2026-01-27 What Is Lars Thinking ("WILT")

Submitted by Lars.Toomre on Tue, 01/27/2026 - 06:30
Cartoon about Approaching Magnificience
The Train Is Leaving the Rails: A Warning from the Road 2026-01-27 What Is Lars Thinking ("WILT") Lars Toomre starts this day in Reston, Virginia, in the extreme cold, with near-zero temperatures and a stiff wind that seems to cut through all the layers despite the many layers advised by hearty New Englanders. The car, fortunately, has spent the last sixty hours sheltered in a hotel parking garage, so there is no snow and ice to clear. The snow started here around 11:30 PM Saturday night — just hours after Lars arrived from Boston. Shortly, he will load up and continue his drive to Palm Beach County in Southeast Florida. Lars's concussion, suffered a week ago in Salt Lake City, is now clearing, and he can see with great clarity. It is time to move — both physically and figuratively. There are about 1,000 miles of black ice, downed power lines, snow, and frigid air before Lars arrives home. On the work front, a whole bunch of new entities seemingly are springing to life, and a team of Brass Rats (the MIT school ring, for those questioning the odd name) is emerging to help ensure that our financial system continues to run — or, more precisely, to help clients survive what happens when it does not.

Daily Coffee — January 14, 2026

Submitted by Lars.Toomre on Wed, 01/14/2026 - 07:00
Meme with phrase "If you drink your coffee naked"

Midweek. The coffee is hot, the markets are restless, and today’s observances invite a moment of reflection before the velocity resumes. This is not a post about urgency. It is about noticing — the sort of quiet observation that belongs with a second cup of coffee (some might say, "WISDOM").

🗂️ National Organize Your Home Day

Mechanical Source of Social Media Contempt: The "Sword" and "Shield"

Submitted by Lars.Toomre on Mon, 01/12/2026 - 10:00
Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 provides a dual-layer of protection that critics find increasingly contradictory in the era of Agentic AI and algorithmic sorting. 1. The Shield (Section 230(c)(1)) This provision states that "No provider... shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another." The Contempt: This "shield" prevents users from suing Facebook for defamation, fraud, or negligence resulting from third-party posts. Critics argue that when Facebook uses Recommendation Algorithms to amplify inflammatory content for profit, it has ceased being a passive host and has become a "co-developer" of that information.

Daily Coffee — January 5, 2026

Submitted by Lars.Toomre on Mon, 01/05/2026 - 05:00
"I can do this" quote near a coffee cup

The calendar lists observances that capture the essence of the first Monday of 2026. After two weeks of extended holidays for many, we finally return to the discipline of the desk. The rhythm of routine brings focus, structure, and the quiet satisfaction of progress. In fintech, as in life, momentum builds from consistent, documented effort — much like birds returning to their migration flight after a necessary rest.

2026-01-01 What Is Lars Thinking ("WILT")

Submitted by Lars.Toomre on Thu, 01/01/2026 - 06:00

The Dawn of the Digital Locomotive: Alle Reden vom Wetter. Wir Nicht.

As the first light of 2026 touches the Silicon Valley haze — and the more refined shores of Palm Beach County — the Brass Rat Capital ("BRC") "Big Boy" has officially cleared the station. While some in the industry are still suffering from Chronological Indigestion, attempting to interpret the world through the rearview mirror of 2010 mandates, the "All—Weather" reality of Section 5821 is now the law of the land.

Daily Coffee — December 30, 2025

Submitted by Lars.Toomre on Tue, 12/30/2025 - 02:00
The construction of the Fifth of Forth bridge north of Edinburgh
As 2025 draws to a close, the calendar delivers a fitting quartet: National Bacon Day (offering crispy, unadorned truths), the Festival of Enormous Changes at the Last Minute, National Resolution Planning Day, and National Bicarbonate of Soda Day (essential for neutralizing the seasonal excesses). It is a quirky assembly, yet it resonates with year-end reflection, savoring the substantive, effervescing the indigestion, and plotting significant shifts before the chronological toll of midnight.
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