tgamba

5 ms·

1.
by tgamba 8y ago
So glad I live in Canada. American corporatist evil seems boundless.
2.
by tgamba 8y ago
DMT trip reports point to a use of psychedelics beyond therapy. Since so many users describe the same thing -- points of contact with other beings-- we can hypothesize that DMT gives us access to other dimensions or aspects of space and tim
3.
by tgamba 8y ago
This comment is naive, but not totally off-base. Psychedelics can cause real long-term problems for people even if used correctly. I liken it to skydiving, a potentially dangerous activity for which one must be completely prepared, with no
4.
by tgamba 8y ago
If you approach the psychedelic experience as Thompson did, with the macho attitude of getting as fucked up as possible on as much as you can stand, then of course you are going to come out of it with nothing. Alan Watts put it best: "
5.
by tgamba 8y ago
When I was at University of Waterloo in the 80s, I went for a couple of talk therapy sessions with a very nice, empathetic woman employed in the Psych department. After a session, she said, "would you like to see something?" Just
6.
by tgamba 8y ago
Yes. Sticking only to the realm of hard science, the frontiers keep expanding (e.g. dark matter and energy). When it comes to our subjective perceptions and how the the brain assembles them into consciousness, we've barely a clue. Scie
7.
by tgamba 8y ago
Except all video is fake, that is, all videos are artifacts, artificial things. "We’re not so far from the collapse of reality" -- am I the only one who finds this inane? No video is real. Critical thinking as applied to the writt
8.
by tgamba 8y ago
Amazon's stated reason for acquiring Alexa was to use Alexa's technology to build a recommendation engine. Search was never a priority for Alexa itself. We are acquired for $100 million, so it was take the money and run.
9.
by tgamba 8y ago
I worked at Alexa, then affiliatated with the Internet Archive, on exactly this, in the late 90s. We built our own server farm to crawl, process and store the data. We had 30TB of storage, holding three "snapshots" of the web, and
10.
by tgamba 9y ago
I'll let Sister Wendy do the talking here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3sPATJc7rM
11.
by tgamba 9y ago
I see a lot of comments by privileged straight males on here. As usual, you just don't get it; you have not spent one second trying to put yourself in another's shoes. I am a gay man who has been in the internet industry since 199
12.
by tgamba 9y ago
Listening to Padgett's rendering of his Enigma theme on Youtube, it's not especially musical. Author of the article seems duly impressed, but it's very easy to write harmony to any given passage if you know the rules.
13.
by tgamba 9y ago
I have hired junior web developers, both those right out of school and those without CS degrees. I look for: - a portfolio website that deploys a range of recent web technologies. This demonstrates initiative, and also the fact that you can
14.
by tgamba 10y ago
I am glad I had my SF adventure when I did. I lived there from 1996-2001 and paid less than US$900 for a charming Nob Hill bachelor. That same apartment goes for $3k today. Currently I am in Toronto, paying CAD$1400 for a rent controlled on
15.
by tgamba 10y ago
Exactly. Without adequate sleep and time to engage in purposeless activity (e.g. walking) there can be no insight. But perhaps only creative minds come to understand this, which is why mediocre middle managers insist on long hours.
16.
by tgamba 10y ago
Yes-- that is exactly what I mean. If I found myself in an organization where management looked appealing I would make the switch. It has never happened.
17.
by tgamba 10y ago
At 49 I am still coding and still learning. I architected and implemented node.js services this year and have done lots of interesting modern web development. I am well respected within my organization and in fact have been poached from one
18.
by tgamba 10y ago
The problem is the focus on worldy success, not the pursuit of a dream. Artists, writers and musicians who pursue their passion consistently over the years are no longer concerned with 'making it'; the endeavour becomes the stuff
19.
by tgamba 10y ago
sweet!
20.
by tgamba 10y ago
This is excellent work. Web Audio has so much potential. Are the drum sounds sampled or synthesized?