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datasette code-frequency chart on GitHub

datasette code-frequency chart on GitHub

Out of curiosity I decided to see if I could find a useful illustration of the impact of coding agents and Opus 4.5 class models on my own output. The best I've found so far is this GitHub chart of frequency of code changes to my Datasette open source project:

Screenshot of a GitHub "Code frequency" bar chart, subtitled "Additions and deletions per week", showing green addition bars and red deletion bars per week from 2018 through 2026, with a y-axis labeled Frequency ranging from -20k to 30k. Activity comes in sporadic bursts: the largest spike is 37,022 additions with -9,528 deletions in 2026, followed by 14,638 additions with -6,584 deletions in late 2025, 15,998 additions in early 2018, and a standout deletion spike of -10,658 in mid-2020, with quieter periods of smaller weekly changes in between.

The big spike in activity at the end aligns with Opus 4.8, GPT-5.5, Fable 5 and GPT-5.6 Sol.

Tags: github, ai, datasette, generative-ai, llms, ai-assisted-programming, coding-agents

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Text • Jason Kottke

Digger

I’d seen that there was a new Tom Cruise movie coming out this fall called Digger, but I was not prepared for the trailer, in which we see Cruise playing a dipshit oligarch in what appears to be a Dr. Strangelove-style satire/thriller.

The most powerful man in the world embarks on a frantic mission to prove he is humanity’s savior before the disaster he’s unleashed destroys everything.

The film is directed by Alejandro Iñárritu (Amores perros, Birdman, The Revenant) and also stars John Goodman as a geriatric president, Sandra Hüller, and Jesse Plemons. Digger has just moved near the top of my most-anticipated movies of 2026 list.

Tags: Digger · movies · Tom Cruise · trailers · video

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Text • Jason Kottke

TIL about Fredkin’s paradox . “With this kind of...

TIL about Fredkin’s paradox. “With this kind of decision, what Fredkin’s paradox tells us is if it’s very difficult to decide, it’s probably because the alternatives are equivalent, and therefore it doesn’t matter which one you choose.”

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Text • Jason Kottke

The Universe of Short Film is an amazing site for...

The Universe of Short Film is an amazing site for watching, sharing, and connecting around short films. This is really cool…not sure why the site isn’t better known.

Colossal Valid
Text • Grace Ebert

Korea’s Coastal Folklore Surfaces in Jeongmin Lee’s Ink Illustrations

Korea’s Coastal Folklore Surfaces in Jeongmin Lee’s Ink Illustrations"I rarely paint a folktale exactly as it's written," Lee says. "I'm more interested in its symbols, emotions, and the questions it leaves behind."

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article Korea’s Coastal Folklore Surfaces in Jeongmin Lee’s Ink Illustrations appeared first on Colossal.

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Text • Jason Kottke

Earth’s Holes

From XKCD, a tour of some of the Earth’s deepest and most notable holes, including mines, caves, boreholes, subway stations, lakes, tunnels, neutrino detectors, and, of course, the Mariana Trench.

I was surprised to learn that a pair of boreholes, the Kola Superdeep Borehole and the Deepwater Horizon Borehole, are actually deeper than the Mariana Trench. Explain XKCD has more info on each of the various holes, including the truly bonkers Cave of Crystals in Mexico.

Tags: geology · infoviz · Randall Munroe · xkcd

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Text • Brendan Fitzgerald

Skill Nostalgia

"Is all the beekeeping, baking and leatherwork just escapist fantasy or the start of a radically human approach to work?"

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Text • Jason Kottke

Ocean Vuong has a photograpy show opening at The...

Ocean Vuong has a photograpy show opening at The Wadsworth Museum in Hartford, CT in August. Vuong used “portraiture, landscape, and snapshots to document queer and immigrant life in the Connecticut River Valley over two decades”.

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Text • Jason Kottke

When A.I. Is a Member of the Family . How a family of...

When A.I. Is a Member of the Family. How a family of three in a Cleveland suburb uses AI chatbots. This is wild.

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Text • Kate Mothes

Helena Minginowicz Transforms Humble Paper Towel into Ethereal Paintings

Helena Minginowicz Transforms Humble Paper Towel into Ethereal Paintings"Civilizations are remembered through their monuments, but understood through the things they throw away," the artist says.

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article Helena Minginowicz Transforms Humble Paper Towel into Ethereal Paintings appeared first on Colossal.

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Text • Jason Kottke

The Best Shots From the 2026 Aerial Photographer of the Year Contest

The best aerial photography reminds us that we don’t have to go all the way to space to experience a small helping of the overview effect. The 2026 Aerial Photographer of the Year contest celebrates the best photos taken from the air; here are a few of my favorites: ...

Longreads Valid
Text • Krista Stevens

On Loving Birds

"A couple of years after I began volunteering, I realized I was hell-bent on healing birds because they, too, had healed me—in more ways than one."

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Text • Work Chronicles

(comic) Premature optimization

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Billy Joel talks about his first big hit! #billyjoel #songwriting #shorts

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Text • John Gruber

Remember Musk’s Suit Alleging a Conspiracy Between Apple and OpenAI?

arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/08/elon-musk-sues-apple-openai-to-block-exclusive-iphone-chatgpt-integration/

Ashley Belanger, reporting for Ars Technica back in August 2025: After a public outburst over Grok’s App Store rankings, on Monday, Elon Musk followed through on his threat to sue Apple and OpenAI. At first, Musk appeared fixated on ChatGPT consistently topping Apple’s ...

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Text • Jason Kottke

A list of the new foods on offer at the Minnesota State...

A list of the new foods on offer at the Minnesota State Fair this year. They’re all some variation of “jerked pork rolled in butter & sugar, deep fried in dill pickle batter, and served with a side of cheese curd mayo”; I’d happily try any of them.

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Video

The Billy Joel Interview

In this interview I finally get to sit down with the legendary Billy Joel. We talk about Billy's prolific career as a singer and songwriter, his love of classical music, and his techniques for writing such timeless music. Billy also shares some hilarious stories and demonstr...

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Text • Kate Mothes

Uncanny Landscapes in Pen and Ink Span Wooden Panels by John Buck

Uncanny Landscapes in Pen and Ink Span Wooden Panels by John BuckThe Bozeman-based artist is known for his eccentric wooden sculptures that draw on folklore, personal memory, and daily observations.

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article Uncanny Landscapes in Pen and Ink Span Wooden Panels by John Buck appeared first on Colossal.

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Text • Jason Kottke

Once Unimaginable, Publishers Are Preparing to Opt Out...

Once Unimaginable, Publishers Are Preparing to Opt Out of Google Search. “We’ve been clear about what we want. We want a technical solution that allows you to be discoverable without having to give your content away for free.”

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Text • Jason Kottke

Exploring NYC With Next Generation Skaters

This might be my new favorite skate video? It follows a pair of young skaters around the city as they chat about their friendship, share tips about living life, and try skating everything that is even remotely skateable.

Best friends, Ari and Luca are two of the most promising NYC talents right now. They are consistently street skating, crushing events, and are keeping skateboarding exciting for a generation we seemingly missed.

If these two stick with it, we have no problem betting that they’ll be the next big names out of the city, and we were lucky enough to catch them right before they arrive.

(via craid mod)

Tags: cities · NYC · skateboarding · sports · video