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Idle Words
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
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...
the late review
ludic capitalism helmut jahn and the childhood postmodern imaginary
16th Aug 2024
The American Scholar
Rage, Muse The novels that revisit Greek myths, giving voice to the women who were scorned, wronged, or...
1st Aug 2024
84
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.
Naz Hamid • Journal
SF Zine Fest 2026 The antithesis of slop. It's been a few years since I'd attended the SF Zine Fest. Friend Scott Boms...
a week ago
1
a week ago
The antithesis of slop. It's been a few years since I'd attended the SF Zine Fest. Friend Scott Boms had a table with his Matter Editions wares, and it's a 10-minute walk from home, so Jen and I had to go. Held at The Hibernia, it was a treat to actually go into this historic...
Josh Thompson
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
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...
sbensu
Love's Executioner (book) Countertransference applies to regular conversation.
1st Dec 2024
Josh Thompson
Driven by Compression Progress Note from author: This is part of an experimental series, more-or-less based on “white papers” and...
18th Feb 2021
28
18th Feb 2021
Note from author: This is part of an experimental series, more-or-less based on “white papers” and academic literature, as applied to somewhat practical-ish domains. These pages serve as a brief overview of a paper, and I’ll be able to link to this paper down the road when I what...
This Space
A measure of forever For me, fiction is a space of plainness and excess.             Amina Cain When TS Eliot read...
3rd Mar 2025
1
3rd Mar 2025
For me, fiction is a space of plainness and excess.             Amina Cain When TS Eliot read Dante for the first time, he noted a discrepancy between his enjoyment and his understanding, leading to the famous claim that "genuine poetry can communicate before it is understood"....
The Marginalian
The Porcupine Dilemma: Schopenhauer’s Parable about Negotiating the Optimal Distance in Love This is the supreme challenge of intimacy — how to reconcile the aching yearning for closeness with...
3rd Aug 2023
76
3rd Aug 2023
This is the supreme challenge of intimacy — how to reconcile the aching yearning for closeness with the painful pressures of actually being close, how to forge a bond tight enough to feel the warmth of connection but spacious enough to feel free. Kahlil Gibran knew this when he...
Naz Hamid — Journal...
✏️ Road to Mesa Good morning, light. I awoke early this morning, perched on a mesa cliff-side, surrounded by low...
18th Jul 2022
21
18th Jul 2022
Good morning, light. I awoke early this morning, perched on a mesa cliff-side, surrounded by low foliage, cow patties galore, and a few skeletons and carcasses of younger cattle that couldn’t survive the path of migration that was next to our camp. Everyone else was still mildly...
Escaping Flatland
How can we rejuvenate the social fabric? ask_another_guest
8th Jul 2026
Steven Scrawls
Easy Questions, Part 1: Introduction Easy Questions, Part 1: Introduction What if our stories explore questions not because those...
20th Mar 2024
29
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...
Naz Hamid — Journal...
✏️ 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
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...
sbensu
Default blind In a software business, it is hard to even know what is going on.
20th Sep 2024
42
20th Sep 2024
In a software business, it is hard to even know what is going on.
Escaping Flatland
Some relationships deepen when you tell the truth and some end I asked people to send me stories about situations where they had done what felt right to them, even...
11th Mar 2026
1
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.
Craig Mod — Writer +...
[RIDGELINE] Other Thing, Walking Yamaguchi Ridgeline subscribers — Hello! I’m Craig, and this is Ridgeline, and last time I wrote to you (a...
20th Mar 2025
1
20th Mar 2025
Ridgeline subscribers — Hello! I’m Craig, and this is Ridgeline, and last time I wrote to you (a month ago), I wrote about garbage. These last few months have been packed to the max, so I just wanted to update you on some recent walk-related activities (I’ll be sending a bigger,...
ribbonfarm
Bangalore Meetup Report Did a ribbonfarm meetup in Bangalore last night, the first ever in India. Thanks to Abhishek Agarwal...
6th Jun 2024
27
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...
Anecdotal Evidence
'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
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...
The Marginalian
Octavia Butler on Religion and the Spirituality of Symbiosis "On many levels, we wind up being strengthened by what we join, or what joins us, as well as by what...
2nd Nov 2023
35
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 Marginalian
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
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,...
The Elysian
Every country ranked from best to worst A report card for the whole world.
2nd Sep 2025
Naz Hamid — Journal...
✏️ Grantland Day 22: Oct 1, 2023 — As we suspect, the weather reports prove wildly inaccurate. At 8,000 feet,...
1st Oct 2023
19
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...
Craig Mod — Writer +...
[RIDGELINE] Talking While Walking the Camino Francés in Spain Ridgeline subscribers — Heeeeeeellllloooooooo to the many many many many new subscribers who came...
