After my recent podcast appearance at
@stayforever
where I talked about the optimization of RollerCoaster Tycoon, I finally found some time to also write an article about the same topic:
https://larstofus.com/2026/03/22/the-gold-standard-of-optimization-a-look-under-the-hood-of-rollercoaster-tycoon/

If you know German I'd still recommend the podcast, which also dives deep into the development history of the game 🎢

🆕 blog! “Bored of eating your own dogfood? Try smelling your own farts!”

I called a large company the other day. Did I know the information I wanted could be found on their website? And was I aware that I could manage my account online? And would I like to receive a link to chat with their AI assistant via WhatsApp?

Naturally, call volumes were higher…

👀 Read more: https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2026/03/bored-of-eating-your-own-dogfood-try-smelling-your-own-farts/
⸻
#customerservice

The extent to which core linux projects are laying the groundwork for age verification is very concerning.

I understand why some believe they are compelled to do so, and why others feel that it may be better to implement the most minimal conforming implementation in the hopes of fending off something worse.

But the line must be drawn such that no threat can obligate an OS to collect/store personal information - without that freedom, we face an uphill fight to protect general purpose computing.

RE: https://mastodon.social/@Gargron/1

10 years today.

Whenever you hear "ban for kids" on the internet, read in reality "ID collection by a sketchy third-party company that will definitely use it or leak it or both for every adult."

Because that's what this truly means.
Also, it doesn't even help the kids.

#AgeVerification #Privacy #MassSurveillance #Authoritarianism

The Smalltalk System Browser has survived for 40 years.
That’s not an accident: it solves the context problem extremely well.
But the real friction in modern Smalltalk may lie elsewhere: the lack of composition between IDE tools.
Some thoughts ↓

https://blog.lorenzano.eu/smalltalks-browser-unbeatable-yet-not-enough/

#Smalltalk #Pharo #Programming cc @pharoproject

What kind of app do you mostly use to interact with Mastodon?

Please consider boosting for a larger sample.

#poll #fediverse #mastodon #app #formfactor