oatsandsugar's commonplace book

This is a catalogue for things worth keeping, with thoughts or half thoughts as to why. Kept primarily for re-finding and re-thinking.

Entries

Sorted by shelf order, date saved, date of source, or how I found it

The pain of useless work (17 June 2026) (2013). Doing useless work is a violence.

source: Graeber, David. (2025). Bullshit Jobs. Eris Gems. Originally published as “The phenomenon of bullshit jobs: a work rant,” Strike! Magazine, issue 3, August 2013.

via: browsing Selected Stories in southeast Portland, with a vague memory of seeing the title on Hacker News (it has been posted quite a bit).

17 June 2026 labor economics markets market-failure

The criminal breaks the monotony (5 July 2026) (1862). The thing outside the settled order forces the settled order to move.

source: Marx, Karl. (2025). The Usefulness of Crime. Eris Gems. Originally written as part of the Economic Manuscripts of 1861-63, in the digression “On Productive Labour.”

via: returning to Selected Stories in southeast Portland on another trip.

5 July 2026 counterculture culture economics comedy cybersecurity

A prosthesis over a healthy limb (10 June 2026) (2022). AI as a crutch that cripples.

source: Beauman, Ned. (2022). Venomous Lumpsucker. Soho Press.

via: my partner’s recommendation.

10 June 2026 ai cognition literature

A market for lemons (13 June 2026) (1970). Information asymmetry drives out quality products and distorts markets.

source: Akerlof, G. A. (1970). “The Market for ‘Lemons’: Quality Uncertainty and the Market Mechanism.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 84(3), 488-500.

13 June 2026 economics markets market-failure information-asymmetry trust academic-bangers

Quite frankly, I don't remember (12 June 2026) (1960). A discussion of immortality at a noisy bar.*

source: Borges, J. L. (1960). “Diálogo sobre un diálogo.” El hacedor. Buenos Aires: Emecé. English: “A Dialogue About a Dialogue,” trans. Andrew Hurley, in Collected Fictions. New York: Viking, 1998.

12 June 2026 literature economy-of-writing cognition existence

My best friend Tetsuo's light (8 September 2026) (1988). Entrusting his universe to Kaneda.

source: Otomo, Katsuhiro, dir. (1988). Akira (アキラ). Tokyo Movie Shinsha / Toho. Released 16 July 1988.

via: re-watching the 4K remaster at the Hollywood Theatre on my birthday this year, with my partner. I first watched it as a teen.

8 September 2026 existence friendship film

On the day when he drank the poison (8 September 2026) (360 B.C.E.). Deliciously succinct exposition

source: Plato. (c. 360 B.C.E.). Phaedo. Trans. Benjamin Jowett. Internet Classics Archive.

via: seeing Phaedo in someone’s hand at PDX Coffee Club in Hillsdale, and remembering how much I loved the opening line.

8 September 2026 literature existence economy-of-writing

It has not escaped our notice (10 June 2026) (1953). The academic confidence to trust the reader with the implications of discovering DNA's structure.

source: Watson, J. D., and Crick, F. H. C. (1953). “Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid.” Nature, 171, 737–738.

10 June 2026 science economy-of-writing academic-bangers

The product of some art (3 July 2026) (1863). Dramatic makeup is better, because human nature leads to cannibalism.

source: Baudelaire, Charles. (2025). In Praise of Cosmetics (J. Mayne, Trans.). Eris Gems. Originally published as “Éloge du maquillage,” section XI of “Le Peintre de la vie moderne,” Le Figaro, 1863; translation from The Painter of Modern Life and Other Essays (London: Phaidon, 1964).

via: returning to Selected Stories in southeast Portland, where I found the other Eris Gems pamphlet (Graeber’s Bullshit Jobs).

3 July 2026 nature culture drag-makeup comedy

A gem backed with foil (10 June 2026) (2004). The narrative foil's beautiful etymology is a gem.*

source: Wikipedia. “Foil (narrative).” Retrieved 2026-06-10.

via: Hacker News thread (2026-06-10), via my own wiki-hn project.

10 June 2026 language literature delightful-etymologies

And became that animal (17 June 2026) (2026). Funny, scary, just a bit.

source: Widow’s Bay, season 1, episode 10, “We Hope You Enjoyed Your Time!” (Apple TV, 2026). Spoken by Ruth (K Callan).

via: my partner’s recommendation.

17 June 2026 comedy economy-of-writing television

Rest isn't idleness (11 June 2026) (2026). Rest serves work. Idleness serves nothing, and is beautiful because of it.

source: Umilio, L. (2026). “On the Difference Between Rest and Idleness.” The Idle Gazette (idle.news), 30 May 2026.

via: kottke.org (2026-06-10).

11 June 2026 labor economics

In too much of a hurry to look (20 August 2026) (1961). The city of Reality fades to invisible because nobody looks at it.

source: Juster, Norton. (1961). The Phantom Tollbooth. Illustrated by Jules Feiffer. Epstein & Carroll; distributed by Random House. Chapter 9, “It’s All in How You Look at Things”.

via: reading with Indigo, from the chapter books shelf of readingstori.es.

20 August 2026 literature attention cities

0.1 second is a UX instant (26 August 2026) (1993). Are 3 and 5 minutes the same to a user?

source: Nielsen, J. (1993). Usability Engineering. Academic Press. Chapter 5 excerpt published as “Response Times: The 3 Important Limits.” Nielsen Norman Group. NN/g later issued a four-minute video of the same material as “The 3 Response Time Limits in Interaction Design.”

26 August 2026 attention cognition hci