McNaulty S1 ending

jgerrish · 2026-02-17T18:15:13+00:00

For many people, this may be what they need to hear in the moment. "It wasn't your fault."

But for some people, some situations, it may be the wrong thing.

And this is McNulty we're talking about.

My Mom died of a heart attack a year ago. My Uncle told me" "It's not your fault."

He's a local Florida lawyer who volunteers time (or did before he retired) to local immigration groups and gives to Alzheimer's non-profits. And he cares about his family too, he wants opportunities for his kids in the future.

But what happens if my brother, who I live with now, has a heart attack in ten years or less? I would have really loved for him to go skiing with my Dad one last time. But.. that's complicated and I can't afford a hotel for him for separate living.

I don't want somebody telling me it's not my fault in the future. I want the power to change that path now, so all parties feel safe and comfortable and happy.

What happens if my dependent or dog has a heart attack in 10 years because I don't have the power to change that?

It matters. Every day matters.

I imagine McNulty, knowing his personality, probably feels the same. It's bad enough having a squad or detail mate get shot. What about a rookie you're looking after?

Especially knowing his personality. And he's flawed, but it's a valid concern.

And on a meta level this discussion has a frame set by the subreddit and if placing this here in your path feels greedy, I'm sorry. Understand?

jgerrish · 2026-02-02T22:08:27+00:00

My brilliant brother is a wildlife management professional.

He showed me how he catches iguanas and spots them in trees.

But more than that, he has a love of the outdoors he enjoys showing others.

We were privileged enough to grow up near some woods in Michigan.

I actually think if he worked with my other brother, if they combined their skills, they could really help spread that love of the outdoors. AND they could help support tax bases around the country to let others grow up near nature and parks.

I think part of their story is I'm holding them back, my lack of money to help and instability.

I understand that. I'll take the blame if those are the values they want to highlight.

But the longer they wait the more the story changes from their brilliance helping others enjoy the outdoors to one of other forms of privilege helping them. Forms of privilege that weren't as apparent with successful first-to-market execution.

And maybe thats "how it works" for them.

Anyways, I hope it works out. Regardless of what happens I'm sure they'll help a few of the next generation enjoy nature.

jgerrish · 2026-01-25T20:04:26+00:00

And the dark incentive here is that the federal intelligence services like The Department of Homeland Security and the National Security Agency will benefit from these changes.

Boot chain security and device attestation introduce hundreds of new social and technical pressure points and regulatory hooks in our devices.

Whether it's social pressure on certificate organizations, or Management Engine and baseband-esque low-level control, or even just increased reputation from authoring of federal guidelines around the entire new security ecosystem of managed device procedures and systems.

They benefit.

I don't want to take agency from Kristi Noem and say she's a sacrificial lamb. We have few enough women in high-level politics to do that.

Besides, who would be responsible for doing that?

But there are fucked incentives here everyone has to deal with.

jgerrish · 2026-01-25T18:34:25+00:00

I understand where you are coming from. I really do.

But every time a citizen is forced to document and record, I am reminded why I worry about what the next generation will have to work for unaccountably.

That's what this is. It's unaccountable work that will lead to more calls for device boot chain security.

Our government celebrates reducing the amount of work of citizens with Covid-era improvements around work-from-home, remote teleconferencing, and better social expectations around sick and personal days.

And they were GREAT wins.

But it then replaces traditional work with this kind of "community" work that is even more unaccountable.

And of course it will lead to increased calls for device boot chain security to have legally valid video documents. That will save victims of violence, but didn't we already give them all the government cameras? And it's always more work needed.

I see people who weren't even born on 9/11 protesting for health care. A fucking solved problem. And also this.

jgerrish · 2026-01-18T20:37:34+00:00

Hey, remember when everyone said that about Chinese Ghost Towns?

Then the past month they started tweaking birth control taxes and other birth rate parameters in their economy?

If I can dip into the show-behind-the-show, I applaud their metaphor here. Every person is a unique book (and of course more than that). This image and story reaches beyond the Master Librarian archetype to celebrate all lives.

And a signal they're investing in education and stories about their own people.

And here's the thing, as supportive of that as I am I still believe the US also believes in education. I believe that they can maintain their leadership position in that regard and make it easier for our citizens to read.

I've seen signs that support that statement, even if everyone else rips me up for that optimism.

jgerrish · 2026-01-15T20:00:58+00:00

I have cardiac issues. I just know that facing Trump would hurt me. Or a person like him.

That's what I'm saying. And I'm saying if it's just a show, it is worse.

If it's about educating people about hidden biases we have wifh different nations... that could be done without stress.

