![he doesn't know a single damn thing and he's been trying for weeks](/damn-thing.jpg)

# Town Hall #14: Frends

[^note]: [Subscribe to Taylor's Town Hall via email](https://newsletter.taylor.town).

I've accumulated accidental friends over the years. At some point we got stuck
together, and now we feel comfortable together, and so we complicitly waste each
others' time.

But recently I met a handful of people I admire deeply. Suddenly some of my
accidental friends feel like obligations.

I don't know what to do with this feeling. I don't want to be a clout-chasing
sociopath, nor do I want to be telling the same stories to the same people ad
infinitum.

Take a look through your recent text conversations. Who do you chat with
regularly? Do they inspire you? Are you weighing them down? Are you truly
compatible or merely comfortable? What does a healthy friendship look like?

These aren't rhetorical questions -- [email me](mailto:hello@taylor.town) with
your personal experiences.

You can't force friendships, but you can totally study them.

## New Writings

Parenting:

- ☆ [much worse than kids stomping that pig’s bladder](/pigs-bladder)
- [Profitable Parenting](/profitable-parenting)
- [“Somebody Tranq That Child!”](/child-tranqs)

GPT:

- [How would you like ChatGPT to respond?](/chatgpt-custom)
- [rvnx’s “Penis Table Test” for LLM Censorship](/penis-table-test)
- [gpt’day mate](/gpt-day-mate)

Food:

- ☆ [How I Eat](/how-i-eat)
- [The Lazy Garbage Nursery Guide](/lazy-nursery)
- [56% of McNugget Carbon is Corn](/carbon-nuggets)

Living:

- ☆ [I’m a Coin Boy, Too](/coin-boys)
- ☆ [King of the Bunny Hill](/king-of-the-bunny-hill)
- [P\*\*fectionism Isn’t Your Problem](/perfectionism-isnt-your-problem)
- [Chloe is a listener](/listener)
- [How to Become Exponential](/become-exponential)
- [go big or go small or go home but don’t go medium](/medium)

Software development:

- [Easy Email Tokens in Pure Postgres](/pg-email-token)
- ☆ [How/Why to Sweep Async Tasks Under a Postgres Table](/pg-task)
- [Share Demos Every Friday](/friday-demos)
- [Man Spends Entire Career Mastering Crappy Codebase](/entire-career)

Other:

- [Apple should acquire Wolfram Research.](/wolfrapple)
- [my battlestation](/my-battlestation)

## New Interviews

- [Changelog #559: "Vibes from Strange Loop"](https://changelog.com/podcast/559#t=2378)
- [Changelog & Friends "#15: #define: a game of fake definitions"](https://changelog.com/friends/15)

## Recommendations


[^note]: You can scour my entire history of [book reviews](/books),
[album ratings](/music), and [active podcasts](/podcasts). You may also want to
[read about my rating system](/2-stars).

