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Todd Ballowe

@toddballowe.com
215 followers 157 following 112 posts

I’m originally from Illinois, but I bailed on the Midwest in ’97 and made Reno, NV my home. Lead Engineer at Madison AI, musician since age five, and a book junkie with a soft spot for horror—on the page and on the screen. toddballowe.com/bio

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Todd Ballowe @toddballowe.com · 11/06/2026
Yeah, where's Todd? Fuck that guy.
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Todd Ballowe @toddballowe.com · 09/05/2026
Happy birthday, @tompynchon.bsky.social
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Reposted by Todd Ballowe
Jeff VanderMeer @jeffvandermeer.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
Thrilled that my first new short story in several years, "Constellations," about astronauts crashlanding on a distant planet, has been published by the @technologyreview.com. Acquiring editor Rachel Cortland. Art by Rogan Brown. Free link to avoid the paywall: ter.li/r3tbrsgr
a complex biosphere in vivid color in an illustrative style inside a circle and outside all white with shadow, with suggestion of complex ferns and other vegetation; art by rogan brown
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Reposted by Todd Ballowe
Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 25/01/2026
Given that we're seeing middle-aged white guys coming out against ICE more and more, I really think there's a lane for some Johnny Dangerously t-shirts with this slogan on them
FARGIN ICEHOLES
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Todd Ballowe @toddballowe.com · 24/12/2025
Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house Not a creature was stirring not even a mouse The sun has gone down and the moon has come up And long ago somebody left with the cup But he's striving and driving and hugging the turns And thinking of someone for whom he still Burns
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Todd Ballowe @toddballowe.com · 16/12/2025
My #chihuahua, Smidge, and her snaggle tooth say good day to you. #dogs
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Todd Ballowe @toddballowe.com · 16/08/2025
Because you're a FUCKING IDIOT, Todd.
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Todd Ballowe @toddballowe.com · 23/07/2025
@drdind.bsky.social hey I think you might like to help pass this along.
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Todd Ballowe @toddballowe.com · 18/07/2025
Me in my 20s: This radio station is playing my jams. Me in my 30s: This bar is playing my jams. Me in my 40s: This grocery store is playing my jams. Me in my 50s: This elevator is playing my jams.
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Todd Ballowe @toddballowe.com · 07/07/2025
@theonion.com I'm just going to leave this here.
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Todd Ballowe @toddballowe.com · 29/06/2025
I feel you on this one.
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Todd Ballowe @toddballowe.com · 22/06/2025
@georgetakei.bsky.social In case you haven't seen this one yet.
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Todd Ballowe @toddballowe.com · 20/06/2025
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Todd Ballowe @toddballowe.com · 03/05/2025
Now this is a #redhat I can get behind.
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Todd Ballowe @toddballowe.com · 24/04/2025
Elvira, Mistress of the bark. AKA shagamuffin #dogs #bernedoodle
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Todd Ballowe @toddballowe.com · 21/04/2025
Again not that anyone cares. toddballowe.com/how-building...
toddballowe.com
How Building Madison AI Screwed With My Philosophy and Saved My Inner Writer (Sort Of)
Let’s start with the obvious: building an AI company was never on my bingo card. I didn’t grow up thinking, “One day, I’ll use Python to disrupt public service workflows and build municipal software s...
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Todd Ballowe @toddballowe.com · 09/04/2025
Mavis the magnificent. #cats #blackcat #kitty #shelookscutebutisabrutalmurderer
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Todd Ballowe @toddballowe.com · 07/04/2025
Once upon a time I was a musician.
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Todd Ballowe @toddballowe.com · 05/04/2025
Syphilisisyphus: When I take antibiotics every day but bang your mom every night. Syphilisisyphus.
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Todd Ballowe @toddballowe.com · 05/04/2025
Real men fight for the oppressed.
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Todd Ballowe @toddballowe.com · 31/03/2025
More bullshit about me. toddballowe.com/punch-cards-...
toddballowe.com
Punch Cards and Poetry: A Coder's Journey Through Time » 🅱🅰🅻🅻🅾🆆🅴✑🎸
The journey of a coder is a winding road, full of unexpected turns, frustrating dead ends, and moments of pure exhilaration. Also, frustration and a frequent desire to bang your head against a fucking...
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Todd Ballowe @toddballowe.com · 28/03/2025
The old man and the sea of code. Read yet another thrilling entry on my journey into becoming a lead AI solutions architect. toddballowe.com/my-life-in-c...
toddballowe.com
My Life in Code: Marvelous 3, AI Search, and the Occasional Existential Crisis » 🅱🅰🅻🅻🅾🆆🅴✑🎸
Alright, imaginary friends, gather ’round the virtual campfire. Today, we’re diving deep into the labyrinth of my memories and code files to unearth some hidden gems. You asked for details about the b...
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Todd Ballowe @toddballowe.com · 27/03/2025
Yet another post no one will read about my journey from being a front end web developer to a lead AI solutions architect. toddballowe.com/the-long-and...
toddballowe.com
The Long and Winding Road to Hybrid Search: A Facebook Flashback » 🅱🅰🅻🅻🅾🆆🅴✑🎸
Hey everyone, I wanted to take a bit more time to share the story behind the development of the madison_hybrid_search function at Madison AI. It wasn’t a walk in the park, and looking back at […]
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Todd Ballowe @toddballowe.com · 19/03/2025
