#brevity — Public Fediverse posts

To bone, or: Breathing between words

A Sijo

these I have loved: suggestion 
the silence breathing between words; 
restraint pares these thoughts to bone 
what stays withheld gathers force; 
absence opens into abundance—
all these have been my loves 

d’Verse poetics: The great lover

At d’Verse, we are encouraged to write a list poem beginning with “These I have loved:” that celebrates the ordinary things we treasure through precise, sensory details. Continue the catalogue at length and conclude with “All these have been my loves.”

Sijo?

A Korean verse form related to haiku and tanka and comprised of three lines of 14-16 syllables each, for a total of 44-46 syllables. Each line contains a pause near the middle, similar to a caesura, though the break need not be metrical. The first half of the line contains six to nine syllables; the second half should contain no fewer than five. Originally intended as songs, sijo can treat romantic, metaphysical, or spiritual themes. Whatever the subject, the first line introduces an idea or story, the second supplies a “turn,” and the third provides closure. Modern sijo are sometimes printed in six lines.

Let’s write poetry together!

When it comes to partnership, some humans can make their lives alone – it’s possible. But creatively, it’s more like painting: you can’t just use the same colours in every painting. It’s just not an option. You can’t take the same photograph every time and live with art forms with no differences.

–Ben Harper (b. 1969)

Would you like to create poetry with me and have a completed poem of yours featured here at the Skeptic’s Kaddish? I am very excited to have launched the ‘Poetry Partners’ initiative and am looking forward to meeting and creating with you… Check it out!

🎭 Ah, the #art #of "phronesis" checking! 🤓 Apparently, the secret to a passing check is simply to redefine "broken" #as "works as #intended." 🛠️ Who knew that #coherence really just means "keep it short and sweet"? 😂
https://phronesis.world/papers/ways-of-checking/ #phronesis #checking #humor #broken #brevity #HackerNews #ngated

🎭 Ah, the #art #of "phronesis" checking! 🤓 Apparently, the secret to a passing check is simply to redefine "broken" #as "works as #intended." 🛠️ Who knew that #coherence really just means "keep it short and sweet"? 😂
https://phronesis.world/papers/ways-of-checking/ #phronesis #checking #humor #broken #brevity #HackerNews #ngated

🎭 Ah, the #art #of "phronesis" checking! 🤓 Apparently, the secret to a passing check is simply to redefine "broken" #as "works as #intended." 🛠️ Who knew that #coherence really just means "keep it short and sweet"? 😂
https://phronesis.world/papers/ways-of-checking/ #phronesis #checking #humor #broken #brevity #HackerNews #ngated

🎭 Ah, the #art #of "phronesis" checking! 🤓 Apparently, the secret to a passing check is simply to redefine "broken" #as "works as #intended." 🛠️ Who knew that #coherence really just means "keep it short and sweet"? 😂
https://phronesis.world/papers/ways-of-checking/ #phronesis #checking #humor #broken #brevity #HackerNews #ngated

🎭 Ah, the #art #of "phronesis" checking! 🤓 Apparently, the secret to a passing check is simply to redefine "broken" #as "works as #intended." 🛠️ Who knew that #coherence really just means "keep it short and sweet"? 😂
https://phronesis.world/papers/ways-of-checking/ #phronesis #checking #humor #broken #brevity #HackerNews #ngated

Here's why PK (Pecha Kucha) is OK.

https://www.conferencesthatwork.com/index.php/presentations/2010/08/why-pk-pecha-kucha-is-ok

#meetings #EventDesign #PechaKucha #EventFormat #brevity #eventprofs

Here's why PK (Pecha Kucha) is OK.

https://www.conferencesthatwork.com/index.php/presentations/2010/08/why-pk-pecha-kucha-is-ok

#meetings #EventDesign #PechaKucha #EventFormat #brevity #eventprofs

Applying Brevity and Language Efficiency in Prompt Engineering

https://prahladyeri.github.io/guides/applying-brevity-and-language-efficiency-to-prompt-engineering.html

#HackerNews #Brevity #PromptEngineering #LanguageEfficiency #TechInsights

Applying Brevity and Language Efficiency in Prompt Engineering

https://prahladyeri.github.io/guides/applying-brevity-and-language-efficiency-to-prompt-engineering.html

