Robert Lin
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robertl.in
Robert Lin
@robertl.in
3.5K followers 580 following 2.3K posts
Every court needs a jester. 🙂

Building #atproto stuff in public bc I believe in an open web.

🧬 robertl.in/xna 📝 robertlin.substack.com
🕰️ @now.robertl.in 📜 @history.robertl.in

🦋 Joined: Feb 6, 2024 📍 Cincinnati, Ohio - USA 🍄 Chaga
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robertl.in
Robert Lin @robertl.in · Oct 12
Loved doing this w/ @codenprose.bsky.social!🥳

Notes:
0. Omg, I ramble A LOT. I apologize! Pls listen to this on 2x.😅

1. Paraphrasing @jay.bsky.team: "Today's [Substack] could be tmr's adversary." Curation's the next big thing. Whoever who builds SS on top of @atproto.com will become a millionaire!
Robert Lin
If you feel lost, laugh and create
open.substack.com
robertl.in
Over the holidays, I've been basking in slow mornings. Getting breakfast at a local cafe and enjoying it in my personal tiny fortress.🤗🏰 Specifically, I've been re-listening to S1 of New Creative Era by @joshuacitarella.bsky.social + @metalabel.bsky.social. Loved this quote from Prof Michael Walzer:
Inside a Tesla Model 3 - center console - large coffee and bagel breakfast sandwich. On the Tesla's screen is the podcast, "New Creative Era: Is there such a thing as artist-format fit?" A quote from Yancey Strickler on the New Creative Era podcast from Professor Michael Walzer: "A world without borders is a world of a tiny million fortresses."
December 31, 2025 at 4:48 PM
robertl.in
Last year I started a new tradition to annually publicly thank people I've discovered who've changed my life. I do genuinely believe we're all connected. Every post, every reply, every like makes a difference. This year, I want to thank Indie Thinkers, New Creative Era, Pirate Wires, and Dialectic.❤️
Substack title asset for "#58 | Appreciating Parasocial Relationships [2025-12]: A heartfelt EOY thanks to Indie Thinkers, New Creative Era, Pirate Wires, and Dialectic" (white text on orange background)
December 31, 2025 at 3:57 AM
Reposted by Robert Lin
robertl.in
One of us! One of us! One of us! 🙂

I've gotten tons of personal work (writing+hobby projects) done during my PTO. If it replenishes you, then that's what matters! Relaxing too long honestly doesn't do much for me.🙂‍↔️ If I'm not moving, being active, and knocking tasks off a list, then I get restless!
December 30, 2025 at 10:29 PM
robertl.in
For Christmas last week, S & I saw a lovely jazz performance at Memorial Hall here in Cincy. Built in 1908 by the Grand Army of the Republic, the theater is engraved with nine values:
1. Unity
2. Wisdom
3. Martyrdom
4. Patriotism
5. Philanthropy
6. Integrity
7. Manliness
8. Equity
9. Will
December 30, 2025 at 2:31 AM
Reposted by Robert Lin
robertl.in
www.wsj.com/articles/BL-...

As reported in the @wsj.com back in November 2009, this quote from Lloyd Blankfein, then CEO of Goldman Sachs, continues to occupy permanent space in my brain to this day:

Blankfein: being an investment banker is "doing God's work".

Efficient allocation of capital!!💰💰💰
Lloyd Blankfein: being an investment banker is "doing God's work".
November 21, 2025 at 12:36 PM
Reposted by Robert Lin
smoothdunk2.bsky.social
a comic about blocking
A 4 panel comic The first two panels are titled “Blocking someone on Twitter” Panel 1: Blue guy holding a door open. Red guy stands in the doorway Panel 2: Blue guy slams door on Red guy, however the door has large glass panels, so Red Guy can still keep watching Blue guy like an absolute pervert. The second two panels are titled “Blocking someone on Bluesky” Panel 3: The Blue guy is reaching down and picking up a large piece of machinery. The red guy watches him. Panel 4: The large piece of machinery is revealed to be a shoulder mounted nuclear cannon. Blue Guy uses the cannon to blast Red guy completely out of existence.
January 15, 2025 at 10:16 PM
Reposted by Robert Lin
why.bsky.team
Salvatore Ganacci is truly the Mozart of our era
October 31, 2025 at 6:24 AM
robertl.in
PSA: The @codenewbie.org site's gone offline! It's been a while since I last checked but today I went to look up an article I'd written on the platform back in Apr 2021 only to find this!😭 (And this is precisely the worst case scenario of platform risk!) @dev.to - is there any ETA when CN'll return?
A static modal that can't be closed showing the Codenewbie site has gone offline!
December 28, 2025 at 11:51 PM
Reposted by Robert Lin
spacecowboy17.bsky.social
The For You feed is going to be down while I'm upgrading the CPU from AMD 7900 (12 core) to AMD 9950X3D (16 core).

