the late review
this is the late review
a casual blog of late reviews
21st Jul 2024
a casual blog of late reviews
Josh Thompson
Growing in your first software development job
I started my first software developer role a year ago. (November 2017)
This is tremendously...
28th Nov 2018
I started my first software developer role a year ago. (November 2017)
This is tremendously exciting, of course, but introduces its own set of challenges, like:
I finished Turing and I’ve got a job! Oh snap. I just finished a grueling program, and my reward is I’m fit to sit at...
Josh Thompson
How to complete a project
Most of us have goals. And we usually don’t reach any of them.
The
Minimum Viable Product “concept”...
1st Jan 2014
Most of us have goals. And we usually don’t reach any of them.
The
Minimum Viable Product “concept” has helped me with some goals, and it could be helpful to you.
It’s a simple concept: When starting something new, figure out what the minimum investment would get you the...
Naz Hamid — Journal...
✏️ Road to Mesa
Good morning, light.
I awoke early this morning, perched on a mesa cliff-side, surrounded by low...
18th Jul 2022
Good morning, light.
I awoke early this morning, perched on a mesa cliff-side, surrounded by low foliage, cow patties galore, and a few skeletons and carcasses of younger cattle that couldn’t survive the path of migration that was next to our camp.
Everyone else was still mildly...
Ben Borgers
Winter break project list
19th Dec 2023
Escaping Flatland
Some relationships deepen when you tell the truth and some end
I asked people to send me stories about situations where they had done what felt right to them, even...
11th Mar 2026
I asked people to send me stories about situations where they had done what felt right to them, even though they feared social pushback.
This Space
The end of literature, part five
"Stupid" and "a marketing exercise" were the first two descriptions I saw of the New York Times' 100...
25th Jul 2024
"Stupid" and "a marketing exercise" were the first two descriptions I saw of the New York Times' 100 Best Books of the 21st Century polled from hundreds of "literary luminaries" offering ten choices each, and while it is both of those things, "parochial" is the first word that...
sbensu
Hiring from Big Tech
Some brief notes about the subject
30th Mar 2024
Some brief notes about the subject
Escaping Flatland
Relationships are coevolutionary loops
Looking for Alice, part 3
31st Oct 2023
Looking for Alice, part 3
Josh Thompson
Taiwanese & Balinese Scooter Norms
Sometimes I’ve told people “I ride with Asian scooter norms.” or “I ride with Taiwanese and Balinese...
14th Aug 2025
Sometimes I’ve told people “I ride with Asian scooter norms.” or “I ride with Taiwanese and Balinese scooter norms”. Here’s what I mean by this statement.
a ‘norm’ is ‘something common, accepted, sometimes codified in law, but certainly accepted as ‘right’ or ‘acceptable’ or...
Anecdotal Evidence
'Silence Where Hope Was'
I’m coming to suspect that
nothing is ever irretrievably lost to memory. The other night I dreamed...
1st Oct 2025
I’m coming to suspect that
nothing is ever irretrievably lost to memory. The other night I dreamed of a
schoolmate I hardly knew who died sixty years ago. His name was Randy Peck. He
had a twin sister named Mandy. Their names invited jokes, of course, as did
their Georgia accents...
The Elysian
Let Cities Build Utopia—new drop!
My deep dive on the future of cities is now available as a print pamphlet, digital pamphlet, and...
10th Feb 2026
My deep dive on the future of cities is now available as a print pamphlet, digital pamphlet, and audio essay.
This Space
A measure of forever
For me, fiction is a space of plainness and excess.
Amina Cain
When TS Eliot read...
3rd Mar 2025
For me, fiction is a space of plainness and excess.
Amina Cain
When TS Eliot read Dante for the first time, he noted a discrepancy between his enjoyment and his understanding, leading to the famous claim that "genuine poetry can communicate before it is understood"....
Craig Mod — Writer +...
[RODEN] New Japan, NYC, Soderbergh Bonanza, Too Much Movement
Roden Readers —
Hello from Crazy Weather Town. Is it spring? Some days it feels like it might be,...
2nd May 2026
Roden Readers —
Hello from Crazy Weather Town. Is it spring? Some days it feels like it might be, for a few milliseconds. And then other days, no. No spring for you. The floor heating was on this morning and that felt good. Soon enough the sauna will be on over the entirety of...
Blog -...
Book Review - Owning Your Own Shadow
The shadow of the human psyche cannot be overlooked in a thorough
exploration of personal...
16th Jan 2020
The shadow of the human psyche cannot be overlooked in a thorough
exploration of personal development. According to the classic resource
Owning Your Own Shadow: Understanding the Dark Side of the Psyche, “The
shadow is that which has not entered adequately into...
Salish Wolf
#94 Jay St. Charles on Project Quiver
Jay St. Charles is a legendary bowyer based in Fall City, Washington. While
he was born into the...
a week ago
Jay St. Charles is a legendary bowyer based in Fall City, Washington. While
he was born into the world of archery and grew up in his father’s archery
shop, Jay eventually became a master bowyer, carving bows under the brand
of Pacific Yew Longbows. He lives on a small...
This Space
Blood Knowledge by Kirsty Gunn
"A novel is a kind of lazy way of writing a short story, a short story a lazy way of writing a poem"...
29th Nov 2024
"A novel is a kind of lazy way of writing a short story, a short story a lazy way of writing a poem" said Muriel Spark, adding by explanation: "The longer they become, the more they seem to lose value". We might wonder then if the most value is to be found in the shortest novels,...
Josh Thompson
Streets in Asheville
Quick-and-dirty street analysis in Asheville, NC
A few months ago, I visited Asheville, NC. It’s a...
11th Feb 2017
Quick-and-dirty street analysis in Asheville, NC
A few months ago, I visited Asheville, NC. It’s a nice town, and has a great pedestrian life, as far as I can tell.
As a thought experiment, I decided to see how well I could make the case for reducing the road width of a few...
The American Scholar
The Stolen Lines
The post The Stolen Lines appeared first on The American Scholar.
1st Sep 2025
The post The Stolen Lines appeared first on The American Scholar.
The Elysian
Please come up with wildly speculative futures
Inside my writing philosophy.
1st Apr 2024
Inside my writing philosophy.
ben-mini
Nucleus Nouns
Consider the “nouns” the live inside an app of your choice:
You can spend hours building a list for...
10th Apr 2026
Consider the “nouns” the live inside an app of your choice:
You can spend hours building a list for just one app. But the more interesting exercise is weighting the nouns by impact in the app- considering which ones have the most “gravity” from the eyes of the user:
You quickly...
The American Scholar
Mario Ayala
Research while driving
The post Mario Ayala appeared first on The American Scholar.
2nd Feb 2026
Research while driving
The post Mario Ayala appeared first on The American Scholar.
the late review
AI and Internet Hygiene
we are going to have to re-learn how to use the computer
1st Oct 2024
we are going to have to re-learn how to use the computer
The Perry Bible...
Please
The post Please appeared first on The Perry Bible Fellowship.
26th Jul 2024
The post Please appeared first on The Perry Bible Fellowship.
Wuthering...
What I Read in December 2025 – We ain’t gonna eat that.
I am not so interested in writing a longer summary of my
year in reading, so I will put that...
12th Jan 2026
I am not so interested in writing a longer summary of my
year in reading, so I will put that here.
Finishing the massive The Story of the Stone and reading the
monstrous Finnegans Wake (here, continuing, ending) were solid
accomplishments in reading, if there are such things. ...
Escaping Flatland
Self-help for cocoons
and what's on my mind
7th Mar 2024
Naz Hamid — Journal...
✏️ On a Low and a High
A few days separate us from our time at Canyon of the Ancients and our last camp from this fall...
14th Apr 2022
A few days separate us from our time at Canyon of the Ancients and our last camp from this fall trip. After a mangled tale of an ER (mis)visit and a return for refuge at Sage Canyon (this time camping just outside the Workshop Loft — thank you, Grant, for the use of your bathroom...
