http://ranprieur.com/#9a417fe513f58988c3b5b1e84cfc57397194a79b 2025-05-08T20:40:44Z Ran Prieur http://ranprieur.com/ ranprieur@gmail.com http://ranprieur.com/#654fa1a60f7fe50d6f84ba53c61e070d61fe0839 2025-05-08T20:40:44Z May 8. I've been working heavily on my novel, and part 5 is up. So far, just like the books of Harry Potter, each part is longer than the last, and part 5 is tighter than part 4, with two new villains and a multi-chapter plot about the quest to find the Long Now Clock and re-objectify time. I've also made a bunch of small edits to the other parts, and added another religion in part 1.

Also, from Ask Old People, a nice thread for the weekend, What's one simple joy you think younger people overlook?

Quick note. This Reddit comment, and the comments below it, have some good discussion about the new pope.

]]> http://ranprieur.com/#b1a6038b6ed54667e0114a7fd27ef49127a0b9ce 2025-05-05T17:10:16Z May 5. Four long reads via Hacker News, starting with a Hacker News thread, I'd rather read the prompt, about various issues around students using LLMs. Two short quotes: "Using an LLM to do schoolwork is like taking a forklift to the gym." And "Many people are in university to survive a brutal social darwinist economic system, not to learn and cultivate their minds."

The Cannae Problem is about the Roman defeat at Cannae, because they were mentally stuck in a certain way of thinking about warfare, and how it applies to modern issues. "Success creates its own failure mechanisms. The very things that make you successful produce the blind spots that make you vulnerable. Your greatest strengths, taken to their logical conclusion without adaptation, become your greatest weaknesses."

Why Archers Didn't Volley Fire, the thing they do in movies, where they all shoot their arrows at once. It's because 1) arrows can be shot fast enough that volleying isn't necessary, 2) holding a bowstring back is exhausting, and 3) arrow volleys aren't that deadly.

And a massive 11,000 word piece, Intrinsic Motivation: A deep dive. Condensed to five words: external rewards bad, autonomy good.

]]> http://ranprieur.com/#f64a5b9e61223a2a520ffba82af8fdd4ea4b6120 2025-05-02T14:40:55Z May 2. Today is Bandcamp Friday, when all the money goes to the artists, and I've just bought Daisy Rickman's 2024 album Howl. Only a few times a decade do I find an album that I want to listen to over and over again. The bones of the songs are classic folk, with acoustic guitar that reminds me of Gordon Lightfoot. But both the style and the songwriting are very droney, and I love how she sings at the bottom of her range. Overall it most reminds me of Forndom's Daudra Dura, and what both albums have in common is that all the sounds were made by one person.

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