index.md (9690B)
1 --- 2 title: "Dispatch #31 (September 2025)" 3 date: 2025-09-08T22:27:15-04:00 4 draft: false 5 tags: 6 - dispatch 7 references: 8 - title: "What Exif Data Reveals About Your Site | Brain Baking" 9 url: https://brainbaking.com/post/2025/08/what-exif-data-reveals-about-your-site/ 10 date: 2025-09-02T18:38:18Z 11 file: brainbaking-com-jlvqtp.txt 12 - title: "An E-bike For The Mind - by Josh Brake" 13 url: https://joshbrake.substack.com/p/an-e-bike-for-the-mind 14 date: 2025-09-09T02:29:28Z 15 file: joshbrake-substack-com-ljzfg7.txt 16 - title: "“It Was Horrible”: Inside Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy’s ‘Mad Max’ Feud | Vanity Fair" 17 url: https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2022/02/mad-max-fury-road-tom-hardy-charlize-theron-excerpt 18 date: 2025-09-09T02:29:57Z 19 file: www-vanityfair-com-smthzn.txt 20 - title: "We must build AI for people; not to be a person" 21 url: https://mustafa-suleyman.ai/seemingly-conscious-ai-is-coming 22 date: 2025-09-09T02:30:00Z 23 file: mustafa-suleyman-ai-obodhu.txt 24 - title: "What to read? Big questions as filter and frame (Part 7) – Tracy Durnell's Mind Garden" 25 url: https://tracydurnell.com/2025/08/16/what-to-read-big-questions/ 26 date: 2025-09-09T02:30:04Z 27 file: tracydurnell-com-8nhp1w.txt 28 - title: "What if A.I. Doesn’t Get Much Better Than This? | The New Yorker" 29 url: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/open-questions/what-if-ai-doesnt-get-much-better-than-this 30 date: 2025-09-09T02:30:07Z 31 file: www-newyorker-com-bzani5.txt 32 - title: "This website is for humans - localghost" 33 url: https://localghost.dev/blog/this-website-is-for-humans/ 34 date: 2025-09-09T02:30:11Z 35 file: localghost-dev-xtgqkw.txt 36 - title: "Maurice Parker - Zavala Will Always Be Free" 37 url: https://vincode.io/2025/08/11/zavala-will-always-be-free.html 38 date: 2025-09-09T02:30:16Z 39 file: vincode-io-nmkkju.txt 40 --- 41 42 Big month! Nico took his first steps. Nev's onto a new school (well same school, but moved from the 0-3 building to the 3-5). She seems to be taking to it pretty well, but keeps asking if she can go back to being a little girl, which is adorable and absolutely heartbreaking. 43 44 <!--more--> 45 46 We spent a week with my family up in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. The highlight was Nev running wild with a whoopie cushion, blasting strangers with fake farts and running away cackling "MY TOOTS ARE THE BEST." 47 48 {{<dither IMG_8791.jpeg "782x600">}}Stormy skies, salty smiles, and a family beach day that refuses to slow down.{{</dither>}} 49 {{<dither IMG_8805.jpeg "782x600">}}Two moms and their giggly kids share a playful stretch on a sunny playground afternoon.{{</dither>}} 50 51 {{<dither IMG_1119.jpeg "782x600">}}Big grins on the porch steps as three generations crowd together for a sunny family snapshot.{{</dither>}} 52 {{<dither IMG_9988.jpeg "782x600">}}Mom and kids share a sunny park jam session, all smiles on a picnic blanket while a tambourine keeps the beat.{{</dither>}} 53 54 Next we spent Labor Day weekend up in Brooklyn for a high school buddy's wedding. He owns and runs a music venue called [Silo][1] where they held the event. Super fun, but I'd say "I don't live like that anymore" if I ever actually lived like that. 55 56 [1]: https://www.silobrooklyn.com/ 57 58 {{<dither IMG_0104.jpeg "782x600">}}Sunny rooftop smiles with Manhattan skyline stretching behind us.{{</dither>}} 59 {{<dither IMG_8842.jpeg "782x600">}}Neon wigs, matching shades, and contagious laughter—brunch just got a lot brighter.{{</dither>}} 60 61 Finally, I just got back from a bachelor weekend on [Lake Gaston][2]. Now I'm just looking forward to ten days of treating my body with respect. 62 63 [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Gaston 64 65 Half-marathon training is going pretty well. Managed to get about 20 miles in while we were at the beach. Felt great, though I've struggled to reach that kind of mileage in the weeks since. Need to buckle down in the remaining five weeks and I should be able to at least finish if not match my time from previous years. I'm eyeing some new shoes -- [maybe these][3]? Running shoes are crazy these days, and I can't tell if all these technical advancements really make a difference for someone of my ability. If you have any thoughts/recommendations, [let me know][4]. 66 67 [3]: https://www.asics.com/us/en-us/novablast--5-wide/p/ANA_1011B975-101.html?width=Wide 68 [4]: /about/#contact 69 70 I vibe-coded another tool called `pgpull` for pulling PostgreSQL data dumps from remote servers. ChatGPT did 98% of the work, including some nice [fish][5] auto-completion. It's available on [SourceHut][6]. 