2024-11-21

• Finished rereading (listening) [[Doughnut Economics]].
  • Still relevant and useful.
  • I should write up some takeaways. (Maybe use that rubric from the OU module?)

2024-11-20

• [[Substack]]
  • Don’t call it a Substack. - Anil Dash

2024-11-19

• [[causal loop diagram]]s.

• Looking at Lend Engine and MyTurn as software options for our [[library of things]].

2024-11-18

• [[wp cli]] is handy.

• In a [[causal loop diagram]], where do you put actions, things that happen? I guess it’s a flow. But, what causes the flow?

2024-11-17

• Reread Robin Sloan’s article on [[Stock and flow]].
  • As an analogy for garden and stream.
  • Not sure if it’s an analogy to [[stocks and flows]] specifically in systems thinking, or there’s a more generic economic concept.
  • Anyway - he makes a good point that it’s not good to be all stock, no flow.
  • He means it in the sense of, you should post to the stream a little bit, so people know what you’re up to.
  • I should consider that - I generally don’t post to social media streams, just to my journal here.
  • Which I like as it remains distraction free.
  • But it does reduce social interaction significantly.

2024-11-16

• [[Doughnut Economics]]
  • Some mentions of [[Libre software]], [[knowledge commons]], [[Cooperatives]] as parts of an economy that is distributive by design.

• Some [[social.coop]] fun on [[2024-11-15]] after work :)
• I heard of [[Mathilde Sanders]]

2024-11-14

• On Tuesday I went to a workshop on learning the basics of electrical repairs.

  • Was good to meet some other volunteers from the area.
    • The round of intros took up a lot of the session though…
  • Had a bit of an overview on useful tools and basic electronic components, wired a plug, and then started repairing broken items we had brought with us.
  • It’s a two parter. Next time we’ll look at using a [[multimeter]], [[PAT testing]], and the [[right to repair]].

• [[Doughnut Economics]] has a good overview of what a [[system]] is and why [[systems thinking]] of useful.

2024-11-13

• The [[Our Changing Climate]] video channel is good.
  • Watched: [[Why We Need Socialism]]
  • Watched: [[What Does a Solarpunk City Look Like?]]

2024-11-11

2024-11-09

• [[Doughnut Economics]]

  • The developer of the concept of [[GDP]], Simon Kuznets, didn’t think it was a good measure of national welfare.

• Microblurting with a mindmap.

  • [[my blurts]]
  • After trying a few different mindmap apps on Android, going with miMind for now.
  • Alas, hand-writing PlantUML mind map markup doesn’t cut it for current purposes.

• [[Doughnut Economics]]

  • The [[Holocene]] is an incredibly hospitable Earth and the favourable conditions would last for an unusually long time, were we humans not pushing the planet out of this period of stability.
  • We need to change the indicator for success from ever upwards and forwards growth to dynamically thriving in balance.

• Look for [[people]] to recognize their bridging of different domains. Offer them [[action]]. [[Show]] how they fit with [[tomorrow]]. collapsed:: true
  • [[Systems]] [[Engineer]] with [[Philosophy]] interests. collapsed:: true
    • "Let’s build systems that reflect deeper philosophical truths"
  • Dropout [[Physics]] PhD/[[Meditation]] Teacher collapsed:: true
    • Help create spaces where both rigorous thinking and deep [[presence]] can flourish
  • [[BJJ]] Instructor with Interest in [[Group]] Dynamics collapsed:: true
    • Apply what works on the mat to building [[strong]] communities
  • [[Community]] [[Organizer]] with Tech Background collapsed:: true
    • Build communities that can grow without losing their soul
  • [[Designer]] Interested in [[Social]] Systems collapsed:: true
    • Design spaces that [[nurture]] genuine human [[connection]]
  • Independent [[Researcher]]/[[Writer]] collapsed:: true
    • Turn your [[insights]] into living [[experiments]]
• [[Documentation]] is the first step to [[automation]].
• Palantir playbook: collapsed:: true
  • Only [[sell]] to companies that expect imminent [[death]].
  • Get [[buy]]-in from [[top]] and [[bottom]].
  • Use top and bottom to [[squeeze]] [[data]] out.
• What [[opportunities]] might be around [[stratospheric]] craft?
• Every [[time]] I [[feel]] [[annoyed]]/[[tired]] = [[opportunity]] collapsed:: true
  • [[Annoyed]] = [[repeating]] something
  • [[Tired]] = [[manual]] work
  • [[Stressed]] = [[dependency]] on me
  • [[Relief]] = [[automation]] working
  • [[Excitement]] = system [[adoption]]
  • [[Peace]] = [[leverage]] [[growing]]
  • When something is truly [[leveraged]], I [[feel]]: collapsed:: true
    • [[Shoulders]] relaxed
    • [[Breathing]] deeper
    • [[Stomach]] unclenched
    • Mind [[clear]] and chomping at the bit
  • From [[pride]] in being [[needed]] → [[satisfaction]] in not being needed
  • From [[shame]] about not doing the [[work]] → [[excitement]] about the [[work]] happening without me collapsed:: true
    • 1. Sit in [[silence]] with project in [[mind]]
      2. [[Notice]] [[physical]] response to [[questions]]:
      • If I went away for a month, would this keep working?
      • Is this [[solution]] teaching people to fish?
      • Am I the [[bottleneck]]?
      • Pay [[attention]] to:
        • [[Throat]] tightening ([[fear]] of letting go)
        • Chest expansion (pride in being needed)
        • Stomach dropping (knowing it’s not [[growing]] itself)
        • Shoulder [[tension]] (holding too much [[responsibility]])
          • Track which [[feels]] correlate with:
          • True [[leverage]] ([[flows]] without me)
          • False [[leverage]] (seems automated but isn’t)
• I admit I’m carrying too much [[responsibility]]. I’ve got to find [[waves]] to [[offload]] parts of it onto. Systems to help [[grow]].
• [[Skip]] patterns: collapsed:: true
  • OLD [[VALIDATION]]: "Are people asking for this?"
  • NEW [[VALIDATION]]: "Are people already trying to [[skip]] this entire [[process]]?"
  • Watch the [[space]] between.
  • What are people trying not to perceive?
  • What do they [[filter]] out of their [[perception]]?
  • What [[decisions]] would they prefer [[front]] [[loaded]]?
  • Where are they pre[[loading]] them to?
• [[Neck]] [[tension]] = too much [[process]] [[knowledge]]?
• Instead of: "Let me [[help]] you with that" collapsed:: true
  • Try: "What would make this easier next [[time]]?"

2024-11-08

• [[digital ecosocialism]]

• [[Doughnut Economics]]

  • I like the seven ways to think like a 21st century economist:
    • Change the Goal
    • See the Big Picture
    • Nurture Human Nature
    • Get Savvy with Systems
    • Design to Distribute
    • Create to Regenerate
    • Be Agnostic about Growth

2024-11-07

• Not sure how to process the US election 2024 results.
  • It feels pretty devastating. The short term and long term repercussions seem catastrophic.
  • Right now, avoiding all the news and analysis - too much to get lost in and I don’t have the headspace for it at the moment.
  • Finding ways to offer practical solidarity to threatened and affected groups in the US seems like the most productive action in the short term.

2024-11-05

• Wow - I am blown away by how fantastically useful [[org mode clock tables]] are.

2024-11-04

• Listening to [[Doughnut Economics]] now.

  • I’ve recently read it, but seemed like a good choice to revisit - big ideas but palatably presented.
  • Also I consider it reasonably [[ecosocialist]] in outlook. The combo of social foundation and planetary boundaries. Even though it presents itself somewhat apolitically.

• [[Data commons]] are [[digital ecosocialism]].

  • I work on a data commons - the [[Open Repair Alliance dataset]].

2024-11-03

• [[Some small experiments in ‘microblurting’]]

• Finished [[A Short History of Nearly Everything]] (audiobook)

  • Fun and informative and very wide ranging on various science topics.
  • My immediate takeaway: the Universe is sublime, Earth is amazing, life is improbable and astonishing; human intelligence is incredible, yet we are astoundingly terrible stewards of life and the planet.
    • And we need to resolve that last issue immediately.
  • Listened via [[libro.fm]].

2024-11-02

• Everybody blurts, sometimes

  • [[my blurts]]

• More one handed mode configuration for Termux:

  • [[making it easier to open the session drawer in Termux in right-handed one-handed mode]]

2024-11-01

• What is the relationship between ecology and earth systems science?

• I would like to learn more about [[systems ecology]].

2024-10-31

• [[microblurting]] at [[my blurts]]

  • As per yesterday, trying them out in their own page, semi-hidden. Hidden in the sense of not visibility, not privacy.

• I solved my [[issue with evil-escape in Doom on Termux]].

2024-10-30

• I’m [[microblurting]].

• Blurt

  • [[Data science]] is a combination of data analytics, statistics, and machine learning.
  • [[Data analytics]] looks at past data and explores patterns and issues. It is descriptive.
  • Statistics can be descriptive but also predictive?
  • [[Machine learning]] is primarily predictive?

• Blurt

  • Data science is multidisciplinary, encompassing data analytics, statistics and machine learning, among other areas.

• I’m thinking that blurting is probably better semi private.

  • It might not be of great interest for others to read half formed, quite possibly incorrect statements about various things.
  • Social streams are more interesting when they have some personal, subjective opinion based element I feel, rather than attempted recall of facts.
  • Though, it would be nice to receive feedback on some things. So perhaps semi private is good.

• [[HeliBoard]] is going well.

  • Some nice features. Very customisable.
  • Being able to adjust the width of the one handed keyboard is very useful.
  • swipe typing works pretty well, though I have a sense not quite so good as gboard?

2024-10-29

• [[Human physiology]] - the processes and functions of living organisms. Rather than, say, the structure of the body or evolutionary history.

• [[Passive repetition]] can result in an [[illusion of knowing]].

  • Better to do [[active repetition]] when you can.
  • Writing in a digital garden or on social media is a form of active repetition.

• Actually, you could also do passive repetition in a digital garden.

  • Just copying and pasting text from elsewhere would be largely passive repetition. Similar to just underlining or highlighting.
  • I think the journal aspect of a digital garden is good for active repetition.
  • A space to summarise ideas in your own words, and for "blurting".
  • So really, that’s more the stream than the garden?
  • I suppose you can do active recall in both. But I’d say the stream is your working area for it, and the garden where you store what sticks long term.

• One of the key uses of a stream and garden for me is active recall and repetition. So worth thinking about it a bit more.

  • [[Active recall and passive repetition in the digital stream and garden]]

• Trying [[HeliBoard]].

  • Mainly to avoid the annoying display of ‘Passwords’ that Gboard does when in [[Termux]].
  • Hey, turns out HeliBoard does it too. Must be a Termux issue.
  • Still, I like that this is fully open source and available via [[F-Droid]].

• [[Learning blurt]]

  • [[Amino acids]] are the building blocks of [[life]].
  • They are what constitute [[proteins]].
  • [[Biochemistry]]

• Traditional social media / microblogging can also be great for active recall.

  • Particularly as dialogue and group discussion is an excellent prompt for active recall.
  • However for me they also have a huge problem - distraction.
  • I can’t go on the Fediverse without it ending up as a bit of a mindless scroll fest. (Which, admittedly of often a useful tool for information discovery…)

• [[Learning blurt]]

  • [[Bacteria]]
    • Humans are teeming with them.
    • Trillions in the gut alone.
    • We couldn’t exist without them. They could happily exist without us.
    • [[Microbiology]]

• I listened to a good ACFM episode on the gut microbiome recently: [[ACFM Trip 41: Trust Your Gut]]

• I think I’ll explore "[[microblurting]]" as a thing.

  • Is microblurting a useful way to do active recall? Should one blurt in public spaces? We’ll find out.

2024-10-28

• [[A Short History of Nearly Everything]]
  • So far: astrophysics, geology, chemistry, particle physics, quantum physics and a little bit of paleontology.
  • All fascinating but I think nowadays I’m most interested in the things closer to home - so, the geology, and hoping there will be some biology and maybe even ecology (though from memory I don’t think there is much of this last one).
  • There’s no social science - so no human history, anthropology, economics, etc. Have to go elsewhere for that. I might listen to [[The Dawn of Everything]] next.

2024-10-27

• The first book I’ve got on [[libro.fm]] is [[A Short History of Nearly Everything]] by Bill Bryson.
  • I’ve really been enjoying learning about broad, general subject matters outside of my usual areas on [[Kinnu]].
  • This appealed in that same vein. Simple overview of lots of topics.
  • I’ve read it a few times many years ago and remember thoroughly enjoying it.

2024-10-26

• Starting using [[libro.fm]]. For [[audiobooks]].
  • Seems great. Let’s you pick a bookshop (local or online) for some of the money to go to.
  • But, also very annoyed to discover that some audiobooks are ‘Audible Exclusives’. Meaning you can only get them on Audible.
  • What a scam. Imagine only being able to buy some books in certain bookshops.
  • libro has some resources on how to do something about it: https://blog.libro.fm/why-isnt-audiobook-available-libro-fm-what-to-do/

2024-10-20

• I’ve logged in to [[Fediverse]] again the last couple of days. To make a new connection and do some Restart related posting. But: already found myself scrolling aimlessly through things which though very interesting are of minimal relevance to my actual life. Might just be a phase, but, sadly I can’t spare that idle time right now.

