Halfman-Newsletter.051-2024Nov

Hello friends. More than a day late and an equal amount of dollars short. This is how it is. But embrace it I say!

This newsletter, like a fine wine or aged cheese is something that one needs to wait for, sometimes longer than expected. It is a vintage that doesn’t obey the arbitrariness of the Gregorian calendar or any other. Its time comes when it comes, sauntering over the horizon, like a messenger on a white steed dressed in fine silks, blue and flowing in the gentle breeze of a late autumn sunset. I’m struggling for excuses and explanations, so pour yourself a drink and grab me one while you’re at it.

You can subscribe here for free. You could unsubscribe there, but know this may cause bad things to happen to cute and cuddly creatures. You’ve been warned.

Things you need to read forthwith that were actually written in November

Top10-Nov2024 is all you need to know. More or less. So I guess not all you need to know than.

Yes, of course one of the first things they did with AI was File Under Creepy but Oh So Curious.

Bucketing the Bucket List is something you should do probably. Unless of course you want to invest in my bucket list startup.

I’ve redone my website, the one that is all about the work end of things and here are the latest and greatest.

Where is Denny Vrandečić from takes us through how LLMs can get it wrong.

Filling a Page or Wrangling into a Pen which unwittingly had a quote from Tech Policy Press set off my dude Mehmet on some crazy quest about Derrida’s logocentrism and some Roland Barthes shit about myths. This was not intentional.

Work

Otherwise, I need that still by the way. If you know of some let me know.

When not dutifully writing and editing this newsletter, I’m a very experienced product and service designer for everyone from scaling startups to governments. Hands-on, full-stack design, moving digital products and services from zero to one which you can see at jimkosem.com.

November!!! Death!!! Aaaahhh!!!

That’s right, one big honking theme this month. And you want to know why? Well, because where I live, as well as other spots of heavily Catholic Europe and South America, that’s how November always starts. Day of the Dead, Day of Rememberance, All Souls Day. And that’s not even including almost November on 31 October, otherwise known as Halloween, one of the best holidays America has conquered. Otherwise, November is chock full of loads of House Stark level winter is coming vibes and the regretful compliance to the coming cold and dispiriting end of another calendar year by which we live our lives.

Day of the Dead

Day of the Remembrance of the Dead as it’s officially known in Slovenia is like some weird version of Thanksgiving or something. It’s not depressing at all and going to the cemetery at night is not only super normal, but isn’t spooky at all. You go to as many cemetaries as you can manage in a day, flowers and candles all over the place and end up at some relative’s where you invariably drink wine (it was just St Martin’s day which is the patron of vintners and alcoholics) and eat some sort of cured meat.

Krampus

But if you really want to get all central and eastern Alpine region death and metal crazy in November, well you’re going to have to check out some Krampus activities like Noč parkeljnov (“Night of devils”) in Goričane just outside of Ljubljana. Watch the video for sure. So imagine a tradition where you terrify generations of children by telling them St Nicholas is coming in a couple of weeks, and yes, if we’re good not only might we not starve or die of small pox this winter, but you might get a small biscuit. But if you’re bad kids there are devils and demons who will take you away. Now fast forwards a millenia or so and you have these nights in the region with these groups of devils, booze, heavy metal blaring and the announcer doing his best to welcome the Austrian krampus groups formally in German and then Slovenian all in death metal growls.

Where I grew up in Cleveland, Devil’s Night meant something else, namely in Detroit a couple hours drive away, tons of houses would be set on fire by criminal gangs and people trying to stop them by not allowing them empty houses.

De’ath is a name

I may be completely deluded, but I think autocorrect (via supernatural forces or the universe or something obviously) is not letting me dwell on things. Autocorrect as the cosmic force in our lives prods, nudges and pushes our letters and words in directions we often forget they’re supposed to go. My old boss from way back when had the surname De’Ath. Yup, it’s a name. But autocorrect will always bring him up, even as I try to type “death.” Is this unseeable force trying to tell me something? Is it trying to tell me, “Jim, your lack of fear of the mention and clear treatment of death, unlike many in Western cultures, is admirable, but you know lighten up maybe, and this dude was really nice and also reasonably lighthearted." Maybe the Universe is telling me he still is my boss, as is Death is for us all. I don’t know, but “fucking” is no longer ducking now so explain that.