14th Apr 2025
1
14th Apr 2025
Ridgeline subscribers — Heeeeeeellllloooooooo to the many many many many new subscribers who came from the Tim Pod(s). Welcome. I’m Craig, and this is Ridgeline (my newsletter focused on walking (Roden, the other newsletter is more general)), which is supposed to be a weekly...
The Elysian
The TERRAFORM print pamphlet is now available—here's what we earned Plus, join our literary salon discussion this week!
4th Aug 2025
Josh Thompson
Relational Antipatterns Introduction This list of relational anti-patterns started as a draft of a written list in a small...
12th May 2025
1
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 late review
this is the late review a casual blog of late reviews
21st Jul 2024
Ben Borgers
Tufts Meal Plan Wrapped
2nd Mar 2024
Josh Thompson
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
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...
The Marginalian
God, Human, Animal, Machine: Consciousness and Our Search for Meaning in the Age of Artificial... An inquiry into the eternal enchantment of why the world exists.
2nd Mar 2023
Ben Borgers
Don’t try on thoughts
a week ago
ben-mini
Stealing is a Skill I’m slowly developing my own list of advice: have a creative mindset, embrace radical transparency,...
24th Jun 2026
1
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...
Escaping Flatland
Relationships are coevolutionary loops Looking for Alice, part 3
31st Oct 2023
Josh Thompson
Wrapping my head around local politics 001 Warning: Buzzwords ahead about millennials.* As a millennial, I want to “get involved” in my “local...
24th Aug 2016
22
24th Aug 2016
Warning: Buzzwords ahead about millennials.* As a millennial, I want to “get involved” in my “local community”, and don’t know the best way to “mobilize my resources”. vomit. I hate admitting that. But I still want to figure out if it is possible for me (little old me) to do...
The American Scholar
Natale Adgnot Country couture The post Natale Adgnot appeared first on The American Scholar.
3rd Nov 2025
12
3rd Nov 2025
Country couture The post Natale Adgnot appeared first on The American Scholar.
Josh Thompson
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
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...
The Marginalian
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
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...
Josh Thompson
Pry Tips and Tricks the following is cross-posted from development.wombatsecurity.com. I wrote about some handy extra...
7th May 2018
20
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...
sbensu
The secondary market in gift cards This post by patio11 covers a few things that I learned working with gift cards over the years.
13th Dec 2021
22
13th Dec 2021
This post by patio11 covers a few things that I learned working with gift cards over the years.
The Elysian
Creating a global safety net without nation-states A Guest Lecture featuring Sondre Rasch, co-founder and CEO of SafetyWing.
3rd Jun 2025
Ploum.net
20 years of Linux on the Desktop (part 3) 20 years of Linux on the Desktop (part 3) Previously in "20 years of Linux on the Deskop": After...
8th Mar 2025
51
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...
Steven Scrawls
Supposedly-Deceased Intellectuals Found Living at Resort ‘Small Village’ of Supposedly-Deceased Intellectuals Found Alive, Thriving at Caribbean...
8th Aug 2024
39
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...
Ben Borgers
How ChatGPT spoiled my semester
13th Oct 2024
Escaping Flatland
Drift Right now it is April 18 and I am walking along the steep coast at the peninsula on the Northeastern...
1st May 2025
30
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.
Wuthering...
Thomas Heywood's early melodrama A Woman Killed by Kindness - I’ll say you wept, I’ll swear you made... I have called Thomas Dekker and Henry Chettle hacks, but Thomas Heywood was the greatest hack of the...
2nd May 2026
1
2nd May 2026
I have called Thomas Dekker and Henry Chettle hacks, but Thomas Heywood was the greatest hack of the Age of Shakespeare, having “an entire hand or at least the main finger” in “two hundred and twenty” (!) plays (Three Elizabethan Domestic Tragedies, p. 38).  He is more like a...
The American Scholar
Good Vibrations One eccentric’s desert landmark allows visitors to bathe in sound The post Good Vibrations appeared...
15th Apr 2024
56
15th Apr 2024
One eccentric’s desert landmark allows visitors to bathe in sound The post Good Vibrations appeared first on The American Scholar.
ben-mini
Everything is a Spreadsheet Revisiting an old 2020 Invest Like the Best podcast that interviews John Collision, co-founder of...
9th Nov 2025
1
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...
Idle Words
Let's All Wear A Mask Let's talk about masks! On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control recommended that every...
5th Apr 2020
19
5th Apr 2020
Let's talk about masks! On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control recommended that every American wear a face covering when in public. Masks will be the hot, bold look for summer. The medical evidence for the practice is overwhelming. The post-SARS countries in East...
