Marian's Blog
Raspberry Pi Wetterstation
Um die Daten, die meine Arduino-Wetterstation liefert, verfügbarer zu machen, habe ich mich...
over a year ago
Um die Daten, die meine Arduino-Wetterstation liefert, verfügbarer zu machen, habe ich mich entschieden, das Projekt jetzt mit einem Raspberry Pi weiterzuführen. Die Sensordaten werden wieder vom ILC-Board geliefert, das ich für den Schülerwettbewerb Intel Leibniz Challenge...
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
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
On the dot
Hardy came home from school and proudly showed his mom the cheap plastic trinkets he had earned that...
a year ago
Hardy came home from school and proudly showed his mom the cheap plastic trinkets he had earned that day. “I stood quietly on the dot and so I got some tickets. And if I stand on the dot quietly tomorrow, I can get some more prizes!” First grade! That’s one way to indoctrinate...
Seth's Blog
Small doses
If you go to a health food store and buy some pills with selenium, colloidal silver or other...
a year ago
If you go to a health food store and buy some pills with selenium, colloidal silver or other mysterious substances in them, it’s possible that they’ll make you feel a bit better. On the other hand, if you take a large dose, you’ll get sick or possibly die. In very small doses,...
Seth's Blog
Clear ice
I love Zamboni machines. They’re ungainly, they’re slow but they’re also majestic. Like an elephant...
a month ago
I love Zamboni machines. They’re ungainly, they’re slow but they’re also majestic. Like an elephant for ice hockey. After each period, when the ice is chopped up by play, the Zamboni rolls out and leaves behind a sheet of perfect ice. Cold, smooth and untouched. It’s useful to...
Open Culture
Built to Last: How Ancient Roman Bridges Can Still Withstand the Weight of Modern Cars & Trucks
A foreign traveler road-tripping across Europe might well feel a wave of trepidation before driving...
2 months ago
A foreign traveler road-tripping across Europe might well feel a wave of trepidation before driving a fully loaded modern automobile over a more than 2,000-year-old bridge. But it might also be balanced out by the understanding that such a structure has, by definition, stood the...
Seth's Blog
Preference and utility
Taste varies. That’s why we don’t call it utility. Taste is individual preference, not absolute...
9 months ago
Taste varies. That’s why we don’t call it utility. Taste is individual preference, not absolute truth. In team settings, then, it’s much more helpful to say, “I prefer this over that,” instead of, “this is wrong.” Some things are wrong. There are standards that we can all accept...
Seth's Blog
Small groups, well organized
And those are the two challenges of anyone seeking to make an impact. First, we get distracted by...
a year ago
And those are the two challenges of anyone seeking to make an impact. First, we get distracted by the inclination to make the group as big as we can imagine. After all, the change is essential, the idea is a good one. It’s for everyone. Except that’s a trap. Because a group...
Open Culture
Édouard Manet Illustrates Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven, in a French Edition Translated by Stephane...
Edgar Allan Poe achieved almost instant fame during his lifetime after the publication of The...
2 weeks ago
Edgar Allan Poe achieved almost instant fame during his lifetime after the publication of The Raven (1845), but he never felt that he received the recognition he deserved. In some respects, he was right. He was, after all, paid only nine dollars for the poem, and he struggled...
Seth's Blog
Modern apologies
The AI driven voice mail system said, “I’m sorry, I didn’t understand you.” Of course, there is no...
3 months ago
The AI driven voice mail system said, “I’m sorry, I didn’t understand you.” Of course, there is no “I” and by most definitions of sorry, it’s not. But it made me feel better. The overworked and slightly bitter front desk person who was the frontline flotsam in a poorly designed...
On the Arts
Generative AI and the Falling Costs of Art Creation
For individual creators on a budget, the future is bright.
11 months ago
For individual creators on a budget, the future is bright.
Infinite Scroll
Weekly Scroll: MrBeast Games The System
Plus! A Momfluencer Horror Story and an Important Orca Update
2 weeks ago
Plus! A Momfluencer Horror Story and an Important Orca Update
Open Culture
The First “Selfie” In History Taken by Robert Cornelius, a Philadelphia Chemist, in 1839
In 2013, the Oxford Dictionaries announced that “selfie” had been deemed their Word of The Year. The...
4 months ago
In 2013, the Oxford Dictionaries announced that “selfie” had been deemed their Word of The Year. The term, whose first recorded use as an Instagram hashtag occurred on January 27, 2011, was actually invented in 2002, when an Australian chap posted a picture of himself on an...
Open Culture
Isaac Asimov Predicts the Future of Online Education in 1988–and It’s Now Coming True
“I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.” Though that line probably originated...
7 months ago
“I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.” Though that line probably originated with a Canadian novelist called Grant Allen, it’s long been popularly attributed to his more colorful nineteenth-century contemporary Mark Twain. It isn’t hard to understand why it...
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....
11 months 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
Product and process
What do we get in exchange for our work? There’s pay, of course, and the satisfaction of a job well...
a year ago
What do we get in exchange for our work? There’s pay, of course, and the satisfaction of a job well done. There’s stress and human interaction, learning and physical exertion. We get the drama of what might happen next and the delight of actually pulling it off. And mostly we get...
Seth's Blog
Further vs. faster
Sprints and marathons are both foot races, but they have very little in common. The training is...
a month ago
Sprints and marathons are both foot races, but they have very little in common. The training is different, and so is the technique. Which one are you signing up for? What about the thing you sell? Are we trying to get there faster, or do we promise to go further?
Handprinted - Blog
Meet the Maker: Caroline Whitehead
I’m a printmaker based in East London. For about eight years now, I’ve been obsessed with...
a year ago
I’m a printmaker based in East London. For about eight years now, I’ve been obsessed with alternative forms of lithography (mokulito (wood litho), kitchen litho, prontoplate litho, waterless litho, gum transfer). I also make prints on clay. As well as making my own prints, I also...
On the Arts
What is the Demoscene?
An Interview with Filipe Cruz on the Influential but Obscure Art Form
a year ago
An Interview with Filipe Cruz on the Influential but Obscure Art Form
Open Culture
Jerry Seinfeld Delivers Commencement Address at Duke University: You Will Need Humor to Get Through...
This weekend, Jerry Seinfeld gave the commencement speech at Duke University and offered the...
7 months ago
This weekend, Jerry Seinfeld gave the commencement speech at Duke University and offered the graduates his three keys to life: 1. bust your ass, 2. pay attention, and 3. fall in love. Then, 10 minutes later, he added essentially a fourth key to life: “Do not lose your sense of...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet the Maker: Moïra Swann
Bonjour everyone! Moïra Swann is an English and Proustian adaptation from my real name Anne-Marie:...
over a year ago
Bonjour everyone! Moïra Swann is an English and Proustian adaptation from my real name Anne-Marie: while Anne-Marie lives in France and works full-time in a wonderful museum dedicated to the French painter Anne-Louis Girodet, Moïra Swann does lino printing whenever she can, as an...
Seth's Blog
Brighten up a room
(just by leaving it) Moving into your kid’s college dorm isn’t going to make the experience better...
3 months ago
(just by leaving it) Moving into your kid’s college dorm isn’t going to make the experience better for anyone. A smart founder leaves her company in a moment when it actually does better without her. The expectation that secession is failure causes a lot of damage. If you really...
Seth's Blog
Nihil hic deest
This page intentionally left blank has a long history. I thought it was an IBM thing from the 1960s,...
a year ago
This page intentionally left blank has a long history. I thought it was an IBM thing from the 1960s, but I was off by a thousand or more years. There are good reasons for a page to be blank. Folding signatures, printing processes, having chapters start on the right or the left…...
Open Culture
Why You Do Your Best Thinking In The Shower: Creativity & the “Incubation Period”
Image via Wikimedia Commons “The great Tao fades away.” So begins one translation of the Tao Te...
5 months ago
Image via Wikimedia Commons “The great Tao fades away.” So begins one translation of the Tao Te Ching’s 18th Chapter. The sentence captures the frustration that comes with a lost epiphany. Whether it’s a profound realization when you just wake up, or moment of clarity in the...
Open Culture
Thousands of Pablo Picasso’s Works Now Available in a New Digital Archive
If you want to immerse yourself in the world of Pablo Picasso, you might start at the Museo Picasso...
5 months ago
If you want to immerse yourself in the world of Pablo Picasso, you might start at the Museo Picasso Málaga, located in the artist’s Spanish birthplace. But to understand how his work developed throughout his life, you’ll have to get out of Spain — which is just what Picasso did...
Open Culture
Is Andrew Huberman Ruining Your Morning Coffee Routine?
Andrew Huberman–the host of the influential Huberman Lab podcast–has gotten a lot of mileage out of...
3 months ago
Andrew Huberman–the host of the influential Huberman Lab podcast–has gotten a lot of mileage out of his recommended morning routine. His routine emphasizes the importance of getting sunlight within 30–60 minutes of waking; also engaging in light physical activity; hydrating well;...
Seth's Blog
The half-life of magic
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Arthur C. Clarke Try to...
7 months ago
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Arthur C. Clarke Try to imagine the you of twenty years ago holding a Rabbit R1, or using a cell phone or being able to listen to every song, ever recorded, for just a few dollars a month. We don’t just take...
Handprinted - Blog
Using Pearl Ex Metallic Pigments to Enhance Screen Prints
Pearl Ex Powdered Pigments are metallic pigments that can be mixed into printing inks, acrylics,...
6 months ago
Pearl Ex Powdered Pigments are metallic pigments that can be mixed into printing inks, acrylics, oils, encaustics and loads more. As printmakers we were keen to see how they could be used in various printmaking applications. We've tested them for relief printing and had some...
Open Culture
Take a Tour of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Ennis House, the Mansion That Has Appeared in Blade Runner, Twin...
There are more than a few of us who’d enjoy the opportunity to live in a house that appears in Blade...
2 months ago
There are more than a few of us who’d enjoy the opportunity to live in a house that appears in Blade Runner; there are rather few of us who would value that opportunity at $23 million, the asking price given in the 2019 Architectural Digest video on Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1924...
Seth's Blog
New ways to codify purpose
And then what happens? Many small businesses start with generosity and good intent at their core....
a year ago
And then what happens? Many small businesses start with generosity and good intent at their core. But it’s a rough ride, and especially when outside funding is involved, it’s easy to get seduced by the bright lights of Milton Friedman and an obsession with short-term profits....
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...
a month 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...
Seth's Blog
Elegant and classy
If you announce that something is elegant or classy, it probably isn’t. There’s a humility to...
a year ago
If you announce that something is elegant or classy, it probably isn’t. There’s a humility to hospitality and sophistication that evaporates when we name it.
Seth's Blog
The tooth fairy
Make a list of things you used to believe. Fervently, certainly, completely. Things that you were...
4 months ago
Make a list of things you used to believe. Fervently, certainly, completely. Things that you were sure of, but now, with the passage of time and the benefit of experience, you know to be incorrect or incomplete. Of course, it’s not just mythical creatures beloved by children....
