Journal

April Fool

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Hi! In case you are new around here, I am Chris. If you are new around here, here is something About Me and why you should read my newsletter. In this letter, I share what’s on my mind, my latest writings, articles worth reading from around the web, my recommendations & sometimes my photography.

The first edition of the newsletter is here, so thanks for subscribing! I’ll try to keep it concise and interesting.

Did you know that one of the possible origins of the April Fool tradition goes back to 1500’s France? When they switched calendars to celebrate the new year on January 1 instead of April 1, the spring equinox, a lot of people were slow to catch on or recognize the change. Those people were the butt of jokes and hoaxes because they still celebrated the new year on April 1st. These gags included having paper fish attached to their backs and called “April Fish.” As in an easily caught fish or a gullible person.

  1. Speaking of fools- have we learned nothing from the Patriot Act? Why the Restrict Act will be worse. https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2023/03/30/bokhari-with-restrict-act-the-deep-state-seeks-to-beat-china-by-becoming-china/
  2. I finished a novel called “Station Eleven” which is now a series on HBO. Following that up with “Sea of Tranquility” that sums up three distinct time periods but are somehow linked.
  3. If you enjoy vintage sci-fi stories, there is a podcast called “Relic Radio” Sci-Fi that re-broadcasts radio dramatizations from the 1950’s- 1960’s. It is amazing that the same hopes and fears are realized back then and now. We haven’t changed all that much.
  4. Currently watching the Battlestar Galactica space drama remake. This is a brilliant series that touches every aspect of human ethics, emotions, religion, politics all while fleeing annihilation from the relentless, equally brilliant Cylon race…the machines that humans created.
  5. If you haven’t already, swing by YouTube to get “A Gentleman’s Take” on a variety of topics. https://www.youtube.com/@AGentlemansTakePodcast/featured
  6. Want to lose weight? Do what I do and walk every day. I’ve seen the pounds drop and am getting closer to my goal weight.
  7. Just discovered this scene on one of my walks:

That’s it for the first newsletter! Guaranteed to be ad-free, spam-free and easily digested.

Precession of the Equinox Circles

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The Hoover Dam hides an intriguing secret connecting sky to ground and past to present, using a similar “as above, so below” system of measuring time displayed at the Giza Pyramid of Egypt.

Located on the Nevada side of the Hoover Dam is an monument dedicated to over 100 workers who lost their lives to the construction of  the Hoover Dam.

Greeting visitors are two huge sculptures of winged celestial beings and the base with inscriptions, but not many people notice that the monument sits on top of a celestial map.

“Winged Figures of the Republic” on the Nevada side of the Hoover Dam 02/19/2019

This celestial map is embedded around the monument. It is a beautifully executed representation of the night sky for a specific day and time and it includes many decorative features, astronomical markings and curious labels.

Back in 1930s, when this was designed, only an astronomer could have made sense of this information; but today, thanks to computers and applications like Stellarium, this knowledge is available to the average person. Aligning structures to constellations or fixed points was common in the past.

What is unique about the Hoover Dam sky map is the beauty of the design and precision employed by its creator, Oskar Hansen.

According to Hansen, the reason for this monument and star map is –

“to preserve for future generations the date on which President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated the dam and the power plant.”

Hansen encoded information in his masterpiece that relates to and preserves a very specific place and moment in time:

PLACE (Hoover Dam)

YEAR (1935)

MONTH (September)

DAY (30th)

TIME (21:30)

But how did he do it?

36.016834, -114.738998 Hoover Dam, Lake Mead Nevada on 02/19/2019

The phenomenon results from the wobbling of the Earth’s axis, mostly to the mass of the Moon. An observer on the surface of the spinning Earth looking east at sunrise would see different stars rising at different times, the result being that over 25,920 years, the entire circle of the 12 constellations of the Zodiac will successively appear on the horizon at very predictable intervals. Approximately every 2,150 years (25,920 /12), a new constellation will rise.

