When it comes to what’s on our plates, there’s more going on than meets the eye. You’ve probably heard about calories, carbs, and fats, but terms like dark calories and the hidden dangers of seed oils might be less familiar. Today, we’re uncovering what these mean—and why …
The food industry knows how to play the game. Slick marketing, feel-good slogans, and carefully crafted buzzwords all create an illusion of health that’s hard to resist. Labels like “all-natural,” “low-fat,” and “organic” are thrown around liberally, but how often do we stop to question …
Ah, the dream of IoT programming! You start with a simple idea—maybe a smart sensor, a connected coffee machine, or a light switch that dims based on your mood. But then reality slaps you in the face like a poorly calibrated robotic arm. What should be a straightforward coding experience quickly turns into a tangled mess of broken libraries, cryptic errors, and existential doubt.
The Curse of the Forked Library
At the heart of the problem lies a familiar pattern:
1. A hardware vendor releases a promising, affordable piece of IoT hardware. Everyone loves it.
2. The vendor, being somewhat responsible, provides a set of official libraries. They work—mostly.
3. Then come the enthusiasts: script kiddies, self-proclaimed geniuses, and rogue developers who refuse to believe that the vendor’s engineers knew what they were doing. “Surely,” they think, “I can make this better.”
4. Forks happen. Lots of forks. The original library gets fragmented into multiple versions, each tweaking something slightly differently.
5. The vendor, seeing this chaos, shrugs and sets up a community forum. “Let the people handle it,” they say, sipping their coffee brewed by a now-incompatible smart kettle.
Fast-forward a few months, and the ecosystem is a nightmare. Every tutorial you find references a different fork. Half the code examples don’t work. The vendor’s original library is abandoned. And when you finally pick a seemingly well-supported version—one that even integrates with Home Assistant—you realize it’s been modified so much that nothing compiles anymore.
The AI Consultation (or How I Discovered the Mess Was Even Worse)
After hours of frustration, I did what any rational developer does: I asked an Artificial Insanity generator for help. Surely, if AI can write poetry and pass bar exams, it can tell me why my IoT project won’t compile.
It did, in fact, provide an answer—one that confirmed my worst fears:
“The library maintenance problem you’re describing is a classic issue in embedded development. When authors fork libraries and modify core functionality like TLS implementations, they often create incompatible branches that don’t evolve with the hardware and toolchain updates.”
Translation: You’re screwed.
The Artificial Insults generator further explained that the forked library I was using had reworked its SSL implementation, making it incompatible with existing codebases. The developers of this fork had “future-proofed” it—while simultaneously breaking everything in the present. Fantastic.
Also, amusingly, the All but Intelligent tool I listed some possible solutions, referring to them as “approach 1” and “approach 3”—as if it had second thoughts and deleted approach 2 midway through generating the answer. Perhaps even AI has moments of self-doubt.
The Real Villain: A Lack of Central Control
This entire mess stems from a fundamental issue in modern IoT development: no one is overseeing the core libraries. Vendors have either stepped back entirely or charge enterprise-level fees for reliable SDKs. What’s left is an open-source jungle, where well-intentioned developers keep “improving” things until nothing works anymore.
At this point, we as IoT developers have two choices:
1. Demand better support from vendors. If they sell the hardware, they should maintain functional, up-to-date libraries. A community-maintained codebase is fine for extra features, but core functionality should not be a free-for-all.
2. Resist the urge to fork unnecessarily. Sure, if there’s a genuine bug, fix it. But rewriting an entire library just to put your name on it? That helps no one (except maybe your GitHub ego).
Final Thoughts (and a Plea for Sanity)
IoT programming should be fun. It should be about building cool things, not wrestling with a mess of incompatible libraries. But until we get a little more discipline—both from vendors and the community—we’ll remain stuck in this cycle of broken code and frustration.
In the meantime, I’m off to write my own IoT library. Don’t worry, I’ll make it completely future-proof. It just won’t work today.
