01/08/2024: How he drinks his coffee
A small pleasure: one of my children and I are working together at the dining room table. We’re both writing. It’s hard for both of us, but we’re typing, so we’re both on the right road. I realize after a bit that I am witness to his writing tics. I have them. Lots of them. He takes a sip of coffee when he pauses to consider if what he’s just written makes sense. I know that move exactly. The flurry of typing. The deletions that come when you’re typing fast. The abrupt stop when you’ve captured the thought. Pause for coffee and to evaluate whether what you’ve just put down is as good as you thought it was when the blur of typing started.
After a certain age it feels like most of the windows into their lives are closed. This is a tiny opening but a delightful one.
More Notions
07/13/2024: Asking ChatGPT for ways to engage in conversation.
Is this the right way to write this query? Q: Someone is making a point to me with which I disagree, but I might be wrong and miss a chance to learn something. They are members of the human race, so I owe them grace and no motive-questioning at the start, but I don’t want […]
06/29/2024: When Reagan had a bad first debate
Look at these headlines: “Reagan Falters in Debate With Mondale” – The New York Times “Reagan Shows Signs of Weariness in First Debate” – The Washington Post “President’s Debate Stumbles Raise Questions on Age” – The Los Angeles Times “Reagan’s Sluggish Debate Performance Worries Supporters” – Chicago Tribune “Debate Performance Fuels Age Concerns” – The […]
06/04/2024: When a person has been convicted by a jury, what do you refer to them as?
I asked Claude AI: After a person has been convicted by a jury in a criminal trial, they are referred to as a “convicted criminal” or simply a “convict.” More specific terms may include: Convicted felon – if the crime they were convicted of was a felony offense. Convicted misdemeanant – if the crime they […]
01/04/2024: A piece on the personal quality of restraint from 2015 that never ran
I wrote it for Slate and was just reminded of it. This is a very rough draft. I wish it had run: On a recent Saturday, I listened to the audiobook of The Marshmallow Test while doing chores. In the famous experiment, children were given a choice between candy they could eat immediately, and a larger reward […]
12/07/2023: Is enforced loyalty a good recipe for achievement?
You: What is the historical record of operations founded on loyalty where the person to whom everyone must show loyalty has a record of almost no reciprocal loyalty? ChatGPT: The historical record of operations or regimes founded on loyalty to a central figure who does not reciprocate that loyalty is marked by instability and often, […]
12/05/2023: I asked Chat GPT to offer guidance to lawmakers offering their endorsement
You: Pretend I am a lawmaker and I have taken an oath to defend the constitution, how should I decide whether to endorse a candidate for president who will take an oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution. ChatGPT: In your role as a lawmaker who has taken an oath to defend the Constitution, […]
12/05/2023: Hello! I see you sent me a text message!
Hello! I see you’ve sent me a text! Is it urgent? If so, please call me. If not, please send me an email, that way I won’t think that in this world of constant interruption where we must have our guard double ready against mindless incursions, that you value my time so cheaply and yours […]
12/02/2023: Discovering the photography of Saul Leiter
Social media is a scourge, obviously. But I have been trying to respond to the negative effects of social media (cortisol-driving, attention-shredding, ego poking) with long-looking. Long-looking is the practice of spending a lot longer on an idea, piece of art, song, etc. than you normally would so that it give up additional meanings. If […]
11/13/2023: What good is criticism
I like this idea of criticism. (Colors are from my note taking). It’s from an essay by Morgan Meis that can be found here. “Criticism does not stand outside the work of art, but stands alongside, maybe even inside, the work of art, participating in the work in order to further express and tease out […]