Jordan Thayer
@jordanthayer.com
AI researcher, consultant, professional speaker, video and tabletop gamer, and trans woman.
https://jordanthayer.com/
https://jordanthayer.com/
Happy Halloween everyone.
October 31, 2025 at 12:30 PM
Happy Halloween everyone.
Won the office chili cookoff. Guess it's time to enter my tradwife grifting era.
October 27, 2025 at 6:23 PM
Won the office chili cookoff. Guess it's time to enter my tradwife grifting era.
Hey, good news, I'll be giving a tutorial on off the shelf AI tools (the non-generative stuff) at @techbash.bsky.social this year. We'll talk about machine learning, optimization, planning systems, and a little SAT solving. Looking forward to seeing some of you there!
October 13, 2025 at 12:14 PM
Hey, good news, I'll be giving a tutorial on off the shelf AI tools (the non-generative stuff) at @techbash.bsky.social this year. We'll talk about machine learning, optimization, planning systems, and a little SAT solving. Looking forward to seeing some of you there!
From now on, whenever I embark on something particularly amazing or silly, this is how I will be referring to it.
October 2, 2025 at 1:20 PM
From now on, whenever I embark on something particularly amazing or silly, this is how I will be referring to it.
Just a couple more days. I'm driving out tomorrow, but my talk about highway maintenance will have to wait until Thursday. In the interim, I'll be speaking about data structures and Big O notation and wandering around the hallway track. Please come say hello!
August 11, 2025 at 2:58 PM
Just a couple more days. I'm driving out tomorrow, but my talk about highway maintenance will have to wait until Thursday. In the interim, I'll be speaking about data structures and Big O notation and wandering around the hallway track. Please come say hello!
I suppose I should use the little title card generators they gave me too. I'll be giving that Data Structures talk on Wednesday. I'm really excited about it. Still can't believe it gets accepted, so quick, before they realize their mistakes.
August 7, 2025 at 11:28 AM
I suppose I should use the little title card generators they gave me too. I'll be giving that Data Structures talk on Wednesday. I'm really excited about it. Still can't believe it gets accepted, so quick, before they realize their mistakes.
Today I fulfill a lifelong dream. I've wanted to see weird Al live since I was 7. I used to record myself singing his songs because my folks forbade me from buying the albums.
July 3, 2025 at 11:21 PM
Today I fulfill a lifelong dream. I've wanted to see weird Al live since I was 7. I used to record myself singing his songs because my folks forbade me from buying the albums.
Got a visit in to the Vonnegut museum today. I'd hoped for more correspondence, but it's still lovely
July 3, 2025 at 9:36 PM
Got a visit in to the Vonnegut museum today. I'd hoped for more correspondence, but it's still lovely
I misread a calendar, and so now I have an hour to read white papers on LLM evaluation techniques. Under a tree. Next to a pond. There's a fountain!
You can take the girl out of academia, but you can't take academia out of the girl I guess.
You can take the girl out of academia, but you can't take academia out of the girl I guess.
June 23, 2025 at 12:10 PM
I misread a calendar, and so now I have an hour to read white papers on LLM evaluation techniques. Under a tree. Next to a pond. There's a fountain!
You can take the girl out of academia, but you can't take academia out of the girl I guess.
You can take the girl out of academia, but you can't take academia out of the girl I guess.
So there I was, chatting with my friend from Germany about how we're processing the political killings in the US this weekend when this lumbers across the sky...
I suspect I will spend the rest of my life unpacking this moment.
I suspect I will spend the rest of my life unpacking this moment.
June 16, 2025 at 12:07 PM
So there I was, chatting with my friend from Germany about how we're processing the political killings in the US this weekend when this lumbers across the sky...
I suspect I will spend the rest of my life unpacking this moment.
I suspect I will spend the rest of my life unpacking this moment.
I'm now getting old enough that my slide references are substantially older than my audiences. There's a fundamental issue with modern data availability that sort of cuts the legs out from under memes and mass media, so I'm not sure that "watch new shows" is gonna get me there.
April 2, 2025 at 1:20 PM
I'm now getting old enough that my slide references are substantially older than my audiences. There's a fundamental issue with modern data availability that sort of cuts the legs out from under memes and mass media, so I'm not sure that "watch new shows" is gonna get me there.
I'll be talking about how we used AI to improve the maintenance of public roadways in a few short weeks at Stir Trek. Independent of my being there, it's a well produced conference with great content and lovely people. I'd love to see you there.
You can register at stirtrek.com
You can register at stirtrek.com
March 21, 2025 at 1:45 PM
I'll be talking about how we used AI to improve the maintenance of public roadways in a few short weeks at Stir Trek. Independent of my being there, it's a well produced conference with great content and lovely people. I'd love to see you there.
You can register at stirtrek.com
You can register at stirtrek.com
My kid brought this home for me from her girl scout meeting yesterday. She's a sweetheart.
