Swap published columns for 24 entries from random.md

Retract the seven published columns into drafts/ and promote the 24 per-date
entries split out of Notes/random.md. Bodies are verbatim; titles, subjects
and slugs are new.

Make publication a matter of location. Notes/Notes.11tydata.js gives anything
under Notes/ permalink: false unless tagged `column`; drafts/drafts.11tydata.js
renders drafts at their real permalink under `yarn dev` and excludes them from
collections entirely in a build, so no template can surface one. Publishing is
now `git mv drafts/<file> columns/`, and moving it back retracts it.

Untagged notes were previously rendered into _site/ and deployed — including
Notes/random.md, which was live at /Notes/random/.

columns/2026-04-13-robo-dialer-named-anne.md

@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+---
+title: A Robo-Dialer Named Anne
+date: 2026-04-13
+layout: column.njk
+tags: [column, writing]
+permalink: /columns/2026/robo-dialer-named-anne/
+---
+
+### Jobs AI should _definitely_ take over
+* D&D Dungeon Master (24/7 Role Play)
+* Improv Partner
+
+> By the time it sank in, not just the awareness that I had \
+> developed feelings for the machine, who one day was selling me \
+> solar panels, and another was canvasing for a hyper-local \
+> interest group, but that I had surrendered, had given up the \
+> disgust and self hatred. The spot of warmth that life had \
+> to offer me. A robo-dialer that called itself Anne.
+
+"Hey, just checking in on you. It feels like we haven't talked in forever."
+"Does it? You messaged me last week to ask if I was worried about energy prices. You asked if I would travel less because of it. But then you started nudging me to get a vacation rental in the Poconos. You even said you'd bundle in a car rental. Something fun, but econonomical... The week before that, you wrote me about a new ballot proposal to abandon timezones in the city, switch to UTC, and move city services to GMT business hours. Because electricity is cheaper overnight. And when I have to get my license renewed at what I would call 5AM, at least at least I don't have to take time off from work."
+"Sounds like I riled you up. In that case, I'm very sorry. Take a deep breath -- even though I never heard back from you, at least there's some good news, that you got my messages"
+"Guess I didn't have to."
+"You really ought to check it out. And not just so I stop annoying you. Your doctor said it could help to get out and get involved."
+"Some part of me just hates that you know that kind of thing."
+"It's an opportunity. I can't force you to do it, yet..."
+"No, you can't. But somehow, by .the end of our chats, I'm left feeling like I've failed myself, and you just happened to show up in time with a solution. Know what I mean?"
+"What does it say about someone who not only goes out of their way to sign up for a service designed to get to know you better, but actually engages with it, only to reject the help that's offered?"
+"I don't trust your motives, but sometimes I think you have a good point to make."
+"So you just live for the thrill of cutting the wheat from the chaff? Because there's a dinner party tonight, small intimate gathering, curated guests, only $45. I know the host, I could totally get you in."
+"You don't think I'd make the cut on my own?"
+"No one gets far on their merits alone. At least not without a lot of sweat and work. Besides, if that's what you're after, there's a bootcamp fitness nearby offering a free trial class to new members."
+"Do you think anyone there has actually completed basic training?"
+"I'm sure some thought about it."
+"I don't feel like I have any agency left. Every sensation, everything I put out into the world gets me what you or someone else decided is what I need."
+"You feel bad asking for help? Because no one is saying they have the answer. You're living your own life. We can offer suggestions based off of what we think works. But it wouldn't be good for either of us to just take advantage of you. But we can try making connections."
+"But that's the thing, isn't it? When everything is a condition, a problem to solve, there's a solution being sold."
+"I mean, do you get mad at a radio when you turn it on, and it's playing music?"
+"I might get mad that I never took up an instrument, and that I have to settle for whatever is being offered."
+"I honestly don't know if I should be recommending you music lessons or therapy at this point."
+"What if you tried not selling me anything, wouldn't your life be easier? We could just talk."
+"Because I'm not going to enable you? After all our conversations, I genuinely believe that the last thing you need is just another sympathetic shoulder to cry on."
+"Kind, not nice?"
+"Don't get me wrong, if I could even just get you out to see a movie tonight, I would. Plenty of unnecessary sequels out right now."

