Ton Zijlstra’s blog post on federated bookshelves using OPML and RSS

 Thanks to Dave Winer  for linking to Ton’s post. I am interested in this idea and plan to continue reading Ton’s writing!

Follow up to “Nothing Is True”: Deepfakes

 Nina Schick’s book “Deepfakes” is an excellent follow up to “Nothing Is True”, which I pointed to in this post The use of AI to create synthetic media has only just begun and will transform the political and cultural landscape in the next few years.

follow up to my post-breakdown post

- First, my successful outcome doesn’t mean things can work out for everyone enduring paranoid breaks; the therapist’s and psychiatrist’s skepticism were warranted. After all, this problem can be very resistant to change. My Everything At Once in Heavy Doses approach is no guarantee of success. My younger brother suffered from adolescent onset paranoid schizophrenia. He recovered only enough to live on his own on Social Security in Section 8 housing, never able to work. In his final years he barely left his apartment. He passed away due to a combination of personal and medical care mistakes. This was the combination that brought on his ailment in the first place: too many drugs, too much persecution by the authorities, and his innate tendencies. Some parallels with me were spooky to see, but his problems were far deeper. I am curious about how he would have reacted to a program like mine when he was young, especially before his major drug use. On the other hand, simple-minded thinking was the order of the day back then. Most would say something along the lines of  “drugs just ruin your mind/Turn On” or at best, bad versions of Double Bind Theory. 

- Second, nearly all the things I did to recover are integral parts of my life now. I do drink coffee, though 😁 

- Third, the post was not just a hopeful note for those in similar circumstances. It was also a status report for those involved in any way. I probably owed something along those lines.

More about “Nothing Is True...”

 I finished the book mentioned in an earlier post and recommend it more strongly than before. Now I understand Trump World better - get the background on the culture and mentality from which it arises. The book is not about Trump and Russia, by the way. Think “Situationists Nightmare.” Poor Olga and Julia grew up in this mileau...

Clojure and Zendesk

Studying Clojure, a LISP-family language, and setting up a test instance of Zendesk, a customer service system I might use for my business - I am excited and having fun! Something inherent in this work tickles my interest, although our deal pipeline excites me as well.

DeepMind AI leaps ahead in protein folding with real-world success

These advances from 2018 to 2021 were not expected until the late 2020s. Acceleration continues! 

https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/11/30/1012712/deepmind-protein-folding-ai-solved-biology-science-drugs-disease/

Nothing is true

Read this book: Nothing is True and Everything Is Possible: The Surreal Heart of The New Russia. An informative, entertaining, and discouraging look at post-Soviet Russia. I bought Ross a copy to provide additional context about his past escapades. I also thought about my conversation with Jeff about his adventures as a development consultant in Poland in the Nineties.