Brian Gawalt
@brian.gawalt.com
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Mountain View, CA
- @theslides.bsky.social
- this account's #ReaderBot poster
- [more tk]
Mountain View, CA
Pinned
#ReaderBot: Brian is halfway done with Patrick Wyman's "The Verge" and should finish in around 11 days. [Brian's Reading List]
Reposted by Brian Gawalt
One of the GOP's sweatier Epstein defenses has been "if they had good stuff they'd have used it when Biden was president." But the growing awareness that Garland spiked anything that could look political explains this!
I feel like “mad at Merrick Garland” is going to hit a whole new level.
November 12, 2025 at 5:21 PM
One of the GOP's sweatier Epstein defenses has been "if they had good stuff they'd have used it when Biden was president." But the growing awareness that Garland spiked anything that could look political explains this!
this late-breaking paragraph has gotta be one of the mayoral fatalities of all time
medium.com/3streams/zoh...
medium.com/3streams/zoh...
![Screenshot of a late paragraph in the linked Medium essay:
"The war [WWI] resulted in more than Mitchel’s electoral defeat. After the election, he volunteered to learn to fly military aircraft and died in a training accident: failing to wear his seatbelt, he simply fell out of his airplane (Wallace 2017, 997). You can find his monument in Central Park."](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:43nhmzgiugf65gwskj3kpfj5/bafkreigr7x6sgjrfpjngb2mr23wtz2bgufwii2bumaa7tkoscdq7pzodry@jpeg)
November 12, 2025 at 5:07 PM
this late-breaking paragraph has gotta be one of the mayoral fatalities of all time
medium.com/3streams/zoh...
medium.com/3streams/zoh...
TO makecircle :numSides :perimeter
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November 12, 2025 at 3:04 AM
TO makecircle :numSides :perimeter
pd
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repeat :numSides [
left 180 / :numSides
forward :perimeter / :numSides
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wait 120 / :numSides
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clearscreen
repeat 10 [
makecircle (2 * repcount + 1) 1200
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repeat 10 [
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#ReaderBot: Brian is halfway done with Patrick Wyman's "The Verge" and should finish in around 11 days. [Brian's Reading List]
November 11, 2025 at 6:08 PM
#ReaderBot: Brian is halfway done with Patrick Wyman's "The Verge" and should finish in around 11 days. [Brian's Reading List]
Reposted by Brian Gawalt
i wrote about having long covid as a hypochondriac and why no one should ever go on reddit www.late-review.com/p/the-galler...
the gallery of maladies
on long covid, hypochondria, and the forums
www.late-review.com
November 6, 2025 at 6:38 PM
i wrote about having long covid as a hypochondriac and why no one should ever go on reddit www.late-review.com/p/the-galler...
Watching ALIEN right now, and they're at the "ash, are you seeing this' part -- I think home video camera recorders must have been around enough to make this visceral
November 10, 2025 at 8:36 AM
Watching ALIEN right now, and they're at the "ash, are you seeing this' part -- I think home video camera recorders must have been around enough to make this visceral
Reposted by Brian Gawalt
For Cornell’s Journal of Law and Public Policy, I wrote about an alternative to government censorship that gives platform users more choice - and how big tech uses legal threats to circumvent congressional intent and fight interoperability. 👇
publications.lawschool.cornell.edu/jlpp/2025/10...
publications.lawschool.cornell.edu/jlpp/2025/10...
Can Platforms’ Terms of Service Silence User Choice? The Legal Stakes for Middleware
(Source) The fierce debate over online speech has pushed the United States toward a constitutional collision. In one direction lie government mandates, exemplified by the state laws at issue in NetCho...
publications.lawschool.cornell.edu
November 6, 2025 at 10:47 PM
For Cornell’s Journal of Law and Public Policy, I wrote about an alternative to government censorship that gives platform users more choice - and how big tech uses legal threats to circumvent congressional intent and fight interoperability. 👇
publications.lawschool.cornell.edu/jlpp/2025/10...
publications.lawschool.cornell.edu/jlpp/2025/10...
The Ball essay I leaned on for this humaniod-robots post is all about this: iPhones are *the* reason companies want to be platforms
brian.gawalt.com/blog/0003-ro...
brian.gawalt.com/blog/0003-ro...
November 6, 2025 at 10:25 PM
The Ball essay I leaned on for this humaniod-robots post is all about this: iPhones are *the* reason companies want to be platforms
brian.gawalt.com/blog/0003-ro...
brian.gawalt.com/blog/0003-ro...
Reposted by Brian Gawalt
My Gremlins 3 script is something a little different: parents across America begin injecting disobedient children with Gremlin enzyme, to punish them. This doesn't turn them into Gremlins but it does cause severe headaches and brain fog. We are now "full speed ahead!" with director Chris Columbus.
