Joshua Pearson
@tucson-josh.com
Really sad to see my state continue destroying public education just to funnel more money to those who are already wealthy.
propub.li/4qfn4u2
propub.li/4qfn4u2
School Vouchers Were Supposed to Save Taxpayer Money. Instead They Blew a Massive Hole in Arizona’s Budget.
Arizona, the model for voucher programs across the country, has spent so much money paying private schoolers’ tuition that it’s now facing hundreds of millions in budget cuts to critical state program...
propub.li
December 20, 2025 at 1:50 AM
Really sad to see my state continue destroying public education just to funnel more money to those who are already wealthy.
propub.li/4qfn4u2
propub.li/4qfn4u2
Anyone out there using RDS for SQL Server on AWS should look at your instance types and licenses to save on your costs. You can probably save 50% or more immediately. I wrote up a brief piece about the new options here:
www.rsmc.ai/articles/rds...
www.rsmc.ai/articles/rds...
December 18, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Anyone out there using RDS for SQL Server on AWS should look at your instance types and licenses to save on your costs. You can probably save 50% or more immediately. I wrote up a brief piece about the new options here:
www.rsmc.ai/articles/rds...
www.rsmc.ai/articles/rds...
An excellent piece to share with anyone you know who uses LLMs as search engines.
whatever.scalzi.com/2025/12/13/a...
whatever.scalzi.com/2025/12/13/a...
“AI”: A Dedicated Fact-Failing Machine, or, Yet Another Reason Not to Trust It For Anything
I search my name on a regular basis, not only because I am an ego monster (although I try not to pretend that I’m not) but because it’s a good way for me to find reviews, end-of-the-yea…
whatever.scalzi.com
December 13, 2025 at 7:52 PM
An excellent piece to share with anyone you know who uses LLMs as search engines.
whatever.scalzi.com/2025/12/13/a...
whatever.scalzi.com/2025/12/13/a...
Really excited to see both @scalzi.com and @marthawells.com are part of the 2026 Tucson Festival of books. If you're a scifi fan maybe you should consider a trip down to the Old Pueblo in March.
tucsonfestivalofbooks.org?id=67
tucsonfestivalofbooks.org?id=67
Tucson Festival of Books | 2026 Festival Presenting Authors (A-Z)
tucsonfestivalofbooks.org
December 7, 2025 at 11:18 PM
Really excited to see both @scalzi.com and @marthawells.com are part of the 2026 Tucson Festival of books. If you're a scifi fan maybe you should consider a trip down to the Old Pueblo in March.
tucsonfestivalofbooks.org?id=67
tucsonfestivalofbooks.org?id=67
Funny how investors have decided that Nvidia’s earnings should be the test of whether there’s an AI bubble. I can assure you that sales of picks and shovels didn’t have to crash in order for sane people to know that the gold rush was a fool’s errand.
November 20, 2025 at 3:05 AM
Funny how investors have decided that Nvidia’s earnings should be the test of whether there’s an AI bubble. I can assure you that sales of picks and shovels didn’t have to crash in order for sane people to know that the gold rush was a fool’s errand.
As a University of Arizona alum, I feel doubly insulted by the fact that my alma mater was one of 9 sent the “Compact for Academic Excellence”. Firstly, this is unconstitutional. Secondly, the government is shut down, so you shouldn’t be able to threaten us until you pass a budget.
October 3, 2025 at 5:25 AM
As a University of Arizona alum, I feel doubly insulted by the fact that my alma mater was one of 9 sent the “Compact for Academic Excellence”. Firstly, this is unconstitutional. Secondly, the government is shut down, so you shouldn’t be able to threaten us until you pass a budget.
Reposted by Joshua Pearson
The entire global economy is currently so over-leveraged on "AI" that if we don't find a credible use case for it, and fast, we're likely to tumble into an economic meltdown of 2008 proportions, so please, your corporate overlords beg you, use "AI" to write that fucking email
Have we ever seen a technology go from zero to "your boss is aggressively demanding you use it every day" quite as quickly as modern "AI" tools?
(This is a genuine question).
(This is a genuine question).
It's pretty much mandatory at work that I appear to be using it, so I've doe a few functional things with it, and it's a moderate time-saver if used right. But nowhere near worth it's stock value, energy cost.
Then I realize there's a lot of people who simply can't write coherent paragraphs.
Then I realize there's a lot of people who simply can't write coherent paragraphs.
