Things I liked in December 2023 and January
- Grok
- Term coined by Robert Heinlein: “to understand intuitively or by empathy, to establish rapport with” and “to empathize or communicate sympathetically (with); also, to experience enjoyment”
- John Frum
- Learnt about him from the Herzog’s documentary “Into the Inferno”. Frum is a mythical figure associated with cargo cults (something I didn’t know existed either) on the island of Tanna in Vanuatu. “…serviceman who will bring wealth and prosperity to the people if they follow him”
- The Cheap Web
- Taylor town
- Discovery is the original sin of the modern age
- 9 Months with GPT-4: Can I Fire my Developers Yet?
- Is Software Getting Worse?
- ”We’ve somehow blundered our way into a world where everyone else expects software to be free.”
- Learning pyramid
- In decreasing order of retention rate: teach > practice > engage in group discussion > watch a demonstration > watch audovisual > read > listen to a lecture
- The quality of your life is the quality of the people you get to know: Illuminating the David Brooks way
- Post that led me to read How to Know a Person
- We will all become boring
- ”Liberal individualism is great for people when they don’t depend on others. It’s not so great when they do.”
- 40 questions to ask yourself every year
- One of the greatest blog posts I’ve come across from the creator of Obsidian. 40 interesting questions that make you really think about the past year.
- The friendship problem
- ”Why friendships have started to feel strikingly similar to admin”