John Blair

John Blair

@jdblair.org

American living in the Netherlands. I lead the Netflix Partner Engineering team in Amsterdam. My tech posts are mostly in the fediverse as @jdblair@hachyderm.io. he/him

264 followers660 following444 posts

John Blair reposted

We acknowledge that no one has the bandwidth for this, but if it helps: -It’s ‘sleight of hand’ -It’s ‘bated breath’ -It’s ‘lo and behold’ -It's 'buck naked' -It’s ‘brass tacks’ -It’s ‘free rein’ -It’s ‘toe the line'

John Blair reposted

Trump's suit appears to be part of Jos. A. Bank's Traveler line. The suit is listed as having been made abroad using a wool-polyester-spandex blend. The company describes it as having the "ultimate stretch" and was designed to minimize body odor.

Because I'm living in the Netherlands and immersed in Dutch, I keep having these little epiphanies about the origin and meanings of family names or English words. The first one, about 5 years ago, was "folk and volk are the same word." Seems obvious, right?

I was practicing the Dutch "f" sound (sort of half way between an English f and an English v) when that happened.

I'm reading Reality Is Not What It Seems (by Carlo Rovelli) when I realized that Einstein literally means One Stone. It's right there, plainly written, but until recently it was just a sound.

John Blair reposted

2026 MN State Fair Crop Art entry "Witness" based on pStar Tribune photograph by Leila Navi with MPR reporter Sam Stroiza.

John Blair reposted

Replying to @amandasmith.bsky.social

Broke Pirates Fans: Bring back Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow Woke Pirates Fans: Bring back Kiera Knightly as Elizabeth Swan Woke 2 Pirates Fans: Bring back Kiera Knightly as Jack Sparrow

Rick CarBOOso’s Private Fire Crew@amandasmith.bsky.social

The Princess Bride solved the Pirate Franchise Problem elegantly, Captain Jack Sparrow should have become a title not a name like three movies ago and it should’ve gone to Elizabeth

Me, a space alien learning about Earth religion: There are three Abrahamic religions with a common root. They must get along really well, since they're so similar, right?

John Blair reposted

Nobody warns you how tremendously disconcerting going back to an American restaurant is after living anywhere else long term. - them walking off with your credit card & no tap to pay - the huge portions and sodium - the weird attentiveness for tips - being IDed over 30 - flags everywhere

John Blair reposted

In case you missed it, Utrecht, Netherlands has begun building the largest Dutch “car-free” neighbourhood. With: 12K people 6K homes 1.8K social rental homes 1.5K mid-range rental & affordable owner-occupied homes 21K bike parking spaces 250 shared cars 2 parcel hubs Parking structures on the edge.

nltimes.nlUtrecht to start construction on largest car-free neighborhood in the country next weekConstruction of a new neighborhood is set to begin in Utrecht next week. The neighborhood, called Merwede, is scheduled to be the largest car-free district in the Netherlands, with 6,000 homes. The ar...

John Blair reposted

Air to Ground Message: HAVE A FINAL SCORE FOR NETHERLANDS V MOROCCO Area: Boston, MA, USA Type: Boeing 757-200 A: #aaa0960883d F: #f4693b3a945

John Blair reposted

(1/2) Air to Ground Message: GOEDEMORGEN. WIJ VROEGEN ONS AF OF HET MOGELIJK ZOU ZIJN OM VOOR DE HELE CREW VERVOER TE REGELEN NAAR DE XXXXXX. IVM KORTE OVERSTAPTIJD. WE ZIJN JULLIE EEUWIG DANKBAAR EN HEBBEN EEN WARME CROISSANT VOOR DE CHAUFFEUR. GRTS XXXX EN XXXX Area: Chester, UK Type:

John Blair reposted

1) Open this image up 2) Find the small, blue feature in the very middle Congratulations, you've spotted the Perseverance rover on Mars, photographed from orbit! 3) Trace the rover tracks as they wend their way across the surface

John Blair reposted

Just watched the new Knives Out and I think it's really important you know that the scene in the Seminary's Gym is filmed in the same place Rick Astley filmed the music video for Never Gonna Give You Up. I saw the window tracery and immediately made my friends pause the film so I could tell them.

John Blair reposted

Again, this take is why Trump is president today. 🤷🏿‍♂️ 1. The year in which cops killed the most people? During Biden years. 2. Mass incarceration (ramped up under Reagan using Biden policies) was finally turning around and decreasing under Bush, Obama, and Trump. Under Biden, it increased again.

Cai : go see DIGGER@annenotation.bsky.social

The Biden years were really good years; outside being very personally unlucky, if you couldn't make it use of that labor market, and those conditions, then that's kind of a fucking you problem.

John Blair reposted

Ich thynke but litel of a Mondaye bleake Tuesdaye grey and Wednesdaye eke Thursdaye Ich care nat for thee Yet Fridaye - Ich am yn love Mondaye thou kanst fall awaye Tuesdaye, Wednesdaye, myne herte slaye No mirthe ys founde upon Thursdaye Yet Fridaye - Ich am yn love

John Blair reposted

every single tech idea is like “soon our robots will be capable of playing catch with your kid, freeing you up to spend more time working on your employers’ spreadsheets”