Came across Alephic’s Writing page on Hacker News. I almost agree with everything, but this:
“A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences—just as a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.”
Yes to the sentence, and paragraph and, perhaps, machine. But a drawing? There are no unnecessary lines in a drawing. Slightly off tangent, first time I heard of Alephic. There is a first time for everything, though.
design thoughtsGeorge’s blog Terms of Service always makes me smile. The latest revision has a subtle, but ever-present, touch of AI to it.
friends george humourIt rains so gently this morning, that I could almost distinguish music within the sound of it hitting my car roof while driving to work. I had to turn off the radio to enjoy it. It felt so nice, I even stayed at extra 10 minutes inside the car at the parking lot, hearing it a bit longer. I need more days that start like this.
life thoughts weatherThe “thinking”, “reasoning” AI models make me anxious, and test my patience to the highest degree. Every “thinking” model should come with something similar to Qwen’s 3 /no_think prompt toggle.
This isn’t a complain. It has been overcast the entire day. Not a drop of rain, but just close enough to tease. This week I will have to mow the lawn. Yes, it is that time of the year again.
I can’t believe it is almost 19:00, in our marvelous Sunday. Accomplished just about everything I wanted to this weekend, but buying my vitamins. Maybe this week. Off I go!
lawn life weatherWatching “Severance” (★★★★★) for the first time with the kid. We are using a week’s free AppleTV+ subscription from Amazon Prime, so it truly is an against-the-time binge. The series are awesome, and I wonder how come I didn’t see it before. All works out, though, as I enjoy watching series with the boy.
appletv seriesLunch hour is quickly approaching, which translates to my first walk of the day. With a Sun that can crack rocks, the feels like 30°C, and the humidity at 69%, it is going to be anything but fun. Yet, must clock the first 5,000 steps, or walking the 10,000 after work will feel like they did yesterday: an absolute torture.
health life weatherSaw “Past Lives” (★★★★☆) this weekend, which got me with a knot in the throat a few times. Just what I needed after a relatively full-of-game-playing weekend.
movies“There is a word in Korean: In-Yun. It means “providence” or “fate”. But it’s specifically about relationships between people. I think it comes from Buddhism and reincarnation. It’s an In-Yun if two strangers even walk by each other in the street and their clothes accidentally brush. Because it means there must have been something between them in their past lives. If two people get married, they say it’s because there have been 8,000 layers of In-Yun over 8,000 lifetimes.”
Found the FIDO News article, which is missing on the Microsoft blog I mentioned on the previous note. Now, “15 billion online accounts” is more likely!
cryptography tech“According to the FIDO Alliance, more than 15 billion user accounts can now sign in using passkeys instead of passwords. But we need billions more to make every sign-in passwordless.”
Does that makes any sense at all? I mean, 15 billion accounts, sure. But 15 billion user accounts, not a chance. They quote the FIDO alliance, but provide no link their alleged statement.
cryptography rants tech“IKIGAI - The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life”, reads the cover of this book. Can it be called a secret, when it’s written in a book? I figure it’s a secret, if you don’t buy the book. Lucky for me, Martin gifted me this one.
Here I go, to live a “long and happy life!” Well, at least to read about it. One must start somewhere, right?
japan martin philosophyI wrote elsewhere about mum’s chicken, and her adventures: how she came to be a guest in mum’s house, how she left one day, and how she came back to roost. Now it’s the time to write, with sadness—yes, mum and I were quite fond of that chicken—that the chicken has died. She was a good chicken, and kept mum entertained, and active. She will be missed.
mumOn this month alone I have 20 birthdays in my calendar, including 2 of people I care about who have already died. I have written about it before; as long as someone remembers them, they are not fully gone. So, yeah, 20 birthdays. I think this is one of the busiest months when it comes to that.
birthdays friends lifeOne can find quite a few interesting websites listed at this Blogroll, this Blogroll, and this Blogroll. I am still missing one, but can’t find it. Just a note to have the URLs handy, as I have “lost” them more than once.
interesting socialI truly love the series “Star Trek: Voyager” (★★★★★), which I just finished watching—for the fourth time—with the boy last night, but I had forgotten how extremely bad is its finale. Extremely anti-climatic.
paramount seriesWatched “The Conclave” (★★★★★) last night, as I hadn’t watched it, and I though it was the suitable thing to do, considering current events. I liked it very much.
movies netflixFinished bingeing “Crash Landing on you” (★★★★★) for the third time last week. This week will be a break away from the tely week, then next week I am planning on revisiting “The Borgias” (★★★★★).
kdramas netflix seriesUsing Google Maps for casual journaling is a neat idea, and I have to say, I wouldn’t know where to start. Maybe it is time to reach out to Claud, exchange hellos, catch up a bit, and ask her!
life social techI came across this sentence—and quote—today on the Fediverse, and the more I think about it, the more I realise how much truth it carries.
philosophy quotes“All cruelty springs from weakness.” — Seneca
From Claudine’s last entry (as I type this):
“Today in thoughts triggered by doing laundry: I have enough. I have what it takes to live an operable life that I actually enjoy.”
Such a wonderful, liberating though: “I have enough”. Wow, that ought to make my Sunday better. No, really. Because that’s the thing: I, too, have more than enough. And it’s not just socks!
claudine friendsHolidays are fastly approaching, and I have been experiencing that mixed happy/melancholic feeling that comes with them. There are always ups and downs, but when extra—as in, non-expected—downs come around this season, my melancholy increases.
I wish all that come around the very best for that next round we call 2025. For those I know, please know I care about you, and keep you in my thoughts daily.
holidays life thoughtsApple has announced their latest Mac mini, and it’s everything I wanted to see. The task ahead is to convince partner that we need one (note that’s a need, not a want), which we do (well, we need a computer, not an Apple computer per se, but I wouldn’t have it any other way). Yet, I need to do the convincing without adding any stress. Let’s see how I can engineer to do so. Certainly with extreme finesse.
apple techYesterday was Claudine birthday and, even though I reached out to congratulate her, I didn’t make a note here as I have done on previous years. But never too late!
Happy birthday, Claud! 🎂🥳🎁 May you celebrate many more in good health, and happiness, surrounded by your loved ones! I also wish you a quick recovery from what ails you now. ❤️🌹
birthdays claudine friendsThere is so much misery in the world, so much pain, so much suffering, so much need. How can we ignore if not all of it, most of it?
philosophy thoughtsRegarding this, I am also considering a format change. Leaning more towards a “bullet blog”. What is a bullet blog?
“It’s always like this, says Yumiko Ukon, who has run this modest rice ball shop and restaurant in the Otsuka neighbourhood of Tokyo for almost half a century. “But we never run out of rice,” she adds, seated in her office near a wall clock in the shape of a rice ball with a bite taken out.”
Onigiri is awesome. Rice is everything. Rice is life.
food japan