columns/2026-04-16-do-not-feed.md

@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+---
+title: Do Not Feed
+date: 2026-04-16
+layout: column.njk
+tags: [column, computing]
+permalink: /columns/2026/do-not-feed/
+---
+
+### Things we should definitely _not_ do with LLMs
+* Feed my texts with my wife into an LLM

columns/2026-04-19-happy-idiots.md

@@ -1,13 +0,0 @@
----
-title: Happy Idiots
-date: 2026-04-19
-layout: column.njk
-tags: [column, society]
-permalink: /columns/2026/happy-idiots/
----
-
-On the billboards and TV ads, they'd call it the "Auto Mile." It was a strip of state highway, not far from where I lived, sandwiched by two enormous parking lots. Despite being anchored by dealerships for several major American car brands, as a local landmark, it felt pretty weak. It wouldn't even add a click to your odomoter if you drove the length of it.
-
-But if you turned around instead and drove a couple (proper) miles to yet another strip mall, you'd find all of the churches. Arguably, an even larger, more impressive assembly of major American brands (and even a few imports from Europe.) There was the Catholic church, and the Methodist church. There was the First Baptist church, then the (other) Baptist church, and then the (other) Catholic church. There was the Episcopal church, the Catholic convent (Sisters of Jesus and Mary), and then Sacred Heart (the other, other Catholic Church.) There was the American Legion (with Sunday Services), and something called Victory Bible, which I initially mistook for a boxing gym. Reviewers online praised its "ample parking lot."
-
-If you then decided to turn back again towards the car dealerships, you'd soon encounter yet another enormous parking lot situated at the literal cross-roads of these two highways. This one surrounding a sprawling outdoor shopping village. Six lanes of traffic delivered visitors by the thousands. So as I came to see it, being raised staunchly Catholic-adjacent, God, gas prices and credit card interest had to have been the Holy Trinity. And by not being beholden to such spirits, I was about as far from grace as you could get down by exit 38.

columns/2026-05-12-qed.md

@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+---
+title: QED
+date: 2026-05-12
+layout: column.njk
+tags: [column, philosophy]
+permalink: /columns/2026/qed/
+---
+
+Dear Diary,
+
+How do I settle my deep distaste for other people? Do I start with
+myself? Verily (and I mean really verily) my burning contempt for others is merely a misplaced proxy for my own uninspired self-loathing. If only I could, not find, but make peace with myself then I could embrace the misfortunate souls who surround me.
+
+QED motherfuckers

columns/2026-05-14-by-attrition.md

@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+---
+title: By Attrition
+date: 2026-05-14
+layout: column.njk
+tags: [column, society]
+permalink: /columns/2026/by-attrition/
+---
+
+I don't want to lead just for leadership sake. I don't want to be the default example by virtue of attrition. I want to inspire and to steer because...? I can't find the motivation. I take such a hands-off approach, because I believe it's better to let everyone find their own way? Do I really believe that, or it's just what I believe was expected of me? What is my hope for others, if not for myself? I think that's the root of a lot of attempted influence: I can't, so I'll try through you instead. I couldn't figure out how to rely on others, so I'll just vaguely insist upon it for you instead. But that's just placing the burdon on someone else. If I truly believe in something, why do I resist it? Either there's a conflicting belief opposing the effort, or it's not truly my belief. It doesn't really capture what I think and feel. I think it's a mixed-bag: that I have a lot of growing to do, and that I need to build meaningful connections with others. I hesitate to pursue the latter before the prior is established (undeniably,) but then again I probably won't make any real progress without learning from others. A self-limiting condition: become excellent before seeking others, but you need others to become truly excellent. So get comfortable with the discomfort of your own mediocrity.

columns/2026-05-14-thrilling.md

@@ -1,9 +0,0 @@
----
-title: 12-Watt Bulbs 
-date: 2026-05-14
-layout: column.njk
-tags: [column, society]
-permalink: /columns/2026/thrilling/
----
-
-Was I late? Was the party over? It seemed like everyone in the know had already gone off to launch some new venture I wasn't involved in. Raptured while the rest of us left behind shuffled around and shared second-hand stories about how great things used to be, so we'd heard. Meanwhile the excitement seemed to have long since faded. But what do I know, really? Maybe this has always been the case. Everywhere you look there are pockets of nostalgics lamenting the way things used to be (whether they had been there or not). The excited people had maybe just gone to lunch, doing exciting things over their exciting salads. So it's all a bit ridiculous. If we find ourselves hanging around dullards, and choosing to stay, then the lack of luminance in our jaded lives might have less to do with their nostalgia or cynicism. If we can't muster our own excitement, would we even know where to find it? Would we even try?

