Dislodging the fluff...

Jun 03, 2026

“If the person you are talking to doesn’t appear to be listening, be patient. It may simply be that he has a small piece of fluff in his ear.” — A.A.Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

French language has a particular word for “knowing”. Not being familiar or imitating, but deep-seated vested knowledge. It is savoir. Intrinsic knowledge followed by a verb. The action is not trivial. It is the difference between knowing how to write python code vs connaître, also knowing but this time, it is followed by a noun. Are you familiar with…« ».

Those of us in tech tend to get these two ideas conflated. I don’t care which tech hill you are willing to die on. You can be an AI bro or an avid environmentalist or a realist — someone willing to see benefits but loses their mind over the noticeable absence of what investments in advancing technology mean for the finite environment resources bazillionares are stripping from the planet.

I am the keynote speaker for a python conference. I think it matters to clarify the lens from which you are speaking. In Korea, where the US might say “Once upon a time”, they often will say, “Back when tigers used to smoke”. We can’t march forward like business as usual. The toothpaste is out of the tube — we have thrown the pigeons in with the cats.

My goal is to demarcate the difference between learning to code line by line (Python for Geospatial Data Analysis: Theory, Tools, and Practice for Location Intelligence) and the new modern way with Claude or your AI of choice.

To be clear, I first learned to code (R and Python and early college days COBOL). Those of us with a computer language in our toolbox are unanimous in the belief that caution should be applied when relying on no-code vibe based iterations. If you don’t know what path your are on, you might get where you are headed…

Audiences and learners writ large will need guidance in how to operate reliably, efficiently and accurately in this new space. I am here for it. The conference is free to attend live or online — Black Python Devs: Leadership Summit.