1) The hacking mindset as essentially the opposite of mathematics. And, bonus, he points out that hackers like puns. Thus, a possible corollary: the reason normies don't like puns is because they want a more stable reality than language -- and really reality -- can offer. << That's one of my favorite sentences I've ever written.
2) Ran Prieur on status
It's hard for me to even understand status. If you use status to get your way with people, it's different from paying them, different from physically threatening them, and different from being actually qualified to tell them what to do. As far as I can figure, status is a mental shortcut, the appearance of being qualified to tell people what to do, for observers who are too lazy to discern the reality. The word "prestige" comes from French and Latin words for deceit and illusion.3) Anthill podcast series on the Future of India. Listened to this and this and this.
4) Also Anthill had a podcast whose theme was darkness and did several riffs on different aspects of the word, including London nightlife and dark matter.
5) Math can be as beautiful as so-called abstract art, which is really non-representational art, which is really decoration. I probably should add that I think that beauty is much more important than most people think.
Infinite Jest
Some of the most thoughtful writing I have done recently is in threads on the Infinite Jest subreddit.-
- A piece on Infinite Jest and the film critic Bazin, moving on to good art being about more than one variable.
- Responding to a criticism of Wallace's choice of characters to focus on.
Free Books Read
Right, Ho Jeeves (audio) and My Man Jeeves and The Inimitable Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse. The prose of Wodehouse is like a tonic for the soul. My wife said she was reading a bougie mystery. I replied that Wodehouse's world is so aristocratic that you get beyond bougie anxiety to real comfort, and eccentricity.
MacBeth by you-know-who. I recommend using a side-by-side translation, such as here, though that does add distractions and ads. You could find printed copies cheap or at a library, though.
MacBeth by you-know-who. I recommend using a side-by-side translation, such as here, though that does add distractions and ads. You could find printed copies cheap or at a library, though.
Books from the Local Library
No Time to Spare Ursula LeGuin. I will put some quotes from the book below.
Aphorisms/Shorts
Nostalgia is one hell of a drug . . . almost as much as belief in progress.
The short run is the only run Americans care about anymore.
I actually think there are many business books that are well-researched and have important things to offer, however in the interest of truth they should open with this disclaimer: "the vast majority organizations will not be able to get through the incentive-traps of their own office politics to correctly do any of this, but . . . "
"It's so much easier to blame the grownups than to be one." Ursula LeGuin
"Fear is seldom wise and never kind." Ibid.
What if happiness meant being the kind of person who overreacts to spoilers?
" . . . the real difficulty of democracy is not that voters are unworthy, but that their vote is generally the least worthy thing about them." C.K. Chesterton
Americans are trained to show their taste by complaining, especially about what they lack. If you say something is good enough to an standard American, prepare for an intense argument.
Nostalgia is one hell of a drug . . . almost as much as belief in progress.
The short run is the only run Americans care about anymore.
I actually think there are many business books that are well-researched and have important things to offer, however in the interest of truth they should open with this disclaimer: "the vast majority organizations will not be able to get through the incentive-traps of their own office politics to correctly do any of this, but . . . "
"It's so much easier to blame the grownups than to be one." Ursula LeGuin
"Fear is seldom wise and never kind." Ibid.
What if happiness meant being the kind of person who overreacts to spoilers?
" . . . the real difficulty of democracy is not that voters are unworthy, but that their vote is generally the least worthy thing about them." C.K. Chesterton
Americans are trained to show their taste by complaining, especially about what they lack. If you say something is good enough to an standard American, prepare for an intense argument.
