John Sundman

@jsundman.bsky.social

3201 Followers 4075 Following

Biodigital novelist, mover of heavy objects, volunteer firefighter (retired), national treasure. "Sundman figures it out!" https://johnsundman.substack.com/ (Circle: firefighter coat, 'Sundman' name stipe. Banner: bookshelf w 'Acts of the Apostles')

Cover of Doug Lea's "Concurrent Programming in Java(TM").
Some old dude holds a copy of Auerbach's 'Mimesis' to partially obscure his face.
Screencap of BIOHACKERS at DEFCON banner from 2016.
Photo of an drawing of a blackjack hand — king of hearts & 8 of diamonds — on a black t-shirt. There are two kings' heads on the playing card. Upside down at the bottom of the card is the White Hat king, blowing a whistle. The Black Hat king, on top, ignoring the White Hat, holds a bloody axe in his hand.
Photo of some old bald dude holding up a copy of Frisco Del Rosario's book 'A First Book of Morphy'.
Gallery Text In 1521, while the German artist Albrecht Dürer was in Antwerp, he painted a picture of Saint Jerome in his study surrounded by objects symbolizing transience and death. The painting was a sensation, prefiguring the genre of memento mori, images that compelled contemplation of mortality. The type became a specialty of local workshops, including that of Joos van Cleve, who is associated with more than a dozen versions of this image. The piece of paper tacked to the wall reads “Respice Finem” — consider the end. Grasping his head, Jerome points at a skull, whose craggy surface is rendered in detail. Beside him is a snuffed-out candle. Beyond such obvious symbols of death, the image is filled with subtler reminders of the passage of time. The crucifix, set above an Italianate ornamental frieze, casts a curved shadow on its niche, and next to it, a bird — possibly a finch, symbol of Christ’s Passion — is trapped in a cage.
The famous Wondermark cartoon about sea-lioning. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sealioning
Photo taken by Nicole Galland, used with permission. In the foreground, two glass tip jars sitting side by side on the counter of a coffee shop. The jar on the left has a hand-lettered label, "Barbie," on a pink index card that also has a silhouette of a young woman with a ponytail. The other jar has an 'Oppenheimer' label on a yellow index card, with a silhouette of a man wearing a fedora. In the background, behind the counter, a woman rings up a sale; behind her there's another counter with a sink and various coffee-making devices and accoutrements.
Photo of tops of trees and gray skies seen through a skylight.
The Software Preservation Society hereby presents: OpenLaszlo 5.0 I was talking with a friend about Laszlo Systems recently and realized that I had no way of looking at its long-lost platform and apps. So, I downloaded the source code and set the AI machine to the task of building it, then making it easy to run and use on modern systems. That meant: 1. removing all the Java from the distro 2. porting the compiler and the server to TypeScript 3. and, just because, making it so the complier could run directly in the browser It’s full-featured, and matches OpenLaszlo 4.9 (2010) capabilities. All the old demos, samples, tutorials, and documentation are there. Brought back a lot of really great memories! https://lnkd.in/gRzkZ5Sw Scroll down for a link to Laszlo Explorer.
Photo of a large yellow crowbar on a round table on a porch.
Cover of an old issue of Mad Magazine with Alfred E. Neuman on the cover.
Photo of some old dude holding a couple of Tiger Beat magazines from 1974 to mostly hide his face.
When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer Play Audio By Walt Whitman When I heard the learn’d astronomer, When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me, When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them, When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room, How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick, Till rising and gliding out I wander’d off by myself, In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time, Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars.
Photo of the top of an oak tree full of green leaves against a blue sky as seen through a skylight window.
photo of pollen strings suspended from a small branch of an oak tree.
Photo of some dorky bald guy, a MILF wearing glasses, and the singer Storm Large, looking gorgeous after her show at Harvard's Memorial Hall.
It has come to my attention that the FCC is considering a requirement for a "content warning" on TV programs that include characters or situations that depict people who identify as gay, lesbian, trans, bisexual, non-binary or who in any way do not conform to arbitrary criteria that exclude such people. I strongly oppose any such measure. Labelling people as "other" and implying that they are somehow unworthy, or lesser, or even dangerous based on their identiy is uncalled for, unjust, mean-spirited, dangerous, obnoxious, and contrary to the First Amendment. This kind of action has strong echoes of Nazism in Germany in the 1930's and 40's. Any members of the commission who promote or promulgate this kind of hateful shit should be ashamed of themselves. This is an insult to the people who came before them & created the conditions that allowed them to assume their current roles. It is an insult to the very idea of America.
