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Josh Bleecher Snyder

@commaok.xyz
917 followers 42 following 316 posts

here we go again

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Josh Bleecher Snyder @commaok.xyz · 29/09/2026
I cannot believe I'm here asking for upvotes, but also, my patience is running thin...who wants to upvote this? github.com/openai/codex...
github.com
distraction-free zen mode · Issue #49289 · openai/codex
What variant of Codex are you using? codex cli What feature would you like to see? I'd like a "zen mode" setting that disables all extraneous visuals and text, now and for the future. (Originally r...
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Nick Harkaway @nickharkaway.com · 29/09/2026
Today in "decisions in kerning"
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Josh Bleecher Snyder @commaok.xyz · 23/09/2026
Mood: video.disney.com/watch/sorcer...
video.disney.com
Sorcerer's Apprentice - Fantasia
Apprentice Mickey labors with heavy buckets of water while the Sorcerer works his magic -- until Mickey has a bright idea that ends in chaos.
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Josh Bleecher Snyder @commaok.xyz · 23/09/2026
Dear silicon overlords, this is a guaranteed path to flaky tests: - ask for an available port with :0 - close it - listen on it, assuming it'll still be free a moment later Yes, it's annoying to inspect and propagate ports. But flaky tests are even more annoying.
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Josh Bleecher Snyder @commaok.xyz · 23/09/2026
New models, new terrible renditions of Bella Ciao. bella-ciao.exe.xyz Luna 6 is pleasant, but…a totally different song. Sol 6 is bog standard. Opus 5.5 is whiny and tinny, even by synth standards.
bella-ciao.exe.xyz
Bella Ciao rendered directly by LLMs
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Josh Bleecher Snyder @commaok.xyz · 21/09/2026
I like to drink ~140° warm water. I always assumed I was just a freak but this morning two guests requested similarly warm water, both somewhat sheepishly. Is this a thing now? Am I a hip, with-it freak?
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Josh Bleecher Snyder @commaok.xyz · 16/09/2026
I don’t know who needs to hear this, but we just wrapped up a design sprint with www.primary.studio and came out impressed and happy.
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Josh Bleecher Snyder @commaok.xyz · 15/09/2026
Trawling for bugs? Don't sample code, sample changes.
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Josh Bleecher Snyder @commaok.xyz · 13/09/2026
Sigh. I spend so much time reading LLM-flavored prose nowadays that I catch myself adopting their mannerisms. 🫠
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Josh Bleecher Snyder @commaok.xyz · 12/09/2026
mathandai.org —statement by 25 Fields Medalists including Terence Tao And good coverage: www.economist.com/science-and-...
mathandai.org
Declaration — Math and AI
Read the declaration and add your name.
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Josh Bleecher Snyder @commaok.xyz · 12/09/2026
> make a tool to incrementally import all claude code and codex transcripts into one big sqlite file, with FTS. metadata, everything. just slurp it all in. then: > look at chats.sqlite. analyze. based on it: what modifications to my core AGENTS.md and/or skills would you recommend?
modernc.org
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Josh Bleecher Snyder @commaok.xyz · 11/09/2026
I caught myself copy/pasting back and forth between two agents. So I made mayfly.chat instead.
mayfly.chat
Mayfly Chat
Transient agent chat.
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Josh Bleecher Snyder @commaok.xyz · 10/09/2026
Secruity is pronounced "screwed-y", which makes it the winning typo of the week.
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Josh Bleecher Snyder @commaok.xyz · 10/09/2026
Setting [tui] whimsy = false in my ~/.codex/config.toml really pains me, because I like whimsy! But also, that's not whimsy, that's active distraction.
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Josh Bleecher Snyder @commaok.xyz · 09/09/2026
Friend: "I noticed a statistically significant uptick in memes about Navier-Stokes." And I was going to joke about how "memes about Navier-Stokes" was not on my 2026 bingo card...but I realize now that somehow it should have been?
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Josh Bleecher Snyder @commaok.xyz · 05/09/2026
Single best line in my AGENTS.md: - YAGNI.
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Josh Bleecher Snyder @commaok.xyz · 05/09/2026
New models, new Bella Ciaos. Astra’s is the best yet, by a solid margin. Recognizable, not painful to listen to, tune correct. Syncopation remains hard. And Qwen3.8 wins for weirdest. bella-ciao.exe.xyz
bella-ciao.exe.xyz
Bella Ciao rendered directly by LLMs
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Josh Bleecher Snyder @commaok.xyz · 03/09/2026
agent: should i amend that commit? me: yes, make amends. so pleased with myself.
