The Internet →

Published July 24, 2022  ·  All posts on Jul 24  ·  ,

Ultimately, the goal is not to stop using the internet, or even minimize its use, but to put it back into a box in the basement where it belongs. The first step is to discover what I’m up against. If I find a way to make the internet small again, I’ll write a book about it so others can do it too.

~ David Cain from, How to Make the Internet Small Again

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I’ve been beating this drum for years, (eg, here’s a search for “use you”.) I don’t want to put the Internet literally into a box and then stuff it in the basement. (Even setting aside that I don’t have a basement.) The Internet is nothing more than a tool. The Internet, but also TV, food, politics, religion, music, your car(s?), books, or even hoarding [sometimes misspelled “collecting”] things… one can have a dysfunctional relationship with anything. (Truth in blogging: My addiction is TV and snacking.)

Don’t think my little paragraphs here are meant to diminish what Cain wrote. Go read that, it’s better than what I’ve written here. Rather, my point is simply that we each need to figure out—for each of those things I listed above, and every other thing—are we using it, or are we letting it use us.

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Our relationship with death →

Published July 23, 2022  ·  All posts on Jul 23  ·  

We now live in a world where [our relationship with detah] is the complete opposite. We have to repress the very thought of it. We can’t see it anywhere. It’s put into hopitals where it’s sanitized, where it happens behind closed doors. Nobody ever talks about it. Nobody tells you this is probably the most important life skill that you could have—to know how to deal with that fear of mortality. Nobody teaches that. Your parents don’t talk about it. Your girlfriend or boyfriend—they don’t talk about it. Nobody. It’s a dirty little secret. But it’s the only reality we have. We’re all going to die.

~ Robert Greene

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Radically brilliant →

Published July 23, 2022  ·  All posts on Jul 23

Maria Montessori’s ideas about education stem from the principles of choice, individual dignity, spontaneous order, experimental discovery, and freedom of movement. They stand in radical contrast to traditional schooling, too often based on authority, central planning, rigid instruction, and force. She once described children in such schools as “butterflies stuck with pins, fixed in their places.”

~ David Kirby from, Maria Montessori’s ‘Libertarian View of Children’

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This is a great introduction to Montessori, both the person and her ideas about education. Back in the Precambrian Era, my school district did a few decidedly Montessorian things. Did those make a difference for me? …were they the most important things in my primary education? Great questions for which I’ve no answer. I will say that my greatest memories—the ones that are about education, not the ones which simply happened in and around my schooling as great as those are—from primary education are from those decidedly unusual-for-that-time methods. The proof is in the pudding, as they say.

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Editing with Christi Cassidy →

Published July 22, 2022  ·  All posts on Jul 22

How does expertise in book editing influence podcast production and storytelling?

Podcasting challenges traditional storytelling approaches from book editing.

It’s hard finding that story, and everybody of course talks about it— all the [professionals], you know, in their newsletters and books— and I’m like where is it? Where is it?! Help me out. I know it’s here somewhere.

~ Christi Cassidy (6:30)

The conversation centers on the relationship between book editing and podcast production. It explores how skills in editing text, such as identifying verbal tics and structuring content, translate to editing podcasts. A notable challenge is finding a coherent story arc within the fluid and nonlinear format of audio conversations.

Further discussion touches on the creative aspirations for podcasting, including integrating layered audio elements such as music and sound effects to enrich the listener’s experience. The practicalities of podcast artwork and the psychological impact of visual elements in audio media are also examined.

Takeaways

Editing techniques from books — help identify and remove verbal tics in podcasts.

Finding story arcs in podcasts — remains a challenge despite parallels with book editing.

Creative ambitions in podcasting — include layering sound and voices for richer audio.

Visual elements in podcasts — serve as a crucial bridge between social media and audio platforms.

Hardwired human tendencies — show strong attraction to visuals, like faces and album art.

Practicalities of production — involve balancing creative desires with technical realities.

Resources

Moving Along podcast — Hosted by Christi Cassidy, available on major platforms like Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts.

Descript — A software tool for podcast editing, utilized for transcript-based workflows.

(Written with help from Chat-GPT.)

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Investigation with James Adams →

Published July 22, 2022  ·  All posts on Jul 22  ·  

Investigation – with James Adams

What role does problem-solving and creativity play in the intersection of programming, parkour, and personal growth?

The discussion reveals how creativity and self-discipline shape one’s approach to challenges in life and movement.

Sometimes the right thing to do is to walk away from the problem or to recognize that it’s not the right time or you’re not in the right place for it.

~ James Adams (14:39)

The conversation explores the intersection of programming, parkour, and personal growth, highlighting the common thread of problem-solving. A discussion unfolds about how programming serves as a versatile tool, akin to a multipurpose screwdriver, allowing for efficiency and creativity in tackling challenges. This framework extends to parkour, where physical and mental obstacles mirror problem-solving in technical domains.

The social dynamics of parkour play a significant role in fostering confidence and personal development. The practice’s non-competitive, collaborative nature offers opportunities for self-improvement and resilience. Topics of balance and burnout emerge, with reflections on the importance of stepping back when challenges become overwhelming. Additionally, James shares insights into his Parkour Clinic project, which provides free sports therapy consultations, blending his technical expertise and passion for movement.

Takeaways

Programming as a tool — Provides efficiency and a creative outlet for problem-solving.

Social aspects of parkour — Enhances confidence and creates a supportive community.

Importance of stepping back — Recognizing when to pause instead of pushing forward on challenges.

Combining interests — Merging technical skills and physical movement to create unique solutions.

Parkour’s mental impact — Encourages resilience and a problem-solving mindset in both physical and abstract contexts.

Non-competitive environments — Cultivates collaboration and individual growth.

Parkour Clinic project — Offers free, remote sports therapy consultations, focusing on conversation-based solutions.

Resources

Parkour Clinic — Offers free online sports therapy sessions.

James’s Blog — Personal blog discussing various topics, including programming and parkour.

(Written with help from Chat-GPT.)

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Human existence →

Published July 22, 2022  ·  All posts on Jul 22  ·  

Make your interests gradually wider and more impersonal, until bit by bit the walls of the ego recede, and your life becomes increasingly merged in the universal life. An individual human existence should be like a river — small at first, narrowly contained within its banks, and rushing passionately past rocks and over waterfalls. Gradually the river grows wider, the banks recede, the waters flow more quietly, and in the end, without any visible break, they become merged in the sea, and painlessly lose their individual being.

~ Bertrand Russel

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The price of the ticket →

Published July 22, 2022  ·  All posts on Jul 22  ·  

What a journey this life is! Dependent, entirely, on things unseen. If your lover lives in Hong Kong and cannot get to Chicago, it will be necessary for you to go to Hong Kong. Perhaps you will spend your life there, and never see Chicago again. And you will, I assure you, as long as space and time divide you from anyone you love, discover a great deal about shipping routes, airlines, earth quake, famine, disease, and war. And you will always know what time it is in Hong Kong, for you love someone who lives there. And love will simply have no choice but to go into battle with space and time and, furthermore, to win.

~ James Baldwin from, The Light Between Us – The Marginalian

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I’m not sure how many things I’ve linked to over on Popova’s Marginalian project. By now you should be directly following it and reading everything she’s publishing. I’m frozen by indecision; there are so countless many superlative books, and Nothing Personal is yet another one. Drat!

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Priorities →

Published July 21, 2022  ·  All posts on Jul 21  ·  

Lack of time is lack of priorities. If I’m “busy,” it is because I’ve made choices that put me in that position, so I’ve forbidden myself to reply to, “how are you?” with “busy.” I have no right to complain. Instead, if I’m too busy, it’s a cue to reexamine my systems and rules.

~ Tim Ferriss

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Reasons and persons →

Published July 21, 2022  ·  All posts on Jul 21  ·  

You’ve probably heard this scenario before. It originally comes from Derek Parfit’s 1984 book Reasons and Persons, where he actually answers the question. (Though you may not like the answer.) To answer it, he has to go though a set of even weirder scenarios. Here’s most of them, edited aggressively.

~ “Dynomight” from, Reasons and Persons: The case against the self

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This article turns a number of complicated thought experiments into a disorienting dash through a hall of mirrors. I’ve not read Parfit’s book, but I’ve encountered these sorts of thought experiments before. On one hand I’m drawn to thinking about them because I feel I should be able to have some foundational, (although not necessarily simple,) principles that I can use to answer them. Which is a working definition of, “I want to be rational.” Until I start really digging into the experiments and things get really complicated. Why, it’s as if being a limited-in-resources mind forced to interact with in an intractably complex world, may not be something with a clear, correct, let alone singular, solution.

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Utterance is magic →

Published July 20, 2022  ·  All posts on Jul 20  ·  ,

This is why utterance is magic. Words do have power. Names have power. Words are events, they do things, change things. They transform both speaker and hearer; they feed energy back and forth and amplify it. They feed understanding or emotion back and forth and amplify it.

~ Ursula K. Le Guin

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