Using "performative" as a pejorative is dismissive. I like to read and I like to write. These are my hobbies and as a result posts like this come out. I will not apologize for finding certain topics exciting and being excited by a desire to share my excitement with the world. You say that the "Internet would be a better place if it'd be full of content like this post." I agree, and so I share.
Apologies: "performative" was a poor word choice and I can no longer edit the comment. I didn't mean to suggest the enthusiasm isn't genuine. What I was trying to say (clumsily) is that the post is clearly crafted with care for how it lands, which isn't a bad thing.
It strikes me as a little disappointing the way commenters seem to think they know you, and seem to respond to your thoughtful work by picking at you personally.
From the root comment that speculates about your existential happiness (he chose a partner and kids instead, and is happier that way than whatever he assumes your life is like!), to the gp comment that passes judgment on your intentions in writing at all.
I’m not really sure what to make of that, but that kind of behavior is the reason I keep my writing to myself (and specific people I email directly) and never share it. I don’t have the patience to deal with the uninvited judgment, and I worry that I’d respond to the unjustified demands by internalizing them.
My life is richer as a result of you being able and willing to deal with all this, and sharing what stimulated you this year. If I didn’t like it, I’d go read something else and politely abstain from judgment. As it happens, I liked it very much, and I did not go read something else. Thank you.
Thank you for that, thank you for not letting various ancillary grumps dissuade you, and a healthy and stimulating and prosperous new year to you!
The comments are so often people just telling on themselves, it's really wild to see. I'm glad people still create in spite of this instead of letting misanthropic "tastemakers" get their way, the creators are literally increasing the amount of meaning in the world and that is valuable.
That’s a lot of words to pass judgment on someone you’ve never met and know nothing about. The strawman that you’ve created doesn’t resemble my life at all, but you go on feeling smug about being better than the construct in your head. Whatever helps you to sleep at night I guess…
Some people literally just can't let themselves believe others enjoying their own (different) lives at their own pace.
As if every alternative road has to be imagined as a less satisfying road to validate their own chosen path.
As if the diversity and multiplication of "search paths" through "reality space" is somehow sad or worse or less moral or less virtuous.
Which is absurd of course.
As for me, sometimes I take bad paths just for fun because I'm more curious than cautious.
"This is probably terrible, let's check it out."
And boy is it fun for those of use who like to explore the edges, and I like to imagine that all those taking more traveled paths are also enjoying themselves and the life they have!
That guy was denigrating somebody who did nothing more than share a list of stuff they thought was cool this year. He came at @fogus (the author) with, essentially, “I’d come across all that cool stuff too if I didn’t have my much better life of wife and kids, I bet he’s existentially unfulfilled.”
Reflective or not, it seems really personal and unfair to swing at a stranger like that. For all he knows, @fogus has the same number of partners and kids as he does, or is just as happy with whatever way their life is organized. I don’t think it’s fair to come at @fogus as “insecure” for reacting to derogatory assumptions.
Maybe everyone else here knows stuff I don’t about @fogus’ life, but I just read somebody being generous enough to share their internal thinking in public and, in exchange, getting shit on for no reason.
And as to gp—I agree the intention seems thoughtful and self-reflective; thank you for sharing those sentiments. I’m glad you’ve found happiness and fulfillment, and I think your point would stand just as strong without swinging at a stranger.
I completely forgot to bring up the 2600 section in my post! Reading distance dialing led me down a deep rabbit hole. An interesting path was learning more about Joe Engressia (Joybubbles) who could whistle a 2600hz tone to circumvent the supervisory tone which led him to learn more about the system and further the knowledge of the early phreaking community. Folklore around him was off the charts and eventually painted a picture of a superhero who could whistle his way through the whole phone network and into free calls to anywhere just with his mouth. The document linked in my post gives details about the long-distance signalling and why being a great whistler was not good enough. That said, definitely check out more about Engressia, because while the whistling wasn't superhuman, the curiousity and drive to learn more may have been!
* (Shameless plug) My book on the history of phone phreaking, Exploding the Phone, which has a lot of stuff on Engressia in it: https://explodingthephone.com/
If you do a search for Shimaenaga Weekly Calendar then you’ll find something that’s very similar and may be able to similar ones that work better for you.
Technical followed by non-technical. I read more than these, but these are the highlights.
Mouse, a Language for Microcomputers by Peter Grogono - Mouse is basically an esolang with barely any abstraction facilities, but the book was well-written and the language compelling enough to explore further.
Notes on Distance Dialing (pdf) by AT&T - Described the telephone systems of the USA and Canada in the mid-1950s. The reading is a dry as it gets, but it was a fascinating dive into a vastly complex system solving extremely hard problems. This is a must-read for folks interested in systems-thinking. That said, I am actively looking for recommendations for books about the process of designing and building the unbelievably complex telephony system over the rudiments of the earlier systems. Recommendations welcomed!
