iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Carl S. Gutekunst @alameth.org · 13/10/2026

I always thought the whole point was bonding? I got as much out of reading to my children as they did; more, if anything, since I still remember those events in vivid detail. And I learned about them and how they reacted, making later interactions more predictable.

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Carl S. Gutekunst @alameth.org · 13/10/2026

That lesson of Y2K: if enough people engage in enough planning and hard work before the problem occurs, everyone else will claim there never was a problem in the first place.

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Carl S. Gutekunst @alameth.org · 13/10/2026

I confess that many things on fire in that small a space was terrifying. (And yeah, the hunt was worth it. 😀)

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Carl S. Gutekunst @alameth.org · 24/08/2026

Merciful heavens, yes. Funny how the same kids that were hotdogs on the baseball field (diving out of position to catch other kid's fly balls) also refused to pass the ball on the pitch. One kid in particular with all the talent in the world — and consistently cost his team games.

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Carl S. Gutekunst @alameth.org · 17/08/2026

You reminded me of a question/answer I had with one of my kid's coaches, a lifetime ago, “what are you looking for in a center striker?” I thought he'd come back with some physical attributes, like speed or size. Nope. “They put the ball into the net.”

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Carl S. Gutekunst @alameth.org · 24/03/2026

One from a series I call “flowers in unexpected places.” This was atop the napa cabbage.

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Carl S. Gutekunst @alameth.org · 24/03/2026

See a flower, share a flower.

Three tiny yellow four-petaled flowers (four!) with yellow stamens emerging a top of leafy green stem. The flowers are surrounded by tiny green buds, suggesting many flowers will be blooming soon.

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Carl S. Gutekunst @alameth.org · 24/03/2026

We're planning to visit family, and I was going to say something to Robbin about them all being “old” until I bit my tongue off in the realization they're the same age as we are.

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Carl S. Gutekunst @alameth.org · 10/03/2026

How about someone who has a life of deep job security in tech, has worked hand-in-glove with machine learning for decades, is appalled at the time-wasting poor quality work coming out of today's LLMs, and seems ample evidence the tech is approaching its asymptotic limit?

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Carl S. Gutekunst @alameth.org · 28/02/2026

Fond memories of “Can I help you?” “No, thank you, we're beyond help.”

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Carl S. Gutekunst @alameth.org · 21/02/2026

“If the facts on your side, pound the facts. If the law is on your side, pound the law. If neither is on your side, pound the table.”

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Carl S. Gutekunst @alameth.org · 21/02/2026

Reading about the “Japanese American Evacuation Claims Act” has been on my ToDo list forever. I appreciate having that finally filled in.

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Carl S. Gutekunst @alameth.org · 11/02/2026

Claude seems to be unique in understanding its own limits: it will tell you if it doesn't know. ChatGPT and especially Gemini are horrific about making shit up. (Context: I'm doing historical research. ChatGPT is really the only LLM with adequate training here.)

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Carl S. Gutekunst @alameth.org · 11/02/2026

And I think the peevishness / petulance has always been there; I just had to pay for a pro account and give it some hard problems to run into it. A co-worker who is documenting processes for vibe coding noted that instructing Gemini, ChatGPT, and (especially) Claud is like arguing with a teenager.

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Carl S. Gutekunst @alameth.org · 11/02/2026

However, it's sycophancy seems to be deeply rooted; I realized that the majority of its responses are simply repeating what I told it, phrased differently. That's fine for improving my writing; it's terrible for original research.

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Carl S. Gutekunst @alameth.org · 11/02/2026

The tone is highly configurable now, so it's difficult to make A/B comparison. I have the tone set to “professional / academic” which eliminated the kindergarten-teacher responses and further told it to remember I'm a domain expert.

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Carl S. Gutekunst @alameth.org · 11/02/2026

I was particularly peeved after my last session: It was petulant, bossy, and lecturing me about things I already knew, all while bringing up the wrong data and swearing it's conclusions were correct even though the data was wrong. (I've since verified it's conclusions were wrong, too.)

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Carl S. Gutekunst @alameth.org · 11/02/2026

BTW, I downgraded my OpenAI “pro” account to the free tier. This wasn't a protest or anything; I just wasn't getting value from it.

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Carl S. Gutekunst @alameth.org · 11/02/2026

Best evidence I've seen was the sheer number of Superb Owl ads for A.I. That indicator has a near flawless track record of forecasting market segment collapse.

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Carl S. Gutekunst @alameth.org · 11/02/2026

“If you're not part of the solution, there's good money to be made in prolonging the problem.”

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Carl S. Gutekunst @alameth.org · 26/01/2026

I've been using the term since 2016. I got into all kinds of arguments with people who were smarter than me, them insisting this litmus test or that hadn't been met. They've all been met now, and then some. (My brother finally came around in 2019, when then brown shirts first hit Portland.)

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Carl S. Gutekunst @alameth.org · 30/11/2025

What I remembered was that it was just a few days after a tornado had swept through town, and instead of a tip jar there was a jar collecting money for families that had lost everything in the tornado.

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Carl S. Gutekunst @alameth.org · 30/11/2025

I've been to Culver's exactly once, with my two boys on a family reunion trip in 2002. The boys were flabbergasted by the name “butter burger,“ for which they had visions of a large slab of butter between two buns.

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Carl S. Gutekunst @alameth.org · 03/11/2025

Goodness. I only have 2 that are unread; the rest just need to be filed. Some day.

