Twin Cities IndieWeb - BlogFlockIndieWeb people in the Minneapolis / St. Paul area.2026-07-15T11:35:56.281ZBlogFlockBenji Encalada Mora, Weekly Thing, Eric Walker, Jamie Thingelstad, Patrick Rhone, Barry Hess, Garrick van Buren, Jim Bernard“…Success was never final and failure never fatal” – Budweiser - Garrick van Burenhttps://garrickvanburen.com/?p=106742026-07-12T17:00:45.000Z<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://garrickvanburen.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Image.jpg"><img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" width="600" height="711" src="https://garrickvanburen.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Image.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-10675" srcset="https://garrickvanburen.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Image.jpg 600w, https://garrickvanburen.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Image-253x300.jpg 253w, https://garrickvanburen.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Image-400x474.jpg 400w" sizes="(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px" /></a></figure>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph"></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://garrickvanburen.com/success-was-never-final-and-failure-not-fatal-budweiser/">“…Success was never final and failure never fatal” – Budweiser</a> appeared first on <a href="https://garrickvanburen.com">Garrick van Buren</a>.</p>“There are decades when nothing happens, and there are weeks when decades happen.” - Garrick van Burenhttps://garrickvanburen.com/?p=106722026-07-12T16:58:43.000Z<p>The post <a href="https://garrickvanburen.com/there-are-decades-when-nothing-happens-and-there-are-weeks-when-decades-happen/">“There are decades when nothing happens, and there are weeks when decades happen.”</a> appeared first on <a href="https://garrickvanburen.com">Garrick van Buren</a>.</p>Post on Patrick Rhone - Patrick Rhonehttps://www.patrickrhone.net/?p=175372026-07-12T02:02:50.000Z<p>We often forget how inexpensive it is (often free, in fact) it is to completely make someone’s day/week/year or, even, give them a memory they will cherish for life.</p>Post on Patrick Rhone - Patrick Rhonehttps://www.patrickrhone.net/?p=175342026-07-11T17:50:07.000Z<p><img data-recalc-dims="1" fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" src="https://i0.wp.com/www.patrickrhone.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/0D88B457-CDA1-408B-BBD8-BC6B1A69854E.jpg?resize=840%2C840&ssl=1" alt="Beatrix on the banner for this year's summer show at Circus Juventas" title="0D88B457-CDA1-408B-BBD8-BC6B1A69854E.JPG" border="0" width="840" height="840" /></p>
<p>Beatrix is on the banner for this year’s summer show at Circus Juventas, <em><a href="https://circusjuventas.showare.com">Whimsy</a></em>. There are still tickets available. So, if you’re local you should come see Beatrix in her final circus performances before she heads off to college.</p>This past week was filled with July 4th,... - Barry Hesstag:bjhess.com,2005:Post/1144152026-07-10T16:37:00.000Z<div class="trix-content">
<p>This past week was filled with July 4th, a lovely visit from family, and lots of music.</p>
<p>The music in this case took the form of drum and bugle corps, of which me and my family are big fans. To the outsider, it’s like paying money to go watch marching bands. The whole concept is likely alien to them. I contend if you put almost anyone in a seat up high on the fifty yard line, they would be absolutely blown away.</p>
<figure class="attachment attachment--preview attachment--jpeg">
<img height="768" width="1024" data-zoom-src="https://cdn.u.pika.page/vCLIrC1IV9N5-v1wk76ME49d_pCSGOf09QrPd-92LZs/s:3840:3840/fn:55A14A29-876F-4788-A9EC-30D5DA683F19_1_105_c/plain/s3://pika-production/x0u2r6zdw0vezfrjcb51nq9q7v9q" data-original-src="https://cdn.u.pika.page/oH6t-8iebrzIDfHXZHPFKcA_mJ2H8OFDIBW8eCK6KBU/fn:55A14A29-876F-4788-A9EC-30D5DA683F19_1_105_c/plain/s3://pika-production/x0u2r6zdw0vezfrjcb51nq9q7v9q" alt="The Madison Scouts Drum & Bugle Corps performs a field show in a stadium under the lights, with musicians spread across the football field, pit percussion at the front sideline, and spectators watching from the stands." loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.u.pika.page/PsVAURvOxn3DmRYEjPoDi2cvMZSyD6dPCeW_xIeH-nU/s:1800:1400/fn:55A14A29-876F-4788-A9EC-30D5DA683F19_1_105_c/plain/s3://pika-production/x0u2r6zdw0vezfrjcb51nq9q7v9q">