#HackerNews #Brevity #PromptEngineering #LanguageEfficiency #TechInsights

Applying Brevity and Language Efficiency in Prompt Engineering

https://prahladyeri.github.io/guides/applying-brevity-and-language-efficiency-to-prompt-engineering.html

#HackerNews #Brevity #PromptEngineering #LanguageEfficiency #TechInsights

Applying Brevity and Language Efficiency in Prompt Engineering

https://prahladyeri.github.io/guides/applying-brevity-and-language-efficiency-to-prompt-engineering.html

#HackerNews #Brevity #PromptEngineering #LanguageEfficiency #TechInsights

Applying Brevity and Language Efficiency in Prompt Engineering

https://prahladyeri.github.io/guides/applying-brevity-and-language-efficiency-to-prompt-engineering.html

#HackerNews #Brevity #PromptEngineering #LanguageEfficiency #TechInsights

A quotation from Robert Ingersoll

Life is a shadowy, strange, and winding road on which we travel for a little way — a few short steps — just from the cradle, with its lullaby of love, to the low and quiet way-side inn, where all at last must sleep, and where the only salutation is — Good-night.

Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) American lawyer, freethinker, orator
Essay (1881-11) “The Christian Religion,” “Part 2” North American Review, Vol. 133, No. 300

More about this quote: wist.info/ingersoll-robert-gre…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #robertingersoll #robertgreeningersoll #brevity #death #eternalrest #farewell #life #lifetime #meaningoflife #mortality #restinpeace

A quotation from Robert Ingersoll

Life is a shadowy, strange, and winding road on which we travel for a little way — a few short steps — just from the cradle, with its lullaby of love, to the low and quiet way-side inn, where all at last must sleep, and where the only salutation is — Good-night.

Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) American lawyer, freethinker, orator
Essay (1881-11) “The Christian Religion,” “Part 2” North American Review, Vol. 133, No. 300

More about this quote: wist.info/ingersoll-robert-gre…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #robertingersoll #robertgreeningersoll #brevity #death #eternalrest #farewell #life #lifetime #meaningoflife #mortality #restinpeace

A quotation from Robert Ingersoll

Life is a shadowy, strange, and winding road on which we travel for a little way — a few short steps — just from the cradle, with its lullaby of love, to the low and quiet way-side inn, where all at last must sleep, and where the only salutation is — Good-night.

Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) American lawyer, freethinker, orator
Essay (1881-11) “The Christian Religion,” “Part 2” North American Review, Vol. 133, No. 300

More about this quote: wist.info/ingersoll-robert-gre…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #robertingersoll #robertgreeningersoll #brevity #death #eternalrest #farewell #life #lifetime #meaningoflife #mortality #restinpeace

A quotation from Robert Ingersoll

Life is a shadowy, strange, and winding road on which we travel for a little way — a few short steps — just from the cradle, with its lullaby of love, to the low and quiet way-side inn, where all at last must sleep, and where the only salutation is — Good-night.

Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) American lawyer, freethinker, orator
Essay (1881-11) “The Christian Religion,” “Part 2” North American Review, Vol. 133, No. 300

More about this quote: wist.info/ingersoll-robert-gre…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #robertingersoll #robertgreeningersoll #brevity #death #eternalrest #farewell #life #lifetime #meaningoflife #mortality #restinpeace

A quotation from Robert Ingersoll

Life is a shadowy, strange, and winding road on which we travel for a little way — a few short steps — just from the cradle, with its lullaby of love, to the low and quiet way-side inn, where all at last must sleep, and where the only salutation is — Good-night.

Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) American lawyer, freethinker, orator
Essay (1881-11) “The Christian Religion,” “Part 2” North American Review, Vol. 133, No. 300

More about this quote: wist.info/ingersoll-robert-gre…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #robertingersoll #robertgreeningersoll #brevity #death #eternalrest #farewell #life #lifetime #meaningoflife #mortality #restinpeace

Here's why PK (Pecha Kucha) is OK.

https://www.conferencesthatwork.com/index.php/presentations/2010/08/why-pk-pecha-kucha-is-ok

#meetings #EventDesign #PechaKucha #EventFormat #brevity #eventprofs

Here's why PK (Pecha Kucha) is OK.

https://www.conferencesthatwork.com/index.php/presentations/2010/08/why-pk-pecha-kucha-is-ok

#meetings #EventDesign #PechaKucha #EventFormat #brevity #eventprofs

The man four stories up

The man four stories up,
shielded by the shadow 
of a floor-to-ceiling window, 
appears as smooth
 as the man in the moon. 

