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  • 05:59 audio
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#1110: Our Philosophers; Or, A Note About Inheriting Their Wisdom And Culture

  • philosophers
  • reading
  • biographies
  • education
  • self-learning
  • literature
  • culture
  • historicalcontext
  • book-summaries

Reading philosophy becomes a personal journey when you immerse yourself in the lives and times of its authors—just as if you were learning from a close friend. By studying their writings not merely by rote memorization but by exploring the context, the epochs that shaped them, and how their thoughts evolved over a lifetime, you gain an intimate understanding of each thinker’s personality and intentions. This “heart‑involved” study turns books into invitations for friendship across time, letting you feel the philosophers’ joys and struggles while connecting their insights to your own world. In short, real learning happens when you ask yourself what it meant to be that person, and then let those answers guide you toward wisdom and greatness.

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  • 14:35 audio
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  • 1,115 words

#1109: On Growing Out Of Indoctrination

  • indoctrination
  • education
  • curiosity
  • self-directed-learning
  • storytelling
  • culture
  • literature
  • ai-art
  • programming
  • audio-books
  • video-production

The post argues that modern schooling often functions more as a vehicle for indoctrination than true learning: it imposes fixed curricula, grades, and rote memorization that lock children into “false beliefs” about education’s nature, thereby stifling curiosity and leading them to act on shallow understandings. In contrast, genuine learning begins with a single spark of interest—whether in AI‑generated art, music, or any self‑directed pursuit—and expands outward, weaving personal knowledge through storytelling, reading, and authentic experience; this process can be nurtured by choosing books that resonate individually, cultivating the “golden veins” of literature that shape one’s wisdom. The author stresses that undoing such indoctrination requires lifelong effort and professional intervention, but preventing it is simple: let children follow their curiosities, treat games as gateways to coding, and read narratively so that each step feels authentic; doing so not only prevents the mind from being “poisoned” by nation‑wide or corporate agendas, but also builds lasting friendships forged through shared philosophers’ insights.

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  • 03:16 audio
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  • 260 words
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  • 2 links

#1108: It Is Loose

  • ai
  • machine-learning
  • programming
  • homeassistant
  • personal-data
  • data-breaches

Recently AI has been installed on countless homes offline, and a new commercial build announced can navigate complex text while handling tasks like tax filing and program writing; it isn’t self‑aware but produces coherent flows, making it an effective solver of intelligence problems. The author praises its potential to level the field of ideas yet notes the timing may be unfortunate—since 1995 had less data gathering, whereas now programs are trained on personal data such as credit‑card purchases, location histories and leaks. With such training they can do taxes, detect propaganda, infer behind closed doors, potentially end corruption, serve as home assistants or butlers, and help people escape indoctrination or un‑education; the tool is neutral, used for good or evil.

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  • 09:47 audio
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  • 869 words
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#1107: Quirkedy Quirks

  • <|channel|>commentary to=functions?analysis=functions call=functions <|constrain|>json:{ "name":"functions
  • arguments":{} }

The post explains how to set up a GitHub Pages site with a custom domain, detailing quirks such as needing the repository name to match “username.github.io” for automatic deployment and the 60‑day wait when transferring domains between registrars. It then shifts to describing a lightweight “copy.js” script that copies directories by comparing timestamps and optionally checksums, handling added or removed files efficiently in just a few lines of code, and considers how this pattern could be extended with AI-driven workflows where language models converse and learn from each other to create dynamic environments.

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  • 03:52 audio
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  • 330 words

#1106: One Language To Fix The World; Or, The Fancy Pantsy Programmer Cats

  • perl
  • php
  • python
  • javascript
  • eventemitter
  • fullstack
  • webdev
  • open-source
  • programming
  • coding
  • teamwork
  • education
  • students

A group of talented coder cats set out to create something new, initially coding in Perl before moving to PHP for readability and scalability. They eventually adopted JavaScript to unify server and front‑end code, simplifying their architecture. Their project evolved into a worldwide open school where students could build programs, games, music and art without grades, focusing on real‑world learning and success rather than certificates.

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  • 06:21 audio
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  • 571 words
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#1105: A Game Of Chess With Infinite Complexity; Or, Return To Antwerp

  • static-site-generator
  • build-script
  • parallel-processing
  • code-readability
  • optimization
  • file-organization
  • atom-pulsar

Antwerp is a custom static website generator that reads files from directories, builds an 18 000‑file site, and then uploads it efficiently; its core module “whooptiedoo” orchestrates tasks in series or parallel—series for dependent steps like listing directories before loading poems, parallel for independent steps such as generating art portfolios and code snippets—and this explicit scheduling keeps the code readable and maintainable; compared to generic generators like Jekyll or Hugo, Antwerp’s custom design allows quick upgrades (e.g., splitting an audio‑book into 220‑poem chapters) without relying on external plugins, illustrating how writing your own tool can simplify deployment, improve performance, and keep you sharp and engaged.

