And a bigger crowd than last year.

I see a lot of discussion here about over-hyped AI, and then I see the huge AI bubble at my workplace, in news, in PR statements, etc.

Are there folks who work at companies -- especially interested in those in tech -- that have a reasonable handle on AI's practical uses and its limitations?

Where I work, there's:

• a dashboard of AI usage by team and individual, which will definitely not affect performance review in any way
• a mandate to use one AI tool last month, and this month a new one to abandon that tool and adopt a different one
• quarterly goals where almost every one has some amount of "with AI" in it
• letters from the CEO asking which teams are using AI to implement features from ticket descriptions, or (inspired by the news) use flocks of agents, asking for positives without mention of asking for negatives
• a team creating a review pipeline for AI-generated output in our product, planning to review the quality of the output... using AI
• teammates are writing code and designs and sending them for review without ensuring functionality or pruning irrelevant portions, despite a statement that everyone is responsible for reviewing AI output

Is all the resistance to overuse of AI grassroots and is the pressure for rampant adoption uniform among executives/investors? Or are some companies or verticals not drinking the koolaid?

From How Eric Clapton’s racism sparked a musical revolution, more at Wikipedia and How We Beat The Fascists Last Time (YT / Nebula).

They're your senators/rep if you're in MA-7 according to govtrack.us.

I generally hate talking on the phone but decided today I'd make my first call to a representative, and hope to reduce the friction for someone else!

The actual vCard includes labels for the #s but my phone doesn't seem to pick those up:

BEGIN:VCARD
VERSION:2.1
N:;Congresspeople MA 7;;;
FN:Congresspeople MA 7
TEL;X-Warren:+1-202-224-4543
TEL;X-Markey:+1-202-224-2742
TEL;X-Pressley:+1-202-225-5111
END:VCARD

Join the ACLU of Massachusetts, Indivisible Mass Coalition, Mass 50501, and partners from across the pro-democracy and pro-worker movement as we rise together.

Where: Pathways to Power AND Rally @ Boston Common—Proudly display your amazing signs, flags (no poles, please!), and your most creative protest attire as you make your way to Boston Common from 1-2 p.m. Let’s show the world what patriotism really looks like by filling the sidewalks. Consider getting off the T a few stops early to extend this visibility walk! 2-4 p.m. Rally @ Boston Common.

When: 1-4pm (1-2 Pathways to Power march, 2-4pm Boston Common)

Anyone have good sign ideas? I was considering just listing people murdered by ICE. Something I read claimed connecting potential dictators' actions with overthrowing democracy was a key, so maybe quoting Anne Frank or drawing comparisons to Stalin/Hitler.

Request for email or in-person testimony, for bills that would affect Boston and Bedford. Main link is a Google doc with templates and some suggested points to bring up.

From the opening of the bill for Boston:

Notwithstanding the provisions of chapter 452 of the Acts of 1948, or any other general or special law, rule, or regulation to the contrary, all regular and special elections in the city of Boston for the positions of mayor and district city councillor involving three or more qualified candidates, and all regular elections for the position of city councillor-at-large, shall be conducted by ranked choice voting. In any contest using ranked choice voting, the general election ballot shall allow voters to rank four candidates, including write-in lines, in order of preference.

The in-person testimony is Thursday, February 10, 2026, at 1PM - 5PM at the Massachusetts State House, 24 Beacon St, Boston, MA 02133 .

If you're unfamiliar with ranked-choice voting (RCV), it lets you list our 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th choice candidates, so you can prioritize whoever your real top pick is while also putting your weight behind a backup in case your 1st choice doesn't win.

(Also I see I'm posting a lot here, glad to pipe down if it's too much but hope folks find the info useful!)

Noah - A US Army Vet has been violently abducted, he is injured and being detained without bail. He has an urgent medical condition on top of being injured!

(from 50501 MA on Instagram)

Following up on my previous post: finished with the miter saw. Sanded the handle and blade, jointed and sharpened the teeth, waxed the blade, BLO on the handle, polished the reinstalled the nuts.

Seems to cut well!

The blade has a nice marking on it, hard to photograph. It's not perfectly shiny, but I got the bulk of the rust off anyway.

