Got a thank you note from @microsoft.com today

I understand not wanting to use email for certain private data, but most website "secure message" implementations are equivalent to just not telling me anything at all, really.

In 25 years in tech I have met and worked with so many good people, but it is also the case that *almost* everything I have ever worked on has in the end been either stolen or destroyed by one of the bad actors in tech. And none of those good people ever seem to be in a position to prevent it.

I need "Stats are down but he played great" to make it into the lexicon.

Email dumps like these make it really clear why rich guys are losing their minds in awe of LLMs.

Watched the pilot of Pluribus and it was.... fine? It kind of felt like a good 30 minute anthology piece, but it was 50 minutes long and the pilot of a whole series.

Any Rock Band 2 fans out there? I have had Jagged Gorgeous Winter stuck in my head for like 6 days now.

It's a special subset of geekery when you are in a group chat with the rest of your community orchestra and people are taking sides on Ravel's Bolero

There are no words for how evil this is

These companies are engaging in disgusting corruption and graft

Walgreens called with an automated message to follow up from a text exactly as I was reading this

OH in orchestra rehearsal: "Why would Tchaikovsky DO that?!"

I don't play hard to get, I AM hard to get.

I wish companies would just build commodities markets like they used to instead of relying on consumer oriented bubbles all the time.

Years ago I was testing to see if some security software could detect data exfiltration over USB. I defeated it by using a firmware writer to commit a text file to an external multi touch device as a custom gesture. It was a text file that just said "blah blah blah" for 256 characters or so.

I ordered something from a manufacturer that is a 2.5 hour drive from here, in Canada. It would be here already except that with the de minimus exception gone, I get to wait an unknown extra time and pay extra tax for a clarinet mouthpiece no one in the US manufactures in the first place. So stupid.

return to office

In a meeting looking at all the data supporting RTO. It's just out of frame.

Hearing that Microsoft is announcing RTO. To mis-quote Last of the Mohicans: "[Microsoft], you are a [company] with a few admirable qualities, but taken as a whole, I was wrong to have thought so highly of you."

The current moment in AI is basically as if companies started cutting headcount when spellcheck was introduced because of the time saved in writing emails.

I loved this piece from @grimalkina.bsky.social about who is and isn't allowed to be technical. "I am sorry to be the one to tell you this, but if my belonging in tech is fundamentally unacceptable yours is uncertain." www.fightforthehuman.com/why-i-cannot...

Just listening to the TOCTOU Twins. It’s weird, I thought I knew what songs were on this album but it keeps surprising me!

LLMs are good NLP like CNNs are good computer vision, which is to say, very cool for what they are, but marketing this stuff as actual "artificial intelligence" in the sense of there's a living thinking thing in there is irresponsibly deceptive and should honestly be considered fraud

I just had an online healthcare appointment. When I opened the app it was not using the right camera, so I clicked to change it, and instead of giving me a settings dialog to choose the camera it *brought up a chat box so I could try to describe the setting I needed to change* FFS

When I was on calls all day working from home my dog stayed in his bed at my side all day. Now that I am not, when I do go into my office he is *psyched*. I whistle for him to join me and he scrambles down the stairs as though I were offering a plate of bacon.

Scott once again demonstrates his ability to identify and succinctly message the core value proposition of an offering.

"What if told you in order to become God Emperor of Dune, you have to be a giant worm with a human face on it." Me: I'm in. Where do I sign "But in order to become this worm, you have to lay quietly somewhere for 3,500 years" I said I'm in. I already said I'm in

Quoting Douglas Adams in a group chat and crossing my fingers I have correctly judged the average age of the participants

Based on his experience, my dog probably thinks we are always going to the park, the lake, the groomer, or the vet when we leave the house, and sometimes he gets to come too.

Hey Seattle, I washed my car yesterday so that is why it's raining today

LinkedIn has a jobs category for "Jobs where you're more likely to hear back," which is a pretty low bar but one which so many companies still manage not to clear.

AI is making web search so much more stupid. I just looked up foods that are good for someone recovering from nausea and Google recommended "fried foods" If you expand the entry though:

I got 2 job rejections today, one from a role I interviewed for and one from an application. It's a step up, though, because the last 3 places I interviewed never closed the loop, they just stopped talking to me, and most applications go into a complete black hole.

I encourage every Microsoft employee to start using the meeting title "Business Update - Please Prioritize" for every meeting they schedule with management.

OMG that passive voice from Satya's message: "And yet, at the same time, we’ve undergone layoffs." blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2025/07...

Last night we went to see the Philip Glass Ensemble do a live soundtrack performance to a screening of Koyaanisqatsi. I had listened to the soundtrack in its entirety and watched clips of the film, but in combination it was relentless and deeply thought provoking.

I had a couple on-site interviews this morning, then came home and made eggs for lunch and when I cracked one of them it had a double yolk. Good fortune, right?

Today at the used book store I asked the clerk where I could find Michael Crichton books and she asked me what genre he writes and I felt myself crumble into dust and blow away

Hey friends! I did a TEDx talk and it's now up on the TED Conferences YouTube. It's possibly the best and most important talk I've ever done. I would ask that you watch it, and please SHARE it broadly and widely. Thank you! youtu.be/dVG8W-0p6vg #AI #Tech #TED

Found this imported post from 2023 while looking for something else and it made me chuckle

Today in "how's that layoff going?" - for folks impacted in May, our insurance was terminated this weekend, but Microsoft has not provided many of us the ability to do COBRA enrollment yet and for others that have gotten the link, the cost is incorrect when compared to the separation agreement.

I am in a customer service chat with Home Depot and it feels *very much" like I am chatting with an AI, which I don't mind so much but it does say I am talking to a live agent. So probably the agent is using AI to respond. Either way it feels kind of creepy.

Tech billionaires naming projects after cautionary tales has big "politician playing 'Born in the USA' and 'Fortunate Son' at a rally" energy.

I have spent a lot of my day at the cross section of open source, raspberry pi, home automation, and IoT, which is to say: I worked for 5 hours and trudged through the depths of Debian Bluetooth configuration and still can't change the color temperature of my smart lightbulb without a WAN call

Tech leaders think AI is smarter than it is because it sounds exactly like what they think is smart, while to everyone else, it sounds exactly like a tech leader trying to look smart.

Today is the end of the 60 day continuation period for Microsoft employees laid off in May. The majority of my stock awards, my consecutive tenure with the company, and my eligibility for the 55/15 retirement program all expire tonight.

I see a lot of breathless speculation on the reasons for tech layoffs. It's right here y'all. This is where the salary money is going. I am not saying it's good or bad, I am just saying it doesn't have to be a lot more complicated than "offsetting high capital expenses with workforce reduction"