Tim Carmody

Ex-liontamer. Tech, media, humanities, journalism, and miscellaneous. I help write and edit a newsletter about AI. Born in Detroit, living in Philadelphia. Trying to make Mastodon more fun since 2017. Old posts at mastodon.social/@tcarmody. Everything changes; don’t be afraid.

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/tcarmody.bsky.social
Instagram: https://instagram.com/timcarmody
Home Page: https://timcarmody.com
Work/Newsletter: https://www.deeplearning.ai/the-batch/

Last Notes

2025-03-31 20:55:13 GMT

I used GPT-4o to try to make a realistic version of Yukon Cornelius. First it gave me a very yassified version, but it accepted feedback to make him more canonically burly. Then I ran out of free generations.
https://sb-0zfmbqf4l5.b-cdn.net/media_attachments/files/114/259/034/250/431/408/original/8a189e78b0538a41.jpeg
https://sb-0zfmbqf4l5.b-cdn.net/media_attachments/files/114/259/034/778/737/579/original/fb5df1a842dda7ad.jpeg

2025-01-18 17:20:02 GMT

What if it turns out that God is real, and he doesn’t have fixed beliefs about communion or female priests or making the Hajj or how you pray, and so forth, but has VERY exacting preferences about quotes vs italics, the abbreviation of days of the week, and the Oxford comma?

2025-01-10 14:43:12 GMT

"Indigenous peoples of California were not pre-agricultural. If anything, they were anti-agricultural.”
-- David Graeber and David Wengrow, The Dawn of Everything

2025-01-09 14:05:06 GMT

Making websites is fun, everyone should do it

2025-01-06 16:21:56 GMT

I'm back in the pages of Wired with an essay about the greatness and weirdness of HTML, especially when you dig into its programming guts. This was so fun to write and I'm delighted to have my byline in the magazine (and the web!) again: https://www.wired.com/story/html-is-actually-a-programming-language-fight-me/

2024-12-03 01:18:34 GMT

I bought a (relatively inexpensive) Martin acoustic guitar. Totally ready to grow out my hair (really, I’m halfway there) and be that dude I was in college again (the guy who kind of knows how to play “Wish You Were Here”)

2024-11-28 19:31:28 GMT

The Thanksgiving music queue has moved on to Cosmo’s Factory by Creedence Clearwater Revival (America’s best 60s rock band)

2024-11-20 20:28:20 GMT

- reply

I don't like it! I really, really don’t

2024-11-20 19:53:00 GMT

I may be a homesick child of the 90s but I just love editing HTML in a text editor

2024-11-06 15:46:10 GMT

In 2016, I had a buzz in the back of my brain, a sharp pain and fear, like when you see a snake, that told me Trump would win. I had it again when Biden was still running. I didn’t have that after Harris stepped in. Now I wonder why not. I suspect it’s a better (for me) mix of brain drugs.

2024-11-05 16:53:04 GMT

I was voter number 300 in my precinct in Philadelphia — the neighborhood just south of Center City traditionally and colorfully known as “Devil’s Pocket.” They ran out of English language “I Voted” stickers, so I grabbed a “Yo Voté” instead.
Knock ‘em out the box, friends.
https://sb-0zfmbqf4l5.b-cdn.net/media_attachments/files/113/431/385/441/810/726/original/fceb9248d0b83be4.jpeg

2024-11-04 16:22:55 GMT

The New York Times Tech Guild is on strike, and are asking the public to supporting them by avoiding using the NYT’s games or cooking apps. I plan to observe the picket line for the duration. Solidarity is more important than a streak.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/new-york-tech-union-goes-strike-one-day-election-rcna178639

2024-10-27 18:50:29 GMT

It’s blatantly unfair for people you met ten (in some cases, twenty!) years ago to be even hotter today. If you can’t count on the equal ravages of time, all you’re left with is the caprices of chance, a cosmic anarchy which admits of no understanding or solidarity

2024-10-21 23:57:46 GMT

What did you dance to at your wedding (if you had a wedding where there was dancing)?
https://phire.place/@tim/113348026318978963