Lucent®
@lucent.substack.com
"Thinkers aren't limited by what they know…they're limited by what puzzles them, because there's no way to become curious about something that doesn't puzzle you." —Daniel Quinn
Pinned
Lucent®
@lucent.substack.com
· Jul 31
I now almost solely post replies to myself and create topical threads, so hit that tab for better recency sorting
Nature Valley bars were everywhere for years, then everyone stopped eating them at once. do our teeth collectively meter their own micromort of mastication, refusing further microfracture risk in a globally synchronized retreat?
November 4, 2025 at 4:09 PM
Nature Valley bars were everywhere for years, then everyone stopped eating them at once. do our teeth collectively meter their own micromort of mastication, refusing further microfracture risk in a globally synchronized retreat?
to an outside observer, "we'd like to become friends, but must be careful not to come on too strong by delicately introducing and dancing around new topics" looks a lot like "our souls are enemies but we are trying our best to avoid outright conflict"
November 3, 2025 at 11:03 PM
to an outside observer, "we'd like to become friends, but must be careful not to come on too strong by delicately introducing and dancing around new topics" looks a lot like "our souls are enemies but we are trying our best to avoid outright conflict"
airline seating seems beyond random—maliciously tuned to maximize misery. they won't alternate by sex or body size but will alternate by politics and age
November 1, 2025 at 3:50 PM
airline seating seems beyond random—maliciously tuned to maximize misery. they won't alternate by sex or body size but will alternate by politics and age
can't tell if the cast of Stranger Things and their stunt doubles and triples are at this airport or every 20-something is copying their look
October 31, 2025 at 7:44 PM
can't tell if the cast of Stranger Things and their stunt doubles and triples are at this airport or every 20-something is copying their look
want to know when and how long you actually spent writing? Substack autosaves every few seconds, so those timestamps alone reveal your writing runs. paste this script into the browser console while viewing any draft to see an ASCII art daily timeline
Fetches Substack draft save times bins them into configurable N-minute chunks, and prints one ASCII line per day showing active vs idle periods
Fetches Substack draft save times bins them into configurable N-minute chunks, and prints one ASCII line per day showing active vs idle periods - substack_draft_timeline.js
gist.github.com
October 31, 2025 at 3:41 PM
want to know when and how long you actually spent writing? Substack autosaves every few seconds, so those timestamps alone reveal your writing runs. paste this script into the browser console while viewing any draft to see an ASCII art daily timeline
forcing Spotify to redownload my 1700 liked songs in lossless instead of 320 kbps made the cache go from 16 GB to 61 GB. do they have all music in lossless already? because that's a factor of 3.8 and i would only expect 2.8 if every song went from 320 kbps to ~900 kbps FLAC. 24-bit 48 kHz 1.2 Mbps?!
October 29, 2025 at 5:04 PM
forcing Spotify to redownload my 1700 liked songs in lossless instead of 320 kbps made the cache go from 16 GB to 61 GB. do they have all music in lossless already? because that's a factor of 3.8 and i would only expect 2.8 if every song went from 320 kbps to ~900 kbps FLAC. 24-bit 48 kHz 1.2 Mbps?!
I always assumed Sid Meier was some academic with a specific theory of human flourishing like Jared Diamond, Jacob Bronowski, or James Burke and the games were named to nod to their opinionated game flow
October 28, 2025 at 1:48 PM
I always assumed Sid Meier was some academic with a specific theory of human flourishing like Jared Diamond, Jacob Bronowski, or James Burke and the games were named to nod to their opinionated game flow
people talk about Gmail like it's not a specific provider of email but an alternative to the entire concept of email
October 27, 2025 at 3:11 PM
people talk about Gmail like it's not a specific provider of email but an alternative to the entire concept of email
incredible authentically retro site frozen in time. you can feel the sincerity. it's not wearing the aesthetic ironically. takes me straight back to 1996
Digital Freethought.com
An Atheists/Freethought Resource Page, An Educational Site for atheists and Freethinkers
www.digitalfreethought.com
October 23, 2025 at 2:38 PM
incredible authentically retro site frozen in time. you can feel the sincerity. it's not wearing the aesthetic ironically. takes me straight back to 1996
i mean, it did "find solutions to 10 Erdős problems" since that English verb doesn't discriminate on search-space size—whether some PDFs or the infinite Platonic realm
October 22, 2025 at 5:42 AM
i mean, it did "find solutions to 10 Erdős problems" since that English verb doesn't discriminate on search-space size—whether some PDFs or the infinite Platonic realm
why do ex-evangelicals who go through "deconstructing and reconstructing" their faith end up in a similar denomination? why not expand your horizons before going back in or just stay out? "phew, i escaped the cult! now to join a slightly less fervent cult who believe the same thing"
October 19, 2025 at 1:28 PM
why do ex-evangelicals who go through "deconstructing and reconstructing" their faith end up in a similar denomination? why not expand your horizons before going back in or just stay out? "phew, i escaped the cult! now to join a slightly less fervent cult who believe the same thing"
in my hometown over a decade ago, the son of a candidate slashed the tires of his dad's opponent. father and son shared the name of the town's beloved dairy company. local news tried hard to spin it as a rambunctious youngster, not mentioning his age. the son was 33
October 15, 2025 at 6:41 PM
in my hometown over a decade ago, the son of a candidate slashed the tires of his dad's opponent. father and son shared the name of the town's beloved dairy company. local news tried hard to spin it as a rambunctious youngster, not mentioning his age. the son was 33
what's so annoying about "mission-driven" startups who, say, mail out tampons for $30 a month is they think we're so stupid they can exert a reality distortion field of intense sincerity that'll wipe our minds of their business model: $30 - $6 = $24 profit
Lucent on X: "So turned off by startups' mission statements pretending they're passionate about something other than selling the company at a huge profit." / X
So turned off by startups' mission statements pretending they're passionate about something other than selling the company at a huge profit.
