I'm thinking about reviving my "Wall o' Peeps" (as seen here a purposefully chaotic photo wall.)

Musing on the criteria I want to use for photo curation, the balance of "this is a visually interesting photo" vs "this person means a lot to me" (and sometimes estrangement or having drifted apart complicates the choice) There is also my kind of weird urge to focus on old flings as a kind of cheap but reassuring nostalgia.

Also - do I want to go back to the mixed frames (which I thought forgave any unevenness in hanging) or should I go for "all square crops, same frame" or split the difference...

But also, I want to get better at making new photos. Firefox's default page brought me this article on being a better photo subject - it's almost stunning how pedestrian most older Westerners become when posing for a photo! Like the simplest variations - tilting a head, closing eyes, putting a hand on a hip, whatever - can just give an emotional energy beyond "hey look, I was here at this time", or other facile cliches like the fingers-in-V peace sign or heart-with-hands.

(It reminded me of how I've become obsessed with the first ten seconds of the intro to the anime Dan Da Dan - I love how the characters all strike a playful portrait pose, and am trying to figure out how to replicate a parallel effect elsewhere.)

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Just read an old Retrogamer magazine with an interview with Betty Ryan - she was the first woman coder at GCC, which was the company that was Atari's secret weapon in the early 80s.

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Damn, Giants really working vs the Pats for that draft pick

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Somehow, "gee I'd like to play Diddy Kong Racing" became this minor flex...

I kind of have mixed feelings about it. (Besides the fact I haven't worked out where/how to stash controllers and games.) Like I know I'm never going to playing this stuff as much as I did back in the day (my golden age was late 90s/early 00s, friends over monthly for some good N64 + DC + GCN couch gaming) So this might be the last hoorah. But I guess it's the widest single setup I've ever had. Maybe I could sneak a Wii in there (I guess that would remove the need for a GameCube but of all of these the GameCube is my favorite as a physical item.)) interesting article on the likely future marketing landscape for LLMs. Cal Peterson argues it's more like airlines - severe supplier seller's market (NVIDIA), low barrier of entry for new competitors, weak brand loyalty - than it is like Coke, which is just a flavor/branding play.


I wonder if there's a way for an LLM to stand out and attract specific Coke-brand loyalties via virtual personality, and/or a clear difference in what level of problem it can solve? I'm a little loyal to ChatGPT, in part because I started paying for it early, and also early I realize I prefer LLMs to be in their little sandboxes vs deeply coupled and nested in my editor. (In one case, trying to override its code suggestions for a simple import in VS Code, overwhelming where the old auto-complete was trying to do the job, left a very bad taste in my mouth.))


I guess with LLMs too... it's always tough to be sure there's no unseemly corporate agenda for any given one. Especially since most often the processing is remote anyway, you can never have that sense of "I know this AI is just working for me."

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Trying to be gentle with myself because I'm muddling through a cold, but - hallmark of the less productive day: the phone has a full charge (barely left the charger), the laptop is nearly dead (goofing off online - reclining rather than at the desk.)
4 star:
* DENIAL IS A RIVER (Doechii)
Interesting background tale
* Too Sweet (Hozier)
* Paint It, Black (Bishop Briggs)

3 star:
* Love Story Soundtrack - 06 - Search For Jenny (Fracis Lai)
* Supertight (feat. Aldous Snow) (Jackie Q)
* Good Advice (Allan Sherman)
* Say No Go (De La Soul)
* I Can't Give You Anything But Love (Fats Waller)
* It Don't Mean a Thing (Take Two) (Duke Ellington and His Orchestra)
* Escapism. (RAYE & 070 Shake)
* Son of a Preacher Man (with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra) (Aretha Franklin)
* Like a Prayer (Choir Version From "Deadpool & Wolverine") (I'll Take You There Choir)
* Immigrant Song (Led Zeppelin)

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not to sound ungrateful, but the past few days what is bugging me about this final month until solstice is less the lack of light and more the solar glare.