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Illya Starikov

The Zero-Width Space-Place

Nothing to​​ see here​.

Zero‑Width Space

Click the translucent pill (blue dot marks it) or the big Copy button.

What’s Zero-Width Space?

The zero‑width space (U+200B) is a Unicode glyph that renders nothing and occupies zero width. In the right hands, this “invisible ink” changes how software treats text.

Example

Below are seven tricks I actually use, each with a quick demo.

  1. Anchor an Alphabetical List
    Prefix one or more ZWS characters to push an item ahead of "A".
​Newsletter  ← with ZWS
Apple
Zucchini
  1. Break Auto‑Linking
    Drop a ZWS into a URL or email to foil scrapers while leaving it human‑readable.
hello​@starikov.co
https://starikov​.co
  1. Duplicate C++ Identifiers
    ZWS is a valid identifier char in many compilers.
int total = 1;     // normal
int tota​l = 2;     // looks the same, compiles fine
std::cout << total + tota​l; // prints 3
  1. Python Indentation Gremlins
    Slip a ZWS into leading spaces; code looks aligned but crashes.
def hello():
    print("ok")   # four spaces
​    print("boom") # four + ZWS → IndentationError

  1. Hide Easter‑Egg Text
    Insert a binary watermark every 100 chars; humans never see it, diff tools do.

  2. Zero‑Length Social Forms
    Some platforms allow a username, bios, and other forms that is literally just ZWS. Pure minimalism.

  3. Control word‑wrapping
    Add ZWS inside a super‑long URL to let browsers break the line without inserting a visible hyphen.

<span style="word-break:break-all">
    https://example.com/superlong​paththatneverends
</span>
,   &  Illya Starikov
Technology, Easter Egg

RSS: RSS Starter Set 📰

My recommended RSS feeds—thoughtfully curated over a decade of reading.

The skeleton is automatically generated by this script. Import the following OPML into any reader to pull everything at once.

rss_starter_set_2025_5_12
All the feeds, categorized in respective sections.
rss_starter_set_2025_5_12.opml
30 KB
download-circle

Apple🍎

  • Apple | Developer — RSS
    Official notes on software releases, tooling updates and policy changes inside Apple’s developer ecosystem.

  • Apple | Newsroom — RSS
    Corporate statements covering product launches, financial results and wider initiatives.

  • Daring Fireball — RSS
    Commentary and link aggregation focused on Apple and the technology industry.

  • MacStories — RSS
    In‑depth reviews, workflows and analysis for advanced iOS and macOS users.

  • Marco.org — RSS
    Occasional essays on software development, podcasting and independent publishing.

  • Six Colors — RSS
    Reporting and analysis on Apple’s hardware, software and services, aimed at enthusiasts and professionals.

  • The Sweet Setup — RSS
    Recommendations and workflows that enhance productivity across Apple platforms.

Companies🏢

  • Android Developers — RSS
    Technical updates and best practices for building, testing and distributing Android applications.

  • Apple | ML Research — RSS
    Peer‑review‑style summaries of Apple’s research in machine learning and artificial intelligence.

  • AWS Machine Learning Blog — RSS
    Case studies, tutorials and announcements on applying AI services within Amazon’s cloud.

  • Chromium — RSS
    Progress reports from the open‑source browser project that underpins Chrome and Edge.

  • Facebook | Engineering — RSS
    Technical deep dives into infrastructure, data systems and product engineering at Meta.

  • Garmin — RSS
    Product news and usage guidance for navigation, fitness and outdoor devices.

  • GitHub | Engineering — RSS
    Insights into scaling and securing the world’s largest code‑hosting platform.

  • Instagram | Engineering — RSS
    Engineering narratives on delivering social‑media features to a global audience.

  • LinkedIn | Engineering — RSS
    Articles on large‑scale data processing, relevance ranking and platform reliability.

  • Meta — RSS
    Corporate news spanning product releases, policy positions and financial updates.

  • Meta | Research — RSS
    Academic‑style papers exploring computer vision, natural‑language processing and related fields.

  • Microsoft Research — RSS
    Peer‑reviewed research and technology transfers from Microsoft’s global labs.

  • Netflix TechBlog — RSS
    Engineering case studies on content delivery, cloud reliability and data analysis.

  • NVIDIA — RSS
    Updates on graphics, high‑performance computing and AI initiatives.

  • OpenAI — RSS
    Announcements and research summaries related to language models and AI safety.

  • OpenAI News — RSS
    Headline feed distilling OpenAI’s key product and policy updates.

  • Signal — RSS
    Technical and policy discussions on end‑to‑end encryption and secure messaging.

  • Stack Overflow — RSS
    Reflections on software‑developer culture, community trends and platform improvements.

  • TensorFlow — RSS
    Release notes, tutorials and ecosystem news for Google’s deep‑learning framework.

  • Wolfram — RSS
    Essays on computational science, applied mathematics and software innovation.

Computer Science🐛

  • AI Impacts — RSS
    Research exploring the economic and societal consequences of advanced AI systems.

  • AI Weirdness — RSS
    Experiments illustrating both the creativity and the limitations of neural‑network models.

  • And now it’s all this — RSS
    Practical scripting advice and observations on engineering workflows.

  • Andrej Karpathy — RSS
    Essays on deep learning, vision models and large‑scale training techniques.

  • arg min — RSS
    Technical commentary on optimisation, machine learning and data science.

  • Berkeley | AI — RSS
    Accessible summaries of recent artificial‑intelligence research from UC Berkeley.

  • ByteByteGo — RSS
    Illustrated guides to system design, scalable architecture and distributed computing.

  • C++ Stories — RSS
    Modern‑C++ features, guidelines and best practices.

  • CodeProject Latest Articles — RSS
    Community‑authored tutorials covering a broad spectrum of software topics.

  • Coding Horror — RSS
    Essays on software craftsmanship, usability and developer culture.

  • Columbia | Statistical Modeling — RSS
    Discussions on Bayesian statistics, social‑science methods and data communication.

  • Eric Jang — RSS
    Research notes on robotics, reinforcement learning and applied AI.

  • fast.ai — RSS
    Practical deep‑learning instruction aimed at software developers.

  • Hacker News — RSS
    Daily aggregation of technology news, startup announcements and research papers.

  • IEEE Spectrum — RSS
    Engineering‑centric reporting on emerging technologies and industry trends.

  • It Runs Doom! — RSS
    Showcases unconventional devices capable of running the classic video game Doom.

  • James Stanley — RSS
    Personal projects and commentary on security, electronics and software.

  • Joel on Software — RSS
    Classic essays on software management, product design and programming practice.

  • John D. Cook — RSS
    Short, accessible reflections linking mathematics, statistics and software development.

  • Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research — RSS
    Peer‑reviewed papers presenting state‑of‑the‑art advances across all branches of AI.

  • Julia Evans — RSS
    Illustrated tutorials demystifying Linux, networking and debugging techniques for practitioners.

  • Keet — RSS
    Research notes on knowledge representation, ontologies and semantic web technologies.

  • Krebs on Security — RSS
    Investigative reporting on cyber‑crime, data breaches and digital‑fraud trends.

  • learnbyexample — RSS
    Concise command‑line and text‑processing guides for developers honing Unix skills.

  • Lenny's Newsletter — RSS
    Product‑management insights distilled from industry data and operator interviews.

  • linusakesson.net — RSS
    Technical explorations of low‑level electronics, music synthesis and retro computing.

  • Luke Salamone — RSS
    Essays on graphics programming, game‑engine design and related tooling.

  • Machine Intelligence Research Institute — RSS
    Analyses of AI alignment challenges and strategies to mitigate long‑term risks.

  • ML Mastery — RSS
    Hands‑on machine‑learning tutorials emphasising clear code and practical results.

  • Newest Python PEPs — RSS
    Live feed of proposals shaping the future syntax and semantics of Python.

  • sidebits — RSS
    Brief technical notes on performance optimisation, systems programming and Rust.

  • Simon Willison's Weblog — RSS
    Frequent posts on open data, web tooling and practical large‑language‑model experiments.

  • Simplify C++! — RSS
    Guidelines for writing clearer, safer and more maintainable modern‑C++ code.

  • Slashdot — RSS
    User‑moderated headlines covering technology policy, hardware and open‑source news.