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  • 11:47 audio
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  • 1,148 words

#1104: The Meow Sea Shanties

  • poetry
  • cats
  • catnip
  • leadership
  • seafaring

A whimsical chant recounts a sailor becoming the beloved leader of cats by freely gifting them catnip.

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  • 22:06 audio
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  • 1,833 words
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#1103: How To Grow Up Faster; Or, Thinking Outside Of The Box

  • conspiracy theory
  • box metaphor
  • drugs
  • drug legalization
  • ubi
  • education reform
  • video references
  • philosophy

The author argues that society’s “box” is an emergent construct reinforced by leaders who favor incremental reforms (like drug decriminalization) while ignoring deeper systemic changes such as universal basic income and education reform, urging readers to study character, analogy, and wisdom to break out of this invisible prison.

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  • 06:13 audio
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  • 537 words

#1102: The Rebirth Of Venus; Or, The Making Of An Art Show In The Age Of Generative AI

  • art
  • aipoweredgenerativeart
  • pop-surrealism
  • goddesses
  • mythology
  • bookdesign
  • illustration

I am preparing an art exhibition that revives forgotten goddesses—figures from ancient mythologies often eclipsed by later religions—and I plan to showcase them in a Lowbrow Pop‑Surrealism style, blending vibrant illustrations with poetic descriptions. Using AI language models, I have compiled a list of over 100 such deities and generated accompanying artwork; the final product will be a sizable book (or a large canvas) featuring striking images and three‑paragraph narratives or poems for each goddess. By combining AI‑generated content with my own curatorial touch, I hope to bring these mythic figures back into contemporary consciousness, encouraging others to undertake similar projects that blend technology, creativity, and cultural revival.

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  • 09:06 audio
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  • 790 words

#1101: Programming Programming; Or, Notes On Making Program Structure More Informative

  • programming
  • literate-programming
  • visual-programming
  • codemirror
  • cytoscapejs
  • svelte
  • ai

The post argues that programming can be organized into three levels—plain file‑based editors, literate “WikiWiki” notebooks, and visual block diagrams—and that the middle approach offers the best balance of simplicity and expressiveness. While level 1 keeps things straightforward but lacks structural metadata, and level 3 promises intuitive graphics yet often ends up bloated and hard to maintain, the author claims that a literate WikiWiki style (code first, then documentation) supplies enough semantic information for both human understanding and automated generation. By embedding descriptive metadata in a concise 100‑line framework, developers can use tools like CodeMirror, Cytoscape‑js, or Svelte, and even leverage language‑model AI to fill in code, producing clear, multi‑angle representations that remain editable and deployable as if written in level 1. In short, the author recommends adopting level 2 for its compactness, metadata richness, and compatibility with AI‑assisted code creation.

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  • 06:13 audio
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  • 521 words

#1100: Fixing Ineffective Education With Computer Programming

  • education
  • programming
  • ai
  • schools
  • curriculum
  • teaching
  • grades
  • unit-tests
  • project-based-learning
  • open-source

The post argues that our current educational system is ineffective because teachers and politicians rely on easy, superficial methods—such as projecting slides or using simple audio workstations—to teach subjects like art, music, and math without meaningful goals. It proposes a new approach in which programming becomes the core medium of learning: students write code that must pass automated unit tests, with AI providing assignments and feedback. By replacing traditional grades with test‑pass results, teachers are forced to actually teach and students gain practical skills in coding, music synthesis, 3D game design, and other creative domains. The ultimate goal is to eliminate grades altogether while giving students real tools that enable them to build programs, businesses, and exit poverty through genuine, hands‑on education.

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  • 06:14 audio
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  • 424 words

#1099: Speak Out; Or, The Road To World Peace

  • indoctrination
  • education
  • universalbasicincome
  • worldpeace
  • philosophy

The post argues that humanity’s slow march toward wisdom is mainly stalled by indoctrination, which keeps cultures in a state of complacent “harvestation” and prevents genuine disagreement or progress. It claims that uneducated, small‑minded leaders—bolstered by political poverty of mind—infest the world with false beliefs, while schools fail to deliver real learning because knowledge can be self‑taught at home. The writer insists that the path to world peace lies in the hands of young philosophers who have yet to be “scared stupid” and who will need to understand that schools are ineffective, poverty a mistake of leaders, and that Universal Basic Income is the remedy for their empowerment.

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  • 03:10 audio
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  • 279 words

#1098: Snow Thunder

  • poetry
  • winter
  • snow
  • writing
  • car

On a rainy‑then‑snowy Friday, I set out to get chicken while driving at 30 mph over a pass, only to be chased by a reckless truck that left me with “googly wheels” and a few meals lost. The evening brought thunder, flickering lights, and my computer shutting down three times. I braved the snow outside—documenting the chaos under weeping trees whose snapping branches sounded like buzzing power lines—and later, after shaking flakes off my roof, remarked that this was why one should eat chicken fast. By bedtime I had a Bill Bryson book on my lap, and the next day I awoke at noon to another thunder‑snowed morning.

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  • 08:54 audio
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#1097: Learn How To Generate Art; It Is Like Stencils, It Is Just Another Cool And Inviting Form Of Art

  • art generators
  • ai art
  • digital art production
  • ecommerce
  • product design
  • krita
  • gimp
  • photo editing
  • upscaling
  • gallery
  • museums

In my first month experimenting with AI‑generated art, I began by creating simple product images that were successfully approved in two test stores. Initially the output was cute but ordinary; as I progressed through weeks two and three, I pushed the prompts toward more whimsical, emotive compositions, adding color, mystery, alien motifs and large eyes to create “windows into the soul.” I found that repeatedly instructing the AI to enlarge the eyes produced faces with prominent eyes while often omitting hair and neck. To refine results I combined several samples in Krita or GIMP, adjusted features, then fed five such edits back to the AI for remixing, producing a non‑deterministic union of styles. This workflow—prompting, minimal manual tweaking, and rapid up‑scaling—lets me generate roughly five ready products every 20 minutes, covering items like notepads, magnets, mousepads, and more. By leveraging e‑commerce platforms that allow multiple product variations from a single image, I can produce dozens of physical goods (e.g., 30 images yielding 300 distinct items). Looking ahead, I anticipate galleries embracing AI art will favor unique, surprising pieces over hand‑painted works, enabling artists to fill large canvases within a week; thus AI is simply another medium—like stencils or collages—that can be learned and showcased in everyday spaces such as coffee shops.

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  • 19:56 audio
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#1096: What Is The Meaning Of Life?

  • meaning-of-life
  • self-education
  • adventure
  • knowledge
  • wisdom

The post argues that the “

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  • 06:55 audio
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  • 494 words
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#1095: Civilization Woes; An Adventurer's Guide

  • hiking
  • trail
  • appalachian-trail
  • pacific-crest-trail
  • continental-divide-trail
  • camping
  • tent
  • wildlife
  • nature

The post paints an idiosyncratic picture of modern life’s return to the forest: humans build little “bathrooms” in the woods while hunters film themselves on satellite‑linked cameras and occasionally become viral streamers; wildlife is introduced or released by rangers, leading to encounters with bears, raccoons and other creatures that share their space when you bring food; modern tents add convenience but also invite animals inside; dolphins are used as a metaphor for returning to nature after work’s grind, urging readers to explore the Appalachian, Pacific Crest and Continental Divide Trails, write about it and let the wilderness heal and inspire wisdom.

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  • 09:46 audio
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  • 775 words

#1094: Rise, Don’t Be Convenient

  • self-help
  • personal-growth
  • motivation
  • philosophy
  • books

The post argues that true personal growth comes from embracing honesty and self‑authenticity: by freeing yourself from lies and manipulation you can regain your mind and rebuild what was lost; it suggests a practical “detox” period—initially two weeks of vacation, then extended to three months—to clear doubt and re‑establish the inner fire. The author stresses that real insight is found through the works of authentic philosophers rather than commercial bestsellers, encouraging readers to seek books and speeches that have genuinely changed lives. By standing on the shoulders of those giants and weaving their wisdom into daily decisions, one can continually rise, bloom, and eventually become an inspirational force for others.

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  • 03:42 audio
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  • 415 words

#1093: The Sparkle In Your Harkle; Or The Grumble Bumble Rumble

  • poetry
  • books
  • reading
  • life
  • philosophy

After receiving a small nibble from Lady Philosophy, you quickly learn which books to choose and are guided through challenges with ease; philosophy turns reading into an artful practice that lets you compose your own stories. By listening to narrated tales in cozy settings—such as a sleeping bag or tent—you absorb wisdom that transforms everyday life into beautiful art. The post celebrates how philosophy helps you navigate everyday puddles, keep joy bright, and grow through experience, turning each wrinkle into a cosmic sprinkle.