He sips something hot 
from a white ceramic cup
and peers out at the blackness 
as if we’re all coated in the stuff,

while he is light, and goodness.
A cleanliness amidst the putrid 
stenches, the barefoot beggars, 
and oily street merchants
blurred together in a pit
of city scum.

See, below him, beings
exist in a lower state
of consciousness
and should simply lighten up. 

©2026 | K.F. Hartless

Cover Art: “The Man in the Moon” Maxfield Parrish, 1922

https://youtu.be/Wy45pE0OJm4?si=vabBGj46pwfTDFCg

The man four stories up

The man four stories up,
shielded by the shadow 
of a floor-to-ceiling window, 
appears as smooth
 as the man in the moon. 

He sips something hot 
from a white ceramic cup
and peers out at the blackness 
as if we’re all coated in the stuff,

while he is light, and goodness.
A cleanliness amidst the putrid 
stenches, the barefoot beggars, 
and oily street merchants
blurred together in a pit
of city scum.

See, below him, beings
exist in a lower state
of consciousness
and should simply lighten up. 

©2026 | K.F. Hartless

Cover Art: “The Man in the Moon” Maxfield Parrish, 1922

https://youtu.be/Wy45pE0OJm4?si=vabBGj46pwfTDFCg

I have been running a social media account of an organisation in the last years and remember how I felt that I had to post a lot back when the organisation was still on twitter. How AI was such a relieve when I didnt have to think anymore to produce tiny useless posts to shoot into this void.

So good twitter is dead (at least for me).

The Courage to Stop https://zeldman.com/2026/04/15/the-courage-to-stop/ #Brevity, #Communication, #Edit, #Editing, #Essentials, #KillYourDarlings, #LessButBetter, #Usability, #Whitespace

A quotation from Tolstoy

Memento mori — remember death! These are important words. If we kept in mind that we will soon inevitably die, our lives would be completely different. If a person knows that he will die in a half hour, he certainly will not bother doing trivial, stupid, or, especially, bad things during this half hour. Perhaps you have half a century before you die — what makes this any different from a half hour?

Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) Russian novelist and moral philosopher
Path of Life [Calendar of Wisdom; Круг чтения], ch. 21 “Living in the Present,” sec. 5.12 (1903-1911) [(tr. Cote (2002)]

More about this quote: wist.info/tolstoy-leo/83806/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #tolstoy #leotolstoy #pathoflife #brevity #death #goodliving #lifespan #living #mementomori #mortality #prioritization #timelimit

A quotation from Tolstoy

Memento mori — remember death! These are important words. If we kept in mind that we will soon inevitably die, our lives would be completely different. If a person knows that he will die in a half hour, he certainly will not bother doing trivial, stupid, or, especially, bad things during this half hour. Perhaps you have half a century before you die — what makes this any different from a half hour?

Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) Russian novelist and moral philosopher
Path of Life [Calendar of Wisdom; Круг чтения], ch. 21 “Living in the Present,” sec. 5.12 (1903-1911) [(tr. Cote (2002)]

More about this quote: wist.info/tolstoy-leo/83806/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #tolstoy #leotolstoy #pathoflife #brevity #death #goodliving #lifespan #living #mementomori #mortality #prioritization #timelimit

A quotation from Tolstoy

Memento mori — remember death! These are important words. If we kept in mind that we will soon inevitably die, our lives would be completely different. If a person knows that he will die in a half hour, he certainly will not bother doing trivial, stupid, or, especially, bad things during this half hour. Perhaps you have half a century before you die — what makes this any different from a half hour?

Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) Russian novelist and moral philosopher
Path of Life [Calendar of Wisdom; Круг чтения], ch. 21 “Living in the Present,” sec. 5.12 (1903-1911) [(tr. Cote (2002)]

More about this quote: wist.info/tolstoy-leo/83806/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #tolstoy #leotolstoy #pathoflife #brevity #death #goodliving #lifespan #living #mementomori #mortality #prioritization #timelimit

A quotation from Tolstoy

Memento mori — remember death! These are important words. If we kept in mind that we will soon inevitably die, our lives would be completely different. If a person knows that he will die in a half hour, he certainly will not bother doing trivial, stupid, or, especially, bad things during this half hour. Perhaps you have half a century before you die — what makes this any different from a half hour?

Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) Russian novelist and moral philosopher
Path of Life [Calendar of Wisdom; Круг чтения], ch. 21 “Living in the Present,” sec. 5.12 (1903-1911) [(tr. Cote (2002)]

More about this quote: wist.info/tolstoy-leo/83806/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #tolstoy #leotolstoy #pathoflife #brevity #death #goodliving #lifespan #living #mementomori #mortality #prioritization #timelimit

The Fledglings Sit

The fledgings sit, wings clipped, 
waiting on a runway.
What will become of their paper planes
soaring deserted valleys
and migrating vast cities?
Before they took their mouths
from their mother's beak,
they learned to not speak,
sit ,and wait, and fold quitely.

©2026 | K.F. Hartless

Cover Art: ” Airport Painting” Karolina Zglobicka

https://youtu.be/ewRjZoRtu0Y?si=6C56hTh6VhRetUqM

GloPoWriMo#28 Today, try writing a poem that follows the same beats: three sentences, six lines: statement, question, conclusion.

The Fledglings Sit

The fledgings sit, wings clipped, 
waiting on a runway.
What will become of their paper planes
soaring deserted valleys
and migrating vast cities?
Before they took their mouths
from their mother's beak,
they learned to not speak,
sit ,and wait, and fold quitely.

©2026 | K.F. Hartless

Cover Art: ” Airport Painting” Karolina Zglobicka

https://youtu.be/ewRjZoRtu0Y?si=6C56hTh6VhRetUqM

GloPoWriMo#28 Today, try writing a poem that follows the same beats: three sentences, six lines: statement, question, conclusion.

May I direct your attention to this brilliantly concise post?

The Courage to Stop https://zeldman.com/2026/04/15/the-courage-to-stop/ #Brevity, #Communication, #Edit, #Editing, #Essentials, #KillYourDarlings, #LessButBetter, #Usability, #Whitespace
#AmReading #Writing

May I direct your attention to this brilliantly concise post?

The Courage to Stop https://zeldman.com/2026/04/15/the-courage-to-stop/ #Brevity, #Communication, #Edit, #Editing, #Essentials, #KillYourDarlings, #LessButBetter, #Usability, #Whitespace
#AmReading #Writing

May I direct your attention to this brilliantly concise post?

The Courage to Stop https://zeldman.com/2026/04/15/the-courage-to-stop/ #Brevity, #Communication, #Edit, #Editing, #Essentials, #KillYourDarlings, #LessButBetter, #Usability, #Whitespace
#AmReading #Writing

May I direct your attention to this brilliantly concise post?

The Courage to Stop https://zeldman.com/2026/04/15/the-courage-to-stop/ #Brevity, #Communication, #Edit, #Editing, #Essentials, #KillYourDarlings, #LessButBetter, #Usability, #Whitespace
#AmReading #Writing

May I direct your attention to this brilliantly concise post?

The Courage to Stop https://zeldman.com/2026/04/15/the-courage-to-stop/ #Brevity, #Communication, #Edit, #Editing, #Essentials, #KillYourDarlings, #LessButBetter, #Usability, #Whitespace
#AmReading #Writing

A quotation from Gracián

The intensity of the favour of fortune is often balanced by the shortness of its duration, for fortune gets tired of carrying any one very long upon her shoulders.
 
[Recompénsase tal vez la brevedad de la duración con la intensión del favor. Cánsase la fortuna de llevar a uno a cuestas tan a la larga.]

Baltasar Gracián y Morales (1601-1658) Spanish Jesuit priest, writer, philosopher
The Art of Worldly Wisdom [Oráculo Manual y Arte de Prudencia], § 38 (1647) [tr. Duff (1877)]

More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/gracian-y-morales-ba…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #gracian #baltasargracian #brevity #fortune #gambling #goodluck #luck

A quotation from Gracián

The intensity of the favour of fortune is often balanced by the shortness of its duration, for fortune gets tired of carrying any one very long upon her shoulders.
 
[Recompénsase tal vez la brevedad de la duración con la intensión del favor. Cánsase la fortuna de llevar a uno a cuestas tan a la larga.]

Baltasar Gracián y Morales (1601-1658) Spanish Jesuit priest, writer, philosopher
The Art of Worldly Wisdom [Oráculo Manual y Arte de Prudencia], § 38 (1647) [tr. Duff (1877)]

More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/gracian-y-morales-ba…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #gracian #baltasargracian #brevity #fortune #gambling #goodluck #luck

A quotation from Gracián

The intensity of the favour of fortune is often balanced by the shortness of its duration, for fortune gets tired of carrying any one very long upon her shoulders.
 
