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Life themes shortlist I’m considering for next year 1. Instruments and measurement 2. Repairs (kintsugi and non) 3. Valuation habits 4. Mansions 5. Scavenging 6. Jury-rigging 7. Chindogu 8. Design fictions 9. Tooling 10. Reuse/repurpose/reclaim
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I need a life theme for the next year, something more background than goals or plans 🤔 Something the show is about. Neither “about nothing” like Seinfeld, nor a MacGuffin type of nothing.
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Well it’s going to be a very log-level year. I think I’m looking for the devil in the details. They say he hides there.
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In 2020, insight porn can only be found at the log level. Maps and abstractions are illegal for the next few years. Crawl around in territory, worms-eye-view only, or gtfo
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I think these themes are on my mind because world is in reboot mode. The hypervisor is going to ask us to choose an OS soon.
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I’m tending towards a phenomenological but borderline impractical theme. Some mix of kintsugi, chindogu, design fiction, Rube Goldberg machines... but not on the elaborate and campy end. Fix/repair/build stuff to embody appreciative views. Like the materiality equivalent of 2x2s.
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I know what I *don’t* want to do or write/think about - Maker subculture - Arts and crafts - soulful shopcraft doer-waldenponding - actual home improvement handyman stuff - stunts/clever hacks/prowess - blue collar larping - “critical practice in materiality”
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The wooden pendulum clock I’m building now out of a laser cut kit is a good example of the energy that attracts me right now. I’d like my next project to have a the time theme maybe, but I wouldn’t necessarily get deeper into laser cutting or build other mechanical things.
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Maybe fix a broken digital bedside clock? Retire a clock to run on Mars time? 🤔 I did order a lens to make my own telescope out of some scavenged cardboard tubes. It’s mainly about using the tubes but also I’m curious about telescope building.
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Ok this take has turned me off kintsugi as an element in the mix.
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Replying to @vgr
I bought a kintsugi kit from Tokyu Hands in Tokyo and I want to say it’s overrated. The craft, not the attitude. I’m probably missing something nuanced here but it’s just epoxy joinery, followed by very elaborate gold-dusting.
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Like Tim, I’d be the blowhard who talks a big game but screws up every project he attempts. Lisa would be like Al. Actually knows what she’s doing and makes stuff which works.
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