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wagner's ring: believing in the stakes or: how to get ring cycle pilled
20th Nov 2024
1

wagner's ring: believing in the stakes

from the late review [alt+shift+b] in literature

20th Nov 2024
or: how to get ring cycle pilled
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
94

Youth and Age: Kahlil Gibran on the Art of Becoming

from The Marginalian [alt+shift+b] in literature

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."
What I Read in July 2025 - books are quiet and unobtrusive, and do not try to hustle the reader In general, however, he [Louis XVI] preferred writing down his thoughts instead of uttering them by...
8th Aug 2025
1
8th Aug 2025
In general, however, he [Louis XVI] preferred writing down his thoughts instead of uttering them by word of mouth; and he was fond of reading, for books are quiet and unobtrusive, and do not try to hustle the reader. (Stefan Zweig, Marie Antoinette, 1932, p. 77 of the 1933...
Un manifeste Offpunk Un manifeste Offpunk Ce texte est une traduction en français du Offpunk Manifesto rédigé par Arlon...
3rd Aug 2026
1

Un manifeste Offpunk

from Ploum.net [alt+shift+b] in literature

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...
Are Democrats too liberal? Or too conservative? We're asking the wrong questions.
3rd Dec 2024
68

Are Democrats too liberal? Or too conservative?

from The Elysian [alt+shift+b] in literature

3rd Dec 2024
We're asking the wrong questions.
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
86
1st Sep 2024
"I have nothing, except for certain, and perhaps very minor, literary abilities."
Dawn of the Brain-Dead Carl Elliott on the ethical implications of going beyond organ transplantation The post Dawn of the...
2nd Oct 2026
1

Dawn of the Brain-Dead

from The American Scholar [alt+shift+b] in literature

2nd Oct 2026
Carl Elliott on the ethical implications of going beyond organ transplantation The post Dawn of the Brain-Dead appeared first on The American Scholar.
[RIDGELINE] Walking and Not Walking a Castle in Italy Ridgeline subscribers — Hello! It’s me, Craig Mod. I’m doing an event with David Marx in Tokyo this...
12th Oct 2026
1

[RIDGELINE] Walking and Not Walking a Castle in Italy

from Craig Mod — Writer + Photographer [alt+shift+b] in literature

12th Oct 2026
Ridgeline subscribers — Hello! It’s me, Craig Mod. I’m doing an event with David Marx in Tokyo this Friday night (17th) at Tiger Mountain, a small, hip bookshop. The in-person tix are all sold out, but it will be livestreamed, and there are still tickets for that bit. It costs...
Anthony Powell's style and sensibility - Life is full of internal dramas, instantaneous and... Nicholas Jenkins – I did not register his name at all for the entire first novel, but I know it now...
22nd May 2025
1
22nd May 2025
Nicholas Jenkins – I did not register his name at all for the entire first novel, but I know it now – goes to school, gets a job in publishing, writes a novel, gets a girlfriend, gets a job as a script writer, splits with the girlfriend, and writes another novel or two, none of...
28th Jan 2026
1

my enemy, the leitmotif

from the late review [alt+shift+b] in literature

28th Jan 2026
a missive
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
1

Being creative requires taking risks

from Escaping Flatland [alt+shift+b] in literature

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.
On Money (again) Recently I posted thoughts about money I’d written from back in 2013.  Money is hard to write about,...
18th Feb 2016
21

On Money (again)

from Josh Thompson [alt+shift+b] in literature

18th Feb 2016
Recently I posted thoughts about money I’d written from back in 2013.  Money is hard to write about, because there are many different ways we can approach it. It’s easy to feel judged when someone does something with their money that I don’t do with mine. That all said, there...
Bangalore Meetup Report Did a ribbonfarm meetup in Bangalore last night, the first ever in India. Thanks to Abhishek Agarwal...
6th Jun 2024
27

Bangalore Meetup Report

from ribbonfarm [alt+shift+b] in literature

6th Jun 2024
Did a ribbonfarm meetup in Bangalore last night, the first ever in India. Thanks to Abhishek Agarwal for organizing. I think this is the first meetup I’ve done since the last Refactor Camp in 2019. It was kinda last minute, which is why I only posted on Substack rather than here...
5th Oct 2025
On Fables: Finishing up Antifragile I’m cleaning up some notes I wanted to jot down over the last few weeks Nassim Taleb, in...
9th Jan 2016
21

On Fables: Finishing up Antifragile

from Josh Thompson [alt+shift+b] in literature

9th Jan 2016
I’m cleaning up some notes I wanted to jot down over the last few weeks Nassim Taleb, in Antifragile, says: The great economist Ariel Rubinstein gets the green lumber fallacy - it requires a great deal of intellect and honesty to see things that way. Rubinstein refuses to...
Stealing is a Skill I’m slowly developing my own list of advice: have a creative mindset, embrace radical transparency,...
24th Jun 2026
1

Stealing is a Skill

from ben-mini [alt+shift+b] in literature

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...
How to avoid breaking APIs The main trick is to design them with extension in mind so that you won't have to break them later.
16th Mar 2023
27

How to avoid breaking APIs

from sbensu [alt+shift+b] in literature

16th Mar 2023
The main trick is to design them with extension in mind so that you won't have to break them later.
Turing Prep Chapter 4: Arrays, Hashes, and Nested Collections Preparing for Turing Series Index What follows is an eight-part series that will help you pick up...
9th Jun 2019
25

Turing Prep Chapter 4: Arrays, Hashes, and Nested Collections

from Josh Thompson [alt+shift+b] in literature

9th Jun 2019
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...
'Either Very Gravely Gay or Very Gaily Grave' “Lend me—lend me some disguise; / I will tell prodigious lies; / All who care for what I say /...
1st Apr 2026
1

'Either Very Gravely Gay or Very Gaily Grave'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

1st Apr 2026
“Lend me—lend me some disguise; / I will tell prodigious lies; / All who care for what I say / Shall be April Fools to-day!”  This sounds like our understanding of April Fools’ Day as kids. Low-cost, nothing elaborate, just walk up behind a guy and scream “Your pants are on...
1st Sep 2026
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
1

Some relationships deepen when you tell the truth and some end

from Escaping Flatland [alt+shift+b] in literature

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.
reclaiming the wälsungs part of a body of work on Wagner's Ring cycle
14th Dec 2024
1

reclaiming the wälsungs

from the late review [alt+shift+b] in literature

14th Dec 2024
part of a body of work on Wagner's Ring cycle
1st Apr 2025
Left on the Shelf My old and very good friend Mark Thwaite has taken over at the Left on the Shelf bookshop, so if...
7th Feb 2026
1

Left on the Shelf

from This Space [alt+shift+b] in literature

7th Feb 2026
My old and very good friend Mark Thwaite has taken over at the Left on the Shelf bookshop, so if you're at all interested in any of the subjects listed in the poster below, please consider subscribing to his newsletter, checking out the listings on Abebooks, and the offers on...
Incentives as selection effects When you apply a new incentive, you select for a new population that prefers the incentive.
11th Jun 2024
24

