Where I Lived, and What I Lived For

Henry David Thoreau · Walden · 1854

Q1.report Tonight, finalize fab specs for the labcat prototype. Tasks ▸ ☐ etch silkscreen ☐ pour solder paste ☑ verify pinout ☐ smoke test Lisa 50% gray

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.

I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms.

The Song of the Reed

Jalal ad-Din Rumi · Masnavi I · trans. R. A. Nicholson · 1925

Listen to the reed how it tells a tale, complaining of separations—

Saying, "Ever since I was parted from the reed-bed, my lament hath caused man and woman to moan.

I want a bosom torn by severance, that I may unfold the pain of love-desire.

Every one who is left far from his source wishes back the time when he was united with it."

The body was meat. Case fell into the prison of his own flesh.

— William Gibson, Neuromancer, 1984

the Dungeons of Doom

the NetHack DevTeam · NetHack · 1987–present

╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ L A B C A T B U L L E T I N S Y S T E M v3 ║ ║ ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ║ ║ 1 > File areas 4 > Door games ║ ║ 2 > Message bases 5 > Sysop chat ║ ║ 3 > Local users 6 > Goodbye ║ ╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ Selection: _ C:\> dir /w Volume in drive C is LABCAT-VOL1 AUTOEXEC BAT 142 COMMAND COM 37557 CONFIG SYS 87 DOS <DIR> LABCAT EXE 12842 README TXT 3104 SCANDISK LOG 612 UTILS <DIR> 8 file(s) 54486 bytes C:\> _ 
  ---------                ---------
  |...<...|                |.......|
  |.......|                |..%....|
  |.......+################+...>...|
  |..@....|                |.......|
  |....d..|                |.......|
  ---------                ---------

  You hear a distant 'gloop! gloop!'           --More--
          ----------
         /          \
        /    REST    \
       /      IN      \
      /     PEACE      \
     /                  \
     |       andy       |
     |    killed by     |
     |      a newt      |
     |                  |
     |       1987       |
    *|   *  *  *        | *
________)/\_/\_/\_/\_/\(________

broadcast monitoring

SMPTE 75% color bars · NTSC reference

Calibrated BVM on the line cut, scopes pinned to 100 IRE. The kind of bench that lets a colorist trust what they see — and the rest of us trust them.

we'll return after these messages

Channel 4 test pattern · late-night affiliate

CH 4

A late-late spot break on the local affiliate. Shadow-mask grain, mistracked VHS color, the faint hum of a hot tube. Held over for the test card and the national anthem, then a long, quiet snow.