Josh Thompson
December Review, January Goals This is a follow-up from last month’s goals 1. Deepen Knowledge of Back-end Development I finished...
5th Jan 2017
24
5th Jan 2017
This is a follow-up from last month’s goals 1. Deepen Knowledge of Back-end Development I finished OverTheWire’s Bandit series, except the last lesson, which didn’t make sense. (It does now! Turns out login shells and “regular” shells are different. I’ll take another spin at it...
Josh Thompson
A little bit of slope makes up for a lot of y-intercept The following is recounted on  Quora, from a lecture by Stanford professor John Ousterhout (he’s in...
26th Jun 2015
22
26th Jun 2015
The following is recounted on  Quora, from a lecture by Stanford professor John Ousterhout (he’s in the Computer Science department): Here’s today’s thought for the weekend.  A little bit of slope makes up for a lot of Y-intercept.   [Laughter] So at a mathematical level this is...
Naz Hamid — Journal...
🔗 What price? If anything, as the well gets poisoned by their own outputs, large language models may well end up...
6th Oct 2024
21
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...
sbensu
Everybody is the main character People are motivated and engaged with the work only if they feel in charge of their own destiny....
4th Apr 2023
27
4th Apr 2023
People are motivated and engaged with the work only if they feel in charge of their own destiny. Make it clear to them that they are!
Anecdotal Evidence
'Poor Naked Wretches, Whereso’er You Are' Aleksander Wat (1900-67) was a Polish poet and one-time Communist hounded and imprisoned by Nazis...
1st May 2025
21
1st May 2025
Aleksander Wat (1900-67) was a Polish poet and one-time Communist hounded and imprisoned by Nazis and Soviets alike. In 1964 while visiting California, he recorded lengthy conversations with fellow poet and Pole Czesław Miłosz. The transcripts were translated by Richard Lourie...
sbensu
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
16th Mar 2023
The main trick is to design them with extension in mind so that you won't have to break them later.
Josh Thompson
POODR Notes: Acquiring Behavior Through Inheritance (Chapter 6) I’m reading through Practical Object Oriented Design in Ruby . These are some notes from chapter 6,...
28th Nov 2019
16
28th Nov 2019
I’m reading through Practical Object Oriented Design in Ruby . These are some notes from chapter 6, Acquiring Behavior Through Inheritance; mostly these are for me, and they don’t intend to stand on their own. Read the book, work through chapter six, and then come back and read...
Naz Hamid — Journal...
✏️ The Work Is Never Done I went for a run. I’ve been running consistently for over a year and a half now. It’s a panacea for...
7th Nov 2024
31
7th Nov 2024
I went for a run. I’ve been running consistently for over a year and a half now. It’s a panacea for me. I run outside. I like to feel the cool wind on my skin, my pores open and sweating, the legs rhythmically turning over in pursuit of flow. In the beginning, I kept my head...
Josh Thompson
Avoid a car accident with a $3 tool TL;DR: Buy a blind spot mirror for your car. They are $2, and can keep you from getting in an...
4th Jul 2016
19
4th Jul 2016
TL;DR: Buy a blind spot mirror for your car. They are $2, and can keep you from getting in an accident. Not a lot of people have them, though they’re awesome. I spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about how to make driving safer. Step 1 to making driving safer is “don’t...
the late review
the hairshirt doldrums on having a brain injury
6th Mar 2025
Wuthering...
What I Read in July 2026 – Some links found verbal form, others remained mere promises, mist, soft... Soon I will put up a fall schedule for my plunge back into non-Shakespearian plays, from say 1604 to...
14th Aug 2026
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,...
Josh Thompson
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:...
The Elysian
Hackathon: Let's build a profit-sharing platform for writers Creatives and developers—join us this Friday!
1st Oct 2025
Robert Caro
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
29th Mar 2023
A special Senate committee has opened an investigation into these “Misery Acres” that take dollars from people who cannot afford it.
The American Scholar
The Brahmin and His Imaginary Friend How a classic paean to the honest virtues of a Maine fisherman obscured several ugly truths The...
2nd Dec 2024
37
2nd Dec 2024
How a classic paean to the honest virtues of a Maine fisherman obscured several ugly truths The post The Brahmin and His Imaginary Friend appeared first on The American Scholar.
Craig Mod — Writer +...
[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
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....
The Elysian
Metanational corporations are redesigning the world map Parag Khanna on metanational corporations and how they are opening borders, reshaping geopolitics,...
2nd Feb 2025
58
2nd Feb 2025
Parag Khanna on metanational corporations and how they are opening borders, reshaping geopolitics, and creating a world of interconnected city-states.