Incentives as selection effects

from sbensu [alt+shift+b] in literature

11th Jun 2024
When you apply a new incentive, you select for a new population that prefers the incentive.
Doomr Most of my creations can be contained within an RSS feed; Doomr cannot. You'll want to check the...
14th Feb 2024
22

Doomr

from Steven Scrawls [alt+shift+b] in literature

14th Feb 2024
Most of my creations can be contained within an RSS feed; Doomr cannot. You'll want to check the website for this one.
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
51

20 years of Linux on the Desktop (part 3)

from Ploum.net [alt+shift+b] in literature

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...
#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
1
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....
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
1

What I Read in February 2026 – Mouek mouek mouek… Ma-a-a-a… Ma-aa-a… said Saha

from Wuthering Expectations [alt+shift+b] in literature

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...
'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
1

'Give Thanks for All Things'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

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...
Almost anything you give sustained attention to will begin to loop on itself and bloom When people talk about the value of paying attention and slowing down, they often make it sound...
4th Sep 2025
105
4th Sep 2025
When people talk about the value of paying attention and slowing down, they often make it sound prudish and monk-like. But we shouldn’t forget how interesting and overpoweringly pleasurable sustained attention can be.
39 Books: 2015 In the Spring of 1997, I visited a friend in Kassel, a city in the middle of Germany, home of the...
24th May 2024
1

39 Books: 2015

from This Space [alt+shift+b] in literature

24th May 2024
In the Spring of 1997, I visited a friend in Kassel, a city in the middle of Germany, home of the Brothers Grimm and Franz Rosenzweig, and not very far from Weimar, hence the visit to the Goethehaus mentioned in the entry for 1989. I hadn't heard of it before and nor had my...
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
26

Sidekiq and Background Jobs for Beginners

from Josh Thompson [alt+shift+b] in literature

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...
🔗 What price? If anything, as the well gets poisoned by their own outputs, large language models may well end up...
6th Oct 2024
21

🔗 What price?

from Naz Hamid — Journal + Links [alt+shift+b] in literature

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...
Imagination vs. Creativity I like to make a distinction between imagination and creativity that you may or may not agree with....
14th Jul 2024
45

Imagination vs. Creativity

from ribbonfarm [alt+shift+b] in literature

14th Jul 2024
I like to make a distinction between imagination and creativity that you may or may not agree with. Imagination is the ability to see known possibilities as being reachable from a situation. Creativity is the ability to manufacture new possibilities out of a situation. The two...
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
2
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,...
The How and Why of BlockValue I wrote the following post, and built the application in question, in 2017, in my “end of Turing”...
14th Sep 2017
23

The How and Why of BlockValue

from Josh Thompson [alt+shift+b] in literature

14th Sep 2017
I wrote the following post, and built the application in question, in 2017, in my “end of Turing” project, before I’d ever been hired as a software developer. I really enjoyed the app that I built, and I keep wanting to get around to cleaning it up and making it work again. Maybe...
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
24

Quotes from 'Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving', by Pete Walker

from Josh Thompson [alt+shift+b] in literature

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...
✏️ I Don't Have Facebook I don’t have an account with the big blue F. It’s 2015. The social network is almost 11 years old....
15th Jan 2015
19

✏️ I Don't Have Facebook

from Naz Hamid — Journal + Links [alt+shift+b] in literature

15th Jan 2015
I don’t have an account with the big blue F. It’s 2015. The social network is almost 11 years old. It’s remarkable — over a decade in existence and, mostly, still going strong. I read about it a lot. I have friends who work there. I have been recruited and asked by the same...
Modular life, meaningful work Highlights from the cutting room floor, pt. 3
5th Feb 2025
50

Modular life, meaningful work

from Escaping Flatland [alt+shift+b] in literature

5th Feb 2025
Highlights from the cutting room floor, pt. 3
Reading, detachment In an in-between time in which nothing begins or ends, in which blank patience takes the place of...
28th Aug 2025
1

Reading, detachment

from This Space [alt+shift+b] in literature

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...
The Perfectionists (book) A great book that covers the ideas and people behind modern industry.
1st Aug 2024
23

The Perfectionists (book)

from sbensu [alt+shift+b] in literature

1st Aug 2024
A great book that covers the ideas and people behind modern industry.
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
23

Monthly Review: November

from Josh Thompson [alt+shift+b] in literature

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.”...
Lieutenants are the limiting reagent Why don't software companies ship more products? Why do they move more slowly as they grow? What do...
25th Sep 2023
28

Lieutenants are the limiting reagent

from sbensu [alt+shift+b] in literature

25th Sep 2023
Why don't software companies ship more products? Why do they move more slowly as they grow? What do we mean when we say "this company lacks focus"?
Relational Antipatterns Introduction This list of relational anti-patterns started as a draft of a written list in a small...
12th May 2025
1

Relational Antipatterns

from Josh Thompson [alt+shift+b] in literature

12th May 2025
Introduction This list of relational anti-patterns started as a draft of a written list in a small notebook I carry with me most of the time. Eventually, I was jotting down notes for both this this particular list and the list on the piece on sadness and grief, and there is...
The TERRAFORM print pamphlet is now available—here's what we earned Plus, join our literary salon discussion this week!
4th Aug 2025
20

The TERRAFORM print pamphlet is now available—here's what we earned

from The Elysian [alt+shift+b] in literature

4th Aug 2025
Plus, join our literary salon discussion this week!
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
27

How to fly… like a boss

from Josh Thompson [alt+shift+b] in literature

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...
The Universe in Verse Book "We need science to help us meet reality on its own terms, and we need poetry to help us broaden and...
1st May 2024
52

The Universe in Verse Book

from The Marginalian [alt+shift+b] in literature

1st May 2024
"We need science to help us meet reality on its own terms, and we need poetry to help us broaden and deepen the terms on which we meet ourselves and each other. At the crossing point of the two we may find a way of clarifying our experience and of sanctifying it."
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
21

Book Notes: 'The Case Against Sugar' by Gary Taube

from Josh Thompson [alt+shift+b] in literature

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...
4th Sep 2023
✏️ Dissocial Media I've been writing in my real handwritten journal in recent weeks that I've felt the weight of social...
1st Aug 2023
21

✏️ Dissocial Media

from Naz Hamid — Journal + Links [alt+shift+b] in literature

1st Aug 2023
I've been writing in my real handwritten journal in recent weeks that I've felt the weight of social networks. And the manipulation and behavior patterning it's designed to do. I worked for a softer social network for almost two years and while we weren't as abhorrent as the huge...
'But to Divert a Fierce Banditti' The English poet William Cowper (1731-1800) suffered his first attack of mental illness – today we...
1st Dec 2025
1

'But to Divert a Fierce Banditti'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

1st Dec 2025
The English poet William Cowper (1731-1800) suffered his first attack of mental illness – today we would likely call it profound depression – at age thirty-two. Before then, while studying law in the Temple, Cowper dined every Thursday with friends at the Nonsense Club. He and a...
Platform or Point Solution? A while back, I wrote a post titled “What is a Platform?”. I defined what a platform is and why tech...
8th Mar 2025
62

Platform or Point Solution?

