Archive

Hi, I’m Jamie Thingelstad, and this is the Weekly Thing! At some point, you decided to join me on this journey of learning around technology, culture, leadership, privacy, and many other topics.

Welcome to issue 2^8 or 256 if it is too early for math. 256 is one of those great numbers that all techies know.

2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024, 2048, 4096, 8192… that is super easy to recall from memory because they are all powers of 2. The magic of binary. That is also the number of “mega” in “giga” and “tera” on your hard drives. But oddly not your network bandwidth, which decided to stay base 10. 🤨

I’m Jamie Thingelstad, and you (in theory) signed up for this weekly letter from me sharing things that I have found notable and engaging for the week.

I do something that is a bit weird, and that very few people do — I unsubscribe from unwanted email that I get. I’ve been doing this for a long time, usually in small batches. 🗑️

When you first start doing it you won’t notice any difference. But after a while, you start to see less unwanted email. Less stuff to have to mentally process and delete. Over time, you can win the battle. And really, if you plan to keep your email address it is worth doing this. LLMs are going to make spam detection harder, so it is a good time to get off of mailing lists.⏳

I’m Jamie Thingelstad, and this is the Weekly Thing. Check out previous issues at the archive.

Good morning! ☕️

This weekend is Mother’s Day and I want to wish Happy Mother’s Day to my Mom, to Tammy, and all of the Mom’s out there. You make the world a great place! 🥰

I’m Jamie Thingelstad, and this is my Weekly Thing. Did you know that you can also get this via your favorite feed reader using the RSS feed? Hooray for web standards!

👋 Hello there!

I concluded three trips to Manhattan over a period of six weeks. It wasn’t planned that way, just happened. Tons of photos in the journal this week from the third and final trip. It was a lot of travel but it was fun to be there so much that things sort of felt easy. 🚇

I’m Jamie Thingelstad. Thank you for being part of a continuous focus on learning. Please consider inviting others you know to signup for the Weekly Thing. Thank you!

Hello there! 👋

It has been another whirlwind week and I’m going to skip much of an intro this week. All good stuff. Have a great week!

I’m Jamie Thingelstad. You’re getting this email because you signed up for the Weekly Thing. I appreciate you being here, but if you don’t want these emails any longer, simply unsubscribe.

Hey there! 👋

So I usually try to get to you on Saturday morning, and often times it ends up being Sunday morning. But this is the first time it has ever been Sunday evening!

I’m Jamie Thingelstad, and this is the Weekly Thing. You can read this, click on articles, all while knowing that your privacy is preserved and nobody is watching you. There are no tracking pixels or masked links here, and never will be!

I have always liked the act of signing your work. Painters sign their art. Developers include a comment with their name. We all sign our emails.

Signing is something people do. ✍️

I’m Jamie Thingelstad. You’re getting this email because you signed up for the Weekly Thing. I appreciate you being here, but if you don’t want these emails any longer, simply unsubscribe.

Hello there! 👋

Last night Tyler and I spent a few hours playing with ChatGPT and DALL-E. It was super fun. We asked it serious and silly questions alike. We had it create ridiculous images of a “giant white Bernadoodle towering over the skyline of Minneapolis” which made us laugh out loud for real. 🤣 We had a ton of fun world building and asking ChatGPT to “create a world filled with Pokémon”. That world is called “Pokétopia” by the way. Tyler found a reference to the “hardest programming language” and we had it “Write a script in Malbolge”. We had it do some word problems with us “If a feather fell at 32 newton from 5.6 feet in the sky with 1.5 mph winds how long would it take for the feather to hit the ground”. GPT-4 critiqued our word problem. We even asked it to help design “a romantic date night for 50 year old couple”. 🥰

I’m Jamie Thingelstad, and this is my Weekly Thing. Did you know that you can also get this via your favorite feed reader using the RSS feed? Hooray for web standards!

