hypertexthero

  Location: West Michigan.

  Remote: Yes please.

  Willing to relocate: Possibly. Interested in spending time in Sweden.

  Technologies: HTML, CSS, creative suite, static site generators. Able to ask LLMs the right questions to help make things work.

  Résumé/CV: https://www.simongriffee.com/Simon-Griffee-Resume.pdf

  Email: simon@hypertexthero.com

To get the hidden piano sound:

1. Turn Reface CP off.

2. Turn piano sound knob so it rests in between any two settings.

3. Turn Reface CP on.

The Reface CP is one of my favorite small keys piano instruments, and I got one specifically for the hidden piano sound, but it’s annoying to have to go through the above steps and I’m not experienced enough to mod the circuitry.

https://grimgrains.com/site/home.html

Doesn’t bother me enough to change the technique at this time, but I’ve put it in the things to do list.

I like the idea of having it automated by the system-set user preference in addition to having an option to set it manually with a link.

1. 35mm-equivalent basic plastic lens, 6 megapixel sensor with big pixels, autofocus, center-weighted metering.

2. No screen to see photos. Only a tiny LCD for basic settings like remaining pictures and remaining battery power.

3. Pictures saved to replaceable built-in SD card, downloadable to computers via USB-C to USB-C connector.

4. Long battery life (one whole day of shooting). Powered by rechargeable AA batteries.

5. Splash proof.

6. Photo sensor that adds grain to blown highlights and lost shadows.

7. Less than $100.

8. Bonus: Open source firmware.

Basically a competitor to the Camp Snap, but better.

Thank you!

Recommended to anyone starting to play.

If you stick with it eventually you learn to tune the instrument by ear.

Listening is more important than talking, but don’t automatically believe what you hear. Find out for yourself.

Observing animals and plants can teach one about humans and living in harmony with nature’s cycles.

Some people are not capable of feeling empathy. Learn to recognize them.

Your initial intuition is often wrong about numbers and statistics and many things, even if you are an expert. Double check. Triple check. Discuss with others you trust.

A little at a time goes a long way (understanding compound interest).

Certainty leads to insanity (regarding the “trade” of life).

References:

- The Creative Act by Rick Rubin

- The Listening Book: Discovering Your Own Music by W. A. Mathieu

- Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer

- The First and Last Freedom by Jiddu Krishnamurti

- The Psychopath Code by Peter Hintjens

- Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

- Fingers Pointing to the Moon by Jane English

Geordi LaForge reminds me of Aaed.

Two of my favorite Sabbath songs:

Zeitgeist, 2013 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ofrYzMU6cw Planet Caravan, 1970 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bm2N2nHqITY

1st published song, Piano Place Hold in Am: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUOhb-wHdFQ

Was still using these in the early 2000s. Good times.

https://www.simongriffee.com/notebook/american-overseas-scho...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_and_the_English_Langu...

https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-foundation/orwel...

  /Users/$USER/Library/Application Support/espanso/match/base.yml

  # Print the current date
  - trigger: ":date"
    replace: "{{mydate}}"
    vars:
      - name: mydate
        type: date
        params:
          format: "%Y-%m-%d"

I’ve tried the following in default.yml and reloading the config, but it’s not working and Claude, Gemini, and myself are stumped :)

  matches:  
    - trigger: ":date"  
      replace: "{{mydate}}"  
      vars:  
        - name: mydate  
          type: date  
          params:  
            format: "%Y-%m-%d"

https://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/202x/2025/04/05/The-CoSoc...

The Guardian — https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/31/scientists-l... — has a link to this Google Doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/13gmMJOMsoNKC4U-A8rhJrzu_...

> Today we’re going to look at definitions of fascism and ask the question – you may have guessed – if Donald Trump is running for President as a fascist. Worry not, this isn’t me shifting to full-time political pundit, nor is this the formal end of the hiatus (which will happen on Nov 1, when I hope to have a post answering some history questions from the ACOUP Senate to start off on), but this was an essay I had in me that I had to get out, and working on the book I haven’t the time to get it out in any other forum but this one. And I’ll be frank, some of Donald Trump’s recent statements and promises have raised the urgency of writing this; the political science suggests that politicians do, broadly, attempt to do the things they promise to do – and the things Trump is promising are dark indeed.