from ben-mini [alt+shift+b] in literature

8th Mar 2025
A while back, I wrote a post titled “What is a Platform?”. I defined what a platform is and why tech companies are so determined to become labeled as one. My definition of a platform is a tool that allows users to define and build their own things, which can be used by other...
Movies I went out of my way to watch Introduction I’ve long liked to accrue certain lists of things I like within certain categories. to...
22nd Oct 2025
1

Movies I went out of my way to watch

from Josh Thompson [alt+shift+b] in literature

22nd Oct 2025
Introduction I’ve long liked to accrue certain lists of things I like within certain categories. to list appreciable books invites a similar list for movies and movie-like things. It feels strange to list all of these movies like this, in some ways, especially the first two...
Kawabata's The Sound of the Mountain - He began to feel that there was some sort of special little... Dolce Bellezza hosted her 19th Japanese Literature Challenge last month.  Once I have written...
7th Feb 2026
1
7th Feb 2026
Dolce Bellezza hosted her 19th Japanese Literature Challenge last month.  Once I have written this post it will be the 54th book in this year’s event.  Amazing. The book is Yasunari Kawabata’s The Sound of the Mountain (1954, serialized 1949-54).  The sound of the mountain is a...
✏️ 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
19

✏️ On a Low and a High

from Naz Hamid — Journal + Links [alt+shift+b] in literature

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...
Easy Questions, Part 2: Delusional Desires in Fiction Easy Questions, Part 2: Delusional Desires in Fiction In Part 1, I examined a few common tropes in...
6th Jun 2024
27

Easy Questions, Part 2: Delusional Desires in Fiction

from Steven Scrawls [alt+shift+b] in literature

6th Jun 2024
Easy Questions, Part 2: Delusional Desires in Fiction In Part 1, I examined a few common tropes in stories and suggested that some stories might explore certain questions not because those questions are interesting, but because engaging with those questions allows the story to...
✏️ Liquid Gold Hi, this is Weightshifting, a newsletter by Naz Hamid and Jen Schuetz, primarily about vehicular...
10th Sep 2023
17

✏️ Liquid Gold

from Naz Hamid — Journal + Links [alt+shift+b] in literature

10th Sep 2023
Hi, this is Weightshifting, a newsletter by Naz Hamid and Jen Schuetz, primarily about vehicular travel and exploring the American West. This is season 2, en route from San Francisco to St. Louis. Our primary reason is to visit Jen’s family and attend a wedding. Our secondary...
✏️ Mirrored Malaysia After almost three years apart due to the pandemic, we were heartwarmingly reunited with my family...
14th Sep 2022
17

✏️ Mirrored Malaysia

from Naz Hamid — Journal + Links [alt+shift+b] in literature

14th Sep 2022
After almost three years apart due to the pandemic, we were heartwarmingly reunited with my family in August of 2022. It was an intense and dense ten days, spending almost all waking hours together: talking, eating, and watching the time go by as fast as it would arrive. I...
Ethan Magnass' sermons from Grace Anglican Church in Grove City, PA I’ve been recommending a collection of sermons to many people recently. I’ve listened to each of...
14th Dec 2020
24

Ethan Magnass' sermons from Grace Anglican Church in Grove City, PA

from Josh Thompson [alt+shift+b] in literature

14th Dec 2020
I’ve been recommending a collection of sermons to many people recently. I’ve listened to each of these sermons quite a few times. They’re worth your time. Ethan Magness is the rector at Grace Anglican Church in Grove City, PA. Sermon Series on Joseph Grace Anglican Church podcast...
Gratitude 3x/day Earlier this year, I read The Miracle Morning, which promises (paraphrasing here): If you do these...
1st Jun 2016
21

Gratitude 3x/day

from Josh Thompson [alt+shift+b] in literature

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...
An essay in which my friend feels stuck and I suggest relaxing some constraints The short version is that my friend, in my opinion, thinks about what he wants in a too constrained...
5th Mar 2025
52

An essay in which my friend feels stuck and I suggest relaxing some constraints

from Escaping Flatland [alt+shift+b] in literature

5th Mar 2025
The short version is that my friend, in my opinion, thinks about what he wants in a too constrained way.
Let him kill a lion with a pestle, husband! - The Knight of the Burning Pestle by Francis Beaumont Innovations in art to tend towards Mannerism.  As a form matures it turns on itself, as creators,...
3 weeks ago
1
3 weeks ago
Innovations in art to tend towards Mannerism.  As a form matures it turns on itself, as creators, and some portion of the audience, become more interested in the form itself.  So we get more art about art.  The Knight of the Burning Pestle (1607) is young (age 22, 23) Francis...
At the Bookstore I work hard to resist sentimental impulses and indulgence in nostalgia. Ours is a sentimental age,...
1st Sep 2025
28

At the Bookstore

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

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....
✏️ Resilience By Design Every morning I read about a situation that pushes us further away from what we've come to know or...
17th Apr 2020
21

✏️ Resilience By Design

from Naz Hamid — Journal + Links [alt+shift+b] in literature

17th Apr 2020
Every morning I read about a situation that pushes us further away from what we've come to know or expect. With that comes the question of how our evolving reality affects product design, particularly for those who practice it. While some tech companies are seizing opportunities...
H5N1: Much More Than You Wanted To Know Don't give your true love a partridge, turtledoves, or (especially) French hens
1st Jan 2025
48

H5N1: Much More Than You Wanted To Know

from Astral Codex Ten [alt+shift+b] in literature

1st Jan 2025
Don't give your true love a partridge, turtledoves, or (especially) French hens
✏️ Tracks of the Ancients I notice the tracks as I return from a brief scouting trip. When deciding on a campsite for the...
4th Feb 2022
17

✏️ Tracks of the Ancients

from Naz Hamid — Journal + Links [alt+shift+b] in literature

4th Feb 2022
I notice the tracks as I return from a brief scouting trip. When deciding on a campsite for the night, reconnaissance is necessary: one, to verify personal safety; two, to ensure picturesque views and surroundings, but distance between neighbors (if applicable); and three, to...
Anatomy of a $9 Burglary “Anatomy of a $9 Burglary” is among Caro’s best early writing. When police arrested a criminal, all...
1st Apr 2023
33

Anatomy of a $9 Burglary

from Robert Caro [alt+shift+b] in literature

1st Apr 2023
“Anatomy of a $9 Burglary” is among Caro’s best early writing. When police arrested a criminal, all signs indicated a simple case of burglar
'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
32

'A Book That Everybody Can Understand'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

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...
Dottie Lo Bue House and home The post Dottie Lo Bue appeared first on The American Scholar.
4th Nov 2024
58

Dottie Lo Bue

from The American Scholar [alt+shift+b] in literature

4th Nov 2024
House and home The post Dottie Lo Bue appeared first on The American Scholar.
October 2016 Review October 2016 Review This month’s review. In another few days I’ll post the goals for November. I...
1st Nov 2016
25

October 2016 Review

from Josh Thompson [alt+shift+b] in literature

1st Nov 2016
October 2016 Review This month’s review. In another few days I’ll post the goals for November. I had three goals for October, as of about 12 days ago: October goals: Programming I wanted to finish a certain Rails Tutorial, and move on to the next one. This project I made zero...
Blood Flow Restriction with Tyler old draft, publishing, needs polish. Me: Sport climber, decade+, of and on a few different times...
16th Feb 2019
1

