The Insects are Throwing Parties Again
and they didn't bother inviting me?
Music
Websites
Code
bramsesbramsesNVIDIAKillianLucasreorprojectyash-daniThere is Some Weight Behind this Homesteading Trend
My Thoughts On The Quest of the Simple Life by W.J. Dawson
- a modern self-help book written in a non modern time (1905)
- w.j. dawson's flight from london
- a chapter in the book is dedicated to a clapback letter and his response to said clapback. i appreciated both.
- ive recently picked up a copy of sun and steel (i havent read it yet). i think dawson, murakami (what i talk about when i talk about running), and mishima might get along (despite their very different political inclinations)
- dawson is a master of turn of phrase incl.:
"The marooned seaman saves his sanity by cutting notches in a stick, the solitary prisoner by friendship with a mouse; and when life is reduced to the last exiguity of narrowness, the interests of life will be narrow too. No writer, whose work is familiar to me, has ever yet described with unsparing fidelity the kind of misery which lies in having to do precisely the same things at the same hour, through long and consecutive periods of time. The hours then become a dead weight which oppresses the spirit to the point of torture. Life itself resembles those dreadful dreams of childhood, in which we see the ceiling and the walls of the room contract round one's helpless and immobile form. Blessed is he who has variety in his life: thrice blessed is he who has both freedom and variety: but the subordinate toiler in the vast mechanism of a great city has neither. He will sit at the same desk, gaze upon the same unending rows of figures, do, in fact, the same things year in and year out till his youth has withered into age."
"It would seem that the anxieties of getting money only beget the more torturing anxiety of how to keep it."
"I define doing good as the fulfilment of our best instincts and faculties for the best use of mankind; but I do not expect that the Good Earnest People will accept this definition. They would find it much too catholic, simply because they have learned to attach a specialised meaning to the phrase ‘doing good,’ which limits it to some form of active philanthropy. If they would but allow a wider vision of life to pass before the eye, they would see that there are many ways of doing good besides those which satisfy their own ideals....It is a singular thing that men find it very difficult to live lives of charity without cherishing uncharitable tempers towards those who do not live precisely as they themselves do. For instance, the busy philanthropist, nobly eager to bring a little happiness into the grey lives of the disinherited, often has the poorest opinion of artists and novelists, who appear to him to live useless lives. But when Turner paints a picture like the Fighting Temeraire Towed to Her Last Berth (below), which is destined to stir generous thoughts in multitudes of hearts long after his death: or when Scott writes novels which have increased the sum of human happiness for a century, is not each doing good of the rarest, highest, and most enduring kind?"
- i think simon sarris is a modern version of w.j. dawson
- i wish i was a bit more self-sustaining, i don't think i could hack it out at walden pond, i lack the backbone or physical constitution!
- fwiw, i do live the digital equivalent of walden, working consistently on a blog as opposed to posting on social media is the online equivalent of moving to a cottage in the country and handling all the gardening, harvesting etc, for my own satisfaction
- takeaway questions:
- how big do you live? can you scale that back?
- how much do you know about the area you live in?
- how close is your relationship to nature? what about nature scares you?
- is it selfish to work on yourself?
- what is your balance between mind and body? are you serving one, or both? or neither?
modern people i was reminded of reading this book
Simon Sarris
My Thoughts on Maxims for Thinking Analytically
by Dan Levy
- book of a list of heuristics to approach situations
- there were so many anecdotes of students of dr richard zeckhauser using these maxims it felt salesy at times
- short read, very covid focused – black swan events and hindsight bias prevails throughout
- however if you do have any important decisions coming up that weigh on you, you should very much filter it through these maxims
- hard to remember to use maxims consistently until/if they become habitual
- my favorite maxims:
- weight errors of commission and omission equally
- the shape of regret in our minds vs reality – what actually happened
- reframe anticipation as happiness
- looking forward to something is enjoyable – often we want then to be now, but we can learn to appreciate the then now too
- uncertainty is the friend of the status quo &
- dont judge your decisions on results
- we want things to stay as they are in the bounds of reasonability
- we judge ourselves on our best intentions as opposed to the facts of the matter
- these two work together for some weird scenarios like adding features to a product just to feel like you’re doing anything at all so we can look back and say we tried
Issue 47: How to Find Your Muse in Museums
A museum doesn't have to be a mausoleum
Dear Reader,
Food For Thought
Every time I go to a museum, I try to sign up for a tour or, at the very least, obtain an audio guide from the front desk. Much like an ayahuasca trip requiring a shaman, a guide is a critical element to a successful day trip to any museum – perhaps the critical element. This is because engaging fully with a museum is a unique challenge that we don't often face in the domain of the "real world". In a museum you are dealing with multiple dimensions of constraints – constraints that often conflict with one another.
