the Guardian
The joy of mediocrity: we need hobbies, even if we’re bad at them, to free us from perfection | Kerri Duncan
When I focus on getting better at something, it creates room for failure. I want only carefree pleasure from my down time
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The firehose of all my posts, including replies, likes and reposts. If this is too much,
you may be interested in just my lifestream which provides
a calmer, more curated experience.
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Mar 4, 2023, 1:48 PM -05:00 -
Mar 2, 2023, 10:28 PM -05:00 -
Mar 1, 2023, 11:15 PM -05:00 I have the same thoughts sometimes but I've come to the conclusion that readership doesn't matter that much. I have an online presence for myself and that's enough.
Mar 1, 2023, 9:01 AM -05:00I don't think anybody would miss my personal "homepage" site but myself. Having one of those pessimistic moments where I am thinking - is having an online "presence" even and at all worth it for me? What is it really contributing to the Internet? I have some visitors, which I see through good old AwStats, but am I making their day or providing them with an answer to a longing question? Probably not... -
Feb 28, 2023, 7:15 AM -05:00 Feb 26, 2023, 10:32 AM -05:00
Corn Meal Porridge
When I was a young lad, I spent a lot of time on Bequia with my grandmother, my grand-maman or just "Mama". I loved her food, and her breakfast was my favourite meal. Breakfast in Bequia was much different than breakfast in New Jersey. I don't remember eating oatmeal or pancakes. It was customary to have fish for breakfast, a sprat fried whole and served with fried cou-cou, fish broth, or salted cod with bakes or fried breadfruit. But one of my favourite things grand-maman made for breakfast ... -
Feb 25, 2023, 8:47 AM -05:00 I classified a lentil curry recipe on my website as "easy" and a friend of mind disagreed, pointing to the chopping it required and it never occurred to me that the necessity of chopping would disqualify a recipe from being easy, but here we are. And I guess that makes sense?
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Feb 23, 2023, 9:00 PM -05:00 Pistachios. The clams of the nut world.
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Feb 22, 2023, 2:12 PM -05:00 
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Ken Shirriff (@kenshirriff) on X
How did Russian cosmonauts know where they were? The Globus INK (1967) showed the position of their Soyuz spacecraft on a rotating globe. It is an analog computer built from tiny gears. I reverse-engineered the wiring (which inconveniently had been cut) and we powered it up. 🧵 -
Feb 19, 2023, 5:11 PM -05:00 The Popular Vote as a Psychological Coping Mechanism
In 1931, a book was published in German under the title "100 Authors Against Einstein", attempting to refute the Theory of Relativity. By some accounts, when Einstein was confronted with this book, he is reported to have said something along the lines of:
Why a hundred? If I were wrong, one would have been enough."
I have no idea if this is for real. Still, though, it's pretty good, right?
To be clear, Einstein was talking about physics, not politics or philosophy, but even in the social sciences I find myself sympathetic to the spirit of this quote, fake or not, especially when faced with people who harp on an idea like the popular vote.
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Feb 7, 2023, 9:58 AM -05:00 I think I need to read some of this person's stuff. She apparently recreated Around the World in Eighty Days with 8 days to spare.
Nellie Bly - Wikipedia
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Jan 15, 2023, 9:09 PM -05:00 I got a "book nook" for Christmas - kind of like a book end, but more elaborate. Super fun, I want them all.
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Jan 10, 2023, 1:15 PM -05:00 Reply to https://twitter.com/AmandaMarcotte/status/1612858374269407246?t=q20IaYO7hOGVMkrXawmc9g&s=19
I'm a big fan of Cincinnati chili, so cinnamon in meat dishes isn't so strange to me. Cinnamon and nutmeg are also essential components of French Canadian tourtiere.
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Jan 10, 2023, 7:54 AM -05:00 Raquel S. BenedictEveryone Is Beautiful and No One Is Horny
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Dec 25, 2022, 3:25 PM -05:00 I got a book nook!
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Dec 11, 2022, 10:42 PM -05:00 Annual Christmas tree snap
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Dec 7, 2022, 5:11 PM -05:00
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Jill Filipovic (@JillFilipovic) on X
Two things are true: Republicans are absolutely massive hypocrites on the "leave kids of politicians alone" thing, and also, we should leave the kids of politicians alone. (Assuming, of course, that those kids aren't also adults working in politics). -
Nov 28, 2022, 6:20 PM -05:00 I initially read this as "librarians love me for some reason". It was funny at the time.
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Lux Alptraum 🦋 luxalptraum.com (@LuxAlptraum) on X
Libertarians love me for some reason, why have none of them offered me $80k to be a bitch for a weekend -
Nov 26, 2022, 8:22 AM -05:00 -
Nov 24, 2022, 7:46 AM -05:00 I remember reading somewhere that kosher/halal laws are much less about the laws themselves and much more about the group identity they foster. I imagine the obscurity of Catholic mass fulfills roughly the same function.
What you're saying makes a lot of sense to me.
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Lux Alptraum 🦋 luxalptraum.com (@LuxAlptraum) on X
I think fundamentally there is an us v them mentality built into Judaism that exists independently of antisemitism. A lot of traditional Jewish practice — especially keeping kosher — is about a forced insularity that separates Jews from non-Jews. -
Nov 23, 2022, 1:20 PM -05:00 I just read a quote that said that the brain is "a machine for jumping to conclusions" and I don't know why but this feels so true.
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Nov 16, 2022, 8:45 PM -05:00 I know, right? I wouldn't have thought that a show about the "bureaucracy of evil" could be so compelling and yet here we are.
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Lux Alptraum 🦋 luxalptraum.com (@LuxAlptraum) on X
I’m finally watching Andor again after a three week break (my viewing companions had COVID) and my god it’s so good, it’s seriously way too good to be a Star Wars (sorry but it’s true) -
Nov 16, 2022, 7:35 AM -05:00 It's egg nog season, motherfuckers!
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Nov 15, 2022, 9:11 PM -05:00 I did a zoom presentation today and one of the audience took a screenshot of me talking. I looked pretty crazed. I'd be fucking terrified of me.
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Nov 9, 2022, 10:07 PM -05:00 Sunset over Point Sainte Charles and Saint-Henri
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Nov 8, 2022, 10:57 AM -05:00 I'm not sure what it is about this that rubs me the wrong way. Maybe it's the condescension or the "learning is beneath me" vibe I get.
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Bess Kalb (@bessbell) on X
Absolutely no billionaire can do anything to get me to download “Mastodon” and join a “server” whatever in God’s fuck that is. -
Nov 7, 2022, 11:50 PM -05:00
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Jill Filipovic (@JillFilipovic) on X
Not sure the Mastodon move is gonna be permanent and I am still On Here, but I'm also over there at jill@journa.host