Rakesh Ranjan

My Experience Planning Road Trips, and a Hobby Tool

2026-02-28T00:00:00+00:00

I've done a fair number of long drives across India over the years, often to historical sites I've read about. For multi-day trips, the route planning matters almost as much as the destination itself — figuring out where to eat, rest, and refuel along the way.</p>

I've picked up a fair bit of planning experience along the way, from quick weekend runs to multi-week drives. Some of my recent ones:</p>

A 14-day drive through central India:</strong> Bangalore → Aurangabad → Maheshwar → Ujjain → Agra → Gwalior → Hampi → Bangalore.</li>
A 10-day coastal drive up the east:</strong> Bangalore → Vizag → Puri → Kolkata → Bhubaneswar → Bangalore.</li>
A 9-day drive to ancient port city:</strong> Bangalore → Pune → Surat → Vadodara → Lothal → Bangalore.</li>
A 6-day drive down south:</strong> Bangalore → Kanyakumari → Varkala → Kochi → Bangalore.</li> </ul>
How I Plan My Road Trips
From Personal Notes to a Public Tool </a> </h3>
trails.rakeshr.net</a></strong>, a drive planner built on top of Google Maps APIs, designed around the way I actually plan my routes and stops.</p>
Here's an example: a Bangalore to Mumbai trip. It picked a route via NH, bypassed Satara, Kolhapur, Belgaum, Dharwad, Davangere, Chitradurga, and Tumkur, and found 5 stops along the 1035 km route with veg restaurants, clean washrooms, and parking:</p>
Bangalore to Mumbai, 1035 km, ~18h 28m. 5 stops found: Sai Cafe, Bhavani Dhaba, AMAR Only Veg, McDonald's, and Nisarg Garden.</em></p>
Zoomed in on stop 3 — AMAR Only Veg near Tavandi on NH 48. Each stop shows break timing, distance, review summary, and matched criteria.</em></p>
Once you're happy with the stops, there's an "Open in Google Maps"</strong> button at the bottom of the page — it opens the full route with all stops as waypoints directly in Google Maps, ready to navigate.</p>
Under the Hood</a> </h3>
@vis.gl/react-google-maps</code></a> for the map interface.</p>
Route computation:</strong> The Google Routes API</strong> returns an encoded polyline for the route. If "Prefer National Highways" is enabled, it computes two routes (highway and surface) and picks the highway one unless the surface route is more than 15% faster. For city bypasses, it detects major cities on the route by sampling the polyline every ~10 km and checking against a hardcoded list of ~70 Indian cities (population > 200K) for now, I plan to automate this better in the future. For each detected city, it looks up bypass waypoints, first from a pre-stored list, then via Nominatim OSM lookup, and finally falls back to a directional offset perpendicular to the route bearing. A bypass is accepted only if the extra time is under 15% of the through-city time.</p>
Finding stops:</strong> Based on the break planner settings (every X hours or Y km, whichever comes first), the algorithm calculates break points along the polyline. At each break point, it samples 21 points</strong> (10 before + centre + 10 after), spaced 2 km apart</strong> — giving a ±20 km search window. At each of these 21 points, it calls the Google Places API</strong> with a 500m search radius to find restaurants and cafes.</p>
Left-side filtering:</strong> Stops should ideally be on the left side of the road. Currently it searches for restaurants and cafes — I plan to let users select the type of stop they prefer in the future. The algorithm uses a cross product</strong> of the route direction vector and the place's position relative to the road. A positive cross product means the place is on the left side. Places on the right side are discarded. It also filters by distance to the road, within 50m first, relaxing to 80m and then 120m if nothing is found.</p>
Scoring:</strong> Places that pass the spatial and hard filters (minimum 3.7★ rating, at least 100 reviews, has parking) are shortlisted — top 3 per break based on review count and rating. Their full details and reviews are fetched, and then Groq</strong> (running Llama 3.1) reads the actual review text to score them against fuzzy criteria like "Clean Washrooms,"</strong> "Safe at Night,"</strong> or "Good Veg Options."</strong> Each criterion gets a 0–100 score based strictly on review evidence. Places scoring below 50 overall are dropped.</p>
The final output is ranked using a weighted score — rating quality (30), review trust (25), clean washrooms (20), good parking (15), and optional criteria like veg or quick service (10). These weights are visible as score badges on each stop card. The whole trip is then exportable as a shareable Google Maps link.</p>
On the cost side — Google Maps Platform offers free usage per SKU per month (10K calls on the Essentials tier), which is more than enough for a hobby project like this. Groq's free tier is generous for a hobby project, though llama-3.1</code> has a 6,000 tokens-per-minute (TPM) limit — on extremely long multi-day drives with 5+ break windows and many scoring calls, this can trigger 429 rate limits. The app handles this with retry-after backoff, so it still works, just a bit slower on those rare edge cases. So the whole thing runs at essentially zero cost.</p>
I'm planning to add a few of the above-mentioned features, along with using Google Street View images with Gemini Vision to automatically flag road condition along the route.</p>
I built this for my own needs. It's still early, and there are things I want to improve in my free time, but it already does what I needed, takes a start point, a destination, and gives me a route and stops I can trust. If you drive long distances and care about the quality of your stops, give it a try.</p>

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Instagram Will Start Letting You Pick What Sho...</p> </blockquote> Tech Feed - December 09, 2025 2025-12-09T00:00:00+00:00 Articles and podcasts from the software engineering world.</p> SE Radio</a> </h2> SE Radio 698: Srujana Merugu on How to build an LLM App</a></a> </h3> In this episode of Software Engineering Radio, Srujana Merugu, an AI researcher with decades of experience, speaks with host Priyanka Raghavan about building LLM-based applications. The discussion begins by clarifying essential concepts like generative vs. predictive AI, pre-training vs. fine-tuning...</p> </blockquote> Software Engineering Daily</a> </h2> Blocking Software Supply Chain Attacks with Feross Aboukhadijeh</a></a> </h3> Here is a 300-word summary of the key points from the podcast episode "Blocking Software Supply Chain Attacks with Feross Aboukhadijeh":</p> Feross Aboukhadijeh is the founder and CEO of Socket, a security platform designed to protect software projects from open-source supply chain attacks. In this episode, he discusses his background in open source, the growing problem of supply chain attacks compromising popular libraries, and the practical steps developers can take to secure their software.</p> Aboukhadijeh started coding in high school, building websites to host his favorite Flash animations. This early experience sparked his interest in open source and automation. After studying computer science at Stanford, he worked on several popular open-source projects like WebTorrent, which showed him both the benefits and challenges of being a high-profile open-source maintainer.</p> The main focus of the discussion is the rise of software supply chain attacks, where bad actors compromise popular open-source libraries to distribute malware at scale. Aboukhadijeh explains how these attacks often go undetected for months, taking advantage of the fact that most developers don't thoroughly review their dependencies. He emphasizes the importance of using package locks, vetting dependencies, and shifting mindsets to treat third-party code as part of your application.</p> Aboukhadijeh then details how Socket uses a combination of heuristics and large language models to automatically scan packages for malicious behaviors, providing high-signal alerts to developers. He also warns about emerging threats like attackers exploiting AI-generated code and the risks of excessive permissions in Chrome/Firefox extensions.</p> While there's no perfect solution, Aboukhadijeh advocates for more experimentation with secure package managers like Deno and pnpm, as well as developing a security-conscious culture around open-source dependencies. The key takeaway is that developers must be proactive about understanding and vetting the code they depend on, rather than blindly trusting open-source packages.</p> Dev Interrupted</a> </h2> The hidden costs of pre-computing data | Chalk's Elliot Marx</a></a> </h3> Is your engineering team wasting budget and sacrificing latency by pre-computing data that most users never see? Chalk co-founder Elliot Marx joins Andrew Zigler to explain why the future of AI relies on real-time pipelines rather than traditional storage. They dive into solving compute challenges f...</p> </blockquote> Tech Brew Ride Home</a> </h2> Nvidia Back In China… Maybe</a></a> </h3> Trump says Nvidia and others can ship chips to China, but the question is, will China take delivery. OpenAI is ending the code red in about a month, after getting a new model out the door. Meta wants a new Llama model, maybe in a month. And a new smart ring that is pretty intriguing… Trump greenligh...</p> </blockquote> Tech Feed - December 08, 2025 2025-12-08T00:00:00+00:00 Articles and podcasts from the software engineering world.</p> Tech Brew Ride Home</a> </h2> Netflix Faces Hostility</a></a> </h3> Looks like that big Netflix bid for Warner Brothers isn’t gonna go smoothly as Paramount launching a hostile counter-bid. We’ve got a full-on executive suite crisis at Apple. SpaceX could IPO next year. And more data on how AI usage is evolving. Paramount Skydance launches hostile bid for WBD ‘to fi...