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Book Review: Coding Literacy by Annette Vee ★★⯪☆☆ - Terence Eden’s Blog

2026-08-13T11:34:09.000Z

This is a disappointing and frustrating book - not least because it so nearly hits the mark.

The subtitle is "How Computer Programming Is Changing Writing" - but it never gets close to discussing that topic, let alone deeply examining it. Instead, it is a book mostly focussed on the history of what we mean by "literacy" and, by contrast, what it meant to be "illiterate".

As per the standard for academic monographs, it is more interested in endlessly discussing the semantics of a term than engaging with its impacts. The historic stuff is genuinely fascinating. But the endless diversions about what Academic A thinks and how Academic B rebuts is a little tedious. There are clear parallels between a pre-literate society relying on the village scribe and the modern family having that one cousin who "knows computers" - but it is only weakly explored.

There are moments when it seems like the author is really going to delve in to what coding literacy actually means:

The relationship between programming as a practice and computer science as a discipline is a central tension in the contemporary programming campaigns that invoke literacy,

But it rarely goes beyond surface level. Most people can write - but only few can write a novel. Many can engage is literary criticism - but few take it any further. How does that model fit on to coding? The book doesn't discuss, but there's an easy parallel there. Only a few people can write an app, but many can use it. Anyone can write a review of an app, but not many can do so from a position of literacy.

This was published in 2017, so written a decade or so before LLMs became seemingly ubiquitous. Nevertheless, there are some historic titbits which seem to fit nicely into today's world:

As early as 1961, Peter Elias claimed that training in programming languages would soon cease because “undergraduates will face the console with such a natural keyboard and such a natural language that there will be little left, if anything, to the teaching of programming. [At this point, we] should hope that it would have disappeared from the curricula of all but a moderate group of specialists.”

But, as the book does briefly discuss, the way the brain is changed by coding literacy forces people to think more in line with a computer. Even if you tell an LLM "build me an app to do xyz", you still need to think about what you're doing, why you're doing it, what edge-cases you need to consider, etc.

But then it is back to the interminable academic squabbling about whether Wittgenstein's definition of an inconsequential term is compatible with Chomsky's.

Perhaps the biggest weakness is that there is almost a complete absence of code! A few examples of BASIC would have done so much to demonstrate how a restricted language set changes how people write and therefore think.

There's a brief exploration about how the typewriter and typesetting changed language and literacy - but where's the examination about how the tyranny of ANSI layout curtailed the way programmers wrote? There's an amazing exploration to be done about why coders use => rather than → and how various other symbols got co-opted into their languages.

Instead, it is back to the history books again.

Here's another good example about how writing changed literacy:

Written texts provide fewer cues than oral delivery about how to “take” them; for example, ironically, sincerely, or jokingly. Readers must interpret texts, supplying the illocutionary force of the text themselves.

It seems obvious to me that this is directly comparable with something like a code review. It isn't immediately clear what a programmer means when they write something down - and even comments can be misleading. What sort of "oral traditions" are we building up?

The book then mostly abandons any pretence of talking about code. I think the author really wanted to write a history book but needed the (then) coolness of tying it to the various "get kids to code" campaigns.

Towards the end, it almost returns to the topic at hand.

We choose our words in terms of what is potentially reportable on Facebook or Instagram or Twitter

[…]

Although few people know how to program the devices on which code and computation ride into our lives, their manifestations influence us anyhow. In various ways, we have learned to see ourselves as “computed” by the devices and networks on which we depend.

As we might say nowadays "Hey chat! Guess the Cheeto didn't unalive himself today!" - but that isn't really about coding. The people using those substitute words are ignorant of how algorithms really work and think that their clever doublespeak can bypass censorship.

We desperately need more people to be literate in what coding means. Sadly this book only every lightly touches on what coding literacy does to our language, our thoughts, and our society.

I'm giving it 2.5 stars because the history was genuinely interesting - but it completely fails to engage with the topic it promised.

Questions - James' Coffee Blog

2026-08-13T00:00:00.000Z

Ever since I published “Blogs, websites, and identity”, I have been thinking about and discussing some of the questions I raised in the blog post: why do we take photos, what does it mean to write on the web. The essay feels like a starting point: a framing from which to work, a point of reference, a repository of questions.

In the essay, I wrote:

But I can’t shake my question: what does it mean to write on the web?

I am still thinking about this question. I am no closer to having a written answer but, while out on a walk earlier today, I realised that I am content sitting with the question – letting it exist in the back of my mind for a while. The question feels significant, but I don’t know where to begin.

How does writing on the web contrast with other types of writing? This may be the question I need to think about first, and I already have some openings now that I think about it: I approach writing letters and private drafts differently to pieces I write on the web, while all continue to be expressions of my voice.

The aforementioned question – “what does it mean to write on the web” – is, I think, a “big question”, an idea I learned about from Tracy’s website – a question that can guide my thinking. I have a few more “big questions” that came to mind as I started thinking about what to write today, which sum up some of the concepts that have been on my mind of late:

What does change feel like? (My ideal framing here, however, is not necessarily a question so much as an invocation for me to think more about change, apt at present as I have recently redesigned my website home page, a reflection of change.)
How do the visual and the textual relate?
Why do some things stand out more than others?
What cultural artefacts engage with or are inspired by art history (like Paris Paloma’s excellent single “Pre-Raphaelite”)?
To what extent are my interests in writing and how my design sense manifests related?
Why do some paintings stick in my mind more than others (i.e. Turner’s “Rain, Steam, and Speed”)?

