Thomas Sturm

Programmer, photographer and writer. Now go outside and look at the sky.

Blog: https://sturm.to
Novel: https://www.amazon.com/Shanghai-Gold-Thomas-Sturm/dp/0978608100/
Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/ThomasSturm

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Last Notes

2026-01-17 03:19:45 GMT

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I don’t think this is the appropriate tone when talking about the governor’s policies, Mainichi-kun.

2026-01-03 03:51:53 GMT

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As you are quietly sitting there and the noise of the propellers is getting louder and louder… 😂

2025-12-20 03:50:14 GMT

The kid’s game PC crashed a lot lately, like a lot more. After some fuzzing around with Windows we removed all the AI crap (copilot and recall) that was installed and - voila - no more crashes and an extra 4GB of free memory.

2025-11-20 22:34:53 GMT

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Ask them no coding questions. Discuss their favorite novel with them. A good programmer can learn any system you code in, but what you want to know is if you can work with them.

2025-11-12 23:06:45 GMT

Now that the Democrats have finally enough votes to force disclosure of the Epstein files, I very much expect them to immediately turn around and vote on the complete destruction of the data "in the spirit of bipartisanship" or some bullshit.

2025-10-30 04:45:22 GMT

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Good luck getting an accurate census after that.

2025-10-29 22:07:52 GMT

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Working in large corporations is such a nightmare... I literally find out about layoffs whenever faces go blank in Google Chat - often in mid-conversation with no warning or handoff or any kind of consideration for our common work.

2025-09-20 03:22:42 GMT

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I've passed through on the train to Nara. And on the way back last time in spring this year it was *exactly* this kind of lighting from the setting sun.
There is a 20-second spot on the train close to Ishikiri station where you can get this view from the train. 😅
I remember it because I wanted to go back there for a photo session.

2025-09-20 03:10:43 GMT

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That's an awesome view of Osaka. Somewhere near Ishikiri station?

2025-09-20 01:47:56 GMT

Like seriously - really?

2025-08-25 19:58:42 GMT

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Here in Minoo we saw the clouds passing us on their way to Kyoto. It looked apocalyptic.

2025-08-20 01:07:04 GMT

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My first job in SF in 1999 was all about the Odwalla fridge. They barely paid us, so the juice was a big incentive. 😁

2025-08-20 00:38:55 GMT

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Every startup in 1997 had an Odwalla fridge. 😁

2025-08-12 02:02:03 GMT

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Gauss hated when they did that.

2025-08-06 21:44:05 GMT

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Sounds like it's time for other countries to consider boycotting the LA Olympics. The best way to show "American Exceptionalism" at the Olympics is if the US athletes are the only ones competing.

2025-08-03 15:10:52 GMT

Wood Moderne
https://cdn.famichiki.jp/media_attachments/files/114/965/368/482/547/187/original/d0c028a3d906e257.jpg

2025-06-28 01:41:42 GMT

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Do you have any instructions online on how you set this up? If I understand this correctly, you got the model to transcribe & translate in real time from a video stream?

2025-06-21 04:39:20 GMT

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Yeah, agree.
There are certainly people who got burned with social media and the consequences of having a part of their life out for people to search on, but everyone needed to sign up, pick a cute avatar, write some sort of intro and then push "post" or "toot" or whatever for every single update.
I don't have to read the legalese on my server or be "shocked" and "gobsmacked" by its contents, because I know full well that what I post will somehow survive me out on the Internet.

2025-06-07 03:30:42 GMT

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Violent, warrant-less arrest of a union leader for any reason should be grounds for a general strike.

2025-06-07 03:16:07 GMT

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Personally I think this should be reason enough for all union leaders to sit down and consider strike action. Like, WTF?

2025-06-05 23:13:24 GMT

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My pet theory is that Trump threw a Diet Coke bottle at Musk.

2025-06-05 22:54:19 GMT

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Still left them vulnerable to Senators rage-quitting their budget. Not a criticism of your point, just an observation that we can't have nice things. 🙄

2025-06-03 05:21:22 GMT

If you are interested in a Spectrum Next, the developers just announced a third Kickstarter round starting on July 19th 2025: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/spectrumnext/zx-spectrum-next/posts/4400518
I got a Next in the first round and it's great!

2025-05-30 01:59:03 GMT

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Right now the airlines are trying to not talk too much about how empty their planes are. But from the nervous hiccuping noises coming out of Japanese and EU airlines, flights into the summer season are VERY empty.

2025-05-24 07:11:20 GMT

Engineers: "Software is complex and development takes time, money and inspiration."
--- years pass ---
Business People: "Those idiot engineers are still babbling about complexity. But these guys here have an .ai domain and they say they can magically make software! Their CEO even calls himself a Wizard! Give them all our money and fire the engineers!"
--- months pass ---
Business People: "Why does nothing work? And what do you mean, the Wizard left with all the money?"

