llm over top 1000 off-copyright books to build the digital library of alexandria
"The Great Library of Alexandria in Alexandria, Egypt, was one of the largest and most significant libraries of the ancient world. The library was part of a larger research institution called the Mouseion, which was dedicated to the Muses, the nine goddesses of the arts. It is unknown precisely how many scrolls were housed at any given time, but estimates range from 40,000 to 400,000 at its height. Alexandria came to be regarded as the capital of knowledge and learning, in part because of the Great Library."
"it was one of those icy, clear January nights—the sky an ink black, no clouds in sight—a lively cold plunge"
"suddenly reminded of the friction between etiquette and free will"
"She explained that her mind naturally organizes the world into neat buckets—one for making music, another for visual art"
"One of the first lessons in art school was to draw what you see, not what your brain has memorized. When faced with a still life—say, a bowl of oranges—you force yourself to capture not the known version of an orange (an orange circle) but what you actually observe: wobbly, textured stones with golden rims where the kitchen light touches their tops and blue or red shadows beneath"
"In writing, we’re also taught to capture what we see—to infuse our words with the raw details of our experience"
In White Fang, Jack London doesn’t simply describe a forest as “empty and cold” but rather creates a living image of its wild, haunting beauty: "Dark spruce forest frowned on either side of the frozen waterway. The trees had been stripped by a recent wind of their white frosting, and they seemed to lean toward each other—black and ominous—in the fading light..."
"Focus and sacrifice are two sides of the same coin. Historically, I say no to 40% of opportunities. This should be 99%."
Warren Buffett's "2 List" strategy: identify top 5 priorities and treat everything else as "avoid at all costs"
"most hard problems are soluble with deep effort but impossible with shallow attempts; focus is the process of refining merely good ideas into great ideas"
"Networking can create false sense of accomplishment through association"
6 or 12 week programming retreats available in NYC, hybrid, or remote formats. diverse community of programmers at all skill levels: EMs returning to code, self-taught hobbyists, staff engineers, recent grads, former founders
guided by three self-directives:
work at the edge of your abilities
build your volitional muscles
learn generously
key qualities they look for in applicants:
enjoyment of programming and willingness to spend most time coding
readiness to work at the edge of your abilities regardless of experience level
self-direction and ability to structure your own time without external guidance
sharpness: being a deliberate thinker who can pick things up quickly
pleasantness: being kind, engaged, thoughtful, and polite with others
intellectual curiosity and intrinsic motivation to learn technical concepts
