can I be part of encouraging this kind of thing in my community? Absolutely.
I opened the door and he was at the end of the walk. I said I’d changed my mind and yes, it would be great if he could shovel the front. He did a great job.
The Avocado Toast at Lynette is the best I've ever had. Wow! 🥑
Instanbul Gambit at Enigma Adventure
Feb 15, 2025 at 4:54 PM
Tyler, Tammy, and I had a lot of fun solving our way through The Istanbul Gambit at Enigma Adventures in Bloomington today. We finished the room with just 1m 39s remaining on the clock. This was our 65th escape room!
The room was very well done and we always felt like we were moving forward. There were multiple “a ha” moments and towards the end a super cool solve involving lasers. Also unique with this room was that you actually had three separate tasks to complete, with the final being to get out of the room. It even had an add-on mission to identify some additional information that you could tackle if you had time. We did that one as well!
Recommended room!
Gus Gus Cheeseburgers
Feb 15, 2025 at 9:45 PM
We have been wanting to have dinner at Gus Gus for a while and tonight we had a reservation and made our way to St. Paul to try what we had heard was an amazing cheeseburger. We all ordered it and loved it. For a gourmet burger it was fabulous. Tammy thought it may top the delicious burger at Lake and Irving. I thought it tied it. However the fries would clearly tip Gus Gus to the win -- they were incredible. The bun was so airy and delightful. The cheese was ridiculously melty. No notes.
We went to Captain America: Brave New World tonight. This was a “gift” from Tammy and Tyler who don’t care for Super Hero movies at all. I think they can be a lot of fun. I thought it was a good movie -- exactly what I was expecting. 🍿
Bitcoin Books and BTC Price
Feb 16, 2025 at 3:03 PM
I saw this list of Bitcoin books with the price of BTC at time of release on Nostr, reshared from stacker.news. I turned it into proper text as a table and putting it here for reference.
| Date | BTC-USD | Book |
|---|---|---|
| 03/01/14 | $258 | Bitcoin: Beginner’s Guide |
| 06/14/14 | $604 | The Book of Satoshi |
| 07/01/14 | $640 | Mastering Bitcoin |
| 05/19/15 | $241 | Digital Gold |
| 01/01/16 | $432 | The Internet of Money |
| 03/23/18 | $4,046 | The Bitcoin Standard |
| 03/26/19 | $4,028 | Programming Bitcoin |
| 06/17/19 | $31,712 | Inventing Bitcoin |
| 07/07/19 | $11,231 | Bitcoin & Black America |
| 08/01/19 | $10,791 | The Little Bitcoin Book |
| 09/03/19 | $10,620 | Why Buy Bitcoin |
| 01/01/20 | $7,194 | The Price of Tomorrow |
| 01/06/20 | $7,725 | 21 Lessons |
| 11/23/20 | $18,690 | Thank God for Bitcoin |
| 01/18/21 | $36,934 | Layered Money |
| 01/31/21 | $34,140 | Cryptoeconomics |
| 03/14/21 | $55,805 | The Blocksize War |
| 06/21/21 | $31,712 | The 7th Property |
| 07/22/21 | $32,384 | L(earn) Bitcoin |
| 08/16/21 | $48,281 | The Bullish Case for Bitcoin |
| 12/25/21 | $50,774 | Bitcoin and the American Dream |
| 03/02/22 | $39,463 | Bitcoin is Venice |
| 03/09/22 | $38,904 | Check Your Financial Privilege |
| 06/13/22 | $28,374 | Bitcoin Evangelism |
| 03/24/23 | $27,621 | Softwar |
| 03/29/23 | $28,113 | The Bitcoin Handbook |
| 04/13/23 | $40,206 | A Progressive’s Case for Bitcoin |
| 05/02/23 | $28,654 | Proof of Money |
| 08/14/23 | $28,754 | Cryptosovereignty |
| 08/14/23 | $28,754 | Fiat Ruins Everything |
| 08/20/23 | $26,450 | Broken Money |
| 12/01/23 | $37,810 | Gradually, then Suddenly |
| 12/05/23 | $43,270 | The Hidden Cost of Money |
| 01/01/24 | $42,221 | The Fiat Standard |
| 01/03/24 | $43,556 | The Genesis Book |
| 04/04/24 | $69,001 | The Conservative Case for Bitcoin |
| 06/14/24 | $66,700 | Resistance Money |
| 07/19/24 | $68,088 | National Security in the Digital.. |
| 11/10/24 | $88,637 | The Bushido of Bitcoin |
| 02/03/25 | $101,405 | The Big Print |
A computer can never be held accountable
Feb 16, 2025 at 3:09 PM
Simon Willison shared this excerpt from an IBM training manual on his blog recently.
