index.md (10907B)
1 --- 2 title: "Dispatch #25 (March 2025)" 3 date: 2025-03-04T01:31:08-05:00 4 draft: false 5 tags: 6 - dispatch 7 references: 8 - title: "Using Hugo to Launch a Gemini Capsule | Brain Baking" 9 url: https://brainbaking.com/post/2021/04/using-hugo-to-launch-a-gemini-capsule/ 10 date: 2025-03-04T05:38:40Z 11 file: brainbaking-com-ro5lug.txt 12 - title: "Gemini and Hugo – Sylvain Durand" 13 url: https://sylvaindurand.org/gemini-and-hugo/ 14 date: 2025-03-04T05:38:56Z 15 file: sylvaindurand-org-jylksq.txt 16 - title: "Choosing my pace by shaping my thinking spaces (Part 5) – Tracy Durnell's Mind Garden" 17 url: https://tracydurnell.com/2025/02/23/choosing-my-pace-by-shaping-my-thinking-spaces/ 18 date: 2025-03-04T05:41:59Z 19 file: tracydurnell-com-tq9kvj.txt 20 - title: "Zoxide and Fish Shell - Baty.net" 21 url: https://baty.net/posts/2025/02/zoxide-and-fish-shell/ 22 date: 2025-03-04T06:17:33Z 23 file: baty-net-qdbegx.txt 24 - title: "My LLM codegen workflow atm | Harper Reed's Blog" 25 url: https://harper.blog/2025/02/16/my-llm-codegen-workflow-atm/ 26 date: 2025-03-02T05:57:54Z 27 file: harper-blog-l8lxlh.txt 28 - title: "A Taste of Vanlife" 29 url: https://prayash.io/journal/vanlife 30 date: 2025-03-02T06:12:05Z 31 file: prayash-io-vrlx4z.txt 32 - title: "I'm a feminist and I think it's harder to be a man than a woman." 33 url: https://celestemdavis.substack.com/p/hard-to-be-a-man 34 date: 2025-03-02T06:12:10Z 35 file: celestemdavis-substack-com-8yexkb.txt 36 - title: "Moving on from 18F. — Ethan Marcotte" 37 url: https://ethanmarcotte.com/wrote/leaving-18f/ 38 date: 2025-03-02T06:12:11Z 39 file: ethanmarcotte-com-p78ctl.txt 40 - title: "The Tiny Book of Great Joys · Muffin Man" 41 url: https://muffinman.io/blog/the-tiny-book-of-great-joys/ 42 date: 2025-03-02T06:12:13Z 43 file: muffinman-io-lxkzuw.txt 44 - title: "Ollama - NSHipster" 45 url: https://nshipster.com/ollama/ 46 date: 2025-03-02T06:12:19Z 47 file: nshipster-com-b3vpys.txt 48 - title: "Is it okay?" 49 url: https://www.robinsloan.com/lab/is-it-okay/ 50 date: 2025-03-02T06:12:23Z 51 file: www-robinsloan-com-dkgq9f.txt 52 - title: "Manton Reece" 53 url: https://www.manton.org/2025/02/09/i-missed-the-memo-for.html 54 date: 2025-03-02T06:12:30Z 55 file: www-manton-org-iaxj45.txt 56 - title: "You Can’t Post Your Way Out of Fascism" 57 url: https://www.404media.co/you-cant-post-your-way-out-of-fascism/ 58 date: 2025-03-02T06:12:33Z 59 file: www-404media-co-3wvica.txt 60 --- 61 62 My family popped down for an unplanned visit, just in time for another big snow -- felt like Christmas in February. Claire headed to Mexico with some friends, and it was great to have help with the kids, but it was also pretty special to be Nico's guy for three days. A lot of the primary parenting duties fall to Claire, and he's not going to be a baby much longer, so I'm glad we got that time. 63 64 <!--more--> 65 66 {{<dither IMG_6713.jpeg "782x600">}}Two bundled-up kids stick their tongues out to taste snowflakes while riding in a wagon with their baby sibling peeking from the back.{{</dither>}} 67 {{<dither IMG_7653.jpeg "782x600">}}Two wide-eyed little snack critics share a picnic blanket adorned with pink hibiscus, each mid-bite and equally bewildered by the mystery crumbs.{{</dither>}} 68 69 {{<dither IMG_7681.jpeg "782x600">}}Grandparents relaxing on the couch with a curious baby and a patient dog, sharing toys and smiles in a cozy living room.{{</dither>}} 70 {{<dither IMG_4794.jpeg "782x600">}}Dad in a snowy yard grinning at his bundled-up, giggling child.