Working on the handle for the 2nd one. Sanding those inside surfaces is a pain, tips welcome. It has some big cracks, so I'm filling those with sawdust+glue.

Also working on a plane.

Disassembled, cleaned, and reassembled the metal. Sharpening in progress. Looks like it's missing one piece, a little washer that sits on the lateral adjustment arm and fits into the slot in the iron. Both wooden handles were split, so I'm gluing them before refinishing.

Via Indivisible on Bluesky (sorry for the image of text, that's what was posed there). The email is [email protected] . The bill is SD.3574 .

Related is an email template for the federal budget in the Senate.

• In your Gmail app, go to Settings.
• Select your Gmail address.
• Clear the Smart features checkbox.
• Go to Google Workspace smart features.
• Clear the checkboxes for: Smart features in Google Workspace, Smart features in other Google products
• If you have more Gmail accounts, repeat these steps for each one.
• Turning off Gemini in Gmail also disables basic, long-standing features like spellchecking, which predate AI assistants. This design choice discourages opting out and shows how valuable your AI-processed data is for Google.

This has finally gotten me to take steps to deGoogle my email, Fastmail trial underway.

The move came as dozens of immigrants arrested in Minneapolis were shipped to the Torrance County Detention Facility, which is run by private prison operator CoreCivic, in New Mexico. One of them, 33-year-old Jorge Cordoba, told Source NM he lived in Minneapolis for more than 20 years and was in the country legally under protected Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival status.

Residents who spoke during public comment were overwhelmingly in favor of the bill, though Otero County Attorney R.B. Nichols spoke during a virtual public comment period to oppose the bill. He said it would disproportionately harm economies in regions like Otero or Torrance counties that rely on detention centers for jobs.

The bill’s supporters, though, contend that it would not force these facilities to shut down. Many detention centers contract with other law enforcement agencies, such as the U.S. Marshals, and would still detain people accused of crimes.

“We’re disentangling ourselves from the immigration industry that’s been…a money-making, for-profit machine off the backs of our neighbors and families and friends,” Chávez, one of the bill’s sponsors, told Source NM. “I think that it sends a message to the rest of the country.”

On Oct 7

Boston police said a group of between 200 to 300 protesters blocked Tremont Street near Winter Street around 6:46 p.m., while officers were responding to an unrelated emergency three blocks away.

“When officers attempted to move the group to the sidewalk to allow emergency vehicles to pass, protesters surrounded police cruisers, kicked vehicle doors, and resisted dispersal efforts,” the department said in a statement.

Mass 50501 will join Boston DSA, PSL, and other orgs in calling for an end to Trump’s extrajudicial acts of war against Venezuela and an end to ICE’s reign of terror across the U.S. tomorrow, Saturday, Jan 10th, at 12 PM at Boston’s State House.

After the protest, join us to march to the JFK Federal Building for LUCE’s 2 PM rally and vigil for Renee Good and all those whose lives have been taken by ICE.

Via the Mass 50501 email list.

Posted by bostonpsl on Instagram.

In light of ICE murdering a protester in Minneapolis.

Painting is (NSFW) The Rebuke of Adam and Eve by Domenichino, 1626.

Recipe from thesourdoughbaker.com. The dough is fairly wet (69% hydration assuming 50% hydration starter), not that different from my standard sourdough loaf.

This was my 2nd attempt at English Muffins and 1st use of this recipe. Misc observations: They definitely came out nicer using the rings for the rise and on the griddle, but keeping the rings on during the bake didn't really matter. They got a lot of "oven" spring on the griddle. Coarse cornmeal was too coarse (still pretty crunchy to eat), I may try to grind it finer but would buy a finer grind in the future; however setting each side of the shaped balls in a bowl of cornmeal was a little easier than finding a well-dusted patch on the baking sheet for each one. I had to have the griddle hotter than I guessed, pretty much like for pancakes.

Here they are ready to prove:

Most of the nuts came out with minimal force, but the last one just spins in place. I tried rubber gloves, painter's tape, and duct tape to get a better grip. I'd rather not cut a slot in the domed nut if there's another good strategy.

The rest of the restoration underway: