@ultranurd.net
Cloud securitician and AWS principal engineer. Married to Andrle. I like Star Trek, books, games, Lego, and politics that reduces harm. Opinions are my own. Ⓥ Much more active over on Mastodon https://tacobelllabs.net/@ultranurd
A fun thing about a lot of meat replacements is that texture wise you need to use a bread knife on them. The steak knives from our set end up being more for fruit and such now.
Media — February 2026 https://blog.ultranurd.net/2026/03/08/media-february-2026/
The façade of an early white and grey stone skyscraper viewed from below against a cloudy grey sky, with the sky in the top third of the image. The stone above the door is carved "Smith Tower".
Grey Tower https://blog.ultranurd.net/2026/03/07/grey-tower/
A black night sky with a slightly blurry full moon just left of center. The mare are visible.
A round white table airs on grey plastic roof deck panels. The bright moon is casting long shadows of its leg shape as well as a nearby deck railing.
Full Moon https://blog.ultranurd.net/2026/03/02/full-moon/
A variety of colorful stickers, many of them AWS related, arranged on the lid of a space grey MacBook Pro. The Apple logo in the middle is still visible. The full description key is in the next image.
The same image as above but in black and white, with red numbers on each sticker, roughly left to right and top down. More details are in the body text of the post but here are descriptions: 1. A black rectangular sticker in a heavy metal band style of a bird like creature under the word Highline 2. A shield shaped sticker of a koala in a shirt with earbuds in. The text above reads "Don't bother me I'm listening to a podcast" with the O in podcast replaced with the Radiotopia record logo 3. A large irregular vintage script sticker in red white and blue that reads "Let's Roll" with a D20 on 20 in the lower right. 4. Top: a hammer hitting a nail labeled "nailed it". Middle: the word "innovator" in white on blue. Right: the word Awesomeness in red on white. 5. Pixelated outline of a classic all in one Mac in black and white 6. On an angle the text "AWS Security Hub" with logo of a shield and six surrounding connected circles. 7. A detailed large irregular sticker of a glossy cartoon blue bird with friendly face 8. An escutcheon that reads "Mechanic" across the top and has various technical icons and the Amazon smile in each 9. A small green round sticker with a raining umbrella logo and the text around the edges twice "adventure awaits" 10. A round saucer sticker of a mug of hot coffee viewed from above with the AWS smile logo floating in it 11. The USENIX 50th anniversary logo that says "since 1975". The USENIX U forms the open space of the 0. 12. A round pink and purple sticker of the Datadog logo with edge text "I rode the slide!" and "AWS re:Invent 2024" 13. Vintage NASA meatball logo in red and blue 14. A sort of offset double trapezoid Bambu Labs logo in grey and green; the upper left says "Bambu Labs" and the lower right says "let's make it" 15. A tiny sneaker in green, facing to the right. 16. A large black oval sticker that reads in white text with a red star "Easy Street Records Seattle USA" 17. An irregular sticker of text around a small green open laptop that reads "Bring your Kids to work day". The words "to work" are inside the screen. 18. A small orange D20 sticker, also showing 20 19. A foil sticker with star edges of a retro cartoon dancing book inside the text "Let's check out the library". Below it is the URL and above it is a tiny SPL logo. 20. A small white rectangular sticker that had the Amazon smile logo, a vertical bar, and the word science. 21. A large square sticker that reads "Eat Like You Give A Damn" in white on black with the brand URL herbivore clothing.com on the bottom
The Restickering https://blog.ultranurd.net/2026/03/01/the-restickering/
A round white plate sits on a white countertop. It is filled with a yellowish saucy mix garnished with fresh basil. To one side is a slice of bread that looks kinda like a bunny.
Another close up angle on the shallow bowl showing the texture of the sauce and little red dried tomato bits. The piece of bread is now rotated to the lower left.
A large cast iron pan full of big chunks of seasoned tofu being browned
A close up of chunks of tofu simmering in a beige sauce in a large dutch oven.
Another “Marry Me” Tofu https://blog.ultranurd.net/2026/02/28/another-marry-me-tofu/
Cropped panels from The Electric Tale of Pikachu showing Ash talking to a woman. She says "come to think of it, you haven't named your Pokemon yet have you?", and Ash responds "I have too. Meet Jean Luc Pikachu!" The second panel shows a fat Pikachu (bless) with a pleased smile ("pii!") and a little combadge on their chest. The woman responds "how 'engaging' !"
Happy pokemon birthday, but especially to Jean Luc Pikachu
I'm a cognitive scientist with an interest in epistemic vigilance, and this essay that's been going around gave me pause.
I don't think it's straightforward to apply the concept of epistemic vigilance to interactions with LLMs, as this essay does.
🧵/
sbgeoaiphd.github.io/rotating_the...
@sensornoise.com I learned the WoW mod flavor of Lua which was a whole thing. I do not recommend it 😂
Five raw cinnamon roll spirals sit on a baking sheet. A child's hands are forming one into a heart
Five unbaked heart shaped cinnamon rolls on a baking sheet arranged into a ring with their points meeting
Close up of a food processor bowl with freeze dried raspberries about to be ground. A stairwell is visible through it in the background.