71 72 [5]: https://fishshell.com/ 73 [6]: https://git.sr.ht/~dce/pgpull 74 75 [This post][7] about how much personal information EXIF data gives away led me to check the photos on this site. Despite [removing almost all of the actual photo data][8], I was still including all of the metadata, which runs counter to the privacy preservation I'm going for. Adding [`-strip`][9] to the ImageMagick call clears it all out, and as a nice bonus, cuts the file size roughly in half. 76 77 [7]: https://brainbaking.com/post/2025/08/what-exif-data-reveals-about-your-site/ 78 [8]: /journal/encrypt-and-dither-photos-in-hugo/ 79 [9]: https://git.sr.ht/~dce/davideisinger.com/commit/3890cc8f094224d05dab56d5fb89b4b107b1e8a6 80 81 ### This Month 82 83 * Adventure: taking the family to **Copenhagen** for about a week; looking forward to [Lego House][10], [Tivoli Gardens][11], and tooling around in a [_bakfiets_][12] 84 * Project: I had this idea to build a digital version of this [fidget toy][13] about [a year and a half ago][14] that never went anywhere; I'm gonna see if ChatGPT can help 85 * Skill: live recording (as opposed to sequenced) samples + bass lines 86 87 [10]: https://www.lego.com/en-dk/attractions#blt281a0fddfffea922 88 [11]: https://www.tivoli.dk/en 89 [12]: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bakfiets 90 [13]: https://www.amazon.com/Fidget-Rainbow-Stocking-Stuffers-Fillers/dp/B092M5DS4X 91 [14]: /journal/dispatch-13-march-2024/#this-month 92 93 ### Reading & Listening 94 95 * Fiction: [_The Fox_][15], Frederick Forsyth 96 * Non-fiction: [_The Book_][16], Alan Watts 97 * Music: [_Getz / Gilberto_][17], Stan Getz & Joao Gilberto 98 99 [15]: https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-fox-frederick-forsyth/d4cd693999f83d5e?ean=9780525538431 100 [16]: https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-book-on-the-taboo-against-knowing-who-you-are-alan-watts/6705001 101 [17]: https://www.turntablelab.com/products/stan-getz-joao-gilberto-getz-gilberto-acoustic-sounds-180g-vinyl-lp 102 103 ### Links 104 105 * [An E-bike For The Mind][18] 106 107 > At the end of the day, we must remember that innovation is a bargain. We often consider what technology promises to enable for us, without considering what it will almost certainly disable. Most of the time, we fail to stop and consider the tradeoffs. Perhaps e-bikes may give us a metaphor to frame our thinking. 108 109 * [“It Was Horrible”: Inside Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy’s ‘Mad Max’ Feud][19] 110 111 > That scene where you see Tom with Charlize on the bike and all the Vuvalini and the Wives behind, intermingled—that scene was probably the biggest change in seeing Tom really soften to Charlize in real life. We were all unprepared for how he performed that, and then I walked off and Charlize was walking back, and I said, “Geez, Charlize, that was amazing. Did a light switch go off? He was great.” She was quite taken aback by it, too. But it was great because that’s when you can see that Max and Furiosa really are a team. 112 113 * [We must build AI for people; not to be a person][20] 114 115 > AI progress has been phenomenal. A few years ago, talk of conscious AI would have seemed crazy. Today it feels increasingly urgent. In this essay I want to discuss what I’ll call, “Seemingly Conscious AI” (SCAI), one that has all the hallmarks of other conscious beings and thus appears to be conscious. 116 117 * [What to read? Big questions as filter and frame][21] 118 119 > Your favorite problems form a prism that separates incoming information into a spectrum of ideas — a frame that allows you to deliberately filter distractions, direct your attention, and nurture your curiosity. 120 121 * [What If A.I. Doesn’t Get Much Better Than This?][22] 122 123 > In the aftermath of GPT-5’s launch, it has become more difficult to take bombastic predictions about A.I. at face value, and the views of critics like Marcus seem increasingly moderate. Such voices argue that this technology is important, but not poised to drastically transform our lives. They challenge us to consider a different vision for the near-future—one in which A.I. might not get much better than this. 124 125 * [This website is for humans][23] 126 127 > I write the content on this website for people, not robots. I’m sharing my opinions and experiences so that you might identify with them and learn from them. 128 129 * [Maurice Parker - Zavala Will Always Be Free][24] 130 131 > The way I usually explain it is like this. Imagine you made furniture your whole life, but your employer only gave you pallet wood to use and half the time needed to make a piece. You were good at it and loved furniture, but were unfulfilled at your job until you retired. Now you can make furniture using walnut and take the time needed to make something you are proud of. 132 133 [18]: https://joshbrake.substack.com/p/an-e-bike-for-the-mind 134 [19]: https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2022/02/mad-max-fury-road-tom-hardy-charlize-theron-excerpt 135 [20]: https://mustafa-suleyman.ai/seemingly-conscious-ai-is-coming 136 [21]: https://tracydurnell.com/2025/08/16/what-to-read-big-questions/ 137 [22]: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/open-questions/what-if-ai-doesnt-get-much-better-than-this 138 [23]: https://localghost.dev/blog/this-website-is-for-humans/ 139 [24]: https://vincode.io/2025/08/11/zavala-will-always-be-free.html