Pinned
Kris 🧙♂️ Kowal
@kriskowal.com
· Aug 6
Basic Binary Board Book
Basic Binary Board Book [Kris Kowal] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Basic Binary Board Book
www.amazon.com
Achievement unlocked: the irresponsible impulse-buy two-day shipping button for Basic Binary Board Book button activated. www.amazon.com/dp/B0F9VCF3TN
Reposted by Kris 🧙♂️ Kowal
I didn't know if @marthawells.com knew about this Easter egg that Alexander Skarsgård snuck into the #murderbot TV series!
February 16, 2026 at 1:25 AM
I didn't know if @marthawells.com knew about this Easter egg that Alexander Skarsgård snuck into the #murderbot TV series!
Reposted by Kris 🧙♂️ Kowal
I know just enough Japanese I think...
roses are red
ao is blue
midori is green
but ao is too
roses are red
ao is blue
midori is green
but ao is too
February 14, 2026 at 8:43 PM
I know just enough Japanese I think...
roses are red
ao is blue
midori is green
but ao is too
roses are red
ao is blue
midori is green
but ao is too
Reposted by Kris 🧙♂️ Kowal
This is the worst possible time to announce this, but: I'm looking for a new job! ✨
If you (or someone you know) is looking to hire, I love software engineering, design (IxD and UI), and electrical engineering.
If you (or someone you know) is looking to hire, I love software engineering, design (IxD and UI), and electrical engineering.
February 14, 2026 at 10:44 PM
This is the worst possible time to announce this, but: I'm looking for a new job! ✨
If you (or someone you know) is looking to hire, I love software engineering, design (IxD and UI), and electrical engineering.
If you (or someone you know) is looking to hire, I love software engineering, design (IxD and UI), and electrical engineering.
Reposted by Kris 🧙♂️ Kowal
Recently, there have been several stick-ups and one Axe murder (in the first Degree). Management has made no Secret of the need to increase security, but still haven’t found the Right Guard. Finding themselves underarmed, the crime wave continues to roll on.
February 12, 2026 at 2:09 PM
Recently, there have been several stick-ups and one Axe murder (in the first Degree). Management has made no Secret of the need to increase security, but still haven’t found the Right Guard. Finding themselves underarmed, the crime wave continues to roll on.
Reposted by Kris 🧙♂️ Kowal
Discworld QOTD, from Wyrd Sisters
February 11, 2026 at 9:33 PM
Discworld QOTD, from Wyrd Sisters
Reposted by Kris 🧙♂️ Kowal
If you're interested in funding or helping us find funding for a Discord replacement that's federated and end-to-end encrypted, we're interested in implementing that at @spritelyinst.bsky.social
We have the skills and underlying tech, but we need resources to fund it. Feel free to reach out.
We have the skills and underlying tech, but we need resources to fund it. Feel free to reach out.
February 11, 2026 at 5:07 PM
If you're interested in funding or helping us find funding for a Discord replacement that's federated and end-to-end encrypted, we're interested in implementing that at @spritelyinst.bsky.social
We have the skills and underlying tech, but we need resources to fund it. Feel free to reach out.
We have the skills and underlying tech, but we need resources to fund it. Feel free to reach out.
Reposted by Kris 🧙♂️ Kowal
Reposted by Kris 🧙♂️ Kowal
My friend @kriskowal.com just released Yay! In his words, it's "more than JSON, less than YAML, and better for it" – and exactly what I'm looking for.
kriskowal.com/yay
kriskowal.com/yay
YAY — Yet Another YAML
kriskowal.com
February 9, 2026 at 6:45 PM
My friend @kriskowal.com just released Yay! In his words, it's "more than JSON, less than YAML, and better for it" – and exactly what I'm looking for.
kriskowal.com/yay
kriskowal.com/yay
An abomination has escaped the lab. kriskowal.com/yay
YAY — Yet Another YAML
kriskowal.com
February 9, 2026 at 4:36 PM
An abomination has escaped the lab. kriskowal.com/yay
@nicr.dev I bet you didn’t know that you made a vim plugin for a data format I made up a few minutes ago.