Escaping Flatland
Things that connect us to ourselves, and things that don't + recommendations
6th Feb 2026
Josh Thompson
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
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...
the late review
AI and Internet Hygiene we are going to have to re-learn how to use the computer
1st Oct 2024
the late review
the gallery of maladies on long covid, hypochondria, and the forums
6th Nov 2025
ben-mini
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
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...
Steven Scrawls
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
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,...
Ben Borgers
How I got scammed on Facebook Marketplace
10th Jul 2023
Ploum.net
How I fought my smartphone addiction How I fought my smartphone addiction In a poignant Gemini post, Kevin Boone wrote about his anxiety...
13th Mar 2026
1
13th Mar 2026
How I fought my smartphone addiction In a poignant Gemini post, Kevin Boone wrote about his anxiety to go out of his house without his phone. (This is the Gemini protocol, totally unrelated to the Google chatbot.) Phone anxiety (larsthebear.me) Web version of the former Around...
This Space
Reading, ignorance The papacy, people say, counts in centuries, and perhaps never even thinks of counting, because its...
23rd Jun 2026
1
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...
Escaping Flatland
How I read Reading well is an endurance sport. I sometimes talk to people who want to become serious readers...
1st Oct 2025
25
1st Oct 2025
Reading well is an endurance sport. I sometimes talk to people who want to become serious readers and so pick up Kafka’s The Trial or something like that—it is about as pleasant as running a marathon untrained.
Josh Thompson
"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
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,...
Escaping Flatland
Modular life, meaningful work Highlights from the cutting room floor, pt. 3
5th Feb 2025
The Perry Bible...
Artist The post Artist appeared first on The Perry Bible Fellowship.
21st Jan 2026
Astral Codex Ten
Writing For The AIs ...
3rd Nov 2025
Idle Words
The Shape of a Mars Mission This post is the second in a series. Read part one here. p {line-height:1.6em; } p.caption {...
20th Feb 2025
54
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...
ben-mini
IMG_0416 Between 2009 and 2012, Apple iPhones and iPod Touches included a feature called “Send to YouTube”...
3rd Nov 2024
47
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...
Ben Borgers
Productivity YouTubers
1st Jul 2022
Ben Borgers
War Room: Expansion features
5th Mar 2023
Josh Thompson
Blood Flow Restriction with Tyler old draft, publishing, needs polish. Me: Sport climber, decade+, of and on a few different times...
16th Feb 2019
1
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,...
The Elysian
Please come up with wildly speculative futures Inside my writing philosophy.
1st Apr 2024
Salish Wolf
#94 Jay St. Charles on Project Quiver Jay St. Charles is a legendary bowyer based in Fall City, Washington. While he was born into the...
a week ago
1
a week ago
Jay St. Charles is a legendary bowyer based in Fall City, Washington. While he was born into the world of archery and grew up in his father’s archery shop, Jay eventually became a master bowyer, carving bows under the brand of Pacific Yew Longbows. He lives on a small...
Josh Thompson
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...
Josh Thompson
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
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...
the late review
fear of breakdown a psychopolitical theory
11th May 2026
This Space
The way of arrival Two intellectual memoirs dominated my reading over Spring, three if WG Sebald's Silent Catastrophes...
8th Jul 2025
1
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...
Steven Scrawls
Doomr Most of my creations can be contained within an RSS feed; Doomr cannot. You'll want to check the...
14th Feb 2024
22
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.
Escaping Flatland
Almost everyone I’ve met would be well-served thinking more about what to focus on Including me
3rd Jan 2024
Wuthering...
What I Read in February 2026 – Mouek mouek mouek… Ma-a-a-a… Ma-aa-a… said Saha I am almost on my way to London.  Some Shakespearian and Not Shakespearian activities are on the...
1st Mar 2026
1
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...
The Marginalian
From the Labor Camp to the Pantheon of Literature: How Dostoyevsky Became a Writer "I have nothing, except for certain, and perhaps very minor, literary abilities."
1st Sep 2024
The American Scholar
New Year, Old Year The post New Year, Old Year appeared first on The American Scholar.
1st Jan 2025
The Marginalian
States of Possession: Erich Neumann on Creativity, the Unconscious, and the Psychology of... There are things in life that come over you sudden as a flash flood, total as an eclipse — the great...
2nd May 2025
43
2nd May 2025
There are things in life that come over you sudden as a flash flood, total as an eclipse — the great loves, the great creative passions, the great urges to conquer a mountain or a theorem. They can feel like an alien invasion, like the immense hand of some imperative has seized...
Ben Borgers
FileCopy
30th Nov 2024
Anecdotal Evidence
'My Mind Was Not Free From Perturbation' Dr. Johnson writes in his diary on January 1, 1774: “This year has past with so little improvement,...