• I’ve been cultivating a setup for logging the [[repair data]] from [[Ulverston Repair Cafe]] that, once I’ve taken a copy of the paper forms on my phone, I can then log it all digitally and get it into Restarters.net, all from my phone.

  • Now, while the bubba is napping on me, I’ll utilise that system to digitise the data from [[Ulverston Repair Cafe, October 2024]].

2024-10-19

• Let’s dust this off…

• [[International Repair Day]] 2024 today.

  • Did a spell at [[Ulverston Repair Cafe]] popup cafe in [[Barrow]].
  • Fixed a printer (well, more just showed that it was working OK and put a fresh ink cartridge in).

• For [[Restart]] for Repair Day I worked on the global map of events, the Open Repair Alliance report, and the Open Repair Alliance dataset. Proud of all of those.

• What’s one [[feeling]] you can [[own]] and consistently deliver?
• [[Search and Seizure]].
• Short [[videos]]: collapsed:: true
  • [[Contrast]]/paradox I want do X but Y is in the way
  • How am I going to do X?
  • Simple, universal to [[audience]], ideas
  • First word has to be a [[hook]] "Free" is good, "this" is bad
  • Hook has to be clear about what the conflict is and what is at the end
  • First frame has to be like title or thumbnail, high saturation and high contrast
  • [[Foreshadowing]] tells the user what gift they will get at the end
  • Rewatchable: Lists Easter eggs "Twists"?
  • Add conflict as the video goes on
  • [[But]],so But, [[therefore]]
    • South Park
  • Include a [[Why]]
  • Keep ending short but with a payoff
• Incident management game collapsed:: true
  • Rescue -> recovery, budget drops drastically
• A pilot is constantly seeking [[balance]]. collapsed:: true
  • "Redefine the fight"
  • Aviate navigate communicate
• [[Links]] should be [[titles]] worth clicking on.
• Let yourself be possessed by the web that has the [[problem]].
• [[Constraints]] [[shape]] multiple [[parts]] into one.
• "ecology is the science of understanding consequences"
• [[Plants]] for BSk shortgrass prairie. collapsed:: true
  • Pediomelum esculentum id:: 66a01c43-fa3a-4c3a-8ddf-21bf715090c5 Blue grama Crested wheat Western wheatgrass
  • Textile Onion
  • Winterfat
  • Chokecherry
  • Fringed sagewort Arrowleaf balsamroot Hawksbeard Sticky purple geranium Scarlet globemallow Sulfur-flower buckwheat Tumblemustard Western wallflower Western yarrow Rosa woodsii
  • Antelope bitterbrush Gardner saltbush Greasewood (livestock need high calcium grasses to counter) Green rabbitbrush Mountain mahogany Shadscale saltbush Shrubby cinquefoil (good for goats, bad for cattle) Silver sagebrush Wax Currant
  • Mountain snowberry Serviceberry
• “An earthquake achieves what the [[law]] promises but does not in practice maintain,” one of the survivors wrote. “The [[equality]] of all men.”
• Anytime there’s a [[block]], move back and restart the [[attack]] from a stronger [[base]].
• Getting past the [[elbow]], [[handfighting]] [[unarmed]] collapsed:: true
  • If their arms are down, [[attack]] the head. If they’re on the [[inside]], go around the [[outside]]. If their arms are up, go under for the body. If they’re narrow, go for the outsides. If they’re wide, go for the insides.
  • If they’re inside legs, they can attack legs but not so much upper body. If they’re outside, they can attack upper body but not so much legs.
• "[[time]] given away…is time you don’t [[own]]"
• Show them [[chaos]], and present an alternative of [[order]].
• [[Dormancy]] lets [[seeds]] disperse through [[time]].
• [[Distance]] gives you [[time]], Angles give you a way [[out]] or to [[flank]].
• "never sit against a [[swarm]] [keep [[moving]]]"
• John Allen Paulos on complex systems: "[[Uncertainty]] is the only certainty there is. And knowing how to live with insecurity is the only [[security]]."
• Improve [[entertainment]] first before [[ask]].
• [[Copywriting swipefile]]
• A sensory 3d map of the [[odor]].
• "it must hold the country by the [[sword]] or in [[fear]] of it"
  • "For if the vanquished has lately felt the sword, the victor may for a [[time]] carry an empty scabbard with impunity. But in the end, to rely on the scabbard alone brings more bloodshed than to have the sword always ready within."

• What’s one [[feeling]] you can [[own]] and consistently deliver?
• [[Search and Seizure]].
• Short [[videos]]: collapsed:: true
  • [[Contrast]]/paradox I want do X but Y is in the way
  • How am I going to do X?
  • Simple, universal to [[audience]], ideas
  • First word has to be a [[hook]] "Free" is good, "this" is bad
  • Hook has to be clear about what the conflict is and what is at the end
  • First frame has to be like title or thumbnail, high saturation and high contrast
  • [[Foreshadowing]] tells the user what gift they will get at the end
  • Rewatchable: Lists Easter eggs "Twists"?
  • Add conflict as the video goes on
  • [[But]],so But, [[therefore]]
    • South Park
  • Include a [[Why]]
  • Keep ending short but with a payoff
• Incident management game collapsed:: true
  • Rescue -> recovery, budget drops drastically
• A pilot is constantly seeking [[balance]]. collapsed:: true
  • "Redefine the fight"
  • Aviate navigate communicate
• [[Links]] should be [[titles]] worth clicking on.
• Let yourself be possessed by the web that has the [[problem]].
• [[Constraints]] [[shape]] multiple [[parts]] into one.
• "ecology is the science of understanding consequences"
• [[Plants]] for BSk shortgrass prairie. collapsed:: true
  • Pediomelum esculentum id:: 66a01c43-fa3a-4c3a-8ddf-21bf715090c5 Blue grama Crested wheat Western wheatgrass
  • Textile Onion
  • Winterfat
  • Chokecherry
  • Fringed sagewort Arrowleaf balsamroot Hawksbeard Sticky purple geranium Scarlet globemallow Sulfur-flower buckwheat Tumblemustard Western wallflower Western yarrow Rosa woodsii
  • Antelope bitterbrush Gardner saltbush Greasewood (livestock need high calcium grasses to counter) Green rabbitbrush Mountain mahogany Shadscale saltbush Shrubby cinquefoil (good for goats, bad for cattle) Silver sagebrush Wax Currant
  • Mountain snowberry Serviceberry
• “An earthquake achieves what the [[law]] promises but does not in practice maintain,” one of the survivors wrote. “The [[equality]] of all men.”
• Anytime there’s a [[block]], move back and restart the [[attack]] from a stronger [[base]].
• Getting past the [[elbow]], [[handfighting]] [[unarmed]] collapsed:: true
  • If their arms are down, [[attack]] the head. If they’re on the [[inside]], go around the [[outside]]. If their arms are up, go under for the body. If they’re narrow, go for the outsides. If they’re wide, go for the insides.
  • If they’re inside legs, they can attack legs but not so much upper body. If they’re outside, they can attack upper body but not so much legs.
• "[[time]] given away…is time you don’t [[own]]"
• Show them [[chaos]], and present an alternative of [[order]].
• [[Dormancy]] lets [[seeds]] disperse through [[time]].
• [[Distance]] gives you [[time]], Angles give you a way [[out]] or to [[flank]].
• "never sit against a [[swarm]] [keep [[moving]]]"
• John Allen Paulos on complex systems: "[[Uncertainty]] is the only certainty there is. And knowing how to live with insecurity is the only [[security]]."
• Improve [[entertainment]] first before [[ask]].
• [[Copywriting swipefile]]
• A sensory 3d map of the [[odor]].
• "it must hold the country by the [[sword]] or in [[fear]] of it"
  • "For if the vanquished has lately felt the sword, the victor may for a time carry an empty scabbard with impunity. But in the end, to rely on the scabbard alone brings more bloodshed than to have the sword always ready within."

2024-06-15

• The [[social model of disability]] is very interesting.

2024-06-07

• [[Human physiology]]

  • Cardiovascular system
    • Pumping blood, supplying nutrients and removing waste.
  • Respiratory system
    • Breathing. Gas exchange.
  • The human body is amazing. All of these intricate interconnected systems working away all of the time.

• Listened: [[Jeremy Corbyn & Mhairi Black: Left Culled, Centre Cracked and Right Reformed?]]

• Listened: [[The ‘blue wall’ road trip: Tories jumping ship?]]

  • Exploring whether previous Tory strongholds will be turning Liberal Democrat or other in the upcoming election.
  • I like these John Harris roadtrip interview style episodes where he goes and chats to real people around the country.

• Listened: [[New Frank Hester allegations]]

  • New allegations that the main Tory donor is a bit of a shit (misogynistic, racist). Shocker.

2024-06-06

• [[Digitisation]] vs [[digitalisation]]
  • Digitisation is basically turning the act of encoding analogue into digital.
  • Digitalisation is the wider process of more and more of processes of society being digitised and filtered through digital processes.

2024-06-05

• Listened: [[Politics Weekly Westminster: The first TV debate]]
  • [[Keir Starmer]] and [[Rishi Sunak]] both being uninspiring from the sounds of it.
  • No clear winner. Unlikely to change opinion polls much.

2024-06-04

• Why the fuck is [[The Guardian]] advertising some private healthcare subscription to me on their podcasts.

• [[Commonism]].

  • Discussed in Agora Discuss.

• Listened: [[Election Extra: Nigel Farage is back]]

  • [[Nigel Farage]], opportunist extraordinare, now leader of [[Reform UK]] party.
  • Bad for the Tories, which is usually good, but generally just bad for everyone all round. Especially if he gets elected to Clacton.

2024-06-03

• Listened: [[Trump is guilty on all counts. So what happens next?]]

  • Teflon Trump. He’ll still run. And this will make no difference to people who already like [[Donald Trump]].
  • Best hope is that maybe it will affect some swing voters.

• Listened: [[Has there been a purge of the leftwing of the Labour party?]]

  • Shitty treatment of [[Diane Abbott]] and [[Faiza Shaheen]].
  • Attempts to stop them running as Labour candidate.
  • General bad treatment of candidates from the left of the party.

2024-06-02

• [[Read]] / [[Listened]]: [[Taming Big Techification? The European Digital Markets Act]]

  • [[Digital Markets Act]]
  • [[The EU has no homegrown Big Tech companies of its own]]

• Read: [[Children die of malnutrition as Rafah operation shifts threat of famine in Gaza]]

2024-05-31

• Learned about [[Bunny Fonts]] from James.

  • Looks great. GDPR friendly, and a much simpler way of of replacing Google Fonts than [[replacing Google Fonts remote server usage with a locally-served font]].
  • [[Replacing Google Fonts with Bunny Fonts]].
  • ([[What’s wrong with using Google Fonts?]])

• [[Listened]]: [[Digitalisation and the Security State]]

  • Important stuff. Everyone should listen to this.
  • The connection between digital technology companies and state surveillance and violence.
  • Israel is a major source of surveillance and weapons technology companies, selling to US and Europe technologies they have built to control the Palestinian people.

2024-05-29

• [[Listened]]: [[How the North Plunders the South w/ Jason Hickel]]
  • Some of the discussion around counties reclaiming agency over their trade overlaps with the material on the [[digital trade]] agenda in the [[Digital Capitalism online course]].

2024-05-28

• [[Listened]]: [[How the North Plunders the South w/ Jason Hickel]]
  • [[Imperialism]] and [[neocolonialism]].
  • [[Unequal exchange]].

2024-05-26

• I finished off Week 3 of the [[Digital Capitalism online course]].

  • This week the topic was [[Digital colonialism]].
  • With mostly a focus on [[Data colonialism]].
  • In that focus on data I feel perhaps it omits some other colonial practices - such as in mining, manufacture and disposal related to ICT.
  • Still - good stuff.

• Started listening to the masterclass for week 4, on the digital trade agenda.

  • The point about why corporations love trade deals is really enlightening - easy way for them to bypass democratic discussion; lobby to get their way; once a trade deal is made, it’s very hard to change.

• Learning about ecology on Kinnu, I realise that it’s a great source of ideas for thinking in systems.

  • It’s the ultimate system, basically.
  • I think [[The Systems View of Life]] would be about this to some degree.

2024-05-24

• [[Listened]]: [[Digital colonialism: Geopolitics of data and development]]

  • Mostly [[Ulises Mejias]]‘ section.
    • [[Data colonialism]] is his topic, works on it with [[Nick Couldry]].
    • He outlines the scale of the land grab of [[colonialism]].
    • Makes the connection to data colonialism.
    • Draws a line from [[Cheap Nature]] to [[Cheap Labour]] to [[Cheap Data]] (the first two based on [[Jason W. Moore]]‘s ideas I’m assuming).

