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My Current Favorites [September 2026]: Flash cards, Therapy, AI
This month, I went on vacation for two weeks so I didn’t have time to read. I’ll just share two or three things I found interesting with you. I recently ran into a friend again who has two children so we talked a lot about kids’ education. The first idea is about using spaced repetition with children. The show Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader? (where adults are asked questions that are supposed to be easy for an elementary school student, since they just learned them in class, and where adults often fail) illustrates this phenomenon well: a large part of our school knowledge only passes through short-term memory.…
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[Reflection] #41: The Destruction of Books Is a Background Activity
The news that Anthropic would buy millions of books to slice off their spines and scan the contents, before throwing the whole book away, made the rounds worldwide. People are horrified and keep bringing up 1984, Fahrenheit 451. However, for each title, we’re talking abouta single copy sacrificed among others still circulating in the world, not an attempt to make a work disappear by buying up all its copies. That said, for rare or out-of-print titles of which only a few known copies remain, sacrificing “a single copy” can, in practice, amount to destroying one of the last survivors of an edition. But we don’t know whether any rare copies…
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New Airbnb in Arue, Whales & Moray Eel
After our two weeks of vacation in paradise, it’s already time to head back to Tahiti. JB never thought he’d say this, but he’s “sad to be coming back to Tahiti.” Whereas before, for us, Tahiti = paradise. After visiting the smaller islands, it’s easier to understand why Polynesians find Tahiti as awful as Paris (too many people, too much pollution, too much noise). The ferry ride is very long (departure at 9:30 am, arrival at 4 pm). New Airbnb in Arue On top of that, we’re in a new Airbnb in Tahiti, so the next day (Sunday), we have to go pick up the suitcases left at JB’s colleague’s…
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3 nights in Taha’a: Vanilla Island, Manta Ray, Coral Garden – French Polynesia Road Trip (4/4)
We were supposed to visit Taha’a then Bora Bora, but due to my complicated calculations, I preferred to put Bora Bora before Taha’a. That said, after snorkeling in Bora Bora, I wonder how Taha’a can beat Bora Bora in experiences since the island is so tiny. Fate works in mysterious ways because we’re ending our vacation with the best of the best. Part 1: Travel JournalPart 2: Practical Tips Part 1: Travel Journal If it were up to me, I would have stayed longer in Bora Bora but accommodation is still very expensive and considering the ferry schedules, if we stayed too long in Bora, we would have had only…
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3 nights in Bora Bora: Manta Ray, Overwater Bungalow & Matira Beach – French Polynesia Road Trip (3/4)
The long-awaited day has arrived: today we’re going to Bora Bora, the dream destination. The name Bora Bora evokes the same things in the imagination as the Maldives or the Seychelles – it’s synonymous with paradise, the end of the world, destinations for the rich, overwater bungalows, 5-star hotels… Part 1: Travel JournalPart 2: Practical Tips Part 1: Travel Journal One of my dreams is to spend at least one night in an overwater bungalow. And Bora Bora = Bungalows (in my imagination). Thanks to miles American Express, we could have treated ourselves to a night in a bungalow at Westin Bora Bora (Booking link) or St Regis Bora Bora…
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4 nights in Huahine: Dolphins & the Sweet Life – French Polynesia Road Trip (2/4)
On the way to Raiatea, the ferry first stopped at Huahine. Seeing its white sand beach and shades of blue, we slightly regretted not starting our vacation in incredible Huahine, but in the end it worked out better that way because, given the ferry schedule, going in this direction lets us spend 4 nights in Huahine instead of 3. This travel journal is part of our French Polynesia Road Trip series, read part 1 first Part 1: Travel JournalPart 2: Practical Tips Part 1: Travel Journal JB finds us an airbnb / family guesthouse on the waterfront for €160 a night. But reading the listing carefully, I discover the owner…
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3 nights in Raiatea: Marae and Vanilla – French Polynesia Road Trip (1/4)
Since our arrival in Tahiti in April 2026, this is only the second time we have gone on vacation. This time, we’re heading to the Leeward Islands, accessible by ferry from Tahiti. So our itinerary has to be built around the ferry schedule. Part 1: Travel JournalPart 2: Practical Tips Part 1: Travel Journal Transport I didn’t overthink it, I looked at the unlimited pass (for 30 days) fromApetahi Express to plan my itinerary. This pass costs 24,000 XPF per person (€201). That’s still very affordable compared to flying. To save even more, we’re bringing our scooter with us to get around the islands since there’s no public transport, even…
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How do you use Ox Alpha with Claude Code?
For the past few days, info about Ox Alpha has been circulating on Twitter, and nobody knows where it came from. After some digging, users concluded that the model behind Ox Alpha comes from Zhipu. I tried Zhipu (z.ai) thanks to their offer of 3M free tokens for the first 5 days, and I find it quite effective, but slow. I think Zhipu is desperate to attract more users because they offered 100M tokens to new users (I didn’t get them, since I was late). Ox Alpha is even slower, but at least it’s free. To do this, you need to sign up on Open Router, and generate an API…
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My Current Favorites [August 2026] – Islamic Arts, Wealth Levels, Leather Desk Pad, Guqin
Biomorphic Patterns This month, I put down my computer and keyboard for brush pens, rulers and compasses. I’d been wanting to dive into biomorphic patterns for months, but reading books on the subject wasn’t motivating me enough. Luckily, Domestika recently released a course by Esra Alhamal. The course is basic but visual, and that’s what’s encouraging: even with few skills, you can make something pretty. Every time I start a new art form, I forget the essential: you have to COPY first, master the movements, then INVENT. I often start projects created from scratch when I don’t have the skills for it, instead of just copying a ready-made design, making…
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My review of Cursor CLI
When I complained about the lack of tokens, a colleague of JB (thanks N.!!!) suggested I use Cursor alongside Claude Code/Codex to make up for the shortage. I found a referral link online and only paid $12 for the first month to test it (instead of $20, Pro account). The advantage of Cursor is that it has a limit monthly (no 5-hour or weekly limits like the others). For my needs, I find it great, it lets you vibe-code continuously without being interrupted by the token limit. It’s so efficient that with Cursor, I run out of projects and had to take long AI breaks 😀 You can also use…
