A wonderful novella by Martha Wells, beautifully published by Artline Studios. The book is tiny and is a quick read. It’s about a very human murder bot whose job is to protect a group of planetary explorers. I’ll probably wait for the translations because the hardcover is so pret … | Continue reading
I was mind-blown to learn that the Game of Life can have a pattern that plays the Game of Life. The idea that Game of Life can play itself is not new. It has existed at least since 1996 (also here). By 2006, a grid like the one above existed. I learned about Game of … Continue re … | Continue reading
I’ve made plenty of choices where I wanted two things incompatible with one another and chose one. I don’t feel like any of that was a sacrifice, I treat it as a choice. For example, I returned to the university in my late 20s way outside of the ordinary university age because I … | Continue reading
By a semi-popular request, Jay’s name is now Creeper. | Continue reading
This curious fellow welcomes me to our co-working space from time to time. I wanted to take a photo of him earlier this week but he was busy with a prey. | Continue reading
It’s way too wet these days. I’m far from my 10k steps daily goal for a second day. The greenery, however, is very green 🙂 | Continue reading
Spicy autocomplete absolutely can’t replace journalists. — Cory Doctorow on AI There’s something very deep in our response to righteous anger. Spicy autocomplete. Righteous anger, followed by italic uncertainty. Dehumanizing the AI so that we’re ready for eradication. At the same … | Continue reading
Someone designed this monument, financed it, got a permit, built it, painted it multiple times with different colors for us to wonder. What is it? | Continue reading
The weather might be confusing but the plums are ready. | Continue reading
Veselin talks about personal goals, inspired by a SMARTER framework. Feeling excited and accomplished after making progress. | Continue reading
Flowers at the highest point near Sofia. | Continue reading
It's beautifully made in Bulgarian with original illustrations. The English version is published as an e-book and available for free. | Continue reading
Caught an angle with no students. It’s the best looking and maintained area of Blagoevgrad. | Continue reading
Engines love to consume lengthy content and rank it higher on search. ChatGPT can generate tons of additional meaningful text for the idea. However, as a reader, I prefer to read content written by humans and for humans. I’d rather read meaningful ideas in ugly sentences with sim … | Continue reading
I have slept more over the last year. My average has increased from under 6 to over 7 hours, and though that’s not Nirvana, it feels better. My morning routine is fixed. Kids go to school, and the alarm clocks go off at 7. So increasing sleep time can only be achieved by going to … | Continue reading
Back in the late 90s, this brand Koop was a symbol of change. We saw the cooperative was some kind of incorporation, a private structure instead of the nearly 100% government-owned everything from that era. The outside A/C unit doesn’t fit though, I don’t remember seeing a single … | Continue reading
I had no idea orchids exist in the wild in Bulgaria. | Continue reading
First customer since the last reset of the kiosks for the shift or the day. 11:30 is a bit early for lunch but still. I was first 🏆🏅✅ McDonald’s is not known to be the best food, it is expensive and is slow these days. We are high on the Big Mac Index, higher than … | Continue reading
I’m interested in using AI to optimize things and got the nudge to read this book because of my interests. I find this book quite depressing. A team of engineers in the Google-sized company Avogadro Corp implements a software called ELOPe. It optimizes emails based on the desired … | Continue reading
Janet Evanovich’s number fifteen is the first book in the series with a name that makes at least some sense. Stephanie will be food-colored because of a cooking competition. The tiny issue with the competition is that nobody can cook and some heads are rolling. There will be expl … | Continue reading
It’s not common to read a book that’s not on Goodreads but this particular edition is unknown to it. It’s tiny and hard to hold. You have the feeling it will break if you press it too hard. It’s a fragile jewel, worth the read. The first page-turner for me in over a month. Thraxa … | Continue reading
According to PictureThis, the bush is Bridalwreath Spirea, native to Korea, China and Japan. It’s supposed to flower on the oddly specific date May 5th but flowered early because it’s in Sofia. | Continue reading
The new app update allows font size modification for easier reading. Improved post tags aid in discovering new sites. Cheers to the Jetpack team! | Continue reading
I read 6 books in March. This is a significant decrease from the previous months. I wake up before 7am and go to bed earlier, perhaps because of the daylight savings time. Falling asleep earlier means less time reading and fewer books in the monthly report. It may also be related … | Continue reading