November 6, 2025 at 9:53 PM
My Gremlins 3 script is something a little different: parents across America begin injecting disobedient children with Gremlin enzyme, to punish them. This doesn't turn them into Gremlins but it does cause severe headaches and brain fog. We are now "full speed ahead!" with director Chris Columbus.
ask me about my ~seven year old idea, "the doubler," that just takes any existing `wTx + b`, randomly splits the `w` into `w1 + w2 = w`, and moves the `b`s around so that most of the time the sum `o(w1Tx + b1) + o(x2Tx + b2)` match `o(wTx + b)`
I wonder if you could transplant a smaller model into a larger one through some kind of upscaling via graph interpolation. The opposite of distillation, an uplift. Then do continued training
November 6, 2025 at 4:08 PM
ask me about my ~seven year old idea, "the doubler," that just takes any existing `wTx + b`, randomly splits the `w` into `w1 + w2 = w`, and moves the `b`s around so that most of the time the sum `o(w1Tx + b1) + o(x2Tx + b2)` match `o(wTx + b)`
i lost touch with the ~four atmospheric chemists i palled around with twenty years ago, and im curious what they think about what deorbiting 9000 minisats means, in terms adding all those metals up there.
(also this article doesn't mention where the waste heat goes)
www.semafor.com/article/11/0...
(also this article doesn't mention where the waste heat goes)
www.semafor.com/article/11/0...
Google wants to build solar-powered data centers — in space
The tech giant released a paper Tuesday outlining plans to launch its AI chips into low-earth orbit, allowing them to run off solar power.
www.semafor.com
November 5, 2025 at 5:54 PM
i lost touch with the ~four atmospheric chemists i palled around with twenty years ago, and im curious what they think about what deorbiting 9000 minisats means, in terms adding all those metals up there.
(also this article doesn't mention where the waste heat goes)
www.semafor.com/article/11/0...
(also this article doesn't mention where the waste heat goes)
www.semafor.com/article/11/0...
spending these months becoming a rockies fan. buy the dip
98 days to pitchers and catchers
November 3, 2025 at 4:17 PM
spending these months becoming a rockies fan. buy the dip
#ReaderBot: Brian is halfway done with Ashley Mears' "Very Important People" and should finish in around 8 days. [Brian's Reading List]
November 2, 2025 at 4:05 AM
#ReaderBot: Brian is halfway done with Ashley Mears' "Very Important People" and should finish in around 8 days. [Brian's Reading List]
Reposted by Brian Gawalt
B. Kliban drew one of the funniest comics I have ever seen before
November 1, 2025 at 7:39 PM
B. Kliban drew one of the funniest comics I have ever seen before
I'm doing my kids bedtime where I sit in the dark on the floor till they fall asleep, can someone give a paragraph about what just happened in the world series
November 1, 2025 at 3:14 AM
I'm doing my kids bedtime where I sit in the dark on the floor till they fall asleep, can someone give a paragraph about what just happened in the world series
Thursday Night Football showed a Dolphins fan leaving the stadium in a WARINO jersey. I'd wear that.
October 31, 2025 at 3:31 AM
Thursday Night Football showed a Dolphins fan leaving the stadium in a WARINO jersey. I'd wear that.
if you want my opinion on passkeys, read the words in this article but in an irritated tone
Good update on how passkeys are doing, from the UK's National Cyber Security Centre
Passkeys: they're not perfect but they're getting better
Passkeys are the future of authentication, offering enhanced security and convenience over passwords, but widespread adoption faces challenges that the NCSC is working to resolve.
www.ncsc.gov.uk
October 30, 2025 at 6:53 PM
if you want my opinion on passkeys, read the words in this article but in an irritated tone
i am not an immediate hater of Neo the Teleoperated Housekeeper Robot, but i would like to know more about how sure you can be it's not active/watching/listening at any random time. i'm open to fun visuals like "you unscrew its head entirely to disable it" as an answer here.
October 30, 2025 at 5:35 PM
i am not an immediate hater of Neo the Teleoperated Housekeeper Robot, but i would like to know more about how sure you can be it's not active/watching/listening at any random time. i'm open to fun visuals like "you unscrew its head entirely to disable it" as an answer here.
