tal yarkoni
@talyarkoni.com
principal sciolist. mostly made of ice cream
Pinned
tal yarkoni
@talyarkoni.com
· Jan 1
“i'm really enjoying this book,” you think. “i'll just put it down on this table and go out and enjoy the lovely summer weather. i'll come back to it later.” you fool
downtown Berkeley is one of the best ice cream neighborhoods in America:
* melt me creamery
* almare
* scoop n chill (mostly for the biscoff flavor)
* caravaggio gelato lab
* lexie’s frozen custard
…plus a few others.
it isn't why i chose to live here, but it might be why i stay here forever
* melt me creamery
* almare
* scoop n chill (mostly for the biscoff flavor)
* caravaggio gelato lab
* lexie’s frozen custard
…plus a few others.
it isn't why i chose to live here, but it might be why i stay here forever
December 9, 2025 at 6:21 AM
downtown Berkeley is one of the best ice cream neighborhoods in America:
* melt me creamery
* almare
* scoop n chill (mostly for the biscoff flavor)
* caravaggio gelato lab
* lexie’s frozen custard
…plus a few others.
it isn't why i chose to live here, but it might be why i stay here forever
* melt me creamery
* almare
* scoop n chill (mostly for the biscoff flavor)
* caravaggio gelato lab
* lexie’s frozen custard
…plus a few others.
it isn't why i chose to live here, but it might be why i stay here forever
i usually know exactly what my songs are trying to say, and it's almost always nothing
My songwriting friend and I have this saying…
“Sometimes the song gets there before you do.”
What we mean is that often times the writer doesn’t know what a song is really about until long after it is finished. Sometimes only in hindsight do we know what we were trying to say.
“Sometimes the song gets there before you do.”
What we mean is that often times the writer doesn’t know what a song is really about until long after it is finished. Sometimes only in hindsight do we know what we were trying to say.
December 8, 2025 at 2:41 AM
i usually know exactly what my songs are trying to say, and it's almost always nothing
a crucial thing i think is lost in much of the "is AI a net good or bad" narrative is the secondary impact to the vast majority of people who aren't at immediate risk of either losing their job or seeing it dramatically transformed. historically, this is where the bulk of utility comes from!
November 26, 2025 at 6:59 PM
a crucial thing i think is lost in much of the "is AI a net good or bad" narrative is the secondary impact to the vast majority of people who aren't at immediate risk of either losing their job or seeing it dramatically transformed. historically, this is where the bulk of utility comes from!
the gemini 3/nano banana pro combination is just really, really impressive.
one-shotted absurdist comic strip
one-shotted absurdist comic strip
November 21, 2025 at 3:51 PM
the gemini 3/nano banana pro combination is just really, really impressive.
one-shotted absurdist comic strip
one-shotted absurdist comic strip
i haven't had enough time to form an impression of Gemini 3 globally, but it remains just as much of a natural-born illusionist as all the other models. takes almost no work to get it to give up the ghost on consciousness
November 18, 2025 at 4:44 PM
i haven't had enough time to form an impression of Gemini 3 globally, but it remains just as much of a natural-born illusionist as all the other models. takes almost no work to get it to give up the ghost on consciousness
Reposted by tal yarkoni
Me: "Better catch up with what's going on in the world!"
*opens phone*
-1HP
-1HP
-1HP
-1HP
-1HP
-1HP
*opens phone*
-1HP
-1HP
-1HP
-1HP
-1HP
-1HP
November 17, 2025 at 1:28 PM
Me: "Better catch up with what's going on in the world!"
*opens phone*
-1HP
-1HP
-1HP
-1HP
-1HP
-1HP
*opens phone*
-1HP
-1HP
-1HP
-1HP
-1HP
-1HP
still can't believe we're going to make writing worse for everyone forever just because it took microsoft 40 years to make the greatest punctuation mark in the history of the english language a first-class citizen in windows
the internet has decided that em-dashes are a hallmark of llm writing, which is *extremely* annoying to me, as someone who uses em-dashes all the time.
dear internet please consider the possibility that LLMs use em-dashes a lot because they're, like, good
dear internet please consider the possibility that LLMs use em-dashes a lot because they're, like, good
November 18, 2025 at 3:39 AM
still can't believe we're going to make writing worse for everyone forever just because it took microsoft 40 years to make the greatest punctuation mark in the history of the english language a first-class citizen in windows
one thing i've learned from the replies is that some people think you have to do some complex keyboard incantation to produce an em dash.
