🌹 Work

🧠 Learning

Lately, I’ve been exploring a tool called Quadlet. It is the successor to the now-deprecated podman systemd, and it’s recommended by the Podman team themselves.

Quadlet allows you to manage Podman containers using systemd units. It acts as a bridge between systemd and Podman by introducing custom systemd unit types for Podman’s first-class entities like containers, networks, volumes, pods, and more.

Along the way, I also refreshed my knowledge of systemd. While often controversial, systemd is undeniably one of the most well-crafted pieces of software to come out of the Linux ecosystem.

💪 Doing

I’ve just set up my GnuPG configuration for encryption, signing, and SSH. I also built a notes workflow that I’m trying to perfect before sharing it publicly.

I’m also migrating my self-hosted services to Quadlet! I’ll be sharing how I’m doing that too.

📑 Good Read

  • Art of Monitoring: I’m reading a book on monitoring titled The Art of Monitoring. It focuses more on the theory and foundational principles of monitoring rather than just tools.
  • Systemd manual: I’ve been doing a lot of work related to Systemd. I find the manual very interesting and very well crafted.
  • A successful Git branching model: I remember this being one of the first articles I read about Git branching. The content is timeless and still holds up to this day.

🛠️ Power tool

The power tool of this edition is Tmux. Tmux is a terminal multiplexer that supports sessions, tabs, panes, and many other cool features.

I’ve been using Tmux for quite some time. I’ve tried alternatives like Zellij and WezTerm with its native tabs and panes, but I always find myself coming back to Tmux.

I use TPM for plugin management and pywal16 with custom configurations for theming. I also use custom keybindings with Alt + key, and I’ve set up floating panes for quick actions like notes.

On the same subject, for Linux users, I recently discovered two very interesting TUI utilities: impala and bluetui, which make it easy to connect to WiFi and Bluetooth from the terminal.

impala and bluetui are terminal frontends for iwd and bluez, respectively.

💎 A knowledge gem

I remember when roadmap.sh first started years ago, it was just a set of plain images for Backend, Frontend, and DevOps. Now, the project has grown significantly, offering much more content and many additional roadmaps. They’ve also introduced new features like projects.

🔗 Long live the web (and my bookmarks)

Here are 3 random picks from my bookmarks:

💡 A tip, A time saver ?

My tip for this edition is bash shell extensions (or any POSIX shell). Expansion is of the most powerful features of Bash (and ZSH as well).

🌻 Life

🧠 Learning

This year, my curiosity is all over the place! I’ve been learning about psychology, linguistics, and macroeconomics, but geology and archaeology have caught my interest the most, thanks to the two podcasts below.

I’m also learning about wild camping because I plan to take a trip to the Middle Atlas this spring.

💪 Doing

I am working on a simple note taking system. I’ve tried a lot of tools and methodologies, but none worked for me. I am trying to work on a method that fits my need while being minimalistic. I will try to write a post about it soon.

I am also working on a game “A la chasse aux tresor” for Casablanca. The game is for people who want to play while walking in Casablanca and discover new things in the city.

📖 A book I am reading …

I’m currently reading Status Anxiety by Alain de Botton, a fascinating book about the history of social status and the psychology behind it. So far, I highly recommend it!

🎶 Listenning

I’ve been exploring Moroccan music from the previous century. I listened to a wide range of songs and was pleasantly surprised by the richness and variety of the musical landscape.

I even created a few Twitter/X threads to share some of the music I’ve discovered recently.

On a related note, I’ve been listening a lot to the Slaoui diva Ghita Ben Abdessalam. I find her incredibly underrated and worth a deeper listen.