Hello there! 👋

I was reflecting today how happy I am that a few years ago I made a conscious decision to change how I engage with news. I shared a bit in Weekly Thing 159 about it, and my approach is largely unchanged.

I’m Jamie Thingelstad. You’re getting this email because you signed up for the Weekly Thing. I appreciate you being here, but if you don’t want these emails any longer, simply unsubscribe.

Hello! 👋

Many years ago I told each our kids that when they turned 13 I would take them to New York. Mazie and I went in 2018 (see Weekly Thing 75!), and Tyler and I went this last weekend. ✈️

I’m Jamie Thingelstad, and this is the Weekly Thing. You can read this, click on articles, all while knowing that your privacy is preserved and nobody is watching you. There are no tracking pixels or masked links here, and never will be!

Hello there! 👋

What a week — π day, St. Patricks Day, and a couple of bank failures to add some spice to the mix.

Hi, I’m Jamie Thingelstad, and this is the Weekly Thing. Isn’t that witty? I send this weekly, and it is full of various things. What would I call it if my last name didn’t start with thing? I have no idea!

Good morning! 👋

I’m so happy to share that in just two weeks we raised $11,156.04 to support great organizations that are helping the people of Ukraine! 🇺🇦 Thank you for maximizing all the match! 🙏

I’m Jamie Thingelstad, and this is the Weekly Thing. One of the delights of sending this email is hearing from you! Hit reply and say Hi…

Last week in recognition of the Ukraine’s One Year milestone defending itself against Russian attacks I announced a $5,000 fundraising match to any Ukrainian support organization.

Hi, I’m Jamie Thingelstad, and this is the Weekly Thing! At some point, you decided to join me on this exploratory journey of technology, culture, leadership, privacy, and many other topics.

Hello! 👋

On Friday there was much reporting of Russia’s attacks on Ukraine now lasting for a year. It is remarkable to think back a year and all that was going on in those initial days and weeks. The strength and resolve of the people of Ukraine has been remarkable and inspiring.

I’m Jamie Thingelstad, and you (in theory) signed up for this weekly letter from me sharing things that I have found notable and engaging for the week.

Hello there! 👋

The last few days have been a blur, so I’m going to just get straight to the rest of the things this week.

I’m Jamie Thingelstad, and this is the Weekly Thing. Check out previous issues at the archive.

Hello there! 👋

Have you noticed the sun is coming up earlier in the day? Today it seemed more noticeable to me for some reason. And it made me really happy to think about the longer days ahead.

I’m Jamie Thingelstad, and this is my Weekly Thing. Did you know that you can also get this via your favorite feed reader using the RSS feed? Hooray for web standards!

This week I got to join our sales teams at the annual Sales Kickoff. It was a great event. 🎉

As a technology leader I think there is much more in common between high performing sales and technology teams than many might expect.

I’m Jamie Thingelstad. You’re getting this email because you signed up for the Weekly Thing. I appreciate you being here, but if you don’t want these emails any longer, simply unsubscribe.

Hello there! 👋

There was a spike in new people subscribing to the Weekly Thing. Welcome aboard! I hope you dig it and get value from what I share here. To everyone else, thank you for being here too! You are awesome. 💛

I’m Jamie Thingelstad, and this is the Weekly Thing. You can read this, click on articles, all while knowing that your privacy is preserved and nobody is watching you. There are no tracking pixels or masked links here, and never will be!

Not syndicating to linked j. A. Twitter.

Holiday Week List

Hi, I’m Jamie Thingelstad, and this is the Weekly Thing. Isn’t that witty? I send this weekly, and it is full of various things. What would I call it if my last name didn’t start with thing? I have no idea!

End of year giving!

Minnestar

I’m Jamie Thingelstad, and this is the Weekly Thing. One of the delights of sending this email is hearing from you! Hit reply and say Hi…

todo

Hi, I’m Jamie Thingelstad, and this is the Weekly Thing! At some point, you decided to join me on this exploratory journey of technology, culture, leadership, privacy, and many other topics.

