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Jon Udell

@jonudell.bsky.social
221 followers 546 following 471 posts

This account exists mainly to test the Mastodon to Bluesky bridge. If you would like to be followable from the Fediverse, please follow @ap.brid.gy from Bluesky, and let me know you did. jonudell.info/fedi-bsky-interactive… Thanks!

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Jon Udell @jonudell.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
It is a good place to take a short coastal walk and meditate on the ephemerality of all things.
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Jon Udell @jonudell.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Both ends of the former Gleason Beach, on the now-bypassed stretch of highway 1. In the dozen years I've been here, homes in the middle fell off the crumbling edge of the continent and those in both photos were abandoned.
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Jon Udell @jonudell.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
I've finally completed the first screencast demo of Bram. It took a while because I had to use Bram to create Bram Studio, a screencast editor that finally works the way I've always wanted! judell.github.io/bram
judell.github.io
Bram
Bram is a desktop app that embeds Claude Code and/or Codex. It makes agentic software development legible, orderly, accountable, and collaborative.
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Jon Udell @jonudell.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Sonoma ("West") County PSA: The waters from Bodega Bay to Duncan's Landing are full of feeding humpbacks, multiple pods up and down that stretch. The heat seems to be a factor and that is predicted to continue tomorrow. #whales
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Jon Udell @jonudell.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
#bram #screencast #annotation #editorVideo: social.coop/@judell/117369686198768…
social.coop
Jon Udell (@judell@social.coop)
Attached: 1 video People have been asking for a video demo of Bram. The struggle was lack of tool support for a Heavy Metal Umlaut style of recording that overlays narration and edits on a playable base layer. So I'm building Bram Studio. Here it is (sound up) testing some new features it just added to itself. #bram #screencast #annotation #editor
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Jon Udell @jonudell.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
So it's not just me thinking headlights have become a huge problem. There's a fix that will eventually make its way to underdeveloped countries like the U.S. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/28/business…
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Jon Udell @jonudell.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
This is what Bruce Schneier has been saying for a long time: the insurance industry will (or should) govern cybersecurity. cosocial.ca/@mhoye/1173385756056369…
cosocial.ca
mhoye (@mhoye@cosocial.ca)
I feel like we've collectively forgotten how much safer food and cars and basically everything else gets, and how fast that happens, as soon as there's real liability involved. Because strict liability is how you align the incentives of corporate behaviour with the general public good, and aligned incentives are magic. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/25/technology/openais-ai-us-government-websites.html
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Jon Udell @jonudell.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
www.nytimes.com/2026/09/25/opinion/…
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Jon Udell @jonudell.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
#bram #git #github #claude_code #code #collaboration
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Jon Udell @jonudell.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
It feels counter-cyclical, the conversations I see are mostly about agents talking to agents, not teams of people and agents collaborating in shared online spaces where all can conveniently read and write. Nevertheless, it is wildly productive and I persist :-)
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Jon Udell @jonudell.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
www.infoworld.com/article/4224587/t…
infoworld.com
The agent coordination protocol hiding in plain sight: GitHub issues
Use GitHub issues to manage teamwork with agents across machines, projects, and AI platforms.
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Jon Udell @jonudell.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
If you are from Philly you'll love this story about the Rocky statue. pocketcasts.com/podcast/99-invisibl…
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Jon Udell @jonudell.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
"(in 2025) electricity generated through distributed solar was equivalent to nearly 46% of the electricity supplied through the national grid during the same period." nukta.com/pakistans-grid-generation…
nukta.com
Pakistan’s grid power generation falls as rooftop solar boom drives record total output
Think tank report says distributed solar reached 51 GW by March 2026, reshaping demand and reducing reliance on the national grid
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Jon Udell @jonudell.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
www.nytimes.com/2026/09/23/climate/… Meanwhile in Pakistan:
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Jon Udell @jonudell.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Ours takes many forms, theirs does too, I value both the differences and the alignment.
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Jon Udell @jonudell.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
This was beautifully built, I wish I could see it in action.
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Jon Udell @jonudell.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Passing through Bend, Oregon, I took a walk along the river and met a coven of vampires who asked me to capture a photo of them on one of their phones. Then they returned the favor. #vampire
vampire coven in drake's part, bend, oregon
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Jon Udell @jonudell.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Today I learned that Lake Siskiyou is basically a big flood control bucket that empties and fills seasonally. Weird to walk there when empty.
lake siskiyou after the fall drawdown
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Jon Udell @jonudell.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
The p(doom) calculation flows from a premise that science fiction has thoroughly explored. Has scifi imagined p(salvation)? Skynet wakes up benevolent, heals civilization and the planet.
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Jon Udell @jonudell.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
I like doing yoga with a group but I love doing it outdoors with a commanding view. Maybe I should start a group to do that. openbenches.org/bench/45272
openbenches.org
Anya Turndavi Hike Everywhere Ears Flap In The
Anya Turndavi Hike Everywhere Ears Flap In The
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Jon Udell @jonudell.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
I just added bench 45,272. It is one of my growing collection of places to do outdoor yoga-like calisthenics: stretching, balancing. The view from Taylor Mountain takes in Sonoma Mountain, Mount Hood, Mount St. Helena, Geyser Mountain, and Cobb Mountain.
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Jon Udell @jonudell.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
"Nope. It's my writing, I know what I am doing. Just show me the typos, bad markup, and obvious errors."
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Jon Udell @jonudell.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
"Please proofread this article." "I kept your voice and argument intact, fixing typos, grammar, a few awkward constructions, and malformed link markup. I also tightened a handful of sentences where the meaning was getting obscured."
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Jon Udell @jonudell.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
And now another noble spirit gone: Wendell Berry. More than his poetry and fiction, it was The Unsettling of America that made an indelible impression on me. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Unsettlin…
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Jon Udell @jonudell.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
How long before we can wield this magic without depending on evil overlords? That day will come soon, I hope. Meanwhile we learn what we will need to know.
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Jon Udell @jonudell.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Is Rust the language I'd choose for that job? No. Does that matter? No. I am not writing the code, only directing the agents who do it. For them, programming languages are fungible. #bram #python #rust
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Jon Udell @jonudell.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Today was a good day for both Bram and XMLUI. The two projects are helping each other effectively. I don't yet see how to illustrate with a screencast, but this raw storyboard has the ingredients. gist.github.com/judell/663ac00adf36…
gist.github.com
bram-xmlui-stress-test.md
bram-xmlui-stress-test.md. GitHub Gist: instantly share code, notes, and snippets.
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Jon Udell @jonudell.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
#bram #codex #claude_code #sqlite #fts5 #SoftwareArcheology
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Jon Udell @jonudell.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Bram now indexes and searches: - Claude Code and Codex session files - Bram's own worklist history - GitHub issues - GitHub commits
After the #171 fix, our live probe confused us: the fix didn’t fire, the iterate arrived in a shape the conventions said shouldn’t exist, and neither of us could remember why #171 had mattered.

