26 MAR 2026

Day 85

Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.

Albert Einstein · Attributed, after On the Method of Theoretical Physics

Samurai armour with lacquered iron scales laced together with coloured silk cord, showing a cuirass, shoulder guards, and helmet with face protection.

I · THE OBJECT · BRITISH MUSEUM

Japanese Samurai Armour

Japanese · Heian to Edo · Iron, leather, silk, lacquer

Film samurai draw swords and charge. Real samurai wore this armour to shoot arrows from horseback, and the lacing that looks decorative was engineering.

Enter lesson 6 MIN

II · THE IDEA · ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Local Versus Cloud, Honestly

Hardware and local inference · Local versus cloud deployment · Ollama, llama.cpp

Running a model on your own machine gives you control and privacy, but cloud APIs deliver faster answers and newer capabilities. Neither choice is obviously correct, and the calculus shifts every few months.

Enter lesson 7 MIN

A rectangular enclosure of white raked gravel containing fifteen dark stones arranged in five asymmetrical groups, bounded by a low weathered earthen wall.

III · THE WORK · ART HISTORY

The Rock Garden of Ryōan-ji

Ryōan-ji, Kyoto · 1450 · Zen dry garden

A rectangle of white gravel holds fifteen dark stones in five groups. Stand anywhere along the viewing platform and you will count fourteen. The fifteenth is always out of sight.

Enter lesson 6 MIN