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. I hope you were able to get away and spend time with family and friends. We had some last minute changes due to COVID, but embraced agility and adapted plans. 🔄

I always have grand thoughts of how I’m going to prepare the turkey, and then the reality turns into running out-of-time and watching YouTube videos to remind myself how to carve it. The Wassail Tea is much easier. ☕️

I’m Jamie Thingelstad, and you (in theory) signed up for this weekly letter from me sharing things that I have found notable and engaging for the week.

Hello there and good morning! ☕️

At least to many of you it is morning… if not, please substitute the timezone appropriate term.

I’m Jamie Thingelstad, and this is the Weekly Thing. Check out previous issues at the archive.

Hello everyone! 👋

I hope you are having a great weekend. I’m coming to you on a Sunday this week. We are hosting our annual Things 4 Good Fall Fundraiser event this weekend, and we had a number of things to get ready before opening the doors for the sale on Saturday. So I’m a little past deadline.

I’m Jamie Thingelstad, and this is my Weekly Thing. Did you know that you can also get this via your favorite feed reader using the RSS feed? Hooray for web standards!

I’m feeling bullet pointy…

• Got done with COVID, testing negative on Sunday and on Tuesday. I have a hall pass for the next 4 months or so. Nobody else in the family got it.
• We had shockingly few visitors on Halloween. I have no idea what that was about, but I feel a need to start a marketing campaign for our block to drive more activity next year!
• I won two more Noun Name Service raffles! 💯
• Final project of our move got done this week. Family room home theater done!

I’m Jamie Thingelstad. You’re getting this email because you signed up for the Weekly Thing. I appreciate you being here, but if you don’t want these emails any longer, simply unsubscribe.

Hey there! 👋

I’m writing this from my isolation room.

I’m Jamie Thingelstad, and this is the Weekly Thing. You can read this, click on articles, all while knowing that your privacy is preserved and nobody is watching you. There are no tracking pixels or masked links here, and never will be!

I wish that there were 28 hours in a day.

If I add up what I want to get done each day, along with sleeping, family, work, hobbies, etc. 24 hours just isn’t enough.

Hi, I’m Jamie Thingelstad, and this is the Weekly Thing. Isn’t that witty? I send this weekly, and it is full of various things. What would I call it if my last name didn’t start with thing? I have no idea!

Good morning! 🌞

The air is brisk and fall colors have officially arrived here in Minnesota. 🍂 I love the cool weather of fall. Campfires are the best this time of year. 🔥

I’m Jamie Thingelstad, and this is the Weekly Thing. One of the delights of sending this email is hearing from you! Hit reply and say Hi…

Wait, it is Sunday. I’m supposed to be wishing you a good start to your weekend on Saturday morning, but this week time ran out on me and here I am on Sunday morning. It happens sometimes. 🤷‍♂️

As if we didn’t have enough things to worry about in the world, we got Hurrican Ian this week. Like many of you, I knew a few people directly in the line of this massive storm. It made it feel closer. Hopefully people are able to recover soon. We are heading to Orlando to visit Disney in just two weeks.

I’m Jamie Thingelstad, and you (in theory) signed up for this weekly letter from me sharing things that I have found notable and engaging for the week.

Mazie was sharing with us that her History teacher has them do a Weekly WIL. A what? 🤔

WIL is an acronym. What I Learned. 💡

I’m Jamie Thingelstad, and this is the Weekly Thing. Check out previous issues at the archive.

👋 Hello!

I hope you have had a great summer! ☀️

I’m Jamie Thingelstad. You’re getting this email because you signed up for the Weekly Thing. I appreciate you being here, but if you don’t want these emails any longer, simply unsubscribe.

👋 Hello! I hope you are well!

It is time for my regular summer break publishing the Weekly Thing. I take July and August off while summer is in full swing. This summer is going to be even busier as we are moving houses! A house came on the market that we loved, in a neighborhood we know, and we decided to take the leap. All the buying and selling stuff is done, and now it is just time to fill a lot of boxes with our stuff. 📦

I’m Jamie Thingelstad, and this is my Weekly Thing. Did you know that you can also get this via your favorite feed reader using the RSS feed? Hooray for web standards!