Screencap of a message from Linkedin: LinkedIn Messaging icon Mynetwork icon Notifications icon Do you know Barbara? Request to connect with members you know and trust Barbara Sport’s Profile Picture Barbara Sport Director Strategic Planning - Cyber Security at AT&T
Photo taken in a firehouse. 8 firefighters in full gear and one person in civilian clothes stand in front of a firetruck. In the back row ther are four men of similar height and one woman, who is shorter. In the front row two firefighters are on one knee on either side of a standing man. The the heads of the kneeling guys come almost up to the level of the man standing between them.
A yellowed photograph of a bench in a biology laboratory with all kinds of cool laboratory stuff.
Some old bald dude flexing biceps.
A 22 year old underfed white man with a wispy beard looks at you from a chair next to a small table in a mud hut, illuminated by light from an unglazed window. We do not know what he was thinking.
Some old dude holding a green plastic tag about the size of a credit card with the Tisbury Fire Department insignia, the number 61, and the name J. Sundman. (2-tag system: one tag stays on your gear, the second tag goes to the safety officer when you go into a hot zone. (When I got those green tags my wife gave me an 'Island-wide' condom keychain to go with them as a reminder to stay safe.))
Photo of the front door of a house that is shingled with very tired old brown shingles. The door has evergreen garland around it and a wreath with a red bow on it. There is lots of snow, with footprints in the deep snow leading from the door.
Photo. In the White House Oval Office, Trump sits at his desk with eyes closed while around him various people, mostly white men, place their hands on him and make a show of being in prayer.
Outstanding! What might be best about Sundman's post is that it captures a lost internet moment: when the fight over network architecture was still understood, plainly and publicly, as a fight over citizenship and control. Back then the stakes were visible. Today much of that same struggle is buried under platform governance, algorithmic ranking, moderation battles, app-store control, cloud concentration and the political capture of information systems. This piece is a useful reminder that the earlier fight was not quaint. It was foundational. Sundman's post also benefits from something rarer than it looks: it is written by someone who is both participant and witness. He is not pretending to stand above the argument. He is inside it. Sundman has opinions and allegiances but also enough self-awareness to mark where his own knowledge runs thin. That gives the piece real moral texture.
Picture of an unspeakably hot babe with long brown hair sitting on some stairs holding a long camera lens in her left hand. She wearing an oversized black sweater and is looking down & to her right, not at the camera.
Yellowed photo of a long desk with a marble top against a wall. Above the desktop (on which are scientific instruments) there are shelves filled with flasks and bottles and test tubes.
Hot babe in a stunning dress.
Dorky guy wearing a firefighter's helmet stands before a nifty fire truck with his arm around a hot babe in a winter coat.
A dorky guy stands next to a hot babe. Looks like they're fixin' to get married.
Winter Storm Watch From Sun 1:00 pm until Tue 7:00 am EST 1 of 3 Action Recommended Make preparations per the instructions Issued By Boston - MA, US, National Weather Service Affected Area Portions of southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island Description ...WINTER STORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM SUNDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH TUESDAY MORNING... WHAT...Blizzard conditions possible. Total snow accumulations between 10 and 17 inches possible. Winds could gust as high as 60 mph. WHERE...Portions of southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island. WHEN...From Sunday afternoon through Tuesday morning. IMPACTS...Visibilities may drop below 1/4 mile due to falling and blowing snow. Whiteout conditions are possible and may make travel treacherous and potentially life-threatening.
photo of interior of room with peaked ceiling. Near the apex on far wall there is a smoke detector.
Under the shade of a tree a smiling stunning beauty holds flowers in her left hand as with her right hand puts a ring on the finger of some dork in 3-piece-suit.
In a bookshelf-lined office, an old bald dude holds a sweater in front of him, obscuring most of his face. The sweater has brilliant Icelandic pattern in deep blue, white & and rust-red.
A snow-covered road in snowy woods.
Some old dude, open mouthed in the style of "the scream," holds in one hand a jar of smoked paprika and in the other a can of Hungarian hot paprika.
