Ron Jeffries reference to fact that most software developers are working on boring stuff, under industrial age culture/conditions (what's the mental equivalent of Black Lung?). (more)

another SmartAscii format (more)

I let my Chromebook update, and now none of the apps show video (even as you hear the audio track). Chrome itself displays it fine. YouTube is just a webview by default. (more)

Chris Jackson: R/T 009 - Always be Snowmobiling. What happens when you receive a piece of information that jars against your existing knowledge, experience or values? (more)

In psychology, cognitive dissonance is the discomfort experienced when simultaneously holding two or more conflicting cognitions: ideas, beliefs, values or emotional reactions... Cognitive dissonance theory explains human behavior by positing that people have a bias to seek consonance (Congruence?) between their expectations and reality. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance (more)

Venkatesh Rao: The Message is the Medium. ....instead of a regular post, you get the slide-deck for my talk (more)

Tupperware is an American company that manufactures and internationally distributes preparation, storage, and serving containers for the kitchen and home. It was founded in 1942 by Earl Tupper, who developed his first bell-shaped container and introduced the products to the public in 1946. As of 2007, it was sold by approximately 1.9 million direct salespeople on contract.[3] In 2013, the top marketplace for Tupperware was Indonesia, topping Germany. Indonesia's sales in 2013 were more than $200 million.[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tupperware (more)

process of Making Sense for yourself? subtype of model building (more)

Game B is a memetic tag that aggregates a myriad of visions, projects and experiments that model potential future civilisational forms. The flag on the hill for Game B is an anti-fragile, scalable, increasingly omni-win-win civilization. This is distinct from our current rivalrous Game A civilisation that is replete with destructive externalities and power asymmetries that produce existential risk. Yet Game B is not a prescriptive ideology (or an ideology at all): while the eyes of Game B players may be fixed on the same flag, the hills are multitudes and the flag sits atop each, and no player individually is equipped to map a route in advance. Rather, Game B players gather together to feel their way up each hill with their toes, sensing for the loamy untrodden ground beneath them, slowly inching forward, listening for signals from one another, adjusting at each step to orient themselves toward the flag that is barely visible. In that way, just like a game, Game B describes a modus operandi as much as it does a goal, although for now, the former can be brought into sharper focus than the latter. https://www.gameb.wiki/

Approaches to the Meta-Crisis: someone fowarded this gsheet, I don't know the original source. Here's the dump of the text, in case that's more convenient than a table: (more)

Venkatesh Rao: How to Take Your Brain Off-Road (more)

Goal Setting/ToDoList app/service. (2023: renamed Intend) https://intend.do/ | https://intentionality.substack.com/ (more)

Taylor Pearson on Why I Gave Up on AI Meeting Notes. (more)

Are you an otrovert? Why this personality type could be your greatest gift. So if introverts look inwards, and extroverts outwards, where the hell do otroverts look? Neither of the above. “Their fundamental orientation is defined by the fact that it is rarely the same direction that anyone else is facing.” (more)

Sven Brodmerkel: You're Not Too Sensitive. The Feeling Rules Were Written Without You. Part 4 of a series on why (smart) organizations do strange things to smart people. (2026-05-12) Brodmerkel Why Competent People Disappear: Functional Stupidity And The Invisible Professional Picture a moment you’ve probably had more than once. A meeting. A presentation. A conversation with a senior colleague about a decision you have significant reservations about. And in that moment, you had the wrong feeling. (more)

Sven Brodmerkel: You Solved It. The Institution Didn’t Notice. Part 5 of a series on why (smart) organisations do strange things to smart people. (2026-05-12) Brodmerkel Why Competent People Disappear: Functional Stupidity And The Invisible Professional You solved the problem before anyone else knew there was one... Not through the correct channel (more)

Sven Brodmerkel: Why Sensible Suggestions Get Strange Reactions. Part 6 of a series on why (smart) organisations do strange things to smart people. (2026-05-12) Brodmerkel Why Competent People Disappear: Functional Stupidity And The Invisible Professional (more)

Sven Brodmerkel: The Story Forms Before the Meeting Starts. Part 3 on why (smart) organizations do strange things to smart people. (2026-05-12) Brodmerkel Why Competent People Disappear: Functional Stupidity And The Invisible Professional Picture the aftermath of something that went wrong....a project that didn’t land the way it was supposed to, or a meeting that went sideways, or a decision that produced consequences nobody had planned for (more)

Sven Brodmerkel: How Organizations Teach Us Not to Think. Part 2 of a series on why (smart) organizations do strange things to smart people. (2026-05-12) Brodmerkel Why Competent People Disappear: Functional Stupidity And The Invisible Professional Picture a problem you’ve flagged before. Not once. Several times. With evidence, with context, with a clearly articulated explanation of why this keeps happening and what would need to change to stop it happening again. (more)

Venkatesh Rao term: something fundamentally mediocre (lowish value/quality), but with some extra-yet-pointless feature that makes it seem better. e.g. paying for signalling. Or even an entire Lifestyle Design outcome. See (2017-08-18) Rao Premium Mediocre Life Of Maya Millennial. (more)