The second place to look is north, to see the Pole Star, a different face on our clock. If you attached a laser to the axis of the Earth’s rotation, it would trace a giant circle on the celestial sphere. Stars which are on or near this circle successively become “pole stars” over a period of approximately 26,000 years. Currently, in the Northern Hemisphere, Polaris is the north star, but in 12,000 years, the axis will point to Vega. Neat.

“Man’s control over natural forces has grown in proportion to his increasing knowledge of the true nature of the Universe of which we are a part…Time, the intangible governor of all our acts, is measured to us by the external relations of our Earth to other worlds. Therefore, I thought it fitting to have the base of the monument rise from a finely wrought, marble terrazzo star map of the northern regions of the sky.

“The designer of the star chart…placed the bodies of our solar system in the terrazzo, correct to the minutest fraction of an inch in scale of the design. One versed in the abstruse mathematics of astronomy may calculate the precession of the Pole Star for the next 14,000 years by studying the design of the star chart. Conversely, future generations may look upon this monument and determine – if no other means are available – the exact date on which engineers and craftsmen of our generation completed this giant structure”.

I think it is fascinating that this piece of archeological history resides in the United States. It is a shame that there are not more structures, symbols and memorials that will stand the test of time for future generations to look back on.

News

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Hi! In case you are new around here, I am Chris. If you are new around here, here is something About Me and why you should read my newsletter. In this letter, I share what’s on my mind, my latest writings, articles worth reading from around the web, my recommendations & sometimes my photography.

Every now and then I receive an email stating “I think your readers would be interested in _____.”

While I am grateful for the comments and feedback, that is not how this personal website works. Initially I write for myself and occasionally people agree with me and find it useful. Thank you! I can fill this website with all manner of interesting topics to maximize an audience but by then it becomes click bait. Instead, I write about topics and themes that I am interested and then others may find interesting as well then they decide to share it. See the difference? By all means, keep sharing topics of interest so we can all benefit. This is the heart of the social internet.

The articles I write here are infrequently consistent. They are written when time allows. When silent I am either working the day job or reading/researching topics of interest to myself and then saved for later use and sharing here or in the newsletter. Ah yes, the newsletter. Every member (free!), will get an inbox notification for each post created here. I’m contemplating a weekly round-up of the aforementioned topics of interest and sharing them. The format will loosely a bit like this:

An Image
List of 5-10 topics, links, etc

  1. Interesting article from web
  2. Interesting article from web
  3. Another subject
  4. Link to interesting subject
  5. What I’ve read
  6. What I listen to
  7. What I watched
  8. A photo of something I discovered that week
  9. A relevant video
  10. Personal update

First, I check my website and see if there’s anything that I think is worth linking to. Then, I’ll check my log/journal for interesting topics, music, movies, or books, etc.
Then, I’ll review my Twitter feeds that I’ve saved to share. After that I will scour the feeds I’ve saved in ReadWise, Matter or Feedbin.

I want to send out a newsletter to interested parties about topics that I have actually read and am genuinely interested in.

If you don’t already, you can click that subscribe button the website header or at the bottom of this article. I promise no spam, no advertising. Ever.

Authentic Intelligence

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I’d like to put it out there to the World Wide Web right now- if I ever use artificial intelligence to write this website for me, I’ll shut it down first. But, until the damn thing grows arms, breasts and sentience, I’m in charge, so we’ll do things my way.

While it is true that artificial intelligence (AI) is changing the way we work, read, and create, I don’t believe it will take away the human soul’s creativity. AI can absolutley be seen as taking over if you think of it as sentient, but it isn’t. It is all programmed, programmable and flawed. Just like us.

AI is a tool in our toolbox, nothing more. Those tools are no different then a hammer/chisel to sculpt. No different then pencil/paper, paint/canvas, light/film/photo.

AI can be viewed as an intern. Some interns are paid and most are not. But either way, we can allow AI to do some research for us, format the data and organize data to fit our desired outcome. Now, would I trust an intern’s copy without proof-reading? No. We polish it up and make it our own, conform to our needs and desired outcomes.

