Pretty much every non-hype defense of LLM products begins with "first you must already understand your work extremely well, have ironclad ethics, and also verify all of its outputs in their entirety" and these are simply not realistic conditions for a product to *require* before it can be useful.

Part of the struggle with the LLM discourse is that genuine (i.e. non-grifter) proponents talk exclusively about the possibilities of the transformer architecture in an ideal future with a rational business model. Whereas opponents largely talk about the world we live in today, and its constraints.

Bohr auctioned his own Nobel Prize medal to raise money (along with a colleague doing the same) for *Finnish* relief. Bohr was Danish. The buyer ultimately donated them to the Danish Historical Museum. www.npr.org/sections/kru...

Great data analysis of what would US would be like if it were just an average country in its cohort of wealthy democracies, e.g. “the nation that would exist if our democracy functioned to serve the public rather than protect the already powerful”. [kottke.org]

Apple Creator Studio

Another thoughtful column by @deandad.bsky.social . When he observes "...that many policymakers see community colleges as workforce training centers and nothing else," we should note that many officials see all of higher ed this way. www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...

Hrm, just when you think they've done away with first class seats and made everything business class... United Polaris Studio. thepointsguy.com/news/united-...

This is yet another reason I do not plan to install macOS 26 on my daily driver. @daringfireball.bsky.social #macOS26 #badDesign #badUI #badUX

🤦🏻‍♂️

"We made good progress in 2025 exchanging electric meters for new smart meters that will give you more control and insight into your energy use." I think they mean to say, "...will allow the company to bill you more."

OH: "It must have been a tough gig trying to turn around Skype and get consumers to care about Microsoft Teams." Me: Oh I care. I care is that Microsoft Teams has horrible UX.🤮

Only a few understand the dopamine hit that walking into this classroom as a kid delivered.

Shocker, we might get a week of above freezing temps beginning tomorrow...

#NotASpoiler The answer is no. Domestically I'll only do 50-55 minutes. Internationally, depends on the destination. onemileatatime.com/guides/airpo...

Shel Silverstein’s short poem Homework Machine (1981) was prescient about the limitations of LLMs. “I guess it’s not as perfect / As I thought it would be.” [kottke.org]

This thread is amazing

Down to 1 browser window with 15 open tabs. 😬

Caution: room is rapidly filling with ramen

Funny Numbers xkcd.com/3184/

Miracle of miracles, I've gotten my work inbox to 10 messages on this last day of work for the year. My personal inbox is also below 10. A couple other folders to clean up and I'll have caught up in a way I haven't in many, many months!

Amazing work from whoever was up in N6914W over Ohio … www.flightaware.com/live/flight/...

hopefully I just reduced the metric effton of useless notifications from the #LinkedInIndustrialComplex

Wallace & Gromit’s Cracking Christmas: a series of animated shorts featuring Gromit having to deal with the aftermath of Wallace’s inventions (like a rabid cracker vacuum and a remote-controlled shopping cart). Free on YouTube. [kottke.org]

In today's Masshole driver story. Aggressive alcoholic on his way to the liquor store nearly sideswipes me as I'm turning right at a T intersection.

My exclusive @wsj.com column and video on the updates @anthropic.com and Andon Labs have made to Project Vend www.wsj.com/tech/ai/anth...

If you're stuck, simplify. If you're still stuck, simplify again.

[Trailer] The Muppet Show is returning! It’s a one-time event, hosted by Sabrina Carpenter, to celebrate the show’s 50th anniversary. “It’s time to play the music, it’s time to light the lights…” [youtube.com]

“On January 1, 2026, thousands of copyrighted works from 1930 enter the US public domain, along with sound recordings from 1925.” Includes Betty Boop, Blondie & Dagwood, and works by William Faulkner, Agatha Christie, and the Marx Brothers. [web.law.duke.edu]

Here's a fun thing I just learned: If you're a magazine or catalog or other bulk mailer who is willing to add AI-generated content to your mailing, USPS will reward you with a 5% discount—potentially many thousands of dollars! How on earth does this benefit USPS? www.usps.com/business/pro...

please take a moment to appreciate Tesla's epic accomplishment of coming dead last in the auto industry in reliability, despite making relatively expensive cars with a tiny fraction of the moving parts www.consumerreports.org/cars/which-b...

Me standing at my kitchen sink: Why is it so cold here? Also me: Oh right, it's 15℉ or 9℉ outside. 🥶

It has given me a reputation as "scary" but knowing these numbers has meant for me that when I am interrupted in a meeting I will often just keep talking. Not always, but if the floor is unequivocally mine I will just. keep. talking.

#nah 🤣

How Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups Are Made. (Spoiler: they are *not* made by two people bumping into each other on the street, as we were led to believe in the 80s.) [kottke.org]

Congratulations to TIME Magazine’s Person of the Year: The Box of Miscellaneous USB and Firewire Cables You Started Collecting in 2007

Johannes Gutenberg invented guacamole

Looks Like the Supreme Court Will Continue to Overturn the 20th Century. But: “It’s amazing how many of our problems today could be solved by a Congress that was willing and able to legislate in response to national problems.” [nytimes.com]

This is a pretty good optical illusion. If you’re not on your phone, it also works if you shake your head a little. [kottke.org]

it got warm today, so I washed my car narrator: it was above freezing 🤷🏻‍♂️

Lesser Known Apple Watch Workouts: Shovelling Snow ❄️

Standard British over complication, coupled with a misunderstanding of their own language. "May I ask you these security questions to proceed?" To proceed you *must* ask them, so ask them. Permission is irrelevant. There's no call for the unnecessary interaction. It's not polite, it's wasteful.

If I told some of you it felt like 1° this morning when I woke up, you'd think it was cold. But, it felt like 1℉. 🥶 #nope #itsNotFebruaryYetToBeThisCold

Casio just celebrated its 50th anniversary by producing a huge gallery of dozens of its digital watches, from the 70s to today they are gorgeous beasts here are are three, including the "tv remote" one from 1993 item #8 in my latest "Linkfest" newsletter, free here: buttondown.com/clivethompso...

This composition had eluded me for nearly a decade, but yesterday I was finally able to capture it. A train rolled through just as the Duquesne Incline was crossing over the tracks in #Pittsburgh, creating a picture perfect winter scene. It was worth the hours and hours I've waited over the years.

“The breakneck speed of New England’s transformation makes it the fastest-heating area of the US, bar the Alaskan Arctic, and the pace of its temperature rise has apparently increased in the past five years.” [theguardian.com]

Sam Altman hired an Apple designer to develop vaporware products current AI tech cannot deliver so naturally Zuck had to have one too www.theverge.com/news/837654/...