index.md (8613B)
1 --- 2 title: "Dispatch #18 (August 2024)" 3 date: 2024-08-13T00:37:47-04:00 4 draft: false 5 tags: 6 - dispatch 7 references: 8 - title: "The Limits Of The Billionaire Imagination Are Everyone's Problem | Defector" 9 url: https://defector.com/the-limits-of-the-billionaire-imagination-are-everyones-problem 10 date: 2024-08-13T03:35:16Z 11 file: defector-com-8wrecr.txt 12 - title: "The Rot Economy - Ed Zitron's Where's Your Ed At" 13 url: https://www.wheresyoured.at/the-rot-economy/ 14 date: 2024-08-13T03:37:13Z 15 file: www-wheresyoured-at-7mfome.txt 16 - title: "AI isn't useless. But is it worth it?" 17 url: https://www.citationneeded.news/ai-isnt-useless/ 18 date: 2024-04-18T16:30:46Z 19 file: www-citationneeded-news-loassa.txt 20 - title: "Recently - macwright.com" 21 url: https://macwright.com/2024/08/01/recently 22 date: 2024-08-09T03:43:36Z 23 file: macwright-com-1msqdm.txt 24 - title: "The World Beyond Your Head - macwright.com" 25 url: https://macwright.com/2024/07/07/world-beyond-your-head 26 date: 2024-08-09T03:43:55Z 27 file: macwright-com-59hl5f.txt 28 - title: "Time travelling for parents · Hauken" 29 url: https://hauken.io/time-travelling/ 30 date: 2024-08-12T17:19:44Z 31 file: hauken-io-v7sjyb.txt 32 - title: "The moral bankruptcy of Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz - The Verge" 33 url: https://www.theverge.com/2024/7/24/24204706/marc-andreessen-ben-horowitz-a16z-trump-donations 34 date: 2024-08-13T04:21:48Z 35 file: www-theverge-com-qbbp8t.txt 36 - title: "Microfeatures I Love in Blogs and Personal Websites" 37 url: https://danilafe.com/blog/blog_microfeatures/ 38 date: 2024-08-13T04:23:30Z 39 file: danilafe-com-0cob7b.txt 40 - title: "A Diminishing Portfolio of Enthusiasms | John P. Weiss - Blog" 41 url: https://johnpweiss.com/blog/196014/a-diminishing-portfolio-of-enthusiasms 42 date: 2024-08-13T04:25:22Z 43 file: johnpweiss-com-ta0xym.txt 44 --- 45 46 Our boy's two months old today! Look at this little dude. 47 48 <!--more--> 49 50 {{<dither IMG_2821.jpeg "782x600">}}A baby lying on a white cloth on a gray cushion, looking toward the camera with wide eyes and an open-mouthed smile.{{</dither>}} 51 {{<dither IMG_2965.jpeg "782x600">}}A smiling baby in a white onesie lies on a green blanket beside a letter board reading “Dominic is two months old.”{{</dither>}} 52 53 We did a newborn photo shoot with [G. Lin Photography][1], though no one told Nevie she wasn't the star. 54 55 {{<dither BabyNico-48.jpg "782x600">}}Two adults and a young child cuddle in front of a crib. One adult holds and kisses a newborn wrapped in a white blanket, while the child leans in to kiss the baby and holds a doll.{{</dither>}} 56 {{<dither BabyNico-118.jpg "782x600">}}A man holds a smiling young child in a yellow dress while a woman cradles a newborn in blue, standing in a leafy yard.{{</dither>}} 57 58 [1]: https://www.glinphotography.com/ 59 60 We took the kids to a few Bulls games. Snacks consumed: many. Baseball consumed: very little. 61 62 {{<dither IMG_3323.jpeg "782x600">}}Two adults, one holding a baby and the other a young child, pose in the stands at a baseball stadium with the field behind them.{{</dither>}} 63 {{<dither IMG_6441.jpeg "782x600">}}A smiling child with curly blond hair wears a bright pink shirt with a cartoon bull and raises one arm while an adult lifts a brown cap from their head.{{</dither>}} 64 65 I finished Nev's art table as well as a few other small projects. I doubt I'll ever be a great (or even good) woodworker, but I derive considerable satisfaction from building simple pieces and quickly modifying things around the house. 66 67 {{<dither IMG_6464.jpeg "782x600">}}Unfinished wooden shelving unit with a slatted back and an open fold-down tray in a basement workshop, surrounded by bicycles, lumber, and a workbench with electronic equipment.{{</dither>}} 68 {{<dither IMG_6463.jpeg "782x600">}}Pink wooden shelving unit with worn paint holding drawings, paper bags, and art supplies beside a kitchen counter.{{</dither>}} 69 70 I signed up for [Bull City Race Fest][2] half-marathon for what'll be the third year in a row. It is so hot out right now that afternoon long runs aren't really tenable, but night runs work well with my screwed up sleep schedule (though that's how I [turned my ankle something fierce][3] last year). Knowing I need to be able to run 13 miles in a few short months is doing wonders for my discipline. 