Weekly Notes 20/2026

by Thejesh GN · May 15, 2026

We are in Thrissur. We left at around 2 AM and reached by 11 AM, with two breaks. The drive was comfortable. The traffic was friendly this time. Echo is getting old, and Uma is more active now. So the breaks are a necessity now. Thrissur is hot, but it’s been raining since we arrived, which keeps it manageable. Uma, Echo and Pathu love being here.

We have a new playlist for Uma’s radio. Now they are full-fledged songs. She can now sing songs in Malayalam, Kannada, and English.
It’s been a busy week at work. Though I have closed most tasks, it’s been tiring. I will have to rest well this weekend and not do much. On NMG/2026 from, about half of the fund grants have been transferred. The rest should happen in the next few weeks. It usually takes two to six weeks after the announcement. So not bad. I will be in Chennai for a couple of days next week. Mostly to meet folks, otherwise working as usual.
Two workout sessions and one pickleball session this week. We played singles on Saturday. It was tiring but equally fun.
I had a quick online Coffee Meet with Mihir this week; it was mostly about working style and time management. This speech by Federer came up during the conversation. He has won 80% of his total singles matches, but in those matches, he has won only 54% of the points. The 54% figure makes it seem possible and human. I think small things compound, so keep doing what you are doing; don’t lose your mind over one small failure. You can still win the match. Thanks to MK for pointing me to this speech during a pickleball match.
I have not upgraded to 5G yet. I think 4G itself is not up to the mark, and we are just overpaying. I hardly get 3 Mbps download and 1 Mbps upload speeds, which are way below the promised speeds from any major telco in India. It would be okay for general phone video watching (which I think is their use case) or a video call. But as soon as you tether from a computer and start your work. You hit the limits. I am not going to talk about the bandwidth or daily limits.
The first anniversary meetup of IndieWebClub Bangalore is on 30th May. I am going to miss it. But if you are in Bengaluru, please go meet people. Also, give a talk about your blogging experiments.
I got the Yamaha washed and filled the Petrol (E20) to the brim before we left for Thrissur. I am worried about rust and the burns that E20 might cause to the bike. Once I return to Bangalore, I will find an XP100 petrol bunk and use only that petrol. I also plan to use Yamalube/Milex fuel additives to keep the carburetor clean. Let me know if you have tried them? While I was getting the motorcycle washed. I got a picture of Lingarajapuram PO for OpenPostBoxIndia.
OpenArchiver is a self-hosted FOSS email archiving and search system. It can do continuous sync and store emails in standard .eml format. If you are interested in knots, functional or decorative, then you might like animated knots. Animations have been very useful to me. There is a lot of discussion about Mythos and security testing, including some panic actions by the NHS; in that regard, the Curl team’s experience with Mythos is interesting. Overall, industry feedback seems like a good addition (I don’t have access to it), but nothing spectacular (in public yet). Also, check notes by the AI Security Institute and the NCSC’s advisory on Mythos. She has been riding a beautiful motorcycle since 1968. I want to be her when I am her age. Over time, IoT has been used to take control away from consumers rather than to deliver information and control. This Bamboo Labs case is just another example. Any IoT device that doesn’t run on open protocols, doesn’t allow you to run without their cloud, and is not owned by you. It’s the same reason I don’t like connected cars or vehicles. Sadly, many electric cars fall into this category. An interesting AI policy by Ghostty takes the middle path. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to eliminate obtrusive technology in motor vehicles. It’s one of the reasons I love old, simple tech. Easy to fix and run.