Because some people asked, and because I’m going to be busy for the next day (I’ll explain later), here are more shots from recently-added pages to my notebook. These are notes on RAG and LangChain, taken and condensed from a couple of books, a couple of online sources, and my own experimenting with code. Enjoy!
This little trove of photos is entirely Anil Dash’s fault. He recently made a blog post titled How Markdown Took Over the World with a “hero image” featuring a 2002-era iMac setup — the G4 model, which Jony Ive described as the answer to the question “What computer would the Jetsons have had?”
I stumbled across Anil’s article on a Sunday afternoon while doing some home office housekeeping, and thought, Wow, there’s a blast from the past, which was quickly followed by Hey, didn’t I get someone to take a photo of me with one of those iMacs when they were only days old?
Unlike some people, I’ve been archiving my digital photos since I bought my first digital camera in 1998, so it didn’t take long for me to dig up that iMac G4 photo:
This photo is from a set that I shot while attending the O’Reilly 2002 ETCon, which took place at the Westin Hotel in Santa Clara. It was a little different from the previous year’s edition of the conference, what with everything being scaled down; even the name had been shortened from the original “Emerging Technologies Conference” down to “ETCon.”
(One of us — I don’t recall whom — engaged in a little gallows humor and quipped “Maybe we should call this the Receding Technologies Conference.”)
This was early 2002, when the dot-com bubble burst had grown into a full meltdown. A lot of us had lost our jobs when the companies we worked for had imploded, but most of us had saved enough to attend a couple of conferences, partly to look for our next gigs, and partly because we couldn’t not go and not see our friends and peers.
One of the nice things about this pared-down conference was that it felt a little more personal. There were more opportunities to just hang out as friends and enjoy some “down time” — or what passes for down time when you’re young and have programming skills, spare time, and lots of ideas — with each other.
We did a lot of hanging out in the hotel lobby, which was pretty much a gathering of a lot of Web 2.0 names you might remember from way-back-when, and some of whom are still working away these days.
This was an awesome “hallway track.”
A whole bunch of us decided to go into town for an unofficial dinner one evening, which included a run to the Apple Store to see the new iMac G4s. I took a cab with Zooko, Wes Felter, and Aaron Swartz.
…the only evidence I have of that are these photos.
Star Wars: Attack of the Clones had just been released around the time of the conference, and a number of us decided to go catch the movie. It was decided that we’d pre-game at Quinn Norton’s and Danny O’Brien’s house. This worked well for Aaron, as it wasn’t an age-restricted event at a bar.
After hanging out at the house for a little bit, we made our way to the theatre. We somehow managed to get tickets despite the crowds and our late arrival.
We’d broken up into smaller groups, and Aaron was with me. There were very few seats left, but the front row was still free.
“Front row, then?” I asked Aaron, and he said “Sure.” We took a couple of seats on the left side.
There was still a fair bit of time to kill before the coming attractions came on, never mind the film.
“Dare you to play something,” Aaron said, pointing at my accordion.
“You are so on, young man,” I said. I stood up and played the Star Wars main theme and the Imperial March, getting the audience all riled up.
When the film started, I wanted to get a picture for my blog review. As I pulled out my camera, I said “Keep an eye out for ushers” as I snapped a picture of the opening crawl.
We both got a great laugh out of an all-caps line in the crawl, “CLONE ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC,” and for the next few months, it became a catchphrase for us in IRC chats: “PEER-TO-PEER ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC”, “BOY BAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC”, “UNDERPANTS ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC”, and so on.
On the final day of ETCon, we ditched the lobby and went poolside…
It’s hard to believe it was that long ago.
I’m working on both securing venues and planning topics for Tampa Bay Artificial Intelligence Meetup’s sessions for 2026. My notes above should give you an idea of at least one of the topics we’ll cover soon!
I remember cringing at this one line from an episode of the 1990s TV series, Star Trek: Voyager:
Computer, install a recursive algorithm!
I always thought that you would never program a computer that way…until now.