Josh Thompson
Quotes from 'Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving', by Pete Walker
I’ve found Pete Walker’s Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving to be deeply helpful.
Some of you,...
11th Aug 2022
I’ve found Pete Walker’s Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving to be deeply helpful.
Some of you, many of you, have blessed me and cared for me in kind ways, sometimes with very little knowledge of what was going on, or why I was the way that I was. Thank you. I’ve been...
ben-mini
Stealing is a Skill
I’m slowly developing my own list of advice: have a creative mindset, embrace radical transparency,...
24th Jun 2026
I’m slowly developing my own list of advice: have a creative mindset, embrace radical transparency, and write down what makes you happy. I’d like to add one more to the list: stealing is a skill!
Stealing is good for the soul. If done well, you will be able to build value at...
Ploum.net
Un manifeste Offpunk
Un manifeste Offpunk
Ce texte est une traduction en français du Offpunk Manifesto rédigé par Arlon...
3rd Aug 2026
Un manifeste Offpunk
Ce texte est une traduction en français du Offpunk Manifesto rédigé par Arlon de Serra Grande et que j’ai co-signé
An Offpunk Manifesto (English version)
Versão em português
La révolution ne sera pas numérique
Alors que l’hyperconnexion apparait comme le...
Josh Thompson
Blood Flow Restriction with Tyler
old draft, publishing, needs polish.
Me: Sport climber, decade+, of and on a few different times...
16th Feb 2019
old draft, publishing, needs polish.
Me: Sport climber, decade+, of and on a few different times over the years.
Educate myself, train as effectively and safely as I can. I’m 30, and wanna hit some significant climbing goals by 40, and a big part of that is getting stronger,...
Craig Mod — Writer +...
[RIDGELINE] The Walk and Talk, Nagano Kiso-ji
Ridgeline subscribers —
I’ll die on my dumb hill, the one where I say: the best time to visit and...
17th Dec 2025
Ridgeline subscribers —
I’ll die on my dumb hill, the one where I say: the best time to visit and walk (most) of Japan is the end of November and the start of December. I think a lot of folks have a kind of North Eastern American mentality, where by the time December hits New...
Ploum.net
Qucocoma Philippe Samyn ?
Qucocoma Philippe Samyn ?
J’apprends avec tristesse le décès de l’architecte Philippe Samyn, un...
1st Jun 2026
Qucocoma Philippe Samyn ?
J’apprends avec tristesse le décès de l’architecte Philippe Samyn, un esprit incroyable aux idées fulgurantes avec qui j’ai eu de longues et passionnantes discussions.
Philippe Samyn - Wikipédia (fr.wikipedia.org)
Car l’architecture était pour lui une...
Josh Thompson
Five Days to Inbox Zero: How to Get Control of your Email
Email is a constant in our lives, yet it can be so overwhelming that it becomes almost 100%...
7th Feb 2014
Email is a constant in our lives, yet it can be so overwhelming that it becomes almost 100% ineffective.
I discussed with a friend the other day why they should switch from Yahoo to Gmail, and how to reduce the useless emails they receive. Below is how I suggested they move from...
Anecdotal Evidence
'I Can't Quite Recall Your Name'
My first high-school
reunion was postponed for a year by the COVID-19 lockdown. We met in 2021 for...
1st Feb 2025
My first high-school
reunion was postponed for a year by the COVID-19 lockdown. We met in 2021 for the
fifty-first at a supper club on the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland. Lake Erie was
a hundred yards to the north and when conversation lagged, I could watch the ore boats moving down...
Naz Hamid • Journal
Beyond Curiosity
I'm not sure he meant it that way.
We were walking together in the shopping center. The central...
15th Jul 2025
I'm not sure he meant it that way.
We were walking together in the shopping center. The central escalators made you loop around on the floor on the short side to proceed to the next set. As we neared the ground floor, headed to the food court sub-level, my father posited a...
Naz Hamid • Journal
Modus Operandi
My operating rules and way of living.
This is a m.o. (mo) page, or modus operandi page. It lists out...
14th Apr 2025
My operating rules and way of living.
This is a m.o. (mo) page, or modus operandi page. It lists out the way I approach my life and the rules I apply to it to thrive. This is a living document and will be added to as more comes to mind, or as I develop new ones.
It is mirrored at...
Anecdotal Evidence
'My Mind Was Not Free From Perturbation'
Dr. Johnson writes in his
diary on January 1, 1774: “This year has past with so little improvement,...
1st Jan 2026
Dr. Johnson writes in his
diary on January 1, 1774: “This year has past with so little improvement, that
I doubt whether I have not [rather] impaired than encreased my Learning.”
It’s customary, of course,
to make resolutions this time of year -- to lose weight or stop drinking...
Josh Thompson
Back in the saddle (of writing)
Background
It’s been a hell of a year. I’ve got about 10,000 things I’ve wanted to write about, and...
26th Apr 2022
Background
It’s been a hell of a year. I’ve got about 10,000 things I’ve wanted to write about, and have not gotten around to any of them. Here’s my various top-level reasons for not writing:
what I want to write about feels too complicated to express easily/coherently
I feel...
The Marginalian
How to Be a Lichen: Adaptive Strategies for the Vulnerabilities of Being Human from Nature’s Tiny...
The hero of the modern myth is the victim, the emblem of the modern self the pronoun. We seem to...
2nd Nov 2025
The hero of the modern myth is the victim, the emblem of the modern self the pronoun. We seem to have forgotten that we are survivors of innumerable spasms of space and time, creatures who never would have given up the gills for lungs if we attached identity to gillness. Not so...
Anecdotal Evidence
'Those Little Cracklings of Mirth and Folly'
Who is being described and
who is doing the describing:
“His prose is the model of
the middle style;...
1st May 2026
Who is being described and
who is doing the describing:
“His prose is the model of
the middle style; on grave subjects not formal, on light occasions not
grovelling; pure without scrupulosity, and exact without apparent elaboration;
always equable, and always easy, without...
Astral Codex Ten
"All Lawful Use": Much More Than You Wanted To Know
...
1st Mar 2026
sbensu
Notes on UX and LLM integrations
I analyze 8 apps (ChatGPT, Notion, Perplexity, etc.) that use or integrate LLM and try to break down...
1st Jan 2024
I analyze 8 apps (ChatGPT, Notion, Perplexity, etc.) that use or integrate LLM and try to break down when and why they work well, or poorly.
Ploum.net
Pas de médaille pour les résistants
Pas de médaille pour les résistants
Si vous voulez changer le monde, il faut entrer en résistance....
26th Aug 2025
Pas de médaille pour les résistants
Si vous voulez changer le monde, il faut entrer en résistance. Il faut accepter d’agir et de se taire. Il faut accepter de perdre du confort, des opportunités, des relations. Et il ne faut espérer aucune récompense, aucune reconnaissance.
Un...
Anecdotal Evidence
'In Those Old Marshes Yet the Rifles Lie'
“But before he could
install himself in his Oxford college, Britain declared war on the...
1st Nov 2025
“But before he could
install himself in his Oxford college, Britain declared war on the Central
Powers, and soon this quiet young poet and literary scholar found himself commissioned
in the Royal Sussex Regiment, where his shyness won him the nickname Bunny but
his bravery won...
Josh Thompson
Mythical Creatures: Refactoring wizard.rb
Preparing for Turing Series Index
What follows is an eight-part series that will help you pick up...
25th Jan 2020
Preparing for Turing Series Index
What follows is an eight-part series that will help you pick up useful information about a number of topics related to Ruby, specifically geared for students learning the Ruby programming language, as part of the Turing School’s Backend Software...
Naz Hamid — Journal...
🔗 Rick Rubin on Listening
If it’s music you’re listening to, consider closing your eyes. You may find yourself getting lost in...
15th Jul 2024
If it’s music you’re listening to, consider closing your eyes. You may find yourself getting lost in the experience. When the piece ends, you might be surprised by where you find yourself. You’ve been transported to another place. The place where the music lives.
— Rick...
