davideisinger.com

index.md (10390B)

---

 ---
 title: "Dispatch #17 (July 2024)"
 date: 2024-07-10T15:01:12-04:00
 draft: false
 tags:
 - dispatch
 references:
 - title: "Just Dü It and The Legend of Link • Buttondown"
   url: https://buttondown.email/nathanlong/archive/just-du-it-and-the-legend-of-link/
   date: 2024-07-10T19:01:35Z
   file: buttondown-email-hoyklb.txt
 - title: "Midyear in a mid year - Austin Kleon"
   url: https://austinkleon.substack.com/p/midyear-in-a-mid-year
   date: 2024-07-11T03:33:42Z
   file: austinkleon-substack-com-bm6zo3.txt
 - title: "kyle kukshtel's website"
   url: https://kylekukshtel.com/francis-bacon-creative-meditation-studio-space
   date: 2024-07-11T03:33:42Z
   file: kylekukshtel-com-mvggiq.txt
 - title: "Give yourself what you needed and your kids what they need - Austin Kleon"
   url: https://austinkleon.com/2021/04/01/give-yourself-what-you-needed-and-your-kids-what-they-need/
   date: 2024-07-11T03:33:43Z
   file: austinkleon-com-wefvym.txt
 - title: "10 Thoughts From the Fourth Trimester — Wait But Why"
   url: https://waitbutwhy.com/2023/05/baby.html
   date: 2024-07-11T03:33:44Z
   file: waitbutwhy-com-fodr49.txt
 - title: "My Month Without a Smartphone · Collab Fund"
   url: https://collabfund.com/blog/my-month-without-a-smartphone/
   date: 2024-07-11T03:33:44Z
   file: collabfund-com-t6hosi.txt
 - title: "The Boox Palma is an excellent e-reader in an Android smartphone’s body - The Verge"
   url: https://www.theverge.com/24184777/boox-palma-e-ink-smartphone-reader
   date: 2024-07-11T03:33:44Z
   file: www-theverge-com-gfwkvp.txt
 - title: "I Will Fucking Piledrive You If You Mention AI Again — Ludicity"
   url: https://ludic.mataroa.blog/blog/i-will-fucking-piledrive-you-if-you-mention-ai-again/
   date: 2024-07-11T03:33:46Z
   file: ludic-mataroa-blog-hhnwdj.txt
 - title: "Dear AI companies, please scrape this website | justin․searls․co"
   url: https://justin.searls.co/posts/dear-ai-companies-please-scrape-this-website/
   date: 2024-07-11T03:33:46Z
   file: justin-searls-co-3e8gm7.txt
 - title: "BOOX “Palma” Phone-Sized ePaper Tablet — Tools and Toys"
   url: http://toolsandtoys.net/boox-palma-phone-sized-epaper-tablet/
   date: 2024-07-11T03:33:47Z
   file: toolsandtoys-net-xwpcsf.txt
 - title: "Breaking Change podcast v15 - An E Ink iPod Touch | justin․searls․co"
   url: https://justin.searls.co/casts/breaking-change-v15-an-eink-ipod-touch/
   date: 2024-07-11T03:33:47Z
   file: justin-searls-co-8aycpn.txt
 - title: "Review: The Boox Palma is the best purchase I've made in a long time - cliophate.wtf"
   url: https://cliophate.wtf/posts/boox-palma-review
   date: 2024-04-18T14:01:57Z
   file: cliophate-wtf-quluwp.txt
 ---
 
 We welcomed baby **Nico** on June 12. He and mama are both healthy and well. Nev's a great big sister, if a little vigorous with her affection at times. It is a big shift, going from double coverage to single, but Claire and I both grew up in four-person households, and something about adding a second kid resonates at a very deep level.
 
 <!--more-->
 
 {{<dither IMG_1753.jpeg "782x782">}}Tiny bundle, big curious eyes.{{</dither>}}
 {{<dither IMG_6069.jpeg "782x782">}}Meeting little sibling day: a sleepy newborn cradled in Mom’s arms as big sister nuzzles close, already smitten.{{</dither>}}
 
 {{<dither IMG_6261.jpeg "782x782">}}Three beaming parents each cuddle toddlers and babies, capturing a joyful family playdate in the bright, colorful room.{{</dither>}}
 {{<dither IMG_2016.jpeg "782x782">}}Dad sinks into the couch with a newborn asleep on one arm and a curly‑haired toddler sucking their thumb on the other, peaceful trio sharing a quiet afternoon.{{</dither>}}
 
 I took a few weeks off after the birth, but I'm back to work now (mixed feelings on that -- could have taken a longer break). We've been able to do a bit of traveling -- quick trip up to Richmond to see my family, long weekend at Lake Norman with Claire's.
 
 A coworker at Viget, [Nathan Long][1], publishes a weekly [newsletter][2], and he recently gave me a [little shout][3] and included one of my favorite book quotes:
 
 > Pay attention, that's all ... Notice things. Connect what you've noticed. Connect it into a picture. Think of how the picture might be changed; and act to change it. Some of your acts may turn our to have been foolish, but others will reward you in surprising ways; and in the meantime, simply by being active instead of passive, you have a kind of immunity that's hard to explain.
 >
 > -- Neal Stephenson, _The Confusion_
 
 [1]: https://nathan-long.com/
 [2]: https://buttondown.email/nathanlong/archive
 [3]: https://buttondown.email/nathanlong/archive/just-du-it-and-the-legend-of-link/
 
  My buddy Ken, who records as Carillon, released a [new album called _Venus_][4]. Stream it wherever you stream your streams. He also worked with an animator to make a [music video for one of the songs][5] which is really pretty neat.
 