I am not sure when I will write about these topics, but I am curious about all of them. If you have thoughts on these topics, or know of any materials that might be interesting, please feel free to send me an email.

Just before I wrote this blog post, I listened to part of Maisie Peters' "Questions" song, which, while not related to the content of this post, shares a title with this post. As soon as I wrote the title for this post, I knew I had to listen to the song. Her latest album, Florescence, is a no-skip album for me.

Pre-Raphaelite feels like a starting point feel free to send me an email Tracy’s website Rain, Steam, and Speed

Edinburgh Fringe - Heated Rivalry: The Unauthorized Musical Parody ★★★★☆ - Terence Eden’s Blog

2026-08-12T21:22:09.000Z

There are at least four different Heated Rivalry shows at the Fringe this year. Earlier this week we saw Edinburgh Fringe - Heated Rivalry: The Musical Parody!. This is different because it is the unauthorized musical parody.

Oh, and it is in the much larger Udderbelly venue.

Some people spend the fringe watching every possible interpretation of Timon of Athens - we decided to go for doubles of gay hockey sticks.

So, how does it compare to its twin?

It is good, but deeply conservative. The whole thing is framed through the eyes of a middle-age suburban mom which, sure, is probably a large part of the target audience but felt a bit retrograde. While the other show had a plentiful amount of acrobatic simulated sex with near-nude performers, this only has a couple of shirtless scenes and the actors are reduced to having a couple of trysts with literal mannequins. Weirdly, the one sex scene they perform together takes place behind a sheet. The leads kiss only twice which, for a parody of a show famed for its explicitness makes it all feel a bit Hays Code.

The songs, however, are sumptuous. A full score accompanies the incredibly talented cast. This is very off-Broadway - with soaring melodies, powerful solos, and solid reprises. At times it feels more like a parody of Broadway shows than of the TV show.

That isn't to say this is bad. It is very good. The script is full of delightful references and silly jokes. The lyrics at times are downright filthy! It is an excellent show and well worth seeing - but my heart remains with the other parody.

HTML Day 2026 - The Weblog of fLaMEd

2026-08-12T20:18:41.000Z

What’s going on, Internet? Last Saturday was HTML Day, a yearly celebration of hand-writing HTML started by Elliott Cost and Laurel Schwulst. Meetups happen in cities all over the world, and Zachary Kai ran an online session for those of us nowhere near one. Ten minutes of introductions, forty minutes of writing HTML, ten minutes sharing what we made. Zachary has a recap of the session up on his site.

I went in with a plan. At the recent Homebrew Website Club I talked about a question we hear all the time at the 32-Bit Cafe: “What should I put on my website? I don’t know what to put on my website.” These web surfers have the HTML and CSS basics down. Their homepages are full of badges, blinkies and custom cursors. What they don’t have is content. After thirty seconds of surfing I know nothing about the person behind the site.

So for HTML Day I started hand-writing a little zine about it: Grow Your Website. Forty minutes was enough to plant the first pages. I’ll finish the rest over the weekend and share the link once it’s online.

The method is one page and a way to grow it. You start with a seed: a title, a paragraph about who you are, and a bullet list of your interests. The intro grows into an about page. A bullet grows into its own page. The new page grows its own list, and every item on it is another seed. Repeat forever, because a website is never finished.

The zine needed someone to grow a site, so I invented PyRo, a webmaster from Aotearoa who works at a garden centre, has a cat called Savage, and listens to a lot of NZ hip-hop. PyRo’s site is the example the zine follows. When it’s finished you can click through the zine and watch it grow from one page to five. (PyRo was one of my earliest handles.)

PyRo has good taste too. The NZ hip-hop page covers the Years Gone By crew, the Zips (+++!) collective, and a few others. That list deserves a proper post of its own. More on that soon.

Hey, thanks for reading this post in your feed reader! Want to chat? Reply by email or add me on XMPP, or send a webmention. Check out the posts archive on the website.

Edinburgh Fringe - James Rowland: Team Viking ★★⯪☆☆ - Terence Eden’s Blog

2026-08-12T19:20:01.000Z

This is a technically precise and emotionally complex show with energetic delivery from a talented performer.

Sadly, it did nothing for me.

I found it a little one note in terms of storytelling. The rhythm of the story followed all the predictable beats which I thought was a little repetitive.

There's no doubt he's a gifted storyteller. The comedy is suitably dark with some good moments of joy and catharsis. It is probably the perfect show for some people but I wasn't the right audience for it.

Edinburgh Fringe - Garrett Millerick: We Tried it Your Way ★☆☆☆☆ - Terence Eden’s Blog

2026-08-12T17:55:57.000Z

Easily the worst show we've seen at the fringe. Garrett Millerick has trained an AI on his stand up. Can it replace him?

Yes, but only in the sense that the AI is obnoxiously dull and Millerick is simply obnoxious.

He insulted a kid who he'd called on to stage to help him. Not even in a jokey way, just being rude. His splenetic rants against religion and politics were beyond tired. The dating segment was like something from an incel forum. Bitter and uncomfortable.

There's a minor point that's made about whether AI comedy is cheating (yes) and if comedians need to be worried (no). But even when he goes back to performing his organic routine, it is dire. There are a few chuckles to be had, but most of the audience were just looking stricken with second hand embarrassment.

The delivery is a one note rant, the jokes are the shouting of an angry disillusioned man, and the AI is a clanker of the worst order.