Josh Thompson
Book Notes: 'The Case Against Sugar' by Gary Taube
In the last few weeks, I read The Case Against Sugar by Gary Taubes.
I found it to be compelling...
12th Aug 2019
In the last few weeks, I read The Case Against Sugar by Gary Taubes.
I found it to be compelling (more on that in a moment) and I want to be impacted by them. I want the daily decisions that I make to be subtly influenced by this author and these books.
Related but in a different...
ben-mini
The Inner Game of Tennis
I just finished reading The Inner Game of Tennis by Tim Gallwey. Originally published in 1974, the...
12th Oct 2024
I just finished reading The Inner Game of Tennis by Tim Gallwey. Originally published in 1974, the book explores how the thoughts of an athlete affect their game. It’s lauded as being at the forefront of what we now call “sports psychology”. Although my competitive sports days...
Anecdotal Evidence
'A Book That Everybody Can Understand'
A partner at the Houston
law firm where my youngest son is working as an intern this summer has...
1st Aug 2025
A partner at the Houston
law firm where my youngest son is working as an intern this summer has loaned
him two nineteenth-century law books. Both were compiled by John G. Wells
(1821-80) and were bestsellers in their day, long before the practice of law
was fully...
The American Scholar
Inside Man
A young reporter’s devastating exposé of the amoral elite
The post Inside Man appeared first on The...
1st Jun 2026
A young reporter’s devastating exposé of the amoral elite
The post Inside Man appeared first on The American Scholar.
The Perry Bible...
Bubbled
The post Bubbled appeared first on The Perry Bible Fellowship.
1st Mar 2025
The post Bubbled appeared first on The Perry Bible Fellowship.
Craig Mod — Writer +...
[RIDGELINE] Kazunori Hamana in Apartamento
Ridgeline subscribers —
Man, it was fun talking with Kazunori Hamana back in January. He’s lived a...
12th Jul 2026
Ridgeline subscribers —
Man, it was fun talking with Kazunori Hamana back in January. He’s lived a bizarre life, seemingly one without a roadmap, though I suspect his laid-back, subtly-goatee’d vibes belie a cunning streak. He was welcoming and rough-edged in a disarming way. He...
ben-mini
IMG_0416
Between 2009 and 2012, Apple iPhones and iPod Touches included a feature called “Send to YouTube”...
3rd Nov 2024
Between 2009 and 2012, Apple iPhones and iPod Touches included a feature called “Send to YouTube” that allowed users to upload videos directly to YouTube from the Photos app.
The feature worked… really well. In fact, YouTube reported a 1700% increase in total video uploads...
Anecdotal Evidence
'To Mold Clay, Fashion Men From It'
Certain writers lay claim
to a piece of geography. Think of Cavafy’s Alexandria and William...
1st Jun 2026
Certain writers lay claim
to a piece of geography. Think of Cavafy’s Alexandria and William Kennedy’s Albany. Outsiders may visit but the deed is ironclad. When I hear something in
the news about the Caucasus, that often-contested band of mountains between the
Black Sea and the...
Naz Hamid • Journal
Different Think
I don't write about Apple. I had to this time.
It started with a magazine ad. A musician I admired...
5th Aug 2025
I don't write about Apple. I had to this time.
It started with a magazine ad. A musician I admired was pictured: Henry Rollins, looking as he does, in black, shorts, tattoos visible and holding a computer. An Apple Powerbook.
He appears with Terry Ellis from Imago Records,...
Josh Thompson
Monthly Review: November
This is my second monthly review, and I’m hooked.
I’ve thought this coming review frequently, but I...
1st Dec 2013
This is my second monthly review, and I’m hooked.
I’ve thought this coming review frequently, but I thought about that as I was conducting my month. This proactive review is in line with
Viktor Frankl’s admonition to “live every day as if it were your second chance to live it.”...
The Elysian
The third annual Elysian print volume is here
One year of my work, printed for collectors.
9th Dec 2025
One year of my work, printed for collectors.
Josh Thompson
On Leaving Evangelicalism And Opposing It
Content warning & summary
This paper talks about ethics, ethical behavior, violence, abuse,...
18th May 2023
Content warning & summary
This paper talks about ethics, ethical behavior, violence, abuse, complicency, domination and oppression. It’s a condimnation of evangelicalism, but not, necessarily, any particular evangelical. There are those within evangelicalism who are ethical,...
The Marginalian
The Sunflower and the Soul: Wendell Berry on the Collaborative Nature of the Universe and the Cure...
"We are not the authors of ourselves. That we are not is a religious perception, but it is also a...
1st Jul 2024
"We are not the authors of ourselves. That we are not is a religious perception, but it is also a biological and a social one. Each of us has had many authors, and each of us is engaged, for better or worse, in that same authorship. We could say that the human race is a great...
The Marginalian
God, Human, Animal, Machine: Consciousness and Our Search for Meaning in the Age of Artificial...
An inquiry into the eternal enchantment of why the world exists.
2nd Mar 2023
An inquiry into the eternal enchantment of why the world exists.
Escaping Flatland
How I read
Reading well is an endurance sport. I sometimes talk to people who want to become serious readers...
1st Oct 2025
Reading well is an endurance sport. I sometimes talk to people who want to become serious readers and so pick up Kafka’s The Trial or something like that—it is about as pleasant as running a marathon untrained.
the late review
obligatory one month without social media on my phone substack essay (contrarian edition)
it didn't change my life
27th Jul 2026
ribbonfarm
Ribbonfarm is Retiring
After several years of keeping it going in semi-retired, keep-the-lights-on (KTLO) mode, I’ve...
11th Oct 2024
After several years of keeping it going in semi-retired, keep-the-lights-on (KTLO) mode, I’ve decided to officially fully retire this blog. The ribbonfarm.com domain and all links will remain active, but there will be no new content after November 13th, 2024, which happens to be...
The Marginalian
Love and the Sacred
"I did not know what love was until I encountered one that kept opening and opening and opening."
3rd Jan 2024
"I did not know what love was until I encountered one that kept opening and opening and opening."
Escaping Flatland
Drift
Right now it is April 18 and I am walking along the steep coast at the peninsula on the Northeastern...
1st May 2025
Right now it is April 18 and I am walking along the steep coast at the peninsula on the Northeastern corner of our island.
The Marginalian
Emerson on the Singular Enchantment of Indian Summer (and a Better Term for This Liminal Season...
"There are days... wherein the world reaches its perfection, when the air, the heavenly bodies, and...
1st Nov 2024
"There are days... wherein the world reaches its perfection, when the air, the heavenly bodies, and the earth, make a harmony."
Naz Hamid • Journal
Simpler Screens
Smartphones are a distraction. Numerous studies and research have proven out various scenarios: from...
5th Feb 2025
Smartphones are a distraction. Numerous studies and research have proven out various scenarios: from students unable to learn as well, to laws prohibiting hands-on device use while driving, and the various apps and platforms that buzz, ping, and are designed to distract.
People...
Escaping Flatland
Everything that turned out well in my life followed the same design process
The context is smarter than you.
5th Aug 2024
The context is smarter than you.
Josh Thompson
Change
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Or something like that. Sometimes change is for...
30th Jun 2014
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Or something like that. Sometimes change is for the better, and sometimes its for the worse. I don’t know if there’s always a difference.
Recently, Kristi and I have seen lots of change; I’d say its for the better, but it’s not...
Salish Wolf
#5 Fritzi Horstman on Healing Childhood Trauma, Activism Through Film, and Uplifting Humanity
Fritzi Horstman is a rare, beautiful individual with a selfless passion to
transform lives. As a...
9th May 2020
Fritzi Horstman is a rare, beautiful individual with a selfless passion to
transform lives. As a Grammy-award winning producer for her work on the
“The Defiant Ones”, Fritzi is not resting on her laurels. Nor is she
coasting through Hollywood, lapping up the limelight....
Josh Thompson
Limitations of My Own Thinking
I sometimes make recommendations, or at least recount a story that has “actionable insights”....
5th Nov 2015
I sometimes make recommendations, or at least recount a story that has “actionable insights”. Anytime this happens, I start tripping over myself with warnings and qualifying statements.