*scrolling*
Me: Hey, I know that guy!
*scrolling*
Me: Hey, I know that guy!
February 9, 2026 at 1:46 AM
@nicr.dev I bet you didn’t know that you made a vim plugin for a data format I made up a few minutes ago.
*scrolling*
Me: Hey, I know that guy!
*scrolling*
Me: Hey, I know that guy!
Reposted by Kris 🧙♂️ Kowal
Every American needs to watch this:
February 5, 2026 at 8:41 PM
Every American needs to watch this:
There’s an old story about how Alex got to be CTO of Gordia Dot Com, way back. There was a standing offer like, “Whomsoever unravels this slop shall be CTO of Gordia”, and he just came in and hacked it up. Alex was pretty great. Great metaphor, too: Gordian Code.
I never understood spaghetti code being an insult… who doesn’t like spaghetti!?
February 4, 2026 at 4:00 PM
There’s an old story about how Alex got to be CTO of Gordia Dot Com, way back. There was a standing offer like, “Whomsoever unravels this slop shall be CTO of Gordia”, and he just came in and hacked it up. Alex was pretty great. Great metaphor, too: Gordian Code.
Reposted by Kris 🧙♂️ Kowal
Saw this on Mastodon, never don't repost.
February 3, 2026 at 6:15 PM
Saw this on Mastodon, never don't repost.
From the Foresight Institute,
“We're excited to support Kris Kowal and Mark S. Miller with a grant to make AI-written code safer!
“We're excited to support Kris Kowal and Mark S. Miller with a grant to make AI-written code safer!
January 30, 2026 at 6:53 PM
From the Foresight Institute,
“We're excited to support Kris Kowal and Mark S. Miller with a grant to make AI-written code safer!
“We're excited to support Kris Kowal and Mark S. Miller with a grant to make AI-written code safer!
Reposted by Kris 🧙♂️ Kowal
January 30, 2026 at 12:57 AM
I can make predictions too, Yegge, and *I* can do them in short form.
1. Some developers are going to use excess capacity to increase rigor instead of clown towning.
2. There’s going to be a run on the .town TLD.
1. Some developers are going to use excess capacity to increase rigor instead of clown towning.
2. There’s going to be a run on the .town TLD.
January 29, 2026 at 8:49 PM
I can make predictions too, Yegge, and *I* can do them in short form.
1. Some developers are going to use excess capacity to increase rigor instead of clown towning.
2. There’s going to be a run on the .town TLD.
1. Some developers are going to use excess capacity to increase rigor instead of clown towning.
2. There’s going to be a run on the .town TLD.
I am a pedantry enjoyer. Someone misspelled sieve. Maybe.
Annoying business jargon: don't call a cascade of filters a "funnel", e.g., N million ad impressions, 50% read, 2% clicked, 5% converted = 5N thousand sales. Dude, that's not a funnel. In an actual funnel, everything you pour into the big end comes out the small end. That's literally what it's for.
January 28, 2026 at 2:18 AM
I am a pedantry enjoyer. Someone misspelled sieve. Maybe.
Reposted by Kris 🧙♂️ Kowal
I swear these guys only read one book.
![Herman Yau, the Sunnyvale-based CEO of a facial-recognition smart door-lock startup, has taken the opposite approach. His company Durin (opens in new tab) (named for the riddle on the Doors of Durin in — you guessed it — Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings”), hopes to make smart doors affordable for non-mansion-havers, too. “We [want] to enable a new entry price point for security markets,” he said. Durin’s “door manager” costs $129 and is designed to retrofit to existing locks. “It’s much less friction to upgrade a lock than a door,” he said.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:hakzua5btcgcfjye2yujlhos/bafkreicbysfygenmray5tx5kajfqjfdoufc5mr2acah5ib5732vor67wuy@jpeg)
January 26, 2026 at 4:50 PM
I swear these guys only read one book.
