Peter Thoeny

Häppy Friday, everyone!

Häppy Friday, everyone!

In the near future: Open the door Hal! I am sorry, Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that. Cartoon by Horsey, The Seattle Times

Häppy Friday, everyone!

Häppy Friday, everyone!

Distorted cat face through a full glass of water

Häppy Friday, everyone!

First time for me: the AI agent is working for me while I sing in the shower.

YOU KNOW, THERE WAS ANOTHER TIME WHEN SCIENCE WASN'T TAKEN SERIOUSLY AND RELIGION RULED THE WORLD. WE CALLED IT THE DARK AGES.

Häppy Friday, everyone!

Taste the Magic Where Redwoods Witness Forever Promises We recently attended a friend's wedding in Saratoga, California. The celebration took place at a magical place in the forest. We were surrounded by redwood trees that were decorated in a gazillion lights, perfect for a bokeh shot with the wedding cake. -- ƒ/0.95, 50 mm, 1/250 sec, ISO 400, Sony A7 II, Canon 50mm f0.95 "Dream Lens", HDR, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, © 2025 Peter Thoeny, Quality HDR Photography

Taste the Magic Where Redwoods Witness Forever Promises

(details in image ALT)

-- CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, © 2025 Peter Thoeny, QualityHDR.com

#photography #art #FineArt #night #bokeh #DreamLens #wedding #cake #Saratoga #SanJose #SanFrancisco #California #USA @bskyphotos.bsky.social

Earlier this year my son Alexis spent 3 months in a fellowship at DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency that was the birthplace of ARPANET in 1969, which became the Internet. Here is a key lesson he learned: "Everyone runs as fast as they can at DARPA. From program managers to contractors to IT support, everything is focused and moves with urgency." This resonates a lot with me. I work from tiny startups to large organizations. Startups are able to compete with much bigger organizations precisely because of this. By operating wth a sense of urgency you can move much faster. Take risks, fail fast, improve fast, and if you need, pivot. - Naval Postgraduate School article: https://bit.ly/4lya9ka - Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) call for participation: https://bit.ly/4mDQmkZ - Video interview: https://bit.ly/3V5LHMg

Earlier this year my son spent 3 months in a fellowship at DARPA. Key lesson learned:

"Everyone runs as fast as they can at DARPA. From program managers to contractors to IT support, everything is focused and moves with urgency."

(see image ALT)

#startup #leadership #NPS #DARPA #research

Important question to ponder, especially with the current political situation in the USA: Should we be tolerant to intolerant people?

Wikipedia article: bit.ly/3HtBCpm

#philosophy #tolerance #intolerance #politics

Häppy Friday, everyone!

Karl is Visiting Us Again San Francisco has a lot of fog in summer, typically creeping in from the sea. I intended to show visitors from Switzerland the San Francisco skyline from Grizzly Peak, a hill above Berkeley, California. Usually you get a nice view from above over San Francisco, the bay, Alcatraz, and the Golden Gate. When we arrived after dinner we only could see a few feet. Karl the fog was back. On the way back to the city we stopped at Treasure Island, where we finally had a clear view of the San Francisco skyline. The taller buildings disappeared in the low hanging clouds and fog. -- ƒ/6.3, 150 mm, 1/15, 1/4, 1 sec, ISO 800, Sony A6000, SEL-55210, HDR, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, © 2025 Peter Thoeny, @Quality HDR Photography

Karl is Visiting Us Again

(see image ALT for details)

-- CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, © 2025 Peter Thoeny, QualityHDR.com

#photography #art #FineArt #skyline #night #skyscraper #water #city #downtown #SanFrancisco #California #USA @bskyphotos.bsky.social

Häppy Friday, everyone!

By now media in Hungary is 100% controlled by Orban, and Trump is playing his playbook. US Populace: wake up before it’s too late!!

Häppy Swiss National Day!

Häppy Friday, everyone!

