iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

🎱 Josh Branchaud ✨ @jbranchaud.bsky.social · 4h

It’s a spooky month which is a good time for spooky reads. I’ll be reading Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House.

A worn paperback copy of The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson lying on weathered gray wooden deck boards. The Penguin cover shows a dark, stormy sky above a sprawling gothic mansion with turrets and chimneys, its lower windows glowing. Below the house, a torn-paper edge reveals the lower half of a woman’s face with long dark hair, her lips slightly parted. A red-and-white circular badge reads “Netflix: Inspiration for the Netflix series.”

040

🎱 Josh Branchaud ✨ @jbranchaud.bsky.social · 6h

At this point, my top two recommendations for an RSS reader are: 1. NetNewsWire 2. use Claude Code to roll your own I’m currently using 1 and transitioning to 2.

000

🎱 Josh Branchaud ✨ @jbranchaud.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I find it very relatable that the GitHub web UI has the control for changing the base branch of a PR behind a button labelled 'Edit Title'. As a UI adds features and gets crowded, it can be hard to figure out where to consolidate all of that. I've run into that on a lot of projects.

020

🎱 Josh Branchaud ✨ @jbranchaud.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

I used Claude to figure out why my garbage disposal wasn't working and how to fix it, instead of having to call a repair person for what turned out to be an easy fix. Unprompted, Claude even drew a diagram for me to explain specifically what I was looking for.

Cutaway cross-section of a garbage disposal, labeled: the grinding chamber (the large upper housing), two impellers mounted on top of the flywheel plate ("swivel freely — normal"), the shredder ring fixed to the chamber wall on either side ("stationary"), the flywheel plate spanning the chamber floor ("must turn as one piece"), and a hex socket on the underside of the motor housing below ("1/4 in. Allen wrench").

120

🎱 Josh Branchaud ✨ @jbranchaud.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

I used this RSS feed to wire up a daily-updating list of my most recent blogmarks in my github profile README that already lists my most recent TILs. github.com/jbranchaud

020

🎱 Josh Branchaud ✨ @jbranchaud.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

I often have a couple different books that I'm in the middle of reading at the same time. I currently have myself in the middle of several substantial series and it's kind of a lot. - The Murderbot Diaries (Platform Decay) - Dungeon Crawler Carl (#3) - ACOTAR (just finished #3) - Bobiverse (#4)

180

🎱 Josh Branchaud ✨ @jbranchaud.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Having re-read the most recent few books in the series, I’m finally on to reading Martha Wells’ latest murderbot installment — Platform Decay.

Hardcover of Martha Wells’s “Platform Decay” (The Murderbot Diaries) on a wooden floor; the cover shows an armored figure floating head-down beside a ladder in a dark spaceship.

060

🎱 Josh Branchaud ✨ @jbranchaud.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Starting today, direct to your RSS reader, you can get quotes and notes on the most interesting things I'm reading. Shoutout to @jakeworth.com for recommending that I get an RSS feed set up for these. still.visualmode.dev/blogmarks

Screenshot from NetNewsWire of the RSS feed for my blogmarks from VisualMode

161

🎱 Josh Branchaud ✨ @jbranchaud.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

at some point the US/English iPhone keyboard and auto-complete suggestions stopped offering emojis as replacements when I would type things like "think" (🤔), "strong" (💪), etc. I don't know why this changed and I want it it back.

220

🎱 Josh Branchaud ✨ @jbranchaud.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

I continue to be surprised by the odd ways that long-existing SaaS products have pivoted themselves into "AI" products. I go to update my RSS feed folder structure and instead am met with "The fastest way to track emerging threats with AI."

Screenshot of the Feedly Threat Intelligence homepage. The headline reads "The fastest way to track emerging threats with AI," with a subheading describing Feedly as an AI platform for CTI teams and buttons for "Get started for free" and "Book a Demo." Below, an "Analyze" tab shows a product preview where a user asks the AI to rank three CVEs by patching priority.

140

🎱 Josh Branchaud ✨ @jbranchaud.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Whoever at @discord.com made it so that gifs stop animating when the discord app loses focus -- thank you!! 🤩

020

🎱 Josh Branchaud ✨ @jbranchaud.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

What are your favorite places to engage with an "intentional internet"? My main one, which I'm not always in the habit of using, is browsing all the RSS feeds I have in the NetNewsWire app running locally on my mac. still.visualmode.dev/blogmarks/340

still.visualmode.dev

Attention is all you have | Blogmarks | VisualMode

I can tell that I've had my head in LLM research papers a lot lately because I saw the title of this post ("Attention is all you have") and thought it looked a lot like Attention Is All You Need.

