Using techniques he’s honed over a lifetime, Abernethy will machine the gears by hand in traditional materials such as steel and brass. But the pendulum will respond to the forest: When trees grow quickly, the hours will advance more rapidly; more lethargic growth will result in a slower tempo. Over centuries, the long-term fate of the canopy will be registered on a calendar that may deviate from the Gregorian date by decades or more.

The illusionary perception that social media has brought us closer has faded. Living a performative life for the Internet is a recipe for emptiness. What has been revealed is that we are alone. We crave connection. Wherever we end up going, we want it to be more real. This means we should probably stop supporting centralized platforms, even if they look like they’re trying to do the right thing. Will we ever learn?

For the first day or two I felt stunned, overwhelmed. I could only apprehend my felicity; I was too confused to taste it sincerely. I wandered about, thinking I was happy, and knowing that I was not. I was in the condition of a prisoner in the old Bastile, suddenly let loose after a forty years' confinement. I could scarce trust myself with myself. It was like passing out of Time into Eternity—for it is a sort of Eternity for a man to have his Time all to himself. It seemed to me that I had more time on my hands than I could ever manage. From a poor man, poor in Time, I was suddenly lifted up into a vast revenue; I could see no end of my possessions; I wanted some steward, or judicious bailiff, to manage my estates in Time for me. From “The Superannuated Man” 1823

Godin: I think most people who are stuck are so because they're attached to the outcome and they're reverse-engineering from the outcome. They're saying, ‘Well, my calling is to make this’. No. Actually, you've just reversed it. What you want is that, and now you've announced that that's your calling, not the other way around. To ship the work is this practice of saying, ‘I don't know yet what change I can make in people. I have some assertions. I have some beliefs, but I don't know yet. And if I hoard it and I don't expose it to other people, I will never know. And so if we're truly here to do generous work, I think a big part of that generous work is sharing it.’

https://www.forbes.com/sites/darrahbrustein/2020/11/20/seth-godin-on-why-having-a-consistent-practice-is-the-birthplace-of-creativity-not-a-muse/

I have thousands of photos of my children but few that I’ve set aside to revisit. I have records of virtually every text I’ve sent since I was in college but no idea how to find the ones that meant something. I spent years blasting my thoughts to millions of people on X and Facebook even as I fell behind on correspondence with dear friends. I have stored everything and saved nothing.