</p> </blockquote> Tech Feed - December 07, 2025 2025-12-07T00:00:00+00:00 Articles and podcasts from the software engineering world.</p> The Cloudcast</a> </h2> The Future of PaaS</a></a> </h3> Tech Feed - December 05, 2025 2025-12-05T00:00:00+00:00 Articles and podcasts from the software engineering world.</p> Tech Brew Ride Home</a> </h2> The Albanian Army Wins!</a></a> </h3> Turns out the Albanian army was triumphant as Netflix is buying HBO (and WBD’s studios). The NYT is suing Perplexity. Man, everybody is heading for the exits at Apple at the same time. And get ready for a slew of insider trading controversies in our prediction market world. Netflix agrees $83bn ta...</p> </blockquote> Tech Feed - December 04, 2025 2025-12-04T00:00:00+00:00 Articles and podcasts from the software engineering world.</p> Software Engineering Daily</a> </h2> Pydantic AI with Samuel Colvin</a></a> </h3> Here is a 200-word summary of the key points from the podcast episode "Pydantic AI with Samuel Colvin":</p> The main topic is Pydantic AI, a type-safe agent framework for building reliable AI systems in Python, created by Samuel Colvin, the founder of the popular Pydantic library. Key discussion points include:</p> Pydantic's origins in providing type-safe data validation in Python, and Colvin's motivation to enforce types at runtime rather than just static checking.</p> </li> The evolution of Pydantic, including upcoming plans for Pydantic V3 with a new "struct" type and improved performance.</p> </li> Colvin's creation of the Logfire observability platform to provide a developer-friendly way to instrument and monitor Python applications, including AI systems.</p> </li> The design principles behind Pydantic AI, focused on type safety, observability, and evals to systematically improve AI agents over time.</p> </li> Insights on managing state and memory in AI agents, and the tradeoffs between graph-based approaches vs. durable execution frameworks.</p> </li> The upcoming release of the Pydantic AI Gateway, an open-source gateway to manage access and observability across multiple LLM providers for enterprise use cases.</p> </li> </ul> Throughout, Colvin emphasizes applying sound software engineering practices to build reliable, production-ready AI systems, rather than relying on the "magic" of large language models alone.</p> Tech Brew Ride Home</a> </h2> Meta To Abandon The Metaverse?</a></a> </h3> On the one hand, Meta poached Apple’s design head in a major coup to make hardware and software for AI, but there are signs Zuck is souring on the Metaverse could even abandon it entirely. Is Amazon about to abandon your mailman? And why Dario Amodei is playing a blinder right now. Apple Design Exec...</p> </blockquote> Tech Feed - December 03, 2025 2025-12-03T00:00:00+00:00 Articles and podcasts from the software engineering world.</p> SE Radio</a> </h2> SE Radio 697: Philip Kiely on Multi-Model AI</a></a> </h3> Philip Kiely, software developer relations lead at Baseten, speaks with host Jeff Doolittle about multi-agent AI, emphasizing how to build AI-native software beyond simple ChatGPT wrappers. Kiely advocates for composing multiple models and agents that take action to achieve complex user goals, rathe...</p> </blockquote> The Cloudcast</a> </h2> AI & Cloud Trends for November 2025</a></a> </h3> Tech Brew Ride Home</a> </h2> Not Great, Bob!</a></a> </h3> We might soon have the first big IPO of the AI era, and it doesn’t look like it will be OpenAI. Amazon takes another few swings at Nvidia’s dominance. Proof positive that self driving cars really are significantly safer. And the disastrous 4k upscaling of Mad Men. Anthropic taps IPO lawyers as it ra...</p> </blockquote> Tech Feed - December 02, 2025 2025-12-02T00:00:00+00:00 Articles and podcasts from the software engineering world.</p> Software Engineering Daily</a> </h2> SED News: Bezos Returns to Building, AI’s Reality Check, and Europe’s Cloud Ambitions</a></a> </h3> Here is a concise 200-word summary of the key points from the podcast episode:</p> Main Topic: Tipping Points of Technologies</p> Tipping points refer to when emerging technologies like the internet, smartphones, and AI finally gain widespread adoption and respect, after long periods of uncertainty.</li> </ul> Key Discussion Points:</p> The internet took time to be seen as useful and to find viable business models. Smartphones enabled disruptions like Uber by putting connectivity in everyone's pocket.</li> Autonomous driving is an example of a "moonshot" technology that is now becoming viable, due to advances in AI, sensors, and regulations.</li> With AI, the risk is more about cost and scalability, rather than uncertainty about usefulness or behavioral change. If the technology can be made to work, there is clear economic value.</li> </ul> Notable Insights:</p> Infrastructure is crucial - the laying of internet cables, development of fast mobile networks, and advances in computing power have enabled many tech breakthroughs.</li> Overcoming regulatory hurdles is also key, as seen with autonomous vehicles.</li> There is often resistance to technologies that mimic human skills, like AI-generated content. Familiarity and understanding the benefits can help overcome this.</li> </ul> Technologies Mentioned:</p> Internet, smartphones, ride-hailing services, autonomous driving, satellite internet (Starlink), AI/machine learning</li> </ul> Overall, the discussion highlights how tipping points for new technologies often involve reaching critical technical, economic, and societal milestones, rather than simply the technology itself being "ready."</p> Dev Interrupted</a> </h2> Are developers happy yet? Unpacking the 2025 Developer Survey | Stack Overflow’s Erin Yepis</a></a> </h3> After hitting a low point last year, developer job satisfaction is officially on the rise. Erin Yepis returns to the show to unpack the 2025 Stack Overflow Developer Survey, analyzing how autonomy and compensation are driving this recovery. We also cover the happiness gap between senior and junior e...</p> </blockquote> Tech Brew Ride Home</a> </h2> Sam Altman Declares A “Code Red”</a></a> </h3> Sam Altman declares a “Code Red” for OpenAI. All hands on deck. Molly, you in danger, girl, to quote Oda Mae Brown from the movie Ghost. Long term, is Apple in trouble cause of Google’s ascendency in AI? Samsung announces but does not launch a tri-fold phone. And Ben Thompson weighs in on the obsess...</p> </blockquote> Tech Feed - December 01, 2025 2025-12-01T00:00:00+00:00 Articles and podcasts from the software engineering world.</p> Tech Brew Ride Home</a> </h2> Is Nvidia In Trouble?</a></a> </h3> While Runway releases a new video model, let me break down the big analysis piece that had everyone concern trolling about Nvidia over the weekend. Why doesn’t Netflix want you to cast to your tv anymore? And AI means less jobs in consulting, but more jobs in a specific type of construction. Runway ...</p> </blockquote> Tech Feed - November 30, 2025 2025-11-30T00:00:00+00:00 Articles and podcasts from the software engineering world.</p> The Cloudcast</a> </h2> Things to be Thankful for</a></a> </h3> Tech Feed - November 28, 2025 2025-11-28T00:00:00+00:00 Articles and podcasts from the software engineering world.</p> Tech Brew Ride Home</a> </h2> (BNS) Susan Lyne Part 2</a></a> </h3> We're back again with Susan Lyne, to talk about running Martha Stewart's company when Martha went to prison, her startup career with Gilt Groupe, and her investing career with BBG Ventures. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...</p> </blockquote> Tech Feed - November 27, 2025 2025-11-27T00:00:00+00:00 Articles and podcasts from the software engineering world.</p> Software Engineering Daily</a> </h2> Game Development on the PICO-8 with Johan Peitz</a></a> </h3> Here is a concise 200-word summary of the podcast episode "Game Development on the PICO-8 with Johan Peitz":</p> Key Discussion Points:</p> Johan Peitz is an experienced game developer who has created dozens of games, many of them using the PICO-8 game development environment.</li> PICO-8 emulates the look and feel of 8-bit consoles, with limited color palettes, screen resolutions, and memory constraints. This breeds creativity as developers work within those restrictions.</li> Peitz values PICO-8's accessibility and depth, allowing for quick prototyping and complex projects. He appreciates its similarity to older development environments like AMOS on Amiga.</li> Peitz discusses his workflow, often starting with a loose concept and letting the constraints of PICO-8 shape the final game. He aims to use around 50% of the available space and then fill out the rest.</li> Notable PICO-8 tools and concepts mentioned include the sprite/tile editor, multi-cart functionality, and Peitz's own tools like picoCAD (a 3D modeling app) and picoSynth (a modular synth).</li> Peitz approaches PICO-8 development commercially, selling games on platforms like Itch.io and Steam, while also maintaining a Patreon to engage the PICO-8 community. He discusses the challenges of reaching a wider audience beyond just PICO-8 developers.</li> Looking ahead, Peitz is exploring the use of the Love2D framework to create games beyond the PICO-8 constraints, while still maintaining the retro aesthetic.</li> </ul> Tech Brew Ride Home</a> </h2> (BNS) Susan Lyne Part 1</a></a> </h3> I’ve maybe never interviewed anyone in my entire time as a historian and podcaster who has had a career as broad and varied as Susan Lyne. Yes, I obviously wanted to talk to Susan about her role helping startup Gilt Group, and her current role as the managing partner of the VC firm BBG Ventures. But...</p> </blockquote> Tech Feed - November 26, 2025 2025-11-26T00:00:00+00:00 Articles and podcasts from the software engineering world.