Danny Smith
@danny.is
Fractional COO & Consultant. Helping create high-performance remote orgs 🌱 | Blues musician 🎵 | https://danny.is
Reposted by Danny Smith
Sir Ian McKellen performing a monologue from Shakespeare’s Sir Thomas More on the Stephen Colbert show. Never have I heard this monologue performed with such a keen sense of prescience. Nor have I ever been in this exact historical moment.TY Sir Ian, for reaching us once again.
#Pinks #ProudBlue
#Pinks #ProudBlue
February 5, 2026 at 11:50 AM
Sir Ian McKellen performing a monologue from Shakespeare’s Sir Thomas More on the Stephen Colbert show. Never have I heard this monologue performed with such a keen sense of prescience. Nor have I ever been in this exact historical moment.TY Sir Ian, for reaching us once again.
#Pinks #ProudBlue
#Pinks #ProudBlue
Reposted by Danny Smith
"actually his stuff was very Derivative and not Original" like, you don't have to do this. it is good for us all to sit with the cognitive dissonance that a very bad person can make very good art. it is good for us to work through the moral ramifications of that.
February 2, 2026 at 9:50 PM
"actually his stuff was very Derivative and not Original" like, you don't have to do this. it is good for us all to sit with the cognitive dissonance that a very bad person can make very good art. it is good for us to work through the moral ramifications of that.
I got detention for reading a book when I was at school!
February 3, 2026 at 9:10 PM
I got detention for reading a book when I was at school!
Just been doing a load of tax stuff and I wanna share some love for the gov.uk design system and the thought that's gone into it. My only criticism is that I'm too often looking at Chrome's devtools when I should be reading about tax shit.
design-system.service.gov.uk
design-system.service.gov.uk
Home
Design your service using GOV.UK styles, components and patterns
design-system.service.gov.uk
January 29, 2026 at 8:56 PM
Just been doing a load of tax stuff and I wanna share some love for the gov.uk design system and the thought that's gone into it. My only criticism is that I'm too often looking at Chrome's devtools when I should be reading about tax shit.
design-system.service.gov.uk
design-system.service.gov.uk
So as an Englishman this post isn’t as important to me as to my USian friends, but my goodness is it an interesting read.
Especially as a apropos of nothing I was reading about denizens in relation to the history of British Citizenship only last week
Especially as a apropos of nothing I was reading about denizens in relation to the history of British Citizenship only last week
Ilan Wurman's anti-birthright citizenship Supreme Court amicus. I won't mince words. He bastardizes the common law. It is a methodologically bankrupt approach to the history of Anglo-American constitutionalism. It is little more than preening to gain someone's favor, but certainly not a scholar's.
January 28, 2026 at 10:39 PM
So as an Englishman this post isn’t as important to me as to my USian friends, but my goodness is it an interesting read.
Especially as a apropos of nothing I was reading about denizens in relation to the history of British Citizenship only last week
Especially as a apropos of nothing I was reading about denizens in relation to the history of British Citizenship only last week
Reposted by Danny Smith
you owe it to yourself to take a scroll through the quotes bsky.app/profile/lmao...
January 27, 2026 at 4:55 PM
you owe it to yourself to take a scroll through the quotes bsky.app/profile/lmao...
Reposted by Danny Smith
Ian Austin, an Army veteran, was arrested for protesting ICE in Minneapolis. But he’s continued protesting. Senior reporter @julialurie.bsky.social spoke to him.
“When they say, ‘Why would you be out here?’ How the fuck could I not be out here?” he says. “My nation is under attack."
“When they say, ‘Why would you be out here?’ How the fuck could I not be out here?” he says. “My nation is under attack."
January 27, 2026 at 5:30 PM
Ian Austin, an Army veteran, was arrested for protesting ICE in Minneapolis. But he’s continued protesting. Senior reporter @julialurie.bsky.social spoke to him.
“When they say, ‘Why would you be out here?’ How the fuck could I not be out here?” he says. “My nation is under attack."
“When they say, ‘Why would you be out here?’ How the fuck could I not be out here?” he says. “My nation is under attack."
Reposted by Danny Smith
one thing to be wary of with llm agents is they can take your project far from the original vision. if you're not paying attention, it's possible to lose sight of what made you work on that thing in the first place
January 28, 2026 at 2:47 AM
one thing to be wary of with llm agents is they can take your project far from the original vision. if you're not paying attention, it's possible to lose sight of what made you work on that thing in the first place
Reposted by Danny Smith
Television is 100 years old today! 🎉
January 26, 2026 at 10:35 AM
Television is 100 years old today! 🎉
I'm part way through an article on this and I keep stopping and thinking "WTF am I saying here we've all known this forever". Because boiled down I'm basically saying:
The hardest part of making anything is the thinking bit. LLMs are amazing at coding, but shit at the thinking which really matters
The hardest part of making anything is the thinking bit. LLMs are amazing at coding, but shit at the thinking which really matters
LinkedIn is going crazy with "the price of software is now zero", "I wrote 3.6m LOC with no programming experience" etc.
