Alper Cugun
@alper.nl
Doing Platform Engineering in Berlin
Now: Uiua, Iceland 14/8-2/9, road cycling, Claude Code, Cuppin.gs, 十一月日本にハイキング旅行を計画しています, Gleam, mountains
Now: Uiua, Iceland 14/8-2/9, road cycling, Claude Code, Cuppin.gs, 十一月日本にハイキング旅行を計画しています, Gleam, mountains
Pinned
Alper Cugun
@alper.nl
· Jan 30
Do not treat as human those who would not treat you as human.
Turns out that somebody who’s been walking for the past four hours will definitely crush a katsu curry within minutes.
November 25, 2025 at 9:19 AM
Turns out that somebody who’s been walking for the past four hours will definitely crush a katsu curry within minutes.
It’s been a while since I flew through Zürich but I see they have updated the Swiss nationalist video in the Skymetro. I liked the old one better.
No video because the train was absolutely rampacked.
No video because the train was absolutely rampacked.
November 25, 2025 at 4:39 AM
It’s been a while since I flew through Zürich but I see they have updated the Swiss nationalist video in the Skymetro. I liked the old one better.
No video because the train was absolutely rampacked.
No video because the train was absolutely rampacked.
Both in software engineering and in engineering leadership, fads come and go but the fundamentals stay the same. Larson makes a good throw at collecting those very fundamentals (and gives you a way to gauge yourself against them).
lethain.com/good-eng-mgm...
lethain.com/good-eng-mgm...
"Good engineering management" is a fad
As I get older, I increasingly think about whether I’m spending my time the right way to advance my career and my life. This is also a question that your company asks about you every performance…
lethain.com
November 22, 2025 at 9:38 PM
Both in software engineering and in engineering leadership, fads come and go but the fundamentals stay the same. Larson makes a good throw at collecting those very fundamentals (and gives you a way to gauge yourself against them).
lethain.com/good-eng-mgm...
lethain.com/good-eng-mgm...
Not sure how many people know that this kind of deep data modelling is possible to do in Notion. I love tools with a high skill-cap and Notion is definitely one such.
xvw.lol/en/articles/...
xvw.lol/en/articles/...
Indexing coffee with Notion
Example of using Notion for coffee indexing
xvw.lol
November 22, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Not sure how many people know that this kind of deep data modelling is possible to do in Notion. I love tools with a high skill-cap and Notion is definitely one such.
xvw.lol/en/articles/...
xvw.lol/en/articles/...
I am yet to read the Differential Dataflow paper but still interesting to read this explanation of how and why decorrelation works in database engines. LATERAL JOINs and query plans have become something of an interest of mine over the past weeks.
www.scattered-thoughts.net/writing/mate...
www.scattered-thoughts.net/writing/mate...
How Materialize and other databases optimize SQL subqueries
Subqueries are a SQL feature that allow writing queries nested inside a scalar expression in an outer query. Using subqueries is often the most natural way to express a given problem, but their use…
www.scattered-thoughts.net
November 22, 2025 at 10:27 AM
I am yet to read the Differential Dataflow paper but still interesting to read this explanation of how and why decorrelation works in database engines. LATERAL JOINs and query plans have become something of an interest of mine over the past weeks.
www.scattered-thoughts.net/writing/mate...
www.scattered-thoughts.net/writing/mate...
Servo is a massive achievement. One of the more unknown but potentially very impactful things about the project is that its modular nature allows parts of the web rendering stack to be embedded elsewhere (in game engines and such).
blogs.igalia.com/mrego/servo-...
blogs.igalia.com/mrego/servo-...
Servo: A new web engine written in Rust
Detailed description slide by slide of my Servo talk at GOSIM Hangzhou 2025.
blogs.igalia.com
November 22, 2025 at 4:39 AM
Servo is a massive achievement. One of the more unknown but potentially very impactful things about the project is that its modular nature allows parts of the web rendering stack to be embedded elsewhere (in game engines and such).
blogs.igalia.com/mrego/servo-...
blogs.igalia.com/mrego/servo-...
Watermarks are just one part of Flink which are difficult to wrap your head around but this interactive explanation does a good job of explaining them. Now for all the other parts of Flink…
flink-watermarks.wtf
flink-watermarks.wtf
Flink Watermarks…WTF?
Master Apache Flink watermarks with this interactive simulation. Learn what they are, why you need them, and how to configure them through hands-on examples.
flink-watermarks.wtf
November 21, 2025 at 9:38 PM
Watermarks are just one part of Flink which are difficult to wrap your head around but this interactive explanation does a good job of explaining them. Now for all the other parts of Flink…
flink-watermarks.wtf
flink-watermarks.wtf
A hilarious comedy of errors that is a unique feature of the Javascript ecosystem. When even the simplest code can fail disastrously if you don't have all the right checks in place.
marma.dev/articles/202...
marma.dev/articles/202...
