Category: Learning To Learn
Notes on: Niche
Finding a niche. Finding a specialty. Embracing the generalist. Cycling, changing, transforming.
Propaganda, The National Faith
From “The Zero” by Jess Walter
Notes on: Tools
You probably won’t own the means of production, but it doesn’t hurt to have a decent toolkit on hand. We are in an age of repair instead of replace. Tools are anything that allow you to extend the ability of your brain/ hand connection. The mechanical advantage of human capability. Code is just as valuable…
Notes on: Hanging Out
Hanging out is tough when you’re 40. Even more so when you’re at a loss of the “third space.” When you’re younger, in the 20s, hanging out at someone else’s house or apartment made sense because everything was cheaper and usually the party had no where to go. Also, you didn’t care so much about…
Riffs on: Floods
Another day, another sheaf of headlines about flooding throughout the American Southeast.
Riffs On: Shadow Libraries
Last year I read Syria’s Secret Library, and then dug into the reporting behind the book (permalink), a project of love in a time when Darayya – just outside Damascus – was under siege. “In many cases we get books from bomb or shell-damaged homes. The majority of these places are near the front line,…
Hibernation for Humans
Via Katherine May’s Substack: https://katherinemay.substack.com/p/the-art-of-hibernation May is also the mind behind the great book, Wintering Humans, of course, do not actually hibernate; the only primate to do that is the fat-tailed dwarf lemur, which lives in Madagascar. But we do know that our bodies respond to colder weather and darker conditions in a variety of…
App Zero – Progress Update 12.2024
I mean, who doesn’t love a fancy new app? I mean, isn’t that what so much of the industry invests its resources to? Creating something that looks incredible and feels like it adds some kind of value too your life? So often, the value is a verified distraction. The value is in the mood boost…
Why Kids Can’t Read
I have no patience for podcasts. I leave it to my wife to decide what gets listened to on long road trips (or, in the winter, when a 1,000 piece puzzle is littered all over the dining table). During our drive back from Savannah, where we spent the week of Thanksgiving and adopted our darling…
Riffs on: Reading Well
The current reality: reading isn’t a priority. When newspapers were still a stalwart of our cultural hegemony, even they were written at a 7th grade reading level. After all, everyone needs to know the news. I far the average reading level is far less than that. There is the story about the woman suing because…