<figcaption class="attachment__caption" aria-hidden="true">
The Madison Scouts
</figcaption>
</figure><p>I also saw <em>Disclosure Day</em>. It didn’t click for me. It sounds like a lot of people weren’t quite sure what they thought of it.</p>
<hr>
<p>If you’ve ever ridden the Tokyo lines, enjoy <a href="https://www.yamanote.fun/">Yamanote.fun</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>How did I not make this connection before? From the <a href="https://loa-shared.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/static/pdf/Hamilton-Duel-papers.pdf">Hamilton papers</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p>I have resolved, if our interview is conducted in the usual manner, and it pleases God to give me the opportunity, to reserve and throw away my first fire.</p></blockquote>
<p style="text-align:start;">In the end, he literally threw away his shot!</p>
<hr>
<p style="text-align:start;">This is quite a post by Hugh Howey: “<a href="https://hughhowey.com/the-tragedy-of-the-commoner/"><em>The Tragedy of the Commoner</em></a><em>”</em>. Just like there is a tragedy of commons in communal situations, America’s current situation is a killer of our ability to chase our common goals and dreams. While I don’t agree with everything said in the post, I think it’s definitely worthwhile to think deeply about where we find ourselves at this moment.</p>
<p style="text-align:start;">I’m generally of the alignment that government is the best (theoretical) way for the basics to be provided and the rules to be set, but also that government is pretty bad at most other things and <em>awfully</em> corrupt at the moment. There would be a lot of work required to address the issues at play here, not just in properly applying government to the problem, but also thoughtfully fixing government itself.</p>
<hr>
<p style="text-align:start;">Finally, to those of you of, let’s say, the older set who maybe wouldn’t think to listen to it, I’d be remiss if I didn’t share that <a href="https://albumwhale.com/albums/54991">Olivia Rodrigo’s new album</a> is an instant classic. Écoutez tout de suite.</p>
</div>
<br><hr><br><p><a href="https://letterbird.co/bjhess?subject=Re%3A%20This%20past%20week%20was%20filled%20with%20July%204th%2C...">Reply by email</a></p>Post on Benji Encalada Mora - Benji Encalada Morahttps://benji.dog/notes/1783657978/2026-07-10T04:32:57.000Z<p><a href="https://benji.dog/tags/o">O</a>: "Burj Khalifa is the tallest building, right?"
Me: "yes"
<a href="https://benji.dog/tags/o">O</a>: "So what's the shortest building?"
Me: 😶</p>Seattle World Cup — Wednesday (Day 4) - Jamie Thingelstadhttp://jthingelstad.micro.blog/2026/07/08/seattle-world-cup-wednesday-day.html2026-07-08T22:30:00.000Z<ul>
<li>Up early and checked out of Airbnb</li>
<li>7:45a Lyft to breakfast</li>
<li>8:00a <a href="https://5spotseattle.com">5 Spot</a> in Queen Anne for breakfast</li>
<li>9:00a Running a bit early, so walk to <a href="https://www.seattle.gov/parks/parks/kerry-park">Kerry Park</a> for overlook</li>
<li>9:15a Check out the great view of Seattle</li>
<li>9:30a For fun take Lime scooters with luggage hanging off the side back to 5 Spot</li>
<li>Val drives us to Sea-Tac</li>
<li>DL 941 back to Minneapolis</li>
<li>Lyft ride back home!</li>
</ul>My LLM Usage in July 2026: - Garrick van Burenhttps://garrickvanburen.com/?p=106512026-07-08T16:30:56.000Z<p class="wp-block-paragraph">TLDR: My default position is still, <em>“if an LLM is good at it, we probably don’t need it.”</em></p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Claude:</strong> Claude wins on personality, but loses on rate limiting <em>(as I’ve mentioned before)</em>, also I’m developing an allergy to Claude’s written voice. If you want a sure fire way to demonstrate you didn’t use an LLM in your writing, make it aggressively short and pointed. </p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve asked Claude a question and all I got back was an excessively long clarifying question then immediately rate-limited. Other times Claude and I can have a more satisfying conversation. I’ve an overall fatigue with Claude’s ever shifting usage thresholds relative to the user experience. I don’t know how many tokens my request is – nor do I have control over how much tokens are burned in the response. The resulting experience is too much like playing slots. Microsoft and Google are better positioned to win the LLM game as they have other revenue sources. </p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Gemini:</strong> I built one app (ACV Outlier) that hits the Gemini API and recently used the Gemini inside Google Maps to maps out a 13mi bike ride – because it was more accessible than remembering how to create custom routes via the UI. </p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">I use Gemini when I: </p>
<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>want the most factual answer to a question,</li>
<li>get rate-limited by Claude</li>
</ul>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Boardy:</strong> Boardy has given me 3 dozen introductions over the past year or so – as of late it’s about 3 per week. As Boardy’s networks grows, the introductions have improved. As much as Boardy always wants to provide introductions, sometimes I just use it to get a read on the overall market and talk through ideas for new offerings. </p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>VS Code:</strong> whatever the default model is seems to work sufficiently well for the work I do and my $10/mn subscription. My default stack is: Rails + SQLite + (Tailwind + DaisyUI). One of my favorite things to do is ask the model “how do we make this more The Rails Way”, and it spits back a bunch of ways to clean up the code it just wrote.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>ChatGPT:</strong> not at all. </p>
<p>The post <a href="https://garrickvanburen.com/my-llm-usage-in-july-2026/">My LLM Usage in July 2026:</a> appeared first on <a href="https://garrickvanburen.com">Garrick van Buren</a>.</p>Seattle World Cup — Tuesday (Day 3) - Jamie Thingelstadhttp://jthingelstad.micro.blog/2026/07/08/seattle-world-cup-tuesday-day.html2026-07-08T06:30:00.000Z<ul>
<li>Pastries from <a href="https://lepanier.com">Le Panier</a></li>
<li>8:05a Lyft to Boeing Factory Tour; Meet Val</li>
<li>9:00a <a href="https://www.boeingfutureofflight.com">Boeing Future of Flight</a> factory tour. Cool to see the largest building (by volume) in the world.</li>
<li>11:10a Val drives us back to the city</li>
<li>Pokémon stop at <a href="https://tabletopvillage.com">Tabletop Village</a></li>
<li>Walk to <a href="https://gloom.coffee">Gloom Coffee</a> for a delightful Cortado and pour over</li>
<li>Macron stop at ???</li>
<li>Walk to Airbnb, drop stuff off</li>
<li>Lunch at <a href="https://www.yelp.com/biz/mr-waffle-seattle">Mr Waffle</a>, Tyler wanted a return trip</li>
<li>Take <a href="https://www.seattlemonorail.com">Monorail</a> to <a href="https://www.mopop.org">Museum of Pop</a></li>
<li>Lyft to <a href="https://www.locurio.com">Locurio</a></li>
<li>Escape from <a href="https://www.locurio.com/the-storykeeper-escape-rooms-seattle/">The Storykeeper</a></li>
<li><a href="https://faintinggoatseattle.blogspot.com">Fainting Goat Gelato</a></li>
<li>Explore Fremont: Center of Universe, Fremont Troll, the Troll Knoll</li>
<li>Rent Lime scooters for a 3 mile ride to dinner. Fun to go along great bike paths.</li>
<li><a href="https://aerlumeseattle.com">Aerlume</a> for our fancy dinner. Tyler had halibut, Jamie had the Steak Frites. Really good molten chocolate cake for desert.</li>
<li>Evening stroll back to Airbnb</li>
</ul>Post on Patrick Rhone - Patrick Rhonehttps://www.patrickrhone.net/?p=175192026-07-07T14:11:49.000Z<p><a href="https://buttondown.com/monteiro/archive/how-to-deal-with-your-kid-leaving/">How to deal with your kid leaving • Buttondown</a></p>
<p>Boy did I need to read this.</p>Seattle World Cup — Monday (Day 2) - Jamie Thingelstadhttp://jthingelstad.micro.blog/2026/07/07/seattle-world-cup-monday-day.html2026-07-07T06:30:00.000Z<ul>
<li>Walk a block and return to Airbnb to tend to Jamie&rsquo;s shoe problems</li>
<li>Explore Pike Place for breakfast but still just opening</li>
<li>First Mochi Waffles at <a href="https://www.yelp.com/biz/mr-waffle-seattle">Mr Waffle</a> for breakfast. Tyler is a big fan.</li>
<li>Coffee stop at <a href="https://www.fontecoffee.com">Fonte Coffee</a></li>
<li><a href="https://undergroundtour.com">Bill Speidel&rsquo;s Underground Tour</a> of Seattle. Cool history and funny delivery from the guide.</li>