Dire.

Edinburgh Fringe: When Vincent Met John ★★★★★ - Terence Eden’s Blog

2026-08-12T15:30:12.000Z

I'm a sucker for anything Beatles related - and the fringe has no shortage of musicals, reinterpretations, and shameless cash-ins of the Fab Four.

When Vincent Met John is an oddity in that it is a normal play, rather than a musical. It is also an oddity in being 90 minutes long rather than the standard fringe slot of no more than an hour.

What if van Gogh and Lennon could have a conversation? They were both tortured artists whose influence spanned the world and only grew after their untimely deaths.

It is incredible!

Much like Yasmina Reza's "Art" this is a meticulous argument about the nature of creativity. And, much like, The Last Laugh this feature fastidiously observed recreation of beloved figures.

Can Lennon conceive of someone who doesn't recognise Him? Can van Gogh conceive of Yoko Ono's conceptual art? Is Lennon's braggadocio an impediment to his happiness? Is van Gogh's obsessive nature blocking him from progressing?

The script sizzles. Lennon almost seems to speak in rhyming couplets - as befits a lyricist and poet. It is peppered with throwaway references to his cannon (including many deep cuts for the obsessives). One of those plays where I immediately want to grab the script and study it to death.

Both actors utterly inhabit their characters and give play off each other perfectly. The direction is precise and inventive. Even the set construction is perfectly attuned to the needs of the show.

An astounding piece of theatre and strongly recommended.

Clarkesworld (Issue #211) - Joel's Log Files

2026-08-12T15:15:00.000Z

I have been subscribed to Clarkesworld for more than two years now—I blame Amin—but it took me this long to finally finish one of their issues. I am just terrible at reading I guess, but since they are a great sci-fi magazine I don’t feel particularly guilty about supporting them even if I am not taking advantage of the benefits I get for it.

In any case, now that this issue—the first one I got after my subscription—is done, I can share my overall thoughts about all the novellas and short stories found here! Hope you enjoy. This magazine is accessible via the Clarkesworld website so, check it out there if you want, or subscribe!

The Lark Ascending by Eleanna Castroianni is a story takes place in some sort of dystopian future, following the memories of a robot that is left behind after a whole house “clean-up”. There’s also a girl whose memory is tampered with, since her dad was rebelling against the State. This robot/toy/assistant knows what happened, but doesn’t do a lot, simply reflecting on how things turned out. This was a bit of a sad story, with some hope in the end. It was heartfelt and I rather enjoyed it!
An Intergalactic Smugglers Guide to Homecoming by Tia Tashiro follows a smuggler who receives one last mission before she chooses to retire. Helping a whole bunch of little alien microorganisms (that basically fit in a jar) escape from some war. However, she realizes that the assignment has ulterior motives and rebels against her boss and client. This story featured some interesting family backstory and I was very invested on how things would turn out. It didn’t dissapoint at all, it’s among my favorites!
The Indomitable Captain Holli by Rich Larson is the longest novella and it’s probably the best in the issue, with some excellent world-building and concepts that are explored through the eyes of a little girl playing an AR game guided by a weird sentient AI. This is some really good stuff that puts humans into a weird societal structure evolving through generations and neat family drama. It’s absolutely chaotic and a joy to read!
The Arborist by Derrick Boden feels more mature in tone, since we follow a group of humans on a terraforming mission that seems to be going wrong. They are using a giant parasitic tree to exterminate the alien flora and fauna and hopefully repopulate later. This one makes you think a lot about the implications of everything going on, and what humanity is willing to go through for the sake of survival, even at the cost of other species. That said, it was a little confusing to me, it could just be me being distracted while reading it.
The Rambler by Shen Dacheng, I must admit, this killed my momentum reading through the magazine for months—plus finishing The Expanse. It was an absurd story about a bridge that is suddenly able to move like a living being, and escapes from the city to the wilderness. It’s a bizarre adventure through the eyes of some people who have no idea of what to do to deal with this. I just didn’t quite know what the point of the story was and I guess it is just meant to be a wild ride of things a bridge does or some sort of reflection on our own irrational behavior? Something like that?
Occurrence at O1339 by Kelly Jennings was a short little story about a mining unit called Ruby that receives a communication signal from some alien life, asking them to prove they are sentient with only eleven queries to do submit the right answer, or face the anihilation of the whole human race, or something. It’s just a pretty entertaining quest trying to see how this random AI unit shoulders the responsibility of it all. I was thoroughly entertained, but it’s no masterpiece.
The Oldest Fun by Natalia Theodoridou is a bit of a weird fantasy/sci-fi/horror thing? It’s about how kids are trapped in a game and vanish and go through some strange things? I am very sure there was a reference to Pac-Man at some point. It’s like Jumanji but a bit more ethereal and with less animal rampages, I think? Just a weird story to read.

Overall, this was very interesting stuff! If I had to rank them, I would do so like this:

The Indomitable Captain Holli
An Intergalactic Smugglers Guide to Homecoming
The Lark Ascending
The Arborist
Occurrence at O1339
The Oldest Fun
The Rambler

Either way, I am glad I read all of them! It’s cool to have been exposed to so many writing styles, genres, and authors like this. I will continue to read more of these magazines on my XTEINK X4, at some point!

