What if you could reset Instagram’s algorithm and make it crave cyberpunk? I did—and the results were mind-bending.

The Big Reset

One of my recent obsessions has been to manipulate my own social media algorithm to produce desired output. I’ve run the test many times across multiple platforms with multiple accounts. Sometimes the test accounts are sandboxed, sometimes they are not. What is really interesting is the information that leaks around the edges. Could be something tracked, but more likely it’s an echo of the subconsciousness.

Truly mind-bending stuff, which harkens back to Berkley. If you’re old enough you remember the joke, and if you’re not… oh well. Not going to hold your hand.

“And if you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.” - Nietzsche

Drowning in YouTube noise? These 10 channels cut through: Developement, Security, Agile, Tech. Level up now.

Recommendations

Your backups are rotting on the shelf—right now. One bit flip away from losing family photos forever. Here’s how optical media saves the day.

The Problem

When was the last time the backups were refreshed? Old hard drives, SSDs, thumb drives, and USBs quietly ticking away on the shelf aren’t as safe as they seem. Over time all digital storage is vulnerable to data rot, where information degrades bit by bit, making files unreadable over years. This means valuable photos, videos, documents, and archives could simply vanish because the underlying media slowly fails.

Best Solution

Brooks, Conway, Parkinson: 10 software laws devs ignore—at huge cost. Real-world fails from IBM OS/360 to Slack bloat. Don’t repeat them.

I love this list by Signs of Triviality so I thought I would ask Perplexity for a few examples.