  • Swift.org — RSS
    Release notes and evolution proposals for Apple’s open‑source programming language.

  • The Gradient — RSS
    Editorial essays unpacking recent machine‑learning research for a broad technical audience.

  • The Old New Thing — RSS
    Historical and technical commentary on Windows APIs and system design.

  • The Pragmatic Engineer — RSS
    Operational advice on scaling software organisations and engineering careers.

  • The Register — RSS
    Independent technology journalism tracking industry moves, hardware and cybersecurity.

  • Unixmen — RSS
    How‑to articles and reviews focused on Linux administration and open‑source tools.

  • VimGolf — RSS
    Micro‑challenges showcasing efficient command sequences in the Vim editor.

Cooking🧑‍🍳

  • 101 Cookbooks — RSS
    Seasonal, whole‑food recipes emphasising natural ingredients and vegetarian cuisine.

  • David Lebovitz — RSS
    Recipes and culinary observations from a pastry chef living in Paris.

  • Drinkhacker — RSS
    Spirits reviews, cocktail recipes and industry news for enthusiasts.

  • Love and Lemons — RSS
    Plant‑forward dishes presented with bright photography and concise instructions.

  • Pinch of Yum — RSS
    Accessible comfort‑food recipes paired with blogging and photography tips.

  • Serious Eats — RSS
    Evidence‑based cooking guides, equipment reviews and culinary science.

  • smitten kitchen — RSS
    Home‑kitchen recipes designed for reliable results and minimal fuss.

  • Tartelette — RSS
    Pastry and dessert recipes illustrated with professional‑quality photography.

Culture🦠

  • The Substack Post — RSS
    Platform news and commentary on the evolving newsletter ecosystem.

  • XXL — RSS
    Coverage of hip‑hop music, culture and industry developments.

Gaming👾

  • Nintendo Life — RSS
    News, reviews and community coverage centred on Nintendo hardware and software.

  • Nintendo UK — RSS
    Official announcements, release dates and promotional updates for UK audiences.

  • PlayStation — RSS
    Product news, developer interviews and firmware updates from Sony Interactive.

  • Pure Nintendo — RSS
    Independent reporting and opinion on Nintendo gaming and related culture.

Google

  • Google | DeepMind — RSS
    Research highlights and applications from Alphabet’s advanced‑AI division.

  • Google | Developers — RSS
    API changes, tooling updates and developer‑centric announcements across Google platforms.

  • Google | Security — RSS
    Security advisories, vulnerability research and best‑practice guidance from Google.

  • Google | Testing — RSS
    Methodologies and frameworks for building reliable, well‑tested software at scale.

  • Google | Workspace — RSS
    Release notes detailing new features and refinements in Google’s productivity suite.

  • The Keyword — RSS
    Company‑wide announcements spanning consumer, enterprise and research initiatives.

Health⚕️

Interest(ing)⌚️💼

  • Atlas Obscura — RSS
    Reports on unusual places, histories and cultural phenomena worldwide.

  • BOOOOOOOM! — RSS
    Contemporary art, illustration and photography features with international scope.

  • Europe By Rail — RSS
    Practical guidance and commentary on rail travel across the European continent.

  • Field Notes — RSS
    Dispatches on paper goods, analogue tools and design‑focused manufacturing.

  • I Love Typography — RSS
    Articles exploring type design, font history and typographic trends.

  • Naturally Ella — RSS
    Vegetarian recipes highlighting seasonal produce and whole foods.

  • Rands in Repose — RSS
    Essays on engineering leadership, organisational culture and personal productivity.

  • Wait But Why — RSS
    Long‑form explorations of technology, psychology and existential questions.

  • zen habits — RSS
    Minimalist practices aimed at simplifying work, health and daily routines.

News🗞️

Nice🫶

ST̶EM🧬🧑‍🏫💊

  • Big Data, Plainly Spoken — RSS
    Statistical commentary translating complex data into everyday insights.

  • Construction Physics — RSS
    Analytical essays on the economics and engineering of the built environment.

  • FlowingData — RSS
    Data‑visualisation projects and tutorials illustrating societal trends.

  • Girls' Angle — RSS
    Mathematics outreach content aimed at encouraging young women in STEM.

