I'm newly retired this year after 50 years of working with software and clients. 20 years at Arthur Andersen, then as a guitarist, back to software and a couple startups, and finally finishing up with a data science job after the pandemic. Now I get to sit back (hopefully) and enjoy family, continue learning, exercise, the Chicago lakefront, AI, and ongoing change and innovation.
Curiosity & Mindset
"How does that work?" is the question that is always in my mind, and comes up for everything: software, hardware, electricity, biology, society, law, music, art, psychology... I'll be the first to admit something I don't know, but at the same time will be fleshing out the alternatives, questioning everything, devising an educated guess and following up as soon as I can to understand.
"Out of My Lane"
The name of this site reflects my habit of venturing into domains well outside my core training. Rather than siloing myself into a single specialty, I chronicle my active pursuits across multiple areas of curiosity:
Music & Art
Guitar, piano, music studies, drawing, and photography.
Health & Movement
Tai Chi, anatomy and somatic education (Alexander Technique), sleep health and motor tracking.
Software & Computing
Data analysis & visualization, site development & operations, home automation, AI, and local offline assistants.
Making & Projects
Woodworking, hand-carved tool handles, lutherie setup, knife making, and DIY fabrication.
References & Links
Curated books, research papers, essential URLs, and key quotes.
Content Streams & Categorization
Behind the scenes, content is organized quietly by origin and perspective rather than rigid subject silos:
- Me: Notes about myself, personal biodata (activity, sleep, health tracking), personal bookmarks, and things written about me by me.
- Mine: Original essays, technical notes, software, and physical making projects authored directly by me.
- AI: Explorations and code generated or co-authored with artificial intelligence.
- Ours: Collaborative works created jointly with peers, friends, or humans and AI.
- Theirs: Curated external references, quotes, and third-party works.
Contact & Reader Feedback
Interested in discussing a project, sharing notes, or providing critique?
This site operates under a strict Zero-JavaScript policy. Reader submissions from posts and inquiries are routed through a private Google Apps Script & Google Sheets pipeline, triaged and synthesized using local LLM tooling, and compiled into static editorial digests without exposing the site to client-side scripts or public comment spam.
- Direct Email: jimcollinsworth@gmail.com
- Discussion & Pipeline Architecture: Track the zero-JS commenting system design in GitHub Issue #9.