John Sundman
@jsundman.bsky.social
Biodigital novelist, mover of heavy objects, volunteer firefighter (retired), national treasure.
"Sundman figures it out!" : https://johnsundman.substack.com/
JohnSundman.com
"Sundman figures it out!" : https://johnsundman.substack.com/
JohnSundman.com
It's as if an obituary of John Lennon had the lede, "John Lennon, one of Paul McCartney's many collaborators. . ." Watson was an asshole. But he & Francis Crick assembled the puzzle pieces first. They figured out how DNA was structured, & how it could transmit genetic information. Just say it. 2/
November 7, 2025 at 11:37 PM
It's as if an obituary of John Lennon had the lede, "John Lennon, one of Paul McCartney's many collaborators. . ." Watson was an asshole. But he & Francis Crick assembled the puzzle pieces first. They figured out how DNA was structured, & how it could transmit genetic information. Just say it. 2/
Several prominent GeoCities and MySpace accounts have just endorsed Andrew Cuomo.
November 4, 2025 at 12:13 PM
Several prominent GeoCities and MySpace accounts have just endorsed Andrew Cuomo.
When Babe Ruth retired in 1935 he had hit 714 home runs, a record that stood until Henry 'Hank' Aaron broke it in April, 1974. I would like to know who was in second place on the all time list in 1935 & how many total HRs he had hit. AI-enshittified search doesn't help. Can you? #baseball
October 13, 2025 at 1:39 AM
When Babe Ruth retired in 1935 he had hit 714 home runs, a record that stood until Henry 'Hank' Aaron broke it in April, 1974. I would like to know who was in second place on the all time list in 1935 & how many total HRs he had hit. AI-enshittified search doesn't help. Can you? #baseball
Longtime friends here know I love to post 6 AM when rain is falling on the skylight above my desk in the attic office in my falling-down house on the dirt road that dead-ends into a nature preserve on Martha's Vineyard — Dear Wife asleep & all else quiet. But this nor'easter is fucking nuts. 1/2
October 11, 2025 at 12:11 AM
Longtime friends here know I love to post 6 AM when rain is falling on the skylight above my desk in the attic office in my falling-down house on the dirt road that dead-ends into a nature preserve on Martha's Vineyard — Dear Wife asleep & all else quiet. But this nor'easter is fucking nuts. 1/2
Rain on the skylight above the desk in the attic office of my falling-down house on Martha's Vineyard. Tops of 60-foot tall oak trees in the woods behind the back yard sway in the wind. All the lights in my office are turned off.
October 8, 2025 at 2:47 PM
Rain on the skylight above the desk in the attic office of my falling-down house on Martha's Vineyard. Tops of 60-foot tall oak trees in the woods behind the back yard sway in the wind. All the lights in my office are turned off.
Now available at Barnes & Noble!
informationmagazine.com
informationmagazine.com
October 7, 2025 at 5:02 PM
Now available at Barnes & Noble!
informationmagazine.com
informationmagazine.com
Join me at MIT on October 14 for 'long now' discussion on what Boston/Cambridge might look like 250 years in the future. When I was invited to be on this panel I said, "I dunno. My crystal ball gets pretty murky 2 months from now." But the organizers said that was OK, so I said, "Count me in!"
October 6, 2025 at 12:15 AM
Join me at MIT on October 14 for 'long now' discussion on what Boston/Cambridge might look like 250 years in the future. When I was invited to be on this panel I said, "I dunno. My crystal ball gets pretty murky 2 months from now." But the organizers said that was OK, so I said, "Count me in!"
Woke up on the morning of September 27, 1980 feeling inexplicably nervous.
September 27, 2025 at 2:27 PM
Woke up on the morning of September 27, 1980 feeling inexplicably nervous.
Raining on Martha's Vineyard. Rain on the skylight above the desk in the attic office in my falling-down house on the dirt road in the woods. My wife is out with a friend; Spot, our black lab with the white locket, is downstairs, asleep. No wind; the tops of the oak trees are basically motionless.
September 24, 2025 at 4:16 PM
Raining on Martha's Vineyard. Rain on the skylight above the desk in the attic office in my falling-down house on the dirt road in the woods. My wife is out with a friend; Spot, our black lab with the white locket, is downstairs, asleep. No wind; the tops of the oak trees are basically motionless.
The trust-fund nepo-baby, crackpot ghoul & narcissistic death merchant 'Baby Bobby' Kennedy was on Martha's Vineyard today. I was among ~100 people who greeted his 3-car motorcade as it left the airport. Most of us had pro-science/pro-vaccine signs. The Grim Reaper was there too, but signless. 1/2
September 23, 2025 at 10:40 PM
The trust-fund nepo-baby, crackpot ghoul & narcissistic death merchant 'Baby Bobby' Kennedy was on Martha's Vineyard today. I was among ~100 people who greeted his 3-car motorcade as it left the airport. Most of us had pro-science/pro-vaccine signs. The Grim Reaper was there too, but signless. 1/2
In 2008 I wrote & published The Pains, a dystopian novella about 'Freemerica' — a mashup of George Orwell's & Ronald Reagan's 1984s — run by an alliance of libertarian transhumanist techbros & christofascist theocrats. My most depressingly prescient book. It includes 12 nightmarish illustrations. 1/
September 20, 2025 at 10:17 PM
In 2008 I wrote & published The Pains, a dystopian novella about 'Freemerica' — a mashup of George Orwell's & Ronald Reagan's 1984s — run by an alliance of libertarian transhumanist techbros & christofascist theocrats. My most depressingly prescient book. It includes 12 nightmarish illustrations. 1/
Just say'n. (I got this shotglass at Josie Zaynor's "How to edit your genome with CRISPR" demonstration at SynbioBeta 2017)
September 15, 2025 at 1:34 PM
Just say'n. (I got this shotglass at Josie Zaynor's "How to edit your genome with CRISPR" demonstration at SynbioBeta 2017)
I have always loved the name 'endoplasmic reticulum,' but I like to think that anything as cool-sounding as 'endoplasmic reticulum' should be some kind of space-time portal to a Lovecraftian world of pure horror, not some damn lipid transport mechanism. Bor-ring!
August 27, 2025 at 1:20 PM
I have always loved the name 'endoplasmic reticulum,' but I like to think that anything as cool-sounding as 'endoplasmic reticulum' should be some kind of space-time portal to a Lovecraftian world of pure horror, not some damn lipid transport mechanism. Bor-ring!
Re-read Anthony Burgess's moving, bemused, tragi-comic trilogy The Long Day Wanes, set in Malaya in the late 1950's, shortly before independence from Britain. I first read it 50 years ago. A bravura work, truly astounding as a first novelistic effort. Far from perfect, but pretty fucking awesome. 1/
August 26, 2025 at 10:25 PM
Re-read Anthony Burgess's moving, bemused, tragi-comic trilogy The Long Day Wanes, set in Malaya in the late 1950's, shortly before independence from Britain. I first read it 50 years ago. A bravura work, truly astounding as a first novelistic effort. Far from perfect, but pretty fucking awesome. 1/
Thanks. This is the only Fisher I was aware of who writes about this kind of stuff, but that quote certainly didn't sound like him!
(I read this book, published in 1930) in my 'finance' class when I was working on an M.S. in agricultural economics in the late 1970's. It was remarkably relevant. )
(I read this book, published in 1930) in my 'finance' class when I was working on an M.S. in agricultural economics in the late 1970's. It was remarkably relevant. )
August 23, 2025 at 4:09 PM
Thanks. This is the only Fisher I was aware of who writes about this kind of stuff, but that quote certainly didn't sound like him!
