Simon @spoltier@qoto.org

Will Ashley achieve her skateboard dreams?? Are our heuristics around learning making it impossible for us to learn? Can you improve your adherence to your goals?? Latest Change, Technically is another LEARNING STRATEGIES episode!

https://www.changetechnically.fyi/2396236/episodes/19131922-you-have-bad-mental-models-of-learning

Under-reported details of the xAI/Anthropic Colossus data center deal: Anthropic get Colossus 1 but xAI keep using the larger Colossus 2, Colossus 1 has a REALLY bad environmental record, and xAI just shut down a bunch of older models on 2 weeks' notice https://simonwillison.net/2026/May/7/xai-anthropic/

I'm winning

it’s honestly jarring when AI creates bullshit work and people are happy about that like, now your job is poking agents to get them unstuck. not problem solving, just jiggling the mouse how are you content with this?

As a non-binary person who used to have internalised enbyphobia, I can't help but notice the accidentally artistic poignancy of a de-non-binary person arguing relentlessly against structurelessness— or rather, arguing that structurelessness does not exist.

I analyzed my coding sessions and on the text interactions some words stand out. And well, they also show up on Google Trends as spiking. Oh and so much slop in my Twitter mentions and on GitHub. Thus here are some updated thoughts on all of this. https://lucumr.pocoo.org/2026/5/4/content-for-contents-sake/

I spell Dockerfile as "docker rifle" at least 4 times a day

If you haven't read Benjamin Breen's thoughts on Talkie, you should! I agree that this is an exciting moment, exactly because we don't quite know yet what these things (historical language models) can or can't legitimately do. There are going to be temptations and false steps. Breen mentions +

Are "Vintage LLMs" the start o...

render a torus using thousands of monkeys.

Sergey Brin is a case study in why billionaires should not exist.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/27/us/politics/sergey-brin-gg-soto-trump-california-billionaire-tax.html?unlocked_article_code=1.e1A.XBQK.cK_uqxxUcSTy&smid=url-share

Claude code, obey this rite: uv alone should see the light. Ban import star, cast em-dash out, Put pandas, pip, and print to rout. Polars flourish, f-strings burn, Docstrings, hints, at every turn. Clean thy lint, make patterns stand, Hold thy peace and serve my hand!

It didn't quite manage to draw me a pelican riding a bicycle, but I still appreciated its era-appropriate response

Tomorrow on Oxide and Friends, Polish software engineer Gregorein joins @ahl.bsky.social and me at a Europe-friendly(ish?) time: noon Pacific (9p in Europe) to discuss his work taking apart Garry Tan's code -- and my blog entry reflecting on the peril of laziness lost.

https://bcantrill.dtrace.org/2026/04/12/the-peril-of-laziness-lost/

Join us live, or catch the recording in syndication (as always):

https://discord.gg/QrcKGTTPrF?event=1495535930281296072

Please share some of your favorite papers on concatenative programming topics. I'll start --> ""The Road Towards A Minimal Forth Architecture" by Mikael Patel

Spring is here: the tree in the vase is blooming.

The double meaning of “agent” — a) initiator of action vs b) proxy who represents another actor — is becoming a very load-bearing equivocation.

Having my first Jamaican patty and

Blown away by how good but also how it’s almost exactly the same as Indian Muslim style curry puff

RE: https://mastodon.social/@glyph/116410420686311601

Actually maybe I will say something about this. I have worried it over in my mind a LOT. I will share some details that feel very personal but important: in my family there is schizophrenia and other severe mental problems. I am privileged to not have these, but I have always monitored for it and this shaped my life and why I went into psychology in the first place

I do think technology can trigger latent mental health issues; I think ways of working can too (e.g., stress & fatigue can as well)