This is day 17 of #100DaysToOffload and day 12 of #Blaugust2026

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Rebirth - Kev Quirk

2026-08-12T07:48:00.000Z

Rebirth

Author: RR Haywood
Genre: Sci-fi
Released: 2026
Rating: ★★★★☆

How do you prevent a hero from saving the world?In the first trilogy, three heroes were extracted from their timelines to save the world. Now we need them again.

Meet Ben Ryder, Safa Patel, and Harry Madden.

Just not as you knew them.

Three selfish b*stards who hate each other almost as much as they hate everyone else.

REBIRTH takes us back into the Extracted world for another wild adventure chock-full of Nazi gold, Soviet soldiers, dystopian future landscapes, greed, lust, wrath ... and a sabre-toothed tiger called Tiddles.

Learn more on Goodreads ➡

The 4th book in the Extracted series, RR Haywood continues to make these books great.

It's a complete pivot from the first trilogy of books. Same characters, but completely different storyline. The book ends with "to be continued..." so I'm hoping this will be another trilogy of books, as the story is just getting started. Great series of books, highly recommended.

A few people have recommended Dungeon Crawler Carl to me, and I think I'm in the mood for something with a little more humour. So that's what I'm going to start reading next.

Thanks for reading this post via RSS. RSS is ace, and so are you. ❤️

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Impressions; museums - James' Coffee Blog

2026-08-12T00:00:00.000Z

On my desk there is a painting of Monet’s “Bridge over a Pond of Water Lilies” ¹ that I purchased when I was on holiday last year. I wanted to bring something back that I could put in my living space, something that would both be a memory of the trip but also a work of art in itself to be enjoyed. Every time I go to my desk, the painting is there: a reminder of one of my favourite artists.

I brought back a fridge magnet from the same trip, too, which brings art to the kitchen. And when I go to museums I like to collect pin badges. I keep them with all the other mementos I collect: gallery tickets, maps, and other artefacts from a trip. I don’t look at my badges often, but I love having a little collection of things that grows only when I happen to be in a museum gift shop and see a badge I like.

This week, I have been thinking about how these artefacts are only the beginning of what I “bring back” from museums. After I visit a museum, I bring home memories of art, maps of the space I walked through, memories of specific places, of the people with whom I visited a museum, of all the moments I had before, during, and after my visit. I remember the discussions about works of art, of being intrigued by what stood out to people I know.

I bring back questions and perspectives. Why do some paintings stand out more than others? What if we had mini galleries all across the country to show artefacts that national galleries do not have space to put on display? What would an artist’s workshop in 1500s Italy be like? Why are art museums so magnetic?

I bring back the feeling of moving between rooms – of noticing that the narrow entranceway with two small doors is an opportunity to be kind to others by holding the door open, of feeling the textures change beneath my feet as I go from the stone floor of the entrance to the carpeted area of the museum, and of feeling textures of the carpet change as I move between rooms and floors and spaces. I bring back my memories of the architecture: the tall ceilings, the pillars, the walls, the rooms, how rooms connect.

These solidify with time; every visit an opportunity to reinforce a memory, while also being at the whims of the serendipity that art galleries create.

I was recently talking with a friend about the room of Rembrandt paintings in the National Gallery in London. I last visited several months ago. I don’t know how long I spent in the room; it was quite a while. I was fascinated by every painting: all of the varying expressions, all of the people, all of the stories; and, the conversations I had in the gallery with other visitors. When I was talking with my friend, I could see the arrangement of the room. I didn’t know what paintings were where, but I knew roughly how many there were. I guessed 18. There were 19. ²

I have similarly vivid memories of different rooms: of the corner of the room in The Met where Monet’s Ice Floes painting is on display, of the wall of Romantic paintings in the National Gallery of Scotland, of the part of the Courtauld Institute in London where Manet’s A Bar at the Folies-Bergère ³ is on display, and where there are so many other paintings I love.

I bring back snippets of knowledge I learn from information plaques. I don’t remember most of the details I read, but what I do read helps me understand a work in the moment, and influences the impression that I will take away. There are some details I will remember; paintings with vivid stories, paintings that use a technique I have never seen before, information plaques where the author has included a detail that sticks in my mind.

Museums leave a lingering impression on my mind, each one a home both of art and of memories.

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/437127

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https://courtauld.ac.uk/highlights/a-bar-at-the-folies-bergere/

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https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/visiting/floorplans/level-2/room-22

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Edinburgh Fringe - Justina Seselskaite: Settled ★★★★☆ - Terence Eden’s Blog

2026-08-11T22:23:14.000Z

Sometimes at the Edinburgh Fringe, you take a punt on a random show because it's close by and you can't be bothered walking any further. Justina Seselskaite's set was round the corner and started in 7 ½ minutes - so we scurried into one of the less glamorous rooms of The Hilton, sat at the front (as is our wont), and wondered what on earth Lithuanian stand-up was like.

It was sublime!

There's a rich history of foreign comedians coming to these shores and ~~stealing our jobs~~ making us laugh by pointing out the UK's foibles as only an outsider can. Seselskaite has a witty outlook on the perils of being mistaken for Polish while working in Waitrose, how high-class a Wetherspoons is, and what's up with Manchester’s weird obsession with bees.

The show isn't the most innovative thing on the Fringe; it's mostly straight stand-up. But the game of "guess which English song was plagiarised by Lithuanian singers" was surprisingly entertaining. OK, I won a badge by guessing correctly, so I'm biased.

Settled is a solid piece of work which has obviously been road-tested and honed into a tight set. Excellent observational stand-up from a unique perspective (come on, how many other Lithuanian comedians have you been to see?).

