Free-Range Software Dev and Consultant ✨ PostgreSQL • Ruby on Rails • TypeScript • React ✨ 🏃🐈🍹🎱 (he/him) | Chicago | Work with me: visualmode.devhttps://bsky.app/profile/jbranchaud.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/jbranchaud.bsky.social/post/3mwzlbamybc2yAfter binging the first 6 episodes of the current season of Jet Lag (S19, Japanorama) and playing a 3-person medium game of Jet Lag Hide & Seek in Chicago all day today, we then saw the S19 in-theater finale tonight. This is BiL’s obsession, but I have grown fond of the show.04 Oct 2026 04:36 +0000at://did:plc:rceroyjz5cpubdf6brys2fsm/app.bsky.feed.post/3mwzlbamybc2yhttps://bsky.app/profile/jbranchaud.bsky.social/post/3mwwijn4iks2eIt’s a spooky month which is a good time for spooky reads. I’ll be reading Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House.02 Oct 2026 23:09 +0000at://did:plc:rceroyjz5cpubdf6brys2fsm/app.bsky.feed.post/3mwwijn4iks2ehttps://bsky.app/profile/jbranchaud.bsky.social/post/3mwweqfaxys2eAt 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 2.02 Oct 2026 22:01 +0000at://did:plc:rceroyjz5cpubdf6brys2fsm/app.bsky.feed.post/3mwweqfaxys2ehttps://bsky.app/profile/jbranchaud.bsky.social/post/3mwttendxzc2cdamn, too bad this hat is sold out01 Oct 2026 21:45 +0000at://did:plc:rceroyjz5cpubdf6brys2fsm/app.bsky.feed.post/3mwttendxzc2chttps://bsky.app/profile/jbranchaud.bsky.social/post/3mwqvst2q3226I 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.30 Sep 2026 17:51 +0000at://did:plc:rceroyjz5cpubdf6brys2fsm/app.bsky.feed.post/3mwqvst2q3226https://bsky.app/profile/jbranchaud.bsky.social/post/3mwjqksrwxs2eI 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.27 Sep 2026 21:28 +0000at://did:plc:rceroyjz5cpubdf6brys2fsm/app.bsky.feed.post/3mwjqksrwxs2ehttps://bsky.app/profile/jbranchaud.bsky.social/post/3mwjjppjgtk2sI 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 [contains quote post or other embedded content]27 Sep 2026 19:25 +0000at://did:plc:rceroyjz5cpubdf6brys2fsm/app.bsky.feed.post/3mwjjppjgtk2shttps://bsky.app/profile/jbranchaud.bsky.social/post/3mwjj6scskc2sI 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)27 Sep 2026 19:16 +0000at://did:plc:rceroyjz5cpubdf6brys2fsm/app.bsky.feed.post/3mwjj6scskc2shttps://bsky.app/profile/jbranchaud.bsky.social/post/3mwgqnfuff223Having re-read the most recent few books in the series, I’m finally on to reading Martha Wells’ latest murderbot installment — Platform Decay.26 Sep 2026 16:51 +0000at://did:plc:rceroyjz5cpubdf6brys2fsm/app.bsky.feed.post/3mwgqnfuff223https://bsky.app/profile/jbranchaud.bsky.social/post/3mwcewjqrdk2jStarting 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/blogmarks24 Sep 2026 23:11 +0000at://did:plc:rceroyjz5cpubdf6brys2fsm/app.bsky.feed.post/3mwcewjqrdk2jhttps://bsky.app/profile/jbranchaud.bsky.social/post/3mw7mz2lq2s2bat 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.23 Sep 2026 20:58 +0000at://did:plc:rceroyjz5cpubdf6brys2fsm/app.bsky.feed.post/3mw7mz2lq2s2bhttps://bsky.app/profile/jbranchaud.bsky.social/post/3mw76tuubnk2tI 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."23 Sep 2026 16:44 +0000at://did:plc:rceroyjz5cpubdf6brys2fsm/app.bsky.feed.post/3mw76tuubnk2thttps://bsky.app/profile/jbranchaud.bsky.social/post/3mw4s6unkj22bWhoever at @discord.com made it so that gifs stop animating when the discord app loses focus -- thank you!! 