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123
content/journal/dispatch-22-december-2024/index.md
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@@ -9,6 +9,59 @@ references:
url: https://daringfireball.net/2024/11/how_it_went url: https://daringfireball.net/2024/11/how_it_went
date: 2024-11-11T05:54:54Z date: 2024-11-11T05:54:54Z
file: daringfireball-net-9cm2ax.txt file: daringfireball-net-9cm2ax.txt
references:
- title: "What I'm Thankful For - Freddie deBoer"
url: https://freddiedeboer.substack.com/p/what-im-thankful-for?publication_id=295937&post_id=152102146&isFreemail=false&r=2i8cnl&triedRedirect=true
date: 2024-12-02T04:15:51Z
file: freddiedeboer-substack-com-srv3tk.txt
- title: "Building LLMs is probably not going be a brilliant business"
url: https://calpaterson.com/porter.html
date: 2024-12-02T04:15:54Z
file: calpaterson-com-gg1ovh.txt
- title: "Ella’s First Website | Brad Frost"
url: https://bradfrost.com/blog/post/ellas-first-website/
date: 2024-12-02T04:15:56Z
file: bradfrost-com-t3o1za.txt
- title: "Stinky Gifts From Your Idea Kitty"
url: https://taylor.town/idea-kitty
date: 2024-12-02T04:15:58Z
file: taylor-town-hsouvj.txt
- title: "Signls"
url: https://empr.cl/signls/
date: 2024-12-02T04:16:03Z
file: empr-cl-epss77.txt
- title: "Is there really a way to push back on the complexity of the web? - macwright.com"
url: https://macwright.com/2024/11/16/web-complexity.html
date: 2024-12-02T04:16:08Z
file: macwright-com-fc93ce.txt
- title: "The Cleanse – Rands in Repose"
url: https://randsinrepose.com/archives/the-cleanse/
date: 2024-12-02T04:16:11Z
file: randsinrepose-com-ddmssa.txt
- title: "Getting Stuff Done By Not Being Mean to Yourself - The Open Heart Project"
url: https://openheartproject.com/getting-stuff-done-by-not-being-mean-to-yourself/
date: 2024-12-02T04:16:16Z
file: openheartproject-com-qgxuup.txt
- title: "MomBoard: E-ink display for a parent with amnesia"
url: https://jan.miksovsky.com/posts/2024/11-12-momboard
date: 2024-12-02T04:16:32Z
file: jan-miksovsky-com-muc8ja.txt
- title: "Wind the clock"
url: https://www.citationneeded.news/wind-the-clock/?ref=wheresyoured.at
date: 2024-12-02T04:16:50Z
file: www-citationneeded-news-303wkb.txt
- title: "It's the “1998” of the AI Revolution. So Why Can I Safely Ignore It? | The Internet Review"
url: https://theinternet.review/2024/10/29/generative-ai-2024-is-not-like-1998/
date: 2024-12-02T04:17:28Z
file: theinternet-review-w06lf0.txt
- title: "On Working With Your Passion | datagubbe.se"
url: https://www.datagubbe.se/passion/
date: 2024-12-02T04:17:42Z
file: www-datagubbe-se-og9kur.txt
- title: "How many hobbies is too many? • Buttondown"
url: https://buttondown.com/monteiro/archive/how-many-hobbies-is-too-many/
date: 2024-12-02T04:17:45Z
file: buttondown-com-jpzwsx.txt
--- ---
* [Spell checking][1] * [Spell checking][1]
@@ -43,10 +96,68 @@ references:
### Links ### Links
* [Title][4] * [What I'm Thankful For][4]
* [Title][5]
* [Title][6]
[4]: https://example.com/ > Thanksgiving. No commercialism or materialism. No overt religiosity. No stress about getting the right presents. No pressure to find a cool party like with Halloween. The weather of late fall, the natural rhythms of harvest and feast before the winter, the pleasure of a holiday devoted to the concept of being grateful. The football, the family, the food. The after-meal nap. The wonderfully laidback nature of the whole affair. My favorite holiday.
[5]: https://example.com/
[6]: https://example.com/ * [Building LLMs is probably not going be a brilliant business][5]
> Large language models (LLMs) like Chat-GPT and Claude.ai are whizzy and cool. A lot of people think that they are going to be The Future. Maybe they are — but that doesn't mean that building them is going to be a profitable business.
* [Ella’s First Website][6]
> I could go on about all of these things, but I won’t. Instead I will say that I am so incredibly proud of Ella. I am lucky to be the dad of such a smart, creative, hilarious, curious, and yes obnoxious girl. I hope this is but one of many many many many many many creations that leave her head and make their way out into the world. I love you so much, Ella.
* [Stinky Gifts From Your Idea Kitty][7]
> Your mind will never improve at finding good ideas; that cat will always deliver 90% crap. What changes is you. You somehow teach yourself to sort and salvage. You learn to forgive yourself faster, to bury the dead, and to pay proper respect to Nature's harsh whims. You name this new feeling "intuition" and "taste" and sometimes "luck".
* [Signls][8]
> Signls (pronounced signals) is a non-linear, generative MIDI sequencer designed for music composition and live performances, all within the terminal. It allows you to create complex, evolving musical patterns using a grid-based approach. You can place nodes on the grid, and these nodes can emit signals, relay them, or trigger MIDI notes. There are 9 different types of nodes to explore, each with its own unique behavior.
* [Is there really a way to push back on the complexity of the web?][9]
> I don’t think everything should be a React app! I want more things to be like Flickr used to be, and GitHub used to be. But at the same time, I don’t see an obvious way out of the current dynamics. Yelling is popular but the track record isn’t very good. Being quietly annoyed about the web’s descent into complexity, my preferred approach, doesn’t work very well either.
* [The Cleanse][10]
> A friend calls this turtling. Pulling your head inside your shell and hiding. It’s quite comfortable here.
* [Getting Stuff Done By Not Being Mean to Yourself][11]
> Yesterday, I finally realized that this method would never, ever work. I was shocked. But it never, ever has. I’ve been after myself on this score for, what, like ten years? Had it ever worked once in that time, I asked myself. No! I said immediately.
* [MomBoard: E-ink display for a parent with amnesia][12]
> Today marks two years since I first set up an e-ink display in my mom’s apartment to help her live on her own with amnesia. The display has worked extremely well during those two years, so I’m sharing the basic set-up in case others find it useful for similar situations.
* [Wind the clock][13]
> Sailors have an expression about the weather: they say, the weather is a great bluffer. I guess the same is true of our human society — things can look dark, then a break shows in the clouds, and all is changed, sometimes rather suddenly. It is quite obvious that the human race has made a queer mess of life on this planet. But as a people we probably harbor seeds of goodness that have lain for a long time waiting to sprout when the conditions are right.
* [It's the “1998” of the AI Revolution. So Why Can I Safely Ignore It?][14]
> I don’t say all of this to revel in my curmudgeonly Luddism. I say it because I’m living proof that you can be a fulfilled, modern, very online, technical expert & creator and completely sit out this hype cycle. Seriously. You can just not use any of these generative AI tools.
* [On Working With Your Passion][15]
> I think this - be it romanticized fantasy or actual historical fact - is what a lot of us programmers, deep down, desire from our professional life. Sadly, we're not celebrated geniuses working at the research department of a telecomms monopoly during the rise of an empire. We're instead doing yet another customer checkout form for a mid-sized e-commerce site, helplessly watching our profession slowly, as Marx put it, "sink into the proletariat". Meanwhile, we secretly feed the little part of us...
* [How many hobbies is too many?][16]
> Hobby is capitalism’s word. It’s a crumb from capitalism’s table. Capitalism is happy that you have a hobby, especially if it can sell you HO-scale train sets to complete it, but that hobby can never be taken as seriously as what capitalism might need from you. (Oh, and that thing capitalism might need from you? Well, design is your passion, so they don’t really need to pay you adequately for that, do they?)
[4]: https://freddiedeboer.substack.com/p/what-im-thankful-for?publication_id=295937&post_id=152102146&isFreemail=false&r=2i8cnl&triedRedirect=true
[5]: https://calpaterson.com/porter.html
[6]: https://bradfrost.com/blog/post/ellas-first-website/
[7]: https://taylor.town/idea-kitty
[8]: https://empr.cl/signls/
[9]: https://macwright.com/2024/11/16/web-complexity.html
[10]: https://randsinrepose.com/archives/the-cleanse/
[11]: https://openheartproject.com/getting-stuff-done-by-not-being-mean-to-yourself/
[12]: https://jan.miksovsky.com/posts/2024/11-12-momboard
[13]: https://www.citationneeded.news/wind-the-clock/?ref=wheresyoured.at
[14]: https://theinternet.review/2024/10/29/generative-ai-2024-is-not-like-1998/
[15]: https://www.datagubbe.se/passion/
[16]: https://buttondown.com/monteiro/archive/how-many-hobbies-is-too-many/

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[1] My name is Brad Frost
• [2]Work
• [3]Training
• [4]Book
• [5]Blog
• [6]Contact
Ella’s First Website
ULTRA PROUD DAD MOMENT: Ella made her first website!
Melissa and I woke up on Saturday morning to our goofy 6-year-old daughter
entering our bedroom making this obnoxious sound. It was impressively annoying,
especially considering she hasn’t seen [7]Dumb and Dumber yet. She truly is her
father’s daughter.
After we were done laughing, we recorded her and cracked ourselves up listening
to the playback. We joked that it would make for a really effective alarm
clock.
“We should make one!” I said.
Her face lit up.
“Yeah, we can make a little website that loops the sound. It’ll be funny.”
I brought my laptop to breakfast and I fired up my trusty, faithful, incredible
friend [8]Codepen. I insisted that Ella drive.
Ella on Brad's laptop sitting at the breakfast table
I decided to start her with one of the most magical, visceral aspects of
front-end development: changing the body‘s background-color.
Just look at that reaction as soon as the web page’s canvas changed colors:
Ella reacting to the browser window change from white to green when she entered
the appropriate CSS code.
Surprise. Wonder. Happiness. Pride. Satisfaction. You can see the gears
turning.
We continued on our journey. Like most kids her age, she is learning to spell
and isn’t used to typing on a keyboard. On the back of an envelope, I wrote
some of the words and syntax down for her to transcribe:
A zoom in of my writing code on the back of an envelope
She diligently followed instructions, and though it required patience (she
definitely started losing focus over time!) we kept at it. I said we needed
picture of her that would be part of the alarm clock website. We took the photo
and turned our attention to the next magic trick: replacing the background with
her goofy face. She truly is her father’s daughter.
I had to intervene a bit here to open up [9]Codepen’s super helpful assets
feature to get the image online. But! I taught her how to use the trackpad, as
well as copy and paste keyboard commands. It took a second and some fiddling
around with the [10]background-size value, but we got her goofy mug onto the
website:
From there, we turned our attention to the HTML panel to add the [11]audio tag.
That was a little tougher, especially since her patience was wearing thin. But
I was able to explain that writing [12]loop would make the sound repeat
forever, which she thought was funny. I also explained that autoplay would make
it start playing immediately, but I learned autoplay (rightly) [13]blocked by
default to prevent, say, an annoying sound to loop for infinity.
After a little bit more finessing and me getting the audio asset in there, she
had her finished website!
So here it is: Ella’s [14]funny annoying alarm clock website!
See the Pen [15] funny annoying alarm clock by Brad Frost ([16]@bradfrost) on
[17]CodePen.
She had a great initial reaction, and I think hearing her annoying sound come
from a totally different machine didn’t really compute to her. And while her
patience was understandably spent, she enjoyed the results.
There is a lot I could say here. That this is a beautiful reminder of the
absolute magic that is web design and development. That a beginner’s mind can
change your perspective. That the declarative and human-readable languages of
CSS and HTML help make coding less intimidating. That we could continue to
improve the website and add new features. That accessible tools that help
people learn web development are incredible.
I could go on about all of these things, but I won’t. Instead I will say that I
am so incredibly proud of Ella. I am lucky to be the dad of such a smart,
creative, hilarious, curious, and yes obnoxious girl. I hope this is but one of
many many many many many many creations that leave her head and make their way
out into the world. I love you so much, Ella.
And yes, I woke her up for school today with her alarm clock.
Posted by [18]Brad Frost on [19]27 Nov, 2024
Tags: [20]codepen, [21]css, [22]education, [23]ella, [24]html, [25]life, [26]
personal, [27]web design, [28]web development
• Brad Frost
Hey there!
I'm [29]Brad Frost, a design system consultant, web designer, speaker,
writer, and musician located in beautiful Pittsburgh, PA.
• [30]
Atomic Design Book [atomic-des] [atomic-des]
• [31]Atomic Design
I wrote a book called [32]Atomic Design, which covers all that goes into
creating and maintaining effective design systems. You can [33]read it
online and [34]order the ebook.
• [35] Brad Frost speaking at TEDx Pittsburgh
• [36]
Wanna work together?
I'm a principal and technical strategist at Big Medium, where we help teams
establish and evolve design systems, establish more collaborative
workflows, and create better software together. Need design system help?
Need help leveling up your organization's digital practice? Get in touch!
• [37]
Blog
I write about web design best practices, design systems, responsive design,
and other tasty topics on my blog. I also enjoy sharing and commenting on
interesting links from around the web.
• [38]
Contact
Does your team need help taking your design system to the next level?
Interested in a workshop, consulting, or co-creation project? Have a
question about atomic design or web development? Get in touch!
• [39]
Music
Music gives me an enormous amount of mental, physical, and spiritual
satisfaction. I just love playing music, plain and simple.
• Around the web
You can follow along on [40]Bluesky, [41]LinkedIn, [42]Mastodon, [43]
Threads, [44]YouTube, [45]Instagram, [46]Github, [47]Codepen, [48]Spotify,
and [49]Last.fm.
•
References:
[1] https://bradfrost.com/
[2] https://bradfrost.com/work
[3] https://bradfrost.com/workshops
[4] http://atomicdesign.bradfrost.com/
[5] https://bradfrost.com/blog
[6] https://bradfrost.com/contact
[7] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aR3MDSF-IpQ
[8] https://codepen.io/
[9] https://codepen.io/features/asset-hosting
[10] https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/background-size
[11] https://www.w3schools.com/html/html5_audio.asp
[12] https://www.w3schools.com/tags/att_audio_loop.asp
[13] https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Media/Autoplay_guide
[14] https://codepen.io/bradfrost/pen/GRVLEKY?editors=1100
[15] https://codepen.io/bradfrost/pen/GRVLEKY
[16] https://codepen.io/bradfrost
[17] https://codepen.io/
[18] http://bradfrost.com/
[19] https://bradfrost.com/blog/post/ellas-first-website/
[20] https://bradfrost.com/blog/tag/codepen/
[21] https://bradfrost.com/blog/tag/css/
[22] https://bradfrost.com/blog/tag/education/
[23] https://bradfrost.com/blog/tag/ella/
[24] https://bradfrost.com/blog/tag/html/
[25] https://bradfrost.com/blog/tag/life/
[26] https://bradfrost.com/blog/tag/personal/
[27] https://bradfrost.com/blog/tag/web-design/
[28] https://bradfrost.com/blog/tag/web-development/
[29] http://bradfrost.com/about
[30] https://shop.bradfrost.com/
[31] https://shop.bradfrost.com/
[32] http://atomicdesign.bradfrost.com/
[33] http://atomicdesign.bradfrost.com/table-of-contents/
[34] https://shop.bradfrost.com/products/atomic-design-ebook
[35] https://bradfrost.com/speaking
[36] https://bradfrost.com/work
[37] https://bradfrost.com/blog
[38] https://bradfrost.com/contact
[39] https://bradfrost.com/music
[40] https://bsky.app/profile/bradfrost.com
[41] https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradfrost
[42] https://mastodon.social/@brad_frost
[43] https://www.threads.net/@brad_frost
[44] https://www.youtube.com/@brad_frost
[45] http://instagram.com/brad_frost
[46] https://github.com/bradfrost
[47] http://codepen.io/bradfrost/
[48] https://open.spotify.com/user/ienjoyhotsoup
[49] http://www.last.fm/user/brad_frost

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Mike Monteiro’s Good News logo
[1] Mike Monteiro’s Good News [2]
Subscribe
[3]
RSS
[4]
Archive
September 11, 2024
How many hobbies is too many?
[5]Two identical paintings. Each painting is two panels. The top panels is a
black and white word balloon that says GENOCIDE IS PAINLESS. The bottom panel
is a anthropomorphized slice of watermelon.Couple little paintings I did this
week for reasons.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
This week’s question comes to us from Gord Fynes:
How many hobbies is too many? There's only so many hours in the day, days in
the week, etc.
One. One hobby is too many.
I hate hobbies. Rather, I hate calling things hobbies. The word hobby is almost
always used apologetically. It carries a certain amount of shame, an element of
wasted time, or at least time not well-spent, certainly time spent not
“earning.” And therein lies the problem.
Let’s get personal. When I was a kid, my father “earned” by doing construction
work. He’d leave early in the morning and come home caked in cement from laying
foundations. He was not a happy person to be around. He hated his job and he
took it out on his family. After dinner, which was never pleasant, he would
either disappear out the door or disappear into the basement.
The basement was off limits to us. It’s where he painted. Years later, I got
brave enough to go door there. Behind a curtained-off area, I found a workbench
full of intricately painted tiles, always in blue. I found coffee cans full of
brushes, some of them carefully handmade. And I found family photographs taped
to the wall. All of this was new to me, and I couldn’t understand why someone
who was always so full of rage towards me would have my school photo taped to
the wall above his workbench. In some ways I still don’t.
