2026-06-21 d&f

Happy dad's day to my dad friends, and happy "weird day I try not to think about" to all my friends in the dead dads club. I spent time trying to get all email reminders of this cursed "holiday" removed from my email but this year I just gave up when I saw my new vacuum robot wish me "happy Father's Day". I spent Saturday and Sunday camping nearby in a small bivvy that I brought with me in my very light bike touring setup (road bike with a Tailfin). It was really fun, as always, to leave my apartment and ride for a couple hours with everything I need to be happy and comfortable with me.

There's something special about the little bags-in-bags sufficiency of travel that I find rewarding. A friend is moving to Japan in the fall, and when I asked what he would bring, he said "my bike and my stuffed Pikachus," which led me to consider the same thing. Leaving out the accouterments I would need to bring Snorri to another country, I think my packing would be similar—a bike, some camping gear, and some clothes. Moving furniture and large electronics to Japan makes little-to-no sense from a cost and time perspective unless it has a lot of emotional resonance. In this way, my short trips abroad are with a similar amount of stuff to a full-on move, which surprised me. Have you considered moving to another country? Try making your own list, because I bet you might have some of the same conclusions unless someone's is paying loads to cover the shipping cost of your house full of knick-knacks.

Links

If you need a good set of movies to watch while you're avoiding the very hot summer, I highly recommend the films of Satoshi Kon. Paprika is one of the coolest movies I've seen, and inspired a lot of the film Inception. Sadly, Kon died a few years ago, which means there are only a few movies of his to enjoy (and a series), but almost all of his movies on my annual re-watch list—Perfect Blue is a little too grim for a regular rewatch cadence.

When I was in high school I spend hours and hours playing Age of Empires 2 with my friends at LAN parties, and at home against increasing numbers of computer-controlled players. This breed of game is called "real-time strategy (RTS)" and continues to be a favorite for the predictable and rewarding flow of building a little base and then trying to destroy your opponent's setups. A question I never asked myself during that time was "is AOE2 semi-artificial-general-intelligence?", but this guy did . I don't think this paper is super serious, but does reveal just how absurd it is to have overblown expectations and religiously prophetic AI doomer views of the current world of LLMs. Age of Empires 2 remains very, very fun.

Women's cycling is much more entertaining than men's cycling at present—more unpredictable and full of a broader set of winners and talent that can challenge for a win each race than the Pogacar show. Unfortunately, it is plagued with a condition brought on by the unhealthy diets and body images of cycling that ravage our bodies, stop periods, and ultimately destroy an athlete's career: Red-S. Men also deal with this eating-disorder-adjacent condition, but as in figure-skating, the desire to avoid muscle and bulk means we women are much more likely to cut far past the point of gains, and into the danger zone. I feel very lucky that even with my weight loss, I always kept in mind that fueling on and off the bike is the only way to cycle for the rest of my life, but I've also never had to deliver success in racing to earn a living. Whether or not you're an endurance athlete I think it's interesting to hear about how patriarchy and a pursuit of speed can hurt us.

Rebecca Solnit is a gifted and insightful writer that managed to capture her insights on a lot of pivotal moments in US history and moving through the world, and her recent essay on setting boundaries with tech to reclaim humanity was awesome.

Among the things real friends can do and AI cannot: bake you a cake or drive you home, hold your hand or live through a crisis or a celebration with you. And because of that difference people need to have real friends. More than that, people need real communities and social support systems. Regardless of where LLMs and the extractive world of tech takes us next, I want to remember that communities and friends are some of the best parts of being alive.

Closing

I'm back from camping now, and have settled into my couch to enjoy some TV and cuddles with my cat, Snorri. My company gave us Monday off in addition to Juneteenth, so the usual Sunday afternoon malaise is postponed until tomorrow, and I'm off to enjoy the rest of my four day weekend with a doctor's appointment, and more cycling in the hills. My trip to China Camp reemphasized how much I love camping, and I more vague plans to repeat my bivvy excitement with my friend Claire over the rest of the year. It's too bad Snorri hates traveling, because bringing him along on a bike trip would be the only thing better than going out on my own. I hope the rest of your Sunday (or whatever day you're reading this) are a delight, and you're getting a chance to swim, hike, or eat ice cream—whatever makes your summer good. Keep reading and thinking, space cowgirls~](https://maticrobots.com)z # 2026-05-31d&f

Happy dad's day to my dad friends, and happy "weird day I try not to think about" to all my friends in the dead dads club. I spent time trying to get all email reminders of this cursed "holiday" removed from my email but this year I just gave up when I saw my new vacuum robot wish me "happy Father's Day". I spent Saturday and Sunday camping nearby in a small bivvy that I brought with me in my very light bike touring setup (road bike with a Tailfin). It was really fun, as always, to leave my apartment and ride for a couple hours with everything I need to be happy and comfortable with me.