🤩22 Sep 2026 17:53 +0000at://did:plc:rceroyjz5cpubdf6brys2fsm/app.bsky.feed.post/3mw4s6unkj22bhttps://bsky.app/profile/jbranchaud.bsky.social/post/3mw2xcm77z22aWhat 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 https://still.visualmode.dev/blogmarks/34022 Sep 2026 00:19 +0000at://did:plc:rceroyjz5cpubdf6brys2fsm/app.bsky.feed.post/3mw2xcm77z22ahttps://bsky.app/profile/jbranchaud.bsky.social/post/3mvve7p67ts2nI’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.19 Sep 2026 18:54 +0000at://did:plc:rceroyjz5cpubdf6brys2fsm/app.bsky.feed.post/3mvve7p67ts2nhttps://bsky.app/profile/jbranchaud.bsky.social/post/3mvvdyzjx422nI’m reading the third book in Matt Dinniman’s Dungeon Crawler Carl series — The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook19 Sep 2026 18:50 +0000at://did:plc:rceroyjz5cpubdf6brys2fsm/app.bsky.feed.post/3mvvdyzjx422nhttps://bsky.app/profile/jbranchaud.bsky.social/post/3mvnzdnpkls2yexperimenting 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." [contains quote post or other embedded content]16 Sep 2026 20:51 +0000at://did:plc:rceroyjz5cpubdf6brys2fsm/app.bsky.feed.post/3mvnzdnpkls2yhttps://bsky.app/profile/jbranchaud.bsky.social/post/3mvntrzgaq22gfeels like a I downloaded this directly from Tim Robinson's brain16 Sep 2026 19:11 +0000at://did:plc:rceroyjz5cpubdf6brys2fsm/app.bsky.feed.post/3mvntrzgaq22ghttps://bsky.app/profile/jbranchaud.bsky.social/post/3mvndgsbzwk2cooh, Bicep played @thelotradio.com yesterday!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9r5sBZR_cU16 Sep 2026 14:19 +0000at://did:plc:rceroyjz5cpubdf6brys2fsm/app.bsky.feed.post/3mvndgsbzwk2chttps://bsky.app/profile/jbranchaud.bsky.social/post/3mvl47zo5522y⣎⡇ꉺლ༽இ•̛)ྀ◞ ༎ຶ ༽ৣৢ؞ৢ؞ؖ ꉺლ15 Sep 2026 17:04 +0000at://did:plc:rceroyjz5cpubdf6brys2fsm/app.bsky.feed.post/3mvl47zo5522yhttps://bsky.app/profile/jbranchaud.bsky.social/post/3mvh5i6kl6k25I 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 - https://swyx.io/learn-in-public TIL repo - github.com/jbranchaud/til14 Sep 2026 03:16 +0000at://did:plc:rceroyjz5cpubdf6brys2fsm/app.bsky.feed.post/3mvh5i6kl6k25https://bsky.app/profile/jbranchaud.bsky.social/post/3mvgznakwv224How do you get from a simple compression algorithm (BPE) proposed in 1994 to the underlying translation layer (vocabulary) for today's LLMs? Here are my notes from Craig Trim's 30 Year History of BPE --> still.visualmode.dev/blogmarks/326 https://still.visualmode.dev/blogmarks/32614 Sep 2026 02:07 +0000at://did:plc:rceroyjz5cpubdf6brys2fsm/app.bsky.feed.post/3mvgznakwv224https://bsky.app/profile/jbranchaud.bsky.social/post/3mvgvv7uvnk2kI’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.14 Sep 2026 01:00 +0000at://did:plc:rceroyjz5cpubdf6brys2fsm/app.bsky.feed.post/3mvgvv7uvnk2khttps://bsky.app/profile/jbranchaud.bsky.social/post/3mvefs5iaqc2gWe 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.13 Sep 2026 01:07 +0000at://did:plc:rceroyjz5cpubdf6brys2fsm/app.bsky.feed.post/3mvefs5iaqc2ghttps://bsky.app/profile/jbranchaud.bsky.social/post/3mve5dslp2s25Sometimes 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.12 Sep 2026 22:36 +0000at://did:plc:rceroyjz5cpubdf6brys2fsm/app.bsky.feed.post/3mve5dslp2s25https://bsky.app/profile/jbranchaud.bsky.social/post/3mvb2seiiok2eFriendly reminder that this Thomas Bangalter (of Daft Punk) and Fred again.. set exists https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfF8jzBVWvM11 Sep 2026 17:12 +0000at://did:plc:rceroyjz5cpubdf6brys2fsm/app.bsky.feed.post/3mvb2seiiok2ehttps://bsky.app/profile/jbranchaud.bsky.social/post/3mv4julvm722aMango is the best la croix flavor and it’s not even close09 Sep 2026 21:58 +0000at://did:plc:rceroyjz5cpubdf6brys2fsm/app.bsky.feed.post/3mv4julvm722ahttps://bsky.app/profile/jbranchaud.bsky.social/post/3muz5j27avk2kCleanShot 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. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUB1s3RaD7c08 Sep 2026 13:39 +0000at://did:plc:rceroyjz5cpubdf6brys2fsm/app.bsky.feed.post/3muz5j27avk2khttps://bsky.app/profile/jbranchaud.bsky.social/post/3muxtfo463k2cSomeone 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.08 Sep 2026 01:06 +0000at://did:plc:rceroyjz5cpubdf6brys2fsm/app.bsky.feed.post/3muxtfo463k2c