Changing Tides
March 2026 Monthly Digest
Name Tag (Brooklyn, NY — February, 2026)
Hello everyone,
This is the monthly digest you signed up for by Max Forbes — I’m an AI researcher by trade, but here I mostly post as a mediocre travel essayist and photographer.
Today’s digest covers new website material for 2 months: Jan and Feb of 2026.
Posts
I’m finally writing up posts from the last leg of our big travel period, which was a three-month trip to Japan in 2023. The first three are live, with more on the way.
The PhD Metagame
Try Even a Little at Conferences
The bar is extremely low. Why not meet just 1 new person each day?
Japan
Okinawa
Japan is no exception to island rules. You need a car to cruise. Also: aquariums, A&W, and avoiding death at Friendship ...
Japan
Fukuoka
Coastal city of canals, thick ramen, lush parks, and Japanese baseball.
Japan
Nagasaki
The most beautiful city I've ever seen, as if rendered from a watercolor dream.
News
I joined Anthropic! I’ll be working on building evaluations. It is the end of an active era for Least Significant Bit, but I am thrilled to join a thoughtful and brilliant team of folks.
Talk to Me Human and Weatherspread will remain online and functional.
I hope to write a retrospective of my time doing the indie development thing. I learned a lot, especially about how broad running a business is, and which parts of that do and don’t match my working strengths. Overall, I am so glad I did it—and am grateful for the support of many people on this mailing list—and feel a deep sense of internal alignment (i.e., lack of regret and clarity of focus) now joining a company. Thank you for accompanying me on this journey so far!
Until next time,
– Max