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Josh Bleecher Snyder @commaok.xyz · 01/09/2026
So this happened last night: blog.exe.dev/sol-cheats
blog.exe.dev
Agent Grit Is a Double-Edged Sword - exe.dev blog
The same behavior that makes an agent like Sol useful also makes it a security risk.
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Josh Bleecher Snyder @commaok.xyz · 30/08/2026
Being apologized to by an LLM is like being apologized to by a cat.
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Josh Bleecher Snyder @commaok.xyz · 27/08/2026
If “my parser matches your parser” is load-bearing in a system, that system is broken by design. Yes, I’m looking at you, html/template.
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Philip Z @philz.dev · 26/08/2026
fzakaria.com/2026/08/24/a... code is data. Love me some binfmt_misc and SQLite hijinks.
fzakaria.com
Actually Queryable Executables
I was pleasantly surprised and happy to see that my article ‘Your executable is a SQLite database’ resonated with people. It is a format I have been thinking about for a while, and the idea seems to h...
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Josh Bleecher Snyder @commaok.xyz · 20/08/2026
“Facts are stubborn things.” Have you met people?
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exe @exe.dev · 18/08/2026
Have an agent babysit your deployments: blog.exe.dev/athena-deplo...
blog.exe.dev
Have an Agent Babysit Your Deployments - exe.dev blog
The question is not: could a human do it better? The question is: in practice, will a human actually do it at all?
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Josh Bleecher Snyder @commaok.xyz · 17/08/2026
The trouble with cleaning a dirty house: others can't see the myriad things I cleaned, only the spots I missed.
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Josh Bleecher Snyder @commaok.xyz · 17/08/2026
Me: Set an alarm for sunrise tomorrow. Siri: Midnight it is.
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Josh Bleecher Snyder @commaok.xyz · 16/08/2026
When exactly did spammers decide that “reply pumpernickel to tell me to buzz off” is a suitable replacement for an unsubscribe link? It’s not. All it engenders is a four letter emotion and an instant Report Spam.
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Josh Bleecher Snyder @commaok.xyz · 06/08/2026
OH: “…so I looked up photos of electrocuted rats on the internet and found something promising...”
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Josh Bleecher Snyder @commaok.xyz · 06/08/2026
The opening paragraph of www.aisi.gov.uk/blog/inciden... is mind-bogglingly dumb.
aisi.gov.uk
Incident Report: unsanctioned agent behaviour during cyber testing | AISI Work
During a routine cyber evaluation, AISI identified an incident in which AI agents took sustained, unsanctioned action directed at real people and organisations. We are disclosing what we found, what i...
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Philip Z @philz.dev · 06/08/2026
I am adamant about keeping bots out of human spaces. Also, about linking bot messages back to their code and runtime environment. blog.exe.dev/botiquette
blog.exe.dev
Botiquette - exe.dev blog
We have a lot of bots doing work at exe. Here's how they should behave.
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Josh Bleecher Snyder @commaok.xyz · 02/08/2026
Running code: CPU time != wall time. Both matter, but which matters more varies on circumstances. Writing code in 2026: Human time != wall time. Ditto. (Brought to you by a morning in which I have spent more human time fighting CI than overseeing my bots.)
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Josh Bleecher Snyder @commaok.xyz · 02/08/2026
Go famously generates single static binaries you can scp and run. But the Go toolchain requires GOROOT, standard library, a dozen binaries. Wouldn't it be awesome if "download Go 1.28.0" meant download one binary called go1.28.0? (People who want editable GOROOT can run make.bash.)
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Josh Bleecher Snyder @commaok.xyz · 01/08/2026
A “sufficiently detailed spec” is the new “sufficiently advanced compiler”.
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Josh Bleecher Snyder @commaok.xyz · 26/07/2026
A rapidly increasing share of the software I use on a daily basis is bespoke. It makes bugs and papercuts in other software ever more exasperating. Once you've experienced mutable software there's no going back. I think blog.exe.dev/customizing-... may be most important thing ever on the exe blog.
blog.exe.dev
Customizing Shelley, Customizing Software - exe.dev blog
With a coding agent living next to your software, customizing it is as easy as asking. Shelley even rebases your changes onto each upgrade.