140

🎱 Josh Branchaud ✨ @jbranchaud.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

I’m competing in the APA Amateur Open which is a Chicago-area qualifier for the big tournament in Vegas. There are a lot of high-level players here. I’m hoping I can string together a few strong matches.

Cryptic tournament schedule on a sheet of paper with people and pool tables in the background

020

🎱 Josh Branchaud ✨ @jbranchaud.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

I’m reading the third book in Matt Dinniman’s Dungeon Crawler Carl series — The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook

The kindle cover of Matt Dinniman’s The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook which shows Carl midair about to punch some muscled-up dungeon boss.

140

🎱 Josh Branchaud ✨ @jbranchaud.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

experimenting with: "Only write code comments that cover critical and unintuitive behavior, preferring concision and clarity. A comment should have long-term durability. Skip the comment if it is only disclosing reasoning about the specifics of this change."

130

🎱 Josh Branchaud ✨ @jbranchaud.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

feels like a I downloaded this directly from Tim Robinson's brain

Gemini / NanoBanana prompt window for "A slice of pizza with a ton of rizz" and then an image of a greasy pizza box with a slice of pizza on top wearing a black crushed velvet fedora, circle sun glasses, and a "Rizz King" gold chain. In the background is a line of people waiting to buy pizza by the slice from a walk up 24 hour pizza shop.

010

🎱 Josh Branchaud ✨ @jbranchaud.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

⣎⡇ꉺლ༽இ•̛)ྀ◞ ༎ຶ ༽ৣৢ؞ৢ؞ؖ ꉺლ

100

🎱 Josh Branchaud ✨ @jbranchaud.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

I just noticed that @swyx.io links to my TIL repo in the Learn In Public article. Absolutely incredible to be listed in the same company as all these other writers and creators. Learn In Public - swyx.io/learn-in-pub... TIL repo - github.com/jbranchaud/til

the list of related links at the bottom of an article with a line highlighting the mention of me and my TIL repo

040

🎱 Josh Branchaud ✨ @jbranchaud.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

I’m bummed that The Traitors decided to do an all-civilian season. It’s objectively better with the various factions of B and C-list celebs. I’m looking forward to it though and I bet it will still be good.

000

🎱 Josh Branchaud ✨ @jbranchaud.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

We recently watched Lucky — fun spin on the heist thriller genre. Pretty good action throughout. A bit heavy-handed with the plot/writing at times. Overall really enjoyed it.

Cover photo of Lucky, an Apple TV show with Anya Taylor-Joy. She is in the foreground, burning car in the background. Lots of oranges and reds.

020

🎱 Josh Branchaud ✨ @jbranchaud.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Sometimes I like to sass back to Claude with a little bit of "not sure your theory holds water" and concern for the "blast radius" of its changes.

010

🎱 Josh Branchaud ✨ @jbranchaud.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Mango is the best la croix flavor and it’s not even close

000

🎱 Josh Branchaud ✨ @jbranchaud.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

CleanShot X just keeps getting better 🤩 v5 released recently and they introduced Studio Mode which is a substantial in-app video editor for screen recordings. Add zooms, cut segments, cursor customization, keystrokes, etc. www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUB1...

youtube.com

Everything New in CleanShot 5.0

YouTube video by CleanShot X

020

🎱 Josh Branchaud ✨ @jbranchaud.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Someone pointed out to me the other day that it is roughly the 70th anniversary and 25th anniversary of the Lord of the Rings books and movies, respectively, being published/released. It's been more than 20 years since I read the books. I'm planning to do a reread this winter.

190

Reposted by 🎱 Josh Branchaud ✨

Laurie! Live! @laurie-merrell.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Happy Labor Day from Chicago, site of some the most important labor organizing and struggle in US history, from Haymarket to Pullman to the 2012 CTU strike. What are people's favorite longform sources on Chicago labor history?

5387

🎱 Josh Branchaud ✨ @jbranchaud.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Certain aspects of what has made me really good at software development has completely shifted out from under my feet in the past year or two (plenty of others remain). On a longer time scale that has always been a characteristic of this profession. Software engineering is the profession of change.

051

🎱 Josh Branchaud ✨ @jbranchaud.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Slow Horses is a great show and they keep putting out new seasons like every six months.

010

🎱 Josh Branchaud ✨ @jbranchaud.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

I don't do much poetry memorization, but I think I might work on this one.

This place is a message... and part of a system of messages... pay attention to it!

Sending this message was important to us. We considered ourselves to be a powerful culture.

This place is not a place of honor... no highly esteemed deed is commemorated here... nothing valued is here.

What is here was dangerous and repulsive to us. This message is a warning about danger.

