tinker.ph

my hypertext journal + learning in public
© 2026 Marc Obaldo
  • 17,541,360 keys ⌨️
  • 6,129,603 clicks 🖱️
  • 395.80km mouse 📏
  • 1198.26d 🆙
  • 9283GB down 📉
  • 947GB up 📈

  1. Adding a little blip of activity

    While messing around with my .plan, I thought it would be nice if I could surface some of my real-time info on the site as well.

    Following my thirty days of WhatPulse, I never really paid attention to the app again and it just disappeared in the background. Turns out, WhatPulse has both a Client and Web API that allows you to access either real-time info or pulsed info.

    Anyway, here a link to an XML version of my stats. My Astro setup isn’t SSR-enabled, so the fetch I just only happens on build time and is rendered on the sidebar. You can see it in action at the bottom left.

    1
    const response = await fetch(
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      "https://api.whatpulse.org/user.php?user=codewisp&format=json"
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    );
    4
    

    5
    const data = await response.json();
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    const {
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      UptimeShort: uptime,
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      Keys: keys,
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      Clicks: clicks,
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      DistanceInMiles: distance,
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      Download: download,
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      Upload: upload,
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    } = data;
    14
    

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    const distanceInKm = distance * 1.609344;

  2. Animating equations on the web: Part 3

    Continuing off of animated equations on the web - part 2, I finally decided to complete the last bits of work needed to animate. Spoiler, this doesn’t actually automate the transition from static equations to animated equations.

    Previously, I wrote about my plan, which was to generate the diffs before animating the result with revealjs. What I actually ended up doing is taking the output of KaTeX, manually tagging the parts of the equation with data-ids, and letting revealjs animate from one slide to the next.

    It’s not as shiny as I originally wanted it to be, with just simply entering the equations and letting the script do the heavy lifting, but I am still happy with the result.

    Demo below:

    f(2)= (1−F) + ((1−F) a+ Fb)+ Fb
    f(2)= a (1−F) 2+ (1−F) Fb+Fb
    f(2)= a (1−F) 2+ b ((1−F) F+F)
    f(2)= a (1−F) 2+ b (2F−F 2)
    f(2)= a (1−F) 2 − b (− 2F−F2)+ b
    f(2)= a (1−F) 2 − b (1 − F)2+ b
    f(2)= ( a− b) (1−F) 2 + b

  3. A reminder from Bionic Bay to just keep building

    Game developer @JuhanaMyllys frequently posts clips about their progress on a Sci-Fi platformer called Bionic Bay. In this particular video, he shows the difference between the current state of the game and what it was four years ago.

    As someone who is in a perpetual state of building things outside of my primary job, it’s a hopefuly reminder that it’ll all eventually come together. I often get frustrated that it is taking me too long to ship, but sometimes I take a step back and appreciate that I make good incremental progress, get to talk to interested customers, and commit code every now and then.

  4. I did not invent most of the technology I work with

    Steve Jobs frequently sent himself emails containing his thoughts, which I also often do to myself using my [email protected] address. There’s one particular email from Steve Jobs that stuck with me.

    Despite wanting to go lower and lower in the tech stack, being a generalist, and touching pretty much every part of a system, I am reminded how I’m still dependent on others who’ve built things for me that I enjoy the convenience of.

    From:	Steve Jobs, [email protected]
To:	Steve Jobs, [email protected]
Date:	Thursday, September 2, 2010 at 11:08PM
    I grow little of the food I eat, and of the little I do grow I did not breed or perfect the seeds.

    I do not make any of my own clothing.

    I speak a language I did not invent or refine.

    I did not discover the mathematics I use.

    I am protected by freedoms and laws I did not conceive of or legislate, and do not enforce or adjudicate.

    I am moved by music I did not create myself.

    When I needed medical attention, I was helpless to help myself survive.

    I did not invent the transistor, the microprocessor, object oriented programming, or most of the technology I work with.

    I love and admire my species, living and dead, and am totally dependent on them for my life and well being.

    Sent from my iPad

  5. Whitepilling the world one startup at a time

    S³ by @jasonjoyride publishes weekly documentaries of startups that are poised to take over the world. For example, one of my favorite ones is how Impulse is creating high-performance stoves, which might not seem like a big deal, but what they’re actually doing is putting high-performance batteries in every house to help power the future.

    I’m a huge fan of what S³ does, and that’s why I’m excited about this tweet, which seems like they are taking whitepilling the world to the next level.