Sean
Braacx

A creative outlet

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Glasses and Moustache
Moustache

Welcome to my creative outlet. A place to share ephemera I’ve collected online and offline,
along with some writing.

  • An AI Free Blog

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    AI free since ’83

    Starting today you will see this little icon on the bottom of every page. Nothing on this site was, or will be, generated with AI. No images, no videos, and most importantly, no writing.

    I’m not opposed to AI (well not fully) – however, besides the obvious environmental and human concerns, using AI to generate content for this creative outlet completely defeats the point.

    My goal is to learn, grow, and challenge myself – and document and share my thoughts and findings along the way. The hard part of writing or editing or capturing is the good part. I don’t write just for the output; the process of taking my random thoughts and making them coherent is where I improve.

    For example, Post-Snob was an idea I’d been playing with in my head for at least a few years, however it took time and multiple drafts, iterations, and sketches, before it came together into something I felt was worth sharing.

    As AI develops, and the uptake and implementation of it grows, my stance may change. However, I firmly believe that creativity is one of our core human values, and outsourcing it to a machine means we lose more than we gain.

  • Abiding & Gardening

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    The Bible is full of gardening analogies that spoke to the mainly agrarian culture of the time. My favorite of these is in the Gospel of John, where Jesus calls us to abide (or remain) in him, summing up the secret of the Christian life.

    I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

    John 15:5 ESV

    Although I have known and studied these verses for years, it recently got a fresh meaning for me.

    In our garden there are two grape vines that I am beginning to care for more earnestly. I cut off one of the branches, but left it in place. The next day, all the leaves were completely withered and dead; I was surprised at the speed.

    This immediately made me think of the verse above. When Jesus says apart from him we can do nothing, he doesn’t mean we can limp along on our own, but without him and the life he provides as the “vine”, we wither quickly and completely.

    Compare the before and after of my grape branch below 👇

  • Post-snob

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    Sean, quit being such a post-snob.

    In our consumer-driven society it seems like you can become a snob about almost everything. I don’t mean this in a purely negative sense, but rather the idea that you can get increasingly obsessed and aware of more subtle nuances of anything. This might be sports cars, coffee, or vacuum cleaners – every category of thing can be an area of specialization and opinion.

    I will fully admit that there are things in my life, namely coffee and wine, in which I am probably still in the snob category. But as I think about interests I’ve had in the past, and my journey into them, I have a theory I have been wanting to share.

    Continue Reading

  • Beatings & Morale

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    They will probably continue after morale improves too.

    If you join a zoom call with me, my background isn’t a perfectly curated bookcase or beautiful plants, its this flag …

    pirate flag

    I chose this, not only because it was hanging in the developers section of my first office job, but because it is the antithesis of how you build a good culture.

    Sadly this mindset is all too common and so dejecting. I recall working at an office where the production team wanted their area painted (a small request), but the business team wouldn’t do it until revenue targets were met – something the production team was not even responsible for!

    At StoryTap, one of our five values is Family. We want to support our team members personally and professionally, proactively helping them so they can do the best job possible. We haven’t always got this right, but seeing that flag behind me is a constant reminder of how important team morale is and how I don’t want to operate.

  • Virtue & vice

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    Men imagine that they communicate their virtue or vice only by overt actions, and do not see that virtue or vice emit a breath every moment.

    Ralph Waldo Emerson

    This quote is a good reminder of how every thing we do, especially the small things, show our true character and what we actually believe. What does your life (and my life) say?

  • Angry electricity

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    I spotted this warning sign in a small Alaskan town and appreciated how the designer made it angry electricity attacking a young child. Not exactly comforting, nor technically accurate, but hopefully keeps people from trying to open it!

  • The Seas Roar

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    Creation is always pointing us to the maker.

    Let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
        the world and those who dwell in it!

    Psalm 98:7 ESV

    As I travel through a somewhat turbulent North Pacific ocean, with nothing but water as far as the eye can see, the verses in the Psalms that speak of the seas are seen in a new light.

    I am in awe of their size and power, and my own insignificance and lack of control in comparison. And yet, these verses are a comfort, as they tell us that these seas are created by our God, that they (and all in them) worship him, and that his love for us is as vast as the ocean!

  • Establish the work

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    ,

    We all desire for our work to have value

    Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us,
    and establish the work of our hands upon us;
    yes, establish the work of our hands!

    Psalm 90:17 ESV

    Establish comes from the Latin word meaning “to make firm” – and as I read this prayer, it resonated deeply with me. It feels like so much of the work I do is ephemeral or fleeting. What is important today is forgotten tomorrow, and even the “good” things I have built are mostly digital, simply 0’s and 1’s that could be erased and never seen again.

    I long to have the work I do make a meaningful impact, or at the very least, not be a total waste of time and effort that could have been better spent. The truth that God will establish our work, he will make it solid and of lasting value, is so encouraging, even when it doesn’t feel significant.

    CS Lewis captured an aspect of this idea well in The Great Divorce, when he pictured the good work we do here on earth reflecting the heavenly truth that is so much better. So yes, our work here is just a reflection, but when done well, it reflects heaven to those around us.

    When you painted on earth – at least in your earlier days – it was because you caught glimpses of Heaven in the earthly landscape. The success of your painting was that it enabled others to see the glimpses too. But here you are having the thing itself.

    CS Lewis, The Great Divorce

  • Computers

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    Let’s think critically about new technologies.

    Although I believe the computer to be a vastly overrated technology, I mention it here because, clearly, American have accorded it their customary mindless inattention; which means they will use it as they are told, without a whimper. Thus, a central thesis of computer technology – that the principal difficulty we have in solving problems stems from insufficient data – will go unexamined. Until, years from now, when it will be noticed that the massive collection of data have been of great value to large-scale organizations but have solved very little of importance to most people and have created at least as many problems for them as they may have solved.

    Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death

    This quote is from Neil Postman’s book Amusing Ourselves to Death, a prescient look at technology (mostly TV at that point) – and how the form or medium of a technology significantly impacts how it is used. As a whole, our culture sees technology as a good thing and we adopt it without enough critical thought as to the dangers or downsides.

    Reading this today in light of the massive data collection by tech platforms, and the use of this data to monetize and manipulate, should cause us to seriously consider when a technology has greater downsides than upsides, and how to prevent misuse at the hands of bad actors or powerful entities.

  • Composted

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    But it’s great for the flowers!

    I spotted this sign in Seattle and appreciated the dark humor (and perhaps the subtle threat).

  • Saxbounce

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    Some saxxy riffs!

    Saxbounce is a super upbeat album with amazing sax riffs and fun beats featuring the talented Israeli musician Eyal Talmudi. It’s so cool hearing “classical” instruments in different styles of music.

  • Kangaroo Chillin

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    We went to a Kangaroo farm recently as a family, and they love to recline in an oddly human-like manner that is a mix of seductive/chill. It’s hilarious to see them lying around like “Hey there, what’s going on. Come over and say hi” 🤣

  • AI vs Cognitive Gains

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    Don’t let tools replace your core skills

    Using ChatGPT to complete assignments is like bringing a forklift into the weight room; you will never improve your cognitive fitness that way.

    Ted Chiang

    The tools we use can easily become crutches that inhibit development and even cause atrophy.

    • Driving vs walking -> health decline
    • Calculators vs mental math -> reliance on calculator
    • GPS vs maps & directions -> reliance on GPS
    • Auto-correct vs spelling yourself -> even poorer speeling

    These tools all have a use and can be beneficial, but they cannot be evaluated apart from their impacts. And they actually impact different groups unequally.

    The first group is those who have already gained the skill or technique, but use the tool to become faster or better. They know the “hard” way because they had to learn it. For them the danger is not progressing in a skill, and even atrophying.