Another post about how I'm an old man and an idiot trying to play a young man's coding game. toddballowe.com/early-days-w...
toddballowe.com
Early Days with Azure Search AI: The Time I Almost Gave Up on AI-Powered Search » 🅱🅰🅻🅻🅾🆆🅴✑🎸
Not long ago, I was just a guy trying to make **search not suck**. My first attempts at AI-powered search? **Disasters.** If I had a dollar for every time I thought, “this is completely broken,” […]
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Todd Ballowe @toddballowe.com · 17/03/2025
WTF
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Todd Ballowe @toddballowe.com · 17/03/2025
Fact.
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Todd Ballowe @toddballowe.com · 16/03/2025
The latest in my series on transitioning from a #webdeveloper to an #ai architect. toddballowe.com/the-frustrat...
toddballowe.com
The Frustrations of Data Processing: AI, Bureaucracy, and the Never-Ending Battle for Clean Data » 🅱🅰🅻🅻🅾🆆🅴✑🎸
Data: The Necessary Evil of AI Development As the Lead AI Solutions Architect at Madison AI, my job isn’t just to build AI systems—it’s to make them work in the real world. And if there’s […]
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Todd Ballowe @toddballowe.com · 02/03/2025
Our friends' 135 pound #bernedoodle, Moose, next to our 5 1/2 pound #chihuhaha, Smidge. #dogs
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Todd Ballowe @toddballowe.com · 01/03/2025
Fredrik Backman, #author of such great work like the #novels such as Bear Town and Anxious.
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Todd Ballowe @toddballowe.com · 28/02/2025
Ok, I love 90s #music and #pearljam, but as my friend Ward once said, you can sing an entire grunge song without using a consonant.
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Todd Ballowe @toddballowe.com · 22/02/2025
A group of Americans is called a cluster fuck.
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Todd Ballowe @toddballowe.com · 22/02/2025
I'm going to add some bourbon to this.
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Todd Ballowe @toddballowe.com · 21/02/2025
Part 2 of my journey from being a traditional #webdeveloper to an #ai solutions architect. I may love #code, but I love my #guitar more. toddballowe.com/from-lamp-to...
toddballowe.com
From LAMP to Python & TypeScript: My Journey into Modern Development » 🅱🅰🅻🅻🅾🆆🅴✑🎸
There was a time when I thought I had it all figured out. A website was a series of carefully stacked bricks—HTML, CSS, PHP, jQuery—arranged just so, and if the wall didn’t collapse under the […]
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Todd Ballowe @toddballowe.com · 21/02/2025
I'm curious why #elonmusk and other billionaires don't just pay their taxes instead of destroying our democracy for their own financial gain.
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Todd Ballowe @toddballowe.com · 17/02/2025
So, no bullshit, I had to try this on Google to see what the AI answered. Dying. #ai #artificialignorance
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Todd Ballowe @toddballowe.com · 16/02/2025
Mavis (AKA the Void, AKA Mavey-Wavey) #cats #blackcats #thevoid
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Todd Ballowe @toddballowe.com · 11/02/2025
I've been a registered non partisan for ~25 years, for two major reasons: 1) it used to be a fact that I would get less junk mail, and 2) when I made this decision I reasoned that both parties had valuable contributions to the political discourse. A thread.
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Todd Ballowe @toddballowe.com · 09/02/2025
I've been a fan of @butchwalker.bsky.social since the first time I heard the album Math and Other Problems by Marvelous Three. I could wax on about his songwriting skills, it several times I've seen him in concert. I'll settle for the one and only time I meet him at the Grand Sierra Resort in 2010.
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Todd Ballowe @toddballowe.com · 09/02/2025
Once upon a time I was a wannabe #rockstar
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Todd Ballowe @toddballowe.com · 09/02/2025
Hell yes.
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Todd Ballowe @toddballowe.com · 09/02/2025
I've been sharing this OutKast meme with my friends, and it deeply saddens me that many didn't get it. #memes #outkast
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Todd Ballowe @toddballowe.com · 08/02/2025
So, about a year ago my job transformed from being a Lead Web Developer to a Lead AI Solutions Architect. Here's a little taste of the beginning of the protect. toddballowe.com/madison-ai-t... #ai #codenerd #python
toddballowe.com
Madison AI: The Governance AI Born Out of Pure Frustration
At the time Madison AI began, artificial intelligence was just emerging into the public conversation in a big way. While AI was being hailed as the future, government data was still stuck in the past—...
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Todd Ballowe @toddballowe.com · 08/02/2025
@drewhayesnovels.bsky.social is there any chance I can borrow Fornax? There is a certain billionaire that appears to be breaking democracy.
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Todd Ballowe @toddballowe.com · 06/02/2025
@nuno-bettencourt.bsky.social Not to brag, but....
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Todd Ballowe @toddballowe.com · 06/02/2025
Smidge, the 5 pound Chihuahua. #dogs
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Todd Ballowe @toddballowe.com · 06/02/2025
Mavis (aka The Void) and Willow (aka terwillowger, aka Naked Alien Trash Goblin). #cats
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Todd Ballowe @toddballowe.com · 05/02/2025
Barley (we call him Barf, in honor of the late, great John Candy) on the left, Elvira, Mistress of the Bark on the right. #dogs
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Todd Ballowe @toddballowe.com · 05/02/2025
Me after looking at the news today.
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Todd Ballowe @toddballowe.com · 05/02/2025
What if... What if I'm older than that? Do I get a prize? Or something for my aching back?
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