As years passed, his secret became less of a secret. He’d occasionally bring a
tile up and hang it in the kitchen. Eventually, I’d learn the tiles were called
azulejos. Eventually, I’d learn that he was a trained azulejo painter in his
native Portugal, and well-regarded for it. Then he immigrated to the United
States where he laid cement to earn for his family. And I wondered what he
would’ve been like if he could’ve spent his life doing what he loved.
Selfishly, I wondered what my life would’ve been like if he could’ve spent his
life doing what he loved.
As more years passed, my father realized I had some form of artistic talent and
I was allowed behind the curtain, especially if he needed lettering. He sucked
at lettering.
When I decided I wanted to go to art school, my mother objected, but my father
did not. And while this did not make up for years of abuse, it was nonetheless
appreciated.
I hate hobbies. Hobbies end up being curtained-off room in the basement where
we hide the life we wish we could be living.
In my own adult life, I do lots of things. I design shit. I paint. I do
workshops. I make zines. I write. I love doing all of those things, and I
manage to do some of them for money. But to me they are equally important. And
while I have to acknowledge that all of this takes a certain amount of luck and
privilege, it also takes a plan.
When we started our design shop (the money work), one of the first things we
did was set boundaries for ourselves. We worked from 9–6 and from
Monday–Friday. I never sold my weekends, and I never lived beyond my means in a
way that required me to sell my weekends. As time went on I did all I could to
reduce the things I did for money so I could spend time doing the things I
enjoyed that didn’t make money. Both things were equally important.
Is this privileged? Yes. Is this a privilege that we need to extend to every
human being on earth? Also fucking yes, in a big way. (And if we have the money
to fund a genocide, we have the money for UBI.)
Hobby is capitalism’s word. It’s a crumb from capitalism’s table. Capitalism is
happy that you have a hobby, especially if it can sell you HO-scale train sets
to complete it, but that hobby can never be taken as seriously as what
capitalism might need from you. (Oh, and that thing capitalism might need from
you? Well, design is your passion, so they don’t really need to pay you
adequately for that, do they?)
Sadly, capitalism is still with us, and we need to earn. So when you have to
clock in, clock in. And when you clock out, clock the fuck out. Take off that
stupid watch that sends texts and emails to your wrist. Toss your laptop in the
basement. Get behind that drumkit, get in front of that easel, get your ass in
the garden, straddle that potter’s wheel, strap on the messenger bag with all
your paint cans and nozzles in it, and get the fuck to work.
All those are work.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🙋 Got a question? [6]Ask it.
📖 [7]Ordering zines means I can spend more time painting. Plus, you get
stickers and a zine.
👎 An industry that can’t hold on to the people it most needs is [8]an industry
that doesn’t deserve air. Vivianne is a friend, and I am so proud of everything
she’s done.
📻 I’ve been enjoying the new podcast [9]Rebel Spirit from Akilah Hughes,
produced by my friend Dan Sinker.
Don't miss what's next. Subscribe to Mike Monteiro’s Good News:
[10][ ] Subscribe
Brought to you by [12]Buttondown, the easiest way to start and grow your
newsletter.
References:
[1] https://buttondown.com/monteiro
[2] https://buttondown.com/monteiro#subscribe-form
[3] https://buttondown.com/monteiro/rss
[4] https://buttondown.com/monteiro/archive/
[5] https://www.worldsgreatestartist.com/?utm_source=monteiro&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=how-many-hobbies-is-too-many
[6] https://www.mikemonteiro.com/ask-a-question?utm_source=monteiro&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=how-many-hobbies-is-too-many
[7] https://www.designisajob.com/?utm_source=monteiro&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=how-many-hobbies-is-too-many
[8] https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7239687397918056448/?utm_source=monteiro&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=how-many-hobbies-is-too-many
[9] https://omny.fm/shows/rebel-spirit/episode-1-a-homecoming-1?utm_source=monteiro&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=how-many-hobbies-is-too-many
[12] https://buttondown.com/

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Cal Paterson | [1]Home [2]Services [3]About
Building LLMs is probably not going be a brilliant business
November 2024
The Netscapes of AI
image of early 20th century train advert for Watford Railways improved the
lives of millions - but investors were rewarded with a [4]dramatic bust
Large language models (LLMs) like Chat-GPT and Claude.ai are whizzy and cool. A
lot of people think that they are going to be The Future. Maybe they are — but
that doesn't mean that building them is going to be a profitable business.
In the 1960s, airlines were The Future. That is why old films have so many
swish shots of airports in them. Airlines though, turned out to be an
unavoidably rubbish business. I've flown on loads of airlines that have gone
bust: Monarch, WOW Air, Thomas Cook, Flybmi, Zoom. And those are all busts from
before coronavirus - times change but being an airline is always a bad idea.
That's odd, because other businesses, even ones which seem really stupid, are
much more profitable. Selling fizzy drinks is, surprisingly, an amazing
business. Perhaps the best. Coca-Cola's return on equity has rarely fallen
below 30% in any given year. That seems very unfair because being an airline is
hard work but making coke is pretty easy. It's even more galling because
Coca-Cola don't actually make the coke themselves - that is outsourced to
"bottling companies". They literally just sell it.
Industry structure - what makes a business good
If you were to believe LinkedIn you would think a great business is made with
efficiency, hard work, innovation or some other intrinsic reason to do with how
hardworking, or clever, the people in the business are. That simply is not the
case.
What makes a good business is industry structure.
Airlines - unfavourable industry structure
To be an airline is to be in an almost uniquely terrible market position. For
starters, there are only two makers of aeroplanes (Airbus and Boeing). For
reasons of training and staff efficiency, you have to commit to one or the
other, which gives the aeroplane makers very strong pricing power.
And buyers of airline tickets are incredibly fickle and have no loyalty. They
will switch from one "carrier" to another over even small differences in price.
Annoyingly, there are loads of other airlines and they're all running the same
routes as you!
Worse yet, starting a new airline is surprisingly easy. Aircraft hold their
value so banks will happily lend against them. There are loads of staff
available that new entrants can hire. So randos will continually enter your
market, often selling tickets below cost for quite a while before they go bust.
And to top it off, there are plenty of substitutes for air travel - from
government-subsidised high speed trains to Zoom calls.
Airlines that get more efficient, work harder or come up with innovations
aren't going to be able to "capture" the value of what they've done. If you
make more than the bare minimum to survive Airbus will notice that you're being
undercharged and you'll find that the next renewal on your service contract
eats up the difference.
Fizzy-drinks - very favourable industry structure
Being the Coca-Cola company is pretty great though.
Coke is just water, colourant, flavouring, caffeine and sweetener. Those are
all widely available and really cheap. And as I said, you don't even have to
combine them yourselves - bottling companies will do that for you for almost
nothing.
Handily, consumers are really picky about what goes in their mouth. The
unofficial motto of your main competitor is "Is Pepsi ok?". This is despite the
fact that they are identical in both taste and colour. And a significant
minority of people actually say no!
And it isn't easy for new competitors to enter the market. They can't call
their new drink "coke" due to trademarks. They have to call it something else.
And consumers will generally refuse it because drinking an alternative is
considered some kind of weird statement.
What is industry structure?
Classically, there are five basic parts ("forces") to a company's position:
1. The power of their suppliers to increase their prices
2. The power of their buyers to reduce your prices
3. The strength of direct competitors
4. The threat of any new entrants
5. The threat of substitutes
It's industry structure that makes a business profitable or not. Not
efficiency, not hard work and not innovation.
If none of the forces are very much against you, your business will do ok. If
they are all against you, you'll be in the position of the airlines. And if
they're all in your favour: brill, you're Coca-Cola.
The industry structure of LLM makers: OpenAI/Anthropic/Gemini/etc
So is the position of LLM makers any good? I'm afraid it's not good news.
LLM makers sometimes imply that their suppliers are cloud companies like Amazon
Web Services, Google Cloud, etc. That wouldn't be so bad because you could shop
around and make them compete to cut the huge cost of model training.
Really though, LLM makers have only one true supplier: NVIDIA. NVIDIA make the
[5]chips that all models are trained on - regardless of cloud vendor. And that
gives NVIDIA colossal, near total pricing power. NVIDIA are more powerful
relative to Anthropic or OpenAI than Airbus or Boeing could ever dream of
being.
How much power do buyers have over LLM token prices? So far, it seems fairly
high. Most LLM users seem willing to change from Chat-GPT to Claude, for
example. It doesn't seem like brand loyalty is being built up. And companies
that build AI into their businesses are starting to do so via abstraction
layers that allow them to switch model easily. That makes LLMs interchangeable
- which is bad for those who sell them.
What's the strength of direct competitors? Again, it is considerable. There are
loads of LLM vendors and pricing [6]appears competitive. Worst of all, Facebook
basically dump their model on the market for no cost. It's [7]reminiscent of
Internet Explorer - not exactly a great portent.
And it seems fairly easy for new entrants to build brand new models. That is
why there are so many LLM makers. Most of the techniques for making LLMs are
openly published in papers. Even bad models can gain customers if they are
cheap, which allows new entrants to gain a foothold.
The situation on substitutes is mixed. Instead of having Chat-GPT write some
text you could pay a person to do it instead. That is likely to be much more
expensive but also less likely to hallucinate, which might be important for
some use-cases (law is the field least likely to use LLMs). And then there is
the trend that [8]metadata tends to displace artificial intelligence once
particular application has been proved out - so as soon as you find a solid
use-case you stand to be replaced.
A single mildly positive point does not make a profitable business. LLM makers
look a lot more like Netscape - who invented graphical web browsers, then went
bust - than Google, who made something good that ran on top of the web
browsers.
How are they raising so much money?
If LLM makers seem cursed to an airline-style business destiny, how come they
are able to raise so much money? OpenAI [9]raised $6.6 billion at a valuation
of $157 billion less than two months ago. That might be the biggest VC round of
all time.
What do they know that I don't? It is a mystery - but let's consider the
options.
Perhaps they are hoping to develop their own chips to reduce their dependence
on NVIDIA. $6.6 billion is not enough to build a new fab but it might be enough
to get a new chip designed which allows them to migrate off NVIDIA. That would
save them paying so much money for GPU time. But, NVIDIA are actually one of
the investors in the round (although only a fairly small amount) - so it's
unlikely "develop an NVIDIA competitor" was on any of the pitch deck slides.
Perhaps OpenAI are hoping to build a strong brand so that customers won't
switch to competitors so easily. It's not impossible, there is proof the [10]
branding and lock-in can work in technology - but it seems difficult to manage
given that LLMs themselves generically have a textual interface - meaning that
there is no real API as such - you just send text, and it sends text back.
Can they do anything about new entrants? Possibly. If investing $6.6bn allows
them to develop a major improvement in their model then that would raise
everyone else's costs considerably and probably force some of their smaller
competitors out of the market. The trouble is that money is the most fungible
of all goods (that is the point, after all) and that $6.6bn is not all that
much of it. So this round wouldn't, by itself, be enough to dissuade others. I
used to work at a bank and I can tell you that individual bond raises can be a
lot more than $6.6bn.
It's worth saying that even companies that raise huge sums of money sometimes
turn out to have no viable business. WeWork ultimately raised over $10bn at a
valuation of $47bn before it was realised that their business simply did not
make sense. WeWork were valued at just $0.56bn in their most recent financial
restructuring - having lost well over 95% of what was invested.
Not all AI companies are doomed
If LLM makers aren't going to be good businesses, does that bode ill for The
Future?
Firstly, it does not mean the technology will be bad. Whether the technology
ends up being good or not is mostly unrelated to whether Open AI/Anthropic/
Mistral/whoever makes any money off it. Container virtualisation technology is
pretty well developed even though Docker made almost nothing on it. Web
browsers are extremely advanced pieces of software even though making a browser
is such a bad business that most don't usually count it as a business at all.
And CRMs are terrible despite the fact that Salesforce is tremendously
successful. Technology success and business success are mostly unrelated.
And then: not all AI businesses are building models. Ideally, if I were running
an AI business I would avoid building a model at all costs. Building your own
models looks like an undifferentiated schlep. Using a tiny bit of some
expensively trained model that Anthropic has produced could be very cost
effective and might make some business idea work that wouldn't have 5 years
ago.
Beware software companies that aren't software companies
Software companies are really good businesses. You have no real suppliers, your
software is often unique (so no competitors) and the substitute is just users
doing the job themselves. For this reason, software companies tend have really
great margins.
The problem is that not all technology companies are software companies. If you
have a hugely powerful single supplier like NVIDIA then the economics of your
company are going to look less like Microsoft Office and more like [11]Pan-Am.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Contact/etc
Write to me at [12]cal@calpaterson.com about this article, especially if you
disagreed with it.
See [13]other things I've written or learn more about me on [14]my about page.
Get an alert when I write something new, by [15]email or [16]RSS[17] rss-logo.
I am on:
• [18]Bluesky
• [19]Mastodon
• [20]Twitter
• [21]Github
• and [22]Linkedin.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Other notes
The AI safety movement is a fantastic hypeman for LLMs as a technology.
Implying (pretty dubiously) that we are [23]10 minutes from midnight in some
kind of Ghost-in-The-Shell style AI crisis is in fact an extremely effective
form of product marketing. Perhaps that is why OpenAI and others employ so many
AI safety specialists.
The Coca-Cola company mainly sit back and rake in the megabucks - but they do
spend a little bit of their earnings on research. And a little bit of a lot is
still significant. It's interesting that coke's market research has discovered
that coke works better as a gender segregated product: Coke Zero is Diet Coke,
but for men.
If you want to read more about industry structure and market strategy, the
place to start is with Michael Porter. He reworked his famous essay [24]The
Five Forces that Shape Corporate Strategy in 2008. It's not the last word, but
it probably should be the first word you read if you want to learn more. And if
you like it, he has a lot more.
References:
[1] https://calpaterson.com/
[2] https://calpaterson.com/services.html
[3] https://calpaterson.com/about.html
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railway_Mania
[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hopper_(microarchitecture)
[6] https://a16z.com/llmflation-llm-inference-cost/
[7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_wars#First_browser_war_(1995%E2%80%932001)
[8] https://calpaterson.com/metadata.html
[9] https://www.reuters.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/openai-closes-66-billion-funding-haul-valuation-157-billion-with-investment-2024-10-02/
[10] https://calpaterson.com/amazon-premium.html
[11] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_Am
[12] mailto:cal@calpaterson.com
[13] https://calpaterson.com/
[14] https://calpaterson.com/about.html
[15] https://calpatersonltd.eo.page/calpaterson
[16] https://calpaterson.com/calpaterson.rss
[17] https://calpaterson.com/calpaterson.rss
[18] https://bsky.app/profile/calpaterson.bsky.social
[19] https://fosstodon.org/@calpaterson
[20] https://twitter.com/cal_paterson
[21] https://github.com/calpaterson/
[22] https://www.linkedin.com/in/calpaterson
[23] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doomsday_Clock
[24] https://hbr.org/2008/01/the-five-competitive-forces-that-shape-strategy

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[1] logo [2]
• [3]about
• [4]signls
□ [5]Overview
□ [6]Installation
☆ [7]Linux & macOS
☆ [8]Windows
☆ [9]Build it yourself
□ [10]Usage
☆ [11]Basic commands
☆ [12]Keyboard mapping
☆ [13]MIDI
□ [14]Workflow
☆ [15]User Interface
☆ [16]Grid
☆ [17]Nodes
☆ [18]Signals
☆ [19]Parameters
☆ [20]Note parameters
☆ [21]CC parameters
☆ [22]Timing
☆ [23]Transposition
☆ [24]Randomization
☆ [25]Bank
□ [26]Nodes reference
☆ [27] Bang
☆ [28] Euclid
☆ [29] Pass
☆ [30] Spread
☆ [31] Cycle
☆ [32] Dice
☆ [33] Toll
☆ [34] Zone
☆ [35] Hole
• [36]sektron
Overview
• [37]source code • [38]report an issue
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[39]Signls by emprcl
Signls (pronounced signals) is a non-linear, generative MIDI sequencer designed
for music composition and live performances, all within the terminal. It allows
you to create complex, evolving musical patterns using a grid-based approach.
You can place nodes on the grid, and these nodes can emit signals, relay them,
or trigger MIDI notes. There are 9 different types of nodes to explore, each
with its own unique behavior.
With Signls, you can generate dynamic, generative music, meaning that the
patterns evolve and change over time. It's designed to give you a powerful
creative tool to build intricate sequences without being stuck in a rigid
timeline or structure.
It takes inspiration from [40]Orca and [41]Nodal.
Features
• Non-linear sequencing: unlike traditional sequencers, Signls doesn't force
you into a single direction. Your sequences can move and shift in multiple
ways, allowing for complex and unique arrangements.
• Randomize everything: create evolving musical patterns that shift over
time, adding depth and unpredictability to your compositions.
• Live performance: designed to be used in real-time, making it a adequate
tool for live performances where improvisation is key.
• Keyboard first: Signls operates directly from your terminal, giving you
control in a simple, lightweight environment, where everything is
controllable via keyboard.
• Cross-platform: runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows
Installation
Signls is available for Linux, macOS and Windows.
[42]Download the last release for your platform.
Linux & macOS
In your terminal:
# Extract files
mkdir -p signls && tar -zxvf signls_VERSION_PLATFORM.tar.gz -C signls
cd signls
# Run signls
./signls
Windows
We recommend using [43]Windows Terminal with a good monospace font like
[44]Iosevka to display Signls correctly on Windows.
Some specific Windows [45]bugs regarding unicode characters prevent us to
display some UI elements (randomization indicator or non-empty bank slot)
but it should not degrade the experience that much.
Unzip the archive and, in the same directory, run:
.\signls.exe
Replace ./signls by .\signls.exe for every following commands.
Build it yourself
You can also [46]build it yourself if your want to.
Usage
Basic commands
# Run signls
./signls
# Display current version
./signls --version
Hit ? to see all keybindings. esc to quit.
Keyboard mapping
Keys mapping is fully customizable. After running signls for the first time, a
config.json is created. You can edit all the keys inside it.
You can select one of the default keyboard layouts available:
# QWERTY
./signls --keyboard qwerty
# AZERTY
./signls --keyboard azerty
# QWERTY MAC
./signls --keyboard qwerty-mac
# AZERTY MAC
./signls --keyboard azerty-mac
Default keybindings
For qwerty keyboards, here's the default mapping:
• space play or stop
• tab show bank
• 1 ... 9 add nodes
• ↑ ↓ ← → move cursor
• shift+↑ ↓ ← → multiple selection (or modify alt parameter mode in edit
mode)
• ctrl+↑ ↓ ← → modify selected node direction (modify parameter or alt
parameter value)
• . modify selected parameter
• backspace remove selected nodes (or grid in bank)
• enter edit selected nodes
• m toggle selected nodes mute
• M mute/unmute all selected nodes
• / trigger selected node
• - = modify tempo
• ' ; modify root note
• " : modify scale
• ctrl+c x v copy, cut, paste selection
• escape exit parameter edit or bank selection
• f2 edit midi configuration
• f10 fit grid to window
• ? show help
• ctrl+q quit
Key binding reference
• [47]qwerty
• [48]qwerty mac
• [49]azerty
• [50]azerty mac
MIDI
Signls doesn't generate sound on its own, but it works seamlessly with MIDI
software or hardware. You can connect it to your favorite synthesizers, virtual
instruments, or any MIDI-compatible devices for live performances or
production.
On each [51]node, you can configure NoteOn and NoteOff messages, using [52]note
parameters. Each node can also send up to 8 CC messages, using [53]CC
parameters.
Press the f2 to open the MIDI configuration menu, where you can adjust three
parameters:
• Clock: enable or disable clock send messages
• Transport: enable or disable transport start and stop messages
• Device: select the midi output device
Use ← and → to navigate between the parameters, and modify their values with
ctrl+↑ and ctrl+↓.
On macOS, you might need to [54]enable the IAC driver if you're only using
webmidi instruments.
Some companion apps that receive MIDI for testing Signls:
• [55]Webmidi synths
• [56]Enfer ([57]github) works only on linux
• [58]QSynth
Workflow
User Interface
UI 1
1. Grid: The [59]grid is where you place [60]nodes. Each nodes displays its
type and emit/relay directions. Signals are displayed in white.
2. Cursor: The cursor is the tool to place, select or edit nodes.
3. Selection indicator: Shows the currently selected [61]nodes.
4. Mode indicator: Shows the current mode - move, [62]edit or [63]bank.
5. Selector position: Shows the current selector position.
6. Grid size: Shows the current grid size. Useful to know if the grid is
bigger than the current terminal window.
7. Tempo: Shows the current [64]tempo in bpm (beats per minute).
8. Play status: Shows if the grid is currently playing (▶) or stopped (■).
Also shows the number of 1/16 notes since it started to play.
9. Root key: Shows the current [65]root key.
10. Scale: Shows the current [66]scale.
11. Bank: Shows the currently selected grid in the [67]bank, and the name of
the bank (which is the bank filename).
12. Control zone: Shows either [68]grid informations and parameters (move
mode), selected [69]node parameters (edit mode) or [70]bank grid slots (
bank mode).
Grid
The grid serves as a canvas for your sequencing, where you control the flow of
MIDI signals across various [71]nodes. You can start or stop the grid's
underlying sequencer by pressing space.
By default, the size of the grid adapts to your terminal size. If you increase
the terminal window, the grid will expand accordingly. However, if you decrease
the terminal size, the grid remains unchanged to prevent the accidental loss of
nodes outside the visible bounds. You can still scroll through the grid even if
the terminal is smaller.
If you want to force the grid to resize and match the terminal (which may
result in some nodes being deleted), you can press f10 to do so manually.
Nodes
Nodes can perform three main functions based on their type:
• they can emit new signals
• they can relay incoming signals to up to 4 directions
• they can trigger MIDI messages
To add nodes on the grid, move the cursor using the arrow keys and press keys 1
to 9 to choose one of the [72]9 available node types.
To remove nodes from the grid, move the cursor using the arrow keys and press
backspace.
You can manually trigger a node by using /.
You can mute nodes to temporarily silence their behavior:
• Press m to toggle mute on the selected nodes.
• Press M to force mute sync across all selected nodes, ensuring they are all
muted or unmuted together.
This is useful for controlling which nodes are active during live performances
or while experimenting with different parts of your sequence.
You can easily manage nodes on the grid by copying, cutting, and pasting them
using the usual key bindings:
• ctrl+C to copy,
• ctrl+X to cut
• ctrl+V to paste.
To move nodes in bulk, you can select multiple nodes by holding shift + ↑ ↓ ← →
to define a selection area. This makes it easy to reposition or replicate parts
of your sequence.
Signals
A key feature of each node is the direction in which it emits or relays signals
. You can configure up to four directions: up, down, left, and right. To modify
a node's directions, move the cursor to the desired node and press Ctrl + ↑ ↓ ←
→ to add or remove directions. The way a node uses these directions (one or
multiple) depends on its specific behavior.
directions
Parameters
Each node has adjustable parameters that you can edit to modify its behavior.
To enter node editing mode, move the cursor to the node you want to modify and
press enter. The available parameters will appear in the control bar at the
bottom. You can navigate between parameters using ← → key and switch between
parameter pages with using ↑ ↓ keys.
To change a parameter value, press ctrl+↑ to increase or ctrl+↓ to decrease it.
You can edit a parameter value precisely by pressing the . key. This opens a
text input where you can type the value manually. Press enter to confirm the
change.
Each node parameter can have up to four alternative values:
• Main 1 Ctrl+↑/↓: adjusts the main value
• Main 2 Ctrl+←/→: adjusts a second value, often used for randomization
• Alt 1 Shift+↑/↓: adjusts a third alternative value
• Alt 2 Shift+←/→: adjusts a fourth alternative value
We will refer to these as Main 1, Main 2, Alt 1, and Alt 2 for simplicity
Each node (except "The Hole") shares five common MIDI parameters.
UI 2
Parameters are displayed in two parts if an alternative value (for example [73]
randomization) is set:
1. the actual value: here F5 for the key or 100 for the velocity
2. the alternative value: here +8 for the key or -18 for the velocity
You can edit multiple nodes at once by selecting them together.The common
parameters for all selected nodes will be displayed, and any changes you
make will apply to all of them simultaneously.
Note parameters
The first parameter page will display the note parameters.
Key (key): key of the MIDI note
• Value Range: A1 - G10
• Main 1: key value for the note
• Main 2: randomization range
• Alt 1: unused
• Alt 2: note modes (random | silent)
Velocity (vel): intensity of the MIDI note
• Value Range: 0 - 127
• Main 1: velocity value for the note
• Main 2: randomization range
• Alt 1: unused
• Alt 2: unused
Length (len): duration of the MIDI note.
• Value Range: 1/64 - inf
• Main 1: length value of the note
• Main 2: randomization range
• Alt 1: unused
• Alt 2: unused
Channel (cha): MIDI channel
• Value Range: 1 - 16
• Main 1: channel value
• Main 2: randomization range
• Alt 1: unused
• Alt 2: unused
Probability (prb): the chance of triggering the MIDI note
• Value Range: 0 - 100
• Main 1: probability value
• Main 2: unused
• Alt 1: unused
• Alt 2: unused
CC parameters
On the second parameter page, you can configure up to 8 MIDI CC messages which
will be sent alongside the note messages.
CC (cc): the control change message
• Value Range: 0 - 127
• Main 1: cc value
• Main 2: randomization range
• Alt 1: cc number (only for cc mode)
• Alt 2: message mode - disabled, cc, after touch, pitch bend, program change
Timing
Each position on the grid represents a 1/16 note. You can adjust the tempo (in
beats per minute, or BPM) to control how fast signals move across the grid. To
modify the tempo, simply press = to increase the BPM or - to decrease it,
allowing you to set the pace of your sequence in real time.
Transposition
The MIDI notes assigned to each node are fixed. However, when the root key or
scale of the grid is changed, these notes are transposed according to the new
root key and scale. This means the original note values are shifted in relation
to the grid's updated musical context, allowing you to easily adjust the
overall harmony without manually changing the notes on each node. The
transposition happens relative to the set root and scale, providing a flexible
way to experiment with different keys and tonalities.
To modify the root key and scale, use:
• ' ; to decrease and increase the root key
• " : to cycle through the available scales
Available scales include the chromatic scale, the 7 diatonic modes, a few
pentatonic scales and a tetratonic scale:
• chromatic
• ionian
• dorian
• phrygian
• lydian
• mixolydian
• aeolian
• locrian
• pentatonic major
• pentatonic minor
• hirajoshi
• iwato
• tetratonic
Randomization
You can apply randomization to most node parameters. When editing
randomization, you can specify positive or negative randomization values.
For example, if you set the velocity to 80+5, the random value will be picked
between 80 and 85. If you set the velocity to 80-5, the random value will be
picked between 75 and 80. This allows for subtle variations in your sequences,
adding a layer of unpredictability while keeping control over the range of
changes.
Randomized node keys will always conform to the current [74]scale.
Bank
You manage your projects using a bank. When you start the program, you can
provide a bank JSON file, or if none is provided, a default file (default.json)
will be created or loaded automatically. Each bank can store up to 32 grids.
./signls --bank my-grids.json
The grids are saved automatically whenever you make changes or exit the
program, so you never have to worry about losing progress.
To load a specific grid from the bank, press tab to switch to the bank view,
then use the arrow keys to select a grid slot and press enter to load it. This
allows you to quickly swap between different configurations during live
performances or while working on different projects.
UI 3
The ̠character under the grid number indicates that the grid slot is not empty.
Like nodes, you can copy, cut and paste grids in the bank.
Nodes reference
Here is a reference guide for all the node types available in Signls. Each node
has common [75]note parameters (except for the Hole) like key, velocity,
length, channel, and probability. Some nodes also have extra parameters that
give them unique behavior.
bang Bang
• Description: emits a signal when the grid starts playing and relays signals
on all configured directions
• Key binding: 1
• Extra Parameters: none
euclid Euclid
• Description: emits signals based on the euclidean rhythm algorithm,
ensuring an even distribution of steps across the grid. Relays signals on
all configured directions
• Key binding: 2
• Extra Parameters:
□ Steps (stp): number of total steps in the pattern
☆ Value Range: 1 - 128
☆ Main 1: steps value
☆ Main 2: randomization range
☆ Alt 1: unused
☆ Alt 2: unused
□ Triggers (trg): number of signals to emit within the total steps
☆ Value Range: 1 - 128
☆ Main 1: triggers value
☆ Main 2: randomization range
☆ Alt 1: unused
☆ Alt 2: unused
□ Offset (off): shifts the start point of the pattern
☆ Value Range: 0 - 128
☆ Main 1: offset value
☆ Main 2: randomization range
☆ Alt 1: unused
☆ Alt 2: unused
pass Pass
• Description: passes signals through without affecting their direction. No
direction configuration is possible
• Key binding: 3
• Extra Parameters: none
spread Spread
• Description: relays signals on all configured directions, distributing them
evenly
• Key binding: 4
• Extra Parameters: None
cycle Cycle
• Description: relays signals in a clockwise direction, starting from the
"up" direction, one at a time
• Key binding: 5
• Extra Parameters: none
dice Dice
• Description: relays signals in a randomly selected direction each time it
is triggered
• Key binding: 6
• Extra Parameters: none
toll Toll
• Description: relays signals on all configured directions, but only after
being triggered a specific number of times
• Key binding: 7
• Extra Parameters:
□ Threshold (thd): the number of times the node must be triggered before
it relays a signal
☆ Value Range: 1 - no upper limit
☆ Main 1: offset value
☆ Main 2: randomization range
☆ Alt 1: unused
☆ Alt 2: unused
zone Zone
• Description: relays signals on all configured directions and immediately
propagates the trigger to all neighboring nodes, making it ideal for
triggering chords
• Key binding: 8
• Extra Parameters: none
hole Hole
• Description: instantly teleports the signal to a specified location on the
grid without triggering any notes
• Key binding: 9
• Extra Parameters:
□ Destination (dest): The coordinate of the destination
☆ Value Range: 1 - grid width/height
☆ Main 1: y-coordinate value of the destination
☆ Main 2: x-coordinate value of the destination
☆ Alt 1: randomization range for the y-coordinate
☆ Alt 2: randomization range for the y-coordinate
References:
[1] https://empr.cl/
[2] javascript:void(0);
[3] https://empr.cl/
[4] https://empr.cl/signls/
[5] https://empr.cl/signls/#overview
[6] https://empr.cl/signls/#installation
[7] https://empr.cl/signls/#linux-macos
[8] https://empr.cl/signls/#windows
[9] https://empr.cl/signls/#build-it-yourself
[10] https://empr.cl/signls/#usage
[11] https://empr.cl/signls/#basic-commands
[12] https://empr.cl/signls/#keyboard-mapping
[13] https://empr.cl/signls/#midi
[14] https://empr.cl/signls/#workflow
[15] https://empr.cl/signls/#user-interface
[16] https://empr.cl/signls/#grid
[17] https://empr.cl/signls/#nodes
[18] https://empr.cl/signls/#signals
[19] https://empr.cl/signls/#parameters
[20] https://empr.cl/signls/#note-parameters
[21] https://empr.cl/signls/#cc-parameters
[22] https://empr.cl/signls/#timing
[23] https://empr.cl/signls/#transposition
[24] https://empr.cl/signls/#randomization
[25] https://empr.cl/signls/#bank
[26] https://empr.cl/signls/#nodes-reference
[27] https://empr.cl/signls/#bang
[28] https://empr.cl/signls/#euclid
[29] https://empr.cl/signls/#pass
[30] https://empr.cl/signls/#spread
[31] https://empr.cl/signls/#cycle
[32] https://empr.cl/signls/#dice
[33] https://empr.cl/signls/#toll
[34] https://empr.cl/signls/#zone
[35] https://empr.cl/signls/#hole
[36] https://empr.cl/sektron/
[37] https://github.com/emprcl/signls
[38] https://github.com/emprcl/signls/issues/new
[39] https://emprcl.itch.io/signls
[40] https://100r.co/site/orca.html
[41] https://nodalmusic.com/
[42] https://emprcl.itch.io/signls
[43] https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9n0dx20hk701
[44] https://typeof.net/Iosevka/
[45] https://github.com/emprcl/signls/issues/5
[46] https://github.com/emprcl/signls?tab=readme-ov-file#build-it-yourself
[47] https://github.com/emprcl/signls/blob/7d9c8016e99fc9c973f61764fb9801d92eee21db/filesystem/keymap.go#L183
[48] https://github.com/emprcl/signls/blob/7d9c8016e99fc9c973f61764fb9801d92eee21db/filesystem/keymap.go#L244
[49] https://github.com/emprcl/signls/blob/7d9c8016e99fc9c973f61764fb9801d92eee21db/filesystem/keymap.go#L62
[50] https://github.com/emprcl/signls/blob/7d9c8016e99fc9c973f61764fb9801d92eee21db/filesystem/keymap.go#L123
[51] https://empr.cl/signls/#nodes
[52] https://empr.cl/signls/#note-parameters
[53] https://empr.cl/signls/#cc-parameters
[54] https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8096575?answerId=32319872022&sortBy=rank#32319872022
[55] https://synth.playtronica.com/
[56] https://neauoire.github.io/Enfer/
[57] https://github.com/neauoire/Enfer
[58] https://qsynth.sourceforge.io/
[59] https://empr.cl/signls/#grid
[60] https://empr.cl/signls/#nodes
[61] https://empr.cl/signls/#nodes
[62] https://empr.cl/signls/#parameters
[63] https://empr.cl/signls/#bank
[64] https://empr.cl/signls/#timing
[65] https://empr.cl/signls/#transposition
[66] https://empr.cl/signls/#transposition
[67] https://empr.cl/signls/#bank
[68] https://empr.cl/signls/#grid
[69] https://empr.cl/signls/#parameters
[70] https://empr.cl/signls/#bank
[71] https://empr.cl/signls/#nodes
[72] https://empr.cl/signls/#nodes-reference
[73] https://empr.cl/signls/#randomization
[74] https://empr.cl/signls/#transposition
[75] https://empr.cl/signls/#parameters

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[2]Freddie deBoer
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What I'm Thankful For
I do like things, thank you
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[10]Freddie deBoer
Nov 27, 2024
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I’m not too cool to admit that I'm thankful to get to write books
Obviously, none of these are sponsored or whatever.
My girl and the little piglet she’s growing and my family and friends.
Self-explanatory but essential. I am frequently getting in a mess but I’m
helped so often by people who love me.
Thanksgiving. No commercialism or materialism. No overt religiosity. No stress
about getting the right presents. No pressure to find a cool party like with
Halloween. The weather of late fall, the natural rhythms of harvest and feast
before the winter, the pleasure of a holiday devoted to the concept of being
grateful. The football, the family, the food. The after-meal nap. The
wonderfully laidback nature of the whole affair. My favorite holiday.
The New York Times games app. Yes, it’s true. I am that which I mock; I am a
bourgie coastal elite stereotype. For I love the NYT games app. It’s a daily
delight. My favorite game is Strands, a kind of leveled-up word search, but I
like almost all of them. Perhaps a little too much; I have a habit of getting
lost in a crossword when I should be doing something else. My wife is into the
games too and every day we gab about the puzzles, maybe complain about a dumb
Connections category, share how many words we needed for the day’s Wordle. Call
me a brownstone liberal, baby, this app is delightful.
Bonjesta. It’s an anti-nausea pregnancy drug with the essential additional
effect of causing sleepiness; pregnancy insomnia is very real. The drug’s
safety for a growing fetus has been well established. If you/your partner gets
pregnant, just go ahead and ask for a Bonjesta prescription right away.
Maria Bamford’s Sure, I’ll Join Your Cult. I’ve always read a lot of books
related to mental illness, and with work on my next book now fully underway,
I’m reading even more. I’ve mentioned before that I’ve legitimately read Girl,
Interrupted like ten times. And yet I also find reading people’s first-person
experiences of mental illness to be kind of a scary business, destabilizing, a
little challenging. Someday I’ll be able to articulate my feelings on the odd
sense of possessiveness that many of us have about our disorders - there’s a
reason that group therapy so often feels like a competitive sport - but that’s
for another day. For now I just want to say that I really enjoyed the standup
comedian Maria Bamford’s book Sure, I’ll Join Your Cult. It is indeed very
funny, as you’d expect, and it’s insightful about the fundamental absurdities
of having a mental illness, how we treat them, and our various neuroses about
how our illnesses appear to other people. At times it’s quite raw, as they
inevitably say in regards to this kind of book, but Bamford’s tone and
self-deprecation ensure that the various intense moments never feel like
theatrics. She really takes you inside her very particular struggles with
intrusive thoughts and compulsions in a way that demonstrates how serious they
can be, even though she’s never serious herself. This is actually a great
choice for someone looking to read their first book about mental illness;
Bamford is an inviting and effective guide.
The Link to Windows application. A simple, free, bundled app to connect an
(Android) phone to a (Windows) computer, it does everything you might want it
to. 80% of the time I’m using it to text without picking up my phone, but file
transfer and copy & pasting between devices is handy too. Just a nice little
shot of “does just what it’s supposed to.”
Sheil Kapadia on The Ringer’s football coverage. I had never heard of Kapadia
until recently, but I’ve quickly grown to look forward to his appearances on
The Ringer’s podcast network and his columns on their website. He’s clearly
very knowledgeable, but more importantly he seems like a mensch and is a
pleasure to listen to. A lot of people in football media are trying to pull off
a charming regular-guyness, but with most of them there’s a fundamental
insincerity to the whole thing. Kapadia’s simple friendliness shines through in
every appearance.
Desktop computers. Stay tuned for an essay on this theme. Speaking of which….
[16]
Elgato Stream Deck +
My Elgato Stream Deck Pro (as a non-streamer). Elgato’s line of Stream Decks
are, obviously pitched at people who stream - that is, people who play video
games for a public audience on Twitch or YouTube. But as someone who doesn’t
stream, I’ve found that the Stream Deck Pro is a very handy and practical
addition to my desktop setup all the same. These are, effectively, macro pads,
which means that they add extra buttons, knobs, and touchscreens to your
interface. Yes, it’s true that there’s nothing that you simply can’t do with a
mouse and keyboard that you can do with such a device, but the point here is
ease and accessibility. It’s all about setting up macros (key press
combinations) and assigning useful functions. For example, I will often put on
something to listen to while playing a full-screen computer game, and the
Elgato allows me to change the volume of what I’m listening to (or any other
source) independently, or to play or pause, without having to click out of the
game, which can be ponderous and annoying. It took some doing but I was able to
figure out how to control my monitor’s brightness with one of the dials,
meaning that I don’t have to reach behind for the little nipple device, press
it in, access the appropriate menu, and change it from there. It’s really a
cool little device that allows for a lot of convenience.
ENDON. Only the heavy and the avant garde can save us from total pop hegemony.
Nice when you have both in one package.
Bernie Sanders. Longtime readers will know that, while Bernie is as close as I
get to someone in my broad political circle who holds actual influence, I’m not
a Bernie Sanders fanboy. I have been critical of him in the past for kowtowing
to the Democratic line too often and for failing to really utilize his unique
position to carve out a new space in American politics. I have enraged many a
lefty by pointing out that the commies who said he would end up as a sheepdog -
that is, that when all was said and done, he would act as a force pushing
disaffected leftists back towards voting for Democrats - were proven right. (I
mean, objectively, that’s the role he’s played, as a kind of whip for
Democratic votes from the leftmost flank of the party.) But I still have a
great deal of respect for his vision and integrity, and I join the many people
who have seen him as the only link to sanity in the contemporary American
political experience. He’s in the twilight of his career, and I will miss him.
Melona ice pops. I use that term, ice pop, with some reservations; there’s
nothing icy about a Melona. What’s so amazing about Melona bars is their
incredible creaminess, even after a month in the fridge. I don’t go for
popsicles at all anymore, thanks to that awful icy texture they almost all
suffer from. (The thought of biting into one makes my teeth hurt.) Besides, the
sickeningly sweet popsicle taste isn’t what I’m looking for. But Melona bars
are remarkably milky and, in the fashion of East Asian treats (they come from
South Korea) they are never overbearingly sweet. There’s a ton of good flavors,
but you can’t beat the original, melon, though mango, banana, and pistachio
come close. These were once hard to find, but now they sell them at Costco.
[17]
[https]
Suavecito. Still the best cat, going on thirteen years old. A galactic pain in
the ass, deeply aloof, prone to biting. Biting me, his master! All part of the
full Suavi experience. He’s really gotten attached to Ami lately, which I
wouldn’t have predicted given his general nature. All in all, A+.
Psychiatric medication. The prominent position that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has
taken in the Trump transition is a symbol of a broader left-right tendency that
rejects many aspects of modern medicine. And within that world there’s always
been a prominent anti-psychiatry element, one which has been distressingly
effective; all kinds of people, often with no particular knowledge of the
subject, feel comfortable declaring all psychiatric medications to be poisons.
But in fact those medications have saved my life, as they have millions of
others. The side effects are terrible, but that just shows that we need better
drugs. I am grateful that I have been able to rebuild my life and take part in
a (more or less) normal adult existence thanks to the miracles of modern
neuropharmacology.
Substack. I shudder to put this here because there’s still a lot of discourse
going on. It’s getting a bit better; I think the Casey Newton-style
grandstanding - which, let’s be perfectly clear, has almost nothing to do with
Substack and everything to do with a certain kind of person’s weakening grip on
written commentary - has less purchase than it used to. But it’s still the case
that praising Substack leaves me feeling like I need to define exactly what I
do and don’t mean and who I’m not in league with and blah blah blah. I’ve
written about that before; I may write about it again. Today I just want to say
that I like the CMS and I’m grateful for how seamless the Stripe integration is
and I appreciate that this has all enabled me to make my living just as a
writer. No matter what the usual suspects say, Substack has dramatically
expanded the number of people making money as writers and deepened the
engagement of a lot of passionate and talented amateurs, and for that I’m
grateful. At some point the “own your turf” people have to recognize that the
vast majority just aren’t going to roll their own platforms and services, and
to insist that they do is simply to insist that a lot of voices aren’t heard
anywhere.
Empire Records. It’s not so much that Empire Records is a bad movie I love,
although I love it and I can’t in good conscience call it a good movie. Rather
than calling it a bad movie, I’d say that it’s barely a movie. So much of what
movies are supposed to do, on a basic level, are barely performed here. It does
broadly wave at some conventional movie types and tropes - this is, more or
less, one of those “one crazy night” teen movies, although it includes the
preceding night and mostly takes place at night. But nothing is consummated,
nothing is followed through with. Characters are introduced roughshod and in
bulk. The character played by Coyote Shivers - I have seen this movie several
dozen times and I’m not sure I could tell you a single character’s name, other
than Warren, whose name is a joke - that character wanders into the movie in a
way that’s so indifferent to basic movie sense, it makes you feel like there
must be a scene you missed. Liv Tyler’s character is revealed to have a
stimulant addiction in one scene, a point referenced in the next, then never
referred to again. Just absolutely and completely dropped, for convenience’s
sake. Another character announces “I got into art school!” literally in the
last five minutes of the movie, despite the concept of him wanting to go to art
school never having been established at any point. If you read plot synopses
they generally say that the story is about saving Empire Records with one big
party, but said party is only introduced with about 20 minutes left and even
then is performed in a desultory manner. But that’s OK. This is, obviously, a
pure nostalgia play for me, 90s teen that I was, and the whole thing is just a
hang, obsessed with music and out for a good time. I adore it.
CeraVe Acne Control Cleanser. Back acne is simultaneously one of the most
trivial side effects of lithium and one of the most aggravating. It’s painful,
it’s unsightly, and it bleeds, ruining shirts and sheets. This stuff works for
me. It’s a nice little weapon in my own personal war of attrition.
All of you. It’s cheesy, it’s sappy, it’s corny, but it’s true: my supporters
here enable me to live the life I’ve always wanted to live, and I am never less
than amazed and utterly grateful that you have decided to read my work and
support it financially. Thank you.
See you all next week. Happy Thanksgiving.
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[26]Nick Fabry
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Happy Thanksgiving, Freddie - it’s good to see you able to lean back and enjoy
it easily - and thank you, as always, for the writing.
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[30]Slaw
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The best thing about the link app is sending torrents of text to somebody who
was just expecting a quick message back.
Happy Thanksgiving.
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[9] https://substack.com/profile/12666725-freddie-deboer
[10] https://substack.com/@freddiedeboer
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[1]Jan Miksovsky’s Blog • [2]Archive • [3]2024 [4]About • [5]RSS • [6]JSON •
[7]Contact [8]
MomBoard: E-ink display for a parent with amnesia
November 12, 2024
E-ink display on a bathroom counter showing birthday messages
Today marks two years since I first set up an e-ink display in my mom’s
apartment to help her live on her own with amnesia. The display has worked
extremely well during those two years, so I’m sharing the basic set-up in case
others find it useful for similar situations.
Note: unless you have specific experience caring for someone who has amnesia
but not dementia, please do not offer care suggestions.
The patient
In June 2022 the side-effects of a long surgery left my mom with permanent
anterograde amnesia: she can no longer form new long-term memories. Memory
isn’t just one neurological system, so very occasionally she will be able to
remember certain types of things. But for the most part, if she hears or sees
something, a few minutes later she will no longer remember it.
To medical professionals her condition looks a lot like dementia — amnesia is a
common symptom of dementia — but she doesn’t have dementia. One difference is
that (as I understand it) dementia is a progressive disease, while this amnesia
is stable. There is no cure.
Someday I might post about the experience about caring for her, but for now
I’ll just say that this type of amnesia is not something one should wish on
one’s worst enemies.
Needs
My mom still lives on her own in an apartment. Because she cannot remember
things, she goes through each day in a state of low-grade anxiety about where
her grown children are and whether they are all right. She feels she hasn’t
heard from any of us in a long time. This anxiety manifests as extremely
frequent attempts to call or text us.
Paper notes and other forms of reminders didn’t seem to help, and would become
out of date even if they weren’t misplaced. My siblings and I would call to let
her know we were okay, but five minutes later she’d be back to being worried.
She wasn’t in the habit of scrolling back through text messages, so once she’d
read a message, it was immediately forgotten and effectively lost.
I thought some sort of unobtrusive, always-on device installed in her apartment
might be able to show her notes written by my siblings and me.
Design goals
My goal was to find a display that:
1. Could stay on for months on end
2. Would let my siblings and I easily post short messages to it that would
remain visible until replaced
3. Was large enough and easy enough to read without glasses
4. Required no interaction to wake or read and was relatively foolproof
(touching it wouldn’t disrupt it)
5. Was resilient to network failures
6. Didn’t glow at nighttime
7. Didn’t require hardware hackery (I’m a software person)
8. Would boot directly into displaying messages (no interaction needed to
start an app)
9. Was not enshittified with a subscription service or proprietary app store
10. Was reasonably affordable
11. Would not look out of place in a home
Device
Given the above design goals, I searched for a tablet-size electronic ink
display with Wi-Fi connectivity and a decent web browser.
One device that seemed to fit my parameters was the [9]BOOX Note Air2 Series.
At the time it cost US$500, which is expensive but is still far cheaper than
screens intended for use as commercial retail displays. It’s marketed as a
note-taking device and ebook reader, but it also has a capable web browser.
It’s big enough to read from a few feet away.
A critical question I couldn’t answer online was whether I’d be able to have
the device automatically start its web browser and have that browser display a
designated start page. Happily, when the device arrived I was able to confirm
it could do both of those things.
The physical case of the Note Air2 looks reasonably nice and not particularly
tech-y. The e-ink display is clear and legible; it refreshes quickly enough to
not be distracting. By default the device’s backlight was turned on but I could
turn it off.
I found a small metal stand to serve an easel for the display so that it felt
more like a picture frame.
Web software
Since the physical device was satisfactory, the next step was writing a simple
website that could drive the display. The site would have two pages:
1. A Board page showing the messages. The e-ink device would boot into showing
this page. This is the only page my mom needed to see.
2. A Compose page my siblings and I write messages and save them to be
displayed.
The device needed to run for months, and needed to be resilient in the case of
network and service failures. At the same time, I also needed to be able to
remotely update not only the messages being displayed, but the software
displaying those messages.
With that in mind, I factored the Board page into an outer frame and an inner
page:
1. The top-level outer frame acts as a thin shell around the inner page. At
top of every hour, the outer frame reloads the inner page to pick up
potential software changes. If the network is down and the inner page
doesn’t reload, the frame just tries again an hour later. To maximize
reliability, the outer frame has very little logic and no external
dependencies.
2. The inner page actually displays the messages. Every 5 minutes it queries a
simple web service for message data and displays the messages. The inner
page contains a small amount of logic, but as few dependencies as possible.
Since it’s essentially impossible to debug anything that happens on the device,
I made as much use of vanilla HTML and CSS as possible. I used a small amount
of JavaScript but no framework or other libraries.
Compose form for posting a message to the display
The Compose page presents a simple web form my siblings and I can use to
compose and save a message. I designed the form to work well on a phone screen
so that we can write messages when we’re out and about. A small web app
manifest lets us save the Compose page to a phone’s home screen as an icon for
quick access.
The whole site is tiny, entails no build process, and with the exception of the
service (below) is just static files.
Visual design
I was concerned about the possibility of e-ink burn-in, so the Board page
randomly changes which message appears where. Other visual elements like the
date and time alternate from side to side, with the intention that no single
pixel is always on.
To style the note text I chose the free [10]Architect’s Daughter font for a
handwritten feel. This font works well on the e-ink display. Labels are
displayed in [11]Open Sans.
One small challenge was maximizing the size of the message text. Sometimes a
message is just a word or two; other times it might be several sentences. A
single font size can’t accommodate such a wide range of text content. I
couldn’t find a pure CSS way to automatically maximize font size so that a text
element with word wrapping would display without clipping.
I ended up writing a small JavaScript function to maximize font size: it makes
the text invisible (via CSS visibility: hidden), tries displaying the text at a
very large size, and then tries successively smaller font sizes until it finds
a size that lets all the text fit. It then makes the text visible again.
Service
Just a tiny amount of text data is necessary to drive the display, so I was
happy to find the minimalist [12]JsonStorage service that was perfect for this
project. A single JSON object stores the text and metadata for the current set
of messages. The Compose page can save to the service with a POST request, and
the Board page can retrieve the data with a GET.
The service has a free tier that I started with, but I liked the service so
much that I eventually paid for a $1/month basic tier. (It appears that tier is
now $5/month.)
Trial and installation
I spent a couple of weeks working on the software and letting it run for long
periods of time. I was pleasantly surprised that the Boox display worked as
well as it did and seemed to stay up indefinitely.
I brought the display over to my mom’s apartment on November 12, 2022, turned
it on, joined it to her Wi-Fi, and rebooted it to confirm everything worked in
the new environment.
I thought the bathroom counter might be a good place for it, but my mom thought
she’d rather have it in her bedroom, so we found a home for it on a windowsill.
My mom was happy with the display right away.
Retrospective
Despite her amnesia, my mom came to remember that this display exists and what
it’s for. She looks forward to seeing updates from her children on it.
If we tell her about something that’s coming up, she often asks whether we’ve
already put that event on the MomBoard. On the flip side, we have to be careful
to keep it up to date; if we fail to take down a message that no longer
applies, it confuses her.
Looking back, the display is essentially the only intervention of any kind
we’ve tried that’s actually been successful at improving her quality of life
(and ours). One reason it’s worked so well is that it didn’t require her to
learn anything new. Without the ability to remember new things, it’s virtually
impossible for her to learn a new skill or to form new habits.
The device’s reliability has surpassed my expectations. There was one period
where the device seemed to stop working, but I traced the problem to a faulty
Wi-Fi hub; after that was replaced, it’s worked flawlessly since. For my part,
keeping the software as simple as possible and sticking to vanilla web
technologies surely helped avoid bugs.
The display still looks great, and it still displays messages day in and day
out.
If you want to try to set up something similar to what I describe here, I’m
happy to answer technical questions or share advice.
Update: I’ve published the [13]MomBoard source code on GitHub.
[14]Jan Miksovsky’s Blog • [15]Archive • [16]2024 [17]About • [18]RSS • [19]
JSON • [20]Contact
References:
[1] https://jan.miksovsky.com/
[2] https://jan.miksovsky.com/posts/
[3] https://jan.miksovsky.com/posts/2024/
[4] https://jan.miksovsky.com/about
[5] https://jan.miksovsky.com/rss.xml
[6] https://jan.miksovsky.com/feed.json
[7] https://jan.miksovsky.com/contact
[8] https://jan.miksovsky.com/posts/2024/11-12-momboard
[9] https://shop.boox.com/products/noteair2
[10] https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Architects+Daughter
[11] https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Open+Sans
[12] https://www.jsonstorage.net/
[13] https://github.com/JanMiksovsky/momboard
[14] https://jan.miksovsky.com/
[15] https://jan.miksovsky.com/posts/
[16] https://jan.miksovsky.com/posts/2024/
[17] https://jan.miksovsky.com/about
[18] https://jan.miksovsky.com/rss.xml
[19] https://jan.miksovsky.com/feed.json
[20] https://jan.miksovsky.com/contact

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[1]Tom MacWright
tom@macwright.com
[2]Tom MacWright
• [3]Writing
• [4]Reading
• [5]Photos
• [6]Projects
• [7]Drawings
• [8]Micro⇠
• [9]About
Is there really a way to push back on the complexity of the web?
2024-11-16
I found myself browsing through [10]flamework, a Flickr-style framework
developed by some of the developers who developed Flickr, including the
legendary [11]Aaron Straup Cope and [12]Cal Henderson, who went on to co-found
Slack and presumably make a billion dollars. And I was reading [13]Mu-An’s
thing about JavaScript. She is legendary as one of the brains behind GitHub and
tasteful and clever uses of HTML, JavaScript, and Web Components. And following
along with [14]Alex Russell critiquing Bluesky’s frontend.
I’ve been overall [15]bad, because I, like you am living through a bad era and
throwing yet another take onto the pile is cringe for both of us - [16]who am I
to speak, who are you to listen? Anyway:
• React, on a daily basis, is livable but annoying. The level of complexity
is sky-high, even when I spend a lot of energy trying to limit that
complexity.
• On the other hand, the level of complexity of web applications is pretty
high. User expectations are different, I keep saying. Flickr was fantastic,
but it was not a realtime-updating website that optimized for the browsing
habits of the youth, who spend a half-second on most content. I love
GitHub, but there is a reason why people are using Linear more and more:
Linear feels like a realtime desktop application while GitHub feels like a
website.
• I just can’t summon the clarity or oomph required to critique this stuff
anymore. Everything is, like, a trickle-down consequence of requirements
and culture and history, man! Pointing fingers at some software developer
or whatever, is neither all that accurate nor that effective. What’s the
point? To make people feel bad? Most people are trapped in their technical
decisions by several layers of management anyway. And people already feel
bad!
• Man, the web platform is not that great. I keep wanting it to be great, but
half the time when I think that knowing about some HTML element will save
me from having to use a React thingamabob that adds 50kb to my bundle… that
HTML element just isn’t it, man! I need to style those select elements, or
lazy-load that details element, or implement some implementation-wise
horrible but essential-for-the-product scroll or focus or style experience
which is just a little too much to implement with just CSS hacks.
• Honestly, the parts of GitHub that have moved from Ruby on Rails to React
are mostly, in my experience, worse now. GitHub issues might be slightly
fancier with a few extra features, but there are noticeable loading
flickers and plenty of new bugs, like hovercards that don’t go away.
• That said, and I have to keep repeating this, user expectations are
changing. People are used to apps, not websites. They are surprised if
every view that they see is not realtime-updating. Linear and [17]Pierre
see this and [18]are making modern-style alternatives with realtime
subscriptions and local-first stuff and heavy client apps.
• I don’t think everything should be a React app! I want more things to be
like Flickr used to be, and GitHub used to be. But at the same time, I
don’t see an obvious way out of the current dynamics. Yelling is popular
but the track record isn’t very good. Being quietly annoyed about the web’s
descent into complexity, my preferred approach, doesn’t work very well
either. A few organizations are bucking the trend - [19]Kagi, for example,
has good JavaScript-lite frontends. [20]Reddit has [21]gone web components
and it seems like an improvement.
References:
[1] https://macwright.com/
[2] https://macwright.com/
[3] https://macwright.com/writing/
[4] https://macwright.com/reading/
[5] https://macwright.com/photos/
[6] https://macwright.com/projects/
[7] https://macwright.com/drawings/
[8] https://macwright.com/micro/
[9] https://macwright.com/about/
[10] https://github.com/exflickr/flamework
[11] https://www.aaronstraupcope.com/
[12] https://www.iamcal.com/
[13] https://muan.co/posts/javascript
[14] https://bsky.app/profile/infrequently.org/post/3lay2jro2i22a
[15] https://www.are.na/block/23792815
[16] https://youtu.be/zpVC2hmejko?si=iZGN0UphiOSU2NUU&t=63
[17] https://pierre.co/
[18] https://docs.pierre.co/changelog/local-first
[19] https://kagi.com/
[20] https://www.reddit.com/
[21] https://macwright.com/2024/10/19/reddit-is-my-wc-reference-point

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[1] [Heart-Sutra-Free-Talk-Hero-1]
[2]XClose menu
• [3]About
• [4]Events
• [5]Books
• [6]Blog
• [7]Lionheart
• [8]Contact
• [9]My OHP
[10] The Open Heart Project
• [11]About
• [12]Events
• [13]Books
• [14]Blog
• [15]Lionheart
• [16]Contact
• [17]My OHP
Getting Stuff Done By Not Being Mean to Yourself
August 20, 2010 | [18]38 Comments
[19]Screen shot 2010-08-20 at 12.50.55 PM
I’ve spent a lot of time in my life trying to force myself to do things. Really
good things. Things that are important to me. Things like meditating,
journaling, going to the gym, and so on. I set schedules over and over. (I will
rise at 5. Meditate, 530-630. Journal 630-730. Breakfast 8-9, and so on.) I
fail way more than I succeed, which makes me really, really upset. I get
angrier and angrier at myself, curse my lack of discipline, shame myself for
watching Battlestar Galactica (again) instead of writing, delve into my
psychology hoping to unearth the seeds of self-sabotage. It spirals out of
control until I either give in to lying on the couch or somehow manage to
squeeze out a day of discipline according to schedule, whereupon I exhale a
half-sigh of relief and immediately begin bullying myself to repeat this
tomorrow.
IT SUCKS.
Yesterday, I finally realized that this method would never, ever work. I was
shocked. But it never, ever has. I’ve been after myself on this score for,
what, like ten years? Had it ever worked once in that time, I asked myself. No!
I said immediately.
Now what?
I knew I had to give up trying to be disciplined in any conventional sense. And
since the definition of suffering is trying the same thing over and over
expecting a different result, I had to put myself out of my misery.
Right away, interestingly, fear swept through me. If I’m not vigilant about
making myself do stuff, I won’t do anything. And my commitment to meditate is
critical on every level. I mean, I’m a meditation teacher who writes books
about Buddhism. Shame if I turned out to be a phoney. And every writing book on
earth says you must work at the same time every day, or words will never come.
“Inspiration is for amateurs,” says painter Chuck Close. “The rest of us just
show up and get to work…” I want to be like Chuck! There has to be another path
to spiritual and creative discipline…what could it be?
The answer I came up with? Pleasure. Pleasure! The last thing I usually think
of when planning my day. Once I get all my work out of the way, maybe I can do
something fun or satisfying or just cuz. I never do stuff just to have fun.
Never. I am so not built like that. However…among the most pleasurable things
in my life are the things I’m committed to doing: spiritual practice and
writing. I love those things! I remembered that they make me happy. Maybe I
could just jump into them for their own sake, for the joy of doing them rather
than the obligation and it’s possible the whole thing would roll out just fine.
Once I remembered that my motivation is rooted in genuine curiosity and that my
tasks are in complete alignment with who I am and want to be, my office
suddenly seemed like a playground rather than a labor camp.
So I didn’t schedule myself at all. Instead, I asked myself: what do I feel
like doing? What would be fun for me? Write? OK. What is fun about writing? Oh,
it’s so cool when it just starts to flow and plus I really enjoy thinking about
things like dharma and love and creativity simply for the sake of doing so. So
start there. When you’re done, ask yourself what would be fun to do next.
Which I did. And you know what? I did all the things I yell at myself to do. My
day looked pretty much exactly like my days do when I succeed in being
“disciplined.” Only this time, it seemed effortless. I had such a light heart.
So, yes, discipline is critical, just like all the teachers say. And there is
definitely stuff that needs doing that is just never going to be fun like
paying bills and cleaning the cat box. But I suggest that instead of being
disciplined about hating on yourself to get things done, try being disciplined
about remaining close to what brings you joy. It takes a lot of courage,
actually. See what happens. Let me know.
categorized in: [20]Uncategorized
38 Comments
• [ba8c5] Posted by: [21]Maribeth
August 20, 2010 at 6:55 pm
Susan, you brought tears to my eyes. I struggle with the same thing. I will
take your advice and focus my discipline on what brings me joy. Terrifying,
but I will surely try! ♥
[22]Reply
• [ea0ca] Posted by: Alane
August 20, 2010 at 7:13 pm
susan, i’ve been struggling with the same thing for the longest time too!
since the weather has been so great out here in NJ, this summer i’ve taken
the opportunity to follow my heart’s desire & let my routines go. yes, i’ve
had fun, i’ve been relaxed but it seems like at a price. i will try &
follow your lead to enjoy w/o the baggage of guilt!
[23]Reply
• [f2ed5] Posted by: [24]Betsy Jackson
August 20, 2010 at 7:44 pm
After spending a day being fairly mean to myself; mowing, weeding, anything
to keep my ass in gear…”God forbid, I sit this one out and relax under the
trees and listen to the hawks and write and enjoy a kid-free/old Dad-free
day”…anyway, I have you bookmarked and thought, let me see what Susan’s
been up to…bingo! Thanks for being in the world. I love your writing. And
your big heart.
[25]Reply
• [7fd06] Posted by: [26]Marianne
August 21, 2010 at 5:20 pm
This is exactly my approach to my yoga practice and it’s the heart of the
30 days of yoga (which I often think I should subtitle “A Kinder Approach
to a Home Practice of Yoga”)
So happy for you! I always say “follow your enthusiasm, follow your joy”,
and it never fails to lead me to the places where I am of most service. And
behold, as a wiser one than me once said, service was joy.
[27]Reply
□ [4173b] Posted by: [28]Ryan
May 22, 2023 at 1:16 am
Marianne, your story is so freakily similar to my own. After struggling
with this through my entire 20s and half of my 30s, I finally realized
the source of all my angst. I called my problem “Sunday Night Dread”
and ended up making a website about it ([29]https://
sundaynightdread.com). Anyway, I had to just post and say, “Good for
you!”. It’s amazing what we can get done when we’re kind to ourselves.
[30]Reply
• [bacfa] Posted by: [31]Jennifer Louden
August 23, 2010 at 7:18 pm
I know, I know, I am off line for the month and yet, I saw your blog title
when I had to go on line to get this fax number for the mortgage company
and reading your post was like YES THAT IS WHAT I TELL everybody else. That
is exactly the question that brings the MOST relief and breakthroughs at my
retreats… and on my own personal retreats… so glad to see I am use you to
help me remember to ask myself what I use for everyone else. Self-trust and
wanting what you want, baby! Sing it!
[32]Reply
• [32b61] Posted by: Betsy Hanger
August 23, 2010 at 10:41 pm
REMARKABLE. I’ve been working with this a great deal, especially since an
epic dream presented to me just how much I beat myself up for not being
Exactly Right at all times. I found you by going through a link to Stephen
Mitchell….such are the yellowbrick roads we can follow. With much metta!
[33]Reply
• [9a38b] Posted by: [34]Victoria Dzenis
August 24, 2010 at 12:39 pm
Thank you so much for this post! I read it at just the right time — when I
was pondering the question, “how can I give myself permission to invite
what inspires me?” I am seeing now how it’s not about permission or
approval, but just about remembering why I LOVE what I do. Thank you!!!
[35]Reply
• [35baa] Posted by: [36]Brett Dupree
August 24, 2010 at 11:24 pm
That is what I have been working on as well. Working on really enjoying my
life and taking pleasure in it. Then acting out of that pleasure of
enjoying my life. It is very fun work. 🙂
[37]Reply
• [30256] Posted by: [38]Matthias
August 25, 2010 at 12:26 pm
After years of procrastinating and lack of motivation to do the good things
in my life that I want and need to do, I have recently had loads of success
with a system of rewards. I have labeled some tasks as little milestones,
some as big milestones, and some as complete project. Each time I hit
something on this list, I get a reward based on how significant an
achievement it is. Completing a project earns me a big reward, completing a
little milestone means something smaller. It is working great!
[39]Reply
• [5aecb] Posted by: [40]Sue Mitchell
August 25, 2010 at 2:03 pm
Excellent post! I so relate to the rebellion I feel when I’m doing
something because I “should,” even if it’s something I want to do. Focusing
on the joy rather than the practical benefits of a task changes the whole
feeling of it.
If even the joy of it won’t motivate me, I like the mind trick of saying,
“I’m not actually going to do yoga. I’m just going to get out my mat,” or
“I’m just going to write a title and then worry about the rest later.” For
me, so much of the trouble comes in just getting started.
[41]Reply
• [438af] Posted by: Jessica Rampton
August 25, 2010 at 2:35 pm
Wow! I have experienced the same phenomena and been near the same insight,
thank you for the post . I am also just throwing up my hands, and out my to
do list, and just asking myself “what do you WANT to do right now?”
[42]Reply
• [7abfa] Posted by: Rob
August 25, 2010 at 8:22 pm
I kept beating myself up. The yard was a mess, the driveway full of weeds
and my cousin was coming for dinner. I’d been looking at the ever growing
tide of green circling the house knowing it needed to be done, but just not
doing it.
Alright, go weed. As i began weeding it became a sort of simple pleasure.
Yes, the desire to clean up the yard was still present but watching each
green stem come out of the earth became so satisfying. I loved gently
pulling and voilà, the root let go of the earth and came away in my hand.
2 hours later and the place looked grand, my back was sore but ok and I
felt so good. The time was ripe for weeding so I weeded!
Where has it come from, this self-loathing? Even weirder is it seems to
effect friends and family who are the most grounded and truly seeking peace
and joy in their lives. Thanks for reminding me I’m not alone and how silly
it is to continue raging against meself!
[43]Reply
• [wishl] Posted by: [44]Susan
August 26, 2010 at 10:21 am
Wow, thanks so much to all of you who came out to take a look at all the
ways we beat ourselves up for not being productive or perfect or maxing out
every second, or however you term it. Rob, your question about where does
self-loathing come from is so, so good. Where indeed?! I bet that you and
the others who have commented are seen as accomplished and dedicated
people.
And thanks to everyone who made such good suggestions (like Sue’s
just-take-the-first-step method and Matthias’ reward structure) because I
know they’ll be helpful to others.
I also feel quite heartened myself to know that I’m not alone in this. In
the days since I wrote this post, I’ve been playing with the “work for the
joy of it” model rather than “work to prove you’re not a loser” method.
I’ve had some ups and downs, but most what I notice is that to stay with
the joy method, I have to remain close to my own heart, to what I love. To
stay with the “prove you’re not a loser” system, I have to remain close to
how I think I might appear in the eyes of others. I forget my own heart.
So, a mantra to begin the day and repeat throughout: Joy is to be found by
remaining seated within myself. From this point, I can reach out to others
with genuineness.
[45]Reply
□ [5eba0] Posted by: Francesca
August 2, 2023 at 10:50 pm
I have some observations towards Robs (and all of our) questions of
where self-loathing comes from. In the process of raising my tamarind,
children, I notice it starts to creep in around the age of 10/11 coming
from peers at school, broader family members, any humans who are
trapped in the capitalist ‘productivity’ and ‘scarcity’ mindset. It’s
so sad to observe, and I also have to hope that the first ten years of
pure self-love have sown seeds that will remain forever blooming in
them ❤️
[46]Reply
☆ [1198a] Posted by: Geoff
November 8, 2023 at 2:28 am
The problem with me is that when I ask ‘what would bring me joy
now?’ the honest answer is to do something useless so I still have
to rely on my inner sergeant to persuade me to do something joyful
but useful. But he’s a kinder sergeant now, thanks to you.
[47]Reply
• [cd75d] Posted by: [48]Ceci Miller
August 27, 2010 at 3:27 pm
Yes! Self-improvement is only the other side of the self-loathing coin, so
it can’t buy us anything better. Weird how we don’t see this, but there it
is. Love how you point out that appreciation “works” so much better than
criticism. I’ll bet anybody who’s ever gotten a child absorbed in cleaning
his/her room by introducing it as a fun sorting game would agree. Joy and
genuineness and taking back your time. Now there’s a cool game 🙂
[49]Reply
• [aed93] Posted by: [50]Jessica
August 30, 2010 at 7:36 pm
Hello Susan,
I just have to say I have had the exact experience with trying to schedule
my activities. This year I made a goal to not do that, and instead of the
creative flow being squashed, it has flourished. It’s scary to let go of
schedules and I still sometimes grasp to them. But when I manage to let go
of them, creativity seems to want to take over. Peace to you!
[51]Reply
• [30be4] Posted by: [52]Anna
August 31, 2010 at 9:50 pm
I just love this! I think I find myself writing a new “plan” for my days
about, oh, every 2 weeks. I always get really excited it–like yes! this
time I have a foolproof plan! Turns out only the fool part of it was right.
Your post was a definitely a light-bulb moment for me. Enjoying my life?
Enjoying a job I worked years to finally get and do really love when I’m
not totally bogged down? That might just be crazy enough to work.
Thanks for this!
[53]Reply
□ [23d58] Posted by: [54]gerry
September 25, 2016 at 4:27 am
Oh Anna those lists and schedules! My notebook is full of them and I
never learn. I love writing I’ve been writing for 50+ years but I still
act to myself as if it’s something I have to force down my throat and
so of course I rebel. Not doing that. You can’t make me.
So my love Susan for this post and for all the comments. We are hunan.
This is what we do. Aren’t we a funny old lot?
[55]Reply
• [dcaf2] Posted by: Breton Caplan
September 2, 2010 at 3:25 pm
Hi Susan.This posting is so perfect… I’m at Kripalu for a weeklong retreat.
