What I’ve been reading this week ending 3 August 2025
A short post on short trains — by Shaked Koplewitz
“Smaller systems let us have smaller, more incremental transit projects, gaining project experience and institutional knowledge for subsequent projects.”
Choose Boring Technology, Revisited | Aaron Brethorst
“When you combine unfamiliar technologies with AI-generated code, you’re not just adding unknowns — you’re multiplying them. You don’t know if the framework choice is appropriate. You don’t know if the AI’s implementation follows best practices. You don’t know which parts of the generated code are boilerplate versus critical business logic. You don’t know what failure modes to watch for.”
“…software that’s fast changes behavior.”
“Fast eliminates cognitive friction.”
“Fast software has nowhere to hide.”
Researchers create ‘virtual scientists’ to solve complex biological problems
“But unlike human meetings, these virtual gatherings take a few seconds or minutes. On top of that, AI scientists don’t get tired, and they don’t need snacks or bathroom breaks, so multiple meetings run in parallel.”
5 habits that are making you a worse leader — Fast Company
- Not shifting from “me” to “we”
- Avoiding the tough parts
- Being busy without impact
- Spewing negativity
- Avoiding vulnerability
It’s time for modern CSS to kill the SPA — Jono Alderson
“Most websites aren’t apps.
They don’t need shared state. They don’t need client-side routing. They don’t need interactive components on every screen. But somewhere along the way, we stopped making the distinction.”