71 72 [2]: https://capstoneraces.com/bull-city-race-fest/ 73 [3]: /journal/dispatch-8-october-2023/ 74 75 Randomly: 76 77 * I needed to replace the roof on my house, and so had to research roofing companies, collect bids, and select a winner. I'm used to being in the opposite role as a consultant trying to win work, and it was weird being the one getting pitched instead of pitching, and in a domain I know next-to-nothing about. It definitely gave me more empathy for what our clients go through in selecting a technical partner. I ended up with a company that was price-competitive and just gave me a good gut feeling, and I'm happy with the result. 78 79 * I've been thinking about the authors whose worldviews really speak to me, like [David Roth][4], [Ed Zitron][5], and [Molly White][6]. I was initially drawn to these folks because they were able to eloquently express thoughts and feelings I was already having about topics like blockchain, AI, and capitalism more broadly. But over time, I've consumed more and more of this content in an increasingly unquestioning way. I find my views getting increasingly extreme, and I've sort of lost the ability to relate to people who feel more positively about these things. 80 81 [4]: https://defector.com/the-limits-of-the-billionaire-imagination-are-everyones-problem 82 [5]: https://www.wheresyoured.at/the-rot-economy/ 83 [6]: https://www.citationneeded.news/ai-isnt-useless/ 84 85 ### This Month 86 87 * Adventure: Rehoboth Beach with my family. We've done this trip for the last four years, and every year the number of children in attendance has increased by one, a trend that simply cannot continue. 88 * Project: [This is one of my favorite albums][7], and here's how they describe the creation process: "write and record a collection of drum-free samples, then flip them into an albums' worth of beats." I'd like to produce a track in this style this month. 89 * Skill: Finger drumming / drum programming in general 90 91 [7]: https://birocratic.bandcamp.com/album/ninety-nine 92 93 ### Reading 94 95 * Fiction: [_Moonbound_][8], Robin Sloan -- quite a departure from _Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore_ but I'm digging it so far; I like an absurd story told in a straightforward way 96 * Non-fiction: [_The World Beyond Your Head_][9], Matthew B. Crawford -- I've read another book by this author, _Shop Class as Soulcraft_, and Tom MacWright spoke highly of this one in his [recent update][10] and [review][11] 97 98 [8]: https://bookshop.org/p/books/wizard-s-design-robin-sloan/20374751 99 [9]: https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-world-beyond-your-head-on-becoming-an-individual-in-an-age-of-distraction-matthew-b-crawford/8484056?ean=9780374535919 100 [10]: https://macwright.com/2024/08/01/recently 101 [11]: https://macwright.com/2024/07/07/world-beyond-your-head 102 103 ### Links 104 105 * [Time travelling for parents][12] 106 107 > One day, you’ll pick up your child for the last time. You’ll change the last diaper, give the last piggyback ride, read the last bedtime story. But this is the crucial point: You will never know it’s the last time when it happens. It’ll slip by, unnoticed. 108 109 * [The moral bankruptcy of Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz][13] 110 111 > Two of Silicon Valley’s famous venture capitalists make the case for backing Trump: that their ability to make money is the only value that matters. 112 113 * [Microfeatures I Love in Blogs and Personal Websites][14] 114 115 > In this time, I’ve been on the lookout for ways to improve the site, and I’ve seen quite a few little things that are nice to use, but relatively easy to implement. They don’t really make or break a website; the absence of such features might be noticed, but will not cause any disruption for the reader. On the other hand, their presence serves as a QoL enhancement. 116 117 * [A Diminishing Portfolio of Enthusiasms][15] 118 119 > In other words, don’t melt into your couch and stop living. Don’t give up on life just because your portfolio of enthusiasms has diminished. There are always ways to squeeze more out of life, even if you’re old and less able to do the things you used to. 120 121 [12]: https://hauken.io/time-travelling/ 122 [13]: https://www.theverge.com/2024/7/24/24204706/marc-andreessen-ben-horowitz-a16z-trump-donations 123 [14]: https://danilafe.com/blog/blog_microfeatures/ 124 [15]: https://johnpweiss.com/blog/196014/a-diminishing-portfolio-of-enthusiasms