Software As A Sandwich

From an orginal idea of Andrew Mayfield . When he first mentioned it in a conversation, my mind took a turn. Finally I am at the first (of many I hope) iterations. Let me know your thoughts.


In writing another post (coming soon), this joke from the mid 90s came to mind. It starts …

Gates dies in a car accident. He finds himself in purgatory, being sized up by St. Peter.

“Well, Bill, I’m really confused on this call; I’m not sure where to send you. After all, you helped society enormously by putting a computer in almost every home in America, yet you also created that ghastly Windows ‘95. I’m going to do something I’ve never done before. In your case; I’m going to let you decide whether you want to go to Heaven or Hell.”

🔗 The Whole Story


🔗 The Hacker News tarpit

Well, I spent a Saturday last month vibe coding a Hacker News clone. Took about 3 hours, most of which was me arguing with the AI about CSS.

😂😂😂 .. not just me then❓


🔗 Apple’s new AI problems have nothing to do with Siri | Macworld

But let the Macalope get this straight: Apple is being sued for being not being callous enough about AI while also being sued for being insufficiently careful about AI?! It’s like you can’t win!


🔗 ArtLung: Hello, human.json? ~ 07 Apr 2026

I prefer to curate my own “algorithm.”


🔗 Why Anthropic’s new model has cybersecurity experts rattled

Anthropic said, the model has found thousands of high-severity vulnerabilities in every major operating system and web browser, and in many cases developed related exploits. Among them: a vulnerability in OpenBSD, a security-focused open source operating system, that had escaped detection for 27 years; another flaw in the video encoder FFmpeg that had escaped detection in 5 million previous automated tests; and “several” vulnerabilities in the Linux kernel, which could be exploited to take complete control of a user’s machine.


🔗 The Apocalypse Is Here - Michael Moore

America, a country 250 years old, and the only nation sick and violent enough to have ever used a nuclear weapon, in partnership with Israel, a nation younger than Mick Jagger and Bugs Bunny, and the only nuclear armed nation in its region, are on the verge of wiping one of the oldest civilizations off the map.


🔗 A quote from Giles Turnbull

I have a feeling that everyone likes using AI tools to try doing someone else’s profession. They’re much less keen when someone else uses it for their profession.

💬 Giles Turnbull


🔗 The cognitive impact of coding agents

That was 48 seconds. Our full conversation lasted 1 hour 40 minutes.

💬 Simon Willison


I had been meaning to write up a longer piece about Simon Willison’s appearance with Lenny 🖇️other than this one - and now no need - Simon did it himself.

🔗 Highlights from my conversation about agentic engineering on Lenny’s Podcast


🔗 What are the odds of Apple surviving? – Asymco

Fascinating review of the absolute uniqueness of Apple in the world of business.


🔗 All the letters | Seth’s Blog

But if you start out with the same letters as everyone else, don’t spend a lot of time admiring your letters. It’s the words that matter.

Every writer has all of them. 26 in most Western languages. But no writer knows all the words.


🔗 The Motley Fool asks: Where Will Apple Stock Be in 5 Years? – Asymco

NB: The Motley Fraud is not a reliable source of anything but bad stock picking advice…


🔗 Asymco Bulletin 006 – Mar 28, 2026

In Apple’s first 50 years it shipped 5.13 billion computers. This shipment total is higher than any other computer company in its first 50 years. There actually are no other PC makers that are 50 years old.


🔗 Long odds and unseen differences - Seth

Buy the best story you can afford, with all the benefits it comes with. But don’t be confused by the odds or tiny differences. They’re probably zero.


🔗 A preponderance of pap

… always like JP’s posts - even the cricket ones. (This is not about cricket.)


🔗 John Battelle’s Search Blog Product, Platform, Interface, Medium, Language: What Is AI?

Regardless, as I struggle to find a handle by which to pick up the concept of AI, there’s something about “language” that feels appropriate. Maybe AI is, in fact, equivalent to a new language, one we’re just learning to speak. That certainly rings true to me.


If you follow me you will know that I don’t always listen to Lenny - but a big fan of his - and when he has a great guest … 🤯 .. 🔗🎙️ Simon Willison is one such great guest.


Unfamiliar

Yes .. I did watch it .. a while back .. unmemorable .. but know that you now don’t have to. Nor should you.

🔗 Unfamiliar

Click on the link below if you are interested in how the stars translate

https://john.philpin.com/star-ratings

★★★★★ So Good - A personal favourite

★★★★☆ Excellent - well worth a watch

★★★☆☆ Enjoyed - recommend

★★☆☆☆ Not Bad - BUT - only a 'kinda' recommendation - with (many?) caveats

★☆☆☆☆ Not for me


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