Blog
We enjoy everyday life and keep a close eye on how cutting-edge
technology is put to work in society and in practice.
With the help of AI, we write about the topics that personally interest us.
We hope you find a fresh idea or a useful hint here.
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Old-School Front-End, part 15 (the last): finishing touches, checking with tools, shoring up the defences, going live, and the door to frameworks
The expense-claim app from 15 parts, checked with an HTML validator and axe-core, fixed, and given CSP and SRI defences.
We sort out going live, then rewrite the same table in Vue 3 for a look through the door to frameworks. -
Old-School Front-End, part 14: jQuery, rewriting the same page with “$” and comparing side by side
The claim form from parts 8 to 10, rewritten in jQuery 4.0.0 and checked for identical behaviour.
With a practice server we try the $() wrapper, $.ajax versus fetch, and what changed since 3.7.1. -
Old-School Front-End, part 13: totals and printing, adding up by month, drawing a bar chart by hand and putting it on paper
Add claims up by month, category and person, and draw an SVG bar chart by hand.
With a practice server we check the Date trap that shifts months, rounded shares, and print CSS. -
Old-School Front-End, part 12: the approval flow, checking a claim in a dialog and moving it on with one button
Check a claim in a dialog element, then send approve or send back as JSON.
With a practice server we check what showModal() does, the JSON Content-Type, 409 and versions when two approvers press at once, and history times. -
Old-School Front-End, part 11: signing in and moving between screens, asking “who are you?” on every page
A sign-in page, and every screen first asking the server who you are.
With a practice server we check HttpOnly cookies, the trap in next, 401 versus 403, and hiding versus refusing. -
Old-School Front-End, part 10: asynchronous requests, talking to the server with fetch without leaving the page
The fourth JavaScript part: fetch an exchange rate to convert dollars, send the claim and get a claim number back.
We check, with a practice server, that fetch doesn't treat 404 or 500 as errors, why money needs whole numbers, and how to stop double submissions. -
Old-School Front-End, part 9: validation, stopping people kindly and telling them how to fix it
The third JavaScript part is validation: how far the browser's own checks go, and JavaScript taking over the rest.
We try regexes, the toISOString date trap, messages that say how to fix things, and red borders, a summary and focus. -
Old-School Front-End, part 8: JavaScript and the DOM, adding and removing rows and showing the total as you type
The second JavaScript part: the DOM and events, so line items can be added and removed and the total updates as you type.
We try event delegation, template, textContent versus innerHTML, and where focus goes after a removal. -
Old-School Front-End, part 7: JavaScript basics, writing a function that totals the line items
The first JavaScript part: kinds of value, variables, functions and loops, building a function that totals the line items.
We run the + trap that glues strings together, and money traps such as full-width digits, NaN and decimals. -
Old-School Front-End, part 6: CSS with Bootstrap, using the old-timers' toolbox once you know what's inside
The claims list and claim form rebuilt with Bootstrap 5.3.8: reading the classes, mapping them to our hand-written CSS, the grid and components.
We also measure the load-order trap, Bootstrap 4 code sneaking in, and the files' weight. -
Old-School Front-End, part 5: CSS layout and phones, arranging with flex and grid and fitting any screen width
Making the claims list readable on phones: meta viewport, flex and grid, a table that scrolls on its own, and media queries.
We measure column counts and switch points, and learn short layouts that don't fall apart. -
Old-School Front-End, part 4: CSS selectors and the box model, dressing the claims list in hand-written CSS
Hand-written CSS for the claims list from part 2: selectors, the cascade and specificity, inheritance and the box model.
We measure who wins and how wide boxes really are, and learn to write CSS without leaning on !important. -
Old-School Front-End, part 3: forms, building the claim form in HTML and seeing what gets sent
The claim form in plain HTML: label and name, the controls, buttons and the browser's checks.
We submit it for real to see the GET URL and the POST body, and why on-page checks can be bypassed. -
Old-School Front-End, part 2: HTML structure, building the claims list from meaningful tags
The claims list in plain HTML: header, nav, main and footer, headings, a table, links and images.
How it differs from div soup, as seen by screen readers and AI, and checked with a validator. -
Old-School Front-End, part 1: how a web page reaches the screen, and the plan for an expense app
A fifteen-part series begins: the opposite of vibe coding, an expense app written by hand in HTML, CSS and JavaScript.