When 'perfect' code fails
When too much magic in the codebase breaks security measures, you know something is way off.
marma.dev
November 21, 2025 at 3:14 PM
A hilarious comedy of errors that is a unique feature of the Javascript ecosystem. When even the simplest code can fail disastrously if you don't have all the right checks in place.
marma.dev/articles/202...
marma.dev/articles/202...
Both placing these ads and serving them should be illegal in any reasonable market/democracy.
www.reuters.com/investigatio...
www.reuters.com/investigatio...
www.reuters.com
November 21, 2025 at 10:27 AM
Both placing these ads and serving them should be illegal in any reasonable market/democracy.
www.reuters.com/investigatio...
www.reuters.com/investigatio...
The quality on every Meta property is low and people are there mostly because they can't leave due to the network effect. This is market failure and it couldn't hurt for Europe to bring down the hammer here.
www.cnbc.com/2025/11/06/m...
www.cnbc.com/2025/11/06/m...
Meta reportedly projected 10% of 2024 sales came from scam, fraud ads
Meta projected that about $16 billion in 2024 revenue came from running ads for scams and banned goods, according to a Thursday report from Reuters.
www.cnbc.com
November 21, 2025 at 4:39 AM
The quality on every Meta property is low and people are there mostly because they can't leave due to the network effect. This is market failure and it couldn't hurt for Europe to bring down the hammer here.
www.cnbc.com/2025/11/06/m...
www.cnbc.com/2025/11/06/m...
Musk's attacks on British politics have been bizarre to witness. Imagine the richest man in the world waging an influence operation trying to put the far right in power in your country.
news.sky.com/story/the-x-...
news.sky.com/story/the-x-...
HOW ELON MUSK IS BOOSTING THE BRITISH RIGHT
For nine months, Sky News' Data and Forensics team has been investigating whether X's algorithm amplifies right-wing and extreme content. It does.
news.sky.com
November 20, 2025 at 9:38 PM
Musk's attacks on British politics have been bizarre to witness. Imagine the richest man in the world waging an influence operation trying to put the far right in power in your country.
news.sky.com/story/the-x-...
news.sky.com/story/the-x-...
Love to see this being in 2025 and Germany still hasn't figured out how to get an adequate amount of bandwidth to everybody in the country. Maybe they'll never figure it out.
www.golem.de/news/deutsch...
www.golem.de/news/deutsch...
Deutsche Bahn CTO: WLAN für vollbesetzten Zug "nicht ausgestaltet" - Golem.de
Mehr Modems im Zug seien unbezahlbar. Deutsche Bahn-CTO Kemeter will die Versorgung künftig ganz an die Netzbetreiber abgeben.
www.golem.de
November 20, 2025 at 9:35 PM
Love to see this being in 2025 and Germany still hasn't figured out how to get an adequate amount of bandwidth to everybody in the country. Maybe they'll never figure it out.
www.golem.de/news/deutsch...
www.golem.de/news/deutsch...
Came home from work tonight at 18:00 and quickly threw together both schnitzel and onigiri for dinner. A new personal best.
November 20, 2025 at 7:25 PM
Came home from work tonight at 18:00 and quickly threw together both schnitzel and onigiri for dinner. A new personal best.
Hydrogen! Which irrelevant technology will Germany be financing next?
www.tagesschau.de/wirtschaft/u...
www.tagesschau.de/wirtschaft/u...
BMW erhält Millionenförderung für Autos mit Wasserstoffantrieb
Als einziger deutscher Hersteller setzt BMW auf Wasserstoff als Antriebstechnologie. Vom Staat gibt es dafür mehr als 270 Millionen Euro Förderung. Noch muss die Technologie allerdings einige Hürden…
www.tagesschau.de
November 20, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Hydrogen! Which irrelevant technology will Germany be financing next?
www.tagesschau.de/wirtschaft/u...
www.tagesschau.de/wirtschaft/u...
Spectacular execution of the idea of having a physical terminal through which to input Unicode characters. Real custom keyboard enthusiasts should have one of these on their desk.
hackaday.io/project/1926...
hackaday.io/project/1926...
Unicode Binary Input Terminal
An input device to enter any Unicode character over USB, in style
hackaday.io
November 20, 2025 at 10:27 AM
Spectacular execution of the idea of having a physical terminal through which to input Unicode characters. Real custom keyboard enthusiasts should have one of these on their desk.
hackaday.io/project/1926...
hackaday.io/project/1926...
China is steaming ahead also with self-driving car technology.
What was the old joke again? Germany will allow self-driving cars as soon as the local car makers manage to cack the problem. Guaranteed not to happen before 2050.
www.economist.com/china/2025/1...
What was the old joke again? Germany will allow self-driving cars as soon as the local car makers manage to cack the problem. Guaranteed not to happen before 2050.
www.economist.com/china/2025/1...
The secret fuel powering China’s self-driving cars
Responsive regulation—and lots of experiments
www.economist.com
November 20, 2025 at 4:39 AM
China is steaming ahead also with self-driving car technology.