twitter.com
October 12, 2025 at 9:32 PM
what's so annoying about "mission-driven" startups who, say, mail out tampons for $30 a month is they think we're so stupid they can exert a reality distortion field of intense sincerity that'll wipe our minds of their business model: $30 - $6 = $24 profit
putting the Morbius guy in your new Tron movie is like putting typos in Nigerian scam emails. it filters out anyone who'd eventually realize it's junk early
October 12, 2025 at 5:26 AM
putting the Morbius guy in your new Tron movie is like putting typos in Nigerian scam emails. it filters out anyone who'd eventually realize it's junk early
every computer is a textbook tragedy of the commons since the beginning with TSRs. each of 100 programs wants to steal 1% of resources all the time so it can open 20% faster. Adobe is the worst fucking offender. it's not an Adobe computer. it's my computer i occasionally use to run your programs
October 12, 2025 at 12:19 AM
every computer is a textbook tragedy of the commons since the beginning with TSRs. each of 100 programs wants to steal 1% of resources all the time so it can open 20% faster. Adobe is the worst fucking offender. it's not an Adobe computer. it's my computer i occasionally use to run your programs
Zoom really short circuits "How To Win Friends" hustlers. they panic upon realizing they must cram their full repertoire of status signaling affectations into a tiny 2D square and wig out performing detached annoyance and busier-than-thou distraction all at once before settling down to act normal
October 10, 2025 at 6:01 PM
Zoom really short circuits "How To Win Friends" hustlers. they panic upon realizing they must cram their full repertoire of status signaling affectations into a tiny 2D square and wig out performing detached annoyance and busier-than-thou distraction all at once before settling down to act normal
did reddit mess up their RNG seed for their automatic username generator? why do they all start with Ok_?
October 7, 2025 at 5:25 PM
did reddit mess up their RNG seed for their automatic username generator? why do they all start with Ok_?
it is quote unquote ridiculous that people converged on speaking in Polish notation
October 7, 2025 at 2:54 AM
it is quote unquote ridiculous that people converged on speaking in Polish notation
how are pull-ups possible? if you're 180 lbs you probably can't curl 90 lb dumbbells with both arms at the same time
October 3, 2025 at 3:48 PM
how are pull-ups possible? if you're 180 lbs you probably can't curl 90 lb dumbbells with both arms at the same time
waking up too early puts me permanently in another realm. even when it gets to the hours where i'd normally be awake they're like mirror universe hours and i can't have a normal day
October 1, 2025 at 1:46 PM
waking up too early puts me permanently in another realm. even when it gets to the hours where i'd normally be awake they're like mirror universe hours and i can't have a normal day
never tried mopping but hard to believe it works. pushing around the same water, dipping it back into that dirty bucket, surely the film left on the floor equalizes to the same muddy brown as the bucket
September 28, 2025 at 3:52 AM
never tried mopping but hard to believe it works. pushing around the same water, dipping it back into that dirty bucket, surely the film left on the floor equalizes to the same muddy brown as the bucket
we all had that toaster iron that turned bread into two sealed triangular sandwiches, tried it out, had the most delicious Nutella, cheese, or peanut butter sandwiches, and then put it away forever. why? got burned once and developed a bad association?
Pie iron - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
September 26, 2025 at 5:51 PM
we all had that toaster iron that turned bread into two sealed triangular sandwiches, tried it out, had the most delicious Nutella, cheese, or peanut butter sandwiches, and then put it away forever. why? got burned once and developed a bad association?
we know exercise hours before bed hurts sleep time and quality. willing to bet brushing before bed does the same. makes me very alert. maybe it simulates eating?
September 25, 2025 at 5:02 AM
we know exercise hours before bed hurts sleep time and quality. willing to bet brushing before bed does the same. makes me very alert. maybe it simulates eating?
"refurbished is better than new because they test it" is so dumb. an a priori counter: if they can take a product from any degraded state back to optimal, that process is a superset of initial assembly, and since initial assembly can always integrate knowledge from repair, it will always be superior
this is more proof they're applying car longevity heuristics (best quality at build, declines steadily to 0 after 15 years) to homes, which follow the infant mortality curves of CPUs and can be lemons when brand new, but the more years they last, the greater chance they'll last forever
September 23, 2025 at 10:46 PM
"refurbished is better than new because they test it" is so dumb. an a priori counter: if they can take a product from any degraded state back to optimal, that process is a superset of initial assembly, and since initial assembly can always integrate knowledge from repair, it will always be superior
apparently the Big Three run shadow, web-only broadcasts dressed in full Trusted Nightly News adornment so web viewers think the networks risked their boomer audience credibility on these topics, when none was (boomers never saw it), and the stream's own credibility rises on that imagined spend
New book warns of threats to humanity from artificial intelligence
YouTube video by ABC News
youtu.be
September 20, 2025 at 8:40 PM
apparently the Big Three run shadow, web-only broadcasts dressed in full Trusted Nightly News adornment so web viewers think the networks risked their boomer audience credibility on these topics, when none was (boomers never saw it), and the stream's own credibility rises on that imagined spend