4731
Matthew McDowell-Sweet
@msms #4731
In motion - complex systems, computing and communication (amongst other things) | msweet.net | working on /subset
2060 Follower 720 Following
Looking like I won't be able to lean on Zach Lowe podcasts to track /nba happenings this season. And no more JJ Redick pods either. So, what's the new mix? The Dunker Spot; Bill Simmons / The Ringer NBA show?
Today's reading: still on Braudel's Civilisation and Capitalism Vol. 1. Worked through the penultimate chapter on money—its primitive forms, its scattershot spread and adoption, its material characteristics, its liquidity and motion, and its abstract (e.g credit) and literal forms (e.g. coin).
https://www.ucpress.edu/books/civilization-and-capitalism-15th-18th-century-vol-i/paper
https://www.ucpress.edu/books/civilization-and-capitalism-15th-18th-century-vol-i/paper
Fabian strategy 🤝 trolley problem
https://x.com/redsun405/status/1845819691874283572
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fabian_strategy
https://x.com/redsun405/status/1845819691874283572
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fabian_strategy
Finding the rhythm for training logs once more...
Training log, no-gi: technical session was focused on a bunch of passes, all starting from mission control / headquarters. Included a knee slide, a leg staple into a step over / glide, a post to the shoulders followed by a kickback and into mount, and a hybrid glide-leg split thing which I can't easily describe.
Sparring was, as usual, 10 x five minute rounds. 2/3 I worked from top position (mostly moving through side control, turtle and open guard via scrambles). The rest I played from bottom, mostly in the range of half / quarter guard and mount / side control.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quM3u9Jxthg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hcjo1LI4LKw
Training log, no-gi: technical session was focused on a bunch of passes, all starting from mission control / headquarters. Included a knee slide, a leg staple into a step over / glide, a post to the shoulders followed by a kickback and into mount, and a hybrid glide-leg split thing which I can't easily describe.
Sparring was, as usual, 10 x five minute rounds. 2/3 I worked from top position (mostly moving through side control, turtle and open guard via scrambles). The rest I played from bottom, mostly in the range of half / quarter guard and mount / side control.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quM3u9Jxthg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hcjo1LI4LKw
Today's reading: more of Braudel's Civilisation and Capitalism. Read about the intro of paper and the printing press, the development of ocean navigation, and the varying states of land and water transport.
https://www.ucpress.edu/books/civilization-and-capitalism-15th-18th-century-vol-i/paper
https://www.ucpress.edu/books/civilization-and-capitalism-15th-18th-century-vol-i/paper
Thesis: devs/engineers streaming their sessions will do way more than any “new gens should learn to code” rhetoric or policy.
Today's reading: more Braudel—trying to get through this text in the next week or two. Today's segment was on buildings and interiors. Materials, differentiation for richer vs poorer, cultural divergence WRT aesthetics, and function and so on.
https://www.ucpress.edu/books/civilization-and-capitalism-15th-18th-century-vol-i/paper
https://www.ucpress.edu/books/civilization-and-capitalism-15th-18th-century-vol-i/paper
Braudel cited some European diarist who lamented how alcohol and tobacco had degraded first brain capacities like memory and wit. It made me think of TikTok, which increasingly feels like a first brain killer.
https://warpcast.com/msms/0x8fcb20d8
https://warpcast.com/msms/0x8fcb20d8
A "quake book" is a text that radically perturbs how one thinks about and acts within the world.
The shift is experienced, individually and ideally societally, as positive (as opposed to the negative shifts associated with ideological or epistemological info hazards.
A quake book may make an existing belief, value or stance especially legible to oneself, or provide irrefutable evidence for something felt at a deep level. It may catalyse a novel perspective or insight, or provoke new questions because it's wrong in a particularly interesting or sacrilegious way. No matter how it happens, a quake book terraforms one's existence upon engagement.
I first heard of them via Ryan Holiday sometime in the mid-2010s. He heard of them via Tyler Cowen.
What are your quake books?
https://www.lesswrong.com/tag/information-hazards
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2007/11/view-quake-read.html
The shift is experienced, individually and ideally societally, as positive (as opposed to the negative shifts associated with ideological or epistemological info hazards.
A quake book may make an existing belief, value or stance especially legible to oneself, or provide irrefutable evidence for something felt at a deep level. It may catalyse a novel perspective or insight, or provoke new questions because it's wrong in a particularly interesting or sacrilegious way. No matter how it happens, a quake book terraforms one's existence upon engagement.
I first heard of them via Ryan Holiday sometime in the mid-2010s. He heard of them via Tyler Cowen.
