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How Long Poop Stays in Your Body May Impact Your Health, Study Finds

A 2023 review of dozens of studies shows gut transit time—the time stool spends in the colon—shapes the gut microbiome and health. Fast transit (“speeders”) harbor different, faster-growing bacteria linked to high-carbohydrate, low-fat diets; slow transit (“slowpokes”) favor bacteria that thrive on protein. Both extremes show lower microbiome diversity. Transit time adds predictive power beyond diet alone and may influence responses to probiotics and treatments. Slow transit has been linked to metabolic and inflammatory disorders and some neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s. Measuring transit via capsules or the Bristol Stool Scale could help tailor diet and therapies to individual gut rhythms.

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Stripe's Payment APIs: the first 10 years (2020)

Overview header for Stripe Dev Blog post: "Stripe’s payments APIs: The first 10 years" by Michelle Bu (Dec 15, 2020; ~20 min read), with author bio, links to docs and community resources (YouTube, Discord, Meetups), and related articles on Stripe’s payments innovations and Ledger; site footer and social links.

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A cache-friendly IPv6 LPM with AVX-512 (linearized B+-tree, real BGP benchmarks)

PlanB-lpm is an independent, MIT-licensed C++17 portable reimplementation of PlanB’s IPv6 LPM using a linearized 9-ary B+-tree with AVX-512 SIMD and a scalar fallback. It provides a header-only core (include/lpm6.hpp), Python bindings, and a dynamic FIB with rebuild-and-swap. The repo includes correctness tests, benchmarks against a Patricia trie, memory and multi-core scaling data, and RIPE RIS real-BGP data reproductions. Build with CMake, run examples, and install Python bindings. Real data shows Patricia can be on par or faster for uniform traces; PlanB excels on non-uniform workloads.

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A Common MVP Evolution: Service to System Integration to Product (2017)

A common MVP evolution is to start with a service, then add system integration, and finally offer a stand-alone product. Bootstrapping teams test and refine by delivering a service first, then wrapping a system integration around existing tools (e.g., templates, configurations, add-ons) to reduce risk and speed iteration. Lessons include continual customer discovery, explicit checklists, post-project reviews, and the gradual substitution of software for labor as processes stabilize. When enough value is proven, transition to a standalone product with an upgrade path, balancing desirability and feasibility.

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Sudo for Windows

Sudo for Windows is a Windows-specific implementation of the sudo concept that lets you run elevated commands from an unelevated terminal. The Inbox version works on Windows 11 builds 26045+ and can be enabled in Settings > Developer Features. It is not a fork/port of Unix/Linux sudo; behavior differs. Documentation is at aka.ms/sudo-docs; contributions via CONTRIBUTING.md. The repository includes sudo.ps1 (a PowerShell helper wrapper) in scripts/ to improve the user experience. Team contact info is available on GitHub, with code of conduct and MIT license. Languages include Rust and PowerShell.

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Claude Token Counter, now with model comparisons

Simon Willison upgrades Claude Token Counter to compare token counts across Claude models: Opus 4.7 and 4.6, Sonnet 4.6, Haiku 4.5. Opus 4.7 uses a new tokenizer that maps input to more tokens (tests show about 1.46x for the system prompt). Pricing stays $5 per million input tokens and $25 per million output tokens, but token inflation implies roughly 40% higher costs. Opus 4.7 also improves image support (up to ~2,576px) with mixed results: a 3.7MB image produced about 3x more tokens; smaller images showed little change. Posted April 20, 2026.

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Stop trying to engineer your way out of listening to people

The piece argues that in software, the real problem is not lacking frameworks but failing to listen to people. Designers often replace listening with “engineering-friendly” terms like frameworks. Key pitfalls: conflating listening with following requests; over-relying on methods like JTBD, ODIs, empathy maps; underestimating others’ knowledge; treating “technical” as one thing; assuming similar resources; assuming people stay static; equating what someone says with what they mean; judging people; assuming everyone is the same. Consequences: missed insights, more bugs and tech debt, lost opportunities and money. Encourages better listening to gain competitive advantage; touches on data presentation and UX.

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Canada's PM calls economic ties with US a weakness that must be corrected

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Canada’s close economic ties with the United States, once a strength, are now a weakness that must be corrected. In a video address, he outlined steps to diversify the economy: attract new investments, sign trade deals with other countries, expand clean energy capacity, reduce internal trade barriers, and boost defense spending. He warned U.S. tariffs and uncertainty have chilled investment and urged Canadians to take control of security, borders, and the future rather than rely on a return to “normal” U.S. policy.

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Mechanical Keyboard Sounds - A listening Museum

The Listening Museum by sheets.works curates 36 mechanical keyboards across 40+ years, from IBM Model M to Topre and modern customs. Each keyboard card expands with details; type on your real keyboard to hear that key's sound played back. The project spans 8 switch families and 500+ audio samples, and explains keyboard anatomy (housing, stem, spring) and why it sounds different. All audio comes from open-source communities; the authors are curators, not field recordists. Treat it as a listening museum, not a buying guide.

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The insider trading suspicions looming over Trump's presidency

BBC examines patterns of unusual trading ahead of Trump's major policy announcements, suggesting possible insider trading or timing by insiders. Examples include oil futures moves just before his Middle East remarks and before a claim of resolution with Iran, and a tariff pause that coincided with a stock rally. Prediction markets such as Polymarket and Kalshi, with Trump Jr. among investors, are cited. Regulators say zero tolerance for fraud, but enforcement is difficult; the White House warned staff not to use insider information. Some analysts attribute patterns to skilled traders rather than proven crime.

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The Uncanny Valley and the Rising Power of Anti-AI Sentiment

Public skepticism about AI now outpaces expert optimism, driven by fraud, privacy, power concentration, and especially fears of job displacement. The piece extends Mori’s uncanny valley to AI, arguing that near-human cues in text, voices, and videos create repeated mismatches with social expectations, producing disgust and danger signals. Mortality-related anxieties and existential risk narratives amplify the affective response. Repeated exposure can make AI feel hollow and intrusive, strengthening anti-AI sentiment. Design lessons: align cues across modalities, or deliberately keep AI non-embodied to reduce uncanniness.

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