Handprinted - Blog
Meet the Maker: Robin Mackenzie
I am Robin Mackenzie, a Wood Engraver and Lino Cutter based in Dorset. I create limited edition...
a year ago
I am Robin Mackenzie, a Wood Engraver and Lino Cutter based in Dorset. I create limited edition relief prints using a combination of hand printing and an Albion printing press. My work explores the British coast and countryside. Beginning with walks and research trips I seek...
The Great Discontent...
Carly Ayres
Emergence Issue: TGD’s fifth issue features a dynamic group of 15 creators who are deeply committed...
over a year ago
Emergence Issue: TGD’s fifth issue features a dynamic group of 15 creators who are deeply committed to addressing systematic challenges in their communities through creativity and emerging ideologies. Buy Now According to your website, “Carly Ayres is a writer using language and...
Seth's Blog
Generosity and fear
Fear is self-focused. Day to day, our fear is about us. What will happen if we give that speech,...
8 months ago
Fear is self-focused. Day to day, our fear is about us. What will happen if we give that speech, launch that project, get stuck in traffic, are eaten by an alligator… And generosity is about others. “How can I help?” Jumping in the water to save a struggling swimmer stops us from...
Seth's Blog
“I didn’t see you there”
Someone I’ve worked with over the years happened to be driving down my street. I called out and said...
a month ago
Someone I’ve worked with over the years happened to be driving down my street. I called out and said hello… They ignored me. So I repeated myself. “Oh,” they said, recognizing me. “It’s you.” We’re more likely to see, hear and care if the person over there is actually a person. A...
Infinite Scroll
Infinite Scroll x GiveDirectly
Read to the end for an AI cokehead
2 weeks ago
Read to the end for an AI cokehead
escape the algorithm
Close reading the trees
How competitive Google Street Viewing makes the world feel seen
10 months ago
How competitive Google Street Viewing makes the world feel seen
Handprinted - Blog
Making an Aluminium Plate Etching
We recently covered in our blog how to make marks on etching plates using tools and resists. Now...
3 months ago
We recently covered in our blog how to make marks on etching plates using tools and resists. Now we’re going to put together what we’ve learnt to create a print!
This blog is part of a series featuring tips and techniques to get you started with aluminium or zinc plate etching....
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,...
2 weeks 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...
Seth's Blog
“Not your best ever”
In order to have a best ever, hearing this is part of the deal. Each thing is not going to top...
6 months ago
In order to have a best ever, hearing this is part of the deal. Each thing is not going to top everything that came before it. Progress is rarely smooth.
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
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?...
Seth's Blog
Knowing the territory
There is always room for someone who really knows their way around an industry, a technology or a...
2 months ago
There is always room for someone who really knows their way around an industry, a technology or a problem. That’s what agents, agencies and organizers do. The hard part isn’t in finding people who will value true on-the-ground expertise. The hard part is actually earning it and...
Open Culture
Bambi Meets Godzilla: #38 on the List of The 50 Greatest Cartoons of All Time (1969)
In 1994, Jerry Beck edited the book, The 50 Greatest Cartoons: As Selected by 1,000 Animation...
a month ago
In 1994, Jerry Beck edited the book, The 50 Greatest Cartoons: As Selected by 1,000 Animation Professionals, which challenged experts to create a ranking of the best short, cel animated cartoons ever made. To no one’s surprise, the experts chose 10 Warner Bros. animations crafted...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet the Maker: Matt Hooper
My name is Matt Hooper and I’m a relief printmaker working from my rather compact studio I built in...
2 months ago
My name is Matt Hooper and I’m a relief printmaker working from my rather compact studio I built in the garden of my home in a town just outside Leeds. I’m a self taught artist and printmaker, ironically having being in the print industry for 32 years. I left school at 16 with no...
Seth's Blog
Curation (vs the road to junk)
The independent bookstore down the street is carefully curated. Each book takes up the spot that a...
9 months ago
The independent bookstore down the street is carefully curated. Each book takes up the spot that a different book could inhabit, so the owner makes sure that there’s a great reason a title is included. Amazon, on the other hand, has no shelf space problem, and the Kindle...
Seth's Blog
Sharp tools
Professional woodworkers rarely have to be reminded to sharpen their tools. Of course they know...
3 months ago
Professional woodworkers rarely have to be reminded to sharpen their tools. Of course they know this. The rest of us, on the other hand, regularly use digital tools we don’t understand, don’t maintain and haven’t optimized. Sometimes, our lack of care in the choice and use of...
Seth's Blog
The braid out of balance
There are three strands, present for most everyone: Power (sometimes seen as status, or the...
a year ago
There are three strands, present for most everyone: Power (sometimes seen as status, or the appearance of status) Safety (survival and peace of mind) Meaning (hope and the path forward) The changes in our media structure, public health and economy have pushed some people to...
Seth's Blog
An overlooked and powerful editing tool
Consider building a word cloud of your writing. It might be all the text on your website, or the...
6 months ago
Consider building a word cloud of your writing. It might be all the text on your website, or the last 50 emails you sent. It might be your new book or the speech you’re going to give at Rice University. It only takes a few minutes. I use wordclouds.com because it’s easy and free....
Seth's Blog
Plasticity
It’s pretty easy for some kids to switch gears. They can go from sad to ebullient in seconds, and...
5 months ago
It’s pretty easy for some kids to switch gears. They can go from sad to ebullient in seconds, and switch contexts without much fuss. Others have more trouble. As we get older, our natural ability to thrive in a new situation can decrease. But, like a muscle or a skill, it...
Ian Betteridge
Weeknote, Sunday 10th November 2024
It’s been a while since I wrote a weeknote, although I’ve kept up with the other kinds of writing...
a month ago
It’s been a while since I wrote a weeknote, although I’ve kept up with the other kinds of writing that I do. But: I work now. I’m working at a small B2B publisher helping them sort out a few things. This was originally going to be an in-and-out job which would take nine months,...
Seth's Blog
Better pockets
Every coat needs better pockets. There are categories of products or services where there’s a...
3 months ago
Every coat needs better pockets. There are categories of products or services where there’s a universal area for improvement. When in doubt, make the pockets better. The interesting work is in realizing that you might offer a product or service where there are non-universal...
Open Culture
The Doctor Who Theme Reimagined as a Jacques Brel-esque Jazz Tune
?si=tyjBCsSNLIAgh7SM Written by Ron Grainer, and then famously arranged and recorded by Delia...
2 months ago
?si=tyjBCsSNLIAgh7SM Written by Ron Grainer, and then famously arranged and recorded by Delia Derbyshire in 1963, the Doctor Who theme song has been adapted and covered many times, and even referenced by Pink Floyd. In the hands of comedian Bill Bailey, the song comes out a...
Open Culture
The Mushroom Color Atlas: An Interactive Web Site Lets You Explore the Incredible Spectrum of Colors...
Enter the Mushroom Color Atlas, and you can discover the “beautiful and subtle colors derived from...
a month ago
Enter the Mushroom Color Atlas, and you can discover the “beautiful and subtle colors derived from dyeing with mushrooms.” Featuring 825 colors, each associated with different types of mushrooms, the interactive atlas lets you appreciate the broad spectrum of colors latent in the...
Seth's Blog
Elites (vs. elitism)
Tom Brady is an elite athlete. Few have even approached the stats he had playing football. And...
2 weeks ago
Tom Brady is an elite athlete. Few have even approached the stats he had playing football. And Catherine Walker, NSTA Science Teacher of the Year, is an elite, because her pedagogy and understanding give her the ability to create better outcomes for her students. There’s a...
Seth's Blog
Change your shoes
Like all good metaphors, it might be practical too. Your ‘shoes’ are the point of greatest leverage....
a week ago
Like all good metaphors, it might be practical too. Your ‘shoes’ are the point of greatest leverage. The spot where you have traction and engage with the world most directly. For a freelancer, it might be the way you engage with customers, or your software tools. It might be the...
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
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...
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...
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...
Ian Betteridge
Ten Blue Links, “stoically facing the end times” edition
1. When is AI coding not AI coding? You might have heard something about how Google now creates a...
a month ago
1. When is AI coding not AI coding? You might have heard something about how Google now creates a quarter of its code using AI. But as with most things concerning everyone’s favourite hot tech, the devil is in the details. And the details, according to this poster on Hacker News,...
Seth's Blog
Practical philosophy
Engineering is the powerful practice of being able to deliver artifacts that do what they’re...
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,...
Seth's Blog
Coercion
One way to look at power is “you get to tell people what to do.” But an alternative is that the most...
11 months ago
One way to look at power is “you get to tell people what to do.” But an alternative is that the most powerful institutions, brands and people are the ones who are in alignment with their audience. Trust and the benefit of the doubt are more powerful and resilient than command and...
Seth's Blog
It could have easily gone the other way
It could have been way better. It could have been far worse. It’s easy to imagine that outcomes are...
a year ago
It could have been way better. It could have been far worse. It’s easy to imagine that outcomes are inevitable, but they’re not. Was it your fault, or was it luck (good or bad)? If our story of the past is filled with second guesses, shame or blame, it can carry forward. Or...
Open Culture
Jean-Paul Sartre Rejects the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1964: “It Was Monstrous!”
In a 2013 blog post, the great Ursula K. Le Guin quotes a London Times Literary Supplement column by...
4 months ago
In a 2013 blog post, the great Ursula K. Le Guin quotes a London Times Literary Supplement column by a “J.C.,” who satirically proposes the “Jean-Paul Sartre Prize for Prize Refusal.” “Writers all over Europe and America are turning down awards in the hope of being nominated for...
Open Culture
Download 1,600+ Publications from the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Books, Guides, Magazines & More
Many of us in these past few generations first heard of the Metropolitan Museum of Art while reading...
a month ago
Many of us in these past few generations first heard of the Metropolitan Museum of Art while reading E. L. Konigsburg’s novel From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. More than a few of us also fantasized about running away to live in that vast cultural institution...
Seth's Blog
Embodied energy
It might only cost $2 in the vending machine, but that can of soda is a complicated battery. It...
3 months ago
It might only cost $2 in the vending machine, but that can of soda is a complicated battery. It stores the energy of the machines that were used to mine the bauxite, the ship that brought the ore to Iceland, the astonishing temperatures used to create the aluminum, then more...
Marian's Blog
Aquarium Innensicht mit Gopro
Wegen meinem Quadrocopter habe ich eine Gopro, die ja auch wasserfest ist. Da war es naheliegend,...
over a year ago
Wegen meinem Quadrocopter habe ich eine Gopro, die ja auch wasserfest ist. Da war es naheliegend, die mal im Aquarium auszuprobieren. Bei dem Aquarium stand einiges an Arbeit an, da das Glasbecken undicht war, und alles komplett ausgeräumt werden muss, um das Becken...
Handprinted - Blog
Preparing your paper and press for etching
When you’ve created an aluminium or zinc plate etching, you’ll want to have a go at pulling your...
7 months ago
When you’ve created an aluminium or zinc plate etching, you’ll want to have a go at pulling your first print. To do this, you’ll need to learn how to prepare your paper and how to set the correct pressure on your press.