{{</dither>}} 71 72 After publishing last month's dispatch, I exported the first two years of posts as a PDF and used [Lulu][1] to turn it into a physical book. Here's the result: 73 74 [1]: https://www.lulu.com/ 75 76 {{<dither IMG_7709.jpeg "782x600">}}Lavender planner marked “March 2023 – February 2025” with “D. Eisinger” on the spine lying on a cutting mat, shot with shallow depth of field in a workshop.{{</dither>}} 77 {{<dither IMG_7710.jpeg "782x600">}}Open travel journal on a cutting mat showing an Italy trip write‑up with photo grid on the left page and typed reflections on the right.{{</dither>}} 78 79 I'm pretty chuffed about this (though I wish I'd heeded their warnings about the margins). And it was cheap! Like fifteen bucks! I went ahead and ordered two, and gave one to my sister. This was a cool project and definitely worth a standalone blog post. 80 81 On a whim, I made this site accessible over the [Gemini protocol][2], sort of an alternate, text-only version of the web. Two posts from [Wouter Groeneveld][3] and [Sylvain Durand][4] provided the inspiration and technical starting point, then it was a lot of regular expression wrangling with the help of ChatGPT. You can find me in your favorite Gemini client (I like [Lagrange][5] and [Amfora][6]) at <gemini://gemini.davideisinger.com>. 82 83 [2]: https://geminiprotocol.net/ 84 [3]: https://brainbaking.com/post/2021/04/using-hugo-to-launch-a-gemini-capsule/ 85 [4]: https://sylvaindurand.org/gemini-and-hugo/ 86 [5]: https://github.com/skyjake/lagrange 87 [6]: https://sylvaindurand.org/gemini-and-hugo/ 88 89 I mentioned last month that, in an attempt to gain more control over my attention, I've blocked the websites I find most addictive, and that includes my feed reader, [Feedbin][7]. I still believe RSS is the right way to engage with the social web, but even without algorithmic content, checking my feed reader still gives that little dopamine burst I seem to find irresistible. [Tracy Durnell says it better than I can:][8] 90 91 [7]: https://feedbin.com/ 92 [8]: https://tracydurnell.com/2025/02/23/choosing-my-pace-by-shaping-my-thinking-spaces/ 93 94 > I’ve corralled most of my media exposure into my feed reader, which helps because I must choose to open it, and have removed access from my phone. But while I generally feel RSS is a healthy way to follow writers, it’s still a feed. And feeds, whether self-curated or assembled by a corporate algorithm, are designed to be an efficient information delivery mechanism. Their function is to provide easy, immediate access to new information. 95 96 In order to keep up with the sites I like without exposing myself to an infinite content well, I set up [rss2email][9] on a schedule so that every morning at 5am, it checks the 20 or so sites I've added and emails me any new posts in a nice digest format. This way, I have a few interesting things to look at in the morning, but no temptation to check it throughout the day -- my monkey brain knows there won't be anything new to distract myself with. 97 98 [9]: https://github.com/rss2email/rss2email 99 100 A few miscellaneous tech things: I switched to [zoxide][10], a smart `cd` replacement ([inspiration][11]). I'm using [direnv][12] to manage a Python virtual environment -- it's slick. And I'm trying out [LocalSend][13] as an AirDrop replacement. Finally, Claire and I binged _Slow Horses_ season 4 this month -- so, so good. 101 102 [10]: https://github.com/ajeetdsouza/zoxide 103 [11]: https://baty.net/posts/2025/02/zoxide-and-fish-shell/ 104 [12]: https://github.com/direnv/direnv 105 [13]: https://localsend.org/ 106 107 ### This Month 108 109 * Adventure: Vegas for March Madness 110 * Project: [crochet fox][14] 111 * Skill: finger drumming, for real this time; I've also got some hardware on the way to connect my synths to my laptop, so time to start playing around with some <abbr title="digital audio workstation">DAW</abbr>s 