listened in on the Pinterest earnings call today because earnings calls for companies in crisis are kind of interesting
The executives’ vision for the future of Pinterest is that it will show you more sponsored pictures, and if you see a couch or a jacket or something in an advertisement and tell their chatbot “I want to buy that one” and it identifies the thing from within the sponsored picutre, goes to the website, orders the thing for you, and then tells the advertiser so they can pay Pinterest their commission. I am fascinated by this idea that customers just see a thing and say “give me that one” without considering sizing, pricing, shipping - really, any of the logistics that go between “I want the thing” and “I have the thing” that are easily solved by existing technology but not really solvable by gesturing at an ad and saying “gimme”. The idea that LLM chatbots will make a bunch of tedious tasks easier is enticing, but the applications that big companies are dreaming up seem totally unrelated to any actual tedious tasks, and really seem to be all about shifting consumers over to a walled garden with less choice, less information, and less security.
Talked to someone who doesn’t work at Pinterest but does have access to their Blind who confirmed that zero of the engineers think any of this is even remotely feasible.
One of them diagnosed me with autism today and when I said that we didn’t know each other that well he didn’t say “yeah true I have no training and it’s weird to diagnose someone based on the heavily mediated version of them you see in a weekly improv class” but rather gave me some bullshit about uncomfortable truths. It’s been fun but I think this is where I get off the train. Everyone behaving like nineteen year old art school students in this intermediate local community theatre improv course.
The executives’ vision for the future of Pinterest is that it will show you more sponsored pictures, and if you see a couch or a jacket or something in an advertisement and tell their chatbot “I want to buy that one” and it identifies the thing from within the sponsored picutre, goes to the website, orders the thing for you, and then tells the advertiser so they can pay Pinterest their commission. I am fascinated by this idea that customers just see a thing and say “give me that one” without considering sizing, pricing, shipping - really, any of the logistics that go between “I want the thing” and “I have the thing” that are easily solved by existing technology but not really solvable by gesturing at an ad and saying “gimme”. The idea that LLM chatbots will make a bunch of tedious tasks easier is enticing, but the applications that big companies are dreaming up seem totally unrelated to any actual tedious tasks, and really seem to be all about shifting consumers over to a walled garden with less choice, less information, and less security.
The El Paso airspace shutdown only lasted a few hours, but time is fleeting. The FAA and the Pentagon are at odds about what was going on here (experimental weapons test or cartel drone?) and the madness takes its toll. We should listen closely to the NTSB chair here, who’s a career civil servant in senior positions under both Biden and Trump and says this can’t continue - at least, not for very much longer. Ultimately, this kind of airspace shutdown needs a single point of contact who will get up to the podium and take responsibility and say “I’ve got to keep control”.
This week, we’re on location at OrcaCon 2026! We hear about taste mechanics, Canadian orthography, and products for the sloppy player. Thanks to everyone who took the time to chat with us:
[2:01] GameStorm is a very cool convention in Portland - and they offered listeners a promo code for discounted registration in this episode! You’ll have to listen to find out what it is.
[4:57] Aspiring Youth, which offers some very cool TTRPG programming for neurodivergent youth.
At the beginning of the episode, we talk about our experience at OrcaCon 2025. Here’s the first part and here’s the second part of our time at OrcaCon last year! Last year’s OrcaCon is also where we met Dante of Chance Encounter Games - and then later we interviewed Dante and attended the grand opening of the Chance Encounter Games storefront (part 1 and part 2).
And here’s the dice-filled resin heart we mention when we’re talking with Studio Hexe:
We’re trying to figure out some opportunities to get out to more cons in 2026. We’re definitely getting to NorWesCon 2026 in April - but let us know if there’s anywhere else in the PNW we should check out.
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The podcast is back! Apparently! Fun to go to cons like this, but I’m antsy to get back to some long-form sit-down interviews too.
Israel has arrested several people, including army reservists, for allegedly using classified information to place bets on Israeli military operations on Polymarket.
Yeah, look, I know I’ve been posting a lot lately about halftime shows and other fun instances of insider trading, but really these gambling platforms are going to get used to profit off of knowledge of military operations, because those ultimately have even more people with detailed advance knowledge. The US government is completely fine with this (as the article notes, people were netting six figures by insider trading on their knowledge of Maduro’s removal) but the US government’s closest ally in the world feels very differently and is sending a fairly strong signal by arresting and charging the insider traders. That’s kind of inconceivable here, because the regulatory environment seems to be giving infinite latitude to gambling platforms and their customers.
Anyway, once again, this seems like really bad news for the long-run viability of these gambling platforms, because Polymarket is really letting people bet against each other, and if the person on the other side of the bet has 100% knowledge of what’s happening, you have no way of ever making any money against them. But it does seem like a great way to extract national security information from your adversaries? Like the Greenland government should absolutely invest in big billboards around Fort Bragg and Fort Benning that are like “HEY CHECK OUT POLYMARKET! CHECK OUT KALSHI! GO USE YOUR INSIDER INFORMATION TO PROFIT OFF THE NEXT ATTACK” and the watch the corresponding prices very closely.
really struggling not to call off my long running campaign right now
I’ve grown to really resent GMing. I hate having to do all the planning and hosting and cooking, and have all these expectations put on me that I’ll dispense interesting story and meaningful character moments and mechanically complex battles every two weeks while everyone can just show up half an hour late and spend each other’s turns on their phones and then immediately demand we schedule the next session, all for people who just see me as the game dispenser and wouldn’t even show up to my funeral. Starting to really understand why TTRPGs are shifting to paid GMing because if you’re not friends outside the game then the whole experience becomes a big time and money sink with zero payoff.
My last campaign was different because the boyfriend was in it, and I like getting to see him, and he could host and help cook sometimes, and also he’d sometimes tell other people they need to bring snacks or pay for supplies or something which is much less awkward than me telling them directly. But also he just makes big in-character story decisions, which drives the campaign forward and makes it fun! It’s not just about pestering the GM out of character for a mechanical advantage and winning the prize once you’re allowed to roll a bigger handful of dice.
I’ve grown to really resent GMing. I hate having to do all the planning and hosting and cooking, and have all these expectations put on me that I’ll dispense interesting story and meaningful character moments and mechanically complex battles every two weeks while everyone can just show up half an hour late and spend each other’s turns on their phones and then immediately demand we schedule the next session, all for people who just see me as the game dispenser and wouldn’t even show up to my funeral. Starting to really understand why TTRPGs are shifting to paid GMing because if you’re not friends outside the game then the whole experience becomes a big time and money sink with zero payoff.
