John B. Roberts
@pencoyd in lots of places. clock.pencoyd.com
- "People will do the stupidest thing in the easiest way to get the most utility out of something until it hurts too much, and then they’ll only pull back just a little bit." @danhon.com about OpenClaw, and humanity more generally
- "We are set to repeat as a nation every single mistake we made after 9/11 with CBP and the Border Patrol — but worse." Today's occupations by federal forces are the result of 20 years of compounding mistakes (or intentional corruption) www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/accountabi...
- For those already in civic tech fas.org/publication/... I don't quite fit the definitions, beyond "depending on modern digital government" as all citizens do. Still, sharing success so we can repeat is worthwhile.
- Tom Lehrer, 50 years ago. "National Brotherhood Week" www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIlJ... 2 min performance tomlehrersongs.com/824-2/ full lyrics "Oh, the poor folks hate the rich folks, And the rich folks hate the poor folks. All of my folks hate all of your folks, It's American as apple pie."
- David Brin, The Transparent Society, 1998 www.davidbrin.com/transparents... "By ensuring accountability through "reciprocal transparency," we can detect dangers and expose wrongdoers."
- Sharing for reach. Love to have great technical people working for the city, improving the experience for all of us.
- *fixed link! couple of *really* interesting opportunities for product managers or TPM sorts, with SF's new PermitSF organization. careers.sf.gov/role/?id=374... this isn't with my team, but we work with this group a lot - they're tasked with some huge changes that people in SF care a lot about!
- Stew of what caught my eye recently. clock.pencoyd.com/2026/01/26/l...
- Working for me. Used it yesterday to find a way to help from outside MN: thank you! Appreciate that the .org also works, via redirect.
- Getting links out of my inbox and tabs into a blog post. clock.pencoyd.com/2026/01/15/l... Glad to have the blog back online, which is a (small) story for another time.
- Reposted by John B. RobertsIf calling a state secret police agent a murderer for committing murder will lead to more murder by the state secret police, it sure seems like the problem is with the secret police
- Incredible, measured takedown of macOS Tahoe icons. Makes clear why the feel is off. tonsky.me/blog/tahoe-i... from mastodon.online/@nikitonsky (via @daringfireball.bsky.social)
- Reposted by John B. RobertsLet's break the Internet with this today.....
- Thought this would be super simple & fast. Nope. clock.pencoyd.com/2026/01/01/r...
- www.tbray.org/ongoing/When... We are benefitting from the once-dark fiber (fibre) from the dot-com bubble.
- Power outage again in western SF. Limited but we are included. Whee.
- Reposted by John B. RobertsWrap up 2025 in 6 words: “Can’t say we didn’t warn you.”
- "We don't run profiles on the person who exercises consistently, maintains friendships, sleeps 8 hours, and builds nothing more remarkable than a sustainable existence. But sustainability is remarkable. It's actually quite difficult. Ask anyone who's tried." www.joanwestenberg.com/the-rime-of-...
- Reposted by John B. RobertsCBS didn't run the 60 Minutes segment on CECOT, but over here at @propublica.org we've been working on the story since March, including finding out who each and every man sent to that maximum security prison was. You can see our reporting here: www.propublica.org/series/depor...
- Today? You sent this today, PG&E?
- Appreciate update but no context on whether things are improving. Outage map is worse + another two hours = confidence? #hugops because we all depend on this infrastructure.
- I'm pro more ways for tech experts to improve common infrastructure, like government. USDS and 18F were gutted. Now Tech Force announced, and I'm wary. If not outright skeptical. FAQ explains not DOGE but if you're explaining, you're losing. Curious what @cydharrell.bsky.social thinks.
- Attended this talk live. History applied to current events helps with context. Visualizations as art: fantastic. www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsBn... @katecrawford.bsky.social & @longnow.org
- Tom Whitwell's annual post is less narcissistic and wider ranging than Spotify Wrapped. medium.com/@tomwhitwell...
- It's more inspiring when the NYTimes allows data to drive the story. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/18/c... Feels similar to the local successes that @jfallows.bsky.social and Deb Fallows surface often.
- Avoid mediocrity, always. "...if you don’t listen to smart humans who tell you the truth, you will achieve an impressive nothing or, worse, a mediocre something." @rands.bsky.social latest is less an essay than internal dialogue shared. randsinrepose.com/archives/the...
- "The average family will pay $1,800 more for groceries, clothing, and other necessities thanks to the Trump administration’s trade policies in 2025." www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
- Sharing for awareness. Government funding has to come from somewhere. Better taxpayers than most other sources. One more organization under fire: the IRS donmoynihan.substack.com/p/five-quest...
- I keep deferring MacOS "upgrade" to Tahoe (26.1) because (a) not excited about liquid glass UI and (b) not clear about any other benefits. Am I missing anything? Usually in favor of staying current, but unconvinced, so far.
- Election Day
- Not surprising, but still chilling and worth paying attention to the individual cases.
- Sign of the times: as a pedestrian at a crosswalk, I trust a Waymo to stop more than a human driver.
- TIL: Federal Universal Service Charge (or Fee) DRAMATICALLY increases your wireless bill for international calls. Quarterly rate set by FCC for FUSF: www.fcc.gov/general/cont... (Q4 2025 is 38.1%) Carrier contributions "may be recovered from customers." Narrator: they are!
- A pragmatic view on AI, looking over a longer horizon, from @rmhrisk.bsky.social Whether AI is as disruptive as the printing press or the internet itself, TBD. That's a stretch, for me. But I've heard similar from thoughtful people who are often my canaries about technical (r)evolution.
- As intended, @anildash.com wrote a clear piece about opinions about AI that are more nuanced than general attention. www.anildash.com/2025/10/17/t...
- "Perilous to us all are the devices of an art deeper than we possess ourselves." Topical, despite original publication date of 1954 for The Two Towers, with Gandalf commenting on the Palantir... thank you, J.R.R. Tolkien.
- frankchimero.com/blog/2025/se... "What makes the Market for Lemons concept so appealing (and what differentiates it in my mind from enshittification) is that everyone can be acting reasonably, pursuing their own interests, and things still get worse for everyone."
