Gerben 🌱 (@gerben.dev) Bsky

I wonder if Apple is running psy-ops on YouTube.. every time on a music video when somebody says they'll download the album it will be on Apple Music..

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Nice blossom, very fragrant..

4 days ago 0 1 0 0

Overcommit on a +4 minute over-time.. I'm so fucking done with #RocketLeague

2 weeks ago 0 0 0 0

Just seen an American motovlogger read a bible verse for safety, I presume, only to ride without gear and gloves..🙄

2 weeks ago 0 0 0 0

Overthinking: AI wasn't the first to break my heart So I’ve been thinking, when was the last time I’ve experienced some sort of burnout from a community. And I had forgotten that tech was not my only interest, or the only thing I’ve been deeply enthralled with. While I started making websites when I was 13, I wasn’t always stuck on only thinking about web development as a hobby and career. I used to be quite obsessed with films and filmmaking. I spent a great chunk of my young adulthood watching films and analysing them. I had semesters in university dedicated to it. I even used to organise a film festival! I was really obsessed with films! From watching the latest and obscure films, going to film festivals abroad and participating in shorts competitions. And the worst: even dated a filmmaker! It was a thing I used to love and even envisioned making my own. And at one point, like an ick, my interest in it disappeared instantly. And I’m reflecting now because I was washing my dishes after having scrolled for a little bit on BlueSky. Stupid AI has mentally ruined me and my peers. It’s like everything has lost meaning. And I was thinking about how I technically also feel that burnout, that tiredness, that sadness, and that has been going on for years now. But to me, it started with the React world. It started when everything was done with a JavaScript framework, ignoring the web platform, the craft of back-end developers and dismissing the skills of front-end developers. And that’s when my burnout and my existential crisis in the web development community started. Despite admitting online that I had a whole big girl cry over AI and the future of my career (and bills), I was reflecting on why this sadness doesn’t feel very strange to me. And I’ve realised it’s because I’ve been through this before with my previous passion: films. And I was trying to pinpoint the moment. When did this happen? I have a very vivid memory of how there were photographers and cinematographers that started to get quite upset when DSLR cameras became more affordable to the public. I have this memory of people complaining and saying, “Oh, now everybody can call themselves a photographer. They buy a very expensive camera and they call themselves a photographer!”. And I remember seeing those posts online and feeling sad and rejected, because technically, due to my age, it was literally impossible for me to have started earlier in that industry. So yeah, I landed in a time where certain devices were more affordable to the public to buy. And people who had been there in that industry for so many years were not happy about how things became easier for newcomers. We see this in web development as well. I mean, web development has both sides of the coin: it’s either extremely open in teaching, welcoming and educating and breaking barriers for people to get into the industry, but it also can be extremely gatekeeping, mostly for self-preservation. While this was a bitter memory I quickly brushed it off as this wasn’t it. This wasn’t what made me leave. In fact, me and my colleagues at the time were thinking: “okay, some people are moaning about us not being real photographers because we are having it easier now. Okay. Our work will speak for itself.”. Then it came to me. The exact moment I disconnected and it was like a black-and-white situation where my feelings vanished completely. I went to a horror film festival that I used to love. I used to love horror films. I used to enjoy ghosts, aliens, zombies and monsters and anything that was unnatural or unrealistic. And then the selection of films I watched that year all involved sexual assault. That was the horror. I remember during one particular film that had an explicit brutal scene, I started to look around me in the theatre, and nobody was flinching. Nobody was uncomfortable or twisting their body or looking at their watch or their phone or wanting to leave their seat. Everybody was actually watching it as if that was entertainment. And I was disgusted. I was repulsed. I was uncomfortable. I felt I had lost respect for everybody around me. I was confused about why a daily thing that happens, a crime, a horror, was entertainment. And that was the moment. That was the moment I just never set foot in anything related to films again. And I know it’s not a representation of all films, all categories, all themes, all festivals. But I felt disconnected… mostly from the audience. Hundreds of people. This is my peers' moment with web development with AI. They (and so am I) are disgusted by the lack of ethics, environmental consequences, the horrible uses of AI on the daily, horrible companies, horrible people. And we are looking around and everyone else is eating it up and enjoying it. This is the tipping point. And I get that. For personal reasons, or whatever life reasons, I’m quite familiar with disappointment and lack of values being matched and having to move on. I can see that we will see people forced out of the industry or just move on to something else for their own sake. We will lose good people in exchange for cheap, quick and shit outputs. Quick horror film? Woman alone to be assaulted! Quick website? AI it. I’ve cried a lot over AI. I’ve also cried a lot between 2015 and 2017. I couldn’t find a single job spec that cared about CSS. I thought I was useless and didn’t know where to turn or I should just give up. I’ve recently been turning more and more to DIY, sewing and crafts to lift my spirits up. But doing so in a capitalist society is still daunting. The slop is everywhere. Even to wind-down I have to navigate the other craft’s shit show: the fast-fashion, polyester, fabric waste, drop-shipping, stolen designs, pollution, etc. But even in those communities there's always the crafters: the people who care and will have you and teach you and support you. That’s how I’ve been surviving since 2015. By trying to mingle and be where the crafters are. If given the choice wouldn’t you rather watch an Oscar nominated film instead of a fast-produced straight to streaming film? Wouldn’t you take a carefully ethically crafted wool jumper instead of a She-in polyester one? And there isn’t really a conclusion to post. Just getting it out of the system and hope I can still pay bills until I die.

