Ultranormal

100% AI-free half-assed writing hand crafted by Kevin Lawver about programming, life, cooking and random nonsense.

Recent Posts

  • A 50 Year-Old Dad Confronts 2026

    I'm stealing my theme for 2026 from The Mountain Goats: "I'm gonna make it through this year if it kills me." I've been trying to get healthier for a while now, and just this week, as winter is at its metaphorical and actual darkest, I hit a goal I thought...

  • 2026 Energy

    I have a draft post all about 2025, but you know what? Fuck 2025. It was a complicated year and I'm tired of thinking about it. I'd rather listen to music, hang out with friends and get ready to vote against every Republican I can for as long as I...

  • The Layoff Collection

    The layoffs in tech continue unabated. I realized that there's no one place where I've got all of the things I've written about them collected in one place (and I don't like Wordpress' tags page). So, here they all are, plus one bonus one about all of the ways that...

  • The Cost of Lies

    What is the cost of lies? It's not that we'll mistake them for the truth. The real danger is that if we hear enough lies, then we no longer recognize the truth at all. What can we do then? What else is left but to abandon even the hope of...

  • Stay Soft

    I wrote this as my farewell in Slack, and wanted to keep it, so it's turning into a blog post! Tomorrow is my last working day at Gusto, which has meant a lot of good-bye conversations, some tears, and a good bit of advice. It's bittersweet leaving a company full...

  • Racing Robots

    This was originally published on the Creative Coast's (now Startup Savannah) blog way back in 2016. With AI, it's feels even more relevant now. Similarly, the impulse to keep to yourself what you have learned is not only shameful, it is destructive. Anything you do not give freely and abundantly...

  • The Nonsense Continues Unabated

    My nonsensical House rep, Buddy Carter, filed a bill to rename Greenland to "Red, White and Blueland." This isn't the first time Buddy's been ridiculous in public, embarrassing his constituents. Here's a letter I sent to him this morning. Dear Mr. Carter, What are you doing? Greenland doesn't belong to...

  • A Quick 2024 Retrospective of Good Things

    2024 was a lot of things, a lot of them not so great. But, there was good stuff too! Here's a quick recap of some good things and favorites from 2024: Jodi Chromey's multiple posts about how men don't appreciate art created by women (start here) bounced around in my...

  • The Thief in the Public Square

    Automattic, the owner of both Tumblr and Wordpress, admitted that they're working with AI companies to sell their users' creations to help train AI models. This site has been on WordPress for a long time, and moved WordPress installations between hosts at least twice. This is so hard to take....

  • My Favorite Albums of 2023

    I am apparently not in the musical consumption mainstream. I still love sitting down to a meal of an entire album instead of singles. I keep my playlist of favorites from the year still, but I love albums. This year, I'm trying to avoid albums by artists I've called out...