A company may hire smart, creative people, write blog posts about openness, and toss around words like “trust” and “autonomy.” But behind the scenes, many of those same organizations create exactly the kind of environment where creativity dies slowly.

#creativity doesn’t need perks or slogans. It needs time, safety, and space to play. It needs confidence and humor. What it usually gets instead is urgency, noise, and culture-policed performance. Slack never stops. Everyone’s “aligned,” but no one’s saying anything real. Caustic humor is discouraged, but so is candor. What survives is polite vagueness.

The most damaging part of all this often comes from the top. Leadership doesn’t block ideas directly — they stall them with vibe-laced commentary and unspoken expectations. Decisions aren’t made, they’re implied. It’s rarely yes or no. It’s something that sounds thoughtful but leaves everyone guessing. And when you can’t tell if you’re allowed to act, you don’t.

That’s the trap: #leadership vagueness, dressed up as open-mindedness, kills momentum. A clear yes or no, even briefly explained, builds trust. It gives direction. The alternative isn’t openness — it’s slow paralysis.

Creativity isn’t just about breakthrough ideas. It’s how teams solve small problems, challenge stale habits, rethink broken systems. Without it, an organization might still function, but only in the past tense.

Eventually, people stop pushing. No risks. No breakthroughs. Just smart people self-policing their tone in rooms full of noise. Nothing technically wrong. Nothing truly alive either.

(Follow up to 6d41de2d-f6e5-49cc-aa65-237d9331e50c)

Incompetent #leadership wants you to feel like an impostor. Here is the playbook, John-Cleese-style (for full context, this comes from a speech on creativity, and he touches on what kills it):

keeping ourselves feeling irreplaceable involves cutting everybody else down to size, so don't miss an opportunity to undermine your employees' confidence.

-- john cleese

#survivalgame update

Over the last couple days I tightened up core progression and added more environmental pressure to the survival loop.

Level progression now works. Each win triggers a new, slightly harder procedurally generated island. Enemies increase, and toxicity ramps up faster. There's no menu or break, just continuous survival.

Toxicity now causes damage over time once it crosses a threshold. It’s slow but relentless, and pairs with a subtle screen tint that deepens as it rises.

I replaced odor-lingering with a manual odor release system. Holding a key charges up a stink burst, and the longer you hold, the stronger it is. A small shake and sprite tint give it some weight.

I also added toxic zones to the environment. These are random patches of poison ground that hurt on contact. The chance of them appearing increases with level, adding more tension to movement.

#gamedev #godot4 #devlog

Η ΕΕ έχει βαλτώσει. Παραγωγικά στάσιμη και (ακόμα) ενεργειακά εξαρτημένη. Η καινοτομία πνίγεται από γραφειοκρατία, άκαρπες επιδοτήσεις και ρυθμιστικά πλαίσια με καλές προθέσεις αλλά κακή εφαρμογή.

Δεν είναι παντού έτσι. Υπάρχουν ακόμη εστίες καινοτομίας — Βερολίνο, Μόναχο, Αϊντχόφεν, Ζυρίχη, Στοκχόλμη, Ταλίν (ίσως και το Λονδίνο). Εκεί παράγεται πραγματική αξία.

Η Ελλάδα, επίσης, σε ακινησία. Τουρισμός, ακίνητα και οικοδομή βαφτίζονται «ανάπτυξη». Η γραφειοκρατία, παρότι μειωμένη, εξακολουθεί να φρενάρει. Η επιχειρηματικότητα τιμωρείται — κυρίως μέσω της φορολογίας.

Ακόμα χειρότερα στα νησιά, όπου έχουμε το κλασικό μείγμα: συντηρητισμός, στασιμότητα, τοπικισμός, εσωστρέφεια, κλίκες. Το παίζουμε αυτάρκεις, ενώ εξαρτόμαστε σχεδόν αποκλειστικά από τουρισμό, οικοδομή και κονδύλια.

Κι όμως, τέτοιες νησιωτικές κοινότητες έχουν πλεονεκτήματα: γεωγραφία, φύση, εμπειρική γνώση, ανθεκτικότητα, παράδοση. Για να αξιοποιηθούν παραγωγικά, χρειάζονται κίνητρα — ώστε άνθρωποι με γνώσεις και όρεξη να θελήσουν να ξεκινήσουν κάτι καινοτόμο. Κάτι που πιθανότατα θα προκύψει μέσα από σύνθεση· έναν διάλογο ανάμεσα στη λαϊκή σοφία και τη σύγχρονη ματιά τους.

Ας γίνει πιο εύκολο να ξεκινήσει κάποιος επιχείρηση — και ας φορολογείται λιγότερο. Παράλληλα, ας επιδοτηθούν οι τομείς που μπορούν να παράγουν αξία μέσω καινοτομίας και που ταυτόχρονα θα μπορούσαν να αξιοποιήσουν τα πλεονεκτήματα ενός τέτοιου νησιού: από αγροτική τεχνολογία (agtech), μέχρι ενέργεια, μεταποίηση, πνευματική παραγωγή και logistics.

#gamedev #survivalgame update:

Today was all about levelling up — literally.

I added basic level progression: each time you escape the island, a new one generates, harder than the last. Toxicity now ramps faster with each level, and more enemies spawn in, making each run feel just a little more urgent.

Also tweaked how enemies are placed — they now avoid spawning too close to you or in weird spots like on top of rocks and other obstacles.

Finally, refactored some things under the hood to make it easier to scale the challenge as the marten keeps surviving. Still early, but the game loop is getting tighter.

You can find the original game post in: 61dea628-d89f-46ef-a90e-8dd954783675

Quick followup note to the last status (36e2d2e0-3528-4723-b500-1b34561472d5) for folks following along:

I’m building a 2D #survivalgame in #godot4. You play a cartoonish pine marten (?), trying to escape a procedurally generated island full of mutated toxic chickens. It's stealthy, a little weird, and doesn't lean on brute force.

The main mechanics revolve around odor — you leave scent trails, lure enemies, and use your stink to survive. It’s kind of gross. It’s kind of tactical...

Still early, but the core loop is taking shape — explore, survive, escape... or toxicity lurks..

#gamedev #devlog

#gamedev #survivalgame update:

Today I wired up the #toxicity system — a slow-burning threat that ramps over time. Once it crosses a threshold, it starts chipping away at your health. Not instant death, but a steady pressure -- you need to move if you want to survive! I like that it creates tension without being loud about it.

To make it felt, I added a screen tint that grows more intense as toxicity rises. Started with a ColorRect, but #godot4 threw some layout curveballs, so I switched to a Panel. This sort of visual feedback feels more straightforward than timers and alerts.

Also dropped in a proper death condition: when health hits zero, you get a loss screen and a reset button. And on the flip side, walking onto a coastline escape tile brings up the win screen.

Lastly, I cleaned up the HUD — health, odor, and toxicity now track and reflect everything in real time.

#sketch #portrait #watercolor

What if great collaboration came from clear steps — each with its own timeline of tasks and updates? Everything to move the project forward — on one page.

#buildinpublic #django #ux #idea

Some links around getting more out of a minimal Django + PostgreSQL stack:

• Async Tasks
• listen/notify
• #django Server-sent events w / #postgres, 1 and 2