### Books {books}

|                                     |       |                                                               |
| ----------------------------------: | ----- | :------------------------------------------------------------ |
|        [review](/books#storm-front) | ★★★★☆ | _Storm Front_ :: Jim Butcher                                  |
|       [review](/books#men-machines) | ★★★★★ | _Men, Machines, and Modern Times_ :: Elting E. Morison        |
|             [review](/books#breath) | ★★★☆☆ | _Breath_ :: James Nestor                                      |
|               [review](/books#oaks) | ★★☆☆☆ | _The Nature of Oaks_ :: Douglas W. Tallamy                    |
|      [review](/books#writing-bones) | ★★☆☆☆ | _Writing Down the Bones_ :: Natalie Goldberg                  |
|      [review](/books#moon-mistress) | ★★☆☆☆ | _The Moon is a Harsh Mistress_ :: Robert A. Heinlein          |
|       [review](/books#timeless-way) | ★★★★★ | _The Timeless Way of Building_ :: Christopher Alexander       |
|        [review](/books#accelerando) | ★★★☆☆ | _Accelerando_ :: Charles Stross                               |
|   [review](/books#permutation-city) | ★★★☆☆ | _Permutation City_ :: Greg Egan                               |
|            [review](/books#no-head) | ★★★☆☆ | _On Having No Head_ :: Douglas Edison Harding                 |
|  [review](/books#things-fall-apart) | ★★★★☆ | _When Things Fall Apart_ :: Pema Chödrön                      |
|  [review](/books#walk-in-the-woods) | ★★★☆☆ | _A Walk in the Woods_ :: Bill Bryson                          |
|     [review](/books#adult-children) | ★★★☆☆ | _Emotionally Immature Parents_ :: Lindsay Gibson              |
|        [review](/books#see-the-sun) | ★☆☆☆☆ | _If You Could See The Sun_ :: Ann Liang                       |
|    [review](/books#extra-virginity) | ★★☆☆☆ | _Extra Virginity_ :: Tom Mueller                              |
|       [review](/books#player-piano) | ★★★★★ | _Player Piano_ :: Kurt Vonnegut                               |
|            [review](/books#rest-ag) | ★★★★☆ | _Restoration Agriculture_ :: Mark Shepard                     |
|            [review](/books#no-logo) | ★★★☆☆ | _No Logo_ :: Naomi Klein                                      |
|        [review](/books#shadow-lost) | ★★☆☆☆ | _The Shadow of What Was Lost_ :: James Islington              |
|     [review](/books#giant-hairball) | ★★☆☆☆ | _Orbiting the Giant Hairball_ :: Gordon MacKenzie             |
|    [review](/books#publicly-shamed) | ★★☆☆☆ | _So You've Been Publicly Shamed_ :: Jon Ronson                |
| [review](/books#left-hand-darkness) | ★★★☆☆ | _The Left Hand of Darkness_ :: Ursula K. Le Guin              |
|  [review](/books#omnivores-dilemma) | ★★★★★ | _The Omnivore's Dilemma_ :: Michael Pollan                    |
|    [review](/books#everyday-things) | ★★★★☆ | _The Design of Everyday Things_ :: Don Norman                 |
|         [review](/books#inner-game) | ★★★★☆ | _The Inner Game of Tennis_ :: W. Timothy Gallwey              |
|   [review](/books#triumph-of-seeds) | ★☆☆☆☆ | _Triumph of Seeds_ :: Thor Hanson                             |
|       [review](/books#bird-by-bird) | ★★☆☆☆ | _Bird by Bird_ :: Anne Lamott                                 |
|        [review](/books#diamond-age) | ★★★★★ | _The Diamond Age_ :: Neal Stephenson                          |
|        [review](/books#zen-writing) | ★★☆☆☆ | _Zen in the Art of Writing_ :: Ray Bradbury                   |
|    [review](/books#read-nonfiction) | ★☆☆☆☆ | _How to Read Nonfiction Like a Professor_ :: Thomas C. Foster |