Happy Saturday, everyone! Here on Global Nerdy, Saturday means that it’s time for another “picdump” — the weekly assortment of amusing or interesting pictures, comics,
and memes I found over the past week. Share and enjoy!
Pictured above is a version of my job search spreadsheet with a couple of columns hidden and some details redacted. But despite the missing info, it still has useful data points for you, namely:
Being noisy on LinkedIn pays off. Did you know there are Recruiter versions of LinkedIn? There’s Recruiter Lite, which can cost up to $2,000 annually, and then there’s Corporate version, which is said to sell for about $10,000 to $12,000 per year per seat.
Recruiters get paid when they match people looking for jobs with employers looking to fill positions, so they’re willing to shell out lots of money for a specialized version of LinkedIn, provided that they get king-sized multiples of that money by finding the right match for their clients. Think of LinkedIn as a search engine for job candidates.
In the spreadsheet pictured above, note than 6 out of 30 opportunities — that’s one in five — is marked in the How it started column as Recruiter found me. They found me on LinkedIn because I post and comment regularly on AI, Python, and technology in general, which in turn generates “signal” on LinkedIn for those topics that clearly points to me. Long story short: You want to get found by recruiters on LinkedIn? You have to post on topics relevant to the job you’re looking for on LinkedIn.
The trick is that my resumes, while long, answer the question “What does this candidate bring to the table?” and that’s really the question recruiters and hiring managers want answered. I customize each resume for each prospect with the assistance of Claude, and it’s worked out quite well for me.I’m betting that you’re reeeeally curious right now, so here’s one of the resumes for one of the BOSS FIGHT! prospects. I hope you find it useful!
See the row above? That’s an opportunity where I’m going to do a final interview that I applied to, cold, with just a resume (and yes, it was a five-pager) and a cover letter.
I didn’t have a referral, and with this particular one, I applied via LinkedIn and not via the company site because that was the only place to do it. And yet I got that initial interview, which led to all the follow-up interviews. According to the recruiter, it was a combination of the resume, cover letter, and LinkedIn presence.
Here’s what’s happening in the thriving tech scene in Tampa Bay and surrounding areas for the week of Monday, January 12 through Sunday, January 18!
This list includes both in-person and online events. Note that each item in the list includes:
✅ When the event will take place
✅ What the event is
✅ Where the event will take place
✅ Who is holding the event
Wednesday at 6 p.m. at the Entrepreneur Collaborative Center (Tampa): It’s the Data Analytics & AI – Tampa Bay – January meetup! For most businesses and organizations, data analytics and business intelligence is used to support mandatory business functions. For data scientists, the tools and technologies are ever-changing.
Join local experts in discussing current trends and topics in the analytics field, including AI and ML, data science, business analytics, systems design, database management, data mining, and more.
Find out more and register here.
Thursday at 6 p.m. at Vookdoo Brewing (St. Pete): Tampa Bay Designers is hosting a design hangout!
Join other designers as we grab a drink, talk shop, or whatever else comes to mind.
Find out more and register here.
Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at Wild Rover Brewery (Tampa): It’s a Lean Beer on the Tampa side of the Bay!
Lean Beer is an alternative to the early morning Lean Coffees, for folks who can’t always join us at 7:30AM. Lean Beer is a great place to ask questions and share your stories of using Agile and Lean software approaches, over an adult beverage, if you choose. They discuss any topics on Agile and Lean that are of interest to whomever is gathered. You suggest the topics, then the group prioritizes that list democratically, through a good ole’ fashion vote. We manage our discussions via time boxes, and a Roman vote (drinks up/drinks down). Vegas rules apply!
Lean Beer is a non-formal group who like to loosen their ties and roll up their sleeves at the end of a long day, and gather with other like-minded Agile Practitioners to exchange ideas and information. Come see what Lean Beer is all about and get your Agile on.
Find out more and register here.
Thursday at 7:00 p.m. at Hillsborough Community College Cyberlab (Tampa): Tampa Devs presents AI in the Engineering Workflow: Practical Use Cases and Implementation!
