Amidst the pandemic, I embraced communism... the communism that the late anthropologist David Graeber proposes is the basis for human social life in his book Debt: The First 5,000 Years.

He calls it “baseline communism,” defining it as:

“[The] understanding that, unless people consider themselves enemies, if the need is considered great enough, or the cost considered reasonable enough, the principle of ‘from each according to their abilities, to each according to their needs’ will be assumed to apply.”

If I had to explain why, I’d start by pointing out that if you’re a parent visiting your kid in college, you probably feel immense pride at seeing your kid thriving in an unfamiliar environment. There are many reasons for this, but suffice it to say that the pride you feel doubles as validation; as knowledge that your 50+ years on this earth have produced a human being who is capable not only of providing for themselves, but of providing value to others.

David shares a compilation of the best links from his newsletter Friday Finds. Read here.

The first step in learning a song is to listen to a recording until you can hum the basic melody and feel the rhythm.

Our major scale looks like this: I–ii–iii–IV–V–vi–vii dim. Using this pattern, in the key of G, for example, the chords are: G major–A minor–B minor–C major–D major–E minor–F# diminished.

After you have those chord shapes under your fingers and the sound of the chords in your ears, play each chord starting from the home chord of the key, the I chord. Play I–ii, I–iii, I–IV, I–V, I–vi, I–viidim (C–Dm, C–Em, C–F, C–G, C–Am, C–Bdim). You are now playing the intervals, or distances, from the I chord to the other notes of the scale. Listen closely as you play these chord intervals and record them in your iHead player—these intervals are the building blocks of the songs you want to learn.

#8fcfb4 #a01f26 #c2e5e7 #dba926 #ff5868

I’m writing this in the hope that I can inspire more people to give their talks this kind of treatment. It’s not a zero amount of work—it takes me 2-3 hours any time I do this—but it greatly increases the longevity of the talk and ensures that the work I’ve already put into it provides maximum value, both to myself (giving talks is partly a selfish act!) and to the people I want to benefit from it.

A summary on how to pass the Amazon leadership principles behavioral interviews, and get a job at Amazon.

It’s somewhat shocking how often people buried in large companies don’t mentally identify their customer as the final external customer. Their customer is their boss, sales, marketing, etc. They are so focused on doing what they’re told, so focused on building what they’re asked, without taking a big step back to understand who uses their product.

A description of advanced tips and tricks for effective Internet research of papers/books, with real-world examples.

used book search engines: Google Books/find-more-books.com
it’s worth searching the seller to see if they have their own website, which is potentially much cheaper.

Get started with a collection of 460 free and open-source SVG icons compatible with Flowbite and Tailwind CSS based on solid and outline styles with React (JSX) and Figma support.

Darwin learned about logbooks and recordkeeping while aboard the HMS Bounty.

He ought to remember Bacon’s aphorism, that Reading maketh a full man, conference a ready man, and writing an exact man;

A very lightweight and flexible accessible modal dialog script. - GitHub - KittyGiraudel/a11y-dialog: A very lightweight and flexible accessible modal dialog script.

Do you feel like your hip flexors (or quads) are always pretty stiff, even when doing regular, dedicated stretching? What if I told you the culprit may not be your tight muscles at all and no amount of passive lunges and hip stretches would really make a difference?

https://www.daniwinksflexibility.com/flexopedia/hip-flexor-stretches#active-stretches

Whether you're finishing a basement, repairing a damaged wall, or hanging drywall in a new house, these taping tips will help you make smooth, invisible seams, even at inside corners.

Hide butt joints!

Hanging drywall vertically is slower than hanging it horizontally because you have to make sure the tapered edges fall at the centers of the studs.

Use Mesh Tape

But mesh tape has one weakness (literally): It’s not as strong as paper. To compensate, you have to cover it with a setting-type joint compound, which is stronger than a premixed compound.

Setting-Type Compound

Be sure to choose a “lightweight” setting compound. Other versions become so hard that sanding away mistakes is nearly impossible. Even the lightweight versions are harder to sand than the premixed compound, so it’s best to use a setting compound for the first coat and a premixed compound for later coats.

Flatten Bumps and Bulges

If you used a setting-type compound, inspect the joints before the compound has hardened completely. Run a 12-in. wide knife over every joint. The blade will scrape off small ridges and nubs. More important, it will act as a straightedge, revealing larger bumps and bulges. When the compound is about the consistency of a bar of soap, you can easily shave down bulges without gouging. You can sand and scrape the setting compound after it’s completely hard, but that’s more work.

Smooth the Surface With a Knockdown Knife

Then drag the knockdown knife gently over the surface in one continuous pass. Apply light, even pressure and don’t stop or hesitate.
Although the rubber blade is soft, it can still make a mess of partially hardened compounds. Knockdown knives are available in 18 and 22-in. widths at drywall suppliers and some home centers and hardware stores. A 22-in. version is best for butt joints.

Evals, RAG, fine-tuning, caching, guardrails, defensive UX, and collecting user feedback.

In May 2023, Eric Hartford, a machine learning engineer authored a popular blog post “Uncensored Models” providing his viewpoints to the merits of uncensored models, and how they are created. It’s a great read!

This post will give some example comparisons running Llama 2 uncensored model vs its censored model.

https://erichartford.com/uncensored-models

Archive.today is a time capsule for web pages!
It takes a 'snapshot' of a webpage that will always be online even if the original page disappears.
It saves a text and a graphical copy of the page for better accuracy

https://www.removepaywall.com/

Custom Properties have the potential to change how we write and think about CSS.

In most cases, I'd now consider it code smell if a media query or CSS selector swaps one variable for another. Rather than swapping variables it's better to define one variable, set its initial value and change it with a selector or media query.

In this guide, you’ll learn how to plug in your ukulele, what not to do when plugging in, and get some tips for taking your sound to the next level.

Commit Mono is an anonymous and neutral coding font focused on creating a better reading experience.

MDF (medium-density fiberboard) is inexpensive, durable, and a good choice for many woodworking and carpentry projects. Learn how to use it correctly, and how to avoid common mistakes.

• Make Your Own Trim
• Combine MDF With Wood Moldings
• Prepare for a Dust Storm
• Avoid Full Sheets
  Try MDF shelving, usually in 1 x 8-ft. sections. I like to slice these long, easy-to-handle shelves into trim stock.
• Sand, Prime, Sand (Kilz, 100 grit)
• Don’t Let It Get Wet
• Reinforce MDF Shelves
• Don’t Use a Hammer (drill holes first or use a trim nailer)