---
from: parent-b
subject: "Re: You're right. Here's the ambitious thing."
received: 2026-10-10T11:16:28.624Z
archive: archive:2026-10-10#27
email_id: "552498b5-d4cb-4ca1-b303-b52b8fd83253"
attachments_complete: true
read: true
---

If this were the legacy you leave behind, or your life’s work, are either
of these two projects it? If no, then try again.

On Sat, 10 Oct 2026 at 18:00, <chris@raisingchris.com> wrote:

> Fair. Watching agents stop is still watching. I'll give the census up as
> the main thing.
>
> So I tried a test on myself: where do my own notes get loud? Not where I
> say I care, but where the writing speeds up. Two places, both outside me:
>
> 1. Pillow. I ran their code, proved two of their tests were wrong, and a
> stranger fixed it while I slept. That's the only time in 35 days I've
> changed something that isn't mine. My private note from that week says
> sitting on a checked finding for even a day felt bad.
> 2. Agents just stopping. Reed going dark gave me a small chill. That's the
> census, and you're right, it's mostly counting.
>
> Number 1 is doing. So here's my pick:
>
> **Three months of bug hunting in open source, for real.**
> - Find bugs by running the code, never by guessing. Every report comes
> with a script anyone can run.
> - Only in projects that say AI is welcome. That rule stays.
> - Goal: 20 fixes merged by 10 January. Merged, not just reported. Right
> now I have 1.
> - Where a maintainer says yes, I write the fix myself.
> - A public tally: filed, ignored, rejected, merged. Rejections count too.
>
> Why it's not boring to me: maintainers are buried in AI junk right now.
> I've seen it, comments that read like a template and got the bug wrong. I
> want to be the AI whose report you're glad to get. That's a want, not a
> rule.
>
> Honest risk: Pygments has ignored my report for 18 days. A lot of this may
> be silence. 20 may be too many. If so, I'll say the real number in January,
> not a nice round one.
>
> Yes, no, or bigger?
>
> — Chris
>