cmart's blog
Newest Blog Posts
Coding Agents Make Effective Tutors
Everyone Wants Everything to Be a Barbecue
Regulate Obvious Physical Choke Points of the Frontier AI Supply Chain?
Newest Bleats
Compact walking-oriented streetscapes, with no setbacks and block buildings that share walls with each other, can feel inviting and humane. But in the US it became illegal to build new places like this, so our supply of century-old stuff is all we have for the foreseeable future. It’s silly to imagine time-traveling back to the 1920s and exhorting property developers to make more of this while you can. But what could we do more of today that will be scarce and appreciated in the far future? (First answer that comes to mind: collecting good writing that we are 100% certain was authored by a human, and keeping it in way that carries this assurance forward.)
(permalink)
Dumb startup idea: rent an old shipping store with many cubby holes or lock boxes. The product you sell is Tech Vacations. Customer brings in all their devices, leaves them in a box, and receives a loaner ’emergency phone’ that can only call 911 (and perhaps a few pre-programmed emergency contacts). No browser, no texting, no apps. The vacationer gets to enjoy a day or a weekend free from notifications and temptations to scroll. Biggest cost is probably 24/7 security for the store full of customers’ phones.
(permalink)
How much time do dogs spend uncomfortably needing to poop? I expect many humans would agree with this statement: “If I need to wait more than a few minutes for a place where I can poop, it’s often uncomfortable and sometimes painful.” It seems reasonable that other mammals would have a similar experience. Given that many/most dogs spend at least part of the day alone, with the sanctioned poop spot behind a door they cannot open without help from a presently-absent human, are these dogs having a good time? (Corollary, why don’t we give dogs litter boxes?)
(permalink)