• [[World-Ecology]].

2024-05-22

• I’d like to redesign the look and feel of my digital garden.
  • Nothing drastic, but to move more to a representative aesthetic.
  • I want to try to maintain the cheap-n-cheerful weird web vibe, but also incorporate more of a nature-labour-technology solarpunk-ish look.
  • I want my digital garden to be more visual, less textual.
    • To be fair it is majority text, but I still want it to feel a bit more visual.
  • [[My commonplace moodboard]]

2024-05-21

• [[Data colonialism]]
  • Mentioned in [[Digital colonialism: Geopolitics of data and development]]

2024-05-20

• [[Listened]]: [[Digital colonialism: Geopolitics of data and development]]
  • From [[Digital Capitalism online course]]
  • A mention of "Within the system, against the system, and beyond the system"
  • Matches exactly with [[resist, regulate, recode]]

2024-05-19

• [[Cooperation Jackson]] and the [[Jackson-Kush Plan]] are explicitly [[ecosocialist]] in outlook.

  • There’s a good summary of [[ecosocialism]] in the intro to [[Jackson Rising Redux]].

• They also work on the principle of instituting [[non-reformist reform]]s.

  • What might some non-reformist reforms for [[digital ecosocialism]] be?

• [[Digital counterpower]]

2024-05-17

• Read: [[Critique of techno-feudal reason]]

  • Well, sort of read it - actually half listened to it via Wallabag while taking the bubba out for an early walk.
  • Dense and erudite, as you expect from Morozov.
  • Didn’t follow half of it this first time around to be honest, but I take away the basic message that he’s critical of the general idea of [[techno-feudalism]].

• [[There is no capitalism without colonialism]].

2024-05-15

• [[Listened]]: [[The dangers of digital capitalism]]
  • Excellent webinar from [[Transnational Institute]].
  • On [[digital capitalism]] and more.
  • Some great speakers, I should find out more about them.
    • I’ve come across [[Jack Qiu]] before from [[Goodbye iSlave]].

2024-05-13

• [[Listened]]: [[Evgeny Morozov: Competition and Cooperation in Digital Capitalism]]

2024-05-12

• After a long hiatus, low-key writing [[Reclaim the Stacks: reflections, May 2024]].

• Reading [[Critical Perspectives on Digital Capitalism: Theories and Praxis. Introduction to the Special Issue]]

2024-05-11

• [[Digital Capitalism online course]]
  • I finished Week 1.
  • (Mostly - not had chance to go through all the further materials yet.)

2024-05-04

• Read through some of the materials from week 1 of [[Digital Capitalism online course]].
  • What is [[digital capitalism]]?

2024-05-03

• I finally managed to start (just as it’s finishing!) the [[Digital Capitalism online course]] from the [[Transnational Institute]].

  • "6 week essential course for activists to understand how digitalisation is shaping our world"
  • The first week of which is titled ‘What is digital capitalism?’
  • I’m most looking forward to week 6 - titled ‘What’s the alternative? The digital world we want to live in’

• And the [[tripleC]] special issue on digital capitalism just came out.

  • [[Critical Perspectives on Digital Capitalism: Theories and Praxis]].

• Apropos of the above, for [[node club]] (AKA [[Homebrew Commons Club]]) I’m going to write about [[digital capitalism]].

2024-04-28

• [[Ecology]]

  • [[Keystone species]]

• I should put more images in my garden.

  • I stumbled on the page on [[Jean Baudrillard]], which has no text. But the picture is fun.

• Finally finished watching [[Miners’ Strike 1984: The Battle For Britain]].

  • National Working Miners Committee. David Hart.
  • Arthur Scargill. Sequestration of funds. Connection to Al-Zulfikar and Colonel Gaddafi for financial support.
  • Ultimately that negative press seemed to be the final nail in the coffin of the strike.

• Read [[Palestine speaks for everyone]]

2024-04-27

:ID: 8c141ded-1a33-447e-9999-dfed514a74da :mtime: 20240427191417 20240427113158 :ctime: 20240427113158

• [[Digital weeding and watering]]

  • Adding a page for keeping track of little bits of content cleanup that need doing on my digital garden.
  • This has been very useful already.
  • I’ve found:
    • pages that were using old file: links (e.g. Praxis)
    • duplicate nodes (e.g. Philsophize This).
    • pages that I’m interested in, but just had never had time to write anything about (e.g. climate action)
    • mistakenly created pages
  • And it has been fun to revisit various older pages in the process.

• I am really looking forward to the release of [[Jathan Sadowski]]‘s new book.

  • [[The Mechanic and the Luddite]]

• [[Repairing a Dell Latitude E7450]]

2024-04-26

2024-04-23

• Read: [[What a waste: our study shows almost half of electricals sent for recycling could be reused]]
  • [[The Restart Project]] set up in a Household Waste Recycling Centre (in Brent, London).
  • Assessed the reusability of products being brought in for recycling.
  • Shocking results: almost 50% could have an easy second life (either fully functional as is, or in need of only minor repair).
  • There needs to be less focus on recycling, and much more on reuse and repair.
  • Filtering and diverting initiatives should be mandatory.

2024-04-22

• [[Listened]] to [[There’s hope yet for UK waste and repair policy, with Green Alliance]]

2024-04-21

• Soccer96 - I was gonna fight fascism

• [[Listened]] to [[Seto Kaiba is My Role Model]]

2024-04-20

• Changes in the [[forces of production]] come into conflict with the [[relations of production]].

  • The infinite replicability of digital assets is in conflict with the wishes of corporations who profit from artificial scarcity.
  • From memory, I think Paul Mason discusses this in Post Capitalism.
  • Also the phrase [[What is possible in the information age is in direct conflict with what is permissible]] from [[the Telekommunist Manifesto]] comes to mind.

• [[Listened]] to [[The Tao of WAO: S09 Episode 4: Adam Greenfield]]

• [[Listened]] to [[How Swiss women won a landmark climate case for Europe]]

2024-04-19

• [[Replacing Google Fonts usage with locally-served font]]

  • [[What’s wrong with using Google Fonts?]]

• It could be time for a new season of [[Node Club]]…

  • AKA [[Homebrew Commons Club]]

• I should back up my Doom config on Termux.

  • Given I’ve spent enough time configuring it now that it would be a pain to have to redo it.
  • [[Backing up my Doom Emacs config on Termux]].

2024-04-18

• I [[listened]] to [[Degrowth vs Eco-Modernism]].

  • It’s a good episode.
  • I like [[Kai Heron]], and I’ve found the debate between various strands of [[ecosocialist]] thought very interesting.
  • But I also lament the time spent disagreeing amongst ourselves on the left.
  • Is it ultimately useful? What if all this intellectual effort could be spent on bringing about a transition away from capitalism, and towards ecosocialism?
  • I don’t know - perhaps the debate is contributing to that transition, in part, in a roundabout. And I suppose that if we don’t know what we stand for, we can’t meaningfully work towards it.
  • But still. It has vibes of [[The People’s Front of Judea]] vs the Judean People’s Front.
  • Not got to the end yet, so perhaps this will be covered…

• Listened to [[Opening the Vicious Circle of Risk Rating (ft. Ariel Bogle)]]

2024-04-17

• [[Listened]] to [[Degrowth vs Eco-Modernism]]

• [[Listened]] to [[Is the Middle East on the brink?]]

2024-04-16

• [[Shells]].

  • Bash vs Fish vs Zsh vs Nushell? | Lobsters

• Listened to [[Israel’s AI Kill List: “Once you go automatic, target generation goes crazy.”]]

  • About Israel’s AI targeting system, "[[Lavender]]".

• Read: [[Emacs: Dead and Loving It]]

  • "What is dead cannot die"
  • [[Emacs]]

• Working on some improvements to the look and feel of my writing mode that I use when in org-roam.for Emacs.

  • [[Improving my Emacs writing mode]]

2024-04-15

• Not sure if this has happened just recently, or I’ve been living with it for a long time, but: case sensitive node search in [[org-roam]] was starting to bug me.
  • Turns out that it’s [[Helm]] that is doing it, when set to the ‘smart’ completion algorithm.
  • I just need to (setq helm-case-fold-search t) and all is good - much smoother completion experience.
  • See: https://org-roam.discourse.group/t/v2-case-insensitive-completion-and-backlinks-not-working-as-expected/1701/17
  • In Doom, something different.
  • I’ll pop it in a separate note: [[Turning on case-insensitive search in org-roam]]

2024-04-14

• Listened to [[New Economics Podcast: Should we be going for growth?]]

  • Good discussion.
  • Growth. GDP . Degrowth. Green growth. Decoupling. Doughnut economics. Policies for alternatives to growth. Growthism. Growth is structurally baked in - how to change that?

• [[Listened]] to [[Ghosts in the Machines: Artificial Intelligence, Consciousness, & Capitalism]]

  • LLMs. AGI. Political economy of AI. Neo-Luddism. [[Left spirituality]]. Fun wide ranging discussion.

• [[Habitat loss]].

  • One of the most significant threats to [[biodiversity]].

• [[Film theory]] looks at films and the effect they have on society.

  • I find this really interesting so learning a little on it via Kinnu.

2024-04-13

2024-04-12

• Did a bit more on [[Setting up a literate publish.el with org-babel]].

2024-04-11

• Learning about [[biodiversity]] via the Kinna app.

  • Variety of species. At various levels.
  • Essential to the health of the planet.
  • Genetic diversity, species diversity, ecosystem diversity.

• Listened to [[Post Capitalism w/ Alnoor Ladha]]

  • Fascinating discussion. Post Capitalism. Post here not meaning ‘after’ but ‘in relation to’. Pluralistic. Past and present examples: Zapatistas. Rojava. Indigenous worldviews. Relational ontologies and OntoShift.

2024-04-10

• Migrating my publish.el to a [[Literate publish.el]].
  • To make it a bit more understandable to others, and also as a push for me to tidy it up.

2024-04-09

• Made good progress on [[adding planted and last tended dates to pages in my digital garden]].
  • [[Testing my org-export customisations with ERT]] was incredibly helpful, would have been a bit of a nightmare otherwise.

2024-04-08

• [[Listened]] to [[Should the UK stop arming Israel?]]

  • Drone strike killed seven aid workers. (Some of whom British).
  • While Israel says it was a mistake, suggestion is that this is in line with Israel’s current rules of engagement.
  • UK sells a small amount of arms to the UK. Sunak threatening to stop this unless more aid allowed.

• [[Nonprofits should (almost) never write their own software]]

  • From the [[Aspiration Manifesto]].
  • Being the tech lead for a non-profit that develops our own software - I fully agree. We are currently going through a process of trying to divest as much bespoke code as possible to pre-existing (FLOSS) software.
  • One alternative I see, where no other software exists for the desired purpose, is for non-profits to perhaps be incubators for the software, but always with an intention to [[exit to community]] / exit the software to cooperative.

2024-04-07

• My publish.el file would be a good candidate for a literate config approach. Would make it more useful for other people to make use of then I think. Also would make me tidy it up.

• Listened again to [[Nathan Schneider on Building Democratic Governance on the Internet]]

  • [[Parallel Polis]], Vaclav Havel.
  • Touches on similar stuff as recent [[Vincent Bevins]] podcasts re: failed revolutions of the 2010s.
    • Technology helped spread viral messaging for movements, did little to help collective decision making and long-term organisation.
  • Mentions [[Loomio]], [[Action Network]].

• When I get a moment I’ll make a page of gardening tasks for myself.

  • Just simple things like reviewing nodes that haven’t been edited for a long time; reviewing empty nodes to either prune or flesh out; etc.

• [[Ecology]].

  • interaction between organisms and their environment.
  • communities, ecosystems, biomes.
  • producers, consumers, decomposers.
  • food chains, food webs.
  • energy flows, trophic levels.
  • nutrient cycles.

2024-04-06

• If you share your [[commonplace book]] to the knowledge commons, is it then a [[commonsplace book]]?

2024-04-05

• [[Listened]] to [[Nathan Schneider on Building Democratic Governance on the Internet]]
  • Love this interview of [[Nathan Schneider]] by [[David Bollier]]. New book out, [[Governable Spaces]]. Sounds like a synthesis of a bunch of recent papers (e.g. [[Governable Stacks]]).
  • Main thesis is about the need for inclusion of democracy in our everyday online tools. To avoid ‘[[Implicit feudalism]]‘.
  • [[Decidim]] referenced favourably.
• And [[listened]] to [[Building human economies using technology]]
  • Bit of a sprawling rambling discussion, but still interesting talking points. Technology, communism. [[Telekommunisten]]. Struggles of leftist tech to get a real foothold. [[Theory of value]].

2024-04-04

• I’m getting more into the groove with [[fish]] on desktop the more that I use it.

  • Still a slamdunk win on Termux.

• I would just like to take a moment to lament the fact that I have received an email inviting me to become a Certified Generative AI Specialist.