This should increase how many users it can serve by ~50%-100%.

If all goes well it should be back up in an hour or two.
December 28, 2025 at 4:40 PM
Reposted by Robert Lin
robertl.in
If it works, I'm happy for them! We are in the dawn of a new age - I encourage folks to keep an open mind! Many people turning to ChatGPT for emotional support have been really struggling. I encourage empathy!! ❤️
December 27, 2025 at 6:36 PM
robertl.in
I've said this before but I'll repeat it here again for posterity: coding w/ AI & coding w/o AI, to me, are **categorically different** activities. It's akin to comparing horseback riding to driving a car. They both get you somewhere but entail totally different mechanics, dynamics, and aesthetics.
December 27, 2025 at 9:30 AM
Reposted by Robert Lin
robertl.in
Lol, I was literally just looking and thinking about this. Synchronicity! The moment I have an extended break, I depart from my usual routine and everything goes pear-shaped. 🤦‍♂️
My Oura ring showing my sleep score of 56 for today. My Oura ring showing my sleep schedule of 57 for yesterday.
December 27, 2025 at 8:39 AM
Reposted by Robert Lin
robertl.in
💯 this☝️. I know I already mentioned this elsewhere, Cowboy, but if everyone literally just gave $1, then 10k people giving monthly would be $10k/mo! The long tail adds up to real money!!💰💰💰

eg. Personally, I'm trying to donate a % of my own remaining lifetime earnings to OSS via GH Sponsorships and
robertl.in Robert Lin @robertl.in · 6d
of my remaining lifetime earnings and want to spread out my contributions over as many ppl as I can (and it does all add up over time! 😅) My hope is that eventually others will do the same and at scale, I do think it adds up to real money!! (eg. 10k ppl each giving just $1/mo is $10k/mo!!💰💵) So far,
December 27, 2025 at 12:50 AM
robertl.in
Done! I know $2/mo isn't much but 1) I'm hoping ppl will join suit+contribute micropayments to creators we love on the web! Individually, we're drops, but together, we can be a wave!🌊❤️
and 2) one day when I become super-rich (I'm working on it!!💵💰💪), I promise I'll donate more! Merry Christmas!!🎅🎄🎁☃️
Screenshot of me sponsoring Olof $2/mo via Github Sponsorships
December 26, 2025 at 11:47 AM
Reposted by Robert Lin
samwho.dev
Hi 👋 I’m Sam, I create visual essays about programming.

My posts from 2025:

- samwho.dev/reservoir-sa...
- samwho.dev/big-o/
- ngrok.com/blog/prompt-...

I also appeared on other folks’ websites:

- simonwillison.net/2025/Dec/19/...
- writethatblog.substack.com/p/sam-rose-o...
A screenshot from my reservoir sampling post. In it you can see a visual of cards being shuffled at the top, and underneath that is a bar chart tracking which cards appear early in the shuffle. A screenshot from my Big O post. In it can be seen a bubble sort algorithm written in JavaScript. Above the code is a visual of a 5-element array being bubble sorted. A screenshot from my prompt caching post. In it can be seen a visual of 8 clusters of coloured points shown in a 3-dimensional graph.
December 26, 2025 at 11:16 AM
Reposted by Robert Lin
robertl.in
So I❤️trains too! But for cultural/geographical reasons, I genuinely❤️cars in America. When I'm in my car, I leave when I want+have total freedom. There's currently some growing pains, but eventually autonomous driving will be ubiquitous. In 50yrs, we'll have exhibits ab this current time in museums!🙂
robertl.in Robert Lin @robertl.in · Aug 18
@aaronboodman.com so I 💯 hear you & also share concerns. But this reminds me of two weeks ago when I was in Pittsburgh at the Frick Car - Carriage museum (s/o to @stormaciousd.bsky.social's city! 🥳) + read this: initially in the 1920s, cars were considered "the Devil's wagon"+"a brothel on wheels" -
A sign at the museum describing that in the 1920s, when they first released, cars were considered a "brothel on wheels" and "the Devil's wagon" because they gave people (especially women) freedom with dating. An old car!
December 26, 2025 at 10:46 AM
robertl.in
Really loving my Oura Ring 4!! Just started wearing it two days ago! 🥳 Specifically, I love how you receive metrics for *literally everything*. For example, I love that I am a "93% efficiency sleeper"!! 😴 The idea of applying efficiency to something like sleep is positively amazing/hilarious to me.
Screenshot of my Oura ring sleep metrics. I sleep at 93% efficiency! 🥳
December 25, 2025 at 11:44 AM
robertl.in
So cool! Sam, you're one of the people I talk with the most here on bsky!!🥳