    The second group is those who have never known the skill, but learned with the tool. They have never had the chance to learn the “hard” way, and are stuck without it.

    As we think about AI tools like ChatGPT, for us who’ve already learned to write an essay, or draw a picture, or write code, using AI may mean our skills get rusty, but at worst, we could still get along without them. But for the next generation who have not, they will be hopelessly lost without it, dependent on AI tools – and those who own and program them, to complete the basic tasks in work and life.

    Though these tools are being crammed into every product by the tech firms that dominate our lives, we can choose not to use them, and to keep our human-defining skills like writing and making music and art, even if it means taking longer or thinking harder, that’s the point.

    And for those who are learning, remember that though AI may be able to answer your question or complete your assignment, every time you use this tool you are giving it more control and reducing your future independence.

  • How we succeed

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    Don’t sacrifice your values at the altar of success.

    Measure success not by what a man achieves, but by how he achieves it.

    Lawrence O Richards

    In the world of business (and probably most spheres of life) it seems that the end trumps the process. Sure, we talk about celebrating failure and doing the right thing – but you are ultimately judged on the result. And those with the best results are the winners.

    Now, that doesn’t mean how you got there won’t be discovered and evaluated; just look at all the downfall stories in books and on TV. Yet, despite the joy we take in seeing justice, the truth is that how you work may never be recognized. But it matters, as our true character is shown in those difficult times, when we choose the right way even when it might cost our success.

  • Unshakable Hope

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    He is risen!

    On this Easter weekend, despite all the uncertainty in the world, we are reminded of the hope we have in Jesus that cannot be shaken.

    My son (8) made the drawing above during the Good Friday service at church – his willingness to embrace new styles and mediums encourages me to be more creative.

  • Palm Tree WiFi

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    Cancer instead of coconuts?

    I spotted this cellular tower in Los Angeles, and while I applaud the effort to blend in, I’m not sold on the execution, especially with the warning sign on the bottom.

  • Work & Leisure

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    Why do I work?

    We should no longer think of work as something that we hastened to get through in order to enjoy our leisure; we should look on our leisure as the period of changed rhythm that refreshed us for the delightful purpose of getting on with our work.

    Dorothy Sayers, Why Work?

    This is such a refreshing view of work, and one that challenges me personally. It isn’t something merely to be dutifully completed so we can do the things we like, but an opportunity to give of ourselves to make a positive impact here.

    Read Dorothy Sayers full essay called Why Work? for a great perspective on the value of work.

  • Small Mercies

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    Grateful for sunshine, coffee & wifey

    This past season has been quite challenging – both in work and life. And yet, it’s amazing how small mercies … like sitting in the sunshine with my wife and a good cortado (while the kids play quietly in the car) can do wonders for the soul.

  • MVP as a Craft

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    What is craftsmanship?

    I love the idea of craftsmanship, the man or woman who has dedicated their life to their craft and continually hones their skills. They are not satisfied with merely completing the job, but outdoing themselves every time.

    Yet, in the world of business startups, it is completely different. We live by the concept of MVP or Minimum Viable Product. You don’t know if the product you are building is something people actually want, so you build the minimum that allows you to test and validate your idea, and then iterate as you learn.

    This philosophy resonates with my personality. I love bringing new ideas to life; software for work, and projects of any kind for fun, including brewing kombucha, gardening, and building wood furniture.

    Continue Reading

  • Don’t forget to play

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    Embrace your inner child

    One of the benefits of having children is the excuse to play with toys that would be considered odd as an adult. I have spent countless hours building Lego contraptions, block towers, and ball tracks with my boys.

    This isn’t my craziest magnet tile ball track, but it was a fun way to spend time with my son and exercise my creativity. Every time I try new techniques, sometimes with a goal in mind, other times just building randomly. I try not to get too serious, but I have been known to keep the kids away so I can complete my masterpiece 😆.