Homework

Posted on 2024-12-05 [Thursday] by Jay Jay

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

Homework

Posted on 2024-04-01 [Monday] by Jay Jay

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.

You must watch this: Mark Osborne’s MORE (the homepage is here).

Death is the ultimate holiday. Never have to work again!

One of the most belligerent things you can say to someone is “you’re belligerent.”

The washing machine is a machine.

Aphyr is one of those one in ten thousand type geniuses, just next level. Also openly gay and into BDSM. He did this fantastic creative writing riffing on witch craft and programming interviews which I have made notes about over here. I don’t think you need to be a programmer to appreciate this, maybe give the first one a read.

I did a write up of Inside Bureaucracy by Anthony Downs. It’s long and High Modern. The five types of bureaucrats he identifies are: Climbers, Conservers, Zealots, Advocates, Statesmen.

The cargo cult phenomenon is truly bizarre and also quaint and understandable. During WWII a lot of native tribes saw cargo planes arriving full of supplies. After the war when the planes stopped coming the tribe members setup faux runways and did elaborate pantomimes with aircontrollers and radiomen etc in an attempt to mimic what they had seen the westerners do in order to bring the cargo back. Now “cargo cult” is used as a term to describe when people are doing the things they they will bring success because they think those activities will lead to success (but those activities won’t by themselves lead to success).

RE my hair: I can clip! I can clip! </Seinfeld>

This bloke Derek Muller has a video blog known as Veritasium. Recently he did a fun video about 37.

I would definitely recommend you get Authy and set it up on your phone so you can use it for 2FA (two-factor authentication).

TPM stands for Trusted Platform Module. It’s a hardware security feature which is probably in your computers. Apparently it is required by Windows 11 as explained by Microsoft over here: What is TPM?

Two fun quotes from the YouTube comments on my channel recently:

Lol, bald Jimmy Neutron, but its so cool
Look at this absolute chad flexing on all of us with his swag lab setup. Steady on king.

The 80/20 rule is known as the Pareto principle which states that for many outcomes, roughly 80% of consequences come from 20% of causes (the “vital few”).

Do Dogs Have Belly Buttons? (Spoiler: they do!)

Software is one form of hyperreality.

Thank you for loaning me your copy of Travels In Hyperreality by Umberto Eco, I will return it soon, along with a copy of GEB for you!

Crash Test Dummies – Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm.

Matchbox Twenty – 3AM.

There is a full length version of Elegia from New Order, it’s an instrumental tribute to Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis. It’s a seriously moving piece of music. It’s the soundtrack to Mark Osborne’s MORE (linked above). The words elegia and eulogy are different but they connote something similar.

Substance is a compilation album by English alternative dance band New Order. It was released in August 1987 by Factory Records and reissued in 2023. Here is Disc 1.

On a related note, the 2007 film Joy Division is a documentary on the British post-punk band Joy Division.

More from 2007, Control a British biographical film about the life of Ian Curtis, singer of the late-1970s English post-punk band Joy Division.

The Jesus nut is a slang term for the main rotor retaining nut or mast nut, which holds the main rotor to the mast of some helicopters.

Fucking boat people.

The 2004 film Metallica: Some Kind of Monster is a documentary film about American heavy metal band Metallica.

Metamodernism refers to a number of related discourses about cultural developments that move beyond postmodernism by means of postmodernism. There is a fun video on the topic over here: The Rise of the Meaning Economy – A major paradigm shift is coming, this will reshape life and work!.

It’s a simple silly little temporary thing.

Chicks man, fuck.

So there’s this American bloke out there Andrew Bustamante running EverydaySpy with his wife. They have heaps of videos on YouTube, you can get a taste over here: Leave The USA Before 2030? – CIA Spy On World War 3’s Timeline | Andrew Bustamante.

Eben Moglen is an American legal scholar and orator who is professor of law and legal history at Columbia University, and is the founder, Director-Counsel and Chairman of Software Freedom Law Center. In 2019 he spoke on the 10 year anniversary of the FreedomBox: Eben Moglen: “FreedomBox Turns Ten” (Nov. 2019) .

There is a kickass documentary featuring Bunnie Huang over here: Shenzhen: The Silicon Valley of Hardware (Full Documentary) | Future Cities. Bunnie has done some cool things, not least Hacking the Xbox. Here’s an interesting talk from him: An Alternative to the American way of Innovation | Andrew ‘bunnie’ Huang | TEDxPickeringStreet.