“This is a Conflict and there are Sides”

https://azhdarchid.com/there-are-sides/

> But I wanted to write this specifically to say to other people in this position: No, you're not insane. We are living through a horrific break in human history, and we are going to watch people fail to recognize the battle lines being drawn or simply fail a basic decency check. We are watching a mass betrayal of humanistic values unfold before our eyes. It is natural to be shocked and disgusted.

Found the above post via https://www.coryd.dev/ and https://emmas.site/blog/2026/11/07/good-posts-on-ai-2026-11-06/ in my feed reader

“Understanding the True Purpose of Generative AI in Ads”

https://ketanjoshi.co/2026/11/02/microsoft-just-gave-us-the-perfect-name-for-ai-thieves-kyle/

> The narrator drops a precise timestamp, like he’s recounting the exact moment of a terrorist bombing inside Kyle’s soul.

“Proton Mail goes full AI slop, Tuta starts going AI slop – Pivot to AI”

https://pivot-to-ai.com/2026/10/30/proton-mail-goes-full-ai-slop-tuta-starts-going-slop/

>

The second is similar in that it's largely value-driven. I maintain that it's not our responsibility to fix our employers any more than it's our responsibility to fix a narcissistic romantic partner or abusive parent.

But some people disagree 🤷🏻‍♂️

The third is a bit more interesting in that they seem to think I was arguing against unions, even though I explicitly said they were great

2/5?

Now, I'm generally quite bad at keeping track of the responses to my essays or videos, let alone reply to the replies, but as far as I can tell, the responses to my last video/newsletter, "It's not our job to fix our employers" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtAtWK0VcB4), fall into only a few types

The first, obvious type of reply, comes from different values. They disagree with the notion that tech companies need fixing. 🤷🏻‍♂️

1/5?

Having a conversation with another person who also has this tendency to "dolphin" is a lot of fun, though. Keeps the conversation lively and exciting.

By “dolphining” I mean that I sometimes have whole-ass conversations in my head during the pauses in the conversation (esp. if the other person is being a bit boring) so it looks like I'm popping up all over the place, like a dolphin breaking the ocean surface in random locations.

This kind of jumping around is a liability in debates

This is why I still enjoy writing so much. The text in front of you represents a constant thread you can use to tie down your thinking and ground it.

Apropos of nothing in particular, having terms to describe your behaviours increases your awareness of them.

"Autistic polling" is a good example. Having a label for the tendency to ask more questions to make up for the inability to read cues from the environment both helps you understand yourself and lets you give context to others

But it also helps you recognise a handicap. Like realising that my tendency to "dolphin" in conversations is a liability in debates.

“The AI Photoshop clones: interface mockups that don’t work – Pivot to AI”

https://pivot-to-ai.com/2026/10/13/the-ai-photoshop-clones-interface-mockups-that-dont-work/

> You end up with something that looks like Photoshop, and it works a bit, until you try anything beyond what Microsoft Paint does. Or maybe curves. Or editing a 10,000 by 10,000 pixel image. Or cut-and-pasting without the app hanging.

The video embed on the website uses bunny's stream not a youtube embed. This is mostly to help me get a sense of how much video playback happens on the site versus via social media etc.

This is also now more overtly a "podcast with video" since I decided to use proper headphones for monitoring and a nicer mic

Behind the scenes I used vosk-transcriber for captions followed by a LOT of editing of the captions in gaupol/aegissub. I had been using the built-in vosk support in KDEnlive

I'm making a few more experiments in the latest newsletter/video/podcast thing, which is possibly a mistake because if you change too many variables at once, it's hard to know which one mattered

But...

I'm testing a two camera setup. The second camera is a bit grainy in this one but I mostly fixed that in the next two

The video is slightly abridged compared to the podcast and essay. Still makes the same argument, just a bit more condensed

"Software developers are not okay"

Where I talk about what I've been noticing in my research on the state of software development.

Namely, the job increasingly sucks

https://youtu.be/KsEpW03gxKg

(Youtube edition)

"Software developers are not okay"

https://www.baldurbjarnason.com/2026/05-software-developers-are-not-okay/

The software industry is becoming increasingly hostile to those who work in it. The uncertainty is affecting even those who believe in the promises of tech.

Direct link to the essay: https://www.baldurbjarnason.com/2026/05-software-developers-are-not-okay/#software-developers-are-not-doing-well

"We are a global service!"

No you aren't. Nobody in the payment business is a global service. It's literally impossible to provide a global payments service without enabling fraud, money laundering, or terrorism. Some legal environments simply don't work practically with other laws. Some countries are too small. Just publish a fucking list of countries you support.

Why is it so common for payment providers to just not make it possible for you to find out whether your country is eligible for their service without signing up.

I get limiting the countries you service. Regulatory environments vary. But please, for the love of all that's holy, put a fucking list of countries that can use your service somewhere on your fucking website.

The replies to this are great

Turns out people on Mastodon have a lot of experience with failing companies 😁

A few more from personal experience. Possibly a little too specific

- You are told by a manager not to use the usual contact email address for a supplier or client and instead contact an employee directly using their personal email
- A manager quits at a short notice for "personal health"
- An angry scot shows up at the office, cursing the CEO and shouting "where's my money?!"

Had a chat about company "nálykt" ("corpse stench"). I.e. common signs of imminent company collapse employees can spot. We came up with a few:

- Sudden sale that takes all of the employees by surprise
- Office rent agreements cancelled at short notice
- Managers suddenly evasive about previously promised promotions or pay rises
- Execs changing the topic whenever asked a pointed question.
- Execs getting antsy about how last year's acquisitions are performing
- Layoffs, natch

What else?

If you lived in a world where smoking was returning in full force—through unethical, manipulative, and probably illegal tactics tobacco use was returning to 1960s levels—would you work within the tobacco industry to make it less bad? "Nicotine is an excellent ADHD drug so it can help accessibility!"

Because this is exactly what people in the tech industry are starting to sound like.

I framed my book on generative models in terms of risks for a reason. Whatever you can say about their "productive value", their nondeterminism, manipulative UI, statistical mediocrity, and tendency towards unpredictable errors mean the risks—even if you're an asshole who disregards societal risks—outweigh the still largely hypothetical benefits