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Andy Nortrup

@nortrup.dev
868 followers 765 following 1.6K posts

Director of Product Management at #Cribl formerly #Tanium, #Splunk, and U.S. Army #veteran. Husband and Father. I make #bonsai in my spare time

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Andy Nortrup @nortrup.dev · 27/08/2026
He was talking to this captain though.
Tim Curry as Long John Silver in Muppet Treasure Island
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Andy Nortrup @nortrup.dev · 13/06/2026
Completely useless.
A depiction of my solar energy production showing that my Washington state solar array produced 52 kWh of energy and my home exported 29.4 kWh. I have 98% energy independence.
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Andy Nortrup @nortrup.dev · 13/05/2026
#dogs
Goldendoodle sleeping on a couch.
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Andy Nortrup @nortrup.dev · 04/05/2026
The AI coding revolution has moved the point of constraint from writing code to all of the systems that build, test, and review code. Which is literally right next door. surfingcomplexity.blog/2026/04/28/l...
The second event, the one I really want to focus in here, was GitHub’s CTO Vlad Fedorov writing the blog post: An update on GitHub availability. It was only six weeks ago that he wrote Addressing GitHub’s recent availability issues, which is clearly a sign that GitHub is concerned about the impact of recent incidents on their brand.

I want talk about GitHub’s post in the context of David Woods’s Messy 9 collection of patterns about complex systems. I’ve mentioned them before, but to re-iterate, they are: congestion, cascades, conflicts, saturation, lag, friction, tempos, surprises, tangles.

Fedorov notes that AI is driving a lot more activity on the site: the counts of pull requests, commits, repos are growing like never before.
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Andy Nortrup @nortrup.dev · 03/05/2026
This is a big walk back from saying he directly fired a shotgun to the agents chest to "we found a single pellet of buckshot in the fibers of his vest."
Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, said last week there was no evidence the agent was hit by friendly fire during the incident at a Washington hotel on April 25, but she went beyond that Sunday in saying a shot from one of Cole Tomas Allen’s weapons hit the officer’s bullet-resistant vest.

“We now can establish that a pellet that came from the buckshot from the defendant’s Mossberg pump-action shotgun was intertwined with the fiber of the vest of the Secret Service officer,” she told CNN’s “State of the Union.” “It is definitively his bullet.”
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Andy Nortrup @nortrup.dev · 26/04/2026
@onthemedia.bsky.social 's breaking news handbook is always worth refreshing. An old cav scout's truism is that the first report is always wrong. www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm...
Breaking News Consumer's Handbook

1. In the immediate aftermath, news outlets will get it wrong. 
2. Don't trUSt anonymousS SOurces. 
3. Don't trust stories that cite another news outlet as the source of the information. 
4. There's almost never a second shooter. 
5. Pay attention to the language the media uses.
6. Look for News outlets close to the incident.
Compare multiple sources. 
7. Compare multiple sources. 
8. Big news brings out the fakers. And photoshoppers. 
9. Beware reflexive retweeting. Some of this is on you.
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Andy Nortrup @nortrup.dev · 21/04/2026
I love the flowers on my Taylor's Sunburst Lodgepole Pine. You don't think of fine flowering, but every year this one puts on bright pink flowers that turn into cones by the end of the season. #trees #bonsai
yellow needles and a bright pink female flower emerging from a Taylor's Sunburst Lodgepole Pine bonsai
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Andy Nortrup @nortrup.dev · 06/04/2026
Just made my first attempt at a self approach graft, and I think it might be a shit job. But we'll find out in like 6 months. It was a lot harder to get things in place and put in the grafting nails. #bonsai #grafting
a juniper branch with a grafted scion nailed into place. a juniper branch with a grafted scion nailed into place.
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Andy Nortrup @nortrup.dev · 31/03/2026
But of a bust, I needed to do grafting, but I didn't have grafting tape or nails, so we talked about it and I'm going to do it later. But the tree came out looking the same. But I have a plan, and we confirmed what a good front was. #bonsai
Front of a Chinese juniper bonsai with some shari on the front. View of a Chinese juniper bonsai from the left. There is lots of foliage way too far away from the trunk. View of a Chinese juniper bonsai from the right, again way too much foliage away from the trunk. Planned approach graft that will bring foliage much closer to the trunk so I can cut off longer branches.
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Andy Nortrup @nortrup.dev · 21/03/2026
Repotting day for my Sitka Spruce bonsai. It had been in a pond basket with bad soil for too long. Into an Anderson flat with some lava, pumice, for bark mix. Excited to see the base flare at the bottom when I uncovered it more. #bonsai #pnw
twin trunk Sitka Spruce bonsai in a black Anderson flat propagation tray Before photo of a Sitka Spruce bonsai in an overgrown mossy pond basket. Underside photo of the fine roots of the bonsai tree while being repotted. Picture of the base and roots of a Sitka Spruce bonsai before being covered in soil. There are many fine radial roots and a good root flare at the base.
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Andy Nortrup @nortrup.dev · 21/03/2026
And we're back. March is all seasons in Washington. #bonsai #pnw #seattle
A twin trunk star magnolia bonsai in a blue pot with a dozen light pink blooms.
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Andy Nortrup @nortrup.dev · 13/03/2026
This is not the update photo I expected to post.
A star magnolia bonsai with blooming flowers that are covered in snow.
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Andy Nortrup @nortrup.dev · 11/03/2026
I'm sorry, my feed is gonna be a lot of this tree blooming for like three weeks. #bonsai
A light pink star magnolia flower half open with some rain drops on it. A twin trunk, informal upright, star magnolia bonsai in a light blue glazed pot, it has multiple light pink flowers in the process of blooming.
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Andy Nortrup @nortrup.dev · 10/03/2026
Apropos to nothing at all in the world....here is some moral philosophy.
"In her masterwork, Ordinary Vices, she makes a compelling argument that cruelty—not pride or envy or wrath or any of the other classic “deadly sins”—is actually the worst human vice, and should be placed atop the list of things to avoid. “To put cruelty first,” she writes,

> is to disregard the idea of sin as it is understood by revealed religion. Sins are transgressions of a divine rule and offenses against God.… However, cruelty—the willful inflicting of physical pain on a weaker being in order to cause anguish and fear—is a wrong done entirely to another creature." (Michael Schur, How to Be Perfect)
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Andy Nortrup @nortrup.dev · 08/03/2026
Spring is springing on my bonsai bench. #bonsai #pnw #magnolia
A star magnolia bonsai in a blue pot with light pink flowers just starting to bloom.
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Andy Nortrup @nortrup.dev · 27/02/2026
Post a pic you took, no context, to bring some zen to the feed.
The bottom of a waterfall strikes brown rocks that rise from left to right in the frame.
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Andy Nortrup @nortrup.dev · 09/02/2026
I would have expected to be closer to the product management cluster, but that's still about right.
Bluesky start map placing me between the software architecture and agile leadership cluster and the software testing professionals cluster. The product management cluster is nearby.
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Andy Nortrup @nortrup.dev · 31/01/2026
This weekend is the week! If you are in #seattle go to the Puget Sound Bonsai Association Winter Silhouette show at the Bellevue Botanical Garden. My tree, and many nicer ones will be on display! www.pugetsoundbonsai.org #bonsai
Star Magnolia bonsai in a blue green glazed pot on a brown scroll stand with an accent plant of several pieces of sea grass in an orange glass vase.
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Andy Nortrup @nortrup.dev · 10/01/2026
Maybe this is a blog post I have to write, but I've thought a lot about org design and this idea of slowification is one that I love. But so much of what the Trump administration is doing seems to be targeted at ripping out slowification processes. It moves so much from deliberate to emergency.
"Slowification: Shifting problem-solving from performance (operation, execution) back to practice (preparation) and planning with forceful backup, stress testing, and other deliberate ways of finding flaws in thinking before they become flaws in doing." (Steven J. Spear, Gene Kim, bestselling author of The Phoenix Project, The Unicorn Project, and Wiring, Wiring the Winning Organization)
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Andy Nortrup @nortrup.dev · 05/01/2026
The hard thing about streak counts in apps, is when you fall off, it can be very hard to get yourself started again.
Readwise daily review streak screen showing a longest streak of 1,069 days and a current streak of 8 days.
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Andy Nortrup @nortrup.dev · 02/01/2026
Foggy low clouds on the Carbon River today. #PNW
low clouds sit between a first line of trees and a distant ridge in front of the wide sandbars of the Carbon River along the foothills trail.
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Andy Nortrup @nortrup.dev · 27/12/2025
Of course snow arrives on the day I have to leave vacation so that I need to shovel and drive through it, rather than enjoy it with nothing to do.
A snowy back yard with tall pine and fir trees all loaded with snow.
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Andy Nortrup @nortrup.dev · 18/12/2025
President takes e-bike. www.seattletimes.com/business/loc...
Also telling: Rad Power’s largest single unsecured debt is $8.4 million which is owed to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the federal agency that collects tariffs on imported goods. The company disputes the claim, according to filings.
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Andy Nortrup @nortrup.dev · 10/12/2025
ADHD brain is struggling to remember where it is in my workout, nested loops of numbers to remember. #adhd
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Andy Nortrup @nortrup.dev · 09/12/2025
Why does my kindergartners homework presume that he knows what a zither is? Like, come on man I looked at this picture and had to look it up.
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Andy Nortrup @nortrup.dev · 04/12/2025
"prototypes"
Box cover for teenage mutant ninja turtles toy "mutant module, the burrowing bad boy bus" a purple people carrier with a drill mounted to the front.
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Andy Nortrup @nortrup.dev · 19/11/2025
I think this might be the solution to my accent plant problem. I picked some sea grass down by the sound and brought it down to a reasonable height. I think it gives the tree both a sense of place and season. #bonsai
A twin trunk semi-formal star magnolia bonsai in an light blue glazed pot. The tree sits on a simple brown scroll stand. Next to the tree is an accent plant of dried sea grass in with seeds in a round tank vase that is wider at the bottom than the top.
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Andy Nortrup @nortrup.dev · 18/11/2025
Not immediately before, but from the spring.
Lodgepole pine bonsai in a slanting style in a black plastic pot.
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Andy Nortrup @nortrup.dev · 18/11/2025
Yesterday I went to a bonsai study group where the world renown Dave DeGroot came by. He patiently talked through trees with novice to intermediate bonsai hobbyists and was not shy to grab his clippers. Now my tree has provenance. Took off a ⅓ of this tree, and I love the improvement. #bonsai
