Mike Lee Williams
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mlw.bsky.social
Mike Lee Williams
@mlw.bsky.social
390 followers 290 following 490 posts
member of technical staff at anthropic • my favourite directed graphs are webrings
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mlw.bsky.social
i get reminded of it every time i am tempted to engage with obvious bait. the thing that reminded me of it this time was:
Bad New Yorker article: "But matrix multiplication, to which our civilization is now devoting so many of its marginal resources, has all the elegance of a man hammering a nail into a board. It is possessed of neither beauty nor symmetry: in fact, in matrix multiplication, a times b is not the same as b times a."
November 5, 2025 at 3:11 PM
mlw.bsky.social
some personal news
Balatro screenshot: “Deck Stake Wins 100% 120/120”
October 27, 2025 at 1:30 AM
mlw.bsky.social
don’t ever knock this country to me
Screenshot of email with subject “Facebook Consumer Privacy User Profile Litigation Settlement Administrator paid you $23.46”
September 15, 2025 at 8:00 PM
mlw.bsky.social
saw this on the subway today. the woman wearing it seemed like she had it all figured out.
t shirt with the "I ♥️ LYING" written on it
September 6, 2025 at 12:51 AM
mlw.bsky.social
August 14, 2025 at 4:40 AM
mlw.bsky.social
it is happening again
A notification informing me that Sheffield United have lost by four goals to one at home on the first day of the season.
August 9, 2025 at 7:53 PM
mlw.bsky.social
A tweet that reads: Being a billionaire must be insane. You can buy new teeth, new skin. All your chairs cost 20,000 dollars and weigh 2,000 pounds. Your life is just a series of your own preferences. In terms of cognitive impairment it's probably like being kicked in the head by a horse every day
July 31, 2025 at 3:18 PM
mlw.bsky.social
much love to this voter in the navy yard
Precinct map of the NYC Democratic Mayoral Primary showing that Lander got one (1) vote in the Navy Yard and everyone else got zero.
June 25, 2025 at 1:52 AM
mlw.bsky.social
rekt
The cover of A Distant Mirror by Barbara Tuchman
June 24, 2025 at 8:50 PM
mlw.bsky.social
iM uSinG Ai
A screenshot from the VS Code extension Cline. Reads: "Let me analyze the task and the environment to understand what I'm working with. The user has sent a message with just ":w", which appears to be a Vim command to save a file. However, I'm not in a Vim editor, so this command doesn't apply directly. I need to understand what the user is trying to accomplish."
May 30, 2025 at 12:34 AM
mlw.bsky.social
the 30 year fixed mortgage enjoyed by homeowners in the US is almost unique! a wonder of financial engineering made possible by your friend and mine, a federal government with a mandate and reserve currency status. when I tell my friends in the uk about mine they are quite simply staggered!
Chart of mortgages by length of initial fixed rate period in a group of 11 developed countries. In most countries most mortgages are fixed for < 5 years, and often < 1 year.
April 29, 2025 at 6:44 PM
mlw.bsky.social
same same!
Two four and twenty blackbirds pies in boxes in a refrigerator.
March 14, 2025 at 9:53 PM
mlw.bsky.social
this approach to enterprise sales
Jacob Wohl tweet: “I just a left a hipster coffee shop. It was packed with liberals, whispering amongst each other about what a commendable job President Trump did with Vladimir Putin this morning in Helsinki -- America is PROUD! 🇺🇸”
March 13, 2025 at 7:06 PM
mlw.bsky.social
I don’t usually like to brag but …check out my new socks
Blue socks with LOS ANGELES PUBLIC LIBRARY written on them
February 16, 2025 at 3:54 PM
mlw.bsky.social
lmao
"Does this odd and annoying mix of weepy fragility, oblivious self-importance, and obscene corniness sounds familiar? It should, because as a matter of tone it's identical to--here imagine me talking over you as you attempt to finish my sentence with "the emotional register of 20th-century European fascism"--the psychotically annoying way that Gamergaters tweeted in 2015."
February 12, 2025 at 5:57 PM
mlw.bsky.social
incredible image taken by don petit from the dragon crew 9 vehicle port window over the weekend (via
arstechnica.com/space/2025/0...)
Photo of Earth from space. Earth takes up the bottom half of the frame, space the top half. Caption from the photographer: "Milky way, Zodical light, Starlink satellites as streaks, stars as pin points, atmosphere on edge showing OH emission as burned umber (my favorite Crayon color), soon to rise sun, and cities at night as streaks"
January 15, 2025 at 2:52 PM
mlw.bsky.social
bit of fire and a lot of smoke/ash/embers at the main entrance archway
January 8, 2025 at 1:45 AM
mlw.bsky.social
straight to jail
Screenshot from the department of sanitation website: “Naked trees – trees without decoration, ornaments and stands – can go to the curb for collection on your Curbside Composting day”
January 7, 2025 at 9:53 PM
mlw.bsky.social
and the non-fiction

Ian Kershaw - To Hell and Back: Europe, 1914-1949
Adam Higginbotham- Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space
Robert Caro - The Passage of Power (LBJ #4)
Henry Grabar - Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World
Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World by Henry Grabar Robert Caro - The Passage of Power (The Years of Lyndon Johnson, #4) Adam Higginbotham - Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space Ian Kershaw - To Hell and Back: Europe, 1914-1949
January 3, 2025 at 12:56 AM
mlw.bsky.social
more fiction

Paul murray - the bee sting
tony tulathimutte - rejection
January 3, 2025 at 12:51 AM
mlw.bsky.social
my top books of 2024 (a thread in n parts). starting with fiction, and in no particular order:

miranda july - all fours
danzy senna - colored television
molly aitken - bright i burn
miranda july - all fours danzy senna - colored television molly aitken - bright i burn
January 3, 2025 at 12:50 AM
mlw.bsky.social
"with the lead pipe in the fourth bedroom walk-in" looking floor plan
Clue board
December 9, 2024 at 1:17 AM
mlw.bsky.social
a what now?
A relatively mundane set of requirements for an office job with "A willingness to work hard and a high pain tolerance" hiding near the end.
December 2, 2024 at 6:54 PM
mlw.bsky.social
went for a walk today, marble hill to battery park. highly recommend it if you have the chance!
Map of a walk from the northern tip of Manhattan to the southern tip, gets a bit wiggly in the Chelsea/village area. 16 and a bit miles.
November 25, 2024 at 10:37 PM
mlw.bsky.social
8
8 library cards in the Libby app
November 16, 2024 at 5:46 AM