Andrew Pendleton
@apendleton.bsky.social
Software engineer and navigator of ships at Sofar Ocean. Former builder of search engines at Mapbox and analyzer of regulatory process at Sunlight Labs (RIP).
Not "since," but I feel like the Garden State soundtrack was pretty formative for a certain kind of elder millennial (the movie is otherwise pretty forgettable).
July 30, 2026 at 12:10 AM
Not "since," but I feel like the Garden State soundtrack was pretty formative for a certain kind of elder millennial (the movie is otherwise pretty forgettable).
NIMBYs generally. An LVT should encourage putting more stuff on any given parcel of land, and if you live in a low-density/single-family-house neighborhood and would prefer that it stay that way, you don't want to be taxed for not building, nor do you want your neighbors to be incentivized to build.
July 5, 2026 at 7:37 PM
NIMBYs generally. An LVT should encourage putting more stuff on any given parcel of land, and if you live in a low-density/single-family-house neighborhood and would prefer that it stay that way, you don't want to be taxed for not building, nor do you want your neighbors to be incentivized to build.
Pretty sure Kate Winslet was Ophelia in the Branagh Hamlet. Gwyneth Paltrow was in Shakespeare in Love a couple of years later.
June 23, 2026 at 11:01 PM
Pretty sure Kate Winslet was Ophelia in the Branagh Hamlet. Gwyneth Paltrow was in Shakespeare in Love a couple of years later.
This is the weirdest museum I've ever been to, in any city ever: www.atlasobscura.com/places/le-mu... . It's neat, if you're not inclined to be grossed out. It requires an appointment so you'd want to plan ahead.
Le Musee des Moulages in Paris
A unrivaled and rather horrifying collection of wax dermatological models.
www.atlasobscura.com
June 19, 2026 at 8:28 PM
This is the weirdest museum I've ever been to, in any city ever: www.atlasobscura.com/places/le-mu... . It's neat, if you're not inclined to be grossed out. It requires an appointment so you'd want to plan ahead.
The concerns in this episode are real, but the fix they propose in the episode isn't "don't build data centers," it's "impose new regulatory requirements that limit how fast they can ramp their energy consumption up and down."
June 12, 2026 at 2:50 PM
The concerns in this episode are real, but the fix they propose in the episode isn't "don't build data centers," it's "impose new regulatory requirements that limit how fast they can ramp their energy consumption up and down."
If "jungle primary" refers to the whole process (all-party primary, top two advance to general), it doesn't make sense *with* ranked choice either. What's the point of the top-two general election, if voters have already expressed their preference between those two candidates via primary rankings?
June 1, 2026 at 7:22 PM
If "jungle primary" refers to the whole process (all-party primary, top two advance to general), it doesn't make sense *with* ranked choice either. What's the point of the top-two general election, if voters have already expressed their preference between those two candidates via primary rankings?
It kinda depends how we want to butterfly-effect our way through this counterfactual, I guess, but if we're imagining a version of the Republican party that would have been willing to crush the South after the war, I'm not sure that's a party that would have picked Johnson as the running mate in '64
May 8, 2026 at 11:00 PM
It kinda depends how we want to butterfly-effect our way through this counterfactual, I guess, but if we're imagining a version of the Republican party that would have been willing to crush the South after the war, I'm not sure that's a party that would have picked Johnson as the running mate in '64
Like, there's no tension in thinking *both* that Anthropic and xAI are run by evil capitalists or whatever, *and* that their operating philosophies at least might be different enough that which one is more influential will have downstream moral consequences.
April 29, 2026 at 12:09 AM
Like, there's no tension in thinking *both* that Anthropic and xAI are run by evil capitalists or whatever, *and* that their operating philosophies at least might be different enough that which one is more influential will have downstream moral consequences.
Even if you accept that ultimately all these companies are driven by money, it doesn't follow that all companies, when faced with questions like this, will make *identical* decisions, that who works there doesn't influence what decisions are made, or that what gets decided doesn't matter.
April 29, 2026 at 12:07 AM
Even if you accept that ultimately all these companies are driven by money, it doesn't follow that all companies, when faced with questions like this, will make *identical* decisions, that who works there doesn't influence what decisions are made, or that what gets decided doesn't matter.
