Having a father (or adopted father, or step-father) who tried would make for a much better Father’s Day.
Some, like David Foster Wallace’s encyclopedic postmodern novel “Infinite Jest,” seem like a sly comment on the new world OpenAI is helping to create.
—The Old-Fashioned Library at the Heart of the A.I. Boom [archive]
RIP, Beki. It feels like I lost you yesterday. And this picture like the day before.
One year ago today my lost my little sister. The last of my immediate family. She would have been 48 this summer. It’s hard to live with how much I failed her and my mom.
RIP mom. There’s never enough time!
Mother’s Day is a difficult day for some of us. Please be kind.
I miss you, Mom. I wish you had chosen to stay longer. And you too, Grandma…I know you would’ve if you could’ve.
@jakelacaze Sad news. I hadn't heard. Music Albini produced---and his attitude---played a major role in my life. He was way too young, especially given that he didn't embrace the lifestyle that took so many of the musicians he worked with!
I’ve had a major breakthrough in treatment of my depression, which has been chronic & omnipresent for 35 years. I’m ecstatic the dark voice has faded so much, even gone silent for good sized chunks of day! And I’m terrified it will roar again. And the vista of the life it consumed is harrowing.
🎵 Boy, the new Vampire Weekend album was worth the wait! And the lyrics…so good. A sample from “Classical”:
400 million animals competing for the zoo
[…]
The temple’s gone, but still a single column stands today
That sinking feeling fades, but never really goes away
A staircase up to nothingness inside your DNA
📺 Noted Video → Champion Chess Tour/Matches
@drewbelf Sorry this took so long...as you will see, it morphed into a lengthy page, still in need of editing. It was good for me anyway :) Take my advice with the usual grain of salt---I'm a patzer---and with the caveat that I'm not focused on improving at blitz or faster time controls at all. I'm too old! Also, I believe playing games and analyzing them without a computer (initially, anyway) is as important as training, though I strangely enjoy training more than playing, so taking pleasure in the learning process has trumped actual play! :) → mini.clorgie.me/chess-res...
@jsonbecker @pratik That would be great...for me fixed width is great for coding and such, but low readability otherwise!
@artkavanagh @ablerism @JohnBrady I've mostly used InDesign, but only because I happen to have it already for work purposes. I haven't used them for some of this, but affordable alternatives also include Scribus (free, open source) and Swift Publisher ($20). Affinity Publisher is perhaps the most-featured, but went from from to $70 I think. I think the latter two are Mac only.
@tinyroofnail I'd love to hear more about the print-to-read project. I've made booklets, pamphlets and some single-page folded mini-books at various times. Sometimes using the printer features, sometimes using InDesign layouts. It's fun!
@tinyroofnail Love it!
@pratik Isn't there a mix of them already? I'm not quite sure what you mean by "all RSS" in this context?
@pratik I'm also thinking of personal and topical blogs. Those account for 90%+ of the sites I follow. I relate to people through their writing far more than the design of the site when I click through (and I do click through sometimes, though I prefer not to be forced into it). For me, as a reader, the design is simply not that important (as long as it doesn't get in the way). Very, VERY few sites are interesting in their design (to me). I guess that's a little sad for people who spend a lot of time on their sites, but honestly that feels like time that would be better spent, from my perspective as a reader, writing/creating.
@artkavanagh @pratik As they once were with Firefox "live bookmarks"
@pratik That strikes me as a false dichotomy. RSS doesn't keep me from being thoughtful...it helps me be more thoughtful. It's not about being more efficient at reading, but about being more efficient finding the things that resonate with me, the places to direct my attention. I don't see how missing more of those opportunities in order to experience the design choices made in their presentation is better. It is a rare site whose design is elevated to the point that it is in itself interesting (if anything, most sites design choices make the reading physically more difficult). Sort of like books: I appreciate a high-end, lavish production, but those are rare, and a modestly designed book may be physically uninteresting but ultimately provides an equal reading experience.
@adam Are you still playing chess? I've just joined chess.com and lichess ("clorgie" on both) and in hopes of actually improving, I am always looking for longer rapid (or even longer) games.
@drewbelf This was below my level as well, but I like Levy and wanted to support him. I thought he did a great job. I'm an ardent adult chess improver, so if you ever want recommendations, I'm happy to share some of the wheat to be found amongst the chess chaff. :)
@ericmwalk I'e been struggling with this forever, for all kinds of reasons, including convenience, feel, cognitive impression, and the fact that I love pens/pencils/paper :)
@crossingthethreshold I ended up with two pairs of progressives: one optimized for the workspace (computer and reading), the other for everything else. I can do everything with eithe, but it's a real relief on the eyes to switch to the workspace pair when working/reading.
@crossingthethreshold It took me two days but I like them so much better than traditional bi/tri-focals!
@pratik I still have it in my RSS reader along with some other sites I consider aggregators whose contents can sometimes be interesting but have to be verified. Still some gems in the links from time to time!
@BinaryDigit Not now...or maybe not yet? If I do, I will share the link :) My enemy is compulsive eating connected to treatment-resistant depression. I've suffered from both since my early teens, but the body doesn't handle either in my early 50s the way it did at 25. I usually find myself self-censoring when I write about this cluster of things for...a lot of reasons. I admire those who overcome that!
@JohnBrady What a lovely exchange, both in form and content. I envy Mary Ruefle's life where she can avoid not just Zoom, but using a computer at all.
@BinaryDigit Followed. I am on a similar journey, though hopefully one that will reverse my depressive untreated Type 2 diabetes in order to get off the meds (and not make irreversible damage even worse).
@jaheppler That's what I thought. I'd literally just made cast iron skillet cornbread the night before :) Looks tasty!
@Munish I tried it on a whim and was pleasantly surprised. Very Guy Ritchie-style, naturally, but it worked for me and my current mood anyway :)
@jaheppler What is it?