Here’s what would happen:
I would make a recommendation (“start a side project to help get a...
Wuthering...
What I Read in September 2025 – A hand that taught what might be said in rhyme
My writing on Christopher Marlowe’s Tamburlaine the Great
plays has been hampered by an apparent...
7th Oct 2025
My writing on Christopher Marlowe’s Tamburlaine the Great
plays has been hampered by an apparent post-France short circuit in my ability
to write. So I will put up some easier
posts to remind myself how to write.
I had two major projects this month, one ongoing, one returned
to...
The Perry Bible...
Hacked
The post Hacked appeared first on The Perry Bible Fellowship.
5th Apr 2024
The post Hacked appeared first on The Perry Bible Fellowship.
the late review
my enemy, the leitmotif
a missive
28th Jan 2026
the late review
the mirror-self
an obsession
12th Dec 2025
Craig Mod — Writer +...
[RIDGELINE] Talking While Walking the Camino Francés in Spain
Ridgeline subscribers —
Heeeeeeellllloooooooo to the many many many many new subscribers who came...
14th Apr 2025
Ridgeline subscribers —
Heeeeeeellllloooooooo to the many many many many new subscribers who came from the Tim Pod(s). Welcome.
I’m Craig, and this is Ridgeline (my newsletter focused on walking (Roden, the other newsletter is more general)), which is supposed to be a weekly...
The Marginalian
The Souls of Animals
“They do not sweat and whine about their condition,” Walt Whitman wrote of the other animals, “they...
1st Mar 2025
“They do not sweat and whine about their condition,” Walt Whitman wrote of the other animals, “they do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins, they do not make me sick discussing their duty to God, not one is dissatisfied, not one is demented with the mania of owning...
Anecdotal Evidence
At the Bookstore
I work hard to resist sentimental impulses and
indulgence in nostalgia. Ours is a sentimental age,...
1st Sep 2025
I work hard to resist sentimental impulses and
indulgence in nostalgia. Ours is a sentimental age, and at the same time an
angry, unforgiving age. One strain of sentimentality especially prevalent among
the aging is a rueful, self-pitying lament for what no longer exists....
Josh Thompson
June trip to the New River Gorge
The New River Gorge had beautiful weather this weekend. The forecast for the weekend was, until...
3rd Jul 2013
The New River Gorge had beautiful weather this weekend. The forecast for the weekend was, until Friday, near-certain thunderstorms.
Typical of the New, the weather proved unpredictable, and we had glorious sun the entire trip.
I was eager to get out to the New, since my last...
Josh Thompson
Playing Pranks
My wife played a brilliant prank on me today, as she does every year. Here’s a partial...
1st Apr 2014
My wife played a brilliant prank on me today, as she does every year. Here’s a partial list:
Convincing me that I was about to eat a slice of carrot cake; it was a sponge covered with toothpaste. I bit into it.
Convincing me that she had, in anger and frustration, cut off almost...
sbensu
Creative kernels
Artists can often trace entire pieces around one idea that drives everything else.
1st Jul 2024
Artists can often trace entire pieces around one idea that drives everything else.
Josh Thompson
Aggregate and deduplicate your deprecation warnings in Rails
We know we all stay on the cutting edge of Rails; no one, and I mean no one out there is making a...
3rd Oct 2019
We know we all stay on the cutting edge of Rails; no one, and I mean no one out there is making a 4.2 -> 5.2 upgrade because Rails 4.2 is no longer supported.
You, dear reader, have just suddenly found an interest in resolving deprecation warnings, and as one jumps a few Rails...
Craig Mod — Writer +...
[RIDGELINE] Walk and Talk — The Portuguese Costal Camino
Ridgeline subscribers —
We were lucky. Maybe the luckiest group walking the Portuguese costal...
14th Apr 2026
Ridgeline subscribers —
We were lucky. Maybe the luckiest group walking the Portuguese costal Camino. (Certainly the second luckiest.) All the things conspired in our favor: The weather, the food, the quality of the path (lots of great seaside boardwalk walking for miles and...
Ben Borgers
How I got scammed on Facebook Marketplace
10th Jul 2023
Craig Mod — Writer +...
[RODEN] A new Popup Walk, Lots of Books
Roden Readers —
Ahoy from Crisptown, population: Everyone in Japan. The summer is done. Thank...
2nd Sep 2025
Roden Readers —
Ahoy from Crisptown, population: Everyone in Japan. The summer is done. Thank glorious gods be, the summer is done. (Mostly.) I can feel my brain starting to solidify again, returning to its natural state after three months of relentless broiled liquefaction.
In...
Josh Thompson
Avoid a car accident with a $3 tool
TL;DR: Buy a
blind spot mirror for your car. They are $2, and can keep you from getting in an...
4th Jul 2016
TL;DR: Buy a
blind spot mirror for your car. They are $2, and can keep you from getting in an accident. Not a lot of people have them, though they’re awesome.
I spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about how to make driving safer.
Step 1 to making driving safer is “don’t...
Escaping Flatland
Things that connect us to ourselves, and things that don't
+ recommendations
6th Feb 2026
ribbonfarm
History is More Like Science Fiction Than Fantasy
I’ve been slow-reading Bettany Hughes’ Istanbul: A Tale of Three Cities for months now, ever since I...
2nd Apr 2024
I’ve been slow-reading Bettany Hughes’ Istanbul: A Tale of Three Cities for months now, ever since I visited the city (on Kindle, so I didn’t realize when I started that it’s 600 pages plus another 250 odd notes). It’s dense and absorbing and I’ll probably do a reflections post...
Ben Borgers
Make sure your university events are actually interesting
1st Mar 2025
The Elysian
Humanity from the perspective of robots
Talking points for our literary salon next week.
1st May 2024
Talking points for our literary salon next week.
Craig Mod — Writer +...
[RIDGELINE] The Shops Atop the Canal in Toyohashi
Ridgeline subscribers —
Hello from Toyohashi, a city between nowhere and somewhere else. A Tōkaidō...
12th Mar 2026
Ridgeline subscribers —
Hello from Toyohashi, a city between nowhere and somewhere else. A Tōkaidō city I’ve walked through on my two trips back and forth between Kyoto and Tokyo. A city with a space shuttle on top of a building and the letters USA strangely emblazoned below.
On...
Josh Thompson
Context Setting for certain patterns & classes of relationship difficulties
I’ve been “catching up” a lot in my life lately. Some of that catching up involves bringing up to...
3rd Jul 2022
I’ve been “catching up” a lot in my life lately. Some of that catching up involves bringing up to speed various people I’ve not spoken too (or spoken too much, or openly, or recently, or ever, or some combination thereof).
I am strongly biased towards written/editable/consistent...
The Marginalian
Consciousness, Artificial Intelligence, and Our Search for Meaning: Oliver Sacks on ChatGPT, 30...
"We are not incoherent, a bundle of sensations, but a self, rising from experience, continually...
2nd May 2023
"We are not incoherent, a bundle of sensations, but a self, rising from experience, continually growing and revised... Through experience, education, art, and life, we teach our brains to become unique. We learn to be individuals. This is a neurological learning as well as a...
Josh Thompson
Upgrade your job
So, apparently I send a lot of email about people trying to get cool jobs. Here’s yet
another email...
30th Oct 2015
So, apparently I send a lot of email about people trying to get cool jobs. Here’s yet
another email I sent to a friend, recorded here.
Hi [redacted],
First I want to highlight is that flexible/remote jobs are
just like normal jobs, but more people want them, so the companies...
Josh Thompson
Wrapping my head around local politics 001
Warning: Buzzwords ahead about millennials.*
As a millennial, I want to “get involved” in my “local...
24th Aug 2016
Warning: Buzzwords ahead about millennials.*
As a millennial, I want to “get involved” in my “local community”, and don’t know the best way to “mobilize my resources”.
vomit. I hate admitting that. But I still want to figure out
if it is possible for me (little old me) to do...
