As an undergrad and a grad student I was obsessed with Virginia Woolf. Woolf’s writings appeared in my citations pretty much regardless of the class or subject area I was writing on.
I have recently finished reading an engaging and lovely novel by Arkady Martine, “A Memory Called Empire.” Of course, I was excited to pick up the sequel, but, also, I had this feeling, this Woolf’s scent — I’ve always felt that Woolf’s nonfiction was more lucid and powerful than her fiction…it cuts different, sharper, more directly, it stings and is beautiful in its knife-likeness.
I had a sense that Arkady Martine’s writing would be similar, so I looked around for nonfiction she’s authored. I think I was right:
Why cities, when I could have chosen anything to preserve? To devote my life to keeping out of the sea? I cannot help but think that cities are our best and our most inevitable future.
I made another small toy in javascript, this time a note taking application. Ink n switch is a simple note pad for typing in text, that you can also draw on top of. There are two layers, a text layer and a drawing layer. They’re always right on top of each other. There aren’t heaps of features, and it doesn’t work on mobile (yet) (it works on mobile now!), but I find it pretty pleasant for little notes and sketches.
I think I’ve come to terms with the fact that, while I claim to be a polyglot programmer, and while I do love to explore different programming systems, javascript and the browser are like home when it comes to actually making a thing — for turning an idea into reality. Especially since, the way I tend to write javascript is easy, no dependencies, no build system, just javascript in the browser.
Over the last few days, what was previously a frighteningly mild winter has turned wet, exceedingly so, here in Maine. There have been a series of super high tides at the same time has heavy rains and snow melt, leading to massive flooding along coastal areas. We are thankfully above grade and far from the ocean, but, just like this summer felt like a very different summer, so too does this winter feel different. Changed.
I stumbled across a small vestige of the old internet. The human-hand-made-curated thing.
It’s been very damp. It was, however, recently sunny for a bit. Here is the proof of the sun’s continued existence.
Break thrones; build tables.
I’ve had fun playing at implementing a very basic visual programming system over the last few days. I like the direction I’ve started down, but realize I’ve made a few oversights that are gonna necessitate my starting over, which is part of the fun.
I’ve implemented toy interpreted languages before — usually lisps. Architecturally, a graphical programming system smells similar, especially when I think about the repl 🤝 event-loop as being mostly the same thing plus or minus a person tapping the return key to trigger evaluation.
I’ve leaned in to the playful possibilities of javascript, the browser’s inbuilt abilities and the HTML canvas element. And, you know what? It is rad and I have zero regrets. These are little corners of a space that I’m otherwise fairly familiar with through work, but that I haven’t really spent any time with.
It snowed a lot today — we all had fun playing in it this morning, afterwards I cleared the walk and driveway for the first time. I did that three more times throughout the day, but, to be totally honest, I love shoveling almost as much as I love going on walks, so, all in all, pretty rad.
I’m nearing the end of A memory called empire by Arkady Martine. Unless the ending gets wickedly flubbed, I’ll most certainly be reading the next book in the series.
A post-publish-edit because I forgot to link to the inspiration for this things title!
The last weeks of 2023 have been very enjoyable. Other than having to deal with a cascade of car issues, there’s been a lot of time to hang out with the partner and kids, wander around outside, and poke at fun personal projects…and I mean, work, too, but…you know.
The other evening I pulled together a fun Markov chain toy. It isn’t anything fancy, but I wanted the ability to feed a madlib style script to the program and have it use that as a template to fill in. The resulting program is beak and you can take a look at it if that sort of thing interests you. I want to figure out how to build a game around it about history and discovering the past’s fragmented stories.
Then, last night, I made what is probably the most minimal, worst version of Alto’s Odyssey (one of my favorite games) imaginable. My version is called hill, and you can play it online. I haven’t put the code into a repository, yet, but it is just plain-old, boring-old, no-dependencies-on-anything-but-the-browser, JavaScript, so, view source will reveal all that it contains. I made this as a fidget-toy to play with during meetings.
I’ve struggled for a long time to pick up personal projects like this, but someone recently gave me the advice to focus on smaller points of curiosity — e.g., rather than dive right into trying to make an entire game that needs to generate vast histories, make the generator and then figure out how to layer more game bits on around it. That advice has proven wicked powerful, and I’ve enjoyed building more stuff more quickly lately. I think my attention span is also less impacted by brain stuff these days, which is helping me feel more confident when taking on any kind of project — I was even able to do some car repairs (shout out to Isaac for the encouragement)!
…I don’t enjoy doing car repairs.
Supposedly it’ll snow soon. The winter has been mild and exceedingly damp.
I’m about one third of the way into Arkady Martine’s A memory called empire and loving it.
Foggy Christmas adventuring
Whereas mobile-first design and development invited folks to think more expansively about the physical reality of the devices people use, accessibility-first design and development invites folks to think more expansively about the lived experiences, and physical reality of actual people.
Soggy winter ambling.
I was recently interviewed by Manu for his People and Blogs series! It was a great honor to be suggested by Piper for that, and I had a blast responding to all of Manu’s questions.
The December Adventure is in full swing. There are so many fun adventure logs this year. I’ve been mostly focusing on building toys with Decker and lil. Of course, there have been nearly daily dalliances and sidetracklings to other things, like uiua and scheme.
