I haven’t posted anything on the website formerly known as Twitter in over a year and a half, and every time I’ve glanced at it since it’s been a little grosser. Running it side-by-side with Bluesky on Election Night was the perfect contrast of just how bad it’s gotten. I deleted the app from my phone a while ago, but this week I finally marked myself private and pulled one last archive so I can finally kill it once and for all.

The best part is I didn’t even have to update my bio: “What is here was dangerous and repulsive to us.”

Kinda sucks to feel run off^[1] of the online community that’s brought me the most joy for something like 17 years, but you don’t get extra credit for being the last to leave the Nazi bar and Bluesky finally feels like it’s got the juice.

If you’re facing the same migration, Sky Follower Bridge is a pretty good way to try to salvage your connections, though I really wouldn’t recommend hitting the big “Follow All” button. This is the new world! Try something new. We’re not just moving the whole town five miles down the road.

Also finally gave up on Threads and its baffling algorithmic timeline. Honestly feels kinda good pruning back my footprint and focusing on the places I control (👋). The radical act of “wherever you get your podcasts”, as Anil would say.

Quick weekend trip back to Los Angeles for the first time in seven years (how?). Apparently I have been out of college for fifteen (HOW‽). I was expecting everything to be unrecognizable, but I was mostly surprised how similar things were. Sure, you can take the light rail to Expo Park and the school has gobbled up all the land to the north and replaced the laundromats and tire shops with Sephoras and Starbucks, but campus itself is exactly how I remember it. And downtown still seemed utterly dead on the Saturday and Sunday.

Finally got to ride in a few Waymos. So damn pleasant. I can’t wait to never drive again.

Other initial takeaways: never had to wait more than a few minutes for a pickup; cheaper than Uber/Lyft; a surprisingly aggressive driver (though not in a scary way). More than anything else, it’s wild how quickly you just sort of get used to a car driving itself once it demonstrates baseline competence.

Cheered on a nice victory at the Coliseum, enjoyed a nice day wandering the beach in Santa Monica, and now waiting on the red-eye home for (what should be) my last flight of the year.

If you’re struggling to keep it together, don’t forget that even multimillion dollar airliners need to be propped up with a little stick sometimes so they don’t tip over on their asses.^[2]