Josh Thompson
2017 In Review & Thoughts on 2018
Note: this “annual review” covers three topics. Click on one to skip to it:
Looking back on...
1st Jan 2018
Note: this “annual review” covers three topics. Click on one to skip to it:
Looking back on 2017
thoughts on going into 2018
book recommendations from the 79 books I read last year
I’ve got mixed feelings on annual reviews. I steadfastly refuse to set New Years’ resolutions, and...
The Marginalian
On Looking: Poet Lia Purpura on the Art of Noticing
“The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing which stands...
4th Sep 2025
“The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing which stands in the way,” William Blake wrote in his most spirited letter. “As a man is, so he sees.” Because how we look at the world shapes the world we see, every act of noticing is an act...
Josh Thompson
Continuos Glucose Monitors (part 2)
About a year ago, I wrote this post about continuous glucose monitors, that’s sorta ‘part 1’ of...
12th Mar 2026
About a year ago, I wrote this post about continuous glucose monitors, that’s sorta ‘part 1’ of these two parts.
Since then, and parallel to this most recent time with the sensor, I’ve encountered improvements to the ecosystem. The sensor technology is way better, as is the...
The Marginalian
The Ecstasy of Eternity: Richard Jefferies on Time and Self-Transcendence
This is the great paradox: that human life, lived between the time of starlings and the time of...
2nd Mar 2024
This is the great paradox: that human life, lived between the time of starlings and the time of stars, is made meaningful entirely inside the self, but the self is a mirage of the mind, a figment of cohesion that makes the chaos and transience bearable. A few times a lifetime, if...
Ploum.net
20 years of Linux on the Desktop (part 3)
20 years of Linux on the Desktop (part 3)
Previously in "20 years of Linux on the Deskop": After...
8th Mar 2025
20 years of Linux on the Desktop (part 3)
Previously in "20 years of Linux on the Deskop": After contributing to the launch of Ubuntu as the "perfect Linux desktop", Ploum realises that Ubuntu is drifting away from both Debian and GNOME. But something else is about to shake the...
Astral Codex Ten
Model City Monday 2/3/25
Things fall apart
3rd Feb 2025
This Space
The intimate outside
When this post from Max Cairnduff appeared I had been reading Heidegger's lectures on Hölderlin's...
31st Jan 2026
When this post from Max Cairnduff appeared I had been reading Heidegger's lectures on Hölderlin's poetry and books and essays studying Heidegger's lectures on Hölderlin's poetry in a bid, however incongruous, to articulate an experience unique to reading novels, so I was...
Ben Borgers
Every student is cheating with AI
17th Aug 2026
Idle Words
The Shape of a Mars Mission
This post is the second in a series. Read part one here.
p {line-height:1.6em; }
p.caption {...
20th Feb 2025
This post is the second in a series. Read part one here.
p {line-height:1.6em; }
p.caption { margin-top:0px;padding-top:0px;margin-bottom:20px;text-align:center;}
a.fnote {text-decoration:none;color:red}
img {margin-bottom:0px;}
“From a mathematics and trajectory...
Josh Thompson
2020 Annual Review
please note: i’m publishing this far after it was drafted, which was in January 2021. It’s being...
27th Jun 2022
please note: i’m publishing this far after it was drafted, which was in January 2021. It’s being published in June 2022 - I’m trying to back-fill ‘annual reviews’, I never finished this one or published it, until now.
Is it even possible to mention a 2020 review without somehow...
The Marginalian
William James on the Most Vital Understanding for Successful Relationships
"Neither the whole of truth nor the whole of good is revealed to any single observer."
2nd Jun 2023
"Neither the whole of truth nor the whole of good is revealed to any single observer."
Naz Hamid — Journal...
✏️ Now Reopen for Business
California re-opened on Tuesday and literally overnight, it feels like everything changed. And it...
17th Jun 2021
California re-opened on Tuesday and literally overnight, it feels like everything changed. And it has. The streets are busy again, clear voices can be heard all over, and people are emerging from their cocoons at their pace.
It feels like whiplash: going from riding with one...
The Elysian
Yes, Taylor Swift is just as genius as Mary Shelley
The video from our live event.
3rd Oct 2024
The video from our live event.
Josh Thompson
Gratitude 3x/day
Earlier this year, I read
The Miracle Morning, which promises (paraphrasing here):
If you do these...
1st Jun 2016
Earlier this year, I read
The Miracle Morning, which promises (paraphrasing here):
If you do these seven things every morning you’ll be the most amazing person you’ve ever met.
OK, it’s not exactly that bold, but it’s not far off. It wasn’t a terrible book, it had lots of good...
Wuthering...
Thomas Heywood's early melodrama A Woman Killed by Kindness - I’ll say you wept, I’ll swear you made...
I have called Thomas Dekker and Henry Chettle hacks, but Thomas
Heywood was the greatest hack of the...
2nd May 2026
I have called Thomas Dekker and Henry Chettle hacks, but Thomas
Heywood was the greatest hack of the Age of Shakespeare, having “an entire hand
or at least the main finger” in “two hundred and twenty” (!) plays (Three
Elizabethan Domestic Tragedies, p. 38).
He is more like a...
Josh Thompson
A Junction Efficiency Metric: Vehicles Per Square Meter Per Minute
still sorta drafty, but also its entirely possible the point is easily apprehended, and I’m way...
13th Sep 2025
still sorta drafty, but also its entirely possible the point is easily apprehended, and I’m way over-explaining
Introduction
Elsewhere, I’ve been referring to a ‘vehicles per square meter per minute’ calculation, when talking about junctions on mobility networks. The first place...
Naz Hamid • Journal
Everybody Needs a Rock
A new homepage and site improvements.
Looking at the Colophon from it’s last update, I mentioned...
14th Feb 2026
A new homepage and site improvements.
Looking at the Colophon from it’s last update, I mentioned that a refresh had happened in February 2025. A year later, another refresh has landed
I wouldn’t normally write about a site update like this, but the goal of the new homepage design...
The Elysian
The internet is dead—long live print media!
A retreat to the forest.
3rd Nov 2025
This Space
"Sometimes God, sometimes nothing"
Once I imagined a novel in which everything seen throughout the day by a single person is reported...
18th Jul 2026
Once I imagined a novel in which everything seen throughout the day by a single person is reported in detail. I was a teenager in my first job and began by using company paper to describe the scrub on the slopes beside a motorway as seen from a car. I never got any further.
No...
Ploum.net
Is Pixelfed sawing off the branch that the Fediverse is sitting on?
Is Pixelfed sawing off the branch that the Fediverse is sitting on?
In January 2025, I became aware...
4th Dec 2025
Is Pixelfed sawing off the branch that the Fediverse is sitting on?
In January 2025, I became aware that there was a real problem with Pixelfed, the "Instagram inspired Fediverse client". The problem is threatening the whole Fediverse. As Pixelfed received a lot of media...
Naz Hamid — Journal...
✏️ Notes at 45
As I sit squarely in my mid-40s, I’ve gained valuable perspectives, learnings, and understandings....
12th Apr 2023
As I sit squarely in my mid-40s, I’ve gained valuable perspectives, learnings, and understandings. Here are some of them:
People > things. In our current society, the deepening pit of materialism, capitalism, and an insatiable desire for more has become all-consuming. However,...
Josh Thompson
Do Not Neglect The Needful Role of the Witness
Introduction
Elsewhere I’ve mentioned “the role of the witness”, been sitting on this as a draft (in...
7th Jul 2025
Introduction
Elsewhere I’ve mentioned “the role of the witness”, been sitting on this as a draft (in my head) for a long time.
I absolutely cannot move away from the phrasing:
Do not neglect the needful role of the Witness
I capitalize Witness, as this is a real “role”, and it’s...
The Marginalian
Youth and Age: Kahlil Gibran on the Art of Becoming
A roadmap to the fulfilled belonging on the other side of "the great aloneness which knows not what...
4th Apr 2023
A roadmap to the fulfilled belonging on the other side of "the great aloneness which knows not what is far and what is near, nor what is small nor great."