Looks, it's like this: even with latest Opus and other frontier models, bad developers will produce bad software, and good developers will produce good software.
Looks, it's like this: even with latest Opus and other frontier models, bad developers will produce bad software, and good developers will produce good software.
January 27, 2026 at 1:25 AM
I'm part way through an article on this and I keep stopping and thinking "WTF am I saying here we've all known this forever". Because boiled down I'm basically saying:
The hardest part of making anything is the thinking bit. LLMs are amazing at coding, but shit at the thinking which really matters
The hardest part of making anything is the thinking bit. LLMs are amazing at coding, but shit at the thinking which really matters
Just to clarify: there are a lot of good reasons to morally object to AI Things. And even if there weren't I could still disagree with said folks while continuing looking up to them. Obviously.
[TL;DR: I am not some weird fanatic AI bro]
[TL;DR: I am not some weird fanatic AI bro]
Is there anyone out there who is both a css-purist-kinda-person and ALSO excited about coding with AI Agents?
(A lot of the folks I've looked up to for years as CSS/Web Platform experts seem strongly morally opposed to everything AI)
(A lot of the folks I've looked up to for years as CSS/Web Platform experts seem strongly morally opposed to everything AI)
January 27, 2026 at 1:19 AM
Just to clarify: there are a lot of good reasons to morally object to AI Things. And even if there weren't I could still disagree with said folks while continuing looking up to them. Obviously.
[TL;DR: I am not some weird fanatic AI bro]
[TL;DR: I am not some weird fanatic AI bro]
Imagine an alternate universe where @simonwillison.net had spent the last 20 years as excited about CSS, browsers & design-on-this-webby-medium as @bell.bz
Lols aside, Simon & Andy's RSS feeds are 2 of only 5 which send me notifications (❤️🙏)
I have 0 *quality* feeds about CSS & AI. Or design & AI
Lols aside, Simon & Andy's RSS feeds are 2 of only 5 which send me notifications (❤️🙏)
I have 0 *quality* feeds about CSS & AI. Or design & AI
January 27, 2026 at 1:11 AM
Imagine an alternate universe where @simonwillison.net had spent the last 20 years as excited about CSS, browsers & design-on-this-webby-medium as @bell.bz
Lols aside, Simon & Andy's RSS feeds are 2 of only 5 which send me notifications (❤️🙏)
I have 0 *quality* feeds about CSS & AI. Or design & AI
Lols aside, Simon & Andy's RSS feeds are 2 of only 5 which send me notifications (❤️🙏)
I have 0 *quality* feeds about CSS & AI. Or design & AI
Modern CSS is fucking amazing & coding with LLMs is also amazing.
January 27, 2026 at 1:03 AM
Modern CSS is fucking amazing & coding with LLMs is also amazing.
Is there anyone out there who is both a css-purist-kinda-person and ALSO excited about coding with AI Agents?
(A lot of the folks I've looked up to for years as CSS/Web Platform experts seem strongly morally opposed to everything AI)
(A lot of the folks I've looked up to for years as CSS/Web Platform experts seem strongly morally opposed to everything AI)
January 27, 2026 at 12:23 AM
Is there anyone out there who is both a css-purist-kinda-person and ALSO excited about coding with AI Agents?
(A lot of the folks I've looked up to for years as CSS/Web Platform experts seem strongly morally opposed to everything AI)
(A lot of the folks I've looked up to for years as CSS/Web Platform experts seem strongly morally opposed to everything AI)
Which is precisely why:
1. I use tailwind + in-your-codebase-UI-lib like shadcn by default. The pain of knowing how much simpler X could be with modern vanilla CSS is outweighed by the pain of watching other people (and now LLMs) tying themselves in knots.
2. My own website will not use tailwind
1. I use tailwind + in-your-codebase-UI-lib like shadcn by default. The pain of knowing how much simpler X could be with modern vanilla CSS is outweighed by the pain of watching other people (and now LLMs) tying themselves in knots.
2. My own website will not use tailwind
January 27, 2026 at 12:13 AM
Which is precisely why:
1. I use tailwind + in-your-codebase-UI-lib like shadcn by default. The pain of knowing how much simpler X could be with modern vanilla CSS is outweighed by the pain of watching other people (and now LLMs) tying themselves in knots.
