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Generative AI Is Totally Shameless. I Want to Be It:

There’s a truism that helps me whenever the new big tech thing has every brain melting: I repeat to myself, “It’s just software.” Word processing was going to make it too easy to write novels, Photoshop looked like it would let us erase history, Bitcoin was going to replace money, and now AI is going to ruin society, but … it’s just software.

Paul Ford always has the most powerful neutralizers.

It was the last day of our D&D group for this school year, and it was a blast. Two years ago, I started this after-school club on a whim to play Quest, and it evolved into D&D, board and card games, and a hangout spot for our 5th and 6th graders. It is such a joy to reward kids for their creativity.

1,200-foot ti leaf lei draped across Pololū Valley to symbolize protection from overdevelopment:

A 1,200-foot-long ti leaf lei made by the Kohala community on Hawaiʻi Island was draped across Pololū Valley over the weekend. It's a symbol of protection from increased development — and of community solidarity.

Such a beautiful act. After Lei Day and graduation weekend, I have an increased respect for lei makers. It is an overwhelmingly generous cultural practice that requires the support of a thriving and resilient community.

My heart is full.

If you have opinions about products, you are allowed to have opinions about how they are advertised and marketed.

I love the discussions that dumb ad has brought forth and I’m glad the company that created it acknowledged those discussions.

Apple doesn’t understand why you use technology:

Watching a piano, which if maintained can last for something like 50 years, squished to advertise a gadget, designed to be obsolete in less than 10, is infuriating.

I know it is silly to react to an advertisement, but this is so apt.

I just had a 5th grader come up to me yesterday asking about a math problem that referenced the average length of an MP3. This 10 year-old had no idea what one was but she sure knows what a piano is and she never won’t. I do get small delights from using mine, but the iPad will be forgotten and no amount of SV arrogance can change that fact.

The quiet wisdom of nature does not try to mislead you like the landscape of the city does, with billboards and ads everywhere. It doesn’t make you feel like you have to conform to any image. It’s just there, and it accepts everyone.

Richard Louv - Last Child in the Woods

Set “Recognize Text Entire Screen” from the ScreenOCR Raycast extension to Shift-Command-2 and you will experience total capture bliss.

A handful of perfect albums:

  • Ambient 1: Music for Airports - Brian Eno
  • Brothertiger - Brothertiger
  • Cupid & Psyche 85 - Scritti Politti
  • Liquid Colours - CFCF
  • Screamadelica - Primal Scream
  • So - Peter Gabriel
  • The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses

adding to the list that @HemisphericViews has going

Making lists to learn what I care about

After Readwise resurfaced an article from Paul Ford the other day, I decided to give myself some homework and take up his suggestion of creating lists.

Making such lists—even if you don’t publish them—is good exercise for the brain. You learn what you care about.

What are the top dogs you’ve met?

  • Gobo is our current dog. He is a super mutt terrier, dachshund, chihuahua, and whatever else. He is the sweetest dog I have ever met and has never once bitten, growled, fought, or destroyed anything. We joke that he is a former monk because of just how sweet and calm he is.
  • Kuro was our chihuahua terrier that passed away a few years ago. She was a little menace, but we loved the crap out of her independent spirit.
  • Lady was our pekapoo that my family inherited from my sister. She was my childhood dog, and memories of her are so embedded that no matter how long it has been, I still flutter with hope that she will greet me at the door of my parent’s house. She was the “no, we’re not getting a dog” dog that became my dad’s best friend when all the kids had moved out and
  • Spice was our first dog. She was a wonderful beagle. I only have two memories of her before she passed. One is her snooping around our backyard. It’s really just a flash memory because I was so young. The other was when she was struggling to get up our few stairs, and I believe it was only a few days after that we had to put her down.
  • Shiro was a friend’s dog that passed away recently. He was an intelligent, sweet boy who ate better than most humans I know. He had a coded language of scratches and whimpers that his caretakers knew fluently. His passing was especially difficult because he was named in conjunction with our Kuro, and they got along so well.
  • French Fry is a friend’s dog that is just the perfect medium-sized mutt that you can take anywhere you can trust to come back, and has just enough curiosity and adventure blended with enough intelligence to get into the right amount of trouble.

What are the best streets in your town?

Who are the worst people you love?

This is difficult. I donʻt wish to judge, but there was a time when Emile Hirsch was my favorite actor, and I just hope that he has resolved his anger and violence issues. It also really sucks that I have core memories attached to the work of Woody Allen and Billy Cosby. The latter both make it very hard to say I love them because I have not followed up to see if there has been any admission of guilt or amends that have been made to their victims. Yuck. I wonder what Paul Ford meant when he wrote this question. It is thought-provoking but challenges my understanding of love, forgiveness, and what we owe each other. I wonder what it says too that I only chose celebrities?

I could have edited the previous paragraph out, but I was about to publish it and thought that I should keep it to show my thought process. To better answer this, I’ll try non-celebrities. The owner of the antique mall I worked at for my first job. He was a chaotic mess that hurt others and was also seriously hurt by others. Somehow, I am able to look back at that time with love. I sat with this question for longer, and I tried to think of more, but it is very hard to label people I actually know as being the “worst people.” I’m emailing Paul about this question.

What are the ten best instructional videos in your discipline?

This is an excellent question, but for teaching, I would struggle to find specifically ten instructional videos. Instead, I would point you to anything from or on:

I ought to come back to this with more specifics. I don’t think of learning how to teach as something that ten videos could help with, but I am probably not thinking of the discrete skills that have improved my effectiveness in the classroom.

What are the worst colors?

  • Purple

What are the five best musical instruments?

Well. I did the homework I had set out to do, and I really enjoyed it. That was fun, and I definitely need to make more lists.