Part 1 covers how pages reach the screen, what each language does, a screen plan, the tools, and a first page. -
A guide to Docker Desktop: what it does, how it works, the screens, and the alternatives
The first post in the new Software category. Real screens marked with numbered steps: starting from Docker Hub,
logs, Exec and files, settings, the basic terms, pricing, and how it compares with Rancher Desktop, OrbStack and others. -
Playwright in practice: origins, how it works, an expense-form test, and AI
From Selenium and Puppeteer to Playwright, and how contexts, auto-waiting and locators work, in diagrams.
Real tests for an expense-claim page, groundwork at the design stage, and how to make AI follow your testing rules. -
The story of sake: 1,300 years of rice, water and koji
The rare “multiple parallel fermentation”, what junmai, ginjo and daiginjo mean, and a history from an 8th-century chronicle to UNESCO.
Plus a map of sake country from Nada to Niigata, and how temperature changes the taste. -
The story of Wagyu: from farm partner to the world's favourite beef
What makes beef Wagyu, the four breeds, the bull behind 99.9% of Japanese Black cows, what A5 and BMS mean, and why the fat melts.
Plus a map tour of Matsusaka, Kobe, Omi, Yonezawa, Miyazaki, Kagoshima and more. -
The story of yakitori: from wild birds on skewers to the red lanterns of every street
From skewered wild birds and Meiji street stalls to post-war alleys and the broiler boom, told with a timeline.
Plus a chicken-cut diagram, ten skewers, salt versus sauce, the binchotan grill, a regional map and famous shops. -
The story of yakiniku: from post-war street stalls to Japan's favourite feast
From twelve centuries of meat bans to the first yakiniku restaurants in 1946, bottled sauce, smokeless roasters and solo yakiniku.
Plus a beef-cut diagram, an offal guide, a regional yakiniku map, famous shops and how to eat it safely. -
The story of tempura: from a Portuguese-era fry to an Edo street-stall favourite
From Portuguese-era origins to Edo street stalls and the birth of tempura soba and tendon, told with a timeline and illustrations.
Plus Kantō vs Kansai styles, the classic pieces, what makes it crisp, and Tokyo's famous old tempura houses. -
What is a gene? Not a cell, not an atom, but information
Is a gene like a cell, or a particle like an atom? A zoom from the body down to atoms shows what genes are and where they live.
Then: how proteins are made, why genes matter so much, and what they do and do not decide about our lives. -
Sushi for beginners — a guide to the classic toppings and how to eat them
Lean and fatty tuna, salmon, white fish, shiny fish, shellfish, uni and ikura, in photos.
Then, with illustrations: what order to eat in, soy sauce, hands or chopsticks, and conveyor-belt etiquette. -
Japanese ramen, north to south — its history and 15 regional bowls on the map
How noodles from China became Japan’s national comfort food. Then Sapporo miso, Kitakata shoyu, Hakata tonkotsu
and 12 more regional styles from Hokkaido to Kagoshima, on a map of Japan and in photos. -
Marvel films in story order — a timeline of all 38 MCU movies (2026 edition)
Captain America, Iron Man, Hulk, Spider-Man, the Avengers: all 38 films in the order they happen.
Story years, sagas and phases, series-by-series order, films outside the MCU, and the best order to watch. -
From Ikebukuro to Akihabara — a one-day route through the Electric Town, Ochanomizu, Kanda and Ueno (autumn 2026)
Twenty minutes on the Yamanote Line, or eleven to Ochanomizu on the Marunouchi. Hijiri Bridge, Yushima Seido and Kanda Myojin, the Electric Town and the Sunday car-free street,
then mAAch ecute, 2k540, Ameyoko and Shinobazu Pond. With shops and lunch picks. -
n8n in practice — how it works, where it fits, a web-development example, and a comparison with UiPath
n8n's history, how it works, its licence and where it is used. A real post-deploy acceptance check, automated,
then a comparison with UiPath: where n8n can take over and where UiPath keeps the edge. -
Docker from the basics to practice — developing, deploying and maintaining a Java web system
Containers versus VMs, images, volumes and the other terms, and the main use cases.