1st Jan 2026
2
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...
The Perry Bible...
Bubbled The post Bubbled appeared first on The Perry Bible Fellowship.
1st Mar 2025
Naz Hamid • Journal
Real Wood AI makes particle board. As a child, woodworking was part of my school’s curriculum. One of our...
20th Apr 2026
1
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...
Josh Thompson
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
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...
the late review
reclaiming the wälsungs part of a body of work on Wagner's Ring cycle
14th Dec 2024
Josh Thompson
2017 In Review & Thoughts on 2018 Note: this “annual review” covers three topics. Click on one to skip to it: Looking back on...
1st Jan 2018
21
1st Jan 2018
Note: this “annual review” covers three topics. Click on one to skip to it: Looking back on 2017 thoughts on going into 2018 book recommendations from the 79 books I read last year I’ve got mixed feelings on annual reviews. I steadfastly refuse to set New Years’ resolutions, and...
The Elysian
Your visions for the next Renaissance From our May writing prompt.
1st Aug 2024
ben-mini
Trust and Procedural Fetishism I recently finished reading Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson. The book explains the...
14th Jun 2025
1
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...
Astral Codex Ten
Open Thread 445 ...
3rd Aug 2026
Escaping Flatland
Everything that turned out well in my life followed the same design process The context is smarter than you.
5th Aug 2024
Josh Thompson
How I take notes, AKA 'Add an Index to Your Notebook' A while back, sometime in 2017, I wrote this tweet: a while ago, I read about how to keep...
4th Sep 2019
33
4th Sep 2019
A while back, sometime in 2017, I wrote this tweet: a while ago, I read about how to keep well-organized notes on a range of topics. Here's my current notebook, indexed by category: pic.twitter.com/aVsNnGPEpd — Josh Thompson (@josh_works) May 8, 2017 Since then, I occasionally...
Josh Thompson
Taiwanese & Balinese Scooter Norms Sometimes I’ve told people “I ride with Asian scooter norms.” or “I ride with Taiwanese and Balinese...
14th Aug 2025
1
14th Aug 2025
Sometimes I’ve told people “I ride with Asian scooter norms.” or “I ride with Taiwanese and Balinese scooter norms”. Here’s what I mean by this statement. a ‘norm’ is ‘something common, accepted, sometimes codified in law, but certainly accepted as ‘right’ or ‘acceptable’ or...
Josh Thompson
Dizzying but Invisible Depth The following is from https://plus.google.com/+JeanBaptisteQueru/posts/dfydM2Cnepe, but Google+ is...
16th Jan 2021
26
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...
Josh Thompson
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
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...
Ben Borgers
Building henrynitzberg.com
1st Dec 2022
Wuthering...
What I Read in June 2026 – I don’t know, that’s all words, never wake, all words, there’s nothing... Oh right, I can pretend I am writing something.  Some notes on books I read in the distant...
22nd Jul 2026
1
22nd Jul 2026
Oh right, I can pretend I am writing something.  Some notes on books I read in the distant past. NOT SHAKESPEARE The Dutch Courtesan (1604), John Marston – Discussed long ago. Poems (1594-1612), George Chapman – A superb, innovative poet, somehow an Ovidian and an...
ribbonfarm
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
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...
Josh Thompson
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
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...
The Marginalian
Gary Snyder on How to Unbreak the World "What we’d hope for on the planet is creativity and sanity, conviviality, the real work of our hands...
1st Feb 2025
63
1st Feb 2025
"What we’d hope for on the planet is creativity and sanity, conviviality, the real work of our hands and minds."
Josh Thompson
Habits, Milestones, and Climbing Since April 9th, I have spent exactly 70 minutes training for climbing. Prior to April 27th, I have...
1st May 2013
23
1st May 2013
Since April 9th, I have spent exactly 70 minutes training for climbing. Prior to April 27th, I have climbed exactly seven times in the last five months. I just spent two days at the New River Gorge and exceeded my expectations, considering my almost half-year hiatus from regular...
The Marginalian
Grace Paley on the Countercultural Courage of Imagining Other Lives “Love is the extremely difficult realisation that something other than oneself is real,” Iris...
1st Aug 2024
69
1st Aug 2024
“Love is the extremely difficult realisation that something other than oneself is real,” Iris Murdoch wrote in her superb investigation of the parallels between art and morality. There could be no such realization without imagination, which is our only instrument for fathoming...
Josh Thompson
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
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,...
Astral Codex Ten
The Colors Of Her Coat ...
1st Apr 2025
Steven Scrawls
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
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...
Josh Thompson
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
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...
sbensu
Risk-takers decide faster Unsurprising connection between risk and speed.
