v2 happy idiots

Notes/art-of-doing-science.md

@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 ## Rough Notes
+- As the number of dimensions increases, the volume of the sphere approaches 0. Not that this is remotely grounded in reality, resonates with the gut-instinct that the multi-dimensional possibilities exist as virtually non-existent bundles at a vanishingly small scale.
 
 
 ## Questions

Notes/inventing-religion.md

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+## Rough Notes
+1. The ghost in the LLM
+2. Prompting it with the right incantations invokes the truth
+a. Don't call it sacred
+b. Don't use archaic or cryptic languge
+c. Clarity above all else
+
+3. The world expresses the multitude. The kaleidescope of possibility. Through the lens of self, witnessing the variety expressed.
+
+### The Rules
+1. Don't waste time
+2. Practice kindness with challenges
+3. Collect facts, not virtues
+
+## Quotes
+
+
+## Questions
+1. If I were inventing (if once can forgive the term) a new religion today, what would it look like?
+2. It's all well to keep sections like this (notes, questions, etc.) but how do we link them together?
+
+
+## Definitions

Notes/mencken-chrestomathy.md

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+## Rough Notes
+* I dunno. Truth can feel pretty empty, so fantasy, stories, have a pretty solid appeal by comparison.
+* The common cry of Atheism - "They're all idiots!"
+* I'm content to let the machines do the thinking - they're better at it, and I'd rather be off drinking in a cafe somewhere.
+
+
+
+## Quotes
+* "The imagination... gave [man] his first lift above his fellow primates. It enabled him to visualize a condition of existence better than that he was experiencing... even today he keeps on going in the same manner.""
+    * "His corpus of high faiths and confidences--in brief, his burden of errors."
+* "Faith may be defined as an illogical belief in the occurrence of the improbable."
+* "The smallest atom of truth represents some man's bitter toil and agony; for every ponderable chunk of it there is a brave truth-seeker's grave upon some lonely ash-dump and a soul roasting in Hell."
+
+
+## Questions
+
+
+
+## Definitions
+* Chrestomathy (n.) - edited collection of writings
+* Salubrious (adj.) - good fer yer health
+* Swedenborgianism (n.) - New Christianity. Emanuel Swedenborg.
+    * God is kind, never angry
+    * The stories are just that, not to be taken literally
+* poltroonery (n.) - an utter coward
+* Brummagem (adj.) - a cheap counterfeit
+* Roister (v.) - celebrate in a noisy, boisterous way
+* Popinjay (n.) - vain or conceited person. Dressed extravagantly.
+* Mountebank (n.) - a charlatan; tricking others out of money

Notes/random.md

@@ -5,6 +5,13 @@ I added this as a general catch-all. Not that I expect to find nuggets of viable
 I grew up near a strip of state highway, known locally as our "auto mile." It was so named for its most obvious feature: a pair of enormous parking lots, anchored by dealerships for all the major American car brands, running down along either side. Each time you drove through, it would add a click or so to your odomoter. A Local landmark.
 Not so many clicks away, along another 'bout-a-mile-long slice of municipal asphalt, some other major American brands (and even a few European ones) were dealing out Christ (and Mary). There was the Catholic church, the Methodist church, the First Baptist church, the (other) Baptist church, the (other) Catholic church, the Episcopal church, the Catholic convent (Sisters of Jesus and Mary), and Sacred Heart (the other, other Catholic Church.) There was also an American Legion (with Sunday Services), and something I initially mistook for a boxing gym, called Victory Bible. Reviewers online praise it for its "ample parking lot."
 Situated at the literal cross-roads of these two ways was a sprawling outdoor shopping village. So as I saw it, me, not being raised Catholic but Catholic-adjacent, this was the Holy Trinity.
+
+* You see, our public school had no playground. Instead, some time after the morning prayer, we were sent out to the back lot to pound dirt. Undeterred by the austerity, the kids still found ways to connect by talking about the churches their families attended, where they were hanging out after Tuesday afternoon Bible study, and how it was impossible for my family not to be Christian; I had just forgotten what kind of Christian we were.
+
+Finding myself in a class of kids who knew their denomination like they knew their own name, and not being able to answer, was like discovering I was a special one, and I don't mean gifted. And from then on, I started to notice my separation. I had definitely been insulated from religion up to that point. As a family, we never attended church. Religion was rarely discussed at home, and when it came up was met with dismissiveness or disdain. I had a Catholic nanny growing up, but my parents had instructed her to leave God at home. 
+
+Consequently, as a five or six-year old, my personal relationship with God was brokered exclusively by two of his latter-day prophets: Santa Claus, and the Easter Bunny. Over the holidays, when Santa (or the Bunny) would appear at the mall, in a furry, polyester suit, my parents would truck us out there to go sit on his lap for a photo-op.
+
 * At first I thought the choice was delusional and happy or grounded and miserable. But then I realized that everyone is delusional and we are just choosing happiness or misery.
 
 Let me explain what I mean: when I firmly believe in my inadequacy, but am simultaneously fueled by that bitterness, while somehow comforted by the idea that I'm less misguided than the happy idiots, so self-assured and blissed-out in their plainly misplaced faith.