I celebrated 1337 likes last week. It’s a hacker-speak for “elite”, and a short form of 31337 or l33t. Some kids would speak like that on IRC when I first got online in the late 90s. It was some form of an anti-language, made to obfuscate conversations so that you don’t get autok … | Continue reading
I’d love to do the countdown for an important rocket launch or be busy in the control room. I watched the Starship attempts live and watched some of the previous milestones for SpaceX live. I always have goosebumps before the launch and enjoy words like “Nominal” and “RUD”. I enj … | Continue reading
With Leonardo and Donatello chilling. | Continue reading
Productivity is like a flower, it needs nurturing and dies if salted. For me, the fertilizer is knowing the meaning of work, how to do it, being on a good team, and feeling enthusiasm. I feel most productive in the mornings, late afternoons, and early evenings, and least producti … | Continue reading
Flower shop on the corner of Shipka and San Stefano. Saw many students with robes and funny hats today in the area. No photos because I don’t feel comfortable taking photos or strangers. | Continue reading
I’ve noticed that the two most common sources of regret for my last 20-30 years of experience are: The risks taken that paid off – what would I regret? For example, when taking my first mortgage, it felt like a great risk. The payment was a significant portion of my salary at the … | Continue reading
W wouldn’t have noticed this beautiful tree without the blog. | Continue reading
The character is a freelance tank driver, roaming the desert with the tank on a square map. He enters a competition. What does he need to do? Solve a bunch of riddles! Anagrams, basic math, and the music kids listened to in the 80s. Here’s a riddle from the book. You have two 6-s … | Continue reading
This book was unremarkable in the beginning but then very satisfying in many ways until the end. I enjoyed the exploding taxidermy and the overall improved independence of Stephanie. She is chasing a criminal mystery because she could be framed for murder. She does it, not Ranger … | Continue reading
I got a surprise new book. This one was sent to me by the publisher. I was pleasantly surprised and will write a review once I reread it. I’m very thankful for the nice surprise! I find it very nice that people are republishing these old books. The old ones are collectibles and p … | Continue reading
Mladost 2, Sofia. There’s a facebook group dedicated to removing items like this but I find it interesting. Probably because I don’t see it very often. | Continue reading
I’m happy with the show. The music and execution were fantastic. It’s one of those events that sticks with you and leaves a lasting memory. The team managed to sneak in some Bulgarian jokes and contemporary puns and localize the experience, particularly with Phantom’s signature. … | Continue reading
The photo is from a few days ago when it was summer. We are temporarily back to the winter today. | Continue reading
In the early 2000s, I was a new and ambitious software engineer with very little theoretical knowledge. Worked as a webmaster, which included front-end, back-end, databases, and a bit of systems work, all with Microsoft products. My confidence didn’t match the realities of my act … | Continue reading
Parts 4 and 5 of the Sand Wars series were back to the roots of what was enjoyable in the first part – battles, new worlds, spaceships, and mild mystery. Part 6 went into the torture territory and was off-putting to me. I would rate the books 4/5/2 for an average of about 3. The … | Continue reading
I do many calls and my environment is often noisy – coffee shops, kids around, and ninja turtles on TV. I’ve tried finding headphones that have a good microphone and are comfortable for my ears. I believe the headphones need to be wired so I don’t charge them. I like retractable … | Continue reading
Sofia has many restaurants where you can sit, spend hours, and eat well. The city center is transitioning from an office center to a tourist center, with airlines delivering thousands of tourists every day. Consequently, as offices relocate from the center, restaurants witness a … | Continue reading
In November 2023, newly registered electric cars in Sofia began receiving license plates starting with EA (Electric Automobile). Electric vehicles have the right to park for free in the city center and this change probably makes it easier for everyone who uses the benefit. Me and … | Continue reading
Electric cars don’t need to be big to function. ICE cars have big engines and tons of components. Spotted this gem today. REVA G-Wiz. Labelled one of the ugliest cars, one of the worst and so on, and here it is. | Continue reading
I found this wonderful blog about photography and it currently only has 11 subscribers. I’m not a photographer but I think I can recognize great content when I see it. Check https://streetshooters.blog/ | Continue reading
The Guardian has a nice article on the curious case of Amazon’s AI-powered shops. Customers would go to the Amazon shops, pick whatever they wanted, and leave, and Amazon would charge them using AI. According to the article, the AI was in the form of human data labelers in India. … | Continue reading