Published on Citation Needed: "Issue 108 – In a word, applesauce" - Molly White's activity feed

2026-08-11T22:20:21.000Z

Published an issue of Citation Needed:

Issue 108 – In a word, applesauce

Firms close up shop amid a continued crypto winter, a Trump venture ditches its crypto plans, and the Clarity Act fails to reach a vote before August recess

Edinburgh Fringe: Handel Nine German Arias ★★★⯪☆ - Terence Eden’s Blog

2026-08-11T20:21:05.000Z

Part of going to The Fringe is to expose yourself to new ideas, different art forms, and a range of artworks. Not everything needs to be a "zany" comedy about AI or a loving pastiche of that 1990s disaster movie you love.

So I found myself sat in a Unitarian Church listening to a harpsichord and choral organ intertwined with a violin and cello while a soprano soared through Handel's greatest hits.

I'm too much of a philistine to assess its merits - but there's always pleasure watching technically accomplished professionals at the top of their game. I assumed they played the right notes (and in the right order) as the music was delightful.

It was restful and restorative after a long day pounding Edinburgh's pavements.

Leviathan Falls - Joel's Log Files

2026-08-11T18:50:00.000Z

So, The Expanse is over, at last, and I will probably write a different post talking about the whole series and my thoughts overall. For now, these are only my thoughts on the last book, let’s get to them, after the summary!

The Laconian Empire has fallen, setting the thirteen hundred solar systems free from the rule of Winston Duarte. But the ancient enemy that killed the gate builders is awake, and the war against our universe has begun again.

In the dead system of Adro, Elvi Okoye leads a desperate scientific mission to understand what the gate builders were and what destroyed them, even if it means compromising herself and the half-alien children who bear the weight of her investigation. Through the wide-flung systems of humanity, Colonel Aliana Tanaka hunts for Duarte’s missing daughter. . . and the shattered emperor himself. And on the Rocinante, James Holden and his crew struggle to build a future for humanity out of the shards and ruins of all that has come before.

As nearly unimaginable forces prepare to annihilate all human life, Holden and a group of unlikely allies discover a last, desperate chance to unite all of humanity, with the promise of a vast galactic civilization free from wars, factions, lies, and secrets if they win.

But the price of victory may be worse than the cost of defeat.

This book is the last stand and as such, it had a lot of things going on and it has to deal with bringing closure to plenty of plotlines. This book goes rather fast, introducing a character we already know as the main antagonist of the whole ordeal. Except we also have a returning antagonist and of course the alien menace that wants to destroy all of Humanity!

Somehow—and this is the first chapter of the book but a spoiler if you haven’t read the previous book!—Duarte has managed to regain a certain consciousness. And just like that, he has managed to vanish from Laconia, escaping through unknown means towards the ring gates.

With pretty much no clue as to where he went, Trejo—Laconia’s very, very tired interim leader—gives Colonel Tanaka—featured in the first book of the last trilogy—ultimate authority for a mission to find him. Of course, through her perspective we will discover a rather interesting character with a lot of problems and a temperament that is not particularly pleasant. All she cares about is the mission, but we will soon find out about her secrets, and how these will intertwine and clash with her decisiones and behaviour as the story moves forward.

Elvi is the one who ended up in charge of every investigation regarding alien technology for the Laconian Empire, and with the help of some friends, they’ll be doing their best to decipher the mystery behind the aliens who built the ring gates, as well as clues as to how to defeat the aliens that remain, the ones who have caused Humanity to go unconscious and some ships to go Dutchman or be torn apart in strange ways. There will also be some interesting chatter about what science is willing to do for the sake of knowledge and the like here.

Through Naomi, Holden and Alex, we will follow the Rocinante as they live a life as fugitives alongside Teresa Duarte, the newest teenage crewmate in the ship—actually two counting her dog!—who happens to be the heir to the Empire’s throne and their main shield against the Laconian ships utterly destroying them on sight. Each of these characters will go through some interesting challenges, with Naomi as the leader of the underground, managing 1300 little groups, Jim Holden dealing with his trauma and the stress of making hard decisions for the sake of others, and Alex being separated from his family and keeping the Rocinante afloat.

Teresa will be an interesting view point, due to her advanced education yet her lack of experience and young eyes. Being on the run, she learns to embrace her place in the Rocinante, plus some engineering thanks to Amos, who continues to treat her as a normal kid despite himself being very much not a normal human anymore, which the others still struggle with. Of course, she also has to deal with the fact her father is a crazy person living a power fantasy, and that pretty much everybody is after her.

Another new point of view will be that of Kit, Alex’s son, who has a pretty personal and human story, where he’s trying to do his best to provide for his wife and their young baby, while taking on a trip for new opportunities on a different planet. As normal as this sounds, there will be quite a lot of drama going on here too, and I ended up caring quite a bit for the wellbeing of everybody here.

This has way too many plots going on at the same time, and the stakes are as big as ever, we get to see glimpses of cosmic scale stuff. We will go to a couple places, meet some characters under dire circumstances, do a lot of epic ship manouvers and combat and space wars and the like. The conflict between the underground and Laconian and the alien entities will be something to behold!

Despite everything, I think the book sticks the landing rather well. It does leave me with a lot of questions, but you can sort of guess how things would go from there, and that’s perfectly okay.

I will now provide a list with some spoilered complaints and moments I found weird, which is something I didn’t do for the previous books, but anyway.