This blog is part of a series featuring tips and techniques...
Open Culture
A 5‑Hour Journey Through North Korean Entertainment: Propaganda Films, Kids’ Cartoons, Sketch Comedy...
Over the second half of the twentieth century, South Korea became rich, and in the first decades of...
7 months ago
Over the second half of the twentieth century, South Korea became rich, and in the first decades of the twenty-first, it’s become a global cultural superpower. The same can’t be said for North Korea: after a relatively strong start in the nineteen-fifties and sixties, its economy...
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
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...
Open Culture
How Carl Jung Inspired the Creation of Alcoholics Anonymous
There may be as many doors into Alcoholics Anonymous in the 21st century as there are people who...
6 months ago
There may be as many doors into Alcoholics Anonymous in the 21st century as there are people who walk through them—from every world religion to no religion. The “international mutual-aid fellowship” has had “a significant and long-term effect on the culture of the United States,”...
Handprinted - Blog
Transferring a Linocut to Inkjet Film using Adigraf Water Soluble Ink
We've recently discovered that you can expose a screen with artwork made by transferring a linocut...
a year ago
We've recently discovered that you can expose a screen with artwork made by transferring a linocut to inkjet film using a water based ink.
Often when we want to convert our relief prints to screen prints, we need to use some kind of digital programming to make this possible. With...
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
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
It’s not easy
…to make it look easy. Sometimes, you don’t need to bother. Making it look hard might be a plus. The...
a year ago
…to make it look easy. Sometimes, you don’t need to bother. Making it look hard might be a plus. The important part is how it makes the recipient feel.
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...
2 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...
Open Culture
T. S. Eliot’s Classic Modernist Poem The Waste Land Gets Adapted into Comic-Book Form
The phrase “April is the cruelest month” was first printed more than 100 years ago, and it’s been in...
2 months ago
The phrase “April is the cruelest month” was first printed more than 100 years ago, and it’s been in common circulation almost as long. One can easily know it without having the faintest idea of its source, let alone its meaning. This is not, of course, to call T. S. Eliot’s The...
Seth's Blog
The bitterness loop
Spoiled leads to bitter. A sense of entitlement is a trap, because bitterness demands more evidence...
3 months ago
Spoiled leads to bitter. A sense of entitlement is a trap, because bitterness demands more evidence and seeks to maintain dominance over the other emotions. When we’re busy looking for more reasons to be bitter, we’re not taking the time to do generative work, to connect and to...
Anarchy Unfolds
One Year on Substack
Writing the upside-down, plus Pride Myths & Recs
5 months ago
Writing the upside-down, plus Pride Myths & Recs
cabel.com
Marching Age
This is a short story about something delightful. In 2014, I did a bunch of music for my friends...
12 months ago
This is a short story about something delightful. In 2014, I did a bunch of music for my friends Neven Mrgan and Matt Comi who were making an incredible iOS game called Space Age. I had never written that much music in my life, and it was incredibly fun for me in every way. (You...
Seth's Blog
The hard parts (and the important parts)
The hard parts of what you do all day can feel fraught. It’s heavy lifting. Emergencies. Dangerous...
4 months ago
The hard parts of what you do all day can feel fraught. It’s heavy lifting. Emergencies. Dangerous labor. The stakes are high and the work can be difficult. The important parts of what you do all day are valuable to someone else. This is what you’re getting paid for–solving a...
Seth's Blog
Defending the apostrophe
Does it need defending? The sign on some bushes near a park in my town says, Beware: Bee’s. A local...
a year ago
Does it need defending? The sign on some bushes near a park in my town says, Beware: Bee’s. A local merchant adds a note to some receipts that says, Your awesome. It’s tempting to speak up and point out that the sky comma is showing up where it shouldn’t. And missing when it...
Seth's Blog
Manipulation, indoctrination and addiction
They’re often related. It’s not unusual for someone to have more experience or knowledge than we do....
7 months ago
They’re often related. It’s not unusual for someone to have more experience or knowledge than we do. If they use that knowledge to their benefit, not ours, they might be manipulating us. If we knew what they knew, we wouldn’t have gone along. This is the difference between a...
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
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...
Open Culture
Behold the Codex Gigas (aka “Devil’s Bible”), the Largest Medieval Manuscript in the World
Bargain with the devil and you may wind up with a golden fiddle, supernatural guitar-playing...
6 months ago
Bargain with the devil and you may wind up with a golden fiddle, supernatural guitar-playing ability, or a room full of gleaming alchemized straw. Whoops, we misattributed that last one. It’s actually Rumpelstiltskin’s doing, but the by-morning-or-else deadline that drives the...
Seth's Blog
Tricked (again)
If you knew then what you know now, would you have made the same decision? In the last fifty years,...
a year ago
If you knew then what you know now, would you have made the same decision? In the last fifty years, more than 25,000,000 Americans have died prematurely due to cigarette smoking. Worldwide, it’s significantly higher. That’s fifty times as many U.S. citizens as died in World War...
The Great Discontent...
Britt Reilly
Britt Reilly's work lives at the intersection of immersive visual arts, historic architecture and...
3 weeks ago
Britt Reilly's work lives at the intersection of immersive visual arts, historic architecture and preservation, and modernist design. Britt is the executive director and collections curator at the Irving & Aaronel deRoy Gruber Foundation in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and when we...
escape the algorithm
Be specific
Ode to ᵗᶦⁿʸ ᵗᵒᵒˡˢ
11 months ago
Open Culture
William S. Burroughs’ Scathing “Thanksgiving Prayer,” Shot by Gus Van Sant
“Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 28, 1986” first appeared in print in Tornado Alley, a chapbook published by...
3 weeks ago
“Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 28, 1986” first appeared in print in Tornado Alley, a chapbook published by William S. Burroughs in 1989. Two years later, Gus Van Sant (Good Will Hunting, My Own Private Idaho, Milk) shot a montage that brought the poem to film, making it at least the...
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...
4 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
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
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...
Seth's Blog
Who cares?
A question we don’t ask ourselves very often, but a choice we make every day. It’s tempting to not...
a year ago
A question we don’t ask ourselves very often, but a choice we make every day. It’s tempting to not care. If you choose to not care, you’re off the hook. It’s simply to do as little as possible, avoid too much trouble, ask if it will be on the test, try to stay off the […]
Infinite Scroll
Worst Tweets 2024 - Preliminary Rounds
Vote on which bad takes will make the 2024 bracket!
a week ago
Vote on which bad takes will make the 2024 bracket!
Blog - Amy Goodchild
How does it feel to make generative art?
I asked other generative artists how the process feels to them
over a year ago
I asked other generative artists how the process feels to them
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...
2 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...
Seth's Blog
The Mississippi River paradox
There’s no water in that river that was there ten years ago. The boundaries have shifted in that...
4 months ago
There’s no water in that river that was there ten years ago. The boundaries have shifted in that time as well, there’s no riverbank that’s exactly where it was. And the silt and the fish have all moved too. So, what’s “the Mississippi River”? It’s a label, a placeholder, and a...
Open Culture
Explore and Download 14,000+ Woodcuts from Antwerp’s Plantin-Moretus Museum Online Archive
We appreciate illuminated manuscripts and historical books here on Open Culture, adhere though we do...
3 weeks ago
We appreciate illuminated manuscripts and historical books here on Open Culture, adhere though we do to a much more restrained aesthetic style in our own texts. But that’s not to deny the temptation to start this paragraph with one of those oversized initial letters that grew...
On the Arts
Winter as Reading Season
David Foster Wallace on the necessity of quiet time in order to read.
a year ago
David Foster Wallace on the necessity of quiet time in order to read.
Open Culture
Keith Moon, Drummer of The Who, Passes Out at 1973 Concert; 19-Year-Old Fan Takes Over
In November 1973, Scot Halpin, a 19-year-old kid, scalped tickets to The Who concert in San...
4 months ago
In November 1973, Scot Halpin, a 19-year-old kid, scalped tickets to The Who concert in San Francisco, California. Little did he know that he’d wind up playing drums for the band that night — that his name would end up etched in the annals of rock ’n’ roll. The Who came to...
Seth's Blog
If it were really important…
Could we change our minds? When was the last time new information caused you to walk away from an...
a year ago
Could we change our minds? When was the last time new information caused you to walk away from an idea you were confident in? It gets harder and harder to do, and more and more important.
Seth's Blog
Quietly change it
When we think about altering a policy, a setting or even the outfit we usually wear, it’s easy to...
a year ago
When we think about altering a policy, a setting or even the outfit we usually wear, it’s easy to imagine that everyone is going to notice. In fact, almost no one will. That’s because no one cares about the noise in our head (or the actions we take) nearly as much as we do. You...
Seth's Blog
Empathy at a distance
… is almost as difficult as empathy up close. That person that’s not like you, from way over there,...
3 months ago
… is almost as difficult as empathy up close. That person that’s not like you, from way over there, the one that’s on the other team–it’s hard to imagine what they’re dealing with. They don’t believe what you believe, they haven’t experienced what you’ve experienced. And the...
Seth's Blog
Chores
They’re essential. The house begins to stink if we don’t take out the garbage. But at work, while...
a year ago
They’re essential. The house begins to stink if we don’t take out the garbage. But at work, while they might be essential, they may not be important. At least, not important enough for us to spend a lot of focus on. Chores are: The bills have to get paid. But they might not have...
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
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...
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...
10 months 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...
Marian's Blog
Lego Part Designer
I made a web app that lets you design your own Lego Technic parts and save them as printable STL...
over a year ago
I made a web app that lets you design your own Lego Technic parts and save them as printable STL files.
You can check it out here.
I got the idea for this project when I was building with Lego parts and wondered how many of the common parts can be described with a simple rule...
Seth's Blog
The price of salt
Salt is essentially free. A bag of salted nuts is the same price (or less) as an unsalted one. But...
a year ago
Salt is essentially free. A bag of salted nuts is the same price (or less) as an unsalted one. But salt used to be expensive. Truly expensive, like gold. We keep seeing the deflation of things we were sure would remain expensive. Computer chips, disk storage and now, content....
Seth's Blog
Hiring for stuck
Once an organization figures out a successful model, it begins to grow. And when it grows, it needs...
2 months ago
Once an organization figures out a successful model, it begins to grow. And when it grows, it needs more staff. And they often hire for specific tasks and the skills that go with them. They need a person who will reliably and obediently deliver what they need right now. And...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet the Maker: Frankie Brown
I’m an illustrator and printmaker based in Portsmouth, Hampshire. I’m inspired by nostalgic...
a year ago
I’m an illustrator and printmaker based in Portsmouth, Hampshire. I’m inspired by nostalgic storybooks and I love to create whimsical hand-printed illustrations.
I also work part-time at Handprinted; looking after the studio, liaising with tutors, teaching some Fab Fridays,...
Seth's Blog
Long-term selfish
Everyone is selfish. We do things that increase our chances of survival, help us achieve our goals...