  • In the Dark — RSS
    Commentary from an astrophysicist on cosmology, academia and science policy.

  • Infinity Plus One — RSS
    Expositions on advanced mathematics, including category theory and algebra.

  • Inframethodology — RSS
    Reflections on scholarly writing practices and research methodology.

  • Luca Marx — RSS
    Interdisciplinary essays bridging physics, technology and philosophy.

  • M‑Phi — RSS
    Academic posts on mathematical logic, philosophy of mathematics and related topics.

  • Math ∩ Programming — RSS
    In‑depth articles connecting theoretical mathematics with practical algorithms.

  • NASA — RSS
    Agency news covering missions, scientific discoveries and aerospace policy.

  • Quanta Magazine — RSS
    Explanatory journalism on fundamental research in physics, mathematics and biology.

  • Sabine Hossenfelder: Backreaction — RSS
    Critical analyses of theoretical‑physics claims and broader science communication.

  • What If? — RSS
    Scientific answers to hypothetical questions, presented with rigorous humour.

  • xkcd — RSS
    Webcomic offering concise observations on science, technology and relationships.

  • Your Local Epidemiologist — RSS
    Public‑health analysis interpreting epidemiological data for a general readership.

San Francisco🌉

  • CalMatters — RSS
    Non‑profit journalism examining California policy, politics and social issues.

  • Eater SF — RSS
    Restaurant openings, closures and dining trends in the Bay Area.

  • Mountain View Post — RSS
    Local news and community updates from the heart of Silicon Valley.

  • SF Funcheap — RSS
    Listings of free and low‑cost events across San Francisco.

  • SF Weekly — RSS
    Alternative weekly covering local politics, culture and entertainment.

  • SFGATE — RSS
    Regional news, culture and lifestyle reporting for the broader Bay Area.

  • SFist — RSS
    City‑focused news briefs spanning transit, weather and civic affairs.

  • The SF Standard — RSS
    Data‑driven journalism addressing urban change and local governance.

Tech📲

  • Have I Been Pwned — RSS
    Alerts on newly disclosed data breaches and compromised account details.

  • Internal Tech Emails — RSS
    Curated internal memos offering insight into strategy debates at major tech firms.

  • No Mercy / No Malice — RSS
    Market analysis and commentary on technology, media and economics.

  • Official Android Blog — RSS
    Product releases, operating‑system updates and ecosystem developments for Android.

  • Platformer — RSS
    Independent reporting on social‑media governance and content‑moderation policy.

  • Product Hunt — RSS
    Daily digest of new software tools, hardware gadgets and startup launches.

  • Sandofsky — RSS
    Insights on mobile photography, software design and indie development.

  • Source Code in TV and Films — RSS
    Screenshots highlighting real or spoofed code snippets in visual media.

  • Spotify — RSS
    Company announcements on audio streaming, podcasting and platform expansion.

  • Stratechery — RSS
    Strategic analysis of technology business models and competitive dynamics.

  • The Waving Cat — RSS
    Commentary on the societal impact of connected devices and digital policy.

Україна🇺🇦

,   &  Illya Starikov
Technology

Happy Mother's Day

Mothers are like buttons,
they hold everything together.


Happy Mother's Day.

,   &  Illya Starikov

Wordleconomics

When in doubt, SLATE it out.

Over the past year, I've become quite invested in Wordle. Actually, Taylor and her family started playing first, and I quickly joined in. Soon enough, I even got my mom hooked on it!

If you're not familiar, Wordle is an engaging daily puzzle where you have six tries to guess a secret five-letter word, guided by helpful color-coded hints.

Throughout the year, I consistently chose the same starter: SLATE.

S L A T E

It felt safe and reliable—I always knew my next steps based on it. However, Taylor experimented with different starters and consistently crushed it.

This made me curious: what are actually the best starting words? After some digging, familiar contenders: CRANE, SLATE, TRACE, CRATE, CARET. I've compiled a comprehensive list below for (both of our) future reference.

C R A N E
S L A T E
T R A C E
C R A T E
C A R E T

Identifying the Optimal Starters

Rather than relying solely on intuition or AI, I wanted to see if a straightforward, "old-school" program could crack this puzzle. First, we needed a suitable dictionary of words. Unix and macOS provide the standard words library, but this includes obscure entries that Wordle may not recognize.

