I cannot go back to losing third spaces.

Finally reading, after frequently recommending, The Revolt of the Public, and damn if the discussion about the difference between the people and the public and assertions of the public’s sovereignty doesn’t perfectly encapsulate my own feelings about small d democracy.

It turns out my concerns about the internet today compared to the internet of the past mirrors elite panic from the early 20th century. As Gurri writes, “the masses had buried alive the public”, and now I find myself missing our online Republic of Letters.

Evidence for how shitty Google Docs is as a product. I am being actively @ mentioned in a document to make some adjustments that was shared with me. That document is nowhere to be found going to the front page of Google Docs.

Incredible photography project— cut outs of Japanese buildings.

Oh shit, I’m not joking. I just realized it’s Friday. Like, I think I knew it was Friday, but I just understood it was Friday.

I just want to see Dune in theaters. Please don’t fuck this up for me.

I know that every product has a well of complexity that is unknowable from the outside, but I can’t help but look at some products that are very successful businesses and wonder, “Why am I not more interested in solving simple problems?”

I was being driven crazy by the sound of my guitar. What’s wrong? The tuner says I’m fine. Am I going out of tune because I’m pressing too hard on the strings? Why do octaves all sound good? Is that a rattle/hum/buzz?

After 15 minutes, I realized what it was the interaction between the note I was playing and the sound of my ceiling fan being just slightly different such that I could hear the subtle beats of notes in unison out of tune. Turn off the fan, wait for it to stop. Play. Everything sounds fine.

Fuck.

Something 14 year old me would not believe about 34 year old me is that I haven’t been on a roller coaster in like a decade and don’t really care.

I’ve flipped from “delighted when a product has emoji reactions” to “infuriated when a product doesn’t have emoji reactions”.

But there isn’t just one spectrum; at the very least, there’s a quadrant grid, with policy goals on one axis and temperament on the other. The x-axis ranges from a fully planned economy to anarcho-capitalism; the y-axis ranges from solicitous Socratic dialogue to misanthropic bullying. They vary independently.

The Post-Dirtbag Left

This was a great article, but the quote above really stood out. I think we’ve fallen into this trap when it comes to vulgarity, call out culture, or tone-policing where it’s become difficult to talk about the impact of temperament. But the idea that we can think about temperament as a dimension within our political leanings, expression, and affiliation is powerful. It is on this access that we can understand the schisms between Warren and Sanders while also recognizing there are far more radical figures than either on other dimensions of policy.

I fall pretty far from the misanthropic bullying side of the temperament axis, while recognizing that I may have a quite a bit in common with those folks from a policy perspective. The whole Dirtbag Left phenomenon may be of my generation and gender, but it left me, and the people I associate with, far behind.

Finished the last 30 minutes of a book at the coffee shop during a midday break. Positively invigorating.

Yesterday I lifted about two hours later than normal and had a coffee before going to the gym. I felt much stronger than usual. Too bad going that late in the morning is horribly inconvenient.

I sometimes rant and rave about poorly designed ERPs and how a bunch of my job when I work on integrations is spelunking undocumented systems to reverse engineer 25 year old architectural mistakes…

but it is fucking thrilling when you piece things together and it works.

I love that the title of Slate Money this week is Expendable Men, and I love even more that everyone knows exactly who this is about.

In the US our current policy environment is, “The vaccinated will all get sick eventually, and a small amount will die. The unvaccinated will all get sick sooner, and an astonishingly large number will die. Kids and immunocompromised? Good luck. Stock market go brrrr.”

Enormously frustrating to be just a tad flat on one important note in a song I love to play and sing. Come on voice, be different!

Just spent a paycheck on this haul from @atomicbooks.

One episode of Ted Lasso is just not enough.

Reminding myself that a difficult Friday is better than a difficult Monday.

Hit my first goal weight today after a week long plateau/spike. Not sure if I’m happier about hitting my goal or that I didn’t freak out about a short period of stalled progress. Onward.

I’ve spent an hour looking at roadmap templates and I hate every single one of them.

I struggled today. I’ll probably struggle again tomorrow. It’s better than the alternative.

I will not feel diminished. I will not allow myself to become diminished.