robotamerica 🤖🌱 hi, hello, welcome! my name is kevin, welcome to robotamerica. it is a place to share my thoughts, ideas, and projects in hopes of connect...
i have said it before and i will say it again: %%green%%silence is largely a myth%%. i live in a fairly rural place. not much for noise around here apart from braying donkeys, gobbling turkeys, the hoof clop of our neighbour's cows, baaing lambs and sheep, singing tweeting birds, the rare gun crack, and church bells and popping cohetes (small fireworks). but generally, not much sound at all. due…
%%red%%we have been drought-stricken since may and we only have a couple of weeks worth of water left. the rest of mexico has been wet%%. more rain than usual. so it is a little frustrating for us. regardless, %%green%%the garden is looking healthy and rich and we have been harvesting a ton of chiles (chiltepin, habanero, and poblano) and tomatoes%%. at work i have been doing a lot of leaflet map…
%%yellow%%i was reflecting on my time in veracruz recently%%. four years spent among the sugarcane and coffee fields. four years learning to play the jarana and sing old songs. four years making new friends, building community, making art, and raising a cat found on the beach and a dog found on the streets. four years of humidity and mold. four years of rain and fog. %%red%%sometimes it was…
summer is typically my contemplative season. it is also the season where i usually enjoy reading the most. this year has been a little different. work has been busy and heavy, and the move has taken a lot of that contemplative time i would usually have and forced me to be more of a man of action. but i can see the tides are changing and i have a small selection of books to work through this…
had a lovely weekend. we closed off guelaguetza where i was able to snap one of my favorite photos i have taken this year: it is a departure from my typical photography, but i was super happy with the framing and chaos of the moment. after the calenda, i went to a concert with a gringo brass band from san francisco, danced my shoes off and saw some old pal's. after the concert, at 3 am, i rode my…
%%red%%perhaps never in our short history, has our technology had more of an influence on how we look and act.%% algorithmic propaganda, persuasion, influence, and radicalisation means that machines are helping to shape the 21st century body and mind so much so that we are simply becoming a part of that algorithm. %%yellow%%instead of humans augmenting themselves with technology (think cybernetic…
%%yellow%%5:30 AM%%, fifteen minutes before my daily alarm. like clockwork, i am awoken instead to the squealing and screeching of a bird and the violent chirps of her friends. goddammit, that damn cat is up to it again. i swear, every two days he catches a poor little bird. today was the first time i was quick enough out of bed to save the little gal. i tore totoro off of her and she flapped…
we have had a couple of weeks of reprieve at work. it won't last long, but the mornings have been much quieter for me. %%yellow%%the benefit is a little less stress, but that seems to come at a cost%%. usually, i wake up with my little coffee routine and mentally prepare myself for the problem solving i have ahead. when there aren't any problems, my brain seems to overreact and wants to either…
%%yellow%%i used to find my city easy to photograph%%. after i moved away and moved back, %%red%%i can't find the same inspiration%%. it is now a very instagramable city. %%red%%i hate the instagramable%%. gentrification has turned it from something with a bit more bite to a disneyfied coco-esque parody of itself. yesterday i took early to the streets and markets, but found little to inspire.…
the past couple of weeks have been full of chores and odd tasks. %%yellow%%in the past, i probably would have just clumsily rushed through my task list and been done with it%%. but it seems my brain has evolved and i have calmed down substantially. instead of rushing through tasks and performing them poorly, i have focused on one or two (beyond work) to accomplish in a day. for instance,…