Blood Flow Restriction with Tyler

from Josh Thompson [alt+shift+b] in literature

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,...
1st May 2022
Hackathon: Let's build a profit-sharing platform for writers Creatives and developers—join us this Friday!
1st Oct 2025
19

Hackathon: Let's build a profit-sharing platform for writers

from The Elysian [alt+shift+b] in literature

1st Oct 2025
Creatives and developers—join us this Friday!
[RIDGELINE] Walking the Brooklyn Bridge Ridgeline subscribers — Thanks for all the “Yo!“s last week. It looks like transmissions from...
1st Jun 2026
1

[RIDGELINE] Walking the Brooklyn Bridge

from Craig Mod — Writer + Photographer [alt+shift+b] in literature

1st Jun 2026
Ridgeline subscribers — Thanks for all the “Yo!“s last week. It looks like transmissions from mailbot2k are getting through. (Let me know if you see any “rendering errors” in your email clients; I think we fixed the Proton Mail issues.) FYI, because the last issue of Roden ended...
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
62

Modus Operandi

from Naz Hamid • Journal [alt+shift+b] in literature

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...
Hacked The post Hacked appeared first on The Perry Bible Fellowship.
5th Apr 2024
29

Hacked

from The Perry Bible Fellowship [alt+shift+b] in literature

5th Apr 2024
The post Hacked appeared first on The Perry Bible Fellowship.
✏️ A Second Shot It sunk in. Both the needle and the fact that life had indeed changed. I turned to my left and...
13th May 2021
18

✏️ A Second Shot

from Naz Hamid — Journal + Links [alt+shift+b] in literature

13th May 2021
It sunk in. Both the needle and the fact that life had indeed changed. I turned to my left and looked at her. She, the same Black woman who had administered the first, and this time I tucked her name away into my memory, having forgotten it in the excitement and overwhelming...
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
45

The Inner Game of Tennis

from ben-mini [alt+shift+b] in literature

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...
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
1

Let Cities Build Utopia—new drop!

from The Elysian [alt+shift+b] in literature

10th Feb 2026
My deep dive on the future of cities is now available as a print pamphlet, digital pamphlet, and audio essay.
Training for climbing (progress update) I am at the end of my second iteration of climbing training, and this is how it went and what I...
3rd Jun 2013
27

Training for climbing (progress update)

from Josh Thompson [alt+shift+b] in literature

3rd Jun 2013
I am at the end of my second iteration of climbing training, and this is how it went and what I learned: I completed the workout twelve times, but I took a twelve-day break between workout eleven and twelve. I first skipped a workout because I had ripped skin open on one of my...
5th Jan 2024
1st Jul 2026
✏️ Now Reopen for Business California re-opened on Tuesday and literally overnight, it feels like everything changed. And it...
17th Jun 2021
20

✏️ Now Reopen for Business

from Naz Hamid — Journal + Links [alt+shift+b] in literature

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...
New Martian Writing If you've enjoyed my writing about space over the years, I invite you to subscribe to my new...
26th Mar 2026
1

New Martian Writing

from Idle Words [alt+shift+b] in literature

26th Mar 2026
If you've enjoyed my writing about space over the years, I invite you to subscribe to my new substack newsletter, titled 'Mars for the Rest of Us', where I've been posting weekly essays on topics around Mars exploration. Here are two recent free posts: Musk on Mars: a...
[ESSAYS] The Seventh Year of Running my Membership Program Hello there. I’m Craig Mod. And we just entered Year Eight of my SPECIAL PROJECTS membership...
4th Feb 2026
1

[ESSAYS] The Seventh Year of Running my Membership Program

from Craig Mod — Writer + Photographer [alt+shift+b] in literature

4th Feb 2026
Hello there. I’m Craig Mod. And we just entered Year Eight of my SPECIAL PROJECTS membership program. Time passes, things get done. Here we are with seven giant years under our belt. Seven of the biggest years of my life, by far. Much of it, thanks to this membership program....
Inside Man A young reporter’s devastating exposé of the amoral elite The post Inside Man appeared first on The...
1st Jun 2026
1

Inside Man

from The American Scholar [alt+shift+b] in literature

1st Jun 2026
A young reporter’s devastating exposé of the amoral elite The post Inside Man appeared first on The American Scholar.
Anarchy (or, less provocatively, Mutuality and Co-Creation) In 2017, I read The Problem of Political Authority: An Examination of the Right to Coerce and the...
3rd May 2024
22

Anarchy (or, less provocatively, Mutuality and Co-Creation)

from Josh Thompson [alt+shift+b] in literature

3rd May 2024
In 2017, I read The Problem of Political Authority: An Examination of the Right to Coerce and the Duty to Obey; everything and nothing changed. Lots changed because all of I sudden, I could clearly label a dynamic that had always irked me. I could see that some people would avoid...
Risk-takers decide faster Unsurprising connection between risk and speed.
5th Nov 2024
44

Risk-takers decide faster

from sbensu [alt+shift+b] in literature

5th Nov 2024
Unsurprising connection between risk and speed.
Reading, forgetting When John Updike read À la recherche du temps perdu after having read Scott-Moncrieff's translation,...
10th Sep 2025
1

Reading, forgetting

from This Space [alt+shift+b] in literature

10th Sep 2025
When John Updike read À la recherche du temps perdu after having read Scott-Moncrieff's translation, he was surprised to find Proust less Proustian, the epithet we associate with flowery prose blossoming over prodigious sentences proliferating clause within clause. While I cannot...
[RIDGELINE] Full Days and the Long Walk Ridgeline subscribers — Hello from the other side of my ~220 kilometer walk through the Kiso...
27th Oct 2025
1

[RIDGELINE] Full Days and the Long Walk

from Craig Mod — Writer + Photographer [alt+shift+b] in literature

27th Oct 2025
Ridgeline subscribers — Hello from the other side of my ~220 kilometer walk through the Kiso Valley. I sent a shorter version of this newsletter as the last issue of the (the entire walk is) Between Two Mountains pop-up newsletter. This version is quite expanded. The archives of...
✏️ Forty Three On March 28th 2021, I turned 43. My second pandemic birthday, I turned 42 shortly after San...
14th Apr 2021
18

✏️ Forty Three

from Naz Hamid — Journal + Links [alt+shift+b] in literature

14th Apr 2021
On March 28th 2021, I turned 43. My second pandemic birthday, I turned 42 shortly after San Francisco went into lockdown. It feels like a lifetime has passed between now and then, and with a sense of deja vu, like it was yesterday. Except that I wasn't at home, and I was on the...
Days are enormous + personal update and reading recommendations
1st Apr 2026
1

Days are enormous

from Escaping Flatland [alt+shift+b] in literature

1st Apr 2026
+ personal update and reading recommendations
Typing for Programmers If you had to distill my ability to bring value to those around me, it would be “Josh types good”. I...
11th Dec 2016
22

Typing for Programmers

from Josh Thompson [alt+shift+b] in literature

11th Dec 2016
If you had to distill my ability to bring value to those around me, it would be “Josh types good”. I can press these magical little keys on this little metal box here, and make these words come out. If you’re reading these words, you don’t care how these words actually got on...
[RIDGELINE] Walk and Talk — The Portuguese Costal Camino Ridgeline subscribers — We were lucky. Maybe the luckiest group walking the Portuguese costal...
14th Apr 2026
1