5th Nov 2024
Ben Borgers
Blocks recap
31st May 2021
sbensu
Interfaces for logical migrations This post explains how you can use interfaces to make data model and database migrations easier.
4th Aug 2023
23
4th Aug 2023
This post explains how you can use interfaces to make data model and database migrations easier.
Anecdotal Evidence
'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
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]...
Naz Hamid • Journal
Beyond Curiosity I'm not sure he meant it that way. We were walking together in the shopping center. The central...
15th Jul 2025
1
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...
Steven Scrawls
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
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...
Naz Hamid — Journal...
✏️ Mirrored Malaysia After almost three years apart due to the pandemic, we were heartwarmingly reunited with my family...
14th Sep 2022
17
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...
The Marginalian
Youth and Age: Kahlil Gibran on the Art of Becoming A roadmap to the fulfilled belonging on the other side of "the great aloneness which knows not what...
4th Apr 2023
94
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."
Steven Scrawls
Not As Giants Love Not As Giants Love Short story, ~2000 words A week ago, when I asked you if you still loved me, I...
4th Jul 2024
40
4th Jul 2024
Not As Giants Love Short story, ~2000 words A week ago, when I asked you if you still loved me, I thought the most painful thing you could’ve said was no. I don’t know if you remember, but when you said “Of course I still love you” and asked if I still loved you, I started to...
This Space
Reading, forgetting When John Updike read À la recherche du temps perdu after having read Scott-Moncrieff's translation,...
10th Sep 2025
1
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...
Naz Hamid — Journal...
✏️ 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
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...
Wuthering...
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...
Naz Hamid • Journal
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
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...
Josh Thompson
On Cleaner Controllers A few days ago, I worked on a project that was mostly about serving up basic store data (modeled...
9th May 2017
19
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...
Salish Wolf
#5 Fritzi Horstman on Healing Childhood Trauma, Activism Through Film, and Uplifting Humanity Fritzi Horstman is a rare, beautiful individual with a selfless passion to transform lives. As a...
9th May 2020
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....
The Elysian
Writing Prompt: Design the future of the internet! Participate in our next essay collection and print pamphlet.
2nd Jan 2026
Ben Borgers
Good Software Has a Clear Geography
1st Feb 2022
Ben Borgers
Trip to Germany, spring 2024
26th May 2024
Wuthering...
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...
ribbonfarm
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
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...
The American Scholar
We Are the Borg Is the convergence of human and machine really upon us? The post We Are the Borg appeared first on...
3rd Jun 2024
36
3rd Jun 2024
Is the convergence of human and machine really upon us? The post We Are the Borg appeared first on The American Scholar.
sbensu
High Variance Management How should you manage a team that is trying to achieve results out of the ordinary?
18th Jan 2023
27
18th Jan 2023
How should you manage a team that is trying to achieve results out of the ordinary?
the late review
love's bad infinity tristan und isolde - in theory and at the met
24th Mar 2026
Naz Hamid — Journal...
✏️ Now Reopen for Business California re-opened on Tuesday and literally overnight, it feels like everything changed. And it...
17th Jun 2021
20
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...
Ploum.net
How Github monopoly is destroying the open source ecosystem How Github monopoly is destroying the open source ecosystem I teach a course called "Open Source...
5th Jan 2026
1
5th Jan 2026
How Github monopoly is destroying the open source ecosystem I teach a course called "Open Source Strategies" at École Polytechnique de Louvain, part of the University of Louvain. As part of my course, students are required to find an open source project of their choice and make a...
Ben Borgers
An underbaked GPT-Codex-5.3-Spark review
14th Feb 2026
Wuthering...
What I Read in May 2026 – “These stories appeal to my sense of humor as well as my taste for formal... NOT SHAKESPEARE Poems and a Defence of Ryme (1592-1605), Samuel Daniel – Author of the “Delia”...
4th Jun 2026
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,...
Wuthering...
What I Read in May 2025 – “There’s the store that’s shaped like a duck,” Franca said. First, my poor email subscribers missed some of the installments of my newsletter about Anthony...
2nd Jun 2025
1
2nd Jun 2025
First, my poor email subscribers missed some of the installments of my newsletter about Anthony Powell.  If this keeps happening I will have to think of something or even do something.  Here they are: A skippable piece of throat-clearing about the roman fleuve. What I think...
Josh Thompson
Back in the saddle (of writing) Background It’s been a hell of a year. I’ve got about 10,000 things I’ve wanted to write about, and...
26th Apr 2022
22
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...
Josh Thompson
`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
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 . ├──...
Ben Borgers
3blue1brown.elk.sh
1st May 2022
Josh Thompson
On Friction warning. self-indulgeant diatribe coming. I generally try to avoid these, but it’s my website, and I...