Escaping Flatland
On agency
Or, how to handle being sentenced to freedom, and handle it effectively, and authentically, and...
7th Jul 2025
Or, how to handle being sentenced to freedom, and handle it effectively, and authentically, and responsibly
Naz Hamid — Journal...
✏️ Music That Got Me Through 2020
As time goes on, I've learned something about myself: I'm now that person — that old fogey — that...
1st Feb 2021
As time goes on, I've learned something about myself: I'm now that person — that old fogey — that mumbles under their breath about the old days when music was real. That said, there are plenty of good artists (even great artists) making meaningful music today. I just have to...
The American Scholar
Natale Adgnot
Country couture
The post Natale Adgnot appeared first on The American Scholar.
3rd Nov 2025
Country couture
The post Natale Adgnot appeared first on The American Scholar.
The Elysian
Let's read the Terra Ignota series together
Our summer reading is Ada Palmer's feat of utopian worldbuilding.
3rd Jul 2024
Our summer reading is Ada Palmer's feat of utopian worldbuilding.
Naz Hamid — Journal...
✏️ The Work Is Never Done
I went for a run. I’ve been running consistently for over a year and a half now. It’s a panacea for...
7th Nov 2024
I went for a run. I’ve been running consistently for over a year and a half now. It’s a panacea for me. I run outside. I like to feel the cool wind on my skin, my pores open and sweating, the legs rhythmically turning over in pursuit of flow.
In the beginning, I kept my head...
The Elysian
Idea Labs! An open thread for collaborative worldbuilding
Let's brainstorm the future together.
22nd Mar 2024
Let's brainstorm the future together.
Astral Codex Ten
Moltbook: After The First Weekend
...
2nd Feb 2026
Steven Scrawls
Not As Giants Love
Not As Giants Love
Short story, ~2000 words
A week ago, when I asked you if you still loved me, I...
4th Jul 2024
Not As Giants Love
Short story, ~2000 words
A week ago, when I asked you if you still loved me, I thought the
most painful thing you could’ve said was no. I don’t know if you
remember, but when you said “Of course I still love you” and asked if
I still loved you, I started to...
Naz Hamid • Journal
Fade to Blue
Redesigning as a method of interrogation.
Okay, okay, okay. I did it again.
Sometimes you design a...
24th Jun 2026
Redesigning as a method of interrogation.
Okay, okay, okay. I did it again.
Sometimes you design a thing, or redesign it, or evolve it, and you think you're there. But this unsettling feeling sinks in, and you think: “I’m not happy with this. What’s the problem?”
Friggin'...
Ben Borgers
How ChatGPT spoiled my semester
13th Oct 2024
Josh Thompson
How to fly… like a boss
I am in a quest to
level up my life. Free flights is a big part of this. I’ve not gotten too many...
7th Oct 2013
I am in a quest to
level up my life. Free flights is a big part of this. I’ve not gotten too many of those yet, but the next best thing is free seat upgrades. I’m not talking about first class - that’s beyond me, at the moment. I’m talking about getting stuck in the back of the...
Steven Scrawls
Space to Play
Space to Play
I remember childhood as the slow advance of a great laboring
Seriousness. When I was...
26th Feb 2025
Space to Play
I remember childhood as the slow advance of a great laboring
Seriousness. When I was in middle school, an awareness began to settle
on me that great beings known as “colleges” watched from afar; by high
school I understood that I ought to order my life to be...
Josh Thompson
On Cleaner Controllers
A few days ago, I worked on a project that was mostly about serving up basic store data (modeled...
9th May 2017
A few days ago, I worked on a project that was mostly about serving up basic store data (modeled after Etsy) to an API.
We had a few dozen end-points, and all responses were in JSON.
Most of the action happened inside of our controllers, and as you might imagine, our routes.rb...
Escaping Flatland
A measuring device that tells me what is interesting
+ links
2nd Oct 2024
the late review
wagner's ring: believing in the stakes
or: how to get ring cycle pilled
20th Nov 2024
or: how to get ring cycle pilled
Escaping Flatland
Some remarks on being stuck, with digressions on David Hockney, developing style, and gardens
If something feels wrong, it is useful to articulate very precisely why that is
a week ago
If something feels wrong, it is useful to articulate very precisely why that is
Idle Words
Alyse Galvin on Coronavirus in Alaska
Last week I spoke by video chat with Alyse Galvin, who is running for Congress in Alaska's sole,...
24th Jun 2020
Last week I spoke by video chat with Alyse Galvin, who is running for Congress in Alaska's sole, enormous Congressional district in a rematch against Don Young, the longest-serving member of Congress. Young, who just turned 87, is a notorious figure in state and national...
Josh Thompson
Load Testing your app with Siege
Last time, I dug into using Apache Benchmark to do performance testing on a page that requires...
2nd Jul 2019
Last time, I dug into using Apache Benchmark to do performance testing on a page that requires authentication to access.
Today, we’ll figure out how to use siege to visit many unique URLs on our page, and to get benchmarks on that process. I’ll next figure out performance...
Naz Hamid — Journal...
🔗 What price?
If anything, as the well gets poisoned by their own outputs, large language models may well end up...
6th Oct 2024
If anything, as the well gets poisoned by their own outputs, large language models may well end up eating their own slop and getting their own version of mad cow disease. So this might be as good as they’re ever going to get.
— Jeremy Keith
I use AI. Not particularly for...
Craig Mod — Writer +...
[RIDGELINE] Driving the Tōkaidō
Ridgeline subscribers —
Hello from amidst the Toyama rush of media requests. I’ve had to say no to...
16th Jan 2025
Ridgeline subscribers —
Hello from amidst the Toyama rush of media requests. I’ve had to say no to most of them, mainly because I’ve been finishing the final final final final set of edits on the Random House edition of Things Become Other Thing. Those edits are in. The book can...
Josh Thompson
On Friction
warning. self-indulgeant diatribe coming. I generally try to avoid these, but it’s my website, and I...
20th Dec 2017
warning. self-indulgeant diatribe coming. I generally try to avoid these, but it’s my website, and I can write what I want.
We’re rapidly approaching the end of the year, and I’ve got a few dozen ideas rolling around my head that I want to solidify my thoughts on.
One of the...
The Marginalian
From the Labor Camp to the Pantheon of Literature: How Dostoyevsky Became a Writer
"I have nothing, except for certain, and perhaps very minor, literary abilities."
1st Sep 2024
"I have nothing, except for certain, and perhaps very minor, literary abilities."
ribbonfarm
Storytelling — Just Add Dinosaurs
In a previous part, I covered the storytelling model of Matthew Dicks, who specializes in live,...
14th Mar 2024
In a previous part, I covered the storytelling model of Matthew Dicks, who specializes in live, spoken-word competitive storytelling from real life. He has a theory of stories I found deeply unsatisfying: That the essence of a story is a moment of character change where the...
The American Scholar
Leashed
The post Leashed appeared first on The American Scholar.
1st Oct 2025
The post Leashed appeared first on The American Scholar.
Wuthering...
What I Read in February 2026 – Mouek mouek mouek… Ma-a-a-a… Ma-aa-a… said Saha
I am almost on my way to London. Some Shakespearian and Not Shakespearian
activities are on the...
1st Mar 2026
I am almost on my way to London. Some Shakespearian and Not Shakespearian
activities are on the schedule.
My reading, before this trip, was again very British.
THE WAR OF THE POETS
Antonio and Mellida (1599?) &
Antonio's Revenge (1600?), John Marston – A remarkable
pair of...
Wuthering...
What I Read in July 2026 – Some links found verbal form, others remained mere promises, mist, soft...
Soon I will put up a fall schedule for my plunge back into non-Shakespearian
plays, from say 1604 to...
14th Aug 2026
Soon I will put up a fall schedule for my plunge back into non-Shakespearian
plays, from say 1604 to 1614, an exciting stretch. Middleton, Jonson, Beaumont and Fletcher will
dominate.