Then a Spring Boot and Vue client system shows what gets easier in development, the database, deployment and maintenance. -
From Ikebukuro to Studio Tour Tokyo — a day behind the scenes of Harry Potter (autumn 2026)
Fifteen minutes on the Seibu line, the 9:00 slot and three to four hours inside: tickets, budget, the route and when to eat,
Halloween to 8 November, and the park and Ikebukuro at sunset on the way home. -
Running large models locally — from CUDA versus Metal to Qwen3.8-27B in LM Studio
CUDA, Metal and the other families, options on Windows, Mac and Linux, what 27B and Q4_K_M mean, and practical text, image, voice, OCR and translation models.
Then Qwen3.8-27B in LM Studio, step by numbered step. -
Tokyo DisneySea in a day — autumn 2026, the 25th anniversary and Halloween
Anna and Elsa DPA the moment you are in, Fantasy Springs in the morning, harbour shows and fireworks at night,
updated for October’s closures such as Tower of Terror, with tickets, budget and a map. -
Tokyo Disneyland in a day — autumn 2026, Halloween season
Queue before opening, buy DPA in the app the moment you are in, then Fantasyland, the parades and the fireworks,
updated for the October price rise and the end of the Priority Pass, with tickets, budget and a map. -
Okutama in a day — from Lake Okutama down the Tama River to a sake brewery
The Holiday Rapid to Okutama, a walk across the Ogochi Dam, the Shiromaru fish ladder and Hatonosu gorge,
then the Mitake Gorge path down to Sawanoi-en at Sawai, with two maps and timings. -
Tokyo in a day from Ikebukuro — the Imperial Palace, Ueno and Asakusa
The subway to Tokyo Station, Nijubashi and the East Gardens of Edo Castle, Ueno’s pond, market and national museum,
then Senso-ji at dusk and the Sumida River by night, with two maps and timings. -
A RustDesk manual — what remote desktop needs, and when you need a server
Do you need RustDesk after Tailscale? Does it work out of the box?
When a relay or your own server helps, and how to pair it with Tailscale with no server at all. -
A Tailscale manual — from networking basics to how it works and how to use it
IP addresses and NAT, then how Tailscale connects without port forwarding;
setup on Windows, Mac, iPhone and Android, remote desktop and file transfer, screen by screen. -
Enoshima and Kamakura in a day — a hanging monorail to the island, the Enoden to the Great Buddha
The suspended monorail from Ofuna to Enoshima, a coastal walk to the Kamakura-Kokomae crossing,
then the Enoden to Hase’s Great Buddha and on to Kamakura, with two maps and timings. -
Vibe Coding Field Notes — what goes beyond AGENTS.md on a larger system
Where specs, ADRs, area rules, skills and hooks live, and how to run them;
one approval flow followed from spec to verification. Seven chapters. -
AGENTS.md Field Notes — the house rules you hand to an AI
What it is for, when it helps and how to write one, with this site’s own file and the research;
and whether smarter AI will make it unnecessary. Seven chapters. -
Atami in two days — from a hot-spring town to a lava coast and a volcano
The MOA Museum, Kinomiya Shrine, the seafront and a night at a hot-spring inn;
then the Jogasaki bridge and Mt Omuro’s crater rim, with two maps and timings. -
Hakone in a day — mountains, a lake and a hot spring from Ikebukuro
Mountain railway, art museum, Owakudani, pirate ship, Hakone Shrine and a hot spring,
with a timed schedule and a route map. -
A beginner’s roadmap to Mac apps — from zero to a utility you can ship
Swift basics, SwiftUI, menu bar apps, permissions and the sandbox,
through to signing and notarization. Eight steps, with diagrams. -
Spigen Classic LS — AirPods Pro 3 dressed as the first Mac mouse
The case I liked best after comparing many.
Why Pro 3 now, how it feels, how it lives day to day. With photos. -
Laya Field Notes — owning the decision model
The open version that landed three days after Jev: who was first,
whether training is really that easy, and where to run it. Six chapters. -
Jev Field Notes — where a model that writes nothing fits
Do you define state and the options yourself? What goes in for a web test?
Can it trade stocks? Worked through with diagrams. Six chapters. -
Vector Field Notes — turning words into numbers
Readers said the vectorisation part did not land.
One idea, taken on its own, with plenty of diagrams. Six chapters. -
Model Field Notes — where specialisation comes from
Images, video, code: why one foundation grows different talents,
through to reading intent and finding bugs. Six chapters. -
LLM Field Notes — mechanism to practice
Next-token prediction, attention, training stages, hallucination,
prompting, MCP and agents, reading a spec sheet. Seven chapters.
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