Friday Links and Objects of Interest – 2/10/23

It’s been something of a full week, but I’ve still found some time to tinker with GPT integrations, read a few interesting posts on the Internet, and tinker with a few video game ideas for Playdate. Let’s dive right in:

— Snoop Dogg retweeted me. I snuck in a design reference. That is all.

— This post on Jstor dives into architectural manifestos of the 20th Century. Of particular note, for me, was this passage: “And as fully-functionalised means of construction, both modern architecture and modern typography constituted signifiers of modern culture, so that modern print media could constitute an alternative site of production to the building site, an alternative space of representation to the city.”

— I found these cool old DIY books in my parents’ basement. It’s hard to imagine a similar set of encyclopedic books now, and I can’t quite figure out why. What happened to the idea that we should be able to understand the things around us, how they work, and how to repair them?

— I’ve been enjoying Tolstoy’s A Calendar of Wisdom daily readings, and you probably would, too. Today’s was about being like water. What gets better than that?

— On a visit to Virginia this week, I learned that there’s a town called Buena Vista that’s pronounced Bee-you-na Vista. This was a shibboleth used during the days of the Underground Railroad. If you’re pronounced it the right way, people would know that you were one of the good guys. On searching the Internet to learn more, I found this interesting piece.

— The ChatGPT + Gmail integration on Zapier is a huge timesaver.

— Using Dall-E for idea refinement has been a fun experiment. I begin with a small, unshaped idea “what does an innovation space look like?,” and then refine the idea until it becomes something more interesting “what does an innovation space with a makerspace inside of it that inspires ideation, iteration, and implementation look like?”

— My old student and friend Alex Smith sent this Ragbrai anthem over to me, and it’s fantastic.

— Two Youtube shows that I love watching just collided for one of the funnier YouTube show episodes I’ve seen in a while. Let me introduce you to “Stealth Camping in a Downtown Parking Spot!!”

— There’s a comet in our skies right now. My friend and mentor Hank Streeter put it beautifully when he said “it’s cool to think this was last visible to out ancestors 50,000 YBP.” Just think about that. Anyway, here’s a great app to help locate it.

Happy Friday!

JRM