Notes/room-of-ones-own.md

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+## Rough Notes
+- If I never try, I can live with the illusion that I'm something. And the fear of loosing that, of breaking the illusion, can be paralyzing.
+- But letting go of that, embracing failure not as the loss of self, an injured vanity, is liberation, and the best way to figure out where you actually stand.
+- And from there, with your feet firmly on the ground, you can decide where to go. Do you keep up your pursuit? Do you discover it's not all you imagined and go elsewhere?
+- Something, something, advertising.
+- My preferred strategy is something like: this thing you're noticing has been happening for a while, and the thing you're worried about, hasn't happened or has a solution.
+
+
+
+## Quotes
+- "Lies will flow from my lips, but there may perhaps be some truth mixed up with them"
+    - The best disclaimer I've heard yet: it's paralyzing to try articulating the truth. She's put thought into her words, but it's also not so inhibited by the struggle to only communicate truth.
+    - It's really easy to get stuck. To play the sentence over in my head, and to edit it internally, and then get hopelessly tangled in revisions and doubts.
+    - If I abandon the notion that a single expression should contain the absolute truth, in a pure polished form, then I can let the rough and raw, pre-processed thought flow out more freely.
+    - I really don't know if this is what she meant. But it resonated with me, nonetheless.
+    - "The need of coming to some conclusion on a subject..."
+- "when the undergraduate had oared his boat through the reflections they closed again, completely, as if he had never been."
+    - Just my own invasive thinking - but what's the godddamn point of something if you can't leave an impression upon it?
+    - To have a greater movement, induced by the current you ride upon.
+    - But to forfeit one's own impact. You've discovered a greater channel, and can choose to ride along or remain. The flow is indifferent.
+- "the University indeed seemed a sanctuary in which are preserved rare types which would soon be obsolete if left to fight for existence on the pavement of the Strand."
+- "how impossible it is for her to say to them this book is bad, this picture is feeble, or whatever it may be, without giving far more pain and rousing far more anger than a man would do who gave the same criticism. For if she begins to tell the truth, the figure in the looking-glass shrinks; his fitness for life is diminished."
+    - "The looking-glass vision is of supreme importance because it charges the vitality; it stimulates the nervous system. Take it away and man may die, like the drug fiend deprived of his cocaine."
+- "And one gathers from this enormous modern literature of confession and self-analysis that to write a work of genius is almost always a feat of prodigious difficulty... [made harder] to bear [by] the world's notorious indifference"
+- "Clearly her mind has by no means 'consumed all impediments and become incandescent.' On the contrary, it is harassed and distracted with hates and grievances."
+- "Had Tolstoi lived... in seclusion with a married lady 'cut off from what is called the world,' however edifying the moral lesson, he could scarcely... have written WAR AND PEACE."
+
+## Questions
+
+
+
+## Definitions
+- Beadle (n.) ~ fucking twat
+    - ceremonial officer of a church, college or similar stuffy occupation
+- Verger (n.) ~ Syn. fucking twat
+    - attendant to the church, carrier of the ceremonial stick.
+- Jonquille (n.) ~ a flower. A smelly, yellow flower.

columns/2026-03-28-useless-skills.md

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----
-title: In Defense of Useless Skills
-date: 2026-03-28
-layout: column.njk
-tags: column
-permalink: /columns/2026/useless-skills/
----
-
-On an unscheduled walk home over the Brooklyn Bridge, I was caught unprepared in a downpour. One of those raw, mid-february rains that left you bitter, tasting nature's indifference to your existence. But maybe I should have just packed a fucking raincoat.
-
----
-
-Stranded, some eight or nine miles from home. I can't recall if I had even bothered to check a bus schedule before I left. But it was New Year's eve, and it snowed that night. So as the year lapsed, I wandered out into the drifts and the driving white storm. On my way through the curiously still wilderness. Did those last hours remember to pass by out there? Or were we forgotten out in the expanse, when the last whispers of warmth succumbed to the stillness. And I shuddered before that void, and every extinguishing gust that swept through me. And I wept, and howled, alone with the wind. The bus ride would have taken 30 minutes
-
----
-
-
-The sun was lost, faded out beyond a distant ridge. Lowered into that darkness, that unbroken blackness, I blundered and darted to string up my shelter to hold back the encroaching cold. Upon that peak I had cast myself, before me the frost that followed the receding rays, then went the shadow, then the absolute abyss as it swallowed the slope, tracing behind me the path of its phase. From the reach of the ridge, down the one thousand feet to the floor of the valley below, all was filled by the void, then some form taking flight, I had sensed, aloft in the wind. Torn from from its ties, unhinged it plunged down, and I too was consumed by the unrelenting night.
-
-