• Idle thought: maybe the world would be a better place if the de facto ‘learn to code’ tutorial was not a todo list (individual productivity) but a simple group poll (collective decision-making).

2024-04-03

• A bit more on [[Testing my org-export customisations with ERT]].

2024-04-02

• Had a quick read about [[Passkeys]].

• Listened to [[Platforms for Public Good w/ Mathew Lawrence & Thomas Hanna]]

2024-04-01

• [[Listened]] to [[Hotel Bar Sessions: Whose Anthropocene?]]

  • Good discussion - is [[Anthropocene]] a useful term? Maybe [[Capitalocene]] works better? Maybe both have their uses. Good overview of the pros and cons of both.
  • There’s a geological definition of Anthropocene (descriptive), which is interesting and all, but perhaps of more genuine use is it as a definition that motivates us to act to mitigate climate catastrophe (prescriptive).

• Also [[listened]] to [[Envisioning Platform Socialism w/ James Muldoon]]

  • Great discussion. Loads of good stuff in there, listened while doing chores so not much in the way of notes, warrants a relisten.
  • [[Platform Socialism]]. [[Guild socialism]]. [[Subsidiarity]]. Some things best as worker coops, some local municipality, some national. Some global. Global digital services. Take Google into global public ownership?
  • [[DECODE]].

2024-03-31

• Went for a walk and [[listened]] to [[The Silicon Empire in Eastern Europe (ft. Erin McElroy)]]
  • [[Silicon Valley Imperialism]].

• Following a stumble through the garden related to [[technology and political economy]], re-reading [[The Telekommunist Manifesto]].

  • [[political economy of network topologies]]
  • [[political economy of free software]]

• Also plan to re-read [[The British Digital Cooperative: A New Model Public Sector Institution]].

2024-03-30

• [[Adding planted and last tended dates to pages in my digital garden]] not as straight forward as it could be.
  • Using it as an opportunity to get familiar with ERT. [[Testing my org-export customisations with ERT]].
  • Should be simpler to write against small tests rather than having to go through the whole publish pipeline.

2024-03-29

• Late night [[listened]] to [[What’s the Value of Data? (ft. Salomé Viljoen)]]

  • [[Social data]].
  • Has [[predictive value]].
  • Three ways to extract [[surplus value]] with it:
    • 1. Just sell it on, e.g. data broker
    • 2. Use it to exploit people based on knowledge from the data
    • 3. Use it to exert power (e.g. Uber’s [[Greyball]] program)

• Also listened to [[The Supermarket into Prison Pipeline]]

• Pretty much always find [[This Machine Kills]] interesting, whatever the topic.

• Thinking about how I would go about [[adding planted and last tended dates to pages in my digital garden]].

2024-03-28

• I’ve been picking up the [[guitar]] again regularly recently, for the first time in a long time. And I’m really enjoying it. Drop D tuning and finger picking. Still got the muscle memory for basic chords and picking patterns. Relistening to some [[John Fahey]] too.

2024-03-27

• Re: [[using org-mode for timeblocking]] and [[trying out calfw-blocks]], noticed that someone (haji-ali) has forked and updated both [[calfw]] and [[calfw-blocks]].
  • https://github.com/haji-ali/emacs-calfw
  • https://github.com/haji-ali/calfw-blocks/
  • Might be worth making use of these. Have a read through the fork changelogs.

2024-03-26

• Further to [[trying out org-timeblock]], I’m now [[trying out calfw-blocks]].
  • As part of a general attempt to be able to do timeblocking in org-mode. ([[Using org-mode for timeblocking]]).
  • I wouldn’t say it’s going swimmingly… but I’m learning plenty about spacemacs layers, doom config, and use-package. So that’s something.

2024-03-25

• Although in general it feels the same (possibly slower? because I didn’t compile it myself?), one thing that is much faster in Emacs 28 is the parsing of my huge Tasks.org file for work. Thumbs up.

  • [[What’s new in Emacs 28?]]

• I’d like to tweak my garden a bit such that I have ‘planted’ and ‘last tended’ dates on each page.

  • I already have ‘This page last updated: …’ at the bottom of every page.
  • But I’d prefer it right at the top. Not too prominent/distracting, but I have some pretty old pages knocking around now and I’d like people to be aware that they might be outdated.

• [[org-timeblock]] looks pretty good and like it’d fill my desire for a timeblocking tool for org-mode.

  • I used to use [[Goalist]] on Android and it was great, but I got annoyed that I couldn’t sync it and make use of it anywhere else.
  • So… [[trying out org-timeblock]]. However, hitting a bunch of issues from the beginning.

2024-03-24

• We [[watched]] [[Soul]] again.

  • Such a lovely film. Heartwarming message, great music, great visuals, funny for the whole family.

• I [[listened]] to [[What Social Media Meant for the Mass Protest Decade w/ Vincent Bevins]]

  • [[Vincent Bevins]] again on his book [[If We Burn]].
  • Really interesting stuff.
  • I like the very loose analogy between what happened to the internet and what happened to [[the movement of the squares]].
  • Basically a form of [[The Tyranny of Structurelessness]] in both.

• Also listened to [[Why Tech Makes Us More Insecure w/ Astra Taylor]]

  • [[Insecurity]] and [[security]] - in more of social and psychological meanings of the word than the technical sense.
  • Claim: [[Capitalism requires insecurity]].
  • Claim: [[Social insurance is a bulwark against insecurity]].
  • Also by Astra: [[The Dads of Tech]] and [[The People’s Platform]].

• We have [[national insurance]] in the UK.

  • Wonder when it was introduced?

• Never really thought much about insurance before.

  • Superficially it seems a boring topic. But this and Jathan Sadowski podcast discussion ([[How the World Became Uninsurable]]) recently making me realise it’s kind of fundamental and sadly mostly privatised.

• Returning a little to [[IndieWeb]] for following activity streams. I had been using the Fediverse for a while, but I find it a bit too fast paced, a bit too attention grabbing. For me. IndieWeb is kind of slow social media and that suits me fine.

• hyperorg could be useful for me.

  • Either for publishing wiki to web, or could be a useful internal parser for the Agora? Python based.

2024-03-23

• Listened: [[Yanis Varoufakis, "Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism"]]

  • Great interview with [[Yanis Varoufakis]].
  • [[Techno-feudalism]].
  • Ultimate goal: socialisation of cloud capital (i.e. [[Big tech]])
  • Only America and China have cloud capital.
  • Glad they mention [[McKenzie Wark]] - Varoufakis says he agrees with all of it.

• [[Listened]]: [[Democracy for sale, Europe’s first black leader + tea with Obama]]

  • [[Political donations]].
  • New first minister of Wales is first black leader of a country in Europe.
  • [[Rwanda bill]].

• [[Listened]]: [[Black Box: Episode 6 – Shut it down?]]

  • [[Eliezer Yudkowsky]] with AI doonerism.
  • Alternate positive view from Alex Hern.
  • One disappointment with the series as a whole is there’s no mention of environmental impact or questioning of who owns AI technology.

2024-03-22

• [[Listened]]: [[The silencing of climate protesters in English and Welsh courts]]

  • Latest in a long line of crackdowns on defences that climate protesters can use in the courts.
  • One of which made it an offence to use the words ‘climate change’ in court.

• [[Listened]]: [[Vulture Capitalism - Exposing the toxic system and how to outgrow it with Grace Blakeley]]

  • Interesting interview and book sounds worth a read.
  • A lot sounds like analysis of problems, but they talk about some potential solutions and examples too. ([[Cooperation Jackson]], [[Blaenau Ffestiniog]], [[The Lucas Plan]])

• Read: [[‘It’s Not Rocket Science – It’s Just Community’: Radical Ffestiniog]]

  • My great grandad was from [[Blaenau Ffestiniog]]. Nice to have this little connection.

2024-03-20

• [[Listened]]: [[Black Box: Episode four – Bing and I]]

• [[Listened]]: [[Black Box: Episode 5 – The white mask]]

• [[Listened]]: [[Hotel Bar Sessions: Immediacy (with Anna Kornbluh)]]

• [[Listened]]: [[Novara FM: Not Westminster’s Whipping Boys w/ Andy Burnham and Steve Rotheram]]

2024-03-19

• I donated to the [[Amazon UK warehouse workers’ strike fund]] again.

  • https://www.foxglove.org.uk/campaigns/amazonstrikefund/
  • They are out on strike today again.

• [[Public interest technology and its origins]]

  • [[Public interest technology]]

2024-03-18

• Listened: [[Black Box: Prologue: The collision]]

  • Woman begins dating an AI, finds genuine positivity from it. She suffers from CFS/ME and has to shield from COVID. Presenter talks about ‘AI vertigo’ - dizziness is what is coming with AI. The ‘collision’ of the title refers to the collision between artificial intelligence and us humans. We being the first generations to truly experience it.

• Listened: [[Black Box: Episode one – The connectionists]]

  • Potted history of AI. [[Perceptron]]. [[AI winter]]. [[Geoff Hinton]]. The connectionists. ImageNet victory by [[AlexNet]]. [[AlphaGo]].

• Listened: [[Black Box: Episode three – Repocalypse now]]

  • Replika, the AI companion app. What happens when they update it and mess up people’s companions. A bit like [[site deaths]] but even worse.

• Listened: [[The Problem With America’s Ban on TikTok]]

2024-03-17

• Read: [[The digital revolution has failed]]

  • "as the web declines, we need to consider what a better alternative could look like and the political project it would fit within"
  • Right on. That would be [[digital ecosocialism]] in my view.

• [[Generative AI has a ferocious environmental impact]].

• [[Generative AI is further concentrating power with Big Tech]].

• Watched: [[Miners’ Strike 1984: The Battle For Britain]]

  • Shocking, the violence that was meted out by the police on picketing miners. Seemingly premeditated.
  • Then perjury.
  • All seemingly coming directly from the wishes of Margaret Thatcher.
  • The media apparently complicit, a piece of state apparatus.

• Watched: [[Avengers: Civil War]]

2024-03-16

• Listened: [[Medium Anxiety]]

• Listened: [[How an infamous ransomware gang found itself hacked]]

  • Fun story.
  • [[Ransomware]].
  • I did not know that [[WannaCry]] was by the North Korean state.

• Listened: [[What do the Tories consider extreme?]]

• [[Distributed digital gardens]].

• Watched: [[Ant-Man]].

• I can’t seem to find an [[IRC bouncer]] that you can easily install on [[YunoHost]]…

2024-03-15

• [[What would AI for the people look like?]]

  • My biggest problem with AI are its environmental impact and the fact that it is in the hands of a cabal of big tech firms using it to turn a profit.
  • Is there a way it could be retained? Publicly owned, democratically governed, socially useful, and existing within planetary boundaries?

• Watched: [[Miners’ Strike 1984: The Battle For Britain]]

  • Episode 2. Focuses on the [[Battle of Orgreave]].
  • [[Police brutality]]. [[State violence]].

• Read: [[A Modern Anarchism (Part 1): Anarchist Analysis]]

2024-03-14

• Read: [[Reframing and simplifying the idea of how to keep a Zettelkasten]]

  • Really nice summary from Chris of the minimum that you need to do to keep a ‘zettelkasten’. He cuts through a lot of the unnecessary complexity that has appeared around this.

• Contemplating whether I should send webmentions from my digital garden.

  • Maybe, maybe not.
  • There’s plenty of ways to send webmentions from a static site, plenty of people doing it.
  • So I could, but I wonder if I should.
  • Perhaps webmentions should only be sent when I post a more considered long-form article, or when I post something to my stream.
  • Not sure.
  • [[Should I send webmentions from my digital garden?]]

• Listened: [[How to talk about avoiding waste, with Keep Britain Tidy]]

  • Most people think recycling is all you need to do to prevent waste.
  • Reframe the message and move people’s consciousness up the waste hierarchy.
  • [[Buy Nothing New Month]].
  • Really interesting discussion around societal norms and reuse (e.g. what happens when you give second-hand presents at kids’ birthday parties…)

• Listened: [[Black Box: the hunt for ClothOff – the deepfake porn app]]

  • Scumbags make app to deep fake nudes of women and girls.
  • The Guardian tracks them down.

• [[Updating to Emacs 28 on Linux Mint]].

  • This time, using a PPA rather than building from source like last time ([[Installing Emacs from source]])
  • I had to manually, naughtily, uninstall the old Emacs binaries from usr/local/bin that had been built from source in order for the new emacs28 binaries from the PPA to be picked up.
  • And, of course, not it’s a new version of Emacs, spacemacs has to get all the packages from MELPA again…

• I updated packages on Mint like a good boy, and now I’m getting complaints from composer when building a project.

  • [[nette/schema v1.2.3 requires php >=7.1 <8.3 -> your php version (8.3.3) does not satisfy that requirement.]] etc.
  • Good-o.

2024-03-12

• Kickstarted the [[spacemacs]] / spacemacs packages update dance.

