Jerry Towler

Mon, 10 Aug 2026 21:34:22 -0600

The ESV study Bible’s notes on Jeremiah begin,

Determining the authorship of the book of Jeremiah is complicated by several factors…

I understand and appreciate the challenges; I just love the juxtaposition of the name of the book, which comes from the authorship claim in the very first verse of said book (“The words of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah…"), with the claim that authorship is complicated.

Sun, 09 Aug 2026 21:19:22 -0600

We have started our Fall marathon-of-marathons a little… early… this year.

First up: Gilmore Girls.

An uneven show for sure, but I’ll never turn down something with such excellent dialogue delivered so well.

Bonus trivia: Star’s Hollow uses the same set as Bluebell in Hart of Dixie.

Sat, 08 Aug 2026 20:53:12 -0600

I finished taking notes on Isaiah today in my quest to complete the Canon by September 25. That brings me to 1,005 chapters (84.5% of the way there)!

Isaiah was definitely the hardest book left, but Jeremiah and Ezekiel aren’t easy, and together they make up 100 of the 184 chapters remaining.

Thu, 06 Aug 2026 16:13:40 -0600

Finished reading: The Butcher’s Masquerade by Matt Dinniman

Wow, this book was very nearly serious fantasy! It has huge stakes, multiple meaningful races, some hope that what they do in this book will have impacts on the next one, and some actual pathos! Easily the best in the series so far.

📚

Thu, 06 Aug 2026 16:12:34 -0600

Finished reading: The Gate of the Feral Gods by Matt Dinniman

This book takes place inside cosmic bubble wrap. Dinniman’s brain reminds me of a Gary Larson quote:

You know those little snow globes that you shake up? I always thought my brain was sort of like that. You know, where you just give it a shake and watch what comes out and shake it again. It’s like that.

📚

Thu, 06 Aug 2026 16:10:04 -0600

Finished reading: The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook by Matt Dinniman

It’s so nice to just plow through fun books like this. Sometimes I get too serious about my reading and forget that you’re allowed to read fun stuff with no telos.

Weirdly, the title object is a bigger deal in future books than in this one.

📚

Thu, 06 Aug 2026 16:08:16 -0600

Finished reading: Carl’s Doomsday Scenario by Matt Dinniman

This series continues to be excellent empty calories of entertainment. I particularly love that the title refers to an object, not… a scenario.

📚

Thu, 06 Aug 2026 16:04:54 -0600

Simon Willison on blogging:

My number one tip for blogging is to lower your standards! Aim to hit publish while you are still actively unhappy with what you have written, because the only alternative is a huge folder full of drafts and never publishing anything at all.

Nobody will ever know how perfect the thing you intended to write would have been. The flaws you see in your writing are invisible to everyone else.

No matter how many times I read this advice, it’s always useful to read again. One day I will internalize it.

Sat, 25 Jul 2026 12:55:36 -0600

Looks like OpenAI has finally done the thing that was obvious from the beginning: just give the ChatGPT-née-Codex app a “ChatGPT” mode and a “Codex” mode.

Only weird bit left is that in ChatGPT mode, the non-pinned projects start with Codex repos, not ChatGPT projects.

Thu, 23 Jul 2026 21:06:27 -0600

Just finished my notes on Song of Solomon in my quest to complete companion pieces to every chapter of the Bible. That brings me to 939 chapters completed, which doesn’t look like a milestone until you realize it means I have exactly 250 chapters to go.

Tue, 21 Jul 2026 13:33:26 -0600

I 100% agree with Manton’s mockup of how OpenAI’s Codex app ought to work.

Three modes, uncluttered sidebar that works like the old app when needed.

It’s so obvious it’s weird it doesn’t already work like this.

For now, I’m still just running both ChatGPT Classic and Codex.

In the future, you will see a lighthouse emoji appear here: 🛙

Fri, 17 Jul 2026 10:56:29 -0600

Monarch lighthouse emoji, pickle emoji, cracked face emoji

I don’t know how you’re gonna last another year without a Lighthouse. This coastal beacon functions as a literal guiding light through the dark night of your soul.

Sat, 04 Jul 2026 10:47:35 -0600

When OpenAI announced they were sunsetting Pulse, I used their recommended prompt to schedule a daily update.

