James Cham
@jamescham.bsky.social
Of the San Gabriel Valley; investing for the year 2030; working to improve the second derivative; looking for troublesome ringleaders.
Reposted by James Cham
Something that happens to me a lot:
Me: I would like to pay you money for this thing you sell
Them: Great! Let's set up a call!
Me: ... well I guess this is never happening, dang it.
Me: I would like to pay you money for this thing you sell
Them: Great! Let's set up a call!
Me: ... well I guess this is never happening, dang it.
January 10, 2026 at 8:55 PM
Something that happens to me a lot:
Me: I would like to pay you money for this thing you sell
Them: Great! Let's set up a call!
Me: ... well I guess this is never happening, dang it.
Me: I would like to pay you money for this thing you sell
Them: Great! Let's set up a call!
Me: ... well I guess this is never happening, dang it.
Don’t be intimidated by the news focused on the innovations of big companies and their great PR teams. Individual, idiosyncratic creators unlock all sorts of possibilities and drive the world. www.anildash.com/2026/01/09/h...
How Markdown took over the world - Anil Dash
A blog about making culture. Since 1999.
www.anildash.com
January 10, 2026 at 9:21 PM
Don’t be intimidated by the news focused on the innovations of big companies and their great PR teams. Individual, idiosyncratic creators unlock all sorts of possibilities and drive the world. www.anildash.com/2026/01/09/h...
Reposted by James Cham
No year. You fill it all in.
January 10, 2026 at 8:39 AM
No year. You fill it all in.
Reposted by James Cham
Timeline cleanse. The world is hard and terrible things happen.
There is also joy. That’s why we push back against the terrible things.
There is also joy. That’s why we push back against the terrible things.
January 9, 2026 at 9:01 PM
Timeline cleanse. The world is hard and terrible things happen.
There is also joy. That’s why we push back against the terrible things.
There is also joy. That’s why we push back against the terrible things.
I don’t know C Thi Nguyen and haven’t met him but found him very funny and clever in interviews and I’m looking forward to reading The Score. (And if you don’t like reading books you can always just read his very long and nuanced papers!)
January 9, 2026 at 6:41 PM
I don’t know C Thi Nguyen and haven’t met him but found him very funny and clever in interviews and I’m looking forward to reading The Score. (And if you don’t like reading books you can always just read his very long and nuanced papers!)
This is a great idea and there’s so much low hanging fruit to make the world a little better.
On that little arrow near the fuel gauge... A open.substack.com/pub/joshuaga...
AI and the Moylan Arrow
We need more AI arrows
open.substack.com
January 9, 2026 at 6:36 PM
This is a great idea and there’s so much low hanging fruit to make the world a little better.
Getting a chance to read Craig’s terrible jokes is a great reason to hang out here!
Man, I wish we had a Chinese restaurant like Taste here in Portland.
January 9, 2026 at 6:14 AM
Getting a chance to read Craig’s terrible jokes is a great reason to hang out here!
The irony is that you’ve got the most freedom to decide where to spend your time online and yet we so often feel like we are trapped!
January 8, 2026 at 6:51 PM
The irony is that you’ve got the most freedom to decide where to spend your time online and yet we so often feel like we are trapped!
Taste is a social skill and is highly dependent on context! So it is not like Steve Jobs came down from the heavens with perfect taste. Instead it was developed as a conversation between him and his audience that was highly contingent.
January 8, 2026 at 6:50 PM
Taste is a social skill and is highly dependent on context! So it is not like Steve Jobs came down from the heavens with perfect taste. Instead it was developed as a conversation between him and his audience that was highly contingent.
Here’s to more innocent forms of social organization:
> “even the ‘most innocent forms of social organisation can … become transformed into centres of opposition’”
> “even the ‘most innocent forms of social organisation can … become transformed into centres of opposition’”
this gets at something important.
For me, the most difficult part is often the lies.— www.unpopularfront.news/p/living-in-...
January 8, 2026 at 5:55 PM
Here’s to more innocent forms of social organization:
> “even the ‘most innocent forms of social organisation can … become transformed into centres of opposition’”
> “even the ‘most innocent forms of social organisation can … become transformed into centres of opposition’”
I am listening to C. Thi Nguyen’s interviews for his new book and I really hope that someone like @beenwrekt.bsky.social reviews it.
January 8, 2026 at 5:42 AM
I am listening to C. Thi Nguyen’s interviews for his new book and I really hope that someone like @beenwrekt.bsky.social reviews it.