My reading list for the year hit 40 books — I’m tempted to grab another book, but, 40 is such a nice number…and if I did one more I’d wanna do two more, and it’d be a whole thing…and I’m not technically done with a couple of the books, yet.
I’m just about finished with the last book in the Shattered Earth trilogy, by N.K. Jemisin. I found that they started to lull for me around the middle of the 3rd book, but then, right near the end, boy howdy! I’m back in. Emotions. BIG emotions.
The Hermit of Eyton Forest by Ellis Peters was a totally random pick — I’d never heard of it, the paperback just landed in my hands and I began to read it. It is slow, and plodding, and lovely. Sort of like what if Crusader Kings met Murder, She Wrote?
I recently had a follow up brain thing (technically a cerebral angiogram, but don’t look that up), now that we’re over a year out from my last repair procedure. Things are looking good! I have another follow up, but, so far, so good! I’m wildly thankful that this medical saga is presumably coming to a close. It has been a nutso ride.
A reminder that the government of Israel is still perpetrating a genocide, and that there are some amazing aid organizations doing the best they can to help.
Political speech is something I shy away from. But, of course, that is political.
Sometimes there are things that you can’t ignore. There are, perhaps, many such things…right now there is one that I’m particularly close to, close enough that I am made to look because I am in some way directly implicated in it.
I am Jewish. I was raised so, and live so today.
Being raised a Jew I was constantly taught to “never forget.”
There seems to have been a forgetting.
A genocide is being perpetrated against Palestinians. I refuse to let that happen in my name, in the name of Judaism.
That genocide is being conducted by a state that is happy to wear Jewishness as a shield against scrutiny. By a state that confuses “power” for “safety.”
No one is safe unless everyone is safe.
The actions taken by the State of Israel aren’t actions taken to ensure safety. They are actions taken to build power.
Power and safety are not the same thing. I don’t claim to have great political insight, but I am confident in that assessment.
Knowing how to resist this consolidation of power, or any state wielding power for that matter, is difficult…but no one is safe unless everyone is safe and we’ll struggle to build and hold any kind of safety while power remains the goal of states.
Tikkun olam means “to repair the world,” and is a central teaching in Judaism. That is what we shouldn’t forget.
From what I can tell two effective groups on the ground right now are Medical Aid for Palestine and Palestine Children’s Relief Fund.
We’ve had some very dramatic thunderstorms the last few evenings.
Today was the last real day of summer for us. Tomorrow the kids go back to school.
You know those last few weeks before the dark of autumn — the ones that hold the last bursts of summer? Those days where you try to squeeze in as many chill summer vibes as humanly possible?
I’ve been feeling that lately, but, like, for all of the climate?
There’s this feeling about that this is maybe the last “normal” summer we’ll have…and it was honestly anything but normal.
Pushing that aside: I’ve filled this summer with a lot of yard work, reading, and undirected wandering. I’ve done a bit of programming — mostly scheming and dreaming on game ideas, but also a bit of time spent becoming reacquainted with Guava.
I’ve also been writing some fiction. We’ll see where that lands. It is something I fall in to from time to time, but I rarely stick with it for long. I’d like to finish a thing enough to feel like I can share it.
We went to the beach today — a big sandy one south of us. We usually hang around Portland, go to a rocky local beach. Birding adventures introduced us to a secret little facet of a beach we’d presumed to be private, though. We had fun splashing in the waves and drawing in the sand. Sand pipers were everywhere, running in the surf.
We built a fire pit this summer. I’ve always wanted one, but also sort of thought it was frivolous because it wasn’t something we’d use. We’ve used it a lot! I’m excited to host friends around it as the weather chills.
After the excitement of last summer I was hopeful for a chill one this year. So far, so good.
We visited the island where we used to live and started our family. We saw a few friends, and visited some favorite places (though many of them are remarkably changed), but mostly we relaxed and wandered.
I haven’t done much link logging of late. Mostly been reading books.
At the request of a friend, I read Tomorrow, And Tomorrow, And Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin. I don’t know if I liked it, really, but it has stuck with me, and I think it will for a while yet. Now I’m in the midst of A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge…mostly because I’m a sucker for an alliterative name.
As I think about summer projects, not many computer-y ones come to mind, but, I’ve decided to only use lisps this summer. We’ll see what I do with that resolution.
I have major plans for our garden; I’m fairly confident my eyes are bigger than my…ability to accomplish things, though, so trying to be realistic about what will be achieved.
I didn’t plan this well. I have more images but not much more to say.
While visiting the island, I ran into an old professor. She asked me what my favorite programming language was — it was a strange question, made stranger coming from a professor of literature.
What is your favorite metre?
Further in Summer than the Birds
Pathetic from the Grass
A minor Nation celebrates
Its unobtrusive Mass.
No Ordinance be seen
So gradual the Grace
A pensive Custom it becomes
Enlarging Loneliness.
Antiquest felt at Noon
When August burning low
Arise this spectral Canticle
Repose to typify
Remit as yet no Grace
No Furrow on the Glow
Yet a Druidic Difference
Enhances Nature now
Emily Dickinson, yo.