 [4]: https://carillon58.bandcamp.com/album/venus
 [5]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SySKeQDWtqA
 
 We've had a mouse in our house for the last few months. It didn't really bother me, seemed pretty cute and harmless, and I've got ZERO appetite for mouse murder. But eventually he did make his way into our HVAC system and start causing problems, so I did a little bit of research and ordered a few of these [humane traps][6]. Turns out our mouse was actually six mice and counting.
 
 [6]: https://gerossi.com/product/humane-catch-and-release-indoor-outdoor-mouse-traps-pack-of-2/
 
 I ordered a copy of [Pouch magazine][7], "a new indie magazine for stationery lovers." Really cool if you're into pens and notebooks and things like that -- just very well done. I hope the creator publishes more issues.
 
 [7]: https://pouchmagazine.com/
 
 ### This Month
 
 * Adventure: nothing major planned for the rest of July, but every day's an adventure with a newborn and a toddler
 * Project: finish Nevie's art table -- I'm a focused 90 minutes away
 * Skill: I want to keep up the music stuff, but I'm not sure what to focus on; I've got a few good books about drum programming and theory I'll dig into, and then just try to jam w/o any specific goals
 
 ### Reading
 
 * Fiction: [_Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore_][8], [Robin Sloan][9] -- big fan of this guy's website and just overall vibe
 * Non-fiction: [_Music Theory for Electronic Music Producers_][10], J. Anthony Allen
 
 [8]: https://bookshop.org/p/books/mr-penumbra-s-24-hour-bookstore-robin-sloan/15554054
 [9]: https://www.robinsloan.com/
 [10]: https://bookshop.org/p/books/music-theory-for-electronic-music-producers-the-producer-s-guide-to-harmony-chord-progressions-and-song-structure-in-the-midi-grid-j-anthony-allen/11905226?ean=9781727863024
 
 ### Links
 
 Creativity:
 
 * [Midyear in a mid year][11]
 
   > Writing books, making art, recording music … it’s all a lot easier when you don’t know what you’re doing. Better yet if you don’t know that you don’t know what you’re doing. It’s when you know you don’t know what you’re doing that you’ve got to really get after it.
 
   This resonates with me -- I've learned a lot about making digital music over the last few months, but in some ways I feel like I'm still trying to get back to the level of the [very first thing I did][12].
 
 [11]: https://austinkleon.substack.com/p/midyear-in-a-mid-year
 [12]: /journal/dispatch-9-november-2023/#music
 
 * [Cultivating A Space For The Doing][13]
 
   > Engineer for yourself the smallest possible environment, concentrated as densely as possible with only the highest quality inputs; explicitly re-route all potential distraction-avenues back to one’s chosen craft, such that even when you’re momentarily doing something else you cannot escape the focus of your craft.
 
 [13]: https://kylekukshtel.com/francis-bacon-creative-meditation-studio-space
 
 Parenting:
 
 * [Give yourself what you needed and your kids what they need][14]
 
   > On the influence of the unlived lives of parents.
 
 [14]: https://austinkleon.com/2021/04/01/give-yourself-what-you-needed-and-your-kids-what-they-need/
 
 * [10 Thoughts From the Fourth Trimester][15]
 
   > A newborn is not a baby. Babies are cute and roly-poly and can see and are conscious and are normal and a newborn is not any of these things. It is a bizarre human larva that acts super weird and would still be in the womb if it could be.
 
 [15]: https://waitbutwhy.com/2023/05/baby.html
 
 Gadgets:
 
 * [My Month Without a Smartphone][16]
 
   > I’m open to be persuaded, but after living life without a smartphone for a month, the case for keeping them out of kids’ hands as long as possible is pretty damn compelling. After all, if adults are as addicted to them as they appear to be, what are the chances young and impressionable kids can fare any better?
 
   I found this pretty inspiring and I've been rolling with a pretty dumbed-down phone for the last several weeks. It's cut my phone time pretty drastically (and increased my iPad time, though hopefully not as much).
 
 [16]: https://collabfund.com/blog/my-month-without-a-smartphone/
 
 * [The Boox Palma is an amazing gadget I didn’t even know I wanted][17]
 
   > It’s a better Kindle and a better iPod, all in one gadget.
 
   Seeing a lot of praise for this thing[^1]; it's tempting but I'm skeptical the solution to my issues with technology and consumerism is another piece of electronics.
 
 [17]: https://www.theverge.com/24184777/boox-palma-e-ink-smartphone-reader
 
 AI:
 
 * [I Will Fucking Piledrive You If You Mention AI Again][18]
 
   > I shall answer this as politically as I can ... there are those that have drunk the kool-aid. There are those that have not. And then there are those that are trying to mix up as much kool-aid as possible. I shall let you decide who sits in which basket.
 
 [18]: https://ludic.mataroa.blog/blog/i-will-fucking-piledrive-you-if-you-mention-ai-again/
 
 * [Dear AI companies, please scrape this website][19]
 
   > Really, take my work! Go nuts! Make your AI think more like me. Make your AI sound more like me. Make your AI agree with my view of the world more often.
 
 [19]: https://justin.searls.co/posts/dear-ai-companies-please-scrape-this-website/
 
 [^1]: See also [Tools & Toys][20], [Justin Searls][21], [cliophate][22]
 
 [20]: http://toolsandtoys.net/boox-palma-phone-sized-epaper-tablet/
 [21]: https://justin.searls.co/casts/breaking-change-v15-an-eink-ipod-touch/
 [22]: https://cliophate.wtf/posts/boox-palma-review