About:

Thomas Countz is a Senior Engineer at Zendesk with interests in web programming, electronics, and data science.

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Specializations:

Interests:

Programming for the web Designing and building electronics 3D-printing Open source data science
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The post examines Ruby's block-local numbered parameters and the 'it' parameter, detailing a bug and its fix regarding their mutability and assignment behavior.
The article discusses the differences between event streaming platforms like Apache Kafka and background job systems such as ActiveJob. It explains that while both are used for scaling and asynchronous processing, they serve diffe...
A guide on transforming ActiveRecord models into a Mermaid ERD in Rails, detailing data extraction and ERD syntax generation.
The blog post discusses the history and evolution of the SSL error bypass code in Chrome, detailing its origins, changes over the years, and the implications of its use. Initially introduced as 'danger' in 2014, the code has under...
The post explains the concept of debouncing in both hardware and software contexts, particularly focusing on its application in managing API calls during user input in search bars. It describes how debouncing prevents multiple rap...
The post details the creation of an interactive jq editor using fzf, showcasing its customization features and potential for building various TUIs.
A custom Forth word 'go' streamlines the edit-reload cycle by clearing definitions and opening project files in Vim for efficient programming.
Capturing SQL queries in ActiveRecord can be achieved through ActiveSupport::Notifications, allowing for metadata annotations during testing.
Good Citizen Syndrome highlights the danger of confusing the vigilance of skilled engineers with true systemic health in organizations, leading to complacency and overlooked issues.
Gawande illustrates the significance of understanding routine complications in medicine and software development to enhance management and outcomes.
A comprehensive guide on using the Unix 'at(1)' utility for scheduling one-off commands, with practical examples and tips for macOS users.
A Ruby script that animates a 'Good Morning' greeting for a team, inspired by the bouncing DVD logo, is presented for fun and engagement.
Cascii is a promising ASCII diagram tool that excels in portability and unique features but currently lacks some advanced functionalities found in Monodraw.
An interactive hill chart tool for visualizing task progress is introduced, emphasizing the phases of work and offering a nuanced alternative to traditional metrics.
The author explores the struggle of categorizing thoughts as blog posts versus journal entries, leading to a decision for a simpler, more frequent sharing method.
The author discusses how they record voice notes on their iPhone using Apple's Voice Memos app and the challenges they face in accessing the transcripts outside of the app. They explore the file structure and use reverse engineeri...
The text discusses the use of evolutionary algorithms to create low-poly images, specifically the Ruby logo, using the petri_dish_lab gem in Ruby. It explains the process of evolutionary algorithms, the Petri Dish framework, and t...
The text discusses the collaboration between The City of Copenhagen, Utrecht University, and Google to map the city's air pollution and find the healthiest bike route based on air quality. It includes data ingestion, initial aggre...
The text discusses the process of schematic capture, mechanical design, and PCB layout for Hexo, a circuit. It explains the use of KiCAD EDA for schematic capture, mechanical design considerations, and PCB layout process. The auth...
The text discusses the creation of a printed circuit board called Hexo, which is an electrically random 'six-sided' die. The author shares their experience with prototyping, design, and simulation, and the steps involved in implem...
The text explains how to specify a specific version of Bundler to use for a project, to manage different codebases and avoid issues with Gemfile.lock file.

0Types of Notetaking

2025-02-10

The author discusses different types of note-taking methods and tools that he has tried over the years, including actionable TODOs, in situ documentation, contemporaneous work notes, and long-form reference notes. He explains the ...
The text is a summary of the questions and notes from Chapter 4 of the Fastbook, which is a book to accompany a new MOOC by Fastai. It includes questions about greyscale and color images, the MNIST_SAMPLE dataset, pixel similarity...
The text discusses the process of exposing a fastai2 model via an API using Docker and Heroku. It includes a Flask app that wraps the model's inference in an API, and a Dockerfile to encompass the application's runtime environment...