---+ From Cosmic Event to Biker Hangout I went to a business meetup organized by the Swiss American Chamber of Commerce of San Francisco. On that day Earth was subjected to strong solar winds, which caused auroras way into the continental USA. After the event I drove along the Skyline Boulevard, a road that follows the ridge of the hills that separate the San Francisco Bay from the Pacific Ocean. After taking some shots of the aurora, I drove home and stopped by Alice's restaurant on the Skyline Boulevard, a popular hangout for motor cyclists in daytime. -- ƒ/4.0, 50 mm, 0.3, 4, 10, 30 sec, ISO 200, Sony A7 II, Canon 50mm f0.95 "Dream Lens", HDR, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, © 2024 Peter Thoeny, @Quality HDR Photography

---+ From Cosmic Event to Biker Hangout

(details in image ALT)

-- CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, © 2024 Peter Thoeny, QualityHDR.com

#photography #art #FineArt #restaurant #night #Woodside #RedwoodCity #skyline #SanJose #SanFrancisco #California #USA @bskyphotos.bsky.social

Häppy Friday, everybody!

Me: "Good, it works now. Time to sleep." AI agent: "Glad to hear it’s all working and looking good now! 😄 Have a great night and restful sleep. If you need more help or want to add features in the future, just reach out." I am using agentive AI every day now to write code. In fact the AI is writing the code for me. This app I am working on is 99% written by AI. This is the next evolution compared to a simple chat box interface like ChatGPT. I can describe what I need at a high level, and the AI agent creates files, modifies files, debugs code, writes a test framework with all tests, and executes commands for me. The AI agent is like a knowledgeable full stack developer who is eager to help. Welcome to the future!

Me: "Good, it works now. Time to sleep."

AI agent: "Glad to hear it’s all working and looking good now! 😄
Have a great night and restful sleep. If you need more help or want to add features in the future, just reach out."

(see image ALT for details)

#AI #GenAI #LLM #AgentiveAI

Thank you!

Celebrating Swiss Independence Day Swiss Independence Day is coming up on first of August. The Swiss community living in the San Francisco Bay Area will celebrate the occasion at the Swiss Park in Newark, California, on Sunday, August 2nd. Would you like to join? This candid people shot is from last year's event. -- ƒ/0.95, 50 mm, 1/1000 sec, ISO 100, Sony A7 II, Canon 50mm f0.95 "Dream Lens", CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, © 2024 Peter Thoeny, @Quality HDR Photography

Celebrating Swiss Independence Day

(see details in image ALT)

-- CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, © 2024 Peter Thoeny, QualityHDR.com

#photography #art #FineArt #person #man #portrait #Swiss #IndependenceDay #Newark #SanJose #California #USA @bskyphotos.bsky.social

---+ Witness Transylvania's Most Reliable News Source During our Transylvania, Romania journey, we stayed at a hotel in Valea Drăganului. At breakfast, we met a Canadian woman who had grown up in the area and returned for a visit. She graciously offered to connect me with an elderly man living in the village for documentary photography. Unfortunately, the gentleman was unwell that day, so our plans didn't materialize. Instead, we strolled through the village streets while the Canadian woman explained that elderly residents enjoy sitting on benches to observe daily life and socialize. We met a spirited 90-year-old grandma dressed in black robes who was quite talkative and amusing. Thankfully, our Canadian acquaintance served as a translator. -- ƒ/4.0, 135 mm, 1/250 sec, ISO 125, Sony A7 II, Pentax Super Takumar 135mm f/2.5, HDR, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, © 2025 Peter Thoeny, @Quality HDR Photography

Witness Transylvania's Most Reliable News Source

(see description in image ALT)

-- CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, © 2025 Peter Thoeny, QualityHDR.com

#photography #art #FineArt #monochrome #BlackAndWhite #portrait #woman #grandma #village #street #Transylvania #Romania @bskyphotos.bsky.social

Villages in Transylvania typically run along the main road, as shown in this Google satellite image. The arrow indicates where I took the photo.