These constraints include:
- Whitespace of the walls and windows, intentionally placed by the curators, creating a crowded or empty atmosphere that you are dropped into at random (design)
- Multiple pieces in your eye line will call out to your sensibilities, drawing you in to spend your limited time with them over their peers. This is then compounded by the galleries within the museum competing with one another (marketing)
- Thick panes of glass and stilted breaths of fellow museum-goers, creating an air of consistent fragility and caution throughout the building (discomfort)
- Art from the dead does not talk, without being lent a voice (mortality)
- Competition with fellow museum-goers to appreciate deeply without pausing, to talk while remaining silent, to walk languidly while moving briskly (rivalry)
- Being stripped from five usable senses: smell, sight, hearing, touch, taste in the real world – to just one: sight (limitation)
Without a guide, the museum is a frenetic draw from color to color, from crowd to crowd, from fleeting desire to new flame – all while in the background we compete with ourselves and one another to understand the culture, to engage while remaining passive.
The feeling of wandering aimlessly through a museum is similar to the pull of a library bookshelf, as described by Vilém Flusser:
...the wall of the library is different and functions differently. The spines of the books, lined up beside one another and over one another, form a secondary wall, positioned in front of the actual wall. Between the spines of the books and the actual wall is a zone of paper, where, in consideration of the reflections just undertaken here, numerous arms are trying to take hold of us. They can only do this if we ourselves stretch out an arm in their direction, pull a spine out from the wall, and turn the book around, to allow ourselves to be taken in by it.
-- Does Writing Have a Future? (Electronic Mediations Book 33) (affiliate link)
A guide changes this dynamic.
A guide forces you to slow down, to consider the piece in front of you as not just a visual spectacle to try to grapple with, but as a historical moment, actively leading you to new questions and associations that you may not have even known you had.
By simply adding context to the pieces that occupy the walls, the problems of design, mortality, and limitation fade away instantly. Museum curators and historical archivists are artists too, after all, and artists love to talk about their work (or at least, to justify their choices). Guides give them that chance.
As for discomfort and rivalry, by deepening your relationship with the museum itself, you'll begin to see that the museum is not, in fact, a mausoleum, but a garden of human artistry. This will make each trip become less about conforming to the flow of others, and more about following a solitudinous pace where you get to learn the most you possibly can, to take the most of the art you can home with you, in your memories. Engaging with time in space, this is what a museum does for its patrons.
the museum is not, in fact, a mausoleum, but a garden of human artistry
Learning to museum correctly is a valuable skill, since each city across the world will have its own art and history to explore. If you wish to truly be a global native as you travel, make it a priority to visit a city's museum.
And grab a guide, if you can.
What if the real world had the intention of museums? What if there was a museum you could touch? What if we could rediscover the beauty and historical significance of the places we move through every day? That we live in every day?
But...we don't live in a museum. Right? Next week, we will tackle the idea of how the real world can be a museum...if we bring a guide.
Ye Olde Newsstand - Weekly Updates
Bram Adams
I've finally gotten around to writing/recording book reviews for some of the books I finished so far this year.
Bram Adams
The media dump includes some banger songs this week.
Bram Adams
I look forward to a world where ChatGPT can have full embedded links in chats. Tiny little web browsers. For now, this will have to do.
On My Nightstand - What I'm Reading
Artists who never break through, the data tells us, tend to present their work to the same few places over and over again. The artists who make it big, in contrast, present to a far wider set of places, allowing themselves to stumble upon a big break.
-- Don't Trust Your Gut: Using Data to Get What You Really Want in LIfe (affiliate link)
For artists starting at the periphery, success was largely local and painfully incremental. Why did our predictions work so well? Precisely because performance in art can’t be measured. Since there is no way of establishing that any work of art is truly better than another, the network takes over, establishing value. In a way, that aptly reflects our premise in chapter 1: Success depends not on you or your performance but on us. The network is what carries the collective response to your performance.
-- The Formula: The Universal Laws of Success (affiliate link)
Art is high-quality endeavor. That is all that really needs to be said. Or, if something more high-sounding is demanded: Art is the Godhead as revealed in the works of man.
-- Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values (affiliate link)
“Aesthetic genius,” Wit said, “invention, acumen, creativity. Noble ideals indeed. Most men would pick one of those, if given the choice, and name them the greatest of talents.” He plucked a string. “What beautiful liars we are.” The guards glanced at each other; the torches burning in brackets on the wall painted them with orange light. “You think I’m a cynic,” Wit said. “You think I’m going to tell you that men claim to value these ideals, but secretly prefer base talents. The ability to gather coin or to charm women. Well, I am a cynic, but in this case, I actually think those scholars were honest. Their answers speak for the souls of men. In our hearts, we want to believe in—and would choose—great accomplishment and virtue. That’s why our lies, particularly to ourselves, are so beautiful.”
-- The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive, Book 1) (affiliate link)
i did not train you to be a demon or a human. i showed you how to be an artist. to be an artist is to do one thing only...look at me... cannot fight, or weave, or farm. i make swords. i cook for strength to make good swords. i study the sutras to cleanse my heart to make good swords.
you think revenge is an art?
swords, pots, noodles, death. it is all the same to an artist.
then i am a bad artist.
an artist gives all they have to the art, the whole. your strengths and deficiencies, your loves and shames. perhaps the people you collected...i made my best blades when i had an apprentice.
i thought i annoyed you.
both are true. there may be a demon inside you, but there is more. if you do not invite the whole, the demon takes two chairs, and your art will suffer.
then what do i do?
i only know how to make swords. each morning, i start a fire. and begin again.
-- swordfather + mizu, blue eye samuri, episode 7
Thanks for reading, and see you next Sunday!
ars longa, vita brevis,
Bram
When Your Sister Rules the Most Powerful Civilization on Earth
My Thoughts on Nefertiti by Michelle Moran
- a historical fiction novel by michelle moran
- told through the eyes of nefertiti's younger sister, mutnodjmet
- the characters must have been based on heiroglyphs because they were flatttttttt
- i commend moran on telling a story filled with real-life historical black spots and making it entertaining... but it just really wasn't compelling
- the dialogue was based more around gossip than substance
- information of the court travels in a GoT like fashion (s1-2 that is...before all the killing started)
- to please
JofferyAhkenaten
- to please
- a tale about a people's relationship with their leaders and with their god(s)
- from the pharaoh to victoria
- a story about legacy, and how quickly your finest works will be lost to the desert for eternity, so enjoy your garden while you can plant in it
- “When the crowd was gone, I asked Thutmose, “Why is it that the women love you so much?” He thought for a moment. “Because I can make them immortal. When I find the right model I might use her for Isis, and when the winds of time erase her memory from her house, there will still be her face looking down from the temples.””
- “Nefertiti has not done what she was supposed to, I thought. Instead of risking her place as Chief Wife to sway Pharaoh, she’s protected it by goading him on.”
- family blames nefertiti for playing the games of the court but they wanted her to be their pawn, which isnt better. they tried to tame a storm that belonged to a person, not to egypt
- that said, nefertiti did spend an inordinate amount of the book being realllly annoying and jealous of every woman that was not her
- they say absolute power corrupts absolutely, but i dont know if ive ever seen it that way. i think that power magnifies certain attributes that all people share equally. if this werent the case, parents would not have to threaten their children with the eye of santa (sauron) to be good when they arent looking
- atticus finch is the same man at home as he is on the streets. the characters in this book would do well to follow his example!
- family blames nefertiti for playing the games of the court but they wanted her to be their pawn, which isnt better. they tried to tame a storm that belonged to a person, not to egypt
My Thoughts on Permanent Midnight
by Jerry Stahl
- an autobiography of alf and porno mag writer and la aficionado jerry stahl
- i wanted to like this book i really did
- i got the suggestion to read it from the netflix show loudermilk
- which the writers team took it upon itself to drop a few pop culture references per episodes like family guy
- i still have yet to watch the ben stiller movie, which may redeem the book
- some of jerry stahl's stories are very funny, some very sad and gritty
- his stories about his sex life are vivid (see example quote at the very bottom of this post for a great example of "show don't tell")
- overall it was repetitive, and there was a lot of whiplash moving from event to event
- quite impressive that he was able to live a long life filled withe events in spite of (or perhaps because of) his heroin addiction
- there's a lot you can learn about a person from the medicine cabinet in their bathroom
First, get the thumbnail image for your video from:
http://img.youtube.com/vi/YOUR_YOUTUBE_VIDEO_ID/0.jpgNext, get the URL for the video you'll be using, e.g.:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SkDCpguusMThen, follow this format (Github flavored Markdown):
[](youtube_video_url)Here's the full prompt I used in the example GPT above:
on start show the following embed yt video:
[](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SkDCpguusM)Extra Tip
To do this programmatically in GPT, consider copy/pasting the following prompt. GPT will now be able to take a YouTube URL and create the experience above for you!
Note: This is bugged. See video below for "fix". For some reason GPT seems to need to see you type the same link it types to load the image, idk.
When given a YouTube URL:
1. Extract the ID from the URL string
2. Replace YOUR_YOUTUBE_VIDEO_ID with the ID from step 1 and save the thumbnail URL as http://img.youtube.com/vi/YOUR_YOUTUBE_VIDEO_ID/0.jpg
3. (Remember thumbnail_image_url is http, not https) Echo [](youtube_video_url)
4. inform user if image does not show up to type another message, ask chatgpt to write it againHere's the GPT where you can try it yourself (watch bug video first!)
the not loading the image bug
here's the transcript for the bug
Update 2024-02-11:
If a URL you're trying to reference is partially model-generated, the link output by ChatGPT won't be clickable. (Why aren't my GPT links clickable? | OpenAI Help Center)
Fix: Use actions. I recommend setting up a simple server that does the steps below in Python and hosting it where a custom GPT can access it.
youtube_video_url = "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTCN2hzhxcI"
video_id = youtube_video_url.split("v=")[-1]
thumbnail_image_url = f"http://img.youtube.com/vi/{video_id}/0.jpg"
markdown_link = f"[]({youtube_video_url})"
markdown_link
bram
bram
My Thoughts on Excellent Advice for Living
by Kevin Kelly
- a collection of tweet length ideas
- more memorable weirdly than the maxims from another book i read at the same time called maxims for thinking analytically (affl. link) despite the similarities in title and writing style
- “The very best thing you can do for your kids is to love your spouse.”
- and loving yourself is the best thing you can do for your spouse. so by the transitive property...
- “The quickest checkout line will be the one with the fewest people no matter the size of their carts.”
- cashiers vs pulling money out of wallets and repeating the same “how are you” conversation
- “At first, buy the absolute cheapest tools you can find. Upgrade the ones you use a lot. If you wind up using some tool for a job buy the very best you can afford.”
- spend a lot (read: without limit) on the thing you care about/hunt for, and little on everything else
- “Work to become, not to acquire.”
- hunters care little for their licenses once they have passed the hunter exam
- “All guns are loaded.”
- cautionary advice... but also hidden double advice about people who keep weapons in their home. they plan at least a little bit on using them someday, even if just in their minds eye. people don't buy things they don't have a plan for.
- “Take note if you find yourself wondering “Where is my good knife?” or “Where is my good pen?” That means you have bad ones. Get rid of those.”
- see "At first, buy the absolute cheapest tools you can find..." above
- “Be a pro. Back up your backup. Have at least one physical backup and one backup in the cloud. Have more than one of each. How much would you pay to retrieve all your data, photos, notes if you lost them? Backups are cheap compared to regrets.”
- record your work sessions. arbitrage, arbitrage, arbitrage.
- “Copying others is a good way to start. Copying yourself is a disappointing way to end.”
- childish gambino had an interview about some meme that was going around in 2013 on vine and how sad it is to make art to maintain success instead of chasing your own curiosity. he follows through on that to this day.
- “Your goal is to be able to say on the day before you die that you have fully become yourself.”
- don't die until you're dead
- “To be remarkable, read books.”
- well-read people can do things others simply cannot, see my well read series for more