2025-05-23 12:23:15 GMT

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The Verge could have tried a little harder with that sentence...
"Microsoft confirmed to The Verge that it has implemented some form of email changes to reduce “politically focused emails” inside the company."
Better:
"Microsoft confirmed to The Verge that it has implemented censorship of emails to reduce “politically focused emails” inside the company."

2025-05-23 12:17:58 GMT

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They should have just asked one of Claude's peers for a second opinion.
I did, since this sounds like the kind of thing a chat AI should be the expert for:
https://chatgpt.com/share/683066d7-596c-8012-abbf-8a8e7929c422

2025-05-09 00:26:26 GMT

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Ah - that makes a lot more sense. Still leaves the tiny problem of how to actually harvest it. Will be interesting to watch...

2025-05-08 23:25:22 GMT

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2029 sounds pretty ambitious... is that 3 liters of liquid helium-3? That would require a pretty big harvesting plant on the lunar surface, no?

2025-05-02 08:48:07 GMT

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WTF???

2025-04-16 06:11:29 GMT

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I guess these planes can fly out of the box, at least for a little while. 😆
Certification costs probably $$$

2025-04-16 02:35:42 GMT

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Comes with all three engines - so I guess non-flyable mostly because the maintenance has lapsed.
I wonder how much it costs to get one of these to fly again.

2025-04-09 01:34:54 GMT

OK, can't talk right now, I have a private message from Nicole I need to respond to.

2025-04-09 00:30:48 GMT

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5, with 4 and 6 also adorable. :)

2025-04-07 03:31:03 GMT

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Yeah. That's my worry, too. Like all cults, they usually dig in until there is no way out. Giving the US government over to a cult was maybe not the best idea.

2025-03-25 01:50:15 GMT

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Yes! Need to restrain myself from watching the S2 trailers over and over.

2025-03-25 01:01:43 GMT

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I'd give it a few more episodes. The early episodes is a lot of scene setting stuff. For me, things really took off after that.

2025-03-24 14:24:09 GMT

Here's a little app I've been working on, now on the iOS app store: Riidaa - a simple text and PDF reader. It's extremely bare-bones, but it provides the one feature the Files app doesn't have: It remembers which page you were on.
I'm charging a dollar for this one, since I actually intend to keep it up-to-date with iOS changes and will maybe add a few more convenience features as I need them myself.
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/riidaa/id6743688839

2025-03-13 06:32:41 GMT

So apparently the favored legal theory of the current US government is that the 1st Amendment only applies to people that the president likes.
Now I'm not a lawyer, but the US is full of lawyers. This should be something that can be cleared up.

2025-03-12 05:20:58 GMT

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Is this bad?
It's bad, right?

2025-03-12 03:55:17 GMT

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4 hours in the international terminal at LAX? That is quite a span of time. Also, did they arrive on a plane or just hang out at the airport?

2025-02-27 05:30:29 GMT

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Hmmm... even at this distance it looks like another peanut-shaped rock. 😅

2025-02-22 01:29:46 GMT

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That's pretty awesome!

2025-02-18 23:55:42 GMT

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Laying off all the National Park rangers and the maintenance crews is just shitting all over the crown jewels of the US.
All those extreme conservatives that like to take their giant SUV with a bunch of ATVs in a trailer up to the parks will have to deal with no toilet paper in the overflowing toilets and paths impassable because of landslides and fallen trees.
People will literally die in some of the more remote areas of the parks. If you slip and fall, good luck making it out.

2025-02-02 00:17:51 GMT

The Chinese government must be ecstatic about the news these days.
If I would have to come up with a way to align the majority of non-EU countries with a Chinese expansionist strategy, I don’t think I could come up with anything better than what is now US policy.

2025-01-24 02:26:05 GMT

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Know that phase extremely well. 😅
With our kid, it's all about video games. Getting the same game as his friends so they can hang out together in-game is the most important thing, so that requires Steam and Microsoft accounts and they use a variety of Discord servers to chat. Had to have multiple discussions about online safety and why not to install random stuff on his computer, just because another kid says it's "safe".
Not clicking all links is a hard-learned skill.

2025-01-24 01:52:56 GMT

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We have a 14-year old boy, so it's different apps. But it looks like for girls here in JP, insta is still important...
The only thing I know about parenting teens is that telling them what not to do online and setting up barriers only makes them try to find ways around them.
And teens are branching out to other apps in unpredictable ways, so this might only be temporary - in a few years she might drop insta for whatever is the newest thing.