</p> The Cloudcast</a> </h2> Time Series for Physical AI</a></a> </h3> Tech Brew Ride Home</a> </h2> Polymarket Is Street Legal</a></a> </h3> Trump has a plan to boost AI innovation. Polymarket is now street legal in the US. Google thinks it needs to double AI capacity every 6 months. Is Starlink about to face its first serious competition. And for reasons I’ll explain, the Weekend Longreads Suggestions. Trump aims to boost AI innovation,...</p> </blockquote> Tech Feed - November 25, 2025 2025-11-25T00:00:00+00:00 Articles and podcasts from the software engineering world.</p> SE Radio</a> </h2> SE Radio 696: Flavia Saldanha on Data Engineering for AI</a></a> </h3> Flavia Saldanha, a consulting data engineer, joins host Kanchan Shringi to discuss the evolution of data engineering from ETL (extract, transform, load) and data lakes to modern lakehouse architectures enriched with vector databases and embeddings. Flavi...</p> </blockquote> Software Engineering Daily</a> </h2> Running Doom in TypeScript with Dimitri Mitropoulos</a></a> </h3> Here is a 200-word summary of the key points from the podcast episode "Running Doom in TypeScript with Dimitri Mitropoulos":</p> The main topic of the episode is Dimitri Mitropoulos' project to implement the Doom video game entirely within the TypeScript type system. This was an ambitious and seemingly impossible task, as the TypeScript type system is not a full programming language runtime.</p> Dimitri discussed how he was able to build a WebAssembly runtime within the TypeScript type system to execute the low-level Doom game logic. This required developing extensive type-level abstractions to represent things like binary arithmetic and memory manipulation. Despite initial skepticism that it could be done, Dimitri's thorough testing and incremental approach allowed him to successfully run a frame of Doom using only TypeScript types.</p> Some key insights and takeaways include:</p> Dimitri cautioned against overusing complex TypeScript type-level features, emphasizing the importance of team dynamics and codebase health.</li> He highlighted lesser-known TypeScript features like "Exact Optional Property Types" that can improve type safety.</li> The project demonstrated the limits of "Turing completeness" as a concept, with Dimitri proposing "Doom completeness" as a more meaningful benchmark.</li> Building the project required deep understanding of low-level system concepts like WebAssembly, binary representation, and bootstrapping executables.</li> </ul> Overall, the episode showcased an extraordinary TypeScript project that pushed the boundaries of what's possible with the type system.</p> Dev Interrupted</a> </h2> From Kubernetes to AI maximalism | Stacklok's Craig McLuckie</a></a> </h3> When you co-create Kubernetes, you earn the right to have strong opinions on the next platform shift. This week, Ben sits down with Craig McLuckie, Co-founder & CEO of Stacklok, who is advocating for a shift in leadership mindset. He argues we need to move from asking if we can use AI to demandi...</p> </blockquote> Tech Brew Ride Home</a> </h2> Is OpenAI In Trouble?</a></a> </h3> Now Anthropic says it’s leapfrogged OpenAI with its new model and is the AI horserace in play? OpenAI is still focusing on things like shopping. Nvidia answers a question people weren’t asking. And is Google soaring because they also might be able to go after Nvidia’s chip throne? Anthropic introduc...</p> </blockquote> Tech Feed - November 24, 2025 2025-11-24T00:00:00+00:00 Articles and podcasts from the software engineering world.</p> Tech Brew Ride Home</a> </h2> Where Does That X Account Live?</a></a> </h3> What sort of a world do we live in if you can’t be sure where an X account comes from? Google isn’t out of the woods yet when it comes to antitrust. Insurers still don’t want to touch AI. Let me tell you about “AI grooming.” And we might be running out of capacity for specific types of chips. X’s me...</p> </blockquote> Tech Feed - November 23, 2025 2025-11-23T00:00:00+00:00 Articles and podcasts from the software engineering world.</p> The Cloudcast</a> </h2> After NVIDIA's Latest Earnings</a></a> </h3> Tech Feed - November 21, 2025 2025-11-21T00:00:00+00:00 Articles and podcasts from the software engineering world.</p> Tech Brew Ride Home</a> </h2> The iOS Walls Are Crumbling In The Garden</a></a> </h3> Google phone users can now work with Airdrop on the iPhone cause Google cleverly found a way. Google might have jumped ahead in the AI race and Sam Altman knows it. I’ve heard of quantum computing, but a quantum internet? The Weekend Longreads suggestions, and at the end, a long rant about my latest...</p> </blockquote> Tech Feed - November 20, 2025 2025-11-20T00:00:00+00:00 Articles and podcasts from the software engineering world.</p> Software Engineering Daily</a> </h2> Drone Warfare in Ukraine with Simon Shuster</a></a> </h3> Here is a 191 word summary of the key points from the podcast episode "Drone Warfare in Ukraine with Simon Shuster":</p> The main topic is how the war in Ukraine has seen rapid technological innovation in drone warfare, driven by a decentralized, grassroots effort. Key discussion points include:</p> The Ukrainian military's use of off-the-shelf commercial drones, modified with Starlink internet connectivity, for reconnaissance and strikes. This allowed them to overcome Russian electronic warfare.</p> </li> The "gamification" of drone warfare, where a government system assigns points for confirmed kills, allowing drone units to "level up" and acquire more advanced drones.</p> </li> Emerging use of AI-assisted targeting, raising ethical concerns about autonomous weapons. Developers are hesitant to deploy this without clear legal frameworks.</p> </li> The potential for this wartime innovation to proliferate globally, as Ukraine relaxes export restrictions, shifting the global balance of power.</p> </li> </ul> The podcast highlights the rapid iteration cycle and entrepreneurial spirit driving drone development in Ukraine, blending consumer tech, military needs, and video game-like mechanics. It illustrates how quickly emerging technologies can reshape modern warfare.</p> Tech Brew Ride Home</a> </h2> Who Gets To Regulate AI?</a></a> </h3> Are we about to have a battle over who gets to regulate AI? Now there’s Nano Banana Pro. The creator ecosystem is exploding for advertisers. Battlefield did exactly what EA needed it to do. And I’m telling you, the consumer robots for your home… they’re actually starting to arrive. Here’s the Trump ...</p> </blockquote> Tech Feed - November 19, 2025 2025-11-19T00:00:00+00:00 Articles and podcasts from the software engineering world.</p> SE Radio</a> </h2> SE Radio 695: Dave Thomas on Building eBooks Infrastructure</a></a> </h3> Dave Thomas, author of The Pragmatic Programmer, The Manifesto for Agile Software Development, Programming Ruby, Agile Web Development with Rails, Programming Elixir, Simplicity, and co-founder of the Pragmatic Bookshelf, speaks with SE Radio host Gavin Henry about building infrastructure for eBooks...</p> </blockquote> The Cloudcast</a> </h2> Shadow AI</a></a> </h3> Tech Brew Ride Home</a> </h2> Gemini 3, And Meta Beats The Government</a></a> </h3> Tons of things today. Google’s new Gemini 3 model. Signs the “second tier” of AI startups is starting to get product market fit. The EU has announced that watering down of GDPR that was rumored. And will Meta’s big win against the government mean mergers and acquisitions are back on the tech menu? G...</p> </blockquote> Tech Feed - November 18, 2025 2025-11-18T00:00:00+00:00 Articles and podcasts from the software engineering world.</p> Software Engineering Daily</a> </h2> Radix UI with Chance Strickland</a></a> </h3> Here is a concise 200-word summary of the key points from the podcast episode "Radix UI with Chance Strickland":</p> Radix UI is an open-source library of React components focused on usability, accessibility, and composability. Its "headless primitives" handle complex logic and accessibility concerns, allowing developers to style the components as they wish.</p> The project was started by a team of Americans and Brits, leading to pronunciation debates around the name "Radix" (RAY-dix vs RAH-dix).</p> Radix offers several related projects beyond the core Primitives, including Radix Themes (pre-styled components) and Radix Colors/Icons. The components are designed to be flexible and composable, often predating or improving upon new browser web standards.</p> Chance Strickland, a software engineer at WorkOS, is a key maintainer of Radix. He discussed his history with the project, tracing it back to his use of the similar Reach UI library while working as a freelancer. This led to him joining the Reach UI team, and eventually transitioning to maintain the Radix project after Reach UI's parent company shut down.</p> Looking ahead, Strickland says Radix Primitives is fairly mature, but the broader Radix ecosystem has room to evolve, potentially leveraging emerging web technologies and AI tools to enhance the developer experience for building on the web.</p> Dev Interrupted</a> </h2> Speed is the moat | AMD’s Anush Elangovan</a></a> </h3> In the race to define the future of AI, what's the one advantage that truly lasts? It's not proprietary tech, argues Anush Elangovan, VP of AI Software at AMD, but the sustainable speed of innovation. He explains why AMD is rejecting the "walled garden" model for its open source ...</p> </blockquote> Tech Brew Ride Home</a> </h2> The Bloodbath In Crypto</a></a> </h3> What happened with Cloudflare this morning. Grok’s new model wants to be creative. Catching you up on the bloodbath in crypto if you were unaware. Databricks is 12 years old but it seems to be one of the big AI winners. And debt continues to pile in to the AI buildout. A massive Cloudflare outage br...</p> </blockquote> Tech Feed - November 17, 2025 2025-11-17T00:00:00+00:00 Articles and podcasts from the software engineering world.