So Many Hills …

Jul 2025

I need to write my Philosophy midterm, but first …

Reading The Courage to Be Disliked by Ichigo Kishimi and Fumitage Koga was a revelatory experience…that we get to choose the meaning we give our experiences and traumas. It is along the lines of Viktor Frankl’s reflection on human freedoms – which, in turn, is a big part of Stephen Covey’s first habit – be proactive. Once we accept the stimulus, we get to choose the meaning we give it and thus the response.

In effect, suffering is real and so is agency. And meaning is chosen, not inherited

A Learning A Day

Hard agree&recommend the audio

Jul 2025

Not smart is a passive act, remedied with learning, experience and thought.

Stupid is active, the work of someone who should have or could have known better and decided to do something selfish, impulsive or dangerous anyway.

The more experience, assets and privilege we have, the less excusable it is to do stupid things. And at the same time, the more useful it is to announce that we’re not smart (yet).

— Seth Godin, Not smart vs. stupid

Rings true

Jul 2025

TIL emacs-mac will switch to dark mode with the system … but won’t if one has a custom theme loaded, as far as I can tell. Here’s my attempt at a solution. #emacs #macos #emacsmac #emacsplus

Jul 2025

Why did no one tell me Clem Fandango is in Star Trek: Discovery? I might have stuck with it past 3 eps had I but known!

“Yes, I can hear you, Clem Fandango!"

Jul 2025

I for one look forward to the inevitable class action lawsuit against Syncrony Loans when their phone number + last 4 of Social authentication mechanism, regardless of what KYC & other tools they employ, fail spectacularly.

Jul 2025

Finished reading: Against a Dark Background by Iain M. Banks 💙📚 Adventure! Romance! Intrigue! Androids! Ancient tombs and weapons and space wars and chained monks. Fun!

Jul 2025

Finished reading: Things Become Other Things by Craig Mod 💙📚 Moving. Heartbreaking. A quick slow read. Beautiful photos and scenes

Jul 2025

In a coffee shop in Huntsville, AL. Until I just opened my laptop no one in here was on a device. People are talking to each other with eye contact and interest. Notebooks and binders, pens and pencils. What phones I can see are untouched and unregarded, flipped on their faces.

Jun 2025

Looking to brave the storms and listen to some live music? I’m Emcee at tonight’s Nightfall in Chattanooga’s Miller Plaza. Music starts at 7 with Flashdrive; 8 is headliner Sinkane. Come on out & enjoy sub 90º temps! @chorddrift.com #wutc

Jun 2025

I’m of an age that when I see a headline like “Lizzo Drops My Face Hurts From Smiling”, I think:

Oh, no! That’s so sad! What happened?

… before I remember and stop embarrassing my nieces.

Jun 2025

I try not to be too grumpy when I comment on things on-line, but sometimes ya just gotta grump:

The U.K.-based James Bond International Fan Club is welcoming [Denis] Villeneuve’s hiring, saying on its website that the choice “will delight Bond fans the world over.”

via NPR

Delight is not the word I would use. Resigned exasperated eye roll better describes my feelings. The movie will likely look pretty while we watch Bond stand around significantly looking at things. As a big Dune & 007 📚+🎥 fan, I’m not looking forward to the new releases

Jun 2025

The Battle of Agincourt is one of the most-studied military engagements in history. It wasn’t particularly large, or pivotal (not in the long run), but it makes for an elegant case study in the fragility of structured power and how perfect order, under the wrong conditions, becomes the perfect target. Rituals of command are not the same thing as strategy. And hierarchy, when ossified, becomes less a way of organizing action and more a way of distributing delay.

Joan Westenberg $

Jun 2025

Without truth there is no kindness; without kindness the truth cannot be told.

— Tolstoy

Jun 2025

Seek to learn constantly while you live; do not wait in the faith that old age by itself will bring wisdom.

— Solon

Jun 2025

Chord Drift is on air now! www.wutc.org and 88.1FM Chattanooga & the Tennessee Valley! Mother Tucker’s Yellow Duck++Grateful Dead++Mad River++Led Zeppelin chorddrift.com

Jun 2025

This is a fun memory I’d forgotten: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/lescamoteur:

Behind an unassuming door marked with a whimsical bicycle symbol, a narrow staircase leads to a steampunk attic packed with curiosities: antique birdcages, a floating leather sofa, old-world globes, and enough gears and gadgets to make Nikola Tesla blush.

I vacationed in Kyoto & Nara during Golden Week once. Faint recollections of a delightful drunken night locked in when I saw this article. I had a blast & strong recommend

Jun 2025

A la Advice To A New Emacs User—Reddit🔗,my2¢:

  1. Stock #Emacs Just Works™ out of the box esp.w/docsreference card
  2. And so does stock #orgmode esp.w/docsreference card
  3. When ready to tweak,‘M-x customize’&‘M-x package-list-packages’
  4. The best Emacs config is the one that works for one’s needs
Jun 2025

JIC #emacs-mac users have homebrew upgrade errors, try:

cp -r /opt/homebrew/Cellar/emacs-mac /opt/homebrew/Cellar/emacs-mac@29

※'@29'is important

Maybe railwaycat made recent changes they rolled back, triggering updates;might only apply if one built w/–head previously GitHub Tix

Jun 2025

My Wordpress is acting up again, so here:

One approach to setting up and using #Emacs to experience RSS feeds via #elfeed and #fresshrss by way of elfeed-protocol and #nextcloud for syncing things. Much to refine and improve. It works for me. YMMV, as always.

p12n.me/b/2zM

Jun 2025

TIL Emacs org2blog package will publish a region if selected instead of the full buffer if one is not careful. I expect it’s by design and not a bug. Could actually prove useful as long as I don’t keep tripping over it. #emacs #org2blog

Jun 2025

So yes, I care. I care desperately. I care because not caring isn’t an option. I care because the moment we accept that truth and morality are meaningless is the moment we guarantee they’ll never matter again. I care because somebody fucking has to … Because caring isn’t naive. Because documentation isn’t pointless. Because hope isn’t for fools.

Molly White

Jun 2025

I’d be surprised if I’m the first to say this: Welcome to OS Vista

Jun 2025

I need to figure out how to tie casual-timezone into the coordinates I pull for Journelly on my Mac

Apr 2025

Finished reading:Surface Detail by Iain M.Banks 💙📚My 2nd or 3rd Culture book.Interesting 2025 parallels.Lots of ships/AIs to keep track of.🔥Hell🔥 plays a big role.A gripping read w/v.grim backstory;I would not start here if toe dipping into Culture series

Apr 2025

An occasional reminder: Detroit -vs- Everybody t-shirts&the whole bullshit concept is totally fucking stupid&self defeating.It says the city doesn’t need anyone; outsiders aren’t welcome.Cut it out already&let it the fuck go;stop mythologizing.Embrace what makes Detroit great for all