Next, we required an effective scoring method. A straightforward approach is to calculate letter frequency across all words—the more frequently a letter appears, the higher its score.

Quickly, some letters emerged as particularly common:

  • Most frequent: S, E, A
  • Moderately frequent: O, R, I

Interestingly, four of these letters are vowels: E, A, O, I.

Positional frequency matters too—letters are scored higher if they're common in specific positions within words.

Notably:

  • The {S, 4} combination (a trailing "S") dominates, suggesting many plurals.
    • {S, 4}: ____S
  • Other frequent positional letters:
    • {A, 1}: _A___
    • {E, 1}: _E___
    • {E, 3}: ___E_
    • {I, 1}: _I___
    • {O, 1}: _O___
    • {S, 0}: S____
    • {T, 0}: T____
    • {U, 1}: _U___
    • {Y, 4}: ____Y

Finally, by combining aggregate letter frequency and positional data, a hybrid scoring system emerged. This method offers a more balanced and nuanced approach, producing unique top words: AEROS, SOARE, REAIS, AROSE, and RAISE.

A E R O S
S O A R E
R E A I S
A R O S E
R A I S E

Even when you feed my script the same 2,309‑word official Wordle answer list that WordleBot uses, our rankings still diverge because of how we each value information: my hybrid metric simply adds up how frequently each letter—and, to a lesser degree (10 % blend), each letter‑in‑position—appears across all answers, then zeroes out any word with duplicate letters on turn one, so high‑coverage vowel‑heavy options like AEROS and SOARE dominate; WordleBot, by contrast, runs a full entropy simulation for every guess and keeps duplicate letters if they shrink the remaining solution space, which is why consonant‑balanced staples like CRANE and SLATE top its chart. In short, we share the same dictionary; the gulf comes from aggregate‑frequency math versus entropy‑driven feedback simulation, plus my harsh repeat‑letter penalty and modest positional weight.

Parting Thoughts

Choosing the ideal Wordle starter is about balancing letter frequency and positional insights. Popular starters like CRANE and SLATE remain consistently strong choices due to their strategic letter placement and high-frequency letters. Meanwhile, hybrid scoring systems, which blend multiple metrics, offer compelling alternatives like SOARE and AEROS, maximizing initial guess effectiveness.

Whether sticking with tried-and-true favorites or exploring data-driven options, the real fun of Wordle lies in its daily puzzle-solving and the friends and family your spend doing it with.

My Words

The words generated by my program rank first by a hybrid metric (10% blend), then positional, then aggregate letter frequencies. The metrics are calculated by a sum of the letter’s value, with the value equaling the number of letter occurrences / total words. Positional does the same over the individual positions.

Word Hybrid # Hybrid Position # Position Aggregate # Aggregate
AEROS 1 0.98841 1 1.89498
SOARE 2 0.98324 3 1.89498
REAIS 3 0.97544 7 1.86772
AROSE 4 0.97213 2 1.89498
RAISE 5 0.96532 6 1.86772
SERIA 6 0.96462 9 1.86772
SERAI 7 0.96366 8 1.86772
LARES 8 0.96129 19 0.77624 17 1.82195
RALES 9 0.96041 20 1.82195
TARES 10 0.95962 6 0.79354
ARISE 11 0.95871 5 1.86772
ALOES 12 0.95772 10 1.83063
AESIR 13 0.95761 4 1.86772
RATES 14 0.95669
TOEAS 15 0.95635 13 1.82518
ARLES 16 0.95380 14 1.82195
RANES 17 0.95379 23 0.77186 41 1.80754
NARES 18 0.95341 29 0.76567 40 1.80754
EARLS 19 0.95316 15 1.82195
LAERS 20 0.95265 16 1.82195
REALS 21 0.95174 21 1.82195
TERAS 22 0.95116 37 1.81649
LEARS 23 0.95079 19 1.82195
TEARS 24 0.94912 35 1.81649
AEONS 25 0.94816
PARES 1 0.81023
BARES 2 0.80168
CARES 3 0.79946
MARES 4 0.79818 90 1.74042
PANES 5 0.79441
PORES 7 0.79219
BANES 8 0.78586
PALES 9 0.78458
BORES 10 0.78364
CANES 11 0.78364
DARES 12 0.78364 60 1.75988
MANES 13 0.78236
CORES 14 0.78142
GARES 15 0.78028
MORES 16 0.78014
FARES 17 0.77765
PONES 18 0.77637
BALES 20 0.77604
TORES 21 0.77550
MALES 22 0.77253
HARES 24 0.76998
PATES 25 0.76856
ALOSE 11 1.83063
STOAE 12 1.82518
LASER 18 1.82195
SERAL 22 1.82195
ARETS 23 1.81649
ASTER 24 1.81649
EARST 25 1.81649

Top Words

Top recommended words based on expert analysis. Check mark ✓ applies to words that have been Wordle words before.

# Word Why it ranks
Tier A
1 CRANE (✓) Highest WordleBot skill 99/99
2 SLATE (✓) ditto 99/99 – classic S‑start, E‑end
3 TRACE (✓) 99 — covers C/R/T trio
4 CRATE (✓) anagram of TRACE
5 CARET 99, never an answer yet
6 CARTE same 99 rating
7 SLANT WordleBot 99, "hard‑mode friendly"
8 PLATE (✓) newest 98/99 pick after CRANE
9 STARE (✓) long‑time player favorite, 97
10 SAINT (✓) 97, nice S‑start / NT ending
11 LEAST WordleBot 97, duplicate‑safe
12 STALE (✓) 97, frequent solution ending
13 TASER 97, yet unused answer
14 PARSE 97, R/S/E trio
15 SNARE (✓) 96, hits S/A/R/E combo
16 TRADE (✓) 96, D tests mid‑freq cons
17 PLANE 96, vowel‑balanced
18 SANER 96, "anser" pattern
19 PLACE (✓) 96, common C/E ending
20 SLICE (✓) 96, tests C/I vowel
Tier B
21 TRICE (✓) 98 WordleBot
22 DEALT top hard‑mode 99
23 LANCE 98 alt to SLANT
24 TRIPE 95 (hard‑mode)
25 SHALT 94 skill; avoids ‑S plural issue
26 TAILS 94; S‑ending test
27 PETAL 93; alternate to PLATE
28 ROAST high 97 in WordsRated pair study
29 RAISE Tyler Glaiel's top "answer‑valid" pick
30 SAUCY Hi‑score 'future‑answer' word, Feb 2024
31 SAUCE runner‑up to SAUCY
32 SOAPY high vowel‑con repeat test
33 SEIZE Z‑check without Q/J
34 CEASE double‑E confirmation
35 BRINY tests Y‑ending
36 CRIER common bigram ‑ER
37 SALLY WordleBot 92 but strong Y test
38 SADLY similar Y test, avoids E
39 SOOTY vowel+Y, covers double‑O
40 BRINE #4 on WordsRated score list
Tier C
41 SALET MIT "optimal" (avg 3.42 guesses)
42 SOARE Glaiel/Fan #1 eliminator
43 SAINE Hackernoon highest exact‑green probability
44 SLANE MIT list #6
45 SAREE Bertrand Fan entropy #2
46 SEARE entropy #3
47 SAICE WordPlay top‑10
48 REAST MIT #2 overall
49 TRAPE MIT #5
50 PRATE MIT #7
51 TEALS MIT tied #9
52 TRAIN MIT tied #9 – introduces N
53 RANCE 3Blue1Brown "max‑4‑guess coverage"
54 RATED same study – strong D check
55 RANTS alt w/ S‑end
56 RONTE high entropy variant
57 RAILE WordPlay top‑10 (rare but allowed)
58 TRICE (✓) already in Tier A — demonstrates overlap
59 LATER Top TikTok/Reddit frequency‑ranked list pick
60 AROSE Excel/YouTube statistical pick
Tier D
61 IRATE linguist‑approved vowel+RT
62 ALTER common ALT‑ pattern
63 ADIEU 4‑vowel classic
64 AUDIO 4‑vowel alt, tests U
65 ARISE vowel/R/S spread
66 ROATE best pure eliminator, not an answer
67 SAUTE five high‑freq letters+U
68 POISE balances mid vowels/cons
69 TEASE vowel‑dense w/ common T/S/E
70 CAUSE WordRated score #7
71 SHINE fills H/N combo hole
72 NOTES Wired letter‑freq starter
73 RESIN ≈ NOTES but R swap
74 TARES Wired / Real‑Stats top 5
75 SENOR same Wired set
76 ROAST already Tier B — popular SmartLocal
77 TALES Prof. Smyth simulator #1
78 CONES simulator #2
79 HATES 97 % success in 3‑word strat
80 POUTY vowel‑light follow‑up favorite
Tier E
81 CLINT best second word for SOARE combo
82 ROUND part of 3‑word meta
83 CLIMB third word in same set
84 SALLY WordRated list (tests double L/Y)
85 SADLY Y‑ending + D check
86 SOOTY digs into double‑O / Y
87 BRINY rare B/Y test
88 SEIZE Z‑probe after vowels
89 DEALT already Tier B — hard‑mode default
90 LANCE already Tier B
91 OUIJA meme‑ish 4‑vowel+J probe
92 ABOUT vowel‑heavy common pick
93 CANOE community vowel test
94 STORE SmartLocal "other good word"
95 COALS best two‑word pair (COALS+NITER)
96 NITER complement to COALS
97 SUITE Tom's Guide demo of today's solve
98 PIQUE tests rare Q/I pair
99 TARSE Reddit pick beats SALET in 2024 tweaks
100 TILER frequency‑based R‑ending probe (Real‑Stats)

