Burns After Reading: 15

Welcome to the 15th installment of this thing called Burns After Reading.

It would seem like the biggest news is that I was temporarily and voluntarily unemployed for a few days as I moved between jobs. In the old role I was marketing software that runs data centers to enterprise customers. In this new role I'll be marketing software that runs data centers to service provider and enterprise customers. There are obviously more differences, but I've realized this newsletter is not a "What I Do At Work" sort of publication. Sometimes I write about geeky tech for my home automation, or web server deployments, but not usually about what someone PAYS ME to do. That should be cordoned off behind a tight set of firewall rules on LinkedIn.

The more interesting big news is that my sister Jen came to visit for a few days and we explored downtown Durham. It was great to have family in town and show off the places I like.

Now, on to the features. I'm excited to include a guest column from my friend Laura Lee, this month. I need a section or a zone to hold these columns from friends. Maybe I'll call this feature "Friend Zone." No problems there, right?

As always, you can listen to me read you the newsletter here.

Burns Behaving Badly

Another, also bald, version of me is a singer tackling the national anthem as part of the Singing Men of Arkansas. The possibilities of Jason Burns antics are both endless and endlessly entertaining, making this one of my favorite features to research each month.

Hobbies Started

Despite disagreeing with DHH, I like his approach to Linux desktops and have started using Omarchy on my ThinkPad. This is part of what I did with my transition time in between jobs, installed and got used to another distro as a daily driver.

I like the consistency of the themes, the efficiency of keyboard shortcuts, and the ease of setup. It's definitely confusing at first to remember when to use SHIFT or ALT with SUPER, but that's part of why I wanted to try it out in this lower-stress period.

I'll keep Debian on the server, but Omarchy has a place on my laptops for now.

Bird of the Month

We have a repeat this month, the Chimney Swift.

While I was between jobs for two glorious weekdays, Jen and I trekked up the hill to The Velvet Hippo to watch the migration of swifts. We encountered a rapidly building and shifting Swiftnado. The birds would swoop toward the chimney at M&F Bank, just a few tens of feet from the roof top bar, then fly away as if inspecting the roost for fitness, or making sure their friends were following.

As the minutes passed, the birds collected in small groups, flew toward the chimney, then dispersed again. They would all disappear like fog dissipating, maybe inspecting a chimney a few blocks over, maybe gathering friends, then swoop back in as a group. You heard them before you saw them. Groups would converge above the chimney, one group circling left and another right, seamlessly merging through each other. This mass of intersecting feathers and chirps would then fly off in the same direction. Sometimes coming back in small groups, sometimes coming back all together, until at some point around twilight (after sunset for sure), they came back all at once.

They coalesced into a massive, writhing donut of flight and sound. All circling the same direction, with members splitting off in small handfuls and diving in to the chimney for the night. Perhaps 1,000 birds total. Difficult to count.

Finally, a group of about only 100 birds remained circling above as the darkness became nearly complete. They decided this was not the chimney for them and vanished into the night. Off to some other chimney or tree hollow.

Of the perhaps 40 people standing on the roof top bar this hot and muggy Thursday evening, only two others looked up to notice the birds. I was astonished. Couldn't they see the wonder of nature directly above them? Couldn't they hear the unusual chitters of thousands of birds? Weren't they at least a little worried about getting pooped on? Side note: the bar did have umbrellas up during this and took them down shortly after the birds turned in.

I told the woman at the table next to me that these were migrating swifts. Thousands of them. Journeying from as far north as Canada to as far south as South America, stopping at chimneys in Durham along the way.

She responded: "I thought they were bats. Can you imagine if those got into your chimney?" Then she asked, "Are they useful?"

Evaluating a living thing based on its usefulness to you seems like a very human thing to do. I thought of what the Pope would have to say about that.

Read

Walking into a book store when you have free time on your hands is a joy I had unfortunately forgotten. Jen and I explored Letter's Bookshop. I found out the upstairs has more sci-fi. I'll have to go back.

Them - W.H. Chizmar

As a surprise, Jen dropped off her author-signed copy of Them by W.H. Chizmar. Inscribed "Stay human," this book was a gripping alien invasion story from a fresh angle. It was clear that the author was a Stephen King fan, and that we've read a lot of the same books.

Paper Towns - John Green

I didn't know what this novel was about beforehand. Only that in a Podcast (Dear Hank & John: 464, Timestamp 8:00 - 9:00), John Green joked about going to the publisher warehouse to see where they pulp and recycle books. He was assured that his books never got pulped, then immediately spotted a copy of Paper Towns being shunted into the pulp line.

On the power of this anecdote alone, I picked up a used copy for six dollars when I spotted it in the upstairs of the book shop. Carefully curated, laid out flat on a small table of books for my perusal of titles and covers. This experience beat scrolling through a mega corp algorithm feed.

I proceeded to rip through it in two days. Young Adult + Road Trip + Mystery. Would recommend.

At first I was upset that he invented a Manic Pixie Dream Girl. The sort of dream girl I'm ashamed to admit was all my limited imagination could conjure as a youth. Then I realized he was lashing out at the very concept of this limitation and I came around.

I still feel bad for being in love with Ramona Flowers, though.

NVIDIA DGX SuperPOD - Reference Architecture

Yes, it's capitalized that way. No, it's not an acronym. I love spotting things other giant tech companies do that would cause my dearest editor friends to roll their eyes.

One of the first tasks I've had in my new job is to understand what the hell an AI datacenter is and how they are laid out. The DSX Infrastructure Overview and this DGX SuperPOD document make for great reading if you're interested.