</p> Tech Brew Ride Home</a> </h2> Jeff Bezos To Be A CEO Again</a></a> </h3> Jeff Bezos is going to be a CEO once again. Could Tim Cook step down from Apple’s CEO position in a matter of months? Maybe don’t buy an AI teddy bear. What big AI startup would you short, if you could? And data-centers in spaaaaaaacceee… Jeff Bezos Creates A.I. Start-Up Where He Will Be Co-Chief Ex...</p> </blockquote> Tech Feed - November 16, 2025 2025-11-16T00:00:00+00:00 Articles and podcasts from the software engineering world.</p> The Cloudcast</a> </h2> Rational and Irrational AI numbers</a></a> </h3> Tech Feed - November 15, 2025 2025-11-15T00:00:00+00:00 Articles and podcasts from the software engineering world.</p> Tech Brew Ride Home</a> </h2> (Portfolio Profile) Hypercubic.AI</a></a> </h3> A portfolio profile episode of Hypercubic.ai, a seed-stage company that wants to not only preserve knowledge in legacy code, but legacy knowledge in enterprises. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...</p> </blockquote> Tech Feed - November 14, 2025 2025-11-14T00:00:00+00:00 Articles and podcasts from the software engineering world.</p> Tech Brew Ride Home</a> </h2> OpenAI Enters The Group Chat</a></a> </h3> OpenAI is testing out group chats as a sort of collaborative prompting experience. The hyperscalers are lining up against Nvidia in one specific arena. The Sam Altman Elon Musk feud isn’t over. Google knows who sent you that fake UPS shipment alert text. And, of course, the Weekend Longreads Suggest...</p> </blockquote> Tech Feed - November 13, 2025 2025-11-13T00:00:00+00:00 Articles and podcasts from the software engineering world.</p> Software Engineering Daily</a> </h2> The 2025 Stack Overflow Developer Survey with Jody Bailey and Erin Yepis</a></a> </h3> Here is a concise 150-200 word summary of the key points from the podcast episode:</p> The Stack Overflow Developer Survey provides valuable insights into the global developer community. This year's survey uncovered several notable trends:</p> AI tool adoption continues to rise, with over 80% of developers now using AI for work. However, trust and favorability of these tools has declined, likely due to high expectations and the learning curve required.</p> </li> Developers are increasingly using cloud-based tools like Docker, Kubernetes, and PostgreSQL, with the latter seeing a surge in popularity due to its AI applications.</p> </li> Emerging technologies like large language models, MCP, and RAG are also gaining traction among developers.</p> </li> The survey revealed mixed feelings about "vibe coding" - using AI to generate code with little technical knowledge. Many developers view this as unprofessional and a source of future technical debt.</p> </li> Measuring the productivity gains from AI tools remains a challenge, with engineering leaders focused on faster delivery of business value rather than just increased code output.</p> </li> </ul> The role of developer communities like Stack Overflow is evolving to provide more support and feedback loops as the industry grapples with these new AI-powered tools and workflows.</p> Tech Brew Ride Home</a> </h2> Valve Takes On Consoles And VR</a></a> </h3> Valve is taking on gaming consoles and creating a new type of VR headset, all at the same time. GPT-5 gets “warmer.” Cursor’s new raise means it has 10x’d its valuation in the span of a year. And we’re one step closer to your phone completely replacing your wallet. Valve brings back Steam Machine an...</p> </blockquote> Tech Feed - November 12, 2025 2025-11-12T00:00:00+00:00 Articles and podcasts from the software engineering world.</p> SE Radio</a> </h2> SE Radio 694: Jennings Anderson and Amy Rose on Overture Maps</a></a> </h3> Jennings Anderson, a Software Engineer with Meta Platforms, and Amy Rose, the Chief Technology Officer at Overture Maps Foundation, speak with host Gregory M. Kapfhammer about the Overture Maps project, which creates reliable, easy-to-use, and interoperable open map data. After exploring the foundat...</p> </blockquote> The Cloudcast</a> </h2> 2025 State of APIs</a></a> </h3> Tech Brew Ride Home</a> </h2> Text-To-World AI Models</a></a> </h3> Forget text-to-video AI, we’re rapidly moving into the text-to-world-generating AI models. What if you showed up to your Airbnb and the fridge was already fully stocked? It seems like there is NO uncanney valley when it comes to AI generated music. And does the Big Short guy have a point when he con...</p> </blockquote> Tech Feed - November 11, 2025 2025-11-11T00:00:00+00:00 Articles and podcasts from the software engineering world.</p> Software Engineering Daily</a> </h2> Building an Open-Source Laptop with Byran Huang</a></a> </h3> Here is a 194 word summary of the key points from the podcast episode "Building an Open-Source Laptop with Byran Huang":</p> Byran Huang, a high school student, has created an open-source laptop called anyon_e with the goal of showing that anyone can build their own laptop. The laptop features custom-designed hardware and software, including a 4K AMOLED display, a removable wireless mechanical keyboard, and custom battery management firmware.</p> The project was a major undertaking, with Huang designing every component from the chassis to the circuit board traces. Key challenges included debugging the high-speed embedded display port signals and implementing robust battery charging firmware.</p> The project has gained significant attention, becoming the second highest upvoted "Show HN" post on Hacker News. Huang has since received numerous job offers and connected with influential figures in the open hardware community, including Linus Tech Tips and Louis Rossmann.</p> Moving forward, Huang plans to continue developing open-source hardware, potentially with funding and support from companies like FUTO. His goal is to inspire others to take on hardware projects and show that building laptops is accessible to individuals, not just large corporations.</p> Dev Interrupted</a> </h2> How spec-driven development is changing the rules | AWS’ Amit Patel</a></a> </h3> What is "spec-driven development," and why is this structured approach the key to unlocking complex AI projects? We're joined by Amit Patel, Director of Software Development for Kiro at AWS, to explore this methodology. He explains why "vibe coding" in a chat window fails on...</p> </blockquote> Tech Brew Ride Home</a> </h2> The iPhone Air Isn’t Selling</a></a> </h3> The iPhone Air isn’t selling, and it isn’t selling to the degree that Apple is delaying the next version. Yan LeCun is gonna strike out on his own. The big illegal streaming site takedown you might not have hear about. And Facebook doesn’t like likes anymore, at least not external likes. Apple Delay...</p> </blockquote> Tech Feed - November 10, 2025 2025-11-10T00:00:00+00:00 Articles and podcasts from the software engineering world.</p> Tech Brew Ride Home</a> </h2> GDPR To Be Defanged?</a></a> </h3> Is the EU about to pull back on tech regulation because they are feeling FOMO about AI? Is the whole initial COIN offering craze about to come back? Is Apple Music falling behind because they don’t have a free tier? And it turns out AI might not be that good at trading crypto. Brussels knifes privac...</p> </blockquote> Optimizing ClickHouse Backups 2025-02-16T00:00:00+00:00 This post details my recent experience with ClickHouse backup and restore.</p> Context</strong>: A part of a task at work involves decent size of mutations (both automated daily workflows and occasional manual adhoc mutations) on ClickHouse. As per standard practice, easy backup and restore procedures have been set up - for automated workflows, data backup is integrated within the workflow itself, while for manual adhoc mutations, backups of the required tables are taken on disk using the native ClickHouse backup command</a>:BACKUP TABLE db_name.table_name TO Disk('backups', 'table_name.zip')</code>. Additionally, we maintain the previous day's AWS disk snapshots as a last resort.</p> Recently, I had to revisit this backup and restore approach due to two major scenerio's:</p> Mutation volume has increased 2-3x</li> Need to frequently perform manual data migration from production to development (particularly for specific tables) for testing new additions</li> </ol> Implementing automated remote storage backup (S3, etc.) was the ideal solution, as it provides independence from local disk backup issues and allows data to be easily pulled to development servers (for either the complete database or specific tables) using restore commands. This approach would be particularly efficient since mutations happen on less than 15% of the database tables(12 out of 90), making the restore process faster when targeting only the affected tables.</p> The key advantage of using ClickHouse's backup and restore functionality over AWS disk snapshots is its granular control at the table level, which enables quick and hassle-free recovery for table-based scenarios with just a restore command.</p> There are two approaches to implement this:</p> Use ClickHouse native backup and restore commands</a>. However, this requires additional work to handle, schema migrations, cluster management (syncing before freezing), dropping replicas in case of inactive, etc</p> </li> Use the Altinity ClickHouse-backup tool</a>, which provides these features out-of-the-box</p> </li> </ol> I opted for the ClickHouse-backup tool due to its comprehensive feature set. Here's my experience using it:</p> Backup</a> </h2> Commands</a> </h3> For a complete backup:</p> clickhouse-backup</span></span> create_remote app_name_complete_backup_13022025</span> </span></code></pre> For a specific database:</p> clickhouse-backup</span></span> create_remote -</span>t</span> db_name.