The Eye of Osiris by R. Austin Freeman - This is the first book that I’ve read from Freeman and I suspect that I will read many more in the future. The story follows the disappearance of John Bellingham, Egyptologist and the subsequent investigation. As the investigation stalls, the eminent Dr. Thorndyke digs into the case. The story sets up the mystery nicely and indeed provides enough information to the reader to infer how the disappearance occurred and who or what facilitated it. The book is one of the best whodunits that I’ve ever read.
The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens - His final work remains unfinished as he passed away before he could complete it. Further complicating the meta-story is that he also didn’t outline the ending nor even put to paper the “villain” of the story. The meta-mystery of the ending has motivated a mountain of speculation around the ending including dozens of continuations of the story from other authors, all deriving their pet endings from textual hints, accounts from Dickens’ friends, illustration notes, and even in some cases seances supposedly accompanied by the spirit of Dickens himself. What was written by Dickens is spectacular and a compelling mystery and although it would be great to know the resolution, in some ways the “Droodiana” that has cropped up over the past 150+ years is reason enough for it to remain a mystery. The whole lore around Edwin Drood is a worthwhile hobby in itself and well-worth exploring. The Chiltern Library edition of the book contains the story and a good bit of the lore around the writing and the meta-works available at the time of its publication.
The Shadow People by Margaret St. Clair - Sadly out of print and difficult to find, but I’ve had it on my shelves for decades and finally got around to reading it. The book came onto my radar in the 1980s when I learned about it in the appendix-n of the 1st edition Advanced D&D Dungeon Masters Guide. I enjoyed many of the books at the time and have slowly swung around to re-reading them over the past few years. Sadly, most on the list do not stand the test of time for me, but St. Clair’s mixture of 60s counter-cultural leanings in a fantasy/sf world still works. The cultural touch-points in the book feel quite dated, but despite the occasional awkwardness, the story is unique even today.
Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner - The book started as a passable novel of manners focused on a turn of the century British middle-class family. The titular character was mostly background decoration for the first third of the novel and AFAIR was talked about only in the third-person. It’s only when she made the choice to move out on her own to the country in her middle age does she gain a central role in the narrative and her inner thoughts revealed. This is where things really pick up because I was shocked to learn that this unassuming woman’s inner thoughts had a delicious darkness to them. I don’t want to give away too much, but I’ll just say that you will not expect how the story ends.
Patience by Daniel Clowes - A profound graphic novel using time-travel to explore the idea of enduring love with a story that proceed through time, following Jack as he tries to alter the past and save the woman he loves. This well-known science fiction motif is elevated by Clowes’ signature psychological complexity.
Narcissus and Goldmund by Herman Hesse - I’ve read most of the books by Hermann Hesse but this one escaped my attention until this year. The story follows the parallel lives of a monk Narcissus and his passionate friend Goldmund as they respectively search for meaning in life through spiritual means and through pleasures of the flesh.
We Who Are About To… by Joanna Russ - A small group of astronauts crash land on a hostile alien world and quickly realize that rescue is unlikely to come. Many SF stories have started this way and so the expectation is that this is a colonization story… but Russ thrives on subverting reader expectations.
Fifty Forgotten Records by R.B. Russell - Another lovely entry in Russell’s series (one can hope) of autobiographical explorations of art, so far covering literature and now music. This book describes 50 records of varying popularity and Russell’s personal connections to each. While I certainly enjoyed finding a dozen or so new albums to explore, the true triumph of the book lies in the vulnerable, reflective memoir threaded throughout.
The Way of All Flesh by Samuel Butler A novel that follows 4-generations of the Ponitifex family, with a particular bildungsroman-esque thread around Ernest, a young man who’s naivete leads to his downfall and how his life unfolds thereafter.
Introduction to Telephones and Telephone Systems (3rd Ed.) by A. Michael Noll: A great system-level overview covering instruments, transmission media, switching, and signaling.
Understanding Telephone Electronics by Carr, Winder, & Bigelow: Focuses on the electronic components and workings of telephone systems.
I’d be surprised if they had, working on what you work on! I’ll bet you would find them interesting in other ways, though. I’ve had a ton of success using them as study guides in other areas (e.g., biology).
I predict this is likely to change in 2025, if you explore with them -- unless there are constraints that make using them impractical (security or policy or bureaucracy being the ones that come to mind). I've experimented continuously with LLMs for over a year as a solo developer. For example, I have been using a workflow where I write a design document and often work alongside the LLM to keep the code and document in-sync.
P.S. I used to do a lot of Clojure, and definitely appreciate your work on it!
This isn't the 18th century anymore where the dissemination of arguments barely traveled outside of the immediate vicinity, this is the globally networked firehose of disinformation blasted right in your face 24-hours a day. Relying on better arguments to win hearts and minds in this environment is hopelessly naive.
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