link.dump.4.14.2026
FIRE, mushrooms, the moon, and litigiousness
I read a lot of random stuff. Link Dumps are the things I think are worth remembering. You can always check out my Link Dump Tag if you’re looking for even more to read and please forward to anyone else you think might find these interesting.
Strong piece from the President of FIRE — you might not like lawyers but they are fundamental to our country and Trump’s attack on them is bad and opens the door for the same crap with the next Democrat. “That is why this story should chill anyone, left, right, or otherwise. If the government can punish lawyers simply for opposing the administration in court, then it is not just threatening a profession. It threatens the right of all of us to defend ourselves, to dissent, and to place any meaningful check at all on executive power. It attacks what makes America great—the rule of law. “
Good write-up on where Artemis goes from here. Was cool to follow the progress while on vacation but, for me, the coolest part was the excitement it seemed to generate — that’s the one thing I think we can get better from something like NASA for sure.
I have had a Kindle for well over a decade. The news that Amazon is going to effectively brick a bunch of old ones is honestly just fine. I think we should normalize that technology is not going to work forever, and we shouldn’t foot the bill of keeping it working forever. I’m frankly amazed how long they supported these things — and while I still don’t like my newer Kindle paperwhite as much as my old clicky-button Kindle it was a big improvement when I finally sucked it up this year and switched.
As I was reading through various links after vacation something that struck me was just how litigious Elon Musk is. He has weaponized the courts to further his businesses and, much like the overly litigious culture of America, I think this is a bad thing. He’s fighting with Altman and willing to donate money just to say he won. He’s using the FCC to attack Amazon. He’s desperately trying to force everyone involved in the SpaceX IPO to use Grok. I don’t think this is that much different than what others businesses like Microsoft did in the past but still sad to see the common thread during one session at my computer.
Sam Altman talks a bit about his family, having a Molotov cocktail thrown at his house, mistakes he’s made, and the trajectory of AI. A good quick read.
Learning in the age of AI is turning out pretty horrific. Much like we’re only now adjusting to what social media and “always on” internet is doing to generations I am terrified of what it’s going to mean for education. To teach in the time of ChatGPT is to know pain
It’s spookily dystopian that Meta is making a Zuck-bot with his personality, mannerisms, and opinions. But I actually think this is going to be something we all end up doing to some extent. In fact, part of why I’ve been taking inventory of all my writing throughout the years is for something similar down the road.
What struck me about What Makes a Good GitHub Copilot Skill is how it dovetails quite a bit with what I see my job as being. Namely, it’s more about guardrails and patterns and systems than it ever was about banging out code. The deeper I’ve gotten into technical expertise the more I’ve seen that it’s about the thought patterns than anything else. Kinda neat.
The Real Reason Dating is So Hard Right Now (That No One is Naming). There’s a lot going on with that piece, including an incredible amount of mass being put on some statistics, but this was a great read.