Rdearman 2016-24 You Can't Have Your Kate and Edith Too.

[rdearman]

'Use your head to get your foot in the door' is a novel book title. Doesn't work as well if you switch the body parts.

I gather from the list that you are very heavily occupied with book marketing?

That has been my focus recently. I didn't post much from last quarter, which was mostly reading Westerns. In fact reading a load of westerns is what got me caught up with my targets.

[DaveAgain]

I came across a podcast that I thought you might like:

Le podcast Bookmakers
C’est quoi, le style ? Comment construit-on une intrigue, un personnage ? Où faut-il couper ?
Chaque mois, Bookmakers propose aux plus grand.e.s écrivain.e.s d’aujourd’hui de raconter, hors de toute promotion, l’étincelle initiale, les recherches, la discipline, les obstacles, le découragement, les coups de collier, la solitude, la première phrase, les relectures… mais aussi le rôle de l'éditeur, de l’argent, la réception critique et publique, le regard sur le texte des années plus tard.

Animé par Richard Gaitet, écrivain et homme de radio, le podcast Bookmakers détruit le mythe d’une inspiration divine qui saisirait les auteurs au petit matin. Il rappelle que l'écriture est aussi un métier, un artisanat, un beau travail.

[rdearman]

Merci !!

[rdearman]

Well, after a month of not posting I thought my log would be buried well down on the list, but I found it on page 4, so it wasn't so bad. This means you people aren't updating your logs either.

I haven't done any language study, and I don't feel like starting up again. I've sporadically used some Korean, French and Italian, but only because my regular language exchange partners still want to talk, and they expect me to use their native language. Annoyingly, I selected these people because they are extremely focused on doing regular weekly exchanges, and they are sticklers for making me speak too.

RANT REDACTED

I removed the above rant but I feel better for having written it out. I'll leave the reader to guess what it was about.

[rdearman]

It has been awhile since I posted in this log. I parked just about every language learning activity for a long time, but I've been slowly getting pulled back into it. Mostly this has been because of my language exchange partners who still want to practice English, but also want to help me and therefore insist that I speak French/Italian/Korean.



Since I haven't been doing languages, what have I been doing? Well, learning languages mostly, only not human ones. I've been working on getting better at Python (which I still find annoying). I wrote a computer emulator and assembler (a compiler which outputs machine code) in Python, and I've been doing ARM assembly programming and RISC-V assembly programming.

Having stepped back a little from learning languages directly, I spent a little time looking into SLA (Second Language Acquisition) and have been reading up on the more recent trends and discoveries. I didn't find anything particularly new which hasn't been discussed to death here on the forum, but some of the science was interesting.

I've been working my way through many of my maths books, and working on various problems.

If you clicked on any of those links above, then you'll realise I've also been working on my YouTube channel and putting out a lot of videos.

I've also managed to get back to my running. I'm back to doing regular 5k runs 3–4 times per week now, and I'm contemplating starting marathon training again. I've run a couple of marathons, so I know I can do it, I've also wondered about doing an Iron Man or perhaps an Ultra-Marathon. It is amazing what you have time for if you park language studies! In fact, I've been on a bit of a health kick, and I've managed to drop 3 sizes in trousers.

My wife wants to visit Japan, and I've considered brushing up on my Japanese. I was stationed in Japan for 2 years, so I already know some Japanese. But I'm really still burned out on language learning, so leaping into yet another difficult language isn't appealing to me. However, just a reminder of all the stuff I forgot wouldn't be too bad.

[rdearman]

Well, today I completed my self-imposed reading challenge of reading 125 books this year.

Statistics:

• 123 books in English
• 2 books in Italian
• Average page count of the books: 221.5
• Average pages read per day: 137.72
• Average number of days to read a book: 6.24
• Median number of days to read a book: 1

I think next year I'll crank up the goal to be 150, and I'll avoid books like: Gödel, Escher, Bach and Eternal Golden Braid !!! (Which took 149 days to read btw)

I also plan to get back on the Korean wagon, and maybe add in a little Japanese. But we'll see.

[crush]

Hey rdearman, i didn't know you had a YouTube channel! You have so many interesting projects there, i love all the stuff around assembly, i am currently binging your 8-bit CPU project. Now you've got me wanting to build my own 8-bit computer! I got so distracted by all the assembly stuff that i haven't checked out the language learning content yet. I'd love to find a similar channel in my target languages

[rdearman]

Hey rdearman, i didn't know you had a YouTube channel! You have so many interesting projects there, i love all the stuff around assembly, i am currently binging your 8-bit CPU project. Now you've got me wanting to build my own 8-bit computer! I got so distracted by all the assembly stuff that i haven't checked out the language learning content yet. I'd love to find a similar channel in my target languages

Actually, there is a Spanish guy who does a lot of computing with homebrew or breadboard computers and electronics. I watched some of his stuff, but had to use the crappy auto-generated subtitles (I don't know any Spanish) although I mostly knew what he was talking about because of the diagrams and part numbers. I'll see if I can find his channel. You should definitely check out "Ben Eater" and "James Sharman". James has created an amazing pipeline CPU, and he prototypes with breadboards, then creates the PCB's. Very interesting stuff.

I'm currently building a binary clock with an Arduino, so that should be out in a couple of weeks, still doing lots of RISC-V Assembly, and I got a RISC development board for Christmas. Yay! Also got a ESP32 board with built-in OLED screen. Fun Times, super geek out mode. I also got a new 3D printer, which is a lot larger than my previous one, so I can make more stuff and bigger! I also want to make a homebrew M68000 single-board-computer (same CPU as the original Macintosh)

I'm also planning to return to languages starting from tomorrow (1st of January) I'm going to try to do at least something in Korean, French & Italian every day, and I'm thinking about dropping Mandarin and Japanese into the mix. You know, because I don't have enough sh*t to do already.

[crush]

You should definitely check out "Ben Eater" and "James Sharman". James has created an amazing pipeline CPU, and he prototypes with breadboards, then creates the PCB's. Very interesting stuff.

I actually came across Ben Eater's "build an 8-bit/6502 computer" kits when going down that "build your own computer from scratch" rabbit hole. I'll have to look up James Sharman (and find the Spanish guy to get some language practice in).

I also want to make a homebrew M68000 single-board-computer (same CPU as the original Macintosh)

That sounds awesome, i'm familiar with the m68k, first when learning to program my TI-89 graphing calculator and later from playing with the Sega Genesis.

Also, best of luck to you with your language goals this year!

[rdearman]

OK, well, 2024 is off and running. So my plan this year: Don't make plans, make habits.