^ Pictured above: Billionaire Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel went to Coachella with his supermodel wife, and then two days later laid off over 1,000 employees. I was one of them. So was my entire team of about 40 people.

We were the Bitmoji team at Snapchat, and except for a few people in LA, our team was completely eliminated. Acquired by Snapchat, Bitmoji remained, at least in spirit, a somewhat semi-autonomous republic within the larger company. But eventually the Bitmoji founders departed or were ousted, along with some long-time artists, and the corporate tech tentacles slowly creeped in to smother what was once a quirky creative team. I joined part way through the process, so I got to taste that fun/creative culture, but also witness its decline.

Honestly, we were all there by accident - artists, animators, and illustrators hiding in the corner of a Tech Company, quietly shocked at the generous salaries and benefits (and free lunches) we received, a contrast to the poor-paying studios and freelance illustration gigs that had come before.

The 5 years I spent there were amazing and horrible. Amazing because (1) Big Tech Salary, and (2) I got to work with some of the most fun, creative and intelligent people. No dead wood on this team. It was also horrible, because ultimately I was just making digital crap to keep users' eyes glued to an app and its advertisers. The pressure to perform and scale production was really high. I lost sleep and gained weight, and got to suffer from anxiety for the first time.

And now suddenly it's done. We're all out. Ostensibly "because AI", despite the fact that we barely used any AI in our creative pipelines, and only for non-creative tasks. I didn't lose my job because of AI, I lost it because of the *idea* that AI could do it all. And of course because Snap's stagnating stock price needed a boost.

It's honestly a relief. I've spent the last month relaxing and decompressing; I had accumulated a month's worth of unused vacation anyway. I'll eventually try to figure out what's next, but for now I have a generous severance to give me some breathing room. I'm free now, as are my fellow artists. I'm happy they can go use their creative gifts for things that are hopefully more meaningful to our society and culture.

thanks for reading my brain dump mltshp friends. That concludes my ted talk.

By Qin Yang
https://www.tumblr.com/pmamtrav...

@kittons sent me a giant bag of tiny chickens (and whales, and frogs, and rabbits, and frogs, and ducks, and mushrooms) so now i can join in the tiny creature distribution.

dropped two on the counter at my favorite coffee shop yesterday. am now looking forward to lightening the otherwise insane week by hiding a few at work.

previously:
https://mltshp.com/p/1RQ19
https://mltshp.com/p/1RPES

It's been several replacement parts, between five and seven hours of messing with it over three maintenance attempts, at least five YouTube videos, literally locating the original manual, and enough cuss words to get me thrown out of a Walmart, but it actually makes a locking stitch again.

I generally avoid big multi-day festivals as typically there are not enough bands I want to see to justify the cost. However, the stars aligned this year. Nearly every band I wanted to see was playing on my birthday. Spent about 10 hours there and it worked out to about 8 bucks a band in the end. My wife was a trooper, she was having allergy issues and is not a crowd person, but she also had a good time when it was all said and done.

From Imgur

source: https://www.reddit.com/r...

from "Micromania: The Whole Truth about Home Computers"
Charles Platt with David Langford (1984, reissued 2026)
Illustration: Carl Lundgren

available for free (or donation to TAFF) here: https://taff.org.uk/ebooks...

source: https://bsky.app/profile...

Comic by Mattie Lubchansky.

But I'll save my tears for those I care for.

Did a 35 mile ride on the bike trail this morning. While I was tempted to stop an pet the couple of kitties I saw along the way, I thought it bet not to pet this guy.

source: https://bak3lite.tumblr.com/post...

more info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki...

Great blue heron, exactly the color of the shadowed water, Ogden Canyon, Weber County, Utah. Courtesy of an unknown friend of my sister.

Webcam video of a meteor streaking down behind an erupting volcano today in the Philippines.

My kid just graduated HS, and will be bussing tables and interning at a chemistry lab at NU this summer, before heading to University of Illinois in the fall (Chemical Engineering with a music minor). My wife starts a 6 month contract in a week from Monday that will involve a lot of travel. I’m slammed at work with 50-60 hour weeks likely through October.


But first, a week in Central Oregon!

Apologies for posting to an MSNOW clown doing whatever this performance is called...but the actual news part of this is interesting.

Butt.

More at source:

https://www.instagram.com/p...

source: https://bsky.app/profile...

i just fell down a massive hole on cyclekarting.

Here is an exhaustive but entertaining page about the roots and basics:
https://www.huntsvillegp.com/baseckgu...

and the link at the bottom of it leads (eventually) to this image, among others, of a proposed offshoot class of cyclekarting named aerokarting.

now all i gotta do is move to Utah.

More than two years ago, one of my neighbors suggested to me that I should paint a mural on an ugly wall at a square down my street.

It took me forever to scrape enough courage together to get funding from various kinds of places. But I managed. I got the money. I got the permits. I got the scissor lift. I got the wall renovated and plastered. I got the paint and a colleague that is going to help me. And it should be ready by June 13, because then it’s going to be officially opened.

I found the whole process rather nerve-racking because all in all it’s about €18,000. But my goodness, will I be happy and relieved once it’s done.

She did it! she made it! she beat high school! now on to the next level! bath bachelor's in illustration is next!

Melanie, my sister who has lived in Japan for 30+ years, received the "Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon" the other day. It's the highest honour that can be given to a civilian (non-politician). She received it for "Contributions to the Australia Japan relationship and economic development". As part of the ceremony she had an audience with the Emperor, who she said "was very short".

Melanie is the little urban overachiever of our family. She's on the boards of Asahi, Mitsubishi Estate and Kawasaki Heavy Manufacturing, in addition to knowing just about everyone in the world. She regularly sends photos when she's out with various Heads of State.

I just happened to have a trip to Japan planned when the award was announced, so I got to represent the family. Unfortunately not allowed to be part of the official events, but we had plenty of drinks with friends afterwards.

This was one of the bands that made me think I couldn't miss this festival this year. First time seeing them and they burned up the stage.