A lodgepole pine bonsai with a right leaning slant followed by na abrupt change in direction of the top branch down and to the right.
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Andy Nortrup @nortrup.dev · 15/11/2025
Option 3 I added a shohin Juniper that I have, but I'm not sure that I love the combination, but I wanted to shoot something with an accent plant. #bonsai
A shohin semi-cascade juniper bonsai on a plastic stand (yes tacky) next to a informal upright dual trunk star magnolia bonsai on a wood stand in a light blue glazed pot.
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Andy Nortrup @nortrup.dev · 15/11/2025
Option 2 swaps the stand for a slab of Norway maple that I'm finishing to be a stand. I like the maple but I think that the bark is too rough to go with the smooth bark of the tree. #bonsai
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Andy Nortrup @nortrup.dev · 15/11/2025
Puget Sound Bonsai Club is doing a winter show, today I played with taking some photos of my Star Magnolia to submit. Option 1 is a straight shot of the tree on a stand. #bonsai
Star magnolia bonsai in a light blue glazed pot on a curved wood stand.
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Andy Nortrup @nortrup.dev · 26/10/2025
Magnolia is showing its best foliage of the year. #bonsai
A star magnolia bonsai with bright yellow orange leaves in a blue green pot
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Andy Nortrup @nortrup.dev · 24/10/2025
Pallet cleaners.
A picture of a Goldendoodle lying on a brown couch with his head on a blue pillow covered in a brown blanket. Looking very, very doofy.
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Andy Nortrup @nortrup.dev · 12/10/2025
Long awaited bonsai day and I did a bunch of work on one of my junipers. #bonsai #juniper
informal upright shimpaku juniper bonsai.
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Andy Nortrup @nortrup.dev · 28/09/2025
Project alert! I want to make a bonsai display slab out of this slice of the maple street trees that was removed in front of my house this year. I need a plane to level off the display surface? I'm not a wood worker, so this will be an experiment/experience. #bonsai #woodworking
Magnolia bonsai in a blue pot sitting on a rough cut slab of maple. Profile view of a rough cut slab of maple showing it is slightly uneven. Top view of a rough cut slab of maple on a work bench.
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Andy Nortrup @nortrup.dev · 27/09/2025
I was in Portland this summer it was a delight. We felt safe absolutely everywhere downtown. The Science museum was amazing for kids. There was a llama at the wedding.
A white llama that is being hugged by a child in a building.
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Andy Nortrup @nortrup.dev · 14/09/2025
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Andy Nortrup @nortrup.dev · 12/09/2025
I also believe that it's morally good to be reasonable. But it takes two people to be reasonable.
"Scanlon doesn’t give a quick, pithy definition of “reasonable,” in part because… there isn’t one. But in essence he says this: I’m reasonable if, when you and I disagree, I’m willing to constrain or modify my pursuit of my own interests to the same degree that you’re willing to constrain or modify your pursuit of your interests." (Michael Schur, How to Be Perfect)
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Andy Nortrup @nortrup.dev · 09/09/2025
I respect Stewart Baker & love @lawfaremedia.org but am shocked that they would propose that this administration should use the DPA to seize copyright holder's property and give it away to AI companies. Don't propose more power grabs for cronies. www.lawfaremedia.org/article/anth...
The Trump administration should cut this Gordian knot by invoking the Defense Production Act (DPA) and essentially ordering copyright holders to grant training licenses to AI companies on reasonable terms to be determined by a single Article I forum. This is the only expeditious way out of the current mess. It is consistent with the purpose and with past uses of the DPA. And it creates a practical solution that copyright holders have long used in similar contexts.
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Andy Nortrup @nortrup.dev · 18/08/2025
Also it's growing its own katsumono. #bonsai
A fern growing out of the base of a pond basket full of soil for a bonsai tree.
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Andy Nortrup @nortrup.dev · 18/08/2025
Good news, it's starting to throw out more new growth. Hopefully they harden off before winter and don't get too big.
Oregon Myrtle tree in a pond basket. Most leaves have been removed but small ones are starting to appear on branch stubs. Oregon Myrtle tree in a pond basket. Most leaves have been removed but small ones are starting to appear on branch stubs.
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Andy Nortrup @nortrup.dev · 14/08/2025
I put a creed joke on a PRD that I sent to my colleagues for review. I'm really having a hard time being cool waiting for them to comment and tell me it's funny. We do need to take our SLAs higher. #productmanagement
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Andy Nortrup @nortrup.dev · 13/08/2025
Glad to see this warning sticker on a Bitcoin ATM. But I don't know why they have such a narrow conditional. #bitcoin
Sticker on Bitcoin ATM: CAUTION

