I have this thing that I do where I get a book narration from Audible and the same book in ebook format for my Kindle, then I playback the narration at two or three times speed while I read along with the ebook in my browser window. So basically I listen to the book and read it at the same time at high speed. And what I wanted was a term I could use to describe this activity, which is something I have been doing for quite a while now. So, naturally, I asked ChatGPT and of all the suggestions it came up with I liked “DualStream” the most. Thus, hence forth, I will refer to this activity as dualstreaming.
Category Archives: Vocabulary
Terence McKenna material
I found some material from Terence McKenna that I would like to read (or listen to, or both) if I can find a few spare hours (hey, could happen!):
- The Birth of a New Humanity (1992) (3:48:01)
- Evolving Times (April 29, 1995) (2:01:20)
Understanding Linear Regression
I enjoyed this article linked by Al Williams over on Hackaday: Understanding Linear Regression.
Homework
This is a part of the homework feature of my blog, which is an ongoing conversation with my mate S.F.
Hey mate. Lovely to see you again, as always.
I have a note here about Milo but I’m not sure why.
There is a rumor that the story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is about cocaine addiction, particularly that the Seven Dwarfs represent the various stages. But Snopes says this theory is bunk.
Two authors Strunk & White wrote a book called The Elements of Style which is a style guide for formal grammar used in American English writing. Famously they said “let every word tell”.
The phone you gave me I named ‘skadi’ after the Norse goddess Skaði.
According to John Cleese in his hilarious letter Something of a Retraction: Cleese letter to the U.S., French fries aren’t French, they’re Belgian.
I heard a rumour that DeepSeek says there are three r’s in “strawberry” but I can’t find a corroborating source.
Penny Arcade is great. I mentioned this one: Dirty One.
In Laws and Sausages the structure of the United States of America is explained in a comic format.
In Death of a Salesman there is a famous quote “A salesman is got to dream. It comes with the territory.”
Tribal not racist.
I think all you need for subjective experience is one or more sensors. Both consciousness and self-awareness are different to that. Although they probably do entail subjective experience too.
I should have a promotions policy on my website. Thanks for the suggestion. I will look into this.
There is a famous RFC: Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels. This, for instance, defines what the word “should” should mean.
The seven check marks are elements of white privilege, given as:
- male
- white
- heterosexual
- at least one highly educated or wealthy parent
- at least one parent born in the Netherlands
- a VWO diploma (preparatory scientific education)
- and a diploma from the University
In Outliers the author Malcolm Gladwell comes to the conclusion that success is mostly luck. In the same book Gladwell says that to attain mastery the a subject needs to be actively studied for 10,000 hours.
In Magic Words and How to Use Them the author explains how you can use uncompromising positivity to craft the life you want. Seemed to work for me, if you’re positive about people they seem to magically be positive back.
The Old New Thing is a blog from Raymond Chen, a long time programmer from Microsoft who had a lot to do with Windows.
I mentioned that Alan Kay worked for both Atari and Apple.
The famous quote “Never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon full of tapes hurtling down the highway.” is from Andrew S. Tanenbaum.
Asleep From Day by The Chemical Brothers.
Why You Will Marry the Wrong Person from Alain de Botton.
Before you speak let your words pass through three gates:
- is it true?
- is it necessary?
- is it kind?
Homework
This is a part of the homework feature of my blog, which is an ongoing conversation with my mate S.F.
Hey mate. Lovely to see you again, as always.
First, two things from last time which I forgot to write up:
I mentioned Veritasium which is a video blog of interest.
I have a note here that says “ASI”. And that’s all it says. Not sure what that was about?
I did consider writing my response to Mark Fisher‘s work Capitalist Realism (which is available on the web here), but in researching him and his work this evening I have learned that he died by suicide in 2017. I think suicide is the worst thing ever and I can’t bring myself to write something which tears strips off people who are no longer here to respond. (I intend to read Mark’s PhD thesis Flatline constructs: Gothic materialism and cybernetic theory-fiction.)
You mentioned Pick of the Litter, noting that dogs are trained to sometimes ignore the command of their master, particularly when it wouldn’t be safe.
One good thing about arguments with friends is that there is always time to pee.
Norvig’s Law: Any technology that surpasses 50% penetration will never double again (in any number of months).
This marketing dude Rory Sutherland is actually quite impressive. I hadn’t expected as much from someone in advertising! He has given a number of TED talks and there are many interviews with him on YouTube.
The documentary about the 2008 financial crisis that I mentioned was Inside Job. Not to be confused with the TV series with the same name (which is excellent, by the way).
My favorite philosopher of the day is Iain McGilchrist. I suspect my own beliefs and preferences diverge from those of McGilchrist but I do really enjoy his thought. I have watched a number of interviews with Iain McGilchrist. He has written a number of books, a few of which I have purchased and intend to read: The Matter With Things: Our Brains, Our Delusions and the Unmaking of the World, The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World, and The Divided Brain and the Search for Meaning.
The book Thinking, Fast and Slow by psychologist Daniel Kahneman demarcates two systems of thinking: one fast and automatic, the other slow and deliberative.
The quotation “the stupid are cocksure, while the intelligent are full of doubt” is variously attributed (including to Bertrand Russell).
Check out Mr Inbetween, it’s really excellent!
Love you my brother, see you on Christmas Day! <3
Eggcorn
Today I learned about Eggcorn which is a word for quaint mistakes people are apt to make in language such as “beckon call” for “beck and call” or “old-timers’ disease” for “Alzheimer’s disease”.
Every Component of a Linear Power Supply Explained
I’m a huge fan of ElectrArc240 who has recently released a new video: Every Component of a Linear Power Supply Explained (while building one).
Historical Figures from God Created the Integers
I made some notes about God Created the Integers by Stephen Hawking which I have been reading recently. I’m in the process of creating a new book teardown for it. I needed to make some notes about how to pronounce various names. I didn’t do this until I was half-way through the book though. If I had have taken the time to do this activity sooner I would have embarrassed myself less. Anyway. Better late than never!
Baker clamp
Today I learned about the Baker clamp. It’s a circuit to help speed up transistor switching time. I learned about it over on Diode-transistor logic § Speed improvement where it said it was developed by Richard H. Baker who described it in his 1956 technical report.
Subversion @ GitHub
I wanted to use Subversion to checkout one of my GitHub repo branches, because an svn checkout only downloads the files it needs, not a full copy of every file ever added. But I discovered that GitHub sunset Subversion integration earlier this year. Sad face. Still, I suppose the economics justify that decision. As a consequence of my research, which was a bit sketchy because there is still heaps of documentation out there referring to the GitHub features which no longer exist, I did happen to learn about: