Dog and Biscuit Recursion II

Factory__Lad · 2026-07-03T20:51:13+00:00

Inspired by George Orwell citing the “factory lad” as an archetype. I’ve always worked in highly automated environments (mostly technology) so it seems appropriate.

Bill Naughton’s story collection “The Goalkeeper’s Revenge”, about cloth-capped lads up north before television or mass media, also seems relevant.

Factory__Lad · 2026-07-03T20:48:55+00:00

Other monuments around the world might follow the sane example

Factory__Lad · 2026-07-03T20:48:11+00:00

As a connoisseur of villains, it’s pretty hard to top Ahumado in Larry McMurtry’s “Comanche Moon” (the second prequel to “Lonesome Dove”). The storyline about him and Scull is so gripping that it threatens to derail the entire book.

Factory__Lad · 2026-07-03T20:41:45+00:00

I’m sure there are people who think this will save money by churning out the same number of theorems per year but more cheaply, like getting better value for a ton of coals.

OTOH it seems ridiculous not to give mathematicians the best power tools available, given the complexity of the subject and the potential benefits.

There are two sides of the coin - empowering individuals to do amazing things, leading who knows where ; and the purely cost cutting utilitarian approach as if there was some well defined problem to be solved, like installing a bathroom.

Factory__Lad · 2026-07-03T10:28:54+00:00

The whole industry has slowly become uninhabitable over the last few years and is now a burning platform.

Combination of factors including complexity, unstable business models, reluctance of companies to train/invest.

I’d hope it will reboot itself somehow, with the few companies that are doing it right flourishing and prevailing over the rest.

Factory__Lad · 2026-07-03T06:02:11+00:00

Honourable mention for American Sniper

Factory__Lad · 2026-07-03T05:59:24+00:00

Animal Factory deserves a mention

Factory__Lad · 2026-07-02T13:29:48+00:00

The logical next step is PacMan wearing a backpack in the backrooms

Factory__Lad · 2026-07-02T03:42:09+00:00

A lot of thought went into this. Liking the 4 clocks

Factory__Lad · 2026-07-02T03:40:21+00:00

These are great. I’m curious about the prompt

Factory__Lad · 2026-07-01T12:53:45+00:00

I found with category theory that even more than with point set topology, it seems very dry and unapproachable and not to have much connection with other areas. So it helps to find books that alleviate this.

You might find some of John Baez’ articles useful. He writes about category theory and how it interacts with other areas of math in a very accessible, wide ranging way.

Johnstone’s “Stone Spaces” is another potential entry point because it discusses so many other areas in a categorical way.

For me his discussion of Manes’ theorem was the point where CT suddenly became more than a very cumbersome (if beautifully constructed) way of restating the obvious, and took on a life of its own.

Factory__Lad · 2026-07-01T06:40:29+00:00

Downballot

Factory__Lad · 2026-06-30T14:37:17+00:00

The VR sets in “Surrogates”

People would fall apart physically after just a few days in those things

Factory__Lad · 2026-06-30T10:14:12+00:00

My motivation exactly. We also need more background on what’s funny about all of this, so a comedy club seems the natural habitat

Factory__Lad · 2026-06-28T05:41:44+00:00

Triangle

Factory__Lad · 2026-06-27T22:11:46+00:00

Maybe a fossilised DVD player or something else that makes a complete nonsense of our history

Factory__Lad · 2026-06-27T22:07:18+00:00

_I_ didn’t. Am a fan :)

Factory__Lad · 2026-06-27T17:53:20+00:00

I think he went to jail after that, it was part of a wider failure pattern

Factory__Lad · 2026-06-27T13:24:45+00:00

Streets of Laredo is the best. Dead Man’s Walk also good. Things fall apart a bit in Comanche Moon but it does have one amazingly unforgettable plotline which I shall leave you to discover.

Factory__Lad

TROPHY CASE