March 21, 2025 at 11:46 AM
My kid brought this home for me from her girl scout meeting yesterday. She's a sweetheart.
Last night, my cousin's kid insisted on wii bowling, and then insisted on correcting my original pre-transition Mii, despite my not being there and living like 1000 miles away.
It was a surprisingly sweet gesture.
It was a surprisingly sweet gesture.
February 19, 2025 at 12:52 PM
Last night, my cousin's kid insisted on wii bowling, and then insisted on correcting my original pre-transition Mii, despite my not being there and living like 1000 miles away.
It was a surprisingly sweet gesture.
It was a surprisingly sweet gesture.
So I wrote a book. Easy, easy. It's tawdry, not technical. It'd feel a lot more complete with a cover and a few illustrations, though.
How does one buy art? There's this whole economy I havent participated in. It's intimidating. I feel like a freshman meeting their first dealer all over again.
How does one buy art? There's this whole economy I havent participated in. It's intimidating. I feel like a freshman meeting their first dealer all over again.
January 23, 2025 at 12:49 PM
So I wrote a book. Easy, easy. It's tawdry, not technical. It'd feel a lot more complete with a cover and a few illustrations, though.
How does one buy art? There's this whole economy I havent participated in. It's intimidating. I feel like a freshman meeting their first dealer all over again.
How does one buy art? There's this whole economy I havent participated in. It's intimidating. I feel like a freshman meeting their first dealer all over again.
Truly, I love my job. (See you all next week @codemash.bsky.social )
January 6, 2025 at 1:59 PM
Truly, I love my job. (See you all next week @codemash.bsky.social )
Convincing us we could build a quick demo to test something, throw it away, and start over is the greatest trick the devil ever pulled.
Looking forward to seeing you all at @codemash.bsky.social in a few days!
Looking forward to seeing you all at @codemash.bsky.social in a few days!
January 3, 2025 at 7:04 PM
Convincing us we could build a quick demo to test something, throw it away, and start over is the greatest trick the devil ever pulled.
Looking forward to seeing you all at @codemash.bsky.social in a few days!
Looking forward to seeing you all at @codemash.bsky.social in a few days!
I got mystic quest the same christmas, but II made it into the SNES first.
December 21, 2024 at 7:09 PM
I got mystic quest the same christmas, but II made it into the SNES first.
This, but additionally if one of you would be so kind as to say "And so, In accordance with what we think her dying wishes might well have been, we commit her final mortal remains to the steps of the US Capitol", I'd be much obliged.
December 6, 2024 at 1:37 PM
This, but additionally if one of you would be so kind as to say "And so, In accordance with what we think her dying wishes might well have been, we commit her final mortal remains to the steps of the US Capitol", I'd be much obliged.
Today's data structure for the tutorial was KD-trees, really useful for finding nearby things in high-dimensional space.
Why would you do that? Well, if you wanted to produce a set of similar products for a recommender system, as just one example.
Why would you do that? Well, if you wanted to produce a set of similar products for a recommender system, as just one example.
December 5, 2024 at 7:11 PM
Today's data structure for the tutorial was KD-trees, really useful for finding nearby things in high-dimensional space.
Why would you do that? Well, if you wanted to produce a set of similar products for a recommender system, as just one example.
Why would you do that? Well, if you wanted to produce a set of similar products for a recommender system, as just one example.
Today's goal is to get through the hash table exercise. The implementation is mostly done, but I need to bake up some example inputs and hash functions that generate many and few/no collisions with random inputs... any suggestions?
December 4, 2024 at 1:06 PM
Today's goal is to get through the hash table exercise. The implementation is mostly done, but I need to bake up some example inputs and hash functions that generate many and few/no collisions with random inputs... any suggestions?
Yesterday I wrapped up implementing the second set of exercises for my data structures & Big O tutorial @codemash.bsky.social this year. I may have been a little bit punchy by the time I got to the slides though.
December 4, 2024 at 12:47 PM
Yesterday I wrapped up implementing the second set of exercises for my data structures & Big O tutorial @codemash.bsky.social this year. I may have been a little bit punchy by the time I got to the slides though.
Byron is getting in the holiday spirit.
November 25, 2024 at 5:50 PM
Byron is getting in the holiday spirit.
The forward from the book I just started reading ("A Quiet Universe") seems like it's an appropriate level of angry for the current moment.
It's not exactly the rage itself I aspire to, but having the ability to channel my anger so directly and eloquently would sure be nice.
It's not exactly the rage itself I aspire to, but having the ability to channel my anger so directly and eloquently would sure be nice.
November 20, 2024 at 1:37 PM
The forward from the book I just started reading ("A Quiet Universe") seems like it's an appropriate level of angry for the current moment.
It's not exactly the rage itself I aspire to, but having the ability to channel my anger so directly and eloquently would sure be nice.
It's not exactly the rage itself I aspire to, but having the ability to channel my anger so directly and eloquently would sure be nice.
