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Joe Z

@underflow.dev
166 followers 182 following 273 posts

5 decades of Colorado, writing software for astronomy, ecology, precision timing, medical devices, and hardware integration. Opinions are my own.

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Joe Z @underflow.dev · 3h
I’m a total amateur. Just looking at the price vs per capita income across the last two decades, many counties keep the same ratio. It doesn’t really say much about causation.
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Joe Z @underflow.dev · 4h
I have a small visualization for it, per county, using Zillow data. underflow.dev/housing/ Income and housing are just so tightly coupled, even when prices fall, income tends to fall, too.
underflow.dev
Housing Price to Income
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Joe Z @underflow.dev · 10h
Recently participated in anti-harassment training at my STEM org. It was good. It did leave me with one question, though. Would management fire Richard Feynman? Or would they bury his very public misogyny, his alleged spousal abuse? Experience tells me the answer. Hopefully I'm wrong.
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Joe Z @underflow.dev · 21h
That’s just cars now. Along with recording everything you say and everywhere you go. Come to think, that does sound a bit Wes Craven-ish.
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Joe Z @underflow.dev · 27/09/2026
View from the CCC trail in the Colorado national monument.
A view of the scrub desert with cliffs in the foreground and Grand Junction in the background. Off in the distance is the grand Mesa. white fluffy clouds float overhead in a blue sky.
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Joe Z @underflow.dev · 23/09/2026
Pawpaw fruit is unusual here, but pawpaw is my kids’ name for their grandpa. Pawpaw pudding took some careful parsing.
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Joe Z @underflow.dev · 22/09/2026
Driving out from Cuba and seeing one man, alone, walking through the desert. (old) Howard Morgan throwing his smile at the end of the weather forecast. (very old) Tire fire in the old volcanoes to see who panics.
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Joe Z @underflow.dev · 21/09/2026
Really interested in your opinion, not just being argumentative: In software, it is rapidly becoming career limiting to not use AI in some capacity. Like, the difference between having a job and not. What is the right path forward there, in your opinion?
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Joe Z @underflow.dev · 21/09/2026
Good work. Thank you.
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Joe Z @underflow.dev · 21/09/2026
Not a coffee person here, what kind of nuts might go well? Toasted pecans?
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Joe Z @underflow.dev · 21/09/2026
In mild disagreement, I’ve also worked with true believers who gave everything and couldn’t understand those who wanted to be paid. Extremes can be blinding.
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Joe Z @underflow.dev · 21/09/2026
And the cold wet just seeps in everywhere. It’s not even that cold! But so hard to get warm.
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Joe Z @underflow.dev · 21/09/2026
Saw a magnificent group of turkey vultures yesterday, and found out they get three group names: a kettle when flying, a committee when resting, and a wake when feeding.
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Joe Z @underflow.dev · 18/09/2026
For sure, it’s a spicy one.
A map of Indiana in a lightning tracker showing many many strikes north of Indianapolis and west 
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Joe Z @underflow.dev · 18/09/2026
Maybe he believes in redemptive suffering?
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Joe Z @underflow.dev · 14/09/2026
He’s actually a reservoir of zoonotic, highly communicable, novel diseases. Stay far away.
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Joe Z @underflow.dev · 13/09/2026
Hmm. July of 2026. Long day.
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Joe Z @underflow.dev · 13/09/2026
Hey, I built a thing! For fun! US housing prices vs per-capita income at the county level, from 2000 to 2026. Image is for June of 2026. The west is expensive relative to income. Explore and see animations, county, and state level data at underflow.dev/housing
A heat map of the US, showing counties.  Counties are colored by their housing price to income ratio: darker counties have a higher ratio. In general, the western US appears to have larger, darker counties than the middle of the US.  The eastern US has darker counties near population centers.
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Joe Z @underflow.dev · 11/09/2026
Such a great trail.
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Joe Z @underflow.dev · 09/09/2026
Fireblight is endemic to my region. How do I safely prune my trees?
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Joe Z @underflow.dev · 09/09/2026
“And many of those employees are thought of as family.” … The cliché is painful in multiple dimensions.
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Joe Z @underflow.dev · 08/09/2026
Huh. Fascinating. What’s your policy?
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Joe Z @underflow.dev · 01/09/2026
Science "journalism" articles that are a summary of a summary, and don't contain a link to the original article, are my personal aggravation.
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Joe Z @underflow.dev · 28/08/2026
And now Codex, a dedicated coding tool, wants access to... my music applications and history? Seriously, what? Fuck. Off.
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Joe Z @underflow.dev · 28/08/2026
Day 2 of fasting, for the first time in a while. My liver: hey, where's the sugar, dammit‽
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Joe Z @underflow.dev · 27/08/2026
So spotify, a distributed mp3 player, now wants access to... my travel plans? And double pinky promises to never share my info? Fuck off.
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Joe Z @underflow.dev · 21/08/2026
It appears to be at m.youtube.com/shorts/CUimQ...
m.youtube.com
The Lost Carousel In The Barn #carousel #history #merrygoround
YouTube video by Carousels & Coasters
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Joe Z @underflow.dev · 21/08/2026