[RIDGELINE] Walk and Talk — The Portuguese Costal Camino

from Craig Mod — Writer + Photographer [alt+shift+b] in literature

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...
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
43

The Unphotographable: Richard Adams on the Singular Magic of Autumn

from The Marginalian [alt+shift+b] in literature

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...
How I write essays Notes on process
4th Dec 2024
70

How I write essays

from Escaping Flatland [alt+shift+b] in literature

4th Dec 2024
Notes on process
John Quincy Adams on Impostor Syndrome and the True Measure of Success “You will never get any more out of life than you expect,” Bruce Lee wrote to himself. All...
3rd Jun 2024
99

John Quincy Adams on Impostor Syndrome and the True Measure of Success

from The Marginalian [alt+shift+b] in literature

3rd Jun 2024
“You will never get any more out of life than you expect,” Bruce Lee wrote to himself. All expectation is a story of the possible. Every person lives inside a story of who they are, what they are worth, and what is possible for their life, and suffers in proportion to how...
Morning ritual + reading recommendations
1st Feb 2024
45

Morning ritual

from Escaping Flatland [alt+shift+b] in literature

1st Feb 2024
+ reading recommendations
✏️ Notes at 46 Thoughts, observations, and new ways of approaching life that have been percolating since my last...
8th Apr 2024
18

✏️ Notes at 46

from Naz Hamid — Journal + Links [alt+shift+b] in literature

8th Apr 2024
Thoughts, observations, and new ways of approaching life that have been percolating since my last birthday: Owning a personal digital space is more important than ever before. Having come to the internet during a time when all it was were personal fan sites and journals, and the...
What comes after the nation-state? And how can we build safety nets without borders?
21st May 2026
1

What comes after the nation-state?

from The Elysian [alt+shift+b] in literature

21st May 2026
And how can we build safety nets without borders?
'Superintending What He Cannot Regulate' In my family we can’t get away from the “Y” chromosome. Having children is known as “going to the...
1st Jul 2025
29

'Superintending What He Cannot Regulate'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

1st Jul 2025
In my family we can’t get away from the “Y” chromosome. Having children is known as “going to the Y.” I have three sons, no daughters, and my brother, who died last summer, was my sole sibling. My mother had five brothers, no sisters. My father, two brothers, no sisters, etc....
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
1

Pas de médaille pour les résistants

from Ploum.net [alt+shift+b] in literature

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...
What I Read in June 2025 - A life of agony was all for naught. My summer plan was to read, short, easy books, and I almost succeeded.  I read short, difficult...
3rd Jul 2025
1

What I Read in June 2025 - A life of agony was all for naught.

from Wuthering Expectations [alt+shift+b] in literature

3rd Jul 2025
My summer plan was to read, short, easy books, and I almost succeeded.  I read short, difficult books in French, and accidentally read several grim, sad, violent books, alongside some playful nonsense.   FICTION The Field of Life and Death (1935), Xiao Hong – For example.  Ninety...
Carl Linnaeus’s Flower Clock “The eternal problem of the human being is how to structure his waking hours,” the Canadian...
2nd Apr 2025
56

Carl Linnaeus’s Flower Clock

from The Marginalian [alt+shift+b] in literature

2nd Apr 2025
“The eternal problem of the human being is how to structure his waking hours,” the Canadian psychiatrist Eric Berne observed in his 1964 classic Games People Play. Four centuries earlier, Galileo had both combated and complicated the problem by inventing timekeeping and with it,...
Ethos and imagination Milk Drop Coronet, an ultra-high-speed photograph of the splash of a drop of milk, Harold Edgerton,...
4th Nov 2024
66

Ethos and imagination

from Escaping Flatland [alt+shift+b] in literature

4th Nov 2024
Milk Drop Coronet, an ultra-high-speed photograph of the splash of a drop of milk, Harold Edgerton, 1957
✏️ To Comprehend To stand in a landscape that is hard to comprehend is to know that not all that should be celebrated...
14th Jul 2023
17

✏️ To Comprehend

from Naz Hamid — Journal + Links [alt+shift+b] in literature

14th Jul 2023
To stand in a landscape that is hard to comprehend is to know that not all that should be celebrated is human-made. To understand that to get here, it took hundreds, thousands, millions of denominations of time to render this environment is a lesson in a slow life that we’ve...
A Retrospective on Seven Months at Turing Collection of thoughts on Turing It’s the last week of Turing. I went through the backend software...
8th Aug 2017
19

A Retrospective on Seven Months at Turing

from Josh Thompson [alt+shift+b] in literature

8th Aug 2017
Collection of thoughts on Turing It’s the last week of Turing. I went through the backend software engineering program, and it’s been a journey. In no particular order, I’m throwing down thoughts in three general categories: What went well What didn’t go well What I might have...
A mighty contagious absence, part two On submission and resistance to AI-generated literature   To great writers, finished works weigh...
26th May 2025
1

A mighty contagious absence, part two

from This Space [alt+shift+b] in literature

26th May 2025
On submission and resistance to AI-generated literature   To great writers, finished works weigh lighter than those fragments on which they work throughout their lives. For only the more feeble and distracted take an inimitable pleasure in conclusions, feeling themselves...
AI and Internet Hygiene we are going to have to re-learn how to use the computer
1st Oct 2024
1

AI and Internet Hygiene

from the late review [alt+shift+b] in literature

1st Oct 2024
we are going to have to re-learn how to use the computer
Circles of Influence I was listening to a podcast today, where they said if you have problems knowing what to write...
5th Mar 2016
20

Circles of Influence

from Josh Thompson [alt+shift+b] in literature

5th Mar 2016
I was listening to a podcast today, where they said if you have problems knowing what to write about, or you’ve hit a block, write about something that angers you. This is easy. I could write about any number of things that we’ve all read in a newspaper, and get good and angry...
Intellectual Menopause I ran across the alarming phrase intellectual menopause a few months ago in John Gall’s...
16th Aug 2024
38

Intellectual Menopause

from ribbonfarm [alt+shift+b] in literature

16th Aug 2024
I ran across the alarming phrase intellectual menopause a few months ago in John Gall’s Systemantics, and it naturally stuck in my brain given I’m pushing 50 and getting predictably angsty about it. The phrase conjures up visions of a phenomenon much more profound and unfunny...
Your visions for the next Renaissance From our May writing prompt.
1st Aug 2024
85

Your visions for the next Renaissance

from The Elysian [alt+shift+b] in literature

1st Aug 2024
From our May writing prompt.
Trust and Procedural Fetishism I recently finished reading Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson. The book explains the...
14th Jun 2025
1

Trust and Procedural Fetishism

from ben-mini [alt+shift+b] in literature

14th Jun 2025
I recently finished reading Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson. The book explains the various missteps taken by the U.S. government that led us to where we are today: a bureaucratic sludge of policies and regulations that’s caused ambitious projects to go over budget...
Demonstration Junction Repair on Downing in Denver I was out and about by scooter a recent warm january saturday evening. Earlier in the week a few...
9th Dec 2025
1