Journey Through Time in Transylvania On our trip through Transylvania, Romania, we stayed at a B&B in Miercurea Ciuc. We explored nearby villages. It was raining when we passed a horse carriage in the small village of Nădejdea. They are still in use in the countryside. -- ƒ/7.1, 24 mm, 1/500, 1/2000, 1/4000 sec, ISO 1600, Sony A6400, SEL-P1650, HDR, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, © 2025 Peter Thoeny, @Quality HDR Photography

Journey Through Time in Transylvania

(see description in image ALT)

-- CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, © 2025 Peter Thoeny, QualityHDR.com

#photography #art #FineArt #horse #carriage #farmer #village #street #Transylvania #Romania @bskyphotos.bsky.social

A machine is a machine. I think it's more about making big $$$ with automation, this at the expense of workers. A UBI will become necessary because big corp ONLY cares about shareholder value.

Häppy Friday, everyone!

#TGIF

---+ The Underground Lake That Outshines Dracula's Castle During a week-long car tour of Transylvania, Romania in May, we visited Salina Turda, the historic Turda Salt Mine that operated from the 13th century until 1932 before reopening as a tourist attraction in 1992. At its deepest level, 26 floors underground, lies a subterranean lake. It was a wonderful experience to row across this dimly lit lake. I captured this image using a fisheye lens and combined two exposures to achieve an even more expansive perspective. -- ƒ/4.0, 12 mm, 1/30 sec, ISO 6400, Sony A7 II, Rokinon 12mm F2.8, HDR, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, © 2025 Peter Thoeny, @Quality HDR Photography

The Underground Lake That Outshines Dracula's Castle

(see details in image ALT)

-- CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, © 2025 Peter Thoeny, QualityHDR.com

#photography #art #FineArt #cave #underground #lake #TurdaSaltMine #SalinaTurda #Turda #Transylvania #Romania @bskyphotos.bsky.social

Feel the Bass That Makes Green Screens Vibrate I attended an art gathering on Saturday evening at Nicholaus James Dalton's industrial building near downtown San Jose, California, where he provides studio space for artists. Nicholas was unveiling the new LionHouse Productions Studio, which will be a space for filming using green screen for music videos and movies/films. DJ music and reggae dance performances provided entertainment for the guests. -- ƒ/4.0, 50 mm, 1/15 sec, ISO 800, Sony A7 II, Canon 50mm f0.95 "Dream Lens", HDR, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, © 2025 Peter Thoeny, @Quality HDR Photography

Feel the Bass That Makes Green Screens Vibrate

(see details in the image ALT)

-- CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, © 2025 Peter Thoeny, QualityHDR.com

#photography #art #FineArt #loudspeaker #colorful #SanJose #California #USA @bskyphotos.bsky.social

Chicano Pride Meets Chrome and Dreams I attended an art gathering on Saturday evening at Nicholaus James Dalton's industrial building near downtown San Jose, California, where he provides studio space for artists. Many of the artists belong to the Chicano community. Two lowriders made an appearance at the event. This car culture is deeply rooted in Chicano/Latino communities, particularly in California, and has been an important part of Mexican-American cultural expression since the 1940s-50s. The hydraulic systems allow the cars to bounce and hop. A proud owner poses for me at his vintage Buick Regal lowrider. -- ƒ/4.0, 50 mm, 1/50, 1/200 sec, ISO 400, Sony A7 II, Canon 50mm f0.95 "Dream Lens", HDR, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, © 2025 Peter Thoeny, @Quality HDR Photography

Chicano Pride Meets Chrome and Dreams

(see details in image ALT)

-- CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, © 2025 Peter Thoeny, QualityHDR.com

#photography #art #FineArt #portrait #man #chicano #lowrider #vintage #car #Buick #Regal #SanJose #California #USA @bskyphotos.bsky.social

Thank you Peter. Climb up on the big rock behind Olmsted Point parking lot.