🖊️ Writing

Mrrakc

Personal Blog

Other

🎥 Watching

Here are some of the good movies I watched lately:

  • Memoir of a Snail: Very nice and intimate movie. It definitely deserves the Oscar nomination.
  • Sideways: Good movie, my favorite thing about it the acting of Paul Giamatti - one of the best of his.
  • Keanu: One of the funniest movies I watched lately.
  • The hand of God: beautiful Italian movie. I started watching more international movies in place of Hollywood movies, and I don’t regret it.
  • [Dynasties II]: I can’t get enough from Sir David Attenbourough. The first part of the series was better, but this one is also very good. And the best thing about it is the episode shot in my favorite city in Morocco Azrou.

I watched many others like the Oscars nominees Conclave (which is a good movie, but I didn’t like its final act) and Wallace & Gromit: Vengence Most Frowl and classics like Casablanca and Goodfellas (Yes this was my first time).

🤍 A beautiful thing

With the current water situation in Morocco, The work maadialna are doing is awesome. KaMal on twitter is also making an awesome job sharing factual news about the water situation in Morocco.

💎 A knowledge gem

I love it when I find old blog like Tarikhena, they are usually very full of information. Tarikhena has a collection of books and articles about Moroccan and world history.

On another side there are some websites who does not have the best UI not UX, but they are full of information. One of them is the website of Geo Park Jbel Bani.

🔗 Long live the web (and my bookmarks)

📹 Some good content

Here is some good content I’ve been watching lately:

Podcasts

  • L’Khatr Fel Kora: One of the best podcasts about football in Morocco, very constructive and varied.
  • L’Vestiaire: An underrated podcast focusing on Tactics more.
  • Awal Podcast: A podcast about Moroccan identity and history.
  • Minds Talk: A new Moroccan tech podcast when Soukaina about journeys of ML engineers (not sure if it’s only ML engineers), I watched the first episode with Adam Louly, It was very good.

Video essays

  • 11 By Shoatt: Very good video essays about football and its history
  • Dan Murrel: Very nice video essays about movies
  • Kaito 2: Kaito made a new channel in Darija, his first video was about how to get an internship abroad and it was very good.

Misc

🗺️ You should visit

Staying on the same theme, Morocco has one of the richest archaeological heritages, with hundreds of archaeological sites and ancient cities. Here are five fascinating sites you can visit:

  1. Volubilis (Meknes): One of the most popular and significant ancient Moorish/Roman cities of Morocco.
  2. Chellah (Rabat): Not as big as Volubilis but as significant as the latter.
  3. Pigeon Cave (Berkane): One of the most significant archaeological sites in the world. The first surgery in human history was recorded here.
  4. Thomas Carry site (Casablanca): One of the largest and most important sites in Morocco.
  5. Cromlech de Mzoura (Asillah): One of the few mysterious cromleches in the World

😋 Eating

Since it was Ramadan, I did a lot of cooking at home. However, just before that, I tried the Sandwich Panache in Benjdia. It’s a special tuna sandwich found only in the Benjdia market in Casablanca.

💡 A tip, A life saver ?

Since it is Ramadan, I’d like to share a tip that works perfectly for me on how to store fruits and vegetables in the fridge. Simply wrap them in a tissue bag and place them at the bottom of the refrigerator. This way, they stay fresh longer and don’t rot, as the tissue absorbs the humidity, unlike plastic.

📜 An inspiring quote

So many books, so little time. - Frank Zappa

I picked this one because I’m in the same situation (maybe everyone feels this way nowadays): I have a lot of things I want to learn and do, but so little time.

✨ A Reflection

Lately, I watched a debate podcast by Touil Talk and I really appreciate the work that has been done by Oussama and his guests.

Oussama is an OG, I remember him from his posts in the DevC Facebook group, where he used to share tech-related content.

I also watched his first podcasts on YouTube, and honestly, I wasn’t a fan at the time. I didn’t like the questions and the overall flow of the discussion. But podcast after podcast, his content kept improving. Today, I think he’s made a name for himself as one of the best creators in the space.

So the reflection for this edition is as simple as : Hard work, persistence, and a willingness to learn always pay off.