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Not Boring by Packy...
Hyperlegible 002: Utsav Mamoria How to live an intellectually rich life
2 weeks ago
Seth's Blog
Avoiding food waste confusion Everybody eats That’s the biggest problem. While plenty of people drive or play pickleball, eating...
over a year ago
75
over a year ago
Everybody eats That’s the biggest problem. While plenty of people drive or play pickleball, eating is particularly widespread. Seven billion people multiplies into a big number… Creating the food we eat has significant climate impact. Some of the factors, in unranked order: Even...
Open Culture
Take The Near Impossible Literacy Test Louisiana Used to Suppress the Black Vote (1964) In William Faulkner’s 1938 novel The Unvanquished, the implacable Colonel Sartoris takes drastic...
6 months ago
52
6 months ago
In William Faulkner’s 1938 novel The Unvanquished, the implacable Colonel Sartoris takes drastic action to stop the election of a black Republican candidate to office after the Civil War, destroying the ballots of black voters and shooting two Northern carpetbaggers. While such...
Seth's Blog
We are all goofballs When someone makes an obvious mistake, it’s tempting to label then with a term that’s dismissive or...
2 weeks ago
10
2 weeks ago
When someone makes an obvious mistake, it’s tempting to label then with a term that’s dismissive or even hurtful. A label is permanent, a noun, a way to sort and divide. But of course, others can say precisely the same thing about us when we were uninformed, selfish or in a...
Seth's Blog
The empathy of magic Magicians know where the trapdoors are, what’s up their sleeves and how to hide the ball. And yet,...
a year ago
17
a year ago
Magicians know where the trapdoors are, what’s up their sleeves and how to hide the ball. And yet, mechanical skill is just the first step in being actually good at magic. The real skill is in finding the empathy to imagine that someone else might believe. To do the trick for...
Handprinted - Blog
Mark Marking - Using Etching Tools When you’ve degreased and prepared your plate for etching, there are a variety of tools you can use...
a year ago
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a year ago
When you’ve degreased and prepared your plate for etching, there are a variety of tools you can use to mark into the surface. Any marks made into the surface of the grounds will expose your plate to the mordant. When etched, these marks will become sunken areas for ink to sit,...
Open Culture
How an Ancient Roman Shipwreck Could Explain the Universe In a 1956 New Statesman piece, the British scientist-novelist C. P. Snow first sounded the alarm...
8 months ago
32
8 months ago
In a 1956 New Statesman piece, the British scientist-novelist C. P. Snow first sounded the alarm about the increasingly chasm-like divide between what he called the “scientific” and “traditional” cultures. We would today refer to them as the sciences and the humanities, while...
Haterade
RECIPE: Barbecue Boost, Quickly (BBQ) Running Gel This one's for the meatheads.
a year ago
Handprinted - Blog
Meet the Maker: Gemma Berenguer (Monostereo) My name is Gemma Berenguer and I'm from Barcelona. I'm a printmaker specialising in screen printing,...
7 months ago
78
7 months ago
My name is Gemma Berenguer and I'm from Barcelona. I'm a printmaker specialising in screen printing, although I also dabble in etching and block printing as well. I run Monostereo, a screen printing company in Barcelona, which has been operating for 15 years now.  I first...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet the Makers 2022 We've featured some fantastic makers on our Meet the Maker blog this year! Thank you to all that...
over a year ago
49
over a year ago
We've featured some fantastic makers on our Meet the Maker blog this year! Thank you to all that have been involved and those that are yet to come in 2023! We love reading about your printmaking practices and hearing your beautiful words of advice. Grab yourself a drink, pop...
Handprinted - Blog
Easy Christmas Cards Six Ways We’ve had a lot of fun this week working on easy, quick and fun ways to print your own Christmas...
a year ago
85
a year ago
We’ve had a lot of fun this week working on easy, quick and fun ways to print your own Christmas cards! We’ve come up with six simple ways for you to try. Take a look at our instructions below and have a go yourself.   Bah Humbug Lino Printed Card This two-layered lino card is...
Seth's Blog
Make or buy? If you’re a writer, it probably doesn’t pay to chop down trees and make your own paper, or even to...
a year ago
24
a year ago
If you’re a writer, it probably doesn’t pay to chop down trees and make your own paper, or even to set up a little machine shop to make your own pens. That’s pretty obvious. Should the smoothie shop make its own almond milk? It’s pretty clear that Starbucks should have a team of...
Seth's Blog
Rethinking the Sports-Industrial Complex School sports can have some valuable outputs: And yet, many schools act as if all they have is a...
over a year ago
79
over a year ago
School sports can have some valuable outputs: And yet, many schools act as if all they have is a trophy shortage. They bench kids who might not (yet) have the physical attributes necessary to win, or they build huge stadiums, go on long road trips, berate students that make an...
Open Culture
Behold the First American Board Game, Travellers’ Tour Through the United States (1822) Asked to name a classic American board game, most of us would first think of Monopoly, whose imagery...
7 months ago
53
7 months ago
Asked to name a classic American board game, most of us would first think of Monopoly, whose imagery and verbiage — Park Place, Rich Uncle Pennybags, “Do not pass go” — has worked its way deep into the culture since Parker Brothers brought it to market in 1935. Despite that, it...
Seth's Blog
The thing about decay One reason we have so much trouble fixing chronic degenerative conditions is that we need to remove...
a year ago
79
a year ago
One reason we have so much trouble fixing chronic degenerative conditions is that we need to remove elements before we can start building new functions. If we simply put effort on top of a shaky foundation, it’ll all be wasted. The best way forward might be to take a few steps...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet the Maker: Jenny McCabe I am printmaker based up north in Lancaster. I currently work mainly with intaglio printmaking...
over a year ago
53
over a year ago
I am printmaker based up north in Lancaster. I currently work mainly with intaglio printmaking methods, preferring metal plate etchings and card Collagraph constructed plates. I have been making printed items for many years including printed textiles and writing books about...
Open Culture
Orson Welles Narrates an Animated Parable About How Xenophobia & Greed Will Put America Into Decline... More than 50 years and 10 presidential administrations have passed since Orson Welles narrated...
6 months ago
51
6 months ago
More than 50 years and 10 presidential administrations have passed since Orson Welles narrated Freedom River. And while it shows signs of age, the animated film, a parable about the role of immigration, race, and wealth in America, still resonates today. Actually, given the...
Seth's Blog
Customer satisfaction and tipping In North America, tipping is an unfair system built into the status quo by law. Restaurants aren’t...
a year ago
33
a year ago
In North America, tipping is an unfair system built into the status quo by law. Restaurants aren’t allowed to easily spread tips around, and as a result, they tend to to exacerbate many of the inequities in our culture at the same time that they make it hard to count on a fair...
Open Culture
The Story of Fascism: Rick Steves’ Documentary Helps Us Learn from the Painful Lessons of the 20th... From Rick Steves comes a thought-provoking documentary that revisits the rise of fascism in Europe,...
5 months ago
29
5 months ago
From Rick Steves comes a thought-provoking documentary that revisits the rise of fascism in Europe, reminding us of how charismatic figures like Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler came to power by promising to create a better future for their frustrated, economically depressed...
Open Culture
Simone de Beauvoir Explains “Why I’m a Feminist” in a Rare TV Interview (1975) In Simone de Beauvoir’s 1945 novel The Blood of Others, the narrator, Jean Blomart, reports on his...
9 months ago
38
9 months ago
In Simone de Beauvoir’s 1945 novel The Blood of Others, the narrator, Jean Blomart, reports on his childhood friend Marcel’s reaction to the word “revolution”: It was senseless to try to change anything in the world or in life; things were bad enough even if one did not meddle...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet The Maker - Rebecca Perdue Hello! I'm Rebecca Perdue. I am a printmaker and artist based in a small garden studio in Wiltshire....
a year ago
75
a year ago
Hello! I'm Rebecca Perdue. I am a printmaker and artist based in a small garden studio in Wiltshire. I work primarily in linocut and monoprint, but also paint and make occasional silver jewellery pieces and textiles. I'm very interested in linking work across several...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet The Maker: Ariana Martin Hi, I’m Ariana - a pattern designer and printmaker from leafy Sheffield. I create joyful patterns...
a year ago
75
a year ago
Hi, I’m Ariana - a pattern designer and printmaker from leafy Sheffield. I create joyful patterns and illustrations, which are particularly inspired by 20th century design, and I produce my own range of stationery and homewares.     Describe your printmaking process. Screen...
Seth's Blog
The four cohorts of the status quo The first group cares about the policy. They benefit from it. They’ve organized themselves around...
a year ago
21
a year ago
The first group cares about the policy. They benefit from it. They’ve organized themselves around it. The second group cares about stability. They have limited bandwidth, and they’re not particularly interested in reconsidering everything, all the time. The third group doesn’t...
Blog - Amy Goodchild
Forecast Forecast is a long-form generative art project released on fxhash on 16th Feb 2023. This article...
over a year ago
14
over a year ago
Forecast is a long-form generative art project released on fxhash on 16th Feb 2023. This article contains info about techniques and some rambling about concepts and emotions.
Seth's Blog
The strategy sessions I’m workshopping a new book. For the last few months, I’ve been feverishly writing a book about...
11 months ago
94
11 months ago
I’m workshopping a new book. For the last few months, I’ve been feverishly writing a book about strategy. Strategy for individuals, small organizations and large ones as well. Strategy for someone seeking to make a difference, and strategy for people who do projects. Starting...
Seth's Blog
Project/Product managers You might be both. In big organizations, project management is a distinct skill. It involves...
3 months ago
45
3 months ago
You might be both. In big organizations, project management is a distinct skill. It involves timekeeping, record keeping and organization. The project manager knows the budget and the deadline, and ensures that constituents stay in sync. This is the construction coordinator and...
On the Arts
Istanbul's Blue Tile Paradise The Hidden Mosque of Rüstem Pasha
a year ago
Open Culture
Artificial Intelligence & Drones Uncover 303 New Nazca Lines in Peru If you visit one tourist site in Peru, it will almost certainly be the ruined Incan city of Machu...
6 months ago
51
6 months ago
If you visit one tourist site in Peru, it will almost certainly be the ruined Incan city of Machu Picchu. If you visit another, it’ll probably be the Nazca Desert, home to many large-scale geoglyphs made by pre-Inca peoples between 500 BC and 500 AD. Many of these “Nazca lines”...
Neocha – Culture &...
Unraveling the Enigma
over a year ago
Seth's Blog
Clarity about the benefits Work on climate problems is actually about efficiency. It’s easier and cheaper to avoid sloppiness...
2 months ago
28
2 months ago
Work on climate problems is actually about efficiency. It’s easier and cheaper to avoid sloppiness and side effects than it is to clean the mess up later. And energy sources that don’t burn become cheaper over time. The investment in getting started pays off in cost, health and...
Not Boring by Packy...
Weekly Dose of Optimism #137 Mitochondria, Image Generation, Nobels, Vast, Common Sense, AI Lifeguards, Tina He
3 weeks ago
Seth's Blog
How to change the world All successful cultural change (books, movies, public health), has a super-simple two-step loop:...
over a year ago
81
over a year ago
All successful cultural change (books, movies, public health), has a super-simple two-step loop: AWARENESSTENSION–>Loop<– It’s easy to focus on awareness. Get the word out. Hype. Promo. I think that’s a mistake. Because awareness without tension is useless. The tension is like...
Seth's Blog
The Strategy Questions My new book (out today) contains more than 500 questions. Here are some to get you started:
6 months ago
Seth's Blog
For customers vs to customers In the life of every enterprise, the moment arises when a choice has to be made: Are you here for...
a year ago
18
a year ago
In the life of every enterprise, the moment arises when a choice has to be made: Are you here for your customers, to give them what they seek, or are you trying to do something to your customers, to squeeze out extra income? This doesn’t mean that the only path is to keep...
Stat Significant
Which Movies Do People Love to Hate? A Statistical Analysis Which films and actors are famous for being bad?
a month ago
Infinite Scroll
Weekly Scroll: Striking Out General strikes, Opinion Blunders, and Yassified Shrek
a month ago
John Reynolds -...
Mammoth Life - Lights Out Music Video Title: Lights OutArtist: Mammoth LifeYear: 2014 --
over a year ago
Handprinted - Blog
Meet the Maker: Kate Maxwell Hello! I’m Kate Maxwell from Design and Draw. I’m a printmaker and freelance Illustrator. I make...
a year ago
41
a year ago
Hello! I’m Kate Maxwell from Design and Draw. I’m a printmaker and freelance Illustrator. I make colourful screen prints, risographs and other handprinted goods. You can also find my freelance illustrations on wooden toys and in children’s publishing. Describe your printmaking...
Seth's Blog
In and out Lots of organizations (and individuals) have plans and processes for getting the word out. In fact,...
over a year ago
58
over a year ago
Lots of organizations (and individuals) have plans and processes for getting the word out. In fact, we spend trillions of dollars doing so. Do you have a plan for getting the word in? Is it simply random chance that some ideas get to you and your team, that cultural and technical...
