Matrix with Ryland Lanagan →

Published September 27, 2023  ·  All posts on Sep 27  ·  

Matrix – with Ryland Lanagan

What drives adults to embrace a parkour-based fitness program, and how can it contribute to their physical, mental, and emotional well-being?

Join Craig Constantine and Ryland Lanagan as they discuss Ryland’s journey towards longevity, where functional fitness and the sheer joy of movement lead to a healthier and happier life.

[When asked what gets adults engaged?] 100%, it is fun. Fun is that common ingredient… Everybody that gives themselves permission to come in and maybe falter in front of strangers or put themselves out there— Once you’re willing to do that and you start to learn techniques, or you’re starting to exercise, a whole cascade of things happen.

~ Ryland Lanagan ~24’30”

Ryland introduces his Movement Matrix Method, a structured approach to learning parkour that is specifically designed for adults. He shares his remarkable journey from an overweight and disheartened Army veteran to a passionate advocate for parkour. He describes how parkour became a lifelong passion that has not only transformed him physically, but also transformed his outlook on life.

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Protocols and platforms →

Published September 27, 2023  ·  All posts on Sep 27  ·  ,

Love ’em or hate ’em, big platforms with big collections of people and information about said people are currently ever-present. This deep dive from Masnick has a bias—one which I wholeheartedly endorse—but it is also an excellent description of what does “protocols versus platforms” really mean? What’s a protocol, and what’s a platform? How are they different, and why do they seem to have such different effects on the late-game situation? If you’ve so far avoided this topic, this is a good place to try spending a half an hour to see if it makes more sense.

After a decade or so of the general sentiment being in favor of the internet and social media as a way to enable more speech and improve the marketplace of ideas, in the last few years the view has shifted dramatically—now it seems that almost no one is happy. Some feel that these platforms have become cesspools of trolling, bigotry, and hatred. Meanwhile, others feel that these platforms have become too aggressive in policing language and are systematically silencing or censoring certain viewpoints. And that’s not even touching on the question of privacy and what these platforms are doing (or not doing) with all of the data they collect.

~ Mike Masnick from, Protocols, Not Platforms: A Technological Approach to Free Speech | Knight First Amendment Institute

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There is a tide →

Published September 27, 2023  ·  All posts on Sep 27  ·  ,

There is a tide in the affairs of men
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea as we now afloat;
And we must take the current when it serves,
Or lose our ventures.

~ Shakespeare‘s Julius Caesar

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On creativity →

Published September 26, 2023  ·  All posts on Sep 26  ·  , , ,

A writer—and, I believe, generally all persons—must think that whatever happens to him or her is a resource. All things have been given to us for a purpose, and an artist must feel this more intensely. All this happens to us, including our humiliations, our misfortunes, our embarrassments, all is given to us as raw material, as clay, so that we may sharpen our art.

~ Jorge Luis Borges

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I am not a runner →

Published September 25, 2023  ·  All posts on Sep 25  ·  

I’m lately fascinated by the distinction between when I’m using an activity as a part of my identity (“I am a runner”) versus pointing out that I do an activity (“I run”). This sort of nit matters to me, because the nature of self-identity matters to me. If I am a runner, but then for whatever reason I don’t run… what then am I? What fascinates me isn’t the specific verbs, but rather: What actually am I? This locks me up thinking for long periods. I write. I run. I climb. I jump. Yes, but, what am I?

I look up at the sky, wondering if I’ll catch a glimpse of kindness there, but I don’t. All I see are indifferent summer clouds drifting over the Pacific. And they have nothing to say to me. Clouds are always taciturn. I probably shouldn’t be looking up at them. What I should be looking at is inside of me. Like staring down into a deep well. Can I see kindness there? No, all I see is my own nature.

~ Haruki Murakami from, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

I enjoyed reading Murakami’s essays. Particularly because I run poorly, I wanted to know what he talks about when he talks about running. In fact, he does talk a great deal about literally running, in addition to the larger perspectives on his life for which everyone loves the book.

But one thing is for sure: I run. But I am not a runner.

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Flattery →

Published September 25, 2023  ·  All posts on Sep 25  ·  ,

We swallow greedily any lie that flatters us, but we sip only little by little at a truth we find bitter.

~ Denis Diderot

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September 24, 2023 — #51 →

Published September 24, 2023  ·  All posts on Sep 24  ·  

Reading time: About 6 minutes, 1200 words
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This issue is https://7forsunday.com/51

Words left unsaid →

Published September 24, 2023  ·  All posts on Sep 24  ·  

Every time I talk about this subject caring people ask if I am okay. I am right now, thanks for asking. Someday, sooner or later, I won’t be; that’s the way the disease works. When that happens, I’ll ask for help. Please join me in that promise.

~ Ken White from, «https://popehat.substack.com/p/the-weight-of-the-unspoken-word»

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Every time I talk about this subject caring people ask if I am okay. I am right now, thanks for asking. Someday, sooner or later, I won’t be; that’s the way the disease works. When that happens, I’ll ask for help. Please join me in that promise.

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If possible →

Published September 24, 2023  ·  All posts on Sep 24  ·  

One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words.

~ Goethe

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Silence →

Published September 23, 2023  ·  All posts on Sep 23  ·  ,

Silence is exhilarating at first—as noise is—but there is a sweetness to silence outlasting exhilaration, akin to the sweetness of listening and the velvet of sleep.

~ Edward Hoagland

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