2025-01-18 08:23:36 GMT

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We just had a discussion around here on why modern software for old systems seems to look better - I guess it's a lot about applying modern toolchains and much faster and more capable computers as development systems.
And also for me, availability of documentation - writing my Spectrum emulator was relatively easy since I have access to literally all the documentation created for this system over four decades.
And yes, writing a Z80 emulator was mostly an exercise in nostalgia!

2025-01-17 23:55:51 GMT

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Yep - spent quite some time over the last two years with a hobby-z80-emulator. It's strange how internal mental models from the ealry 1980s came back, like putting on a coat last worn four decades ago.

2025-01-14 03:52:33 GMT

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Here's one: https://liberatedpixelcup.github.io/Universal-LPC-Spritesheet-Character-Generator/#?body=Body_color_bright_green&head=Alien_bright_green&shoulders=Legion_bronze&chainmail=none_Chainmail&legs=Shorts_navy&vest=Vest_open_sky&shoes=Boots_2_bronze&visor=Slit_visor_brass&weapon=Great_steel&ammo=Ammo_arrow&hair=Spiked_raven

2025-01-11 12:47:48 GMT

Powell Street At Night
Taken with a 1960s Kodak Retinette 1A.
https://cdn.famichiki.jp/media_attachments/files/113/809/780/012/363/428/original/5ca08bc1b4bc73a5.jpg

2024-12-31 02:46:39 GMT

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I recently have been thinking of what it would take to run my own spider... for the first time in about 25 years. The search results I'm getting lately are so bad, that a DIY spider might actually improve the situation for me.

2024-12-26 03:48:55 GMT

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Google AI really took a stand there. Drew a line in the ground. Picked a hill to die on.

2024-12-07 01:25:19 GMT

A wheat & rye & hazelnut bread fresh from the oven. Mastodon needs to implement federated smell-o-vision to really bring this experience across. 😋
https://cdn.famichiki.jp/media_attachments/files/113/608/917/941/877/767/original/2833427e4f060efd.jpeg

2024-12-05 13:17:56 GMT

More cookies. Made sure to take a good picture before they inevitably all disappear again.
https://cdn.famichiki.jp/media_attachments/files/113/600/381/354/611/027/original/8b8162522e54ecf0.jpeg
https://cdn.famichiki.jp/media_attachments/files/113/600/382/163/552/556/original/3ce65c71fb36b368.jpg

2024-11-26 22:10:08 GMT

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There's always been the same amount of disastrously uninformed people, but before social networks nobody listened to them.

2024-11-11 03:48:51 GMT

The newspaper didn't bother to tell you, but when you see this headline, you know the cause of death and injury.
https://cdn.famichiki.jp/media_attachments/files/113/462/262/127/644/945/original/b272f63c805f92cd.png

2024-11-07 02:38:26 GMT

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If this change in administration is still detectable in 100 million years, it’s not a good sign.

2024-10-31 08:11:32 GMT

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ASBESTOS SHOVELING COMPETITION?

2024-10-30 23:18:32 GMT

Hey fellow kids - just heard a 30-something in a podcast say "...when I'm sixty I want to retire and do all the things I love, traveling, learning new languages..."
Just as a little preview from the future: Learning things gets harder when you get older. And traveling can be physically challenging in your 60s even if you've lived on broccoli and Tai Chi all your life.
Enjoy your life while you are young. Fuck savings, go travel in your 20s and 30s. And good luck with that retirement thing.

2024-10-07 22:46:08 GMT

In case you are wondering how the removal of 880 tons of melted nuclear fuel slag in Fukushima is going, after two years of development and two months of effort, the target of removing 3 grams of material has not yet succeeded.
Yes. 0 out of 3 grams have been removed. Out of a total of 880 tons.
https://spectrum.ieee.org/fukushima-reactor

2024-09-13 05:23:39 GMT

Science!
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/sep/12/ig-nobel-prize-goes-to-team-who-found-mammals-can-breathe-through-anuses

2024-09-08 16:50:30 GMT

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You watched them render out the Genesis Effect? That is awesome! What an amazing moment in film making to witness!

2024-08-25 15:59:00 GMT

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One of my top favorite movies. And Eva Marie Saint in that movie… [fans self]

2024-08-16 23:31:51 GMT

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It's easy to lose badly-documented institutional knowledge by firing a thousand engineers. Some of them, by performing daily tasks that were outside of their job description, were probably doing Important Things(tm) that will be super-hard to recover once lost.

2024-08-16 23:25:54 GMT

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Maybe shouldn't have laid off thousands of engineers. Some of them might have been keeping the lights on.

2024-05-13 00:00:51 GMT

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Gert Froebe was so good as the villain. He really gave us a prototype for all future movie villains.

2024-05-12 23:35:01 GMT

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It’s a true classic, ageless and at the same time aged like a fine wine.