Seth's Blog
The cheap chocolate system The first step in building a successful and elegant strategy is to see the systems that are part of...
6 months ago
35
6 months ago
The first step in building a successful and elegant strategy is to see the systems that are part of our lives. October is a fine month to take a moment to look closely at one: the system that brings us cheap chocolate. Like most systems, it’s largely invisible. The people in it...
Haterade
Introducing: Barbecue Running Gel It's time to smoke the competition.
a year ago
Open Culture
Beautiful 19th Century Maps of Dante’s Divine Comedy: Inferno, Purgatory, Paradise & More Even the least religious among us speak, at least on occasion, of the circles of hell. When we do...
4 months ago
44
4 months ago
Even the least religious among us speak, at least on occasion, of the circles of hell. When we do so, we may or may not be thinking of where the concept originated: Dante’s Divina Commedia, or Divine Comedy. We each imagine the circles in our own way — usually filling them with...
Open Culture
Scientists Discover that Ancient Egyptians Drank Hallucinogenic Cocktails from 2,300 Year-Old Mug Bes mug by USF Institute for Digital Exploration (IDEx) on Sketchfab If ZZ Top have a favorite...
4 months ago
42
4 months ago
Bes mug by USF Institute for Digital Exploration (IDEx) on Sketchfab If ZZ Top have a favorite ancient Egyptian deity, that deity is surely Bes, whom the New York Times’ Alexander Nazaryan quotes curator and scholar Branko van Oppen de Ruiter as calling “a beer drinker and a...
Marian's Blog
LED Matrix Materials Guide I built an LED matrix out of 256 WS2812 LEDs. This post will describe which materials I used and...
over a year ago
23
over a year ago
I built an LED matrix out of 256 WS2812 LEDs. This post will describe which materials I used and which I tried with no success so you don’t have to. Case For the case, I used a custom made photo frame. The main purpose of the case is to look good, which is...
Seth's Blog
When the media is ready (Bongo part 2) Media isn’t a magazine or a website. It’s a system. We can learn to see the system and contribute to...
5 months ago
45
5 months ago
Media isn’t a magazine or a website. It’s a system. We can learn to see the system and contribute to it with leverage. There are three elements to consider in a media system that’s worth a professional creator’s time: Systems are changed by technology. When desktop publishing...
Blog - Amy Goodchild
Pretty much all I want in life… … is to make things and then have other people look at those things and be like “woah, cool”
over a year ago
Seth's Blog
Generosity and gratitude A gift doesn’t diminish the giver. Sharing creates connection, possibility and energy. And the magic...
a year ago
22
a year ago
A gift doesn’t diminish the giver. Sharing creates connection, possibility and energy. And the magic of gratitude is that it improves everything it touches, especially the person who offered it in the first place. So, what holds us back? Fear. Fear of connection, of change, of...
Seth's Blog
Dreams, plans and contradictions Dreams are fine. And dreams involve contradictions. We want this AND that, but both can’t happen....
a year ago
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a year ago
Dreams are fine. And dreams involve contradictions. We want this AND that, but both can’t happen. That’s what keeps them from being plans. Plans embrace boundaries and reality, they don’t ignore them. Plans thrive on scarcity and constraints. Plans are open for inspection, and a...
Seth's Blog
Peak infrastructure Community resources are easy to take for granted. Unevenly distributed, they’re the sort of thing we...
a year ago
77
a year ago
Community resources are easy to take for granted. Unevenly distributed, they’re the sort of thing we miss only when they’re gone. Invisible things are easy to ignore. I was stunned to see a sign in Connecticut that listed the names of dozens of highway workers who had been killed...
Seth's Blog
Walking the city, walking the world Last week, I passed 800 people as I walked my way through New York. I decided to look at the folks I...
a year ago
23
a year ago
Last week, I passed 800 people as I walked my way through New York. I decided to look at the folks I was walking near. Of those 800 people, not one was as conventionally attractive as a movie star. Few looked like the images I saw on the billboards I passed. Most wouldn’t be cast...
Open Culture
Watch The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, the Influential German Expressionist Horror Film (1920) In early 1920, posters began appearing all over Berlin with a hypnotic spiral and the mysterious...
5 months ago
33
5 months ago
In early 1920, posters began appearing all over Berlin with a hypnotic spiral and the mysterious command Du musst Caligari werden — “You must become Caligari.” The posters were part of an innovative advertising campaign for an upcoming movie by Robert Wiene called The Cabinet of...
Seth's Blog
“Can’t complain” (but it might be worth considering) Complaining is a cultural phenomenon, but it’s particularly prevalent in societies with a consumer...
2 months ago
30
2 months ago
Complaining is a cultural phenomenon, but it’s particularly prevalent in societies with a consumer culture (the customer is always right) and those where comfort is coming to be expected. Given all the complaining we do (about the weather, leadership, products, service and...
Open Culture
Behold the Kräuterbuch, a Lavishly Illustrated Guide to Plants and Herbs from 1462 When Konrad von Megenberg published his Buch der Natur in the mid-fourteenth century, he won the...
8 months ago
31
8 months ago
When Konrad von Megenberg published his Buch der Natur in the mid-fourteenth century, he won the distinction of having assembled the very first natural history in German. More than half a millennium later, the book still fascinates — not least for its depictions of cats,...
Seth's Blog
And it can also do that If you were around when the Model T was first announced, you could have built the organizations that...
a year ago
28
a year ago
If you were around when the Model T was first announced, you could have built the organizations that became Disney, McDonald’s and Holiday Inn, all of which were powered by cheap, plentiful cars. You could have become a major developer of suburbs, mortgage banking and even pop...
Open Culture
An Introduction to the Astonishing Book of Kells, the Iconic Illuminated Manuscript Whatever set of religious or cultural traditions you come from, you’ve probably seen a Celtic cross...
5 months ago
51
5 months ago
Whatever set of religious or cultural traditions you come from, you’ve probably seen a Celtic cross before. Unlike a conventional cross, it has a circular ring, or “nimbus,” where its arms and stem intersect. The sole addition of that element gives it a highly distinctive look,...
Open Culture
When a Drunken Charles Bukowski Walked Off the Prestigious French Talk Show Apostrophes (1978) Charles Bukowski didn’t do TV — or at least he didn’t do American TV. Like a Hollywood movie star...
10 months ago
73
10 months ago
Charles Bukowski didn’t do TV — or at least he didn’t do American TV. Like a Hollywood movie star shooting a Japanese commercial, he did make an exception for a gig abroad. It happened in 1978, when the poet received an invitation from the popular French literary talk...
Not Boring by Packy...
Us Against Spacetime On the improbability and promise of being alive on Earth in 2025
a week ago
Seth's Blog
Input choice is easily taken for granted We can give instructions to a fellow human by: Most people develop voiceboxes and limbs and facial...
a year ago
20
a year ago
We can give instructions to a fellow human by: Most people develop voiceboxes and limbs and facial expressions that make any of these usable. Computers, over the decades, have had to have them engineered. In 1983, Dan Lovy built a parser for the adventure games I was marketing at...
Seth's Blog
The answer to every question If the thing of the moment is the answer to every single question, you might be in a bubble. If,...
over a year ago
75
over a year ago
If the thing of the moment is the answer to every single question, you might be in a bubble. If, regardless of the problem, the answer is crypto, homeopathy, or the internet, or perhaps GPT, essential oils or decarbonization, it’s possible we’re taking an easy way out. A new...
Not Boring by Packy...
Who is Larry Ellison? Anton Troynikov's Guest Post on the "CEO of Everything"
a month ago
Handprinted - Blog
Meet The Maker: Olesya Dzhurayeva I am Olesya Dzhurayeva, Ukrainian artist. I was born in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan, but I...
9 months ago
83
9 months ago
I am Olesya Dzhurayeva, Ukrainian artist. I was born in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan, but I moved to Ukraine as a child. Now I live in Kyiv. Despite the war, I am staying in Ukraine and continue to work. I am an active member of the international printmaking community,...
Seth's Blog
The catfight and the construction site We’re quick to stop to see the car wreck, the billionaire having a meltdown, or the professional...
a year ago
37
a year ago
We’re quick to stop to see the car wreck, the billionaire having a meltdown, or the professional wrestlers pretending to be political leaders. But it often seems more difficult to take a moment to watch people building something that matters instead. We’ll probably spend billions...
Seth's Blog
The ledge Drowning is devastating, a tragic and painful way to go. So much so that feeling like we’re drowning...
7 months ago
57
7 months ago
Drowning is devastating, a tragic and painful way to go. So much so that feeling like we’re drowning is a trigger, an overwhelming emotion that causes us to grasp, struggle and leave our best self behind. It’s easy to experience this even when we’re out of the water. When the...
Anarchy Unfolds
Did we really just get taken over by fascists in less than a month? Red Round-up #2
2 months ago
Seth's Blog
Self restaint vs systemic restraint It’s not hypocritical to help yourself at a buffet at the same time you counsel the owner of the...
over a year ago
75
over a year ago
It’s not hypocritical to help yourself at a buffet at the same time you counsel the owner of the restaurant to limit the number of trips that people take so that the restaurant can become sustainable. It’s possible to argue for systemic changes to cultural systems while also...
Open Culture
Revisit Episodes of Liquid Television, MTV’s 90s Showcase of Funny, Irreverent & Bizarre Animation MTV stands for Music Television, and when the network launched in 1981, its almost entirely music...
6 months ago
62
6 months ago
MTV stands for Music Television, and when the network launched in 1981, its almost entirely music video-based programming was true to its name. Within a decade, however, its mandate had widened to the point that it had become the natural home for practically any exciting...
Open Culture
The “Nonsense” Botanical Illustrations of Victorian Artist-Poet Edward Lear (1871–77) Since the Victorian era, Edward Lear’s “The Owl and the Pussy-Cat” has been, for generation upon...
9 months ago
56
9 months ago
Since the Victorian era, Edward Lear’s “The Owl and the Pussy-Cat” has been, for generation upon generation in the English-speaking world, the kind of poem that one simply knows, whether one remembers actually having read it or not. As with most such works that seep so...
Seth's Blog
Toward leggerio We might not seek it out often enough in our work. It’s a musical term, but we can use it too. The...
3 weeks ago
14
3 weeks ago
We might not seek it out often enough in our work. It’s a musical term, but we can use it too. The light touch. A way to make a sound without making a commotion. Delicate and graceful. Showing up with care and with just enough extra, but not more than that. see also: sprezzatura
Seth's Blog
Kinds of incompetence The second worst is the unaware sort. The work doesn’t meet spec, and we don’t even realize it. The...
2 months ago
61
2 months ago
The second worst is the unaware sort. The work doesn’t meet spec, and we don’t even realize it. The worst is uncaring. We know the work doesn’t meet spec, but we don’t bother to fix it. But there are other varieties, and some are worth seeking out: There’s the incompetence of...
The Last...
Product Review: Panasonic PT AX200U (Hipsters On Food Stamps Part 3) but how will you afford a steak? Part 2 here Three questions, open book: 1.  Did Hipster...
over a year ago
12
over a year ago
but how will you afford a steak? Part 2 here Three questions, open book: 1.  Did Hipster Gerry get his money's worth from the University of Chicago, either $100k in future income or knowledge?  No. 2. Did society get their money's worth in sending him, i.e. by...
Stat Significant
What Are the Greatest Sequels of All Time? A Statistical Analysis What are the best movie sequels, and why?
3 months ago
Open Culture
Watch Fantasmagorie, the World’s First Animated Cartoon (1908) Trying to describe the plot of Fantasmagorie, the world’s first animated cartoon, is a folly akin to...
7 months ago
61
7 months ago
Trying to describe the plot of Fantasmagorie, the world’s first animated cartoon, is a folly akin to putting last night’s dream into words: I was dressed as a clown and then I was in a theater, except I was also hiding under this lady’s hat, and the guy behind us was plucking out...
Seth's Blog
Kinds of power There’s the James Bond villian sort of power, based on division, dominance and destruction. This is...
5 months ago
51
5 months ago
There’s the James Bond villian sort of power, based on division, dominance and destruction. This is the short-term power of bullies, trauma and mobs. And then there’s a more resilient form of power. This is power based on connection, discussion and metrics. A power based in...
Seth's Blog
Bob Dobalina I considered myself someone with an encyclopedic knowledge of a narrow range of mid-1960s TV and...
over a year ago
70
over a year ago
I considered myself someone with an encyclopedic knowledge of a narrow range of mid-1960s TV and certain strains of pop music as well. I was stunned, then, to hear the song Zilch for the first time recently. Mr. Dobalina, Mr. Bob Dobalina. It’s unforgettable. And it’s from the...
Seth's Blog
Complaints The best way to complain is to make things better. Complaining can be a form of intimacy. It’s a...
4 months ago
66
4 months ago
The best way to complain is to make things better. Complaining can be a form of intimacy. It’s a useful way to explain our behavior. And best of all, it gives us a way to communicate as we work to create community action. The rest sort of complaint requires generosity and...
Seth's Blog
What do we owe the future? You are someone’s ancestor. Most immediately, you are the ancestor of the you of tomorrow. That’s...