What are your quake books?
https://www.lesswrong.com/tag/information-hazards
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2007/11/view-quake-read.html
Today's reading: on everyday food and drink, via vol. 1 of Braudel's Civilisation and Capitalism. The text got into the consumption of staples like dairy, eggs and fats, the respective arcs of water, beer, wine and other alcohols, and the rise of tea, coffee, chocolate and tobacco.
https://www.ucpress.edu/books/civilization-and-capitalism-15th-18th-century-vol-i/paper
https://www.ucpress.edu/books/civilization-and-capitalism-15th-18th-century-vol-i/paper
Today's reading: continued on with vol. 1 of Braudel's Civilisation and Capitalism. This chapter was about foodstuffs and culinary culture; trends in consumption of meat and bread across time and regions, comparisons of basic vs luxury preferences, and how tableware and table manners proliferated.
https://www.ucpress.edu/books/civilization-and-capitalism-15th-18th-century-vol-i/paper
https://www.ucpress.edu/books/civilization-and-capitalism-15th-18th-century-vol-i/paper
Today’s reading was about wheat, rice and maize in vol. 1 of Braudel’s Civilisation and Capitalism. It really cements the relationship between cuisine and the resulting downstream culture.
https://www.ucpress.edu/books/civilization-and-capitalism-15th-18th-century-vol-i/paper
https://www.ucpress.edu/books/civilization-and-capitalism-15th-18th-century-vol-i/paper
Today's reading: two pieces of research from /sop 2023—Death and the Death of Orkut and Killswitch Protocols.
https://summerofprotocols.com/research/death-and-the-death-of-orkut
https://summerofprotocols.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Killswitch-Protocols.pdf
https://summerofprotocols.com/research/death-and-the-death-of-orkut
https://summerofprotocols.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Killswitch-Protocols.pdf
One thing I’ve come to appreciate about chat interfaces for AI: endless patience for dumb questions and ad hoc tangents.
Can’t recall asking a fellow human such a broad range of Qs at a high rate with a deliberate nitpicking stance. Or, it I have, there’s usually some social fatigue accumulate and a cooling off period required.
No issue with AI; rate limits, compute or straight up battery power are the bottleneck now.
Can’t recall asking a fellow human such a broad range of Qs at a high rate with a deliberate nitpicking stance. Or, it I have, there’s usually some social fatigue accumulate and a cooling off period required.
No issue with AI; rate limits, compute or straight up battery power are the bottleneck now.
Training log, gi: worked basic spider guard mechanics and progressed into a simple sweep, an armbar, an arm drag and back take, and a Tarikoplata.
Sparring was 10 x 5 minute rounds. Each round I played a lot from bottom—mostly trying to recover from / escape half guard, side control and mount. Not exactly lethargic but not bubbling with energy, either.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoabs7H2ZN8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t21HVW7LLBk
Sparring was 10 x 5 minute rounds. Each round I played a lot from bottom—mostly trying to recover from / escape half guard, side control and mount. Not exactly lethargic but not bubbling with energy, either.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoabs7H2ZN8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t21HVW7LLBk
Today's reading: Tara Brach's radical acceptance—on facing fear and kindling compassion.
https://www.tarabrach.com/books/radical-acceptance/
https://www.tarabrach.com/books/radical-acceptance/
Training log, gi, open mat: 12 x 5 minute rounds with people with a nice range of experience, skill and physicality—white to black, juvenile and female to smaller and bigger guys. Outcomes were equivalently spread.
A couple lighter, flow-y rolls to warm up (mostly playing open guard, messing around with leg entanglements and inversions). Other rolls I had control and spent time attacking from turtle and the back position. landing an omoplata and triangle. A few were more guided rolls with less intensity. Also ended up in some less fun positions—for example, getting 90% bow-and-arrowed which transitioned into a weird double arm bar.
Great session, overall.
A couple lighter, flow-y rolls to warm up (mostly playing open guard, messing around with leg entanglements and inversions). Other rolls I had control and spent time attacking from turtle and the back position. landing an omoplata and triangle. A few were more guided rolls with less intensity. Also ended up in some less fun positions—for example, getting 90% bow-and-arrowed which transitioned into a weird double arm bar.
Great session, overall.
Today's reading: Braudel's Civilisation and Capitalism Vol. 1—the author Fermi estimates world population dynamics (observing three crescendos and two stagnations) and reviews some potential catalysts (like climate).
https://www.ucpress.edu/books/civilization-and-capitalism-15th-18th-century-vol-i/paper
https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2022/03/30/fermi-estimates-and-dyson-designs/
https://www.ucpress.edu/books/civilization-and-capitalism-15th-18th-century-vol-i/paper
https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2022/03/30/fermi-estimates-and-dyson-designs/
Late November; Singapore—what’s good?
Training log, gi: fundamentals session focused on the lockdown position. No sparring. I was partnered with someone who'd come for their first session. We worked through:
- Using the lockdown to recreate space and establish a frame from bottom
- Slipping out for an underhook and posting to the elbow
- De-basing the opposing leg and sweeping / passing to top position
- Establishing head-arm choke from the underhook and progressing through a sweep and into the submission finish
Vids below don't get at what we did in this session but show some of the basic mechanics.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6PvbfAz2N0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SChy0zBWCl8
- Using the lockdown to recreate space and establish a frame from bottom
- Slipping out for an underhook and posting to the elbow
- De-basing the opposing leg and sweeping / passing to top position
- Establishing head-arm choke from the underhook and progressing through a sweep and into the submission finish
Vids below don't get at what we did in this session but show some of the basic mechanics.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6PvbfAz2N0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SChy0zBWCl8
This morning's reading: Radical Acceptance—on friendliness towards experience and awareness of embodiment.
https://www.tarabrach.com/books/radical-acceptance/
https://www.tarabrach.com/books/radical-acceptance/