Is that a requirement states voluntarily impose, and if so, could they choose not to? Like, could California adopt its own alternative safety licensure regime or something?
April 25, 2026 at 8:54 PM
Is that a requirement states voluntarily impose, and if so, could they choose not to? Like, could California adopt its own alternative safety licensure regime or something?
That this is in the Guardian must mean NYT wouldn't run it, right?
April 15, 2026 at 6:39 PM
That this is in the Guardian must mean NYT wouldn't run it, right?
It would have been more surefire if it had happened earlier, but now there's also Fico in Slovakia, who remains an obstacle.
April 12, 2026 at 7:58 PM
It would have been more surefire if it had happened earlier, but now there's also Fico in Slovakia, who remains an obstacle.
Proportional representation would be better still.
April 4, 2026 at 6:53 AM
Proportional representation would be better still.
I'm sure it was fun to work on, but it was already pretty clear that this was a technological deadend from the moment of its conception in 2011. Falcon 9 had already launched by then. Its purpose has only ever been to keep Shuttle suppliers in business.
April 1, 2026 at 5:38 PM
I'm sure it was fun to work on, but it was already pretty clear that this was a technological deadend from the moment of its conception in 2011. Falcon 9 had already launched by then. Its purpose has only ever been to keep Shuttle suppliers in business.
I dunno, I'm at least willing to entertain the idea that Trump v1 wasn't as bad as Buchanan, or Andrew Johnson.
March 31, 2026 at 12:28 AM
I dunno, I'm at least willing to entertain the idea that Trump v1 wasn't as bad as Buchanan, or Andrew Johnson.
AOC. Probably also Pritzker. Maybe Newsom, but for the spectacle rather than any moral conviction.
March 27, 2026 at 4:49 PM
AOC. Probably also Pritzker. Maybe Newsom, but for the spectacle rather than any moral conviction.
It doesn't feel *that* different from Turkish sovereignty over the Bosporus, and consequent effective control over access to the Black sea?
March 25, 2026 at 5:26 PM
It doesn't feel *that* different from Turkish sovereignty over the Bosporus, and consequent effective control over access to the Black sea?
That feels like about what Slate ( www.slate.auto ) is going for?
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March 13, 2026 at 8:34 PM
That feels like about what Slate ( www.slate.auto ) is going for?
Also not for nothing, but the trend for at least the last decade at the most hipster-y specialty coffee shops is towards less customization, not more. Each drink comes in only one size, there's one alternative milk, not many syrups, etc. What that has to do with loneliness, I have no idea.
March 9, 2026 at 7:53 PM
Also not for nothing, but the trend for at least the last decade at the most hipster-y specialty coffee shops is towards less customization, not more. Each drink comes in only one size, there's one alternative milk, not many syrups, etc. What that has to do with loneliness, I have no idea.
Paxton is almost certainly the more beatable of the two, though
March 5, 2026 at 9:39 PM
Paxton is almost certainly the more beatable of the two, though
I feel like they'll probably just need to spend the money to staff all the residential buildings with 24-hour security
February 26, 2026 at 7:33 PM
I feel like they'll probably just need to spend the money to staff all the residential buildings with 24-hour security
You're right. This is a bit of a personal pet peeve of mine that automatically gets my hackles up. I do stand by the substance of what I said, but you're right that me being flippant about it was not constructive, so if it's worth anything, I'm sorry about my tone.
February 23, 2026 at 7:36 PM
You're right. This is a bit of a personal pet peeve of mine that automatically gets my hackles up. I do stand by the substance of what I said, but you're right that me being flippant about it was not constructive, so if it's worth anything, I'm sorry about my tone.
Personally I think it's reasonable to expect people making factual claims to put in at least a modicum of effort to determine whether those claims are true before declaring them publicly, and for other people to call them out if they fail to do so.
February 23, 2026 at 6:53 PM
Personally I think it's reasonable to expect people making factual claims to put in at least a modicum of effort to determine whether those claims are true before declaring them publicly, and for other people to call them out if they fail to do so.