Tom Odon

husband, father, software. always learning.

views are my own

[Emma Bostian @EmmaBostian]

I don’t know who needs to hear this but you still need to know how to read and write code as an engineer 👩‍💻

The skills aren’t obsolete because of agentic coding tools. In fact, they’re more important than ever.

[Aakash Gupta @aakashgupta]

In Germany, a talented 14-year-old earns his club money. In America, his parents pay the club $15,000 a year.

That single inversion explains why "we will not" is the most accurate line ever written about US soccer.

FIFA built a global system for this. Training compensation and solidarity payments send a cut of every transfer fee back to the clubs that developed the player, from age 12 onward. Develop one future pro and your academy gets paid for a decade. Barcelona's La Masia, Ajax, every Bundesliga academy runs on this logic. The kid is the asset.

US Soccer refuses to enforce those rules. When Seattle's Crossfire Premier claimed its $60,000 share of DeAndre Yedlin's transfer to Tottenham, it got nothing. Claims on the Dempsey and Bradley transfers died partly because the federation couldn't even produce the youth training records.

So American clubs earn zero dollars when a kid turns pro. They earn when a kid enrolls. Which makes the parent the customer, and the product is whatever keeps the parent writing checks: travel tournaments, hotel weekends, $500 showcase events, private training at $100 an hour. Elite pathways run $8,000 to $20,000 a year. A comparable academy spot in Italy costs about 120 euros.

Follow the incentive one level deeper and it gets darker. A club dependent on fees can't cut its weakest paying players, so rosters optimize for retention over development. The scouting pool shrinks to families who can afford the cliff, which appears around age 11, exactly when development matters most. The country runs a talent filter sorted by household income instead of ability.

Every four years someone proposes fixing this. The proposal always requires the people profiting from the $15,000 model to vote themselves out of business.

They will not.

[Caleb Adams @itscalebadams]

Messi doesn’t get the red for a clear studs up tackle, but Balogun does for a clearly unintentional tackle.

Dzeko didn’t even get a yellow for a blindside body check on Adams’s head, but Balogun gets this red.

Unbelievable.

[Joe Tansey @JTansey90]

Teaching my 1-year-old a valuable lesson.

We don’t support our opponents on World Cup game day.

You want to watch Bluey?

Sorry kid, we’re watching Elmo this morning.

[OptaJack⚽️ @OptaJack]

83 - Chris Richards completed all 83 passes he attempted for the #USMNT against Paraguay, the most passes with a 100 percent accuracy rate by any player in a FIFA World Cup match since 1966.

Perfection.

[Tom Odon @tom_odon]

Boom!

[herculez gomez @herculezg]

This is one of the most ridiculous strikes you’ll ever see from a #USMNT player.

Robinson with a spectacular goal.

The reaction of Flo Balogun 🤣

[Alec Stapp @AlecStapp]

One of my favorite stats that serves as a reality check for people:

The median American took zero flights last year.

[Tom Odon @tom_odon]

@VicVijayakumar Helpful, thank you!

[Sergey Nazarov @sergeynazarovx]

We used to go to a special website, ask strangers for help with programming, and get humiliated in return

[Patrick McKenzie @patio11]

@UrbanCourtyard So many examples in Tokyo of 1-3 stories of residential on top of supermarkets, including footprints ranging from the classic full-service supermarket down to e.g. 20 feet or so of frontage.

Let me see if I can find some photos.

[dior ✞ @deeore5]

"listen to your body"

my body: go get a cinnamon roll the size of a tire

[Justin Skycak @justinskycak]

Never underestimate how much time and effort you can waste by trying to automate a process you do not understand manually.

[Sara Mauskopf @sm]

Here's the thing: when big companies go down to 8 weeks, then smaller companies and startups will go down to 4, if anything. This is simply not enough time for most families, especially in a world where remote work is also disappearing. Daycare won't even take babies under 6 weeks old.

We know how this story plays out. Mothers will leave the paid workforce.

We shouldn't accept this as the new normal. The more we talk about it the harder it is for the bar to keep dropping.

[Tommy Siegel @TommySiegel]

saving the earth…it’s that easy!

[Charlie Marsh @charliermarsh]

Tragically I am continuing to find that the most effective guardrail against slop is extremely talented engineers doing very thoughtful, human code review

[ijbol adjani @onbeinganangel]

loved her work but this is really disappointing. i hope she can clear this up

[Kevin Kaduk | Bears By 7 @KevinKaduk]

The fall of Sports Illustrated had a huge impact, IMO.

Getting a great cover and in-depth story in your mailbox 4-7 days after the event definitely prolonged the moment and served as anchor for the memory going forward.

[Tom Odon @tom_odon]

@GuyDealership @DrJesseMorse Which part? The birth rate is declining and has been for decades, and the second part only makes sense if one reads the article.

[Greg • The Orlando Ultra Runner @GregInORL]

The impact this man had on running worldwide for decades is immeasurable. His run walk run method and training plans got me through 5ks, 10ks, 13.1s, 26.2s to 100 mile ultra marathons. Rest in piece Jeff Galloway. Your legacy will be around for generations.