Reposted by Kris 🧙♂️ Kowal
Really wishing that somebody would hire my company (@igalia.com) to standardize/implement support for import maps in web workers.
I already have a draft spec PR ready and there is interest from the community, which company wants to be the hero funding pushing it forward? :)
I already have a draft spec PR ready and there is interest from the community, which company wants to be the hero funding pushing it forward? :)
Support import maps in workers by nicolo-ribaudo · Pull Request #10858 · whatwg/html
This patch started as a conversation with @guybedford. I tried writing some spec for one of the potential approaches discussed in WICG/import-maps#2.
This PR is not actually ready as I have not fin...
github.com
January 23, 2026 at 12:31 PM
Really wishing that somebody would hire my company (@igalia.com) to standardize/implement support for import maps in web workers.
I already have a draft spec PR ready and there is interest from the community, which company wants to be the hero funding pushing it forward? :)
I already have a draft spec PR ready and there is interest from the community, which company wants to be the hero funding pushing it forward? :)
Reposted by Kris 🧙♂️ Kowal
Leonard looked at that decision and simply said, "No." He told them, "This show is about diversity and working together in concert. The two people who most represent that diversity are Nichelle Nichols and George Takei, and if they can't be a part of this, then I'm not interested either."
January 21, 2026 at 4:42 PM
Leonard looked at that decision and simply said, "No." He told them, "This show is about diversity and working together in concert. The two people who most represent that diversity are Nichelle Nichols and George Takei, and if they can't be a part of this, then I'm not interested either."
Reposted by Kris 🧙♂️ Kowal
"Once men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them."
― Frank Herbert, Dune
cassidoo.co/post/good-br...
― Frank Herbert, Dune
cassidoo.co/post/good-br...
Do not give up your brain
It's tempting to just let tools think for you, but you still need to be able to think for yourself and stay sharp.
cassidoo.co
January 17, 2026 at 3:32 AM
"Once men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them."
― Frank Herbert, Dune
cassidoo.co/post/good-br...
― Frank Herbert, Dune
cassidoo.co/post/good-br...
I only cite primary sources like Wikipedia.
The increasingly common habit of screenshotting the AI summary of a Google search and presenting it as evidence must be nipped in the bud immediately. That is nothing. That is not anything, it is not a thing.
January 13, 2026 at 3:40 AM
I only cite primary sources like Wikipedia.
Reposted by Kris 🧙♂️ Kowal
The increasingly common habit of screenshotting the AI summary of a Google search and presenting it as evidence must be nipped in the bud immediately. That is nothing. That is not anything, it is not a thing.
January 13, 2026 at 3:13 AM
The increasingly common habit of screenshotting the AI summary of a Google search and presenting it as evidence must be nipped in the bud immediately. That is nothing. That is not anything, it is not a thing.
I am going to be looking for a browser vendor interested in partnering with us on the Endo project toward *safely* empowering AI agents using an object capability model and CapTP (nominally OCapN). I’ll have a prototype of an “ocap browser” by the end of this month to demonstrate what I mean.
January 12, 2026 at 1:35 PM
I am going to be looking for a browser vendor interested in partnering with us on the Endo project toward *safely* empowering AI agents using an object capability model and CapTP (nominally OCapN). I’ll have a prototype of an “ocap browser” by the end of this month to demonstrate what I mean.
I am very fortunate to not have any known allergies except for the words “simple” and “efficient”. They lull the reader into a false sense of universal agreement about what they mean. Every believes their own interpretation and that there can be no other. Then they talk past each other.
January 12, 2026 at 8:01 AM
I am very fortunate to not have any known allergies except for the words “simple” and “efficient”. They lull the reader into a false sense of universal agreement about what they mean. Every believes their own interpretation and that there can be no other. Then they talk past each other.