Source Code

Want the source code? Find it here.

GitHub - IllyaStarikov/starikov.co: Source code from my blog.
Source code from my blog. Contribute to IllyaStarikov/starikov.co development by creating an account on GitHub.
GitHubIllyaStarikov
,   &  Illya Starikov
Code, Technology

Maposaurus, Napoleon, and 380,000 Steps

Evil Maposaurus prepare to meet your doom. Our hero has the power, glovebox is your tomb. Grab your Garmin take on the world.

The year is 2007: the iPhone launches, The Sopranos series finale airs, and Britney Spears may or may not have hair. It’s Super Bowl XLI — the Chicago Bears vs. the Indianapolis Colts. It’s the first Super Bowl played in the rain, and we’re heading into halftime with the Bears only down by two. Sadly, they would never recover. And the world would never recover from one of the greatest commercials of all time.

I’m talking about Maposaurus. A tongue-in-cheek homage to Ultraman, this commercial featured a befuddled driver fumbling with a giant paper map — remember those? — which bursts into life as a rampaging "Maposaurus" monster. A passerby pulls out his Garmin in-car GPS unit — remember those? — and, in true Ultraman fashion, transforms into a laser-shooting hero and defeats the beast. There’s even a sick rock soundtrack to go with it.

0:00
/0:30
Evil Maposaurus, prepare to meet your doom.
Our hero has the power, glovebox is your tomb.
Grab your Garmin, take on the world.
Grab your Garmin, every boy and girl.
GPS, power, space, and truth.
MP3, traffic alerts, Bluetooth.
The champion of personal navigation. Garmin.

This commercial would go on to receive critical acclaim — and how couldn’t it?

Garmin returned the next year with another clever concept: Napoleon. Racing a red sports car through modern-day Paris, he relies on his trusty Garmin to guide him to battle. When the car screeches to a halt at its destination, Napoleon leaps out expecting war glory — only to be met by his troops presenting him with a small white pony instead of an army. I guess the joke is: even history’s greatest general can’t tell where he is without GPS.

0:00
/0:57

While Napoleon didn’t receive quite the same praise as Maposaurus, both ads are emblematic of Garmin’s cultural moment — the undisputed leader in in-car navigation. When I told people I worked at Garmin, the #1 response I got was: “The car GPS thing?” Another industry, turned into an app on your home screen.

I first saw Maposaurus during my second internship at Garmin, thanks to my then-mentor Alex. I carried that lore with me into my first full-time job the next year. When it came time for the annual corporate walking/step challenge, I already had the perfect team name: Maposaurus. While I don’t have hard proof, I distinctly remember:

  • I placed in the top 19 out of > 200 individuals
    • Walking ~380,000 steps over 1 month
  • Maposaurus ranked in the top 5 out of > 40 teams

By the end of the competition, others were inspired — and even copied our headers!

,   &  Illya Starikov
Garmin

Happy Birthday, Bodie🐈

Orange is the sky’s way of smiling before it says goodnight.

Today, Bodie turns a whopping 14 years old. We took him into our home in January 2023 from Taylor’s parents, and these two years have been filled with nothing but love, paw prints on my face at 3 a.m., and many servings of sous-vide fine meats. Today, he’s getting steak tips.

Bodie's first day in his new home

First off, he’s doing great considering his hyperthyroidism. He was diagnosed about two years ago, and typically cats have a life expectancy of 1–3 years after diagnosis. But as you can see from the photos, he’s looking mighty healthy. Just like in everything else he does, I know he’ll far outlive expectations.

These days, he has many hobbies:

  • Going outside. He’s loving the California sun — and the blessed lack of mosquitoes. He enjoys it so much that he tries to sneak out now. He succeeded once, and the taste of freedom hooked him. He loves rummaging through bushes, rolling in the dirt, and getting pets from everyone in the neighborhood.
  • Sous-vide or pressure-cooked chicken and beef. With hyperthyroidism, he needs an ample supply of food. Cats can’t have seasoning or oils, and while they can eat raw meat, we prefer cooking it to reduce the risk of bacteria in store-bought cuts. That rules out the skillet (too sticky), and while boiling works, would you eat boiled meat? If he’s not getting wet food, he needs all the moisture he can get from what he eats. So now I sous-vide the meats, or Taylor pressure-cooks them.
  • ** Heating pads.** It gets cold here at night, so we set out a heating blanket for him on low with a timer. Or he’ll just sleep on one of us — whichever’s closer.
  • Cat wheel. We got it for Mallory to exercise on, but neither of them really used it for that. Bodie does love kneading it, though!
  • Obsessing over shoes. I’d rather not get into this one...
  • Screaming in the middle of the night. He doesn’t want to come to you — he wants you to come to him. Whether he’s bored, hungry, or lonely, you can count on a raspy meow echoing through the darkness.
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Bodie scream
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All in all, he lives a good life, despite the odds. He has arthritis in his paws, so he buckles every now and then. He sits and watches the world with calm detachment, occasionally blessing it with a slow blink. He’s taught me the virtues of patience, the joy of companionship, and the beauty of routines that don’t need any words.

I look forward to many more moments curled up in sunlight, many more screams at the bottom of the stairs for food, and — hopefully — no more surprise escapes.

Happy 14th Birthday, Bodie. 🍊

,   &  Illya Starikov
Pets

University of Missouri At Rolla featured in The Simpsons

It’s not often my college — Missouri University of Science and Technology, aka Missouri S&T — makes an appearance in pop culture. When it does, it’s kind of a big deal; at least me.

So I was incredibly happy to discover that Missouri S&T was featured in the Simpsons. This Reddit thread is where I found this, which lays out the premise:

Lisa was increasing her college tuition budget by gambling online. Every time she won more money, she changed her sweater to a "better" college. We [Rolla] are better than Springfield Community College and worse than Harvard, Yale, Oxford. — u/bullhonke
Lisa Simpsons featuring a retro Missouri S&T sweater (S24 E4, 11:40)

It’s fitting, at least for those of us who had the great honor of studying under the legendary Clayton Price. Price taught computer science and was well-known for making his (difficult) assignments based on his favorite show: the Simpsons. I assume many former-students have nightmares in the middle of the night, trying to articulate Bart and Homer doing something comical into code.

The irony is this episode aired 2012, and I never saw this during my tenure. Additionally this was almost a decade after Mr. Price famously got rid of his television, so clearly he never saw it either. But it’s heartwarming to us Missouri S&T alumni to know we existed in a timeline where this episode, Price, and our experiences at Rolla co-existed.

,   &  Illya Starikov
Missouri S&T

Video Game Vault 👾

The pixels and polygons I played with growing up.

PC

Nintendo 64

Gameboy Advance

PS2

PSP

Xbox 360

Stadia

Nintendo Switch

PS5

,   &  Illya Starikov