Jeff Byrnes 🚰 🏙️
@thejeffbyrnes.com
🎸 🎻 bassist
👨🏻💻 SRE manager @ athenahealth
🏗️ Steering Committee member & co-founder of Somerville YIMBY
🎮 video gamer
👔 snappy dresser
📚 avid reader
🗺️ Somerville, MA, USA
👨🏻💻 SRE manager @ athenahealth
🏗️ Steering Committee member & co-founder of Somerville YIMBY
🎮 video gamer
👔 snappy dresser
📚 avid reader
🗺️ Somerville, MA, USA
Pinned
Jeff Byrnes 🚰 🏙️
@thejeffbyrnes.com
· Nov 12
Co-founder & steering committee member of @somervilleyimby.org, member of Abundant Housing MA, trying to foster housing abundance to bring down prices & make our cities & towns more welcoming! #MApoli #VilleMA #SomerPoli #YIMBY
So much this.
It gets way more complex than just statistics (what you described is essentially a Markov chain). One problem with LLMs is that they've been trained to make the user happy, and users generally don't know what the fuck they want and will be happy when they get _an_ answer.
November 28, 2025 at 2:01 AM
So much this.
Reposted by Jeff Byrnes 🚰 🏙️
Not wanting to disappoint you so much that it lies is the last quality I want in a computer.
November 28, 2025 at 12:02 AM
Not wanting to disappoint you so much that it lies is the last quality I want in a computer.
Reposted by Jeff Byrnes 🚰 🏙️
I won't start ranting about it because I just get myself worked up, but quickly: I literally can not think of an investment of public funds that has a higher return than *cleaning the indoor air in schools*. It's so easy, so cheap, & has such HUGE payoff. Criminal that we basically don't do it.
November 19, 2025 at 7:05 PM
I won't start ranting about it because I just get myself worked up, but quickly: I literally can not think of an investment of public funds that has a higher return than *cleaning the indoor air in schools*. It's so easy, so cheap, & has such HUGE payoff. Criminal that we basically don't do it.
Reposted by Jeff Byrnes 🚰 🏙️
Great listen! Wondering how to improve kids’ health and educational experience? Cleaner indoor air might be part of the solution.
Today on Volts: for years, I've wanted to do a podcast on indoor air quality, and I finally found the perfect guest! Dr. Lagoudas & I discuss indoor air pollutants, the policies and technologies that can control them, and the growing need to frame indoor air quality as a basic human right.
What's the deal with indoor air quality?
From CO2 monitors to better building codes, Dr. Georgia Lagoudas outlines how to clean up the spaces where we spend 90% of our lives.
www.volts.wtf
November 28, 2025 at 1:19 AM
Great listen! Wondering how to improve kids’ health and educational experience? Cleaner indoor air might be part of the solution.
Introduce yourself with 5 concerts you've been to:
Dave Matthews Band (1st, 9× total)
Galactic (7×)
Soulive (7×)
Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings (2×)
Elizabeth & the Catapult (2×)
Dave Matthews Band (1st, 9× total)
Galactic (7×)
Soulive (7×)
Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings (2×)
Elizabeth & the Catapult (2×)
Introduce yourself with 5 concerts you've been to:
Autechre (x5)
Seefeel
SND
NIN
Tricky
Autechre (x5)
Seefeel
SND
NIN
Tricky
Introduce yourself with 5 concerts you've been to:
NiN
Orbital
Soundgarden
Tom Petty
David Byrne
NiN
Orbital
Soundgarden
Tom Petty
David Byrne
November 28, 2025 at 12:04 AM
Introduce yourself with 5 concerts you've been to:
Dave Matthews Band (1st, 9× total)
Galactic (7×)
Soulive (7×)
Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings (2×)
Elizabeth & the Catapult (2×)
Dave Matthews Band (1st, 9× total)
Galactic (7×)
Soulive (7×)
Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings (2×)
Elizabeth & the Catapult (2×)
Reposted by Jeff Byrnes 🚰 🏙️
It’s really funny how a generation will roll its eyes at parents who watch Fox News but doesn’t see why being immersed in Twitter is having the same effect. Lots of serious people show up on Fox News too but that shouldn’t be your primary source on the news.
November 27, 2025 at 9:52 AM
It’s really funny how a generation will roll its eyes at parents who watch Fox News but doesn’t see why being immersed in Twitter is having the same effect. Lots of serious people show up on Fox News too but that shouldn’t be your primary source on the news.