  • Because of the [[error "Invalid type in command series" from org-super-agenda]].
  • As always, kind of wish I hadn’t. [[Updating spacemacs 2024-03-12]].

• I created a [[quick function to help extract bold sections from text into bullet points]].

  • Most narrative text is usually just verbose prose around a few relevant points.
  • So when I’m parsing some text, I bold the relevant bits.
  • Then I pull those out to review them as bullets.
  • This function helps quickly pull the bold text into bullets.
  • Love the fact you can so easily configure Emacs to do this kind of thing!

2024-03-11

• [[Listened]]: [[Brian Merchant, "Blood in the Machine: The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech"]]

• [[Spam]].

  • Our website is experiencing an uptick in spam over the last few days.
  • Incredibly irritating.
  • With comments like 1*if(now()=sysdate(),sleep(15),0).
  • We have Akismet and a honepot enabled. Adding a very noddy manual captcha (e.g. 4+8 = ?) helps. But if it continues, we’ll probably have to enable ReCaptcha. Which I’d prefer to avoid if possible.
  • Seemingly emanating from the same IP address.
  • The host lists an abuse@ address. But when I contact that address, the mailbox is reported as being full.

• [[Polgar]] believed that [[education]] should not be left to [[schools]], but handled by the [[family]] where the family could provide a better environment for [[learning]].
  • The [[family]] is the first field activity for the [[child]].
  • [[Family]] members are the first [[models]] to [[learn]] from, if they are not sent away.
  • It’s easier to develop outstanding abilities in children if the [[parents]] actions are toward raising outstanding adults.
    • “the passion of the mature person in relation to the developing person - in favour of the latter.”
    • The basis of the desire to [[learn]] is in the [[love]] the student has for the teacher.
  • Polgar believed strongly in selecting one concrete field to develop the child’s abilities in. [[Specialization]].
    • Perhaps this is for using an area with simple and tight [[feedback]] loops to channel the overall education through.
  • "It is only important that by the age of 3-4 some physical or mental field should be chosen, and the child can set out on their voyage."
  • The Polgar daughters played chess 5-6 hours a day from the ages of 4-5.
  • Any field with concrete [[feedback]] could be selected.
  • Where they perceive success, the child would also feel independent.
  • Is it a nice feeling for the child? Is it useful for the child? Is it useful for the child’s society? collapsed:: true
    • If he were trying to raise a [[language]] genius, [[Polgar]] would [[focus]] the child on one language (preferably one stuffed with cognates leading to other languages) in the first year (5-6 hours a day), until the child has a basic level of mastery. Then, when there is a [[base]] of success in the first language, he would move to starting a second. And so on, year after year.
  • In normal [[schools]], the child does not understand why they learn what they are made to learn. To raise a genius, the child must understand [[why]] they’re learning what they’re learning, and what it can be used to lead to.
  • The child will [[learn]] more voraciously when they see the end [[goal]] and [[meaning]] of their [[work]].
  • The [[relationship]] between the teacher and the [[child]] must be collaborative, where the child feels they are not subordinate.
  • These methods need direct, intensive, and constant [[contact]] between teacher and [[child]].
  • By age ten, the [[child]] should accurately feel that there is at least one field in which they have a level of [[mastery]] in which they are at least equal to adults.
  • The specialized skill is used as a base to [[learn]] everything else from.
  • Schools lead to "gray mediocrity".
  • It is important to put them in situations where they will [[learn]] how to learn.
  • Variety among their peers (ie, peers of all-ages) will aid in their development. The children should stay close to whoever their peers are (even if their peers in a skill are old people). That is, people at the same level of skill and with similar interests.
  • Polgar did not [[diversify]] the specializations among his three daughters due to the [[costs]] with getting different equipment and books for different skills. Also, so his family could function as a team dedicated to one field.
  • Polgar’s suggested [[schedule]]. collapsed:: true
    • 4 hours of specialist study (for us, chess)
    • 1 hour of a foreign language. Esperanto in the first year, English in the second, and another chosen at will in the third. At the stage of beginning, that is, intensive language instruction, it is necessary to increase the study hours to 3 - in place of the specialist study - for 3 months. In summer, study trips to other countries.
    • 1 hour of general study (native language, natural science and social studies)
    • 1 hour of computing
    • 1 hour of moral, psychological, and pedagogical studies ([[humor]] lessons as well, with 20 minutes every hour for joke telling)
    • 1 hour of gymnastics, freely chosen, which can be accomplished individually outside school. The division of study hours can of course be treated elastically.
  • The Polgars strongly believed in [[Esperanto]], and used it as a family language.
  • They wanted to prove that geniuses could be raised, and chess provided a means.
  • Chess is a field where there is tight feedback with no uncertainties about what is success or failure.
  • They figured if the children tire from chess, it is easy to retire from chess without bad outcomes (as opposed to say, gymnastics, which might result in injuries).
  • Because they had girls, they wanted to prove that [[nurture]] would lead to girls who could beat men at chess.
  • The Polgar parents loved chess and found it [[beautiful]].
  • [[Creativity]] required in [[winning]] at a high level requires the competitor to know how to explore and innovate.
  • The [[Polgar]] daughters played ping pong or swam 1.5 to 3 hours a day. In other words, Zone 1 work.
  • "One thing is certain: one can never achieve serious pedagogical results, especially at a high level, through [[coercion]]. One can teach chess only by means of [[love]] and the love of the [[game]]."
  • The Polgar sisters were playing chess. That is, they were playing- the kind of playing that is fun. The parents made playing chess fun by giving them a taste of success. Losing on purpose, near the peak of their level.
  • The child should feel the [[joy]] of making their own moves, their own [[failures]], trying things out.
  • Have care for what is said to the child. If they are told they are lazy or bad, they will believe it.
  • Polgar used a proportion of failure to success that was 1 to 10.
  • He started off playing about half an hour a day with the children, then raised the amount of [[time]] per day as their ability and desire to play rose.
  • When young, he favored blitz matches for them. Smaller games with shorter [[time]] scales.
  • The Polgars had 4-5000 books organized by player, opening type, and middle game type. The sisters used these to develop new plays. collapsed:: true
    • To [[learn]] a type, they would look at 50-100 examples and then come up with things they have in common.
  • When the child loses in competition, don’t tell them off. Failure is enough punishment. Rather, console them and help them figure out why they lost.
  • They played while [[blind]]folded to develop their capacity to visualize the [[game]] mentally.

• [[Polgar]] believed that [[education]] should not be left to [[schools]], but handled by the [[family]] where the family could provide a better environment for [[learning]].
  • The [[family]] is the first field activity for the [[child]].
  • [[Family]] members are the first [[models]] to [[learn]] from, if they are not sent away.
  • It’s easier to develop outstanding abilities in children if the [[parents]] actions are toward raising outstanding adults.
    • “the passion of the mature person in relation to the developing person - in favour of the latter.”
    • The basis of the desire to [[learn]] is in the [[love]] the student has for the teacher.
  • Polgar believed strongly in selecting one concrete field to develop the child’s abilities in. [[Specialization]].
    • Perhaps this is for using an area with simple and tight [[feedback]] loops to channel the overall education through.
  • "It is only important that by the age of 3-4 some physical or mental field should be chosen, and the child can set out on their voyage."
  • The Polgar daughters played chess 5-6 hours a day from the ages of 4-5.
  • Any field with concrete [[feedback]] could be selected.
  • Where they perceive success, the child would also feel independent.
  • Is it a nice feeling for the child? Is it useful for the child? Is it useful for the child’s society? collapsed:: true
    • If he were trying to raise a [[language]] genius, [[Polgar]] would [[focus]] the child on one language (preferably one stuffed with cognates leading to other languages) in the first year (5-6 hours a day), until the child has a basic level of mastery. Then, when there is a [[base]] of success in the first language, he would move to starting a second. And so on, year after year.
  • In normal [[schools]], the child does not understand why they learn what they are made to learn. To raise a genius, the child must understand [[why]] they’re learning what they’re learning, and what it can be used to lead to.
  • The child will [[learn]] more voraciously when they see the end [[goal]] and [[meaning]] of their [[work]].
  • The [[relationship]] between the teacher and the [[child]] must be collaborative, where the child feels they are not subordinate.
  • These methods need direct, intensive, and constant [[contact]] between teacher and [[child]].
  • By age ten, the [[child]] should accurately feel that there is at least one field in which they have a level of [[mastery]] in which they are at least equal to adults.
  • The specialized skill is used as a base to [[learn]] everything else from.
  • Schools lead to "gray mediocrity".
  • It is important to put them in situations where they will [[learn]] how to learn.
  • Variety among their peers (ie, peers of all-ages) will aid in their development. The children should stay close to whoever their peers are (even if their peers in a skill are old people). That is, people at the same level of skill and with similar interests.
  • Polgar did not [[diversify]] the specializations among his three daughters due to the [[costs]] with getting different equipment and books for different skills. Also, so his family could function as a team dedicated to one field.
  • Polgar’s suggested [[schedule]]. collapsed:: true
    • 4 hours of specialist study (for us, chess)
    • 1 hour of a foreign language. Esperanto in the first year, English in the second, and another chosen at will in the third. At the stage of beginning, that is, intensive language instruction, it is necessary to increase the study hours to 3 - in place of the specialist study - for 3 months. In summer, study trips to other countries.
    • 1 hour of general study (native language, natural science and social studies)
    • 1 hour of computing
    • 1 hour of moral, psychological, and pedagogical studies ([[humor]] lessons as well, with 20 minutes every hour for joke telling)
    • 1 hour of gymnastics, freely chosen, which can be accomplished individually outside school. The division of study hours can of course be treated elastically.
  • The Polgars strongly believed in [[Esperanto]], and used it as a family language.
  • They wanted to prove that geniuses could be raised, and chess provided a means.
  • Chess is a field where there is tight feedback with no uncertainties about what is success or failure.
  • They figured if the children tire from chess, it is easy to retire from chess without bad outcomes (as opposed to say, gymnastics, which might result in injuries).
  • Because they had girls, they wanted to prove that [[nurture]] would lead to girls who could beat men at chess.
  • The Polgar parents loved chess and found it [[beautiful]].
  • [[Creativity]] required in [[winning]] at a high level requires the competitor to know how to explore and innovate.
  • The [[Polgar]] daughters played ping pong or swam 1.5 to 3 hours a day. In other words, Zone 1 work.
  • "One thing is certain: one can never achieve serious pedagogical results, especially at a high level, through [[coercion]]. One can teach chess only by means of [[love]] and the love of the [[game]]."
  • The Polgar sisters were playing chess. That is, they were playing- the kind of playing that is fun. The parents made playing chess fun by giving them a taste of success. Losing on purpose, near the peak of their level.
  • The child should feel the [[joy]] of making their own moves, their own [[failures]], trying things out.
  • Have care for what is said to the child. If they are told they are lazy or bad, they will believe it.
  • Polgar used a proportion of failure to success that was 1 to 10.
  • He started off playing about half an hour a day with the children, then raised the amount of [[time]] per day as their ability and desire to play rose.
  • When young, he favored blitz matches for them. Smaller games with shorter [[time]] scales.
  • The Polgars had 4-5000 books organized by player, opening type, and middle game type. The sisters used these to develop new plays. collapsed:: true
    • To [[learn]] a type, they would look at 50-100 examples and then come up with things they have in common.
  • When the child loses in competition, don’t tell them off. Failure is enough punishment. Rather, console them and help them figure out why they lost.
  • They played while [[blind]]folded to develop their capacity to visualize the [[game]] mentally.

2024-03-10

• [[Listened]]: [[The cybernetic jacket]]

  • The left receives threats that [[Jakarta is coming]].
  • A reference to the brutal murder of Communists in Indonesia.

• [[Read]]: [[The Jakarta Method Comes to Latin America (Review)]]

  • The Jakarta Method.
  • CIA involvement in brutally violent suppression of communist societies.

• Read: [[For years, I suspected MI5 interfered in the miners’ strike. The truth was even more shocking than I thought]]

2024-03-09

• [[Listened]]: [[The cybernetic jacket]]

  • Ep 4 of [[The Santiago Boys]].
  • [[strike action]] across Chile.
  • And how [[Allende]]‘s government deal with it, with the help of the [[Cybersyn]] team.

• [[Watched]]: [[Miners’ Strike 1984: The Battle For Britain]]

  • Finished the first episode. Focused on [[Shirebrook]]. The division between strikers and those that crossed the picket line. Still raw.

• [[Concept map]]s seem like something I’d be interested in. A visual way of organising knowledge focusing on the relationships between concepts.

• [[Vulpea]] and [[publicatorg]] look like they might be useful for my [[org-roam]] life.

2024-03-08

• [[Listened]]: [[Jeremy Hunt’s election budget for big earners and big owners]]

  • [[Spring Statement 2024]].
  • This is a budget for big earners and big owners.
  • It’s not good for public services.

• Don’t think I’ll be able to do a [[new connections]] page.

