iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Several people have said hello to me at Clojure/conj today, saying that they follow me on BlueSky. Hi 👋 And hi to everyone else who follows me too 👋

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Quoll @gearon.org · 26/09/2026

When I say, “AI is going to kill us all,” I don’t mean that it will act to harm us. Rather, I’m saying that those trying to develop AI will burn so much fossil fuel as to irretrievably push us past a point of catastrophic climate change

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Quoll @gearon.org · 26/09/2026

First? Mary Poppins Most recent? Spider-Man: No Way Home

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Quoll @gearon.org · 26/09/2026

This article points out that the ad is likely a violation of the Hatch act. It’s so cute that they still think this matters

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Quoll @gearon.org · 19/09/2026

While filling the car with fuel at a local place today I noticed a Nazi sticker posted on the pump. Lovely. 😖

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Quoll @gearon.org · 18/09/2026

Polio vaccine conspiracy theories are promoted by Big Iron Lung. Because the manufacturers of those machines want to revive their business model. Wouldn’t it be cool to see iron lungs become popular again?

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Quoll @gearon.org · 11/09/2026

Another week in Oslo. The weather was supposed to be bleak, but turned out quite well… except for drizzle today. But you can’t enjoy the good weather if you never experience poor weather. My ability to read Norwegian is getting better, but my pronunciation is woeful.

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Quoll @gearon.org · 09/09/2026

@scalzi.com I laughed aloud during Red Shirts. Thank you. I cried quietly during the Codas. Thank you. Also, I don’t think I’ve heard @wilwheaton.net being more expressive. Thanks to him too

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Quoll @gearon.org · 08/09/2026

Babysitting a computer overnight (6pm-6am) as it ran billing queries for a telecom company. If something went wrong, I had a number to call, and the person on call would fix it. I spent my nights reading. Also, I worked on a chicken farm for a while. That was… interesting.

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Quoll @gearon.org · 07/09/2026

Hi again Oslo. Why so wet this time?

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Quoll @gearon.org · 01/09/2026

I usually like listening to The Daily, but suddenly hearing the personal details of a suicide in the middle of today's story was not what I was expecting.

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`fogus @fogus.me · 27/08/2026

Some people, when confronted with a problem, think "I know, I'll vibe code it." Now they don't know how many problems they have.

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Quoll @gearon.org · 26/08/2026

My attempt to puzzle through macro-writing-macros in an age where AI could have just done it for me dev.to/quoll/macro-...

dev.to

Macro Macros

This is a follow up to my recent posts on Domain Specific Languages (DSLs) for database queries in...

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Jonathan Edward Durham @thisone0verhere.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Listen, if you’re not happy single, you won’t be happy in a relationship either, happiness comes from picking a new hobby and then buying all the things to start that hobby then finding the perfect little storage container for those things and then putting that storage container in the spare room

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Quoll @gearon.org · 21/08/2026

This view has made me take a hard look at my own studies. It’s made me start being very intentional about doing the “hard things” because of the benefits of doing that work, rather than being focused on the product of the work

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Quoll @gearon.org · 21/08/2026

It’s not actually about religion for many people, is it?

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Quoll @gearon.org · 20/08/2026

The 1979 “Buck Rogers” series had a Computer Council running things. Not something I was expecting the US to start adopting any time soon

A scene of the “Computer Council” from the TV series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. A room full of AI machines, each of which is a metallic disk about 12” in radius, and a few inches deep. The disks are on their sides, and the front surface is clear, showing lights inside. Most have an array of lights in a circle, though 2 have a pair of lights making the disk look like a face with eyes.
Taken from the Computer Council page on the Buck Rogers wiki: https://moa.omnimulti.com/Computer_Council_%28Buck_Rogers_in_the_25th_Century%29

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Quoll @gearon.org · 20/08/2026

This is supposed to be a satirical publication

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Quoll @gearon.org · 20/08/2026

This morning I warmed up with a short, brisk 2.5km run, and then HIIT. I haven’t done HIIT for about 10 years, and OMG… I’m dying.