Some spoilers and rambley thoughts

I feel like bringing Duarte back was a very weird decision that undermined a lot of the previous novel. A part of me feels like he wasn’t truly necessary and I don’t particularly enjoy what he does. However, he does move the plot forward.
The idea of leaving Teresa in some random school should not have even crossed their minds. Like, isn’t facial recognition a thing? It should not have gone that wrong.
Tanaka is way too crazy for an antagonist, like, it’s hard to think of her as an actual human that exists. So many of her decisions are questionable for a leader, especially after the class she seemed to have on the first novel. The one thing she did well was giving everyone pills to withstand the mind control.
That said, having some pills that are capable of resisting the hivemind feels a bit flakey, like I’m not sure it’s something that should have worked at all.
Having Duarte take charge against the resistance with the hivemind instead the evil alien entities doing something felt weird to me, I was not super satisfied with how being primates instead of jellyfish actually helps.
I do like how the fact we keep using the gates helps to “confuse” the aliens and fool them into thinking their experiment didn’t work even though they did manage to kill a whole solar system with humans on it.
The hive mind of Humanity kind of feels like the finale of another novel which I won’t mention here but I read it, also like a certain anime which I won’t mention either.
One of the questions I wish I had answers for was Cara and Xan. It seems like Cara was getting addicted to the experiments but I don’t see how that would necessarily damage her any further if they had done a few more experiemnts you know?
Ghost Miller coming back was absolutely epic for me, it worked and I loved it and it was nice to see him once again.
I really enjoyed seeing Amos being epic in the faraway future, very cool stuff.
I miss these characters so much already, what happened to Alex and his family? Naomi is pretty much alone again, though I guess she’d adopt Teresa as a sort of future leaer along Amos or something, or just help her live a normal teenage life while things are rebuilt.
I actually don’t care that much about all of these comments, I really loved the book as what it is and how it ties things and I enjoy that they didn’t answer quite a lot of things.

In any case, read the whole series right now!

This is day 16 of #100DaysToOffload and day 11 of #Blaugust2026

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Edinburgh Fringe: Hamlet The Musical ★★☆☆☆ - Terence Eden’s Blog

2026-08-11T18:19:16.000Z

🎼"Hamlet's Mum Has Got It Going On"🎵

There you go, now you've seen the show. That's about the height it reaches. Distil the tortured Prince of Denmark down to an hour and sprinkle in parody pop songs.

It so nearly works. There are a few good chuckles and a smattering of clever lyrics but, even for an hour, it feels a bit flabby.

The cast are game, with KT Ihnatyszyn giving a tour-de-force performance as Hamlet. But for every decent pun there's a piece of uninspired mugging to the audience.

The main weakness is that it looks cheap. There can be a certain charm to "we'll put on the show right here - I just think Fringe audiences deserve better than tatty cardboard props and flimsy plastic swords.

Tightened up, it could be something really special - it just fell flat for me.

How Trail of Bits helps verify the integrity of your Signal chats - Trail of Bits Blog

2026-08-11T17:30:00.000Z

<p>Every Signal chat starts the same way: the client asks the Signal server for the public key associated with your contact’s phone number. But how do you know the server gave you the right key? A compromised server could provide a false public key, allowing the client to encrypt messages to an attacker rather than the intended recipient.</p> <p>Until now, the only way to detect such malfeasance was to verify safety numbers with your contact in person or over a trusted channel. Signal recently launched an alternative: <a href="https://signal.org/blog/automatic-key-verification">Automatic Key Verification</a>, a feature that helps validate that your chats are secure without requiring direct <a href="https://support.signal.org/hc/en-us/articles/360007060632-What-is-a-safety-number-and-why-do-I-see-that-it-changed">safety number comparison</a>. Trail of Bits built and operates one of the three auditors that make this system trustworthy. Our auditor, which is an independent implementation written from scratch, continuously checks that the Automatic Key Verification system behaves honestly.</p> <h2 id="how-key-verification-works">How key verification works</h2> <p>Automatic Key Verification is a form of “key transparency” that makes mismatch attacks harder to hide by creating a globally consistent view of the set of public keys associated with each phone number. The Signal app now performs a periodic self-check to ensure that all keys stored in the global map for your account belong to your devices. If the app is unable to verify the log, or finds that not all keys are expected, the user is presented with a warning that “Automatic Key Verification is currently unavailable for your device.” Automatic Key Verification may also be unavailable for other reasons, as outlined in <a href="https://support.signal.org/hc/en-us/articles/10223569377562-Automatic-Key-Verification">Signal’s documentation</a>.</p> <h2 id="what-our-auditor-does">What our auditor does</h2> <p>Automatic Key Verification depends on external auditors. Trail of Bits helps this system function by providing external verification that the user ↔ public key map is globally consistent and well formed, and does not hide any entries. Each time a new entry is added, we update our local copy of the map, stored as a Merkle tree. Periodically, we sign the head of the tree using a signing key that only we know. Because we commit to only ever signing one consistent lineage of Merkle trees, clients know that they are seeing the same set of public keys as everyone else in the system. Clients currently require signatures from each of three auditors: one operated by Signal, one operated by Cloudflare, and one operated by Trail of Bits.</p> <p>When Automatic Key Verification is turned on, the Signal client periodically fetches Merkle tree heads from the Signal key transparency server. The client <a href="https://github.com/signalapp/libsignal/blob/main/rust/keytrans/src/verify.rs#L136-L268">requires</a> that each tree head belong to a lineage endorsed by all <a href="https://github.com/signalapp/libsignal/blob/622d0d52471f3cc9215fe4e9abaac1970018f79c/rust/net/src/env.rs#L392">registered auditors</a> within the last seven days. If the server does not present valid auditor signatures, the client will raise a warning and Automatic Key Verification will fail. A fully malicious server may therefore maintain a split view of the system for at most one week before client applications start to display warning messages.</p> <p>We chose to implement our auditor from scratch, based on the <a href="https://github.com/trailofbits/signal-auditor/blob/main/docs/Key_Transparency_Auditor_Spec.pdf">specification</a>, to provide independent verification; the code is <a href="https://github.com/trailofbits/signal-auditor">open source</a>. Signal also publishes a <a href="https://github.com/signalapp/key-transparency-auditor">reference implementation</a>.</p> <p>We will provide updates to this blog post if we need to make substantive changes to our signing policy, such as resetting the state of our auditor or rotating our signing key. Our current public key is:</p> <figure class="highlight"> <pre tabindex="0" class="chroma"><code class="language-text" data-lang="text"><span class="line"><span class="cl">7fe5d91de235188486d8fb836a6da37e625e2b10eb6d144185b9364cc83cbbb6</span></span></code></pre> </figure> <h2 id="how-to-use-automatic-key-verification">How to use Automatic Key Verification</h2> <p>You can enable Automatic Key Verification in Signal by going to “Settings > Privacy > Advanced” and enabling Automatic Key Verification. In supported chats, you can verify the public key of your counterparty by visiting the safety number verification screen and clicking “Verify Automatically.” Automatic Key Verification often does not support chats where you started the conversation by searching for a recipient’s username. See Signal’s <a href="https://support.signal.org/hc/en-us/articles/10223569377562-Automatic-Key-Verification">help page</a> for more information. If automatic verification fails, users should fall back on safety number comparison.</p> <h2 id="why-were-doing-this">Why we’re doing this</h2> <p>We believe that free and private communication is a critical public good. We are not paid by Signal or any other party for this service; we operate it in the interest of users and the community broadly.</p> <p>Some form of public key integrity is an important component of any full end-to-end encryption system. If you would like to implement key transparency or end-to-end encryption generally, <a href="https://trailofbits.com/contact/">contact us</a>.</p>