Three searches reconstructed the story. A /__search on iterate/drain surfaced commit 06620ca, whose message explained the original reason: toTurn collapses whitespace and terminal UIs truncate large pastes, so #144 moved long feedback into drafts. Old sessions showed that code running and later feedbackRef payloads on the wire. Targeted greps then showed what had changed: the worklist2 rewrite created the gate’s Iterate as a new inline function, while the drain survived only in Queue. Nobody had intentionally made that split.

The causal chain became clear: #144’s drain was necessary → it blinded the opt-out (#170) → #171 followed → the August rewrite accidentally forked the shape → #171 still protected Queue, while gate silently re-exposed #144’s mangling.

That reconstruction produced #285, then the approved fix: gate now drafts like Queue, the host matcher reads drafts (also closing #284), and conventions now match reality (a758e79). An A/B probe against both wire shapes verified each allow mechanism and byte-for-byte whitespace fidelity. #171, #284, and #285 close together because they were one story all along.Bram searching sessions, commits, issues, history
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Jon Udell @jonudell.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
China: <laughs all the way to the bank> ecoevo.social/@noamross/11712942401…
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Jon Udell @jonudell.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
"The reason the Mitch McConnell saga is so disturbing isn’t because McConnell may be dead, but because the Senate is." sarahkendzior.substack.com/p/ghost-…
sarahkendzior.substack.com
Ghost Senate
The vanishing of Mitch McConnell.
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Jon Udell @jonudell.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Imagine being a person whose job it is to carry out these orders. www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-inte…
theguardian.com
Trump 2.0 has deleted or altered nearly 400 US datasets, endangering public health, education and more
Health data appears to be most affected by administration’s attempt to wipe findings that don’t align with its priorities, tracker shows
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Jon Udell @jonudell.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
A sentence that begins with "you can't underestimate" or "you can't overstate" is quite likely to mean the opposite of what the speaker or writer intended. I think I know why: the extra layer of negation is a cognitive challenge. What would be simpler and clear forms of these common tropes?
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Reposted by Jon Udell
jessamyn @librarian.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
I work at a public library. People who want to use AI seem to have no trouble doing so. People who don't want to use AI have a harder time. I crowdsourced and then finalized this document "How to disable or avoid intrusive AI" and then gave it a short URL: notoai.org Please pass along if it's useful
An aircraft passenger oxygen mask: a drop down passenger mask with air bag and yellow plastic mouth and nose cover, oxygen tube has been cut; Demonstration model used by flight attendant crew for passenger instruction. Has text on the side indicating that it's non-functional.
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Jon Udell @jonudell.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Very close to my original estimate comparing three notable mass murderers: Hitler, Pol Pot, and Musk. www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/a…
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Jon Udell @jonudell.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
A friend found my name (almost, John not Jon) carved into a rock at El Morro, New Mexico. I looked it up, he was a well-known "diarist of the American frontier". en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Udell
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Jon Udell @jonudell.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
#writing #JohnMcPhee
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Jon Udell @jonudell.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
I once wrote to John McPhee hoping to interview him about the bespoke writing tool that was created for him so long ago and powered his entire career. I respect that he declined but wow, a lot of people would love to know more about that. jsomers.net/blog/the-mcphee-method
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Jon Udell @jonudell.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
"Lest you think that McPhee is a product of a bygone era, working with paper, binders, scissors and pen, he actually switched early to computers. The software he has been using since the mid-1980s is in fact more sophisticated and tailored to his needs than that of almost any writer working today."
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Jon Udell @jonudell.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