Reposted by Jeff Byrnes 🚰 🏙️
The irony for me is how Musk bought Twitter with the clear intention of capturing & manipulating the press culture there — something many journalists reported on — and yet they stay there because each assumes they can’t be manipulated… while totally getting manipulated.
This is the correct take. Stewing in white supremacist propaganda is bad for your thinking. And if think you are so savvy that it won’t impact you, you are the exact kind of mark they are slowly converting (I’m looking at you, centrist pundits).
It’s really funny how a generation will roll its eyes at parents who watch Fox News but doesn’t see why being immersed in Twitter is having the same effect. Lots of serious people show up on Fox News too but that shouldn’t be your primary source on the news.
November 27, 2025 at 4:22 PM
The irony for me is how Musk bought Twitter with the clear intention of capturing & manipulating the press culture there — something many journalists reported on — and yet they stay there because each assumes they can’t be manipulated… while totally getting manipulated.
Reposted by Jeff Byrnes 🚰 🏙️
They cut care for trans youth on trans day of remembrance right before the holidays. It's not only cowardly, it's sociopathic. They left families scrambling to find care on Thanksgiving.
www.kqed.org/news/1206548...
www.kqed.org/news/1206548...
‘It’s Just Cruel’: Bay Area Parents Say Sutter Health Is Set to Halt Trans Youth Care | KQED
Multiple parents say Sutter Health caregivers told them the network will end gender-affirming care to youth in December, leaving them scrambling to find new physicians for their transgender children.
www.kqed.org
November 27, 2025 at 5:34 PM
They cut care for trans youth on trans day of remembrance right before the holidays. It's not only cowardly, it's sociopathic. They left families scrambling to find care on Thanksgiving.
www.kqed.org/news/1206548...
www.kqed.org/news/1206548...
Reposted by Jeff Byrnes 🚰 🏙️
Now here’s the kind of news you drop going into a long holiday weekend. Maybe no one will notice. 🤡
@nytimes.com
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/u...
@nytimes.com
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/u...
November 26, 2025 at 10:05 AM
Now here’s the kind of news you drop going into a long holiday weekend. Maybe no one will notice. 🤡
@nytimes.com
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/u...
@nytimes.com
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/u...
Reposted by Jeff Byrnes 🚰 🏙️
I need everybody to read this and understand what’s going on. These are spouses of US citizens in the country legally. They have entry clearance and green cards, they’ve passed background checks and have no criminal records. ICE is taking them anyway.
Gift link:
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/u...
Gift link:
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/u...
Green Card Interviews End in Handcuffs for Spouses of U.S. Citizens
www.nytimes.com
November 26, 2025 at 8:40 PM
I need everybody to read this and understand what’s going on. These are spouses of US citizens in the country legally. They have entry clearance and green cards, they’ve passed background checks and have no criminal records. ICE is taking them anyway.
Gift link:
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/u...
Gift link:
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/u...
Reposted by Jeff Byrnes 🚰 🏙️
I reviewed all of the recently released Epstein emails for our story and found no evidence the now ex-nyt reporter or any other nyt journalist followed up on Epstein’s 2015 offer of photos of Trump and “girls in bikinis.”
www.assignedmedia.org/breaking-new...
www.assignedmedia.org/breaking-new...
November 26, 2025 at 3:36 PM
I reviewed all of the recently released Epstein emails for our story and found no evidence the now ex-nyt reporter or any other nyt journalist followed up on Epstein’s 2015 offer of photos of Trump and “girls in bikinis.”
www.assignedmedia.org/breaking-new...
www.assignedmedia.org/breaking-new...
Reposted by Jeff Byrnes 🚰 🏙️
we just got to the point where they actually had to research women’s bodies and the effects of drugs on women and that golden era of science and medicine lasted <checks notes> maybe 9 years, but don’t worry, everyone, it’s over now
They shelved women's bodies. Fuck women, who cares about them anyway?
Just watch her. And then share. And then tell your friends.
Just watch her. And then share. And then tell your friends.
Hang on, WHAT?!?!? #sabv #science #female #reproductive #research #drugs #insane #humantrials #trump
YouTube video by Hawk's Podcasts / mdg650hawk
youtube.com
November 27, 2025 at 12:00 AM
we just got to the point where they actually had to research women’s bodies and the effects of drugs on women and that golden era of science and medicine lasted <checks notes> maybe 9 years, but don’t worry, everyone, it’s over now
Reposted by Jeff Byrnes 🚰 🏙️
Electric bikes are appealing and can lead the shift to more trips done by bike than by car. See this analysis of Boston's shared bike system and the impact of ebike introduction. @ridebluebikes.bsky.social www.abettercity.org/docs-new/pub...
November 27, 2025 at 12:10 AM
Electric bikes are appealing and can lead the shift to more trips done by bike than by car. See this analysis of Boston's shared bike system and the impact of ebike introduction. @ridebluebikes.bsky.social www.abettercity.org/docs-new/pub...
Reposted by Jeff Byrnes 🚰 🏙️
Bravo to @somervilleinfr1.bsky.social, among like maybe three US city transpo agencies committed enough to safety to try a raised crossing across a minor arterial.
November 26, 2025 at 10:59 PM
Bravo to @somervilleinfr1.bsky.social, among like maybe three US city transpo agencies committed enough to safety to try a raised crossing across a minor arterial.
Reposted by Jeff Byrnes 🚰 🏙️
I’ve talked before about how AI represents the inevitable outcome of techbros’ lack of distress tolerance for the messy business of relating to and interacting with other human beings
but I think the logical outcome of having that skill issue humored is becoming unable to relate to yourself, either
but I think the logical outcome of having that skill issue humored is becoming unable to relate to yourself, either
there's "lazy" and there's "not wanting to exist as a person in any meaningful sense" and a lot of sloppers are careening towards the latter category, if not already in it
November 27, 2025 at 12:13 AM
I’ve talked before about how AI represents the inevitable outcome of techbros’ lack of distress tolerance for the messy business of relating to and interacting with other human beings
but I think the logical outcome of having that skill issue humored is becoming unable to relate to yourself, either
but I think the logical outcome of having that skill issue humored is becoming unable to relate to yourself, either
Reposted by Jeff Byrnes 🚰 🏙️
An 18yo US citizen, surrounded by eight masked, armed agents of the state, taken into custody, not read his rights, not offered a chance to contact a lawyer, proof of citizenship ignored, handcuffed so tightly he later required medical attention.
Profoundly, profoundly anti-American shit.
Profoundly, profoundly anti-American shit.
ICE Detained an 18-Year-Old U.S. Citizen. This Is His Story.
YouTube video by The Hometown Holler
youtu.be
November 26, 2025 at 10:00 PM
An 18yo US citizen, surrounded by eight masked, armed agents of the state, taken into custody, not read his rights, not offered a chance to contact a lawyer, proof of citizenship ignored, handcuffed so tightly he later required medical attention.
Profoundly, profoundly anti-American shit.
Profoundly, profoundly anti-American shit.
Reposted by Jeff Byrnes 🚰 🏙️
like my dude
if you don’t have any ideas for music you want the robot to make for you
have you considered
just
LISTENING TO EXISTING MUSIC HUMANS HAVE MADE
if you don’t have any ideas for music you want the robot to make for you
have you considered
just
LISTENING TO EXISTING MUSIC HUMANS HAVE MADE
November 27, 2025 at 12:08 AM
like my dude
if you don’t have any ideas for music you want the robot to make for you
have you considered
just
LISTENING TO EXISTING MUSIC HUMANS HAVE MADE
if you don’t have any ideas for music you want the robot to make for you
have you considered
just
LISTENING TO EXISTING MUSIC HUMANS HAVE MADE
Reposted by Jeff Byrnes 🚰 🏙️
Where Did the Demand Come From?
We at Somerville YIMBY talk a lot about the need to supply more homes to solve our housing shortage. But supply is only half the economic equation. We also need to ask ourselves where all this demand came from. Why have we seen such large increases in the cost of…
We at Somerville YIMBY talk a lot about the need to supply more homes to solve our housing shortage. But supply is only half the economic equation. We also need to ask ourselves where all this demand came from. Why have we seen such large increases in the cost of…
Where Did the Demand Come From?
We at Somerville YIMBY talk a lot about the need to supply more homes to solve our housing shortage. But supply is only half the economic equation. We also need to ask ourselves where all this demand came from. Why have we seen such large increases in the cost of housing while similarly old and dense rust belt cities have stagnated?
somervilleyimby.org
November 25, 2025 at 9:01 PM
Where Did the Demand Come From?