The partially baked rolls on the sheet in an open oven
Roll for Love https://blog.ultranurd.net/2026/02/14/roll-for-love/
Macro shot of three budding leaves on a close up twig. The background is a blurry network of naked tree branches with some homes and partly cloudy blue sky just visible behind them.
Buds https://blog.ultranurd.net/2026/02/14/buds/
My biggest complaint about new Star Trek is no one puts a camera on a tripod anymore. Quite dramatic up close conservation and the camera is bobbing around like we're on a boat!
Sure feels like Portland or Seattle will be on the short list soon, even if they opt for a less visible surge.
Oh, yes, that's my load-bearing mental health science fiction franchise.
Child Nick throws his head back cackling while holding up the box of a Zip Drive that he just unwrapped for Christmas. He has a bowl cut and braces and is wearing a baggy blue shirt. A six pack of extra disks is on the floor next to the package.
This is who runs this account.
Media — December 2025 https://blog.ultranurd.net/2026/02/01/media-december-2025/
Cross crossing metal geometric shapes in an art deco style cover a large vertical window between two light sandstone columns. There is dark soot or moisture seepage on the stone above the window.
A white greenhouse like structure sits on a wood floor in a large dimly lit gallery room. It is lit from within, projecting flowery patterns on the bright blue walls. An empty viewing bench sits behind it.
A blue metal cube appears suspended and on a 45° angle to the room in the middle of a large dimly lit gallery room. It is lit from within and projects flowery and geometric shadows on the bright cherry walls, wooden floor, and white ceiling. It is kinda reminiscent of the Kaaba.
A close up of the bottom of the same cube showing the plant pattern detail projecting down onto the wood floor
SAAM Wise https://blog.ultranurd.net/2026/01/31/saam-wise/
My effect? Caused.
Here it is, a compilation of all the names seen on the Commemoration wall at #StarfleetAcademy. There are 208 names all in all, 2 characters (Airiam+Peter Preston) are listed twice. 92 names (44,23%, red) are of previously known characters, 116 names (55,77%, black) are new. This was a lot of work!
I am probably spoiled by Seattle having a whole CTO but there's still weird edges in individual agencies. And school district messaging to parents, woooooof. I think it's largely an auth problem? It's too hard to get to use the official sites and too easy to use random ones.
Why is it so hard for government entities to use their own domain (URL shortener or otherwise)
A small Yorkshire Terrier wearing a tiny blue conical party hat with gold trim and Pom Pom. He sits in a tan floofy pet bed on a green couch. He is looking at the camera like "what have you done", his trimmed ears sticking out to either side of the hat
The same scene, but now he is looking up and to the right, probably at the training treat that is encouraging all of this
The same scene, but now he is looking somewhat confused to the right
Almost the same pose as the previous image, but now he's looking more down and to the right like he's sad
Party Pike https://blog.ultranurd.net/2026/01/21/party-pike/
A white plate full of spaghetti covered in vegan red sauce and cheez shreds sits on a brown placemat on a glass tabletop with a large steel fork next to it
Quick Spaghetti https://blog.ultranurd.net/2026/01/21/quick-spaghetti/
What’s Past is No Blog https://blog.ultranurd.net/2026/01/20/whats-past-is-no-blog/
Gary Larson: In my cartoon I invented Cow Tools as a cautionary tale
Cows: At long last, we have created the Cow Tools from classic newspaper comic Cow Tools
An almost spherical brown rabbit with short ears crouches on the bark between two houses. A covered gas grill is visible to the right. The scene is dimly lit by a streetlight from the left.
Roumd Bun https://blog.ultranurd.net/2026/01/16/roumd-bun/
@quiglin.bsky.social Happy birthday! Hope it's a good one!
A screenshot of the steps view of the health app for recent dates. Most of them are normal, between 6000 and 16000, but on the 7th and 8th almost 4.3 billion!
Screenshot of health step statistics that has a horizontal bar graph: On average, this year's step count is higher than last year's. 780,911,621 steps/day 2026 9,003 steps/day 2025 And a vertical bar graph with an average line: Over the last 7 days, you took an average of 1,227,142,335 steps.
Screenshot of steps health statistic with a day progress graph showing I'm way behind You're taking fewer steps than you usually do by now. •Today 5,995 steps • Average 249,812,118 steps
A weak view bar graph of steps showing Wednesday and Thursday with massive bars above 4 billion and nothing else visible.
To the Moon and Back https://blog.ultranurd.net/2026/01/12/to-the-moon-and-back/
A city hillside and tall fir tree on the right with a mostly cloudy sky reflecting back a painterly pink-orange glow from the sunset to the west (out of frame to the right)
A panorama of the same view, showing more of the hillside and surrounding buildings with the railing in the foreground distorted.
PinkSky https://blog.ultranurd.net/2026/01/12/pinksky/
I think this probably was me... and this is an odd coincidence because I was just explaining the etymology of "minnehaha" to kid this evening!