Sean Klein
smklein.bsky.social
Sean Klein
@smklein.bsky.social
I build some things, break others, and always stop to pet the dogs

Engineer living and running in SE PDX
Reposted by Sean Klein
Great story, with possibly the greatest author's disclosure of all time:

"Disclosure: Prior to his election, the author was Councilor Green’s DM in a Dungeons & Dragons campaign."
ICE tear gassed a bunch of children on Saturday. This was a massive escalation of force. They were shooting tear gas at the back of the crowd, it took these unmasked people maybe 3-5 minutes in the cloud of tear gas to escape in without trampling. www.theverge.com/policy/87278...
ICE is afraid of children protesting
“Next time, I’ll be back with a gas mask.”
www.theverge.com
February 3, 2026 at 3:04 PM
Reposted by Sean Klein
people will use this as a pretense to fearmonger even though an average of 429 children are injured by manually operated vehicles every single day

Waymo should absolutely be expected to analyze and prevent similar situations going forward, but human drivers are so dangerous
January 29, 2026 at 7:14 PM
we should tax Waymo for presence in portland, and have outsized penalties for them for unsafe driving, resulting in compensation to the city/citizens.

This could fund public transit options (trimet)

I don't understand the pdx approach to ban technology, rather than force it to become a net good
You should know that Waymo wants to come to Portland. You should know I don’t support that.
The child, whose age is not known, sustained minor injuries according to Waymo. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating.
January 29, 2026 at 9:26 PM
This is a "Jane Jacob's" classic take, which would be one of the most significant ways to improve Portland.

It's slightly counter-intuitive from a left political perspective, but this area (zoning) is one where I firmly believe reducing bureaucracy, mandates, & laws would be a game-changer
January 16, 2026 at 7:22 PM
the recent AI discourse has me feeling things, so it's still worth stating for the record:

- AI as a "self-justified product" for end-users is usually shit
- AI for tooling does not release you from responsibility of what is produced
- You can (and should) still do things by hand, whenever you want
January 9, 2026 at 4:56 PM
Rust devs doing weird things 🤝 everyone in Minneapolis and Portland

"Wow fuck this ICE"
January 9, 2026 at 6:01 AM
For Rust people interested in async code at TokioConf, I'll see y'all in April!
January 5, 2026 at 5:56 PM
going to start using "do you think the merlin bird ID app is evil" as a litmus test before discussing technology with people
December 19, 2025 at 7:03 PM
in college I took courses on machine learning. As a part of that, we built simple neural networks - from scratch - which could generate text, make classifications, etc.

If you really hate AI, consider what the breaking point might be here. Do you truly hate the technology, or the way it's applied?
November 26, 2025 at 7:47 PM
It's possible to be skeptical and concerned about AI companies (disinformation, neurosis, lack of critical thinking, job security, plagiarism) while also acknowledging usage patterns of the public.

quote responses to this reinforce how correct @davidcrespo.bsky.social is about "bubble opinion"
this is a bluesky bubble opinion. 800M+ people use chatgpt every week. I hate Facebook and Instagram and I wish they didn’t exist, but 3B and 2B people use them every month, respectively. it’s very hard to picture a mass or even a niche left backlash against them
i think tech and ai positive people are going to be in for a big shock when anti tech and anti ai sentiment becomes a major part of leftwing politics going forward especially as datacenters continue to destroy communities and raise electricity bills
November 26, 2025 at 7:09 PM
On December 13th, I'm planning to run with the Wy'east Wolfpack from sunset to sunrise to raise money for the Alano Club of Portland. Help make a difference for those in the Portland area who are struggling from substance abuse - consider donating $1 per mile.

charity.pledgeit.org/MTD2025
Support Move Through Darkness 2025
As a person in recovery from substance addiction (since 2004, one day at a time) I know how "dark" life can get sometimes. I have experienced long nights awake using chemicals, trying to escape realit...
charity.pledgeit.org
November 26, 2025 at 5:31 PM
Reposted by Sean Klein
This is the eternal question of a software developer: Am I failing to understand this because it's too clever? Or because it's too dumb?
November 20, 2025 at 7:26 PM
I read the proposal.

This is NOT a fee on arbitrary property owners/businesses that might have protestors.

It IS a fee on detention centers that deploy chemical deterrents onto public spaces.

So, in case there any confusion: it's hard to see how this would be bad for 99.99% of businesses
November 20, 2025 at 9:14 PM
Reposted by Sean Klein
Group Runs in Places We Don't Have Races is returning this winter. Join us for a free and fun day on a cool trail.
gobeyondracing.com/2025/11/17/g...
Group Runs in Places We Don't Have Races 2026 | Go Beyond Racing
Free group runs in places we don't have races, but wish we did. Join us this off-season for a fun day of trails.
gobeyondracing.com
November 18, 2025 at 9:58 PM
god damn I really miss this guy
November 18, 2025 at 11:52 PM
The check engine light on my toothbrush came on and I'm just not emotionally ready to deal with that right now
November 18, 2025 at 7:16 AM
I miss him so much. Ube was simply the greatest dog ever.
November 14, 2025 at 6:53 PM
So, many thoughts:

1. This seems like an obviously bad idea
2. Can we have a discussion about whether or not the PCEF funding structure is actually working? Both in terms of "what it set out to do", but also, how is it possible for this fund to be such a constant raiding target?
A citizen ballot initiative backed by the Portland Police Association will seek to reroute 25% of revenues from the Portland Clean Energy Fund tax to fund the hiring of 400 additional police officers.
Ballot Initiative Will Seek to Reroute 25% of Climate Tax Revenues to Hiring Police
Sophie Peel
www.wweek.com
November 11, 2025 at 8:29 PM
Nothing like a respiratory illness to make you miss breathing normally
November 5, 2025 at 5:46 PM
Does anyone in Portland know why the parks levy doesn't actually address the much-needed maintenance costs of running parks?

I've read the following, and the situation seems dire: www.portland.gov/auditor/audi...
November 5, 2025 at 12:01 AM
a guy named "chance-y bill-ups" getting arrested for an illegal poker ring is incredibly kojima-coded
October 24, 2025 at 4:01 PM
Reposted by Sean Klein
Funny how thousands upon thousands of people can march through war torn Portland with absolutely no violence but some how anyone getting near a federal agent gets shot in the face.
October 18, 2025 at 10:51 PM
Reposted by Sean Klein
If you think the military should be deployed into American cities because there’s the slightest tension at a protest, congratulations!

You are a fascist!

Lots of people want to hold fascist ideologies without realizing what they’ve become, but we have words to describe things and that’s what u are
October 4, 2025 at 3:18 AM
Reposted by Sean Klein
There is day-of registration available for tomorrow's Lastest Not Fastest #justsayin
gobeyondracing.com/races/lastes...
October 3, 2025 at 8:17 PM
Just in case this isn't clear to anyone:

- the president declared war on Portland, and wants the national guard to use full force against the "hellfire" of citizens here
- our city council used to have a group chat

And Willamette Week is more concerned about that second bullet point
September 30, 2025 at 9:56 PM