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22nd Oct 2021
Cities should own their land—like Vienna and Amsterdam Land autonomy beats governance autonomy every time.
2nd Mar 2026
1

Cities should own their land—like Vienna and Amsterdam

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

2nd Mar 2026
Land autonomy beats governance autonomy every time.
Quality, Maintenance & Craft We are shokunin. Last week I was in Ojai, California, for True’s Founder Camp.[1] James Freeman,...
12th Mar 2025
57

Quality, Maintenance & Craft

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

12th Mar 2025
We are shokunin. Last week I was in Ojai, California, for True’s Founder Camp.[1] James Freeman, founder of Blue Bottle Coffee was in conversation with Jeff Veen, and one of the attendees asked him: “How do you maintain such high quality?” Freeman answers, “‘Maintaining’ is a...
2 weeks ago
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
Issues related to the city of Golden While I was biking around recently, I saw notes about an upcoming neighborhood meeting about some...
26th Jul 2021
27

Issues related to the city of Golden

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

26th Jul 2021
While I was biking around recently, I saw notes about an upcoming neighborhood meeting about some rezoning, a big lot in downtown Golden. I went to the meeting (Thursday, July 22) and learned a lot. Here’s the lot in question: I have ridden my bike past this property hundreds of...
20 years of Linux on the Desktop (part 4) 20 years of Linux on the Desktop (part 4) Previously in "20 years of Linux on the Deskop": After...
23rd Jul 2025
1

20 years of Linux on the Desktop (part 4)

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

23rd Jul 2025
20 years of Linux on the Desktop (part 4) 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. In the meantime, mobile computing...
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.
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...
Good Vibrations One eccentric’s desert landmark allows visitors to bathe in sound The post Good Vibrations appeared...
15th Apr 2024
56

Good Vibrations

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

15th Apr 2024
One eccentric’s desert landmark allows visitors to bathe in sound The post Good Vibrations appeared first on The American Scholar.
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
4th May 2026
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
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...
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...
1st Jul 2022
Claude is kicking ChatGPT’s butt (in one thing) Back in high school, I remember receiving an email for a study guide from a friend. Instead of the...
15th Jul 2025
1

Claude is kicking ChatGPT’s butt (in one thing)

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

15th Jul 2025
Back in high school, I remember receiving an email for a study guide from a friend. Instead of the PDF coming attached, it was a link to a site called Dropbox. Upon opening the file, you create an account. From there you’re introduced to a feature stack that went well beyond any...
[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
1

[RIDGELINE] Driving the Tōkaidō

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

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...
Fade to Blue Redesigning as a method of interrogation. Okay, okay, okay. I did it again. Sometimes you design a...
24th Jun 2026
1

Fade to Blue

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

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'...
1st Jul 2026
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....
New Year, Old Year The post New Year, Old Year appeared first on The American Scholar.
1st Jan 2025
59

New Year, Old Year

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

1st Jan 2025
The post New Year, Old Year appeared first on The American Scholar.
Latent Co. is Forming An homage to the Mac Ryan Carver, Juan Pablo Zambrano, and I have formed Latent Co., a software...
2nd Dec 2025
1

Latent Co. is Forming

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

2nd Dec 2025
An homage to the Mac Ryan Carver, Juan Pablo Zambrano, and I have formed Latent Co., a software company. Driven by the creative tooling we’ve cut our teeth on and drawing on our product and imaging experience, we’re making a product for Mac. Ryan and I go back a while: Typekit,...
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...
History before Shakespeare - The Famous Victories of Henry V - he hath taken the great raze of... The establishment in the 1570s of permanent theaters just outside of the walls of London led to a...
8th Nov 2025
1
8th Nov 2025
The establishment in the 1570s of permanent theaters just outside of the walls of London led to a massive increase in the demand for new plays.  Every available source of stories was looted.  English history proved to be especially popular or at least easy to adapt to the...
Protests and Power In August 2020, the New York Times asked me to write an op-ed for a special feature on...
4th Oct 2020
19

Protests and Power

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

4th Oct 2020
In August 2020, the New York Times asked me to write an op-ed for a special feature on authoritarianism and democracy. They declined to publish my submission, which I am sharing here instead. When the George Floyd protests began to spread nationally in the summer of 2020, I...
✏️ 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...
Write Like a Human Collaborative writing is rewarding. In the past few months, I’ve been writing a lot. Not as much...
13th Jul 2026
4

Write Like a Human

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

13th Jul 2026
Collaborative writing is rewarding. In the past few months, I’ve been writing a lot. Not as much here, but for Aphera. Between our newsletter, blog, direct email feedback, and social media networks, I might spin up a draft and then bounce it off Ryan and Juan, or we volley it...
'So a Fool Returneth to His Folly' Grownups seldom credit children with insight into human psychology, thus treating them as smaller,...
1st Apr 2025
46