> Now I want to be clear what we’re doing here. I am not asking if the Republican Party is fascist (I think, broadly speaking, it isn’t) and certainly not if you are fascist (I certainly hope not). But I want to employ the concept of fascism as an ideology with more precision than its normal use (‘thing I don’t like’) and in that context ask if Donald Trump fits the definition of a fascist based on his own statements and if so, what does that mean. And I want to do it in a long-form context where we can get beyond slogans or tweet-length arguments and into some detail.

— https://acoup.blog/2024/10/25/new-acquisitions-1933-and-the-...

There isn’t a website on the internet that I’ve learned more from than this one.

Thank you.

Jordan Mechner’s 20 tips: https://www.jordanmechner.com/downloads/library/20tips.pdf

Liz England’s blog: https://lizengland.com/blog/2014/04/the-door-problem/

- William Klein

- Helen Levitt

- Sergio Larrain

- Jane English

- Josef Koudelka

Generative coding:

- Inigo Quilez - https://iquilezles.org/

- Shelby Wilson - https://shelby.cool/

- David OReilly - https://www.davidoreilly.com/

- Rekka and Devine - https://esoteric.codes/blog/100-rabbits

- David Whiting - https://www.vitling.xyz/

To think clearly, come up with new ideas, make and truly understand things, we need to put marks on the blank page ourselves, and not just repeat what teachers or textbooks tell us like the majority of students Richard Feynman had during his time in Brazil — https://v.cx/2010/04/feynman-brazil-education

LLMs/AIs are useful to help us get farther, faster, like witty, skilled, intelligent friends who sometimes take too many magic mushrooms during conversations.

Forgetting about our own agency and individuality is bad for us, and dangerous for society.

“I am no bird; and no net ensnares me; I am a free human being, with an independent will.” —Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“Monsters exist, but they are too few in number to be truly dangerous. More dangerous are the common men, the functionaries ready to believe and to act without asking questions.” ―Primo Levi, If This is A Man

To create and be free like an animal outside a cage, ask, write, and draw your own questions. Look, and find out for yourself, rather than blindly believing what others tell you.

Two useful books:

Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards https://archive.org/details/DRAWINGONTHERIGHTSIDEOFTHEBRAINH...

The Hand - How Its Use Shapes the Brain, Language, and Human Culture by Frank R. Wilson https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/191866/the-hand-by-...

1. The Art of Game Design, A Book of Lenses by Jesse Schell - https://schellgames.com/art-of-game-design

2. 20 Tips on Making Games by Jordan Mechner - https://www.jordanmechner.com/downloads/library/20tips.pdf

3. Liz England’s blog - https://lizengland.com/blog/

1. Choose a song you like and find out what chords are needed to play it.

2. Learn those chords and practice playing the song.

Use a keyboard with weighted keys for best results.

Refs:

https://hypertexthero.com/piano/

https://www.pianochord.org/

https://github.com/pianobooster/PianoBooster

More info: https://www.healthline.com/health/fitness/7-minute-workout

10 second break between each of these:

Jumping jacks (30 seconds)

Wall sit (30 seconds)

Pushups (30 seconds)

Crunches (30 seconds)

Step-up onto chair, alternating legs (30 seconds)

Squats (30 seconds)

Triceps dips, using a chair or bench (30 seconds)

Forearm plank (30 seconds)

High-knees or running in place (30 seconds)

Lunges, alternating legs (30 seconds)

Pushups with rotation, alternating sides (30 seconds)

Side plank (30 seconds)

* The Creative Act by Rick Rubin. Maybe the best book about creative process in everyday life and art I’ve read. Positive vibes and meditations. Speaking of which…

* Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. Timeless advice about life and death from a ruler/philosopher who seemed to have been actually good and uncorrupted by power. And speaking of that, at the top of my to-read list for 2025 sits On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder, also available in a visual graphic edition.

* Drawing on the Dominant Eye by Betty Edwards. Worthwhile, even if not as much as Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain.

* Not finished yet, but The Art of Game Design, A Book of Lenses by Jesse Schell is eloquent and erudite so far.