1. Is het donderdagavond?🔲 Ja → Ga naar vraag 2.🔲 Nee → 🎉 Geluk gehad! Je mag blijven zitten. 2. Is het water warmer dan een gemiddeld glas kraanwater?🔲 Ja → Ga naar vraag 3.🔲 Nee → Mompel iets over “koude rillingen en onderkoelingsgevaar” en …
In the 1980s and 1990s, major tobacco companies like Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds diversified into the food industry, acquiring brands such as Kraft, General Foods, Nabisco, and Hawaiian Punch. This strategic move allowed them to apply their expertise in creating addictive products to the …
In his new book, Ultra-Processed People, Dr. Chris van Tulleken—the renowned infectious diseases doctor and BBC broadcaster—delves into a global issue that’s both insidious and deeply personal: ultra-processed food (UPF). From his years of medical training at Oxford to his groundbreaking research on corporate influence over child nutrition, van Tulleken has long been fascinated by the ways industries shape human health. And in Ultra-Processed People, he explores how UPF is damaging not only our bodies but also our planet.
Who is Dr. Chris van Tulleken?
Dr. Chris van Tulleken is a familiar name in both medicine and media. As an infectious diseases doctor at London’s Hospital for Tropical Diseases and an Associate Professor at University College London, his research zeroes in on how corporations shape public health policies, particularly concerning child nutrition. With UNICEF and the World Health Organization as partners in his work, he’s on the front lines of exposing the darker side of corporate influence on food and health. He’s also a celebrated broadcaster with the BBC, where his work has won two BAFTAs.
Ultra-Processed People: The Book That Breaks Down UPF
In Ultra-Processed People, van Tulleken reveals a hidden world of food science, delving into the economics, history, and production of UPF—a category that makes up over half of the calories consumed in many Western diets. UPFs are engineered to be convenient, cheap, and addictive, with textures and flavors designed to keep us coming back for more. But what’s the cost? Van Tulleken argues that these foods come with long-term health impacts that even exercise and willpower can’t counteract.
His investigation offers eye-opening insights, revealing the ways UPF contributes to weight gain, disrupts our metabolic health, and even affects mental well-being. And it’s not just about individual health: UPF production is also a major environmental problem, with impacts on land use, waste, and biodiversity.
Why Willpower Isn’t Enough: UPF and the Struggle Against Addiction
One of the most striking points van Tulleken makes is that the addictive nature of UPF isn’t a flaw—it’s a design feature. UPFs are crafted to hit pleasure centers in the brain in the same way addictive substances do. As a result, relying on willpower alone to avoid them is often a losing battle. In fact, van Tulleken argues that the “personal responsibility” narrative around food and health is misleading, distracting us from the need for systemic changes in food production and regulation.
What Can We Do? Moving Beyond UPF
Dr. van Tulleken’s book doesn’t just expose the harm; it also explores ways to break free from UPF dependence. He advocates for clearer food labeling, tighter regulations on food marketing (especially for children), and an increased focus on whole, minimally processed foods. But perhaps most importantly, he calls for a societal shift in how we view food, health, and corporate accountability.
Final Thoughts
Ultra-Processed People is more than just a book on nutrition; it’s a call to action. Dr. van Tulleken’s journey through the world of UPF is a compelling reminder of the power corporations hold over our food and health. But with greater awareness, he believes we can make choices that protect not only our bodies but also our planet.
If you’ve listened to just about any podcast lately, you’ve probably heard about a certain green smoothie powder that claims to be a one-stop shop for all your nutrient needs. AG1 (formerly Athletic Greens) has taken the wellness world by storm, backed by some of …
We see it everywhere: bright pink ham slices, perfectly packaged, marketed as a safe and tasty snack for kids and adults alike. But how did we end up believing that processed meats are healthy or even necessary? And what’s behind that appealing pink color? A …
If you think you’re well-informed about what’s healthy and what’s not, think again. This blog dives into a world of food fraud and industry deception—a world where the fine print is written in dollar signs rather than in truths about health. Here, you’ll find links, insights, and real-world examples of how the food industry, governments, and even pharmaceutical giants have, for decades, prioritized profit over public health.
But let’s be clear: this isn’t another health blog telling you what to eat or how to live. This is about challenging you to ask the tough questions and look beyond the surface.
Ah, flying. The act of defying gravity while confined in a metal tube hurtling through the air at breakneck speeds. It’s a marvel of modern engineering and a source of both excitement and dread for travelers worldwide. But fear not, fellow wanderers, for I, your …