(which was weird, since I have never owned a Magic Link, nor any of the other devices that promised us agents in the 90s, but somehow it just appeared in my hand at that moment)
Was on a Zoom call last week where the phrase “agents didn’t exist—nobody had even thought of them—until a few months ago” was spoken with absolute confidence, as a response to someone wondering “will agents even work?”
I crawled through the screen and slapped him with my Sony Magic Link.
“The second-system effect (also second-system syndrome) is the tendency for a successful first system (often small and relatively elegant) to be followed by a second system that becomes over-engineered or bloated.”
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second-...
…and typographers. Without design copyrights in the US, we have Monotype creating (and Microsoft distributing) “Book Antiqua” which was a blatant knockoff of Palatino. Zapf resigned from ATypI over the hypocrisy: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palatin...
But that's just one of a million examples…
Thanks for the confirmation—I had seen that but was scared off by the “this probably won't work” message at the top of the post… But it's working! (For now.)
Nice to see you pop up on here—hope you're doing well!
In 30 years, it's been incredible to go from Netscape making everyone realize you can just publish frequent point release upgrades & fixes—to our current moment, where software & hardware companies have decided they own your device & it's ok to harass you into upgrades because it's better for them.
“Upgrade to macOS Tahoe” dialog box with buttons “Install Tonight” and “Not Fucking Ever”
There I fixed it
The NYT style guide
I have a new digital illustraion course live now! If interested - sign up here www.jamesgilleardacademy.com/beginnercourse
This frisky pair of bongos, a critically endangered species of African antelope, is settling into the zoo's Africa area. Meet Banjo and Bentley!
No JavaScript! Hilarious. Love this so much.
[hospital]
SURGEON: [lowers mask] I'm sorry, we were unable to separate the art from the artist
ME: are they
S: yes, they’re still an asshole
Using a great typeface is like cheating at design because your work instantly gets so much better.
After years of mucking, we started using MD System in a prototype. Seeing what the tool *could* look like was a huge motivation to finally make it happen. Once we saw it, we couldn't wait to build it.
Rest in Peace, Robert Tinney, the artist behind many of—and the best of—these covers: tinney.net/in-memoriam
America is on the cusp of competitive authoritarianism. The Trump administration has already begun to weaponize state institutions and deploy them against opponents. The Constitution alone cannot save U.S. democracy. Even the best-designed constitutions have ambiguities and gaps that can be exploited for antidemocratic ends. After all, the same constitutional order that undergirds America’s contemporary liberal democracy permitted nearly a century of authoritarianism in the Jim Crow South, the mass internment of Japanese Americans, and McCarthyism. In 2025, the United States is governed nationally by a party with greater will and power to exploit constitutional and legal ambiguities for authoritarian ends than at any time in the past two centuries.
This piece was published exactly a year ago, and at the time I /hoped/ it was at least a bit alarmist, but it has proven to be overwhelmingly correct, and perhaps even understated.
Well worth reading to understand where we are, where we're headed in the US: www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...
Mmm… it's complicated. Longer than a post on here, but still haven't been able to make the time to finish writing it all down into something worth reading.
Fifteen years later, it's a new version of “if IBM's Watson is so f*ing smart, why can't it fix IBM's stock price?”
…but this is even more on-point.
“She was right, but early” is also a hell of a line, just thrown in there.
Sound of that cough is definitely the first thing you notice; especially with kids.
Can't get over how gleefully people use the word “agentic” as if it doesn't sound like a terrible disease.
“Millions were sickened by Agentic Flu and thousands more died of the hemorrhagic fever before scientists were able to identify a vaccine candidate…”
www.apple.com/newsroom/202...
Always appreciate people who can put numbers in perspective.
Cover of “Beading with Algorithms” with 30% promo code RECMATH30
“my dream of combining my loves of math, art, and teaching into a book is finally a reality” —@gwenbeads.bsky.social
www.worldscientific.com/worldscibook...
large boulder the size of a small boulder tweet from San Miguel sheriff, dated 1/27/20
Happy large boulder the size of a small boulder day for all who celebrate
Beautiful perspective from this map of the world re-oriented using the “Spilhaus” projection, which depicts Earth as a single, connected ocean.
From Woods Hole's “Why the Ocean” campaign: www.whoi.edu/campaign/why...
I wrote the speech I *wish* Chuck Schumer would give tonight - as an actual opposition leader. Here it is:
"My fellow Americans: At this hour, an unrestrained force of militarized and violent federal officers is carrying out a project of ethnic cleansing in the streets of American cities."
1/14
A reminder that we can expect and must demand so more from political leaders—including moral clarity.
I was fortunate to have Ami, a great speechwriter, work with me on several White House speeches.
Read what he would have Schumer say in an alternate parallel universe of courage and conviction 🧵
“The bugs are real. The math is not. All estimates are made up. Your frustration, however, is valid.”
www.bugsappleloves.com
This is art. The writing style of ChatGPT, recursively explained using that same voice.
21,689 rows of film data (100 MB file!) and filtering by Director instantaneously on hover.
All in the browser, no roundtrip to a server. Just insane what we can do here: rowboat.net/f/7vb8dx84
(I'm actually moving slower in the first half to make it less confusing—second half is actual speed.)
Boosting for 1) using bread for infographics and 2) what the costs of running a business actually look like