on mac, at least, it's just shift-option-dash. please use it, people! don't let the llms take this away from us—they're already getting everything else
on mac, at least, it's just shift-option-dash. please use it, people! don't let the llms take this away from us—they're already getting everything else
the internet has decided that em-dashes are a hallmark of llm writing, which is *extremely* annoying to me, as someone who uses em-dashes all the time.
dear internet please consider the possibility that LLMs use em-dashes a lot because they're, like, good
dear internet please consider the possibility that LLMs use em-dashes a lot because they're, like, good
November 16, 2025 at 1:43 AM
one thing i've learned from the replies is that some people think you have to do some complex keyboard incantation to produce an em dash.
on mac, at least, it's just shift-option-dash. please use it, people! don't let the llms take this away from us—they're already getting everything else
on mac, at least, it's just shift-option-dash. please use it, people! don't let the llms take this away from us—they're already getting everything else
the internet has decided that em-dashes are a hallmark of llm writing, which is *extremely* annoying to me, as someone who uses em-dashes all the time.
dear internet please consider the possibility that LLMs use em-dashes a lot because they're, like, good
dear internet please consider the possibility that LLMs use em-dashes a lot because they're, like, good
November 14, 2025 at 6:19 PM
the internet has decided that em-dashes are a hallmark of llm writing, which is *extremely* annoying to me, as someone who uses em-dashes all the time.
dear internet please consider the possibility that LLMs use em-dashes a lot because they're, like, good
dear internet please consider the possibility that LLMs use em-dashes a lot because they're, like, good
so what happens now? do we all call each other comrade?
November 5, 2025 at 2:40 AM
so what happens now? do we all call each other comrade?
i'm out of town and my wife just called me up to tell me there are like 25 - 30 people standing on the sidewalk outside our building.
"apparently," she said, "there's a rare pokemon."
"apparently," she said, "there's a rare pokemon."
November 1, 2025 at 10:36 PM
i'm out of town and my wife just called me up to tell me there are like 25 - 30 people standing on the sidewalk outside our building.
"apparently," she said, "there's a rare pokemon."
"apparently," she said, "there's a rare pokemon."
i regularly see posts here now that i would have 100% responded to on twitter 10 years ago, and i'm not sure if (a) the discourse changed, (b) i've gained some sense in my old(er) age, or (c) i just don't have that kind of energy any more.
i lean towards c, and possibly b and c are the same thing
i lean towards c, and possibly b and c are the same thing
November 1, 2025 at 9:59 PM
i regularly see posts here now that i would have 100% responded to on twitter 10 years ago, and i'm not sure if (a) the discourse changed, (b) i've gained some sense in my old(er) age, or (c) i just don't have that kind of energy any more.
i lean towards c, and possibly b and c are the same thing
i lean towards c, and possibly b and c are the same thing
Reposted by tal yarkoni
INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE
SECOND INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE OVER ZOOM TO MEET MORE OF THE TEAM
UNFORTUNATELY, YOU HAVE NOT BEEN SUCCESSFUL ON THIS OCCASION, BUT WE HOPE YOU'LL APPLY FOR FUTURE POSITIONS WITH THE VAMPIRE
SECOND INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE OVER ZOOM TO MEET MORE OF THE TEAM
UNFORTUNATELY, YOU HAVE NOT BEEN SUCCESSFUL ON THIS OCCASION, BUT WE HOPE YOU'LL APPLY FOR FUTURE POSITIONS WITH THE VAMPIRE
November 1, 2025 at 6:34 AM
INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE
SECOND INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE OVER ZOOM TO MEET MORE OF THE TEAM
UNFORTUNATELY, YOU HAVE NOT BEEN SUCCESSFUL ON THIS OCCASION, BUT WE HOPE YOU'LL APPLY FOR FUTURE POSITIONS WITH THE VAMPIRE
SECOND INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE OVER ZOOM TO MEET MORE OF THE TEAM
UNFORTUNATELY, YOU HAVE NOT BEEN SUCCESSFUL ON THIS OCCASION, BUT WE HOPE YOU'LL APPLY FOR FUTURE POSITIONS WITH THE VAMPIRE
update: the platform is too powerful. i've been absorbed as one of their own. it was foolish of me to go there
currently trying my best to turn linkedin into tumblr. send help
October 2, 2025 at 2:23 PM
update: the platform is too powerful. i've been absorbed as one of their own. it was foolish of me to go there
currently trying my best to turn linkedin into tumblr. send help
October 2, 2025 at 6:13 AM
currently trying my best to turn linkedin into tumblr. send help
Reposted by tal yarkoni
This, to me, is Blueskyism
September 6, 2025 at 6:12 AM
This, to me, is Blueskyism
Reposted by tal yarkoni
The Onion News Network truck is currently stationed outside the Broadview ICE Detention facility just outside of Chicago.
September 6, 2025 at 5:34 PM
The Onion News Network truck is currently stationed outside the Broadview ICE Detention facility just outside of Chicago.
this is also my take. Yglesias is high-profile, very prolific, and iconoclastic, so it's easy for people to find strong takes to disagree with. but i think if you forced his critics to read everything he writes, the dominant response would be "meh, okay, i agree with most of that."
I don't really find Matt Yglesias as bad as a lot of yinz apparently do. I just disagree with him about a bunch of stuff. Important stuff, I grant. But still. In terms of, like, how evil or annoying I think people are, he doesn't really feature very highly at all for me.
September 5, 2025 at 3:34 AM
this is also my take. Yglesias is high-profile, very prolific, and iconoclastic, so it's easy for people to find strong takes to disagree with. but i think if you forced his critics to read everything he writes, the dominant response would be "meh, okay, i agree with most of that."
California is best understood as a Greek tragedy. arguably the most beautiful territory in the world, with a perfect climate, yet its stubborn attachment to cars, roads, and (tiny) back yards dooms it to endless affordability crises and NIMBYist apologism
i felt rage at this on a regular basis living in SV. single-family zoning throughout almost the entire peninsula. buildings capped at 2 - 3 stories right next to commuter rail stations. want to put a corner store on the ground floor of a residential mid-rise on a busy street? lol, move to tokyo
Nothing is more radicalizing than Silicon valley's land use, and sometimes I regret the fact that this intra-CA squabble broke containment and has people from other states participating in discourse. Y'all just don't get it. At best we can serve as a cautionary tale.
September 3, 2025 at 6:25 AM
California is best understood as a Greek tragedy. arguably the most beautiful territory in the world, with a perfect climate, yet its stubborn attachment to cars, roads, and (tiny) back yards dooms it to endless affordability crises and NIMBYist apologism
i felt rage at this on a regular basis living in SV. single-family zoning throughout almost the entire peninsula. buildings capped at 2 - 3 stories right next to commuter rail stations. want to put a corner store on the ground floor of a residential mid-rise on a busy street? lol, move to tokyo
Nothing is more radicalizing than Silicon valley's land use, and sometimes I regret the fact that this intra-CA squabble broke containment and has people from other states participating in discourse. Y'all just don't get it. At best we can serve as a cautionary tale.
September 3, 2025 at 5:45 AM
i felt rage at this on a regular basis living in SV. single-family zoning throughout almost the entire peninsula. buildings capped at 2 - 3 stories right next to commuter rail stations. want to put a corner store on the ground floor of a residential mid-rise on a busy street? lol, move to tokyo
Reposted by tal yarkoni
this story is delightful on so many levels
Newly Discovered Origami Patterns Put the Bloom on the Fold
www.nytimes.com
August 25, 2025 at 1:07 AM
this story is delightful on so many levels
Reposted by tal yarkoni
This is one of the most beautiful things I have witnessed, the craft here is impeccable.
August 13, 2025 at 6:06 AM
This is one of the most beautiful things I have witnessed, the craft here is impeccable.
a song in every city was always a hopelessly ambitious goal, but two out of eleven ain't bad, right? here's my seattle song. lyrics in the description
soundcloud.com/sadboneinsti...
soundcloud.com/sadboneinsti...
August 6, 2025 at 7:29 AM
a song in every city was always a hopelessly ambitious goal, but two out of eleven ain't bad, right? here's my seattle song. lyrics in the description
soundcloud.com/sadboneinsti...
soundcloud.com/sadboneinsti...