September is a month of clarity. Light and air embrace us in crisp invigoration. The sky bursts with blue and goes on forever. We’re finally unsealed from our climate-controlled, humidity-regulated boxes.
The smell of freshly cut grass and the sound of kids shooting hoops in the church parking lot across the street can come through open windows before the frost sets in, while golden afternoon light stretches long across the floors. Days are mellow and comfortable, and nights start needing layers. Cozy starts to be a thing again.
There’s also a clarity of purpose that comes with the return of routines and rhythms temporarily left behind. We’re doing things, moving forward, figuring it out. Projects that could wait are back on the table, and small steps are starting to accumulate into tangible results. It’s a time to breathe deep, do meaningful work, and appreciate what we have.
My Picks
It’s been a great month of discoveries — and rediscovering some old favorites.
VERT converts files (images, audio, video, and documents) from one format to another, all on your device. Nothing is sent to the cloud for processing, there’s no file size limit, and no ads. Load the page, turn off WiFi, and it still works.
I love indie and community radio, and this site collects some of the best stations in the US on one page for your streaming pleasure. Tons of new stuff to discover, as well as some I’ve been listening to for decades. (h/t Waxy)
This Disney+ series restored my faith in the whole franchise. It’s a gritty, deep, and nuanced look at the years leading up to the first movie (Episode IV). Fantastic cast, writing, effects, and pacing, plus it perfectly captured the aesthetic style that so captivated me as a child. I missed it so much when I got to the end of Season 2 that I watched Rogue One (my hands-down favorite of the later films) and the Harmy edition of Episode IV directly afterward, and loved every minute. Highly recommended.
ChatGPT is an energy guzzler. These things you’re doing are worse. [gift link]
What a great update to my post about the ethics of using generative AI. With easy-to-understand charts and explanations, Michael J. Coren at the Washington Post provides the latest data about the energy use of popular AI tools while comparing it to other common activities. Conclusion? The energy use of corporate data centers in general is still a concern, but reducing or eliminating personal use of LLMs does not materially affect our overall energy footprint.
Recently Published
It probably doesn’t come as a surprise that this past month’s posts have been tech-focused:
Making Technology Work for You (Not the Other Way Around)
Right now I’m working through a new video game, Caves of Qud. It’s an old-school ASCII permadeath roguelike with a bit of a steep learning curve, so I changed the settings to allow me to save checkpoints in villages. Now, when my character dies (again and again), instead of starting from the beginning, I can start from a checkpoint. My younger self would be horrified by such behavior, and consider it tantamount to cheating. My middle-aged self just won’t deal with the hassle. As I thought about this transformation, it opened up a broader realization about how important it is to customize our technology to fit our needs and preferences, even if it’s not what the cool kids do.
I tried another LLM experiment, interested to see how much it might help guide me to some healthier nutritional choices. The results were not all successful, but I got enough out of it for the experience to be worthwhile. I also learned that serious limitations remain with this technology, and they aren’t always obvious.
In the Groove
I looked through my work recently, and noticed that I have a bunch of stuff that has no good reason to remain unreleased. What should I do with that? I have plenty of reasons that convince me that it’s not quite there … I just need to … if only I could …
But why? I’m not a professional musician, and don’t pretend otherwise. I’m thinking about letting go, and getting it out there. But something is holding me back. It seems that my imagination is excellent at coming up with ideals that reality can never match. We’ll see what happens. Maybe that’s what this September clarity is for, finally seeing through the perfectionist fog that keeps good work locked away.
There have been some exciting updates to the software I use to make music, and I’ve been enjoying exploring new possibilities. I will never cease marveling at the tools available to amateur musicians today. I used to hang out with bands and recording engineers back in the 80’s, awestruck by the gear and expertise needed to get good results — some of it costing tens of thousands of dollars. To put ambient sound effects and other recorded elements into background loops, I used to have to splice magnetic tape together manually. Now, Garageband comes on every Mac, and plenty of hit songs have been produced with it.
Until Next Time
I hope these September days are giving you space to breathe deep and do your own meaningful work. I’m fully aware of the raging maelstrom of chaos and folly out there, but there’s something about this season that reminds me to focus on what I can actually influence. Are you finding your own ways to stay grounded?