Dark and Cozy
November 20, 2024
3-Item Status
Current Location: Milwaukee, WI
Reading: Storm Front by Jim Butcher
Listening: Happy by Bukahara
Quick Notes
New Work: This week’s Let’s Know Things is about AI Scaling Walls, and yesterday’s Brain Lenses essay was on Walls of the Mind (lots of wall content this week). I also shared some writerly/readerly links on Writing & Such.
Meetups: I’ll be putting together some (free) meetups here in Milwaukee (focusing initially on silent reading groups: bring a book and quietly read alongside other people who are doing the same) in the coming weeks. No money motivation, just acting on a long-held ambition to get more involved locally and to meet more of my neighbors. On the off chance you’re in Milwaukee you can sign up to receive updates about these meetups here.
Question: This week’s question is (fittingly) about meetups :)
(If you have a moment, reply with your own 3-Item Status and/or Quick Notes about what’s happening in your life.)
Dark and Cozy
Milwaukee is cooling down.
After a long October of teases, the temperature dropping for a few days before rocketing back up to the mid-80s (~30 C), late-November has gifted me a string of 40–50 degree (4–10 C) days, with not a hint of a whisper of a suggestion of humidity throughout.
So I finally cycled my wardrobe, dropping a few piles of light shirts and shorts into the not-wearing-right-now drawer, and swapped in several well-loved, fluffy sweaters and jackets, alongside (optimistically) my winter parka.
I always look forward to this period and this process, as while it’s initially unnerving to have the sun disappear for such long periods and to have to bundle up before going for a run (something that’s otherwise an exercise in sweat-wicking sparsity), it also heralds the trio (or so) of months during which I can be unabashedly snug and nested without feeling like I should probably be someplace else, doing other, more active things.
It’s cold, it’s maybe drizzling or (soon!) snowing, it’s dark and foreboding outside—so why not just stay in, make a hearty stew, read a book, and enjoy the feel of a blanket around your shoulders and a heater at your feet?
Extra effort is required if I want to maintain a social life during these months, and I may succumb to seasonal affective disorder at some point (even if I feel like I’m generally having a good time).
But to have the elements push me toward things I’m reflexively keen to do? Reading and writing and cooking? Sitting with a heated blanket at my back and fuzzy slippers on my feet?
That’s a rare treat. And it’s one I gleefully anticipate every year.
My decision to live the places I do is partly shaped by the duration of these periods, and by how much their presence will influence (and shape) me and my life: nudging me to become an intensely tea-sipping, stew-spooning, story-scribbling (and sponging) version of myself…if only for a time.
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Interesting Links
Math Is Still Catching Up to the Mysterious Genius of Srinivasa Ramanujan
Ramanujan brings life to the myth of the self-taught genius. He grew up poor and uneducated and did much of his research while isolated in southern India, barely able to afford food. In 1912, when he was 24, he began to send a series of letters to prominent mathematicians. These were mostly ignored, but one recipient, the English mathematician G.H. Hardy, corresponded with Ramanujan for a year and eventually persuaded him to come to England, smoothing the way with the colonial bureaucracies.
Tog’s Paradox is highly visible in enterprise software development, where attempts to streamline workflows often lead to more complex requirements over time. For instance, a CRM system designed to automate customer interactions might initially focus on basic functions like managing contacts and tracking communication history. Once users experience the efficiency gains from these core features, they begin requesting more sophisticated tools—such as integrations with other software, advanced reporting, or analytics to further optimize their work. Each new feature brings added complexity to the system, requiring not only more robust infrastructure but also additional training and support. This mirrors Tognazzini’s idea that making tasks more efficient encourages the demand for additional use cases, driving the complexity of the software.
The Empresa de China ("China enterprise") was a long-time projected conquest of China by the Spanish Empire. Proposed repeatedly through the 16th century as a natural culmination of the conquest of the Philippines, it involved the invasion and assimilation of the Ming dynasty by a coalition that would include Spaniards, Portuguese, Spanish subjects of Spanish Philippines and Japanese allies from the Toyotomi regency, as well as potential masses of ethnic Chinese allies.
(If you want more links to interesting things, consider subscribing to Aspiring Generalist.)
Question
This week’s question is about meetups!
Specifically, have you ever been to a meetup that you thought went particularly well? Or the opposite: one that didn’t live up to your expectations?
Consider sharing your thoughts in the comments (or you can share them with me directly by responding to this newsletter) :)
My favorite meetups (of all kinds) have generally had just enough structure that everyone knows what’s going on, but not so much that it’s overbearing or rigid (and it seems easy to step too far in one direction or the other, as the structure-to-flexibility ratio likely varies based on the people involved and theme of the meetup).
I’m leaning toward basically just setting a time and place, letting folks know about it, and then welcoming those who show up. Maybe suggesting people arrive a little earlier or plan to stay a little later if they want to socialize; but beyond that, keeping it simple.
I’m super open to ideas on this, though, as I’m keen to catalyze some opportunities for people to be around other people, in a context that doesn’t mean spending a bunch of money or having to take up an entirely new hobby. Thus, starting with silent reading, then maybe expanding into “hang out and doodle or crochet,” “hang out and get some writing done,” etc.
Outro
I think I might be lactose intolerant? All of a sudden? That’s what my body seems to be telling me, anyway.
Which is an immense pain in the ass (well, in the gut) because although I don’t typically use dairy milk these days, there’s still a fair bit of cheese in my diet. And any limitation (after a lifetime of not having them) feels like a significant burden.
I got some lactase pills that seem to help, and there’s a chance, I’m told, that it could be temporary: the result of some kind of intestinal issue, or maybe the consequence of PPIs I took for acid reflux earlier this year having messed with my gut flora (both of which could conceivably be reversed or rebalanced, with time).
I’m approaching this like it’s permanent, though, even as I attempt to rebalance and heal—because this can apparently happen to people as they get older (and I am!), and it would be better to be pleasantly surprised by a resurgent ability to non-prophylactically eat cheese again at some point in the future than to assume such a day will come, only to have it never arrive.
Any experience with dietary restrictions? How do you deal with it / prepare so that it’s less of a problem, day to day? Send me a message and drop some knowledge, and/or take a moment to introduce yourself—I respond to every message I receive and would love to hear from you :)