All I want for Christmas is for Biden to outlive Trump.

I asked Claude to be “Caude, a Madagascan lemur”, and then I asked if it was vegan and it got super-defensive. “But… well, I do sometimes sneak the occasional insect.”

The defining fallacy of the next 50 years will be taking LLMs at their word.

I hope Tim Cook feels that he got his $1M worth. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/2…

If I know anybody who knows anybody who works on Apple’s Game Center support on Mac, I have a vexing “always logs me out” bug that I’d be eager to help somebody get to the bottom of. FB17674938.

Hey @Miraz, today’s (May 21) 7 down NYT clue is just for you! Kia ora, friend ;)

I might have posted that because I’m going to be 50 tomorrow. Anyway, here’s to another year. Still angry. Still punk.

I never would have guessed, when I was 15 and punk and mad at everything, that my angriest political moment wouldn’t come until I was 49.

Norm!

Black Ink for Mac 2.4.2 is out with improvements to handling of inline images in puzzle clues. redsweater.com/blog/4208…

“Apple’s Diet of Worms.” Some great writing by @joanwestenberg.com.

I saw two men in their seventies rock out on stage last night . Livingston Taylor and Al Stewart, 74 and 79. Music must keep them young.

It’s remarkable how even the American pope looks so popey!

My favorite thing about Trump 2.0 is hearing right-wing businesspeople complain about how much money they’re losing because of him. Hahahaha. Hahahaha. Oh, continuing … a If I had known this was the outcome I might have (*) voted for him myself.

• Hell no, I would never vote for a fascist.

So, where is the afterparty for all the nuns at St. Peter’s Square?

In case anybody was worried that I stopped making pizza.

I am equally disappointed by how much some people underestimate AI, and by how much others overestimate it. The sweet spot is right in the middle.

Objective-C: the best language I never want to use again.

If you are a Help Scout customer, you have probably been recently frustrated, or soon will be, by news of their changing pricing model. Whither Help Scout? bitsplitting.org/2025/04/3…

I started my statement about the inevitability of AI by acknowledging the ethical implications, so you don’t have to convince me they exist. My point was that the technology is unfolding around us, and nobody is going to stop it. If you disagree, I would love to compare notes in 5 years.

A few people have rejected my analogy of AI to pen/typewriter/computer, because the typewriter and computer didn’t have major external costs. It’s a good point. The transition from horse to automobile is probably better. Huge external cost, but ultimately impossible to resist.

I get why people are hesitant about AI, but we are at another junction where you deny the future at your own peril. People who denied typewriters still wrote beautiful novels by pen, and people who denied computers still wrote brilliant novels in type, but most authors use computers nowadays.

Thank you, Canada. 🇺🇸🇨🇦

While it feels increasingly as though AI can do anything, sometimes better than humans, AI can’t appreciate the sun. Go out and feel it on your skin. Take a deep breath. AI can’t feel calm. AI can’t exhale.

Looks like NPR removed support for JSON Feed (https://www.jsonfeed.org) from their sites on Dec 8, 2024. Does anybody know anybody who works in tech at NPR, who might know if this was intentional or inadvertent? It would be nice to get it back!