Town Hall #9: Listen
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Listening is a skill.
To digest and reflect your universe is no small feat.
Let curiosity guide you.
Watch your mind. It compels itself to spread and share. Your thoughts clamor for recognition.
Your heart leaps on stage to put its depth on display. Do they understand? Do they really understand?
To become a listener, wrest attention from yourself. Observe that others yearn for the same spotlight. Encourage and applaud all efforts. Be a good audience; enjoy the show.
Open Questions
If you have questions or answers, send me an e-mail.
- Do you have any unpopular opinions? I’d love to hear them!
- Any tips for creating a pitch deck and talking to investors? I’m going to be chatting with lots of VCs over the next few weeks.
- I’m helping a friend out with a hairy authorship identification problem. Any tips/resources for advanced text analysis?
- What are some common beliefs in software engineering that are untrue?
scrapscript
I designed a new programming language!
Scrapscript is a tiny functional language for sharable software.
I think I stumbled upon some cool new ideas, so let me know what you think!
New Writings
- Bananas Will Become Smartphones
- Tools & Techniques for AR/VR Media
- Taylor’s Delights
- I never want to be 93 years old
- Taylor’s Media Criticism System
- Good Art is Commonplace
- Slay Dragon Before Reorganizing Closet
- Say “quadyssey”, not “quadrilogy”.
Recommendations
You may skip to shows, books, purchases, web media, images, videos, podcast episodes, or music.
You can also scour my entire history of book reviews, album ratings, and active podcasts.
Shows
- Oshi no Ko :: This anime is bonkers. The internet is abuzz with this show right now, so avoid spoilers. Go into the 90-minute premiere completely blind.
Books
- ★★★★★ How We Got To Now by Steven Johnson :: This book is the best kinds of entertaining and informative. Six threads of technological history demonstrate the interconnectedness of ideas. It’s a refreshing take on inevitable innovation.
- ★★★☆☆ The Walking Man by Jiro Taniguchi :: Short manga stories about the experience of living. Breathtaking artwork in some parts. Inspired me to get drenched and walk barefoot more often.
- ★★☆☆☆ The Wintringham Mystery by Anthony Berkeley :: Clever mystery, but ultimately soulless.
- ★★★★★ Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin :: Deep and emotional and insightful. A love letter to love in the language of game design. This book oozes “millennial”, and that’s a surprisingly good thing. It feels like classic literature written yesterday.
Web Media
- ★ Design has a language
- Avoiding food waste confusion
- At what rate should we tax AI workers?
- New York City fact of the day
- Strong and Weak Link Problems and the Value of Peer Review
- Quick Prompt: Kitchen Design
- The case for nurse practitioners
- (1986) Japanese Commercials
- Dripbook
- Two kinds of salad
- Replacing bad systems with bad systems
- AI tutors will be held back by culture
- Leverage is brittle
Images
- ★ cat caught on thermal camera
- lots of apples
- love piss
- concrete evidence
- crab stencil
- furbiest
- ratatouille
- satanic addiction
- fps crossstitch
- suburban estate
- attack on titan craft
- dog with broccoli
- get your head out of the locker
- soup of the day
Videos
- ★ I Built a Robot to Paint Expensive Art
- ★ DOES YOUR FLAG FAIL? Grey Grades The State Flags!
- ★ “Applebees Salads Are Full Of Cut Off Fingers” Nasty Lost News Story 2005 (ABC) Inside Edition
- Adriano Celentano - Prisencolinensinainciusol
- Boy Meets World but it’s midwest emo
- Lego anything with this NEW Blender geometry nodes feature
- Norm Macdonald Controversial Statement
- Reviewbrah but it’s a Midwest Emo intro
- Seth Rogen Reveals Why He Smokes Weed ‘All Day, Every Single Day’
- The Unrecord Gameplay Looks Unbelievable… So We Played The UE5 Demo Level
- When Jungle/DnB Music Dominated Video Games: A Brief Retrospective
- Why You NEED these Overengineered Japanese Office Supplies! 📋✨
- You have chosen to save the OuiOuis and hit Luigi
Podcast Episodes
| ★★★ | Radiolab :: The Good Samaritan |
| ★★☆ | Cautionary Tales :: The Vigilante and the Air Traffic Controller |
| ★★☆ | Deep Questions with Cal Newport :: The Simple Life |
| ★★☆ | Everything Everywhere Daily :: April Fool’s Day |
| ★★☆ | Everything Everywhere Daily :: Han van Meegeren: Forgery as an Art Form |
| ★★☆ | Everything Everywhere Daily :: The World’s Greatest Wagers |
| ★★☆ | Hardcore History Addendum :: The Long View |
| ★★☆ | Intelligence Squared :: Daniel Dennett on Tools to Transform our Thinking |
| ★★☆ | Intelligence Squared :: Western Parents Don’t Know How to Bring Up Their Children |
| ★★☆ | Planet Money :: The safety net for banks |
| ★★☆ | The Joy of Why :: Is There Math Beyond the Equal Sign |
| ★★☆ | What’s Your Problem? :: Human Bones, Made in the Lab |
Music
| ★★★★★ | Edger Meyer & Chris Thile :: Bass & Mandolin |
| ★★★★★ | My Chemical Romance :: Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge |
| ★★★★☆ | August Burns Red :: Constellations |
| ★★★★☆ | Deas Vail :: All the Houses Look the Same |
| ★★★★☆ | Deerhoof :: Future Teenage Cave Artists |
| ★★★★☆ | Vylet Pony :: Queen of Misfits |
| ★★★☆☆ | Charli XCX :: Number 1 Angel |
| ★★★☆☆ | Katia & Marielle Labèque :: Minimalist Dream House |
| ★★★☆☆ | Magalena Bay :: mini mix vol. 1 |
| ★★★☆☆ | Melt-Banana :: Cell-Scape |
| ★★☆☆☆ | Daphne Loves Derby :: Good Night, Witness Light |
| ★★☆☆☆ | Dogleg :: Melee |
| ★★☆☆☆ | Eat Your Heart Out :: Florescence |
| ★★☆☆☆ | GFOTY & Spinee :: Dog Food |
| ★★☆☆☆ | Good Old War :: Come Back As Rain |
| ★★☆☆☆ | Jazmine Sullivan :: Heaux Tales |
| ★★☆☆☆ | Mux Mool :: Skulltaste |
| ★★☆☆☆ | ODESZA :: In Return |
| ★★☆☆☆ | PJ Harvey :: Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea |
| ★★☆☆☆ | Ray Toro :: Remember the Laughter |
| ★★☆☆☆ | Redinho :: Redinho |
| ★★☆☆☆ | Sparks the Rescue :: The Secrets We Can’t Keep - EP |
| ★★☆☆☆ | Sweet Trip :: Seen/Unseen |
| ★★☆☆☆ | Tennyson :: Tennyson |
| ★☆☆☆☆ | Kensington :: Borders |
| ★☆☆☆☆ | Lainey Wilson :: Sayin’ What I’m Thinkin’ |
| ★☆☆☆☆ | Sentimental Scenery :: There Is Nowhere Else In The World |