Category: Artifacts

Serpens ni edat serpentem, draco non fiet

(A serpent, unless it devours a serpent, will not become a dragon)
Adagia, Erasmus

Between taxes and other obligations March will be “get real” month. My commentaries will most likely be much shorter or I may rely on random public domain photos to fill in the body here, but this one sentence experiment is worth at least two more weeks.

Beyond that, who knows, but I’ll make sure to give this a proper passage if I decide to move on.

And it didn’t effect the quality of the teaching.

There must be a better way to do professional continuing education.

One of my main takeaways from reading the Chinese classic Journey to the West was being immersed in a polythesistic mind set. My brief looks into Taoism and Hinduism laid the groundwork for this experience, but it took the extended daily readings of this fantasy novel over a couple of months to create the mindshift where it was psychologically plausible to see random monsters and spirits hiding around every corner.

Don’t worry, I’m still an athiest – mother nature is weird enough without supernatural help – but at least I now have a passing familiarty with that mindset.

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On a completely different note, here is the Ruthie Foster cover of “War Pigs”.

I did my initial newsletter culling last week, but I’ve been working through all my unread messages in my “newsletter” email inbox. It is a slightly more productive (and less distracting) use of my phone than social media.

It has confirmed my instinct to cut down on news. Even the essays from my favorite authors feel much less urgent only a couple of weeks after they were posted.

Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourself to Death makes a good point that we can do absolutely nothing about 99% of the stuff we read. While the occasional issues bring up a question worth pondering, the vast majority is glorified entertainment that leads to distraction and anxiety.

Not that my other main diet of random youtube videos is much better, but at least it isn’t pretending to be anything other than mere dross. On that note, I’ve been having a lot of fun being “meta” – watching videos about why movies do (or don’t) work. Both at a storytelling level and at a VFX level.

Watching such fare makes me feel slightly more sophisticated than spending 90 minutes watching an actual movie (because I feel like “analyzing” the content). I don’t know how the algorithm is great at creating new fancies to tickle but damn it’s good at its job.

Yesterday I found out that the architect who was going to review a couple of my healthcare projects suddenly passed away. I didn’t know him well, just a few emails and phone calls over the years.

It threw me for a loop. I didn’t get anything done that afternoon.

Was wasting half a day the proper way to honor the passing of a tenuous acquaintance?

Carpe Diem.

Alas, I’m only human.

Then again, the best way to honor the dead would be to live even more fully.

I’ll try to do him right today. Rest in peace Gordon.

In these fraught times, I wonder if the last thirty years of prosperity have been the abberation.

Humans adjust to a new normal very quickly. Adaptability in the face of pressure is generally a good thing, but maybe it comes at a cost of enduring gratitude in the face of continued good fortune.

On a brighter note, we had snow yesterday! Nothing strong enough to stick, but it was fun to watch fluffly white bits descend from on high.

I’ve been culling through my email newsletters again.

I’ve deleted almost all of my political newsletters, but I might still delete the last three – Jonah Goldberg, David French, and Jeff Maurer).

Of course I’m keeping Seth Godin and CJ Chilvers, but none of the other internet marketers – they are all too focused on the tactics of the day.

I’ve gotten rid of all the psuedo-psychologists except for Chris Boutte (who is from Vegas) and Tiny Habits. Interestingly, I’ve kept the guys who have a background in sports – Gordon Byrne, David Epstein, and the Growth EQ guys.

Art and Design still remains strong. I kept the Daily Dose, the Met, Incididental Comics, Create&Release, Fred Hatt, Craig Mod, DesignBoom, Van Schneider, and RLVTR. I don’t need fashion, but I appreciate delight and insight.

I’m still keeping BD+C’s daily 5 and Bob Borson, but they might both be cut as well. However, I find them a good way to keep a pulse on the industry.

In the miscellaneous pile, I’m still subscribed to Mr. Money Moustache (personal finance) and the Let Grow (parenting), and Jamie Thingelstad (personal musings).

Of course American Life in Poetry isn’t going anywhere.