(I read this book, published in 1930) in my 'finance' class when I was working on an M.S. in agricultural economics in the late 1970's. It was remarkably relevant. )
(I read this book, published in 1930) in my 'finance' class when I was working on an M.S. in agricultural economics in the late 1970's. It was remarkably relevant. )
Also, do you like my t-shirt? (I founded Wetmachine, to which I recruited the legendary Harold Feld in 2003. The site is still up, but neither of us -- or any other wetmachanics -- have posted in quite a while.). wetmachine.com
August 23, 2025 at 3:31 PM
Also, do you like my t-shirt? (I founded Wetmachine, to which I recruited the legendary Harold Feld in 2003. The site is still up, but neither of us -- or any other wetmachanics -- have posted in quite a while.). wetmachine.com
Just like you, I gave my life to Christ in a Cracker Barrel parking lot.
August 22, 2025 at 12:52 PM
Just like you, I gave my life to Christ in a Cracker Barrel parking lot.
Release the Files. (Artist unknown. Alt text by me.)
August 22, 2025 at 3:31 AM
Release the Files. (Artist unknown. Alt text by me.)
From the introduction to 'Android Concurrency,' by @callmeike.bsky.social:
August 21, 2025 at 2:58 PM
From the introduction to 'Android Concurrency,' by @callmeike.bsky.social:
Vineyard pride. Serious question: do those glasses make me look like Uncle Junior Soprano?
August 7, 2025 at 1:32 AM
Vineyard pride. Serious question: do those glasses make me look like Uncle Junior Soprano?
Geraldine Brooks, the Pulitzer Prize winning author of Horse, March & other great novels, is a long-time paying subscriber to my newsletter, "Sundman figures it out!". She recently send me some more $$ through 'Buy me a coffee' & encourages me to use her endorsement. 💙📚.
johnsundman.substack.com
johnsundman.substack.com
August 2, 2025 at 11:49 AM
Geraldine Brooks, the Pulitzer Prize winning author of Horse, March & other great novels, is a long-time paying subscriber to my newsletter, "Sundman figures it out!". She recently send me some more $$ through 'Buy me a coffee' & encourages me to use her endorsement. 💙📚.
johnsundman.substack.com
johnsundman.substack.com
If you want to know what it's like to fly a bronto during firefighting operations, I'm your huckleberry. See bonus bleet, to follow, for links to my essay about the only time in my ten years as a firefighter that I was scared during operations on the Bronto's platform at a 3-AM house fire. 2/3
July 11, 2025 at 12:40 AM
If you want to know what it's like to fly a bronto during firefighting operations, I'm your huckleberry. See bonus bleet, to follow, for links to my essay about the only time in my ten years as a firefighter that I was scared during operations on the Bronto's platform at a 3-AM house fire. 2/3
Among many sterling, amazing pieces, this essay, "The Varieties of Silicon Valley Religious Experience" (with its echoes of William James's 1902 landmark volume "The Varieties of Religious Experience) perhaps stands out a bit above all the others. I think it's just sublime. 1/2
July 9, 2025 at 10:22 PM
Among many sterling, amazing pieces, this essay, "The Varieties of Silicon Valley Religious Experience" (with its echoes of William James's 1902 landmark volume "The Varieties of Religious Experience) perhaps stands out a bit above all the others. I think it's just sublime. 1/2
If you put Wired, Mad Magazine and ArtForum into a blender, added in a bit of Gawker & New Yorker & a dollop of technoparanoia, then distilled the essence onto 160 pages of 9 x 12 high-quality, thick, glossy stock, you might get something like In Formation #3. Two years in the works. Want a copy? 1/
July 9, 2025 at 10:11 PM
If you put Wired, Mad Magazine and ArtForum into a blender, added in a bit of Gawker & New Yorker & a dollop of technoparanoia, then distilled the essence onto 160 pages of 9 x 12 high-quality, thick, glossy stock, you might get something like In Formation #3. Two years in the works. Want a copy? 1/