4 months ago
Everyone is selfish. We do things that increase our chances of survival, help us achieve our goals and give us a story we can tell ourselves about our role in the community. But short-term selfish is something we try to grow out of. Short-term selfish runs a red light because...
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...
a month 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...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet The Maker: Kathryn Green
I am a textile artist and tutor, specialising in dye and print processes to create organic, layered...
10 months ago
I am a textile artist and tutor, specialising in dye and print processes to create organic, layered and textural art textile pieces for exhibition, in addition to capsule collections of wearable art and interior accessories.
Having obtained a First-class degree in textiles, I...
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
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
Living in hyperbole
In the pre-media world, we bumped into fables, or news from across the village, but mostly, our role...
a year ago
In the pre-media world, we bumped into fables, or news from across the village, but mostly, our role models and experiences were based on reality. Now, when it’s not unusual to spend eight hours a day surrounded by media fueled by greatest hits (worst offender, breaking news,...
Stat Significant
Who's the Greatest Actor in Movie History? A Statistical Analysis
Who's the greatest movie actor of all time, and why?
4 months ago
Who's the greatest movie actor of all time, and why?
Seth's Blog
When in doubt, look for the fear
When someone acts in a surprising way, we can begin to understand by wondering what they might be...
a year ago
When someone acts in a surprising way, we can begin to understand by wondering what they might be afraid of.
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...
2 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...
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...
4 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...
Seth's Blog
Who is undermining your brand?
There’s a high-end grocer in a very expensive neighborhood of New York–and they focus all of their...
a year ago
There’s a high-end grocer in a very expensive neighborhood of New York–and they focus all of their energy on Italian food. Everything is imported, and they spend a lot of time and money earning the premium they charge for an authentic Italian shopping experience. And then a lazy...
Seth's Blog
What are the defaults?
Perhaps they were chosen a very long time ago. Or with very little thought. It could be that the...
a year ago
Perhaps they were chosen a very long time ago. Or with very little thought. It could be that the constraints that led to the default are long gone. They might be perpetuating bad choices, injustice or sub-optimal outputs. The best way to fix something is to look at what we assume...
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...
a week 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...
Seth's Blog
Good businesses solve real problems
But not all real problems lead to good businesses. There are problems all around us. People need...
a year ago
But not all real problems lead to good businesses. There are problems all around us. People need housing, health care and food. They want delight, belonging and status. When a company shows up in the marketplace with a product or service that people eagerly choose to buy, it’s...
Open Culture
The Golden Guide to Hallucinogenic Plants: Explore the 1977 Illustrated Guide Created by Harvard’s...
I mean, the idea that you would give a psychedelic—in this case, magic mushrooms or the chemical...
2 weeks ago
I mean, the idea that you would give a psychedelic—in this case, magic mushrooms or the chemical called psilocybin that’s derived from magic mushrooms—to people dying of cancer, people with terminal diagnoses, to help them deal with their — what’s called existential distress. And...
Seth's Blog
What happened vs. what we do about it
It’s possible to have a useful conversation about what to do about something that’s broken or needs...
8 months ago
It’s possible to have a useful conversation about what to do about something that’s broken or needs improvement. But first, we must acknowledge that it happened. It’s not controversial to understand the facts, the data and the shifts that are happening in the world we live in. In...
Seth's Blog
Banana Equivalents
Bananas are (slightly) radioactive. The banana equivalent dose (BED) is a measurement of radiation....
3 months ago
Bananas are (slightly) radioactive. The banana equivalent dose (BED) is a measurement of radiation. It’s definitely not enough to hurt you. When we think about risk, the BED is a useful way to find perspective. Is the exposure this new thing will cause on the order of a banana?...
Blog - Mac Pierce
Readymade Thermal Obfuscation - A few quick tests with a consumer product.
Using the Ikea FREKVENS Raincoat to hide from thermal imaging.
over a year ago
Using the Ikea FREKVENS Raincoat to hide from thermal imaging.
Seth's Blog
The nature of traps
Our culture is filled with man-made traps, situations worth avoiding. They have three elements:...
a month ago
Our culture is filled with man-made traps, situations worth avoiding. They have three elements: Because of the third element, the organizer or beneficiaries of a trap can spend time and money to make it ever more seductive and to conceal the nature of what you’re actually signing...
Seth's Blog
She’s here!
Some restaurants keep a photo of the local reviewer in the kitchen. The thinking is that if someone...
7 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
Redundancy has a half-life
At first, this stop sign sign makes a lot of sense: Lives are at stake. Break the rhythm, turn...
10 months ago
At first, this stop sign sign makes a lot of sense: Lives are at stake. Break the rhythm, turn something ignored into something noticed. The challenge with “highlighting” is that it fades. When everything is in all caps, nothing is. Exclamation points are like salt. When people...
Prolost
Linear Light, Gamma, and ACES
Imagine a digital 50% gray card. In 0–255 RGB values, it’s 127, 127, 127.
On the RGB parade scope,...
over a year ago
Imagine a digital 50% gray card. In 0–255 RGB values, it’s 127, 127, 127.
On the RGB parade scope, the card is a perfect plateau at 50%.
Now imagine increasing the exposure of this scene by one stop. “Stops” of light are an exponential scale, meaning that subtracting one stop is...
Seth's Blog
Meaningfully informed
Community requires individuals to have the option of speaking up. If we’re in this together, we...
5 months ago
Community requires individuals to have the option of speaking up. If we’re in this together, we ought to be able to chime in. But while every member of the community can speak out, the ones that are heard also have something useful to say. Being informed is a requirement to be...
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
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...
Open Culture
The First “Selfie” In History Taken by Robert Cornelius, a Philadelphia Chemist, in 1839
In 2013, the Oxford Dictionaries announced that “selfie” had been deemed their Word of The Year. The...
4 months ago
In 2013, the Oxford Dictionaries announced that “selfie” had been deemed their Word of The Year. The term, whose first recorded use as an Instagram hashtag occurred on January 27, 2011, was actually invented in 2002, when an Australian chap posted a picture of himself on an...
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...
11 months 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...
Handprinted - Blog
In the Studio 2022
We have had the pleasure of hosting lots of new and exciting Fab Friday workshops and wonderful...
over a year ago
We have had the pleasure of hosting lots of new and exciting Fab Friday workshops and wonderful Guest Tutors in 2022, exploring a variety of printmaking techniques. Take a look at this selection of work produced by students throughout the year:
Life Drawing - Mono Screen...
Marian's Blog
ESA ExoMars Rover 3D model
This is one of my first 3D modeling projects in Blender and my biggest 3D modeling project so...
over a year ago
This is one of my first 3D modeling projects in Blender and my biggest 3D modeling project so far.
It's a model of ESA's ExoMars rover.
You can have a closer look at the model on Sketchfab:
There is also a download option on Sketchfab so you can get the original .blend file and...
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...
3 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
Learning, connecting, deciding (and amazing)
My new short LinkedIn class on project management just launched, and I’ll be discussing it live...
a year ago
My new short LinkedIn class on project management just launched, and I’ll be discussing it live today with Amanda Ruud … we’ll be there if you want to bring your questions. Sooner or later, all important work becomes project work. After the extraordinary feedback from her last...
The Last...
Randi Zuckerberg Thinks We Should Untangle Our Wired Lives
how hard could it be, none of those circles are actually connected
Randi Zuckerberg is...
over a year ago
how hard could it be, none of those circles are actually connected
Randi Zuckerberg is CEO of Zuckerberg Media, which, according to its 10-K, is an iphone. If you have no idea who she is, and you shouldn't, then the answer to your one and only question is yes.
In her...
Open Culture
Hokusai’s The Great Wave off Kanagawa Now Appears on Japanese Banknotes
If you’ve lived or traveled in Japan, you know full well how much of daily life in that...
5 months ago
If you’ve lived or traveled in Japan, you know full well how much of daily life in that cash-intensive society involves the use of thousand-yen bills. Once considered the equivalent of the American ten-spot, the yen’s lately having fallen to its lowest value in decades means that...
Seth's Blog
Ice sculpture
There are very few activities that are fully reversible. Ice sculpture might be one of them. Once...
a month ago
There are very few activities that are fully reversible. Ice sculpture might be one of them. Once the ice melts, all the effort and information is lost, and refreezing lets you begin again with a new, fresh block of ice. Of course, it’s not completely gone. The thing you made...
Anarchy Unfolds
To change everything, start anywhere
Letters to an anarchist - Part 2
a month ago
Letters to an anarchist - Part 2
Seth's Blog
The best possible use
I walked by a psychic’s storefront studio. The window said that this person had been reading palms...
10 months ago
I walked by a psychic’s storefront studio. The window said that this person had been reading palms and predicting the future since 1989. It was a large space on a vibrant New York City corner. The rent must be astronomical. Or else the purveyor owns the building. Given that this...
Seth's Blog
The explosion
We spend much of our worrying time on crises. Our media is filled with warnings, coverage and fear...
a year ago
We spend much of our worrying time on crises. Our media is filled with warnings, coverage and fear of cataclysms. The big boom, the sudden end, the crash. In fact, rot is far more common. Things decay unless we persistently work to support them. Organizations, reputations,...
Seth's Blog
Find the others: Worldwide Strategy Meetups
On October 22, around the world, I’m helping to organize hundreds of in-person get togethers. A...
2 months ago
On October 22, around the world, I’m helping to organize hundreds of in-person get togethers. A chance to share your work and have a conversation about your strategy with others. Mutual support and peer connection. All the details are on this page. It’s free. A chance to connect...
Open Culture
Jack Kerouac’s Hand-Drawn Cover for On the Road (1952)
This falls under the category, “If you want it done right, you have to do it yourself.” In 1950,...
4 months ago
This falls under the category, “If you want it done right, you have to do it yourself.” In 1950, when Jack Kerouac released his first novel, The Town and the City, he was less than impressed by the book cover produced by his publisher, Harcourt Brace. (Click here to see why.) So,...
Seth's Blog
Anonymity and Bugs Bunny
I came across this (ironically) anonymous quote recently: “The offline world is full of sticks, but...
4 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
“What do you do around here?”
There are lots of useful, honest answers. Some might include: I do what I’m told I challenge the...
a year ago
There are lots of useful, honest answers. Some might include: I do what I’m told I challenge the status quo I show up on time I solve complicated problems I absorb nonsense and create calm for others I raise our standards I help people feel seen I’m steady I don’t cause trouble I...
Seth's Blog
The house painter and the architect
We don’t design a book until after it’s written. Or cast the movie until the screenplay is complete....
a year ago
We don’t design a book until after it’s written. Or cast the movie until the screenplay is complete. The house painter has an important job, but it makes no sense to plan for the painting before the house is designed. This makes a lot of sense because some parts of a project have...
Open Culture
How Well Does Medieval Armor Actually Stand Up to Medieval Arrows?: A Historical Re-Creation Lets...
The popular image of the medieval suit of armor looks formidable enough that any of us could be...
6 months ago
The popular image of the medieval suit of armor looks formidable enough that any of us could be forgiven for assuming that, with its steel-plated protection, we’d emerge from even the most harrowing battle without a scratch. Yet if we really found ourselves transported to, say,...
