#ossasepia Logs for 06 Dec 2019

April 21st, 2020
whaack: diana_coman: EOD Report: I did 4.5 hours of saltmines, and ~6hrs of writing about meeting with Adam. Despite the time put in, I have a yet to complete a rough draft of our encounter. I figure now that I will need a minimum of 4hr+ extra time to write this article. Even that may be an underestimate. I assigned the final draft to my open 4h slot on Saturday. [00:23]
diana_coman: http://ossasepia.com/2020/04/21/ossasepia-logs-for-05-Dec-2019#1012113 - ha! not a moment too soon to have sorted those out, is it; for beeping elucidation -> rtfm? [03:40]
ossabot: Logged on 2019-12-05 17:51:34 whaack: huzzah two days after arriving and my UPS is paying dividends. I am connected via backup internet running on power from my ups. Looks like Costa Rica is having an extended rainy season. Now to figure out how to make it stop beeping... [03:40]
diana_coman: http://ossasepia.com/2020/04/21/ossasepia-logs-for-05-Dec-2019#1012117 - you know, it depends on what you have running and for how long the UPS can keep it running, in principle; if you don't care, you are better off just turning everything off anyway for the night and there's no problem at all. [03:41]
ossabot: Logged on 2019-12-05 18:15:19 whaack: asciilifeform: I may have to do that if I can't figure out how to turn it off completely. I don't need to be woken up at night to be told my power is out. [03:41]
diana_coman: http://ossasepia.com/2020/04/21/ossasepia-logs-for-06-Dec-2019#1012127 - now this should better end up as some chronicles of tico adventures since I can't quite figure out what else can take 10hours+. [03:43]
ossabot: Logged on 2019-12-06 00:23:34 whaack: diana_coman: EOD Report: I did 4.5 hours of saltmines, and ~6hrs of writing about meeting with Adam. Despite the time put in, I have a yet to complete a rough draft of our encounter. I figure now that I will need a minimum of 4hr+ extra time to write this article. Even that may be an underestimate. I assigned the final draft to my open 4h slot on Saturday. [03:43]
jfw: Morning all. My holiday is set for Dec 19 - Jan 5, which is 5 days later than the previous cvasi-plan. [08:45]
jfw: I plan to use the extra December workdays to continue wallet work on a more reasonable schedule with more slack for reading and such. [08:48]
diana_coman: jfw: sounds good; how's the work on the wallet going otherwise? [08:56]
jfw: Behind the optimistic schedule but going well otherwise, no major obstacles as yet. [08:57]
jfw: The online component is able to import address lists and scan the chain to import relevant transactions; this scan took ~13 hours for a test set of ~1k addresses scraped from some arbitrary blocks. [08:59]
diana_coman: not that bad. [08:59]
jfw: I did hit a major performance problem, which through the python profiler I soon tracked down to a simple missing db index. [09:00]
diana_coman: indices can make quite a difference indeed; so according to the not-so-optimistic schedule, when do you plan to be done with the wallet? [09:01]
jfw: I don't have a ready answer. Would like to say by the 19th but... possibly still optimistic. [09:02]
diana_coman: I see, ok. [09:04]
diana_coman: whaack: if you end up looking for a dehumidifier make sure you calculate the cost too, esp if you run it in a sieve-house that you end up trying to dehumidify the jungle or something. [09:10]
diana_coman: the cost of running it* [09:11]
whaack: http://ossasepia.com/2020/04/21/ossasepia-logs-for-06-Dec-2019#1012128 << I have been now reading the manual on all products I've received, including the manual on a quite self-explanatory rice cooker. The APC came with a list of safety tips + installation diagram, but the 'manual' comes in a cd format which I don't have the means to play. I should have searched for an online manual, I will put that on the TODO list. [11:05]
ossabot: Logged on 2019-12-06 03:40:18 diana_coman: http://ossasepia.com/2020/04/21/ossasepia-logs-for-05-Dec-2019#1012113 - ha! not a moment too soon to have sorted those out, is it; for beeping elucidation -> rtfm? [11:05]
whaack: As for the dehumidifier, getting that device is towards the bottom of the todo list. First I need to seal the entryways, as you imply, and get a hygrometer. I have not had that many skin issues since arriving here, at least not like I did the first time I came to Tamarindo (I got an infection that mostly hits babies - impetigo - for 1.5 weeks on my right eyelid, quite awful.) That said I will find a good skin powder on my next trip [11:18]
whaack: to town. [11:18]
whaack: And my writing is not taking 10hr+ because it is an epic saga. It is taking that time because I flip flopped on how I want to structure it / what I want it to contain (do I write about what we talked about, do I write about what we did, do I do some mixture?) I will commit to something today and write with more pace. [11:21]
diana_coman: whaack: so it's your spinning taking 10hrs+, not the writing; make a decision and stick by it, what; if you can't decide, then you get to write ALL variants (and if that doesn't make you decide next time faster, it's at least some writing practice for all that spent time). [11:30]
