Building the things that nobody is asking for
I'm Olaf Alders. I write software for the web. I'm a White Camel Award winner. Currently building My Mind is Racing — every run, swim, ride and race — all in one calendar.
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The United States Is Not America
Google’s developer documentation style guide says to use America and American for the Americas, not the United States. One country has co-opted a name that belongs collectively to all of them – and many of us don’t realise that we can take it back.
PrettyGoodPing: Now With Even More Goodness
PrettyGoodPing started off as a little hobby project back in 2022. It has saved me more than once when it comes to catching expirations in time and watching for uptime issues on projects I care about. Here’s what’s new over the past few weeks.
You Rename My Lake — I Move My Hosting
Last week I moved PrettyGoodPing from DigitalOcean in the U.S. to Hetzner in the E.U. Price was a factor, but not the only one. If I now have to check the provenance of my produce, I should probably do the same for my hosting bill.
How I Spent My Perl Toolchain Summit v2025 (Leipzig)
Less productivity report than travelogue: a one-day Iceland layover, a family reunion in Saarland, the work in Leipzig, and a walk across Berlin in the rain — my 10th Perl Toolchain Summit is now in the books.
The Right Plan for the Right Race
Pete Pfitzinger is My Mind is Racing’s inaugural featured coach, and for the first time his plans are available directly from his website rather than only in book form, built on the same principles. They’re surfaced on Marathon and Half Marathon event pages, with a fun Easter Egg: one tailored specifically …
Im in ur Feeds, Flexin ur Splits
My Mind is Racing’s new result cards are simple, customizable graphics to make your achievement more likely to catch the eye of your audience, whether that be in a Strava feed, Instagram post or a race report in /r/running or your other favourite endurance subreddit.