Right Now

This sounds terrible, but I think I like content more than people. All the best ideas and literature were made by people I probably would have disliked had I met them. It seems that the emotional distance of text and the finality of death make an author's legacy more palatable. The problem is finding stuff that is non-trivial yet still engaging.

>>16
It's how everyone looks at it. But good communication happens when the people involved are individuals. Removing the differences to make everyone as agreeable as possible generates shallow content.

>>16
I agree, it seems that most "brilliant" people in all fields are not the greatest people, and are disagreeable/offputting in some, or many, ways. I think you are allowed to enjoy content created by a "bad" person, like we are allowed to use scientific results found by "bad" people, too. We just don't have to financially support them.
We should also try to surround ourselves with "good" and "normal" people during our downtime, if only just to remind ourselves that "good" and "normal" people still exist, and how to be "good" and "normal". I didn't say *act*, I said *be*. Although I rarely feel a strong connection with these "good" and "normal" people, it's a big relief that the majority of people outside are, for example, willing to help you out in the event of a car accident.
Spending too much time engaging with or consuming from these "brilliant" insufferable loners is dangerous to me, because I inevitably feel so much more connection with them than "good" and "normal" people. I don't know if I count as a "brilliant" person, but I know that I very slowly become slightly more insufferable as it goes. I do want the world to be full of "brilliant" people, but I want the people walking on the streets to be willing to help me out, if I need it. So I need to watch out and make sure I'm not turning into someone who wouldn't...

>>17
Certainly. A big trend in narratives these days is that the protagonist has to be satisfy all facets of political correctness. I guess this ups the relatability factor, because these days, young people are all about being PC. I mean I can't really relate to a character who is openly racist, that is for sure, so I can *understand* why this is getting popular.
Only, now people are afraid to write stories that aren't 100% PC. Of course it is natural and desirable that publishers avoid putting out stories that say "racism is good", but it seems there can be no grey area. If your story mentions racism, it has to explicitly say "racism is bad". I think this is destroying good literature at the moment.
I am only speaking about YA.

>>19
I think you misunderstood my comment. I am very much enthusiastic for machine learning to surpass human creatives, just as Dungeon A.I. is doing to text games. But perhaps that is just the logic of capitalism talking through me (at the expense of the worker). Maybe I just have anxiety with a side of misanthropy like most people these days.

>>25
I sorta understand that sentiment. At the same time, I'm not sure how I feel about AI-generated content. I feel like it's not the same as content made by a human, but there's no reason for me to think that. It's not like I ever think about the creator of a work while consuming it.

>>25
>I am very much enthusiastic for machine learning to surpass human creatives.
Yeah that will happen because human creatives are only allowed to make fast food entertainment today.

>>27
Can't wait to see machine generated fast food entertainment! That's what it'll probably be, for the most part.
On the other hand, it will make non-fast food entertainment cheaper still.

>>30
>On the other hand, it will make non-fast food entertainment cheaper still.
Doubt.

Listen to my song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzlT80jQ3lo

>>132
Marching Medley
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTF91_gpSto

Tip to Rip
https://9xbuddy.com
https://tuberipper.com/

You ripper
https://coconvert.com/en2/

HA

Reading about sprite-work
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29672675
Shoryuken

David Boggs, Co-Inventor of Ethernet, Dies at 71

Thanks to the invention he helped create in the 1970s, people can send email over an office network or visit a website through a coffee shop hot spot.

By Cade Metz
Feb. 28, 2022

David Boggs, an electrical engineer and computer scientist who helped create Ethernet, the computer networking technology that connects PCs to printers, other devices and the internet in offices and homes, died on Feb. 19 in Palo Alto, Calif. He was 71.

His wife, Marcia Bush, said his death, at Stanford Hospital, was caused by heart failure.

In the spring of 1973, just after enrolling as a graduate student at Stanford University, Mr. Boggs began an internship at Xerox PARC, a Silicon Valley research lab that was developing a new kind of personal computer. One afternoon, in the basement of the lab, he noticed another researcher tinkering with a long strand of cable.

The researcher, another new hire named Bob Metcalfe, was exploring ways of sending information to and from the lab’s new computer, the Alto. Mr. Metcalfe was trying to send electrical pulses down the cable, and he was struggling to make it work. So Mr. Boggs offered to help.

Over the next two years, they designed the first version of Ethernet.

“He was the perfect partner for me,” Mr. Metcalfe said in an interview. “I was more of a concept artist, and he was a build-the-hardware-in-the-back-room engineer.”

Many of the key technologies that would be developed over the next two decades as part of the Alto project would come to define the modern computer, including the mouse, the graphical user interface, the word processor and the laser printer, as well as Ethernet.

Ethernet

https://sokyokuban.com/

https://eatdrinkkl.blogspot.com/2019/09/main-place-mall-ready-set-walk-eat.html?m=1
https://eatdrinkkl.blogspot.com/2020/02/tiennielicious-subang-jaya.html?m=1
https://eatdrinkkl.blogspot.com/2020/12/koro-koro-cafe-subang-jaya.html?m=1

Uncle Roger vs Adam Liaw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9hxtBd439g

Subang BerJaya
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMHzBpmfIsw

Subang Chinese
https://goodyfoodies.blogspot.com/2022/06/restaurant-fishing-village-dk-senza.html?m=1

Subang Yitcha
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4pfYQ-bx38

Penang Mee Goreng, Restoran New Apollos (USJ 4)
Address: 32, Jalan USJ 4/6b, Usj 4, 47600 Subang Jaya, Selangor
Operation Hours: 7am – 10pm

