Second the Philip Reeve books. Mortal Engines and Railhead series both popular in this house. Haven't noticed anyone mentioning the first three Earthsea books yet which hold up very well and I think are good for that age. Tehanu not so much.

We're currently on the Silmarillion. Not my suggestion, but am enjoying it a bit more this time round, going in knowing what it's like. Pronouncing all the names is a challenge though.

Facebook Workplaces was the best solution I've seen for status updates and it's a shame that it was doomed by being Facebook Workplaces

I do miss the covered bridges of Wisconsin analysis

Looking at your list, I'd recommend Gorogoa if you haven't already tried it. Very much fits the singular vision, expressed through the mechanics vein.

I can confuse people because I'm fairly shy, but massively draw energy from being around and chatting to others if I get over that initial hump

They seem to at least have a better idea of when to STFU

I suspect the bsky demographic is pretty heavily weighted towards those of us who remember that 6 months when we were hyped for the semantic web and triple stores.

Don't fall for the lesser lie that it isn't well integrated. I grew up there, my brother lives there. It's not some monocultural ghetto. Easy to get a bad photo with the bin strike though, as in any other part of Birmingham.

I find them useful for work and they're better than they were a few years ago. Few technologies manage as much as 10% efficiency gains, but that does feel like a pretty optimistic scenario for LLMs right now. Hard to predict where they'll be in 5 years, but...

Once had to get back from Brum on a Sunday when the Euston line was down and Villa had been hosting West Ham. It would have been a pain by myself, but with the boys it was really not much fun.

One of my favourite tracks

This post just made me realise what a great pun Milestones is.

Thanks for putting your head above the parapet to do so

Amazing, it wasn't black today

Yes, but also it not being a success meant that at the point where I had least disposable income, I could get a great console with great games for peanuts

After a spell managing, I thought I wanted to just be hands on. That was great until I ran into all the classic problems I could have helped the team avoid if I hadn't had my head down. Still get that feeling sometimes, but it was a clarifying moment.