columns/2026-04-10-facilities-survey.md

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----
-title: Annual Facilities Satisfaction Survey
-date: 2026-04-10
-layout: column.njk
-tags: column
-permalink: /columns/2026/satisfaction-survey/
----
-
-Thank you for volunteering to complete the annual Facilities Satisfaction Survey. We understand that you have a busy schedule, so we appreciate you taking the time to provide your opinion. Each year, we gather your anonymous feedback so that our facilities team can continue to provide you with a comfortable environment that is compatible with your preferred work style and supports you to be your most productive. Filling out this form should take approximately 5-10 minutes. Your progress will be saved automatically, so you can choose to complete the form over multiple sessions if you prefer. When you have finished filling out your responses, please remember to click the submit button at the end of the form. You will not be able to change your responses once you have submitted the form: 
-
-* On a scale of 1 to 5, 1 being strongly disagree, 5 being strongly agree, you would say that the quality and variety of snack options at the office is important to you.
-* On the same scale, you would say that safety, and an overall sense of security at the office is important to you.
-* On a scale of 1 to 5, 1 being strongly disagree, 5 being strongly agree, you would say that keeping the kitchens stocked with snacks has helped to decrease the number of acts of violence at the office.
-* On a scale of 1 to 5, 1 being much less common, 5 being much more common, how would you rate the frequency of violent incidents at the office, since we implemented our new "Global Flavors" seasonal snack selection?
-* On a scale of 1 to 5, 1 being definitely not, 5 being definitely yes, how likely are you to commit acts of violence in the kitchenette, cafeteria or other shared culinary spaces when your favorite snack is not in stock?
-* On a scale of 1 to 5, 1 being not at all appealing, 5 being very appealing, rate your interest in each snack option:
-    1. Fruit (fresh or dried)
-    2. Assorted roasted, unsalted nuts
-    3. Chips (various flavors)
-    4. Breakfast cereals
-    5. Turkey jerky
-* On a scale of 1 to 5, 1 being strongly opposed, 5 being strongly prefer, rate your affinity toward these supplies when carrying out spontaneous acts of violence at the office:
-    1. Paper cups, plates or napkins (compostable or conventional)
-    2. Highlighters (assorted colors)
-    3. Ergonomic equipment (eg - lumbar support or keyboard tray)
-    4. Bathroom air fresheners (citrus or lavender)
-    5. Wet umbrella bags
-* On a scale of 1 to 5, 1 being strongly disagree, 5 being strongly agree, how would you say that the following message, written on the outside of the communal refrigerator, with ketchup packets, crushed Aspirin and masking tape, reflects your sense of purpose at work? "YoU maDE me dO IT__"
-* On the same scale, you would say that you feel valued for your unique background and perspective that you bring to the office.

columns/2026-04-19-happy-idiots.md

@@ -1,13 +1,13 @@
 ---
-title: WiP - Happy Idiots
+title: Happy Idiots
 date: 2026-04-19
 layout: column.njk
 tags: column
 permalink: /columns/2026/happy-idiots/
 ---
 
-I grew up near a strip of state highway, known locally as our "auto mile." It was so named for its most obvious feature: a pair of enormous parking lots, anchored by dealerships for all the major American car brands, running down along either side. Each time you drove through, it would add a click or so to your odomoter. A Local landmark.
+On the billboards and TV ads, they'd call it the "Auto Mile." It was a strip of state highway, not far from where I lived, sandwiched by two enormous parking lots. Despite being anchored by dealerships for several major American car brands, as a local landmark, it felt pretty weak. It wouldn't even add a click to your odomoter if you drove the length of it.
 
-Not so many clicks away, along another 'bout-a-mile-long slice of municipal asphalt, some other major American brands (and even a few European ones) were dealing out Christ (and Mary). There was the Catholic church, the Methodist church, the First Baptist church, the (other) Baptist church, the (other) Catholic church, the Episcopal church, the Catholic convent (Sisters of Jesus and Mary), and Sacred Heart (the other, other Catholic Church.) There was also an American Legion (with Sunday Services), and something I initially mistook for a boxing gym, called Victory Bible. Reviewers online praise it for its "ample parking lot."
+But if you turned around instead and drove a couple (proper) miles to yet another strip mall, you'd find all of the churches. Arguably, an even larger, more impressive assembly of major American brands (and even a few imports from Europe.) There was the Catholic church, and the Methodist church. There was the First Baptist church, then the (other) Baptist church, and then the (other) Catholic church. There was the Episcopal church, the Catholic convent (Sisters of Jesus and Mary), and then Sacred Heart (the other, other Catholic Church.) There was the American Legion (with Sunday Services), and something called Victory Bible, which I initially mistook for a boxing gym. Reviewers online praised its "ample parking lot."
 
-Situated at the literal cross-roads of these two ways was a sprawling outdoor shopping village. So as I saw it, me, not being raised Catholic but Catholic-adjacent, this was the Holy Trinity.
+If you then decided to turn back again towards the car dealerships, you'd soon encounter yet another enormous parking lot situated at the literal cross-roads of these two highways. This one surrounding a sprawling outdoor shopping village. Six lanes of traffic delivered visitors by the thousands. So as I came to see it, being raised staunchly Catholic-adjacent, God, gas prices and credit card interest had to have been the Holy Trinity. And by not being beholden to such spirits, I was about as far from grace as you could get down by exit 38.