If I ask AI to generate a blog post for my website I am sure it will be very competent in spitting out text that is very factual, very droll, with keywords that will generate search engine optimization and offer suggestions on how to best get the best return on investment for all of it’s hard work and I take all the credit.

Image Credit: Me (human) + AI

But it isn’t me. It won’t be personal now matter how I try to spin it off as my own. It is artificial, emotionless, calculating and maybe too perfect in comparison to my flawed brain, typos, run-on sentences, etc.

This website will no longer be a personal website at that point. It would be formatted to reach the most viewers based on the most current topics of thing that I personally don’t give a damn about. That isn’t a personal blog. It is artificial.

To be clear, I do not fear artificial intelligence. As a closet geek, I am amazed at what programmable software can do right now and still wonder what is holding us back to do even more. I took a few semesters at Stanford online for quantum computing and quantum mechanics and was in awe at the theories and possibilities. Combining quantum computing with machine learning and artificial intelligence is a step forward to benefitting mankind.  I do fear that like all tools in the hands of humans, that it can be perverted to do harm to others.

🤖
“We refuse to accept the responsibility for anything that we’ve done, like we did with the Cylon. We decided to play God, create life. And when that life turned against us, we comforted ourselves in the knowledge that it really wasn’t our fault, not really. You cannot play God then wash your hands of the things that you’ve created. Sooner or later, the day comes when you can’t hide from the things that you’ve done anymore.” – Commander William Adama
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“Technology changes, but people stay the same.” – Robopocalypse

However, as I said earlier: until the damn thing grows arms, breasts and sentience, I’m in charge of this personal website, so I’ll do things my way.

Stolen Moments

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A camera offers gentle reminders to slow down and enjoy life’s simple moments as they happen. After a while you start to notice the little things, something I would’ve overlooked had I not taken up photography.

A walk through the early fog

Reading Hacks

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RSS, or, Really Simple Syndication, is having a comeback moment for many people. I’ve used this invaluable web tool since 2005 to hack my reading workflow and highly suggest others pick this up. It’s a web feed that allows users and applications to access updates to websites in a standardized, computer-readable format. It’s an easy way for you to keep up with news and information that’s important to you, and helps you avoid the conventional methods of browsing or searching for information on websites.

My feed reader of choice: Feedbin

The benefits of using RSS include the ability to stay up-to-date with the latest news and information from your favorite websites without having to visit each site individually. It also helps you avoid the clutter of email newsletters and other notifications, and allows you to easily organize and filter the content you receive.

RSS was originally introduced in 1999 by Netscape Communications Corp., for use with its MyNetscape portal. After Netscape abandoned the standard, software maker UserLand picked up development. Although RSS formats have evolved from as early as March 1999, it was between 2005 and 2006 when RSS gained widespread use, and the (“”) icon was decided upon by several major web browsers. RSS feed data is presented to users using software called a news aggregator and the passing of content is called web syndication

All that to say, is that most of your web reading sources come to you, as opposed to visiting each website to browse their content feed. I’ve subscribed to hundreds of websites, blogs, tweets, YouTube videos, newsletters over the years and all without leaving my RSS feed reader. You can then save an article to read for later use. Read what you want, when you want. Brilliant.

After gathering your content, then what? For me, I take notes and save them for later.

Readwise

Enter Readwise Reader- One tool to benefit, or hack your reading experience. With the content I consume via RSS feeds, I can then highlight and annotate notes inside the app. Some other benefits they offer:

  1. Annotation, tagging & highlighting text are the killer features of digital reading.
  2. Ghostreader is a GPT-3 companion for reading. It will analyze the text and then format a summary for you, ask questions, define terms and simplify complex language.
  3. Text-to-speech- listen to any document narrated with the lifelike voice of a human.
  4. Integrated with your favorite tools- Your annotations can flow effortlessly from your reading app into your writing tools. Instead of wasting hours of reformatting, reorganizing, and repeating, Reader eliminates the hassle. Export to Readwise, LogSeq, Obsidian, Roam etc.
  5. Read anywhere, anytime. Online, offline. iPhone, iPad, MacBook or the web.
Screenshots of Readwise on the web, iPad and iPhone. 

Readwise is a companion app to Readwise Reader. When I consume books on my Kindle , I can highlight and annotate notes in that device. Those notes are then synchronized into Readwise and then automagically imported into my personal knowledge database for later. The same occurs when I use Apple Books. Neato.

Conclusion

The purpose of  note taking isn’t to remember- it is having the freedom to forget and reference for later.

Think of all this as taking a pencil and highlighter to writing in the margins of a physical book to take notes on and review later. But digitized.

Readwise is $8.99/mo. Matter, an alternative to Readwise, but needs more development in my mind, is also $8/mo. To be clear, this is not a piad sponsorship. But I wouldn’t turn down a gratis subscription either.

Autodiadactism

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“Autodidacticism (also autodidactism) or self-education (also self-learning and self-teaching) is education without the guidance of masters (such as teachers and professors) or institutions (such as schools). Generally, autodidacts are individuals who choose the subject they will study, their studying material, and the studying rhythm and time. Autodidacts may or may not have formal education, and their study may be either a complement or an alternative to formal education.” – Wikipedia.

That reads as impressive, no? All that to say, I enjoy reading, studying and figuring things out on my own, for my own enrichment. Over the years I am slowly fine-tuning the process. I have built my own personal knowledge database which houses decades worth of knowledge, thoughts, writings, white papers etc all in .txt, .pdf and .md formats.

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If you enjoy reading for knowledge, do you receive value for that time? How do you retain what you’ve read? How can you refer back to a specific instance that you came across but can’t remember where?

This is where my personal knowledge management database comes in. I call it “Grey Matter.” Others refer to their database as a “Second Brain.”

A visual graph of decades worth of inter-connected notes in my Grey Matter database
Look at that web of connected notes!

After converting then, importing all your documents into the database, you then need to sort and organize in a way that seems logical to you. I choose to sort by year/month such as: 2023/03. If you take good notes, you should be able to sort by categories after that. An extra step for me is to backlink each note to another relevant note. Example: By typing double brackets, [[photo workflow]], the database then suggests previous documents with your suggested topic. As soon as you do this, the database generates a link to that document in your current document.

Back-linking for the win

When you perform a search for something you want to recall, look it up and every document with that tag or backlink will display and you can choose your relevant article. Neat, yeah?

Make connections to your thoughts scattered over time

As a self-proclaimed autodidact, I enjoy hybrid models of both, old knowledge and new knowledge. The challenge is discovering solutions to merge the two of them together for your benefit.

Why Read?

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  1. Fresh perspective.
  2. Escape.
  3. Different worlds.
  4. Answers to your questions.
  5. Ready to read at book store, library, dad’s bookshelf, online, offline, anywhere, everywhere.
  6. The answer you seek.
  7. Inspiration.
  8. Guaranteed to add points to your intelligence quotient.
  9. New skills added on an inexpensive budget.
  10. Endless pleasure.

Books
Reading is a lifelong habit for me. I enjoy reading for pleasure as well as knowledge. To have access to both old and new knowledge in our hands is one of the greatest gifts we have accomplished together. The list of reading material below is not an exhaustive one but
Chris Denbow [.com]Chris

A Gentleman’s Take

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Delighted to have been a guest for the up-and-coming YouTube series. If you’ve arrived here via YT or Twitter, then welcome! Kick back, relax and maybe even subscribe to the website via newsletter or RSS.

Photo Film Is Expensive

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With Kodak raising (again), the price of their film stock, it doesn’t make sense to use recreationally anymore. Over the years, I have developed presets inside of Adobe Lightroom to apply to my images. These presets convert a digital image I’ve captured into a film emulator. I am very pleased with the results. Of course, you can always tweak the settings to suit you. I am giving serious consideration in releasing these presets for a low cost of 10 presets for $10. Let me know if interested by commenting below.

Kodak Gold 200
Ilford HP5+