Edinburgh Fringe: Afronauts ★★★★☆ - Terence Eden’s Blog

2026-08-11T16:17:12.000Z

Afrofuturism is a hot topic in the world of sci-fi. This is the circus version of "For All Mankind" where the Zambia Space Academy (a 100% real thing) attempt to land on the moon and win the space race.

Told in an acrobatic style, naturally.

It is delightful to see classic acrobatics find a whole new audience - the children in the audience (and the adults) screamed with delight at the human pyramids, handstands, cartwheels, and aerial work.

An absolutely joyful cast of kinesthetic clowns bring to life the bizarre and (again) absolutely true story.

Lots of fun, a heartfelt message, and a zippy soundtrack. No way to describe it other than fun for all ages.

An unusual commute to work - Joel's Log Files

2026-08-11T14:50:00.000Z

I usually take the bus to work, this is provided for free by my workplace.

Today however, I was on a rush, I got out of my house way too late and I knew I would have to run if I wanted to make it in time…

I didn’t want to run.

Instead, I knew that I could make it to the opposite side of the neighborhood and catch a regular bus. If it arrived on time, I could rendezvous with my work transport just in time.

The public bus failed me.

It got to the stop with only one minute left on the clock. I could still catch up to the work transport if the driver was a little late, which happens sometimes.

My hopes paid off, I saw the bus waiting for me and I was only a couple streets away in a direction where the driver would see me running towards the vehicle.

I got off the public bus and ran, my hands up to let the driver know I wanted to get in. Still waving my hands and walking towards the bus, it started moving towards me, I made it—I was only a dozen steps away from it now.

Then it drove past me.

Well, swinging my arms around as if I was stranded on an island and a plane flew by. I ran after the bus making myself as visible as I could, I even managed to catch up with it for a few seconds, before it inevitable sped up. It didn’t see me on the mirror, or at all. Or maybe the driver chose to ignore me because I was late and the guy was grumpy this morning.

I was left there stranded with no clear idea of what to do next.

I send a message to my mom though she doesn’t see it, I think of calling her, I think something else instead—a risky bet that could pay off.

My work bus takes a pretty roundabout route to pick a bunch of people up, the public transport is more streamlined, and there is one spot where both transports meet again, which means I could still take the route to work from there—if everything goes well.

Another public bus is taken, and I think about some other options. Scrolling for a bit, I consider complaining in the the bus chat group. There, I remember a coworker who recently got a car, so I call and ask for a ride. Thankfully, he agrees to help me out, though there’s a catch—the public bus has no stops near his place.

There are two options: hope the public bus catches up to the work bus and hope the work bus sees me this time, or walking for about ten or fifteen minutes and have a sure way to get to work.

I can depend on variables I don’t control, or I can submit myself to walking what I should have walked from the start.

I learned the lesson now, don’t you worry.

We settle on a spot about ten minutes away, I have plenty of adrenaline rushing through me by now because of the stress of the whole thing I don’t even feel tired after the fact.

As I make it to the pick-up spot, something hilarious happens. I see the work bus on its way! I am too far to get on it this time, but now I know I could have met up with it if I had followed my original plan. Something to consider next time.