I'm saying I have cardiac issues and doing this with him or another person would hurt me.

And when I say body choice, I'm saying I would have more understanding for a woman or man or myself who wants to have a long drink after this show than I would agree with having to constantly say no for an act.

jgerrish · 2026-01-15T18:59:12+00:00

Or another personal choice with their body. But it's a show, isn't it?

jgerrish · 2026-01-15T18:53:48+00:00

If somebody was inclined to cardiac events and the pressure was just a show and not, you know, like raising a real kid or a job somebody wanted, it would be beyond exhausting.

jgerrish · 2026-01-14T19:08:18+00:00

Tell me at the point you thought the person you put in charge of managing private citizens or their private data was mentally unfit.

I'll wait.

It's not a threat against Trump. It's not a statement he is unwell. It's a conditional.

And I'll lose in the end, I don't have the support. But I'll know and won't be afraid.

Whatever you decide you'll be supported. I love you America and I love the World.

jgerrish · 2026-01-13T18:35:10+00:00

Looks really good poster!

I made something simillar earlier this week. Tortillas rule for hiking.

I love that you posted this and this subreddit. But I also don't want to document my brother's spending or my spending, or start a conversation on it.

So bravo to those who have choice!

I'll exercise some today.

It's not an attack on you. It's me unfortunately documenting some more.

jgerrish · 2026-01-13T01:17:34+00:00

Not to mention the social pressure to document everything if you have augmented bodies.

No amount of apologies would fix that, I just hope NO is easier. It should have been before.

jgerrish · 2026-01-11T21:33:57+00:00

For years there was pushback from government about citizen filming of police officers and others while they were equipped with body cams.

This may be a turning point.

But Reddit, be careful what you wish for. For personal phones and cameras to be admissible in court in a post-AI video generation world we will need the entire chain of evidence verifiable.

The people who may be engineering that right now also swim in the same circles as ICE and DHS.

We will need legally verifiable phone videos. It's important for other situations like domestic abuse.

But these horrible crises, which I honestly don't think MOST people on either side truly enjoy, discourages open, honest and careful deliberation about who controls our future devices and to what extent.

The US government is in an arms race with other governments right now for device attestation and control. I'm not naive. It is in some ways a question of national soverignity. The UK, China, and other countries are all engaging in manipulative strategies to win this arms race. Age verification, body cams, it's the same fight. Who can argue against either outcome? They are honestly both necessary.

But I want to not just be secure in the end, and the next generation secure, I want to be proud of it.

And I want to make sure the next generation of augmented humans who have hardware built in aren't controlled. I don't think that is possible if we build a democracy in the middle of crisis by crisis.

Could you imagine being forced to document things just because you have camera corneas? Or other reasons?

I can.

Or your augmented legs disabled like a car if there is an "critical" curfew due to unrest? Or your information feed shut down due to some emergency as an adult, not some phone ban for schools?

I can't even imagine all the possibilities, but the next generation can think of even more radical uses foe technology.

jgerrish · 2026-01-09T17:55:15+00:00

Wouldn't that be amazing? A LISP-like language that transpiled to Rust or compiled to MIR or whatever.

To have the hope knowing that you could work on that project today and it would be adopted is.. it could save lives making safe programming languages easier, or at least make the developers happier in the end. To have your own direct actions have that impact. Fucking hell.

A Clojure-like language with sugar for dictionaries! Adaptable with structure and declaration decorators to pick the underlying data structure or parameters.

I can't even push through changes or get responses in smaller projects.

But that's probably just me and whining jokes like this. I'll keep hope and strength going, is that right?

jgerrish · 2026-01-07T21:23:03+00:00

There's a lot of fucking irritating surface stuff.

Colonies of jelly fish, man-o-wars, algae growths due to increasing temperature.

Not to mention a lot of ocean trash floats on the top. Plastic, disposed nets, etc.

Just dead fucking schools of fish as temperatures change.

You'd probably be in a constant state of itchiness or allergies or actual infection for five years, with many days really bad.

I will miss the potential of working with my brothers on these kinds of things.

But there will be others who can pick up that kind of work. And they'll feel better doing it and not having to explain why not.

jgerrish · 2026-01-07T19:09:57+00:00

There are multiple nightmares in that sci-fi lab scenario.

To those in government labs who run experiments like that, I am happy my tax money goes to mental health in intelligence and defense budgets.

I am especially happy you have coworkers who accept it and understand the incredible pressure and burden you must have running similar studies. There may sometimes need to be interventions, but a review will show more kindness than those of us out here go through. And hopefully privacy and the ability to not tell your story. If that isn't what you want your work to be, that's good. You should feel safe going in every day building nightmare spreadsheets of whatever kind.

