Latest update on our Street Fighter II Pinball restoration project. Really starting to look near complete again. Current goal: have this ready for sale in time for the release of the new movie in October. Feels eminently doable, but we'll see if my travel schedule cooperates.
For the "Don't worry, AI isn't coming for your jobs" crowd, my local pizza joint, in a tiny town, now has an agent answering phones and taking orders. That's a great starter job for a high school kid gone.
NYC's time has come. Can't wait. youtu.be/kJFpjFmc6uA?...
A thread about how Target is now pulling a Hertz, and having their customers arrested on bogus theft charges.
I will be abundantly clear for legal reasons that it is illegal to throw a Molotov cocktail at anyone, as it is morally objectionable to do so. I explicitly and fundamentally object to the recent acts of violence against Sam Altman. It is also morally repugnant for Sam Altman to somehow suggest that the careful, thoughtful, determined, and eagerly fair work of Ronan Farrow and Andrew Marantz is in any way responsible for these acts of violence. Doing so is a deliberate attempt to chill the air around criticism of AI and its associated companies. Altman has since walked back the comments, claiming he “wishes he hadn’t used” a non-specific amount of the following words: A lot of the criticism of our industry comes from sincere concern about the incredibly high stakes of this technology. This is quite valid, and we welcome good-faith criticism and debate. I empathize with anti-technology sentiments and clearly technology isn’t always good for everyone. But overall, I believe technological progress can make the future unbelievably good, for your family and mine. While we have that debate, we should de-escalate the rhetoric and tactics and try to have fewer explosions in fewer homes, figuratively and literally. These words remain on his blog, which suggests that Altman doesn’t regret them enough to remove them. I do, however, agree with Mr. Altman that the rhetoric around AI does need to change. Both he and Mr. Amodei need to immediately stop overstating the capabilities of Large Language Models. Mr. Altman and Mr. Amodei should not discuss being “scared” of their models, or being “uncomfortable” that men such as they are in control unless they wish to shut down their services, or that they “don’t know if models are conscious.” They should immediately stop misleading people through company documentation that models are “blackmailing” people or, as Anthropic did in its Mythos system card, suggest a model has “broken containment and sent a message” when it A) was…
They must stop discussing threats to jobs without actual meaningful data that is significantly more sound than “jobs that might be affected some day but for now we’ve got a chatbot.” Mr. Amodei should immediately cease any and all discussions of AI potentially or otherwise eliminating 50% of white collar jobs, as Mr. Altman should cease predicting when Superintelligence might arrive, as Mr. Amodei should actively reject and denounce any suggestions of AI “creating a white collar bloodbath.” Those that defend AI labs will claim that these are “difficult conversations that need to be had,” when in actuality they engage in dangerous and frightening rhetoric as a means of boosting a company’s valuation and garnering attention. If either of these men truly believed these things were true, they would do something about it other than saying “you should be scared of us and the things we’re making, and I’m the only one brave enough to say anything.” These conversations are also nonsensical and misleading when you compare them to what Large Language Models can do, and this rhetoric is a blatant attempt to scare people into paying for software today based on what it absolutely cannot and will not do in the future. It is an attempt to obfuscate the actual efficacy of a technology as a means of deceiving investors, the media and the general public. Both Altman and Amodei engage in the language of AI doomerism as a means of generating attention, revenue and investment capital, actively selling their software and future investment potential based on their ownership of a technology that they say (disingenuously) is potentially going to take everybody’s jobs. Based on reports from his Instagram, the man who threw the molotov cocktail at Sam Altman’s house was at least partially inspired by If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies, a doomer porn fantasy written by a pair of overly-verbose dunces spreading fearful language about the power of AI, inspired by the fearmongering of Altman…
