Chris K Wensel
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chris.wensel.net
Chris K Wensel
@chris.wensel.net
Co-Organizer of https://lu.ma/sf-distsys

Developer of https://github.com/ClusterlessHQ, https://cascading.wensel.net, and other data related projects.
Pinned
I've been refining a specification first model of LLM development.

I introduce it here
- chris.wensel.net/post/recomme...

working out the kinks here
- github.com/cwensel/rdr
Recommendation Decisioning Records | Chris K Wensel
Introducing RDRs - specification documents that evolve during planning to prevent purpose drift and wasted implementation effort.
chris.wensel.net
Reposted by Chris K Wensel
Fascinating pic from @cip.org. People show surprisingly high levels of trust in AI systems. Low trust in AI companies. Full report here static1.squarespace.com/static/631d0...
January 22, 2026 at 8:25 AM
Cole Valley
January 20, 2026 at 2:36 PM
Added quite a few updates to Arcaneum to maintain consistency between the semantic and full-text indexes, esp if they were created independently.

github.com/cwensel/arca...
GitHub - cwensel/arcaneum
Contribute to cwensel/arcaneum development by creating an account on GitHub.
github.com
January 20, 2026 at 2:12 AM
Created a branch in Arcaneum supporting full text search in tandem with semantic search.

Give it a spin
github.com/cwensel/arca...

Arcaneum is for giving your LLM full fidelity access to your project support files and dependencies via RAG. It will index PDFs (including OCR), git repos, and .md
GitHub - cwensel/arcaneum at main-ft-search
Contribute to cwensel/arcaneum development by creating an account on GitHub.
github.com
January 18, 2026 at 8:40 PM
Reposted by Chris K Wensel
My wife just told me that for her 60th birthday she wants a pool party and wants to hire GWAR to play. 😳

GWAR covering Pink Pony Club is possibly to blame.

youtu.be/I5XR48KLE8I?...
GWAR cover “Pink Pony Club” by Chappell Roan
YouTube video by The A.V. Club
youtu.be
January 15, 2026 at 11:54 PM
Reposted by Chris K Wensel
The OSTEP book club reading is starting in a week! A few updates.

1) Remzi Arpaci-Dusseau is in the book club! May not be super active because he's got a lot going on but he'll be there.
January 17, 2026 at 2:58 PM
In case you missed it, you need to recreate your Reserve California account. They wiped them all out intentionally. And there isn’t any notice on the site except OAuth errors.

I of course missed that and also the site i’d been coveting.
January 18, 2026 at 4:58 PM
Reposted by Chris K Wensel
2015: "Our goal is to advance digital intelligence in the way that is most likely to benefit humanity as a whole, unconstrained by a need to generate financial return."

2026: "We plan to test ads at the bottom of answers in ChatGPT when there’s a relevant sponsored product or service"
January 16, 2026 at 9:23 PM
Reposted by Chris K Wensel
Finalky got my copy, the best book I read in 2025, and a forever favourite, if you like the happy tingling you brain does when it discovers an original concept, this book is for you. @qntm.org
January 10, 2026 at 1:15 PM
seems every site has a "are you human" gate in front of it.
January 8, 2026 at 3:13 AM
Reposted by Chris K Wensel
Everyone's got their "oh shit, DEFCON 1" skeet storm ready to go, right? Remember you'll have about 40 minutes before you are vaporized with your family, but only 20 until the EMPs go off in LEO and kill the Internet.

Hey it was this or elect a chick, right?
January 7, 2026 at 1:38 PM
Reposted by Chris K Wensel
‼️ Colleagues: If you're teaching this semester, please let me know how I can help you. Happy to recommend reading or talk about immigration, free speech/association, Cold War/McCarthyism, ideological exclusion/deportation, "Threat of Dissent." 🗃️ @iehs.bsky.social

www.hup.harvard.edu/books/978067...
Threat of Dissent — Harvard University Press
“Suspicion of foreigners goes back to the earliest days of the republic…Kraut traces how different ideologies would be considered intolerably dangerous according to the dominant fears of a given era. ...
www.hup.harvard.edu
January 7, 2026 at 1:58 PM
Reposted by Chris K Wensel
📣 NEW w/@udbhav-tiwari.bsky.social Mapping the technical reality & privacy/security perils of pushing AI agents into our infra

We offer palliatives, but the core issues are paradigmatic: 'agency' relies on pervasive data access + ability to act w/o explicit consent

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ANE...
39C3 - AI Agent, AI Spy
YouTube video by media.ccc.de
www.youtube.com
January 7, 2026 at 2:08 PM
Reposted by Chris K Wensel
In case anyone needs it for their syllabi, my statement in gen-Ai from the minicomic I made as a syllabus for class last semester. All online and printable here spinweaveandcut.com/fall-2025-sy...
January 6, 2026 at 4:54 PM
Reposted by Chris K Wensel
The gap in support available to women in Canada compared to the United States is significant.

For Canadian women, "freedom" seems to be more about financial security and physical safety than about owning a gun or freedom of expression.

Universal HealthcareNow
PaidPay Office
Child careForAll
January 2, 2026 at 2:09 PM
Reposted by Chris K Wensel
🚀 Java HTML Sanitizer 20260102.1 has been released! https://github.com/OWASP/java-html-sanitizer/releases/tag/release-20260102.1
January 3, 2026 at 2:07 AM
Reposted by Chris K Wensel
If you are a resident of California, the state now has a portal where you can demand deletion of your personal data from 500+ registered data brokers with a single request form, for free.

consumer.drop.privacy.ca.gov
consumer.drop.privacy.ca.gov
January 2, 2026 at 2:26 AM
Reposted by Chris K Wensel
It’s already January 1st in UTC+1 which means two things:

1. Happy New Year!

2. I’m officially on the market for my next gig
December 31, 2025 at 11:26 PM
Reposted by Chris K Wensel
Belonging Uncertainty Load

I just made this one up but finally! A version of stress that recognizes social cognition not just cognition-cognition (is what I imagine you saying). Distinguishes background radiation of uncertainty and identity threat as a feature. Bonus shows you read psychology
December 31, 2025 at 6:00 PM
Reposted by Chris K Wensel
Proposals for new types of "Cognitive Loads" for us to talk about in Software in 2026 because I'm tired of seeing the word Cognitive:
December 31, 2025 at 6:00 PM
Reposted by Chris K Wensel
Look at this pic of Roxy Music:
December 30, 2025 at 9:59 PM
I've been refining a specification first model of LLM development.

I introduce it here
- chris.wensel.net/post/recomme...

working out the kinks here
- github.com/cwensel/rdr
Recommendation Decisioning Records | Chris K Wensel
Introducing RDRs - specification documents that evolve during planning to prevent purpose drift and wasted implementation effort.
chris.wensel.net
December 31, 2025 at 12:04 AM