Time to make 2025 updates to my annual “opinions about solar” thread. If you like these, you might like the second edition of my book, Solar Power Finance Without The Jargon. A 30% discount code WSQ0437 is valid on publisher website until end of Nov 2025.

It's the book I should have read before trying to get a job in renewable energy. Reviewers describe it as “to the point, important, and taught me a lot” and “surprisingly entertaining, don’t be put off by the title”.

https://www.worldscientific.com/worldscibooks/10.1142/q0437#t=aboutBook

I just realized that the new CSS `field-sizing: content` magic allows textareas AND inputs AND select elements to grow. 😲

I thought it was only about textareas. 😅

So far, it works in Chromium and Safari TP.

The #CSS WG is trying to name several properties that do similar things. One controls the length of a text-decoration line in relation to the text, the others control 'rule' lines in grid/flex/multi-column gaps.

Leave your feedback! (Note the poll spans two comments):

https://github.com/w3c/csswg-drafts/issues/8402#issuecomment-3408427694

(share for reach, please)

my wife found this online somewhere recently, and I don't think I've agreed this hard with anything in a long time

2 Etsy orders stuck in customs now… stupid tarifs

I'm really excited for a future with CSS Mixins and Functions. @OddBird has some great content on these features if you want to browse our collection: https://www.oddbird.net/tags/css-mixins-and-functions/

What are you most excited about?

Four days till @smashingconf – I'm excited to see some of you there! I'll be talking about CSS variables & type safety.

I also have a workshop on Modern CSS Architecture: https://smashingconf.com/ny-2025/workshops/miriam-suzanne-modern-css-architecture

(And if you can't join in NY, reach out – I'm happy to tailor a workshop for your company)

All Trump had to say was “Jasmine Crockett” and his entourage laughed like it was a joke all on its own. The Republican Party considers accomplished black women laughable.

And we elected him. Shame.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/triggered-trump-melts-down-mention-010828327.html

CSS workin’ group ha, I can’t proofread 🙃

What should the CSS work in group name these cool new masonry features? If you write CSS, could you weigh in? thank you

https://www.w3.org/blog/CSS/2025/09/18/masonry-update-issues/

"Two sexes," they say. "Any others are unnatural"

MUSHROOMS: but we have 17,000 sexes. Whoops sorry just discovered another one. Make that 17,001.

"The female of the species," they proclaim, "is the one that carries the fetus to term. Males can't get pregnant. It's unnatural."

SEAHORSES: but our males do.

"It's so simple," they declare, a little nervously, "If you were born with a penis, you're a male. Boom."

SPOTTED HYENA: but our females have penises.

"If you were born with a vaginal canal, you're a girl," they scream. "If you weren't, you aren't. End of story."

TURTLES: but our males are. and they can even breathe through them.

"Biological sex can't be changed," they shriek, self-righteously."That's just science".

CLOWNFISH: but we do it all the time

"You can pretend to be a gender you weren't born as, they gasp, assuring themselves that surely this time they will emerge victorious, "animals can't just up and change their chromosomes. That's common sense."

BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS: but we can. explosive chromosomal macroevolution is literally a part of our lifecycle.

"But chromosomes determine biologi-"

BEARDED DRAGONS: ours are determined by the weather

"But the Bible says male and female he made th-"

BLUEHEADED WRASSE: all of us are born female

"But you can't just wake up one day and deci-"

GROUPER (MALE): we literally do.

"But gender isn't flui-"

GROUPER (MALE): sometimes we change back

"But you can't just pick what gender you're going to be on any given day!" They shriek, "It doesn't work that way!!"

GROUPER (FEMALE): ahem

When I worked at the newspaper, I learned of something called "snake rules" -- rules with no justifiable rhyme or reason that everyone just follows because of a higher up's preferences. Supposedly the term derived from a paper having a rule that a photo of a snake could never appear on the front page because the publisher's wife didn't like snakes.

Many years later, I continue to encounter them in my career: A magazine that avoids the use of gerunds because a vice president just doesn't like gerunds. Replacing any instance of the word "ongoing" with "continuing" because the the word ongoing is a pet peeve of a president.

A shitpost that's been brewing in my head for a while now

I'm getting fed up with people who make $2,500 per hour existing end of toot.

Trump is taking over the national guard in California. Which was, of course, the point of sending a military ICE force into major cities.

#Monopoly wasn't invented by the Parker Brothers, nor the man they gave it credit for. In 1904, Monopoly was originally called The Landlord's Game, and was invented by a radical woman. Elizabeth Magie's original game had not one, but two sets of rules to choose from.
One was called "#Prosperity", where every player won money anytime another gained a property. And the game was won by everyone playing only when the person with the least doubled their resources. A game of collaboration and social good.
The second set of rules was called "Monopoly", where players succeeded by taking properties and rent from those with less luck rolling the dice. The winner was the person eliminating everyone else.
Magie's mission was to teach us how different we feel when playing Prosperity vs Monopoly, hoping that it would one day change national policies.
When the Parker Bros adopted the game, they erased the "Prosperity" rules & celebrated "Monopoly".

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/ruthless-monopolys-secret-history/

Thank you, @MarkHoltom.

Now. Canada and Aus. Learn from America; and Britain…
… just because you pulled through this time doesn’t mean you’re safe. Keep doing politics like you have, and you’ll fail next time. It’s a pattern. Learn.

Go hard on public spending, go hard on social security, go hard on taxing companies and the rich.

It’s your only option. Don’t? You saw what happened in America. You see what’s happening in the UK.

Change. Really, actually, deliver for people. It’s a matter of global security.

How do you stay up to date on CSS things? Blogs? Newsletters? Feeds? Videos? Other?

Ça va être bien cette édition de #ParisWeb !
Rappel, toutes les informations pratiques sont disponibles sur notre site : https://www.paris-web.fr/informations-pratiques

My masonry layouts talk has dropped. I ask for web dev input, so bring it!

https://bsky.app/profile/nicolesullivan.bsky.social/post/3l4wpx5mxhg2a