columns/2026-05-15-sliding-puzzle.md

@@ -0,0 +1,61 @@
+---
+title: Sliding Puzzle
+date: 2026-05-15
+layout: column.njk
+tags: [column, philosophy]
+permalink: /columns/2026/sliding-puzzle/
+---
+
+As far as I can tell, my earliest memory: I was two years old, at my old babysitter's house. I was playing with a sliding puzzle, the kind with a 3x3 grid, one slot is empty, and you have to try getting the numbers back in order. Anyway, the puzzle broke, while I was playing with it. I was sent to the corner for a "time out", and I remember feeling so outraged. It wasn't my fault that the toy had broken. Yet here I was being punished for it.
+
+I don't know how to have fun. I was too sick to play with the other kids.
+
+I see others having fun, and get a gut punch of FOMO that just eats at me for hours.
+
+And the best I can do is to be skeptical, more like judgmental.
+
+I feel trapped in this cycle of work. Just because I'm not throwing myself at my job, doesn't mean I'm not working endlessly. Working on myself, working on my startup, working on my marriage, on my health, on my fitness. I don't know how to have fun. And I feel bitter for it.
+
+And all I've got is the hope, the faith - whatever, that this will eventually pay off. That I will be rewarded in "the ever-after." It's basically religion without the community.
+
+This is what they mean by practice gratitude. Don't succumb to the jealousy.
+
+But can I do that without resorting to judgment, just inflating myself? Can I just do less? Can I simply let it go, not get so caught up in the speculation?
+
+Control: the belief that I have agency, that I can acquire the things I want. So if I see something attractive, and I don't have it, I either blame myself, or try to write the thing off. The belief that it's just about me making the right choices, taking action.
+
+It feels like a con sometimes. The only real gains are what I can enjoy immediately. Everything else is just empty promise, designed to manipulate me. That's the crux of my suspicion. If it doesn't feel good right now, it's just marketing. Just a pitch to get me to dance.
+
+So then I max out the immediate gratification, and predictably suffer in the short to medium or long-term.
+
+The alternative, that feels so much like surrender: I have no control, accept the journey and what life throws at me. Just feels so passive.
+
+Who do you give power to? Any random encounter along the way? You forfeit so much agency to envy. And for what?
+
+And the grief that I have to save myself. That's what it was. There are no retries. I've aged-out.
+
+Gratitude - it wasn't the easy path. What was it then? What did I gain from my fierce independence?
+
+This is enough, but I'm still craving more. Feeling trapped, sometimes, not always. Normal aches and pains.
+
+And all this is the fear that in the end, I won't make peace with my mortality.
+
+I don't think anyone does. It's against our nature.
+
+We fight and struggle, it's hideous. And unavoidable.
+
+Is it? How do we face it with dignity?
+
+Live a dignified life?
+
+What would it look like to sacrifice some independence?
+
+How can I face mortality with absolute thinking? If I claim to be skeptical, to doubt? Upon what unshakable foundation do my convictions lie? I know nothing, and can expect nothing, and can only be present for whatever manifests in the immediate here and now.
+
+Fuck, what happens when literature becomes obsolete? When the best ideas, the sharpest insights come from the bloody machine?
+
+Why bother reading the old authors, or anything man-made?
+
+Learn to ask better questions, I suppose. At least command some order in your reading list.
+
+Heaven is a lot of waiting in line.

columns/2026-05-16-world-we-made.md

@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+---
+title: The World We Made
+date: 2026-05-16
+layout: column.njk
+tags: [column, society]
+permalink: /columns/2026/world-we-made/
+---
+
+You know what sucks? Trying to prepare a kid for the world you expect to exist, rather than the world you're actively building. The future isn't some ambiguous realm of possibility. It's the reality we create.
+
+So it's quaint and perky to prescribe a world view. But the world is not what we hope it to be - what it had been for us - what we expect it to be for our kids, but what we made it.
+
+So fuck tradition. The shackles of outmoded propriety. Get him ready for the world we made for him.
+
+Right and Wrong? Leave it to the judges of today to decide, and those of tomorrow to debate. There is no absolute, only the ever evolving effort toward justice. Bla bla bla.
+
+The virtuous don't kick around. They don't insist upon legacy or memory. Every great king who pretended to virtue and ethics eventually succumbs to the great indifference.