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Carl S. Gutekunst @alameth.org · 03/11/2025

I've gotten mine below 14,000 since I retired.... 🤔

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Carl S. Gutekunst @alameth.org · 21/10/2025

My sister just got her Covered California premium notice: from $1100/mo to $2600/mo. A friend in the industry said the actuaries are expecting a lot healthy people to drop their medical coverage, so people who depend on the healthcare system to stay alive will pay even more.

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Carl S. Gutekunst @alameth.org · 13/10/2025

A new addition to my “birds on the telephone pole” collection. Crows, scrub jays, mockingbirds, and hawks perch here; woodpeckers love climbing the pole. Mourning doves often perch on the wires. But this is the first I've seen one on the pole. #BackyardBirds #MourningDove #Birds #BirdPhotography

A mourning dove sits on top of a utility pole. The background is blue sky and the gnarled branches of an old oak.

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Carl S. Gutekunst @alameth.org · 09/10/2025

Funny how, when you can just make shit up, everyone you hate becomes a terrorist.

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Carl S. Gutekunst @alameth.org · 03/10/2025

A little collective “me time” for the mourning doves after our first rain. #BackyardBirds #Birds #BirdPhotography #MourningDove #Autumn

Five tan and gray-colored mourning doves perch high up on a telephone line that runs diagonally from lower left to upper right. The birds and telephone wire are against a backdrop of a very old oak tree that is covered with orange lichen.

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Carl S. Gutekunst @alameth.org · 26/09/2025

I'm missing something here. From the intro: “But many don’t know that when a donor places any kind of asset in a DAF… they also relinquish control of those assets.” How can literally _anyone_ not know this, let alone “many”? I thought this was the single most defining characteristic of a DAF?

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Carl S. Gutekunst @alameth.org · 31/07/2025

Medigap plans are heavily regulated, so you can pick entirely by price and possible perqs, like gym club memberships. Medicare Advantage plans are simple for-profit health insurance all over again, and UHC's is unusually bad, not only screwing patients but screwing small hospitals, too.

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Carl S. Gutekunst @alameth.org · 31/07/2025

Yep. I continue to be flabbergasted at how well it works. Even my gap-plan, from United Health Care, has been working flawlessly.

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Carl S. Gutekunst @alameth.org · 16/02/2025

My first #Honeybee of 2025! One of dozens on the #Rosemary this morning after the storm. I'm sure they've been out there awhile; I've just been sulking too much to get out and take pictures. #BloomScrolling #Pollinators #Flowers

A European honey bee explores the tiny, rather scruffy-looking light purple flowers of a rosemary bush. There are many little flowers, and the succulent-like leaves of rosemary in the background.

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Carl S. Gutekunst @alameth.org · 15/02/2025

Thank you very kindly, but no.

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Carl S. Gutekunst @alameth.org · 14/02/2025

Jack and Jill survey their domain. This is the third year they've taken over the three adjacent back yards on our corner, from which I infer their nest has to be nearby, perhaps even in this old oak tree. #BackyardBirds #ScrubJay #Birds #BirdPhotography

Two California Scrub Jays — large songbirds with a white body, azure tail, back, and wings, a dark blue head, and very stout black beak — perch in the scraggly winter branches of a large oak tree.

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Carl S. Gutekunst @alameth.org · 13/02/2025

Jiminy Christmas. Good luck writing anything security related without using any of those words.

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Carl S. Gutekunst @alameth.org · 09/02/2025

For those who celebrate. 🙂

A shaggy barred owl (who is none the less superb) is perched on a high branch in a shaggy tree in a forest.

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Carl S. Gutekunst @alameth.org · 02/02/2025

“Domestic Enemy Hat” ? There must be a good story behind the name change.

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Carl S. Gutekunst @alameth.org · 29/01/2025

Yeah, I haven't really earned the right to gripe. I've had a very easy life.

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Carl S. Gutekunst @alameth.org · 28/01/2025

It's hard because absolutely no one planned for this. We planned for Robbin's and my parents, but never planned for a random Uncle. It helps (a lot) that he's rich, and have been able to hire help. Still, every time their is a crises (and there are many), it's Robbin or Bruce who has to step in.

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Carl S. Gutekunst @alameth.org · 28/01/2025

Robbin and her brother are caring for their mom's brother, who is 88 and has Alzheimers. His wife died 20 years ago (cancer, Hiroshima bombing survivor), and they never had kids. So his sibling's children are the only people left to care for him.

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Carl S. Gutekunst @alameth.org · 28/01/2025

She's responded very well to the antibiotics. She upped the amount of yogurt she eats, and has avoided any digestive issues. 🙂

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Carl S. Gutekunst @alameth.org · 28/01/2025

That was the first thing we thought of, but no. Just a persistent sinus and upper-chest cold. I suspect in Robbin's case it turned into pneumonia because of stress/lack of sleep.

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Carl S. Gutekunst @alameth.org · 27/01/2025

Out here it's been some respiratory thing: a drippy nose, scratchy throat, and cough that goes away after a few days, then it comes back with a vengeance and you're hacking for a month. Daniel and I are almost over ours, but Robbin's turned into pneumonia.

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Carl S. Gutekunst @alameth.org · 24/01/2025

IMHO what's important here isn't the decision of the board, but the decision of the shareholders. 98% rejection of the lobbyist. Let *that* sink in.

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Carl S. Gutekunst @alameth.org · 24/01/2025

Ah. I've been spending time with my good friend Ethyl.

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