*</span> db_name_complete_backup</span> </span></code></pre> For a specific table:</p> clickhouse-backup</span></span> create_remote -</span>t</span> db_name.table_name table_name_backup</span> </span></code></pre> For subsequent backups, use the incremental backups:</p> clickhouse-backup</span></span> create_remote --</span>diff-from-remote</span> app_name_complete_backup_13022025 service_name_complete_backup_date</span> </span></code></pre> You can find more CLI commands in the official documentation</a>.</p> Performance Analysis</a> </h3> Experimented with different compression and concurrency settings to find the optimal balance between backup size and performance with respect to remote storage (S3). Here's the reference configuration (/etc/clickhouse-backup/config.yml</code>)</p> general</span></span>:</span> </span> remote_storage</span></span>:</span> s3</span> </span> max_file_size</span></span>:</span> 0</span> </span> backups_to_keep_local</span></span>:</span> -1</span> </span> backups_to_keep_remote</span></span>:</span> 2</span> </span> log_level</span></span>:</span> error</span> </span> .</span>...</span> </span> download_concurrency</span></span>:</span> 8</span> </span> upload_concurrency</span></span>:</span> 4</span> </span> .</span>...</span> </span> skip_tables</span></span>:</span> -</span> system.* - INFORMATION*SCHEMA.* - information*schema.* - \_temporary*and_external_tables.*</span> </span> skip_table_engines</span></span>:</span> [</span>]</span></span> </span> .</span>...</span> </span> check_replicas_before_attach</span></span>:</span> true</span> </span> .</span>...</span> </span> max_connections</span></span>:</span> 4</span> </span> .</span>...</span> </span>s3</span></span>:</span> </span> .</span>...</span> </span> bucket</span></span>:</span> {</span>bucket_name</span>}</span></span> </span> .</span>...</span> </span> region</span></span>:</span> {</span>region</span>}</span></span> </span> .</span>...</span> </span> path</span></span>:</span> {</span>path</span>}</span></span> </span> .</span>...</span> </span> compression_level</span></span>:</span> 1</span> </span> compression_format</span></span>:</span> zstd</span> </span> .</span>...</span> </span> storage_class</span></span>:</span> STANDARD</span> </span> custom_storage_class_map</span></span>:</span> {</span>}</span></span> </span> concurrency</span></span>:</span> 5</span> </span> .</span>...</span> </span> max_parts_count</span></span>:</span> 4000</span> </span> allow_multipart_download</span></span>:</span> true</span> </span></code></pre> Here are my findings:</p> Initial backup:</a> </h4> Using zstd compression with level 3:</li> </ol> Uncompressed data size : 743.62 GB </span>CH db size(compressed) : 142.32 GB </span>S3 remote backup size : 81.37 GB </span>Time taken : ~10 minutes </span>Peak cpu increase % : ~40% </span></code></pre> Using zstd compression with level 1:</li> </ol> Uncompressed data size : 743.62 GB </span>CH db size(compressed) : 142.32 GB </span>S3 remote backup size : 92.71 GB </span>Time taken : ~9 minutes </span>Peak cpu increase % : ~30% </span></code></pre> Incremental backups:</a> </h4> Using zstd compression level 1:</li> </ol> Uncompressed data size : 746.72 GB </span>Updated CH db size next day(compressed) : 143.61 GB </span>S3 remote backup size : 11.55 GB (includes mutated data/new parts as well, of last run mutations) </span>Time taken : 70 seconds </span>Peak cpu increase % : ~20% </span></code></pre> Restore</a> </h2> Commands</a> </h3> Complete Database Restore with schema</p> clickhouse-backup</span></span> restore_remote app_name_complete_backup_13022025</span> </span></code></pre> For data-only restore (preserving existing schema):</p> clickhouse-backup</span></span> restore_remote -</span>d</span> app_name_complete_backup_13022025</span> </span></code></pre> Selective Restore</p> For restoring a specific database with schema:</p> clickhouse-backup</span></span> restore_remote -</span>t</span> db_name.*</span> app_name_complete_backup_13022025</span> </span></code></pre> For database migration with name mapping (e.g., prod to development):</p> clickhouse-backup</span></span> restore_remote -</span>m</span> prod_db_name:development_db_name app_name_complete_backup_13022025</span> </span></code></pre> Performance Analysis</a> </h3> Complete restore with schema (zstd level 3):</li> </ol> clickhouse-backup</span></span> restore_remote app_name_complete_backup_13022025</span> </span></code></pre> Uncompressed data size : 743.62 GB </span>CH db size(compressed) : 142.32 GB </span>S3 remote backup size : 81.37 GB </span>Time taken : ~25 minutes </span>Peak cpu increase % : ~30% </span></code></pre> Data-only restore (zstd level 3):</li> </ol> clickhouse-backup</span></span> restore_remote -</span>d</span> app_name_complete_backup_13022025</span> </span></code></pre> Almost same as above </span></code></pre> Complete restore (zstd level 1):</li> </ol> clickhouse-backup</span></span> restore_remote app_name_complete_backup_13022025</span> </span></code></pre> Uncompressed data size : 743.62 GB </span>CH db size(compressed) : 142.32 GB </span>S3 remote backup size : 92.71 GB </span>Time taken : ~15 minutes </span>Peak cpu increase % : ~40% </span></code></pre> Selective table restore (zstd level 1): 4 mutation-affected tables with schema</li> </ol> clickhouse-backup</span></span> restore_remote -</span>t</span> db_name.table_pattern*</span> app_name_complete_backup_13022025</span> </span></code></pre> Uncompressed data size : 213.1 GB </span>CH db size(compressed) : 40.7 GB </span>S3 remote backup size : 17.3 GB </span>Time taken : ~3 minutes </span>Peak cpu increase % : ~40% </span></code></pre> Trade-offs</a> </h4> Lower compression levels result in faster backups but larger S3 storage size</li> Higher concurrency speeds up backups but increases resource utilization</li> </ul> For my use case, zstd compression with level 1 provided the best balance for both backup and restore operations, considering that ClickHouse data is already compressed using LZ4 by default</a>.</p> Limitations</a> </h2> There's a known issue with backing up materialized views</a> that don't use the TO table clause. In such cases, ClickHouse creates a separate table with the format .inner_id.XXX (where XXX is the UUID of the materialized view).</p> Solution</strong>: Always use the TO table_name</code> clause when creating materialized views.</p> Key takeaways</a> </h3> Table-level granular backup and restore capabilities enable efficient targeted operations</li> Incremental backups significantly reduce both backup duration and storage requirements</li> Simple data migration to development servers with a single command</li> </ul> optionchainstream 2024-01-15T00:00:00+00:00 Overview</a> </h2> Live streaming option chain for equity derivatives using Kite connect. This project provides real-time streaming of option chain data through WebSocket-based on Redis.</p> Features</a> </h2> Real-time option chain streaming</li> Integration with Kite Connect API</li> WebSocket-based data delivery</li> Redis-based data management</li> Support for equity derivatives</li> </ul> Tech Stack</a> </h2> Language</strong>: Python</li> API</strong>: Kite Connect</li> Database</strong>: Redis</li> Protocol</strong>: WebSocket</li> </ul> View on GitHub</a></p> go-sqlcandlestick 2024-01-12T00:00:00+00:00 Overview</a> </h2> A tiny Go package for serving candlestick chart data for any relational database. This package provides a simple interface to generate candlestick chart data from database records.</p> Features</a> </h2> Candlestick chart data generation</li> Support for any relational database</li> Lightweight and efficient</li> Easy integration</li> Database-agnostic approach</li> </ul> Tech Stack</a> </h2> Language</strong>: Go</li> Database</strong>: Any relational database</li> Use Case</strong>: Financial data visualization</li> Architecture</strong>: Library package</li> </ul> View on GitHub</a></p> clickhouse-tickstore 2024-01-10T00:00:00+00:00 Overview</a> </h2> A Go package designed to efficiently store real-time streaming websocket data in ClickHouse using queuing and bulk insert mechanisms. This project is optimized for high-throughput financial data ingestion.</p> Features</a> </h2> Real-time websocket data streaming</li> Efficient bulk insert operations</li> Queue-based data processing</li> ClickHouse optimization</li> High-performance data ingestion</li> </ul> Tech Stack</a> </h2> Language</strong>: Go</li> Database</strong>: ClickHouse</li> Protocol</strong>: WebSocket</li> Architecture</strong>: Queue-based processing</li> </ul> View on GitHub</a></p> dead-letter-queue 2024-01-08T00:00:00+00:00 Overview</a> </h2> A tiny Go package to manage HTTP requests with dead letter management and retry mechanisms. Based on go-redis, this package provides robust error handling and retry logic for HTTP operations.</p> Features</a> </h2> Dead letter queue management</li> HTTP request retry mechanisms</li> Redis-based persistence</li> Configurable retry policies</li> Error handling and recovery</li> </ul> Tech Stack</a> </h2> Language</strong>: Go</li> Database</strong>: Redis</li> Protocol</strong>: HTTP</li> Library</strong>: go-redis</li> </ul> View on GitHub</a></p> etag-response-cache 2024-01-06T00:00:00+00:00 Overview</a> </h2> A Python package for caching HTTP responses based on ETag headers. This package provides efficient HTTP response caching mechanisms to reduce redundant network requests and improve application performance.</p> Features</a> </h2> ETag-based response caching</li> HTTP response optimization</li> Automatic cache invalidation</li> Memory-efficient caching</li> Easy integration with existing applications</li> </ul> Tech Stack</a> </h2> Language</strong>: Python</li> Protocol</strong>: HTTP</li> Caching</strong>: ETag-based</li> Use Case</strong>: Performance optimization</li> </ul> View on GitHub</a></p> clickhouse-graphql-go 2024-01-05T00:00:00+00:00 Overview</a> </h2> A GraphQL implementation for ClickHouse database in Go, providing a modern API interface for querying ClickHouse data through GraphQL endpoints.