geoff

2 parts global markets enthusiast, 1 part existential philosopher. stirred, not shaken

[Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib @afalkhatib]

Mayor Mamdani devoted only 49 words of a 211-word statement to commemorate the worst single day attack on Jews since the Holocaust, in a city that is home to the largest Jewish population outside Israel. He avoided any real description of what happened on October 7, including mass murder, burnings, beheadings, executions, and sadism toward Jews, Arabs, and foreign workers, including women, children, teenagers, and the elderly. He refused to call Hamas a terrorist organization or acknowledge that none of this would have happened had the group honored the ceasefire it unilaterally broke. There was no assignment of agency or responsibility to any Palestinian actor.

Yet he used the remaining 162 words to describe in detail what happened in Gaza after the attack. He showed full capacity to recognize Palestinian suffering, which is real and must be acknowledged, but his statement was tone deaf, inconsiderate, and antagonizing to millions who deserve their trauma recognized on its own terms. He has spoken endlessly about his anti-Israel views and will continue to do so, but this was the one day in which he could have offered unconditional compassion to the victims and survivors of October 7 and their loved ones, many of whom have deep roots in New York.

This type of statement ignores basic logical principles like cause and effect, choices and consequences, actions and reactions, priorities and implications, further infantilizing the Palestinians and ignoring the failures of Hamas and Palestinian leadership that have harmed their own people. It hardens attitudes toward Gazans and reduces empathy for the vast and unspeakable suffering in the coastal enclave, rather than increasing it.

@NYCMayor: sometimes less is better. You should have stayed with your first 49 words, especially as unhinged “pro-Palestine activists” are celebrating October 7 today across the country. Stand up to your base, Mr. Mamdani. You have already won and do not need to appease radicals at the expense of Jewish New Yorkers. And please stop pretending that this is about helping Palestinians or caring for Gazans.

[Mark Ajzenstadt @mardehaym]

Hot take: 90% of what the market calls "agentic AI" is just fancy RPA with a reasoning layer.

Same intake. Same routing. Same decision tree.

The difference is unstructured input and an LLM making judgment calls instead of hardcoded if/else.

That's it.

It's not less valuable because of this. It's actually MORE valuable because it means we finally know what we're building: reliable, testable automation for business operations that actually changes how a company works.

But the industry keeps wrapping it in sci-fi language because "intelligent process automation with decision graphs" doesn't get funding decks approved.

The companies actually shipping AI into production right now aren't chasing AGI. They're mapping processes, identifying where human judgment is wasted on repetitive decisions, and building systems that handle those decisions at 10x speed with an audit trail.

That's it. That's the whole game.

The firms that understand this are compressing labor costs by 25-40% on their service delivery lines within 90 days.

The ones waiting for "real AI" are still running pilots.

[David Sacks @DavidSacks]

Narrative violation: According to the Economist, AI has created 1 million new jobs in the U.S.

[mattkendrick @mattkendrick]

Interesting that @CallawayGolf asks us to make an ad then approves it then asks us to take the fall then drops us in a coordinated media blitz and covers it up by giving a million dollars away thinking everyone will be ok with it. 30 for 39 will be legendary.

[Garry Tan @garrytan]

Prediction: systems of record will need to become AI harnesses or face replacement by agents

[Mim @mim_djo]

Hot take 🔥🔥: an enterprise context layer on top of existing items (semantic models, data, pipelines, emails, PDFs, metadata, etc.) that automatically improves with usage and, most importantly, is autonomous.

If this works, it could be the next big thing in analytics.

[Antonio Linares @alc2022]

The stock market will run a test once in a while to see how much of a pussy you are

[Jensen Huang @JensenHuang]

For my first post, I’m sharing a letter @NVIDIA signed on why open models matter.

AI will transform every industry, power every company, and be built by every country.

Open models strengthen safety and cybersecurity, accelerate innovation and diffusion, and enable sovereignty.

The world needs both frontier closed models and frontier open models.

https://t.co/AUKzoQ5Ikb

[Bob Ojeda @BobOjeda19]

This story has laid largely dormant in my mind for 25 years. Never gone, but very hard to think about the horror of that morning and I’d rather not. This is my morning of September 11, 2001.