Reposted by James Cham
The LEAP RCT on peanut allergies: A randomized trial in which equipoise arose from parental anxiety, not scientific uncertainty.
The food pyramid vs the evidence pyramid
Peanut allergies, the LEAP RCT, and when experts issue guidance under pressure.
www.argmin.net
January 6, 2026 at 3:28 PM
The LEAP RCT on peanut allergies: A randomized trial in which equipoise arose from parental anxiety, not scientific uncertainty.
From Arvid Narayanan, sounding a very @dsquareddigest.bsky.social note:
>> The animating question becomes: “How should we design algorithmic bureaucracies?”
www.cs.princeton.edu/~arvindn/pub...
>> The animating question becomes: “How should we design algorithmic bureaucracies?”
www.cs.princeton.edu/~arvindn/pub...
January 7, 2026 at 10:58 PM
From Arvid Narayanan, sounding a very @dsquareddigest.bsky.social note:
>> The animating question becomes: “How should we design algorithmic bureaucracies?”
www.cs.princeton.edu/~arvindn/pub...
>> The animating question becomes: “How should we design algorithmic bureaucracies?”
www.cs.princeton.edu/~arvindn/pub...
Reposted by James Cham
Because I always forget to boost stuff, here's my post on what I did last year and what's coming up in 2026. adriantchaikovsky.com
Adrian Tchaikovsky, science fiction and fantasy author
Books, novels, novellas by Adrian Tchaikovsky
adriantchaikovsky.com
January 7, 2026 at 8:52 PM
Because I always forget to boost stuff, here's my post on what I did last year and what's coming up in 2026. adriantchaikovsky.com
Reposted by James Cham
I've posted my latest recap of the world of databases: www.cs.cmu.edu/~pavlo/blog/...
All the hot topics from the last year:
• More Postgres action!
• MCP for everyone!
• MongoDB gets litigious with FerretDB!
• File formats!
• Market movements!
• The richest person in the history of the world!
All the hot topics from the last year:
• More Postgres action!
• MCP for everyone!
• MongoDB gets litigious with FerretDB!
• File formats!
• Market movements!
• The richest person in the history of the world!
Databases in 2025: A Year in Review
The world tried to kill Andy off but he had to stay alive to to talk about what happened with databases in 2025.
www.cs.cmu.edu
January 5, 2026 at 2:14 PM
I've posted my latest recap of the world of databases: www.cs.cmu.edu/~pavlo/blog/...
All the hot topics from the last year:
• More Postgres action!
• MCP for everyone!
• MongoDB gets litigious with FerretDB!
• File formats!
• Market movements!
• The richest person in the history of the world!
All the hot topics from the last year:
• More Postgres action!
• MCP for everyone!
• MongoDB gets litigious with FerretDB!
• File formats!
• Market movements!
• The richest person in the history of the world!
For 2026, I am going to try to reference as many 20th century social scientists (broadly defined) as possible. Just tried a post that referenced Albert Hirschman as explicitly as possible. Next up: perhaps Harrison White?
January 5, 2026 at 11:47 PM
For 2026, I am going to try to reference as many 20th century social scientists (broadly defined) as possible. Just tried a post that referenced Albert Hirschman as explicitly as possible. Next up: perhaps Harrison White?
An important point about EV and also other technologies…
4/ European policy debates focus on risk exposure. Engineers focus on data and iteration cycles. Those conversations barely overlap.
January 1, 2026 at 4:45 AM
An important point about EV and also other technologies…
Reposted by James Cham
What you think the likely consequences are depends on whether you expect to see a pooling or separating equilibrium.
One of the big tidal forces of the coming years is that the baseline reliability of things you see on a screen is going to decline.
I think this has not been adequately metabolized.
This is one version, but there are a bunch of them.
I think this has not been adequately metabolized.
This is one version, but there are a bunch of them.
NEW: AI “recipe slop” is overrunning search and social. Food creators say Google’s AI Overviews and glossy fake food pics are drowning out real, tested recipes — collapsing traffic and setting home cooks up for disaster, especially this Thanksgiving.
Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
November 25, 2025 at 9:48 PM
What you think the likely consequences are depends on whether you expect to see a pooling or separating equilibrium.
Now there is a very strong torment nexus-vibe here but feel like a few friends of mine are basically proto-Manfred Macx’s. Time to re-read Accelerando!