Seth's Blog
Crispiness
Crisp faces many opponents: entropy, laziness, time, compromise and false shortcuts. And fear. Most...
a year ago
Crisp faces many opponents: entropy, laziness, time, compromise and false shortcuts. And fear. Most of all, fear. Things rarely become crispy on their own. Instead, it requires care and effort. An ume shiso hand roll begins with a crisp piece of nori, but within a minute or two,...
Seth's Blog
Captives of memetic desire
How much of what we want, really want, is due to the ideas that culture has given us, and how much...
a year ago
How much of what we want, really want, is due to the ideas that culture has given us, and how much is truly what we need? If memetic desire isn’t making us happy, perhaps we can find some new ideas.
Open Culture
The Longest Drivable Distance in the World: Discover the Ultimate Road Trip
No matter what country we live in, we’ve all fantasized about taking our own great American road...
3 months ago
No matter what country we live in, we’ve all fantasized about taking our own great American road trip, considering a variety of the infinitely many possible routes. The most obvious would be driving between Los Angeles and New York, a distance of 2,800 miles that would take a bit...
Open Culture
The First Professional Footage of Pink Floyd Gets Captured in a 1967 Documentary (and the Band Also...
British filmmaker and novelist Peter Whitehead has been credited with inventing the music video with...
7 months ago
British filmmaker and novelist Peter Whitehead has been credited with inventing the music video with his promo films for the Rolling Stones in the mid-60s. According to Ali Catterall and Simon Wells, authors of Your Face Here, a study of “British Cult Film since the Sixties,”...
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
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. […]
Blog - Mac Pierce
Magic Wheelchair - a Frozen sled for Angelle
Working on a Frozen themed costume for Angelle.
over a year ago
Working on a Frozen themed costume for Angelle.
Seth's Blog
The distribution of character
Along the way, we have been taught to associate character skills like honesty, rationality,...
5 months ago
Along the way, we have been taught to associate character skills like honesty, rationality, agreeableness, grit and care with surface metrics like wealth or power. That’s almost certainly incorrect. And if we make assumptions based on vague measures of class, we’re going to get...
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,...
a month 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...
Seth's Blog
Perfect pavement
Paving the ground might be an option. Pavement is invisible to the driver. It’s expected, smooth,...
6 months ago
Paving the ground might be an option. Pavement is invisible to the driver. It’s expected, smooth, resilient and gets out of the way. You only notice a road when it’s not paved well. Nature, on the other hand, is never perfect. All untouched forests are natural, yet each is...
Seth's Blog
Learning from the Amazon gift card snafu
Millions of people got this email last night: It’s legitimate, but it’s a mistake. A mistake...
a year ago
Millions of people got this email last night: It’s legitimate, but it’s a mistake. A mistake because: We can learn a lot about what not to do from this. First, if you make a mistake by email, fix it. Fix it by email AND fix it on your site. Let everyone who got the wrong […]
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...
9 months 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
Who’s got the camera?
For years, I’ve been using this picture of Neil Armstrong when I tell the story of meeting him and...
a year ago
For years, I’ve been using this picture of Neil Armstrong when I tell the story of meeting him and hearing his talk at one of his last public appearances: I wasn’t there when this photo was taken, so I relied on a Google image search to find it: I compounded Google’s error....
Seth's Blog
Cat and mouse games
I hope that most of us would agree that driving 50 mph in a school zone where little kids cross the...
5 months ago
I hope that most of us would agree that driving 50 mph in a school zone where little kids cross the street is a significant safety problem. The speed limit is there for good reason, and if you selfishly and recklessly blow through the crosswalk, you ought to get a summons....
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...
2 weeks 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...
Seth's Blog
Professionals are consistent
Authenticity is for amateurs. We want the surgeon, the broadcaster or the musician to show up fully,...
3 months ago
Authenticity is for amateurs. We want the surgeon, the broadcaster or the musician to show up fully, as the best version of themselves. We know you might be tired from an overnight shift, and authentically feel like phoning it in, but hey, this is the only aorta I’ve got, and I’d...
Blog - Mac Pierce
The making of A Scanner Darkly
How and why I made A Scanner Darkly, an art piece that reads off text using
spotlights in the...
over a year ago
How and why I made A Scanner Darkly, an art piece that reads off text using
spotlights in the shape of security cameras.
Seth's Blog
“Let’s face it”
In 1959, three years after Columbia Records spent a fortune rolling out stereo recording, a senior...
12 months ago
In 1959, three years after Columbia Records spent a fortune rolling out stereo recording, a senior A&R executive named Ward Botsman told the New York Times, “Let’s face it, the craze for stereo has not been as intense as expected,” writing off the format that would end up...
Prolost
Jurassic Punk
If you’re reading this blog, you probably know the story — at least, you think you do. As Steven...
over a year ago
If you’re reading this blog, you probably know the story — at least, you think you do. As Steven Spielberg began production on 1993’s Jurassic Park, he and Industrial Light and Magic’s Dennis Muren planned to execute the all-important visual effects component of the film’s...
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...
3 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...
Seth's Blog
Conspicuous (non) consumption
One way to show status is by demonstrating how many resources you have. A bespoke suit, a huge...
a year ago
One way to show status is by demonstrating how many resources you have. A bespoke suit, a huge graduation party, a fancy building… A bully who physically intimidates or an angry driver who cuts you off in traffic are each working to show their status and strength. But it’s also...
Open Culture
The World’s First Medieval Electronic Instrument: The EP-1320 Lets You Play the Sounds of...
At this time of the year, the Swedish island of Gotland puts on Medeltidsveckan, or “Medieval Week,”...
4 months ago
At this time of the year, the Swedish island of Gotland puts on Medeltidsveckan, or “Medieval Week,” the country’s largest historical festival. According to its official About page, it offers its visitors the chance to “watch knights on horseback, drink something cold, take a...
Seth's Blog
Rituals
The things we do each day, every day, often arrive without intent. By the time we realize that...
a year ago
The things we do each day, every day, often arrive without intent. By the time we realize that they’re now habits, these random behaviors have already become part of how we define ourselves and the time we spend. Bringing intent to our rituals gives us the chance to rewire our...
Seth's Blog
True/useful
Here’s a simple grid that might change the way you think about internal stories: When we believe in...
a year ago
Here’s a simple grid that might change the way you think about internal stories: When we believe in something that’s useful but not true, it can serve a helpful purpose. The tooth fairy, perhaps. When we act on something that’s useful and also true, we’ve found a resilient path...
Open Culture
The Night Frank Zappa Jammed With Pink Floyd … and Captain Beefheart Too (Belgium, 1969)
Recently an older musician acquaintance told me he never “got into ‘Interstellar Overdrive’ and all...
3 months ago
Recently an older musician acquaintance told me he never “got into ‘Interstellar Overdrive’ and all that,” referring to the “first major space jam” of Pink Floyd’s career and the subsequent explosion of space rock bands. I found myself a little taken aback. Though I was born too...
Seth's Blog
Finding agency
The first few moves of a chess game give the player almost unlimited freedom. There are countless...
a year ago
The first few moves of a chess game give the player almost unlimited freedom. There are countless legal moves, and nothing to constrain the choices that a player makes among them. But as we add leverage to our culture and our organizations, the choices aren’t as easy. Jerry...
Seth's Blog
The question book
In the old days, companies had a suggestion box. It was immortalized in cartoons, but the idea that...
9 months ago
In the old days, companies had a suggestion box. It was immortalized in cartoons, but the idea that an employee could anonymously submit a suggestion to make things better is a first step in engagement. Some companies took this much further and paid employees for suggestions that...
Blog - Mac Pierce
p5.js on Squarespace - The Basics
A quick guide on how to get p5.js guides working on Squarespace.
over a year ago
A quick guide on how to get p5.js guides working on Squarespace.
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...
7 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
Reclaiming “fiasco”
Usually modified with “total,” the failure might not be as bad as we fear. The origin of the word...
4 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 […]
Seth's Blog
The generous ask
“If you don’t ask, you don’t get.” That’s problematic advice. Taken to an extreme, it turns us into...
11 months ago
“If you don’t ask, you don’t get.” That’s problematic advice. Taken to an extreme, it turns us into hustlers. The alternative is to realize that the best asks are actually offers. When we offer to help someone get to where they were going, we’re approaching the relationship with...
Seth's Blog
What spoiled wrecks
There’s nothing wrong with abundance and joy. But being spoiled causes two real problems: As a...
6 months ago
There’s nothing wrong with abundance and joy. But being spoiled causes two real problems: As a community increases in wealth, the number of spoiled citizens increases as well. It’s often the acid that corrodes the magic that created the wealth in the first place. Whining is a...
Handprinted - Blog
Screen Printing a Repeat Pattern
Printing a length of your own designed fabric is so exciting but most of us do not have the luxury...
a year ago
Printing a length of your own designed fabric is so exciting but most of us do not have the luxury of a fabric registration table. Here's an easy step by step guide to printing a repeat pattern on a length of fabric using an A4 43T screen.
Draw the design motifs onto...
Handprinted - Blog
Glossary of Printmaking Terminology
Scroll through the list below to find definitions and explanations of common printmaking...
a year ago
Scroll through the list below to find definitions and explanations of common printmaking terms:
Acid-free – refers to papers that are made with an alkaline pulp, usually with calcium carbonate added. Acids contribute to the deterioration of paper and therefore of prints.
Aisuki –...
Seth's Blog
The (very) long tail
The average YouTube video gets five new views every day. Let’s parse that for a second. 5 billion...
a year ago
The average YouTube video gets five new views every day. Let’s parse that for a second. 5 billion YouTube plays a day, spread over about a billion videos means that while some videos live in the short head and get millions of views, there are a huge number of videos that get...
Anarchy Unfolds
The Weariness of Work
Why I've been away; why I'm anti-work as well as pro-labor
7 months ago
Why I've been away; why I'm anti-work as well as pro-labor
Infinite Scroll
How Gay Marriage Ruined Democratic Activism
The end of Moral Triumphalism
2 weeks ago
The end of Moral Triumphalism
Seth's Blog
The Western Union trap
When the telephone began to gain traction, the monopoly of the time, Western Union, decided to get...
6 months ago
When the telephone began to gain traction, the monopoly of the time, Western Union, decided to get even better at sending telegrams.
Open Culture
Download 1,000+ Digitized Tapes of Sounds from Classic Hollywood Films & TV, Courtesy of the...
Watch enough classic movies — especially classic movies from slightly downmarket studios — and...
3 months ago
Watch enough classic movies — especially classic movies from slightly downmarket studios — and you’ll swear you’ve been hearing the very same sound effects over and over again. That’s because you have been hearing the very same sound effects over and over again: once recorded or...
Seth's Blog
Too much competition
There are two approaches: Broaden your offerings, make them easier, cheaper and more available. Dumb...
a year ago
There are two approaches: Broaden your offerings, make them easier, cheaper and more available. Dumb them down and race to the bottom. Or… Focus on the customers who care enough about your idiosyncratic and particular offerings that they’ll not only happily walk away from the...
