Generating Images with Tao Te Ching Quotes

Automated infodumping

I really enjoy the fact that Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu exists. The first translation I have ever read was Carol Deppe's. It's simple, made with some artistic liberty to read more easily, so it was a great intro.

I wanted to infodump about it to snow but that's a lot of content to speak or type, even for me. But she did some computer magic to a kindle and exposed http://kindle.sn0w.cx/data which accepts image data in POST requests and displays them on that kindle (somewhere in her house).

Then I found out about this beautiful font Compass by somepx.

And now I connected those two dots into the inspiration for this quick project.

The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao. The name that can be named is not the eternal name. Unnamable is the essence. Naming is the beginning of ten thousand particular things. Named are the manifestations. Nameless is the mystery.

photo of the kindle displaying the same quote image as above

Give birth without owning. Love without possessing. Teach without making dependent. Lead without trying to control. Act by helping things happen naturally. Guide by helping things grow naturally. Empty yourself, and let the Tao fill you and move through you and use you as part of the pattern.

Muddy water, when still, gradually becomes clear. Be still. Let your mud settle and your mind clear. Wait quietly until the right action comes naturally.

The Tao is like water. Water takes the lowest way. It flows around obstacles. It has no projections, but it penetrates that which has no crevices. It’s the softest of all things, but it grinds rock. It resists nothing, but is irresistible. It asks for nothing, but nourishes everything. It strives for nothing, but transforms everything.

So I wrote code that generates images with Tao Te Ching quotes using this font and displays them one by one every 3 days on snow's kindle :3

The code

Here's the git repo: tao_quote_display

This is very spaghetti code - don't use it as a good example of programatic image generation. I was writing it as I was experimenting and silly reasons don't justify refactoring time. It works!

The code runs every day but it only generates and sends an image every 3 days. It takes the next quote that it hasn't shown yet, finds the right font size and line breaks in a very inefficient way, adds the attribution for the translator of the book and the font author, and POSTs it to snow's kindle.

Result

Now all my infodumping about Tao Te Ching will happen automatically! It will happen over *quick math* about a year (107 quotes, once every 3 days).

I love the old-school fantasy look of the text and I find it satisfying that it displays literal ancient wisdom.

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