5 months ago
51
5 months ago
You are someone’s ancestor. Most immediately, you are the ancestor of the you of tomorrow. That’s why we don’t spend every penny in our bank account, why we put leftovers in the fridge, why we earn a degree–it’s a gift to the you of tomorrow. Each of us have a way of thinking...
Seth's Blog
Summarize this… A great use of ChatGPT and other AI is to paste relevant text into the chat box and ask for a...
a year ago
14
a year ago
A great use of ChatGPT and other AI is to paste relevant text into the chat box and ask for a summary. I did this with 300 suggestions that came via a Google form and it did the work better, faster and with more clarity (and less bias) than a person would. Often, we’re clouded...
Seth's Blog
Podcasts, international covers and more I just received copies of the new reprints of four of my books in the UK: I’m really pleased at how...
a year ago
45
a year ago
I just received copies of the new reprints of four of my books in the UK: I’m really pleased at how the books have stayed relevant and also delighted at what a good job the publisher did with the reissues. Also, the Italian version of This is Marketing just went back for its 14th...
Seth's Blog
The good china Once you use your plates every day, they cease to be the good china. Of course, the plates didn’t...
a year ago
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a year ago
Once you use your plates every day, they cease to be the good china. Of course, the plates didn’t change. Your story did. The way you treat them did. The same goes for the red carpet. If you roll it out for every visitor or every customer, it ceases to be red.
Seth's Blog
Our new school When I include links to various books and items on this blog, your purchases generate a small...
3 months ago
35
3 months ago
When I include links to various books and items on this blog, your purchases generate a small royalty that I earmark for worthy causes. This year, we were able to help BuildOn and the community in Khakh build a new school. It’s the first real school building the village has ever...
Seth's Blog
But it matters a lot to them… To get to the Kebab House Cafe, you’ll need to drive past a dozen fast food restaurants, restaurants...
a year ago
22
a year ago
To get to the Kebab House Cafe, you’ll need to drive past a dozen fast food restaurants, restaurants you can find off just about any interstate. It’s certainly less convenient to go a few blocks off the beaten path, but the food and service and vibe might be worth it. The thing...
Seth's Blog
Collectibles (and list updates) The Strategy Deck that I made to go with my book has developed a real following. It’s a powerful way...
3 months ago
43
3 months ago
The Strategy Deck that I made to go with my book has developed a real following. It’s a powerful way to break a creative logjam. Taking out the deck in a meeting lowers resistance and increases a sense of possibility and playfulness. I’ve just gone back to press for a fourth...
Stat Significant
Gender Representation in the Film Industry: A Statistical Analysis Tracking the evolution of gender representation in acting, directing, and producing.
8 months ago
Seth's Blog
Boundaries and limits They serve different purposes. The fence near the train tracks is a boundary. You can go near it...
10 months ago
81
10 months ago
They serve different purposes. The fence near the train tracks is a boundary. You can go near it without risk. The electrified third rail, on the other hand, is a limit. If you touch it, you’re done. Boundaries can give us room to innovate and thrive. Budgets, schedules and...
Seth's Blog
Reimagining cities in a few simple questions What would happen if public transportation were free? What if it were paid for by congestion...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
What would happen if public transportation were free? What if it were paid for by congestion pricing, digitally implemented? What if public toilets were safe, beautiful, well-appointed and consistently maintained? What if there were a tax on empty storefronts, payable after three...
Anarchy Unfolds
Not today, pink elephants of doom Blue Bulletin #1
a week ago
Handprinted - Blog
In the Studio 2023 We've been looking back on all our studio highlights for 2023, and what a year it's been! If you...
a year ago
81
a year ago
We've been looking back on all our studio highlights for 2023, and what a year it's been! If you took part in one of our Fab Fridays, attended a workshop, or used the studio for open access - thanks for being a part of our studio! We hope to see you back again in 2024! Workshops...
Open Culture
Mark Twain & Helen Keller’s Special Friendship: He Treated Me Not as a Freak, But as a Person... Sometimes it can seem as though the more we think we know a historical figure, the less we actually...
8 months ago
58
8 months ago
Sometimes it can seem as though the more we think we know a historical figure, the less we actually do. Helen Keller? We’ve all seen (or think we’ve seen) some version of The Miracle Worker, right?—even if we haven’t actually read Keller’s autobiography. And Mark Twain? He can...
Marian's Blog
Game prototypes I’d like to share two game prototypes I made a few years ago. The first one is based on Tetris: ...
over a year ago
16
over a year ago
I’d like to share two game prototypes I made a few years ago. The first one is based on Tetris: It was written in C++ with bare-bones OpenGL. Once you press shift, the game enters a “fast mode”, where the down button takes a piece all the way down and if you...
Open Culture
You Can Buy Historic Italian Houses for €1 — But What’s the Catch? From Abruzzo to Vergemoli, small Italian towns and villages have recently been making their historic...
9 months ago
77
9 months ago
From Abruzzo to Vergemoli, small Italian towns and villages have recently been making their historic homes available for purchase for as low as €1. Given the picturesque nature of many of these places, such offers have proven practically irresistible to foreign buyers who’ve made...
Not Boring by Packy...
Hyperlegible 003: Julian Lehr The case against conversational interfaces
2 weeks ago
Seth's Blog
“We used to do that” When electricity came along, there was a swath of industries that were trapped in an old way of...
a year ago
27
a year ago
When electricity came along, there was a swath of industries that were trapped in an old way of thinking. The only ones that thrived were able to walk away from what they used to do and eagerly embrace something new. When the internet was young, the major book publishers had...
Prolost
New Photography Shortcuts Using ToolBox Pro My love affair with Apple’s Shortcuts took a bit of a hit during the transition to iOS 13, but my...
over a year ago
27
over a year ago
My love affair with Apple’s Shortcuts took a bit of a hit during the transition to iOS 13, but my fascination with this on-device development environment has been rekindled thanks to a new app called ToolBox Pro. ToolBox Pro is a free iOS/iPadOS app that adds powerful new actions...
Anarchy Unfolds
The big picture, AI, chemophobia, rocket mass heaters Green Gatherings #1
6 months ago
The Last...
The Maintenance Of Certification Exam As Fetish no need to wait for the receipt (I had reworked an old post for a psychiatry trade journal, which I...
over a year ago
18
over a year ago
no need to wait for the receipt (I had reworked an old post for a psychiatry trade journal, which I would happily have linked you to, except that page 2 is behind a login wall. So here is the version I submitted before the editors edited it, slightly longer with more typos. I am...
Seth's Blog
It’s not easy to see time Consider a simple graph of the temperature of the Earth over time. There’s nothing interesting about...
6 months ago
64
6 months ago
Consider a simple graph of the temperature of the Earth over time. There’s nothing interesting about any frame of this graph. But when we pause for just a few seconds for it to load and render, we can see 150 years unfold and then the truth becomes apparent. The snapshot is a...
Seth's Blog
Most people (and the people you choose) Most people want you to make something cheap, write something short, share something funny, and fit...
over a year ago
40
over a year ago
Most people want you to make something cheap, write something short, share something funny, and fit in. But the people you serve… they might want something else. The few people you need to thrive in your work might want you to write something they’ll remember for a long time, or...
Seth's Blog
The 2 x 4 lessons You’ll need two 8-foot boards and six five-gallon buckets. Each board is a standard 2 x 4, about two...
a year ago
26
a year ago
You’ll need two 8-foot boards and six five-gallon buckets. Each board is a standard 2 x 4, about two inches by four inches in size. And the bucket is about two feet deep. The first lesson is simple: Put the board on the floor and have a colleague walk from one end to the other....
Seth's Blog
The first draft of your first non-fiction book Writing a book is good for you. It clarifies your thinking and it’s generous as well. You might not...
4 months ago
47
4 months ago
Writing a book is good for you. It clarifies your thinking and it’s generous as well. You might not publish it professionally, but sharing it with people you want to teach and lead is a useful practice. The first draft can be challenging. We’re facing a blank page, trying to find...
Seth's Blog
Anti-smart There’s a difference between intellectual and smart. A plumber is smart, they know how to do a...
a year ago
17
a year ago
There’s a difference between intellectual and smart. A plumber is smart, they know how to do a skilled and effective job on the task at hand. Intellectualism isn’t about practical results, it’s a passion for exploring what others have said, though this approach is sometimes...
Seth's Blog
Don’t steal the revelation Learning is a journey of incompetence. First, we realize that there’s something we don’t know. Then...
3 months ago
33
3 months ago
Learning is a journey of incompetence. First, we realize that there’s something we don’t know. Then we see that we’re going to be better at it, and we’re not good at it yet. Then we figure it out and we’ve succeeded. Repeat. When we pre-process the information and simply test...
Seth's Blog
“I changed my mind” Who is “I” and how does that “I” have the power to change the mind in question? What actually...
5 months ago
52
5 months ago
Who is “I” and how does that “I” have the power to change the mind in question? What actually happens is this: If you are brave enough to have your mind changed, experience can do that. But it’s rarely as conscious an intentional act as we give ourselves credit for.
Handprinted - Blog
Mono Screen Printing Using a Guide Mono screen printing is a great technique if you want to create beautiful painterly prints but...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
Mono screen printing is a great technique if you want to create beautiful painterly prints but achieve the flatness of a screen print. It allows you to incorporate multiple colours in one layer and play with brush strokes and mark making.  When working with this technique,...
Seth's Blog
The missing post I had a great idea for a post, my best blogging of the year, in fact. I worked it all out when I was...
a year ago
81
a year ago
I had a great idea for a post, my best blogging of the year, in fact. I worked it all out when I was driving, but when I arrived, it was gone. Vanished. So I went searching for it, trying out dozens of possible ideas. I never found it. But I did find five other […]
Seth's Blog
What’s the right size? There are no city buses with just four seats. And none with 400 seats. We get to leverage the...
a year ago
28
a year ago
There are no city buses with just four seats. And none with 400 seats. We get to leverage the driver’s effort if we put in a few more seats, but add too many and the bus is too big to make a turn–and soon we’d have to add conductors and cleaners and then the bus […]
Open Culture
How a Steady Supply of Coffee Helped the Union Win the U.S. Civil War Americans doing “e‑mail jobs” and working in the “laptop class” tend to make much of the quantity of...
9 months ago
51
9 months ago
Americans doing “e‑mail jobs” and working in the “laptop class” tend to make much of the quantity of coffee they require to keep going, or even to get started. In that sense alone, they have something in common with Civil War soldiers. “Union soldiers were given 36 pounds of...
Seth's Blog
Why and how Let’s get rid of science class in school. Instead, beginning in kindergarten, we could devote a...
a week ago
7
a week ago
Let’s get rid of science class in school. Instead, beginning in kindergarten, we could devote a class to curiosity and explanation. A class that persistently and consistently teaches kids to ask why and to answer how. The unacceptable single-word answers are “because” and...
Open Culture
“The Virtues of Coffee” Explained in 1690 Ad: The Cure for Lethargy, Scurvy, Dropsy, Gout & More According to many historians, the English Enlightenment may never have happened were it not for...
11 months ago
45
11 months ago
According to many historians, the English Enlightenment may never have happened were it not for coffeehouses, the public sphere where poets, critics, philosophers, legal minds, and other intellectual gadflies regularly met to chatter about the pressing concerns of the day. And...
Anarchy Unfolds
Straight Talk About Being Gay Transcending orientation helps straight men and boys too
8 months ago
Seth's Blog
The arrogance of improvement Who are you to make things better? How dare you raise your hand to help, offer an idea, take...
a year ago
26
a year ago
Who are you to make things better? How dare you raise your hand to help, offer an idea, take responsibility… Perhaps it might be helpful to reframe that feeling as the generosity of improvement instead. If not you, who? If not now, when?
Seth's Blog
The Santa problem An echo chamber is created by a marketer to assemble a group of people who are insulated from...
a year ago
21
a year ago
An echo chamber is created by a marketer to assemble a group of people who are insulated from conventional discourse. It can happen to sports and music fans, to investors, to companies that have confidence in their view of the world, or to social or political gatherings. We...
Seth's Blog
The problem with shock design If attention is what you seek and attention is what you measure, it’s likely you’ll create drama....
4 months ago
43
4 months ago
If attention is what you seek and attention is what you measure, it’s likely you’ll create drama. And drama is inherently short-lived. The managing director of Jaguar said, “We’ve certainly gathered an awful lot of attention over the last few weeks.” Choosing the word “awful” was...
Infinite Scroll
Weekly Scroll: Politics Yet Again GOP 4channers, more Twitch drama, and a Very Mad Laptop Company
5 months ago
Open Culture
How the Influential Time-Travel Movie La Jetée Was Made (Almost) Entirely out of Still Photographs In a future where humanity has been driven underground by an apocalyptic event, a prisoner is...
5 months ago
25
5 months ago
In a future where humanity has been driven underground by an apocalyptic event, a prisoner is haunted by the childhood memory of seeing a man gunned down at an airport. A group of scientists make him their time-traveling guinea pig, hoping that he’ll be able to find a way to...
Seth's Blog
An eroding sense of wonder We live in a science fiction universe. A $20 dose of penicillin was priceless a century ago. The...
a week ago
8
a week ago
We live in a science fiction universe. A $20 dose of penicillin was priceless a century ago. The five cents (a nickel!) we spend to light our home might have been the sort of thing we needed to trade an hour of labor for a few generations ago. The ability to press a button and...
Open Culture
Hear the Song Written on a Sinner’s Buttock in Hieronymus Bosch’s Painting The Garden of Earthly... There’s something unusually exciting about finding a hidden or discreetly placed element in a...
11 months ago
54
11 months ago
There’s something unusually exciting about finding a hidden or discreetly placed element in a well-known painting. I can only imagine the thrill of the physician who first noticed the curious presence of a human brain in Michelangelo’s The Creation of Adam: God, his retinue of...
Seth's Blog
Skipping the good days Part of the luxury of living near the ocean or the mountains is that you can be picky. If the surf...
a year ago
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a year ago
Part of the luxury of living near the ocean or the mountains is that you can be picky. If the surf or the powder isn’t great, leave it for the tourists. Good is insufficient, wait for the great moments… When we’re young, or the project is going really well, it’s easy to waste the...
Seth's Blog
The sad compromise of “sponsored results” Google made a fortune and honed sponsored search results into an art form. The theory is that people...
7 months ago
42
7 months ago
Google made a fortune and honed sponsored search results into an art form. The theory is that people who want the traffic the most will pay for the clicks, and of course, if the advertisers don’t have something you ultimately want, they’ll just waste their money. Let the market...
Seth's Blog
If they know, they should tell us Asymmetrical information creates real problems. And fixing the flow of useful proxies benefits both...
4 months ago
66
4 months ago
Asymmetrical information creates real problems. And fixing the flow of useful proxies benefits both sides. Cigarette companies knew a great deal about the addictions they were causing and the illnesses that resulted. If the public had known, they would have made different...
Seth's Blog
Effect vs affect In a culture fascinated by attitude, gloss and performance, it’s easy to believe that adopting an...
over a year ago
56
over a year ago
In a culture fascinated by attitude, gloss and performance, it’s easy to believe that adopting an affect is precisely what you need to make a difference. In fact, the persistent, generous work that happens when no one is looking is what actually makes a difference. Looking the...
Open Culture
Public.Work: A Smoothly Searchable Archive of 100,000+ “Copyright-Free” Images We live in an age, we’re often told, when our ability to conjure up an image is limited only by our...
8 months ago
48
8 months ago
We live in an age, we’re often told, when our ability to conjure up an image is limited only by our imagination. These days, this notion tends to refer to artificial intelligence-powered systems that generate visual material from text prompts, like DALL‑E and the many others that...
Open Culture
Behold Gustave Doré’s Dramatic Illustrations of the Bible (1866) One occasionally hears it said that, thanks to the internet, all the books truly worth reading are...
9 months ago
57
9 months ago
One occasionally hears it said that, thanks to the internet, all the books truly worth reading are free: Shakespeare, Don Quixote, the stories of Edgar Allan Poe, the Divine Comedy, the Bible. Can it be a coincidence that all of these works inspired illustrations by Gustave Doré?...
Seth's Blog
Some simple rules for source control Collaborating on documents and projects has never been easier, which is why we screw it up so often....
6 months ago
58
6 months ago
Collaborating on documents and projects has never been easier, which is why we screw it up so often. Sharing and interacting with intent will save you heartache and wasted time. Some things to consider: Naming: Begin by naming your file with a digit and concept and a date....
Seth's Blog
Glib One of the valid complaints about some AI systems is that they make stuff up, with confidence, and...
9 months ago
75
9 months ago
One of the valid complaints about some AI systems is that they make stuff up, with confidence, and without sourcing, and then argue when challenged. Unsurprisingly, this sounds a lot like people. We often end up with what we are willing to tolerate. Show your work and ask for...
Ian Betteridge
Ten Blue Links, “I am your BFDL” edition 1. Tech benevolent dictators are still… dictators in the tech community there is a concept of the...
4 months ago
41
4 months ago
1. Tech benevolent dictators are still… dictators in the tech community there is a concept of the “benevolent dictator for life”. This is a leadership model where one person, usually the founder, has the final say on decisions. They guide the project’s direction, relying on their...
Marian's Blog
Raspberry Pi Projekte Was macht man eigentlich mit einem Raspberry Pi? Ich habe mir vor einem halben Jahr einen gekauft....
over a year ago
12
over a year ago
Was macht man eigentlich mit einem Raspberry Pi? Ich habe mir vor einem halben Jahr einen gekauft. Seitdem steht er hier auf meinem Schreibtisch und führt eine Reihe von Aufgaben aus. Hier eine Übersicht: http-Server für einige Webseiten auf dem Pi und die Daten auf meiner...
Anarchy Unfolds
May '24 Myths & Recs Biden, Kurzgesagt, 90s Christian bands, and more
10 months ago
Seth's Blog
Explaining it to a kid It can be difficult. Explaining atoms or molecules, or decision making, or what you do at your job…...
a year ago
48
a year ago
It can be difficult. Explaining atoms or molecules, or decision making, or what you do at your job… The reason that it’s difficult is that in order to explain something, we need to really understand it first. Not simply be able to do the task or ace the test. But understand. And...
Seth's Blog
Variety and the long tail In a We Are All Weird universe, there are two sorts of cultural disappointments. The first has been...
a year ago
26
a year ago
In a We Are All Weird universe, there are two sorts of cultural disappointments. The first has been around since the dawn of cable: We don’t all watch the same thing. We don’t all talk about it, hits aren’t really hits, not like they used to be. There’s no comparison in the reach...
Marian's Blog
BTduino BTduino is an Android app that lets you add a custom bluetooth interface to your Arduino project...
over a year ago
13
over a year ago
BTduino is an Android app that lets you add a custom bluetooth interface to your Arduino project without any programming on the Android side. Everything is better with bluetooth! Here are some examples: Download Android APK file Android 4.0 or higher is...
Seth's Blog
The right marketing question The wrong question is, “our project isn’t catching on, how do we promote it better?” The right...
a year ago
28
a year ago
The wrong question is, “our project isn’t catching on, how do we promote it better?” The right question is a little more nuanced and far more important, “We’re seeking to make a change in part of the world. How do we find the right people and tell them the right (true) story that...
Not Boring by Packy...
Most Human Wins A Strategy Memo for Humans, 2025 and Beyond
2 months ago
Seth's Blog
The problem with marketing puffery It costs more than you think. Last month, I hit the old stock on the Avery labels in my office...
3 months ago
35
3 months ago
It costs more than you think. Last month, I hit the old stock on the Avery labels in my office cabinet. I had a bunch of things to send out, and off they went. It turns out, who knew, that old labels stop sticking. It’s entirely possible some of my really important packages never...
Seth's Blog
Writing your book I spent time this week with two authors who are showing up to share their lives, their insights, and...
a year ago
25
a year ago
I spent time this week with two authors who are showing up to share their lives, their insights, and their generosity in the form of books. A good book will change the reader, but it makes an even bigger impact on the author. Here’s a classic episode of Akimbo. Book publishing...
Open Culture
How Kodak Invented the Snapshot in the 1800s, Making It Possible for Everyone to Be a Photographer We still occasionally speak of “Kodak moments,” making conscious or unconscious reference to the...
6 months ago
58
6 months ago
We still occasionally speak of “Kodak moments,” making conscious or unconscious reference to the slogan of the Eastman Kodak Company in the nineteen-eighties. Even by that time, Kodak had already been a going concern for nearly a century, furnishing photographers around the world...
Seth's Blog
Updating our stuck interactions There are few sitcoms, thrillers or plays where the plot can tolerate the addition of a cell phone....
a year ago
31
a year ago
There are few sitcoms, thrillers or plays where the plot can tolerate the addition of a cell phone. Once the characters have the ability to connect and clear up misunderstandings at will, a lot of tension disappears. If Juliet had had a smartphone, she and Romeo would have ended...
Open Culture
Why Medieval Bologna Was Full of Tall Towers, and What Happened to Them Image by Toni Pecoraro, via Wikimedia Commons Go to practically any major city today, and you’ll...
11 months ago
78
11 months ago
Image by Toni Pecoraro, via Wikimedia Commons Go to practically any major city today, and you’ll notice that the buildings in certain areas are much taller than in others. That may sound trivially true, but what’s less obvious is that the height of those buildings tends to...
Open Culture
Andy Warhol Hosts Frank Zappa on His Cable TV Show, and Later Recalls, “I Hated Him More Than Ever”... Had Andy Warhol lived to see the internet–especially social networking–he would have loved it,...
9 months ago
46
9 months ago
Had Andy Warhol lived to see the internet–especially social networking–he would have loved it, though it may not have loved him. Though Warhol did see the very beginnings of the PC revolution, and made computer art near the end of his life on a Commodore Amiga 1000, he was mostly...
Seth's Blog
She’s here! Some restaurants keep a photo of the local reviewer in the kitchen. The thinking is that if someone...
11 months ago
78
11 months ago
Some restaurants keep a photo of the local reviewer in the kitchen. The thinking is that if someone notices she’s in the building, everyone can up their game. And some musicians wait eagerly for A&R person to be in the crowd. If they really kill it tonight, a record deal might...
Seth's Blog
Kash’s garden She doesn’t grow plants. The plants grow themselves. Her job is to create conditions for the plants...
a year ago
33
a year ago
She doesn’t grow plants. The plants grow themselves. Her job is to create conditions for the plants to grow. The soil, the water, the light, the weeds… these are the conditions. But none of it happens if the plants don’t do the thing they want to do in the first place. This is...
Seth's Blog
Language conceals and reveals When a non-expert brings a strong point of view to a complex discussion, the words might not mean...
7 months ago
28
7 months ago
When a non-expert brings a strong point of view to a complex discussion, the words might not mean what they seem to mean. What might be being said is, “I’m worried. I’m afraid. I don’t understand. I am looking for solace.” Answering emotional word salad with logical insight...
Infinite Scroll
Weekly Scroll: The Squirrel Gestapo Dead Squirrels, Community Notes, and Good Frog Energy
5 months ago
Seth's Blog
Incrementally better Massive leaps in utility and quality are extraordinary events. Going from ver 2.0 to 3.0 is a step...
10 months ago
83
10 months ago
Massive leaps in utility and quality are extraordinary events. Going from ver 2.0 to 3.0 is a step change. But that is almost never what improvement looks like. Instead, the persistent commitment to slightly better on a regular schedule inexorably makes a difference over time.
Open Culture
Maurice Sendak’s First Published Illustrations: Discover His Drawings for a 1947 Popular Science... McGraw-Hill/public domain; copy from the Niels Bohr Library & Archives Once upon a time, long before...
7 months ago
34
7 months ago
McGraw-Hill/public domain; copy from the Niels Bohr Library & Archives Once upon a time, long before Maurice Sendak illustrated Where The Wild Things Are (1963), he published, notes Ars Technica, “his first professional illustrations in a 1947 popular science book about nuclear...
Seth's Blog
The A.R.E. skills matter more than ever Perhaps this is what your team needs from you: Agreeableness is not the same as agreeing. In fact,...
a year ago
57
a year ago
Perhaps this is what your team needs from you: Agreeableness is not the same as agreeing. In fact, they have little in common. Finding someone who’s only job is to agree with everything that is said is easy. On the other hand, agreeableness is the skill of having a contrary...
Seth's Blog
Two kinds of instructions The more common, easier to execute sort: Instructions to remind people who already know what to do,...
a month ago
14
a month ago
The more common, easier to execute sort: Instructions to remind people who already know what to do, what to do. The more essential and harder to create kind: Instructions for people who don’t know what to do. It’s a mistake to assume that just because you know all the steps, the...
Seth's Blog
Other people’s problems It’s surprisingly easy to be generous and find solutions to our friend’s problems. Much easier than...
12 months ago
35
12 months ago
It’s surprisingly easy to be generous and find solutions to our friend’s problems. Much easier than it is to do it for ourselves. Why? There are two useful reasons, I think. FIRST, because we’re unaware of all the real and imaginary boundaries our friends have set up. If it were...
Seth's Blog
Is it possible to care at scale? After 25 years, I stopped using a certain credit card for business. It was easily millions of...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
After 25 years, I stopped using a certain credit card for business. It was easily millions of dollars worth of transactions over that period. Did anyone at the company notice? Did anyone care? I still remember losing a client in 1987. Small organizations pay attention and care...
escape the algorithm
Be specific Ode to ᵗᶦⁿʸ ᵗᵒᵒˡˢ
a year ago
Handprinted - Blog
Block Printing Registration Using Measure Pattern Tape and Madder, Cutch and Co Inks Measure Pattern Tape is a really useful bit of kit for your printmaking projects. This adhesive...
2 months ago
23
2 months ago
Measure Pattern Tape is a really useful bit of kit for your printmaking projects. This adhesive ruler tape can be stuck onto your printing surface or board to help lay out your designs accurately. It's self-adhesive and we've even found it can be lifted up and re-used a couple of...
Seth's Blog
Customer service is a choice It’s either part of your strategy or you’re paying for your mistake. 800 numbers changed the way...
a year ago
26
a year ago
It’s either part of your strategy or you’re paying for your mistake. 800 numbers changed the way large brands dealt with the public. Instantly, and for free, a consumer could contact a company about a product or service and they would work to make it right. It was more than...
Open Culture
How Édouard Manet Became “the Father of Impressionism” with the Scandalous Panting, Le Déjeuner sur... Édouard Manet’s Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe (1863) caused quite a stir when it made its public debut in...
11 months ago
27
11 months ago
Édouard Manet’s Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe (1863) caused quite a stir when it made its public debut in 1863. Today, we might assume that the controversy surrounding the painting had to do with its containing a nude woman. But, in fact, it does not contain a nude woman — at least...
Handprinted - Blog
Mark Making - Using Resists Using tools on your plate isn’t the only way you can create marks within an etching. You can also...
a year ago
32
a year ago
Using tools on your plate isn’t the only way you can create marks within an etching. You can also use resists to stop the mordant from reaching the surface of your plate. Resists can help achieve more subtle marks and washes, and they can also be applied using a brush to control...
Seth's Blog
Hobson’s choice …is no choice at all. The stable owner gets to pick which horse you get. Take it or leave it. Some...
over a year ago
42
over a year ago
…is no choice at all. The stable owner gets to pick which horse you get. Take it or leave it. Some people prefer this. It means that we’re off the hook and not responsible. It relieves us of the emotional labor of choice. Let someone else worry about it… And so we give up our […]
Seth's Blog
“What’s next?” The way we think about our priorities makes a huge difference. Leaders of every stripe make one...
over a year ago
57
over a year ago
The way we think about our priorities makes a huge difference. Leaders of every stripe make one thing more than any other: decisions. In any environment with constraints (which is, actually, any environment), the decisions about time and resources–about what to do next–change...
Seth's Blog
Searching for stars It’s easy to imagine that talent is a magical gift, and that we’ll know it when see it (and that you...
4 months ago
45
4 months ago
It’s easy to imagine that talent is a magical gift, and that we’ll know it when see it (and that you have it or you don’t). And yet, over the years, Star Search has rejected each of these musicians, picking someone else to win the competition: One could argue that they’re simply...
Blog - Amy Goodchild
A strange kind of physical reality A long-form generative art project coming to fxhash in partnership with FAB DAO on 11th Jan 2024....
a year ago
20
a year ago
A long-form generative art project coming to fxhash in partnership with FAB DAO on 11th Jan 2024. This series is inspired, in the abstract, by the images I visualise when reading about quantum theory. Particularly thoughts of particles spreading out as waves and then collapsing...
Seth's Blog
Transforming two-sided markets AI agents are going to overhaul the way we think about buying and selling. Uber already did this in...
11 months ago
23
11 months ago
AI agents are going to overhaul the way we think about buying and selling. Uber already did this in a small way. They organized the drivers, and now they organize the riders. Hailing a cab was already sort of anonymous, but with competition and structure, AI will continue to get...
Handprinted - Blog
Printing with Heat Stamps If you haven’t tried printing with Heat Stamps yet, this is your new project. It’s really quick to...
a year ago
48
a year ago
If you haven’t tried printing with Heat Stamps yet, this is your new project. It’s really quick to create a unique block that can be reused again and again to create different textures and patterns. All you need is a heat gun and a variety of objects and surfaces to create your...
Seth's Blog
Making change happen One way to do it is to get people to want what you want. The other way is to help them get what they...
over a year ago
71
over a year ago
One way to do it is to get people to want what you want. The other way is to help them get what they want in a way that gets you what you want. They’re not the same. Changing what someone wants is very different from helping them see the story and the path that […]
Seth's Blog
Allocating scarcity If we’re lucky, we invent something that’s going to be in high demand. Reservations at a hot...
over a year ago
71
over a year ago
If we’re lucky, we invent something that’s going to be in high demand. Reservations at a hot restaurant. Limited edition trading cards. Concert tickets… How to decide who gets them? One attractive option is “first-come-first-served.” It feels fair, after all. The theory is that...
Seth's Blog
Winging it Tech and culture have enabled a new sort of informality. Not simply the end of suits and ties and...
3 months ago
35
3 months ago
Tech and culture have enabled a new sort of informality. Not simply the end of suits and ties and heels at work, but the office itself is fading away. But there’s a difference between being informal and being in such a hurry to get to the next thing that we don’t take this thing...
Seth's Blog
“But what if it doesn’t work?” The best way to win a short-term game is to bet it all on one strategy. Someone is going to get...
a year ago
92
a year ago
The best way to win a short-term game is to bet it all on one strategy. Someone is going to get lucky and it might be you. But we rarely thrive in the long run if we persist in playing a series of short-term games. Instead, organizations, individuals and teams do better when they...
On the Arts
On the Arts: A Three Month Review And a Thank You to Subscribers
a year ago
The Last...
The Dove Sketches Beauty Scam the only way to win is not to play "Dude, are you doing the Dove ad now?  That was so April...
over a year ago
15
over a year ago
the only way to win is not to play "Dude, are you doing the Dove ad now?  That was so April 15th...?"  Yes, I realize I missed the meme train, but it's better to be right than part of the debate, especially when there is no debate, this is all a short con inside a 50+ year long...
Seth's Blog
But it’s included… Perhaps your wedding package includes a cake. It’s paid for, better eat it. Even if you’re allergic...
over a year ago
40
over a year ago
Perhaps your wedding package includes a cake. It’s paid for, better eat it. Even if you’re allergic to wheat. Perhaps the amusement park includes as many rides as you like, even if you’re feeling sick or have had quite enough for today. The thing about included is that it’s free....
Handprinted - Blog
Meet the Maker: Chris Long My name is Chris and I am an artist, printmaker, composer and teacher. I studied fine art and music...
over a year ago
81
over a year ago
My name is Chris and I am an artist, printmaker, composer and teacher. I studied fine art and music at the University of Liverpool, a Masters in musical composition at Newcastle University and I completed my PhD at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. I have recently returned to...
Seth's Blog
The color-coded wires Have you ever wondered what the wiring layout behind the control panels at Abbey Road studios was...
a year ago
35
a year ago
Have you ever wondered what the wiring layout behind the control panels at Abbey Road studios was like? Neither have I. The Beatles recorded some of their best work there, and I have no idea if it was a rat’s nest of tangled wires, or if each wire was labeled, coded and perfectly...
Seth's Blog
Getting it right the first time How unlikely is this? The artist who paints a masterpiece, from scratch, without hesitation. The...
a year ago
32
a year ago
How unlikely is this? The artist who paints a masterpiece, from scratch, without hesitation. The playwright who doesn’t need a workshop or a reading. The architect who designs a food hall that has a layout and vibe that works without one alteration… Evolution is powerful. It...
Seth's Blog
Cats and dogs Does your brand have a personality? When people expect you to act a certain way, you have a brand....
11 months ago
85
11 months ago
Does your brand have a personality? When people expect you to act a certain way, you have a brand. And that expectation is worth understanding. Can you help us understand whether you’re a cat or a dog in the way you react, respond, delight or sneak around? And if you’re a dog,...
Open Culture
Stanford Continuing Studies Offering an Online Course Exploring the Music of the Grateful Dead Image via Wikimedia Commons A quick heads up: On October 3rd, Stanford Continuing Studies will kick...
7 months ago
34
7 months ago
Image via Wikimedia Commons A quick heads up: On October 3rd, Stanford Continuing Studies will kick off an 8‑week online course called Did It Matter? Does It Now? The Music and Culture of the Grateful Dead. Led by David Gans (author of Playing in the Band: An Oral and Visual...
Open Culture
Bruce Springsteen Endorses Kamala Harris & Makes the Case Against Donald Trump The Boss speaks the truth in a dinner. Find it on Instagram.
6 months ago
Seth's Blog
At the speed of judgment Getting to the conference in Santa Fe isn’t difficult. Someone will drive/fly you there. The hard...
a month ago
22
a month ago
Getting to the conference in Santa Fe isn’t difficult. Someone will drive/fly you there. The hard part is deciding to go. And yet, it might take 8 hours to arrive. If they invented teleportation and offered it for free, it would be very clear that where we went would simply...
Seth's Blog
Important change is systems change Willpower is overrated. If you want to eat healthier, don’t work hard to avoid stopping at the...
8 months ago
36
8 months ago
Willpower is overrated. If you want to eat healthier, don’t work hard to avoid stopping at the cookie jar when you walk into the kitchen. Get rid of the cookie jar. Systems are long-lasting, widespread and resilient. We can push back on them with effort, but over time, the system...
Seth's Blog
Regressing to the mean all by yourself “The mean” is the average. Another word for “mediocre.” When an organization gets big enough, by...
a year ago
40
a year ago
“The mean” is the average. Another word for “mediocre.” When an organization gets big enough, by definition, it’s the average. When you have enough customers, they represent the population as a whole. If you find yourself seeking to serve the largest possible number of people,...
Seth's Blog
On whining It’s not just for little kids, and it might not be a bug in our culture. Whining might be a feature,...
5 months ago
48
5 months ago
It’s not just for little kids, and it might not be a bug in our culture. Whining might be a feature, something that all humans have a desire to do, regardless of our age or position. Let’s define whining as a complaint about a situation that’s not easily addressed, often a...
Ian Betteridge
Ten Blue Links, “your time is up” edition This week… But first, an announcement! TLDR: Over the holidays, I will be migrating this site from...
4 months ago
77
4 months ago
This week… But first, an announcement! TLDR: Over the holidays, I will be migrating this site from WordPress.com to Ghost. This may mean a little disruption, but I’ll try to keep it to a minimum. Why am I doing this? I’ve been a paying customer of WordPress.com for my site...
Seth's Blog
Cheating at golf Someone who cheats at a friendly game of golf when nothing much is at stake–how can you possibly...
over a year ago
53
over a year ago
Someone who cheats at a friendly game of golf when nothing much is at stake–how can you possibly trust them with something important? And yet, organizations and individuals “cheat at golf” all the time. They put clever clauses in the fine print. Spam a media list. Conceal the...
Seth's Blog
Sanding off all the edges It’s easier than ever. Solvents, power tools, market research, AI, committee meetings, online...
a year ago
27
a year ago
It’s easier than ever. Solvents, power tools, market research, AI, committee meetings, online reviews and ennui are all aligned in one direction. To fit all the way in. Of course, once you sand off all the edges, it’s hard to get traction. Hard to find the texture or anything...
Blog - Mac Pierce
Enclosing a Prusa MK3, or how to completely overbuild an Octopi setup. Overbuilding a Prusa enclosure
over a year ago
Seth's Blog
Compared to what? Emotions are often tied to events and events feel absolute. But events are rarely absolute. They’re...
5 months ago
47
5 months ago
Emotions are often tied to events and events feel absolute. But events are rarely absolute. They’re almost always relative. How does this compare to what I was expecting? How does it compare to what others like me are experiencing? How does it compare to yesterday? When we change...
escape the algorithm
ETA's Best links of 2024 Relinking some Links links
3 months ago
Seth's Blog
Reclaiming “fiasco” Usually modified with “total,” the failure might not be as bad as we fear. The origin of the word...
8 months ago
51
8 months ago
Usually modified with “total,” the failure might not be as bad as we fear. The origin of the word probably comes from Italian, a long time ago. The person who loses a round in a game has to buy the next bottle for the group (from: flask). Which means that there is going to be […]
Ian Betteridge
Ten Blue Links, “rapid evolution of form” edition 1. Why should Trump deliver for anyone but Trump? This Bloomberg piece forgets one important fact:...
4 months ago
34
4 months ago
1. Why should Trump deliver for anyone but Trump? This Bloomberg piece forgets one important fact: Donald Trump is not going to be on the ticket next time. He doesn’t have to deliver a dime for ordinary voters, and will act accordingly.  2. You can now sync Apple Passwords with...
Seth's Blog
How to buy a lottery ticket There are lots of cultural lotteries around us. The next pop song, the book that everyone is talking...
5 months ago
45
5 months ago
There are lots of cultural lotteries around us. The next pop song, the book that everyone is talking about, the blog post or video that goes viral… it even applies to who gets into a famous college or is selected by the AI screening for a good job. The usual advice is: Fit in....
Seth's Blog
Silence vs noise When a group comes together, noise is easy. Just a few people have to make a commotion for noise to...
8 months ago
53
8 months ago
When a group comes together, noise is easy. Just a few people have to make a commotion for noise to happen. But silence requires everyone to be in sync.
Open Culture
When Slavoj Žižek and Jordan Peterson Debated Capitalism Versus Marxism Karl Marx was a German philosopher-historian (with a few other pursuits besides) who wrote in...
9 months ago
82
9 months ago
Karl Marx was a German philosopher-historian (with a few other pursuits besides) who wrote in pursuit of an understanding of industrial society as he knew it in the nineteenth century and what its future evolution held in store. There are good reasons to read his work still...
Seth's Blog
The ghost in the machine “The computer wants you to click this button.” “It thinks you asked for something else.” “He’s mad...
over a year ago
77
over a year ago
“The computer wants you to click this button.” “It thinks you asked for something else.” “He’s mad at you.” Thousands of generations ago, we evolved our way into a magnificent hack. It turns out that we can more safely navigate the world by imagining that other people have a...
Seth's Blog
Dreams and roadblocks The first step is to imagine what the people you serve want and care about it. The second is to...
a year ago
70
a year ago
The first step is to imagine what the people you serve want and care about it. The second is to figure out why they don’t have it yet. If you can help people get to where they seek to go, when they’re ready to get there, the stuff called marketing gets significantly easier.
Seth's Blog
Possibility and opportunity We have the chance to build something that creates connection and generates value. On the other...
a year ago
22
a year ago
We have the chance to build something that creates connection and generates value. On the other hand, a system that diminishes agency and dignity is inherently unstable. When we seek to create scarcity and control and optimize output at the expense of our humanity, it may pay off...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet the Maker: Angela Chalmers Hi, my name is Angela Chalmers. I am a visual artist living in North Yorkshire. I work with...
a month ago
20
a month ago
Hi, my name is Angela Chalmers. I am a visual artist living in North Yorkshire. I work with cameraless photography techniques and the cyanotype process producing 2D and 3D artworks on paper and textiles. Cyanotype dates from the early days of photography and produces beautiful...
Seth's Blog
On choosing a college For some fortunate 17 year olds, the end of the year is the day for a momentous decision, one that’s...
a year ago
32
a year ago
For some fortunate 17 year olds, the end of the year is the day for a momentous decision, one that’s largely out of the comfort zone of a 17 year old. A four-year college education in the US can cost nearly half a million dollars once we count the expenses and foregone...
Open Culture
High-Tech Analysis of Ancient Scroll Reveals Plato’s Burial Site and Final Hours Even if you can name only one ancient Greek, you can name Plato. You can also probably say at least...
11 months ago
50
11 months ago
Even if you can name only one ancient Greek, you can name Plato. You can also probably say at least a little about him, if only some of the things humanity has known since antiquity. Until recently, of course, that qualification would have been redundant. But now, thanks to an...
Open Culture
Discover the CIA’s Simple Sabotage Field Manual: A Timeless Guide to Subverting Any Organization... I’ve always admired people who can successfully navigate what I refer to as “Kafka’s Castle,” a term...
5 months ago
45
5 months ago
I’ve always admired people who can successfully navigate what I refer to as “Kafka’s Castle,” a term of dread for the many government and corporate agencies that have an inordinate amount of power over our permanent records, and that seem as inscrutable and chillingly absurd as...
Seth's Blog
Study groups If I had to choose one metric that would determine how well someone would do in law school, it...
a year ago
20
a year ago
If I had to choose one metric that would determine how well someone would do in law school, it wouldn’t be the LSAT or another test. It would be whether or not they formed a study group, and who else was in it. Of course, the same is true for your project, or any sort […]
Not Boring by Packy...
Weekly Dose of Optimism #140 K2-18b, o3 and o4-mini, Parkinson’s Research, GLP-1 Pill, Precision, Neuroscience, Abundance...
2 days ago
Marian's Blog
16×16 LED Matrix This is a 16×16 RGB LED matrix, made of 256 WS2812B LEDs. It’s powered by a Raspberry Pi and can...
over a year ago
15
over a year ago
This is a 16×16 RGB LED matrix, made of 256 WS2812B LEDs. It’s powered by a Raspberry Pi and can display images and animations. With a game controller attached, it can play games. The pictures below show how I built the frame. Painting the base plate Drawing...
Marian's Blog
Agent V – Global Game Jam 2018 Project This year I participated in my first game jam, the Global Game Jam 2018. With a team of artists,...
over a year ago
14
over a year ago
This year I participated in my first game jam, the Global Game Jam 2018. With a team of artists, programmers and a sound designer, we made a video game within 48 hours. You play the game as a virus that infiltrates a company’s headquarters. The virus can not move on its own, it...
Seth's Blog
Designed, Designy or Well-designed? If we create something with purpose, we’ve designed it. It’s not an accident. An axe handle is...
a week ago
8
a week ago
If we create something with purpose, we’ve designed it. It’s not an accident. An axe handle is designed, and so is a symphony. Some things, though are designy. The designer’s fingerprints are all over it. The typefaces, knurled edges, needless heat sinks and homage to Dieter Rams...
Ian Betteridge
Ten Blue Links, “I’m sorry about the politics” edition 1. The Reach saga rumbles on I’ve banged on about the parlous strategy of Reach plc before, but the...
5 months ago
28
5 months ago
1. The Reach saga rumbles on I’ve banged on about the parlous strategy of Reach plc before, but the departures from its senior editorial ranks will continue to make a bad strategy worse. What makes this situation more difficult for the company is its board, which is free of any...
Open Culture
Jimi Hendrix Arrives in London in 1966, Asks to Get Onstage with Cream, and Blows Eric Clapton Away:... Jimi Hendrix arrived on the London scene like a ton of bricks in 1966, smashing every British blues...
8 months ago
59
8 months ago
Jimi Hendrix arrived on the London scene like a ton of bricks in 1966, smashing every British blues guitarist to pieces the instant they saw him play. As vocalist Terry Reid tells it, when Hendrix played his first showcase at the Bag O’Nails, arranged by Animals’ bassist Chas...
Stat Significant
When Do Viewers Get Hooked on a TV Show? A Statistical Analysis When do TV viewers become committed fans?
2 weeks ago
Seth's Blog
Practical philosophy Engineering is the powerful practice of being able to deliver artifacts that do what they’re...
a year ago
25
a year ago
Engineering is the powerful practice of being able to deliver artifacts that do what they’re supposed to. Bridges that don’t fall down, software that runs, IV leads that don’t get infected. But if we want to create something, it helps to know what it’s for. That simple question,...
Open Culture
Jimi Hendrix Opens for The Monkees on a 1967 Tour; Then Flips Off the Crowd and Quits It’s easy to dismiss The Monkees. Critics and listeners have been doing it since the sixties,...
8 months ago
60
8 months ago
It’s easy to dismiss The Monkees. Critics and listeners have been doing it since the sixties, although the band has also come in for its share of reappraisals, particularly for their psych-rock album Head. (That’s the soundtrack from the 1968 Jack Nicholson-directed art film of...
Seth's Blog
That might be the wrong question “Will it work?” Along the way, we’ve been pushed to load our decisions with a need for certainty....
2 weeks ago
12
2 weeks ago
“Will it work?” Along the way, we’ve been pushed to load our decisions with a need for certainty. It’s easier, it seems, to not try than it is to fail. But the question, “is it worth trying?” unlocks possibility. A surgeon in the middle of an operation should probably not...
Handprinted - Blog
How to Design and Print a Straight Repeating Pattern Here’s an easy way to design a repeat pattern (without using a computer) and to block print it on to...
over a year ago
63
over a year ago
Here’s an easy way to design a repeat pattern (without using a computer) and to block print it on to fabric. We used MasterCut for our block because it’s an easy to cut stamping material that prints beautifully. Draw around your block onto a piece of paper. Draw part of your...
Open Culture
How Art Gets Stolen: What Happened to Egon Schiele’s Painting Boats Mirrored in the Water After Its... George Clooney may be better regarded as an actor than as a director, but his occasional work in the...
6 months ago
44
6 months ago
George Clooney may be better regarded as an actor than as a director, but his occasional work in the latter capacity reveals an admirable interest in lesser-dramatized chapters of American history. His films have found their material in everything from the early years of the NFL...
Seth's Blog
Personal process notation “I’ll remember it later.” I’ll confess, I rarely do. It turns out, it’s easier to remember questions...
a year ago
26
a year ago
“I’ll remember it later.” I’ll confess, I rarely do. It turns out, it’s easier to remember questions than answers. And tools like Google Docs and photos in the cloud give us a chance to build our own personal search engine. It takes 14 steps to construct the pages in one of my...
Seth's Blog
Practical empathy (vs. telepathy) “If I were you…” or, more commonly, “if you were me.” Management has never been easy, but as the...
10 months ago
47
10 months ago
“If I were you…” or, more commonly, “if you were me.” Management has never been easy, but as the world becomes more complex, it gets more difficult. We’d like to imagine that the person (or AI bot, or freelancer, or firm) that we hired has enough drive, insight and common sense...
Seth's Blog
A really good reason Do you see the defaults? The question, “What are things like around here?” has two possible answers....
6 months ago
38
6 months ago
Do you see the defaults? The question, “What are things like around here?” has two possible answers. When a new idea or opportunity arrives, your organization says yes, unless there’s a really good reason to say no. Or your organization says no, unless someone makes a powerful...
Seth's Blog
The big sort The phone book was a groundbreaking innovation. For the first time, you could actually look up the...
a month ago
14
a month ago
The phone book was a groundbreaking innovation. For the first time, you could actually look up the person you were seeking to reach. At about the same time, the department store arrived. You could actually have a shot at finding what you were hoping to buy. TV Guide was, at one...
Open Culture
The Isolated Bass Grooves of The Grateful Dead’s Phil Lesh (RIP) This past Friday, the bassist of The Grateful Dead, Phil Lesh, passed away at age 84. Almost...
5 months ago
33
5 months ago
This past Friday, the bassist of The Grateful Dead, Phil Lesh, passed away at age 84. Almost immediately the tributes poured in, most recognizing that Lesh wasn’t your ordinary bassist. As Jon Pareles wrote in the New York Times, Phil Lesh held songs “aloft.” His “bass lines...
Seth's Blog
Demanding certainty The defenders of the status quo often demand certainty when facing decisions about the future. It...
a year ago
29
a year ago
The defenders of the status quo often demand certainty when facing decisions about the future. It sets up the conditions for doing nothing, because certainty never happens until the future arrives. It’s much more useful to look at probabilities. Flipping a fair coin has a 50%...
Open Culture
The Roads of Ancient Rome Visualized in the Style of Modern Subway Maps Sasha Trubetskoy, formerly an undergrad at U. Chicago, has created a “subway-style diagram of the...
10 months ago
53
10 months ago
Sasha Trubetskoy, formerly an undergrad at U. Chicago, has created a “subway-style diagram of the major Roman roads, based on the Empire of ca. 125 AD.” Drawing on Stanford’s ORBIS model, The Pelagios Project, and the Antonine Itinerary, Trubetskoy’s map combines well-known...
Seth's Blog
Analysis = Facts + Interpretation If you fail to show us the facts, it’s difficult to accept your analysis. While it’s tempting to...
2 months ago
33
2 months ago
If you fail to show us the facts, it’s difficult to accept your analysis. While it’s tempting to simply share an interpretation of what’s happening, credibility and persuasion are based on showing your work.
Seth's Blog
Patience It’s worth the most when it’s the most difficult to find.
a year ago
Seth's Blog
Scaffolds and talent Kindergarten teachers matter more than you think. Chess isn’t a talent, it’s a learned practice....
a year ago
19
a year ago
Kindergarten teachers matter more than you think. Chess isn’t a talent, it’s a learned practice. We’re sorting for head starts, not growth. And that’s just the first chapter. I think Hidden Potential is the most important book in Adam Grant’s career. The indoctrination around...
Seth's Blog
Division is easier than connection But connection is where the value lies. Connected, resilient communities create possibility and...
2 weeks ago
12
2 weeks ago
But connection is where the value lies. Connected, resilient communities create possibility and forward motion. Division is satisfying in the short run, and it might even draw a crowd. But the only useful reason to disconnect is if it opens up the chance to increase connection...
Open Culture
When Kris Kristofferson (RIP) Stood by Sinéad O’Connor at the Height of Her Controversy One would have imagined Sinéad O’Connor impervious to any reaction from a hostile audience, no...
6 months ago
57
6 months ago
One would have imagined Sinéad O’Connor impervious to any reaction from a hostile audience, no matter how vitriolic. But even for a public figure as outspoken and unapologetic as her, it could all get to be a bit much at times. Take the 1992 concert Columbia Records put on for...
Seth's Blog
More is More More hope. More health. More security. More innovation. More breakthroughs. More connection. More...
a year ago
74
a year ago
More hope. More health. More security. More innovation. More breakthroughs. More connection. More creation. More joy. The climate movement doesn’t have to be about asking individuals to bear the burden of systemic problems. It’s not about living with less.  It’s about demanding...
Open Culture
Browse 64 Years of RadioShack Catalogs Free Online … and Revisit the History of American Consumer... “I bet RadioShack was great once,” writes former employee Jon Bois in a much-circulated 2014 piece...
7 months ago
59
7 months ago
“I bet RadioShack was great once,” writes former employee Jon Bois in a much-circulated 2014 piece for SB Nation. “I can’t look through their decades-old catalogs and come away with any other impression. They sold giant walnut-wood speakers I’d kill to have today. They sold...