September 4, 2025 at 2:45 PM
The entire global economy is currently so over-leveraged on "AI" that if we don't find a credible use case for it, and fast, we're likely to tumble into an economic meltdown of 2008 proportions, so please, your corporate overlords beg you, use "AI" to write that fucking email
The water future of the American West will have more conflict as we see drier years and depletion of aquifers. I wonder if @paolobacigalupi.bsky.social has any idea when people in Phoenix will start buying hyenas.
coloradosun.com/2025/08/25/c...
coloradosun.com/2025/08/25/c...
Hundreds lose water source in Colorado’s poorest county with no notice, no warning
Costilla County residents were cut off from the local water filling station when the Fort Garland water board voted to stop sales because of an “angry mob”
coloradosun.com
August 25, 2025 at 5:04 PM
The water future of the American West will have more conflict as we see drier years and depletion of aquifers. I wonder if @paolobacigalupi.bsky.social has any idea when people in Phoenix will start buying hyenas.
coloradosun.com/2025/08/25/c...
coloradosun.com/2025/08/25/c...
Reposted by Joshua Pearson
So we're outsourcing initial job interviews to AI now? You'd think all the productivity gains would free up humans for the important things, like interviewing our future co-workers.
At this pace, every candidate will need their own interview bot to keep up. Soon, bots will be interviewing bots.
At this pace, every candidate will need their own interview bot to keep up. Soon, bots will be interviewing bots.
August 4, 2025 at 4:08 PM
So we're outsourcing initial job interviews to AI now? You'd think all the productivity gains would free up humans for the important things, like interviewing our future co-workers.
At this pace, every candidate will need their own interview bot to keep up. Soon, bots will be interviewing bots.
At this pace, every candidate will need their own interview bot to keep up. Soon, bots will be interviewing bots.
What with @oxide.computer announcing their $100m series B round, I suspect a lot of folks with Dells, HPEs and Supermicros in the data center are hoping to get rid of these signs around the office.
July 30, 2025 at 6:45 PM
What with @oxide.computer announcing their $100m series B round, I suspect a lot of folks with Dells, HPEs and Supermicros in the data center are hoping to get rid of these signs around the office.
My thoughts on how AI might impact the future of software engineering.
tucson-josh.com/posts/mythic...
tucson-josh.com/posts/mythic...
The Mythical Machine-Month Paradox
How well do the claims of an AI-dominated future for computer programming hold up against the reality of modern software systems? Are we truly headed for a …
tucson-josh.com
July 25, 2025 at 4:56 PM
My thoughts on how AI might impact the future of software engineering.
tucson-josh.com/posts/mythic...
tucson-josh.com/posts/mythic...
Reposted by Joshua Pearson
The better you are at a thing, the more "AI" will be a drag on your time, because it's operating at a lower level of skill than you are, and you have to fix what it does, rather than just do what you already know how to do.
July 14, 2025 at 8:30 PM
The better you are at a thing, the more "AI" will be a drag on your time, because it's operating at a lower level of skill than you are, and you have to fix what it does, rather than just do what you already know how to do.
A quick post I just put up about designing error types for rust traits:
tucson-josh.com/posts/rust-t...
#rust #rustlang #softwareengineering
tucson-josh.com/posts/rust-t...
#rust #rustlang #softwareengineering
Creating Ergonomic Error Types for Rust Traits
Designing error types for rust traits that are easy to use for both trait implementors and users of those implementations
tucson-josh.com
June 27, 2025 at 11:13 PM
A quick post I just put up about designing error types for rust traits:
tucson-josh.com/posts/rust-t...
#rust #rustlang #softwareengineering
tucson-josh.com/posts/rust-t...
#rust #rustlang #softwareengineering
I wrote a piece about optimizing merges in ClickHouse. Anyone who has worked with me knows how much I dig SQL optimization problems and ClickHouse is a new frontier for me:
tucson-josh.com/posts/clickh...
#clickhouse #sql #optimization
tucson-josh.com/posts/clickh...
#clickhouse #sql #optimization
Optimizing ClickHouse Join Performance
Examining ClickHouse SQL Join performance and how to improve slow joins
tucson-josh.com
June 4, 2025 at 10:25 PM
I wrote a piece about optimizing merges in ClickHouse. Anyone who has worked with me knows how much I dig SQL optimization problems and ClickHouse is a new frontier for me:
tucson-josh.com/posts/clickh...
