Bernie Michalik

Bernie Michalik

@berniemichalik.ca

I am a father, consulting IT Architect, former runner, chief cook/bottlewasher, and Cape Bretoner. I work at IBM in Toronto. More here: berniemichalik.ca and smartpeopleiknow.com

535 followers403 following6.6K posts

Bernie Michalik
@berniemichalik.ca

Obama gets under his skin so well.

The Washington Post@washingtonpost.com

President Trump took seven minutes out of his rally in Mississippi to defend his focus on White House renovation projects after one of his predecessors, Barack Obama, compared the redecorated Oval Office to an over-the-top Cheesecake Factory.

washingtonpost.comTrump defends White House redecorating — and Cheesecake Factory — from Obama’s mocking“He wouldn’t understand”: The president stands up for his renovation projects during a campaign rally.
Bernie Michalik
@berniemichalik.ca

Also I don’t thinks she has a hope in hades of getting this startup off the ground, but I like the team she has built and there is definitely a need for a better UX for AI for some user profiles www.nytimes.com/2026/10/25/s...

nytimes.comCan Marissa Mayer, Yahoo’s Former CEO, Help Fix A.I.’s Gender Problem?She made her name as a pioneer at Google, then as chief executive at Yahoo. Now Mayer is entering the crowded marketplace for A.I. assistants — and hoping to draw in more women with a product that tac...
Bernie Michalik
@berniemichalik.ca

This, plus Canadian conservatives mimic American conservatives, so it's important to know what the former will be borrowing from the latter.

John Michael McGrath@jm-mcgrath.bsky.social

I would *LOVE* to not need to have strong opinions about a dozen US Senators or be able to name more SCOTUS justices than I can SCC ones. But the head of the US executive branch currently has very strong opinions about the continuing existence of my country, so

Bernie Michalik
@berniemichalik.ca

Nice! I just updated mine as well.

Swiss Army Nerd@wesmorgan1.bsky.social

Bluesky recently added profile links, which means you can easily direct folks to your other online activites. Hit my profile to test-drive it (and, if you like, follow my bots!), then edit your profile to add your own links.

Bernie Michalik
@berniemichalik.ca

Really good point, for those of you thinking Anthropic is going to collapse. For more on convertible notes corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/fi...

Alex Hern@hern.bsky.social

Just to try and pre-emptively stem the tide, a lot of people here are going to be posting the $66bn "loss" which is almost entirely about convertible notes and not the $1bn operating income which is the first cashflow positive quarter ever

Bernie Michalik
@berniemichalik.ca

One thing no one tells you as you get older is how common it is for your retina to detach from you eyeball, nor do they tell you about how your oesophagus will fail on you. If you are 50 then ask your doctor about this.

Bernie Michalik
@berniemichalik.ca

Trump has been a transformative president. How many right wing leaders have lost due to him? Many.

Carl Quintanilla@carlquintanilla.bsky.social

“.. a stunning comeback, sealed late as voters in Lula’s northeastern stronghold rallied behind one of Latin America’s most prominent opponents of Trumpism.” @bloomberg.com 🇧🇷 www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

bloomberg.comLula Wins a Record Fourth Term in Brazil in a Surprise ComebackPresident Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva came from behind to win Brazil’s runoff election, halting a right-wing wave sweeping Latin America and defying predictions that the 80-year-old political veteran ha...
Bernie Michalik
@berniemichalik.ca

A good reminder of how prediction markets are not predictive but reactive.

Josh Marshall@joshtpm.bsky.social

To expand on my point about these “markets” I’m not getting into the issues w corruption or damaging impacts of gambling. Their supporters in the political space habitually argue they are superior to polls in their predictive ability. In the simplest sense they’re just not. But to the extent they …

Bernie Michalik
@berniemichalik.ca

IMHO that seems like a summary of where things stand.

The New York Times@nytimes.com

In @nytopinion.nytimes.com “Most Israeli Jews now see the world the way Netanyahu has long seen it. That is Netanyahu’s great victory. But it is matched by his great loss: Much of the world now sees Israel the way Gazans see it,” our columnist Ezra Klein writes.

nyti.msOpinion | Netanyahu Won the Middle East and Lost the WorldBoth Israelis and Palestinians are trapped in the Netanyahu paradigm.

Bernie Michalik reposted

Don Moynihan
@donmoyn.bsky.social

The next 10 days will be monumental, with elections in Serbia, Brazil, Israel and the US. This one was a victory for democracy.