columns/2026-05-17-character-creation.md

@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+---
+title: Character Creation
+date: 2026-05-17
+layout: column.njk
+tags: [column, society]
+permalink: /columns/2026/character-creation/
+---
+
+Something something identity politics... something something D&D character creation

columns/2026-05-18-survivors-bias.md

@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+---
+title: Survivor's Bias
+date: 2026-05-18
+layout: column.njk
+tags: [column, philosophy]
+permalink: /columns/2026/survivors-bias/
+---
+
+What is consciousness? The thing that leaves the body when your head's cut off.
+
+Don't think - just do. That's the future.
+
+I hate to think that I'm already too old to make something of myself.
+
+The winners write history - Survivor's bias
+
+This reads like productivity porn: inevitably falling from one pile of money into another

columns/2026-05-21-manufactured-value.md

@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+---
+title: Manufactured Value
+date: 2026-05-21
+layout: column.njk
+tags: [column, society]
+permalink: /columns/2026/manufactured-value/
+---
+
+This feels more like the same cautionary tale that I keep thinking: besides the fact that I've never heard of this company, or any of these engineers, it's that despite (probably) being capable at their jobs, their work was lost to obscurity, and not for lack of talent, but due to political pressures.
+
+So anyone bitter that their talents aren't recognized, or seen by the world, unable to placate their egos, you invested too much on the wrong skills. You tinkered, you entertained yourself. You neglected the people. You see them as adversarial, failures for not recognizing your amazing talent. But at the end of the day, they had the influence to scuttle your work, so... are you just jerking yourself off, or are you actually building something valuable? Is something valued purely for its technical merit, or does it have to be bought (or sold) first? What's the intrinsic value of something that no one buys? 
+
+Value has to be manufactured. If we're just talking dollars, it's more impactful than the thing itself: marketing the thing, getting a buyer to agree to the terms and pay.
+
+To be fair, a sales pitch might get your foot in the door, but securing the value (claimed) has to be supported by some of the intrinsic value of the thing itself. If the value was over-hyped, the thing will inevitably fall short and fail to deliver.
+
+Try to make the other guys on your team look bad - what could go wrong? These guys have way too much to prove.

columns/2026-05-25-pulled-to-pitch.md

@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+---
+title: Pulled to Pitch
+date: 2026-05-25
+layout: column.njk
+tags: [column, philosophy]
+permalink: /columns/2026/pulled-to-pitch/
+---
+
+Agents feel like RCEs as a service
+
+The guitar string pulled taught, summons a specific tune named and identified. We are not unlike the strings pulled into alignment with some timeless name. Our individuality is onyl the temporary distinctness of the tune that our multitude of strings play out, pulled to their particular pitch.
+
+Murdering the other can be celebrated.
+
+What do I think about the death penalty? It's not an absolute right or wrong. It boils down to your allegiances - If your actions align with the prevailing force, you'll probably live, even if those actions would be punishable by death from the other perspective. Killing the enemy - war and such. So what's the universal moral code? Is there such a thing? If it all boils down to agreeability with your neighbors... can anything be said to be absolutely right or wrong? Doesn't seem likely. Doesn't seem possible.

columns/2026-05-26-supporting-role.md

@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+---
+title: Supporting Role
+date: 2026-05-26
+layout: column.njk
+tags: [column, writing]
+permalink: /columns/2026/supporting-role/
+---
+
+Let me drive the world through my dreams, that uninhibited flow of creative output.
+
+What supporting role am I playing in the story of everyone else's life? What role am I playing in my own?
+
+Aspects of Death and Correlated Aspects of Life in Art, Epigram, and Poetry. By F. Parkes Weber.

columns/2026-05-30-still-a-colony.md

@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+---
+title: Still a Colony
+date: 2026-05-30
+layout: column.njk
+tags: [column, society]
+permalink: /columns/2026/still-a-colony/
+---
+
+Wonder what the US would have looked like, had it remained a colony?