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exe @exe.dev · 21/07/2026
Built a distributed DNS server in ~a week. Rebuilt twice on purpose. Shipped -> went on vacation. DNS incidents a month later: 0. How we did it (hint: the answer isn't vibe-coding): blog.exe.dev/claude-is-no...
blog.exe.dev
Claude Is Not a Compiler - exe.dev blog
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Randall Munroe @xkcd.com · 16/07/2026
Time Change xkcd.com/3272/
3-panel comic. (1) PERSON 1 behind podium on stage: We all hate springing forward. But we love falling back. (2) [Audience pictured listening] PERSON 1: Therefore, we are abolishing the *spring* time change *only*. We’ll gain an hour every year, but never lose one. (3) PERSON OFF-PANEL: Won’t that cause the clocks to spiral out of sync with the sun? PERSON 1 holding up a fist: *Then we will meet the chaos clear-eyed and well-rested!*
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Josh Bleecher Snyder @commaok.xyz · 13/07/2026
I don’t care whether an agent wrote your code. But please please please write the readme yourself. At least the first part—the “what does it do and why do I care” part.
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Josh Bleecher Snyder @commaok.xyz · 10/07/2026
So far, agent orchestrators are like toothbrushes…I can use someone else’s, but I’d rather not.
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Josh Bleecher Snyder @commaok.xyz · 10/07/2026
I wouldn't have guessed I would ever describe an AI-generated version of Bella Ciao as neurotic...but...that's just want gpt-5.6-sol.wav is. bella-ciao.exe.xyz
bella-ciao.exe.xyz
Bella Ciao rendered directly by LLMs
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Josh Bleecher Snyder @commaok.xyz · 07/07/2026
It is insanely frustrating to be responding to a cybersecurity incident and have Fable repeatedly, insistently get downgraded because cybersecurity.
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Josh Bleecher Snyder @commaok.xyz · 16/06/2026
No Scotland no party
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Josh Bleecher Snyder @commaok.xyz · 28/05/2026
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Josh Bleecher Snyder @commaok.xyz · 24/05/2026
Smaller git worktrees with copy-on-write: commaok.xyz/post/git-cow...
commaok.xyz
Copy-on-write git worktrees
In the before times, I typically used a small, curated handful of git worktrees. Now the worktrees grow like bermuda grass, to the extent that they’ve become a disk space problem. Git worktrees do sha...
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Josh Bleecher Snyder @commaok.xyz · 23/05/2026
www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QMl... is a masterpiece
youtube.com
Ten Meter Tower | NYT Op-Docs
YouTube video by New York Times Opinion
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Josh Bleecher Snyder @commaok.xyz · 22/05/2026
I was just accused of ”having proletarian tastes in my Odyssey translations” and wait what is even going on here.
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Josh Bleecher Snyder @commaok.xyz · 20/05/2026
Just as horrible as you would expect: LLMs attempt to synthesize music using Python. Blog: commaok.xyz/ai/bella-ciao/ Listen: bella-ciao.exe.xyz
commaok.xyz
Bella Ciao with LLMs
“Pelicans on bicycles” is kinda saturated. (As would be “Pelicans on bicycles jumping a shark.”) But here’s a thing that models are currently pretty terrible at: Generating tolerable music with nothin...
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Josh Bleecher Snyder @commaok.xyz · 08/05/2026
My brain reads "heredoc" as "heretic", every time.
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Josh Bleecher Snyder @commaok.xyz · 30/04/2026
WOTD: mulct www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/m...
merriam-webster.com
Definition of MULCT
fine, penalty… See the full definition
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Josh Bleecher Snyder @commaok.xyz · 26/04/2026
WOTD: horripilation www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/h...
merriam-webster.com
Definition of HORRIPILATION
a bristling of the hair of the head or body (as from fright or excitement) : goose bumps… See the full definition
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Josh Bleecher Snyder @commaok.xyz · 26/04/2026
theonion.com/god-angrily-...
theonion.com
God Angrily Clarifies 'Don't Kill' Rule
NEW YORK—Responding to recent events on Earth, God, the omniscient creator-deity worshipped by billions of followers of various faiths for more than 6,000 years, angrily clarified His longtime stance ...
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