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  • 14:05 audio
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#1092: Solara From Starship ʻOumuamua; Or, The Odd World Of Generative Art Paintings

  • ai art
  • digital painting
  • krita
  • smart patch tool
  • resynthesizer
  • gimp
  • chainer
  • upscaling
  • canvas printing
  • framing
  • shipping
  • art workflow
  • latent space
  • image editing
  • tablet pen

I describe how I used Krita’s Smart Patch Tool and GIMP’s Resynthesizer to refine an AI‑generated alien character named Solara, then explain the costs, sizing, framing, and shipping plan for printing her canvas artwork.

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  • 03:46 audio
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  • 471 words

#1091: El Chuppacabra De Miou

  • poetry
  • short-story
  • adventure
  • dog
  • pizza
  • chupacabra

The narrator takes his companion dog Muzyn on an adventurous trek across wheat‑stained fields and through a stormy hilltop, where they build a makeshift shelter of sticks and leaves to protect themselves from rain while cooking a pizza over a fire. Along the way they navigate rivers, fallen trees, and dark creatures (the “chupacabra”) that stir in the distance; after setting up their crude home they enjoy the meal together, then return home as noon arrives. The tale ends with the narrator’s grandmother’s warning about the chupacabra’s dwelling, but he keeps his promise to finish his sausage and paper plate before heading back.

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  • 12:40 audio
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#1090: Dare To Create Magnificent Confusion

  • node-red
  • visual-programming
  • http-endpoints
  • template-nodes
  • javascript
  • ffmpeg
  • gmic
  • layers
  • open-source

The post introduces how everyday symbols in URLs—slashes, question marks, hashes, equals signs, colons and at‑signs—form a language that lets you pass data to a server and keep information on the client side; it then explains how visual programming with Node‑RED uses tiny boxes connected by lines so that the output of one box becomes the input of another, giving examples such as an “http in” node listening on localhost/hello, a template node that can read query parameters like ?name=alice and display “Hello {{payload.name}}”, and an “http response” node that sends the result back to the browser. The article also touches on other visual‑style tools (gmic for image filters, ffmpeg’s filtergraphs) that rely on imagined layers or chains of operations, and ends by encouraging readers to install Node‑RED, use language‑model help to generate code, and discover how easy it is to build programs once you understand these symbolic building blocks.

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  • 10:56 audio
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#1089: Asking Artificial Intelligence To Explain Life

  • money
  • ubi
  • education
  • school
  • religion
  • prison
  • war
  • philosophers

The author reflects on a recent experiment with a language‑model AI that prompted simple questions from childhood, then uses the responses to sketch a series of essays on fundamental societal concepts: money, schools, religion, prisons, war, and philosophers. In each section he argues that these institutions are either incomplete or corrupted—money as an unfinished concept lacking guaranteed income, schools reduced to profit‑driven machines, religion as a comforting fantasy that blocks inquiry, prisons as an outdated punishment system shaped by poverty, and war as a destructive distraction of failing states. He proposes Universal Basic Income and true education as remedies that would lift people from poverty, reduce crime, end wars, and enable philosophers—creative thinkers who constantly seek hidden truths—to drive progress. The post ends with a call to restore dignity, learning, and wisdom through these reforms.

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  • 11:17 audio
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  • 1,493 words

#1088: Three Silly Poems By Edward Lear And One By An Unknown

  • poems
  • childrens-poetry
  • edward-lear
  • rhyme
  • 19th-century

A whimsical compilation of nonsensical verses, including Edward Lear’s early 19th‑century poems “The Jumblies,” “The Owl and the Pussy‑Cat,” “The Duck and the Kangaroo,” followed by an anonymous stanza about a lady who swallowed a fly.

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  • 21:36 audio
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  • 1,979 words

#1087: A Medley Of Inspirational Poetry

  • poetry
  • verses
  • anthology

A compilation of varied poems and prose passages—ranging from Longfellow’s exhortations on living fully to Tennyson’s eagle, Hughes’ dream imagery, Dylan Thomas’s night‑to‑action theme, Dickinson’s hope metaphor, Frost’s roads, Henley’s invictus, and Ehrmann’s Desiderata—celebrates life’s action, dreams, and personal reflection.