Seth's Blog
Informed consent (rarely is)
Adults make choices and live with the consequences. No one else should tell us what flavor of ice...
a year ago
Adults make choices and live with the consequences. No one else should tell us what flavor of ice cream we prefer, or what career to choose. We’re good at knowing what we want. In practice, this works really well for certain kinds of decisions. But when we add the network effect,...
Stat Significant
Quantifying 'The Kevin Bacon Game': A Statistical Exploration of Hollywood’s Most Connected Actors
Examining 'Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon' and its statistical underpinnings.
2 months ago
Examining 'Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon' and its statistical underpinnings.
Seth's Blog
Blame your tools
Blame the clients. And blame the conditions. But then, you’re on the hook to get better tools, find...
5 months ago
Blame the clients. And blame the conditions. But then, you’re on the hook to get better tools, find better clients and work in better conditions. It’s not convenient, but it’s possible. If it’s not worth the effort, we can simply accept what we’ve chosen and get back to work.
Seth's Blog
When the sun is shining
Our job as professionals is to show up and do the work. Not simply respond to incoming or do the...
a year ago
Our job as professionals is to show up and do the work. Not simply respond to incoming or do the chores, but to create and innovate. And yet, some days feel more conducive than others. There are moments when it simply flows. When the surf’s up, cancel everything else. Don’t waste...
Seth's Blog
Who pays?
Supply and demand are always in a dance, with one outpacing the other from time to time. In the last...
11 months ago
Supply and demand are always in a dance, with one outpacing the other from time to time. In the last three years, the green tech revolution has accelerated dramatically. Countless companies are being created to change how food is grown, people are transported and energy is...
Seth's Blog
The long-range forecast keeps shifting
Exactly. That’s why it’s a forecast, not an accurate account of what’s going to happen in the...
a year ago
Exactly. That’s why it’s a forecast, not an accurate account of what’s going to happen in the future. This seems axiomatic, but our desire for certainty keeps letting us down. The shifting of forecasts is evidence that they’re merely forecasts.
Handprinted - Blog
Meet The Maker: Ian Burke
Ian Burke is a Painter Printmaker based in the North Yorkshire Moors. He was born in Saltburn and...
11 months ago
Ian Burke is a Painter Printmaker based in the North Yorkshire Moors. He was born in Saltburn and grew up in Redcar before studying Fine Art at Newcastle University. Having completed a Master's at Goldsmith's College, London he established a career in teaching art.
Ian now...
Seth's Blog
“But what if I’m wrong?
If we’re going to come together and invest the time in conversation, in research or in analysis, we...
8 months ago
If we’re going to come together and invest the time in conversation, in research or in analysis, we should begin by understanding what would be required for you or I to change our minds. If you’re not willing to consider that you’re wrong, then, in the words of a Dan Dennett,...
Seth's Blog
Thoughts on the manual
We have more ways to offer instructions than ever before, but it’s not obvious that we’re getting...
a year ago
We have more ways to offer instructions than ever before, but it’s not obvious that we’re getting better at it. Not just the operator’s manual, but every way we have to teach and offer instructions… Some (uncategorized) things to consider: The first manual I created, in 1983, was...
Seth's Blog
Pay what you want
It’s a fascinating payment model. For digital goods and other transactions where the marginal cost...
a year ago
It’s a fascinating payment model. For digital goods and other transactions where the marginal cost of one more sale approaches zero, “pay what you want” exposes how complicated the story we tell about money can be. When we add in the charity component, it becomes even more...
Seth's Blog
More is More
More hope. More health. More security. More innovation. More breakthroughs. More connection. More...
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...
Seth's Blog
Analyzing the last move
When the deal falls apart, or the team loses the game, or a partnership hits the rocks, it’s easy to...
8 months ago
When the deal falls apart, or the team loses the game, or a partnership hits the rocks, it’s easy to focus our energy on what just happened. “What if they had called a different play?” This overlooks the real issue. It’s the first move, or the fifth, that led to this problem, not...
Blog - Mac Pierce
The Whys and Hows of the Opt-Out Cap.
Why I built the Opt-Out Cap cap, and how it all came together.
over a year ago
Why I built the Opt-Out Cap cap, and how it all came together.
Seth's Blog
“Please create more tension”
This rarely comes up in focus group data. It doesn’t come up when a school talks to students, or a...
2 months ago
This rarely comes up in focus group data. It doesn’t come up when a school talks to students, or a conductor asks the orchestra. It doesn’t come up when the gym owner surveys potential members or when a chef or playwright thinks about building something new. But of course, that’s...
Open Culture
How Car Chase Scenes Have Evolved Over 100 Years: The Technology Behind Bullitt, The French...
For many a classic action-movie enthusiast, no car chase will ever top the one in Bullitt. The...
a month ago
For many a classic action-movie enthusiast, no car chase will ever top the one in Bullitt. The narrator of the Insider video above describes it as “the scene that set the standard for all modern car chases,” one made “iconic partly because of the characters, but also because of...
Seth's Blog
PW 3: Errors and productivity
If productivity is useful work created by time or money, it’s worth thinking about what we mean by...
11 months ago
If productivity is useful work created by time or money, it’s worth thinking about what we mean by ‘useful’. There are areas where reliability is crucial. It turns out that building an airplane that works 95% of the time is incredibly easy compared to building one that never...
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...
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
Software done well
There are a few tools I use regularly that make me smile, because the craftspeople who made them...
5 months ago
There are a few tools I use regularly that make me smile, because the craftspeople who made them decided to build something with extra magic and care. By using and paying for well crafted software, we often get far more than we pay for… Ecamm is the tool I use for all my online...
Seth's Blog
Allocating scarcity
If we’re lucky, we invent something that’s going to be in high demand. Reservations at a hot...
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...
Stat Significant
The Rise of Faith-Based Films: A Statistical Analysis
The economics and origins of the faith-based film industry.
2 months ago
The economics and origins of the faith-based film industry.
Seth's Blog
Pique-a-boo
Marketers seek to make an impact, and that takes interest. Three ways to spell the key word: Peak...
a year ago
Marketers seek to make an impact, and that takes interest. Three ways to spell the key word: Peak interest can’t get any higher. It never happens at launch. It’s the result of cultural change and an idea moving through the population. Peek interest happens when there’s scarcity...
Open Culture
Tracking Pianist Yuja Wang’s Heartbeats During Her Marathon Rachmaninoff Performance
The Carnegie Hall YouTube Channel sets the scene: On January 28, 2023, pianist Yuja Wang joined The...
6 months ago
The Carnegie Hall YouTube Channel sets the scene: On January 28, 2023, pianist Yuja Wang joined The Philadelphia Orchestra and conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin at Carnegie Hall for a once-in-a-lifetime, all-Rachmaninoff marathon that featured the composer’s four piano concertos...
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
… is to make things and then have other people look at those things and be
like “woah, cool”
Seth's Blog
The seduction of “why”
It’s classic linkbait. Headlines that explain why something is happening. Questions to AI about why...
a year ago
It’s classic linkbait. Headlines that explain why something is happening. Questions to AI about why something happens. Even kids, asking their parents. Why is easy to sell. Why is hard to deliver. Consultants make a good living explaining the why. And media companies try to. But...
Ian Betteridge
Ten Blue Links, “ignoring the election” edition
1. UK university fees going up (but not by enough to make the system work) For those of you not in...
a month ago
1. UK university fees going up (but not by enough to make the system work) For those of you not in the UK, the British system of university funding is a weird mash-mash of different stuff, cobbled together from the mistakes made by successive governments. When I was young, the...
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...
a month 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
Reality as reassurance
Culture makes it tempting (and easy) to insulate ourselves from reality. Credit card debt is an...
a year ago
Culture makes it tempting (and easy) to insulate ourselves from reality. Credit card debt is an invisible burden, until it’s not. Ignoring the changes in our climate makes our days easier, but not our years. We can avoid the bank balance, not work on the annual budget and ignore...
Seth's Blog
Get/Want/Have To
Get to, want to and have to are an endless braid. How much of our time do we spend on each? Have to...
a year ago
Get to, want to and have to are an endless braid. How much of our time do we spend on each? Have to is often up to someone else. The things we’re required to do by the system or the people in it. Get to is a matter of perspective. Trust and health and leverage […]
Seth's Blog
Projects and the long haul
Rome was built in a day. It wasn’t finished in a day. In fact, it’s still not finished. But the day...
5 months ago
Rome was built in a day. It wasn’t finished in a day. In fact, it’s still not finished. But the day someone said, “this is Rome,” and announced the project, it was there. Sometimes we get hung up on the beginning, unwilling to start Rome unless we’re sure we can finish it without...
Seth's Blog
Spines out
I lost a cookbook the other day. After twenty more minutes of searching, there it was, right on the...
a year ago
I lost a cookbook the other day. After twenty more minutes of searching, there it was, right on the cookbook shelf. But the spine was much more subtle than the cover, and it hadn’t been what I was looking for or expecting. We spend a lot of time on our (metaphorical) book covers....
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...
6 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...
Handprinted - Blog
Testing your Copper Sulphate Solution
When you’ve mixed a fresh batch of copper sulphate mordant, or if you have an old batch that you...
a year ago
When you’ve mixed a fresh batch of copper sulphate mordant, or if you have an old batch that you haven’t used for a few months, it’s good practice to test the strength of your solution.
By creating some test strips for both line and tones, you’ll create yourself a reference point...
Seth's Blog
Foundering or floundering?
Floundering is flopping around and making little progress. A Dutch word for getting mired and lost....
2 months ago
Floundering is flopping around and making little progress. A Dutch word for getting mired and lost. Foundering is what we call it when the ship goes down. It’s an ancient French word based on bottom. Too often, in our desperate attempt to not founder, we flounder. Better, I...
Blog - Mac Pierce
Host Jumping, thinking about viruses and how they’re changing.
Thinking about the concepts and reasons behind the making of my work ‘Host
Jump’.
over a year ago
Thinking about the concepts and reasons behind the making of my work ‘Host
Jump’.
Seth's Blog
I was wrong about sun tea
The story is a good one: put some tea bags in a mason jar filled with fresh, cold water. Put it in...
7 months ago
The story is a good one: put some tea bags in a mason jar filled with fresh, cold water. Put it in the sun. Four hours later, smooth and delicious tea is waiting for you. The photons from the sun go through the clear glass and the water, strike the leaves and transfer radiant...
escape the algorithm
Live Near Friends
I can’t believe I’m doing this, but I’m about to recommend that you subscribe to a product marketing...
5 months ago
I can’t believe I’m doing this, but I’m about to recommend that you subscribe to a product marketing email.
Blog - Mac Pierce
Back into the FE-AL: Iron Pour at Sculpture Trails Indiana
In which I detail the process of making a cannonball by participating at a
very unique iron...
over a year ago
In which I detail the process of making a cannonball by participating at a
very unique iron casting event.
