Archive

I LOL’d when I saw Ajahn Kovilo say this during the full talk 🤣 I am so glad they turned it into a Short: Full talk is here if you want to hear more.

Finished A People’s History of Computing in the United States by Joy Lisi Rankin 📚 Here is a short review: hardcover.app/books/a-p…

Nice walk in a very sunny forest 🌞🌲🪾🌳

Who do I know that lives in the Fraser Lowland? A friend has started a fellowship program to support projects focusing on localism there. If you know anyone please tag me and share them this: fraserlowland.org

Clear Mountain Monastery found land just outside of #Seattle! 🪷 They have a beautiful vision and raised 99% of the funds. I really love this community and have made a small contribution. If you are interested in having authentic #Buddhism nearby learn more: www.friendsofclearmountain.org 🙏

Good first ep in @themaybe.org’s new series on Digital Public Infrastructure with a wild story about how Walmart and Google ended up owning the digital pay rails in India 🫨 www.themaybe.org/podcast/t…

Wife brought back a nice Ebisu omamori for from Osaka for my home office. Keep the house safe, business successful, and also a bag to hold happiness 💰🧧

Interviewing Surrey and Vancouver school officials @cbcstephenquinn.bsky.social learns about how they teach critical media literacy. Luckily all of them have defunct Twitter accounts except BC gov. However they all still list X on their sites.

Chapter 5 of A People’s History of Computing in the United States has this amazing anecdote of how the statewide computer network was governed by the users via a bill of rights! hardcover.app/books/a-p…

This interview with legendary translator Red Pine is pure poetry! From his story of learning Chinese at random, moving to Taiwan on a whim, and “dancing” with the Chinese masters… all with his earthy, saintly, demeanor. Profound and joyful (and a side of swear words)

Ooooh! Massive list of #opensource events. Will need to parse and integrate into my own list of conferences for 2026 github.com/Everythin…

A People’s History of Computing in the United States 📚 Ch3 (41%) BASIC becomes the people’s language. Meant for networked computing and timesharing, easy to mod and fork… much easier than FORTRAN which biz uses and less likely to share programs… READ MORE →

Damn! Riz Ahmed is brilliant and this looks intense

Every time I am at the grocery store standing in front of a glass case waiting 5 mins for someone to come unlock a stick of deodorant, I reflect that we went from family-run neighborhood shops who knew your kids, to impersonal big box stores, to every customer being criminalized. 😔

I am testing out Hardcover as a book tracking and journaling app this month in my 2026 journey to get off of Goodreads for once and for all. If you are using it, HMU I need to find more peeps to follow to test it properly! https://hardcover.app/@chadkoh #books

Started A People’s History of Computing in the United States by Joy Lisi Rankin 📚 Tracking progress and chapter updates in Hardcover as a test this month: hardcover.app/books/a-p… #books #amReading

Finished Orbital by Samantha Harvey 📚 Like the novelization of a David Attenborough film on the planet. Gorgeous meditation on the fragility of the planet, and of people. Lovely. Audio was great, but I can see myself picking up the text and reading again much closer in the future. #Reading #Books

Wife surprised my anime loving daughter with the hotel upon arrival in Tokyo 😄

Listened to half of this today: Orbital by Samantha Harvey 📚 Very poetic and introspective so far.

At Vancouver International Airport. Just dropped off my wife and older kid who are doing a Mommy-Daughter trip to Japan. Meanwhile I will be single-dadding it here in Canada. Good luck to us all! 🍀

My old friend I met in Tehran 22 years ago came over and we ate Japanese New Years food, Xmas cookies baked by my daughter, then chips & homemade guacamole, all the while catching up and talking about going to the local Korean Spa. Feel lucky to live here 😊

Okay, it is that time of year again where I look for a Goodreads replacement 📚. Would love if it worked on atproto. I need organizing (shelves, lists, or tags), progress tracking (pages, %), the ability to post chapter notes, and cross-posting to Micro.blog/Bsky/Mastodon. Send me your reccos!

明けましておめでとうございます

新年おめでとうございます🎊㊗️ 今年もよろしくお願いします🎍 from the west coast in Canada 🇨🇦

New Years Noodle Time 🎊🍜 #年越しそば

The last post of the year is up, so here is the last Newsletter of the year. Now back to end of year cleaning 🧹🧽 buttondown.com/chadkoh/a…

Best of 2025: Notable reads, watches, and questions for the year

Scrolling through all the #Kohaku commentary from last night. I miss the live back chatter on New Year’s Eve in Japan. All this is out of context. Could probably make an app that displays posts in sync with the show based on time stamps. But then I wouldn’t get to participate in the snark! 😔

