Hello World. An Introduction to Modern Literacy.
Join Mike Levin as he introduces you to the world of modern literacy. Learn the symbolism of the Alpha Bet and explore the similarities and differences between software, hardware, and tools. Discover the power of Colab, Python, and the Trust Protocol. Get ready to exceed your skills in just one year!
Discover the Power of Modern Literacy with Mike Levin!
By Michael Levin
Wednesday, June 14, 2023
Welcome to Act 2 of Dis Close Purrr. I’m Mike Levin, your jokester tonight. But it’s not about me. It’s not about anybody but you. You are the star of the show. You are the one who will be learning. I’m just the guy who’s going to help you learn. Order matters. How you build the story up matters. Without A, you’re not going to get to Z. But it’s really getting to O, but we’ll get to that later. If you’ve ever heard the expression:
From Alpha to Omega
or
Love is the First and Last Word
…than you know what I’m talking about. There is deep symbolism in the Alpha Bet and I’m going a step at a time so as to not 🤯 your 🧠 k?
Abbott and Costello
I really should have paid more attention to Colab, but no worries. I’m good at this sort of thing on the fly. I’ve “felt out” software, hardware and all sorts of tools over the years for their similaries, differences, nuances, boundaries, quirks, limitations, strengths, yadda yadda. This’ll be a breeze for me. And it can be for you too.
I, Python
Once upon a time, Fernando Pérez, Brian Granger, and Min Ragan-Kelley wanted to make a better interactive command-prompt for than the one built into the Python programming language. Python was derrived from the ABC language that came before it. So great ideas are built on great ideas built on great ideas. It’s great ideas all the way down. The latest rendition is https://colab.research.google.com/ which I’m on now. You can follow along for yourself if you like.
Modern Literacy
I feel y’all want to improve your skill. You might even like to have some mad skills yo? Exceed the skills you see me using inside a year, because I’m such a slow friggin learner. I’m super duper slow on the update. They put me in the slow “track” (labels, yuck!) in Junior High. The relabeling of JUNIOR HIGH to middle school is one of the tricks being used to demoralize you. Be alert. Stay skilled.
Cloud Vs. Local
Local is private. Cloud is not. Privacy is overrated. Your shameful secrets are less shameful than you think. Biological directives are biological directies. If anyone’s been waiting to take a BIO BREAK (go potty) now would be a good time. I’m going slow because I need a breather myself. Trust. Vulnerability. We’re workign our way up to something called the Trust protocol of meeting a stranger on the road. If you have “local” resources, that stranger might want them from you. Or might not. How do you know whether to keep your stuff on The Cloud or not? Who can you trust? That’s the Cloud vs. Local issue. I am a LOCAL kind of guy, but that’s because I developed a special sort of Kung Fu I’ll tell you all about… soon. And only not now because this is part of the build leading up to it, k?
BREATHE
Use the 4, 7, 8 rule:
Take a nice quick breath in for 4 seconds. Hold it for 7 seconds. Let it out slowly for 8 seconds. Repeat 4 times. You’ll feel better. I promise.
The Trust Protocol
I’m going to tell you a story about a guy named Charlie Chaplin. He was a silent film star. He was a comedian. He was a genius. He was a genius comedian. He was a genius comedian who was a silent film star. He was a genius.