Demonstration Junction Repair on Downing in Denver

from Josh Thompson [alt+shift+b] in literature

9th Dec 2025
I was out and about by scooter a recent warm january saturday evening. Earlier in the week a few companies had been operating drilling equipment in the area. I’m not sure what they were doing, but they were scattered all about the neighborhood. The work was done, but traffic...
Sticking With It A sobering chronicle of our toxic times The post Sticking With It appeared first on The American...
2nd Jun 2025
16

Sticking With It

from The American Scholar [alt+shift+b] in literature

2nd Jun 2025
A sobering chronicle of our toxic times The post Sticking With It appeared first on The American Scholar.
Baseline Loss What the days look like now. I buzzed my hair down today. I needed to baseline it. I still have a...
2nd Mar 2026
1

Baseline Loss

from Naz Hamid • Journal [alt+shift+b] in literature

2nd Mar 2026
What the days look like now. I buzzed my hair down today. I needed to baseline it. I still have a healthy amount of hair, but it’s going. I have a semblance of vanity, but I knew from my father’s own hair loss where mine would eventually head to (hahahaha). I’m not vain enough to...
Three Ways to Decide What to be When You Grow Up Recently, I have had to explain to people what is it that I want to do. This question is difficult...
20th Dec 2012
24

Three Ways to Decide What to be When You Grow Up

from Josh Thompson [alt+shift+b] in literature

20th Dec 2012
Recently, I have had to explain to people what is it that I want to do. This question is difficult to answer for two reasons. The first reason is I am not yet strongly pulled into a specific position. My ideal answer would be “I want to do X role at company Y.” Short. Concise....
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
86
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...
People are too big to fit inside our heads Notes on relationships, conversation, Dostoevsky, and Bakhtin
2nd Jun 2026
2

People are too big to fit inside our heads

from Escaping Flatland [alt+shift+b] in literature

2nd Jun 2026
Notes on relationships, conversation, Dostoevsky, and Bakhtin
On Returning The post On Returning appeared first on The American Scholar.
2nd Sep 2026
1

On Returning

from The American Scholar [alt+shift+b] in literature

2nd Sep 2026
The post On Returning appeared first on The American Scholar.
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
19

An Open Letter about Golden

from Josh Thompson [alt+shift+b] in literature

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....
#92 Kevin Hawkins on Project Quiver Kevin Hawkins is a bowyer based in North Carolina and moderator and owner of the Primitive Archer...
27th Aug 2026
1

#92 Kevin Hawkins on Project Quiver

from Salish Wolf [alt+shift+b] in literature

27th Aug 2026
Kevin Hawkins is a bowyer based in North Carolina and moderator and owner of the Primitive Archer Forum. He recently took over the Forum from the founders to preserve the community that has given so much to him as a bowyer and plans to maintain and update it so it can...
Fox and Bear: A Tender Modern Fable About Reversing the Anthropocene, Illustrated in Cut-Cardboard... An antidote to the civilizational compulsions that rob human nature of nature.
1st Jul 2023
55
1st Jul 2023
An antidote to the civilizational compulsions that rob human nature of nature.
Everybody Needs a Rock A new homepage and site improvements. Looking at the Colophon from it’s last update, I mentioned...
14th Feb 2026
1

Everybody Needs a Rock

from Naz Hamid • Journal [alt+shift+b] in literature

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...
Relationships are coevolutionary loops Looking for Alice, part 3
31st Oct 2023
33

Relationships are coevolutionary loops

from Escaping Flatland [alt+shift+b] in literature

31st Oct 2023
Looking for Alice, part 3
Our AI Midwife A guest post by Drew Housman
2nd Oct 2026
1

Our AI Midwife

from Astral Codex Ten [alt+shift+b] in literature

2nd Oct 2026
A guest post by Drew Housman
a week ago
1

Open Thread 458

from Astral Codex Ten [alt+shift+b] in literature

a week ago
...
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
35

Octavia Butler on Religion and the Spirituality of Symbiosis

from The Marginalian [alt+shift+b] in literature

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."
The Violence of God and the Hermeneutics of Paul Sometimes I (Josh) want to share around certain academic works. Sometimes its a PDF that I want...
8th Aug 2021
32

The Violence of God and the Hermeneutics of Paul

from Josh Thompson [alt+shift+b] in literature

8th Aug 2021
Sometimes I (Josh) want to share around certain academic works. Sometimes its a PDF that I want someone to download and read, sometimes it’s text from a book I’ve read, and cannot otherwise get a sharable format of. So, I laboriously take photos of pages, use an optical character...
HTTParty and to_json I was having some trouble debugging an HTTParty POST request. A few tools that were useful to...
12th Mar 2019
22

HTTParty and to_json

from Josh Thompson [alt+shift+b] in literature

12th Mar 2019
I was having some trouble debugging an HTTParty POST request. A few tools that were useful to me: post DEBUG info to STDOUT netcat to listen to HTTP requests locally I had this code: options = { headers: { "Content-Type": "application/json", authorization: "Bearer...
There Is No Antimemetics Division by qntm I’m a little late to the party, but I just finished the wonderfully imaginative There Is No...
3rd May 2024
36

There Is No Antimemetics Division by qntm

from ribbonfarm [alt+shift+b] in literature

3rd May 2024
I’m a little late to the party, but I just finished the wonderfully imaginative There Is No Antimemetics Division (2020) by qntm. The premise is that our world is full of things with antimemetic properties. An antimeme is “an idea with self-censoring properties; an idea which, by...
How To Write A Letter of Recommendation for Yourself I meet regularly with early-career software developers. A few recurring meetings, 1x/week, plus...
6th Aug 2020
28

How To Write A Letter of Recommendation for Yourself

from Josh Thompson [alt+shift+b] in literature

6th Aug 2020
I meet regularly with early-career software developers. A few recurring meetings, 1x/week, plus ad-hoc calls as needed with others. A question came up recently: My three-month internship is close to wrapping up. The Co-founder/CEO/lead developer of the consulting company I’m at...
Care doesn't scale Care Doesn’t Scale I met a social worker whose job was to look after four orphaned children. She’d...
24th Oct 2024
46

Care doesn't scale

from Steven Scrawls [alt+shift+b] in literature

24th Oct 2024
Care Doesn’t Scale I met a social worker whose job was to look after four orphaned children. She’d alternate with her coworkers spending 24 hours at a time living with the kids, effectively acting as their parent. The children, unsurprisingly, had a lot of trauma and so her job...
On having more interesting ideas, pt. 2 Cutlery designed by Salvador Dalí
11th Aug 2026
1

On having more interesting ideas, pt. 2

from Escaping Flatland [alt+shift+b] in literature

11th Aug 2026
Cutlery designed by Salvador Dalí
[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
1

[RODEN] Hark, a Book Appears!

from Craig Mod — Writer + Photographer [alt+shift+b] in literature

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...
Why schedule something that doesn't exist? The first thing I did when making this post is I set it to be published tomorrow. Then, I left the...
5th May 2016
22

Why schedule something that doesn't exist?

from Josh Thompson [alt+shift+b] in literature

5th May 2016
The first thing I did when making this post is I set it to be published tomorrow. Then, I left the room for a bit. I didn’t have anything to say. Or, I didn’t think I did. Yet, all over my computer, and in various list trackers and note-taking apps, I’ve got dozens of ideas to...
Beyond Curiosity I'm not sure he meant it that way. We were walking together in the shopping center. The central...
15th Jul 2025
1

Beyond Curiosity

from Naz Hamid • Journal [alt+shift+b] in literature

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...
Let's read the Terra Ignota series together Our summer reading is Ada Palmer's feat of utopian worldbuilding.
3rd Jul 2024
108

Let's read the Terra Ignota series together

from The Elysian [alt+shift+b] in literature

3rd Jul 2024
Our summer reading is Ada Palmer's feat of utopian worldbuilding.
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
22

Back in the saddle (of writing)

from Josh Thompson [alt+shift+b] in literature

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...
🔗 Eva Decker Eva Decker is a designer engineer who likes playing piano and writing CSS. Currently living in NYC...
6th Aug 2024
20

🔗 Eva Decker

from Naz Hamid — Journal + Links [alt+shift+b] in literature

6th Aug 2024
Eva Decker is a designer engineer who likes playing piano and writing CSS. Currently living in NYC with Samwise. — Eva Decker Visit original link → or View on nazhamid.com →
Self-help for cocoons and what's on my mind
7th Mar 2024
46

Self-help for cocoons

from Escaping Flatland [alt+shift+b] in literature

7th Mar 2024
and what's on my mind
Migrating my Jekyll site to Netlify Troubleshooting Netilify deploy Ugggh I moved intermediateruby.com to Netlify a few months ago in...
26th Sep 2021
23

Migrating my Jekyll site to Netlify

from Josh Thompson [alt+shift+b] in literature

26th Sep 2021
Troubleshooting Netilify deploy Ugggh I moved intermediateruby.com to Netlify a few months ago in like 10 minutes, so my primary site, josh.works, should take maybe 20, right? I’m a few hours deep. Here’s what I get when Netlify tries to build: I should have done the following...
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
11
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...
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
18

Climbing in Cuba, 2019

from Josh Thompson [alt+shift+b] in literature

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...
Maybe "Now" Is Not the Right Time Recently I deleted a bunch of old notes I had in Evernote. Some of the notes were almost immediately...
19th Jul 2015
25

Maybe "Now" Is Not the Right Time

from Josh Thompson [alt+shift+b] in literature

19th Jul 2015
Recently I deleted a bunch of old notes I had in Evernote. Some of the notes were almost immediately unneeded, like old receipts and confirmations.  Much of the rest was notes related to goals (“Checklist to move out of MD Apartment”, “Planning trip to Buenos Aires”) or to...
2018 In Review & Thoughts on 2019 I find a lot of value in other people’s reviews of their years. It’s the time of year to be...
5th May 2019
34

2018 In Review & Thoughts on 2019

from Josh Thompson [alt+shift+b] in literature

5th May 2019
I find a lot of value in other people’s reviews of their years. It’s the time of year to be contemplative and reflective on the last 12 months, so here we are. Note to reader: I’m posting this in May, 2019. I wrote it in late December, 2018, didn’t get around to finishing it up...
✏️ Midlife Malaise The past few days have felt heavy. In a weird headspace, floating in the middle of space between a...
8th Jun 2023
19

✏️ Midlife Malaise

from Naz Hamid — Journal + Links [alt+shift+b] in literature

8th Jun 2023
The past few days have felt heavy. In a weird headspace, floating in the middle of space between a destination or goal, or rather, a state I aspire to, but seeing a road ahead of which the length is unknown. It feels like a lot of things have been taken, removed, or no longer...
Million-Mile Tech Durability is the ultimate feature. I wrote in October last year that I wouldn’t upgrade my iPhone...
21st Oct 2025
1

Million-Mile Tech

from Naz Hamid • Journal [alt+shift+b] in literature

21st Oct 2025
Durability is the ultimate feature. I wrote in October last year that I wouldn’t upgrade my iPhone 14 Pro. That’s also not quite true. I did upgrade my phone — with a new battery and leather case. This isn’t what people typically think of when they say they upgraded their phone....
🔗 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
53

🔗 Rick Rubin on Listening

from Naz Hamid — Journal + Links [alt+shift+b] in literature

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...
Modality Switching Online I hate it when my dad leaves me a voicemail. Whenever I open my phone and see the pending voicemail,...
8th Jun 2024
26

Modality Switching Online

from ben-mini [alt+shift+b] in literature

8th Jun 2024
I hate it when my dad leaves me a voicemail. Whenever I open my phone and see the pending voicemail, I roll my eyes. He tends to meander. My dad’s messages can range from 40 seconds to 2 minutes. He typically wants to inform me of something, like an upcoming family event or an...
Take a part of the world that you love and give it your care Edward Weston, Armco Steel, Ohio, 1922
1st Apr 2025
44

Take a part of the world that you love and give it your care

from Escaping Flatland [alt+shift+b] in literature

1st Apr 2025
Edward Weston, Armco Steel, Ohio, 1922
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
20

Context Setting for certain patterns & classes of relationship difficulties

from Josh Thompson [alt+shift+b] in literature

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...
[RIDGELINE] A Few London Strolls Ridgeline subscribers — For the last ten days I’ve been walking around London. Mostly in a little...
8th Sep 2026
2

[RIDGELINE] A Few London Strolls

from Craig Mod — Writer + Photographer [alt+shift+b] in literature

8th Sep 2026
Ridgeline subscribers — For the last ten days I’ve been walking around London. Mostly in a little corner of it in the northeast part of the city. But can you even call a part a “corner” when the city extends in every direction without stopping? Whatever you call it, I’ve been in...
✏️ The New Design A few times a week, we get emails from students and young designers looking for an internship or...
21st May 2013
18

✏️ The New Design

from Naz Hamid — Journal + Links [alt+shift+b] in literature

21st May 2013
A few times a week, we get emails from students and young designers looking for an internship or full-time opportunities at the studio. We’re not quite ready in terms of needing outside help, so these are unsolicited inquiries. We don’t make any mention of not accepting them as...
Sara Huddleston on the Latino Vote in Iowa Last week I spoke with Sara Huddleston, candidate for Iowa state house in district 11 (Storm Lake)....
8th Aug 2020
18

Sara Huddleston on the Latino Vote in Iowa

from Idle Words [alt+shift+b] in literature

8th Aug 2020
Last week I spoke with Sara Huddleston, candidate for Iowa state house in district 11 (Storm Lake). A longtime community organizer and three-term city council member, she was the first Latina elected to a city council in the state of Iowa, and would be the first Latina to serve...
3rd Mar 2025
52

Open Thread 371

from Astral Codex Ten [alt+shift+b] in literature

3rd Mar 2025
...
🔗 Do you miss Twitter? Twitter remained fun for a bit after that, but it became harder to ignore that there was a dark...
3rd Jun 2024
20

🔗 Do you miss Twitter?

from Naz Hamid — Journal + Links [alt+shift+b] in literature

3rd Jun 2024
Twitter remained fun for a bit after that, but it became harder to ignore that there was a dark cloud emerging. And that for people that didn’t look like me, that cloud might’ve always been there. — Mike Monteiro Visit original link → or View on nazhamid.com →
High Variance Management How should you manage a team that is trying to achieve results out of the ordinary?
18th Jan 2023
27

High Variance Management

from sbensu [alt+shift+b] in literature

18th Jan 2023
How should you manage a team that is trying to achieve results out of the ordinary?
the perils of writing about oneself some essays about writing essays pt 2
5th Aug 2025
1

the perils of writing about oneself

from the late review [alt+shift+b] in literature

5th Aug 2025
some essays about writing essays pt 2
✏️ Grantland Day 22: Oct 1, 2023 — As we suspect, the weather reports prove wildly inaccurate. At 8,000 feet,...
1st Oct 2023
19

✏️ Grantland

from Naz Hamid — Journal + Links [alt+shift+b] in literature

1st Oct 2023
Day 22: Oct 1, 2023 — As we suspect, the weather reports prove wildly inaccurate. At 8,000 feet, we’re subject to alpine weather rules. Meaning, isolated storms can cycle in at anytime, and they do. Lightning flashes, thunder cracks. We sleep in fits and starts. I remove the...
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
28

APIs as ladders

from sbensu [alt+shift+b] in literature

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.
IMG_0416 Between 2009 and 2012, Apple iPhones and iPod Touches included a feature called “Send to YouTube”...
3rd Nov 2024
47

IMG_0416

from ben-mini [alt+shift+b] in literature

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...
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
54

The Shape of a Mars Mission

from Idle Words [alt+shift+b] in literature

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...
Even Christopher Nolan prefers 70mm film With all the technology in the world, sometimes the more beautiful thing is less of it.
4th Aug 2026
1

Even Christopher Nolan prefers 70mm film

from The Elysian [alt+shift+b] in literature

4th Aug 2026
With all the technology in the world, sometimes the more beautiful thing is less of it.
Thoughts on agency If anyone is in the mood for a video call, I would like to get a few of you together on Saturday at...
12th Jun 2024
106

Thoughts on agency

from Escaping Flatland [alt+shift+b] in literature

12th Jun 2024
If anyone is in the mood for a video call, I would like to get a few of you together on Saturday at 6 pm CET (9 am PST). Like last time, I’ll prepare a few questions (probably relating to today’s post since that is top of mind) but mostly we’ll just talk about whatever comes up....
3rd Nov 2025
[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
1

[RODEN] New Japan, NYC, Soderbergh Bonanza, Too Much Movement

from Craig Mod — Writer + Photographer [alt+shift+b] in literature

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...
The third annual Elysian print volume is here One year of my work, printed for collectors.
9th Dec 2025
2

The third annual Elysian print volume is here

from The Elysian [alt+shift+b] in literature

9th Dec 2025
One year of my work, printed for collectors.
La justesse au lieu de l’exactitude La justesse au lieu de l’exactitude Où je parle de hockey sous-marin, d’avions militaires et du...
14th Oct 2025
1

La justesse au lieu de l’exactitude

from Ploum.net [alt+shift+b] in literature

14th Oct 2025
La justesse au lieu de l’exactitude Où je parle de hockey sous-marin, d’avions militaires et du pourrissement des oranges punks. L’arbitraire de l’arbitrage C’est un fait historique peu connu, mais j’ai, brièvement, été arbitre sportif. J’ai en effet arbitré des matchs de...
Content but Restless There is tension between being content with what you have, and striving for more. We have all heard...
3rd Sep 2013
21

Content but Restless

from Josh Thompson [alt+shift+b] in literature

3rd Sep 2013
There is tension between being content with what you have, and striving for more. We have all heard the “serenity prayer”: God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, The courage to change the things I can, And wisdom to know the difference. This prayer is...
Book Review - Owning Your Own Shadow The shadow of the human psyche cannot be overlooked in a thorough exploration of personal...
16th Jan 2020
26

Book Review - Owning Your Own Shadow

from Blog - Anchorpointexpeditions.com [alt+shift+b] in literature

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...
Sunday Scrawl #1: Learning Not to Know Sunday Scrawl #1: Learning Not to Know When my parents sat me down in the living room the night...
30th Nov 2025
2

Sunday Scrawl #1: Learning Not to Know

from Steven Scrawls [alt+shift+b] in literature

30th Nov 2025
Sunday Scrawl #1: Learning Not to Know When my parents sat me down in the living room the night before I was supposed to leave for college, I thought they were going to tell me they were getting a divorce. At the time, it was the most terrifying upheaval I could imagine. Instead,...
Welcome to Anchor Point Blog I am starting this blog for one primary reason: my belief that self-discovery does not have to be...
17th Nov 2019
22

Welcome to Anchor Point Blog

from Blog - Anchorpointexpeditions.com [alt+shift+b] in literature

17th Nov 2019
I am starting this blog for one primary reason: my belief that self-discovery does not have to be a solo journey. Through this blog men can connect to resources that will help to enhance their personal development. Many of these resources have deeply impacted my growth, and...
'A Frangible and Transparent Failure' The title poem in Anthony Hecht’s 1979 collection The Venetian Vespers is a dramatic...
1st Oct 2026
1

'A Frangible and Transparent Failure'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

1st Oct 2026
The title poem in Anthony Hecht’s 1979 collection The Venetian Vespers is a dramatic monologue spoken by an aging American expatriate living in Venice. Across its roughly eight-hundred lines the speaker gives the impression of fleeing something left unstated – not a scandal or...
3rd Nov 2025
'Leaves Must Be Green in Spring' The Battle of Malvern Hill was fought near Richmond, Va., the capital of the Confederacy, on July 1,...
1st Jul 2026
1

'Leaves Must Be Green in Spring'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

1st Jul 2026
The Battle of Malvern Hill was fought near Richmond, Va., the capital of the Confederacy, on July 1, 1862. Not as well remembered as Antietam or Gettysburg, it was the last of the Seven Days Battles in the Peninsula Campaign, and prompted Confederate General Daniel H. Hill to...
1st Dec 2025
1

Open Thread 410

from Astral Codex Ten [alt+shift+b] in literature

1st Dec 2025
...
Everything is a Spreadsheet Revisiting an old 2020 Invest Like the Best podcast that interviews John Collision, co-founder of...
9th Nov 2025
1

Everything is a Spreadsheet

from ben-mini [alt+shift+b] in literature

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...
Creating a global safety net without nation-states A Guest Lecture featuring Sondre Rasch, co-founder and CEO of SafetyWing.
3rd Jun 2025
38

Creating a global safety net without nation-states

from The Elysian [alt+shift+b] in literature

3rd Jun 2025
A Guest Lecture featuring Sondre Rasch, co-founder and CEO of SafetyWing.
Creative kernels Artists can often trace entire pieces around one idea that drives everything else.
1st Jul 2024
24

Creative kernels

from sbensu [alt+shift+b] in literature

1st Jul 2024
Artists can often trace entire pieces around one idea that drives everything else.
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
21

Upgrade your job

from Josh Thompson [alt+shift+b] in literature

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...
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
49

Book Review - Dancing Naked in the Mind Field

from Blog - Anchorpointexpeditions.com [alt+shift+b] in literature

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...
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