whaack: diana_coman: Okay yes it is spinning, and I thought to myself last night something similar to your instructions above: 'I should just write more and chisel it down at the end.' [11:34]
diana_coman: whaack: what do you over-think there anyway? [11:35]
whaack: diana_coman: I guess what causes spinning is I over-think what the effect of the article will be depending on how I write it. [11:39]
diana_coman: certainly; for starters: why are you concerned with the effect? [11:39]
diana_coman: as if you could anyway figure out the effect upfront; how are you going exactly to know the effect it will have and on whom, pray tell? [11:40]
diana_coman: dorion_road: as your latest plan was made only up to today, does this mean you are publishing the next plan today or are you keeping the weekends out of the plan or what? [11:43]
whaack: diana_coman: Well shouldn't I be concerned with the effect of every article I write? For this one specifically it is because it describing an interaction gives a window of sight into me and Adam personally, and I do care what others think of me + how I describe someone else I like. I agree though that it is laughable to think I could predict what the actual effect of the article will be. [11:44]
whaack: s/an interaction gives/an interaction that gives/ [11:45]
diana_coman: whaack: why exactly should you be concerned "with the effect"? it's anyway a quite impossible "concern" and yes, it will inevitably send you spinning precisely because it is...impossible to fix. [11:47]
diana_coman: when you write something, you *should* be concerned with reflecting as truthfully as you can whatever it is you are writing about but that's where it stops really; the "effect" is entirely out of your control and it will always be so. [11:48]
diana_coman: understand this: if you take the time to write something, it's because *that something* is worth writing about; that's it. [11:49]
diana_coman: whaack: and for that matter, in general, stop trying to control other people's reactions, it's silly bordering on stupid really because there's no real benefit from it but it comes with a very real cost. [11:53]
diana_coman: will bbl [11:55]
whaack: diana_coman: okay ack re the above points. I will write the most truthful reflection I can and not burn time pondering the potential ways it will be received. And if anything the draw to spinning may be used as an indicator that what i'm writing is worth it. [11:58]
diana_coman: whaack: it's certainly a reflection of the fact that you find it important, yes; and so indeed you should certainly write about it; note that this doesn't mean that every tiny detail is just as important ie you aim for truthful (if, inevitably, subjective since it's your own lens) not some "objectively complete" nonsense. [12:27]
dorion_road: http://ossasepia.com/2020/04/21/ossasepia-logs-for-06-Dec-2019#1012157 << it means I am publishing the my review and next plan today. saturday and sunday will be included in the plan. [12:28]
ossabot: Logged on 2019-12-06 11:43:18 diana_coman: dorion_road: as your latest plan was made only up to today, does this mean you are publishing the next plan today or are you keeping the weekends out of the plan or what? [12:28]
diana_coman: dorion_road: works. [12:28]
diana_coman: will go to admire more closely how English attempts at winter failed yet again; will bbl. [12:31]
BingoBoingo: whaack: Frequently when I am stuck on the structure of what I want to write, I have to push myself to write out the trocitos, the little pieces that are going through my head whether or not I am sure I want to include them in the finished piece. [12:47]
whaack: learned a new Spanish word. [12:47]
BingoBoingo: Once I've settled on a structure most of these may need to be rewritten, and many of them won't make the final cut. Especially on Qntra... [12:48]
BingoBoingo: What writing them out before I have the final structure does is it gives me the simpler task of re-writing when I put together the final piece instead of writing out the whole piece from nothing. [12:49]
whaack: I do have a small junkyard of trocitos from yesterday. I didn't just stare at the screen the whole time. I think the problem is that I could have made a larger collection of trocitos to choose from. [12:49]
BingoBoingo: Well, part of the challenge is putting together the process and making the electrically conductive chunk of flesh in the headcase adapt to the process. [12:50]
whaack: BingoBoingo: I didn't fully grok that last point. Are you saying that I need to put together a _writing_ process and then find a way to make myself follow that writing process? [12:52]
dorion_road: BingoBoingo an !!up in #t would be appreciated. [12:55]
BingoBoingo: whaack: Not necessarily, but that's a point. As you get experience writing, you'll stumble into habits that may be brought together into a process that works for you in terms of leveraging your time well. Your brain may actively resist your intentions to bring the productive habits together into a solid workflow. [12:55]
BingoBoingo: When you find something that helps your output in volume/quality or simplifies your workflow, you may have to force yourself to repeat the process a few times or it won't stick. [12:57]
BingoBoingo: Or you may find parts of the process you stumbled into have other costs somewhere in either quality of output or volume of output. [12:59]