After a flood we plant trees so their root systems join to protect the vulnerable area. The key to resilience is local relationships. Come to our meetup for meetup organizers and let’s build a resilient community together. 🌲🤝🌳 #vancouver #events #communitybuilding meetupmeetup.com

Surburban Development Cycle — a case from Japan: For a couple of years we kept a very small apartment in Kyoto for monthly visits while we were taking care of my parents-in-law. The rent was cheaper than getting a hotel each time, and my parents stored stuff there which justified the expense. The apartment was on the very edge of southwest Kyoto …

10 years ago today I swore off meat. I adopted a plant-based diet because according to Drawdown it is one of the most impactful things an individual can do to fight climate change, especially in Canada which is a large country with a concentrated beef sector, contributing to a lot of GHGs. 🥗

Judging AI on its ability to expand capacity: From Evgeny Morozov’s essay Socialism After AI: The driving imperative would not be “growth” measured as ever more commodities, but the enlargement of what people are actually able to do and be, individually and collectively. On that view, AI would be judged by whether it opens new spaces of …

Daughter and her friends just showed up at our front door singing Xmas carols. They have been going around the neighbourhood. Apparently it is an annual tradition for the Drama kids here. 😄

Just finished The Wisdom of Crowds by Joe Abercrombie 📚 This is the 10th book in The First Law world, and the finale of The Age of Madness. (Also the 6th book of Joe’s I read this year!) Phew! Epic! Done! So good!

A few more shots from our pre-Xmas celebrations in Vancouver on a pretty nice day! (which means overcast but no rain) www.flickr.com/photos/sa…

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

You live the story you write: But you don’t remember that you wrote it… and that is what makes life fun

''

''

''

''

''

''

Vancouver’s “Powerbroker” — a sort of review of “Becoming Vancouver”: Who is the Robert Moses of Vancouver?

''

''

Re-framing Franz Fanon: ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

Exploring AI and American Fascism: mikerugnetta.com’s excellent essay on slopaganda, agit slop, and what it really says about power

''

New Kit! Ricoh GR IV: ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

Back to Birken: A travel report from my 7 day silent retreat

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

Revisiting Malazan: There and back again

''

''

''

''

Summer Travel: Travelogue by bullet point

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

Why BrainRot: ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

TTRPG hole: ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

Fantasy hole: ''

Scale: ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

Coffee recommendations in Kyoto and Osaka ☕: ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

Une petite catharsis of anomie — a review of Deep Work by Cal Newport: ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

Checking in on online media usage: ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

Boats to Nanaimo for the National Association of Japanese Canadians conference: ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

Vaisakhi Parade in Surrey: ''

Cherry Blossoms of Vancouver: ''

''

“Even in Kyoto, I long for Kyoto”: ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

Goosing the system — Behind the scenes at the first ATmosphereConf: ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

Suddenly Tokyo: ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

Thanks for the mench Neverpost! 👋 Traffic Camera Selfies: ''

''

''

''

''

All the different bilinguals in my home: ''

''

Home: ''

''

''

''

''

Organizing Community Thriving: ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

Best of 2024: ''

''

''

''

''

Taiwan Trip Report pt 4: Inconclusion: ''

''

''

''

Notes from Germany: ''

''

My Coffee Advent Calendar Experience: ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

Shining a light on the Dark Forest theory of the internet: ''

''

''

My DWeb Seattle Social Trip Report: ''

''

''

''

Neverpost, a show about the internet: ''

''

''

Renunciation and technology: ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

CITED is back and taking on "economics": ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

Causal Islands Berlin: ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

Taiwan Trip Report pt 3: Taipei: ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

Comparing ambiguous apples and polysemous pigs: ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

#craigsgymclass begins! plank 🪵 squats 🏋️‍♀️ pushups 🙇: ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

Recognize the ills, let's do better — Short summary of : ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

Jiufen: ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

Taiwan trip report - Introduction: ''

Kaohsiung and Tainan, featuring Fo Guang Shan: ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

It could be better for everybody — a review of Limitarianism in just 335 words: ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

Just enough capitalism – A quick review of Slow Productivity: ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

Rewilding the internet: ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

Networking our networks: ''

''

''

"we all can't be Buddhas": ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

GitHub's Innovation Graph: ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

More on Decentralization: ''

''

''

''

''

On decentralization: ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

Concentric circles of content: ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

Best of 2023: ''

Hagia Sophia: ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

Perspective on Palestine — Review of The Hundred Years' War on Palestine: ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

Istanbul — Look around, feel history: ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

Attending the Internet Governance Forum - Stakeholders: ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

Attending the Internet Governance Forum - Experience: ''

''

''

Attending the Internet Governance Forum - An intro: ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

Stopping flying considerations: ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

First!: ''