  • At least not easily.
  • It would require amending org-roam to allow for link annotations.
  • See chat at https://org-roam.discourse.group/t/recording-the-date-that-connections-were-made/3379
  • [[Adding a new connections page to my garden]]

• Listened: [[What if we became better Protopians?]]

  • With Monika Bielskyte.
  • Good discussion, but it seemed more utopian than protopian.
  • Lots of nice things listed for how the future could be. But, not much discussion on how to get there. Even in protopian increments.

• [[Watched]]: [[Miners’ Strike 1984: The Battle For Britain]]

2024-03-07

• [[Listened]]: [[Stafford is going mad again]]
  • Ep 3 of [[The Santiago Boys]].

2024-03-06

• [[Listened]]:[[Nvidia: 2 Boom 2 Bust]]

  • [[Nvidia]].
  • Huge leap in value due to [[AI]].
  • [[AI bubble]]?

• Read: [[Oregon Just Struck a Blow to Parts Pairing and Won a Decade of Repair Support]]

• Read: [[What’s the latest on Right to Repair in the EU? And what it means for the UK]]

• Been having fun looking at [[repairability scores]] from the [[French repair index]] as displayed on Amazon.fr.

  • Impressive how prominent they are (being mandated to be placed next to the price).

2024-03-05

• Claim: [[The free software movement is an example of neo-Luddism]].

• Claim: [[The right to repair movement is an example of neo-Luddism]].

• Both sound defensible - both movements are clearly not anti-technology, just anti the political economy of how software and hardware are controlled and commodified to the detriment of society.

• US PIRG has a short report on what it considers to be the best laptop brands for repairability.

  • [[US PIRG’s best laptop brands for repairability]].

• [[Listened]]: [[Nvidia: 2 Boom 2 Bust]]

2024-03-04

• Nice to see a mention of the [[Austrian Repair Bonus voucher scheme in National Geographic Kids]].

  • Plus we ([[The Restart Project]]) get a shoutout :)

• Read: [[A political ecology of the repair manual]]

  • A lovely-looking political and philosophical ode to the [[repair manual]] by Shannon Mattern.
  • Ive only skim read it for now. But check out some of the historical and hand-drawn manuals.
  • Like with [[The Maintainers]], there’s also the expansion of the concept of repair and maintenance to the wider social context.

• [[iFixit and Lenovo]].

• [[Listened]]: [[Hotel Bar Sessions: Breaking Things at Work (with Gavin Mueller)]]

  • What could technology created under a different value system look like?
  • He gives [[right to repair]] as another example of neo-Luddism.
  • Right on. With that and free software, I seem to fit the description.

• To raise [[children]], Laszlo [[Polgar]] setup an environment for [[autonomy]] and agency.
  • Polgar needed to work with his children, rather than telling them what to do.
  • The father’s role was an enabler, an opener of ways.
  • The father’s goal was to provide the "highest possible level of [[freedom]]".
  • They are not marionettes, but in a traditional [[school]] they are.
  • Polgar does not assert that raising competent children leads to happiness, but that they will at least have the same opportunities for happiness as normal children.
  • He did not like that older, more static leaders were followed instead of younger, more dynamic leaders.
  • Polgar rejected the [[middle]]. "Mediocrity, the orientation to the middle, I refuse out of principle."
  • Polgar was intent on quality.
  • Polgar saw himself as someone who shapes his own destiny.
  • Polgar was against compromise.
  • He preferred defeating obstacles to worrying about them.
  • Laszlo and his wife had the premise that every healthy child could be raised to be an outstanding person.
  • They believed that every outstanding person had a trainer who was obssessed.
  • “It is better not to say that geniuses are not often born; say rather that we do not often raise them.”
  • Polgar figured that people are shaped by the body they are born to, the effect of the [[environment]], and a ‘self-[[creation]]‘ that happens from personal experimentation.
  • Great capability comes from [[creativity]] expressed in concrete [[action]].
  • "…every child born healthy is potentially a genius, and if one pays enough attention, they will in fact become one."
  • The ultimate goal is human happiness- which is enabled by genius.
  • "I criticize contemporary schools because they do not educate for life, they equalize everyone to a very low level, and in addition they do not tolerate the talented and those who diverge from the average."
  • "My daughters, who have never visited a [[school]], grew up much more in the context of real [[life]]."

2024-03-03

• How do you socialise something that has been privatised?

  • i.e. how do you enact [[deprivatisation]].

• Watched: [[Avengers: Age of Ultron]]

• Listened: [[Hotel Bar Sessions: Breaking Things at Work (with Gavin Mueller)]]

  • [[Luddism]].
  • Claim: Free software movement was a form of Luddism.
  • Great example. Hackers were clearly not anti-technology, they were concerned about the enclosure of technology for capitalism.

2024-03-02

• A ‘trick’ I use when I have some issue with a particular file in my [[org-publish]] pipeline on my remote server.

  • In org-publish-project-alist, set :base-extension "foo".
    • By default it is "org", looking at all files with org extension.
    • By setting it to foo, the publish process won’t find any files. Except..
  • Set up :include to include the file that’s got the issue.
    • e.g. :include ("file-with-a-problem.org")
  • There’s probably a better way of doing it than this, but it gets me by for now.

• Nice, I replaced a cl-loop with a mapconcat in some of my output formatting, e.g. in [[Well-connected]]. mapconcat feels a bit more functional style, and it also gets rid of the superfluous parentheses I had in the output.

• I might try and add [[Pagefind]] to my published garden.

• Trying [[fish]] out on desktop.

  • While on mobile I found them incredibly helpful, I actually find it all of the autosuggestions a bit distracting at first.
  • I’ll see how it pans out.

• Watched: [[Guardians of the Galaxy]]

2024-03-01

• Listened: [[How the World Became Uninsurable]]

  • Insurance sector has had huge losses four years in a row.
  • Due to the general ongoing collapse of the world.
  • They are hiking insurance premiums as a result.
  • Claim: [[We need to eliminate the private insurance sector]].
  • Also bit of a chat about [[neo-Luddism]] too.

• I’ve been enjoying [[using Python in org]].

  • Workbook style.
  • Kind of literate programming/thinking/prototyping.
  • A couple of times I get to a point where it makes more sense to put figures in a spreadsheet.
  • But spiking it out in Python is way more interesting for me.

• Read: [[Neofeudalism: The End of Capitalism?]]

  • [[Neofeudalism]].

2024-02-29

• I am [[using Python in org]] for a few little things.

2024-02-28

2024-02-27

• Listened: [[Capitalist Manufacturing // Manufacturing Communism – Part 1 (ft. Nick Chavez)]]

  • On the need for an understanding of production in order to harness it for communism.
  • That is - how do we actually manufacture things?
  • Listened: [[The socialist spoon]]
    • Ep 2 of [[The Santiago Boys]].
    • Coup in Brazil supported by US.
    • US trying to foment the same against Allende.
    • Setting up of cybersyn and the war room.
    • ITT.

2024-02-26

• [[The Web of Death (ft. Tamara Kneese)]]

  • Also brings to mind the show [[Upload]].
  • And of course [[Black Mirror]].

• [[Work Notes 2024-02-26]]

• ‘Dear Data Subject’ and other great ways to start an email.

  • [[Matomo]].
  • They mention that they are now using a [[data broker]] for "customer and prospect data enrichment".
    • "We process this personal data on the basis of legitimate interest. Without the information we will not be able to customise our communications with you to best meet your needs".
    • I find the wording a bit weaselly to be honest. Better would be "We want this information so we can more likely retain and get new customers". Fine - just be honest about it.
    • You can opt-out. Not opt-in?

• Using Python in org, I was getting: [[Importmagic and/or epc not found]].

2024-02-25

• Listened: [[The Web of Death (ft. Tamara Kneese)]]

  • Digital decay
  • Digital memorials
  • Makes me think of the film [[Coco]]…
  • Transhumanists

• magit doesnt work properly for me in [[termux]] for some reason. I can stage but I cant commit.

  • No biggie as I just git from the terminal instead. But still, would be good to get to the bottom of it.

• Had a quick play with [[Surfacing notes in my garden that have no claims]] using [[Metabase]].

  • Easy enough to do. But has the downside for me at the moment that it’s only accessible on my laptop, which I’m not often using at the moment outside of work.
  • [[Knowledge commoning]].

2024-02-24

• [[AI]]

• Listened: [[The Web of Death (ft. Tamara Kneese)]]

  • Various topics related to tech and death.
  • Digital estates. What do you do with people’s digital life when they die?
  • Dead labour. Extracting value from people event after they’re dead.

• Customising some key bindings would make one-handed phone tending my garden in Emacs in termux easier.

  • Let’s have a look how best to do that…

• Read: [[AI deepfakes come of age as billions prepare to vote in a bumper year of elections]]

  • Bloody tech bros building their shit without any democratic process or thinking through the repercussions.

2024-02-23

• [[Listened]]: [[TMK BC5: Mute Compulsion, Ch. 2]]

  • [[Mute Compulsion]] chapter 2.
  • [[Power]] and [[Marxism]].
  • [[Historical materialism]].
  • Violence and the state.
  • [[Hegemony]], [[ideology]].
  • First, there was too much focus on violence and the state. Then, pendulum swing to ideology and hegemony.
  • Both necessary, but missing out economic power.
  • Mau pulls in his team - Marxist feminists, Marxist ecologists, and labour theory types.

• Trying out [[fish]] shell on [[termux]] to make command line life a little easier on the phone.

  • Loving it so far. Makes me wonder why I’m still using bash on desktop.
  • For reference: [[My fish in termux setup]].

2024-02-22

• [[Listened]]: [[TMK BC5: Mute Compulsion, Ch. 1]]
  • [[Power]]. [[Capital]].

2024-02-21

• Regarding [[Surfacing notes in my garden that have no claims]], it’d be good to also surface claims that have no supporting evidence linked to them.

2024-02-20

• For reference: [[My orgzly searches]].

• [[Pulling out useful information from Gravity Forms entry meta]]

• [[Surfacing notes in my garden that have no claims]]

2024-02-19

• [[Listened]]: [[The Art and Science of Communism, Part 1 (ft. Nick Chavez, Phil Neel)]]

  • More good stuff.
  • Description of working in some distribution warehouse was pretty wild.
  • They dislike [[The Ministry for the Future]].

• Read: [[Mute Compulsion]]

  • After recommendation in [[Forest and Factory]], and [[Jathan Sadowski]] raving about it.
  • In addition to coercion ([[violence]]) and consent ([[ideology]]), there is the mute compulsion of [[economic power]].

• Listened: [[TMK BC5: Mute Compulsion, Introduction]]

  • Very handy chat about [[Mute Compulsion]].

• [[Social reproduction]].

2024-02-18

• Read: [[Forest and Factory]]

  • Finished it.
  • Good stuff. Provocative.
  • The suggestion to focus on hard science fiction for our utopias seems a good one.
  • Though I don’t know if their piece really does that.
  • They just combine a focus on production with handwaving, rather than reproduction with handwaving.
  • Their salient point is really that we’ve stopped thinking about production, which I think is a good one.
  • Also lots of nuggets of wisdom in the footnotes to be mined.

• Listened: [[The Art and Science of Communism, Part 1 (ft. Nick Chavez, Phil Neel)]]

  • Great discussion. Based around [[Forest and Factory]]. Loads of good stuff.
  • Their insistence on starting from present conditions and working towards for me thinking about [[complex systems]] and [[chaos theory]], [[sensitive dependence on initial conditions]] in particular. Is it logical to try and completely map the present to then try and cause the future? Maybe.
  • Maybe an alternative is the utopian way of doing it. Think of elements of your desired future as attractors of sorts, then focus on how your can leverage the path of history towards those. Maybe that’s a combination of both. It obviously can’t hurt to know the present conditions, but to then assume you can trace a clear path from now to the future seems wrong.
  • Yeah I think you need both. A clear understanding of present conditions. A clear idea of how you want society to function - your attractors. And then you nudge it from A to B, making use of [[shocks]], [[leverage points]], etc.
  • They make the point that a lot of utopias focus on reproduction rather than production. (Superstructure rather than base?).

2024-02-17

• Read: [[Talking to My Daughter About the Economy]]

  • Finished it. Enjoyed it. Would recommend.
  • Need to go back and note it up a bit.

• Read: [[Theories of International Politics and Zombies]]

  • "How international relations theory can be applied to a zombie invasion"
  • Fun.
  • I remember some of [[Robert Biel]]‘s articles saying how [[international relations]] was a field that applied systems theory to politics, so was looking for something that is a bit of an easy primer - this seems like it!

• [[Shower thought]].

  • I want to make sure that I document at least the top two or three salient claims from every book and article that I read.
  • Otherwise it seems like wasted effort.
  • I’ll tag book files such that I can run a query that pulls out those that I’ve read but have no associated claims.
  • To do so will be a positive act of [[knowledge commoning]].