Open Culture
Join Us on Bluesky. We Will Have Fun Together There’s an eXodus taking place, and millions are finding a new home on Bluesky. In recent days, the...
5 months ago
44
5 months ago
There’s an eXodus taking place, and millions are finding a new home on Bluesky. In recent days, the decentralized social media platform has been gaining 10,000 new users every 10–15 minutes, or about 1 million new users per day. Open Culture is already there, sharing the cultural...
Seth's Blog
You’ve already failed No project is going to exactly match every hope you have for it. And even before you ship the work,...
4 months ago
39
4 months ago
No project is going to exactly match every hope you have for it. And even before you ship the work, you’ve already succeeded. No project is totally worthless. So, given that failure and success are on a spectrum, at least partly out of our control, the real question is: Now that...
Handprinted - Blog
How to Design and Print a Half Drop Repeating Pattern A half drop is a great way of creating a repeating pattern where the repeat is slightly obscured. It...
over a year ago
63
over a year ago
A half drop is a great way of creating a repeating pattern where the repeat is slightly obscured. It can make for a less gridded-looking structure and add complexity to your design. Here's a simple, analogue way to make one. Start by drawing around your block. We are...
Not Boring by Packy...
Weekly Dose of Optimism #135 Solar, LNG, SphereX, Newsom, Packy in Austin, TBPN
a month ago
Seth's Blog
Looking for a handle What if your boots don’t have any straps? Bootstrapping is logically impossible. You can’t pick...
a year ago
25
a year ago
What if your boots don’t have any straps? Bootstrapping is logically impossible. You can’t pick yourself up into the air by lifting on your boots, no matter how hard you try, because gravity isn’t just a good idea, it’s the law. But it’s significantly more difficult if your boots...
Seth's Blog
Creating value as an entrepreneur If you’ve borrowed money or sold shares, you’ll need to build something that’s worth more than your...
over a year ago
64
over a year ago
If you’ve borrowed money or sold shares, you’ll need to build something that’s worth more than your labor. Here are some key pillars where value lives: Customer tractionPermissionDistributionThe network effectSmallest viable audience Customer traction is the big one. Every day,...
Seth's Blog
Grandiosity as a form of hiding A business that says its mission is to, “reinvent local commerce to better serve our customers and...
over a year ago
69
over a year ago
A business that says its mission is to, “reinvent local commerce to better serve our customers and neighborhoods,” can spend a lot of time doing not much of anything before they realize that they’re not actually creating value. A non-profit that seeks to create “fairness and...
Seth's Blog
Unaware If you don’t realize that you have power, you might not be able to exercise it. The power to speak...
a year ago
39
a year ago
If you don’t realize that you have power, you might not be able to exercise it. The power to speak up, to participate, to invent, to lead, to encourage, to vote, to connect, to organize, to march, to write, to say ‘no’ or to say ‘yes’. It’s tempting to imagine we have less power...
Seth's Blog
Twelve days until the first worldwide strategy meetup There are now 280 cities being organized. You can find the list and all the details by clicking...
6 months ago
50
6 months ago
There are now 280 cities being organized. You can find the list and all the details by clicking here. It’s free, and it works better when you become a part of it. Find the others. Connect, inspire and lead. It’s a great excuse to organize some friends and colleagues and have a...
Seth's Blog
Eight marketing maxims
a year ago
Seth's Blog
Your audiobook Here’s a useful habit that’s more than a hack… The next time things are going well, when a project...
7 months ago
50
7 months ago
Here’s a useful habit that’s more than a hack… The next time things are going well, when a project is about to launch, when a meeting has been successful, when the sun is shining… take your phone and go for a walk. Hit record on an audio app and make a twenty-minute audiobook....
Seth's Blog
Overconfidence and AI Human beings are often more effective when we’re a bit self-effacing. “I think,” “Perhaps,” or “I...
over a year ago
77
over a year ago
Human beings are often more effective when we’re a bit self-effacing. “I think,” “Perhaps,” or “I might be missing something, but…” are fine ways to give our assertions a chance to be considered. The solar-powered LED calculator we used in school did no such thing. 6 x 7 is 42,...
Handprinted - Blog
Using Schmincke Water-Based Inks to Create a Jigsaw Linocut We love the range of colours that are available in Schmincke water-based inks. We’re creating a...
over a year ago
74
over a year ago
We love the range of colours that are available in Schmincke water-based inks. We’re creating a jigsaw linocut to allow us to use multiple colours of Schmincke ink in just one block! We are using Easy Carve Blue as it’s soft to cut up with a scalpel, making it ideal for a jigsaw...
Seth's Blog
Early next week… It’s going to get busy around here. I wanted to share some upcoming events (online and in person) so...
6 months ago
51
6 months ago
It’s going to get busy around here. I wanted to share some upcoming events (online and in person) so you can plan ahead… there are five more for the end of the week, but here we go: Linda Rottenberg is joining me on LinkedIn on Monday. She’s built an extraordinary organization...
Seth's Blog
Fooling ourselves It’s tempting to believe that we’re not easy to fool. Not by a magician, a politician or a banker....
a year ago
24
a year ago
It’s tempting to believe that we’re not easy to fool. Not by a magician, a politician or a banker. Other folks might be easily duped by a spammer or a hustler, but not us. And yet, no one fools you more than you. When you look in the mirror, do you see what others see, […]
Seth's Blog
What’s for breakfast? Peter Drucker didn’t say “culture eats strategy for breakfast,” but reality rarely gets in the way...
2 months ago
28
2 months ago
Peter Drucker didn’t say “culture eats strategy for breakfast,” but reality rarely gets in the way of a good quote. But what does it mean? I think what ‘not Drucker’ meant was that MBA tactics will always be subverted by the power of systems, and that systems disguise themselves...
Open Culture
The Fake Buildings of New York: What Happens Inside Their Mysterious Walls You can’t go on a walk with a serious enthusiast of New York history without hearing the stories...
6 months ago
47
6 months ago
You can’t go on a walk with a serious enthusiast of New York history without hearing the stories behind at least a few notable, beautiful, or downright strange buildings. Yet most longtime New Yorkers, famed for tuning out their surroundings to better strive for their goals of...
Open Culture
Medievalist Professor Answers Medieval Questions From Twitter: Why Is It called the “Middle” Ages?,... From Wired comes this: “Professor of English and Medieval Literature Dr. Dorsey Armstrong answers...
10 months ago
77
10 months ago
From Wired comes this: “Professor of English and Medieval Literature Dr. Dorsey Armstrong answers your questions about the Middle Ages from Twitter. Why is it called the “Middle” Ages? [What did medieval English sound like?] What activities did people do for fun? Why were animals...
Seth's Blog
The next one When asked what his favorite composition was, Duke Ellington said, “the next one.” This is the...
a year ago
20
a year ago
When asked what his favorite composition was, Duke Ellington said, “the next one.” This is the essence of the artistic process. When we’re in the liminal space between now and what is about to come, we’re fully alive.
Seth's Blog
A good business Just because it’s useful, needed or worthwhile doesn’t mean it’s a good business. E-bikes are...
a week ago
7
a week ago
Just because it’s useful, needed or worthwhile doesn’t mean it’s a good business. E-bikes are transforming cities and offering mobility to those who previously couldn’t afford it. But they’re a commodity, and it’s difficult to make a significant profit producing them. A good...
Seth's Blog
A good idea, well executed Why isn’t this enough? There are plenty of good ideas, easy to learn from and copy. There are...
a year ago
28
a year ago
Why isn’t this enough? There are plenty of good ideas, easy to learn from and copy. There are countless projects, well executed, with the steps on display. Any entrepreneur could find a local business and bring a version of it from over here to over there. And a social change...
Blog - Mac Pierce
Sending a signal - DOGMAS, a project because of the RP2040 How and why I built the DOGMAS project, a self contained Morse code reader in the form of a...
over a year ago
Open Culture
The Enchanting Opera Performances of Klaus Nomi After making one of the grandest entrances in music history on the stages of East Village clubs, the...
7 months ago
33
7 months ago
After making one of the grandest entrances in music history on the stages of East Village clubs, the BBC’s The Old Grey Whistle Test, and Saturday Night Live, theatrical German new wave space alien Klaus Nomi died alone in 1983, a victim of the “first beachhead of the AIDS...
Seth's Blog
Drama at work A divo (or diva) is an opera singer with skill. Sometimes, though, that skill comes in a package...
a year ago
28
a year ago
A divo (or diva) is an opera singer with skill. Sometimes, though, that skill comes in a package that also includes imperiousness, skittishness and a fair amount of unpredictable drama. It’s tempting to imagine that CEOs, painters or poets that bring the noise must also have...
Seth's Blog
Wrestling, fighting or dancing? We can wrestle with a challenge or a problem and find energy and possibility while doing it. And we...
a year ago
26
a year ago
We can wrestle with a challenge or a problem and find energy and possibility while doing it. And we can dance with someone else as we seek a mutual way forward. Fighting tends to be more brutal, final and hurtful than is often productive. You don’t want to spend your days...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet the Maker: Pia Bramley I’m an artist, illustrator and printmaker. Having left London after a decade of city life I now live...
a year ago
53
a year ago
I’m an artist, illustrator and printmaker. Having left London after a decade of city life I now live and work in The New Forest, squeezing in drawing and printing around caring for a three year old. How and where did you learn to print? I did my foundation at KIAD (formerly...
Seth's Blog
Deadlines and tailgaters If the ferry is leaving in fifteen minutes, do you drive faster than normal to get to the dock on...
a year ago
21
a year ago
If the ferry is leaving in fifteen minutes, do you drive faster than normal to get to the dock on time? If someone is driving close behind you and pressuring you to turn when you don’t feel safe, are you more likely to go for it? We can do our work as fast as makes […]
Open Culture
The 11 Censored Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies Cartoons That Haven’t Been Aired Since 1968 For decades and decades, Warner Bros.’ Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons have served as a...
7 months ago
56
7 months ago
For decades and decades, Warner Bros.’ Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons have served as a kind of default children’s entertainment. Originally conceived for theatrical exhibition in the nineteen-thirties, they were animated to a standard that held its own against the...
Infinite Scroll
Weekly Scroll: Ghibli-fy Everything Plus: Elon's fake numbers and a Good Shrek Prediction
3 weeks ago
Neocha – Culture &...
The New Ancient
over a year ago
Handprinted - Blog
Should I use Caligo Extender or Opaque White? When mixing shades of ink, we have the choice to dilute the colour with either Opaque White ink or...
a year ago
46
a year ago
When mixing shades of ink, we have the choice to dilute the colour with either Opaque White ink or Extender. Both of these give us different results so which should we choose? We have performed a few experiments to show the difference between mixing with Opaque White and...
Seth's Blog
Getting better at bucket management If you throw a bucket of water on a small campfire, you’ll succeed in putting it out. Pour a...
a year ago
23
a year ago
If you throw a bucket of water on a small campfire, you’ll succeed in putting it out. Pour a bucketful of sake into one of those little glasses and you’ll waste most of it and ruin the table setting. And try to use a bucket to refill a dried-out lake and not much will happen. […]
Infinite Scroll
Weekly Scroll: Vance Memes Plus: Media Literacy (gone) and Production (still here)
a month ago
Seth's Blog
Leverage is brittle Debt is a financial miracle. If you buy a property for 20% down, with the bank financing the rest,...
over a year ago
47
over a year ago
Debt is a financial miracle. If you buy a property for 20% down, with the bank financing the rest, and it goes up in value by just 10%, your profit is 50%. (I’ll wait while you do the math.) If you have a factory and can buy a machine that increases productivity, the money you...
Seth's Blog
The power of expectations When we raise our expectations for a student, a friend or a co-worker, we open the door to...
a year ago
19
a year ago
When we raise our expectations for a student, a friend or a co-worker, we open the door to possibility. We offer them dignity and a chance to grow. We are offering them trust. But if we become attached to those expectations, if the expectation unmet leads us to distress or...
Open Culture
Mythology Expert Reviews Depictions of Greek & Roman Myths in Popular Movies and TV Shows It’s safe to say that we no longer believe in the gods of the ancient world — or rather, that most...
5 months ago
44
5 months ago
It’s safe to say that we no longer believe in the gods of the ancient world — or rather, that most of us no longer believe in their literal existence, but some of us have faith in their box-office potential. This two-part video series from Vanity Fair examines a variety of movies...
Neocha – Culture &...
Deep Baby Sleep Realm
over a year ago
Open Culture
Stephen King Names His Five Favorite Works by Stephen King Stephen King has no doubt forgotten writing more books than most of us will ever publish. But even...
10 months ago
42
10 months ago
Stephen King has no doubt forgotten writing more books than most of us will ever publish. But even now, in his prolific “late career,” if you ask him to name his own most favored works, he can do it without hesitation. Stephen Colbert tried that out a few years ago on The Late...
Seth's Blog
The early adopter (and the dilettante) The early adopter bought an iPhone in 2008 and never looked back. They played a few games of...
a year ago
21
a year ago
The early adopter bought an iPhone in 2008 and never looked back. They played a few games of pickleball and then joined a club and bought the equipment. They picked up a new magazine on the newsstand and then subscribed, and they bought the new bestseller and then read the...
