🌹 Tech

🧠 Learning

So much has been going lately, I started experimenting with machine containers with incus. Most of my testing is done in incus/LXC containers.

To double down on this, I started working on a terraform module for incus.

While working on the module, I found a bug in the Terraform provider, which led me down the path of downloading the source code and debugging the issue myself.

Funny enough, while dealing with that, I discovered another bug! This time in the Terraform Plugin Framework.

The good news is the bug is fixed and should be released soon. Once that’s out, I’ll jump back into fixing the provider and then return to my module work.

💪 Doing

Since it’s the end of the year, I decided to give my dotfiles some love and did a full cleanup. I first switched from YADM to Dotter but eventually settled on using Ansible with Stow.

Now all my dotfiles are centralized in an Ansible role.

I know, using Ansible for dotfiles is probably overkill, but my goal is to automate setting up new machines with almost zero manual work.

Right now, my dotfiles cover basics like Linux kernel tweaks, user management, audio, video, X11, and more.

I’m still polishing the setup. My next step is tackling encryption and migrating password management to Pass and integrating Age into the workflow.

📑 Good Read

I read many good stuff this month but I will pick just 3:

🛠️ Power tool

This month’s highlight: Ansible. It’s insanely powerful and flexible. I’ve been using it for my dotfiles but now extending it to other areas of work and personal setups.

Another cool discovery is Podman’s Quadlet. It lets you manage Podman containers using systemd template files, making it a great alternative to Docker Compose.

Ansible Quadlet

💎 A knowledge gem

I stumbled upon a trilogy of videos about Linux networking by Matt Turner. If you’re interested in Linux interfaces and networking, these are pure gold.

Here is Matt Turner’s channel

🔗 Long live the web (and my bookmarks)

Here are 3 random picks from my bookmarks:

💡 A tip, A time saver ?

For a long time, Firefox has been my go-to browser, and they’ve been adding some really cool features lately. Here are my favorites so far:

  1. Vertical tabs: This feature is still in Beta, and you can enable them by turning sidebar.revamp and sidebar.verticalTabs to true in about:config. You can set browser.tabs.closeTabByDblclick to true to enable closing the tabs using double clicks.
  2. AI Chatbots: You can now open a sidebar with AI chatbots like GPT, Claude, Mistral, and more. Enable it via Firefox Labs!

I am glad they didn’t work on their own Model like what brave did :p.

🌻 Life

🧠 Learning

I’ve been learning to play the Guembri! Progress has been slow since I haven’t been practicing much, but I’ve made some wins.

Here are some great resources I am using:

💪 Doing

Nothing much to mention! Since it is the end of the year, I’ve been doing some cleanup here and there, to start the new year in a good shape.

Also I am reducing my online presence and social media usage a little bit.

📖 A book I am reading …

I just finished reading Istiqsaa and started Death with Interruptions on Youssouf’s recommendation.

The second part of Istiqsaa dives into the decline of the Almohad dynasty and the rise of the Marinids - super interesting!

Death with Interruptions has been equally thought-provoking. Highly recommend it if you’re into stories that make you reflect on life.

🎶 Listenning

This month has been all about Gnawa fusion music. Here are some favorites:

🖊️ Writing

Mrrakc

Morocco from the sky is comming soon!

Personal Blog

I am writting a small story about empathy and humbleness. It will get released soon.

Other

I wrote an article about resources for students in the GeeksBlaBla’s blog. It will get released soon.

🎥 Watching

I haven’t watched a lot of movies lately, here are some picks from my movies library:

🤍 A beautiful thing

One of the most heartwarming things I came across recently is YouCanSaveMeShelter: a cat shelter in Agadir run by young Moroccan ladies.

They take care of sick or disabled cats, and their Instagram is so wholesome. The shelter is home to tens or cats and is completely run and founded by these awesome girls.

Go show them some love and support!

You Can Save Me Shelter

💎 A knowledge gem

🔗 Long live the web (and my bookmarks)

📹 Some good content

Here’s what I’ve been into lately:

Podcasts

  • Nota Bene w Binek: One of the best podcast of the year, featuring some very good guests and very interesting conversations.
  • Difaf Al Finjan: The best Moroccan political podcast! It’s already the second season.
  • Motalate: Political podcasts with some good guests (not all the episodes are good).

Video Essays

Misc

🗺️ You should visit

This time I want to bring your attention to Museums in Morocco. There at least 3 categories of museums in Morocco:

  1. FNM Museums: These are owned and managed by the Moroccan Museum Foundation (FNM)
  2. CIPs: Short for “Centres D’interpretation de Patrimoine”. They are owned by Ministry of Culture, and they are smaller than the FNM’s. (They are as interesting)
  3. Private Museums: Here we find museums owned by:
    • Minitries like Sidi Abderrahman in Casa, Medrassa Mesbahiya in Fes and Dar Loukach in Tetouan (by Habous Ministry)
    • Universities like the Natural history museum by Mohammed V university and Meteor Museum by Ibn Zohr University.
    • Private companies like Bank Al Maghrib Museum and Telecommunication Museum by IAM.
    • Private particulier: Like Ibn Ghazi Museum in Sale, dar El Oddi in Tetouan and Doll Museum in Rabat.

😋 Eating

This time I will recommend Loubiya M3elka w Khatra (Beans) of Marrakech. Marrakchi have one of the best beans recipes in Morocco (maybe in the world).

I will recommend 2 small popular restaurants who I personally tried:

💡 A tip, A life saver ?

I couldn’t think of a life tip, so here’s a literal lifesaver instead: If you’re out camping, never keep your leftovers near the tent.

Trust me, you don’t want to wake up to wildlife or worse, a swarm of bugs hanging around. Learned that the hard way. 😂

📜 An inspiring quote

How much is a lot of money to you - Bob Marley

✨ A Reflexion

The other day, I was watching a YouTube video by Marouane53 about people’s crazy stories, and out of nowhere, I heard my neighborhood mentioned “Hay Linbiaat”.

I was born and raised in Hay Linbiaat, one of the toughest neighborhoods in one of Morocco’s most dangerous cities Salé. That probably makes it one of the most dangerous places in the country, right?

Growing up there wasn’t easy. Many of the kids I used to play with ended up in prison, and some sadly didn’t make it. By the time I was 10, I already knew the names of every kind of knife you could think of. Drugs, fights, and crime were just… everyday things.

When I was a kid, I’ve witnessed people getting seriously hurt, even stabbed to death right in front of me.

Hold a minute, I am not saying I was a bad kid! (Thanks to my parents, I had a really good education) But it is what it is I still grew up there, played in the streets, and got to know both good and bad people.

When I was younger, I used to feel embarrassed about being from Hay Linbiaat. But now? I couldn’t be prouder.

That place shaped who I am today. Because I was raised in Hay Linbiaat, I see life differently, I can fit and adapt to almost any situation, and I value what I have now, without feeling too proud or arrogant.

To be honnest I don’t think I can express my gratitude towards my neighbourhoud. Maybe I write something in Darija or maybe host a podcast about it.

Thank you for reading, see you in the next one!