Forward, My Pet Shoggoth!

...or, a story about a blog upgrade.

This blog changed its appearance about a month ago. I threw out the design I came up with in 2010 and moved to this design, which, in a way, looks like a synthesis of the very first design I had from 2005 and the 2010 redesign: a center column, but this time with no side columns.

Uppie Denied

I often hear a family of Great Crested Grebes by the water long before I see them. The happy chirping of the chicks is unmistakable, and when I come down to the water I always see mommy Grebe and daddy Grebe and their two chicks doing, well, family stuff. I'm sorry for the anthropomorphization, and doubly sorry for probably completely misinterpreting animal behavior, but the similarities are just too great.

Dynamic Number of Flexible Columns in CSS Grid Lanes

When I saw that display: grid-lanes was coming I realized I could soon get rid of my masonry JavaScript layout and enjoy browser-smooth layout instead. But I couldn't get what I wanted: a dynamic number of columns, where each column was at most MAX-WIDTH wide, but could shrink to MIN-WIDTH to fit more columns. After playing around a bit I came up with this:

Winter Babies

That's what these two are called.

Getting Ducklings in a Row

All twelve of them.

Littler Crested Grebes

When taking a stroll I saw this family of Great Crested Grebes. I immediately ran home, grabbed the 150-600mm. It quickly became apparent that mommy and daddy Grebe mostly wanted to sleep, but little Grebe was full of energy and kept chirping.

Gasworks

The remains of the Värta Gas Works naphtha steam reforming plant that stood here until January 2011.

The Fluffballs of Husarviken

The ducks had kids, too.

Littlest Crested Grebe

A pair of great crested grebes have had additions to the family.

Supernumerary Rainbows

We've had some sunshowers lately.

What Coding Assistants Excel At

After using coding assistants a bit, I think I know what they excel at, and what they do less well.

Failure Modes of AI in Software Development

Everything old is new again.

AI as a Junior Developer

The short summary of where AI is in its coding skills in mid-2026 is this: AI is like a junior developer. If you have use for junior developers, AI will help you; and if you don't, it won't.

National Museum of the Marine Corps

A museum dedicated to the few and the proud.

Great Falls Park

The Great Falls of the Potomac River. Part of the Great Falls Park.

A Detour to Husarviken

After the cherry blossoms, I popped down to the jetties for some reflections.