This week I over-consumed on financial news. With inflation, interest rates, and markets all in wild spots there was plenty to consume. It was a rough week in all of these areas. As I was reading and listening to different observations I noted there were many references to charts and data with the comment of “we have never seen this line above the other line”, or “X has always been higher than Y, this is the first time ever that Y is higher”. When I hear these things I always assume this new and novel situation is terrible. ☠️ Indeed, things are so far off the tracks that we are obviously doomed.

But in fact, the data doesn’t actually infer that. It just says that it hasn’t happened before. It is new! ✨

I’m Jamie Thingelstad, and this is the Weekly Thing. You can read this, click on articles, all while knowing that your privacy is preserved and nobody is watching you.

Summer is officially here. The kids are done (or finishing) with school and have the whole summer in front of them. It is fresh and delightful outside. Warm, but not hot. Trips are planned and eagerly awaited. It would be great to be able to bottle this up so you could have just a sip of it in the dark and cold days of winter. ☺️

Looking below it seems I got a bit verbose. It was also Apple’s WWDC this week. Let’s keep the intro short and move onto this weeks exploration, discovery, and learning! That will make more sense as you keep reading…

Hi, I’m Jamie Thingelstad, and this is the Weekly Thing. Isn’t that witty? I send this weekly, and it is full of various things. What would I call it if my last name didn’t start with thing? I have no idea!

Hello there! Here I am hitting your Inbox on a Sunday morning again. What can I say, life has been pretty full lately. That is a good thing. 😊

There is a lot in this issue so I’m going to keep the intro brief. Let’s get on with it!

I’m Jamie Thingelstad, and this is the Weekly Thing. One of the delights of sending this email is hearing from you! Hit reply and say Hi…

I use Pinboard to keep all my bookmarks back for a long, long time. I just checked, and my first link in my archive is from August 18, 2005! There are currently 13,026 links. 😳

This week I stumbled upon this funny HTTP Cats site and it gave me a chuckle, so I added it to Pinboard. Ultimately that is how I get things into the Weekly Thing. But to my surprise, I had already added it. In 2015. It is pretty rare that this happens but it makes me smile when it does. 😊

Hi, I’m Jamie Thingelstad, and this is the Weekly Thing! At some point, you decided to join me on this exploratory journey of technology, culture, leadership, privacy, and many other topics.

Good morning! ☕️

It is just after 6am as I type this. It looks like it will be a fabulous Saturday.

I’m Jamie Thingelstad, and you (in theory) signed up for this weekly letter from me sharing things that I have found notable and engaging for the week.

Hello, I’m back! 👋

It is nice to be showing up in your inbox again. It has been six weeks since #218. I feel a little rusty. That seems to always be the case when I take a break. The words take a little bit to get going again. ⌨️

I’m Jamie Thingelstad, and this is the Weekly Thing. Check out previous issues at the archive.

Hello there! 👋

We are getting ready to head out on our Spring Break trip. Atypical for us, we have very little planned other than a delightful location with amazing beaches just a short walk away. 🏖 I am planning to spend a lot of time relaxing, and also reconnecting with photography. I enjoy how photography pushes me to engage my creative senses.

I’m Jamie Thingelstad. You’re getting this email because you signed up for the Weekly Thing. I appreciate you being here, but if you don’t want these emails any longer, simply unsubscribe.

Hello there! 👋

I have another Sunday issue of the Weekly Thing for you. I’m going to keep the intro brief again this week. 🤷‍♂️

I’m Jamie Thingelstad, and this is my Weekly Thing. Did you know that you can also get this via your favorite feed reader using the RSS feed? Hooray for web standards!

