D&F 2/19/23

My weekend of bike camping didn’t destroy my body, so this week was a nice mix of recovery and actual normal cycling. I missed it so much! My endurance and speed are way off my peak last year, but it’s nice to go up familiar roads and find myself at the top without passing-out or something. It helps that the weather this week was pretty mild, and clear.

I think this is called “false spring,” but the flowers and greenery from our flooding are a welcome addition to Oakland. It’s a long weekend for some, but not for my company, but I’m trying to channel the energy and happiness of a long weekend regardless. Weekends are just a state of mind, man.

Spring is all about new growth, fresh ideas, and stretching those frosty limbs, and I aim to take advantage. COVID is still a threat, for sure, but everyone is acting like we’re back to normal, so I want to travel and explore a bit more while I’m fresh off infection. That said, I still love drinking outside and cycling, which are a boon to COVID safety and social bonds at any time. Some friends are headed to Mexico, some to Japan, and I’ve got at least one bike race on my schedule. Are you headed anywhere rad? If so, I hope you really soak in the difference and excitement. All the isolation of the last few years taught me to appreciate the moments much more, because who knows how many we have on this planet.

If it’s not clear from this opening bit, my brain is still a little addled from the ‘rona. Can’t stop the links though:

Links

• As a large woman, I’ve struggled with weight, self-image, diet, and so many related factors my entire life. When I’m on my own at home, I usually feel just fine, but as soon as I climb onto a plane or see people shopping for clothes, I’m reminded how divergent I am from the mean. There’s a new drug on the market that is mostly for diabetes treatment, but is being used off-label for weight loss, and this post from Paul Ford on his experience with it was fascinating. What I don’t know is if he’ll need to take that drug for the rest of his life in order to maintain the size he reaches by having less appetite, or if the effects on his metabolism will be long-term. Something that I’ve learned from shows like Maintenance Phase is just how damaging caloric restriction can be to your ability to eat the same number of calories as someone the same weight as you who hasn’t dieted. I’m putting a pin in this, and will be curious to see if if turns into a real, effective treatment for “obesity”.
• Tech decks. Remember them? Well, they’re not only back, but there’s a whole generation of professional decks made out of actual wood:

• Ted Chiang’s article on AI is one of the best things I’ve read on the new era of terrible chat bots. I love how as a sci-fi and speculative fiction author he dreams of real AI and futuristic tech, and as such isn’t amazed or intrigued by the crap from ChatGPT and Bing being dumped into the world. After NFT/Crypto junk I was anxious to see what would come next, and “AI” is somehow even worse than the pre-NFT VR stuff. I miss the days when tech nerds just made different to-do and email apps and didn’t pretend they were reinventing tech’s paradigm or whatever. Relatedly, if you visit the terrible website Product Hunt, almost everything on there these days is a bad chat app, or a glorified Notion template. It’s wild.
• If it’s not clear by now, I’m very opinionated. I’m not right all the time, and in fact I’m often wrong, but I have strong feelings about things that start with a first blush reaction, and deepen through reading and learning about said thing. Due to my propensity to say what I think honestly with people I like, I’m often in the awkward position of disagreeing with them, or at least hoping they might one day agree with my opinions about the world, but how can that happen? SCIENCE! Building a persuasive argument and helping people understand why something is good or right is a very challenging proposition, and I loved the way this broke down ways to empathize and work within human psychology for meaningful change:

People seek information that makes them feel good about themselves and allows them to be a better version of themselves. If you start with this understanding of the human mind and behavior, you can design campaigns that help people see where your values intersect and how the issues you are working on matter to them.

Closing

I’m finishing this newsletter over a cup of delicious coffee from Yes Plz, which is run by an online pal and delivers much needed beans weekly. Every morning I look forward to the first and second cups of coffee, and dread the feeling of crossing-into the danger zone with a third. Much like drinking alcohol, it’s likely that coffee does my stomach no favors but I love my night and day beverages so much. Midday is all about water. Growing-up there was a soda fridge at my Mema’s house that I had unfettered access to, so I spent most of my childhood over-sugared and highly-caffeinated. It’s wild watching my friends raise their kids with much healthier habits, and I hope when the water wars come, these strong organic children will remember their weird aunt fondly. Until then, I will savor my Japanese whiskey and Ethiopian bean juice and enjoy the beautiful February flowers in Oakland. I hope you do the same, space cowgirls~