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Constraint Browsers

Experimenting with mini-browsers limited to specific urls or domains. Clicking on external links saves them to a list (that possibly you then feed into a different mini browser?). Recorded some thoughts on youtube.

Thinking about making a browser feel more like a place (thinking of Interface Studies' video). Also thinking of the satisfaction and clarity of plugging a cartridge/disk into a system.

Writerdeck prototype

Put together a prototype writerdeck with the modos dev kit. Direct sunlight does work. It's a bit bulky and I should probably use one of my minimal low-profile keyboards, but I do love typing on the kinesis the most. In some other world I'd cut up and mod the kinesis body directly.

The currrent prototype.The currrent prototype.

The pieces laid out.The pieces laid out.

Cosine grid

Experimenting with putting the embedded texts from Cosine into UMAP and then fitting to a grid. Not as glanceable as images would be but I think there's probably some interesting moves to make here.

Marble Answering Machine

by Durrell Bishop via Matt Webb's Filtered for that which motivates form. Described as the seed for the tangible user interface movement. I'd love to make some stuff like this.

Topic continents

Wikimedia concepts embedded and then mapped to a sphere with UMAP. Trying out topic clusters as continents. Not sure where it's all going.

Tile distortion debug

More sphere workMore sphere work

The Obelisk Gate

by N.K. Jemisinby N.K. Jemisin

I'm trying to spread out the series I read so it is a testament to how good The Fifth Season is that I jumped into this immediately.

The dedication is "For those who have no choice but to prepare their children for the battlefield" and you feel that all the way through the book. The relationship between Essun and Nassun is so well developed on both sides. Clear-eyed in the pain caused eac hother but also the reasons for it. It always feels like it is reporting, rather than pleading any one character's case.

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Reader

Putting together a personal RSS reader that shows the original articles. With vim-style navigation.

clinamen v.11 by Céleste Boursier-Mougenot

I saw the bowls (clinamen v.11 by Céleste Boursier-Mougenot). A perfect generative piece because you can immediately understand how it operates but the results are no less magical. It feels very like something from nature in that way.

It was nice to be around a bunch of other people who decided it was something worth making the effort to see.

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The Fifth Season

by N.K. Jemisinby N.K. Jemisin

The first time I read this I hadn't read much fantasy. Having read and enjoyed a bunch now this still stands out. I also hadn't read The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas. Having that context - that the conversation about "who are you willing to sacrifice" has this history of being explored through sci-fi - added another layer.

The standout things for me are the world-building and the main character.

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Sphere tiling

Experimenting more with tiling at different levels-of-detail on a sphere. Trying to make a little world.

More branch work

TestingTesting

Modos Paper Monitor Dev Kit

Trying out the small Modos Paper Monitor dev kit on an overcast day at the park. The high refresh rate is impressive and seems great for writing and coding. Screen is glossy though.

I've held off on writerdeck builds for a while but it's really tempting to try and put something together with this.

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Branch WIP

Working on a branch conceptWorking on a branch concept

Attention architecture

Thinking about how our computers can support intentional workThinking about how our computers can support intentional work

Watch on Youtube

Shape

by Jordan Ellenbergby Jordan Ellenberg

I always feel mixed about reading popular surveys of a topic. They're never as exciting as reading something more targeted and idiosyncratic. It's a lot like listening to a greatest hits album - you sort of miss the rhythm and groundedness of living with an album or targeted investigation.

But it does give you a big picture that can help orient and bridge future reading. This book helped me connect graphs (of topics, of ideas) to the origins of geometry - and to think about how it's built on spatial intuition that we abstract out of the physical world. That is fun to think about in terms of how to represent knowledge in a spatial interface.

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Custom desktop experiment with evolvable mini-apps

Video preview

Watch on Youtube


My computer - featuring gruvbox light theme - in the rock garden.My computer - featuring gruvbox light theme - in the rock garden.

Constraint Systems in Slanted Magazine

Slanted Magazine put together a great collection of digital tools including several of my Constraint Systems projects. It's really fun to see these in print!

Collapse, Push, Stamp, and Tri. Stamp remains one of my favorites.Collapse, Push, Stamp, and Tri. Stamp remains one of my favorites.

CSS PaintCSS Paint

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Solar-electric catamaran

From https://solander38.com/stories/solander-38

I thought this, on why they didn't retrofit their old boat, was an interesting point about design:

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