</p> Features</a> </h2> GraphQL API for ClickHouse</li> Go-based implementation</li> Modern query interface</li> Efficient data retrieval</li> RESTful GraphQL endpoints</li> </ul> Tech Stack</a> </h2> Language</strong>: Go</li> Database</strong>: ClickHouse</li> API</strong>: GraphQL</li> Architecture</strong>: Microservice</li> </ul> View on GitHub</a></p> async-ticker 2023-12-20T00:00:00+00:00 Overview</a> </h2> An asynchronous ticker implementation designed for real-time data streaming applications. This project provides efficient async handling for ticker data processing and streaming.</p> Features</a> </h2> Asynchronous data processing</li> Real-time ticker streaming</li> High-performance async operations</li> Efficient memory management</li> Scalable architecture</li> </ul> Tech Stack</a> </h2> Language</strong>: Python</li> Architecture</strong>: Asynchronous</li> Use Case</strong>: Real-time data streaming</li> Pattern</strong>: Async/Await</li> </ul> View on GitHub</a></p> phpkc-ticker 2023-12-15T00:00:00+00:00 Overview</a> </h2> A PHP implementation of Kite Connect ticker for real-time market data streaming. This project provides PHP developers with access to Kite Connect's real-time market data feed.</p> Features</a> </h2> Real-time market data streaming</li> Kite Connect API integration</li> PHP-based implementation</li> WebSocket support</li> Market data processing</li> </ul> Tech Stack</a> </h2> Language</strong>: PHP</li> API</strong>: Kite Connect</li> Protocol</strong>: WebSocket</li> Use Case</strong>: Financial market data</li> </ul> View on GitHub</a></p> go-etag-cache 2023-12-10T00:00:00+00:00 Overview</a> </h2> A Go implementation of ETag-based HTTP response caching. This package provides efficient HTTP response caching mechanisms using ETag headers to optimize network requests and improve application performance.</p> Features</a> </h2> ETag-based HTTP caching</li> Go-native implementation</li> Efficient memory usage</li> Automatic cache invalidation</li> Performance optimization</li> </ul> Tech Stack</a> </h2> Language</strong>: Go</li> Protocol</strong>: HTTP</li> Caching</strong>: ETag-based</li> Architecture</strong>: Middleware</li> </ul> View on GitHub</a></p> orderbookstore 2023-12-05T00:00:00+00:00 Overview</a> </h2> An order book data storage and management system designed for high-frequency financial data processing. This project provides efficient storage and retrieval mechanisms for order book data.</p> Features</a> </h2> High-performance order book storage</li> Real-time data processing</li> Efficient data retrieval</li> Scalable architecture</li> Financial data optimization</li> </ul> Tech Stack</a> </h2> Language</strong>: Go</li> Use Case</strong>: Financial data storage</li> Architecture</strong>: High-performance storage</li> Domain</strong>: Order book management</li> </ul> View on GitHub</a></p> kite-publisher-addon 2023-11-30T00:00:00+00:00 Overview</a> </h2> A publisher addon designed for Kite Connect API integration. This addon provides enhanced publishing capabilities and extended functionality for Kite Connect applications.</p> Features</a> </h2> Kite Connect API enhancement</li> Publisher functionality</li> Extended API capabilities</li> Integration utilities</li> Developer tools</li> </ul> Tech Stack</a> </h2> Language</strong>: JavaScript</li> API</strong>: Kite Connect</li> Type</strong>: Browser addon/extension</li> Use Case</strong>: API enhancement</li> </ul> View on GitHub</a></p> pykc-etag 2023-11-25T00:00:00+00:00 Overview</a> </h2> A Python implementation of ETag functionality specifically designed for Kite Connect API responses. This package provides efficient caching mechanisms for Kite Connect API calls using ETag headers.</p> Features</a> </h2> Kite Connect API optimization</li> ETag-based response caching</li> Python-native implementation</li> API rate limiting optimization</li> Performance enhancement</li> </ul> Tech Stack</a> </h2> Language</strong>: Python</li> API</strong>: Kite Connect</li> Caching</strong>: ETag-based</li> Use Case</strong>: API optimization</li> </ul> View on GitHub</a></p> cagr-stock-calc 2023-11-20T00:00:00+00:00 Overview</a> </h2> A CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) calculator specifically designed for stock investments. This tool helps investors calculate the annual growth rate of their stock investments over a specific time period.</p> Features</a> </h2> CAGR calculation for stocks</li> Investment performance analysis</li> Time period flexibility</li> User-friendly interface</li> Financial calculations</li> </ul> Tech Stack</a> </h2> Language</strong>: JavaScript</li> Use Case</strong>: Investment analysis</li> Domain</strong>: Financial calculations</li> Type</strong>: Web application</li> </ul> Use Cases</a> </h2> Stock investment analysis</li> Portfolio performance evaluation</li> Investment planning</li> Financial decision making</li> </ul> View on GitHub</a></p> faqgenerator 2023-11-15T00:00:00+00:00 Overview</a> </h2> An automated FAQ generation tool designed for creating documentation and support content. This tool helps developers and content creators automatically generate frequently asked questions and answers.</p> Features</a> </h2> Automated FAQ generation</li> Documentation support</li> Content creation assistance</li> Customizable templates</li> Multiple output formats</li> </ul> Tech Stack</a> </h2> Language</strong>: Python</li> Use Case</strong>: Content generation</li> Domain</strong>: Documentation tools</li> Type</strong>: CLI/Web tool</li> </ul> Use Cases</a> </h2> Documentation creation</li> Support content generation</li> Knowledge base building</li> Customer service tools</li> </ul> View on GitHub</a></p> DRF-Angular4-JWT 2023-11-10T00:00:00+00:00 Overview</a> </h2> A complete integration example of Django REST Framework with Angular 4 and JWT authentication. This project demonstrates how to build a modern web application with a Python backend and Angular frontend, secured with JWT tokens.</p> Features</a> </h2> Django REST Framework backend</li> Angular 4 frontend</li> JWT authentication</li> Token-based security</li> RESTful API design</li> Full-stack integration</li> </ul> Tech Stack</a> </h2> Backend</strong>: Django REST Framework (Python)</li> Frontend</strong>: Angular 4 (TypeScript)</li> Authentication</strong>: JWT (JSON Web Tokens)</li> Architecture</strong>: Full-stack web application</li> </ul> Components</a> </h2> RESTful API endpoints</li> JWT token management</li> User authentication system</li> Angular frontend application</li> Cross-origin resource sharing (CORS)</li> </ul> View on GitHub</a></p> Caves of Mawmluh & Mawsmai 2023-04-22T00:00:00+00:00 Did you know that our Earth is currently in a geological time period called the Meghalayan Age</strong>? This age was named after the stalagmite formations found in the Mawmluh cave that carry marks of a severe drought around 2000 BC. Some earth scientists believe that this drought may have contributed to the decline of the Harappan civilization and other Bronze Age civilizations. This research was carried out by the team led by Jessica Oster, assistant professor of earth and environmental sciences at Vanderbilt University. Isn't it fascinating that a cave in Meghalaya can reveal so much about the past of our Earth? This was one of the first unique references to Meghalaya that I stumbled upon, which led me to dig deeper and learn more about Khasi culture, ultimately inspiring me to plan this trip.</p> Meghalaya: An Island?</a> </h3> The period when Meghalaya was a shallow seabed.</em></p> Meghalaya was actually an island around 3 billion years ago, located near the African continent in the Gondwanaland supercontinent</strong>. This was before the continental drift, which began around 88 million years ago when the Indian subcontinent broke away from Australia and Africa and started moving northward. During this period, Meghalaya was a thriving coral island teeming with marine life. Due to this, we can observe a high number of limestone deposits (formed by marine sedimentation), including those found in the caves. However, due to continental drift and tectonic movements, the sea bed was uplifted to considerable heights, resulting in the mountain ranges we see today surrounding Meghalaya, including Khasi, Garo, and Jaintia Hills.</p> Caves in Meghalaya</a> </h3> Meghalaya boasts the highest number of caves in India, among which is the longest one called the Krem Liat Prah</strong> limestone cave system. The unique combination of limestone, heavy rainfall, and high elevation</strong> has resulted in the formation of world's largest and longest limestone cave network system here. As of now, more than 1,700 caves have been identified in Meghalaya, with most of them being limestone or sandstone formations. Out of these, I had the opportunity to explore the Mawsmai cave</strong>.</p> Mawsmai Cave Sohra</a> </h3> Entrance to Mawsmai Cave.</em> Picture credit: @aryan</em></p> Mawsmai Cave is one of the few caves open to the general public, and I chose it specifically because of the ample natural sunlight inside which allows for clear viewing of the limestone deposition and formation. Although the cave is quite lengthy, only a 150-meter section is open for tourists while the remaining part is closed due to its complex network of passages, where visitors can easily get lost. Pass to it is very easy, with over few narrow passes.</p> Constant dripping of water from the cave's roof, with stalagmites formation.</em></p> As visitors venture deeper into the cave, they can witness a constant dripping of water from the cave's roof, along with numerous forms of stalactites and stalagmites. Here, stalagmites take on various shapes and sizes over thousands of years, such as that of ice-cream cones, making it interesting to observe. The cave is also home to a variety of wildlife, including bats and swiftlets.