There's something special about the little bags-in-bags sufficiency of travel that I find rewarding. A friend is moving to Japan in the fall, and when I asked what he would bring, he said "my bike and my stuffed Pikachus," which led me to consider the same thing. Leaving out the accouterments I would need to bring Snorri to another country, I think my packing would be similar—a bike, some camping gear, and some clothes. Moving furniture and large electronics to Japan makes little-to-no sense from a cost and time perspective unless it has a lot of emotional resonance. In this way, my short trips abroad are with a similar amount of stuff to a full-on move, which surprised me. Have you considered moving to another country? Try making your own list, because I bet you might have some of the same conclusions unless someone's is paying loads to cover the shipping cost of your house full of knick-knacks.

Links

If you need a good set of movies to watch while you're avoiding the very hot summer, I highly recommend the films of Satoshi Kon. Paprika is one of the coolest movies I've seen, and inspired a lot of the film Inception. Sadly, Kon died a few years ago, which means there are only a few movies of his to enjoy (and a series), but almost all of his movies on my annual re-watch list—Perfect Blue is a little too grim for a regular rewatch cadence.

When I was in high school I spend hours and hours playing Age of Empires 2 with my friends at LAN parties, and at home against increasing numbers of computer-controlled players. This breed of game is called "real-time strategy (RTS)" and continues to be a favorite for the predictable and rewarding flow of building a little base and then trying to destroy your opponent's setups. A question I never asked myself during that time was "is AOE2 semi-artificial-general-intelligence?", but this guy did . I don't think this paper is super serious, but does reveal just how absurd it is to have overblown expectations and religiously prophetic AI doomer views of the current world of LLMs. Age of Empires 2 remains very, very fun.

Women's cycling is much more entertaining than men's cycling at present—more unpredictable and full of a broader set of winners and talent that can challenge for a win each race than the Pogacar show. Unfortunately, it is plagued with a condition brought on by the unhealthy diets and body images of cycling that ravage our bodies, stop periods, and ultimately destroy an athlete's career: Red-S. Men also deal with this eating-disorder-adjacent condition, but as in figure-skating, the desire to avoid muscle and bulk means we women are much more likely to cut far past the point of gains, and into the danger zone. I feel very lucky that even with my weight loss, I always kept in mind that fueling on and off the bike is the only way to cycle for the rest of my life, but I've also never had to deliver success in racing to earn a living. Whether or not you're an endurance athlete I think it's interesting to hear about how patriarchy and a pursuit of speed can hurt us.

Rebecca Solnit is a gifted and insightful writer that managed to capture her insights on a lot of pivotal moments in US history and moving through the world, and her recent essay on setting boundaries with tech to reclaim humanity was awesome.

Among the things real friends can do and AI cannot: bake you a cake or drive you home, hold your hand or live through a crisis or a celebration with you. And because of that difference people need to have real friends. More than that, people need real communities and social support systems. Regardless of where LLMs and the extractive world of tech takes us next, I want to remember that communities and friends are some of the best parts of being alive.

Closing

I'm back from camping now, and have settled into my couch to enjoy some TV and cuddles with my cat, Snorri. My company gave us Monday off in addition to Juneteenth, so the usual Sunday afternoon malaise is postponed until tomorrow, and I'm off to enjoy the rest of my four day weekend with a doctor's appointment, and more cycling in the hills. My trip to China Camp reemphasized how much I love camping, and I more vague plans to repeat my bivvy excitement with my friend Claire over the rest of the year. It's too bad Snorri hates traveling, because bringing him along on a bike trip would be the only thing better than going out on my own. I hope the rest of your Sunday (or whatever day you're reading this) are a delight, and you're getting a chance to swim, hike, or eat ice cream—whatever makes your summer good. Keep reading and thinking, space cowgirls~