Sunday delivery has become a bit of a regular thing the last couple of weeks. 💀

I’m a bit behind, and am going to skip right to the links this week. 👍

I’m Jamie Thingelstad, and this is the Weekly Thing. You can read this, click on articles, all while knowing that your privacy is preserved and nobody is watching you. There are no tracking pixels or masked links here, and never will be!

Hello! 👋

We continue to see horrific bombing and combat in Ukraine, along with incredible resilience from the people of Ukraine. 🇺🇦 You’ll find a list of organizations to support the people of Ukraine below. 😢

Hi, I’m Jamie Thingelstad, and this is the Weekly Thing. Isn’t that witty? I send this weekly, and it is full of various things. What would I call it if my last name didn’t start with thing? I have no idea!

This is a different Weekly Thing again. The humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, the result of Russia’s War on Ukraine, has been growing worse. There are many, many organizations that are working hard to help people in Ukraine. Please take a moment to make donations if you are able. In the meantime, see the photos from Weekly Thing #213 of Ukraine if you missed them.

Select list of organizations to consider…

I’m Jamie Thingelstad, and this is the Weekly Thing. One of the delights of sending this email is hearing from you! Hit reply and say Hi…

This is a special Weekly Thing on Ukraine, there are no links this week… and there are a lot of photos!

Nine years ago I knew very little about Ukraine. In the time since, I’ve had the opportunity to work very closely with so many great technologists and professionals in Ukraine. I’ve learned much about the history, the people, and the rich culture.

Hi, I’m Jamie Thingelstad, and this is the Weekly Thing! At some point, you decided to join me on this exploratory journey of technology, culture, leadership, privacy, and many other topics.

👋 Hey there! Hope all is great with you!

I’m a little late getting this issue of the Weekly Thing out so I’m going to keep the intro brief. Tammy is driving and I’m tapping on the laptop. Thank you LTE! We are heading to Ely, Minnesota for some outside fun this weekend. Years ago I developed a big crush on Ely after visiting for a dog sledding photography workshop. I’m looking forward to snowmobiling and dogsledding! ❄️

I’m Jamie Thingelstad, and you (in theory) signed up for this weekly letter from me sharing things that I have found notable and engaging for the week.

Hey there! 👋

This was another week with a lot going on. I frankly wasn’t sure I was going to be able to get a newsletter out this week, but persevere I did! I’m feeling like I have a lot of balls in the air. 🤹‍♂️

I’m Jamie Thingelstad, and this is the Weekly Thing. Check out previous issues at the archive.

My favorite thing recently? The days are getting longer.

On our way to dinner tonight at 5:30p we were driving along and it was still light out!

I’m Jamie Thingelstad, and this is my Weekly Thing. Did you know that you can also get this via your favorite feed reader using the RSS feed? Hooray for web standards!

Hey there! 👋

This week has been a bit of a whirlwind for me — moving a lot of things forward all at once. 🌪

I’m Jamie Thingelstad. You’re getting this email because you signed up for the Weekly Thing. I appreciate you being here, but if you don’t want these emails any longer, simply unsubscribe.

👋 Hey there!

It is great to be back from my Winter Break. It has only been six weeks but much has happened…

I’m Jamie Thingelstad, and this is the Weekly Thing. You can read this, click on articles, all while knowing that your privacy is preserved and nobody is watching you. There are no tracking pixels or masked links here, and never will be!

Welcome to the final issue of the Weekly Thing for 2021! After I hit send on Issue #207 I won’t be back to your inbox until January 22nd with issue #208. What will you do to enjoy your Saturday morning coffee without the Weekly Thing? I’m sure you will figure something out. 😊

I really enjoy the holiday season, and try to slow things down. It is the perfect opportunity for me to take some purposeful time to reflect. With the higher than usual level of volatility in our lives over the last couple of years, I think that time for reflection is more needed than ever. I also have this growing feeling that in addition to the volatility, we all have a lot more noise in our lives than we ever had before. There are so many ways for things to get to us. Too many. Solitude may be the rarest commodity of all, even rarer than privacy.