Loving every moment and made a commitment as I walked in the door to only
do what I want to do and only timed as I feel compelled. Usually I’d plan
back to back during a retreat and make sure I don’t miss a thing. I’m
blessed with not having that pressure right now. I’m journaling when I want
to, sunbathing and reading (I do have SPF) when others are taking walks or
doing group activities and I am not missing a thing. I’ve walked past
classes and said “My body doesn’t feel like that right now” and respected
it. And I’m fitting in a lot of activity…. Primarily time alone in my own
head. Grateful.
Thank you for the post. And hope you are well.
[56]Reply
• [824c9] Posted by: [57]Edward Mirza
September 25, 2016 at 5:10 am
Hi, I have found, in a way, the opposite to be true, but with a difference.
Yes, in the past I would try to make schedules, but get depressed, but when
I agreed with a friend to send him a report of my time use at the end of
the day, I found the schedule life-changing and liberating. I believe this
schedule, however, should be a work of art, and ultimately aimed to be
something you enjoy.
[58]Reply
• [eb32f] Posted by: Anne
September 25, 2016 at 11:01 am
I love this post (referenced in a UK newspaper article this weekend). I
totally agree. But how does it work for the jobs I loathe and which cause
the most angst because they don’t get done ? Eg cleaning the kitchen floor,
doing my finances and paperwork, defrosting the freezer – there’s always a
reason not to do those and I’ll never WANT to! My hunch is that the answer
lies in noticing how I feel if I continue to resist doing them – that
sticky, crunchy floor, the continuous background nag of anxiety because I
don’t know exactly where I am with my finances, being unable to close the
freezer door and having to deal with it immediately – in the end, NOT doing
the most-hated jobs causes more stress and unhappiness than getting them
out of the way. So it’s mindfulness – noticing when something is bothering
me, and happiness will be increased by not avoiding it any longer.
[59]Reply
• [4645b] Posted by: Soneye Saheed
July 29, 2020 at 11:32 am
Thanks Susan for this amazing article.
I have also been beating myself up for not doing the things I want/need to
do (And I still am at the time of writing this).
It is quite easy to make a decision to do certain things, but once the
moment is over, everything goes away with it. Inspiration is so overrated.
I will take your advice and try to focus more on the joy that comes along
with doing the tasks. I will also try to reward myself for completing any
of them.
Thanks once again.
[60]Reply
□ [wishl] Posted by: Susan Piver
July 29, 2020 at 1:28 pm
So glad you found it useful. Wishing you all the luck and skill!!!!
[61]Reply
• [2459c] Posted by: Sha
September 7, 2020 at 3:51 am
i just read this post as a link from a Guardian article sept 2020
Really relate to it and tend to live this way!!!
[62]Reply
□ [wishl] Posted by: Susan Piver
September 7, 2020 at 3:16 pm
Go for it!
[63]Reply
• [d058e] Posted by: Fiona Redshaw
September 22, 2020 at 7:59 am
Oh this is so cool! Just read an article that a friend forwarded me
recently from the Guardian and there was a mention of you and a link to
this post in there 💫. Apart from being super excited to see you mentioned,
I loved your post from all those years ago (2010, what?!). What a timely
reminder to ease up on my to-do list that still somehow acts as a constant
yardstick for my productivity and self worth (or generally lack thereof).
This article reminded me why I love you so much! Thanks Susan. Fiona x
[64]Reply
□ [wishl] Posted by: Susan Piver
September 28, 2020 at 8:32 am
Love you too!! Miss you!! xo S
[65]Reply
• [3a459] Posted by: Diana Ruth Nichols
May 16, 2021 at 5:39 am
Same regarding Guardian article, here. Delighted to realize that in
retirement and my 74th year, I am happy and relaxed and centered because of
this experience of “enjoying happiness”.
[66]Reply
• [5347b] Posted by: Susan Williams
June 27, 2022 at 3:52 pm
OMG!!! You are me!! And I am you!! And my name is Susan too!! Everything
you said in this post describes me TO A T!!! Thank you! Thank you! Thank
you! for sharing. Now I don’t feel so alone. I can stop scolding myself for
not “doing” and enjoy the journey.
[67]Reply
• [440cf] Posted by: RationalistFiath
May 20, 2023 at 12:02 am
In a Western led world that has been built on oppression and (fake)wars,
it’s not a surprise that it has trickled down to the individuals and how
they treat themselves.
Allah Bless you for snapping out of it and sharing the power of empathy.
[68]Reply
• [eb32f] Posted by: Anne
November 8, 2023 at 3:23 am
I had exactly this epiphany a few months ago. I got so tired and frustrated
with my endless failure to keep to schedules or complete tasks that one day
– I just gave up. Now, as you say, I just do what I feel like doing. And it
all gets done. Even the housework and life admin. Because there’s always a
moment when I find I have the energy for the less appealing tasks. Energy
that comes from more time spent on what I love.
[69]Reply
• [f058b] Posted by: Barbara Korzeniowska
January 14, 2024 at 11:49 am
I too am a natural procrastinator, but I try to enjoy everything I do –
even cleaning the cooker, which is my absolute bete noire. You are so right
– things go so much better when you’re having fun. years ago I learnt to
love queuing. i would take a book or some embroidery and catch up on one or
the other when standing in line. Brilliant
[70]Reply
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[23] https://openheartproject.com/getting-stuff-done-by-not-being-mean-to-yourself/#comment-411050
[24] http://www.scratchingonpaper.blogspot.come/
[25] https://openheartproject.com/getting-stuff-done-by-not-being-mean-to-yourself/#comment-411051
[26] http://marianne-elliott.com/
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[28] https://sundaynightdread.com/
[29] https://sundaynightdread.com/
[30] https://openheartproject.com/getting-stuff-done-by-not-being-mean-to-yourself/#comment-679567
[31] http://comfortqueen.com/
[32] https://openheartproject.com/getting-stuff-done-by-not-being-mean-to-yourself/#comment-411053
[33] https://openheartproject.com/getting-stuff-done-by-not-being-mean-to-yourself/#comment-411054
[34] http://www.serenecoaching.com/
[35] https://openheartproject.com/getting-stuff-done-by-not-being-mean-to-yourself/#comment-411055
[36] http://www.joyousexpansion.com/
[37] https://openheartproject.com/getting-stuff-done-by-not-being-mean-to-yourself/#comment-411056
[38] http://thornography2.blogspot.com/
[39] https://openheartproject.com/getting-stuff-done-by-not-being-mean-to-yourself/#comment-411057
[40] http://www.yourbusinessyourself.com/
[41] https://openheartproject.com/getting-stuff-done-by-not-being-mean-to-yourself/#comment-411058
[42] https://openheartproject.com/getting-stuff-done-by-not-being-mean-to-yourself/#comment-411059
[43] https://openheartproject.com/getting-stuff-done-by-not-being-mean-to-yourself/#comment-411060
[44] http://www.susanpiver.com/
[45] https://openheartproject.com/getting-stuff-done-by-not-being-mean-to-yourself/#comment-411061
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[47] https://openheartproject.com/getting-stuff-done-by-not-being-mean-to-yourself/#comment-685284
[48] http://www.cecibooks.com/
[49] https://openheartproject.com/getting-stuff-done-by-not-being-mean-to-yourself/#comment-411062
[50] http://jkuzmier.com/
[51] https://openheartproject.com/getting-stuff-done-by-not-being-mean-to-yourself/#comment-411063
[52] http://www.curvyyoga.com/
[53] https://openheartproject.com/getting-stuff-done-by-not-being-mean-to-yourself/#comment-411064
[54] http://gerry%20mourne.%20com/
[55] https://openheartproject.com/getting-stuff-done-by-not-being-mean-to-yourself/#comment-527449
[56] https://openheartproject.com/getting-stuff-done-by-not-being-mean-to-yourself/#comment-411065
[57] http://www.edmirza.com/
[58] https://openheartproject.com/getting-stuff-done-by-not-being-mean-to-yourself/#comment-527453
[59] https://openheartproject.com/getting-stuff-done-by-not-being-mean-to-yourself/#comment-527497
[60] https://openheartproject.com/getting-stuff-done-by-not-being-mean-to-yourself/#comment-660589
[61] https://openheartproject.com/getting-stuff-done-by-not-being-mean-to-yourself/#comment-660591
[62] https://openheartproject.com/getting-stuff-done-by-not-being-mean-to-yourself/#comment-660708
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[67] https://openheartproject.com/getting-stuff-done-by-not-being-mean-to-yourself/#comment-669289
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[69] https://openheartproject.com/getting-stuff-done-by-not-being-mean-to-yourself/#comment-685292
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[1]Rands in Repose
[2]
• [3]Archives
• [4]About
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• [8]Podcast
• [9]Feed
[10]Rands Seek understanding
The Cleanse
I’m in the midst of a media cleanse. This started before the election when I
canceled my Washington Post subscription. Jeff Bezos can do whatever he wants
with the Washington Post, and he’s 100% correct that I don’t trust large media
organizations.
After the election, I removed all news sources from [11]Feedly except the [12]
Atlantic because I find their writing informative and compelling.
A friend calls this turtling. Pulling your head inside your shell and hiding.
It’s quite comfortable here. With most of my free time, I’m leveling a dragon
Holy Priest in World of Warcraft. #ama
Next on the list is Twitter. Since it was sold and turned private, my
engagement has been significantly lower, and my follower count has shrunk as
the humans have moved off the platform, but quite soon, I’m deleting my
account. My finger has been over the DELETE button for a few days, and I’ve
wondered why. Two facts: First, there are thousands of folks with whom I share
stuff there. I can see they are there via much reduced but real engagement.
Second, I have just under 20k tweets since 2007 that, upon review, tell an
interesting story… at least to me.
I’ve downloaded the complete archive, and I’m sad to say I’m about to create a
bunch of 404 errors when my corpus of tweets vanishes from Twitter. Why? This
is my content, and I don’t want whatever Twitter has become to benefit from its
existence. I’ll share the archive here at some point, but for now, I’m
cleansing.
Like FaceBook before it, Twitter turned into something else. They both, early
on, felt like a means of connection. Unfortunately, building that social graph
allowed these businesses to target you and your engaging, clickable content
expertly. What was a means of connection turned into hot, juicy, bite-sized
content. Over the past two decades, this practice has made us intellectually
lazy because these media services are paid not on the quality but the quantity
of service. More clicks, more engagement. Truth and facts. Optional.
And what was a clever means of connection turned into a raging stream of
clickable things.
So, bye, Twitter. I’m late to the funeral, but better late than never. It was
fun before it got terrifying.
While I am profoundly turtling and have little desire to see a path forward, I
have two related observations:
First, the lack of healthy debate on most social media is one of the core
issues with the platform. Humans must disagree, but these platforms do not
provide a proper bi-directional medium (or set of tools) for these debates.
It’s liking, then not liking, then yelling, then ALL CAPS, and NOW I’M
UNFOLLOWING YOU and YES BLOCKING BYE.
Debate is a tricky act between two humans who can both speak, listen,
understand, and possibly evolve. Two humans. Often, there will be more, but
let’s keep it simple and assume it’s two. Both humans are required to do this,
and in the primarily anonymous world of social media, it’s normal not to
consider the other human a human. They are the last thing they wrote that you
disagree with. There is no relationship; it’s simply the last thing they
posted. And how do you feel about that post.
The stakes are higher in person. You have to stare at that human in the eye,
especially after they say something you don’t like. So, what do you do? You
can’t yell, you can’t ignore them, and you certainly can’t block them, so what
is your move? Mine: seek understanding. Put on that empathy hat and try to
understand why they’re saying what they’re saying. That’s the first step. There
are many more — [13]read the book.
The continual failure to do this in social media results in a growing echo
chamber where the humans agree, and those who disagree are quickly voted off
the island. Some of these echo chambers are low stakes. Think about your
favorite sports team. Those fans are aligned on what’s important. Who needs
debate? The only debate we care about is what $OTHER-TEAM we hate the most. Go
$OUR-TEAM.
There are higher-stakes echo chambers, too. Use your imagination here.
Second, it’s not a short or medium-turn fix to what ails us, but I am curious
about investing in local and independent news organizations. Large media
organizations have to compete with social. They desperately need those clicks,
and that means mimicking the patterns they see in social. The headline must
engage in one second or less, or it will be forgotten. It’s an economy of
attention, not understanding or truth.
Local media has taken it on the chin for decades because social media consumes
advertising dollars. Local media has withered without that support, with
remaining big media sources bending to social media engagement patterns. The
idea of investing in local media news organizations is because they report on
the events that happen in my neighborhood. This makes them more human to me.
They have skin in the game because, like me, they live here. My problems are
their problems, which means we have a solid foundation to start to understand.
How do I go about this investment? Where do I start?
I don’t know. I’m turtling. For now.
[14]# November 15, 2024
See also...
• [15]Hold Your Breath
• [16]“I Am Very Concerned About This Election”
• [17]Shields Shirts
• [18]The Cello in Soho Square
• [19]10 Things I Love & Why
Next[20]The One About Dapper
Merch
[21][svg]
[22]Rands Schwag: Leadership leading with the letter R.
[23][svg]
[24]The Software Developer’s Career Handbook: Chaos is an Opportunity.
[25][svg]
[26]Managing Humans: Tales of leadership from the Silicon Valley.
[27][svg]
[28]Small Things, Done Well: Practice becoming a better leader. Daily.
Don't Skip [29]This
Thank you for scrolling to the bottom. If this is your first visit, I recommend
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The Very Bottom
I've recently become very interested in performing magic. I did a talk recently
in Switzerland where I performed three significant tricks. Magic is teaching me
about how to focus an audience's attention. [50]watch this.
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[50] https://www.hulu.com/movie/derek-delgaudios-in-of-itself-19b9d405-40b2-483e-8e1f-e25fe10c7299
[51] http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
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[1]taylor.town [2]about [3]now [4]spam [5]rss
Stinky Gifts From Your Idea Kitty
To attract ideas, carry a notebook.
Suddenly, armed with blank paper, your mind sends details to your attention.
□ note: eating fiber and/or vinegar before carbs can smooth glucose/
fructose spikes
□ note: explore the lives/works of Grothendieck and Mochizuki
□ note: "Determine value apart from price, progress apart from activity,
wealth apart from size." -- Munger
□ note: add to reading list: Urban Waterfront Promenades by Macdonald
[6]90% of those ideas are crap. Your mind became a friendly neighborhood cat,
delivering dead animals to your doorstep. Thank you for your kind gifts, kitty
-- all these delicate carcasses are so nasty and yet so generous. But your true
challenge is that 10% of the time, they're taxidermy squirrels stuffed with
sand and sapphires.
Your mind will never improve at finding good ideas; that cat will always
deliver 90% crap. What changes is you. You somehow teach yourself to sort and
salvage. You learn to forgive yourself faster, to bury the dead, and to pay
proper respect to Nature's harsh whims. You name this new feeling "intuition"
and "taste" and sometimes "luck".
This phenomenon manifested when I [7]started writing regularly. My hunches
found a nest. My curiosity grew legs. My mind made miles of piles and infinite
files for whatever these mountains of words will one day become.
□ essay: tactical procrastination
□ essay: temporal type theory
□ essay: gender penmanship gap?
□ project: suitcase shaped like a pencil roll; lies flat with many
pockets
□ note: explore dungeon synth
□ essay: licklider's "olivers"
After years of isolating myself, I [8]tried a new platform. It's been
delightful. I've rekindled old friendships, found new communities, and spread
lots of laughter.
But as soon I created that profile, my cat changed its patterns. More ideas.
Smaller ideas. Save this. Share that.
□ post: writing prompt: in Cool Runnings 2, the Jamaican bobsled team…
□ post: is a train a hypoloop?
□ essay: John Dewey's cool schools
□ post: mosquito net jacket
□ post: corporate sabotage: covertly replace the coffee with decaf beans
and watch productivity suffer
□ post: pic of mom's sad cabbage sandwich
□ post: fennel soda
□ essay: ethics of anteaters in Zoboomafoo
□ post: John Harvey Kellog was a cereal entrepreneur.
These ideas are still ~90% crap, but my intuition cannot yet appraise its new
deliveries.
My dendrites grow so stiff with age; I'm afraid I'll learn kitty's new tricks
too slowly this time. Only fools forget that cats have more lives than we poor
mortals.
I so deeply want all that community -- all that belonging. But I can't afford
more change. I'll try to visit as often as my old cat allows. Meanwhile, feel
free to [9]write me a letter. I'll be here, wherever this is.
Before I depart, I'll leave you with a powerful spell: a substrate (e.g.
notebook, blog, profile, etc) summons its works (e.g. notes, essays, comments,
etc). This is real magic. Try it at home.
References:
[1] https://taylor.town/
[2] https://taylor.town/about
[3] https://taylor.town/now
[4] https://newsletter.taylor.town/
[5] https://taylor.town/feed.xml
[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturgeon%27s_law
[7] https://taylor.town/
[8] https://bsky.app/profile/taylor.town
[9] https://taylor.town/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#b5ddd0d9d9daf5c1d4ccd9dac79bc1dac2db

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[1]
i logo The Internet Review
• [2] [ic] Articles
• [3] [ic] Toolbox
• [4] [ic] Forecast
• [5] [ic] History
[icon-e]
I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got on October 29, 2024
It’s the “1998” of the AI Revolution. So Why Can I Safely Ignore It?
Ah, I remember 1998 like it was yesterday.
Windows 98!
Bondi Blue iMac!
The “[6]Cuban Missile Crisis” 😏
[7]You’ve Got Mail!
But we’re not here to reminisce. We’re here to consider why the so-called “AI
Revolution” of today is not like the Internet Revolution of 26 years ago.