Willison did some research on this and tracked it down to a training manual from 1979.
I'm reading this 46 years later and it hits very different in our modern age of AI. Does AI make this statement any more or less true? I don’t think so.
The thing it has me thinking about equally as much though is thinking about places where people may be attempting to make AI appear to be accountable.
If there is no way to hold AI accountable, is attempting to make it appear accountable a way of eschewing or sidestepping accountability?
Tammy and I had brunch at Diane’s Place today. We have been making our way to new restaurants that we haven’t visited. We had the Thai Tea French Toast and the Spam & Nori Croissant. Yes it actually had Spam on it! Both were good but the French Toast was terrific.
Tyler and I took another try at the Elite Pokémon Gacha Machine tonight. We took a first pull and got a 2022 #239 Japanese Cynthia’s Ambition PSA 10. We weren’t excited about that card and accepted the buyback making $3.55 USDC. Then we went again and got a 2006 #047 Deoxys Holo PSA 10! 🥳
Was fun to get to put a hole in 2 feet of ice.
First Time Ice Fishing
Feb 18, 2025 at 9:47 PM
I had a lot of fun out ice fishing for the first time tonight. Andy invited Liam, Mike, and I out to his ice house in Piersons Lake for the evening. Mike had also not been ice fishing and living in Texas it was all a new experience. To make sure we got the full experience Andy had us auger holes, just for fun though. I had no idea that ice fishing could involve all this gear. We were fishing by sonar watching our jig float in the water and seeing fish as they came by. Everyone caught some! 🎣🧊
MapQuest winning the Internet today with this name your own gulf site. 🤣
I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to make a POAP to commemorate my first time ice fishing!
See list of POAPs.
Replacing batteries in chirping smoke detectors at 2:30 am. 🪫😬
The Berlin has a very good Old Fashioned. 🥃
Tina Schlieske Sextet at Berlin
Feb 20, 2025 at 10:30 PM
We made our very first visit to Berlin tonight to see the Tina Schlieske Sextet play. On stage was Tina Schlieske (vocals), Cody McKinney (bass), Pete Hennig (drums), Bryan Nichols (piano), Zacc Harris (guitar), and Brandon Wozniak (saxophone).
Tina has been dipping into jazz and doing jazz focused shows and this show was all jazz in a great jazz venue. They did two one hour sets with a break in the middle. It was all great with the highlight for me being when they did some Frank Sinatra songs. Tina really nails those songs with tons of energy. Her other favorites are Nina Simone and Billie Holiday.
I think they hit every song on the recently released album “The Good Life”. If you like jazz you should give it a listen.
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Briefly
I dig this approach to a "map of my life". Also interesting to see the empty blocks for the future. → My Life in Weeks by Gina Trapani
I wasn't aware of Privacy Pass but I dig the concept allowing you to access a service requiring authentication without them knowing who you are. This is also something that can be done super easily with cyrpto by holding an NFT in your wallet. Love to see Kagi bringing this feature forward. → Introducing Privacy Pass authentication for Kagi Search | Kagi Blog
Doctors getting on the GLP-1 train in a big way. → The Physicians Really Are Healing Themselves, With Ozempic - The New York Times
Many breakthroughs in early detection of Alzheimers. Linked via this article. → Biomarker Test Can Detect Alzheimer's Pathology Earlier, Pitt Study Shows | School of Medicine | University of Pittsburgh
Useful aggregation of data. → United States Power Outage Map
Good reminder that is isn't all just Scrum and Waterfall. → Product Development Processes You Might Not have Heard of - Department of Product
Gulf of Thingelstad. → Daring Fireball: Golfo del Gringo Loco
Musk's idea of "free speech". → Elon Musk’s X blocks links to Signal, the encrypted messaging service
Impressive progress for a plan nobody was going to follow. → Project 2025 Tracker
Put this in the category of the most effective security tools are likely to be attacked the most. Suggestion, donate to Signal, even if you don't use it. → Signals of Trouble: Multiple Russia-Aligned Threat Actors Actively Targeting Signal Messenger | Google Cloud Blog
We have a new letter to attach to iPhone models, e? Overall a good phone but even the lower cost phones are not low cost anymore. → Daring Fireball: Thoughts and Observations on Today’s iPhone 16e Announcement
Ugh Spotify! 😤 → Pay to get playlisted? The accusations against Spotify’s Discovery Mode | The Guardian
Fortune
Here is your fortune…
Your timeline is unfolding perfectly — no Wiki needed. ⏳
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