20th Dec 2017
22
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...
Josh Thompson
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
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...
Idle Words
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
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...
Josh Thompson
2020 Annual Review please note: i’m publishing this far after it was drafted, which was in January 2021. It’s being...
27th Jun 2022
26
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...
Josh Thompson
A Junction Efficiency Metric: Vehicles Per Square Meter Per Minute still sorta drafty, but also its entirely possible the point is easily apprehended, and I’m way...
13th Sep 2025
1
13th Sep 2025
still sorta drafty, but also its entirely possible the point is easily apprehended, and I’m way over-explaining Introduction Elsewhere, I’ve been referring to a ‘vehicles per square meter per minute’ calculation, when talking about junctions on mobility networks. The first place...
ben-mini
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
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...
This Space
"Sometimes God, sometimes nothing" Once I imagined a novel in which everything seen throughout the day by a single person is reported...
18th Jul 2026
2
18th Jul 2026
Once I imagined a novel in which everything seen throughout the day by a single person is reported in detail. I was a teenager in my first job and began by using company paper to describe the scrub on the slopes beside a motorway as seen from a car. I never got any further. No...
Escaping Flatland
On agency Or, how to handle being sentenced to freedom, and handle it effectively, and authentically, and...
7th Jul 2025
47
7th Jul 2025
Or, how to handle being sentenced to freedom, and handle it effectively, and authentically, and responsibly
Craig Mod — Writer +...
[RIDGELINE] The Walk and Talk, Nagano Kiso-ji Ridgeline subscribers — I’ll die on my dumb hill, the one where I say: the best time to visit and...
17th Dec 2025
1
17th Dec 2025
Ridgeline subscribers — I’ll die on my dumb hill, the one where I say: the best time to visit and walk (most) of Japan is the end of November and the start of December. I think a lot of folks have a kind of North Eastern American mentality, where by the time December hits New...
Naz Hamid — Journal...
✏️ Threaded I penned a Thot(?!), or rather, a post on Threads, the Twitter clone that Meta released some time...
5th Nov 2023
18
5th Nov 2023
I penned a Thot(?!), or rather, a post on Threads, the Twitter clone that Meta released some time ago. I don’t find it particularly useful, as my Twitter usage had declined long ago. Anyway, the post (and accompanying photo): “When I contemplate the idea of relocating, it’s 70°...
Craig Mod — Writer +...
[RIDGELINE] Walk and Talk — The Portuguese Costal Camino Ridgeline subscribers — We were lucky. Maybe the luckiest group walking the Portuguese costal...
14th Apr 2026
1
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...
Escaping Flatland
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
4th Nov 2024
Milk Drop Coronet, an ultra-high-speed photograph of the splash of a drop of milk, Harold Edgerton, 1957
The American Scholar
Most of Life The post Most of Life appeared first on The American Scholar.
1st Apr 2026
Josh Thompson
Change The more things change, the more they stay the same. Or something like that. Sometimes change is for...
30th Jun 2014
23
30th Jun 2014
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Or something like that. Sometimes change is for the better, and sometimes its for the worse. I don’t know if there’s always a difference. Recently, Kristi and I have seen lots of change; I’d say its for the better, but it’s not...
Ben Borgers
New in Superadmin: styling, images, rich text
23rd Nov 2022
This Space
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
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...
Craig Mod — Writer +...
[RIDGELINE] Walking the Brooklyn Bridge Ridgeline subscribers — Thanks for all the “Yo!“s last week. It looks like transmissions from...
1st Jun 2026
1
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...
the late review
wagner's ring: believing in the stakes or: how to get ring cycle pilled
20th Nov 2024
Anecdotal Evidence
'To Mold Clay, Fashion Men From It' Certain writers lay claim to a piece of geography. Think of Cavafy’s Alexandria and William...
1st Jun 2026
1
1st Jun 2026
Certain writers lay claim to a piece of geography. Think of Cavafy’s Alexandria and William Kennedy’s Albany. Outsiders may visit but the deed is ironclad. When I hear something in the news about the Caucasus, that often-contested band of mountains between the Black Sea and the...
Craig Mod — Writer +...
[RODEN] Blank Spaces, Radicalized Offlineness, Curious Protagonists Roden Readers — Ahh, it’s nice. The outside. The outside is nice. Finally, very nice. The best...
28th Nov 2025
1
28th Nov 2025
Roden Readers — Ahh, it’s nice. The outside. The outside is nice. Finally, very nice. The best season in Japan. The leaves, they change. Out yonder, Mt. Fuji performs foojalicousness on the horizon as I type these very words. Being a bit coy, hiding, peeking, hiding once again....
Blog -...
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
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...
