Category: 2024
- The traditional metrics of success don’t matter. Don’t rely on the old regime to recognize the achievements or potential of the emerging one.
Holy smokes, this cover of Tool’s Stinkfist by Summer Woods is fantastic!
There’s a lot of news coming out of Altoona, PA, this week. Perhaps the most surprising and unnerving of all is the surfacing of Altoona Hotel Pizza, which tops its think crust with sliced yellow American cheese. I mean, I’ll try anything once, but this looks pretty gross.
In honor of International Mountain Day, I’m sharing a photo of my favorite mountain – Tahoma – that I took the last time I was in Seattle. Here in Pittsburgh, we have hills, not mountains, so any chance I get to be near or in the highlands I’ll take it!
Hack Away
Hack Days are occurring at REI this week. This is an annual event where employees working in product, design or engineering get some flexibility to pursue ideas we think have potential, but aren’t officially on the docket. My team is working on an AI-powered voice assistant for store employees. The goal is to give our employees quick and easy access to ops process guidance and best practices while they’re in the midst of their work on the sales floor or warehouse, so they don’t need to hunt down a standard operating procedure (SOP) or find a small piece of information within a lengthy document.
Like all internal systems and apps at REI, this hack-days product has an outdoors-inspired hame: Carson. Named after legendary conservationist and author of Silent Spring Rachel Carson, the bot is coming along nicely.
So far, we’ve spun up a locally-hosted LLM that we’re training on operational process documents, retail knowledge base articles and other sources of internal data. Next up will be to build a conversational interface that we’ll plug into the apps on store employee mobile devices. There are still a lot of tweaks needed on the model, but I’ve found the responses to be quite good.
We might be at a point later today where I could test it with store employees. I’m excited to get some feedback that we could rapidly integrate before the final deadline and pitch presentation on Friday.
The Gestalt of You
You are an awful developer. In fact, to call yourself a developer is a complete fabrication. You’re not formally trained in code or capable of building anything more sophisticated than a rudimentary website. You’re a self-taught hobbyist whose curiosity has led you far enough to be dangerous.
You are a mediocre designer. In fact, to label yourself a designer would be skewing the truth and devaluing the work of those true artisans who meticulously craft delicate digital artifacts. Those perfectors of the pixel. Those framers of the future.
You are an average writer. You formulate and convey clear thoughts through the written word, however Hemingway you are not.
Your entrepreneurial and business acumen is nothing to write home about. Marketing doesn’t scare you, but you don’t enjoy it. It makes you feel dirty. Many people have made much more money in their profitable ventures. And you don’t seem to mind.
In light of these things you are not, you are able to see past the horizon. You understand how puzzle pieces fit together. You effortlessly connect people with resources and desirable outcomes.
You’re not afraid of hard work or sacrificing to get better. Your drive is a thing of wonder.
Your sense of direction is unprecedented. Some call it strategy. Others, leadership prowess. You leave it undefined, but know deep down it’s this nebulous mass throbbing in your chest that makes you special. It makes you different. It’s a thing of wonder.
You’re not a great coder, designer, writer or entrepreneur, but you might just be a great combination of those skills. Move forward with speed and confidence.
What happens when an AI company goes out of business and the robots they built to help autistic children begin to go permanently offline? Parents are forced to have truly modern conversations about death with their kids.
Archive Under Attack
A diverse coalition of artists has united to voice objection to a $621 million copyright infringement lawsuit against the Internet Archive. The lawsuit claims the Archive is violating copyright rules under the “smokescreen” of their Great 78 Project, which aims to digitize vinyl records produced between the late-1800s and the 1950s. A portion of the Great 78 collection includes work from well-known acts like Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley. The plaintiffs and some estates of included artists claim the project is unlawfully reproducing and distributing works under copyright.
The case is being led by music rights holders Universal Music Group and Sony Music, while the objection includes support from artists such as Amanda Palmer, Deerhoof, Real Estate, Ted Leo, Kathleen Hannah and Cloud Nothings. A judgement against the Internet Archive at the scale of $621M could bankrupt the organization.
It’s an ironic gut punch to musicians and audiences alike to see that the Internet Archive could be destroyed in the name of protecting musicians. For decades, the Internet Archive has had the backs of creators of all kinds when no one else was there to protect us, making sure that old recordings, live shows, websites like MTV News, and diverse information and culture from all over the world had a place where they’d never, ever be erased, carving out a haven where all that creativity and storytelling was recognized as a critically valuable contribution to an important historic archive. – Amanda Palmer
The Internet Archive does important work at the intersection of digital culture and public access. The work needs to continue and you can help ensure that it does.
I hate linking out to Substack, but Kyle Chayka’s New Rules for Media are fantastic. One of my favs:
Hot tip: If you hate Substack too, you can subscribe to any Substack newsletter via RSS.
It’s the year of our lord 2024 and we have new music from Thursday. And I spy Norm (of Texas is the Reason fame) on guitar!
I just reviewed some SQL code and now I’m spinning Coalesce at 8am. It’s gonna be a productive day. \m/
Finished reading: The Universe in a Single Atom by Dalai Lama 📚
This was a dense read and I didn’t completely grasp the entirety of it, but nonetheless it was a great perspective on balance in the universe. We are all equal parts science and soul!
The Aging Athlete
I recently stumbled upon this post from Andy Jones-Wilkins about aging and running, and it prompted me to reflect on my own experience as a 40-something runner.
Needless to say, I’m not as speedy as I once was and my body needs longer & more frequent recovery than it did even just a couple years ago. The repetitive motion and high-impact is starting to wreak havoc on my joints and tendons. It’s taken a long time, lots of soul searching and some avoidable injuries, but it’s a truth I’ve come to accept embrace. The fact that I can’t crush 10 milers seven days a week or jump into a random marathon on a few days notice anymore has opened up a variety of new options for me to stay engaged with my physicality on a daily basis.
The most notable non-running activity I’ve grown to love is bouldering. I find it to be fundamentally different than running, however it requires a similar mindset. Bouldering and running are equally mental and physical challenges. And in my opinion, the mental challenges are always more interesting problems to solve. In running and climbing there will be times when you want to quit or bail, but mental strength will get you through.
Of course, as I get older, cycling also plays a bigger role in my life due to its low-impact cardio benefits. We’re lucky to have a great trail system here in Pittsburgh, upon which I can bike commute when I can’t work from home. I’m not a fan of riding roads due to safety issues, so the trail system is clutch and allows for some epic rides. One of these summers I want to bike pack from Pittsburgh to Washington DC on the Great Allegheny Passage.
I’ve never been into lifting weights or getting swole, but lowering my running mileage has afforded me the opportunity to begin a strength training routine. I mostly stick to bodyweight (pushups, sit-ups and pull-ups) and kettlebell/mace exercises but I’m really feeling the benefits. I feel lighter on my feet. I feel like I have more agency in my movements.
I still think of myself as primarily a runner. I’m out there 4-5 days a week now, with notably lower mileage. And for the first time in a long while, I feel absolutely wonderful when I finish a run. That’s the point of all this, right? Embracing the changes that come with aging requires work, but it’s work I’m excited to take on and continue as a practice.