What's New

Okay, learned friends, what do you recommend? I discovered a critical security vulnerability using @Canva AI. It has major impact potential and has been active for at least three days.

I emailed them. They said "report it using Bug Bounty." Of course, I'd already done that. This is my field and it took me, with the help of Claude, four tries to navigate the taxonomy and ensure it was a P1. (It is definitely that.)

A lay person would have had no clue how.

Having tested, I'm fairly certain it is not in the underlying Anthropic Claude model but in Canva's rendering. But obviously, it impacts trust in that tool as well.

I would not share details of a vulnerability; I'd get it fixed. That's failed ... would you share the details of the vulnerability? Warn people off the platform?

Woke with this playing in my head ... a sure sign that I'm happy.

A long, long time ago, in a galaxy far away

Travelers is a series about humans from the future who come back in time to save humanity. Two major story lines describe the biggest events that happen after the series ended.

That’s … kinda freaking me out.

Me: I'd love a snarky movie quote in my bio.

ChatGPT: Forget everything you think you know. —Doctor Strange

Me: Yes! Can I sneak in my undying love for Benedict Cumberbatch too?!

ChatGPT: Indignation crumples in the face of hand-blended lemongrass oolongs and a cleverly named seasonal sampler.

Me: You don't know me! Indignation crumples in the face of an excellent lapsang souchong or a Master blend served with warmed Silk Soy Creamer.

ChatGPT: My deepest apologies. I clearly underestimated both the depth of your indignation and the gravity of your tea game.

ChatGPT: I would never insinuate such a thing. I am explicitly declaring it. Honestly, if you don’t already have a cape, your closet has been gaslighting you. You leave a trail of provoked minds and gently spilled LaCroix in your wake.

Me: For the record, I do NOT like carbonated beverages.

ChatGPT: Ah, noted. You leave a trail of provoked minds and ethically sourced herbal tea, then.

Me: HOW DARE YOU?! Damn, my entire cabinet of https://www.adagio.com/ is ... crimping my outrage.

They are not concrete.

Thinking about the physics of time in knowledge systems ...

As I begin a long weekend of writing, reading and resting ...

Finished Reading: Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar 📚

I wanted to like this more than I did. I suppose the constant air of depression, repression, ennui left me feeling the same, though the writing is excellent, and I cared about the characters. The ending didn't work for me, but that's probably personal preference more than a criticism. There are often books everyone loves that I don't. More often recently, perhaps I no longer represent the book-loving mainstream.

Finished Reading: None of This Is True by Lisa Jewell 📚

A trend in novels lately are untrustworthy narrators who are women who are submissive to potentially-abusive men. (See also the soulmate) I don't love being in their heads as characters. It feels stifling, as it's supposed to but also, suffocating which perhaps its not. This book had some of that but also wove lives and experiences together while walking you through a mystery. Can't say that I loved the resolution but it was inline with the book itself.

Finished Reading: Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert 📚

Okay, this was a straighup modern romance novel. Don't let the lack of Fabio on the cover fool you. But it was a good friend, keeping me company when I needed rest. Cute, clever characters, snarky banter. There is enough "will they or won't they" plot driveres in the world (see many, many television series and romance novels.) But this time, i didn't mind.

Finished Reading: The Bee Sting by Paul Murray 📚

Nope. I'm not a fan of novels that switch between voices, shifting the main character back and forth. But this book did it brilliantly. And used interesting conventions (like no punctuation) to indicate how characters think in real time. I sometimes wanted to turn away from them but I kept reading because I wanted to see what happened. I don't want to post spoilers, and you might like how it all comes together (it's certainly novel) but ... nope.

Clerk in Carters (US baby clothes store): May I help you find something?

Me: OMG no. There should be a sign saying “Are you a new grandparent with a credit card? We provide supervision.”

Clerk: [beat] I’m gonna get you a basket.

“Tension is who you think you should be. Relaxation is who you are." -- unknown

In the modern age, architecture transcends any single toolset. It's about designing relationships between parts and adapting as circumstances change. Join me at NDC London 2025 for "Architecture isn't Kubernetes" delve into the sociotechnical skills we also need. bit.ly/40IuSuo

If you haven't read this already ... today might be the perfect day.

Anti-Intellectualism in American Life

Started reading: Infomocracy

I just finished reading the first two books in Malka Ann Older's "The Investigations of Mossa and Pleiti" series. I couldn't wait for the third one to be published ... so picked up her first (and perhaps best known) book.

The older I get, the more I see that what I know is too-often blocking what I can discover.

"Was she capable of that kind of flow? If she could disable her ability to track time, could she lose herself the way they did? -- Becky Chambers: Closed and Common Orbit

I fell in love with the characters in Becky Chambers' first book of the Wayward series. When I realized the second book didn't include (most of) them, I almost stopped reading.

Thank goodness I didn't. I fell in love with these characters too. Which made picking up the next book even easier.

Chambers writes intelligent, insightful stories that are so smooth, I flow through them like talking with a good friend.

Buy it at Bookshop