BingoBoingo: Some thing that need to be written will demand a different process than others. With the basement evacuation narrative I did the first draft with events as they happened, in order, and simply revised the thing for typos and clarity. [13:02]
BingoBoingo: With Yesterday's VPN bug writeup I instead had to read the initial report, load up what the thing was describing, and hammer that down into a summary of what I understood of the thing and its background. [13:04]
whaack: BingoBoingo: Sorry for the delayed response, I received a phone call from an old friend. I know / am learning that there are a few categories of writing topics and each of them require their own set of procedures. Is there a reason for the brain's active resistance of productive writing habits? Are there specific actions that you need to take to fight the resistance? [13:20]
BingoBoingo: I don't know any reason the brain resists other than it seems to be biased towards the familiar. Despite active recognition the familiar doesn't work as well as it should, on a deep level the brain seems to want to enforce the familiar. the reason may be something like "No lions or lizards have ate me yet, If I stick to these habits the lions and lizards will continue to not eat me" [13:29]
BingoBoingo: As far as overcoming the resistance, what works best for me is actively making myself do the thing I want to see become a habit for at least a couple weeks. After the third week or so I may still need the occasional reminder, but the mushy stuff up in the skull will lose its resistance to the new habit. [13:31]
BingoBoingo: Because despite doing the thing outside the routine, no lions nor lizards ate. [13:32]
BingoBoingo: After a few times the primitive alarm sorta resistance in the brain will be muted, but... killing it takes more time. [13:33]
whaack: BingoBoingo: Okay so that sounds like the normal bad-habits-die-hard bug that applies to almost everything one does, not something specific to writing. [13:34]
BingoBoingo: whaack: I'm more along the lines of "new habits scare the brain" [13:34]
BingoBoingo: And it may not be very specific to writing at all. [13:36]
BingoBoingo: In this case it isn't so much bad habits that have to go. It's getting settled into new habits while against an increasingly resistant brain evermore confident that preserving the status quo is the safest thing it can do. [13:38]
whaack: BingoBoingo: hmm okay I'll try looking at the general problem w/ sticking to something new from the 'new habits scare the brain' perspective. I'm surprised I haven't considered it that way before. [13:39]
BingoBoingo: The basics of this point have been on Trilema since forever, but it has taken me quite some time to digest it into this. [13:40]
jfw: diana_coman: got a feeling my review's a bit too skimpy, and I've failed to get next week's plan in at all. I'll plan to do one on the road and publish as soon as I'm able. [13:43]
jfw: Off to catch my flight now. I might drop in if network cooperates, otherwise, till Tuesday! [13:45]
BingoBoingo: Safe travels! [13:46]
whaack: jfw: have fun in Uruguay, btw I never mentioned - the css on your blog is lookin sharp indeed! it's a nice touch for the great content that's being produced (although I admit I haven't found much time to fully read your articles.) [13:50]
diana_coman: http://ossasepia.com/2020/04/21/ossasepia-logs-for-06-Dec-2019#1012185 - or simply the fact that any change is by definition more costly than no change; resistance of the medium applies when yourself are the medium too. [15:10]
ossabot: Logged on 2019-12-06 13:29:43 BingoBoingo: I don't know any reason the brain resists other than it seems to be biased towards the familiar. Despite active recognition the familiar doesn't work as well as it should, on a deep level the brain seems to want to enforce the familiar. the reason may be something like "No lions or lizards have ate me yet, If I stick to these habits the lions and lizards will continue to not eat me" [15:10]
BingoBoingo: diana_coman: ty for the simple cut [15:11]
diana_coman: most welcome :) [15:12]
diana_coman: http://ossasepia.com/2020/04/21/ossasepia-logs-for-06-Dec-2019#1012195 - heh, your feelings are out to save you this time! [15:12]
ossabot: Logged on 2019-12-06 13:43:15 jfw: diana_coman: got a feeling my review's a bit too skimpy, and I've failed to get next week's plan in at all. I'll plan to do one on the road and publish as soon as I'm able. [15:12]
diana_coman: safe travels and have fun in Uruguay jfw ! [15:14]
BingoBoingo: on standyby awaiting news jfw has arrived in the oriental republic [22:02]
whaack: diana_coman: EOD Report: I spent just about the entire day finishing the rough draft of my meeting with Adam. I know this is quite a problem. There may have been more spinning, although I can't say I was too hung up on what to include/not to include today. Part of the issue may have been I made the article too long, right now it is at 1,600 words. I moved my rough draft of my article on rereading to Sunday, and my Odyssey reading b [23:55]
whaack: lock to tomorrow. I am going to leave the revision of the article as the last task i do tomorrow. I am worried it will drag on and _again_ eat up my other tasks. [23:55]