Author: sjwillis

  • Read: Why Not Bluesky

    The real problem, in my mind, isn’t in the nature of this particular Venture-Capital operation. Because the whole raison-d’etre of Venture Capital is to make money for the “Limited Partners” who provide the capital. Since VC investments are high-risk, most are expected to fail, and the ones that succeed have to exhibit exceptional revenue growth…

  • I like this take from 404 media and agree w/ much of this post on Bluesky, Mastodon and threads: “..But I have been impressed with the tools that the open source development community is building to bridge the gap between the AT protocol and ActivityPub, and I’m hopeful that some mixture of Bluesky and Mastodon…

  • Read: The Imperfectionist: How Not to Freak Out, Part Two

    The antidote to all of this, in the broadest terms, is *more reality*, more immersion in the finite here and now: more writing on paper; more gathering in person and in public; more looking strangers in the eye; more scruffy hospitality; more queueing for the supermarket checkout that’s staffed by a human, if there even…

  • Read: Recording: After the Election – Four Ways We Can Respond

    “Under the worst conditions, what’s the most important thing to have?” He replied: “Friends.” Source: Recording: After the Election – Four Ways We Can Respond – Rick Hanson Also on:

  • Read: Mud Boots of Empathy in Spain

    Spain’s unity at this moment is from the bottom up. Or, as Spanish professional soccer player Ferran Torres wrote on social media, “The people are the ones who save the people. … Long live Spain.” Source: Mud Boots of Empathy in Spain – the Monitor’s Editorial Board Also on:

  • Just replaced the gas piston in my 20-year old Herman Miller Aeron. Took less than 5 minutes, hope to get another 20 years out of this guy. Talk about a BIFL worthwhile investment, this chair has paid for itself several times over. Also on:

  • I’ve been cleaning up, pruning/purging my locally hosted music library and rediscovering some gems. This week’s finds: Zero 7’s Simple Things, Thievery Corp’s Sounds from the Thievery Hi-Fi and Richest Man in Babylon, and a real blast from the past surfaced from a recent reissue, The Brand New Heavy’s Brother Sister. Also on:

  • The Real Meaning of Productivity: Why Oliver Burkeman Gets GTD (and Cal Newport Doesn’t)

    I am an Oliver Burkeman fan. I deeply enjoyed Four Thousand Weeks and have been a long time subscriber to his newsletter, The Imperfectionist. His new book, Meditations for Mortals is currently on my nightstand. What draws me to Burkeman is his “reformed productivity enthusiast” point of view which we both share, perhaps for different…

  • audio & self-hosting updates

    It’s been a busy few weeks as I reorient myself from the warm-weather version of me that spends almost zero time on personal technology projects to the cold-weather version of me that spend most of my time on personal technology projects. As always, I know I contain multitudes but sometimes the difference between some of…

  • Freddie King

    Stumbled across this album yesterday afternoon: The entire album is gold. After years of listening to live album (that I can’t seem to find the name of anywhere) it was great to hear some of the original studio versions. Also on: