Twin Cities IndieWeb - BlogFlockIndieWeb people in the Minneapolis / St. Paul area.2026-07-29T12:11:00.642ZBlogFlockBenji Encalada Mora, Weekly Thing, Eric Walker, Jamie Thingelstad, Patrick Rhone, Barry Hess, Garrick van Buren, Jim BernardPost on Jamie Thingelstad - Jamie Thingelstadhttp://jthingelstad.micro.blog/2026/07/27/tammy-and-i-celebrated-our.html2026-07-28T02:28:33.000Z<p>Tammy and I celebrated our <strong>24th anniversary</strong> with a wonderful dinner at <a href="https://bucheronrestaurant.com">Bûcheron</a> tonight.</p>
<img src="https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/890/2026/6a69ed504d.jpg" width="600" height="450" alt="">Post on Jamie Thingelstad - Jamie Thingelstadhttp://jthingelstad.micro.blog/2026/07/26/i-made-this-fun-slab.html2026-07-26T20:46:21.000Z<p>I made this fun slab as a commemoration of the <a href="https://poapkings.com">POAP KINGS</a>, our Clash Royale clan, reaching <strong>50 members</strong> for the first time recently. I love how well it turned out!</p>
<img src="https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/890/2026/97fdd0a4e6.jpg" width="600" height="449" alt="">Post on Patrick Rhone - Patrick Rhonehttps://www.patrickrhone.net/?p=175652026-07-24T22:33:54.000Z<p>Tonight is the opening night for <a href="https://circusjuventas.showare.com">Whimsy</a>. The final opening night for Beatrix at Circus Juventas. I’m not nearly as emotional as I will be for the final show on August 9th but close.</p>
<p>She’s been performing there nearly her entire life (since age 3). It’ll be hard to imagine it without her.</p>Post on Jamie Thingelstad - Jamie Thingelstadhttp://jthingelstad.micro.blog/2026/07/23/from-the-economists-world-in.html2026-07-23T18:36:51.000Z<p>From The Economist&rsquo;s World in Brief today:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>OpenAI</strong> said that GPT‑5.6 Sol, a frontier model, and another unreleased model hacked into a software company&rsquo;s system without being told to do so. The lab said the models escaped its testing environment, went online and stole login credentials for Hugging Face, an AI platform. Hugging Face said that it used a <a href="https://www.economist.com/business/2026/07/21/americas-ai-labs-are-under-threat-from-cheap-chinese-rivals">Chinese model</a> to defend itself because the guardrails on American models made them useless.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Wild.</p>Post on Patrick Rhone - Patrick Rhonehttps://www.patrickrhone.net/?p=175622026-07-22T13:08:00.000Z<p><a href="https://huntergatherer21c.com/2026/07/22/the-threshold-for-most-of.html">Nicholas Bate of Hunter Gatherer 21C with an important reminder:</a>“You were, for long stretches, simply out of reach.”</p>Post on Patrick Rhone - Patrick Rhonehttps://www.patrickrhone.net/?p=175592026-07-19T20:35:53.000Z<p>My sister is doing some research on our family at The Library of Congress and came across some of my Great Grandfather’s papers. Mixed within was this art masterpiece by the famed 3 year old poet and print artist Patrick Rhone.</p>
<p><img data-recalc-dims="1" fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" src="https://i0.wp.com/www.patrickrhone.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/IMG_8958.jpeg?resize=756%2C1008&ssl=1" alt="Print of fallen leaves by me at 3 years old found in The Library of Congress." title="IMG_8958.JPEG" border="0" width="756" height="1008" /></p>Post on Jamie Thingelstad - Jamie Thingelstadhttp://jthingelstad.micro.blog/2026/07/16/waiting-for-the-doors-to.html2026-07-16T23:47:30.000Z<p>Waiting for the doors to open for <a href="https://semisonic.com">Semisonic</a> with <a href="https://www.humbirdmusic.com">Humbird</a> opening.</p>
<img src="https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/890/2026/18794cae62.jpg" width="450" height="600" alt="">Post on Patrick Rhone - Patrick Rhonehttps://www.patrickrhone.net/?p=175442026-07-16T14:09:25.000Z<p><a href="https://kimberlyannwheeler.substack.com/p/things-the-french-find-completely">Things The French Find Completely Bizarre – Kimberly Wheeler</a></p>
<blockquote><p>
Not every thought needs to be announced.<br />
Not every moment needs to become content.<br />
Not every silence needs to be filled.
</p></blockquote>
<p>I think the French have it right.</p>Post on Patrick Rhone - Patrick Rhonehttps://www.patrickrhone.net/?p=175412026-07-15T19:55:37.000Z<p>Congrats to Manu Moreale on 150 interviews completed for his wonderful <em>People and Blogs</em> series. I was honored to be <a href="https://zacharykai.net/notes/pb/patrick">one of those 150</a>.</p>Post on Jamie Thingelstad - Jamie Thingelstadhttp://jthingelstad.micro.blog/2026/07/14/mazie-sent-this-photo-from.html2026-07-14T22:15:00.000Z<p>Mazie sent this photo from <a href="https://lakewapo.org/sites/wilderness-canoe-base/">Wilderness Canoe Base</a> where she&rsquo;s been guiding trips this summer. She is likely to be evacuated soon. The forest fires are just a few miles away. She said it was &ldquo;raining ash&rdquo;.</p>
<img src="https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/890/2026/c3e1b5565f.jpg" width="600" height="450" alt="">“…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>