Facing Forward
I missed the intro of Claude’s Mythos, and only started hearing about them in the ensuing panic. This article has a good rundown of the issues that have the cybersecurity world nervous. I do recognize that this could simply be hyperbole meant to bring extra attention (marketing) to the product, but I thought it worth looking into deeper.
rainfalls lovely sound
pollen’s excess washed away
the air now refreshed
I’ve enjoyed Xavier Rudd for years (I wrote about a different song back in 2020). I love the positive energy he creates. In this time of rage and invective, I appreciate his message of unity and kindness.
This song is not new, but I recently found it, and it clicked. I’ve been playing it a LOT. For me, there are songs that resonate at certain times. Generally, I move along with the semi-obessive quality, but those songs eventually are my connection to the emotions of that part of my life.
So, please check this song out, and I recommend that you give Xavier’s music some of your attention. I think it’s worth it.
Whisper in the wind sent me home
I’d believe there was somethin’ more
Learned so much, fell in love with you
Took my chances with what I knew
With the places that had stained my hands
And the files that I’d stored on my shelf
Spent so long in the world givin’ chase
Thought my place was some other place
That I belong here, I belong with you
And all of our questions belong here, too
‘Cause we been high, darlin’, we been low
And all of it’s helped us grow
We belong here and we deserve to dream
Every wakin’ hour of every wakin’ day
I wake up to the sound of discussions in my brain
I don’t know the answer and I don’t know the truth
And I don’t really know what I been draggin’ since my youth
But I push on, I philosophy
Keep my prophecies by my side
And I hope to meet you at the gates
See that light shinin’ on your face
‘Cause I belong here, I belong with you
And all of our answers reside here, too
‘Cause we been high, darlin’, we been low
And all of it’s helped us grow
We belong here and we deserve to dream
Dream
And every breakin’ hour though a little more would break
And the courage could be summoned to bring about some change
And the plans would form to build a brand new castle
To the sky we’d soar with the wings of an eagle
Stone-cold sober with whiskey on my breath
South America runnin’ through my head
With you, I was taken
It was you, I was not mistaken
You belong here, you belong with me
And all of your secrets are safe with me
‘Cause we been high, darlin’, we been low
And all of it’s helped us grow
We belong here and we deserve to dream
And all we want is runnin’ down the mountains
And all we need is flowin’ through the trees
And all we have is swimmin’ in the ocean
And all we can do is be the best that we can be
All we want is runnin’ down the mountains
And all we need is flowin’ through the trees
And all we have is swimmin’ in the ocean
And all we can do is be the best that we can be
All we want is runnin’ down the mountains
And all we need is flowin’ through the trees
And all we have is swimmin’ in the ocean
And all we can do, is be the best that we can be
And I hope to meet you at the gates
See that light shinin’ on your face
I spent several years of my life in the US Navy on submarines. Now, I had NO issues with the cramped spaces, nor with being many, many feet under water. I even crawled into very tight “void spaces”. Things like tanks. Not a problem! However, that’s not the case anymore. I look at this image above, and I feel claustrophobic. Deeply. And this isn’t that crowded. I’ve seen other images/videos where the train staff are literally pushing people together into the car. People are crushed into each other! Yeah, I’d be hyperventilating big time.
For me, this juxtoposition is striking. Nothing traumatic happened in the decades since. I have simply lost any tolerance for confined spaces. On a related note, I also didn’t have any issues with heights back then, but now I struggle.
Weird, methinks. Have you noticed any evolutions like this in your life?
I found the above image on Pinterest
In today’s world, so many in power are about controlling and manipulating others in order to get solely what they want. The powerful exploit, and the masses lose. Exploitation is not sustainable. One-sided economic growth is not sustainable. This leads, eventually, to collapse. I’ve long believed there’s another way.
Create a sustainable system, one that does not rely upon exploitation and the poverty of many. One that builds others up, that helps people grow. One that’s creative, not extractive. I’ve often simply called this “long-term focus”.
Leadership within this system would understand how people are motivated and how to use that knowledge to help them be the best people they can be. That’s how I see it, at least.
My hope is found in like-minded people, working towards these goals. And there’s great power in hope, don’t you think?
after the nightfall
with the rain rattled rooftops
the darkness consumes
I watched this video (below) yesterday, and it gave me all kinds of ideas. It’s mainly exploring the IndieWeb. I feel the best description is capturing the best elements of the “old” internet. Moving beyond the enshittified internet, beyond the grip of social media companies. Remembering the internet that was not heavily focused on maximizing profits, on selling as much stuff to everyone who has any disposable income.
As someone who is quite enamoured with the Open Web, things like Open Source and Free Software, this notion is captivating. And, the more I think about it, the more important I think these tools are, and how critical the IndieWeb will be for the evolution of the web. It’s a critical tool in wresting control back from corporations. I’m just starting to explore this in depth, so let me point you to Dan Gillmor’s post from 2014 about the IndieWeb. His post summarizes my ideas nicely.
I’m reminded about the ways we navigated back in the early days of the web. Before the days of Google, and the other webcrawler technologies, things like link pages, blogrolls (here’s mine), and webrings were THE way you discovered new content. In a world where search is dominated by paid placements, I think blogrolls and link pages are extremely important. (Side note: I just discovered Wiby, which looks like it might be a powerful tool in this as well. I’ll need to explore it further, though.)
This brought up another thing I’m now: WordPress vs Handcoded. As you’re on my WordPress site, you can check out my hand-coded page here. That one started when I was studying Web Development back during the pandemic. Anyway, I see a lot of value in taking full control of my content. But, with decades of life on WordPress, I’m unsure how much effort I want to expend in extricating myself from the WordPress ecosystem. Hmmm…I might explore doing a bit of both. Stay tuned.
Anyway, check out this video. It’s only 12 minutes and has interesting insights.
I stumbled upon this image on Pinterest. It brought back some stuff for me. I have long had a fondness for typewriters. I have long valued my typing skills highly. Once, I could type over 100 words a minute with high accuracy. Well, my speed is still pretty high, but my accuracy has weakened. I chalk that up to, first, spell-check, and later autocorrect. The tools have made me lazy. I’m working on building that back up, as I still value this.
Anyway, though I first learned to type on a typewriter, they were electric (I’m not THAT old). My first typing experience was on the IBM Selectric. A lovely, if noisy, machine.
I used these heavily from high school all the way through the Navy. Then they faded from dominance, though I’d still need to use one on occasion (usually for government forms). By the 2000s, they’d vanished.
Now, though I liked the act of typing, I was also motivated by envisioning a future dominated by computers. Being able to use the keyboard would be a powerful, powerful tool. Clearly, I called that right!
Yeah, perhaps the image above is AI (I’m quite confident it is), but that’s not really the point. I found it fun and “enough”. Which might be AI’s main contribution: it’s enough. Mediocrity commoditized. But it’s enough to get me thinking, to capture a mood. Enough, I guess.
I came across this little gem earlier today over on Instagram.
The one that most strongly resonated with me was the first one: “To get somewhere, you have to leave where you are…” As someone who is rather risk-averse and values comfort, this one speaks strongly to me. I do wonder if I might be a Hobbit.
Another one that spoke to me: “Stillness notices what distraction misses…” Living fully immersed in the distraction economy/society, but somewhat against my will. I feel a strong pull to work on this. Little things like spending time reading books, as in paper, not my Kindle, not blog posts, nor Tweets.
I like starting the day with some reflection, with challenging the ways society pulls us…sometimes against our will, sometimes like an undertow in the sea of numbed distraction.
dawn's slowly rising
light gently touching fresh blooms
the juncos dancing
Today’s cover image was created with WordPress’s built-in AI image generator. The prompt was just the haiku. Kinda fun.