On Sundays when I feel like it, I pull all of my posts from my Mastodon account into a blog post here.
05-02-23
I get told that I’m the best often enough by people I work with that it really makes me wonder…just how bad *are* people?! 
05-04-23
On a whim, I decided to draw wireframes by hand instead of using Figma today, so I scooted some audio gear out of the way to make room.
I think I’ll have to redo them a couple of times if I plan to present the hand-drawn version to my client (a very cool dance company), but WOW I felt more engaged and enjoyed doing it so much more than usual.
05-04-23
Just found a whole sub-section of The Spruce that’s internet crack for me.
05-05-23
When I was a kid, one of my favorite albums was Toto’s IV, which I called Toto Eye Vee. The Rosanna synth solo made my tiny little body squirm with amazement and delight.
The only noticeable thing that my new album IX has in common with Toto’s IV is that my brain calls it Eye Ex instead of “9,” in tribute to my 8-year-old self’s obsession.
How’s that for a long way of saying “check out my new experimental pop album IX on #BandcampFriday“?!
https://blixbyrd.bandcamp.com/album/ix
I mean, seriously, what nerdy 7-year-old wouldn’t be obsessed with this album cover?!?
NB: I wasn’t 7 when the album was released in 1982, but that was the time in my life when it was critically important, which would have been more like 1989.
“Dad, put on Toto Eye Vee” was the REFRAIN. I honestly don’t know how my parents coped.
Can I just say I love the fact that every musician I follow here is well aware that music is a terrible, awful way to make money. Maybe the worst. Yet they’re all like, “oh well, here is some freaking amazing shit I’ve toiled countless hours to make! I love it and I hope you do too!”
Hats off to ya, musicians. Keep doing what you do. 
05-06-23
Seen in the wilds of the home improvement SEO-encrusted internet:
“Lightly sand in between each coat for a smooth paint finish. Ensure to paint the door knob and hinges as well! These areas are often forgotten but will be very noticeable if left unpainted.”
What?? PAINT THE DOOR KNOB AND HINGES? I just can’t even.
05-07-23
John Scalzi: “…its intelligence, however one wishes to define it, is not human and never will be, even if it is trained on human intelligence. I’m curious what AI creativity would be, left to its own devices.”
Me: “To my understanding, LLMs do not have their own devices. They only have human devices, because they can only learn on data created by humans. There is no other data, therefore there are no other devices.”
John Scalzi (imaginary): “Thhhbbbbppptttt”
05-14-23
#CurrentlyReading the sci-fi novela A Psalm for the Wild-Built. I went into it knowing very little, and it’s delightful so far. It’s making me realize that almost everything I read and watch is so, so dark, whereas this book is pulling me into a world that I wish I lived in.
(Again, I’m not very far in, maybe 25%. So my ever-present sense of impending doom is very much activated.)
“But I still I always return to the same question with AI – where does the training data come from? And, if this AI thing catches on, where will it come from, in the future?”
Thoughtful article from @v
https://v21.io/blog/how-to-find-things-online
05-15-23
“There’s no good reason for our global nation of netizens to remain beholden to the corporate conglomerates who co-opted our digital commons to sell it back to us.
When you’re able, if only for a moment, stop building for survival and begin building for liberty.”
https://blog.erlend.sh/assembling-community-os?pk_campaign=rss-feed
05-16-23
“She’s got legs. She knows how to use them.”
Like…she can walk? Genuinely confused by you, Mr. Top.
If you’re confused about whether #AI can understand us, here’s proof that it can’t. The prompt:
vector person hanging canvas on wall picture canvas
Granted, this prompt is poorly written, but I think pretty much any human would read it as “vector person” and “hanging canvas.” And apparently the AI read it that way 3 out of 4 times. But the 4th is a doozy.
I would be very interested in an #LLM that has been trained only on published books. A quick perusal of my available search resources doesn’t reveal anything obvious. Anyone know of such a model? (I can imagine why it doesn’t exist or, at least, isn’t publicly available.)
05-24-23
Just listened to the new Paul Simon album. Yeah, okay, the Lord is his record producer, but who is actually his record producer? That shit sounds unbelievable, and the info isn’t on All Music or Wikipedia yet.
Peanut and Pepper have been bugging me to get the screens in the windows. Today, that dream came true, and their little dog sofa is a happy place.
#DogsOfFedi #Dogstodon #spring
I just saw Larry Appleton on #Succession! Squee! Don’t be ridiculous! #PerfectStrangers
05-25-23
@composergreg just shared with me the best performance I’ve ever seen/heard of Music for Eighteen Musicians (Steve Reich).
Ensemble Intercontemporain is the absolute best new music ensemble out there. There, I said it. I had the opportunity to see them in New York recently, and it was among the top musical experiences of my life.
If you think you’re going to listen to this in the background while you get work done, think again.
#NFM (NotFunctionalMusic)
05-27-23
“I think I’ll just have a piece of hard candy and sit on the porch,” I said to myself, realizing that I skipped from age 25 to 65 in the space of just a couple of years.
05-30-23
Sometimes I wish the global economy would crash and the internet and all commerce would disappear just so that I would finally read all the books and articles I’ve accumulated.
Is that selfish?
Further, I’ve decided to only buy paper books if they can help me in the event of a catastrophic infrastructure meltdown. (Or, you know, if I just can’t stop myself.)
I’m currently creating wireframes in Figma and resenting that the interface doesn’t incorporate AI yet. Clicking and dragging is so 2022.
06-01-23
I’m putting together my first live show in about 12 years, and my first solo show ever. To say I’m excited is a severe understatement. I didn’t quite realize how much I missed it until I got my setup figured out and started practicing.
I’m sure I’ll be recording some test videos in the coming weeks. Get ready, guinea pigs!
06-02-23
This is the vibe in New Hampshire right now, when it’s 87 degrees at the beginning of June.
06-04-23
I don’t relish reading prose/fiction on my phone, but I hate reading poetry on my phone. Can’t decide whether poetry or paintings suffer more from tiny screens.
This Seamus Haney poem from 2001 suffers less than many because of its short lines, but the sheer ugliness of the formatting ruins the experience for me.