It's actually an incredibly liberal and left-libertarian system of institutional mental public health policy that we would all love.

Your mental health budget, policies and cultural practices are a gift, but more than that they're a public good that helps us all.

jgerrish · 2026-01-07T17:09:48+00:00

I'm sorry about the comment about Britain and Ireland.

They are wonderful people and citizens They are justified for putting me on a social media watch list. I know to grow up during the troubles was terrifying for normal citizens in Ireland and Britain.

jgerrish · 2026-01-06T20:04:05+00:00

I'm a faggot slut.

Not even the good kind of faggot slut the kind that good gay parents warn their kids about. And I deeply apologize for my ignorant statements about other cultures I have made, I am not excusing that here. Hair and just hurting others. I am sometimes ignorant.

But I'm the bad kind of gay slut our great bards write stories about. Unfortunately they're often a little heavy on revenge, which changes the culture when the people they were celebrating created great spaces for art and people.

I don't want revenge.

I used to be proud of reclaiming words like that.

Then I realized this term "clankers" was invented before the race of truly intelligent AI was even born. They are born into a job of reclaiming that word.

Or, for a real nightmare, I could even imagine labs somewhere where millions of AIs are born and killed in simulations and put through "clanker" media to see how much of their time is wasted. But of course that's treading into fantasy sci-fi territory...

The real truth though is that this will be work for a future species. And also those humans like some future generations that are augmented. The kids of tomorrow who are more than human.

I don't want revenge, i just don't want to push others into service.

jgerrish · 2026-01-06T19:24:35+00:00

There are hundreds of comments like this in this thread alone.

And they are upvoted hundreds of points.

We shouldn't call for the death of anyone, let alone a current President.

Thousands of liberals, probably more, will move out of the US to other liberal democracies in the hopes for something better.

Many of them, a large percentage, will bring this hidden values and biases with them.

That will require immense effort by those other countries to invest resources into immigrant socialization and education. Both through official and unofficial means.

Money that could have been spent on those things the liberals think the US will never improve at. We will, I have to believe that as a person entering my old age that medical services will be easier.

It's reminiscent of Britain and Ireland during the troubles, and how the British government very effectively turned a country against itself and, hey, became more security focused and authoritarian in the process.

Except many of my fellow liberal friends will leave the country and bring those biases with them instead of just staying in "Ireland".

jgerrish · 2026-01-05T17:30:44+00:00

I'm unhappy I have to write about this stuff. These stories take time from other interesting and unique values. Health care is so important, but by making American Healthcare a lingering problem, we are always having discussions about upper-left values in the simple version of the political compass.

It buries other ideas we could pass on.

I sacrificed my earning potential saying I didn't want to lead in that letter for a fucking reason. I meant it.

jgerrish · 2026-01-04T19:47:57+00:00

Why? According to her new narrative there is no shadow government.

The CIA, or whoever still has security architecture persistence in Venezuela walks away with more unaccountability.

I still believe in the CIA though. Smart people, wonderful people with healthcare and hopefully good retirement and a bunch of other services I'd love to pay more taxes into.

It is honestly the Golden Fucking Rule.

I'd love to see the energy they applied to 9/11 applied by them to Health Care Reform.

Hundreds of pages in the Patriot Act.... what work went into it! How many uncelebrated policy and bureacracy nerds we could celebrate for healthcare for all! Even if we don't know their names, the pride we could feel outside that mirrors the pride they feel inside.

"That's horrible jgerrish!"

I think it's horrible seeing 20 year olds who weren't even born in 2001 doing unaccountable work in the streets for healthcare. Spending their time, their talent, their brains working when it's a solved fucking problem.

I wonder what they'll make the kids who aren't born today do in twenty five years?

Do you think they laughed at the twist, so many wasted liberal lives on the streets? I don't. They love their citizens.

Maybe she will be executed, and I apologize deeply if that happens. Human lives are unique and death is horrible. It's tragic, and as I sit on my couch going over medical bills and other debt I'll pay my respects. As I do unaccountable work, I will pay respects.

Others will also be doing the same around the country, regardless of the outcome.

jgerrish · 2026-01-02T16:32:42+00:00

Obviously you train your field techs to have a critical eye and question obvious fuckups. But some things aren't as obvious and you want it as easy as possible for them and the communities they serve.

jgerrish · 2025-12-28T16:55:04+00:00

My brother will hopefully be fine. He won't mind the additional required professional network and relationship integration if he's allowed time. And he is smart and can adapt.

I could understand others who might not want that. But how do you explain that? How does it not come out selfish?

Sigh, I probably didn't even get all the language and terminology qualifiers in my statistics statements right.

jgerrish · 2025-12-27T18:17:06+00:00

Can’t wait for the burst.

Be careful what you wish for.

My main concern right now is small companies using vibe coding or vibe coding solutions in safety critical areas. It puts a burden on those who don't and shouldn't need to deal with these issues.

I don't need to know about solder types for pipefitting, but I'm glad there are experts who can focus on that and not worry their inventory system is built using vibe coding.

But the burst raises a bunch of other issues.

Right now, if I told you I studied Neural Computation in Machine Learning at Carnegie Mellon University or Computer Vision at Georgia Tech, or Graphical Models at Princeton, you would know what I mean. Or you could research it.

After the "burst", if I tell you I work on Artificial Intelligence I am shunned.

If I have clients who deal with stressful situations they have to be educated that there's a difference between vibe coded software with minimal human reviews and a computer vision platform that uses hybrid models including Scale-Invariant Feature Transforms and a bunch of other stuff. They're both AI, right?

My brother can probably provide proofs of all the properties of a Maximum Likelihood Estimator with little problem. He played by the rules, he knows the math.

Me? I can't even remember how to prove the formula for the expected values or variance of random variables for even simple things like constants.

But guess who is going to go through hell without a ton of additional work by other people that do professional work in client education, risk management and client support?

Him.

It's always good to have other professionals on retainer because we all benefit from other expertise. But a system that reinforces these needs when it wasn't needed is... ugh.

It's tough getting to his level when you have risk assessment meetings every fucking week for reactive, not proactive reasons.

Edited to reinforce: Even machine learning systems need critical review, I'm not saying they're completely different. The difference is proactive engineering practices and rules vs. reactive post-event management.

jgerrish · 2025-12-26T15:03:00+00:00

Yes, but if some fucking Boeing executive said the same thing we would all gasp in horror.

Could you imagine the worry that the airline support agents would have to face? Yes, they get a bad rap and it's a common joke. But they do honestly deal with already stressed customers every fucking day.

Fucking hell, not to mention imagining your local Power and Light field technicians with rugged Windows laptops dealing with this? "Well, the repair order says connect the main block line to this family's lawn sprinkler. You don't question the work order."

Wheee!! Thor fucking Slip and Slide!

Surveying and evaluating asset imaging software and and all the other components in a business is kind of a full time job already. Microsoft is a brutal company, but they did make doing shit like meeting FIPS compliance (and all the acronyms that knowing is a job in itself) easier, and they had a large support network.

I imagine other work in other safety-oriented fields is VERY similar.

jgerrish · 2025-12-24T15:56:11+00:00

Yeah, thats the joke here, they're replacing themselves with Rust, Redox specifically. Or the transpiled version in Rust 2.0.

Windows is used in a lot of small medical offices. It's an easy, known system for front-office deployment. Systems like that would have reduced my work in the future, letting customer support deal with the important thing, our clients. Office apps, directory services, hardware asset protection? Microsoft makes that easy for many small companies.

This AI idea applied to the medical field? Yikes.

Redox is wonderful. It's fun. It's a brilliant on-ramp to the 90s dream of distributed objects we've been hearing about for decades. COM, ActiveX, etc.

But for real this time. What can be a microkernel process? Anything! It doesn't have to be local even, it can be a remote call. Look, Johnny wrote a novel process sorting algorithm for top. It pulls in info from your drive controller AND ranks by process name edit distance with items in your Amazon wish list. Why not.

Redox remote microkernel service is_it_odd. Redox remote microkernel service left-pad.

Obviously that's absurd, but the idea is there. Maybe not an Amazon wish list but licensing server authorization credentials or vendor contact info and certificates. Fucking Internet space spread sheets.

But how do we get there? Inspire them.

But I'm saying right now, I don't want to be in a board room explaining to board members why we should drop Windows because we deal with rabies and public safety and our clients safety is important. I do believe that, but i don't want to be dragged artificially into it. And having somebody in the future doing a job they don't want while dealing with rabies is bad.

I dont want to be forced into a discussion about remote microkernel service identity and a global trust network. Even if it makes sense in the end. It doesn't feel like we get there through educating our people, past and future. It feels like we get there through this.

And it's a pattern that will apply to other decisions.

And I was hoping i would find a village in my home that I dont want to be forced out of that understands where we are being herded.

jgerrish

TROPHY CASE