three and two and three make (five-pack eight+Scratch 3.0+ODDADA)
computer programs, not AI
Before end of the year, I pushed out a few 5WP's there were trapped in my phone. And starting with the new year, I've jumped into the "Poetry Haul" challenge by
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dawn
flickers
through
stucco
tracts
Morning sun is always inspiring, even through banal suburban neighborhoods on the way to work.
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divine
subconscious
confirmation
bias
machine
Using the I Ching and Tarot, I occasionally indulge in randomness for self insight, even though I don't subscribe to new age woo. I treat these practices as public-domain versions of Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt's "Oblique Strategies".
Even without the woo, divination must be treated with the proper respect. Consulting the unpredictable is a powerful way to recontextualize the moment. It's also the perfect way to tell yourself whatever you subconsciously wanted to hear, a dangerous game.
,
gently
ready
to
explode
anytime
As far as I know, I'm well liked as a Project Manager. If that is true, it's because I try to be gentle and kind with my consultants. On the other hand, I also make it clear that we have standards which need to be met.
It's a weird dichotomy, partly from my own personality. I'm really nice until I suddenly flip out. That second part ain't great, but I've been getting better at avoiding rabid foaming mouth moments as I continue to grow up.
,
parenting is slowly letting go,
first yourself, then the child
I'm certain older parents have a more perceptive opinion of this wild aspect of being human. But this is what I got as a dad of two kiddos.
,
acrimony
broken
phones
shattered
hearts
lingering
silence
chill
moonlight
pearl
greatest
time
lost
through
memory
Artstack started posting a poetry challenge sharing ten words for a week. Add five extra words and we got a triptych of 5WPs!
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With my recent focus on dip pen copperplate and straight brush calligraphy, the Pilot Parallels have been neglected.
I could feel the rust in my fingers while running these Foundational Hand letters. But I'm super happy with how the brush has progressed, so I guess it was a worthy tradeoff.
I've kept my interest in calligraphy so far by keeping things fresh. Normally, I don't have a ton of patience for refinement. Maybe one day I'll hyper-focus on greatness at one detail. In the meantime, I'm happy with getting pretty good at something before tackling another challenge.
Cya next time!
,
PS—Scratch 3.0, MIT Lifelong Kindergarten Lab, 2019
My friend's boy was taking a class in Scratch. I thought, this might be interesting. And a weekend in 2021 disappeared.
Scratch is a magnificent simple block programming system designed for kids. It was easy to jump into and my daughter and I were having fun drawing and programming a sprawling game with multiple minigames.
That might not be the right way to create a long term habit, but it got our feet wet.
With our (still incomplete game) I took over the reins of the programming, letting her do the drawings. The next step was to unleash her on the computer, so I borrowed a couple of books for a more structured training that lasted a month before we lost interest.
Inadvertently I had stumbled into "paired programming", where two programmers share a computer. This novel technique is said to increase collaboration and concentration. For a few weeks, it turned out to be surprisingly effective. We collaborated and learned together, pushing ideas back and forth and a live example of by stumbling through the modern instruction manual—YouTube.
The part that really makes Scratch tick is its social aspect. Given the dark side of Facebook and Twitter (now "X"), it is not something I compliment lightly. Every Scratch program allows you to "see inside" giving you a resource to cut through frustration.
But like many moments in childhood, the early interest faded quickly. We pushed out a couple small games and that was that. The boy is now old enough to play with Scratch, but the little rascal prefers sneaking off to play games.
Still, it's a great resource, kudos to MIT, even if we haven't used it to its full potential. Yet.
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PPS—ODDADA, Sven Ahlgrimm, Mathilde Hoffmann, Bastian Clausdorff, 2024
I found out about this game on Friday with this excellent review on Good Game Lobby. Slept on it overnight, and bought it on Saturday. They played it all afternoon. He also played it most of Sunday until we dragged away from the computer to read books.
Obviously, this is “composing” on “easy” mode, but twenty songs in and we’re still having fun with more variety to explore.
The sweet spot for a computer game “enjoyable but not addictive”. I’ve spent too many hours on Civilization which is why I’ve avoided that narcotic after the first version. Hopefully sandbox games like this will find a proper balance.
Six months later, I have to admit that we rarely play this game. There is only so many things to do, and composing music isn't their thing. That said, he saw me looking up ODDADA on the computer and asked to play it after dinner. So he still likes it.
Still highly recommend.
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PPPS-Practice
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PPPPS-Happy Trails
In January, the IT pro at SPWD left for an awesome opportunity. She happened to be in town so I ran a card over to her. While graphing it out, I ended up with a second card, which I just gave to the guy who instituted the GIS system at our airport, apparently one of the most sophisticated airport systems in the nation.
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Very well put together & great work!
You are so freakin cool! (Sorry, just overwhelmed by the awesomeness of your post.🤭)