cherry blossoms fall
as spring's skies begin to warm
free of all our fears
A Morning Haiku
Blog
Tonight’s Haiku
sunlight descending
brightening western mountains
quiet witnesses
Seth Godin’s “The Use (And Design) Of Tools”
As I read Seth’s post today, I started wondering how tools like AI can be impacted by, or actually impact the attitude of “Too Busy To Learn”. I think one of AI’s key potentials is to make the need to understand the tool’s operation non-essential (think coding).
Mainly, I think the future will be dominated by those who understand the tools, not by the people who can simply operate them.
It’s Love Your SysAdmin Day
Well, it was a few days ago.
TLDR: This manager was forced to let the best sysadmin he’d ever worked with go (ah, economics!). So, he posted this post to Reddit, and got amazing results.
The community rose up and have kinda crowdsourced said admin a new job. This is so cool to see! This is the kind of person I strive to be, so it’s particularly nice to see that valued and rewarded.
Aspirations are a good thing to have, methinks.
AI Generated Island Vibes
I have a fondness for YouTube music videos and often play them in the background while I’m working. Lately, I’ve been feeling island vibes, so that’s what I’ve been choosing. Today, this one rolled into my algorythim and, well, AI is struggling.
The music is fine, pretty much spot on for my mood. But the video, though…oh my! We have cliffs that move into each other, and then fade away, boats just appearing in bays, a speed boat zipping across the sky, and my favorite: two party boats, one of which is speeding backwards with another boat, right off the stern, moving at the same speed but sideways. Ah, physics!
So, AI is pretty amazing and has a lot to offer, but it’s not quite ready to take over the world.
Tonight’s Haiku
another spring day
cherry blossoms scattering
fading memories
Wrote this one early this morning. Created this image in Canva.
Anyway, thanks for reading.
Some thoughts on cycling
Some of you may know that for a good chunk of my life, I was a rather militant cyclist. I lived downtown Seattle (properly, on Capitol Hill and First Hill) for the better part of a decade without owning a car. I really loved living life this way…mostly. After a few painful altercations with cars, though, I stepped away from this path. But bikes hold a dear place in my heart. So this cartoon resonates with me. I still ride, just not as much. And I’m a bit more humble of an environmentalist.
I hold some cycling aspirations. RAGBRAI, for instance, sounds like a blast! Part of me has long wanted to ride the STP (Seattle to Portland), but it seems, shall we say, antithetical to introverts. Of course, the same can be said for RAGBRAI.
This sentiment delights me (some people suppress their inner child; I got mine a bicycle). Are there any comics/graphics that speak loudly to you?
PS: here’s the link to the artist’s page. He doesn’t seem to have updated it since 2017, but there’s plenty of fun cycle-centric comics here.
It’s National Library Workers Day
A blog I follow, “The Poetry Department”, posted this note about National Library Workers Day. I deeply value libraries as well as those who keep them running. So, I urge you to honor a library worker in your life.
Early morning haiku
sleep’s evasive
the early morning darkness
hiding raindrops
Yeah, I should be asleep,
I’d prefer to be asleep
Yet that is not
My reality.
Some Monday morning wisdom for you
I’ve been meditating on things like growth, effectiveness, and what makes a good life. Elena’s post offers some great insights into resilience, which I’ve come to believe is a central component to all of those things. One key thing, for me, is staying focused when I come against obstacles. Part of me expects “the right path” to be frictionless. If there are challenges, well, I must have chosen wrong. And, though I know that’s wrong. Really, it’s a rather foolish and damaging mindset. I’m good about keeping that at bay, but, man it raises up ugly sometimes.
So, I appreciate the reminder of what resilience is and it’s importance to a well-lived life. And I recommend going and reading her post.