🎱 Josh Branchaud ✨
@jbranchaud.bsky.social
Free-Range Software Dev and Consultant ✨ PostgreSQL • Ruby on Rails • TypeScript • React ✨ 🏃🐈🍹🎱 (he/him) | Chicago | Work with me: visualmode.dev
Pinned
The Ruby language and community have given me so much, so I thought I'd give a little something back as #RubyConf wraps.
Introducing Ruby Operator Lookup!
A one-stop directory for all the operators and symbols you'll see in Ruby programs. There are sooo many 😅
www.visualmode.dev/ruby-operators
Introducing Ruby Operator Lookup!
A one-stop directory for all the operators and symbols you'll see in Ruby programs. There are sooo many 😅
www.visualmode.dev/ruby-operators
Just Use Postgres! is fully available now www.manning.com/books/just-u...
Just Use Postgres! - Denis Magda
You probably don’t need a collection of specialty databases. Just use Postgres instead!
Written for application developers and database pros, Just Use Postgres! shows you how to get the most out of t...
www.manning.com
November 23, 2025 at 4:37 AM
Just Use Postgres! is fully available now www.manning.com/books/just-u...
I’m attempting to lean back in to year-round biking this year by making sure I get around on bike often as temps start to drop 🚲 🥶 🏙️
November 22, 2025 at 8:16 PM
I’m attempting to lean back in to year-round biking this year by making sure I get around on bike often as temps start to drop 🚲 🥶 🏙️
this is great www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3Eu...
Hania Rani - Full Performance (Live on KEXP)
YouTube video by KEXP
www.youtube.com
November 21, 2025 at 10:05 PM
this is great www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3Eu...
I finally got on the "Use Raycast's Emoji Picker" train and it is soooo superior to the built-in macOS one.
It toggles open with the same keybinding, but search is always in focus. Keyboard or mouse navigation to quickly select recently used emojis or ones filtered by search.
It toggles open with the same keybinding, but search is always in focus. Keyboard or mouse navigation to quickly select recently used emojis or ones filtered by search.
November 21, 2025 at 5:52 PM
I finally got on the "Use Raycast's Emoji Picker" train and it is soooo superior to the built-in macOS one.
It toggles open with the same keybinding, but search is always in focus. Keyboard or mouse navigation to quickly select recently used emojis or ones filtered by search.
It toggles open with the same keybinding, but search is always in focus. Keyboard or mouse navigation to quickly select recently used emojis or ones filtered by search.
I’m looking at picking up Things (the Apple ecosystem todo list app) to get recurring tasks and day-to-day reminders organized in one place.
Any who uses this that can sell me on it versus, say, going all in on the built-in Reminders app?
Any who uses this that can sell me on it versus, say, going all in on the built-in Reminders app?
November 21, 2025 at 12:06 AM
I’m looking at picking up Things (the Apple ecosystem todo list app) to get recurring tasks and day-to-day reminders organized in one place.
Any who uses this that can sell me on it versus, say, going all in on the built-in Reminders app?
Any who uses this that can sell me on it versus, say, going all in on the built-in Reminders app?
Me, already feeling jittery: “let’s drink the rest of this french press.” ☕️
November 20, 2025 at 4:32 PM
Me, already feeling jittery: “let’s drink the rest of this french press.” ☕️
What are your favorite PostgreSQL-specific resources to use as part of providing some technical mentorship to a junior developer?
November 20, 2025 at 3:59 PM
What are your favorite PostgreSQL-specific resources to use as part of providing some technical mentorship to a junior developer?
In case it ever comes up in a crossword puzzle, "et al." ("and others") is an abbreviation of the latin "et alia"
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/e...
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/e...
Definition of ET AL.
and others… See the full definition
www.merriam-webster.com
November 20, 2025 at 2:46 PM
In case it ever comes up in a crossword puzzle, "et al." ("and others") is an abbreviation of the latin "et alia"
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/e...
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/e...
I've been looking at a lot of y'all's GitHub profiles and I just want to say that I'm impressed with your educational backgrounds and skills.
November 19, 2025 at 8:23 PM
I've been looking at a lot of y'all's GitHub profiles and I just want to say that I'm impressed with your educational backgrounds and skills.
feels like I'm taking a UI/UX masterclass every time I use this app
trying linear and it is full of ridiculous bits of polish. look at that icon!
