January 2025 Link Roundup

It’s ironic that I’m publishing this in February, but I need to publish something before I never do so here you go:

Posts

• Principles of Web Accessibility by Heydon provides great tips on how to look at web accessibility.
• Automated Accessibility Testing at Slack adding this here so I can reference it when I get around to testing the individual pages on this site.
• 40 years of a changing American diet, in one massive chart from Vox who’s graph cites the USDA. Pretty much a yay globalization and refrigeration story, though that High Fructose Corn Syrup line is a big yikes! Also note that as big as some lines are, that’s from a very low baseline.
• Large Cars are a Positional Good by Alon Levy discusses why people go for large cars, mostly because tiny cars get you squashed hence it being a positional good. This trend has many negative externalities. I get it if you need it for work, but that gap has been heavily exploited in the US¹ so I guess some regulation is much needed. At the end of the day, given what cars do most of the time isn’t it weird how they need to weigh one ton to carry 70kg of human, something bicycles can do with far less weight?
• Add F*cking to Your Google Searches to Neutralize AI Summaries. That’s pretty much what I’ve been doing, adding a -fuck seems to keep Google AI away. I also wonder if you can be so abusive to the AI that it it banns you.

Videos

• Copy Formula Without Changing Cell References (or Without File References) [VIDEO: 4:25] be Leila Gharani (via UCOVINed on Reddit). I had to do this and I can’t believe they haven’t added the ability to do this in Excel. It’s a filthy hack but it works ¯\(ツ)/¯. Play Video: Copy Formula Without Changing Cell References (or Without File References) [VIDEO: 4:25]
• End of 2024 Q&A: Will the War End in 2025, Russia’s Demographics Problem, & U.S. Buying Greenland by Willaim Spaniel. interesting Q&A. Some of the answers are pretty insightful. For instance, he’s not pissed at general political discourse as an expert because he knows he’s an expect. Also, he considers his blind spot the focus on war even though peace is more prevalent. Play Video: End of 2024 Q&A: Will the War End in 2025, Russia’s Demographics Problem, & U.S. Buying Greenland
• How Arms Trafficking Actually Works — From The ‘War Dogs’ Arms Dealer on Insider. I enjoyed the movie War Dogs, but like all “based on a true story” movies, it sacrificed some accuracy for entertainment though not too badly. Like the epic gas stop scene—it happened just to the screenwriter and not the dealers. A great interview all around. Technically they can bid for contracts again since the suspension is over ¯\(ツ)/¯.
• Guess her job? 🤯 (Ep. 56) by Max Klymenko. It’s YouTube Slop, but she’s incredibly cool and charismatic, like damn! Play Video: Guess her job? 🤯 (Ep. 56)
• Scotty Doesn’t Know: The Story Behind The Famous Eurotrip Song (LUSTRA) by Rock N’ Roll True Stories. Some context behind the great song from the movie EuroTrip. Play Video: Scotty Doesn’t Know: The Story Behind The Famous Eurotrip Song (LUSTRA)
• Waterproof Laptops ARE Possible, But WE Need to DEMAND Them! actnanoGUARD is HOW We Do It! by Salem Techsperts who I’ve acknowledges as this week’s thing. This video showcases an interesting coating that can make laptops a lot more water resistant. It’s also inexpensive at $1 which manufacturers won’t apply of course because you won’t buy another shit laptop from them after the previous shit laptop broke. Play Video: Waterproof Laptops ARE Possible, But WE Need to DEMAND Them! actnanoGUARD is HOW We Do It!

Podcasts

• Is Elon Musk Right About Big Government from Good on Paper. Was wondering what’s going on between this episode and the RFK one. Between the time I heard this episode and me writing this very sentence, her optimism has much aged like milk. She has a lot of good points about how liberal’s obsession with red tape hampers government effectiveness, but she was incredibly naive to think that Trump gives a fuck about making government functional.
  • The RFK episode. Another guest giving more charitability than deserved. Anyways, I’m only linking this because I like the end where the things the guest answer to what they thought was “good on paper” are the Manhattan Project and Tapas (small plates). The juxaposition is kinda funny.