At this point in my life, I am a pitching coach for The Brooklyn Cyclones, the Mets’ minor league baseball team. I have a sponsor’s softball game at our ballpark at 10 AM. My house in Jersey is about an hour drive away. I’m at my kitchen table having coffee, getting ready to head in at around nine. I put on the news. The traffic report mentions it’s a little heavy so I decide I’ll leave early. Just as I’m heading out the door the news breaks that a small plane appears to have hit one of the Twin Towers. I stopped to listen. The news reporter looks concerned and confused, but not panicked. It’s an unfolding moment and she’s keeping her cool. The look of disbelief was unstable; no answers, just confusion. She was trying her best, in her own way, to not create a mass panic. Whoever she was, she deserves a ton of credit, along with the other reporters who did the same thing.

I head to my car and put on 1010 WINS. I decide to head up Route 36. There is a bridge that crosses the Shrewsbury River that allows a direct view to the city. When I get there, I’m in disbelief. There is smoke coming from the top of one of the towers, yet still no panic on the radio, just reporting of what is currently known.

I call my daughter, who works in the city. I asked her where she is. She tells me she’s coming up the escalator from the bottom floors of the World Trade Center, exiting the subway. We stay on the phone. I hear the strain in her voice. Whatever has happened is not good and she is witnessing it firsthand. The radio does not betray the gravity of what happened. They are in disbelief along with all of us.

I step on the gas, and race up 36. By now I figure I’ll turn left, head into the city, pick up my daughter, and then drive on to the ballpark in Coney Island. We get cut off on the phone. The confusion on the radio continues and escalates. She calls me back a few minutes later. “Dad, I just came up the escalator and there are people jumping out of the windows, there’s people jumping out of the windows.” I ask her how high they are jumping from, trying to get a feel for what is happening. I am not ready for what she’s about to say. “80 floors.” A second plane hits the other tower. This is a nightmare, and I begin to feel panic coming up within me.

I take the Staten Island exit off of the parkway and approach the Outerbridge. I see cars stopped. Then the news comes over the radio. All bridges and tunnels are closed to the city. At the last possible moment, I turned off to the right and circled back down, heading back to my house. I’m doing over 100 miles an hour. I highly doubt a cop is going to stop me. I’m thinking, “What now?” I call my friend Lenny and say “I need your boat!” He asked me,“Where are you going?” I said, “To the city to get my daughter.” He’s well aware of what’s going on, and says, “I’m going with you.” I said, “No you’re not. I don’t know what I’m getting into. I don’t know what’s gonna happen. I don’t even know if I can get there but I have to try. I appreciate your offer, but I got it.” We plan to meet at his boat within 20 minutes. I pause going over the bridge on 36, take a look back, and it is beyond horrific. There’s people in those buildings and I hope one is not my daughter.

I call my daughter back, thank God I get a hold of her, and let her know the plans. I tell her to stay at her office. “Stay there until I get there. Stay put!” I swing by my house real quick. I have an idea I’m probably gonna need my father's flag. He was an army veteran who spent time in Iwo Jima. I plan on hanging it off the side of the little boat. Hopefully that will let the authorities know I’m on the home team. I run in the house and remove it from the triangle box in which I keep it and head down to the marina. My friend’s there and insists on going. We jump in and off we go.

Within minutes, a little comic relief. We need gas. Thankfully, there’s a fueling marina at Bahr’s Landing. We pull in. The young man working the pump was curious about where we are going. We fill up, he says good luck, and on our way. The radio is on. The news is still confusing but becoming clearer. Both towers have been hit. Both towers are on fire. We look at it. We see it in front of us, knowing we’re heading in.

I call my daughter. I tell her I should be there within a half hour, if we lose contact, I tell her to make her way down to the ferries evacuating people off the island. “Get to the top deck and look out to the open water. I’ll be in a small boat with grandpa‘s flag hanging off the side. Get to the top deck and wave and wave. If I see you, I’ll turn around and follow the boat back. If not, I’ll keep going.”