1998 was a pivotal moment in time for me. It was when I’d gotten my start as a
professional Web developer, working on projects for friends and new leads
alike. And I was writing quite a bit for new online publications. (Alas, I
hadn’t yet [8]rebooted iReview as a BeOS-themed destination.)
1998 was also right in the middle of the first big Internet boom. AOL was
riding high and acquiring companies right and left—including Netscape in a $4.2
billion deal. Microsoft had spent a few years pivoting mightily from a primary
focus on big box (offline) software to a major consumer play where they hoped
to fulfill their vision of “a computer in every home” connected to the nascent
World-Wide Web.
Apple was also just beginning its “Second Coming of Steve Jobs” narrative arc,
launching the Internet-flavored Macintosh computer that would save the company
and pave the way for the successes of the iPod, iPhone, and iPad.
So here’s the deal.
I would argue that for most people, in the year 1998, it would have made no
sense to stubbornly resist these technological advances. Imagine flat-out
saying no to computers and the Internet—to the degree that you never set up an
email address. No Web access. Nothing.
(OK weirdos, enough with that dreamy look in your eyes! Maybe you need to go
unplug for the weekend! 🤣)
Were there people like that back then? Certainly! And even now, there’s no
denying the appeal of retro tech. [9]Some folks still love to write on
typewriters.
But on the whole, you could argue that people in the late 1990s who completely
shunned personal computing were limiting their options for no clear reason.
Accessing a Web site for information instead of dialing an automated telephone
line was clearly a superior experience. Talking to a friend via email or
instant messaging was clearly more akin to a face-to-face conversation than
writing a letter and sending it in the post.
I remember my very tech-adverse mother becoming completely addicted to online
chatrooms in order to discuss…and this is no joke…Gàidhlig with native speakers
in Scotland and learners around the world. I even helped her set up [10]a Web
site and mailing list called Gàidhlig 4 U — and in case you’re wondering, my
Scottish Gaelic persona was Diarmaid Mac GhilleBhàin.
The reason I’m going into all this detail is because I want to impress to you
just how much of a overwhelming shift in culture the Internet was in the late
1990s.
I see none of that same inevitability today with the so-called AI Revolution.
You can literally just not use it.
Researchers, please get in touch with me. I can be part of your control group.
Because I’ve never used ChatGPT. Not once. I hesitated even to access a link a
client shared with me with a transcript of their ChatGPT request. AI cooties! 🙅
I’ve never used GitHub Copilot. Or Cursor. Or any of the other AI “pair
programmers” out there. Not once.
I routinely switch off any AI tools in software I use (if that’s even
possible). I never look at “answers” search engines regurgitate out, preferring
to get to the genuine human-sourced information as quickly as possible.
I’m still running macOS Sonoma and iOS 17, because I have zero interest in
“Apple Intelligence”.
I don’t say all of this to revel in my curmudgeonly Luddism. I say it because
I’m living proof that you can be a fulfilled, modern, very online, technical
expert & creator and completely sit out this hype cycle.
Seriously. You can just not use any of these generative AI tools.
A while back, I wrote up an [11]AI Ethical Framework for my software business
Whitefusion. It even needs a bit of updating now because I once considered the
environmental cost of generative AI to be a bit of a side issue compared to the
main ones, but it’s becoming clear it’s actually [12]rather horrendous.
I’m sad to say I see little evidence that we’re making any progress towards
meeting the tenets of the framework. Creators are having to take major steps to
protect their work against theft at industrial scale, and regulation is slow or
non-existent to ensure models are trained and provided in an ethical manner.
Until there’s widespread availability of generative AI tooling which meets my
criteria, I’m refusing to use any at all. And again, the impact on my life has
been…negligible.
I honestly don’t feel like I’m missing anything at all.
I’m still coding and making a real impact on the projects I work on.
I’m still writing. I’m still podcasting.
I’m still taking photographs and editing them. (with zero “generative fill”!)
I’m still participating in my local communities. In fact, if I ignore the few
conversations I’ve had with folks IRL about what generative AI “will” do and
focus on how AI has affected anything I do IRL, the answer is nothing. AI might
as well not exist when I consider all of the things I do on a daily basis out
in the real world.
It’s not inevitable. (Sorry Thanos!)
I’m really unable to explain to you why I would need generative AI to help me
with anything I do. Now don’t get me wrong, I definitely appreciate machine
learning. Making transcripts, translating text, searching for photos,
dictating…these are all truly revolutionary and valuable computing tools. And
if you want to put all of them in the broad category of “AI” and call me a
hypocrite, you’re welcome to try.
But I find that there’s a wide conceptual chasm between traditional machine
learning tools as described above, and this new crop of generative AI services.
And unfortunately, when the lines get blurred, [13]it’s actually pretty
terrifying.
Computers can’t think—and they won’t. Anyone trying to sell you on a vision of
AGI, or “powerful intelligence”, or any such nonsense, has truly drunk the
kool-aid (or cynically capitalizing on the hype cycle before it bursts).
Computers can’t experience the world, because there’s no qualia in the
lifecycle of a digital operation. Chatbots are lying to you when “they” wax
philosophical about how much they appreciate the beach in the summer or that
pickles taste great in a sandwich. I find it nauseating that some people
willingly accept this kind of output from a chatbot. When the #1 problem with
the Internet today is the rampant spread of misinformation and total bullshit
everywhere at dizzying speeds, folks seem fine with using bullshit generators
at scale?
I don’t get it.
But thankfully, I don’t need to, because I can continue to live my life
perfectly fine without using any of these generative AI tools.
Try it! Once you’ve weaned yourself off of these fake intelligence simulators,
you just might realize they never added to your quality of life in the first
place.
(But, alas, you can’t join my control group. 😉)
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
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[15]➜ Ghost is Now Federating, in Private Beta for Now [16]The Web Browser for
Those of Discerning Taste: Vivaldi ➜
Continue Browsing: [17]October 2024
The Internet R
E
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The Internet Review is the brainchild of [18]Jared White and published by [19]
Intuitive Future.
Founded in 1996 (really!) and rebooted in 2024.
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Proud to be indie, proud to be AI-free, and proud to foster the preservation
and continued flourishing of a human-centric, user-first internet.
All written content Copyright © 1996-2024 Jared White and may be reprinted in
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References:
[1] https://theinternet.review/
[2] https://theinternet.review/
[3] https://theinternet.review/toolbox/
[4] https://theinternet.review/forecast/
[5] https://theinternet.review/history/
[6] https://slate.com/news-and-politics/1998/09/what-exactly-is-the-cigar-story.html
[7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You%27ve_Got_Mail
[8] https://theinternet.review/archived/1999/06/09/introduction-to-beos/
[9] https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2022/07/why-and-how-i-use-a-typewriter/
[10] https://web.archive.org/web/20000424001346fw_/http://distantoaks.com/g4u/index.html
[11] https://www.whitefusion.studio/ai-ethics
[12] https://www.techradar.com/pro/generative-ais-energy-demands-are-accelerating-the-climate-crisis-top-researcher-warns-of-environmental-impact-of-googles-new-search-feature
[13] https://apnews.com/article/ai-artificial-intelligence-health-business-90020cdf5fa16c79ca2e5b6c4c9bbb14
[14] https://buttondown.email/theinternet
[15] https://theinternet.review/2024/10/26/ghost-is-now-federating/
[16] https://theinternet.review/2024/11/19/vivaldi-web-browser-for-customization-power-users/
[17] https://theinternet.review/archived/october-2024
[18] https://jaredwhite.com/
[19] https://plus.intuitivefuture.com/
[20] https://intuitivefuture.com/@theinternet
[21] https://intuitivefuture.com/@theinternet
[22] https://theinternet.review/feed.xml
[23] https://theinternet.review/feed.xml

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[1] [citation needed]
a newsletter by Molly White
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[24]Newsletter
Wind the clock
A message to those asking “what do I do now?”
[25] Molly White
[26]Molly White
Nov 8, 2024 — 9 min read
Wind the clock
audio-thumbnail
Wind the clock
0:00
/962.011429
[29][0 ]1×[33][100 ]
Listen to a voiceover of this post, [34]subscribe to the feed in your podcast
app, or [35]download the recording for later.
I had allowed myself to hope that American voters would choose the better of
the presidential options available to us, and I was wrong. I am disappointed. I
am sad. I am afraid.
But, you see, I was disappointed, sad, and afraid before the election, too. In
and outside of the United States, across the political spectrum, governments
are and have been failing their people. And it is the people who have been
fighting not just to protect themselves, their communities, and the things they
love, but also fighting for people they’ve never met, in places they’ve never
been, living lives they’ve never lived, facing horrors they’ve never faced.
No matter how the United States election went, the fights were going to
continue. A Harris victory would not solve our problems, domestically or
worldwide. Nor would it change the fact that a sizable portion of people in
this country are buying what Trump and his allies are selling. The only open
questions were who the specific adversaries in the White House would be, who
among the fighters would keep fighting, and who would join the fight.
The first question has been answered. Now the questions are: if you have been
fighting already, are you going to continue to fight? If you haven’t been, are
you going to begin?
Three arrows: a black arrow pointing right, a blue arrow pointing up and
slightly to the left, and a red arrow pointing more to the leftOnward.
Maybe you’re sick of people telling you to fight. After all of that organizing,
marching, and get-out-the-voting, Trump won the election anyway, so what’s even
the point?
A lot of people feel like they’ve just finished running a marathon only to
cross what they thought was the finish line and discover a whole other marathon
stretched out in front of them. Oh and guess what, this one’s all uphill. How
do you even summon the energy to start running in that scenario?
Maybe you don’t. If you are able, maybe you sit on the sidelines for a while
and rest. Grieve. Be angry. Restore some energy for what lies ahead. Take some
time to shore up your defenses, figure out a plan, and keep going. Be grateful
it is an option to you, because not everyone has the luxury.
Or maybe instead of running, you just trudge along for a bit, slowly placing
one foot in front of the other. Take just the little steps necessary to keep
moving forward.
Maybe you change how you fight. A lot of people right now are reckoning with
failures of their political party, or of the whole political apparatus. But
electoral politics — especially only at the national level — are far from the
only battleground. The fights we are fighting do not neatly begin and end with
election cycles. Donating to your preferred presidential candidate and knocking
on doors are all well and good, but maybe it’s time to try something new. Even
the smallest acts can be a part of your fight: standing up for your values when
faced with something that goes against them, offering a couch to your kid’s
trans friend who is struggling at home, offering a meal to the unhoused person
you see outside your building every day, stepping in with mutual aid to help
the people who have been fighting like hell and can’t otherwise afford to take
those breaks we all need to rest and recharge.
What you don’t do is give up. The outcome of this election has exposed to many
the realities we didn’t want to see, of just how many people around us openly
embrace hatred and bigotry and authoritarianism. Standing up to that can be
scary and even dangerous, but it is also right. Beliefs are the things you
stand for even when it’s scary, even when it’s hard, even when there might be
consequences. And the less danger you, personally, face for standing up for
what you believe, the more obligated you are to do it. To my fellow cisgender
white women, this means you. To the cis white men, doubly so.
Many in this country have been hard at work trying to shift the [36]Overton
window, to normalize the unthinkable and to make the sensible seem extreme. You
do not have to shift with it. You do not have to accept arguments to moderation
when the “moderate” stance is unreasonable.
You do not have to sit down and shut up as things around us get more and more
extreme, as threats to peoples’ rights and lives get even more dire, even as
others around you insist everything’s fine and you’re just being dramatic.
People will tell me to stop getting political in this newsletter,^[37]a to get
back to writing about cryptocurrency and technology like they signed up for, to
stop catastrophizing, to “let it go” and accept the “will of the people”. I
will not. You needn’t either.
Many of us have looked back on historic events where people have bravely stood
up against powerful adversaries and wondered, “what would I have done?” Now is
your chance to find out. It did not just start with this election; it has been
that time for a long time. If you’re just realizing it now, get your ass in
gear. Make yourself proud.
Now what?
First things first, protect yourself. Even if you think the threat of
authoritarianism is overblown, take steps to defend against it. If you’re a
journalist, maybe read this section twice.
• Find your communities. Most people have many communities: the friend group
you hang out with in real life, your family, your neighbors, your internet
friends, your coworkers, your church or synagogue or mosque or other
religious community. Strengthen these communities. If you don’t feel like
you have much in the way of community, begin forming them: join new social
groups, and try to meet likeminded people near you. Introduce yourself to
your neighbors.
• Join (or start) a union. There’s strength in numbers, and especially if
your industry may fall under threat, you’ll want to unionize now and not
wait for that threat to materialize.
• Consider taking proactive steps to obtain healthcare that could become
challenging to obtain in the future, if you are able. For example, if you
need to replace or are considering getting an IUD, now might be the time.
• Use end-to-end-encrypted messaging apps for your communications. I use [38]
Signal heavily, but there are other options. Please know that not all apps
that advertise E2EE enable it by default or offer it for group chats
(looking at you Telegram), so double check that.
• Consider [39]choosing a VPN to help protect your privacy online, and learn
about the pros and cons of using them. Learn when, why, and how to use Tor.
The EFF has [40]good guides depending on your operating system.
• Consider reducing your reliance on centralized social networks controlled
by billionaires, and instead [41]establishing a web presence you control.
Evaluate the risks when choosing hosting providers, make backups, and make
it as easy as possible to switch hosts should the need arise.
• Consider no longer using apps that collect and store sensitive data, such
as period tracker or fertility apps. Be cautious about location tracking
and other tech-enabled surveillance.
• Find and support trusted sources of news and information. If you rely
heavily on mainstream news outlets owned by billionaires who were first in
line to congratulate Trump on his victory, consider diversifying your media
diet. [42]ProPublica, [43]404 Media, and [44]Flaming Hydra are a couple of
great publications, or the Institute for Nonprofit News has a [45]great
directory of many more. Subscribe to and/or financially support independent
solo writers like [46]Parker Molloy (The Present Age), [47]Erin Reed, [48]
Marisa Kabas (The Handbasket), and [49]Seamus Hughes (Court Watch). Pay for
a subscription to your local newspaper. Maybe also subscribe to a non-US
paper while you’re at it. Consider supplementing your social feeds with an
RSS-powered [50]blogroll.
How do I fight?
For anyone feeling like you don’t know what to do, I urge you to think hard
about what matters most to you, and look for ways to fight for those things
— particularly if you have specific skills that you can put to use. Are you a
good writer? Tech savvy? A compelling leader? Good at coming up with new ideas?
Find things that play to your strengths. And most importantly, find people who
are members of communities under threat and/or experienced organizers doing
this work already, and ask them what they need. Help the people around you. Be
there for the people you love.
What matters to me may not be the most important thing to you, and it’s easiest
to keep fighting when you’re fighting for something you care deeply about. With
that said, here are just a few of the things I care about that might serve as a
launching point:
Press freedom and access to information
Trump and his allies have issued multitudes of threats against journalists, and
anti-media sentiment is reaching a fever pitch across the political spectrum.
The United States has already sunk to [51]#55 on the Reporters Without Borders’
press freedom tracker — the lowest it has ever been — and will likely only fall
further once Trump takes office.
• Fight back against Trump’s attempts to weaponize the FCC and other
government agencies against news organizations, such as by [52]revoking TV
stations’ broadcast licenses or accusing publishers of [53]“treason” for
factual reporting
• Urge your Senators to back the [54]PRESS Act to protect journalists from
surveillance and provide journalist-source confidentiality
• Push for a federal [55]anti-SLAPP law to replace piecemeal and easily
dodged state-level protections for journalists from the kinds of frivolous
but financially ruinous defamation lawsuits popular among people like
Donald Trump and Elon Musk.
• Support groups working on journalist legal defense initiatives, like the
[56]Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and [57]others. If you’re
a lawyer, consider offering pro bono legal representation.
• For the tech savvy: help journalists, writers, and archivists protect
themselves and their work. Those who are looking to go independent are
often looking for advice or tech help. Consider contributing to open source
projects like the [58]Internet Archive.
• Support and fight for your local libraries. Get a library card and use it.
Volunteer.
• Push back at the local level against efforts to ban books in schools, or to
remove important topics from school curricula.
• Support data activist groups like [59]DDoSecrets.
• Support and contribute to open knowledge projects like [60]Wikipedia and
those stewarded by the [61]Free Law Project ([62]CourtListener and [63]
RECAP among them).
Migrant rights
Trump has threatened mass deportations “on day one”, along with an order to end
birthright citizenship. Advisers have boasted of “turbocharging” Trump’s
denaturalization projects from his previous administration, which sought to
strip Americans of their citizenship.
• Tech workers: refuse to develop software for corporations building
surveillance tech for ICE and similar groups.
• Find and support your local immigration advocacy group, especially if you
have legal or organizing experience, or if you are multilingual.
• Support groups like [64]Organized Communities Against Deportations (OCAD),
including through donations or volunteer work.
Reproductive rights
Trump’s promise to “leave abortion up to the states” rather than enact a
federal ban still poses a grave threat to reproductive rights, if it is even to
be believed. [65]Project 2025 outlines plans to restrict access to
mifepristone, enforce the Comstock Act to block medical supplies, equipment, or
abortion drugs from being sent by mail, and even limit access to
contraceptives.
• [66]Find and support your local abortion funds. They often are in most
desperate need of help, compared to national and well-known organizations
like Planned Parenthood.
• Volunteer with your local reproductive rights advocacy group by helping to
organize or becoming a [67]clinic escort.
• Consider obtaining emergency contraceptives or [68]abortion pills to have
on hand for yourself or others. Plan B and mifepristone have shelf lives of
4 and 5 years, respectively.
Trans rights
The Trump campaign doubled down on attacks on trans people, even incorporating
it into their advertising. Trump has, among other things, vowed to limit access
to gender-affirming care and even defund schools that recognize transgender
students.