SHAKESPEAREAN
The Adventures of Lady Egeria (1585), W. C. – Half
tedious, half confounding,...
Ploum.net
La conjuration de la fierté ignorante
La conjuration de la fierté ignorante
Les scientifiques, les vulgarisateurs, les professeurs...
2nd Dec 2024
La conjuration de la fierté ignorante
Les scientifiques, les vulgarisateurs, les professeurs consacrent leur vie à lutter contre l’ignorance. Mais l’ignorance n’est pas vraiment le problème. Ce qui est dangereux c’est lorsqu’elle se camoufle. Lorsqu’elle se transforme en...
Josh Thompson
An Open Letter about Golden
2022-06-15 Update
I wrote this document the first time in a very small number of minutes, three...
24th May 2022
2022-06-15 Update
I wrote this document the first time in a very small number of minutes, three weeks ago, on my way out the door on a particularly busy day. I follow “write it now”. I’ve gotten to discuss this letter with a few different people, because I mentioned it in email....
Escaping Flatland
Being creative requires taking risks
When children learn to draw, they tend to make more and more interesting images for several years...
7th Jan 2026
When children learn to draw, they tend to make more and more interesting images for several years until around age five, when they learn to be boring.
Josh Thompson
First pass with Elixir/Phoenix
I’m digging into Elixir and Phoenix. I’m working through this tutorial to cloning Slack.
The...
27th Oct 2017
I’m digging into Elixir and Phoenix. I’m working through this tutorial to cloning Slack.
The tutorial author says
At the time of writing, I have ~1 week experience with Phoenix. Similar to Rubber Ducky Debugging, I am writing this blog post to force myself to think differently...
Naz Hamid — Journal...
✏️ Boy Meets Girl
At the request of my much loyal readership (I’m looking at you Lacey), the story of how I came to be...
26th Oct 2004
At the request of my much loyal readership (I’m looking at you Lacey), the story of how I came to be with girl seems to be of interest. I know, I know. I disappear for a bit from writing and then I return smitten, enamoured and very much exploring a journey I’m quite glad to be...
The Marginalian
Blink Twice to Quell a Quasar: Carl Sagan on Superstition
Growing up in Bulgaria, in a city teeming in stray dogs and cars, I was deeply distressed by the...
4th Aug 2025
Growing up in Bulgaria, in a city teeming in stray dogs and cars, I was deeply distressed by the sight of each dead animal in the streets between home and school — deaths I could not prevent and could not bear. To cope with the aching helplessness, I developed a private...
the late review
love's bad infinity
tristan und isolde - in theory and at the met
24th Mar 2026
tristan und isolde - in theory and at the met
The Elysian
The TERRAFORM print pamphlet is now available—here's what we earned
Plus, join our literary salon discussion this week!
4th Aug 2025
Plus, join our literary salon discussion this week!
Ben Borgers
Parking Tickets Wrapped 2024
7th Jan 2025
This Space
No safe landing
A review of A Winter in Zürau and Partita by Gabriel Josipovici
Gabriel Josipovici has said that...
5th Oct 2024
A review of A Winter in Zürau and Partita by Gabriel Josipovici
Gabriel Josipovici has said that as a critic he is conservative but as a novelist he is radical. The second claim may not be controversial but the first will come as a surprise to those who remember what he said...
The Marginalian
Octavia Butler on Religion and the Spirituality of Symbiosis
"On many levels, we wind up being strengthened by what we join, or what joins us, as well as by what...
2nd Nov 2023
"On many levels, we wind up being strengthened by what we join, or what joins us, as well as by what we combat."
Craig Mod — Writer +...
[RODEN] Oooohhh Summer, How Much Risk Is a Useful Amount of Risk?
Roden Readers —
There is sweat and then there is s-w-e-a-t and the out-of-doorsness in Japan is...
4th Aug 2026
Roden Readers —
There is sweat and then there is s-w-e-a-t and the out-of-doorsness in Japan is presently a natural machine that produces nothing but sweat and sweat and sweat and swelter. Dryness has been eradicated. Fire is impossible to start. Blowtorch any single thing and it...
The Perry Bible...
The Message
The post The Message appeared first on The Perry Bible Fellowship.
3rd Nov 2025
The post The Message appeared first on The Perry Bible Fellowship.
Josh Thompson
Why Your Belayer is Keeping You from Climbing Hard(er)
Since climbing regularly again (!!!), I’ve observed lots of belaying in the gym. I can’t walk up to...
1st Oct 2014
Since climbing regularly again (!!!), I’ve observed lots of belaying in the gym. I can’t walk up to a stranger and say “Excuse me, sir, I noticed that your poor belaying is totally crippling your climber’s ability to try hard, and actively eliminating any hope you had of...
This Space
An anniversary appeal
On this day last year I began posting every day for 39 days to commemorate 39 years since I began...
23rd Apr 2025
On this day last year I began posting every day for 39 days to commemorate 39 years since I began reading books. I dug out a folder of book lists I'd kept since 1986, chose one book from each year that I'd not written about before and wrote what ever the book suggested to me....
Naz Hamid — Journal...
✏️ 2023 in the Rearview
End-of-year recaps and reviews haven't been something I do. Generally, my mindset is about embracing...
3rd Mar 2024
End-of-year recaps and reviews haven't been something I do. Generally, my mindset is about embracing the present, with a gentle forward momentum towards what comes next. Years ago, I heard an Imam once speak about not having regrets. I took that to heart at the time and have...
The Marginalian
Wherever You Are, Stop What You’re Doing
Nothing magnifies life — in the proper sense of the word, rooted in the Latin for “to make greater,...
4th Jan 2025
Nothing magnifies life — in the proper sense of the word, rooted in the Latin for “to make greater, to glorify” — more than the act of noticing its details, and nothing sanctifies it more: Kneeling to look at a lichen is a devotional act. We bless our own lives by recognizing and...
The American Scholar
Rage, Muse
The novels that revisit Greek myths, giving voice to the women who were scorned, wronged, or...
1st Aug 2024
The novels that revisit Greek myths, giving voice to the women who were scorned, wronged, or forgotten
The post Rage, Muse appeared first on The American Scholar.
Wuthering...
What I Read in May 2026 – “These stories appeal to my sense of humor as well as my taste for formal...
NOT SHAKESPEARE
Poems and a Defence of Ryme (1592-1605), Samuel
Daniel – Author of the “Delia”...
4th Jun 2026
NOT SHAKESPEARE
Poems and a Defence of Ryme (1592-1605), Samuel
Daniel – Author of the “Delia” sequence of fifty sonnets, a genuine sequence, with
for example lines ending one poem and beginning the next. For some reason Thomas Campion, a writer of
the most beautiful songs,...
The American Scholar
Sticking With It
A sobering chronicle of our toxic times
The post Sticking With It appeared first on The American...
2nd Jun 2025
A sobering chronicle of our toxic times
The post Sticking With It appeared first on The American Scholar.
The Marginalian
The Unphotographable: Richard Adams on the Singular Magic of Autumn
There is a lovely liminality to autumn — this threshold time between the centripetal exuberance of...
13th Oct 2024
There is a lovely liminality to autumn — this threshold time between the centripetal exuberance of summer and the season for tending to the inner garden, as Rilke wrote of winter. Autumn is a living metaphor for the necessary losses that shape our human lives: What falls away...
Josh Thompson
Playing with the HTTP send/response cycle in Ruby, without Faraday ("HTTP Yeah You Know Me" project)
As part of the HTTP Server project.
First, I’m working through Practicing Ruby’s “Implementing an...
7th Apr 2017
As part of the HTTP Server project.
First, I’m working through Practicing Ruby’s “Implementing an HTTP File Server” for general practice and understanding.
I’m going to use Postman to capture traffic and try to replicate some of the things the guides reference.
Lastly, I just...
Wuthering...
What I Read in August 2026 – what he hopes to gain from all this knowledge
Now and again, Geiser finds himself wondering what he really
wants to know, what he hopes to gain...