We’re a few miles out from the Verrazano Bridge. At this point, I think it’s going to be a dead end. I can’t imagine there won’t be police and Coast Guard closing off from that point. Suddenly, a small biplane with wings painted red and white appears. It is flying towards us but very erratically. I have no idea what that was about.

I have my daughter back on the phone. She finally arrived at her office on Wall Street. I tell her our ETA and then she feels something. The building shakes. “Dad, what was that?” I hear on the radio, which has made this whole scenario surreal. The radio has one report, my daughter has the live report, and we’re in the middle, trying to make sense of the whole thing…it’s impossible. You cannot make sense of this moment. I hear on the radio that the building collapsed, but I tell my daughter not to worry about it. It’s probably just all the trucks and everything rumbling around. I make up some nonsensical answer, and she was not in the mood to analyze anything. She was terrified.

Still no Coast Guard or police boats. We keep going under the bridge. Smoke billowing in front of us. The smell is unimaginable. It just smells like burning everything. It’s an acidic, rancid smell. Heartbreaking. Because I know what it is. We’re beginning to approach Governors Island. I tell Lenny to stay to the right, we’ll go around and then go straight towards Pier 11. So far, everything is going according to plan, a plan that is being made up as I go.

I’m looking at the smoke, the haze and everything and I’m in disbelief. My mind makes up that the tower is still there. “I can see the tower Lenny, can you see the tower?” “I can’t see it.” “It’s right there.” But it wasn’t there. It was gone. It was a pile of rubble. Confirmed by the papers, worksheets and everything flying through the air over our heads. Literally, pieces of paper. Pieces of paper that somebody sitting at their desk was working on an hour ago are now floating through the air, as well as the poor soul who was doing the work.

We’re around Governors Island and then, the inevitable. A small Coast Guard boat, that looks like a red inflatable boat, makes a B-line right for us. Machine gun mounted on the bow. I stand up on our bow and I’m frantically waving my father's flag that I’ve tied to the side of the boat. They come racing up in a no nonsense mood, helmets, guns, everything pointing right at us. They come right up next to our boat. “Where are you going?” “I’m going to pick up my daughter.” They turn, have a short conversation, I don’t know what’s gonna happen, then they turn back to me and say “Go ahead.” I could’ve fallen over.

I call my daughter again and thankfully get through and tell her head to the water. I’m coming up to Wall Street now. We head for the pier and pull up. lt’s kind of bouncy because of all the tugboats loading people on and getting them off the island. It was organized chaos but it was organized. I have so much respect for the men and women who handled that without panic. We pull up next to the pier. It’s about a 5- or 6-foot reach to the railing. I grab it. I’m holding on, ready to let go, throw my leg over the railing, and Lenny yells, “Don’t let go!” “Why? What’s the matter?” The engine died. This is great, I’m this close and I’m gonna fall in the water. I’m holding on with one hand on the boat and the other on the railing, being stretched like I’m in a torture device. Between the current and the bouncing, I don’t know how I stayed up. The longest 30 seconds of my life when he goes, “OK, OK. I got it.” I let go of the boat and climb over the side. I tell him to circle around right here. I’ll be back.

I begin to run up Wall Street. Unbelievably the first police officer I see on shore is from my hometown. He is directing people to the massive tugboats and the ferry boats getting people off of the island. He sees me and asks what I’m doing there. I explained to him that I’m going to get my daughter. He says good luck, I’ll see you at home.

Seconds later, strangely, an older lady comes up to me and says, “Excuse me, aren’t you Bobby O?” “Yes I am.” “Oh, I just love you. You are so fun to watch.” Then her son, who understood the gravity of the situation, says, “OK mom, come on, we gotta go.” I thanked her and her son and went on my way. Can’t make that stuff up.