IF THE FBI, POLICE, BANK, MICROSOFT, APPLE, ETC. DIRECTED YOU TO THIS ATM...

@ITS A SCAM!

HANG UP AND ASK FOR HELP
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Andy Nortrup @nortrup.dev · 10/08/2025
Today I went to a wedding with a lama.
A white lama, getting hugged by a small girl in a dress at a wedding.
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Andy Nortrup @nortrup.dev · 01/08/2025
At the Death Cab for Cutie show on #Seattle tonight. 20th Anniversary show for their Plans album, waitress at dinner had never heard of the band and were probably younger than the album. I'm getting old.
Tshirt with a graphic that looks like an iPod with multiple spellings and arrangements of the band name "Death Cab for Cutie" but all cared and arranged differently like they were downloaded on Napster from several different places.
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Andy Nortrup @nortrup.dev · 28/07/2025
I've been trying to make a bonsai out of an Oregon Myrtle. Its leaves are comically large and floppy. I hope that a hard cut back this spring would produce more smaller leaves. Not so much, they were big and floppier. So I'll abuse it some more and cut it back in late mid summer. #bonsai
Oregon Myrtle with lots of large leaves.Oregon Myrtle with most of its leaves cut away. In a pond basket on a railing.
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Andy Nortrup @nortrup.dev · 23/07/2025
Big clean up trim of my biggest juniper. I took a lot of loose foliage off and hopefully we'll get some back budding. #bonsai
Large juniper bonsai that has been cleaned of poor quality foliage. Loose floppy juniper foliage with limited branching and long internodes. A pile of trimmings off of a juniper bonsai on a green drop cloth.
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Andy Nortrup @nortrup.dev · 11/07/2025
Nori got the shit scared out of her by fireworks last week and has been trying to get up the gumption to go back into her favorite window ever since. #cats
Small black cat trying to very gingerly sneak up on a blind in front of an empty sliding glass door.
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Andy Nortrup @nortrup.dev · 08/07/2025
Wait, they put artillery target reference markers on this diagram! Were they going to call for fucking fire?
Target Symbols
The basic symbol used in fire support planning is the target symbol. Target symbols
relate to personnel, or material that are designated and numbered for reference and / or
firing. There are two basic target symbols that must be understood and employed
correctly: Point Targets and Linear Targets.
1) Point Targets: The fundamental symbol used for a point target is a cross (tick mark).
 The location of this target is normally given by a grid zone designator and at least
a six-digit grid coordinate.
 Point target symbols are identified by a six-digit alpha numeric number in the
upper right quadrant.
 Point target symbols are used for targets that are less than or equal to 200
meters in length and width.
 Point target symbols are drawn and labelled in black
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