We at Somerville YIMBY talk a lot about the need to supply more homes to solve our housing shortage. But supply is only half the economic equation. We also need to ask ourselves where all this demand came from. Why have we seen such large increases in the cost of…
We at Somerville YIMBY talk a lot about the need to supply more homes to solve our housing shortage. But supply is only half the economic equation. We also need to ask ourselves where all this demand came from. Why have we seen such large increases in the cost of…
Reposted by Jeff Byrnes 🚰 🏙️
Amazing story, state legislator and Turning Points USA leader who crusaded against bogus voter fraud claims pleads guilty to attempted election fraud. azmirror.com/briefs/turni...
Turning Point leader, former GOP Rep pleads guilty to attempted election fraud | Arizona Mirror
Austin Smith election fraud guilty plea: Former GOP Rep admits forging 100+ signatures on ballot petitions in Arizona
azmirror.com
November 23, 2025 at 8:06 PM
Amazing story, state legislator and Turning Points USA leader who crusaded against bogus voter fraud claims pleads guilty to attempted election fraud. azmirror.com/briefs/turni...
Reposted by Jeff Byrnes 🚰 🏙️
lmao @ people claiming the DOGE staff weren't engineers
like we all haven't worked with that guy who is like "we don't need tests" and "I can merge my own code"
Just because they don't represent what we WANT to be doesn't mean we get to disown them.
like we all haven't worked with that guy who is like "we don't need tests" and "I can merge my own code"
Just because they don't represent what we WANT to be doesn't mean we get to disown them.
all I see are "they're not engineers" "that's not what engineering is" I want a thick good really real piece to sink my teeth in about all the parts of this that ARE "like engineering"
November 24, 2025 at 5:02 PM
lmao @ people claiming the DOGE staff weren't engineers
like we all haven't worked with that guy who is like "we don't need tests" and "I can merge my own code"
Just because they don't represent what we WANT to be doesn't mean we get to disown them.
like we all haven't worked with that guy who is like "we don't need tests" and "I can merge my own code"
Just because they don't represent what we WANT to be doesn't mean we get to disown them.
Reposted by Jeff Byrnes 🚰 🏙️
CPSC Warns Consumers to Immediately Stop Using Batteries for E-Bikes from Rad Power Bikes Due to Fire Hazard; Risk of Serious Injury or Death www.cpsc.gov/Warnings/202...
November 24, 2025 at 7:03 PM
CPSC Warns Consumers to Immediately Stop Using Batteries for E-Bikes from Rad Power Bikes Due to Fire Hazard; Risk of Serious Injury or Death www.cpsc.gov/Warnings/202...
😅 👏🏻
Why must I, the protagonist of reality, deviate from my base preferences to accommodate the existence of other human beings? Clearly this is the fault of the profit motive
November 24, 2025 at 8:41 PM
😅 👏🏻
Reposted by Jeff Byrnes 🚰 🏙️
Absolutely screaming with excitement at @annemariegray.bsky.social of @opennewyork.org being named to @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social's housing transition committee.
So well-earned by Annemarie & such a good sign for the Mamdani administration.
So well-earned by Annemarie & such a good sign for the Mamdani administration.
We’re here in Central Park with Mayor-Elect @ZohranKMamdani.bsky.social to announce that our Executive Director @AnnemarieGray.bsky.social will be joining his transition committee on housing!
November 24, 2025 at 8:27 PM
Absolutely screaming with excitement at @annemariegray.bsky.social of @opennewyork.org being named to @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social's housing transition committee.
So well-earned by Annemarie & such a good sign for the Mamdani administration.
So well-earned by Annemarie & such a good sign for the Mamdani administration.
Reposted by Jeff Byrnes 🚰 🏙️
Grand opening, grand closing.
X quietly disabled a new feature that showed which country an account was posting from when it revealed that lots of popular right wing MAGA accounts were being run from foreign countries like India and Nigeria.
X quietly disabled a new feature that showed which country an account was posting from when it revealed that lots of popular right wing MAGA accounts were being run from foreign countries like India and Nigeria.
November 22, 2025 at 9:05 PM
Grand opening, grand closing.
X quietly disabled a new feature that showed which country an account was posting from when it revealed that lots of popular right wing MAGA accounts were being run from foreign countries like India and Nigeria.
X quietly disabled a new feature that showed which country an account was posting from when it revealed that lots of popular right wing MAGA accounts were being run from foreign countries like India and Nigeria.
Reposted by Jeff Byrnes 🚰 🏙️
"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little."
-FDR, 1937
-FDR, 1937
November 22, 2025 at 6:31 PM
"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little."
-FDR, 1937
-FDR, 1937