2024-02-16

• Read: [[Talking to My Daughter About the Economy]]

  • Nearly finished it now.
  • Very good all in all. Very readable intro to some economics concepts, in particular through a critical lens of capitalism.
  • Very easy to read. (As such not the most rigourous analysis, but thats fine)
  • Interesting to note he uses ‘experiential’ value rather than use value.
  • His brief suggestion of a solution to capitalism is that we need more democracy rather than more markets.
    • In ownership of the means of production and in control over how we treat the environment.

• Read: [[Forest and Factory]]

  • Deep dive into the logistics of production of motors.
  • Interesting, but still not convinced that this constitutes a scientific account of transition, in the language of their own critique.

• How repairable is a [[Vision Pro]]?

  • "…you’ve more chance of walking to Venus than getting the Apple Vision Pro repaired if you damage it." – Why Vision Pro is a repair nightmare | TechFinitive

• I’d like to add a ‘[[New connections]]‘ page to my garden.

  • [[Adding a new connections page to my garden]].

• [[Flancian]] told me about [[Orgzly Revived]].

  • This is very good news to me.

2024-02-15

• Read: [[The high cost of Uber’s small profit]]

2024-02-14

• Volunteer at [[Ulverston Repair Cafe]] for the first time in a few months.
  • [[Ulverston Repair Cafe, February 2024]]

2024-02-13

• Read: [[Forest and Factory]]
  • So far: very interesting.
  • But unnecessarily disdainful in tone to some of the other projects that it is critiquing. We’re all on the same side here!
  • And, so far, while very interesting, the vision for the future they outline is just as lacking in scientific rigour as any of the projects that they are critiquing.
    • Going to assume that the science bit is going to come later.
  • Unflinching mentions of carbon capture and storage / direct air capture is a bit of a red flag.

2024-02-12

• Read: [[Forest and Factory]]
  • Subtitle: The Science and the Fiction of Communism.
  • Heard about it from the This Machine Kills podcast.
  • Very interesting. A modern day update on the topic of [[Socialism: Utopian and Scientific]].
  • Critiques a bunch of things I’ve read recently as utopian, in the sense of lacking any practical route from the here and now to there.
    • Fair comment - though I’ve appreciated them, I’ve thought similar.
  • Not got to their own prescription for transformation yet.

2024-02-11

• Read: [[Talking to My Daughter About the Economy]]

• Read: [[A Half-Built Garden]]

2024-02-10

• Read: [[AI is fueling a data center boom. It must be stopped.]]
  • [[data centre]]s. [[AI]].

2024-02-09

• [[Read]]: [[How to stop a data center]].

  • How organisers in Santiago stopped the development of a data centre in their locality.
  • Seemed to be mostly information campaigns around water usage.
  • Less drastic than [[How to Blow Up a Data Centre]].

• Read: [[Imagining social movements: from networks to dynamic systems]]

  • [[social movement]]s and [[complex systems]].

2024-02-08

• Had to give up on [[Red Enlightenment: On Socialism, Science and Spirituality]] for now.

  • It’s intensely and densely philosophical. A bit too much for me (especially when reading it in the middle of the night…)
  • I still like the premise though, so maybe I’ll just try and read the conclusion.

• Started on [[Talking to My Daughter About the Economy]] instead.

  • Subtitle: A Brief History of Capitalism.
  • Easier to read, that’s for sure.
  • I think some of his broad sweep of history of agriculture and surplus and economics might need a bit of fact-checking. c.f. [[The Dawn of Everything]].
  • Talks about [[Enclosure Movement]]. How [[Debt]] played a big role in genesis of capitalism.

2024-02-05

• Watched: [[Kohei Saito: "Climate Crisis and Ecological Revolution"]]
  • On [[Degrowth communism]].
  • I actually watched this a while ago, just noting it now.
  • I remember he mentioned [[commoning]] as an important aspect.

2024-02-04

• Listened: [[The Santiago Boys]].
  • Finished the first episode. (Ep 1: A Blast in Manhattan).
  • Chiefly about the political milieu in Chile at the time, and then how Fernando Flores invites Beer to work with them.

2024-02-02

• Read: [[Red Enlightenment: On Socialism, Science and Spirituality]]

  • Enjoying it. I am sympathetic to the idea of a [[secular spirituality]] of some kind.
  • Jones is continuing his referencing to [[cybernetics]] and [[complex adaptive systems]] that was present in [[The Shock Doctrine of the Left]], so I’m enjoying it on that level too.

• Listened: [[The Missing Revolution w/ Vincent Bevins]]

  • On the uprisings of the 2010s and their failure to manifest as leftist revolutions in the long-term.
  • On the problems of [[horizontalism]]. Bit of [[Horizontalism vs verticalism]].
  • Interview is a bit one-sided, Marxist-Leninist, missing the nuance of [[Neither Vertical Nor Horizontal]] I think.
  • Still, really interesting, and based on on the ground accounts of what happened, so definitely to take heed of.

2024-01-31

• Read: [[The Shock Doctrine of the Left]]
  • Finished it. Reading it in lots of 20 minute late-night bursts while doing childcare.
  • Very good. Primary focus on movement building, organising.
  • Combination of left politics and complex adaptive systems is right up my street.
  • Also touches on [[organisational ecology]], [[care work]].
  • Would like to apply some of the concepts to [[reclaim the stacks]].
  • Particularly the description of using (and creating) shocks as points of leverage and transition is useful.

2024-01-29

• [[Distance]] gives you [[time]]. [[Angles]] give you a way to [[flank]].
• [[Questions]] for district or city [[attorneys]]. collapsed:: true
  • If [[prosecution]] is an [[assembly]] line [[process]], what are the [[constraints]]?
  • What do you do in every single [[criminal]] [[prosecution]]?
  • How often do they go to [[trial]]?
  • Who are the [[defense]] [[lawyers]]?
  • What are plea dialogues?
• Show them [[chaos]], and present an [[alternative]]. collapsed:: true
  • Offer [[stability]] in the face of that chaos.
• [[Dormancy]] lets [[seeds]] [[disperse]] through [[time]].
• [[Police]] Departments found it easier to [[recruit]] following police attacks in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
• The US military found it much easier to [[recruit]] during the second gulf war, as well as right after [[9/11]].
• If someone is [[blaming]] someone consistently for anything that goes wrong in their [[life]], it is a sign that they are [[owned]] by that person.
• [[Seeds]] must have ways to [[spread]], [[feed]], and protect baby plants.
• 100 million dollar offers: collapsed:: true
  • 1. Pain /what life would like without the pain
    2. Purchasing power
    3. Easy to target/symbols where they are already gathered
    4. Growing market
  • The point of writing is for the reader to understand.
  • The point of [[copywriting]] is for the prospect to feel [[understood]].
  • People [[want]] [[health]], [[wealth]], and [[relationships]].
  • In order of easiest to [[sell]] to: Starving crowd > offer strength > [[persuasion]] skills
  • [[Price]] is what you [[pay]], [[value]] is what you [[get]].
  • The [[Value Equation]]: Dream outcome x perceived likelihood of achievement / [[time]] delay * [[effort]] + [[sacrifice]] = [[value]]
  • Talk in terms of how the prospect will get [[status]] from other people.
  • People [[pay]] for [[certainty]].
  • Most people want an early [[victory]]. So [[fast]] beats [[free]].
  • What points of [[friction]] exist for them if they accept your [[offer]]? What’s the next [[obstacle]]? The obstacle after that? And that?
  • Generate a [[solution]] to every [[problem]].
  • [[Urgency]]: [[deadlines]] make [[decisions]].
  • Seasonal offers should occur more often with local [[businesses]].
  • 1-on-1 delivery bonus after [[sale]]? collapsed:: true
    • Add [[bonus]] to account for each verbalized [[obstacle]].
  • A [[lead]] is a person you can [[reach]]. collapsed:: true
    • A good lead is a person you can reach who has shown interest in your [[product]] or [[service]].
    • Have a library of [[lead magnets]] you can rotate.
  • A good [[call to action]] tells you what to do and [[why]] you should do it right now.
• [[Dotcomsecrets]]: collapsed:: true
  • who do you like working with most? collapsed:: true
    • what dramatic [[transformation]] do you want to help them make?
    • where are these people?
    • how can you find them online?
    • what [[bait]] works on them but [[pushes]] everyone else away?
    • where to find them? collapsed:: true
      • what [[groups]] are they a part of? newsletters? discords? forums? subreddits? twitter circles? what other interests do they have?
  • create customer avatars of who you want to work with collapsed:: true
    • include their [[dreams]], [[fears]], [[passions]], [[goals]], & [[desires]]
  • [[bait]] is anything the [[fitting]] [[customer]] would pay [[attention]] to and [[want]] collapsed:: true
    • book
    • online report
    • podcast
    • tool
  • what result do you want to give them? collapsed:: true
    • change
    • A business is not about [[products]] or [[services]], it is about a [[change]] that [[clients]] want.
  • free stuff is [[bait]] to generate [[leads]]
  • who am I trying to [[reach]]? where do they [[gather]]? where are their watering holes?
  • Three Types of [[Traffic]]: collapsed:: true
    • 1. Traffic you don’t control. (external site)
      2. Traffic you control. (newsletter/subscriptions)
      3. Traffic you own. (when they’re on your page)
  • The back [[story]] has to relate to the [[product]] or [[service]] being sold. If it’s a financial product, the story has to be about something that changed with the character in regard to finances.
  • What are the stories that have happened in the relatable character’s life?
  • A [[story]] is more powerful than telling someone what would work.
  • Polarize with the truth of the character. This helps with [[selection]].
  • What’s going on with the relatable [[character]]? collapsed:: true
    • what embarrassed them
    • what did they enjoy having bought
    • what made them frustrated yesterday that they’re happy about today
    • what antics did your kid get into
    • what funny thing happened to them that teaches a lesson
  • every e-mail has to tie back to an offer
  • Reverse engineering successful [[sales funnels]]: collapsed:: true
    • Demographics
    • Offer
    • Landing page
    • Traffic source
    • Ad copy
  • Don’t create [[traffic]]. Look for it and tap into it. It is something you find when foraging.
  • "The [[money]] you make in your [[business]] depends on how well you manage the [[experience]] of every person who comes in contact with you—no matter how long they stay"
  • Setup [[frame]] that is conducive to a [[long-term]] [[buying]] relationship.
    • collapsed:: true
      1. What is the [[mindset]] of people in the [[traffic]] you’re trying to pull to your [[landing page]]?
      2. Setup Pre-Frame Bridge
      3. Qualifying
      4. Who is a buyer?
      • "If your prospect is aware of your [[product]] and has realized it can satisfy his [[desire]], your [[headline]] starts with the product. If he is not aware of your product, but only of the desire itself, your headline starts with the desire. If he is not yet aware of what he really seeks, but is concerned with the general problem, your headline starts with the problem and crystallizes it into a specific need."
      • Hot Traffic is people who already know who you are.
      • Cold Traffic is people who have no idea who you are.
      • hot traffic bridge: they already trust you, so keep it short
      • warm traffic bridge: longer than hot, needs endorsement
      • cold traffic bridge: very long, they need to be framed before they hit landing page
        • they need to be introduced to the concepts ([[inferential gap]] must be bridged)
        • ‘bridge page’ before ‘offer page’
        • they may not understand the [[problem]], so you will have to show them the cause of a surface problem
      • Will they buy?
      • Will they subscribe to a list?
    • As soon as they [[subscribe]], give them a way to [[buy]] something. collapsed:: true
      • Something priced extremely low that is high value.
    • 5. Who is a hyperactive buyer?
    • Typically in some sort of [[pain]]/starving with a [[problem]].
    • For example, catching someone right after a humiliating [[defeat]]. They will buy multiple items.
    • When in [[pain]] and on a quest, they will spend money to further that quest.
    • collapsed:: true 6. Age & Ascend Relationship on Ladder
      • With [[time]], provide more [[value]].
    • collapsed:: true 7. Change the Selling Environment
      • Switch to phone, video, in-person, snailmail, or live event.
      • Think of it as being invited to the VIP section, staff section, or holy of holies in a [[temple]].
    • You may bump a purchase in the same way grocery stores sell candy bars and tabloids. Offer a one-time purchase that complements the main purchase.
    • Downsell: if they don’t take the bump, offer a [[downsell]].
• [[Shaping]] [[Work]] by 37Signals: collapsed:: true
  • "[[Estimates]] start with a [[design]] and end with a number. Appetites start with a number and end with a design. We use the [[appetite]] as a creative [[constraint]] on the design process."
  • Check [[want]] to use as a [[constraint]]. The more want, the more [[time]] can be spent. The less want, the less time is spent.
  • “fixed [[time]], variable [[scope]],”
  • "The best is relative to your constraints."
  • “We can only [[judge]] what is a [[good]] [[solution]] in the [[context]] of how much [[time]] we want to spend and how important it is.”
  • "Beware the simple question: “Is this possible?” In software, everything is [[possible]] but nothing is [[free]]. We want to find out if it’s possible within the appetite we’re shaping for."
  • What is [[possible]] given what we [[want]]?
  • "People need to feel the [[deadline]] looming in order to make trade-offs".
  • [[Time]] is the ultimate [[constraint]].
  • "When people ask for “just a few hours” or “just one day,” don’t be fooled. [[Momentum]] and progress are second-order things, like [[growth]] or [[acceleration]]. You can’t describe them with one [[point]]. You need an uninterrupted curve of points. When you pull someone away for one day to fix a bug or help a different team, you don’t just lose a day. You lose the momentum they built up and the time it will take to gain it back. Losing the wrong hour can kill a day. Losing a day can kill a week."
  • "You can’t ship without making hard [[decisions]] about where to stop, what to compromise, and what to leave out."
  • "But crises are rare. The vast majority of bugs can wait six weeks or longer, and many don’t even need to be fixed. If we tried to eliminate every bug, we’d never be done. You can’t ship anything new if you have to fix the whole world first."
  • "we mainly [[bet]] the [[time]] on spiking some key pieces of the new product idea. The shaping is much fuzzier because we expect to learn by building."
  • The [[time]] you give is a [[bet]] you place.
  • "…you can’t [[delegate]] to other people when you don’t know what you [[want]] yourself."
  • [[Research]] & Design cycles don’t ship: "The goal is to learn what works so we can commit to some load-bearing structure: the main code and UI decisions that will define the form of the product going forward."
• The [[cost]] of user [[interface]] changes hurt the average person more than they hurt the average developer.
• "it has to fit in the head of the programmer to be maintanable" collapsed:: true
  • if they can read the whole thing and understand it, then it is maintainable
  • [[maintenance]]
• One of the greatest difficulties with managing [[knowledge]] workers is telling the difference between [[waste]] and work. collapsed:: true
  • With [[innovation]] as a [[goal]], most managers have no way to tell the difference.
  • This is because no one knows what the worker knows, except maybe the worker.
  • So the organization would need to rely on [[culture]].
• "The word [[Andhra]] is first observed from Udyotana’s description of ‘those with beautiful bodies, who love [[women]] and [[war]] alike and are great consumers of [[food]]‘ in 779 CE"
• Social [[tracks]] are like physical tracks: it’s possible to [[contaminate]] the [[sign]] if you step on it.
• "The most [[information]] dense [[communication]] looks like [[noise]]. Therefore thermal motion of atoms is a very high bandwidth communication between unknown entities."