I continued making my way up Wall Street. Incredibly, there’s my daughter coming down. It’s like a miracle. It’s a miracle in front of my eyes. I grab and hug her. We head back down to the water. We get to the water’s edge where the railing is, she looks down. Lenny has pulled up by then and she looks down and I said “Look, you gotta jump. There’s no other way, you’ve gotta jump.” It’s probably at least a 5-foot jump down to the deck to a bouncing boat with a wet bow being pushed around by the current and choppy water. She looks at me one last time, looks at the boat, and jumps. She lands and rolls but she is fine. I look around one last time at the surreal scene of I don’t even know what to call it. I jump down, hug my daughter again, sitting in our seats. We turn and head back down home. No one deserves this to happen to them.

This weekend, I am reminded of and send nothing but respect to the individuals, first responders, ferry and tug boat captains beside me, who organized amongst the chaos to help one another on a horrific day.

[Elon Musk @elonmusk]

@FoxNews Mamdani has built nothing. He is a taker, never a maker.

[Mat Nuclear @MatNuclear]

Israel made peace with Egypt in 1979, and hasn’t attacked it since.

Israel made peace with Jordan in 1994, and hasn’t attacked it since.

Saudi Arabia never attacked Israel, and Israel hasn’t attacked Saudi.

Maybe Israel just defends itself against enemy belligerents.

[Dave Portnoy @stoolpresidente]

Give Mandami credit. He is doing exactly what he said he would do when elected. He is turning New York into a socialist/communist anti American city by getting “politicians” like Darializa Avila Chevalier elected. Here is just a sampling of things Chevalier has said, tweeted or done. (This is not an onion article. These are all facts)

Founded a group at Columbia with the express goal of overthrowing western society

Called all white women ugly colonizers while criticizing interracial relationships

Wishes she could wipe her ass with a the American flag

Waved a Hamas flag the day after October 7th attacks

Wants no borders

Wants to abolish the police

Wants to abolish prisons

Against all deportations. Clarified that even if a non citizen murders or rapes somebody deportation is immoral

Said all of the United States is on stolen Native American land

Things she has not done in her career. Had a job.

On the brightside though at least she never said America deserved 9/11. (At least that we are aware of yet) Unfortunately the other candidate Mamdani endorsed Aber Kawas did say that. And got elected. In NYC. What a world

[Steve Yegge @Steve_Yegge]

I talk to so many tech leaders at huge companies every week. One of the most brutal failure patterns for executive teams right now is thinking that AI is like SOC 2 compliance: a new checkbox item that they have to allocate some resources to, to make their governance people happy. They think, we'll get AI "done" in Q3 or Q4 and finally be able to move on to other stuff.

What they don't see is that their entire company is going to change shape over the next few years, regardless of what they think, or want. Their current hierarchy will be gone, nearly unrecognizable from what gets rebuilt in its ashes. Everyone will be conducting their business VERY differently from how they do it today.

AI not some compliance drill. Leaders need to get in front of this situation before it overwhelms them.

[Garry Tan @garrytan]

Sanders and AOC introduced a bill to pause ALL AI data center construction. 300+ local bills filed. Half of planned 2026 data centers facing delays or cancellation. Each one brings billions to local economies.

The people who say they want American jobs are trying to block the biggest job creation engine since the interstate highway system.

[geoff @theodoreruxpin]

@perplexity_ai @perplexity_ai this is not working for me. Every session tells me it cant ‘see’ my computer

[geoff @theodoreruxpin]

@Pogue @tryramp

[Eric Glyman @eglyman]

the economy is splitting. AI is the fault line.

on Ramp, Nov 2022 to Nov 2025, annualized revenue growth by AI intensity:
- heavy AI users: +27%
- moderate AI: +18%
- no AI spend: +3% (≈ US nominal GDP)

over 20 points a year between top and bottom. this compounds.

[geoff @theodoreruxpin]

@levie I would hire 5 of these right now - DM me

[Elon Musk @elonmusk]

I would like to offer to pay the salaries of TSA personnel during this funding impasse that is negatively affecting the lives of so many Americans at airports throughout the country

[geoff @theodoreruxpin]

Wtf

[Smirkley @Smirkley]

NYC spends more per homeless person than the median NYC household earns. $81,705 per person in FY2025.

And $81,705 is a floor. It excludes supportive housing (~$500M/yr), mental health response teams, and NYPD encampment costs.

The city projects ~$97K per person in FY2026.