</p> Here I am at the end of the cave, surrounded by the depositions of sea life all around.</em> Picture credit: @aryan</em></p> What fascinated me the most was these caves which were once a sea bed millions of years ago, where marine life would thrive in abundance. Now, they are filled with beautiful, hollow limestone stalagmite formations, a geographical wonder.</p> Living Root Bridges 2023-04-20T00:00:00+00:00 Living root bridges are suspension bridges made of rubber plant roots, predominantly found in the dense tropical rainforests of Meghalaya. The bridge ranges in length from 15 to 250 feet and is grown by the Khasis over a period of 15 to 30 years. It can last for several centuries. It was first built by Khasi ancestors a couple of hundred years ago, using only locally available materials, skills, and tools at a time when concrete and steel had not yet been discovered. Nowadays, they use fiber ropes or steel wires to tie bamboo scaffold supports only during the initial development stage. Apart from this, the construction of live root bridges in modern times still involves only indigenous forest products.</p> Aryan and Me</em> En route to the Tyrna village, which serves as the starting point for the nongriate double-decker bridge trek.</em> Picture credit: @paul taxi driver</em></p> Living root Bridge</a> </h3> Construction</a> </h4> The Khasi people join the aerial root fibers of the rubber tree (Ficus) by twining them over lakes or rivers. These twined fibers are then placed in a hollowed-out trunk of the areca catechu (betel nut) tree, where they serve as both a support and a fertilizer, helping the roots to grow faster. Initially, this assemblage is structurally supported by a bamboo scaffold that serves as a temporary river bridge crossing.</p> Here I am pointing at the rubber root sprouts that are emerging from the newly twined aerial roots of a rubber tree, placed inside a hollow betel nut trunk.</em> This assemblage will eventually grow into a fully formed living root bridge for people to pass through, which is expected to take around 15 years.</em></p> As time passes and the aerial root grows stronger and thicker, the areca catechu (betel nut) trunks are no longer needed. However, it is necessary to periodically replace the green bamboo poles at both ends until the root bridge matures. Over a period of 15 to 30 years, the root assemblage becomes strong and stable enough to support human and material weight without the initial bamboo support. Stones, dry leaves, and dead tree trunks are added to the bridge as dead load, which fills the gaps between the twined roots.</p> Advantages</a> </h4> Older, more mature bridges are capable of carrying up to 30 people at once.</li> Based on multiple accounts and documentation, it can be said that the structural capacity of living root bridges in Meghalaya's remote and wet tropical landscape is superior to that of steel and bamboo bridges. Concrete bridges have an average lifespan of around 40 to 50 years, and bamboo bridges are susceptible to annual failure and deformation in these wet tropical areas due to heavy water loads during monsoon season. Similarly, steel bridges require periodic maintenance due to high rains.</li> </ul> Challenges</a> </h4> Me standing at the end of the relatively new root bridge, which is still in its initial stage and cannot be used to cross with weight. This will take a couple more years before people can regularly use it for day-to-day crossings.</em> Picture credit: @aryan</em></p> The primary challenge of a living root bridge is its long setting period, which can range from 15 to 30 years.</li> The safety of the bridge is low during the early growth stage when it cannot be used to cross.</li> </ul> Notable Root Bridges in Meghalaya</a> </h4> Nongriate, located near Sohra (Cherrapunji), features two matured root bridges, with one spanning 40 feet and the other spanning 50 feet, stacked one on top of the other.</li> Riwai, located near Mawlynnong, boasts a 75-foot root bridge in its mature stage.</li> Mawkyrnot, located near Pynursla, has one of the longest root bridges measuring 250 feet, but it is in its less mature stage.</li> </ul> Nongriate Double Decker root bridge trek</a> </h3> Nongriate village</strong>, near Sohra (Cherrapunji), is a popular attraction due to its 200+ year old double decker root bridge, which is a testament to both its high level of maturity and safety. Due to its popularity and proximity to Sohra, we decided to embark on this root bridge trek. The upper root bridge here is approximately 50 feet long and is over 100 years old. The lower root bridge is around 40 feet long and is one of the oldest in Meghalaya, estimated to be over 200 years old according to a local bridge caretaker volunteer.</p> Starting point of the trek at Tyrna village, captured in the evening at the end of an 8-hour trek.</em> Picture credit: @aryan</em></p> The trek, totaling around 6km to and fro, involves a bit of steep ascent and descent while starting from and returning to the Tyrna village, but it's an easy trek and doable for a moderately active person. The cemented stairs lead through a beautiful rainforest surrounded by lush greenery, with a mix of suspension and small root bridges over the seasonal river stream.</p> Forest pineapple en route to the double-decker bridge.</em> Picture credit: @aryan</em></p> we witnessed several forest fruits such as pineapple, jackfruit, wild berries, mango, and more growing naturally. We were also introduced to various fruits that possess medicinal benefits like the white mountain pepper, which our guide Roy offered us to taste. The mint-flavored taste of the pepper lingered for more than 15 minutes.</p> I am passing the small suspension bridge. Multiple such suspension bridges can be found en route to the double decker bridge.</em> Picture credit: @aryan</em></p> There are a total of 3,500 steps from the trek start point at Tyrna village to the double-decker bridge. Along the way, there are a few snack stores. Once you reach the bridge, you'll be greeted with an out-of-this-world natural wonder: a beautifully crafted double-decker live root bridge and a clear, serene stream flowing beneath it. For a nature lover, the stunning view makes the trek worth all the effort.</p> Me and Aryan on the double-decker bridge.</em> Picture credit: @Roy, our guide</em></p> I had a session of around 90 minutes with our guide Roy, during which he explained the process of constructing live root bridges and other features. We had a detailed discussion, as stated in the above thread. Then we set off for our next trekking adventure to Rainbow Falls.</p> Rainbow Falls trek</a> </h3> The trek to Rainbow Falls is approximately 3 km from the double-decker bridge, and it mostly runs through nature trails instead of cement steps like the ones leading to the bridge. Rainbow Falls gets its name from the rainbows that can be seen in the mist generated by the waterfall on sunny mornings.</p> Trail through nature leading to Rainbow Falls.</em> Picture credit: @aryan</em></p> The trek passes through denser rainforest and steeper terrain, leading to a beautiful waterfall of considerable height that is a delight to behold. Visitors can bathe in the water pool during non-monsoon periods. However, during monsoon season, the waterfall is filled with forceful water and swimming is not recommended. The trek from the Double Decker bridge to the waterfall took us 70 minutes.</p> Rainbow Falls.</em> Picture credit: @aryan</em></p> We took around 3.5 hours to return from Rainbow Falls to Tyrna village (the trek starting point), with 20 minutes break at double decker bridge.</p> There are many commercial betel nut tree plantations at the beginning of the trek at Tyrna.</em> Picture credit: @aryan</em></p> Mawphlang Sacred Groves 2023-04-16T00:00:00+00:00 Khasis are known to have a very close affinity towards nature. They consider forests as an abode of gods, a game sanctuary, and a beloved home all rolled into one. In the words of H.O. Mawrie,</p> 'U khasi U im bad ka mariang, bd ka mariang ka im bad U', which translates to 'A Khasi lives with nature and nature lives with Khasi'.</p> </blockquote> In the local parlance, land is referred to as 'Ri' and is considered a 'Gift of nature' bestowed upon the Khasis community, of which Sacred Groves</em> hold a specific mention in their religion and way of life.</p> On the way to Mawphlang Grove entrance, near the parking spot.</em> Picture credit: @aryan</em></p> Creation</a> </h3> According to legend, the Mawphlang Sacred Grove was created by a Khasi god known as "Labasa, Basa, or Ryngkew", who resides in this sacred forest and serves as a guardian spirit of the village and surrounding forests, protecting the local Khasi tribes. Synergy</strong>: There are similarities here that can be observed with "Panjurli Daiva"</em>, a local forest deity of Tulu clan in Karnataka, as depicted in the movie Kantara.</p> Monoliths at the entrance of Mawphlang sacred grove.</em> Picture credit: @aryan</em></p> Folklore</a> </h3> The Basa comes in two forms: Snake and Tiger. If a person goes into the grove to do anything destructive, the Basa appears as a snake and scares them. The Base manifests in the form of a tiger, serving as the guardian of the innocent people. When those near the grove find themselves in danger, they cry out, "O No, O Kong, O Ryngkew, O Basa, please protect us from danger."</em> Afterward, they can hear the roar of the tiger and feel its spiritual presence.</p> In these Sacred groves, not only is the cutting of trees forbidden, but also nothing can be taken out of them - not a fruit, nor a flower, not even a single leaf. So, these sacred groves have remained untouched throughout their existence, in accordance with their inherent nature. Locals are allowed to eat fruit inside, but they are not permitted to bring anything outside. My guide, John, gave me a rudraksha tree fruit to eat inside, based on what I observed.</p> John, our guide, showing us the place of religious sacrifice inside a sacred grove.</em> The last sacrifice was performed around 1952, and it has not been practiced since then.</em> Picture credit: @aryan</em></p> To showcase the richness and diversity of Mawphlang Sacred Groves, the forest boasts over 300 species of plants, 70 species of orchids, and other treasures. In the winter months, visitors may catch a glimpse of rare and endangered birds such as the Rufous-necked hornbill, Hoolock gibbon, and Slow Loris deep within the forest.</p> Rudraksh fruit inside a sacred grove.</em> Picture credit: @aryan</em></p> David Scott trail</a> </h3> Trek starting point at the top.</em> Picture credit: @aryan</em></p> Located just 1 kilometer from the entrance of Mawphlang sacred groves, lies a historical trail created during the time of English officer David Scott, connecting Assam to present-day Bangladesh. The total length of the trail is around 100 kilometers, with approximately 16 kilometers passing through the Mawphlang area.</p> The stream of Umiam River flowing beneath the suspension bridge.</em> Picture credit: @aryan</em></p> It's a natural trail that runs alongside the Umiam River, passing under a military-built suspension bridge re-built around 2012. However, the condition of the suspension bridge was not good when we went, with multiple wood blocks coming out from the middle. We had to hold onto the side wire to safely pass through. It's an easy trek with beautiful views of the rainforest and the clear Umiam stream.</p> Suspension bridge with degraded wood blocks due to prolonged exposure to rain. Crossing it felt like a task straight out of the 'Khatron Ke Khiladi' show :cowboy_hat_face:</em> Picture credit: @aryan</em></p> Khasis, their Origin and History 2023-04-15T00:00:00+00:00 The term "Khasis" holds a profound meaning, as it signifies "born of the mother". The word "Kha" denotes "born of", while "si" represents "ancient mother". As the Khasis lack a written history unlike the Ahoms of Assam, their past is primarily based on traditional oral narratives that have been passed down through generations. One prevalent belief among the older Khasis is that their ancestors migrated from Burma via the Patkai Range into Assam</strong>, a notion supported by similarities between Khasi culture and that of the Mon-Khmer people of Cambodia. With respect to indian tribes, slight similarities can be observed between the Khasis and the Mundas of the Chota Nagpur Plateau, particularly in their last rites rituals.</p> Monoliths, erected in memory of their ancestors and local heroes who died in battles.</em> Picture credit: @aryan</em></p> Origin Myth(Legend of Seven huts)</a> </h3> According to legend, in the beginning, the god created sixteen families and allowed them to dwell with him in heaven. They could freely move between heaven and earth using a golden ladder that touched the peak named Sohpetbneng</strong>, also known as "the navel of heaven." However, one day, seven families chose to stay on earth, and as a result, the ladder was removed. These seven families are believed to be the ancestors of the Khasis, known as Ki Hynniew Ha Tbian</strong>.</p> Geography</a> </h3> The Khasi Hills are located in the middle of the Meghalaya plateau, flanked by the East and West Garo Hills. Prior to the creation of the Meghalaya state, the united Khasi and Jaintia Hills were one of the districts of Assam. Meghalaya state was formed on 2nd April 1970, with full statehood granted on 21st January 1972. At that time, only two districts were formed: (a) The United Khasi and Jaintia Hills, with headquarters in Shillong, and (b) Garo Hills, with headquarters in Tura. Over time, Meghalaya has grown to have 12 districts, but these two districts continue to represent the cultural and geographical core of the state.</p> Tribes and Sub-tribes</a> </h3> "Khasi" is a general term that encompasses various tribes and sub-tribes inhabiting the Khasi and Jaintia Hills:</p> Khyriem or Nonglum</strong>(proper khasis), inhaniting the middle ranges of Khasi hills.</li> Pnars</strong>, reside in the central plateau of the Jaintia Hills.</li> The War people</strong>, reside on the south of the Khasi hills.</li> The Amwi people</strong>, reside on the south of Jaintia hills.</li> The Bhoi people</strong>, reside on the north of Khasi and Jaintia hills.</li> </ol> Local Khasi children returning from school.</em> Picture credit: @aryan</em></p> Although the majority of Khasis I encountered during my trip were Christians. This can be majorly attributed to the influx of missionaries who arrived in the Khasi Hills in the late 18th century, when the British came into contact with the Khasi tribe after the capture of Assam around 1823. One prominent Welsh missionary who stands out is Thomas Jones</strong>, who arrived in Sohra (Cherrapunji) around the 1830s. He quickly learned Khasi and became the first missionary to preach the Bible in Khasi. He is also called the "Founding Father of Khasi Alphabet." Almost every Khasi I interacted with, including cab drivers, farmers, and lower primary teachers, knew about him and held him in high esteem.</p> Another respected figure among the local Khasi people whom I encountered during my trip was a local tribe chief and freedom fighter named "U Tirot Sing."</strong> Known for leading a valiant resistance war against the British for four years (1829-1833), he is held in high esteem by everyone I interacted with. His memorial is located in Mairang, about 45 km from Shillong.</p> Culture and Festivals</a> </h3> As per Khasis tradition, which traces their descent from "the first mother," the mother in the family serves as the organizer and originator of each clan i.e matrilineal system. The mother that is the youngest</strong> among the sisters is the custodian of the family rights and property. She is succeeded by her youngest daughter</strong>, who assumes the responsibility of preserving the family's rights and property. The youngest daughter performs all religious ceremonies in the family, and her duties also include taking care of her aged parents, as well as her unmarried brother and sister.</p> The most remarkable feature of Khasi marriage is that, in earlier days, the husband customarily lives with his wife in the mother-in-law's house until his wife gives birth. While having a conversation with the owner of my Mawphlang homestay, the youngest daughter mentioned that they still follow the tradition of the youngest daughter assuming the responsibility of preserving the family's rights and property</em>. However, there has been a slight change in the custom of the other sister's husband staying until childbirth. Now, they stay at their mother-in-law's place only for a few months, until they have set up a new place, unlike the older custom of staying until childbirth.</p> Nongkrem festival</strong>, the annual religious ceremony of the Khyrim clan, is presently the most ancient and renowned festival of the Khasis. According to tradition, U Shillong</strong>, the first ancestor of the Syiem clan of Khyrim, was the founder of the state. The origin of this festival can be traced back to his time as king, when all clans lived harmoniously. I was unable to experience the Nongkrem Dance Festival during my visit in March, as it occurs during the month of November, when prayers are offered for a good harvest after the harvest season.</p> Democratic tradition</a> </h3> Starting of Mawsmai Elaka near Sohra. Multiple raids form an Elaka.</em> Picture credit: @aryan</em></p> The state is governed by a Darbar</strong> or Council consisting of myntries, who are elected by the people, and the syiem (chief), who is elected by the myntries from a member of the siem clan. The entire state is formed by an association of units called Raid</strong>, which consist of one or groups of villages and are governed by a Durbar consisting of elected representatives from each village. The Gazette of Meghalaya here</a> provides a detailed explanation of Raid, Elaka, Syiem, Darbar, and other related terms.</p> Unveiling Meghalaya: The Land of Khasi Wonders 2023-04-15T00:00:00+00:00 Nongriat village, en route to the double-decker living root bridge.</em> Picture credit: @aryan</em></p> Ever since last year I stumbled upon a reference to the Meghalayan Age</a> in the book 'Land of Seven Rivers' by Sanjeev Sanyal</a>. The stalagmite formations in the Mawmluh cave, carrying marks of a drought around 2000 BC, which may have contributed to the decline of the Harappan civilization, stirring my curiosity. Captivated by the rich history and culture of the Khasi people, I was eager to explore their land.</p> Last month, I had the opportunity to embark on a trip to Meghalaya. From delving into the origin and history of the Khasis to discovering the enchanting living root bridges of Nongriat, exploring the awe-inspiring caves of Mawmluh & Mawsmai, and experiencing the serene beauty of the Mawphlang sacred groves, my journey was filled with moments of discovery, fascination, and awe. Along with traversing the numerous trekking trails and conversing with countless Khasi people along the way, I had the privilege to uncover the hidden treasures of this captivating land, immersing myself in its rich culture and natural wonders.</p> In an effort to encapsulate the essence of Meghalaya, I would like to divide the journey into four parts, based on the diverse experiences and insights:</p> Khasis, their Origin and History</a></li> Mawphlang Sacred Groves</a></li> Living Root Bridge of Nongriat</a></li> Caves of Mawmluh & Mawsmai</a></li> </ol>