This week I have learned:
When push comes to shove, there are few better ways to solve a problem than to ask someone else. A problem shared, etc.
It felt like my 800th weeknote should be somehow celebrated. I asked. And a few people suggested. In particular, Rishi Dastidar suggested I should compile a list of 800 things I have learned from 800 weeknotes.
When I started this habit, that would have been ludicrous (notwithstanding the obvious issue that, when I started, I had only one weeknote to reference). These days, however…
An export of my blog Weeknotes entries into an XML file. That was then posted into Claude, and a list of 800 notes and observations from 16 years of writing weeknotes was created.
But it wasn’t very, erm, usable. So another prompt in Claude, and I can now present:
https://experiments.mattballantine.com/weeknote800/
800 insights from 800 weeknotes in fruit machine form.
And also:
- continuing experiments with ESP32 devices is such great fun
- as are my continuing experiments to test the hypothesis that googly eyes make any object appear more intelligent than without
- some interesting ideas emerging about consultancy support and productisation
- a sense of fun really helps me stay motivated.
The week in media:
Watched:
Slow Horses is still good fun.
Listened:
Nia Archives Emotional Junglist was my choice on this month’s WB-40 Album Club.
Read:
Finished Ed Conway’s Trade World and now on to Matt Haig’s The Midnight Train
The week in photos:
