The LLM Way of Life; Boss Gives $240 Million to Workers; Connecting Ice Cream Trucks to Ukraine’s War; and +++ [link blog]

I like words. Here are thousands of them.

The Boss Who Gave His Employees a $240 Million Gift [Gregory Zuckerman/Wall Street Journal] – Family owned business in Louisiana sells for $1.7 billion and the owners negotiated that 15% would go to 540 full time employees. Employee ownership is such a given in our industry but doesn’t extend to most jobs. Tech comps also tend to distort our perspective of outcomes since power laws can result in millions and millions, but for most people a six digit bonus is meaningful and life changing.

Sequencing vs. Equal Odds [Michael Dempsey/Compound] – I usually only understand 75% of what Michael writes, but this one resonated soundly enough to share! He outlines a theory around two types of companies/R&D: those which require sequencing through the idea maze and those which are better suited towards parallel experiments because you don’t know which is going to work best. There are successful outcomes available to either, but require very different skillsets and strategies. To be between the two is death.

Pre, Mid, Post-Training Way of Life [Tina He/Fakepixels] – Another banger from one of my favorite writers/chroniclers of the community right now. Here she applies (extends?) LLM metaphors into life and everyday language. Three different mindsets out and about in the world; the trio in the title. “Token by token, brick by brick, we train ourselves either toward a larger freedom or toward a more elegant cage. And the difference is rarely intellect. It is what we are willing to protect as sacred.”

Soft Serve Superpower [Dave Margulius/Electrified] – Dave’s an ex-operator (cofounder of Quizlet), who now works on climate issues. Soft Serve Superpower reminds me of Noah Smith’s Electric Tech Stack thesis, but tells the story via a surprising vessel: the American ice cream truck. And connects it to the front lines of Ukraine’s war with Russia.

What We’ve Learned About AI Readiness in Real Estate Today [Brad Hargreaves, Jonathan Gheller/Thesis Driven] – Sorry it’s behind a paywall but I wanted to at least put it down here because its main point is something I agree with pretty strongly for almost every business vertical today: namely that AI rollouts in industry are increasingly gated by security, governance and observability/reliability, not skepticism of the technology’s ability to create value. It’s why I’m bullish on AI but believe we’re going to be looking at 3-5 years of ‘rollout’ in many industries, with early adopters or AI-native players getting a headstart.

Enjoy!

Junova tracks your flights and requests credit for you when prices decrease. Friend started this as a ‘lifestyle business’ – i’m giving it a whirl. It’s free – just take a percentage of the refund. Sign up and get $25 credit to start.

source https://hunterwalk.com/2026/01/17/the-llm-way-of-life-boss-gives-240-million-to-workers-connecting-ice-cream-trucks-to-ukraines-war-and-link-blog/