Connor Tumbleson, one of the core members of Tampa Devs, speaks to common real world use cases for AI, from accelerating software development and automating repetitive tasks to improving decision making and enhancing product quality.
Connor will break down how developers are integrating AI into their toolchains today and highlight the practical benefits as someone directly in the weeds of daily AI implementations.
He’ll also take a brief look back at the origins and evolution of ChatGPT to understand how we arrived at the current generation of AI assistants.
Find out more and register here.
| Event name and location | Group | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Computer Repair Clinic 2079 Range Rd |
Tampa Bay Technology Center | 8:30 AM to 12:30 PM EST |
| Friday Board Game Night Bridge Club |
Tampa Gaming Guild | 5:30 PM to 11:00 PM EST |
| MTG: Commander FNM Critical Hit Games |
Critical Hit Games | 6:00 PM to 11:00 PM EST |
| Taps & Drafts | EDH/MtG Night 1Up Entertainment, Tampa |
Nerdbrew Events | 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM EST |
| Modern FNM Sunshine Games | Magic the Gathering, Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh! |
Sunshine Games | 7:00 PM to 10:30 PM EST |
| Friday Pokemon Tournament Sunshine Games | Magic the Gathering, Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh! |
Sunshine Games | 7:30 PM to 11:30 PM EST |
| Return to the top of the list | ||
| Event name and location | Group | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Computer Repair Clinic 2079 Range Rd |
Tampa Bay Technology Center | 8:30 AM to 12:30 PM EST |
| Friday Board Game Night Bridge Club |
Tampa Gaming Guild | 5:30 PM to 11:00 PM EST |
| MTG: Commander FNM Critical Hit Games |
Critical Hit Games | 6:00 PM to 11:00 PM EST |
| Taps & Drafts | EDH/MtG Night 1Up Entertainment, Tampa |
Nerdbrew Events | 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM EST |
| Modern FNM Sunshine Games | Magic the Gathering, Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh! |
Sunshine Games | 7:00 PM to 10:30 PM EST |
| Friday Pokemon Tournament Sunshine Games | Magic the Gathering, Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh! |
Sunshine Games | 7:30 PM to 11:30 PM EST |
| Return to the top of the list | ||
| Event name and location | Group | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Thai Food at Buddhist Temple Sunday Market Wat Mongkolratanaram |
Geekocracy! | 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM EST |
| Laser cutting for beginners MakerSpace Pinellas |
Makerspaces Pinellas Meetup Group | [ UNKNOWN DISPLAY TIME ] |
| **JANUARY** DOT, CRAK, BAM GATHERING The GoodEarth |
SRQ Mahjong Gathering | 12:30 PM to 4:30 PM EST |
| Sunday Gaming Tampa Bay Bridge Center |
Tampa Gaming Guild | 1:00 PM to 11:00 PM EST |
| Sunday Chess at Wholefoods in Midtown, Tampa Whole Foods Market |
Chess Republic | 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM EST |
| D&D Adventurers League Critical Hit Games |
Critical Hit Games | 2:00 PM to 7:30 PM EST |
| Sunday Pokemon League Sunshine Games | Magic the Gathering, Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh! |
Sunshine Games | 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM EST |
| Sew Awesome! (Textile Arts & Crafts) 4933 W Nassau St |
Tampa Hackerspace | 5:30 PM to 8:30 PM EST |
| A Duck Presents NB Movie Night Discord.io/Nerdbrew |
Nerd Night Out | 7:00 PM to 11:30 PM EST |
| Return to the top of the list | ||
How do I put this list together?
It’s largely automated. I have a collection of Python scripts in a Jupyter Notebook that scrapes Meetup and Eventbrite for events in categories that I consider to be “tech,” “entrepreneur,” and “nerd.” The result is a checklist that I review. I make judgment calls and uncheck any items that I don’t think fit on this list.
In addition to events that my scripts find, I also manually add events when their organizers contact me with their details.
What goes into this list?
I prefer to cast a wide net, so the list includes events that would be of interest to techies, nerds, and entrepreneurs. It includes (but isn’t limited to) events that fall under any of these categories: