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27 posts

Meditation

Prototyping a vise jaw

I'm installing a woodworking front vise. {Also known as face vise, distinct from leg vise, shoulder vise, or tail vise; those woodworkers are creative with names.} What I bought was just the metal frame, which you attach to the underside of your existing workbench and craft the jaw that holds the workpiece out of wood. I bought a $25 piece of oak {Overpaying for a board of this size because of the convenience of getting it from Lowe's.} to be my jaw, but before I commit to cutting it up, I wan … (Continued)

Choosing contentment

The only way to be wholly content and happy doing something is if you have considered your alternatives and decided that doing this thing, right now is the highest possible use of your time. Skipping the consideration spoils it. Harboring resentment spoils it. Feeling forced to do it spoils it. Feeling guilty spoils it. Rushing to just get it over with spoils it. It does not have to be something other people would praise you for; it only matters than you know you made the right choice. It can … (Continued)

"Who are you writing this for?"

Social media encourages a culture of cultivating your identity. Making sure your social media highlight reel tells a consistent story. That every post is like a chapter in a novel, advancing the plot in some way. Sometimes you just need to write because you have something to say. You can't say exactly why, or who needs to hear it. But that's okay. That's not your job. You do your part by phrasing things as you see them. You have to trust that whoever needs to see it, will. In all likelihood, th … (Continued)

Weight on the bar

It's not very much weight on the bar. But, still. It's weight on the bar. When ego tells you "Just quit. This is beneath you." Don't listen.

Contempt

Replace contempt with condolence. If they knew better, they would do better.

Discomfort

When you experience discomfort, your natural response will be to ask "How can I stop this most quickly?" Instead, challenge yourself. "What would it take for me to reach my limit of this? Am I already at it? Can I go five minutes without showing a sign of weakness? Five minutes after that?"

Living through decline

There's an idea--I don't know who to properly credit it to--that even living in the declining days of the Roman Empire wasn't so bad. Sure things seemed a little worse each year, and your parents complained about how things were better in their day, but didn't every generation say that? You were still Romans and you still had roads and government and taxes. But maybe an acqueduct broke and nobody could fix it so it just stayed broken. And you improvised a fix around it and felt clever. What if … (Continued)

Parable of Discovery

Imagine two people meeting for dinner at 6 at a restaurant neither of them has been to before. Harry is a busy man with a calendar full of meetings. Google Maps says it's a 27 minute drive to the restaurant. At 5:31 he gets in his car, starts up the navigation, and gets directions straight to the restaurant. On the way, he listens to his podcasts at 150% speed because he has so many of them to get through. Tom on the other hand knows the general area is about 30 minutes away from his house. He … (Continued)

Contempt

A moment of contempt is like a cigarette. Each one is a buzz. But it's the accumulation of them that kills you.

Empty Mind

The only way to an empty mind is not to push everything else out and decree silence. It is only by being open to every thought and allowing them to arise until they slow to a trickle. This may take a while, but it is quicker than the other option which is unending.

Good Things In Bad Times

There is a strange irony of difficult times like the current moment, when everyone expects everyone else to be tense and short-tempered. The podcasts, newsletters, and smartphone notifications say the world is coming apart at the seams. People expect bad things to happen. The result is that the slightest moment of friendliness has a magnified effect. A smiling nod, holding the door for someone, a kind word of thanks to a stranger. It's so unexpected that people are warmly surprised by it. It's … (Continued)

Time to produce versus time to consume

One heuristic you can use to decide how to spend your time is by comparing the amount of time that went into making the thing you're contemplating consuming. A livestream often has zero preparation; many podcasts of the regular-cast-riffing-on-each-other variety also are done off the cuff. One step up might be a podcast or a blog post that is a reaction to some current event. A step up from there is a podcast or article that takes a broader view and requires both more time to write and deeper k … (Continued)

Transitional Moments

I've come to the decision that there is nothing of intellectual substance that can be done in under two minutes, which is the amount of time I am most often looking to fill on my smartphone. At best, I can review things and eliminate the ones that don't need attention: emails I don't need to read, RSS reader posts I'm not interested in, notifications that don't require a response. But even those tasks only take a few seconds when the time comes to read email or RSS. So I haven& … (Continued)

Wisdom in crowds

There is wisdom in crowds, but not in mobs. In a one-on-one conversation, ask ten people a question. Note their answers and aggregate them in private. What you have is something approximating wisdom. Now take those same ten people and put them in a room together. Ask them the same question. You'll get a louder contribution from the most outspoken members of the group. The group will likely converge on two different answers to your question and people will pick sides. The second method will pr … (Continued)

Palantiri and Social Media

Journal, 13 March 2020 So much of social media reminds me of Tolkien's palantirs. Dangerous and corrupting for mortals. Manipulated to show you what will redirect your will to someone else's aims. Seemingly a gift but more a temptation. Can lead even mighty kings to crazed suicide. Is long-distance, many-to-many communication beyond a small forum always doomed to do this? It seems harmful every time it's been tried.