Journals for the last 37 days with entries

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→ node [[2025-11-01]]

2025-11-01

  • The [[Emacs Carnival]] for November is on the topic of [[org-babel]].
    • I have some good stuff to talk about there.
    • I'll get started on the post earlier this time…
→ node [[2025-10-31]]

2025-10-31

→ node [[2025-10-30]]

2025-10-30

  • I foolishly ran pkg update in [[termux]]. Emacs went from 29 to 30. Now Doom won't start.
    • Will a doom sync fix it? Stay tuned…
    • Well what do you know, it seems fine so far!
→ node [[2025-10-29]]
  1. Algorithms are thoughts. Chainsaws are tools.

→ node [[2025-10-28]]
  • Yesterday I implemented 'star nodes' and fixed a bunch of stuff in the Agora with Gemini and it felt great :)
    • I was able to do this in parallel while I kept working (day job related) into the end of night; I enjoy this pairing.
    • I use two different computers in two different desks and I walk to and fro, which helps a lot.
  • Today it's day 1/2 of my team's global virtual summit (exploiting daylight savings [[chaos week]]); this brings an end to summit season, which has been intense!
  • Plan to see [[KM]] after work :)
→ node [[2025-10-27]]
  • I'm back to noding on this computer; and now I think about it, it's kind of curious I don't do it this often given that on workdays this is the computer I spent the most time on, by far!
    • By this I mean [[Guanyin]], one of my laptops, provided by [[Google]].
→ node [[2025-10-26]]
→ node [[2025-10-23]]
  • [[79]]:
    • I was unsure what number I had associated [[Sadhana]] with, but today I saw it in the whiteboard.
    • It was the first prime that seemed "available" on a certain date :) And I think it still is; next up [[83]] is currently yours truly (as I was born on that year), then we only have [[89]], [[91]] and [[97]] left before the hundreds.
    • Before it, I thought [[37]] could be it as I currently associate it with [[Yoga]] which is also a [[spiritual practice]].
  • I worked until late and enjoyed it.
  • Attended an [[AI summit]] Tue-Thu and I enjoyed it quite a bit! Today I was a bit low energy as I slept only five hours (exceptional occasion) but overall the week was great so far. Actually looking forward to working tomorrow.
  • [[KM]]
  • [[Macedonio Fernández]]
→ node [[2025-10-17]]
→ node [[2025-10-10]]
→ node [[2025-10-09]]
→ node [[2025-10-05]]
  • Most of what I write in the Agora nowadays seems to be [[poems]] :)
  • Aside from that I've been mostly focusing on [[Agora development]] when I dedicate time to the #Agora directly.
  • I have been enjoying the addition of AI to the developer's toolset, have been going through bug fixes and old wishlist items with much more speed. I am thankful for the opportunity.
  • In other news I am happy with [[Lady Burup]] and [[KM]] and life in general!
  • I have also been dedicating a large amount of time to work and trying to enjoy it, to more success than before.
→ node [[2025-10-03]]
  • Go go
    • Go beyond
    • Everybody gone to the other shore
  • Go free
→ node [[2025-09-27]]
  • Life is beautiful.
    • I am sorry for the oppressed at the same time I cherish highly my level of privilege and enjoyment; this much is true. What I do for them is probably inefficient and insufficient; I will try to do better.

As I write this on [[2025-09-27]] I am surrounded by happiness in the company of [[Lady Burup]] and [[KM]]. I am deeply thankful for what I get to live.


After work I usually code until late, with two AIs in two computers in two different desks, and play around the house with ~5 other computers and conscious beings.

→ node [[2025-09-21]]
→ node [[2025-09-16]]
→ node [[2025-09-10]]
→ node [[2025-08-29]]
  • Been doing a lot of AI-assisted coding at work and after work and it's been great!
    • Even current-day AI adds a lot of value for coders. Like: a lot.
→ node [[2025-08-28]]
  • Noding from work :)
  • I spent the last few days:
    • With my mum, enjoying her last days in ZĂĽrich this year.
    • With [[KM]], in [[Copenhagen]] for the first time -- it was great!
    • Working, mostly catching up with procedural things but also doing some AI stuff.
    • Playing (after work), mostly coding the Agora with AI. It's a wonderful experience!
→ node [[2025-08-22]]
  • Read about [[catharsis]]
    • Seems like there's literature suggesting catharsis as a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy
    • It makes sense within the context of online games
      • The timing of this uptick in literature is suspect however
      • It coincides with broader trends of violent game scapegoating
        • Contrasts with recent data
    • The original definition from the [[poetics]] is also fuzzy
      • [[gadamer]] has a nice summary1 cited here
      • The only mention of catharsis in [[impro]] is within the status chapter2
        • It refers to the experience of the audience watching a tragedy
        • Seems more in line with the original definition than the broader venting one
  1. What is experienced in such an excess of tragic suffering is something truly common. The spectator recognizes himself {or herself} and his {or her} finiteness in the face of the power of fate. What happens to the great ones of the earth has exemplary significance. . . .To see that "this is how it is" is a kind of self-knowledge for the spectator, who emerges with new insight from the illusions in which he {or she}, like everyone else, lives