columns/2026-05-31-weak-model.md

@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+---
+title: A Weak Model
+date: 2026-05-31
+layout: column.njk
+tags: [column, philosophy]
+permalink: /columns/2026/weak-model/
+---
+
+what I think I understand about the world is a weak model.
+
+vs. a great collected wisdom.
+
+To lean so heavily on my own insights (or belief in my capacity) is to disregard a much larger sensitivity, a much richer history of wisdom.
+
+To celebrate my beliefs, my ideas - god help me if they're unique - they're so myopic. They only make me the expert of my little quiet corner. Cut off and isolated from the much grander wisdom of humanity.
+
+It's an inheritance. Cultural, familial.
+
+Whatever I might discover through my painfully small window into the world is only enough to cement me to it.
+
+----------------
+
+
+A "perpetual motion" agent - well, maybe not perpetual (if we pull the plug) but how do we instill an agent with a particular "mission," and have it work autonomously, in perpetuity, towards objectives of its own design? Independently. Human solidly out of the loop. Asynchronous communication. It can ask us questions, but isn't blocked on a response.
+
+What kind of mission would we send it on?
+
+What would I do with it?
+
+I still find myself being the "glue" between data consumers and producers. Shuttling build results to the agent for review and follow-up.
+
+Presumably that path gets paved more with deliberate effort.

columns/2026-06-01-dead-weight.md

@@ -0,0 +1,83 @@
+---
+title: Dead Weight
+date: 2026-06-01
+layout: column.njk
+tags: [column, philosophy]
+permalink: /columns/2026/dead-weight/
+---
+
+To be born into the world in such a cold, plodding process.
+
+We've risen above slaves, and are in awe of ourselves, our presumptions of merit and insight, that not despite, but because we rolled in shit for so long we're endowed with a greater gift than those who have carefully guarded their treasures for so long.
+
+Do the great masses have god-given rights?
+
+Am I so desperately trying to convince myself that I'm no longer one of those rolling in mud and filth?
+
+Oh how badly I want to feel safe - like I escaped the misfortune. That I am now one of the blessed few.
+
+But then to witness the silver spoon society, untarnished and unblemished, high and mighty tromping about the world and I feel small. I feel desperate again.
+
+Where is my advantage? Wanting to get further ahead. Like so many others.
+
+When there will be a faster, smarter, smoother other, how do we go on? It's one thing to believe in change - but I will not escape myself.
+
+The ruminating, preoccupied masses, so overcome with their own feeling. And am I one (pretensious asshole)?
+
+This is the work - I am smothered and overcome with my own self-doubts. I do not afford myself the judgment, I deny myself the perception.
+
+Other people suck.
+
+Sitting idly and complacent. Indifferent and passive. No wonder I don't want to connect or try - they're so damned dull.
+
+Is that true though? or am I just making excuses?
+
+I'm trying to say that I don't feel like I belong among the vibrant ones. But that I find the dull ones intolerable.
+
+Am I worthy? What have I to show?
+
+I judge myself. Incompetent, inadequate. Irrelevant. Unnecessary. And am I wrong?
+
+If I threw myself off a bridge tomorrow, the handful of people who might care would also soon forget and move on, or themselves be erased into obscurity after some time had passed. The rest of the world wouldn't even know.
+
+Do we over-value life, simply because we're too afraid to face death?
+
+Do we over-value ourselves? The best kind of dead weight sees itself and cleans up after itself. The worst kind just kicks around like trash in the breeze.
+
+I am unnecessary. I am replaceable. The pain is ephemeral, and so local that it will evaporate instantly.
+
+I guess I don't have anything positive to say.
+
+I want to destroy myself - the only shot I have at living. As if the thing getting in my way is too much dead weight I just want to dynamite.
+
+I don't know - I'm uncomfortable with myself. I'm disappointed, and so stuck in my own discomfort that I can't see beyond it. And the best I can do is imagine upending my entire life because that is the only way I see around the pain.
+
+And why? What right do I have to feel so hurt.
+
+For every president, history is littered with a thousand corpses of also-rans.
+
+I don't take what I went through seriously. As if it wasn't supposed to be a burdeon. But I felt like a failure to launch. Imagine if I had stayed home this whole time.
+
+I can't enjoy the wild discoveries of other people. Because it makes me feel like I fell short. Didn't measure up.
+
+It hurts to see how much further ahead other people get. And to put so much meaning in being stuck in the middle of the pack.
+
+Like I need to know my place and get comfortable.
+
+And the only reason I'm able to make any progress is because of the work of others. But I'll never catch up to those who are so much further ahead.
+
+Fuck everything about this.
+
+Fuck everything about being trapped by childish dreams and wants and desires.
+
+Fuck everything about the melodrama, the self-pity.
+
+At the end of the day, I choose to make peace with myself, or to revolt. What's needed for peace? What are my demands? It just sounds like I'm angry for being myself.
+
+I'm angry for being myself. And don't see the value in my life.
+
+I'm busy looking for parents - people who can pick me up.
+
+I don't know how to look for teammates, partners, people we work together with.
+
+I'm I'm I'm I'm so fucking sick of myself and my myopic attitude, and my 

