glenn mcdonald
@glennmcdonald.bsky.social
Music, furia.com, everynoise.com, books, soccer, food, civilization, running, technology, music. Bridges.
"The data science behind the feature is predictably thin."
The official explanation insists it's not as thin as
average(song ages in years)+16
but...
The official explanation insists it's not as thin as
average(song ages in years)+16
but...
December 5, 2025 at 1:36 AM
"The data science behind the feature is predictably thin."
The official explanation insists it's not as thin as
average(song ages in years)+16
but...
The official explanation insists it's not as thin as
average(song ages in years)+16
but...
Information systems should be valuably enhanced memory, not summarily outsourced judgment.
www.theguardian.com/music/2025/d...
www.theguardian.com/music/2025/d...
Spotify Wrapped is taking over our feeds, but you don’t have outsource your relationship with music to AI | Liz Pelly
The streamer’s annual charts are just another version of the tech that’s alienating us from our inner lives. Hold on to your musical memories and reclaim ownership of your taste
www.theguardian.com
December 4, 2025 at 1:20 PM
Information systems should be valuably enhanced memory, not summarily outsourced judgment.
www.theguardian.com/music/2025/d...
www.theguardian.com/music/2025/d...
I look forward to my Year in Food telling me that I liked Noodles and Dessert.
December 3, 2025 at 2:53 PM
I look forward to my Year in Food telling me that I liked Noodles and Dessert.
You own anything and everything an "AI" does in your name.
December 2, 2025 at 9:49 PM
You own anything and everything an "AI" does in your name.
If you can channel enough old-fashioned seriousness to snort automatically at the idea of using "Nano Banana" for "work", consider that a gift.
November 28, 2025 at 2:40 PM
If you can channel enough old-fashioned seriousness to snort automatically at the idea of using "Nano Banana" for "work", consider that a gift.
AGI: not quite yet.
November 22, 2025 at 7:59 PM
AGI: not quite yet.
It's OK to make people hit Enter.
November 21, 2025 at 2:33 AM
It's OK to make people hit Enter.
Etiquette tip: when invited to a formal dinner with a wannabe autocrat to honor an actual autocrat, the proper RSVP is
no.
no.
November 20, 2025 at 4:11 PM
Etiquette tip: when invited to a formal dinner with a wannabe autocrat to honor an actual autocrat, the proper RSVP is
no.
no.
If you have a task that you believe does not need to be done with any kind of inspiration or innovation or specific empathy, then having AI do it for you is almost as good as not doing it at all, and almost as fast, and better for filling the world with routine joyless disdain.
November 17, 2025 at 4:28 PM
If you have a task that you believe does not need to be done with any kind of inspiration or innovation or specific empathy, then having AI do it for you is almost as good as not doing it at all, and almost as fast, and better for filling the world with routine joyless disdain.
There will be no $1b one-person vibe-coded startups. There *might* be $1b ideas that could be vibe-coded, but if so they would immediately be vibe-cloned by a thousand other people, most of whom would then give their probably-better versions away for free.
November 17, 2025 at 3:55 PM
There will be no $1b one-person vibe-coded startups. There *might* be $1b ideas that could be vibe-coded, but if so they would immediately be vibe-cloned by a thousand other people, most of whom would then give their probably-better versions away for free.
The histronic threat of superior intelligence rendering humanity moot is there to distract from the mundane but far more likely possibility of simulated intelligence replacing human progress with clever recombinations of whatever we already had.
Not skynet terminators, just 2025 forever.
Not skynet terminators, just 2025 forever.
November 17, 2025 at 3:15 PM
The histronic threat of superior intelligence rendering humanity moot is there to distract from the mundane but far more likely possibility of simulated intelligence replacing human progress with clever recombinations of whatever we already had.
Not skynet terminators, just 2025 forever.
Not skynet terminators, just 2025 forever.
The problem with imagining that the Epstein files are going to reveal Trump's secret vices is that Trump has no inner life with which to take pleasure from things in secret.
November 14, 2025 at 10:42 PM
The problem with imagining that the Epstein files are going to reveal Trump's secret vices is that Trump has no inner life with which to take pleasure from things in secret.
Distrust anything that purports to tell you how to "stay ahead". You probably aren't ahead, and you probably don't NEED to be ahead. Be conscientously and curiously where you are.
November 13, 2025 at 5:53 PM
Distrust anything that purports to tell you how to "stay ahead". You probably aren't ahead, and you probably don't NEED to be ahead. Be conscientously and curiously where you are.
Epstein introducing you to a 28-year-old: the Nordstrom Rack of underage sex-trafficking?
November 13, 2025 at 4:59 PM
Epstein introducing you to a 28-year-old: the Nordstrom Rack of underage sex-trafficking?
Another podcast-episode's worth of me talking about music and my book, but with Jessica Brown at Music Education New Zealand Aotearoa, who asks me much less industrial questions than some other hosts have, and thus leads us into interestingly different conversations.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YrQ...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YrQ...
Tune Me In Episode 6: Spotify's Data Alchemist, Glenn McDonald
YouTube video by MENZA
www.youtube.com
November 12, 2025 at 3:24 AM
Another podcast-episode's worth of me talking about music and my book, but with Jessica Brown at Music Education New Zealand Aotearoa, who asks me much less industrial questions than some other hosts have, and thus leads us into interestingly different conversations.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YrQ...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YrQ...
CSV is a fine tool, and I trust myself to know when to use it and not you, and probably vice versa. For anything else machine-directed, use JSON. Do not try to save tokens. Do not waste your time *counting* tokens, which you're probably doing wrong anyway. Improve something else.
November 11, 2025 at 2:02 AM
CSV is a fine tool, and I trust myself to know when to use it and not you, and probably vice versa. For anything else machine-directed, use JSON. Do not try to save tokens. Do not waste your time *counting* tokens, which you're probably doing wrong anyway. Improve something else.
I am convinced.
November 10, 2025 at 9:49 PM
I am convinced.
Just a reminder that FIGHTING is super-effective against ICE.
This has been your morning note about Pokémon types.
PS: DOUBLE-super-effective against DARK + ICE.
This has been your morning note about Pokémon types.
PS: DOUBLE-super-effective against DARK + ICE.
October 30, 2025 at 12:29 PM
Just a reminder that FIGHTING is super-effective against ICE.
This has been your morning note about Pokémon types.
PS: DOUBLE-super-effective against DARK + ICE.
This has been your morning note about Pokémon types.
PS: DOUBLE-super-effective against DARK + ICE.
Gamification is the opposite of learning to appreciate the thing for its own qualities.
October 27, 2025 at 8:27 PM
Gamification is the opposite of learning to appreciate the thing for its own qualities.
draining the swamp. Back into the public water supply.
October 27, 2025 at 5:42 PM
draining the swamp. Back into the public water supply.
It would be delicious if the "builder" (sic) president were impeached for permit violations.
October 27, 2025 at 12:18 AM
It would be delicious if the "builder" (sic) president were impeached for permit violations.
Our Lady of Vigilance
October 26, 2025 at 7:13 PM
Our Lady of Vigilance
Nobody voted for a ballroom.
October 24, 2025 at 1:06 PM
Nobody voted for a ballroom.
Today's BlueSky vibe summary via furia.com/skyq/skyq.html:
October 23, 2025 at 8:47 PM
Today's BlueSky vibe summary via furia.com/skyq/skyq.html:
A. And yet, B. I don't feel like I'm being unreasonable.
October 23, 2025 at 6:07 PM
A. And yet, B. I don't feel like I'm being unreasonable.