### Music {music}

|       |                                                                         |
| ----- | :---------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| ★★★★★ | London Symphony Orchestra :: _Reich: The Four Sections_                 |
| ★★★★☆ | Širom :: _The Liquified Throne of Simplicity_                           |
| ★★★★☆ | Ólafur Arnalds :: _re:member_                                           |
| ★★★★☆ | bye2 :: _Teeth Restoration_                                             |
| ★★★★☆ | Silversun Pickups :: _Carnavas_                                         |
| ★★★★☆ | Sam Gellaitry :: _Escapism - EP_                                        |
| ★★★★☆ | Phoebe Bridgers :: _That Funny Feeling - Single_                        |
| ★★★★☆ | Jay Som :: _Anak Ko_                                                    |
| ★★★★☆ | Flume :: _Palaces_                                                      |
| ★★★★☆ | Cyndi Lauper :: _She's So Unusual_                                      |
| ★★★★☆ | City and Colour :: _Sometimes_                                          |
| ★★★★☆ | Animals As Leaders :: _The Madness Of Many_                             |
| ★★★☆☆ | black balloons :: _escape FM_                                           |
| ★★★☆☆ | Yung Bae :: _Ba3_                                                       |
| ★★★☆☆ | YMCK :: _Family Dancing_                                                |
| ★★★☆☆ | The Flower Kings :: _Banks of Eden_                                     |
| ★★★☆☆ | STOMACH BOOK :: _Stomach Book_                                          |
| ★★★☆☆ | SOPHIE :: _Oil of Every Pearl's Un - Insides_                           |
| ★★★☆☆ | Origami Angel :: _Doing the Most - EP_                                  |
| ★★★☆☆ | Octave Cat :: _Octave Cat_                                              |
| ★★★☆☆ | Nadus :: _Broke City - EP_                                              |
| ★★★☆☆ | Minus the Bear :: _Menos el Oso_                                        |
| ★★★☆☆ | King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard :: _Flying Microtonal Banana_          |
| ★★★☆☆ | Kikuo :: _Kikuo Miku_                                                   |
| ★★★☆☆ | Gospel :: _The Loser_                                                   |
| ★★★☆☆ | Astronoid :: _Radiant Bloom_                                            |
| ★★☆☆☆ | Österreich :: _Dearly Departed - EP_                                    |
| ★★☆☆☆ | Winston Surfshirt :: _Apple Crumble_                                    |
| ★★☆☆☆ | The Soft Machine :: _The Soft Machine_                                  |
| ★★☆☆☆ | The Flower Kings :: _Flowerpower_                                       |
| ★★☆☆☆ | The Fearless Flyers :: _The Fearless Flyers III - EP_                   |
| ★★☆☆☆ | Sleeping With Sirens :: _Let's Cheers to This_                          |
| ★★☆☆☆ | Shinichiro Yokota :: _Shinichiro Yokota Presents Do It Again and Again_ |
| ★★☆☆☆ | Petrie :: _Slurs_                                                       |
| ★★☆☆☆ | Panda Bear :: _Mr Noah - EP_                                            |
| ★★☆☆☆ | Nedaj :: _Alone - Single_                                               |
| ★★☆☆☆ | Matthew Halsall :: _Salute to the Sun_                                  |
| ★★☆☆☆ | Kurt Travis :: _Everything Is Beautiful_                                |
| ★★☆☆☆ | Kai Whiston :: _No World As Good As Mine_                               |
| ★★☆☆☆ | Infinity Shred :: _Ep002 (Recovery)_                                    |
| ★★☆☆☆ | Huey Lewis & The News :: _Sports_                                       |
| ★★☆☆☆ | Hospital Bracelet :: _South Loop Summer_                                |
| ★★☆☆☆ | Foxygen :: _...And Star Power_                                          |
| ★★☆☆☆ | Flume :: _Flume_                                                        |
| ★★☆☆☆ | EASYFUN :: _ELECTRIC - EP_                                              |
| ★★☆☆☆ | Dragonette :: _Fixin to Thrill_                                         |
| ★★☆☆☆ | Darwin Deez :: _Darwin Deez_                                            |
| ★★☆☆☆ | CHANCE デラソウル :: _Shine On_                                         |
| ★★☆☆☆ | Braid :: _Frame & Canvas_                                               |
| ★★☆☆☆ | Astronoid :: _Astronoid_                                                |
| ★★☆☆☆ | Apparatjik :: _We Are Here_                                             |
| ★☆☆☆☆ | Stratovarius :: _Destiny_                                               |
| ★☆☆☆☆ | Sorsari :: _Patterns EP_                                                |
| ★☆☆☆☆ | Sermon :: _Of Golden Verse_                                             |
| ★☆☆☆☆ | PeanutsKun :: _Tele Club_                                               |
| ★☆☆☆☆ | PeanutsKun :: _Air Drop Boy_                                            |
| ★☆☆☆☆ | Meteociel :: _Panteros666_                                              |
| ★☆☆☆☆ | Lee Moon Sae :: _골든 15_                                               |
| ★☆☆☆☆ | Foo Fighters :: _The Colour and the Shape_                              |
| ★☆☆☆☆ | Duelyst II: _Original Soundtrack (Alpha Version)_                       |
| ★☆☆☆☆ | Coheed and Cambria :: _Year Of The Black Rainbow_                       |
| ★☆☆☆☆ | CAPSULE :: _PLAYER_                                                     |
| ★☆☆☆☆ | Base Ball Bear :: _(What Is The) Love & Pop?_                           |