It’s Unclear if they’re actually called Trains of Death

According to the Guardian (The rollercoaster king: the man behind the UK’s fastest thrill-ride):

In Croatia, it might be worth noting, they call rollercoasters “trains of death”

According to my cursory research which I actually did in Croatian, rollercoasters can be called “trains of death,” but whether they are generally is another thing. There was about four or five other ways of saying it. But way more importantly people in Ohio call a rollercoaster “Steve.”

Steel Vengeance, built a few years earlier in Ohio by Schilke, has no narrative at all. Fans know Steel Vengeance as Steve, a plain, unpretentious provider of thrills.

Mexico always wins at this stuff

Of course the deceased’s friend can pull a rather decent blunt grab fakie on this tombstone quarter pipe.

Roald Dahl banger

Though I must admit I do have a soft spot for Roald Dahl’s parting words. As he lay in his hospital bed, surrounded by family, Dahl looked around the room and said, ‘It’s just that I will miss you all so much.’ Then he passed away. At least that’s how it was supposed to happen. Unfortunately, as the family sat silently waiting for him to die, the nurse decided to make his passing a little easier with a hit of morphine, pricking him with a needle; Dahl suddenly regained consciousness, yelled ‘Oww, fuck!’ then died.

(Dan Schreiber The Theory of Everything Else)

Slow death

So let’s keep the theme going but with some damn fine good time rock and roll shall we? It’s bad enough that you might not know about the Flamin’ Groovies, but here’s your chance to rectify that with some and down and dirty garage/proto-glam/proto-punk rock.

Halfman Q4 Projections are showing not dead at all

As you can see the projections are all hockey stick, up and to the right. Showing a strong bias for western ways of showing progress, we can infer that things are totally on the up and up. Me over Awesome is showing strong, matching the start of hockey season in general.

File under life is hard and we need simple joys

Eyebombing is perhaps the balm for monuments of times, people and places long considered either dead or useless

Productivity

You want to know how to delete something? If you can answer it, don’t play that shit. “Will AI Cut Us Off from Reality?” Duh, obviously. Delete.

Self-care

It’s an obvious choice. It’s election day. But you’re 7,239.67 km away. It doesn’t matter though because you voted weeks ago and your ballot promptly in the bin. I’m talking about real choices. The thing will happen, but because you picked up your daughter and have to get some petrol on the way home, which one? Snickers Creamy Peanut Butter or Milka Oreo? The answer is staring at you right in the face: both. Do it. Life is absurd like that, just turn on the news. How one replies to this absurdity and rejects calls to arms is simple: Snacking and snacking hard. So you leave the Snickers Creamy Peanut Butter in your jacket pocket so the following day of depressing news and even more depressing job searching, you find a little smidgen of delight. A brief rainbow across the horizon, a fleeting second of escape. Snack friends, snack hard. The end may or may not be nigh.

Or you could try the biggest Heavy Metal Cruise there is, 70,000 Tons of Metal.

Preach

If he’s taught me anything, it’s that doing nothing, asking nothing, expecting nothing, is a precious skill to be mastered in a life well lived.

Fast Times on America’s Slowest Train

Cultural norms around food

Eleanor Konik whips up another banger in this article about cultural norms and food. Oh and considering what we eat is almost always dead, but not our same species, and this month in the US is all about a day of way too much of food, here you go.

On feasts, cilantro, and cultural norms around food

Aging should be way funnier but statistically isn’t because there is no justice

How Does Our Sense of Humor Change With Age? A Statistical Analysis you ask? What about how we get less funny as we get more conservative? How does this newsletter get worse as it goes on? Do I age that much by the time I pass 1500 words?

Finis

I tried. So should you. See you next month.

Credits:

Opening graphic 3d asset “Turkey leg” by Billie Bones