2024-01-28

• Came across [[Graham Jones]]‘ work via [[#ACFM]] and enjoying it.
  • Reading: [[The Shock Doctrine of the Left]]
  • Listening: [[Red Enlightenment (podcast)]]

2024-01-24

• Listened: [[#ACFM Trip 4: Love and Hate]]

• Listened: [[#ACFM Trip 5: Consciousness Raising]]

• Listened: [[#ACFM Microdose: Theories of Consciousness]]

• Listened: [[Why It’s Eco-Socialism or Collapse]]

• Interesting to see that ‘Challenging the size and power of the biggest tech companies was voted a top priority by [[Foxglove]] supporters in our new year survey.’

  • From Foxglove’s newsletter on 24th January 2024.
  • Very keen to see where they go with this.

2024-01-16

• Listened: [[#ACFM Trip 1: Out of the Box]]
  • First in the ACFM series.
  • Discuss [[Acid communism]], [[counterculture]], [[consciousness raising]]. [[The role of culture in politics]].

2024-01-14

• Listened: [[Trip 39: Protest]]
  • On the topic of [[protest]].
  • Individual, collective. Marches, non-violence, [[direct action]], boycotts etc.
  • Whats effective and what isnt? Effective might mean different things, e.g. could be political change but could also be just connecting and energising a movement.

2024-01-13

• Listened: [[Microdose: A Festive 50 for 2023]]
  • Some good recs in here. To come back to and jot them down.

• i forgot my journal app was still being hosted. yay cloudtech.
• got a new job at cascadia health as a peer support. essentially im an unlicensed therapist.

2023-12-10

• Listened: [[Sellafield: Europe’s most toxic nuclear site]]

  • Great to be living so close to this.
  • Still, the story about how they revealed login credentials in the background of a Countryfile episode is hilarious.

• Listened: [[Hotel Bar Sessions: Trust]]

2023-12-09

• [[Error U130 on Canon Pixma MG6150]]

2023-12-07

2023-12-06

• Read: [[Degrowth, green energy, social equity, and circular economy]]

• Read: [[Freeing Ourselves From The Clutches Of Big Tech]]

• Finally built my little electro synth kit today.

  • (It was a Christmas present last year…)
  • It was loads of fun to do.
  • Great soldering practice for a soldering newbie.
    • Lots of different components to solder together in various different ways.
  • The [[Pinecil]] worked great.
  • [[Putting together the EIGHT Electro Synth]]

2023-12-05

• Read: [[Neither Vertical Nor Horizontal]]
  • Picked it up again after a while.

• Forgot this tool existed. Im horrible at self hosting.

2023-12-04

• Listened: [[The Radical Imagination in Reactionary Times]]

  • As I believe it has some discussion on [[social movement theory]].
  • Also led me to discover [[New Books in Critical Theory]].

• [[Well-connected]].

2023-12-03

• Snow. Lots of snow.

• I fixed a long-standing bug on my site where backlinks often didn’t work.

• I also fixed up the backlinks section for each node to only include backlinking nodes once.

2023-12-02

• [[Social movement theory]].

• I saw [[Gordon Brander]] has a list of well-connected nodes in his pattern library.

  • I like the idea. Stats relating to links and connections feels more in line with a [[relational ontology]] than just having counts of nodes, etc.
  • So I’ve been looking at [[adding a list of nodes in my garden that are well-connected]].

2023-12-01

• I’d like to know why the outputs of my little bits of executable code blocks aren’t getting correctly generated when my garden gets published to the web.

  • [[org-mode inline src blocks not publishing]]

• Digging: Proem - [[She Never Cries]]

• Digging: Frog Pocket - [[Hurrah Sapphire Moon!]]

2023-11-30

• Listened: [[A blast in Manhattan]]

  • First episode of [[The Santiago Boys]].
  • Really well made.
  • This first episode covers a lot of the geopolitics and general shittery of the CIA and corporations in South America.

• Read: [[Doughnut Economics]]

  • Finished it.
  • Really good book.
  • Chapter on growth is interesting. She proposes being agnostic about [[growth]], so long as you’re staying within the Doughnut. Which is fair enough, but I think the [[degrowth]] perspective would argue that it’s simply not possible to stay in the Doughnut without degrowth.

2023-11-27

• Listened: [[A Green New Deal that Works for People and Planet with Max Ajl]]

• [[Work Log: 2023-11-27]]

2023-11-26

• Listened: [[Building Lifeboats to the Emerging Futures]]
  • Really interesting discussion. Lots of quotable moments (but I was listening while doing yard work so didn’t jot them down).
  • [[Philanthropy]].
  • [[Theory of change]]. [[Margaret Wheatley]] and the [[Two Loop Model]].
  • Some discussion on [[hope]] in a troubled world. I liked the definition of hope described, I’ll need to go back and pick that out.
  • Also a mention of the [[New Constellations]] project, which I had forgotten, did something in [[Barrow]] a few years back.

2023-11-25

• Read: [[The great carbon divide]]

  • [[Carbon inequality]] and [[wealth inequality]].
  • "the richest 1% of the population produced as much carbon pollution in one year as the 5 billion people who make up the poorest two-thirds"

• Listened: [[Movement and Stillness]]

2023-11-24

• Read: [[Doughnut Economics]]

• Reflecting back and seeing them published on my website, I realise my work notes each day are a little mundane.

  • I imagine most people aren’t that interested to see them.
  • But, I do like the fact that they stimulate me to publish to the garden even on days where outside of work I have little time for it.
  • And I find them a helpful piece of reflection.
  • So I think I’ll experiment with putting them off in links from the main journal post. So people can read them if they want, but they won’t be right up in your face with visual noise.

• Watched: [[Isle of Dogs]]

2023-11-23

• Reading: [[Doughnut Economics]]

  • I like the emphasis on an economics that is distributive by design and regenerative by design.
  • Also like the occasional references to [[biomimicry]]. Not convinced yet how applicable to economics it is - but I just have a general interest in it from [[Evolutionary and adaptive systems]] days.

• Listened: [[Hotel Bar Sessions: Late Capitalism]]

• Today at work I:

  • Responded to a personal message from a community member.
    • We have a community and friends within it, and sometimes personal messages come via my work channels.
  • Scheduled in some things for when I’m away.
  • Did the daily inbox trawl.

2023-11-22

• [[Perceptions of degrowth in the European Parliament]]

  • Looks good. Only skimmed it, but they mention [[ecosocialism]] as one of the positions held.

• Today at work I:

  • Did the daily inbox trawl.
    • A lot of the emails are automatic alerts that take up a lot of my time checking. I kind of need to see them though.
    • I wonder if there’s a way of flipping it so I only see them if something has gone wrong.
    • The trouble then, though, is you don’t realise if the alert itself has stopped sending.
  • Responded to questions from the team on Slack.
    • Schedule tasks/actions in as a result.
    • Either as ‘unplanned’ work for the day if it needed doing today.
    • Or for a future date if not urgent.
  • Quickly added a cache around a slow endpoint.
    • It was (a) meaning some automatic tests were very slow to run.
    • (b) possibly crashing the app when the tests were running.
    • I patched it quickly in on live (naughty, but needed) and now need to properly add it into the repo.
  • Tested app-to-app connection between app and WP site API as part of migration tests.
    • I always app-to-app connections and APIs. Prefer them to user interfaces :D
  • Attended team meeting.
  • Did some layout/content tweaks to our main website.
    • Fiddling around with CSS and layout is not top on my list of fun things to do. Always takes longer than you expect.
    • Some yak shaving to be done based on npm install failing. Haven’t got the time to shave that yak right now.
  • Do some quick estimates of how long potential pieces of work should take.
  • Cross-posted a social post on Mastodon.
  • Kicked off a new sprint in Jira (late, as I was off on leave when it technically started).

2023-11-21

• Today at work I:

  • Did the usual inbox trawls and day planning.
    • Day planning I do with org-mode, org-agenda and org-timeline.
  • Prepped for the meetings for the day.
    • Mostly with mindmaps.
  • Did some strategic planning for next year.
    • Mindmaps and freeform writing.
  • Some rote work
    • processing incoming applications for things, updating website accordingly
    • always good to think with this stuff how processes could be streamlined
  • Minor website content change.
    • Minor change, but thinking about the UX of it is always interesting.
    • And how it affects client agreements/expectations, too.
  • Planning and assigning work for my team.
    • Bit of mindmapping combined with going through Jira.
  • Reviewing new features.
    • Code and functionality. Code review is in Github.
    • Testing I tend to build the feature branch locally.
  • Meetings.
    • Sometimes I jot things down on mindmap.
    • Somethings I record things straight into knowledge base.
    • Sometimes I log things straight into org as TODOs.
    • It’s a bit haphazard to he honest. Could be improved.
  • Emailing external partners.
    • Always interesting the amount of work that goes into crafting an email to get across all the nuances of your position on something.
  • Distracting myself with Slack threads not really related to what I’m doing.

• When I’m working, I don’t log a lot in the journal, I noticed.

  • So experimenting with logging thoughts on work activities.
  • Not much detail on specifics, more reflections on activities and process.
  • I quite enjoy it so far. Useful to reflect.

• Listened: [[Hotel Bar Sessions: Revolutionary Mathematics]]

  • So far, discussing frequentism and Bayesianism schools of thought in probability.

• Patient privacy fears as US spy tech firm Palantir wins £330m NHS contract | …

  • Absolutely gutted by this. Despite all the campaigning by Foxglove and Just Treatment, fucking [[Palantir]] still awarded the contract with the NHS.
  • Makes me sick. This is not the kind of organisation our health service should be in partnership with.

2023-11-20

• At work today I:
  • Trawled through inboxes after a week away.
  • Reviewed some code (Laravel/Vue).
  • Tested some functionality changes.
  • Made a little tweak to a WordPress component, with a lot of yak shaving to get my local environment up to speed.
  • Thought about UX of a couple of things.
  • Other general bits and bobs.

2023-11-19

• We had another play of [[Space Cats Fight Fascism]] today.

  • Love these [[Tesa Collective]] games.

• We spend a not insignificant chunk of our lives just on the upkeep of our household.

  • If it was a system, how would you describe it?
  • What are the stocks and flows? What are the processes? What system archetypes does it exhibit and what are the leverage points to make it function better?
  • I feel like ours has a few too many input flows of things and a blockage at the output which mean it gets easily cluttered.

2023-11-18

• Been enjoying [[Superstore]] of late.

  • Often very funny. And also plenty of digs at corporate anti-worker practices and the tactics of [[worker exploitation]]. The staff attempt [[unionisation]]. ICE detains an undocumented worker. etc.

• We played the [[Rise Up]] board game tonight.

  • You work cooperatively as part of a movement to fight the system.
  • A lot of fun. I like the fact that they include a storytelling element to it - certain cards get you to think of an accompanying story to the system.