2024.09.DisappearingMoment
“A device that permits people who haven’t anything to do to watch people who can’t do anything.” That was comedian Fred Allen's description of... television
Everything old is TikTok again.
In my mid-twenties, Penn hired me to ghostwrite thank you letters to its donors. Someone at the President’s office signed them for her. Someone else mailed them to the donors.
The donors employed people to open their mail and shred or recycle the letters. If the employee was new or rushed, the employee might have given the letter to the donor's accountant. Who would have shredded or recycled the letter.
I was ChatGPT. The donors’ employees were ChatGPT. We were slower, cheaper, and burned less fuel. Technology!
A couple of months ago, I read a post on an American Library Association mailing list that made me angry. The message to the list was typical “just asking questions” bigotry. I responded before I thought better of it.
I’m not embarrassed about what I wrote in my response. It was fine. It was what I would have wanted someone else to send to the list.
I’m embarrassed by my offline reaction. I got sucked in for a few days. I gave the jackass space in my brain. I drafted a response to their response. Which I had the good sense not to send.
That isn’t the point. The point is, I know better than to let dullards distract me from what matters. I learned it when I wrote letters that meant nothing to anyone. I learned it on Usenet. On social media.
Here’s to never needing to learn it again.
Welcome to September 2024’s Disappearing Moment, an inventory of my experiences. I hope you enjoy it.
Podcasts
Library Social Work (I Liked It): Sarah Johnson researches library-based social workers. They're some of the coolest people on the planet. Her conversations with them make my day.
Nerdy Software
I use Hugo, a Content Management System, to organize the Disappearing Moment website. It’s fun, powerful, elegant, open source, and has great community support.
Free Font
Luciole tries "to provide the best possible reading experience for the visually impaired". I find its design more subtle than other fonts with similar aims.
Bougie Products
Injinji toe socks prevent blisters when I run. I also wear them with Luna sandals in cold weather or long runs, including a marathon.
Personal Finance and Investing
Like me, you may have a high mortgage rate. Use a Mortgage Professor refinance calculator to see if refinancing is worth it.
Reading
- Craig Calcaterra, Rethinking Fandom (2022) (I Liked It): My least favorite kind of favorite book. His message is as accurate and essential as it is sad and cynical.
- Merve Emre, The Personality Brokers (2018) (I Loved It): My favorite kind of favorite book. Everyone is a flawed, credulous, beautiful nerd, including the author.
- Saul Justin Newman, “Supercentenarian and remarkable age records exhibit patterns indicative of clerical errors and pension fraud” (I Liked It): So much for my Extra Virtuous Olive Oil. See also, “The data on extreme human ageing is rotten from the inside out.”
- Matthew Ström “Copying“ (I Loved It): I don't want to be original. I wouldn’t be cool if I could. What's satisfying is identifying cool people and adapting their ideas.
Too Much Information
Want to know more about me? I have links to my scores, types, etc. on my About page. Care to know thyself? Follow the links and reveal your soul.
It's more effective if you do it on work time.
- Animal Personality
- Big Five
- CliftonStrenths
- DiSC Style
- Enneagram Number
- F Scale
- Generation
- Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument Score
- Intercultural Development Inventory
- Jungian Type
- Keirsey Temperament
- Leadership Effectiveness Analysis
- Myers-Briggs Type
- Novis Mental Ability
- Organization Analysis and Design Traits
- Process Communication Model Personality Type
- Quality of Life
- Rorschach Performance Assessment System Scores
- Swedish Universities Scales of Personality
- True Color
- Ultimate Personality
- Values and Motives Inventory
- Winslow Profile Traits
- X (Following and Followers)
- Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Score
- Zodiac Sign
Thank you for spending a few moments with me. I appreciate you and look forward to corresponding again next month.
Brett
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No large language models were used in the production of the Disappearing Moment newsletter or website (inspired by RFC 9518 Appendix A ¶ 4 and Tantek Çelik).