Birds in May 🔗
A seagull on a streetlight A blackbird looking a bit scruffy. Oystercatcher! On a lawn! This male northern wheatear was hanging out at a construction [...]
Baldur Bjarnason - All Writing
Posts
A massive Easter sale and a preview of my next book (out late 2026) 🔗
Easter 2026 Bundle And a preview of The Magic Toy Factory Why the software you make and use sucks. Get The Ebook bundle for €49 EUR, discounted [...]
The two worlds of programming: why developers who make the same observations about LLMs come to opposite conclusions 🔗
“Why are you being so difficult? This could be a good thing for us? How can you be so sure?” This was in late 2000. We were having drinks in the Water [...]
Ravens in March 🔗
This raven is picking the meat off a sheep’s jaw. I’m guessing somebody threw their “svið” leftovers out for the ravens to enjoy. Whoops dropped it. I [...]
Objects not data: a photography and illustration print experiment 🔗
Information Wants To Be Free. Information also wants to be expensive. —Stewart Brand There is a tension inherent in the economic nature of data. Data [...]
Birds in February 🔗
A couple of simple bird shots. Redcaps and a starling. The ravens are still in town. [...]
Have I hardened against LLMs? 🔗
The other day a reader of The Intelligence Illusion sent me a short email that outlined their takeaway from the book and ended it with a simple questi [...]
Black and white January 🔗
Icelandic ravens stay in the countryside during the summer, but are urban in the winter. The cemetery in Gufunes, for example, usually has a bunch of [...]
Books as signifiers, the paradox of tolerance, and Nazi bars 🔗
“Could you have a quick look at this manuscript? I think it could do with a fresh pair of eyes.” A request like this wasn’t unusual in the early days [...]
'AI' is a dick move, redux 🔗
(This was originally posted as a social media thread. Edited and posted here for posterity.) I’ve stopped trying to debate software developers on LLMs [...]