The Best Things and Stuff of 2025
4 months ago
- #technology
- #literature
- #gaming
- Hans Boehm and friends developed recursive real arithmetic for numbers like pi and sqrt(2).
- Lost in Manboo explores life in 24-hour game cafes in Japan, offering a dystopian view.
- The Making of Deeper in You showcases song creation using the OP-1 synthesizer.
- Jack Rusher discusses the thoughtful application of tech in art and research in computing.
- Brian Weissman shares anecdotes from the early years of Magic the Gathering.
- David Lindsay's lost novels, Aletheus and The Confessions of an Egoist, predate his masterpiece.
- Dan's reading journey includes weird, macabre fiction and systems-thinking in games.
- The Bird-Poker Deck and Checkers Arcade highlight unique game-play characteristics.
- Mouse, a Language for Microcomputers, and Notes on Distance Dialing are notable technical reads.
- The Eye of Osiris and The Mystery of Edwin Drood are standout mystery novels.
- The Shadow People and Lolly Willowes offer unique fantasy and dark narrative twists.
- Patience and Narcissus and Goldmund explore enduring love and life's meaning.
- We Who Are About To… subverts typical SF colonization tropes.
- Fifty Forgotten Records and The Way of All Flesh are notable non-technical reads.
- Clojure and Java were primary programming languages for work in 2025.
- Joy and Juxt were explored for personal programming projects.
- Clojure/conj 2025 and Clojure South 2025 were standout community events.
- Zettelkasten had a significant impact on note-taking and writing.
- Spreadsheets were adopted for task tracking, solving multiple organizational problems.
- Plans for 2026 include more non-technical writing, publishing a card game, and Clojure 1.13.
- LLMs were assessed with mixed results, highlighting limitations in problem-solving.
- Inspirational figures from 2025 span technology, art, and literature.