Amanda Walker

A couple of weeks ago I traveled to Singapore for the first time. It was a fascinating trip in many ways, and the recent US east coast heat wave had prepared me for the climate. Here's a view from our office of an afternoon rainstorm. Window reflections removed by Gemini, but otherwise unedited.

the whole "women's sports exist to protect women from men" framing is hilarious, given that a lot of these divisions were initially formed because men were deeply embarrassed any time a woman beat them at a sport olympic shooting was mixed gender right up until a woman won the gold

Let us drink a toast to the memory of Willis Haviland Carrier, the inventor of modern air conditioning. This message brought to you by a high of 96ºF/36ºC today. However, it was a beautiful day for a scenic drive up the GW Parkway along the Potomac.

Excellent spring weather for a work visit to Zürich. It's quite pleasant to be outside the US for a bit.

I have to say, the office view here is hard to beat.

I hope this email finds you on the couch with the necessary amount of blankets, snacks, and pets

Philadelphia as we flew past.

the problem with an untrained secret police squad that shoots people in their cars isn’t that they’re untrained

Happy New Year to my fellow vaccinated people who made it to 2025

I've worked on health care related projects for HHS. I am sad to see political appointees destroying the Department's mission and legacy every time I check the news. Too bad this regime doesn't vet appointees as thoroughly as they do employees and contractors.

Some train stations are prettier than others.

This is amazing: byte.tsundoku.io The first issue I recognize is October 1978. Zooming around in this is like a time machine.

For a friend, gone too soon. www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-YL...

Anyone have a good photoshop of a Spirit Halloween banner on the Rayburn building?

From 2004. Still timely. www.youtube.com/watch?v=03EM...

Lake Tahoe from the air, taken during a cross country flight last month.

Office archaeology: the first computing device I bought with my own money, working at a computer store in high school. It still works, after giving it new batteries. Somewhere I should still have the card reader and barcode reader accessories for it.

Ah, October.

Don’t worry, once we’ve helped them come for immigrants and trans people, they’re sure to be appeased and dedicated to solidarity in our great big tent and not come after anyone else, as history teaches

The “problem” with vaccines? They so effective at preventing deaths that they create generations of people that question whether disease was a problem in the first place because they have never experienced the horrors of a world without vaccines.

From 1984, but still timely.

As a friend of mine noted this morning, the inscription on the Department of Justice building that says "WHERE LAW ENDS, TYRANNY BEGINS" is a warning, not a goal.

just saw someone sincerely arguing that they need AI bc they don't have "natural" artistic talent and idk how to make you understand that nobody comes by this shit naturally. it's just...work. it's being bad at it for a really, really, really long time. it's intention, pursued over time! wtf!!!

If your most effective management skill is insisting people work 80 hours a week, you might want to consider learning some new management skills.

Rare work related post. Project Zero continues to do great stuff!

I just got home from a short work trip to Silicon Valley & San Francisco, so have a picture of a blue sky.

Dear person sitting next to me on the plane, having a very sensitive phone conversation about legal negotiations with my employer: you never know who is within earshot. You are fortunate that I have scruples about privacy.

This. 💯 I will never refer to “Congress” only the “GOPs in Congress.”

www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZbJ... My direct ancestors immigrated between the early 1600s and late 1800s, but of course more recent immigrants have married in, so we're a very mixed bunch. Immigration has always been one of America's biggest strengths, not a weakness. Happy Independence Day.

If it took 8 days to build a massive concentration camp in Florida then it means they could build and house the homeless at any point but choose not to

“In Finland, the number of homeless people has fallen sharply. Those affected receive a small apartment & counselling with no preconditions. 4 out of 5 people affected make their way back into a stable life. And all this is CHEAPER than accepting homelessness.” It costs a lot less to house people.

"[A]utonomy means losing the plot. Humans are about to find themselves on the outside looking in, facing security decisions made by AIs whose reasoning isn’t just complicated—it’s fundamentally inaccessible." @daveaitel.bsky.social and Dan Geer on how AI is reshaping code security.

This is really good. Worth watching.

Time to brush up on NPS1. www.science.org/content/arti...

Give Amtrak DoD's budget

When the LA police says you are overreaching, you are overreaching.

If what’s happening in L.A. is an “insurrection,” then January 6 wasn’t a “tour” it was a full-blown terrorist attack. Say it with your chest.

"We cannot allow ourselves to be thrown off course by the seismic changes that we are facing. Or once again fall for the fallacy that the storm will pass. That things will go back to how they were before [...] No, they will not." ec.europa.eu/commission/p...

I had a nice walk around Westminster yesterday. Very British weather, so I was glad to have an umbrella.

I admit that I teared up a bit while visiting the British Library today. "In June 1215, negotiations at Runnymede culminated in the granting of Magna Carta which limited unjust and arbitrary behaviour by the king. It also established the principle that everyone was subject to the rule of law."

First iris of the season.

The closest thing I can get to a bonfire here in suburbia, but it will do.

I just took a week off of work. Worked some around the house, loaded up on plants at the garden center, had my car worked on, did some spring cleaning, etc. I tried not to doomscroll too much. I didn't disconnect completely, but I'm here to say that some downtime is good. Take time to recharge.