Reposted by Brian Gawalt
there’s a video going around from his most recent town hall where Platner gives a very nice answer to a trans woman asking if he’ll fight for her. it genuinely sounds heartfelt. but we don’t know! we don’t have a voting record or history of advocacy, it’s just “do you trust this person”
October 30, 2025 at 3:49 AM
there’s a video going around from his most recent town hall where Platner gives a very nice answer to a trans woman asking if he’ll fight for her. it genuinely sounds heartfelt. but we don’t know! we don’t have a voting record or history of advocacy, it’s just “do you trust this person”
this is good, and my brainstorm on how to strengthen congress is making it easier to impeach department secretaries. the constitutional goal of "separate institutions, sharing powers" is unmet, the sharing is lopsided, and easier impeachment would help fend off unitary executive practice.
consider this part one of what will be an ongoing series making the case for an imperial congress (gift link)
Opinion | The Empty Promises of Trump’s Imperial Presidency
www.nytimes.com
October 29, 2025 at 7:37 PM
this is good, and my brainstorm on how to strengthen congress is making it easier to impeach department secretaries. the constitutional goal of "separate institutions, sharing powers" is unmet, the sharing is lopsided, and easier impeachment would help fend off unitary executive practice.
Reposted by Brian Gawalt
The SNAP fight is actually a recapitulation of the entire purpose of the shutdown.
There's a contingency fund, Trump is required to spend it, but he's not, usurping Congress's power of the purse, essentially so he can do it again with normal appropriations whenever he wants
There's a contingency fund, Trump is required to spend it, but he's not, usurping Congress's power of the purse, essentially so he can do it again with normal appropriations whenever he wants
NEW: We just filed a lawsuit alongside 25 states to restore SNAP food assistance during the federal shutdown.
141,000 DC residents rely on SNAP to afford their meals — including 47,000 children and 24,000 seniors.
We will do everything in our power to prevent DC families from going hungry.
141,000 DC residents rely on SNAP to afford their meals — including 47,000 children and 24,000 seniors.
We will do everything in our power to prevent DC families from going hungry.
October 28, 2025 at 4:58 PM
The SNAP fight is actually a recapitulation of the entire purpose of the shutdown.
There's a contingency fund, Trump is required to spend it, but he's not, usurping Congress's power of the purse, essentially so he can do it again with normal appropriations whenever he wants
There's a contingency fund, Trump is required to spend it, but he's not, usurping Congress's power of the purse, essentially so he can do it again with normal appropriations whenever he wants
Reposted by Brian Gawalt
Berkeley is shaping up to the Jersey City of the Bay. Just going gangbusters approving housing. Its a new tower here every month. The latest tower proposal today, 169 homes, at Durant and Telegraph just approved by the Zoning Board and certain to be approved by Council.
sfyimby.com/2025/10/berk...
sfyimby.com/2025/10/berk...
October 28, 2025 at 4:29 PM
Berkeley is shaping up to the Jersey City of the Bay. Just going gangbusters approving housing. Its a new tower here every month. The latest tower proposal today, 169 homes, at Durant and Telegraph just approved by the Zoning Board and certain to be approved by Council.
sfyimby.com/2025/10/berk...
sfyimby.com/2025/10/berk...
GEM's advice here is good, but hear me out: you should instead plot quartiles for `y | x`. I don't think anyone cares as much about quantiles for/uncertainty in `theta` except that it implies a wide predictive range in `y`.
I am begging people to include the uncertainty interval on their regression plots
October 28, 2025 at 4:26 PM
GEM's advice here is good, but hear me out: you should instead plot quartiles for `y | x`. I don't think anyone cares as much about quantiles for/uncertainty in `theta` except that it implies a wide predictive range in `y`.
Reposted by Brian Gawalt
New from me:
Elite law firms, multiple media outlets, the D.C. attorney general, and a group of parents accused a teacher of molesting 15 kids. They were wrong.
This piece is two-and-a-half years in the making. And as you'll see, it took some incredible turns, even as I was reporting it.
Elite law firms, multiple media outlets, the D.C. attorney general, and a group of parents accused a teacher of molesting 15 kids. They were wrong.
This piece is two-and-a-half years in the making. And as you'll see, it took some incredible turns, even as I was reporting it.
Accusing Jordan Silverman
A D.C. teaching assistant was accused of molesting up to 15 kids. Multiple law enforcement agencies cleared him. But his nightmare was just beginning.
radleybalko.substack.com
October 27, 2025 at 12:55 PM
New from me:
Elite law firms, multiple media outlets, the D.C. attorney general, and a group of parents accused a teacher of molesting 15 kids. They were wrong.
This piece is two-and-a-half years in the making. And as you'll see, it took some incredible turns, even as I was reporting it.
Elite law firms, multiple media outlets, the D.C. attorney general, and a group of parents accused a teacher of molesting 15 kids. They were wrong.
This piece is two-and-a-half years in the making. And as you'll see, it took some incredible turns, even as I was reporting it.
Reposted by Brian Gawalt