November 19, 2025 at 6:46 PM
feels like I'm taking a UI/UX masterclass every time I use this app
It's me, I'm the user who has 128GB of RAM so that I can have 537 browser tabs open at once
user with 537 tabs and documents open on three 4k monitors: why do computers these days use so much ram? this never happened when I had one single Internet Explorer window open on a 800x600 monitor
November 19, 2025 at 6:37 PM
It's me, I'm the user who has 128GB of RAM so that I can have 537 browser tabs open at once
MacOS calculator has a "programmer" mode.
November 19, 2025 at 4:45 PM
MacOS calculator has a "programmer" mode.
Miro is such a good app for collaboratively getting ideas out onto a canvas.
- Infinite scroll, plenty of room to think
- Throw a bunch of stuff on the canvas, then organize it
- Free-form sticky notes <---> Structured diagrams
- Collaborator presence and comments
- Infinite scroll, plenty of room to think
- Throw a bunch of stuff on the canvas, then organize it
- Free-form sticky notes <---> Structured diagrams
- Collaborator presence and comments
November 19, 2025 at 4:25 PM
Miro is such a good app for collaboratively getting ideas out onto a canvas.
- Infinite scroll, plenty of room to think
- Throw a bunch of stuff on the canvas, then organize it
- Free-form sticky notes <---> Structured diagrams
- Collaborator presence and comments
- Infinite scroll, plenty of room to think
- Throw a bunch of stuff on the canvas, then organize it
- Free-form sticky notes <---> Structured diagrams
- Collaborator presence and comments
Advent of Code is only 12 days this year (instead of 25).
tbh that makes me more incline to participate because that is way more manageable and doesn't leave me trying to solve hard puzzles in the last few days running up to christmas.
adventofcode.com/2025/about#f...
tbh that makes me more incline to participate because that is way more manageable and doesn't leave me trying to solve hard puzzles in the last few days running up to christmas.
adventofcode.com/2025/about#f...
adventofcode.com
November 18, 2025 at 7:36 PM
Advent of Code is only 12 days this year (instead of 25).
tbh that makes me more incline to participate because that is way more manageable and doesn't leave me trying to solve hard puzzles in the last few days running up to christmas.
adventofcode.com/2025/about#f...
tbh that makes me more incline to participate because that is way more manageable and doesn't leave me trying to solve hard puzzles in the last few days running up to christmas.
adventofcode.com/2025/about#f...
Reposted by 🎱 Josh Branchaud ✨
I've published a blog post here, with implementation details and metrics:
recursion.wtf/posts/detect/
this may not come as a surprise, but it not spawning a new process via `-exec` for every file or running multiple `xargs` passes makes everything significantly faster
recursion.wtf/posts/detect/
this may not come as a surprise, but it not spawning a new process via `-exec` for every file or running multiple `xargs` passes makes everything significantly faster
November 18, 2025 at 6:57 PM
I've published a blog post here, with implementation details and metrics:
recursion.wtf/posts/detect/
this may not come as a surprise, but it not spawning a new process via `-exec` for every file or running multiple `xargs` passes makes everything significantly faster
recursion.wtf/posts/detect/
this may not come as a surprise, but it not spawning a new process via `-exec` for every file or running multiple `xargs` passes makes everything significantly faster
I’ve got this special bottle of Maker’s that I consider an anniversary bottle. I open it once a year and have a pour to celebrate the anniversary of starting my freelance business.
Celebrating 5 years as of this month 🥳
Celebrating 5 years as of this month 🥳
November 17, 2025 at 3:11 AM
I’ve got this special bottle of Maker’s that I consider an anniversary bottle. I open it once a year and have a pour to celebrate the anniversary of starting my freelance business.
Celebrating 5 years as of this month 🥳
Celebrating 5 years as of this month 🥳
LLMs, especially Claude Code, write a *lot*.
Left to their own devices they'll write a 2000-line planning doc instead of a 200-line one.
Nice tip from @mattpocock.com here to add a top-level "be more concise" rule to the CLAUDE rules file.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZ-z...
Left to their own devices they'll write a 2000-line planning doc instead of a 200-line one.
Nice tip from @mattpocock.com here to add a top-level "be more concise" rule to the CLAUDE rules file.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZ-z...
November 17, 2025 at 2:20 AM
LLMs, especially Claude Code, write a *lot*.
Left to their own devices they'll write a 2000-line planning doc instead of a 200-line one.
