Goodbye some social media

I just deleted my Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts when I realized that most of the people I followed weren't following me, and that most of the people who followed me were people trying to get rich using social media. I was manually unfollowing people and decided it would just be simpler to nuke the account and perhaps start over one day.

As a result, all the Instagram pictures that I had piped to this blog using IFTTT are now broken.  Hand curating those entries seems really tedious.  Maybe I need to erase this and start over.

Note: I will probably rejoin Instagram at some point.

The 'Busy' Trap - The New York Times

I read Deep Work in its entirety, and although there is some good stuff in there, the sources Cal Newport draws on are even more interesting, like this article by Tim Kreider, who is kind of delightful.


The 'Busy' Trap - The New York Times: Busyness serves as a kind of existential reassurance, a hedge against emptiness; obviously your life cannot possibly be silly or trivial or meaningless if you are so busy, completely booked, in demand every hour of the day.

Failproof Instant Pot Rice - Green Healthy Cooking

I managed to make perfect Instant Pot rice today.  Here is what worked for me, a resident of the desert community of Orem, Utah, at 5,000 feet.

Note: this is in an 8 quart Instant Pot

Four cups white, long grain rice
5 1/2 cups water
Two tablespoons of unrefined coconut oil, because it is supposed to magically reduce calories after it cools, due to some sort of molecular Sri Lankan magic.
1/2 teaspoon of salt.

Set to manual pressure for five minutes.  Forget about it while you book a hotel in downtown San Francisco.  Check it later and start scheming about how to convince your wife to use the instant pot so you can toss the budget rice cooker (and slow cooker).

Right now Lowe's has an eight quart pressure cooker for $42.

Here's someone else's link that I Googled.  It's either an amazing recipe or they have amazing search engine optimization.  I couldn't figure out why so many of these blog posts ramble so much, then realized that it's probably SEO.

Failproof Instant Pot Rice - Green Healthy Cooking

Emacs – The Best Python Editor? – Real Python

Ha ha.  I love the enthusiasm of Emacs cultists.  I'm currently, for like the fifth time, trying to learn some Python before my brain completely shrinks as I age.

Emacs – The Best Python Editor? – Real Python: While it’s an indisputable fact that Emacs is the best editor, we’ll (try to) keep an open mind and present Emacs objectively, from a fresh installation to a complete Python IDE so that you can make an informed decision when choosing your go-to Python IDE.

Tesla layoffs: Elon Musk's memo asks employees to "advance the cause" — Quartz at Work

Tesla layoffs: Elon Musk's memo asks employees to "advance the cause" — Quartz at Work:

People who work in social-sector jobs that serve a moral purpose, such as protecting children from abuse or serving the elderly, are typically under-resourced and overworked, mainly, Ballard says, because of the myth that people who heed a higher calling—including teaching or nursing—can somehow be satisfied with the knowledge that they’re improving the world. This idealized view that connects our noblest work to poverty “comes from the priesthood,” she says, “and can be used as a way to get people to downplay practical needs and concerns,” like sleeping and eating.

A lot of academics can fall into this trap as well. I picked up the graphic novel version of Paul Coelho's The Alchemist today, in part because it was so popular with the kids I taught in Qatar.  The underlying theme (so far) seems to be that if you don't align yourself with the universe and pursue your true calling, you'll live an empty, depressing life devoid of meaning.  I wonder how many academics buy into this essentially Coelhoian world view.