Handprinted - Blog
Meet the Maker: Lucy Gell
Hi, I'm Lucy. I studied graphic design and illustration at Staffordshire University and later began...
a year ago
Hi, I'm Lucy. I studied graphic design and illustration at Staffordshire University and later began a career in animation. During this fun and exciting time I was responsible for fabricating the Martians in the Tim Burton film ‘Mars Attacks’. I made many foam latex and silicone...
Open Culture
What It Takes to Pass “the Knowledge,” the “Insanely Hard” Exam to Become a London Taxicab Driver
Anyone who’s followed the late Michael Apted’s Up documentaries knows that becoming a London cab...
4 months ago
Anyone who’s followed the late Michael Apted’s Up documentaries knows that becoming a London cab driver is no mean feat. Tony Walker, one of the series’ most memorable participants, was selected at the age of seven from an East End primary school, already distinguished as a...
Anarchy Unfolds
Is Sexual Orientation Obsolete?
Not yet, but maybe it can (and should) be soon
5 months ago
Not yet, but maybe it can (and should) be soon
Seth's Blog
Sudare sette camicie
Sweating through seven shirts… That was the definition of work when work was the same thing as...
5 months ago
Sweating through seven shirts… That was the definition of work when work was the same thing as physical labor. For many of us, the physical labor is no longer the way we add value. And it’s tempting to imagine that we simply have to show up for the coffee. But it’s still called...
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
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...
Open Culture
How Choose Your Own Adventure Books Became Beloved Among Generations of Readers
We’ve all read plenty of literature written in the first person, and plenty of literature written in...
5 months ago
We’ve all read plenty of literature written in the first person, and plenty of literature written in the third person. The second person, with its main subject of neither “I” nor “he” or “she” but “you,” is considerably harder to come by, and the writers who take it up tend to be...
Marian's Blog
BTduino documentation
The BTduino app sends data using the serial interface of a microcontroller and a bluetooth...
over a year ago
The BTduino app sends data using the serial interface of a microcontroller and a bluetooth connection. The concept of the protocol is to send all data in text form. Each set of data consists of the name and the value, seperated by a colon. This way of communication is not the...
Seth's Blog
The Strategy Questions
My new book (out today) contains more than 500 questions. Here are some to get you started:
2 months ago
My new book (out today) contains more than 500 questions. Here are some to get you started:
Blog - Amy Goodchild
Curved Line Jellyfish
I had pictured something quite bold, graphical and geometric but I ended
with gradients and...
over a year ago
I had pictured something quite bold, graphical and geometric but I ended
with gradients and floatiness.
Infinite Scroll
Infinite Scroll Podcast: Worst Tweets ft. Andrew Heaton
It's possible that we might be too online
4 days ago
It's possible that we might be too online
Handprinted - Blog
Hand-Painted Textiles: A Practical Guide to the Art of Painting on Fabric by Sarah Campbell Book...
We have recently added some fantastic new books to the Handprinted shop and this one is no...
a year ago
We have recently added some fantastic new books to the Handprinted shop and this one is no exception. Sarah Campbell's beautifully curated and inspirational book explores the art of painting and making patterns on fabric. Even just flicking through the pages of this book makes...
Seth's Blog
No time to waste
Of course there isn’t. Time is all we’ve got. Time is all there is. We can’t waste time because it’s...
a year ago
Of course there isn’t. Time is all we’ve got. Time is all there is. We can’t waste time because it’s not ours to waste. It’s simply the way we keep track of everything else.
Prolost
M1 Max MacBook Pro Long-term Report
The 2021 MacBook Pro alongside the cable-management fail of my iMac Pro
Back in October when I got a...
over a year ago
The 2021 MacBook Pro alongside the cable-management fail of my iMac Pro
Back in October when I got a chance to use a pre-release 14″ MacBook Pro with M1 Max processor, I openly questioned whether this laptop could replace my venerable iMac Pro. Four months later, I’m back with an...
Seth's Blog
What’s a “techie”?
A friend’s email said, “I know many of my readers aren’t techies and you’re thinking of putting this...
a year ago
A friend’s email said, “I know many of my readers aren’t techies and you’re thinking of putting this newsletter aside…” We should get clear about what we’re talking about when we say “techie.” I’m going to argue that involves a combination of two things: But someone who says,...
Open Culture
Every Frame a Painting Returns to YouTube & Explores Why the Sustained Two-Shot Vanished from Movies
Video essayists don’t normally retire; in most cases, they just drift into inactivity. Hence the...
3 months ago
Video essayists don’t normally retire; in most cases, they just drift into inactivity. Hence the surprise and even dismay of the internet’s cinephiles when Tony Zhou and Taylor Ramos declared the end of their respected channel Every Frame a Painting in 2016. We here at Open...
Ian Betteridge
When dealing with Musk, Labour needs to understand the world has changed
There are plenty of objections to preventing Elon Musk from donating to Reform. The first is it’s...
4 hours ago
There are plenty of objections to preventing Elon Musk from donating to Reform. The first is it’s politically motivated. A party shouldn’t (the theory goes) use its power in government specifically to target another party. Of course, Labour could do this in a way which prevented...
Stat Significant
The Fall and Rise of Nicolas Cage: A Statistical Analysis
Nicolas Cage: A Data Story
3 months ago
Nicolas Cage: A Data Story
Seth's Blog
There are no stupid mistakes
There are mistakes. These are moments when reality teaches us something. And there’s stupid. This is...
a year ago
There are mistakes. These are moments when reality teaches us something. And there’s stupid. This is what happens when we refuse to learn from our mistakes. “Don’t be stupid” is a fine mantra. It’s particularly apt when talking about cultural forces, political agendas and our...
Handprinted - Blog
Pigment & Binder - Mixing colours for printing fabric
Using Pigment Colours and Binder, you can mix your own bespoke colours for screen printing and block...
a year ago
Using Pigment Colours and Binder, you can mix your own bespoke colours for screen printing and block printing. Experimenting with different ratio amounts of binder to pigment can create some lovely subtle pale shades and some strong bold colours too.
Keeping a note of your...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet The Maker: Jenny Stringer
I am Jenny Stringer, and I have been block printing fabrics (and sometimes papers) for the last...
4 months ago
I am Jenny Stringer, and I have been block printing fabrics (and sometimes papers) for the last thirty years; as and when possible.
How did you start your creative career?
I was an archaeological illustrator after a brief museum career, and worked with a team of...
Seth's Blog
Don’t know, don’t care
Clients and customers can be frustrating. Perhaps they don’t know what you know. Perhaps they don’t...
a year ago
Clients and customers can be frustrating. Perhaps they don’t know what you know. Perhaps they don’t care. It’s possible to educate and inspire. It might be more productive to find the few that want to go where you do.
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
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...
Open Culture
Watch the Original Nosferatu, the Classic German Expressionist Vampire Film, Before the New Remake...
F. W. Murnau’s Nosferatu, far and away the most influential early vampire movie, came out 102 years...
a month ago
F. W. Murnau’s Nosferatu, far and away the most influential early vampire movie, came out 102 years ago. For about ten of those years, Robert Eggers has been trying to remake it. He wouldn’t be the first: Werner Herzog cast Klaus Kinski as the blood-sucking aristocrat at the...
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...
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...
Seth's Blog
As slow as possible
A six-hundred-year-long organ recital is going on, and today marks a change in notes. If you miss...
10 months ago
A six-hundred-year-long organ recital is going on, and today marks a change in notes. If you miss it, the next one is in two years. We’re used to the rapid increase in speed in just about everything around us. Absolutely positively overnight is mostly too slow for many industries...
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...
7 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...
Seth's Blog
The slog, the hobby and the quest
Here’s a simple XY grid to help you think about your next project, freelance career or startup: All...
a year ago
Here’s a simple XY grid to help you think about your next project, freelance career or startup: All too common are ‘fun’ businesses where someone finds a hobby they like and tries to turn it into a gig. While the work may be fun, the uphill grind of this sort of project is...
Seth's Blog
Celebrating the thousand with a special package
[Lots of links in this post… US offer is here, international is here.] Ideas travel horizontally....
3 months ago
[Lots of links in this post… US offer is here, international is here.] Ideas travel horizontally. Not from the creator to the audience as much as from one person to another. It’s easy to misunderstand the insight of Kevin Kelly’s 1,000 True Fans. Decades ago he argued that the...
The Great Discontent...
Rick Griffith
Rick Griffith is a British-West-Indian designer, collagist, writer, educator, letterpress printer,...
a year ago
Rick Griffith is a British-West-Indian designer, collagist, writer, educator, letterpress printer, and optimist futurist based in Denver, Colorado. He works at the intersection of programming, policy, and production. He co-founded MATTER—a design consultancy,...
Seth's Blog
My Big Fat Greek Wedding
Among the top 500 grossing Hollywood movies of all time, this movie is the most profitable in return...
a year ago
Among the top 500 grossing Hollywood movies of all time, this movie is the most profitable in return on investment. And among all Hollywood movies in the top 1,500 at the box office, Paranormal Activity is far and away the highest return, outperforming almost any investment the...
Seth's Blog
Demanding certainty
The defenders of the status quo often demand certainty when facing decisions about the future. It...
8 months 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%...
Seth's Blog
Refusing the salon of the refused
This week is the 150th anniversary of the most important failed art exhibit of all time. It was...
8 months ago
This week is the 150th anniversary of the most important failed art exhibit of all time. It was organized by and featured artists who weren’t even among those that had a slot at the runner’s up exhibit for artists who weren’t featured in the real Salon in Paris. Manet didn’t have...
Anarchy Unfolds
Pride, noise, and fear
Sleep deprivation is a social justice and public health issue
3 months ago
Sleep deprivation is a social justice and public health issue
Handprinted - Blog
On The Course: Creating Life Drawing Mono Screen Prints
I (Bridget) was lucky enough to take part on last years Life-Drawing Monoscreen Printing workshop...
a year ago
I (Bridget) was lucky enough to take part on last years Life-Drawing Monoscreen Printing workshop with Tricia Johnson. During the course, we worked with a life model to create painterly screen prints using the mono screen method. We used acrylic based screen printing inks and...
Open Culture
How Editing Saved Ferris Bueller’s Day Off & Made It a Classic
“In our salad days, we are ripe for a particular movie that will linger, deathlessly, long after the...
4 months ago
“In our salad days, we are ripe for a particular movie that will linger, deathlessly, long after the greenness has gone,” writes the New Yorker’s Anthony Lane in a recent piece on movies in the eighties. “When a friend turned to me after the first twenty minutes of Ferris...
Open Culture
Bringing Tsarist Russia to Life: Vivid Color Images from 1905–1915
History escapes us. Events that changed the world forever, or should have, slide out of collective...
3 months ago
History escapes us. Events that changed the world forever, or should have, slide out of collective memory. If we’re pointing fingers, we might point at educational systems that fail to educate, or at huge historical blind spots in mass media. Maybe another reason the recent past...
Seth's Blog
Simple techniques for complex projects
Warm up the machines that take a long time first. Stress test the go/no go parts of the project as...
a year ago
Warm up the machines that take a long time first. Stress test the go/no go parts of the project as early as possible. If the cost is low, replace dependent processes with parallel ones. Do the difficult parts when energy is high and the budget hasn’t been depleted. Ship before...