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Quoll @gearon.org · 20/08/2026

Do we really? Or are most of our storytellers incapable of writing a tale that does not personify these forces?

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Quoll @gearon.org · 19/08/2026

Sounds good, until you consider… what type of power will they provide for themselves? If it’s generated by gas turbines (GTs) then the pollution concerns are enormous. I’d hope that “provide their own power” included limits on the types of generators

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Quoll @gearon.org · 18/08/2026

I feel a bit guilty that I can track all the phones in my family (though any of them can turn this off if they want). I justify this to myself by remembering that I pay for high data plans for everyone. Unexpectedly, I’ve been told that they all feel reassured knowing that their parents can see them

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Quoll @gearon.org · 18/08/2026

You know what protects against many deadly pathogens? Vaccines

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Quoll @gearon.org · 17/08/2026

I used to feel embarrassed by my typos and mistakes in grammar, but now it's a demonstration that, no, I did not use AI to write this post: dev.to/quoll/quotin...

dev.to

Quoting Difficulties

In my last post I discussed DSLs for database querying in Clojure. These typically take the form of...

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Quoll @gearon.org · 17/08/2026

My youngest child has just left for college. 😭

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Quoll @gearon.org · 17/08/2026

Today was a tough Monday to get started, but I did manage to get going, and I captured photographic evidence:

A flat white coffee with a leaf pattern, being held near an espresso coffee machine. The edge of a coffee grinder can be seen to the left in the background

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Quoll @gearon.org · 15/08/2026

“Don’t worry about this gift of a horse statue. It’s not Trojan. It’s an Ilion horse!”

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Quoll @gearon.org · 15/08/2026

This focuses on the tower/castle placement. But the EMALS catapult system instead of steam required a redesign of the entire ship, and is one of the reasons this class of carrier was created in the first place. EMALS had early problems, but it’s much more robust now, and apparently far superior

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Quoll @gearon.org · 15/08/2026

My eldest is helping my youngest move into college residence this morning. It was nostalgia for him since he just graduated from there, and easy, since it’s only an hour from home. Then this happens a little way down the road from them at a nearby university apnews.com/article/virg...

apnews.com

5 people shot at Virginia State University as police investigate multiple suspects

A shooting involving multiple suspects and five people shot at Virginia State University prompted a campus lockdown and police investigation early Saturday as students were returning to the school.

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Quoll @gearon.org · 13/08/2026

Sam Altman seems fond of making comments like "AGI is here," or more recently, "the Singularity is here." To date, this has been marketing hype. I think the way to tell when he's serious is when he retires and lets AI run the company instead of him

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Quoll @gearon.org · 13/08/2026

Some small part of me is always anxious to watch sky-based phenomena because I read John Wyndham’s Day of the Triffids when I was 10

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Bryce Covert @brycecovert.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Yikes. Women accounted for all of the job losses and all of the labor force decline in July, according to @nwlc.org

WASHINGTON — Women accounted for 100 percent of the decline in the labor force in July, according to a National Women’s Law Center jobs analysis of monthly data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That brings the total net number of women who have left the labor force since January this year to 845,000. In comparison, there are 406,000 fewer men in the labor force now than in January.

A total of 165,000 women, aged 20 and over, left the labor force last month — meaning they are neither working nor looking for work — while men's labor force participation was unchanged. Overall, the economy lost 23,000 jobs in July. Women accounted for all of these losses, losing 32,000 jobs, while men gained 9,000 jobs. Women make up 50.1% of the workforce.

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Quoll @gearon.org · 07/08/2026

Lawyers do whatever they can in their client's best interests, even when the lawyer's actions are repugnant. Clients are responsible for this. If counsel steps over a line, the client has to take responsibility for accepting that they were represented that way www.nytimes.com/2026/08/04/b...

nytimes.com

Uber’s Strategy for Fighting Sexual Assault Suits: ‘What Were You Wearing?’ (Gift Article)

The ride-hailing giant promised to handle legal claims “in a way that is best for the survivor.” Its lawyers are pursuing a far more aggressive strategy.

