Chris Petersen

A re-worked quote from The Princess Bride - "I could give you my word as a PhD?" "No good. I've known too many PhDs!"

💯 Growing up as a university brat dispelled the doctrine of PhD infallibility pretty fast. Spending time as university staff (not faculty) further accelerated that spiral. I admire the perseverance and tenacity required, but as you say, there's no magic involved...

💯 #culture There's always that question from folks:

"Document (and automate) everything you can? Won't you be working yourself out of a job?"

"Maybe, or maybe I'll be working myself into a better job and making the whole organization safer if/when they hire junior folks."

It also builds a bit from chip to chip if you're not drinking in between, but it stays nicely balanced. Not sure what I'd change about them, but 9/10 is about as high as I rate things on first taste...

a small bag of the new Doritos Golden Sriracha chipa

I try to be Bluesky-er of my word...

I'd probably give them a 9/10 over all. There's definitely the classic corn chip taste of a Doritos product, but the sriracha hits all the higher notes. Like the sauce, there's just a little sweet, but the spice rules the game. It ...

What counts as "things that no machine should be able to do"?

Tough Talk: Ethical and Responsible AI in Finance | CXOTalk Episode 859 of CXOTalk features Scott Zoldi, Chief Analytics Officer at FICO, discussing ethical and responsible AI in finance. Learn strategies for AI governance, transparency, and innovation

Not a general answer, but I found some hope in this interview. Using different kinds and sizes of #AI models for the things that need to be certain, safe, and explainable; and (maybe) letting #GenAI help with things that can be a bit messier w/o blowing up...

www.cxotalk.com/episode/toug...

A4) It all starts and ends with the business. #IT needs a seat at the table, but they're the ones negotiating and signing SLAs. They *must* understand what IT can/'t promise, and IT must know what they're promising for every service up/down the value chains. #ciochat

💯 definitely! In the worst-case scenario, regulators and/or courts will want that CYA info. Given what we've seen in the past, that means doubling down on effective and truthful comms from the start. #ciochat

A3) An unfliching post-mortem is a start. Going beyond root cause to issues with controls may help. A roadmap forward is always good. A thick CYA folder full of "this is when we warned you, and you didn't back us" is unlikely to win any points. #ciochat

Therein lies the rub... The more time you spend with green lights across the board, the more folks will want to optimize costs, right-size the org, etc. It's tempting to make sure there are at least some blinking yellows all the time. 😇 #ciochat

I can't do much better than "it depends" on the size, shape, and make-up of your C-suite, board, etc. If you have a Chief Risk Officer, maybe them? The CISO might report all over. Tough to say. #ciochat

A2.2) Exercising *everything* regularly and coordinated, systemic exercises as often as possible. Onesy-twosy is dead in the water when it comes to a big ransomware hit. #ciochat

A2.1) (wounds and scars flaring up) Well, something like a 3-2-1-1-0 approach is a start from a technical perspective, but this is the kind of thing that can make #IT look insanely "expensive" if not positioned well. #ciochat

Indeed, but I'm a little iffy whether the #CIO should be that spearhead rather than a combo platter of legal, media relations, etc. The support / service desks would be absolutely critical for some of the actual comms, but they'd likely need crafted messages too. #ciochat

A1)

1: Discovery - what was/not impacted. Your service / support desks are gold mines for this.

2: Quarantine / shut down / preserve what you can for forensic analysis + safety.

3: Triage* - what's the state of your back / restore infrastructure. Can you restore?

#ciochat

Ah. The jury was still out when I left the store, so I will return to claim the gold(en doritos), devour them, and report back...

A good grounding on some theories and a lot deeper thinking than most folks are doing, so +1. At the same time, still a lot of muddy thinking, imprecise language, and assumptions that aren't really cleaned up; so -1. Not buying "defend" or "deter" in the ways they're being used, so -2 more.

Of that, one can be very very very very very sure!

United Airlines flights grounded nationwide because of computer problems Hundreds of United Airlines flights were disrupted on Wednesday evening as the carrier grappled with a major computer system outage. The airline requested ground stops at its major hubs in the U.S.

I love dumping on Trump and Musk (and Duffy and DOGE) as much as the next guy, but this is being credibly reported as a computer systems issue within United. FAA apparently issued the hold / ground stop at their request.

www.npr.org/2025/08/06/n...

Same talk:

1. Conflate concepts that don't have to co-occur.
2. Strawman others' positions.
3. Claim to defeat the strawmen.
4. Insult the people you misrepresented.
5. Declare victory.

#ArtificialFallacy

Same talk:

1. Insult people for thinking humans are special.
2. Redefine a concept they think makes humans special.
3. Use it in a way that's vacuously true of your #AI paradigm.
4. Declare victory.

#ArtificialDouchebaggery

Watched an academic lecture and heard this pattern over and over:

1: Ridicule an idea and its supporters.
2: Reframe their exact point in mathematical terms.
3: Proudly adopt your mathematical reframing as The Truth.
4: Applaud the people you insulted for agreeing with you.

#ArtificialAssholery

Asked around at the grocery store "has anyone tried the new Doritos Golden Sriracha yet?" Nobody had. It might have to be done ...... for science. of course!

The Butlerian Jihad is taking shape nicely... 😇

Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen (Back to the Future) - "I Hate Manure"

Nashville is up next!

I'll have to find a copy!

Loved those books!!!

A natural follow-on to an eruption of insanity that triggers massive flows of bullshit into a sea of misinformation...