The danger is in a particular location... it increases towards a center... the center of danger is here... of a particular size and shape, and below us.

The danger is still present, in your time, as it was in ours.

The danger is to the body, and it can kill.

The form of the danger is an emanation of energy.

The danger is unleashed only if you substantially disturb this place physically. This place is best shunned and left uninhabited.

010

🎱 Josh Branchaud ✨ @jbranchaud.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

My next Murderbot re-read is System Collapse and then I’ll finally be on to reading Martha Wells’ newest addition to the series.

Book cover for “System Collapse” by Martha Wells, part of The Murderbot Diaries series, lying on a speckled countertop. The dark cover shows an armored, helmeted figure kneeling on rocky terrain, reaching a hand toward the ground, with the towering silhouette of a giant spider-like alien creature looming behind them. A quote from NPR reads “One of the most human experiences you can have in sci-fi right now.“

020

🎱 Josh Branchaud ✨ @jbranchaud.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

One of my favorite UX affordances is how every single Mr. Coffee coffeemaker has a button labeled “Select/Off” which is, obviously, what you press to *start* the brew process.

030

🎱 Josh Branchaud ✨ @jbranchaud.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

This is a very fun watch — genetic algorithms and Wave Function Collapse to *try* to build optimized production lines in Factorio youtu.be/mGOKKtIDNbk

youtu.be

A.I. Learns to Optimize Factorio Blueprints

YouTube video by Alex Wittman

020

🎱 Josh Branchaud ✨ @jbranchaud.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

It happened. While not fully released yet, GPT-6 Astra was announced and pre-released this week. The self-reported benchmarks look impressive.

100

🎱 Josh Branchaud ✨ @jbranchaud.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Time to go into the woods. See you all in a week. Expecting a major step change in AI by the time I’m back.

020

🎱 Josh Branchaud ✨ @jbranchaud.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Claude is doing way too much yapping in the code comments these days.

100

🎱 Josh Branchaud ✨ @jbranchaud.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

It sounds like they opened this week!!

000

🎱 Josh Branchaud ✨ @jbranchaud.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

RIP Dolly Parton I highly recommend this podcast about her life and legacy. I listened to it back in ~2019 and parts of it still stick with me. What a remarkable person. www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/dol...

wnycstudios.org

Dolly Parton's America : Episodes | WNYC Studios | Podcasts

The story of a legend at the crossroads of America’s culture wars.

020

🎱 Josh Branchaud ✨ @jbranchaud.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

I did the Chicago Supertri relay (Olympic distance) with some friends today and we crushed 💪 7th in men’s division, 12th overall 💥 Perfect weather and, as always, an incredible event 🏊 🚴 🏃

Three guys in athletic gear with medals around their necks standing in a triumphant post-race pose with the Sears Tower in the background

120

🎱 Josh Branchaud ✨ @jbranchaud.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

New Surge soon, on Chicago in West Town 🎱🤩

Photo from across the street of the newest location of Surge Billiards

010

🎱 Josh Branchaud ✨ @jbranchaud.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Claude Code (silently and randomly) switched my usage from my Pro Subscription to API subscription-based usage, burned through $20 in credits, and then sent me an email that I need to top up 🫠 I had to run /login to get it toggled back over to my pro sub.

010

🎱 Josh Branchaud ✨ @jbranchaud.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

League night, playoffs (8 and 9 ball) 🎱 It was a double-showdown thriller last night. We were playing in the semi-finals for both 8-ball and 9-ball. We ended up winning both in dramatic fashion in the final match of each. On to the finals next week 💪

Person in shooting position at a 7-ft diamond pool table. They are aiming to hit the 8-ball into the side pocket to win their match.

030

🎱 Josh Branchaud ✨ @jbranchaud.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

I’m back on my ACOTAR bullshit with the third book — A Court of Wings and Ruin.

The kindle cover for Sarah J. Maas’ A Court of Wings and Ruin. It shows a sword piercing a swirl of smoke.

020

🎱 Josh Branchaud ✨ @jbranchaud.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

I put a spin on this one last night — subbed in rye for bourbon and cynar for the amaro 🍹 both worked well

010

🎱 Josh Branchaud ✨ @jbranchaud.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

me finding the landing page for a product I haven't needed for a couple years: "oh, I must have been thinking of some other product, this is some AI tool."

010

Reposted by 🎱 Josh Branchaud ✨

Bi King Gent 👑 💖💜💙 @thesnarkygent.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

Sorceror inscribing runes into a summoning diagram: "You are a wise spirit who will advise me on the arcane arts. You will not deceive me. You will not utter any Baleful Words to corrupt me. You are helpful and courteous. You will not betray me."

5900180