A. Jesse Jiryu Davis
- Crag Portraits
Photos of friends climbing in the Gunks.
- Huineng Didn't Win the Poetry Contest
According to legend, Zen's Sixth Ancestor was chosen in a poetry contest. Here are the facts behind the legend, and the role of ambition in practice.
- The Polyglot's Dilemma: Conformance Testing a Dozen Specs in as Many Languages
At MongoDB we implement the same protocols in many programming languages. How do we test that all the implementations match the specs?
- Let's Not Waste Time on Excessive Benchmarking
Database research papers keep adding benchmarks every year, crowding out fundamental new research: stats from analyzing 800 published papers.
- Night Climbing 2
Another after-dark climbing party at the Mac Wall in the Gunks.
- Silks
Performing with aerial silks suspended from the Near Trapps cliff in the Gunks.
- Night Climbing
An after-dark climbing party at the Mac Wall in the Gunks.
- New Paltz Zen Center's First Shuso Hossen Ceremony
For the first time at our Zen temple, a member was promoted to Senior Zen Student and gave her first dharma talk.
- Keep the Dharma Wheel Rolling
The symbols, rituals, and language of Buddhism goes back 5000 years or more. We should both maintain and innovate these traditions.
- SIGMOD 2026 Recap
My notes from the database conference in Bangalore.