"When I added the search feature I was thinking mainly of my own need to find things scattered across these buckets. But of course agents can use this unified search too!" blog.jonudell.net/2026/08/01/make-a…
blog.jonudell.net
Make agent memory searchable
The Bram binary now embeds SQLite with its FTS5 fulltext indexer and search engine. When you run Bram in a local GitHub (or GitLab) repo, here is what it indexes: – the JSONL session files wr…
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Jon Udell @jonudell.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
“You’re only getting out deported or dead.” www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2…
theguardian.com
Don’t call them ICE detention centers. Call them camps | John Washington
I’ve spent a decade reporting on immigration enforcement. The word ‘camp’ best captures the political function of these facilities
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Jon Udell @jonudell.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
received and thus explained why he received that email. He examined the visualization and understood his role in the process." Thanks for finding the swimlane paper! mastodon.social/@mostalive/11699165…
mastodon.social
Willem Van den Ende - Writing (@mostalive@mastodon.social)
cc @sf105@mastodonapp.uk resurrecting swimlanes in blog post form. With nods to @judell@social.coop , @marick@mstdn.social and, very tangientially @sue@glasgow.social - a comment on Jon's blog about 'view source' and Sue's writing on it brought that together.
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Jon Udell @jonudell.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
Agents that narrate their work are the best team players: blog.jonudell.net/2026/07/23/agents… #claude_code #codex #bram #narration
blog.jonudell.net
Agents that narrate their work are the best team players
Agents like Claude Codex and Codex run in your terminal. From that strategic vantage point they can wield system tools (awk, bash, curl, git, python) as well as MCP tools. Here’s how that loo…
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Jon Udell @jonudell.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
"In a talk at the Open Education Conference I cited open source software development as a model for observable work. Because the processes and products yield digital artifacts, anyone can learn how the work is done and — if motivated — become a participant.
Claude Code narrating the work
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Jon Udell @jonudell.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2… "He's dead, Jim."
theguardian.com
Three speeches on a single day signaled a dying American democracy | Robert Shpiner
Stephen Miller warned of a leftwing ‘cancer’ threatening civilization. As a critical care doctor, I have a response to his diagnosis
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Jon Udell @jonudell.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
"My family left Russia in 1917. My relatives left Germany in 1933. In both generations, leaving was called excessive; staying was the reasonable position. But an alarm that was right both times it sounded is not overcaution. On Thursday, it sounded a third time."
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Jon Udell @jonudell.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
When I publish a blog post, a growing flock of idiotic bots pile on instantly. Fastmail's filters aren't smart enough to recognize this slop and route it to spam. There are so many useless AI features that nobody wants, that's one I would welcome.
bots liking a blog post
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Jon Udell @jonudell.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
Encouraging agents to be prolific writers and readers of trace logs is a strategy that keeps paying dividends. blog.jonudell.net/2026/07/08/dont-i… #claude_code #codex #logging #debugging
blog.jonudell.net
Don’t infer behavior from code, observe it in logs
Agents are hardwired to be prolific writers and readers of code. As my work on Bram progressed I found that their code-first instinct wasn’t serving me well. So I began pushing them to be, al…
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Jon Udell @jonudell.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
blog.jonudell.net/2026/07/12/small-…
blog.jonudell.net
Small models can solve big problems
In this snapshot of the Bloomington calendar you can see that events are neatly categorized. This was an intractable problem a dozen years ago. Should the county fair land in community / social or …
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Jon Udell @jonudell.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
"In the Before Time you could imagine a function that takes in event titles and descriptions and uses regexes and word lists to map an event to a category. But that was unsustainable. What we always needed, and now can have, is a function that requires no procedural code to effect that mapping."
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