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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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I’m going to transform into an ersatz Pirsig aren’t I? Zen and the Art of Spackling Small Holes and Shopping on Aliexpress
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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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If you're interested in the measurement side, you could easily try and build hourglasses, etc and just experiment and compare with ways of measuring time. It would be interesting to play with ways to materialize your talk on programmable reality - the kairos part of it.
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