Weeknotes 25:35
Posted 3 days ago
Week of August 24–30
Aquarium
My wife and I hung out at the Tennessee Aquarium with our youngest to celebrate her birthday on Sunday. We always enjoy going to the Aquarium. Our favorite building is the ocean building. We enjoy seeing the penguins up close and personal. It is always fun to spend time at the touch tank and get to touch rays and sharks. And then it is always mesmerizing to watch all the fish, sharks, rays, and turtles in the reef exhibit. I could sit there for hours just watching the sea life swim in and out of view. I love seeing the eagle rays which I first saw in the exhibit last year.



Walking again
After five weeks of not walking, I finally got back out again this week. It helped that the temperatures dropped into the low 80s and were in the high 70s with a nice cool breeze when I walked at night. I listened to Shop Talk Show on one of the walks. I listened to music on a couple of the other walks and then spent some time in prayer or just thinking on my Saturday walk. It was nice to get out again and I hope to build it back into a habit. I would like to walk 3-4 times a week to get in between 12-16 miles each week.

Anchor positioning
I have been spending time recently learning about anchor positioning. I have been working through Oddbird’s email course on anchor positioning. This week I read Ahmad Shadeed’s interactive article on the subject, The Basics of Anchor Positioning. And finally, I read Temani Afif’s article, Fancy Menu Navigation Using Anchor Positioning on CSS Tricks.
I used what I learned from Temani’s article to refactor a solution I mentioned last week for a donation form. I recreated the UI element on Codepen and progressively enhanced it to use anchor positioning to transition the background element between the two donation options. It was a great way to practice what I have been learning and get more familiar with how it works.
Smashing Meets: AI

On Wednesday, I attended the free online get together hosted by Smashing Magazine. The topic for this Meet was AI. We heard three great talks. Vitaly kicked us off by discussing UX patterns for AI-first software. He showed us several examples of products that are using different interface elements other than the much used “chat” interface. He also talked a lot about value and impact–these are the things that users care about. Will this tool add value to my life?
Scott Hanselman helped us to better understand how LLMs work. He showed us how the model determines the answer that it gives–it is all based on probabilities that the model was trained on. The talk uncovered a lot of the biases these models have based on the statistical model that they are trained on.
“AI is not a fact machine. It is Family Feud.”
“These are not PhD level humans but 3 year olds just smart enough to be dangerous.”
Finally, we heard from Lisanne Buik about ethics in AI. She is founder of Gracious AI. As a speculative designer, she is thinking about the future. She envisions a future where we can seize this moment of radical disruption as a catalyst for sustainable innovation and business resilience.
All of the talks have been posted online.
- UX Patterns for AI-First Software (Vitaly Friedman)
- No BS AI for Humans (Scott Hanselman)
- Ethics for Agentic Systems (Lisanne Buik)
- Panel Discussion with Scott, Lisanne, and Geoff Graham
- Scott has a TED Talk, Tech Promised Everything. Did it deliver? I have not watched it yet but heard it was pretty good.
LEGO
I recently purchased my son’s Millennium Falcon LEGO set. It is the midi-scale model that is 9′ by 7′ and was released in 2009. He originally got it for his birthday and I helped him to build it the first time. He recently and sorted through his LEGO pieces and thought he had most of the pieces and ordered the missing ones. I set aside some time on Saturday to start building it. I got about halfway through and discovered I was missing a piece so I put it down till I could visit a local LEGO store on Sunday.




Articles I read
- Semantic classes > BEM (Chris Ferdinandi)
- Spark Hunting and Candle Clocks (Nathan Long newsletter)
- Obsessing Over Smooth radial-gradient() Disc Edges (Ana Tudor on Frontend Masters Blog)
- Successive Prototypes Bridge the Gap Between Idea and Reality (Jim Nielsen) – Just build websites, I mean prototypes. Nothing beats having something tangible to test an idea.
- LEGO’s founder on how godly play—not just productivity—pleases God (Jordan Reynor)
- inset: auto; for popovers (Chris Coyier on Frontend Masters Blog)
- How to create a UX portfolio that gets you hired (Jared Spool on LinkedIn)
- The interpolate-size property is a great example of progressive enhancement (Andy Bell on Piccalilli)
- Deciphering Glyph :: The Best Line Length (Glyph)
- I tell you what I want, what I really, really want (Andy Bell)
- How to dismiss native HTML dialog elements when the backdrop is clicked (Chris Ferdinandi)
- I Miss the Pews: Why Uncomfortable Togetherness Mattered (Eugene Park on The Gospel Coalition)
- Seeing Yourself the Way Someone Else Does Is Not a Personality, It’s a Virtue (Samuel D. James)
- There’s no such thing as a CSS reset (Adam Stoddard)
- Honey, I Shrunk My Glory Focus (Paul David Tripp)
- A notional design studio. (Ethan Marcotte) – Warning this article gets into American politics. Please do follow the link if that is going to stress you out.
- Fancy Menu Navigation Using Anchor Positioning (Temani Afif on CSS Tricks)
- Genuine human connection (Chris Ferdinandi)
- Thursday. (Jonathan Snook)
- Are people’s bosses really making them use AI tools? (Andy Bell on Piccalilli)
- Why Aren’t People Going to Local and Regional In-Person Events Anymore? (Brent Ozar)
- Opening a Details Element from the URL (Chris Coyier on Frontend Masters Blog)
- Sophie and the Lost Car Keys (Stephen McAlpine)
- Studio Notes #47 (Dan Cedarholm)
- I Am An AI Hater (Anthony Moser)
- I’m an AI hater (Chris Ferdinandi) – Chris thoughts on Anthony’s article.
- From AI to ‘Brain Tattoos’ – Lessons from Influence (Jennifer Kahnweiler on LinkedIn)
- The Basics of Anchor Positioning (Ahmad Shadeed) – Another great interactive article from Ahmad.
- Taco Bell rethinks AI drive-through after man orders 18,000 waters (BBC)
What I listened to
- Two Idiots Argue With Kevin Powell About CSS (ShopTalk Show) – A convergence of the old guard of CSS, Chris Coyier, and one of the current voices, Kevin Powell.
What I watched
- 2 Kids Room, Lee Know and I.N. from Stray Kids (YouTube)
- Killing Voice Stray Kids (YouTube) – This is a great compliation of songs from Stray Kids. Very casual and gave concert vibes to my daughter.
- The Side of Andor That Nobody Talks About (YouTube)
- Thunderbolts* (Prime Video)
- Radio (Netflix)
- NCIS (Netflix)
- Black Widow (Disney Plus)
- The Thursday Murder Club (Netflix)
Books I am reading
- Sunday Matters (Paul David Tripp) – I read one devotional a week.
- Everyday Gospel (Paul David Tripp) – Reading through the Bible this year with this devotional.
- Spurgeon: A Life (Alex DiPrima)
- All That Jesus Commanded (John Piper)
- Universal Principles of UX Design (Irene Pereyra)
Walking – 16.18 miles
- Monday – 4.28 miles in 1 hour 23 minutes
- Tuesday – 4.2 miles in 1 hour 18 minutes
- Friday – 3.63 miles in 1 hour 10 minutes
- Saturday – 4.07 miles in 1 hour 16 minutes
What I played
MLB The Show 20 (Twins) – I went 4-0 to restart the season after the AllStar break.
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