“… I have seen the house that it built, and it is terrific.” Sometimes you just take the paycheck.
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Joe Z @underflow.dev · 17/08/2026
Had a long walk, finally in the rain, with the trouble twins.
Holly the border-Aussie walking on a dirt road north of Boulder, CO. Flatiron hills off in the distance.Holly the border-Aussie laying on the yellowing summer grass, alertly looking for sheep.Archer the border collie mix, with a wet head from jumping in a stream. He’s wondering why we’re not hunting more rabbits (which he is not allowed to eat).
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Joe Z @underflow.dev · 13/08/2026
That’s a lot of liquid. Might need to give it a try to see how it turns out.
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Joe Z @underflow.dev · 11/08/2026
Quality has dropped far enough at the local Ziggi’s I kind of avoid it now. But you do you.
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Joe Z @underflow.dev · 11/08/2026
The border Aussie dog demanded to go outside at 2am. She happily sprints out to find the imaginary raccoon. So I wait. And wait. Call her. Find my shoes, drag into the yard. She’s sitting on the sand pile, little nubbin of a tail going like mad, happy as can be to have trolled me. #dogs
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Joe Z @underflow.dev · 05/08/2026
Archer thinks walks are for hunting. Holly thinks they’re for finding a shady patch, and maybe some sheep will show up. 
Archer the border collie mix dog standing on a field, staring intenselyHolly, the border Aussie, laying on her belly and looking for sheep. 
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Joe Z @underflow.dev · 05/08/2026
I understand and agree with what you are saying, but, I’m not sure it applies to the self-help genre. And maybe business writing.
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Joe Z @underflow.dev · 03/08/2026
By @librarian.bsky.social , of course
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Joe Z @underflow.dev · 27/07/2026
Samely, a browser addon that probes an interface structure, then adds a transforming overlay. At first, the overlay is identical to the initial page. AI injects persistent transforms based on user request: I don't want to see that box. This response should display over here. Block ads like this.
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Joe Z @underflow.dev · 27/07/2026
I've been wondering if there could be hard and soft segments of a system. Hard=backend, API, queues, etc. Soft=front end, user-facing, generally system non-critical, but user-important. AI could, with a pre-built set of skills, iteratively replace the soft components to individual user specs.
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Joe Z @underflow.dev · 22/07/2026
Mamdani, only Mamdani hasn’t been informed.
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Joe Z @underflow.dev · 01/07/2026
I hope the three installment payments have some significant guarantees, or they’ll end up in court again for somehow forgetting to pay them.
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Joe Z @underflow.dev · 30/06/2026
Hmm, I don’t know. Do you have anything in Avocado Fridge?
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Joe Z @underflow.dev · 29/06/2026
I miss Mercurial.
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Joe Z @underflow.dev · 27/06/2026
Long ago, I, a desert lizard, went to U of O for school. 9 months of rain at a time did not agree with me. I think my vitamin D levels went negative.
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Joe Z @underflow.dev · 27/06/2026
At the risk of offending the delicate: you can get colonoscopies without anesthesia. Turns it into a simple morning’s outing with some mild stomach cramps. *Women may feel more pain than men.
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Joe Z @underflow.dev · 25/06/2026
Working jobs while in college had the same effect for me. Deadline pressure becomes omnipresent. Without job: Eh, I have plenty of time, I'll study later... With job: Must study now, because I'm working later.
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Joe Z @underflow.dev · 21/06/2026
Hand on hip, pouting: “Setting you in fire isn’t working at all!” Other guy: “I brought my dynamite!”
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Reposted by Joe Z
Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
"Astrophysics research is in trouble". Yup, we've brought in the big guns to #SaveUKAstronomy, particle and nuclear physics! Thank you @drbecky.bsky.social 🙏 📽️: www.youtube.com/shorts/omICc...
youtube.com
Astrophysics research is in trouble... #shorts
YouTube video by Dr. Becky
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Joe Z @underflow.dev · 19/06/2026
Wife did Jurassic Park up there recently, just had to get the day pass and show up before timed reservations started at 9am. Might be different for Trail Ridge, though.
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Joe Z @underflow.dev · 19/06/2026
Okay, it’s a She-Hulk villain, but I’ve always had a soft spot for DOCTOR BONG! Yes, it’s deeply unserious.
A two panel comic. Left panel: a man with a bell for a head saying “paralyzed is the operative word, she – Hulk – – if that is your name. The result of an exposure to the smallest part of the power of DOCTOR BONG!” Right panel: She-Hulk gesturing at Doctor Bong, and saying “Doctor Bong?!? is this some kind of joke?? The fantastic four and Spider-Man got Dr. doom in their fifth issues. I get this clown?”
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Joe Z @underflow.dev · 18/06/2026
Props to Joe Fassler, @wcraft.bsky.social, and Andrew Witherspoon writing for @theguardian.com in the US on oil well cleanup. www.theguardian.com/environment/.... Really great article.
theguardian.com
There are thousands of dirty old drill sites in Colorado. The state gave oil firms a $1bn pass
Investigation reveals regulator let firms off the hook on cleanup bonds despite backlog that will take decades to clear
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Joe Z @underflow.dev · 13/06/2026
Archer the border collie mix tried to flush this rabbit out from under the tree. Alas, it’s a rock. One very sore nose.
The bottom of a blue spruce tree with a barely visible rock that looks almost exactly like a bunny.
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