Iโve started a Discord server! This is a place for more group setting conversation. I have found Discord as a much easier way to interact with people, which I wish was more the case of other social media. The real-time nature of old-school IRC mixed with modern features allows us to make fun, creative conversation. Just abide by the code of conduct of being respectful. With anything, moderation is the key.
Enjoy!
An alternative to a gift guide and best of list. Showing my favorite things of this year, whether it be films, music, or ideas.
Things learned in 2024, care packages, home library, and Notre Dame.
Best of 2024, LLMs as choose your own adventure, the guide to estimations, and the LED lights that blind you.
Bitcoin attacks, post-political feelings, principled, and newsletter recommendations.
AIs appear better than doctors, influencer presented news, Bob Lee's murder trial begins, and poetry from Mary Oliver.
Throw away that black spatula, fence sitting, web clipping made cool again, the rough parts of kubernetes, and a doggy election rigged.
Week notes are back. There's a backlog of content. We are mostly busy from moving, so these will be more sporadic. We cover election week, a warning from the EFF, a look BTS for Google's NootbookLM, and some more obits and recommendations.
Newsletter - A short, yet sweet newsletter about welcoming to a new neighborhood.
๐ Location: In transit between Redwood City and San Jose riding the Caltrain
Currently reading: The Golden Thread - How Fabric Changed History by Kassia St. Claire
I cannot recommend this book more. Itโs an interesting look at fabrics that frankly I didnโt know I would enjoy. But, having read Kassia St. Claireโs other book about color, I knew I was in good hands.
We bought a house! I have a note about the home buying process I want to blog about at some point. My latest newsletter talks more about this.
Thereโs been a flurry of projects I want to get off the ground. They have been paused by the home buying and moving projects. Itโs looking like 2025 is going to be a big year.
Everyone is feeling depression from the election. The sweep of bad outcomes and polarization of the country really make me feel depressed. Iโm sick of hearing the reasons people feel one way over another. I can feel my rigid thinking defaulting the election decision of keep calm and carry on vs chaos. We elected turbulence, and for selfish reasons. In my mind, America would rather favor personal gain over keeping with the status quo, which is not what either party stood for. Instead the fractured feeling I have is one of unhopeful malaise when it comes to civics.
On the opposite end, this is another awakening for personal and collective calling for creating a better life, despite civil unrest. Yes, our rights are being stripped from us. But it takes resilience and a calling of refuting the next establishment to make a life we all want. And sometimes, that means reaching across the aisle, not despite of it.
I think revisiting Vi Hartโs video post-2016 election is important.
Then, thereโs this video from Adam Conover about why he isnโt worried about the election.
I have some conflicting emotions about the message. Part of it certainly feels right where the change we make with others is more important than who we elect while acknowledging the harm the Republican ticket has. Yet, thereโs also the changes we have seen as a response to the upset, like the sweeping changes of the 2018 election. While I foster a lot of hate for the president-electโs racist, misogynistic, xenophobic, anti-democratic, and violent rhetoric, of which there is a lot, there is a path of moving forward and carrying on, despite the setbacks.
What we know is, things will get absolutely worse, especially for women and minority communities. We know the little things we say in public can be overblown on the National stage. We know we need to be nicer to one another and foster humility, like being able to point the finger back at ourselves.
This long rant just to say, while I donโt think things around us are going to get any better for the foreseeable future, we are the ones who will make an impact. Thereโs enough hate in the world, and I would like to think thereโs some glimmer of hope in the future. For everything else, itโs up to us. If Victor Franklโs taught us anything, we need to think of how the future can be better in order to survive the perils of today.
See my other posts:
Looking beyond ozempic, Dublic halloween hoax, my dive into fabrics, radical covenants, and obits.
A break in format - the quiet art of attention, conferences, vercel and microfront-ends, and some recommendations.
Strawberry debuts, Milton lands, as well as a Space X Rocket. We re-explore adult friendships, the northern lights, and how to love better.
The tool should confirm to your workflow, not the otherway around. When you let the tool dictate your workflow, you disrupt your own flow. Tools can teach us about new workflows, but itโs up to our own judgment if that works for or against us.
Tools are not panaceas. They cannot solve all of our problems. The corollary advice about tools is when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
A good tool is one that can do one thing very good. A multi-tool is great if you know it can do each task very well. When it fails at one of those things, you know itโs not a great tool, and you may need to make other tools interoperable with one another. Sometimes, your tools donโt play well. Donโt try to make them interoperable if they have no means to. These tools were never the solution to your problem in the first place.
OpenAI shake-ups and announcement for Canvas, Hurricane season with Helene and Milton, new Meta AR glasses, a AI regulatory blow, Stackblitz bolt, and RIP Kris Kristofferson.
I'm currently leading application development at Clear Labs.
I write essays on eclectic topics, from programming, cooking, and strange habit of collecting obituaries.
I have put back together my newsletter after years of absense! These are primarily updates on my blog, "Craft By Zen", and maybe some highlights to the new articles I've written. There might be some life updates as well. I'm doing away with the old format of weekly longform essays, and trying some new things with my newsletter.