In any case, my friend asks me if I can make it to another spot instead, only about three minutes of walking distance, totally fine at this point.

A friend from church drives by, sees me and asks me if I need a ride or anything. Truly divine providence and pretty unexpected stuff. I’m so thankful, but I let him know I already have someone to pick me up and he goes his way.

My mom finally messages me worried, telling me I should have called her, she says she’s at the gym and it’s late and all of that. I let her know all is fine and send her a pic of where I’m at. I’m waiting for my friend in that very same gym.

Soon after my ride arrives and we head to work like nothing happened.

This is day 15 of #100DaysToOffload and day 10 of #Blaugust2026

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Edinburgh Fringe: Noted ★★★⯪☆ - Terence Eden’s Blog

2026-08-11T12:45:28.000Z

It is a brave children's show which starts with the song "I'm a smooth muthafukker"…

This is sort of a live-action XKCD cartoon. A frenetic troupe of performers are decked with hand-drawn portraits and then… well, it is somewhere between a Sesame Street animation and the stick-figure kung-fu Flash animations of yesterday.

The whole design is technically impressive. An endless stream of paper litters the floor as the cast rip them from their bodies to reveal more underneath.

I found it enjoyable enough for an early morning show - but the children around me went bananas for it!

Gadget Review: Soundpeats POP Clip2 Earphones ★★★★⯪ - Terence Eden’s Blog

2026-08-11T11:34:37.000Z

Last year, I reviewed a new type of Clip-On earphone - the Soundpeats Clip1 Cuff. I was a bit sceptical, but was won around by their comfort. The good folks at Soundpeats have sent me their new version to review. I had a few niggles with the Clip1 - so let's see how the UU2 Clip2 compare.

Design

The "cuff" design is fairly new to the UK - but is already popular in other parts of the world. Rather than sticking the buds in your earholes, they clip around the flappy bits of your ears. The aren't like a bulldog clip - more like a gentle caress. The speaker sits just outside your ear canal, so you can still hear ambient sounds from around you. Look, you do not want a close-up of my waxy lugs, so here's a model:

You don't have to wear them in that position. Mine tend to hang around my earlobes - your ears might be a different shape.

They are ridiculously comfortable. I've had them on for a several hour train journey and forgot they were there. They don't leave a mark, they don't ache, they don't pinch, and most importantly they don't fall off. Even if I shook my head vigorously or did any exercise, they stayed put.

I am happy to declare them the most comfortable headphones I own - even more so than my Bone Conducting headset.

But, of course, there are some downsides. The previous version had touch-only controls which were a bit shit. It was far too easy to accidentally brush your finger against your ears and skip a track. The Clip2 improves this somewhat by adding a small physical button to each headphone. You can set them to play/pause, skip tracks, adjust volume (if you can remember the precise sequence of taps you need).

Bluetooth range was good - I was able to wander all over my house without losing connection. Sound quality - even on the default setting - was excellent. You can push up the bass or fiddle with the equaliser if that'll make you happy. Battery life is going to depend on how hard you drive them and if you choose a more energy efficient codec or not. They lasted several hours in my test and recharged quickly in their included case. Naturally, the case has a USB-C connection so it'll use the same cable as all your other gadgets.

Android

They just work. They paired instantly, accepted AAC as a high quality audio codec, the sound quality was excellent as was the microphone quality. Once I used the app to switch to LDAC, the Clip2 restarted and Android started playing in the higher fidelity mode.

App

*sigh* Why is that hardware manufacturers make the crappiest software? You don't need the app - everything will work without it. But if you want to customise the buttons, change the EQ, or enable LDAC you'll need it.

Annoyingly, you can't do anything unless you're logged in and have an Internet connection. Want to change the EQ while you're on a train with no signal? Tough.

The app also handles firmware updates - there was one waiting for me - but doesn't offer any information beyond the usual platitudes of bug fixes and stability improvements.

Note, you need the PeatsAudio app not the "Soundpeats" app.

Honestly, find an EQ you like, update the firmware, toggle the settings, then uninstall it.

There are some nice touches - like the personalised EQ test - but it is slim pickings. Here are some screenshots.

Linux

Yup! Connected perfectly the first time and gave access to all the supported codecs.

A Few Niggles

Despite looking superficially similar to the Clip1 - these new ones don't fit into the charging case of the originals. That's unfortunate. I guess they don't want users mixing up pairs and getting confused?

Rather annoyingly, they don't pause the sound when you take them off. The old Clip1 would detect if it was in-ear and pause if you popped one out to chat to someone.

They supply a short USB-A to C lead. That's just e-Waste and shouldn't be included.

Because of the design they won't block out all external noise and there's no noise cancelling function. But that's offset by the fact that they do let you retain some awareness of your surroundings.

Price and Final Thoughts

The Clip2 cuff headphones are usually around £60, but are on offer now for about £48. I think that's excellent value for money.

Readers of this blog can use code SPUU2810 for 30% off until August 31, 2026.

I am an absolute convert to cuff-style. They don't tightly grip your head like bone-conducting ones, they're less noisy than rear-firing open-ear cans, and they're a good deal more comfortable than sticking something deep in your ear-wax chambers.

The app is a bit shit - but you'll probably only use it once. The buttons are slightly fiddly, but I can't see a way to make them any more tactile without sacrificing their small size.

Sounds quality - on Linux and Android - was excellent. They're perfect if you spend a long time with headphones on.