Nice tip from @mattpocock.com here to add a top-level "be more concise" rule to the CLAUDE rules file.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZ-z...
Left to their own devices they'll write a 2000-line planning doc instead of a 200-line one.
Nice tip from @mattpocock.com here to add a top-level "be more concise" rule to the CLAUDE rules file.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZ-z...
I really appreciate how quickly Apple continues to push out new seasons of Slow Horses. Excellent show!
November 17, 2025 at 2:08 AM
I really appreciate how quickly Apple continues to push out new seasons of Slow Horses. Excellent show!
Incredible, high-energy set from Caribou www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KFl...
Caribou: Live Concert | CBC Music Live
YouTube video by CBC Music
www.youtube.com
November 17, 2025 at 12:39 AM
Incredible, high-energy set from Caribou www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KFl...
I'm finding that it is really easy to quickly burn through my subscription-based usage limits with Claude Code.
What are your top tips for making the most of Claude Code's context window and usage limits?
What are your top tips for making the most of Claude Code's context window and usage limits?
November 16, 2025 at 3:46 PM
I'm finding that it is really easy to quickly burn through my subscription-based usage limits with Claude Code.
What are your top tips for making the most of Claude Code's context window and usage limits?
What are your top tips for making the most of Claude Code's context window and usage limits?
We're really enjoying Tim Robinson's The Chair Company so far.
It is fantastically bizarre. At any given moment I'm never sure how seriously to take it. It's deeply infused with Robinson's humor yet unlike any of his previous projects.
It is fantastically bizarre. At any given moment I'm never sure how seriously to take it. It's deeply infused with Robinson's humor yet unlike any of his previous projects.
November 15, 2025 at 5:55 PM
We're really enjoying Tim Robinson's The Chair Company so far.
It is fantastically bizarre. At any given moment I'm never sure how seriously to take it. It's deeply infused with Robinson's humor yet unlike any of his previous projects.
It is fantastically bizarre. At any given moment I'm never sure how seriously to take it. It's deeply infused with Robinson's humor yet unlike any of his previous projects.
I may have to build my own CLI utility for time tracking.
I was looking for an alternative time tracking tool from Harvest App.
Watson seems popular and promising. I like that it is CLI-based because of the potential to do some scripting with it.
Unfortunately, it is severely busted for the latest version of Python -- github.com/jazzband/Wat...
Watson seems popular and promising. I like that it is CLI-based because of the potential to do some scripting with it.
Unfortunately, it is severely busted for the latest version of Python -- github.com/jazzband/Wat...
watson 2.1.0 has issues with Python 3.13(.7) · Issue #512 · jazzband/Watson
The command "report" (and others) of watson 2.1.0 does not work with Python 3.13(.7). Error: File "/home/blubb/.local/lib/python3.13/site-packages/watson/cli.py", line 668, in report if 'json' in o...
github.com
November 15, 2025 at 4:41 PM
I may have to build my own CLI utility for time tracking.
This summer I read Keigo Higashino’s The Devotion of Suspect X while in Tokyo. It was an excellent murder mystery.
Now I’m reading the next in the series — Salvation of a Saint.
Now I’m reading the next in the series — Salvation of a Saint.
November 15, 2025 at 3:34 AM
This summer I read Keigo Higashino’s The Devotion of Suspect X while in Tokyo. It was an excellent murder mystery.
Now I’m reading the next in the series — Salvation of a Saint.
Now I’m reading the next in the series — Salvation of a Saint.
Reposted by 🎱 Josh Branchaud ✨
"Malort advent calendar" is already such an unhinged concept but every little window just having Malort in it really pushes it over the edge into something transcendently funny
November 15, 2025 at 12:54 AM
"Malort advent calendar" is already such an unhinged concept but every little window just having Malort in it really pushes it over the edge into something transcendently funny
Reposted by 🎱 Josh Branchaud ✨
A bumper list of goodies
More cool Ruby gems, this time related to databases and Active Record!
First, alternatives to Active Record 😉
github.com/jeremyevans/... – from the creator of Roda; why not try out both together?
github.com/rom-rb/rom – from the creators of Hanami; again, it's worth exploring both
First, alternatives to Active Record 😉
github.com/jeremyevans/... – from the creator of Roda; why not try out both together?
github.com/rom-rb/rom – from the creators of Hanami; again, it's worth exploring both
November 14, 2025 at 5:35 PM
A bumper list of goodies