2 weeks ago
Now and again, Geiser finds himself wondering what he really
wants to know, what he hopes to gain from all this knowledge. (Man in the Holocene, Max Frisch, tr. Geoffrey
Skelton, p. 90)
An uncomfortable sentence there.
A reminder that I will return to non-Shakespeare plays...
ben-mini
Everything is a Spreadsheet
Revisiting an old 2020 Invest Like the Best podcast that interviews John Collision, co-founder of...
9th Nov 2025
Revisiting an old 2020 Invest Like the Best podcast that interviews John Collision, co-founder of Stripe. When asked about his thoughts on no-code:
I don’t think no-code is fully a panacea. Even when you’re doing no-code, you’re still reasoning about the relations between...
Ben Borgers
Building henrynitzberg.com
1st Dec 2022
Josh Thompson
Sidekiq and Background Jobs for Beginners
I’ve recently had to learn more about background jobs (using Sidekiq, specifically) for some bugs I...
30th Jul 2018
I’ve recently had to learn more about background jobs (using Sidekiq, specifically) for some bugs I was working on.
I learned a lot. Much of it was extremely basic. Anyone who knows much at all about Sidekiq will say “oh, duh, of course that’s true”, but at the time, it wasn’t...
Ben Borgers
Stickies: Spatial note-taking
2nd Apr 2023
Ploum.net
Ne venez pas dire que vous n’étiez pas prévenus…
Ne venez pas dire que vous n’étiez pas prévenus…
…c’est juste que vous pensiez ne pas être...
20th Jan 2025
Ne venez pas dire que vous n’étiez pas prévenus…
…c’est juste que vous pensiez ne pas être concernés
Depuis des décennies, je fais partie de ces gens qui tentent d’alerter sur les terrifiantes possibilités qu’offre l’aveuglement technologique dans lequel nous sommes plongés.
Je...
sbensu
When coordination pays off
Stories about Stripe Link where we have to do a lot of upfront coordination but it was worth it.
6th Oct 2024
Stories about Stripe Link where we have to do a lot of upfront coordination but it was worth it.
The Marginalian
Vision of the Womb and Vision of the Brain: H.D. on the Two Kinds of Seeing and the Key to Over-mind...
“One must be a seer, make oneself a seer,” Arthur Rimbaud wrote, “by a long, gigantic and rational...
2nd Jul 2025
“One must be a seer, make oneself a seer,” Arthur Rimbaud wrote, “by a long, gigantic and rational derangement of all the senses.” As more and more of our senses are being amputated by the blade of our image-centric culture, reducing the vast and delicate sensorium of human...
Josh Thompson
On Scooters as a class of vehicle/tool
Introduction
Often when I say “scooter”, especially in the united states, the person thinks of...
18th Dec 2024
Introduction
Often when I say “scooter”, especially in the united states, the person thinks of something different than what I mean. Here’s Denver’s Sportique Scooters, here’s one of their recent posts:
So that is the kind of vehicle I’m talking about when I say “scooter”.
I...
Escaping Flatland
Modular life, meaningful work
Highlights from the cutting room floor, pt. 3
5th Feb 2025
Highlights from the cutting room floor, pt. 3
sbensu
APIs as ladders
APIs are hard to learn. If you think about the learning curve of your API, you can design one that...
24th Jan 2022
APIs are hard to learn. If you think about the learning curve of your API, you can design one that works for beginners, novices, and experts.
Ben Borgers
New in Superadmin: styling, images, rich text
23rd Nov 2022
Anecdotal Evidence
'Give Thanks for All Things'
“It is the province of
poems to make some order in the world, but poets can’t afford to forget...
1st Mar 2026
“It is the province of
poems to make some order in the world, but poets can’t afford to forget that
there is a reality of things which survives all orders great and small. Things are.
The cow is there. No poetry can have any strength unless it continually bashes
itself against...
Naz Hamid • Journal
On Rdio
Rdio comes out of beta, and what a glorious service it is.
Music is a huge part of many people’s...
8th Jun 2010
Rdio comes out of beta, and what a glorious service it is.
Music is a huge part of many people’s lives. It seems odd that music is essentially sounds and noises put together to form something that transcends its individual parts. Music, even in its simplest form is a whole, made...
Ploum.net
Une vie sans notifications
Une vie sans notifications
Переведено на русский Wandering Thinker
Avertissement : Cet article...
2nd Sep 2025
Une vie sans notifications
Переведено на русский Wandering Thinker
Avertissement : Cet article parle de mon expérience avec le Mudita Kompakt, mais, n’étant pas lié à cette firme, je ne répondrai à aucune question concernant cet appareil ni le Hisense A5. Tout ce que j’ai à dire...
Blog -...
Book Review - Dancing Naked in the Mind Field
Dancing Naked in the Mind Field, the autobiography of Kary Mullis,
published in 1998, is...
26th Jun 2021
Dancing Naked in the Mind Field, the autobiography of Kary Mullis,
published in 1998, is reminiscent of another Nobel Prize winning
autobiography, Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!. Dr. Mullis and Dr.
Feynman had a great deal in common, including their incomprehensible...
The Elysian
Writing Prompt: Design the future of the internet!
Participate in our next essay collection and print pamphlet.
2nd Jan 2026
Participate in our next essay collection and print pamphlet.
This Space
Reading, detachment
In an in-between time in which nothing begins or ends, in which blank patience takes the place of...
28th Aug 2025
In an in-between time in which nothing begins or ends, in which blank patience takes the place of activity, I picked two books from my shelves stubbornly remote from utility, lacking the intimacy of possession, and a third in which I had never read a key section. The first was...
Wuthering...
What I Read in June 2026 – I don’t know, that’s all words, never wake, all words, there’s nothing...
Oh right, I can pretend I am writing something. Some notes on books I read in the distant...
22nd Jul 2026
Oh right, I can pretend I am writing something. Some notes on books I read in the distant past.
NOT SHAKESPEARE
The Dutch Courtesan (1604), John Marston – Discussed long ago.
Poems (1594-1612), George Chapman – A superb,
innovative poet, somehow an Ovidian and an...
Josh Thompson
Climbing in Cuba, 2019
A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to go climbing in Cuba.
Mark and Dave, walking back from...
12th Apr 2019
A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to go climbing in Cuba.
Mark and Dave, walking back from climbing outside Viñales
Locals crag, called “The roof of the world”. Stunning routes.
because it was so hot, we spent a lot of time in this cave.
Kristi and I tend to stick...
The Elysian
Creating a global safety net without nation-states
A Guest Lecture featuring Sondre Rasch, co-founder and CEO of SafetyWing.
3rd Jun 2025
A Guest Lecture featuring Sondre Rasch, co-founder and CEO of SafetyWing.
ben-mini
Building FirstMover
I had one month to find a place to live in Manhattan. I reached out to friends for tips, and nearly...
14th Sep 2024
I had one month to find a place to live in Manhattan. I reached out to friends for tips, and nearly all of them pointed me to StreetEasy, the Zillow-owned NYC real estate search platform. Some of my more Type-A friends gave me extra helpful advice:
Narrow your search to 2-4...
Craig Mod — Writer +...
[RODEN] Hark, a Book Appears!
Roden Readers —
Howdy! From the sky! En route to NYC! I’m Craig Mod and this is Roden, a newsletter...
2nd May 2025
Roden Readers —
Howdy! From the sky! En route to NYC! I’m Craig Mod and this is Roden, a newsletter sent via magic tubes.
Since returning from Spain I’ve been in full-bore April Pod Mode, recording a dozen+ interviews and working on a bunch of essays for various publications in...
The American Scholar
On Returning
The post On Returning appeared first on The American Scholar.
2 weeks ago
The post On Returning appeared first on The American Scholar.
Josh Thompson
Driven by Compression Progress
Note from author: This is part of an experimental series, more-or-less based on “white papers” and...
18th Feb 2021
Note from author: This is part of an experimental series, more-or-less based on “white papers” and academic literature, as applied to somewhat practical-ish domains.
These pages serve as a brief overview of a paper, and I’ll be able to link to this paper down the road when I what...
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