Handprinted - Blog
Mono Screen Printing Using a Guide
Mono screen printing is a great technique if you want to create beautiful painterly prints but...
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,...
Open Culture
Watch The Cure Perform a Three-Hour Concert in London, Celebrating the Release of Their New Album
httpv://www.youtube.com/live/_aWDlaxvEZo Last Friday, The Cure celebrated the release of their new...
a month ago
httpv://www.youtube.com/live/_aWDlaxvEZo Last Friday, The Cure celebrated the release of their new album, Songs of a Lost World, with a three-hour set at the Troxy in London. The band kicked off the show by performing all eight tracks from the album, before then playing another...
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
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...
Open Culture
Spin the 17th-Century Death Roulette Wheel & Find Out What Would Have Killed You in 1665
A common historical misconception holds that, up until a few centuries ago, everyone died when they...
2 months ago
A common historical misconception holds that, up until a few centuries ago, everyone died when they were about 40. In fact, even in antiquity, one could well make it to what would be considered an advanced age today — assuming one survived the great mortal peril of childhood, and...
Open Culture
A Bicycle Trip: Watch an Animation of The World’s First LSD Trip in 1943
On August 16, 1943, Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann was synthesizing a new compound called lysergic...
7 months ago
On August 16, 1943, Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann was synthesizing a new compound called lysergic acid diethylamide-25 when he got a couple of drops on his finger. The chemical, later known worldwide as LSD, absorbed into his system, and, soon after, he experienced an intense...
Open Culture
Hear 2.5 Hours of the Classical Music in Haruki Murakami’s Novels: Liszt, Beethoven, Janáček, and...
Haruki Murakami’s hit novel 1Q84 features a memorable scene in a taxicab on a gridlocked freeway...
a month ago
Haruki Murakami’s hit novel 1Q84 features a memorable scene in a taxicab on a gridlocked freeway whose radio is playing Leoš Janáček’s Sinfonietta. “It is, as the book suggests, truly the worst possible music for a traffic jam,” writes Sam Anderson in a New York Times Magazine...
Open Culture
How Filmmakers Make Cameras Disappear: Mirrors in Movies
If you’ve never tried your hand at filmmaking, you might assume that its hardest visual challenges...
2 months ago
If you’ve never tried your hand at filmmaking, you might assume that its hardest visual challenges are the creation of effects-laden spectacles: starships duking it out in space, monsters stomping through major cities, animals speaking and dancing like Broadway stars, that sort...
Blog - Amy Goodchild
What is Generative Art?
Randomness, rules and natural systems. Some non-restrictive definitions and
an exploration of the...
over a year ago
Randomness, rules and natural systems. Some non-restrictive definitions and
an exploration of the form.
Open Culture
Moebius Gives 18 Wisdom-Filled Tips to Aspiring Artists
Jean Giraud, aka Moebius, was a comic book artist who combined blinding speed with boundless...
3 months ago
Jean Giraud, aka Moebius, was a comic book artist who combined blinding speed with boundless imagination. He shaped the look of Alien, Empire Strikes Back and The Fifth Element. He reimagined the Silver Surfer for Stan Lee. And he is an acknowledged influence on everyone from...
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....
7 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,...
Seth's Blog
Compounding head starts
When a six-year-old kid beats the other kids at tennis, that kid is more likely to be encouraged to...
a year ago
When a six-year-old kid beats the other kids at tennis, that kid is more likely to be encouraged to play more, or to get a coach, and pretty soon, they’re much better at tennis than the others. When a musical group has a single that gets some buzz on Spotify, they’re more likely...
The Great Discontent...
Demar Matthews
Emergence Issue: TGD’s fifth issue features a dynamic group of 15 creators who are deeply committed...
over a year ago
Emergence Issue: TGD’s fifth issue features a dynamic group of 15 creators who are deeply committed to addressing systematic challenges in their communities through creativity and emerging ideologies. Buy Now How do you explain your work? I am specifically interested in...
Seth's Blog
Two sides of “a big deal”
Many businesses thrive by helping people deal with projects that feel like they have high stakes. A...
a year ago
Many businesses thrive by helping people deal with projects that feel like they have high stakes. A kid’s first haircut, the offsite storage of data backup, an upcoming family reunion, a medical procedure or the inscription on a sentimental piece of jewelry or watch. But, if the...
escape the algorithm
howdidyoufind.me
a website about how people found this website
2 months ago
a website about how people found this website
Handprinted - Blog
Meet the Maker: Hazel McNab
Hi I’m Hazel, I live in Cornwall. I moved down just before Covid, very lucky me! And spent lockdown...
a year ago
Hi I’m Hazel, I live in Cornwall. I moved down just before Covid, very lucky me! And spent lockdown cutting Cornish Landscapes and really getting into my printing. My background is Fashion and Textiles, St Martins School of Art and I think my love of pattern shows in my...
Prolost
Introducing Prolost Beta
Prolost Beta is a new subscription offering on the Prolost Store. It's an occasional email from me...
over a year ago
Prolost Beta is a new subscription offering on the Prolost Store. It's an occasional email from me containing a download or a link to something cool I'm working on, that's not quite ready to become a product yet. Or maybe ever. This will most often be Lightroom presets or...
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...
3 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...
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
How to assemble the Opt-Out Cap, a tool for facial recognition obfuscation.
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...
5 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...
Seth's Blog
Your preference is not universal
You’re entitled to it, and we will do our best to help you find what you want. But it’s unlikely...
a year ago
You’re entitled to it, and we will do our best to help you find what you want. But it’s unlikely that what you want is what everyone wants. It’s hard to believe that there is only one appropriate standard for value, observance, speed or performance. The easiest way for us to help...
Seth's Blog
PW 2: Productivity in community
We need you. But only if you need us. Purple.space is six months old, and there are about a thousand...
11 months ago
We need you. But only if you need us. Purple.space is six months old, and there are about a thousand of us now. It was an experiment, now it’s a useful tool. The initiative hat is often ill-fitting. We rush to take it off and get back to doing chores. And that’s why a community...
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
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...
Open Culture
Steven Spielberg Calls Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange “the First Punk Rock Movie Ever Made”
Steven Spielberg and Stanley Kubrick are two of the first directors whose names young cinephiles get...
8 months ago
Steven Spielberg and Stanley Kubrick are two of the first directors whose names young cinephiles get to know. They’re also names between which quite a few of those young cinephiles draw a battle line: you may have enjoyed films by both of these auteurs, but ultimately, you’re...
Blog - Amy Goodchild
Maplands
Maplands is a long-form generative art project I released on fxhash on 5th
Jan 2022. It sold out...
over a year ago
Maplands is a long-form generative art project I released on fxhash on 5th
Jan 2022. It sold out 256 pieces in exactly 2 minutes.
Seth's Blog
What sort of bicycle?
While it’s likely that you own a bike, you probably don’t have a front-wheel recumbent bicycle in...
a year ago
While it’s likely that you own a bike, you probably don’t have a front-wheel recumbent bicycle in your garage. Even though it’s more efficient, more comfortable and often faster. How did that happen? In 1933, a twenty-year old speed record was broken by a racer on a recumbent...
Handprinted - Blog
Sue Brown Paper Lithography Book Review
Our good friend Sue Brown has recently released her new book Paper Lithography! In this step-by-step...
a year ago
Our good friend Sue Brown has recently released her new book Paper Lithography! In this step-by-step guide Sue takes us through the process of making paper lithography prints using the humble photocopy as your plate.
Paper lithography is a quick and straightforward process that...
Marian's Blog
Adversarial Generation of Continuous Implicit Shape Representations
This article provides an overview of the paper "Adversarial Generation of Continuous Implicit Shape...
over a year ago
This article provides an overview of the paper "Adversarial Generation of Continuous Implicit Shape Representations", which I co-authored with Matthias Fey.
While the paper focuses on the theoretical aspects, I'll provide a higher level explanation and and some visualizations...
Seth's Blog
Finding a more useful umwelt
Add up all the senses you use and the things you notice: that’s your umwelt. It’s pretty obvious...
12 months ago
Add up all the senses you use and the things you notice: that’s your umwelt. It’s pretty obvious that your dog has a different one than you do. They see fewer colors and smell far more intelligently. Sea slugs see a much wider range of colors, and bats can sense vibrations. Among...
Open Culture
Wes Anderson Directs & Stars in an Ad Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of Montblanc’s Signature Pen
One hardly has to be an expert on the films of Wes Anderson to imagine that the man writes with a...
7 months ago
One hardly has to be an expert on the films of Wes Anderson to imagine that the man writes with a fountain pen. Maybe back in the early nineteen-nineties, when he was shooting the black-and-white short that would become Bottle Rocket on the streets of Austin, he had to settle for...
Seth's Blog
Consider switching sides
One of the spokespeople for the new milk marketing campaign confessed that she doesn’t really like...
a year ago
One of the spokespeople for the new milk marketing campaign confessed that she doesn’t really like drinking milk. Sales are way down, and an entire generation is drinking other beverages. Other than the people who are paid to sell or lobby for milk sales, few people are...
Seth's Blog
The leaping curve
The learning curve is familiar to many people. It might be steep, but it’s continuous. Organizations...
a year ago
The learning curve is familiar to many people. It might be steep, but it’s continuous. Organizations (and people) work their way up it, one step at a time (it’s the black line in the graph below). But there’s rarely a continuous learning curve. Instead, it’s often interrupted by...
Open Culture
How Rome Began: The History As Told by Ancient Historians
Much attention has been paid to the fall of the Roman Empire, by everyone from august historians...
5 months ago
Much attention has been paid to the fall of the Roman Empire, by everyone from august historians like Edward Gibbon to modern-day observers wringing their hands over the fate of the United States of America. But as every Rome enthusiast knows, that long collapse constitutes just...
Seth's Blog
On to the next thing
Vitally important, rarely taught, easily messed up. In order to go onto the next thing, which we all...
a year ago
Vitally important, rarely taught, easily messed up. In order to go onto the next thing, which we all do (unless you’re still wearing pajamas with feet and taking ballet lessons), we need to walk away from the last thing. Wrap it up, learn from it, leave it in good hands. And we...
Marian's Blog
Visualizing 150000 butterflies from the Natural History Museum
Click here for the interactive visualization.
The Natural History Museum in London has a data portal...
over a year ago
Click here for the interactive visualization.
The Natural History Museum in London has a data portal in which they provide digital records for many of their specimens.
Some of these records have images.
I recently learned how to use machine learning tools such as convolutional...
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...
12 months 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...
Seth's Blog
Purchase decisions
All purchases involve a decision. Yes or no, this or that, now or later… But it’s helpful to realize...
9 months ago
All purchases involve a decision. Yes or no, this or that, now or later… But it’s helpful to realize that all decisions involve a purchase. When we decide to spend time or take a risk or make a commitment, our brains act in a way very similar to how we choose to make a purchase....
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