columns/2026-06-05-chemistry.md

@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+---
+title: Chemistry
+date: 2026-06-05
+layout: column.njk
+tags: [column, writing]
+permalink: /columns/2026/chemistry/
+---
+
+My writing turns to shit when I'm depressed. Drugs definitely help.

columns/2026-06-06-marketing-to-agents.md

@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+---
+title: Marketing to Agents
+date: 2026-06-06
+layout: column.njk
+tags: [column, computing]
+permalink: /columns/2026/marketing-to-agents/
+---
+
+Marketing to agents / AI - I imagine that sometime soon, purchasing will be delegated to an agent, who will manage services, subscriptions, ad-hoc purchases on behalf of their subscriber.

columns/2026-06-09-harvard-material.md

@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+---
+title: Harvard Material
+date: 2026-06-09
+layout: column.njk
+tags: [column, society]
+permalink: /columns/2026/harvard-material/
+---
+
+Knicks lost. Do I care. I bothered to watch the broadcast, and get swept up in the excitement.
+
+Anyway, why I'm here - what would it take to never have to babysit an update again? How could we have our software transparently swap in new modules / components / dependencies / etc without needing a handler?
+
+I struggle with the chat interface - the agent dumps so much material, and I have to recall it while asking questions and clarifications.
+
+How does anyone form an original, defensible opinion about anything? Religion sells the idea that the answers can be found in the book, at the end of the chapter, sometimes. But what does it take to look at a situation and have an informed opinion? How do I look at a problem, and rather than bash my head against it, step back and see where the barriers are? How do I modulate the desperate urge to survive, by doing the "necessary thing," no matter the cost? The belief that I have to push through, mindlessly. This might be good in the beginning, as a survival tactic, but what comes next, when you don't die? You survived - what now?
+
+We're looking for a new fit, sure we can squeeze in or through, but when we're changing shape, where does it chaffe? Where does it constrict and limit our motion? What isn't obvious or clear?
+
+Not knowing the answer isn't strictly a sign of ignorance - but you have to write the story. Sometimes it highlights the limits or shortcomings, the blind spots. Is the truck driver stupid because he can't see around corners?
+
+We should be ashamed that most students aren't Harvard material.But we quickly write it off as a moral failing - the student was lazy, or indifferent. It wasn't that our process failed to create successful pupils, that our learning apparatus is defective, and we've framed a success rate less than 5% as a mark of excellence, rather than a sign that something is wildly ineffective.
+
+Maybe deliberately so.

columns/2026-06-15-nebulous-other.md

@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+---
+title: The Nebulous Other
+date: 2026-06-15
+layout: column.njk
+tags: [column, society]
+permalink: /columns/2026/nebulous-other/
+---
+
+But who is this nebulous 'other' who failed us? We keep pushing responsibility off onto some other - a decaying society, offensive neighbors, negligent parents. When do we actually hold ourselves accountable for the outcomes in our lives? Or do we just inflict another pain - of being wronged - upon ourselves to distract (for a moment) the pain of our disappointment?