What was the old joke again? Germany will allow self-driving cars as soon as the local car makers manage to cack the problem. Guaranteed not to happen before 2050.
www.economist.com/china/2025/1...
What was the old joke again? Germany will allow self-driving cars as soon as the local car makers manage to cack the problem. Guaranteed not to happen before 2050.
www.economist.com/china/2025/1...
As a computer science graduate, I can't figure out how to transfer my signal account to a new phone. I now see how so many people lose all their chat history etc. whenever they get a new phone.
November 19, 2025 at 9:38 PM
As a computer science graduate, I can't figure out how to transfer my signal account to a new phone. I now see how so many people lose all their chat history etc. whenever they get a new phone.
Nobody should be surprised that this German government will do little other than give handouts to their friends.
Or at least the CDU will. Does the SPD have anybody to give handouts to?
Or at least the CDU will. Does the SPD have anybody to give handouts to?
Wenn Steuergeld Opfer von Ideologie wird: CDU, CSU und FW verbrennen mal eben 270 Mio. EUR. Für eine schon längst gestorbene Technologie. Wirtschaftskompetenz ist was anderes.
www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/w...
www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/w...
Wasserstoff-Autos: BMW erhält staatliche Förderung zur Entwicklung
Hat der Einsatz von Wasserstoff eine Zukunft bei der Autoentwicklung? BMW glaubt nach wie vor daran. Jetzt erhält der Konzern eine staatliche Förderung für die Weiterentwicklung der Technologie.
www.spiegel.de
November 17, 2025 at 8:13 AM
Nobody should be surprised that this German government will do little other than give handouts to their friends.
Or at least the CDU will. Does the SPD have anybody to give handouts to?
Or at least the CDU will. Does the SPD have anybody to give handouts to?
Next week I'll be back in Japan for the first time in a decade. I'll be spending most of my time in the countryside this time round.
I'm immensely looking forward but also somewhat apprehensive given how much everything has changed.
I'm immensely looking forward but also somewhat apprehensive given how much everything has changed.
November 17, 2025 at 7:36 AM
Next week I'll be back in Japan for the first time in a decade. I'll be spending most of my time in the countryside this time round.
I'm immensely looking forward but also somewhat apprehensive given how much everything has changed.
I'm immensely looking forward but also somewhat apprehensive given how much everything has changed.
AI is for office workers without skills and gamers without friends.
Excellent value proposition.
Excellent value proposition.
November 16, 2025 at 8:50 PM
AI is for office workers without skills and gamers without friends.
Excellent value proposition.
Excellent value proposition.
Startups consist entirely of strip mining human values these days.
November 16, 2025 at 6:45 PM
Startups consist entirely of strip mining human values these days.
Not much point being here feels like it. The vibes are off and the engagement is low.
this is a far more explicit death threat from people with the actual means to carry it out
November 16, 2025 at 7:50 AM
Not much point being here feels like it. The vibes are off and the engagement is low.
“Dilan Yeşilgöz is de pick me girl en pick me-migrant in één.”
Left no crumbs.
Left no crumbs.
‘Yeşilgöz is een politieke pitbull. Althans, zo ziet ze zichzelf graag. Anderen zien een onbetrouwbaar sujet. Een dubbelhartige politica. Een intellectueel lichtgewicht. Dat is ze allemaal óók.’
Ik wil anders wel informateur zijn. Met open vizier.
Ik wil anders wel informateur zijn. Met open vizier.
Volgende week verschijnt het zomernummer! Met daarin onder andere: de deportatie van Dilan Yeşilgöz door @lotfielhamidi.bsky.social.
www.propriacures.nl/2025/06/lotf...
www.propriacures.nl/2025/06/lotf...
November 14, 2025 at 6:09 PM
“Dilan Yeşilgöz is de pick me girl en pick me-migrant in één.”
Left no crumbs.
Left no crumbs.
This branch of Getränke Hoffman should be levelled and the lot filled with 10 stories of mixed development housing.
No free parking within city limits.
No free parking within city limits.
November 14, 2025 at 9:41 AM
This branch of Getränke Hoffman should be levelled and the lot filled with 10 stories of mixed development housing.
No free parking within city limits.
No free parking within city limits.
One reason why nobody in Germany is very much outraged by this situation is that this would be mostly legal in Germany and most definitely impossible to convict on.
Germany has a special class from 14yo when people are considered youths, no longer children.
Germany has a special class from 14yo when people are considered youths, no longer children.
Megyn Kelly: "I know somebody very close to this case…Jeffrey Epstein, in this person's view, was not a pedophile…He was into the barely legal type, like he liked 15 year old girls…He wasn't into like 8 year olds…There's a difference between a 15 year old and a 5 year old."
November 14, 2025 at 7:53 AM
One reason why nobody in Germany is very much outraged by this situation is that this would be mostly legal in Germany and most definitely impossible to convict on.
Germany has a special class from 14yo when people are considered youths, no longer children.
Germany has a special class from 14yo when people are considered youths, no longer children.