A very relatable post by @anarodrigues on how sometimes you outgrow a community, because it makes you feel excluded.. https://ohhelloana.blog/overthinking-ai/

2 weeks ago 0 0 0 0

Video thumbnail

🎶 Silent Treatment - Will You Wait 🎵
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgtoFkdRMyY

Alt rock/post-hardcore from Zwolle, the Netherlands.

#PostHardcore #SilentTreatment

3 weeks ago 0 0 0 0

Homemade vegan cherry cheesecake

3 weeks ago 1 1 0 0

A list of top bands for an unknown user, Taylor Swift on position 1 followed by 9 post-hardcore bands

You'd be suprised how _common_ it is to find #PostHardcore fans that are actually #Swifties as well.

3 weeks ago 1 0 0 0

Climbing the Sherman tank

4 weeks ago 0 0 0 0

Bunny! 😍🐇

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Sailplane landing at Terlet airfield

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I've got a 1000cc motorcycle, but something in my head keeps saying "Why not do a long-ass trip on a 50cc scooter?" 🤔

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If you need a cool #deathcore name: Suidae

It's the family name of pigs, like bovine for cows and canine for dogs. It does require your band to do pig squeals. #bree

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Skiing in the 2025-2026 Season After such a long time I was worried that I had lost my touch. But it turns out skiing is just like riding a bike, and I was able to pick it up again pretty quickly. Standing in Salzburg, looking back into Tyrol (Opens in new tab) I went with my parents, one of my sisters, her child and boyfriend. Our parents paid for the trip, as part of their 40-year wedding anniversary. We went the second week of February, one week before the school holidays to a place, Gerlos, that's (in)famous for the amount of Dutch tourists. We stayed in a nice hotel and were super lucky with the weather, we had one day that was cloudy, one day that had broken clouds and the rest were clear blue skies. The temperature was just enough, personally I would have liked it a bit colder. The snow quality also degraded rapidly after 2pm. Leaving Rotterdam The Hague (RTM) airport. We've done a 270 degree turn, you can see the runway we departed from. The first mountain peaks Cloudy mountains and pine trees. Ski show in Gerlos The last time I went skiing, as I said, was 6 years ago. We were driving back home on March 13th, 2020, the day that many European nations went into lockdown. And that's a long time between trips, because between 2011 and 2015 I went every year. But things like family and money happen, and so it became less often, until we got this present from our parents. I also said it felt natural, like riding a bike, but I had to finally admit that I'm getting old. I'm not very fit to begin with, but even with planning the days more relaxed, I really noticed I wanted to stop around 2pm. While as a kid I'd probably do a couple more runs alone. The view from my hotel room window. (Opens in new tab) Taking a break just to soak in the environment The view of Innsbruck Airport is insane.. Shadow selfie on one of the few remaining T-bar lifts. Skyline of Rotterdam, returning home.. It was a lot of fun, we joked around, helped each other get up and played some games in the afternoons. I really hope I can turn my own family into a skiing family.. and that climate change allows us to keep going. The last two (maybe three) times I went skiing I remember it being quite warm and barren. It's also a ridiculous amount of money, now that's partly because of the hotel and area we chose, but still, it's not a cheap hobby. I have to think of were I want to take my own family, because all three will have to learn and so I probably won't need a resort with many reds or blacks. 