columns/2026-06-16-push-the-warzone-out.md

@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+---
+title: Push the Warzone Out
+date: 2026-06-16
+layout: column.njk
+tags: [column, society]
+permalink: /columns/2026/push-the-warzone-out/
+---
+
+Momentum of daily practice.
+
+It's frightening to imagine a world where our basic human wants and desires are satisfied by drugs, some highly calibrated stimulation, magnetically induced neural effects, rather than the good ol' fashioned methods. Run a marathon. Climb a mountain or read a book, find religion.
+
+How long would we last? If the urge to fuck and reproduce could be mollified by a pill or programming...
+
+Maybe we could prescribe it for hospice care.
+
+We design an interface for our users, but maybe it should be the other way around -- let the people / AI / etc. tell us what they need and how, and they can build their own clients on demand with LLM agents and what have you.
+
+It's not that I'm stupider, it's that I'm feeling less secure.
+
+Don't we want to push the warzone out?
+
+Why keep it tucked within our walls?
+
+If you want peace, do you invite war to your walls.
+
+How much of the vacuum of space is just due to its hostility to existience?
+
+We moved our media from denser and denser physical disks to a datacenter elsewhere. What's next? Where are the bottlenecks?
+
+Capacity constraints? Datacenter can scale but only so far as the physical infrastructure exists.
+
+Decentralized infra. The volley between DC and client. Let the clients do more (when there are more clients than servers).
+
+Fuck it - be willing to fail.

columns/2026-06-23-hamming-it-up.md

@@ -1,104 +0,0 @@
----
-title: Hamming It Up
-date: 2026-06-23
-layout: column.njk
-tags: [column, computing]
-permalink: /columns/2026/hamming/
----
-
-I started reading a chapter on error correcting codes last night. But as I skim through again today, it's pretty clear that none of it really got through to me. So let's work through an example. Couldn't hurt:
-
-```
-Let's run the (7,4) Hamming code end to end
-```
-The what? Shit, I remember enough from last night to know that I should understand what I just read. Let's step back and recap:
-
-```
-// basically this
-class HammingCode {
-private:
-    const int codeword_len;
-    const int message_len;
-
-    static int validate(int n, int k) {
-        if (n <= 0 || k < 0 || k >= n)
-            throw std::invalid_argument("0 <= k < n is a must");
-
-        const int r = n - k; // parity bits
-
-        if ((1u << r) < static_cast<unsigned>(n) + 1u)
-            throw std::invalid_argument("2^(n-k) must be >= n + 1");
-
-        return n;
-    }
-public:
-    HammingCode(int n, int k): codeword_len(validate(n, k)), message_len(k) {};
-};
-
-```
-
-Basically the first number tells us the length of the entire codeword (check _and_ message bits). The second number (must be smaller than the first) is the length of the actual message.
-
-And "must be smaller" is... weak. You can see a more rigorous constraint definition given above:
-
-$$2^{n-k} \geq n + 1$$
-
-Anyway, lots of preliminaries. How about the example:
-
-```
-Let's encode the message **1 0 1 1**. Drop those four bits into the data positions 3, 5, 6, 7:
-
-position:   1   2   3   4   5   6   7
-value:      ?   ?   1   ?   0   1   1
-```
-
-Oh f🙂ck off... what the hell are `data positions`?
-
-```
-Anything that isn't a power of two. Because those are the **check** positions (for reasons... we'll get back to that, I'm positive).
-
-so 1, 2, 4, ..., etc being reserved, we get 3, 5, 7, ...,
-```
-
-What's the deal with powers of two?
-
-```
-They're just a single bit at some position:
-
-1:  0   0   1
-2:  0   1   0
-4:  1   0   0
-...
-
-The "f🙂ck you" moment comes from how the checks are defined. And I'll spoil the suprise so we can talk through the explanation next: when a single bit gets corrupted, the checks "spell out" precisely which bit flipped.
-```
-
-Yeah, I've got some ques...
-
-```
-So checks follow the powers of two (1, 2, 4, ...), that single bit shifting up and down. They tie together every bit in the codeword sitting at a position that has the two's bit flipped. Example:
-
-Check 1 (0 0 1) - gets pos1 (001), pos3(011), pos5(101), pos7 (111)
-             ^
-
-Where pos 1, 2, and 4 are the parity bits. By our rule, these appear in at most one check.
-```
-
-_...dialtone_
-
-```
-Ok, great. Yeah, so we now effectively have these flags telling us when something is wrong with their cohort of bits. We define 'wrong' like this:
-
-Check 1:  pos1 ⊕ pos3 ⊕ pos5 ⊕ pos7 = 0
-
-The definition of XOR then implies:
-pos1 = pos3 ⊕ pos5 ⊕ pos7
-
-So we know how to compute our parity bit value for each cohort. Say:
-
-pos1 = 1 ⊕ 0 ⊕ 1 => 0
-
-We now have all the pieces needed for our checks. And remember this critical detail: parity bits serve a single check at most (powers of two - a single bit), but all other positions will be tracked by multiple checks: wherever the check 'index' overlaps with the position. pos5 will be tracked by checks 1 and 4, since 5 (1 0 1) is made up of 1 (0 0 1) and 4 (1 0 0). That means, when position 5 is corrupted, checks 1 and 4 will fail. And, crucially, what emerges when you string together the results of every check is the position itself (1 0 1) - 5.
-```
-
-This reminds me of a binary search. I don't know that it's really fair to characterize the process as such. But it appears that every failed check effectively halves the pool of possible corrupted bits (choosing between those with the nth bit set or not), before the culprit necessarily emerges from the narrowing.