“pronoiac meme-broker”, “automated their legal processes and are spawning subsidiaries”, “silicon rust belt victims”
“pronoiac meme-broker”, “automated their legal processes and are spawning subsidiaries”, “silicon rust belt victims”
November 25, 2025 at 5:41 PM
Now there is a very strong torment nexus-vibe here but feel like a few friends of mine are basically proto-Manfred Macx’s. Time to re-read Accelerando!
“pronoiac meme-broker”, “automated their legal processes and are spawning subsidiaries”, “silicon rust belt victims”
“pronoiac meme-broker”, “automated their legal processes and are spawning subsidiaries”, “silicon rust belt victims”
Another @dsquareddigest.bsky.social style unaccountability machine style problem. I know there are many problems in the world but I wish we spent more time thinking in these terms... rein.pk/over-regulat...
Over-Regulation is Doubling the Cost by Peter Reinhardt
rein.pk
November 20, 2025 at 4:39 PM
Another @dsquareddigest.bsky.social style unaccountability machine style problem. I know there are many problems in the world but I wish we spent more time thinking in these terms... rein.pk/over-regulat...
Reposted by James Cham
This is a good time to let everybody else know that I've got a mailbag column coming up in a few days...
If you've got a question, fire away here.
49ers, Warriors, Giants, everything.
First slot guaranteed to BlueSky questions.
If you've got a question, fire away here.
49ers, Warriors, Giants, everything.
First slot guaranteed to BlueSky questions.
November 17, 2025 at 12:13 AM
This is a good time to let everybody else know that I've got a mailbag column coming up in a few days...
If you've got a question, fire away here.
49ers, Warriors, Giants, everything.
First slot guaranteed to BlueSky questions.
If you've got a question, fire away here.
49ers, Warriors, Giants, everything.
First slot guaranteed to BlueSky questions.
Was reminded by a friend that air traffic controllers are working without pay right now.
November 7, 2025 at 5:06 AM
Was reminded by a friend that air traffic controllers are working without pay right now.
Reposted by James Cham
Yoshinobu Yamamoto:
First pitcher to win 3 games in a single World Series since 2001 Randy Johnson
First pitcher with 3 road wins in a single WS
4th P to win G6+7 in a WS, joining ‘01 Johnson, 1946 Harry Brecheen, 1925 Ray Kremer — FIRST to do it on road
First pitcher to win 3 games in a single World Series since 2001 Randy Johnson
First pitcher with 3 road wins in a single WS
4th P to win G6+7 in a WS, joining ‘01 Johnson, 1946 Harry Brecheen, 1925 Ray Kremer — FIRST to do it on road
November 2, 2025 at 4:41 AM
Yoshinobu Yamamoto:
First pitcher to win 3 games in a single World Series since 2001 Randy Johnson
First pitcher with 3 road wins in a single WS
4th P to win G6+7 in a WS, joining ‘01 Johnson, 1946 Harry Brecheen, 1925 Ray Kremer — FIRST to do it on road
First pitcher to win 3 games in a single World Series since 2001 Randy Johnson
First pitcher with 3 road wins in a single WS
4th P to win G6+7 in a WS, joining ‘01 Johnson, 1946 Harry Brecheen, 1925 Ray Kremer — FIRST to do it on road
Reposted by James Cham
The Good Samaritan, by Joseph Highmore, 1744, 📸 by @patricksmith04
November 2, 2025 at 4:49 AM
The Good Samaritan, by Joseph Highmore, 1744, 📸 by @patricksmith04
I worry that Kahneman was right about AI 7 years ago:
“Yann LeCun said yesterday that humans would always prefer emotional contact with other humans. That strikes me as probably wrong. It is extremely easy to develop stimuli to which people will respond emotionally.”
“Yann LeCun said yesterday that humans would always prefer emotional contact with other humans. That strikes me as probably wrong. It is extremely easy to develop stimuli to which people will respond emotionally.”
October 30, 2025 at 5:29 AM
I worry that Kahneman was right about AI 7 years ago:
“Yann LeCun said yesterday that humans would always prefer emotional contact with other humans. That strikes me as probably wrong. It is extremely easy to develop stimuli to which people will respond emotionally.”
“Yann LeCun said yesterday that humans would always prefer emotional contact with other humans. That strikes me as probably wrong. It is extremely easy to develop stimuli to which people will respond emotionally.”