#clickhouse #sql #optimization
tucson-josh.com/posts/clickh...
#clickhouse #sql #optimization
The clap crate for rust is really convenient and can help you create amazing CLI apps that are reliable and work well as part of automated workflows. Let me know what you think of my piece about this:
tucson-josh.com/posts/rust-c...
#rustlang #cli #clap
tucson-josh.com/posts/rust-c...
#rustlang #cli #clap
It's Types All the Way Down - Rust CLI with Clap
Using rust types to specify command line interfaces using the clap crate
tucson-josh.com
May 19, 2025 at 3:07 PM
The clap crate for rust is really convenient and can help you create amazing CLI apps that are reliable and work well as part of automated workflows. Let me know what you think of my piece about this:
tucson-josh.com/posts/rust-c...
#rustlang #cli #clap
tucson-josh.com/posts/rust-c...
#rustlang #cli #clap
Germs, what germs?
arstechnica.com/health/2025/...
arstechnica.com/health/2025/...
RFK Jr. rejects cornerstone of health science: Germ theory
In his 2021 book vilifying Anthony Fauci, RFK Jr. lays out support for an alternate theory.
arstechnica.com
April 30, 2025 at 10:19 PM
Germs, what germs?
arstechnica.com/health/2025/...
arstechnica.com/health/2025/...
Reposted by Joshua Pearson
The Great Debate of 1920 between Harlow Shapley and Heber Curtis is something that holds not just fact for me, but also truth. Shapley (left) argued that our solar system is off to one side of the Milky Way Galaxy (correct) and that our galaxy is the entirety of the Universe (incorrect).
April 15, 2025 at 12:09 AM
The Great Debate of 1920 between Harlow Shapley and Heber Curtis is something that holds not just fact for me, but also truth. Shapley (left) argued that our solar system is off to one side of the Milky Way Galaxy (correct) and that our galaxy is the entirety of the Universe (incorrect).
Reposted by Joshua Pearson
I've seen some people saying how "AI"-generated text is now as good as certain published authors, and honestly I think it's really brave for these folks to admit in public how poor their reading comprehension has to be
April 13, 2025 at 11:31 PM
I've seen some people saying how "AI"-generated text is now as good as certain published authors, and honestly I think it's really brave for these folks to admit in public how poor their reading comprehension has to be
Reposted by Joshua Pearson
If I light your house on fire and then douse the flames halfway through it burning down, I shouldn’t be praised for my firefighting skills
April 10, 2025 at 6:51 PM
If I light your house on fire and then douse the flames halfway through it burning down, I shouldn’t be praised for my firefighting skills
The direction we are headed in is frightful and should be a warning for anyone, regardless of political persuasion.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
This op-ed could lead to me being deported from America | Berna León
I could never have imagined that writing a critical piece about the government could put me at risk of deportation
www.theguardian.com
March 29, 2025 at 7:48 PM
The direction we are headed in is frightful and should be a warning for anyone, regardless of political persuasion.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
This article really sums up the current state of AI companies and how it feels really similar to the dot com bubble bursting.
prospect.org/power/2025-0...
prospect.org/power/2025-0...
Bubble Trouble
An AI bubble threatens Silicon Valley, and all of us.
prospect.org
March 25, 2025 at 6:54 PM
This article really sums up the current state of AI companies and how it feels really similar to the dot com bubble bursting.
prospect.org/power/2025-0...
prospect.org/power/2025-0...
I mean, who needs science? What has science ever done for us?
arstechnica.com/science/2025...
arstechnica.com/science/2025...
US Antarctic Program disrupted by DOGE-induced chaos
Long-term impacts will affect not only research but also geopolitics.
arstechnica.com
February 28, 2025 at 6:09 PM
I mean, who needs science? What has science ever done for us?
arstechnica.com/science/2025...
arstechnica.com/science/2025...
Reposted by Joshua Pearson
I have been so excited since I found out this would be announced today! RIP any ability for me to concentrate: www.apple.com/tv-pr/news/2...
Apple’s new sci-fi series “Murderbot” to make global debut May 16, 2025
Today, Apple TV+ unveiled a first look at “Murderbot,” created by Chris and Paul Weitz and starring Alexander Skarsgård
www.apple.com
February 20, 2025 at 5:09 PM
I have been so excited since I found out this would be announced today! RIP any ability for me to concentrate: www.apple.com/tv-pr/news/2...