Handprinted - Blog
Projects for the Year Ahead Are you looking to start the year by learning a new skill or starting a fresh project? Perhaps you...
3 months ago
58
3 months ago
Are you looking to start the year by learning a new skill or starting a fresh project? Perhaps you just need a boost of inspiration? We've put together some projects to get you going for the year ahead. Introduction to Linocut Did you get some new tools for Christmas and you'd...
Seth's Blog
PW 5: Measuring the right thing Last in the series… Most of us were indoctrinated to believe that completing chores is the...
a year ago
55
a year ago
Last in the series… Most of us were indoctrinated to believe that completing chores is the appropriate measure of productivity. “I did all my homework.” Doing all your homework is a measure for industrial bosses. But what, precisely, did your homework ever do for you? The actual...
Open Culture
Watch Tom Waits For No One, the Pioneering Animated Music Video from 1979 Tom Waits For No One, above, is surely the only film in history to have won an Oscar for Scientific...
9 months ago
58
9 months ago
Tom Waits For No One, above, is surely the only film in history to have won an Oscar for Scientific and Technical Achievement for its creator and a first place award at the Hollywood Erotic Film and Video Festival. Director John Lamb and his partner, Bruce Lyon also deserve...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet the Maker: Rachael Haggerty Hello, I’m Rachael and I am a printmaker based in Bath, UK. I generally work with linocut and mainly...
a year ago
83
a year ago
Hello, I’m Rachael and I am a printmaker based in Bath, UK. I generally work with linocut and mainly print in monochrome or bright primary colours. My work celebrates family life, nature and the local area. Describe your printmaking process. I normally sketch out a composition...
Seth's Blog
The run-on sentence Periods were an extraordinary invention. It took thousands of years of writing before we settled on...
5 months ago
35
5 months ago
Periods were an extraordinary invention. It took thousands of years of writing before we settled on this simple convention. The most direct way to improve your writing is to make your sentences shorter. I was reading a magazine article yesterday and was rapidly losing interest....
Infinite Scroll
Why You Should Read Web Fiction A beginner's guide to an underappreciated format
4 months ago
Blog - Mac Pierce
The Opt-Out Cap, detailed assembly with photos. How to assemble the Opt-Out Cap, a tool for facial recognition obfuscation.
over a year ago
Open Culture
Face to Face with Carl Jung: ‘Man Cannot Stand a Meaningless Life’ (1959) Carl Gustav Jung, founder of analytic psychology and explorer of the collective unconscious, was...
9 months ago
46
9 months ago
Carl Gustav Jung, founder of analytic psychology and explorer of the collective unconscious, was born on July 26, 1875 in the village of Kesswil, in the Thurgau canton of Switzerland. Above, we present a fascinating 39-minute interview of Jung by John Freeman for the BBC program...
Handprinted - Blog
Drypoint - Which plate is right for my project? Drypoint is a fantastic intaglio technique as it requires limited equipment to create a plate. It's...
11 months ago
103
11 months ago
Drypoint is a fantastic intaglio technique as it requires limited equipment to create a plate. It's a great way of creating a printed drawing and is one of the printmaking techniques where the positive mark is the one that prints (unlike relief printing for example). There are...
Open Culture
Behold James Sowerby’s Strikingly Illustrated New Elucidation of Colours (1809) James Sowerby was an artist dedicated to the natural world. It thus comes as no surprise that he was...
9 months ago
41
9 months ago
James Sowerby was an artist dedicated to the natural world. It thus comes as no surprise that he was also enormously interested in color, especially given the era in which he lived. Born in 1757, he made his professional start as a painter of flowers: a viable career path in...
Seth's Blog
Are you pitching or are you asking? There are two easy ways to tell: First, if you have a script or a highlighted goal in mind, you’re...
10 months ago
78
10 months ago
There are two easy ways to tell: First, if you have a script or a highlighted goal in mind, you’re pitching. You’re simply asking questions to create connection, tension or forward motion. Second, if you’re willing to learn and change your point of view as a result of the...
escape the algorithm
Befriending neighbors and beneighboring friends The Casement Window Theory of community building
8 months ago
Open Culture
Watch the 1896 Film The Pistol Duel, a Startling Re-Creation of the Last Days of Pistol Dueling in... One sometimes hears lamented the tendency of movies to depict Mexico — and in particular, its...
8 months ago
36
8 months ago
One sometimes hears lamented the tendency of movies to depict Mexico — and in particular, its capital Mexico City — as a threatening, rough-and-tumble place where human life has no value. Such concerns turn out to be nearly as old as cinema itself, having first been raised in...
Infinite Scroll
JOB - A theatrical review A Broadway play about Content Moderation
5 months ago
Seth's Blog
After the meteorite When it slams into your house and destroys it, we’re likely to pursue one of two lines of thinking:...
a year ago
29
a year ago
When it slams into your house and destroys it, we’re likely to pursue one of two lines of thinking: –How did I cause this? What choices did I make, what mistakes did I permit, why did I deserve to have this damage, or who can I blame? –Well, that happened, now what should I do?...
escape the algorithm
Folk search engines Strategies better than plain Google.
a year ago
Seth's Blog
Anonymity and Bugs Bunny I came across this (ironically) anonymous quote recently: “The offline world is full of sticks, but...
8 months ago
58
8 months ago
I came across this (ironically) anonymous quote recently: “The offline world is full of sticks, but the internet only has carrots.” When we come together in groups, it can bring out the best in people. When those groups are anonymous, porous and transient, though, the opposite...
Seth's Blog
The expanding frontier of ignorance Some fields of endeavor continue to narrow down the unknown, in search of the recipe, the efficient...
a year ago
27
a year ago
Some fields of endeavor continue to narrow down the unknown, in search of the recipe, the efficient method of industry. And others live on Feynman’s expanding frontier of ignorance, where each closed door leads to several newly opened ones. That’s a fundamental choice in our...
Open Culture
The Real Reason Why Music Is Getting Worse: Rick Beato Explains Earlier this month, a North Carolina man was charged with generating songs using an...
7 months ago
41
7 months ago
Earlier this month, a North Carolina man was charged with generating songs using an artificial-intelligence system and configuring bots to stream them automatically, thus racking up some $10 million in illegal royalties. Though that amount no doubt startles many of us, in this...
Infinite Scroll
The UnPopulist: Abundance Politics This week I’m in The UnPopulist with an article about the politics of the abundance agenda:
2 months ago
Seth's Blog
Write for someone It’s so tempting to write for everyone. But everyone isn’t going to read your work, someone is. Can...
7 months ago
63
7 months ago
It’s so tempting to write for everyone. But everyone isn’t going to read your work, someone is. Can you tell me who? Precisely? What did they believe before they encountered your work? What do they want, what do they fear? What has moved them to action in the past? Name the...
Stat Significant
Which Car Brands are Frequently Featured in Popular Music? A Statistical Analysis Which car brands are a fixture of song lyrics?
4 days ago
Blog - Mac Pierce
Understanding the work - Thoughts on one day with three art events. A few thoughts on a few art events that happened around Boston Feb. 22nd.
over a year ago
Seth's Blog
Childish or childlike? Childlike involves wonder. It’s the ability to see the world with fresh eyes and create magic....
a year ago
24
a year ago
Childlike involves wonder. It’s the ability to see the world with fresh eyes and create magic. Childish, on the other hand, is living as if there are no consequences. Over time, we’ve gotten very good at meauring the long and short-term consequences of our actions. And good at...
Open Culture
Behold a Digital Restoration of 655 Plates of Roses & Lilies by Pierre-Joseph Redouté: The Greatest... Pierre-Joseph Redouté made his name by painting flowers, an achievement impossible without a...
5 months ago
42
5 months ago
Pierre-Joseph Redouté made his name by painting flowers, an achievement impossible without a meticulousness that exceeds all bounds of normality. He published his three-volume collection Les Roses and his eight-volume collection Les Liliacées between 1802 and 1824, and a glance...
Seth's Blog
Widespread resistance Steve Pressfield defines Resistance as the inertia, stories and excuses we manage to create to avoid...
a year ago
22
a year ago
Steve Pressfield defines Resistance as the inertia, stories and excuses we manage to create to avoid powerful or creative work. Writer’s block, procrastination, overconfidence, or a belief in un-delivered talent are all symptoms of resistance. Knowing that it has a name helps us...
Open Culture
Death: A Free Online Philosophy Course from Yale Helps You Grapple with the Inescapable It pays to think intelligently about the inevitable. And this course taught by Yale professor Shelly...
7 months ago
49
7 months ago
It pays to think intelligently about the inevitable. And this course taught by Yale professor Shelly Kagan does just that, taking a rich, philosophical look at death. Here’s how the course description reads: There is one thing I can be sure of: I am going to die. But what am I to...
Seth's Blog
Is there a market(place)? Not all needs have a market (yet). A market is a category. A market is a place with competition. In...
4 months ago
45
4 months ago
Not all needs have a market (yet). A market is a category. A market is a place with competition. In a market, people have habits and budgets and social pressure to engage. There are buyers and sellers. In many cultures, there’s a market for all the items that go with a...
Open Culture
Marcus Aurelius’ 9 Rules for Living a Stoic Life: Presented by Ryan Holiday This week, the Guardian’s Zoe Williams profiled Ryan Holiday, a one-time public-relations whiz-kid...
5 months ago
59
5 months ago
This week, the Guardian’s Zoe Williams profiled Ryan Holiday, a one-time public-relations whiz-kid who’s reinvented himself over the past decade as a speaker for the dead: specifically Epictetus, Seneca, and above all Marcus Aurelius, the figureheads of the ancient school of...
Seth's Blog
In defense of the hard parts Yesterday’s post was a little glib. Without a doubt, we add more value when we focus on the...
8 months ago
52
8 months ago
Yesterday’s post was a little glib. Without a doubt, we add more value when we focus on the emotional labor of important work, leaving others the chance to create commodities. But the repetitive, difficult nature of leaning into commodity production can give us insight, humility...
Seth's Blog
Focusing attention is a skill Where we choose to direct our gaze determines not only what we learn or believe, but how we choose...
a year ago
25
a year ago
Where we choose to direct our gaze determines not only what we learn or believe, but how we choose to see the world. Typing is a skill. Juggling is a skill. So is project management. It’s easy to overlook the fact that we can get better at what we think about, create and consume....
Seth's Blog
Raising the bar That’s not the same as raising the average. With the advent of the high jump, the idiom raising the...
a year ago
66
a year ago
That’s not the same as raising the average. With the advent of the high jump, the idiom raising the bar became well understood: If you can’t jump over the bar that the current leader cleared, you don’t win. But most of the innovations that change our culture don’t actually...
Marian's Blog
3D printed model of my neighborhood I 3D printed a model of the street where I live. This post will explain how I prepared the data for...
over a year ago
16
over a year ago
I 3D printed a model of the street where I live. This post will explain how I prepared the data for it. Update: I have now automated the entire process and published my code. You can find it here. I worked with aerial Lidar data that is provided by the state I live in to download...
Seth's Blog
Shields down Michael Lopp helped coin an important term. When you’re a skilled craftsperson with high market...
a year ago
40
a year ago
Michael Lopp helped coin an important term. When you’re a skilled craftsperson with high market value, there may be recruiters knocking on your door. An employee who has ‘shields up’ doesn’t even bother to answer the door. When shields are down, you’re open to at least hearing...
Seth's Blog
The seduction of grad school For a certain cohort of high-performing students at famous colleges, graduate school feels...
a year ago
32
a year ago
For a certain cohort of high-performing students at famous colleges, graduate school feels irresistible. If you’re good at school, the challenge and offer of law school, med school or a famous business school means you get to do more of what you’re good at. You’re offered a...
Infinite Scroll
How Gay Marriage Ruined Democratic Activism The end of Moral Triumphalism
4 months ago
Stat Significant
Do People Actually Hate 'Forrest Gump'? A Statistical Analysis Examining the legacy of 'Forrest Gump.'
5 months ago
Infinite Scroll
Weekly Scroll: The Deep State Cometh /r/FedNews, DeepSeek hot takes, and a brutal menswear guy post
2 months ago
Seth's Blog
Sincerity is expected Well, not always. That’s why it’s so important. We don’t expect an actor to tell the truth. That’s...
5 months ago
44
5 months ago
Well, not always. That’s why it’s so important. We don’t expect an actor to tell the truth. That’s their job. Musicians and other performers are playing a role. And social niceties encourage us to put on a smile and share appreciation, even in situations where it might not be...
Handprinted - Blog
Toning Cyanotypes Did you know that Cyanotype prints don't always have to be blue? They can be toned and even bleached...
a year ago
120
a year ago
Did you know that Cyanotype prints don't always have to be blue? They can be toned and even bleached to alter their colour. The key is to use anything with a high tannin content. Tannins are commonly found in the bark of trees, leaves, buds, stems, fruits, seeds, roots, and plant...