Oh no, someone check the firewall for back doors. A bit of work content got through!

Watched

9 to 5 (1980)

With Dolly Parton's passing, we were in the mood for nostalgia. 9 to 5 (1980) was fun and ridiculous. They really leaned into the car montage. Apparently the 80s were all about tying up your boss to demand labor reform. When you think about it, "9 to 5" and "Christmas Vacation" are just pro-union propaganda.

Dolly is a legend and this was clear in 1980, before I was born. What struck me here is that I had literally no knowledge of Jane Fonda, other than the lack of motor in the back of her Honda. I knew she did workout videos and popularized the leotard outfits I saw when we watched The Substance. I had no idea she was an acclaimed actor before the VHS workouts tapes. Nor that she was married to Ted Turner.

To Die For (1995)

Kat and I loved To Die For (1995). Nicole Kidman's character is a monster. Joaquin Phoenix is as disturbing as ever at only 16 years old. Illeana Douglas was amazing and her facial expressions in the close up shots stole the show. She brought the character and story to life. The closing credits scene got a big dark-comedy laugh out of me.

People wanting to be famous is not an Internet Age phenomenon.

Friend Zone

Welcome to the feature where I let friends and family take over the newsletter. Laura is someone who gets paid to write and is part of our Friday wind-down with drinks crew and trivia captain. After a beer (or maybe several) I offered Laura a guest spot in the newsletter with a completely blank check on topic with a 500 word limit. She took me up on it with this just-before-deadline submission and ignored the word count, like any good journalist does.

If you want me to read something you write, now is your chance.

Love or hate Taylor Swift, you need to embrace fandom.

In case you’ve been living under a rock lately, musical goddess, philanthropist and songwriter extraordinaire Taylor Swift released four new songs last week. The compilation of bonus songs, aptly titled “Encore” is presumably the final chapter in Taylor’s 2025 release, Life of a Showgirl.

And as often happens when TS gives us brilliance, the internet got mad. Big mad. The critiques ranged from “superfluous” and “underwhelming” to “dog’s breakfast of a song” and “some of her worst writing.”

A critic at The Atlantic summarized the poor reception: “the reaction this time has drawn so much disgust that it’s like Swift mailed a horse’s head to each of her listeners.”  Ouch. 

Hate isn’t new for the musical queen. The release of Life of a Showgirl prompted a coordinated online attack labeling her a white supremacist (more on how the bots drove the lies here). 

And hate isn’t new territory for the Swifties, many of whom will fiercely defend Taylor against any and all criticism. 

I’m not going to defend the songwriting on Encore by my close personal friend Taylor Alison Swift, though I rather enjoyed these four bonus hits¹. But I am going to defend the fandom. Because becoming a TS fan is one of the best decisions I ever made. 

The joy of fandom is unmatched. Devoting oneself with reckless abandon to the admiration of something or someone else is divine. It is as wonderful as it is illogical. I finally understand why grown men scream at televisions on Sunday as though they are coaching from the sidelines of their beloved team. 

People say Disney is the happiest place on earth. I’d argue a Taylor Swift concert gives the Mouse a run for his money. And it’s not because her theatrics are amazing (though they are), her productions are unparalleled (though they are) or her dancers are fire (though they are). It’s because it is a collection of the most exuberant fans you can find, living out the absolutely sublime joy of fellowship with other Swifties. 

There is uncomplicated bliss in embracing your love of something — a sports team, an actor, a singer. Let me be clear: fandom isn’t an endorsement of everything the object of your adoration is, does or stands for. (We’ll save the debates on her politics, her romances and her wealth for another day). 

It isn’t blind acceptance; it is nuanced understanding that some things can just make us happy, bring us together, remind us that joy is felt in the heart, not experienced in the mind. 

In a culture where manufactured perfection permeates all facets of our lives — where any image can be improved by a click of the AI button, where any perceived flaw in the body can be nipped and tucked to ideal form, where any imperfections can be quickly processed into the perfect — I relish the idea that even my most perfect of musical idols, the highest-grossing live-music artist ever to walk the planet, can create something we don’t all believe is perfect — and we can love it anyway. 

The lyrics don’t have to be noteworthy, the music can be light and “sparkly,” the singing can be just fine…and the experience can still be transcendent. 

Taylor knows this. On one of the Encore tracks, she gives this advice: “You only need to find one person in this entire world who doesn't find you completely insufferable.” In her sarcasm, she’s reminding us that perhaps part of life isn’t about only loving the perfect. 

I’m not a Swifite because I believe everything Taylor says or does…or writes or sings…is THE. BEST. But I do believe that being a fan of Taylor, or a fan of any sort, is one of the brightest spots in our human experience. So even if you’re a Taylor-hater, I hope you find the fandom that brings you the same euphoria.

Being a fan is a gentle reminder that not everything has to be perfect.

1. I especially enjoy “Patient Zero.” It is the third track in what I believe to be a series of ballads comparing her last relationship to a terminal illness. See also: “So Long, London” and “You’re Losing Me.” If you have a few hours to spare, I’d be happy to dissect this for you.

Thank you Laura! I had so much fun reading that. I'm glad we're both Swifties in our own way.

Zero Context

• That bat was fatter than I expected.
• Made a list of people who are bad at silent book club. You know who you are.
• Kat has a "Tomato Guy" at the Farmer's Market. We swear we could pick out his produce in a blind taste test.
• Ordered the Drum Roll from Salt Box. Made dad jokes about it with the cashier. Officially an old man.

Contact

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