The proliferation of software coding tools that leverage so-called Artificial Intelligence via Large Language Models (LLMs) is really quite astounding. In the span of a couple years there is now an entire industry devoted to generating code and whole software applications using the barest of human language prompts. “ChatGPT, make me a sandwich” is the new sudo. I’ve read a few good think pieces on this topic amidst a sea of hot takes but one thing I have not seen is a reflection on the ...| peknet.com
The proliferation of software coding tools that leverage so-called Artificial Intelligence via Large Language Models (LLMs) is really quite astounding. In the span of a couple years there is now an entire industry devoted to generating code and whole software applications using the barest of human language prompts. “ChatGPT, make me a sandwich” is the new sudo. I’ve read a few good think pieces on this topic amidst a sea of hot takes but one thing I have not seen is a reflection on the ...| peknet
Charlotte’s Web Day | peknet
“I only distribute pigs to early risers,” said Mr. Arable. “Fern was up at daylight, trying to rid the world of injustice. As a result, she now has a pig. A small one, to be sure, but nevertheless a pig. It just shows what can happen if a person gets out of bed promptly.”| peknet
Chris and I took our time getting this one done, which is one of the pleasures of recording in middle age. There’s no hustle, and all our time constraints are self-imposed.| peknet
Just after Christmas in 1997, I loaded up all my worldly possessions into my 1989 Honda Civic (which got 40+ miles to the gallon even back then!) and drove south from Saint Paul toward Atlanta. I was going to enroll at Emory’s Candler School of Theology and work on a master’s degree. I stopped in Arkansas on the way, left my car parked outside my sister’s double-wide trailer, got in her car and we drove together to Tucson, Arizona for a family reunion. My younger cousin was the first of...| peknet
The House of Mercy Band recorded several albums from 1999 to 2010. We were the host band at the House of Mercy church in Saint Paul. I don’t think I’m overstating things to claim that the band would not have made any records at all, and maybe never started a record label, if I hadn’t wandered into the church one evening in the fall of 1996, then again in the summer of 1997. There’s a good origin story for how Chris Larson and I met, and how I got Peter Rasmussen involved, and how one ...| peknet
The spring I turned 40 I experienced a small songwriting flurry and several songs emerged. One of them was called “A Little Heartache” that I wrote for Angie Talle. I always love hearing Angie sing and when I asked her, one evening at the Turf Club back in the winter of 2011/12, when she was going to record an album, she said she needed some songs and I should write her one. I think we were both surprised when, a couple months later, I sent her a demo of that tune. (The song did eventual...| peknet
It was Molly Maher who referred to our house on Burns Ave as the Big Pink, after The Band album. The initial paint color when we bought the house was definitely Barbie Butt Pink. What a great old house in a great location. We had this carriage house too, which was essentially a two-story garage with a third story up top with wood paneling and this real “cabin vibe” that of course all my musician friends immediately recognized as a prime recording space. In theory.| peknet
Back in 1998 I was living in Georgia and I got lonely for all my friends in Minnesota. During that year I wrote a lot of songs because that’s what (some) lonely people do, especially lonely people doing a lot of driving and spending tons of time alone.| peknet
In May 2022 I decided it was time to take a break from government service. I had been working with and in governments since 2015 and I was tired. I had the privilege and luxury to change jobs and start working in the climate change mitigation problem space.| peknet