2. My own website will not use tailwind
1. I use tailwind + in-your-codebase-UI-lib like shadcn by default. The pain of knowing how much simpler X could be with modern vanilla CSS is outweighed by the pain of watching other people (and now LLMs) tying themselves in knots.
2. My own website will not use tailwind
And MY GOD IS CLAUDE BAD at working with that code, despite it being waaaaaay less complex than my other projects.
Except to a pattern-matching machine like Claude it IS complex because unlike me, it can't read global.css + a few components and infer a somewhat- accurate mental model.
Except to a pattern-matching machine like Claude it IS complex because unlike me, it can't read global.css + a few components and infer a somewhat- accurate mental model.
January 27, 2026 at 12:06 AM
And MY GOD IS CLAUDE BAD at working with that code, despite it being waaaaaay less complex than my other projects.
Except to a pattern-matching machine like Claude it IS complex because unlike me, it can't read global.css + a few components and infer a somewhat- accurate mental model.
Except to a pattern-matching machine like Claude it IS complex because unlike me, it can't read global.css + a few components and infer a somewhat- accurate mental model.
Most of my recent projects use React, tailwind, shadcn/ui etc, and provided I take the time to establish solid foundational conventions... MY GOD IS CLAUDE GOOD at working with them!
My personal website doesn't use tailwind because it's my place to fuck about with new fancy CSS...
My personal website doesn't use tailwind because it's my place to fuck about with new fancy CSS...
January 27, 2026 at 12:00 AM
Most of my recent projects use React, tailwind, shadcn/ui etc, and provided I take the time to establish solid foundational conventions... MY GOD IS CLAUDE GOOD at working with them!
My personal website doesn't use tailwind because it's my place to fuck about with new fancy CSS...
My personal website doesn't use tailwind because it's my place to fuck about with new fancy CSS...
It's so interesting how shit Claude Code is at working with *actually good* CSS.
As a CSS nerd of 15-odd years my mental model leans *into* CSSy-shaped thoughts like the cascade and inheritance and whatnot. If you're not a CSS nerd, I don't blame ya for not having this.
Claude is not a CSS nerd.
As a CSS nerd of 15-odd years my mental model leans *into* CSSy-shaped thoughts like the cascade and inheritance and whatnot. If you're not a CSS nerd, I don't blame ya for not having this.
Claude is not a CSS nerd.
January 26, 2026 at 11:58 PM
It's so interesting how shit Claude Code is at working with *actually good* CSS.
As a CSS nerd of 15-odd years my mental model leans *into* CSSy-shaped thoughts like the cascade and inheritance and whatnot. If you're not a CSS nerd, I don't blame ya for not having this.
Claude is not a CSS nerd.
As a CSS nerd of 15-odd years my mental model leans *into* CSSy-shaped thoughts like the cascade and inheritance and whatnot. If you're not a CSS nerd, I don't blame ya for not having this.
Claude is not a CSS nerd.
The new "Bugger GitHub is Down"
January 22, 2026 at 10:17 PM
The new "Bugger GitHub is Down"
I spent the last month building the todo app I've always wanted. Tasks, projects and areas are all just local markdown files, but I have fit-for-context interfaces for working with them: Desktop app, CLI, Claude Plugin, Obsidian Plugin etc.
tdn.danny.is
tdn.danny.is
January 19, 2026 at 5:26 AM
I spent the last month building the todo app I've always wanted. Tasks, projects and areas are all just local markdown files, but I have fit-for-context interfaces for working with them: Desktop app, CLI, Claude Plugin, Obsidian Plugin etc.
tdn.danny.is
tdn.danny.is
Heard good thingsthings about about www.blacksmith.sh but never used it myself
The Fastest Way to Run GitHub Actions | Blacksmith
Speed up your GitHub actions with Blacksmith. Run CI/CD 2x faster, download caches 4x faster, build Docker images 40x faster, and eliminate queue times. Start free today.
www.blacksmith.sh
January 12, 2026 at 8:02 PM
Heard good thingsthings about about www.blacksmith.sh but never used it myself
Reposted by Danny Smith
LinkedIn is going crazy with "the price of software is now zero", "I wrote 3.6m LOC with no programming experience" etc.
Looks, it's like this: even with latest Opus and other frontier models, bad developers will produce bad software, and good developers will produce good software.
Looks, it's like this: even with latest Opus and other frontier models, bad developers will produce bad software, and good developers will produce good software.
January 5, 2026 at 7:37 PM
LinkedIn is going crazy with "the price of software is now zero", "I wrote 3.6m LOC with no programming experience" etc.
Looks, it's like this: even with latest Opus and other frontier models, bad developers will produce bad software, and good developers will produce good software.
Looks, it's like this: even with latest Opus and other frontier models, bad developers will produce bad software, and good developers will produce good software.