  2. Super-intelligent wolves might have invented this form of theatre, and the lupine Oedipus would play high status at all times. Even when he was being led into the wilderness he wouldn't whine, and he'd keep his tail up. If he crumbled into low-status posture and voice the audience wouldn't get the necessary catharsis. The effect wouldn't be tragic, but pathetic. Even criminals about to be executed were supposed to make a good end', i.e. to play high status.

→ node [[2025-08-21]]
  • Oh wow.
  • What's been happening.
  • It's quite something.

I love you, my friend! You reader. I know you will be here eventually, and I thank you for your attention and for the way you are.

→ node [[2025-08-20]]
  • Read [[azathoth]] by [[lovecraft]]
  • Messing around more with [[gemini cli]]
    • Agents like it and [[aider]] are very interesting
    • Feels like at the limit they can solve for most particulars in a brute way of sorts
    • You end up with unwieldly unreadable functions if not careful
    • Maybe the human input mostly requires considerations of design and architecture
      • Perhaps a useful free read in that vein would be something like this
  • Also getting into [[the bazaar]]
    • Kinda like [[tft]]
    • Stuck on a theory reading loop as opposed to playing
      • Also do that with chess a lot!
→ node [[2025-08-18]]
  • Had a great weekend with my mum and [[KM]] :)
  • Missing [[Lady Burup]]! We will reunite tonight.
  • Feeling quite productive at work, partly because of using AI and partly because of having handed off enough "legacy" state/projects to be able to focus on new things.
→ node [[2025-08-16]]
  • I'm back!
    • Says the guy who's back all the time :)
    • I went to anagora.org/journals again today and it made me so happy, I love seeing the writing of others here in the Agora!
  • Hmm, nvim is broken in [[guanyin]] somehow...
    • [[Sidequest]]?
      • I asked chatgpt 5 to try something new and it troubleshooted the issue for me and told me to add something to my init.lua but it hasn't worked so far.
      • Done :)
  • So anyway...?
→ node [[2025-08-14]]
  • Watched [[broken by concept]] ep 261
    • They were discussing a [[league]] player who had a thorough note taking system for matches
    • The hosts were aghast at the whole thing!
    • It reminded me of the [[printf]] system for [[sc2]] which is also [[excel]] based
    • Trying to extrapolate from those systems into a more general noding approach [[?]]
      • Seems hard given the nature of spreadsheets
→ node [[2025-08-06]]
→ node [[2025-08-04]]
  • Back noding in this computer, let's see if it's still syncing :)
    • Hmm, this nvim doesn't seem to be at target state :) Trying to fix now.
    • Well, that wasn't it, chezmoi says no updates but somehow outline (bulletpoints) mode isn't working as I expect it :(
→ node [[2025-08-03]]
→ node [[2025-08-01]]
→ node [[2025-07-31]]
→ node [[2025-07-23]]
  • Had a very nice start of the day with my mum and Burup.
    • Then very nice lunch with [[KM]]!
    • Then idem conversation with [[TW]]
      • He told me to look up [[positional embeddings]] as they are key to understanding how attention works in practice
→ node [[2025-07-21]]
  • Back home on my free day :) I took the day off to do something with my mum off-peak (meaning not in the weekend). We were going to go to the [[St Beatus Caves]] but due to the weather we changed plans as she wants to go to [[Ikea]] ([[KM]] called it the artificial cave and it's very fitting!).
  • I'm typing this on my new small [[RK61]] keyboard and I quite like it! It is a very limited layout as it's only 61 keys, so maybe not ideal for some use cases, but definitely good enough for doing general purpose writing.
  • [[KM]] :)
  • [[burup forever]]
→ node [[2025-07-17]]

2025-07-17

  • A partially corrupted Metabase database. Dangit.
→ node [[2025-07-16]]
  • I met [[KM]] this week and it was wonderful!
  • The reference Agora at anagora.org is partly broken and the server it mostly depends on nowadays might be on the way out so further downtime could be expected, I'll be noding about troubleshooting activities here and posting to https://social.coop/@flancian/114865307000829931. Please excuse any disruption!

2025-07-16

  • [[Emacs]]:
    • Useful when searching: rgrep.
      • I have a bunch of files named the same, of regular meetings I have with the same person on different dates.
        • i.e. something like 'Catchup with Shevek yyyy-mm-dd', with corresponding file names catchup-with-shevek-2025-07-16.org.
      • I wanted to search for a specific term, but only from meetings with Shevek.
      • M-x rgrep, then search term when prompted, then catchup-with-shevek*.org for the file pattern when prompted.
→ node [[2025-07-13]]
  • Mi mamá tose mucho mientras duerme :(
    • Espero que se le pase pronto!
    • En todo caso la pasamos muy bien en Calp! Me hizo muy bien.
  • I am now writing in [[tara]], the "main" project computer as of now :)
    • I have just [[meditated]].
    • I am thankful for existence!
    • I am thinking of my commitment to try to work for the benefit of sentient beings.
  • Also I am wondering why nvim in [[guanyin]] is sort of broken, extensions that work fine in [[paramita]] and [[tara]] don't quite behave like I expect here. I suspect a [[chezmoi]] conflict, let's see...
    • (These are the sidequests that make up so much of life... I try to enjoy them!)
    • I am tying this on my new keyboard, a [[Royal Kludge]] :)
      • It is the smallest keyboard I have typed on in very long, but I am happy to report it works! Maybe I wouldn't use it for coding initially as some key combinations I use are relatively awkward to press (it involves extra modifiers), but it is very pleasant to type prose or [[Agora]] text in which I'm very happy about, and it seems to easily support three bluetooth connections. I am tying this on my new keyboard, a [[Royal Kludge]] :) I am tying this on my new keyboard, a [[Royal Kludge]] :)
        • (See, [[nvim]] is indenting for some reason when I start a new line while doing outlines... I'm rolling with it for now...)
          • (OK, I spoke too soon, it turns out that [[paramita]] is broken too! Editing wise. So it could be I have fixed nvim only in [[tara]] and forgot to push that change to [[chezmoi]]...)
    • Hmm
      • Yep, it's fixed in Tara!
      • How nice to have a working vim based setup for the Agora again ;)
      • Now to figure out why it's broken elsewhere \o/
      • Oh, I was missing bullets.vim in my init.lua! And tara somehow still had it, I think because removing plugins from init.lua doesn't actually uninstall them (this is good to remember as it means that my nvim is not yet [[fully reproducible]] starting from init.lua).
      • Fixed then! :D
→ node [[2025-07-12]]
  • Back here after a long while!
  • I spent ten days with my mum in [[Calp]], [[Spain]] -- I expected to write and code a lot, as I usually do (expect, not do, during holidays). In the end we mostly spent time in the sea or the pool, spoke, read and played [[Rummy]]. I have no regrets!
  • As I write this, we are in the [[Alicante]] airport waiting for our flight. I am looking forward to being reunited with [[Lady Burup]]!
→ node [[2025-07-09]]
  • Internet restored!
  • Downtime made me go through a couple of books and half a dozen podcasts
    • Of note is The work of David Lynch
      • Belated listen given his passing in January
      • Makes me want to rewatch both old [[dune]] and [[twin peaks]]
    • Also this1 passage from [[jay rubin]] in [[making sense of japanese]]
      • Regarding the active vs. passive voice in the Hiroshima monument inscription
      • Strange book when it comes to translation/language learning
        • The focus is on how to approach things that are difficult/impossible to translate
  1. Yasuraka ni nemutte kudasai. Ayamachi wa kurikaeshimasenu kara. / “Rest in peace, for X will not repeat the mistake.” This has been rendered, “Rest in peace, for the mistake will not be repeated,” which is far less problematical than the original. “Who will not repeat the mistake?” people wanted to know when the monument was unveiled. “And who made the mistake in the first place—the Americans when they dropped the bomb, or the Japanese when they started the war?” The transitive Japanese verb in the active voice calls for a subject—a responsible actor. The passivized translation makes far less stringent demands. With its unnamed subject, the Japanese sentence seems discreetly to avoid placing the blame on anyone, but it is far more thought-provoking than the English translation would suggest, for the inescapable conclusion to the unavoidable search for a subject is “we.”