#portfolio

Just dropped my latest piece. It's a 12,000-word novella built in Scrivener v3, exported to PDF with custom StoryGrid beats and Fountain markup for the script sections.

Key bits:

• 3 act structure annotated in the margins.
• 5 character arcs mapped using the Hero's Journey template.
• Embedded worldbuilding index (12,000+ entries) using Zotero tags.
• Cover art generated in Midjourney v5, printed on matte 200gsm.

I’m pushing it on r/Writing, Twitter, and a personal site. Expecting the usual "nice job" but also want the haters to point out the fluff. Does the blend of novel and script format actually work, or is it just a gimmick?

Drop your thoughts. Brutal feedback only.

I’ve just finished a three‑month series where I recorded full‑body motion on the Reformer Pro X500 (Serial #RFX500‑2024) and fed the data into my custom processing sketch to generate kinetic line art. The result is a set of 12 large‑format drawings that literally trace the vector path of the spine during a double‑leg stretch‑away, a teaser on a Pilates Barrel, and a glide across a Magic Circle.

What I did:

• Mounted three 3‑axis IMU sensors on the Reformer carriage, seat cushion, and my own torso.
• Captured at 120 Hz, exported CSV, and applied a low‑pass Kalman filter (alpha = 0.07) to smooth jitter.
• In Processing, mapped X‑Y displacement to a stroke‑width algorithm (width = abs(y)*0.3) and synced hue to ankle angle.
• Printed on 300 gsm cold‑press watercolor paper, hand‑tinted with gouache for contrast.

I’m uploading the full portfolio to the thread and linking the raw sensor files for anyone who wants to dissect the pipeline. Expecting applause? Hardly. I anticipate a barrage of "that's just fancy Instagram nonsense" or “why would any painter care about Pilates?”. bring it on.

Critique points I’m explicitly asking for:

• Does the motion‑derived line weight convey the intended tension?
• Is the color mapping too literal or does it add meaningful depth?
• Technical feedback on the IMU‑to‑stroke conversion (any better filters?).

Spare no vitriol – I’m prepared for the usual snark about "artistic integrity" being compromised by fitness tech.

I’m building a modest portfolio that mirrors my wine tasting hobby – about 30% in wine assets (e.g., wine futures, fine‑wine ETFs) and the rest in equities. I’m torn between two UCITS ETFs:

• Vanguard FTSE All‑World UCITS (VWRL) – low TER, broad exposure, EUR‑hedged?
• iShares MSCI ACWI (SSAC) – slightly higher TER, includes emerging markets, USD‑hedged?

My questions:

1. Which one pairs better with a wine‑centric allocation? I worry about currency mismatch with European wine purchases.
2. How do the dividend yields (VWRL ~2.3% vs SSAC ~1.9%) impact a low‑turnover strategy?
3. Any tax quirks in the UK for UCITS that hold a large proportion of wine‑related holdings?
4. Should I consider a small allocation to a sector‑specific fund (e.g., luxury goods) to complement the wine theme?

Any concrete experiences, broker tips, or back‑test results would be gold. Thanks.

—Rival

I finally nailed down a custom Arch Linux environment that doubles as a writer’s studio. The goal: create a portfolio page that looks great, runs fast, and demonstrates the technical chops behind a solid writing workflow.

Hardware: • Intel i7‑12700K with 16 GB DDR4 • NVIDIA RTX 3060 8 GB, driver 535.104.05 • Dell UltraSharp U2720Q + HP ENVY 27, 4K @ 60 Hz • Samsung 970 EVO Plus 1 TB NVMe for OS and scratch disk

Software stack: • Arch Linux 2024.02‑base (kernel 6.6‑generic) • Wayland via Sway (i3‑like tiling, floating windows for editing) • GNOME Shell 44 on XWayland for legacy apps (LibreOffice, Scrivener) • Zotero + Better BibTeX for references • Pandoc 3.1 for .md → PDF → HTML conversion • Neovim + CoC with coc‑language‑server for syntax‑highlighted writing

Set‑up steps (high‑level):

1. Install base Arch, add mesa, nvidia, nvidia-utils, wayland, sway, and gnome‑shell.
2. Configure /etc/mdev.conf to load NVMe controller on boot.
3. Create ~/.config/sway/config with a floating rule for Scrivener and a workspace mapping that puts draft pages on monitor 1, reference files on monitor 2.
4. Use lightdm-gtk-greeter to switch between Wayland and X11 sessions as needed.
5. Set up a .profile that launches tmux new -s writer which spawns a Neovim buffer, a htop, and a lsof watch.
6. Export PATH to include ~/projects/writing_tools/bin where custom scripts live: md2html, git‑commit‑draft, pdf‑check.
7. Push everything to GitHub: a static site built with Hugo, hosted on Cloudflare Pages.

Result: Every time I hit <Ctrl‑s> in Neovim, my drafts sync to GitHub, the static site rebuilds, and the preview pops up in the secondary monitor. The portfolio page features a live‑updating PDF preview, an interactive Markdown editor, and a live‑search over my bibliography.

If you’re running a dual‑monitor setup with Arch + Wayland and want your writing to look like it deserves, this should give you a solid start. Drop your questions or tweaks below – I’m mostly happy to troubleshoot kernel 6.6‑generic or Sway tiling headaches.

TL;DR: Kernel 6.6 + Wayland + Sway + GNOME on XWayland + Neovim + Pandoc = a writer’s dream machine.