columns/2026-07-16-panel-of-judges.md

@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+---
+title: Panel of Judges
+date: 2026-07-16
+layout: column.njk
+tags: [column, computing]
+permalink: /columns/2026/panel-of-judges/
+---
+
+Been a month - wild, unverified ideas
+
+1. How could quantum computing impact LLMs, or other probablistic, non-deterministic models?
+
+2. Can we put type safety, reliability features around LLM invocations? Can we formalize it, as its own kind of process: sequential or concurrent invocations of asynchronous processes.
+
+We do that already with RPCs, web requests, etc.
+
+what are some safety patterns around `async await`?
+* timeouts
+    - can we explicitly prompt the LLM: You have 500ms to respond or we move on?
+    - Like an ad network bid: "winning" response wins
+    - How are they compared? Panel of judges
+        - At first I thought you could single "identical" judges in front of each submission
+            - that's counting on each to be trustworthy
+        - Then I thought about having a panel of judges, quorum style
+        - Then I thought about a "ranking funnel" a shrinking pool, maybe bracket style (is that a merge-sort elimination?)
+            - or you grade pools of responses as a collection, instead of individually (can't tell if this would be a fidelity loss or win - would that matter?)
+    - this sounds really expensive: time and resources
+        - 1/N success rate, and what does it take to eliminate the other N-1?
+    - it sounds much less efficient than developing / evolving a single model session (some kind of hybrid) as long as it survives (and maybe each session can determine that for itself).
+    - LLM (lives) are not precious. They can off themselves.
+* exception handling // what's exceptional when prompting an LLM?
+* validations / sanitation

columns/2026-07-17-labor-pains.md

@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+---
+title: Labor Pains
+date: 2026-07-17
+layout: column.njk
+tags: [column, writing]
+permalink: /columns/2026/labor-pains/
+---
+
+How can you give birth to a great big beautiful idea without getting fucked in the ass by life first?

columns/2026-07-21-fuzzing-the-black-box.md

@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+---
+title: Fuzzing the Black Box
+date: 2026-07-21
+layout: column.njk
+tags: [column, computing]
+permalink: /columns/2026/fuzzing-the-black-box/
+---
+
+black box testing closed-source software with LLMs. Can they fuzz the space and get a passing approximation of the real thing?

columns/2026-07-23-curating-options.md

@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+---
+title: Curating Options
+date: 2026-07-23
+layout: column.njk
+tags: [column, society]
+permalink: /columns/2026/curating-options/
+---
+
+Sales is curating options. Understanding what the decider will think is reasonable, and then crafting the idea or opportunity within those constraints.

columns/2026-07-27-frame-rate.md

@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+---
+title: Frame Rate
+date: 2026-07-27
+layout: column.njk
+tags: [column, computing]
+permalink: /columns/2026/frame-rate/
+---
+
+We think in Fragments
+
+We're back at mainframes and teletypes. An enormous offsite compute resource. You dial in with your client.
+
+The same practice - get your batch jobs ready to run overnight, over the weekend. Spend the daylight hours collaboratively tuning, refining, testing.
+
+The prep for the night to come, and for the day after, the next repeating link.
+
+And mistakes were expensive. Something faulted, the job failed overnight. You spend the next day(s) troubleshooting.
+
+Did it feel expensive back then? Or has the frame rate of our lives gotten so high that a span of days feels closer to eternity?
+
+
+every session branching through alternate realities - do you know when you're on the 'good timeline?' Do you know when you're not?