'So a Fool Returneth to His Folly'

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

1st Apr 2025
Grownups seldom credit children with insight into human psychology, thus treating them as smaller, more annoying versions of themselves. My father had an acquaintance even he knew was a fool. By admitting such knowledge, he was violating adult solidarity. His friend's customary...
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
91

Wherever You Are, Stop What You’re Doing

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

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...
Social Development > Self-Development We need one much more than the other.
1st Jan 2025
72

Social Development > Self-Development

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

1st Jan 2025
We need one much more than the other.
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
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...
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
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...
#11 Jen Segger on Adventure Racing, Endurance Coaching, and Pain as an Option Jen Segger has traveled the globe competing as a world-class adventure racing athlete. She has,...
2nd Jul 2020
1
2nd Jul 2020
Jen Segger has traveled the globe competing as a world-class adventure racing athlete. She has, for year after year, for nearly 2 decades, pushed her body to the extremes of what the human body is capable of enduring. And now, on the brink of 40, she is showing little sign...
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...
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...
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...
The intimate outside When this post from Max Cairnduff appeared I had been reading Heidegger's lectures on Hölderlin's...
31st Jan 2026
1

The intimate outside

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

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...
the hairshirt doldrums on having a brain injury
6th Mar 2025
1

the hairshirt doldrums

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

6th Mar 2025
on having a brain injury
Metanational corporations are redesigning the world map Parag Khanna on metanational corporations and how they are opening borders, reshaping geopolitics,...
2nd Feb 2025
58

Metanational corporations are redesigning the world map

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

2nd Feb 2025
Parag Khanna on metanational corporations and how they are opening borders, reshaping geopolitics, and creating a world of interconnected city-states.
✏️ Music is Memory Stone Temple Pilots’ “Kitchenware & Candybars” comes on, and suddenly I'm 17 again, driving...
3rd Sep 2024
20

✏️ Music is Memory

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

3rd Sep 2024
Stone Temple Pilots’ “Kitchenware & Candybars” comes on, and suddenly I'm 17 again, driving underneath the amber glow of late-night deserted streets in Kuala Lumpur. I can feel the sharp air conditioning in the car against my skin, keeping the tropical heat and humidity outside...
Pry Tips and Tricks the following is cross-posted from development.wombatsecurity.com. I wrote about some handy extra...
7th May 2018
20

Pry Tips and Tricks

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

7th May 2018
the following is cross-posted from development.wombatsecurity.com. I wrote about some handy extra features I’ve found using Pry much of my day. I joined the Wombat team a few months ago, and have been working on the threatsim product. We had a bit of a bug backlog, and myself and...
Idea Labs! An open thread for collaborative worldbuilding Let's brainstorm the future together.
22nd Mar 2024
58

Idea Labs! An open thread for collaborative worldbuilding

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

22nd Mar 2024
Let's brainstorm the future together.
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....
Have the Coffee Carve space out for opportunity. After speaking in Kuala Lumpur last week, people stayed to discuss...
9th Sep 2025
1

Have the Coffee

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

9th Sep 2025
Carve space out for opportunity. After speaking in Kuala Lumpur last week, people stayed to discuss the topics we’d covered, forming a small group. Building community was a weighty topic during the event, with myself, host Shaza Hakim, and many attendees speaking to it. In this...
Natale Adgnot Country couture The post Natale Adgnot appeared first on The American Scholar.
3rd Nov 2025
12

Natale Adgnot

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

3rd Nov 2025
Country couture The post Natale Adgnot appeared first on The American Scholar.
I Once Worked Hard When I began working at my first job out of college, I knew I didn’t want to spend my whole career...
12th Apr 2013
23

I Once Worked Hard

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

12th Apr 2013
When I began working at my first job out of college, I knew I didn’t want to spend my whole career there. I was a college graduate (that means something, right?) working at a climbing gym, part time, teaching seven-year-olds how to climb at about $10 an hour. I had no idea what I...
'The Things Which Make a Life of Ease' R.L. Barth, our finest living epigrammist (admittedly, not a vast job description), has sent me his...
1st Jun 2025
38

'The Things Which Make a Life of Ease'

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

1st Jun 2025
R.L. Barth, our finest living epigrammist (admittedly, not a vast job description), has sent me his translation of a well-known epigram by Martial, the Roman master of the pithy form. Bob found it among his papers and doesn’t remember making it. “[T]ranslating something [Ben]...
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
25

Why Your Belayer is Keeping You from Climbing Hard(er)

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

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...
Medina de Rioseco The post Medina de Rioseco appeared first on The American Scholar.
1st Jul 2026
1

Medina de Rioseco

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

1st Jul 2026
The post Medina de Rioseco appeared first on The American Scholar.
Why Not Mars For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot...
1st Jan 2023
33

Why Not Mars

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

1st Jan 2023
For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled. — Richard Feynman Entrance to underground cavern on Pavonis Mons. HiRISE, 2011 The goal of this essay is to persuade you that we shouldn’t send human...
Drift Right now it is April 18 and I am walking along the steep coast at the peninsula on the Northeastern...
1st May 2025
30

Drift

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

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.
I want to love fiction I want to love fiction I want to love fiction. I want to love both reading and writing fiction. I...
14th Apr 2024
27

I want to love fiction

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

14th Apr 2024
I want to love fiction I want to love fiction. I want to love both reading and writing fiction. I want to obsess over the craft of fiction, to pore over characterization and structure, to create stories that radiate color and humanity and hope. I want fiction to be a tool for...
'On the Plains of Poland' On August 23, 1939, Hitler and Stalin agreed to the secret non-aggression Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact....
2 weeks ago
1

'On the Plains of Poland'

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

2 weeks ago
On August 23, 1939, Hitler and Stalin agreed to the secret non-aggression Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. The Germans invaded Poland from the west nine days later, on September 1, 1939. On September 17, the Soviet Union invaded from the east. The battle was over, Poland subdued, by...
Change your MAC address with a shell script For a while, I’ve had notes from Change or Spoof a MAC Address in Windows or OS X saved, so if I am...
18th Dec 2019
27

Change your MAC address with a shell script

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

18th Dec 2019
For a while, I’ve had notes from Change or Spoof a MAC Address in Windows or OS X saved, so if I am using a wifi connection that limits me to thirty minutes or an hour or whatever, I can “spoof” a new MAC address, and when I re-connect to the wifi, the access point thinks I’m on...
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.
[RIDGELINE] Happy New Year With a Side of Fries Ridgeline subscribers — Hello from Denny’s. Happy new year. You can tell it’s January first, because...
1st Jan 2026
1

[RIDGELINE] Happy New Year With a Side of Fries

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

1st Jan 2026
Ridgeline subscribers — Hello from Denny’s. Happy new year. You can tell it’s January first, because I’m at Denny’s. I woke up and made a nice coffee and did some accounting (as one does) and went to my local shrine in Tokyo and bowbowclapclapbow’d and then I was off! Tramping...
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
47

On Looking: Poet Lia Purpura on the Art of Noticing

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

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...
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.
23rd Jul 2026
Fred Roger's Method For Writing Scripts Someone said: People think this is silly, but read about Fred rogers’ method for writing a script...
30th Sep 2020
28

Fred Roger's Method For Writing Scripts

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

30th Sep 2020
Someone said: People think this is silly, but read about Fred rogers’ method for writing a script for his show. The rules aren’t fully applicable to presentations, but the attention to detail and to the Interpretation of the audience is. Don’t use any words carelessly. I...
Rage, Muse The novels that revisit Greek myths, giving voice to the women who were scorned, wronged, or...
1st Aug 2024
84

Rage, Muse

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

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.
Things to be Happy About & Perfect Software Happy to share a new project: Things to be Happy About - things.ben-mini.com. It’s a daily blog...
27th Dec 2025
1

Things to be Happy About & Perfect Software

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

27th Dec 2025
Happy to share a new project: Things to be Happy About - things.ben-mini.com. It’s a daily blog where I simply write five things to be happy about. Back in college, I had a tiny whiteboard outside my dorm where I did the same exercise. I also brought it to my cabin as a camp...
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
1
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,...
✏️ 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...
On Friction warning. self-indulgeant diatribe coming. I generally try to avoid these, but it’s my website, and I...
20th Dec 2017
22

On Friction

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

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 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!
Invasion of the Universe I wonder how many of those of us who write exclusively on literature and read only novels, poetry,...
14th May 2026
1

Invasion of the Universe

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

14th May 2026
I wonder how many of those of us who write exclusively on literature and read only novels, poetry, literary criticism and occasionally into related subjects, have an otherwise unaccountable curiosity with another beyond the literary horizon. Many, I imagine. I'm not talking about...
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.
'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...
fear of breakdown a psychopolitical theory
11th May 2026
2

fear of breakdown

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

11th May 2026
a psychopolitical theory
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...
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.
Book Review - The Surrender Experiment With the book The Surrender Experiment, author Michael (Mickey) Singer, gives us a gift. In this...
6th Apr 2020
39

Book Review - The Surrender Experiment

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

6th Apr 2020
With the book The Surrender Experiment, author Michael (Mickey) Singer, gives us a gift. In this eloquently penned biography of his “journey into life’s perfection”, he demonstrates the beauty that life can provide for us when we are not solely guided by our logical,...
Leashed The post Leashed appeared first on The American Scholar.
1st Oct 2025
17

Leashed

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

1st Oct 2025
The post Leashed appeared first on The American Scholar.
Every country ranked from best to worst A report card for the whole world.
2nd Sep 2025
37

Every country ranked from best to worst

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

2nd Sep 2025
A report card for the whole world.
Books of the year 2024 In order of being read. Giorgio Agamben – What I saw, heard, learned… One night, along Venice’s...
15th Dec 2024
1

Books of the year 2024

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

15th Dec 2024
In order of being read. Giorgio Agamben – What I saw, heard, learned… One night, along Venice’s Zattere, watching the putrid water lap at the city’s foundations, I saw that we exist solely in the intermittence of our being, and that what we call I is just a shadow...
[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
1

[RIDGELINE] The Shops Atop the Canal in Toyohashi

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

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...
Dizzying but Invisible Depth The following is from https://plus.google.com/+JeanBaptisteQueru/posts/dfydM2Cnepe, but Google+ is...
16th Jan 2021
26

Dizzying but Invisible Depth

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

16th Jan 2021
The following is from https://plus.google.com/+JeanBaptisteQueru/posts/dfydM2Cnepe, but Google+ is shutdown, so it’s not easily sharable. I’m reposting here because this is such a useful post. Dizzying but invisible depth You just went to the Google home page. Simple, isn’t...
Humanity from the perspective of robots Talking points for our literary salon next week.
1st May 2024
90

Humanity from the perspective of robots

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

1st May 2024
Talking points for our literary salon next week.
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
1

What I Read in September 2025 – A hand that taught what might be said in rhyme

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

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...
Supposedly-Deceased Intellectuals Found Living at Resort ‘Small Village’ of Supposedly-Deceased Intellectuals Found Alive, Thriving at Caribbean...
8th Aug 2024
39

Supposedly-Deceased Intellectuals Found Living at Resort

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

8th Aug 2024
‘Small Village’ of Supposedly-Deceased Intellectuals Found Alive, Thriving at Caribbean Resort Gabriel Martinez, a 35-year-old confectioner living in the Cayman Islands, thought he was posting a simple promotional photo when he snapped a picture of his ‘cocoa-banana-surprise’ and...
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
100

On Scooters as a class of vehicle/tool

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

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...
Real Wood AI makes particle board. As a child, woodworking was part of my school’s curriculum. One of our...
20th Apr 2026
1

Real Wood

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

20th Apr 2026
AI makes particle board. As a child, woodworking was part of my school’s curriculum. One of our projects was making a simple sailboat, with the kind of shape and blockiness of those wood toys you see for little kids. From a solid block, we chiseled out the center cavity where the...
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
26

2020 Annual Review

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

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...
Book Review - Showboat: The Life of Kobe Bryant In the book Showboat: The Life of Kobe Bryant, author Roland Lazenby meticulously shares the...
29th Mar 2020
33

Book Review - Showboat: The Life of Kobe Bryant

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

29th Mar 2020
In the book Showboat: The Life of Kobe Bryant, author Roland Lazenby meticulously shares the journey of Kobe Bryant, from ancestral influences up through his final game in the NBA. He is a clear fan of Kobe’s inarguable work ethic, but he allows readers to reinforce their...
[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
1

[RIDGELINE] Kazunori Hamana in Apartamento

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

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...
In Florida, the Pitch Is High and Hard A special Senate committee has opened an investigation into these “Misery Acres” that take dollars...
29th Mar 2023
23

In Florida, the Pitch Is High and Hard

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

29th Mar 2023
A special Senate committee has opened an investigation into these “Misery Acres” that take dollars from people who cannot afford it.
Hold the Salt Reconsidering an ancient city's bad reputation The post Hold the Salt appeared first on The American...
1st Dec 2025
2

Hold the Salt

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

1st Dec 2025
Reconsidering an ancient city's bad reputation The post Hold the Salt appeared first on The American Scholar.
The Power Broker, Chapter 30: Robert Moses and Mayor Vincent R. Impellitteri Note from Josh: The following is an excerpt of chapter 34 of the Power Broker, called “Moses and the...
5th Aug 2023
24
5th Aug 2023
Note from Josh: The following is an excerpt of chapter 34 of the Power Broker, called “Moses and the Mayors”. The chapter is about Moses’ relationship with all of the mayors of NYC that overlapped with Moses’ “rule” over NYC. This excerpt covers just one of the mayors’ overlap...
✏️ Notes at 45 As I sit squarely in my mid-40s, I’ve gained valuable perspectives, learnings, and understandings....
12th Apr 2023
17

✏️ Notes at 45

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

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,...
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...
“Dead Man’s Hand” The post “Dead Man’s Hand” appeared first on The American Scholar.
4th Aug 2025
31

“Dead Man’s Hand”

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

4th Aug 2025
The post “Dead Man’s Hand” appeared first on The American Scholar.
Word Rot Word Rot Unless you are extraordinarily unfortunate, every problem you ever face will have been...
12th Dec 2023
23

Word Rot

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

12th Dec 2023
Word Rot Unless you are extraordinarily unfortunate, every problem you ever face will have been faced in some form by someone who came before you. That person may have already shared the story of that challenge, and that story might have melded with other tales to form collective...
Book Review - Iron John Iron John by Robert Bly is a classic book about men. It has legions of ardent fans, but I...
15th Dec 2019
38

Book Review - Iron John

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

15th Dec 2019
Iron John by Robert Bly is a classic book about men. It has legions of ardent fans, but I reluctantly admit I am not one of the more zealous. Although the book has high points – the classic story of Iron John as put down by the Grimm brothers stands out to me, as well as an...
[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....
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.
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...
#9 Luke Gifford on the Hero’s Journey, Shadow Work, and Childhood Trauma Occasionally a person enters my life who I know almost instantly is going to have a profound...
8th Jun 2020
1
8th Jun 2020
Occasionally a person enters my life who I know almost instantly is going to have a profound impact on my personal journey. My guest in this episode, Luke Gifford, is one of those people. From our ‘non-chance’ encounter almost 2 years ago at a personal growth event, we...
Bubbled The post Bubbled appeared first on The Perry Bible Fellowship.
1st Mar 2025
52

Bubbled

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

1st Mar 2025
The post Bubbled appeared first on The Perry Bible Fellowship.
The way of arrival Two intellectual memoirs dominated my reading over Spring, three if WG Sebald's Silent Catastrophes...
8th Jul 2025
1

The way of arrival

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

8th Jul 2025
Two intellectual memoirs dominated my reading over Spring, three if WG Sebald's Silent Catastrophes can be included given that its analysis of the careers of various Austrian writers illuminates Sebald's own literary trajectory.1 Peter Brown's Journeys of a Mind: A Life in...
Planned Unit Design Document (work-in-progress) This is a draft document, meant for circulation, will evolve with time and eventually be something...
1st Oct 2021
23

Planned Unit Design Document (work-in-progress)

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

1st Oct 2021
This is a draft document, meant for circulation, will evolve with time and eventually be something we bring to the City of Golden for ratification, or whatever needs to happen to get this done in this zone. This document relates to Collateralizing Mortgages and Loans With the...
✏️ 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
17

✏️ Boy Meets Girl

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

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 Tragedy of Hoffman by Henry Chettle - The first step to revenge His father hanged by the neck until dead for the high crime of piracy, Hoffman vows Revenge! on the...
7th Apr 2026
1

The Tragedy of Hoffman by Henry Chettle - The first step to revenge

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

7th Apr 2026
His father hanged by the neck until dead for the high crime of piracy, Hoffman vows Revenge! on the duke who executed his father.  By chance the duke’s son is shipwrecked exactly where Hoffman is keeping Hoffman, Sr.’s corpse hanging on the wall of a cave, so Hoffman tortures and...
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
31

Blink Twice to Quell a Quasar: Carl Sagan on Superstition

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

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...
2nd Jun 2026
Array divergence in Ruby Lets say you have a list of valid items, and you want to run another array against it, and pull out...
2nd Feb 2018
22

Array divergence in Ruby

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

2nd Feb 2018
Lets say you have a list of valid items, and you want to run another array against it, and pull out the items that don’t match. You don’t want to iterate through all of the items in one array, calling other_array.include?(item). (That’s computationally expensive) valid_people =...
Morning ritual + reading recommendations
1st Feb 2024
45

Morning ritual

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

1st Feb 2024
+ reading recommendations
1st May 2022
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.”...
[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...
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
After Love: Maxine Kumin’s Stunning Poem About Eros as a Portal to Unselfing It is one of the hardest things in life — discerning where we end and the rest of the world begins,...
3rd Oct 2023
32
3rd Oct 2023
It is one of the hardest things in life — discerning where we end and the rest of the world begins, negotiating the permeable boundary between self and other, all the while longing for its dissolution, longing to be set free from the prison of ourselves. That is why we cherish...
A fundamental deprivation: Montevideo by Enrique Vila-Matas Perhaps all novels seek to converge on a single point.  The thought occurred to me as I read...
16th Apr 2026
1

A fundamental deprivation: Montevideo by Enrique Vila-Matas

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

16th Apr 2026
Perhaps all novels seek to converge on a single point.  The thought occurred to me as I read Vila-Matas' Montevideo, translated by Sophie Hughes and Annie McDermott. A random thought, apparently, but also the kind of thought provoked by the passion of observation, anecdote and...
No safe landing A review of A Winter in Zürau and Partita by Gabriel Josipovici   Gabriel Josipovici has said that...
5th Oct 2024
1

No safe landing

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

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...
3rd Nov 2025
Offpunk 3.0 "A Community is Born" Release Offpunk 3.0 "A Community is Born" Release For the last four years, I’ve been developing Offpunk, a...
9th Feb 2026
1

Offpunk 3.0 "A Community is Born" Release

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

9th Feb 2026
Offpunk 3.0 "A Community is Born" Release For the last four years, I’ve been developing Offpunk, a command-line Web, Gemini, and Gopher browser that allows you to work offline. And I’ve just released version 3.0. It is probably not for everyone, but I use it every single day. I...
✏️ Pound, rub, pound It’s something like midnight. A four-and-a-half-pound senior Chihuahua is tucked into her blanket...
21st Nov 2021
19

✏️ Pound, rub, pound

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

21st Nov 2021
It’s something like midnight. A four-and-a-half-pound senior Chihuahua is tucked into her blanket and snuggled up next to my left rib cage inside my sleeping bag. Jen is asleep beside us. It’s 35°F. We have myriad layers happening: Jen wears a down jacket inside her sleeping bag...
1st Jun 2025
"A delicate mix of chess... and bear wrestling" Over the last few weeks I’ve found myself needing to break down “why” of sport climbing (I’ll refer...
2nd Nov 2014
20

"A delicate mix of chess... and bear wrestling"

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

2nd Nov 2014
Over the last few weeks I’ve found myself needing to break down “why” of sport climbing (I’ll refer to sport as “lead” climbing from here on out. Sorry, trad climbers). If someone is enjoying top roping, (or bouldering) why should they take on the work of learning to lead climb,...
[RIDGELINE] Overtourism in Japan, and How it Hurts Small Businesses Ridgeline subscribers — I’m Craig Mod and I’ve been buuuuuuurnt out this last month following my...
10th Jul 2025
1

[RIDGELINE] Overtourism in Japan, and How it Hurts Small Businesses

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

10th Jul 2025
Ridgeline subscribers — I’m Craig Mod and I’ve been buuuuuuurnt out this last month following my epic Things Become Other Things mega book tour. Finally, I’m gingerly emerging from my recovery cave. (But reserve the right to retreat again.) Here’s a fresh dispatch — in praise of...
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
19

On Cleaner Controllers

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

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...
This Space of Writing ten years on Today in 2015 my blog-collection This Space of Writing was published as a book. An ideal Christmas...
11th Dec 2025
1

This Space of Writing ten years on

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

11th Dec 2025
Today in 2015 my blog-collection This Space of Writing was published as a book. An ideal Christmas gift. Not a happy memory to be honest; an editor would have made it a better book. However, I can't fault the cover design, and I was lucky to have Flowerville's permission to use...
8th Jul 2026
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
20

Streets in Asheville

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

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...
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
33

History is More Like Science Fiction Than Fantasy

from ribbonfarm [alt+shift+b] in literature

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...
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
Denver Botanic Gardens - What, How, Why I recently got access to a delightful amenity, based on where I live. I’ve been sharing it with...
2nd Jun 2024
35

Denver Botanic Gardens - What, How, Why

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

2nd Jun 2024
I recently got access to a delightful amenity, based on where I live. I’ve been sharing it with others as quickly as possible, because they too have access to it. From here on out, when I reference “botanic gardens” or “the gardens”, I’m referencing the Denver Botanic Gardens,...
`ls` command to show directory contents I like to use the tree command on my local machine when trying to peek into the structure and...
3rd Oct 2018
23

`ls` command to show directory contents

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

3rd Oct 2018
I like to use the tree command on my local machine when trying to peek into the structure and contents of a given directory. tree -L 2 will [L]ist recursively everything [2] levels deep from your current directory. The output is nicely formatted like this: > tree -L 2 . ├──...
🔗 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...
On mentors What is it that motivates someone to take on someone and help them grow? Why do some learners have...
8th Nov 2023
35

On mentors

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

8th Nov 2023
What is it that motivates someone to take on someone and help them grow? Why do some learners have that privilege?
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...
Designing for support teams Support agents spend their entire lives using the same software. Their needs are very different from...
5th Feb 2024
23

Designing for support teams

from sbensu [alt+shift+b] in literature

5th Feb 2024
Support agents spend their entire lives using the same software. Their needs are very different from consumer software. Here are some things to keep in mind.
#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....
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
89

Love and the Sacred

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

3rd Jan 2024
"I did not know what love was until I encountered one that kept opening and opening and opening."
October 2016 Goals In the last year, I’ve fluctuated between writing every day for 30 days and not posting once in...
19th Oct 2016
20

October 2016 Goals

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

19th Oct 2016
In the last year, I’ve fluctuated between writing every day for 30 days and not posting once in two months. Frankly, neither of those is good for me. I like writing because it clarifies my own thoughts. Sometimes it seems useful to others. I like to be useful (“utility” can...
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...
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
21

2017 In Review & Thoughts on 2018

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

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...
RailsConf Presentation: 'Junior' Developers are a Solution to Many of your Problems Did this talk resonate and you want to implement some of the ideas at your company? I might be able...
21st May 2021
22
21st May 2021
Did this talk resonate and you want to implement some of the ideas at your company? I might be able to help. Shoot me an email at [email protected] or book some time to talk at https://calendly.com/joshthompson/coffee. This talk is available on railsconf.org, here:...
Waking Up Early, Part 3 I’ve written about my attempts to wake up early before. Most recently, I promised to take a sleep...
2nd Aug 2013
25

Waking Up Early, Part 3

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

2nd Aug 2013
I’ve written about my attempts to wake up early before. Most recently, I promised to take a sleep log, to track trends. Fortunately, I did not intend to try to wake up early, because I didn’t. Here’s what I learned in the last three weeks: Benadryl messes with your ability to...
bride and sister, be to your brother sentimental incest in Die Walküre
3rd Apr 2025
1

bride and sister, be to your brother

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

3rd Apr 2025
sentimental incest in Die Walküre
Easy Questions, Part 1: Introduction Easy Questions, Part 1: Introduction What if our stories explore questions not because those...
20th Mar 2024
29

Easy Questions, Part 1: Introduction

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

20th Mar 2024
Easy Questions, Part 1: Introduction What if our stories explore questions not because those questions are interesting, but because those questions are easier to respond to than the alternatives? Trope: The Chosen One What’s the shallow, wish-fulfillment version of...
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...
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
2
a week ago
If something feels wrong, it is useful to articulate very precisely why that is
whatever it takes on monomania
17th Feb 2026
1

whatever it takes

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

17th Feb 2026
on monomania
✏️ The Dark is Dubious We find ourselves sitting by a heated pool in autumn temperatures at 7,200 feet. Santa Fe has been...
1st Oct 2021
20

✏️ The Dark is Dubious

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

1st Oct 2021
We find ourselves sitting by a heated pool in autumn temperatures at 7,200 feet. Santa Fe has been home for two nights, where we luxuriated in a king-size bed with our own pillows (we don’t leave home without them). How We Got Here Since the last missive, we parted ways with...
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...
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...
1st Mar 2022
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....
It's obvious why we hate social media We need better internet platforms. We're already building them.
1st Apr 2026
1

It's obvious why we hate social media

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

1st Apr 2026
We need better internet platforms. We're already building them.
Structural Holes and Good Ideas Note from author: This is part of an experimental series, more-or-less based on “white papers” and...
18th Mar 2021
21

Structural Holes and Good Ideas

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

18th Mar 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...
🔗 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 →
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...
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...
5th Oct 2025
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...
✏️ Borrego Boogie Almost a year ago, Jen and I headed south to Bishop, then a run through Death Valley, an obnoxiously...
8th Mar 2023
17

✏️ Borrego Boogie

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

8th Mar 2023
Almost a year ago, Jen and I headed south to Bishop, then a run through Death Valley, an obnoxiously windy night in Alabama Hills, and then reset in San Diego before a good run and a few nights in Anza-Borrego desert. It's remarkable that a place this wild and surprisingly...
Making My SQL Skills Obsolete Quick Update: I updated my domain to ben-mini.com! All old URLs and the RSS feed under...
22nd Dec 2024
98

Making My SQL Skills Obsolete

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

22nd Dec 2024
Quick Update: I updated my domain to ben-mini.com! All old URLs and the RSS feed under ben-mini.github.io will automatically redirect, so no changes are needed on your end. By far, the most useful LLM app I’ve made is the Kibu Schema God: I try not to make my posts too...
[ESSAYS] My 'Rules' for Running My Membership Program Should you start a membership program? Probably not. But boy am I glad that I started mine. Today...
1st Feb 2025
1

[ESSAYS] My 'Rules' for Running My Membership Program

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

1st Feb 2025
Should you start a membership program? Probably not. But boy am I glad that I started mine. Today (basically) marks the sixth anniversary of starting SPECIAL PROJECTS. Each year, I’ve written up everything I learned. In total, here are nearly 40,000 words on running a membership...
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!
'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
2

'My Mind Was Not Free From Perturbation'

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

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...
Quand éclatera la bulle IA… Quand éclatera la bulle IA… Comme le souligne Ed Zitron, toute la bulle actuelle est basée sur 7 ou...
1st Nov 2025
1

Quand éclatera la bulle IA…

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

1st Nov 2025
Quand éclatera la bulle IA… Comme le souligne Ed Zitron, toute la bulle actuelle est basée sur 7 ou 8 entreprises qui s’échangent des promesses de s’échanger des milliards d’euros lorsque tous les habitants de la planète dépenseront en moyenne 100€ par mois pour utiliser ChatGPT....
Reading, ignorance The papacy, people say, counts in centuries, and perhaps never even thinks of counting, because its...
23rd Jun 2026
1

Reading, ignorance

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

23rd Jun 2026
The papacy, people say, counts in centuries, and perhaps never even thinks of counting, because its goal is eternity.1   It has been a pleasure every few months to buy the latest volume in the new translation of À la recherche du temps perdu. I've now read the third, by Peter...
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
39 Books: 2023 This is the 39th and final post of this series. As the introduction explains, I began seeking a...
1st Jun 2024
1

39 Books: 2023

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

1st Jun 2024
This is the 39th and final post of this series. As the introduction explains, I began seeking a return to the short-form of the early days of blogging. And it started off well, with each entry written in no time, sometimes stirring up the sediment of initial enchantment. As I got...
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
Sunday Scrawl #2: Mimicry Sunday Scrawl #2: Mimicry The knock comes at 3:31 AM, the metal bunker door reverberating with two...
7th Dec 2025
2

Sunday Scrawl #2: Mimicry

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

7th Dec 2025
Sunday Scrawl #2: Mimicry The knock comes at 3:31 AM, the metal bunker door reverberating with two sharp raps, and I shake myself from slumber and check the monitor. Tammi’s face. But then, it’s always Tammi’s face. I unmute the connection. “The summer after graduation,” I say....
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
1

The end of literature, part five

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

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...
Space to Play Space to Play I remember childhood as the slow advance of a great laboring Seriousness. When I was...
26th Feb 2025
52

Space to Play

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

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...
4th Sep 2023
✏️ 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...
Socratic dialogue with kids I’m simply trying to understand how she thinks. When she answers in a way that does not match my...
7th Dec 2023
42

Socratic dialogue with kids

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

7th Dec 2023
I’m simply trying to understand how she thinks. When she answers in a way that does not match my understanding—that is interesting to me.
#50 Jake Roussos on Play, Smiling, and Empowering Children Jake Roussos is on a mission to help people live their best lives by living his best. Early on he...
5th Oct 2023
1

#50 Jake Roussos on Play, Smiling, and Empowering Children

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

5th Oct 2023
Jake Roussos is on a mission to help people live their best lives by living his best. Early on he found a powerful tool that was available to him wherever he went and in any interaction: his smile. Since then, he has been positively impacting others through the simple...
✏️ A Simple Sophistication The weather was beautiful today. A sunny 65 degrees or so. Fresh from a shower, I headed out during...
23rd Mar 2004
37

✏️ A Simple Sophistication

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

23rd Mar 2004
The weather was beautiful today. A sunny 65 degrees or so. Fresh from a shower, I headed out during the lunch hour on foot, camera in hand and took a lot of photos during my walk. It took me straight out to the lake, an 8 minute journey. I was surprised to see that they had made...
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
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."
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...
The Feather Detective: How Roxie Laybourne Pioneered Forensic Ornithology You wouldn’t know it, looking at the tiny elderly woman in the white lab coat bent over a table in a...
1st Oct 2025
21

The Feather Detective: How Roxie Laybourne Pioneered Forensic Ornithology

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

1st Oct 2025
You wouldn’t know it, looking at the tiny elderly woman in the white lab coat bent over a table in a halogen-lit government office, you wouldn’t know she had spent her youth doing science with her whole body: extracting herself from a deadly mudflat with stubbornness and applied...
The happiest I’ve ever been It was around January 2020. I became the head coach of a youth basketball team. I was a few months...
25th Feb 2026
1

The happiest I’ve ever been

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

25th Feb 2026
It was around January 2020. I became the head coach of a youth basketball team. I was a few months into my first job out of college, and I was feeling… empty. I couldn’t explain why, so I set out to fill the void. I built side projects, went drinking with coworkers, and got...
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
1

Do Not Neglect The Needful Role of the Witness

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

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...
I Don’t Have a Smartphone… I Don’t Have a Smartphone… …or, at least, I wish I didn’t. "I don’t have a smartphone," is what I...
2 weeks ago
2

I Don’t Have a Smartphone…

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

2 weeks ago
I Don’t Have a Smartphone… …or, at least, I wish I didn’t. "I don’t have a smartphone," is what I tell people and professionals nowadays. This allows me to cut the crap about companies insisting that I install their app or restaurants wishing that I scan a QR code to access their...
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