📸 Here some more low-res photos to give an impression of the trip. "Unnamed woman" fallen near ski lift pole 😏 Vegan chicken wings; cauliflower with spices. Very tasty! Selfie Walking on the river path, our hotel in the distance Trying Google Pixel nightshot.. Cozy crowd at Seppi's bar One more selfie A frozen waterfall, some water still visible Playing the board game Hitster. A rock in the wall looks like a witch's face in the night Snow scooter Looking down the main street in Gerlos Part of the forest that's used for summer games Playing another card game; Skipbo TV in hotel room showing live webcam of the slopes Sending a Whatsapp photo to show where I am, turned into actual fun photo Everything related to this trip can be found under the #Skiing2026 tag. #Skiing #Gerlos #Austria #Skiing2026

After 6 years, I finally hit the slopes again in Gerlos, Austria. It was a great trip with family and friends and we had lovely weather! ⛰️

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Haven't updated my site in a while.. time to get round to it! 😙

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Skyline of Rotterdam, returning home..

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The view of Innsbruck Airport is insane..

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The view of my balcony, very pleasing!

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Cloudy mountains and pine trees.

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Standing in Salzburg, looking back into Tyrol

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Leaving Rotterdam The Hague (RTM) airport. We've done a 270 degree turn, you can see the runway we departed from.

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View over the Rhine and Betuwe, from the Duno estate

2 months ago 0 0 0 0

Video thumbnail of Showing Teeth - Labyrinth

I've decided on my Song Of The Year for 2025, after going through a list of 64 songs, a shortlist of 16, squeezed down to 7 songs, to finally pick the winner..

**Showing Teeth - Labyrinth**

> The song starts by ripping you out of your reality, by cat-like […]

[Original post on gerben.dev]

2 months ago 1 0 0 0

Song of the Year: 2025 Edition I've been 'Loving' songs in my Last.fm account for years, including 2025, and I'd figure I'd go through this year's list and pick the 'winner' for Song Of The Year 2025!

2 months ago 0 0 0 0

A snowman made from suboptimal snow, covered in leaves that were gathered during the rolling process, sticks as arms and two pine twigs as some kind of antenna.

Dark orange sunset, partly clouded, snow covered roofs and fields

Just before the weekend it started #snow|ing, enough to stay on the ground but warm enough to turn into slush. Then on Saturday we tried to do some sledding, but the quality was just too bad. Kids upset.

In comes Sunday and Monday and we get way more snow, it's […]

[Original post on gerben.dev]

2 months ago 0 0 0 0

Been watching Star Wars Episode V with my kids.. and I think we've put too much emphasis on Baby Yoda.. they weren't very pleased when they saw the real Yoda. 🤣

3 months ago 0 0 0 0

Pokémon plushies

3 months ago 0 0 0 0

Warning sign at a frozen Henschotermeer

3 months ago 0 0 0 0

Screenshot of gerben.dev from December 26th; the old version

Decided to release a new layout for my personal website. It's using Pico.css. I'll probably write a longer blog post about it soon..

Here's a screenshot of the old site, to see the new version see it live at: https://gerben.dev

3 months ago 0 0 0 0

Sunset on the way to the bird hide in Blauwe Kamer, Grebbeberg in the background

3 months ago 0 1 0 0

Posts by Gerben 🌱