• Find, support, and volunteer with your local LGBTQ organization.
• Contribute to those fundraising for their gender-affirming care, including
those who are now urgently trying to accelerate their healthcare plans, who
are trying to renew and update their identification, or who are trying to
move states. Help out individuals you know, or look for [69]local mutual
aid funds.
• Become involved at a local level to push back against efforts to block or
remove gender-affirming policies from schools, or ban books about queer and
trans life (among other topics)
• Fiercely support trans people and educate those around you — including
Democrats now tempted to blame Harris’s loss on “the trans issue”.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Finally: remember to take care of yourselves. There is a long road ahead, but
we’re in this together.
As long as there is one upright man, as long as there is one compassionate
woman, the contagion may spread and the scene is not desolate. Hope is the
thing that is left to us, in a bad time. I shall get up Sunday morning and
wind the clock, as a contribution to order and steadfastness.
Sailors have an expression about the weather: they say, the weather is a
great bluffer. I guess the same is true of our human society — things can
look dark, then a break shows in the clouds, and all is changed, sometimes
rather suddenly. It is quite obvious that the human race has made a queer
mess of life on this planet. But as a people we probably harbor seeds of
goodness that have lain for a long time waiting to sprout when the
conditions are right. Man’s curiosity, his relentlessness, his
inventiveness, his ingenuity have led him into deep trouble. We can only
hope that these same traits will enable him to claw his way out.
Hang on to your hat. Hang on to your hope. And wind the clock, for tomorrow
is another day.E.B. White (1973)
Footnotes
1. It is still a mystery to people how people read this newsletter and think
it is anything but political. Crypto is political. Technology is political.
Journalism is political. [70]↩
Social share image is "[71]Repairing the clock inside the clock tower at the
Old Post Office in Washington, D.C. ", a photograph by [72]Carol M. Highsmith.
Loved this post? Consider [73]signing up for a pay-what-you-want subscription
or [74]leaving a tip to support Molly White's work, which is entirely funded by
readers like you. You can also check out what’s new in the [75]store!
Read more
[76] Video: The Cryptocurrency Industry's Unprecedented Election Spending
Video: The Cryptocurrency Industry's Unprecedented Election Spending
Let's talk about where the money came from, where it went, the cryptocurrency
industry's political goals, and what’s next.
Nov 22, 2024
[77] A “Department of Government Efficiency” image featuring Donald Trump, Elon
Musk, and the dogecoin mascot
Issue 70 – The Cryptocurrency States of America
Crypto’s efforts to buy the 2024 elections paid off, and we’re in for a bumpy
ride.
Nov 15, 2024
[78] An illustration of a man with the Coinbase logo for a head, holding an
eager tiger looking to attack a woman with a shield
Issue 69 – Nice
Coinbase threatens me that continuing to report on their activities would be
“.... unwise”. Also, election spending hits a fever pitch, with several new
crypto PACs coming out of the woodwork.
Nov 2, 2024
[79] A grid of photos titled “Our team”. All of them are Molly, wearing various
outfits, sunglasses, and hats.
I am my own legal department: the promise and peril of “just go independent”
Independent publishing is one important facet of the media ecosystem, and while
I love it, I know it is not the path for everyone.
Oct 26, 2024
Citation Needed features critical coverage of the cryptocurrency industry and
of issues in the broader technology world.
It is independently published by Molly White, and entirely supported by readers
like you.
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© 2024 Molly White.
References:
[1] https://www.citationneeded.news/
[4] https://www.citationneeded.news/page/2/
[5] https://www.citationneeded.news/tag/weekly-recaps/
[6] https://www.citationneeded.news/podcast/
[7] https://store.mollywhite.net/
[8] https://www.citationneeded.news/about/
[9] https://www.citationneeded.news/rss/
[10] https://donate.stripe.com/14k8AseTNaqLaZy7ss
[11] https://www.citationneeded.news/privacy/
[13] https://www.citationneeded.news/wind-the-clock/?ref=wheresyoured.at#/portal/signin
[14] https://www.citationneeded.news/signup
[24] https://www.citationneeded.news/tag/newsletter/
[25] https://www.citationneeded.news/author/molly/
[26] https://www.citationneeded.news/author/molly/
[34] https://www.citationneeded.news/podcast/
[35] https://www.citationneeded.news/content/media/2024/11/2024-11-08-Wind-the-clock-1.mp3
[36] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overton_window
[37] https://www.citationneeded.news/wind-the-clock/?ref=wheresyoured.at#footnote-1
[38] https://signal.org/
[39] https://www.wired.com/story/best-vpn/
[40] https://ssd.eff.org/module-categories/tool-guides
[41] https://www.citationneeded.news/posse/
[42] https://www.propublica.org/
[43] https://www.404media.co/
[44] https://flaminghydra.com/
[45] https://findyournews.org/
[46] https://www.readtpa.com/
[47] https://www.erininthemorning.com/
[48] https://www.thehandbasket.co/
[49] https://www.courtwatch.news/
[50] https://www.mollywhite.net/blogroll/
[51] https://rsf.org/en/usa-rsf-urges-both-presidential-campaigns-commit-strengthening-press-freedom
[52] https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/22/media/trump-strip-tv-station-licenses-punish-media/index.html
[53] https://thehill.com/homenews/4222082-trump-blasted-threats-against-comcast-nbc/
[54] https://www.spj.org/news.asp?ref=3026
[55] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_lawsuit_against_public_participation
[56] https://www.rcfp.org/
[57] https://onlineharassmentfieldmanual.pen.org/legal-resources-for-writers-and-journalists/
[58] https://archive.org/about/volunteerpositions.php
[59] https://ddosecrets.com/
[60] https://www.citationneeded.news/become-a-wikipedian-in-30-minutes/
[61] https://free.law/
[62] https://www.courtlistener.com/
[63] https://free.law/recap
[64] https://www.organizedcommunities.org/get-involved
[65] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_2025
[66] https://abortionfunds.org/find-a-fund/
[67] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinic_escort
[68] https://www.plancpills.org/
[69] https://www.folxhealth.com/library/mutual-aid-funds
[70] https://www.citationneeded.news/wind-the-clock/?ref=wheresyoured.at#footnote-anchor-1
[71] https://www.loc.gov/resource/highsm.17684/?r=0.133,-0.171,0.772,0.655,0
[72] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carol_M._Highsmith
[73] https://www.citationneeded.news/signup
[74] https://donate.stripe.com/14k8AseTNaqLaZy7ss
[75] https://store.mollywhite.net/
[76] https://www.citationneeded.news/video-the-cryptocurrency-industrys-unprecedented-election-spending/
[77] https://www.citationneeded.news/issue-70/
[78] https://www.citationneeded.news/issue-69/
[79] https://www.citationneeded.news/i-am-my-own-legal-department/
[80] https://www.citationneeded.news/signup
[81] https://www.citationneeded.news/page/2/
[82] https://www.citationneeded.news/tag/weekly-recaps/
[83] https://www.citationneeded.news/podcast/
[84] https://store.mollywhite.net/
[85] https://www.citationneeded.news/about/
[86] https://www.citationneeded.news/rss/
[87] https://donate.stripe.com/14k8AseTNaqLaZy7ss
[88] https://www.citationneeded.news/privacy/
[89] https://twitter.com/molly0xFFF/
[90] https://hachyderm.io/@molly0xfff
[91] https://bsky.app/profile/molly.wiki
[92] https://www.youtube.com/@molly0xfff
[93] https://www.tiktok.com/@molly0xfff
[94] https://www.mollywhite.net/

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[1]datagubbe.se » on working with your passion
On Working With Your Passion
Autumn 2024
Cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the
days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and
you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall
eat bread, till you return to the ground.
Genesis 3:17-19
I recently read an old blog post by Eric Wastl (of [2]Advent of Code fame)
entitled [3]Your Job Is Not to Write Code. The gist of it is that software
development is, actually, a lot about writing code. Wastl's text is, I dare
say, uncontroversial - including its final sentence and sentiment: "(...) Your
job is to engineer things, and to love every second of it."
Is it, though?
As a software developer, I agree that my job is to write software that is as
good as humanly possible given the circumstances under which it was produced.
I'd argue, however, that it is not my duty to love every second of it.
Let it be noted that I'm not trying to pick a belated fight with Wastl here:
his text is fairly lighthearted and it seems fitting for it to end on an upbeat
note. Add to this that the sentiment that software developers should love their
jobs, or work with their passion, is extremely commonplace. I come across it so
often it almost seems like a mantra, or perhaps rather a platitude repeated
without much thought.
This begs the question: Why is that?
***
There are good and bad jobs, and there are many various factors affecting this.
Examples like colleagues, managers, salaries, working environments, tasks,
workplace hazards and personal proclivities immediately spring to mind. I'd
probably make for an abysmal a dentist, for example, but I'd like to think I'd
make a decent farmer. Liking and enjoying most aspects of a job, however, is
not the same as loving every second of it, or being passionate about it.
A wise person once defined a passion as something you'd do even if you didn't
get paid for it. In that sense, I'm passionate about a lot of things -
including computers and programming. But my passion isn't perfectly aligned
with what I do at work: there are many different kinds of programming. The same
goes for a lot of other activities. Being passionate about food doesn't mean
you'll love every second of being a line cook at an all-you-can-eat cruise
liner buffet. Being passionate about cars doesn't mean you'll love every second
of working on the assembly line at Tesla. And, of course, being passionate
about programming doesn't mean you'll love every second of churning out yet
another REST API.
Conversely, this doesn't mean you should do a bad job. It also doesn't mean
that not loving a job automatically means you hate it. Passion shouldn't be
confused with things like personal growth, pride, satisfaction and enjoyment:
the more of this you feel at work, the better. It's just that there's often a
gap between something you'd do for free and something you're paid to do,
regardless of your working conditions.
Even when actually working with something that is your passion, can it really
stay that way for long? I love [4]tinkering with my [5]Amiga. I'm not paid a
single cent for it - I do it when I feel like it (which is rather often), on my
own terms. There's no pressure, no demands and no deadlines other than those I,
and nobody else, decide. Would that really feel the same if I, say, did it in
front of an audience on Youtube - an audience on which my livelihood depended?
How often would I have to think of some new project, and how much would I have
to adapt that project to suit the tastes of those effectively financing my
mortgage? As far as jobs go, I'm sure it could be better than most - but I
doubt it would really be my passion and, more importantly, I firmly believe it
would risk poisoning the well that's presently the source of much creative joy.
I'm sure there are people who have successfully managed to turn their passion
into a job they love every second of - though I think they're fewer than we
care to admit. I'm also sure there are people who are perfectly happy
performing some menial job as nothing more than a means to finance a
commercially unviable passion - probably many more than the first category. In
this context, though, this is an aside - it's the passion trope itself that
interests me.
***
Where does this notion of professional love, or passion, come from? It's
commonplace in some lines of work, whereas others are refreshingly exempt from
it. Nobody expects a vacuum truck operator to go around exclaiming things like
"Pumping sewage is my passion!" That doesn't mean their work isn't important
(Quite the contrary!) or that they can't - or shouldn't - feel pride or job
satisfaction, or earn a decent living wage.
It seems to me as if this talk of passion has increased in strength and
prevalence along with the shift towards a service economy - yet, not everyone
employed in the service sector are expected to be passionate about their jobs.
Sure, many Foodora and Doordash delivery workers have probably, at some point,
been subjected to some trite motivational speech along those lines, but in
reality - just as with the vacuum truck operator - nobody expects them to
really feel that way.
Hence, in what's considered the lower rungs of the service economy,
professional passion is nothing more than an empty phrase. However, as we climb
the ladder of status, prestige and - sometimes - salary, this phrase becomes
more loaded with intent and ostensible sincerity.
One reason for this could be the type of jobs that have proliferated during the
last few decades. By channeling [6]David Graeber and [7]Peter Turchin, our
current situation can be summarized as one where jobs with immediate meaning -
manufacturing, farming - have, to a large extent, been replaced with highly
abstract (and often seemingly superfluous) make-work jobs. Coupled with
downward mobility and cutthroat competition within the middle class, we seek
rationalization to help us reconcile with a reality not quite matching our
expectations.
Maybe churning out clickbait headlines about celebrities (and perhaps barely
earning a living wage doing so) wasn't the desired outcome after spending lots
of time and money on a journalism degree. Maybe polishing off yet another
corporate powerpoint about DEI policy wasn't, in your heart of hearts, what you
envisioned when enrolling in university. Maybe your friends earn more money
than you, or seem more professionally fulfilled, or at least have a job that
comes with more prestige. Maybe you've come to feel that "education is the
silver bullet" was a lie you were told when you were young and impressionable.
And maybe, just maybe, lies along that line beget other lies.
Passion can be one such convenient little lie we tell both ourselves and
others, making us appear a bit more accomplished and our lives feel a little
more acceptable. When trying to invent meaning, or even explain why we've
settled for something not matching how we envision ourselves, few things are
more powerful than a deeply held personal affection for our work.
***
How does programming fit into this? Even though the tech sector has taken quite
a beating of late, programming jobs are still associated with status,
prestigious traits (such as intelligence) and, of course, money - even
relatively modest developer salaries are usually enough for a comfortable
middle class lifestyle. While the process of writing code may involve dealing
with abstract concepts, the rewards and results of the work are more concrete,
comparable to any other craft: tangible (sort of) consumable goods. I also
believe that most programmers, like me, quite like their jobs. As far as work
goes, it's pretty cushy: I get to sit on my butt in a comfy chair in a climate
controlled office, I have a good work/life balance, I like my colleagues and,
from time to time, I get that elated feeling of having solved a hard problem or
helped someone else solve theirs.
That, one could argue, should be enough for job satisfaction - and for a lot of
programmers, I'm sure it is. But life is full of status games, unfulfilled
ambition and dreams that may never fully come true.
Just like a journalism major may dream of truthful reporting, exposing great
scandals and scrutinizing corrupted power, so may a programmer dream of being a
scientist of sorts. Not just because the associated educational path is called
Computer Science, but because of the still relatively young lore of the
profession. Not that long ago, computers where extremely scarce and most
programming took place in academia or various mythical R'n'D departments during
a time of exceptional economic growth. It was an exclusive, high status
activity among very clever individuals whose work, in the end, generated real -
and measurably massive - benefits to an economy still firmly dominated by
traditional industrial manufacturing.
These are the people who - given ample funding and almost complete freedom to
shape their work - came up with some damn fantastic stuff: Unix. C. The GUI.
Garbage collection. The Internet. Many of these pioneers are still alive, and
will happily recount inspiring stories about what programming jobs were like
during the golden heydays.
Alas, the way places like Bell Labs, Xerox PARC, DARPA and tangential
institutions like NASA operated back then isn't coming back. In short, there's
too much politics and not enough money involved today, making it unfeasible to
just lock a handful of guys with a vision in a room, let them tinker freely and
then see if what comes out of it is useful - or if they should be given some
more time and money for a second attempt.
This, of course, is closing in on pursuing your passion and getting paid for
it. No JIRA boards, no hard deadlines, no endless, agenda-less meetings, no
customer demands, no MVP, no sprint deliverables, no "Can we get the icon in
cornflower blue?": Just a bunch of like-minded juggernauts and a carte blanche
to do almost exactly whatever you feel like within your area of expertise.
I think this - be it romanticized fantasy or actual historical fact - is what a
lot of us programmers, deep down, desire from our professional life. Sadly,
we're not celebrated geniuses working at the research department of a telecomms
monopoly during the rise of an empire. We're instead doing yet another customer
checkout form for a mid-sized e-commerce site, helplessly watching our
profession slowly, as Marx put it, "sink into the proletariat". Meanwhile, we
secretly feed the little part of us that pretends to be Douglas Engelbart as
best we can. This activity sometimes manifests itself as yet another JavaScript
framework, the resulting bloated package dependencies rationalized by blaming
our unyielding passion.
Perhaps this is also part of why we suddenly start shunning or even mocking
certain methods or languages: PHP, Visual Basic and Java, for example. COBOL
was among the first: a pioneering high level language that empowered scores of
new programmers, but also one that was soon openly ridiculed. Sure, it's funny
and odd and a bit clunky (though very much less so compared to other languages
in 1959), it was designed by a committee and isn't considered cool and elegant
and interesting like, say, Lisp.
More importantly though, COBOL is a language specifically designed for some of
the earliest routine programming jobs, used for mass producing "good enough"
systems intended for broad consumption. Its stated purpose is to write software
with low intellectual merit, delivered according to exact specifications
stipulated by a bunch of suits at a megacorp. The resulting code was dutifully
assembled by swathes of office drones with zero real freedom to tinker. An
anomaly, surely, tarnishing the exciting, groundbreaking field of computing
with boring, everyday sustenance careers: A language laying bare the crass
reality of applied computing already in its infancy.
It's tempting to pretend we're above all that simply because the language we
use has a different syntax.
***
Just like the journalism major churning out clickbait may despise what they
write, so may the programmer come to despise the software they develop. Today,
much of it is not only unexciting routine work, it's also completely frivolous.
In many cases it's even morally dubious, intended as little more than a vehicle
for harvesting personal user data and delivering ads. And even if repeating
little lies can make us feel better in the moment, it will probably make us
bitter in the long run.
Alas, it seems we can't stop collectively fanning the flames of
disillusionment. After all, we're working with our passion, and it's our job to
love every second of it all.
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References:
[1] https://www.datagubbe.se/
[2] https://adventofcode.com/
[3] http://hexatlas.com/entries/5
[4] https://www.datagubbe.se/jol/
[5] https://www.datagubbe.se/mkdem/
[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullshit_Jobs
[7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elite_overproduction
[8] https://www.datagubbe.se/atom.xml