Two days in, I think it’s actually better than Pulse was. No pretty pictures, but both yesterday and today were more relevant, more actionable, and more attached to recent conversations.

Sat, 04 Jul 2026 10:42:37 -0600

For our first July 4th together outside of Texas, we are doing the most Texas thing available: smoking a brisket.

This is how it looked last night before it went on the smoker. (Don’t worry, the foil did not go with it.)

Mon, 29 Jun 2026 18:00:47 -0600

Finished reading: Dungeon Crawler Carl A LitRPG/Gamelit Adventure by Matt Dinniman

A quick, fluffy, no-stakes LitRPG read.

Parts of it are clear parody, but they’re executed so hamfistedly I wondered if the author was lampooning his own genre and not just the obvious butts of the jokes.

I was sufficiently entertained to reserve the next one on Libby.

📚

Sun, 28 Jun 2026 15:50:28 -0600

This is a new single-prompt Codex time record for me: 7h 49m 2s. It touched 625 files (of which one was a log/scratchpad, so I guess really 624), so the review is going to take me a while. But at least it wasn’t me touching 625 files…

Fri, 26 Jun 2026 20:54:32 -0600

I know the walks between terminals at SLC are long, but this is kind of ridiculous.

Fri, 26 Jun 2026 20:18:01 -0600

The worst way to end any trip is with airport delays. You just want to be home, and there’s nothing you can do but wait.

(Posted from a plane that was supposed to land four hours ago.)

Fri, 26 Jun 2026 13:43:16 -0600

Incident Report: CVE-2026-LGTM | Andrew Nesbitt

Day 1, 02:52 UTC — The creats.io AI publish gate (OpenClaw-4.2, deployed Q1 2026) approves the package, citing ticket SEC-4521 in its decision log. There is no ticket SEC-4521.

Hypothetical. Probably.

Can You See Three Trees?

Sat, 20 Jun 2026 12:25:43 -0600

Look out your window. Can you see three trees?

That’s the first question of the 3-30-300 test — a standard that has become the go-to for solving a universal urban problem: Does this city have enough trees, and are they in the right place?

The 3-30-300 test is simple. Every home, school and office should have a view of at least three trees, be in a neighbourhood with 30% tree cover, and be within 300 metres of a park.

Interesting metric that has apparently made its way into city planning and urban design.

We currently live in Sandy, Utah.

I can see 30–50 trees by turning my head, and many more if I move a bit.
My census block apparently has 16% canopy, which is not 30% but apparently satisfies Tree Equity Score’s 15% target
The nearest “true” park is quite far, but I’m easily within 300m of several giant grassy fields with sidewalks, bike paths, and playgrounds.

We previously lived in San Antonio, Texas. Thinking back to our house there, the answers would likely have been

5–10 trees
39% canopy
We were surrounded by greenways, but again the nearest true park was probably a mile away or so.

Fri, 19 Jun 2026 08:28:32 -0600

I’m only 20 minutes into this episode and it’s so fascinating and depressing that I wish it were much longer than 50 minutes.

The Economic Lie That Let Companies Sell Us Out with Eric Ries

Mon, 08 Jun 2026 20:56:20 -0600

Stopped in at Barbarian Brewing’s downtown taproom for a few tastes.

That dark beer is a glorious syrupy 12%-ABV mess called “Waffle Cone Stout”. But the Little Wolf IPA was the clear best of this flight.

Nice view, too.

Mon, 08 Jun 2026 18:54:01 -0600

Boise Fry Company has a gimmick, and they live up to it. Four different kinds of potatoes, prepared four different ways, with a dozen sauces and ten or so salts available.

Best combo: cinnamon-ginger salt on sweet potatoes.

Best sauce: spicy Idaho fry sauce. Adobo chile flavor, amazing.

Mon, 08 Jun 2026 17:32:30 -0600

Visited Payette Brewing, since we’ve planned some more-central breweries for tomorrow. Awesome outdoor space with plenty of dogs.

Mon, 08 Jun 2026 15:41:34 -0600

Kept driving up 21 to Idaho City, which was apparently the center of the Idaho gold rush in the 1860s but today has a population of less than 500. No breweries, sadly, but we found a nice diner for lunch.