Ploum.net
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
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....
ribbonfarm
Ribbonfarm is Retiring After several years of keeping it going in semi-retired, keep-the-lights-on (KTLO) mode, I’ve...
11th Oct 2024
46
11th Oct 2024
After several years of keeping it going in semi-retired, keep-the-lights-on (KTLO) mode, I’ve decided to officially fully retire this blog. The ribbonfarm.com domain and all links will remain active, but there will be no new content after November 13th, 2024, which happens to be...
Josh Thompson
Climbing in Cuba, 2019 A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to go climbing in Cuba. Mark and Dave, walking back from...
12th Apr 2019
18
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...
Naz Hamid — Journal...
✏️ 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
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...
Naz Hamid • Journal
Different Think I don't write about Apple. I had to this time. It started with a magazine ad. A musician I admired...
5th Aug 2025
1
5th Aug 2025
I don't write about Apple. I had to this time. It started with a magazine ad. A musician I admired was pictured: Henry Rollins, looking as he does, in black, shorts, tattoos visible and holding a computer. An Apple Powerbook. He appears with Terry Ellis from Imago Records,...
Idle Words
My Taipei Quarantine Part of what brought me to Taiwan was bureaucratic thrill seeking. Few other countries had gone...
26th Apr 2022
29
26th Apr 2022
Part of what brought me to Taiwan was bureaucratic thrill seeking. Few other countries had gone from “just hop on a plane” to North Korean levels of inaccessibility as fast as Taiwan, and like a cat that paws at a door just because it's closed, I wanted in. The country was...
Craig Mod — Writer +...
[RODEN] Summer Heatray Days Roden Readers — Hello from the swelterdome, the Cape O‘ Temperature Oppression, a.k.a. the Kanto...
1st Aug 2025
1
1st Aug 2025
Roden Readers — Hello from the swelterdome, the Cape O‘ Temperature Oppression, a.k.a. the Kanto area of Japan in July / August. It is so spectacularly, consistently hot that it’s hard to overstate just how bananas this heat is, how all consumingly present and manic it feels....
The Marginalian
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
Craig Mod — Writer +...
[RODEN] Oooohhh Summer, How Much Risk Is a Useful Amount of Risk? Roden Readers — There is sweat and then there is s-w-e-a-t and the out-of-doorsness in Japan is...
4th Aug 2026
1
4th Aug 2026
Roden Readers — There is sweat and then there is s-w-e-a-t and the out-of-doorsness in Japan is presently a natural machine that produces nothing but sweat and sweat and sweat and swelter. Dryness has been eradicated. Fire is impossible to start. Blowtorch any single thing and it...
sbensu
Payments vs Transfers Transfer means to move money but payment means "exchanging goods or services". A payment system has...
4th Feb 2023
40
4th Feb 2023
Transfer means to move money but payment means "exchanging goods or services". A payment system has a lot more requirements than a transfer system and I rarely see the crypto ecosystem acknowledge these when building "payment" products.
sbensu
Creative kernels Artists can often trace entire pieces around one idea that drives everything else.
1st Jul 2024
24
1st Jul 2024
Artists can often trace entire pieces around one idea that drives everything else.
Josh Thompson
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
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....
Salish Wolf
#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...
Escaping Flatland
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
8th Nov 2023
What is it that motivates someone to take on someone and help them grow? Why do some learners have that privilege?
Ben Borgers
Stickies: Spatial note-taking
2nd Apr 2023
sbensu
The Perfectionists (book) A great book that covers the ideas and people behind modern industry.
1st Aug 2024
The Elysian
Humanity from the perspective of robots Talking points for our literary salon next week.
1st May 2024
Ben Borgers
Coding agents write 90% of my code now
18th Dec 2025
Naz Hamid — Journal...
✏️ Liquid Gold Hi, this is Weightshifting, a newsletter by Naz Hamid and Jen Schuetz, primarily about vehicular...
10th Sep 2023
17
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...
Ben Borgers
just surf
23rd Jul 2026
Naz Hamid — Journal...
✏️ 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
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...
Escaping Flatland
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
Naz Hamid • Journal
Modus Operandi My operating rules and way of living. This is a m.o. (mo) page, or modus operandi page. It lists out...
14th Apr 2025
62
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...
This Space
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
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...
Ploum.net
Pas de médaille pour les résistants Pas de médaille pour les résistants Si vous voulez changer le monde, il faut entrer en résistance....
26th Aug 2025
1
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...
Josh Thompson
Gratitude 3x/day Earlier this year, I read The Miracle Morning, which promises (paraphrasing here): If you do these...
1st Jun 2016
21
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...
Astral Codex Ten
Open Thread 371 ...
3rd Mar 2025

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