I need to be clear that this act of violence is not something I endorse in any way. I also need to be clear that people feel like they’re being fucking tortured every time they load social media. Their money doesn’t go as far. Every time they read something it’s a story about ICE patrols or a near-nuclear war in Iran, or that gas is more expensive, or that there’s worrying things happening in private credit. Nobody can afford a house and layoffs are constant. One group, however, appears to exist in an alternative world where anything they want is possible. They can raise as much money as they want. They can build as big a building as they want anywhere in the world. Everything they do is taken so seriously that the government will call a meeting about it. Every single media outlet talks about everything they do. Your boss forces you to use it. Every piece of software forces you to at least acknowledge that they use it too. Everyone is talking about it with complete certainty despite it not being completely clear why. And these companies are, in no uncertain terms, coming for your job. That’s what they want to do. They all say it. They use deceptively-worded studies that talk about “AI-exposed” careers to scare and mislead people into believing LLMs are coming for their jobs, all while spreading vague proclamations about how said job loss is imminent but also always 12 months away. Altman even says that jobs that will vanish weren’t real work to begin with, much as former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati said that some creative jobs shouldn’t have existed in the first place. These people who sell a product with no benefit comparable on any level to its ruinous, trillion-dollar cost are able to get anything they want at a time when those who work hard are given a kick in the fucking teeth, sneered at for not “using AI” that doesn’t actually seem to make their lives easier, and then told that their labor doesn’t constitute “real work.” At a time when nobody living a nor…
Here's the conclusion of my free newsletter going out tomorrow, on the dangerous rhetoric spread by Sam Altman, Dario Amodei and Demis Hassabis.
wheresyoured.at
Greetings from the land of Nissan. Out here in Yokohama this week sampling some future product, but these three lovelies in the lobby certainly caught my eye.
(Not that I condone such activities, of course.)
There's... an underground street racing community in Albany? I have apparently been missing out.
www.news10.com/top-stories/...
Ahh, damn. Not much of a gift, then, eh?
Scary but also encouraging, some numbers on how bad smartphone use is for your state of mind, but also that a short digital detox can have meaningful results.
Gift link: wapo.st/4vho2JA
wild request but does anyone in Seattle have a really cool vintage truck I could take photos with on Thursday lol
"A live look from the Orion capsule, the Moon, and us, the Earth. All in one shot."
Back in 2013, I was so fed up with Nokian’s studded tires that I swore I’d never buy another set. Here, in 2026, I’m blown away by the tech on display — and hidden within — the company’s latest model. More details in my latest newsletter.
My kingdom for an Altın Gün/Angine de Poitrine crossover album.
Best wishes, my friend. I look forward to hearing what's next!
I wasn't sure what to expect from Nokian's latest, but on dry roads they absolutely delivered a significant reduction in noise.
Thanks for reading and sharing!
Listen, I understand the skepticism about in-wheel motors and unsprung mass and etc. etc. But after a day behind the wheel of this all-wheel drive pony car, I’m a believer that the potentials outweigh the drawbacks.
open.substack.com/pub/timsteve...
Roads are finally clear of salt and the coupe is back on the road, with a fresh timing belt with all the trimmings and a Kartboy short shifter with all the bushings for good measure.
Ugh, so sorry to hear that. The future sucks.
What's worse: People sharing fake, AI-generated videos on Facebook as if they're real, or the people commenting on the videos "It doesn't matter!" when people point out that they're AI?
I'm live on @dtnsshow.bsky.social Live talking about the current... state of EVs, Afeela, and all that jazz. Tune in!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQkt...
It's really good!
There's a new Grand Sport in town, and a hybrid version at that!
And, if that's not enough, there's a new V8 that makes more power thanks to a quicker processor and fast Fourier transforms!! All the details over at @arstechnica.com
arstechnica.com/cars/2026/03...
My heart goes out to the teams at Sony Honda Mobility, but it's hard to say we couldn't see this coming.
I break down the myriad factors that led to this cancelation and give some thoughts on what made a Sony car such a challenging prospect in the first place.
Thanks kindly!
Tried to write a thing about what'll probably be my last drive in an RS6 Avant for the newsletter. Things got a little heavy, for better or worse.
timstevens.substack.com/p/escape-to-...
Timing belt time for the STI Coupe... So far so good...
Xbox, they added it to Game Pass a few months back.