The Guardian@theguardian.com

Serbian leader Aleksandar Vučić concedes defeat in fiercely contested parliamentary election

theguardian.comSerbian leader Aleksandar Vučić concedes defeat in fiercely contested parliamentary electionVučić’s 12-year reign looks to have been ended by record turnout of voters in election provoked by student-led protests Serbia’s veteran leader Aleksandar Vučić has conceded defeat to the student movement, ushering in a seismic political shift after two years of student-led protests gave rise to a fiercely contested parliamentary election. Speaking on Sunday, Vučić cited preliminary results that showed the student-backed protest movement surging ahead. “Based on a stratified sample, it is clear that we lost these elections,” Vučić told supporters at his party headquarters in Belgrade. Continue reading...
Bernie Michalik
@berniemichalik.ca

Let’s see in a year from now. If Trump starts making more noises for running for a third term, Obama should match that.

Micah@rincewind.run

my main takeaway from the cheesecake factory thing is that I remain extremely sad we never got an obama versus trump general election matchup obama would have broken him in half, rural dipshit whispering powers or no

Bernie Michalik
@berniemichalik.ca

Everyone is focused on the Cheesecake Factory insult, but the HGTV insult likely would get under Trump's skin more. He likely doesn't even know what the former is, but he would get the implication of being relegated to the latter.

The Washington Post@washingtonpost.com

Former president Barack Obama returned to the campaign trail, sharply criticizing the Trump Administration and Republicans' willingness to go along with him. Democrats have embraced Obama as an effective messenger in the final weeks of midterm campaigns. Read more: https://wapo.st/4i0FiOQ

Bernie Michalik
@berniemichalik.ca

I could watch Obama all night roast these folks.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com

Obama: "You got the defense sec who is like a laser focused on important matters like the jawline & testosterone level of our troops, and livestreaming executions because that's how he thinks you cultivate that manly warrior spirit. How much time do you think this man spends in front of the mirror?"

Bernie Michalik
@berniemichalik.ca

The mockery is off the charts good. Cheeto Jesus will hate this.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com

Obama: "That well-known evil empire Canada. That historical adversary of ours. Canada! *laughs* It's your neighbor. It's a few minutes' drive over the bridge! These are the people who gave us Martin Short and maple syrup. They are the nicest people! And someone we've gotten them so mad."

Bernie Michalik
@berniemichalik.ca

Lots of good pieces about Toronto today, including this one (gift link below)....

Shawn Micallef@shawnmicallef.bsky.social

The election of our discontent, final column. Hardest one to wrote. Had to rewrite it from scratch to get the argument clear. City elections are a catch-all for angst that isn’t directed to the place where change can actually happen. It’s a kind of dysfunction. I hope you’ll read & share it.

thestar.comShawn Micallef: Is it really the Toronto mayor’s fault? Why some voter angst may be misplacedThere is a peculiar dynamic at play in Canada and we’re seeing it play out in this municipal election, writes Shawn Micallef.
Bernie Michalik
@berniemichalik.ca

Well worth a read! And if you think "surely this is an exception to the rule of the software I depend on"...well, I got some bad news for you :)

Charlie Warzel@cwarzel.bsky.social

70 percent of the internet was vulnerable yesterday to very bad security flaws inside a coding language. Turns out, *one volunteer* is mostly responsible for maintaining that code & helping push updates. Yesterday Ondřej Surý saved the internet. So I called him up www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...

theatlantic.comThe Man Who Saved the Internet YesterdayOndřej Surý was a relatively anonymous volunteer working on PHP security. Then the internet exploded.
Bernie Michalik
@berniemichalik.ca

I have issues with the term "cognitive unloading (CU)". We have been doing it for ever. Surfing the web? Doomscrolling? Watching trash TV? Reading trashing novels? All examples of CU. We need some form CU, just like we need sleep. So there's that. But more so....

Bernie Michalik
@berniemichalik.ca

if cognitive unloading = not thinking....well nothing could be more human! As Bertrand Russell said: "most people would die sooner than think—in fact, they do so." So you might reply: well Bernie, that's wrong. Maybe. But it's not something new that came about due to gen AI.....

Bernie Michalik
@berniemichalik.ca

also I have a bunch of other things I would rather not think about, so I am thinking about this instead! Another form of cognitive unloading (see it's a made up thing, so you can make it mean whatever you want ;))

Bernie Michalik
@berniemichalik.ca

Glad to see AOC spotlight this fact.

Assigned Media@assignedmedia.org

Speaking in Maine alongside Senate candidate Troy Jackson, Alexandria Occasio-Cortez shamed politicians who "scare so easily," and shift positions after an election. "The moment you compromise the rights of a trans person in America, you compromise the rights of every citizen in America," she said.