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Quoll @gearon.org · 07/08/2026

I’m a bit more boring Live in: 🇺🇸 Lived in: 🇦🇺 🇳🇿 Born in: 🇦🇺 Parents: 🇦🇺 🇦🇺 Grandparents: 🇦🇺 🇦🇺 🇦🇺 🇦🇺 Been to: 🇫🇯 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🇫🇷 🇮🇹 🇨🇦 🇩🇪 🇳🇱 🇳🇴 🇸🇪

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Quoll @gearon.org · 07/08/2026

As with many people, at a certain age my weight got harder to manage. It’s been frustratingly hard to improve, but I’ve been happy to finally make progress. Suddenly, I’m finding men are smiling at me a lot more and being more friendly. Feeling a bit weird about that…

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Quoll @gearon.org · 06/08/2026

I recently updated my profile to mention something about this!

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Quoll @gearon.org · 06/08/2026

People talk about irritability until they have their first cup of coffee, and not "waking up" until they get it. I don't hear anyone mention feeling "happy" or "more optimistic" after that cup. Is this just me? I have just a single espresso most days. I do feel more alert, but I also feel happier 😃

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Quoll @gearon.org · 06/08/2026

This is fascinating to watch play out, since we saw a similar schism in the GOP when the far right took it over and people speculated that that party wouldn’t survive. However, that one was driven by Trump’s personality, while the Dems are doing it via grassroots.

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Quoll @gearon.org · 06/08/2026

474 GW?!?? A “large” power station is one that can generate over 1GW. The largest fossil fuel plants in the USA are all under 4GW. Apparently, the Palo Verde nuclear plant (AZ) is the largest in the USA and can get up to 4.536GW. Even Grand Coulee Hydro (WA) is only 7GW 474 GW is unfathomable

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Quoll @gearon.org · 05/08/2026

It wasn’t a belt… it was a chain. It snapped while doing 100km/h, instantly wrapping around the cam shaft. That wrenched the shaft sideways, forcing all valves open, leading the pistons to smash into them. The mechanic said pieces fell out everywhere on the floor when he opened it to look

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Quoll @gearon.org · 04/08/2026

I know that the synth sounds have a distinctly 80’s feel to them, and I often cringe when I hear songs from that era, but I make one exception: Dave Stewart was a genius, and Annie Lennox’s voice transports me every time. Covers with other instruments and voices might be good, but they’re not great

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Quoll @gearon.org · 01/08/2026

Since I’ve posted about AI today, I’ll add to it… The vast majority of research is focused on the transformer architecture, which in turn is built on matrix operations that we calculate with GPUs/TPUs. It feels like there should be a way to get to AGI that doesn’t require 100s of GWh per model

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Quoll @gearon.org · 31/07/2026

I enjoyed Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Stan Lee called Parker an "everyman", and this showed up in the comics in all the little things, like Peter struggling to make rent. Something that stood out for me in this adaptation was that I kept wondering what he was doing for money

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Quoll @gearon.org · 29/07/2026

The USA will do anything to protect people, except controlling guns

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Annalee Newitz @annaleen.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

FYI there is no "real" reason why Rome "fell." Its power waned for the usual, mundane reasons: widening gap between rich and poor, inability to maintain infrastructure, incompetent leadership, pointless wars, endless persecution of marginalized groups who performed vital labor, etc.

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Quoll @gearon.org · 27/07/2026

A common thing I see when people say that AI “cheated” or “didn’t do what [someone] wanted” is that they didn’t tell the LLM what they were doing with it. Experimenters give a goal without any context of why. LLMs then figure out a way to get to the goal that don’t match an experiment’s intent.

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Quoll @gearon.org · 27/07/2026

We have a tradition of recognizing and rewarding young people for great achievements. I think it’s important that we do. But older people are often overlooked, particularly if they started on something later in life. They may not have a long career ahead, but their work can still be inspiring

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