A solitary man walks towards the camera on a desolate road on a foggy day. He is wearing heavy oversized jacket and is carrying a suitcase in one hand. On either side of the road are fields full of rubble and trash. In the distance, obscured by fog, there is a single run-down two story building. There are two cars parked near it, and one truck. Looks like a scene out of a play by Samuel Beckett, or maybe a zombie apocalypse movie. Sublimely depressing.
Image of a manuscript written on parchment with text in an arabic script and illustrations. Text above the illusration reads "Sundman figures it out! Mao's Red Guard, Jeffrey Epstein and Trump's MAGA Jihadis vs Albert Einstein and the custodians of the ancient libraries of Timbucktu. Plus! James Watson, James Garfield & the demon Pazuzu and a molecular biologist with a great figure. John Sundman, November 17, 1952"
Yellowed photo of a desk in a laboratory. The desktop is full of equipment and the shelves above it are full of test tubes and containers of chemicals & so forth.
Black & white photo of a 1989 Chevy 'Eurosport,' a 4-door sedan.
Photograph of a ~30 year old woman with long hair holding a camera lens, sitting on steps of a building in a city, looking down.
screen capture of GeoCities welcome page from February, 1998.
Result from AI to muy question "In 1935, Babe Ruth held the career home run record with 714 home runs, a record that would stand until Hank Aaron surpassed it in 1974. Other notable players in the home run rankings at that time included Lou Gehrig and Jimmie Foxx, who were also prominent hitters of the era." mlb career home run records 1935
Photo of treetops seen through a skylight on a sunny day with some clouds.
Photo of treetops against dark grey sky seen through a skylight window.
Screen cap showing cover of In Formation Magazine with a yellow sticker: "Now Available At Barnes & Noble $1984
Picture of a stylized picture of Boston as seen from Cambridge, with the words "Boston's next 250 years: from Revolution to Resilience. Tue Oct 14 at 6PM, MIT Tang Center, E51-345. What will the next 250 years of Boston's history look like? Join Long Now Boston for an evening of fascinating, deep conversation around the future of housing, transportation, climate change sustainability and more, and help us create a better future. How can we be better ancestors to Bostonians of 2275? Panelists: James Gray — Senior Principal, Stantec; Hyun-A Park — President, Spy Pond Partners; Chris Osgood — Director, Office of Climate Resilience, City of Boston; Nadia Dixson — Archivist, City of Somerville; John Sundman, Novelist & Essayist.
4 people standing in the shade of a tree facing 1 man: left to right: A bearded man of about 30 wearing a suit, adjusting his tie, a man wearing a similar suit, a woman in purple & white dress holding a bouquet, a woman in a blue dress. The man they are facing turns his face to the side, smiling, He holds some kind of book in his hands.
Photo of a computer screen displaying the bluesky website & above the screen, a skylight.
Grim reaper holding a scythe with a cardbord blade stands on a lawn near a footpath. A bemused man wearing shorts stands behind the personification of Death.
A drawing showing what appears to be a 4-story windowless prison. At the entrance to the building there is a guard tower, on either side of which are machine-gun emplacements maned by people in combat gear. ON the door to the entrance their is painted a big purple heart, and above it, a sign that says CHANGES! Where oldthink becomes newthink, and dreams become reality!
Some serious looking old bald dude holding a shotglass with the words 'biohack the planet' written on it.
Road sign: ENTERING inc 1762 ATHOL Worcester County
Photograph: In a foggy meadow surrounded by leafless trees, all that remains of a forgotten building next to a pile of boulders is a large door, — 8 panes of glass over 4 wooden panels — in a frame that appears to be made of rough-hewn planks of wood. There is a caption, with a 'worried face' emoji: 'Normally I'd be curious enought walk through this door but this year I am not sure I want to take that chance.' There is no attribution for either photo or caption.
Cover of Norton paperback Fiction edtion of The Long Day Wanes, A Malayan Trilogy, by Anthony Burgess. The illustration is a painting, by an unnamed artist, showing what appears to be the recumbent body of a sleeping Malaysian man, perhaps 30 years old. His head and chest cavity are split open and full of flowers. His torso blends into the clouds in the sky.
Dramatic cover of Irving Fisher's 1930 book The Theory of Interest
Some old dude flexing a geriatric bicep. He wears a black t-shirt with the words "WETMACHINE 'splainin; Net Neutrality to the masses since 2003"
Photo of some old bald guy (me) wearing a black t-shirt doing a double biceps pose in a messy office with an unfinished ceiling.