@olof-loves-ai.bsky.social how does one give you money? I see you're on @github.com - if you enable sponsorships on GitHub, I'd love to buy you a coffee every month! Ty for building cool things on #atproto! You are a hero!🔥
My bsky wrapped 2025, made by Olof!
December 24, 2025 at 8:14 PM
Reposted by Robert Lin
robertl.in
I agree w/ Austin. AI changes everything. Code is no longer precious. Code and apps are now just commodities, instruments towards larger, more important ends (disseminating ideas, actually doing things, etc).

A loose analogy: as I write this, I'm sitting outside, drinking coffee from a paper cup I
Cup of coffee outside on a table
December 24, 2025 at 6:52 PM
robertl.in
Just received and set up!! Ty for recommending, @maggieappleton.com! Looking forward to playing with my new toy. 🙂 Hooray for the self-quantification movement!! Let's quantify everything and legible-maxx for the machines!! 🥳🎉
Unboxing my new Oura ring! Oura ring setup screen
December 23, 2025 at 2:04 PM
Reposted by Robert Lin
robertl.in
So personally I honestly much prefer subscriptions to ads. My personal belief is if we derive value from something, we should just pay for it. A world where I trade my attention in return for a good or service is dystopian+insane, something out of Black Mirror.

To your q though, I think you should
December 23, 2025 at 4:25 AM
robertl.in
AdSky! I've been waiting to see when this'd finally happen. Not just on a custom client either but literally in bsky. eg. The "For You" feed by @spacecowboy17.bsky.social is legit excellent. I usually hate ads but if Cowboy inserted (clearly labeled+relevant) ads into the FY feed algo, I'd try it!!
zeu.dev zeu @zeu.dev · 9d
ok a thought:

yk how you can make custom feeds w @graze.social and also sell ad space on said feed? now what if the feed itself is a channel for just your (+group) posts and then use ad rev to fund them

eg an atproto dev (collective) posting devlogs/thoughts, then funding the projects via ad rev?
December 22, 2025 at 7:27 PM
robertl.in
So this is clearly an edge case that Waymo didn't program their cars for. The good news is that no one was hurt! (Though I totally understand many were inconvenienced.) Ultimately, this is simply what progress looks like. After this incident, I'm sure Waymos will do better in blackouts! Progress!!🥳🎉
December 21, 2025 at 2:09 PM
Reposted by Robert Lin
robertl.in
robertl.in/bmc

So coincidental! I run a movie club for my friends and we've been tracking the monthly movies we see (going on for 3yrs now!🍿) Just last wk, I backed everyone's attendance in vectors on @data.robertl.in on @atproto.com, à la a poor-man's blockchain!😂

This is how I do groups on ATP!🥳
Source code of robertl.in/bmc showing me using my data.robertl.in bsky account on ATProto as poor man's blockchain! 😂 Web GUI of robertl.in/bmc showing me using my data.robertl.in bsky account on ATProto as poor man's blockchain! 😂
December 21, 2025 at 1:43 PM
robertl.in
web.archive.org/web/20250821...

So cool!! 🔥 @samwho.dev @nayafia.bsky.social @metalabel.bsky.social @joshuacitarella.bsky.social you guys may like this! A simulator you can play w/ to see how mimetic activity can spread based on different initial conditions. This is why we invented the internet! 🥳🎉
A simulator you can play with to see how mimetic activity can spread based on different initial conditions!
December 21, 2025 at 12:07 PM