[Recompénsase tal vez la brevedad de la duración con la intensión del favor. Cánsase la fortuna de llevar a uno a cuestas tan a la larga.]

Baltasar Gracián y Morales (1601-1658) Spanish Jesuit priest, writer, philosopher
The Art of Worldly Wisdom [Oráculo Manual y Arte de Prudencia], § 38 (1647) [tr. Duff (1877)]

More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/gracian-y-morales-ba…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #gracian #baltasargracian #brevity #fortune #gambling #goodluck #luck

A quotation from Gracián

The intensity of the favour of fortune is often balanced by the shortness of its duration, for fortune gets tired of carrying any one very long upon her shoulders.
 
[Recompénsase tal vez la brevedad de la duración con la intensión del favor. Cánsase la fortuna de llevar a uno a cuestas tan a la larga.]

Baltasar Gracián y Morales (1601-1658) Spanish Jesuit priest, writer, philosopher
The Art of Worldly Wisdom [Oráculo Manual y Arte de Prudencia], § 38 (1647) [tr. Duff (1877)]

More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/gracian-y-morales-ba…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #gracian #baltasargracian #brevity #fortune #gambling #goodluck #luck

2/2 Don’t skip the footnote and comments.

“COMMENTS BY REVIEWER A:

I have studied this manuscript very carefully with lemon juice and X-rays and have not detected a single flaw in either design or writing style. I suggest it be
published without revision. Clearly it is the most concise manuscript I have ever seen …”

#writersblock #funny #brevity

2/2 Don’t skip the footnote and comments.

“COMMENTS BY REVIEWER A:

I have studied this manuscript very carefully with lemon juice and X-rays and have not detected a single flaw in either design or writing style. I suggest it be
published without revision. Clearly it is the most concise manuscript I have ever seen …”

#writersblock #funny #brevity

Brevity was always a discipline. Now it’s a statement.

https://zeldman.com/2026/04/15/the-courage-to-stop/#HumanWritingInAITimes #brevity #WriteBetter #LessButBetter #KillYourDarlings

Brevity was always a discipline. Now it’s a statement.

https://zeldman.com/2026/04/15/the-courage-to-stop/#HumanWritingInAITimes #brevity #WriteBetter #LessButBetter #KillYourDarlings

Brevity was always a discipline. Now it’s a statement.

https://zeldman.com/2026/04/15/the-courage-to-stop/#HumanWritingInAITimes #brevity #WriteBetter #LessButBetter #KillYourDarlings

Brevity was always a discipline. Now it’s a statement.

https://zeldman.com/2026/04/15/the-courage-to-stop/#HumanWritingInAITimes #brevity #WriteBetter #LessButBetter #KillYourDarlings

Brevity was always a discipline. Now it’s a statement.

https://zeldman.com/2026/04/15/the-courage-to-stop/#HumanWritingInAITimes #brevity #WriteBetter #LessButBetter #KillYourDarlings

Brevity was always a discipline. Now it’s a statement. zeldman.com/2026/04/15/t... #WriteBetter #writing #brevity #usability #KillYourDarlings

Jeffrey Zeldman Presents - The...

Why do so few scientists use Fahrenheit? According to Isaac Asimov, the original 100°F "fixed point" may have been based on a sick cow with a fever. A 300-year-old error that still dictates US weather today. Precision matters. #HistoryOfScience #Physics #Brevity #Celsius

Why do so few scientists use Fahrenheit? According to Isaac Asimov, the original 100°F "fixed point" may have been based on a sick cow with a fever. A 300-year-old error that still dictates US weather today. Precision matters. #HistoryOfScience #Physics #Brevity #Celsius

Begin with an arresting sentence; close with a strong summary; in between speak simply, clearly, and always to the point; and above all be brief.
-- William J. Mayo

⬆ #Wisdom #Quotes #WilliamJMayo #Brevity #Writing

⬇ #Photography #Panorama #Rainbow #MississippiRiver #Iowa

Begin with an arresting sentence; close with a strong summary; in between speak simply, clearly, and always to the point; and above all be brief.
-- William J. Mayo

⬆ #Wisdom #Quotes #WilliamJMayo #Brevity #Writing

⬇ #Photography #Panorama #Rainbow #MississippiRiver #Iowa