112 113 [14]: https://thewoobles.com/products/fox-crochet-kit 114 115 ### Reading & Listening 116 117 * Fiction: [_Sunbringer_][15], Hannah Kaner 118 * Non-fiction: [_Co-Intelligence_][16], Ethan Mollick ([recommended here][17]) 119 * Music: [_Black Sands_][18], Bonobo 120 121 [15]: https://bookshop.org/p/books/sunbringer-hannah-kaner/20297610 122 [16]: https://bookshop.org/p/books/co-intelligence-living-and-working-with-ai-ethan-mollick/20812081 123 [17]: https://harper.blog/2025/02/16/my-llm-codegen-workflow-atm/ 124 [18]: https://bonobomusic.bandcamp.com/album/black-sands 125 126 ### Links 127 128 * [A Taste of Vanlife][19] 129 130 > Camping has always been one of my favorite hobbies, but I've always wondered what life might be like on four wheels. It's difficult to think about living on the road indefinitely—and understandably so. I'm not really into the idea of getting rid of all of my possessions and living out of a van, constantly on the move. But surely, there's a way to try out that lifestyle without making such a drastic commitment? 131 132 * [I'm a feminist and I think it's harder to be a man than a woman.][20] 133 134 > Very earnestly I believe that despite greater access to power and resources, the box labeled “socially acceptable ways to be a man” is much smaller than the box labeled “socially acceptable ways to be a woman.” 135 136 * [Moving on from 18F. — Ethan Marcotte][21] 137 138 > During that time, a friend suggested that while things were calm at work, I should write down some lines I wouldn’t want to cross: things I’d want to watch out for that, if they materialized, might be a reason to leave. This was wonderful advice, and I’m grateful to them for it. Equipped with a plan, even a small one, I started thinking through what my lines would be. 139 140 * [The Tiny Book of Great Joys · Muffin Man][22] 141 142 > If you are interested in how I over-engineered the process of making a tiny book for my wife, using AI, a pen plotter, a 3D printer, and a lot of time, you are in the right place. The book is titled The Tiny Book of Great Joys, and here is how it turned out. 143 144 * [Ollama - NSHipster][23] 145 146 > If you wait for Apple to deliver on its promises, you’re going to miss out on the most important technological shift in a generation. The future is here today. You don’t have to wait. With Ollama, you can start building the next generation of AI-powered apps right now. 147 148 * [Is it okay?][24] 149 150 > How do you make a language model? Goes like this: erect a trellis of code, then allow the real program to grow, its development guided by a grueling training process, fueled by reams of text, mostly scraped from the internet. Now. I want to take a moment to think together about a question with no remaining practical importance, but persistent moral urgency: Is that okay? 151 152 * [I missed the memo for the outside space at this coffee shop… – Manton Reece][25] 153 154 > The bittersweet irony with parenting is not knowing until years later what you had. 155 156 * [You Can’t Post Your Way Out of Fascism][26] 157 158 > We don’t need any more irony-poisoned hot takes or cathartic, irreverent snark. We need to collectively decide what kind of world we actually do want, and what we’re willing to do to achieve it. 159 160 [19]: https://prayash.io/journal/vanlife 161 [20]: https://celestemdavis.substack.com/p/hard-to-be-a-man 162 [21]: https://ethanmarcotte.com/wrote/leaving-18f/ 163 [22]: https://muffinman.io/blog/the-tiny-book-of-great-joys/ 164 [23]: https://nshipster.com/ollama/ 165 [24]: https://www.robinsloan.com/lab/is-it-okay/ 166 [25]: https://www.manton.org/2025/02/09/i-missed-the-memo-for.html 167 [26]: https://www.404media.co/you-cant-post-your-way-out-of-fascism/