Dysmorphia

Berlin 2025 Recap - Talk Videos, Photos, CoC Report Hi everyone, Our team is slowly emerging from the post-conference recovery period, and we wanted to send out a quick message to thank everyone for helping to make Write the Docs Berlin 2025 such a ...

📹 We've published videos and photos of Write the Docs Berlin, and this is your last chance to get a conference t-shirt. Thanks to all participants of the conference, in-person and online! Read more in our recap:

The pigeon finally got to drive the bus

Please do.

Simple Sabotage Field Manual by United States. Office of Strategic Services Free kindle book and epub digitized and proofread by volunteers.

My AI strategy? That’s a great question. It’s a nuanced topic that calls for a multipronged approach best outlined in this excellent ebook by thought leaders in the field of intelligence:

www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/26184

Right? That’s cad red and cad yellow, an orange mixed out of the two, and the pink is titanium white with a touch of the cadmium red. The red and yellow is Winsor & Newton which are always reliable IME.

Swatches of wet watercolor samples of (clockwise) yellow, red, orange, and pink

I am happy and/or sad to report that Cadmium Red looks absolutely amazing. It’s unmatched by any other warm reds & I could’ve saved a lot of money on red watercolors if I’d just gone for it, but I was too scared. I had to first personally experience a lot of frustration with meh reds that mix poorly

“Plubris” is causing seriously contentious philosophical disagreements in my household. We’re uncovering some deep seated differences in intuitions about the relative values of peace and happiness and more stuff that it would be a spoiler to mention.

Gender is a performance and mine is a long running improv show with audience participation, and you, yes you, can participate in creating today’s gender with no commitment to any particular longterm gender. Tomorrow we’ll create a new one.

Honestly I wish I could have such an easy going attitude about some other things in life. Then again, painting is very low stakes for me. No one will fire me or kick me out of some club or forbid me to buy more art supplies.

My only worry was that the wind might blow away my paper. I know I’m still learning so in that way maybe it’s easier for me. In the unlikely event someone said it wasn’t a good painting I would probably agree and say that’s exactly why I have to keep practicing.

The only things people have ever said to me were positive! And when I got my first watercolor set in April 2024, I immediately went outside to a bench and painted the sky and the sea.

It never even occurred to me to think about that. I love to see other people doing any kind of art no matter their skill level. It’s just a delight. So if people look at me when I paint, I assume they feel the same. My only worry about other people is that dogs might drink my paint water.

I started listening to a watercolor podcast and learned that some people, even very experienced painters, feel self conscious or even embarrassed to paint outside in front of other people. For example worried that other people will judge them because they don’t know what they are doing.

The least representative one is my favorite, actually. Sutro Tower is a bastard to get right. I need a ruler or something.

A person holds several watercolor paintings of a hill in their lap

a painting of two hills of a radio tower held up against the same scene in the background

a painting of two hills of a radio tower held up against the same scene in the background. The painting looks only sort of like the hills

a painting of two hills of a radio tower held up against the same scene in the background. The painting is significantly simplified with no attempt to depict the buildings or large radio tower

Managed to make it out onto the hill and paint a little. I went back and forth between trying to represent the hill as I saw it and just painting a hill inspired by the hill in front of me.

Funnily enough I have very similar arguments with myself about fountain pens and inks. I like lightweight pens so I tend to go for plastic bodies which keeps me from the temptation of the most luxurious pens. But how many kinds of reddish ink one person needs is an open question 😅

Also also this is me resisting buying more Case for Making paints which are pretty and locally available but very expensive and focused on mixes.

Also paints are a very small, light item, so it’s not asking much to have someone transport them.

Maybe collecting colors is a kind of related hobby that is not actually painting, like collecting a yarn stash is a hobby.

Inside me there are two wolves: one wants to create a minimal palette and have some discipline

Another wants full color maximalism and has money to spend.

Money to spend wolf is not yet up to the level of sable brushes, though.

It’s a new brand with some performance and colorfastness issues reported by reviewers for some colors, but also some intriguing colors and supposedly very pleasantly wer texture because they are honey based.

I found out how much cheaper Roman Szmal Art “Aquarius” watercolors are in Poland (they are manufactured there) & realized I have an opportunity to get a relative to pick up an order and being it to me. They are like half the price or less and they are already inexpensive.

Elon Musk’s new pay package would feed all forty million Americans on SNAP for the next ten years. He wouldn’t notice the difference but the country would.

IF YOU ARE NOT QUEER QUEER POETRY IS NOT YOUR SAFE SPACE. YOU ARE WELCOME BUT YOUR COMFORT IS NOT OUR PRIORITY. OUR JOY IS. OUR SEX IS. OUR ART IS. OUR LIVES ARE. OUR SURVIVAL IS.

I grinned so big opening this magazine

When I was a kid there was no such thing as an iPhone, if we got bored we would walk down abandoned railroad tracks and eat strange berries; no one cared if we lived or died back then.

In my head, I say tricky words in the way you’d pronounce them in Polish, where every letter is sounded. I thought it was just a relic of learning to read Polish first as a kid. Neat to learn other people have similar systems.

Congratulations NYC! I’m so happy for you all, and good work!

where were you when dick cheney shot that guy in the face

Chop onion, apple, cabbage. Sautee. Add apple cider vinegar, caraway seed, and just a little bit of brown sugar, plus salt and pepper. Serve as a side or add egg noodles and Polish sausage (or sausage substitute) for a whole meal.

I saw a coworker do a watercolor sketch while waiting in line for Alcatraz. She had a teeny tiny palette, water brush, and a watercolor notebook. Everything was clipped or rubber banded to her arms or the notebook in some way. She as also incredibly quick.