# Log 2022-07-31 ## Todoist inbox ### [[Richard Feynman]] on thinking on paper ![[QUOTE - Richard Feynman - You have to work on paper and this is the paper#Quote]] ### [[Dall-E]] prompts for index cards Some more [[Dall-E]] results: ![[2022-07-31-1659276370290.jpeg]] ![[2022-07-31-1659276594751.jpeg]] ### Quotes about strategy ![[QUOTE - Richard Rumelt - A good strategy includes a set of coherent actions]] ![[QUOTE - Camille Fournier - When few people understand what you do, they tend to underestimate the value that you bring]] ### [[Jack Rusher]] links to weird [[UI UX]] A lot of weird [[UI UX]] design using [[Common Lisp]] and [[CLIM]]: ![[2022-07-31-1659278534091.jpeg]] ### [[Ivan Illich]] quote about freedom to make things This is related to my research into [[Anti-Oppressive Design]]: - [[QUOTE - Ivan Illich - People need above all the freedom to make things among which they can live]] In fact, the links go far deeper, and [[BOOK - Tools for Conviviality - Ivan Illich]] has had direct influence over the creation of the [[Personal Computing|Personal Computer]], notably through [[Lee Felsenstein]]: > Lee Felsenstein’s father had sent him a book by [Ivan Illich](http://bit.ly/b3vBI5) titled [_Tools for Conviviality_](http://bit.ly/b3vBI5), and Illich’s contentions bore out Lee’s views (“To me, the best teachers tell me what I know is already right,” Lee would later explain). Illich professed that hardware should be designed not only for the people’s ease, but with the long-term view of the eventual symbiosis between the user and the tool. > [[Steven Levy]] - Hackers ([9. Every Man a God - Hackers [Book]](https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/hackers/9781449390259/ch09.html)) See also: - [6 Lee Felsenstein and the Convivial Computer - Convivial Tools](https://conviviality.ouvaton.org/spip.php?article39) In fact, there is a whole page about [[Convivial Tools]]: - [Convivial Tools](https://conviviality.ouvaton.org/) I wish I had access to: - [“I am an engineer and therefore a radical”: an interview with Lee Felsenstein, from Free Speech Movement technician to Homebrew Computer Club moderator: Internet Histories: Vol 5, No 2](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/24701475.2021.1917903) The whole journal is quite interesting: - [https://twitter.com/InternetHistor](https://twitter.com/InternetHistor) For example this article about the pivot towards the Internet in France, away from the [[Minitel]]: - [Sci-Hub | | 10.1080/24701475.2020.1731783](https://sci-hub.se/10.1080/24701475.2020.1731783) ### [[Prompt Engineering]] for [[Generative Models]] [[Michael Nielsen]] on twitter asks for links to papers and research about [[Prompt Engineering]]: - [https://twitter.com/michael_nielsen/status/1552767328936292354?s=12&t=pPWSnFEOTyhb1pOP6pQyfA](https://twitter.com/michael_nielsen/status/1552767328936292354?s=12&t=pPWSnFEOTyhb1pOP6pQyfA) - [prompt engineering - Google Scholar](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=prompt+engineering&btnG=) Responses to that question: - [[2102.07350] Prompt Programming for Large Language Models: Beyond the Few-Shot Paradigm](https://arxiv.org/abs/2102.07350) - [Methods of prompt programming :: — Moire](https://generative.ink/posts/methods-of-prompt-programming/) - [The DALL·E 2 Prompt Book – DALL·Ery GALL·Ery](https://dallery.gallery/the-dalle-2-prompt-book/) - [https://twitter.com/hardmaru](https://twitter.com/hardmaru) (especial april - june) A lot of threads on the [[openAI]] forum of course: - [OpenAI API Community Forum](https://community.openai.com/) ## How to write comments in informal rulemaking As I'm starting to think more about becoming effective in mitigating [[Climate Change]], and working on finding out how to have impact on local politics, things like participating in [[Local Politics]] is going to become important. I better start assembling some resources now and let things slowly imbibe me so that one day I will ready to start taking action (I am starting to understand how I learn and work).G I came across this on twitter: - [Notice and Comment 101](https://www.knowyourix.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Notice-and-Comment-101.pdf) which references - [Richard Stoll - Effective Written Comments in Informal Rulemaking](https://www.foley.com/-/media/files/insights/publications/2007/07/effective-written-comments-in-informal-rulemaking/files/effective-written-comments-in-informal-rulemaking/fileattachment/dickstoll_aba.pdf) ### Measuring engineering productivity By way of [[Camille Fournier]], who points towards [[BOOK - Software Engineering at Google - Titus Winters Tom Manshreck Hyrum Wright]]'s chapter about measuring [[Software Engineering Productivity]]. - [https://twitter.com/skamille/status/1551751520403787776?s=12&t=PI90bzpk5ACOxMGGFn2LyQ](https://twitter.com/skamille/status/1551751520403787776?s=12&t=PI90bzpk5ACOxMGGFn2LyQ) - [Software Engineering at Google](https://abseil.io/resources/swe-book/html/ch07.html) ## Random reading From [My Most Powerful Tool for Thinking and Decision Making | Safal Niveshak](https://www.safalniveshak.com/most-powerful-thinking-decision-making-tool/#note1) I gathered a neat idea that [[ZK - 4a2 - Writing makes it impossible to think about another idea]]. Linking this paper about [[APL]] which has some really good notes about the power of [[Notation]]. [[ZK - 3d3 - Notation allows for faster, clearer thinking]] There is a nice [[Software Tools|tool]] ([[Command Line|CLI tools]]) to connect to all kind of [[Databases]]: - [GitHub - xo/usql: Universal command-line interface for SQL databases](https://github.com/xo/usql) Another interesting and promising tool for diffing with syntax understanding. It uses [[tree-sitter]] for [[Parsing]]. - [GitHub - Wilfred/difftastic: a structural diff that understands syntax 🟥🟩](https://github.com/Wilfred/difftastic) ## Obsessive note taker An absolutely lovely article about complete obsessive [[🧠 Notetaking]]: - [The Obsessive Note Taker: A Day in the Life](https://breakingproduct.substack.com/p/the-obsessive-note-taker-a-day-in) There are so many good quotes and insights in there. - [[QUOTE - Esther Perel - Too many people bring the best of themselves to work and the leftovers home]] - [[QUOTE - Steve Jobs - Creativity is just connecting things]] - [[QUOTE - Thomas Edison - Never go to sleep without a request to your subconscious]] ## Observability is about finding where to debug A nice thread about how [[Observability]] is not the same as old-school [[Logging]], and how [[Logging]] has the potential to be disruptive at scale. I think there are a few controversial opinions that I don't fully agree with in that thread, but that might be because of my experience in [[Embedded]] programming and the use of logs there, where [[Debugging]] is actually not possible once the system is out in the wild. - [[mipsytipsy - 1154995463050764291]] ## Building a [[Search Engine]] by [[Adrian Raudaschl]] A very interesting article by [[Adrian Raudaschl]] who apparently built the first version of the [[Mendeley]] [[Search Engine]]. With [[Mendely]] the product itself was the [[Search Engine]], which influences some of the content. - [[NOTES - Adrian Raudaschl - So you want to build a search engine]] ## Published my second [[Typefully]] [[Microessay]] See [[2022-07-31 - Things I've learned over the years as ND]], which I also turned into a blog post on [[scapegoat.dev]]. ## More links from Todoist Inbox An article about how [[PostgreSQL]] views and materialized views work, and how [[TimescaleDB]] does continuous aggregates. Interesting [[Database Engines]] information: - [How PostgreSQL Views and Materialized Views Work and How They Influenced TimescaleDB Continuous Aggregates](https://www.timescale.com/blog/how-postgresql-views-and-materialized-views-work-and-how-they-influenced-timescaledb-continuous-aggregates/) Insight into giving advice as a [[Consulting|consultant]] vs [[Leading without authority]]: ![[QUOTE - John Cutler - Accepting internal advice vs outside advice]] A [[Command Line|CLI tools]] to create better [[Changelog]]s from [[Git]] commits. Useful for [[Release Engineering]] and [[Software Methodology]] in general: - [GitHub - miniscruff/changie: Automated changelog tool for preparing releases with lots of customization options](https://github.com/miniscruff/changie) ![[QUOTE - Kurt Vonnegut - We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be]] A pretty cool kind of [[Microfrontend]] approach to doing AJAX and HTML widgets in [[Javascript]]. I like this kind of minimal yet innovative approaches to technology. The introduction page mentions the concept of a [[Complexity Budget]], and how you can use intercooler to progressively identify where your webpage actually needs a full fledged [[Frontend]] [[Framework]]. - [intercooler.js - Simple AJAX using HTML attributes](https://intercoolerjs.org/docs.html) A really fun video about building a submarine control system with [[LEGO]]: - [Building a Lego-powered Submarine 4.0 - automatic depth control - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLEH8RJsYgI) Still cleaning up, and no real time to write up detailed notes about [[Scratch]], which I'm interested in not only because of that research into conviviality and leveraging computing, but also because of [[Teaching Programming]]: - [Scratch is a big deal | Bryan Braun - Frontend Developer](https://www.bryanbraun.com/2022/07/16/scratch-is-a-big-deal/) - [Scratch is a big deal | Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32120445) A list of [[Tools for Thinking]]: - [Tools for better thinking | Untools](https://untools.co/) Of special interest is the [[Minto Pyramid]] about written communication, which is a bit unintuitive and requires some unlearning from school teaching: - Start with the conclusion - List the key arguments - Support the arguments with detailed information (which can be skimmed by a busy reader) - [Minto Pyramid | Untools](https://untools.co/minto-pyramid) and [The Minto Pyramid Principle: Logic in Writing, Thinking, & Problem Solving by Barbara Minto](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33206.The_Minto_Pyramid_Principle) An article about how [[REST]] as it is used today really just means [[HTTP]] + [[JSON]], and honestly a lot of debate about which verb to use exactly, when it practice it barely matters. - [How Did REST Come To Mean The Opposite of REST?](https://htmx.org/essays/how-did-rest-come-to-mean-the-opposite-of-rest/) In his podcast [The Mid-Century Media Theorists Who Saw What Was Coming — The Ezra Klein Show — Overcast](https://overcast.fm/+oiPUkk-j0/13:13), an interesting quote by [[Ezra Klein]]: - [[QUOTE - Ezra Klein - I wrote to convince myself of what I think]] And then immediately cites: - [[QUOTE - Joan Didion - I write entirely to find out what I'm thinking]] A crazy video from 1989 about a computerized [[Bicycle]] used to cross the USA: ![[2022-07-31-1659292572040.jpeg]] - [16,000 Miles on a Bicycle - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLWl9d2jWuI) A really detailed article by [[Stripe]] about [[Online fraud]] and [[Online payments]]. Interesting for [[Goldeneaglecoin]]: - [Stripe: The state of online fraud](https://stripe.com/guides/state-of-online-fraud) ## Book writing I'm researching more about book writing. A good tip is to fill out [[Oreilly's Book Proposal Form]] Starting to collect a few links to [[Nuclear Energy]] and [[Climate Change]]: - [Nuclear energy is clean – Collectifission](https://www.collectifission.nl/nl/2022/07/nuclear-energy-is-clean/)