Pau, Wai Kwan Coffee Shop (USJ 6)
The popular Paus fillings are their Char Siew, Mui Choy and Nam Yu Pork. Unique flavours include Kung Po Chicken and Chicken Curry.
Address: New Paradise Restaurant@ Restoran Wai Kwan, P.00.001, Good Year Court 2, USJ 6/1, Subang Jaya
Tel: 016-4217826/016-5660777
Operation Hours: 7am – 2pm, closed alternate Mondays

Liza Briyani (SS15)
Liza Biryani is one of the longest queue humble stall in Subang. Liza, or simply known as Kak Liza, operates her biryani stall at the her car porch with her husband and children.
Address: Intersection Jalan SS15/5B & Jalan SS15/5G, Subang Jaya
Operation Hours: 11.30am until sold out

Jing Zhu Pan Mee (SS19)
Image Credit: Fun N’ Taste
If you’re craving after a homely and hearty bowl of Pan Mee that’s made with love, Jing Zhu Pan Mee is the place to go.
Address: 9, Jalan SS 19/6c, Ss 19, 47500 Subang Jaya, Selangor
Operation Hours: 7.10am – 4pm, daily

Cafe with cats
http://froggybitsoflife.blogspot.com/2022/10/big-breakfast-set-9-morning-cafe-plt.html?m=1

Old school
https://froggybitsoflife.blogspot.com/2022/09/chee-cheong-fun-yong-tao-foo-tehc.html?m=1

Late last year, I quit watching telly for a month.

It was partly an experiment in self-control and habit-breaking, but also a response to the unhappy realisation that watching shows had become my crutch to zone out.

So, I decided to kick the habit for a bit, cold turkey.

Surprisingly, in TV's place slotted things I often felt too tired for — playing music, doing puzzles, exercising, gardening and heaps more reading.

Realising mindless TV-watching wasn't always restful
Worn out by work and the exhausting churn of climate crisis and chaotic world news, I'd retreat to screen-based monotony, spending hours watching TV or streaming the latest series.

I knew it wasn't great for my health — all that sitting and snacking — and worse, it stole motivation and time from things I love, such as veggie gardening.

Koren Helbig is wearing blue jeans and a light blue jumper in her garden, cutting a tree with garden shears.
Sometimes simply being in the garden fills Koren's cup. (Supplied: Koren Helbig)

But often, flopping onto the couch and flicking on a show felt like the only thing I had energy left for in the evening. And I don't even have the relentless responsibility of kids.

Examining it closer, I realised I was equating TV to "rest", yet I still felt tired all the time.

And I worried that I was numbing out, using binge-watching as a comforting distraction from stress or a way to avoid dealing with emotions.

My two-fold approach to shifting unhealthy habits
Last year was a gradual process of examining such crutches in my life, one by one.

On New Year's Day, I decided to change my relationship with alcohol and ended up cutting my drinking by about two-thirds.

Later, I wound back processed sugar and capped my daily social media use.

A woman standing and playing a ukelele, in a light-filled room with paintings on the wall next to her.
Koren has been able to play her ukulele since carving back some more screen-free time. (Supplied)

>>1868
Each of them had unintentionally become a fallback to numb out when life got hard, a way to soften stress or sidestep uncomfortable feelings.

My strategy to shift them was two-fold: make the old habit harder and keep a healthier option waiting in the wings.

For example, I stopped buying processed sugary stuff and kept more fruit in the house. I put my phone in another room and borrowed more easy fiction reads from the library.

Small environmental tweaks, I realised, often worked better than relying on sheer willpower.

And rather than calling behaviours "good" or "bad", I started asking whether they moved me toward the life I wanted or away from discomfort.

What filled the space
When it came time to tackle the mindless TV-watching that was swallowing too much of my life, I created what I like to call a personal "library of rest".

Because what's "restful" can depend on the day, I realised. Sometimes shovelling compost filled my cup, other days I could barely muster the energy to run a bath.

Koren is wearing blue jeans and a light blue top, sitting on a couch and reading a hardcover book.
Koren's library of rest includes low-energy activities such as reading. (Supplied)

My library of rest collated alternatives I could turn to when tempted by TV, categorised by the energy and capacity levels each one required.

For example:

Low-energy rest: reading light novels, doing a puzzle while listening to music, weaving, gentle stretching, napping and hanging with my pets.
Higher-capacity rest: bike riding, a long walk, cooking, planting veggie seedlings, playing ukulele, journalling and reading heavier non-fiction books.
I modelled that on the "spoon theory", coined by disability advocate Christine Miserandino, which highlights the need to pace and prioritise when managing fluctuating energy levels.

The list helped reduce my mental load when choosing TV substitutes and find doable ways to rest, no matter how worn out I was feeling.

>>1869
TV habits as a prompt for self-awareness
Quitting TV for a month also helped grow my awareness of what it feels like when I'm overloaded or off-kilter — and get better at sitting with stress or emotions instead of numbing them out.

And because I love to apply permaculture thinking across my entire life (not just in my garden), I used its framework to self-reflect and build lasting positive habit changes.

For example, permaculture's fourth principle of "apply self-regulation and accept feedback" helped me build self-awareness about when and why I resort to marathon TV sessions.

Now, I consider the itch to binge-watch a helpful flag or feedback loop, indicating that I'm emotionally overwhelmed or that I've been pushing myself too hard and need to slow down.

This year's goal: moderation
When I mentioned my telly-free experiment in a group chat recently, several folks said they'd permanently quit TV, even sold their sets.

I take more of a "things in moderation" approach to life, rather than being rigidly all-or-nothing. So, it's not a no to TV forever, for me.

I've kept my set and a streaming subscription, and still regularly watch shows and movies. But I now approach it as more of a conscious choice — a treat, even — rather than a daily fallback habit that eats precious hours of my life.

Ultimately, the experiment reminded me that time is my most finite resource and richest form of wealth, and that a more fulfilling life begins with mindfully choosing how I spend it.