Month: February 2025

In the same way, I’m far too lazy to ever attempt to write successive drafts of anything. My first drafts are also my final drafts, with a lot of fiddling in between. I view sentences as stairsteps. In order to build the next step, you first have to make sure that you can bounce on the one below it. Each sentence generates the next, and in doing so creates a whole new set of questions.

— Read on lucysante.substack.com/p/how-to-sit-down

This is what makes these lan­guage models new: there has never, in human history, been a way to oper­a­tionalize Every­thing. There’s never been any­thing close.

Just as, above, I set copy­right aside, I want also to set aside fair use and the public domain. Again, not because they are irrelevant, but because those intu­itions and frame­works all assume we are talking about using some part of the com­mons — not all of it.

I mean: ALL of it!

— Read on www.robinsloan.com/lab/is-it-okay/

The next time you feel frustration and anxiety creeping in (like every time you check your news app), pause, deep breathe, and ask: 
– Is this within my control?
– If yes, what’s my next step?
– If no, how do I adjust to move forward anyway?
This shift changes everything. Instead of being paralyzed by what’s out of your hands, you take ownership of what is. Less dread, more clarity. This is how you can avoid letting the news consume you and take over your brain.

— Read on brilliantcrank.com/the-dice-035/

Many of us would rather experience physical discomfort than sit quietly with our own thoughts, as a 2014 University of Virginia study found. Nearly half of participants sitting alone in a room for 15 minutes, with no stimulation other than a button that would administer a mild electric shock, pressed the button.

— Read on www.theguardian.com/wellness/2025/feb/07/boredom-explainer-good-or-bad

What do you write in the notebooks?
I try to operate on the “Nothing Doesn’t Go in Here” principle. Flipping through the notebook that is on my desk right now, I see shopping lists, notes from conference calls, sermon notes, a little chart I made when working on some invoices for Relay, a doodle of the Widgetsmith icon I made for some reason, and a lot more. A receipt for a recent meal with a friend fell out of it onto my lap; I’ll probably tape that into the notebook for safekeeping. 

— Read on 512pixels.net/2025/02/the-field-notes-thing/

I know. You already have a social media account. But you should also have a personal website. Here’s why.

— Read on nora.zone/manifesto.html

This year, I issue a new challenge, a bolder one: Put Out a Beta Edition of Something You’re Working On. Unlike the 1e manifesto, this isn’t something that is basically done but you are still tinkering with. This is something that is explicitly unfinished, where work is still to be done, but it’s more or less playable. Release it this year, comment or tag me or somehow let me know, and I’ll list your beta edition below at the end of this post. Let’s make a big deal out of beta releases this year. 

— Read on www.prismaticwasteland.com/blog/2025-is-the-year-of-the-beta

This manifesto is the advice I wish I had been given, in the way I wish it had been given to me.

First, understand these things to be true:

DONE is a MYTH.
COMPLETE is a JOKE.
PERFECT is IMPOSSIBLE.

— Read on 200proof.games/manifesto/