<li>Lunch at <a href="https://www.seriouspieseattle.com">Serious Pie</a></li>
<li>Get pastries for tomorrow at <a href="https://lepanier.com">La Panier</a>, and Macrons for now. Best macrons of the trip.</li>
<li>Brief stop back at Airbnb to prep for game</li>
<li>Massive chanting and drums at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harbor_Steps">Harbor Steps</a></li>
<li>2:20p Walk to <a href="https://www.lumenfield.com">Lumen Field</a></li>
<li>3:00p Explore the World Cup Experience, FIFA ID</li>
<li>5:00p <strong>R16: USA v Belgium</strong></li>
<li>7:20p USA loses 4-1 to Belgium. Tough game.</li>
<li>7:30p Bummed that the USMNT didn&rsquo;t put their best game forward</li>
<li>8:00p Walk back with a sea of people</li>
<li>9:00p Fish &amp; Chips at <a href="https://www.oldstove.com">Old Stove Brewing</a></li>
<li>Return to Airbnb for the night</li>
</ul>Post on Jamie Thingelstad - Jamie Thingelstadhttp://jthingelstad.micro.blog/2026/07/06/iconic-seattle-scene.html2026-07-07T04:52:00.000Z<p>Iconic Seattle scene.</p>
<img src="https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/890/2026/5b22285129.jpg" width="600" height="450" alt="">Post on Jamie Thingelstad - Jamie Thingelstadhttp://jthingelstad.micro.blog/2026/07/06/wonderful-cortado-at-gloom-coffee.html2026-07-06T19:04:29.000Z<p>Wonderful cortado at <a href="https://gloom.coffee">Gloom Coffee</a>.</p>
<img src="https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/890/2026/d0cc0456d6.jpg" width="600" height="450" alt="">Post on Jamie Thingelstad - Jamie Thingelstadhttp://jthingelstad.micro.blog/2026/07/06/poap-at-i-passed-through.html2026-07-06T18:07:15.000Z<p>POAP <a href="https://collectors.poap.xyz/token/7593072">7593072</a> at <strong><a href="https://poap.gallery/drops/222336">I passed through Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) in 2026</a></strong>.</p>
<img src="https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/890/2026/4546894f-a908-4856-9ca4-5a98fc7a7c78.png" width="500" height="500" />Post on Benji Encalada Mora - Benji Encalada Morahttps://benji.dog/notes/1783319325/2026-07-06T06:28:45.000Z<p><img src="https://benji.dog/uploads/1783319164_13165.jpg" alt="4 kids sitting in the bucket of a cargo bike riding down a street with cars and other bikes around" width="160"></p><p>Took the whole crew on a geocaching adventure</p>Post on Jamie Thingelstad - Jamie Thingelstadhttp://jthingelstad.micro.blog/2026/07/05/the-norway-v-brazil-world.html2026-07-05T20:03:01.000Z<p>The Norway v Brazil World Cup match is popular on this flight. ⚽️😂 Go Norway! 🇳🇴</p>
<img src="https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/890/2026/af85914034.jpg" width="600" height="450" alt="">Post on Jamie Thingelstad - Jamie Thingelstadhttp://jthingelstad.micro.blog/2026/07/05/turns-out-chatgpt-is-a.html2026-07-05T20:01:26.000Z<p>Turns out ChatGPT is a fan of <a href="https://poapkings.com">POAP KINGS</a>! Wonder if our <a href="https://poapkings.com/llms.txt">agent optimized interface</a> is helping?</p>
<img src="https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/890/2026/6e318aa503.png" width="600" height="600" alt="">Post on Jamie Thingelstad - Jamie Thingelstadhttp://jthingelstad.micro.blog/2026/07/05/dl-taking-us-to-seattletacoma.html2026-07-05T19:51:05.000Z<p>DL 0881 taking us to Seattle-Tacoma. Good number of soccer fans on this flight. ⚽️✈️</p>
<img src="https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/890/2026/8faa71e5ac.jpg" width="600" height="450" alt="">Post on Jamie Thingelstad - Jamie Thingelstadhttp://jthingelstad.micro.blog/2026/07/05/psa-never-ever-buy-pokmon.html2026-07-05T19:49:55.000Z<p>PSA: Never, ever, buy Pokémon cards in these airport kiosks. Prices are 2x market! 💸</p>
<img src="https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/890/2026/2bffb54f74.jpg" width="600" height="450" alt="">Post on Jamie Thingelstad - Jamie Thingelstadhttp://jthingelstad.micro.blog/2026/07/05/tyler-and-i-at-msp.html2026-07-05T18:44:15.000Z<p>Tyler and I at MSP to start our Seattle trip to see USA make history against Belgium in tomorrow nights Round of 16 FIFA World Cup match! 🇺🇸⚽️</p>
<img src="https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/890/2026/4fe76518be.jpg" width="600" height="600" alt="">