Et cetera
Anything that doesn’t fit into the other sections.
Captain’s Blog
On maintaining a technical blog in the age of conversational AI
Does it still make sense to write technical blogs when conversational AI like OpenAI’s ChatGPT can give faster and better answers?
Captain’s Blog
My boulevard of broken side project dreams
I build a lot of side projects, but sadly many of them go sideways. This blog post lists some of the projects that never made it to production.
Well Played
I built a theme park in OpenRCT2 based on things that are wrong in tech
RollerCoaster Tycoon and its spiritual successors are timeless classics that never get old, unlike messages from tech recruiters.
Captain’s Blog
Visiting Dutch museums with a Netherlands Museum Pass
Life pro tip: get yourself a Museum Pass (aka Museumkaart) if you plan on visiting a lot of Dutch museums in one year.
Captain’s Blog
The colours of Chuniversiteit
I illustrated 200 posts on this website using Microsoft PowerPoint and all I got are these lousy colour bar code visualisations.
Getting Around
A quick-start guide to public transport in Hong Kong
Depending on where you’re from, public transport in Hong Kong either offers a glimpse of the future or is stuck in the past.
The Middle Qingdom
Five things that are (not) made in Japan
Japan is good at inventing things, but in these five cases it was actually just good at adopting things.
The Middle Qingdom
Five things that are (not) made in China
Most of your stuff probably comes from China. Confusingly there also some “Chinese” things that come from somewhere else.
The Middle Qingdom
Xi Jinping Thought on Software Engineering with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era
Best practices for software engineering teams, derived from writings and speeches of Chinese Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping.
Captain’s Blog
Take note of these notes on note-taking
Making meeting notes and minutes isn’t everyone’s favourite task, but with the help of these tips you might at least get good at it.
The Middle Qingdom
Naming things is hard: Hong Kong street names edition
Hong Kong’s official languages are Chinese and English. But its street names are a sign that not everyone is proficient in both languages.
Captain’s Blog
A (very incomplete) guide to Gen Z language
A survival guide for older people who can’t make heads or tails of the messages that their new Gen Z co-workers are writing in Slack.
Captain’s Blog
My 2022 in review
As 2022 draws to a close, I wanted to do a quick retrospective; what made me mad, sad, and glad this year?
Captain’s Blog
Easter eggs on Chuniversiteit.nl
Easter is long gone, but that doesn’t mean everyone has found all the easter eggs on this website. Here’s a cheat sheet!
Captain’s Blog
Please allow me to introduce mysel–… my personal user manual
This guide describes how I work. Useful for stalkers and future co-workers (current ones get access to a more complete version).
The Toilet Paper
How to make your software engineering job advertisements gender-inclusive
This week’s paper presents a systematic method to detect gender bias in software engineering job advertisements.
Captain’s Blog
Introduce yourself to your team by writing a personal user manual
Your team mates might not be able to read your mind, but at least they could learn more about you by reading your user manual.
The Middle Qingdom
阻住地球轉: Please move aside!
This month’s side project takes passive-aggressiveness against life’s daily obstacles to a whole new level.
Getting Around
Cube buses be bussin’
Imagine a world in which all buses are cube-shaped for absolutely no reason.
Captain’s Blog
The five stages of job satisfaction
In this article I present a dumb framework for job satisfaction, which has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience.
The Middle Qingdom
An analysis of Chinese restaurant names in the Netherlands
Is it just me or do all Chinese restaurant names look the same?
Captain’s Blog
Tiny catastrophes with apostrophes
This is a brief public service announcement for anyone who occasionally uses apostrophes or single quotes (or both).
Captain’s Blog
My 2021 in review
It’s the last day of the year, which means it’s time to reflect on all the things that have happened in the past twelve months.
Captain’s Blog
Ways to facilitate communication and coordination between departments
A very brief introduction to the concepts of horizontal and vertical linkage.